Hello! I know I said I'm on a writing hiatus but... I can't help myself. I wanted to write this little story because I thought it was a good idea. So, on with the story!

All credit goes to Matsumoto Natsumi-sensei!

~ Chocolate Princess ~

There are two kinds of people: my sister Yume, and me Najika. Yume is the oldest, and I'm the youngest. She was born in Paris, and I was born in London. Yume is more out going, and I'm more independent. The only thing we have in common, is that we are always known as the daughters of Kashino Makoto and Amano Ichigo. But I feel that Yume is the daughter and I'm just... me.

~xXx~

I closed the door behind me as I flipped through the various envelopes until I found the one with my name. I smiled when I saw the clean-cut handwriting on one of the envelopes. Najika Kashino. I took it out from the pile and threw them on the dining table. As I headed up the stairs, I nearly bumped into the figure in front of me. I was always jealous of how much Yume looks like our dad. Piercing yet gentle gold colored eyes and shimmering dirty blonde hair. She seems cold at first glance but in reality, she's a really nice person. I look more like our mom, brunette hair and dark brown eyes. But what I really don't like is my face. My cheeks have always been red and rosy. With my hair color, mom likes to refer to me as a chocolate covered strawberry. I thought it was cute when I was young, but as I grew older, it started to bother me.

She smiled at me as she walked around me, heading towards the kitchen. "A letter from Lia, Najika?"

I nodded.

"Well, okay. Mom should be coming home soon, Dad is staying behind at the shop, and Kiyomi-chan and Anika-chan are on their way."

That's another thing about Yume. Unlike me, she has two childhood friends who she hangs out with more than me. The three of them grew up together: Yume, Hanabusa Kiyomi, and Andou Anika. And, get this, they're only a few months apart. Anika-chan being the oldest, was born in August along with her older twin brother Hajime. Next was Yume, who was born in September, and Kiyomi-chan was born in October. I'm stuck as a January baby with only a pen-pal from Wales and a stuffed wolf as friends.

"How about Hajime-kun?" I asked.

"Ah." Yume quickly turned away, her face flushed pure red. "It's a sleep over- a girls only sleepover!"

Nice excuse sis, but not convincing. Everyone knows how Yume feels about Hajime-kun, except for Hajime himself. Once in a while, Yume's friends or myself would play "Best Friend's Brother" by Victoria Justice just to tease her. The results were priceless every single time.

I laughed. "Alright then. I'll be in my room!"

~xXx~

Through the little spaces between each piece of paper, you can see that the color of my wall was a pastel purple. My room is constantly filled with various sketches. The ones I'm always proud of or treasure are kept in my sketchbook. My bed was all the way in the corner of the room, with my desk on the opposite side. A small bookshelf was near my window, making it a nice little reading area. I sat at my desk and carefully teared open the envelope.

Dear Najika,

Congratulations on getting accepted to St. Marie! You must be really excited!

I just want you to focus on the fact that this is the start of a new life for you. Don't let your label as Ichigo and Makoto Kashino's daughter drag you down from a wonderful experience. This is your life and live how you want to live it. Show everyone WHO you are, not WHAT you. You are more than just the daughter of two well known patissiers, you are more than just "the other one". You are you.

...Now that I think about it, I don't think I can send anymore letters to your house. How about this, you send your letter from your dorm at the school, that way I'll get the address too! Ha, I'm good aren't I?

Now I'm gonna go kill my brother for coming into my room without my permission.

As I always say, Cadwch eich pen i fyny yn uchel ac yn symud ymlaen. Keep your head up high and move forward.

Best wishes,

Eliana

P.s Send some pictures of those chocolate sculptures and cakes some time! XOXO

I giggled. Lia is one of the few people who can make my day better. I met her when I was ten. My family was visiting London's branch of Marie's Garden. Eliana Owens and her family visited my parents shop and we instantly connected. Since her father was British, she can also speak English but with a bit of a Welsh accent like how her mom talked when she spoke English. She gave me her address and we started writing to each other everyday, even after we went back to Japan. Sending letters was way more fun and exciting than texting or e-mailing, so that's what we stayed with.

But St. Marie... I reached over to open the yellow folder filled with guide books and flyers about St. Marie along with my acceptance letter.

KASHINO NAJIKA-YUKINA,

CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED TO THE JAPANESE BRANCH OF ST. MARIE SCHOOL FOR PATISSIERS AND PATISSIERES. THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING US AS THE NEXT STEP TO PURSUING YOUR DREAM INTO THE WORLD OF BAKING AND PASTRY ARTS. INSIDE THE FOLDER, YOU WILL FIND...

I closed the folder and folded up Lia's letter, placing it back in the envelope. I walked over to my bed and lifted up the blanket hanging on the side, taking out the worn out but finely crafted brown trunk. I opened it and placed the letter along with the many others I received from Lia over the years. With a tired sigh, I got up to get dressed.

~xXx~

I should have mentioned that Yume and her friends are home for the weekend. They would help out at their family shops and end the day with a sleepover. The sleepover locations were always decided by rock-paper-scissors. You can probably guessed who won this time.

I headed down the stairs after I got changed. I wore a pink tank top and jeans, my old-reliable silver beanie that I had for as long as I can remember, sat happily on my head and my year-old grey converse was still in good condition. (I never really cared about how I dressed, I just wore whatever I felt comfortable in. I never cared about what other people thought). Finally, I had my cream-colored canvas hobo bag that held my sketchbook, pencils, other necessities and my first friend, Astrid- a stuffed wolf. I never go anywhere without Astrid. Though because of St. Marie, that might change.

As soon as I reached the bottom of the stairs, I nearly fell when someone came running towards me for a hug. Kiyomi, for some reason, always doted on me, enough to refer to me as her daughter. Kiyomi's brown eyes were always gentle and her tea-green colored hair was always long and beautiful. She's a great friend-kind-of-ish, and always full of advice.

She pulled me away and smiled. Grabbing my hand, Kiyomi playfully dragged me towards the door. "I only came for your sister Yu-chan! See you at school!"

Yume grabbed my other hand and pulled me towards her. "I told you, I am not giving you my little sister and I never will."

Kiyomi glared at her.

Yume smiled. "I love you too."

"You should just take Najika-chan with you instead of saying you're taking her, Kiyomi-chan." Anika was always the mature one of the group. Being the spitting image of her father, she had black hair and had dark eyes behind a pair of glasses. She was a lady like her mother too. Always polite and sometimes fragile in serious situations.

Kiyomi dropped my hand, laughing. "You're not helping Ani-chii!"

I took my hand out of Yume and headed towards the door, grabbing my skateboard. Just then, the door opened and my Mom came in. Her hair was straight and up her shoulders. Her bangs fell evenly over her forehead just before her currently concerned motherly brown eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I laughed nervously. "The usual."

She crossed her arms.

"I'm just going to see dad," I said.

Mom smiled as she stepped aside to let me through. "Be careful alright?"

I nodded as I threw my skateboard down and left.

~xXx~

Kanagawa was always a nice little town in Nijigaoka. I always liked it. So much inspirations for both sweets and drawings. Both of my parents were surprised, even though I'm fourteen, I was nothing like either of them when they were my age. When Yume was fourteen, she was defiantly like Mom, but now at seventeen, she's more like both of them.

I rode my skateboard towards the train station. It was a little empty today, which was weird because it was the weekend. I held my skateboard close to me as I took a seat. Right across from me, sat a boy who looked about my age. He had blonde hair with a bit of dark brown streaks due to the sunlight probably. But his eyes was what was so striking. His left eye was crystal blue, but his right was gold like Yume's. I resisted the urge to take out my sketchbook and quickly draw a portrait of him but I didn't wanna look like a stalker. But then again, he didn't seem to be paying attention.

Just before I could do anything else, the train stopped and the doors opened. The boy got up and left the train without a word. I blinked. Wait, this is my stop too! The train doors began to close and I quickly rolled my skateboard that luckily got stuck between them. Yes! The doors opened again and I quickly ran out. I looked around. I couldn't find the boy anywhere. Disappointed, I hopped on my board and headed towards the shop.

No matter what day it is, it is always packed at my family's shop. Weekdays, weekends, the Holidays, you name it. Even now, there was about five more customers left in the shop, and it was ten minutes past closing time.

I was just about to open the door when I backed away. I don't wanna bother Dad when he's so busy. Instead I hanged around the area until I saw him show out the last customer. He caught sight of me before he went back inside.

"Najika?"

"Hi! I just... Came by to help. Clean up I mean."

He looked at me for a while then nodded. "Come in then."

I wasn't surprised that everything was cleaned out when I walked in. I sill wonder if it's always really hard on mom and dad. Hard enough for them to push them to their breaking points. I just hope they're not literally killing themselves with work. We went back into the kitchen where a the rest of the dishes were piled in the sink.

"Why don't you take care of those and I'll make us something," he said.

Ugh, I hate doing dishes. But I can't say no to him. As Dad worked on the stove behind me, I cleaned each of the pots, bowls and utensils. They all might as well be clean anyway. There was not a drop of batter or cream left on any of them. Eventually, I finished it all and I turned to see that Dad was finished with what ever he was doing too. Other than the smell, I recognized the sheen to the melted chocolate as he poured them into mugs.

Chocolat chaud is something the two of us personally have together. Sure either of us would make some for Mom or Yume, but when it was just for us, it was more personal. I was always close with my Dad. It's not because I favored him more than Mom, I love both of my parents. It's just that I feel like he understands me more than her.

Dad pushed a mug towards me while he grabbed his own. I took off my bag and set it down on the counter. Astrid's grey head popped out and I decided to take her out and sit her next to my bag. I heard Dad chuckle as I did.

"What?" I said.

"Nothing," he told me. "I just can't believe you're still carrying her around. I remember when you were about three, you saw it at the store and wouldn't let it go."

"Yes, I remember." I took a sip of the chocolat chaud and licked my lips.

"So, why don't you tell me the real reason why you came here."

I froze, the mug halfway to my lips. "I told you, I just came by to help that's all. I knew Mom was coming home before you and Kiyomi-chan and Anika-chan are staying the night so..."

"Najika," he said. "You and I both know that's not it."

I looked at him. He was always a serious person, Mom told me too. Never off task, always telling people what to do, acting more of a leader than Mom herself. When he looks at you, it's always intense and sometimes cold.

"Is it about St. Marie?"

I felt ashamed when I told him yes. "It's not that I don't want to go, I really do. But I don't know if I'm ready."

"What do you mean?"

"I just know... What if I don't fit in? I just want to be normal there. I don't want every single person to have very high expectations from me just because I'm "the daughter of the famous middle school students". I just want to blend in, I don't to stand out."

"Then don't. Don't stand out."

"Dad, it's not that easy."

"Yes it is." He walked up to me and put his arms around me. I remember when I was young, because I was so clingy to him, he would call me his Chocolate Princess. I liked it. It was way better than being called a Chocolate Covered Strawberry. "People might expect a lot from you because you are my daughter. Even though that is true, it doesn't mean that you are me. You are you're own person and you know it Najika. You are not me, or your Mom or even Yume. So what if you can't make a certain cake right? So what if the sweets you make aren't high class? You're just not there yet. That's the reason your going to there after all isn't it? To polish your skills?"

I felt tears burning in my eyes and I was kinda afraid that they were gonna seep into his shirt. I held on tighter to him as he stroked my hair.

He laughed. "Even Chocolat says that social status isn't even so important. As long you are able to make sweets that make people smile, that's what matters."

Chocolat... The legend of the Sweets Spritis and the Sweets Kingdom the adults used to tell us, I honestly never really believed in them. I thought they were just silly stories the school came up with to suck up with the students. Yume says she has her partner, Yogurt, and her friends have their own too. Still, is it that amazing to have a Sweets Spirit partner?

Dad let me go and put his hand on my head and smiled. "Do what ever makes you happy. That's all I want for you."

"Yeah," I said. "Okay."

Sooo, that's it! It is like 2:00AM so this is the best I could do! I honestly don't know how this will turn out, but I just wanted to put it out there! I'll update whenever I can! Thanks for reading!

- Aoi