Enjoy… At least I hope you do.

This will be put into a few parts.

Part 1: Childhood; Part 2: Return.

Disclaimer: You know the drill… I don't own Shugo Chara. End of story.

Childhood Part I: Her Prince

A young girl no older than 10 walked into a classroom, she had chestnut brown locks with large midnight blue eyes that were filled with joy and sweetness. Her hair was tied up in 2 pigtails tied at the base of her neck that reached down to her mid back. Her bangs were in a right side parting, the right side was adorned with 2 black bobby clips to keep it out of her eyes but it was still in front of her face, it sort of curved to her cheek whilst the left side was just long enough to tuck behind her ear. She wore a shell tear drop pendant. She wore the typical school uniform for her school, a black dress that went down to her knees with long sleeves that was lined with light blue and a black Kent collar that was lined with light blue. She had just moved to the town from Osaka and it was already half way through the year. She was a new student and all the children looked at her as she entered the classroom. She stood next to the teacher who had long orange hair.

"Okay, children settle down, this is a new student. Please introduce yourself." The teacher said politely.

The young girl bowed politely before introducing herself.

"Good morning, my name is Leiko Natsuki. It's nice to meet you!" She greeted politely with a sweet smile.

"Please take the free seat next Tsukiyomi-san, Leiko-san." The teacher said.

Natsuki walked to one of the many rows and sat in the only free seat. She glanced at the boy next to her. He had long-ish navy blue hair and deep blue-ish purple eyes. During the class she found out the names of most of the kids in her class. The boy she was sitting next to was called Tsukiyomi Ikuto. She also found out practically all the girls in the class had a crush on the boy. It made her wonder what they all liked about him.

Maybe it's that's mysterious aura he always has… She thought to herself right before the bell rang.

She was about to walk out when she heard the teacher call out to her.

"Leiko-san, can you spare a moment?" The teacher asked.

Natsuki walked over to her and noticed the boy she was sitting next to before… Tsukiyomi Ikuto. She looked at her teacher quizzically.

"I was just suggesting to Tsukiyomi-san to show you around, and he agreed, is that okay?" Her teacher informed.

"Anou… Sure? I mean if it's okay with him…" She said stuttering slightly.

"Okay, kiddies! Now that that's settled, run along!" She said excitedly pushing both kids out of the room.

"Anou… Ikuto-san… Is she always like that?" Natsuki asked referring to her teacher's excited behaviour.

"Yeah… You get used to it." He answered calmly.

The whole time he was showing her around their school it was pretty much silent except for his occasional pointing out of where and what things were. Ikuto was somewhat surprised by the constant silence seeing as most of the time he was at school he was almost constantly surrounded by girls. It was sort of nice to have someone that was quiet. Natsuki was sort of nervous with all the silence. She usually liked to have atleast some sort of conversation but she respected that he probably liked the quiet. After he showed her most of the school Natsuki was pretty much tired of the quiet.

"Thank you very much!" She thanked cheerfully before planting a feather light kiss on his cheek.

He blushed at the contact and she did as well. After about 2 seconds she realised what she did.

"Umm… Sorry! Umm… I was just-" She frantically started to apologize.

"Your welcome…" He said cutting her off and looking away trying to avoid eye contact and hide the ever growing blush on his face.

Her eyes widened ever so slightly as she blushed. The bell rung and he started to walk towards where the classrooms were. Realising that Natsuki wasn't b his side he looked back to see her just standing there as if in a trance.

"Oi! Ms. Pigtails! The bell just rung!" He called out to her.

Snapping out of her trance she ran to his side as they walked towards class.

"Mou…. My name isn't 'Pigtails'!" She complained jokingly with a cute pout on her face.

"Yeah… I know. I just think it suits you well… Your reaction is really cute anyway…" He said teasing.

She blushed at the comment before retorting…

"If you say so… Mr. Alley Cat!" She teased before running off without him towards where the classrooms were.

"Mr. Alley Cat?" He said to himself before running after her.

Too bad he didn't see her small guardian chara when she saw Yoru; her's was touring around the school grounds by herself. All the way he was chasing after her she was laughing cheerfully.

On her way walking home her small guardian chara decided to come out of hiding and float by her. She had long white hair bunched up into a high side ponytail with a bow with no tails adorning it where the elastic was. Her bangs were in a centre parting that was just long enough to tuck behind her ears. She had large sky blue eyes filled with adventure and cheekiness. She wore a blue ying yang pedant where instead of dots there were 8 petaled flowers. She wore a white tinted blue spaghetti strap top with a violet four petal flower in the middle. She wore blue camo capris and white-ish blue trainers with white ankle socks. Her guardian chara noticed the constant smile on Natsuki's face and she heard faint humming coming from her.

"What's up, Nat-chan? You seem really happy today! You meet a boy?" She asked cheekily.

"Well… I wouldn't say much Hina but… I did meet a boy-" Natsuki started.

"Is he hot? Oh you have to describe him to me! What eye colour? Hair colour? Personality? Is he outgoing? Shy? Smart? Oh I know! He's naughty, isn't he?!" The said Hina asked throwing questions at Natsuki a mile a minute.

"Well, his name is Tsukiyomi Ikuto; he's got bluish-purple eyes and navy blue hair. You're right he is a little naughty but he's got this mysterious feel to him… Like he's trying to hide something… But sometimes… He's got this warm aura…" Natsuki answered her questions in order used to her chara speaking really fast.

"So have you kissed? OH! I know he helped you out with something and decided to steal quick kiss on his cheek! Then you felt that warm aura! Then after that you tried to apologize! But then he said it was alright! Oh I know! Then you had to go to class but you stood there like a statue! So he called you and came up with a cute nickname! But then you throw back another cute nickname at him leaving him there in a trance as you ran back to class! But then when he finally snapped out of his trance he went running after you! Ah! True love, Nat-chan… True love…" Hina guessed saying it 12 miles a second and finally speaking at normal speaking pace at the end.

"Pretty much… How you always guess things right is beyond me…" Natsuki answered before, "I-it's n-not true love-e! I don't really remember tellin gyou I umm liked him! I just said I met him!" She retorted a blush complimenting her face.

"Well, I may be a tomboy but that doesn't mean I don't have excellent women's intuition! And that's not what that pretty blush says!" Hina teased making Natsuki blush even further, "Say, Nat-chan… What were those pet names you gave each other?"

"Well, he called me Ms. Pigtails and I kind of called him Mr. Alley Cat…" She answered.

"Why did you call him that? He doesn't have a tail or cat ears or anything right?" She asked jokingly.

"Nope. But his chara does." She answered.

"Ooooooh! He has a chara? Good choice Nat-chan!" Hina complimented.

"Hina!" Natsuki retorted jokingly whilst giggling.

When she was halfway home she saw a couple of the girls in a couple of grades higher than her. They all apparently had a crush on Ikuto. The next thing that happened was a blur to her. But her shriek erupted throughout the whole street.

Ikuto had been walking back from his violin lesson when he heard a shriek. The voice sounded familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Curious he walked towards where the sound came from and saw a young girl no older than her sprawled face down unconscious. She had chestnut brown hair that reached only to just above her shoulders and her bangs reached down to about the top of her cheek. She had the school uniform the girls in his school wore and she looked strangely familiar. She had small cuts and bruises all over her and her uniform was torn in some places. She had tear stains all down her face. Then he noticed a guardian chara with white hair and tears flowing from her large sky blue eyes nudging the unconscious girl.

"Nat-chan! Nat-chan! Wake up! Come on! This isn't funny! Wake up, please! Nat-chan!" The chara pleaded before trying a different approach, "Leiko Natsuki! If you don't wake up right this moment I'll… I'll… I'll… I'll never forgive you…" The chara tried scolding but in the end her voice broke and became just above a whisper then she began to cry even harder.

Natsuki? Ms. Pigtails? No it can't be… Doesn't she have long hair? Ikuto thought to himself.

"Somebody! Anybody! Someone help Nat-chan!" The chara cried out.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught the glimpse of something shine. It was a black bobby pin. Well, actually there were two. He approached the unconscious girl only to have the chara go defensive. If it had been anybody that didn't have a chara they wouldn't have seen her.

"Stay away! What do you want with Nat-chan!? She's been through enough!" The chara said defending the unconscious girl.

"Weren't you crying out for someone to help her three seconds ago?" He asked rhetorically.

"How can you see me? Wait don't answer that. How did you hear me?" She asked.

"Because I can." He answered.

"You have a chara too don't you! Well, if you can hear and see me then leave Nat-chan alone! She doesn't need to be hurt-" She started to scold.

"Where've you been, Ikuto nya?" Another chara asked as he floated towards them, he had cat ears and a tail with cat-like paws on his hands and feet.

'Nope. But his chara does.' 'You're right he is a little naughty but he's got this mysterious feel to him… Like he's trying to hide something…', Natsuki's words rung through her head. Now that she thought about it the boy did have a mysterious feel to him, not to mention his chara fit Natsuki's description.

"You're that boy… Nat-chan was talking about! The one with the cat chara and had a mysterious feel to him!" She said finally figuring it out.

"So that's why." He said to himself referring to the strange nickname she had given him before asking, "Where she live?"

"On the other side of the city…" The chara answered.

"…"

"She said she wanted take a good look around!" The chara lied to the unsaid questioned defensively.

Grumbling under his breath he approached the hurt girl. He somehow securely positioned the girl on his back (A/N a piggyback). Looking to the sky he saw rain clouds. Figuring out his house was closer he decided to bring her to his house and take care of her there.

When Natsuki awoke she was on an unfamiliar bed with a thin blanket atop her in a room she didn't recognize. She had a short-sleeved black shirt a little too big for her on and all her cuts and bruises were tended to. Before she could comprehend Hina had tackled her neck and she felt her snuggle into her.

"Oh Nat-chan!! You're finally awake! I was worried about you!" Hina squealed.

"Hina… I can't really breathe…"

Realizing that she was strangling Natsuki she jumped away, smiling sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Nat-chan!" Hina apologized.

"You're finally awake." Natsuki heard a familiar voice say.

Only then did she notice him sitting in a chair quite close to the bed she was resting on.

"Ikuto? Where am I?" She asked.

"My place." He answered simply.

"I'm so sorry, Ikuto. I didn't mean to intrude-" She began trying to sit up but was quickly pushed down by her shoulders by the said boy.

"You're still hurt." He said bluntly getting off her.

"B-but-" She began.

"I called up your house. It was your sister. I didn't tell them anything about what happened. I just said you were staying at my place until the storm died down. I found out your number through that chara of yours by the way" He interrupted.

"B-but… What about your-" Natsuki began again.

"They called. They said they weren't coming back until the storm died down." He told her before asking, "So, you going to tell me what happened or am I going to somehow get it out of you?"

"Why are you doing all of this, Ikuto?" She inquired, her eyes no longer filled with happiness but now slightly empty and lonely, "Why do all of this for someone you barely know? It makes no sense…"

"Baka," Was his simple reply, "I may have only known you for a little while but I can't really ignore an unconscious body on the ground. Especially that shriek of yours. Not very hard to hear, anyway, your chara over there was begging for help… She was crying and everything."

Natsuki looked over to Hina.

"Hina cried…?" Natsuki questioned looking over at her chara.

"Shut up. You had me really scared." She answered, turning her head to hide her blush which only made Natsuki smile making some of the previous cheerfulness return to her eyes.

"So can you tell me what happened? Let's start with what were you doing on the other side of the city to your house? That Hina over there said it was look around. That's not true is it?" Ikuto asked.

"Yeah. I wasn't looking around. I was trying to umm use up time. You see I have this 16 year old sister and this 6 year old brother. My mum is always at work with the exception of taking care of my little brother. You see his day care tends to finish quite early so she has to take care of him at work and can't bring him home because she has to stay at work. My sister always has activities to do after school. So she doesn't get back until late. My dad is also at work. I hate coming to an empty home. It gives me the creeps so I was trying to use time until I knew someone would be back…" She answered sadly.

"…" Ikuto pressed on.

"So today when I wondering around, I saw these girls a few years older. Before I knew it they sort of started attacking me. They pushed me around and hit me and cut my hair. Then I passed out. Though they kept on telling me to stay away from you." She said looking away from him.

"…" Was his only answer.

Just then the sky cleared.

"I guess you better get ready. Your sister said she was going to pick you up when the sky cleared up, she kind of forced it out of my when I was talking to her on the-" He began before the door bell rang.

Before either of them knew it the front door itself was kicked down. The person you did the actual kicking walked in calmly. She had long yellow hair tied in a high ponytail. She was wearing a light purple spaghetti sundress. She took a long deep breath before,

"LEIKO NATSUKI YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTT OUT HERE RIGHT NOW OR ELSE!!" She shouted.

Natsuki slowly walked towards the front door only to be tackled to the ground by a bone crushing hug.

"OH NATSUKI-CHAN!! ONEE-CHAN WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU!! I MEAN FIRST WHEN I COME HOME YOUR NOT HOME AND THEN I FIND OUT YOUR STAYING WITH SOME BOY YOU MET!! WAAAAHHH! ONEE-CHAN WAS ABOUT TO BREAK DOWN!!" The said 'onee-chan' shouted/cried in Natsuki's ear causing both Hina and Natsuki to wince.

"It's alright, Suzuki-nee-san." Natsuki said a somewhat bored look on her face, effortlessly using one hand to pat her elder sister on the back trying to comfort her sister somewhat.

After another few minutes of crying Suzuki finally let go of her little sister. Without questioning why her sister was clad in only a large shirt and underpants she guided her sister out the door to her car. Sparing a final glance she waved and smiled shyly as her goodbye towards Ikuto who had just entered the front hallway.

"So who was that boy?" Suzuki finally asked as she focused on the road ahead of her whilst driving.

"Just a classmate…" She answered.

More like my Prince… Natsuki thought to herself.

I'm not dead! YAY!!

See you time! Please review!