Chapter One
Haruno Sakura sighed as she walked down the street, looking at all the boys who wore the same uniform as her. She found that, with her nervousness around human males, it was easier to avoid them when she dressed like them, therefore becoming a boy. That way, if you tell them to go away, they generally don't continue to hang around you. Something about 'male space' or whatever; she didn't understand it, but she was thankful for it.
She liked things that way – no one approached her and she didn't attempt to make any friends anyway. So, every morning she dressed in the boy's uniform and twisted up her long hair – that usually fell just below her hips – before pulling on a dark blue beanie to hide all of the pink locks. When dress like this, no one knew any better. To everyone that saw her as she was dressed, she was just a little boy going to school.
She past an alley just as a kid came running out – he was in the first grade, if she remembered correctly. The boy bumped into her and fell back, looking up to see who he had bumped. He began to shake uncontrollably when he saw who he had run into. The boy began to stutter out apologies, bowing and bowing again, but Sakura looked away from him and walked forwards, ignoring the strange boy completely; meanwhile, the boy sighed in relief at knowing he wouldn't be killed, stars appearing in his eyes.
"Wow! I've just bumped into the Cool and Spicy Hinamori-sempai and the Cool and Mysterious Haruno-sempai! I'm so lucky!"
Sakura rolled her eyes when she heard him say that. It wasn't her fault that she got categorised as 'Cool and Mysterious' on her first day. She just wanted to make a point; 'leave me alone'. Too bad they took it as a dark, mysterious aura and continued to hang around her, though from a distance. Heck, she even had fangirls – well, they did think she was a boy, due to her clothing.
The girl enjoyed the solitude that came from her attitude and being 'male' to others, but could deny missing the people from her old home; the ones who had known her best, and who had stuck with her through everything. Still, it was a new place and no one had made a move to prove wrong her suspicion that the town she had moved to was boring. To keep her gender a secret, she had gone so far as to make up an excuse with the teacher so that she could wear her hat during class.
"I have a very sensitive scalp. Too much sun and it'll burn."
The suckers actually bought it. So, no one knew of her real gender in the school and she liked it that way. It was just too bad that she did want to get along better with people. It wasn't as if she was lonely (even though she kinda was), she just wanted people to include her sometimes. She would understand if they asked her to join them when they played and then stopped because she turned them down, but they didn't even try to include her at all.
She liked basketball and soccer, and also flower arranging and cooking, but everyone was too afraid of her to ask her to join in with their activities. If anyone even suggested inviting her to join them, the others in the group of children would gain fearful looks and stuttered out reasons why that was a bad idea, even if most of those reasons were just rumours. They never knew that she could hear them.
She sighed, seeing her school in the distance and shook her head.
Another boring day.
{-}
Sakura sat in her usual seat, listening to the whispers of people about Hinamori Amu and trying to ignore her own extensive group of gossip-mongers. It was truly annoying that these girls and boys seemed to have nothing better to do than to start rumours about her and Amu.
Just because neither of them tucked in their shirt and didn't talk much did not mean that they were dating foreign idols and had violent tendencies; in fact, Sakura had almost no real tendencies at all. She was rather calm when you got to know her, which no one bothered to do.
She played with the pencil sat on her desk and looked outside, seeing the clouds rolling slowly by and wishing she could be one of them.
{-}
"Haruno," her Landlord greeted from behind his desk as Sakura walked into the three-story apartment complex she lived in, "where's the rent? You're usually pretty prompt with handing it in, but you're two days late. If I don't get it by Friday, you're outta here, kid."
"Whatever," Sakura sighed, mostly ignoring the man. She climbed the stairs to apartment 7C – the seventh room on the third floor – and unlocked the door, pulling a small mahogany box out of her school bag and tucking it under her arm before throwing her school bag to the ground by the coat rack and hanging up her school blazer. The girl then took off her tie and hung it on the same peg as her blazer, making sure it didn't slide off.
She moved through the living room and opened the door to her room, looking around the small space with a fond smile. While the rest of the small apartment was plain and impersonal, with white walls, white furniture and a wooden floor, she had made her room her own in many ways. All it took was some paint, a brush and a lot of patients, as well as a trip to the local shop and a rummage through her old belongings.
The walls were icy blue and the carpet was white and soft, very comfortable beneath her bare feet. All across her walls was silver paint, spread in twisted designs that she had painted over the walls herself, using various stencils. On one wall was a collage of posters of her favourite bands, singers and actors, including a lot of pictures of her favourite actors, Oguri Shun and Matsumoto Jun. As well them, she also had a few photos of her and the small group of friends she had at her previous schools and homes.
She had a large bed with dark blue covers, black pillows and a black comforter, held up by a dark mahogany bed frame. Sat on the desk by her bed was a photo of a younger Sakura and an older man with dark brown hair and onyx-coloured eyes – they were sat on the steps that led up to Big Ben in London, each holding a small British flag and smiling. On the wall opposite her various posters and photographs was a large map of the world that had several red pins stuck on it, as well as a black string connecting the pins.
On one side of the map was a camera, hung by its strap on a nail. Along the wall above the camera were photos of the Russian Ballet, the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids and many more attractions from around the world, all with a piece of string connecting the photos to the part of the world they are in. It was Sakura's future plan; to do as her father did and travel the world, taking pictures from her travels and meeting all kinds of people.
Sakura stepped forwards and gently placed the mahogany box on her chest of drawers and smiled softly, unclasping the lid. She opened it slowly and left her fingers slip inside, instantly moving across something cold and smooth. The girl pulled back her hand, the object grasped gently in her hand, and observed the small glass cherry blossom – the edges of the glass around the petals were tinted pink and the ornament itself was slightly lopsided.
It was something her father had crafted for her with minimal help when he had travelled to Rome a few years ago. She had kept it safe since he gave it to her when she was four years old and took it with her everywhere. He had gotten her the box from a street market in China when she was five, just one year later. It was his last gift to her before he decided to take her around the world with him when she was seven.
She sighed and stripped off her uniform, going to her closet and pulling out a pair of baggy jeans and a red tank top. Sakura, after putting on her clothes and folding her uniform, walked to her kitchen and turned on the oven, finding her dinner for the evening in the form of a home cooked omelette. She sighed as she gathered the ingredients. Typical.
{-}
Later that evening, Sakura was ready for bed. She looked out of her window and smiled, opening it and climbing onto the roof. The young girl sat on the dirty tiles in her black, baggy pyjamas, her long hair braided to keep it out of the way. She lay back, looking up at the stars and her face became sad as she lifted a finger and connected the stars that made up Orion's Belt.
"Why does no one want to play with me anymore?" she asked the sky. "I've always been like this, but at my old school people still liked me. They even cried when I left. But this place..."
}-{
"Attention, everyone! Today is a very special day. We have two new transfer students joining us, both from different parts of Japan. Please welcome Hinamori Amu-san and Haruno Saku-kun," the teacher announced, allowing Amu, and Sakura to see and speak to the class they would be joining. Sakura noticed that Amu was panicking, but did nothing to help her.
"Well...Nice to meet'cha," she greeted shakily, but everyone took it as a cool, loner personality. Sakura mentally rolled her eyes, seeing the internal panic the girl was going through. The class turned their attention to her and she frowned.
"Whatever," Sakura dismissed, walking towards the empty seat in the back of the room, by the window. She looked up and saw everyone – even Hinamori Amu – staring at her with stars in their eyes. She glared at them and looked out of the window.
}-{
"...I miss you, Papa," she sighed, sitting up and placing her hand together in a prayer for her father. Another thought occurred to her and she closed her eyes tighter. "I know this may seem selfish, but I wish I could be the person I really want to be. I wish I could be more confident around people, especially boys, so that I don't feel so lonely any more. I wish I could seem more delicate and feminine, so that people aren't too scared of me to come near me. And I wish I could be stronger – strong enough to stand up for not only myself when I hear those rumours, but also for weaker people. Please, if anyone can hear me...please let me be the person I want to be."
She waited for a reply but, as she expected, received nothing more than a gust of cold wind. Sakura shook her head and carefully climbed back into her room, casting a glance at the photo on her desk and smiling before going to sleep.
{-}
"You have got to be kidding me," Sakura stared blankly as she lifted her covers and looked at the three eggs that lay there. "They didn't teach this in Health Class, that's for sure."
One was red and had a tartan-pattern with a thick solid ruby stripe around the middle and a pink broken heart on the front. Another was a blue tartan one that had a light blue stripe and a sapphire blue rose. The final egg was green tartan with a green stripe running around it and a dark and light green hypnotic swirl in the centre. She poked the green egg, feeling it's warmth and her eyes lit up slightly.
"They're warm. So, that must mean that something will actually hatch from these," she whispered, looking at the three eggs on her bed. She picked up the blue one and looked at it from all angles before shrugging when nothing happed and dropping it back on her bed. "Whatever; it's probably just a joke."
She got washed and dressed for school, twisting up her hair and pulling on her blue beanie before clipping a blue and orange Yin Yang pin on her jacket and grabbing a cinnamon bun from her bread bin. With the bun in between her teeth, Sakura ran to her room and scooped up her glass cherry blossom, placing in carefully in its box and closing the lid, clasping it as she carried it to her school bag and slid it inside, throwing the bag's strap over her shoulder.
Sakura then walked out of the door, leaving for school with her bag sitting comfortably on her hip. A few moments later, she walked robotically back into her apartment and went to her room, placing a blanket in her bag and settling the eggs gently on top of it. She starred at the strange items for a moment before shaking her head and walking out again, locking the door. She left the apartment complex, ignoring her Landlord's demands for the rent, and cast another glance at her bag.
{-}
When she got to school, she walked towards the entrance with a bored look on her face as she observed the whispering students. Her eyes became downcast for a moment as she heard a particularly nasty rumour about how she had beaten up a yakuza gang and became their leader. She really hated being known for violence, but there was no changing it after the day everyone named her 'Cool and Mysterious'. She believed that Hinamori Amu had it easier; she didn't have to hide her gender and the rumours about her being cold and vicious were far and few.
She scowled, holding her bag protectively. No one would take these eggs away from her, though. She would protect them, and provide better care for them than her father had ever done for her. Sakura's face softened, knowing that it wasn't her father's fault that she was alone all of the time. It was the glass cherry blossom that was a constant reminder for her – he was always thinking of her.
She sighed, her hand softly caressing her bag as she stepped forwards into the school. However, Sakura was not looking where she was going, and ended up bumping into Amu. Both girls – one in a skirt, the other in a disguise – looked at each other for a brief moment to see what had happened before they simultaneously reached and placed a hand on their bags.
"Hinamori-san," Sakura greeted once she was sure the eggs were okay. Amu nodded in reply.
"Haruno-kun," she greeted. The students around them gushed at their 'cool' aura for a moment until a loud noise caught their attention.
"It's them!" a girl squealed, pointing to a group of four students. Two were from Sakura's grade, if she remembered correctly, but from different classes, while another was in the grade below and the final was in the grade above. She shook her head slightly; she didn't care about the 'famous' students.
"The Seiyo Guardians are so cool!" another girl screamed as the four students came closer. Amu's question of who they were became background noise as Sakura stared at the oldest Guardian. His boyish charm reminded her greatly of one of the only two boys she had ever been able to socialise with. She turned away and opened her bag, reaching past the eggs and the blanket, to the bottom and touching the box she kept with her wherever she went to keep her going. Sakura closed the bag and stared at the sky.
"Not even paying attention to our explanation!"
"Just staring into the distance!"
"That's out perfect Haruno Saku-kun! Cool and Mysterious!"
These claims brought Sakura back to reality and she gave the girls a brief look before scoffing and turning away. She carried on walking until she was around the corner and checked that no one was watching her before she tapped her bag, feeling the eggs still whole inside. Sighing in relief, the girl thought back to what the students had said about her.
"No way. 'Cool and Mysterious' are just girlish fantasies. I'm just a 'nobody' after all," she sighed, feeling something in her bag move. She opened it and her eyes widened when she saw the red egg moving around. "No way! This can't be happening!" the girl growled, placing a hand on the egg and trying to hide it.
Hotori Tadase looked round and saw the two people – both from his year – looking distressed. As a Guardian, it was his job to help them, after all. Before he could approach them, the 'boy' quickly walked away, seeming just as calm and aloof as always, but something in the girl's bag caught his eye. He looked shocked and reached out to her.
Sakura stopped when she was further around the corner and looked at her eggs, poking the red one slightly. It didn't move and she sighed in relief, knowing that the last thing she wanted was for it to hatch while she was in school. That would be a true disaster! How would she explain to the teachers if some weird animal hatched out of a red, decorated egg?
"Would you not touch me like you know me...Shrimp?" she heard Amu say from inside the building and stifled a scoff.
"She so likes him," Sakura sighed, knowing that her character judgement was almost always right.
{-}
Sakura had been tuning out the assembly for as long as she could, but it was all just so boring. Honestly, who could have that much to talk about? She was just glad it was coming to an end. The only thing left was for the 'Prince' to ask if anyone had anything to add, and usually no one did. Then, they would go on to another topic, then another and another before finally they would whisk everyone in the hall off to their normal classes where they would pretty much forget everything that had been said.
"Alright. Now, if anyone has anything to add, please raise your hand."
'Yeah, as if anyone would be stupid enough to –'
"I do! I'm sorry about what I said! The truth is I like you, Prince!"
'Moron.' Sakura rolled her eyes as she listened to Amu getting coldly rejected. Usually, the girl's Outer Character would come into play and she would brush the whole thing off, but Sakura frowned when she saw Amu running out of the room. 'She seems really upset. But, I could never just stand up and go after her.'
"Just do it! Chara-Change! From a girl who wouldn't care about someone's feelings to a girl who would!" Sakura's eyes widened as she heard those words come from her bag and, before she could stop herself, a pink Broken Heart pin replaced her orange and blue Yin Yang pin and she was standing out of her seat, a glare etched on her face.
"Idiot! You could be a bit more sensitive to a girl's feelings! It takes a lot to confess to someone and it's just cruel to reject them so coldly!" she yelled, saying what she truly felt, before she too ran quickly out of the room to find Amu. 'What am I doing? I would never usually do something like this,' she thought, spotting the pink hair of the girl she was trying to find and running after her, only to land in a hole.
"Ouch!" yelled Amu when Sakura landed on top of her. "Look where you're going would you?" her Outer Character shouted before Amu could even see who it was that had fallen on her. Her eyes widened when she saw Sakura rubbing her head and standing up, looking out of the hole.
"Or you could look where you're going. Who runs into a hole, anyway?" Sakura muttered, ignoring the fact that she had also run into the hole.
"Amu-chan!" a small voice called as a pink egg wriggled out of Amu's bag. Both of the girls looked at it and Sakura placed a hand over her own bag when she felt her red egg trying to get out. The pink egg bounced a few times before it came to float at eye-level to Amu, a lot above Sakura's head, the shorter girl noticed in annoyance.
"W-What?" Amu stuttered while Sakura looked at the egg in amazement. It began to crack as Sakura's red egg escaped from her bag and cracked around the middle as well. Both opened and the shells disappeared, leaving behind two very small girls.
Sakura noticed that the one who came from her egg had long black hair tied into a messy bun that spiked in all directions and red eyes, burning with all sorts of emotions. She was wearing white button-up shirt with the sleeves folded to her elbows and a red, silk tank top over it. She also wore a pleated red mini-skirt that cut off a few inches below the middle of her thigh, over sheer red tights and red leather shoes. On her head was a bright red ribbon with a pink broken-heart clip attached to it on the right side.
"What're you doing, Amu-chan?" the little pink girl that came from Amu's egg asked in a hyper voice, "Let's jump."
"J-Jump?" Amu repeated. Sakura just looked at her hatchling in curiosity.
"Okay, Saku-chan, we got the caring part done," she stated in a smooth, velvety voice, "and now we just need to get the heck outta here."
"How're we going to do that?" Sakura asked, not even bothering to question the existence of tiny people hatching out of eggs.
"We go with them, silly. It'll be easy," the girl smirked. "All we have to do is, wait a while."
"Chara-Change! From a girl who can't jump to a girl who can!" the pink girl cheered as the cross-clip in Amu's hair became a heart. Sakura's hatchling grinned slyly and held up her hand.
"Chara-Change! From a girl who wouldn't hitch a ride to a girl who would!"
"Hop...Step...Jump!" she called as Amu jumped into the air with pink wings on her ankles and wrists. Sakura was glad she was so light when her body acted on its own grabbed onto Amu's back. Amu began to scream and complain about the wings, but Sakura just watched the sky as they flew higher and higher. Her hatchling flew beside her with a smug look on her face.
"I'm just glad that I didn't come from the cry-baby you're hanging on to. I feel so sorry for any egg that has to put up with her screaming and her constant mood-swings," she sighed, flipping one of her bangs out of her face and using pink lip-gloss on her lips. They landed at the top of the construction tower and the wings disappeared as Amu sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness it's over," she breathed, placing a hand on her heart. Sakura, who was in front of her, merely shook her head slightly and reached up to tap the taller girl on the shoulder. "What is it?" she asked, looking down when Sakura pointed towards the ground. "AHHH! We're so high up!" the girl screamed, clutching onto Sakura tightly. "Help!"
"Get off me!" Sakura ordered, pushing Amu away and brushing off her uniform as Amu clung to the pole. "Now, explain. Who are you?" she asked quietly to the hatchling, making sure Amu didn't see her.
"I'm Katsumi. Your Shugo Chara," she winked, twirling around. "I'm who you want to be!" she giggled, flicking her hair back again.
"Who I want to be? You're kidding, right?" Sakura snorted, crossing her arms and turning away.
"H-Hey!" she gasped, not liking her owner ignoring her so soon, "If you don't acknowledge my existence, I'll disappear!" Katsumi stated in a 'cute' voice, pouting slightly.
"I acknowledge your existence; I merely do not want you around me," Sakura informed her in a toneless voice. Katsumi sweat-dropped.
"I knew you'd say that."
"Haruno-kun," Amu called out to her, still clutching the pole. Sakura quickly stuffed Katsumi into her bag and turned to face Amu.
"What?" she asked with a frown. Amu pointed behind her and Sakura looked up, seeing a High School student with cat ears on top of his head. "Cat ears? Are you kidding me?" Sakura bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything else as the boy's tail twitched and he hummed. The cross-dressed girl's eyes widened slightly and she took a step back until she was almost leaning on the pole Amu was still clutching for her life.
"So, there really is a Chara-Bearer here? But which one of you is it?" he asked himself, looked between the girl and the 'boy'. He saw a pink Chara floating by the girl and smirked. "The girl, huh?" he said, stepping towards the two of them.
"Another weirdo," Amu asked herself, not noticing Sakura's slight smirk of amusement, "and this one has cat ears?"
"Apparently," Sakura sighed, trying to calm herself. Amu seemed like she needed more help at the moment, so Sakura placed her own shaking form between the Hinamori girl and the cat-eared 'weirdo'. He came closer until he was standing right in front of Sakura and he grinned slightly.
"Oh? Protecting the girl? Strange, considering she's actually taller than you anyway, little boy," he said with a laugh under his words. Sakura scowled at him as he sniffed the air above her. "So you have eggs too, huh? And there's even more with the girl, as well. My lucky day."
"They each have two more," a small cat-Chara stated as he popped up behind the boy's shoulder. Sakura's attention turned to him momentarily, but that was enough time for the boy to get between her and Amu.
"Amu-chan! Look out, this guy is after your –!" the pink Chara was cut off when the boy flicked her away.
"So, your name is Amu, huh?" he asked as he dug his hands into the girl's bag and pocket. Sakura turned sharply when she heard Amu's shriek and aimed a kick at his head, only to have him dodge and steal her bag.
"Hey!" Sakura growled, reaching to grab her bag back, but he was faster. The boy reached in and pulled out her two eggs before dropping the bag off of the side of the tower. Sakura watched it fall with widening eyes, about to jump after it, but Katsumi had escaped and held her back. Amu didn't notice the small Chara, but she did see the boy holding two eggs in each hand.
"Give them back, you egg thief!" the pink Chara demanded, having flown back after being flicked away. He sniffed Sakura's eggs and grinned.
"Looks like they're about to hatch," he stated.
"And we got the Humpty Lock, too," the Cat-Chara grinned, hugging the lock tightly. "Let's go, Ikuto," he said, turning and floating away with his owner following him. Sakura was still looking at her bag as it landed heavily on the ground. She flinched and looked away, glaring at the guy's retreating back in rage.
"You have no respect for other people at all, do you?" she ground out, her fists clenched. "Those eggs don't even belong to you, so..." she trailed off as he turned around and charged at him, "give them back!" Sakura yelled, reaching to grab her eggs, only to have all four drop out of his hands on different sides of the tower. She jumped off the rail to catch hers while Amu did the same, but Sakura's eggs were in the centre of the tower.
"Saku-chan! What're you doing? You can't fly like that other girl can!" Katsumi yelled, panicking, floating by Sakura as she caught the eggs and turned herself around so that her back was to the ground and the eggs wouldn't hit the bottom of the fall. She closed her eyes and waited for impact, only to see and bright flash of light and felt herself being caught in strong arms.
"What kind of idiot jumps off of a building?" a male voice asked her as she was placed on her feet on the ground. She opened her eyes and looked up, seeing the boy who had taken her eggs in the first place. Sakura stepped back and looked up, thinking of a reply.
"Well, technically, it's not a building yet," she stated, scowling at him when she heard him laughing. "What's so funny?"
"You are, obviously," Ikuto chuckled. "You're not even concerned that you almost became nothing more than a splat on the ground; a small one, at that."
"Well, I didn't, so there's no point in dwelling on what didn't happen," she told him, checking to see if her eggs were okay and at the same time keeping them away from the teenage boy.
"Holy Crown!" she heard someone yell from her right. Sakura turned to see the 'Prince' of Seiyo Elementary with a crown on his head, a sceptre in his hand and what looked like glowing orange jelly catching Amu as she fell. The 'jelly' disappeared in a flood of sparkles to show the blonde holding Amu in his arms while she held her eggs.
"Oh, it's you, Little King," Ikuto said as he appeared before them. Sakura tuned them out as she checked her eggs to see if they were okay. Neither had a crack in them and Katsumi seemed uninjured as well.
"Saku-chan, what about your bag?" Katsumi asked over a second call of 'Holy Crown', tugging on a strand of Sakura's hair that had come out of the hat as she fell; the girl absent-mindedly tucked it back under her hair before she paused, looking over to where Amu and the 'Prince' were talking.
Sakura ignored the fact she was interrupting Amu's dream moment when she caught sight of her bag. She froze before running towards it, and dug through the abused bag until she reached the bottom and pulled out a broken box made of wood, the lid hanging on by a single hinge as the other had been broken by the heavy landing. Her eyes filled with tears when she saw that the small glass cherry blossom inside of it had smashed, but she refused to cry.
"No," she whispered, picking up a larger piece and clutching it tightly until her hand bled. Sakura placed it carefully back into the broken box and slung her bag over her shoulder, picking up the box and holding it her hands, ignoring the blood flowing from her left palm. Amu stepped forwards and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at the decorative mahogany box. Sakura shrugged off the hand and walked past the girl and the King's Chair. She continued down the street, ignoring the glance of the people and the worried look of the girl who sat in the Queen's Chair of the Guardians, who was obviously going to find the King's Chair and Amu.
Sakura was so concerned with getting home and seeing the extent of the damage to her glass cherry blossom that she didn't even notice the Blue Egg move.