Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara
One chara-less summer...
Teenage Rhapsodies: Prologue
She strolled with her bag tossed over her shoulders. Students admiringly stared at her, both upperclassmen and lowerclassmen. Nonchalantly, as if the world was just a big playroom, she continued to walk outwards. The final bell rang a few minutes ago. With a flip of her bubblegum pink hair, previous Seiyo Academy's Joker, Hinamori Amu, exited the school, four Charas floating about. Finally, summer break!
Amu was no longer an elementary student. She would actually be high school student this spring. Her previous red and black patterned skirt was now replaced with green and black checkered marks that partnered with green and black pants of the school Kukai Souma attended as a middle school kid.
"Freedom at last!" Ran exclaimed, punching the air with pompom-occupied hands. Her bright pink hair bounced as she cheered and cheered on the new found atmosphere, outside the claustrophobic four-cornered room with one self-occupied teacher and about 25 sleepy students. Ran, clad in her usual cheerleader getup, faced her owner and jovially smiled, "What's next, Amu-chan?" she asked.
"Not much," Amu said in a hushed voice, "But you guys will be up for some things" the girl smirked, a mischievous glint sparkling in her golden eyes. For some reason, the four Charas felt intimidated and fearful about the way their owner was acting. Dia, being the matured chara she was, floated towards her owner and solemnly asked,
"What do you mean, Amu-chan?" in her trademark singer outfit, Dia eyed the girl inquisitively. Miki in her usual artist clothes, Suu still fashioning her maid-cook getup, and Ran with her cheerleader attire, also floated closer towards the happy chara bearer. Amu smiled at each of them, careful not to arouse suspicion of talking to blank air from other students.
"Oh not much…" was her reply. Suu spoke this time,
"Do you have some things planned, Amu-chan?" Suu asked. Amu looked at her momentarily, and then cast her glance towards her friends who were waiting for her by the school gate. Amu did not voice a reply; instead, she left them to their thoughts with a sly smirk that stirred up even more curiosity from the four,
"You'll see" Amu whispered. She caught up quickly with the other guardians before she turned to them, "I'll explain everything later" at this, each guardian turned to their respective chara, giving them all a nod. The charas, being left bewildered and clueless, all eyed each other, then decided to play along with whatever mischief their bearers were up to.
"I sure hope it's nothing bad" Pepe remarked, glancing quickly at her hyperactive bearer. Kiseki nodded in agreement, just as Kusukusu laughed, "If even Tadase is up for it, then I guess it won't be anything…too…well…rash…" the baby chara continued, her matured side showing.
"You guys are all worrying too much" Rhythm, still sporting his rapper outfit, cut in, and placed an arm around Kiseki's shoulder. The king chara, clad in his regal clothes, tried pry away the Jack's chara's hands. Unfortunately for him, Rhythm was much stronger than he was; his efforts did not even made the other chara's hand bulge, much to his chagrin. He then resorted to reprimanding him,
"Get your filthy hands off me, commoner!" he bellowed, "No one touches the king!" the chara fumed. Rhythm retrieved his hand and backed away slowly, mocking surrender by raising both hands up,
"Easy there, tiger, I was just having fun" he said. Kiseki was about to holler some insults at him when Yaya's energetic voice rang through the air. All charas intently listened to the Ace. Rhythm took this moment to run away from the angered 'king' and sat on Nagihiko's shoulder.
"Alright, we're here!" Yaya announced. Pepe floated closer to her owner then eyed the place curiously,
"Where exactly is here, Yaya-chan?" Pepe inquired. The rest of the charas' interest piqued whilst their bearers feigned innocence,
"Well…this is…" Yaya paused for dramatic effects, "THE CHARA DAY CARE!" she hollered gleefully, clapping her hands a couple of times after her announcement. Shocked, the charas remained silent for quite a while, before blowing up into a series of expected questions, each thrown at to their respective owners. It was an uneven synchrony of questions that created an orchestra of noise audible only to their bearers; the most dominant of all the tiny, piping voices was yet to be defined, for their shouts all overwhelmed the others.
But after quite some time, it was Kiseki's voice that stood out the most, "WHAT THE HELL TADASE!?" he demanded, his kingly attitude immediately forgotten. Clutching his scepter tightly in one hand, Kiseki glowered at the blonde, princely-figure, "THIS IS WHERE YOU BRING ME TO!? A STUPID DAY CARE!! AND WHAT THE HELL IS IT WITH ALL THIS PINK!?"
"Shut up, you noisy idiot!" Kiseki felt a strong kick behind him that sent him flying in midair. He glared at the new intruder,
"What the--? Kicking a king? How dare you!" Kiseki fumed. The intruder laughed heartily,
"Oh shut up, brat. It's not like we all wanted to be here, right Eru?" Iru, wearing her devil outfit, glanced sideways towards the angel figure. Eru nodded in agreement; she still wore her angel getup, "Anyways, Utau said she'll be here later. Schools' finally out, eh?" Iru continued blabbing on. Eru flew over to Kiseki and spewed out her apologies,
"My apologies for Iru's behavior" flustered, but at the same time, pleased, over the formality, Kiseki bowed once before he dismissed the 'commoner'. A little while later, the guardians entered the establishment. Adorned by pink and white, frilly ornaments, the walls were painted with a bubbly hue of yellow, a few sky blue shades outlining the wall. The ceiling was painted with white, a sparkling chandelier hanging atop. The polished, wooden floor was covered by a circular carpet in pink.
The shop attendant, a man around his late 40s, looked up from the toy ship he was assembling inside a glass bottle and smiled at them. He pushed his spectacles upward towards his nose and flashed them a grin, "Welcome to Chara Day Care! Name please?"
It was Tadase who spoke, "Hotori, Mr." he said politely. The man nodded before skimming through a few pages of the record book in front of him. Smiling once again, he turned to them and then spoke,
"Of course, you're the one who booked about a month's worth of babysitting, am I right?" he asked. Yaya nodded vigorously before proceeding to introduce each chara and their respective bearers.
"Finally, this here's Iru and Eru. Their owner isn't here yet…" she explained, grinning like a child. Iru and Eru both stiffened momentarily before breaking into their own grins (for Iru's case, it's a smirk)
"That's what you think" Iru murmured. The guardians and their charas all eyed the devil-figure. Eru giggled quietly to her own, "Utau-chan is just about here…now" as if on cue, the door shop flew open and a beautiful teenager blonde walked in. Utau was wearing her shades, a red tank top, skinny jeans and red flats. She held her jacket in one hand while she gracefully flipped some of her long, pig-tailed locks. Removing her shades and perching it on top of her head, Utau's blazing amethyst eyes glared at them,
"Thanks for taking care of these two" she said monotonously, "let's go. We don't have forever" typical Utau the guardians sweat-dropped. Shrugging, the idol strutted towards the man who seemed to have his breath knocked out of him, "Alright old geezer;"—no respect or honorifics whatsoever—"let's get this over with. For almost a month, you'll be babysitting our charas, got that?" the man nodded,
"Y-Yes, I was informed" he said,
Utau nodded as well, "Good. Don't do anything stupid to our charas. We'll know. Oh yeah, one more thing, aside from our charas, here's some additional" Utau pulled out a medium-sized box from her purse. Removing the lid, two familiar charas stumbled out, panting quite hard,
"What the hell, lady!? I swear…" Daichi, Kukai Souma's chara cussed as his golden-auburn eyes narrowed threateningly at the blonde. Scoffing, Utau rolled her eyes heavenward. The other chara still seemed dazed, "Hey dude, snap out of it!" Daichi violently shook Yoru awake. The cat chara snapped,
"Hey watch it! And you" he, too, seethed and glowered at Utau, "What's the biggie, nya!?" he demanded, pointing an accusing finger at Utau. Again, the idol scoffed,
"Here they are. If they cause any trouble, just inform as right away, okay?" the man nodded. Utau motioned for the charas to line up. Immediately, 13 charas floated towards the man. Counting them the man tuned towards the bearer with a smile, he pushed his spectacles up.
"Nice charas you have here" he chuckled meekly. The guardians nodded, eager to get away, "Well little ones, since you seem lost, I'll explain everything later. For now, say good bye to your owners" he said. each chara drifted towards their respective bearer. The guardians plus the idol each handed them small luggage containing some necessities and memento. Curious, the little characters looked up with eyes sparkling with inquisitiveness,
"He'll explain everything to you later" Amu replied, eyeing her own charas, "For now, I'd like to tell you that we won't be seeing each other for a month" she said, masking her sadness perfectly. Forcing a smile, Amu gave her charas one last peck on the head before motioning them to drift towards the man. Albeit reluctant, the four charas did as they were told,
"The same goes with the rest of you" Tadase said. Although sad, Kiseki nodded his head proudly then clutched his scepter and pointed it to Tadase,
"Don't do anything stupid, okay?" he decided that not asking anything would be best. Tadase was growing up; there was nothing he could do about it. Sooner or later, the charas were fully aware; they would all have to disappear, because their bearers were no longer deemed as 'kids'. If luck would be on their side, they would last longer like Yoru.
"Will you explain everything to us, Amu-chan?" Miki, who never doubted Amu's choices, finally asked. Amu shook her head, "What do you mean?" the blue head probed. Amu smiled apologetically,
"He will explain everything; for now, be good. Besides, we'll only be losing physical contact! I promise you we'll call everyday, alright? Don't do anything foolish, okay? I want this vacation to be fun for all of us, alright?" Amu said, 'Cool and Spicy' taking over once again. Miki sweat dropped, Amu really does know how to cool her nerves down.
"Alright…" albeit a bit doubting, Ran nonetheless agreed. Miki and the rest of the gang's charas nodded. Bidding their one last goodbye, the guardians and Utau exited the room, "So, mind explaining things to us, Mr.?" Ran asked.
"Well you see, this is no ordinary day care"
"We can see that, given the fact that you can actually see and talk to us" Kiseki scoffed. The man was about to say something when a person reentered. The shop bell rang, signaling the arrival of the person. Looking up, Rhythm was the one who spoke,
"Oh, Nagihiko! What brings you here?" he asked.
"I nearly forgot them!" Nagihiko cried. He brought out a medium-sized box and removed the lid. Two angry charas flitted outwards. While the male chara composed himself quickly, the female chara began yelling at Nagihiko,
"You idiot! Do you know how suffocating that friggen box was!? Do you!? Huh, punk, do ya, do ya, do ya!?!"
"Easy, Temari, I didn't mean to" Nagihiko backed away. Rhythm patted Temari's shoulder,
"He's right you know" calming down a little bit, Temari huffed then glared at Nagihiko,
"Don't think you're off the cap so easily, brat" Temari glowered, "Just you wait; after you get back, you'll be dead" she threatened. Nagihiko just timidly nodded. Temari, after a few breaths, reverted back to her normal, lady-like composed self. She eyed the tremling, old man before bowing politely "Konichiwa, watashi no Temari des, dozoyoroshikun onegaishimas" she said. The man gave an equally polite nod.
"And I'm Musashi" said the samurai figure. Nodding once again, the man decided to introduce himself to the charas. After turning once to Nagihiko, the purple-haired lad decided it was time to leave again,
"See ya guys! And be nice, Temari" he warned. Temari glared momentarily before smiling sweetly; something that scared the wits out of her bearer,
"Hai, Nagihiko" she said. Sweat-dropping, Nagihiko stormed out of the room, fearing the wrath of the chara clad in a furisode.
"Well, my name is Takahashi Shuichi (1)" the man began, "this shop has been made so that charas such as you would be taken care of whilst your owner is away. Now, for your case, you'd be here for about a month" Shuichi explained, "Anyway, for a bit of history, this shop is a lot older than you think, even I don't know when it was opened up, but let me tell you that it was opened up for the sake—originally—of 'orphaned;"—air quotes—"charas. Meaning, those who lost their owners, or those who became x eggs, got purified but unable to return to their respective bearers; but as the years pass by…well, let's just say that this is what it turned out".
"I…see…" Miki said, "Technically, we're 'orphans' for now, right?" the blue-head asked, using air quotes to emphasize her point. Shuichi nodded, "But why did our owners leave us?"
"I'd like to know that too" Musashi quietly murmured to himself. Daichi, who heard this, nodded.
"Well, let's just say that maybe they want some quiet time"
Pepe was clearly offended, "You mean we cause havoc on them…d-d-destroy their p-peace?" she was nearly spilling her tears when Dia consoled her,
"No, no, no that's not it" Shuichi chuckled, "They just needed some…well…how should I put it…?" the man struggled with words. Musashi sighed, pushing up his spectacles; he eyed the man carefully,
"I don't know what's going on in their heads but if they were desperate enough to abandon their charas, then I guess it's important" the samurai-figure cut in. Shuichi nodded, his dark eyes blazing with anticipation.
"Well then, let's get things started! After all, I was not hired for nothing!" he smiled at them all. Leading the charas to another room, the 15 tiny figures reluctantly eyed one another before gulping down the pressure that has formed in them. Well, even if something bad was scheming up in this old guy's mind, they were ought to escape anyway. And besides, what's the worse that could happen?
Yuiki Yaya actually maturing? Nah.
Hotori Tadase acquiring a certain black cat's perverted traits? Probably worse than that…
Mashiro Rima dumping her comedy collection? That's horrible but nope…
Hinamori Amu no longer flushing from all of Tsukiyomi Ikuto's comments? Close…but no….
All these teenagers, one summer vacation, 30 days away from their charas, raging, uncontrollable hormones?
Put it together, you got the answer.
Nine teenagers together for one summer vacation, away from their charas for 30 days with their raging, uncontrollable hormones?
BINGO!
Oh joy…
The charas could only sweat-drop as they imagined the possible scenarios whilst the old man continued leading them to what they presumed was a playroom for charas.
(1) For some reason, the name Takahashi Shuichi sounds awfull familiar. If any of you know, kindly review me.
Me: I'd originally intended to make this sound more serious and matured but I miserably failed on that part. What can I say; humor is part of my language.
Ikuto: This is going to be so much fun… -smirks-
Me: -smirks- oh you could tell this early already? Oh my, Ikuto-boy, you sure have a nose for mischief, don't you?
Ikuto: not the best body part you can think of…
Me: Sorry, I suck at stuffs like those
Ikuto: I can tell.
Me: HEY! Anyway, you better review or else, Ikuto will pay.
Amu: I won't review.
Ikuto: awww Amu-koi… oh well, review you people or else, I will hunt you down one by one in case this brat here –points at me- decides that the best punishment is me not seeing Amu.
Me: good boy. But on the other hand, I wouldn't do that. But review anyway.
Ikuto: if that's not it…then… -looks at a picture of Barney- NOOOO!!!!!!