Aquatwin: Oh my, this is short starter chapter...but I wanted to write a fighting action painful drama and it was done in a sort of hurry, so sorry if it's not as good as it could be...

Rima: why is it I'm practically emo in here?

Aquatwin: That is to be revealed later! Now shhh...don't ruin it for the readers!

Nagi: Um....I guess I have to do disclaimer. Shugo chara belongs to peach pitt

Aquatwin: BUT THE IDEA OF X-KUSUKUSU AND NOOSE DROP BELONG TO ME!

Crystal: The numbers in parenthesese mean go to bottom and match with numbers. Enjoy! *wink*

KusuKusu's Pov

Rima was in her ball position again. My funny-faces didn't work. Not at all.

Just sitting there on her head wasn't helping much either, but I think being her guardian character, I know that it was enough for her to at least know I was here.

Why did her parents have to dump this on her? Sometimes I honestly wished they could see me so I could pull their faces into funny faces (and if its not your own doing, it tends to hurt).

"KusuKusu, it's useless..." Rima muttered. A pain sliced through me. Oh no! RIMA NO!

I zipped to her face. "Rima, no, no! it's not useless!" I squeaked.

"They won't laugh. They'll never smile. If it weren't for me..." Her eyes that glistened with tears looked up and stared at me. They looked like they belonged on a corpse. My insides were burning now.

"Rima, you're not useless, please, don't give up hope!" I screamed in her face, tears pricking my chibi eyes. She won't listen!! I looked hurriedly from side to side. I had to hurry...before....before....

I know!!!

I took one last glance at Rima. Another dagger to the heart that made me give out a yelp. I had to hurry. I had to find him. He was the only one that could help!

Flying as fast as I could, I zoomed in the direction where I sensed his shugo chara.

Nagi's PoV

"Alright Nagi!" Rythem gave me a thumbs up. I smiled as the basketball rolled back to my feet.I bent down and picked it up.

"Okay, Rythem, I have to get home for dance practice or else mother will be ticked." I told him. He pouted. Then he seemed to notice something out of the corner of his eye.

"KusuKusu?" He whispered. My head whipped to the side. Sure enough, the clown chara was flying faster than I thought possible. She rammed into Rythem and grasped his clothes.

"Woah, KusuKusu, whats up?" He asked, genuinely caring. I was anxious (and not in the good way) becase Rima wasn't even close to her. And the look of distress on her Chara's face was enough to give me a heart attack.

"Its....it's rima!" She panted. My eyes widened. KusuKusu screeched in pain. Oh no, not good!

"KusuKusu...why...why does your prescence feel like an....an..." Rythem gulped. What?!?!

"An X-egg...." He muttered quietly. The basketball in my hand dropped to the ground.

"What's wrong with Rima?!!?" I yelled. KusuKusu looked to me, tears in her normally bright eyes.

"Nagi! You have to....have to help her!" She gasped, beads of sweat falling down her forehead. It must be takeing a lot out of the oranged hair chibi just to be floating there.

"Anything! Just tell me where she is!!!" I demanded. She looked like she was gradually fading.

"Royal Garden!!! Sh...she's losing faith in laughter! In happiness!!! In life! in.....in...." The 2 halves of her egg appeared above and below her, starting to close. I clenched my fists.

"KUSUKUSU!" Rythem screeched, lunging for the egg. It snapped shut before he got the chance. Anger and worry boiled deep in my stomach. There was no way I would let this happen to Rima!!!

The egg that had been kusukusu floated up above our heads and an X flashed across it. "Useless...." Rima's soft voice said emotionally, doubled with KusuKusu's whom shared the same tone. The egg flew off in the direction of the Royal Garden.

I clenched my fists. "RYTHEM!" I hollered. He turned to me with determination in his eyes.

"ON IT!" The familar blue wings appeared on my shoes. I bent my legs and jumped with all my strength. Soaring up in the sky, I was higher than I had ever jumped before. That didn't matter though, all that mattered in my mind at that moment was saving Rima.

We decended to the ground in front of the royal garden. I distinctly saw the back of Rima's blonde little head standing at the entrance to the garden. I was half hoping that KusuKusu had gone back to normal.

"Rima-chan?" I stuttered.

Her soft voice responded, emotionlessly and almost dead. "They don't care...."

I took a tentative step forward. "Rima-chan?" I tried to make my voice assertive, but I failed. I couldn't help it, I was...I was scared for Rima.

"No one cares. No one ever cares." Her voice became louder. She was starting to sound angry. She turned around to face me....

And her normally annoyed eyes that always greet me were nothing but a void of darkness. Those eyes froze me right to the spot. No, this can't be. Please let this be a nightmare. My Rima was not a victim of owning an X-egg. PLEASE WAKE ME UP!

"They'll never laugh, nagihiko." She whispered, even with her empty and emotionless eyes, her eyebrows creased together in anger. "They won't laugh because they don't love each other and they don't love me." Her voice was gradually growing.

"Rima-chan, that's not...." I started to say, but she stomped her foot.

"THEY WOULD STILL LOVE EACH OTHER IF IT WEREN'T FOR ME! THEY'D BE LAUGHING!! I'M SO...I'M SO....." She hollered, eyes squeezed shut, shaking her head from side to side, tears flying out. KusuKusu's now X-egg floated up behind her. It cracked open. Oh no.....

"USELESS!!" She screamed, falling to the ground, clenching her head in what looked like pain.

"RIMA!!" I screamed, finally coming to my senses. I started to run forward, but the X-chara that used to be KusuKusu floated up between us.

Rythem gasped.

This character couldn't be KusuKusu. It had dark blood red hair pulled up into a braid, lifeless dark brown eyes, the symbols went from a green tear drop and star to a red skull and bat that were placed on pale skin. Her hat was still there, but it was white and black striped with an X on the end where the green ball should've been. Her clown jumpsuit was changed into what looked like a black ballerina dress, white gloves and white boots. (1)

I heard Rythem mutter disbelieving "KusuKusu..."

I looked over to Rima who was still clenching her head. "They don't love each other because of me. All because of me!" She screeched, tears sprinkling the concrete beneath her. I made a move to go forward again, but a rope like Rima used for tightrope dancer flew at me and I had to dodge it. Thank goodness I still had the wings on my shoes.

I flipped my hair out of my eyes and looked up at X-KusuKusu from where I was on the ground. She was holding either arm out, controling the glowing purple ropes.

Rima stood up, and looked over to me. Her eyes didn't change, still no emotion. Her eye-brows creased once more, then she gestured for KusuKusu to come over. The ropes flew back, barely missing my head by not even a centimeter a making a snap noise past my ear. Then she said dreaded words I hoped would've never happened.

"Watashi Korkoro no: Unlock." She whispered. NO!!!

Dark puple light surrounded her. She yelped out "Chara Nari: Noose Drop"(2) and floated to the ground. And....wow.

Her hair held a black bow with a giant white X in the center of the bow's tie, and it held up her long braided hair. She wore a black corset top with white ribbons streaking across her back (in X's), and a black frilly tutu that stopped way to short, just above her thighs. She also wore lacey black leggings and lacey white gloves that reached up to her shoulders, her shoes were the same as clown drops except they were black with white X's the ends. And her frilly collar around her neck was still the same. (3)

If it weren't for the situation, I would've said....well....she looked hawt.

She looked at me with her lifeless eyes. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. Her eyes started to swallow me. A sea of dark brown. My head felt hollow and light.

I heard a distant voice call my name, but I couldn't decipher whose voice it was. I felt something around my neck, pulling me forward.

My insides started to burn, flaming my veins. My heart pounded rapidly, the brown starting to choke me out. Then the brown was replaced with something else....

A normal Rima sat on the ground, in a ball. Her sobs racked her whole entire body. I wanted to go to her. To comfort her. A stabbing pain went through my heart just seeing her cry. Then she pulled out something in her fist. It glinted in the dark room...

A dagger. My blood ran cold at the sight of it.

She hiccupped and drew the daggar back. "I have to end this" She murmered. She started to bring the daggar back at full force toward her chest. No...

"RIMA!!" I screamed. I sat up straight. I was in the royal garden still, on the ground next to the flower-bed. The royal garden was bright now, before it had been sunset.

"Hey dude." Rythem said in a sad tone, sitting on the ground next to me. That was rare....chara's don't normally reduce themselve to sitting on the ground.

"Wh-what happened? Where'd Rima go?" I asked, abruptly standing up. And instantly regretting it as a headache pounded at my head. I groaned.

"You mean Noose drop?" Rythem spoke in disgust. "Don't worry about your mom, I managed to call Kukai and told him you had an emergency and you needed him to cover. The phone went dead before I could explain the whole ordeal." He spoke, ignoring my question. He was wearing the saddest expression I've ever seen him wear.

"Thanks. But you didn't tell me what happened to Rima." I sighed, sitting down on the ground next to him.

"She somehow hypnotized you and managed to cut off your breath with this attack called tightrope death. After slapping me away, she dragged you into here, kissed your forehead and whispered something along the lines of 'sweet nightmares, feel the pain I feel', and then flew off." He said all the while fingering his hat he had taken off. He was as depressed as I was.

I gingerly touched my forehead. I don't think she even knew the nightmare she gave me. "We have to find her and snap her out of the depression." I mumbled. Rythem gave a dark laugh.

"Dude, we're in a depression. I'm your chara, I know exactly what your feeling." He said with a tone that somehow implied sick twisted humor.

I looked to him. "What am I feeling then?" I asked him. I honestly didn't know myself.

He looked up at me with sad eyes. "We've just lost the girls we love, dude. And we might not be able to find them again."

(1)-Pic soon to be on my dA

(2)- Noose=the slip not you put around peoples necks when you hang them [gruesome, I know]

(3)- Again, pic soon to be on my dA

Aquatwin: BUM BUM BUUUUUUUUUUUM!

Rima: Again, E-M-O! This is so pessimistic.

Aquatwin: And I'm the most optmistic person you'd meet in real life, actually *sweat drop*

Crystal: She writes stories like these because it's fun, not because she hates life. She really actually loves life!

Aquatwin: But this was rushed, and I started it like this to keep people guessing what happened to Rima (although you might have a pretty good idea already...) to get so depressed that Kusu turns into an X-chara. Ah, again I feel like this might be OOC.

KusuKusu: My PoV was used! YAY!

Aquatwin: Anywho, please read and review, and if you'd like, you can give suggestions on how to make this better! Next chapter'll come after I update "Just the girl Nagi's looking for"

Nagi: *says sarcastically* Oh joy

Signed,

Bonnie