Crying. Crying. Crying. And still more crying. Is that all you does anymore? Do you just cry? Why are you crying? Stop, you shouldn't cry this much. It's not who you are, or who you pretend to be. Come on, be the strong girl you pretend to be, if you can.

A girl gasps and sits up as the voice rings through her head. She hiccups to suppress a sob and wipes the tears from her face. She looks around, but seeing no one, she shakes her head and takes a breath. Instead of thinking to respond the imaginary voice, she speaks into the emptiness of her room:

"I know it's unbefitting of a girl to cry like I do," She pushes back a lock of her bangs, which is the same red color as her boy-cut hair, "but I can't do much else. With everything the way it is…crying is…the only thing that gives me comfort."

There must be something else that gives you comfort. What about the karate club? I thought you were enjoying that. Or should you sign up for the kendo club this year like you want to?

The girl tenses, her light green eyes sweeping her room again. "Is somebody in here?!"

"Nusubito," A woman yells from the next room, banging her fist against the wall, "shut up and go to sleep!" (A/N: Nusubito means "thief", this will make sense later.)

Nusubito looks around the room one last time quickly before yelling back. "Yes, mother, I'm going to sleep! I just thought I heard something!"

"Ignore it and shut your fucking eyes!"

"Yes mother."

Nusubito looks out of her window as she's walking over it to shut the blinds. The sun was just setting; it had to be only nine-o-clock. She sighs and shuts the blinds quickly, dimming her room to a near dark. Then, as she's crawling into bed, Nusubito hears the voice like bells again.

Strange name; Nusubito. It's not something that's commonly used for a name, is it?

She takes a breath and mumbles, "What would you know? You're just an imaginary voice." She crawls under her covers and begins to drift off, but the voice continues:

Imaginary? Hu-hu, you'll find out very shortly that I'm much more than just a voice.

"What?" Nusubito shakes her head and sits up as she feels her chest get warm. She looks down as a black egg with a red and white X floats out of her chest and into her hands.

She looks at the egg with confusion. Just what was it? "Hey, voice, you know anything about this?" She mumbles. No response. "Voice?"

After a few more moments, she sighs and stands up, stuffing the egg into her backpack where it wouldn't be found. She had no idea what it is, but she wasn't going to let her parents find it; if they did, they would never give it back.

Nusubito walks back over to her bed and crawls under the covers, staring at her backpack. She drifts to sleep not long after that, wondering just what that egg was.

The next morning, Nusubito is sitting in front of the school – Seiyo Elementary – with her egg in her hands. She's looking at it, trying to figure out just what it is. She considers breaking it a few times to see if there's anything inside, but the thought leaves just as quickly as it comes.

"That's so cool, Nusubito-Chan!" A girl with long black hair says, walking up to her.

"Yuri-Chan?" Nusubito questions, seriously confused. Normally, Yuri would only talk to popular and pretty people, and ignore everyone else – including Nusubito.

"The Guardians all have eggs like that!" Yuri smiles, what shows in her blue eyes are nothing short of being impressed. "Is it yours?"

"Well…um…yeah…it is." Nusubito stutters nervously.

"Can I see it?"

Nusubito almost hands the egg over so Yuri can look at it, but the voice resonates in her head much louder than the night before, Nusubito-San, don't hand me over to her! She won't give me back to you, and then…I'll never hatch. Don't you want to me meet me, Nusubito-San?

"Yes." Nusubito mumbles lightly. She pulls the egg back against her chest and glares up at Yuri. "No. You can see it perfectly from where you're standing."

"I'll give it right back, Nusubito-Chan, I promise." Yuri pleads with her sweetest voice. "If you're worried that I'll take it, remember that I think of that as nothing more than a simple egg. What use would I have for it?"

We have to find those people with the other eggs; the people she called, the Guardians. The voice says softly.

Nusubito nods and stands up. "Yuri-Chan, no." She grabs her bag and starts running for the Guardian's playground, the greenhouse.

Upon arriving, she unintentionally shoves the door open with more force than necessary, sending it crashing into the wall. The blonde-haired King, Tadase Hotori, turns to face Nusubito when he hears the sound.

"Can I help you?" Tadase asks with a sweet smile.

The pink-haired Joker, Hinamori Amu, also turns around. "Oh! Kuriyama Nusubito-Chan?"

Nusubito nods once. "Yes."

"How'd you know?" Tadase asks Amu, with a confused look on his face.

Amu sighs. "She's in our class, Tadase-Kun."

The dark-blonde Ace, Yaya, looks over at Nusubito when the blonde-haired Queen, Machiko, looks over. (A/N: I don't know Yaya or Machiko's full names, sorry.)

Nusubito starts shaking a little at all the attention, but held out her hands with the egg resting in them. "I was told to come to you if I had questions about this egg."

Tadase looks at the egg, a bit surprised, but full surprise gets him only when he sees the red and white X. "An X-Egg?!"

"X-Egg?" Nusubito looks at everyone confusingly. "Is that what this egg is?"

Amu rests her hand on Tadase's shoulder. "It looks like an X-Egg, but the X is two different colors with Nusubito-Chan's egg."

Yaya walks over to Nusubito and pushes her over to the table and chairs, shutting the doors. "Come on, sit down. We'll explain everything."

Nusubito sits down in the Jack chair and sets her egg down on the table. The rest of the Guardians take their respectful seats, examining the egg carefully. Finally, Tadase says:

"This is an X-Egg." He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest. "There's no doubt about it, there's no other markings on it."

"Why's that matter?" Nusubito asks.

As Tadase begins to explain, the voice comes back into Nusubito's head, screaming:

TELL THEM I'M NOT AN X-EGG! TELL THEM!

"Ow…" Nusubito rubs the side of her head. "She says she's not an X-Egg."

"Regardless of what she may say—"

"Your egg spoke to you?" Amu cut in.

Nusubito hesitantly nods. "I think so. I don't know where else this voice has been coming from."

Yaya smiles. "Yaay!" She looks at Tadase. "Can she be the new Jack?"

Tadase looks at Yaya like she's crazy. "Yaya-Chan, regardless of what Nusubito-Chan says, there's no way her X-Egg can communicate with her."

"Aw…"

Suddenly, all the Charas come out from where they're hiding and float over to Nusubito's egg. They look at it for all of five seconds before saying simultaneously:

"It's a Chara egg."

"How could you know that from a passing glance?" Machiko asks, finally talking.

The Chara in all blue, Miki, steps forward. "This looks like an X-Egg, but there's a Chara in there about to be born."

The Chara dressed like a king, Kiseki, steps up next to Miki. "Yeah. Regardless of how it looks, this is no X-Egg. A king needs to be able to tell the difference."

As Tadase goes over to his "emo corner" – though it's not really a corner – Nusubito smiles at the Charas. "You guys are really cute, you know…?"

The Chara dressed as a cheerleader, Ran, smiles and steps forward. "Of course we're cute, we're Chibi sized!"

"Will my…uh, Chara be the same way?"

"Of course." Kiseki sighs. "All Charas are pretty much the same."

The Chara dressed as a cook, Suu, nods quickly. "Yeah! The only difference is our personalities."

"Oh!" Nusubito smiles even wider. "Can you tell what mine will be?"

"No." Amu shakes her head. "It's impossible to tell before it hatches."

"Oh." Still, Nusubito smiles. "I can't wait!"