Title: When I Come Around

Author: SniffingSharpies

Pairing(s): Rimahiko

Rating: T

Summary: Nagihiko is a new kid, just trying to get along, but he passes off as a stuck-up no-good manwhore. (Yes, I said manwhore). He's stuck with Rima Mashiro as his guide around the school for the next week, but will they be able to get along? Rimahiko. Rated T for language.

Author's Note: Once again, thanks so much for the feedback. [: Sorry about the wait, I've been caught up in school ending and friends and all that... it's a lot. XD I think I might start updating every Thursday, or maybe Wednesday? I think that would be more organized than my current random update days, if that made any sense at all. Lol. Anyway, enjoyy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights to Shugo Chara! belong to Peach-Pit.

Chapter 3- If I Fall

It was the next day, Rima was getting into homeroom late because her alarm clock didn't go off on time. While getting ready, she promised herself that she would try to be nicer to Nagi, no matter the circumstances.

She sat down in her seat, able to feel everyone in the room staring at her. Everyone, that is, except for Nagi. She looked over at him. "Sup, purple-head?" She said casually.

He rolled his eyes.

"Look, I don't know what your problem with me is, but can't we get along. Just for today?" She pleaded.

"No." He said. Short and sweet. That's all it took for her to break the promise she'd made with herself. Well, not technically. She promised to try. She already tried. Good enough, right?

"Can we at least try?" She begged Nagi.

"Sure. Whatever." He said, just to get her to leave him alone.

They didn't talk.

Rima led Nagi to his third period class, when the time came, and they discussed their new project idea. They'd both agreed upon it-therefore, making it the on thing they'd ever agreed on-and were trying to make a schedule of when they can get together and work on it.

"Okay, how about tomorrow at four? I can come over to your house." Rima suggested.

"Um, no. You can't go to my house." Nagi flat-out told her, hoping she wouldn't ask why.

"Why not?"

Nagi mentally face-palmed himself.

"It doesn't matter, and you don't care anyway." He told her, not wanting to explain. "I can come over pretty much anytime this weekend."

"I do care, Nagi. Please, just tell me." He was shocked, she called him Nagi instead of Nagihiko. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad after all...

"You want to talk about it? Right now? We're in the middle of class..." Nagi protested.

"We're stuck here together for another hour, so yeah... I wanna talk about it." She declared.

So they talked about it.

"... My mom left my dad when I was four. After that, I stayed with my mom. When I was seven, my mom became a drug-addict, and because of the drugs, she was abusive to me-" at this point Rima was very close to tears "-and so I was put in a foster home. A few months later, another foster home. So I've been moved around from foster home to foster home for about seven years."

"That's... horrible."

"You get used to it after the second year." Nagi assured her, half-sarcastically.

"Still... I can't imagine my parents splitting up. I can't imagine being beaten..."

Nagi rolled up his long sleeves when Rima noticed that he'd never worn short sleeves or shorts before. His left arm had a few scars on it.

"This one," he pointed to one of them. "I did. I got fed up with all of it, I started cutting myself... but only once did it scar." He rolled his sleeve back down before anyone else could see his arm. "The rest were because of my mom."

A tear rolled down Rima's cheek.

"Please, please, don't cry..." Nagi mumbled.

"I-I'm sorry... I didn't know how much you were going through..." She said in-between sobs. "I thought you were just an asshole."

Nagi rolled his eyes. "That's what everyone thinks, you aren't the only one. Oh, and for the record, I hate the fangirls and all the attention..." He confessed.

"What if I fall along the way,

Would you be there to ease the pain?

It's my one shot,

You picked it up and threw it away,

Won't be long before I break."

"If I Fall" - The White Tie Affair