I'm trying to update at least once every other day so I don't lose my writing streak. Here's chapter three!
I grabbed my pajamas and the towel that was folded neatly on my bed, "Well, I'm gonna go," I said as I walked out. I heard Ryo grunt in response and then he shuffled out of my room and into the room in front of mine.
As I laid in the bath, the water unwinding the stress of the plane trip, I let my mind wander. I thought about everything. Life, death, friends, family, I thought of almost everything. Especially those Guardian Characters. I opened one of my eyes and saw the faint outline of my dark eggs. Five to eight days. My checkered egg will hatch around the same time I come into school. I wonder what he'll look like. Or maybe it'll be a girl, after all, I am of the feminine species (last time I checked anyway…). I reluctantly stepped out of the bath, the water dripping from my body and dotting the floor beneath me. I quickly ran the towel over me and then squeezed the water from my hair. I checked the sky. Dark. It was too late for me to blow dry my hair. I didn't know what kind of neighborhood I lived in, and if they would accept the roar of my dryer at this time.
I plopped onto my bed and closed my eyes. Sleep came slowly and morning crept up all too soon. Before I knew it, eight days have passed and school was in a few minutes.
"Caramelia! You're going to be late!"
I shot out of bed, my hair sticking up in a few points. I quickly brushed it and pulled on my red, black and white uniform. I smoothed my skirt down with my hands and tugged on my blazer, fixing the red tie. I threw the brown satchel bag over my shoulder (which is a lot different from the backpacks used in America. This would need some taking used to). I nibbled on a piece of toast and was almost out of the door when I heard Ryo behind me.
"Hey Lia, what's with your roots?"
My hand found its way to my head and I stared in shock. I had forgotten to dye it! I can't go to school like this! I checked the clock, shoot! School started in ten minutes! If I skipped dying it, I would just make it before the gates close. But then I'd be the laughing stock with this messed up hair. I had some dye in my bag. Akane and Hideki had left for the bakery so I could dye my roots quickly. That would take at least fifteen minutes. Then I'd have to wash it out…
"Well, I'm headed off to school. I won't mention you, alright? Maybe the teachers will forget," Ryo laughed, waving as he walked away. Kon was following behind him, bouncing up in the air as he floated along.
I ran up the stairs and brought out the bottle of dark purple dye. After mixing it up, I applied it to my roots. I waited until my timer went off and then quickly washed it up. There was some purple dye on my forehead because I was in such a hurry. I groaned and did something that I would have never done in my entire life in America.
One time, on meeting. I have one shot to erase that shy girl and replace it with an outgoing girl. I grabbed the scissors and snipped my long hair away. It now fell to the middle of my back, large choppy layers claimed the once straight hair of mine. I was surprised it had looked so good. Perhaps all those years I spent watching Mom cut hair rubbed off on me. And of course, full bangs covering the purple dye on my forehead. I shook my head like a dog out of a bath to get rid of any excess hair and grabbed my bag and ran off.
Seiyo High School. It was HUGE! It looked like a castle. But the castle's gate was shut and I couldn't get it. Apparently they didn't accept late students. I groaned again and stomped my feet like a toddler. This wasn't FAIR!
Something shook in my pocket, startling me. I pulled it out to see my checkered egg. I saw thin lines cracking it across the middle. It was hatching! I was frozen as I watched the top pop off and a small figure emerged.
It was the same size of Kon, or rather, she was the same size. She was in a completely black outfit, covering her from head to toe. The only open spot was where her eyes and nose was were, there was a slit in the fabric, giving her room to see and breathe. Her eyes were a dark red shade and her hair was down to her waist and a pitch black color as well. I gasped as she floated around me, evaluating me.
"Caramelia?" she asked. Her voice was smooth and was low like a whisper.
I stared at her, "Y-yeah?"
"I'm Nin. I'm your would-be self," she declared, her eyes sparkling.
"Nin?" I asked. Then I crossed my arms over my chest, "Well, can you help me get into school without anyone noticing?"
She smiled, I could see a gleaming white smile through the black fabric, "Character Change!" she exclaimed.
Wait, what's a Character Change? Ryo said something about that… he said he Character Changed with Kon and got into a fight. Wait! I didn't want to get into a fight! That would draw a crowd to me, not make me invisible! Then right in the middle of my scattered thoughts, I felt something come over me. As if a new personality has taken over. All of a sudden, a veil covered me. I looked at myself through the glass reflection. I had on a ninja headband. Where did that come from?
"Come on Caramelia. Just jump up the wall and run across to get to the back of the school. No one's there and you can say you came from the bathroom," Nin whispered in my mind.
This was really weird. Before I knew it, I had jumped up the wall (which was a good six feet) and ran across the thin top and reached the back of the school. I entered the school building without anyone being there to spot me. Then I felt Nin jump out of me, and the headband was gone. I checked my pocket. My other egg was still there. I looked at Nin, "What was that?"
"When a certain situation comes, I can Character Change with you. That will allow you to reach the part of you that's like me. So when we Change, you become a sly girl who can sneak around and not be seen. You also have attacks, but I'll get into that later," she said simply, dusting off her shuriken.
"Wait, attacks?" I exclaimed/asked.
"Hey, is that the new transfer student?"
"She seems new. Who is she talking to? Don't tell me she's like those other kids in that club," another voice responded.
I looked up, "Um, hi. I'm Caramelia Ishii. I'm the transfer student."
The second voice looked embarrassed, she whispered to the first girl, "Looks like she understands and speaks Japanese. What if she heard what I said?"
The first girl rolled her eyes, "Well, to be frank, I'm part of that club you're talking about. And we're not crazy. We're talking to-" she paused, "Err, never mind."
I looked at the first girl. She had pink hair that fell right on her shoulders. A small part of her hair was sticking up with an 'X' clip on it. Her uniform looked like everyone else's, but she wore plaid knee-socks and a red band on her arm. Behind her were… one, two, three, four, wow, four! She had four Characters. She narrowed her honey colored eyes at me, then it flickered to my pocket, where my egg was slightly poking out. I saw her eyes widen and I saw a small smile on her face, "Who are you?"
I inwardly groaned. I didn't like her attitude. I forced a smile, feeling Nin hover over my shoulder, "I'm Ishii Caramelia, first year. And you?" I stuck my hand out for her to shake.
She reluctantly grabbed onto my hand, "I'm Hinamori Amu, first year."
I looked for the other girl that was talking, but she had already disappeared. I saw Amu look around. I followed her gaze and saw no one was around. She took a step closer to me, "You have Guardian Characters?"
I froze up, no one has talked to me about this except for Ryo. Speaking of Ryo, where was he?
Nin floated up to Amu's face, "Yes, I'm Nin, Caramelia's would-be self. She has one more egg. It seems that you have four Characters."
Amu looked shocked, "U-uh yeah."
A small pink figure waved her pom poms, "I'm Ran!"
A blue character shyly said, "Miki."
"Suu!" exclaimed a green figure.
A yellow character smiled wide, "I'm Dia."
Nin gave them a slight nod, "Nice to meet you." I noticed she didn't offer a handshake. Perhaps Nin was a bit shy and reserved like me.
Amu tapped a finger on her lips, thinking. She then looked at me, "Come to this address," she pulled on my hand and forced it open. She pulled a pen from out of nowhere and then started to scribble an address onto my hand. The ballpoint pen dug into my palm and tickled me. I bit my lip to refrain from laughing. When she was done, she looked at me, "This is another first year's house. His name is Tadase-kun. We all have characters as well. There's at least one student in each year that has one."
I looked at the scrawled handwriting on my hand, "Uh, okay."
The bell rang for lunch so I grabbed the money from my pocket and followed Amu to the cafeteria. She invited me to sit with her table where all the "bearers" sat. She told me all their names, but I wasn't really listening. I only heard Ryo's name and Ikuto.
Which reminded me of when Akane heard us talking to Kon. Ryo picked up his phone and pretended to talk to this guy named Ikuto. I didn't know who he was, but apparently he was a real person. I saw Amu blush a bit at the mention of Tadase and Ikuto. Did she have a crush on them? Did she blush when she said Ryo? I wasn't paying attention.
I took a seat and saw a bunch of people before me. Different colored eyes stared at me. Red eyes from a blonde kid, a honey colored glare from another long haired blonde girl, a dark blue gaze from a blue haired boy and green eyes from a brown haired boy. Only Amu and Ryo didn't pay much attention to me.
"Hello, I'm Hotori Tadase," said the red-eyed boy. His head moved to the side and a few strands of hair moved along with him. He seemed to be glittering along with his smile. I gave an awkward smile back.
"Soma Kukai," said the green-eyed, brown haired boy. His hair was about the same color as my hair before it was dyed. I brought my hand up to my roots. Nin whispered in my ear, "Don't worry. It's dyed."
"Mashiro Rima," muttered the long haired blonde girl. She glared at me, her eyes the same color as Amu's.
Amu cleared her throat and then pointed to the blue-haired boy who was moving his lunch around with his finger, obviously not hungry, "Tsukiyomi Ikuto." He looked up as she said his name then offered a small wave. He was just like Ryo.
Ryo laughed softly before biting Akane's bread, "Caramelia knows who I am already."
"I'm Caramelia Ishii," I said.
"She loves me," Ryo said calmly.
"W-wh-what? That's not tr-true!" I stammered.
Ikuto started to laugh as well. He turned slightly to Amu, "Caramelia seems to be in denial. Does that sound familiar?"
Amu stared at him, a dark red blush claiming her face, "H-huh? No, no way Ik-Ikuto!"
I looked down. It was obvious Amu liked Ikuto. If I sounded like that, it must be obvious to everyone that I liked Ryo. I was shocked at the thought of it. I haven't really confessed that I sort of liked him. He was good looking. I saw him look at me, "You're blushing. You do love me," he said in English.
The whole group stared in awe as Ryo spoke in a "new" language. I blushed even harder, "No way in hell!" I exclaimed in English, "Why would you even think that?"
The group was looking at me and Ryo, thinking hard. They were probably trying to figure out what we were saying. I have to admit, having Ryo and I as the only ones knowing English made it easy to have private conversations. Ryo shrugged but kept a huge smile on his face. He leaned over to Ikuto and whispered something really fast. No one else seemed to have caught what he said, but by the way Ikuto was smirking, I could tell Ryo had translated our small conversation. I blushed as I finished up my lunch, listening as the people around me chatted about various things.
"Um, so Ishii-san," started Tadase.
"Oh, you can call me Caramelia. Or Lia," I interrupted.
"Oh, um, is that okay? I mean, we just met. I don't want to be formal," he replied.
"It's alright. You don't need to be formal. I'm not a princess or anything," I laughed.
The group sat upright, their posture suddenly rigid. A small crown appeared on top of Tadase's head and his gaze suddenly became fiery red. My green eyes flickered from side to side. What was going on? The group cast nervous glances at me.
Oh great. What did I do?
Author's Note: Yay! So Caramelia (I keep typing her name as Carmelia instead, so I may change it later on) has just met the group. I know I left out Nagi, but I'll put him in later on. Oh, and I know Ikuto should be in college, but I'm making him a senior. This was my longest chapter ever. 5 pages and around 2,000 words. Don't forget to review! Also, I only got up to episode 60-something on Shugo Chara so if some things are incorrect or I'm missing stuff: I'm sorry!
