I wrote this fanfic for the fun of it! I didn't think I would get so popular! You don't know how happy that's made me. And seeing that people are reviewing, can you guys answer something for me. HOW DOES MY FANFIC SOUND LIKE A YAOI!? I seriously can't figure it out and would like it if someone told me! Now just enjoy the story

Chapter 4: A New Friend

"Aw, c'mon Boss! I wanna go back to school too!" Chaos kept flying in circles around Yakuso's head as he continued to protest against the boy's decision.

Yakuso would hear none of it though; today was a new day for both him and his new-found Shugo Chara. But the last time he took Chaos to school, Chaos messed around with his original nature, and that was when he was still an egg. Who knew what could happen now that he was out. "No way; I don't want you messing around with my personality," Yakuso said flatly as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

Chaos pouted. Then he saw the chest where the other two eggs were and he smiled, his ears perking up a bit. "Alllrrright, but if that cat guy comes to take us away again, I'll just tell the others it was all your fault."

Yakuso stopped walking and turned to Chaos. "Maybe you're right! What was I thinking?" Yakuso quickly walked back and opened the chest, grabbing the two eggs from inside. "Well, take good care of yourself Chaos! I'll send you some souvenirs," Yakuso called back cheerfully and began to leave.

"THAT"S CRUEL, BOSS," Chaos cried as he quickly flew to Yakuso and grabbed his shirt, despite the fact that Yakuso could brush him off.

Not that he did; Yakuso just looked back at him boredly. "Honestly Chaos, do I look like I was born yesterday? You should be more creative." He held back a laugh as he watched Chaos pout stubbornly. "But you do have a point; I can't take my chances with a guy like that around. If he went after you, he might come after these two too."

"Then can I PLEASE come along? Please, please, please, please, please-"
Yakuso stood there and crossed his arms; Chaos would get tried eventually.

7 minutes later

Apparently Yakuso was wrong; Chaos was already on his 40th 'please'. And it was annoying the heck out of him. "Alright, I'll take you!"

Chaos stopped and smiled widely; his eyes shining and puppy dog like. He sped up to Yakuso and rubbed against his cheek, making a purring sound in his throat. "Thanks Boss! You won't regret it!"

Yakuso sternly pointed a finger at the fox Shugo Chara. "BUT if you mess around with my character in any sort of way, I'm gonna send hounds after you! Got that? It also means don't go getting seen by anyone either!"

Chaos gave Yakuso his trademark fox grin and saluted playfully. "You got it Boss!" Then, to Yakuso's surprise, he spoke more seriously. "But only people with other Shugo Charas can see me. Everyone else can't really sense us. There have been times children have been able to see, even touch us. Adults don't even know we're around; their senses are most of the time pretty weak. So I'm safe as can be. Well, not from the Pervy Cat; he has a Shugo Chara, so he can see me as clear as day."

Yakuso's head shot up to Chaos as they walked down the stairs to the living room. "Wait, he has a Guardian Character too?"

Chaos nodded. "Yep; he sure does." He rested himself on top of Yakuso's head. "But you know, you can just call us Shugo Charas. Guardian Characters is such a long title; keep it simple." Yakuso didn't answer and just stuffed the fox Shugo Chara into his shirt pocket. "HEY!? WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA!?"

Yakuso hushed him and walked into the living room quietly. He peeked inside; no one seemed to be around. He began to sneak in…and then flipped his brother to the side. "Can't I wake without having a training session early in the morning," Yakuso asked as he watched Mamoru get up and brush himself lightly off.

"Well, you need to keep your skills sharp no matter what. Who knows when you-"

"Want to become a yakuza," Yakuso finished jokingly.

Mamoru scowled at him. "No, when someone wants to go after you."

"Or if my brother wants to be a yakuza gang leader again," Yakuso remarked again.

That resulted to a whack on his head. Not that it was hard; it was just Mamoru's way of showing the sarcastic Yakuso that he was still the adult. And he planned on reminding Yakuso that he still had seniority in the house. But as quick as his seriousness showed it vanished and was replaced with a wide smile. With one simple swipe of his arm, Mamoru caught his little brother in a headlock and playfully gave him a nuggie. "And I got a message from school; apparently you finally spoke up for yourself." He stopped giving the nuggie and gave him a big bear hug, anime tears of pride coming soon. "Oh, you don't know how proud I am! My little brother's finally growing up!"

"Yeah-happy-you're-happy! Moru -can't-breathe," Yakuso managed to gasp out.

Mamoru let his brother go and laughed. "I went ahead and told the rest of the gang! They were so ecstatic when they heard you were! They actually sending gifts to you; I think it will reach by tonight!" Mamoru laughed when his brother groaned. "Kid, you know my buds consider this family as their own, especially when it comes to you!" He ran toward the kitchen and called back, "I'm making breakfast today for everyone as a treat! Just sit back and relax!"

Yakuso had a huge sweatdrop and sighed as Chaos flew out of his pocket, gaping at him in amazement. "Is he really a yakuza gang leader?"

Yakuso shook his head. "He WAS a yakuza leader; but not anymore. You heard him talk about the 'rest of the gang' right? He means it; they are all former members of it."

"Did they ever kill anyone," Chaos asked with interest.

"Hahahaha! No not really; they never even hurt a fly! They were more like local night patrollers than some gang. Though it didn't go good for their résumé until the work people understood. When I was a kid, they would sometimes take me out on their motorcycles around the place," Yakuso answered his Shugo Chara.

Chaos rested himself back in Yakuso's pocket. "He's officially my idol."

Yakuso rolled his eyes. "Of course he is."

"What does he do now anyway?"

"My brother does a lot of traveling business, visiting places and experiencing what things are like around the world. He's usually busy so we all try to spend as much time as possible with him." Yakuso began to walk in the kitchen. "C'mon, let's go help Moru with the cooking; you need some kind of exercise to make sure you don't try character changing with me at school anyway."

"But I thought he said to leave the cooking to him."

"Hah, yeah right! The last time he cooked for everyone, we were all sick for weeks! I don't think my stomach can take anymore of his 'experiments'," Yakuso laughed and went inside the kitchen, just in time for the explosion…

During the walk to school

"Looks like you're gonna have to buy a new oven now, Boss." Chaos flew in circles once again around Yakuso's head as they walked close toward the school. Yakuso was a little uneasy about Chaos being out of his pocket and flying in the open, but after a few kids passed by without noticing the hyper fox, he let it slide. Still, he had to admit, he was getting dizzy watching Chaos going around his head over and over and over again. "Can't you stand still for a second; you're making me dizzy Chaos."

"Nope, I can't," The fox Shugo Chara answered cheerfully.

"Why?"

Chaos smiled in pride. "The longest I've ever been able to stand still was 5 seconds. The only time I don't ever move is when I'm sleeping."

"In other words, I have to deal with him until he gets tired," Yakuso thought in exasperation. "This is going to be a VERY long day."

"It's not as bad as it looks; you actually get use to it eventually."

Yakuso eyes widened from the sudden response and instinctively looked at Chaos.

"It's not him messing with you. It's me; the other Shugo Chara," The voice answered soothingly.

Yakuso saw that Chaos was ahead of him and awkwardly began to respond to the voice. "By 'the other Shugo Chara' do you mean the forest one or the one with the river?"

"The one with the forest. Do you mind taking me out for the moment; I want to talk with you."

He obliged to the forest Chara's request and took it out of hid backpack, holding it gingerly in his hands. He was a little surprised to see that there was a kind of abandoned castle on it. "Okay, I know I haven't seen a castle when I looked at you before," Yakuso commented in his thoughts.

The Shugo Chara laughed good-naturedly when he heard the remark. "Our scenes on the eggs can change when we want them to. It is either affected by our moods, conditions, or if we just want it to look different. But aside from that I want to thank you."

That caught Yakuso completely off guard. "Um, did I do something worth for thanks?"

The Shugo Chara chuckled. "You became a friend to…Chaos. Wow, I guess I'm still surprised he finally has a real name. But it's a good one; that name really matches him well."

Yakuso looked up back at Chaos to see him making face at a passerby. Then he went back to questioning the forest egg. "Why didn't he have a name to begin with?"

"……We are…special Shugo Charas…that is all I will tell you for now. But I will say this…very few others know what our lives used to be."

He could tell that it was a tough thing to talk about for the Forest Chara so he let it slide. Though he still asked it questions. "What did you call him if he didn't have a name?"

"Oh, we called him Kitsune; we each had some kind of alias name to call each other."

"Well that makes sense." Yakuso looked at the egg wonderingly. "Since you're talking to me, does that me you're the next one coming out?"

"No; I think it's best if I stay in for a little while longer…But the 'river one', as you call him at the moment, is thinking about getting out of the egg today," he answered Yakuso thoughtfully.

Yakuso was amazed and took out the river one and held it in his other hand. Like the forest one, the river egg had a different scene on it now; it had a full moon and a lot of stars out above the river. "When?"

The Chara laughed when he was asked this. "His exact words were, 'when I feel like it'".

"Well, he likes to take his time." He looked at the other egg expecting a remark. All he got was silence. "Not much of a talker; that's a surprise."

"Oh, he talks; he's just a little shy right now. Give him some time; he just might strike up a conversation with you today. If you gain his respect, at least."

"How will I know he's the one that changes my character?"

The Shugo Chara seemed to think about this for a moment. "When you express yourself openly." It seemed to sense Yakuso's confusion and answered warmly, "You'll understand when it happens. *Yawn* But I'm tired at the moment, so I'll talk to you some other day."

"Wait!" When Yakuso could sense the Forest Chara was still there, he asked it one last question. "Are you trying to hint me in about your life; is that why you have an abandoned castle on your shell?"

There was a stunned pause but the Shugo Chara let a warm pleased aura blanket Yakuso as he chuckled once again. "That you have to figure out for yourself."

When that aura feeling faded, Yakuso knew that the Shugo Chara was done. "For now, I'm gonna guess he's a riddle Chara who is meant to confuse the heck out of people. Am I right or am I completely off," Yakuso asked the river egg as he placed the forest one back inside the backpack.

"He won't talk to you unless you gain his respect, Boss!"

"Gah!" Yakuso fell on the ground in surprise when he suddenly found Chaos close to his face. He scowled when the fox was laughing his little tail off at him. "Congratulations Chaos! You actually nearly gave me a heart attack! Can't you warn me before you do that!?"

"Before who does what?"

"GAH!" Yakuso fell on the ground once again and found himself looking up at Luna, who had a shy smile across her face. "Please don't sneak up on me like that," Yakuso sighed as he got up and brushed himself off.

"YO YAKUSO-SAN! WHAT'S UP!?"

Yakuso soon found himself once again on the ground, this time face flat from a hard slap on the back. "….you know, maybe I should just stay here to prevent myself from getting further injures," He mumbled against the floor. He felt someone boost him up with ease and saw the girl that Luna always seemed to hang around. "Oh, you are Hannah-san right? Any special reason you had to knock me to the ground and break my back?"

She laughed as Yakuso rubbed his sore back "Hey, you should be flattered you're surrounded by a couple of cute girls," Hannah told him, sending a wink at her blushing friend. "But seriously, we just decided to walk with you today."
"By 'we', you mean you decided to drag Luna-san into this and now you're going to walk with me for the rest of the year until we graduate to our next year."

Hannah beamed proudly. "That's exactly what I mean! Now let's get going," She told him as she locked one arm with Yakuso and other with Luna. "OFF WE GO TO GET OUR EDUCATION!"

"…I've never seen anyone this hyper about school around here," Yakuso whispered to Luna.

"Well, she's kind of-"

"Always energetic?"

Luna looked at him in surprise. "Well, yeah; how'd you know?"

"I had a childhood friend like that around my old hometown. I haven't heard from her in a long time though." Yakuso trailed off and looked to the side. Now that he thought about it, how were his old friends doing?

"Yakuso-kun, are you okay?"

He snapped out of his daze when he heard Luna's voice. "I'm okay, I was just thinking about something. I always get lost in my thoughts anyway."

"So you're like a girl daydreaming," Hannah piped up.

Yakuso scowled a little. "Nice choice of words."

"Actually I think she's got it; you do look like a girl in a romantic daydream," Chaos laughed as he flew close to Yakuso's ear.

"You stay out of this," Yakuso snapped in his mind. But as suddenly he felt Hannah go to a halt. Yakuso thought about asking why the heck they stopped until he saw the very reason why. Looks like the school guardians were doing their morning march just as they were going to class. But this was actually the first time he had seen them; he usually came earlier before everyone else.

"Then why were you late today, Boss," Chaos asked him.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe it was because a certain Shugo Chara kept waking me up in the middle of the night with their bushy tail," Yakuso whispered in turn.

"…Oh yeah; I forgot." Chaos looked at the Guardians and suddenly his eyes widened in alarm. He quickly went into Yakuso's shirt pocket and sighed in relief. "That was a close one."

"What do you mean that was a close one…wait, so they-"

"We should talk about it later Boss."

Yakuso looked at the now cautious Chaos and nodded in agreement. He had already encountered a Shugo Chara owner not even a day ago and Chaos almost got stolen because of it. For the sake of the other two, it would be best to tone it down until he was sure about these guys. He wasn't going to actually go up to them; he was just going to let things flow and see what happens. Yakuso looked at the members of the group. He didn't really know their names except for the king of the Guardians, a blonde boy by called Tadase. "How the heck can a guy like that actually be the King," Yakuso accidentally thought out loud, a huge sweat drop coming down from his head.

Hannah turned to look at him and frowned. "He's pretty popular with the girls. If they heard you say that, you would've been hunted down and killed in a matter of seconds, Buddy."

"…G-Girls are scary," Was all Yakuso managed to say, his sweat drops increasing in numbers.

"But what made you think that in the first place?"

"Well, he doesn't look like the leader type to me. He seems even quieter than you typical 'king'."

"…You make a good point, but he manages to speak fine in front of people. You know how the old saying goes: 'there's more than meets the eye'. You should've heard all the stuff they said about you in class," She whispered to him.

"Hannah-san, we're in the same class; I've heard everything they said about me. I'm not stupid." Yakuso smiled a little proudly. "I personally liked the 'Ice Rogue' title I was given."

"Oh yeah! One kid came up with that because you looked so cold and aloof most of the time. The boy with a heart of ice; the lone wolf with a hunter's glare. Yep, that was a pretty cool title huh?"

"Who gave me that, anyway?"

"Some guy from the drama club; I think he was just trying to make you seem more dramatic."

"Excuse me, do you two mind? The guardians are coming around here," A snobbish voice interrupted. Both Yakuso and Hannah looked up to see a prissy rich girl staring down at them as though they were ants. She flipped her curls to the side. "The Guardians are making their entrance! You would do best to show your respect."

Yakuso looked up blankly. "Why should I respect someone I barely know?" Everyone's attention was immediately turned to him. "Me and my big mouth." Yakuso could feel everyone's eyes on him, and that didn't make him feel anymore comfortable than before. It was making him freeze up.

The snobbish girl saw the slight cring he did and gloated ever so proudly. "For someone who talks big, you sure don't have enough guts to back it up."

Chaos' tail and ear fur bristled. He got ready to character change with Yakuso, even if it was against his wishes but then-

"Since when has it been against the law to voice your own opinions?"

Chaos looked up at Yakuso, who seemed a lot calmer now. Even if it was faint, Chaos also noticed a hint of gold in Yakuso's hazel eyes now. A smirk was soon across the fox Chara's face; looks like he could just sit back and watch the show now.

When the girl didn't respond, Yakuso continued to talk coolly and evenly. "I have no idea what's so special about them; I'm new around these parts remember? But you shouldn't talk so big yourself. I don't see you wearing that get up. If you really respected them, then you shouldn't be making fun of people just to make yourself feel high and mighty."

Everyone 'ohhed' at that point. Someone shouted out 'Now that's how to say it', but Yakuso was already walking away from everyone, making his way into school. Whatever was going on, he didn't care at this point. All he knew was that a calm essence took over him. A calm and earnest aura. When that feeling was gone he turned his gaze to his shirt pocket, where Chaos was resting idly inside. "Chaos, did someone just character change with me? Someone other than you?"

"Yep."

"…you aren't going to tell me who it was?"

"Nope."

Chaos wasn't about to let anything that would reveal the other Chara's identity slip out. Yakuso could tell that much, so he continued to walk absentmindedly inside school. While his attention wasn't focused on Chaos, the little fox snuck into Yakuso's book bag and went toward the river egg. Now the river looked a lot calmer. When he had lasted looked at his friend's shell while Yakuso was being bothered, the river's appearance was a little out of control. "Aw, you do have a soft spot for him."

"…Don't misunderstand my motives. I was simply getting annoy with that snobbish woman. But if you character changed with him, with you being…you, the matters would've gotten worse."

Chaos' smile just grew bigger than before. "Stop lying; you know you like him. I told you he was a good choice."

"Sure, whatever."

Chaos looked toward the reader. "Translation: looks like I'm gonna have to keep this kid out of trouble."

"Who the heck are you talking to?"

"The reader of course."

"What's makes you think this is a story?"

Chaos looked toward the sky. "I don't know, but I feel like there's someone out there, typing everything down, controlling our very existence."

"Have you been watching those fiction movies again?"

"…Maybe," Chaos answered, sifting his eyes side to side. He flew out without another word to his friend. There was just so much the river Chara could take of him. Giving his friend space might even convince the Chara into coming out, when Chaos gave more thought about it…

Yakuso was sleeping soundly under a tree, without much of a care in the world. Chaos, however, was bored out of his mind. "C'mon Boss! This is supposed to be your free-time, not your naptime! Go play some sports! Move! Do SOMETHING!"
Yakuso peeked at Chaos tiredly from one eye. "This is how I always spend my free-time. But if you want to go wander around the school yards, be my guest," He told his Chara, waving a hand idly in the air.

"You'll let me?"

"As long as you don't get into trouble and stay as alert as you can. I don't want to end up with another person after you guys. And, unlike you, the others aren't out of their eggs, so they have no way to defend themselves." He rolled over in the grass, making Chaos jump off of his stomach. "If something goes wrong, contact me as quickly as you can."

"With my thoughts right?"

"That would be a good bet."
"Okay, see you later then, Boss! I'll be back later!" Chaos saluted to Yakuso before gliding off.

Yakuso didn't show it, but he watched his Chara with slight worry. He could tell that Chaos could take care of himself, but he still couldn't help it. A sigh of relief came when Chaos went off without that many problems. Yakuso rolled over and stuck his hands into his backpack and grabbed the two eggs. Yakuso smiled at the two for a moment and then placed them close to his chest, allowing the eggs to be snug against him. "I won't let anyone hurt you guys. That's…a promise," He murmured slightly to the eggs.

There were only one aura response that he got. And it was questioning and doubtful.

Yakuso knew that it was the river Chara responding to him. The Forest Chara had a kind of friendlier aura compared to the river Chara, who didn't seem as trusting as either of his friends. But he knew much better than forcing someone to trust him when they barely knew what kind of person he was. "I'll leave it for you to decide." Yakuso tucked the eggs even closer to him and got ready to nap again.
"Ugh, I'm soooo hungry!"

Yakuso opened his eyes and looked at his eggs. Nope; neither of them were out…which meant…he rolled over to his side and looked very blankly at a different Shugo Chara. It was some kind of neko person, very small like Chaos, and had the same kind of mischief written on his face. Maybe it was because of how alike nekos and kitsunes were in legends. The cat Chara looked at Yakuso with his big gold eyes and his black ears perked up the same way Chaos' would when he got some kind of idea. "Hey you got something I can snack? I don't need anything too big-" The cat watched eagerly as Yakuso was already pulling out a snack from his nearby backpack. He quickly snatched the chocolate chip cookie from Yakuso's hand. "Thanks a lot! You don't know how much I love this snack!"

Yakuso couldn't help smiling as he watched the little Chara begin to gobble up the cookie. He reached into his backpack to grab his capped drink container. He poured some of his strawberry milk into the cover and placed it in front of the cat Chara.

"Thanks a lot!" The Shugo Chara drank the strawberry milk thirstily. When he was done, he turned to the boy who was generous enough to share the treats he had. "If you can see me, then you have a Shugo Chara too, huh?"

Yakuso froze for a moment. He couldn't believe he forgot what Chaos had told him! No point hiding it now; the cat obviously knew. "Yeah, but he's a little away at the moment." As he told the Shugo Chara this, he pushed his two eggs inside his backpack, zipping it up quickly.

The cat Chara smiled. "Well, as thanks for letting me get a bite to eat, I'll introduce myself! The name's Yoru! What's your's?"

"Yakusoku Ochitsuku." He reached out and shook Yoru's small paw. "What are you doing around here anyway? Does your owner go to this school?"

The cat Chara yawned. "Nah; he just let's me wander around whenever I feel like it." He peeked at Yakuso through one eye. "What about you? Not playing anything or hanging around your friends?"

Yakuso laid down in the grass. "Don't really have any friends to hang around with. And I'm not good playing with anyone my age."

Yoru looked at him a little surprise, but grinned mischievously as he crawled on Yakuso's chest. "You sound like you need a friend. Want to meet my owner? You two could probably get along well, being independent and all." He paused. "So what does your Chara help you with?"

Yakuso looked blankly at the cat. "Actually, I don't really know. Probably helps me take more chances…I think. What do you do for your owner?"
Yoru beamed proudly. "Freedom."

"Freedom?"

"You got it; I give my owner freedom."

Yakuso thought about that for a moment. It made a lot of sense; cats were animals that lived their lives the way they wanted, with no help from humans. When he looked at Yoru again, he saw the cat sniffing the air. "What's up, Yoru?"
"Is it just me, or do you smell something fruity in the air?"

Yakuso looked at Yoru a little weirdly. But then sniffed the air too. Even someone without the sensitive smell of an animal could catch a whiff of this in the air. "Yoru?"
"Yeah?"

"Does the fruit you're smelling happen to be strawberries?"

"Yeah."

"Then you aren't smelling things." Yakuso took another good inhale of the sweet scent. It wasn't from a fruit exactly; more like something a girl would put on herself to catch a guy's attention.

"Hey, let's go check it out!" Before Yakuso even had a chance, the Shugo Chara did something that managed to somehow tug him forward. And the next thing he knew, Yakuso had bumped into someone and both were on the ground. He groaned and opened his eyes.

A girl a little younger than him stared back with confusion and embarrassment. She had pink hair with eyes that reminded him of the summer trees back home. Her clothing style was that of a rebel, but Yakuso couldn't see a connection between that and the person he was looking at.

"Not to interrupt your little moment, but you might want to take a closer look at the position you two are in," Yoru whispered into Yakuso's ear.

He took the cat's advice and soon his face was even redder than the girl's. He was hovering over her body, his face only a few inches away from her's. Yakuso got up quickly and saw her backpack nearby. He brushed the dirt off of her, handed her backpack to her, and ran off before she could even mumble a word. Yakuso went right to his usual spot and fell to the ground. This had to be the most energy draining day that he had around this stupid school.

"Hey, it's not so bad. At least you learned something," Yoru sad.

"And what's that?"

"You're going to be the guy who goes on top." The cat Chara laughed and dodged the hand that Yakuso attempted to whack him with. "I think I like you, Yakuso. I'll come back tomorrow for some more snacks!" Yoru ran off into the distance and was soon only a tiny speck far away. Yakuso wanted to go after him, but following the cat would be like trying to run past a cheetah at that point. He walked back to his spot and went back to napping. He was going to have to ask Chaos about this…

During Art Class

"Well, I don't really know if it's possible to character change with someone else's Shugo Chara, Boss. I never really thought about that."

Yakuso frowned a bit as he grabbed his sketchbook from the teacher's desk. He had a pretty strong suspicion that the only way Yoru was able to move him forward was through the whole character change thing. But he wasn't a Shugo Chara; he didn't know how the process exactly worked. He was hoping that Chaos could give him some thoughts about it, but even the fox seemed doubtful about a character change with a Shugo Chara that didn't belong to the person. Yakuso sat down and looked at the bowl of fruit rather vaguely. The substitute for the art teacher was making them do still life…of a bowl of fruit. Yakuso frowned at the lack of creativity. "This is something I learned to do in grade school. It's almost embarrassing." His thoughts traveled back to the girl he had met during his free-time. Even if he had just walked past her, Yakuso would've probably remembered how she looked, a talent he sometimes wished he didn't have. Her long pink hair that had the same glow as a cherry blossom, her shy eyes that seemed a little scared at the closeness they both were having at the time. Yakuso could remember it down to her petite figure and the clothing that, to him, hid her gentle, docile nature. But what he recalled the best was the intoxicating strawberry smell that came to him like drifts in a breeze. That whole time, Yakuso didn't realize he was drawing on his sketchbook until someone right next to him said, "Wow! You're really good at drawing Yakuso!"

He snapped out of his thought and looked in horror to see that he had been drawing the whole time. What made it worse was WHO he had been drawing. The boy next to him took a better peek and grinned. He looked around Yakuso's age with tanner skin and an appearance that screamed 'rebel' even more than the girl's. Only difference was that it looked more like the truth for this kid. "So, you like to draw anime style huh? You did pretty good. Nice that you drew a more realistic side of her. And the fantasy background is a fine touch too." He held out his hand to Yakuso. "My name's Len. Future fantasy writer at your service."

Yakuso hesitated, but took the outstretched hand. "Yakusoku Ochitsuku; honored to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah, I know who you are. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming. So you finally are talking! You caught the class by surprise, you know."

Just from hearing Len's voice, Yakuso knew he was the one cheering him on during those times. He took a glance at his picture and was pretty impressed with his work. He had drawn the girl facing herself, in a mirror, other-world way. The anime version of her had the look of a rebel, as her clothes would suggest. But the more realistic version of her seemed to be more on the gentler side. While one side was like night and the other day, they both had feathers floating around in a dreamy way.

"But you know, that looks a lot like Amu. Have you met her before?"

"Amu?"

"I guess you haven't. Can't blame ya though; she's not even in our class." Len thought about it and grinned widely. "From what one of my friends from her class told me, Amu is a tough rebel around here."

"Does anyone have proof of that?"

The grin on Len's face went a little smaller. "No, not really. No one's had the courage to actually go toward her."

Yakuso took out a toning pencil and worked on the drawing. "Then it could just be a case of a huge misunderstanding."

"They say she talks and acts like a rebel."

"That could just be her way of defending herself. Sometimes, shyness can be mistaken for all kinds of things. Rudeness, grumpy behavior, or, in this case, a rebellious nature. It happens a lot."

"…You know, you're reminding me a lot about Amu right now."

Yakuso shot a glare at him. "I remind you of a girl?"

Len shook his hands frantically. "No, no! That's not what I meant! I mean, you might be right. Maybe there's more to Amu than meets the eye. Kind of like you."

Yakuso now looked a bit blankly.

"Everyone used to think you thought you were passive and aloof. But you're a lot more out spoken about how you feel. And you look like you can understand other people's feelings. What I don't get is why you didn't talk out in the first place."

Yakuso got out of his shock and shrugged. "It's a lot easier to think than to talk."

"Huh, a bounty hunter hero."

"What?"

"You're like those bounty hunters in fantasy stories. The one who has no past and an aloof personality that belies his caring ways. The guy who had to harden at a young age, but still holds on tightly to his morals. He just doesn't like people getting too close," Len explained.

Yakuso laughed at Len's enthusiasm just as the bell rang. He ripped out the picture in his school sketchbook and put it in his backpack. Before he left, Yakuso turned to Len. "You forgot one thing."

"And what's that?"

Yakuso smirked a bit. "No matter how many friends he meets along the way, the bounty hunter still flies solo." He walked out of the room in a casual walk, hearing Len's laugh even from the distance…

Yakuso walked a few more steps until he was dead certain this time. Someone was following him. Chaos had warned him just as he left the school, now keeping himself hidden in the boy's shirt pocket. That could only mean one thing. The person following him was a Shugo Chara owner as well. He paused calmly and didn't turn around. "I know you're there. Now show yourself!" He demanded.

A shadowy figure began to come out of the shadows and stood a good couple of feet away from him.

"So it's you again," Yakuso glared cautiously, holding something in his left hand…

Yay; to actually get this far with at least one of my fanfics! Hope everyone continues reading. And thanks to those who have been reviewing since I wrote the beginning