A/N: Tadaa! -awkwardly looks around- Yes it's been...what, more than one year? I admit I put this story into a corner while I was working on my Rimahiko story. I doubt anyone's still reading but I've continued this mainly because I don't want to leave this story unfinished.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!

Chapter 6 - Kiseki - To Go to the Park

It felt strange to be in Mayoke household, knowing that it'd be only Miki and I staying here the whole day. Miki's parents had taken Suu and Daiya to the cooking competition and Ran had gone to today's special all-day cheer camp. Whenever my parents had to go out on important events the maids or the family butler would still be present In the palace. I hadn't wanted to go to watch the competition since it wasn't appropriate for princes to appear in those kinds of events. Miki had volunteered to stay with me, although she insisted to referring it to 'baby-sitting' to her sisters.

I went down stairs to the kitchen and saw Miki preparing toast for the two of us. She was wearing her usual white shirt and black vest, accompanied by blue jeans and her signature blue hat. I myself was sporting a pair of cargo pants and a long-sleeved orange top and a white unbuttoned t-shirt on top of it. Back in the palace I preferred using my royal garments but I had to blend in with the commoners here.

I have to admit I'm getting accustomed to the Mayoke household. Toast was an acceptable choice of breakfast for princes, I decided. I sat down at the kitchen table, which had a red-chequered table top. Although the kitchen table was very much smaller than the grand dining table back in the palace, it was comfortable enough.

"Breakfast is served!" Miki sang, placing a plate with two pieces of toast topped with jam in front of me. She smiled as she sat down opposite of me, with her own two pieces of toast. She preferred them buttered, I had noticed. "I know it's not up to Suu's standard of an amazing breakfast but it'll have to do."

True, Suu I had to admit could cook so well that she could possibly match the cooks in the palace. I'm sure she'll do very well in the cooking competition; I wouldn't be surprised if she won, even.

I took a bite of my toast. I loved jam, it always tasted sweet, especially strawberry jam. I always had them on the English pastries that were sometimes served at tea in the palace.

"It's was good," I said after breakfast.

Miki looked surprised at my compliment. She tugged at the hair that was visible outside her hat. "Thanks." She looked down at her plate, which was also clear. "So, what do you want to do today?"

I had the impression we were going to stay in but it seems that Miki wants to go out today. I don't really have any ideas. "Up to you."

Again, she looked surprised. It must be because she's not used to not being given wise decisions while I'm around. Oh commoners need to make some choices for themselves. I'm sure Miki won't disappoint me for today.

"Well…we could go take a walk in the park first. I don't think you've been to the public park yet." She looked at me cautiously.

I smiled, pleased at her right choice in taking me into consideration. "Of course, let's go."

xxxxx

My prince's luck had decided to come out that day as the sun was out to greet us and there was not a cloud in the sky. Not many people were in the park to observe my greatness but I think Miki was glad for it. Apparently it's wouldn't have been very pleasant if there were a lot of other commoners around. She said that it's usually children that play around here and that it would be noisy, but I suspect it's probably because if there were more people they would obviously be too distracted by my greatness to do whatever they had to do.

Miki and I strolled through the park, not really speaking and just observing what was going on around us. It was after a few minutes that I spotted a taiyaki stand and immediately tugged on Miki's sleeve to get her attention. "I order you to buy me a vanilla taiyaki!"

She gave me a smirk. "We had some taiyaki yesterday as well." She crossed her arms. "You know if you don't be careful, too much taiyaki can make you fat."

I made a face at her. "It won't make me fat. Princes don't get fat."

"Are you sure?" she teased. She was doing this on purpose I guessed, just so that she wouldn't have to buy me taiyaki. How sneaky…

"Yes! I'm sure." I got behind her and pushed her a little towards the direction of the stand. "Now go and buy it!"

"Buy it yourself," she said, now sounding a tiny bit annoyed. I gave her a look that said that I nothing could make me go and buy the tayaki. She sighed. "Fine have it your way." She grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the stand. There were many commoner children now looking at us and giggling. How dare they laugh at my unfortunate position! Before I could shout at them we had reached the stall and Miki promptly let go of my hand.

"Ouch, ouch be gentler Miki-san," I said, rubbing my hand which had amazingly turned red because of her. She had a stronger grip than I would've thought she'd have.

"Good morning," the stall owner said in a kind voice. "What would you like to have today."

Miki raised two fingers. "Two taiyaki please. One chocolate and one vanilla." Within about ten seconds the owner whipped up both taiyaki and he handed them to us, giving me vanilla and Miki the chocolate even though she never told him which one was for who. I took a small bite of mine straight-away.

I was impressed. That was saying a lot as nothing really impresses me much. The man here must be a master of taiyaki. Surely something so finely crafted and so succulent must be made by a very skilled person. I studied the man. He looked normal enough. But looks can be deceiving. Daichi showed me many documentaries about men who could clone themselves yet they acted very idiotic. The Legend of Naruto was told in anime form according to Daichi, but he assured me that they were historical figures. Daichi is always right, he's a commoner I can trust.

I did a bow to the owner. "Taiyaki-sensei, please show me your skills." When I heard no reply I looked up and the Taiyaki-sensei was looking at me, bewildered, and Miki was gaping at me.

"I know that the secret of Taiyaki must be very sacred, but please take me as your student as Master Kakashi did of Naruto."

"Oh no, Daichi warned me you might do this," she muttered, looking around quickly to see if anyone was watching. She quickly dropped the money on the counter and excused us both before dragging me once again.

"Let me go! This is so unsightly," I yelled at her. Miki took no notice of my words and continued pulling on my arm until we were a fair distance away from the stall. She let go so suddenly that I fell down. "Again, that hurt!"

"Serves you right," she said. It was only then that I noticed her face was a burning red. "You completely embarrassed me out there. You sounded like a total Naruto-otaku. What's a Taiyaki-sensei anyway?"

"Naruto otaku? I don't know what you mean! Naruto was a very important historical figure in Japan. He was the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village which is now where Tokyo stands and was one of the most highly regarded in ninja-history-"

I was interrupted by Miki's exasperated groan. "Oh dear, he thinks Naruto is real."

"Of course he's real! As I said-"

"You do realise he's a made-up character, right?" Miki looked at me in almost a sympathetic way.

I blinked. "…made up?"

"Yes, as in like a fairy-tale. Not real. He's just a manga and anime character."

"But that's only because the history was portrayed in manga form-"

"No – it's quite recent actually. Everyone knows that. I'm sorry, but I think Daichi probably made that up. He has told me that he told you a few stories for fun."

I felt something somewhere in my mind shatter. I looked up from my position on the floor."You mean I'm not descended from ninjas?"

At this point Miki burst out laughing. She laughed so hard that she collapsed on the ground and clutched her stomach. I looked at her with a mixture of shock and annoyance. "What's so funny?"

"Y-you thought you were – you were descended from," she said, trying to speak in between her bursts of laughter. "- ninjas!" I did not see what was so amusing about this, but said nothing as her laughter died down.

Finally she sat up and wiped a tear from her eye. "Sorry. Oh Kiseki, sometimes you crack me up."

She smiled at me and I felt the need to look away, my cheeks feeling slightly warmer than usual. I did not approve of her laughing at me but I kind of liked the way she laughed, so sincerely and for once without that annoyed look she sometimes gave me.

A shadow suddenly loomed over her and she looked up. She immediately stood up and wiped the dirt of her trousers and quickly fixed her hat. She smiled shyly at the person that had just appeared.

"Hey Miki," said Yoru, the only person that could have gotten that reaction from Miki. I really didn't get that. Why would she need to make herself more presentable in front of that lowly commoner when the she didn't give it a second thought of it in the presence of a prince?

"H-hi Yoru-kun," she stuttered. I could somehow tell that the reason for her hesitating over her words wasn't the same was she had been just now.

Yoru, noticing me gave me a smug smile and offered a hand. He lowered his voice so Miki wouldn't hear. "Did the little prince have a slip?"

I pushed his hand away and got up to on my feet. "I don't need your help."

Miki nudged my arm. "Don't be rude he was being nice too you."

"He just wanted to make me look bad." I glared at him.

"Don't be ridiculous." She said aiming her own glare at me. Then instantly she smiled at Yoru. "What brings you here?" That change of tone all too sudden for my liking. Yoru shouldn't get the positive treatment!

He pointed a thumb behind him. "Iru and Eru are somewhere around here. They wanted to get some taiyaki today. Apparently the taiyaki stall owner here is some kind of celebrated 'master'."

Miki looked at me out of the corner of the eye and yes, she did find me smirking. I was right. Of course I was right.

"What about you?" Yoru asked. He tilted his head slightly to the right and frowned. "You're not on a date, are you?"

"No!" Miki shouted. I jumped at frowned at her. What exactly was a 'date'? And why was her face really red?

"I think the heat is affecting her," I concluded wisely. "The thought of a 'date' in this heat must be a bother to her."

Yoru looked at me with pity. "You're really thick aren't you? Do you even know what a date is?"

"Of course I do!" I lied with a confident air. Think fast Kiseki…date…date…okay if I could be 'on' a date it must be some kind of function. Like a school leave or something similar. "In fact I'm on a date right now."

Miki was now signalling to me probably telling me to be quiet. Yoru didn't see this though because he seemed really amused about what I just said. "Exactly who are you on a date with?"

A date had to be with more than one person? Okay well no problem. "With Miki-san of course." Before she could protest I put an arm around her shoulder and quickly whispered "follow my lead" without Yoru noticing. "Miki-san just didn't appreciate you nosing around into our business so she lied to you."

There was a moment of silence where Yoru looked over the both of us. Miki was keeping quiet which I took as a good sign that she was on my side for once. Yoru then shrugged. "Whatever. I've got to go find Iru and Eru, I'm pretty sure they're by the lakeside right now." Starting towards the path to the left of the one he just came from he offered a lazy wave. "See you at school."

Once he was out of sight I relaxed. Heh that was one point to me. "What is a date anyway Miki-san?" She stiffened under my arm. "Miki-san?

"You – you – you idiot!" she yelled throwing my arm off her. When I saw her face I was surprised. She had signs of tears at the corner of her eyes. "If you don't know what you're talking about then you should just shut up."

She clenched her fists and glared at me. I was taken aback. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes you did! You told him we were on a date. You told Yoru that we were on a date. Now he has the wrong idea!" She looked like she could have hit me.

"I'm sorry…" I tried, feeling that this was appropriate. "I wasn't exactly sure what a date was and I didn't want to appear inferior to that – um – Yoru." I managed to hold myself back from calling Yoru a commoner, thinking that would have probably made matters worse.

She didn't seem to have heard my apology. "I don't care about your stupid pride. A date is something special which you go on with someone you like."

"But I do like you! A lot more than other commoners in fact," I argued.

"Not that kind of like. I mean that Yoru probably thinks we're a couple," she said with a frustrated expression.

A couple? Oh. Great, now it all comes back. Daichi explained this to me once. Girls and boys who have a 'romantic interest' in one another could go on 'dates' where they go somewhere to enjoy themselves. Okay…I guess I understand why she's embarrassed. Being mistaken to be a prince's consort is a pretty big misunderstanding. She didn't have to be so against the idea though. "Who cares what he thinks anyway?"

"I do," she snapped. "For your information I like him." She then turned pink at the realisation of what she said. I had a sense that she never said it directly like that to anyone before.

At that moment I felt an additional hatred for Yoru, though I didn't know why. Yoru, Yoru, Yoru! Everything's about him for Miki. He needs to stop taking my spotlight.

The sign behind Miki read 'botanical gardens'. Perfect. I grabbed her hand and this time pulled her along with me. She struggled against my grip but gave up after I showed no signs of giving in. I let go and pointed to her. "Listen here! Today's objective was to go to the park and to enjoy ourselves. I refuse to let that commoner ruin our day."

To my relief she seemed to distracted by the scenery to be mad at me. The blooming flowers as well as the butterflies surrounding us gave a pleasantly relaxing mood. I watched as she walked over to a patch of daisies. She took out her satchel and began drawing. A calm smile reached her face and her eyes brightened as she sketched the scene around us. Miki-san can be quite pretty…

I blushed as the thought came up. It wasn't as if I didn't think she was pretty before this. I'd never really noticed it before. I think she'd saw me watching because she turned to me with that smile still on her face. It was contagious; I found myself smiling back. She gently closed her sketchbook and put it back into her bag. I didn't recall consciously walking to her side but there I was. "Did you get a good drawing?"

"Yes, a really good one." She nodded. "Thanks for bringing me here. And…I'm sorry for being angry at you. You're still a bit naïve about things but I know you mean well."

"Naïve?" She laughed at the look on my face.

"Naïve. But it's okay, you'll learn things while you're staying here."

I don't know if it was the flowers' aroma or the butterflies fluttering around, but something made me reach for her hand. "Let's go home."

Without a word we went down the path out of the gardens. I didn't look at her for the rest of our trip home, but my face felt warm, just like Miki's hand.

A/N: Hope you managed to enjoy that chapter.

- Dina (Amulet Misty/SilentStormfall)

31/5/2012