Chapter 8~ Flaw #8~ Deal With A Witch

"Your turn, Rima Mashiro." A gruff voice sounded outside my window. I sat on the bed, curled up in my ball and refused to move. I would make them come drag me away, if only to spite them. I heard the impatient tap of a foot outside.

"Geez, why are people always so stubborn?" The man complained before pressing some kind of button that made my wall slide open. The huge hulk of a person came in and easily picked me up, despite my reluctance (read: kicking and biting and cursing) and dumped me into a bin.

Seriously. A bin. That was on a cart. Couldn't Fuko at least be a little nicer to her captives? I scrambled to get out of the bin, but someone just slammed a lid on. With a little hole for air!

"I'm not a freaking dog!" I screamed indignantly, pounding on the bin.

"Quit complaining, girlie. I'm just following orders." The gruff voice was accompanied by a wonderful, nice kick to the side of the bin. I decided to quiet down so I could plot their slow, painful deaths for when I got out.

The ride was only a few minutes long. (Yeah, they were actually pushing the cart with me on it.) When someone finally opened the lid, I desperately leapt out, lashing out and clawing at…

A sofa.

"Oomph!" I rolled over so that I was kind of sitting on the couch instead of having my face smooshed into the velvet. Someone had evidently dumped me out of the bin and onto the sofa. I took a moment to take in my surroundings. I was in an office of some sort, sitting on a couch with brown velvet and plush turquoise pillows, staring forward at a mahogany desk, and beyond that, a window with gold curtains draped and-

GAH! IT'S FUKO!

My first instinct was to shrink into the sofa and glare at her like she was an alien. Which I did. And then, my second instinct was to jump up and go,

"I hate you! Let me go! And my friends, or I swear that I will wipe that stupid smile of yours off your ugly hobbit face!"

Which I also did.

She only laughed and clapped, a wide grin stretched across her face, and she seemed unaffected. My comment didn't seem to offend her, and I could guess why. First of all, I was kind of tiny and alone, because they had sealed Kusukusu's egg for the time being. And second of all, Fuko was actually quite pretty, so I couldn't really say anything about that, either…

For the first time, I noticed her appearance past her hair color and eye color. She wore her thick tresses down, a braid running along the side of her head. Her large, ice blue eyes blinked pleasantly, set against creamy white skin and cute pink lips.

She wore a Lolita style dress, as opposed to the formal business suit she had donned the first time, the one that had made her look older. But now, looking at her in a dress, I noticed something odd.

While she was certainly tall… FUKO WAS A TEENAGER.

"Oh my God!" I shouted, still pointing. I had mistaken her for an adult the first time since she had towered over me with that whole scary "Your friends are gonna die!" thing.

Why are the directors of Easter always little kids who have no idea what to do with their power?!

I have the worst luck ever.

Her smile dropped and she blinked in confusion. "What is it, Rima-chan?" I smiled pleasantly back.

"Nothing, Fuko-chan. Why did you bring me here?" I asked, acting the same way I usually was around Amu. It was sickening, but I knew that you should always keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Also, I didn't really feel like pissing her off. She was like Yaya on a sugar high combined with Tadase during a character change. But worse.

A huge smile appeared on her face then, and she got off her chair, squealing as she danced towards me. (She's way taller than I am. Like, Ikuto-tall.) She took my hands in hers excitedly, giggling.

"Rima-chan, I'm so glad! You're the only one who's been so nice to me! All the others-" she started pouting, "-they all wanted to kill me, or something. One of them, the brunette guy? He actually jumped on my desk and tried to throw stuff at me. I had to call security." She motioned towards a shattered vase on the floor.

I internally sweat dropped. Just like Kukai to do something stupid like that. Fuko sniffed, looking hurt. I resisted the urge to tell her that she was the one that had kidnapped all of us.

"Aw, Fuko! It's all right. They can be a little rough sometimes, but I'm sure they'll come around! Meanwhile, why don't you tell me about this Influence thing?" I suggested, emitting sparkles. She nodded eagerly.

"Right, I promised!" She pulled me over to the sofa and sat down, patting the seat next to her and pulling me down before I could actually do so on my own.

"Well, Rima-can I just call you Rima? Thanks! Okay, so you see, Rima, the Influence is something new that's been emerging around the world. I think you're actually one of the first to start developing it. Nobody knows where it came from, or how, but people with the Influence are extremely rare right now."

She leaned towards me, as if sharing something confidential. "But not for long. You see, the Influence is contagious, like a virus. Your purple-haired friend-very cute, by the way- has already started to be affected by being around you. He didn't say anything, but I examined his eggs. He's already experienced the first pain."

"The Influence is powerful. And while it is contagious, only the people who have Shugo Chara will be able to access its power." She beamed at me. "That's why I chose all of you for this experiment! Even among chara holders, your group of so-called 'Guardians' is extremely special. You once managed to defeat Easter, and you were only in grade school."

"We're not Guardians anymore." I cut in quietly. "Just to clarify."

Fuko rolled her eyes. "Well, you are now, because I'm too lazy to come up with a new name for your group!"

"Anyways, the mechanics of the Influence are quite simple. From what Easter knows, the Influence starts developing slowly, but then progressively faster. It hurts every time it develops further, because it is engraving its presence and power into your Heart's Egg. It's bound to hurt if someone's carving something into your chest, right?"

"It develops in quarters on your Heart's Egg. Kusukusu is already halfway developed, and so some of your powers should start emerging soon. However, you won't be able to tap into their full potential until her entire egg has been turned by the Influence."

"Powers?" I echoed, confused.

She nodded. "Yeah! You might act innocent, Rima, but I can tell by the look in your eyes that you already have an idea of what I'm talking about."

Great. Another person who can see through me. I stayed silent. No sense in telling her what I thought my power might be.

"What kinds of powers?" I asked, genuinely curious. She giggled again, but I was too concerned with her answer to be annoyed.

"Supernatural ones, Rima! Mind reading, breathing underwater, invisibility, flight, and those are just some of the more common ones. There have been records of people who could read the future, convince people to do anything with just their voice, and even elementals."

I stiffened. "Elementals?" I questioned, working to keep my voice steady. She nodded again, a glint in her eyes.

"Those are extremely rare, though. We only knew of one. It was somewhere in Russia, I think. She could control the earth. Influence rocks and dirt, shifting it and creating cracks and earthquakes." Fuko mused.

I swallowed. "And what happened to her?"

She smiled pleasantly at me. "She died. Government got her."

I stared, trembling slightly. "I want to go back to my room."

She shrugged. "Okay. If you answer a question." I looked at her cautiously.

"Are you going to participate calmly in the experiment tomorrow?" She asked, tilting her head. I narrowed my eyes.

"No, I don't plan to. You might want to tell your guards to wear some armor." She laughed at my answer.

"Is there any way I could convince you to?"

I considered this for a second.

"Perhaps."


"Why did you make a deal with the witch?" Amu demanded. I shrugged.

"It seemed smart. Actually, it still seems smart. This way, we all get to be together. And I only said that I would behave. I didn't say the rest of you would." I explained, satisfying Amu. She relaxed, slightly, sitting down on the carpet again.

"Utau Hoshina." An agent announced, shoving the blond into our now much larger room. She gave him one last glare before turning to look at us.

"Somebody want to explain why we're allowed to be together now?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and putting her hands on her hips. Amu jerked a thumb towards me.

"Rima made a deal with Fuko. She would participate calmly in the experiment, and in return, Fuko has to let us all sleep in the same room and be together at all times. They brought Rima to this big room first, and then me, and now you. I guess they'll keep bringing in the other guys."

As if on cue, the agent came back, this time with Yaya. The next five minutes were spent calming her down and comforting her, and giving her candy. (Which was conveniently placed in a bowl on one of the various nightstands.)

"Kukai Souma!" Somebody said, and then pushed Kukai into the room. He had his hands bound with ropes and was blindfolded.

"Oh my God, Kukai!" Utau rushed over, hurriedly pulling off the ropes and blindfold. "What happened? Why are you the only one that was tied up?"

"He attacked Fuko, that's why." I came up to them, watching them embrace and patting myself on the back mentally for being so awesome. Kukai glanced at me curiously. I waved. "Fuko told me."

"Oh." He growled, looking pissed. Utau changed that real soon, though, as she kissed him, just as somebody escorted Ikuto in.

"Amu!" His eyes lit up, and he came over to us, gingerly cupping Amu's face, as if she might not be real. She turned so red that she could've passed for a tomato, and I had to restrain my laughter as Tadase joined our little party.

"This should be interesting." I mused, watching Tadase enviously glare at Ikuto and Amu.

"Kairi!" Yaya burst out, directing all our attention towards the green-haired samurai that was walking gracefully into our room. Yaya ran towards him, sobbing in his arms. He stroked her hair gently. I coughed, and both of them blushed. I raised my hands.

"Don't mind me." I said, smiling slightly.

"Oh, like you wouldn't do the same thing if Nagihiko came in right now." Amu teased, sitting down on the carpet again. I sat down next to her, sniffing.

"Yeah, right! Where is Nagi, anyways?" I asked, casting a glance towards the door. Amu looked slightly shocked that I had used his nickname, but it was gone in an instant.

"Nagihiko Fujisaki… last one." Someone called, sounding slightly annoyed. Nagihiko was then shoved into our room as well, the wall slamming shut. His eyes zeroed in on me.

"Rima!" He stumbled over to me, clutching my shoulders. "Are you alright? I saw you getting kidnapped, and I should've done something right away, but I didn't know what I should've done, and I was so stupid, letting you-"

"N-Nagi." I stuttered, cutting him off. "It's okay. But be faster next time!" I added, crossing my arms and trying to pretend that his closeness didn't totally scramble my brains.

He hugged me then, seeming more relieved than I was. "There won't be a next time, Rima. I'm sorry."

"Uh…" I answered, feeling my heart kind of go crazy. I was great at poker faces, though.

"Rima and Nagi, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Yaya giggled, chanting. "First comes-" A glare from me put a quick end to that.

Amu yawned. "I'm getting tired. We should figure out sleeping arrangements."

We all observed the room. There were four bunk beds, and one twin size bed. That meant that each of us would get a bunk, and someone would sleep in the twin size by themselves.

Just to avoid complications (because with these people, complications can be made out of anything), we decided to draw names. We used toilet paper and a pen we found in a nightstand drawer, and put them into an empty pillowcase that we drew out of. Results were as follows:

Amu, Ikuto

Rima, Yaya

Tadase, Utau,

Kairi, Kukai

Nagihiko

"Why am I with the pervert?" Amu cried, looking embarrassed and scared at the same time. Ikuto ruffled her hair.

"That's just the way it is, strawberry." He purred, hugging Amu despite her protests.

"Don't call me a strawberry! And I bet you rigged the thing!" Amu responded, flustered. He shrugged, giving her innocent puppy-dog eyes. (Well, kitten-eyes. Amu gave in and let him drag her to their bunk bed.)

"Guess, we're together, Rima-tan!" Yaya said happily, latching on to my arm. I smiled at her, nodding my head in agreement.

"Can Yaya have top bunk? Please please please? Yaya wants the top bunk!" Yaya pleaded, and I nodded. I had no problems with that, since I would probably fall off the ladder if I tried to get up there.

"Hey, Kiddy King, this'll be fun! You get to bunk with your older sister!" Utau said cheerfully, throwing an arm around Tadase's neck. He, frankly, looked terrified.

"Yo, I'm Kukai! You took over Jack's Chair after me." Kukai said, holding out his fist in greeting. Kairi bumped fists with him, smiling a little bit. I realized that they had never really met, despite the fact that we all hung out together.

"I get the single bed." Nagihiko state smugly, diving into the bed that he got to himself.

"Because you're going to be a loner forever." I responded matter-of-factly. He grinned evilly.

"Not if you decide to say yes when I propose." He teased (I think) before lying down on his bed.

"Never!" I fumed, gaping. (On the inside, I was going 'I definitely would', but he doesn't have to know that.) "Yaya, let's go shower."

"Okay!"

And so started our slumber party as captives.


Ahh, sorry it took so long to update! (Curse my French homework!) Anyways, hope you guys liked the chapter. I stuck in a little bit of Rimahiko at the end, but the fluff is going to be in the next chapter.

So how are you liking the story so far?

Let me know in the review section, will ya?

Cheers to 2012, and welcome 2013!

Ciao~