Piggy-chan: Sorry for the late update :( I'm not going to make up any excuses, I'm sorry.
Rima: She's being an idiot again.
Piggy-chan: I know...
Rima: Wow... you're not in denial any more! Creepy... Piggy-chan owns nothing...
Piggy-chan: Yup and I only own my OCs.
Rima: You didn't even correct me!
Piggy-chan: I'm not feeling in the mood to bug you... *sigh*
Rima: O-okay...
-NW :3
Shugo Siblings!
Chapter Seven
The New Students
"So…" Nagihiko finally said after minutes of silence.
We were walking quietly for a while now, it was so awkward, I felt a bit of relief when he started talking. Usually, I would cut him off or tell him to shut up. But something made me walk closer to him, like he was some kind of magnet. It was weird, but no matter how much I strained to stay away, I found myself walking closer. Five feet… four feet… three feet. It took all my will power to stay there. It's a good thing Nagihiko's not mind-reader or anything; otherwise it would look like I was being mentally dragged towards him. "Listen, I'm sorry about what I did yesterday, and I…I-I want to apologies for my strange behavior."
The whole event came back to mind and made my cheeks start flaring up all of a sudden. It's probably a heat wave or something…
We stayed quiet for another few blocks. "It's okay."
"What?"
"I accept your apology."
"Oh."
Another few blocks.
"Can I ask you a question?" I said without looking up at him.
"Uh, sure."
"Why did you do it?"
"What?"
"Why did you kiss me?"
Silence.
"Nagihiko?"
I looked back at him because he had stopped walking very suddenly.
"You okay?"
"Um…yeah." He resumed walking. I heard some strange sounds from a bush nearby but figured it was squirrel or something.
"So?"
"What do you mean?"
"My question earlier." I said crossing my arms. I was looking directly at him, but he just kept his eyes fixed on the amazingly dirty sidewalk.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about?"
I got the hint he didn't want to talk about it. In other situations, I would have made him spit it out, but now I was starting to get the feeling I didn't want to know either.
I started to realize since last night I couldn't stop thinking about the event… Nagihiko kissed me. It freaked me out, and I should have killed him, but I found myself… smiling in the mirror. I had to drag myself out of there or else Baaya or one of the maids would be wondering why the mirror was broken as if someone had punched it. I would have lost self control and tore out my hair, but I couldn't help but feel a party of me a bit giddy-ish. It's not like I like him or anything, right? It was one of the possibilities… I hoped would be nearly impossible. But on a what-the-hell-kind-of-percent it was on, I felt it was one of the only reasonable potentials. Ugh, what's wrong with me? I DON'T like him, I can't! We're enemies. And it can't change, unless, we both like each other… God damn it, Rima! Stop thinking about weird things!
I glanced at Nagihiko who looked stressed out as if he were thinking the same.
"Hey…" I started, really wanting the silence to be broken.
"Shh… I can't hear them!"
"Hey, stop pushing!"
"Its love~!"
"Shut up, El!"
"El?" Nagihiko and I both said at the same time.
No, it couldn't have been…
We both walked over to the bush and brushed the leaves away to find… Utau, Kukai, Il and El.
I crossed my arms. "What are you guys doing?"
Utau turned to Kukai and said nervously, "We were uh… um, looking f-for, uh, Kukai's… new watch!"
Kukai laughed nervously. "Y-yeah, Daichi threw my watch in the bushes after he found out the soccer ball he let me borrow was run over."
Nagihiko raised an eyebrow. "By what?"
"A truck."
I bit my lip from laughing.
"Well, that's no surprise." Nagihiko teased. "But it's also no excuse to be spying either."
"Spying?" Utau said like it was alien to her. "We weren't spying! We weren't even listening to you two or anything, right Kukai?"
"Y-yeah…"
"So, we weren't spying. What gave you the idea we were spying? Besides, spying is looking, and hiding behind corners like in those movies when spies or a detective is tracking down a criminal. No offence, but I don't think you'd be worthy enough to track down, and we're not detectives or anything so spying wouldn't have anything to do with what we're doing. And anyways—"
"We get it Utau," I sighed.
She got up, brushed her uniform skirt and smiled. "So… I heard you're staying at Nagihiko's place. Hope nothing naughty happened."
"UTAU!" Nagihiko and I yelled at the same time which made both of us redden. Why? I have no idea.
"Okay!" She held up her hands in surrender, grabbed Kukai's hand and dragged him ahead with Il and El following after.
"That was… weird." Nagihiko summed up.
"Yup," I said.
"Amu. Amu? Amu. Amu! AMU!"
I waved my hand before her face, getting no response. I smacked her head and shrieked, "Damn it, Amu! RESPOND!"
"What?" She said as if she was starting to become sober.
"Hello? Is anyone in there?" I knocked on her head as I tip-toed to get to her height.
She frowned at me. "What is it?"
"Are you okay?" I asked her, seriously.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Just… got my mind on something else, that's all."
I couldn't help but smirk a little. "Something happen yesterday?"
Immediately, her face began to redden. "W-what are you talking about?"
"Heard from Kusukusu you called yesterday," I said while distracting myself with looking at my nails. I pretended not to notice her flushing embarrassment.
"W-what did she tell you?"
"Oh, nothing to worry about."
She sighed in relief.
"It's nothing to worry about because I'll keep it a secret, for a price of course."
"RIMAA-CHAAN!"
I giggled. I can be so mean, even to my best friend. "Fine, fine. Kusukusu just told me you were home alone with Ikuto yesterday, right?"
Amu looked away in embarrassment, and busied herself with opening her locker.
"So? Nothing happened?" I pressed.
"N-not much…"
"No?" I teased. "Just the usual? Or did you two do something naughty—"
"Rima-chan!"
"OKAY! Jeez…" I opened my locked. "But you know you can tell me anything."
"It's embarrassing," Amu mumbled. Then she smirked. "But, then again, you're the one living with Nagi."
I hid my face away from her, not wanting to show her my blushing face.
Abruptly, a pencil from my pencil case slipped out of my fingers and rolled across the hall. I ran after it, when I bumped my head against someone else's.
"Ow… watch where you're going…"
I stared at the person as she stared right back with big, soft auburn brown eyes. Her tanned skin reminded me of beaches on hot summers.
She blinked.
"I-I'm sorry," she said in a very heavy accent of something I didn't know. "I don't speak Japanese very well, please excuse me," She picked the pencil up and handed it to me. Her long, hip-length, chocolaty brown hair swayed as she got up and walked away. I noticed something peek behind her hair, but dismissed it.
"Who's that?" Amu asked, right behind me.
She helped me up as I wondered the same thing. "I don't know, but she looks like a foreigner."
"Everyone," our home room teacher said as we all grew quiet. "We have two transferred students today. Both come from far away places, and one doesn't know much Japanese nor our customs, so please give a warm welcome to both of them."
Everyone grew silent as two girls came into the room. One of them, a girl with shoulder-length purple-hair and lime green eyes, smiled and bowed to the class. "I am Fujisaki Nayuka, pleased to meet you all. I hope we can all get along."
"Hey, Nagi, is she your sister or something?"
"Yeah, do you know her?"
Nagihiko looked of pure shock, then it grew to more of pissed mode. "No." He said flatly.
"Don't lie, Nagi," Nayuka teased. "We're engaged!"
Everyone gasped. Nagihiko slammed his hands on his desk.
"I'm kidding!" Nayuka laughed. "Can't take a joke, Nagihiko?"
I could see growing fire in his eyes while everyone laughed at Nayuka's joke. I would be pretty mad too if something like that happened to me, so I guess I could relate.
"Hello," the same pretty girl I met in the hallway came in the door. "My name is Mariah Castillo, and I'm part Latin American and part Japanese. I'm a bit foreign to Japan, so I hope I can improve my Japanese while I stay here to study. I look forward to getting along with everyone."
I started to get a strange feeling, like I knew this girl.
Then it hit me, Wendy-chan. They looked so similar, and didn't Wendy-chan say something about a niece?
I noticed the room got quiet, all the boys were staring at her wide-eyed. Well, she was really pretty. I glanced at Nagihiko who still looked pissed and didn't seem to notice the air in the room, Tadase looked like he was under a spell (which I find hilarious), Amu just smiled while tapping a pencil on her chin (I wonder if she was day dreaming about Ikuto), and the girls started to fawn over the two new students.
"Is your hair naturally like that?"
"It's so wavy, like in the commercials."
"Are you a model?"
"Nayu-chan, are you related to Nagi-kun?"
"Are you going to live here?"
The teacher cleared her throat and told the other students to sit down. "Fujisaki-san will sit behind Hinamori-san and Castillo-san will sit in-front of Mashiro-san."
I swear I saw them both perk at the sound of my name. I shook it off.
"Hello," The dark-haired girl greeted me as she took her seat and the teacher resumed to the lesson. "What's your name?"
I frowned. I didn't like the feeling she was giving me, it was scary. I pretended not to notice.
"Aww," She crooned. "You're the shy type. I know I already introduced myself, but my name is Mariah. I hope we can be friends."
I stiffened at the thought. "I'm sorry, I'm trying to concentrate on the lesson."
I expected her to snap, or apologize or something like that. But she just nodded sadly and faced the front.
I saw a small slip of paper land on my desk.
Hey, maybe we can hang out together at lunch?
-Mariah
I couldn't believe how insisting she was. But, I guess because she's new and all, I could help her around for a while. And at the same time, I could ask her a few questions and see if she's the niece Wendy-chan told me about.
Nagihiko's POV
I can't believe she humiliated me like that! In front of the class too! Oh, when I'm through with her, she won't have a thing to say because she won't be able to make a single sound! I wanted to rip her head of, right then and there, but I don't think that would have done me any good.
I noticed Castillo-san talking to Rima-chan during class, maybe they know each other? Because it wasn't like Rima to make friends with strangers. She told Castillo-san something then Castillo nodded sadly and looked back at the front. She pulled out a loose leaf of paper, scribbled something, then pushed it onto Rima's desk when the teacher wasn't looking. Rima frowned, wrote something and handed it back.
I wonder what they were doing.
Then I saw Nayuka talking to Amu. I wanted to go over there and punch the crap out of her, but that would look mean to everyone. She was probably telling Amu lies about me, or worse, telling her that Nadeshiko is actually me… OH MY DEAR GOD!
"Sensei!" I raised my hand.
"Yes, Fujisaki-san?"
"May I go to the office? I'm not feeling well."
"I see." The teacher nodded. "You may."
"And can Nayuka come with me?"
"Uh… I guess…"
I barged over to my beloved cousin and grabbed her by the collar, and dragged her out the door.
She coughed and wheezed as the uniform strangled her, I let her go once we were outside the building.
"I don't know what you're doing here," I told her with hatred in every word. "But you will not be intruding in my life, getting close to my friends, and the people I care about. Do. You. Understand?"
She just smiled wickedly. "So my teasing in class hasn't worn off yet? You used to be so much more tolerant when we were kids, Nadeshiko."
"And don't call me that," I hissed.
She smirked. "So everyone doesn't know you're actually a cross-dresser? That's so sad, I wonder how guilty you are. Or maybe you think you'll be all alone when everyone finds out you're just a fraud with a pretty face. You're just as bad of a liar as I am."
"Shut up," I snapped. "At least I didn't hide and turn against my only family."
Her face paled. "You can't believe how much you're family has put me through. I had such high expectations; only to find out I wasn't good enough to reach them. Then they replaced me with you! It was a disgrace, and I certainly won't let it happen again!" She snapped her fingers and her chara, Moe, came out.
"What are you doing?" I yelled.
She sneered. "Let's see who's better now. I've noticed you're chara isn't with you. What happened? She went back into her egg? Couldn't believe in dancing anymore? How pitiful," she crooned. "Moe!"
"Oui, Nayuka," The little chara twirled once before entering back into her egg, a blue-ish colour with a heart on it and golden engraving all around.
"Unlock my heart; Madame Amore!"
I stared at my cousin, stunned that she wanted to battle with me. "What the hell are you trying to prove here?"
She scorned. "You're brain always did work so slowly." She wore a medieval French style dress that was cut short to her knees so it looked a bit like a lolita. She had old-style high heels and her purple hair was tied up in a mountain of curls with little white ribbons. Most guys would grovel over her looks, but I personally found it disgusting.
"I guess I should make the first move," She smirked and pulled out a big, wide mirror with pretty silver engravings of shapes and words written all around the rim.
"Wait!" Came a shout behind me. I turned around to see Rima-chan and Castillo-san.
"What are you doing?" Nayuka yelled to see Castillo-san snatch the mirror out of her hands. She mumbled something to Nayuka which made her face look of pure hatred.
"You okay?" Rima asked me.
I nodded. "She didn't do anything yet."
Rima gazed at Nayuka and Castillo-san who were talking in low, but angry voices.
"How did you know I was here?"
"Mariah asked to go to the office right after you left, and dragged me with her." She paused. "It was like she knew this was going to happen."
I glanced at my cousin and Mariah, now they were just staring at each other, as if they had just agreed on something.
"So…" Rima said when we walked over. "You guys know each other?"
Mariah smiled. "Just a bit, we didn't really get along at first, but we could be what you call… friends. We know each other through work."
"What sort of work?" Rima asked.
"Oh, hard work, but they pay okay, I guess."
I had a feeling she was telling the truth.
"Please excuse my behavior," Nayuka apologized like Mariah was making her. "I get irrational when I am challenged by people."
"Especially me," I said.
She looked like she wanted to slice me in half with a chainsaw. Mariah gave her a stern warning. "Y-yes."
Rima seem to notice the hatred vibes going around, so she mumbled, "We should get back to class, the teacher will get worried if we don't come back after a while."
"So," Nayuka smiled. "You're Mashiro-san?"
Rima flinched a bit at the sound of her name. "Y-yeah… what of it?"
"I've heard a bit about you and you're friends from Nagihiko."
I stared at her. What's she up to…?
"Oh?" Rima crossed her arms and looked at me with dead seriousness.
"I'll be looking forward to meeting all of you. Amu, Tadase, Kairi, Yaya, Utau, Kukai, and Ikuto. All of you."
Rima stared back at Nayuka, her eyes shouting, How do you know all of us?
Nayuka said, "I think I need to go back home, I'm not feeling too well. See you later!" She waved and went back in the building.
Rima said something to Mariah and then dragged me over to a tree. Standing in the shade, she gave me her hard stony stare and asked, "What did you tell her?"
"Nothing!" I insisted.
"Then how does she know?"
"I really don't know! The last time I saw her, she was orphaned and we were only six! Then she got adopted by someone in England and I never saw her again. She didn't even write or send pictures. No emails, phone calls, nothing! It was like she never existed."
Her eyes darkened. "That means she's getting all the information from somewhere else."
I nodded. "But who?"
Rima tapped her chin. "Mariah said something about work. Maybe I can get closer to her and get more information on how they met."
I nodded. "Nayuka has a chara, I remember, she was with Nayuka since she was orphaned."
"I think…" Rima glanced at Mariah who was waiting at the entrance, smelling some flowers by the door. "I think Mariah has a chara too."
"Really?"
"I think I saw it, but I'm not that sure. We need to have a meeting."
I agreed. "Tell everyone to meet in the Royal garden at lunch."
Rima's POV
"And I think they dragged her back to the airplanes too."
Everyone remained silent after I finished explaining my dream.
"I never knew that about Calli-sensei," Tsukasa finally said. "I just assumed when she told me she was in an accident before, that it had to do with a plane crash of some kind. I'll send for her right now."
"Plane crash?" Kukai asked when Tsukasa left. "Is that how she escaped?"
"Maybe," Tadase tapped his chin. "Maybe they crashed and Calli-sensei got away. But her daughter wasn't able to, and stayed with her father."
"But who is her daughter?" Amu asked.
"I remember Calli-sensei calling her Clara," I told them. "But her father called her Yahiru."
I felt someone tug at my shirt. I turned around to see Kusukusu had stopped running around with the others. "We had a transferred student in our class today."
Rhythm nodded. "Yeah, her name was Yahiru Baker, she's from England."
Everyone started to talk. It started to get so loud, I couldn't think properly.
"YAYA WANTS EVERYONE TO BE QUIET AND GIVE HER CAKE!" Yaya shrieked so loud, it almost broke my ear drums.
Then as if fate couldn't torture us enough, Pepe stepped up and yelled the same thing but with her name instead of Yaya's in chipmunk version.
Kairi took a package out of a fancy paper bag and gave it to her. She unwrapped it and gobbled it up like she hadn't eaten for days and tackled Kairi in a thank you hug. Pepe just cried until Musashi offered to buy her some later.
"Hello?"
We turned to see Calli-sensei at the Royal garden entrance.
"Hello," Nagihiko greeted her. "Please come in and—"
I cut him off. "Explain everything about your daughter, Yahiru, or Clara as you call her."
Piggy-chan: Now do you understand why I'm grumpy?
Rima: Uh, no?
Piggy-chan: IT'S TO SHORT!
Rima: Ooh... well then you'll have to make up for it next chapter, right?
Piggy-chan: Oh yeah... okie dokie! Next chappie, here I come!
Nagihiko: ^^;; you have mood swings...
Pepe: PEPE WANTS CAKE! -review pwease-HHHHHHHHHHH!
-NW :3
