And here is chapter 10!

"Uh Minako. There's a kid following us."

"Just ignore him. Maybe he'll go away."

Minako glanced over at Yukari before glancing back to see Ken duck into a nearby alleyway. Ugh. What was he doing? If he was going to be her bodyguard for the day why couldn't he just hide in a garbage can or something? Why did he have to make it so obvious that he was following her?

"Minako, he's been following us for a while now," said Yukari. She glanced back before turning her attention back to Minako and smiled at her friend. "You don't think he has a crush on you or something?" She was grinning now. "That's so cute. You should be gentle in breaking his heart."

"Somehow I don't think it's that," replied Minako and she involuntarily shivered. Ugh. It reminded her of what her dad said. Ken was just picked just because he could be part of her little harem. Well she was not going to be become a shotacon. No way! That was just…ew. Plus she would probably get arrested for assault or something. Why in the world was she still thinking about this? It was time she stopped. She would have no peace of mind like this.

"But what else could it be?" asked Yukari with a laugh. She stopped laughing and a serious look crossed his face. "Wait, is he one of those guys that are actually much older than they look and he's following you to stalk you?"

"I don't think it's that either," said Minako with a light laugh. Oh boy. This was getting out of hand fast. All she wanted to do today was have a nice peaceful day shopping with Yukari and just doing girl things. Of course it had to be Ken following her today. If it was Junpei he could walk with them and Shinjiro and Akihiko could be taken as guys that just wanted to come along with them for some reason. But no. She had to stuck with Ken today. Why didn't she just bring Koromaru? Then she could send the dog on Ken as a distraction while Yukari and her escaped.

"Well he'll get bored soon enough if he's a kid," said Yukari with a laugh. "Kids have short attention spans you know?"

"Uh sure," replied Minako with a light chuckle. Yeah. She just hoped Ken would learn to just stay out of sight to save her sanity. "Anyway, shall we get shopping?" she asked as she pulled Yukari's arm to the closest thing to them, which was Chagall Café. Uh okay. That'll have to do! "Let's go in here first! I'm hungry for the little cakes they sell here!"

Yukari laughed, "You do love your cakes, don't you Minako?"

"Uh huh," she replied and tried to laugh with her friend. "Anyway! Let's go in!" Minako stepped into the café but before she got too far she noticed a very familiar and very annoying red-head sitting at a table. What made it worse was the fact that the annoying red head had seen Minako before the brown-haired heiress could duck out of there. So instead, Minako put a very pleasant smile on her face as her arch nemesis walked over to her. "Hello Misturu. Pleasant day today isn't it?"

"Why yes it is," she replied. A slight smirk was on her face and all Minako wanted to do was rip her foldable naginata out of her nurse and hit Mitsuru with it. "I'm quite surprised to see you walking around town." Mitsuru's eyes shifted over to Yukari quickly and then back at Minako. "Well you know what I'm talking about. Here I thought you would be hiding under the covers."

Minako gritted her teeth and glared at Mitsuru. She wanted to just spit it back in Mitsuru's face and tell her all about the last two times someone tried to marry her. She beat them both times! She would do it again and again until she defeated everyone that tried to marry her. "Well unfortunately I'm not going to be the princess in the castle waiting for everyone to come save me. I am going to fight back. You can count on that!"

Mitsuru chuckled. "Well at least you can try to stop them with that attitude of yours," she said before she threw her red hair over her shoulder. "Well I have a meeting to attend to discuss where the Kirijo company will invest in next. See you back at school."

Minako gritted her teeth but she didn't move until Mitsuru had walked past her and out the door.

"Uh Minako, are you okay?" Yukari reached a hand to touch Minako's shoulder but she stopped when Minako suddenly clenched her hands into fists.

"That stupid Mitsuru," growled Minako angrily. "Always thinking she is better than me. Well she isn't! So what if she can go invest in stuff!" Minako would love to show her a thing or two. However, right now, she had to deal with this whole marriage thing. She didn't have time to fight with Mitsuru. She had to be ready for the next attack. Oh wait. She turned to Yukari when she realized her friend had asked her a question. "Huh? Say that again? I wasn't listening."

"What did Mitsuru-sempai mean when she said she was surprised to see you walk around town?"

Minako froze for a second. Crud. What could she say? What was there to say? Explaining what that meant, meant she had to explain about the whole marriage thing. She did not want to do that. "Oh, don't worry about it," said Minako quickly. "It's rich heiress things. It's a way for us to poke each other. Nothing more than that."

"Oh," said Yukari, her face falling slightly.

Oh crap. She had made it even worse! She knew Yukari's family wasn't doing well and she had just rubbed it in Yukari's face that she was rich! Minako had offered to help Yukari's family but Yukari said that they would be fine and that Minako shouldn't worry about her. "Uh," began Minako, trying to think of a way to sort this problem out. "I mean uh-"

"Minako!"

Hearing her name called, Minako turned to it. "Oh. Hi Rio."

The tennis player walked over to Minako with a couple girls from the tennis club right behind her. "I'm surprised to see you here today," said Rio with a chuckle. "I guess heiresses go to places like this too huh?"

"Yup," replied Minako. "I like the little pastries here. They're so tasty!" Oh wait. She still didn't make up with Yukari yet! She turned to her friend. "Why don't we get some pastries together?" she offered. "My treat."

"Thanks Minako!" said Yukari, perking up.

"No problem!" said Minako. "What are friends for right?"

Linelinelineline

Minako walked up the extremely long driveway to her house. Before she got too far though she turned around and put her hands on her hips before calling out, "I know you're out there Ken. Come on out!"

The nearby bushes rustled and the ten year old crawled out of them. He shook the leaves out of his hair and gave Minako a sheepish look.

"Well that ain't going to get you anywhere," said Minako crossly. "If you're going to follow me, please don't make it so obvious okay? Yukari thought you were a stalker or something and even though you technically are since I don't want you following me, at least do a better job at it so it isn't so obvious."

"Yes Minako-san," said Ken. He looked down at the ground and kicked a rock. "I'll do better in the future."

Gah! Curse kids and their ability to look cute and stuff! This was annoying. How do they do it? How do they make themselves seem so cute and innocent? Argh! "Just get going inside okay?" she told him, not looking at him in case his cute little kid act would make her feel bad enough to apologize to him. "I'll be in there soon enough but I want to take my time."

"But Minako-san," began Ken. "We're supposed to guard you when you're outside the manision."

"We're on Arisato property," Minako pointed out. "There are guards everywhere and such. I'll be fine. Now go okay?"

Ken looked like he didn't want to do it but after a moment he nodded before running up the driveway to the house.

Minako on the other hand sighed. "I wonder if I can survive until my next birthday," she commented to herself. "Just dealing with this every day is so tiring."

"Dealing with what?"

Minako jumped and turned around to see who had spoken. "Oh, Akihiko," she said with a sigh in relief.

"Sorry if I scared you," he said.

From the clothes he was wearing it looked like he had been out for a quick jog. "Training for your next match or something?"

Akihiko nodded. "Yeah. It's coming up soon so I want to be in top condition for it."

Minako nodded. "Oh. You do that." She was about to say something more when her phone made a sound, a signal she got a text. She pulled it out of her bag and checked it. Her eyes narrowed when she read it.

"What is it?" asked Akihiko.

Minako looked up at Akihiko. "It's a suitor," she said. Seriously. How did these people get her number? "He says I need to go to a certain address in an hour. And he said to not contact the police. Apparently he's the one that has been knocking out couples in Shirukawa Boulevard." Why this little plot point wasn't mentioned before was beyond Minako.

"Shirukawa Boulevard? I don't think it'll be in your best interest to go there."

"I'm going and that's final," said Minako quickly. She was not going to fight it out with Akihiko. "I'm your boss and that's it. You may have to protect me but you don't tell me where to go and such."

"Fine then," said Akihiko, knowing that he would not be able to make Minako back down. "I'm coming with you though."

"Fine by me," said Minako. She wouldn't need Akihiko's help anyway. All she needed was her trusty foldable naginata. "Now let's get going," she told him before running in the direction of the train station.