Nagihiko

"God, it's so hot out here!" Rima wiped the sweat off her brow. "And they didn't even provide gloves," She grumbled.

"You're not even working!" I argued. "You're just sitting in the shade watching me work!"

"I don't want to get my nails dirty."

"So you're going to make me do all the work?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Stop that!" She snapped, and I chuckled.

It really was hot outside, even though it was only around ten thirty. I'd walked here in the heat, having thrown on black basketball shorts and a gym t-shirt, swiping a pair of gardening gloves from the tool shed when no one was looking. Rima, however, had shown up wearing light denim Capri pants and a floaty white blouse with a black headband in her hair as always.

It wasn't too bad, though. Yes, some of the weeds had tiny thorns and spikes, but I had gardening gloves. Plus, it was nice spending time with Rima.

"Aren't you going to help me?' I asked her.

She thought for a second. "Maybe."

"I'm going to take that as a no." I rolled my eyes. "This is supposed to be a punishment, you know."

"It is a punishment!" She shot at me. "Because I have to be with you."

"And once again, mean old Rima picks on poor Nagihiko," I sighed melodramatically.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Get over it. And besides, you and I both know we weren't the ones that dropped that bucket of ice water on Nikaidou's head."

"Well, yeah, but then who? Our shugo charas?"

She huffed. "Yeah, right. For one, why would they do that? And two, do you really think our guardian characters would plan to dump a bucket of water on a teacher's head?"

"I see your point," I admitted.

A trilling ring tone rang out through the silence. Rima pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Hey, Amu. What's up? Really?" She sighed in relief. " Nagi's here with me. I'm putting you on speakerphone."

"Hey, Amu!" I said cheerfully. "How are you?"

"Good!" Amu's voice was bright and bubbly. "Yaya and I finished passing out most of our flyers. All that's left are the ones we're using to hang up in stores."

"We've only got half a box left!" Yaya's voice came through the phone sounding excited. "Hello, Yaya! So you're almost finished? That's good. Are you going to come back and help us?" I glanced at Rima. "Well, me?"

Amu laughed. "Rima's not helping?"

"Not at all."

"I'm still here!" Rima said pointedly.

"Anyways" Amu said, "Yaya said she can do the rest, so I'm heading over to help you guys."

"Yaya? All by yourself?" I frowned. "Are you sure you'll be safe?"

"Right!" Amu gasped. "That's true..."

Rima and I met eyes and grinned. "Why don't you call Kairi? He can help her."

There was a choking sound in the background, which I assumed meant Yaya was freaking out at the moment. "That's a great idea!" Amu said excitedly. "That's okay, right, Yaya?"

"N—No—"

"It'll be fine," Rima said quickly. "See you soon."

"Bye!"

Rima hung up. We took one look at each other, and burst out laughing.

"Rima gave a huge yawn. "I'm thirsty. Let's get a drink."

"Then let's go inside."

"What? But the school's closed."

"There's got to be at least one door open. There are a bunch of after-school activities. We'll find one. C'mon." I stood up and pulled her to her feet. "Let's go."

"Oh, yeah!" Rima smacked her forehead. "The play! The door to the auditorium must be open! Let's go!" She dragged me across campus to the high school side of campus and to the large auditorium building, pulling me through a back door.

"...Your lady mother is coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about."

"It's Nade-chan and Tadase!" Rima whispered.

The two of us peeked out from behind the red curtains, hiding in the shadows as Nadeshiko and Tadase, standing atop a balcony in Capulet's orchard, spoke their lines well but failed to convey that they were madly in love with each other.

"So that's what you'd look like in a dress," Rima mused. "Not bad."

I didn't really know how to answer that. Nadeshiko did look good in violet, white and gold with braided hair, but seeing myself in a dress after years of cross dressing wasn't exactly the top of my list of things to see.

"At least I'm not wearing puffy pants."

Rima giggled. "He looks so gay."

I chuckled. "Well, maybe. But it could be worse. Remember Platinum Royale?"

"Then window, let day in, and let life out."

"Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I'll descend." The both of them turned pink, and Tadase gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"You know, you're going to have to kiss her on the lips like you mean it when we actually do the performance," I spoke, stepping out from behind the curtains.

The two jumped. "Nagi-kun!" Nadeshiko exclaimed, glaring at me.

"Nice dress, Nade-chan," I motioned towards her dress, and turned to Tadase, grinning. "Nice pantaloons, Tadase."

He blushed and sputtered, "I—I have to wear these! It's my costume!"

I chuckled, and then got serious. "But I am right, you know. We can't have a Romeo and Juliet that only kiss each other on the cheek. I don't like it, but that's how it goes."

"Aren't you supposed to be pruning flowers or something with Rima-chan?" Nadeshiko demanded.

Rima came up behind me. "We're taking a break."

"Sure," Nadeshiko gave Rima a look. "A break."

"It's true," I said, shrugging. "We only came in here because it's so hot outside, and we were going to get a drink."

"But he's right," Rima nodded, giving Tadase a pointed look. "Romeo and Juliet has more passion. That kiss wasn't passionate."

"Ah, so you agree with me for once?" I smiled at Rima, raising an eyebrow.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Because you were right, for once."

"I'm always right." I winked at her.

"You're so infuriating!"

'Why, thank you. I try my best."

"Augh! Now you sound like Ikuto!"

"Geez, Rima, no need to be so harsh." I pouted.

"I take that back. You're worse."

"Compared to Ikuto? I think you're over-exaggerating."

"Oh, shut up."

"Someone's in a bad mood."

"Shut it, cross dresser."

"Really? You went there?"

"What? You can't deal with it? It's the truth."

"True. But I think you're just jealous that I look better pretending to be a girl than you do."

"What—I'm an actual girl, stupid!"

And I'm a better one, yes?"

"God, you're so annoying!"

"Jealous..."

"I hate you."

"Love you too, Rima."

"...not paying us any attention."

Rima and I turned to look at the two. "Did you guys say something?" Rima asked.

"No, no, nothing at all," Nadeshiko was smiling for some reason.

"Well, I need a drink of water," Rima said, giving me a dirty look and heading down the stage steps off to the side. I followed her, grinning.

The door was, thankfully, unlocked, and the two of us stepped into the echoing hallway that was considered a storage room/added backstage where only that cast and crew were allowed to enter.

I reached the nearest water fountain and bent to drink, but Rima tapped me on the shoulder. "Ladies first," She said haughtily, and stepped in front of me to sip delicately from the fountain.

I scoffed. "What lady?"

"Me, of course," Rima looked down her nose at me. Which was actually pretty funny, because she had to look so far up that it didn't look right.

"Ladies aren't rude like you. You broke about a dozen rules just now."

"Did I forget to stick up my pinkie while I drank from the fountain? You would know, wouldn't you?"

"You're really never going to let that go, are you?"

"Of course not."

"So you're prejudiced against cross dressers?"

"No, just really tall ones with long purple hair named Nagihiko Fujisaki."

"Oh, really? Then explain to me why, if you have a problem with me cross-dressing, you're so nice to me when I'm 'Nadeshiko'."

"Duh, stupid. Both your alter-ego and your twin are cuter and nicer."

"Whether that's true or not, I still make a better lady than you."

"Whatever."

The two of us strode back into the auditorium, glaring at each other. I broke away, and saw Nadeshiko and Tadase leaning towards each other slowly, their faces an inch from each other.

"Nade-chan! Tadase! We're leaving!" Rima called. The two jumped and pink flooded their cheeks. I guessed they had been trying to kiss without blushing and seem like they were madly in love with each other. Apparently the only way it would work was if no one else was in the room. Wonderful.

The sun had risen just a little higher in the sky. Checking my clock, I saw it was almost eleven. "It's lunchtime."

"Oh, good. Did you bring food?' Rima asked.

"A sack lunch... why?" I narrowed my eyes. "Are you going to steal my lunch?"

"Maybe." She shrugged. "I packed a lunch, too, but if yours looks better..."

"Surprise, surprise," I sighed.

Walking back to our spot, where my gloves and two bags, one black trash bag filled with weeds and a small, insulated lunch pack laid on the grass in wait.

"So, what'd you bring?" Rima asked, producing a small paper bag and pulling out a cute little bento box.

I opened my own and lifted the lid of my own bento box. "Some rice, inari sushi, an onigiri, some day-old vegetable tempura, and some pickled ginger."

"Nice. I have..." She opened her pack, "beef curry and rice, two korroke, one mochi-manju, and last night's leftover chicken katsu."

"That sounds good." I peeked at her lunch. "Is it all homemade?"

"Yep. The mochi-manju has azuki an."

"Your mom can make all that?" I was impressed.

"From scratch," Rima said proudly. I watched as her face fell slightly. "She got promoted, and she gets a little more time of work, so she uses it to make home-cooked meals." I heard her say softly, "She still can't stop making food for three."

I hesitated for a second, not sure if she would reject me, and then patted her arm. "I'm sorry."

Rima shifted away slightly when I touched her. "It's not your fault." She said shortly, producing a pair of hashi and attacking her chicken katsu.

I watched her, and picked up my fist-sized onigiri and took a bite. "Auntie usually makes dinner, since my parents are always busy, but occasionally my mom helps in the kitchen, like on holidays."

Rima shrugged, the look on her face conveying the message that I should change the subject.

"So when's Amu coming?" I asked.

She checked her watch, mouth full of katsu. "It's just past eleven. She won't be here until maybe noon or so. I would guess she's getting lunch."

I chewed slowly, finishing off the rest of my onigiri and picked up a piece of inari sushi with my hashi. "Do you think we'll get done with weeding the flower beds? I mean, there are a lot of them at Seiyo."

"Probably. I mean, it's not like no one takes care of them, we're just giving the gardeners an off day."

I gazed at the long flower beds that lined the gates and the walkway to the school entrance. There had to be at least twenty, and we'd—well, I'd—only gotten through four. "I don't think it'll take too long to finish this front area, right?"

Ran was zooming over the treetops at top speed, searching for the small building where Ikuto would be a student. "It's here somewhere, I know it!" She said to herself. "I have to get back soon..." She knew she only had a short time. After convincing Amu to get the unhealthiest lunch at a cafe on the university campus (which went against all Ran's health beliefs), Amu had run into the bathroom an hour later cursing her stupidity. At most, Ran had about fifteen minutes to find Ikuto and begin Phase Four of Operation Get Ikuto On A Date With Amu By Getting Them To Eat Lunch Together (all right, so maybe it was kind of a long name) and help get Operation Amuto on track.

Flying lower as the sound of a bell began to ring, she spotted the back of someone extremely tall with ruffled midnight hair and a violin case strung over his shoulder walking away. He was surrounded by a crowd of squealing, madly giggling girls.

"Ikuto!" Ran shouted, and flew closer.

There he was, looking extremely bored with his hands casually stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans. Most of the girls were simpering and chattering endlessly to him, though it was obvious he wasn't really listening.

"Ikuto!" Ran cried, flying in front of his face.

"Go away," Ikuto said, glancing in Ran's direction.

"But, Ikuto!" One of the girls whined. "We want to hang out with you! I'm having a party tomorrow night, you should come. It'll be fun." She ran a finger down his arm.

"Amu's here," Ran said quickly.

"Really? Where?" That got his attention. Ran swore she could see cat ears perking up in interest.

The girl, unable to see Ran, laughed shrilly. "At my dorm, silly! Everyone's going to be there. But," She batted her eyelashes and bit her lower lip, trying to look provocative, "If you want, it could just be us two."

"She's eating at the Drunken Samurai Cafe on the edge of campus. She's going to visit you when she's done eating lunch."

"Why wait?" Ikuto smirked, a rather evil glint in his eye. "I'll go now."

"Seriously?' The girl squealed. "Omigosh! Totally!" She grabbed his arm possessively.

Ikuto looked at the girl, raising an eyebrow. "Why are you touching me? Please stop."

"But... Ikuto," She pouted.

"I'm sorry if I gave you any impression that I was interested in a relationship," Ikuto said firmly, a hint of impatience in his tone. "But I have to go. I apologize."

The girl pouted for a second, then gazed at him. "But, you're still coming to my party, right?"

"Party?" Ikuto shrugged, and then turned away. "As if," He said to himself, jogging away without a single glance backwards to the disappointed gaggle of girls.

I yanked up another weed and stuffed it in the overflowing trash bag, wiping the sweat from my brow. Now, around three o'clock, the sun was exuding thick heat, pulling up weeds had become a lot harder than just a little while ago. Rima was on her hands and knees a little ways away, yanking up weed after weed with a look of determination in her eyes. After finishing up with both our meals (She'd convinced me to give her the rest of the vegetable tempura), she'd watched for about fifteen minutes before declaring she was bored and crawled right beside me, dragging each weed up from the ground and stuffing it into the black trash bag.

Amu had finally shown up, greeting us with one hand and fending off Ikuto's perverseness with the other. She and her guardian characters had immediately set to work, while Ikuto watched and pulled up one or two weeds. Temari, of course, was enraged that weeds dare enter the flower beds, so with rolled-back kimono sleeves and hiked-up skirts, she ferociously attacked the weeds with her naginata, while Rhythm was forced to dig up the roots of the weeds that she'd shredded. KusuKusu was rolling around in the dirt and making dirt angels while distracting the others by throwing dirtballs at them.

I scanned around me for any last weeds, and mopped my brow again. Rima came up to me, half-hidden behind an armful of weeds bleeding plant juice. It looked like she had taken Freddy Krueger's knife hands and viciously murdered the plants before pulling them out of the ground.

"I'm done," She panted, her cheeks flushed, and shoved her victims into the bag. "Thank goodness."

Amu pranced over with her arms full of weeds, having chara-changed with Su, and giggled girlishly. "All done!" She said in a sing-song voice, pirouetting as she set the weeds into the bag.

Ikuto followed up behind her. "Here," He tossed a handful of green into the bag.

The green shamrock barrette holding Amu's bangs back from her face popped back into its usual X. She immediately turned and growled, "Su..."

The little chara giggled. "Hai, Amu?"

As Amu snatched her third-born shugo chara and attempted to strangle her, the other three trying to pry her hands off her third would-be-self, I turned to the others. "Tadase and Nade-chan are inside the auditorium, practicing for next week's play," I said. "Since we're done, maybe we should go and help them."

'What's the play?" Ikuto asked.

"Romeo and Juliet. Tadase's Romeo and Nade-chan's Juliet."

He smiled mischievously. "I've gotta see this."

Amu released Su from her death-grip and smiled pleasantly. "Sure! They might need help."

The four of us and our guardian characters made our way over to the auditorium and entered. "Hello?" Amu called. "Tadase? Nade-chan? Are you there?"

"We're here!" Nade-chan's voice.

Making our way to the stage, we found Tadase collapsed spread-eagled on the ground, a bottle of poison in his hands. Nade-chan was holding a knife to her chest, ready to stab herself. She smiled at us. "Hey, guys."

"Hello," Tadase raised his head off the ground and smiled at us, and then pretended to be dead again.

"An interesting position to find you guys, " Ikuto noted.

"Shut it, Tsukiyomi." My sister gave him a look. "Our class is performing Romeo and Juliet, this is one of the scenes."

"Shakespearean plays, always a favorite," Ikuto said sarcastically. "Because watching everyone die is the perfect way to end a play."

"Not everyone dies in his plays," Amu said fairly. "Like no one dies in The Taming of the Shrew."

"But it's still a really sexist play," Ikuto points out.

"Anyways," I interrupt, "Are you guys almost done?"

"Yeah. I just have to stab myself in the chest." Nade-chan promptly shoved the knife into her chest dramatically and crumpled in a heap into Tadase's arms.

"And she says it so matter-of-factly," Rima watched in bemusement as 'Romeo' and 'Juliet' pretended to be dead for a couple of seconds and then got to their feet.

"No more speaking lines from there, right? Just playing dead?" Nade-chan asked Tadase.

"I think so." The two kept eye contact, as if conveying some message. When they looked to us, Tadase looked faintly embarrassed and Nade-chan was pursing her lips.

"So are you guys done?" Amu cocked her head to the side. "Need any help?"

"Not really," Nade-chan replied. "So what's up?"

"Just coming to see if you guys needed anything. You guys look really good."

"Thank you, Amu," Tadase bowed his head shyly. "Ouch!"

"What?" Amu asked curiously.

"Nothing," Nade-chan and Tadase said together, glancing at each other out of the corner of their eyes.

"Well, they still need to work on making it look like they're madly in love with each other," I said.

Rima nodded. "Like, their kissing has no lustful passion, and they don't gaze at each other with utter longing and infatuation."

Ikuto teased, "Yeah, Little King, work on your kissing skills! Hey!"

Amu elbowed him. "Be nice," She scolded. "It's hard to pretend you're in love with someone you're not. You guys will get it. I like your costumes."

Tadase went pink again. "Really? I feel kind of silly. I mean, I'm wearing pantaloons and a doublet."

"With orange embroidery," Nade-chan added.

"Well... it looks good on you, anyways," Amu smiled.

"You said the same thing about Platinum Royale," Rima muttered. "And he was wearing a frilly white prince costume with ribbons."

"And I like the dress," Amu told Nade-chan, ignoring Rima's comment.

"Thanks, Amu-chan," Nade-chan shrugged. "I'm supposed to have my hair braided back, but I'm not very good at doing anything with my hair other than ponytails."

"I can braid it," Amu said kindly. "Fishtail, French, Dutch, English, Four-Strand, Rope, or Lace? Do you want it in a waterfall, a crown, in two, bohemian, or just one down your back?"

"Uhh..." Nade-chan scratched her head. "Italian?"

Amu laughed. "How about a Four-Strand?"

"...Yes?"

Amu set to work braiding her hair. When I was 'Nadeshiko', I mastered all of the braids Amu mentioned, which wasn't something I wanted to mention, at least in front of Ikuto or Rima. I'd never hear the end of it.

"Would you like me to braid your hair, Tadase?" Ikuto offered.

"Shut up, Tsukiyomi." Tadase grumbled, watching as Nade-chan sat stock-still as Amu's fingers deftly twisted and slid through her hair, already halfway down her back.

"Oh, so you're watching to learn how to braid hair so you can do it yourself." Ikuto nodded.

"Shut up!"

"I always knew you were gay," Ikuto laughed.

I just barely saw the slightest twinge of a muscle in Tadase's jaw, but it was so tiny, I'd probably imagined it.

Rima peeked over Amu's shoulder. "You missed a strand of hair," She pointed out a lock at the nape of Nade-chan's neck.

"Really? Whoops!" Amu carefully unraveled Nade-chan's hair and started over, making sure not to miss again.

"There!" Amu finally declared. "Tada!"

The braid was very neat, her locks flowing smoothly into a flawless single braid that fell down to the center of her back.

"You look so pretty!" Amu gushed.

Rime touched the braid gently. "It suits you well."

Ikuto shrugged. "Looks like hair to me."

"It's nice," I smiled at my sister.

Tadase met eyes with Nade-chan, a funny twinkle in his eye. He dropped to one knee and proclaimed dramatically, "Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear/ That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—"

"O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,/ That monthly changes in her circled orb," Nade-chan grinned, "Lest that thy love prove likewise variable."

"Aw, stop flirting, you two," I teased. "No PDA!"

"Oh, whatever, Nagi-kun," Nade-chan said dismissively. "We're just playing around. Besides, you do it all the time with Rima."

"I do not!" I protested hotly, feeling a warm flush creep up my neck. I glanced at Rima out of the corner of my eye, and found that her cheeks held just a tiny blush. I looked away.

Maybe... just maybe...

Ikuto raised an eyebrow and whispered to Amu, who was frowning slightly, "It's a miracle! Could our sweet little king have found his queen?"

Amu glanced toward Ikuto. "Hmm? I guess maybe he has." Her brow furrowed slightly, as if confused. Unknown to anyone, perhaps even Amu herself, a tiny flare of jealousy blossomed inside her heart as she watched the smiles spread wide across her two friends' faces.