When I woke up the next morning, I thought groggily about whether I wanted to go to school or not. On one hand, it would mean facing the Guardians. Which would not only be awkward and painful for all of us, but it would also attract the attention of the whole school (the Guardians weren't going to act like nothing had happened, after all). Plus, without even getting out of bed, I could tell I was sore. I wasn't even sure if I would be able to get out of bed. Which really made me wish I'd hit Rima harder yesterday, even though that single blow from my tail had probably left its mark well enough.

Then again, I was determined to be a dragon now. And if I put Azami in my shoes, I knew she wouldn't show any signs of weakness. That would include staying home due to soreness, or trying to hide from Amu and the others. Plus, it wasn't like they were going to attack me at school, with all the other kids around. At most, they'd probably just shun me. That couldn't be too bad. Could it?

So I made my decision and got out of bed, waking Azami up in the process. "Hm? Are we going to school, then?" she asked, peeping out of her egg.

"Yeah," I said with a slight groan as I tried to stretch out my bruised body. "Should be interesting, huh?"

Azami came the rest of the way out of her egg and smiled a little bit. "I guess so. Are you planning on confronting the Guardians at all, or just avoiding them completely?"

"I don't see what I'd accomplish by confronting them. Unless I told them exactly why Easter can make me obey them, which I'm not planning on doing. So I'll go with avoiding them as best I can."

I sluggishly got ready to go (slowed down further because I had to do my best to disguise the bruises on my face and legs with make up, which wouldn't be covered by my uniform). Azami, to entertain herself, started talking about yesterday's battle again. She had calmed down a bit, though, so now she was simply reviewing the battle, rather than exclaiming about every point of awesomeness on our part. I let her ramble; it distracted me from thinking about school. It's not so much that I thought school was going to be all that horrible. But it didn't do me any good to dwell on it, either.

As I put on my uniform, I left off my cape. My Guardian cape, which I almost always wore to school. I'd always liked the symbol of authority. But I wasn't a Guardian anymore. And I didn't see any reason to pretend that I was.

Despite my slow pace getting ready, there was still ten minutes to the start of school as I arrived at Seiyo. And the first person I saw as I walked in the school doors was none other than Tadase. I quickly took in the scene; he was sitting at a table, which had a big sign that said "CD turn in station" on the front side of it. For a moment, I just stood in the doorway, with Tadase too distracted by other students to notice. But then there was a short break in kids turning in CDs, and he looked up and saw me. And he glared with all the venom he could muster.

His gaze seemed to break me out of a trance. I moved forward and walked right past him, not bothering to meet his stare again. But our reactions to each other - his glare and my effort to ignore him - were both well noted by other kids nearby in the hallway. Not to mention, my lack of cape was probably exceedingly noticeable. Already I could hear the whispers starting, spreading rumors of who-knows-what. But other than a slight blush that I couldn't prevent, no matter how hard I tried, I kept walking through the halls as if nothing had happened. If I got to my classroom, then I probably wouldn't have to deal with the Guardians; after all, none of them were in my class.

But to my annoyance, Tadase wasn't the only one running a CD turn-in station. As I reached the top of the stairs to get off at my floor, I found myself face to face with Rima. She was sitting behind yet another table, with bags around her full of the CDs she had collected. She looked none the worse from our battle yesterday, though I suspected she was acting stronger than she felt at the moment. I glared at her, and she glared back. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Azami joining in with a death-glare directed towards Rima. Kusukusu seemed to be the only one who didn't completely hate anyone. She simply hovered near Rima, looking upset about the whole situation.

Now me glaring at Rima and Rima glaring back was nothing new, so no one around us really took note of it. What they did notice was my lack of cape, as well as the somewhat less-than-hidden bruises on my face and legs. Once again, the rumors started. I turned away from Rima and went on to my class, ignoring the murmuring people around me. I did take a little bit of notice of my surroundings as I walked, and it hit me that not everyone was joining in on the rumors. Some were standing around, barely at the outskirts of their respective groups, doing nothing but staring dejectedly into space.

The fruits of my labor, I thought sarcastically, for once feeling guilty about taking X-eggs. I mean, these were people that I saw everyday, usually full of energy. But I didn't know any of them well, and it was probably their fault that they weren't strong enough to take care of their own dreams. With this in mind, I did my best to shake off the discomfort of my guilt.

I made it to my classroom and sat down in my desk, ignoring the kids around me. The rumors hadn't spread into here yet, though they started up as soon as people noticed my lack of cape. They talked in whispers, but I still heard bits and pieces.

"Why isn't Yamada-san wearing her cape?"

"It's probably just dirty or something."

"But she always wears it."

"Look at this text! My friend says that Hotori-kun actually glared at Miyuki!"

"Do you think maybe she got kicked out of the Guardians?"

"What could she have done to deserve that?"

"I dunno, but I've never heard of Tadase ever getting really mad at anyone. Whatever she did, it must be bad."

The group that was talking cast a few furtive glances over towards me, then looked away awkwardly as they realized that I was watching them. But it didn't discourage them; they simply continued their gossip more quietly, so as not to be overheard. I sighed and laid my head down on my desk, in the crook of one of my arms. Maybe I should've just stayed home today... Normally gossip didn't bother me, but this had a ring of truth to it.

"Sorta funny how humans will talk without even bothering to see who's listening," Azami commented into my ear.

"Yeah, I guess," I answered, though I kept my eyes closed and my head down. I stayed like that for a few minutes, trying to figure out my feelings. There was a little bit of guilt, and some sadness as well, though neither of them weighed too heavily in my mind. I realized that, though I wasn't happy to any great extent, I was feeling a huge sense of relief. The secret was out now, and I had no more reason to hide who I truly was from the Guardians.

But with that no longer lingering at the back of my thoughts, a new underlying worry had germinated: Easter. I suddenly seemed to fully comprehend just how much of a hold they had on me. They could order me to do just about anything, and I would have no choice but to obey. I didn't worry so much about what they would make me do; in fact, I could think of very little that I'd actually be opposed to doing. I didn't exactly have any moral scruples to consider anymore, especially since I'd finally parted ways with the Guardians. What did concern me was the whole concept of me practically being a slave to Easter's whims. And who knew how long they would keep their power over me... maybe for months... or years... or my life...

Someone poked me in the shoulder, and I brought myself back to the present. I looked up to see Mai, looking at me with concern.

"Oh, hi Mai," I said with a faint smile.

Mai frowned a little bit. "What's going on? People have been coming up to me since I walked in the doors today, asking me what happened between you and the Guardians. Did something happen?" She asked this in her quiet way, which made her seem not at all nosy. Just worried. Which made me feel worse about not being able to tell her the truth.

"I guess you could say that," I replied.

"Will you tell me what happened? I'm not sure what rumors are true and which aren't, but it hardly seems fair if the Guardians are suddenly shunning you. And how did you get so bruised?" she asked.

My sad little smile grew ever so slightly. "I can't tell you much, but I will say this; if we're talking in terms of what is fair and what isn't, then I'm getting off easy."

Mai looked like she was about to protest, but then the bell rang. She gave me one last worried look, and then sat down in her seat.

"I wish she'd just mind her own business," Azami said, annoyed.

I shrugged, and thought, I know I'm supposed to be a dragon, but... I'm still kinda glad that there's someone who still worries about me.

* * *

When the bell rang for us to leave for lunch, it dawned on me that I wasn't going to have anywhere to sit. I always sat with the Guardians, but that was out of the question now.

Apparently, this occurred to Mai as well. "You're welcome to sit with me at lunch," she offered. "My table normally has one or two open seats, anyway. And I think you know some of the people I sit with. Like Chieko - she's been in our class both semesters, and I think you've helped her with English a couple of times before. And Kasumi is in our class, too."

I smiled gratefully. "Yeah, that'd be great."

Soon after I entered the lunch room, I noticed the Guardians were already sitting at their table. They looked at me for a few moments before going back to their meal. Tadase and Rima both glared at me, Kairi remained impassive, Yaya looked kind of sad and angry and pouty all at once, and Amu looked as hurt as ever. None of them looked at me long, but their reaction to me did not go unnoticed by others in the lunchroom, many of whom had been waiting to see what the Guardians and I would do at lunch. I did my best to pretend that nothing had happened.

Mai and I went through the lunch line together, and I followed her to where she sat everyday at lunch. Sitting at the table were the two girls she had mentioned, plus one who had been in my class last semester (her name was Naoko, if I remembered correctly), and one other girl who I didn't think had ever been in my class. When I sat down with Mai, the other girls were visibly surprised to have me sit with them. But, to their credit, they didn't bother asking what was going on. Instead, Chieko continued a very enthusiastic description of a new anime episode that had aired the night before.

Throughout lunch, no one seemed to expect me to join the conversation, though they left it open enough that I could if I had something to say. I didn't say much, but I did comment every now and then. It felt kind of strange to be talking about normal, every day things with anyone other than Mai. Azami was bored immediately, and while I didn't necessarily enjoy lunch (I was extremely conscious of all the people in the lunchroom who kept turning to look at me), being with Mai made it tolerable. And not once did anyone at the table ask me what had happened; there seemed to be an unrecognized consensus among them that it was my business.

When lunch ended and we all went back to class, I made sure to go out of my way so as not to run into the Guardians. And for the rest of class, I actually tried to pay attention to the lesson. But when I failed at that (no mater how you look at it, my teacher takes boring to an extreme level), I wondered what would happen tonight. I had heard that more CDs had showed up overnight, and I doubted that everyone would turn in their CDs to the Guardians. Nor could the Guardians do anything about any CDs that people outside of the school had. So I'd have more X-eggs to collect, which in turn meant that the Guardians might try to purify them... And as fun as the battle had been, I didn't exactly feel like beating the Guardians two days in a row. I decided that, unless I was told differently, that I would skip any battle with the Guardians if I could.

When the last bell of the day rang, I just wanted to get out of the school as quickly as possible, to avoid running into the Guardians. But Mai wouldn't let me leave. In the past, whenever I wouldn't tell her something, she would normally back off about it. But this time, she was being adamant.

"Miyuki, I really wish you'd tell me what's going on," she said, keeping her voice low so that no one around us would listen in. "The Guardians can't just kick you out, can they?"

I shrugged. "Well, I'm not officially kicked out. But as I said earlier, I deserve it."

"I can't believe that you deserve to be treated so coldly by the Guardians," Mai said. "It's just not right. And there are so many rumors going around that I don't like hearing... A lot of the people in the school think that you must've done something horrible, since they can't see Tadase or Amu or Rima as ever being wrong."

I grinned. "What about Yaya?"

"Well, her not so much," Mai admitted. "But back to the point. You shouldn't have to put up with people talking about you when they don't even know what happened."

"Mai is being awfully talkative today, isn't she?" Azami commented from my shoulder. Though I couldn't respond, I knew that she was right. Mai must really be worked up about this. Which was sort of ironic, considering the fact that I was sort of facing the situation stoically.

"Let them talk about me if they want, Mai," I said. "I really don't mind, and they'll tire of it eventually."

Mai scowled slightly. "But their not even thinking for themselves. They're just blindly following the Guardians. It's so... frustrating. I know that whatever you've done, it surely doesn't deserve this."

I almost laughed aloud at this, but I managed to hold it back. Azami, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "Mai, I think you trust me a bit too much. Which isn't a bad thing," I said. "It's just that... haven't you ever wondered why I won't tell you what's going on? What if it's because I'm doing something bad that I can't tell you about?"

"Well, you're my friend, Miyuki," Mai said, getting quieter. "I'd probably trust you even if that was the case. Which I don't think it is."

"Gooey mushy blah!" Azami said, disgusted. And while I knew that the dragon part of me ought to hate this sort of sentimental thing... The human part of me just couldn't help liking someone who trusted me so much. And to think that I finally disbanded from the Guardians, only to find out that there's another, maybe bigger obstacle on my way to becoming a dragon.

"Well... thanks," I said, at a slight loss for words. After a brief awkward silence, I changed the subject. "Anyway, I've got to get going. And really, just forget about the Guardians - what's happening now is my fault. Really."

"If you say so," Mai said, sounding unconvinced. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," I replied as I grabbed my stuff and headed out of the emptying classroom. As I walked through the school, I asked Azami if she sensed the Guardians anywhere nearby, but she couldn't feel them. They must've already gone to purify X-eggs... I hope. I walked home without any trouble, though an X-egg did meet up with me on the way.

I didn't spend a lot of time at home - just long enough to grab a bite to eat and change out of my uniform. Then Azami and I were off, once again searching for X-eggs. But there weren't too many around the Seiyo area, so I didn't hang around long. This time, Azami and I covered a much larger area. I was impressed with how well distributed all the X-eggs were; Kairi and Yukari must have been really busy the other night, handing out the CDs while I kept the Guardians busy. I wondered briefly if Kairi was helping the Guardians or his sister at the moment, but that thought faded as I enjoyed my flight.

It was a cool, overcast day, with a bit of wind that made it a challenge to fly. But it was a good sort of challenge, and both Azami and I reveled in molding our flight to best match the conditions. Sometimes that meant extra strain as I tried to flap against the wind; other times, it meant an exhilarating rush as I let the wind push me along at speeds I couldn't have accomplished by myself, except perhaps when diving through the air.

In the end, I brought a total of maybe fifty or sixty back to the Easter building. Not quite as much as yesterday, but then again, it wasn't any small amount, either. I didn't run into the Guardians at all. And Yukari never came to meet me on the roof of the Easter building like she had yesterday, and so it was up to me to figure out when I had enough.

And so, despite the tiredness from the prolonged flight, the day ended on a relatively good note. The Guardians just seemed to be ignoring me at school, I hadn't run into them after school, and even my bruises were beginning to fade. School would probably be weird for the next week or so, but then everyone would get used to me not being a Guardian anymore.

The main bad thought that still lingered was the whole notion of me being little more than a pawn of Easter. It made me feel small and insignificant and helpless; feelings that neither human nor dragon likes to have. And, worse even than that, was the knowledge that I had no one that could really help me out of this mess. Maybe the Guardians could've, but I wasn't going back to them. If I was going to take the path of a dragon, then I had to take it alone, for good or for ill.

Sorry that you had to wait so long for such a short, relatively boring chapter. I've been swamped with work, and my mood hasn't been improved by the fact that I have a cough that won't go away.

This chapter was supposed to be part of the next chapter, but I write too much (as always), so I had to split it.

Oh, and one last thing... DARN YOU NEW SEASON OF SHUGO CHARA! The actual anime part seems decent, but it's only about ten minutes long now! It makes me angry. Though I do like Rikka.

So thanks for reading, reviewing, etc... I'm tired right now, or else I'd at least attempt to be enthusiastic about it... sorry... Next chapter will be better, I promise...