A/N: By the way guys I have a new oneshot up on fictionpress called 'The Monster in the Mirror.' It's only about 5000 words, and it would mean the world to me if you guys would go and read it since it means a lot to me. The link to my fictionpress account is on my profile. Thanks :)

Chapter 12: Cheating Chara Part 1

After the assembly finished, and the guardians helped to pack up, Amu headed towards her next class, maths. When she arrived at class, she noted the desks had been rearranged. Instead of being in rows as they were before, they were now in groups. She made her way over to a group where Yaya was currently sitting alone.

"Just us two, I guess," Amu told her.

"Yeah… it won't be the same without Nadeshiko or Kukai," Yaya told her sadly.

Other students turned to look as Amu entered the class. She had been late since, as a member of the student council, she had stayed to help pack up the assembly. The class was mostly full, yet it felt empty without Kukai or Nadeshiko. Amu heard a file put down from across the table, which dragged Amu's eyes back to her group. She had seen Rima sit across from Yaya and Amu.

"Every other table is full," Rima told them.

"Rima! Would you like to sit here?" A boy asked.

"Oh my god, just shut up," Amu told the boy. The constant rambling and sucking up to Rima annoyed her. Couldn't these guys think for themselves?

The boy quickly backed off. Mrs. Lim began to hand out a program for the term to the class. After she finished talking and told the class what their work was, Yaya began to talk.

"Oh, and Rima, we're having a student council meeting at recess, to introduce the new members and everything."

"Okay," Rima replied simply. Her reply stopped the conversation dead in its tracks.

'She's exactly like how I used to be… I see my past self in her so much,' Amu thought to herself.

The period passed by fairly quickly. Towards the end of the period Amu approached Mrs Lim about transferring to a harder course.

"What course would you recommend I do, Mrs Lim?"

"I think you should go straight to 3A. I think it's still early enough in the year that you could learn everything. You obviously have the ability to do 3A."

"I'll do it," Amu told her.

Mrs Lim was obviously surprised by her obedience, "Well, I'll talk to Mr. Plahn for you. You just have to go to 11b next maths period."

"Thanks so much, Mrs. Lim."

Yaya and Amu made small chat as they completed their work, but didn't discuss anything too major. The bell rang and the three of them began to head towards the royal garden.

"It'll be your first time in the royal garden, right Rima?" Yaya asked.

"It's pretty amazing," Amu told her.

The small girl simply shrugged her shoulders, not at all interested. Yaya opened the large doors as the three of them walked in, to see Kairi and Tadase already sitting at the table.

"Welcome, Rima!" Tadase said happily. Kairi had a stern look on his face. He seemed like the type of guy that would never lighten up. "We just needed this meeting to welcome you two to the guardians, as well as discuss our activities and so on."

"I am already well informed on the guardians' activities," Kairi told him, "And frankly, it's pathetic." A look of shock passed through Tadase's, Yaya's and Amu's face as he told them this. "There is far too much wasted energy. Quite recently, in fact, a fifth member, the joker, was added to help keep up with the work. In fact, if a more effective work schedule was sorted out, the tasks could be done with only 3 people. Just as a piece of information, the addition of the joker has actually had a negative effect."

Amu's eyes widened as he said that, "Pardon me?"

"You can't even understand plain English? You're useless. Your joining of the guardians has hindered the progress. In fact, the student body all hates you. They simply pretend to think your act is 'cool' since you're a guardian, when in reality, they hate your guts. Not only has the work been less efficient, but you have lost support of the student body," he told them.

"For an organisation such as the student council, which is made to support a vast majority, student support is necessary," Rima continued for Kairi, "I think that Amu should be kicked out from the guardians. Her presence is simply a nuisance."

Amu was dumbfounded after hearing what they had to say. She would like to say she could ignore it, but she couldn't. What they said, was it true? She knew that people hated her, but she didn't even think about how that hate from the student body would negatively impact the student council when she joined. Amu was snapped out of her thoughts when Tadase slammed his fist on the table.
"Both of you get out of this royal garden right now. We are all friends here, and none of us appreciate being told what to do, especially when it's kicking out a friend. I don't want to see you until our after school meeting on Wednesday," Tadase said angrily. The two simply acted shocked at his outburst, but remained unmoving. "Get out!"'

Rima and Kairi both gathered their bags before they left the royal garden, not saying another word as they left.

"I'm sorry, Amu," Tadase told her.

"They were so rude!" Yaya pouted as she said this, "I miss Nadeshiko and Kukai…"

"No-one misses them more than me," Amu told her, "But we need to get along with the new members. It's what they'd want. Besides, they were probably telling the truth. I know that most of the kids at this school hate me. I didn't think about the consequences of that when I joined the student council, though. I've been selfish."

"No! Don't say that, Amu," Tadase told her, "Besides, the principal will never let you quit even if you wanted to."

"You're right, and I'm not going to quit. I've joined, and I'm going to see this through. All I'm saying is, we should try look at it from their point of view," Amu said.

"What do you mean?" Yaya questioned.

"I mean we tell them that insulting isn't the way we do things around here, but ask them what they think we could improve, rather than blatantly insulting any members of the student council."

"You're right," Tadase told her, "But I'm still angry."

Third period Amu had physical education. After she got changed she made her way out to the oval. She looked around for Kukai, before realising that he was no longer here. She felt someone touch her shoulders, so she quickly spun around to see it was Yamada.

"Hoping for someone else?" he asked.

Amu smiled painfully before replying, "Yeah."

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," he told her in a sarcastic tone. Amu couldn't help but laugh.

The coach began his speech to the class, telling them about the physical education exam in week 3. The exam this year would be a physical test. Although he couldn't tell them exactly what was in the exam, he told them that they would need stamina, and he let them practice on their own.

For fourth period Amu had food technology. They were doing theory, so Amu made sure to sit down right next to Rima.
"I'm not mad, you know," Amu said, while keeping her eyes to the front.

"You were the first one that said no socialising. I didn't say what I said because I wanted to hurt your feelings. I said it because it's true."

Amu knew this technique; implying that she wasn't even worth insulting, "I was just like you, you know? I know what you've been through."

"Don't even pretend to know what I've been through!" Rima raised her voice.

Amu knew when to back down.

Wednesday's guardian meeting came by before long. Amu, Yaya and Tadase sat in the royal garden, waiting for Rima and Kairi. The two walked in together before long.

"I will start," Tadase began as Kairi and Rima sat down, "I apologise for my outburst on Monday. I will tell you, though, if you ever blatantly insult any of us again, I will not hesitate to yell two times louder than I did on Monday. We are, however, willing to listen to constructive criticism."

"My apologies, too," Kairi said to Amu, "I shouldn't have been so blunt. Right now my main job is with organising interschool sports activities. I must communicate with other schools to find out what sports they are planning on entering, and get the amount of teams in our district for all of the sports our school plans on entering. Of course the interschool carnival isn't until week 6, so there is no urgency."

Tadase began next, "There are no urgent tasks until week 4. We're students too, you know. We need time to study as well. After all, exams are coming up in week 3. I've put together a proposal which I plan to submit to the principle which plans to stop having student council meetings until the exams are over."

"That sounds like a good idea, king," Kairi said. Amu, Yaya and Rima nodded in agreement.

Amu's first maths 3A class came around, and Amu knew she needed to work extremely hard. When Amu entered the class, Mr. Plahn decided Amu would do a speech at the front of the class introducing herself. Amu found it pointless, considering she knew almost all of the students from other classes.

Nevertheless, Amu stood up at the front of the class and introduced herself, "As most of you probably already know, I'm Amu Hinamori. Moving into a new class 2 weeks before the exam will definitely be hard work, but I'm confident I can do it. I'll only be able to do it with help from you guys, though. I look forward to working with you guys."

"Thank you, Amu," Mr. Plahn said, "In this class; students are seated by their previous test score. The student who scored the highest in the previous test is in the front left of the room. It goes left to right, then front to back. That may sound elitist, but I believe anyone here can sit in the front left if they tried. You're all smart." Amu looked around the room. She noticed sitting in the front left corner was Kairi, and next to him was Ikuto. They were obviously very smart. "You'll definitely need some help catching up. I'm sure you can squeeze a desk in the corner next to Kairi; he'll be able to help you study."

Amu went to the back of the room to grab a desk; she lifted it over everyone, who ducked for their life as she carried it to the front of the room. She squeezed it in the front left corner, next to Kairi. The two worked through some of the work that the class had covered at the beginning of the year, as Amu asked a multitude of questions. Amu and Kairi were actually getting along very well. Ikuto worked silently next to them, not even saying a word to Amu the whole lesson. The bell rang before long. Everyone rose out of their seats and left the classroom. As Amu got up to leave, Kairi called her.

"You're obviously gonna need a lot of help studying for maths over the next 3 weeks. I was wondering if you'd want me to help you study together."

"You would do that?" Amu asked.

"Yeah, sure. I want to make it up to you for being rude when we met."

"Well thanks. How about we study together on Mondays and Wednesdays, since the student council doesn't have meetings for the time being?" Amu asked him.

"That'd be great," he told her, as he rose from his seat. The two of them went to recess together.

"You haven't called at all this whole week!" Amu playfully yelled at Kukai.

"I'm so sorry," Kukai said, putting on his most pitiful voice.

"How can I resist that voice?" Amu asked. Amu could tell he would have his trademark goofy smile on his face right now.

"Well how've things been going on your end?" Kukai asked.

"Well I moved into 3A maths," Amu told him, "In fact you're replacement has offered to tutor me every Monday and Wednesday, since exams are in two weeks time.

"What? You already found a new boyfriend?" Kukai asked incredulously, pain was obvious in his voice.

"No! That's not what I meant!" Amu yelled adamantly, "I meant replacement for the student council."

"Oh…" Kukai said quietly, "Oh god, I sounded so desperate just then didn't I?"

"Yeah, you kinda did," Amu said as she laughed, "But it's cute. I love that about you."

"Oh god… I miss you so much," Kukai told her.

"I miss you too…" Amu said quietly.

"Not as much as I miss you. I haven't told you this yet, but I haven't really made any friends at the sports institute. Compared to them I'm shit, I'm not even in their league... They don't even talk to me," Kukai told her.

Amu remained quiet for a moment before exploding, "WHAT? AND WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE NOW?"

"I'm sorry…" Kukai said, "I didn't want to burden you. I mean after all, I made the decision to move here. And I am learning some good stuff; it's just that the friend stuff is hard."

"I don't know how good they are, but I know you're better than them."

"No, they're really good," Kukai told her.

"No matter how good they are at sports, if they discriminate against people because they aren't as good as themselves, then in the end they're only elitist bastards. That automatically makes you better than them, since you're a better person. Remember that next time. I want you to kick their asses," Amu told him.

"You always know how to make me feel better," Kukai said happily, "Anyway, who was the replacement for Nadeshiko?"

"Oh…" Amu remembered that there was something between Kukai and Rima; they always spoke with venom when they talked to each other, "It's Rima."

Kukai remained silent for a bit, before Amu began again, "Do you mind me asking what happened between you guys?"

"I don't think it's my place to tell you, sorry…" He told her.

"Oh?" Amu questioned.

"Well the fight started between Nadeshiko and Rima. I just supported Nadeshiko. That's all I can really say, I'm sorry. If you want to know the full details you'll have to ask Nadeshiko. I'm not sure if she'd tell you, though. I'm sure one day she'll tell you."

"Oh, that's fine. How's Nadeshiko been by the way?"

"She's been doing really well," Kukai began, "She's right in her element."

"That's really good. Anyway, I should probably let you go, shouldn't I?" Amu said reluctantly.

"Aww… I'm not even tired, though," Kukai responded, "Oh, oh, oh. What musical is the school doing this year?"

"We're doing Wicked," Amu told him.

"Are you going to audition?" He asked.

"I don't know…" Amu begun, but she was cut off by Kukai.

"You have to!" Kukai told her, "You're so talented at singing and dancing. You should go for the lead role!"
"Elphaba? No way!"

"Why not?" He asked.

"Well…" Amu racked her brain to find an excuse, "Because Utau will probably audition for Elphaba… I'm good but I can't compare to an actual pop idol."

"Pfft… Listen closely to Utau Hoshina's songs. None of them require great singing ability," He told her, "You can beat Utau Hoshina!"

"You really think so?" Amu asked.

"I know so!" Kukai said childishly.

"But you know… Elphaba falls in love with Fiyero," Amu said cheekily.

"Psh, just imagine it's me. We're basically one and the same, I don't have a brain either," Kukai exclaimed.

Amu began laughing, "You seem to know an awful lot about Wicked."

"I told you, I don't believe in such rigid gender boundaries. I love musicals. I don't care what anyone says, I don't care if I'm a guy," he told her.

"I remember why I love you so much now."

"You mean you forgot in the first place?" Kukai teased.

"I wish I could hug you."

"Me too…"

"Anyway… I probably really need to let you go now," Amu told him.

"Aww… well okay then. I promise I'll call more often," he told her sweetly.

"Bye, Amu."

"Bye."

Two weeks flew by extremely quickly. The students were focused solely on studying for exams. Before Amu knew it exam week was here. The students had already received their exam timetable. On Monday Amu had her English exam, on Tuesday was her Visual arts exam, on Thursday was her Maths exam and on Friday was her physical education exam.

Her English exam was relatively easy. They had to write two essays. One was analysing a picture they were given, and one was analysing one short story from the choice of three they were given.

Her Visual art exam was also relatively easy. It was straight forward picture analysis. Maths was another story, though. Although Amu had studied long and hard for the exam, she still skipped multiple questions and had difficulty with many more.

The time for her final exam, the physical education practical exam, came around. Amu stood alone in her locker room getting changed into her sports uniform. She was really nervous; what if the examination required a lot of upper body strength? Upper body strength was something Amu did not have. Amu slapped her cheeks before stepping out of the locker room into the corridor. She made her way to the door, where students were currently lining up. Mr. Anderson began talking.

"There will be a course you must follow. Each station has instructions on what you must do at that station. There will be multiple referees at each station, who will be marking you on your technique, as well as making sure you don't cheat. Additionally, you will all wear a time band which will automatically stop when you cross the finish line. Also, the band can recognise body movements, so if you don't do the right amount of push-ups, sit-ups, etc then the band will start beeping. Don't try to cheat. Your final mark will be allocated by the combined score from all stations, and your completion time. You have a maximum time of 3 hours, at which time a siren will sound and everyone must stop where they are. If you do not stop immediately, you will be disqualified, and you will receive a big fat 0. Remember I just said that the time limit is 3 hours. That means it is a very long course, so don't be rushing so much at the very start."

He handed out the time bands, which everyone put around their ankle or wrist. Amu chose to put hers around her wrist.

"Get Ready," Mr Anderson told them as he opened the doors, "Go!"

Everyone began rushing out the doors to the first station, which was only about 20m away. Amu saw there were at least 10 referees there. They obviously had most of the referees at the first station, since that's the only station people would be at.

The sign at the first station read: Do 30 Push-ups

What a way to start Amu thought to herself. Upper body strength, exactly what Amu hated the most. By the time Amu was up to 15 people were already getting up and leaving to the next station. Amu tried to not let it bother her, and focused on the technique. She knew that there was obviously going to be a multitude of stations, the technique at all of these stations contributed to the final score, while the time only contributed to the final score once. The technique was obviously much more important in the long run. Amu finished her push-ups and moved to the next station. She carefully performed the techniques at each station. She was last out of the whole pack, but she didn't let it get to her. She saw some of the others, and their technique was not fully correct.

Amu hadn't been counting stations, but she looked at her timing band, and it read 0:45:35 meaning Amu only had 45 minutes left. Amu was about half way through the pack she guessed. Some of the boys that had gone fast at the start had obviously gotten tired, and fell back. Amu was exhausted. She was going on from pure will, and she could tell her technique was getting worse and worse each station. Amu ran to the next station. The sign read: Score a goal

There were soccer balls scattered around the place, and multiple goal nets up, with goalies in them. Amu noticed the first two nets had a student currently shooting, so Amu made her way to the third net. She slowly dribbled the ball forward, as she shot the ball in the direction of the top left corner. The goalie reacted too quickly, as he dived into the corner. The ball curved slightly, and went into the top middle of the goal, however. Amu quickly made her way to the next station. The sign was simple: Sprint to the finish line

Amu looked into the distance and she saw the finish line. It looked to be about 200m away. Any other time, that would be simple. After all of those previous workouts, though, Amu's legs would barely move properly. She jogged her way towards the finish line, as two boys overtook her from behind. She reminded herself it wasn't a race, but the competitive spirit took over. She knew it was a good chance as well, by racing someone she could improve her time. She sped up, and was about level with the two boys who overtook her. They were still running at a fairly slow pace. When they were about 20m away from the finish line, Amu forced herself to run faster, and she beat the two boys across the finish line.

After she crossed the finish line she fell to the floor. That was the most exhausting thing she had ever done. Yamada sat down next to her.

"That was bloody hard work, ey?" He asked. Amu was so tired she couldn't even reply. He laughed before continuing, "I was like that when I first finished, I've been sitting around for 15 minutes and I still feel like shit, though."

"Oh god… you're instilling such hope in me…" Amu said, puffing in between words.

"C'mon, I'll help you get up," he told her as he stood up and held his hands out. Amu grabbed both of his hands, as he pulled quickly, and Amu was pulled up. The momentum was a bit much, though. Amu kept coming forward, as she crashed into his chest. Any other time, he would have been strong enough to hold her up. He was so exhausted, though, that they both went crashing down to the floor. Yamada's instinct was to wrap his hands around Amu's waist. Yamada crashed to the floor, Amu on top of him. Yamada had his hands held around Amu's waist, and they happened to be grabbing her behind. Amu's hands were curled around his neck, pulling his face close to hers. Their bodies were pressed together, including their 'lower body parts'. The two stayed in their position for a second before they realised what had just happened. They both released their hands, and Amu tried to push herself off him with her hands. Her arms were so sore, so she ultimately failed, as her body slammed back down into his. The slamming action was causing Yamada's blood to rush away from his head towards… other parts. He wasn't really thinking at all, he was just so shocked by the situation. Amu felt herself being lifted into the air, as someone lifted her up onto her feet. She turned around and saw it was Kairi.

"I'm sure there is a more appropriate time for… this," he told her. Amu looked around to see the whole physical education class staring at her, as well as the referees from the exam. Over 30 people had just seen the two of them doing what looked like dry humping. Amu could see the next headline of the school newsletter: Amu doesn't care about time or place, she's easy. This would be just excellent.

"This is all a misunderstanding," She said. Everyone was just staring at them dumbfounded.

"Yeah, that's right. It's a misunderstanding!" Yamada yelled. He was obviously still a little confused by what had just happened, so his mistake in wording that came next was quite understandable, "I was helping her get it up."

Amu cringed as he said this; here comes front page of school newsletter.

That night Kukai called. Amu knew that he would find out about what happened today one way or another, so explaining what happened and that it was a mistake would be the best thing to do. Amu decided she would slowly lead into it after explaining about the exam and how she went.

"So how'd you're phys ed exam go?" Kukai asked with excitement in his voice. Sports were always the way to get him excited.

"I almost had sex with Yamada!" Amu blurted out.

Kukai started coughing and choking, "What?"

"Well, we didn't actually have sex or anywhere near that. You see after the phys ed exam I was so tired, so he helped me to get up off the floor, but I fell onto him and it was a really awkward position, so it looked like we were having sex with our clothes on, but we didn't actually have sex, it was just an accident; like that time in the nurses office with you," Amu said, speaking extremely fast.

"Woah… calm down," Kukai told her, "Speak slowly."

Amu proceeded to tell Kukai what happened slowly, explaining how he was just trying to help her get up, but she ended up falling on him, and that he just accidentally grabbed her ass. "I wanted to tell you so you hear it from me, how it really happened. I know that some gossip queen will tell you but it'll make me sound like some whore…"

"Don't worry, I believe you Amu. Thanks for telling me. But geez, I feel jealous…" he told her.

"What?" Amu exclaimed.

"I mean, Yamada's pretty hot. He has pretty nice abs. You can't tell me it didn't feel good at all, being pressed up against his body," Kukai said slowly and seductively.

Amu could feel her pulse quickening just from the way Kukai told the situation, "You're too modest. You're better than him. Besides, his pale body doesn't do it for me… I need a nice tanned body."

"Oh?" Kukai questioned, "Like mine?" He asked seductively.

"Yes… exactly like yours…" Amu told him.

"Oh god… we really need to stop talking about this now…" Kukai told her.

"Why?" Amu asked in the most innocent voice she could muster.

"I'm getting a bit uncomfortable… you know what I mean?" Kukai asked.

"Well, at least you'll have some nice images for tonight, hey?" She told him seductively.

"I don't do that," he told her.

"Oh, there's no need to lie. I don't care if you do it. In fact, I encourage it. Studies show that in teenagers it helps to alleviate stress and therefore helps your school work as well as friendships. Don't bother lying about it."

"No, I'm serious," he told her. His voice was stern; Amu could tell that he was telling the truth.

"You're not joking? You actually don't?"

"No… I don't," Kukai asked, he sounded almost ashamed of himself.

The two remained silent for a moment before Amu spoke up, "Do you mind me asking why not?"

"Nah, I don't mind. If it was anyone else, I would… but I trust you absolutely, Amu. I love you so much."

"I love you too, Kukai."

"Well… you know how my brothers abused me, right? It was shortly after my parents died, my brothers all went out and got drunk… When they came home I was looking at a photo of my mum, and I was crying. My eldest brother kicked me and told me that I had no right to cry; he told me that I was the one that caused them to die in the first place. My tears wouldn't stop, though. I kept crying, so my brother kicked me again. I smashed my head into the lounge, which made me cry louder. He kept hitting me, and I just kept crying louder. No matter what he did I wouldn't stop crying. That was when he tied me down. I kept crying so he slapped me a few times. It didn't stop me, though. He took off all of my clothes, and hit me with a metal serving spoon, all over my body. Even as I was on the edge of passing out, I was still crying. He was smoking at the time. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and pushed it into the area just above my private parts. It left a permanent burn mark. Every time I'm naked I see it. It's a physical reminder of what he did to me…"

Amu was crying by the time he finished telling his story. In between sobs she managed to say that she was sorry.

"Thanks…" he told her softly, "For listening to my story…"

"I love you so much, Kukai… Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me. I don't play with myself either, you know…"

Kukai started laughing as he wiped the tears away from his eyes, "Yet you were so surprised that I didn't…"

"Well you are the hottest guy alive," Amu said overdramatically.

Kukai rolled his eyes, "You're no slouch either." There was a silence in the conversation, "Do you mind me asking, since you were so for it, why don't you do it yourself?"

"If it was anyone else, I would mind. I trust you absolutely though, Kukai," Amu told him as she built up her courage to remember that night, and to relay those horrifying events to another human.

A/N: Well… there's chapter 10. T_T Poor Kukai… I hated writing that part. But we've finally learnt more about his past, though, and you can see how traumatised he really is that it affects his life… :(

We'll finally learn about Amu's past in the next chapter, too.

By the way, Yamada is going to become a much more important character this arc than he was in the first arc. I just created his character as an extra character, but he ended up becoming important… If any of you don't know who he is he's the boy who likes soccer from Episode 5.

There are lots of things to think about this chapter. You definitely don't have to answer all of these xD

Will Kukai ever get over his past? Will he be able to have a sexual relationship with anyone?

What happened in Amu's past?

The scene between Yamada and Amu was in the preview, but Yamada's name was omitted. Could Yamada perhaps be in some of the other scenes? Was this accidental encounter perhaps the start of something more between Yamada and Amu?

What will happen between Rima and Amu? Will the two of them ever become friends?

Kairi tutored Amu for 3 weeks. These 3 weeks were skipped in the chapter, but it happened and Amu and Kairi became closer. Could this also be the start of something more?

Will Amu go for the role of Elphaba and compete against Utau? If so, who will win? If not, will she go for a different role?

Thanks for reading. I'll see you guys next week!