(Hi everyone! Sorry that this hasn't been the five days I said it would be, my trip's been a lot longer than I expected xP. I feel really bad for leaving you guys hanging on this chapter, especially since it's probably the last one. I've just been obsessing over every single detail since it's probably going to be the ending, and a story's basically as good as it's ending. I hope you guys understand the wait though, and as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^-^) (Edit: Wow, It's great to look back at this story, my very first one on this site. I decided to look back at it to see how my writing's changed, as well as to see if I could make this ending a little bit more polished. For my old readers, there's nothing new here, the plot is the same, but I decided to fix a few things as well as add or subtract a sentence or two.)
Ah, the weather. The August sun shown so brilliantly, illuminating all below it. Very much so for the Royal Gardens, it's full glass exterior intensifying the beams.
"We're here!" A medley of voices called, f
"AMMMUUU-CHAAANNNNNNNNNN! EVVEEEERRRYOONNNEEEEEEEE." That was a familiar voice, one not unlike a baby.
"Looks like Yaya-chan hasn't changed at all." Kairi whispered, a slight grin on his face. "She sure isn't any quieter."
"Yaya is so glad to see all of you! Yaya's been stuck with non-funny and boring Guardian's all summer!"
"Thanks Yaya-sempai..." Sunohara thought, irritated.
"You're no entertainer either..." Tomoya and Sunohara agreed on something, their dislike of their loud leader.
"Especially Sunohara-bozu!" She didn't make much of an effort to quiet her voice, prompting even more annoyance.
"I will kill you one day..."
"He's so bland and uninteresting!"
"One. Day."
"Well... come sit at the table with Yaya and the boring Guardians!" Yaya exclaimed, turning around, oblivious to the three annoyed faces already sitting,
"I have the feeling that they aren't number one fans of her..." Tadase murmured, following Yaya.
"Oh really?" Amu answered in a sarcastic tone. "No idea where you got that CRAZY idea." The last part of her joke came out a little louder than what she expected.
"What crazy idea?" Yaya turned around, overhearing the last few words.
"Crap." "Oh, uh, well, uh..." Amu tried to think up a lie, stalling. "There's going to be this group of thrill-seekers parachuting off of the Shinjuku Sumitomo Building later this Summer, and Kairi-kun was thinking about joining them."
"Eh...?" He looked over at Amu, who was gently nodding her head. "Ah! Y-Yeah, I thought it'd be cool, yeah! Jumping off of the Shintuku Sumatumi Building is a test of ultimate courage, r-right?" Kairi was almost as bad of a liar as Amu was, but he thought he'd done a pretty good job this time. "Was that convincing?" He asked Rima, leaning in.
"Not at all. You didn't even say the name right." She answered bluntly.
There was a slight pause in the conversation, before an excited gleam came into Yaya's eyes."Really? Kairi-kun wants to jump off of a skyscraper?"
"Y-Yeah, I do..." "She bought it?"
"THAT'S SO COOL!" Yaya yelled, thrusting a fist in the air. "After Sumitomo, you should jump off of Tokyo Tower!"
"H-Heh, yeah... Jump off of Tokyo Tower... Fun!" Now he'd done a great job this time, he was sure of it. "How was that one?" He leaned in again towards Rima, a smirk on his face.
"Horrible. Wipe that stupid grin off of your face too." She answered coldly.
"Yaya-sempai!" Nagisa called, waving her hands. "The chocolates are already starting to melt."
"The chocolates are melting!? YAYA BOUGHT THOSE CHOCOLATES JUST FOR TODAY! COME, COME EAT YAYA'S STORE BOUGHT CHOCOLATESSSSS!" She seemed more childish than normal, maybe she was just excited to see everyone again?
"Nah, she's probably ate a few boxes of those chocolates before we got here..."
...
"Mm. Those were actually pretty good..." Rima sat back in her chair, patting her stomach. "I probably ate too many of them..."
"I wonder where you got so many... Oh, that's right, off of MY plate." Kairi looked at with a semi mock semi serious glare. "I was hungry too..."
"The guy is always supposed to give chocolates to his girlfriend, I took your present in advance."
"Eh? Girlfriend?" Yaya looked at the two of them. "Kairi-kun and Rima-chan are dating?!"
"Mhm." The two answered.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"
"Sempai, you're too loud..." Tomoya muttered, spinning his straw around his glass.
She whirled around to face him, pointing a finger right in his face. "You can never be too loud Tomoya-bozu!"
"Yes you can, and don't call me Tomoya-bozu."
"Yaya will call Tomoya-bozu Tomoya-bozu if Yaya-chan wants to!"
Tomoya didn't argue anymore, instead he just seem to give up, exhaling and closing his eyes.
"The situation between these four is so tense that it's almost funny.." Amu thought, hiding a smile. Sure, this hadn't been the kind of reunion celebration she'd been expecting, but still, it was nice to be back in the Gardens, they were still so familiar to her, it felt that she could easily be a Guardian for another year or two. "Oh. I just realized something." She'd broken the short but uncomfortable silence, so the attention was being directed towards her. "Why aren't you a Guardian, Kairi?"
"Oh, I never told anyone, did I?" Yaya was the only one who knew he was skipping grades. "My parents insisted that I challenge myself academically if I was going to move back here, so they had me skip a few grades. I'll be attending Fuju Jr. High with the rest of you."
"Eh? Really?!" Nagihiko looked up from his tea. "How'd that happen?"
"No idea." Kairi admitted. "I thought it was just fate or destiny, something like that."
"Heh, maybe it was."
"But fate aside, I'm sure glad that we got this whole situation sorted out before school began." Tadase said, chuckling slightly. "It'd be awkward if I had to sit next to Sanjo everyday if we were still fighting."
"Or if I sat next to Amu-chan."
"It's funny when you think about it, all of this got resolved pretty quickly, didn't it?" Amu recalled, no one seemed to hold any ill feelings towards one other. "It wasn't but what, a month or two ago when you two were absolute enemies?"
"So Yaya-sempai's stories were true, that Sanjo-sempai and Hotori-sempai were fighting over you, Hinamori-san?" Nagisa asked, adjusting her round glasses.
"Mhm." Amu nodded. "It wasn't fun."
"H-Heh, I think I know that feeling." Nagisa muttered.
"What was that?"
"O-Oh nothi-" She was cut off though, as a voice unfamiliar to her came from the entrance. "Beh?"
"Hm..?" Amu turned around in her chair, her eyes widening as she looked who was standing right outside the door. "Eh!? Ikuto..!?"
"Yo." He waved, with the same cool attitude he was known for. "Long time no see, eh?"
"Got that right..." Amu said, thinking about the boy she'd completely forgotten about through the duration of only a few months. "It'll be reallll fun to explain all of this. Real. Fun."
"Well, before we get into the introductions and hugs and all that, I have someone I'd like you to meet."
A tall, slender man, stepped up from behind Ikuto, with an eerie resemblance to the cat boy.
"This is my father, Aruto."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you, Ikuto's told me a lot about the group of you." Aruto introduced himself, bowing. "I've heard a lot about all of you," he seemed to smile when he looked at Tadase and Amu. "Some more than others, though."
"I don't really want to know what Ikuto told him about me..." The thought was shared by the two of them.
"You should come and sit, both of you." Kairi called. "We have a few more seats laying around."
"I think we might just do that." Aruto replied, motioning for Ikuto to follow.
"Now everyone's back. We're all a complete brigade plus one." Nagi sipped on his tea a bit more.
"Plus one?" Kairi looked at him.
"Aruto, dummy." Rima pushed him playfully.
"We're finally all together again, eh?" Tadase murmured.
"We're all complete, once again."
END
(There it is, the final chapter on The Return of The Samurai. I want to thank all of you guys who took the time to read, comment, and support this story, since this was my very first fanfic, I had no idea of what to expect, and the response that I got was way more than I ever expected. Thanks to all of you who followed and favorited this story, and even those who didn't, but read up to this point. I honestly don't know how to thank you more, but, for the final time, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Return of The Samurai.)