It's been about a week since I updated, hasn't it? Sorry guys. Work has been so busy lately, and then just recently I haven't been feeling well T-T must be from the cold weather we've been having. But on the flip side, I've got 2 chapters ready to go. I'll post this one first, and hopefully the next one in 24 hours or less, depending on how I'm feeling (health wise, not mood wise)

Here's your warning: You know I don't think there is one 😕

Disclaimer: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story.

BE HONEST

Umika ran ahead staring into the window of the dress shop. She had a sparkle in her eyes that was just as bright as the dresses on display.

"Hurry up!" She called to her shopping buddies.

Mana quickly caught up to the yellow thief, behind her came a slow moving Tsukasa.

'This wasn't what I had in mind…' Tsukasa thought to herself.

When the words, "kidnap you" came flying out of Mana's mouth, she had a mini heart attack. That is, until she explained herself.

Previously...

"Umika-chan sent me here to get you." She clarified.

"For what?"

"Well, she said that because she missed you this morning, she wanted to ask you to go shopping with her tomorrow."

"Shopping?"

"Mm, hmm. She was going to take the two of us on a shopping spree to get ready for this weekend."

"This weekend..." Her eyes grew wider. "You mean...! Keiichiro..."

Mana giggled at her reaction. "It was so unexpected."

"Aww, how wonderful!" She ran up to give her a hug. "Well no wonder you're in town. Uh, not that it's a bad thing. It's about time actually." She said proudly.

"Hehe, I was secretly thinking the same thing." She replied. "So, am I allowed to tell Umika-chan that we will see you tomorrow bright and early?"

And that's how they ended up going to 49 different dress shops over the span of two days. It wasn't that Tsukasa didn't like shopping, she wasn't expecting it to take this long to help her friends find "the perfect" dress. Umika would spend hours trying on different dresses, say she liked two of them, and then leave the shop never to return again. As for Mana, the ones they had seen were quite flashy compared to her simple and elegant style.

"Why don't we go back to one of the previous stores we visited?" Tsukasa tried. "I'm sure if you had a second look at them, you would realize that you overlooked at least one of them."

"Uh uh, there's no way I overlooked any of them." She said firmly. "I know my dress is out there!"

Tsukasa knew Umika liked to shop, however she didn't realize she was a hardcore shopper. Had she known that when Mana approached her, she would have turned and ran the other way.

They entered the small boutique where a saleswoman greeted them. Inside, Umika went in one direction while the other two stayed and made small talk.

"So, how was studying abroad in Austria? Is it nice there?"

"Oh it was so beautiful." Mana told her. "The mountains, the fresh air, all of it was mesmerizing!" She beamed. "I um, had been sending pictures to Keiichiro-san the entire time." She said shyly.

Tsukasa smiled at her.

Mana sighed in delight. "You know, I'm really glad to have met someone like Keiichiro."

"Well, we're happy Keiichiro met someone like you." She said joyfully. "It takes a strong person to handle Keiichiro's personality.

Mana giggled. "I suppose so."

Tsukasa helped her look through a few of the racks, but to no avail. Almost all of the dresses in this store were either too loud, or too much. Perhaps this store wasn't THE store they were meant to be in.

When they got to the end of the aisle however, something had caught both their eyes; a beige, chiffon, floor length dress with off the shoulder sleeves that criss crossed in the middle. Around the waist was a belt-like embellishment wrapping the mid section with silver diamonds and white pearls. Next to it was a floor length, canary yellow, sleeveless dress with diamonds forming paisley shapes on the bodice and scattered lightly on the skirt.

These had to be the dresses they were looking for.

"It's beautiful…" Mana touched the soft fabric.

"Why don't you go try it on?" She encouraged.

Grabbing the dress by the hanger and in the middle, she began walking to the dressing room.

It was then that Umika slumped her way back to Tsukasa. "Ugh, it's no use. My dress isn't in here." She moaned.

"Are you sure…?" Tsukasa grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around her to face the yellow dress.

Umika took in the dress silently. Ever so slowly she walked up to it, as if it were an animal that she didn't want to scare off.

"My gosh…" She breathe out. Slowly she became giddy again. "This is it Tsukasa-san!" She was bouncing around like a kid in a candy store. "This is my dress! Where's Mana-san, I want to show her!"

"She went to the dressing room. You should see her dress when she comes out." She winked.

Quickly Umika grabbed the yellow garment and ran off to try it on.

About 10 minutes later, both girls emerged from their rooms full of smiles and glee.

"This is so beautiful." Umika said turning left and right in front of the mirror. She admired the lace-up style in the back of the bodice. "And it only took 50 stores to find it."

Mana looked at herself shyly in the mirror. "Anou, you don't think that this is too much do you?" The sleeves hung at the edge of her shoulders, and she was tempted to readjust them.

"Of course not. When Keiichiro sees you, he might faint!"

"Eh? I don't want that to happen!" She crossed her arms to cover herself up.

"Umika-chan is just kidding." Tsukasa said reassuringly. Both girls stared into the mirror. "But, when he does see you, he'll realize how blind he's been, and how foolish he was for making you wait so long."

Umika wasn't looking, but she had a small smile on her face hearing that.

"Tsuakasa-san." Mana began to feel much better.

After they changed back into their regular clothes, they purchased their dresses and left the boutique.

"Whew, glad that's over." Tsukasa said stretching her arms over her head. "Now then, why don't we go and-"

"Find your dress next!" Umika filled in.

"Yes!" She said triumphantly. "Wait? No no no, that's not what I was about to say!" She said shaking her head.

"But you need a dress, don't you?"

"I have a couple of dresses that might work." She told her.

"Yeah, I've seen those dresses, and they will definitely NOT work." Umika wagged a finger.

"But Umika-chan-"

"Nuh uh, say no more. You helped us find our dresses, so we're going to help you find yours."

"That's what I was afraid of…" She mumbled falling behind.

"Daijoubu." Mana told her. "We just need something that'll impress your date. Um, by the way, who is your date?"

"Huh? Well uh, I wasn't planning on going with anyone." She admitted.

"Mm, is that so?" She thought aloud. "But what about...Kairi-kun?"

"Hmm, what about him?"

"Well, call it a woman's intuition, or maybe just mine, but a few times I came in before I left for Austria I thought you two were pretty close."

"Wh-wha? You've got it all wrong! It's uh, it's not like that." She said embarrassed.

"Oh, I was so sure I was on to something." She said thinking to herself. "Well then, do you have anyone special in your life?"

'Define special.' Tsukasa thought to herself. As if on cue, her mind began to fill her head with thoughts about Lupin Red.

Touma was out grocery shopping for items they needed at the bistro, dragging Kairi along with him. Umika had given them a list of things to purchase in order to keep it running smoothly without her over the next few days.

"And why do we have to do all the work while she gets ready for her 'date'?" Kairi complained carrying a couple of shopping bags.

"Because she's not just helping herself, she's helping her friends." He said simply.

"Well isn't that very noble of her." He scoffed. "We're supposed to be focusing on the Collection pieces. Aren't you the very one that scolds us for getting sidetracked?"

Touma stopped suddenly, causing Kairi to bump into him.

"What gives?"

"Umika...she's happy right now." He began. "Do you remember what it was like when we first started; she always had on a fake smile, more fake than the one she wore when she was waiting tables." He turned to face him. "So for her to come so far, to finally grasp a piece of happiness -even if it's for a moment- that really says something." He sighed. "Umika is trying to live her life to the fullest. And at the same time, she's working towards our goal. That being said, what about you?"

"Me? What about me?"

"When are you going to start finding your own happiness?"

"Mine? I'm hap-" Touma raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm decent."

"But...for how long?"

Kairi looked away in uncertainty. All he ever wanted was to get his big brother back. But now look at him; he was forming and developing relationships with people whom he would have never in a million years given a second thought to. Touma, Umika, Keii-chan, Sakuya (surprisingly), Noel, Tsukasa...

Touma placed a hand on his shoulder. "A word of advice from one man who lost his world;" He said thinking about Aya. "Be honest with yourself."

"Eh?"

"Just think about what I said." He shrugged.

Kairi smirked at him. "Sure thing...dad."

He rolled his eyes at him. They began walking again until Touma stopped once more in the middle of the street.

"Jeez now what?" He said irritated. "You better not be giving me the talk about the birds and the-" He stopped when he followed Touma's line of sight; he was looking in the window of a costume shop. On display was a beautiful wedding dress, adorned with a long veil.

"What are you getting at?" He asked perplexed looking back and forth between him and the dress. But Touma wasn't looking at the dress; instead he saw what was being displayed in front of the dress. Kairi zeroed in on what he was looking at too.

As if he needed permission, Touma nudged him with his shoulder towards the shop. "Buy it."

Kairi split up from Touma on their way home, telling the older of the two he had something to take care of. Touma didn't ask questions as he knew already what it was; it was his idea after all. He returned home a few minutes before Umika did.

"Tadaima!" She called out cheerfully.

The guys were sitting in the kitchen area when she walked in.

"Okaerinasai." Touma said looking up from his magazine.

Umika laid her dress across one of the tables. "How did your grocery shopping go? Did you guys get everything on the list like I told you to?"

"Down to the two cans of tomato paste you made us buy." Kairi responded not looking up from his phone.

"Ahh yokatta."

"How was your shopping trip?" Touma asked making small talk.

"It was the amazing!" She sat down next to her dress. "50 stores later and I found my dress. It took Tsukasa-san 51 stores to find hers."

Touma and Kairi shot each other a look.

Umika sighed dreamily. "Ah, I can't wait for tomorrow night. It's going to be so..." She tried to think of the word. "Romantic."

"Someone's in a good mood." Kairi snorted. "It sounds to me like you bought more than just a dress. I hope you know that you have a curfew tomorrow; Sakuya doesn't need to see you turn into a pumpkin at midnight."

"And NOW you're ruining my mood!" She wailed. "Mou, Touma-kun, say something!"

Touma flipped to the next page. "No hanky panky." He told her without averting his gaze.

Umika growled at them. "Ah, cut it out you two!" She grabbed her dress off the table and stomped upstairs.

As soon as he heard her door slam, Kairi spoke up. "Hey Touma."

"Hmm?"

"You know when you see Aya again,"

He peeked at him from the corner of his eye.

"How are you going to tell her you adopted two kids without her consent; a 19 year old and a 20 year old?"

Touma chuckled at the question. "Shut up..."

By the time Tsukasa returned to her apartment, it was a little after 8. The girls decided to have dinner together and discuss their weekend plans. Umika and Mana were so ready for tomorrow, that Tsukasa was a little jealous of their excitement.

Nicely, she hung her own dress behind the door to her room. She looked at it through the garment bag; the dress was definitely beautiful, but it's not like she was trying to impress anyone, OR had anyone to impress for that matter.

Just as she turned towards her dresser on her right, she froze; right in the middle of it was another note, along with a box this time. Chills ran through her body, and a cold sweat dripped down her temple. Pulling out her VS changer once more, she crept around her apartment just to make sure; no open windows, no signs of breaking and entering, no fingerprints, nada.

She went back to her room and locked the door behind her. Tsukasa slid to the ground, hugging her knees to her chest; why couldn't they just leave her alone? Why only her? What did she do to deserve this?

Gathering her courage, she got up and approached the box with caution. Tsukasa quickly snatched the note beside it as if it would trigger a bomb. Hastily, she read it. Her mood lightened, only slightly, but now she was confused. Lifting the lid of the box she looked inside; and for the second time that day, her eyes grew wide in surprise...

Author's Note: It's not as long as I would like it to be, sorry about that guys. Not sure if anyone caught it, but I made them go to 51 dress shops because of the amount of episodes that aired (I know, I know, lame humor).

If I can figure out how to upload the pictures of their dresses, or even post it to my profile, I can show you what they look like. If anyone knows how to do that please let me know.

Have a good one!