Hello everyone! Thanks for all your love in the last chapter. Its been three weeks but I came back with a chapter thats a thousand word longer than normal! Thank you KokoKaga/Squishu for beta reading! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara. 'Precious Secrets And Beautiful Liars' by TheLingeringWolf=most of the story's inspiration. 'Got to be perfect Not' by bleachlover1999=Rima's original disguise. And it's highly influenced by Durarara!
Not expe cte d
Rima POV
Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away.
Those words screamed in my conscious mind.
I walked ahead of the purple head, into the market. He trailed behind me.
I did not need him there.
I ignored him, running through a mental list of what food items I had at home.
The time of the week had come again to go grocery shopping. My parents never did it anymore, anything related to family matters always started a fight. I found it was always worth the effort to buy the groceries myself.
I picked up fruits, milk, coffee powder, bread, canned tuna, and microwave meals. I had never bought anything that required cooking. I couldn't cook and I didn't know what my parents would like to cook.
They have yet to complain about what I buy.
As I piled things into my grocery basket, I saw out of the corner of my eye, the purple head still trailing after me, watching, amused. I had forgotten he was there for a moment since he was so quiet.
"Do you live alone?" he asked when my basket was half full. I glanced at him.
"Do you think I could finish two loaves of bread in a week?" I asked him, "But I don't." I told him.
"But usually, parents only ask their child to pick up a few things, not a whole basket." Nagihiko said skeptically.
"Well, I am shopping for the whole week."
"Just you?"
"Yes." I monotonically replied.
We fell silent afterwards.
When my trip was nearing it's end, Nagihiko was still trailing after me silently, but not picking up anything of his own to buy.
After I paid for the groceries, he asked me a question;
"Do you need help carrying that?"
So I dumped three of the four bags in his arms wordlessly.
It was convenient.
Still, it didn't change the fact he was annoying.
So I let a guy I barely knew, just laughed along with, follow me to my house. When we arrived, I unlatched the gates and headed towards the front door. He stood outside the gates.
"Am I supposed to come in?"
"If you're going to help me carry the groceries, you should at least carry it to the doorstep." I said.
After a long pause, he replied;
"Okay."
It was a bad decision.
As soon as I opened the door, I heard screaming. Both my parents were home.
My dad was drunk, my mother was screaming. My dad was telling my mom that she should say she wants a divorce. My mom was crying tears of frustration.
They were throwing household items at each other, yelling that they didn't want to hear the other person talk. I stood there for a long moment before I closed the front door and locked it.
The purple head was standing beside me, holding groceries.
He looked at me, as if he wasn't sure what emotion to display on his face. I closed my eyes, and sighed in an effort to relax.
At last, in a whimpering voice that uncontrollably came out of my mouth, I said;
"Sorry."
I had meant to seem strong. I had meant to say something else that made me seem like I didn't care. I had meant to say something cynical, something firmly said.
But my family situation was laid bare in front of someone I barely knew.
It scared me to no end.
"Don't be, it's not your fault." he said. After hearing that, I snapped.
"It's not my fault!? It's completely my fault! It's my fault they're fighting. It's my fault they won't smile anymore. It's my fault they refuse to communicate with each other. It's my fault we moved, why they even fight! They're fighting about me and you tell me that it's not my fault? How can that be when I'm the root of it all!?" I yelled at him.
By then, I had already dropped the grocery bag I was holding on to the ground.
I would have yelled at air if it had the power to tell me that 'it's not my fault'. I accepted that it was my fault, I didn't want anyone to make me waver away from my decision to accept it.
Before I could try to stop it, tears were streaming down my face. I didn't even bother to wipe them until a good five seconds later, I was too busy glaring at him.
"It's completely my fault..." I said, finally covering my eyes.
My hand rubbed away my tears and the tears blended with the makeup on my cheek. It smeared it, making the layers of concealer obvious.
My tears continued to bubble down and moisturized the dry cut on my cheek.
Through the blurriness, I saw Nagihiko put down the grocery bags he was holding on the ground, somewhere that if the door opened, wouldn't slam into the food. I saw him take out a handkerchief from his pocket, then offer it to me.
He took off my goggle glasses and freed my hair from the beanie and placed the items on top of the grocery bags.
I didn't care about the items anymore, I just felt so much better without them weighing me down.
Nagihiko grabbed my arm and led me away.
Our departure led us to a park. He let me sit down on a bench and went to the nearest vending machine and bought me a can of peach juice.
I gulped it down gratefully.
He sat down beside me, but I barely noticed he was there.
I stopped drinking for a moment.
"It's all my fault I had to get kidnapped." I whisper softly to myself.
Kukai POV
My older brothers said that this was my second and last chance.
Either way, I could have won against all of them in a free for all. The problem was, the punishments they gave me were never free for alls, but formal fist fights and arm wrestles.
I was at the market again. It was a different one from the one Rima had seemed to be heading to, this one was more of a snack shack and magazine stand.
Luckily, as I arrived, there were no gangsters hanging around. It was mid-afternoon, but even so, I was relieved.
As I picked up a variety of snacks and the monthly issues of cars, boxing and gaming magazines. my eyes caught a certain special issue.
The issues feature took up almost all of the cover, it was an issue about street fighting.
It was a claim.
The feature article was about the 'strongest fighter' in the area.
I dropped everything I was holding, the magazines, the basket full of snacks, as I reached for the issue.
Apparently, my small craze over street fighting wasn't over yet.
I didn't mind, it was fun. It was better than nearly dethroning the student council president and becoming one myself.
I stared at the cover, but didn't read it.
I grabbed the rest of the magazines I was told to pick up from the ground, and stacked them on top of the special issue.
Absentmindedly, I slipped the magazine into the basket and bought it.
But when I arrived home, I left the bag full of items I bought on the dining table, only staying long enough to collect the money my brother owed me.
Sadly, when running errands for your family, you don't receive interest on what others owe you.
But after pocketing the money, I headed out for the door once again, planning to walk to the nearest park.
Nagihiko POV
I no longer feared it.
My mother's wishes don't reach me anymore. I would welcome change. That path given to me at birth, I no longer wanted to follow it.
I was tired.
Tired of others' expectations, faking smiles, being nice.
I don't want to force myself anymore when I want to scream out.
Holding in my feelings always hurt. Whatever I did, smiling was the one thing that made it hurt more. I did not want to push any feelings of mine away again. Turning a blind eye hurt so badly. It ached in my heart.
I didn't know if I could have become a truly honest person, but I wanted to try.
Try to do something maybe others couldn't. Something that made me feel true to myself.
The next time I realized someone was crying on the inside, screaming, I want to help.
And with that, I said my next words;
"Become my friend, and I promise I'll try my hardest to make that pain go away."
It might have sounded haughty to any passerby, or to a normal girl who was sitting down with swollen eyes. But this girl wasn't normal.
Even with red eyes and a tear-streaked face, I know she had finished recovering mentally.
It was shown through her posture while she was drinking the can of peach juice that was cupped with both of her hands.
And after a prolonged sip of juice, Rima faced me.
"I don't need friends." she said softly.
"You don't need friends or-" I started.
"You don't want friends." Kukai finished, popping out of nowhere.
I was so focused on Rima, I didn't even bother even saying a simple 'hello' to Kukai.
She sighed.
"I don't need friends."
"But you don't have any." I stated.
"I have one." She said shortly, sipping on the juice I bought her.
"One." I stretched the word.
She nodded.
"Yeah, one."
"So you're saying a person only needs one friend in the whole world?" Kukai questioned Rima.
"I am."
"You're just being stubborn, what happens when that friend leaves you?" Kukai asked with an unusual amount of sarcasm.
"She won't."
After that, the three of us just stood in silence.
"She won't," Rima continued, "Which is a whole lot better than all those people you guys call your 'friends.' All you need is one, truthful, dependable, dedicated friend, rather than all those half-hearted connections."
And she was right. It wasn't like we didn't know that, but this was the first time we had heard that said aloud.
It was nothing but the truth.
"I guess you're the type of person who people become friends with over time, not by asking." Kukai finally said.
"Mhm." Rima replied.
"At least hang out with us at school."
"That attracts too much attention." Rima said.
With those words, I had an idea.
I took my phone out of my pocket and glanced at it.
It was 3:35 pm, about one hour since we left school.
My mind ceased to even stray towards the responsibilities I left at my home as I grabbed Rima's arm.
"Uwah! What are you doing?" She yelped, surprised. Besides her crying, that was the most emotion I had seen from her. Ever.
I didn't reply.
And Kukai laughed as I slowly, but surely dragged Rima to the nearest shopping center.
Normal POV
As the three of them walked, people pointed and looked at them. It was perfect.
A girly looking guy.
A doll-like girl.
An athletic built boy.
It was a cliche looking group. It was too perfect.
Model perfect.
As they walked, people of all ages and genders looked at them enviously, in awe, or admiration.
They looked like perfect people. The kind everyone aimed to be.
\
The first stop in their shopping trip was to the pharmacy. They got makeup wipes to completely clear Rima's face of makeup and soothe her swollen, red eyes, something Rima did willingly. Afterwards, they got a bandage for Rima's cheek cut.
While Kukai and Rima weren't looking, Nagihiko grabbed a pair of clear, non-prescription, pair of black nerd glasses and slipped it into his school bag.
Rima smiled after putting the bandage on, she felt much better.
Rima felt refreshed.
Even though Kukai was just tagging along, he slowly came to understand what Nagihiko was doing.
Nagihiko pushed Rima into a sporting goods store, where he got hair elastics and a baseball cap. After paying for them, he slipped those items into his school bag too.
Next, they headed into a girly teen clothing store.
"Why are we in here?" Rima asked, her voice filled with venom and curiosity.
She was beginning to have fun, forgetting what happened earlier.
But clothing stores served as a gentle reminder for her;
Please don't wear the cute clothes you love.
"Shh, trust him." Kukai said.
"If he was the one that said that, I would have been out of here in a second," snapped Rima, "I'll never trust anyone who says' 'trust me.'"
But Kukai, by then, knew what Nagihiko was doing. It wasn't just a trip to relieve Rima of frustration or curry her favor.
It was to change her.
It was a makeover.
And Kukai had a very good reason to tell Rima to trust Nagihiko, after all, he had spent twelve years of his life seeing things the way females did.
He would know exactly what to do when it came to fitting in seamlessly with girls.
Even better as Rima's friend.
Not that Rima's friend's advice was wrong, it was just more universal. Out on the street, no one would even dare to bother Rima, but at the same time, she didn't look like a thug or unfortunate person. Same with most public places.
But school was a gathering of people of close ages.
So Nagihiko knew better.
\
Nagihiko stared at the rack while sales girls stared at him
Not in a weird way, but in an admiring way. In fact, the store's customers were also staring at him, occasionally their eyes flicking over to Kukai and Rima who were just sitting there awkwardly, waiting for Nagihiko to be done.
As Rima was sitting there, she realized she felt a lot better. During the trip, she had almost forgotten about her home.
And then Nagihiko came over with a pile of clothes.
He dumped it on the chairs next to Rima, and started coordinating outfits.
And the clothing looked to be about Rima's size.
"Here." Nagihiko said, handing and outfit to her. The outfit was a normal, western looking outfit.
Jeans, a graphic tee, and a cardigan.
Rima looked at the pile of clothing and found that the rest of the clothes were similar, occasionally lighter and darker colors, different graphic designs and some plain skirts and tights, but mostly jeans.
Rima started uncertainly. "Um, what's this for?"
"Weekends and free dress days at school," Nagihiko said, smiling nearly idiotically.
Staring at the clothes for too long seemed to make him a little loopy.
Rima questioned, "For me?"
Nagihiko nodded and Rima looked at him weirdly.
"I'm not trying it on." Rima said.
Nagihiko sighed.
"Try it," Kukai said, "We probably won't buy it."
\
So Rima tried it.
The clothes was so plain. So barely fashionable. So normal.
Yet on her, she looked like a cute kid model for western clothing.
She stepped out, and all eyes were on her.
The bandage on her cheek fit with the ripped-up western vibes.
Her blonde hair fit perfectly with the American look.
It looked like a cover for a fashion magazine.
"It looks great." Kukai whistled.
"I know." Rima replied.
"So now all that's left is to transform you into a normal looking girl, since it looks like you are at your most neutral state possible now." Nagihiko said, grinning at Rima.
Kukai nodded and Rima shifted her head slightly, but it was enough for it to be a nod.
The people listening in to their conversation were confused.
Rima was perfect in their eyes.
Pretty. Perfect. Polished.
So they wonder why would the group of three want to 'transform' Rima into a 'normal girl.'
It was beyond them.
Rima POV
And so I understood.
The purpose of this trip was not for me to have fun. It was not to curry my favor. Those goals were simply side things, bonuses.
A redo.
Perhaps a better one than the one I have been using so far.
There were no ill intentions radiating off of Kukai and Nagihiko. I spent far too much time with those who did have that aura to not know the difference.
I trusted the two of tehm to some extent.
Nagihiko took out glasses, hair ties, and a baseball cap out of his school bag. He handed them to me.
"How is this supposed to help?"
"It will." Nagihiko replied to my question.
So I slipped them on and stared at the mirror.
I looked like a quiet girl now. One with satisfactory fashion sense and amazing blonde hair and facial structure. Nothing much had changed.
"Oh." Kukai said shortly, seeming to realize something.
"Yeah," Nagihiko responded, "If we pull up her hair it could pass as unruly, frizzy hair. Also, the volume of her hair is hidden by the cap.
"Wow." I said as I pulled them on my head. "You thought this through."
"Yeah, I did. What do you take me for?"
"An idiot."
As I said that, I stared at myself. At the beauty that was carefully and craftily concealed.
I sighed. I finally looked normal. It was a sigh of liking.
"So?" Nagihiko questioned.
"Good job."
"I can pay for it." the purple head offered.
"No thanks, I'm not poor," I paused, "Can this be used with my uniform?"
Kukai laughed, "Try it."
And I did. And it was still flawless.
With a small, delicate smile on my face, I decided;
That tomorrow, I would enter school with this new look.
"Thank you." I said, barely above a whisper.
Kukai grinned and Nagihiko opened his mouth to speak.
"You're welcome."
Review please!
Did you like it? I know the whole Nagihiko saw Rima's parents fighting thing is cliche and the makeover was unpractical but at least I didn't have Nagihiko bring Rima to his home! And I didn't want to trigger another event at school, the soccer ball thingy was enough, I have a friend that doesn't understand it so I'll elebroate on later chapters but for now,(very obvious spoiler) I want to focus on making the three of them friends.
Thanks for reading!
KiMi