Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara nor do I control time gomen minna-san!
Rima stepped out of the black sports car that Nagihiko borrowed from Ikuto. It was minutes to midnight and she just had the night of her life. Cirque du Soleil was the most beautiful show she'd ever witnessed. The performers and acts were all so beautiful – a sliver of perfection hidden away from the rest of the corrupt world. It reminded her of her past, before days were long and nights were cold and violent and the morning took too long to come. Those were the days when comedy was her only love. She had no reason to vent and therefore she hadn't the ability or desire to be an angry journalist. It was amazing to think the boy she detested could bring back her fondest memories.
"Goodnight Rima-chan," he said, closing the car door behind her. The girl turned sideways to erase the evidence of her blush.
"Goodnight F…I mean, goodnight Nagihiko," she said softly, walking up the stairs to her front door. There was no real sense in being mean to him tonight. Nagihiko drove off into the night leaving Rima to creep stealthily into her house. It was way past her curfew, but that was nothing. Sneaking in and out was always a piece of cake seeing that she came home before her mother her to assume she was always in the house. She avoided her father's side of the house completely so he seldom saw her anyway. The only way she could get caught at this hour is if they were…
"I WANT YOU OUT OF MY FUCKING HOUSE!"
…Fighting
Rima's breathing became shallow and a frigid panic gripped her heart. There hadn't been a dispute this large since the incident on her birthday. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. This was not at all the time to lose her head. She pressed her ear against the wall. A plate just hit the floor. She cringed, knowing she would probably step on that in the morning but the thought was quelled by an important sense of knowing. They were in the kitchen for sure, which was only a thin wall away from the only room she had to cross to reach the staircase.
Rima removed her shoes and held them in her quivering right hand; there was no room for mistakes tonight. She crept stealthily against the wall of the living room moving centimeters in a second when directly passing the kitchen. Halfway past the kitchen she sped up hoping to do a silent run to her personal domain but her efforts were thwarted. She suddenly tripped landing with a thud and a deflated gasp. Right before her demise she decided to take a look at what had ruined her plans. It was a box of Trojan condoms.
Both her parents stomped into the room. Her mother was angry and wore a shocked expression but her father on the other hand had an expression of relief. In an instant she knew what was happening. The argument had been over an affair both Rima and her mother suspected him of having for quite some time. In the rush of things he had dropped his stash the first place he could and conveniently enough his teenage daughter stumbled across them, a sacrificial lamb to receive the blame.
The man pulled Rima up by her hair. "Just what do we have here? What are you teaching her now, how to be a worthless hoe like you?" He dropped the girl, letting her fall back to the ground. Rima's mother looked at her with a betrayed expression. Was he daughter the one sleeping around all this time? Was this the true cause of her marriage's ruin?
"Rima, are you sneaking out this late or sneaking back in?" Something in her steely tone rendered Rima unable to lie.
"S-sneaking in," she stammered.
"I see. Were you with a boy just now?"
"Mama we weren't…"
"Answer the question Rima!" she shouted angrily.
"I-I was w-with a boy just now," she said looking down. By this point Rima was crying and shaking every few seconds. Mutely Rima's mother lifted her head up with a gently touch that changed completely when she slapped her hard with the back of her hand. Rima was once again knocked to the floor.
"I thought I taught you better than that! Is that what I'm raising you for? Busting my ass sending you to private school so you can be a little whore?" She spit on Rima and punched and kicked her some more. By the end of her tirade both mother and daughter were in tears.
"Go to your room!" Mrs. Mashiro said sternly. "Get cleaned up. I don't want to see you for a while."
Wordlessly Rima bolted up the stairs to her room locked the door and collapsed on her bed. Sometime during the exchange her father must have snuck in and put 5,000 yen (about 50 dollars) on her bedside table. It was probably a compensation of sorts. Fujisaki she thought I trusted him for a minute, no a second, and look what happens. At that moment she decided that she couldn't afford to trust him again. After all men were just thoughtless bastards and that few of them who weren't died in motorcycle accidents. Rima contemplated these things while drifting to sleep.
Lulu sighed, walking into the gymnasium. Her motley crew of cheerleaders was trying their best not to annoy her out of the last threads of sanity. It was safe to say they weren't remotely successful. Seiyo's cheerleading squad was once the pride of the Academy, but like all good things that came to an end. Actually it was more like a screeching halt. About a month after Lulu inherited the legendary squad the ever detestable Fujisaki Nadeshiko drafted all the most talented girls into her new dance team. And naturally they wiped Lulu's squad off the map without even trying. The sports teams practically begged to have them at their events. But she decided that this year would be different, especially now that she had a certain Ace in the hole.
"Ohayo Lulu-chi!" Yaya exclaimed as she entered the gymnasium, dance bag in hand. Lulu smiled affectionately as the ginger haired girl pranced over. Despite her lax disposition, Yuiki Yaya endured years of intense ballet training and was a formidable gymnast. If anyone could help the cheerleaders once again reign supreme, it was her.
"Good morning Yaya-chan. I have the new routine here if you want to look over it. The girls are due for a break anyway." Yaya fidgeted uncomfortably. There was no proper way of telling someone something that would utterly crush them, or worse.
"Never mind that, say, how are you and Tadase?" she asked, trying to change the subject. The blonde rolled her eyes. Once again a mixture of annoyance and sheer disappointment flooded through her petite body.
"There is no me and Tadase. And I should kick you for making me admit that. However there is me, you, and this squad. The only thing that damned Fujisaki Nadeshiko hasn't managed to steal from me yet."
Yaya scratched the back of her neck. "Well…um…about that," she stammered searching for the words that wouldn't fatally damage their friendship. Lulu's eyes narrowed. When some as boisterous as Yaya began to stutter it meant that nothing good would come of her next comment.
"What is it?" she pressed.
"You see the thing is. Na-chi, I mean Nadeshiko and I were really great friends when we were younger. She was the one who inspired me to dance. So when she asked me to join her dance team last week, it felt natural to say yes. And it wouldn't be right for Yaya to be a part of both squads. You understand, nee Lulu-chi?"
Lulu exhaled deeply and clenched her fists. "You know what Yaya, I understand perfectly. You're one of them now." She paused; her eyes seemed to pierce through the younger girl. "No wait, you always we're. I think it would be best if you left me alone from now on. I wouldn't want to ruin your image"
"B-but Lulu-chi…"
"Please…just go," she said softly. The defeat rung out in her voice like a Christmas bell. Yaya lowered her head and walked briskly out of the gym. This was the first time her loyalty had been tested, and somehow she knew it would not be the last.
Nagihiko stood in the hallway listening to the mindless chatter of Kukai and Ikuto. His eyes scanned the sea of people for a mess of wavy blonde hair attached to a tiny body. Soon enough he found his target. She was trying to hide discretely behind a mass of Amu's fan-boys. "Rima-chan!" he called, abandoning his friends instantly. She cringed when she heard her name and turned around. The action radiated controlled irritation.
"Good morning Nagihiko," she said tensely. She still wasn't exactly sure what to do about him. He looked at her, noticing a brownish bruise on her face, right underneath her right eye.
"Rima-chan, what happened to your face?" He motioned to touch the bruise but she backed away.
"Fell on the stairs trying to sneak in last night," at least it was partially true. "But I could ask you the same question."
"What?"
"You're even uglier than usual today." She cracked a small smile which he returned with a wry grin.
He pouted, and under normal circumstances she would have found it adorable. "So mean, and here I thought you were actually starting to like me," he teased. "And I was about to invite you out again."
"Well, you thought wrong. I can't come anywhere with you today, even if I wanted too, which as I'm sure you're aware I don't. I have a meeting with the editor of the school paper."
"Sounds intense," Nagihiko said sarcastically.
"Trust me, it is," Rima quipped before walking away. It was true; she actually did have a meeting that day. She was amazed that something about that pompous editor would actually work for her advantage, even if it had to do with the boy who may have been the most inconvenient thing that's ever happened to her.
She opened the wooden door to see a girl sitting behind a mahogany desk. She had brown pigtails and glasses that hid what Rima would describe as soulless eyes. Tenouji Arisa was the only person she'd ever met who could make a pale yellow cardigan look threatening, and she just happened to be her boss.
"You wanted to see me Tenouji-senpai?" Rima asked calmly. After knowing the older girl for a while, she assumed that Tenouji would only mention the bruise if she thought she could squeeze a headline out of it.
"Mashiro, sit down." She gestured to a burgundy arm chair in front of her desk with a lead pencil. After Rima settled in the chair, she slid over about ten sheets of paper bound by a single brave paperclip.
"What's this?" Rima asked.
"Your latest submission to the paper," she said coldly.
"Is there a problem with it? I triple checked for typos."
"It's nothing like that Mashiro. Your formatting is flawless as usual. My problem however is that you're still writing about the state of the environment when you've got the state of the union right in front of you!"
"What?" Rima asked, she had no idea where this conversation was going, but she didn't like it.
"Listen kid, I'm going to be real with you. Ratings are down and the school keeps taking more and more of our funding for the basketball, soccer, and performing arts divisions. If we don't get the student body interested, and I mean fast, we're…we're finished." The senior hung her head in resignation.
Rima's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. They couldn't take the paper. It was her only chance to let people know what really mattered. "And what could I do about that?" she questioned, finding it strange that she was the only one on the staff notified about this threat.
Tenouji smirked. It seemed that her 'jaded reporter' was still naïve. "Because when I graduate this is going to be entirely your problem, so pay attention. The way we're gonna save this paper is by grabbing the people's interest, and all too conveniently, the school's main interest is eating out of your palms."
"What do you mean?"
"Look, you hate the Tsukiyomi's and the Fujisaki's almost as much as I do. And here you have Fujisaki Nagihiko infatuated with him, and willing to reveal all his secrets. Expose him and his little world. Once we bring out the truth about the ones they so idolize, the paper will be untouchable."
Rima's stomach turned. Somehow this didn't sit right with her. "I can't."
"And why is that?"
"Nagihiko disgusts me," she said. "I can't stand to be around him." Arisa exhaled, relaxation overtaking her features.
"Oh is that all? You're going to have to play nice until you get what you want. For a second there I thought it was something serious, like that you loved him and didn't want to ruin his reputation," she laughed. "I should have known better than that. You have nerves of steel Mashiro, or should I say future editor in chief."
Rima's eyes sparkled at the prospect. The passive editor was actually choosing her as her successor. "Really, me?"
"Of course you, who else would it be? I mean if you don't get that story you won't have anything to inherit, but I know you will. And just a tip Mashiro, once you've got the dirt feel free to take poetic license. The broken have no will to defend themselves, they just well…break." With those words of wisdom, Tenouji shooed Rima out of her workspace leaving the girl to contemplate her fortunes elsewhere. She was getting two of the things she always wanted, the newspaper all to herself, and to expose those 'populars' for the heartless bastards and bitches they were. The only problem was that it was all coming too fast for her to properly savor it.
A/N: No, I am not dead. It was an extended hibernation at most hehe. I finally got a surge of inspiration for this story so I hope everyone enjoys the inexcusably late (I'M SORRY) continuation.
