Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara!
Amu stepped into the abandoned amusement park with uncertainty. This was definitely where Ikuto said to meet her. Soon she noticed the dark haired teenager sitting on a bench near the teacups. She smiled nostalgically. That was the most fun she had that entire year. "Ikuto!" she said with s small wave as she walked over. He nodded at her.
"My strawberry's late", he teased. She crossed her hands and turned away from him.
"Well I apologize. Some of us actually go to school", she defended. Ikuto wrapped his arms around her and pulled the pinkette into his lap.
"Look, now she's all mad at me before she even got to ask me what she wanted", he teased.
"NO!" she shouted. "That's not what – wait. How did you know I needed to ask you something?" she questioned.
"It was written all over your face this morning. Now, do you need something stolen, sabotaged or killed?" he asked. Amu raised an eyebrow.
"That's some resume you've got there. But just wanted to talk", she admitted.
"Oh", the catlike teenager said. He was slightly taken aback by this comment. "We can do that too". Amu brushed a bubblegum pink hair out of her face before she looked up at him. Her golden orbs danced in the mid afternoon sunlight, making Ikuto suck in a breath. Four more years he reminded himself. In four years she'd be eighteen and an adult. He could have her then and nothing could come between them.
"Well um Ikuto", she said. "What do you think about dreams?"
He shrugged. Dreams were of little importance to him. Aspirations were something different completely though. Working hard to get what you want is the only way to make it in this world – that and lazing around until an opportunity falls on your overly talented head. But knowing Amu, she should go with the first one. "Why, you've been dreaming about me Amu?" he teased. Her face lit up like a Christmas light. He got it that quickly, and he was just messing with her.
"So you have been", he relished. "So tell me about it…go on".
"What role do I play nya?" Yoru asked.
"You're not in it", Miki said, shooting him down so the two humans could get back to their conversation.
"W-well in my dream", Amu started. "You were um…Ikuto!" she said, alarmed. The boy was clutching his head in pain. He fell to his knees shaking every few seconds. Amu kneeled at his side, holding his shoulders.
"Ikuto what's wrong?"
"Ikutoo!" Yoru wailed.
"G-get away from me", he warned. A frightening purple aura surrounded his violin. Amu and the charas gasped and recoiled in horror. The Death Rebel transformation was back.
Rima and Nagihiko sat in the Royal Garden; filing papers, approving documents, just the regular mundane student council like business. "I can't believe they have us doing this", Rima said, completely disgusted by the idea of work. The purple haired boy shrugged.
"We all have to do our part. Tadase and Nade do twice the work anyway", he said casually. Rima scoffed.
"They need to. If they want to be high king and high queen the better be doing twice the work as everyone else. They get twice the breaks as everyone else and twice the privileges too", she said.
Nagihiko decided to mull this over. The pint sized girl did have a valid point. "That's not true", he defended after a pause. Nadeshiko was his sister after all.
"Yes it is. King's chair or not, Tadase should not have so much sway with the school. It's only because he's related to Tsukasa. It's nepotism".
"Then explain Nadeshiko?" Nagihiko challenges.
"Still nepotism; she's practically his niece-in-law", she said as if it was the most apparent thing in the world.
"But Tadase likes Amu", Nagi pointed out. Rima nodded.
"It's true, he likes Amu but he loves your sister. The only reason he goes after Amu is because he thinks Nadeshiko will reject him and it will ruin their friendship." You tend to notice a lot while avoiding work and dodging fan boys.
"That would explain a lot", the purple head said. "But still, Nade's too young to be in love".
"She's a minute younger than you", the blonde girl pointed out. "Why can't she be in love?" Nadeshiko was one of the most mature girls she associated with. If anyone was ready for love it was her.
"She can be in love", the boy said "A minute after I am", he explained. "And what makes you such a love expert anyway? Getting tired of enslaving mankind?" he asked.
"No, no I'm not. And neither is your sister".
"What?" he asked. Nadeshiko didn't assort herself with fan boys.
"Not fan boys. She's better than me. Her slaves are only a few, but they're in power. She has Kukai – a friendly slave. Kairi – a lustful salve. Tadase – A love struck slave. And finally you – a family slave. I'm willing to bet she has your dad on a leash too", she explained. Nagihiko blinked. How did she know all that?
"I am not my sister's slave." He defended.
"You are and you know it. You can never say no to her. If you could you wouldn't be here right now and neither would I. So are you going to admit to having a sister complex now or later?" she asked.
He made a face. "Eww, no it's nothing like that!"
"So you admit to being a slave", Rima summarized. Kusu-kusu chuckled.
"Rima should be a lawyer!" she shouted in delight.
"Nagi man you're getting played. Not cool", Rhythm reproached.
"No, it's just…Nadeshiko is one of those people…a giver. She's nice to everyone and she's never been selfish. But the thing is about givers", he said the world with heavy disdain. "They all have one person who they take from…all the time. Since we were born she's been suckering me into doing stuff for her and it always works for the simple fact that she's not mean about it. How could you say no to someone who donates their birthday money to hurricane relief?"
"Easy, tell her to stop being a manipulative bitch", Rima said.
"I would, but she doesn't know she's doing it. In a situation like this, it's just better to give her what she wants. The things she asks for aren't too outrageous…it's not like she's you or anything", he said with a smirk.
"Did you just imply that I'm demanding?" she asked in fake shock.
"If the tiara fits ice queen", Rhythm joked. Rima turned up her nose.
"I'm offended", she said. "You should treat me to a parfait".
Tadase and Nadeshiko sat in the planetarium, reading the documents Tsukasa had given them on Easter. They both had to squirm out of the regular guardian meeting to get to their meeting with the founding king. "Easter's productivity has been low since last year," Nadeshiko observed while biting into a shumai dumpling. Tsukasa had the decency to order them some food this time.
"That's true", Tadase said. "But I still get the feeling they're planning something," he said. He was getting a bit distracted by the spectacular sight of the sunset from the planetarium and also the pleased glint in her eyes. He glanced over the Fujisaki girl. She became more beautiful and even more refined than she was before her departure. To any boy she'd be appealing but it was more than that to him. "F-Fujisaki-san", he started. This was the perfect atmosphere for a confession.
"We've known each other since pre-K", the girl said in exasperation. "Call me by my first name".
He glanced nervously away from her. What was he thinking? Nadeshiko wanted someone strong and athletic, like the boys she must have encountered in Europe. She wasn't like other girls, she knew everything about him – there was no way she would return his feelings. It would ruin their friendship and what's more it would ruin the guardians. She was his partner, the person he trusted the most in the world. During the time she was abroad he was up to his eyeballs in work nobody else wanted to do. It would be detrimental to the association for him to lose her again.
"Nadeshiko, there are X-eggs!" Temari said.
"Yes, and Tsukiyomi Ikuto's behind it", Kiseki shouted. "The ruthless feline!"
"Hai, hai there's that", Temari said. "But more importantly Amu-chan is there".
Tadase tensed. "Amu-chan!" he said in alarm. Nadeshiko rolled her eyes – it was always Amu-chan.
"Come on", she said dryly "let's go save your girlfriend." And with that the oblivious would-be-couple headed to the scene of the crime.
"I-Ikuto!" Amu said nervously. The X-eggs were swarming the area, and at this rate the amusement park would be destroyed.
"A-Amu get away!" he pleaded in pain. He had no control of his body at the moment. The pinkette began to tear up. She couldn't leave him like this, when he was in such obvious pain and she couldn't let the place that held their most precious memories be destroyed. The deadly scythe was raised over her head when an all too familiar voice shouted "Let her be Tsukiyomi Ikuto!" distracting the cat boy wonder from the pink haired girl. Amu heaved a sigh of relief the cavalry had arrived.
Tadase and Nadeshiko, Rima and Nagihiko, and Kukai, Utau, Kairi, and Yaya all came running from different directions. "Amu-chi are you okay?" Yaya asked.
"Hai."
"Then stop being so useless and charanari already!" Utau shouted. Amu looked around. Indeed, everyone else had already transformed.
"Watashi no kokoro UNLOCK!" she shouted. "Charanari Amulet Dia!" The girl floated down in the pale yellow outfit sporting a pair of pigtails.
"S-sugoi!" Kukai said. He was the only one not to see Amulet Dia yet. "Way to go Hinamori!" he shouted. Utau rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, what's important now is purifying those X-eggs", the pop star said.
"I agree. Hoshina-san is right", Nadeshiko said. She shut her eyes and started to think, going into her strategist mode.
"Mashiro-san, Sanjou-san and Yaya-chan should round up the X-eggs near the ground. Nii-chan, Souma-kun and I have airborne transformations so we'll have to retrieve them from the sky. Then when all the eggs are in synchronization, Utau-san can purify them with angel cradle. Everybody got that?" she asked. Everyone seemed lost but Nagihiko and Kairi. After she repeated it slower and with smaller words, everyone began to get the picture.
"That's our Na-chi" Yaya said.
"Yes the plan is fool proof", Kairi said.
"Yea, but can't Na-chi purify X-eggs too?" Yaya asked.
"Not by myself", she admitted stiffly. She'd only done it a few times.
"Then get Tadase and do Yamato Royal," the small girl said. That was the name of their joint attack. Nadeshiko spared a glance at the intense fight going on by the Ferris Wheel. Tadase was standing in front of Amu while holding Ikuto off with his scepter. She rolled her eyes.
"He's busy", she said bitterly before the group set to work on the X-eggs.
Amu was sweating. She was trying desperately to snap Ikuto out of his daze. She appreciated the guardians (and allies) coming to save her, but getting Ikuto to come to his senses made twice as difficult when he was fighting Tadase. 'I wish he would just go home' she thought ruefully but then froze. How could she think that about Tadase when she liked him…she did like Tadase, right? She shook her head. No, that couldn't be true. Not when every sign was pointing her to Ikuto.
"Amu-chan!" Miki shouted. "Now is not the time to think about your love life! Look at what's happening!"
Amu's eyes widened. Ikuto and Tadase were both conjuring powerful attacks and either one of them could be fatal. She cringed. At this rate they would kill each other. "You can save at least one of them", Dia said from inside of her. Amu shut her eyes as the golden globe appeared in her hands. "Shooting star shower!" she yelled, having no clue whether the move would save Ikuto or Tadase or nothing at all. She just had to trust in her heart.
Amu landed and opened her eyes slowly; wary of what she would see. To her relief, Ikuto was fine. He was just panting on the ground slowly coming back to his senses. Her attack had countered Tadase's after all. Tears of relief filled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around the mysterious teenager. "Ikuto", she cried. "Thank goodness."
Yes, Ikuto was fine for the most part, but someone else was definitely not. "Amu", Ikuto said in a strained voice, beckoning her to turn around. She was met with a sight that made her blood freeze in her veins. Tadase was on the floor, bleeding profusely and Nadeshiko crying over him. The rest of the guardians (and allies) were either freaking out, standing around, or creeping slowly away from the drama (Utau and Kukai, they were going for Ramen)
Amu stared at her hands as if they'd betrayed her. "W-what did I do?" she asked. She'd caused Tadase so much pain in the past, but never physically. Could he even consider forgiving her this time? And what of the rest of the guardians - Admittedly most of them wouldn't care. But she couldn't shake the feeling that the long approaching end had just been sent along.
"Amu, let's go", Ikuto said.
"Where are we going?"
"Your house", and with that they were off.
A/N: Second installment! Read and Review please
