A/N: Yay second chapter! I hope you like it. I don't own Shugo Chara. Darn.
"Wow." Yuuki looked at the grounds of Seiyo Academy. "This is where you went to elementary school?"
"Yup! I'll give you a tour next time we come, but first we have to see the Guardians."
"Wait, next-AAAAUGH!" Kukai didn't let her finish because he began dragging her to a large greenhouse-like place. He only let her go after he ran into the building at full throttle.
Yuuki put her hands on her knees, breathing deeply. "K-kukai, I'm gonna f-freaking kill you."
"Okay," he replied with a thumbs up. "HEY EVERYONE, I'M BACK!"
Yuuki looked up as she heard a loud cry of "KUKAI!" A smaller girl with two red bows on the side of her head practically tackled Kukai.
Kukai laughed as the other 'Guardians' crowded around. "Nice to see you too, Yaya. Hey Yuuki, come meet-Yuuki?"
Yuuki wasn't listening. Currently she was fixated on the Jack. "Nagihiko!" Everyone turned to stare at her as she ran forward and tackled Nagihiko almost as hard as Yaya did Kukai.
"Y-yuuki?" She nodded and he hugged her back more eagerly. "How are you? What are you doing here? Why are you with Kukai?" He let her go gently and held her at arms' length to get a good look at her. He didn't expect his heart to leap and his cheeks to turn red.
…She changed. Her green eyes seemed to have gotten brighter, her pure white hair had grown out to the middle of her back and she wore it in a ponytail with a thin black ribbon holding it up. She was slender, but strong. Her uniform was like Kukai's, black blazer, green neckerchief tie, a short green plaid skirt, and white over-the-knee socks. She added a chain to skirt and wore black boots that vaguely reminded Nagihiko of his old brown ones he wore when he was Nadeshiko.
He came to when she began speaking. "I'm good, I'm Kukai's classmate, and I'm here to see the 'Guardians' because I can see the little people who float!"
"Charas," Diachi laughed out.
"…Yeah, those guys," She and Nagi laughed until she noticed something new and almost strange.
"WHOA! Nagi, you're a boy now?" The effect was instantaneous. Nagi blushed and glanced over at a girl with pink hair. Tadase looked shocked and Kukai looked like he had swallowed a bee.
Everyone was staring at Nagihiko. "Uh…it's an inside joke! She used to say I wasn't a boy because I was shorter than her…but now I'm not," he finished lamely placing a hand on her head. The top of her head came to his cheekbone and he was infinitely grateful that he had grown during his trip in Europe. "That, and sometimes I used to dress up as mytwinsisterNadeshiko to fool her and make her mad whenever she came to visit."
Yuuki didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, sorry that came out funny. Oh, I haven't introduced myself! I'm Hanabuyo Yuuki from Kukai's class. It's nice to meet you all," she said, bowing.
Tadase bowed. "Pleased to meet you, I'm Hotori Tadase, King-"
"I'm Yuiki Yaya, Ace Chair, nice to meet ya," she said cutting in front of Tadase, grabbing Yuuki's and pumping it enthusiastically.
Yuuki smiled, a little mystified. "Uh…yeah! Nice to meet you too!"
Yaya gave Yuuki a cute grin and pulled her over to another girl, shorter than herself. "This is Mashiro Rima, our Queen." The girl was serious as she bowed. "and thiiiis-" Yuuki was pulled over to a girl with pink hair, "-is our Joker, Hinamori Amu!"
Yuuki blinked, trying to get her brain to absorb all the information the 'Ace chair' had given her. She bowed to the 'Joker'. "Nice to meet you Hinamori-san."
"U-uh, yeah," she bowed too. After being around shy customers for so long, Yuuki noticed that the girl was uncomfortable. So she decided to lighten the mood.
"I love your hair, I thought I was the only one with a weird color. It looks natural…is it?"
Amu straightened and smiled. "Yeah, it is."
"I like it," Yuuki declared. Nagi smiled at her declaration. Her personality hadn't changed a bit. "I say you and I start an Awesome Hair Club, cuz no one has pink or white hair."
"Your hair is naturally WHITE," Yaya exclaimed.
"Yup! Always has been. Hence my name. You guys can just call me Yuuki by the way, I don't like being called senpai."
"Yuuki-chan is so cool," Yaya said cheering. A 'floating person' dressed as a baby cheered alongside her. Yuuki noticed.
"WHOA you have the little floating people too!"
Nagi came over again. "They're called charas. They are our would-be-selves so to say. Yuuki, why don't we sit down so we can explain this to you?"
After several cups of tea, several plates of cookies (mostly devoured by Yaya), and another round of introductions (this time to the charas) Yuuki was caught up on everything there was to know about charas.
"Wow. You charas are so awesome! I'm kinda jealous that you all have one…or four," Yuuki said. Amu laughed briefly.
"You know, if you're able to see charas, it may be possible that you might have one soon too," Tadase said. "That's why you brought her, right Kukai?"
"Yup!"
"Tell us about yourself Yuuki, maybe we can figure out why you chan see charas," Amu said.
"Yay, a story," Yaya shouted. "Tell us how you know Nagi too!"
Nagihiko blushed and gave an almost fearful glance to Yuuki. He prayed she would remember their secret. Yuuki looked sideways at him (she was seated in between Kukai and Nagihiko) and smiled. She remembered.
"Uh, let's see. I'm thirteen, like Kukai and I'm in the basketball club and kendo club at our school. My parents are architects and travel a lot, so I don't see them often, but I live with my grandparents, so that's okay. My gii-chan runs his own private dojo and we have one at home too. My obaa-chan has a store which makes kimonos." Everyone 'oohed' at the last statement. Yuuki took a deep breath and hoped the next part of her story wouldn't expose Nagihiko. "I met Nagihiko when he was five. His sister came for a kimono fitting and while Nadeshiko was getting changed, he wandered off to our dojo where he saw me practicing. Since then, we've been friends." She glanced over at Nagihiko, who smiled. Everything was fine. "I actually haven't seen Nagihiko recently because I started middle school, so it was a really big surprise to see that you transferred." Nagihiko smiled at her story. He owed her one.
"What a cool story," Kusukusu exclaimed giggling.
"I agree," Rima nodded.
"Yeah! Tell us more Yuuki-chan," Yaya shouted.
"Uh-"
"That's okay Yuuki, we've actually stayed a little later than usual, they should be closing the school for the day by now," Tadase said. Yuuki could have sworn his chara chortled 'simple peasant' under his breath.
Yuuki smiled, then gasped as she looked at her watch. "CRAP! Guys I gotta go, I'm going to be late for helping my obaa-chan with the shop today!"
Nagihiko looked interested as she quickly packed her bag. "Oh, you have a customer today?"
"Yeah, and they're supposed to get fitted for three new kimonos! GAH! I'm so sorry you guys but I need to go!" She bowed quickly. "Would you mind if I visited next week to learn more?"
"No, you are welcome to come," Tadase said.
"Yes, BUT ONLY IF YOU PAY HOMAGE TO ME, YOU'RE KING," Kiseki shouted.
Yuuki raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure. Thanks you guys, it was nice meeting you! It was nice seeing you again Nagihiko!" Everyone waved as she ran out of the greenhouse.
"She's nice," Amu said. Ran, Miki, and Su nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, she is," Nagihiko said, smiling. "If you don't mind, I'll be leaving first. Okaa-san wants me to pick something up on my way home."
Tadase nodded and Nagihiko picked up his bag. He waved to everyone as he left to go pick up the mysterious 'item'.
"I'm (huff) here (gulp) Obaa-chan." She sprinted all the way home and was now gasping just inside the kimono shop.
She was fixing her blue yukata. "Oh thank goodness! There was a change in clients, we have two coming today, I need you to help the younger one while I fit the other client. You remember Nakamura Tsubaki?"
"The one who owns that one tea house?"
"No that's Nakamura Ichigo. Nakamura Tsubaki is a new customer, she owns a chain of upscale traditional restaurants! Hurry and get changed," she said ushering her into one of the changing rooms.
"Wow! How'd she hear of us? Obaa-chan which one-?"
"The deep blue one." She handed over the yukata.
"Thanks."
"Actually she read about in the news article they did several weeks ago and decided to give us a call."
Yuuki stepped out fully dressed in the blue yukata, with her hair pulled up in a messy bun. "That's neat. Do I look okay?"
Her grandmother was just about to answer when the bell rang, signaling a customer. Her grandmother smiled. "Well, look who it is Yuuki."
Yuuki turned and stared. "Nagihiko! What are you doing here?"
Nagi smiled, he was still in his school uniform. "I'm here for a fitting, turns out I grew more than we expected while I was in Europe."
Yuuki's grandmother smiled. "It's nice to see you, young man, I was surprised to hear from your mother after so long."
Nagi bowed. "It's nice to see you too Hanabuyobaa-chan."
"Obaa-chan you knew about this?"
"I wanted it to be a surprise," she said smiling. Yuuki opened her mouth to respond but the door chime rang again. Her grandmother quickly said, "Measure him for his new kimono," before stepping forward to help the new customer. While her grandmother went off with the new customer for fittings, Yuuki and Nagihiko remained in the front.
"Uh…so I guess I have to measure you," she said. Nagihiko nodded and they went over to one of the more private fitting rooms in the back. "So, why are you here? I mean dressed as a boy," she asked as she closed the curtains to the small fitting room. "This was the first time you've ever visited the shop dressed in pants."
Nagihiko laughed, then proceeded to explain about his 'slump' in dancing and about his two heart eggs. "Oh…I'm so sorry Nagihiko."
"It's all right, I just need to find my passion again. But until then, I need to practice hard so I can perform well. I didn't know you would be visiting the Guardians today, I was going to surprise you here, in the shop."
"And you got obaa-chan in on it?"
"It was her idea," Nagi said smiling.
Yuuki stuck out her tongue. "No fair! How come you never contact me then all of a sudden poof! You come back and as a boy! I never thought I'd see the day!"
Nagi grinned. "Neither did I, but I almost miss wearing that cute red skirt."
Yuuki grinned playfully. "I bet that uniform looked good on you."
Nagi shrugged. "You looked really nice in yours too."
Yuuki was shocked as Nagi blushed when he realized what he had said. "Uh…how about I take your measurements now?" Nagi nodded quickly and began shrugging off his jacket. He undid his tie and held out his arms.
"Um…Nagi?"
"Yeah?"
"I can't measure you like that." Yuuki pointed to a sign on the wall. 'All measurements should be done in undergarments'. Nagi knew this of course. They both did with the number of times he came for fittings.
"Er…doesn't Hanabyobaa-san usually do the measurements?"
"Yeah, but she's with another client and gii-chan is at the dojo and won't be back until late." Nagi looked shocked and Yuuki sighed. "Let's just get this over with Nagihiko, it needs to be done."
Nagihiko nodded as he quickly took off his shirt and held out his arms. She ignored her red face (this was the first time she measured a boy) and quickly measured him. When she was done, she sat down to talk about the kimono. After a bunch of questions and writing, Nagihiko stood to leave.
"Yuuki?"
"Yeah?"
"I was thinking about what you said, and I want to be able to contact you more often…may I have your e-mail address?"
"Only if I get yours," Yuuki said grinning. They exchanged addresses and Nagihiko left for home.
After he was gone, Yuuki's grandma came from the back, her customer having left earlier. "You know obaa-chan, if I didn't know any better, I would have thought you set that up on purpose."
"I have no idea what you mean Yuuki-chan. Why don't you go start your homework, I'll stay with the shop."
Yuuki grabbed her bag and went out the back door. Yup,obaa-chanDEFINITELYplannedthat.