Me: Why is it that the more people tell me to update faster the slower I update?

Ikuto: Because you're a failure.

Me: You're back! –tries to glomp-

Ikuto: -steps away-

Me: How I missed your Meanie-head-ness! Where did you go? Why did you leave me??

Ikuto: You stopped writing for so long you idiot.

Me: Oh. I guess I did

Ikuto: I'm just going to do the disclaimer before you end up acting dumber than usual.

Me: OK…wait. I'm not dumb!

Ikuto: Sure…Hana-chan doesn't own Shugo Chara! Now start writing!!

Me: Got it dude.

CHAPTER 7:

KUSUKUSU

Recap:

"Helpful, but it doesn't do me much good," I told her tiredly. The little chara loved games, but I was past the point of exhausted. Kusukusu continued to smile eerily.

"Rima-chan loves funny things, you know," she said slyly.

"So wha—oh!" when I finally realized what Kusukusu was talking about, I felt sick. What she was talking about might work. But it would make being dressed in a knight costume look normal.

"Do you think there's any hope for him?" I heard Lulu ask Ikuto quietly as Kusukusu trained me to the point of near-death exhaustion.

The proper answer was, of course, no, but I decided to see what Ikuto would say.

"No. Not a chance," Ikuto replied. Because what else would he say?

"Tell me another!" Kusukusu yelled at me in her squeaky voice as I tried to think of a hilarious joke while doing the following:

holding onto my bright red fake nose, dripping with face paint, dressed in a ridiculous bright orange and yellow suit with a bright green tie, balancing on a ball with shoes that could only fit a giant, and shivering because I was still wet from when Kusukusu tried the idea of putting me in a dunk tank (Lulu and Ikuto had too much fun with that plan for my own liking).

I'm a genius at multitasking.

"Uh…so two cannibals are eating a clown and one of them looks up at the other and says 'this tastes funny,'" I tried and the other three stared. They might as well of been holding signs that said EPIC FAILURE on them in colors to match my ridiculous outfit.

"End it with a bala balance!" Kusukusu yelled. I never knew girls were so crazy when they were coaching you. Honestly. In my attempt to do the bala balance, I slipped off the ball and face-planted on the ground. Ikuto clapped loudly and cheered while Lulu turned away in disgust.

I scowled. She should be more appreciative that part of my act was an advertisement for the whole freakin business she was starting. I patted my pocket and felt the necklace I made Rima was still in my pocket, safe and sound.

"You're ready," Kusukusu said, although I had the feeling she was just saying that to get rid of me.

"I'm not sure if—" I began unhappily but Ikuto cut me off.

"You're doing great shorty!" he said easily and pulled me towards the giant purple circus tent we'd set up with the other charas. I looked inside to see a large crowd talking amongst themselves. Lulu darted onto the stage and began babbling about her new business or something along those lines. I scanned the crowd and saw Rima looking at the stage looking very bored.

"Time to go," Ikuto said and nudged me onto the stage. Lulu walked off with a swish of her blonde hair and I gulped.

Just like a dance performance, I told myself.

"Um…so what did one ball of yarn say the other?" I asked nervously.

"What?" Lulu called from back stage.

"Can you help me I'm sort of tangled up?" I cracked. No one laughed. It was sad.

I had a flashback of who told me the joke:

"It's hilarious boy-girl," Ikuto promised. "The whole crowd is gonna love it, even your shrimp girlfriend."

end flashback.

"Try something else!" Kusukusu hissed and I turned around to see Ikuto and Lulu busting up behind the curtain. I could only see them because I was at an angle.

I jumped onto the big ball and got myself ready.

"Bala bal—" I began but a shriek from the audience stopped me. Rima leaped from the crowd and knocked me off the ball.

"You're going to kill it!" she yelled. "I won't let you harm the bala balance!"

"I'm sorry!" I yelled back but Rima didn't stop. She continued to yell at me about how bad I was at bala balance and then I realized the whole crowd was cracking up. For a minute, I couldn't figure out why, then I thought about it from a different point of view: Amu (Rima) had tackled Ikuto (Me) and was beating the crap of him while yelling about bala balance. Yeah that would be pretty funny. Although I didn't get the impression Amu was so much into bala balance…or had any desire to tackle Ikuto and beat the crap out of him. Well, maybe she'd want to tackle him—no Nagihiko mind out of the gutter!! Gah! Ewww.....

Either way, I could feel the black eye that was going to be on my face and decided I needed to get my beloved off of me before she punched me into next Tuesday. So I simply grabbed the back collar of her dress and stood up, pulling her with me. The height difference was incredible.

"Put me down!" she squealed furiously. I realized that this wasn't helping me in winning her heart do I dropped her unceremoniously.

"Sorry," I said weakly.

"CLOWN DROP!" she screamed.

"Oh crap," I muttered just as she changed and began attacking me like a little bullet.

"Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!" I begged.

Ikuto and Lulu were cracking up behind the curtain again.

"Listen to the shrimp beating the crap out of him," Ikuto said laughing.

Nice to know I'm entertaining, I thought darkly before suffering another attack. It wasn't exactly like I could hurt her….

When she'd finally cooled down, Rima changed back and glared.

"Oh!" I said when I remembered what I had in my pocket. I quickly handed her the article of jewelry I'd made before she could leave. She stared at it for a while. Then looked at me with those big adorable eyes of hers and then blinked.

"Thank you," she said and skipped away, but not before I saw her face turn red.

"That was so completely random," Ikuto said as he walked out with Lulu.

"It worked?" Lulu asked bewildered.

"Not really…" I said dryly. "Wait! Damn it!"

"What?" Lulu and Ikuto both demanded.

"I didn't say anything!" I groaned and fell back onto the ground.

"I know exactly what you should do!" a sweet voice said cheerfully. Amu and Suu entered the tent.

"Look Suu, I'm very sorry, but I've heard that so many times," I told her wearily. These people were going to kill me!

"But this will work for sure-desu!" she said innocently.

"I don't think—"

"You…you don't believe me-desu?" Suu asked, her eyes filling with tears.

"Well…no. I mean not like that it's just…you know," I said, but I could feel my resolve cracking.

"Suu's always right," Amu said as she came up from behind the chara.

"What the hell," I muttered. "Well, Rima can't possibly hate me anymore than she already does so I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Yay!" Amu and Suu squealed and I braced myself for hell just as I began to feel all my bruises with a vengeance.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Four more chapters to go! Cuz I'm gonna do eleven chapters! Yay! Do you guys think I could make it to 100 reviews before I'm done? Yes? No?