Me: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! I'm almost done!!

Ikuto: Just in time.

Me: …why?

Ikuto: August 19th is your first day of high school! Congratulations freshman!

Me:

Ikuto: Say something.

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Ikuto: Someone's enthusiastic.

Me: I have three stories to finish…damn it all!!

Ikuto: Better get working.

Me: Yeah…

Ikuto: -nudges- Hana-chan doesn't own Shugo Chara!

Me: OK…

Ikuto: Maybe I shouldn't have reminded her….


Recap:

"C'mon Miki! Give us an idea!" Amu cheered. Miki thought for a second and then whispered in my ear.

"No way," I said exhaustedly.

"It's how I got Yoru," she told me sweetly then froze.

"Since when?" Amu and Ikuto demanded and the same time. Miki blushed and I rolled my eyes.

As coincidental timing, Yoru appeared and flew over.

"What's up-nya?" he asked grinning and Miki gulped.

"Well…" she said slowly and so began the Miki-Yoru-Amu-Ikuto drama. Miki broke out of the whole thing just in time to look at me and ask:

"So…what do you think?"

"I'll give it a shot," I said and prayed that this would work. I didn't get my hopes too high.


I looked at the canvas in front of me in horror.

"But I can't paint!" I whined.

"You can't tell jokes either," Ikuto pointed out.

Touché…

"Give it a try," Miki said encouragingly. I picked up the paint brush and began to paint a piece of work that would be fit for a king in his palace.

Jeez…I'm starting to sound like Tadase, I thought worriedly. And Tadase was, of course, a flaming homosexual.

I AM NOT! a voice inside my head roared and I jumped.

"What the…?" I asked no one in particular. The voice was sounded a lot like Tadase's…creepy.

"Paint, Nagihiko! Paint!" Amu cheered.

"You can do it," Miki said from her place on the desk. She and Yoru had both been tied up with shoelaces and were placed on opposite sides of the desk in Amu's room where I was trying to paint. This was Amu and Ikuto's idea. Although you'd think a pervert like Ikuto would be all for his and Amu's charas together, but I had a theory he was a bit offended that Yoru was with Miki when Ikuto didn't have Amu.

But that was just my opinion.

How dare he steal the beautiful princess Amu! the voice inside my head said indignantly.

"Do you guys think it's possible that Tadase's ghost had come back to haunt us?" I asked.

"What a stupid question," Ikuto said and relaxed on Amu's bed, an action that made Amu scowl, but I couldn't help but note that the glare was only half-hearted.

Interesting…

So I continued to paint my portrait of Rima and was about to paint a little crown on her head--wait. A crown? I dropped the brush and jumped up.

"OK you guys I'm a little weirded out," I confessed.

"Why?" Amu asked me worriedly.

"Because I'm starting to think like Tadase," I said.

"Maybe his ghost really did posses you," Lulu thought aloud.

"But I don't wanna be gay!" I wailed.

Ikuto laughed. "You're starting to sound like the Kiddy King already!" he told me looking amused.

"TSUKIYOMI IKUTO!" I yelled and covered my mouth with my hand looking horrified.

"OK," Ikuto said, his blue eyes wide. "That's a little creepy."

"Gee, you think?" I grouched.

"We'll go see some sort of exorcist after you give Rima the portrait of her," Miki said. The general idea was for me to give the portrait to Rima so she could hang it up on her wall with me watching.

"But what if Tadase's ghost comes out when we're talking?" I asked.

"I think it'll come in handy," Ikuto said lazily.

"How?" I demanded.

"The Kiddy King was obviously as straight as a circle, so his homosexual side should calm your nerves while talking to the Shrimp," he explained. It was the most Ikuto had ever spoken to me with such a serious tone.

The idea was so ridiculous and made so little sense that it was completely logical.

"You're a genius!" I said and shuddered at how Tadase-ish I sounded.

"I know I am," Ikuto said smugly. Because it's impossible for Tsukiyomi Ikuto to say 'thank you' or any sort of thing like that. I spent the next hour painting a picture of Rima which ended up looking like a work that would've made Picasso proud.

"She's gonna love it," Amu promised, holding a still tied up Miki while Ikuto did the same with Yoru.

"We were going to tell you-nya," Yoru insisted. "We really were!"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh suuuuuuuuuuurre," Ikuto drawled. Yoru wailed and Ikuto flicked his head to shut the cat-like chara up. Because this was my ninth attempt, I decided that Amu should go bring Rima outside in case the little girl decided to kill me on sight. However, Tadase's spirit had an ego so big it almost controlled me.

It was Ikuto's continuous insults that kept me calm.

Rima looked annoyed when she came out and saw that it was us…again.

"I made you something Rima-chan," I said cheerfully while Tadase told me to go get a white horse and "sweep the beautiful princess of her feet and carry her to my kingly castle." I don't have a castle so that wasn't exactly an option for me. She took the painting and looked at it.

"What is it?" she asked me, trying to look like she didn't care.

"You," I said innocently.

From the way Rima shrieked and dropped the painting, you would've thought I'd told her that it was covered in bugs.

"I'm not that ugly!" she cried and ran inside the house.

Ikuto laughed of course because pity just isn't an Ikuto sort of thing.

"You insulted her!" he exclaimed laughing.

I told you to use a white horse and castle!

"Let's go see an exorcist," I groaned. "I really need to get Tadase out of my brain."

"I'm an exorcist," a wrinkly old man said from behind me. I jumped and with one glance at him, I believed it. He had a creepy vibe radiating off of him and wore a bunch of random talismans.

"Oh," I said. "OK then."

"What do you need help with?" he asked.

"He has a flaming homosexual in his brain," Ikuto said with a serious expression. I could tell on the inside he was cracking up.

"Come to my office," the exorcist said and we looked to see a building that had a vibe just as creepy as the person before us. The exorcist shook his head.

"No, that one," he corrected us pointing at a bright pink house with a beautiful garden full of flowers.

"Hey Amu-chan, that house matches your hair," I observed.

Amu said nothing and I could see she looked a little bit terrified, as was Lulu.

"Let's get this done and over with," I said with a sigh and we all entered the exorcists house. The old man brought us into the kitchen which was painted yellow and had baby blue counters.

"Let us sit," the exorcist said and we sat on his soft fluffy carpet on the ground, all holding hands.

The exorcist ranted on and on about something or the other and I was beginning to believe he was cheaping us out when I felt a tug in my brain and heard Tadase's voice.

NOOOOO!! I DON'T WANNA GO!! MOOMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYY!! he wailed and it wasn't until I heard Ikuto snickering that I'd realized I'd be shouting out loud.

And then...Tadase was gone.

"And he is cleansed!" the exorcist declared proudly.

"Thank you, Mr. Exorcist!" Amu said with a quick bow and darted out of the house, Lulu not far after her.

"So my dear boy, would you mind telling me what made that little lady cry before we came here?" the exorcist asked. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about Rima, not Amu which saved me the potential difficult conversation where I would've had to tell him that he was just flat out creepy.

"Um, I'm trying to explain my love for her but nothing I do is working," I said, depression looming over me.

"I can help you there," the exorcist said. "I'm a bit of a love doctor myself."

Ikuto and I exchanged brief looks of disbelief.

"I dunno…" I said, unwilling to be rude. Just in case he called Tadase's ghost back into me of course.

"No really!" the exorcist said. "Here's what you do."

With the brief explanation and a few instructions I left the disgustingly bright house with Ikuto...and a new plan.

"Do you think it's worth a shot?" I asked Ikuto, hoping for a serious answer. Ikuto shrugged.

"Well, I think she despises you already so…" he said trailing off at the end.

"Thanks," I said darkly and went to tell Lulu and Amu the exorcist's idea.


Me: Yeah, I know what you guys are thinking.

Ikuto: What are they thinking?

Me: They're thinking that the next chapter is the last chapter but guess what.

Ikuto: What?

Me: They're wrong!

Ikuto: OK then…

Me: I'm doing eleven chapters!

Ikuto: Why?

Me: All in due time my friend…

Ikuto: You know, you're pretty scary Hana-chan

Me: Scary enough for people to review?

Ikuto: I think they'll do it anyway but…sure?

Me: REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVVVVVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!

Ikuto: Now that's scary…