A/N: This chapter was painfully hard to write, I had a major writers block for since February, I know it's been months and I'm sorry, but here I am with an update. As the title suggests the chapter revolves around family, but I wanted to do some character development, which is the reason for it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! Or any of its characters, they belong to Peach-Pit.

Chapter 12 - Family Ties

Rima opened the door to her father's house in a very bad mood. She was soaked with water from the top of her blond head to the bottom of her petite feet. She cursed herself for not bringing an umbrella to school. Tadase had to stay down at school to tutor some other student, and Amu and Nagihiko had already left. Yaya, of course, forgot to bring her umbrella as well.

The small girl shut the door and listened for any sign that her father was home. The house was silent, except for a faint rustling sound. She walked into the living room, and sure enough, her dad was sitting on the armchair reading the newspaper.

She nearly said 'I'm home' as she would have when she had lived with both her parents. She bit her lip and started climbing the stairs towards her room when her father surprised her by speaking.

"Rima," he said, not looking up from his newspaper. "Get dry and wear something decent, one of those dresses I bought you that you never wear. We have a guest coming over."

"Yes Papa," she said, wondering who the guest might be. She waited to see if he would say anything else, but he didn't.

Rima sat on her bed and curled up into a ball. She wasn't in the mood to wear something fancy for someone she didn't know. It was stupid. Kusu-kusu floated by her side and kept looking between her and her cupboard. "Don't you think you should be getting ready Rima?"

Rima ignored her guardian character went to her open her window. The rain was coming down heavily. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, lighting the area brightly for a moment, before it returned to being dim and misty. Rima winced as she heard the thunder's loud rumble. If rain was supposed to be the heaven's crying, this must be heaven having burst into tears and wailing like a little child. Rima scowled and shut her window. Even the sky was managing to worsen her mood.

She opened the door of her cupboard which creaked loudly. For some reason that Rima could not guess, her old cupboard was moved to her dad's house when her mum insisted on getting a new one. Her eyes scanned the contents of the cupboard when her eyes settled on a simple white dress. It was a sleeveless dress made of a soft fabric, with a ribbon that could tied at the back. She reached out and held onto the loose piece of ribbon. This wasn't one that her dad had bought. Not by himself at least. Both her parents had bought it for her.

xxxx

Rima had just got back from school. It wasn't from Seiyo Elementary; this was before she had transferred. This was when her mother still picked her up from school in her car. It was her birthday, and her parents had not said one thing about it. Not even when she came back from school with the car's trunk full of presents she received from all the boys in her class. She didn't really care about those.

The only comfort was that Kusu-Kusu was someone who remembered that Rima actually cared about.

She refused to mention it by herself. If her parents were going to ignore her birthday, then so be it. She walked to her house, while her mum locked the car. Her dad was home early, which she found strange as her dad was always complaining about losing time at work. She heard the jingle of keys as her mum put it on the table by the door.

"Rima, come here," her dad said in a voice that one did not sound strained and stressed. It was a rather happy voice, Rima thought.

"Did you manage to get it?" her mum asked her dad. Her dad nodded, and Mrs. Mashiro went into the kitchen.

Rima's spirit lifted. Could it be? Did they remember-?

Just then, Rima's mum came out of the kitchen holding a cake with lit candles. Rima smiled, a genuine smile that she had not used in a long time. Her mum placed the cake on the table and nudged Mr. Mashiro's shoulder. Mr. Mashiro cleared his throat and her parents started singing 'Happy Birthday' to her.

The sight of her parents, in their stiff, neat business suits, singing in their out-of-tune voices was too much for Rima. She giggled uncontrollably and when they finished she gave them both a hug. They, for once, also smiled back at her.

It was a rare moment of pleasant peace between the family who ate the blackforest cake while Rima told them about her day. She did not mention the presents and talked about her science class instead, where she managed to get an A for a surprise test.

Her dad then took out a red box with a gold ribbon that tied it together. Rima tugged open the ribbon and opened the box, where the white dress was, neatly folded.

"Try it on for us," her mother suggested excitedly.

Rima quickly went to the nearest bathroom to change there. When she got out to show her parents though, she found that her dress was too big for her, the top part sagging at her shoulders.

Her mother frowned. "Honey, I think you got the wrong size for her."

"I'm sure I got the right one..." her dad replied, puzzled.

"Well, you obviously didn't, we'll have to exchange it."

"The shop said this was the last one in stock."

"Then why did you get this one?"

"I told you I got the right size."

Rima frowned. No, not now, not today. Please don't fight.

"If you did then it would fit her! Now what are we going to do!"

"You can buy her a new one!"

Stop it... "I-it's okay. It looks funny doesn't it? Look Mama, Papa-"

"You say that as if I have lots of money, I work hard, I am the one who has to spare my time to pick up our daughter."

"We both know my work is more important. Who puts the food on the table every day?"

"I do!"

It's funny...don't find. Why can't you laugh?

"Character change!"

Marks appeared on Rima's face and she stood on top of the table, snapping her parents out of the argument. "Ohoho, I think this dress is too big for me. I must look like a rabbit."

Kusu-kusu giggled. "Is that so? Maybe you look like a mouse?"

Rima nodded. "Yes! Not a rabbit but a mouse. I want some cheese now."

"Watch out, a cat might get you!"

"A cat? The ones that go nya-"

"Rima, get down from there this instance," Ms. Mashiro demanded, looking furious. "What is the meaning of this behaviour.

"I-I just wanted to make you l-lau-"

"Don't be ridiculous! Acting like that is a waste of time," Mr Mashiro agreed. "You should do something more useful."

"Go study. You have more tests coming up, won't you?"

Rima didn't know what to say. The atmosphere had completely changed again. "Y-yes, Papa, Mama..."

She ran up to her room, hiding the tears that were threatening to fall at any second. She took off her dress and threw it on the floor. She swore never to wear it again.

xxxx

Now Rima found herself wearing that same dress, forgetting the promise she made to herself. It fit her perfectly now. She looked herself in her life-sized mirror. She didn't look like a mouse or a rabbit. She looked pretty, in that simple white dress. Kusu-kusu brought over a black head-band with a ribbon on it.

"Kusu-kusu," she murmured quietly. "Do you think it's okay to wear this?"

"I think it looks great!" Kusu-kusu was as enthusiastic as usual.

That was what she liked best about her character. Whenever she was not feeling all too well Kusu-kusu would always look at the brighter side of things and tried to laugh. That kind of person was who Rima wanted to be. "Let's go downstairs."

She just hoped wearing this dress didn't have the same effects as the last time.

XOXO

"Ahh!" the pink-haired girl screamed, as she heard the loud bang of thunder, and gripped at Nagihiko's shirt. It was lucky that Nagihiko was holding the umbrella, or the two would be drenched with water by now. After a few seconds, Amu let go of Nagihiko and apologised profusely.

"It's okay, you're scared of thunder right?"

Amu laughed nervously. "Not exactly scared, but it kind of shocked me there."

"Amu-chan's being stubborn again," Miki observed, before dodging Amu's hand who tried to grab at her. "We're home, Amu-chan."

Amu looked around and seemed to notice her house for once. "Oh you're right!" Nagihiko walked her to the doorstep. "Thanks a lot Nagi." She gave Nagihiko a quick hug before she closed the door.

The basketball player turned to leave, though he gave one more uncertain glance back at the door. After his conversation with Kukai, he was starting to feel really bad about deceiving Amu. Would she prefer him to tell the truth? He knew Rima would. Rima hated liars. It took her long time to finally become friends with Nagihiko because of that. If she knew about now...she probably wouldn't ever look at him ever again.

It's not like she has the right to do that, Nagihiko thought, I'm sure she has lied before. Her fake crying would count as a lie. Nagihiko smirked. I'll tell her that next time she tries to use that trick. She knows that it doesn't work when I'm around anyway.

"Welcome home Nagihiko-sama," his old caretaker greeted as he stepped into his house. "How is the young master today?"

"I'm doing okay, Mizuki-san," Nagihiko replied politely. Mizuki had been with the Fujisaki family long before Nagihiko had been born, and she took care of Nagihiko ever since he was a child. He was closest to her out of all the employees his parents had hired and she held the highest authority above all the servants.

"Your mother requested your presence in the rehearsal room," informed Mizuki.

Nagihiko nodded and proceeded towards the rehearsal room as Mizuki chose to call it. He spent more time in there than he did in his own room. It was a wide space witha small platform where you could perform and curtains were drawn up. He looked into the room and saw his mother, sitting on the floor with her eyes closed looking as if she was meditating. His mother liked to do this whenever she could; she told him that it calmed her. He wondered whether he should leave when she spoke. "Come and sit."

He sat down facing her and she opened her eyes. "You seemed to be troubled by something."

He gazed at the floor; his mother could always read expressions easily. Still, he said, "I think you might have been meditating for too long Okaa-san."

"Perhaps," she said. "Nagihiko, the reason I called you here is that..." She gave him a knowing smile. "Your Papa is here early."

Nagihiko froze. "You don't mea-"

"It's SHOW TIME," a voice announced from behind the curtains onstage. Nagihiko actually tried to run out the room but his mum grabbed his wrist and forced him to sit down.

"Yay!" both his charas shouted, much to his annoyance.

The curtains swung open. And there stood his dad, with white studded trousers and a white top and hair styled to look like...Elvis Presley, the American singer.

"You ain't nothin but a hound-dog, cryin all the time!" his dad sung, or rather howled into a microphone, his accent making it worse.

This was the reason that he never invited his friends over when his dad was around. He might die of embarrassment if they saw him. He was the complete opposite of Nagihiko, loud, impatient, and very into rock. Nagihiko wondered time and time again how, being from the Fujisaki family, his dad had managed to live as a girl for most of his childhood without being discovered. Nagihiko bet his dad peeked at the girls when they were changing. He of course certainly did not. And besides, his dad was always singing songs with English lyrics when he probably had no idea what the lyrics meant.

"Bravo darling!" Mrs. Fujisaki cheered, clapping when he had finished.

Again, he wondered how his mother ever came to marry a guy like this.

"Hey my young offspring, you should be cheering for me-" Mr. Fujisaki stopped mid-sentence and jumped off-stage and peered closely at Nagihiko. He pointed a finger accusingly at Nagihiko. "You are becoming a man!"

"A man?"

"Yes! Soon you will no longer be able to perform as a woman. It saddens me so."

Nagihiko felt a vein throb in his temple. Another thing about his dad was that he always made fun of Nagihiko performing as a woman...even though he was the one who made him do it. "Tradition!" he had called it.

Nevertheless, Nagihiko felt relieved that he could soon stop playing female roles...the dresses were starting to get uncomfortable and he got more and more self-conscious about it.

"My lovely wife, I must ask you to leave us for a moment, Nagihiko and I are going to have a man to man talk," exclaimed in an overdramatic sorrow, kneeling and holding both of his wife's hands. "If we never meet again, know that I have and will always love you."

Mrs. Fujisaki giggled and complied.

Nagihiko and his characters sweat-dropped.

"Now, now, it's been a long time since we've had a good long conversation." Mr. Fujisaki pulled Nagihiko up and put a shoulder around him. "How has my favourite son been doing?"

"I'm your only son," Nagihiko muttered. "And I've been doing the same as usual as you should know."

"So you say," Mr. Fujisaki muttered then gave Nagihiko a knowing wink. "I heard you have a girlfriend now."

Nagihiko turned completely red. How did his dad of all people know? Nagihiko didn't try to hide his relationship but he wasn't all that comfortable talking to his dad about it.

"But what my sources tell me, you're having a few problems."

"What sources?" Nagihiko exclaimed. Who besides his characters knew? There was Kukai but he wouldn't...would he. Kukai had met his dad once when they were all at the school athletic meet where his dad came. Kukai wouldn't have said anything...what am I saying? This is Kukai I'm talking about. I'll have a talk with him later...

"Ah, young love," his dad continued, as if he didn't hear Nagihiko. "I remember when I first met your mother, we were instantly in love!"

"Didn't she hit you with an umbrella because she thought you were stalking her?" Nagihiko mused.

Mr. Fujisaki sobbed. "My son is so cruel to me!"

He's even more dramatic than me.

"But!" he said, recovering quickly. "What a man must do," he thumped a fist at his chest, "is to follow his heart."

Nagihiko blinked. For once...that sounded like good advice. But was following his heart the right thing to do, for everyone.

As if his father could read his mind, he nodded. "To follow the heart might take long, but it must be done. As a Fujisaki your judgement must be right."

Nagihiko nodded. "Yes, Otou-san."

"That's the spirit! My offspring must follow in my footsteps, and then you will be great! Hahaha!"

Nagihiko did a face-palm, his dad had to ruin the moment, didn't he? But then he smiled, he would keep his dad's advice, for later.

XOXO

"Tadase, my cape is all wet!" Kiseki complained. Tadase had opened his umbrella a bit too slow for Kiseki's liking, so of course the little king was bound to complain.

"A little rain won't hurt you," Tadase reasoned as Kiseki floated close to him, so as to not get wet again.

"It has the potential to," Kiseki grumbled.

Tadase merely laughed. To be honest his character could be quite amusing at times. He knew that the other characters often viewed Kiseki as bossy and selfish, but Tadase knew that Kiseki meant well.

Kiseki suddenly stopped floating forwards and stared across at a small figure across the road. "Isn't that Hinamori Ami?"

Tadase's head shot up and he stared. It did look like it was Ami, and she didn't have an umbrella with her. He ran towards the young girl and raised the umbrella over her. She looked up in surprise.

"Oh, hi Tadase-nii-san." She smiled at him pleasantly, even though she was visibly shivering.

"What are you doing out here alone?" Tadase asked, concerned.

"I had to stay back at school because I had a singing lesson...but I think Onee-chan forgot to pick me up."

Tadase frowned; it was certainly like Amu to be forgetful at times. "I'll walk you home Ami-chan."

"Thank you!" Ami hummed a happy tune while they walked back. Tadase was still worried about how wet Ami was; she might catch a cold this way.

Amu answered the door when the bell rang and gasped when she saw Ami. She had realized that she had forgotten.

"Hi Onee-chan! Tadase-nii-san brought me home."

Amu looked at Tadase, only now registering that he was there. "Oh, thank you Tadase-kun."

Tadase shook his head, smiling politely. "It's no problem."

"Hey, can Tadase-nii-san stay and have tea with us?" Amu looked at Ami astonished but Ami smiled. "Tadase-nii-san hasn't been here in a long time! I also wanted to play with Kiseki-sama."

Amu and Tadase both sweat-dropped, Ami hadn't changed at all.

"I am not to be played with," Kiseki said indignantly. "I am a king!"

"Kiseki!" Amu's charas said in unison, floating over.

"Why don't you stay? After all a king must check up on his subjects right?" Dia said sweetly, though Amu knew that the charas just wanted Kiseki here so they could have a break on Ami.

Kiseki seemed to react to the king reference though, and somehow it was decided that Tadase and Kiseki would be staying over for a while. Amu made Ami go upstairs to change while she went to the kitchen and prepared some tea.

Tadase looked around the living room and a small smile formed on his lips, it was exactly the same as it had always been. He thought he heard a thud from upstairs, which was perfectly normal for the Hinamori residence. Amu came back a few minutes later and placed the tea tray on the table.

He thanked her and took a sip of tea. Both of them said nothing, it seemed like they couldn't find anything to say. Finally, Amu broke the silence.

"I'm...a horrible sister aren't I?" She was speaking more to herself than Tadase. "She could've gotten fever from being out in the rain like that."

Tadase shook his head. "We all make mistakes sometimes. And anyway, Ami-chan didn't seem to care and she's fine now." He pointed upwards. "I think she's chasing the charas around."

Amu let out a small laugh. "Sometimes I wish I could be that carefree."

"What are you worried about?"

"I'm not...worried about anything. It's just the usual stuff...we all have much more school work now that we're older."

Tadase nodded with understanding. The Guardians had always been thought as amazing, but they had to work just as hard as everyone else in school.

"Ouch!" Amu had spilt a bit of the hot tea onto her hand as she tried to place it down on the table. She cursed herself for being so clumsy.

The next moment, Amu found that Tadase was by her side and was carefully putting his handkerchief over Amu's hand. She turned slightly pink as a memory of an incident very similar to this that happened a few years ago. Tadase the suddenly pulled his hand back and put his handkerchief away.

"Sorry," he muttered, avoiding her gaze.

"No...um...thank you."

"Does it still sting, Hinamori-san?"

Amu felt like something in her heart cried out. Was it a reaction to being called Hinamori-san again? She looked down and clenched her fists. "No, it's fine."

Tadase walked back to the opposite sofa and looked somewhere towards Amu's right, as if looking at the painting hanging there.

Maybe...I should ask Tadase-kun to call me Amu-chan again. Friends call each other by their firsts names. But this wasn't the case with Tadase, Amu knew. It was hard to be like this. When she first met him she could barely say 'hi' without stuttering. When they were closer it was so easy to talk...but now the closeness just wasn't there. And Amu knew it was her fault.

She still wanted Tadase as a friend though, so Amu tried to speak. "How are things with Rima?"

Amu froze. Why did she just say that? What kind of topic was that? You don't exactly talk to your ex-boyfriend about his love life.

"Good," he said with a smile. "Rima-chan is very sweet." Amu felt a slight twinge at Tadase using Rima's first name. "What about you and Nagihiko?"

Amu flushed. "Well, um..." She really didn't know what to say. "Good too." Amu played with her fingers. "Nagihiko's taking me to the floral expedition this Friday..." And before she could stop herself. "Do you and Rima want to come as well?"

She felt like hitting herself after that. As if they'd want to come.

"Oh, I'll ask Rima-chan if she'd like to," Tadase said with a nod. "I'm sure it'd be great if we could."

Amu smiled, feeling relieved. "That's great!"

Suddenly they heard a crash from upstairs, though this one was much louder than the others. Amu groaned in frustration. "Ami better not have broken anything."

She rushed up to her room with Tadase following her. Amu twitched when she saw that Ami had fallen off her bed and was upside down.

Tadase kneeled down and motioned for Kiseki to go to his side. "What happened?"

"It wasn't my fault! That commoner was trying to pull my cape so I went where she couldn't reach me. She lost her balance and fell." He huffed and crossed his arms.

Tadase frowned. "Say you're sorry."

"No."

He sighed at his stubborn chara and turned to Ami. "Kiseki's sorry. You're not too hurt, right?" Unbeknownst to him, he had turned to kira-kira mode and Ami let out a squeal.

"Prince-sama!"

Tadase's eyes flashed and Amu shrank back, knowing what was going to happen.

"Prince." A dark red aura started to glow around Tadase.

"Did you call me a prince?" His hands started twitching.

"I AM KING!" And with that, Tadase's evil laugh rang throughout the house.

"Tadase-kun calm down," Amu shouted, because Tadase never seemed to hear anything when he was in King Mode. "TADASE-KUN!"

"Do not interrupt me commoner, I have to think of ways to dominate the world without the Embryo's help."

"Didn't you change your dream?"

"Silence commoner!"

"Remember? You wanted to protect everyone!" Amu grabbed his arm as Tadase tried to climb her table. King Mode always meant getting to higher places.

Tadase looked down at her and pulled her up to the table and put an arm around her.

"Whaa-?"

He pointed at the ceiling. "Yes! All commoners will have my protection as long as they help me with world domination." He looked at Amu suspiciously. "You will join me, am I right?"

"...y-yes! Of course." Amu said automatically.

"Good! I now declare you as my-"

"Tadase!" Kiseki yelled, and just like that, Tadase's crown disappeared and he snapped out of his character change. "The commoner is trying to strangle me."

Ami, who was holding onto Kiseki let go immediately. "No I'm not."

"Well she was," Kiseki insisted, floating once again back to Tadase. It was there for just a second but Tadase, being the only one who really knew his chara, saw the warning look he shot at Tadase.

His eyes widened a fraction as he realized that Kiseki stopped his character change on purpose, not just to get away from Ami. It was a good thing too. He was just about to say that Amu would become his...his queen. With a jolt he remembered that he had his arm around Amu and quickly moved it back to his side.

"I'm sorry Hinamori-san," he apologised, with a slight bow.

Amu rubbed the back of her head nervously. "It's okay." She glanced down. "But I think we should get off the table, I don't think it can take the two of us for much longer."

Once on the ground Tadase checked his watch. "I think we should go now, I don't think Kiseki wants to stay for much longer."

Amu chuckled. "I guess not."

The two went downstairs and Amu opened the door for Tadase.

"Thanks for the tea, Hinamori-san."

"No problem Tadase-kun."

"I'll see you tomorrow Am-" Tadase stopped himself. "-Hinamori-san. I'll ask Rima-chan about Friday."

Amu was caught by surprise by Tadase nearly calling her by her first name again and she said goodbye though she didn't think he'd hear her.

But he turned around and waved. And he smiled.

Suddenly all those times he had come over flashed quickly in her mind and always, he had left with a smile.

XOXO

A business dinner. That was what Rima was using her precious dress for. The person opposite her and her father was obviously some kind of businesswoman, by her black office clothes and briefcase. She wondered why she even needed to be here. She wasn't listening to whatever her dad and this woman were talking about. She found spacing out and remembering her favourite gag jokes more interesting.

"So have you decided which house you want yet?" This pulled Rima back to the conversation. The woman she heard on the phone that time was talking about a house...what was her name again?

"Yes, Midorika-san we've decided, we want number 32. After a bit of refurbishing it will look decent. Are your other clients looking at it."

"They were, but I'm pretty sure it's available for you if you sign the papers quickly."

Oh so the this was the woman who called him...but she's his real estate agent. Rima was relieved, although she didn't want to admit it, she was still uncomfortable at the thought of her dad getting a girlfriend of any sort.

Midorika peered at Rima's face. "Haha, it took your dad a long time! I'm sure you're happy about starting over, right?"

"Starting over?"

"Yes! I might be your dad's real estate agent but I'm also his cousin so of course I know what's going on!"

Rima's dad shook his head sharply. Immediately Midorika put her hands to her mouth, it seemed she had slipped out something she shouldn't have. Rima looked suspiciously at both of them.

"Exactly what is going on?"

To her surprise it was her dad that answered her. "We were going to tell you eventually, but now's a better time than ever." His dad smiled another genuine one that startled Rima again. "Your mother and I...we decided to give our marriage another try. We didn't think it was fair on you...and, to be honest, I've been lonely."

Rima was stunned. Her parents were worried about her? Her father was lonely? He only ever cared about his work!

He seemed to read Rima's expression and nodded. "I used to think work was everything, but now...it feels like there's something missing. Are you okay with this?"

Okay? She didn't believe this was real, it couldn't be. She pinched herself and it hurt, so she must not be dreaming. Kusu-kusu stared wide-eyed between her Rima and her dad then tugged at Rima's hair. "Say something!"

But she couldn't, words didn't seem to want to come out.

So instead she ran into her father's arms and cried. Her dad rubbed her back reassuringly as Rima clung onto him. She held on tight, just to make sure this wouldn't slip away like the last time. That finally something had gone right.

A/N: I know, I know, families don't usually have this kind of happy ending, but poor Rima is having a hard time so I think she needs some happiness. Plus I enjoyed writing Nagihiko's father...inspired by Isshin Kurosaki (from Bleach).

I've also uploaded this without reading it through again because it's been so long, so please tell me if you find any mistakes!

I know it's been ages since I updated, so please drop a review so I know if anyone's still reading x3