A/N:Tadaa...okay that's really not the time for my usual happy greeting. Another late late late update. I really am useless aren't I? Ah well...anyway, enough of me talking, here's the story~

Chapter 14 - Guardians United

The lights of the long unused room flickered for a bit until finally deciding to turn on. The Easter employee coughed as he entered the room. It was too dusty for his liking. I know I just started working here but why am I doing errands like getting some old files? he thought.

With a frown he reached up to get a file on the top shelf, which he was told the file would be on. He tiptoed as it was really tall and he just couldn't reach it. He jumped and reached the shelf and managed to grab hold of it. Scanning the row of files he picked out a red one. Suddenly, he lost balance and fell backwards, crashing into a table, which was already old enough, and as one would expect, it collapsed.

"Ouch..." he groaned rubbing his head. At least he didn't break any bones. He glanced at the table he just broke and swore under his breath. There had been a weird machine there and it fell too. The worker picked it up and examined it. It didn't look broken. Placing it on the floor he quickly walked out of the room. This floor was unused anyway, no one would care. For all he knew this was the floor where Easter carried out some scientific experiments which apparently failed and was shut down.

The employee was already on the elevator back to his floor when the machine started to glow purple.

xxxx

Amu and the rest of the former guardians (now including Kukai) decided that they would go to the park seeing as it was a pleasant day out. They were just about to exit the school gates when a familiar figure ran towards them.

"Senpai!" Hikaru the present King of the Guardians at Seiyo elementary, stopped before them, panting heavily. It seemed as if he had ran all the way here from school, which was quite a feat for him since he was never the athletic type.

"Hikaru-kun!" said Amu after recognising him. "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"I suppose." Hikari said after catching his breath. Straightening up he looked at his upperclassmen with a serious expression. "The Guardians need your help."

"What's wrong?" Tadase asked him.

Hikaru's eyes narrowed. "Someone from Easter has accidentally set off one of the old X-egg collecting devices." He took out his PDA and its screen displayed a picture of a machine none of the Guadians had seen before. "This was another plan that was supposed to be executed if the business with Tsukiyomi failed. That plan did fail but as you know, we didn't want to collect X-eggs anymore. All the old devices were stored in one of Easter's basements and a new-worker somehow activated it."

Nagihiko touched the screen. "How does the machine work?"

"It's based on the same mechanics as the tools you've seen before. Only these sounds waves have a much larger range." Hikaru switched the screen which showed a map with grids and there were four red dots beeping in different areas. "Each red dot represents an area where a large amount of X-eggs have collected. There are approximately fifteen in each area."

Amu looked around at the other former-guardians, who nodded. They were ready to help. "What's the plan Hikaru-kun?"

"We need to split up into different sections. I've already dispatched Rikka-chan, Sanjo-san and Izumi-san to the first section," he pointed down at the red dot closest to Seiyo Elementary. He then pointed to another red-dot. "I'll head over there with Souma-senpai and Yuiki-san. Fujisaki-senpai and Mashiro-senpai can go to the west area. Tadase and Amu-chan should clear up the east area."

"W-wait! Why do I have to go with Tadase-kun?" Amu cried out. An awkward pause carried out. Tadase glanced at Amu quickly. Her eyes widened immediately, surely that must have sounded as if she would hate to work with him. That wasn't it but still… "I mean, I think I could handle the X-eggs by myself."

Hikaru looked up from his PDA his eyes searching. "By my predictions your normal 'Open Heart' will not be able to clear up this large group. You will need to use 'Platinum Heart' to purify those eggs." He turned to Rima and Nagihiko. "This goes for you both too." He pointed to his area. "The area here is fairly close to where Rikka-chan and the others are. I've told her to drive her group in our direction so we can purify them together."

Tadase, having being away for some time, was surprised. "You can purify X-eggs?"

"Only with Rikka-chan." Amu didn't know if she imagined it but it looked as if Hikaru was about to smile. His serious expression returned quickly though. "So, any objections?"

When was the last time Amu had seen Hikaru? It must be too long. She didn't remember Hikaru being able to hold such authority. She guessed that came along with having to lead a company like Easter at such a young age. It didn't look like Tadase wanted to argue against him. Although...Amu couldn't shake the suspicion that it was Hikaru that stopped him from arguing against them fighting together. Could it be that he wanted to?

"I won't work with Nagihiko," Rima announced, snapping Amu out of her thoughts. The rest of them stared at Rima, shocked.

Except Nagihiko. He also thought that Rima wouldn't agree. She'd want to work with Tadase wouldn't she? Her boyfriend, he reminded himself sourly. He tried to look as if he didn't care.

"I'll go with Nadeshiko though." He gaped at her, while she smiled smugly. "You heard me. I give you permission to cross-dress."

At this stage, Amu couldn't help but giggle. "It can't be helped can it?" Even in this dire situation, Rima was subtly trying to amuse herself.

Nagihiko smirked, well, this was better than nothing. "Great, I've been dying to." He tied up his hair (using Yaya's extra one) into his usual Nadeshiko-styled pony tail. He changed his expression to a serene one. "I'm looking forward to working with you again."

Rima looked taken aback for a second. She then returned a glittering and oddly sincere smile. Nagihiko could tell that sometimes Rima believed that he had a completely different personality when he was Nadeshiko. "Me too." She came over and stood next to him with a completely friendly smile.

The present King cleared his throat. "That's settled then." He pressed another button on his PDA and his limo pulled up.

"Yay! A limo!" Yaya dived in and Kukai followed her suit. Hikaru then sat down and shut the door. "Our section's the farthest so we'll take the limo to get there quicker."

Amu sweat-dropped. Hey, you just don't want to run again, huh Hikaru. As the limo drove off Amu yelled. "What about us? You're making us walk!"

The four could see Yaya making faces at them from the back seat.

"We should hurry Hinamori-san," said Tadase. He pointed to the left and spoke to Rima and Nagihiko. "Our area is this way."

The two nodded and started running. Amu watched their retreating figures apprehensively. Why did she have a bad feeling about this? She felt Tadase pull at her elbow. "Let's go Hinamori-san."

Shaking her head she ran with him.

xxxx

Kairi blocked the dark energy about to hit him. He, Rikka, and Izumi had been fighting for quite a while now. Rikka had been trapped by a ring of X-eggs surrounding her and this made moving them to Hikaru's position much harder.

"One-hundred Fists!" Izumi, the present Ace chair blasted through X-eggs which tried to dodge. "Rikka! I need a little help here."

"Hold on," Rikka said. She grinned. "Alright X-eggs, I know you're hurt but trapping a girl is not a good thing to do. Radiant Wave!" A ring of light expanded and the X-eggs were forced back.

Seeing this opportunity, Kairi jumped into a better position. "Lightning Blade!"

The X-eggs crashed to the ground.

Rikka gave Kairi a thumbs-up. "And we're just getting started!"

xxx

"Character transformation: Clown Drop!"

"Character transformation: Yamato Maihime!"

After some delay from Rima having to rest from running a while, they finally arrived at the town square where a big build-up of X-eggs were. There were around twenty as far as Nagihiko could tell. The machine had worked into turning everyone's heart-eggs into X-eggs, even all the adults. Everyone around had vacant looks in their eyes and they had stopped whatever they had been doing. All those who had been standing were slumped down on the ground.

"Are you ready Rima-chan?" Nagihiko said in Nadeshiko's voice. He extended his hand to her.

She reached out to take it but hesitated. She looked up at his face for a moment. Doubt – that was what Nagihiko saw. Without a word she ran forward ahead of Nagihiko and jumped up. "Tightrope Dancer." Her ropes wrapped themselves around a few X-eggs quickly spun the, causing them to become dizzy.

"Rima-chan, shouldn't we work together?" Rima ignored Nagihiko and continued with this.

She repeated this action again and again, with as many X-eggs as she could handle. Nagihiko had no choice but to just keep fighting the X-eggs on his own as well. He looked back at Rima every once in a while. He couldn't understand what she was thinking. She was fine just moments ago but when he asked for her hand she completely changed.

I won't hold hands with liars. Rima had said that once. Maybe that was it. Maybe Rima had seen through him and realized he wasn't really in love with Amu. If she did know she'd be furious that he was lying again to her best friend – his best friend. Some best friend I am. Nagihiko thought bitterly.

"Look out!" Temari yelled but Nagihiko was too late and some X-energy hit him. He crumpled to the ground in pain.

Rima looked back after hearing the thud. "Nagihiko!" Forgetting the X-eggs, she rushed over to him and knelt down. "Hang in there." She pulled at his arm, and Nagihiko slowly got back onto his feet. To her surprise he chuckled.

"It's okay Rima-chan. You don't have to try so hard. You…you hate Nagihiko right? That's why you only want to work with Nadeshiko." Rima's eyes widened at what he was saying. "Only, I guess I haven't been Nadeshiko for a long time, so you probably can't work with me, even as I am now."

"…that's not it. I can't hate you…not anymore." Rima's face showed a smile, but this smile wasn't a happy one. Nagihiko didn't understand what she meant. She didn't explain though, and took both his hands and looked directly into his eyes. "Let's finish this."

Seeing Rima's determined expression, Nagihiko nodded and the two raised their hands. "Queen's Waltz!" Immediately a gold light expanded from the two and enclosed the whole area. Slowly the X-eggs began to purify. Once they all had flown away, they let stopped their Character Transformation.

Nagihiko took off his hair band and his hair tumbled down. "I don't have to be Nadeshiko anymore, right Rima-chan?" When she didn't respond, he looked down and realized he was still holding her right hand. "Oh, sorry." He let go of her hand. "I guess we should be going back now…Rima?"

Rima had took hold of Nagihiko's hand again, gripping it tightly. "I don't…hate you okay? I mean…Amu would be mad at me if I hated her boyfriend right?"

Nagihiko felt relieved. For one reason, because this meant she didn't know about his feelings and more importantly, she didn't hate him. Something was still bothering me. "Rima-chan, what do you see me as?"

Her grip grew tighter as she stared at him, taken aback at the question.

Nagihiko squeezed her hand as well. "I just wanted to know. Do you consider me as a friend? Or am I just Amu's boyfriend?"

Rima kept her gaze at Nagihiko. "Of course you're not just Amu's boyfriend. We've known each other before that. We have been friends. And also…to me…you're…"

I'm what?

She looked like she was struggling to get the words out and if Nagihiko wasn't just imaging it, her face was getting red. "To me you're my…"

I'm your…?"

"…comrade." She released his hand and turned away. "We're comrades."

Nagihiko felt his chest tighten.

"Let's get going," she said. "We have to help the others out."

He felt like he was rooted to the spot he was standing. He couldn't follow her. He had felt a crushing sense of disappointment after hearing the word comrade. It was as if he was expecting something different. No, he knew. Deep down, he knew Rima was going to say something different.

xxxx

Meanwhile, Tadase and Amu had been fighting the X-eggs in the largest area. Amu as Amulet Heart threw her Heart Rod at the X-eggs to round them up while Tadase used Holy Crown to cover her. Just a little more and they were going to be finished.

That's when they heard a voice nearby. "It's…no use. I'm…no use."

"Oh no! That's one of the owners of the X-eggs, he's awake," Suu cried.

The boy's eyes looked dead. No matter how many times they fought X-eggs, the looks the owners had were always the worse. "Why? Why did she do it? WHY DID SHE LEAVE ME?"

Amu and Tadase gasped as one of the X-eggs hatched. It turned into an X-character. "Useless!"

The boy started screaming and the X-eggs started moving faster around Tadase and Amu. This wasn't good…the boy was providing more negative energy for the rest of the X-eggs as well.

"Am I not good enough? What did I do wrong? What did I do wrong?"

Amu and Tadase backed up against each other as the X-eggs circled the two of them with the X-character in the lead.

"Himamori-san!" Tadase yelled as the X-eggs got closer.

Amu nodded. "Hey!" she shouted at the boy. "There's no point getting upset about a girl that doesn't love you."

Tadase glanced at Amu. No point? That was true…but it wasn't as if the kid could help it.

"If she doesn't like you the same way you do than you deserve better."

He felt as if someone had stabbed him. You deserve better. Amu had said that before. Tadase remembered.

"I don't want better. I want her."

I don't care if there's anyone better. I love you Amu. He didn't say it but that was exactly what he had thought.

"Don't be selfish!"

Selfish. That's what Tadase was. Selfish.

"Get a hold of yourself Tadase!" Kiseki's voice echoed from inside him.

"Tadase-kun, it's no use. Let's try Platinum Heart."

Tadase felt his thoughts were numb and his body move on its own accord, moving his sceptre towards Amu's rod by itself. "Platinum Heart!" Nothing happened.

"Platinum Heart!" Amu shouted again, still, there was no light.

"Tadase-kun, what's happening?" Only when she looked at him that she realized Tadase had a pained expression on his face. Her voice softened in concern. "Tadase-kun?"

He stared back at her though his expression looked hollow. He understood the way the boy was feeling. He stepped past Amu so that he was facing the boy.

"You're right."

The boy stopped screaming and faced Tadase.

"You want to know why. You love her don't you? So at least…you want a reason. But you can't do this. You can't take this all out on other people! Screaming isn't going to get her back. Sometimes you just can't get her back."

"Tadase-kun…" Amu whispered. He wasn't…Tadase wasn't talking about himself right?

"So that's why you have to stay strong. Stay strong and become a better person. Then maybe you can prove yourself to her. Or you just might have to move on."

His X-character clutched its head as the boy stayed quiet. Tadase turned back to Amu and nodded at her.

"Platinum Heart!" they both cried out, and this time it worked.

The X-character went back into its egg, now purified, and returned to its owner. The other eggs flew away into the sky, now a deep shade of orange, as the sun started to set. Now back to their normal selves, Tadase and Amu started heading back to the meeting point, none of them speaking.

Amu's mind was reeling though. She was sure Tadase had been talking about himself. She didn't know that he was hurt that much. Hurt by me.

Tadase stopped walking suddenly and Amu almost bumped into him. "Hinamori-san, are you okay?"

I should be the one asking you that, she thought, looking at the ground. "I'm fine…what about you?"

"I'll live," said Tadase, in a light tone that Amu could tell was fake.

I should tell him why I broke up with him. He deserves at least that much. Amu opened her mouth to speak but no words came out as she stared at his back. I can't do it. You'll only hurt more…so that's why I promised myself I wouldn't tell you. Tadase…I'm sorry.

Neither of them noticed Kiseki's glare at the two of them.

xxxxx

"Woohoo, we did it!" Yaya cheered and high-fived Kukai. By the time Nagihiko, Rima, Amu and Tadase had arrived; Rikka and Hikaru's group had finished purifying their X-eggs as well. Yaya was about to high-five them as well when she noticed a grim atmosphere surrounding the four of them. It seemed none of them could look at each other.

"What's wrong with you?" Rikka asked them bluntly, getting right up to Amu's face.

Amu shouted and jumped back, being easily scared.

This broke the tension and everyone started laughing.

"Aww c'mon! Tell me what's wrong?"

Amu waved her hand dismissively and patted Rikka's head with her other hand. "Nothing, I just got hit by some negative energy, that's all."

Rikka completely bought it. "Oh yeah! I always feel kinda down whenever it hits me. It also hurts for a while but it wears off in no time."

"Too bad it doesn't reduce her amount of talking." Hikaru commented.

"What? Are you saying I talk too much?"

"If that what it sounds like to you then yes."

"Sheesh, why are you always so mean to me, Hikaru?"

Izumi smiled at the two of them knowingly. "Oh, he loves you, really."

Rikka turned bright red. "What are you saying?"

"Hey, hey, Hikaru tell her she's wrong right?"

She looked over at Hikaru, who was busy on his PDA"…Sorry, I stopped paying attention at 'sheesh'."

Rikka frowned. "See! See! He doesn't even listen to me!"

Kairi sighed exasperatedly and turned to the former-guardians. "This is what I have to put up with everyday. Honestly, even I'm having trouble keeping up with organisation."

"Class Prez having trouble with organisation? I should visit you guys some more," Kukai said with a wink.

More laughter broke out. Rima, Nagihiko, Amu and Tadase were for once thinking the same thing. It would be easier if they could all just go back to their guardian days. It was all so simple then. Much simpler than anything going on now, anyway.

xxxx

"Bala-balance!" the small clown cried. Pepe joined Kusu-kusu while Suu giggled at the pair. Ran and Daichi were holding another mini-race against each other, now joined by Rhythm while Temari cheered on. Miki was focused intently on her drawing, glancing up every once in a while. Dia on the other hand floated up to an irritated looking Kiseki.

Kiseki had called all the guardian characters together for a meeting. He tried getting their attention a few times but to no avail. Dia, feeling that this might be an important matter spoke up. "Everyone! Kiseki has something to say!"

Immediately the other characters quietened down and looked at the two. The king character, upon suddenly finding himself actually being paid attention to, cleared his throat. "I've called all you commoners here today to discuss about -"

"Hey! Why is our meeting in the park?" Ran interrupted. "Why couldn't we have it in Tadase-kun's house or Amu-chan's house?

"Don't interrupt your king!" Kiseki snapped. "And we're here because I don't want Tadase and the others to overhear us."

Suu tilted her head to one side. "Why can't the others hear this-desu?"

"I'm getting there," Kiseki replied looking more annoyed at the further interruption. "As I was saying we're here to talk about the current problem between our bearers."

Kusu-kusu looked at Kiseki in alarm. He couldn't! Kusu-kusu had not said anything around Amu's and Nagihiko's characters, for the sake of Rima. Pepe had not mentioned anything about the current situation either; even she had enough tact for that.

Daichi, Rhythm and Temari glanced at each other. It couldn't be that Kiseki knew about the conversation Nagihiko and Kukai had the other day. Was he perhaps there?

"Kiseki, I really don't think we should..." Kusu-Kusu stopped at Kiseki's silencing glare.

"Why not? Don't tell me you can ignore how your bearer has been feeling. As their guardian characters it's our duty to protect them." At this he glared at Amu's guardian characters.

"What are you looking at us for?" Ran said defensively.

"Keep your bearer away from Tadase." The other characters stared at Kiseki in shock.

"It's not for us to make decisions for Amu-chan," Miki argued. "Amu-chan wants to be friends with Tadase-kun. Why can't they?"

"Because it's hurting him!" Kiseki shouted, looking enraged. "You were there today. That commoner plans to spend a day with Fujisaki, Rima and Tadase. Do you think he can handle that?" He paused, waiting for a reply. "Well?"

"And you," he said, looking accusingly at Kusu-Kusu. "You're worried about Rima too, aren't you?"

"What's wrong with Rima-chan?" Suu questioned.

Kusu-kusu fidgeted. "There's nothing wrong!"

"Yes there is!" Kiseki insisted.

"Kiseki." Dia put a hand on his shoulder. "That's enough." She looked out over all the characters. "I know what's going on with all your bearers." The rest looked at her in shock.

"How?" they all asked.

She shrugged. "I've always been the one who can sense these things. From what I know…I think it's best just to leave it alone. Our owners need to learn how to solve their own problems or they'll never grow, and our job is to help them to that. So we just have to stand by and let them be."

"But Tadase…"

"He'll be fine." Dia smiled at Kiseki reassuringly. "Don't tell any of the bearers more than they already know. It's going to work out in the end. I have a feeling that's going to be soon."

"But when?" Ran demanded.

Feeling as though she might as well give them one hint, Dia said, "When the flowers are all blooming around us."

A/N: Somehow the title of this chapter doesn't fit at all. Since it's all emo and stuffs. Maybe I've been watching too much football (soccer) xD If anyone is wondering why I've introduced the random character 'Izumi' it's just because I need someone to fill in the Ace's chair and I've always wanted to use that name. She's not an important character, in any case. I promise you the next chapter will be the date and some...interesting things will happen. Depending on how you look at it, that is. Oh and if any of my readers also watch/read Fairy Tail and like Gerza...read chapter 264 if you haven't already. It's Gerza gold I tell, you, gold! I think I'm in a good enough mood because of that chapter to start writing the next chapter for this story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, please review!