Goose: (gasp!) Seventeen total reviews! That's almost three times as many as Gray Christmas has!

Dwarfy: That's not saying much. I mean, Gray Christmas is only one chapter long, and this is, what, eight?

Goose: Shaddap. Anyway, this is Thomas. Thomas is a girl. We call her Thomas because she keeps calling Nagihiko Nadeshiko even though she's already on Doki.

Thomas: I'm sorry! It's a habit!

Dwarfy: Well break the habit. You had episodes 26-55 to do that.

Goose: Yes. You also thought Nagi was 'that guy that works for that company.'

Dwarfy: 'That guy' is Ikuto, and 'that company' is Easter. And you thought Tadase's name was Nadeshiko! Even I'm not that bad.

Goose: And she can't pronounce Fujisaki or Nagihiko.

Thomas: ARGH! GOOSE-CHAN DOES NOT OWN SHUGO CHARA!

Normal POV

Okay, Nagihiko... stay calm... you're just about to go on a date your demon sister set up with the girl who hates you... Nagihiko thought to himself as he stood on the front step of the Mashiro household. Nadeshiko, who was afraid that her brother would kill her after setting this date up, left for Kukai's house earlier that morning, leaving Nagihiko to face the wrath of Rima by himself.

The door opened, and Mrs. Mashiro glared at him for a moment before yelling out, "Rima! That boy's here for you!" What considerate parents. Rima rushed to the door and glared at Nagihiko, just like her mother. Her father followed behind and joined the glare-fest.

"Listen, boy," Mr. Mashiro hissed, "if anything, and I mean anything, bad happens to my daughter while she is in your care, I can promise you, you'll wish you'd never been born." Nagihiko gulped and nodded meekly.

"Let's just go," Rima muttered, obviously embarrassed by her parents' threats.

As they walked down the street, there was an awkward silence. Rima stared at the flowers growing next to the sidewalk, while Nagihiko let his eyes wander, eventually landing on Rima's small hand. He wanted to hold that delicate hand so badly, he'd give the world just to wrap his hand around hers and have her not fight back or resist. He sighed. That was never going to happen.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Nagihiko snapped out of his trance and looked at Rima, but there was something else, something different, about her. Was she blushing? Nagihiko shook off this though. She's probably just still embarrassed about her parents, he thought.

"It's nothing, Rima-chan, nothing at all." Nagihiko smiled at the petite girl, hoping she wouldn't see through that pathetic lie. Rima glared at him for several more seconds, then turned away.

"Where are we going, anyway?" she asked quietly. Nagihiko was shocked. He had never expected Rima to talk to him in such a gentle voice. There was definitely something different about her. Did something happen at Amu's sleepover? (A/N: Oh, Na-chan, if only you knew...)

"Nadeshiko told me that we were just going to the mall. You know, shopping, lunch, that stuff." Rima's eyes lit up.

"There's a bookstore at the mall!" she squealed. For several moments, Nagihiko was confused, but then he thought, of course, gag manga. Well, at least there was hope that Rima would enjoy the next few hours with her hated nemesis.

Soon enough, Rima and Nagihiko walked through the big revolving doors at the mall (A/N: My friend just kept spinning in those for like, five minutes on a field trip, and all during that field trip, she was singing/ranting about cross-dressing hobos from Canada O.o). After looking around for several seconds, they spotted Nadeshiko waving from in front of the map in the center of the mall.

"Onii-chan! Over here!" Nadeshiko called. Nagihiko couldn't help but smile at how excited and happy the girl was. It was as if it had always been like this, and hopefully, it always would be. Nagihiko and Rima rushed through the crowd to the other two, where both were greeted with glomps from the younger purple-head.

"Ah, Nadeshiko, please get off, before your very favorite super-awesome big brother loses feeling in his arms," Nagihiko pleaded, wincing at the girl's tight grasp.

Nadeshiko pouted. "You're so full of yourself," she whined as she hugged her brother tighter, if that was possible.

"That's why you love me," Nagihiko grinned, yet his face was slowly turning as purple as his long, fluffy hair. (A/N: Fluffy? Uh... ignore that...)

Rima and Kukai stared as the two siblings bickered, bragged, and death-hugged. They were both trying to figure out what the heck was going on, and if they'd be like this for the rest of their lives. An 80 year old Nadeshiko glomping an 80 year old Nagihiko... they shuddered at the thought.

"Do you think he realizes he's arguing with himself?" Rima whispered to Kukai. The middle school student glared at her. "What?" Rima couldn't understand what she'd done wrong.

"Mind not saying crap like that?" Kukai hissed, "Nadeshiko... is a bit... sensitive... about that topic." Rima's eyes widened. Of course! She hadn't even considered Nadeshiko's feelings in all that had been happening! She was so stupid! Then her eyes widened even more at another thought. She'd never cared about anyone before, except Amu! Why did she suddenly care about Nadeshiko so much?

"Wait, since when do you call her Nadeshiko?"

Kukai ignored her after that.

After much exasperated begging from Nagihiko, Nadeshiko huffed and let him go. Massaging his now sore arms, he asked them all, "So where to?" They all shrugged, knowing they all wanted to go somewhere else. Rima wanted to go to the bookstore, Kukai wanted to go to a sports store, while Nagihiko just wanted to hang out at the food court. Finally, Nadeshiko came up with a plan.

"How about I go with Kukai to the sports store while onii-chan goes with Rima-chan to the bookstore. We'll meet up in the food court in an hour." This was fairly reasonable, though Nagihiko found it hard to trust Kukai with Nadeshiko. Alone. For an hour. But he was just being paranoid. Or was he? No, he was. He hoped.

Paranoid or not, there was an impatient Rima waiting to go to the bookstore, so to the bookstore he shall go, for that was the wish of the young maiden...

"Shut up and take me to the bookstore, you idiot, before I tell your sister you thought she'd look good as a dude, Mr. Self-Absorbed."

And that, my friends, is how you get a purple-head to get you to a bookstore two levels above you on the opposite side of the mall in three seconds flat.

With Kukai and Nadeshiko

Kukai was worried, very worried. What if all this sports stuff bored her? What if she wasn't having any fun? What if she killed herself out of boredom, only to suffer for the rest of eternity in the fiery abyss known as 'I-Killed-Myself-Because-I-Hate-Sports-Yet-My-Date-Still-Insisted-On-Going-To-A-Sports-Store' Land?! Nah, he's just been spending too much time with Nagihiko. Paranoia, my little llamas, paranoia.

Kukai glanced at the delicate girl next to him, who seemed interested in a certain orange ball. "A basketball?" Nadeshiko looked up at him, her eyes sad and confused.

"When I was a part of Nagihiko, I loved basketball, so much... but now that we're different, I just... don't find it interesting anymore..." Kukai was stunned. So... when they separated... they each got individual traits? No wonder Nagihiko's been so lazy lately...

But Kukai couldn't stand to see Nadeshiko cry. He didn't care what anyone else would say. He didn't care if Nagihiko would kill him with an emo comb (A/N: Yes, I am using your idea, xoxoKiKi). He just wanted Nadeshiko to stop crying, even if it was just for a split-second out of shock. He looked at her. She looked at him. Eye contact. They both leaned in, and...

In the food court

"Where the heck are they?" Nagihiko muttered, tapping his foot under the table. It had been an hour and fifteen minutes since they had split up, and he hadn't gotten a text, call, anything, from Kukai or his sister. Rima shrugged. Whether she would admit it out loud or not, she had had a very good time, and she was actually hoping she and Nagihiko could hang out again sometime. But she'd never tell him that. No. She'd definitely never tell that she was falling in love with her worst enemy and best friend's best friend.

"Onii-chan!" Nagihiko turned so quickly you could hear his neck snap. Ignoring the painful ache, Nagihiko stood up and waved Nadeshiko and Kukai over to the table he and Rima were sitting at. When they got closer, Nagihiko noticed something. Something he hoped he'd never notice.

They were holding hands, both blushing heavily. Nagihiko took a moment to process this before snapping.

"You made out with my sister?!"

Goose: Hehe... a cliffy...

Dwarfy: That was so short.

Goose: Quality, not quantity.

Thomas: You suck.

Goose: I thought you died a slow and painful death?

Thomas: No. I am very much alive.

Goose and Dwarfy (thinking): Not for long...

Goose: Anyway, xoxoKiKi, I kinda had no idea what I was gonna do for the next chapter, and your review helped me decide what do do for the next couple chapters! Thank you for both helping me and acknowledging the emo comb! Even if you were (or weren't) kidding and it took me about two minutes to figure out what you were saying! Yay!

Dwarfy: Hands xoxoKiKi a virtual pickle

Goose: Dwarfy... we already went over this...

Dwarfy: Hands xoxoKiKi a virtual pie

Goose: Uh... you can have the pickle or the pie...

Dwarfy: R&R! ... Did she really sing/rant about cross-dressing hobos from Canada? Wow...