Sorry for the long wait! My flashdrive broke, so I had to retype everything… it was not fun, trust me. Here's some advice: Never leave the flashdrive in the laptop… Anyway, a spinel is a pink gemstone. Amu might say "Diamond", but in her thoughts, she says "Mikan".
~Hime Nadeshiko April 27,2012
Mikan's/Diamond's P.O.V.
I watched in awe as the crack in the egg got wider. Crack! The egg split open. A Chara with long straight-cut spinel colored hair popped out. She was wearing a spinel colored mid-sleeved dress with yellow ribbons, which matched her eyes. Her hair was held back by a yellow heart hairclip with pink hearts dangling from gold chains from it. "I am Manami, Mikan-chan. I am the Shugo Chara born from your desire to love and be loved." She introduced. "Hi Manami, but I would prefer you call me Diamond instead." I replied. When she asked why, I explained to her about my current situation, and pretty much everything else. "So when do I get to meet Megumi, Hikari, and Rima?" She asked. "Ummm…When I get out of the shower.
After I got of the shower, I headed back to my room with Manami behind me. Amu was still sleeping. Well, you can't blame her, it was only about 7 in the morning. What can I say? I'm an early riser. "Wake up." I said as I poked Hikari, Megumi, and Rima's eggs. They immediately came out. They were used to waking up early. When they saw what was behind me, their eyes widened, and they shot me a questioning look. "Oi, Amu." I shook her. "Waaaa do you wan?" Came her disorientated voice. "Someone named Manami wants to talk you." I told her. She yawned as she pulled herself off her plaid patterned bed. She blinked hard several times. "Who's Manami?" She asked. "Come out." I instructed. Manami came out from behind me. Amu's eyes widened. "She's Manami?" She asked. "Hello, yes I am Manami. I am Diamond's desire to love and be loved. Who are you?" Manami introduced.
Amu's P.O.V.
"Umm…well, I'm Diamond/Mikan's best friend. I have four Charas. Speaking of which, WAKE UP!" I screamed at my egg basket, which is a parting gift Ami gave my Charas. Their eggs popped open and slowly came floating out. When they saw Manami, they instantly brightened.
"These are my Charas. This one is Ran. She is my desire to become more sporty and athletic." Ran waved, and Manami waved back.
"The blue Chara next to her is Miki. She's my desire to be more artistic." Miki looked up from her drawing, nodded once in acknowledgement, and went back to her drawing. She was obviously drawing Manami.
"The green Chara is Suu. She's my desire to be more girly." Suu ran/floated to Manami. "Hello, I'm Suu desu!"
"The last one is Dia, she is the radiance inside of me." Dia smiled gently at Manami, then said "Nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too, Dia."
Then, Mikan cut in. "Nice of you to introduce yourselves, but if Amu doesn't start preparing now, she will be late." I looked at the clock. It read 7:45 a.m. How did time pass by so quickly? I jumped up as if I had been electric shocked. I grabbed my uniform and ran into the bathroom.
Mikan's P.O.V.
"Ehh? So you have another Shugo Chara, Diamond?" Tadase asked. "Yeah." I lazily answered, "And here she is." Manami floated up, and my friends and their Charas began to fawn over her. Fortunately, Natsume and his friends weren't here yet, so we didn't have to worry about them seeing our Charas. Then, the door slammed open. Natsume, Ruka, and Hotaru stood in the doorway. Most of us widened our eyes and stuffed our Charas into our bags. Everyone was staring at them as they walked to their seats behind ours. Once they sat down, The door burst open once again to reveal a huffing and panting Naru. He was about to collapse onto the floor. "New students and Diamond and Amu… High School Principal's Office…" He managed. The entire class turned to us, even Hotaru with her camera. What did my uncle want this now? I sighed and got up, with the rest of them following my lead. We passed him as we walked out the door.
We stopped at my uncle's door. I pushed open the door and we walked inside. Uncle spun around on his office chair and faced up. "Sit down." He told us. We all sat down on the sofa. Then, the door opened again and Ikuto came in. He too sat down next to Amu, like Tadase. "Yo Ikuto." I said. He looked in my direction and nodded. "Okay. We're here for only reason: the AAO and Easter." He started. Amu, Utau, Ikuto and I tensed. "We have received recent information that they are working together. Two of our enemies have teamed up against us. So, we need more people to go on missions."
"What?" Me and Amu exclaimed at the same time. "We took missions to keep people safe! This defeats the whole purpose!" Amu exclaimed, suddenly in her Ran Chara Change. I just sat there with my bangs covering my eyes. "Amu. Relax." I told her. All of the people who were in the room looked at me. "It's their choice, not ours, If they want to do it, let them." Amu and the others stared at me as if I had grown another head. "We can only protect them if they want to be protected. We can't force protection onto others."
Amu slumped back down into her seat. "Don't you take missions to specifically protect HIM? But you're right" She sighed. "It's up to you." At the word HIM, I froze, but fortunately, no one noticed. The other Guardians looked at each other. Then, unified, they all nodded. Uncle coughed and said "Well, Persona will give you your mission names. Diamond and Amu will describe the rest to you in your Special Star Common Room. Diamond, you know what to do once they get there." I nodded and stood up. "Come on, we've got to go." Amu, Tadase, Ikuto, Nadeshiko, Nagihiko, Kukai, Utau, and Yaya followed me back to the common room. But only I knew that there was a little bug recording our every word, our every move. And I recognized the tiny lettering on its side. Imai Productions.
Natsume's P.O.V.
We were walking back to Hotaru's Special Star room. Once we got into her room, she logged onto her laptop while we proceeded to sit down on whatever spare chairs she had. "Hmm…That's interesting…" "What?" Ruka asked. "This is conversation with the High School Principal's conversation." Ruka sweatdropped. "Isn't that conversation supposed to be private?"
BAKA! BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!
I truly felt sorry for Ruka. Getting hit with the Baka Gun Version 28d. 'That's the point. Anyway Natsume, they're similar to you more than you think." "What?" She was wearing her earphone, which were plugged into her laptop (A/N~ Which is my current position…I like to listen to music while I type!). Then, she pulled the earphones, rewinded the tape, video, whatever it was, and boosted the volume. We could see them, the High School Principal, and another unknown dude. What did they call him? Ikuto? I looked at my Chara. He only shrugged. "Pay attention!" Hotaru barked at me. I glared at her, but focused on the screen.
"So we need more people to go on missions." The HSP said.
"What?" Both Bluenette and Pinkette exclaimed.
"We took missions to keep people safe! This defeats the whole purpose!" Pinkette exclaimed. Strange, she was acting out of Character. But WHAT she said was the real shocker. They were taking missions to protect their friends? Like me, but I have been given less missions lately.
"Amu relax." The bluenette said. "It's their choice, not ours, If they want to do it, let them."
'Amu' slid back into her seat and said "Don't you take missions to specifically protect HIM? But you're right. It's up to them."
I noticed that the bluenette froze when Hinamori said 'him'. Then I felt something I haven't felt in a long time rise up again, but I managed to swallow it back down.
…
"So, what do you think the HSP means when he said 'you know what to do'?" Ruka asked. "We don't know." Hotaru said and sighed.
Nadeshiko's P.O.V.
We were headed back to Diamond-chan's common room to discuss what we learned. Temari came out of my bag. "Nadeshiko, are you sure you want to take missions like Diamond-chan and Amu-chan?" She asked me. "I'm sure." I said as I smiled gently at her.
Once we got in the common room, we sat down. Our Charas came out and settled down on the tea table off the side. "Okay, you all need more Alices." Diamond-chan said. I was surprised. "Why?" My twin, Nagihiko, asked. "One Alice isn't enough. One offensive Alice might be enough, but not all of you have an offensive Alice." She answered, and the Alice Catalog appeared out of nowhere. Surprisingly, Temari Chara Changed with me and my eyes began glittering. I grabbed the catalog and furiously began to flip through its pages. "OKAY!" I shouted. Then, the Chara Change deactivated and I stood there blinking. I flushed. "Umm… Would the Electricity Alice be okay?" I mumbled. "Sure" Diamond-chan said "But after everyone else decides." I nodded in understanding.
"What's the Weaponry Alice?" My brother asked.
"The Weaponry Alice is an Alice that allows you to create weapons out of nowhere." Diamond-chan answered. "Okay. Then I'll take that if it'll be fine."
"Yaya wants the Poisoning Alice! That way I can put the poison in the candy I make!" Yaya exclaimed. All of us except Diamond-chan sweatdropped. Diamond-chan nodded like it was perfectly normal for her to want that.
"…the Crystal Alice looks acceptable…" Utau-chan mumbled.
"Mind Manipulation." Ikuto-kun flatly stated.
"I'll have the Matter Manipulation Alice, whatever it is. It sounds cool." Kukai-kun announced proudly. "Kukai… Matter Manipulation is when you can control matter. For example, you can make your hand pass straight through this table by using the Alice." Diamond-chan explained again.
…
After Diamond-chan Inserted the Alice Stones into us, I wanted to try it out. "Hey, how about we go to the hideout Persona gave us?" Amu-chan suggested. We looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Southern Forest Section 45B Utau's P.O.V.
Once we got there, we instantly separated. Iru and Eru followed me into a section of the woods, into a clearing. I wanted to practice my Alice. I concentrated while Iru and Eru parked themselves down on a smooth boulder. I put my hands together and slowly pulled them apart. Amethyst crystals stretched from one hand to the other. I stared at in wonder. The sunlight was striking it at such an angle that it seemed like the crystals were glowing. I stretched it again, willing it to take the form of a dagger. Surprisingly, it didn't work.
I frowned and tried again. This time, the crystals began to lump together, but it looked nowhere like the dagger it was supposed to be. I gritted my teeth and tried again. The lump of crystals became more streamlined, but that was it. I was really tired. Iru, seeing this, Chara Changed with me.
When I refocused, I saw that it was nearly sundown. With a sigh, I began walking back to the greenhouse. When I arrived, I saw that everyone was there, and they looked beat-tired, like me. Even Diamond and Amu seemed tired. We trudged back to our rooms.
Mikan's P.O.V.
I was almost sleeping by the time I got to my dorms. I spent my afternoon training Amu and Tadase to use their Alices. Tadase seemed to be a natural at his Water Alice. He was able to make a stream of water rise out of the lake on his fourth try. However, about his Technology Alice, there was nothing for him to practice on, so we left that one to be for now.
Once we got back to our dorm, Tadase headed into the shower. Amu went to the balcony to get a little fresh air. I sighed and flopped down on the bed. Thank god it was a Saturday tomorrow… That way I'd be able to train them as a group after letting them get a taste of their new Alices. That way, I'd be able help themselves protect themselves. As my eyelids began fluttering close, I heard a strange sound… like an …egg cracking, before I drifted off to sleep.
The Next Day
Sunlight filtered through the open window, exposing the dust motes floating about. My eyes followed the stream of light, landing on my unhatched Chara. I sat up, yawning. As I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I noticed that there was a large crack down its side. It was about to hatch? But even Megumi and Hikari, my first two Charas, took an interval of several weeks to hatch. Meaning Hikari hatched several weeks to hatch after Megumi did. Again like the last morning, the crack on the egg got larger… and it burst open.
Another cliffhanger, but it is similar to last chapter's… oh well, what can I say? Anyway, I hope you review!
~Hime Nadeshiko