"Hey! Miyuki-san!" Even when she was shouting, Nadeshiko managed to seem quiet. A unique skill, I had to admit. It was Monday, and I had been walking peacefully to school. That is, until the queen of the guardians started shouting my name. I turned around and waited for her to catch up. Everyone was staring now, wondering what could be up. I was with them - it didn't seem like Nadeshiko to call out my name like that. And she seemed kind of antsy. She was still as graceful as ever, but beneath that outer facade, she seemed... tense.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" I asked as she caught up. We started walking, trying to talk quietly so that the other people coming to school wouldn't hear.

"You wouldn't have happened to have seen an..." she dropped her voice lower, to make sure that no one could hear as she continued, "an X-egg around here, have you?"

"An X-egg?" I asked, confused. I hadn't seen any X-eggs on the way up. If I had, I would've grabbed it. "No, I haven't. Why do you ask?"

"I've been sensing one as we came closer to the school." said the normally quiet Temari from above Nadeshiko's shoulder. "But it seems very faint, and I can't figure out which direction its in. Have you sensed anything, Azami?"

I was busy trying to think what this could be about. Azami hadn't mentioned anything earlier and so I was shocked when she answered, "Yeah, now that you mention it, I had been feeling something. But it was too vague, so I'd been trying to ignore it."

"What?" I asked quietly and angrily, "You sensed something and you didn't tell me?" Nadeshiko was watching, a smile showing her amusement at my outrage.

Azami gave me a withering glare. What that was supposed to mean, I couldn't guess. "I didn't think it was a big deal." she said. I could tell that there was something else she wanted to say, but she was refraining from telling me now. I guessed she wanted to tell me something without Temari and Nadeshiko around.

We had now arrived at the doors to the school, and we would each have to get to our classes soon. "Well, I guess I'll keep my eyes peeled for any X-eggs. Azami will obviously be no help if she can't even tell me when she senses something." I got an all too familiar whap on the head with Azami's tail for that comment.

"Thanks." Said Nadeshiko. "I'll see you in the garden after school." She seemed a bit preoccupied, like her thoughts weren't totally focused on this conversation.

"Yeah, I'll see you later!" I said, turning down the hallway as I headed up towards my classroom. Once I was out of sight of Nadeshiko, I got another hit on the head. Consdious of all the other students around, I gave an angry glance up to Azami. She knew what I was thinking - something along the lines of 'What in the heck was that for?!?'

"Are you stupid?" asked Azami. "We just had X-energy infused into us and you can't make a guess as to why Temari might be sensing a strange X-egg? I should just go find a different person to chara-nari with; hopefully, one who knows how to use her brains every once in a while."

Well, I thought as I entered my classroom, barely getting seated before the bell rang. Azami has a point. I really must be stupid - how could I not make that connection, when I can feel the energy even now? Ever since Saturday, I'd been feeling great. The little dark feeling inside wasn't even bothering me. Admittedly, it constantly gave me an almost physical feeling of some sort of bad emotion - either sorow or depression or something like that. But I'd figured out yesterday that if I accepted the feeling and even embraced it, instead of resisting the dark emotion as any normal person would do, then I felt better. Perhaps not happy, but maybe... empowered. That was a good way to describe it. It was like I had actually let it become a part of myself, instead of something uncomfortable that just happened to be inside of me. So though I felt that little nagging sensation of depression all the time, I simply didn't let it bother me. Even when I had hypnotized my dad in the same way I had controlled my mom on Saturday, I hadn't felt guilt inside me. Instead, something more like an evil satisfaction grew from that dark part of me.

But this could be a problem - if the charas could sense the energy, then it would only be a matter of time before the guardians noticed that it was only when I was with them that they felt this mysterious 'X-egg'. Maybe my ruse wouldn't last for as long as I had thought.

Finally, Nikaido bumbled into the classroom, dropping a pile of papers onto his desk and (as always) nearly tripping in the process. "Sorry for being late, kids!" he said, trying to get everyone to quiet down. I watched his actions intently. Nothing about him seemed evil. His personality was exactly the opposite of what I thought of as being 'evil'. Even when I looked into his eyes (which is where everyone seems to think you can really see how people feel), I saw nothing suspicious. He seemed in every way to be an ordinary - if not somewhat kultzy - teacher. Surely that executive guy of Easter wasn't just messing with me... Was he?

* * *

At lunch, the topic of the strange 'X-egg' was the first thing brought up.

"So everyone else's charas have felt it too, right?" asked Tadase. "This X-egg that can't be located?"

We all nodded, as did the charas. Azami and I had already determined that we would play along with what they were saying. If we were the only ones who couldn't feel it, then it would've looked suspicious.

"What do you think it is, Tadase-kun?" asked Nadeshiko.

Tadase shook his head. "I don't know. But I don't think it's natural, whatever it is - I suspect foul play."

"You mean Easter?" asked Kukai through a mouthful of food. I gasped inaudibly, nearly choking on my own food in the process - they were getting too close to the real answer for comfort. I started coughing hard for a few seconds, trying to dislodge the bit of apple from my wind pipe.

"Are you okay, Miyuki-san?" asked Amu, who was sitting right next to me.

"Y-yeah." I managed to choke out as I slowed my coughing. "Sorry about that." I caught a quick glare from Azami - how much more suspicious could I act?

"I think so." replied Tadase to Kukai's earlier question. "Miyuki-san, you said that you saw Ikuto slinking around last week, didn't you?"

"Uh... yeah." I said, remembering my lie. "Or at least, I think I did." I suppose the only way I was able to say this convincingly was because it was partly true - I had seen Ikuto last week. Just not from a distance, as I had told the others. I hadn't seen him for a full week, now. What if I never saw him again? I thought. But why should I care if I never see him again - all he does is make me angry. So why do I feel so sad at the thought of him never coming back?

"So do you think that he has something to do with it, then?" asked Kukai.

"I wouldn't put anything past that sneaking cat." Tadase answered. "We've all got to stay on our guard. Keep on the lookout for anything suspicious." If I'd had any questions about who the leader was in this little group before now, they were long gone. Obviously, Tadase was giving the main voice here. He wasn't strictly giving orders, maybe. But very strong advice. Then again, we were sort of a team, and I supposed that we all had to listen to each other at some point in time. We moved onto other topics to pass lunch time, but I could tell that everyone still had the issue of the mystery X-egg on their minds.

* * *

"Hey, Miyuki-chan! Where are you going? Your house is this way!" said Yaya as I turned towards the school. All of the other guardians turned to me questioningly as well, wondering what I was doing. We had just finished our guardian meeting for the day, mainly discussing what we were going to do about the possible threat of the X-energy the charas were sensing. We had debated going out and actively searching around the area, but in the end we just decided to do what Tadase had suggested at lunch - be on the lookout for anything suspicous.

"Oh, right." I said. I hadn't told anyone about having to go to Nikaido yet. "My teacher said he wanted to see me." Technically, I guess it hadn't been Nikaido that had told me to come, but it was close enough. Sorta.

"Why would Nikaido-sensei want to see you, desu~?" asked Su, floating closer to me.

"Uhhh..." I hesitated. I hadn't really thought it out this far. "I"m not really sure." I said. This was actually pretty close to the truth. I had no idea what Nikaido would tell me to do, unless he was just here to make sure I did what the mysterious manager of Easter had already told me.

"Well, good luck with whatever it is." said Amu, as she and the others walked out the front gates of the school. Azami sat herself down on my shoulder as I walked into the school up to my classroom. The door was closed, but I could see that the light in the classroom was on. I decided to knock first before entering - if this guy really was evil, then I probably didn't want him ticked off at me for barging into the room.

"Come in!" said Nikaido, in the same carefree voice he always had.

I opened the door to see him grading papers at his desk. "Ah, Mizuki-san! How good to see you! Are you doing well?" As always, he couldn't say my name right. Normally this made me angry, but tonight I didn't know how to act.

"Fine, I guess." I said, closing the door behind me and then staying standing near the door. Nikaido turned back to his work, but continued the conversation.

"Good, good." he said cheerfully. "So I hear you're working for Easter now? Under my command?" I wasn't expecting him to be so up front about it. Heck, I hadn't even been sure that he was actually working for Easter until now. He was still acting the same, but now it seemed like... like his voice had a dangerous undertone to it. Something about him gave me the creeps now, and I barely managed to keep a shiver from crawling up my spine.

"Uhh, yeah." I said.

"And what's the name of your little friend?" he asked, this time looking up to stare at Azami. He still had a kind smile on his face, but this time it didn't reach his eyes. His eyes seemed cold and calculating. This was definitely not the version of the teacher I had known from the past couple of weeks.

"She's Azami. But wait - you can see her?" I asked. I mean, while my chara and Amu's charas usually stayed pretty quiet during the school day, I could hardly imagine Nikaido ignoring them so well that I didn't notice that he could see them.

"Oh, yes, I can see her quite well." Nikaido replied. "I must admit, I was quite surprised when, on your first day of school, I sensed a newly born egg. I had considered taking it, but..." he chuckled, as if enjoying some private joke. "I just had a feeling about you. Turns out I was right - you two have turned out to be quite the interesting pair." Now I did shiver a bit. The idea of someone like him taking Azami was not a pleasant one. Perhaps I could've stayed calmer if Nikaido was acting more obviously evil. But he was still using his school-teacher demeanor. And he was talking about this as casually as if he was teaching a lesson. It really did freak me out. Azami was still fine. In fact, she seemed to be almost entertained by Nikaido. When I glanced over to where she was on my shoulder, I saw an amused grin on her face.

Now Nikaido put down his grading pen, and stood up from his desk. "Well, I'd like to see what you can do." Without any sort of explanation, he walked towards me. Seeing that he was planning on leaving the classroom, I opened the door and exited before him. He turned off the classroom lights behind him, and made sure to lock the door. All so ordinary, and yet...

Then he led the way through the school and out to the parking lot that was positioned behind the school. He walked over to a small, black car (the only one in the parking lot at this hour), opened the passenger door, and waited for me to get in. With quite a bit of hesitancy, I finally got in. As he closed the door, I felt like he was locking me into a trap. Of course, this was just a car. There was nothing suspicious about it. But where was Nikaido going to take me? I felt like I was a crab, willingly jumping into a chef's boiling pot. Nikaido walked around and got in the drivers seat, putting the keys in and starting the car. He drove out of the parking lot, humming some tune I didn't recognize.

It took about ten awkward, mostly silent minutes before Nikaido parked the car and gestured for me to get out. I recognized the place - we were in the parking garage of one of the most popular malls in the city. I had been here a couple times with my mom. Nikaido got out of the car, encouraging me to follow. I got out as well, but before I closed the car door, I finally worked up the courage to ask, "Just what is it you're going to have me do?"

Nikaido smiled, his fake look of kindness nearly making me cringe. "Collect X-eggs. What else would I have you do?"

I thought back to my last experience with X-eggs. "If you're going to have me get X-eggs, you might want to bring a bag. I don't want to have to carry them around."

"Oh, that's right! How could I forget?" said Nikaido, before opening the trunk and pulling out a leathery black purse. Though it had the appearance of a purse, it was really more like a purse-sized bag that zipped closed. There was only one big compartment to it, with no smaller pockets to put things in. But unless someone was really paying attention to it, it seemed like just an ordinary purse, with a long stap so it could hang over someone's shoulder.

"Easter sent this to me, for you." Nikaido said, handing me the bag. "It apparently has the ability to withstand and hide X-energy. That way, even if you've got a bagful of the little rascals, no one will know. Now, all you have to do is go into that mall and prove to me that you can collect some X-eggs. You go on ahead - I'll be watching from a distance."

I took the bag from him. It was fairly roomy - I thought I might be able to fit twenty or so X-eggs in there at once. I was still really repulsed by Nikaido with his fake happiness, and so was more than happy to head into the mall by myself. Despite the fact that it was already dark outside, there were still plenty of shoppers inside the brightly-lit building. I thought about how I was going to do this as I wandered around a bit. It would probably look odd if people saw me spreading smoke throughout the mall. I just had to choose a spot out of the way enough that most people wouldn't see me, and so that those who got close enough would be too affected by my haze to care.

I managed to find a large and somewhat busy clothing store on the ground floor. It looked like they were having a sale or something, due to the fact that I never imagined that this many people would be here on a Monday evening. I walked casually inside and headed over to the nearest set of women changing rooms. I figured that since this was a clothing store, most people would have to come in here at some point in time to try on their possible purchases. Though that wasn't my only reason - what Nikaido had said about him watching me was creeping me out, and I was hoping that he wouldn't be able to follow me into a girls' changing room. Though I put large emphasis on 'hope,' since I no longer had any idea what that guy was capable of.

Once I made my way into one of the changing stalls, I grinned and looked at Azami. She smiled back, before initiating the chara-change. The energy flooded through me again, making me feel great. I plucked one of the short hairs from my head, and using my power, set the end alight. The thin, grey smoke from before began to twirl upward. I couldn't really blow it towards anyone, as I had yesterday when trying out my powers. And so, I tried something new. Instead of using it as an outright attack, I mentally tried to command it. I focused on the concept of having the smoke grow in quantity and spread, until the room would be filled with its pleasant scent. And that's exactly what it did. The amount of smoke that came from the burning increased dramatically and quickly diffused above the top of my changing stall and into the rest of the dressing room. There were about ten other people who caught the smell. Any happy chatter in the room ceased as the feeling of hopelessness decended on the unsuspecting shoppers.

About ten seconds after I judged the smoke to have spread out, a lone X-egg floated over the top of the door right up to me. Like the ones from before, it seemed relaxed by the smell. I easily grabbed it from the air and put it in my bag. I waited a couple minutes, but no more X-eggs came to me. I suppose that not everyone gave up their dreams quite that easily. I waited a few more minutes to see if anyone else would come into the changing room, but I soon grew bored. Holding the hair down at my side where hopefully no one would notice, I walked out of my stall and out of the changing room. I passed one or two people on the way out. They were looking at some clothes they had half-heartedly, as if they'd lost any interest in them.

When no one was looking, I ducked behind a rack of clothes. No one would see me there. Then, I concentrated hard, focusing on trying to get the smoke to spread once again. It was harder this time - it took a lot more effort to fill an entire store than it did to fill a changing room. Realizing that I couldn't spread it too far from my hidden position, I settled for just this section of the store - the women's clothing department. I guessed that there were twenty to twenty-five people in the area. The gloom overtook them, and this time, four black eggs floated over to me. I stowed them into my bag, making sure to zip it up so that they couldn't escape. On a hunch, I let go of the hair and emerged from my hiding spot. The scent still lingered, keeping all those in the area gloomy and depressed. No one took any notice of me. My chara-change was still going strong, and it was time to see what my nails could do.

I walked casually by teenage girl who was looking glumly through a rack of discount shirts. Without breaking stride, I made an ever-so-small scratch on her arm using one of my sharp nails. She didn't seem to notice. Nothing happened immediately, but I had a feeling that now would be a good time to wait and watch. I went over to a nearby cluster of discount clothes, pretending to look as I kept an eye on my target. The change in the girl began quickly. Her posture changed obviously, making her look much sadder. Her shoulders slumped, and she slowly put the tank top she had been looking at back on the rack. Then she simply stood, staring. And this is when I knew something had definitely happened, for I could see in her eyes that same unseeing stare as Mai had had when her X-chara had been born.

Then, the X-egg emerged from her. With the smell of my smoke still in the air, it was groggy enough that I could easily grab it. The girl took absolutely no notice of me, and instead walked away dejectedly. Seeing my success here, I walked throughout the rest of the women's section, looking for more victims. Most of the people I didn't bother with. They were namely older people, and I could sense rather than see that the eggs of their hearts had disappeared long ago. However, I managed to get four more X-eggs out some more teen girls. The moody atmosphere caused by my haze meant that no one noticed my slightly suspicious actions. It also meant that the X-eggs were even easier to snatch.

As I walked out of the mall (my chara-change gone) and towards where Nikaido had parked his car, I felt deeply satisfied. I had managed to get nine X-eggs, which I felt was quite the accomplishment. My new purse was holding them all quite nicely - they didn't even struggle inside it. Azami floated by my side, also seeming content with our new power. Before I reached the car, I felt a presence behind me and turned. Nikaido was standing just a couple feet behind me. I cursed inwardly in surprise. I hadn't heard him at all.

"Very nice, Mizuki-san." He said. I gave up hope that he was just using a kind and silly facade over his evil character. I guessed that maybe he seriously was like this all the time. Maybe it was part of his nature that he was evil behind a strange mock-kindness. Even if he wasn't always like this, I knew that he knew that this attitude bothered me. He wouldn't be likely to stop it knowing that.

"So you like your power, don't you, Mizuki-san?" he continued, smiling. I hated the fact that he seemed to get right down to what I was feeling.

"I-I suppose so." I said, unable to avoid that slight stutter.

Nikaido started walked towards his car, and I followed. Without turning to look at me, he said, "Well, you'll have plenty of opportunity to use it. Your job is to collect as many X-eggs as possible, and give them to me. Speaking of which, hand me your purse for a moment." We had made it to the car by now, and Nikaido was opening the trunk. He grabbed a large cloth sack from within the trunk, and dumped the X-eggs from my purse into this bag. He tied it off at the top so that the eggs couldn't escape, then closed the trunk and handed me my purse back. We both got back in the car. Wihtout saying another word, he drove to my house. It was slightly disturbing that he knew where I lived, but then again, he was my teacher and my boss. I should have guessed he would know.

As I was getting out, I remembered something. I hesitated, not really wanting to talk to Nikaido, but knowing I had to. "Nikaido-sensei," I began. I guess I should still call him teacher. I didn't know what else I could call him.

"Yes?" He asked cheerily.

"Well, the guardians have been noticing my X-egg energy. Do you have anything that could hide it from them?" I said.

"Hmmm..." He said, a pretend look of deep contemplation on his face. "I'm afraid I don't have anything, Mizuki-san, but I would be more than happy to let Easter know about it and work on the problem."

"Er, well, thanks." I said. He smiled, and I closed the car door before he drove up. I walked back into my house, glad for the lack of pestering from my parents. Apparently, my hypnotism was still working. It was only now that I realized I was hungry as well as tired, and so I grabbed a quick snack before heading up to my room and into bed.

As I tried to fall asleep, I heard Azami's voice from nearby in the dark. "Why are you so afraid of Nikaido?

I stayed silent for a few moments, mulling the question over. "I don't know." I eventually replied. "He just seems so.... creepy."

"Are you joking?" Azami asked. "He's just the first obviously evil person you've met. Get used to it. You're working for the dark side now, so act like it. I find his unique sham attitude rather funny."

"So it is a fake personality?" I asked. I still wasn't entirely sure.

"Yeah," said Azami, no doubt in her voice. "I mean, he's definitely evil, but that teacher disposition is a complete lie. It's an extremely good lie, but a lie nonetheless." We left the subject at that. It was fairly late already, and I was too tired to stay up and talk for much longer. It didn't take long for me to drift off into a restful, dreamless sleep.

Well, I just wrote a whole lot in this little post-chapter comment thing that I do, but then my computer decided to hate me and wouldn't let me save what I had just written. So now I'm tired and just a tad bit grumpy, so excuse me if I am somewhat terse with my typing now.

Anyway, please review! I want to know if I'm having bad sentences, grammar, characterization, etc., and the only way I'll really be able to tell is if someone else tells me! (that in itself was a good-sized paragraph before my computer hated me.... _)

Alos, I've lately been trying to work out a general timeline to coincide with the anime. It hasn't been working out well. I think I'm worrying too much about it. But I'll come up with something, hopefully. I've also been worried about pacing this story, but I think I've got that figured out as well. (once again, this was a full paragraph. Before my computer decided to take out all its horrible feelings on me. Grrr....)

Hope you're enjoying the story, hopefully my computer will stop being so evil before I start on the next chapter. So that I'm not quite so grumpy during this little part... and now I think I'm somewhat rambling.... *sigh*