I sat staring off into space for a long while, trying to decide what to do. Azami knew I was finally making my choice, and waited with a surprising amount of patience until I could figure out what I would do. The night wore on, and nearly an hour had passed before I said anything.

"No..." I said quietly.

"What? No to what?" asked Azami.

"I'm not going to let Nikaido order me around anymore." I said slowly, as if I couldn't even believe what I was saying. "I mean, of course the fact that I would have to hurt Amu is influencing my decision. But for the most part, I just don't want to be forced to do something that I don't want to do. Especially by Nikaido."

Azami grinned. "Now that's what I wanted to hear. Perhaps you're being affected by very un-dragonish emotions, but I would have been sorely disappointed if we'd had to go on working for Nikaido like this. So what will we do? Help Amu, or just forget about the whole thing and let her fend for herself?"

"Of course we're going to help." I answered, more convinced with my decision now. "What's the point in disobeying Nikaido if Amu's charas ended up getting hurt anyway?"

"And what will you do if Nikaido tells Amu that you've been working for him this whole time?" Azami asked.

I thought for a moment; this was one of my major concerns. "Well, they say actions speak louder than words. I'll be helping Amu out as best I can - hopefully she'll either not believe Nikaido, or else she'll see that I'm sorry."

Azami frowned. "A dragon is never sorry, but I get your point. Do you have a plan, or will we just show up and hope for the best?"

"Hmm..." I thought quietly for a couple minutes and, slowly, a plan began to form. Then again, it was a pretty simple and obvious plan. After a few more minutes, my mind was firmly made up. I reached over to my small, bedside table, grabbed my cell phone from where I had set it, and began dialing a number.

"Who are you calling?" asked Azami.

"Nadeshiko." I replied. "I'm going to call all the Guardians and tell them to come along - who knows what Nikaido might have in store? If he's inviting Amu to watch, then there's surely got to be some sort of trap involved."

"Why do we need to worry about Nikaido? If you just chara-nari, then we'll be able to beat whatever he throws at us. Easily."

"I don't want to character transform except as a last resort, or unless Nikaido has already told about my secret." I said. "My transformation is so obviously dark that they'd be able to tell that something is wrong with me. I mean, I literally leak X-energy, and unlike Amu's bright and shiny character transformations, mine are black as night."

"I'm tired of hiding our chara-nari. It's so much fun to character transform." Azami said, but I shushed her as I finished dialing the number and I waited for Nadeshiko to answer her phone.

After just two rings or so, Nadeshiko picked up. "Hello. Is that you, Miyuki-chan? Why are you calling so late?"

"Oh, sorry." I said instinctively. "Did I wake you up?"

"No - I've been too worried about Amu-chan." Nadeshiko replied. "Did it seem like she was acting odd today, after Nikaido escaped?"

"Actually... that's why I was calling. When we were all struggling in the smoke, I ended up moving towards Amu. And I heard Nikaido talking to her."

"Nikaido?" asked Nadeshiko seriously. "What did he want with Amu? He already has her charas."

"He invited her to come and watch his experiment tomorrow morning. He told her to come alone, and I think she was too afraid for her charas to try bringing us along." I said. So far, not too much lying - and even so, this was for a good cause. "I was hoping that Amu would tell us herself, but she didn't. Nikaido said that he wanted her at that creepy big building on the East side of town at ten a.m. exactly."

"So what are we going to do? Have you talked with any of the others yet, Miyuki-chan?"

"No, you were the first one I called." I replied. "I think we should still meet at the Royal Garden at seven - Amu will probably still show up there in order to make us think that she's not hiding anything, and so that we won't come looking for her. I'm guessing she's going to sneak off after that, while all of us are searching. We'll just have to watch for when she does that, and then follow her."

"Why don't we just tell her as soon as we see her?" Nadeshiko asked.

"Because, if she knows that we know, she might try and ditch us anyway. I have a feeling that she's so worried about her charas that she'll do anything to keep them from getting hurt, even if it's irrational. If she thinks that having us along might put her charas in greater danger, then she might try to leave us behind."

"I don't like it, but... you might have a point, Miyuki-chan. Is there anything else Nikaido said?" Nadeshiko asked.

Doesn't she believe that I've told her everything? "No, that's it. I've just got to call the other Guardians now."

"Why don't you let me call Yaya and Kukai?" Nadeshiko suggested. "You can call Tadase-kun."

"Oh, uh, sure." I said. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

"All right. Good night, Miyuki-chan." Nadeshiko said before we both hung up. Well, at least now I wouldn't have to call Yaya and Kukai. I dialed Tadase's number next and waited for him to answer.

"Hello?" he asked after several rings.

I got right to the point. "Hey, Tadase-kun. This is Miyuki. There's something I've got to tell you-" I recounted my story, including the fact that I'd already called Nadeshiko. Tadase listened intently, occasionally asking a question or two for clarification. Then I told him about the decision of what we would do in the morning.

"I don't like it either, but I don't think we have a choice." Tadase said. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, then."

"Yeah, see you then." I replied.

As soon as I hung up, Azami started talking to me. "Well, I guess we're not turning back now." she said.

"Nope." I said, feeling enormously relieved. "I'm just glad I finally made a choice. No matter what happens tomorrow, at least I won't have to listen to Nikaido anymore."

"And what are we going to do about Easter, once we've disobeyed Nikaido?" Azami asked.

I yawned before answering - it was nearly midnight by now, and it had been an eventful day. "Well, the way I see it, there are two possibilities. One - they fire me. In that case, they might try and take back my powers, but I'll try to avoid that if possible. Two - they need me enough that they see if I still want to work for them, despite the Nikaido thing. In that case, I'll keep working. I like power enough to stick around and see what Easter can still do for me, even if it means I might have to betray the Guardians again."

"And what if they try to force you to come back and do as they say?" said Azami. "What if what Ikuto said was true, and they do have a way to control you?"

I shrugged, turned off the light, and crawled in to bed. "After the decision I made tonight, I won't be letting my freedom go again without a fight."

* * *

As agreed upon, we met at the Royal Garden the next day. I got there earlier than yesterday, and Nadeshiko was the only one there by then. She looked tired - it didn't appear as if she'd been able to sleep much last night. Then again, I hadn't had the most restful night either.

"So did Tadase agree with the plan?" asked Nadeshiko.

"Yeah. What about Yaya and Kukai?"

Nadeshiko nodded. "They agreed that that was the best thing to do. We figured that when we split up to look for her eggs, at least one of us would be with Amu. If Amu tried to go off away from that person, then the person would let her, then call the rest of us so that we could follow her."

I agreed. Tadase was the next to arrive, so we told him the plan, which he thought was a good idea. Soon after that, Amu showed up, and we all waited in silence until Kukai and Yaya arrived a few minutes later.

Once we had all gathered, Tadase was once again the one who gave directions. "We should all split up into groups of two - we've already checked the business part of town, and I doubt that Nikaido would be there again. Yamada-san and Yuiki-san, you two can head south from here."

"Okay, Tadase-kun! We'll find the charas in no time!" shouted Yaya enthusiastically. For a moment, I wondered if she'd totally forgotten that we already knew where the charas were.

Tadase continued. "Hinamori-san and Fujisaki-san, you both can go east." This was part of the plan - let Amu go towards the part of town where her charas are being held. "Kukai and I will head north. West of here is densely populated, for the most part, and probably not the best place for secret experiments. We'll call each other if we find anything, and if we don't eat anything by midday, we can meet back here and discuss where to search next."

"All right, Miyuki-chi! Let's go!" Yaya said, grabbing my arm and try to pull me away from the table. I followed, having no reason to stick around at this point. The other groups came after us. As I left, I took one last glance at everyone. It seemed like everyone, though tired, was much more hopeful and determined today. I just hoped that it would last.

* * *

"Miyuki-chi! This is boring! Let's go fight Nikaido now!" Yaya whined. At the moment, we were following a couple blocks behind Amu and Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko was giving us updates via texting over where she was and how their 'search' is going, while we were sending her texts back giving fake updates on our own searches. Tadase and Kukai were probably just a couple blocks north of us, doing the same thing. This way, we wouldn't have to come halfway across town to catch up with Amu when she went to try and save her charas.

"Come on, Yaya - you know we have to wait until Amu leaves." I said. While Yaya was charming in her own babyish way, she could also be supremely annoying. That had to be at least the third time in the past couple minutes that she'd mentioned how boring this is.

Yaya crossed her arms and pouted. "But we've been walking for so long! Yaya's feet are tired!"

I was getting a bit irritable now, after all the whining. Plus, we had been walking for over two hours now. That didn't improve my mood. Still, you couldn't just yell at Yaya. That just didn't happen, no matter how annoying she got. "You know, I'm sure something will happen any minute now."

As if in response, my phone vibrated as a text came in. I opened my phone, expecting the same old 'we're on 54th street - still no sign of the charas' from Nadeshiko. So I was slightly surprised when it actually was the text we were waiting for. The text read -

'Amu just asked to split up, and I told her it was a good idea. Temari is following her.'

"What did I say, Yaya? Now we can finally catch up with Nadeshiko." Turning to Azami, I said, "You can go catch up with Temari, then one of you can come back to let us know which way Amu is going."

"Maybe." Azami said, before darting off. I could tell that, despite her answer, she was going to do what I had said. She just doesn't like being ordered around.

"All right, let's go." I said as we picked up the pace. I sent a quick text to Nadeshiko, asking where she was. She told us where she was waiting, just three blocks ahead. There was very little traffic on this side of town, so we really didn't have to worry about cars when crossing streets and such. We caught up in just a couple minutes. Tadase and Kukai were already with Nadeshiko when we got there.

"Okay, everyone - she went this way." Nadeshiko said. We started walking, and had gone about a block when Azami found us.

"She's about six blocks ahead right now, and walking fast. You guys catch up - I'll keep a watch from the sky to make sure you don't follow too close behind her." Azami flew up without another word. We picked up our pace. I opened my cell phone and glanced at the time - almost nine thirty. No wonder Amu was moving fast. Still, we were already relatively close to the building. At this pace, we'd be able to reach it in time.

Twenty-five minutes of walking later, and we had arrived. Amu stood out in front of the gates, looking a bit frightened. I didn't blame her - she was chara-less, and going up against Nikaido. We were back about a block, hiding behind the side of a building. Temari and Azami had already joined us, and all of the charas said that they could sense Su inside the old dorm building, as well as a large amount of X-eggs. As I had already guessed, there was no one else around - no one wanted to live in this neighborhood. The buildings had broken windows, some roofs had holes in them, and the streets were filled with cracks and potholes.

I'd heard all sorts of rumors about why no one lived here any more, all giving logical reasons. But in my opinion, it was because of the now abandoned Easter dorms. I mean, I wouldn't want to live with that ominous building glaring down at me my entire life. It was a large, two-story building, surrounded on all sides by a tall brick fence. The big gates consisted of black, metal rods, which pointed up towards the sky. Ivy crawled up the sides of the building, partially concealing the fading paint. All in all, a very creepy place in a decrepit neighborhood - perfect for what Nikaido was trying to do.

"Should we go help her now?" whispered Nadeshiko. When no one responded, I understood that everyone was waiting for me to answer. Then again, I guess I was the one who had come up with most of the plan.

Amu now seemed to gain her courage, and pushed open the unlocked gates. She walked resolutely to the door. "Yeah." I said to the rest of the Guardians. "She needs our help. She won't be able to do anything against Nikaido without her charas."

"Yay! AMU-CHI! Wait for us!" Yaya shouted as she dashed out of hiding. We ran behind her as Amu turned around, looking surprised.

"What are you guys doing here?" Amu asked, looking both relieved and even more afraid.

Kukai gave a thumbs up. "Miyuki heard what Nikaido said to you, and so we came to help out!"

"We couldn't let you face him alone, Amu-chan." Nadeshiko said.

"We'll beat Nikaido together, and get Ran, Miki, and Su back." Tadase said.

Amu smiled her thanks, but then looked more worried. "But Nikaido told me to come alone - what if he does something to my charas now?"

Azami spoke up. "He was going to do something to your charas anyway, even if we didn't come. And how do you think you would have gotten them back, since you can't even character change right now?"

"We're your friends, Amu-chan." Nadeshiko said. "We want to help in any way we can."

Amu smiled, this time with only gratitude. "Everyone... thank you." I stayed quiet throughout this exchange. In all truth, I wondered if I was more afraid than Amu. I mean, my secret was probably going to be revealed. That, added to the fact that I'd probably have to fight Nikaido... let's just say I wasn't feeling as confident as I had been last night.

There was a brief pause before Kukai spurred us on. "Well, come on! Let's do what we came here to do!"

Amu nodded, and turned back around. She walked slowly to the big double doors, then paused for a moment right in front of them, as if working up her courage. Then, she pushed open the doors, and we all gasped.

Sorry I had to leave you on a cliffy there. This was originally going to be a part of what will now be the next chapter, but that was getting too long. So, I decided to divide it up. And it made sense to go ahead and post this part now. Still expect a good, regular sized update sometime this weekend~! Assuming that I don't have to divide it up again due to length, the next chapter is the climax of Book 1!

Thanks to RedemptionWarrior and yyty225 for reviewing! Also, thanks to Sai and Shii .X-treme for all your great support~!