Shadow: -busts through the door- Yo minna!! :D
Everyone: O.o
Yoru: Why are you back, nya?
Shadow: Because… I was watching all the Ikuto scenes of Shugo Chara and I just HAD to write! Plus, the new chapter came and finished the story of Kokoro no Tomago! :D
Haruko: You're back. That's amazing. You earn a cookie- -twitches when seeing Shadow sparkle- I didn't really mean it.
Shadow: -sits in a corner and grows mushrooms- T.T
(The next day)
"Wakey wakey little sis!!" a loud voice shouted near my ear, causing me to fall off my bed. Suddenly, bright light shined through the room and I tried to hide under my bed for shelter. "Oi! Get out under there! We're supposed to go meet up with your kiddy friends, right?"
I recognized the voice and poked my head out. "Hiro??"
"Yeah!" he smiled. "Good morning little one!"
"How did you get into my house?!!!" Anime vein. "AND I'M NOT LITTLE!"
"Well, you see…" he scratched his head. "I don't really remember either. All I remember was having this dream about you and that Kukai kid going on a date, and you two were about to kiss and…oh…I remember now…" he sweatdropped. "That explains the broken door…"
"Y-you were dreaming about me and Kukai…kissing…?" I twitched.
"Well, not just kissing…" he nervously patted my head. "You'll learn when you get older! Now get ready. We have to meet with your friends to finish that book."
I simply stared at him as he began walking away. This Hiro…is really weird…
"Hey! I'm only being weird because it's been such a long time since we've talked." Hiro stated, popping into the room again. He smiled lightly. "It's better than biting each others' necks off, right?"
"…Yeah."
As Hiro and I were walking to Seiyo, arms were suddenly wrapped around me. "Yo Haru-chan." Kukai whispered in my ear. I jumped, slammed into a tree and fell down. Kukai laughed and I glared.
"Kukai!!!"
"Sorry. Sorry. I just wanted to see how you would react." He smiled and held out his hand, which I took to make him fall into a bush. I brushed myself off with a triumphant smirk.
"Good job." Hiro gave me a thumbs up. Kukai scoffed and grabbed my hand.
"Whatever. Let's get going shall we?" he smiled, but I could see a dark evil aura behind him. Kukai took a few steps forward. My eyes widened and I knew what was going to happen next. I quickly grabbed Hiro's hand, not wanting to let him be the only one out. "Run sempai!!!" Kukai yelled.
"Gah! N-nooo!! Haruko, let go of m- WAAHHH!!!!!" Hiro and I screamed as Kukai pulled us both into his full speed dash mode.
"Yosh! We are here!" Kukai cheered. He turned around and sweatdropped. Hiro and I were sprawled on the ground with our souls coming out. "You guys really are related…"
The others were already there. "Haru-chan! Hiro-kun! Daijoubu?" Amu wondered as she helped us up. I held my head.
"Un…sorta…" I mumbled.
"Anyway…" Hiro smacked Kukai on the head. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR HUH!?!?!!? YOU COULD HAVE KILLED US BOTH!!! I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE MY LITTLE SISTER LOVES YOU!!! AND ANOTHER THI-"
Duct tape was put over Hiro's mouth, but he still tried to yell. Kazuhiko floated away from Hiro, cleaning his ear. "Stop yelling. You're making a scene…" he muttered. Hiro tore of the tape and cried at the pain.
"B-but…" Tape was put over his mouth again, this time, by me. I also taped his hands together to keep him from struggling.
"No buts. Now come on. That Tsukasa guy's waiting for us. Oh yeah. I get to like whoever I like, so don't be so dramatic about it." I mumbled as I dragged my crying brother into the school.
The others followed anxiously with a nervous smile.
"Neh. Tadase. Where are we supposed to go?" Nagehiko asked as he looked around.
"The First King said to meet him in his office…" he said as he knocked on the door. "Tsukasa-san? We're here." He opened the door, but no one was inside.
"He's not here…" We all walked in and Tadase blinked when he noticed something.
"Oh. He is…" he murmured and walked toward the bookcase. I noticed that a book was partially sticking out. Tadase pulled it out a little more, and there was a click. Suddenly, the bookcase slid open, revealing a hidden staircase. We all looked inside, shocked.
"Wh-what is this place?!!" Amu exclaimed.
"It's a hidden passage way. Tsukasa-san must have purposely let the book a little out to tell us." He started walking down the stairs. I clung onto Kukai.
"Tsukasa looks more suspicious now…what kind of person has a hidden passageway in his own school…?" I wondered, looking all around me. There were a few doors on the walls, well, if there were walls. For some reason, everything looked like they were floating in midair.
"Wow look! It's a door for a guardian character." Ran said as she looked at the miniature entrance that said 'Egg Only' with the sign of my birthmark on it.
"Still creeping out even more…" I repeated. Kukai chuckled.
"This is amazing…" Amu said. "Mr. Caretaker must know a lot about the guardian characters and the Embryo, huh?"
Tadase nodded. "Yeah. I didn't know he did until I got Kiseki; though, I have a feeling Tsukasa-san didn't tell me exactly everything about it." We stopped at the door. "We're here."
Bright light was shown as the door was opened, but then when it was back to normal, we saw Tsukasa, Ikuto, and Utau drinking tea. "Good to see you've arrived. We were waiting for you." Tsukasa smiled and gestured us over to the empty remaining seats.
I jumped a little when I saw Ikuto. He looked right at me, but I looked away. He frowned. While I was too busy fidgeting in my seat, I didn't notice Ikuto sneak behind me. Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around me. "Neh~…Birdy-chan, are you still afraid of me?" he asked.
I squeaked and fell off my seat. "Ikuto…!" Kukai fumed. Ikuto just waved his hand.
"Relax soccer boy. I've accepted defeat. I'm not after her anymore….or am I?" he chuckled when Kukai stood up, glaring at him.
"Oi, oi." Nagehiko gestured. "Don't make a blood bath in here."
"You're going to ruin the tea if you do. Take it outside." Rima suggested. Amu sweatdropped.
"They are right." Tsukasa laughed. "But can you do that later? Do you not want to finish the story?"
Kukai glared at Ikuto as he calmly sat back down in his seat with a teasing smile. I nudged him. "Kukai…" he crossed his arms and sat down too with a pout.
"Neh. Tsukasa-san. How does the story end?" Tadase asked. Tsukasa chuckled.
"Ah yes. Of course." He took a binder out of nowhere. Inside, there were the ripped out picture book pages in protected sheets. "I'm sorry that I had to keep the rest of the story from you, but that is what draws the characters into every story." He turned to me. "Would you like to read the rest, Fujiwara-san?"
"Uh…sure…" I mumbled and took the binder into my hands. "We left off when the egg was on its journey, right?"
(Storytime!)
As the egg started its journey, it met a few other lost eggs, only this time, they weren't like the egg. The lost eggs were abandoned by their owners for good, leaving them cold, dark, and lonely. Those eggs turned hard were always in a bad mood and snapped at anyone who came across them. "What do you want?" one bad egg hissed.
Of course, the egg was terrified, seeing that this was the first time it has met another egg like this. "I-I'm looking for my owner. I was wondering if you have ever seen him or her?"
The other egg laughed. "It's useless. You were lost for a reason. There's no point in trying to find your owner, they won't look for you. It's useless I say, useless!"
The egg didn't believe it though. "It's not useless! My owner might be as worried as me as I'm worried for them! I'm sure your owner might be trying hard to look for you too, you just don't believe it. And you're just not trying as hard to look for them as they are."
The egg's words stunned the other's. "Y-you're probably right…" And as it said those words, the once bad egg became confident again and also started to look for their owner. Soon, it did and the egg was happy for them to be together again.
"Now I still have to find my own owner!" The egg said and walked down the path.
As it journeyed, the egg met new friends and also more bad eggs. With the help of its friends though, they all managed to help the bad eggs overcome their hesitancy and help them find their own owners. But the egg itself still couldn't find its own.
"What should I do? I still haven't found my owner yet!" it cried.
"Don't give up!" said the bird. "You can still find them. You just have to stay positive."
"But…what if they don't want me anymore??"
"Like Bird said, don't give up! What would happen to your owner if you aren't with them? You can do it! And you're not alone, we're here to help you!" cheered on the mouse. The egg wiped its tears and nodded confidently.
"Right!" Suddenly, there was a bright light. Through it, there was a shadowed figure, holding out a hand to the egg.
"I've been looking for you." the person smiled.
"A-are you my owner?"
"Yeah. My friends and I have been looking for you. I was about to give up, but I was still worried how you would be if you were all alone."
"I thought the same thing. But it's a good thing we both never gave up, or else we never would've found each other." The egg cried as it was picked up by its owner. "I'm so happy I get to see you again!" And with that, the egg and its owner shared a heart warming embrace together.
I closed the binder shut. Amu groaned. "I'm still confused a little bit…"
"Actually, I sort of understand, but…what does this have to do with the Embryo?"
Tsukasa chuckled as he poured more tea into his cup. "This has completely nothing to do with the Embryo."
"Eh-? So what was the point of all this?" I asked.
"Well, it's mostly revolves around the Lock and Key. When you think about it, what really is a lock? What really is a key?"
"A key just opens up a locked lock." Kukai shrugged.
"Yes, that is true Souma-kun, but try to think deeper about it." We all tried to.
"…a lock…" Hiro soon spoke up. "Is something used to keep something away from others, right?"
Tsukasa nodded, taking a sip from his cup. "You're getting on the right path…"
"Well, if there was a reason for locking something away, it's probably because it's either very valuable or you want to keep the thing you're hiding a secret." Nagehiko crossed his arms.
"Now, what about the key? What is it to the lock?"
"It's…it…it opens up the lock?" I repeated what Kukai said.
"It reveals what the lock's hiding." Ikuto stated.
He gestured toward the book. "So, in your own opinions, what do you think the Humpty Lock and Dumpty Key are for?"
"Well, putting it all together, the Humpty is hiding something from us, something that is either good or bad, and the Dumpty Key helps us open up that secret." Tadase summarized.
"But there's one problem: we already opened the lock, but nothing happened, so what was it hiding?"
"Oh, the Humpty Lock did open something…"
"And what would that be?"
"Take a look around you. Hasn't everything changed from before?" We all looked at each other. "Remember when Utau, Ikuto, and Hiro worked for Easter and were your enemies? Every one of you has become friends. You all opened the door to a happier place."
Shadow: Sorry if I have to end it here, but there are more parts I have to think about to make the final plot flow a bit more, well flowy. I already have the next scene in my head already though, but then if I put it as the ending of this chapter, it would be a really bad cliffhanger. ^^;
Kukai: Oh? How bad?
Shadow: Just, so-bad-it-can't-be-explained-in-words bad. –sighs- I'm quite pissed though. I was supposed to finish/publish this chapter by the end of last week, but my damn reading/ lang. arts teacher suddenly gave us a project that was due by that time(it was hard to do and she only gave us 1 week to finish). Come on! It's almost the end of the school year! And I had to stay up till 2 a.m on the day it was due! –sobs-I only had 4 1/2 hours of sleep…T-T
Haruko: And Shadow loves her sleep.
Shadow: Yes, yes I do.
