And I'm...BACK. Are you happy? Hopefully. And I have a suspicion my writing will have changed. Cause in English class, we were just required to write a short story with deeper hidden meanings. Excuse all OOCness in this chapter, but please tell me anyways. I gotta get back into mood.
I'll hopefully be starting Sealed Memories soon if I don't slack off. *sigh Also, my grades have kinda gone up. Yay!! I might be able to handle getting back on FanFic again. But unluckily for you guys, my midterms are next week. BOO. I might update next Saturday after the midterms.
And I'd say you guys are lucky. About three days after I announced my hiatus status, my computer broke down. T.T But I got it fixed like one week or so ago. But I had to restart everything, like redownload iTunes, MSN, etc. Boy, that was annoying.
And this 'how-my-life-is-going' crap is getting a bit long, but one last thing! You know Rima Can't Spell by Tsuki no Kimi (I apologize if I spelled your name wrong, Tsuki no Kimi) and Meet Nadeshiko by WantingFreedom (pretty sure I spelled that right) are really long, right? Would you rather me write one story long like those or multiple shorter stories? Though I can't promise they'll all be Rimahiko...as I said, the passion's dying. Though I've picked up some of it during my break.
Alright, that's it!
(Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! in any way. Sadly)
PS: Just in case you guys wanted to know, my Xth OC-centric draft has also joined its X number of sisters and brothers in the Recycle Bin. I have an official admiration for people succesful in this area. :)
Chapter 13: Christmas' Chika
Everyone applauded loudly for Utau's singing, as I smiled weakly at her, who stole a glance across the room before turning her attention back to Kuukai. Silently, I sighed, stumbling out of the gym, as a tear slipped down my cheek.
I'd missed tonight's last dance.
...
...
...
Not like I really cared.
Frankly, I don't live a life of a beautiful fantasy. Life shoots me troubles at times, gives me faults so I'm imperfect, and I fail all the day. No clichés in my life, at least not too many. You can't blame Fate when it places things in such a way.
Yet right now, I'm definitely not living a clichéd life. In those cheesy movies, the guy and the girl's eyes shyly meet across the dance room. Then, the guy sucks up his guts and asks her onto the dance floor, as they fall into each other's eyes, embrace, and world. Then, the last dance would end, the guy would peck the girl's lips, and everything would live happily-ever-after.
Yet me?
No guy, no last dance, no peck on the lips, no happily-ever-after.
Sometimes I wonder if Life hated me.
Stumbling out of the gym, I didn't go far. My high heels were harder to run in than I'd thought so. I had to slightly hold my dress up to make sure I wouldn't trip over myself. I didn't go far; I ran out of breath, sad to say, a few meters away from the gym. Slouching down and leaning on a beautiful maple tree, I sighed tiredly, placing my head on the trunk. Screw my hair. I knew it'd get stuck with the splinters on the bark later, but those were of my least concerns.
Love. Frankly, this seemed like what was on everyone's minds these days. Love. Or like, in their opinion, perhaps. Like. Who do you like? Who are you going out with? Did so-and-so cheat on who-and-who? Why? Why?
Why? Why could I not understand Love? Sure, Shakespeare and those English-British literature crap folks couldn't understand either, so they compared them to similes (yes, I've been listening in World Literature). Sure, even Mom and Dad don't understand. Or else they'd probably divorced by now. I bet Kuukai and Utau and Amu and Ikuto and Yaya and Kairi don't understand a thing either. Love…is just there. You can't explain what Love is. Love would be different to different people. Perhaps it's like the sweetest of honeys, or the bitterest of medicines. It's Care, and Compassion, and Like, and even Hate mixed together in this mysterious, impalpable solution called Love.
Love…
This is probably the closest I'll get to being a philosopher.
"Rima-chan, time to get up!" KusuKusu exclaimed the next morning. I vaguely remembered stumbling up from my ball-shape and hailing a taxi to go home by myself. Mama got angry, but she soon shrugged it off, probably because she saw how tired I was. When I'd gotten home, I'd unlocked the door, slammed my belongings onto the ground, stomped upstairs, quickly took a shower and collapsed into my bed, headfirst. I remembered muttering goodnight to KusuKusu and immediately losing conscious.
I sighed tiredly, as I reached onto my end desk for my cell phone to check the time. My alarm clock broke the last time I chucked it halfway across the room. I opened my cell phone lid and realized I was bombarded with messages.
From: Amu!! at 2:03
rima, where r u? we gotta clean up, the balls over! get ur lazy butt over! ;)
From: YAYA at 2:05
rima-tan, where r u? amu-chan's getting angry!! yaya wants the leftover candy but amu-chan's not giving! humph!
From: UtAu at 2:10
srsly, rima, get ur butt over. amu's getting worried, she's glomping all of yaya's sweets
From: YAYA at 2:11
RIMA-TAN GET OVER NOW AMU'S STEALING ALL MY CANDIES CAUSE YOU RNT HERE!
From: UtAu at 2:16
im sending ikuto out to stalk for you
From: Ikuto at 2:20
srsly shrimp, come out of ur hidin place to make both our lives easier, plz
From: UtAu at 2:25
even ikuto's failed…rima, i'm sending out him AND yaya charged up with sugar power
From: YAYA at 2:28
RIMA-TAN! YAYA CAN'T FIND YOU! COME OUTTTTTTTT
From: Ikuto at 2:30
ur good at hide n seek…but we give up. come out, plz shrimp
From: AMU!! at 2:35
RIMA! WHERE ARE YOU?? STILL IN THE GYM? LOST? KIDNAPPED?!?!?!?!?! I'M CALLING THE POLICE!!
From: cross-dresser at 2:38
Rima-chan, don't worry, we've calmed down Amu-chan. But seriously, where are you? She's worried for you.
Crap. Crap this all, I say. Gosh, couldn't anyone predict I'd gone home by myself? Sheesh.
From: Rima at 10:08
guys, im fine. i went home early. srry for ditching.
Sent to: AMU!!, YAYA, UtAu, Ikuto, cross-dresser
I stared at the label I'd given Nagihiko, even on my cell phone. But I'm not calling him that as often as before, I've noticed. Perhaps…
My hands clicked onto my cell phone.
New label saved: Nagihiko
Perhaps that'll suit him for now.
"RIMA-CHAN!" Amu exclaimed early on Monday morning. She wasn't even caring about keeping up her cool 'n spicy act. She literally glomped me Monday morning. It's completely possible, seeing my (I'm unwilling to admit but) petite…figure.
"IwassoworriedsickwheretheheckwereyouRimai'mseriouslynoteverletingyououtofmy—" I cut her off before her ramblings got loud and regret it later in her life. Calmly, I dragged her into the girl's bathroom.
"Amu, I'm fine. I went home early, that's all. Now, where's the cool n spicy Amu we all know and love?" I said playfully. Amu slightly sniffed and straightened up.
"Wh—what are you talking about? I never left!" Amu exclaimed, huffing and crossing her arms. I couldn't help but suppress my laughter. Amu's façade sure was slowly falling. Her real self: worrisome and nervous, was slowly being shown to the world.
And me? I guess I'm laughing a bit more…
"Let's go to class," Amu remarked, as I nodded and the two of us exited the bathroom and walked to our classrooms. Inhale, exhale, inhale, hold breath, head up high, solemn face…
And enter.
"MASHIRO-SAN, WHERE WERE YOU FOR THE LAST DANCE?"
"MASHIRO-SAN, DO YOU KNOW WHO WAS DANCING WITH HINAMORI-SAN?"
"MASHIRO-SAN, I WANTED TO DANCE WITH YOU!"
And etc. Sometimes I wonder if they don't get tired just from yelling our names. Calmly, Amu and I took our seats and Nikaidou-sensei came in.
And tripped, like usual.
And then the class laughed.
Everything seems the same.
"The Christmas Ball seemed like an overall great success. I'd like to congratulate each of you," Tadase said at the Guardians meeting afterschool. Seriously, these meetings are getting slightly boring. It's a good thing I know all of my fellow Guardian members or else I'd seriously be bored to death.
"Yo." Pause.
"Ikuto-nii-san, what are you doing here?"
"EHH? COSPLAY-NEKO-HENTAI!"
"Ehh, Tsukiyomi?"
Eh? Kuukai?
"Eh? Kuukai?" I said.
"Soccer boy?"
"Utau-chii!"
"Utau?"
"Utau-nee-san?"
"What?"
"Wait a sec…"
"Onii-chan!"
"Nadeshiko?"
"WHAT THE HECK IS EVERYONE DOING HERE?" Amu exclaimed real loud. Everyone turned to look at her as they shrugged innocently.
"We wanted to visit and participate in the celebration of the successful ball," Nadeshiko said in a 'duh' tone. I blinked. "There's a celebration?" I asked, as everyone nodded.
Wow. They must have decided yesterday while cleaning.
"Oh. We must have decided yesterday while cleaning, so Mashiro-san didn't hear," Tadase said reasonably. I nodded, and he did too and everyone started nodding.
Yeah, I know we're weird.
"LET'S GO THEN!" Kuukai exclaimed loudly, as he grabbed Utau's hand and they marched out of the Royal Garden. Everyone followed them out, as I walked beside Amu.
"Amu, where are we going?" I asked. Please not Nagihiko's house, please not Nagihiko's house, PLEASE not Nagihiko's house.
"We're going out to the mall to party for the whole entire day!" Amu exclaimed excitedly, as I beamed. Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! YES.
Nonononononono. NO.
Conflicts arose when we arrived at the mall, probably cause the mall had everything. Utau wanted to go to karaoke, Kuukai wanted to go eat, Nagihiko wanted to go to the sports store, Ikuto wanted to go to the bar (though Utau whacked his head hard and shut him up), Yaya wanted to go to the pastries store, Nadeshiko wanted to go to the culinary store, Tadase wanted to take a rest near the fountains, Amu wanted to check out a newly opened that looked like her tastes, Kairi wanted to go to the internet café while I wanted to go to the bookstore to check out gag manga.
"Course we should go singing! Singing helps relieves stress and we all know singing is good for the soul!"
"Can't we go to the bar?" *whack* "N—never mind."
"YAYA WANTS SWEEETS!"
"I'd like to take a rest here, actually."
"My basketball just got lost. I need a new one."
"I'm hungry!"
"It's been twenty minutes and sixteen seconds since I've gotten online."
"That dark store there looks interesting."
"I'd like to check out some cooking utensils, since I just realized the school is much better stocked than our home."
"I WANT GAG MANGA!"
"It's so tiring, can't we take a rest?"
"SINGING!"
"I'm still hungry."
"SWEETS! YAYA NEEDS HER DAILY DOSE OF SUGAR!"
"Now, now, Yaya-chan, you've already had your sugar for today. Go with me to check out the culinary supplies won't you?"
"The ba—never mind."
We fought like this for about five minutes. After that, Tadase pointed out everyone was staring at us, so we quieted down and slipped into a café to: 1. get Kuukai something to eat, 2. get Yaya a cheesecake, and 3. listen to Tadase and take a rest.
"So, what are we going to do?" Amu asked, attempting to organize the day out. "We still need to go karaoke, buy gag manga, go to the sports store, the internet café, NOT the bar, and check out the new dark store down there," Amu said casually, 'unintentionally' emphasizing the last one. Nagihiko opened his mouth to speak when suddenly, we heard small squeaks.
"Amu-chan, Amu-chan!" Miki's voice came from outside the café. We turned to see that indeed, her face was stuck on the glass. "What the heck is this?" she exclaimed. Wow, and who knew Miki had a bad temper?
"It's called Mr. Glass~desu," Suu said. "Mr. Glass, excuse me~desu!" Suu exclaimed cheerfully. We couldn't help but sweat-drop at the scene.
"Bakas! Tell them about the X-Eggs already!" Yoru exclaimed. From behind, all of our Charas came floating by, excluding Nadeshiko since she didn't have a Chara. Temari was legally Nagihiko. Though I've heard that Nadeshiko's egg broke a while back. Wonder what happened. But it wasn't my place to probe into becaus—
"Rima, hurry!" Amu exclaimed, as she was already rushing out of the café. I blinked and shot up, KusuKusu on my side, as we rushed out of the café, out of the mall, to a desolate area in a park.
There wasn't a person in sight. That always bothered me. That meant everyone's egg turned into X-Eggs. That certainly wasn't good.
"Look out!" Amu exclaimed, as X-Eggs came ramming our way. We quickly dodged and all charanaried.
"Charanari – Platinum Royale!"
"Black Lynx!"
"Amulet Heart!"
"Sky Jack!"
"Lunatic Charm!"
"Samurai Soul!"
"Dear Baby!"
"Beat Jumper!"
"Clown Drop!"
Wow. That was a LOT of glittering and shining. Hate that about charanaries.
"Let's go, minna!" Amu exclaimed, as she…put on (?) her Heart Speeders and sped off in the sky. Ikuto leaped into the air and followed after her, as did Kuukai and Utau. Tadase, Kairi, and Yaya ran after Amu and the crowd, as I stared at the scene.
"Rima-chan?" Nagihiko's voice came from my side. I didn't turn to face him. My mind was fixed with one question.
Where the heck did the X-Eggs come from?
"Nightmare Lorelei!" Utau exclaimed, sending her fury of dark butterflies flying towards the X-Eggs to fight off their full-on charge.
"Crap, I'll help, Utau. Golden Victory Shoot!" Kuukai exclaimed, sending his golden shot through the sky, breaking through the wall of X-Eggs. Yet immediately the wall disappeared, more came and pressured us.
"Why the heck are there so many X-Eggs?" Amu declared. "I can't purify all of them like this," she insisted, as she constantly open-hearted hearts.
"There must be someone behind this…" Nagihiko muttered on the side, as he shot his attack over, trying to help keep the X-Eggs off. Amu consistently purified X-Eggs, but it seemed like they were…getting more?
"Rima, Nagi, you two stay here. The rest of us will attract the X-Eggs to somewhere more closed so they can't run around. Then I'll purify them at once. Stay here just in case the source of the X-Eggs pops out!" Amu exclaimed, as she sped off on her Heart Speeders, with the others following. Leaving me with Nagihiko standing on the open field, attempting to fight off the remaining X-Eggs.
"You can't purify them all even if you attract them away and purify those all at once," a familiar voice said from above. We turned our heads up to see…Chika? She was back in her Noir Diamond charanari, with her eyes ice cold though blood red, her face without a single emotion. She was virtually…dead?
"Chika-chan!" Nagihiko's voice came from my side. Chika looked at Nagihiko questioningly. She glared at him.
"Who are you?"
Nagihiko blinked. He blinked again. "Nagihiko. Fujisaki Nagihiko. We were friends when we were small. Do…you remember?" he asked hesitantly. Chika's eyes narrowed down some more, then turning towards me.
"I don't know. Get outta the way if you don't want to get caught up with my fight with this shortie here," Chika said.
Shortie?!?!
"Who ya calling shortie?!?!?!" I exclaimed. "Juggling Party!" I exclaimed, sending my pins towards her direction. "Dreading Diamonds," she muttered. Her attack was similar to last time, except along with the fury of black diamonds, a dark beam accompanied them on the way here. I dodged out of the way quickly, using my Tightrope Dancer to grab onto her arm. Yes!
"No," she muttered, as she swiftly used a dark diamond to cut the rope. What? And that was it? My Tightrope Dancer and Juggling Party were both seen through. How could I attack now?
Crap.
"Chika-chan, what are you doing?" Nagihiko attempted once more, trying to get some sense into her skull. "You weren't always like this, I know. Shizue was born to protect, not to hurt. Why are you hurting everyone?" he reasoned. Chika turned towards Nagihiko, and I SWEAR I saw a flicker of brown churn in her bloodshot eyes. But suddenly, the red engulfed it once more, as her eyes gleamed brighter than before.
"I must hurt…to protect," she announced. "Dreading Diamonds," she said again, as she attacked…Nagihiko?
"Blaze Shoot!" he exclaimed, nullifying the attack. "Chika-chan, are you even charanaried with Shizue?" he questioned. Chika didn't even flinch at the question. "Yes," she responded immediately, sending more of her attacks towards Nagihiko's direction.
"Chika-chan!" he exclaimed as a diamond jabbed into Nagihiko's shoulder. He bent down, wincing in pain as he put his free hand on his shoulder tried to assuage the pain. I couldn't help but intervene in the battle, even if I knew none of my attacks worked on her.
"Why the heck are you hurting your friend?" I exclaimed, jabbing my finger straight at her. "Who the heck do you think you are?" To be truthful, I wasn't expecting a response. I just wanted to delay and get some time for Nagihiko to think of some genius line and her brain gets knocked back alive. But when I'd exclaimed that, suddenly, all the noise seemed to disappear and she stopped her attacks, along with control over the X-Eggs.
Chika remained silent. I could almost hear Nagihiko's deep heaves. Finally, she closed her eyes and sighed, raising her hand, commanding the X-Eggs to prepare to attack. She opened her mouth to speak.
"I am Sasaki Chika, heiress to the Christmas Company."
Dun dun dunnnn~~alright, never mind, it's not that much of a cliff-hanger. Right? I'm trying to actually get Charas back into this. Alright, opinion-time. Should Rima get another Chara? I know a lot of people gave Rima another Chara, but I'm afraid I'll make it cliched and like someone else's story if I give her a similar Chara (like a Chara that represents her desire to be a star, or be more capable). But I'm not gonna give her a Chara about her feelings with Nagihiko. I think that just gets confusing, in my opinion. And I'm too lazy to think too much.
So, opinions? Reviewers...I missssssed you!! :)
Hope you liked it!
~~*Hope-chan*~~
