I STILL (UNFORTUNATELY) DON'T OWN SHUGO CHARA!

*Rima's POV*

~flashback~

"No, you're not my friend!" I yelled, slapping his hand away. I felt anger exploding inside of me. "You're just a selfish crossdresser! Why would you care?! You probably hate me!"

I looked directly into his amber eyes, which looked shocked and hurt, before dropping the shopping bags, turning around and running off into the rain, leaving Nagihiko behind.

~end of flashback~

I ran down the wet sidewalk, splashing rainwater onto my clothes. The rain mixed with my tears on my face as I ran further and further away from Nagihiko.

He's so annoying! I thought, panting. Why would he care about me?

"Rima . . ." Kusukusu floated beside me.

"I . . . I'm . . . fine," I said, looking back. I couldn't see Nagihiko anywhere in the rain. Good, I thought. He's far away enough.

The rain was soaking my hair, but I didn't care.

I could still see his face in my mind, his eyes filled with hurt and shock. I could still hear my words echoing in my head, "No, you're not my friend! You're just a selfish crossdresser! Why would you care? You prob-"

"Don't think it," I interrupted myself, shaking my head. "Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it." I repeated to myself until it was out of my head.

"My house should be near . . ." I said, looking around. "There!" I ran over to my house.

I walked to the front steps, and put my ear against the door. Yelling. Fighting.

"Let's go in!" Kusukusu said, clearly not knowing that my parents were fighting. She flew over to the doorknob and twisted it. The door creaked open.

And there I was, standing at the doorway in the rain all wet, looking at my parents who were standing facing eachother, frozen and staring at me.

"Rima?" My mom asked at last, walking to me. "Where's your friend?"

My dad snorted. "I bet they left, heartlessly leaving you in the rain." He then turned to my mom. "You see? I knew it!"

"No, he didn't leave me," I said, walking into the house and closing the door behind me. "I left him." My dad scowled.

"Why?" My mom asked, frowning.

"Do you need to know?" I snapped without thinking. My mom froze, and my dad opened his mouth to say something. But whatever he said, I didn't hear it, because I ran upstairs into my room and slammed the door.

I sat on my bed in silence for a while.

"What time is it?" I yawned.

"Um . . . 9?" Kusukusu replied.

"Already?" I said. "I guess time flies by when you're with a crossdresser." I joked, forcing a smile so my shugo chara wouldn't get worried, but the truth is that my heart felt the opposite of a smile.

THE NEXT DAY . . .

I walked in the Royal Garden towards the tea table. Today we're having a guardian meeting, like usual, but it felt different. I didn't want to face Nagihiko.

Tadase, Amu and Yaya were already there. No Nagihiko. Yet.

"Hi guys," I said, sitting in my chair.

"HI RIMA-TAN!" Yaya said.

"Hi Rima!" Amu greeted.

"Good morning, Mashiro-san. Fujisaki-san isn't here yet," Tadase said. "We'll have to wait for him."

I was blankly watching Yaya stuff a dozen cookies in her mouth at once and listening to their conversation.

"Yuiki-san, you're going to get diabetes!" Tadase cried.

"NO YAYA WON'T!" Yaya exclaimed. "YAYA DOESN'T EAT HER VEGETABLES!"

"You don't get diabetes from vegetables, Yaya," Amu sighed. "You get it from eating too much unhealthy food. Like cookies."

"Cookies are healthy!" Yaya protested. "You see? They give you 10 grams of fat per 4 cookies!"

"That isn't a good thing . . ." Tadase said.

"Sorry guys," Nagihiko's voice suddenly came. I looked around, and Nagihiko was standing in the garden. I automatically looked down at my lap. "I'm not late, am I?"

"No, you're just on time!" Tadase said as Nagihiko sat into his seat beside me.

"Hi . . . Mashiro-san," he said hesitantly.

I looked up. Why was he calling me "Mashiro-san" all of a sudden? Usually it's "Rima-chan". We met eyes for a split second, but then Nagihiko quickly looked away.

Then, my own words from last night echoed in my head. "No, you're NOT my friend!". He's not my friend anymore. No, I'm not his friend anymore. I clenched my fists. He's making me feel so . . . guilty.

"So now that we're all here, we'll start by discussing the latest developement of . . ." I couldn't even hear Tadase's voice as I was thinking about what to do.

Should I apologise? I asked myself. I should, right? It my fault . . . and I need to apologise. But when? I don't want to do it now, everyone's still here. I'll . . . . do it later.

"Hey guys," Amu suddenly said. I perked up. "I know we have to do some guardian work afterschool, but I have to babysit Ami afterschool. I can't do the guardian work afterschool today! Sorry!"

"Yaya too!" Yaya said. "I have to babysit Tsukasa and play Candy Crush! It's really urgent!"
"Yaya . . ." Amu said. "Playing Candy Crush isn't urgent. . ."

"But the babysitting Tsukasa part is," Nagihiko pointed out. "I mean, he's just a few months old, and still a baby."

"Speaking of which . . ." Tadase said. "I have to help my grandmother with some chores! I can't come afterschool neither. Sorry guys!"

"It's fine," I sighed, sipping some tea. Then I realised something and almost spat out my tea.

I'm going to be with Nagihiko afterschool then! ALONE!

AFTERSCHOOL . . .

I walked through the Royal Garden SUPER slowly, holding a stack a paper and a marker.

I was arguing with myself.

I don't want this! It's going be so awkward! I thought. But then it'll be my chance to apologise to Nagihiko! Then it'll be much better! But I'm going to be alone with him!

Sighing, I looked at the tea table. Nagihiko was already there, and thankfully he didn't even glance at me when I slipped into my seat beside him. He was busily writing something on a stack of paper, and I looked at my stack of paper. There was a note on it saying:

I'm going on a date with Yukari Sanjou today, so can you

please mark these math tests of the class for me?

Thank you!

~Nikaido-sensei

I silently groaned. Math wasn't my favorite subject, and now I have a whole stack of math tests to mark.

Reluctantly, I flipped to the first test and read the first question:

1) Half of the product of eleven and four is twenty-three more than a number. What is the number? Remember to show all the steps.

What the hell? I thought.

"Mashiro-san."

I looked up. Nagihiko was looking at me.

"I-I'm sorry . . ." He slightly looked away, and looked back at me again. "About yesterday night. About what I said."

"What do you mean?" I snapped. "I'm sorry! Why are you apologising? I'm the one who should apologise."

"I was being to nosy. It's your own personal buissness," Nagihiko said, not taking his gaze off me. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked so much questions, Mashiro-san."

I stared at him for a few seconds, and then suddenly stood up, making him look a little startled.

"First of all, what the heck. I'm supposed to apologise, so stop apologising and making me feel worse!" I exclaimed. I sat back down. "And, I'm sorry for all those things I said to you last night. I didn't mean it. You-you're still my . . . friend. So stop calling me 'Mashiro-san', it's creepy. And you sound like Tadase."

Nagihiko blinked at me. Then he said, "Rima-chan. . . is that better?"

"Yeah." I smiled for some reason, and I began to feel better and warmer. "So . . . you don't hate me?" Nagihiko asked.

"No-"

Nagihiko suddenly pulled me towards him, and my body fell into his chest. His lips went closer to mine, and before I knew it, he was kissing me. After what felt like eternity, he pulled back. I was left there, panting and hyperventilating like an idiot.

"I . . ." Nagihiko looked straight into my eyes. "I love you, Rima."

"What . . ." I whispered after a few seconds it took for my stupid brain to process what just happened. "What . . ."

"I-I'm sorry. This was probably too sudden," Nagihiko looked down. "It's okay if you . . . hate me after this. I-"

"I love you too!" I blurted. He looked up, surprised.

"What was that?" he asked again, looking like he might be thinking he was dreaming.

"Don't make me repeat what I said," I snapped, not hearing the doors to the Royal Garden creak open nor the voices of Amu and Tadase. I wrapped my arms around Nagihiko's neck and kissed him again.

"Mashiro-san, Fujisaki-san, I felt bad about leaving you too alone to do all the work, so I decided to finish my chores extra-," Tadase came in and paused, staring at us, mid-kiss.

"It turns out my parents were able to stay home so I don't need to babysit-" Amu crashed into Tadase. "Ouch! Why'd you stop . . ." She paused too, staring at us kiss.

I pulled back, and finally noticed Tadase and Amu. I blushed redder than a cherry (if that's possible), and I'm pretty sure Nagihiko did to.

After a few awkward moments of silence, Amu and Tadase both said in unison, "What the heck happened while we were gone?"

Thanks for reading! Please review! :D