With a raspy breath, my eyes snapped open.

The nightmare hadn't been pleasant, that was for sure. I could still feel my heart pounding erratically. Salty beads of sweat snaked down my back, sending cold shivers up my spine. A pressure around my waist had me stiffening. Two bright blue eyes swam into focus, hovering right above me, a hand clasping the beeping alarm clock suspended mere inches from my face.

"Better wake up and get ready for school. Man, you sleep like the dead, alarm's been blaring for ages. Didn't you hear it?" Despite my sleep-blurred eyes, I could see his brows were furrowed. "Can you turn this thing off? 'S annoying." I blinked exactly three times before giving the intruder a hard two-handed shove, knocking them off from where they had been straddling my waist. The force of the impact had them flying backwards with the most ungodly startled sound I'd ever heard, where they tumbled over the back of my bed, disappearing out of sight.

Swiping at my eyes, I quickly snatched up a nearby torch, clasping it tightly in my hands.

Trembling, I waited in fear for the stranger to lunge back and plunge a knife of some sort into my chest.

"Ow. That hurt." A shock of blue hair emerged. The boy rubbed his head, expression twisting with a pang of pain, scowling in my direction. "What the heck did you do that for?" He snapped, then noticed my weapon and softened significantly. "Hey... You alright? Look like you've seen a ghost."

Hesitantly, I placed the torch down, hugging my arms around my small frame as I recognised the boy, memory still somewhat clouded from sleep. "Zero?" I patted the space next to me, inviting him to venture closer. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you. I was having a nightmare. You startled me." A pause, and the guilt was evident in my tone. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

He regarded me carefully, his hand automatically combing through his hair, making tufts stick out in an endearing manner. "Course not, I'm fine. As if a shrimp like you could hurt me." He smirked teasingly, hand gently ruffling my hair. He was comforting me, I realised belatedly, leaning into his touch. In his own strange way, Zero was trying to make me feel better. I appreciated his efforts greatly, releasing a happy hum as the curious boy absently continued to play with my hair, my head resting comfortably on his shoulder. They were broader than I expected.

He froze suddenly and my breath caught in my throat. "Someone's coming," he whispered, urgently, diving under my bed. The boy managed to wriggle into a suitable position to hide himself as my mother knocked and entered at my call.

"Hikari, are you alright? There was a loud noise from up here earlier."

"I'm okay," I replied, watching as my mother fretted, heading over to tease the curtains open, allowing sunlight to flood into the room. "I just had a bad dream. I probably knocked my lamp off the side again, I've done it before, after all."

Closing an open window, her intelligent brown eyes snapped to the ground, where my lamp was thankfully situated. My heart missed a beat as she crouched down to pick it up. "I can get it!" I exclaimed, terrified that she'd spot Zero, who must have been frozen in fear at this point.

"You're acting weird."

"No I'm not."

Raising an eyebrow, she carefully plucked the object off the ground, giving me a long, suspicious look.

"Did you break it?"

"Um..." My eyes widened at the perfect opportunity that had landed straight in my lap. "Yeah, I think I did. Please don't be mad at me."

She laughed, the sound melodic like the chiming of bells. "Don't worry, I'm not mad." she assured, affectionately patting my head. "It's just a lamp, after all. It's not like it's the end of the world, I can just buy a new one. Now, more importantly, are you feeling okay? Nightmares are awful things, aren't they?"

"Yeah," I agreed, smiling lovingly up at her. "They are. I'm okay now, I promise."

She kissed my forehead, and carefully pushed the lamp a little further across my dresser, away from me. "That should do it," she declared, satisfied, adjusting the tightness of her ponytail, dark hair swinging over her shoulders. "You should get ready for school now. Your breakfast is already on the table." Then, she left.

I listened intently to the sound of her retreating downstairs, before ducking my head over the side to stare at Zero. He was curled in a tight ball, eyes wide as saucepans, fingers clamped tightly over his mouth like he didn't even want to risk breathing. "I don't think I could've handled much more of that." He wheezed, sounding completely serious as he slowly allowed himself to relax. "Never again. Thought I was done for for a moment there. Could've swore my heart stopped."

"You're so dramatic," I teased.

"You try hiding under here next time." The boy retorted, smirking.

"What are you doing?"

Startled, I whipped around to find Ichii standing on my little balcony, leaning casually against the door, watching with curiosity. The wind gently pulled at his hair and clothes, giving him a charmingly rumpled air.

"Wasn't that locked?" I asked, with a little frown.

Ichii shifted guiltily, presenting a bobby pin. Apparently, breaking and entering was something both boys were happy to partake in. "Sorry. Your mother closed the window Zero climbed through," he explained.

Zero met my startled gaze easily, from where he had managed to pull himself halfway out from under the bed, looking like a beached whale. "Did you know your window is ridiculously easy to open from the outside?" He inquired, running a thumb over the corner of his lips and not looking too bothered by his current, rather amusing, appearance. "Should get a better lock for it. Don't want some weirdo breaking in in the middle of the night."

Ichii gave him a very long look.

"I don't count!" The boy snapped back, flushing a little. "Right?" He added, glancing at me.

"Uh... Sure?"

"See!" He exclaimed, triumphantly sticking his tongue out at the brunette and managing to roll completely free, almost toppling me over.

Ichii rolled his eyes, only entering my room once he'd been given permission. I was definitely going to like him, I decided. At least he was polite enough to ask first, the whole unlocking my door thing aside. "Are you ready to go, Hikari?" Discretely, I checked my attire and wished I could sink into the ground. It was just my luck for me to wearing the pyjamas with little pink kittens all over them. Blushing, I pulled a blanket up to my chin, hoping they hadn't noticed.

(They had. But Hikari didn't need to know that.)

"What do you mean?" I squeaked out, trying to act normal.

"The Pearl," Ichii explained. "It's still inside of you, meaning other examinees will be after you. Starting from today, we'll be going to school with you. That way, we'll be able to protect you."

"Every day...?"

Zero's palm slapped against him forehead, Ichii gave him a small glare. "I thought you were going to tell her?"

"Well, I was," The boy shot back, crossing his arms with a loud huff. "S'not my fault everything went crazy." Ichii sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, muttering to himself under his breath. "Hey, take that back!" The bluenette growled, anger swelling in his eyes. "I'm not useless."

Ichii continued, as if he hadn't even heard the boy speak. "Yes, every day. I understand that it's a bit annoying, but there isn't any other option. This exam is important, you see. Just because you're surrounded by other people, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be safe. That's why you'll have us close by, so we can make sure nobody can get to you. As long as we're there, I have a feeling a great deal of other examinees wouldn't dare to attack you."

"Hikari!" The yell came from the floor below. "Are you up yet? Don't make me come back and get you!"

I winced, sheepishly. "I'm coming!" I assured, raising my voice to a level she would hear.

"Be quick, your food's getting cold!"

"Go on down," Ichii gave my shoulder a little pat. "We'll be waiting outside."

Zero left with a little salute, swinging easily off my balcony and sliding down the drainpipe with surprising ease, as if he did it every day. I honestly had no idea how the boy made it look so effortlessly cool. Ichii shook his head, smiled at me before joining the bluenette, being far more careful yet not losing any elegance at all. I locked the door behind them, musing to myself about getting a latch as well, before skipping downstairs.

"What have you got under your bed, Hikari?" Were the first words that left her mouth. I smacked my head against the door frame, crumpling to the floor with a little whine. Shocked, she knelt down next to me, her fingers deftly inspecting the area. "You're so clumsy," she said, fondly.

I pouted, probing the area myself and flinching at the sharp pang. "You surprised me."

"Well?" She prompted, looking expectant.

I shifted, averting my eyes. "Blankets." I said, tentatively. "I like to hoard them. They're so warm, and it gets cold at night."

My mother, incredibly laid-back for a parent, merely chuckled. "So that's where they've all ended up. I was beginning to think we had a blanket thief."

I grinned, guiltily. "There are also a couple wedged in the gap between the outhouse. A stray cat lives there... I made a shelter for it and may have been feeding it a little..."

My mother only smiled, used to my affinity with animals by now.

Fully dressed with my bag resting against my leg, I closed my eyes, savouring the way the wind whipped past my hair, blowing it around my shoulders. "This is so cool! I can't believe you guys are sorcerers."

"We're still in training, remember." Ichii smiled, carefully adjusting his course. "It's a good thing I look older than I am," he commented, wryly. "I don't think I'm technically old enough to drive in your world. Wouldn't want to get into trouble on our first day of school."

"How old are you?" I asked, curious.

"Sixteen in November," Zero informed, while Ichii focused on stopping gently at the traffic lights. The bluenette jerked his thumb towards himself, proudly tipping his chin. "I'm fourteen in August."

I pouted upon realising they were both older than me. "Thirteen in March." I said, reluctantly. Zero's smug look only increased. I stuck my tongue out at him. "Oh. Does that mean you'll be in different classes?"

Zero fully swivelled in his seat to talk to me, despite Ichii disapproving greatly. "Nah. Something as small as that won't stop us. We managed to sneak in, don't worry. Lied about my age and made an excuse about Ichii missing two years for medical reasons." He nodded his head towards the brunette, who tore his eyes from the road momentarily to smile at me. "Ichii forged the papers, he's good at that sort of stuff. Made it look all realistic. Said we were in the system, too, so they don't demand for a guardian or anything."

"It's easier than you think." Ichii added, with a little shrug.

A screeching from overhead had me clamping my hands over my ears. Zero screwed his face up, annoyed. "The hell?" The appearance of a ginormous owl had him sighing in exasperation. "Oh, joy. Ichii, you might want to step on it. San and Forte have found us."

"Just what I wanted." The brunette muttered, with poisonous sarcasm. "Hold on, I'll see what I can do." The boy made a dangerous cut across the road, barely avoiding colliding with another car. Salmoning between vehicles with expert precision, Ichii managed to get us into a less densely populated area and hit a button. Zero's cursed almost immediately and carefully vaulted over the seat to land next to me, gently covering my eyes with his hands.

"You'll thank me for it later," He whispered, his voice protectively fierce. "How we doing, Ichii?"

"Not good," the brunette returned. "We don't have time for this. Looks like we're going to have to fight."

"You mean, I'm going to fight," Zero corrected. "You have to drive. Hikari, keep your eyes closed, alright? Trust me on this." With a fair amount of reluctance, I did as he asked, whimpering quietly when his warm touch disappeared. I didn't quite understand what was happening and felt terribly disorientated, but Zero had sounded so deathly serious I didn't dare disobey him.

"Zero, you have one chance to hand over the Crystal Pearl." Forte, his voice raised. He must have been yelling across a considerable distance.

"Not happening!" The bluenette returned in a parade ground bellow.

A pretty, melodic tune struck up, and I felt my body slowly gravitate upwards. Aware that this wasn't necessarily normal, I flailed and yelled, "What's happening?"

Zero growled, the sound feral and deadly. "Bastards, that's cheating!"

"Zero!" I exclaimed, more panicked now as sharp talon-like appendages closed around my waist. "What's going on?"

"Stay still." He instructed, brimming with fury. "You're going to be okay, don't worry."

Warmth raced past my cheek and a loud shriek of pain near deafened me. Then, all of a sudden it felt like I was falling and I opened my eyes to find the ground eagerly racing up to meet me. I screamed, tears rising in my eyes, knowing that this far was certainly high enough to kill me. To make matters worse, San exclaimed, "Don't forget about me. I wanna play, too!" and summoned a horrific creature she dubbed an 'Air Fish', which was some kind of greatly deformed piranha. I really didn't want to know what kind of crazy steroids that thing was junked up on.

Rows of deadly sharp teeth greeted me, and briefly I realised that falling to death wasn't really my main concern right now.

"Hikari!" Ichii yelled, accelerating the car towards me. Belatedly, I realised that it was flying by some kind of witchcraft. Alternatively, I was hallucinating the whole thing. Both seemed equally likely at this point. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. "Charm Capture!" An impact that never came. The next thing I knew, I'd landed solidly in Ichii's lap, the brunette using a strong arm to keep me pressed against his chest, the creature having been reduced to a fiery mess of ashes courtesy of a very annoyed Zero.

"See you soon, Hikari!" San exclaimed, waving cheerfully as they departed, for now.

Zero glared after them, sitting back down and giving a lock of my hair a small tug. I glanced over him, which was apparently what he wanted, because he smiled. It lacked his usual cocky, confident edge, brimming with reassurance. He must have noticed me staring at the rapidly approaching ground. "It's alright. We're landing now." The wheels lightly touched the ground just as he finished speaking. "See? No more heights."

I barely managed to muster up a half-smile.

Ichii's fingers danced over my skin in comforting circles. "You have acrophobia?" He asked, softly.

Zero nodded, grimly. "She's terrified of heights. It's real bad. Don't ever take her up there again."

"Noted."

His expression twisted into a scowl. "We're getting rid of this damn car."

"No way in hell we're keeping this death trap." Ichii agreed. "Completely puts me out of action. We're just lucky it was those two idiots that found us first. Would've been much worse if it had been anyone else."

"Good morning, Hikari," Kei greeted rather enthusiastically, as she and Ayumi clapped a hand on either of my shoulders. I observed the brunette girl with a suspicious look, wondering what alien had replaced my friend for this monster. Usually she struggled greatly with morning, citing them to be pure evil from the pits of hell- which was why she did them as little as humanely possible. Seeing her happy so early was concerning.

"Who are you and what have you done with Kei?"

Ayumi elbowed the tall girl out of the way, grimacing. "She's had coffee," the girl informed, in a stage whisper. My horror must have showed in my expression, because Ayumi cringed back. "Yeah. Pity me."

"I do," I replied, patting her sympathetically.

Kei was unpredictable with caffeine in her system. She wasn't uncontrollable and irritating, like Ayumi on her infamous sugar rush (something we still refused to let her live down), but her randomness was unnerving, to say the least.

"I still can't believe what happened to us yesterday," Kei said, cutting into our secret conversation.

The black haired Ayumi nodded her head, bouncing with energy. "I almost freaked out when that car fell from the sky." I was sorely tempted to remind her that she did, in fact, freak out. "They said it was for a TV show. Looks like it's going to be awesome."

"Really?" I fought to keep the smile off my face. Zero was going to love this. I was certain even the mature Ichii would be amused to hear this cover story. If only my friends knew what really happened back there.

"Weird, huh?"

"Weird." I agreed, unable to resist adding a quiet, "It all looked so real."

"Didn't it?" Ayumi breathed, excitement shining in her eyes.

Oh, if only they knew.

As I disinterestedly doodled on the back page of my exercise book, I could distinctly hear a rather different tone to the normal morning routine, and, glancing up, I saw both Zero and Ichii being introduced as new transfer students. The bluenette caught my eye and smirked, giving me a secret little salute. I smiled and discretely waved back.

"Your seats..."

"Hikari." Zero was leaning causally against the blackboard, not looking bothered at the attention he had attracted. "I want to sit next to Hikari, if that's alright with everyone." And then he smiled a smile so charming I was sure that it would have people gladly falling at his feet. And then, like he owned the place, he went ahead and dropped down next to me, rocking back on his chair.

The desk on my other side wasn't free. The girl had been content to sit there, preening her nails for all of three seconds before she caught sight of Ichii. She'd stared at him with hungry eyes while both had been introduced, and the moment that Zero had plonked down in his seat, she'd moved from hers, fluttering her eyelashes at the bemused brunette. "... Guess I'll be taking the other side."

Ayumi, losing all sense, tipped my chair backwards to talk. Zero reflexively steadied me, before pulling away, evidently uninterested in our 'girl talk'. "Who are these new guys? Are you friends with them, Hikari?"

The rest of the class were staring, I noticed, and felt my face flame at being the centre of attention. Ichii was watching me out of the corner of his eye, looking somewhat concerned at my discomfort. "Uh..." Zero was failing at being discrete, expression hopeful. "Yeah. They are." Unfortunately, instead of calming the insatiable desire for gossip, this information only seemed to fuel the fire even further. But Zero looked so delighted I didn't care as much as I thought I would. The bluenette was smiling and failing desperately at pretending that he wasn't.

It was adorable, really.

"Aren't we supposed to being doing something?" Ichii asked, with a little sigh. "I mean, I know I missed a lot of school, but it can't have changed this much."

Zero snorted. "I tried telling you it sucked, but did you listen, no. Welcome to my world."

Thankfully, our sensei managed to reign in control after that, and we continued as normal.

"Hey, Zero, Ichii. Did you register for all of my classes?"

"Of course," Zero whispered back, immediately. "We can't afford to let our guard down."

"You don't have to worry, we won't let anything happen to you."

I gnawed on my lower lip, but nodded, accepting their answer. When the period ended, I'd barely packed all my stuff away before Zero was leading me out of the room. My bag joined his, slung over his shoulder, while Ichii flanked my side, his sharp eyes searching the corridors.

"What are you doing?" I whined, digging my heels in.

Zero looked nonplussed. "What do you think? We're taking you to class. We have Chemistry next, right?"

"Yeah... but I normally wait for Kei and Ayumi- ah, Zero-" He'd tugged me after him, impatient. "They're going to be annoyed at me." He didn't listen. "Will you stop already?"

"Zero." Ichii's voice held a scolding note.

The bluenette rolled his eyes, looking bored. "They have class with you next, right?" I scowled, but nodded. "There. Problem solved. Meet them there, I'll even apologise if it makes you feel better." Feeling as though it was the best option I had, I obediently trotted after him. Although he was visibly annoyed, the bluenette didn't pull me harshly, something I was grateful of.

Ichii came to a halt behind an empty desk that usually occupied myself, Kei and Ayumi. "This looks like a good spot."

Before I could protest, Ayumi and Kei had hurried in after us, glaring at the boys as they sat down, oblivious to their irritation. "Hey," the shorter girl snarled, hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing? Get out of our seats." She gestured to herself and Kei, the latter's emerald eyes gleaming with challenge. "Don't think just because you know Hikari, that you can just drag her off like that. I don't want to see you manhandling her like that again." She was glaring daggers at Zero, I realised, who only snorted.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," Kei said. "Now move."

Ichii smacked the bluenette upside the head before turning to smile pleasantly at the two girls. "Sorry about him, please ignore his attitude. He's just feeling crabby today, aren't you, Zero?"

I could see that he would much rather down an entire bottle of cyanide than reply. Jaw clenched irritably, Zero ground out a quiet, "Yeah. What he said. Sorry."

"If you don't mind, we'd like to stay as close as possible to Hikari today. We're new to this city, so it's kind of scary, you know? We don't know anyone here at all, except her. It's a relief to have a friendly face, especially when you're like me. I haven't been in school for two years... Gotta say I'm a little nervous." The brunette's plaintive expression was tugging at my heart strings, and I knew it was a load of bull. Man, he was good. "I hope it isn't too much of a bother..."

Zero was really laying it on thick, I realised. After acting like a complete jerk, he was leaning forward, blue eyes locked on Ichii's, sending him silent reassurances.

I made a note to remember how good they both appeared to be at manipulating people.

Kei narrowed her eyes, but Ayumi softened. She was a sucker for sob stories, everyone knew that. "I suppose it's alright. Just this once."

It wouldn't be once, though. Ayumi had fallen hook, line and sinker. I was aware that just one flash of some magnificently crafted puppy-dog-eyes and she'd be caving again. Kei wasn't entirely pleased with this turn of events, and glared outright at Zero, who didn't waver under her gaze. "Shouldn't you go sit down?" He asked, cheekily, and thus a great rivalry was born.

I rolled my eyes. "You two are unbelievable."

Zero only grinned back.

A/N: I don't own Save me! Lollipop, all rights go to it's owners and producers etc. My cover image is a black and white picture of Hikari that I drew. It would really help me a lot if I could get some feedback on this, to know how I can and improve or what people like is really helpful.

A big thank you to CresantShooter123 and Breebreebabygirl who favourited and followed my story, and to LoveInuyasha22 for reviewing, I really appreciate it!