Cross Ice

by Crimrose-A-Bee

Snow Hisayuki moves to the mysterious "Lost City" of Akutetsu in search of closure for a damaging past she could never truly overcome. When she becomes faced with pure magic, friendships she feels she doesn't deserve, and the burden of her first love, she realizes just how much of her life she lost to despair. However, she soon realizes that she holds a deadly mystery of her own...

24. Chapter XXII- Haunted

Yaaaaay it's finally up! These next few chapters will follow the manga and anime more than anything, as we've reached the Black Diamond arc, so prepare for that with the usual spunky demon spin on things (spunky demon, ha). Thank you all for waiting, and for the lovely reviews and messages! It's almost been about three whole years since Cross Ice was published, honestly I should have been done by now and I'm deeply sorry that I'm not. THINGS WILL GET INTERESTING I SWEAR. AHHH AM I EVEN HALF-DONE? I DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYMORE.

I LOVE WRITING THIS STORY THOUGH, SO I LOVE TO KNOW YOU APPRECIATE IT! LEAVE CRIM SOME LOVE!

~That pesky little disclaimer here: Does not own Shugo Chara, does not claim to, yet still wishes that I knew some of the characters better...~

~Crimrose

Chapter XXII

Haunted

"Breakfast is ready," I called to the girls from the kitchen, interrupting the argument that had ensued over the television remote. I scraped the omelette rice out from the pan and onto my plate, graciously choosing to ignore how Lilith thought Cutthroat Kitchen was better than Viv's choice, The Property Brothers. They each took a seat on the kitchen island, their doll plates in front of them, and I cut off four tiny chunks of my own omelette to disperse amongst them. Placed next to the plates were four miniature glasses of orange juice that were prepared with a dropper, along with a very light salad that they would have to figure out on their own. As they began to mow down, I absentmindedly recorded what had happened in the past couple of days in my keepsake journal, then noticed that we were missing someone. I set my pen aside and shoveled another bite into my mouth before I called, "That means you, too, El."

Utau Hoshina's angel Shugo Chara was half concealed by the wall she hid behind, watching us suspiciously. She clearly found something wrong with her enemies enjoying a completely mundane breakfast after watching home improvement and cooking shows – more than anything I was willing to bet that she'd figured we lived in some sort of crypt and fed on the flesh of children. "It's not poisoned or anything," I joked, to which Vivian and Lilith snorted at while Satsuki continued to pick away conservatively at her meal.

Cautiously El made her way out from the wall and joined us at the island, her eyes narrowed speculatively at the omelette piece in front of her. I couldn't exactly blame her; I most likely would have acted the same way in her position. So I just shrugged to myself and kept writing, leaving it up to her whether she would eat it or not.

After she had explained the situation last night, there was a fragile state of peace settled between us – not that I'd wanted a fight to begin with. However, judging from the information she'd disclosed, a fight may have been in the near future. A fight with Utau-san that I never wanted to have to partake in.

El had explained through her sobs that Utau-san was using her siren's voice to amass a vast number of X-Eggs, despite her constant protests. She had no idea what they were using them for, but El understood perfectly well the consequences of having one's Egg ripped out by force, and did not agree in the slightest with what her bearer was doing. She mentioned that Utau-san's manager had some sort of plan in store, something similar to Nikaidou's, which had made my skin crawl and fingers clench were they rested on my crossed arms. She then began insisting that this wasn't the way Utau-san wanted to be, that she was really a good girl deep down inside, then proceeded to beg me to 'save her'. Whatever that meant. I had no idea how to save anyone, including myself – in fact, besides purifying X-Eggs, I believed I should just stay the hell out of other's problems, as I had the tendency to just make things worse. However, watching as she adamantly said that she wouldn't go back to Utau-san unless she came for her with copious amounts of tears in her eyes, just broke my heart and made me want to do something for her. Thus I told her she could stay with us as long as she needed, though she had made an irritated noise and said she didn't need help from her bearer's arch-nemesis (since when did I become her arch-nemesis, anyway?). Despite that, she was still here, so I supposed that meant she had little to no other options. I didn't particularly mind, and cast aside my suspicions that this was perhaps all a ruse to cover up a little spy mission, since her sadness seemed genuine. Perhaps that made me naïve, but I'd deal with the consequences later.

"You'd better hurry up and eat," I told the girls, who were still arguing about the television and if Lilith had more rights to it, since she was born first. "We have to leave soon."

"Where are you headed?" El asked, poking at her breakfast as if it would come alive and eat her instead.

"To visit a friend," I responded, shoving the last bite into my mouth. I polished off the rest of my orange juice with a final large gulp, then began to prep some tea in a tall, portable mug. Vivian finished her breakfast first to be my outfit consultant as we headed off to my room together, El's eyes following us when we left the room.

After Vivian chewed me out about wanting to wear sweatpants outside of the house, we settled on a knitted sweater-dress and some dark brown leggings. I'd been here long enough now that I was finally starting to recyle some pieces of clothing, and my socks had begun to become mismatching pairs. Since I was wearing boots I figured no one would be able to see them, and threw on a pastel pink one on my right foot and a bright red with yellow twinkles on the left when Viv wasn't looking. When we returned to the kitchen, we were shocked to find that all Hell had broken loose. El's cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel as she chewed happily on something, and Satsuki was struggling to restrain Lilith, who was howling and growling like an animal one step away from rabid.

"What happened?!" Vivian demanded, flying over to help her younger sister.

"SHE STOLE MY FOOD," Lilith hollered, just before she threw her head back and opened her mouth to just scream with every ounce of her small being. El merely continued to chew happily, making happy little noises in the back of her throat, and wasn't even the slightest bit fazed when Vivian bolted over to punch her sister hard enough to knock her unconscious just to stop her screaming. Well, great. That meant I'd have to carry her in my pocket or something.

Just in the nick of time, a knock thundered on the door, and I quickly threw on my outerwear to greet Lee, who stood imposing as a statue outside. I grabbed my keys from my purse and waited for all the girls to exit very ungracefully, carting Lilith's unconscious body by her hands and legs, then shut down the lights and locked the door. "Thank you for doing this," I said to him, and he threw an arm around my shoulders when we started for the elevator. I still wasn't used to familial affection and had to resist the urge to shake him off, though I appreciated that he was trying to be a real family member and show me that he cared.

"No worries, kiddo," he said after pressing the down button, making it glow orange. "Did you get the directions from your friend?"

I handed him my phone, open to the text from Kukai-kun. "You can probably read them better than me." He chuckled and stowed it away in his jeans' pocket, then smiled politely as my neighbours scrambled in after us, a woman carrying her child in both arms.

"Afternoon," Lee said to them, and I smiled warmly as a greeting (since I felt awkward saying anything after he already had).

"Yes, good afternoon," she breathed, fogging up her glasses slightly. She examined the two of us, looking slightly confused as she and I had never spoken before and she couldn't have known what my relationship to Lee was. "What are you to up to today?" She asked politely, lightly bouncing the child in her arms. He was an adorable little thing, with wispy near-black hair and bright green eyes. Those features he had in common with Lee, except his skin was a bit more golden toned, and his cheeks were chubby and pink, a little pout resting on his lips.

"Going on a bit of a road trip," Lee responded politely, not blatantly staring at the child like I was. "I don't know if you've ever been properly introduced, Miss Hana, but this is my niece, Snow Hisayuki."

"I've seen you around," I said with an easy smile, shaking her hand when she held it out to me after shifting the child over to rest on her hip. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise," she almost sang, "I never knew that Carceon-san had family in this building! I'm glad to know you."

"We were a bit estranged," Lee admitted with a guilty smile, and while the woman did look curious, she didn't press for details. "And how is little Satsuki today?"

My Shugo Chara with the same name whipped her head around to look at him, and their eyes locked. He reached a hand out to her, a smile blooming on his face with only a few teeth in it. She smiled gently and pressed her small hand to his meaty little palm, and he made a noise that could have been a giggle. "He's well, thank you," Hana-san responded, looking down at her child adoringly. "We were just going grocery shopping while his dad's at work. Say hi to Hisayuki-san and Carceon-san," she said to him, and he made a gesture that may have been a little wave before burying his head in his mother's shoulder. She looked to us with an apologetic smile. "He's a bit shy."

"He's so cute," I said out loud without meaning to. Before I could clamp a hand over my mouth to prevent my foot from meeting it again, Hana-san merely laughed cheerfully and told the child what I had said, earning me a little grin. "How old is he?"

"He turned two in October." It was disconcerting to see little Satsuki-kun staring intently and pawing at my Shugo Chara while Hana-san couldn't see them at all. To her it must have looked like he was reaching out to me, when in reality Vivian was showing him her small bunny and my Satsuki was making silly faces, making him smile. "What about you, Hisayuki-san?"

"Snow is fine," I told her. We were neighbours, after all, and would be seeing a lot of each other in the next few months. "And I'm turning nineteen in… in January." It was a bit hard for me to say, since my birthday wasn't exactly a cause for celebration anymore. Lee tightened his hand on my shoulder, something Hana-san didn't miss, but again, she didn't know us well enough to ask any questions.

"My," she said fondly. "I remember when I was your age. I met my husband around that time." For some reason that only worsened the sick pounding of my heart – I would never be able to meet someone to spend the rest of my life with, have an adorable child like Satsuki-kun. "I may have to get you to watch Satsuki some time. Would you be up for that?"

"Yes, of course," I said, surprised. A babysitting job would have been amazing to have – any extra cash could go towards my Christmas present funds. "I'd be happy to." We quickly exchanged contact information before the elevator came to a stop and all of us stepped out to head towards the parking garage.

"So you're still in high school, then?" She asked me, and I nodded, not delving into how I was held back a couple of years – that might ruin the new job opportunity.

"I just came here from New Orleans," I added, and she 'oohed' in surprise and appreciation. "The stuff you learn here is a bit different, but it's fun."

"I've always loved school," she told me, fishing her car keys out of the purse hung over her shoulder. "History, especially. My husband and I have amassed quite the collection of history books and manga from when we were younger." We stopped in front of of gray station wagon, which she jerked her head towards. "Well, this is me! I guess I'll see you guys later."

"For sure," I said, and Lee waved at her with his 'I'm-a-very-unsuspecting-and-respectable-human' smile. Even as he began to walk off, I still couldn't take my eyes off of that little boy staring joyfully at my Shugo Chara. I knew it was creepy to be looking at him that way, and it wasn't just because he was cute. There was something in his face, in those emerald eyes that had me transfixed. It was like I knew that little boy, even though I'd only seen him a couple of times in passing before. There was a strange connection that I felt looking at him, and I swore the image of his gap-toothed smile ran through my head, only full of straight white teeth and a more defined face. I shook my head free of the image, completely weirded out, then bolted for Lee's car, eager not to be late.

As I buckled in the passenger side and watched Hana-san's car peel out of her parking spot in the rearview mirror, Lee handed me a pair of sunglasses. "There may be snow outside, but it's sunny today," he said, and I took them gratefully, sliding them onto my face. Lilith finally woke up after her brief stint in a catatonic state and immediately went after her sisters, only stopped when Lee grabbed her by the back of her scarf and tossed her lightly into my lap. I kept her struggling and screeching body between my hands as he back out from the space, Lee's hand on my headrest as he looked back to move out from the parking space. The dimly lit space filled with nothing but cars and dank corners blazed with white light when the garage doors opened and we sped outside, Lee's hands twisting the wheel expertly, undoubtedly from years and years of practise. I examined him, drowning out Lilith's irritated protests and her sisters' snippy combacks, and said, "Your hair's growing longer again."

"It's such a pain to cut," he grunted, pressing the break gently when we rolled up to a red light. "Since it just grows back immediately. It's said that a demon's power can be measured by the length of their hair, the colour, and how quickly it grows. It even depends on how wavy it is or not. Which is why your father had to constantly cut his, and I do as well. You also saw how Lilith's hair was so curly it practically moved – all that are mechanisms to display to other demons how strong we are. And," he added, reaching over to pinch a lock of my hair, "I know that your hair grows incredibly quickly, as well. It also won't allow you to dye it." When I didn't protest, because it was the truth, he

sat back in his seat with a smug little grin. "You really are Glaziel's daughter; you're more powerful than you know with hair like that."

"Sounds like a load of bull to me," I muttered, but he only laughed in response, clearly a nonbeliever. It occurred to me that we really shouldn't have been talking about that with El in the car, but after glancing to the backseat to see what they were up to, it was quite clear that none of them could even hear us. El was singing at the top of her lungs, a completely tone-deaf and screeching voice, to drown out Lilith's yelling and grumbling, creating a cacophony of deafening noises. Lee's hearing was far better than mine, so if it was bad for me it was absolute hell for him, but he didn't utter a word of complaint; he simply reached over and turned on the radio, and immediately I recognized the voice of Utau Hoshina oozing from the speakers. El suddenly got very quiet, and then I heard some sniffles come from the back, and suddenly Lilith was floating over to help comfort her instead of scream at her.

How horrible to be cast aside by your bearer as if you were nothing. Granted, I was being hypocritical as I came close to that once myself, but poor El was clearly not wanted in the only place she belonged. I couldn't even begin to imagine how she must have felt; while I never really lived with my real family, my adopted one was always welcoming, always wanted me there. It must have been one of the worst things to experience in the world.

Lee slid my phone out of his pocket to glance at the directions once, then handed it back to me. "I know where to go," he said with a wry smirk, and soon we were in that part of the city where the houses got further and further apart until there were none altogether – simply open roads framed by forests and fields upon fields of snow. It didn't surprise me that he knew where I wanted to go; this was his city, after all. He drove a bit further until we reached the bluffs where the Guardians and I had picnicked once, the one with the patch of red spider lilies. The thought only reminded me of my dream, of being completely drowned by them and torn apart by them, the flowers in between the living and the dead. I saw no sign of them in the area completely coated with white like frothy cream spilling over the bluff's edge, and Lee pulled to a stop in what could be seen of the dusty parking spot Kukai-kun had once parked in.

"You go wherever you need to," he told me as we both climbed out of the car, slamming the doors behind us. My Shugo Chara instantly were snuggling against my neck beneath my scarf, and El could only stand a few seconds of stubborn shivering before she joined as well. "I have some business to attend to."

I tilted my head to the side and asked, "Whereabouts?" When he pointed to the edge of the bluff, in the direction of the crashing waters below, I figured it was best not to ask. I thanked him again before we went our separate ways, the snow leaking into my boots not bothering me in the slightest.

"How aren't you freezing?" El hissed at me. "It's even colder out here by the water!"

"S-S-Snow built up a strong im-m-munity to the cold," Satsuki chattered. I zipped up my coat even further, almost all the way to my chin to help them get warmer. "Go left from here," she told me, already certain that I had no idea where I was going. All I knew was that when we began to see that small, shattered Shinto shrines, we were getting close. I wondered how Ayame-san survived out here in the cold tundra of Akutetsu every day, tending to the creaky old shrine that surely was never warm enough.

Deciding to visit her was a spur-of-the-moment thing that came to me when I was writing in the journal, telling my parents about all the people I'd met here. I'd received her phone number the last time the Guardians and I were there, and it was quite the awkward conversation explaining to her that I couldn't physically enter the shrine grounds "because it was against my religion", since I already had before. Yet somehow I managed to deceive her, feeling guilty the entire time, as she was such a good-natured person. Unfortunately, it was under the circumstance that I may never be able to see her again, since I hardly ever got the time to go out and visit her in the first place. I no longer had the time to make mistake or waste the days away; I had to make of them everything I could. While that meant reconnecting with the people who'd once had their Eggs X'd, it also meant trying to get along better with the new Guardians. My shoulders caved forward at the thought, making El screech at me for letting some of the cold in. For a guest, she sure was making herself right at home by stealing some of my warmth – though it wasn't like I needed it.

The delicate little Shinto shrines were mostly buried beneath the snow, but the girls recognized the way regardless. When El finally piped up at ask them where we were headed and why they kept having to recite directions to me, Vivian probably rolled her eyes and responded, "We're going to visit someone who's Egg we've purified before, to check on her and make nice, I guess. And Snow has some major issues with directions."

El snorted, tossing her head back so her hair tickled my neck. "Utau-chan never gets lost, anywhere she goes. Confidence is key." I actually laughed aloud at that, making her small body heat up – most likely from anger. "Why are you laughing?"

"What's there to be confident about? I literally have no idea where I'm going, any time of day."

"That may be true," she responded, thunking a fist against my neck. "But just believe that you'll get there. It doesn't matter if the way is long or hard – so long as you have the will to be somewhere, that's where you'll be."

The four of us were stunned into silence, and I actually stopped walking to look down at her with wide eyes. She glanced around at us, miffed and confused. "What did I say?"

"That was actually amazingly insightful," I told her, and she just scoffed and told me to keep walking.

The crunching of my feet in the snow was deafening in the otherwise barren land, nothing but that dusty white powder dancing in the wind for miles and miles. I tripped over a slight incline in the ground, and knew we were getting close, since the Inari shrine was at the top of the hill. I whipped out my phone to text Ayame-san that I was almost there, when my eyes drifted upwards and I saw a dark figure standing near the top of the stairs, a few meters down from the tori. With my eyesight, I could see who it was even from a distance, and was more than a little confused as to why he was there. "Sanjou-san?" I called to confirm my assumption, and I knew for sure that it was him when his head whipped around and the white of the snow glinted off of his glasses.

Since I was frightened to even attempt climbing those stairs, wary of getting my leg chomped by a kitsune statue again, I waited until he marched his way down to me, his booted feet buried in the snow. He was close enough for me to see his heavy black coat, evergreen beanie and matching mittens, the tops of his cheeks dusted red like the syrup on shaved ice. His slanted eyes stared up at me, blank yet cordial, and I was struck again by how adorable he was (I may have had a thing for glasses). "Hisayuki-senpai," he said by way of greeting, and my chest squeezed with the need to punch something. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said, smiling as friendly as I could. He did not look very impressed. "I'm visiting a friend."

"Ayame Ounomori-san, I presume?" He guessed, and my eyes widened again, though not in an affronted way

"Yes, actually. How did you know?"

He pushed his glasses further up his nose, and I had to look away, the violent reaction from seeing something so adorable growing stronger. "I'm here for essentially the same reason. I'm putting further research into all the Guardians' exploits from the past to see how I can help us improve in the future."

"Wow," I whistled, my smile taking on more of an admiring edge. "That's very diligent of you."

"Thank you," he said respectfully, bowing his head slightly. In my peripheral vision I could see Musashi-kun, staring out beyond the bluffs into something I couldn't see, and suddenly remembered that Satsuki was all but infatuated with him. No wonder my neck had felt so hot. "Um, pardon me," he mumbled, suddenly a bit sheepish, and I whipped my attention back to him. "I understand that what I said when we first met may have been a bit… harsh, but I-"

I held a hand up to stop him, my heart panging a bit painfully against my chest at the memory of feeling so humiliated in front of Tadase-kun, but I couldn't let my own feelings get in the way of what we were trying to accomplish. "Say no more. You were completely right, Sanjou-san – I wasn't being efficient enough. What you said really helped to remind me of what I needed to do, and how it had to be done." I beamed at him, cheeks a little warm from saying something truthfully embarrassing, but continued on nonetheless. "So thank you. I'm really glad that you became a Guardian, and I hope we can get along better from now on."

I did not get the reaction I was expecting; instead of answering me politely yet distantly, his emerald eyes widened, framed by long, dark lashes, and the tops of his cheeks only seemed to redden further. "Uh," he stumbled, unable to meet my eyes. "I, erm, hope so as well. I'll be in your care." He gently raised a hand up to me, like trying to make friends with a skittish animal, and I took it easily, relieved that he was a lot nicer than he first seemed. Then I heard someone call my name, and he snatched his hand away, shoving his mitten back on. I wondered if I'd imagined the brief moment we just had, and sighed wistfully, then lifted my head to see Ayame-san decked out in her casual winterwear jogging down the stairs to meet us.

"Hey," I called to her, rasing my hand in a wave. Sanjou-san shifted back into his professional appearance, standing up straight and rigid with Musashi in an identical position at his side.

"It's been so long!" She panted when she finally reached us, her lovely light brown hair swinging from beneath her hat. "I'm sorry if I kept you waiting! Though, I don't think I did, since I just got your text, like, a minute ago, and I ran straight outside then realized I forgot my coat, then-"

"It's good to see you, too," I laughed, having forgotten how quickly she spoke, like a chipmunk on helium. "How have you been? Have more visitors been coming to the shrine?"

"Yes!" She squealed, those big brown eyes glittering with sparks of excitement. "It was so strange! After you guys left, it was like everyone was coming here. They said something about how Lee Carceon recommended it, but I don't really know who that is, so I just assumed that you guys kept your promise!"

Why was I not surprised that Lee had a hand in that? I looked briefly to my Shugo Chara, just to confirm that they had blabbed everything about the Guardians to him, like the monstrous little reporters they were – and judging by the looks on their faces, that assumption was completely correct. My smile widened as I took in her cheeks flushed with joy, and I said, "Lee's my uncle, and he's got a lot of influence back in the city. I'm so happy for you."

"Oooh, then it's all thanks to you!" She shrieked, throwing her arms around my neck. I patted her back awkwardly, like a new stepfather with his young stepchild, and she quickly retracted herself. "I don't know how to thank you. How about I treat you to lunch? Wait, I have no money, and no way to get out from this area, and you can't come into the shrine for me to make something-"

"Don't even worry about it," I told her with another little giggle. "I didn't really do much. I'm just glad to see that things are looking up for you guys." I saw Sanjou-san gazing at me speculatively from the corner of my eye, as if I held some dark mysterious secret he yearned to uncover (which wasn't entirely untrue).

"Oh, by the way," she said suddenly, turning to my young companion. "I don't believe we've met before! I'm Ayame Ounomori, a friend of Snow's!"

"Charmed," he murmured, grasping her hand lightly in a brisk shake. "I'm Kairi Sanjou, the new Jack's chair of the Guardians."

She cocked her head to the side, lost. "What happened to Kukai-san?"

"But I never mentioned Kobo Daishi-"

"He transferred," I cut in before Sanjou-san could go on a historical tangent. "To Mayosu Academy. You haven't seen him around?"

Since Mayosu was the school closest to the edge of town, it was the only one that had buses that came all the way out here to pick Ayame-san up for school. She considered for a moment, shoving her hands in her coat pockets and swaying side to side until she finally responded, "I thought I saw someone who looked like him travelling with one of the infamous kids at our school, Ikuto Tsukiyomi's, crew. But I thought I'd imagined it, since I knew he was a Guardian. I guess it must have been him! I'll have to try and say hi the next time I see him. Oooh, I really hope he remembers me – it would be awfully embarrassing if he didn't, don't you think? In fact, I should have thought to grab his number along with yours…"

For once I was actually drowning her out, the conversation around me turning into nothing but white noise since I heard her say Ikuto's name. So Kukai-kun was doing his job, then, and infiltrating their group to gather some intel. But I couldn't help the sick clenching of my stomach or the way my hands uncontrollably balled into fists, the memory of his back striding away from me burned into my mind. It did not go past Sanjou-san's notice; his eyebrows creased in an emotion akin to confusion at the very sudden shift in my mood, but if he knew as much as he said he did about the Guardians, there was no way I could tell him that our arch-nemesis had basically broken off his friendship with me. We shouldn't have been friends to begin with, as he said. My nails drew blood from my palms, splattering the snow with bright red drops, paint on a blank canvas.

"Snow-san?" Ayame-san asked me, and I turned to her with a strained smile.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" She and Sanjou-san were both looking at me with worried eyes, probably because my expression was one with murderous intent and despair. Because while the whole incident with Ikuto made me said, it also made me furious beyond words.

"Could it be," Ayame-san began, her doe-eyes widening so that the whites showed all around, "you know Tsukiyomi-senpai?"

I snorted, shoving my hands into my pockets as the wounds from my fingernails sealed themselves up and proceeded to stop stinging. "All of the Guardians do. You could say we have a history."

"It's interesting," she murmured, a sly grin spreading on her face. "A girl at our school, Saaya Yamabuki, was going on about some Albino girl stealing all of his attention lately." Without my consent, my face went bright red, just signalling to the both of them that I knew him a lot better than I said I did.

"Well, it couldn't be me," I muttered gruffly, looking in the same direction as Musashi-kun – who, I realized, was now watching Satsuki watch him. Oh my. "I'm not an Albino. I'm from Louisiana, for chrissake."

"But you certainly-"

"Let's just talk about something else," I almost whispered. Ayame-san was a lot more perceptive than she seemed, I had to give her that. She was still grinning at me and my beet-red face, while Sanjou-san seemed to be in a state of shock. I clapped a hand on his shoulder to snap him out of it, and the colour of his face flushed to one identical to mine. "The Guardians have made it their official business to drum up business for Ayame-san's shrine. That means you should, as well, whenever you've got the chance."

"Naturally," he coughed, pushing his glasses up again. I noticed that was a habit he took to whenever he felt slightly awkward, or about to launch into an explanation. I prayed it was the former; which, unluckily, it wasn't. He went on and on about how the Guardians took their missions very seriously, and what other methods we could use to bring attention to this shrine. After Ayame-san very bluntly cut him off by saying he was boring the daylight away, I burst into a fit of my very unladylike giggles, and we proceeded to talk about more asinine things. I whipped out the thermos of hot cocoa I'd prepared, knowing that we'd be stuck outside, and each of them took it gratefully as we kicked snow off the steps and sat to chat. I didn't need it, and felt like I'd only overheat if I drank it in my heavy coat, so I let them go to town and scald their tongues as I stared out at the completely crystalline landscape. It reminded me of Stiriacus, of the tundra where I'd met my father for the first time in thirteen years. The memory of his gargantuan skeleton skittered through my mind, threatening to choke me up and hack away the tears I couldn't shed.

"You know, I'd bet you'd be a real cutie if you smiled," Ayame-san was chastising Sanjou-san. "I mean, look at Snow-san; she gets about twenty times prettier with that little smile." I grinned jokingly at her, crossing my eyes, and she chuckled at the sight and sipped her beverage, frowning when it burnt her tongue again. "Come on, show us a smile!" She hedged, nudging him in the side with her elbow. I leaned towards him as well, eager to see the result.

"Th-that's ridiculous!" He hissed, looking away and pushing up his glasses. I knew it. "I can't smile when nothing's funny!" That reminded me of Mashiro-san, and my mood soured a bit again. "Besides, I should really get going soon. I've already been out way longer than I said I'd be."

"Who drove you out here, anyway?" Ayame-san asked before I could, since I was also a bit curious about that. He didn't seem to know Kukai-kun at all, so it couldn't have been; who else would be willing for a reason like researching the Guardians.

He hesitated a moment before quietly saying, "My older sister. She's the one I'm staying with now."

"Need a lift back?" I asked him, and when he remained silent for a few more beats than necessary, I nodded to myself. "I gotcha. Better tell your sister not to worry about it."

"I'm sorry," he said, as if on impulse. "It's just that I don't think she'd be able to find her way out here by her-"

"Instead of 'sorry', you should be saying 'thank you', right?" I asked him with a smile. He clamped his lips shut and nodded, still looking apologetic but not as much.

"Thank you, Hisayuki-senpai."

"Snow is fine," I said for the second time that day, extracting my phone from my pocket to tell Lee that I was ready, and to ask if we could drive Sanjou-san home.

"Then you should just call me by my name," he countered. "You're being far too polite for someone who's older."

"Yeah, really," Ayame-san snorted. "San is way too polite to refer to me. Just Ayame would be fine with me."

They both looked a bit taken aback when I blushed, since I was flattered that they were letting me be that familiar with them. "Thanks for hanging out with us, uh, Ayame-chan," I stuttered, and her cheeks went a bit redder than they already were, as well.

"Well, that's a little improvement," she said with that adorable little grin of hers. "And it was no problem. I'm overjoyed that you came all this way just to visit me in the first place!" She leaped off the stairs to squeeze me again with those thin little arms bulked up by her winter jacket, and I could only pat her back again in response. We said our goodbyes, and I promised to contact her again soon, but I didn't know for certain if I'd ever be able to visit again. Maybe I'd try to catch her one day after school – it would be far easier than driving all the way out to the shrine that I couldn't even set foot in, lest I lose my legs trying.

"Ready to go?" I asked Kairi-kun, who nodded respectfully in response. We began to trudge across the buried landscape, our steps leaving deep, winding trails in the snow. Kairi-kun struggled to get ahead of me, and for a moment I thought he was trying to compete with me, but then it hit me – he was trying to create a path for me to walk through, so that I didn't get snow stuck to the bottoms of my pants and soaked into my boots. Aww, that's so sweet, I thought to myself. A shame I didn't really need the gesture, but it was still kind of him all the same. Even though he was years younger than I was, it was nice to know that chivalry wasn't entirely dead. When we reached the car, of course Lee already had it heated and running, though he and I didn't need it; it was more to keep up appearances, like how humans needed tobe warm, such as Kairi-kun did. My underclassman let me pass him so that I could reach thecar first and introduce him to my uncle, all the while climbing in shotgun.

"Lee, this is my friend Kairi Sanjou," I said as the boy in questions very cautiously climbed in the back seat, being careful not to let any snow get in (though neither of us really cared, as that was what our lives centered around). "Kairi-kun, this is my uncle Lee Carceon."

"A pleasure," Kairi-kun said, to which my uncle responded, "Likewise." As he struggled out of our parking space buried in the snow, Kairi-kun seemed to consider for a few moments before asking, "Forgive me, but I believe I've heard the name Lee Carceon somewhere before, but I can't exactly but my finger on it…"

Lee graciously snorted. "I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually." I swat him on the arm, as most normal people would think he was being rude, when in reality it was kind of hard not to know his name in the city. The only reason Ayame-chan didn't know him was most likely because she lived on the outskirts – not to mention that she wasn't exactly high-tech and "in the know" (she still had a flip-phone). Kairi-kun was very affable about the whole thing by just looking a bit confused instead of insulted, and I looked at him apologetically.

"So where to first?" Lee asked, deciding to put the conversation out of mind – which was probably wise. We were cruising down the highway back into town by that point, a couple of farmhouses and forests dotting the landscape. I wondered if the area where Lee had taken me when he abducted me was nearby, with the warehouse shattered into concrete fragments and the sacred rowan tree. Judging from the way Lee slid his eyes to mine, it must have been – then I realized that he was still waiting for a response, and I was just staring blankly out the window, eerily still as the girls started chirping again in my lap.

"Uh, I'm not sure," I said, massaging the back of my head anxiously. "Whereabouts do you live, Kairi-kun?"

He honestly looked like he didn't want to say, and I could imagine why; we were quite the sketchy characters, all things considered. Before he could respond, though, his eyes travelled to glance quickly out the window, then he did a double-take. "Is that Mashiro-senpai out there?"

I followed his gaze, and noticed we had started to encroach upon the more residential areas in town instead of the commercial route. The houses were big, large enough for families with more than a few members, and eerily reminded me of the renovated Victorian I was raised in for the first five years of my life, with sprawling balconies and wraparound porches. The house Kairi-kun had pointed out was more dilapidated than the rest, the frozen winter and dead flora sucking all of the life and colour from it, leaving it a dull gray with windows spiderwebbed with cracks and shingles dangling from the roof. Mashiro-san stood sentinel in front of it in an immaculate white fur coat and matching earmuffs, hands shoved in her pockets, golden hair tumbling in voluminous curls down her back. If she wasn't so darned short, she could have passed for Deryn from behind, though her hair was all chopped off now. She glanced at the creeping car as if sensing our stares, and narrowed her citrine eyes in suspicion.

Lee stopped the car altogether, sensing our anxiousness. "A friend of yours?"

"Something like that," I murmured, putting a hand on his shoulder as I leaned in his direction to peer at her from the driver's side window. I swore she flipped up a very rude gesture, but I probably just imagined it. "Wanna check it out?" I asked Kairi-kun, who quickly threw me a cautious glance before nodding. "Thanks for driving us, Uncle Lee," I told him as we began clambering out of the car. "I'll text you later."

"No, you're going to call me," he grumbled, eyebrows furrowing. "I prefer to hear your voice. No problem, though."

I hesitated, hovering in the doorway of the car, then gently threw my arms around him in a farewell hug before I could think twice about it. He stiffened before using one arm to casually wrap around my shoulders, then I fled the scene to go join Mashiro-san and Kairi-kun, who were waiting for me expectantly.

"What's up?" I asked her, in what I believed to be a completely normal way, but she only snorted at me.

"What are you, a thug or something?" Honestly, though, what had I done? "Kusukusu said she sensed something coming from here," she muttered, pointing vaguely at the house. "Something similar to an X-Egg's dark energy, though it wasn't entirely there yet."

"So you came and checked it out?" It was quite obvious I couldn't hide my surprise, from the peak of my eyebrows and crossed arms.

She levelled another dark look at me. "Well, of course. That is our job, isn't it? Not that you'd do anything about that."

I decided to let that one fly. "But why here? Did you just so happen to be wandering in this end of town by coincidence?" I gestured in a very ambiguous way to the area around us, one that made Kairi-kun rear his head back in disapproval. "Mayosu is in… this general area."

"Good job, Snow," Lilith rolled her eyes, and I snapped my fingers in her face, leaving her to yelp and hide behind her sisters. El was securely hidden within my scarf, keeping out of the Guardians' eyes in case they were wondering who she belonged to, which was a question I couldn't answer. Mashiro-san flipped her hair behind her shoulder, amazingly not disrupting her earmuffs, and looked indignant before rummaging in her coat pocket for a moment.

"It was this," she said, pulling out what looked to be a photograph, judging from the shine the sun threw on it. There was a young boy in it, shirt splattered with many different colours – most likely paint – standing beside an elderly man with his hand wrapped around his shoulder. The house in the background looked familiar… then I realized it was the very building we were in front of now, and while it was the same dreary gray, it looked so much more filled with life, with bright shutters on the windows without cracks and roof in one piece. "I ran into a boy yesterday at school – who looked really upset, might I add – and he dropped this. When Kusukusu said there may be an X-Egg here, I figured it was worth looking into."

"I see," I muttered, sliding a glance to the girls. They nodded in confirmation that, yes, there was a malicious presence there. "It's a good thing we came along, then. We can check it out together."

She huffed, blowing her straight bangs up and away from her face. "I can take care of myself, thanks."

"It is our duty as Guardians to help one another," Kairi-kun, bless him, cut in. "If something happened to you, we'd be responsible for letting you go on your own. Besides, you and Hisayuki-senpai are teammates." I rolled my eyes at his formality, which he sputtered and flushed at. Mashiro-san narrowed her eyes into slits observing the two of us.

"Fine," she muttered, turning on the heel of her designer-brand boot so that her hair almost hit me in the face. "Just don't get in my way."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I muttered, making the girls snort. I felt a rumble against the dip in my collarbone and thought El was growling in rage before I realized that she was just restraining laughter. She probably thought all of this was ridiculous – Utau-chan most likely didn't have to deal with anyone who gave her attitude.

As we crept inside the property, past the towering wrought-iron gate with dangerous spikes on the end that horribly reminded me of The Virgin Suicides, I got a violently sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The house looked innocent, if not crumbling, but something about it just screamed 'there are ghosts in here!'. Maybe it was because it was manor-like, and bigger houses like that always seemed to have a paranormal influence. Either way, I did not want to take another step. Learning about the existence of demons only deepened my fear of all things paranormal; ghosts and ghouls spooked me before, but now it was just ridiculous, since it was more than likely that they existed. I forced my feet to move nonetheless, my obligation to the Guardians winning out over my fear, but I was not happy about it. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered, and to the unknowing eye it looked like I was just cold when that couldn't be further from the truth.

"This house looks like it could be haunted," I muttered, earning eye rolls from Lil and Viv. Mashiro-san looked back at me, mimicking them, and I couldn't help but notice how truly alike they were.

"You don't have to come."

"You wish." Despite the bravado, I was still terrified, and it only worsened when Kairi-kun stepped ahead of us and pushed the massive double doors open with a high-pitched squeal. No light leaked out, only the eerie gray winter shine beaming through the windows, and it was so silent that even the dustbunnies quaked in fear. We stepped through the threshold, the knockers in the shape of roaring lions watching us pass, and left the cool winter behind for a stuffy, massive entrance hall with a lush carpet covering the floor and stairs and various paintings crowding the walls. The floorboards creaked under the carpet as we cautiously stepped inside, and it definitely looked abandoned from the mothball smell and dust covering every surface. The staircase looked about five feet wide and wound up a couple meters before reaching a landing and continuing on to the second floor, the posts at the end of the intricately carved banister carved into a shape that resembled a bird in flight on the top. The windows were massive, but covered with thin white curtains, stirring from the wind left behind from outside. A grand fireplace made of marble stood powerfully to the right, antique dolls sitting on the mantle with blank, glassy eyes. I was amazed it was unlocked, since it appeared to be abandoned for a long time; it was astounding that even the front gate was unlocked. It was almost like… something wanted us to come in here. The squeamish smile on my face was seconds away from cracking, and I snapped when the doors slammed shut behind us.

"They just shut by themselves!" I hissed, lowering into an animalistic crouch. Mashiro-san examined me with disgust while Kairi-kun seemed to be just checking out the décor.

"It's windy," the Queen groaned, sick of my jumpiness. "Quit acting like a baby; you're an adult, for God's sake."

"I know!" I squealed, hunkering down in my coat. "But Shugo Chara exist, so why shouldn't ghosts?"

While Mashiro-san just rolled her eyes so far back I thought they'd get stuck on the whites, Kairi-kun's eyebrow started twitching, and he started grumbling something about 'unscientific'. He sounded a lot like me when I first learned of their existence – so basically, in denial. Shivers began to rack my body, and he looked at me in concern.

"Cold?" He asked, and I almost laughed.

"No." That doesn't happen. "Just, uh, a little spooked, I guess."

"I'm sure everything will be fine," he said, attempting to be reassuring but coming off more condescending. "We should get to work. We have to be able to handle this ourselves, without the aid of our King or Ace. Otherwise we can't really call ourselves Guardians, now can we?"

"Right," Mashiro-san agreed eagerly, grinning maliciously at me. "You're not too bad, Jack."

"I appreciate the compliment."

At that moment, a sinister howl echoed throughout the gargantuan house, rattling the vents it streamed from and making me scream at it in disoriented fury in return. The other Guardians looked incredibly chilled, their eyes wide and spines rigid, since there was no way anything human could have made that noise. I prayed that it wasn't something demonic, otherwise I'd be dragging them into a serious mess that they did not need to be a part of. I was scared out of my wits, more frightened than I was when I went to Hell, since that had seemed more like a dream than reality. But if there was something I could do, as a Guardian and a half-demon…

"We should split up," Kairi-kun suggested lowly, his evergreen eyes narrowed as he kept a watchful eye on the staircase, as if expecting a monster to come barreling down any minute.

"Are you insane?" I demanded, looking at him with wild eyes. "Have you ever seen Scooby-Doo? Shaggy and Scoob always run into trouble when they split up and look for clues!''

"All I hear is jibberish," Mashiro-san scoffed, but she couldn't hide the way her hands shook when she pulled her earmuffs off to hang around her neck. "I agree with the Jack. We'll cover more ground. I'll check out down here."

"That means Hisayuki-senpai and I need to split upstairs," Kairi-kun concluded. "Left and right. Does that sound okay to you?"

I gave him an exasperated look. "None of this sounds okay to me, but if you insist."

With an uneasy heart, Kairi-kun and I creaked our way up the stairs, our combined weight making them bow and look as though they would collapse at any second. Each little creak caused a muscle in my back to jump, always prepared to bolt, and while he seemed uncomfortable, it wasn't like he was scared out of his wits. We turned on the landing and reached the top of the stairs, footsteps muffled by the carpet, and before we went our separate ways I accidentally bolted my hand out like a flash of lightning and grabbed the hem of his coat.

His face flushed. "I-is something the matter?"

"Uh, no," I stammered, ice spreading in my stomach as I let go. "Not at all. Sorry. I'll see you soon." With that, I turned to the right and made my way down the dusty hallway, illuminated only by that gray light coming from outside through the spiderwebbed windows.

Paintings in gilded frames covered almost every available space on the walls, along with some abandoned vases on rickety end tables housing nothing but mould and spiders. The carpet was a deep, forest green with a golden yellow damask pattern intertwined through it, leading through the long hallway to the end where the only window was stationed. A deep creaking settled in my bones, which made it sound like I was made of boards. The chandeliers had broken lightbulbs with a dance of cobwebs adding to their finesse, none of the doors were open… except one, which was only opened a slight crack, spilling a sliver of light into the hall. Well, if that didn't scream "I'm suspicious!" or "Open me, I'm dangerous!" I didn't know what did. I hesitated, knowing I wasn't going to find much else in the hallway, then tried to twist some of the copper knobs on the heavy wooden doors. All of them were locked, and wouldn't budge no matter how hard I jiggled it. My hand came away smelling like rust and iron. I frowned down at it, dread curdling in my chest, and Lilith let out a scoff. "Just go in the damn room already. Nothing too awful could be in there."

"There could quite literally be any number of things in there, actually," I mumbled, resisting the urge to wipe the offending hand on my jeans. "You guys – and my own self, as a matter of fact – are proof of that."

"You'd sense if something was in there," Satsuki pointed out, but I wasn't too sure. My powers were apparently sealed after all, thanks to my old man.

"What on earth are you people talking about?" El demanded, screeching from beneath the scarf. I thought she'd be too hot in there, but there could have been a draft in the building that probably hadn't had any source of heat in a long time.

"Nothing special," I said easily, the lie slipping out without leaving a bitter taste in my mouth – because I sincerely believed that the less people knew, the better. "I'm just a tad bit frightened of… ghosts and the like, and this looks like a haunted house straight from a carnival. All we're missing is some coffins here and there."

"There could be some in that room," Vivian murmured, her face so serious that I was seriously considering bolting back down the stairs and straight out the front door. "The door is open since they rise every night to feed on their victims-"

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" I hissed, and before I could second guess myself, I whirled and lifted a leg to kick the door open with such force that the knob penetrated through the wallpaper and drywall in the room on the other side of it and stuck there. I stood there for a moment, my leg still raised and fists still clenched, before I whispered, "Shit."

"Not only are we breaking and entering, but now we're destroying the property as well?" El cried, her head poking out from my scarf. At least the hallway had a bit more light in it; one of the larger windows of the second floor was in the unlocked room, beaming that cold light on us and illuminating the dust motes twirling through the air, stirred in the door's wake.

"It was an accident," I said dumbly, as if that would help the situation. "Besides, obviously no one lives here any more. It can't be that big of a deal."

"It's still destruction of property! There are laws-"

"Who's there?"

All of us froze, our mouths still hanging open in the midst of our argument, muscles seized and bones shook. None of us had said it, that much we knew. The voice had been fleeting as a breath, quiet as the wind. Slowly, we turned our heads, searching for the source and preparing to run from it, and we saw a massive shadow looming on the wall, deformed and wavering in the winter light.

My high-pitched scream echoed down the hallway as a small amount of frost shot across the floor and up the windows. Nothing compared to what I had previously done, but still intense nonetheless. My body had a strange burning cold coursing through it, nervousness making me flush and fear making my blood run cold, and I kept screaming even though I heard a smaller scream accompanying my own. It took me a moment to realize that the shadow was just that – a shadow. That meant that there had to be a figure casting it. Chest heaving, I glanced around the room until I saw a small, shaking figure on a table pushed up against the wall with the largest window, one that was almost transparent.

My breath caught. It was a Shugo Chara.

As soon as I noticed it, the girls did as well and rushed over to help calm him down and silence the screaming. "It's okay," they told him, reaching out their hands cautiously. "We're like you! We won't hurt you."

"But… but that lady kicked the door in!" He sobbed, staring at me in terror.

Well, damn. That had backfired more than I originally thought.

"What's your name?" Satsuki tried again, her most gentle smile in place as I attempted to right the door against the wall. "Who do you belong to?"

He sniffed once nervously before answering. "It's Kuta, and my owner is… is Shota." It seemed difficult for him to get out. Suddenly I realized why he could have been transparent, why he looked as if he might disappear. One of the only conclusions was that his owner was beginning to stop beliveving in him. As if he could follow my train of thought, he looked away, ashamed. "He lived here a year or so ago, until he moved away last October. He goes to Seiyo Academy."

"So do I," I said quietly, cautiously holding my hands out to the door in case it fell again. When I decided it was stable enough, I turned to the gathering of Charas, and saw they were all sitting in a circle on the table. El chose to wander about, not getting involved in the Guardians' business but just sick of being glued to my overheating skin. "What grade is he in? Perhaps I know him."

"He's a freshman," Kuta-kun explained, tugging on his beret shyly. I then took notice of what he was wearing; that little white beret resting slanted on his head, with a periwinkle shaul and tan pants. His hair was an orange that nearly matched Yaya-san's in terms of brilliance, with the vivid green eyes of Kukai-kun… dear god, this Shugo Chara was their lovechild. The stereotype associated with berets automatically made me think 'artist', which may have explained the artwork intensive walls in this house. Examining the room in further detail, I saw that there were easel-like shapes covered up with linens to prevent dusting, unfinished pieces lying discarded in the corners.

This mansion must have belonged to a painter. There was probably many more likely conclusions that could have been drawn from that kind of evidence, but since that was the first one I came to, I was sticking to it. I began to struggle to come up with a freshman's face to match the name Shota, but was drawing up a blank; I hadn't had enough time to truly get to know every face and name in the school, though I should have, as a Guardian. I glanced at Kuta-kun, at his near-transparent body, and narrowed my eyes into slits. "So what's the story here? Why are you almost completely invisible?"

"Snow," Lilith scolded, eyes burning like yellow fire. "A bit insensitive, don't you think?"

"No, no," Kuta-kun sighed, wringing the hem of his shaul in his hands. "It's a completely valid question. Um… Shota-kun used to want to be an artist," he began, and I cheered internally for my amazing detective skills. I could be the next Sherlock. "That was the dream I was born from. But then something happened, and he can't stand painting anymore. So… I'm fading away." His last words were accompanied by a sense of dread, eccentuated by the panicked look on his face. How awful it must have felt, to be completely aware that you were going to disappear within a short time frame and being unable to do anything about it.

That was something I could understand.

"We have to be able to do something," I muttered to myself, crossing my arms over my chest. I looked over to the paintings discarded to the corner, at El turning from them to me with a wonderous expression on her face. "How could we convince him to keep faith in his dream? Maybe it would help if we knew what disturbed it in the first place."

Kuta-kun was at a loss for words. "But… you don't even know him. Or me. Why would you help us?"

I stared at him in horror, as did my girls. "You expect me to just let you disappear? How could I call myself human if I let some kid's dream just fade away like that?" What an ironic thing to say. I shook it off, listing options in my head to see if we could get into contact with Shota-kun, convince him to keep painting. "It'd weigh on my conscience if I let that happen. So I'm doing this more for me than you. Let's see… Mashiro-san!" I exclaimed, pounding a fist into my palm. "She ran into Shota-kun earlier, when he dropped that picture. She may know something."

"Look at you, being clever for once," Viv snickered, and I tossed a glare at her over my shoulder. "I guess this is the potential X-Egg situation she and Kusukusu were talking about. We'd better go find them before something really spooky happens."

"Can it, Viv."

"Come on, Kuta-kun," Satsuki beckoned, completely brushing off our hostile banter. "We're going to figure this out. You don't have to be alone in here anymore."

The artist Chara's eyes glistened like dewy grass as he took her proferred hand, wiping his nose on his sleeve. "Thank you," he said, and I couldn't help but smile. Strange how fulfilling it felt to put one person at ease just by offering a little help.

El burrowed back under my scarf, grumbling about the injustice of it all the entire time, and at that exact moment my stomach growled. All I'd had today was that hot chocolate, and my demonic appetite was starting to get the better of me. I wondered if they'd be okay with going to get food when we were done in the house…

Scaring the hell out of me, Kairi-kun suddenly burst into the room, his normally smoothed-down, neat hair sitkcing up in different directions. "Are you alright?" He demanded, panting. "I heard a scream."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine!" I said quickly, rushing over to him to make sure he didn't hurt himself with all that heaving. "Something just gave me a little scare, that's all." I was suddenly unable to meet his eyes, cheeks reddening a bit. "Told ya I wasn't good with spooky stuff."

"That's a relief," he exhaled, the breath ruffling the hair framing his face and fogging up his glasses. "I was worried something had happened – I mean, of course I wasn't worried about some absurd paranormal activity," he quickly amended as he pushed up his glasses with a self-conscious cough. "Because that's preposterous."

"Sure," I giggled, then introduced him to Kuta-kun and explained the situation. "Since Mashiro-san is the only one who's met Shota-kun and came here in the first place, we figured she may be able to help."

"Not a bad idea," he told me, and hearing that from him was like hearing the heavenly choir sing. "I believe I saw her lingering around the entrance on my way here." An eerie, squealing creak suddenly echoed throughout the halls, and I jumped to grab on to his sleeve. When it was quickly followed by a disturbing slam and nothing but silence, we exchanged a worried glance.

"Did she just bail on us?" I wondered aloud, but he could only shake his head.

"No," Kuta-kun piped in suddenly, letting go of Satsuki's hand to fly ahead of us, fast as a bullet. "That's Shota-kun!" The girls quickly pursued him, El apparently rumbling like an earthquake in frustration against the dip in my collarbone, and Kairi-kun and I weren't far behind. We beamed down the suddenly lively hallway, our footsteps muted to soft pounds against the plush carpet until we came to the staircase that led to the entryway. We were shushed by the Charas before we could fully descend the carpeted steps, and saw that they were just lingering on the first landing, Kuta-kun's eyes staring at something, completely rapt. We crept carefully down the stairs, taking care to make sure they didn't creak, and crouched beside them to observe whatever they were looking at through the wooden rails – only to see Mashiro-san at the bottom of the steps, having a Mexican standoff with what must have been Shota-kun who stood stiffly at the door.

"You're the new Queen's chair," Shota-kun muttered, his olive eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," she responded, her voice distant and apathetic. "Here. You dropped this the other day." She rummaged in the pocket of her coat and emerged with the picture that had lead her here, where he had been smiling so wholeheartedly beside the older man in the painter's smock and beret.

His eyes widened even further, and he stormed forward to snatch it out of her hand. He cradled it carefully, like it could shatter any moment, and doesn't say anything for a long time – long enough that my legs start to feel asleep, crouching there like that. I shifted so I was sitting cross-legged, while Kairi-kun remained crouching and enraptured in their conversation. He seemed like the kind of guy who would be used to sitting in seiza, a real disciplined upstanding student.

"You look happy in that picture," Mashiro-san continued calmly, keeping a levelhead even though Shota-kun was being somewhat rude to her – this took me by surprise, and I wondered why she couldn't have that kind of courtesy with me. "Is that older man with you your grandfather?" That made way more sense than the concluscion I'd arrived that, that he was simply a famous painter or something he'd met before and had the photo taken in a moment of startstruckness.

Shota-kun stared at her for a long moment before answering, most likely trying to gauge how trustworthy and sincere she was being. He muttered some things to himself as he shuffled over to the bottom step of the staircase to take a seat, and Kairi-kun and I had to press together to make sure we kept out of sight. "Yes," he said quietly, gazing at the picture almost wistfully. Mashiro-san wandered over to join him, keeping a respectful distance between them. "He was a painter, as you could probably tell. We lived in this house a bit over a year ago with my parents. He was a painter." Kairi-kun's and my shoulders stiffened against each other when we identified the past tense in that sentence. "His work is all over this house, the unfinished ones in his studio." That must have been the room where we found Kuta-kun. "I wanted to be as good a painter as him someday. No matter what I did, he was honest with me, telling me where I needed to improve, or how good it was." A tender smile twisted up his face, and Mashiro-san summoned one up to match. But then Shota-kun's quickly faded as his grip on the picture tightened.

"My parents argued about it," he said, a growl-like tone entering his voice. "They didn't understand just how serious I was about painting, and always told me to find something better to do with my life." I could sense what was coming next, and turned my head away from them to stare at the wild dance of dustmotes illuminated by the snow's light in the bay window at the top of the landing. My jaw clenched, because I knew that look, the one you got when you lost something dear to you, in his eyes. "When grandpa died, my parents divorced; he was the only thing keeping them civil with each other. No one was left to support my dream, so… I just gave up on it." His grip on the picture went limp as his head hung slightly. "I mean, what's the point of having a dream if you have no one left to share it with? I don't… want to paint anymore."

Ouch. That had definitely hurt Kuta-kun's feelings, judging from the shell-shocked look on his face. He had been there to support Shota-kun's dreams, but now he was all but being thrown away just because his bearer couldn't be bothered to acknowledge his existence. He floated dangerously close to the space between the rails, his hand reaching out as if to show Shota-kun that someone really was there for him. But the stubborn freshman didn't even lift his head, -the picture crumpling in his vice grip. "Having a dream like that is just-"

"Useless," Kuta-kun finished, able to read his bearer's heart. His eyes closed in painful aquiescence, tears slipping out from their corners. Viv and Lili raised their eyebrows at that word, sensing that something we knew all too well was coming. In a fit of unexpected rage, Shota-kun suddenly vaulted out of his sitting position and tore the picture in two. The light drained out of Kuta-kun's eyes, as if someone had slammed the blinds shut on a bright sunny day, and a dark figure began to fade into existence and close around him – an X-Egg encasing him. Kairi-kun shot upwards, Character Changed with Musashi in an instant, a bokuto materiailizing in his grip and his hair twisting up into a samurai's topknot. I wondered what he was planning to do with that sword, since there wasn't any way he could pummel the X-Egg into submission, but decided that it was just to help his samurai image.

Mashiro-san backed away from Shota-kun, who was clutching at his torso and vibrating, like something was trying to burst out of him. It only lasted for a few more moments before it became too much for him and he passed out, his body hitting the floor with a very painful-sounding thud. I understood what he was feeling in that moment; when a piece of your heart became overcast with shadow, it felt like you couldn't get any air into your lungs. Like a piece of your being was literally ripped out from you. The effect was indeed dizzying, and I almost fell to the ground myself as my vision swam and blurred the image of the X-Egg getting deep, eerily symmetrical cracks in it. It popped open in a shower of jet sparks, and Shota-kun's X-Character emerged holding a black pallet and paintbrush. How awfully ironic, that he was planning to use it as a weapon when it was something Shota-kun loved so much.

"So that's an X-Character," Kairi-kun breathed, his grip tightening around the hilt of his bokuto. I imagined we were all thinking the same thing; now we were way in over our heads. I briefly considered calling the other Guardians for back up, but who knew what would go down by the time they got here, at the edge of town. I clenched my teeth and swung over the banister at the top of the stairs, much to Kairi-kun's shock, and landed in a crouch on the floor, the impact jarring my legs only a little bit.

"Mashiro-san," I said to her, and she swung her head around to look at me, amber eyes wide and eyebrows pinched. "Now would be a good time to use that Character Transformation you're so proud of." It almost came out sounding like a shot, and was completed by the twisted grin that screwed up on my face. She blinked rapidly a few times, shock, before getting a sardonic grin herself and consumed by a blinding golden light. Kusukusu returned to her Egg, the shell coated with a dark and light pink argyle pattern with blue stars and teardrops in the center. I examined Shota-kun's X-Character, trying to determine who would be the best at dealing with him, then called upon Vivian.

Warmth engulfed me, and I almost choked in pleased surprise. It had been a while since I'd last Character Transformed, and I'd forgotten how complete it made you feel, how the hole in my chest left by my own Egg becoming an X was almost filled with the union of Vivian and I. I would never get over how strange it was to feel new fabric shifting over my skin, feel my hair being twisted in different directions, a hat plop on top of my head. Unconsciously I held out my hand to grasp the bass-ax, and when it appeared I held it close to my body as you would a real guitar, one hand caressing the neck and the other carefully cradling the bottom. "Dancing Pierrot," Viv and I said together, our voices overlapping and joining as one.

Kairi-kun looked completely awed in the presence of two Character Transformations, Mashiro-san's Clown Drop completed and prepared to battle. Before she could do anything I'd regret letting her get away with, I put an arm in front of her to stop her offensive. She levelled me with an intense glare, her eyes flaring up like alcohol on fire, and I stared down at her as calmly as I could. "Just listen," I said, and just as she was going to swat my arm away, the voice of Shota-kun's heart began ringing out, stunning the new Guardians into silence.

"Things can never go back to the way they were," it whispered, weaving through the air and into our ears. Mashiro-san's expression froze, her eyes glistening briefly, and I suddenly realized that she probably wasn't as cold-hearted as she wanted people to believe. "I was so happy back then, when Gramps was alive and Mom and Dad could smile." My heart stuttered at that one, and I hardened my glare at the offending X-Character, snickering at Shota-kun's misfortune. "Now everything is ruined. I can never go back," he repeated, then his voice faded away, leaving a strange sensation akin to loneliness filtering through the air, suffocating and stifling.

Someone had turned Mashiro-san's switch on, since she was apparently vibrating beside me. I cast her an odd look, caught the dark expression on her face, and I knew there was a lot more to her than what it seemed like. Before either of us could make a move, it was slashing out its paintbrush and an oily, black liquid like spilled ink was shooting out towards us. I briefly wondered what kind of effect it would have, if it would have paralyzed us or simply covered us with the tar-like substance, but there wasn't a chance to figure it out. Kairi-kun was in front of us, slicing his bokuto horizontally through the air, and it dispelled, black fog evaporating into the air.

"Nice one, Kairi-kun," I told him with a grin, and before he could respond, Mashiro-san was throwing out her juggling pins and twirling the next wave of the ink around them until it dispersed, as well.

"Are you stupid?" She asked the X-Character, who looked honest-to-God offended. "Of course things won't be the same. How could they, when someone important to you is gone and you've given up on your dream?" Her soft pink lips quivered, her girlish voice catching at the end, and I swore she looked like she was about to cry. She was about to lash out, send the pins spiralling towards the X-Character to destroy it, so I stepped in behind her for backup.

"She's right," I said, and she reeled back in shock. "The fault isn't with them, Shota-kun, it's with you." The X-Character peeled its lips back from pearly white teeth, almost growling at me, but I'd been to Hell and back. Something like that wouldn't faze me. "No one forced you to give up your dream. You just didn't have the courage to follow it through alone. But you're not alone," I hissed, my voice growing louder in conviction with each word I said. "Even if your Shugo Chara is an X right now, it's still there. Even if you can't see it, it's still there! As long as you have a dream, you'll never be alone. All you need to make it come true is you."

Mashiro-san's lips opened into a small pink 'O', the juggling pins stopping their twirling dance of doom and quietly drifting back to her. I supposed that meant she was on a truce with me, so I took advantage of that by whipping the ax into a playing position and striking my hand down the chords with so much force that the sound waves appeared in streaks of neon violet and blue in the air, blowing the X-Chara back. While it was down and dizzy, it's head literally spinning from whiplash, I began to pluck the chords more softly into a melody I'd created when I was younger, alone in my room and fretting about the future. That happened a lot, back in the day, when my parents and siblings were gone for the day and I was left all alone. I'd thought I was dreamless, with no ambition, no drive to go anywhere. The notes had poured out of me, almost fallen onto the music sheets before me, and there wasn't any lyrics. It was just just the sound of the guitar, alone, yet with so much impact, and I could feel myself almost physically pushing my sincerity into the instrument. I knew, without a doubt, that what I was saying was true from personal experiences. My Shugo Chara knew everything about me, proving that they'd known me and watched me before I even knew they existed. They were always there.

Even if my X-Egg wasn't beside me, she was still out there somewhere. And I had to get serious about finding her.

The X-Character drooped, a flower without any more rain to give it life, and its Egg slowly embraced it in its smooth black sheel before white began eating away at its pitch surface. Kuta-kun's Egg was back, the image of a pastel prismed paintbrush and pallet, with a wash of colour winding around its circumference. Kuta-kun peeked out and smield warmly with glistening eyes, whispered a thank you, then drifted back into his bearer's chest with a rippling effect that never ceased to make me shudder. I rolled my neck back, cracking it along with stretching out my spine. It felt like I'd been sleeping, catatonic for days, and I finally got some much-needed exercise. My joints cracked satisfyingly, and I settled back onto my flat feet before turning to face my companions. Kairi-kun was full-on gaping at me, as well El, hidden behind an antique doll with glass eyes resting on the mantle of the fireplace. Mashiro-san's Transformation had come undone, and she was kneeling by something colourful on the floor – the picture Shota-kun had ripped.

"Anybody got tape?" I asked under my breath, yet still expecting an answer. When none came, I blew out a sigh that ruffled the bangs pressed against more forehead from the top hat. My head was getting way too warm under there, so I pulled it off and stuck my hand in it to twirl it around pensively.

We don't need tape, Vivian said to me suddenly, making me jump and pop the hat into the air. We've got something better. Hold your hands out, parallel to each other, with your fingers spread. I did as she said, completely trusting that she knew what she was doing, a complete contrast from the first time I'd Character Transformed. Bright threads in the pattern of a cat's cradle joined and webbed between my fingers, giving off an eerie purple glow in the dark room. Now say, 'Mend'. Seemed simple enough. The words came out as a quiet murmur when I said them, and before I knew it the threads were flying from my fingers and into the torn parts of the photo, weaving it back together again like twisting little silkworms. It was whole again in a matter of seconds, Mashiro-san staring down at it in shock, and the threads twirled through the air and attached themselves back to the steampunk outfit on me. I flexed my hands, which felt as though I'd just taken off rings that were always there, leaving that indescribable phantom weight and an emptiness along with it. My Transformation came undone in a flare of white with dizzying sparks dusting through the air and doing a dance with the dustmotes, and while the Guardians' attention was focused on Shota-kun, who was rousing from his slumber, I pulled my scarf away from my neck for El to borrow back into. She was much less vocal about it that time, and oddly sedated as she sat there and just observed us explaining to Shota-kun that he's gotten too emotional and fainted, something he was none too happy about us bearing witness to.

"I knew the Queen was here," he said suddenly, touching his chest tenderly as if he could now feel Kuta-kun's whole presence there. "But the new Jack and the Joker as well?" He looked a bit awed, staring at the three of us together, and we all exchanged a glance.

"We work together," I told him with a bright smile, one that the two newest recruits found themselves replicating. "Mashiro-san wanted to come here and see if everything was all right, so naturally we tagged along."

"Really?" He sounded so disbelieving that she rolled her eyes. "But I'm not anything special…"

"You are a student of Seiyo Academy," Kairi-kun cut in. "It's our duty to watch over all of you and make sure you're alright."

Mashiro-san gathered the photo carefully and handed it to him. Shota-kun looked a bit lost, probably wondering if he really had ripped it or just imagined it, yet relieved at the same time. Like his dream was meant to be, it was still in one piece.

"Maybe… maybe I'll give painting a try again," he almost whispered, using a finger to glide over the image of his deceased grandfather. My heart ached for him, and I wondered if having a grandparent was really that different than having parents. Then I remembered who my grandfather was, and couldn't restrain a brief burst of laughter that erupted from my throat. I put a hand over my mouth and turned away as Mashiro-san told him to show her his work some time, and he blushed just thinking about it.

Our adventure in that old mansion bursting with memories and painting ended with a few parting words with Shota-kun, Satsuki staring longingly at Musashi again, and Viv and Lili joking around with Kusukusu. The new Guardians and I were still on thin ice, but we had nearly reached the edge of that frozen pond, having reached a brief understanding with each other. I prayed that it lasted, and I as I waved goodbye to the other two when they made their way down the main road and further into town, I realized how pointless it was for something like me to pray. I had to do things with my own ability, and not rely on the powers of the gods or anything like that, since I was basically a stain on humanity to them.

I flexed my hand again, the tendons standing out against my pallid skin. My X-Egg was missing, and my powers were sealed. Utau-san was stealing X-Eggs from people's hearts for Easter, and her Shugo Chara was abandoned and relying on me to bring her owner back to her. All of this had to be solved before January twenty-first, when I turned nineteen-years-old and my fragile time between species ended. My hand automatically clenched into a fist, anxiety curdling in my stomach like sour milk. I had no idea where to start looking for my X'd Egg, but Easter seemed like a fairly decent place to start if Utau-san was hoarding them. I couldn't use El as an informant; that seemed way too shady to me, and I sincerely doubted she would betray her bearer like that. I was at a complete standstill.

Unless a certain black cat began prowling around, giving me answers in riddles and remaining on the fence about the whole battle between our companies. I wondered if he'd help me, especially after that fight we'd gotten into only mere days beforehand. But there was really only one way to find out.

---

Even if it was begrudgingly, El had to admit that Snow Hisayuki's cooking was to die for.

That night they had shrimp fried rice with cookies from a bakery downtown for dessert, and even though her serving was small, she could have sworn she was in Heaven. The flavouring was a bit spicy, the rustic sauce and seasonings melting on her tongue, the shrimp juicy and plump. She thought she was going to have a foodgasm, and ate with her back turned to her annoying Shugo Chara so they couldn't see how much she was enjoying it. She nearly cried, it was so good, but the rest of them nearly watched home improvement shows on the flatscreen television without batting an eye, completely used to the delicacy. Normally El just ate whatever Utau did, which was usually takeout or some sort of muffin between dance practises and shoots, despite how much she encouraged her bearer to eat more. Even whe apart, she was severely worried about her, wondering how she was coping with taking all those kids' dreams and if she was eating properly. Under Il's guidance, she probably wasn't. El heaved a sigh, setting down her doll sized tableware into the sink where the rest of them had, and thought long and hard about Snow Hisayuki.

Utau saw her as an enemy. All of Easter did, simply because she was one of those bratty kids from Seiyo. So naturally, El had figured her as evil incarnate. But today she saw the villain save a child simply because she could, because she thought it was right, and mend his broken dreams and memories back together. Whatever that kid was, she wasn't evil. Despite how her Shugo Chara and her broke into conversations that didn't make a lick of sense, El couldn't believe that she was anything less than chaotic good.

She floated to the weird girl's room, where she had retreated to change into her pajamas, to at least thank her for dinner. El knew full well that Snow could've just told her to get lost, that she didn't need to care for her enemy's Chara like that, feeding her and giving her a warm place to sleep. It was endearing, if not unnecessary. But she should offer her gratitude all the same; she was an angel, after all. The door was open just a crack, the sound of her Chara's boisterous laughter and oohs and ahhs fading into the noise of the television, and noticed that the Guardian kept her room dark. How the hell could she see anything in there? She slipped through the crack, hands on her hips and ready for a lecture, then the words died on her tongue.

The tall and saucy Guardian was on her hands and knees, her torso completely bare, white hair falling around her like a curtain and curling into spirals on the floor. The moonlight reflected off of her hair, dying it silver and making it glint like a dangerous blade, and there was strange, straight lines the colour of pale wine criss-crossing her back, arching over her spine, dipping into the top of her jeans. It took El a moment to realize what they were, and when she did, she found herself suddenly incapable of forming a coherent sentence. Snow's back rattled with a whooping wet cough, one hand against her mouth, and when she pulled it away it came off an almost chocolate colour in the dark. She quickly whipped out some tissues from the box on her bedside table and wiped it off, dumping it in the wastebasket she crouched in front of, and heaved a broken sigh. Older than any of the kids involved in the whole Easter versus Seiyo mess, yet she sounded about five-years-old, small and curled up into a protective little ball.

El didn't know what to think. What the actual hell had just happened? She brushed it off as nothing, yanked on a short-sleeved shirt to serve as pajamas, and El's mind raced to come up with an explanation. She couldn't ask – she wouldn't. It seemed insensitive, and she doubted Snow wanted her enemy to know a weakness like that.

Weakness. She'd seemed so strong and sure earlier that day, but this was how she was, alone in the dark. El's memory flash to a time when Utau had nearly done the same thing, coughing replaced with sobbing, scars replaced with bones showing through her thin body. Those two were awfully alike, despite how different they claimed to be. Utau wanted nothing more than to destroy Snow, when Snow wanted nothing more than to destroy Utau's work. There had to be a way that the two of them could come together, perhaps work together, and everything would weave itself together like those neon threads had that Seiyo kid's picture earlier that day.

El knew, more than anything, that it was naïve to hope for that. Yet when Snow Hisayuki let out a disgruntled little chuckle and shakily whispered, "I really don't want to die," she found herself praying to every god up there, in the vast sky that the city's smog concealed. She was an angel; there had to be someone that would answer her.

A crack of thunder boomed in the distance, signalling the storm to come.

So yes, this chapter is based off an episode in the anime. I wanted to show more relationship development than anything, so please bear with me (I seem to ask that a lot). The end was also horribly cheesy, and as I've reread a lot of previous chapters, I've come to realize that this entire story is just a pile of cheese. SO LET THERE BE CHEESE, I DON'T EVEN CARE ANYMORE, I'M JUST WRITING WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT.

Snow: "Seems a bit selfish, don't you think?"

Crim: "Me being selfish winds up with your life developing in interesting ways. You should be grateful."

Ikuto: "Does you being selfish also wind up with me and Snow hooking up, like that reviewer wants?"

Snow: *snorts*

Tadase: "I like cheese. Cheese is good, no?"

Crim: "Wow, Tadase, I totally agree. Maybe I should give you more important parts..."

Snow: "Yes. Definitely. He deserves 'em."

Ikuto: "What about me?"

Snow: "Ehhhhhhhh-"

Ikuto: "Whatever. Everyone loves me."

Snow: "You didn't even show up this time!"

Ikuto: "But look at how much you thought about me!"

Tadase: "Please kindly refrain from ripping each others' throats out, you two. Everyone loves everyone, the world's a great place, leave a review please."

Snow: *whispers* "Why did that seem so saucy?"

Crim: *places comforting hand on her shoulder* "Honey, I swear that boy is close to snapping. People can only put up with you for so long."

Snow: "DOES ANYONE LOVE ME?"

*awkward silence*

Snow: "ANYONE?!"