Holy cow, it's been a while. And it's a long one, too! I really need to get on this, and my semester's done soon, so I SHOULD REALLY HAVE THE TIME SO FEEL FREE TO BITCH ME OUT.
Thank you guys for being so patient, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! I'm getting closer and closer to finishing this arc, so I can finally move on to the next one and y'all will get to meet probably my FAVE OC. I'm stoked.
Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara, you know the drill.
Also, if anyone's into Brother's Conflict, you should check out my other FanFiction [shameless plug].
~Crimrose
Chapter XXIII
Irresistible
Kairi Sanjou had gotten used to eating his dinner alone – in fact, he'd enjoyed all his meals that way since moving to the lost city of Akutetsu.
Two helpings of fried mackerel accompanied by plain white rice and an expertly tossed garden salad rested on the low oak table in front of him, untouched. His eyes glanced to the minimalist wall clock, watching the seconds tick by, until he heaved a sigh and figured it pointless to keep waiting. He prayed respectfully before he began to eat, handling his chopsticks with finesse, his miniature companion doing the same. He knew she wouldn't come home – she never really did except to sleep, and then she was gone again in the morning before he was up and making breakfast. This was just another meal he'd have to pack away in the refrigerator, just waiting for her to come home and finish it all whilst accompanied by several cans of beer.
He didn't mind cleaning up after his flatmate, nor never getting to enjoy a meal with her. He knew how busy she was; she'd been occupied with her job almost as soon as she received her degree in business management. She worked almost endlessly throughout the day, and he couldn't bear to bother her with meaningless things as soon as she got home and just wanted to relax.
His Shugo Chara, though, had other opinions. "That sister of yours should at least grace us with her presence once in a while," he grumbled between bites, violet eyes narrowed behind his glasses. Kairi thought they looked like two raisins resting on his small face. "You go to all this trouble to cook and clean the house for her, and not a word of gratitude. It's quite abhorrent, really."
"It can't be helped," Kairi responded, passing a piece of fish to his mouth to chew thoughtfully. "She's busy with work all the time."
Musashi cast him a meaningful look. "As you should be."
"I am, Musashi. I'm just in the process of eating right now."
"You know that's not what I meant." Finishing his tiny helping, his Shugo Chara floated to rest his doll-sized tableware in the island sink before returning to his bearer's side with a critical eye. "You've been putting off your duties for quite some time now. I hope you're not growing too attached to those Guardians."
Kairi grunted around a mouthful. "Of course not," he responded simply after he swallowed. "I know what I came here for. There's no way I'd let my sister down." The sister who was the only one who believed him when Musashi was born, as she was one of the rare adults that could see Shugo Chara. The sister who took him in and put a roof over his head without a second thought, after begging and begging for him to come to the city with her to help with her job. He'd wondered what in the world a successful businesswoman like herself could need from him, but when he arrived in Akutetsu and learned of all of the Shugo Chara happenings and the Embryo, it became painfully clear.
She'd wanted him to be a spy.
As if she were psychic, his prehistoric flip phone began buzzing to indicate a phone call. His sister's face appeared on the outer screen, her ginger eyebrows pinched in irritation and glasses resting low on her pert nose. He had to take a deep breath before answering. "Yes?"
"That's 'yes, Yukari-neesan to you, Kairi."
He had to repress a sigh. Successful and professional as she was, she was still a bossy elder sister. Not that he'd ever say that out loud. "What can I do for you, Yukari-neesan?"
"That's more like it. I told you to write up a report on the Guardians for us, remember? Easter will have a significant advantage with a spy working for us, and I expect that you've seen at least a few of their weaknesses by now. So where is it?"
The mackerel suddenly didn't feel too pleasant, roiling in Kairi's stomach as if it had been returned to the sea. His heart literally felt as though it was being pulled in two opposite directions, even though he knew full well being a spy for Easter was the only reason he'd been brought to Akutetsu in the first place, let along joining the Guardians. "I'm almost done," he choked out, sounding a lot more sure than he felt. "It'll be ready soon. Would you like me to fax it to you when it's complete?"
There was a long, painful stretch of silence. He began to worry that he'd said something wrong, that she was increasingly frustrated with his procrastination. Then she finally responded, "Kairi, who the hell faxes anymore?" He flinched, even though she wasn't there to see it. "Are you trying to tell me you wrote it by hand? Literally, who does that?!"
"I don't trust computers," he muttered self-consciously, receiving a grim nod of approval from Musashi. He rarely trusted any manner of technology, as a matter of fact. He considered only first edition hand-written reports and notes worthy of any kind of consideration. A travesty of the modern world, regrettably. "I'll finish it up tonight."
"You're going to drop it off," she growled, clearly vexed with his blatant disrespect for the easier methods of communication. "I'm going to be here almost all night again, so don't bother waiting up when you get back. Put my dinner in the fridge… and don't make me wait too long!" With that chirpy ending note, she abandoned the call, leaving her little brother to listen to a dial tone until he slowly lowered the phone to the table and snapped it shut carefully.
Musashi was shaking his head in distaste. "Repugnant," he spat in regards to his sister's manners, watching mournfully as Kairi obeyed her orders and saran-wrapped her dinner to leave in the fridge. He wandered back to the common area to sit on the floor and pull his Guardians report from his school bag, the title practically screaming betrayal in his face. But he wasn't betraying anyone, not really; he was just doing his job, earning his keep. The Guardians were fools to trust someone with all their secrets so completely just because they had a Shugo Chara.
Even though that was the logical explanation, Kairi still felt incredibly ill. They welcomed him so warmly, so blindly, that it was impossible not to feel guilt. A group of people brought together by something that did not make a lick of sense, in any logical means, honestly thought of him as a part of them. A part of something magical, so much bigger in his life than the studies he used to spend hours dedicating himself to – well, technically, he still did.
The names on his report, close to being twenty pages long (he never did anything halfway) stared up at him accusingly. The Guardians' weaknesses were not exactly well hidden, even from complete strangers. Yaya Yuiki, the youngest and most immature of the bunch, was small in stature and couldn't handle any sort of stressful situation. Rima Mashiro was much the same in terms of physical weakness, though she could Character Transform; she did, however, rely upon herself too much, enough that she had suffered in their purifying missions over the past week and a half. Their King, Tadase Hotori, was easy to pin down almost immediately – he was too kind, too willing to help absolutely anyone, and not mentally strong enough to handle any sort of huge responsibility, hence his Shugo Chara. And then there was Snow Hisayuki.
Her name written in his immaculate script made his heart leap into an unfamiliar frenzy. He briefly thought he may be having a premature heart attack, but it subsided into a more even yet strong rhythm. She was physically capable of holding her own, that much he could see – especially in more recent dates. In the time since he'd first met her, he'd seen her reflexes improve from Yuiki-senpai's 'surprise attacks', which mostly involved throwing small objects or her own body at the girl. He'd seen her come to school with scratches and bandages in varying parts of her body, her smile remaining unbroken and her eyes unburdened. He'd never noticed things like that in a person before, despite his extensive practise with analyzing the general populace. What made her so special? Perhaps it was that she was just so easy to read, so open with everyone around her… as far as he knew, anyway.
One of her weaknesses was that she worried too much about other people, not enough about herself – Yuiki-senpai in particular. The number of times she'd gotten hurt in the place of her underclassman had surpassed admirable and were now hovering on the thin line between impressive and downright ridiculous. Physical contact seemed to bring her discomfort, especially in the case of Hotori-senpai – or maybe flustered was a more accurate term. She still got lost on her way to her classes. A more recent development was that she fell down really easily. She had three Shugo Chara and could Character Transform with each of them… which brought him to her weakness that was harder to find, yet greater in magnitude.
He recognized the crystal encrusted antique lock she carried with her everywhere from the many reports he'd read and files he'd examined: the Humpty Lock. Each time she Character Transformed, it emitted an ethereal warmth and light, effectively 'unlocking her heart'. The King went to the trouble of screwing himself over by explaining to Kairi that it was the key to Character Transforming, that it gave the user the ability to open their heart to the magic of their Shugo Chara and effectively bring them together into one mass of spiritual energy, their powers combined and abilities increased beyond human capabilities – that was what Character Transforming was. It wouldn't be possible without the Humpty Lock, passed down from the first King, meant for the unique case of a bearer having three Shugo Chara. Without it, Snow Hisayuki was virtually powerless.
It was… disconcerting for him to think about. She was the Guardians' strongest ally, with many abilities at her disposal, and the trust of all of the members resting on her shoulders. Without her in their midst, they were nothing more than a bunch of kids futilely battling against a huge corporation again. They'd become much more since she'd joined, having even taken out one of the higher ranking employees – his sister's ex-boyfriend, Yuu Nikaidou. It was clear to see what the future held for Easter if she remained with all that power in her hands, meaning that the easiest way for Easter to win against the Guardians was to render her useless.
He scratched down the last few words of his report, pausing before completing a sentence. Now he felt like a traitor, having such an important aspect of the Guardians staring at him in the face, meant to fall into the hands of their enemy. How they'd lasted so long without Hisayuki-senpai against such a large corporation, he had no idea. Logically, it didn't make sense, unless Easter had never really been taking their feud seriously until she came along and their capturing of Hearts' Eggs decreased exponentially. Now they relied solely upon Utau Hoshina and her enchanting voice for the extraction, but he was certain that his sister, as her manager, had something up her sleeve.
Musashi frowned thoughtfully at him as he shoved his arms through the sleeve of his heavy jacket, his feet into his boots, hands into gloves. Every movement Kairi made was mechanical, heavily burdened by the thought of betrayal, of being a rat. He knew he was better than that – there was no honor in being a spy. But he couldn't go against his family, as they were even more important to him than his own pride. With that in mind, he steeled his shoulders, adjusted his glasses, and locked up the studio apartment where he and his sister lived to head to Easter and drop off his report.
His breath fogged up the air the moment he was outside. Akutetsu had fallen into winter far more swiftly than the rest of Japan, snow covering the ground up to his ankles, and it continued to fall mercilessly from the sky with no regard to anyone's discomfort. There was no logic in such a phenomenon, such he knew, but somehow it just didn't feel too strange in this particular city to the far east. Most of the buildings in it were monochrome, the more industrial ones made of glass and metal – winter seemed to fit the city more than any other season. He kept his eyes and feet trained on his destination, the purpose in his stride leaving deep footprints. The scarf he'd wrapped around his neck made his glasses fog up constantly with his breath, making him have to wipe them clean time and time again.
His sister didn't live too far from Easter, naturally, as they all but supplied her with living quarters. It was a well-to-do company that went back generations, with more than enough money to spare, so it paid its employees well and gave them essentially everything they needed to live comfortably and work efficiently. In exchange, their hours were incredibly long, their vacations sparse, and the work that they had to perform intense – such as stealing dreams from children. The true nature of such a company, like how they had somehow gotten mixed up in the whole business with the Embryo and the Guardians, was a complete mystery. Not even the higher ranking employees, such as Yukari Sanjou, knew, but nor did they care to know. So long as they got their pay, they had nothing to complain about.
As the pitch, ominous shadow of the company's headquarters loomed in front of him, only a mere ten-minute walk from the apartment, Kairi wondered if his sister worked here because she enjoyed it. The thought made his steps drag as though he were walking through molasses. He wondered what their parents – their stereotypical strict Japanese blue-collar workers - would think if they knew the truth. He could easily envision them being none too impressed with such unscientific and illogical work, despite how well it paid.
He hiked up the numerous stairs leading up to the front entrance, wary of the occasional step slick with ice. A cold, white light came from the glass front doors, giving full view of the ergonomically correct interior complete with a receptionist's desks and waiting area in varying shades of black. The receptionist didn't even glance up at him – he and his sister were fairly identical even within one's peripheral vision – when she nodded him inside, the tightness of her bun seeming to pull at the skin on her forehead with the action. She had to have had a headache in that instant – if not, Kairi found yet another reason as to why women were not a force to be reckoned with.
As a part of the talent management team of Easter, Kairi had a solid idea of where Yukari could be found in that massive building. He rode the stainless steel elevator up numerous floors, almost to the top, when it stopped at floor twenty-six. His brows furrowed, not wanting to have to exchange pleasantries with anyone for the rest of the short ride up to floor twenty-nine. Then his senior at the company and in terms of age, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, strode in, a gaping yawn greeting him as the elevator doors slid open. He strode inside, the case of his violin bumping against his back, and barely even acknowledged Kairi as a fellow employee. Well, Kairi supposed, I'm not technically an employee. He doesn't really have a reason to acknowledge me.
Yet somehow, he couldn't help but remember one of the first moments he'd shared alone with Hisayuki-senpai, until they were accompanied by Ayame Ounomori-san. She'd mentioned that an 'Albino girl' had been stealing his attention, according to the gossip at their school. Perhaps Tsukiyomi-san and the Guardians were connected in a far more… intimate way than he'd originally assumed.
His heart gave a painful thud, and suddenly that small elevator was way too hot in all of his winter attire.
Tsukiyomi-san noticed him staring, and turned his stony blue gaze down to Kairi, the shadows cast by his hair under the fluorescents intense. "What?" He asked, and Kairi had to force himself to be calm as he looked away, to not be intimidated by the much taller and older man.
"My apologies," he mumbled instead, and was stricken with grief when they both got off at floor twenty-nine. He must have been paying a visit to his coworker, Utau Hoshina. They stepped into the blank hall, the only sound their footsteps and the buzz of the vents heating the entire building. At last their paths diverged when he headed towards the breakroom and Kairi towards the sound editing studio. His sister awaited him, leaning over one of the many soundboards and watching a technician do their work with a critical eye, which she quickly turned to Kairi with a predatory glare.
"About time, little brother," Yukari Sanjou cried theatrically, making him have to restrain himself from flushing with same. He did the best he could, he told himself. There was no reason to be ashamed. "I expect you have a very detailed report about the Guardians somewhere on your person?"
"Yes," he responded quietly, intimidated as ever by her presence. He fished it out of his messenger bag and handed the thick stack to her, which she immediately snatched and began to flip through with an incredibly quick scan of her blue eyes. He almost didn't notice Tsukiyomi-san slip into the room, he was so focused on her reaction, but out of the corner of his eye he saw his senpai stoop down to the mini fridge within the room and begin rummaging for something.
"Hmm," his sister murmured, one manicured hand placed on her hip. "So you believe that the key to defeating the Guardians is by eliminating the threat of Snow Hisayuki, correct?"
He didn't like her usage of such a frightening word like 'eliminate'. He expertly hid his need to swallow from her before responding, "Yes. In particular, the Humpty Lock she uses to Character Transform. Without that, the Guardians are all but powerless again."
She made a brief noise of approval. "Seems like your research and Utau's goals align in interesting ways, Kairi. You've just created your next mission for yourself."
His head jerked up at that. He wasn't aware that he was to do more than simply spy and report. "What would that be?"
"Simple. Get the Humpty Lock and bring it here," she said dismissively, as though it were so simple. "You won't be stealing it, wipe that look off your face." He wasn't aware he had a 'look'. "We'll just take it, do a bit of research, then you can return it right to where it was. Easy, right?"
"I don't know if – "
"That's a direct order from a superior, Kairi. You have the week to accomplish this, though the sooner, the better. Get the Humpty Lock from Snow Hisayuki and bring it to me." That was her form of dismissal. He didn't bother asking about anything like when she was coming home, or if she had eaten anything proper that day. He simply bowed his head and shuffled to leave the room, and he had to beckon Musashi back to his side from having a stare-off with Tsukiyomi-san's Shugo Chara.
Speaking of, for some unfathomable reason, the Easter employee followed him all the way outside into the softly falling snow, and then even further down the slick streets. When Kairi finally turned to inspect what he was doing, he merely cocked his head to the side and said, "These streets are dangerous at night. I'm escorting you home."
Like he was some sort of warrior protecting Kairi, a complete weakling. He had been raised to rely on no one but himself, so he huffed indignantly and muttered, "I will be perfectly fine on my own, thank you." Yet he continued to lurk a few steps behind him, watching carefully. He felt as though Tsukiyomi-san was trying to uncover something by watching him, his stare burning holes into the back of his head, until suddenly the feeling went away. Kairi glanced back, curious, to see that his pursuer had stopped in his stride, and was looking very obviously in any direction but straight ahead.
"You'll be fine from here, right?" Tsukiyomi-san didn't wait for an answer before he started stalking away, his posture stooped and hands shoved into his pockets. What a night, Kairi thought to himself before continuing through the dwindling night crowd strolling through the streets. He wondered what his problem was, hoping to distract himself from his new assignment. Which was not able to last long, as he suddenly realized why Tsukiyomi-san had completely cut off and abandoned him. Standing a matter of paces away was a tall figure with hair as white as the precipitation around him cascading down their back, holding a single pale hand out to the sky in front of them.
Snow Hisayuki turned her strangely coloured gaze to Kairi, the look in her eyes leaving him struggling to greet her respectfully as he knew he should. No light was reflected in them, no sign of life or activity within her sharp mind. That changed the second she saw him, a cordial smile lighting up her blank face and some form of expression returning to her eyes. But that look plagued him, the complete emptiness in her stare, and he wondered if she would look the same way when she inevitably found out his traitorous nature.
"Evening, Prez," she greeted cheerfully as she bounced up to him, her Shugo Chara lagging slightly behind, bickering amongst themselves as always.
His pert brows furrowed. "Prez?" He asked, wondering why she would call him such a thing when such a position has never belonged to him.
She let out a small giggle completely unbefitting her towering size, one that made Kairi's insides twist. "Just a joke Yaya-san came up with – you seem like the perfect 'class president' character." Her brows tilted downwards slightly, a few shades darker than the shade of her hair: more ash than white. "Sorry to stereotype like that." Yet she continued to smile, the image of politeness.
He found that he had to clear his throat a few times before continuing to speak. The cold air was hitting his cheeks with a stinging sensation, and he could feel his socks getting a bit wet inside his boots. He didn't want to stay outside for much longer. "I don't particularly mind; it's just a bit… amusing, is all."
Her easy grin widened, revealing rows of straight, white teeth, and it hit him how cold she must have been. The jacket she wore was very light, with no hat or gloves, but a simple wraparound scarf over top of a tee shirt. He didn't want to bother her further and keep her in the cold… but he didn't want to let a pretty girl such as herself walk home alone. Pretty. Now there was a word he didn't use too often.
"Are you heading home?" He asked, and she nodded in confirmation, gesturing with a lift of her elbow so that he could see a plastic bag swinging from it. She'd most likely come out for groceries. "Please, allow me to escort you the rest of the way. It wouldn't sit right with me if I let you go alone."
"Well, aren't you the gentleman!" She murmured, not a trace of sarcasm to be heard in those words. She had that look on her face that she got whenever they had a remotely pleasant conversation, like she was staring at a puppy that no one was giving any attention to – like she wanted to pet it desperately but was forcing herself to hold back. It made him uncomfortable, but he wasn't sure if that was in a good or bad way. Could you be uncomfortable in a good way? He hadn't a clue. Nonetheless, she began walking further down the snow slick sidewalk, in the opposite direction of Tsukiyomi-san.
"Thank you for walking me," she said almost immediately, despite the distance they still had to go. It occurred to Kairi that he hadn't a very good idea of where she lived, though he knew from her file that it was closer to Seiyo Academy than he was.
"It's no trouble," he coughed, pushing up his glasses with his pointer finger, partly out of necessity and partly because it was a nervous tic he'd developed. "My home is in this direction regardless." Which wasn't exactly untrue; but it was a lot closer to their current location than where hers was, as he had ride the city bus to Seiyo and she was within walking distance.
"Sorry that it's a bit of a journey," she continued, sounding a bit nervous. "It's one I usually can't make without getting a bit… misguided, you know?"
"Hey," one of her Shugo Chara chided, the one with the fiery red ponytail. "You're making it sound like we're the ones misleading you when you literally get yourself lost all on your own."
"Toss off, Lili," she snapped back, though she didn't look particularly angry. In fact, Kairi could have sworn that the jab made her look a bit more at ease, as if arguing with the personifications of her dreams brought her comfort.
"It's fine, really," Kairi cut in again before they could start going off on each other. "I'm… happy to do it. I consider it my duty, as a fellow Guardian."
To his utter bafflement, she scoffed at that. "Please. Just say you want to do it as my friend! I don't bite, Kairi-kun." The use of his name from her mouth brought a flush to his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold. He was on the taller side for his young age, four years her junior, yet he still felt somewhat insignificant walking next to her. Her stride was proper, not too fast and not too slow, with a straight back and steady path. He'd never thought to admire someone's walk before, but there was just something so purposeful about it, so in control that he envied. It reminded him of how powerless he felt against his sister, of how he'd have to steal from her as soon as he came up with a decent plan of how to go about it. He couldn't look at her as he thought about it, at her bright eyes and slight quirk of her full lips.
"I'll… keep that in mind," he mumbled, staring at his feet. "Isn't it a bit late for you to be out by yourself? Won't your parents worry?"
"Well," she started while crossing her arms. "I'm sure they would, even though they're on the other side of the world."
That brought his attention back up to her, thoughts of his treachery momentarily forgotten. "Beg pardon?"
"Oh, sorry. I just figured you would've known – don't know why. I live here by myself, so I make my own curfew." She waggled her brows conspiratorially at him. "Quite liberating, if I do say so myself."
He couldn't even imagine. Though his parents were strict, they always supplied him with anything he needed, making sure he wanted for nothing. A roof was always just given to him without a thought, someone else always under it. And having your family on the other side of the globe? He had to hand it to her, her independence was admirable. She was either capable of constantly remaining at ease, or incredibly good at hiding any signs of stress.
"Why did you come here all by yourself?" It may have been invasive, but he couldn't keep himself from asking. Independence was a normal thing when one hit Snow Hisayuki's age, but travelling across the world into a country with a completely different culture and language was on a whole other level. "If you don't mind my asking."
"Of course not," she said, though he took notice that she did sound a tad bit more guarded than before. So it was something she didn't talk about often, then. He kept his eyes on her as they crossed the road, the obsidian glass apartments where she lived looming in the distance. She looked unusually unfocused, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. That, for some reason, was what got him to tear his gaze away. "I forget why I'm here sometimes – I enjoy myself too much. This is the first place I've ever really felt like I belonged somewhere, you know?" When she glanced at him to see if he understood, she elaborated after seeing the look on his face. "With the Guardians, I mean. They make me feel at home in a way I never could back in Louisiana." So that was where she was from – that would explain the strange way she pronounced some words, her dialect sounding similar to Kansai in Japanese.
"Regardless," she continued with a small shake of her head. "I came here to… look for something. I have to do something here, in this city, where I couldn't do anywhere else. Things turned real weird after I learned about and got my Shugo Chara, and then I… well, other things happened that essentially made this a journey of 'self-discovery'." She smiled like the thought was ironic.
"Are you planning on going back?" He asked with the knowledge in mind that someday, he would have to go back to his hometown, as well. After things ended with the Guardians. After he helped Easter win. His steps became sluggish again, dragging through the snow on the sidewalks that had yet to be plowed.
That seemed to be the most difficult questions for her to answer. "I wish I could," she almost whispered, and he caught her Shugo Chara cutting the fighting and burrowing close to her, almost like they were trying to provide comfort. "But I don't think I'll be able to. It's, uh, hard to go back to what was my normal life after everything happened, you know?"
She spun around to face him, walking backwards with that disarming grin on her face, and he saw the flash of something crystalline beneath the streetlights hanging from her neck. The Humpty Lock, he realized with a surge of adrenaline, his lesser judgement telling him to just grab it and run. It hung from a delicate silver chain that usually dipped into her shirt due to its length, and shared the space with an intricate cross made of glittering white gems and a small snowflake in the middle. It was shaped oddly, as if it were made improperly, but she must have treasured it to keep it with the Humpty Lock, so close to her heart. He couldn't just make a jump for it – that was not very honorable of him to do (as if stealing were in the first place). He would have to be clever about it. And quick, judging from the amount of time Yukari gave him to complete this task.
"Ta-da," she sang, twirling back to face the tower of glass, a small parking lot in the front and a road that led to an underground one winding around the back. "Home sweet home." She began digging in her pocket for her house key, then paused to look up at Kairi curiously. "Would you like to come in and warm up for a minute?"
The idea sent a pleasant shiver through his body, but he simply coughed and pushed his glasses up again, watching Musashi roll his eyes from the corner of his sight. "No, thank you. I really should be heading home soon. I'll walk you to the door," he offered, and was immensely relieved when she nodded with a smile. That relief quickly turned to humiliation when he slipped on the icy drive upon taking one step, and she whipped around in a flash of white and caught him by the arm to keep him from landing hard on the frozen ground.
"You okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned instead of amused as a normal person would have been. But her not being Kairi's idea of normal was what probably made her so intriguing. "Forget to mention that this place gets, uh, pretty icy. Especially in the winter."
He barked out an embarrassed laugh as he right himself and she let go of his arm, though the feeling of her hand stayed there, seared into his skin through the layers of fabric he wore. "As if it gets that way any other time?"
Her eyes widened briefly, almost in panic, before a laugh burst out of her. "That was a weird way of phrasing it, I guess," she muttered, then she gestured for him to walk ahead. Confused, he obeyed, and realized that she was staying behind him to catch him if he fell again. Well, that didn't make him feel very masculine. He could feel Musashi burning holes in the side of his head, holes that let the word 'honor' pour out of his head because a woman felt the need to keep him safe from something as mundane as slipping on ice. But it wasn't like he particularly minded. She was fulfilling her big sister role, looking out for all the younger Guardians, even when they were off duty.
The automatic glass doors swished open as they stepped inside, a blast of warm air greeting them along with the smell of something similar to satsuma. His body began having small convulsions, the temperatures battling in his body, while Snow-senpai immediately shucked off her light jacket and threw it over her arm. She stepped over to a wall fall of silvery mailboxes, and used her key to unlock hers. Inside was a single letter that, when she opened it, made her go very still.
Worried, Kairi peaked over her shoulder, hoping it wasn't awful news of some sort about her life he still had no idea about. But instead he saw scribbles with a waxy finish of anthropomorphic figures next to a house surrounded by baked goods. It was signed "Love: Nate and Resa" in writing that wasn't exactly childish, but not legible enough to be someone close to his age. He was about to ask her about it, like if those were some siblings she left behind, when he noticed that she was clutching it so hard the page wrinkled and her knuckles turned blindingly white. She cursed under her breath, so softly he almost didn't hear it, then turned back to him with a wide smile.
"So, I guess I'll see you later," she said, a dismissal Kairi could understand. Just as he bowed briefly and turned to leave, she caught his sleeve, as she had in the mansion where they'd shared their first solo 'mission' with Rima Mashiro. "Before you go, we should exchange numbers," she added, phone already in hand. She didn't make a comment on the fossil he pulled out from his pocket and flipped open, as she normally would have. He could tell something was wrong, but figured they weren't familiar enough for her to tell him what.
With a chest heavier than before, Kairi parted ways with Snow Hisayuki, her Shugo Chara fluttering around her with looks of blatant concern and something almost tragic. He realized he was outright staring at them over his shoulder from the other side of the doors, and quickly whirled away to head home. Any slower, he may have missed a shadow slinking away into the night, the head of it warped into two triangular points. But he hadn't missed it, and he knew what it meant.
So he started home, more confused and torn than he'd ever been in his life.
"We're home, El," I sang as I pushed open the apartment door. The warm, sweet smell of baked goods washed over my Shugo Chara and I, making Lilith produce some very disturbing noises of pleasure. "You made sure they didn't burn?"
"Of course," she said proudly, floating up to us with a smug grin on her angelic face. "Once I've been given a job, I do it perfectly. The cookies will be amazing thanks to my help."
"Actually, thanks to mine," Uncle Lee said suddenly, his raven-haired head popping out from around the corner of the kitchen. "They were getting crispy by the time I got here. Any luck finding your missing Egg?"
I kicked off my boots, coated with slush that seeped into lukewarm water through my socks, and heaved a sigh as I dumped the plastic convenience store bag on the counter. "None. I don't even know where to start looking – X-Eggs can pop up literally anywhere. I knew it'd be impossible to see in the dark, so I looked for a bit longer before coming back home." We'd basically given any means of secrecy about sensitive topics around El – she was off in her own world so often she barely even noticed when we were talking about anything important. She did know about my X-Egg, since she'd arrived the same time it had disappeared. Things concerning my or Lee's demonic nature were a bit more touchy. Though since she never brought it up, we just assumed she never heard.
Lee dug out the milk from the bag to pour some glasses for the girls and I. He'd told me he wasn't big on any drink that wasn't booze or the blood of the innocent (which I was too scared to ask if he was joking about), so he kept himself out of the equation. The cookies were out of the oven and steaming with golden brown deliciousness, my Shugo Chara hovering over them both to warm themselves up and to drool. I'd made quite a few so that I could bring some to school and share with the Guardians, since it only seemed right to. I downed my glass before even reaching for a cookie and poured myself another, which Lee wrinkled his nose at.
"Where's Ivalthea today?" I asked, more out of politeness than legitimate concern. The snake was like his shadow with how often she was around, since apparently being a demon servant was a full-time job. Lee tried to get her to leave us some family bonding time, though she rarely ever listened and instead just pretended to withdraw herself from the conversation and stand in a corner resolutely.
"Researching," he responded, popping a still burning cookie in his mouth and chewing nonchalantly. "Whenever we have free time we look into the process of unsealing powers, since our methods aren't exactly working." Besides trying to force my powers out by putting me into threatening situations, leaving me with cuts and bruises, he meant. There'd also been numerous instances of training in the past few weeks, in which Lee was actually trying to teach me how to defend myself with actual fighting skills instead of flailing around desperately. I picked up the lessons pretty easily, all things considered, but had been so worn out that I'd gotten into the habit of just falling over out of nowhere from sheer exhaustion.
Between work, school, Guardians duties, searching for my lost Egg, and training with Lee and Ivalthea, I barely had any time to relax. There was also the matter of Utau Hoshina that I hadn't even thought about bringing up to the Guardians yet. How to get her to stop from extracting X-Eggs was the biggest problem, as there numbers just kept growing and growing lately. It couldn't have just been from concerts now – there were too many Eggs to be from an exclusive few in her crowds. Somehow, her extraction power was becoming more widespread, which meant a major issue for the Guardians and myself. We barely had time to rest after one purification before another immediately presented itself. Tadase-kun was a wreck about it; it was like he viewed himself personally responsible for being unable to do anything. And since Mashiro-san and I were the only ones who could Character Transform, we really had our luck cut out for us. I absently reached for the Humpty Lock around my neck, wondering if its power had any limits that would leave us at a complete standstill one day.
"Poor thing," Lee cooed, suddenly shoving my head into his chest – his awkward version of a paternal embrace. "You must be so exhausted with all the running around all the time. It won't last for much longer, just you wait." I wasn't sure if he was talking about the issues being resolved, or the fact that I only had a couple months left to live. I chose not to take offense and let the subject drop, when he noticed that I was holding something. "What have you got there?"
"Oh," I muttered against him, holding the sheets of paper tighter. He was so bent on me leaving all things human behind that I was afraid he'd take away the remnants of my human life and destroy them to force me to forget. "My little brother and sister wrote me a letter, and put in this cute little drawing of us by our parents' bakery." I stepped away from him to show him from a distance, holding up the picture with both hands. The letter included things like how they loved and missed me, how they'd progressed with their French and had received my souvenirs in the mail. We weren't blood related, yet strangely I felt the most like I had a family around them. They honestly looked at me like I was no different from them, whereas Jack and Mary were basically almost always stepping on eggshells around me. I couldn't blame them, but it still left me feeling a bit hollow.
"Hm," was all Lee said about it, his mouth full of chocolatey goodness. "A shame your real parents didn't bless you with any actual siblings – then again, that would only make things significantly more complicated." As if reminded of something, his black eyes with the blue rings rested on me in full alertness. "By the way, how is babysitting the neighbour's child going?"
"Pretty okay," I murmured as I tried a cookie myself that fell apart in my hands. "He's a pretty docile two-year-old, if you ask me. He can say my name, which is cute. His mom said it's one of the first words he's said." Little perfect baby Satsuki, with the chubby cheeks and beautiful green eyes. He would be three in May, something I'd never get to see, which I thought regrettable since I didn't mind watching him learn a little bit more every time I saw him. I was too young when Nathan and Theresa were growing up to truly appreciate the novelty of toddlers, and now that I'd never get to have one of my own, I found that Satsuki was a precious little human who had loving parents and all the time in the world. I envied and adored him at the same time, and actually took some time off of work just so I could watch him while his mother went shopping or just wanted to have a relaxing day out while his father worked constantly.
"Looks a bit like me," Lee chuckled, making himself at home on the couch.
"He has black hair and green eyes – that's about it," I snorted, thinking that there were no two people who could have more dissimilar features. "He looks like an angel, and you look like, well, a demon."
"Good," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'd rather look like what I am than anything else. Pretending to be human every day is tiring – I have no idea how Glaziel pulled it off. 'Make a human city', he said. 'What harm could be done?' Lots, brother. Lots."
"So why not just stop?" I murmured around a mouthful, prepping smaller pieces for the girls to accompany their doll glasses of milk.
"It's like a memento of his, you know?" He said, looking out the window instead of at me, deep in thought. "He was the one who decided to create this place, a safe haven for demons and humans to live in harmony, and worked so hard to make it functional while still somewhat secret at the same time. Your mother lived here when she was young, which is why she was shipped all the way to this asylum – I had a hand in that. I thought she might… recover easier if she was in her home city." I knew that she lived here, since Nadeshiko-chan's dancing studio held her in high regard as a student, but realizing that I was in my mother's childhood town was a bit more disconcerting.
"What I don't understand," I began, taking a seat beside him while setting down my glass of milk and the treats, "is why you don't resent her for what happened. I mean, if she and my father had never met, he never would've died."
"Ah, well, they did," he muttered, unable to conceal the bitterness in his voice and the darkening of his eyes. "And while demons can do many things, they cannot change the past. Your father and mother fell in love, and he made me swear never to touch a hair on her little head. If there's anything a demon values, it's a promise, and so I won't break it even after he has been long, long gone." He paused, shoved another cookie in his mouth, and narrowed his eyes. "Of course, I very nearly broke it the day he died and she sliced you up like a piece of meat."
My scars burned with the memory from beneath my clothes, the feeling searing itself into my blood. Having someone else know about what happened was fairly off-putting for me, since the only other people who did besides my Shugo Chara were Jack and Mary. I thought of my mother, as I had been doing more frequently lately since she was my original purpose for coming here, and the life she may have had before she and my father met. I barely knew a thing about her, except that she was disowned for marrying Dad without her parents' blessing, and that she lived in Akutetsu and danced at Nadeshiko-chan's family's studio. What was the point of going to see her, now that I knew I wouldn't even get to live to enjoy it? I'd always said it was for closure, but now that I knew what had actually happened, things were completely different. I had a lot to think about, and a lot to do in general, in the little time I had left.
Lee and I fell into a comfortable silence as I puzzled out my own thoughts and he surely brooded over his own. Now that I knew the truth about myself and the other half of my heritage, everything in my life was different – both past and my lack of a future. That was also one of my concern's about my missing Egg – we'd thought it was suspicious that it had showed up around the same time I knew I was part demon. If it fell into someone else's hands, who knew what could happen. What if Easter got a hold of it?
My eyes snapped wide open, startled, my heart ascending into a frenzied beat. I hadn't even thought of that before. In a city like Akutetsu, it definitely wasn't impossible. If it was true, though, we were seriously going to get fucked.
"Why did your heartbeat get louder and faster?" Uncle Lee asked, tilting his head to the side. I heaved a sigh – of course he could hear it. I shared my worries with him, and he seemed to consider it for a long time. "You know, just because I'm the mayor doesn't mean I have control over the companies in my city – they operate on their own. Easter is a prime example – they basically have control over many of the minor establishments, as well as own most of the company buildings. So I can't know what their agenda is, nor can I found out without some sort of scandal rising up, but what I can say is this: you are correct in assuming that there will be trouble if there is demonic elements in your new Egg and Easter gets ahold of it." He clapped me on the back before pulling himself up to stand and walk towards the door. "We'll put off training for a while so that you can focus on finding it. For now, goodnight, my dear niece."
"Night, Le- Uncle Lee," I correct, the words still leaving a peculiar taste in my mouth. He smiled at me, fangs and all, then made his exit. I locked the door behind him, then took a look at the time. It was very nearly time to try and get some sleep, and it looked like the girls were already well on their way; El, Vivian, and Satsuki were rubbing their eyes and sluggishly cleaning up after themselves, whereas Lilith was just outright unconscious on the coffee table. I scooped her up in my hands and bustled to the bedroom, eager to just collapse in bed and try and forget my worries, if only for a little while.
I showered first, and was relieved to feel all of the day's dirt and grime wash off of my body and out from my hair. The one thing I liked about Seiyo's uniform was that it covered the hideous mess my body had become recently: yellowing bruises all along my ribs and around my stomach, a nice compliment to the destructive mass of scars, as well as smaller wounds along my arms and legs. Ivalthea and Uncle Lee were not afraid to use claws against me; anything to get my powers to surface for once by my own will. I'd made that snowflake with Lilith before, and had frozen things over by trying hard enough, but when it came to actually fighting and defending myself – nada. I almost didn't think there was a point, except for that Lee said it could extend my lifespan, if only a little more. That made it worth it. One more day as myself, around my friends and with my girls, was worth any amount of blood I had to shed.
Just before I climbed into bed, I hung Nathan and Theresa's picture on the corkboard above my desk. I was trying my best to fill it with the pictures I'd taken from my phone, like the one with Nadeshiko-chan, plenty with Yaya-san, some of the girls, occasionally Tadase-kun. I even took some when Lee wasn't looking, and the faces I caught him making were priceless. Once he revealed his true demon self, he was more like a manchild than the original mature, working-man appearance he'd deceived me with. Not that I really minded; it was good to keep the mood light when it needed to be.
I touched each of the pictures gently with my fingertips. It would be nice to say that I'd get to keep them for the rest of my life, but that wasn't really that long, anyway. At least I'd have something nice to look at for a little while. I catalogued who I still wanted to get pictures with, surprised to find myself thinking of Mashiro-san, and stopped the process altogether when I came to Ikuto. That was a pointless wish, if I could even call it that.
I liked to say that I didn't give up on things that easily, and I hadn't wanted to, but… outright rejection hurts everyone. I hadn't talked to him since that night in town when he'd walked away from me. I shivered when I remembered the way he held me in the infirmary, so different from how Tadase-kun had. I knew I couldn't leave things as they were, not if I wanted to go with all my thoughts in order. But then again, wasn't it better this way? There'd be less for him to miss, if he'd miss me at all in the first place.
My chest felt like it was caving in. I had to stop thinking about things that way, or I'd just live out the rest of my days sluggish and depressed. I couldn't do that to my friends – I didn't want them to remember me that way, even if it was just my personality to be moody. After writing in the diary meant for my family back in New Orleans for a bit, careful to keep the demonic and Shugo Chara details out of it, I fell into a restless sleep, the Lock and my father's necklace clutched in my hand.
"What the actual fuck is that?" I demanded a few days later to Will's phone, staring at the picture he'd been showing me with eyes as bugged out as a fish's.
"Uh, a Chihuahua, Snow," he responded with a roll of his eyes. "Ain't she cute? We got her over the weekend. Her name's Daisy."
"Oh shit," I whispered, putting a hand to my mouth. The tiny white pooch resting in Deryn's lap with huge ears and big black eyes was actually tearing into my heart. "Ohhhh shit…"
"I hate that thing," Deryn muttered off to the side, tugging the severely cropped ends of her hair. "All it does is yelp like some bratty child." She narrowed her eyes into slits. "Like Caillou."
My mouth dropped open. "But it's adorable! I'm going to come see it sometime, and soon. Oh, god… I think I finally know what love feels like."
To drown out Will's laughter, Deryn leaned across the table to whisper: "We got it more for Cyrus than anything. We thought it may help to ease his… issues, some." The mention of Professor Kenneth's name sent my neck buzzing as if vicious wasps hid beneath my skin, my stomach suddenly too unsettled to eat the food we'd made – hamburger steak – in Home Ec. I had to be willing to look past that in order to put Deryn's mind at ease, but I still felt distinctly violated by the incident, but chose to keep it to myself.
"That may be so," Will piped in, suddenly recovered. "But she loves me the most. She even slept between us last night – Ryn was peeved."
Oh, wow. Deryn may have actually gotten a bit red. "I would not be angry with some mongrel because of that, William. It was just in my spot."
He leaned closer to her, and she didn't flinch away at all from his proximity, though his breath moved her hair and half of his body was touching her. I guessed that was what it meant to be in a relationship – not that I'd ever know. "Well, it won't happen again, I promise. I missed touching while we slept." Her shoulders relaxed, and it seemed like Will won the day.
Since I felt like I was intruding, I got up and excused myself to the bathroom. The period was almost over, and as was the snow storm that had been swirling angrily outside all day. I took the day off of work, Louise very graciously covering my shift, to focus more on the schoolwork I was getting behind in, though it didn't particularly matter. Except that it did, to me at least. I'd always been the type of person to be on top of my work, and I wouldn't suddenly change that because I felt like someone else. There was one part of me I wasn't willing to change, at least.
Nonetheless, the large windows in the hallway revealed that the heavy gunmetal clouds had dispersed to reveal a tad bit of sun on the autumn day, leaving the snow and ice glittering like waves on a sunny beach. I stopped to look at the scenery for a moment, washed in white and sheer ice, and just appreciated Akutetsu's early winter, courtesy of its ruling ice demon. I heard footsteps coming down the hall towards me, and turned to see Kairi-kun strolling away from the direction of the bathrooms. I smiled easily, and his response was to nod politely – Satsuki and Musashi, on the other hand, lapsed into their usual stare-off that left everyone feeling uncomfortable and quite unable to define what exactly was happening there.
"Hey there, Prez," I said, and witnessed him resist the urge to roll his eyes. I couldn't help it; Yaya-san just called him that a while back, and it had just stuck with me. "How's it going today?"
"As good as can be expected," he responded easily, though there seemed to be a hint of strain beneath his words. "It's, ah, actually a good thing we ran into each other. I have… a favor to ask."
Well, that was unusual. Kairi Sanjou was probably the most self-sufficient kid I'd ever met; if he was asking for a favor, it had to have been serious. "Of course. What is it?"
"Could you…" He stopped. His brows slashed down with concentration, and I watched him carefully as he pushed up his glasses with his pointer finger; they hadn't looked like they'd been slipping, which meant he must have been nervous. "Could you make some time for me after school today?"
My shoulders sagged in relief. That was all? I was under the impression that he wanted my assistance with robbing a bank or something. "No problem! You don't have to be so nervous around me, jeez." His cheeks reddened a bit, which I found positively adorable and had to resist the urge to pet him like he was some kind of small animal. "I just have to go home and do some work for a bit first, okay? Then we can meet somewhere."
My Shugo Chara had turned from Musashi and Satsuki to openly stare at me, Lilith looking particularly astounded. "Alright, then… how does the bus stop down the hill from here at five sound? And could you… bring the Humpty Lock with you?"
"No problem," I told him, then clapped him on the back as I strolled past. I always kept the lock on me, anyway. Maybe he wanted to do some research on it. "I'll see you then. Make sure you don't keep me waiting too long!"
"Of course not," he sputtered, then retreated very quickly, judging from the rapid tapping of his shoes against the linoleum. How strange. Was he pranking me or something?
"Wooooow, Snow," Lilith drawled as she lazily floated in front of me, and I knew she was taking this situation in a completely different direction. "I didn't know you had it in you."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," I told her, which was me basically telling her to drop it.
And she did, surprisingly; but then El burst out from wherever she'd been hiding and screeched as I entered the empty bathroom: "It's love! Love, I say!"
"You," I muttered as I tightened the braid around my head, briefly glancing in the mirror, "are delusional."
"I most certainly am not! I am God's messenger of love, Snow Hisayuki; I know what I'm talking about!" She fluttered closer to us, her flowing dress billowing with her, and wrapped an arm around Satsuki's shoulders. "For example, it's quite clear to me that this one is carrying a torch for that samurai fellow back there!"
Just as Satsuki went off like a police siren and screeched, "What?!" Lilith, Vivian, and I all stared at her and said, "We know." El looked taken aback, as if the information wasn't obvious to everyone within a five-meter radius of those two.
"It's as obvious as Viv and-" Lilith never got to finish, for her younger sister delivered a fatal blow right to the bottom of her chin that sent her flying into the sink I had running. I immediately shut it off, since I didn't want to drown her, and went to retrieve paper towels before the drama exploded – though it seemed I was seconds too late, for tiny voices were all I could hear reverberating through the bathroom and shrieking death curses at each other. Satsuki covered her ears and was singing in that tone-deaf way of hers, her eyes unfocused and face resembling a cherry, while El just looked immensely proud of the slew of destruction unfolding before her. God forbid I got to pee in peace. It was times like these I wished I could tell my parents all about them in the diary I kept; they basically took up so much of my life that it felt like I was leaving a huge chunk of information. Which, I supposed, I was doing a lot more of than I should have been. I left the bathroom with a migraine and a relieved bladder, and distracted myself from more depressing thoughts by conjuring ideas of the easiest way to steal Deryn and Will's dog.
I decided to take my time getting back to class, because what if Deryn and Will were actually still being stupidly flirtatious with each other? It wasn't exactly something I wanted to bear witness to. I whipped my phone out from my blazer pocket and began discreetly texting Tadase-kun about the cookies and how I wished I could just bottle that exact scent and live in it for the rest of my life. It was my mistake to not look where I was going; I felt pressure hit the lower half of my torso and heard a small 'oof' before looking down to realize I'd walked right into Mashiro-san.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I told her, trying not to kneel down in front of her and make sure she was okay.
"Watch where you're going, freak," she spat at me, and I just held my hands up in surrender. Kusukusu immediately burst into snickers, but was silenced with a heated glare from her bearer.
"You shouldn't call people that," I warned with a quirk of my brow. "Wouldn't want a repeat of Kohaku-san, now would we?" Her cheeks and ears went pink as her eyebrows furrowed even further, but I stood my ground. It was like intimidating a cat; just make sure they know you're bigger than them.
She looked like she was about to bite out another snide remark, but then she caught sight of my phone and who I'd been texting. Suddenly she just looked unimpressed. "Seriously? Is flirting all you two do with each other?" With a scoff and a toss of her hair over her shoulder, she strode off, her steps small and pace close to running to get away from me faster.
I stared after her, incredulous. "Good lord," I muttered. "What is it with everyone and romance today? I've never liked a person in all my life."
Satsuki pondered for a moment as we cut our losses and moseyed on back to the classroom, then smacked her palm with her fist. "It must be Valentine's Day!"
Every one of us, including El, looked at her with unfiltered pity. "No, Satsuki, it's really not." Airhead. Sometimes I wondered about her…
But even I couldn't deny the flutter in my chest that spurred the moment my phone buzzed with Tadase-kun's response. With a smile at his kind words and jab that I'd probably smell good enough to eat, I returned to the classroom, and was suddenly unable to blame Deryn and Will for acting like they did.
He'd done it. He'd actually done it. Kairi had mustered up his courage and asked Snow-senpai to accompany him after school today, and had gotten such a lighthearted and easy response that the guilt of what he planned to do eroded away at his stomach like acid. It was encroaching on the deadline his sister had given him to steal the Humpty Lock, so he knew he couldn't keep putting it off. She hadn't suspected even the slightest sinister intention from him, and that was what made the gutwrenching feeling all the more potent. She trusted him, completely. All of the Guardians did. Yet all he did was betray that trust.
Before he could second-guess himself, he flipped open his phone and began to dial his sister's number as he walked incredibly slowly back to his classroom. She answered on the second ring. "I'd better be about to hear some good news, Kairi."
He held the phone away from his face as he heaved a sigh, and Musashi slit his eyes at his bearer's lack of enthusiasm towards something he'd been well and committed to doing. "I'm meeting with Snow Hisayuki later. I'm going to convince her to lend me the lock to say that I'm going to look into its powers." Or something, he added mentally, as the details were still fuzzy. Every time he considered doing it, he seized up, hence why much thought hadn't gone into his plan.
"Excellent," his sister breathed, and he knew the tone of excitement in her voice from their childhood. "That is good news. Bring it to us tonight, right after you take it, and we'll handle it from there. Snow Hisayuki will be left powerless, we'll have the secret to the Guardians' success – Ikuto-kun, quit eavesdropping, it's impolite – and it's all thanks to you, Kairi. Make sure you don't fail us now."
Before he could add anything, or even ask about dinner, the line went dead and the dialtone left him frozen in the hallway, the phone clutched tightly in his hand. It wasn't a mistake he was making. He'd made a promise, and he had to stick to it – that was what an honourable person would do. Musashi heaved a deep sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. "I do not like sneaking around any more than you do, Kairi," he said in that authoritative way of his. "But it will all be over after this. Then maybe we can finally go home."
"Hmm," Kairi murmured softly with a brief bob of his head, his heart not totally in it. It didn't matter what Yukari Sanjou said – what he was doing was stealing, even if they did actually plan on returning it (which he didn't believe for one second). That wasn't honourable in the slightest. With his shoulders stooped with the burden of a choice he felt he shouldn't have to make, he moved rather sluggishly back to the classroom to merely wait for the bell to chime.
Yukari, on the other hand, was already getting to work. She and Utau were taking a break from recording, and while her little prodigy relaxed in the lounge with her nosy, mysterious friend Ikuto Tsukiyomi, she had something to do. She strode out from her office, the door softly clicking shut behind her, and started briskly down the hallway to travel to the lower levels of Easter, where the science department was located. She hated going down there because of… certain company, but in this case she figured he may be useful.
Her brother was young and naïve. She was fully aware of this, yet still asked him to stay in Akutetsu with her and help with her job. It was an in she'd never expected – her own little dork brother having a Shugo Chara of his very own. He had always been the type to do exactly what he was told without any sign of disobedience, but he had enough common sense to understand that something was fishy in the recent task she'd given him. She couldn't risk him chickening out, not when they may have discovered the key to lowering the Guardian's defense. Ever since Utau's self-proclaimed rival, Snow Hisayuki, came to town, the Guardians means of interfering with the search for the Embryo had moved past a slight annoyance to a threat. Easter hadn't made the slightest bit of progress, Utau was working overtime, and Ikuto was more aloof and unreceptive than ever. Things had to change if they wanted to succeed.
A spy was a genius solution, if she did say so herself. But Kairi's goody-two-shoes nature was becoming a hurdle that she didn't have the time to conquer. To get the Humpty Lock, they had to be smart and quick – Snow had proven to be a difficult opponent thus far, to even take out Yuu Nikaidou. Yukari's little brother who hid behind his glasses since he was a child and tried with all his might to carry an air of indifference most likely wasn't going to be enough.
Yukari gazed at her boxed reflections in the metal elevator, hating to even talk to the annoyance she was paying a visit, but he was the only one who'd be willing to do this favor. Granted, he was a bumbling idiot, and there was a chance he could make the task more difficult, but he was more loyal to the cause than Kairi was. That was why he was in charge of Easter's machinery development department, which helped speakers manipulate and control Utau's siren voice as well as supplied Yuu with the materials he needed. Once the elevator reached the floor she needed, she stepped out with a click of her heels and there he was, as if summoned by her very presence.
"Why, senpai!" Tsukumo Yoshimasa said to her with a sleazy wide grin and reddened cheeks. "What a pleasant surprise! Could it be that you came all the way down here just to see me?"
"Of course not," she responded, though there was some truth to his statement. Yukari began working at Easter before he had, hence why he referred to her as 'senpai', and it was quite obvious he had some delusions about the two of them that would never come to pass. He must have figured that if Yuu could do it, then he could. Just the memories of their relationship made her mood deteriorate into the bowels of the building, and she was thankful that he was gone. "I have to ask you a favour. Do you know of the Humpty Lock?"
"I read lil' bro's report," he responded with a flip of his light brown locks, thick and split in the middle like some sort of pageboy. Everything about him just pissed Yukari off, from his familiarity to his 'put-together' appearance, but she could make no such comments now. "Source of the Guardian's power, key to their downfall, yadda yadda yadda… why do you ask? Need me to work out its specs?"
"Well, yes… we just need to get our hands on it first." She peaked her thin eyebrows at him, hoping he had enough tact to understand where she was going with this conversation. Apparently he did, from the way his quirked in return and a sly grin spread across his oval face, contorting it into a mask-like shape.
"I see… and I take it you need my help with that. Well, don't you worry your pretty little head, senpai! Your wish is my command." He copped it all off with a cheesy little salute that he actually seemed proud of. Yukari couldn't help but rub her temples with her fingertips, handling her glasses carefully.
"That's what I like to hear," she responded, opting to be civil rather than condescending. She needed him to do her this favour, otherwise they'd probably never get their hands on that Lock. When Kairi failed (which she had no doubt he would), Tsukumo would swoop in to pick up the pieces and safely deliver the Lock to headquarters. Once that was done they'd simply take it apart, and slowly make the Guardian's climb to success crumble beneath them. Easter would get the Embryo without their interference, and it all started with one little trinket.
Snow Hisayuki would never see them coming.
"El," I began, gently settling my hands on the rim of the bathroom sink. She floated dazedly into the room, looking around at it as if the world was just so big and confusing, then she caught the look on my face in the mirror's reflection and almost bolted right back out. "I don't suppose you'd happen to know where the Humpty Lock is?"
She gulped nervously, and began making jerky, fidgety movements with her hands, and if that wasn't enough of an answer, my Shugo Chara's absence was. From the moment I'd gotten out of the shower before meeting up with Kairi-kun, the apartment had been eerily quiet. That kind of quiet only came about when the girls weren't home, off doing whatever it was they did with the other Shugo Chara (which, in some of their cases, I prayed was not an orgy). Being a relatively smart person who is able to piece puzzles together, their unmistakable absence and the distinct empty space on the catchall tray where I'd put the Humpty Lock led me to believe that, for some reason, they'd nabbed it. They'd gone and nabbed it.
"Where, exactly, did they take it?" I continued, leveling her with a look that had her half hidden behind the doorframe.
"That king character was going on about some sort of meeting," she scoffed with a flip of her head. "Something beneath me, as a messenger of God, so I didn't particularly listen. But I'm sure he told them to bring that Lock, or whatever…"
"Now why would he do that?" I wondered aloud, and ignored whatever bullshit response she started to feed me, judging from the ridiculously pompous look on her face. Oh, well. I'd just have to go meet Kairi-kun without it… though he did specifically ask me to bring it. Dammit. "Did they specify where they were going?"
"Where they always go for those little 'strategy meetings'," she answered, crossing her arms like I was of lesser intelligence. "That Royal Garden place. They only left some time ago, and I can't imagine they'd go anywhere else." Then she noticed the suspicious look I was giving her. "What?"
"El, you don't go to those meetings."
"Well, no, I'm Utau's Shugo Chara. Why would I do something like that?"
I narrowed my eyes even further. "So why do you know that's where they go every time?"
"What, exactly, are you trying to say?" The tone of her voice was cautious, as if she already knew I was implying something she didn't like.
"I'll just get straight to the point, then. Are you stalking them?"
That left her sputtering so hard for a response I actually managed to finish off my makeup and do my hair before she was actually able to form a coherent sentence. "NOW WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD I DO THAT?!"
"I dunno, it just seemed like it."
"YOU ARE SO COMPLETELY WRONG!" She continued going off like an erupted volcano, spewing insults on how she would never stoop so low and there was no such love in the action of stalking. Once I was satisfied with my appearance, I headed out of the bathroom to slip on my outer gear, grabbing a travel mug with steeped Earl Grey on the way.
"El," I started, intent on cutting off her ramble that was starting to make my ears bleed. "I wasn't trying to accuse you of anything. In fact, I can understand it."
"Oh, sure," she screeched, throwing her arms in the air. "What could you possibly know about anything? Just because you're older than everyone - "
"It's okay to feel lonely." She stopped in the middle of her rant to glare at me – at least I thought she did, who could tell with her eyes peacefully shut all the time. "You've been without your bearer for so long now. You must feel so lonely, so unwanted, and that's okay. You don't have to be shy about trying to join the others, even if you are enemies. It's perfectly acceptable to feel wanted and accepted by other people."
There was a long stretch of silence before she muttered accusingly: "Speaking from the voice of experience?"
"Was it that obvious?" I asked with a self-depreciative laugh. "But yeah, I guess so. You have to go take risks like that, because one day it may actually be too late."
I shouldn't have been preaching, I knew, because I didn't know El at all and couldn't begin to understand how she must have felt. All I knew was that I wanted her to feel better, and making friends was a good way to do that, as I'd discovered. I pulled on my boots in the entryway and threw my coat on, and was reaching for the doorknob when she said something that made me completely freeze on the spot. "Do you say that because you're dying?"
I turned around to face her, and while I could feel my heart beating incredibly hard, there was something hollow in it, like it was falling down an endless chasm. "What makes you say that?"
"I've been staying here long enough." A few days, sure. "I hear things. And see things, like you coughing up your guts and waking up from a nosebleed or something else. You're really sick, that much is obvious."
"Yes."
"Well, what is it?"
"I can't really tell you," I said, my voice hollow and a lot more confident than I felt. "And you can't tell anyone, either. Especially not Utau-san."
Her brows tilted downwards and her arms hung loose to her sides, dejected. "Because you think she'll use it against you?"
"Because I just don't want anyone to know. It was awful of me to come here, and throw myself into people's lives without a second thought. No one should have to experience the death of someone they know personally – it's one of the worst feelings out there. Now I can't take it back, and I'll just be causing trauma to other people by sticking around." I twisted the doorknob and let her float out first before I locked it behind us. "Even if they don't really care that much about me, I'm still someone they know who's going to die. And that's an awful thing to have to experience."
"You've thought about this a lot, huh." I was impressed by how calm she was, talking about my inevitable demise. I hoped I could talk about it with that level of serenity someday soon.
"I don't have too much time left. I've had to sort my feelings about it out pretty quickly." I paused in my long spiel, worrying at my lower lip. "I think I'm still in shock – like, it hasn't really sunk in yet. I just found out about my… illness, recently. I only have a couple months left before I'll just… not be anymore."
"And yet here you are," she whispered, barely audible to human ears. "Spending your time with childish things like chasing dreams and an Egg that grants wishes."
"It's what I want to do," I smiled down at her, my ponytail whipping in the wind as we stepped into the unforgiving frigid landscape outside the warmth of the apartment building. "Don't worry, El, we're going to help Utau before that happens. I'm sure the Guardians can do it without me, but I'll still try all the same."
Flurries began twirling down from the sky as we walked towards the bus stop near the end of the street. It was brilliantly gray, almost somber, reflecting the very nature of our conversation. Though for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to be sad about it. I constantly tried to think about other things. That even though I trained hard with Lee and Ivalthea every day to increase my lifespan just a little more, I wouldn't be able to see Akutetsu when the snow melted. I couldn't see my parents or siblings again, since I'd rather combust with Lee around than in Louisiana where there was literally no one to stop me from doing whatever it was an explosive half-demon did when their human side was devoured.
"I can't tell if you're just incredibly nice or incredibly stupid," El finally said, and I looked down just in time to see her snuggle in my coat pocket, where my own Charas would usually huddle, tears streaming silently down her face.
I shot her a thumbs-up, figuring it acceptable since no one else was at the bus stop. "I'm trying to be one, and naturally am the other. So you don't have to cry about it."
"But it's sad."
"Not as sad as other things," I murmured, watching my breath fog the air. "Like Utau if we don't end up saving her from Easter. You told us she's basically destroying herself, everything she believed in. Buy you're still here, El, so obviously there's hope." The bus came then, chugging carefully down the street with the crunch of salt on the roads, and I fell into silence since I didn't want to scare any passengers away by talking to "myself". I stood and held onto one of the poles to stare out at the scenery passing by, the cute awninged shops and beginnings of holiday decorations. It reminded me of a town dedicated to retired folks, with its peaceful scenery and thriving small businesses. I wondered what inspired my father to create and evolve such a place so long ago, why he wanted to create a safe place for both demons and humans who felt lost. It was long, long before he'd met my mother, so maybe he always just had a bit of kindness inside of him that other demons didn't. I would never know, and I had to be fine with that. And I had to chin up so El wouldn't be so upset; Shugo Charas' tears seemed to affect me more profoundly than human ones ever could.
The thought of human tears triggered the memory of when I'd beaten up Mao when we were kids, how he couldn't breathe from how hard I'd hit him and he'd just cried and cried. After all that he still wanted to be friends with me, and then I'd run off to another country despite his vehement protests only to never return. I'd have to leave something in the journal for him, too. I hoped at least the time we'd spent apart and his anger towards me would make it just a bit easier.
The bus halted at the Seiyo Academy stop, significantly quicker than when I walked to school. I didn't mind walking in the winter, and I welcomed the exercise, so I didn't particularly mind skipping the easier bus route – especially since Tadase-kun and I usually arrived at the same time and hung out a bit before our first class. Talking to him for even a few minutes usually put my days off to a good start, since it was just so easy and he was just a genuine person. As I stepped off the bus and thanked the driver, I was shocked to realize I had to throw my hand over my eyes from the blinding sun. It bled down from the sky, approaching its setting position because of the lateness in the year, and the blue sky was finally peaking through some of the dense slate clouds.
"It's bright," I muttered, to which El simply snorted. Then we heard Kairi-kun's voice say my name, and she thought the best course of action was to duck in my pocket to conceal herself.
He was so cute running up to the bus stop with his little middle part and round glasses. "Thank you for meeting me," he said immediately after he reached me, a perfect young gentleman.
"Of course," I told him. "So, what did you want to do?"
"Um," he began, taking a few deep breaths. Musashi hovered near his shoulder, ever the quiet observer, and internally I laughed at Satsuki for missing a chance to be near him. "The… Humpty Lock. Do you have it with you?"
"Yeah, um." I bit my bottom lip and shifted my legs uncomfortably, wondering how to tell him about what had happened – or at least, what I thought had happened.
"Oh," he breathed, and for a moment, a flash of panic lit up his eyes. "I just want to – to research it a bit is all! I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about it at all…"
"It's not that," I told him immediately, clapping his shoulder briefly, still broad despite his young age. "I completely trust you to take care of it and all. It's just… well, I don't have it."
His neck jerked forward, like a turtle poking its head out of its shell, and I had to hold in snorts of laughter. "You don't… have it?"
I tucked my chin into my collarbone and narrowed my eyes. "It was nabbed."
"What?"
"Like, my Shugo Chara took it," I verified, since he looked like he was about to have a relapse of some sort. "I've reason to believe that they took it here, actually, so it's convenient that we happened to meet here. Good call, Prez."
"Ah," Musashi began softly, a look of recognition contorting his usually calm features. "That's correct. Today the King wanted to hold a meeting about searching for the Embryo, and he was insistent that they bring the Humpty Lock with them. He believes that it will help increase their powers on their own without a host, so that they can search for it themselves without the bearers. A theory that would hold potential, if it made the slightest bit of sense."
"Won't you get in trouble for not helping?" Kairi-kun asked him, and I felt the endearment of his concern burrow itself into my chest. He was so darn cute.
"I'm sure it will be fine. Besides, we are going there anyway, no? We need to take a look at the Humpty Lock."
I cocked my head to the side, my ponytail spilling over my shoulder in a flash of white. "Is it really that powerful? Can it really help us find the Embryo that easily?"
Kairi-kun was silent for a long moment, unable to meet my gaze. He actually looked unwell. Before I could ask, or reschedule this for another day so he could rest, he said, "We'll have to see. If it really is as powerful as the little king believes, then we will have a significant advantage against Easter."
"Character Transformations are powerful enough," I added as we began wandering up the hill to the gates. "Imagine what else it could do…" I trailed off, thinking about the whole notion of "defeating" Easter with low expectations. What chance did a bunch of kids have to take down a major corporation? "We just need to get the Embryo before they do. That'll be hard enough, but we can't just let them keep doing what they're doing to people's Eggs. Maybe we really do need significantly more power than we've got."
Kairi-kun was being quieter than usual, considering he was the type to be very vocal about his opinions and strategies. I placed a hand on his shoulder to stop our stride right outside of the threshold of the school's campus, and he flinched beneath my touch. I removed my hand as if I'd burned it, just as a reflex, and asked, "Are you sure you're okay? We really can do this some other time. The girls will bring the Humpty Lock back with them tonight, so-"
"We've put this off long enough," Musashi cut in before he could respond. "The more time we waste, the more victims Easter takes. The sooner the better, correct?"
My brows furrowed, but I still nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I suppose so. But… tell me if something's wrong, okay? I'm here as your friend, not just a colleague, Kairi-kun."
"I will, uh…" A frigid blast of air tore through the area, lifting up the dusty snow to dance in its current and his cheeks to flush a vibrant red. "I will keep that in mind, thank you."
Some of the clubs (the Guardians being one) still operated well after school hours, so they kept the gates open until later in the evening and they were sure everyone had left. In essence: no breaking and entering required for us to make our way back to the Royal Garden. The boughs of the trees lining the path were weighed down by the dumps of snow resting on them, and the only places on the ground that were spared had troughs of fallen leaves that hadn't been raked in time. Kairi-kun shivered beneath his heavy coat when another freezing gust left the few bare branches rattling like skeletal fingers.
"Are you cold?" I asked. "I can give you a piggy-back, if you want."
"Th-that won't be necessary, thank you!" That was the most fussy I'd ever seen him. Apparently, he didn't like being talked down to, thought that wasn't my intention. "We're almost there, regardless. I imagine they keep the heat on throughout the night to keep the plants alive, so it should be warmer in there."
"Jeez, I was just trying to be nice."
"You don't need to force yourself to do that," he snapped, and I actually jumped a little. I hadn't heard him raise his voice in honest anger like that in the time I'd known him – which, granted, is not very long. "I don't need kindness like that, you know. Don't look down on me just because I'm younger."
"I'm not," I protested, even while my mind was racing to try and figure out if that was a lie or not. Had I been looking down on him? I supposed boys didn't like to be referred to as 'cute' in the way I was using it towards him… he still had his pride as a man, and I'd basically been kicking it in the gonads and brushing it aside. I heaved a sigh and said, "Sorry. I didn't mean to belittle you. It's normal to try and be nice to people, though. Nothing personal."
"Nothing personal?"
"Kairi-kun!" I laughed incredulously, holding a hand to my stomach. "What do you want from me? You're starting to act like a prepubescent girl."
"I most certainly am not!"
"She's right," Musashi agreed, to which I put my hands on my hips and smirked at. "You are behaving quite unusually right now… Today is about the Humpty Lock, you two, understand? Just let it drop for now."
"Fine by me," I huffed, turning away from them and shoving my hands in my pockets – then noticed with horror that El was missing from them. I reigned in my panic, not to let it show on my face, as I wondered where she could have gone off to. I didn't have to wonder for long, though, since I suddenly felt a presence right behind my ear and heard a faint whisper: "It's love."
"Bugger off!" I hissed, swatting at her before she bolted into the entrance of the Royal Garden to join the posse congregated in there. The little con artists. Why wouldn't they even bother to tell me that they'd taken the Lock? They really could have just asked… I supposed Kiseki was partly to blame, since he had a thing against relying on bearers all the time and much preferred getting others to do most of the work – namely, everyone else's Shugo Chara. There was a chance he made them swear to secrecy, though I wouldn't shift all the blame to him that easily. We were going to find out in a matter of minutes, anyway, so there was really no point in wondering.
Except when Kairi-kun and I opened the glass doors to be greeted with a blast of warm air, all that awaited us was chaos.
The sounds came first – high-pitched screaming, guttural howls, hissing, growling. It sounded like a death match between two feral cats jacked up on cocaine. It probably would have been much more intimidating if they were… well, bigger, but considering their size, the Shugo Charas' fight looked more like small animals squabbling over food. From what I could see there was hair pulling, scratching, body throwing (that would be thanks to one of mine, naturally), all while in midair and in miniature. It took me a second of intense squinting to figure out what it was they were tossing around so ferociously: the Lock. El had managed to join the fray the second after she entered the garden, and the Lock was being tossed to her as well despite her unwelcome presence.
There were flashes of dark, as well, too dark to be any of the Guardians' Charas, and then I realized with an unsteady thump of my heart who it was: Yoru and Utau's other Shugo Chara, Il. They were the only ones who didn't look essentially destroyed, while the rest of them were near collapse. I was wondering how to intervene without making things too much worse when Vivi was basically catapulted out of their mass of destruction to land on the ground near my feet. She groaned and half-heartedly tossed Kuro back in their general direction, with no real effect. I kneeled down and cupped her in my hands, feeling like I was handling a fairy like in the movies I'd watched in my childhood, and asked, "Anything you'd like to share?"
"Nope," she croaked, swaying like being tossed by waves. "Just that you probably shouldn't let those punks get the Lock, 'kay?" And with that she collapsed in my palms from sheer dizziness and exhaustion. All that action and fury must have really taken a lot out of that one tiny body – it didn't take much for them to tire out.
I turned back to face Kairi, who still looked like he was having a panic attack, and carefully laid my baby into his hands, much to his shock and discomfort. "Hold this," I said as I went to retrieve the other three.
"I-I-" He was stuttering, trying to tell me that obviously he couldn't look after such a ticking time bomb like Vivian, but I was already looking for the flashes of red, blue, and white to shoot my hand out and grab before they passed out.
}{Snow Hisayuik's Shugo Chara moaned in Kairi's cupped hands, her head falling to the side, completely deadweight. Tiny scratches covered her face, tears were in her clothes mimicking old Victorian fashion, and her ebony hair was sticking out in every direction, an ink spill in his hands. He had to find somewhere to put her down safely so he could go after the Lock – time was wasting, especially with the two Shugo Chara from Easter present. Sweat was beginning to break out on his forehead – the Garden was significantly warmer than it was outside, and his layers were weighing him down along with the gravity of the deed he was about to do.
Musashi floated into his field of vision, his expression impassive as ever, and stood next to the unconscious Chara. He only added a couple of extra grams to the weight in Kairi's hands, as if he were holding paper clips instead of miniature people. "I will handle this one," he said as he leaned down to wrap her in what was commonly dubbed a 'princess carry'. Though it was so small and Musashi felt absolutely nothing from it, it still made Kairi flush to see something like that – had they no shame? "Go after the Lock before it gets destroyed from that tomfoolery." Only he would say something like that, but he did have a point. As they rocketed from his hands, his eyes were already following the faint shock of light that sparked every time the sun hit one of its facets; the Humpty Lock being tossed about.
At that moment, it looked as though it was in the hand of Ikuto Tsukiyomi's Chara. He was obviously trying to make off with it, from the way he had it discreetly tucked under his arm and he was being unusually careful when stepping around the collapsed bodies of the other Charas. Suddenly one of Utau Hoshina's Charas came flying at him to deliver a hard kick right to his stomach, and he fell backwards whilst the Lock came flying out of his paws into utter pain and defeat. It landed safely in the hands of an angel Chara he faintly recognized but couldn't name, until Hoshina-san's screeched, "El!"
As they proceeded to argue, Musashi returned to Kairi's side sans Vivian, and his bearers brows furrowed in concern. "Where did you put Snow-senpai's Shugo Chara? And…" He added upon getting a good look at him, "What happened to your face?"
Musashi tenderly rubbed his cheek, raw with four scratches diagonally running down its side. "That crazy pigtailed one came after me – something about dropping her sister. I'm fairly certain they have a handle on it." His violet eyes cut into Kairi, sharp as the blade he kept at his side. "Which means we don't have much time left."
"I can't give it to you!" Yelled the angel at the top of her shrill lungs, causing them both to jump. "This lock belongs to Snow-chan. She swore she'd save Utau-chan, and she can't do it without this!"
Save Hoshina-san? Kairi wondered incredulously. She hadn't said a word about that to the Guardians. He had no idea what she even needed saving from – could it have been Easter she was talking about? As far as Kairi knew, she was working there completely of her own free will…
"What are you talking about?" Il shot back, hands on her barely covered hips. "How could you even believe that? She's our enemy, you dumbass – she's just trying to deceive you."
"She wouldn't do that! You don't even know anything about her! She's suffering, too, yet she wants to help Utau-chan more than anything!" This conversation was muddling up Kairi's mind more than he thought possible. Musashi had his eyes trained on the Lock, waiting for an opportunity to snatch it, while Kairi couldn't stop looking at the angel and wondering what she could have been talking about – and how she knew so much about Snow-senpai whilst wanting to save Hoshina-san.
"I can't believe it," Il sputtered, her crimson eyes snapping with disbelief. "You've actually completely turned on us. There's no way Utau's ever taking you back, not when you talk that way about our nemesis!" She went flying at the angel, hands out and clawing towards the Lock as she hissed, "Hand it over before I make you regret it!"
"Il!" The angel squealed in return, right before they began to have an intense match of tug-of-war over the glittering Lock in their hands. Kairi heard Snow-senpai yelling something in the distance, sounding particularly irritated, and he knew they were out of time. Musashi chose to intervene then by very nearly coming directly in between the two and yelling: "That's enough!"
As the angel called out his name in shock, Il pushed her aside with a cluck of her tongue and made off in a flash of bright red similar to a smear of blood. The angel fell gracefully to the ground, oddly prophetic and disturbing, her body limp and Lock free of her grip. Kairi jumped at the chance, pinching it between his forefinger and thumb when he grabbed for it. It was so much smaller than he'd originally assumed, only slightly bigger than the locks you saw on those fancy diaries. It winked at him in the sunlight, and seemed to be emitting a sound similar to a whine of glass scraping against glass. He stared into its jewels glittering like the surface of the ocean, and his mind forced him to envision it in Snow Hisayuki's gentle grasp, doing all she could to protect the Guardians and purify X-Eggs.
"I can't do it," he told Musashi miserably, hanging his head.
"Kairi," he whispered in return, both sympathetically and scornfully. He was merely warning his bearer of the consequences for disobeying the orders of an Easter superior – as f he didn't know already.
But if there was one thing Kairi knew, it was that stealing was wrong, even if under the guise of borrowing. And stealing something this precious was the worst thing he'd ever done – besides the very act of being a spy. Not only couldn't he bear to incriminate himself even further, but he knew how Snow-senpai would react, how she would blame herself for its loss and the Guardians' suffering. More than anything, that was something he never wanted to see.
Then something he didn't understand occurred: the Lock was in his hands, shining accusingly, and then it wasn't. His heart nearly stopped in a freezing flash of panic, the Garden around him going cold and dark, when he heard someone squeal, "Yoink!"
Kairi's first reaction was to think a string of cuss words he'd never repeat out loud but Snow-senpai glady would. He looked around wildly, his glasses fogging in his disorientation mixed with heavy breathing, until he saw someone with an obnoxious tan and pageboy haircut twirling away. His stomach sank: Tsukumo, an employee of the research department of Easter, not to mention a bizarre worshipper of his sister. He proceeded to make noises akin to a very cheap robot as he began treating, Lock in hand, until Kairi called out to him: "Wait! What do you think you're doing?"
He tossed what he must have thought was a charming grin over his shoulder, when in reality it had more of a shit-eating quality. "Chill, kid; your sister asked me to do this."
Things just kept getting worse. Kairi's heartbeat kicked into overdrive, enough to make him think he was having a premature heart attack. "Yukari-neesan did?" He asked, as if for clarification, when he knew full well she would have done something like that. She didn't trust him with this 'mission' from the beginning; his doubts were so clear on his face it's as though he had been screaming "I'm not going to do it!" Good for her for assuming something like this would transpire, but now Kairi was sincerely screwed. Even though he'd presumably been stripped of his guilt, he was still responsible for the Lock falling into the hands of Easter. He couldn't let that happen.
"I'll deliver to this right now, buddy, don't you worry." He'd never felt more uncomfortable talking to an adult in his life. "You can call me 'big brother' from now on, got it?" Without another word or a chance for Kairi to respond, he took off, practically leaving a cloud of dust in his path. It struck Kairi as particularly strange that he wasn't even wearing anything remotely meant to shield him from the cold; he must have had a car waiting. How on earth was he supposed to catch him like that?
"I'm going to assume that means mission accomplished?" A deeper, more menacing voice behind him said. Despite the difference in pitch, he still had the irrational thought that it was Snow-senpai, armed with the knowledge that he was a traitor and prepared to unleash every bit of fury she had boiling within her. But when Kairi cautiously turned around, expecting something akin to a slap in the face, he was even more shocked to see Ikuto Tsukiyomi standing there, in the middle of enemy territory, with a smirk on his face that was anything but cordial. He, like Tsukumo-san, had nothing resembling winterwear protecting him from the tundra outside of the Garden, and was instead in Mayosu's uniform even after school hours.
"Wha…" Kairi was actually speechless. "What are you doing here? Snow-senpai is right over-"
Before he could finish, the Easter employee was strolling past him and clapping a hand on his shoulder, eerily similar to Snow-senpai's displays of comfort and affection. "Good work, I suppose. Pays to get your hands dirty, no?"
His face flushed with shame, and his brain was begging him to shed some layers: he was overheating to the point of near-boiling, from a combination of his bulky outfit and mortification. "You don't know what you're talking about." He'd immediately gone the defensive route when responding, and realized quickly what a mistake that was. It was all his fault, and he had gotten his hands dirty: with lies, betrayal, and general scum of the earth material. He couldn't add anything else, since he knew it would only make him feel worse. There was no honor in that.
"Oh, don't I?" His other senpai responded, accompanied by a groan from the pained Chara on his shoulder. So they'd been reunited, and were looking for nothing but trouble. "See you later, kid. Don't keep your big sister waiting." His stride conveyed nothing but ease and confidence, and despite his fuming irritation, Kairi couldn't help but admire him for keeping his cool in basically everything he did.
The exact opposite of him. He could Character Change and go after Tsukumo-san, but really, would that help anything? The easy way out of this was to just let it happen, to let Easter take complete control of the Guardians' only way of fighting them off. They would never know Kairi was a traitor if no one said anything, and he could be stripped of his guilt and shame, pretend it never happened. He was never supposed to get this involved, anyway; he had no one to blame but himself. He knew what his duty was, and first and foremost, it was to his sister.
But could he live with himself if he didn't even try?
His resolve reaffirmed, and mentally prepared for the consequences, he was just about to take his first step when she came up beside him. Snow-senpai, with a foreign look on her face Kairi had never been privy to, but immediately felt envious of. No one would ever think to toss him around as his coworkers had if he could make an expression like she did, one of pure steel and ice. Behind all of that strength in the set of her jaw and narrowed eyes, there was something there that made his stomach twist and throat close up. That was a look she was directing solely at Ikuto Tsukiyomi, and he instantly knew that his suspicions had been correct. They were associated with each other besides the basic Guardian-Easter feud.
Otherwise she'd never look at him so longingly.
"Stay here, Kairi-kun," she murmured, her battered Shugo Chara at her side with extremely nervous expressions on their faces. "No way is he getting the Lock, trust me."
"Wait, what?"
"I'll be back!" She said, louder this time since she was already making her way after her enemies. Kairi's mind was whirling; she believed that Ikuto Tsukiyomi had stolen the Lock, and not without good reason. There were numerous recorded incidents of him going after her Eggs and others before. He hated himself for feeling relieved, and knew she couldn't Character Transform without the Lock if a fight broke out.
Even if there was no way in Hell he would be of any help, Kairi wouldn't leave her completely defenseless and alone. He owed her that much. With a steeling of his shoulders and cleaning of his glasses, he slid them back over his nose and began chasing after her, doing what he wanted to instead of what someone else told him for the first time in his life.
I could barely believe that what started out as an innocent excursion turned into such a big fucking mess. Most of the Shugo Chara were completely out of commission, including El passed out in my coat pocket, and the Humpty Lock was being nabbed yet again by someone far worse than the girls. I knew it was stupid to feel betrayed, rejected, since Ikuto did work for Easter, but… I wanted to think better of him. Why I wanted to was a mystery to me – I still knew nothing about him, and he made it quite clear that he didn't want me to.
I've felt betrayed before: by the kids at my old school, my parents, Uncle Lee, Nikaidou. You would think I'd be all but immune to it by now. But this was a fresh wound, I'd admit it begrudgingly, one that felt like it was festering and being cauterized without healing. No wonder I thought my Shugo Chara were semi-retarded; it's because I was completely. It was feelings like those that made me somewhat apathetic about dying – at least I wouldn't have to feel them anymore. There wouldn't be any feelings of joy, but there wouldn't be any pain, either. Then again, who knew what became of demons when they passed.
I was in such a hurry after Ikuto I mistepped on a slick of ice and fell immediately backwards and cracked my back on the ground with the impact. The girls, incredibly worse for the wear after their scuffle, hovered over me in concern, though Lili and Viv were obviously trying hard not to laugh. It didn't hurt so badly that I wasn't planning on moving from that spot for a while, but it was intensely sore, and it was a struggle to get up again – it also did terrible things to my current mood. I proceeded to push myself back into a sitting position, water seeping in through my pants from the melted snow, then stood carefully enough that my back only sounded like bubble wrap when I started moving again. I could see the street beyond the gate from my current position, a dark figure lurking off to the side as if spying on something. If he was trying to hide from me, then he was doing a downright pathetic job. I steeled my feet against the ice, despite the fact that my boots had next to no tread on them, then took off charging towards him, leaving the still snickering Charas in the dust.
I neared the gate at mach speed, AKA a speed at which I was unable to stop from immediately. So when Lilith finally caught up to me, I called out to her and she recognized what I was planning with a nod of her head. The Character Change was marked by a spontaneous shower of red sparks around me, congregating together to form her telltale crimson scarf around my neck and the boost of agility once I bent my knees to jump over the top of the iron fence. I flew up so easily with one bounce that my heart rocketed straight to the sky with me, as though I were filled with helium that kept me afloat. The top of the gate seemed so far away, like such a small goal I'd achieved, and with a graceful flip towards my landing, I was over it and standing within meters of Ikuto, the closest we'd been in weeks.
I'd never had such a stretched out, ephemeral moment of awkward eye contact until that moment. It was for such a short period of time, yet it felt like the moment was relentless, boring into me like a hammer to my chest. He was always in dark colours every time I'd seen him, and it made his pale face that much lighter, leaving his dark eyes like two black holes in his face. Despite the reported cold, his cheeks and nose weren't the slightest bit red, as if he just came from somewhere warm. A tiny voice, one that was nothing but a nuisance whispered within me, "Probably Saaya Yamabuki's." I told it to shut up instantly, as that was not even remotely worthwhile at the moment.
I wanted to say something totally confident and at least coherent, like 'Well, well, well etc.' but all that came out was a garbled, "Where is it, fool?"
His eyebrows actually shot up at that, and there was a quirk to the corner of his mouth that made it clear to me it was taking a lot of willpower not to laugh. "What?"
I figured it wise to cut my losses and just get to the point. "I saw you back there, and now the Humpty Lock's gone. It doesn't take a genius to put two and two together." The shutters slammed down on his face, back to not letting anything show beyond the Easter employee mask. And somehow, that hurt more than the thought of him stealing from me; being completely shut out was such a stark difference compared to the times he'd mocked me or harassed me, which we few and far between, but enough that they'd made an impression on me.
"Clearly it does," Yoru slurred as a response, "since we weren't the ones who took it. He was." I followed the direction his cat's paw was gesturing to, to see a rusty beater chugging exhaust into the air as someone started it up and pulled away from the side of the road. That's when the honest-to-God panic began setting in. If Ikuto had stolen it, I'd had the futile hope of negotiating with him. But this was a stranger, as far as I knew. A stranger in a motor vehicle, peeling away from us and into city traffic where I'd lose sight of him in an instant.
My mouth opened and closed, a dumb fish, when I faintly heard Ikuto say, "Yoru," and his Shugo Chara respond merrily. I looked at them, shocked and nearly terrified, to see that they had Character Transformed and were making after the car with leaps and bounds. Okay, now he was trying to steal it.
"Lili, we have to - " Then I remembered: no Lock meant no Character Transformation for me. I'd just have to stick with the Change for now. I followed Ikuto's lead and used the trees lining the road to my advantage, swinging from their boughs like monkey bars despite my hands being buried in the snow covering their rough bark.
The car was proceeding carefully, because while the roads were technically cleared of snow, there were still patches of ice and slush that could cause them to slip up and possibly crash. Clearly they weren't expecting any company some way down the road, because when Ikuto tore down gracefully from the sky to land in front of them, the car swerved just a bit. Ikuto brandished his claws and – to my utter disbelief – slashed their tires with one fell swoop, the piercing sound of metal on metal and popping rubber nearly sending me crashing right down from my perch in one of the trees.
The thief tried to screech to a stop, made easier by the flats but more complicated with the slick roads. They nearly spiralled out of control, and the brakes squealed when they were all too close to the curb, nearly colliding with another tree. They scrambled out from the vehicle, and I saw it was a man with a slightly orange-toned tan and floppy hair, the Lock on a chain around his neck. That appearance made it seem like he was trying too hard to be hip, but the lab coat he was wearing threw me for a loop. He immediately scrambled over to the side of his car to check the damage, and whilst kneeling in the slush, looked up when a shadow was cast over him only to see Ikuto with claws glittering in the low sun, making them glow red and orange like flames.
I was expecting more of a fight, and took my place on the other side of the road to run over and take the Lock back before they could start. But astonishingly, the man fainted like the very breath had been snatched from his lungs, and landed in the slush completely deadweight. Ikuto's Transformation came undone in a flash of midnight, and he stooped down to grasp the Lock between his two fingers and lay it in his palm, gently examining it. I screeched to a stop beside him, heart tearing up my throat with fear and the threat of a scream.
I thought that the Lock's light was just the sun hitting it again, until I realized that it was so bright it was casting shadows on Ikuto's face, as if he wasn't already shady enough. The Lock was shining, bright as a shooting star, in his hand, and he was staring at me like I had something to do with it. My Character Change came undone, leaving my neck bare and lukewarm, and I had the brains to ask, "What's happening to it?"
"It's reacting," he responded simply, his voice sending a bolt of lightning to my chest. He closed his hand around it, sending my heart into a screaming frenzy, then held it out to me. Confused and more than a little befuddled, I reached out my hand, and he simply dropped the Lock into it. That was it. He turned around, shivering, and started walking away.
I was speechless. Did he honestly sacrifice the Lock back to me just because he couldn't bear to deal with me? I started shaking, not from sadness, but with rage. What right did he have to treat me like that, even if we were enemies? He could have still stolen the Lock, and taken it back to Easter as his prize of the day –
Unless he'd never been planning to steal it in the first place.
It was like cool water had been poured over my head, making steam and anger lift away from my body in a flash. Ikuto had always said his interests and Easter's didn't align, and besides, hadn't I always been so keen on not incriminating him without knowing the whole story? He had saved me numerous times, without any ulterior motives, as far as I could tell – even if it would have benefitted him not to. I'd been stabbed, for Chrissake, and he was right there, literally pulling the knife out and carrying me to safety. I was too much trouble for anyone to really be friends with; I was a half-demon, and a total brat to top it off. Yet even after he'd ditched me like it was nothing, there he was, somehow in the right place at the right time to get my stolen Lock back to me.
I may have been an idiot, but I wasn't stupid. That was how I justified launching myself at his back like a flying squirrel diving out of a tree, earning a choking grunt and stumble from him, but he remained standing – which just left me clinging to his back like some tragic heroine and him being completely unresponsive. Which was, naturally, mortifying.
"Is there something you need? I'd like to leave."
"Okay, so…" I had no idea what I wanted to say. All I knew was that if I let him walk away again, I'd be dead in two months with a regret – not telling him how I felt. But before I could form the words in my mind, he was pulling my hands away from his stomach and shoving his in his pants' pockets, moving away again. I rolled my eyes to the heavens, thinking of how that was probably the most humiliating thing I'd ever done in my life, and continued after him – only to miss the bare sidewalk and to slip on some ice I swore wasn't there before.
My sore back cracked in the memory of only minutes ago, but this time I didn't hit the ground, but instead was grabbed like someone squeezing a pillow, leaving me frozen diagonally in Ikuto's arms. He was looking anywhere but at my face, and just muttered the word, "Reflex," under his breath, but I knew better. It didn't have to be me; he would have done that for anyone. Which was what made me beam up at him, something I hadn't done in what felt like ages.
He tried to right me and make off again, but I thought, what the Hell, and threw my arms around his middle, my hands grasping each other behind his back, creating a prison of sorts. He heaved a sigh I felt in his chest, his warmth seeping into my forehead, and said, "Look, I know I have that magnetism girls tend to squeal about, but this is - "
"Ridiculous? I agree. But I don't want you getting away again." I tilted my head up to look at him, his hair falling in his eyes from looking down, which were narrowed and suspicious.
"You're gonna have to let go now." Once again he tried pulling me off, but I knew better this time. I had to talk. I wasn't a persuasive person by any means besides X-Characters, but something had to be done. Because I didn't want to die without reconciling with him.
"Ikuto, I like you." He started choking. "I don't think you're a bad person, and you've never proved me wrong except for once. You've been good to me, and you're good to the people around you, too, even if it is in an enigmatic way. And I know that you want nothing to do with me – you've made that abundantly clear. But I don't feel that way. I know I'll regret it forever if I don't at least say something, so here goes: I want us to be friends." From the looks of it, Yoru was having a stroke on his bearer's shoulder, his words a gargled mess and body spasming as his face was bright red. "I want us to hang out together, to poke fun at each other, and to just talk. There's not a lot of people I can do that with, and I'm not giving one up. Though it would be nice if you didn't harass me."
That little speech was followed by deafening silence. My Shugo Chara weren't even so quiet when they were asleep. I thought I was going to explode, then I realized that didn't sound like a "let's be friends" speech, but rather a confession, which was so not my intention. I actively made an effort to peel myself away from him then, to explain myself and tell him that was not at all what was going on, then I saw the look on his face. He didn't look embarrassed, or even all that surprised; he just looked a bit sad, his face pinched as if my touch physically pained him. I got the message; like I said, I wasn't stupid. I repulsed him without him even knowing what I was. It was just me he didn't like. Jesus.
His hand lifted gracefully, and landed on my head gently, like touching a kitten. Then he began to muss my hair so aggressively my head burned, and my ponytail drooped like a flower zapped with poison. I literally had to smack his hand away, the sound of contact oddly satisfying, but when I looked at his face again, my vision obscured by my hair in pieces, he was smiling.
"You're a slow one."
I ripped my scrunchie from my head to rake my fingers through my hair. "I've been told."
"I'm really not a nice guy," he said while crossing his arms, and it occurred to me that I was keeping him out in the freezing cold without a piece of winter clothing on him. "I don't know who you've seen all this time. But I wouldn't mind eating ice cream with you again."
"I'm honored," I muttered sarcastically, since I couldn't bear to respond seriously – I'd probably just yank off another lid and a lot of stuff would come spilling out. He screwed up my hair again, and I actually had to back away like I was waving off a group of wasps. "What the hell are you doing that for? Stop laughing!"
"But it's funny." There was a light in his eyes that hadn't been there before, one that made me glad I'd actually spoken up about what I actually felt. I really would have to start doing that more often if I got results like that. I found myself smiling back even while I tried to fix my hair, an example of the harassment I'd requested he stop.
The Lock began shining again in my hand, like one of the stars themselves was in my grasp. I opened my grip to examine it, and Ikuto pulled out his Dumpty Key, which was glittering in much the same fashion. We looked at each other, him somber while I was just confused. "What does it mean?" I asked, but he only shook his head in response.
"I don't think it's time yet," he murmured, which just sent me reeling even further. "But it's obvious to me that the Lock and Key find you irresistible." He gave me a look then, one that forced me to immediately look away before he could see my face get all hot. No on ever looked at me in that way before, and it made me uncomfortable enough that I couldn't even respond to it. He pat my head one more time before he began walking in the direction I wouldn't be, Character Changing with Yoru mid-stride to became a typical fickle cat-boy and bounding away. I placed a hand on my head, merely a shadow of his and its large size, and could only wonder what any of that meant.
Then suddenly my phone buzzed, and I turned on the screen only to read two words from a name and number that sent my heart into a flurry much like the snow around me in the bright sunlight: "ur dumb".
Kairi knew he'd just observed something he wasn't meant to. An Easter employee and Guardian fraternizing the way they did was scandalous at best, sacrilegious at worst. But at least Snow-senpai had received the Humpty Lock back, and she looked happier than he'd ever seen her.
Yet he still felt like a voyeur, watching her and Ikuto Tsukiyomi basically throw themselves all over each other like that. And that made his chest and stomach tight, so twisted and churned that he actually almost felt physically sick. His heart was beating, and his face was so hot he thought he had a fever. The day was over, and he hadn't actually stolen anything, and his sister couldn't blame him for any of the things that transpired on that day. He was completely in the clear, and it wasn't like it was forbidden for Snow-senpai and Tsukiyomi-san to be close. He wasn't obligated to tell anyone.
So why did he feel like absolute shit?
Everyone: "Man, fuck Caillou."
Crimrose: "If this reference flew over anyone's heads, it's this kids' TV show about this little bald brat named Caillou who is a terrible role model for children. He's evil.
Also, some people have been PMing me questions regarding my writing style and personal life. Some are a bit too personal to post online, because I am paranoid like that, but I have no issue with answering the easier ones! For example, my university major is English Literature - of course. I want to become more qualified to become an actual novelist than just some starving teenager, y'know? And yes, to those who asked, I do have siblings: I have two brothers, one older and the other younger. Our age differences are pretty big; my older brother and I are five and a half years apart, and my younger brother and I are fourteen years apart. That means my brothers are twenty years apart! In short, my mother has sworn off any more children.
Additionally, others have asked if Snow's struggles with her mother, and the lack of a maternal presence in my other FanFic, means that I have a bad relationship with mine. The answer is no: my mom and I get along wonderfully! We fight like any other parent and child, but we love each other very much, even if we show it in strange ways. Snow doesn't have her mother in her life just because I love drama, and Vivi doesn't because that's Brother's Conflict and there wouldn't be much of a plot if her biological mother was in the picture.
Final question I get frequently: similarities between Snow and I. The biggest one is sense of direction; I literally get lost everywhere I go, even on the way to my own house. I just have that short of an attention span. The other is the aversion to cars and driving: I just think they're a big metal death-trap and I hate driving so much. Someone once pointed out to me that all my main characters have light hair, from white to blonde, and I guess this could be because I've always had light hair, even after I started dying it. I tend to put myself into my main characters, I'd say a bit too much sometimes. I have to learn to separate Snow and myself sometimes, because people don't want to know how I feel, but rather how she feels.
However, I'd argue there's more differences. For example: I'm only a few inches away from being a hobbit. Snow is super tall, taller than an average guy my age, while I'm the shortest of my friends. I also can't see myself living on my own; I rely on other people too much. I don't have anything to do with any religion, while this story arguably has a lot to do with it (apologies if I've offended anyone, it's not intentional, I'm just misinformed). I'm also way more inappropriate than she is; her innocence is something I often have difficulty writing, as I tend to think things in the gutter direction quickly. My sense of humor encompasses that, as I find the worst and most offensive things funny - hence why this story has such rotten language, apologies to anyone who may be of a younger audience. It has taken all my being for a certain pair of characters to just not go at it already - I'm getting sick of waiting, too."
Snow: "I wonder whoever you could be talking about."
Crimrose: "It is no mystery, girl, but if you're really missing the point right now I'm not going to say anything."
Ikuto: "We're all practically adults, here. It's perfectly okay to have urges."
Crimrose: "See, he gets it."
Snow: "U-urges?! What a disgusting thing to say! I don't care if it's human nature, I'm not completely human, and I don't-"
Lee: "If you look at a fair number of texts, demons are basically sexual creatures themselves, Snow. Your only excuse is that you're immature."
Snow: "!"
Ikuto: "Finally, someone's said it."
Tadase: "I don't think there's anything wrong with that!"
Crimrose: "You wouldn't. By the way, anyone having trouble picturing these conversations, just imagine we're all sitting in comfy chairs like on Ellen. The behind-the-scenes action is the best action, in my opinion."
Snow: "I disagree! I feel significantly more abused at the end than during the actual chapter. And these chairs are not comfortable at all - my coffee's not even hot!"
Crimrose: "Not once did I say I was a good host. Anyway, that's enough of a rant for now. Thank y'all for reading, and I hope I answered everyone's questions satisfactorily!"
Snow: *looking at previous answers* "Wait one se - DID YOU MAKE MY MOTHER NEARLY KILL ME SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU LOVE DRAMA?"
Crimrose: "See you next time!"
Snow: "YOU ABSOLUTE SICKO!"