I DO NOT OWN SHUGO CHARA, ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, OR ANY LICENSED MATERIAL THAT MAY APPEAR IN THIS STORY AND CHAPTER.

THIS STORY IS RATED T FOR LANGUAGE AND CONTENT SO BEWARE OF THE LANGUAGE!

Authors note:

Once again Heyy! I love love love you guys especially when you review and tell me what you think :-) Don't be lazy…if you like my story hit that button and tell meh! So, for the next couple of chapters it's gonna be a little Kutau-ish but don't worry….still Rimahiko primarily but sorry if you don't like Kutau it is important for the theme of this story :)

Taking One for the Team

CHAPTER 23: Oh I see… Wet dreams?

KUKAI'S POV:

The night we arrived in Tokyo and we were brought to the hotel, I couldn't sleep. I glanced at our window, I got up slowly from my futon and stepped over many of the other guys. I resented the fact that I was the only one having such anxiety attacks, I looked out the window and saw the amazing city of Tokyo out in the distance, lit up like a giant Christmas tree ornament. I slid the window open slowly careful not to wake anyone up. I leaned on the window pane and stretched outside and felt the cold air on me. I shivered, and glanced above me.

I saw the roof. We were on the second to last floor; I bet I could climb up there. I tip toed quickly back to my corner and picked up my bag and dug for my sweater. Once I got it, I fully opened the window crawled head first on it and sat on the window pane. From there I stood up slightly and glance upwards, I saw a room on the top floor's window and I grabbed onto the ledge of it and pushed myself upwards never looking down. Once I stood on that window, I saw the flat roof. I did the same thing, and grabbed onto the leg of the roof and pushed my way up there using my amazing upper body strength.

I didn't know what had drawn me to the roof but what I did know was that it was absolutely amazing. The view from Tokyo was even better from that perspective. Somehow, though it made no sense I felt way more higher up then in the room. Maybe it was the fresh air. Thinking I was alone I let out a loud sigh and collapsed to the ground, remembering the big game and becoming nervous again.

"Do you mind?" A voice from behind sneered.

Impulsively I swung my head around to see Hoshina Utau leaning on the wall of the entrance back into the hotel.

"You're blocking my view," She clarified.

I was in shock. For many different reasons. For one thing, what was the mean queen bitch doing on the roof at night all by herself? Also, no one has heard her talk in a while and now she is talking so casually with me. Also….how did she get up here?

"S-Sorry," I apologized not knowing what else to say, I sat down next to her. Only because I was testing just how casual I could be with her she nonchalantly scooted centimeters away to give me more room.

I think the reason for her disinterest was just that she simply had no energy to argue, her eyes looked dead tonight, and her usual dark violet spheres that lit up her face had became dead hallow grayish-lavender colored things randomly placed on her face.

"How did you get up here?" She asked me, her voice nothing more than a whisper.

"I climbed," I replied in my usual loud energetic voice.

"Hmm." She mumbled to herself and then she looked up at the sky.

"How did you get up here?"

"I climbed," she replied still not making eye contact.

"Whoa really?" I nearly choked out.

She turned and looked at me perceptibly confused and stared for a while her eyes slowly widening and retaining its life source.

"Why does that surprise you?" She said a little louder, "You climbed as well,"

"I just never pictured a girl like you to climb up the side of a 16th story building at night,"

"A girl like me?" She scoffed becoming angry.

How come every time we meet it has to be like this?

"Well you know….I mean…." I trailed off awkwardly. She furrowed her brow and bit her lip showing her most fierce expression.

"Souma Kukai, I will remind you that I am a Cheerleader, and it is expected that if someone like you, a simple boy like any other on the basketball team can climb this building then a talented, coordinated, gymnast like me can!"

She was literally fuming. She glanced at me with disgust and looked away. That was the first time a girl had ever done that to me. No, honestly.

"Eh…Utau…" I began ready to apologize since her expression stung me and I had to get rid of the guilty feeling that was welling up inside. However, I was interrupted by her solemn mumbling.

"Well," she sighed her entire character changing in one swift instant, "To be honest, a girl like me, Hoshina Utau, Doesn't climb buildings at night, right? A girl like me, has people to do that for me. A girl like me, pampers herself at night, not climbs buildings, a girl like me."

"Sorry," I interrupted suddenly, "It's just that…."

"It's okay," She cut in, this time interrupting me, "I have never shown any sign of this side of me anyway, and after that huge argument we got into back at school after you hit Saaya with the ball, what else are you supposed to think about me? Until now, I've always been a selfish brat."

"Until now? This side of me? So you're different right now?" I inquired.

"Are we arguing?"

"I'm not sure," I replied earnestly.

"Then I'm different." She stated, "If I were the same Utau as before you'd be able to tell,"

"So why are you sharing this side with me?"

"Because you happened to have found my hiding spot, what was I supposed to do? Act all snobby and tell you to get off my roof?" She laughed then continued, "I rather continue peacefully watching Tokyo as the true me, than acting all hoity-toity just 'cuz you're up here,"

"Oh," I replied at a loss of words. What the hell does Hoity-toity mean?

"So why are you up here?" She asked me.

Involuntarily, I turned red. I covered my face and looked away.

"Oh I see…" She sighed and looked up at me, "Wet dreams?"

"WHA-No!" I hollered.

Then she broke out into a severe case of laughter. She laughed so loud that it was almost alarming; I didn't know girls could laugh like that. But I liked it, she laughed as though she never wanted to stop. Normal people, when laughing, try to contain it, and then end up laughing even more. But she just laughed and cried and did whatever she felt like without restraint.

"You're face…." She began than laughed again, after swiping away a single tear she looked up at me and smiled, "I'm kidding,"

"I-I know," I grumbled and tried to look away from her eyes but for some reason it was pretty darn hard to do.

"Ah…." She hummed, "Haven't laughed like that since….eh….I've been moody for a while."

"I noticed," I said clearing my throat.

"So why are you here?"

I sighed and looked at her; the words were ready to jump out of my mouth. I had never really discussed my nervousness to anyone before and it was hard not to show it, and for some reason right then, on the roof with her it felt like the perfect time to let it out.

"Well since we're being honest with each other…." I began I noticed her nodding from the corner of my eye, "I'm a train wreck. I'm so worried about this stupid game I can't even sleep."

"Why?" She asked immediately much to my surprise, "It's just a game all you have to do is play the same game you play every single day? Just because you're competing it's different?"

"But if I mess up, I'll feel really…."

"Mess up," She interrupted me rudely; "Basketball is the same each time. Basketball has been the same for years, almost every single time it has been played. If no one were to ever mess up in Basketball, then it wouldn't be qualified as a game. It ain't easy. You're going to mess up….deal with it."

"But…"

"…and even though you'll mess up," She continued, "You'll also do well. You'll score points; you'll make good passes, and what-not. Chances are you won't be messing up that often anyways."

"I know but…." I almost yelled.

"But what?" She groaned and punched me in the arm, "Stop being a wimp and suck it up. Wow you're really different then what I thought you were."

"So are you!" I yelled back.

"I guess we're both a bunch of fakes." She sighed, "Well you know….I'm a wimp too. If I'm not a bitch then I'm too scared to be anything else."

"A couple of fake wimps," I declared.

"Fake wimps," She laughed again. Suddenly she leaned her head on my shoulder. I looked down at her and was either too caught up in the moment or scared to move.

We stayed like that for about five minutes when I looked down at her and noticed she fell asleep. I stayed as still as a rock, careful not to wake her and continued watching Tokyo silently all by myself, the beautiful lights glittering. I thought about what she had told me. Why do people get nervous anyway? I can't remember when, but at some point during that night I fell asleep too.

How the hell did I end up in this position?

O.O.O.O

My eyes opened for a split second the harsh sunlight greedily engulfing my body with it's heat. I looked around and saw the roof.

"Oh yeah I…." I mumbled then I jumped up in shock and realized Utau and I were leaning on each other. "U-Utau…."

"eh?" She mumbled.

I tried hitting her shoulder gently (which was difficult in our kind position), but It didn't work. So I moved, and since she was leaning on me, she fell over. She abruptly got up and frowned.

"Hey, just what the hell do you think you're….." She began, and then she looked around and gasped, placing her hands over her mouth. "It's…."

"Morning," I finished the sentence. We stayed there sitting on the concrete roof (kind of lying down though) and staring at each other.

"We've got a schedule to follow!" She screamed after a while, she grabbed my hand and we both stood up at the same time. She went to her side of the building to climb back into the girl's window, and I went to my side to climb back into the boy's window.

"See you on the inside," She screamed saluting to me. I nodded.

It took me a while, but I managed to get back inside, then I ran out the room door and into the empty hallway, I looked around hastily. Then Utau came running through the girl's door.

"Did they leave? Are we like 3 hours late!" She squealed.

I pointed to the bulletin board, we both ran up to it and glared.

"We're leaving at 9:45…." Utau read out loud underlining 9:45 on the paper with her index finger, "What time is it!"

I ran back into the room, dug through my bag and pulled out my phone and ran back into the hallway.

"9:20! IT'S 9:20!" I screamed.

"So basically we got twenty fucking five minutes to get ready…." Utau clarified.

"Uh-huh…." I answered.

"Oh my god!" She yelled as she ran into the indoor hot springs, as I did the same.

It was a rush getting ready, I even saw her in her towel and she saw me in mine….which was awkward. Anyway….I threw on something and ran out but she still wasn't ready. I decided to wait for her, at 9:42 she emerged out of her room in shorts and a tee-shirt with her gym clothes packed in a duffel bag.

"You waited," She said looking at me.

"Well yeah…we're…uh…in this…..together?" I mumbled unsure.

"Yes," She smiled, "We are! Now let's go!"

She took my hand in hers and ran. We made it into the lobby while they were boarding the bus; we looked at each other, stopped holding hands, and mixed into the crowd naturally. I wondered if I was ever going to hang out with her again. Who knew under that demon was such a fun girl? A witty, outgoing, energetic, girl that made me stutter just by looking at me for longer than 10 seconds.

O.O.O.O

When lunchtime finally came I was ecstatic, after all I was just practicing basketball on an empty stomach. Plus, I was carrying around a huge secret and I was afraid Nagihiko would notice, much less Ikuto. But they were too focused on the game to notice my awkward behavior. I glanced over at the cheerleaders once and saw Utau dancing along to the music with all the other girls and she was the same.

Why was I the only one feeling awkward? What is it exactly that is making me feel this way?

There were so many questions that she needed to answer and I was going to get her to answer it somehow.

I changed out of my gym clothes and into something a bit more decent. Then as I walked outside I saw Rima and that girl talking….what was her name? Ma...something. Rima almost looked not socially awkward and I laughed to myself ready to go over there and tease her. But just as I was about to I saw Utau rush out of the gym her eyes red and swollen, like she had been crying, or was going to.

She looked very frantic like she was about to collapse she looked around in the crowded streets of Tokyo, and somehow our eyes met. Those Purple eyes of her once again enticed me and I couldn't look away, they softened though they were still watery and red. Then she ran towards me, and looked at me.

We both didn't say anything. I had absolutely no idea about what was going on.

"Have…lunch with me." She said still looking at me, I continued looking at her for like a minute until I replied.

"Ok," I almost whispered understanding, yet, not understanding. It was if we were communicating through our eyes. Then I glanced at Rima, that Ma girl's friends came over. Rima was looking around again. I looked at Utau knowing that if Rima saw us together it would cause trouble. "Let's…go!"

I grabbed hold of her hands and did my signature running move while dragging her about the place. Her eyes widened as she tried to keep up with me, I ran, and ran, not knowing where to go and not really caring. What I was looking for was a ramen place. They were all over Tokyo, I just had to find one far away.

"Ramen," She said, as I continued dragging her through the crowd, "I want to eat ramen,"

"I don't think that'll be a problem," I said looking back at her for a second and smiling. She smiled back, and my heart pounded….had I managed to cheer her up?

Usually when I pulled Rima or Amu around it was different. Amu would scream the whole time, Rima would cuss the whole time. But Utau followed me obediently and tried keeping up. Maybe it was because she was sad?

Then I found a nice place, I smiled to myself and her. Then all of a sudden, unexpectedly, she dragged me right into the place!

There was a young man around our age, but looked a little older, serving ramen. He looked at us and smiled.

"Welcome!" He shouted.

"Good afternoon," I greeted. He grinned yet again and handed us a menu.

We sat down by the kitchen, around the counter, so when our order was finish the cook could just place our bowls right in front of us.

"Oji-san!" Utau shouted.

"Yes!" He shouted back grinning at her. She seemed to be a natural at this.

"I would like two bowls of the Tamago ramen, please!"

"I'll make it good," He replied. She gave him a sincere smile.

"I'll be counting on you then," She declared.

"Is one bowl for your boyfriend?" He asked indicating to me, I flushed red.

"Nope, just for me Oji-san."

"What'll you have then, son?" He asked me.

"U-Uh….Tsujo no Ramen to Sakana please," I replied.

"Okay!" He shouted and started making our ramen.

"Won't your friends miss you at lunch?" Utau asked suddenly not making eye contact.

"Probably," I replied, "And yours?"

"They're with yours," She replied, "Why would they want to eat with me anyway?"

"Because they're your friends,"

"Friends?" She nearly screamed, "Friends…ha…that's funny. Friends. They're not my friends!"

"Why is that?" I asked glancing around at the critical adults glaring at us for our loudness.

"Well today…." She trailed off and I knew from her change of tone that she was about to tell me a story, "I was like 'Saaya, Lulu, time to go eat!' and they were all 'oh, but we're eating with Yumi, yaya, Amu, Rima, and the guys, you wana come with?' and I was all 'come with? Come with? Bitch you better come with your cheap ass make up to go get some fucking ramen,' and…."

"Well don't you think that's a little rude to say?" I trailed off not knowing how to phrase it.

"I talk to them like that all the time…..then Saaya was all 'Utau I'm tired of you! I'm tired of this blah…blah…blah' and Lulu was all 'we were good enough to care for you and you still act like this…..blah….blah….blah' then they told me our friendship was over and went to go help Amu because she fell into a locker half naked."

"Is that why you were crying?" I asked trying hard to contain my laughter at that last part.

"Um…." She got quiet again, she nodded slowly and sighed out a heavy 'yes', "It…..hurt."

"Well don't you think it's because of the way you talk to them?" I asked her in all seriousness she sighed, and nearly yelled again.

"Of course I know it's because of the way I talk to them! But don't you get it? Being a bitch is all part of my façade! I can't just get up one morning and quit it! I can't just show them the real me!"

"Utau calm down," I whispered.

"And for some reason…..some strange reason…. I can stop being a bitch when I'm around you, so you better fucking appreciate it!" She screamed this time.

Everyone stopped and looked at us.

"Here you go," The chef announced handing us our bowls, as if he was not fazed by her loud bad words echoing throughout his store.

Utau did not touch her ramen nor did she thank the old man she just continued staring at me weakly her eyes sending me another message letting me know that she wanted me to do something.

"I'll appreciate it." I stated, "I'll appreciate it all through today's lunch, I'll appreciate it all through this trip, and I'll appreciate it all through the days that we still have together, ok? But I don't think you'll be happy with just my appreciation, and for some reason….some strange reason…." I continued quoting her, "I care about your happiness therefore, promise me, that you'll work hard to let your true self shine, promise me."

"I…." she began staring up at me, "I….b-but….I…."

"Utau," I said touching her hand, she turned red immediately. It looked like she was in pain so I hastily pulled my hand away but she shook her head and grabbed onto my hand instead.

"I promise," she whispered.

"AWWWWWWW!" Some girl behind us squealed. We turned to her our mouths half-open.

Her curly hair and large glasses scared the hell out of us.

"It's just like a scene in a drama!" She squealed, "Can I use that line in my novel?"

"…"

"Okay thanks!" She squealed and ran off muttering "Kawaii overdose!"

"Um…" Utau coughed clearing her throat.

"That was extremely awkward." I sighed.

She looked up at me and smiled then we both started laughing. All throughout lunch we had contests to see who could do things faster like…. Eat three noodles without using chopsticks.

It was hilarious I always wanted to have lunch with someone like that but I never pictured it to be with a girl, and the funny thing was she enjoyed it just as much as I did.

When we left we had about 5 minutes to return to the gymnasium which we did without being noticed.

O.O.O.O

After a strict interrogation from Rima and the others during the sightseeing of the historical places we all got ready and dressed formally for dinner.

I came down as a group and noticed the girls spread out randomly between two tables.

"Welcome," Tsukasa said, "You'll find a seat with your name on it, I tried to mix it randomly so that you guys can make new friends,"

Really….that's unnecessary.

I saw the second table where Rima sat and immediately our eyes met she grinned at me and pointed at the seat next to her. I raised my eyebrows in realization; I was to sit next to Rima! I ran over there and plunged into the seat sitting on my name tag.

Soon almost everyone sat down and the seat next to me was empty for a while. Then someone sat down next to me.

I looked to my right to see who it was and came face to face with Utau. Only Utau looked super pretty tonight, the ends of her pigtails were curled and her makeup which weren't that much made her features even more noticeable, she wore a simple, and rather short, red tube dress that was fluffy at the bottom. She looked at me and I looked at her but for only 2 seconds we instantly looked away.

I spend most of the night stuffing my face and teasing Rima whom was stuffing her face and teasing Kairi by making funny faces at him and talking to that Ma….something girl.

Then for one minute I glanced at Utau and our eyes met instantly. She looked at my face, saw how messy it was, and burst into laughter. I frowned and hastily tried to clean up my face. Then she looked at me again and squealed.

"It's still there!"

So I had a good idea! I took sauce off of my chicken and rubbed it on her nose. She looked up at me and we both bursted into laughter because we knew a food fight was about to go down, but then perhaps at the exact same instant, we both realized that we weren't in the ramen shop anymore. We were at dinner, with all of our peers watching.

We looked at them then at each other one last time, and continued on as if nothing had happened, when in fact something had.

"What…in….the world?" I heard someone mumble and I knew it was Ikuto.

O.O.O.O

THANKS FOR READING! ONCE AGAIN, REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED

Up next is the Drama….DRAMA!