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:
Hello a little slow updating…but it's all good ;)
Anyway as usual some Kutau, but this is mainly a Rimahiko chapter….and maybe even a confession. Yeah that's right! A CONFESSION! Is it true? Read on and see…Chapter 24 Rima and Nagi alone in the dark midnight confession hehe….
Taking One for the Team
CHAPTER 24: He's Pretty smooth on the outside
Rima's POV:
Kukai disappeared right before the dinner finished and so did Utau! Kukai said he was going to the bathroom, but he never came back, and Utau as well. We all stayed up in the girl's room gossiping about it. Even Utau's futon was gone.
"Ugh," Mayami grunted on the floor typing away on her laptop.
"What is it Maya-chan?" Amu asked.
"Oh, Amu, Sasamori-kun e-mailed me our class's homework and it's so confusing!"
Oh so Amu is in her class.
"Oh good! I don't like catching up let me join you." Amu said plopping down next to her. It seemed all the girls found connections in order to do their homework, except for me.
"Rima," Lulu cooed sneaking up behind me.
"Yes?" I asked my eyes glued to my DS.
"You've obviously finished your homework; can you help me with number 5?" Lulu whined.
Oh yeah she's in my class!
"Actually….." I trailed off, "I didn't get the homework."
"Really? Well come and work with me, we'd both get it done faster that way." Lulu smiled dragging me to her side of the room.
"Kamen is here too," Lulu stated as we both sat on the floor crowding around her laptop.
"Who sent it to you?" I asked out of sheer curiosity completely ignoring the Kamen girl who sat next to my Nagihiko all night.
"Ryusuke," Lulu replied.
"Dum Dum Ryusuke?" Kamen asked.
"Ha," I giggled in memory of Ryusuke's beloved nickname.
"Yeah," Lulu nodded.
"I'm surprised he knows how to use a computer," Kamen laughed.
"Much less email it to Lulu," I added. Kamen and Lulu laughed but I ignored Kamen cuz' I can't get over her stealing my man.
"Oh he probably read a whole manual on how to use his email just for Lulu, you know about his freakish crush on her righttt?" Kamen giggled.
"Oh yea! Remember the school festival?" I unintentionally engaged.
"Yes, we had the maid café!" Kamen added pointing at me.
"And Lulu came outside in her uniform for the first time!" I began pointing at her.
"Then she rode past him on her roller skates!" She continued then we both said the last part.
"And he had this huge nose bleed!" We said in harmony laughing hysterically.
"You guys!" Lulu giggled, "Stop! Come on! Concentrate!"
"Gosh we must be really stupid to be put in such a class," Kamen added.
"Between you and me my grades are as bad as our principle's fake hair piece,"
She giggled again her long pigtails swaying. She really was pretty. So pretty that she and Saaya could be sisters, her eye lashes were as long as Saya's but her lips were fuller.
"My grades are really low because I procrastinate too much! I seriously need professional help but my Dad doesn't believe me so he won't take me to a therapist or anything." She shared with me.
"Ask your mom then," Lulu suggested.
"Oh? My parents are divorced though…." She said a little solemnly, making the mood awkward. I immediately killed it.
"Wow! So are mine! PLUS my mom is an abusive alcoholic! So I gotta live with Dum Dum Amu over there." I explained.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry to hear that!" Kamen squealed.
"That must be hard for you, Rima." Lulu added.
"Come on guys no need to sound so worried. Amu isn't that bad to live with….." I began.
"We mean your mom!" Kamen added.
"Oh, well don't be. Let's just continue with this homework, okay?"
"Okay!" They both agreed.
It was getting late and almost time for curfew check, it was 11:30 a half hour left! Lulu, Kamen, and I were stuck on two questions and no girls would help us.
I picked up Amu's phone and called Ikuto.
"What are you stilling doing up, strawberry? Want me to come over?" Ikuto answered in a perverted tone.
"Yuck. This Is Rima, so save it. Put Nagihiko on the phone…..now!" I ordered.
"Fuck. NAGIHIKO RIMA'S ON THE PHONE!" Ikuto screamed. After a while, I heard Nagihiko say something to Ikuto then his sweet sounding tone flowed through my ears.
"Yes, Rima-chan?" He answered ever so sweetly that it made me blush.
"Um I kind of need help on a history question, and you're smart, right? So I thought you could help…."
"What is it?" He asked excitedly.
"Back in the days, in ancient Japan, having white teeth was considered unattractive right?" I asked him.
"I believe so," He replied.
"Well do you have any idea what we used to darken teeth back in the days?" I asked him.
"Did you look it up?" He asked me.
"Yeah, couldn't find anything….plus wavering signal."
"I think it was vinegar in tea," He replied.
"Vinegar in Tea," I told Lulu and Kamen.
"Also do you know why Emperor Kammu established a new capital away from Nara?" I asked.
"New capital? Which Capital?"
"Heian-Kyo,"
"Present day Kyoto?"
"Yeah."
"Because of the Chinese influence on Japan, a lot of Japanese had converted into Buddhists, and in the capital of Nara there was corruption in the government where the Buddhist priest had more power than the Shogun, so emperor Kammu decided to build a new capital to get rid of the corruption,"
"You're so smart," I giggled.
"Th-Thanks,"
"Rima stop flirting," Kamen cooed.
"Um did you get all of that?" Nagihiko asked.
"Ye-"
" Because I can come over and explain it better, wait did you say yes?"
"No!"
"No?"
"I mean yes!"
"What?"
"Just come over!"
"Um….Okay."
O.O.O.O
It didn't take ten minutes for Nagihiko to arrive. He ran across, and the lights were off when he entered and everyone else was asleep except for me. Kamen and Lulu lay passed out on each other.
"Sorry about them," I apologized awkwardly, "We're all really tired,"
"It's okay I'll explain it to you and you can explain it to them in the morning, kay?"
"Yeah, if I get the chance with this busy schedule being enforced, you sure you okay? I just remembered you got sleeping problems," I asked concerned about my best friend's health.
"It's okay I was napping when you called,"
"Oh sorry."
"For what? I'm fine, anyways you should be able to call me whenever you want so I'll give you my number," He whispered to me.
My heart was pounding like a drum and my whole body thumped with its unsteady beating. The both of us sat together crouched down in the dark with only our cell phone's luminating our uneasy expressions. As we exchanged numbers I looked right at him and wondered how he and his girlfriend interacted, and it saddened me to think that the feelings that I have for him right now, some other girl is feeling this very minute.
I wanted him to be mine.
"So you see the preists…" He began.
"Nagihiko," I said suddenly. I couldn't hide these feelings anymore whether it's him or me to confess if there are feelings between us, I want to know for sure, "I lied, I understand, I just wanted you to come over,"
"Why?" He asked me suddenly, the blue light of his cellphone lighting up his every expression. His current face was calm and relaxed as if he had already known.
"Because, I was lonely." I replied, "and then I wanted to see you."
I didn't need my phone to light up my face, I'm pretty sure my blush was doing the trick. It was lighting it up like Christmas lights in mid-December.
"Rima," Nagihiko said suddenly, "As your best friend whenever you call for me for whatever reason I'll come."
I blushed even harder and closed my eyes. Now was the perfect moment to confess, when suddenly Nagihiko's phone rang.
"H-Hello?" Nagihiko answered.
Even I could hear Ikuto's harsh voice on the other line.
"Tsukasa is coming to inspect the girls room in like 1 minute! Tadase just spotted him coming down the hall you gotta hurry and hide before he- gotta go!"
Then the line went dead.
"Hide me," Nagihiko pleaded.
I nodded. All the bed's were almost taken up. Lulu and Kamen lay down on top of each other very naturally by the laptop so I decided to fill up my bed using Nagihiko.
I quickly took two rubber bands from Amu's luggage, gave him two pigtails and did a fast braid on each of them to make him look like girl and shoved him under my comforter. Saaya's luggage was huge and me being fun sized and all (small), Jumped right into her luggage, zipped it up and left a small breathing hole, it wasn't even 8 seconds later before Tsukasa came in inspecting everything.
He spotted Lulu and Kamen on top of each other snoring by the laptop with homework scattered about he smiled at this continued saw each and every girl's head or hair popping out from under the futon, saw Nagihiko's pigtails looked at it for a second, then moved on.
"Hm, seems Hoshina-san ran away," He giggled then walked out and closed the door.
O.O.O.O
"That was close," I whispered to Nagihiko unbraiding his hair. He nodded, "Sorry to dress you up like this, I bet you must hate this."
"Yeah, I feel like Nadeshiko,"
"Well don't worry I promise you that it won't happen again, okay?" I said, "Now….go back to sleep."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll tell you what I was going to say some other time." He nodded, patted me on the head which made me blush then walked out. I sighed and flopped down on the floor and rolled around growling, "SO FUCKING CLOSEEE!"
O.O.O.O
Kukai's POV:
So me and Utau sat on top of her futon (which she was smart enough to bring) all night long on the roof, talking about unnecessary things.
"What are we gonna dooooo," She moaned leaning her head on me.
"Who gives a fuck? How are we gonna sleep?" I growled.
"On the futon duh,"
"But there's only one," I sort of muttered looking a way. She laughed and rolled her eyes.
"You'll get used to it,"
"Fine," I sighed, "Can't we just tell them? I mean, you promised me you would show your true self!"
"But not so fucking fast Kukai, I mean gosh…..give me some time to identify my true self."
"Fine, then what do you propose we do?" I groaned.
"Ignore 'em," She replied.
"Easy for you to say."
"Well, I never!" She gasped.
"Sorry," I said quickly, "It's just…."
"I get it, I get it,"
"You gotta stop doing that. Getting mad then agreeing with me,"
"See this is exactly why we can't tell them. I'm socially awkward," She almost yelled.
"You're the most popular girl in school, Utau. You're not socially awkward." I reminded her.
"When I'm a bitch I'm not,"
"Are you really that insecure?" I asked her seriously, for a moment I thought she would take offense but instead she paused and nodded, "Fine, fine, we'll just pretend this whole thing never happened around the others and ignore them when they ask questions."
"Sorry for getting in the way of your other friendships," She apologized, even though it sounded more like a complaint coming from Utau.
"It's okay I like you better," I said not looking at her.
"Huh?"
"It's true; I have a lot more fun with you then when I'm with them, especially when we eat. You would think me and my guy friends have eating competitions like we do but actually their pretty tidy when they eat," I replied.
"Wait so you like my manliness?"
Uh oh. She's offended. Stay calm Kukai.
"No, no, err… actually yes…..but it's not as though I don't see you as a girl."
"eh?" She said smirking to herself, "Does that mean you like me?"
"N-No!" I stuttered, "It just means you're not like a guy at all to me!"
"hmm okay then," She said still smirking.
"S-Stop that!"
"Stop what?"
"Utau!"
"Okay, okay," she giggled, "I'm tired, let's go to sleep."
Then she got under the comforter and laid down smiling comfortably.
"Aren't you ready for bed, Kukai?" She asked me.
"Stop that,"
"Stop what?"
"I know you're doing that on purpose," I glared.
"Doing what?"
"looking all cute to make me nervous,"
In one instant she turned red and looked away.
"I really wasn't doing it on purpose…."
Oops.
"God you make me so awkward!" I screamed frustrated.
"Does that meanthat you like me?"
"Stop doing that." I sighed, "Why do you keep doing that?"
"Just sleep, look, I'll try to distance myself away from you as much as possible." Utau assured me. Well, what she thought was assuring.
So I climbed in, snuggled myself in comfortably, and then waited. She scooted about 1 inch away then snuggled a little.
"That's it?" I asked.
"Well this futon was designed for one person! If you want more room then go sleep on the fucking ground!" She exploded.
"You've got anger issues," I mumbled.
"Yeah well you'll just have to deal with it!" She growled.
Then I burst out laughing.
"What are you laughing at idiot?" She asked me, we were both lying down facing different directions so I wondered what expression she was making at the time.
"You," I whispered happily.
O.O.O.O
Rima's POV
The morning came as a shock to me, and everyone else. I waddled out of bed and noticed only a few other girls were in the room already getting dressed. I gasped and ran out the room; the halls were as busy as heck. I noticed, through all the chaos, Kukai was running around, his towel barely covering his well built body.
I was definitely gonna question him later.
I made my way to the bulletin board, the way I calmly approached it must've looked weird as complete chaos struck all around me. I looked at the agenda and sighed.
8:00-9:00 Get ready
9:00-9:45 Eat breakfast (Deli 4th floor)
9:45-10:00 On the road
10:00- 12:00 Regular Practice for the team and Cheerleaders
12:00-12:50 Lunch break (Any restaurant near the Gymnasium)
12:50-1:45 Second half of practice
1:45-4:45 free time
4:45-5:30 on the road (returning to hotel)
5:30-7:00 prepare for dinner (Traditional Restaurant 1st floor)
7:00-9:00 Dinner
9:00-12:00 free time
12:00 curfew check (everyone must be in bed LIGHTS OUT!)
I made my way to the bath and saw Yumi was in there chatting with Amu and the girls. They glanced around and motioned for me to come over. I quietly obliged after taking off my clothes and getting into the indoor bath as quietly and as inconspicuously as possible.
"Rima," Yumi cooed, which I thought was unnecessarily emotional considering we were both naked and how awkward I felt.
"What?" I asked kind of loud.
"Shhh," Yaya hissed, "It's a secret,"
"What's a secret?" I pondered.
"SHH!" All of them said in unison again much to my disliking.
"What's a secret?" I repeated in a quieter tone.
"The fact that we are sneaking out to go to a Fried Rice concert tonight!" Saya whispered vigorously due to her undying energetic excitement towards partying.
"A what?" I shrieked.
"SHH!"
"Stop doing that," I grunted.
"Look Rima," Yumi took over now, "My sister is in town,"
"Your sister? Doesn't she go to Toyotomi?" I asked.
"Yeah, but that's not why she is here," Yumi cut me off, "You see my sister is an undying rock music fanatic, also she is supposedly really pretty and guys take to her easily,"
"Supposedly?" I whispered.
"Well I'm not gonna say she is pretty. I'm her sister and I don't think of her as pretty or ugly or regular, but whatever, anyway, she used her guy connections and found out that there is a Fried Rice concert happening in Tokyo tonight! Naturally she called, me: her sister, and invited me to come along. You don't need a ticket. Just a password."
"So?" I asked.
"Sooooo we're going!" Yumi whispered, "Just us and the guys. My sister said to only bring my closest friends so we are gonna keep this thing at a minimum, Tsukasa-sensei is quite perceptive,"
"I have one question," I told my friends, all five of them looked up at me.
"Yes?"
"What's Fried rice?"
"Oh my god," Yumi sighed slapping her forehead.
"Do you not own a TV?" Lulu growled.
"What?" I grumbled.
"Fried Rice is an American band, but the two main members Li and Rice are both Japanese! They are big in Japan today…well…for rock lovers such as my sis, that's why we are lucky to get into this shindig!" Yumi explained.
"Li and Rice?" I inquired.
The girls all sighed again.
"There are six members! Rice the main guitarist, Li the second guitarist she's a girl, Chen Wang Li's step sister whom is the girly lead singer," Amu listed, "Marisa, the pianist/keyboardist she's got some serious style, Lucy the drummer, and Gordon the bassist!"
"Weird names," I sighed, "I don't really like rock,"
"No," Amu corrected me, "You don't really like music,"
"I like DDR,"
"You freak," Yumi hissed, "Look you're going and that's that,"
"What time is it?" Lulu inquired.
"It's 9:00," Yumi replied glancing at her watch that rested on top of her folded clothes not too far away, "OH SHIT! We leave at 45 past and we haven't eaten yet!"
You can tell what happens next. That's right all of our asses hurrying to eat.
O.O.O.O
12:00 HOURS, lunch time
CURRENT LOCATION: Murakami-san's house of pancakes.
"A concert?" Ikuto took in Yumi's words and spat it out as that.
"Ikuto it's gonna be fun," Amu added.
"Apparently," I muttered as I stuffed a whole bunch of pancakes into my mouth.
This is how I spend my lunch.
"Rima!" Lulu scolded, "Don't listen to her, guys, this is gonna be great,"
"I heard Fried Rice was pretty cool," Nagihiko mentioned.
Omg is he for this?
"Me too," Tadase added.
"Well I haven't," Ikuto murmured. Taking a sip of his orange juice and glaring at us.
"Neither have I….." I sang looking a way.
"Guys! Stop that," Yumi squealed.
"I really don't feel like sneaking out," Ikuto added.
"Plus, Tsukasa is really…"
"To hell with Tsukasa!"Yumi squealed, "That old and wrinkly man is always trying to ruin my fun!"
"Wrinkly? I mean he's old….but I wouldn't say that he's wrinkly," I muttered.
"He is pretty smooth on the outside." Amu added.
"Yeah, he almost looks like Tadase!" Lulu added.
"Speaking of Tadase," I muttered, "Where is Kukai?"
"That made no sense Rima-chin!" Yaya added giggling.
"Hey how are we getting into this concert?" Ikuto asked.
"EVERYONE SHUT UP! We're all going to this concert and that's final! Ikuto if you don't go I'm gonna replace all of Amu's clothes with freakishly conservative ones, and Rima if you don't go I'll die your hair pink while you're sleeping to match Amu. Don't think I'm not serious!"
"Fine, then what's the fucking password?" Ikuto grumbled.
"The password is: Baby Blue Lynx," Yumi replied.
"You sure we aint being punked by your sister, Yumi?" Ikuto asked.
"As sure as the hair on your ass, Ikuto."
"Okay then…..seriously…..where is Kukai?" I asked in all seriousness.
O.O.O.O
THANKS FOR READING! ONCE AGAIN, REVIEWS ARE APPRECIATED!
Drama and Jealousy coming up in Chapter 25 of Taking one for the team! Bye bye now!