…
Ikuto absently flipped through his magazine when he heard the door to the studio slam open. Without disturbing his reading, he swiftly moved to the other side of the couch and dodged his sister's pounce attempt.
Or he would have if she had bothered.
Knowing his sister never gave up a chance to jump him unless she was in one of her moods, the blue haired teenager glanced up and saw that her face was red with annoyance.
"What's with you?" He asked, only semi-interested as he returned his attention back to his magazine.
Utau fumed. "If you bothered to show up for school today, you would know!"
"Why would I pay attention to what goes on in that place?"
"Hmph; if you must know, the stupid music department is making us participate in that festival thing and the useless chorus teacher assigned us partners! I don't have time to work on a new piece for school and deal with Easter!"
"Hmm."
Utau glanced at her brother, sensing his lack of interest, and nearly blew a gasket when she noticed he was browsing through the swimsuit edition of a modeling magazine. She stormed over to him, yanked the magazine out of his hands, and hit him with it. He only looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
Despite how upset and annoyed she was, Utau couldn't stay irritated at her lovely brother for long and huffed as she threw it back at his face. He picked it off the ground and turned back to the page he was on.
"Utau, you can write a song in a matter of hours," stated Ikuto, still not all that interested in his sister's life. "Is it the actual project or are you just annoyed with who you got paired up with? Let me guess; it's one of your lovestruck fans? Is it that nerdy kid with the bowl haircut that always confesses to you?"
"No, that twerp left me for my partner," said Utau absently. She was both relieved and annoyed at that. "And how nice of you to notice my personal affairs for once. If you paid attention…"
"…which I never do…"
"…you'd know that my 'lovestruck fan' is over the moon for that new girl, Hinamori Amu, who unfortunately happens to be my partner."
Ikuto paused in his page flipping, glancing up at his sister. If her back wasn't to him, she would have seen the spark of interest on his face.
"Oh?" He said.
Utau stomped her foot angrily and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly as he remembered how terrible her temper had been when they were children.
"Yes, and she is absolutely infuriating," she exclaimed. "Nowhere near as bad as that redheaded pest who is always ogling you, but still infuriating! She struts into the classroom, acting like she's the Queen Bee or whatever, and has the whole school falling at her feet and worshipping the ground she walks on!"
"You sound like a jealous mean girl who got dethroned as the school's most desired ice queen," remarked Ikuto as he finally closed the magazine and stood up.
Suddenly, Utau brightened. "I don't care who the queen is," she said, smiling widely and staring at him wide-eyed. He consciously stepped back, towards the open window in case he needed to escape. "As long as you're my king!"
Ikuto made a face. "Call me a king and I'll hurl, Utau; I like to consider myself a prince of misfortune, or whatever it is the little kiddy king calls me."
Utau smirked. "You were never fond of him, were you? Anyways, what have you been up to today?"
"Well, it was nice outside and perfect weather for napping so I went to the park, where a bunch of happy little kids with blooming dreams were playing around. It was all nice and completely peaceful…so what do you think I did?" Ikuto replied in a deadpan tone, making his sister's smirk fall to be replaced with a frown.
"Hmph, of course," she muttered, crossing her arms. "So Yoru went out to play and cheer himself up, huh?"
"More like he's trying to recover his pride," said Ikuto. "Apparently, another Chara went and insulted him for overreacting at something and being melodramatic."
"That doesn't sound like him," said Utau, looking curious. "What happened?"
Ikuto did his trademark smirk. "If you were at school the other day, you would know, baby sister."
Utau's cheeks puffed up. "I am only ten months younger than you, asshole!"
"Yeah, yeah," dismissed Ikuto as he plopped back down on the couch. "Don't you have a song to record? Where's that lunatic manager of yours?"
"She's busy trying to recruit her brother to join Easter or something," replied the blonde singer, examining her fingernails. "He seems conflicted, it seems. He's loyal to his sister, but his girlfriend happens to be one of the kiddy king's Guardians. And not only are those feelings supposedly real, but he's one of them too."
"Sounds like a problem," said Ikuto. "But it's not something we should concern ourselves with." He paused. "Though, personally, I wouldn't join the dark side. If you were here willingly and you begged me to help…sorry, sis, but I'd have to pass."
Utau snorted. "Ikuto, you're too selfless to do that; you'd give yourself up to Easter in a heartbeat if it meant protecting me-or anyone." Her expression softened. "I really wish you'd be selfish once in a while, you know?"
"I'm a cat; I'm nothing if not selfish and arrogant," replied her brother before leaping out the window, landing gracefully on the ground.
Utau rolled her eyes as she muttered, "Well, you're certainly arrogant alright." She picked up a magazine off the coffee table, absently glancing at the gossip columns for a few minutes before she dropped it and muttered angrily to herself.
"I missed a chance to snuggle with my darling Ikuto! Damn that Hinamori Amu for distracting me!"
…
Ami stared at her ceiling, looking frustrated. Marigold hovered by her head with a concerned look.
"Ami-chan, it's not your fault, you know," she said to her bearer.
The young Joker sighed and rolled over on her bed, hugging her pillow to her chest as she laid her cheek on her mattress. "I know, but I just felt so…useless during the battle, if you can call it that."
Marigold smiled encouragingly. "I don't think you were useless; you tried your hardest, just like everyone else!"
"But the Humpty Lock didn't even glow when I touched it! If anything, it seemed dull and boring! It's a magical device; shouldn't it glow or something?" Ami exclaimed, upset.
"Maybe it wasn't the right time to use it," suggested Marigold.
Ami looked at her and nodded slowly.
"Yeah," she agreed. "Maybe I'm only supposed to use it during emergencies? I could ask Tadase-kun tomorrow…"
"Why not call right now?" Marigold said slyly. "I mean, he gave you his phone number earlier, right?"
Ami blushed brightly. "Yes, but I can't call him right now! I mean, it's not like I want to talk to him anyways! Why would I? T-This is strictly Guardian business and that's something that can wait until tomorrow!"
She hurried out of her room to the bathroom so she could brush her teeth, leaving behind her very amused Chara.
Marigold giggled, pleased by her bearer's reaction, before she glanced over at the rather unimpressive locket on the bed. "Oh, phooey; look at all the trouble you're causing for poor Ami-chan!"
The guardian floated over to the lock and stood on the mattress. She glared at the Humpty Lock for a few seconds before she huffed and kicked it softly, making it flip over.
Just then, Ami came back. She looked slightly calmer than she did a minute ago.
"What are you doing?" The thirteen-year-old asked curiously when she spotted her Chara beating up the inanimate object. "Be careful; I don't want it to break!"
"It's already broken," said Marigold, pouting. "I want it to shine!"
"What's with the sudden character change? You were just fine a few minutes ago…"
"But now I'm insulted," huffed Marigold. "I mean, am I not good enough for this supposedly magical device? Isn't it supposed to benefit a guardian and their bearer? How can we benefit if it refuses to work for us?"
Ami stared at her for a few seconds before she laughed. "I think you're being silly. I wasn't being that dramatic, Mari."
"You might as well have," replied the blonde, grinning as she flashed a thumbs-up at her bearer. Her mission to cheer up Ami had succeeded! "Anyways, time to hit the lights!"
She crawled into her egg as Ami shook her head and settled under the covers.
"Good night!"
…
"Good morning!" Kukai exclaimed loudly as he burst into the classroom and bounded over to a certain pinkette in the corner.
Amu glared at him, rubbing her temples. "Do not talk to me before nine, Souma; I haven't even had my morning coffee yet."
"Amu-chan's not a morning person," Ran muttered to Daichi, who grinned at her.
"I can tell," he whispered back, winking. The pink haired Chara blushed, much to her sisters' amusement.
"So, want to hang out after school?" Kukai asked, falling into the seat in front of Amu and turning around to face her. She raised an eyebrow.
"Why would I want to do that?" Amu asked boredly, wiping the sleepiness from her eyes.
"Well, that's what friends do," explained Kukai. "I thought we could get to know each other better! I was going to invite Tsukiyomi as well!"
"Pass," said Amu at the same time as Ikuto, who had just arrived and took his seat next to the pinkette.
"Why not?" Kukai said, almost whiningly.
Amu glanced over at her classmate. "Did we or did we not say that we don't do friends?"
"I believe we did," replied Ikuto, smirking. "Though I never said anything about not being more than friends with you, Amu."
The pinkette blinked once before she looked away, her face turning bright red as she snapped, "In your dreams, Tsukiyomi."
"Indeed, you are," said Ikuto smoothly, flashing another smirk at her.
"Great, I'm going to be the third wheel in your little sexual relationship," complained Kukai, earning a hit to the back of the head from the mortified girl. "Ow, hey!"
"Oh, sorry, was that your head?" Amu asked sweetly, despite the daggers she was shooting at the soccer player. "I thought it was an oversized bug."
"You're not that far off," remarked Ikuto and the pinkette smirked at him as they exchanged looks.
"How do you two switch your moods so fast?" Kukai muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, even without Chara Changing, you're bipolar."
Before Amu could hit him again, the bell rang and their teacher walked in. She looked awful, as if she had gotten little to no sleep.
"Mornings are horrible," she muttered. "Alright, class; we all know nobody wants to be here so your assignment is to come up with ideas for the upcoming festival. You'll be working with partners or groups, which I've already selected, and your assignments are posted on the board in the back."
Their teacher then proceeded to collapse on her desk and fall asleep while her students rushed to the board.
"Ooh, I hope I'm with Tsukiyomi-kun!"
"What's so great about him? I want to be with Hinamori-san!"
"Please; she has nothing on our queen, Mashiro-san!"
"Hey, don't leave the gorgeous Souma-kun out of this!"
The four said students either looked amused or bored.
"I forgot how popular I was," said Kukai, grinning. "But I guess it didn't take long for you to get noticed, Hinamori-san."
Amu rolled her eyes and stood up as everyone began shouting about not being able to see the board. She pushed past them and tore down the piece of paper.
"Shut your mouths and listen up," she said coolly, not raising her tone but somehow being heard over everyone. "I'm not going to repeat myself for you if you can't pay attention."
Everybody silenced immediately, only whispering about how cool she was. It made Amu want to gag.
"Saki-chan, Kama-kun, Ali-chan, Kyo-kun; you're in charge of decorations. Misao-chan, Ichigo-chan, Rin-kun, and Kou-chan; you will be handling the food. Lee-kun, Tomoe-kun, Nigasa-kun, and Jinato-chan; you are responsible for advertising. Saaya-chan, Haru-kun, Kiki-chan, and Rikka-chan; you are to take care of the dress code and location for the dance."
Amu put down the paper on the desk. "Tsukiyomi-san, Souma-kun, Mashiro-san, and I are in charge of the entertainment. If you were smart enough to pay attention, I advise you get in your groups and start planning. Otherwise, sit down and pay attention next time."
She sauntered back to her desk, where Ikuto and Kukai looked at her expectantly. Their classmates did as they were told, still muttering about how cool Amu was and how unfair it was that the four of them had been put together.
"Mashiro-san, aren't you going to join your group?" A boy called out. The blonde looked bored.
"I don't play well with others," she said flatly as she glanced over at Amu with an unimpressed expression. She continued, "Especially if they are as unsuccessful as their incompetent little sisters."
This struck a chord with the pinkette and topaz met topaz. "I don't like you either, Mashiro-san, but I'm not going to fail because of your laziness. You might have the other boys wrapped around your finger, but nobody here is going to do your work for you so suck it up and join your group…or not, I don't care."
Amu glared at the stunned blonde, who had obviously never been told off before, before she turned back to the amused boys. "What?" She snapped impatiently.
"What's got your panties in a twist nya?" Yoru asked.
The fifteen-year-old muttered under her breath as she pulled out a spare notebook from her bag and began to scribble furiously in it. "I already have to deal with a difficult partner for music class; I don't want to deal with Mashiro-san as well."
It was then that Ikuto remembered what his sister had told him and he raised an eyebrow as he asked casually, "Oh? And who do you have to work with?"
"And are they really that difficult?" Kukai added. "Or are they just one of those annoying, mean girls like Yamabuki Saaya?"
Amu didn't look up from her notebook, which was now covered in beautiful but passionate drawings, courtesy of her Chara-Change with Miki. She often relied on her guardians to help her relieve stress in a healthy fashion.
"I have to work with Hoshina Utau, and she's not really like that; it's more like she refuses to acknowledge me and when she does, she insults me and takes it personally when I talk to her like I'm shit on the bottom of her shoe or something. So the both of us got scolded last period when our teacher noticed we hadn't done anything productive, giving us both bad grades for the day, and I do not want the same thing to happen in this class just because Mashiro-san is being stubborn."
Amu finished her sketch and held up the notebook to admire her work. As she did, the blue spade from her hair vanished.
"Uh, what is it?" Daichi asked, squinting at the picture as he hovered over the pinkette's head.
"Looks like a bunch of scribbles, nya," remarked Yoru.
"Don't be rude; it has deep, sentimental meaning," said Ran, trying to help though she clearly had no idea what the picture was either.
"Meaning like what; scribbles represent no imagination nya?"
Miki swatted him. "It's a volcano, dummy! And there is no sentimental meaning! It's just what an angry Amu drew! Not everything in art has to have a meaning, you know! It can just be a painting of a tree because trees are nice!"
Yoru stared blankly at her. "You're insane, nya. It's just a picture."
"Oh boy," muttered the other three female Charas. Amu shook her head.
Within a matter of seconds, Yoru was flying around the room, trying to avoid the enraged Miki's attacks.
Daichi laughed, as did his bearer, who said, "Well, I figured out which one of them has Hinamori-san's spitfire."
"Yeah, kitty has claws," said the green haired Chara, still snickering.
"She would make an adorable kitten, wouldn't she?" Ikuto remarked, leaning towards the pinkette, who blushed and pushed him away.
"You're one to talk, cat cosplayer," snapped Amu, attempting to hide her reddening face as she glared at him.
Ikuto stared at her, stunned. "Cat cosplay…? Hey, you…" He tried to glare at her, but he couldn't help but smile just a bit upon seeing the normally stoic and collected girl lose it.
Kukai laughed. "See, having friends isn't so bad!"
As if a switch had been flipped, Amu and Ikuto replaced their laidback expressions with their masks and regarded him coolly. However, before they could say their usual saying about how they didn't do friends, Yoru shrieked.
The three bearers looked over to see Miki laughing at the cat guardian, who hadn't been paying attention and knocked into the teacher's coffee mug on the desk. Another Chara was laughing next to her, a little clown one that was pointing and snickering at Yoru.
Yoru let out a howl due to the warm-but luckily not hot-liquid all over him, and shot a look at the girls before he began to lick off the coffee from his fur.
Amu couldn't help it; she giggled, hiding her grin behind her hand as she stared at the scene with amusement. "That's adorable." Kukai chuckled, shaking his head.
Ikuto looked amused as well as his Chara hovered over to him with a defeated expression on his face. "I thought you were supposed to be cool, Yoru."
"I am nya," wailed Yoru. "But it wasn't my fault nya!"
"Oh, stop picking on him," said Amu as she pulled out a handkerchief and scrubbed the cat guardian dry. "Miki, you apologize; I saw you whack him into the mug."
Miki frowned and stubbornly replied, "He has to apologize first!"
Yoru stared at her in disbelief. "I didn't do anything nya!" The blue haired Chara huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'm sorry I insulted your picture, okay nya?"
Miki glanced at him before she sighed. "I accept your apology…and I'm sorry I knocked you into the coffee mug."
"See, good friends always make up," said Amu as she released the blue cat and tapped his nose affectionately. He scrunched up his face and shook his head, his cheeks slightly pink as he returned to his bearer.
"So wait, you'll let your Chara be friends with his Chara, but you won't be my friend?" Kukai interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "I must admit I'm slightly offended, Hinamori-san. I'm just as good looking as he is, but you won't be my friend?"
Amu blushed. "That's not why I befriended him! I mean, we're not friends. I mean, oh whatever."
"Look, you two can be friends all you want but count me out; I don't want any part of that," said Ikuto a bit coolly. "And what our Charas do don't affect us."
"Uh, they kinda do," argued the other two.
"Seriously, do you know how many times they've forced a Chara Change upon me randomly?" Amu complained. "You guys don't understand; you both benefit from your Chara Changes more than I do!"
"Now, wait; there are definitely saw drawbacks to being like a cat."
"And sports can be trickier than you think!"
As the three of them argued about who had it worse, a certain blonde watched from afar while her own guardian returned to her.
"Hey, Rima-chan, did you see what happened to that cat? Pretty funny, right? Not as funny as Bala-Balance, of course!"
Rima glanced over at her clown Chara and a small smile formed on her features, unseen by everyone as she replied softly, "Of course, Kusukusu."
As soon as the clown looked away, the smile was wiped off Rima's face and she looked over at her group once again with an almost wistful look. The bell rang and she shook her head, getting her things.
"I can't let anyone in," she muttered to herself as she hurried out of the classroom. "I just can't."
Unbeknownst to her, Dia had heard her as she flew past her. A smile lit up her features as she came up with a brilliant plan. She grabbed her sisters, hanging back from Amu.
"Girls, I know how to get Amu-chan to break her façade!"
…
I don't own Shugo Chara!
Hello, hello! Sorry for the long wait! Happy late holidays and New Year's!
So…I saw Frozen on Christmas. Awesome movie; just saying…
I have nothing to say so I'll just say to drop a review if you spot any mistakes or if you want to tell me what you thought, and leave you with this Valentine's Day questionnaire in honor of the Forever-Alone holiday that I won't update by.
It's long; you don't have to read it. It's useless. But in case you were bored like me or wanted to know more about my lacking love life, there you go.
**Update** I didn't like the needless length to the chapter so the questionairre is now on my profile if you still want to read it.