Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara or any of its characters. I also do not own Waiting Here by Kate Alexa.

Waiting Here

"Rima-chan…"

"What is it?"

A petite blonde girl with the appearance of an angel stood inches in front of a tall purple-headed boy, who had his hands behind his back, secretly holding a bag.

The boy averted his eyes from the girl to the sparkling lake, the water traveling downstream, glistening and shimmering, from the flaming star in the sky.

"Nagihiko, I swear, if you called me here to watch the lake with you, then—"

"I'm leaving for Europe." The words rushed out of his mouth before he could stop them. Wanting to see her reaction, he faced her. Many emotions crossed her face—surprise being the most evident. Some others consisted of anger, for not telling her sooner, and joy, for him having the opportunity to go. The one emotion that struck Nagihiko the most, however, was loneliness. He frowned, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.

Rima was quiet, she didn't speak. When the time came that she was ready, she uttered, "How long?"

Nagihiko cringed at the question. He knew how long but tried avoiding the answer because he was positive she wouldn't like it.

When there was no reply, Rima stepped forward and looked right into his ochre eyes, not a trace of emotion remained on her face.

Although he didn't want to, he had to tell her. So Nagihiko spoke the sentence that would break the fragile girl. "I don't think I'm ever coming back."

True to his thoughts, Rima broke inside, but she attempted not to show it. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, despite Nagihiko watching. By the fourth inhale, the exhale came out along with tears.

"Rima-chan," he whispered, extending a hand to wipe them away.

She jerked from his touch and nearly backed into the lake. "L-Leave me alone!" she screamed in frustration.

Nagihiko stared at Rima minutes before turning his back on her. "If that's how you're going to be… Goodbye, Rima-chan." With the bag in his hand, he walked away.

Rima reacted in seconds. She began chasing after Nagihiko, only to be stopped short.

A waterway stretching for miles emerged in front of her. She backed up, thinking she could jump over it, but it widened in a flash and continued growing. She stepped backwards, not to get caught in the water.

It finally stopped widening; unfortunately, Nagihiko was too far. He paused and rotated. Even though he was several feet away, his words carried across the water to Rima.

"Don't worry. We'll meet again as long as you're waiting here."

"Nagihiko…"

"Rima!" The blonde girl tilted her head hearing the boy's voice; it was octaves higher and was accompanied by giggles.

"Nagihiko?"

"Rima!"

She scrutinized the cross-dresser across the body of water separating them. "Nagihiko!"

"NO! RIMA!"

The angel girl's golden eyes flew open ; they were greeted by a miniature clown. A tiny squeal was heard followed by a loud thump. Rima lifted a hand to her head, checking for a bruise. She pouted seconds later and glared at her chara. "KusuKusu, what was that for?"

"You were talking in your sleep again. You kept mumbling Nagi-kun's name over and over and—"

Rima flicked KusuKusu. "I get it." Rima got up from the ground, dusted her pajamas and tried to remove the dream she just had by thumping her head. It didn't work.

She walked over to her desk and snatched her tangerine phone, hoping there was something from the boy in her dream. She scrolled through the calls and messages. Nothing. She dropped the hand holding the phone and sighed. "Of course it was just another dream," she muttered.

"Rima," KusuKusu said with concern in her tone, "is everything okay?"

Rima snapped out of her thoughts. "Yeah, I better get ready for school." She tossed her phone on the table before going into the bathroom."

Her chara stared after her. Once she was gone, the curious clown floated over to the phone. KusuKusu frowned, "Nagi-kun, she's been waiting here. When are you coming back?"

Rima's head popped in the doorframe. "KusuKusu, did you say something?"

"Uh… Nope!"

"Alright, let's get some breakfast." Rima led the way to the kitchen while KusuKusu lingered in the room some time before joining her bearer.

"Every time I see your face"

"I was thinking about doing this. What about you?"

At the end of the day, the classroom was filled with lively students chatting about their plans after they graduated, since spring fast approaching. The past months at Seiyo High had come to an end as the upperclassmen were now spending the second to last week until graduation.

The topic of graduation was on the mind of everybody at this time, everybody except one. While her classmates were enjoying their time with friends, Rima sat quietly at her desk gazing out the window.

Graduation and the ceremony were far from Rima's mind as possible. As she gazed out the window at the blooming cherry blossom tree, she only thought about the purple-haired boy in her dream that morning. She wondered if he was ever going to come back.

She heaved a sigh, knowing sometimes things were tough. And in those times, she was at a lost at what to do. The few words Nagihiko had spoken in her dream weren't enough to secure they were going to make it through.

Rima knew she didn't want to see the end of Nagihiko and her.

As the beauty queen continued to daydream, her two friends, the blond king and rosette joker had stopped their conversation and observed her. As her friends, they were worried about her. They've noticed she's been preoccupied lately. But why?

The two guessed it was from their basketball cross-dresser losing contact, but they weren't entirely positive. Rima never gave a straight answer when asked; she always found a way to avoid it.

Amu and Tadase were moving closer, about to confront her, but a brown-haired boy beat them to it. He casually sat in a desk next to the dazed girl. The two became a little weary of the boy; they did know who he was. They decided to watch first and jump in if they needed to.

The brown-haired boy slightly smiled and cleared his throat. "Mashiro-san?"

Hearing her name be called, Rima snapped out of her thoughts. She whipped her head to face where the sound was coming from. She kept her same composure when she saw who it was. "Kirishma-kun, what is it?"

"You seem so distant sitting at your desk staring out the window while the others talk about the plans for after graduation."

"What's your point?"

"Don't you want to spend the time you can with everybody who you might not see for awhile or ever again?" Rima blinked, making it seem to someone who didn't know her very well, that she didn't hear a word. But Kirishma knew Rima with what's happened between them, half of which he regrets.

"Or I can continue looking out the window and wonder if a certain person is ever going to come back," Rima countered.

He chuckled. "I assume the certain person is Fujisaki. He's bound to return someday." Kirishma no longer felt hostile toward Nagihiko since he patched things up with him during the middle school ceremony. "Mashiro-san, if you need someone, I'm-"

"That's enough out of you!" Amu suddenly interrupted.

Rima and Kirishma's eyes traveled to the pink-haired girl pointing a finger. "If you want to get near Rima, you'll have to go through me!"

Rima narrowed her eyes. "Amu?"

Kirishma looked taken back. "H-Hinamori-san?"

"That's right! You'll have to go through Tadase-kun too." Amu pointed at the kind, shy boy behind her.

"Uh, well, I thought…" Kirishma trailed facing Rima.

The girl rolled her eyes and got up from her seat. She yanked at her best friend's wrist. "Come with me."

Now in a corner of the classroom where there were no students, Rima and Amu began their conversation about Kirishma. "Are you crazy? That's Kirishma-kun! Why are you talking to him again? I thought you hated him ever since the Yamabuki-san and pushing you into an alley and the Black Lynx and the slash claw," Amu spazzed while imitating the mentioned attack.

"Sometimes, I miss the days when you were your cool n' spicy self," Rima bluntly stated. Amu pulled back making it seem like that comment hurt, though it really didn't.

"I do too. If I was, then I'd still have Ran, Miki, Su and Dia." She frowned for a second remembering her charas that went back into her heart's egg a couple years ago. She shook her head, dismissing those thoughts and getting back on topic. "Anyways, Kirishma-kun?"

Rima waved her hand off, releasing a sigh. "Goes to show how great a best friend you've been. If you weren't so busy with your 'cat' problems, you would've known everything's alright. Two years ago, he apologized for his obnoxious and mean behavior and he wanted to make it up to me, so he has been."

"What if he tries anything again and what about," Amu darted her eyes in the direction of her so-called elementary rival, "Yamabuki-san?"

"He assured me Yamabuki-san isn't a problem anymore and don't worry, if he tries anything, I'll just chara nari with KusuKusu, after all, I'm the only ex-guardian with her chara," she frowned, knowing her friends have realized who they are and want to be, but she hasn't.

Amu snapped her fingers. "That's right! I was going to say Nagihiko still has his, but the last time he ever contacted us was when he told us his charas went back into his heart's egg and I'm not helping..." Amu sweat-dropped.

Rima sighed.

"Anything you need to talk about. It seems Kirishma-kun and Tadase-kun are having their own conversation." The girls glimpsed at the boys. "I bet he misses Kiseki. Anyways, Rima, say what you need to say."

The girl across from her pondered whether she should tell her best friend. When she decided to, she took a breath before speaking. "Well, every morning I wait by my phone, hoping I'll hear from him again. I realize there's nothing else I can do. I wonder if him never coming back is set in stone. I guess it all depends on him, but I think-No. I know he's what I-"

Before she could finish her sentence, the school bell chimed, signaling school was over. "Class dismissed," the sensei announced.

Rima moved from Amu's side, not bothering to complete her thought. She snatched her bag and exited the classroom with the other students.

Amu stood there, contemplating what her friend was going to say.

"Every time you walk away"

Rima walked the streets of Tokyo with KusuKusu by her side. Being awhile since they last went to the store to get manga, Rima promised her chara they'd go after school.

When they arrived at the store, KusuKusu immediately flew from Rima to the gag section. "KusuKusu, get back here," Rima ordered. The clown chara just continued her way. Her bearer sighed and followed.

Once the two picked out and purchased the mangas they wanted and spent some time reading a few, they made their journey home. Upon coming out of the store, a blur of purple came from the corner of Rima's eye. She knew one person with that hair color.

She turned her head in the direction, but there was no one.

"Something wrong, Rima?"

"It's nothing." Right as she was about to continue walking, she saw it again. A flash of purple. Her eyes widened.

"Are you sure it's nothing? You seem-"

"Did you see Nagihiko?"

KusuKusu floated over to Rima's face and placed a tiny hand on her forehead. "Do you have a fever? We better get home."

"No!" Rima refused. "I just saw Nagihiko. He's back in Japan."

"That was probably your mind playing tricks on you. You haven't recovered from your dream this morning. Let's go." KusuKusu urged Rima to go home.

She at last agreed when KusuKusu advised that if it was Nagihiko, he would've told her he was back.

Rima entered her room and fell back on her bed.

KusuKusu rubbed her eyes. "I'm going to bed early. Night, Rima." Her patterned egg appeared and enclosed around her, floating gently on the bedside table.

Rima was too busy thinking of the incident at the book store, so she didn't even hear what KusuKusu just said. She rolled on her side and grabbed a pillow from under the covers.

"It had to be Nagihiko. What other person has purple hair?" She asked no one. She reached for the phone and dialed a number. She heard the dial tone and waited anxiously for someone to pick up. When no one did, she sighed and called another person. This time the person answered.

"Hey, Rima. What's u- Down cat boy!"

Rima guessed Ikuto was crashing at her house again or just dropped by to annoy her. "Amu," Rima grumbled.

"Oh, sorry, Rima. Why did you call? Do you need something? What were you saying before the bell rang at school?"

Rima twitched with the questions Amu was throwing at her. She slowly replied to them in the reverse order they were asked. "Do you think it was him?"

"Can't say, Rima. If it really was Nagihiko, don't you think he'd tell us first? Besides, I'm sure there are other purple-haired people out there."

"Thanks for the help, Amu," Rima said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry. What do you want me to say? He's going to surprise you by showing up at your doorstep with a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates. A girl can dream that, Rima. You can only hope he's safe and thinking about you wherever he is. After all, you were born to make him happy.

Rima smiled, "Thanks Amu."

"No problem. If you ever need me, you can call. I'll see you tomorrow."

The blonde girl shut her phone. She lied on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. She convinced herself what Amu had said was right. She tiny smiled before sitting up.

"At least tomorrow's a new day."

"When my heart begins to race"

Rima exited the main doors of the school the next afternoon with bag in hand and chara egg in her pocket. Everything was peaceful for her, until the people she called "friends" came charging at her.

They whizzed past, creating a breeze to mess up her golden locks. She pouted, "What was that for?"

Amu, Yaya and Tadase stood before her, not knowing how to let their information out. "Uh… Well, Mashiro-san, we have some news."

Still trying to fix her hair, she narrowed her eyes, "I'd love to hear this," she remarked.

"You see, Rima, about last night, you were right."

Rima raised an eyebrow, not recalling last night. "Right about what?"

"Nagi-kun is back, Rima-tan!" Yaya yelled. "Yaya even saw him with her own two eyes." The old ace formed a circle with her thumb and forefingers and positioned them around her eyes.

The thing on Rima's mind after that was said wasn't the fact that Nagihiko was back, but how Pepe went back into Yaya's heart's egg, but KusuKusu hasn't gone into hers.

When she pushed that out from her mind, Rima couldn't believe Nagihiko was back. She would've been excited and smiled, but something occurred to her. Maybe the reason why he didn't tell anyone he was back was because he no longer felt that way he did about her before he left.

That made her breathless; she needed oxygen.

Rima frowned on the inside. This is what she believed she found out about him.

While he didn't like her anymore, Rima knew she did. In fact, as time moved on, Rima influenced herself there was no one else for her, but him. She couldn't deny her feelings toward him. She wished she could show him what he meant and did to her.

She glanced up at her smiling friends, waiting to see her reaction. Rima inhaled all the possible things she could say, but when she exhaled, she exhaled the things she wanted to say.

"It's most likely you're tired from school. I'll even confirm I was tired last night when I 'saw' him at the book store."

"No, it's true, Rima-tan! On our way to get our belongings, we saw someone with purple-hair on the basketball courts. Basketball? Purple-hair? Is that a coincidence? No!"

Rima backed up from the girl who spit on her face. She wiped it off with her sleeve, annoyed. "It could've been two kids: one with blue and one with red."

"No!" Yaya shouted. "There was only-"

"What's wrong, Rima? Last night you were hoping it was him and now there's proof over," Amu pointed to where the courts were, "there!"

Rima stayed passive. "Oh, if that's so, then why didn't you bring him to show me?"

The three sweat-dropped. "Mashiro-san, we only saw purple for a second."

"That proves my point. We're seeing things. All I saw was a haze too," she mumbled

"Aww," Yaya whined. "Yaya wanted it to be Nagi." She frowned, then immediately recovered. "What are the four of us doing now?"

As the friends departed the school grounds, someone who had been listening to their conversation came out from behind the tree and went to the spoken destination: the basketball courts.

He was several feet away from the courts, scanning to see if anybody was there. He caught someone shooting by themselves. The person kept shooting, making them all, until one finally missed. The ball hit the hoop and bounced to the opposite side. With his watch down, Kirishma sprang from his hiding place.

"Mind if I join you, Fujisaki?"

"Yeah, su- Crap." Nagihiko tried to run for it, but Kirishma halted him from going anywhere. "What are you still doing here? I thought everybody left the school, if not, at least the back part."

"I was leaving when I heard an interesting conversation." Kirishma filled Nagihiko in on what his friends had said about him. "So it isn't their mind playing tricks on them, is it?"

"No," Nagihiko replied. "Moments ago when my friends passed by, the reason they saw a blur was because I hurriedly hid in a bush when I spotted them, same for Rima-chan at the store, except I hid in an alley. I've also been receiving phone calls from Rima-chan, but I ignored them."

The two walked off the courts to the bench to talk. "When did you get back from Europe?"

"Days ago. School and graduation were last week, so I thought I'd come back to Japan."

"You haven't told your friends you're back? You realize they miss you, particularly, Mashiro-san."

Surprised to hear that, Nagihiko's eyes widened and he smiled. "I missed them too, but I can't tell them yet. You promise not to tell anyone I'm in Japan, especially Rima-chan, until I'm ready."

Kirishma was confused. "Why?"

"It goes back to four years ago; they wouldn't want to talk to me after I stopped contacting them a year later since I got too busy. And since I'm positive Rima-chan…" Nagihiko trailed.

Kirishma shook his head and got up from the bench. "I got to go, but before I do, there's something I have to say to you."

Nagihiko was bracing whatever it was.

"I know Mashiro-san and I'm sure whatever you were going to say isn't true. Don't let her feel sad and be hurt; show yourself soon. Don't be a dummy like me. After all, if you remember your accident years ago, it's because of her you live."

A little shocked to hear those words from Kirishma, Nagihiko raised his eyebrows, but then let it go and grinned. "Thanks, Kirishma-kun."

"No problem." With that, Kirishma disappeared.

Nagihiko stood up and thought it'd be best to get home. He walked out of the school and traveled the path to his house. On his way, he stumbled across the spot where Rima and he spent the day watching the sunset. He smiled as he slid down the slope. As soon as he reached the bottom, he felt the cool breeze blowing.

"I truly missed Japan and the others."

"Is that true?"

Nagihiko flinched, believing he was caught. The voice of the person was one he could recognize, but he didn't know whose it was. He rotated slowly. He was startled to see Japan's idol standing at the top of the hill. "Utau."

She smirked, "You are back. When I heard this from the others, I thought they were hallucinating, which is what they thought too." Utau moved, so she was sitting in the middle; Nagihiko sat beside her. "I just got out of the recording studio, but while I was there, your friends paid a visit and explained their 'seeing' of you. Obviously, they don't know."

Nagihiko shook his head and chuckled, "I just had a conversation similar to this."

"Well, you need one. What are you waiting for? Come out of hiding already for the other's sake, for Rima's sake. Don't tell me you forget your promise that day at the airport."

Nagihiko confused, tried to recall seeing at the airport. When he couldn't, he questioned her. Utau smiled and filled him in on the El chara change with Rima idea, which she couldn't do again since El and Il were both inside her heart.

"Amu or the others never informed me of that the first year we were in contact."

"Oh, then I don't know with them. But," Utau suddenly came closer to Nagihiko, "go on. Make a move. Let Rima and everyone know you're here."

"I don't think Rima wants to see-"

"Nagihiko, the girl's stolen your heart; you know that. What you don't know though, is that you've stolen her heart also. I saw her expression today and I could tell she was trying to hold the pain inside; she broke twice, but I only noticed."

"You're right, Utau. I should." Just then, the former jack thought of an idea. "Hmm. I might have a plan to show myself to Rima, but I need you and the others to help."

"Plan?" Utau asked. She smirked, "One of my favorite words."

"Everything falls into place"

"Good job, you are nearly through. Now, you must seek a place to dine that's considered quite chic if the end is what you pursue." The once queen stared at the note in her hands and thrust it downwards. She groaned, "How many more of these? What person leaves a letter by your window and makes you embark on a scavenger hunt?" She glared at her chara. "Do you have anything to do with this?"

KusuKusu did her signature giggle before putting on her best poker face. "I have no clue." Though, Rima kind of doubted it, it was the truth.

"We better find a place to eat that's chic, whatever that means."

KusuKusu snapped her fingers. "The café! We haven't been there for awhile, but it's the one we went with-"

"Okay," Rima interrupted and started heading toward the restaurant.

When she reached the restaurant thirty minutes later, sure enough, on a tree, rested another note. "You've made it to the end, you must be truly proud. To find something you've been missing, go to where the guardians use to be found." Rima twitched. "Whoever wrote these had a lot of time on their hands to make every one rhyme."

She grunted before heading to her last stop: the royal garden.

The journey to the royal garden took longer than expected since Rima was nearly on the other side of the town and she still lacked athletic ability.

When she arrived at the destination, she admired the castle-shaped greenhouse where the meetings were held. She walked right in, KusuKusu trailing.

She scanned the area, it seemed no one was around.

"Hello, anyone here?" Then on the table, something shimmering caught her eye. She scaled the steps, only to realize she was tricked by the sunlight. She plopped down on a chair and seized all the notes from her pocket. "Who made these and why did they lead me here?"

While her bearer contemplated, KusuKusu flew around the garden, seeing something she wasn't supposed to see yet. She laughed. "What are you all doing here? Did you send the-"

The six put a finger to their lips, shushing the clown. "We have five more seconds." Pause. "And now's your cue," Kukai whispered into his phone. KusuKusu spun to see what was up.

Rima still sat at the table with the notes, but someone was approaching her. KusuKusu's eyes widened and giggled. "Nagi's back!" she shouted.

Rima gazed up from the letters to her chara. "KusuKusu, what was-" The six that were hiding in the bush were now standing up from the blabbermouth chara. "What are you guys-" Rima felt a presence behind her and quickly turned around. She looked to see the one and only Fujisaki Nagihiko. A little startled, Rima fell out of the chair.

The six rushed to her side as she got up. "Explain," she stated bluntly.

Before the gang wanted to explain, KusuKusu, who thought of a way to buy the others some time for spoiling the plan, suggested everybody should welcome back Nagihiko. Making sure, she wouldn't interrupt or ruin anything again, KusuKusu went into her egg to nap.

When that was over and everyone was seated, Kukai, Amu, Tadase, Yaya and Ikuto had the pleasure of explaining the failed note operation. As for Utau, she told Rima about yesterday afternoon near the lake. And Nagihiko had the hardest out of them, informing her of everything upon arriving.

Rima's expression throughout the explaining was blank. At the end, though, she smirked, "I knew it was you!"

"Sorry I didn't tell you I was back sooner, sorry you had to wait here long," Nagihiko apologized.

Rima waved a hand off. "It's alright. Why was the royal garden last?"

Nagihiko slightly smiled, "It's where we first met, remember? You couldn't stand me." Nagihiko sweat-dropped.

"I'm pretty surprised you actually made it. Since Fujisaki-kun and Tsukiyomi wrote them and they're both smart, I thought it'd take you awhile."

Everyone glared at Kukai for a second.

Remembering something on his mind earlier, Nagihiko cleared his throat and gestured a hug toward Rima. "It's not-"

"Rima-tan, why did you wait for Nagi? Yaya means, although, she loves Nagi and Rima-tan together, there were other gu-"

"Ignore the last part, Rima," Amu gave Yaya a look. "Respond to the question though," Amu smiled.

"Yeah, I'd love to hear this, Queen," Kukai grinned.

Ikuto and Utau simply placed their hands on their ears meaning 'Go on; I'm all ears.'

Nagihiko pulled back from the hug he was about to give her to let her speak.

Rima was the center of attention. It was hard enough having to say the real reason in front of everybody, but in front of Nagihiko, it made her even more nervous. "Well…" It was only when Rima saw the genuine happy smile on Nagihiko's face to see her again and his ochre eyes, she believed she could do it.

She took a breath.

"We promised at the airport on his last day," she announced to everyone's disappointment. She raised a finger, "That's not the only reason though."

Everybody perked at the mention of this.

"This was from a long time ago, but I'm certain it's still true. I decided to wait here for Nagihiko because he's the only one that I know who," she broke her sentence. "Let me put it this way. It's because according to him, I'm beautiful and incredible; he couldn't get me out of his head. According to him, I'm-"

"You're funny, irresistible; and when I was in London away from you, Rima, I realized that you were everything I ever wanted," Nagihiko ended. "While I was in London, it felt like forever was going to happen before I saw you. When we weren't together, I was about to go crazy, but then Faith told me to relax and breathe. That turned the negative thoughts into good ones. I concluded that'd it be only a matter of time until I graduated, be back and make you mine," Nagihiko smiled, his face inches away from Rima's.

In one swift movement, Rima and Nagihiko leaned forward, their lips coming together into a simple, but sweet kiss that from Rima meant 'Welcome home, Nagihiko,' and from Nagihiko that meant, 'I'm glad to be home.'

They lasted a few more seconds until three people sang, "Aww!"

Rima and Nagihiko retreated and saw it was the girls. As for the guys, they shook their heads at the girls.

Scanning the expressions on her friends' faces, Rima slightly huffed before playfully shoving Nagihiko from her, but accidentally pushing him out of his chair. Their friends laughed and Rima used that opportunity to clear her head. Getting up from her seat, she strolled out the royal garden, closing the door behind.

She placed her back to the glass door and gazed at the cloudless sapphire sky. Rima smiled with the thought Nagihiko was with her again, the thought of her friends. She smiled the widest with the thought of KusuKusu. She reached in her pocket for KusuKusu's egg. "Oh, KusuKusu," Rima giggled.

Sure, she may be the last one of her friends to still have her chara, but Rima was happy all the same. KusuKusu did help her out today. Without KusuKusu, Kukai would've been right, saying that it would've taken her a week to figure this puzzle out. And although KusuKusu did get on her nerves, Rima was lucky to have someone there.

"Things have a way of working themselves out, which means I'll realize who I want to be later on when the time is right. But for now, everything's as perfect as it could be," Rima said to no one. "And this time, it's according to me."

She smiled one last time as she went inside to re-join her friends.

The end

Last chapter! It's been only, what, four months? :P

Constructive criticism, please, for the last time.