I do not own Shugo Chara! Sorry for the long wait for the update!

October 31

Souma Kukai!

Flashback: 4 days ago

"Hey, Fujisaki!" I yelled, flailing my arms wildly. Fujisaki turned around, bewildered.

"Souma-kun? What are you still doing at school? Basketball practice just ended for me. I thought your soccer practice for today was canceled?" he questioned, dribbling a basketball.

I chuckled nervously. "Oh yeah, hehehe. See, I wanted to talk to you! You know, I feel like we haven't been having enough Kukai-Nagi bonding time."

"We have first period together every single day, AND we sit next to each other at the frequent Guardian meetings. Also, most days, we walk home together after sports practices," Fujisaki countered, ticking things off on his fingers. He focused on me, a disbelieving expression on his face. "Why are you so interested in Kukai-Nagi bonding all of a sudden?"

"What? Can't a guy want to hang out with his friend?" I laughed it off while Daichi stared at me uncomprehendingly. I was very convincing! I swear!

"But Kukai, you-mmph!" I snatched the oblivious chara out of the air and stuffed him in my jacket pocket. "Daichi's getting cold," I offered as explanation to the now very suspicious Fujisaki. "He likes sitting in my jacket pocket. Anyways! Are you going to the dance on Halloween night?"

"The Halloween dance? I wasn't planning to, why?" He narrowed his eyes at me. "Is there a certain someone you want to set me up with? Is this like the time-"

"No, this is NOT like the time when my friend told me his little sister wanted to meet you at the dance because she was in love with you and it turned out that his little sister was six and she was in love with your hair and she spent the whole dance stroking it," I grumbled. Then, remembering that I had to be persuasive, I flashed a gleaming white grin at him. "See, I'm not trying to set you up with anybody! I just had to make sure you weren't going to the dance! Dances are SO overrated." I dug a ticket out of my jacket pocket (not the one Daichi was held in captivity - oops, momentarily confined - in) and slapped it into Fujisaki's palm. "Let's go to Hoshina Utau's Halloween concert on Halloween night instead and ditch the dance!" I cheered. "It'll be fun!"

"Who's going?" Fujisaki asked, staring at the ticket in his hand. "And why does this whole scenario seem you rehearsed it?"

I ignored the second question and decided to flash another blindingly white grin. "I'm going, Hinamori's going, and Yaya's going!"

Fujisaki raised a single, perfect eyebrow. Does he get them professionally plucked? "Oh? What about Hotori-kun and Mashiro-san?"

"Tadase has to be at the dance, since he's Guardian King AND student council president. Honestly, I don't know how he handles all the work and responsibility. And Mashiro...ehhh, she has, ummm, something," I finished lamely.

"Something? What something?"

"She's busy. Occupied. She has other plans," I babbled. "Why? Are you disappointed?"

"No, I just don't like leaving people behind. Mashiro-san and I don't really get along well, though," Fujisaki mused. Suddenly, he fixed me with a uncomprehending stare."Is Mashiro-san...is Mashiro-san going to the dance?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Y-Yes! Uhh, umm, it turns out that, errr, some guy asked her. And now they're going. To the dance. Err, yeah, that's right." Why not? Might as well make Fujisaki jealous. "Apparently they're soulmates. True love. She's over the moon for him."

"Oh, okay."

...What? I had just informed Fujisaki of the fact that his future girlfriend (not that he knew about it) was apparently in love with some other guy, and he just took it in stride? Unacceptable.

I waved my finger in Fujisaki's face. "Aren't you the slightest bit angry? Jealous, even, that some average ol' Joe is stealing the love of your life - errr, midget blondie - away? 'Cause you know, if there are any conflicting feelings that you need to let out, right now's a good time."

"Conflicting feelings?" Now he was just confused. "No, I'm happy for them. Why?" His lips suddenly cracked into a sneaky grin. "Oh, Souma-kun, don't tell me YOU'RE in love with Mashiro-san?"

"WHAT?" I almost choked on my own spit. "Oh, no. Nonononono. We're just friends. I am definitely not in love with her...no offense."

"Well, then why else would you make such a big deal out of Mashiro-san going to the dance with some, as you put it, 'average ol' Joe?' I'll attend Hoshina-san's concert, but are you sure YOU want to?"

"Of course I'm attending the concert!" I sputtered. "Remember what I said? Dances are SO overrated?"

See, the oh-so-very-perfect plan that Yaya, Hinamori, and I formulated was that we would go to Utau's Halloween concert on Halloween night, since there was no way that Fujisaki and Mashiro would go to the dance together. I would tell Fujisaki about the concert and also tell him Mashiro-san wouldn't be going. Yaya and Hinamori would tell Mashiro about the concert and that Fujisaki wouldn't be going. This way, they'd each agree to go. Fujisaki and Mashiro would meet face-to-face at the concert - oops, we lied -, we would shove them together, run away, and let Utau's cheesy love songs work their magic.

That plan was the reason I found myself sitting in Utau's concert hall with Fujisaki at 5:45 P.M. today. He drummed his freakishly long fingers on the armrest: "Souma-kun, where are Amu-chan and Yaya-chan? The concert starts in fifteen minutes."

"No idea," I replied honestly and coolly. What, Daichi? I was totally suave there. I did not, say, start twitching my eyes weirdly and fumbling around. That's for people who are freaking out on the inside and show it on the outside.

Like me? Stop lying, Daichi. I understand if you're a teensy bit mad that I ended up leaving you in my pocket for sixteen hours but this is really no way to behave. I'm deeply disappointed. Tsk tsk.

"They should be here already," I told Fujisaki uneasily. "Let me go call them." I dug out my phone, which I had finally gotten back from Nikaidou-sensei, and found Hinamori's number. She picked up on the fourth ring, "Hello? Kukai?"

"Hey, Hinamori! Where are you guys?"

"Umm...yeah. There's been a teensy weensy problem." I could hear her lower her voice and Yaya screaming in the background. "You see, Yaya and I told Rima about tonight's concert and she agreed to come since we told her Nagi had plans. But fifteen minutes ago, when she showed up at Yaya's house because we had all planned to go to the concert together, she invited Yaya trick-or-treating." Amu sounded miserable. "It's Yaya! She couldn't pass up the offer of free candy! So they dragged me along on their trick-or-treating expedition and here we are now, looking like total idiots on the street while Yaya goes on a sugar high."

"Uhhh..." I searched my mind for ideas but ended up blanking. "Can I talk to Yaya?"

"That's probably not the best idea right now."

I didn't have to ask for more details. "Well, then what do we do?" I asked in an urgent whisper. "Fujisaki and I are already at the concert. The concert starts in fifteen minutes! Go distract Yaya with some cookies or something and lure her here."

"I'll try," she said doubtfully. And then, "NO! Yaya, get over here! Stop stealing candy from innocent five-year olds! YAYAAAAA!"

The line went dead.

"Soooo?" Fujisaki nagged from the seat next to me. "Where are they?"

"It's all Yaya's fault," I groaned, burying my head in my hands.

"She dragged Amu-chan off on a trick-or-treating expedition, didn't she? Is she stealing candy from five-year olds again?"

"Do I really need to answer that?"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

The deafening applause roared in my ears as Utau bowed from the stage. "Thank you everyone! And now for my last song: Heartful Song!" Soft music began to play from the speakers.

I checked my watch. 7:20. Where were they? The concert was almost over.

My question was answered as Utau opened her mouth to sing, the concert hall doors flew open, and three figures stood at the doors.

"UTAU-CHIIIIIIII!" the crazed, smiling-way-too-cheesily, candy demon shrilled above the music. "WHERE ARE THE COOKIES? YAYA WANTS COOKIES! AND CANDY AND OOH A PONY FOR CHRISTMAS BUT YAYA'S PARENTS SAY NOOOO GETTING A PONY IS A WASTE OF MONEY SO YAYA WROTE A LETTER TO SANTA FOR CHRISTMAS ASKING FOR CANDY AND A PONY BUT-"

"YAYA!" The messy pink-haired, panting-for-breath figure clapped a hand over the mouth of the positively-giddy-with-sugary-excitement Yaya. "You're making a scene!" Hinamori hissed.

By now, everyone's heads had turned toward the doors, jaws agape. Like a true professional, Popstar kept singing, but I think I saw an eye roll there.

"What are you all looking at?" chibi devil growled at the audience, "Nothing to see here!" Then, with some freakish sense of, I dunno, sensing, she pivoted and somehow caught sight of me and Fujisaki. "What's it doing here?" she asked acidly, marching up to us.

"I was invited," Fujisaki answered evenly. "Aren't you supposed to be at the dance? And..." he tilted his head, "what are you wearing?"

I stifled my laughter behind my hand as Mashiro's cheeks turned pink. "Shut up! This was the only costume the stores had that was in my size! It's hard to buy costumes on such short notice!"

"What are you, a fairy princess?" I guffawed, unable to hold back my laughter. "Is that a sparkly purple dress I see? You even have a wand! And a tiara!"

"Shut up! I'm an elfin queen!" she stressed. "This is a queen's gown, and I'm holding a scepter, stupid! And that's not a tiara, it's a formal headpiece!"

"An elfin queen? You're certainly midget-y enough," I coughed out.

Mashiro turned the full force of her glare on me and I cringed. "Excuse me?"

"N-Nothing!" I pushed a surprised Fujisaki toward Rima. "Kill him, not me!"

"I knew something was up when Amu and Yaya invited me to the concert," Mashiro said, narrowing her eyes. "Amu sucks at lying, so I bought the costume yesterday and changed the plans. I'm surprised purpled-headed freak didn't see through the lies too."

"No, I did," Fujisaki replied calmly. "I just wanted to see what Souma-kun was planning."

Ten meters away, Yaya was still screaming her head off. "-SO ONE DAY YAYA HAD THIS WONDERFUL DREAM ABOUT BEING IN CANDYLAND AND THE GINGERBREAD COOKIES GREETED YAYA PERSONALLY AND EVERYTHING BUT THEN YAYA SAW KING KANDY AND HE WOULDN'T LET YAYA BUY CANDYLAND AND ENSLAVE THE GINGERBREAD COOKIES - SOMETHING ABOUT A MOTHER-IN-LAW HAVING A FONDNESS FOR GINGERBREAD COOKIES AND THE FACT THAT HE WAS ONLY TEMPORARILY RENTING THE PLACE - SO SINCE KING KANDY AND SANTA ARE OBVIOUSLY SECOND COUSINS YAYA WROTE SANTA A STRONGLY WORDED LETTER-"

"Rima-chan, maybe you should go back to them," Fujisaki suggested helpfully. "I don't think Amu-chan can single-handedly handle Yaya-chan."

"And send myself back into that warzone?" Mashiro scoffed. "I like my eardrums nice and intact, thank you very much."

I briefly considered going over to Hinamori and Yaya so Fujisaki and Mashiro would be left alone together.

Then I decided that I liked my ears nice and safe too. "Hey, Mashiro, sit down!" I invited, patting my seat (which was conveniently right next to Fujisaki's.) "I think I see an empty seat next to a friend of mine over there," here, I gestured vaguely in a random direction, "so don't worry about me."

"Trust me, I won't," and miraculously, she slipped into the seat.

I flashed Fujisaki a thumbs-up as he sent me a suspicious look and whistled as I walked off. Then, after I peeked behind me to make sure he wasn't looking at me anymore, I dropped to the floor, listening to their conversation.

"So what did you mean when you said I was supposed to be at the dance?" I heard Mashiro ask.

"Oh, Souma-kun told me you were going to the Halloween dance with some guy who asked you. I think his exact words were, 'she's over the moon for him,'" Fujisaki replied lightly, and I cringed at Mashiro's threatening growl.

"As if. I could never like a guy more than I like pocky. Or my gag manga. Besides, the school dances are all terrible. Saaya was on the decorating committee, haven't you heard?"

"Oh, Yamabuki-san isn't that bad. She has good taste, at least. She's president of my fanclub."

"That's not exactly something to brag about."

In the end, Yaya was dragged away by security and Utau's concert was made pretty memorable. I went home with a headache, but it was nothing compared to what Amu had to go through. I think she was permanently scarred.

"Go away," she moaned when I tried to approach her. "I will never go trick-or-treating again."

Well, at least the midget and Fujisaki had one civil conversation.

What, Daichi? Popstar texted me? Well, what does the text say?

...I'm sure she doesn't mean it when she says she could rip my head off for ruining my concert. And hey, how is it all MY fault? It's Yaya's responsibility!

Okay, Daichi, I guess you have a point there. No person in their right mind would ever dare blame Yaya for something while the effects of sugar-high mode haven't even worn off yet. I guess that's how she gets away with stealing candy from five-year-olds, year after year.

Well, notebook, it's getting late and I should get to sleep. I'm not kidding when I say it's been a long night.

KUKAI!