Chapter 2: O-Hime-Sama

"Aneue, why aren't you dressed yet?"

After accepting my punishment, Aneue had calmed down. Now we were waiting for one of the maids to bring the wedding dress to my room.

Aneue was sitting in front of the vanity having her makeup done, another stylist fixing her hair, someone else doing her nails and a fourth one fluttering about.

"We had to remake the wedding cake last night, we spent the whole night awake finishing it."She had a slight blush on her cheeks. "I…I overslept."

"We? As in you had a hand in it too?" My incredulous tone made her blush even more. "Well, good to know. I'm not feeling particularly hungry at the moment."

"Shut up, I'm not that bad." I only raised an eyebrow at her. "Ugh! I know! But Shu-chan and Amu-chan were there too and they are great at cooking!"

Now I was confused.

"I know Shuji-san is your soon to be hubby but who is Amu? Is she a colleague of brother-in-law?"

"What? No! Didn't I tell you about her?" at my negative she continued. "Amu-chan is Shu-chan's oldest cousin. But they are more like siblings, they grew up together until Shu-chan went to Paris."

Oh. The magical girl with the reverse harem. Awesome.

"She's so cute! Not as stubborn as Shu-chan described her. Really, she's such a sweetheart. Can you believe she thought I was calling off the wedding and tried to convince me not to? I swear..."

I started to doze off on the bed. Really, I hadn't slept in close to thirty hours and was dying for at least a nap.

"Mina! Are listening to me!"

Zzzzz…

"Auch!" Something hit me in the face!

"Listen to your elders!"

Knock knock

"Do something useful and open the door!" and she was back again at scowling at me. This woman was so needy… good luck, Shuji-san.

Getting up was a chore, the bed was really comfortable. Opening the door I saw a pink haired, golden eyed twelve-year old. She was wearing a blue blazer, white puffy blouse (what was that thing called?), black skirt with a chain hanging, purple and black rhombus tights and black-and-white tennis.

Seriously? That's what you wear at a wedding? It's what you wear to go out with your friends! I'm feeling offended for my sister!

She must have felt my judging because she was stretching her skirt a little and avoiding my eyes.

"Eto… I was told that Eriko-san wanted me to be here…?" she kept avoiding my eyes, but her Shugo Chara's were looking at me with sparkling eyes… creepy…

"Wow!"

"She's so pretty-desu!"

"So chic!"

"Is that you Amu-chan? Come on in!" Aneue is so bipolar…How can she sound so cheerful? "Move off the way, Mina!" See? Bipolar…

But I moved and let her in. She quickly went to Aneue's side, coward, while her Shugo Chara's stayed around me, circling me and saying compliments. It was actually kind of nice.

I walked to my bed and the Shugo Charas followed, ignoring Aneue and Hinamori-san, I made myself comfortable again.

"Oh, no! She's going to wrinkle her dress!" the blue one seemed more interested in my dress than me in general, unlike the other three. She even took out a notebook and started to sketch me.

"Don't worry, Yuu while fix it up if she has to." Whispering to them. I kept one eye opened to make sure nobody was paying me any attention. Wouldn't want to repeat the airplane incident. That never happened and we will not bring up again…

They exclaimed 'Ah!' in surprise and delight.

"You can see us!" that one was the pink one. A little cheerleader apparently.

"Well, yeah. I have my own little menaces after all."

They got even closer to me. Hmm… I think the green one is the cutest… the angel one has creepy eyes…

"What?! Where?!" Hump! So cute! They started looking in every direction!

"They are hiding. They are afraid of Aneue." I actually had no idea where they were, I couldn't even listen to Sachi's muffled screams.

"Eh?!" The blue one looked surprised.

"They!" The pink one looked happy.

"Aneue?!" The angel looked… well, she still looked creepy…

The cute green one was still searching muttering 'desu' every once in a while.

"There is Katsu, my oldest, Sachi, the middle-child and Yuu, she actually seems to be the oldest while she's the youngest." This I told to pink and blue. I turned towards creepy angel and smiled pointing Aneue."The bride is my older sister."

"Three!" They all exclaimed together in surprise.

This caught the pink ones attention. When she saw the four Shugo Charas all over my resting form she started to freak out. Well, that was funny.

While the Shugo Charas talked to each other excitedly I turned my attention to my sister and her guest.

"Uhm, Eriko-san... Who is that girl?" She tried to point to me discreetly. She failed.

"Hum? Oh, that's my imouto. Mina! Get up and introduce yourself!"

"Aww…Troublesome…"

"Eh?! Imouto!"

Getting up, again, I fixed my dress and bowed. "Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Otomo Minako to moushimasu, Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Anata no onamae wa?" (*)

"Oh! Watashi wa Hinamori Amu desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!" (**) She hastily bowed back and introduced herself.

She was blushing, good, she probably realized how rude she was being. If only Yuu was here, she would politely smack her down.

"Good!" Aneue clapped her hands. "Now you know each other! So now Amu-chan can show Mina around so she doesn't fall asleep and you can get to know each other! After all we are going to be a family soon!"

And that easily Aneue kicked us out of my own room. Literally. She got up and started pushing us out until we were out of the room and closed the door in our faces. Why did I come again? Ah, yes. Blackmailed by my own Shugo Chara.

"Mina-chan! Now we can go look for your Shugo Chara!" that was little pink, big pink was looking shocked at the door.

"You guys haven't even introduced yourself. I can't keep referring to you by colors."

Now Hinamori-san turned to look at me."You can see them?!"

"Amu-chan! Mina-chan also has Shugo Chara!" the pink one responded to the second question first. "I'm Ran!"

The blue one stepped up next and bowed. "Miki."

"I'm Su-desu!" Cute-green-one followed.

"And I am the Angel of Love, El!"

"Huh! Hinamori-san seems to be a person of hidden depths." The five of them looked at me confused. "Well, we have her outer character which seems to be shy and cold? Then we have her Shugo Chara that shows she's an athlete, an artist, homely and secretly a good girl/romantic?"

Hinamori-san sputtered and the charas where overcome with laughter.

"Eru isn't mine!" Her face was bright pink and she hadn't denied anything I said. Damn, I'm good!

"She has you pegged Amu-chan!"

"Humm, so you have three Shugo Chara?"

Suddenly the laughter stopped and they looked uncomfortable.

"No, actually I do have four Shugo Chara." She looked sad about it. Deciding to let the subject drop I prepared to change the theme…

"Dia is with Utau!" Or maybe not… Miki sounded mad about this.

"And who is Utau?" might as well know the rest.

"Utau-chan!" El cried out the name obviously distressed.

"What ails her?" she seemed quite out of it. Su was trying to comfort her and Ran tried to cheer her up with cheers while Miki and Hinamori-san looked unsure of what to do.

"Eru is Utau's Shugo Chara. Well, she and Iru." Was Hinamori-san's reluctant response. Her demeanor seemed darker and darker as the conversation went on.

The sound of muffled screams and a chain reached my ears a moment later. Unconsciously smiling I turned towards the direction of the sounds. Know I had the chance to distract them from the distressing topic.

"Hey, didn't you want to meet my Shugo Chara? They are near." Fondness crept into my voice without meaning to.

"Sure! How can you know they are near, Otomo-san?"

"Just follow the muffled scream and chain sounds…"

The five looked completely worried, I could practically read their thoughts: "What kind of Shugo Chara's does she have?!"

We were rounding up a corner when we saw them. Katsu in his black suit and mask with his chains locking a pink and black egg being dragged behind him and Yuu floating next to him like a prim and proper lady, her fan was in her hands hiding half of her face. Probably because of the smirk I could hear in her voice, after all is not proper for a lady to smirk.

"…and then she broke the guy's nose."

"I don't believe you…"

"Why not? The guy was trying to get in her pants!"

"Because according to you this happened when she was nine. Any and all information disclosed by you not being backed up by Mina, Sachi or myself is not to be believed."

"What kind of bullshit is that!"

"One we all stand in favor off."

"But it did happen!"

"Did it?"

"Yes!"

"No." Moving a curl off my eyes, I huffed annoyed. "The first nose I broke was when I was seven and it was a girl. None of you were yet with me so it is unconfirmed. Unless you ask Aneue, of course. The nose I broke was from a girl that made her cry."

Their heads whipped around and saw myself, Hinamori-san and the four little Shugo Chara staring at them.

"Mina… You survived the dragon lady… What a joy…" Katsu's wry voice gave away his feelings, but it was fine. Our relationship was based on sarcasm and it worked.

"Your sarcasm is noted and appreciated, dearest." Responding in the same tone and signaling towards my companions with my hand I started introductions. "My cute little Charas, this is Hinamori Amu, my soon-to-be political cousin. Her Shugo Chara's Ran, Miki and Su. Also, accompanying them a friend by the name El."

Each of them bowed at their introductions. Well, all of them except for El.

Twirling around, taking a banner out of nowhere proclaiming her self-given title, she stopped in a pose.

"I'm El, The Angel of LO~VE!" one hand in her hip, the other in a peace or victory sign against her forehead and her tongue sticking out she waited for a reaction.

Her given reaction was Katsu's paused and sarcastic claps. The rest of us simply sweat dropped.

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Amu's POV:

When we were making the wedding cake it was fun and I thought that the wedding would be perfect from then on. The next day Ami waked me up by jumping on me and we all got ready. Okaa-san prepared my outfit and I looked cool (Miki gave her approval).

When one of the maids of Eriko-san told me that Eriko-san was inviting me to see her get prepared I was excited. When the five of us got there I was kind of nervous. I imagined a grand room where in the middle would be Eriko-san being waited on by tons of people looking beautiful. She would welcome me and we would talk happily about Shuu-niichan's reaction when he saw her.

Then I knocked on the door and what I saw wasn't like I imagined. Oh, the room was grand, it was even bigger and more sophisticated than what I imagined. Eriko-san was being attended by four people and she did look beautiful.

But the person who opened the door wasn't a maid smiling to me politely inviting me in, Eriko-san wasn't paying attention and wasn't welcoming me with a smile.

The one who opened the door was the most beautiful girl I had ever met. More beautiful than Utau! With her shiny red hair artfully arranged, grey eyes carefully painted to make them stand out, full lips painted red and with her red and gold dress she looked like a real Hime. I was star struck for a moment and then I saw her look.

She looked at me and a little frown appeared in her face, a little down curve in her lips. While Ran, Miki, Su and Eru awed over her I felt… shoddy…inferior…puny…

And then Eriko-san called me over happily! Told her to move! I quickly went to her and out of the corner of my eyes I saw the beautiful Hime gracefully lay down on the bed while the girls crowed over her. She looked so beautiful that Miki couldn't resist drawing her! I had never met someone like her… but she looked familiar. So I asked Eriko-san and she told me it was her little sister!

But then Eriko-san told us to get to know each other and for me to show the Hime around. I didn't know what to do! What if I do something stupid again?!

It turned out I didn't have to do anything. The Hime took over the conversation and lead us around herself. Just as expected of someone like her! As she strolled around and talked with her smooth and cultured voice, my feelings of…inadequacy… grew. And Dia came out. And with Dia came Utau, who always made me feel small.

Thankfully my luck came back because the Hime funded her Shugo Chara and got distracted.

They where a strange bunch. The one who was Katsu reminded me of Miki and Iru, and it was male! I didn't know a girl could have a boy Shugo Chara! The one who was Yuu was much more like I expected of someone like Otomo-san. And the third… well we couldn't see how she was like…but it kind of scared me that they needed to chain her!

But the most important thing was that they were three.

Three Shugo Chara.

Three Shugo Chara like me.

The guardians said that it was unheard of when they met me. That the Humpty Lock was given to them to be given to someone special with three Shugo Chara and that person was supposedly me.

But I was no longer the only one with three. If Otomo-san had three maybe someone else out there also had three…maybe someone also had four or maybe even five…

I was no longer the only one. I was no longer special.

If Utau with her beauty… her talent… her two Shugo Chara (three if you counted how Dia chose her) made me feel low… meeting Otomo-san made me feel… useless…

"Amu-chan?"

Ran… Ran was talking to me…

That's right! I can't think of stuff like that now!

"Huh? Ran what is it?" Smile, Amu! Nothing is wrong!

"Are you ok, Amu-chan?" her concern was clear.

Otome-san was looking at me curiously. I can't worry the Hime!

"Ahaha! Of course I am!" distraction, distraction! Grey eyes looking at me…There! "Ano! Otomo-san! You look really familiar!"

"Ara? My face is in many fashion magazines, ads and billboards but those are mainly in Europe and America, I doubt you recognize me from those…Humm" Wow! She says it like its nothing! Truly she is a Hime-sama! Then she looked like an idea came to her. "Ara? Could it be? Does Hinamori-san watch dramas maybe? I have acted in many for a while now but they are above your viewer age. Maybe you saw an advertisement of them. Does NeverEver ring a bell? Or maybe Red Tears?"

I gasped."Ah! Okaa-san loves Red Tears! She sees it every Thursday!"

"So that's it. I'm Himura Tsubame, the daughter of the protagonist."

"No way! Now I realize!" How amazing! Hime-sama is really a great actress! "How is it to work with Maki Hikaru-sensei?!"

"It's a great honor, I have learned a lot from everyone on set."

Wah! She's so cool!

"Enough of me, Hinamori-san, we are supposed to get to know each other. What about you? How old are you? Where do you go to school? Do you have friends? What do you do for fun?"

A true and kind Hime!

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Mina's POV:

The wedding has come and gone. The newlyweds have gone to their honey moon and the guests have left. I stayed in the hotel for one more week. My parents want me to remain in Japan as a resident instead of more of a visitor, to be closer to the family. Translation: to be closer to the head quarters of the Otomo Financial Empire now that I'm the heiress instead of the backup.

Having to talk to my manager about rescheduling the photo shots that could be changed and canceling the ones that couldn't made poor Aoi-san break into tears. Luckily both the dramas I was working on had recently ended filming their seasons so no problem there.

After all the problems my parents had given me I refused to move back to the family home and decided to rent my own apartment. I couldn't resist the temptation of looking up the Seiyo Academy and seeing where it was. When the apartments I choose was near it… well, that was just a coincidence.

It took two weeks more to finally have my apartment ready to live in. To celebrate we decided to go out and take a walk around to familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. I decided to wear black high waisted shorts, a red off the sholders T-shirt with a black and gold design and black sandals. My hair down, a pair of sunglasses and I was ready.

We hadn't walked more than three blocks when something caught the attention of my three Shugo Charas.

"Mina, there is a grup of Shugo Charas approaching" Katsu sounded annoyed about it.

"Can you tell me from where, Yuu?" she was, without doubt, the best a pinpointing where Sugo Charas or black eggs were.

"From our right."

Going to investigate 'cause we were bored we came across our four new friends.

"Wha-! Sachi-chan! Mina-chan! Yuu-chan! Katsu-kun! What are you doing here?!" Ran's shock, delight and curiosity could be heard in miles.

"Chichi demanded for me to remain in Japan so I had to move here permanently" I was scowling at this but soon it turned to a smirk. "But he didn't say where in Japan I had to move, so I rented my own apartment. It's near here."

"That's great!"

After exchanging pleasantries they invited us to go with them to the Royal Gardner and meet the rest of the Shugo Chara's from the Guardians. Sachi and Yuu accepted while Katsu and I decided to continue to wander.

"Being antisocial as usual, Katsu?"

"Oh, shut up you wench."

"As you wish, dearest."

We continue to walk around an founded a really big park.

"Muu... I'm thirsty..."

"Idiot, why don't you just buy something from that vending machine?" Katsu's snide reply was, for once, wanted.

"What? Where?" Tree, tree, bench, shrubbery, tree…

"Near that kid with the samurai Shugo Chara."

"What?"

Sure enough there was a kid about ten or eleven with a samurai Shugo Chara checking his wrist watch repeatedly near a vending machine and a bench. Score!

I got myself a soda, sat down on the bench and enjoyed the afternoon sun.

(***)"Incho!"

"I-I'm sorry for calling you out here so suddenly. Did you bring the Humpty Lock with you?"

"U-Uhm..."

"I just really want to research it! I'm sure it could be of some use to power up the Guardians."

"W-Well you see…"(***)

"Nee, Mina… Isn't that Amu?" I had been ignoring the conversation, having been dozing off, but this acquired my attention.

"Ara? Hinamori-san?" pushing my sunglasses up and resting them on top of my head I looked the two kids standing close to me.

"Eh?! Otome-san?!"

"Konnichi wa."

After explanations ("I moved here" "Eh?! Really?!") and introductions, we got into the interesting stuff.

"So you say that one of your little menace's must have taken your necklace?" tapping my chin I tought back. "Well, some time ago we bumped into them, Sachi and Yuu joined up to meet the other little ones in a Crowned Lawn or something… but I didn't see any necklace… What about you Katsu?"

"The Angel of Disturbing was acting iffy, she could have had the Bumpy Lock."

"Humpty Lock." muttered Amu scowling a little.

"Musashi! Do you know about this Crowned Lawn?"

"They are having an important meeting in the Royal Gardner for some reason."

"Shouldn't you have gone, Musashi?"

"Ara? They said there was going to be fun and games, even a clown!" I smiled at the thought. My sister was terrified of clowns! It was so fun to scare her with a mask of one. "It seems you know where to go."

"Thanks, Otomo-san!"

"We must part."

What polite kids.

"Bye Bye!" and we were back to being two. Turning to Katsu I wondered what to do. "Dearest, do you feel like doing anything in particular?"

"Well… Musashi has gone that way and the others must be in the same direction…" Nodding in understanding I waited. "So the Shugo Chara I feel that way must be someone we don't know."

A smile grew one my face. "Dearest... Let's go hunting..."

A.N.: Here we have an insight of how Amu perceives Mina and how she sees herself in contrast. Amu is vulnerable because of Dia's rejection but is recovering but Mina kind of screwed her up and made her go some steps back. Now, why when Mina makes Amu feel so bad doesn't Amu resent her? Many reasons and no, it's not because Amu is super nice. It has to do with the Japanese mentality.

One: Mina is older than Amu. Just for that Amu must give her respect as she's her elder.

Two: Mina is from a higher class than Amu who is a middle class. Just like her age it also puts Mina in a higher pedestal.

Three: Mina is an idol. Idols are commonly role models. Their agencies have given them really stern contracts. They are not like Miley Cyrus or Demi Lovato. Their public image must remain as defined in their contracts or it's breached. For example teen idols commonly must remain in celibacy, I can't remember if she was Japanese or Korean but a singer from an all girl group was caught leaving the room of a singer from an all boys group by the media and she got kicked out back to training, she shaved all her hair and gave a public apology about it, some months later she was reintroduced in the group. So yes, they take it seriously.

Three and a half: in mangas and animes schools they commonly have their own idols (Amu is one, as are all the Guardians) they are treated as superior to the average student. Nicknames as Princess (Hime/Ojou), Prince (Ouji) are common.

Four: this is all well and good but you could tell me that you don't see Rima falling for something like that. True. But Amu has been shown to be quite superficial. She falls for Tadase at first sight because he looks like a prince and acts like a prince. It's repeatedly shown as she subconsciously calls him "Ouji" when he looks cute or acts cool. She feels that Nadeshiko and Rima must be cool because it fits by the way they look and she acts surprised when they act "out of character". This and more give a base in Amu's mind that Mina is inherently better than her and should be given the proper respect. So she subconsciously refers to her as Hime the same way she refers to Tadase as Ouji.

(*) Polite, long way of introducing oneself:

"Hajimemashite. Watashi wa Otomo Minako to moushimasu, Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Anata no onamae wa?"

はじめまして。 Hajimemashite. It's nice to meet you.

私はOtomo (no idea how it's written)美奈子 と申します。

Watashi wa Otomo Minako to moushimasu. My name is Otomo Minako.

どうぞよろしくお願いします。 Douzo yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Please be kind to me.

あなたのおなまえは？Anata no o-namae wa? What is your name?

(**)Short way.

"Oh! Watashi wa Hinamori Amu desu. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!"

私は日奈森あむです。Watashi wa Hinamori Amu desu. My name is Hinamori Amu.

よろしくお願いします。 Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Please be kind to me.

(***) extract taken from the anime episode 38

There are many ways to write names and surname and each way varies on meaning with Japanese, but this is just one and since I don't know Japanese and my research come from internet it may be wrong. I always forget to put this when I'm explaining names.

HIMURA 緋村 Means "scarlet village" from hi meaning scarlet or dark red "緋" and mura meaning village "村".

TSUBAME 燕 swallow (the bird)

MAKI 真木 Means "black pine" I'm really not sure on this one, I know that's one way to write it and I know that's one meaning but I have zero idea if that way means that. So don't take it as legit.

HIKARU 光 "light" or 輝 "radiance". It can be used for a male or female.

The two dramas Mina mentions may came back at a later date. NeverEveris a high school drama where Mina is one of the protagonists. Red tearsis a drama for housewife'swhere she's a supporting actress.

AOI 葵 "hollyhock, althea" or 碧 "blue" It can be used for a male or female.