A Wish from the Heart

A Wish from the Heart

By Laura Schiller

Series: Shugo Chara

Copyright: Peach Pit

Suu was almost sick with terror. Trapped in a cage, imprisoned in the house of a man whom she had believed could be trusted – her Amu-chan's teacher, that evil man who would stop at nothing to gain the Embryo for his evil employers. Looking at the pile of dead and hopeless-looking X eggs in the machine made her shudder. All those broken dreams...and the worst part was that she herself would join them. He wanted an egg which could character-transform, and he had found her.

She still remembered the feel of his burning fingers around her shell as he carried her off, and the worried voices of the Guardians behind her, Amu's rising above the rest. All that remained was for Sensei – she just couldn't stop calling him that – to finish his calculations on his laptop. She was in mortal danger. So why did she keep staring at his coffee cup?

Some might have said it was a coping mechanism her brain came up with, to distract her so she wouldn't go insane with fright. Or else that her habits of cooking, cleaning and caretaking were so ingrained in her that she couldn't help it – she did reflect that part of Amu's character after all. Or maybe it was because – how very illogical! – though she knew that Nikaido was a cold-blooded villain who wanted to kill her, he still looked so heart-breakingly cute. Just like the time she first saw him.

"AAH!"

A stack of books went flying across the hallway as the man and the girl collided and fell.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she stuttered.

"No problem," he replied, adjusting his ponytail and smiling so widely his eyes closed. His curly amber-colored hair stuck up in all directions; his tie was lopsided and he looked like a little boy playing dress-up in a suit.

Floating beside her fellow Shugo Charas, Suu smiled back at him rather than watching Amu as the other two did. He didn't notice; of course not, since normal adults usually couldn't see her kind. Thankfully that made her free to look at him. He was the most adorable man she had ever seen.

"I'm Nikaido," he told Amu. "I've just been hired as a substitute teacher for the fifth grade."

Suu beamed. Nikaido-sensei. She would get to see him every day!

"Sensei, your coffee is getting cold. Want me to make you a new one?"

"Don't think you can trick me into letting you escape," he snapped and she slumped to the floor. Usually his voice was just as light and sunny as the rest of him, but now it reminded her of candy with a hidden razor blade inside.

After a while, she gathered up her courage again. Maybe if she earned his respect by making him more comfortable, he wouldn't kill her – it was a very slim chance, but the only one she had. If she ran away, it would just make him angrier, and she doubted whether she could escape before he caught her.

"Sensei, your room is messy. Want me to clean it for you?"

He stood up abruptly and made a threatening movement towards her cage, probably to finish her. Her heart jumped into her throat; she froze.

Suddenly Sensei's scowl deepened; his feet were caught in a heap of garbage on the ground. For a moment fear flashed over his face, as if he felt just as trapped in a way as she was.

"Are you all right?"

"Just clean it," he growled instead of answering. "And don't touch anything unnecessary."

Was he really evil, after all? Suu wondered as she bustled around the room with a miniature feather duster. Maybe this Easter Company was putting so much pressure on him that he was forced to do this against his will. Or maybe he wanted the Embryo for something really important, some precious reason close to his heart. Not that she wanted to sacrifice her life for that, though – or the lives of those other unfortunates piled up in the X egg machine. What hurt the most was that she was Suu, who could fix anything; she had no idea how to fix this.

As she cleaned, she came across something which made her stop and stare with hungry eyes. She had no name for the feeling which suddenly welled up in her heart: was it pity? Understanding? Or something more?

The photo showed a little boy, about ten or eleven, with wavy caramel-colored hair and a wide, innocent smile. Next to him sat a pudgy, middle-aged man with a black mustache, protectively holding his arm around the boy's shoulder. Was it his father, his uncle or some other important mentor? The boy was holding a little grey robot, and looking at the crate where the photo lay, Suu suddenly understood everything.

Oh, my dear Sensei. What happened to you?

There were robots of all shapes and sizes, all lifeless, all broken. Countless failures of a dream staring him in the face, day afte day. This must be what had made him the way he was, destroying other people's dreams out of a desperate grief for his own. Yet at the bottom of all that hatred and bitterness, there was still that wide-eyed, innocent child trying to get out.

Suu floated down to wipe the dust of the picture; it was her own small gesture of respect.

"Don't touch that!" Nikaido snapped.

She wanted to cry and curl up in his hand, but instead she obediently turned away.

Amu and the Guardians came to rescue her just in time; she would never forget the cold, hard look of Sensei's eyes behind their shining glasses as he placed her in that terrible beam of light. She greeted Amu joyfully, knowing her mistress could make everything right. She froze in fright, however, as he infused his failed creations with X egg energy and made them pile together into one enormous monster.

Amulet Heart glared at it, preparing for combat. Suu knew that look and was about to cheer her encouragement when she remembered –

No! The picture!

"Amu-chan, you can't!" she cried, putting all possible strength into her tiny voice and spreading her arms wide in front of the robots. "Transform with me instead!"

Amu nodded. Suu felt her egg snap shut around her, then her essence melt and mesh into the Humpty Lock and her mistress's body. She was Amu; Amu was her. They were one.

Together they released a stream of warm, golden magic into the room. They saw the astonishment on Sensei's face as their power cradled the robots, lovingly separating them into what they had once been, gently carrying the precious picture out of harm's reach.

What's going on, Suu? Amu thought.

I'll tell you later, Amu-chan. But please - just help Sensei!

And they did. By the end of the day, seeing his own beloved Shugo Chara floating in front of him, Nikaido became a new man. They watched his face soften and the light of innocence return to his eyes.

"Remember that dreams are never really lost," said the little robotechnician, looking at Nikaido from behind glasses just like his.

Suu liked the look of him, and she felt a hint of Sensei's disappointment as he shut his egg and flew away.

The pain in her heart stayed, however. She knew now how she felt about him, in spite of what he was and what he had done. She was Amu's Shugo Chara; this should not be happening, but it was.

Late that night, she took a map from Papa Hinamori's bookshelf and located Nikaido's apartment. She did not get lost; she didn't even need her whisk to guide her. It was as if her heart knew the way.

The window was open; Nikaido was sitting on the sofa, staring into a glass of brandy with a slightly dreamy look on his face. His hair curled loosely around his shoulders like a lion's mane; his tie was crumpled in a corner, as if he were relieved to be free of it.

When he saw her, he jumped. A drop of brandy spilled on his chinos and he cursed, making Suu cover her ears, as he bolted for a napkin to wipe off the stain. When he came back, he stood supporting himself with both hands on the back of the sofa, staring at her in open-mouthed incredulity.

"Good evening, Sensei," she chirped nervously.

"You – you're Hinamori-san's – what are you doing here?"

"My name is Suu," she replied. "And I wanted to make sure you were okay. You're not upset from...from seeing your Shugo Chara leaving?"

"Well, kinda," he admitted. "But it's better than never seeing him at all. And of course I'll be fired now, and Sanjou's gonna lap it up like she always does, but hey – I've never been more free in my life. Maybe I can even track down my former teacher and get him to hire me as an assistant." He closed his eyes and sighed contentedly, then opened them again with a look of suspicion.

"Does Hinamori-san know you're here?"

"No." She squirmed – suddenly it occurred to her that Ami might not approve of what she was doing. The ever-prudent Miki certainly wouldn't. After all, only this afternoon the man in front of her had been planning to kill her!

"Um...Suu-san..." Nikaido put his hand behind his hair in that awkward way she had seen so often; he looked about as nervous as she was.

"I don't suppose saying I'm sorry would quite cover the damage I did," he muttered with downcast eyes. "I can't believe the creature I turned into, during all those years. What I did was unforgivable, but still. Suu-san, I offer my sincerest, most unreserved apology."

He bowed, and it nearly took Suu's breath away. No one had ever treated her like this before...as if she were human.

"I accept!" she squealed, smiling and crying at the same time. She darted up to his face, kissed him on the cheek, and fluttered dizzily out the window. Once she turned back to wave to him.

"See you, Sensei!"

He waved back and smiled. It was the same adorable smile she had seen the day she met, the smile she loved.

Tiny, sparkling tears trailed after she fought against the night wind in her flight.

Amu woke up in the middle of the night because a high-pitched sound had disturbed her. It was like a person crying, and it came from inside her room. She sat up; her eyes fell onto the eggs in her tote bag.

Listening hard, she recognized the voice. It was Suu.

"Suu?" she whispered, carefully taking out the egg. "What's wrong?"

"I – I'm sorry, Amu-chan," Suu sobbed from inside her egg. "I didn't – mean – to wake you up."

"Never mind that," Amu grumbled. Trust that girl to be worried about Amu first! "Just tell me what's wrong. Are you scared of fighting?"

"No."

"Have you had a fight with the others?"

"N – No."

"Then what? Come on, Suu! I just want to help. I'm worried about you."

That broke her down. Suu burst out of the egg, clung to Amu's pyjama collar and buried her face in it to stifle her sobs.

"I want – oh, Amu-chan, I want to be human!"

"What? Why?!" exclaimed three voices – Amu's, Ran's and Miki's. The other two Charas had been awake for a while now, but even they had never suspected Suu's feelings.

"Cause I'm in love with Nikaido-sensei!" she shouted back, almost defiantly.

Her sisters, as well as Amu, were momentarily stunned. Ran recovered first and somersaulted onto the blanket

"How could we not have seen this coming?" she squealed. "It was so obvious! First she stops Amu-chan from destroying the picture, then she flies at him whenever she sees him like he's a new kind of coffee machine – aah! What else could it have been?"

"Good grief," added Miki. "You were an airhead before, but this really puts the cap on it." Suu glared at her; Miki ignored it and went on. "A human! And one Amu-chan doesn't even care about, right?"

"Right. I mean, I don't dislike him anymore, but...I don't feel the slightest bit of love for him. It doesn't make sense! How can my would-be self love someone I don't?"

"But she's not your only would-be self," Miki pointed out. "No one's ever had three Shugo Charas before – four, counting Dia – so we don't know how this works. Maybe as you decide who you want to be, the rest of us will lose our connection to you somehow."

"A daughter is born from her mother," Suu reflected, "But that doesn't mean they're the same person. Maybe I'm different even though I was born from you."

Amu frowned.

"Maybe it does make sense in a way," she said quietly. "I mean...of all the Charas, Suu's the one least like me. I can't do Open Heart when I transform with her...plus I don't think I'm cut out for the role of a sweet little housekeeper. No offense, Suu. Maybe you're meant to be your own would-be self as much as mine. Ah, now I sound stupid."

"This is all well and good," said Miki, pointing at Suu with her paintbrush, "But it won't make you any happier. You'll just have to try and get over him."

Ran hugged her sister hard. "Don't be sad, Suu. We're all there for you."

Suu wrapped her arms around Ran and began to cry again.

Three years later:

Nikaido Yuu leaned back against the seat of his silver Volvo, tapping the steering wheel and waiting for the traffic jam to thin. He was on his way home from Seiyo Elementary, where he had been re-hired after losing his position at Easter. He was grateful for his new life, even though sometimes the meories still haunted him. It was so strange to see the children looking up at him with eager, trusting eyes – "Hello, Sensei!" – knowing that three years ago, he would not have hesitated to crush their spirits. Did they now think of him the same way he used to think of his teacher?

Thinking of his old life reminded him of Hinamori Amu. He still remembered her in her last transformation, Amulet Clover, sending her beautiful healing powers all over the room. How much of that came from Amu, he wondered, and how much from Suu alone? That golden warmth emanating from Clover was somehow different from the aura of the girl he knew. Not that Amu couldn't be kind, but – not in the same way.

Suu had astonished him. She had not cried or begged for mercy, nor cursed him, but instead she had boldly looked him in the eyes and offered to make him coffee and clean his room. As if she were his housekeeper or his wife, rather than a prisoner. And she had kept to her word and not run away. How much courage and honor could reside in such a tiny body?

He never saw Amu anymore either, not since her graduation, and he missed her and her Charas. He especially missed Suu, strange though it might seem. He had a feeling it was Suu who had really saved him, using Amu's body, instead of the other way around. She had definitely saved the picture.

And besides, her coffee had been delicious.

He parked his car at the side of the road and looked up at the grey apartment block he lived in. He still had some essays to grade – the first-graders' annaual 'My Dream' essays – and he wanted to get it over with as fast as possible, before the old envy and bitterness started creeping up on him. He wanted nothing to do with that hateful self anymore.

"Good afternoon, Nikaido-sensei."

The books he had been carrying in his arms went flying in all directions. The woman who had spoken laughed merrily and went down on her knees to hel him gather them. Still flabbergasted, he stole glances at her from behind his crooked glasses and nearly tripped over his own feet several times. It couldn't be...could it?

"Excuse me, but...who are you?" he stuttered, eye to eye with the stranger and unable to stop staring even though he knew it was rude.

"Don't you recognize me?" she asked, smiling and cocking her head to the side.

At first sight, she looked a bit like Amulet Clover – she wore the same green maid outfit and two ponytails with green clover clips – but this woman's eyes were green and her hair a light chartreuse. It was utterly impossible, but...

"Suu-san?"

She nodded.

"Um – okay..." He had to lean against his car. This was a bit much to take at once.

"Look, why don't you come up and have a seat in my apartment. Tell me everything – This is incredible, I mean, how did – okay. Stop rambling." He whirled around and hurried onside, Suu following him with the rest of the books.

A few seconds later, once they were facing each other across Nikaido's kitchen table, he leaned back with a cup of Suu's special coffee in his hands and said, "Fire away."

"Well, we found the Embryo," she began. "Easter almost got there first, but we beat them to the chase. There were all sorts of wishes the others could have asked for, but they decided to leave the Embryo alone since they could reach their wishes just as well alone. Me, I was the only one who actually needed magic to grant her wish, so Amu-chan and the Guardians let me have it. So here I am. I mean, it was weird being so tall at first and I missed my egg, but that's okay. I'm called Hinamori Suu now and I've got a job at this little bakery called DreamPuffs. It's really fun and they even let me wear this uniform because it's cute. And my boss says I have the lightest hand with pastry he's ever seen."

She was still the same sweet, sunny Suu he remembered, only taller. He smiled.

"But what about Amu?" he asked, the scientist in him wanting to know everything. "Does this mean she's lost part of her personality? Can she still transform into Amulet Clover?"

"When I hold her hand, yes. And whenever she needs me, I'll be able to teleport to her. The Embryo was..." she hesitated. "Very nice. It had a mind of its own and knew what I wanted - to be human, but still be there for Amu-chan whenever she needs me."

"But there's one thing I still want to know..." He leaned forward and caught her eyes in his, to make sure she told him the truth. They were the color of pine needles, with hints of gold in them.

"Why did you want to become human? I've never heard of a Shugo Chara having such a wish."

Suu dropped her eyes and hid her hands under the table, but not before he saw them trembling. A pink flush spread over her cheeks and when she looked up, her eyes were very large and bright.

"It was – it was for you," she whispered, her soft soprano voice taking up the whole room. "I love you, Nikaido-sensei."

"Oh..." was all he could think of to say. Feeling rather stupid, he sat there listening to the silence pounding in ears and finally blurted out the first, stupid thing that came to mind.

"Does that mean Hinamori – "

"NO!" Suu shot out of her chair and slammped both hands on the table, making the coffee cup jump. "Every time I talk to you, it's always about Amu-chan! We're not the same person, can't you see? I'm the only one who loves you – not Amu-chan, nor Ran, nor Miki, just me! I belong to myself now...and to you. If you want me, I mean." Her voice softened and the tears began to spill from her eyes.

Nikaido moved on instinct; he stood up, moved around the table and drew her into his arms.

"I do want you," he whispered into her soft, honey-scented hair. "I loved you even when I could fit you in one hand. Your courage and kindness...the way smile as if you want to make the whole world brighter. I just never realized it until now."

They fit together as if they had been made for each other. She was so warm...just like the blanket he used to have when he was very small.

"Suu?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm not sure if you know this, but my given name..." He laughed. "It's Yuu. We rhyme, isn't that funny?"

She giggled.

"And I want you to call me that from now on."

"Yuu...I like it."

And when he kissed her, he could have sworn he heard the faint chime of bells, as if even the angels were celebrating.

The End