insulife: I'm not laughing. Smiling in satisfaction, yes, but laughing, no. Thank you so much for the compliments! And for reviewing throughout the story. Really? I thought that it was very predictable, myself, as I keep telling you guys. After all; the moon. And you have to do all that to figure out if you can eat something? And is this why you call yourself insulife? My grandfather has diabetes, but he just has an injection a half-hour before eating. And he usually ignores everybody and eat bowls of ice cream anyway. Yeah, some of them scare me a little bit too, in their intensity. I think you mean plain old fantastic. Thank you for saying so. But... I don't know what my favourite sweet is! Maybe it's all of them mixed together? Although I don't think that'd turn out very well... o.O
x-kawaii-lullaby-x: Yay! Really? Thank you so much for saying so. Cookie! Yay!
FrozenForeverInHisHeart: Heh, your powers of deduction are fantastic. Here it is!
wolfgirlnowandforever: Thank you. Epic win? Well, I'm happy you think so.
Morningstar04: Read on and see... I LIKE COOKIES TOO! Yippee!
MyForbiddenDestiny: Thank you and no problem. Well, I can, so here it is. Obviously.
magickalfantasy: Was it? I thought is was more predictable than, say, Kairi's, but I guess I'm kinda glad you didn't get it straight away. It means I'm not doing something generic. Right? Right? Well anyhow, thank you!

Disclaimer: For the last time, I do not own Shugo Chara! but I'm flattered if you think I'm capable of artistic talent to that extent.

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Paperwork, Messes and Marks

Yuu - or as he was more commonly known, Nikaido-sensei - rubbed his eyes tiredly. Oh how he wished he didn't have to give so much homework out, not to mention getting it into his stubborn head to pursue other time-consuming, eye-watering activities involving paper that he needn't. One such activity involved chasing down the teachers of everybody in the Guardian Four (past and present) and even the Tsukiyomi's teachers. Why? He was curious as to how they would answer a certain questionnaire. He was definitely regretting that now. Just looking at the pile made him groan out loud.

There was also one other tiny problem that was giving him a headache...

"And why did you have to choose to do all this in my office?" Yukari Sanjou asked, eyes narrowing dangerously.

Yuu turned to her with a cheerful, albeit tired, look on his face. "Because my home isn't the neatest place in the world?" he suggested.

"And mine is?" Yukari asked pointedly. Yuu looked around the room, taking in the unwashed mugs and paperwork strewn all over the tables and floors with a pleasant expression.

"Granted, it isn't at its best..."

Yukari's temple throbbed. "Not at its best," she echoed through gritted teeth.

"That's right, Yukari-chan," Yuu encouraged. Her eye twitched.

"It's Sanjou-san to you, Nikaido," she told him in a dangerously sweet voice. His face drained of colour, the smile slipping away. Yuu knew from their dating days that it did not do to push her much further than this, although what he had done to get her so angry, he had no idea. Heaving a heartfelt sigh, he turned back to the task at hand. That was enough procrastinating; it had to be done since he had volunteered to do it. He reached for the first piece of paper...

And paused. After all, it wouldn't be fair to just judge the students without first seeing how you would do yourselves, was it? But since he was much too tired to complete the sheet, he figured he could just choose something and explain it in his head.

Did he believe in love? Well, that question shouldn't really apply to him really, now did it? It was meant for teenagers, not adults.

If love had a form, what did he think it would be? Yuu frowned. If love had a form... it would be... glasses. Yeah. Glasses. It helps you focus and see better, and makes life easier, right? Yeah. He'd have chosen glasses. Different glasses suit different people, with varying degrees. So varying strengths of your love? Something like that, anyway.

He decided that it was good enough, then pulled the first questionnaire so that it was in front of him.

First up was Yaya Yuiki.

Yuu looked at it critically, red pen at the ready and keeping in mind her age. She even wrote in third person? That was an overkill in the cuteness department. Not to mention actually thanking her Guardian Chara in the actual text. No editing, but surprisingly few mistakes. The subject, well, could be considered creative from any other person but for the girl in question it would just be a matter of course. There was too much colloquialism. Yuck? Yummy? Lotta? And personal opinions that have nothing to do whatsoever with the topic were also added in.

After several moments of silent debate, he scribbled a B- in the bottom, right-hand corner of the page.

Next up was Amu Hinamori, or as he liked to call her, Himamori. Leisure time.

A diamond. Well, he figured that that was just a little bit generic. Not too creative, and a few sentences were awkward to read. The sounded really rather disjointed and the entire piece was rather poorly structured. But she was an elementary school student, so what did you expect?

A- for the Joker.

Nagihiko Fujisaki's paper followed.

A door. He represented four ways to either bar your heart from love or to accept it and take a chance. Excellent use of metaphor, especially considering that the door is often used as one for opportunities. It was relatively rather short but the sentences were to the point and, besides, they didn't set any word limits, trusting that the students who cared would write enough to please the teachers.

After writing down an A, Yuu decided it was time for a break.

Yukari was at her desk, trying to complete the paperwork and manage a schedule that would make Utau more poplular. She looked even worse than he felt.

"Um... Sanjou-san?" he asked politely, not wanting to push her. The woman looked up, rather glad to have something, anything, to distract her.

"Nikaido," she acknowledged crisply.

"Tell me; what do you think love would be if it had a form?" Yuu was curious.

Yukari glared at him suspiciously. "Why...?" she asked slowly.

"It's just this questionnaire they're handing out to the kids. I'm marking the ones for the Guardians and Tsukiyomis, even though I don't need to mark any from outside of my class..." he explained.

"You've got Utau's?" Yukari rushed over to where he was sitting, a fire in her eyes. "Let me see!" she demanded.

He started to object but thought better of it as the woman flicked through the remaining sheets in a frenzy. Finally, she triumphantly pulled one out of the pile and scanned through it.

"What's it say?" Yuu asked as he saw her raised eyebrow and rather exasperated appearance.

"She thinks love is like a car crash," Yukari said flatly.

Yuu tried to stifle his laughter but failed miserably, causing the manager to scowl at him. Then she regained her composure and adjusted her glasses in a businesslike fashion, deciding to ignore her ex-boyfriend's chuckles.

"I guess it's understandable though," Yuu acknowledged after calming down, "considering her history."

"Easter."

"The Director."

They both sighed, ashamed of what they had been like before they quit that company. They stayed in companionable silence for a while before Yuu spoke up again.

"So?"

"So what?" she asked back.

"What do you think love would be if it had a form?"

Yukari paused for a moment and then pointed to the desk she had just vacated. "That," she proclaimed dramatically.

Yuu raised an eyebrow. "Paper?"

She smacked him on the head. "No, you idiot. A mess. A complete and utter mess that, no matter what you try to do to fix it, always stays there irritating the hell out of you," she elaborated.

"You're just as morbid as your charge," he commented and was rewarded with another smack.

"Shouldn't you be getting on with your teacherly duties or whatever?" she huffed. "I still don't get why you kept that job anyhow."

He sighed. "Who knows?"

Then he reached for the next sheet of paper. Kairi Sanjou.

"Hey, Sanjou-san, would you like to see your brother's answer as well?" he asked nonchalantly.

Yukari hesitated, then snatched it away from him. "He better be doing well at school," she muttered. Then she read the reply. For the second time that night, she held an exasperated look on her face.

"It's not another car-crash, is it?" Yuu joked.

She looked at him with a dark expression on her face, causing him to flinch. "No," she said ominously, "he thinks it's... a rubber band."

For a moment he just stared at her before bursting out into laughter again. She smacked him for the third time that night, only harder this time. He shut up but couldn't stop the corner of his lips from twitching upwards every now and again.

"I guess... I guess all the students that have something to do with you... are all going to grow up... unique, right?" he commented between silent fits of laughter.

"Shut it, Nikaido."

He didn't say anything else, but took the sheet back and began marking it.

Well structured, as one would expect from Kairi. Very creative. Especially since he's the youngest of the group. Nothing really wrong. It was great for a ten-year-old.

Yukari would have been pleased to know that her brother got an A+ if she hadn't thought his subject choice as ridiculous.

The other Tsukiyomi came up next. Actually, Yuu only had this sheet through a stroke of pure luck. His teacher had told him irritably that Ikuto hadn't even bothered to go to school, let alone hand in the questionnaire. Weirdly enough, later that same day, he found a crumpled sheet of paper bearing his name on the floor of his classroom. How it got there he had no idea, but he was glad it did.

Ikuto had taken love as a more general term, not the 'true love' that everybody else had taken it to be. Family, friendship... he valued them ever more because of the Director's meddling. And of course, his own orders while he was still with Easter. The guilt-ridden teacher had a huge urge to just put down an A+ to try and somewhat make up for it. It was a thoughtful piece; introspective and philosophical, certainly, but for an eighteen-year-old he could do better.

So he put down an A.

Oh, he had almost forgotten; he hadn't marked Utau's yet.

He had to admit, he would have never thought that anybody, let alone a teenage girl, would think of love as an automobile accident. Still, as he read it through he did realize that, in a way, it was. Unexpected, definitely original, but she had been rather... informal and even a little bit defensive and rude in the beginning.

Utau 'Hoshina' got an A-. Yukari would not be pleased that her fourteen-year-old charge received a worse grade than her ten-year-old brother.

Yuu sat back and yawned, sipping at his coffee. He was almost finished. Only three more to go.

Rima Mashiro.

If he hadn't known about her Guardian Chara, he'd have been stunned to read this. Rim and jokes just didn't seem to mix, but she was actually quite the serious comedian, he was told. The girl never laughed but, reading this, he'd have thought otherwise.

The current Queen received an A.

Kukai Souma.

In reading the first few lines, Yuu was pleasantly surprised. In truth, he had expected it to be some sport or other. But he had to agree that fire seemed a much better idea for love. Unfortunately, this was very informal. Not as much as Yaya's, granted, but still enough to lower the marks. Especially adding in the unnecessary 'like', and that comment about cooking.

B+ for Kukai.

And last, but not least, Tadase Hotori. He was expecting something good from the King's chair, especially since Tadase was such a well-mannered and smart young man. Even if he didn't really think so while he was with Easter... it all came back to that blasted company, didn't it?

A crown. Ruling. That wasn't such a big surprise. So far pretty good...

When Yuu reached the end, he couldn't help but let out a weak laugh. Yukari looked up at the sound, growing curious at his 'I can't believe this' expression.

"What?"

"I think... Hotori Chara Changed in the middle of his questionnaire," Yuu said.

Yukari remained blank. Either she had never faced his Character Change, or didn't recall it.

"Just... just read it." Yuu held out the sheet to her, wiping his palm over his face. When Yukari's eyes reached the rather insane scribbles punctuated with drool, smudges and odd scribbles, her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. Then she started to laugh.

"This... this is gold," she snickered.

Yuu let out a long-suffering sigh. "What do I do about the mark? I know the reason, but you can't expect me to just ignore it..."

"Show it to his class!" Yukari suggested, smiling.

Yuu glared. "This isn't funny."

"Yes it is," she pointed out.

The teacher stared at the paper before cracking a smile. "'I shall take over the world with my tights and ruffles. And the fancy plum crown on a stick'," he quoted without the use of all the exclamation marks.

"'You can't stop me'," Yukari said, joining in.

"Apparently, this is the reason why he wanted the Embryo," Yuu chuckled.

"Really? I feel sorry for the world. How did he ever convince the others to go along with this?" Yukari wondered.

"'Because it sounded like fun' is their excuse, I think." They both laughed at the utter idiocy for a while.

"Well?" Yukari finally said, tapping him on the shoulder.

"Well what?"

"What mark are you giving him?"

Nikaido looked at the piece of writing. Then, after several moments of serious thought, wrote down a B. He stood up, stretching. It was over. Finally over. He could rest. Looking back at Tadase's sheet, he figured that something was missing. So underneath that mark, he wrote a comment.

Next time, use an eraser.

The End

-lll-

A/N: This is the longest chapter by far. Well, Forms of Love has come to an end. Thank you everybody who has reviewed or will review; you've all made my day. From now on, and for the rest of my stories, I'll be replying via PM, so... yeah. I hope you've all enjoyed this! And thank you for the cookies/brownies/sweets!