Meyumi-chan: Hey yalls! So this has been written for awhile, and I thought I ought to post it. If nothing else, because I don't have a lot of time for such writing during school. And I know that This was third on the votes, but I'm having writers block on that half-done oneshot and Forever, as well as all the other half-written stories. This, like everything else, will likely be slow to update, but I'm not giving up on anything, even if I am doing something as idiotic as starting another story.

Rima: Please don't tell me this is going to be another 'Missing'...

Meyumi-chan: *glares* This won't. I promise.

Rima: Good. Because you ... -is cut off by Nagihiko-

Nagihiko: Be nice, Rima-chan. Give Meyumi-chan a chance.

Meyumi-chan: Thank you Nagihiko! Now, onto the story!

Nagihiko: Meyumi-chan does not own Shugo Chara

Break Away

Amu's POV:

I drummed my fingers lightly on the window frame of the car as I watched my friends fade into the distance. I feel like I should be used to it by now. I have moved rather often anyway, for so much of my oh-so-short life. But, somehow, it was harder to leave this town. Because I actually made friends? Because we made memories? Because...I'm not sure, but I watched Seiyo shrink in the small back mirror in the car until it was no more than another memory, a speck on the horizon.

Flashback...

She walked into the Royal Garden with a feeling of dread. They were all sitting at the table-all of her friends. Even Utau was there, happening to be in town. She took her seat, put her head in her hands, and shut her eyes, waiting for the meeting to begin.

Nagihiko, oh-so-perceptive Nagihiko, was always good at reading people. Especially with Amu. He noticed the sad dullness in her eyes, the nervous way she walked to the table. Not the jumpy nervous, but another sort profoundly different, and reeking of bad news.

Amu herself knew she had to tell everyone the news, and tell them today but... But she didn't want to muss up the peaceful bubble of happiness, friendship, rainbows and butterflies and unicorns they had created. Luckily for her, Nagihiko gave her the obvious way out.

"Amu-chan, is something the matter?" Nagihiko asked her. "You seem a bit sad and distant."

"Yeah,"Amu muttered. Louder she said "I'm moving."

But, I'm not the only one who's leaving Seiyo.

"Papa needs to move for his job, and my cousins, Shuu and Eriko, want us to live closer to them."

Rima spoke up into the stunned silence that followed her statement. "I'm moving too. My parents finally just went and got the divorce." She paused to take a deep breath. "And after battles over who would have custody of me, my dad won. I have to live with him. But my mom owns the house here in Seiyo, so I'm moving." She sat back, looking as if a heavy weight were taken off her shoulders.

Nagihiko's statement followed Rima's up closely. "I'll be gone for a bit as well. Nadeshiko's taking a tour around Japan. After that, we'll see."

Tadase spoke next. "And I won't be around very much-Tsukasa decided to take me to many of his astrological conventions, so I've been traveling a great deal, which should only continue.

Utau put in her lot. "I'm always traveling because of my job, you guys know that. And Ikuto...is Ikuto. Looking for our father, as always. Convinced it's worth it." The last sentence held a note of bitterness.

Yaya exclaimed "EHHH? Everyone is leaving Yaya! No!"

Kukai put an arm around Yaya. "I'm not going anywhere, Yaya. You can hang out with me all you want!"

Yaya smiled. "Thanks, Kukai."

Tadase retook charge of the meeting. "Then let's make this last meeting something to remember."

And it was, I reflected. The Guardians had gone to Easter Corporation, and had a very interesting conversation with Hikaru and Kazoumi. That was, until my parents called my cell to tell me that I had to go home to pack. I had made sure that they knew where to be to say a final goodbye to me. And they all were there.

Even so, it wasn't enough. It couldn't be. For all that we had been through, it wasn't enough. All the X-eggs we had cleansed. All the fighting with Easter. All the searching for the Embryo. All the Character Changes. All the Transformations. All the intrigue of being a Guardian. I'll miss these friends, for sure. I'll try to keep in contact with them but, eventually and inevitably, the talking would taper off, and the friendships would be forgotten. I know it will happen, after all, it has happened so many times before to me. I can only hope they don't forget me, and believe in them. It's all I can do.

It was a three hour ride, including traffic, to where her cousin's house. It had been about a year since they got married, and Shuu and Eriko were expecting. I remember that wedding-and how I had caught the bouquet. By accident. Again. Still, Shuu-niichan was expecting a kid. A cousin. My cousin. I can't believe it. It's impossible. Wait, not impossible. That's a terrible word. Just extremely difficult to believe. Shuu-niichan was also partly responsible as to why I was leaving Seiyo. He had asked all of his family to move close. He wanted the baby to know everyone.

Mama and Papa had decided to take him up on it, partly because Papa's job wasn't going well, and a change of surroundings and new birds could be a help. And so, we had all piled in the car, and just left. It had been a spur of the moment decision, but over time I have learned not to question such. Such was my life, always moving, everchanging. Moving itself was not horrible. It's the loss of my friends that hurts me most. Having been there two years, I'm going to miss my Seiyo friends more than some others I have left behind after other moves.

Eventually, I felt the car jolt to a stop, and turned from watching the window to see what was happening. I'd watched trees and houses and little, elderly women walking their pooches and little children play hopscotch. I had watched the world pass by, and somehow felt detached from it. That sense of detachment hadn't faded as my quasi-emotionless self stepped out of the vehicle, to my waiting family.

Only before I had made it quite that far, I was being smothered by white. I blinked as best I could as I realized that white belonged to a uniform. Which belonged to a the arms holding me, their body. Which happened to belong to a certain person...

"Amu-chan!" Said person's cheerful voice broke through my thoughts and I felt my face break out into a grin.

It had been a while-a year and a half-since I'd last heard that comforting voice in person. It had certainly been the most cheerful one I'd heard after I'd heard the news. "Shuu-niichan!" I heard my voice say. I mentally winced as the title reminded me of Tadase talking to Ikuto, and, by proxy, of Seiyo. Memories I intended to keep locked up until such a time when I could deal with them. It was really hard not to smile around Shuu, I redirected my thoughts. He was just like Kukai in that respect.

Kukai. One more of those memories to be put in that gently and lovingly locked box in the recesses of my mind marked 'Seiyo'. Even so, I realized with a flash, Shuu-niichan was a lot like my messy, brown-haired, emerald-eyed jock of a friend. Their personalities were nearly identical. At that thought I instinctively pulled away and decided the cobblestone floor was very impressive and interesting, and gave it a scrutiny.

"What's wrong, Amu-chan?" Mama asked worriedly, appearing next to me. At that point I realized I had been quiet too long.

"It's nothing." I said quickly, dashing Mama a fake smile, put I hand on my hip and looked away, this time gazing at the blue sky. My charas flew to me, screaming "Amu-chan!" If I hadn't turned around, I would have seen Shuu's eyes widen slightly. Putting a hand to my face, I whispered to them. "What's going on?"

In unison, they replied. "X-egg (~desu)"

I choked slightly in surprise , but turned it into a cough for the benefit of my family. Then I whispered back in a quick torrent. "An X-egg? Now?" I gave myself a mental shake, told myself to get a grip, and turned to my parents. "May I be excused?"

Mama replied "Sure!" before Papa even had his mouth open. Still, his curiosity was not sated and I heard his whispered question to my mom even as I left. Mama smiled at him as she replied "You don't ask a girl when she needs to use the ladies' room."

I rolled my eyes, content that they wouldn't see as I left. Shuu also had slipped away at the same time, saying he couldn't stay away from work too long.

The X-egg was in the nearby woods, so I had just crossed through the floor and come out the other side. I heard Shuu follow me, but I said nothing. I didn't dare look back at him, so I ignored him, and eventually he stopped following me.

Shuu's POV:

I stopped in the cover of a tree. Whatever Amu was doing, it was certainly something she didn't want me to see, so if I gave her that privacy, maybe I'd find something out. Maybe it had to do with those disembodied voices I'd heard near her before. I don't believe in ghosts, but that evidence sent a tingle down my spine and increased the furor of my already-raging curiosity.

She stopped only a few feet away, facing a levitating egg-shaped black object with the letter 'X' printed in white on the front. That had to be the 'X-egg' from before. Either way, something was wrong with that object, but I had no idea what it was. It just emanated evil intent, somehow. Another disembodied voice came, somewhat different from the ones before.

"Muri!" It shrieked as some sort of force lashed out at Amu. The force was not visible, but she threw up her arms and grunted, with squeals in the vicinity with the same voices I'd heard originally. Then another impossibility happened as something near or on Amu seemed to shimmer with the brightest light. It turned out to be her locket, I saw as a freak gust of wind took it off her chest. Then it glimmered blue and Amu was encased in a light ever brighter.

Her words were a whisper as my ears strained to catch them. "My heart, unlock!" was what I had picked up. But that didn't make sense. However, it apparently did something as the light turned to the brightest purple, streaming golden stars, as Amu disappeared from view. When she emerged, her outfit had changed. Her voice said "Character Transformation, Amulet Spade".

I looked at the sight before me. My cousin was clad in blue, from head to toe. Her blue beret covered her hair. She wore a sort of shirt that looked like a baby blue tank-top with attached sleeves in the same color with frilly embroidery to encircle where it ended, near her fingers. Darker blue shorts similarly connected to high socks, near her usual style but white-and-blue striped instead of the red plaid she wore with her school uniform. Even her shoes were blue, and she carried a darker, dull blue paint brush.

Questions flitted about my mind in that instant. What is character transformation? What is Amu doing?

Amu's next actions snapped my thoughts out of my forebrain and I turned back, entranced, as she changed her stance. A crack showed in the egg shape, slowly growing until a black humanoid adorned only with an 'X' on their forehead poked out of it, the egg halves disappearing as mysteriously as it had come.

Her next quote heightened my view of the seriousness of the situation. She had been talking more quickly and less loudly than before so I only caught "Crap...Miki...bathroom...X character!".

X character? I thought that had to be the humanoid. I thought I saw a green and a pink thing situating itself by Amu. Was that where the disembodied voices had come from? I squinted at them, a memory that seemed to be from a time I couldn't place flitted about my mind, but I couldn't pin it down, frustratingly.

I looked back just in time to see Amu twirl the oversized paint brush. "Colorful Canvas!" She half-shouted as she pointed it at the small blackness on the other side of the clearing. A wave of rainbow shimmering congealed color gripped at the X character. It held it in place and its egg once again encased it, and still held it after wards.

The paintbrush disappeared into thin air and even through my detached thoughts, disbelief colored my face as I watched my baby cousin wield some colorful weaponry I'd never heard of before that had come out of (and disappeared back into) thin air. If it hadn't then, it certainly did with the next happening. The X character projected a semi-transparent projection of a child, perhaps 10, curled up about her knees. "It's no good. I can't sing. All my friends are really awesome at singing, but I can't sing at all! I'm a failure! Singing's impossible!"

Amu spoke gently to the child's projection. "Well, I've never heard you sing, but I'm sure its great! No matter whether it is or it isn't, if you practice and determine to get better, you certainly will! Singing's not impossble. Nothing is!"

The child was obviously affected by Amu's little pep talk, I mused. Her eyes met Amu's longingly for a second, before they returned to her knees. Amu nodded and put up her hands to form a heart. "Negative Heart, Lock On!" The X egg squirmed even more in the rainbowy stuff's grasp. "Open Heart!" Another bright light, again tinted with blue, opened the air, and I closed my eyes against it in wonder. When I did open my eyes again, the X egg was gone and Amu was back in her normal clothing and scurrying off in another direction, with green, pink, and blue somethings following her.

I heard a voice from her direction say "I wonder what they'll say to you spending so long in the bathroom again!" I vaguely heard three different chuckles and Amu's annoyed voice calling out "Miki!" telling them to shut their mouths.

Miki? Who's Miki? One of the fast-moving figures that clung near Amu? I blinked once. Twice. Thrice. And then I shook my head as if to clear it and walked back to the building, angling for the kitchens. One last call brought me back to Amu.

"Ran!" She called out. A voice replied energetically, but I couldn't make out the words. "Character Change!"

A higher-pitched voice, that same energetic one most likely, replied. This time I could make out the words, even though they made little sense. Then again, this whole business was some sort of impossibility-a mere dream, right? "Hop, Step, Jump!" And Amu's hands were covered by pink pompoms and wings appeared on her arms and shoes as she jumped high, clear of the trees, and disappeared into the distance.

Unable to control myself, I let out an agonizingly disbelieving scream. "EHHHHHHHHHH!" permeated the forest for a good six seconds before I filed the incident in that folder in my head, right next to the file on the egg that had randomly appeared some time before, with green and red markings. they had to be similar-impossible and involving eggs. I couldn't go back to the kitchen, as I could not look at an egg the same way after that and now this, but I had to get out of the open. Storm clouds clouded the horizon, and I didn't want to get drenched when the rain broke into its freedom.

I hurried back to the spot I had left the Hinamori family with an expression of surprise that I couldn't quite stifle.