…

Born from the light and joy, the lock protects all beings in its domain

Without question, with no selfish motive or desire, the lock sacrifices its own happiness for others'

Born from darkness and sadness, the key helps protect the lock.

No happiness can be felt, nothing but loneliness and misery as it takes it in all the pain aimed for the lock

…

"Ow, not so hard," shrieked the blonde haired maiden, tugging at her skirt as the seamstress flinched. Her friends snickered from the back, distracted by their gossiping as the seamstress flushed.

"My apologies," she muttered, continuing to sew the hem of the older girl's skirt. The said girl gave her a dirty look as she looked down at her.

"You better be sorry," she snapped, her violet eyes burning into the seamstress's florescent pink hair. "Do you know who I am?"

The seamstress slowly shook her head as she poked her thread and needle into the dress once more. "I cannot say that I do, madam."

The girl scoffed and was about to say something rather rude, when one of her friends spoke up. "You should respect your betters, wench; this is the heiress of the Lord Kazuomi Hoshina, the kingdom's most respected noble. I am her most loyal maid, Il, and I have every right to demand you be besmirched for harming the delicate skin of the Lady Utau! Shame on you, and whatever measly possessions you own!" Her blood red eyes looked demonic as they glared daggers at the seamstress. The girl next to her placed a calming hand on her.

"Il," she said softly, her strawberry blonde hair falling over her delicate frame. "Please, control your temper; we're in public."

Il jerked her arm away as if it burned. "Do not tell me what to do, El! You are the younger sister; respect your elders, useless girl!" The girl, El, looked unaffected by the insults but nodded nevertheless as her older sister turned back to the seamstress. "You, what is your name?"

The seamstress opened her mouth to answer but her customer cut her off. "Il, that's enough; don't waste time on such a wasteful creature." The black haired maid looked like she wanted to protest but kept her mouth shut, nodding reluctantly. "Besides, we have more pressing matters to attend to and I have no time for either of your shenanigans."

"Yes, Lady Utau," replied her two maids as Utau glanced at the third girl in the corner, who had been silent since entering the shop.

"Do you have any comments for me, Lulu?" She asked coolly, taking in the other blonde's pensive look. "You know I always take careful consideration in any thoughts from my most loyal advisor." Il didn't bother hiding her hurt from that comment as Lulu lifted her head.

"That dress makes you look like a pregnant rat engorged in your mother's stockings," she replied emotionlessly, looking dead straight into her mistress's eyes. The shop became deadly silent, other than the seamstress's quiet sewing. Il looked like she wanted to both laugh and yell at Lulu, her younger sister disguising her snickers with a clever cough, and Utau was frozen.

Finally, the blonde maiden reacted though not in a way most expected. She threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, how I value you Lulu; yes, the dress is a bit snug on my delicate waist. Seamstress, loosen the stitching a bit will you?"

"Milady, the shop will be closing momentarily," whispered the seamstress, daring to look up at her wealthy customer. "There will not be enough time to fix the hem and loosen the stitching; you may come in tomorrow, however I myself will not be here and I caution having another seamstress finish my work since it will be in different styling." Utau looked like she wanted to reach down and throttle the seamstress but instead took a shuddering breath to calm herself.

"Very well," she said, her voice strained. "When is your next working day?" The seamstress quickly got to her feet, fumbling with her hands nervously.

"The day after tomorrow," she replied, her voice shaking slightly. Utau really did look like she wanted to throttle her, or at the very least strike her. "I will only be available in the latest of the evening however."

"Listen to me, stupid peasant," snapped Utau, her violet eyes turning red with rage. "That very day you are working is the day that Prince Ikuto is throwing his birthday ball and coming from a noble family, I will be attending; I will not miss such an important meeting just because you dare barter with me! I will arrive at this disgusting shop at exactly seven thirty, which gives you thirty minutes to alter my dress before I leave for the ball. If I am even a minute late because of your incompetence, I will personally assure you get beheaded! Are we clear?"

The seamstress nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment. Utau took another deep breath as she held up her skirt, shooting one last look at the seamstress before turning to her advisors.

"Let us leave, Lulu," she said, turning swiftly. "I feel myself needing several baths to get rid of this horrid odor of poor people. Il, get my things." She completely ignored El, who was scrambling to stand from her seat on the cushioned chair. The strawberry blonde held out her hand weakly when she tumbled to the floor, only to be ignored as the other three maidens left the shop.

The seamstress couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl, carefully walking over. She winced when El attempted to stand by using one of the mannequins for support, only to fall back to the floor. The seamstress held out her hand to the younger girl, who had begun to cry silently. "Here, let me help."

El looked up in surprise, taking in the seamstress's kind golden eyes. She hesitated but took the offered hand, allowing herself to be pulled up. "Thank you," she said quietly under her breath as she glanced absently out the window. She sighed sadly when she noticed that the carriage for her mistress had pulled away. "They left me again."

"Why do you stay with them when they treat you so badly?" The seamstress asked, leading the blonde girl up to the second floor loft. She sat the younger girl down in a chair, pouring her a cup of tea. "I understand perhaps you want to stay with your sister, but even she treats you badly it seems."

"Il has a good heart, but she is too awed by Lady Utau to remember who she is," replied El, defending her sister. "Lady Utau too is very kind and sweet, but she has lately been stressed from this ball. I know little details, but apparently the Prince saved her as a young child and she had fallen for him, so she desperately hopes to catch his eye at the ball. In order to assure no one else does, she does her best to intimidate the other princesses and ladies while secretly raising her family's ranks…" A horrified expression overcame El's face as she realized she was revealing her mistress's secrets. "Oh dear, I did not mean to…oh, what would Il say?"

"El, was it?" The seamstress asked and the blonde sniffled as she nodded. "I swear not to tell anyone, you have my word…however, you did not answer my question; why do you stay with them?"

"They are my family," replied El softly, sipping her tea. "My parents died when I was very young, Lady Utau's father being kind enough to take in my sister and me." The seamstress nodded in understanding. "You know my name and my secrets, but I know nothing of you. Tell me, what is your name?"

"Amu Hinamori," replied the seamstress. "I am a mere fifteen, my birthday being less than four months previous." She held out her hand and the younger girl shook it tenderly.

"El Angeru," replied the strawberry blonde. "I myself am twelve years of age, and my sister is sixteen-one year younger than our Lady Utau. The other girl, Lulu, is seventeen as well and Lady Utau's closest friend. Do you live here alone?"

Amu shook her head. "No, I stay with the owner Miki Amulet. She is a year older than me and was a good friend of mine growing up so she offered to take me in when I became twelve, since my parents were busy taking care of my younger sister Ami. She's eight now, but she doesn't go out often because she easily gets sick. Miki also works as a street painter so she leaves the shop to me and my other friend, Rima Mashiro."

"What are they like?" El asked curiously, even though she knew she should have been heading home. "Miki, Rima, and your family I mean."

"My mother is a writer, and my father does portraits," replied Amu, taking the seat next to the younger girl. "Like I stated before, Ami is eight but she doesn't go out because she is usually sick. It is nothing serious, but she simply catches diseases more often than the average person." El nodded as the older girl sipped her own tea. "I met Rima when I was twelve, since she worked here before I did. I don't want to go too much into her personal life, but she ran away from home when she was little because her parents argued too much about her." Amu paused.

"Miki lived with her three sisters in the house next to mine growing up, so we became good friends. They keep in touch, especially now since their parents were killed in a mugging a few years ago," she continued. "The eldest sister, Dia, is nineteen and she works down at the opera house as a co-owner/singer with the other owner and dancer, Temari Melodia. The second eldest, Ran, is eighteen and works down at the docks with the sailors, Daichi Souma and Rhythm Melodia. She…was always a wild one and despite being the most unladylike, she is also the girlish ironically. Next comes Miki, who you already know about. The youngest, Su, is only eleven but she works down at the bakery with Nana Lefluer and Yaya Yuiki. She lives with Dia at the opera house, while Ran lives with her fiancé Daichi, and Dia lives with her fiancé Rhythm. Oh, Miki has a boyfriend too and I think she spends the night with him sometimes when I don't work late but she never tells me anything. I don't know about Su, but I think she has a crush on one of the palace guard's sons since she brings sweets to the training camp sometimes."

El giggled as the pink haired seamstress gasped for air. "You shouldn't talk so fast, especially when speaking so much." Amu smiled sheepishly while the blonde haired girl absently glanced out the window. Her bright blue eyes widened in shock and she nearly dropped her cup. "Oh no! It's gotten so dark! I'll never make it home in time before they close the gates!" At Amu's confused look, El explained, "The Hoshina family is very…isolated and doesn't like other guests, so there is a curfew on the entire household; if you are out of the property when the gates close, then you are out for the entire night! I never miss curfew and the house is all the way across the kingdom! I'll never get there in time, and Il will make me sleep with the guard dogs outside!" El burst into tears and the older girl was at a loss; she hadn't taken care of Ami for a long time so younger kids weren't exactly her specialty….

Amu awkwardly moved over and wrapped her arm around the distraught girl's shoulders, saying soothingly, "There, there; it's alright. You can stay with me tonight okay? Miki is usually gone on Wednesdays anyways so she won't mind." El sniffled, looking ready to cry all over again.

"Really?" She said hopefully, immediately pouncing on the older girl when she nodded her head. "Oh, thank you!" Amu patted her head, not entirely sure how to handle the situation, and the two girls sat in silence for a few minutes until…

GROWL

"…was that your stomach?"

"…sometimes Il forgets to pick up my lunch."

…

That was a bad place to end the first chapter, I mean really. Anyways, I do not own Shugo Chara!

This is my first multi-chapter (not two shot) story for SC, so I'm treading on tricky waters here. Wish me luck, alright?

How was it though? I don't generally do medieval/old fashioned fairy tale, princess-y kind of stories but the plot wouldn't go away! Stupid plot bunnies…

Um, yeah; you'll see me switching between "old fashioned" and "modern" speech very often. It's sort of a "in between" kind of speech and I hope it doesn't bother you too much.

Gah, I can't stop talking. The chapter itself isn't much, but it gives you some background information and snippets of what's to come so I hope you liked it!