The Competition of Twisted Romance

"Troublesome. It's too early for screaming," Shikamaru said as he looked up to see a girl his age panicking. For some reason, he found her rather cute and felt... a connection to her. What a bothering. He sighed, "Where am I?"

Lily looked over at the boy again.
"He's cute..." she muttered, feeling warm affection for the stranger. She crossed the little hut shaking the boy, to wake him.

Amu jolted up. Then seeing she was in no danger relaxed. Still tired she looked around for her charas. But they weren't here or at least not that Amu could see.

"What?! Ran! Suu! Miki!"

Amu was being to panic. She knew that someday they would disappear when she became her would-be self, but she didn't think that was now. Still freaking out, she noticed that she wasn't alone and began to blush from embarrassment.

Then Amu wondered why. After all she didn't know this boy. He looked around Ikuto's age and strangely Amu felt about him the same way she felt about Ikuto and Tadase. Which made her blush more.
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Axel awoke and jumped to his feet.

"I, Axel the Dark Hero, am not in the Netherworld anymore."

Or at least he didn't think he was. This certainly looked like a human dimension. The Celestrians were more clouds and flowers and such and the Netherworld of course was more dirty and rougher. This place looked somewhere in between which only left the human worlds.

The demon punk wannabe was confused. Why was he in some human world in the first place? Then he saw a girl sleeping near him. A sudden wave of affection over came him and Axel was glad there were no demons around. Not many demons were strong believers or supporters in the idea of love. Axel wasn't really either. But now this strange feeling was making him have doubts.

Zuko

She was looking at him, and blushing. What did that mean, if she was blushing? He felt his face heat up, and tried to think of something to say to her. "Uh...." Great, that's just the thing to say, he berated himself. At length he managed to say, "hello, I'm Zuko." Would she be impressed if she knew I was royalty, or would it make her feel wierder, he wondered.

(So no language barrier? Everyone speaks english? That would be easier, but I was wondering since technically there is no dubbed version of SC. XD)

"Oh, I'm Amu Hinamori," she said. The boy was cute although he had a scar. Amu felt bad for him. She wondered how he got it. But the pink haired girl didn't ask. Instead she said, "Do you know where my charas are?"

"Death doesn't scare me!" Saya shouted, as the brunette shot up into a sitting position, gripping her throat like she couldn't breathe. "...Oh." Another nightmare. The freelance bounty hunter laid a hand down on the ground. What? She looked down. This isn't...Where? She thought to herself, patting the outfit she wore in confusion as she searched for her pistol. Where is... Saya's thoughts trailed off as she caught sight of the boy staring at her. She felt like she'd just fallen off a roof, whipping around to land on her feet like a cat. It was a feeling she loved. She loved...Him. It felt like that boy. That assasin. Black Cat? She didn't feel like anything for him now. Why? Saya didn't even care. The girl got to her feet, holding out a hand. "Hi! I'm Saya." She said, smiling. She wasn't sure who he was, could've been love at first sight. But she felt like she'd known him forever. She didn't even know his first name.

Axel smiled, glad that the girl was awake, but mentally cursing himself for being glad. Still he couldn't help himself.

'Maybe this isn't as bad as some demons make it sound. I mean it doesn't feel that way?'

Axel took her hand. "I am Axel, the Dark Hero! It is nice to meet you Saya."

Zuko

Amu, the name floated in his mind after she said it, and he nearly missed what she asked. "Charas? What are those," he asked, trying to make conversation.

"They're your would be selves," explained Amu. "They are small and only people who have them can see them."

Amu wanted to explain it better, but she didn't know how. "Anyways they reappear when you're at a tough point in your life and help you be your true self. I'm sure they eventually disappear once you reach your dream, but I haven't yet, so they shouldn't be gone."

Zuko

"Oh, well I don't have them, because I'm sure I would have seen them at some point in my life," Zuko said. There were plenty of tough moments in his life, among them choosing between his uncle and his home, and nothing like the things she had described had appeared.

Amu frowned. She felt scared and alone without her charas. They were actually apart of her. Also Zuko said he never saw them. This was getting weird.

"Hey do you know where we are," she asked.

Dark Hero? Saya laughed slightly, "Oh, are you?" She had forgotten to release his hand, or maybe she just didn't want to as she continued, "It's nice to meet you too." Never had she remembered meaning those simple words so much. Just who is this Axel? Why do I feel this way for him? "I'm a bounty hunter, but, I'm not from around here..." She said in a lost tone, trailing off as her cat-like eyes drifted around the area in confusion.

Rein

Rein blushed and stammered out, "I-I d-don't know wh-where we are, either. Uh, I'm Rein. Wh-who're you?"

Dang it, what was wrong with her?! She'd never acted like this in front of a boy before! Sure, he was kinda cute, but she didn't like him or anything! ....right? She felt an odd attraction to the boy, but that didn't mean anything did it? She hoped not.

"Yes!"

Axel gripped her hands tighter, then let go. Axel took a deep breath, telling himself to just pretend it was apart of his show. Putting on a smile he looked around them, then back to Saya.

"An assassin? Impressive. I am a demon from a Netherworld. So I'm not from around here either."

Shikamaru smiled a little at her. She was kind of cute when she stuttered. He frowned. He felt a strange attraction for this girl. It was strange, but it felt kind of good too. Had a genjutsu been cast on him?
"I'm Shikamaru Nara."

Zuko

Zuko shook his head, and the realization of the situation came back to him. "I don't know where this place is, I only remember being at my home, and then waking up next to you," he said. He looked around, it looked like there was a beach, and jungle, but who knew what else was there?

Rein

"N-nice to meet you, Shikamaru." Rein managed to say. She tried to calm herself down. Shikamaru was just a boy, she shouldn't get flustered over him or anything. Rein put her cards away and took another look around the area. They seemed to be in the shores of a beach, for some reason. Just how had they ended up here? Like thing she remembered was going to bed with Sayuri at the Best Student Council dormitories. How had she ended up here?

((A note of reference: when Rein remembers going to bed with Sayuri as the last thing she did, it only means the literal term. Not implying anything, just so everyone knows. In the anime it is shown she's sharing a room with her friend. While some fans can interpret the relationship they had however they wish, it's never stated in the anime that they were nothing more than friends. Just wanted to say that, in case anyone took that line as meaning something else.))

"Nice meeting you too," Shikamaru told her with a nod, blushing a little. Though flustered, he noted that she was as well, which meant they were both affected by whatever was making him feeling this way.

Rein

"So, ah, do you remember how we got here? Or...why we were laying next to each other?" Rein asked, having managed to calm herself down. Then another thought crossed her mind, and she turned beet red. Had they...done anything? She certainly hoped not! She didn't feel any different, but would that mean anything?

"Uh...w-we didn't...d-do anything, did we?" Rein asked, trying to surpress her blush.

"No. It would be too troublesome for me to have sex with someone I just met," Shikamaru stated, blushing a little.

"I remember going to bed," Amu said feeling uneasy. "I had just said goodnight to my charas."

Amu shook her head. There was no use in being upset. She had learned this from all the people she had helped. So she put on a smile and shrugged.

"Maybe we should...look around?"

(Hey mstm can Amu have one chara with her? Since everyone still has their powers, I want Amu to be able to chara change/transform.)

((Sure, she can have both if you want. Also, have your characters start making their way to the center of the island, that is where we'll get this competition started.))

Zuko

"Uh... yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Zuko said, feeling a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it first. He gave an awkward smile, stood up, and held his hand to her. "I think we should head inland, there might be people nearby."

(Technically she has four, but I want this to go with the manga plot right now. Ran/Suu/Miki are gone and only Dia is left. And thanks! This is going to be interesting since no one besides Amu can see her.)

Amu took his hand, a blush creeping across her face at the contact. She turned her head to hid it. But a warm feeling envoloped her and Amu cried out. Dia stood before her in the air.

"Dia? You're here with me."

She just gave Amu a smile and nodded. "Of course Amu."

"Where are the others?"

"They don't exist anymore Amu. But that's not important right now."

The pink haired teen looked from Zuko to Dia. She guessed it wasn't as important as what was happening now. And at least she had Dia.

"Ok. But you won't leave me right?"

Dia only smiled and went into her egg. Amu placed it in her side bag.

"Ok we can go now."

Zuko

She's talking... to thin air, Zuko thought. He found it somewhat odd, but oddly endearing, though he thought she might be somewhat crazy. His father wanted to wipe people off the face of the earth and his sister was in an insane asylum following a mental breakdown during which she nearly killed him. As far as Zuko was concerned, talking to thin air was acceptable as long as whatever she thought was there didn't try to get him killed. "Right, let's go," he said, and led the way into the jungle. He'd have to be careful if he used his firebending, he might start a big fire if he wasn't careful.

Amu was silent for some time. She didn't really know Zuko although she really liked him. It confused her. After all how could she like someone she just met. And another strange thing was that she hadn't thought about Ikuto at all since she woke up. She didn't even miss him. Amu sighed and decided to get to know Zuko. After all they might be the only people around here for miles or at all.

"So Zuko, where do you come from?"