Claraowl: Hello, all and welcome to my first shot at a Tragedy fic!

Su: Aren't you supposed to be adding another chapter to one of your Amuto stories ~desu?

Miki: She would, but she's got writer's block on that and an idea for this.

Claraowl: Why, Claraowl, how you've grown!

Miki: Sorry.

Ran: You shouldn't answer for others, Miki! It makes them sad!

Miki: Yeah, well -

Dia: Claraowl does not own Shugo Chara or anything you may recognize here! She got the plot from a dream!

Ikuto hadn't talked to Amu for weeks. They'd gotten into an idiotic argument and he'd walked out of her apartment… he hadn't seen her since. She didn't call him, he didn't call her…. He had finally had enough. He missed her terribly; he couldn't go on like that. They needed to make up.

He set out on a dreary, rainy Tuesday afternoon to see her. The rain poured down, drenching him to the core. Thunder crashed above him; a sense of urgency struck his heart and he began to run, splashing rainwater everywhere. People stared at the umbrellaless man dashing through the streets, pushing past people without half a glance back, his eyes wild. Had Ikuto been able to see himself, he would not have recognized that person as him. He reached her building and tore up the stairwell.

After centuries, or so it seemed to him, he reached her door and hammered upon it. Driven wild by the urgency he was unable to comprehend, he shouted, "Amu, it's me, it's Ikuto! I'm sorry, Amu, I'm sorry! Please, Amu, let me in, let me talk to you! Amu!" When there was no answer, the sense of urgency within him increased, accompanied by a wave of foreboding. "AMU!" Sinking to his knees, he scratched at her door like a wild animal, losing track of himself.

"Ikuto-kun?"

Whirling around, Ikuto saw Amu's mother, Midori, standing in the hallway, tear stains on her face.

"Ikuto-kun, didn't anyone tell you?"

White-faced, Ikuto leapt up, eyes staring at the grief-stricken woman before him. "Tell… tell me what?"

Tears flowed afresh from Midori's eyes. "Amu… Amu had a disease, an incurable one."

"Had?" Ikuto whispered, eyes widening, shock spreading across his face. "Had? Had? Amu - Amu's not -"

Midori completed the sentence for him, "-dead. She died of it suddenly, about four days ago. Her funeral was yesterday. We… we didn't know she had it. There is no history of it in our family, so we didn't know it until it was too late. She was so… so young." Here Midori's voice broke.

Ikuto gripped her shoulders tightly. "Where is she? Which cemetery? How do I get there?"

Midori, sobbing, directed him to a cemetery not too far away. Leaving her in the hallway, Ikuto ran off.

Passer-bys stared once more as they saw the man running wildly off again, dashing as if his life depended upon the fact. He skidded through the cemetery gates and ran to Amu's grave. He froze when he saw it there, a solid, cold slab of granite sticking up out of the ground. He dropped to his knees, the tears on his face made indistinguishable from the rain.

"No…"

"No."

"NO!"

Ikuto fell, shaking, against the soaked slab of granite, spattering it with mud. He lay there for hours, grieving and shaking, crying and gripping the stone.

After much time had passed, the sun came out, shining down on the field. The dripping wet man took no notice; indeed, he felt as if he would never to notice anything ever again. A few moments passed, and he was proved wrong as four colored, bird-shaped shadows crossed the ground, singing a mourning song: brown, red, light blue, and dark blue.

When the brown shadow crossed him, he shouted her name.

When the red shadow crossed him, he screamed his apologies once more.

When the light blue shadow crossed him, he hummed with their song, gripping the stone as if it were his only hope left in the world.

When the dark blue shadow crossed him, he sobbed his last farewell.

{Pop}

Ikuto woke up in a cold sweat, shivering underneath his covers. His head in his hands, he told himself that it had just been a dream - just a dream. As he was about to roll over to go back to sleep, a thought struck him: What if it wasn't?

Leaping out of bed, he exited his room and ran to Amu's house as fast as his feet could carry him. His heart spelled out his worries: What if it wasn't a dream? What if she had actually - died? What if he could never find out? What if - What if -?

Reaching her house, he burst through her balcony door, to be greeted by the sight of -

Emptiness.

He fell to his knees in the middle of her bedroom floor, tears beginning to stream down his face. No, no… it couldn't be…. He crawled over to her bed and put his hand over her favorite sitting spot. His heart leapt. It was still warm. It was warm where she had been sitting. It was still warm.

The door to Amu's room opened and he heard a voice behind him say, "Ikuto? What are you doing here?"

Whirling around, he saw Utau, Rima, and Yaya, all holding bowls and standing in the doorway - with Amu.

"Amu!" He jumped up, grabbed her hand, and dragged her out onto her balcony.

"Ikuto? Wh-what the heck? Wh-what are you doing?" Amu sputtered. "Why are you here at three in the morning?" After inspecting him for a moment, she asked, "Are you crying?"

Ikuto pulled her to him and let his tears stream down into her hair. "You're alive."

Amu blinked up at him, confused. "Why wouldn't I be? Did something happen?"

"I -" his voice broke for a minute. He then continued, "I just… had a dream… a nightmare… and I needed to make sure it wasn't real."

"What happened, love?" Amu asked, leaning back from him just enough to see his face.

Ikuto told her the whole story. At the end, he blinked twice, then said, "Did you just call me 'love'?"

"Sleep well, Ikuto," Amu replied, avoiding his question as she extracted herself from his grip. "No more nightmares, okay?"

"Amu," Ikuto implored, "promise me you'll tell me if you ever get sick."

"I promise," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "You too, okay?"

"I promise." He kissed her cheek in return.

"Ikuto, this is where you let go of my hand. I need to get back to the sleepover." "Alright," Ikuto whispered. "See you later, Amu-koi."

"Don't use that honorific!" Amu shouted as he leapt lightly through the night, back to what would now be a field of sweet dreams.

Amu went back inside her home and was immediately spattered with questions from her friends.

"What did he want?"

"Was Ikuto actually crying?"

"What took you so long?"

Amu sat down in the circle, smiled mysteriously, and helped herself to some chocolate-covered strawberries.

Her three friends never did get their questions answered.

Claraowl: I hope you enjoyed it!

Ikuto: *holding Amu on lap* You called me 'love,' Amu-koi.

Amu: Don't call me Amu-koi!

Ikuto: Fine, love.

Amu: *blushes* Let go of me.

Ikuto: *winks at reviewers* Thanks to everyone who read this story. I'll kiss Amu once for each review!

Amu: WHAT?

Ikuto: Fine, have it your way - twice.

Amu: *incapable of speech*