A/n: So I wasn't able to properly thank everyone who looked at my first story. So thanks to Tchabita A., screamattheskyx3, BlindingDarkness1, and Five Centimeters and anyone else who liked my one-shot :D
Onto this story: Since it's AU the characters might have been OOC (or OIC) at some parts, but I let it slide for this one. This is probably just a one-chapter story (would it be called a one-shot if it's not really a romance story?")
Thanks for reading :)
So, Now What?
Amu's life was complete with Ikuto. While although her story wasn't over just because she was in love; it had reached a golden pinnacle in her life. She and Ikuto were the perfect couple. They were Amuto.
Her part in this narrative is over.
Now, we get to hear about the other men in her life.
Tadase sighed as he turned away from the blissful couple. He had lost the girl. Not just a girl, but the girl. Worse, he had lost her to Ikuto, the man he called his older brother. Now, Tadase figured that was bad enough, but wait! There's more.
Not only had he lost the woman he loved to a man he considered family, but everybody approved of it. All of those raving fan girls screamed bloody murder for Amuto. The crowd goes wild with a split second of Ikuto action. They probably threatened Peach-Pit to make them canon, and shoved Tadamu out the back door.
A lot of fan girls hated Tadase, and he had no idea why. Seriously, wasn't he always the nice guy? With good looks and a charming smile, he should have been with Amu months ago. He even had a cult following at school, but apparently that wasn't enough these days. You need to be a cat too. Tadase just had no idea why he failed so miserably.
"It's because Tsukiyomi-san's considered tall, dark, and handsome, and you're not. At least, not that tall, or dark. Some might argue with the last one." Tadase started at Kairi's voice, and how the Chairman read his mind.
"Sanjo-kun, how surprising to see you. May I ask how you got here?" Tadase tried to be polite; it was his trademark, even though the younger boy really startled him there.
Being the professional he was, Kairi pointed to the bench behind him. "I heard you from over there. You were practically in tears, King."
"That's a misunderstanding, I was definitely not crying over here. I must have been talking to myself. You can go back to your studying, Sanjo-san." His politeness took an icier edge.
Kairi glanced over Tadase's shoulder and at the happy couple. Ikuto teased Amu and they generally flirted. Tadase looked pained.
Kairi pushed his glasses further up and repeated what he said. "With a person like Tsukiyomi Ikuto, no one else had an opportunity. It's common knowledge that since he's 'mysterious' yet 'charming', the girls fall like stones. It was only a matter of time. Looking at a survey from the fan girls, you had no chance."
Tadase was pushed to his limits today. First the majority of the population hates him, including his almost-girlfriend, and now this nerd was pushing his buttons. "Well, Sanjo-san, I don't see Amu-chan hanging onto your arm anytime soon." He felt a bit sorry for saying that, but it was out in the open now. "Between the two of us, I was closer to Amu-chan anyway."
The spectacled boy stood silent for a few seconds, and then retorted. "Well I confessed to her first, ergo she was more likely to end up with me. Besides, everyone loves a good underdog story. I'd be the nobody in the start of the movie who won the popular girl in the end."
Tadase nearly snorted at that, but before he could respond, a new voice chimed in.
"Actually, since I proposed to her a looong time ago, that means I confessed to her first." A foreign boy with black hair and green eyes laughed arrogantly at their idiocy. Both Tadase and Kairi failed to recognize the intruder.
A few seconds passed.
Awkwardly.
The darker-skinned boy looked offended. "It's me, Shuraiya!"
Who?
Kairi reacted first. "The king's son from far away?" Tadase grimly appreciated the aversion from the "p" word. He remembered he really shouldn't be fighting with Sanjo-kun. He had too much power.
Tadase remembered something. "Wait, she rejected you. And you were only in two episodes. Sorry, but why are you here?"
The king's son grinned. "I'm here to see Amu! Now that I'm doing better than ever, I want to ask for her hand in marriage again. She's bound to say yes this time around, since it won't be so abrupt like last time. So," he stood on his toes to see over their heads, "Where is Amu?"
"Take a long, hard look over there, Shuraiya-san. Tell us what you think." Kairi and Tadase led the poor king's son over to see Amu tripping and falling into Ikuto's arms. A very dramatic moment happened in both parties.
"Oh, I see… she's in love." Shuraiya furrowed his brows in deep concentration, and thrummed his fingers on his arm. "… Now what?"
"'Join the club, we meet in front of Amu's house every Thursday." Tadase looked in wonder at Kairi's bitterness, but it was understandable. They've all been jilted.
"Oi, what club are we talking about?" Kukai strolled up to his juniors wearing his soccer uniform. His game must have finished just twenty minutes ago. "Hey Hotori, Sanjo, and…" Kukai paused at the other boy, "Who are you?"
"Shuraiya." The boy seemed irritated at this sequence of events.
"Right." Kukai looked over at the twosome laughing and having a jolly good time and grinned. "As long as this gives me the chance to comfort a crying Utau, I'm cool with this."
Shuraiya spoke up, "You can comfort Tadase over here, he's been crying too."
"Was not!"
"King, face the facts. You're eyes are red." Kairi talked like a parent speaking to a younger child.
"That's because I'm angry! Men don't cry, Kairi."
"Please King, try to preserve the rest of your dignity. Get over her; like the rest of us have already done."
"Amu called me manly once." Kukai sighed in reminisce. "Not to my face, but it was in episode twenty-five."
Tadase was outraged at Kukai. "When were you two ever a pairing? I don't even know what that's called! 'Amukai'? 'Kukamu'?"
"Actually it's been referenced to as both." Kairi looked down at his notepad. "Mostly just 'AmuxKukai' though, since no one really knows."
"I'll have you guys know there are at least eighty fanfics about our relationship. It's not canon, but it's out there."
"There's no fanfics about me at all." Shuraiya grumbled. Tadase noticed the sky darken above. He took a step away from the royalty.
"It's all irrelevant anyway, King. Souma-san is dating Hoshina-san." Kairi pointed out.
Kukai snickered. "And you're suppose to be dating Yaya." Everybody but Kairi blew into a full-blown laugh at the ridiculousness of it. They were lucky that Ikuto had said something perverted, or else Amu might have noticed her friends behind those bushes.
Kairi's glasses gleamed. "If I were you I'd be quiet, or else the fan girls might come up with a new pairing. One that might damage one's reputation." He looked meaningfully at the silenced boys.
"You wouldn't." Kukai breathed in shock.
A pause, then Kairi smiled.
"Oh, but I will."
A pitter-patter of feet, and the four boys feared that Amuto had discovered them, but it just turned out to be Nagihiko.
"Oh, it's just Nagi." Kukai didn't realize how tense he was until that moment.
"Stop doing that." Tadase restrained a glare at Kukai.
"Doing what?"
"You're taking the point of view away from me. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't. This is my narrative."
"You sound really full of yourself at the moment, Hotori. If I want to narrate, I will." Kukai knew he could take Tadase out in a fight.
Nagihiko decided to stop this waste of his time. "Why are you all standing here?" He looked at Shuraiya. "And you are...?"
"Shuraiya." He looked pissed now. All red in the face, with his fists clenched and stuff.
Tadase simply pointed to Amu and Ikuto, and Nagihiko understood.
"Well, finally, right? Rima's been telling me about those two for a while now. Good to see Amu resolved her boy problems."
Kukai nodded. "Episode twenty-five?"
"Yeah. Sure, that one." Nagihiko seemed otherwise uninterested in the situation.
Tadase needed to know something. "Ah, Fujisaki-kun? You never were interested in Amu-chan, right?" All of the boys leaned to listen.
"Well, I'm dating Rima now, so I'm not interested in Amu anymore. But there was some definite chemistry there. She liked me the best out of any of you anyway. I was her best friend." Nagihiko appeared satisfied with that.
"As a girl, you mean. Nadeshiko was Amu's best friend. Fail, Nagi." Kukai shook his head in mock disappointment.
Nagihiko wrinkled his nose. "When did you start caring? I didn't even know she was considering you until episode twenty-five."
"It was implied!" Kukai tried to explain. "I bought her ice cream that one time. Anyway, what did you do? Huh?"
Nagihiko defended himself, and Tadase was only glad that he got to narrate it. "I took Amu-chan to that matchmaking temple."
"And then you left town to dance like a girl." Tadase couldn't follow Kukai's argument anymore.
Nagihiko heaved a sigh. "Why are you so hung up after that? Yes, I was Nadeshiko. A girl, as you so intelligently point out," Kairi nodded in approval. Nagi continued, "Kukai, I know you were surprised and stuff, but now that it's over, just let it be. Really."
If one hasn't noticed, Kukai is the type who speaks before his mind can scream at him to stop.
Like so: "Well, it's just that Nadeshiko was hot and the fact that she's really a—" Tadase figured that the horror on everyone's face made Kukai stop. "Shit, man. I didn't mean to spill that."
Now, Amu would definitely haveheard the uproar behind the bushes if Ikuto had not decided to kiss her at that moment.
Back to the drama though: Nagihiko was covering his ears and shouting, "I did not hear that! I did not hear that!" while squeezing his eyes shut.
Kukai was waving his arms and trying to explain. "Look man, I thought you were a chic at that time! It's not that way anymore! I got Utau, see?"
Shuraiya looked a little green and was unusually quiet.
Tadase felt a little sick too, and he reprimanded himself for not noticing Kukai's interest in Nadeshiko earlier. This could have been prevented under better leadership.
Kairi somehow found a way to be enjoying himself at the moment. He sounded eerily like his sister.
Tadase didn't want to know.
After several more minutes they all fell awkwardly silent. Again. Nagihiko made sure to stand several feet away from Kukai. Kukai noticed that, and was about to explain all over again. He was interrupted. They heard strange noises and they all turned their heads to see Amu and Ikuto going at each other. They turned away.
A new sound came upon them. It was a wail that got louder as its source became closer. It sounded like a human voice, but nothing could be sure. It escaladed as it approached the Amuto love bubble.
Amu's father.
"Amu-chan!" Her father wailed. "Oh Amu-chaaan!" He fell upon the passionate scene, and then exploded.
Or imploded. Your choice.
"What the—" Her dad had no idea his sweet daughter was doing this to a boy. It was rather sad, actually. Amu and Ikuto broke apart, and Amu looked like she could crawl under a rock forever. Even Ikuto seemed unsure of the situation. Tadase grinned, and noticed that all of the other four boys were too.
"Serves him right." Kukai sounded satisfied as they spied on Hinamori-san dragging his daughter home. Ikuto was left standing all alone. Then he glanced over and saw the group of Amu's friends behind the shrubbery. With his hands in his pocket, he just raised one eyebrow.
All five of them pulled back in alarm, but Ikuto's cat ears popped up and he strolled away, his tail swishing back and forth.
"So…" Nagihiko and the others stood in a circle.
Kairi initiated the good-byes. "Well, I have a final that I should have been studying for."
"I should be getting back to my homeland anyway." Shuraiya mumbled.
"Yep," added Kukai. "I got to get ready for my date with Utau tonight."
Nagihiko quickly agreed. "Rima and I are hanging out too."
By then they were all drifting apart
Tadase smiled and said his farewells too, until he was the only one left. He had nowhere to go, no one to see.
He walked home, and decided to read some fanfiction. Something Tadamu.
A/n: My page breaks weren't working, but I didn't really need them anyway. A behind the scene moment: When Kairi said he needed to study for finals, that's what I should have been doing this whole time, instead of being online XD.
Please R&R so that I don't regret doing this on the night before finals.