Unsought Strength
By Silent Revels
Chapter One
The metal railing of the balcony was biting cold against her skin, but she welcomed it. It sent a jolt through her tired muscles. She tilted her face up to the foreboding, gray skies and attempted to trace the clouds with her eyes, just to keep them from closing.
She couldn't allow herself rest. Not yet.
Days had passed by in painful monotony. The cold unfamiliarity of the room, the practiced detachment of the staff – it added to the tense atmosphere, wrought from her feelings of uncertainty and helplessness.
Her grip on the railing tightened.
Her emotions were volatile. They went from fear to bitterness to guilt, such overwhelming guilt, in a matter of heartbeats. Feelings strong enough to incapacitate, that she forced them behind a façade of impassiveness.
She was always good in building new characters anyway.
"Amu,"
She didn't hear him as he effortlessly scaled the wall, a remarkable feat she had gotten used to over time. He was just too nimble on his feet. But some part of her responded to his presence even before he spoke, in a low timbre that was all too familiar.
"What are you doing here?" Her voice was rough. She hadn't used it in a while.
"What else but to visit?" His dispassionate manner angered her. Why was he so collected while she felt like going to pieces? He may no longer possess any feeling for that person, but for her…
She inhaled sharply as a cool hand settled on her exposed wrist.
"How are you?"
She laughed in reply, a cold, cynical sound that sent shivers down his spine. It was so unlike her. His grip on her wrist tightened, a silent plea, yet his face remained inscrutable.
"How am I?" She echoed blankly, closing her eyes, unable to meet his gaze. What would she answer to that question? The same thing she'd say to the others, the lie she constantly repeated but forced to be the truth?
"How do you think I am?" She said instead. His hand left her wrist, and she viciously squelched the disappointment that rose in her for the loss of contact. He wasn't even supposed to be here.
Then, before she could utter a cry of protest, he spun her around till her back was too the railing and her face was angled to his. An unbidden gasp escaped her chapped lips as he bent over her, pressed his lean body to hers and positioned his arms at her sides.
"Ikuto! Get off!" Her protest was loud and irate. A lot more like herself, he thought. But all Amu could think was that in a few moments, he had already destroyed the veneer she so carefully constructed.
"Gah! You're hopeless." She cried when he still refused to move. She tilted her head sharply, desperately. She couldn't face the intensity of his gaze. Silence wrapped around them. Amu could feel it so acutely, hating how she could never escape it.
"Mmm!" The stillness broke with her startled cry, as Ikuto drew even closer, his body now in sinful proximity to hers, his face now mere inches from her own. His warm breath ghosted over the sensitive shell of her ear as he began to speak.
"You're underestimating him, you know." Amu stiffened at his words.
"I don't know what you mean." She said haltingly, stubbornly. "And I don't like your tone."
Ikuto sighed, a frustrated if resigned sound.
"You're underestimating Tadase's strength." As he spoke, one of his hands touched the inside of her wrist. Amu shivered.
"His would-be-self may have been assertive and commanding - a wish born from insecurities that he always hid inside." Ikuto fingers traced a heated path up her arm.
"But he's always had an innate strength. He just needed his Chara to show it." His touch settled on her neck, so gentle, yet it set her skin aflame.
She felt herself involuntarily moving closer.
"You should have more faith in your prince."
Amu felt the lack of his presence as acutely as she felt his heat of his touch. He had gone as quickly and quietly as he arrived.
It was so like him, that cat.
Her gaze lingered on the path he had taken, even as his shadow faded from sight. The wind suddenly picked up, a frigid call to the present. She shivered. She knew what she had to do.
She would soon go back inside the hospital, to the room's cold unfamiliarity, to the staff's practiced detachment, and to Tadase who needed her.
But there was a new strength to her gait as she entered.
Author's Note:
Not your usual Amuto fluff. But I think it still shows how much Ikuto cares for Amu, and she in return.
In the story, Amu is tied to Tadase, who is suffering from an unnamed disease. She grows wearier as the days pass, unable to face the fact that Tadase seems to be fighting a losing battle.
Naturally, Ikuto is privy to what's going on in Amu's life. His care for her pushes him to assuage her own fears, even at his own expense (since he's inevitably pushing her towards Tadase).
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