A/N: Whew. It's been a while. Sorry about that guyss. New fandoms=new life pretty much lol. As request from a gracious reader of mine, I have finally decided to post the first chapter of the sequel to Love vs. Jealousy. So if you haven't read Love vs. Jealousy, I suggest you read that before you read this or you will be VEERYY confused.

Anywho, since I was asked if I was going to post anything new by that reader, it shall be dedicated to you, Ms. April aka AnimeFanGirl453.

And with that said, I will decide on one person per chapter to dedicate the chapter to because I'm nice like that. ^^ So if you give a nice review, or I remember you from previous stories of mine, you just might get a dedication~

Back on topic, let's get on to the story. This story will be a bit angsty and might get violent, so I hope you all can handle this. But, this chapter is a bit cute and fluffy at the beginning, so enjoy~

Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara! or it's characters. I do however own my OC Niki. And one of my friends (who I'm not sure if she'll be reading this) owns Eva/Evangeline.

Love vs. Death

-One-

Pant. Run. Get away. That was Amu's inner thoughts as she ran away from whatever—whoever—was chasing her. She was scared. She wanted to be out of here. Out of this terrifying dream. For the fifth time that week, she was having a nightmare about someone being out to kill her. They dreams weren't always the same. Some had Tadase in them. Others just had her. But most of the time, the murder looked the same. It was hard to tell though, because they were always in shadows somehow. And in every dream, Amu never woke up until the person was right in front of her about to kill her. She hated sleeping now; half the time she'd try to stay up all night. Sometimes she could stay up, but other times she would fall asleep at some point. Like in this case.

So Amu had to deal with these dreams where she always got close to being murdered by some assassin who was like a ninja or something (that idea made Amu think about one of her old friends who used to pretend he was a samurai and ninja and scare her at lunch). Sometimes Amu wished she didn't need sleep to make it through the day. She also wished her boyfriend wouldn't get so worried when she came to school looking like a zombie. As much as she liked his concern for her, she didn't want him knowing why she never sleeps. That would just worry him even more.

For those who don't know, Amu's boyfriend would be the Hotori Tadase, AKA the most handsome, popular guy Amu's school. Sure, Amu got mean looks from the other girls when she and Tadase would walk together in the hallways holding hands (which Amu still wasn't used to, even if it had already been a week since they started dating), but she loved Tadase and wouldn't give him up for the world. She might never get the chance to have such a good looking man again if she let Tadase go.

These thoughts going through her head as she slept made her dream calm down slightly. Dream Amu had managed to outrun the ninja-samurai person. Tadase had appeared even and ran with her to somewhere safer. They ended up in an old, boarded up mansion somehow. Tadase managed to find a way in (Lord knows how he did; this was Tadase we were talking about, and dreams can be pretty random anyways) and let Amu get in before him. Inside, Tadase led Amu into a living room and sat her on an old couch.

"You should be safe in here Amu." Tadase said. "Be careful. You know that whoever that person is won't stop at anything until you're dead. Which means you can't be roaming around like that! At least not without me."

Amu nodded. "Gomen, Tadase-kun. Mama wanted me to go grocery shopping for her."

Tadase smiled. "It's fine, Amu. Just please be more careful. I don't want you getting hurt, or worse, killed."

"I know. I'm sorry." Amu looked down.

"Stop apologizing, Amu." Tadase laughed. "You did nothing wrong."

"Well then why the hell am I being hunted down by some stupid samurai dude?!" Amu burst out.

Tadase put his finger on Amu's lips to quiet her. "Shh. I don't know. But obviously it's for no reason. You're too cute to be wanted dead."

Amu blushed. "T-thanks…"

Tadase laughed again. "See what I mean? Adorable."

Tadase ruffled Amu's hair, causing her to look at him. She opened her mouth to same something, but forgot completely what she was going to say when Tadase kissed her. She melted against his touch. He pulled away and smiled, taking Amu's hand and interlacing their fingers.

"I love you." He whispered. "And I'll do anything to keep you alive."

Amu woke up with a smile on her face. What a nice twist to an at first terrifying dream. She sat up and looked at the clock. She noticed her phone had a couple messages on it. She picked up the old phone and looked at the messages. One was from Tadase. The other from her friend best friend, Yamamoto Niki. She smiled even wider. She looked at Tadase's message first.

'Good morning, Princess. You're probably not even up yet, are you? Haha, of course not. It's the weekend. Well, have a nice rest. And stop staying up late. I don't like seeing you look so tired. It makes me worried. Message me back when you wake up, okay? Love you xoxo'

Amu blushed at the message. She decided to look at Niki's message before answering either of the messages. She backed out of Tadase's messaged and went onto Niki's message. Classic Niki had cute little faces in her message like she always did.

'Amu-chan~ hihi! I know it's a bit early. You're probably not awake. Either that or you stayed up all night again and you are awake. Anyways, we need to hang out today! c; Maybe at around lunch if you're up by then? Byebye! ^0^ 3'

Amu thought about Niki's message as she replied to Tadase's message. Did she want to leave the house today? She was still fairly tired, having only falling asleep at around three or four in the morning. Then again, Tadase would probably also ask if she wanted to go out with him today. And if she refused to him, he'd get worried. She finished typing up her message and looked at it for a second.

'Princess? Since when am I a Princess? / I didn't stay up late last night, okay? I'll stop, though. Tonight I'll go to bed EXTRA early for you. I promise.'

She lied a bit, sure. But she hated seeing Tadase worried. She didn't want him to know why she's staying up. She would always say it was school work or something. But that can't really work on a weekend unless she said she procrastinated and needed to finish a report. She said that all the time, though. Tadase would probably start getting suspicious at some point seeing as they have almost every single class together. She sent the message and went on to answering Niki with her and her cutesy faces, most of which Amu didn't understand until Niki told her.

'I didn't stay up too late okay? I fell asleep at 3. That's good for me, right? Sure. It's past noon now, so how about in 15 minutes? I need to get dressed and tell mama I'm going out. I'll text you when I'm heading over to your place.'

Almost immediately, she got a reply from Niki. Amu laughed slightly at how fast she was at texting. She looked at her phone again as she walked towards her closet.

'For you, yes. I'll give you that. Fifteen minutes is fine. See you then. ^^'

Amu put her phone on her side table as she looked for something to wear. She decided on a simple white button up tee-shirt, a red vest with a trump card pattern down the side, and a pair of red plaid shorts. When she came back from a quick shower, she picked up her phone and looked at it. A reply from Tadase.

'Since I'm a prince, you have to be my princess, silly. That's good. Make sure you get a good night's sleep. You'll feel much more refreshed. Anyhow, what are you doing today, Amu-chan?'

'Oh… I will. Thanks. ^.^ I'm just about to leave. Niki-chan asked me to hang out with here. Why? Did you want to do something with me?'

Amu slipped her phone in the back pocket of her shorts and walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where her mom was (as always). Mrs. Hinamori turned and smiled at her daughter.

"Good afternoon, Amu-chan." She said. "Are you going somewhere?"

"I'm going for lunch with Niki-chan, if that's okay." Amu replied.

"Sure, dear." Mrs. Hinamori said. "Just don't be gone too long."

"I won't, mama." Amu beamed. "Thanks."

"And be careful." Mrs. Hinamori called as Amu ran towards the door and slip some combat boots on.

"I will!" Amu called from outside the door.

With that, Amu closed the door and started heading over to Niki's house. She whipped out her phone and messaged her saying that she just left her house and was on her way. She looked around cautiously after putting her phone away. Her dream and her mother telling her to be careful reminded Amu that Saaya could do anything and be anywhere. She bit her lip, suddenly nervous to be outside. At least inside her house she was fairly safe.

Calm down, Amu, she told herself mentally. Saaya isn't stupid enough to send someone out to kill you.

She arrived at Niki's house safely. She knocked on the door and heard loud, quick footsteps, probably Niki running to get the door before anyone else. The door swung open and revealed Niki trying to push away Eva. Amu giggled and watch the two siblings fight for another short moment. Then she cleared her throat to get Niki's attention.

"Oi, Niki-chan. Stop fighting with your sister. We're supposed to be going out for lunch, remember?" she said.

"Oh, Amu-chan, hi!" Niki said.

"Hi Amu-senpai!" Eva said. "I like your outfit!"

Amu smiled. "Thanks, Eva-chan. And you don't need to call me senpai outside of school. It's not like you're that much younger than me."

"But I want to." Eva said.

Niki rolled her eyes. She pushed her sister aside and stepped outside. "Alright, let's go."

"Can I come?" Eva asked.

"No." Niki snapped.

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think, Niki-chan?" Amu commented. "She's your sister."

"Yeah, but I have to see her every day at school." Niki said. "I need a break from her sometimes."

Amu sighed. She knew the feeling. She looked at Eva and ruffled her hair. "Sorry Eva-chan. You can come next time, maybe."

"It's okay senpai. I don't mind waiting." Eva smiled.

As Amu and Niki went off to find someplace to eat lunch, Amu's phone vibrated in her pocket. She took out her phone and looked at it. Finally it was a message from Tadase. Niki peaked at Amu's screen and smirked. Amu noticed and elbowed Niki with her free arm.

"I need to reply to this." She said. "Don't bug me."

Niki rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Amu stopped and so did Niki. Amu read Tadase's response, trying to keep Niki from reading it too. She turned away from Niki so that she had more privacy.

'Well, I did want to go out with you, but we can wait until later if you like. When do you think you two will be done? Have fun with Niki-chan, by the way.'

'Maybe around 3 or 4PM? We can go after dinner if you like. Or for dinner. Whatever floats your boat.'

"You and Tadase-kun planning a date?" Niki questioned slyly, nearly scaring Amu.

Amu spun around and came close to hitting Niki in the face. Niki flinched slightly. Amu laughed slightly and slipped her phone in her pocket. "C'mon. Let's go. I'm hungry."

"Alright, alright." Niki said. "But if you text Tadase again, don't blame me for gushing over it. You guys are just too cute together."

Amu laughed nervously. "No we're not. You've said yourself that this couple is cute and that couple is cute. We're not one of them."

"Oh shush, you're adorable together." Niki said. "Enough said."

Amu hit Niki's arm playfully. "You're so annoying."

"You know you love me~" Niki gave Amu a cheesy grin. "But you love Tadase more right?"

"I swear to God if you don't shut up I'm going to—" Amu stopped mid-sentence.

"What are you going to do to me, Amu-chan?" Niki asked half teasingly.

"U-um…I-I think someone is following us…" Amu stammered nervously.

Niki stopped and turned around. "I don't see anyone."

"I could have sworn I heard footsteps other than ours behind us…" Amu muttered.

Niki grabbed Amu's arm and dragged her forward. "Let's go. I thought you said you were hungry."

Don't let any of this get to your head, Amu. Amu thought. You're jumping to conclusions too quickly.

Despite trying to convince herself that it was nothing, Amu was still scared. What if one of her dreams came true? Surely Tadase wouldn't appear out of nowhere and save her. Niki would probably try to do something, but end up getting hurt herself in the process. No; Amu doesn't want her friends to get hurt. She considered texting Tadase, but he didn't know about the nightmares. Only Niki did. Every once in a while, Amu would find herself looking back to check if anyone was following them. And every time she could swear she seen a shadow or something dart behind something to hide behind. Maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her. Or maybe she was just delusional from her lack of sleep.

Finally, they arrived at a coffee shop and ordered something to eat and drink. Niki wanted to sit outside because of the nice weather. Amu was a little afraid to be outside because she was an easy target there. Still, she didn't want to be an annoyance to Niki, so she allowed them to eat outside. Tadase messaged her back, but Amu was hesitant to look at it. She pulled out her phone and slipped it under the table hoping Niki wouldn't notice.

"Amu-chan, I know you're texting Tadase." Niki said. "I've done that trick so many times it's not even funny. So, what'd he say?"

Amu actually hadn't had the chance to read it because pretty much immediately after Amu tried to hide her phone, Niki called her out on it. She looked down at her phone, which was a smart choice because a glass plate went flying over her head just milliseconds after she ducked her head down to read the message. Niki yelped in surprise. Amu's eyes widened when she felt something graze the top of her head.

She reached up to touch her head. Thankfully, the plate wasn't broken, so it didn't touch her head. She was glad she was paying more attention to her phone than her surroundings for once. If she didn't have her head down, the plate would have hit her temple, smashed into several dozen pieces, and maybe even cut her or knocked her out. Amu heard the plate smash against the ground.

"Amu-chan! Are you okay?" Niki asked immediately after.

Amu nodded. "Heiki. Luckily, the plate didn't hit me dead on."

"That was scary…" Niki whimpered slightly. "After this maybe we should go back to my house."

"Yeah…that'd be nice." Amu agreed.

So Amu quickly finished her muffin, as well as Niki finished her sandwich. The grabbed their drinks and left the area as quickly as possible without full out running. When they were as far away as they thought safe, Amu looked back at her phone to read the message Tadase sent her. There was a new message too. From a number Amu didn't recognize.

The mystery message said, 'You better watch out with where you're going. By going to that coffee shop, you passed a land mine that you don't want to step on. If I see you near there again, you're dead.'

It sounded like something Saaya would say. But how did Saaya know Amu's phone number? Amu immediately deleted the message and looked at Tadase's for some sort of comfort. She also shuffled a little bit closer to Niki for a little more comfort. Now she was scared as hell.

Tadase's message was just agreeing to the plans, saying it would be nice for them to go on a romantic dinner date. He told Amu to be careful and to try not to hurt herself even more. Thinking about getting hurt made Amu's newly stitched cuts ache suddenly. She winced slightly as she walked on her left leg; the leg that had been cut at the ankle.

"Amu-chan? Doshitano?" Niki asked, noticing the wince and slight limp that Amu had suddenly went into. "Did you hurt yourself when we were running?"

Amu shook her head. "Iie, I'm fine. I'm still getting used to my stitches, I guess."

"Oh yeah, you got most of your cuts stitched finally, didn't you?"

Amu nodded. "A couple days ago. Haven't I shown you?"

"Nope. Maybe when we get back to my house, you can show me."

The thought of going somewhere safer than out here made Amu forget the sudden pain in her ankle. She wanted to hurry now. So she grabbed Niki's wrist. Niki tried to protest, but just got dragged forward with a "W-whoa!", and a few seconds of stumbling. The faster Amu got to safety, the better she would feel.

Translation corner: I will be repeating translations that I may have done in the previous series/fic.

Gomen: I'm sorry/Sorry

Oi: Hey!

Senpai: Upperclassmen

Heiki: I'm fine.

Doshitano: What's the matter?

Iie: No

I think that's it. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you whenever I post the second chapter!