Nocturnal Bliss

"Come on Amu! Don't be such a whimp!" a brunette boy teased the pinkette. Amu narrowed her eyes at the teen as her knees were wobbling on the snow that was now ice. Not only was she trying to stay balanced, she was holding a huge snowboard. "Kukai, maybe if you helped me out a bit instead of laughing, I would try to!" She let out a foggy breath of air, "I don't even know what the hell I'm doing…" Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia were simply cheering Amu on as Ran had promised not to character change with Amu this time. She needed to learn on her own! Amu pushed herself off the tree that she was supporting herself with and slid her way towards Tadase who was there to keep her steady before she slipped, "Are you ok Amu-chan?" Of course he was on skis. Why couldn't she have just done that instead of snowboarding?

"Amu-chi wishes that you would hold her as they went down the slope Tadase-kun!" Yaya chuckled over towards Tadase causing him to slightly glare at Yaya before returning his glance at Amu. Amu began to feel as though she were slipping as she tried to snap her head towards Yaya and tried to keep her balance by grasping onto Tadase's shirt, almost pulling him over. "Maybe you should have just stayed at the lodge Am-chan…you don't look like you're having too much fun."

Amu looked over at the boy before sighing, "I think I can do this. Are you going to be right beside me Kukai incase I have a huge brain blackout?" Kukai nodded as he gave her a thumb up. She took a deep breath as she made her way towards the end of the slope and putting her board down. Ran floated right by her side just in case. Amu crouched down as the board began to float down the hill. She was doing it! She was actually snowboarding. "Go Amu-chan go!" Ran cheered by her side. But Amu's head turned to her side to see Kukai struggling with his goggles on the hill. "Crap! Kukai!" Amu shouted as she began to feel as though she were going to crash. Kukai looked down before throwing his goggles off to the side and getting on the board, sliding down the hill. Amu's eyes were glistening as she watched herself as though she were plummeting to her death. "Rock!" Ran shouted with wide eyes. Amu looked in front of her to see a boulder. She swerved around it gracefully before being flung off her board. She felt herself up in the air and seeing nothing but white before slamming headfirst into a hard patch of rocky snow. Then all she could see was black.

Ikuto Tsukyomi. His amethyst eyes twinkle with naughty possibilities. His luxuriant hair is the color of the night sky and never seems to have a strand out of place. Everything about him was like a god, especially to Amu Hinamori. But what fascinated her more was how old he was. He must have graduated high school two years ago. Why was he back?

Amu's eyes were like pools of gold and her hair was a soft shade of pink. Every day at her high school, she'd simply watch him and fantasize. Fantasize of different things, much like what it would be like to be his friend again. For now the older boy would never give her the time of day. For no good reason! What would it feel like to be noticed by the older senior again? The butterflies would flutter in her stomach at the thought, but would never bother trying to speak with the boy. What would a 'senior' want with a flat-chested freshman anyway? She would never reveal her crush to even her closest friends Tadase, Yaya, Nagihiko, Kukai, and Rima. Too nervous to confess who she liked, but never too nervous to speak her mind to them and tell them off if necessary. But tonight, she'd approach her home after school, do homework, and then write down what she'd wished the day had been like instead of the usual nothingness it had truly been. Maybe it would get things off her mind. After all, just waking up in your bed after hitting your head on rocks was never great. Things seemed to be normal with the exception of Ikuto now ignoring her. She pulled out her journal and she wrote:

'Dear Journal,

I talked to him again, and he helped me with my math today during lunch. His hand continually brushed against mine as I scribbled nervously down on the paper what he was telling me, and within a few quick seconds, I was done with 15 problems. Afterwards, he and I snuck off school grounds to go to an abandoned amusement park in the city. He knew where the power box was and turned on all the rides for us to go on! We then spent a romantic time on a ride called, 'Tunnel of Love.' It was in the water but was powered by a motor that would be run by a button at the front by the queue. (Luckily there was no line! Hahaha! Corny line ^^;; ) We both rode together into the tunnel and were greeted by complete darkness with the sound of soft water and the glisten of sparkling hearts on the ceiling-'

Amu stopped for a moment to see what she had written. It seemed too out of character to her, but it was what she thought. As long as no one where to find this, she could remain the way she was around her friends without being thought of as a 'hopeless romantic' or even a 'girly-girl.' The name 'girly-girl' irritated her for some reason. It just sounded childish to her and her friend Kukai surely would use it if he saw this. But he'd use more than just 'girly-girl' more like 'a priss.' She shook this thought out of her mind. Oh well, she didn't care much anymore and wanted to get back to her writing.

'The bluenette looked over at me with a look of playfulness, but would soon disappear as the light did. Then, I felt his hand trailing up my shoulder and across it before coming in contact with my lips and brushing his thumb across it lightly, just to be a tease! Then he leaned over just as we reached pitch black and kissed me! I swear I could have felt the ecstasy of love being built inside of me. But he pulled away after quick seconds as we approached the exit of it. The boat seemed to stop on its own as we stepped out and stood on the 'dock' holding hands and him making sure I wouldn't fall. Finally we made it back to school just as it got out and were not suspected of a thing! Well, other than not attending any classes other than our last. But being yelled at by my teacher was well worth what happened today!~'

She closed her journal and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes were now slowly closing from writing for so long and decided it would be best for her to enter the realm of sleep. She changed into silky pink pajamas equally matching her hair and fell asleep on her bed.

That night she had a dream it seemed, but it took place at night. She awoke from her slumber in her dream to see the violet eyed boy sitting by her window, simply watching her sleep. She smiled at him, knowing it was a dream, and said, "Hi I-Ikuto-kun!" even though it was a dream, she was still nervous seeing him. She had had dreamed lucid dreams before and was quite an expert at roaming her dream world now. He smiled at her standing up and taking lean and slow strides towards her, "Amu, get dressed, I have something to show you." He said bluntly to her. She simply nodded and walked towards her closet, pulling out an outfit she loved but was sensible for a winter night. She walked into the bathroom connected to her room and changed, coming back out. The top was a white baby-doll with a skeleton styled cat on the front. Her black and dark pink skirt was down to her mid-thigh and wore white leggings. She pulled out a warm white jacket and zipped it up. She had clipped on two X shaped clips into her hair and came out, "So what did you want to show me at-"she looked over at the clock, "11 o' clock at night?"

Ikuto nodding grinning lightly at her, "You look beautiful." He said completely out of random. Amu blushed at this and looked down. His eyes scanned her room nonchalantly before coming to a rest on the math homework on her desk, "Do you need help?" Amu looked over at her math homework. Crap, she had forgotten to finish it and had around three problems left. "Eh-heh, sure. If you don't mind I guess…" Ikuto smiled as he walked over to her desk looking at the math. Amu had sat down in the comfortable seat in front of it. "Well first of all…" he began to explain.

After a few good minutes, she had finished and understood almost exactly what he had said, sometimes getting chills by hearing his voice and him teasing her about the shiver she would do unknowingly. He then grabbed her hand and smiled at her, "Come on. Leave your chara here. I want this to be a special night for us." Amu looked over at the closed eggs and nodded as she let the older boy grab her hand softly and delicately. Cat ears appeared on his head as they approached the window of the room. Before the pinkette knew it, she was swept up into Ikuto's arms and plummeting down and out the window. She closed her eyes and had the urge to scream, her heart fluttering as fast as a hummingbird's. As she felt herself begin to fall, quickly she was brought to a neutral feeling. She peaked open her eyes to see them jumping from rooftop to rooftop, seeing the beauty of the city. Amu looked over at Ikuto and wondered where he could possibly be taking her. Should she trust him?

Finally they landed. It was dark and almost no lights around with the exception of the room's reflection on lamps that were not on. "I-Ikuto?" she said looking around for the boy who had disappeared from her. "This isn't funny!" she shouted, hoping he'd hear her from somewhere. She was beginning to worry if he had just left her here. Maybe she shouldn't have trusted him so much.

But as if in response to Amu's constant yelling for Ikuto to show himself and not be leaving her alone, all the lights came on and finally she realized where she was. It was an amusement park she went to as a kid that was scheduled to be demolished soon. In front of her was a multitude of rides ranging from tea cups to roller-coasters. She grinned as she watched it all light up, and soon her eyes did the same as Ikuto came back by her side, "I wasn't going to leave you here alone, Amu." He said laughing to himself. Amu punched him playfully on the shoulder, "Well maybe if you replied then I wouldn't have been so worried!" All Ikuto did was reply with a laugh. His slim head turned towards hers.

"Would you care to ride with me on that one little ride?" he said motioning his head towards a ride to the side, acting as if he were a sincere and polite gentleman offering a ride on a lagoon. Amu shifted to see the sparkles of a sign reading, 'Tunnel of Love.' She smiled as she saw it. 'Just like I wrote in my diary…' Amu nodded her head causing some strands of pink hair to fall out of place, but all that didn't matter to her right now. It was that her dreams were being lived out right now. As she stepped onto the cliché swan boat, Ikuto pressed the button that would make it go. It began to move slowly, enough to Ikuto to jump onto it. He sat down next to Amu, causing her to look up at him as the boat nearly flipped, causing her to cling to him. "Ikuto! Be careful! You were going to fricken flip us!" She pushed away from him, crossing her arms across her chest. Ikuto looked over at her before grinning mischievously.

"Maybe that was my intent. To get you into the water. You'd look very nice in a watered down version of that outfit." He smirked looking at her. Amu looked down at herself to see what she was wearing once again. White shirt, black skirt, white leggings…as the girl looked over what she was wearing she couldn't help but blush at the realization of what he had said. She glared over at Ikuto, "Pervert."

Ikuto began to chuckle before they approached the tunnel. Amu watched as it seemed to simply plummet into darkness. After a few quick seconds of darkness, lights shaped like hearts were dangling from the ceiling along with some bubbles. It was amazing how the bubble soap hadn't evaporated due to its constant sitting. The soft sound of rushing water was underneath them. She looked up at the ceiling and couldn't help but let a small smile escape her lips. Ikuto was looking at the girl with a caring stare before she looked back over at him, "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked curiously, her eyes narrowing.

Ikuto simply shrugged before leaning back onto the cushion of the boat, "Hm, I don't know. You just look so calm and happy staring at the ceiling." Amu looked at Ikuto before rolling her eyes as she sat up and stared forward. Ikuto shifted his body towards Amu smiling slightly, "You do know why this is called the tunnel of love, right Amu?"

Amu looked over at Ikuto who was leaning quite close to her. She turned her head away from him and raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Its kinda self explanatory." She said before turning back towards Ikuto. It became dark again. The teen could hear Ikuto shuffling in his seat before she felt his hand trailing up her arms. She tried to scoot away, but the boat wasn't too big. Amu felt the hand going past her shoulder and up her neck before brushing across her lips. She froze before feeling something warmer, softer than a finger brush her lips. It was a different pair of lips. His. Her eyes widened as she realized that everything in her journal she had written that day was coming true. He slowly pulled away and as they came towards the moonlight outside the ride he smiled. "That's why it's called the Tunnel of Love." The bluenette stepped out of ride and onto the dock where he pressed a button stopping the ride. He extended his hand out for Amu who shakily stepped off the boat. "Do you want to go on any other rides, Amu?" he asked looking at her, smiling genuinely. Amu nodded, "S-Sure. I don't see why not."

The next day was the same routine, no matter what had happened in her 'dream'. Ikuto ignored her and she was stuck with her friends. She couldn't help but laugh when Tadase would randomly be teased by Kukai and be called 'Prince' randomly. But when Tadase would look over at her and smile, her heart used to flutter. But now it was just nothing. As if a friend was to smile at you. She sat down on her seat in class and before she knew it, the bell rang.

Amu wrote more in her journal, and it occurred again that night in a dream, for three days consecutively. But the last day, she had forgotten to write something. Ikuto had simply appeared in her room and talked with her for hours. Sometimes stealing a kiss when she would least expect it just to fluster the girl. But at around 2, he stood up and prepared to leave. "Wait, Ikuto." Amu said, walking towards her drawer. Awhile ago she had bought a charm that she would have given to him in real life, but luckily it appeared in the dream. She handed it to the taller boy and he smiled looking down at her. He pecked her lightly on the lips, and left with five simple words that made her stomach flop. "Goodnight Amu. I love you." he waved before cat ears once again appeared on his head and he jumped out the window.

The fourth day, Amu woke up and wobbled downstairs. Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia were by her side and were all staring at Amu as if she had done something they were proud of. Could they possibly see her dreams? If they, why hadn't they said anything to her before. She sat down at the table where a box of cereal and milk was along with the usual bowl and 'magic spoon' she had. As she poured it, she flicked on the television. It was already on the news channel, so why not watch it? The corner of the screen read the time of 6:00 and foot read the subject of the news. "Teenage Boy Hit Fatally at Night" Amu's eyes widened as she saw what street the woman was on. It wasn't too far from her home. The reporter was standing by the road and began to speak. "Quite a tragedy has occurred last night at around 2:15 this morning. A boy of the age of 19, now identified as Ikuto Tsukiyomi, was hit by a truck that was traveling over the speed limit on this street. The cause of why he would be walking among the streets of Seiyo is unknown. The only things that police officers have found on the body was some strands of pink hair and a necklace with a cat shaped charm and a key on the chain. He is currently in Seiyo hospital and will be buried within the next week at Fukuyama Memorial Cemetery. Friends of the boy are devastated and police officers-" Click. Amu simply stared at the now empty screen. He…was gone? How could he have possibly been near her house and have died? That necklace was the one she had given him last night at around two o' clock. So those encounters weren't a dream?

Tears welled into the girls eyes before looking down as her cereal and sitting up. She poured the cereal into the sink and rinsed the boll. Her charas floated over to Amu and hovered by the girl that was now shaking. "Amu…""-Desu…" Amu ran upstairs and past her parents who were just waking up. She slammed her door shut, locked it, and fell on her pillow. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she lied there. Simply trying to drown out any sadness. Amu began to cry loudly, and even though she rarely cried, this was an occasion where she could lose the cool and spicy attitude for a moment and just be a girl. A broken girl who thought that the nocturnal bliss she was experiencing was a dream. But now, it was all too real.

Her parents slammed their fists on her door. "Amu! Amu what's wrong? Amu!" The voices continued to swirl in her mind before hearing the voice change into one she was un-familiar with. Her eyes snapped open as she heard the voice of a nurse with brown hair,dark brown eyes, and her hand shaking Amu. Amu looked up at her as if she were in a daze before wiping her hazy eyes. Her head throbbed before looking at her. "W-What? How did I get into a hospital?" she said, her eyes scanning the room and a machine measuring her heart beat. The nurse left out a breath of relief before smiling at her, "Hon, you've been asleep for a good 4 days. You were twitching violently as a tear came out of your eye…" Amu simply blinked. So, what exactly had happened? She looked at the woman, "What day is it exactly?" The woman pulled out her phone and scanned it before flicking it shut, "It's Thursday December 30th. You hit your head on a nasty rocky patch of snow at the slopes. Since then you've been in a coma."

Amu rubbed her head before sighing a breath of relief and lying down. 'It was a dream…it was a dream…thank god…it was a dream!' she thought to herself, trying to keep herself from laughing out loud while crying tears of happiness. "Yes, and a group of friends continually came to visit you. And a separate tall dark haired boy came by and left that for you." Amu rolled her head to the side to see a small table by her bed. A bouquet of pink flowers rested in a vase beautifully the aroma invaded her sense of smell. She reached her hand out to grab a small piece of paper stuck inside the arrangement. 'Sweet dreams sleeping beauty. –Ikuto' The pinkette looked at the vase before grinning. She rolled farther onto her side before reaching for the bouquet to look at. Amu pushed herself out of her sitting position and looked at the flowers smelling them.

"You looked like you were having quite a dream there. What was it about?" the brunette asked sitting down on a chair looking at Amu. Amu explained the entire dream the the nurse before she nodded in understanding. "Well, maybe since you haven't seen that man in so long, you feel that he was neglecting you. Just like how he was back in high school and ignoring you in your dream." The woman crossed her arms over her chest, "And when he died, maybe it was showing how much he cared for you and how you should enjoy every moment you have with him."

Amu simply blinked at the nurse before the nurse began giggling, "Cheesy I know, I must have been reading too many romance novels." Actually, her explaination made perfect sense. But with the bouquet of flowers, did that mean…? Just then, the door creaked open and a nasally voice of another nurse whispered to the one in her room. "Is the girl awake yet?" The nurse nodded as she walked towards the door and talked to the nurse. The brunette nurse peeked her head back in the room. "Amu, you have a visitor."

Amu stared at the door until a tall shadow graced its shadow on the tinted window. His luxuriant hair is the color of the night sky and never seemed to have a strand out of place entered the room along with dark pools of blue. His skin looked pale in the fluorescent light, but it didn't phase his appearance. A small grin appeared on her face. "Amu." One word the boy said, and Amu had to resist the urge to jump out of the bed and hug the boy now standing in the doorway. She was full of entire bliss as the boy rushed up to hug her in a warm embrace. The smell of Axe filled her senses, but it was a familiar smell that made her calmed. The heart beat reader began to show her heart quickening. Maybe these dreams as she was in a coma were actually a preview of what could be coming. The prelude to nocturnal bliss.