Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara! or "Gotta Be Somebody" by Nickelback.

Title: Gotta Be Somebody
Summary: All around him was love, but why hadn't he found his own?
Rating: T
Main Character/Pairing: Ikuto, Ikuto/Amu
Genre: General
Warnings: Mild love bashing, swearing.
Inspiration: "Gotta Be Somebody" – Nickelback.

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Ikuto Tsukiyomi stared up at the sky above him, lying back with his arms behind his head and one leg bent upward in a comfortable position. Why he had chosen this spot to skip class, he might never know. The only thing he'd been conscious of was an overwhelming need to be here at this deserted place at this odd point in time.

Surprisingly, everything around him was silent, which brought some peace to his plagued mind. The world was as calm as he'd ever known it to be and he didn't feel the pressure of Easter's hold on him tied around his neck like a noose.

His usual melancholy, however, was amplified by the sight of all the happy couples at his school that day, watching him as he'd left the school grounds. They all seemed so carefree and cheerful, delighted just to be with the one they loved. Well, at least loved at that moment. One of the beautiful things of teendom was that one could switch from one love to another quickly and without backward glances.

Seeing all of them around him had brought him to conclude that he was the oldest in mind of his school. They only concerned themselves with the latest piece of gossip and their crush of the moment. They believed in true love and thought they'd found it in whoever they were dating at that moment.

To hell with love, he thought in anger. What a useless emotion. What good comes from something so idiotic?

His sister was an excellent example. She fancied herself in love with him and couldn't function properly whenever he was around. He was her only priority and she would just watch him until he left, suddenly becoming herself once again.

An even better example of how hurtful love could be was his mother. Souko had once been a loving, happy woman that could hold her own against anyone. She valued her family over all else and would protect them to her last breath. Nothing bad would happen to her children while she was alive. Then Aruto had disappeared. She'd quickly become a shell of her former self, losing everything that had made her…her.

I guess not everything about love is bad, he thought, remembering his parents as they had been. Their family had been close-knit and joyful. Every day had been filled with laughter and love. They had all been happy.

And his parents had been the happiest of them all. Even when Utau was a baby and cried all night, their parents had been ecstatic to hold her, smiling to one another as they spoke of how beautiful their children were. They'd been happy before Aruto had left.

If I ever have a family, Ikuto vowed, I will never leave them behind.

More images of the love his parents had shared flashed through his mind as a sad thought rushed through his head. Why don't I have someone like that, someone that makes me feel like that? His eyes began drifting closed as he started falling asleep. There's gotta be somebody like that for me.

He napped in his hiding place, content with the warm sun on his face for what could have been hours or just a few minutes, only to be rudely awoken when a pink-haired girl fell into his lap as if she were sent from the heavens. Or tripped in a hole on a construction site.