WoM- Greetings and Salutations! Wings here, bringing you more stories for your reading enjoyment! This is my first break into the Shugo Chara fandom, so most of you probably don't know who I am. 'laughs meekly' I did my best to keep everyone in character here, though, promise! Now, just to be clear, this is not a full out multi-chapter story here, okay? Just a bunch of disconnected one-shots based on various food-based goodies, because the Amuto pairing has already poisoned me into not being able to look at or chocolate or ice cream the same way I could before I found this series ever again. I just want to see how much fun I can have with this until you people get sick of me and throw me outta here.
With that said, I own nothing but a rather uncontrollable obsession for onigiri and a surprisingly short attention span. Kindly do not sue me for anything, since I'd be more then willing to just give these to you if you just ask for them.
Chocolate Pocky
"Onee-chan, onee-chan!"
Not again… Amu thought, stifling a groan. Turning as the insistent tugging on her skirt continued, Amu's dry look was met with the super sparkly 'I'm-too-cute-to-say-no-to' expression Ami used to weasel whatever she wanted out of her family members.
"Look, onee-chan! It's that candy we saw on the scary lady's show! Can I get some, onee-chan? Please?" Sighing, Amu eyed the candy her sister was clutching with wariness people usually reserved for live bombs, wincing slightly as the brightly colored packaging burned painfully into her retinas.
"No way, Ami." Amu said firmly in the most older sisterly tone she could manage. "We're only here to pick up some extra ingredients Mama forgot for dinner tonight. If you eat that, you'll spoil your appetite."
"I won't, onee-chan, promise!" Ami begged, tearing up. "Please, onee-chan, I really, really want to try this candy!"
"Just buy it, Amu-chan." Miki sighed, not looking up from the display she was sketching "Your mother gave you more than enough money to cover that and the groceries, and she said you could buy whatever you wanted with what was left over. You shouldn't be stingy."
"That's right, Amu-chan!" Ran piped up brightly as Suu nodded beside her.
"You wouldn't want to make your sister cry, desu." The green Chara said sweetly.
"Really?" Amu turned her dry look to her three Charas before smirking in a way that could only be described as evil. "Then I guess you three won't mind playing with Ami after she's gotten all that sugar into her system?" As one, the Charas froze in place, faces paling dramatically.
"…W-well… when you put it that way…" Miki said, not meeting Amu's eyes.
"It really would spoil her dinner, desu!" Suu filled in quickly. "And you mother worked so hard on it, letting it go to waste would be a shame!"
"Yeah!" Ran agreed. "Besides, too many sweets aren't good for a growing girl."
"Yeah, I thought so." Amu scoffed, fighting a smile. Turning back to her sister's teary eyed face, Amu gave the younger girl a stern look. "You're not getting that candy, Ami, not matter how much you beg. Now go put it back where you found it, it's almost our turn to check out."
Amu felt a pang go through her as Ami reluctantly trudged off to do as she was told, looking as though she'd just been told that her birthday had been cancelled. She hated it when she had to be hard on the girl, she really did, but as Ami's older sister, she had to know where to draw the line. Their father was already spoiling the girl rotten as it was…
Sighing, Amu shook her head and turned to contemplate the candy rack, skimming down until she picked out a box of strawberry pocky, adding it to her basket. Behind the girl, her Charas perked up curiously at their owner's actions.
"What's that for, Amu-chan?" Ran asked, floating over to study the box more closely.
"Just something for Ami, after she finishes her dinner." Amu explained mildly. "Giving her a few sticks of pocky won't be as bad as letting her have that other candy, so it should be okay."
"Oooh…" Suu said, smiling brightly at Amu. "You're such a good older sister, Amu-chan!" The bubblegum haired girl blushed lightly at the complement, struggling vainly to maintain her nonchalant attitude.
"Give me a break." She scoffed. "It's not like it's anything special. All I'm doing is buying a little bit if candy." Clearly seeing through her, the three Charas exchanged amused looks.
"Amu-chan's embarrassed!" Ran sang out, earning giggles from Suu as Miki nodded knowingly.
"She's so predicable, always acting cool when she doesn't know what to say." The little artist said. Amu flushed violently behind the three girls.
"Quiet down!" She hissed dangerously, turning away as all three bursts into loud giggles. Really, what she did to deserve Shugo Charas like these…
Grumbling to herself, Amu dismissed the little pests, instead checking to see how much longer it would be until she could start checking out. Unfortunately, the old lady in front of her seemed to be taking her sweet time paying for her purchases, insisting on telling the cashier her entire life's story with some help from pictures she kept pulling out of her wallet.
Of course. Amu thought dryly, rolling her eyes. And on the night she had a ton of homework to burn through, too… Turning back to the candy counter, Amu frowned thoughtfully for a moment before grabbing another box of pocky from the shelf, this one chocolate flavored. A little 'study aid' to help keep her up long enough to finish her work, since she already knew that Nikaido-sensei wouldn't show her an ounce of sympathy if she didn't turn her paper in, even if she'd encountered a thousand X-eggs to keep her from finishing it.
Satisfied, Amu turned back to the line, relieved to see the old lady was finally winding down and leaving. Just in time, too, since Ami had just returned from replacing the candy she'd had her heart set on having, the disheartened look still firmly on her face. Shaking her head, Amu stepped forward with her purchases, smiling politely for the cashier. Maybe things were finally starting to look up for her tonight…
Okay, maybe not.
Scowling down at the paper in front of her, Amu let out a frustrated sigh. Really, why Nikaido-sensei always had to give them homework that made her head hurt on top of everything else she had to deal with was beyond her. You think he'd be a little more sympathetic towards the girl who helped him turn his life around…
"Amu-chan…" Ran moaned, bleary eyed. "Are you almost done yet? It's really, really late!" Looking up, Amu gave the clock an absent-minded frown at her Chara's complaint. 'Really, really late' was a bit of an understatement for ten minutes to one on a school night.
"You should get to bed, Amu-chan." Miki said, disapproval heavy in her tone. "It's already hard enough for us to get you up in time for school as it is."
"I know, but I have to get this paper finished or I'm toast." Amu sighed, running a hand through her hair. She smiled wryly at her Charas as Suu gave a dainty yawn, mumbling out a sleepy 'desu' when it was over. "You guys go on ahead to bed. I'll be done soon, anyways." Mumbling lethargically in agreement, Ran, Miki and Suu all floated over to their eggs to settle down for the night.
Only a few more answers, then I can go to sleep myself. Amu thought with a wistful sigh, leaning to balance on the back to legs of her chair with one foot propped against her desk for leverage. She studied her paper with a harassed look on her face, nibbling thoughtfully on the last bit of her pocky as she worked. Really, staying up this late was starting to get to her. Like just now, for example. She could've sworn she felt a cool wind on the back of her neck there for a second, even though she knew for a fact that she'd closed her window.
"Isn't it a little late for little girls to still be up?" Amu froze at the all-too-familiar voice, her foot slipping from the desk and sending her off-balance. Spinning her arms around desperately like some bizarre human windmill, Amu squeezed her eyes shut as she prepared herself for a violent impact with the floor…
…Which, strangely enough, never came.
Confused as to why the laws of physics had suddenly stopped working, Amu opened her eyes again to find the face of Tsukiyomi Ikuto looming over her with a wickedly coy smirk tugging at his lips, their noses only millimeters apart.
"Yo." Ikuto said casually as Amu blushed bright enough to put a cherry to shame.
"You!" Amu squeaked out, her voice caught somewhere between flustered, angry and shocked. "What are you doing here? At one fifteen in the morning?!"
"Couldn't sleep." Ikuto said with a shrug as he righted Amu's chair, taking his seat on the edge of her bed. "Got bored and started wandering around when I noticed your light was still on. You really ought to start locking your window at night, you know."
"You'd probably just pick the lock if I did." Amu muttered accusingly, feeling slightly humiliated at Ikuto's words.
"Probably." Ikuto said with the infuriating smile Amu always wanted desperately to slap right off his face. "Busy doing your homework? You never struck me as the studious type…" Amu scowled at that, feeling that she should take offence to the insult hidden in that statement. The fact that it was true aside…
"Baka! That's none of your business!" She huffed crossly, turning away from the teenager to give him the cold shoulder. Ikuto, however, used Amu's childish tantrum to his advantage, snatching her sheet up to study as her back was turned. Seeing this out of the corner of her eye, Amu wheeled back around with a mortified look on her face. "H-hey! What do you think you're doing?! That's mine, you-!"
"You got number three wrong." Ikuto said as if she'd never spoken. Amu stopped short of her attempt to try and free her paper from his evil clutches, a surprised look on her face.
"Huh?" She said, blinking as her mind tried to process what she'd just heard.
"Number three." Ikuto repeated patiently. "You math is wrong. Right here, see?" Moving forward after a slight hesitation, Amu glanced at where the older boy was pointing on her answer sheet, her eyes widening dramatically when she realized he was right.
"Ack!" The girl yelped out, snatching her paper back from Ikuto and grabbing her pencil from her desk to erase furiously at the mistake. "Oh man, how did I miss that?! Okay, let's see… we take this number and then… Aw man, how does this formula go again?!"
"Here." Ikuto said, leaning over Amu to take the pencil- as well as her hand- in his own grasp. "You have to do it like this, see?" Amu's heart hammered loudly in her ears as she tried to pay attention to what Ikuto was showing her. Unfortunately, this proved to be a bit harder then she thought, with him being so close to her and all. His hand was still guiding hers over the paper as he helped her solve the problem, and he was leaning right next to her, so close that she could smell the faint, musky scent of the soap he used. It was a smell she was slowing becoming very familiar with, one which was exciting and soothing all at the same time…
Baka! What are you thinking! Amu scolded herself harshly, throttling that train of thought before it could ever hope to finish. Blushing slightly at her own wayward mind, Amu turned her attention back to what Ikuto was showing her, just as the dark haired boy released his hold on her hand and stepped away from her.
Amu really hoped that the disappointment that she felt at that moment had more to do with the fact that she missed what Ikuto had been telling her then the loss of his touch.
"There. Now do the rest on your own. Start with number eight, that one's wrong too."
"C-can you show me again?" Amu asked, trying with all her might not to blush and failing rather pathetically at her attempt. "I… uh… I still don't really get it…" Amu tried to ignore the amusement written all over Ikuto's face as he complied with her request, leaning back over to help her.
Slowly but surely, Amu began to understand a little bit more of what Ikuto was showing her, which was a major relief for the poor girl since she didn't think she could take anymore contact like that from Ikuto that night. It was like her all senses went hypersensitive whenever he came near her, and which was starting to drive the girl crazy. So when Amu finally completed the last question to Ikuto's satisfaction, she felt absolutely elated.
"This will be the first perfect mark I've had in a while." She explained when Ikuto began shoot her a questioning look at her sudden giddiness. "Ever since this whole Guardian thing started, I've been too busy to keep up with school and homework, which was hard enough for me to begin with." Amu laughed sheepishly at her confession, feeling a bit embarrassed at her own incompetence. Ikuto merely smiled slightly at her antics, saying nothing. Her curiosity eating away at her, Amu approached the teen to sit beside him on her bed. "Ne, Ikuto? It's a little surprising that you're so good at this yourself. You look like the kind of person who skips all the time and never hands your work in."
"I do skip a lot." Ikuto admitted, looking completely unashamed. "But schoolwork is easy. I don't need to be there to understand what they're trying to teach me, since most of it just needs a little common sense." Amu suspected the dark haired teen was making a hidden jab at her with that comment, but had the good grace to ignore it.
Instead, she made her way back over to her desk to snatch up her pocky, pulling out one last stick to munch on before she headed to bed (After finding a polite way to throw Ikuto out of her room, of course). The cat boy noticed this and leaned forward curiously to see what Amu was eating with a look of keen interest on his face.
"Is that pocky?" He asked the girl, keeping his tone light and innocent. That would have been Amu's first hint that something was up, was she not busily by cleaning up her workspace and only hal listening to the older boy.
"Yep. I bought some to eat while I studied." The pink haired girl explained distractedly. Belatedly remembering that Ikuto had a fondness for chocolate, Amu held the box out to the teen charitably. "Want one? There's still a few left…" It was the least Amu could give him after he helped her with her homework.
"Sure." Ikuto smirked as he got off of Amu's bed, closing the distance between him and the younger girl. Something about the look on his face made the warning bells in the back of Amu's head stir to life, but she dismissed it as nerves over their study session. Looking completely collected, Ikuto extended his hand to the box Amu was offering him.
Only to bypass it and take hold of Amu's chin instead.
Before Amu could even look properly surprised at this action, Ikuto pulled the girl forward, angling her face upward as he leaned in to bite down on the stick of pocky that was still dangling innocently from Amu's mouth. Time froze for a moment, and Amu's brain completely shut down at the proximity of Ikuto's face to hers before kicking violently back to life.
WHAT is he DOING?! Amu shriek loudly in her mind, too shell-shocked to move. All she could think about at that moment what the fact that their mouths were separated by a few centimeters of the chocolate coated treat, his gaze steady and deep, holding her own eyes captive with their intensity. Amu wasn't quite sure how long they stood like that- a few moments, most likely- but eventually Ikuto pulled back and stepped away, releasing his hold on the stunned elementary school girl. Amu stood shell-shocked as Ikuto calmly grabbed another stick of pocky from the box Amu had completely forgotten she was holding and walked towards Amu's balcony with a casual wave of the hand.
"Thanks for the pocky." He said coyly as he left. "Catch you later, Amu." It was only when the door slid shut that Amu broke free of her trance, her face going red with humiliation and anger. Crossing her room, Amu threw the sliding door open and stepped out on the balcony, looking down at the street to see Ikuto walking away in a very nonchalant manner for someone who had just fried her brain to bits.
"PERVERT!" She screamed loud enough for the whole city to hear. Ikuto merely chuckled to himself in response to that, grinning as Amu bellowed out threats she intended to carry out next time she saw him.
Well that was educational. The teen thought wickedly, munching on his stolen pocky as he sauntered down the street. He'd have to tutor Amu again some time, after she cooled off a bit.
WoM- 'Munching on her pocky' …I had to write this. I just had to. Because Amu's just too sweet and naïve to realize when she's asking for it and Ikuto has that sinful side that makes him do naughty things to little pink-haired girls. Plus I suspect Ikuto might have a bit of a food fetish. That ice cream scene definitely made me think so, anyways…
…Let's move away from that, though, shall we?
I'll try to get another one shot out to you guys soon, though I can't promise anything. You probably won't be seeing any Shugo Chara multi-chapter fics from me for a while, though, since I'm having commitment issues as far as those go. 'laughs weakly' Please review and tell me how I did! I love feedback, it's my anti-drug.
Up Next; Honey Bunny- Well at least Amu learned a valuable life lesson from this experience, if nothing else.
