Chapter 1: Horchata

With lips and teeth to ask how my day went
Boots and fists to pound on the pavement
Here comes a feeling you thought you'd forgotten
Chairs to sit and sidewalks to walk on

- Vampire Weekend

Had it really been a half a year already? Amu couldn't really tell, nor did she care enough to figure it out. Since her parents' deaths, she had been growing more and more detached with every day. None of her friends could fathom why her withdrawal kept getting worse. Nagihiko, Rima, and Tadase were the most worried because they had known Amu the longest. They wondered what happened to their friend. They knew about the accident and they know about how much Amu's parents' deaths had affected her, but they couldn't understand why it was getting worse NOW, of all times. The three of them felt like bad friends because they couldn't help her, no matter how hard they tried.

Amu walked home from her dead end job putting price tags on various convenience store items. It was a source of income. Her parents' life insurance had provided her with more than enough money to live better than she did now, but Amu felt like it was blood money. She didn't like the idea of getting paid because her parents had died.

Amu unlocked her door and stepped inside to her small apartment. She walked over to the phone. She saw the number 12 flashing at her from the answering machine.

Twelve messages, she thought, is an awful lot more than usual.

She clicked "Play" and listened to the first message. It was from Auntie. That's weird, Amu thought. Auntie never calls me.

Auntie's voice echoed through the apartment. "Hi, Amu-chan, it's Auntie. I'm just calling to ask if you would come over today. Ami's not taking today so well, so I thought you would be the best person to ask to help her feel better. Anyway, you don't need to call back. Just come on over if you want. Thanks. Bye."

Amu had completely forgotten. It was the six-month anniversary of the accident.

She didn't even bother listening to the rest of the messages. Amu knew that they would all be various friends, relatives, and other people asking if she was okay. She meandered into her room and sat down on the edge of the bed. She grabbed the picture of her parents off of the nightstand. It was the picture of their wedding. Her mother was dressed in a white lace dress with long sleeves and poofy shoulders. Amu giggled a little every time she saw that dress when she was little. Today was different. She wasn't little anymore. All Amu could see today was how beautiful and happy her mother looked with Amu's father standing beside her.

Amu sat there, staring at the picture, for an hour. She looked at the two smiling in the photo, but she didn't see them. She was too lost in her thoughts to see. Once she got up, she cleaned her face and put on a jacket. Amu grabbed her keys and headed out the door to go to Auntie's house.

She pulled into Auntie's driveway twenty minutes later. When Amu shut off the car, Ami ran towards Amu.

"AMU-CHANNNN!" Ami yelled. Amu was soon tackled by her younger sister. She felt Ami's tears as she said, "Amu-chan, why haven't you called me lately. I haven't heard from you in months! I was so worried about you!"

Amu let go of her sister. "Stuff comes up, Ami-chan." She ran her hand through her hair. "I didn't have a lot of time to make personal phone calls."

"But Amu-channnnnn…" Ami whined.

"Sorry, Ami-chan. I'll work on it, okay?"

"Okay!" Ami exclaimed, her mood suddenly brightening. Amu sighed. This was typical of her sister. Totally bipolar, but it didn't matter. Ami was her sister, and she was the only one that Amu felt understood her anymore.

Amu was lying when she said that she had more important things to do than call Ami. Her sister was the only piece of her parents that Amu had left anymore. The only reason that Amu didn't call Ami more often was that Amu was afraid that she would miss Ami and want to stay with her. Amu felt that her personal problems would be too difficult for her younger sister to handle. Amu was somewhat glad that today was the anniversary of their parents' deaths because it gave her a reason to go see Ami. If she visited any other day, Ami would question as to why Amu was there, which would ruin Amu's guise as "cool and spicy."

Amu's attachment to Ami was something that none of her friends could fully understand. Nagihiko had a faint grasp on it and somewhat understood it, but that was the extent of their knowledge. Neither Rima nor Tadase could comprehend. The two just accepted that they would probably never understand, Rima being an only child and Tadase's only brother being 10 years older than him.

Ami called inside, "Auntie, Amu's here!" The door opened to reveal the kind face of Auntie. Auntie's real name was Margaret, but Amu and Amu could never pronounce Margaret when they were really young. They simply called her Auntie, and the name stuck.

"Hey Auntie."

"Hi, Amu-chan. How have you been?"

"Fine, I guess."

"Well, that's good. Come on inside."

"Amu-chan, Amu-chan, we have Mommy and Daddy's favorite! Fried Chicken! It smells really really good too! Come on, hurry up!" Ami dragged Amu inside by her sleeve. Amu was taken by surprise, but she smiled a little and followed her little sister inside Auntie's house.

When she got inside, Amu saw that they had already set the table for three. She was a little surprised and asked Auntie, "How did you know that I was coming?"

"Let's just say you're predictable." Auntie gave her a knowing smile. Amu remembered that Auntie was aware of her strong attachment to Ami.

Amu sighed and sat down at the table. She could smell the fried chicken in the kitchen and could tell that it was almost ready. Auntie hurried into the kitchen, most likely to take the chicken out of the pan. While she was gone, Ami put her hand on Amu's shoulder.

"Amu-chan, what's wrong? I can tell that there's something that you're not telling me. Did something happen with your friends? Did they hurt you?"

"Well Ami-chan, my friends aren't doing anything wrong. It's just that sometimes they want to know what's wrong, and I don't blame them, but I don't want to involve them with my problems."

"They're your friends. Can't you just tell them?"

"That's the thing. I don't want them to have to put up with my personal issues. They have their own problems to deal with, and I don't want to overload them with the things that I need to deal with myself."

"Can you tell me, Amu-chan? Maybe I can help you."

"No, I can't tell you Ami-chan. It's the same way for you as it is with my friends. I don't want to involve you in things that I need to deal with alone."

"But, Amu-chan, maybe there's something I can do! I'm good at helping people! I helped Auntie get over Lynx's death-"

Amu was a little surprised to hear of the death of Auntie's old cat, but she interrupted Ami for a different reason. "Ami-chan, please let me do this by myself. I still have trouble with Mom and Dad, and I need to be able to get past it on my own."

Ami simply nodded her head. Amu could tell that she had the same difficulty. Maybe if she gave Ami the chance, she could help Amu. She wished that she could help her little sister, but anything to make Ami more stressed wasn't beneficial to either of them. This was the very reason why Amu kept all of her problems to herself. Ami was the innocent one. The only tragedy in her life had been their parents' untimely deaths. Amu would do anything and everything in her power to keep Ami safe.

Auntie came back out of the kitchen carrying a big plate of fried chicken. She set it down on the table next to a big plate of mashed potatoes. Ami, being somewhat conscious of her weight, took the smallest piece. Amu took the biggest piece and switched her plate with Ami's. Amu knew that Ami needed more food than most to maintain her weight, so she needed lots of food. She also knew that fried chicken was the world's best comfort food. Ami looked back at her plate, and seeing that she had the biggest piece, she looked at Amu and laughed.

They all dug into their meal, enjoying each other's company and sharing stories about Midori and Tsugumu, laughing at some of the more ridiculous ones. All in all, the night was a success. Amu felt much happier and didn't feel so awful about the day that they were celebrating. She drove home with a much lighter heart, knowing that it was all going to be okay.

Amu went to bed that night with a sense of peace in her heart. Little did she know, things weren't meant to stay as good as they were now. They were about to take a turn for the worse.


A/N:

Peaches: Hey there everyone! So, this was more of just a filler chapter, which is why it's kind of on the short side. The INCIDENT is coming up in the next chapter, which I cannot wait to write!
Amu: So why don't you just write it now?
Peaches: DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY LIFE!
Amu: Huh?
Ikuto: WHERE WAS I?
Peaches: I hate to leave you out. You know that.
Ami: Why are we eating fried chicken?
Peaches: Well, it's the world's best comfort food! Everyone knows that! Now would someone please do the disclaimer?
Nagihiko: Peaches does not own Shugo Chara! or Vampire Weekend.

See you soon, y'all! (I'm not Southern, by the way.)