Disclaimer: Shugo Chara = not mine.

Full Summary: Amu is doing just fine when Ikuto shows up after an eight year absence. She has a steady job and Ran, Miki, and Suu's internal guidance to lead her. But he continues to pester her constantly at work, on the street, and even at her house. His teasing turns into demands that she help him find out what Easter is plotting now that the Embryo seems to have disappeared. Her ex-Guardian friends begin showing up, as well, leaving her no time for relaxation. What's a girl to do when her new life seems to be slowly turning into her old one?

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New Life
Chapter Two

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Amu's eyes slowly began opening as a soft snicker sounded from the doorway of her bedroom. She knew that snicker well, but she forced herself to remain still, to trick the troublemaker into a false sense of security. As quiet footsteps creaked across the floor, she could barely contain her smile. The only thing that kept her from bursting out laughing was the knowledge of what would prove to be well worth the wait. He wouldn't know what hit him….

When a breath fanned across her face, she knew that her opportunity had shown itself. Her eyes flying open, she grabbed the small body, tossing it onto the opposite side of the bed, laughing as her son landed solidly on his father's chest.

The two most important men in her life both sucked in heavy breaths as they collided and she let out more giggles, clutching her stomach and nearly falling off the bed. The comically surprised expressions on their faces matched each other's perfectly, which just made it all the better.

Two pairs of the same blue eyes found hers, narrowing at the same moment.

She knew that look too well, and that was the moment she decided it was time to make her escape.

Bounding from the bed, she ran through her house, planning on getting to the nursery before either of them caught up to her. The only time she was safe from attack was when she had little Aimi or Emiko in her arms. The two men acted tough, but whenever the little twin girls were part of the equation, they would both be stopped in their tracks.

She skidded to a stop when she found her son standing in front of her, looking up at her from his short height. She'd forgotten about how sneaky he was! Turning to find another means of escape, she found herself face to face with her husband, who smirked at her. Only he could pull off the cat-who-ate-the-canary look with ease.

"Now, Ikuto—" she began before a shrill ringing burst into her head.

Her world seemed to rock beneath her before he opened his mouth. Despite his wide-awake expression, his voice was drowsy as he said, "Hello? Sorry, she's still sleepin'."

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Amu awoke suddenly, trying to jerk upright as the dream flashed through her mind. Unfortunately, her escape was cut short when Ikuto's arm tightened on her, keeping her firmly on his chest.

"Yes, she is actually asleep. No, I didn't drug her; this sleep was perfectly natural, thank you. You wound me, Rika-chan," Ikuto teased, a sleepy smile on his face. He looked down at her, his grin broadening as she squirmed to free herself. "Amu," he began, knowing Rika could still hear him, "Rika-chan is on the phone. Are you too tired from last night? Should I tell her you're still sleeping?"

A furious scream came from the other end of the phone, nearly bursting Amu's eardrums. With her arms breaking out of his hold, she covered her ears, taking in a sharp breath at the piercing shriek. "Rika-chan, stop!" she finally shouted.

Ikuto just chuckled, though she knew it must have bothered him just as much—if not more—than it had her. He handed the phone to her, but still didn't allow her to get up.

"Rika-chan, listen—"

"What do you think you're doing, Amu-chan?!" Rika demanded furiously. "You can't just let some guy spend the night at your house! What if he isn't as great of a guy as you think he is?! How could you be so stupid?!" Her friend began rattling off reasons why Amu was so idiotic as Amu tried to push herself away from Ikuto. He merely smiled and put both arms around her, closing his eyes as if he were going to fall asleep again.

Face flushing brightly, Amu couldn't hear what Rika was saying as her heart beat wildly in her ear. Squirming, she tried to escape Ikuto's embrace and almost succeeded a few times.

Until he flipped over.

Finding herself trapped beneath him, Amu let out a small squeak, swatting at him. "Get off of me, you big, dumb jerk! I'm trying to talk on the phone!" she hissed as he laughed at her, a real smile on his face.

Amu found herself in a small trance from the pure sincerity of his expression. A genuine, non-teasing smile on Ikuto's face was a rare thing that she had only seen a handful of times. Did he really enjoy making her so embarrassed that much? She felt her blush deepen, and in return, his eyes lighted with laughter. "You're funny when you're nervous," he said, another bright grin gracing his lips.

"Amu-chan?! Amu-chan, what's going on?! What is he doing?!" Rika shouted, breaking into the moment. "Do I need to come over there?!"

It took Amu a second to realize that her friend couldn't hear her shaking her head. "N-no. He's leaving," she stuttered, not even managing a real glare at the man. At his elegantly raised eyebrow, she pointed towards the bathroom. "Like now."

With a disappointed grimace, Ikuto rose, leaving the room. When she heard the shower turn on after he moved into the bathroom, she said to her furious friend, "Don't worry, Rika. Nothing happened between Ikuto and me."

"Then why did he spend the night?" Rika asked, some of her anger fading with her friend's reassurances.

"He used to spend the night all the time," Amu replied without thinking. She caught her mistake when there was a loud shriek from the other end of the phone. Hoping to appease her friend, she added quickly, "We were both kids back then! It didn't mean anything! Nothing happened then, either!"

"And what did your parents have to say about this?" Rika demanded darkly. "He has to be at least four, if not five, years older than you! When you were kids, that had to of been a huge gap!"

Amu wondered how to answer for a moment. "Well, my mother wasn't that upset. She knew I didn't do anything with Ikuto, so it wasn't really important." At least I'm telling the truth!

Rika was silent on the other end for a moment before growling, "I'll be there in ten minutes." The call ended with a soft click!

Jumping off her bed, Amu raced out of her room, nearly colliding with Ikuto as he left the bathroom. Frantically, she waved her arms at him, starting to push him towards the front door.

"Out, out, out! You have to go! Rika-chan is on her way and who knows what she'll do—what do you think you're doing?! You have to leave!" she screamed when he suddenly planted his feet, making her crash against him. Shoving with all her might, she didn't manage to budge him. "You have to go now!"

Quirking one eyebrow at her, he crossed his arms over his chest, questioning, "Why should I be afraid of her coming over? I have every right to be here; you invited me to stay, remember?" His tone became teasing quickly and a smirk lighted his face. "Besides, she should get used to the idea, you being in love with me and all."

Shocked into speechlessness by his audacity, Amu sputtered for a few moments before spinning on her heel so he didn't see her blush. "W-whatever. It's your own life you're taking into your hands, then. Rika-chan is a bit…protective."

"I'm sure I can handle it."

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The woman was insane! The moment she'd stepped into the apartment—met by a grinning Ikuto—she'd turned dark red and started hitting him ferociously. Taken aback, he hadn't known what to do but back up until he felt the arm of the couch hit the back of his thighs. With one final punch, Rika had forced him to fall onto the couch, coming down to straddle him and hit him some more.

Which is how Amu found them, though she didn't seem surprised.

"You pervert! How dare you prey on a young woman living all alone! You're disgusting!" Rika was shouting. She raised her fist and brought it down towards his face. Luckily, his cat-like reflexes kicked in and he rolled heavily to one side, knocking them both to the floor while swapping their positions.

"Should I come back at a better time?" Amu asked mockingly from the bathroom.

Ikuto knew that tone. And when he turned to look at her, he saw that he knew that posture too. She stood with her arms crossed, one hip slightly cocked. She kept her face cool and calm, though her eyes were angry. In the past, Amu had only pulled the "cool and spicy" thing when she was jealous or scared.

Somehow, he didn't think she was frightened in the least.

Rising, he smiled reassuringly. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, he thought happily. Moving towards her, he noticed that she backed away slightly, watching him warily. "Ah, Amu. Is that jealousy on your face?" he teased, knowing it would only make her angry.

But an angry Amu was better than a jealous one. Jealous Amu was unpredictable.

"Don't be so conceited, you bastard!" she shouted. She found herself being forced back into the bathroom as he moved closer; what the hell was he doing?! "Don't you come near me, Tsukiyomi Ikuto! I mean it!" She tried to duck under his arm, only to find her back pressed to his front, his face buried in her hair. "What did I just say?!" She wriggled, trying to free herself.

Ikuto could barely contain the groan that threatened to rip from his throat. God, she really had to stop that!

"You heard her, asshole!" Rika shouted, stomping towards them, fury sparking in her eyes. "Let her go!"

As Ikuto tried to think of a way to disguise his current situation without alerting either bloodthirsty woman, the doorbell rang, signaling his safety.

Amu shoved at him as she almost-politely asked Rika, "Hey, get that, would ya?" She tried to slam her elbow into his diaphragm, missing when he expertly caught her arm. "Ikuto, let go of me! Can't you act in the least bit dignified when we have company here?!" He let out a small chuckle and leaned down to whisper in her ear, but almost immediately, she froze, realizing what she'd said. "That's not what I meant!" she screamed, finally breaking free.

He smirked and watched as she raced into the kitchen, blushing brightly. God, he loved making that girl uncomfortable. "Ah, Amu, I'm wounded." He put one hand over his chest in mock pain. "I thought we had something more than that."

From in front of the door, Rika froze, tensing until her shoulders were level with her ears. She slowly reached for the door handle, her fury easy to notice.

"I-Ikuto, stop being such a pervert!" Amu shouted from the other room, her voice shaking.

He could barely contain his laughter.

Until a ball suddenly hit him dead-center in the chest from the now-open door.

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Kuukai POV

I couldn't believe it! My no-good brother-in-law was bunking with Hinamori Amu! How had that come to pass? So, I did the first thing I could think to do.

I kicked my soccer ball at him.

"Tsukiyomi, what are you doing here?" I couldn't help the growl-like tone of my voice. Sure, I liked Ikuto just fine. Without Easter controlling him, he wasn't a bad guy. In fact, he was fun to be around, so long as you didn't piss him off. But that didn't make up for the fact that Amu was just little kid, at least compared to him. She was probably still at University, for all I knew!

His eyes losing that spark—was he having fun?—he just gave me a bland look. "I could ask you the same thing, Otouto." Did he just call me little brother? There's a first.

Amu was suddenly standing there with us, looking at first Ikuto's face then mine. "Otouto?! What do you mean by that?!"

I blinked before glancing back to Ikuto. If he were so close to Amu once again, why hadn't he told her about my marriage to his little sister? You'd think it would come up at least once if he was to the level of friendship—or whatever they had—where he was staying at her place at night.

He just raised one of those eyebrows at me and waited for me to answer.

Sighing, I ran a hand through my hair. I really hated it when he did that stoic routine. "Well, Hinamori…I got married. To Utau. About six months ago, actually."

And God help me if I ever had to go through another wedding, though I'm still not planning on it. But Utau was the bride from hell. Everything was supposed to be just so or the whole ceremony would be horrible. I still shudder when I remember when the flowers hadn't come in the right color…. That poor florist will probably never get over the screaming criticism that had followed her when she'd run out of the church….

It was hard to miss how big Amu's eyes got when I said that. "You and…Utau…got married?!" Like every other woman that I'd ever told about getting married, she squealed and was abruptly hugging me, the only thing saving me from complete suffocation the fact that I was much bigger than her. She was still a little pipsqueak! "I'm so happy for you!"

I smiled. It was nice to have to playful, fun Amu to talk to. She used to always use that "cool" and "collected" thing, and it bugged me. At least she was acting how she wanted. "Yeah, Hinamori. We got married."

But, just as quickly as our hug began, it ended. I couldn't say I was surprised that her mood changed in a brief span of time. I'd been living with a woman for a whole year, if not a little more, at that time. It'd become second nature for me to be prepared.

"And you didn't even think to tell me?" she demanded, her hands on her hips. "I didn't realize how little I mean to you, Kuukai-kun!"

I didn't know whether she was joking or not, but I laughed anyways. A dire mistake, if I was wrong. But Amu could never stay mad at anyone for long. She always started feeling guilty almost immediately afterwards, so I didn't really have anything to worry about. "So you wanted me to just hunt you down and invite you? Couldn't with Bride-zilla."

She crossed her arms over her chest and tried for a frown. But it almost instantly turned into another smile. "It's been way too long, Kuukai-kun."

She moved as if she were going to hug me again, not that I minded, but two things hit me at that time. One was that the woman who had opened the door was gaping at me as if I'd sprouted a second head.

The second, you ask? Ikuto had his arms wrapped around Amu from behind, a smirk on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes.

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"Amu, I'm hurt once again," he murmured into Amu's ear. "You didn't say that you'd missed me." He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice. Why should it bother him? The only reason he'd really come after her was because he could use her to bring down Easter. If they were looking for her, they wouldn't be far away. And the closer his enemy was, the easier it was to bring it down. But it still bothered him that Kuukai got a warmer welcome than he did.

She took in a swift, harsh breath before hissing, "Would you stop teasing me, you pervert?!" She wiggled her arms out of his hold, pushing down on his forearms as if she could slip up and out of them. "Besides, at least he knows how to use a door."

Rika was on the defensive again, ignoring the new addition to their small group. "You need to leave, Tsukiyomi Ikuto! I don't know why you're even here, but I don't like it!"

He didn't even look up at her, just placed his chin on Amu's head, looking over at Kuukai. "So, Otouto, why the visit? Or was your marriage the only reason you found Amu?"

"Hinamori-san, jerk!"

Kuukai looked over at Rika, then back at Amu and Ikuto. "Well, actually, I'm here because I heard news of a reward placed on Hinamori's return to Easter headquarters. Utau found out a few weeks ago and since then we've been looking everywhere for her." He grinned widely down at Amu, seeming uncomfortable as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Seems like you're always in the last place we look, huh, Hinamori?"

His attempt at a joke fell short as everyone tensed. Amu's eyes widened in disbelief, her struggles ending suddenly. As her hands flew to her face, she seemed to lose all strength in her body, nearly doubling over.

To hear it from Ikuto was one thing. Some part of her could always believe that he was just playing with her, just teasing her to get a rise out of her. But when it came from Kuukai, as well…everything sank in. Why would Easter be after her? The Humpty Lock had gone inactive after Ran, Miki, and Suu disappeared back into her heart. And it wouldn't work for anyone other than her, anyways. What could they possibly want from her now that she was all grown up?

"Don't worry, Amu-chan!" Suu cried. "You can trust Ikuto to figure out what's going on and put a stop to it."

"Ikuto won't let anything happen to you!" Ran added happily.

Miki remained silent, but her worry was strong within Amu.

The three Charas trusted Ikuto wholly. After he'd saved her the first time they'd been able to get the Embryo, they could think of few other people to rely on in life-or-death situations. But that didn't stop Amu's skepticism. How could she trust someone she hadn't seen in so many years?

"Amu-chan," Rika said slowly, standing in front of her pink-haired friend and placing her hands on her shoulders. "What's going on? What do they mean by Easter?"

Amu wanted to tell her it didn't mean anything, that it was just the "bad guy team" from her past. But shock still had its grip on her and she could do nothing more than open her mouth. No words came out, no explanation came. All she could do was sit there and force herself to breathe in and out.

But that didn't seem like enough as the racing of her heart brought the darkness in and she went limp in Ikuto's arms.

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They knew the perfect plan to get the Embryo. It had disappeared some years ago, after Hinamori Amu's Humpty Lock had abruptly closed off. But now they knew how to drag it from its hiding place. All they needed was the girl and the Embryo would surely follow.

But, as he sat watching the screens, he knew one thing that would get in the way. Tsukiyomi Ikuto, the only person who'd been able to completely erase their connection to Easter, was now watching after her. The man was a pain in the ass to say the least. He knew everything about their inner most workings and how to take down their attacks. Almost all of their strategies were embedded in his mind.

And, judging by his earlier protection of the young woman, he would use all his available resources to make sure that nothing touched her.

A dark smile lit the man's face. Oh, but there will always be a way to defeat another when they so obviously let their heart walk around outside their chest. And Ikuto couldn't always protect her.

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Sorry for such a short chapter! I just had to cut it off here. You know, with plot development and all that jazz. Lol.
Well, hope you all liked this chapter of New Life! Story Alerts, please!
Niixx
P.S. If you all would be so kind…please go vote on my poll. I'd really like to know!