Hi…? I know it's been a while. My laptop broke down so I couldn't write :/ It's working again now! So expect more frequent updates on all three of my on-going stories and I'm thinking of a new story, but I probably won't be publishing it anytime soon. Anyways I've kept you guys waiting already for… over two months. T-T I'm sorry for being a bad author! Let's get into this chapter already, shall we? I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks for reviewing StarElsie, Psht who needs a name, Guest and Masked-Secret-Neko
Recap
What neither knew though was that they'd be seeing each other a lot more often...
End of Recap
The Hinamori manor was always quiet and peaceful, being that it only held four people. However a certain Monday morning was different and thus very rowdy, much to Miki's distaste.
"Amu-chan, breakfast is read ~desu"
"Don't forget your lunchbox! Oh and be careful!"
"Good luck on school Amu-chan! Maybe you'll even find love ~!"
"D-Dia!"
"Shut up already…" The bluenette muttered, stuffing her face in a pillow hoping it would block out the noise.
A painfully loud yelp echoed through the ginormous house and Amu yelled, "Dia, I am not wearing that!"
"Eh? It looks really cute on you though, plus it shows off your nice figure" She giggled
At that Miki reached her limit, no one disrupted her sleep and if someone would they'd have to pay the price.
She grabbed a cute outfit she had been working on for a few weeks and angrily stomped up the stairs towards Amu's bedroom.
The door was slammed open which startled the four quarrelling girls. Miki threw the outfit in Amu's face yelling, "Now stop screaming, you noisy brats!" and went back to her room.
For a moment the girls just stood frozen in place, not quite sure how to react to the usually calm and collected artist's outburst.
"Well then, I guess I won't have to help you pick out an outfit anymore"
"I'll go prepare your bag Amu-sama"
"Then I'll clean up the kitchen ~desu"
Despite the fact that the peaceful atmosphere the mansion often held returned, Amu was still over the moon. She had butterflies in her stomach and it seemed no matter how hard she tried, she was unable to wipe the grin of her face as she struggled to put on the denim dress Miki had, rather angrily, given her as quickly as possible.
The last time she recalled being this happy was when her little sister was born. Just like that day thirteen years ago, today too nothing would bring her down for she was in euphoria.
Perhaps thing were finally taking a toll and for once in her life she didn't have to be the perfect girl like her parents wanted, Amu could finally just be… her. A normal sixteen years old teenage girl with her own strengths, weaknesses, beauty and flaws.
There was one more thing she desired,
Friends.
Though Ran, Miki, Su and Dia were always around, it still got lonely. Most of the time the time they were just doing their job around the mansion, besides she wanted to make friends her own age.
Teenagers that talked about whatever they may talk about. After all, how was someone who had never talked to a high school student supposed to know?
"Amu-sama, it's time to leave!"
Hearing this Amu quickly tied her strawberry pink hair in a messy braid an hastily grabbed a pair of blue flats, racing down the many stairs of the mansion.
Reaching the end of the staircase Amu was greeted by Ran, Su and Dia's lovely smiles.
"That dress looks cute on you, Amu-chan"
"Here's your bag, Amu-sama" Ran, being as courteous as always said.
"Thanks Dia, Ran"
"Do you remember the way to school?"
"Yes Ran"
"Alright, now be careful okay, don't run into strange people"
Dia rolled her eyes, "Stop being so overprotective, Ran"
"Have a good time on school Amu-chan ~desu"
"Thanks Su," Amu slipped on her flats and opened the front door, "I'll be on my way now"
If it wasn't for the fact that she was so self-conscious, Amu would probably be prancing around with an idiotic grin on her face. Her parents had taught her better than that, though. Image was important, make one wrong move and it's all over.
It was 8:00 AM in the morning and the streets were already rather crowded. Some people glanced towards her with curiosity, but quickly looked away if she caught them.
Amu wondered why people were giving her looks, but shook the thought off.
To her, opening gate of the mansion felt how winning the final boss battle felt for a game addict, only ten times better.
Though she did her best to suppress a smile, the corners of her mouth still twitched upwards.
She looked around every corner of the street, fascinated with details an average person wouldn't even look up to. Perhaps checking a few things out wouldn't be a bad thing. Seiyo Academy wasn't that far away, besides she was extremely curious.
After about 15 minutes of looking around Amu realized that she should hurry up as the streets had gotten less crowded, signaling most people had already reached their destination.
The pinkette bit her lip with worry, getting late on the first school day was something Amu definitely wanted to avoid.
So she rushed down the streets in hopes of not getting late. However, she didn't notice a boy that was about to bump into her.
Crashing into each other, the two teens ended up painfully landing on the hard concrete sideway.
Ikuto cursed under his breath, just his luck. Not only did he sleep in again, but he also bumped into some girl, causing a delay.
"Oi, watch where you're going" Ikuto sighed getting up and wiping the dirt of his ripped jeans.
Perhaps it was because Amu had always learned to be polite towards people and expected the same in return or simply because she was already annoyed by the fact that she had just fallen on her bum rather painfully, but something had sparked up anger inside of her.
"Excuse me, but it was just as much your fault as mine"
Ikuto raised an eyebrow at her sudden snap of anger. What was this girl's deal? They had only just met yet she was mad at him.
"So you're admitting it was your fault as well," she was about to retort until he suddenly titled his head sideways, "strawberries, huh?"
Now it was Amu's turn to be confused. Strawberries? What the heck did that mean? Was he ridiculing her hair? Not that he could talk with his midnight blue hair.
Then it suddenly came to her that her underwear was visible. With her face having a near resemblance to a tomato, the pinkette pulled the hem of her dress down.
"D-don't sexually harass me so casually, you p-pervert!" She stammered.
"How is it harassment when you're basically flashing them to me?" He questioned in a monotone voice.
"I didn't flash them to you, it only happened because I bumped into you and you took advantage of that to look at my p-panties"
"I don't have time for this, I'll get late for school if I waste my time talking to little girls"
"I'm not a little girl, I'm sixteen you pervert" Only then it dawned upon her that she too would come late for school if she didn't hurry.
"Why are you stalking me?" Ikuto asked, noticing that the strawberry girl was walking behind him.
"Who in the world would stalk a pervert like you?!" This guy was pushing her buttons and she honestly never in her life, until now, felt like punching someone in the face.
"Then why are you following me?"
"I told you, I'm not-"
"Actually you didn't"
"Don't interrupt me, you bastard!"
"Little girls shouldn't curse"
"I told you I'm not a little girl!"
From that moment on they were just silently walking towards their schools. Neither said a word, but then again what should one say to a person they barely know? Especially if one of them never had a conversation with someone her age.
"Are you the girl from the ghost house?" Ikuto asked in an attempt to spark a conversation, though the boy was rather quiet, the silence was killing even him.
"The ghost house?"
"Yeah, you know the biggest mansion in Shugo street"
"I don't think so," Amu lied, after all she wasn't supposed to let anyone know who she was, "what do you mean with 'ghost mansion' anyway?"
"Well, there's a ginormous mansion in Shugo street and I bet some really rich people live there, but rumors have been going around that it's haunted"
Amu nearly choked on her saliva "H-Haunted?!" Though it may have seemed like she was scared with the way she was shivering, in truth she was holding back laughter.
"Yeah since no one ever goes in or out of it, however when I ran past it last week on my way to school I saw a girl on a balcony in the mansion"
"What makes you say it was me?"
"The hair, you don't see a girl with strawberry hair every day"
Amu laughed at the irony of that "Look who's talking"
"Touché" Ikuto almost chuckled at her witty comment, almost.
The two got along surprisingly well, but from past experience with girls Ikuto got along with, he knew it had to end soon.
"You know…" Ikuto started.
"What is it?"
"How long are you going to keep stalking me?"
At the reddening of her cheeks Ikuto smirked, teasing this girl was surprisingly fun.
"I'm not stalking you!"
"Sure" He sarcastically answered, drawing out the 'e'.
"It's not like I can help that my school is in the same direction as yours"
"Whatever you say, strawberry"
Amu wasn't quite sure whether he was retorting to her hair or panties, but either way she got pissed and slapped him on the arm.
He winced at the sudden hit of her hand, "Oi, don't hit me you feisty woman"
With a scowl she walked ahead of him.
Ikuto's eye slightly twitched at her stubborn behavior. The girl had just hit him for Christ's sake and she isn't even going to apologize.
Then he suddenly realized something, "By the way, what's your name?"
"None of your business"
"Pleasure to meet you, 'None of your business"
"How childish can you get?"
"Well if you don't tell me your name what else can I call you?"
"Don't want to"
"Alrighty then, 'Don't want to" seeing the girl so annoyed gave him slight amusement, "so why can't I know your name?"
"Why should I give it to you? It's not like you'll ever see me again"
"What school do you go to?"
"Seiyo Academy"
"No way"
"Yeah way"
"Never seen you there"
"I'm a transfer student"
"Well I go there too," meanwhile Amu was internally screaming, "guess I'll see you around then, strawberry" he teasingly winked at her.
"Don't call me that"
"I don't know your name so can't call you anything else"
Amu sighed in relief at the sight of her new school, finally she didn't have to stay near this annoying guy anymore.
Ikuto felt slightly disappointed that they had already arrived. Though he would, most likely, never admit it, he kind of enjoyed the pinkette's company, even though she smacked his arm to the point of a really big bruise.
He sighed, well at least he was on time for once. He felt a slight sense of pride knowing that he was capable of getting to school on time. He yawned, if only there was more time to sleep. Unfortunately that meant he didn't have enough time to study and work. He needed both to get into a good university and get out of that house as soon as possible.
"Yo Ikuto" Kukai called snapping him out his thoughts.
"Why you bastard, you didn't wake me up yesterday. Again." Ikuto glared at him.
Kukai sheepishly laughed, feeling uncomfortable under Ikuto's angry gaze.
"By the way Ikuto, I've always noticed, but why do you have such big bags under your eyes"
"Lack of sleep" He carelessly shrugged.
"Oh my! What a shame, it ruins your beautiful face, Ikuto-chan" Kukai dramatically sighed.
"I don't want to hear such a disgusting thing from you" Ikuto muttered.
"Souma-kun, Tsukiyomi-san! Hurry up or you'll be late!" Their homeroom teacher, Nikaidou Yuu exclaimed, standing near the door while frantically waved his hands.
"Well, Nikaidou's as strange as ever" Kukai acknowledged.
"It's Nikaidou-sensei for you, Souma-kun"
"He's got crazy good hearing though" Ikuto added, causing Kukai to sweat drop at the man's bat-like hearing.
"Why are you waiting by the door Nikaidou-sensei?" The brunette curiously asked.
"I'm waiting for a new student"
"Wow, really? Who is it?!"
"You'll know soon"
Noticing Ikuto's smirk, Kukai said: "What's up with that creepy face?"
"Nothing"
"Right" Kukai sarcastically retorted, taking a seat next to Ikuto.
"Alright then, students!" Nikaidou shouted as to catch the students attention, and it worked, "Today we have a new student, meet Himamori Amu"
The girl that Ikuto met this morning walked in and their eyes met for a second, Ikuto smirked and she glared in annoyance.
"Please introduce yourself, Himamori-san"
She faked a smile, "Well my name is actually Hinamori Amu, I'm 16 and transferred here just today. Please take care of me" She bowed.
Silent murmurs faintly echoed through the class, people giving their opinion about her. Amu was accustomed to it, however. Her parents did it when she was younger, they said they were 'preparing her for the real world'. Since apparently there it was normal to judge someone by their behavior whether the person got hurt or not. They didn't care and sometimes even got a sadistic pleasure of seeing that person hurting and suffer. Therefore people could talk all they want. Her parents had already called out all her flaws and told her to get rid of them so their talking didn't affect her in anyway.
But, there was one things that had a negative effect on her.
"Heh, so you do have a name, strawberry"
Did the gods hate her or did they just like messing with the girl?
Yay done! So originally this was only supposed to be midway the chapter and I was gonna introduce more characters, but I had a bit of a writers' block guys. I'm sorry, I just really didn't know how to continue and had to push myself to continue after a while. I'm really am sorry, not only did I make you all wait for such an extended period, but I also have a writer's block T-T. I know, not much happened expect for Ikuto and Amu's meeting and Amu finally going to school, but I did my best and hope that's enough… Well, hope you enjoyed. Review Please!