Woott! Ohkay! Pepper here! (This chapter is, regretablly, a little shorter than the others will be and stuff. I just needed this transition chappter!)

Sorry about any and all grammatical errors in the last one…I type a weeeee bit toooo fast. :3

Alriighty! Here we go! Things'll get interesting… Where were we…

Ikuto: Amu was raping me. *Grins*

Amu:*Tackles and starts punching violently* You are such an ass!

Pepper:…

Ikuto POV

She had stopped crying once she tackled me. She was just lying there and breathing roughly. I stared at her and in the silence of my mind, I wonder what happened. I assessed her body from what I could see and didn't see any scratches or bleeding. I was caught up in trying to figure this out, that I didn't have time to register her jumping backwards and opening her door quickly. Outside the door, her three Guardian Characters floated with wide and sad eyes. She pushed past them and ran down the hall, flew open the bathroom and stopped for a second.

She looked at me from down the hall and bowed stiffly—as if I were an adult she just offended.

"I'm so sorry, Ikuto." And with that, she slammed the door shut and the house fell silent. I just sat there stunned at what just happened when her guardian characters lunged towards me. They all awkwardly hugged my face, tears streaming down their faces.

"What happened?" I asked bluntly. They were a little taken aback from my tone but the leader of the three, Ran, cleared her throat.

"Tadase-Kan…" I felt my blood beginning to boil. Just hearing that stupid little prince's name made me so angry.

"Did he hurt her?" I asked, my cat like fangs breaking through slightly. Ran coward back but swallowed. She looked down the hall.

"Not physically." She said sadly. The other two made a sad whine and I growled in annoyance. I stood up but groaned in pain.

"Mr. Ikuto, you shouldn't be standing and stressing out." The little green one, Su, explained. I shot her a look but she stood her ground. "She just needs some time to figure out what happened. I'm sure right now she's just embarrassed." I sighed when I realized she was probably right. Amu did care too much about that stuff.

I sat on the bed and ran my hand through my hair.

"What did the kiddy king say exactly?" I asked after a couple of moments. They all exchanged looks and Miki looked at me.

"That's probably best if she explains." I stared at the end of the hall when a thought entered my brain.

"Ladies…where is Yoru?" I asked. At that moment, a terrified shriek came from the bathroom.

Miki laughed nervously. "Found him"

I couldn't take any chances though so I ran to the door and listened. "Yoru! You can't just scare people like that!" Amu said with a rough voice. I smiled in relief and was about to walk away when I heard Yoru.

"Well. What are you doing in here-nya? No normal person stays in a ball and cries-nya." I let my curiosity get the best of me and I leaned against the wall and listened.

"I guess I'm just not normal then…" Her voice was so sad and so not normal Amu.

"Hey! Calm down-nya! I was joking!" Yoru tried. "What happened that got your panties in a twist?" I had to stop myself from laughing at that comment. I was very happy that Yoru had happened to be in there. He may be annoying, but I knew he would get her to say something. I had to know what happened if she expected me to help her.

Amu POV

I glared at the floating cat. That was a stupid thing to say. I forced myself up and looked at myself in the mirror. I groaned in disgust at myself. My eye liner had smeared down my face causing my other make up to run as well. My hair was also messed up and disgusting.

"I am disgusting, huh?" I said more to myself. Yoru popped up on my shoulder and stare at my reflection.

"Nahh…" He said confidently while floating backwards. "You just look like you got into an epic fight-nya!" I couldn't even believe him. I grabbed a brush and re did my hair, then redid my make-up. When I was down, I stared at my fixed self but saw nothing but a shell.

"I'm worthless." I said as I dropped my head into my hands. When I moved my hands away I saw Yoru standing on the counter looking up at me sadly.

"You're not worthless-nya! You do great things for other people!"

"It doesn't matter, none of it matters. All anyone will ever see me for is that weird 'Cool and Spicy' girl who doesn't fit in with the guardians. Who doesn't have long flowy blonde hair like Rima or Utau. Just a girl who tries to be something she's not." I couldn't stand to look at myself. How could I? I now saw what everyone else sees every day. And here I thought I was finally fitting in somewhere…

"That's a lie-nya." I looked at the small cat. "No matter how you may think of yourself, you're wrong-nya. You save people. You've saved countless amounts of children by changing their X_Eggs back to normal-nya." I sighed and stared at the mirror again. "And you're not disgusting to us." He pointed out. I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest. "No really-nya! You could've kicked us out the first night we got here, or you could've left Ikuto in that alleyway, or you could've kicked us any time during the past couple days and you haven't! Whether or not he'd admit it-nya...he is very appreciative for you." I couldn't believe that this was coming from little trouble maker Yoru. I guess he was right in that sense...I was taking a huge risk with Ikuto being here.

"Just because I let you guys stay here, doesn't mean i'm not disgusting. Or being used. Or just..." Tears burned my eyes again but I tried to fight them back.

There was a knock at the door. I ignored it. It came again. "Amu." His cool voice said once. I stared at the door, debating whether or not to answer. Ikuto did sometimes make me feel better…

Then I remembered what Tadase said and I turned away from the door. "You know, your parents won't like if I have to break this door in." There was a pause as I debated if he was serious. "And you know damn well I will." His voice was much quieter and it sent chills down my spine.

"Just go away Ikuto. I don't want you to see me like this…" I admitted. I heard him scoff.

"Just grow up, kid and open the door." I took a step towards the door but stopped.

"At least let me take a shower first?" I begged. He was quiet for a moment and I heard him grunt in agreement. I turned towards the shower, but saw Yoru was relaxing on the handle. "You have to get out." I stated firmly. He looked up through one eye and smiled.

"Fine. But that means you have to open the door." I glared at him and glanced at the door. I think Ikuto walked away, maybe if I did it real quick…

I grabbed Yoru and tiptoed to the door. I slowly put my hand on the handle and took a deep breath. In one motion, I quickly unlocked the door and opened it a crack to fit Yoru out. As I was shutting it however, I was flung backwards. I waited for the floor but it never came. I opened my eyes and was met with sapphire blue ones staring at me. He had one hand on the door and his other wrapped around my waist, as if he knew what was going to happen.

What felt like hours and he finally set me back on my feet. He turned, reached for something, then shut the door and handed me a pile of clothes, a towel, and hair accessories. I took them defiantly and placed them on the counter.

"I hate you." I said as I turned the water on to let it get hot. When I turned back around, he was right there—millimeters away from my face. I backed up until I hit the wall and he just got closer.

"No you don't." He said in his velvet voice. The brief image of kissing him flashed through my mind but I shook it out of my head as quickly as it came.

"Careful. If you get any closer you might vomit." I pushed him away from me and awkwardly stood in front of the mirror. I could tell he was confused but he knew deep down I was vile. Young. Stupid. Naïve. And he was older, beautiful, kind, and smart. He'll realize it eventually. "Can you get out now? I'm going to take a shower." I said in a dead voice. He came up behind me and stared at my reflection—similar to Yoru.

"No." I sighed at his stupid answer and turned him to face the door. I kept my eyes on him intently, making sure he didn't turn around while I was getting changed but he didn't even try and look. Probably because 1) I was repulsive and 2)out of respect. I stepped into the steamy hot shower. The shower doors allowed my head visible and thankfully covered me from the neck down.

I started to wash myself, which was difficult since I knew Ikuto had settled himself in a sitting position against the door and he was now watching me. It was funny, I knew he couldn't see any part of my lower half but I still felt terrified and exposed. Not that he'd look.

I'm disgusting.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" I heard him ask quietly. I stared up at the shower head and sighed. "It's a matter of time before you tell me." He added. I continued to wash myself and I chanced a look over at him and saw him stand up. My heart started to race as he took a couple steps closer to me. He was much taller than me so I'm sure at some point he would be able to see…more of me.

"Can I ask you something, Ikuto?" I asked quickly, causing him to stop in his tracks. I was crying but thankfully he couldn't tell thanks to the shower. I was looking at him through the glass and our eyes were locked. "I know that I'm young and…really annoying sometimes…but what do you honestly think of me?" I asked

I could tell the question definitely caught him by surprise. He tilted his head and looked at me. "Does this have something to do with the kid king?" He asked in a cold tone. My body froze as I thought of everything he had said to me.

I knew I gave away that it was about him because Ikuto tensed up.

"Can you just answer me? I'll answer whatever you want then..." I snapped at him. He was quiet for a long moment.

"You are kind. Too kind for your own good but that doesn't have to be a bad thing. You care too much what people think about you and you're not honest with yourself. You're critical and sometimes harsh." My eyes shut in pain. "But you're also brave." I opened them again and stared at the leaky shower head. "You try to help everyone around you, before you start to think of yourself. You're dorky in the good sense and you're down to earth. You're capable of incredible things but you struggle to find where you want to be with that power."

I was speechless. Never before had I thought Ikuto, of all people, thought so highly of me. I couldn't enjoy or think of these thoughts any longer because Ikuto spoke again.

"What did he say to you?" He said slowly.

"…" I gasped out as I turned away to finish washing.

"Amu…" My eyes shut tightly. That was the weird thing with Ikuto and I. We both cared about each other, no matter how much we may annoy each other. There were no formalities with us. I liked just hearing my name once in a while…

"We got into an argument…about you." I said as I shut off the water. I heard him make a small noise, urging me to go on. "He was remembering a time when you two last saw each other, and he said he hated you and you said he was weak. I accidently said that I'm sure you had an actual reason for saying something like that and Tadase-Kan got mad. Very mad. We started fighting and he told me that you're just in my life to piss him off, get the Humpty Lock, and mess with my head. I argued him about that and then…he said a lot of things…" I took a chance and glanced over at Ikuto, who was angrier than I've seen in a while. "He said that I was a stupid young girl who was disgusting…" I heard a violent and terrifying hiss form Ikuto.

I looked over to see him handing me a towel and facing the other way. I grabbed it and wrapped myself tightly before stepping out. I went to say something but Ikuto stormed out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. I stood there, awkwardly, stunned. I slowly pulled on the sweat pants and tanktop that was picked out for me and I padded my way to my room.

"Ikuto?" I asked as I opened the door. Ran, Miki, and Su both flew to me and hugged my face tightly. I looked around and saw no sign of him or Yoru. My shoulders slumped and I made my way to my bed.

"I'm sorry, Amu-chan." Miki said as I curled under the covers and stared out the window.

I then buried my face into the pillow and screamed loudly once.

"Even Ikuto is disgusted with me now… I guess he realized how unconsciously happy his teasing made me. And now, he's gone. And I'm alone." I said into the pillow.

Slowly, everything faded away.

With tears streaming down my face and my head pounding, I started to slip into unconsciousness.

My last thought?

Of all times for Ikuto NOT to force his way into my bed.

Amu: Ikuto! Where did you go you stupid son of a bitch!

Pepper: Maybe if you hadn't been so hormonal…

Amu:n *Glares* You made me that way, stupid! Just Bring him back! I need a hug

Pepper: Siiigh. Don't worry. He won't be gone long at all. In fact, he'll be back at the beginning of next chapter. I promise!

Amu: *Glares questionably*

Pepper: No seriously, and maybe, if I'm in a good enough mood…I'll let him come back before morning…if ya know what I mean… ;)

Amu: *Gasps and Jumps around* I mean… *stops* maybe I don't want him in my bed…

Pepper: That's a brilliant idea! :D

Read and Review! Ikuto comes back quicker that way!