Please read Author's Note at the end. Disclaimer is at the end as well.

Summary: Ch2: Amu has met Ikuto and on their first meeting, he kissed her! And now, after she met other new friends, she discovers that she's stuck with him as a partner?! What's with this sexual tension that's between them and what's this, a challenge?!Amuto.R&R


Chapter Two: The Key

His lips weren't what she had been expecting. At all, period. But… she had to admit, it was soft and it tasted of a sport drink that he must have drank earlier to replenish himself. He was an expert kisser, she could feel it. His easy dominance over her as his hands was placed on both sides of her as she sat on the table, caused a delicious shiver to run up her spine. She could feel herself begin to melt in his kiss, finding that she was beginning to lose control of her insides and her fluttering heart.

What drove him to kiss her, he had no idea. Maybe it was her stutters, her stubbornness to admit he was a good dancer, and her admiration for how he had danced earlier made him feel… different, as if he wanted to possess her. Maybe it was her lips, or her blushing, or even perhaps her begrudging smile. He knew right away that she was not the same as every other girl he knew at this school… she was unique and it only made him want to tease her; to play with her. But… what drove him to kiss this girl, whom he barely knew?

She tasted of strawberry and was so sweet in her kiss. She was timid, unsure, and confused. He could even sense the initial shock disappearing as it began to form into anger. However, before she herself could bite down on his tongue, he pulled away from the kiss.

"H-How dare you?!" she exclaimed, after she recovered from the bite. She glared and tried to punch him, but he effortlessly moved away. He had taken advantage of the situation and of her. How could he?

When he realized he had made a horrible mistake, he instantly felt guilty. Why? He never usually felt this way, especially with a girl. He's done that loads of times and the girls he planted the kiss on never had a problem with it; in fact, they all swooned over him and wanted more. But actually, it was the first time he had ever kissed a girl right on the lips just like the way he had.

Her face was red with disgrace and anger. "You better pay for this, to compensate," she hissed, glaring at him angrily, tears threatening to break free.

He merely shrugged and smirked. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't," he murmured, almost sounding thoughtful.

She glared so forcefully, she could have drilled right through him. If looks could kill, well, Ikuto would have died ten times over just from the sheer hatred in that glare. After what seemed like several minutes, she noticed that he didn't say anything and didn't do anything else. He had stepped away a bit of ways that she noticed there was enough space for her to jump down. Finally, as realization dawned, there was no way she was going to stay in this room further with him, and he seemed that he won't be giving up an apology.

Already, barely already known him, he was already a jerk she vowed to avoid. She jumped off the table, shoving him roughly to the side. "Don't talk to me, to speak to me, don't see me again!" she shrieked as she slammed the door shut behind her. As she stomped to her dorm room, her stomps and anger gradually faded after a few minutes of being away from him. She eventually came to a stop half-way up the stairs and touched her lips where his own had touched. It was still warm from earlier and she could still feel his lips. She blushed but shook it off; she didn't even like him and he dared to kiss her like that! She'll never admit that she liked that kiss. The only thing she wished about the situation that she could change was that he was actually her boyfriend and that he should have apologized.

* * *

The next two days passed quickly, as Amu tried to get used to the start of college life. Then another several days passed and she found herself exhausted. Dance practice was grueling as they were drilling her over the basics of dancing all over again.

When she had gone up to her dorm room after that incident with Ikuto, she found Yaya talking with another female with a black hair band and curly light brown hair. Yaya introduced her as Rima Mashiro. Mildly, Amu noted that this was the girl who loved gag comics. Hhn, one really couldn't judge everything on looks as this girl was far, far away from a girl who looked like someone who loved gag comics. She was really petite and pretty and had this innocent-like beauty that Amu could swear she could already hear rumors about her.

Amu met Utau later. Apparently, she's the daughter of one of the music teachers here, but since he was an instrumental teacher, she didn't see him often. Amu didn't catch the name though.

One night, they decided to talk about family. Of course, this was the night after their first day of school. They had just finished discussing their class schedules and teachers when the subject of family somehow came up.

"I have a little sister, Ami, and a mom, and a dad at home," Amu explained. She pulled out a small picture frame of them and handed it to them.

"Aw, how cute!" Utau gushed as she looked at Ami. "Your sister is so cute, Amu!"

"Oh, let me see, let me see!" Yaya whined, reaching out to grab the frame. When she got a look, she agreed. "Yep, I agree; she's absolutely adorable. However, she's not as cute as my baby brother, Tsubasa."

"Oh?" Rima sounded curious. "I'm an only child, and I really wish I could have a sister or a brother." She shrugged. "But I'm fine, I guess, without really having one… it is a bit lonely though."

"It sounds like it is," Amu nodded. "But it's not all that bad, right?"

Rima nodded. "Yeah, it's not. Especially since I've always had a lot of friends when I was younger."

Amu turned to Utau. "Do you have any siblings?"

Utau opened her mouth before shutting it again. It was as if she was considering in telling them about her family. "I already told you that my father works here, right? Well, so does my mother, but she works as a nurse in the infirmary. And, well I… I have a brother."

"A brother? What's his name?" Yaya asked, curious.

Before Utau could say his name, there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Girls, time for lights out!" Koko called through the door. "So off to bed!"

"Yes!" they replied back and went to bed, getting themselves ready for the events to come.

* * *

A few weeks have gone by since she's last seen Ikuto and mildly, she's wondered if he's even a student here. Then again, he did seem several years older than she was… so perhaps he was in a different class than she was. She stopped herself. Why should she care about that jerk anyway? He stole her first kiss. However, in the midst of all the busy stuff she kept doing, she found a small little gift waiting for her in her dorm room a week into school; all wrapped in a delicate, cute pink ribbon and a pale pink wrapping. Inside, the gift had been a little purple-black cat with golden eyes and a small black collar around his neck. The strange thing is that whenever she was doing something lucky, the cat was with her. Now, as if by habit, she carried the cat around as a good luck charm.

Today was different, Amu noted, as she walked into the dance room. The students were sitting down on the floor, waiting for the teacher to finish talking to someone. Whoever it was, she couldn't see them.

She sat down next to Yaya, who shared the same class as her. "What's going on?" Amu whispered.

"I don't know," she whispered back. "I think… the teachers are collaborating on something…"

Just then, two teachers came forth and began to explain.

"Class, today, we're going to begin a new lesson. As you all know, we're already far into the month of October and you all know how close Christmas is from here," Mrs. Lyke said. She was their dance instructor. For a moment, Amu remembered when she first met the teacher… make that, several of the teachers. There were a lot of people who did not like her being here… namely some teachers…

"And every year here, the dance students get together and perform a routine at the Christmas Eve show; it's been a tradition here for a very long time," said the teacher that Amu didn't know. He appeared very experienced in dancing. He had a slim build, his brown hair tied into a pony tail in the back. He had sparkling brown eyes that seemed to glimmer when he spoke of his passion. He also had a slight scruff around his chin, which he absently stroked as he spoke. "It's also an advertising show as it shows other possible students that they should come to our lovely school." He paused as if in thought and glanced back for a moment before turning back toward them.

"However, we're trying something new this year; we're going to have senior year boys come here and practice the chosen routine with you. We've already decided your partners ahead of time."

Boys began to file in one at a time, surprising Amu when she that there was Ikuto, standing next a brown haired male with green eyes. Before she could say anything to Yaya, the teacher spoke up again.

"Since there are an odd number of people here, some students have volunteered to join us in the odd numbered students we have."

Before Amu casted her glance at the others, she looked over the males of the class. There was a green-black haired male who seemed the oldest, next to Ikuto, who wore glasses. Another was a male with long purple hair that seemed really friendly. He had dark purple eyes and a laugh that seemed to have captured many of the girls up front. Next to him stood a male with blonde hair with hazel-like eyes that seemed to her the ultimate prince. Even though he was slightly shorter than most of the males, he was still very popular with the girls as they began to gossip. Also amongst the group was a male with green hair, a male with dyed purple hair…

However, she felt Yaya poke her hard enough that she pulled her gaze away from them and turned toward where Yaya was pointing at. Amu began to smile as she realized Rima and Utau had been the volunteers and waved them over. They sat down next to them and looked through the crowd. Immediately, Amu noticed a faint blush appear on Rima's face.

"Rima, what's up?" Amu asked softly, to avoid the teacher casting his glance their way.

"There's a guy she likes that's in that group," Yaya whispered back, smothering her giggle. It was a subtle blush but was it was enough to confirm it.

"I-I do not like anyone!" she whisper-yelled. But they already knew; they were going to have to pry it out of her later when they get back to the dorm room. When Amu returned her attention to the teacher, she noticed that Utau was oddly silent.

"All right, when I call up your names, you will be assigned a partner and he or she shall be your partner until the Christmas Show. There will be no trading, and there will be no complaints, got that everyone?"

"Yes!" everyone called out.

"All right, let's see… Yaya Yuiki?"

"Here!" Yaya called out, getting up to walk to the front. She was eager to find out who her partner was going to be.

"Your partner is going to be Kairi Sanjou, I hope you get along," the teacher called.

Ah, Amu thought. So the glasses guy is Kairi, hmm?

Mildly, she wondered who was going up next. Several other names were called before she heard Utau's name being called.

"Utau Hoshina!" Several people gasped aloud. Apparently, her name was famous here, and Amu remembered why. It was because her singing voice had been the reason why she's at this very college; she was also one of those rare scholarship students as well.

"Here," she replied as she came up and stood up front. Amu noticed the brown haired male whisper something into Ikuto's ear and he only nodded back. For awhile now, he's been trying to capture her gaze since he came in. However, she avoided every chance she got to not look at him. Strange, she was still peeved about the fact that he had kissed her when normally, she would have forgiven most people.

"Your partner is Kukai Souma," the teacher said, looking up to watch Kukai step forth. With a wide grin he looked on.

"Hiya, pleasure to meet you, Idol of the Singing department," he slapped her heartily on the back, of which she returned with much more force.

"It's a pleasure to meet the athlete of the senior's boy's class," Utau said, as if she was restraining her annoyance with a forced smile. They shook hands, and some girls and guys snickered. They could already see the beginning of a relationship blooming.

After they went to sit on the side, there were a few girls left, including Amu herself and Rima. The blonde male, the purple haired guy, and Ikuto was left amongst the really good-looking guys that Amu considered.

"Hmm… Daichi, are you here today?" the teacher called out.

"Yep," he greeted as he came forth. Amu was startled at the similarities between him and Kukai. It was almost shocking except for his vivid green hair that Amu was almost certain that he dyed. Then again… her own hair color wasn't exactly normal either.

"You'll be partnered up with Ran, although, I'm assuming you two already know each other?" the teacher sighed as the girl got up from the front. Immediately, Amu recognized her as one of the really cheerful girls in her class. She was one of the more very energetic girls that seemed to have endless energy. She walked over to Daichi and held him on his arm with a big smile and sat down on the side.

That left five males.

"Rima Mashiro? Come here," she called. Rima got up onto her feet and walked over. A lot of the males whistled at her size and how petite she was before the teacher sent them all a scolding look. Of course, it was toward the boys who made the noise in the first place.

Rima looked shy and said nothing. "Your partner is going to be… Nagihiko Fujisaki."

"It's going to be a pleasure of working with you," Nagihiko said with a slight bow. He was really polite. "And you could just call me Nagi."

Rima huffed softly as she said, "The pleasure's all mine." She shook his hand, and Amu noticed the surprise that appeared on his face at the size of her hand. Then they went over to the side to sit down.

"Tadase Hotori, step forward." The blonde came forth and surprised Amu when she noticed that his eyes came in contact with her own, and she flushed. Ikuto watched the entire exchange and his eyes became darkly blank.

"Your partner is Lara Kristopher," said the voice, and many girls groaned of disappointment. However, many were still very hopeful that they would end up with the best looking of the group: Ikuto.

Amu, herself, was disappointed as well. She wanted to meet Tadase because he had smiled at her when their eyes connected. Whatever fate had left to play, it was going to be cruel because she felt, in some unknown reason that she was going to end up with someone she did not like.

"Amu Hinamori," the teacher called forth and she sighed as she got up to answer to her name.

She walked forth, awaiting her doom. "Ah, well, surprisingly, you're partnered up with Ikuto Tsukiyomi. Consider yourself lucky, you're going to be working with the school's prodigy; be sure to take his advice carefully."

Wait a minute, Ikuto, the jerk, was the school's prodigy?! HOW?! WHEN?! WHY HASN'T SHE HEARD OF THIS BEFORE?! She shot a glare at Yaya's, Utau's, and Rima's direction and they each shrugged in turn. But while she was busy fuming, she didn't hear the sound of annoyance in the teacher's voice…

"It's a pleasure to be working with you." She snapped out of her anger enough to glance at the source of the voice; Ikuto. She hadn't seen him in awhile, so she was still astounded at how gorgeous he was. The way his midnight blue hair was done, the way his half-lidded sapphire hues watched her, and the way he smiled made her heart flutter. However, she quickly buried the fluttery feeling down into the pit of her stomach.

"No, the pleasure is all mine," she said through gritted teeth with her voice dripping in sarcasm, remembering her anger from awhile back, her eyebrows furrowed but her lips were smiling. "Jerk." She uttered the last word under her breathe so that only Ikuto would hear. She was pretending to smile for everyone else, who all watched as they headed to the side to sit down with the rest of them.

He grimaced inwardly at the insult. It had been so poisonous…

Yaya poked her from behind, "You know Ikuto? You're so lucky, you get to be tutored by him… he's the best dancer out there!"

Before she could retort something back to her, the teacher clapped her hands. "All right, I'm going to assign you room numbers of a studio here in this building, so that you may begin your individual routines. Also, on the paper is written a routine that the pair of you is each expected to learn. This will also be for a grade, mind you all."

She handed out sheets of paper to each pair, but before she handed the paper to Ikuto, she said quietly, "Ikuto, I expect you to be very thorough in your training. You know the competition is coming up."

"It all depends on her, Mrs.," Ikuto replied with a sort of indifference that caused Amu to be confused. This was Ikuto? It didn't sound like it.

"Let's go, Amu," he smirked as he led her away from the studio. When they left, he withdrew his hand and immediately, Amu noticed something absolutely static about the surroundings around him. What happened in their time apart from each other?

* * *

When they entered the studio, Amu realized that it was the same room where Ikuto had-

"I'm going to be teaching you how to tango, it seems," he smirked, his eyes flashing as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

Dear god, kill me now, Amu thought breathlessly. He was… so spectacular in the angle he rested in, just like a model. His hair messy, his shirt pulled slightly to the side to reveal more of his shoulder than he probably had intended. His shirt was slightly tight, so it pulled and showed off his muscles in short, yet defined shadows of his form, revealing a broad chest, and probably an even broader back. He also wore loose pants to be comfortable to dance in that revealed his long, lean legs. He wore nothing around his neck and wore a sweat band around his left wrist. His eyes were half-lidded and gracing his lips was a smirk that she felt was characteristic of him.

But Amu wasn't the only one appreciating the view.

Ikuto looked Amu up and down, to find that she dressed in tights along her legs, clearly showing off her slim form and hourglass shape. By god, she had wonderful legs for someone of her size. She wore dancing heels in the typical color of black; after all, it was only practice. She wore a black tank-top and her hair was pulled up into bun, revealing her creamy collar bone, skin, and neck. She had thin arms, but he remembered how hard she could probably hit with those. She wore shorts on top of her tights and appeared well-prepared. Her cheeks had a soft blush and her honey-colored eyes were furrowed in determination.

"Well, then, teach me," she huffed, slightly annoyed. She couldn't believe she admitted that he looked like the hottest thing on the planet right now. Curse her stupid hormones.

"We need to stretch first then," Ikuto pointed out as he began to stretch to get ready to dance.

Amu took small peeks over at Ikuto, finding that he was quite flexible, but not as flexible as a girl was. He was flexible enough, it seems and Amu wondered how he was such an accomplished dancer if he only was able to flex that much. She sighed, deciding to forget the jerk for now, she focused on stretching. Using one of the bars for support, she used to help herself stretch.

When they finished, Ikuto crossed his arm across his chest. "All right, are you ready?" he asked with a raised eye-brow, as if he doubted Amu knew any of the moves.

"Let's just get this over with," she sighed.

"First of all, do you know what the tango is?"

"Uh… It has to do with that the lead is the female, right?" Amu asked, pondering for a moment. She was really actually going to learn about the tango.

"Now, are you able to name several kinds of styles of a tango today?" Ikuto asked, his smirk growing bigger.

Amu frowned. She really had to learn here! Especially from her senior! Surprising.

"No, I can't," Amu said softly, deciding to sit down to continue stretching.

"All right, I'll give you a brief history lesson," Ikuto began.

"There are very many kinds of tango dancing styles out there, such as the Argentine Tango, the Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom tangos, Finnish tango, and of course, the vintage tangos. It began in the middle class of slaves in Buenos Aires in the 1850's to the 1880's in Uruguay and Argentina. It became popular in the 1910's where it went to the upper and lower class alike. This is a brief, brief history, as we're going to learn how to dance the Argentine style Tango."

"Which embrace is it?" Amu conflicted. She was beginning to catch on. Amu made a mental note for herself; she was actually going to read her dancing textbook when she gets back to her dorm room. She had a strange feeling that Ikuto was going to quiz her on this tomorrow. He really felt like a teacher now.

"Very good, and since you're really no beginner at dancing, we're doing closed. Very closed." He smirked. Very closed embrace usually meant that the connection was chest-to-chest and it follows more the traditional styles of the tango.

Amu flushed. She was going to have to dance very close to Ikuto, so close, that their faces were going to be barely touching. But this was dancing, and it was going to feel this way whether she liked it or not. Withstanding the closeness of Ikuto was all for Amu's dream; to become a great dancer.

"Come, I think it's time we begin learning the first few steps," he murmured. His eyes closed half-way, as Amu walked over. He stood upright, holding her hand in his left, and his right on her waist. Amu placed her left arm on Ikuto's right shoulder. She immediately felt her heart pick up several beats as she felt butterflies in her stomach. He began to lead her, murmuring in her ear the names of the steps that she learned quickly. Her face burned, but she kept her concentration; she was going to learn how to dance the tango properly.

The way his hands held her, the way he whispered in her ear as his lips nearly tickled it, and the way he looked so closely into her eyes, made her heart pound so loudly, she was afraid that Ikuto would hear. Her body was practically pressed on to him, and she felt the muscles underneath his shirt ripple. For a moment, she had the image of Ikuto bare in darkness…

She snapped out of it when he whispered another step into her ear. The way he whispered sent another chill up her spine more pleasurably than she had thought it to be. The music picked up… when was there music? He must have put it on just before they started. Despite the closeness that they shared, and how heated that the both of them felt, she was surprisingly calm and absorbing all of the information he was telling her. Of the Molinete, the Media Luna, and the Giro. She could smell his scent on his shirt, feel his muscles underneath her hand, and hear the way his voice sounded.

When they broke as they finished the dance, Amu and Ikuto found themselves in a trance with each other, with such electricity between the two of them that Amu felt her heart race again and her face flush. They were both breathing quite hard, and it wasn't from the dancing. Their eyes had never left each other the entire dance and she was lost in his sapphire eyes and he was lost in her honey colored ones. They were inches from each other's lips when a knock echoed throughout the room, breaking their trance and the tension that they had.

"Y-Yes?" Amu called out, Ikuto went to take a swig from his water bottle before he stared at it a moment before dousing himself with it. Apparently, Ikuto realized that the tension that they were sharing was unwanted sexual tension…

The teacher walked in with her arms crossed. "Ikuto… you were just teaching her, right?" Mrs. Lyke asked slowly. The other teacher walked in with a serious expression on his face. When he came in, several students stood there with their mouths agape. Amu could seriously see her friends among them. She was going to have to kill them later for spying on her.

"Yes, I was, why? Was I teaching her incorrectly?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his now wet hair. Several of the girls nearby squealed in delight at the sight, fanning themselves.

"N-No… it's just that, it's astounding that this girl and you could dance… well… what's the word I'm looking for?" the male teacher contemplated. "Well, so perfectly. It was almost as if you were made for each other."

"B-But I was just teaching her," he said surprised.

"H-How did we look?" Amu interrupted the teacher's response. He cleared his throat before continuing to explain.

"Well, when you were dancing, there was such an atmosphere around you two, it was almost… untouchable. You were able to grasp such moves in such a short time, that you're already dancing the tango practically…"

"Of course," Mrs. Lyke intervened. "She has still very much to learn. I'll admit, that her dancing the tango with Mr. Tsukiyomi was very, very well done, but we cannot overlook that she still has very much to learn of the tango. She was only dancing, at best, the minimum of the dance moves of the tango and had it been another person, she would have danced probably even worse than she was just now."

For some reason, Amu felt her anger flare. Was this teacher putting her down of her talent to dance?

Before Amu could retort something bitter, Ikuto held her quiet as he replied indifferently, "Of course, Mrs. Lyke; it's expected of my student that I will teach her all of the required moves for the tango, just in time for the Christmas Show."

"But teaching a new girl now is almost impossible! You only have about two months!" the male teacher exclaimed.

Amu watched as he smirked characteristically, "That's plenty of time, Mr. Shai, you can count on me on that."


Author's Note:
All right, what'd you think of this chapter? Why do you think Ikuto said, "of my student"? And do you hear the tension mounting? Lol, I'm not sure about you, but I sure do.

Okay, this chapter was… surprisingly difficult to write. I wasn't sure why, but I'm thinking it might have been because I was trying to make sure that everyone was in character. I know that the last chapter had ended with Ikuto kissing her, but I couldn't help it; it had felt as if the situation was… right. I might be stupid or something, but I think that's how Ikuto would do… before he really realized what he was doing. From here on out, there will be tension everywhere. Lol.

Disclaimer:
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.