Writer's Notes: Thanks for all the kind reviews everyone~! :D
Anonymous ('Me') : Oops, I didn't realize that someone already had the title. xP
I'll change it if I have another idea for the title, but the whole story kind of revolves around the phrase 'Cat and Mouse'. D: The fanfic was inspired by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus's song 'Cat and Mouse', so…D:
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Day Two.
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It had been about two weeks since that girl appeared.
Ikuto had predicted that the girl would appear again, and his confidence did not waver. It wasn't like her thievery had patterns, but today, he had a feeling he would be seeing her very soon…
The moon was bright tonight, and he lay on his bed, reading a book, Yoru munching a crepe at his side.
"Ack, bad luck."
Bingo.
Smirking, Ikuto put down his book and turned his attention to the door. Standing there was the girl from two weeks ago, the golden-eyed, black haired thief.
"Inexperienced, aren't you? Shouldn't you try to remember where you've been and haven't been?" he told her, amused.
"Well, this is a palace, after all. I haven't lived here all my life, and I'm still young. I have other things more important to remember," the thief said. "Today's bad luck. Maybe the cards will be dealt differently next time."
"Hmmm," Ikuto stared at her, the smirk still on his lips, "Well, they do say black cats are bad luck."
"Well, that's just a superstition, isn't it?" The girl smirked back, seating herself on the chair at the prince's desk.
"We should go~" A voice said.
"Oh? You have a guardian character, as well?" Ikuto said, slightly interested.
Smiling, the girl held up four fingers, and four characters appeared around her. A red heart, a blue spade, a green clover, and yellow diamond.
"You know~ He's rather nice, if he hasn't called the guards yet, desu~" the green one said, her large green eyes full of innocence.
"He won't," the golden-eyed girl said airily. "My presence here is amusing for him."
"Amu-chan," said the blue one sternly, and she sighed.
"Alright, Miki, I'm going."
Ikuto stood by the window, blocking the girl's escape, looking bored.
"Sorry, kitty, but I can't play with you today…"
"But Amu, I'm so bored."
Ikuto had always thought he had extraordinary reflexes (he had a cat as a guardian character after all) but the girl had somehow slipped past him and was standing on his balcony.
"You know, I've only just met you. An honorific would be preferred." She told him, barely visible in the night with her black clothes and hair.
"I'm a prince. Other people's preferences don't matter to me," Ikuto told her, shrugging.
"What a self-centered prince. You should know better than anyone else in this palace what goes on in the rest of your kingdom!!"
She was suddenly furious, that much was obvious. Why she cared so much about the kingdom, he didn't know.
"I never said I didn't care about my people."
"You only started to realize when you started sneaking out. Don't forget that you live bathing in gold and jewels because of your people."
Something sparkled brilliantly in the dark, catching the faint light escaping from the prince's room.
"I'll be taking this."
Ikuto stepped forward, and she was gone. She and her four characters left not even the tiniest hint that they were there. The night was silent.
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"Pwahhh, that bath felt good~" Amu sighed, falling onto her bed.
"Good work today!!" the pink heart character yelled loudly, flailing her pom-poms around.
"Thanks, Ran. Good work, also. Your character changes have saved me millions of times."
The blue spade, green clover and yellow diamond coughed lightly.
"N-Not to mention Miki's fabulous disguises, Su's cooking and cleaning talents so I can act as a maid, and Dia's bright distractions!"
The three smiled in satisfaction.
"The Tsukiyomi Palace certainly has a lot of these large trinkets…" Miki murmured as she floated over to today's stolen item, a thick gold necklace with a baseball sized diamond hanging from it. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and several other jewels surrounded it, a thin wire of gold holding them in place with an elaborate design.
"They're so brilliant," Dia commented, shielding her eyes from the sparkle. "And gaudy. I'm not surprised the Queen would rather have it out of her palace."
Amu sighed as she sat up and dried her hair. The black wig hung in her closet, the golden-eyed girl's medium length, cotton-candy pink colored hair exposed without it.
"Either way, it's worth quite a lot."
For a while, no one said anything, and Amu grabbed herself a bottle of milk in the meantime.
"…He was quite artistic." Miki said, sketching something.
"Who?" Ran asked, floating over to her guardian sister.
"The prince." Dia answered for the blue spade. "He had a certain sparkle to him, too. It's dim and needs some polishing, but his sparkle is there."
Amu sat on her bed again, sipping her milk after gulping large quantities of it before.
"…The King and Queen of the Dumpty Kingdom aren't bad rulers, but they can do better. The areas of poverty—the royalty have more than enough money and provisions to spend on it to make it a better place. They're either blind to their own kingdom, or they just chose not to evolve it."
Pausing, the pink-haired girl swirled the contents of the milk bottle.
"…However, the Prince…it's possible. The Dumpty Kingdom cannot fall like the Humpty Kingdom did. Everything will be ruined if the both of the most important kingdoms are lost. Everything…the Guardian World needs to change."
"Amu-chan…" Su whispered, a hint of sadness tinting her voice.
Smiling, Amu finished her milk. "It's alright. We're working hard. 'Do not let the Dumpty Kingdom fall.' And we won't."
Miki smiled also as she sketched something. "That's right. Your grandparents made a grave mistake, but Tsumugu and Midori are working hard to reverse it."
"And soon, we will stand strong again…" Dia murmured, her eyes closed and her mouth curled into a small smile of her own. "Everything will be whole..."
"Go, go Amu-chan! Fight, win, Tsumugu-papa! Go, go Midori-mama!" Ran cheered enthusiastically.
"We'll have a big party after everything, desu!" Su said cheerfully.
Amu's smile grew larger at the sight of her optimistic characters, but it faltered a little.
"…I wish I could help them," she whispered. "If only…"
Dia shook her head.
"Your responsibilities are different right now. Ami and evolving the Dumpty Kingdom are your priorities. Tsumugu and Midori sent you here so that both you and your sister could stay out of danger."
"They're strong," Ran added. "Don't worry."
"It's like a group mission, desu~" Su said. "Tsumugu-papa and Midori-mama will evolve the other side, while you evolve this side~"
Amu's smile regained its strength. "Thanks."
"Ohh? Amu-chan's not stubborn for once~" Ran teased, floating in circles around her owner's head.
Swatting at her character, Amu's voice rose to a loud volume. "RAN! And it's not like I'm always stubborn!"
"See, you're so stubborn that you don't want to admit it!" The heart character laughed, dodging her owner's fists.
"GRR!! I'M NOT—"
"Onee-chan?"
A small voice diminished the loud scene. The door was opened a crack, and a small girl with curly, light orange-brown hair rubbed her eyes.
"Ami? Sorry, did I wake you?"
Amu hurried towards her little sister and picked her up.
"No…I'm scared…I don't want to sleep in my room tonight…"
Smiling gently, Amu carried Ami to her own bed. "You want to sleep with onee-chan tonight, then?"
Ami mumbled a sleepy 'yes', already half-asleep in her older sister's arms.
The pink-haired girl tucked n her younger sister, then turned off the lights as she crawled into bed herself. Ran, Miki, Su, and Dia entered their eggs and went to sleep as well.
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The second round
Of Cat and Mouse:
The Cat has failed,
And the Mouse has escaped.
Not much longer…
And this game will end.
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Writer's End Notes: Ehh, kind of a boring chapter.
By the way, Amu's parents were the one who told her not to let the Dumpty Kingdom fall.
Haha, The Humpty and Dumpty Kingdom sounds kinda funny. xD
But anyway, I'm really trying to keep Amu's background vague. Although someone always predicts the outcome and is right. D:
This isn't probably isn't going to be a very long fanfic, and Amu's past will be revealed at the end. By the way, since it's not going to be very long, it's not going to be very…action-packed and dramatic, either. xP
Not too much of a plot, basically. -sweatdrop-
Just something I'm writing for fun. A pointless fanfic, I suppose? –sweatdrop again-