Amu stood drenched from head to toe in rain shivering, whilst Ikuto went through her bag for clean clothes in a state of shock.
Aiko's a …girl?
The thought echoed through his mind as a question, and he quickly corrected himself with a sudden sense of acceptance.
Aiko is a girl.
Amu stood nervously next to him, apprehensively watching his face. She saw a strange look come across him, resolute, determined and…angry. She shrank back, suddenly feeling weak and hapless next to him, her façade and disguise torn from her, vulnerable and exposed.
He span round to face her with such sudden authority and determination about him that she was quivering not just from cold but blank fear as he spoke in harsh tones.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
It wasn't a question, and Amu shuddered even more at the furious voice she heard. Of course she was in trouble; she had guessed that much. But the way he said it flatly, as though he had witnessed a great betrayal on her part, made her feel like crying. But then again; she had betrayed him, in a way. She had deceived not only him, but everyone in the school who had believed and been tricked by her ruse. She was a faker and a cheat. Her eyes welled up with tears of realization, alarming Ikuto immensely. He hadn't realized quite how terrifyingly enraged he sounded to the poor girl beside him. He took a quick step back from her, realizing how close they were, and spoke softly, as though speaking to a frightened and abused puppy.
"It's alright, I mean, I'm not mad, I mean…" he broke of confusedly; trying to remember a detail he had never been told.
"What is your real name, Aiko?" Amu gazed at his curious face as she wiped away some tears she hadn't realized had fallen, and spoke in a trembling voice that threatened sobs.
"Hinamori Amu." She gazed up at him, and though her eyes were amber like a tigers, she looked for all the world like a startled deer in headlights, awaiting his reaction. She looked bemusedly startled when he cracked a smile, and pulled her into a brief hug.
So it was no surprise to him when she pulled away looking a tad happier. What shocked him was when her face fell, the corners of her mouth drooped again and she said in a quiet voice, barely audible;
"I'd better get changed into my clothes and pack then." She took her clean garments from his grasp and took her rucksack with her as she headed to the bathroom. As soon as the door had locked, the others came bursting in, their conversation a jumbled up mess of words, focused solely on the fact that though Ikuto had won, 'Aiko' had been merely seconds behind on the death wires. And both had survived.
"YO! Ikuto! Our champ! Where's Aiko?" When Kukai voiced the name, Ikuto shot back into reality, and he realized something important.
He was not letting Amu leave, and neither was anyone going to find out…he just had to work out a way to keep her true gender a secret from…everyone.
"You left me with a broken heart
And I couldn't even begin
To rebuild my world without you
I couldn't even start
The walls came crashing down
And my world span in slow motion
Till the sea rose up above me
And I felt my heartbeat drown
You ripped my world in two
And the light of day disappeared
And I felt like life was over
Because there was me with no you
And now I'm feeling
No no-one is ever gonna break my love again
Because I won't let them
Though it might feel like I'll never be the same
I just won't let them
Because my life is my life
And even though you're gone
I know one day I'll thank you
For all that you've done wrong
Because of what has passed
I'm who I am"
Ikuto woke to the sound of Amu playing the piano and singing softly. He lay for a while, listening to her voice echoing through the large dorm rooms and letting the pained yet sweet melody swim through the fog in his brain, melting away the remains of sleep. He awkwardly rose from his position on the sofa, realizing it was at least mid-day and he had been sleeping for a long time; after finding out that Aiko was really Amu. The strange sensation of being punched repeatedly in the gut jarred him again almost as shockingly as it had the first time he had seen her without the hat, and he flew from the sofa to the main room.
Amu sat at the dark piano, her fingers fluttering across the keys like little birds. It was Sunday, and she hadn't bothered dressing fully as a boy; she hadn't planned on leaving the room till later. Ikuto stared as her light, lilting voice filled the room. It wasn't as deep as when she pretended to be a boy, and much more powerful and free.
He gazed at her face, realizing for the first time that his viola was truly beautiful. He took in the pale lids that he knew when opened revealed honey gold eyes, alongside the prominent bow shaped upper lip and petit nose that centered her face. Her bottom lip was full; slightly too full, he noticed, the one slight flaw in her perfect beauty that made it more human and easier to deal with. Of course she was still the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen, but it was nice to know that no-one was perfect.
His gaze strayed back to her arms and hands, watching them move across the keys. She ended her song on a perfect high note, then sighed with satisfaction and reached to close the lid of the piano. He continued to watch her hands as they closed over the lid, and with sunlight streaming in through the window, he appreciated the colour of her skin against the black piano. Ebony and Ivory.
Amu stood up to stretch, and Ikuto noted how fragile her body seemed now that he knew she was a girl. In the loose shirt she was wearing, the padding was not visible save a small triangle of white sticking out the end near her jeans that could have been a vest of some sort. However, it just made the skinny arms and feminine hands that had caused the whole ordeal of the wires seem even slighter.
He frowned as he remembered how the wires had ended
Ikuto moved further back towards where Amu dangled, his jaw dropped as he dragged her up with both arms. For a small person she was surprisingly heavy.
"You know, you're not as light as you look…" he muttered as he managed to deposit her back onto the wire she had fallen from. She tucked her hair back into the cap with one hand, and under the shadow it cast on her face Ikuto could see that she was blushing a bright, furious magenta. She struggled around on her wire for another second before she was comfortably able to move forwards again. Quietly, Ikuto moved back so she could go first, as he contemplated what to do next. They both lowered themselves off the wires and onto the single platform that waited for them, and without a word they both understood that Ikuto should go first, to maintain his reputation.
All eyes were watching as Ikutos feet hit the ground, followed by Amu. Ikuto felt 'Aiko' recoil slightly beside him as a slightly stunned applause rose. Several people opened their mouths to speak, but Ikuto silenced them with a gesture, before dragging his friend off to the dorm quickly. As they reached the room, the girl turned to him, and he stepped back quickly as he noted the ferocious burning that blazed in her sun like eyes.
"You can't tell, you simply can't!"
And in that moment, Ikuto knew he couldn't.
"Ikuto? What are you staring at me like that for?" Amu's voice asked and he realized that he was back in the present day, and Amu was right in front of him. He froze briefly, before his instincts took over and he smirked his trademark smirk.
"I was just remembering how cute you looked terrified of a simple horror film. Of course, any girl would make an effort to look cute around me." he emphasized the 'me', right before Amu hit him playfully on the arm.
"Hey, you're not that good looking!" she said, tossing her head and pretending to be offended. Ikuto laughed at her attempt at nonchalance, and grabbed her hand as he pulled her out of the dorm.
"Ikuto!" she hissed through her teeth, hair blowing out behind her. "Where are we going? I cant be seen like this!"
"Of course you can." He replied confidently. "And in any case, it's not like there's anyone around here. It's the holidays remember? You, me and my dad are just about the only people. Even the cleaning staff have gone home." He paused for a second contemplating something. "Actually, we'll be eating with my father as a matter of fact. He insists I eat with him at least once over holidays, and he always likes getting to know his students. He thinks being in tune with his pupils makes him the ultimate teacher." Ikuto shook his head at Aruto's behavior.
"It probably does make him a better teacher. Ikuto what if he sees us?"
"He wont. And anyway, if he does, I'll tell him you're my girlfriend." As she stopped and spluttered, he seized the opportunity to drag her out of a side door and into part of the school grounds. He strode down a winding path and she followed behind him, curious now as to where they were going. Without warning, he span round and grabbed her, pulling her up bridal style and leaping over the wall, all in the same fluid movement. She shrieked as they landed, yelling to be put down, before he complied.
"Ikuto, where are you taking me?"
"We," he said, turning back to her and grinning a wolfish grin,
"Are going out."
Amu stomped behind Ikuto, her face flushed a bright magenta as he pulled her along limply by tugging her wrist. They had been walking for all of ten minutes and already she was wishing she wasn't there, as he led her up high walls and through twisty little alleys.
"Ikuto, how much longer are we going to be walking? I thought you said you had a shortcut, and this is not what I call a shortcut!"
"It is…for me. You're just not flexible enough."
She growled as he flicked his head back and smirked at her discomfort. However, she noticed that his grip on her wrist became slightly less uncomfortable, and their route became decidedly easier to travel through. She stared at the cobbled brick ground as they marched over it, and she sighed in utter confusion. She had no idea where the hell they were, and she had no plans on trying to keep track. Everywhere in this moronic little town looked identical; unlike her old town, which was much easier to navigate. At least it had included some street signs. They passed a small door with an 'X' sprayed onto it in bright red paint. Amu thought nothing of it, until they reached the end of the alleyway, and Ikuto glanced round the corner furtively. Then, he span right around and dragged Amu back down the little passage.
"Ikuto! Hey! What are you doing?"
He simply smiled mysteriously and led her back to the door with the 'X'.
He was checking. He was checking for passers-by or other people who might see us…oh my god, what's he going to do? What if he's a mass murderer, or a serial killer who kidnaps young girls, and I didn't know? I was safer as Aiko…much safer…oh my god, what have I done?
Ikuto rapped on the door thrice, and as it swung open Amu's brain was calculating how quickly she could wrench her arm out of Ikuto's grip and run. But suddenly it was too late, and she was already being pulled through the door, and Ikuto's had was leading hers into darkness, and-
And then the most haunting sight Amu had ever seen met her eyes.
They were in an old, abandoned fairground. Swings and rides creaked eerily in the half light, and it was only then that Amu realized it was beginning to get dark. They had been walking for at least an hour, and the sun was beginning to set. The soft pools of blood red and golden orange light fell upon the long forgotten rides. The clouds in the sky were a dark black, contrasting with the sky's light; an illusion of the colours she realized. There was no danger of rain; it was as though the clouds were silhouettes ready to be drawn round. The whole fairground was of medium size, and Amu could almost hear the laughs of children from long ago, footsteps trampling across the ground in memory of the old amusement park's ancient greatness.
"Come on." Said Ikuto, catching Amu's attention instantly. "Let's sit here and wait till it gets dark. We've only got a little bit of time left alone together; I want this to be special."
Amu walked over to where he was sat and lowered herself down next to him. She was still, although basking in the dead beauty of the place, slightly confused and nervous as to why he had brought her here.
Only ten minutes later the last rays of the setting sun had faded, and the sky was alive with tens of thousands of stars. Amu had lived in the city all of her life, and had never experienced anything like seeing a sky ripe with suns that were millions of billions of light-years away from home.
"When you look at a star;" Ikuto began conversationally, as he stared at the stars with her, "You are more often than not looking at light that has already disappeared. It takes so long to reach us that we can still see the light for years, as it is still reaching our eyes. That's why stars sometimes disappear, and some stars 'died' before you were even born."
"Wow…so…it's a pretty big distance I guess, to the stars."
"Yeah…too big for us to really understand, we break it down so it's believable. Astronomers, they understand that sort of thing. Like, light years, and how that's so big…I guess on the other end of the spectrum there are scientists, who understand Atoms, and smaller substances."
They lay on the grass, star gazing, quiet for several minutes.
"What I don't get about us, about humans, is how we need everything to be in easy steps like that, to be convincing enough for us to think 'hey, this is real and great.' Stuff like the vast distance stars are away, most people just think 'Pretty far away.' And then they forget. They don't care, just because they haven't had enough proof. Haven't had enough stuff you can see. So, they dismiss stuff like extra-terrestrial creatures, life beyond death, ghosts; anything they haven't seen with their own eyes."
Amu turned her head to stare at Ikuto's face, gazing at the sky. His eyes were so close to hers, yet so far away. The depth within the midnight blue stretched for miles, and Amu felt herself falling just by looking at them. This person in front of her, this guy who she just happened to have met by sheer luck and what school she went to, was one of the single most complex and amazing boys she had ever met. The fact that these sorts of poetic and beautiful thoughts ran through his mind, maybe all the time, could only show that he was an absolute genius. Or just someone who liked the bigger picture. Amu found herself remembering an instance with her friend Utau's Mum.
In Amu's mind, Utau stood in her room, Amu beside her. Souko was yelling about the state of Utau's room. The girls were eleven, and had no patience to tidy up. However that was what they were being asked to do.
"I am at my wits end Utau! I wash your clothes, iron them, fold them neatly, and you just throw them on the floor. It's not good enough! You walk around looking like you're not cared for, just because your clothes and belongings are all messed up! For me, as a parent, it's embarrassing, and frankly this room is utterly disgraceful!"
"Mum. It's fine." Utau cut her stressed mother off, and rolled her eyes at Amu. "Look, the world is so big. And the whole universe is even bigger. But that's just the universe we know! The universe we've discovered! There are unknown amounts of world never discovered!"
Neither Amu nor Souko had any idea where the violet eyed blond was heading with this.
"So!" She exclaimed, exasperated at the lack of response save the looks she was receiving that told her they thought she'd gone insane. "So, in this great, divine, humungous plot of things, does my tiny weeny little speck of a room really matter as much as everything else? You're a speck, I'm a speck, and how tidy I keep my room is a specky little problem that doesn't even matter!"
There was a nasty pause, before Souko burst out laughing and left the room. Amu and Utau exchanged grins as they continued what they had been doing; trying to blow up a Barbie using firework explosives.
Amu giggled as she remembered how tidy Utau's room had been after the fire brigade had to evacuate the house from the smoke fumes. Her laugh brought her wandering mind back to the present, and she realized Ikuto had been staring at her for the past five minutes. She yelped and sat up as Ikuto smirked again at her surprise. Abruptly, Ikuto's head turned back to face hers, and Amu saw an emotion she had never seen before strong in his eyes. Half a second later he was kissing her. His lips were firm and strong against hers, and a million sparks were exploding in her mouth as his tongue slid between her lips.
She tangled her fingers into his hair, and he pulled her closer to him. To Amu's displeasure, he pulled away all too soon for air, and a second later he was gone. Amu blinked her eyes open, only to hear the sound of a lever being wrenched with slight difficulty.
Then the fairground quite suddenly came to life.
Rides began to shudder in circles as they started to work again after being left so long, and loud jaunty music began to play. Amu felt Ikuto's arms wrap around her body, and he whispered into her ear, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up,
"You didn't think I'd taken you here just to look at the sky did you?"
Amu woke up the next day, her head lolling on Ikuto's shoulder as he slept. They were back in the main dorm room; he must have carried her back after she fell asleep on the teacup ride. Ikuto Tsukiyomi and Amu Hinamori were, as of 11:30 PM yesterday, officially boyfriend and girlfriend. Boyfriend and girlfriend…Amu was basking in how delicious the words sounded to her, when a sharp, drilling alarm went off next to her head. Ikuto jolted awake, causing her to almost tumble to the floor, and raked a hand through his hair as he pulled her back up onto the cream sofa. As Amu settled back into her previous position, snuggled up against his shoulder and neck, he leapt up again.
"Ouch! Ikuto, that hurt!" she exclaimed, rubbing the lower half of her back painfully.
"Amu," He whispered, face drained of colour. "The guys are going to back any minute no-"
His last sentence was cut off as the door slammed open.
"HEY DUDES, IKUTO, AIKO, YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT-"
Kukai stopped short and turned his head slowly to Amu's.
Another chapter finished being edited. If you spot any errors please PM me so I can fix them…I don't quite catch everything sometimes. Hope you guys enjoyed, I should be updating three days ago and savior today/tomorrow. Please review with any tips or criticism!
Rubi-Chan xx