Hello there! We're back! Adelaide and I managed to churn out a really long chapter this time around. *phew* I'm starting to think it's harder to write around the dialogue we already have than it would be to make up dialogue as we go! Just so you know, Adelaide and I will both be leaving tomorrow on a spring break pilgrimage to the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. We're both super-excited, but at the same time, we regret leaving you readers without our wonderful presence for so long. *sniff* Don't worry, we're going to work on our stories while we're gone, too. I mean, it's a 24-hour drive, for heaven's sake. Happy Easter everyone, and I hope you enjoy! Please R&R!!!

Recap:

I drew myself up to my full height to deliver my message with everything I had.

"SHE LIKES YOU!"

Ikuto fell off the bed for the second time that day, only this time, he wasn't laughing.

"R-ree-really?"

If I had been standing, I would have tapped my foot in impatience. "Yes! And you're hurting her by not telling her!"

Ikuto's thoughts had just come to a screeching halt, I could tell. "Man!" He looked up at me. "But I can't tell her!"

Ahh! This stubborn fool! I delivered several more smacks to his head. "Tell her!"

He grabbed my arms to stop me. "Ouch! You're related to Amu, aren't you? You're even more violent than her!"

I ripped my arms from his grasp and nodded. I took off the hat I had been wearing, and the wig as well. My pink hair appeared. "You got me. I'm her evil twin!"

I flicked his forehead with my thumb and middle finger spitefully. "So break her heart and I'll break your face."

With a hand on his forehead and a glare in my direction, he was quick to assure me, "I won't break her heart."

Wait. Was he really saying that for my benefit, or was it for himself? I didn't care, and smacked him again. "You will break her heart if you don't tell her."

He looked at me pleadingly. "To me, breaking her heart may be necessary to keep from breaking the rest of her!"

I waved a hand dismissively. "The heart is much more important than the body."

He stared me in the eye. "Will you just listen to me for like two seconds? That's your job!"

I plugged my ears. "No."

He took my hands away forcefully. "If I break her heart, someone will be there to catch her. Tadase…Nagihiko…Kūkai…somebody."

"Have you ever considered the possibility that the only one she wants is you?"

He avoided my gaze. "I guess you're right about that."

I paused as a grin slowly made its way to my face. "Did you just admit I was right?" How the mighty had fallen!

"No!"

I swiftly pulled out the tape recorder. "Yes, you did!"

"I- I just slipped up."

I nodded knowingly. "Uh-huh, sure. Tell her or you will break her heart!"

He rubbed his head. "Dang it! All right. I'll tell her."

I clapped my hands together in joy. Finally! "Yes!!"

He closed his eyes. "But if I tell her, I'll hurt someone else. And as much as I hate to admit it I…actually…do care about this person."

I frowned. Why was he still fighting me? "Utau?"

He groaned. "Wait…I'll be hurting two people! Utau and…Tadase."

I bit my lip. Alas he was aware of how that sounded. "Whoa."

He continued to rant. "Tadase's an annoying little kid, but…he's still…kind of my brother…kind of…so I do care about him."

I put a hand on his arm gently. "You like Tadase? …Are you gay?"

He glared at me. "Are you serious? He-"

"Is a guy!" I interrupted him.

Ikuto eyed me. "Is an annoying little kid! I know he's a guy. I don't like him like that!!"

I smiled but shook my head. "No, I meant: he's a guy. He can take it."

Ikuto gave me a sad smile. "No, he can't. He can't take anything."

I sat up on my knees so I could look down at Ikuto. "Tadase doesn't matter. He's only really in love with Amulet Heart anyway."

Ikuto lay down on the bed thoughtfully. "You're kind of…not wrong about that."

I nodded. "And Utau…that's never going to work out anyway." I patted his shaggy mane of blue hair, and it was softer than I had expected.

Ikuto glowered up at me, apparently not liking my sweetness. "Don't make me throw up," he said. "She's my sister."

Great, I thought this was obvious. "Exactly," I agreed.

"Which is why I don't want to hurt her!"

Why? Why was I cursed with this determined-to-be-ignorant boy? "Then let her down now before it's too late." There, he couldn't argue with that!

He sighed. "Okay, I'll tell Amu."

I smiled brightly at him. "Good!"

He stared at me hopelessly. "But how do I keep Utau from killing Amu??!!??"

I bit my lip. "Ummm…"

He sat up, intent on seeing me squirm. "HaHA, I have stumped the therapist."

I glared. "Um, no! I have a solution for this too." I slapped myself inwardly. Darn my pride!

He rolled his eyes. "Sure you do."

Man, this guy's attitude was really ticking me off! Here I was, trying to help, and what did he do? He made it all complicated.

"No wait, leave Amu alone!"

Ikuto jumped on me, eyes wide. "What?!? After all that?!?"

I brushed him off. "Yeah, don't tell her."

He looked at me sideways, regarding me. "You're contradicting yourself. Does this mean you have insecurity problems?"

That earned him another slap. "Hey, who's the therapist here?"

He smiled crookedly at me and laughed maniacally. "I just love messing with people's minds. I can't help it. I'm a cat." He rubbed his head. "And ouch! That hurt!"

"Oh my gosh!" I grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a good shake. "YOU ARE NOT A CAT. You are a HUMAN. A human male. Stay away from Amu. You're insane."

"I'm not insane," he defended uselessly.

I stood up, holding up the tape recorder as well. "Oh, yeah? I have evidence for the court."

He moved to the edge of the bed. "I'm not insane," he repeated.

"I'm going now."

He leapt off the bed. "Wait!!!" He grabbed the tape recorder, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. I smiled at him as if he were a naughty child and pulled out a second tape recorder.

"I forgot to tell you. I'm a magic therapist."

He grabbed the second tape recorder and smashed it as well. "I'm telling her, and there's nothing you can do about it."

I grinned. "Fine." And then I pulled out my cell phone.

It took me only a second to figure out what she was doing. "Reverse psychology," I muttered, less angry with Amu's twin for tricking me than I was with myself for falling for it. "You used reverse psychology on me!"

"HaHA. Who's the therapist now?" She punched in some numbers before shoving the phone at me. "Tell her."

I took the sparkly purple phone, which had a sickeningly adorable cat-shaped charm attached to it, and wished I hadn't left my sleek, black cell at my stepfather's house, where by now it had no doubt been abducted and locked away. Staring at the number on the screen, I was suddenly slammed with the monumentality of my task and found myself hyperventilating.

The evil twin slapped me on the back so hard that I had to cough a few times to get my wind. "You can do it, cat boy," she said.

"Gee, thanks," I said, feeling my lungs caving in. "Great moral support."

"I do my best, cat boy."

I ran tight fingers through my hair and promptly exploded. "Cat boy this, cat boy that. You're the one who told me I'm a human!"

"So?" she asked sweetly, flashing a milky-white, semi-innocent smile.

I sighed and looked back down at the phone in my hand. "What if she doesn't pick up?"

"Just do it, you wuss!" the twin demanded, erasing all memory of the sweet smile of two seconds ago.

"You already dialed, idiot!" I yelled, pressing the send button. As I held the phone to my ear, hearing the dial tone, I heard the voice of Amu's evil twin in my other ear.

"This is your last chance to back out."

Why was she tempting me? More reverse psychology, I guessed. Taking a deep breath, I gritted my teeth. What had I gotten myself into?

"I'm not backing out."

Immediately, the dial tone clicked off, and I heard Amu's sweet voice on the other end of the line. "Hello?"

"Hey Amu, it's me."

"Who?"

Inwardly, I was crushed that she didn't know me by my voice and reverted to my hide-your-true-feelings instincts. "The annoying cat-eared pervert," I said.

Amu's evil twin swiftly slapped me on the back of the head, shouting, "Smooth one, Ikuto. WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?!?"

Covering the phone's mouthpiece, I barked back, "I was giving her a last chance to back out, dummy!"

"WHO?" Amu was yelling in my ear.

"Ikuto," I said.

"Ikuto? Why are you calling from my evil twin's number?"

Glancing warily over at the she-devil in question, I said, "It's a long story. And why didn't you tell me you had an evil twin?!?" On second thought, why would she have told me?

Ignoring my question, Amu said, "Sorry, Ikuto, one moment."

I character changed so I could decipher the dialogue that, to the average human ear, would have been garbled background noise.

"No, Tadase," I heard Amu say. "I said I didn't want to dance with you like that."

"Now who's the pervert, kiddy king?" I muttered to myself. When Amu didn't come back on the line after a moment, I spoke into the phone, "Amu, are you okay?"

"No…AH!"

And then the line went dead.

"What was that all about?" the twin asked as I tossed her phone back.

I didn't have time for this. I slid open the window and started running, leaping from building to building in the direction of Seiyo Elementary. Heaven knows how, since she couldn't character change and (as far as I knew) didn't even have a guardian character, but Amu's twin followed me. But she didn't really matter. If Amu was in trouble, I had to get to her. Now.

In no time, I found the gymnasium, where the dance was being held. Under different circumstances, I would have laughed, not only because the very idea of elementary-schoolers having a dance was ludicrous, but also because I stood head and shoulders above the entire crowd. Searching frantically, I quickly found Amu.

"Amu!" I shouted over the music, shoving my way through the horde of munchkin-sized kids.

Amu turned in my direction, waved, and to my horror, called, "Hey, sis!"

The twin, who just followed in the aisle I had created, replied, "Hi there! Long time no see!"

Finally, Amu turned to me, giggling a little at my cat ears. "Ikuto, why are you here?"

"I thought you were in trouble," I answered, a bit irked that she was, in fact, perfectly fine.

She frowned for a second, then seemed to recall what I was talking about. "No," she said, "I just didn't want to dance the electric slide with Tadase."

Having thrown my pride out the window, and not for the first time that day, I simply slapped myself on the forehead.

"Nice one, Ikuto," laughed the evil twin.

I let my hand fall to my side and lit up a little. "So, did Tadase leave?"

Next thing I knew, an ear-splitting war cry of sorts preluded the leaping of a blonde-haired, suit-clad animal onto my back. As Tadase pounded on me with one hand and yanked on my hair with the other, I thought to myself, I just had to ask.

Still in my character change, I easily threw Tadase off and slammed him against the wall, not hard enough to really hurt him, but more than hard enough to bruise his pride.

"Stop!" Amu cried, and I immediately froze.

"Get him, cat boy!" the twin urged.

"No, please stop!" countered Amu.

"I was attacked!" I shouted, keeping one eye on Tadase, who was rising, blushing, and preparing to strike again. "Tell him to stop!"

"Tadase, please stop!" Amu pleaded, with a face that would have melted any heart of stone, let alone Tadase's all-too-soft heart of flesh.

Still blushing and, I must admit, looking quite adorable in his suit and tie, Tadase walked toward us. "Amu! Why is HE here?" he demanded, pointing a rude finger only inches from my face. He blinked a few times, and then added, "And why does that girl behind him look just like you?"

"She's my evil twin," Amu quickly explained.

"Hi," the twin said, stepping out from behind me.

"You don't want to meet her," Amu added.

"You don't want to meet her," I hastily agreed.

"Sheesh," complained the twin. "After I just saved your love life-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth. "Tadase, can you give us a minute?"

"Tadase, I'll call you later, okay?" Amu said. "Please, just go."

Was Amu really asking Tadase to leave? Asking to be alone with me? Was I dreaming?

"I won't leave you alone with him!" Tadase shouted angrily.

I nearly yelped aloud when I felt Amu's twin bite my hand, which I immediately yanked away from her mouth. One thing was for sure – I was awake. The twin marched forward, grabbed Tadase by the collar, and dragged him off, exhibiting the strength of a boy twice her size. "Good luck, cat boy!" she called over her shoulder.

I rubbed a hand on my neck and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks," I muttered. "I'll need it."

An uncomfortable paused followed as Amu and I watched the others go.

"That was awkward," she said, grabbing my attention back.

Only then did I notice that she, also, was dressed formally, in a midnight-blue satin knee-length gown. She must have changed here, I thought, remembering the t-shirt and shorts she had been wearing when she had left the house. Her hair was also done up with a blue comb which perfectly complemented her pink tresses. Though the idea of an elementary school dance was still laughable, I was glad I had gotten to see her like this. She had no idea how extremely pretty she was.

"No kidding," I finally replied. Breathing deeply, I felt my ears and tail disappear as I relaxed, letting the character change come undone.

"Why'd you come here?" she asked.

I didn't really need to make up an excuse. "Like I said, I thought you were in trouble."

She blushed and glanced away. "Um…thanks."

I needed a way to tell her, to break it to her gently. As if on cue, a slow song started to play, and I grasped an idea.

"I don't like the electric slide, either," I said. "I'm more of a slow dancer."

Still looking away, Amu whispered, "Um…me too."

I took another deep breath. "Um…you want to dance?"

Her head snapped up, and her blush deepened. "Really?" she said, acting flustered. "Right now?"

"Really."

"Um…sure."

Just like that? I thought, fighting the urge to hyperventilate as my hands slipped around her waist. Her arms reached up and wrapped gently around my neck, and my heart raced like a scared little rodent.

Amu was still staring at her feet. Grabbed by impulse, I said, "You don't have to look down like that. You're a great dancer." And she was, following my lead as gracefully as any ballerina.

"Really?" she asked, lifting her adorable face to stare into my eyes.

Be still, my beating heart! Were those pleading, golden eyes ever so lovely as they were that night? I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed, "Yeah." I paused for a moment, thinking up just the right words, then forged ahead. "Amu, if I told you something, would you believe me?"

"Maybe," she replied, eyeing me suspiciously. "It depends on what you tell me."

I urged every muscle in my face to show sincerity. "This is really important to me," I said, trying to convince her with my tone. "It's a secret I've kept from everyone."

A sudden, lively tune burst forth from Amu's hip, and she reached into her pocket for her phone. "Sorry, Ikuto," she said, breaking away from me to answer it. "Hello?"

"Great," I muttered. "Who could that be?"

As Amu listened to the voice on the phone, I despaired, wondering how I would manage to work my way to that mood again. Or if I'd even have the guts to.

"I see," Amu said.

"Who is it?" I asked.

She held the phone out to me with a somewhat puzzled expression. "It's for you."

There was only one person in the world that would call Amu's phone asking for me. I took the cell and, as politely as my rage would allow, yelled, "WHAT NOW?!?"

"Have you told her yet?" asked the evil twin.

"I'm working on it!" I explained, turning away from Amu so she wouldn't hear. "I was setting the mood when you interrupted!"

"Sorry," the twin said, not sounding very sorry at all. "I don't think I can hold Tadase off much longer."

Even without my cat ears, I could hear shouts of fury and crashing objects through the phone. "Okay," I sighed. "I'll try to hurry."

"Good," she said, hanging up before Tadase could cause any more damage.

As I handed the phone back, Amu asked, "Why did my twin need to talk to you?"

There was no more time to beat around the bush. As soon as Amu had slipped her phone back into her pocket, I took her hand and her waist and started dancing again. "It's not important," I lied.

Blushing at my forward efforts, Amu put her other hand on my shoulder and said, "Okay."

"Now," I began, rushing into things far faster than I would have liked, "I want to tell you my secret. But only if you promise you'll believe me."

Amu paused for a moment, considering my terms. "If it's from your heart, Ikuto," she answered slowly, "I'll believe you. I can promise that."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's all I needed to hear," I said truthfully. I lifted Amu's chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. "I…I love you."

She froze, blushing furiously, and for a moment I thought she might slap me. But, cringing, all I received from her was a confused "EHH?!?"

I took both of her hands in mind and knelt before her. "Please," I begged. "Please believe me." I reached up to stroke her hair, looking into her eyes with all the genuine passion I could muster. "There's never been anyone else for me."

Amu stared at me, blinked a few times, and then collapsed into a dead faint.

I leapt forward and caught her in one swift motion. Looking down at her beautiful, unconscious face, I said to myself, "Great. Now what?"