LizzyBird: Heyy minna!! How goes it?

Ikuto: Chocolate.

Amu: That makes no sense.

Ikuto: Whatever.

LizzyBird: Okay! So, today is the grand opening of the SECOND CHAPTER!! WOOHOO!!

Ikuto: *smirks* And you are what, now?

LizzyBird: I'M SO FRICKEN EXCITED!!

Amu: Her catch phrase of the month =]

LizzyBird: Got that right XD

Ikuto: She's more excited that I'm coming back though, right?

LizzyBird: YES!! I'm so happy! Ikuto's coming back to Shugo Chara Party in like, two weeks I'll watch that episode 400 times until I have it memorized and I might even put it on my iPod and watch it during school since I'm such a bad girl and I love Ikuto so much and-

Amu: WE GET THE POINT!! SHUT UP CRAZY LADY!!

Ikuto: Amu, watch your language!

Amu: What??

LizzyBird: Huh… I think we're all… a little misplaced in the head today… Carry on with reading my story!

Ikuto: You do it this time, Strawberry.

Amu: Mmkay… LizzyBird does not own Shugo Chara! Or any of it's characters… She also does not own Hot Topic, Zumiez, or Spencers…

LizzyBird: Although that would be cool XD

Amu: Hey, wait! You can't call me Strawberry!

Ikuto and LizzyBird: Woww, delayed reaction much?

Amu: Ugh!

------------------

Recap

"So, Amu-chan…" Miki started as they were walking down the street, "What's the real reason that you only wanted Dia and I to come along with you?"

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Amu asked nervously. Was it that obvious she'd been lying?

Dia had a slightly sad, yet understanding smile on her face. "You can't hide it from us, Amu-chan, we know you too well to see that you were lying back there. What's going on?"

Amu sighed--she knew it was impossible to hide it from them. Guess I might as well tell them now…

"Well, you see…" Amu started, still hesitating to tell them.

"Yes?" Miki and Dia chorused.

"It's just that… you guys are so much more mature than them. And I don't want to be seen as too immature in public. Plus, I do want to do some clothes shopping, and you guys would have a much more mature sense of style Ran's 'happy-pink-heart-ness' and Suu's 'doll' look." Amu finally let out. She sounded so ashamed of herself!

"So wait, this is all about maturity?" Miki asked, confused.

Dia understood though. "She wants to seem more grown up, and less like a child to everyone. She wants to be treated like how Ikuto-kun treated her this morning-while chara-changed with me-more often. It feels nice, right Amu-chan?" Dia answered Miki.

Amu smiled sheepishly at the two. "Yeah… sorry you guys, for having you be specially taken out. And I feel terrible for leaving out Ran and Suu, but you know how childish they can be…"

"Don't worry about it, Amu-chan!" Dia said.

"Yeah," Miki added, "We're on your side, no matter what!"

"Arigatou! Let's go shopping!" Amu said with a smile, feeling uplifted.

They arrived at the new mall that had just opened a couple months ago. It was packed with people on the second floor, so Amu, Miki, and Dia stayed down on the first floor. They were wandering around. This was Amu's first time at the mall, so when she found a map, she was shocked. The floor she was on consisted of many Japanese, French, and Swedish stores, and the second floor was all American and Swedish stores. A note on the side of the map said that there would be a Spanish wing opening in a few more months.

"Wow, this mall is very… culturally diverse." Amu said.

"Let's check out some of the French stores!" Miki said. "I hear France is very fashionable."

"Okay!" Amu agreed. The three wandered over to the French side of the floor. They looked through windows, seeing many extravagant dresses and tops. The three were impressed with how beautiful everything was, yet Amu wasn't completely satisfied.

"I know they're all gorgeous, but… I think they're too elegant, less 'cool'. You know?" she asked her two accompanying charas.

Miki nodded in agreement, yet Dia only smiled sadly. "Amu-chan…" she started. "You can't just have a completely 'cool' wardrobe. You must have some feminine attire for adult things, like dancing, dinner parties, and-"

"Sex…" they heard a voice say.

"AHH!!: Amu screamed. Miki merely went white with bugged eyes. Dia frowned, unamused.

"Ikuto-kun…" she started. "Not that adult."

But she only got a smirk.

Ikuto stood behind the three, carrying two shopping bags in his left hand, his right hand on his hip. "Why are you in the France section of the mall? Do you even know French? Shouldn't you be in the Japanese section? And I thought you didn't go to the mall?" Amu's face burned more and more with every question. But then he just had to hit a touchy subject. "Why are you even looking at such adult clothes? Shouldn't you be in the kiddie stores?" he asked, still smirking.

Amu froze at the last two questions, her blush starting to fade, reaching only a soft pink.

I'm… only a kid?

Ikuto, getting no reply, watched her face revert almost all the way back to it's normal color, and her eyes turn glassy. "Oi," he asked, walking up to her. He got up a few feet away from her face, looking into her eyes. "You still in there?"

He was suddenly shocked by her new expression. Her cheeks started to redden again, and her eyes started to water a bit.

I… he… he still thinks of me as a kid?

"Amu…?" Ikuto asked, clearly confused. Did I do or say something wrong to upset her?

Amu suddenly looked down slightly, her bangs covering her eyes, a shadow casting over her face. Only her lips and chin were visible. "Baka…" she murmured, before spinning around and running away, creating a trail of fresh tears to fall behind her.

Ikuto stood there, dumbfounded. What just happened…?

Amu just kept running around the mall, not caring who saw her or where she went. She just ran.

How could he be so stupid!? I'll show him that I'm not a kid anymore! No, wait… a child… I have to improve my grammar too… I mean, as well… Amu thought as she ran. Hey… where am I anyways…?

She stopped running and looked around, confused. Apparently she had ran all the way up the stairs, to the complete opposite side of the mall, and ended up in the American section.

What the…? She though. Oh well… good thing I take 3 languages at school. Now I can shop.

She wandered around, seeing many cool stores: Spencers, Zumiez, Hot Topic- just her style! She walked into Spencers, and seeing a cool choker, immediately went straight for it. It was a cross choker, kind of like Ikuto's, but with red stones in it. "Perfect," Amu said, and picked it up. She also saw gray knee socks with many crosses along the side and a red criss-cross pattern in the backdrop, that kind of matched the choker, so she picked them up too. She then went to the cashier to pay. In total, it was about $23*.

Miki and Dia said nothing. They only floated behind her in curiosity and slight concern. But the same thing popped into both of their minds. What happened to dropping to 'cool' act and becoming mature? Now she's just turning into Ikuto…

She walked out of Spencers and straight into Hot Topic. Good thing I brought a lot of money with me, this place is packed with awesome stuff!

She ended up buying a grand total of 15 items from Hot Topic-

A metallic blue and purple studded belt

A blue plaid pyramid stud belt

A blue glitter pyramid belt

Turquoise liquid eye shadow

Orange wingtip eyeliner

A red eye shadow palette

Red and black layered nail polish

A stainless steel heart ring

Peacock feather earrings

A red and black cross choker

A cross slave bracelet

A cross rose and pearl necklace

A crown skull cross and heart necklace

And a skull key necklace.

Wanna know how much it all cost?

A whopping $170.

And she was still ready to shop.

Miki was happy with all the blue stuff she got, and Dia equally happy with the warm-colored things. But they couldn't help but notice. They were all either cool or had something to do with Ikuto. Except for the peacock feathers. They stuck out for some reason.

"Ne, Miki," Dia whispered. "Do you think she's doing it on purpose? Or subconsciously?"

"I don't know," Miki stated, "But it's starting to scare me." Dia nodded. "We should help."

Amu had run into Zumiez by now. She normally didn't spend this much, but this mall was awesome! In Zumiez, she got a black, white, and blue plaid hoodie for $30. Before she could spot anything else, Miki and Dia floated in front of her face.

"Now, Amu-chan," Dia started. "What did you say we came here to do?"

"Buy more mature clothes, duh. Why?" Amu asked.

Miki and Dia sighed. Amu got confused.

"I thought 'cool' wasn't mature, Amu-chan." Miki said. Dia nodded.

"Yeah, it's immature, I know that." Amu said.

"So then why have you just bought $223 worth of 'cool' stuff?" Miki and Dia asked in unison.

Amu's eyes widened and she dropped the bags to the floor. "Shit."

Her two charas gasped. "Amu-chan!"

"You shouldn't swear like that, Amu-chan!" Miki yelled.

"It's very unbecoming for a mature young lady!" Dia exclaimed.

Amu just stood there, in a daze. They were right. Swearing, buying cool stuff. It's not making her any more mature. There has to be a way to change me… this definitely isn't it. I have to focus from now on.

"I got it, guys. Thanks. I'll focus and try harder from now on." Amu replied to them.

Miki and Dia smiled with relief. Good, she's back on track.

The three sought off to find a mature, more sophisticated store to shop in. Twice, Amu thought she saw Ikuto walk by, but when she checked, no Ikuto. But little did she know he was tailing her.

As Amu trailed after Miki and Dia, Ikuto stared in wonder. He had followed after her, since she'd run away crying. He just wanted to make sure she was okay. But when he saw her coming out of Zumiez, getting yelled at by her charas, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. So the harmless following turned into slightly creepy stalking. And upon stalking her, he became confused at her actions.

Did she really just go from shopping at the three coolest stores to Banana Republic?

Something is seriously wrong with this girl. Ikuto thought.

LizzyBird: Woo! Chapter done! Sorry it was kinda short, I just wanted to get this one out of the way to set up for the next chapter. Trust me, it'll be much better than-

Ikuto: This piece of crap.

LizzyBird: Hey… that's not nice Ikuto… but regardless, I still love you

Amu: Ugh. I don't even see why you started loving him in the first place. He's mean, rude, arrogant…

Ikuto: *whispers* sexy…

Amu: Sexy… Hey, wait!!

LizzyBird: *falling over, laughing hysterically* not to mention sneaky XD

Ikuto: Got that right =]

LizzyBird: Anyways... So Ikuto's a stalker now. How do you feel about that? Amu? Ikuto?

Amu and Ikuto: Eh. It's nothing new, honestly.

LizzyBird: ... Creepy... Anywho... Gotta keep my theme for stuff going… Suu! You do it! DO THE FREAKING DEW!!

Suu: Hai, desu! Please review~desu!

Ikuto: Ohh, I get it now, she's using-

LizzyBird: SHUSH!! Let them figure it out themselves!

STORY EXPLANATIONS!!

*I AM writing this in American currency, since she is in the American section of the mall, in American stores, so therefore-American currency. On my pictures on my profile, there are little boxes that show how much it is in Yen too, so if you really must know how much it is in Yen, you may look there =]

KEY FOR THOUGHTS!

Yes, I am making a key for this! Just to clear any possible confusion:

Amu's thoughts

Chara's thoughts (all)

Ikuto's thoughts