Morg: Heyo! Ikuto did you see the reviews?
Ikuto: I read them. Why?
Amu: They think you and Yoru are cute together! I like it, too.
Morg: Heck yeah!
Ikuto: You think I'm cute?
Amu: NO! I said you and Yoru's relationship was cute.
Morg: Well, I don't own anything that has to do with these guys. Enjoy it anyway!
~Dirty, Little Secrets~
Once again ignoring all the students around her gossiping, Amu stared out her window. She wasn't really looking at the tree. Mostly because she was waiting for Ikuto to enter the classroom so they could talk about their project a little more.
None of the other students had started working on theirs even if their partner was already in the room. No one seemed to care since their teacher wasn't there yet. This class was almost everyone's favorite since their teacher was nearly always late. He had to come from the other side of the school and that took time.
No one started working even when the bell rang to signal the start of class. Most of the students completely ignored it and continued to chat with their friends.
Amu didn't care one way or the other what the others did. Ikuto wasn't there yet, so it wasn't like she could really do much to work on their project. Still, Amu pulled out her notebook and a pen. She flipped to a clean page and wrote down their topic.
She hadn't given their project much thought the night before. Amu had been doing other homework and hanging out with Ami. Her charas had teased her a bit more about Ikuto, but they hadn't pushed too much.
Now, with both Ikuto and their teacher more than five minutes late, Amu doodled a demon at the top of her paper. She wanted to know what Ikuto thought about their topic. She wanted to know if he'd thought about it more than she had. She wanted to know where he was and if he was okay.
Amu froze in her seat. She blinked down at her paper for a few seconds before shaking her head. There was no way she actually cared about Ikuto. She'd met him the day before. She'd talked to him exactly one time. It didn't matter that he seemed different from the other students. She wouldn't become friends with him. They would do their project together and then go back to being strangers.
Forcing herself to take even breaths, Amu lifted her head as the door to the classroom slid open. Ikuto walked in talking to their teacher. It seemed they were arguing about something, but Amu firmly told herself she didn't care and returned her gaze to her notebook.
She kept her gaze there as their teacher called everyone to attention and scolded them for not getting started on their projects right away. Amu didn't look up even as Ikuto sat down in the chair in front of her. She was aware of the way he turned it to face her, but she didn't look at him until he was seated.
Ikuto gave Amu a small smile as he sat down. He pulled out a notebook and opened it to a page with a few notes that he'd written down the night before. "Hey, is it okay for me to come over today?"
Amu nodded as she glanced back down at her paper. "My parents said it was fine as long as we stay in the kitchen."
A few years ago, Ikuto would have jumped at making some kind of scandalous comment about Amu wishing she could get him into her room. Now, he just nodded his head and look back down at his paper. "Want to meet up after school? We can walk together."
"I have my bike."
"Oh, if you don't want to-"
"I'm okay with walking it so I can show you the way."
Ikuto smiled again. He'd heard people saying that Amu was cold and distant, but she didn't seem that way at all. "Did you get much done on this last night?"
Shrugging, Amu tried not to feel sheepish. It wasn't like she'd slacked off. "I was doing some other homework and hanging out with my sister. I wanted to get some other things done so I can properly focus on this project."
Nodding at that, Ikuto tapped his pen against the top of his desk. "That's cool. I didn't have anything else to do. I only jotted down a couple of ideas. Nothing major."
"What are you thinking the largest point of our era should be?"
Ikuto frowned at that. He looked down at his paper again before shrugging. "That's a good question. I mean, I think we should mostly focus on the way people lived during that time, but we can't ignore the demons that were supposedly also roaming around."
Amu felt her lips tug up into a grin at that. "I can draw some demons."
"I suppose we should line the hallway that we get with pictures and facts."
Amu nodded at that. "We can even hang some stuff from the ceiling if we get it done in time."
Ikuto returned the grin that Amu was wearing. "I like the sound of that."
XXX
Amu shifted her backpack on her shoulders as she waited beside her bike. Ikuto was supposed to meet her there. She was pleased with some of their design ideas that they'd come up with during class, but they really needed to get started on their research.
A month was really not long enough to do the project that they'd been assigned. Amu was sure that some of the other students would slack off until the last week. They'd end up with something shitty because they'd waited too long to do any real work. She wasn't going to let her and Ikuto's hallway look that way.
Catching sight of Ikuto, Amu waved at him before turning to unlock her bike. She was sure that he'd seen her and she didn't want to waste time if he was ready to go. They still had to get to her house before they could do any of their research.
Amu was shocked to turn around and find Tadase standing right behind her. "Uh, what do you want?"
Tadase smiled at her before moving a little bit farther forward. "You waved at me."
Leaning back, Amu tightened her grip on her bike. Ikuto or no Ikuto, she would leave if Tadase kept being so creepy. "No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did. I saw you."
"She was waving at me."
Amu and Tadase turned together to see Ikuto on the other side of the bike rack. He was slouched down with his bag hanging over one shoulder. He looked totally bored and uninterested that Amu had to remind herself that he was the same guy from her class that smiled and talked about their project.
"Why would she wave at you, Tsukiyomi?"
Amu really didn't like the way that Tadase scoffed at Ikuto. He had no right. He also had no idea what was really going on. "Hey, Ikuto."
Tadase's mouth fell open as he snapped his head back around to look at Amu.
Ikuto noticed how tense Amu was. She kept her eyes on him as she moved her bike out of the rack. "Hey, Amu. Ready to go?"
Nodding, Amu did no look back at Tadase as she moved to join Ikuto. Something about him was seriously bothering her. "Yeah, let's go. I want to get started on research."
Ikuto waited for Amu to start heading in a direction. He fell into step beside her. Only once did he glance back. Hotori was glaring at him.
Confused, Ikuto turned back around. He walked quietly beside Amu for a little way before checking again to make sure that they were alone. "What was that all about?"
Shuddering just a bit, Amu shook her head. "I really don't know. He just showed up uncomfortably close to me and claimed I waved him over. He even argued with me when I said that I didn't."
Ikuto wasn't sure why he was curious. It probably had to do with the fact that Amu wasn't acting like boys being creepy around her was the standard in her life. She didn't seem to be trying to get sympathy from him. Or anything else, for that matter. She simply answered his question. "Has he bothered you before?"
Shrugging, Amu turned a corner. She slowed just a bit to make sure that Ikuto stayed with her as she led him to her house. "Not really. We were sort of friends in elementary school. By that, I mean that we had the same group of friends. I don't really talk to any of them anymore. We just grew apart. I haven't talked to any of them for several years. But then Tadase confessed to me yesterday."
"You rejected him?"
"Him showing up ridiculously close behind me wouldn't have been nearly so weird if I had accepted him."
Ikuto couldn't help but chuckle at that. "True."
Amu sighed as she and Ikuto reached her driveway. "I'm not really sure what he was thinking. We haven't talked in years. Why would I be interested in him now?"
Ikuto shrugged at that. "I have no idea. I don't talk to any of the people I used to be friends with either."
Amu bit at her lip for a second before shaking her head. She turned to look up at her house and smiled. Ami ducked out of one of the windows as soon as she saw Amu looking. "My sister is already home. I hope you don't mind chatting with her for a little bit before we get started."
Ikuto shook his head as he followed Amu up her driveway. He waited as she put her bike away before she led him to the door and unlocked it. So far he couldn't help but like the girl he was partnered with. She was interesting and definitely different from the other simpering idiots that went to their school. "I told you, I don't mind hanging out with your sister."
Amu smiled at him over her shoulder as she slipped her shoes off. "Ami! Come and meet Ikuto. He's my partner for a school project."
Ami poked her head out of the kitchen doorway. She grinned at Amu before turning her gaze to Ikuto. "Hello, I'm Amu's sister, Ami."
"Nice to meet you, Ami. I'm Tsukiyomi Ikuto. But you can call me Ikuto. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other until our project is finished."
"What project are you two working on?"
Amu slipped her back off her shoulders and carried it into the kitchen. She could hear Ikuto following her. "You know that school fair that we're having next month?"
Ami nodded as she moved to sit back down at the table where her homework was already out and waiting for her. A little bowl of grapes sat beside her textbook. "Yes, we get the day off of school to go to it."
Ikuto took a seat on the other side of the table from Ami. "We have to create a presentation for one of the hallways. Our history class is doing a walk through time thing."
"What era did you guys get?"
Amu put her things down by Ami. She placed her chara bag down next to her books before blowing a piece of her hair out of her face. "The feudal era."
Ami looked from Amu to Ikuto and back again. "So you're going to talk about demons?"
Amu was quick to poke her sister in the side. She smiled as Ami giggled. "Only because we have an expert right here. You being a little demon and all."
Ami pretended to be offended before smiling down at her math homework. "At least you didn't get a more boring time period."
Ikuto lifted a brow at that, but Amu shook her head. He didn't ask just for that reason. "We actually came here to talk about what we're doing some more. Are we going to bother you?"
Ami solved a problem before grinning up at Ikuto. "No, I think I'll be fine."
"Ami's at the top of her class. She's really good at concentrating even when it's noisy around her."
"Speaking of noisy, Amu, why haven't you gotten out the girls?"
Amu glanced over at Ikuto before turning back to her sister.
Ikuto watched the two girls whispering to each other for a few seconds before he realized what Ami had been asking about. "You mean her charas?"
Both girls froze before turning to look at him in an eerily similar way.
Ikuto swallowed before wishing to himself that he'd kept his mouth shut. "What?"
"How do you know about them? I don't have them in school."
"Are you following Amu?"
Frowning, Ikuto looked from one sister to the other before shaking his head. He leaned over to where he'd placed his bag on the ground before rummaging around in a pocket. He pulled out a sleeping Yoru and placed him on the table. "We saw you riding your bike yesterday."
Amu looked from Ikuto to his chara and back again. The sleeping cat was not what she'd been expecting when he'd moved to get something out of his bag. She wasn't quite sure why she felt so relieved to see the little guy there.
"He's so cute."
"You don't have to whisper."
"I don't want to wake him."
Chuckling, Ikuto nudged Yoru. All the little cat did was roll over and mutter something before falling back to sleep. "I don't think you have to worry about that. This is Yoru."
Amu looked at the little blue cat for a moment before she nudged her bag. "Come on out, girls."
Ran was the first to zip out of the bag. "Amu-chan! You let us sleep too long."
Ami flicked a grape into the air and cheered when Ran caught it.
Amu didn't reply as she waited for the others.
Miki was next. She took one look at Yoru before diving back into the bag for her sketchbook. She didn't say anything as she started to draw the sleeping cat.
Su yawned on her way out. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, stared at the table for a moment before tutting, and went to get some snacks for everyone.
Dia left the bag. She sat on Amu's shoulder without saying anything.
Amu smiled at the feeling of Dia nuzzling against her cheek. "These are my charas. That's Ran over there. Miki over there drawing Yoru. Su is getting snacks. And this is Dia."
Ikuto nodded at each little girl before looking back down at Yoru. "Let's let Miki finish her drawing before we wake him up. I'm sure he'll be surprised."
Amu returned the smile that Ikuto gave her. She liked that he was not only caring about his chara but also hers. "Thanks. I'm sure Miki appreciates it."
Miki nodded her head but didn't say anything as her pencil moved across her paper.
Amu shook her head at her little blue chara before turning back to her notebook. "We better get started or we'll never get anything done."
Ikuto smirked at his partner but pulled his notebook closer to himself nonetheless. Amu was right. They had work to do.
.
Morg: Everyone meeting everyone always takes a bit of time.
Ikuto: At least it's still interesting.
Amu: This could be the end.
Morg: Nope.
Ikuto: No way, this is just getting good.
Amu: Fine. I suppose we can vote on it. Review and tell Morg to stop writing.
