A/N: Alright, flashback time already! Who wants to see what's up with Tadase? Here we go then, people! Be prepared to go, "Ohh, that makes way more sense!" Thanks to all my reviewers and especially PandaFatty, thanks for being so honest! Stay honest, I want to know what you guys really think!
hinamori-pockyluva01, need I say my thanks all the time? Love you! P.S., sorry for this upcoming chapter, seeing as how it will twist your heart...
Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara.
Tadase—9 years ago
Nikaidou and Sanjou had just gotten married and there was a big celebration. Ikuto was back, but Tadase wasn't too upset. In fact, he was happy to see the 'thieving' cat again. Even if he won't take his hands or eyes off Amu, he thought to himself dryly. And it was true. He and Amu had been talking with each other the whole time. He'd seen Ikuto wrap his arms around her and Amu blush in that way she did.
"You'll be in middle school next year, man!" Kukai exclaimed, coming up behind him. "We'll only have one year together, though. Oh, well." Tadase smiled as Kukai continued to talk crazy fast about what middle school was like and what middle school girls were like. Right in the middle of that little spiel Utau walked up and glared at him.
Tadase tried to discreetly warn his brunette friend who then cut off immediately and turned around slowly. Utau wrapped her arms around his shoulders and started mewling to him, the way she used to do with Ikuto. The blonde boy chuckled and turned away from the two.
"Tadase," Nagihiko said, coming up to him. Tadase sent one last look towards Ikuto and his pink-haired Joker. "Oh, leave them alone. We need your help anyways," his friend said to him in exasperation. Tadase grudgingly let himself be led away by the long-haired boy.
He'd finally managed to get away from helping Nagi and Yaya distribute snacks (while Rima commandeered over them all, of course). He started searching for Amu but instead found himself away from the celebrations.
Suddenly, a tall, dark man grabbed him from the bushed and pulled him away. He tried to get away from them, sure that it was Easter. Just when you thought you'd get a break…he thought. Tadase found himself in a dark sleek limousine. He saw the head of Easter, Kazuomi, sitting across from him, partially seated in darkness.
"I thought we wouldn't be seeing you for awhile. W-what do you want with me anyways?" Tadase stuttered slightly over his words. A creepy grin spread across Kazuomi's face and he opened a laptop that he had next to him. A picture from the party he'd wandered from popped up.
It was soundless but it showed Ikuto and Amu as he'd last seen them. He could tell Amu was stuttering over her words and a bright red blush was spreading on her cheeks. She loves me, Tadase tried to believe. And he thought he could still hold onto her. She can be mine. Ikuto will leave again…
Kazuomi's smile grew as he watched Tadase's conflicting emotions flicker across his face. "Yes, he'll leave again and she'll come back to you. Simpering and all yours...until he comes back," the older man hinted. Tadase told himself that it was more than that—he was not the opportunity cost of Amu's heart. (Okay, wow, that was really stupid but we're doing economics right now, so…I just HAD to put this in.)
"And what can you do about it? Kill him?" Tadase snapped. He didn't like that he agreed with Kazuomi—at all. To his dismay and revulsion, Kazuomi's smile grew even more. He didn't look human, and as Tadase looked closer he could see that Easter's CEO looked positively deathly.
"Well…Ikuto knows that we'll try to follow him after the wedding…" Kazuomi began. "He'll probably be able to slip past us. That means, I have no successor." Tadase's eyes widened as it dawned on him what the man was proposing. The sickest part was Tadase was already trying to figure out a way to impress Amu with his newfound title.
The blonde boy left the black limousine 10 minutes later, having signed away his future. He was completely dazed. Tadase made his way back to the wedding. "Tadase!" he heard Amu cry. He saw the pinkette rush towards him and hug him tightly around the neck. "You've been missing for, like, 15 minutes! Where were you, we were worried!" she chastised.
Tadase smiled a little. She was worried…and she will love me…more than that thieving cat, Tadase thought, a little too evilly. He made a mental note to make sure he didn't get infected with Kazuomi's crazy.
"Well?" she prodded. "Where were you?"
"Oh, I just go lost. I don't know how…" he said sheepishly, hating to have to lie to her. But he said I couldn't tell anyone until I actually inherited it, Tadase recalled. But, it won't be long. Kazuomi didn't look good at all.
Amu smiled, embarrassed, noticing the position she was in. She disentangled herself from Tadase with a light blush on her cheeks. Ikuto pulled her back towards him with a smirk at Tadase. He just smiled back cheerfully as Amu sputtered and tried to push him away.
When you leave, you leave her with me. The new CEO of Easter.
Tadase—5 years ago
He flipped open his phone and called Amu. He'd been working for Easter for about 8 years now. He still hadn't told Amu or, well, anyone. They all thought he had some crappy side job for high school or maybe…well, he didn't really care what they thought. "Amu? It's Tadase. Call me back, please," he said sweetly to the voicemail. If that cat is with her right now…he thought angrily.
Ikuto had come back to Seiyo in their sophomore year. Technically, he and Amu hadn't been dating at the time, but they had grown very close…Tadase thought he'd just captured Amu's heart when…that damn thieving, black cat! All through sophomore, junior, and now senior year he'd had to watch Ikuto slowly steal away his Amu. She was always talking with him and he seemed to pop up whenever Tadase thought he'd finally gotten a moment alone with the pinkette.
After a few minutes his phone rang again. "Amu!" he cried cheerfully. He didn't talk like he used to—it wasn't cheery and sweet anymore, but he tried to keep it up just a bit for the others.
"T-Tadase!" she stuttered. His reddish eyes narrowed. She's with Ikuto, he thought territorially. "Uh…let me—go away!—find I place I can talk to you…" she muttered.
He waited a moment and listened to her snap at Ikuto and try to find a place. Finally, she settled down and acknowledged him again. "I was just seeing if you could meet me somewhere," he said, trying to hint that only she would be welcome. "It's kind of important…" he continued, trying to guilt her into coming.
A few more angry mutters and she was back on the phone. "O-of course! I'd love to come, Tadase! When were you thinking?" she asked him, trying (and failing) to be inconspicuous about Ikuto's presence. It made him feel better that she wasn't letting him listen in, though.
Tadase's grin grew. If she seriously didn't want Ikuto to follow her, and it sounds like she doesn't, he told himself, he won't. He does trust her. And to some extent, he trusts me. That will be your biggest mistake, little kitty, Tadase thought sadistically.
"I was thinking you could meet me at that little green space you have to walk past to get to your house. That way it'll be easy. I really want to talk to you. Alone."
"Alright!" she responded, ending the call.
He saw Amu's pink hair (slightly past her shoulders now) blowing in the wind. She had on boot-cut jeans and a graphic tee. Tadase thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. "Sorry," she said, breathless. "I didn't really have a lot of time or…eh…privacy to change," she explained.
Tadase had the grace to blush. But he wasn't here to talk about her frippery with Ikuto. I'll put that to an end soon enough. You'll be all mine, Amu, he thought. She smiled up at him with those golden eyes. "Oh," he squeaked, remembering himself. "Well…there's been something I've been meaning to tell you. For awhile. A long time."
Amu looked at him expectantly.
"I am the head of Easter. I own it."
He watched a dozen emotions slide across her face. First there was shock, then confusion, and a mess of anger, sadness, awe, and betrayal. Why is she so surprised? Did she think that meek little Tadase couldn't take on such a challenge? he wondered spitefully. He was so tired and fed up with not only Ikuto but Rima and Nagi and Utau monopolizing her free-time. Amu was his and had always been his—ever since she'd first laid eyes on him. She'd loved him first and she'd love him last.
Amu looked at him with wide eyes. "You? You're the…head of Easter? How? For how long? Don't worry we…we can…we'll get you out of the position, okay?" she said hurriedly, reaching for her phone. Tadase put a hand over hers with a glint in his eye.
"I'm happy about it, Amu. I've been running it ever since Kazuomi died. He made me his successor. I wanted him to," Tadase explained. Amu's eyes widened in horror, making him angry. "Aren't you surprised and happy about all the greatness I've achieved? I've become probably the most powerful person in Japan because you're stupid Ikuto didn't want the greatest chance of a lifetime," Tadase sneered.
"Tadase!" she finally cried, finding her voice. "That's the company that tried to kill us all! They tried to take over the world! They were evil!" she reminded him. Tadase just chuckled. He grabbed her wrist as she tried to pull away from him.
"Amu," he said softly, making her pause. "I signed my life away on the day of Nikaidou and Sanjou's wedding because I love you. I love you so much and I just wanted to make you notice me. To love me more than…him," Tadase explained. Amu's honey eyes softened as she looked at her childhood friend.
She tried to pull her wrist from his grasp, but he held tight. "Tadase…you don't need to do anything like that. I know you're here," she told him softly, still trying to get out of his hands. "So…just hand Easter over to someone else, okay? Please?"
Tadase's eyes flashed. "I love you, Amu! You should be so…in awe right now! You shouldn't be trying to wriggle out of my grasp back to that…that…thieving cat!" he cried. She gasped, not having heard him say that in years. "You will be mine…only mine," he snarled lowly.
She opened her mouth to protest, or scream. Tadase wouldn't let her do either, so he did the natural thing. He kissed her. Furiously. She tried to fight back, but Tadase had her wrists. When she finally stopped fighting and went slack, he released her.
"You're going to leave them all. You're going to stay in Seiyo and work for me…for Easter. And no one can know where you are. Otherwise, all your friends and your little boy-toy are going to die. You. Are. Mine," he snarled. Amu choked back a sob he let her fall to the ground.
He sighed. "I love you, Amu. That's the only reason I'm doing this. Make sure no one follows you…you'd better be at Easter tomorrow."
With that, he left her kneeling in the grass, sobbing. Tadase's heart clenched once, but he couldn't let himself think that he'd been too harsh. Ikuto is not the one for her. She is mine and I am hers. The sooner she realizes it, the easier and better it will be for everyone, he told himself.
From that day on, Tadase's heart was stone. Everything he did was for love. He was in the right—anyone who opposed him was wrong.
A/N: Okay, so I know I promised juicy details about 3 but…this is kinda like that, right? Okay, totally not how I planned to spill all this but PandaFatty brought up good points—why is Tadase being crazy? There you go. Love. Okay, so 5 we will be back on track! Ikuto will be in it (after we find out what happens with Nagi, of course)! R&R!
