I felt so guilty I wrote two chapters to make up for the nine months I was absent… here's another. By the way, guys, I'm the sort of person who makes an effort if I'm poked or pleaded with or given the puppy dog eyes (or told I'm good, that makes me blush and deny and write furious amounts of prose to impress that person.) Just send me a message going "D:" if I go all quiet.


At break time, Tadase popped in to check on her again. It seemed mainly to be to make sure Ikuto hadn't eaten her yet. "Are you okay, Hinamori?" he asked suspiciously, and her heart sang at the Prince being so interested in her wellbeing. "Tsukiyomi hasn't—well, he's behaving himself?"

It hurt a little to lie to him, but she smiled and said, "Yes, yes, it's fine; he's actually a decent cook, you know, so I haven't even had to come down for food or anything."

Tadase frowned. "Don't let him isolate you, Hinamori."

Despite herself, she smiled at him, a shy, self-conscious smile. Then she became awkwardly aware of what she was doing and sat up ramrod straight, looking straight away. "It'll be fine, Tadase. And I won't let him isolate me. Call me by my first name." It came out shrewish and shrill, and she winced, wanting to bash her head against a table until it bled, but Tadase smiled back at her.

"Of course… um, um, Amu." Something in her screeches. He said her name! He said her name! And he even hesitated—aaah, how cute the Prince is, even when he's unsure, especially when he's unsure… She sighed, unaware herself that she had, until Nadeshiko arrived behind her and gave her a knowing smile. She blushed, unable to help herself.

"Fujisaki!" she blurted out.

"Nadeshiko," the girl corrected her gently, with a finger to her lips. "Nice to see you again, Amu. Do we have all our classes together?"

Amu looked down at the piece of paper she had clutched in her hands—trying not to lose it; she did that one year, and ever since, has held onto her schedule obsessively—and nodded. "I think we do. Except maybe Maths, I think you're at a higher level than I am…"

Nadeshiko shrugged expressively. "Luck of the draw," she said, producing a small fan from her pocket and fluttering it in front of her face. Amu watched enviously. Nadeshiko was so feminine, so cute, with her long, smooth hair and pretty face. So unfair…

"Oh!" she blurted again, remembering what she wanted to talk to them about in the first place. "I was wondering about Ikuto's family, or his friends, or if he works." She wondered briefly if she was pushing that last bit too far. Whatever he was doing, it was obviously secret. "He hasn't said anything, and I haven't seen anyone, but I don't want to embarrass myself, or make a mistake…"

She saw them exchange a look, unable to read it, and wondered if she'd gone too far, babbled too much there. "Well," Nadeshiko began delicately, "I expect you know Director Hoshina is Ikuto's step-father, although he doesn't mention it…" Amu blinked. Step-father? "And he has a sister called Utau—you will have heard of her—who is meant to go here, but she's often away, because of her singing career. Mister Hoshina is Director of a company called Easter, who do rather a lot… They have a record label, for one, which Utau works for, and they've branched out with it as well, recently, I think. They have shares, but aside from that, I'm afraid I can't tell you much more, Amu…"

Amu realised with a jolt that Nadeshiko was lying to her. She wasn't sure, because she hadn't known Nadeshiko for long, but the girl was uncomfortable, and wouldn't quite meet her eyes. There was definitely something going on here. And they were trying to keep it from her, even though she might get hurt.

She felt a flare of anger, and stifled it, pushing it down so that she could act her best in front of Tadase. Even if they were lying to her, it was probably to protect her, at least… Her expression softened. Thanks, Tadase, Nadeshiko, she thought, but I can take care of myself, really.


The next day passed awkwardly, and painfully slowly. Ikuto was quiet all afternoon, oppressively so—not nearly his cheerful, inappropriate self—so in the end Amu excused herself and went down to the common room to do her homework and listen to the burble of people talking and having fun.

She went to sleep worried, but either nobody visited this time, or they just didn't wake her up. She slept right through the night, waking up early. Ikuto seemed revitalised and back to normal, and made her help with the pancakes this time, going as far as to check if there were any toppings she liked better or any ingredients she liked in the batter. He then offered to buy them for her, with an "our secret" air about it. It was fun again.

She left that morning humming and cheerful.


Her next class was… some kind of science, with Nikaidou-sensei. She hadn't had him yet, or heard much about him. He must be one of those okay teachers—not bad, not great. One of the ones you just tended to get on with.

She got into the class early, thinking that maybe Ikuto was right, and she was being paranoid about leaving so early every morning. She should eat her breakfast more slowly and read a manga in the morning or something, relax. It was a bit weird getting here before everyone else every time. Just her and the teacher. And it meant she had to talk to the first few people in, which was always worse.

She sighed, looking around. Would this be one of the teachers who put them in a seating plan? Should she just sit anywhere for now? Where was the teacher, actually?

He popped up from behind the loaded desk at the front of the classroom clumsily, nearly burying her in an avalanche of papers. "Oh, oh, oh, sorry, miss, sorry—ahh, no!"

Trying to recover, she looked at him, his slightly curly brown hair everywhere, and his glasses askance on his nose, and decided he needed help. She set down her bags on the floor and began picking up papers. "Is any order okay, Nikaidou-sensei?" she asked. "Or do you want me to leave them?"

He looked up, and for the first time his eyes settled on her, for slightly longer than she was comfortable with. "Hinamori, right? Amu Hinamori?"

"Um—yes," she replied, shifting awkwardly with the paper in her arms. "Yeah. I'm Amu Hinamori. How do you know my name?"

He flapped his hand carelessly at her. "Everyone knows it, Hinamori. You're new, after all. Not many new students here, eh?"

His voice was uncomfortably familiar. It would come to her in a moment. She just had to keep him talking. "I guess not, sensei."

"Please," he said pleasantly, giving her a daft, cutesy smile. "Call me Nikaidou, Amu."

"Um, sensei, I'd rather you called me Hinamori… Since you're my sensei…" He had moved from behind the desk to stand in front of her, and she was suddenly aware of how short she was, and how tall he was, and intimidating height could be. Then—it clicked, and she gasped, her hands going to her mouth. The night visitor…

"I'm your sensei, Amu, and I think you know who else I might be. Midnight conversations ringing any bells?" Her eyes widened without realising it, and he nodded. "Work on your acting, Amu. Really. Anyone could tell you were awake—except for Ikuto, but of course, that's boy's thick as a plank, no helping him." He took a step forwards, and she took a step back. "I think we could help you, Amu. Forget what you heard. Forget about me, and about Ikuto. Move out of that room, and you'd be safe. It's not much, is it?"

"What are you doing to Ikuto?" she asked, hearing her voice tremble and hating it. He took another step forward, and this time she stayed where she was. He smelled very different from Ikuto. Almost metallic.

"You can't care about him already," Nikaidou said scornfully, looking pointedly at her trembling legs. "Unless you've got some ridiculous crush on him, which I advise you drop at once. Ikuto Tsukiyomi is just one big pack of trouble, Hinamori. He's practically cursed. He'll only bring bad luck. So," he continued, "I'm giving you a chance to get out now. Have I made myself clear?"

She raised her head to stare him right in the face. "I'm not going to be bullied, sensei. I don't care who you are. Ikuto is a good person, and he doesn't deserve this!"

"Oh," Nikaidou mocked, "is that right?" He grabbed her tie, and yanked her forward, holding her about an inch away from his creepy smile. "I think we need to continue discussing this, Amu, since clearly you're too stupid to back down. You're only going to inconvenience Ikuto by getting involved, and I'm willing to bet you don't even know what's going on, do you?" Amu didn't reply, shaking on the end of her tie. Nikaidou laughed. "You don't! Like a little child, you're just messing about with things you don't understand! How brave, Amu."

She shoved him away, ignoring how her tie tightened around her neck as she did so. With a swift pull, he had her tie in his hands, and pushed her away just as the first other student came through the door.

"Welcome!" he said, throwing his arms up in the air and dislodging a whole sheaf of papers, neatly disguising the fact that he had Amu's tie at the same time. She stared in disbelief. He wasn't going to give it back? She might get in trouble if she didn't have her tie for no reason—and she couldn't tell them that one of the teachers had stolen it off her, they'd never believe her… But the dorms were locked at this time of day, weren't they? Did she have enough time to check?

All the same, she didn't think she could spend another moment in the company of Nikaidou-sensei. She'd risk it. She grabbed all her stuff, unaware that her shirt was ever so slightly unbuttoned and that she was dishevelled and breathing fast, and shouted something about feeling sick to Nikaidou-sensei before running bodily out of the door, to the astonishment of the other student in the room.


Amu ran past all the other students hurrying on their way to classes, hoping that Ikuto would still be there and that the doors wouldn't be locked yet. She got there just as the guy who she usually saw on his rounds early in the morning was approaching the main doors. She had to stop to pant and get her breath back, and he waited patiently. So far, Amu had seemed responsible and sensible to him. Perhaps this would prove that impression wrong, but he waited for her to speak and explain herself.

"Sorry," she gasped, "I—I, um, I forgot something. Can I go and get it?"

He shrugged. "If you want. I'll be back in five minutes, but I'm not checking on you. If you're not quick enough, Hinamori, you'll be locked in. Is that okay with you?"

He clearly didn't care about whatever was going on her life right now, and she was perversely glad for that. "Yeah, that's fine," she said, "I'll be quick, I swear, just this once." He nodded, sighing long-sufferingly, and pulled open the massive dorms to let her scamper in, and up the stairs. It was unlikely Ikuto would still be here, but he had struck her as the sort of person who left everything absolutely until the last minute… She prayed that she'd read him right.

Not looking where she was going, her hair in her eyes, she collided with him going up the stairs at about a million miles an hour. She cried out, dropping her things and toppling backwards, desperately trying to grip onto the banister to stop the nasty fall she anticipated was coming, only to be gratefully saved by his arm at top speed going around her waist and pulling her back up with only a grunt of effort on his part.

"Are you okay? –oh, Amu! What are you doing here? Haven't lessons started?"

She curled her fingers in his shirt for a moment, feeling completely safe. She'd had an underlying feeling of uneasiness ever since she'd overheard that conversation between him and the person she now knew was Nikaidou-sensei. That had… disappeared as soon as she was like this with Ikuto. He was so tall, and warm, and his arms completely encompassed her, holding her close enough to hear his heart beat. It didn't feel like anything wrong could happen here, even if she'd only known him for a few days, and he might be involved with bad people.

He lowered his chin on top of her head, and then onto her shoulder, and murmured, "Getting comfortable, Amu?" and blew into her ear. She yelped and jumped, and would have fallen again if he hadn't swung her lightly up to the top of the stairs. "Be careful, Amu, geez. You could break your neck, and then I'd be lonely."

To her dismay, she felt herself tearing up, and she wiped disconsolately at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. He set her down, and looked at her properly for the first time. His eyes widened. "Amu, what actually happened to you? –you look like you've been in a fight." He took in her missing tie, and the undone first button, and her mussed hair, and ran his hand through his own hair. "Amu, tell me what happened," he said, more urgently. "Did someone—were you—did someone target you?"

She sniffed, and he softened for a moment with a small smile. "Let's go back to the room, and get you something to drink."

"Alcohol?" she muttered suspiciously from in between trying to halt the sniffs. He laughed.

"No. Not alcohol. Although, if you want…?"

"No!" she said, too loudly, then sighed and went quiet. She had been saying no a lot recently. It was beginning to feel uncomfortably like a fixture in her vocabulary. Ikuto required a lot of nos. He was like a child. "Please, some hot chocolate would be nice…"

"Whatever you want, Amu. Looks like you had a shock."

"Yeah…," she said, looking at the ground, her near crying having completely stopped now. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." They walked off just as she heard the caretaker shut and lock the door. There was no going back now, she supposed, and followed Ikuto's tall form to their room.


When she was sat down with a massive, steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hands, she felt much better. It was burning her hands slightly, but that at this point, she just didn't care. She blew on it comfortingly, and drew her knees up to her chest again. This was nice. Almost like time with family. Those quiet moments in the evenings when her father wasn't running around after Ami trying to take her photo, or her mother apprising both of them for new clothes; all the clothes their budget would allow.

She sighed, not noticing Ikuto's curious gaze fixated on her, his thoughts wondering what hers currently were. Although she didn't realise it, he was trying to be tactful for once and let her speak first, even though he was not a patient guy as a whole, and it was costing him some impressive effort.

Eventually, after the mug had been drained—a burned tongue for the troubles, but a stomach full to the brim of caffeine and sugar that was making her feel a lot better—Amu latched her arms around her legs and began explaining. Ikuto remained silent throughout the whole thing, although it was obviously straining him. She skirted around the bit where he stole her tie, still uncomfortable about that, but Ikuto's face darkened all the same, and leaned forwards more intensely than before.

"So you know some things," he said, and she nodded. "The edges of things. I'm… maybe they'll let you get out if that's all."

Her head shot up so fast she nearly cricked her neck. She heard the hideous noise and winced, but launched into a quick tirade. "Ikuto! How could you even think of locking me out now? At this stage? After sensei threatened me and stole my things, and I'm skipping school, and I lied to Tadase and Nadeshiko, and they're such nice people, Ikuto, but I bet you wouldn't understand. And you, too, you're in danger—I could help!"

He stayed quiet for a second, absorbing that. "Really?" he asked her, smiling slightly, just teasingly enough for his usual personality to shine through. "How would you help, Amu? You're too young, you have no idea what's going on… Bad idea."

"Don't count me out," she snapped. "And anyway, I'm not moving out."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Who made you stay here in the first place, Amu? That does extend to kicking you out, as well."

She glared at him. "I'd hunt you down."

He laughed, holding his hands up as surrender. "Okay, okay, I believe you." He leaned across the table, all his lankiness letting him—she never would have managed to—and ruffled her hair, smiling to himself. "Geez, such a kid. But if you want to help that bad, I guess I have to let you, right?"

"Yeah," she said, trying to sound firm and brave. "And get off my hair. I'm not a kid."

"Whatever you say, Amu," he returned, leaning back in his chair and pushing the front legs off the ground again, rocking backwards and forwards. He was so restless all the time. "But for now, we're locked into the dorms… all… day long. What'll we do if it gets all cold, Amu? Will you snuggle up with me to stop me dying of hypothermia?"

"Not a chance," she replied sharply. "I'm gonna go study."

"Aww, you're so boring. Not even a cuddle on the sofa?"

"No."

"Some people would kill to have this opportunity," he pointed out, resting his hands behind his head casually. "Romantically… locked in a building together… no-one else around… a bed close by… Isn't it wonder—?" Amu glared at him, brandishing a frying pan that had been on the sideboard. "Ah, fine, maybe later then. For now, if you're gonna study, don't you need your things?"

"Oh!" she said, not even having remembered that she'd left them on the stairs.

"Be careful," he called after her, after a pause. "Don't fall down the stairs again, Amu! I won't be there to save you this time!"

"Shut up," was her romantic reply, as she stomped out with the frying pan irately in hand.

He smiled to himself again and shook his head. "Such a kid," he muttered, "but a good kid."