Okay I think I may be a few days late on this one. Sorry! I've had a hectic last couple of days.
I'm actually looking for a Beta for these chapters. Since I'm not the best authors around you know? I only recently made an account on here so I'm not exactly sure how everything works yet... *sigh* Here's the new chapter!
Disclaimer: Shugo Chara isn't mine. If it was...There would be Amuto babies EVERYWHERE!
CHAPTER 4
Amu always wondered how she got herself in certain situations; it was as if danger or the unknown followed her everywhere she went like a stupid magnet. Ikuto had forced her into going to god knows where and here she was, her life in danger, while an all too knowing blue haired young man laughed at her clumsiness. This day couldn't go any better.
"Stop laughing and assist me." The pinkette glared at him as her hands hung the nearby pole for her dear life.
"Do a pole twist first, I want to see if you have any talent."
"Are you grouping me with the nearby whores?! Screw you!"
"Not yet, but in due time Amu."
The pinkette blushed, almost the same color as her own hair. With a quick huff, she stared down the possibly hundred meters to what would soon be her own death. Soon after leaving Tsukasa's mansion, Ikuto had convinced her to climb a nearby house with the assumption of their destination being nearby. To Amu's surprise, the two were only climbing higher and higher. Now Ikuto had dragged her to a tall building, her footing a mere couple of centimeters wide and the pinkette wasn't known for her agility.
Ikuto chuckled at the pinkette again, he didn't plan on taking it this far but he couldn't resist. Her agility must definitely be the worst, who knew the ex-princess could be such a klutz. She could barely stand on a normal sidewalk and here she was, standing on something not even a meter wide while hanging onto a pole. The sight was certainly not something you see every day. He didn't bother to mention that they were actually standing above their destination; the sight was too unique though… He promised himself to tell her later.
"If you ask me nicely I'll help you." He could tell the pinkette wasn't even considering it, her ego was too big for her own good. Ikuto shrugged and marched right by her, barely even swaying from lack of balance. Amu couldn't help but roll her eyes, he was doing this on purpose, flaunting around the fact that he had a better balance than her. Well whatever, if Amu was anything that would be hard-headed and hardworking. She growled again, angry at the blue haired young man then gasped again. She really needed to stop that, slowly her balance got better. What changed? She managed to walk a good distance before swaying again, she growled again due to frustration and then her balance improved again. What the….? A smile spread across her lips, every time she would lose her balance she would slightly growl and then it would come back again. Amu was sure it was a coincidence but took advantage of it anyway.
Ikuto stared at her, it seems like she was getting the hang of it and he was honestly not pleased. He was hoping to enjoy it some more, smirking again, he approached her slowly and stopped right in front of her.
"W-"
Quickly, he pushed her back and sent her flying off the wall. A shriek echoed throughout the area, luckily for them there was no one around to hear it. Ikuto started running down the wall, shifting his weight so his feet could stick to the wall. With a swift jump, he bounced on a nearby tree to land onto another and then another. Ikuto repeated the motion in a zigzap motion before landing on the ground, his arms awaiting a very flustered pinkette.
Amu's eyes opened as wide as the moon, he had just pushed her off the wall! She was making progress too, so why? She was finally mastering the art of walking on a wall without falling off and what does he do? Push her off… Damn him! Pardon her language. Highly angered, Amu landed in Ikuto's arms, her eyes gleaming of murderous intents. Quickly, Ikuto dropped her and ran off towards a dark amusement park. Oh no, he wasn't getting away from this that fast; Amu quickly gave chase and also quickly lost him.
Oh great! So much for teaching him a lesson, suddenly she noticed a shadow moving quickly towards the mirror house. Gotcha. Amu huffed and, as quickly as possible, she ran over to the mirror house. The wind caused her waist-length hair to sway backwards, curling it at the ends due to the up and down motion. It was quite a distance, causing the pinkette to repeatedly gasp for hair while holding onto her knees, her back was hunched forward. Subconsciously, the pinkette moved a stand of hair behind her hair and made her way inside the Mirror Mansion. Instantly she regretted it, Ikuto was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Images of him appeared on the cracked mirrors but he was nowhere in sight, this is why she hated Mirror Houses, what's fun about getting lost in the dark? The pinkette shook her head and proceeded to relying on her ears, a reflection doesn't make sounds but the real one does.
Amu heard footsteps to the right and instantly whirled around to find Ikuto there….Or at least, an image of him. She growled and searched once more, footsteps to the left, then behind, then to the right…..How was he moving so fast and yet accomplishing long distances at the same time? He wasn't jumping, he was walking otherwise the sound would be louder. The pinkette frowned and listened once more, she took a deep breath then out and held it so that her breathing wouldn't interfere with her hearing. Right, no left, wait back to the right, now behind…..Wait, the sounds were different everytime. Objects! He was throwing objects! No wonder she couldn't find him, footsteps….footsteps….Amu took a deep breath again and took a few steps forward, with her eyes closed, Amu focused on her hearing once more. Footsteps, object, footsteps, object, footsteps, a ball, footsteps, a piece of glass, footsteps, a pen? Pencil? Footsteps, BREATHING! The pinkette quickly sidestepped to the left and pushed forward. The glass in front of her fell back but stopped half way, she looked behind it and saw Ikuto rubbing the back of his hair in pain. Amu grinned, "Found you." Unknown to Amu however, Ikuto used the Mirror House to make her forget all about her anger with him from earlier. Amu had won the battle but Ikuto, he had won the war.
"Whatever, you cheated."
"W- How? It was fair and square if I must say so myself."
"Hn." His hand grasped onto hers, "Come on, I have something to show you."
The young man led her to the other side of the park, Amu felt like pointing out that he didn't have to hold her hand like that but chose to be quiet….What harm could it cause? The two arrived at a strange building with machines, what were those? They looked like….teacups but bigger.
"Stay." Amu nodded while Ikuto disappeared behind a door, a smirk on his face.
It wasn't until later that the pinkette realized what he had said. "I'm not a dog! Or any other form of canine!" Spontaneously, all the lights in the amusement park lit up; the colors were so bright, so….beautiful. The teacups were all pink and orange, the wheel in the middle sparkled as if it was coated in sugar. The ride next-door which looked like horses going in a circle looked absolutely magical, it made her feel like a Princess again then suddenly she felt a sting in her chest. When Ikuto returned, he was expecting to see an excited 17 year old but instead he found a pinkette with a pale face looking at a horse ride. The young man tried to make the connection then realized what she was thinking about, quickly, his left hand wrapped around her eyes as if she was looking at something inappropriate.
"Shh, you didn't see anything. Nothing there." He moved her body around so she was facing the tea-cups instead then released her eyes but still held a firm hand on her shoulders. "See? Nothing but tea-cups."
Amu blinked, once more then again as if trying to erase the image from her mind. Slowly, she forgot all about the horses and focused on the ride in front of her. "Tea cups? Seriously? We wouldn't even fit in that."
"If we smush together sure."
"Um…No, last time I got close to you, you assaulted me."
"I keep telling you, it's not considered assault if the other party enjoyed it."
"But I di-" He rose his eyebrows causing Amu to finish weakly, "dn't" With a huff, the pinkette looked away then back at the tea cups. It seemed to attract her, how strange for people to enjoy sitting in an object made for drinking. A hand grasped onto hers and led her to one of the adult sized ones. Ikuto picked her up and set her on one side and took the other side for himself. Unfortunately, not matter what positions they took, Ikuto's legs always managed to slide over to her side.
"Fatty." She grumbled and stared into the distance, subconsciously avoiding the pony ride.
"Yes, the first step to getting help is admitting things about oneself."
The pinkette's eyes narrowed at him before she huffed and looked away with her arms crossed. For some reason, Ikuto always managed to bring out the child side of her that she couldn't let loose. It felt refreshing in some way, but she felt as though she was forgetting something. Something very important at that too. With a quick shake of her head, and a suspicious look from Ikuto, Amu stared into the distance. This Amusement Park was actually going to move soon, they decided the neighborhood was too dangerous so moving it to a new location would be better…if only it wasn't TOO far from the people here who actually enjoy going there.
"Isn't this place going to be shut down soon?" She asked all of a sudden.
Ikuto stared into the distance as well with his arm resting on the edge of the teacup to hold his head up. He nodded but remained silent.
"This is actually the first time I've ever been here, but the cigarette incident was everywhere in the newspapers." She confessed.
Ikuto didn't say anything, he merely watched her with his dark blue eyes. His matching hair flowed to the left due to the wind before resting back in place, as if it hadn't even moved to begin with.
"I'm glad I got to come before they completely moved it away. Do you know exactly when they move it?"
"Tomorrow." Quick and to the point. Amu sighed then nodded as if she understood some big mystery.
A long silence stretched between the two, words weren't necessary at the moment….Just presence. There was no moon in the sky, probably the night of the New Moon. The stars were invisible due to the lights of the amusement park, it reminded her of someone. Someone that wasn't there but was at the same time, Amu was giving herself a headache so she decided to drop the topic. She was on the brink of remembering something, something important.
Suddenly, the breaker dropped causing the teacups to jerk to a stop. Amu's body jerked forward, causing the pinkette to hit her head on the edge of the ride. She hissed in pain and rubbed her forehead feeling a bump starting to form. Great, she'd go home with a bump on her head. What would Father think about this…..Father? The King….
The pinkette mentally slapped herself, as a way of protecting itself, her brain decided to forget what she wanted to forget. Amu shook her head, she had to leave tonight before anymore happiness caused her to forget about Ami again. Luckily for her, the dark hid her expression from Ikuto, or so she thought.
"Come on, let's go." He stood up from the teacup and started making his way towards the ponies. "The breaker can't go back on a second time."
Amu nodded and followed behind him in silence, the walk back home was completely silent. There was no wind, no stars and most importantly, no words. The first time they were together for so long without any exchange whatsoever. The pinkette looked at him from behind, he was pretty tall compare to her; Ikuto probably had a whole head on top of her. He had a scrawny type of body but underneath his clothes, Amu was sure, there were muscles and possibly a 6 pack.
The walk back home seemed way longer than the walk to the park, Amu was exhausted by the time they reached Tsukasa's mansion. Slightly angry at his silence, Amu broke into a run for the door. She quickly opened the door then slammed it behind her, in front of Ikuto's face. Kukai's body jerked from the couch where he was sleeping, he fell onto the floor from the shock of the slammed door. The boy hissed in pain and glared at Amu before looking at her expression.
"Damn! What crawled up your ass and died?!" Amu glared at him, so menacingly that it shut him up. Moments later, Ikuto opened the door and closed it softly.
"Why don't you be more like him?" Kukai pointed at him then walked away with a series of crude curses.
The pinkette stared at Ikuto before making her way towards the room they had given her. Ikuto followed behind her quietly, into her bedroom and into her bed.
"Um…What do you think you're doing?" Amu asked, she hadn't even reached the bed yet and he already made himself comfortable.
"Getting ready for bed of course." Ikuto padded the area next to him, "Come on."
The pinkette lifted an eyebrow, this was when her brain usually kicked in gears. One part of her actually wanted to sleep with him, to feel comfortable next to someone who somewhat understood her, to feel warmth for once in her 17 years of life, however, the other rational side was sending alerts through her body. Tsukiyomi was a stranger, she barely knew him so getting in bed with him was obviously a big no no. Despite this being her last day, she couldn't just get in bed with a stranger, that would be no better than the whores around the corner.
Ikuto could tell she was conflicted about this whole thing, he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Azure met golden before the young man grabbed Amu and in one quick movement, the pinkette was in bed with him. Her face brightened a bright pink that was probably even brighter than her own hair. The pinkette tried to wriggle out of his grasp, with no avail of course, she thrashed around and Ikuto seemed to move even closer. His nose was in her long hair, he sniffed in her strawberry scent and sighed.
"You smell good." He muttered, sleep dripping in his voice.
The pinkette froze for what seemed like an eternity, after a while, his grip loosened and Amu was able to get away but she didn't move for a while.
"Tsukiyomi-san?" Silence. The pinkette whirled around to look at him. "Tsukiyomi-san?!" Amu nudged him, silence. He was out cold.
For the first time since she's met him, Amu took a good look at his face. He always seemed so mysterious, while Ikuto knew just about everything about her, she knew nothing about him. This angered her for a moment but she soon let it go, it didn't matter. Her eyes trailed his features, his eyelashes were so long that any other girl would be jealous, his hair matted onto his forehead and pillow. Slender fingers moved a few strands away from his face, Amu's fingers moved from his forehead, down his cheek, and then his jaw and she left it there for a moment. Ikuto looked so peaceful in her eyes, Amu chuckled a bit, her plan of asking him to help her was now out the window. Peace shouldn't be disturbed for such a stupid reason as revenge.
Slowly, as to no wake him up, the pinkette got off the bed while barely shifting the weight of the bed. Her eyes darted over to the nearby closet; she slowly opened it to find a backpack full of something and several hangers with dark colored outfits. She opened the bag to find a flashlight, ropes, a cell phone and a few other items she couldn't name. The ex-princess discarded the ropes, and the other items. The backpack seemed way too convenient, and as suspected, the pinkette found a small tracker at the bottom of the bag. She ripped it off the backpack and threw it behind her where it landed on the bed. Ikuto moaned and moved around his sleep before coming to a stop, Amu flinched at the thought of getting caught but only silence answered her insecurities so she decided he was probably still asleep. She quickly snagged a few black outfits while also changing her own.
Now Amu was dressed in tight black leather jeans that were tied on the sides with grey laces, a tank-top type shirt stuck to her B cup breast with a black leather jacket to cover her shoulders. She put up her hair in a high ponytail that ended around her waist. When the pinkette decided it was time to leave and that she was ready, she made her way back to the bed with Ikuto. Softly, she leaned forward and moved some hair off his face and stared at him for a moment.
A slight smile graced her features before she leaned a bit more to whisper next to his ear. "Thank you, good bye." And with that the pinkette departed from Tsukasa's mansion and headed for a hair salon.
"Welcome welcome! What can we do for you?" The woman appeared from behind the counter, her short curly hair reminded Amu of Yaya.
"My hair, change the color to black and add in golden highlights."
"But you have such pretty-"
"I can find another salon." Amu wasn't in the mood for meaningless conversation, when she wanted something, she gets it. That includes her revenge on the king, but first thing's first.
After the procedure was finished, the ex-princess looked in the mirror and smiled slightly. Now her hair was a glossy black, she also asked for a haircut which now left her high ponytail down on her mid-back. The golden highlights kind of shined underneath the salon lights. Yes, Ami did love the color gold and now Amu can tell it matched her eyes perfectly. A slight tear dripped from the edge of her eyes, the beautician started panicking.
"I'm sorry! Did I get it wrong?"
Amu wiped the stray tear and smiled at the girl, "No, it's perfect. Thank you. Charge it on the Hinamoris."
The lady nodded before suddenly realizing who she was speaking to. She automatically bowed and muttered several apologies. "Don't bother." The lady froze at Amu's voice, just a few minutes ago it was cheerful now it seemed as though she had magically matured. "I'm not longer a princess. Consider me a nomad."
Leaving the woman with gaping eyes, Amu slung the backpack on her shoulder and made her way towards her last destination before commencing on the first stage of her revenge. Her last destination was the Queen's bedroom back at the Hinamori mansion. She figured the same thing would occur if she appeared from the front gates so the back gates seemed like the wisest option. Just as I thought, the pinkette thought as she merely pushed open the back opening and headed straight for the Queen's chamber.
The pinkette broke open her jewelry drawers with a large thug and rummaged through. It wasn't there. She opened another drawer, it still wasn't there. Another, nothing. The Queen who was sleeping on the bed woke up startled from the noise.
"W-Who?" Her voice sounded panicked
"Shut up." Amu snarled but paid no mind to the action, she felt like an animal anyway. "Where is it?"
The Queen quickly snagged a nearby cloak and put it on her bare shoulders, "Who are you." It wasn't a question, it was an order.
"Where is Ami's bracelet?" Her eyes narrowed on the Queen and noticed her eyes wander to an area to the left. The chest where she kept her precious belongings, the pinkette slammed her foot on the chest. "You have two options, either give me the key or I'll break it open. Your choice."
The Queen's eyes glistened, probably from unshed tears. She couldn't recognize who this stranger was, the only one who would want the bracelet would be Amu but she didn't have black hair. She was too engrossed in her thoughts to realize the stranger was now standing right in front of her. The face gave it all away, "Amu?"
The pinkette's hands slammed onto the Queen's chest, forcing her down on the bed. Amu laid her legs on the Queen's sides, her hands wrapped around her thin neck and tightened.
"I'm no longer who you think I am." Her voice dripped with venom. "I'm new, reborn even." The gripped tightened even more.
The Queen's eyes stared up at Amu in what seemed like fear. "The key!" Amu's golden eyes stared into hers before the Queen's eyes slowly looked down at her own chest to reveal the key on the necklace. Quickly, Amu's hands ripped the key off causing the Queen to yelp in surprise and pain. With a quick movement, she got the chest open and found Ami's necklace in one glance.
"The King won't let you off easily." The Queen's voice was raspy, probably from the early choking. Amu's hands itched to choke her again.
She chuckled, "Oh dear, I hope not. Tell him not to waste his time looking for me, I'll look for him." Her leg swung to the window, shattering it. The shards fell to the ground with loud clings. "It's a shame though, why would he leave his wife here?"
The Queen's mouth opened to say something before Amu cut her off, "Security as an excuse isn't valid. I mean the safest place would be by his side wouldn't it? Look at me, I got here pretty easily and there's still no one here to save you." Another wave of force laughter erupted from her lips.
"Don't worry. I won't kill you; my business isn't with you after all. Besides, Ami would be sad to see you dead." The Queen's eye widened at who she thought was a stranger.
"Stand in my way and I will kill you. Without a second thought." Amu then jumped out of the window and disappeared into the darkness.
The Queen slumped onto the ground and sobbed, quietly. Her shaky hands reached for the nearby telephone and she dialed for her husband. The receiving end responded in one ring, "Amu came."
BACK AT THE TSUKASA MANSION
Ikuto had opened his eyes the moment Amu left, his ears were still burning from Amu's whisper. He hadn't expected her to stay but it seems like the memory drug he had given her the day before hadn't lasted as long as he wanted it to. The bed still felt warm since she hadn't left too long ago. His hand subconsciously tugged onto his own ear while his other one reached for the cellphone in his pocket.
While he searched for the number he wanted, his mind wandered off somewhere else. Amu was too smart for her own good, he noticed the tracker they had planted on the backpack she took. He tongue clicked in frustration, he prepared a backpack in case she still felt like leaving even after spending some time with him. Apparently, the answer to that one was obvious but he still held hope. Ikuto wondered if she noticed that this room was his own room, probably not. She may smart on several cases, this wasn't one of them.
With the click of a button, Tsukasa answered on the other end. "She left."
Silence answered him on the other hand while he rummaged through the drawers of his room for a duffel bag, he soon stuffed it with several pairs of clothing. He dressed himself in all black and stared back at the room that was once his.
Tsukasa commented on something from his end and he chuckled slightly. Then the mansion owner asked him the million dollar question.
"Yeah I'm leaving."
A/N
YAY! The actual story is finally beginning! This chapter may seem rushed due to the scene changes between Tsukasa's Mansion to the Parlor and then to the Hinamori Palace but...I really needed to start the vendetta in the next chapter so...yeah. I'm planning on this story being quite long, around 40 or so chapters….Maybe even more. I'm really happy with the way this chapter turned out! I actually re-read it word for word. The story is flowing quite smoothly too!
Any reviews would make my day ^_^ No flames though, if you don't like the story then please click away. There's a thin line between flaming and constructive criticism. The latter would be GREATLY welcomed with open arms. Until next week!
