Morg: Heyo! Sorry guys for taking so long to update this story!
Ikuto: Whatever! You are not.
Morg: Okay well, I don't feel guilty, but I do feel sort of bad for not updating.
Amu: I'm sure you were doing something important.
Morg: Nope. Basically I was just avoiding fanfiction for a while. No worries though because I'm back.
Ikuto: We'll see how long this lasts.
Amu: It doesn't matter because she doesn't own us!
~Overprotective~
Ikuto couldn't believe it. His own sister had betrayed him. He wanted to be the one to walk with Amu after school but come time for that final bell to ring he found that his sister had already left with said girl. It did make sense that his sister would try to keep them apart considering that is what she did with every girl that ever entered Ikuto's life.
After walking Kukai home to make sure that he actually got all the way there, Ikuto headed for his house. Part of him was hoping that Amu would still be there just so he could talk to her a little more but the other part of him was hoping she wasn't so that he could talk to Utau. He didn't know if he should feel lucky or not when he arrived home to find just his sister.
Utau was humming to herself while she was making a light after school snack. Ikuto tried to act nonchalant as he meandered into the kitchen and got a glass of milk. "So do you want to tell me what happened to my best friend today?"
Without missing a note in her song, Utau finished making her snack while giving Ikuto a quizzical look. She wasn't about to just tell him Amu's secret so if he wanted to know anything about her new best friend, he'd have to try harder.
Ikuto rolled his eyes as he took a drink. "You and I both know what I'm talking about. I know that it was Amu that helped him. I also know that you were there. Tell me everything."
Utau stared at his face. Before she'd get lost in her thoughts about how badly she wanted those eyes to look at her with love like she'd never known before. She'd wanted his love and attention. Now, however, she saw a stuck up brat. Her older brother wasn't what she'd always pretended he was. In that moment she realized that she no longer wanted him to be with her. Sure she'd still scare off the weird chicks that liked to send him little black, curly hairs in love letters, but she no longer wanted to have him for herself. A certain boy with a very lovable smile kept popping into her head.
Ikuto waited patiently. He was used to Utau staring at him, but something was different in her look. Usually she just admired him, but today she actually seemed to be looking at him. This made Ikuto very uncomfortable but hopeful at the same time. He wanted her to realize that he wasn't good enough for her and that she should go after some guy that would really love her. "Utau?"
Her mind snapped back to the present. "You're off the hook. Go out with whomever you want, but you leave Amu alone. By the way, she is way out of your league."
Ikuto stared after his sister as she walked out of the kitchen. Should he be celebrating? Maybe his sister liked Kukai a lot more than he'd figured. Despite that fact, what did she mean that Amu was out of his league? No girl was out of Tsukiyomi Ikuto's league. If anything he was too good for most girls. The only way a girl would be too good was if they were angel from heaven above and he still doubted that he couldn't get even the most beautiful to fall in love with him. Aphrodite herself would drop to her knees at the sight of his smile. Luckily Amu wasn't a goddess or an angel. He didn't have to worry about trying so hard, at least that's what he thought.
XXX
Amu waved as Utau ran towards her. They were meeting at the park now that it was growing dark so that Amu could show her new found confident what it felt like to fly. Utau was beyond excited. She trusted Amu completely.
"What do you want to do until it's finally dark?"
Utau smiled as she sat down on the bench next to the pinkette. "How about we just sit here together and talk? Kukai asked me out today after he woke up. I said yes. Ikuto asked me what happened and he is figuring that you had something to do with it. I told him that I no longer loved him any more than a brother. I ate a snack, listened to some music, did my homework and then came to meet you."
Amu stared at the girl. "You had a busy afternoon! I'm glad for you and Kukai I don't care one way or the other about the Ikuto thing and what did you eat for your snack?"
Utau giggled. "I'm pretty excited about Kukai too. He always smiles at me. His smile is beautiful too. Ikuto was dumbfounded when I told him and probably also because I told him that you were out of his league. For my snack I had a small salad."
"So this is what it's like having 'girl talk'?"
"You've never had a friend that was a girl before?"
Amu sighed before she looked up at the sky. "For an angel, I'm not that old. I have only been assigned one town before coming here and I was taken from there since some people saw me. What can I say? I wanted to save them all from an earthquake and the only way to do so without losing every drop of my energy was to do all the saving without turning myself invisible. My superiors understood the reason, but I still broke the rules. You're different because your knowledge of me existing will benefit your well being. Those other people didn't need to know about my secret in order to live a happier life. Anyways, I was too worried about it being my first job to get to know any of the humans that I was protecting. This time I'm trying a different approach. I'm going to be involved in the community, but no can find out about me."
With a nod of her head, Utau took in all of the information Amu was offering. "That sounds like a tough job. Are you still guarding people right now even though you're with me?"
Her laugh sounded like the tinkling of a bell. "You don't have to worry. Even for an angel I'm considered a genius because I have the ability to multitask. I can concentrate on what you are doing and saying while simultaneously watching everyone in the town, not to mention I have incredibly enhanced senses that tell me when someone is in danger or injured. That's how I found you. I was busy talking with the new boy Nagi when I suddenly felt you being hurt. I knew exactly where you were so I hurried to your side."
"It felt like you came out of nowhere." Utau held onto Amu's hand as she remembered the night she had not too long ago. "I thought for sure that my life was going to end. The only reason I was out was because Ikuto told me he wanted to introduce me to the new girl and that he'd become friends with her. I pouted and ran away in anger because I didn't want him to like anyone else. I know now that that was a stupid plan. Granted he did almost come out to look for me when we showed up, but if you hadn't been here then I would've been dead long before he would've found me."
Amu ran one of her hands through Utau's blonde pigtail. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here to look after you until you no longer wish for me to be around."
Utau squeezed the hand she was holding once more before releasing it. "I doubt that day will ever come."
Smiling, Amu stood up from the bench. "If you want to get home without worrying Ikuto too much we should get going. Are you ready to fly?"
Utau nodded while standing in a hurry. "I've always wanted to be a bird."
Amu stood in thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No you're not a bird. If anything you are like a butterfly. You're beautiful, majestic and fragile. You take paths that lead all over the place but you still end up in some of the most beautiful places despite which way the winds blows you. I just hope that the man that finally catches this beautiful butterfly will treat her well."
Tears flowed down Utau's cheeks by the time Amu finished speaking. She couldn't believe how amazing that analogy worked for her. She agreed one hundred percent. "This little butterfly is tougher than she looks. I won't let any man handle me roughly again."
Amu smiled before taking Utau into her arms and spreading her wings. "Let me make your flight tonight a little easier."
XXX
"I don't understand why you suddenly left class yesterday?"
Amu stared at Ikuto without dropping her smile. "I told you already that something happened and I had to go take care of it. The teacher doesn't have a problem with it so why do you?"
Ikuto couldn't help but be amazed at the politeness of her speech regardless of the fact that he knew that he was annoying her beyond anyone else's patience. Any other girl would've gotten fed up and walked away from him long before now. Amu just smiled sweetly and waited for him to stop on his own. "It's not that I have a problem with it, I just want to know where you went."
Without letting her smile fade, Amu tilted her head. She couldn't lie. She hated lying so she wouldn't do it, but she couldn't just tell him either. "Someone needed my help so I helped them. I'm not going to get into any trouble so don't worry so much about me. It's my job to worry about you."
Ikuto sighed and finished his lunch so they could head to their next class. "I bet you'd tell Utau."
Amu thought it over for a moment before smiling up at the taller boy. "You're right. I think I will tell Utau. I'm so glad that I have someone to talk to."
Ikuto couldn't believe his ears. He wanted to be the person that Amu went to when she needed someone to share her secrets. Instead she was going to his sister. Ikuto didn't want that at all. He wasn't about to accept it either. He turned in his seat to say something more to Amu about it, but her eyes showed that she was no longer focusing on him. Suddenly she jumped up from her chair and sprinted from the classroom with Ikuto on her heels.
"Amu! Amu wait! Where are you going?"
Amu didn't have time to wait. She couldn't let another moment pass her by. There was a fire downtown in an apartment building and there were small children there. She needed to already be amongst the blaze, but Ikuto was too close behind her. He'd see her if she sprouted her wings now and took off. Amu didn't hesitate when she sent a silent alert to Tsukasa. Someone needed to head Ikuto off so Amu could get away. Tsukasa's presence could be felt heading her direction. Amu veered around a corner in time for Tsukasa to miss actually seeing her but in time to catch Ikuto running through the halls.
"Ikuto! What are you doing out of class? Stop running through the hallways right now. If you aren't going to be in class then maybe you should go to detention instead."
Amu smiled to herself as she made her way out onto the roof and jumped over the edge. Her wings caught her at the same time she became invisible. Her wings carried her off towards where black smoke was billowing into the sky. The fire was bad but the department was already there. This situation was different than her saving Utau or Kukai. This had many other people involved. Amu would have to stay invisible until it was over.
She landed on the sagging roof before running in through the door to find the people she knew where still inside. Sending a silent urge to a particular fireman to find the three children in the smoke, Amu waited with them. The man emerged from the dense smoke to see several children. Somehow he managed to carry them all out without dropping them. If Amu hadn't been invisible, the man would have seen that she was keeping her hands on the children to make them lighter for him.
After she knew that they were safe, Amu ran back into the building to find the other people she knew were still trapped inside. The fire was neither hot nor dangerous to her. She walked through the flames as if they weren't there. In a different apartment she found a woman that was four months pregnant. She'd collapsed due to the stress on her body. Amu cradled her head and found a nearby fireman to direct towards the woman. She was saved easily.
Amu knew that there were still two people left in the building. They were towards the top. They were an elderly couple. They were still conscious, but they were too old to make it out of the building on their own. Amu sent a plea to the youngest, strongest fireman on the squad. He ran into the building and straight up the stairs until he reached the old couple as they were trying to make their way down. Amu was with them, invisible of course. She made sure that they didn't fall until the fireman showed up.
The young man slung the elderly woman onto his back and took the arm of the man. Amu walked silently along with him with one of her hands on the old woman's back, keeping her on the fireman while her other hand sat under the old man's other arm so he wouldn't fall. They made it out of the building and Amu did one more sweep of the building with her mind to find that it was empty. She used her power to shield the people on the street as she collapsed the building in a way that would not only make the fire go out sooner, but also do as little damage as possible to the surrounding buildings. A little debris made it through her barrier since it only was meant to protect them from the severely dangerous stuff.
Amu stuck around after the fire was out to listen to what the fire chief had to say. The people that she'd helped save were transported to the next town to where the hospital was. Amu would have to go check on them later. Right now her attention was focused on the tired older man. "We managed to save everyone in the building. Luck was definitely on our side today boys. The building even collapsed without causing damage. We'll get someone over here to clean it up tomorrow. They fire is out for now so let's go get a drink a rest a bit."
The three men that Amu had used to her purpose knew somewhere deep inside themselves that it wasn't just their instinct that had guided them to those that they saved.
XXX
"I feel like the city should give you an award."
Amu laughed at Utau's seriousness. "I was doing my job. Besides it was really those firemen that saved those people."
Utau waved off her comment with her hand. "It doesn't matter if you try to deny it. I know that you're the one that saved them. I feel like our town doesn't deserve you. Shouldn't you be protecting Tokyo or something?"
"There are several angels that share the task of a city that large. One angel would not be able to handle it no matter how good they were at their job. The city is simply too big. I'm quite happy with staying here with you. I like that I have someone to talk to about what I do. I wish I could stay longer, but I have to go meet with Tsukasa."
Utau nodded and got off the park bench to head towards her house. "I still don't know how you convinced him to just let you leave class whenever you want, but whatever it's not my business."
At least one person knew when to drop it. Amu wasn't worried about Utau finding out about Tsukasa and Nagi since she seemed to concentrate solely on Amu and Amu was perfectly okay with that. "I'll see you in school tomorrow. Sleep well tonight."
Utau waved as she ran off. Amu watched her disappear into the dusk.
.
Morg: Amu's pretty awesome right?
Ikuto: Yeah I guess you could say that.
Amu: You're a jerk Ikuto.
Ikuto: Whatever you say Amu. I know you love me.
Amu: Nope! Review please!
