Hey guys! It's officially 2010! I hope you all have a wicked awesome year, and enjoy being back in school! Wakaka.
Chapter 4: Drinking never has good outcomes
It was too bright. The smallest light shining through the window seemed to pound against her head, making it feel like she had just been crushed by a freight train. She could barely even talk, as though thousands of cotton balls were smashed into her mouth.
Amu groaned ever so quietly as she struggled to sit up, her head feeling as if it was full of water whenever she moved it. Glancing at her surroundings, she soon realized that she was in her room. She'd have to remember to thank whoever it was that put her there.
"My… head" The pinkette moaned weakly as she buried her face back into her fluffy pillow, inhaling the scent of laundry detergent.
Was this what everyone called a 'hangover'? Of course, being the innocent way she was, Amu had never gotten one, therefore not knowing what it was like. But, just by this occasion, she knew that she wouldn't want one ever again.
Stumbling over herself, the hung-over female managed to make it into the kitchen alive, barely being able to greet Kukai when she saw him.
"Whoa, you really can't handle alcohol well!" He remarked with a small chuckle as he brought his glass of orange juice up to his mouth, biting the rim as he studied Amu.
"…Do you remember anything from last night?" he asked slowly to watch Amu's reaction.
Her golden eyes squinted while she cringed, rubbing her ear as if she had just got slapped there. "Don't yell, please. Of course I remember".
Kukai's eyebrows raised, placing the glass of orange juice back onto the counter. "Really, then shouldn't you go apologize?". He watched Amu's expression turn from pained, to downright confused. Just as he predicted: She had no clue what had happened.
After moments of slanted down eyebrows and pursed lips, Amu finally looked back at Kukai, seeming to understand what he meant. "Oh, for causing a disturbance? …Yeah, I should" She yawned widely, pouring herself a glass of orange juice as well.
This made the brunette stop in mid-bite of his breakfast just to look at what she would do once the drink had touched her bottom lip.
Amu immediately pushed the glass away, her hand flying up to her lip, where she felt an open wound. "Wh-how did this happen?" she panicked, pointing to her lip.
"That's what happened last night. Which is what you should be apologizing for" Kukai replied, his words barely audible through his food-stuffed mouth.
"Apologizing… f-for what, though?" Amu asked, suddenly confused as she tried to piece everything together in her slow-working mind.
"Think for a minute, Hinamori" Kukai began, downing the rest of his juice and placing the cup in the dishwasher, "How do you think you got that cut? It must've hit something, correct?". His emerald eyes were now dancing with amusement.
"Yeah…" Amu's eyes suddenly widened as her jaw dropped, sparking hope in Kukai's insides. Had she finally figured it out? "Someone punched me, didn't they!?" was her panicked answer, making Kukai nearly hit himself in the head.
"Eh… not quite. You… butted heads with someone…"
That still didn't help lower the confusion level. Amu began thinking once more while Kukai waited patiently by getting another serving of food, plopping into a seat across the table from her.
"Head-bu… wait, so, I hit someone's forehead with my lip?" she asked.
Kukai shook his head. "Lower than the forehead". Since Amu was still having trouble, he ended up giving her more hints. "It's a very important thing to girls. They'd freak out if their first – something – got stolen" he said, hoping Amu would fill in the blanks.
"First… k-kiss?!" Amu gasped. "I hit someone's lip?". She was just about to go crazy with panic attacks, but reminded herself to keep calm, since, she was a boy, after all. But, that didn't stop her mind from yelling in horror. Her first kiss was already taken! It wasn't even by someone she likes! As she thought about it, she actually had no idea who had stolen it.
"Wait… it wasn't you, was it?" she asked quietly, making Kukai nearly choke on his drink.
"No, thank goodness! I don't want a guy to be the first person I kiss!" he exclaimed, relieved.
"Then… w-was it Tadase-kun?"
Ikuto then walked calmly and quietly into the kitchen while the two younger band members continued their conversation. He opened the fridge door, scanning the shelves fluently, then grasping his morning water bottle.
Amu sighed, a pout forming quickly. "Please answer the question, Kuk…" her voice trailed off once Ikuto had turned around and Amu actually looked at him.
He also had a small wound on his lip.
That meant…
The pinkette's eyes widened as she swiveled around in her chair, hand over her mouth, not wanting to make eye-contact with Ikuto.
So, she had somehow bumped lips with Ikuto. She figured it was probably when she fell on him last night on the rooftop.
The sudden thought made a small squeak escape her lips as she cowered away in her seat, not daring to look behind her. Without a doubt, Tsukiyomi was terrifying. The kind of person who everyone admired for being so calm and collected, but once being glared at by him, anyone would shrink away.
Since he still thought she was a boy, who knows what kind of emotions he'd be going through at this moment.
Amu just wanted to shrink, small enough so no one would be able to see her, and hide in a dark corner while feeling sorry for herself. She was doomed. It was bad enough that Ikuto already didn't exactly like her.
Feeling a sudden burst of courage, Amu glanced over her shoulder at Ikuto. His back was towards her, but the angry set of his shoulders convinced her that now wouldn't exactly be the best time to ask for forgiveness.
"I'm going to get a coffee" Ikuto said in a lazy voice as he slipped on his jacket, quickly exiting the room before Kukai could say anything. The brunette sighed deeply, sinking into the couch.
Amu couldn't hold in her curiosity anymore. "Wh-why is he so distant from everyone else?".
Kukai cracked open one eye to look at her, then shrugged. "He's had a rough past… I have to admit that I'm glad he didn't turn out any worse than he could've...". He then grinned at Amu as he gave her a thumbs up. "But, once you get to know him, he's not that bad".
Seeing a grin like that had to make Amu smile back.
"Well, I'm going to go see what lazy Tadase is doing… I should wake him up" the brunette announced, pulling himself off of the couch and crawling up the winding staircase.
Now, Amu had nothing to do.
Then again… Her gaze wandered up the stairs, Ikuto's door in sight. She could at least do something nice for him, right? Maybe clean his room.
She nodded at her genius plan, skipping up the stairs and gingerly twisting the cold doorknob, slowly pushing the door open.
It was spotless, again. Except for the CD's on the shelf.
"Yay, work for me to do" Amu whispered to herself, sneaking into the room and enjoying her moment as a secret agent.
What caught her attention while doing the random act of kindness, was that most of the CD's Ikuto had, were just of one singer. Souko. Weird that she didn't have a last name.
"Amuto!"
The sudden voice made Amu nearly drop the current CD in her hands, quickly looking over her shoulder to see who it was.
"Nikaidou-san! You scared me" she complained, putting the CD on the shelf and turning fully towards the older man.
"What happened to your li- never mind, you have to come with me" Nikaidou stated, taking Amu's arm and hurrying out of the room with her.
"Wh-what is it now?"
"Well… Tsukasa – you remember Tsukasa, right? The blonde man you met on your first day here? Anyway, since he's the director and all, he makes up the bands' schedule. And right now, you have to be at the dance studio" Nikaidou explained, closing the door behind him after they had stepped out into the warm sunlight.
"Why are you telling me this now?" Amu groaned, rubbing her temples.
Nikaidou laughed – a forced one, Amu noted – as he ran a hand through his messy hair. "I-I forgot to tell you sooner…?"
"Typical…" Amu muttered under her breath.
"Nonetheless, we must g-"
"Hinamori Amuto?". A new voice entered the conversation, cutting Nikaidou off and making both of their heads turn to see who it was.
A young man with light purple hair and blue eyes was standing on the bottom step of the stairs leading up to the landing where Amu and Nikaidou were. His face was proud.
"I will get to the bottom of this, and my photographs will be displayed throughout the world!" he cheered, hands on his hips as he struck a dramatic pose, the camera dangling around his neck bounced around with every move he made.
Nikaidou and Amu just glanced at each other.
"Who are… you?" Nikaidou asked slowly. Instantly, the guy stopped his maniac laughing and turned rather serious looking, placing a finger on his chin as he appeared to be studying Amu.
"I am reporter Kiseki, and let me tell you... I am on to you!" Kiseki exclaimed, shoving a finger in Amu's direction. This movement made both Nikaidou and the pinkette turn cold in fear. He couldn't possibly already know she was a girl.
Kiseki then slowly made his way up the stairs, circling around Amu like a vulture. "I couldn't help but notice at last night's party… a few interesting things going on with you and Tsukiyomi-san" he began, trying to sound like a business-man. "Like? Oh, I don't know, like you being carried by Hotori-san to your van, and Tsukiyomi-san having a bleeding lip as he followed behind with Souma-san – who looked fine, as well as Hotori. It was just you two that were injured. What do you have to say about that?".
Amu sighed quietly in relief, but remained clueless. "What am I suppose to say?"
"A-ha, I knew it! You and Tsukiyomi got into a fist-fight! Well, hey, it makes sense seeing that you and him were the only ones injured" Kiseki stated proudly, doing his triumphant pose once again with his fist in the air.
"Wh-what? No, we didn't fight at al-"
"Oh, don't worry" Kiseki soothed as he walked back down the stairs. "I've seen enough to know the truth".
His maniac cackles could still be heard as he ran down the street like a mad man.
"That was… interesting" was all Amu managed to say.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
As the event-packed days passed, word had gotten out about Amu and Ikuto's 'bloody fight' that almost ended with Amu in the hospital. She could only guess who was in charge of creating that rumor.
The A.N Jell fans had even turned against Amu, thinking she started the fight by disrupting Ikuto somehow.
To make matters worse, Nikaidou had been forcing Amu to take dance classes for an upcoming music video. She couldn't dance for her life, and she had proved that the first day in class. But, after four days of three hour dance classes, she wasn't half bad. Not half good either, though.
"Yes, I saw all the articles about Amuto" Ikuto replied, tightening the cap on his water bottle while watching his manager shift around the webcam he was sitting in front of.
"Couldn't you somehow… say that they're not true?" Tsukasa nearly begged. They both knew it would be easier for Ikuto to cave in if they weren't talking over webcams, which was exactly why Ikuto refused to see his manager in person.
"Hm… let's think about that, shall we?" Ikuto questioned with a smirk. "The fans hate him, and every single article about him is always something bad for his image. Now, why would I want to get rid of all that, when Amuto's so close to being kicked out of the band?"
Tsukasa scoffed. "Come on! What on earth did he do that made you hate him so much?"
Ikuto preferred to not answer that. His Bidet and the healing cut on his lip told the stories for themselves.
"Are you trying to add fire to this scandal? It's bad for your image too, buddy. Everyone thinks you and him were the ones fighting" Tsukasa said clearly.
Ikuto sighed, throwing his water bottle up in the air and catching it. "Fine, I'll think about it".
"Oh, yay!" Tsukasa squealed. "I think I already sent you the performance schedule, so read it. Now." He demanded.
Ikuto rolled his eyes, clicking on the file and opening it up. Of course he wasn't allowed to turn off the webcam, or Tsukasa would know for sure that he wasn't actually reading the schedule. "…You're dating someone?" Ikuto suddenly asked, making Tsukasa snort out the water he was in the middle of drinking.
"Wh-what are you talking about?!" he panicked, grabbing a tissue and wiping his mouth.
"This message says that you need to pick up the watch you left at her place last night" Ikuto stated with a sly smirk, loving Tsukasa's reaction.
"Ah, I sent you the wrong file! D-don't read any more of that, punk!" Tsukasa warned. "The file must be on the memory card in my car… I'll be right back. Don't you dare turn off that webcam thing of yours". During his hurry out the door, the man accidentally bumped the camera on his way out, so it was now allowing Ikuto to get a good view of the corner of the room.
The blue-haired male yawned, leaning back in his chair as he placed his headphones on, drowning out all noises with his music. That was the beauty of being alone in this house. You could listen to music and no one would bother you. No one like Hinamori Amuto.
He then reached back to his water, pouring more into the empty glass beside him. Just as he was doing so, something on the webcam caught his attention.
Yukari pushed Amu into the wall, hands firmly on the pinkette's shoulders. "There's no one here-"
"Are you sure this is okay?" Amu asked, biting her lip – but not the lower one, of course – as she looked around the office, failing to notice the webcam pointed directly at her.
"Hurry up and pull down your pants, I need to help your 'testicle'" Yukari demanded.
Ikuto accidentally choked on his water, holding a hand to his chest as he had a coughing fit.
"H-help it?" Amu repeated.
"Wait! People might be able to see from the outside" Yukari jumped to the light switch, flicking off the lights and resuming what she was doing to help Amu.
Earlier on when the pinkette was practicing dance, one of the two balls that she had taped to her underwear (for reasons, I'm sure you already know: To make sure she looked like a guy 'down there' also) Anyway, one of the balls had rolled out. So, it was Yukari's mission to get it back into place and make sure that it stuck there.
This was unknown to Ikuto, though, who must've been getting strange thoughts in his head as he heard the two people talking, but couldn't see anything.
"What are they...?" He sputtered, pointing at the screen as he backed away in his chair.
"Hurry!"
"It's not… working!"
"Oh, there! It's sticking, now"
"What's sticking?" Ikuto whispered quietly in fear.
The lights then turned back on, allowing Ikuto to breathe once more as he saw Amu walk over to Yukari with a smile. "It's fine now. I put it in".
Yukari crossed her arms, peering down the bridge of her nose at Amu. "That truly is amazing how when you wrap that thing around your non-existent breasts, you really look like you have no boobs, even if you are a girl" she commented, feeling proud at the moment for being blessed with an actual chest, unlike Amu, who was little-miss-A-cup.
"Yeah, yeah. But, thanks for all your work" Amu thanked with a smile, ignoring the previous indirect insult. "I'm sure no one will know that I'm a girl, thanks to you!".
With that, the two females hurried out of sight, back into the dance class just out the door, leaving one person temporarily unable to speak.
He sat at his computer, expression blank, despite his wider than usual eyes, mouth slightly ajar, and body unmoving.
"He's a… girl?"
Please let me know of any spelling/grammar mistakes!
