I could not for the life of me bring myself to move. Lying on her stomach with her fingers in my hair I thought absently that I could stay like this forever.

No one had ever touched me like this before, so tenderly. I was always rather closed off from my friends, and even my mother kept her distance from me. As a child I remembered her being so weak and fragile that I was often sent out of the room by doctors or nurses to go check on Utau, so even then there had been no time for tenderness. As I grew up, I rarely went to my mother for anything, even if I got a scrape or a bruise, I would take care of it myself. Maybe this lack of physical contact growing up was what caused me to remember so vividly the first time I had felt this way.

Back when I was just starting to get to know Amu, I had gotten in a fight with a couple guys who were harassing some girls. I had gotten pretty banged up, and by chance Amu had happened to walk by the alley way I was sitting in. I remembered my heart picking up in speed, which confused me. At the time, I hadn't realized my own feelings yet. And then she had come running over and started trying to clean a wound on my face with a cloth. The way she was looking at me had sent my heart racing even faster. Before I knew it, I had laid down with my head in her lap. I didn't know what I had been expecting, but when I had first felt her fingers timidly touch my hair and graze my ear, it sent a jolt of surprise down my spine. In order to cover it up, I had teased her about touching my ear, which was sensitive, causing her to drop my head on the concrete.

After that, I had taken every chance I got to touch her again. After I finally realized the feelings I had for her, I wanted to show her how I felt about her through touch, the same as she had done for me. Whether it was catching her when she clumsily tripped or faking an injury to trick her into hugging me, it had become something I cherished. Before the final showdown with Easter, she had shied away from contact for the most part, so I had kept it brief or resisted all together for her sake, but I had noticed a change since she had saved me from being controlled by Easter by embracing me. Somehow, she had known exactly what I needed to be freed, and had given that to me.

Since then, there was a definite change in her attitude towards me. Instead of shying away from contact, she often let me get close to her, and sometimes even allowed lingering touches, like letting me hold her hand. Though she protested, she fought it half-heartedly, tipping me off that though she would never admit it, a part of her did enjoy it.

"Are you asleep?" she asked me quietly, and I could hear a smile in her voice.

"Yes," I replied, not wanting to move. I heard some giggles presumably coming from her shugo chara.

"Well I'm going to have to ask you to wake up. We still need to talk, remember?"

Oh yeah, that. I had forgotten that I had come here for a reason other than to cuddle with her. With a tremendous effort, I hoisted myself up and sat down next to her, but wasted no time pulling her small form onto my lap and wrapping my arms around her again. As expected, she began to protest.

"I-Ikuto! How am I supposed to talk to you like this!" she yelled at me.

"Easily. I can still hear you when you're not facing me, you know."

"No! I mean…I can't…" she stuttered, adorably trying to hide what she was really thinking, which I had just realized.

"You're having a hard time talking to me because your heart is racing and you can't concentrate. That's it, isn't it?" I said laughing into her hair.

"N-no way! Not a chance you stupid cat!"

"Didn't I tell you that I was going to make you fall in love with me?" I said, smirking.

To my surprise, she didn't respond to this by protesting loudly. In fact, she went silent. Curious, I turned her around to face me and saw that her expression had become troubled.

"Amu. Whatever it is that you have been worrying about since yesterday, you can tell me," I told her seriously, wanting so badly to make that tiny frown disappear from her lips.

"Ikuto."

Her tone caught me by surprise, but when she caught my eyes with her solemn gaze and gently laid a hand on my chest, I started to feel concerned. This was very unlike her.

"Ikuto…" she started again, "I…yesterday at the wedding…I think…I think I saw your father," she said, eyes glued to mine, watching for a reaction.

I couldn't control my face as my eyes widened and my jaw dropped slightly.

"Amu…are…are you sure?" I forced out the words through my shock.

"Pretty sure…he looked exactly like you, Ikuto. Only older. Just like you told me. And…" she paused, clearly unsure if she should say the next part.

"And…?" I asked her gently. Whatever I was feeling right now, I needed her to know that I wasn't upset with her in any way.

"And…he was with…a woman…who looked an awful lot like Utau…" she continued hesitantly.

"My mother…" I confirmed dazed, "…was with…my father? At the wedding?"

"Ikuto…" she said, eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry…I didn't want to keep this from you…but I didn't want to upset you…so I wasn't able to make myself tell you…until now…" she said quietly as a single tear made a trail down her pale cheek.

"Amu…why are you crying?" I asked her, taken aback that she would feel this strongly about this. I pulled her into a hug. From the beginning I had been terrible at watching this girl cry. I remembered the second time I saw her, I had accidentally broken a snack she had made and when I saw her tears, I had felt a strange pain in my chest. I had gone to buy her a bag full of snacks in an attempt to make her feel better, even though I had been confused about why this kid had such an effect on me.

"Amu, there's no need to cry. I'm not the least bit upset with you—" I started, trying to figure out the reason for her tears.

"That's not it, Ikuto. I…I can't imagine how this must make you feel. You've been searching for your father for months…you haven't seen him since you were a little kid…and yet he doesn't even make himself known to you when you're in the same room…" she cried into my chest.

She was absolutely right. I wanted to simultaneously punch a wall and scream. I was very sure that she couldn't imagine what I was feeling, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Whatever I was feeling could wait. Right now, I needed to cheer her up. She should never have to feel this way. Pushing my feelings on the matter to the back of my mind, I took her shaking shoulders and pushed her off of my chest.

"Hey. You don't need to cry. You look so much prettier when you smile," I told her, trying to lighten the mood. I was rewarded by the tiniest of smiles. Wiping her tears with my thumbs, I continued trying to make her feel better.

"Jeez, I guess you really are a kid after all," I told her, mussing her hair affectionately.

"And here I thought you were finally being nice for once," she said, but I could still see the tiny smile at the corner of her mouth. Then, as if snapping out of a trance, she suddenly started pushing me away.

"H-hey, I don't remember saying you could hold me like this!" she started in again, causing me to smirk.

"You didn't have to, I could just tell you wanted me to," I teased her, relieved that she was back to her normal self, and reluctantly lifting her off my lap and setting her on the bed as I stood up.

"Hey, that's not—GAHH!" She squealed as I swooped in to kiss her nose. She turned bright red, and I could tell she was about to complain. I cut her off.

"Goodnight, Amu. Sleep well, and never forget that I love you," I told her, no longer trying to hide the fact that I was completely and desperately in love with her.

Going over to her window, I turned around one last time, strangely reluctant to leave without seeing her face once more. Attempting to burn the image of her sweet face and wide, innocent eyes into my mind, I smiled once more and whispered, "Until next time…" and slid the door open, closing it behind me and bounding off into the dark.