Ami's eyes slowly opened, unfocused. Blinking a few times, her gaze fell on the digital clock beside the bed. Just after eight, she saw. Still curled up under the blankets, her gaze drifted around the room and she smiled. Makoto's room. Visions from last night flooded her mind as she stretched beneath the blankets, a lazy smile on her face. Sighing happily she rolled over to find the other half of the bed empty.

Concern etched Ami's features as she sat up, pulling the blanket to cover her nudity. She heard no water running, so Makoto wasn't in the shower. Maybe she was in the kitchen? Ami strained her ears but there was a heavy silence that came with being alone.

Fear and guilt gripped Ami's body as she stood from the bed. Shaking, she dressed quickly and headed out into the apartment's living space to find that she was, indeed, alone. Looking around for a moment, she headed to the kitchen to see if maybe Makoto had left a note, as she did not see one in neither the bedroom or living room. There wasn't a note here, either.

Trying hard to keep her tears at bay, she took her phone from her pocket and dialed Makoto's number. It rang a few times before it went to voice mail. A coldness settled in Ami's belly and spread through her entire being as she dialed the number again. And again. And Again.

Near panic, Makoto finally answered the phone.

"Hey."

Her voice was distant, detached. A whole new wave of fear gripped at Ami and refused to let go.

"H-hi," came Ami's reply. "Is everything okay? You weren't here when I woke up."

"Oh, yeah, just needed to run some errands," Makoto replied.

"On a Saturday," Ami asked.

"Yup."

Silence.

"Look, I'm busy Ami-chan and I don't know how long I'll be," Makoto finally said. "You don't need to hang around there if you don't want to. I know it gets lonely there. And I'm sure you have stuff you need to do, too, right?"

"I-I guess," came Ami's unsure reply. "Bu-but I really want to se-"

"Why don't we meet up later," Makoto said, cutting her off. "Like I said, I'm not sure how long I'll be."

The tears she had been holding at bay finally fell down Ami's face. "Mako-chan..." Her voice broke as she spoke her lover's name.

"I'll see you later, okay," Makoto said, her voice deep. "Ja."

Ami's phone was still next to hear ear when the dial tone beeped, still too shocked to move.

What had she done?

Takeshi cursed as he sat in the dark, hovering over his laptop. His left hand tapped the keys lightly as he watched his character die. In his right hand he held his phone, a deep laugh coming from the other end it.

"Did you die again, 'Shi-chan?"

"Shut. Up," Takeshi growled. This earned him another laugh. Sighing, he leaned against his futon, bringing his left hand down from the computer. "So how's your summer going?"

"It's going," came the reply. "I miss you though. I wish you had come home."

Takeshi smiled. "I miss you, too. And we talked about this."

"Yeah, yeah. Your precious Ami-chan needed you." There was a large, dramatic sniffle from the other end of the phone. "Does our love mean nothing to you?"

"Oh, whatever," Takeshi laughed. "You know I love you. But..."

"But she needed you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. You're gonna end up leaving me for her. I just know it." Takeshi snorted in annoyance as the other voice laughed. "It's so easy to annoy you, 'Shi-chan. Calm down."

Takeshi laughed but his snarky reply stilled on his tongue when someone knocked urgently on the door. "Someone's here," Takeshi said quietly.

"This time of night?" The voice was concerned. "It's nearly one in the morning."

"I know." Takeshi stood from his spot on the floor and quietly crept over to his door. Looking through the peephole he saw a very upset bluenette on the other side.

"It's Ami," Takeshi said.

"Call me later. Love you."

"I love you, too."

Takeshi shut his phone off and quickly unlocked his door, opening it. Ami looked up at him with red rimmed eyes, wearing the same outfit he saw her in last night at the bar.

"Ami, what's wrong?"

Ami looked at him for a moment before the dam within her broke. Tears streamed down her face as she walked into Takeshi, leaning her head against his chest. Instinctvly, Takeshi brought his arms up around the woman, holding her tight.

"She never came home," Ami sobbed.

Takeshi sat in his recliner, his head resting in his hands, elbows on his knees. His eyes never wavered from the small form on his bed as Ami, finally, had drifted off to sleep. He sat with barely contained rage at what his friend had told him. How Ami had woken alone, to calling Makoto and then Ami waiting for her, despite the amazon saying not to. Ami had finally realized Makoto wasn't coming back, at least not with her in the apartment, and had come to his instead. Groaning, he leaned back into his seat, bringing his palm up to press against his head, trying to squash the fast approaching headache.

But, despite his anger, he felt a great sadness for his friend. Even though they were the same age, due to Ami's naivete in most things other than school work, he came to see her as more a younger sister. But he knew no one could stay innocent forever. But this...

Growling, Takeshi closed his eyes. He sat there in silence, wrapped up in his own thoughts when he heard Ami stir on his bed. Sitting up, he saw she was awake, having only been asleep for about an hour. He watched her as her eyes became focused and she glanced up at him. Realization must have hit as her face screwed up and she began to cry again.

Takeshi slipped from the chair, kneeling in the floor beside the futon. He wrapped his left arm around Ami's head, pulling her close, as his right hand slipped beneath the blankets, taking hold of one of her hands. He leaned his head against Ami's and squeezed her gently.

Oh, Ami, he thought, I'm so sorry.

Several days later found the duo sitting at Takeshi's low table, school books scattered about them. While Ami had seemed lost in their summer homework, Takeshi's eyes continued to glance up at her from time to time. The morning after she had come to him, he took her to her mother's house to gather a few clothes and her school books. Her mother seemed to be working more and wasn't at the house as often as she was when Ami was younger and neither he nor Ami wanted her to be alone.

Ami had yet to speak to her friends about what had happened. When they tried calling her to make plans to get together, she would tell them she had fallen behind on her summer homework and needed to catch up. While it was true, Takeshi knew Ami was distancing herself from them. The only reason she hadn't shut him out was because he knew of the situation before hand. But there was one person Ami hadn't spoken to in nearly a week. And as if on cue, Ami's phone vibrated on the table.

"That's the fourth time in two hours she's called." Takeshi's eyes narrowed at the phone, but his voice was soft when he spoke. "Aren't you going to talk to her?"

"What would I say," Ami asked as her eyes flew over a page in her text book before making a note. "She doesn't want to see me."

"She wants to talk to you, though," Takeshi replied as Ami's phone vibrated again, this time with a new voice mail message.

"Only to tell me it meant nothing," Ami said. "Which I already knew when I came here." Ami sighed, bringing her hand up to massage her shoulder.

Takeshi watched his friend a moment before reaching into his messenger bag and pulling out his rec center access card. "You've been cooped up here for too long. Why don't you go for a swim? Might clear your head."

Ami looked as though she were about to decline when her phone vibrated again. Growling, she pressed the ignore button. She looked up at Takeshi. "You won't get into trouble for giving me this?"

Takeshi shook his head. "I shouldn't. And if there is any issue, have them call me." He took his phone from his pocket and gave it to Ami. "Take my phone instead of yours. Less distracting, I'd think." Ami agreed and began to put her things away.

Several minutes later, Takeshi walked Ami to the door and told her to call if she needed anything. She smiled and leaned up to kiss his cheek before leaving.

Ami's phone rang again. Takeshi stalked over to it, saw it was Makoto and pressed the talk button.

"Ami," came Makoto's hesitant voice.

"Guess again," Takeshi replied flatly.

Makoto growled. "Can I talk to Ami, please?"

"She's not here," Takeshi answered.

"You have her phone."

"Are her and her phone attached in someway I wasn't aware," he asked sarcastically.

"Let me talk to her," Makoto said again.

"I told you, she's not here. Besides, you didn't want to talk to her the other day. Had some errands to do, if I remember right." Takeshi didn't even try to hide the venom in his voice. "Tell you what, Ma-ko-chan, when you get your head out of your ass, then you can call Ami. Until then, go to hell." Takeshi pulled the phone from his ear just as a slew of curses came at him and hit the end call button. Taking a deep breath, he sat and waited for inevitable moment when Makoto would show up at his door.