"How does this one look?" asked Nagi as he spun in place. He was showcasing a light blue, zip up hoodie with a black design covering the front. Amu giggled a little at the sight of her best friend twirling around like a ballerina. The best part was that he was actually rather graceful, due to his dancing background. Even though Nagihiko had been walking around as a boy for many years now, he still walked with the grace of a dancer.
"I like it," Amu replied. "You should get it. It really suits you."
Nagi looked again in the mirror, studying his reflection thoughtfully. "I think you're right, Amu-chan," Nagi replied. "I'll get this one." Nagi slipped off the jacket and tossed it at Amu who easily caught it.
"What am I, you're pack mule?" she asked, holding up the jacket. "You are perfectly capable of carrying this yourself."
"Please, Amu-chan?" Nagi asked with a winning smile. "I've still got all this stuff to carry." Nagi motioned to the mountain of clothes still left in his dressing room. Amu sighed and then smiled, amused by her friend's predicament. All of her friends had this problem actually. Since they had attended a school that had uniforms, they didn't have much in the way of street clothes. This was Amu's third shopping trip in two weeks to help her friends pick out new outfits. Amu had learned a thing or two about fashion from Miki over the years and was now the official authority on clothing and accessories.
"What am I going to do with you?" asked Amu as she walked past Nagi to grab some more of his clothes.
"Love me, of course," he replied with a chuckle as he grabbed the rest of the clothes. Amu rolled her eyes and followed Nagi to the checkout to pay for his new wardrobe. After an afternoon of shopping, both of them were laden with bags. They walked through the mall and pretty soon, Amu was out of breath.
"Can we stop for a second?" she asked. "If I have to take one more step, I think I might just fall over."
Nagi looked over at his exhausted friend and laughed. "There's a bench over there by the jewelry stand. Can you make it that far?"
Amu shot him a glare and then made her way to the bench. Once there, she collapsed onto it and groaned. "Was buying this many clothes really necessary, Nagi? These bags weigh a ton."
"Sorry, Amu-chan," Nagi replied as he sat down next to her. "I'll make it up to you sometime."
"You'd better," Amu grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest. Nagihiko laughed and then poked Amu in the side, making her jump and giggle. She playfully slapped his hand away but Nagi kept at it, tickling her until she cried for mercy. "Ok, ok! You win!" Amu said between laughs. Nagi stopped tickling her and laughed as she finally relaxed her body out of the ball shape she had been in.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Nagi said suddenly. He started digging through the various bags that surrounded them until he found the one he was looking for. He pulled out a pair of earrings and presented them to Amu. "I saw them and thought you might like them." She took the earrings in her hands and examined them. They were little dangly black cats in a sitting position. Immediately, she thought of Ikuto and blushed.
"Wh-what made you pick these out?" she asked.
Nagi raised his eyebrows in a "isn't it obvious" expression, causing Amu to sigh. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.
"I don't know," Amu replied. "I don't know what to think."
"Well, aren't you happy?" Nagi asked. "Ikuto-kun is the main reason for all of the moping you've done for the past six years."
"I think I'm happy," Amu replied ambiguously. "I guess, I'm just nervous because it's been so long since I've seen him. I've changed in these past few years Nagi, and so has he I'd wager."
"Hmm, that could be a problem, I suppose," Nagi replied, "but, I don't think you're all that different, Amu-chan."
"Yes I am," Amu said. "I'm older, I have more experiences. Stuff has happened to me, Nagi, and it's changed me, made me grow up. I'm not that little sixth grader anymore."
Nagi smiled and tucked a piece of bubble gum pink hair behind her ear. "I agree that you are different in the respect of how you look at things compared to how you saw them six years ago," Nagi said, "but the core person of who you are hasn't changed. You're still the secretly shy, stubborn girl that stands up for what she believes in that you were back in grade school. Plus, I don't think that Ikuto-kun is expecting to see the little sixth grader he left behind all those years ago."
"How can you be sure of that?" Amu asked, a hint of desperation in her voice. "What if I'm too different? What if he doesn't have a reason to stay?"
"Well, you can definitely take my word for it," Nagi replied with a smile, "but if you need concrete proof, just look at Ran, Miki, Su, and Dia. They're still here, aren't they?"
This brought Amu up short and her prepared response died on her tongue. Of course, she thought, how could I forget? If they haven't changed or gone back into their eggs, then I couldn't have changed all that much. Maybe Nagi's right. Even though I'm not exactly the same person I was six years ago, I'm still me. No matter what I put after "I am," the "I am" never changes.
Amu smiled and hugged her friend. "Thank you so much, Nagi. You always know just what to say."
Nagihiko chuckled and wrapped his arms around her in return. "I'll always be here to help you out, Amu-chan."
Suddenly, Amu heard a voice calling her name. "Amu-chan! Amu-chan! Are you guys done shopping yet?" Amu glanced up to see Ran, flying toward them at top speed with Dia not too far behind. She removed herself from the hug and smiled at her two charas.
"We just finished," she replied as Dia and Ran came to rest on her shoulder.
"Amu had to stop for a break because of all the bags," Nagi told Ran and Dia.
Ran and Dia glanced over to the mountain of bags that surrounded the bench and sweat dropped. "Wow, Nagi, do you really need this many clothes?" Ran asked.
"You'd be surprised how fast your wardrobe can get boring when you don't enough options," he replied matter-of-factly. Amu started giggling and Nagi looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, Nagi, you are such a girl sometimes!" Amu said with a laugh. Ran and Dia soon collapsed into laughter as well and Nagi just stood there, trying to be offended, but soon, he too started laughing. Dia was the first to recover.
"Amu-chan, we need to get back home," Dia said sweetly. "It's getting late."
Amu looked at her phone and saw that it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. "Wow, time sure flies, doesn't it?" she said. She looked over at Nagi. "Are you ready to go?"
"Sure. I'll walk you back home to make sure you don't get lost," Nagi said with a knowing smile. Ran and Dia giggled while Amu shot her best friend a glare.
"I am perfectly capable of finding my way home on my own. It's been awhile since I've gotten lost!"
"Yeah, a week," Ran said. "You got lost going home from dance class last Wednesday."
"Shut-up, Ran," Amu said while a fierce blush crept into her cheeks.
Nagi chuckled, picked up his bags, and followed Amu as she walked to the mall's exit. Once home, Nagi gave her a hug, said goodnight and continued down the road to his house. Amu opened the door and called out, "Su? Miki? We're back!"
The house answered with silence so Amu called again. After, again, not hearing a reply, she wandered into the kitchen and spotted a small note on the spotless counter. It read:
Miki and I went out to the park. We wanted some fresh air after cleaning the kitchen. We'll be back soon! -Su
"I guess they got a little restless, cooped up in the house all day," said Ran, reading the note over Amu's shoulder.
"I hope they're ok," said Amu, slightly worried. "When you guys venture off on your own, bad things tend to happen."
"Not always," said Dia, "just sometimes."
Amu sighed. "Well, there's no helping it. We'll just have to stick around here until they get back. I wasn't planning on doing anything else anyway."
"Let's call Kukai and go play soccer outside!" shouted Ran.
"Where would we play?" Amu asked her excited chara with a laugh. "I don't have a yard, remember?"
Ran giggled and scratched her head. "Oh yeah, I forgot." Both Dia and Amu sweat dropped at Ran's carefree and impulsive nature.
"I know!" said Dia. "Let's go play dress up!"
"Why?" asked Amu, confused. "I haven't done that since junior high."
"Which is exactly why you should!" said Dia matter-of-factly. "Come on!" Dia flew off up the stairs. Amu looked at Ran with an inquisitive eye but Ran just shrugged and followed Dia. Amu sighed, exasperated by her chara's complete randomness today, and went up the stairs.
She entered her room and saw Ran and Dia floating over her bed, looking at an outfit that had been laid out. On the bed sat another note, from Miki this time that read:
I made an outfit for you while Su was cleaning up from breakfast because I was bored. I hope you like it. –Miki
Amu laughed. She could practically hear Miki's voice as she tried not to sound like she cared. She smiled and examined the outfit more closely. It was a shirt and skirt combo with black ballet flats and her blue choker that she wore to graduation from her friend Lulu. The shirt was white with a square cut at the top. It was gathered at the waist and had midnight blue ribbon weaving through the fabric in a line under her bust and again parallel mid-stomach. The skirt was in three layers, each one on top of the other. The one on top was the shortest and the layer underneath was the longest, coming just above her knees. Each was a different shade of blue, going darker with each layer.
"Try it on, Amu-chan!" exclaimed Ran with excitement.
"Ok," replied Amu. She put the outfit on quickly; excited to see how it would look. Once the shirt was tucked in and the choker was tied, she stood in front of the mirror and smiled at her reflection. The outfit was perfect, of course, flattering her figure well and bringing out the gold in her eyes. Ran and Dia were staring at her too.
"Please let me do you hair and make-up, Amu-chan," said Dia pleadingly. Amu could see the unshielded desire in her bright eyes and could see her fingers twitching to get to work.
"Sure," Amu complied. "We don't have anything better to do."
"Yay! Thank you, Amu-chan!"
"I want to help!" exclaimed Ran with excitement.
Amu laughed as she watched Dia and Ran go and grab her make-up kit from the bathroom, chattering with excitement. She turned back to the mirror to admire her reflection, wondering what her charas could possibly be up to. Why do I have this sinking feeling that Ikuto's involved?
"Perfect!" Miki exclaimed as she examined her handiwork. Ikuto had to agree. White lights and flowers decorated the trees, lighting up the area with a soft glow. More white flowers floated in the fountain at the center of the park area where Amu and Ikuto had sat with their ice cream not so many years ago. A battery operated CD player had been scrounged up for the occasion and inside was a CD of songs that Utau had helped him pick out for the occasion. Ikuto stood looking around at it all, slightly amazed that they had been able to pull this off.
"Yeah! Amu is going to freak, nya!" said Yoru. "Great job, Miki, nya."
Miki blushed slightly as she thanked him.
"Now, all we need is for Dia and Ran to get Amu here, desu," said Su. Ikuto smiled and then laughed. "What?" asked Su.
"I wonder when she'll figure out that something's up," Ikuto replied. "Whose idea was it that Ran should stay with Amu again?"
"Yeah, maybe that wasn't the best idea, nya," said Yoru.
"I'm sure that Ran can keep quiet about this one thing, desu," said Su with complete sincerity.
Everyone in the group just stared at her with disbelief written plainly on their faces. Ikuto didn't care too much if Ran spilled the beans, just as long as she delivered Amu to the park. With the stage set, he felt butterflies flutter around in his stomach, an unfamiliar feeling with him. At first, he didn't know quite how to take it but then decided that he liked it. Tonight, he would show her how much he loved her and how serious he was about staying by her side.
"Finished!" exclaimed Dia as she finished applying Amu's lip gloss. Amu opened her eyes a smiled at Dia.
"Thank you, Dia," she told her chara.
"Go look in the mirror Amu-chan!" Ran ordered impatiently. "You have to see yourself. You look so pretty."
"Ok, ok," Amu said with a laugh. She walked over to her mirror and stifled a gasp as she caught her reflection. Silver eye shadow shined on her eyelids, bringing out her golden eyes. A soft pink blush was applied lightly to her cheeks, giving her a soft, doll like appearance. Lastly was the pink lip gloss which added just enough color to her lips to bring out their fullness. She looked stunning.
"Oh, guys, it's perfect," Amu said softly.
Dia and Ran high-fived each other in triumph, squealing with glee.
"Oh, I can't wait until Ikuto-kun sees you!" Ran exclaimed. As soon as the words left her mouth she clamped her hand over her lips and her eyes grew wide.
"Ran!" Dia exclaimed.
"Whoops," was her only reply.
"So Ikuto is involved in this," Amu said to her charas. "I figured as much."
Despite her outward calm, butterflies started to stir in her stomach. This was the night. Tonight, she would tell Ikuto how mad she was at him for leaving but how much she still loved him anyway. She knew that no matter what had happened in the past, if he asked her to be his, she would say yes in an instant. Taking a deep, calming breath, she turned toward her two charas.
"Ok, where are you going to take me?"
