Author's Note: As promised, another chapter. :) Hope you enjoy! Pretty short chapter, and I know, the next chapter will be around the same legnth, but I'm leading this for the chapter after the next one, for one of the highest points in this fic, so you'll get two times the amount of this and the next chapter put together. :) My gift to you guys! XD Next chapter should be up either later (I'm writing it now) or later in the day/evening of tomorrow. And the weekend will have another one or two chapters. Yeah.. my inspiration for this fic just went nuts. LOL.
WARNING: Small spoilers for chapter 33 of the manga about the Founding King.
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CHAPTER 10: 30 MINUTES OF HIDING
It had taken around two to three hours to get out of the city of Tokyo. The farther they got, the farther Amu saw a small bit of hope on the horizon. It had been smart of Ikuto take take her with him out of their home town -- as heartwrenching as it had been to leave -- and away from Easter's eyes. If things went okay from here, it would be a long time before Easter could track them down. They could be cautious, but they could have some fun as well. That made this run away and hide situation a litle more endurable in Amu's eyes.
She looked up at Ikuto, watching him silently. Throughout the whole ride, they'd hardly said a word to each other. Yet, their presence, by each other's side, was enough. Words didn't need to be said when Ikuto was next to her, protecting her. Loving her. She cleared her throat, promting Ikuto to look at her. "Hey, Ikuto... now that we're out of the city... isn't there a less likeable chance that Easter will find us?"
Ikuto sighed quietly, and shifted in his seat so that he could face her directly. "There is.. a chance they won't be able to find us out here. But don't get too overconfident, Amu; these people are not to be taken lightly. They managed to track me down once before, and they will no doubt do it again. Easter has more capable uses of finding us than continuing to come after us. I think they're tracking us somehow, because those two people I saw who worked for Easter had guns on them, so I know they were keeping a eye out for us. They had to have some incentive that we were going to go to the train station."
Amu's stomach turned over. "But.. if that's true, shouldn't they be able to find us now?"
Ikuto shrugged. "They actually might be waiting for us to go out in to the open. Which is why once we get off, I'm going to chara-transform to get you to safety. Just to be safe."
"No, Ikuto." Amu said quickly. "You're still injured, aren't you? From the bullet --"
"I'm fine, Amu," Ikuto told her, his voice somewhat stern. "It's better to be safe than sorry, and I promised your parents that I'd protect you at all costs. What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let someone hurt you?" He smirked as Amu's face grew red at the word "boyfriend" and added, "Not a very good one, and I've already promised myself I would be the best for you."
"Ikuto." Amu's blush grew more pronounced and she looked away from him to the opposite window, catching her facial expression in the window's reflection and worked to rearrange it.
Ikuto was still smirking. "Did you like the way I said 'boyfriend', Amu?" He purred. Amu forced herself not to start blushing like hell at that cat-like reaction and instead crossed her arms and sputtered, "N-no!"
"Ha ha." Ikuto was chuckling. "You're so cute when you blush. I'll be the only one that will make you blush like that."
Amu crossed her arms, attempting to be stubborn, but started grinning instead. That didn't exactly help because Ikuto was still staring at her. Damn her and her freaking blush-ducts.
She was saved from being tormented by Ikuto's perverted grin when he suddenly straightened up in his seat and stood abruptly. "We're here, Amu. Grab a hold of me."
Wasting no time, Amu got to her feet and slung her bag over her shoulder just as Ikuto had done his violin. The train stopped at the platform and the door opened allowing them exit. Amu gripped Ikuto's arm tightly, looking around wildly just like Ikuto was. Her legs were trembling as she expected to be attacked at any second. They walked quickly just as they had done at the station to leave, and Ikuto bent down slightly and whispered in Amu's ear. "They're not here."
Amu breathed a sigh of relief and loosened her hold somewhat on Ikuto. "So.. where do we go from here?"
"There's a little... I'd like to say 'hiding place' where Tadase and I used to play as kids just down the road from here. I'd call it a tree house, but it isn't in a tree, exactly. It's more like a really small cabin of sorts."
"Oh." Amu nodded. "And your parents took you guys here?"
"Well, his parents did." Ikuto admitted. "Utau and I lived with Tadase's family for quite some time because my mother had fallen deathly ill. So on weekends, his parents took us here because there's a really cool water park around here and Tadase's grandmother used to live here. When we did come, we found that little play house and we made sure that every time we came we hung out in there." Ikuto smiled slightly, remembering. "We were supposed to go the day that my mom got better, but..." He trailed off.
Amu, who had been watching him with mesmerizing eyes, blinked. "But what?"
Ikuto hesitated, obviously unsure if he wanted to tell her. "But I left. For good. I didn't come back, and Tadase came home to find his grandmother passed out and his dog, Betty, dead. Of course.. I was to blame for it. That's what started our bad relationship." He stopped, deciding he shouldn't say more.
Amu smiled slighly and grabbed Ikuto's hand, rubbing her thumb along it in a gentle caress. "You can tell me, Ikuto. We're not enemies anymore. I'm your friend.. and.." She blushed as she choked out the next word. "Girlfriend."
Ikuto smirked slightly. "Finally admit it, huh?" He frowned again, struggling to find words to continue. "I.. don't know why I up and left. To this day, I don't know why I did it. I just knew that I had to get away from that house... that life. I felt trapped, and I wanted to be free. That was when Yoru was born. Maybe I was just tired of not being able to fix my own destiny, and leaving seemed to be the only way I could try and achieve it. Then I met him.."
Amu's heart pounded. "Him?"
"The Founding King of the Guardians.. Tsukasa." Ikuto told her. "He took me in. He said it was to hide me from Easter's eyes for a while. And I... I didn't object. I stayed there, not knowing why I trusted this guy so much. I didn't even really like him. Yet, I told him everything. I didn't leave and go back to Easter or to my mother when she got better and took Utau with her. And she... she never came to search for me, so I.." He stopped again.
Amu could now sense the hurt that was inside of Ikuto's soul, all that he had to suffer throughout the years. And it was all from Easter. Easter was the blame for ruining Ikuto's life, just like they ruined Utau's, and the children who lost their dreams because of their desperate attempts to get the Embryo. All of this suffering, all of this pain.. was caused by Easter themselves, and they would only cause more heartache and pain in the future.
Amu squeezed Ikuto's hand in comfort. "This is why... I must stop them. I will free you, no matter what it takes. I won't let them hurt you anymore." She whispered. Ikuto returned the hold and they continued on until they had finally come through the end of the station.
"Is it up there?" Amu asked, pointing at a cabin-like house. It looked rather small from here.
"Yeah." Ikuto answered. "We should go before --"
"Before what?"
Amu's eyes widened at the sound of the voice and she and Ikuto turned around to meet Yukari Sanjou and her crew of ten of Easter's guards.
Ikuto smirked at the lack of gunmen. "What, running out of guards to keep track on us?"
Yukari did not seemed phased by his insult. "So, run for cover, have you? In another city, too. I really must compliment you, Ikuto, you're very smart. Still, not even that intellect will keep you safe from us. We've managed to track you ever since you left Tokyo, and yet you can't figure out how, can you?" She sneered.
Ikuto scoffed. "Believe me, I'll figure it out." He promised. "And we don't exactly have time for your pathetic attempts to kill us today. Yoru," He called quickly, and Yoru -- who had been sleeping on Ikuto's shoulder the whole time but had awoken as soon as they'd exited the train -- understood immediately, and allowed Ikuto to transform with him. But Sanjou shook her head.
"No, I don't think I'll be letting you get away that easy." She pulled out her hand gun and fired a shot at Ikuto, but he had already chara changed, rapidly dodging her shots before she could figure out where he would move. Amu stood there frozen, watching in fright, and Ikuto swooped down from the air in the fully transformed outfit of Black Lynx and knocked Sanjou to the ground with a hard kick to the face, making her release her hold on the gun. The Easter guards now held up their guns, looking around wildly for Ikuto, but he was too fast before them; before one could raise their gun and pull the trigger, he had already knocked out five of them.
Amu suddenly screamed in pain, distracting Ikuto momentarily. He looked down at her to see blood dripping from her right leg, just below the knee. She clutched it with two hands, crying in agony, and Ikuto knew that he couldn't afford to take out these guards with Amu injured. He upper-cutted two of them with his free right hand and switched his hold on Amu into that one so he could use his claw-bearing left. The two remaining prepared to shoot but Ikuto slashed at them and thundered ahead as they collapsed to the ground, not caring if they were alive or dead.
Ikuto flew with Amu in his arms, holding her tightly until they reached the cabin. "Amu?" He asked in a terrified voice. She didn't respond.
"Damn it!" Ikuto changed back as his feet hit the ground and readjusted Amu in his arms to get a look at her face. She was unconscious. Gritting his teeth in anger at what those bastards had done to her, he rushed inside and locked the door. He looked around the dark room, remembering it just like the last time he'd been here. He also remembered a lower level of sorts under ground. Carrying Amu, he swiftly headed down a pipe line that he just barely fit into and landed on his feet again at the bottom. Eyeing a cot, he set Amu down on top of it and brushed the hair from her closed eyes.
"Amu?" He asked again. "Please wake up, Amu." Her hands were still wrapped around her injured leg, beautiful face pale white. Ikuto was beginning to fear for the worst when Amu slowly opened her eyes, giving a strangled cry as the pain returned. Ikuto silenced her gently, rubbing her forehead. "It's okay, Amu. I'm going to get the bullet out of you and stop the blood. The pain will be gone soon, okay?" His eyebrows were creased in sadness.
"O-okay.." Amu sniffled. "I-Ikuto, are my chara's okay?"
Ikuto looked to the bag Amu had around her stomach and gently pulled it off of her lifting her head up so it wouldn't get caught on her neck and opened it. The three little Shugo Charas popped out of their eggs, faces frightened.
"Thanks, Ikuto, is Amu okay?" Miki asked as Ran and Suu flew over to their injured owner.
"She was shot in the leg. I need you guys to comfort her while I take that bullet out. It has to be done now, otherwise it'll only hurt her more." Ikuto explained to the three charas who had turned their attention towards him. Yoru drifted aimlessly in the air, near Amu's head.
"How are you going to get it out, Ikuto, nya?"
Ikuto didn't answer for a moment, groping around inside the school bag he'd brought with him and setting his violin case on the ground. He pulled out a single pair of pliers. Amu, who had been watching what he was doing, whimpered at what he was holding.
"I'll be as gentle as possible, Amu." He promised her. She simply nodded, squeezing her honey colored eyes shut. Ikuto slowly moved towards her leg, and tenderly touched the wound with two slender finger tips. Amu winced.
"They didn't get it too bad." Ikuto said quietly. "It isn't deep or anything which is good and is not too serious of an injury. Once I get it out and stop the blood, you should be fine, although you won't be able to walk for a couple of days."
"Oh, great." Amu grumbled. "That means youre going to have to look after me. Wasting your time taking care of a little kid.."
Ikuto smiled slightly as he pulled out a small needle to numb her with. "I won't have a problem with it. And I'm going to numb you in about a second so you don't feel when I take the bullet out." He carefully stuck her with it but she didn't give any indication she had felt it.
"Did you put it in already?"
"Yeah." Ikuto blinked.
Amu lifted her head to look. "No way, I didn't even feel it." She gave him a semi-glare. "Did you take medical classes or something? You could be a doctor or a nurse!"
Ikuto blanched. "No. God, no, I wouldn't want to be a doctor or a nurse. I just had a lot of experience taking care of myself. And I took these along in case we needed them. I got bandages for the blood, too." He began taking the bullet out.
There was silence while he worked, slowly and carefully pulling out the small black bullet that had gone into Amu's flesh. He tossed it into a small garbage bin at the wall next to him and began wrapping Amu's leg in a heavy load of bandages. He didn't know if the bleeding would become heavy and it was better to make sure it wouldn't just seep through if it did.
"How do you think they found us, Ikuto?" Amu whispered quietly.
He sighed. "I don't know. How ever they did it, it really is effective for them. We're going to have to be more cautious than ever. They'll most likely figure out we're in here in a couple of hours or even minutes, depending on how soon they awake. It also matters if they heard our whole conversation or not. If they did, we're going to have to leave again soon."
Amu sighed sadly as Ikuto finished bandaging her leg and moved it somewhat, the numbing Ikuto had put in it keeping her from experiencing pain for now. "I had thought.. before we got off the train.. that Easter would have a less likely chance of finding us, so we could have a little bit of fun before.. you know.." She laid her head on her uninjured knee, watching Ikuto.
"I had thought we could afford to rest a little easy too, but.. it appears not. We can't have any time for letting our guard down. They can strike us at any moment, and we're going to have be prepared for that. Before was just practice. Our eyes have got to be open at all times, and we've got to watch out for each other." He explained slowly, turning his head to look her in the eyes again. "And this time.. I promise I won't let them hurt you. They won't ever lay a finger or a bullet on you again."
Amu could only nod, at a loss for words at the intensity in Ikuto's eyes. Abruptly, he stood and set his violin case to into the pipeline, plugging it.
"He knows all of my hiding places.." Ikuto was whispering so quietly Amu could barely hear him, and she wondered if he was saying this to her or to himself. "Yeah... you know everything about me, don't you? But I won't let you win.." His quiet voice was filled with hatred, and Amu could only watch him and wonder exactly what the relationship between him and the director of Easter was, and what had happened to Ikuto in his childhood to have emanated that kind of hate.