Mirene: Hello guys! I'm on a summer spree of updating right now, so I hope you're all happy! (:

Amu: No we aren't.

Ikuto: You started another story AND deleted Handcuffed for good.

Mirene: Well, it's up for adoption, so it's not really gone for good...

Amu: You could have at least finished another story.

Mirene: But... But Fairy Tail is my new addiction. I can't help it! (BTW you should totes check it out please (: )

Amu: Hmph. Typical author.

Mirene: I'm sorry, but I don't own you two, so I don't really care.

Ikuto: You sure about that?

Mirene: Fine... I only care because I love Ikuto! *pounces*

Chapter 11

Ikuto ran forward, but he was too late. By the time he had jumped up, all he could see left was the edge of pink hair, falling down along with her. "AMU!"

Shit.

Shit.

Oh, lord, why didn't he run faster? Why didn't he react faster? What was wrong with him? Those were the kind of thoughts racing through his mind as he looked in absolute fear over the edge of the window. He didn't know if he could handle what he was about to see.

But when he saw her dangling from a lower floor window by someone's hand, a rush of relief blew through him, but not before he saw their hands struggling to hold on to each other. "God, okay, that's what... second floor. Nikaidou's room, right, yes, maybe... God, Amu!" Ikuto clicked his tongue before running out of the room and down the stairs as fast as possible, heart racing as fast as his feet.

When he flew into the middle of his class, the old teacher was struggling to keep a hold on Amu, but others were already rapidly helping him. Ikuto couldn't help like this, and he was pretty sure that he needed to help. Amu wouldn't let them rescue her, but he couldn't just blurt out that Amu wanted to fall and die. No idiot in their right mind would do that.

Wait. He had an ingenious idea and once again took off at the speed of what he would like to think of as a cheetah. With his plan ready to go, he ran outside of the first floor nearly out of breath. Ikuto caught sight of the pinkette dangling by two fingers, hastily trying to get the others' hands undone from hers, though Nikaidou seemed to take it as "slipping form his fingers".

"I won't let you fall!" he shouted as he ran towards her. He'd make it in time, and she would live. No Rei Kuroku was going to take him from her - not when he finally realized that she was more than just a pretty crush that dressed weird. She was more than that, and he was pretty sure by now that he loved her and he didn't want her to die because of some stupid guy that didn't know how to treat her right (now, that was just a guess but he was betting that it was pretty accurate). He loved her, and-

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Did he just admit that he loved Hinamori Amu? His first love had become his current love? But don't people say first loves don't last or something or...

No, now isn't the time to stop and think about that weird admittance he had just made in his head. It probably wouldn't be as weird (in fact it'd make a whole lot of sense) if he weren't in such a dramatic situation, but Amu was slipping and he'd make sure he would be there to catch her. Just as she was about to hit the ground, Ikuto slid for it.

'Please let this work...'

Amu growled. She didn't want to speak, so instead she began clawing at the unknowing teacher's hands. "Amu, don't struggle! Someone get help or help me!" The last thing the nerdy girl wanted was more people trying to make her stay alive. That monster was coming for her! She wouldn't live for it though. Now, he only had her by the ring finger and pinky, and it felt as though those two fingers were going to rip off of her hand.

"My fingers...!" Amu yelled in a not-so-fake manner, and as the spectacled man hurriedly tried to adjust his grip in fear of hurting her even more, she wriggled loose of his hands and smiled. "Sorry," she whispered before resuming her fall - and it would not be feet first.

"I won't let you fall!" She heard a voice yell before crashing into the ground... not. There wasn't any pain, nor any strong impact. She didn't feel dead. Why wasn't she dead? The reason was right below her, where she found a blue-haired man as her cushion.

"I...Ikuto?" she asked timidly, quickly setting herself beside him instead of on top of him. "Ikuto?"

He didn't respond. God, what had she done? What had he done? "Ikuto?" she said in a low, worried voice. She then started grabbing his collar and pulling him up, shaking him. "Wake up, Ikuto! You stupid cat, you can't just can't go and die when that was my job!" she choked, his limp head bobbing back and forth. She heard a small splat, and behind his head was a pool of scarlet.

Scarlet. "I-Ikuto... Ikuto..." she closed her eyes tightly and screamed.

"Ikuto!"

Again, no response. She held his head close to her chest, her tears sliding off of his cheeks instead of her own. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault, if only I hadn't tried to kill myself... you wouldn't have had to die... Ikuto, forgive me... I won't ever do this again. So please, please wake up. Open your eyes. I won't do it again, I'll cherish my life, I'll face my problems head on, no matter what. As long as you're awake, alive, and well. So don't you dare... Don't you dare die on me, Ikuto!"

Her prayers were answered as the bluenette shifted lightly, squirming a bit in her arms. "A-Amu..." he mumbled, eyes fluttering open. "Amu, did you really mean all that? You did, right?" He winced, his breathing heavy and slow. "Please... promise me you'll do what you said, and that you'll... cherish your life... please," he groaned. "I don't feel like there's much time left..."

"I promise, Ikuto, so stay awake! Stay with me!" she cried, squeezing his neck tighter.

"Promise...?"

"I promise, silly cat, just... just live for me," she weeped.

"A-Amu... Breathe... Can't breathe..."

"What?"

"Neck... Tight."

"Ah!" Amu screamed, letting go of his neck in a hurry. "A-Are you okay now?"

"Pfft..."

"Ikuto?"

"Pffffffft..."

Amu was scared. Did he go mental from the impact? Oh god... She couldn't even handle a normal Ikuto, but now a crazy one? "Ikuto...?" Please don't go crazy.

"Pfffft... AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" God, now she was seriously scared. She backed away slowly, her back hitting the trunk of a nearby tree while Ikuto writhed on the ground, laughing his head off. It went on for minutes while the pinkette was praying for him in her head. "Oh, god. You're either too gullible or I'm a great actor... But either way, you promised." He smirked, and then slowly peeled a pile of ketchup wrappers from the back of his head. "Genius, right?"

She blinked once. Twice. Thrice. The cat was waiting for her reply. Then the tears stopped. "You... How dare you..."

"You promised, so you can't back out of it. You're not ever doing something like this again."

Amu huffed, face redder than he had ever seen it before. His excessive laughter didn't help. "Y-You tricked me!"

"You still promised. You said no matter what," he laughed, standing up and wrinkling his nose at the ketchup on his hand and hair. "I can't wait to shower. The things I do for you," he sighed, smirking. "Oh look, there's some on your face."

"God, who's fault is that, I wonder?" she puffed while trying to wipe her face. Unfortunately, it was still there. "Wh-where is it?"

"Here," Ikuto smirked and leaned over, licking the red condiment off of her skin. "All gone."

"You!"

"Come on," he said, giving out his hand. "I won't ask about it", he said, particularly because he suspected that it was the text and he knew he was right, "but don't forget your promise, alright?" He stretched his hand towards her.

She sighed. What would she do with this guy? He practically knew everything about her besides that part, and even then he wasn't nagging about it. This was too much for a simple teenager like her! She had had more experiences than enough for the average high schooler.

Nevertheless, she grabbed hold of his hand and stood up. "Ah, alright," she muttered.

Ikuto smiled a genuine smile, and Amu couldn't help but smile back. Smiles were so damn contagious.

"Uhm, Ikuto?" Amu asked timidly, her head low as her small hand held the back of his jacket back. They had just finished being interrogated by Nikaidou and some school officials, saying that Amu was only by the window sitting on the tall stool. When she scooted back, thinking there was a wall behind her to lean on, she scooted back to far and fell out of balance and out the window. It was a crappy story, which was why it took them so long to be convinced. Amu was cleaning up in the other room while Ikuto told the story. Thankfully Amu was one of the worst outfits that Ikuto had ever seen on her, so just one look at her when she came in and the officials didn't need any more convincing. They were now on their way to Aruto's car, since the school had called Aruto to notify him.

"What?"

"C-Could you keep the whole... ordeal a secret?"

"When you fell? Sure, I did say it was an accident. It was easy to cover up... But it won't be for free."

"Eh?"

Ikuto smirked, a bright bulb lighting up in his mind. "You have to do something for me. Not everything in life is free, you know. Money doesn't go on trees, so favors don't either."

Amu pouted. "What could you possibly want me to do now? I'm going through a difficult phase, and you're not making it any better." The guy could at least hold off on his damn perverted fantasies for a while and be considerate.

"It's not much, don't worry," he laughed at her overreaction. "You just need to participate in the class event according to your role." Amu shrugged, not really remembering what he role was supposed to be anyways. At least he wasn't making her dress normally...

"Oh, and you have to dress normally from now on."

And she spoke too soon. "That's one too many requests."

"Well, I could've just not say anything about what you just tried, but people asked questions. It'd be another request for me to have covered up your attempt. And theeeen-"

"Fine, fine, I get it!" she growled, letting go of him. "Geez... You are going to be the death of me."

"You were almost the death of me," he teased.

"Shut up."

The walk was fairly quiet and awkward. "Amu... is this R.K. guy really related to you somehow? To the point that you wanted to commit suicide?"

She shook her head. "I won't commit suicide anymore. That was me a panicking situation... that text startled me." She paused and then glared at him with suspecting amber eyes. "You saw the text. That's why you won't ask. Because you know. Should've known..." she mumbled.

"Sorry, it was buzzing nonstop and it got annoying, so... I didn't mean to."

"It's fine. It doesn't matter, I won't try that again... I can't let down Utau and everyone else. I've gone too far to just give up now, so I'll stick to my promise. But I guess I'm just a little scared for the festival... He plans on meeting me again, that's for sure."

"I won't let him," he quietly reassured her, and somehow without thinking, his hand grasped hers in a tight clutch. His heart beat happily at the contact, and his mind started racing back to the thoughts he had only a few hours ago. Ikuto realized that it took the mere thought of her dying to get him to comprehend his feelings for her.

This wasn't a crush. This wasn't based on her beauty - God knows he hadn't seen enough of it to fall in love with it. Is this what they meant by the quote, "You don't know what you've lost until you've finally lost it?" Thank the heavens he proved that wrong, because he knew she was a mandatory person in his life now. He was glad that he met her in the past. He was glad to have seen her at her worst and at her best. He was glad that she provided him something new in his life. Okay, he admitted it now, and he'd probably admit it out loud sooner or later, but he loved Hinamori Amu. He always had...

Ikuto felt her hand suddenly go limp and broke his train of rather embarrassing-to-admit thoughts and fixed his grip. "I've got your back. Everyone does. He can't hurt you." She gave Ikuto a weak smile, slightly wondering what he was thinking about during their walk hand-in-hand, but just slightly. After all, there were so many other things to think about, and they weren't as pleasant. The parking lot was now in view, and Amu sighed as they stopped by the curb, Aruto's car about to pick them up. "Things will be okay," Ikuto said. "I'll protect you."

That weak smile appeared again, and he disliked it. "I... just need to prepare myself," she whispered before letting Ikuto's hand go.

A few days passed since Amu's suicide attempt. No one really asked the pinkette about the accident at school, although Saaya's bullying had gotten lighter ever since, and Aruto and Souko had done some comforting. Scratch that, a lot of comforting. Utau made her a voodoo doll with the initials R.K. on it and stayed in her room until Amu actually did something to it. Which, by the way, didn't take very long.

And Ikuto still didn't know anything. This was proving to be irritating, seeing as his whole family knew and were completely pampering her for it. They didn't buy the story in the beginning, if you couldn't tell already. He wanted to know what was making her so upset. He wanted the details, and he wanted to help her. Curiosity was burning in his blood.

Sometimes she'd be crying in her room at night, and sometimes he heard her cursing Rei Kuroku in a vicious voice. Sometimes she'd don a fake smile at home and at school, and sometimes she'd just randomly break down in the middle of her thoughts. Other times, she was silent and expressionless. Certain bad days kept her at home from school, but she'd continue working like always. Cooking kept her mind off of things, and Rima is great company, as she had explained.

She'd mostly talk to that girl named Rima on the phone whenever he saw her alone, video calling and such. But there was never a good time to ask her about her past because well, she was never really in a good mood when she was alone. Just finding her alone was rare, and finding her in a good mood was rare... try combining both of that at one time and you'd have a better chance at winning the lottery. Not that he needed to - he was stinking rich.

What didn't make anything better was the rapid oncoming of the Firefly Festival. It was all over the school and city now - one of the best schools in Japan was having their annual festival featuring The Titans and Character4 in only one week. School-related subjects became as scarce as the the little homework they had, and all focus was on the grand event. He could've sworn he already saw real fireflies randomly flying around school, flashing butts and everything.

Their class was more than ready by that one week, of course. All that was planned was the strict rehearsals that Kairi kept shouting about all the days before, and Amu kept to the promise and fitted for her costume and everything. Most of the costumes, custom made, were already ready and everything was set. The stage in the large classroom had been set up already as well, and surprisingly enough it didn't turn out to be much of a nuisance during school hours. Kairi was a pretty good planner... Too good.

"We've also already set the price for the model pictures," Kairi continued on as the others sat around intently listening or intensely working because if you weren't doing either of those, Kairi will have your head. Period. "We've reached an agreement that one picture will be $4-"

"Only four?" Yaya, as a seasons model, cried out. "Yaya thinks that Yaya is worth more than that..."

"You didn't let me finish," he said in a rather loud voice and Yaya immediately quieted down, peeping her apology. "$40 dollars per personal photo. We already have a photo shoot that will be laid out on stage shortly after it ends, so anyone interested can work the cameras and printing if you wish to make some dough. The photo shooting will start after the concert, so it is essential that all models report back here half an hour in their costumes ready to go. Clear?"

"Uhm," one of the models raised their hand. "What if we are going backstage after the concert to meet the celebrities...?"

"Then I suggest you wear your costume to the concert and be done with your celebrity exploits within half an hour."

"O-Okay," Meiko nodded happily. Others didn't really care, seeing as how getting backstage would be near impossible, but they had to applause her for being brave to ask Kairi a question and not get intense backlash.

"I assume that's the end of the questions?" Kairi looked around the room. Surprisingly enough, one hand raised in the air was left. "If there is anyone who is disinterested in attending the concert, I'd appreciate help with setting up the photo shoot and such. In total, out class event will last one hour long. Half an hour will be the show, and the other half later will be the photo shoot. All times and shifts have been passed out and arranged, so I expect things to go successfully. That is all." He left everyone with a gulp in their throats. That last statement was basically saying "If any of you mess up, I will slice you in half with my wooden katana that I have been sharpening these past few years or so".

Still, the festival was definitely something to look forward to. The entire school was absolutely excited for it. The biggest and best event of the year would be here in no time at all, and it'd probably be the best festival the school has ever held, especially with the featured pop bands.

Too bad Amu was thinking the complete opposite. It really was. He didn't want her to think of such a happy event as something horrible. That's why he took it on himself to support her and let her enjoy the time she had. There was more to the festival than the concert, and he wouldn't let her down. He told her before and he would keep his word: he would protect her.

But to protect her, he had to know what he was protecting her from. That was why he was standing there in front of her room at this very moment, hearing her small sobs from outside the door. It was one minute to midnight, and when twelve o' clock hit, he'd do it. He'd ask her once and for all, and with her cooperation, the truth would unfold.

The grandfather clock from the living room gave the signal in the form of a canary bird, and without a word or even a simple knock, he opened her door.

Mirene: You all didn't seriously think I'd let Amu or Ikuto die, right? LOL.

Amu: It would've made the story better if he did.

Mirene: You going to take that, Ikuto?

Ikuto: ...

Mirene: Ikuto?

Amu: He's waiting for the line.

Mirene: Oh, erm, be my guest.

Ikuto: Please review for a lem-

Amu: This is rated T, go away.

Mirene: Oh Ikuto. I'll update Bejeweled soon, okay?

Amu: Hmph. I appreciate the fact that this has more reviews than that M story.

Mirene: I wonder how next chapter will unfold the truth...

Ikuto: ...Aren't you the author?

Mirene: Yes, but I like reading people's reviews and thoughts. Of course, I already have the truth in mind but I like seeing what other people predict! (: If it's a really good prediction I might PM them and ask them to use it (x

Amu: Such an indecisive woman...