Leeloo-Chan: Welcome to another chapter, I really do appreciate all of your kind words and reviews so keep them up ^^I hope you enjoy this latest instalment.
Room mates, chapter 14.
Ikuto's Pov.
I crept from my room wishing with all my might to see no one. Since our awkward conversation neither I nor Amu had left our respective rooms with the exception of work, although it didn't accomplish much… I was still as desperately in love with her as I had been before, if not more. However today ushered in a day of change, I didn't want to leave but I didn't exactly have a choice today was the day we were meeting to plan my mother's birthday party, if I missed this… My life would not be worth living.
It wasn't like I didn't want to see her; on the contrary I wanted nothing more. I wanted to know how her new job was and if she had made new friends, but if I was truthful I wanted to know if there was someone there that caught her eye and the not knowing was driving me to an early grave.
I pulled the living room door open silently and tip toed through, for nothing…
"Are you seriously still avoiding her, you two are stupid!" Came Utau's impatient voice from the sofa as she flipped through her style magazines.
"Be quiet Utau, I'm not avoiding her I'm giving her space…Just like she asked."I sighed irritated my sister should know this! I really should not have to justify my actions!
"You don't have to worry, she's out cold. She works really hard now and has met some nice people." A smirk lifted the corner of her face, she knew I was dying for any news at all but I would not beg.
"Good for her, hurry up or you will be late for mother's plans." I grumbled impatiently glaring at my baby sister and she smiled simply in response.
"I'll catch a lift with you as soon as I make sure Rima is up to wake Amu." Her previous smirk grew into a sly grin and I shuddered, I knew that face all too well… She was planning something.
"I'm probably going to regret this but… Why?" I shrugged my shoulders casually as if I didn't care and waited.
"Well Amu is coming later with Rima to help us plan colour schemes, face it Ikuto… there is no hiding now." I stiffened remembering to not let my emotions show, outside I seemed casual and unmoved but inside I was a riot.
"How long is Rima going to be? I have errands to run." I somehow managed to keep my tone impartial but before Utau could respond the tiny blonde devil appeared rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"You can relax monster! I'm here so please leave before Amu wakes I don't want you making her cry again!" She glared at me fiercely and as she saw my face fall her smile stretched triumphantly, she had won this round.
"I have no idea what you are talking about but we are late, get your things Utau we are leaving." I glared back at the tiny blonde with all my might like a petulant child and left. What the hell does Nagi see in that witch anyway? I thought as I paced down corridor to my car. Sighing I realised that maybe today would give me an opportunity to finally face my fears and confront her… And then I thought the better of it.
Amu's Pov.
Rima had woken me at least half an hour ago but since then had been strangely silent to the point where I almost couldn't bear it anymore. I had spoken about or actually talked to Ikuto in a week and it felt like a lifetime. So much had changed that I wanted him to know, I wanted to tell him about my work, about the kids and my new friends but I couldn't. As I grumbled in my head about the stupidity of boys Rima's stern voice finally broke the silence.
"Ikuto will be there today Amu." Her petit face seemed oddly severe so I attempted to brighten the situation,
"I know, but it's not like I need to talk to him." I placed emphasis on the word need, dragging it out childishly and grinned at her only to see her practically fuming.
"I've been patient with you both Amu, but honestly this is ridiculous. He loves you; you love him the only thing standing in the way is your idiocy." She shrugged her shoulders as if the bluntness of her statement wasn't intended to hurt me and I growled.
"What would you have me do Rima?" My eyes blazed and she patiently smiled in return only adding to my anger.
"Confess to him, if he doesn't feel the same which I can guarantee he does then blame it on me, say I put you up to it because of the argument I had with him this morning." She looked at me confidently as if it was the easiest thing in the world and I sighed.
"You're not going to let me back out of this are you?" The only reply I received was the shaking of her blonde head before she hopped off the stool and made her way to say goodbye to Nagi.
I had to admit that Rima's ideas had its benefits, there was no doubt in my mind that Ikuto did not see me the way I saw him but at least if I knew definitively everyone would stop interfering and leave me to live my miserable life without him. However the other half of me was terrified I had never confessed in my life and this was Ikuto Tsukiyomi we were talking about…
It was now or never and this issue needed to be put to rest, I gathered the rest of my things and met Rima outside. In the car I warned Rima of my resolve to confess and the rest of the journey we spent wittering on about Nagi and how amazing he was, it served as the perfect tool to distract me from my growing anticipation.
The lean arms of Souko embraced me as I entered the front door, more than a little dazed I eventually returned her hold taking in my surroundings. I knew that the Tsukiyomi's had money but I had no idea that they had this much money, the house was outstandingly beautiful and I caught the smile of Utau as she stepped out from behind her mother.
"Welcome home Amu!" she laughed innocently but her words implied more, I shook my head knowing that soon she would realise she had been wrong the whole time and it gave me some form of sad comfort.
"Oh yeah don't worry about little old me." Cried Rima with distaste clearly annoyed at her less than welcome greeting, Utau placed her nose in the air possibly still annoyed at Rima for snapping at her.
"Well you got the little part right!" Utau sneered at Rima and I laughed deep and loud, harder than I had in a week. Utau and Rima looked to me as if laughing was the best sound in the world and joined in; they slipped an arm each with mine and walked into the planning room which Souko followed laughing at her mirthful daughter.
Nervously I cast my eyes around the room; it was torture knowing that I would see him for the first time in such a long time for us. Anticipation and fear mixed in my stomach but something deep inside told me I was doing the right thing.
"I'm ready to confess, I'm going to go to the bathroom when Ikuto comes in could you tell him I need to talk?" I smiled at Rima's wide grin knowing that I had made her happy with my decision and excused myself from the table. The house was huge and I now knew that I should have listened to Utau when she offered to show me the way.
Stumbling through into yet another grand room I sighed, I was beyond lost but my luck did seem to be turning up on the other side of the room was a smaller door, if that isn't a bathroom then I'll be damned. I thought to myself smugly crossing the room. But upon heaving the heavy door free I wasn't greeted by my much required bathroom.
There at the bottom of a beautiful spiral staircase stood my Ikuto, the Ikuto I dreamed about, existed for and loved. The troubling factor however was the beautiful golden haired woman in his arms, they held each other tight smiling and slowly I felt tears seep down my face as my heart beat erratically caged by my chest. I willed my feet to move, to do anything to stop this heart break and yet I remained frozen.
"I've missed you Ikuto." The beautiful woman's voice confidently spoke out as he laughed in response, a deep pleasant rumble serving as the final push into my darkness. Without realising my tears had seemed to grow louder and choke in my throat, loud enough that now his sapphire eyes were on me and I was fumbling for some form of reason as to why I was prying in a clearly private moment.
"Um, I'm so silly…I was looking for a bathroom and …must have taken a wrong turn, please don't let me stop you, I'm leaving now…sorry again." My voice broke even as I uttered the words and I knew that they would hear it but didn't care.
I ran from the room, tears blurring my eyes and before the door closed the beautiful blonde spoke,
"Who on earth was that Ikuto…" Her voice was distasteful, but who could blame her there was never really an excuse for me to be in this kind of world. I didn't belong here or in Ikuto's life, I had known all along that he would reject me…But then why did it hurt so much now?
I ran back to Utau only to find Rima gone, she must have left thinking it would be the best thing for mine and Ikuto's chances… how wrong could one person be.
"Utau I'm so sorry but I suddenly feel so ill, please could you take me home…I think my fever is coming back." I knew it was wrong both running away and playing on Utau's guilt but I couldn't take the pain, Utau's eyes scanned me distraught before excusing us both and leaving to take me home.
As the car pulled away from the drive I saw Ikuto burst through the front door and smiled forcing a wave, he only came after me to make sure I was okay and although I knew it might look strange my leaving so suddenly I could explain that away at a later date when my heart felt less heavy.
"It feels like someone has died in here, spark up a conversation already" Utau cheered laughing to her own joke and I forced myself to laugh with her.
"Oh here's one Utau I was reading one of your magazines about a woman who went to confess to the man she loved only to find him with another woman, if that was you what would you do?" I kept my tone light and airy, too scared to alert her to my personal pain and smiled broadly.
"Hmm, I'd make him jealous… If it was Kukai I'd flaunt another man in front of him."She laughed wickedly and then added,
"Of course I'd probably do that for fun too!" She cheered nudging me as I tried to soak in her unintentional advice, still not completely clear I decided to expand on my question.
"Utau your crazy, how would you just flaunt another man." I laughed with her pretending that everything was just the way it should be when inside I was suffering.
"Easy, that's what new boyfriends and Ex-boyfriends are for right, what other purpose would they serve?" She winked slyly as I spent the rest of the car journey home calling her diabolical and many other much worse things.
After finally reaching home I refused to cry again, a part of me had a feeling that Ikuto would come home to check on me and my feelings around him had never been wrong….
I needed to leave the house but I had no idea where to go, and that's when I realised that a well-deserved night out was in order.
I called my work friend Kairi and asked him to join me for some drinks I knew he had a thing for our co-worker Yaya and figured that if I could help in any way maybe it would make me feel a little better. That being said I could also put Utau's technique to use, I refused to sit by idly looking pathetic while Ikuto lived the high life with his bimbo, so what if Kairi didn't like me, Ikuto and everyone else didn't need to know that… all they needed to know was that I was going out with someone that had nothing to do with them.
After updating my social network profile to:
Amu Hinamori is spending a night out on the town with Kairi Sanjou.
I put on my best outfit, curled my hair and pulled out my heels ready to really rub the salt in. I knew that Kairi was coming to pick me up and that Kukai was currently the only one home, I also knew that Kukai was horrendously bad at keeping secrets so he served my purpose perfectly.
Upon leaving my room I heard Kukai wolf whistle and laughed,
"Does that mean I look nice Kukai, because I want to look nice?" I smiled at him shyly as he watched me suspiciously.
"You look amazing, but what's with the big need to look so nice. I thought you were going out with a friend?" His tone made him sound worried and I knew that to seal the deal I had to make it as convincing as possible, subtly wasn't exactly his strong point.
"Yeah he's my friend now… but after a few drinks we will see." I winked at him playfully but on the inside I felt wrong, I couldn't believe that my feelings for Ikuto where driving me this far but a little make pretend never hurt anyone in the long run.
The doorbell rang twice clearly and I grinned, the romantic side of this night out may have been fake but I was actually excited to go out with a friend. I grinned at Kukai enthusiastically before squealing,
"That's him!" I clicked to the door pulling it open and stunning Kairi,
"Wow Amu I almost didn't recognise you, you look amazing!" He grinned at me in a friendly manner but I knew that Kukai would read more into it.
Before we departed for the night I made Kukai take a picture of us together in the hallway and I laughed as Kairi announced,
"Well that's my new profile image. We look amazing if I do say so myself!" he offered his arm and I laughed linking mine with his and shouting back to Kukai,
"Don't wait up!" The implication that I was about to have an amazingly fun night lay thick between us but from the look on Kukai's face I was sure he read it as something else.
The minute we reached the elevator I began my tutoring session with Kairi on how to catch Yaya's eye, most of our strategies included candy but he was learning fast and it was making me feel better already. On our way into the bar I had uploaded the image of us together and made it my profile picture. Happy that the first steps of my plan were complete I settled down to enjoy the rest of the night drinking my pain under the table and helping a dear friend.
It was late now, Kairi and I were on out sixth shared fish bowl and it was getting to the point where I could see stars. I uploaded a drunken slur of a status onto my profile, reasonably sure that it mentioned something about drinking, fun and laughing troubles away surrounded by fruity men. The last thought had made me laugh the loudest as I looked around at all of them drunken men hitting on similarly drunken girls.
"I'm just going to go to the bathroom Amu-Chan be back soon." He grinned at me impishly and I laughed,
"Don't go sending drunken love confessions to Yaya, in fact leave me your phone just in case!" I giggled snatching his phone away making him pout.
"Fine but I'm taking yours so you don't end up calling that mysterious blue haired man you keep telling me about." I blushed furiously, he had me there. Giggling I handed over my phone reluctantly twirling innocently on my bar stool.
Ikuto's Pov.
Amu had ignored every text and call making me close to pulling my hair out, I was currently walking up the stairs to our flat ready to drag an answer out of her when my phone buzzed.
Excited for the first time that day I yanked my cell from my pocket only to see it was Kukai, I dejectedly hit the receive button to a stream of nonsense and sighed.
"Kukai I can't understand a word your saying slow down." I growled.
"Amu, date, another man, wasted. Is that clear enough for you?" Kukai screeched and I felt as though my world had shattered.
"I'm worried about her man, when I read her update she could barely type. I'm with the girls were going down there…" The front door opened as he finished speaking and came face to face with me.
"Now's not the time to panic Ikuto, let us go down there, if she is having fun and safe we will leave her to it." Kukai trying to be reasonable a strong suit that didn't really belong to him.
"I'm coming with you." I replied sternly.
"Dude no offense or anything I'm on Team Amuto as well but can you honestly tell me that if she is safe and having fun with another man you're going to be okay with that?" He was making perfect sense but that didn't stop it from thoroughly pissing me off.
"All I care about is her; now tell me WHERE SHE IS!" I was screaming at my best friend, and though a part of me knew it was wrong another part didn't care he shrugged and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Okay let's go." Came Kukai's subdued response and silently we headed to check up on our friend careless, irrational, beautiful Amu.
Leeloo-Chan: I kind of want as close to 100 views as possible by the end of this story, and I'm so close so be a doll and review me? I promise to love you forever and make the ending as fluffy Amuto galore as your stomachs and hearts can take ^^