Thank you Neji0932, xXIkuto's-Secret-LoverXx, Ladot, Kaggie101, mombofamily, Animegirl67213, mysteriousblackcat, Snowrosex3, xSkulls-n-Bones, ArtGrrl-Sunna Bluecat, Name Change Again :), polar the person, stukinmyskin, Himeka Tsukiyomi, winke, HarunaNiwa073, MaroonAngel of Darkness, Ikutoluver995, Kags21, RandomlyBoredWolfy, rushi luvs anime8D, Diabolical Kitsutora, 9996 Characters, Natsuya801923, Miki-chann, mayoke-luna, TsukiyomiAlikutoMissaWatusi, Albie Rodriguez, Kuro Neko-chan, tsukiyomi arisa, Ren'aiXhakumei, Ai-chan95, sylvanicara, Random-Bubbles159, ichiruki12741, and xxxUtauloverxxx for reviewing!
Wow. I've never gotten... *uses fingers to count*... 35 reviews for one chapter. And here I was expecting about 1O. I fail. How about 35O next? :D
BAAYF. Next week. Santa Cruise. Who's going? D: I don't wanna be the only one going.
When Ikuto arrived at the front of Amu's apartment building, he saw her slowly trudging up the steps to the entrance. Just as Amu was on the last step, she suddenly stumbled and lost her footing. She felt herself falling downwards, but instead of hitting the concrete ground, she landed on something softer and warmer.
Amu blinked a couple times and saw Ikuto's arms wrapped securely around her tired body, preventing her from falling.
"Ikuto...?" She whispered. Ikuto tightened his hold around her and helped her up. He smiled softly at her.
"Lean on me," He instructed. Amu did as she was told, trying not to think about how ironic it was that she had told him the exact same thing when she helped him out. Ikuto kept one arm around Amu's waist, the other opening all the doors they had to go through. Amu clutched on to Ikuto's sleeve tightly, struggling to keep herself standing.
"Want me to carry you instead?" Ikuto asked her gently. Amu shook her head.
"I'm fine," She assured him. Ikuto shrugged, they were standing in front of Amu' apartment anyways.
As soon as the two of them were inside. Ikuto released his arm from around her, moving it instead to rest upon her shoulder. His midnight blue eyes stared straight into her honey colored orbs.
"What happened?" He asked, his face filled with nothing but concern and worry for her. Amu didn't answer. She felt her legs begin to tremble, and then they gave way under her. Almost instantly Ikuto was on his knees on the ground next to her, the worry in his expression growing even deeper.
"Amu..?" He again, though this time there was a bit of panic in his voice when he didn't get a response again.
All of a sudden Amu flashed a vision of that girl and Tadase, sitting together and as happy as any other couple. The thought of remembering that Amu used to be like that girl was more terrible and heartbreaking than she could have ever begun to anticipate.
"T-Tadase..." She finally managed to choke out. Ikuto's eyes were wide and watchful as he nodded.
"I figured that much out," He told her. "Now what happened?"
Amu put her hand over her mouth and tried to keep herself from crying. Though she hadn't cried in front of Tadase, now that Ikuto was here with her, she felt like all those tears would spill over sooner or later.
There was that bruised feeling in her chest that always preceded tears, but she told herself that would be very selfish, that she would just be causing Ikuto more worrying if she actually did start crying.
"Ikuto..." She said softly, a single tear sliding out of the corner of her eyes. "H-he broke up with.. with m-me..."
Ikuto gently held her face in his hands, using his thumb to wipe away the tear.
That did it. Amu suddenly burst into tears, sobbing so loudly that people outside the apartment complex actually stopped in their tracks and turned to stare in the direction of the sound.
"Don't cry." A reassuring smile wavered on Ikuto's lips, and then he reached out for her. Amu felt the whole spread of his palm against her back; his other hand lightly brushing some pink hair back from her face. "You don't have a reason to. Someone who's willing to do this to you isn't worth crying over."
Although still crying, Amu felt her whole body relax into his. Ikuto picked her up bridal-style. He walked over to the couch and sat down on it, placing Amu on his lap. Amu continued sobbing, though the noise had died down to just silent crying, burying her face into Ikuto's black shirt. Ikuto didn't say anything; just sat there staring at her lovingly as he patted her back in a reassuring way.
-some hours of sobbing later-
Amu had completely stopped crying, though she still clung on to Ikuto tightly and made sniffling sounds every now and then. Occasionally a stray tear would come out, which would almost immediately be wiped away by Ikuto.
Ikuto ignored the numb feelings in his legs from Amu sitting on them for so long. He didn't care that it was getting late and that Yoru was probably going to go hungry again tonight. Right now the only thing on his mind was the deeply saddened pinkette.
He felt Amu shift slightly in his hold. Ikuto looked down at her and saw that she was now staring up at him, eyes swollen from red and crying yet still able to hold a sad and empty stare.
"I'm sorry," She whispered. Ikuto squeezed her tighter to his chest.
"What for?" He asked her gently. "There's nothing for you to apologize for. If anything, it's Tadase that should say sorry."
Amu shook her head, her fist tightening around a clump of Ikuto's shirt. Ikuto sighed.
"If you really don't want to tell me," He said. "You don't have to. I'm not going to make you do anything right now."
Amu hesitated.
"Fine," She told him. "I'll tell you. I'm sorry.. sorry for everything."
Ikuto cocked his head to the side in confusion.
"Explain?" He asked, moving a bit so that a majority of Amu's weight was on the couch instead of on him. Despite the fact that Amu felt like she weighed practically nothing, Ikuto didn't like the prolonged feeling of the warm pressure on his legs.
"Well," Amu began, her voice barely audible. "Let's start from the beginning, shall we? That first day I worked for you, I spilled all your coffee and broke your copy machine. Then I thought of Suki as a slut when she was still your girlfriend. And there was that time Saaya locked me in the bathroom and you had to come get me out of there. And then when I was helping you out when you were sick, you said I was bothering you because I was talking too much. And then today. You had to come help me today during that... event in front of the elevator. Then we're back to now. You're stuck wasting your time here because of me, when you could be off doing something much more productive..."
Ikuto laughed softly.
"You make it sound like all of those things were such a big deal," He said. "The first day, I was in a bad mood anyways, anyone who made the same mistake would've gotten the same treatment as you. Suki isn't my girlfriend anymore, so I could care less if you thought of her as a bitch. Saaya and the bathroom... well that was a bit entertainment. It was a nice change from the endless boredom of a normal day. And when I was sick, well I was sick. Any type of noise would've given me a headache, so it wasn't just you. The elevator scene, well let's just say that I was mad at the guy for whistling at you earlier today. I was just begging for an excuse to fire him anyways. And right now, I don't have anything more important that I need to do."
Amu blinked at him.
"Meaning you have nothing else to do," She stated. "Since I'm not important."
Ikuto shook his head.
"You're the most important right now," He corrected her. "Meaning yes, I do have some other things to do, but there're not that important to me."
Wrong. I actually have tons of things for work that I should get on my ass and start doing right now. Just you're more important than those things. You're more important to me than anything in this world.
Amu shrugged. Ikuto studied her face for a moment and noticed that, although her eyes were still a little bit red, the conversation had improved Amu's mood, even if by just a little.
"That's not possible," Amu pointed out. "I'm so unimportant to everyone. Which means everything you have to do must be really unnecessary."
Ikuto frowned.
"Who says you're unncessary?" He asked. Suddenly Amu's sad mood from earlier returned in the blink of an eye.
"It's obvious," She murmured. "If Tadase doesn't want me anymore, and he can just throw me aside like that, then I can't be very important. After all, it only took him ten minutes to break up with me... It was a simple 'I'm breaking up with you' along with some other cheesy lines and then we were done..."
Ikuto clenched his jaw to keep himself from letting out a stream of swear words to let out his anger as he saw a couple of tears fall lightly from Amu's face again.
That bastard.. he really hurt her. Badly too.
Ikuto used the back of his han to brush away the small droplets of tears.
"Don't cry," He pleaded gently. "You look so much better when you're not crying..."
Amu stopped abruptly.
"You really think so?" She asked. Ikuto smile and nodded. Amu let out a small laugh.
"It's funny..." She said. "You're not even my boyfriend; we're friends.. and yet you've treated me better in the past hour than Tadase has in the past two years."
Ikuto smiled sadly.
Friends. Just friends. Better than nothing... I guess.
As he was lost in his thoughts, Amu pulled something off from around her neck. Ikuto looked down and saw that she had taken off the key necklace. Now she was only wearing the lock one.
"I don't want this anymore," She said, staring at the key. "Brings back too many sad memories." She looked up at Ikuto. "Do you want it? If you don't then I'm probably going to just throw it away or something..."
Ikuto nodded and took the necklace from her small fingers, placing it around his neck. Amu smiled slightly.
"It looks good on you," She commented.
Amu yawned. She wrapped her arms around Ikuto's waist and gave him a tight hug.
"Thanks," She said again, blinking sleepily. "Even though I've said it so many times today... thanks for everything. Being here... with you, it made everything so much easier... I already feel like I'm almost over Tadase..."
Ikuto hugged her tighter against him, leaning his head down slightly and breathing in the sweet strawberry scent of her hair. The smell seemed to calm down his hatred for Tadase just a bit, and he begun to relax as Amu slowly fell asleep.
He smiled at the sleeping girl in his arms gently, brushing some hair away from in front of her closed eyelids before picking her up and carrying her back to her bed.
Ikuto set her down softly, being careful not to wake her up as he covered her with the blanket.
"Go home," Amu suddenly mumbled in her sleep. "Go home and feed Yoru. He's hungry...."
Ikuto smirked as Amu's light sleeping breaths took up again. He bent down and gave Amu a small kiss on the cheek.
"Good night Amu," He breathed. "And... I... love you."
He wasn't sure if Amu heard that or not, but Amu's cheeks grew bright red and she pressed her face deeper into the pillow. A small smile spread upon her lips. Grinning, he silently slipped out of her apartment and began heading back home.
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