Neko-chan: Okay peoples. This chapter may seem kinda cheezy, so I'm sorry if you don't like it.

Happy B-day, vbdani! (was on 3/10) ^-^

I don't own Shugo Chara.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Chapter 19

A Snow-covered Promise

~Amu's POV~

Goodbye.... I was shaking. My eyes opened with a foggy glaze. "Amu?! AMU?!" Ikuto was shaking me by my shoulders... He fell forward and hugged me in a tight embrace. "Are you okay? What's wrong?" I pulled myself up in a sitting position.

"Their gone...." I barely managed to whipser. If they went back into my heart, why does it feel so empty and barren?

"What?"

"Their gone," I managed to say a little louder.

"THEY ARE GONE!! WHY!?! WHY DID THEY LEAVE ME?!" I was shaking my head back and forth as tears began to rapidly fall to my knees. .

"Who are gone? What are you talking about?!" Ikuto began to shake me once again.

"THE CHARAS!" I yelled as my mom stepped in.

"Honey, wha-"

"I'm so confused... why? Why did they have to leave? They left me here, all alone...."

A strange noise came as my face was suddenly pointed in a different direction. "What..." My hand began to reach up at my cheek... it felt.. numb... as my fingers touched it a strange tingling feeling came from it. I looked back at Ikuto. He... slapped me?

"Don't you EVER say that again! Yoru left me too last night, but you are still here, and so am I! We aren't alone! We have each other!" All I could do was listen as I starred with a blank gaze...

Ikuto... he slapped me? ... What about Yoru.... he left Ikuto, too? .... Ikuto... he's crying....

A vision of the previous night when we kissed, when my charas were all congratulating me appeared in my head... That's right.... I love Ikuto.... I LOVE IKUTO! Oh my God! How could I be so dense! So stupid! I lurched forward and hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry..." I felt his hands press against my back as I cried into his chest. "I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be." He comforted. "It's okay. It's all going to be okay."

I don't know how long I cried on his should as my mom watched in silence. By the time I was done, my eyes stung and I had a throbbing pain in my head.

When I was ready, I pulled back from Ikuto and wiped my eyes. "Thanks," I said with a sniffle.

"Are you really okay?" he asked with a deep worry lingering in his voice. I looked up at him and saw that he had stopped crying long before I did. He has already done his fair share of crying the previous night... a small voice lingered in my mind, speaking to me.

My eyes instantly brightened and I tensed, waiting for another voice.

1...

2...

3...

4...

5... still no response.

I sighed, but put on a fake smile. "Yes... I'm okay...."

"Don't lie," my mother scolded. I turned to see her glaring at me with a stern look.

"Amu?" My head turned back to Ikuto to see his eyebrows trying to meet at the center of his forehead.

"... I miss them...." I confessed. It was true, but not the full truth.

I didn't just miss them. I needed them. They were me, and now I was missing part of myself. Saying they went inside me... I feel like I killed them....

The tears threatened to fall once more, but I held them back.

"I know. We will always miss them all. It's only natural, but they had to leave sometime." His word were meant to heal, but they only tore at my already wounded heart.

No... they didn't have to leave... They could have stayed... But I didn't want to upset him.... "I guess," I answered untruthfully.

He frowned down at me, but didn't say anyting. "Cheer up."

I smiled at his poor way to cheer me up. " 'Kay."

Oh God... His usual smirk floated up to his face. " ' 'Kay' is not going to settle this." I closed my eyes as I waited for whatever perverted thing he was going to do, smiling a bit on the inside. My mom's right there. It should be amusing to see her reaction to whatever perverted thing he intends to do this time...

I fell backwards in a fit of laughter as he began tickling His fingers started poking my sides, and I screamed in the fits of laughter. "You... you cheater!" I giggled, twisting and shoving in a poor attempt to get him to stop tickling me.

"Really? How am I cheating?" He asked with a smirk as he continued to tickle me. If I my face wasn't already red due to lack of oxygen, my blush would have come instantly, but....

"Ikuto... I... I can't breathe!" My stomach began to tighten in pain from the long stream of constant laughter.

"OW!" I yelled as I kicked against him.

"Ooph..." The air was knocked out of him and he fell backwards. I gasped for air as soon as I finally had the chance to breathe.

"What the hell was that for?!" I yelled after I caught back a bit of my breath. My mouth clamped to my mouth and I looked at my mother. At first she looked somewhat angry, but then she just smiled and shook her head.

"You two really are perfect for each other..." she sighed. "I guess I'll leave you two alone." And with that, she turned around and left. All I could do was stare at the doorway in utter shock.

"Well, that was unexpected," Ikuto spoke my thoughts. I glared at him.

"Why didn't you stop as soon as I said I couldn't breathe?!" I questioned him. He smirked once more.

"Because I knew that if I did, you would just go back to being upset again. My look of anger faded as I realized that he was right.

"Oh... Arigato..." I mumbled.

"No problem. Now for the real way to show me you're okay..."

"I knew you had something perverted planned!" I accused.

"Of course. I just had to wait until your mother was away. Now for the kiss."

I sighed, with a blush. "Fine," I muttered, and leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek. He pushed out his lower lip in a childish pout.

"Amu, that's not what I meant."

"I know, but you are the one who cheated, and cheaters never win," I grunted, surprisingly feeling a big of pride in my comeback.

"Oh really?" As fast as light, he pratcialy pounced forward and kissed me on the lips. My eyes widened. He pulled up and looked at me with a wide smirk.

"Cheater!"

"And yet, I won. Amu, it's not good to say something if it's not always going to be true. Some may consider that a lie." He is soooo freakin lucky that I love him to much to kick his ass!

"Ugh," I moaned as I fell back in the bed and curled up into a ball.

"You know you liked it."

"... so?" He just laughed. I pulled the covers up and over my face to hide my smile.

And after a few moments, I drifted into a long and deep sleep.

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1 MONTH LATER

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"Rise and shine, sleepy head."

"UAH!" I jumped as I saw Ikuto's face just inches away from mine. "God danget, Ikuto! You do this every freakin morning!"

"And yet, I still get way too much amusement out of watching you freak out each time," he smirked. I rolled my eyes and got up and sat up. "The doctor said you could leave today."

My head snapped back to face him as my entire face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Are you serious?!"

"No, I'm lying," he said with heavy sarcasm. I ignored it and literaly jumped out of bed, laughing and spinning in a circle.

"Maybe we should take you to therapy next...." he laughed. I pouted.

"But the therapists always have a weird expression and they stare at you all the time.... " I whined. We both broke into laughter after that.

My mother knocked on the door and walked in with the doctor not far behind. "Good news!" she yelled as she threw her hands in the air.

"You finally got my dad to stop spazzing out over the fact that I have a boyfriend that's 3 years older than me?" I laughed, knowing that that wouldn't happen for another year or so. It had been a month and I was just getting to the point to where I could call Ikuto my boyfriend without blushing.

"Nope! You get to-"

"I get to get out of here today? Ikuto told me," I smiled. She frowned at him.

"Aww. I wanted to be the first to tell the good news! You have to let me tell her something one of these days!" she scolded.

"Sorry, Mrs. Hinamori," he said politely as if he were a gentlemen. Such a huge faker.... I laughed mentally. "Well, ready to go?" he turned and asked me.

"No! I need some real clothes! I am not going to walk out in public wearing a hospital gown!" I replied. My mother laughed as she handed me a bag.

"Here. I got you some new ones right here. Go ahead and get changed and we'll be on our way."

"Thanks!" I grabbed the bag and began walking towards the bathroom. I stopped after a few steps and sighed. "Ikuto, how many times do I have to tell you, YOU CAN NOT FOLLOW ME INTO THE BATHROOM!"

Everyone laughed... well, everyone but me. I quickly took the chance to walk in and lock the door. In the bag was a cute little outfit with a plaid pink skirt with.... hearts, diamonds, spades, and clovers......

The shirt was tiger striped and in the center it had a chibi tiger anime person saying "Feisty Tiger" ....

Minna...

I did my best to ignore it as I got changed. Once I walked out, the smile Ikuto had previously had dropped as he gave me a concerned look. I smiled and mouthed the words 'It's alright'.

"Let's go!" my mother cheered, and she led us out to her car. In shot-gun, my father sat there chewing on a towel and crying hysterically. "My poor little girl is all grown up now..." he sobbed. I sweat-dropped, and Ikuto and I entered the back seat.

*************

AT HOME

*************

As soon as we got home, my mother raced out of the car, dragging my dad along with her. Just before she entered the house, she winked and gave me a thumbs up.

Ikuto walked over and helped me get out of the car. I could walk now, but I still had some troubles manuvering my way in and out of things because of my leg.

Once I got out, a chill ran down my spine and my hands crossed my chest and rubbed against my bare arms. "I-it m-m-must b-be l-l-like 2 d-degrees out h-here...." I tried to say through chattering teeth. He chuckled and handed me his jacket.

"Th-thanks..." I blushed. He walked me up to the doorway, but then stopped. I looked up to see why, and saw him looking at the sky. My eyes followed his gaze to the clouds, and the little mini white puffs floating down the the ground.

"Snow..." I said as I gazed in awe. It's so beautiful....

A flashback of the day when my first three charas saw snow appeared in my head... and I began to think of what Aitora and Dia would have thought about snow....

"Minna...." I whispered unconsciously. Ikuto looked down at me and frowned. His gaze flowed back to the snow... probably wondering about his own missing chara...

"We will get them back," He said. I looked up at him with a surprised look.

"Our charas.... we will find a way to get them back... I'm sure of it...." he explained.

I smiled and looked out at the snow again, visualizing the day I would meet my charas again within it's white beauty.

"Yes.... we will get them back....

Someday..."

We shared one more smile.

"It's a promise."

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Neko-chan: Okay, so now I probably have a bunch of questions.

1. Is this the last chapter?!?! Yes

2. OMG! Will there be a sequel? DUH

3. Do they get there charas back?! Well, now. That parts going to be a surprise. You never know, I may have some different things I might want to do with the next one. ^-^

Now everyone, I want to thank you for staying with me through this entire story. I loved all of your reviews and comments! They really cheered me up when I was down, and I have no regrets about 'wasting time on this story', because in truth, this was too much fun!

I hope you loved it, and I can't wait to see you in the sequel,

Finding my Heart

ARIGATO, MINNA!