Okay! So back again. Um... Yeah. I'm not quite sure how long this chapter is gonna be. It's basically gonna just be all about Ikuto's past and stuff. (Layla: No duh. These people aren't stupid. They probably figured that much out by now. Ivory: Yeah, they aren't stupid. Just masochistic for willingly reading this story. Me: DX DX DX SO MEAN!) But yeah. So... On with the story!

To Bear Love's Cross

Chapter 25

"I want you to tell me everything."

Ikuto stared at Amu with some akin to fear. What would she say after she finally heard everything? Would she be able to talk to him anymore? Heck, would she be able to look at him anymore with seeing what he had done? What he was still doing? But he knew that he had no right to withhold the information from her any longer.

"This all goes back way farther than the Phantom does. When I was ten years old, my dad suddenly disappeared. I didn't realize it for a while. I just thought that maybe he was staying at work a little later than normal. But after about a week I realized that he wasn't coming back. To this day I still don't know why he left. Was it something with him and my mom?" Ikuto said the word spitefully. "Maybe he was sick and tired of me and Utau for no reason?" Ikuto shook his head as if trying to get himself back on topic.

"Anyways, he disappeared. After I finally realized he was gone, I went through a stage where I just laid around moping. A month after he left I... I decided to go look for him. So every night, before I even went home, I would go and look for my dad, thinking that maybe one day I would find him, and he would come home, and everything would go back to normal... Childish, huh? Of course, I never found him. But soon enough, I found myself in a completely different matter.

"One day when I was eleven, I was looking for him, just like normal. I was in the bad part of town. The one where the criminals go. I didn't know that it was a bad part of town. I was naive and thought that everyone would be nice, and that there were no mean people. Stupid, but that's what I thought. So I was looking around and there was a man standing in an alley once when I looked. He was a lot taller than me and for some reason, when I looked at him I was afraid. He didn't look exceptionally mean or bad, but I got a shiver down my spine just looking at him."

Ikuto paused for a moment, as if hesitating. "And then he attacked me.

"I never figured out why he attacked me. I was eleven. I'd never seen him before, and I was fairly certain he'd never seen me. So I couldn't understand why he attacked me. But as soon as he jumped at me it was as if some hidden part of me jumped into action. I don't remember what happened next. All I remember is that five minutes later, the man was lying in front of me, bloody and dead. I killed him. I killed him. When I was only eleven, I'd already killed a man."

Amu had to keep a shiver from going down her spine. Even though she knew it was in self-defense, somehow thinking of Ikuto killing someone... Well, it frightened her.

"His blood was all over me. I didn't know what to do. So... I ran away. I went to a gas station and washed all the blood off of me, but it seemed that no matter how much I scrubbed at it, the blood wouldn't come off. It was..." Ikuto broke off before shaking his head and jumping back in. "Anyways, I never went to that alley again. But a few weeks later, after my twelfth birthday, someone came to me."

"Are you Ikuto Tsukiyomi?"

Ikuto looked up at the tall man who stood above him. He was wearing a cone-shaped birthday hat that had streamers coming out the top. Utau had insisted he wear it. The man cast a long shadow over Ikuto. "Yeah. Who are you?" Ikuto didn't think he'd ever met this tall man.

"I'm... A friend of your father's." Ikuto tensed for a moment before looking at the ground. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. Happy that someone who might know what happened to his dad was standing in front of him? So that maybe now he could get some answers? Upset because it was a friend of his and not his actual father?

"Well, if you are, I have a present for you from your father. He feels really guilty that he missed your birthday these past two years. He was just really busy and couldn't find a birthday present good enough for you. But he has one for you this year. Do you want to see it?"

Ikuto's eyes widened and he looked back up at the tall man, grinning hugely. His father was thinking about him! "Yeah!"

The tall man's lips turned up a little. "Follow me. I need to bring you to it. It's too big for me to bring to you."

Ikuto skipped after the man happily. His father was thinking about him! "Okay!"

The man led Ikuto to a black car with dark windows. He couldn't see what was inside of them. The tall man opened the car door for Ikuto to step through. "Just get in here and I'll bring you there."

Ikuto unquestioningly stepped into the car and buckled his seat belt, kicking his feet. The man closed the door behind him and got into the front seat. He started driving.

Although Ikuto couldn't see into the car from the outside, he could see out of the car from the inside. He became increasingly confused when the car turned into an area much like the place where that man had attacked Ikuto and he had-

"Hey, where are we going? I don't like this place..." Ikuto squirmed in his seat. He suddenly wanted to be anywhere but where he currently was. The present wasn't worth it, whatever it was.

Suddenly, the man totally changed. "Shut up, think I care?"

Ikuto was terrified. He wanted to leave. Now. He glanced at the car door. He pulled on the handle, trying to open the door. It was locked. He pulled up on the lock, trying to unlock the door. But he couldn't pull it up; the child's lock was on.

Ikuto gave up on trying to be inconspicuous. He yanked as hard as he could on the lock and the handle, alternating between the two. Sweat was breaking out on his forehead. The tall man growled, "Hey, kid, stop it. You're annoying me."

But Ikuto kept struggling. He struggled for a long time, or at least what felt like a long time. And then the man stopped the car. He grabbed Ikuto by the arm and dragged him into an abandoned building of some sort.

Ikuto didn't like this place. It was dark and it smelled like dust and something similar to rust. Something metallic. He didn't like it. He squeezed his eyes shut. Everything is fine, everything will be fine. Everything's okay.

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi." Ikuto winced at the voice. It was loud and booming, almost like the kind of a voice you would expect to hear coming from a vengeful god, casting judgement on people. "You are Ikuto Tsukiyomi, are you not?"

"Wh-who are you?!" Ikuto screamed.

"I am your master from now on. You will listen to me, and only to me. Unless you want your family to suffer."

Ikuto's eyes widened. "Wh-what?"

"From now on, you will be killing whoever I tell you to kill. Just like you did that night."

Amu's eyes widened in horror. He had to be making this up. He had to be. There was no way that something so utterly horrible could happen to anyone. There was no way that any human could do something so horribly atrocious as taking a twelve-year-old boy who was already traumatized as it is and forcing him to...

But there was no way Ikuto would make this up. Ikuto wasn't like that. Besides, the emotion in his eyes was so real that there was absolutely no chance that it could possibly be fake.

"He told me to kill these people," Ikuto continued. "The only problem is that I was twelve. You can't just tell a twelve-year-old to kill people and expect them to do it. So whenever he would give me a name, I would find the person and tell them to stop committing crimes. I would tell them to do that until they said they would. And then I'd leave. But...

"Criminals are criminals. It's not that simple. Why would they take a twelve-year-old seriously? As soon as I left they would go and continue breaking the law. Soon the man-my master-" Ikuto said it spitefully, angrily, hatefully, "took notice that they weren't dying. He threatened to... do things to my family and my friends... I had to do something.

"So I became the Phantom.

"I attacked the criminals before I told them to stop. Sometimes, if the person didn't get the point, I would beat them past recognition. And when I started getting a reputation for being cruel and heartless, the criminals finally listened. But there's always that one person... Sometimes the person would say that they would quit, and a week later I'd hear about how I failed. How the criminal hadn't died. And I would have to revisit the criminal and make sure he got the picture this time."

Amu should be terrified of Ikuto. The horrible scenes he was describing... Who wouldn't be? But somehow... Somehow, seeing the pain... the anger... the fear in Ikuto's eyes made the idea absolutely ludicrous. How could she ever be afraid of him?

"I started wearing the mask for a few reasons. First to hide my identity. The criminals were living, and there was nothing stopping them from coming after me once I let them go. Second, because I was ashamed of myself. I was too weak to protect my family myself so instead I attack others who don't stand a chance against me. I'm still too weak.

"And I went on living as best as I could. And now here I am, telling you about all this." Ikuto laughed softly. "The funny thing is that ever since I met you, I haven't been attacking people as much as normal. You must've rubbed off on me."

Amu was silent, slowly letting her brain absorb the onslaught of information she'd just received. "But... Where did you become gang leader fit into all this?"

To Amu's surprise, Ikuto let out a genuine laugh. His eyes were shining fondly. "Oh yeah, the gang leader. Well, on my travels when I was looking for my dad, I picked up a few guys. Sometimes I would occasionally find a guy lying against a wall. They looked like they had no hope left in the world. Since I was eleven, I would always try and help them out in some way. I don't know what it was, but they all saw something in me that they couldn't help but love, or admire, or something. And then they saw me fight. It really started out as a joke. That I was the leader and they were all a gang, because they'd all been in bad situations before. And we got notorious because of our fighting skills or whatever."

Amu froze. "So... It's... Not a gang...?"

Ikuto paused before shrugging. "I guess you could say that."

Amu slowly slipped into a fit of giggles which escalated into full-out laughter. "I can't believe it. You aren't a gang leader."

Ikuto was suddenly serious again. "This isn't funny, Amu. I'm a criminal. Assault is a crime. You should be turning me in to the police right now."

Amu wiped a tear from her eye. "Ikuto, do you hear yourself? If there's anyone who should be going to jail, it's this person that's telling you to kill people. I mean, you're innocent."

"Not in the eyes of the law," Ikuto retorted.

"I don't see any reason why I should turn you in." Amu smiled gently at him. "It's not like you're doing it because you want to."

Ikuto stared at Amu in amazement. How did she know? Without thinking, Ikuto pulled Amu to his chest, hugging her tightly.

How did she know that all he wanted to hear was that it wasn't his fault?

Listen, O Lord, to my plea for justice;
pay attention to my cry for help!
Listen to my honest prayer.
You will judge in my favor,
because you know what is right.
You know my heart.
You have come to me at night;
you have examined me completely
and found no evil desire in me.
I speak no evil,
as others do;
I have obeyed your command
and have not followed paths of violence.
I have always walked in your way
and have never strayed from it.
I pray to you, O God, because you answer me;
so turn to me and listen to my words.
Reveal your wonderful love and save me;
at your side I am safe from my enemies.
Protect me as you would your very eyes;
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the attacks of the wicked.
Deadly enemies surround me;
they have no pity and speak proudly.
They are around me now, wherever I turn,
watching for a chance to pull me down.
They are like lions, waiting for me,
wanting to tear me to pieces.
Come, Lord! Oppose my enemies and defeat them!
Save me from the wicked by your sword;
save me from those who in this life have all they want.
Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up for them;
may there be enough for their children
and some left over for their children's children!
But I will see you, because I have done no wrong;
and when I awake, your presence will fill me with joy.

Amen.

Okay! Done! So anyways, I know the prayer doesn't perfectly fit the chapter, but it wass the best I could find, so... Yeah. Hope you like it! Please review, fave, follow! All are loved!