Nani: Alright guys...this is the last chapter and also my last day of summer before going into my senior year of college.

Ikuto: Wow, I can't believe it's the last chapter and you're almost done with school

Nani: I know. My emotions are all over with the story coming to an end along with my last year of college coming up...

Amu: Come on guys! Let's be happy! You're almost done with your first story and you're going to be graduating this year!

Nani: You're right Amu! Let's get this chapter started! I do not own Shugo Chara


Chapter 27

Normal POV

The group immediately froze at the top of the basement stairs and turned to look down the steps. Utau quietly urged everyone to hurry into the kitchen before closing the basement door quietly.

Kukai looked at the group. "What the hell was that? All of you heard that, right?"

They nodded.

Silence filled the air.

"Come on, let's go wait in the living room." The group followed Nali into the living room and sat on the couches.

Lulu sat on one of the couches with Tadase to the left of her and Utau to the right. Utau turned to face Lulu. "You do know Ikuto didn't mean to say all those words to you, right?"

"Yeah I know, but it still hurt."

It was quiet for a moment.

"I really hope that sound we heard in the kitchen was a slap and that the person who received that slap was Ikuto," Lulu said in no one in particular. She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks.

The comment received a few chuckles from the group.

~With Amu and Ikuto~ Normal POV

Ikuto's head was facing one side and his eyes were wide. He did NOT expect Amu to slap him.

Ikuto POV

Did she really just slap me?

I heard sniffling and I turned to face Amu to see tears brimming in her eyes.

"Amu-"

"No Ikuto! Stop talking. It's time you listened to what I have to say. You don't have the right to leave me in the hospital worried about you. And did I mention leaving me in the hospital after finding out you got into a fight with Noru IN THE DAMN HOSPITAL!" Amu's voice escalated to yelling at the end.

Normal POV

"I was worried, I was scared, I was lost, until yesterday when the group got together to just talk. Do you think I'm stupid? Why are you blaming yourself for what happened to me? Did you actually think you could just hide from us? From me?" Amu's voice became a whisper.

"Don't you get it! It IS MY FAULT that this happened to you!" Ikuto yelled out.

"No it's not! It was Saya, Urdina, Hiro, and Manina's fault. None of this has to do with you."

"If only I hadn't left those many years ago I could have helped you? It really is my fault. I hate myself because I left. I hate myself because I forgot you when I returned. How can I forget the girl I'm in love with, the girl I fell in love with when I was 9 and she 8 years old." Ikuto couldn't bear looking at Amu's face and instead cast his sight onto the ground.

"Don't look way from me," Amu said in a pained voice.

Ikuto's stare remained on the ground. "You don't deserve me, Amu. I'm a piece of shit. Don't you remember all the pain I've caused you? I left for so long. I left you without someone to protect you from the abuse. I can only imagine how hurt you were when I came back and had no recollection of who you were. I bullied you nearly everyday and let others do the same. I didn't protect you. You've been to the hospital two times already with very serious injuries and I was't there to prevent that from happening when I could have. Why are you still with me? I've done you so much harm. I think it's best if we just break up and you can go find your Prince Charming."

"Look at me." Ikuto refused to look up.

"If you don't look at me, I'll slap you again." And again Ikuto did not look up.

Amu put one of her hands under chin and forced him to look up and true to her word slapped him again.

A spark of anger ran through Ikuto and he looked up to see a pained expression on Amu's face. He opened his mouth to say something, but never did get a word out. Amu crouched down a little to Ikuto's height, used both of his hands to gran his face and kissed him.

To say Ikuto was shocked would be an understatement.

Amu broke the kiss and wiped away the tears that had cascaded down Ikuto's face. She sniffled a little and wiped her own tears away.

"You're such an idiot," she yelled out, "Don't say such things. I prohibit you from feeling that way. Do you hear me? None of this is your fault. It is not your fault that I have or had terrible parents. It's not your fault you couldn't protect me. We were young and I had you, Noru, and Nali promise to not tell anyone about the abuse. Does that mean it's also Noru and Nali's fault that they couldn't protect me? Yes I was hurt you left, but so was Nali. There was nothing either you or Noru could have done to stay. You were 12! And yes I was also hurt to know that you didn't remember me. Yes I was hurt from all the bullying, but guess what? You changed. You're the same 9-year old boy I also fell in love with and the 12-year old boy who had to move."

Amu stopped talking, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Ikuto looked at Amu. She opened her eyes.

"Look at me Ikuto. I'm here and I'm with you. I have you, I have Nali, I have Noru, and I have all of our friends. I have a new family now. Hiro and Manina can't get to me. They don't even have any rights to see me and I am definitely not going to go see them. They aren't my parents anymore. Nali's parents adopted me. I have an older sister now and loving parents. Saaya and Urdina are also locked up meaning they won't be doing me or any of you any more harm. Everything is going to be way better now that everything is all over. I have all of you with me and I wouldn't ask for anything else."

She started to cry again. She looked straight into his eyes.

"I love you Ikuto. I love you with all my heart. I want us to be together. We belong together. It hurts me to see you beating yourself over something you had no control over." She covered her face with her hands and began to sob.

"I love you too. Can you untie me now so I can give you a hug?" Amu uncovered her eyes and smiled.

With a small giggle, she walked behind the chair to undo the rope. She walked back to face Ikuto and looked at him as he untangled himself from the rope.

As soon as he was free, he walked up to Amu, grabbed her face gently and sealed her lips with his.

Ikuto felt ridiculous for how he acted.

Ikuto POV

How could I have been so stupid to think I can live without Amu? I love her too much to be able to let her go. This girl in my arms, who I'm kissing is the girl I want to spend my life with. I'll protect her, care for her, and love her.

I broke the kiss and leaned my forehead onto hers. I looked at her straight in her eyes and whispered, "I love you." I gave her a small peck and whispered, "I love you." I continued giving her small kisses while whispering that I loved her.

Amu POV

This is the guy I love. Although I was enjoying the endless kisses and Ikuto telling me, "I love you," I knew that we had to go back upstairs with the others. They might be getting a little worried that we've been down here for so long.

"Come on Ikuto, let's go back upstairs. I don't want them to get worried."

"Okay, let's go."

Hand in hand, we walked up the stairs and into the kitchen. I heard some talking coming from the living and we headed that way. Utau was the first to take notice of us and quickly jumped up from the couch and ran to us.

She stopped to look at our intertwined hands and smiled super wide before jumping on us to give us a hug.

By the time she let go, everyone was in front of us smiling.

Normal POV

Tadase was at the back of the group with Lulu. He walked past everyone to stand right in front of Ikuto.

He smiled. "Looks like you've got your senses back."

"Yeah, with all of your help. I'm happy and I'm with Amu."

"Good." No one expected what happened next. Tadase punched Ikuto straight in the jaw. The force of the punch knocked Ikuto down to the ground. He had let go of Amu's hand on the way to the ground. Everyone gasped and Amu covered her mouth with both hands.

She kneeled down next to Ikuto who had one of his hands covering his jaw where he was punched.

Ikuto POV

What the hell!

"What the hell was that for Tadase!"

He extended his hand to me. "That was for making my girlfriend cry." I took his hand and stood up. "Glad to have you back buddy. Don't get mad, you deserved it."

I sighed. "You're right, I did deserve it." I went to Lulu. "I'm sorry Lulu for what I said. You changed and you're a so much better person than before. I shouldn't have brought up the past because it doesn't matter. You're a changed person. You're our friend and most importantly you're one of my friends."

Lulu smiled, "Thank you for apologizing. I'm sorry for what I said too. You're also my friend."

Normal POV

Noru walked to Ikuto and gave him a hug. "Glad to see you all better now bro."

"I'm sorry for punching you at the hospital."

"It's okay." He broke the hug and looked at Ikuto with a smile. Ikuto smiled back to only be thrown back to the ground from the punch he received from Noru.

Everyone gasped again.

"Noru!" Nali and Amu screamed.

"Sorry little bro, but the big brother always wins against the little brother." Noru smiled and, like Tadase, extended his hand for Ikuto to take.

Ikuto did take his hand and glared at him. "I'll remember that when we get into another fight sometime in the future and this time the little brother will get in the last punch and will win against the big brother."

Amu put her hand where Ikuto had been punched.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. They sure know how to throw a punch. Is anyone else going to come up and punch me?"

"I can if you want me to," Kukai raised his hand and laughed.

"Me next," Nagi raised his hand with a smiled. Rima playfully smacked him and she raised her hand, "Me after. I need to let out my anger for letting my best friend Amu cry."

"My boyfriend punched already for making me cry, but I haven't," Lulu raised her hand.

"Ok, I was kidding! No more punching Ikuto. I get it, I was a jerk."

"He's right, besides I'm pretty sure he got enough from that slap Amu gave him," Rima laughed to which everyone else laughed except for Ikuto.

"What the hell? You all heard that? How hard did you slap me Amu?" Everyone continued to laugh at Ikuto's expression.

Amu POV

These are my friends. My best friends. My best friends forever, but most importantly they're my family.

"I love you guys." They stopped laughing to look at me. They smiled and all of them said, "We love you too."


~Epilogue: 15 years later~

Normal POV

15 years later and the group of friends are closer than ever. Amu finally had the loving and caring family she always imagined.

Graduations (high school and college), engagements, weddings, kids. They've been together through all of those life events.

Lulu and Tadase have one child: They have a boy named Kiseki

Amu and Ikuto have two children: Yoru, who is the oldest of all the children, and Ami who is only 8 months old and the youngest of the group of children...for now.

Nali and Noru also have one child with another on the way: A girl named Miki and another girl on the way. They still haven't chosen a name for her.

Utau and Tadase have three children, a pair of twin girls and one boy: Daichi is the oldest child and Il and El are younger by 2 years

Rima and Nagi have one child and also another who is on the way: A girl named Temari and a boy who they have named Rhythm and will be joining their family in less than a month

Tadase and Lulu were the first to get married right after Lulu graduated from college. Amu, Nali, Utau, and Rima were the bridesmaids and Ikuto, Noru, Kukai, and Nagi were the groomsmen.

With each wedding the friends were always part of the wedding court.

The group had gathered at Nagi and Rima's house for dinner. The kids were outside playing while the adults sat on the back porch talking.

"Look at how big our kids are now," Rima commented. At that moment Temari came running up to Nagi. "Daddy, can we go inside and watch a movie." Nagi lifted her up in the air and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Of course you can, honey."

All the kids ran in the house and the adults stayed outside looking at the sunset

"Temari is getting so big already," Lulu said.

"15 years have passed. All of our kids are getting bigger!" Amu hugged Ami and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Ikuto smiled and gave Amu a kiss.

"Hiro, Manina, Urdina, and Saaya are rotting in jail and we're here happy, married, with kids enjoying life." Ikuto said.

"Hey, if you're going to do it, just do it now." Everyone looked at Kukai.

Amu was confused. "What do you mean."

Ikuto and Noru stood from their seats. "He means this."

Ikuto and Noru kneeled on one knee in front of Amu and Nali. "Will you marry me again?" Amu looked at Nali and Nali looked at Amu.

"As in renew our vows?" Nali asked.

They took out a box and within the box were rings.

"We promise to always be by your side. We will protect you, we will protect our children. And we want to make the same promises we did when we were little. We love you and we promise to always be with you. We promise to never bully and protect those that are."

At this point Nali and Amu were balling. "Yes!" They were able manage to say through their sobs.

Ikuto and Noru placed the ring on their finger right above their other wedding ring.

"And this time we intend to keep all our promises, the ones we made at our wedding and the ones we made now." Noru said.

Utau started to cry. Kukai was surprised. "What's wrong babe?"

"Nothing, it's just...that was beautiful!" Kukai laughed and hugged his wife. "I love you."

"Okay, but we aren't renewing our vows until our little baby is here. Got it Noru?"

"Yes honey. We'll wait to renew our vows in 5 months."

"We're invited right?" Rima asked.

Amu smiled. "Of course you are silly!"

"And who knows, maybe I'll ask you to marry me again," Nagi said to Rima.

"Count me in!" Tadase raised his hand. "I want to marry my wife again too.

"Don't leave me behind either!" Kukai raised his hand.

The girls laughed and the guys kissed their wives.

When it came time for Amu, Nali, Ikuto, and Noru to renew the vows, the other guys did exactly as what they had said that time on the back porch. They kneeled down and asked their wives to marry them again.

Amu never thought she would find a group of friends like the ones she had. They saved her, especially Ikuto, her loving husband.

Promises were made and they were broken. There will be promises that will be broken, but also promises that will always be kept.

"I love you Amu."

"I love you too Ikuto."

Together forever.


Nani: Thank you for reading! I can't believe it took me this long to get it finished, but I finished it!

Ikuto: Let's go celebrate

Amu: I think I'm going to cry

Nani: No Amu! If you cry, I'll cry

Ikuto: Don't cry ladies. Let's go

Nani: I don't know if I'll make another story. I'll be really busy. Even if I don't, I'll still be here reading other stories and if you want to talk, just send me a message! :)

I'll be making revisions to the story since I made so many mistakes so I'll probably add a little more to the other chapters later on

Once again, thank you for reading!

Nani: Ok guys, let's go celebrate

Ikuto and Amu: Bye our dear readers!