Morg: Heyo! If you are just getting the email that this story is being updated again then please go and read chapter one!

Ikuto: Or don't. You can be confused if you want to be.

Amu: Or don't read any of it.

Morg: Why do you have to be like this?

Ikuto: Why don't you write more smut?

Amu: Why do you have to write at all?

Morg: What is happening?

Ikuto: I thought we were all just asking questions we already knew the answers to.

Amu: Whatever.

Morg: It is at times like these that I'm glad that I don't own either of you.

~Spark of Life~

Amu looked up from her desk at the sound of light tapping against the glass of her door. She was confused for a second before turning to look at her balcony. She sighed as she saw Ikuto slumped against the door. He didn't look as though he'd found another spark to feed from.

Slowly, Amu got up from her desk and made her way over to the door. She unlocked it and let Ikuto open it as she moved back. "Are you okay?"

"I have had a very bad month," Ikuto said as he stumbled into her room. "The beast I was telling you about has been following me so that I can't go out and look for another spark."

"What?" Amu backed away further. "Do you think he followed you here?"

Shaking his head, Ikuto slumped against Amu's dresser before sinking to the floor. "No. I made sure to lose him and then confuse my scent trail. He won't be able to find your house. I swear, Amu."

Nodding at that, Amu backed up until she dropped back into her chair. "I'm sorry to hear that your search isn't going well."

Ikuto grimaced but didn't dare tell her that he hadn't been trying all that hard to look for someone else. "I'm sorry to have to come back here like this again."

"You seem less feral this time."

Ikuto picked his head up to meet her gaze at that. "Do I?"

Smiling just a bit, Amu spun herself from side to side in her desk chair. "Last time you seemed like you were barely holding back your claws. You just seem really tired this time."

"I'm not as far gone as I was last time. I hadn't eaten for over two months the last time you saw me."

Amu hummed as she stopped spinning her chair. "This is what you look like just after one month? How did you ever make it here last time?"

"Sheer willpower."

Giggling at that, Amu glanced down at her phone on her desk. She had about an hour before her parents got home with her sister. "Are you here because you needed someone to chat with or because you need to eat?"

"A little of both."

Amu shook her head but smiled despite herself. "I'm glad to hear that you're not going to treat my room like a fast-food drive-through."

Ikuto couldn't help but chuckle at that. "No, I respect you far too much to just eat and run."

The bark of laughter that escaped her lips had Amu blushing. "Shut up. You're not allowed to be that handsome and have a good personality to boot. That's just not fair."

Ikuto lifted one eyebrow and watched as Amu turned a deeper shade of red. "I'm glad you think I'm beautiful inside and out."

Amu groaned as she dropped her head back to look up at her ceiling. His dry wit was doing things to her insides. She didn't like that she wasn't disappointed to see him again. "How bad off are you really?"

"What do you mean?"

"I want to see more of your shift. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Ikuto hummed before taking stock of his body. "I could do something after I feed again. If you're feeling really generous, you could give me a quick snack now and then something again a little later."

"Do you think this is an all-you-can-eat buffet?"

Smiling, Ikuto shook his head. "No, I was just hoping for a two-for-one deal."

Amu laughed again before looking back down at her phone. "I don't know if we'll have time. My parents will be home with my sister in an hour."

Ikuto shrugged where he sat. "Do they usually come into your room once they're home?"

"No, not usually. I still don't want to risk it."

Nodding at that, Ikuto glanced at the clock on her bedside table. "You call the shots here, Amu. Whatever you want to do is fine. If you want me to leave right now, I will."

Chewing on her lip, Amu looked over Ikuto once more. He might not be as bad as he was the first time he fell through her doors, but he wasn't in good shape. "I'll feed you now. Then I want you to tell me a little more about what's going on. If we still have time, I'll give it another go."

Ikuto smiled at that before nodding at her. "Do you want to do it the same way as last time?"

Amu stood from her chair before slowly making her way over to her bed. "Yes. The same rules apply."

Ikuto nodded as she sat down on her bed. "I understand."

Amu eyed him for a second longer before crawling into her blankets. She unbuttoned her jeans after she got settled but left her fingers swirling on her lower stomach. It was far too easy to get herself worked up when she knew that Ikuto was there in the room.

"Tell me what you're thinking about?"

"If I do this when you're not here, am I wasting food?"

Ikuto choked on his laugh as he pushed himself to his hands and knees. He crawled his way across the floor until he had his back pressed against the side of her bed. He kept his face directed away from her in case she opened her eyes to check to see if he was following the rules. "No, I have to be present for your spark to wake up and come out."

Amu's eyes snapped open as she turned her head to look at Ikuto. He couldn't see her looking at him as she slipped her hand into her pants but not under her panties. Playing with her clit had worked before. She was going to stick with that. "So what you're saying is that I'll never be able to make myself feel the way you make me feel."

Shrugging, Ikuto kept his head turned away from Amu. He could hear her, though. Being a beast meant that his hearing was better than a human's. He knew exactly what she was doing behind him even if he couldn't look back at her. "Yes, that's what I'm saying."

Hitting her head back against her pillow, Amu let out a groan to mask her moan. "That's not fair at all."

Ikuto shrugged again. He bit at his bottom lip to stop himself from smirking. Amu was definitely different from any of the girls he'd been with before. Spark or not. "It is what it is."

Sighing, Amu continued to move her fingers against her clit. She couldn't make herself close her eyes or look away from Ikuto. Instead, she focused on what she could see of him. His dark hair that looked perfect to run her fingers through. The slope of his neck and his broad shoulders.

Amu had never been so turned on by someone before. She figured that that was part of the magic inside of her. Of course, she'd have a reaction to Ikuto. She was biologically made for it.

That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it.

Sighing again, Amu dug her head down into her pillow as she worked her fingers harder against herself. It was taking an embarrassingly short amount of time for her to reach her pleasure. "I'm so close."

Ikuto turned slowly. He was only slightly surprised when he watched her slam her eyes shut with a gasp. He felt something hot surge through him at the thought of her touching herself while looking at him. "Are you going to be a good girl and come for me, Amu?"

Whimpering, Amu bit at her lip as she worked herself harder. She was so close. "Please, Ikuto."

"I'm going to kiss you, Amu. When I do, I want you to come. Can you do that?"

Nodding, Amu kept her fingers moving against her clit. She was so close. She could feel her thighs falling open and her knees spreading. She was basically offering herself up to him. If Ikuto noticed, he didn't say anything.

It took everything in him not to pin her to the bed and rut against her until they were both coming. Ikuto leaned up to hover over her face until she was just about to beg him again. Then he surged down to press his tongue just inside her open lips. He licked his way around her mouth as she stifled a small scream and came for him.

Ikuto ate the spark she gave him. It wasn't as large as the first one, but it was still strong. Amu had strong magic flowing through her veins. If he could get her to give him one more before he left then he would be set for another month, at least.

Amu was panting by the time Ikuto pulled back from her. Her eyes fluttered open to see him licking his lips and looking down at her mouth like he was thinking about kissing her again even though she wasn't about to feed him. "How was that?"

Her whispered words broke Ikuto from his train of thought. He smiled down at her before leaning back to sit on his heels once more. "You did well, Amu. You're such a good girl."

Blushing, Amu pushed herself up until she was sitting against her pillows. She didn't bother to fix her pants since they were covered by her blankets anyhow. "Good. I'm glad you're feeling better."

Ikuto wanted to brush her pink hair back from her face and press another kiss to her lips. He wanted to lick her fingers clean of any of her juices she got on them before tasting it from the source. He wanted a lot of things, but he just sat there and smiled back at her. "You said you had questions for me. What do you want to know?"

"Who is the beast that is causing so much trouble for you? Why is he doing it?"

"His name is Hotori Tadase and he and I are next in line to lead."

"So you're like a prince?"

Ikuto shook his head with a grimace at that. "Not exactly, no. My race is old. We have a council that is made up of some of the elders and some of the younger members that have shown great wisdom or knowledge of the world. That council leads us. But there is one beast that acts as a sort of alpha. It isn't a position that is passed from father to son or anything like that. The council will help our leader pick who will follow after him or her. Tadase and I are the two beasts that the council is considering."

"So what," Amu gasped, "is he just trying to get you kicked out or something?"

"Or something," Ikuto responded. "It's a little more complicated than that. Tadase hasn't technically done anything wrong. My previous spark slept with him of her own free will."

"But he's interfering with you finding another one, isn't he?"

"Not in a way that I can prove. I can't blame him for the families not calling me back even if I do know that he's the reason they aren't."

Amu bit her lip for a moment before shaking her head. "So is he just trying to prove that you would be a bad leader by making you lose control?"

Ikuto shrugged at that. "Yes and no. The council would pick him but only because if I lose control enough to start killing people then the council will send some of our enforcers to kill me."

"What!?"

Ikuto reached out without thinking to take Amu's hand in his. He squeezed it before meeting her gaze again. "We are an old race, Amu. We have a system of government and something like a police force. If I go crazy and start killing people then they'll send someone to take care of the problem. We can't let anyone expose us to the outside world. Could you imagine what would happen if any of the governments around the world found out about us? We'd be packed up and shipped to labs for experimenting in a heartbeat."

Amu shook her head as she frowned down at their hands for a moment. She didn't pull out his grip as she lifted her gaze back up to his eyes. "That sucks. I mean, that Tadase is trying to do that to you. He wants you to be killed just so he can be the new alpha or whatever."

Ikuto shrugged before shifting his body to lean against her nightstand without letting go of her hand. "I can't do anything about it without proof. The best I can do is look for someone willing to feed me and keep Tadase from finding out about them."

Amu squeezed his hand in hers before leaning her head back against her pillows. "It still sucks."

Ikuto made a noise that he hoped sounded like he was agreeing before resting his head back, too. "Tell me more about you, Amu. I just know that you have parents and a sister."

Smiling a bit, though she didn't lift her head or open her eyes, Amu allowed herself to feel the warmth that him asking about her made her feel for a second before she pushed it away. "My sister is younger than me. Her name is Ami. She's a great sister, but she's at that age where she's always busy with camps and club activities. I get left alone a lot because of that."

"You aren't part of any clubs?"

"I graduated high school three weeks ago."

"Oh. What are you going to do now?"

Amu shrugged at that. "I'm not sure. I'll probably eventually go to college but until I figure out what I want to do with my life, I'm not going to pay for an education I'm not sure I'll use."

"That's a smart idea."

Amu shifted down further into her bed before she rolled onto her side to face Ikuto. She let her eyes fall open as she looked at the side of his head. "We don't have the money to spend on college without me knowing what I actually want to do."

"What do you like doing?" Ikuto asked as he turned his head to meet her gaze.

"I have hobbies that I like, but I don't think I want them to be anything other than hobbies. I like to bake, but doing it professionally would be really stressful and I'd lose the joy I have for it. I like drawing, but I'm pretty sure the same thing would happen. I'd get too worried about people liking my art and then stop making it."

Ikuto turned his head to look around her room before finding some papers stuck to her wall near her desk. "Are any of those yours?"

"Yeah, I did the bird and the cat."

Ikuto studied the picture for a few more minutes before nodding his head. "It's very beautiful. I like the details you put into the feathers."

Amu felt herself blushing at that and let her eyes fall closed even though she knew that doing so wouldn't stop him from seeing her. "Thanks."

"What else do you like to do?"

"Well, I like taking care of people, but I don't think I'd be good at being a nurse. I also don't want to take care of other people's children day in and day out. I have a lot of patience but I think I'd lose it pretty fast if those kids misbehaved regularly."

"Hmmm. It sounds like you need to do some traveling or something to see more of the world and figure out how you fit into it before you make any big decisions."

Smiling a bit, Amu yawned before snuggling down further into her pillows. "I might do that. I would love to see more of the world. I have some money saved from my part-time job I worked while I went to school. I could take a few trips over the next few months if I wanted to."

Smiling down at the girl falling asleep with her hand in his, Ikuto couldn't help but grow more attached. "I think that is a great idea. You should definitely do that."

Humming, Amu couldn't get her brain to think of anything else to say. She was feeling too sluggish. It didn't come on as fast as it had the first time but it was definitely happening.

Ikuto waited until he was sure that Amu was asleep to lean forward and press a kiss to her forehead. "I wish you would let me keep you."

Amu shifted slightly in her sleep.

Pulling his hand from hers, Ikuto got up from her floor before turning her lights off and slipping out her door. It wasn't until he was sitting on her roof waiting for her parents to come home before he left that he realized exactly which hand he'd been holding the whole time.

.

Morg: Ah yeah!

Ikuto: Fine.

Amu: Ugh.

Morg: Review!