Feels so much like falling

Dying while I wait to die

The thrill of something I might be into life.

~Much Like Falling- Flyleaf

"Of all the stupid, arrogant, annoying, idiots!" Amu complained to herself through her teeth as she cut the vegetables for dinner. Ami watched from the counter, staring at her sister with wide eyes as her sister cut the vegetables into oblivion with an unusual amount of rage.

"You got endurance?" she mimicked Ikuto bringing the knife down hard on the cutting board, "Who does he think he is?! What?! Does everyone just do whatever he wants, so he never learned manners or something?!" she repeatedly beat the vegetables until she hit the knife down so hard she broke the cutting board.

"Onee-sama?" Ami asked in wonder at the scene.

"I guess I shouldn't vent my anger when I'm cooking, huh?" Amu asked Ami sheepishly, embarrassed that she let herself get so out of hand around her sister. "Why don't we eat something else?"

Ami nodded still staring at the broken board with the tiny bits of vegetables, chopped so small that the flavor would be lost in one piece alone. Amu ventured to the fridge looking for something that would take more concentration to create.

She needed something to get her mind off those guys, especially that jerk! What? Does he kidnap girls on a daily basis or something?! She could already tell that he had a big ego, and his damn smirk was pissing her off the more she thought about it. It was as if messing with her amused him so much! Why couldn't he just talk to her seriously, then maybe she would at least be nice when she declined their offer. Now, she was going to make sure she didn't see his annoying smirk ever again!

It was only after her rant in her mind did she realize that she had pulled a carton of eggs out of the fridge and accidently crushed the carton between her hands. With egg yoke dripping from the carton and Ami staring at her, blinking repeatedly as if to show her innocence, Amu sigh and surrendered. "How do you feel about ordering in?" she asked embarrassed again that she had gotten out of hand, but all was forgiven with the thought about restaurant food for a kindergardener.

"Yay!" she yelled excitedly as Amu picked up the phone and ordered Mushoo Pork from the Golden Dragon, a restaurant the family of three had grown to love in this town.

"Ordering in are we?" Amu heard her father ask as he was readying himself for a night of work. He was the night manager for a big corporation in town, Easter, that did something with records, Amu didn't bother looking into the specifics of the corporation. As her father walked into the kitchen to talk to his girls, he couldn't help but notice the disaster in the kitchen, "I can see why."

"Heading out?" Amu asked as her father tickled a giggling Ami. She hated how he had such late hours. They hardly ever got a chance to see him. He was either working, or sleeping through the day.

"Yes maam!" he answered like a gentleman, proudly patting the briefcase in his hand. Amu knew her father loved his job, no matter the inconvenient hours, and she was glad to see him enjoying himself. She knew how hard it was for him to never get to see them and to have her mother gone too. "If I impress them enough, they may promote me to the day shift."

"Sounds great." Amu answered giving her father a quick, gentle hug, "Knock em dead!" she told him encouragingly as he started out the door.

"I'll see you girls in the morning." he called after shutting the door behind him.

"Bye bye!" Ami called after him even after the door was shut. Amu glanced over at her sister's pouting face.

"How was kindergarden?" Amu asked willing to get into a conversation with her younger sister. She loved seeing Ami's face light up whenever Amu asked her something, no matter how simple or meaningless.

"It was lots of fun!" Ami answered in an excited tone that she loved to use, "How was high school?" she asked the question curiously with a hint of innocence, but Amu just couldn't help but twinge at the question.

"It was..., interesting." Amu answered, choosing her words carefully to the six year old that seemed to only be interested in what she was saying was when she wished she would ignore her.

"What! What! What!" she asked excitedly, as if somehow she knew there was something more to be told. Amu surrendered with a sigh, as she tried to explain the afternoon events to her.

"I don't know what to do Ami." Amu confessed after telling her story, Ami still looking interested in her older sister's thoughts, "I mean, I have horrible stage fright, not to mention all the girls in school would hate me." Amu considered her own thoughts, "Well, I guess I wouldn't mind if all those girls hated me. A lot of them already don't like me anyway, but I don't even know if those guys are any good... They were willing to play though, and they liked my voice. I can't believe I'm even thinking about it! I'm not going on stage to perform, I can't! But... I do miss singing." Amu looked over at her sister staring at her with wide eyes of concern, as if she knew exactly what Amu was feeling. "What do you think I should do?"

"We learned a song today!" Ami answered that was irrelevant to her question. "It's called Twinkle, Twinkle Wittle Star!" Amu sighed with a light smile at her sister's attention span.

"Thanks Ami, that was real helpful." Amu muttered under her breath as her sister jumped up to begin her small performance.

Twinkle Twinkle Wittle Star

How I Wonder What You Are

Up Above Dha World So High

Like A Diamond In Dha Sky

Twinkle Twinkle Wittle Star

How I Wonder What You Are

"That was wonderful Ami." Amu clapped for Ami with her performance, where she sang her little heart out to the familiar nursery song.

"Amu turn!" Ami said pointing at her sister suddenly.

"Huh?" Amu asked confused by her sister's sudden request, "Come on Ami, don't make me do this."

"Sing!" Ami pleaded with the puppy dog eyes that was Amu's weakness.

"Alright," Amu sighed, hating those puppy dog eyes and the affect they had on her. "Twinkle Twinkle-" she began only to be cut off by Ami.

"No! Louder and straight ahead!" Ami commanded, remembering what her sister had taught her a few months ago when Ami had told her she wanted to be a singer.

"My own words used against me." Amu muttered her complaint under her breath before beginning again with the proper technique.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

How I wonder what you are

She finished with a smiling Ami clapping excitedly, she hadn't heard her sister sing to her in a while. She loved her sister's voice. When Ami was still a baby, Amu would sing to her lullabies to help her fall asleep, and the voice had stayed close to her memories of her sister.

Amu bowed playfully to Ami's applause, "Thank you. Thank you."

"That was really good!" she heard someone yell from the door, that scared the hell out her as she screamed and nearly fell over. Ami stopped clapping and stared at the door, unaware that there was someone on the other side. "I mean..., Uh, someone order Mushoo Pork?!"

Cautiously, Amu walked to the door and opened it a crack. After seeing a deliverer for the Golden Dragon, her mouth fell from shock. Standing in her doorway was who she recognized to be the drummer from the band. He smiled at her with a goofy grin. Somehow, he managed to look good in a deliver boy uniform. "Are you stalking me?" Amu asked, not showing any of her surprise that she felt at the boy in front of her.

"Believe it or not, I actually work here." Kukai answered shrugging his shoulders still smiling, "They gave me this cool uniform and everything!" based on the excitement in his voice, Amu couldn't tell whether he was kidding or being serious.

"Yeah,...Cool's not the word I'd use." she answered. He laughed at her response. She was as vicious as Ikuto had commented her being. At first, he thought he was just exaggerating, but no, she was just that way.

"So, you thinking about joining the band?" he asked curiously, he had come in time to hear a little girl yell at her and hear her sing a little kid song.

"What makes you think that? I thought I was quite blunt this afternoon." Amu answered with a look that suggested that it would be better for him to move to a safer topic. However, being Kukai, he didn't notice what the look meant and continued his own observation.

"Well, I heard you singing, and you seemed to be into it." Kukai answered with a shrug handing her the food, "You really like to sing, don't you?"

"Not really." Amu answered with a embarrassed blush that he could pick up on that, and that blush didn't go unnoticed.

"Food's on the house." Kukai told her with his friendly smile shining at her, "But you got to promise to consider our offer at least. I think you'd like the band. You'd get to sing, and we're a lot of fun. Well, sometimes, but it's still a great way to do things."

"Fine." Amu answered reluctantly, she didn't want to mean to him, he hadn't dragged her anywhere, and he gave her free food.

"I'm Kukai by the way." he told her with an out stretched hand for her to shake.

"Amu." she answered firmly taking the hand with a quick shake.

"Well, Amu, I hope I see you tomorrow." and with that, he disappeared down the way.

When she closed the door she looked to see Ami staring her with a questioning look. Amu sighed, what was she going to do now?

"Forget it." she told herself aloud only making Ami look more confused, "I can't go back to that fantasy. I have to focus on school."

"Food!" Ami exclaimed just realizing what was in Amu's possession. Amu smiled at her with a bit of jealousy, she wished she could forget all her problems as simple as moving to the next good thing like that.

Amu had to force herself to go to school that morning. She couldn't afford to miss anything in class, especially as a new student. Her school had been behind in the learning material, she had to catch up. Maybe she should use that as a reason to stay out of the band. After a full night of thinking over her options, she thought it was best to just stay away from the band. Just decline respectfully and go on with her life, away from all of them.

Walking to school, she thought over how she would refuse their offer. Should she seek them out and tell them? Should she just not show up after school? There were so many options that she couldn't focus on anything else, including what was right in front of her. Just in the fifteen minutes it takes to get to school, she was almost run over by a bike, tripped on a crack in the cement, ran into an open locker door, and got hit in the head with a football being thrown in the hall.

She felt lucky to be alive as she went towards her locker, hoping she wouldn't get hit by a train or something on the way. She told herself in her mind to stay focused. It'd do her no good thinking about what to do in the future if she couldn't make it through the day. Thinking about staying focused, she somehow managed to run into something that felt like a wall and fall backwards. Typical, she couldn't focus, even when she was thinking about staying focused!

"You sure know how to space out." she heard a comment from the wall. Wait! She thought before looking up from the ground. Turns out she didn't run into a wall, but a person. With her luck, it would be the one person she didn't want to see, of course wearing a smirk on his face.

"Huh?" she asked unable to form any real words still. She had thought he was a wall after all. He offered her a hand up, that reminded her of something a gentleman might do. She glanced up to see him smirking at her still, for some reason, she felt better that he was wearing that smirk. There was no mistaking him for a gentleman that way, and that's when she accepted his hand.

It surprised her how strong he was. Sure, he could throw her over his shoulder like she was nothing, but at that moment she was a little too preoccupied to think about it. Well, she ran into his chest and it felt like a wall, does that mean he was just that built or something. What?! Why had she just thought about something like that?!

She felt a blush creep on her neck making her quickly smack his hand away. Ikuto gave her a confused expression as she glared up at him. "Go. Away!" she told him before walking away leaving him stunned and unaware what had caused her sudden mood swing.

Shaking her head she walked to her locker, fidgeting with the lock. That was so perverted! she thought to herself as she finally managed to open her locker and shove her head in as she thought. Focus, Focus! she chanted to herself mentally. When she was distracted..., by someone blowing in her ear from behind. Jumping up in her locker she hit her head as she heard laughter from behind. "Why so nervous." she was beginning to hate this guy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she asked frustrated facing him with a glare. He just continued smirking, it was too easy to mess with her. He'd never had this much fun messing with another person as he did with her. Maybe it was because he actually could. Every other girl in the school would probably just think he was flirting and not get angry with him. She on the other hand had no difficulty insulting him.

"Well, I still don't have a singer." he answered leaning against the lockers by hers with a cool look to him, which had no affect on her.

"That's a real shame." she commented with sarcasm as she pretended to ignore him, searching for the books she needed for her next class.

"I see you haven't softened up to the idea yet," he observed as she threw her back pack in her locker, obviously annoyed by his presence, "You'll probably get your thoughts together by the end of the day. Unless you get sent to the hospital."

"I'm not joining your stupid band!" she told him through her teeth to keep from saying anything about his unwanted observations. "I have things to do."

"Like what?" he asked curious to see if she were telling the truth or just making an excuse on the spot.

"Like taking care of my sister while my dad's at work." she answered him before she could stop herself from saying it. She hadn't wanted to tell him about that, but it was too late, it was already out.

"What's your dad do?" he asked, kind of surprised, she didn't look like the type concerned with family. She looked more like the rebellious type, but then again, appearances can be deceiving. She didn't look like she'd be an exceptional singer, but that didn't mean she wasn't.

Amu thought she might as well tell him, she had already said the truth, no point in lying now. "He's the night manager at some corporation, Easter I think it's called."

An amused smile spread across Ikuto's face. Oh the irony. He wondered if she had any idea who he was. Probably not, then he wondered what her reaction would be when she found out. Amu glanced over, and seeing him so amused gave her a twinge of annoyance.

"What's so funny?" she asked in an annoyed tone. She had told him the truth, and she didn't quite get the humor in any of it.

"Nothing," he lied smoothly leaning down to her level, "Just wondering if you want to join the hard way or the easy way."

With that, Amu just snapped, "You can't tell be what I can or can't do! You are not the boss of me! Who the hell do you think you are?!"

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi," Ikuto answered playfully bowing to her, an impressive outburst, "Pleasure to meet you, Miss..."

"Amu Hinamori." she answered firmly still annoyed. She turned away to walk to her next class.

"See you after school." she heard the comment behind her, but pretended she hadn't, she just didn't have the time or energy to beat him up, verbally or physically.

"So, how was the cleaning?" Rima asked Amu outside as they ate their lunch. Yesterday Amu ate by herself in the lunchroom. She didn't even know their were outside tables that people could eat at. They might as well enjoy the weather while it was still warm enough to be outside.

"It was... something." Amu answered before taking a bite of her sandwich, she had learned from Ami to choose her words more carefully when bringing up a topic she didn't care to dwell on.

"I see..." Rima commented seeming to know there was more, but choosing not to press the matter any further.

"Hey Rima," Amu began getting her attention. She just needed to know something, "Remember that flyer you gave me about the band?"

"Yes, what about it?" she asked curious as to where this would lead.

"Well, what can you tell me about the members in the band?" she had to know what these guys were all about.

"I see. Well, one is named Tadase Hotori, he's in our year. He's a kind boy, a little sweet looking, you know, blonde hair and a shy smile. His nickname is actually Prince Tadase." Amu remembered him as the boy on base. He didn't seem like a prince to her, but then again she wasn't exactly paying attention to their personality traits at the time.

"Then there's Nagihiko Fujishaki, he's in the year above us. His family owns the Fujishaki Dance School in town. I suppose from all those years around strict women he learned how to be a proper gentleman." she thought of the boy on guitar. It struck Amu as hard to believe a boy with long hair in a band was a proper gentleman, but who's to say he's not?

"You have Kukai Souma, he's also in the year above us. He's the star jock in school. He plays on every team and shines in soccer. Of course, being the strong jock that he is, he has the flaw of being kind of clueless." she remembered the boy that had delivered her food with the goofy smile. He seemed nice enough, although she was confident about the whole clueless thing.

"Last, you have the famous Ikuto Tsukiyomi, he's a senior and the school heart throb." Amu wanted to crack up laughing about him being the school heart throb, but she was too surprised to hear he was a senior. He looked old enough, but it just struck her as odd. "Plus his families so wealthy, owning a huge record corporation. He's suppose to inherit the company once he's graduated from high school."

"What corporation?" Amu asked curious, he didn't seem like the wealthy type. He dressed casually and most rich people she knew weren't exactly in bands, but it did explain his attitude.

"Easter. I hear he's already helping with decisions in the corporation to prepare himself for when he graduates. It's this big recording company, so I think he gets to meet a lot of famous idols." Amu's eyes got big at hearing Easter. Ikuto was going to inherit Easter?! He already helped with decisions?! And, he knew her last name, and her father!

"Hey, uh, has Ikuto ever used that power against anyone before?" Amu asked trying to make it sound casual, but the question was too nerve racking for her to keep very calm.

"What do you mean?" Rima asked concerned about Amu's worried voice.

"Like, I don't know, has he ever blackmailed people to do what he wanted because their parents work at Easter or something?" Amu asked about to die from suspense.

"Not that I know of, but I wouldn't put it past him. He's got a reputation as the bad boy type, and that sounds like something he may do." Rima answered seeing Amu's face drain of color, "Did something happen yesterday?"

"Yeah," Amu answered dropping her head down on the table, as if to show she surrendered, "I think I just joined a band."