So what I'm not your average girl?
I don't meet the standards of this world?
Chasing after boys is not my thing.
See I'm waiting for a wedding ring.
~Average Girl- Barlow Girls
"You have my number, and if anything happens you call me, you got that?!" Amu insisted for the hundredth time between getting ready and giving instructions on how to take care of Ami, since she didn't trust anyone watching her, not even her father.
She had managed to find something suitable to wear on this occasion. A nice pair of black kapries that she had to dig through her closet to find, she was just relieved they fit. Then she just went with a long sleeve pink t-shirt, under black t-shirt that read 'Strong Chicks Rule' in pink writing across the chest. Of course, she couldn't find any good shoes, so she settled for her black pair of converse shoes. She even did her hair, in a way, brushing it out and putting two of her pink punishment clips in to keep her hair both down and out of her face. All put together while talking to her babysitters.
"Would you relax a little?" Ikuto asked watching her go back and forth, with Ami sitting on the couch beside him, watching her sister move with speed. This was the first time she was leaving Ami with anyone in a long time.
"Yeah, between the four of us watching her, what could happen?" Kukai asked lounging on a chair, relaxed by the easy job. How difficult could it be to watch a six year old?
"Plenty." Amu answered, not in any mood to tolerate these four, but had no other options. First, she had to ask Ikuto for this favor, and of course he had to make it where she was practically begging. After explaining some details for watching Ami, he thought he'd call in some reinforcements. Amu didn't argue, having four people watching Ami was better than just one. Just the way they got distracted bothered her though, what if they just let Ami run off?!
"Have you no faith in us?" Kukai asked in a melodramatic way. Amu glared at him before grabbing the nearest object, a unopened water bottle, and chucking it at Kukai's head. Not expecting something to be thrown at him, he didn't have enough time to dodge it. It hit him right on his forehead causing him to fall out of his chair and hit the floor head first. "A simple no would have satisfied."
"Don't mess with me right now." Amu warned them before knocking on the wall to the steps to signal to her father he needed to hurry up.
"Leave it to us, we won't let anything happen to Ami." Tadase reassured her sitting on the couch on the other side of Ami.
"Nothing better happen to her, or so help me, I'll murder all of you." Amu warned them with a threatening look in her eyes. If they thought she was kidding, then they were in for a rude awakening when she got angry enough.
"She'd do it too." Kukai told Tadase as if Tadase was the one that should be worried about the threat. Well, he at least had enough sense to know she could murder them. He just needs to worry a little more himself.
"And I don't think we'll have a problem getting along with one another." Nagihiko added out of pure amusement. Ami had ended up climbing on to Ikuto's shoulders and was resting her shoulders on his head. It was quite a sight. A cute little six year old girl sitting on top of a seventeen year old boy that happened to have a reputation of being the school hottie and bad ass.
"I never knew you had a way with kids Ikuto." Tadase commented in spite of himself, it was just too much to handle. Kukai stayed quiet, except for the laughing they were all doing. Even Amu offered a light giggle for the first time that night.
"Neither did I." Ikuto commented moving his head back to look up at Ami just as she was moving her head forward to look down at Ikuto. At that, Amu couldn't help but laugh, that was such a weird combination.
"Alright Amu-chan I'm ready to go!" Her father came down just in time to catch his daughter laughing at something. That shocked him more than anything. He quickly recovered, his smile wider than before. He was so relieved his daughter seemed to be doing better. "Have the sitters arrived ye-" He began to ask walking down the steps, only to fade off once he noticed the four boys in his living room.
"Papa!" Ami greeted him with a wave, while sitting on the shoulders of a strange looking boy he didn't know. By the looks of him, he didn't want to get to know him.
"Yeah, they're here." Amu told her father in a bored tone, after seeing her father's blank expression. "Guys, this my dad." She introduced him to the group, hurry to get out before any questions were asked.
"Hey Amu's dad." they all replied in unison, in different tones to express their enthusiasm. Meaning Kukai was the loudest. "Ready to go?" Amu asked her father before grabbing her coat off the couch, where she had thrown it earlier.
"Umm, Amu, can I see you in the kitchen for a second?" her father asked still dazed as he walked like a zombie to the kitchen. She followed after him, after taking the option of running away into consideration, knowing it would be pointless.
"What?" she asked, pretending to not know what this was about. Maybe she could get a few more moments of spaced out dad before he snapped.
"What?! What are all those boys doing in my living room?!" There went that hope. Amu's father was one of those fathers that had a hard time letting go, especially with boys in the mix. Amu saw this coming, and her father's added tears didn't help anything.
Amu sighed before beginning her long explanation, "It was short notice, and Rima's out of town, so there was no one else I could call."
"Who's Rima?"
"She's my friend from school."
"So instead, you choose some random boys that had nothing better to do than take care of my six year old daughter?!"
"I do know them dad. I'm in a band with them."
"... In... a.... band? With them?" her father asked confused. He had no idea his daughter was in a band. And worse, a band full of boys, that were in a band! And she trusted them to watch Ami?! "Why don't you tell me things any more Amu-chan?! I have no idea what's going on in your life!"
"That's because you react this way." Amu answered with a sweat drop. She loved her father, but there were times he was just too embarrassing for her to handle. This being one of those times. "Don't worry, I know they can handle watching Ami for a few hours." Amu smoothly lied to her father. No sense both of them worrying.
"Fine." he answered, still teary eyed and pouting. Honestly, sometimes he was worse than Amu when it came to acting his age. He left the kitchen still looking hurt, making Amu sigh with exhaustion, and she hadn't even left the house yet.
"We're gone guys." Amu said putting on her denim jean jacket, heading towards the door.
"In a minute Amu." her father called back to her, suddenly peppy attitude standing in front of the confused teenage boys. "I want to meet your friends. Like your name...., and further background information."
"Dad!" Amu warned him with a stern voice she was forced to use with him every now and then. Just like telling a child no.
"Alright, just names." he offered with Amu slumping her shoulders in defeat. There was no way around this.
"I'm Kukai." Kukai answered being the only one oblivious to the tension in the room.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Nagihiko." he said with his usual class when acting as a gentleman. Amu was grateful for that at the moment.
"I'm Tadase, I'm in a few of Amu's classes." he told her father with his usual charm.
"Ikuto." Ikuto answered with a nod of his head, and Ami giggling behind him. At the moment, she thought Ami was the only thing that would keep Ikuto decent.
"Let's go dad." Amu commanded before he could pry them for any more information. She had to drag him out of their apartment to do so. "Bye." the guys said in unison, until the ghost was clear.
"Alright kid," Kukai started, staring at the blank expression on Ami's and Ikuto's faces, "Time for bed." As her response, Ami just stuck her tongue out at Kukai, "Hey! Don't give me that!"
"Come on Kukai, have a heart." Nagihiko pleaded teasingly, not even a six year old would listen to him. "It's only six o'clock after all."
"What are we suppose to do with her then?"
"Don't you know anything about kids?!" Tadase asked with annoyance in his tone, "Idiot!"
"Like you know any more than me, hypocrite."
"Uh, guys, let's try to calm down." Nagihiko tried to get peace among the group, but
"Hungry shrimp?" Ikuto asked Ami as he walked into the kitchen away from the bickering. "Yeah!" she answered with an excited tone, still sitting on his shoulders as he went walking.
"Anything to eat here?" he asked, looking through the fridge. "Oniguri!" Ami told him, pointing at a blue container that supposedly contained the oniguri.
"You sure you want that?" he asked teasingly, as the six year old tried to reach for the container. "I don't know, if your sister made it we might want to order in." Ikuto commented opening the container and smelling the food, to make sure it was edible. He took a piece out and cautiously took a bite, judging whether or not they should eat it.
"This is... really good." Ikuto answered, he hadn't expected it to be good. Amu didn't strike him as the type that could cook. Ami reached out for a piece, and Ikuto just handed her the one he had taken a bite out of. A six year old could get excited about the simplest things.
"You stupid idiot!"
"Damn know it all!"
"You think this will shut them up for a while?" Ikuto asked grabbing the container and some drinks, they could hear those two arguing from in the kitchen. He assumed Nagihiko gave up trying to settle them down. Ami shook as her answer, no. Ikuto chuckled lightly making his way out of the kitchen, "Well, we're going to try."
Tadase and Kukai were on the verge of throwing punches, when the two exited the kitchen. "Hey! Bweak it up!" Ami yelled at them, getting their attention. All the guys stared at her, as she started smiling and eating her oniguri. That was when they could tell Ami was related to Amu.
"Anyone hungry?" Ikuto asked throwing the drinks and food on the small table in front of the couch. They all dug into the food, and began to simmer down.
"You know, now that I think about it," Tadase began thinking out loud as a realization hit him, "Amu never did tell us where she was going." They all thought about that for a moment. She told them everything on what to do while watching Ami, and how to reach her. She just never told them any details on what she was doing that she needed a sitter.
"I wonder what she's up to." Nagihiko commented trying to think of what Amu would do. Nothing came to his mind.
"Onee-sama's on a date!" Ami exclaimed, happy to know something they didn't. They all nearly choked on their drinks and oniguri.
"Little kid said what?" Kukai asked, wondering if he just didn't hear her right. Did she just tell them Amu, their Amu, the scary Amu, the Amu that wanted nothing to do with people in general was on a date?! Ami just nodded her head, not really understanding all their shocked faces.
"Can you tell us what you know?" Ikuto asked, feeling somewhat pathetic, trying to persuade a six year old to give him information.
"Shopping Center. Popostion!" Ami answered from what she could remember Amu telling her, and what she had heard eavesdropping on her sister's conversation, just like a true younger sibling.
"Popostion? Is that code for something?" Kukai asked, not understand her speech.
"I think she means proposition." Tadase explained plainly, not bothering to get into another argument with him.
"What kind of proposition?" Nagihiko asked.
"I don't know."
"What are they doing in the shopping center?" Tadase asked.
"I don't know."
"Who was her date?" Ikuto asked.
"I don't know."
"Dang kid, what do you know?" Kukai asked, still not understanding he was talking to a little kid.
"6:30. Dinner." Ami told him what she remembered.
"So we paste it all together, and get what?"
"I would guess, meeting at Tokyo Shopping Center at 6:30 in order to go eat to discuss some kind of proposition." Nagihiko guessed from what he had gathered from Ami's pieces of information.
"What would be a date proposition?" Tadase asked out of curiosity, still in shock she was on a date in the first place.
"Maybe becoming 'an item'," Kukai suggested, putting air quotes around an item. It was hard to believe that Amu was going out to get a boyfriend the night they were stuck watching her sister. "She works pretty fast." Kukai added wondering what type of girl she really was.
"Hmm..." Ikuto thought for a moment. He couldn't image who she would be out with, and even less who would be her boyfriend. This, struck his curiosity, "You guys know what we have to do, right?"
They stared at him for a moment, before they figured out what he was saying. "Oh yeah!" Kukai answered with a mischievous smile across his face. These were the kind of things he loved doing.
"I'm game." Tadase answered with Nagihiko nodding in approval as well.
"Let's head out men." Ikuto commanded as they went for the door, only to be stopped by a very important detail. "Hey!" Ami yelled at them, they went to go, forgetting they had a little responsibility.
"Oh yeah, we forgot about her." Ikuto commented, scratching his head, trying to think of what to do now. "I guess someone's going to have to stay with her."
"Well, since I apparently have no clue how to take care of children, I guess I'm out." Kukai went ahead and told them. This was one of the few times he got to use an insult to his own advantage.
"She likes you best Ikuto." Tadase pointed out trying to get out of it.
"I'm the brain of the operation, -"
"We're doomed." Kukai threw in his comment while he was a good couple feet away from him.
"And, I'm the one with the car keys."
"Well, have fun Nagi." Kukai said beginning to leave, only to be grabbed by the collar by Nagihiko.
"I refuse to have any part in this."
"Then I guess there's only one other thing to do." Ikuto said glancing over at the innocent looking kid.
"How am I suppose to know who this guy is?" Amu thought out loud, glancing at her watch every so often at her watch. It was almost already the scheduled time for them to meet, and when she went to search for him, she realized there was no way to find him. She didn't know what he looked like, she didn't even know his name.
She decided to wait patiently on a bench in front of the water fountain. If he wasn't there after fifteen minutes, she would just leave. Or maybe go shopping, she did have four sitters at home watching Ami, she might as well take advantage of them. She was going to be pissed if this was all one big joke, someone was going to pay.
"Hinamori?" Amu looked around after hearing her named called to see someone standing in front of her. A boy, that didn't look any older than she was, with dark green hair and prescription glasses. There was no way this was the guy on the phone, maybe it was someone from school she didn't recognize. "I'm sorry for any inconvenience on this arrangement, but I couldn't hold off on this meeting." ...Then again, what guy from her school would want to talk to her anyway?
"Uh, n-no there was no problem." Amu reassured him, still in shock that this was the man from the phone. She wished her home phone had caller id.
"I'm Kairi Sanjou." he told her with an out stretched hand.
"And, you know me." Amu responded shaking his hand and standing up.
"Indeed." he nodded in agreement. He seemed so grown and serious to Amu, no wonder she expected him to be older than he was. "I'm sure you're hungry by now. Shall we?" he asked holding his arm out to act as a proper gentleman.
"Sure." Amu answered taking his arm, not sure what else to do really, and followed his lead through the crowd of people.
"This is Soccer dude. Target is on the move. I repeat the target is on the move."
"Soccer dude?"
"Copy that Princey."
"Kukai, knock it off."
"No can do Black Cat. We got to stay conspicuous. Right Dance Queen?"
"That's not what I meant by conspicuous. I don't code names are necessary."
"I thought we needed something that told a little about ourselves, you know-" Kukai began to explain only to get hit in the head by Ikuto, Tadase, and Nagihiko. They had put him in charge of watching Amu with the binoculars, but the code names were something they weren't going to tolerate.
"Focus a little Kukai." Ikuto tried to get back the concentration of the situation, "You and Tadase get ahead of them and keep an eye on them that way. Nagihiko and I will tail them. When they stop, we both stop, got it?"
"Got it." Kukai answered with a salute, "Remember kid, conspicuous."
"Conspicuous." Ami mimicked, pushing her sunglasses up on her eyes. She remained on Ikuto's shoulders. There was no way they could leave her on her own, so... they had to bring her along on their little mission.
Kukai and Tadase ran ahead, in order to get in front of Amu and her date. Ikuto, Nagihiko, and Ami stayed behind, close enough to see them, but far enough they couldn't see them. They never had an opportunity like this before, and curiosity clouded their better judgement. They wanted to figure out who this guy was, and how him and Amu could get along enough to date.
"I wonder." Nagihiko mumbled to himself, thinking over his first suspicions.
"What?" Ikuto asked curious. Nagihiko usually kept his thoughts to himself unless he was thinking over something he couldn't figure out.
"Well, this sounds more like something Kukai, and maybe Tadase would be into." Nagihiko started, by Ikuto's blank expression, he himself wasn't sure what he was getting at, "I didn't think you'd be into it that much."
"What do you mean?" Ikuto asked now really curious, but sounding like he didn't care.
"It's just, I thought this would be something you would just go along with, but you're the one that came up with it."
"What's your point?"
"I'm not sure. I guess I'm just wondering, why exactly. You're not usually into anyone's personal matters, you actually try to stay out of it. I'm just wondering why you're so curious about Amu's date. Or really, just Amu in general." Ikuto stared blankly at him for a minute, not sure what he was implying by that analysis. Ami on his shoulders even cocked her head at Nagihiko.
Nagihiko smiled at the two. They were different, but also the same. It reminded him of how Ikuto and Amu were together. They did nothing but bicker at one another when they were around each other. The thing was, the way they acted around one another was completely different from how they act around everyone else. Around everyone else, they were both were more stand off, with cool attitudes that didn't want to be bothered by other people. When they were together though, Ikuto would tease her, Nagihiko never would have taken Ikuto for the type that just messed with girls, but that would get Amu out of her shell enough to yell at him.
Even though Nagihiko noticed it, he was sure no else did, not even Ikuto and Amu. Maybe it was nothing, but then again... "Maybe I'm just reading into this too much."
"Maybe." Ikuto answered confused at this point.
"Food!" Ami yelled at them, pointing forward. Ikuto and Nagihiko looked forward to see Amu and that other guy enter a restaurant.
"Oh, this should be fun." Ikuto commented with a smirk continuing forward.
A/N:
Success! I found Internet connection at my grandmother's house, unfortunately, it's on the roof. I had to fight off birds and squirrels, not to mention keep my balance on her roof. I'm just glad I finally got this done, and try take tips from Hiwiwy and hopefully update faster! So yay! :P