XIV

As she left the school Amu made sure of two things: firstly, that no one was following her, and secondly, that Tadasr hadn't left the school yet. Despite thinking, wishing, hoping even, that she could apologize if she ran into him, she was also a little afraid to run into him. What if he ignored her? Or yelled at her again? After a long period of deliberation, she eventually jogged toward Tadase's house, looking over her shoulder every 2 minutes, secretly praying she'd forgotten to lock the door behind her when she left in the morning. That way, if she had locked the door, she would have no choice but to wait for Tadase.

Unfortunately, or maybe, fortunately, she hadn't locked the door. She opened the door just enough for her to slip inside the house quickly and grabbed the bag with her belongings. As she exited, she spotted Tadase walking up the steps. It was rather awkward. For a second, a look of confusion flashed across the blond's face. As he was recalling that she had, in fact, stayed over that night, Amu began to run off, her eyes resembling deer in headlights as she closed the door as calmly and casually as possible.

Amu made sure not to make eye contact with Tadase as she zipped past, slamming into his shoulder by accident, nearly tripping over a crack in the road in the process. She played it off well by acting as if nothing had happened but peeked over her shoulder to see Tadase staring after her, his confusion turning into shock. Or…maybe it was something else entirely. She couldn't quite place the expression. She chewed her lip, tore her eyes away from Tadase and continued running until she was quite the ways away. When she figured it was safe, she slowed down to a jog.

As she eventually slowed to a walk, she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice calling out. Thinking maybe there was someone else around, she ignored it at first. Upon hearing the same call again and looking around, however, she realized that no one else was around but her. She raised her guard thinking maybe it was someone Saaya had sent to harass her.

"Hey, you!" the unfamiliar voice called for the third time.

Amu spun on her heels but froze when she didn't see anyone. She looked around warily, confused as to where the disembodied voice was coming from. Before she could ask the stranger to show themselves, a tall man who looked to be in his early twenties landed in front of her as if he'd fallen from the sky. His cat-like landing was executed perfectly, almost that of a professional gymnast.

Matching the description of a professional gymnast, he had an athletic build and was probably close to, if not well over six feet tall. His hair was a mess of silky dark blue locks and he had sharp indigo eyes, a perfect match of his eye color. If it wasn't his natural hair color, Amu would easily believe it was done purposely.

His overall appearance gave off a mysterious, almost mischievous vibe, though he didn't seem too dangerous. Amu shook her head quickly when she noticed the tall stranger examining her in a much less subtle, and almost border-line scrutinizing way.

"M-me?" she asked dumbly after a much too long pause, pointing to herself. As if him staring at her and landing in front of her wasn't answer enough.

The mysterious man scoffed. His deep (and weirdly seductive) voice was already oozing with sarcasm. "No. I mean the fire hydrant behind you. Of course, I mean you. There's no one else around!"

Amu composed herself and crossed her arms. She already did not like this guys' attitude, "And who do you think you are?"

"I could ask you the same thing." the mysterious man responded calmly, casually sauntering closer to Amu, his hands digging into his pants pockets casually. "Where did you just come from in such a hurry?"

Amu narrowed her eyes at his advances, already preparing to take a step back if he got too close. "Why do you care? Haven't you heard of Stranger Danger?"

"Can't someone be curious about seeing a new person in his neighbourhood?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but my mom said to never talk to strangers." Amu said innocently at first, batting her eyelashes. She quickly switched back into a snarky attitude to match this strange man's attitude. "I don't know you, therefore it's none of your business."

"Someone's a little feisty." the tall man smirked in amusement, taking another step forward.

The smirk faded and he halted his advances as if something dawned on him. He gave Amu another look over, leaning down close to examine her face, causing Amu to lean back uncomfortably when he got too close. He rubbed his chin as he pulled his face away from Amu's. Humming, he put his hands on his hips, taking a long pause before speaking again. "Hold on a second. You seem familiar… Would your name happen to be Hinamori Amu?"

Amu stepped backwards, mainly in shock but also because of how uncomfortable she was starting to feel being so close to this man, who suddenly seemed a little stalker-ish. "Wh- How do you know my name?! Who are you?"

"The name's Ikuto." the person, now known to be Ikuto, responded. He gave a lame excuse for a bow. "And as to how I know you… I've heard about you from my step-brother." He jutted his thumb backwards in the direction Amu had just come from. "He lives over there. Where you just came from."

Amu blinked. Who would have told someone about her? Maybe to make fun of her…? Suddenly, she almost choked on air as she gasped. That there was only one person who would say anything about her to anyone. She coughed and took several breaths, trying to get air back to her lungs.

"A-are you Tadase-kun's-"

Ikuto nodded, cutting Amu off. "It's a long story, but yes. Tadase is my step-brother."

Amu hummed slightly, using it as an excuse to clear her throat. "So…are you and Tadase-kun close? He's only known me for 10 days, but he's talked about me?"

"More or less." Ikuto shrugged. "Used to be closer. I have a place next door I sometimes stay at with my sister when we aren't doing concerts."

Amu's confusion led her to curiosity. "Your sister…? Concerts?"

"Yep." Ikuto snorted at Amu's expression, leaning in once more, this time to whisper in her ear. "I'm sure you know her. Hoshina Utau."

Amu almost screamed. "What?! You're Hoshina Utau's brother?"

Ikuto laughed loudly at Amu's sudden exclamation, but also quickly brought his hand up to cover her mouth. "Yes, but I'd really prefer it if you didn't shout it out to the whole neighbourhood. Hoshina is just a stage name so she doesn't get found out so easily."

Amu glared up at the taller in attempt to make him let go of her. When that didn't work, she bit his hand defensively. He pulled his hand away quickly after that, shaking it and massaging it slightly with his other hand.

Not appreciating the action and wanting to get away from such a creep who covers a complete strangers mouth, she looked at her watch to seem like she was busy. As interesting as that story was, this Ikuto guy was starting to give her the creeps. His voice was way too sensual to be talking to someone like her, and his apparent need to stick his face in Amu's was making her feel very uncomfortable.

"Well. It was great meeting you and all but, it looks like I have to go." She said, despite still having all the time in the world. "Oh, uh, tell Utau-san that my sister is a big fan. Buh-bye!"

She backed away slowly as she spoke, also waiting for any response. She quickly turned away and broke into a jog again once she figured he didn't care enough to say anything. God, what a creep… She really hoped she didn't have to run into him again. Ugh, she couldn't believe she actually thought he was a little attractive upon first glance.

As soon as she got home, she disappeared into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She sighed heavily as she plopped on her bed, dropping her book bag and other belongings on the floor next to her bed.

"Man, if that guy wasn't the definition of creep, I don't know what is." she mumbled to herself, staring up at the ceiling. "But…he did say Tadase-kun told him about me…I wonder what he said?"

Part of her wondered if Ikuto knew about the whole situation with Saaya. It was possible, wasn't it? At least if he did, there would be more people on her side. Or wait, would he even be on their side…? Ikuto said they weren't as close, after all. She sighed again, willing herself to get up and put on some more comfortable clothing.

As if on cue, her mom called her down for dinner. After finishing changing, she ran downstairs to meet her parents and little sister, giving them partially forced smiles and a half-hearted 'fine' when they asked about her day and sleepover.

After dinner was finished she was assigned to dish duty. She should be used to the unspoken schedule they had, but she always hated it when it was her turn to wash dishes. As she was putting the final dish back into its rightful cupboard, she glanced out the window. Dark clouds loomed overhead. It looked like it would rain soon. Perfect, Amu thought, surprisingly not sarcastically.

The rain had always been helpful to her when she needed to think. Maybe it was the sound it made or the sudden change in temperature and mood but whenever she felt down or had something on her mind when rain threatened, she'd sneak out and walk around in the rain for a bit.

Without even thinking, she made her way to the front door, already set on going for a walk. Unfortunately, while Amu didn't care if it rained on her or not, her parents did. It was a rare occurrence since she was usually good at sneaking away without her parents' notice, but this time, they caught her at the door.

"Honey? Where do you think you're going?" her mother asked in a very mom-like voice, her hands on her hips.

"There's something…I forgot at…" Amu hesitated, debating how to say Tadase's name when her father could hear. Obviously, she couldn't say -kun, even if lots of people referred to girls with the -kun honorific recently and Tadase sounded like a guys name for sure, meaning just saying his name without an honorific was a no-go as well. She settled the lamest thing ever. "…Ta-chan's place…"

She mentally cringed at herself for saying that, but not wanting to risk her dramatic dad being…dramatic, she had no choice. She just hoped he wouldn't see through it for now.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? It looks like it's about to rain. Will you be warm enough?"

"I have a sweater on, and I'll wear my rain jacket and bring an umbrella." Amu responded, almost ritually. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'll only be 15 minutes, at least."

Amu's mother sighed reluctantly. "Alright. Don't be out too long. And if it starts raining too hard, come back immediately, okay?"

Amu nodded quickly and threw on her rain jacket. However, she somehow completely forgot to grab an umbrella as she ran out the door, despite saying she would bring one only moments before. She didn't even hear her parent's calling out about the umbrella. She closed the door behind her quickly and took in the damp evening, pre-rain air. Her mother was right, the wind was crisp and cold, but Amu could handle it for now.

Her mind was already whirling with various thoughts. She was mainly wondering how to apologize to Tadase and what Tadase had told Ikuto regarding her. She was insanely curious, so for a while, the latter took up most of her thoughts. Soon, it evolved into thoughts of ways to apologize to Tadase. After all, in order to know what Tadase told Ikuto, she had to actually talk to Tadase again and clear the air on their misunderstanding. After a bit of walking in silence, she had tuned herself out of the world with some music and a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, failing to hear the soft rumble of thunder in the distance.

It had started to rain gently not soon after Amu had left her front gate. It didn't bother her at first, as she just pulled up both of her hoods. She was so zoned out that she hadn't even noticed that she was back to walking in the direction of Tadase's house. It took her even longer to realize that, at some point, someone had joined her silently from behind. She finally noticed something was up when she realized it was raining everywhere but around her. By this point, the rain had turned into a little less than a downpour, so it was pretty obvious as rain danced around her, yet hit the ground somewhat aggressively in front of her.

Amu looked up in confusion, wondering why the heavy rain was landing everywhere but on her. A navy blue umbrella was carefully placed over her head. Even more confused, she looked around, nearly tripping over her feet when she spotted a familiar blond boy behind her, holding the umbrella over her, drenched in rain, perhaps from walking behind her with the umbrella solely over her for who knew how long.

Somehow, Amu found his drenched appearance quite attractive; his blond hair was wet and pressed against his glistening skin, raindrops dripping from the clumped together strands. His clothing was also sticking to his body, accentuating… Amu quickly pushed the thoughts from her head after realizing her face felt warm. She immediately switched back to her initial shock at seeing him.

"T-Tadase-kun?!" she exclaimed as she stumbled backwards in surprise. As her hoods fell away from her head at the sudden movement, her headphones also slipped from her head, landing on the ground in front of her. She briefly hoped they weren't broken but the thought disappeared as quickly as he came.

Tadase smiled sheepishly as he stepped forward, bending over to pick up the fallen headphones and, once again, cover Amu in the umbrella, still not giving himself any cover from the rain. "Good evening, Amu-chan…"

"W-why- I thought-" Amu stumbled over her words, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Was it because of the shock that Tadase, whom she thought was mad at her, was standing in front of her with an umbrella or how distracted she was over how Tadase managed to look attracted even when he was soaking wet? Honesty speaking, it was probably both, but mostly the former. She ended up giving up entirely on the sentence, hoping it was enough for Tadase to get the general idea.

Somehow, Tadase had understood what Amu was trying to say because he responded with, "You thought I hated you? So you're wondering why I'm out here getting myself soaking wet, risking my own health for the sake of your health?"

Amu nodded her head slowly, putting the headphones around her neck and fixing her hoods. As she did this action, she wondered exactly how Tadase knew it was her when her hair wasn't even visible and she had changed out of her uniform. She wanted to ask, but eventually decided it would be best not to ask. Perhaps he had walked in the other direction and she was just too zoned out to notice, so he walked behind her to keep her from getting too wet. As Amu was thinking about this, Tadase responded to her acknowledgement that he'd correctly figured out what she was trying to say.

"No, I don't hate you, and I'm not terribly mad at you, either. I actually thought you were the one who was mad and hated me. So I stayed away." Tadase said, gesturing for her to walk with his hand. Amu obliged as she slowly walked next to Tadase, looking at him intently for answers. "I admit I was a little frustrated at first. Then I started to put myself in your shoes to try and understand your side of thinking and realized it was a dumb thing to argue over in the first place."

The two walked in silence for a while. Amu was trying not to get too distracted with how close Tadase was having to walk to keep both of them under the umbrella. They were shoulder-to-shoulder. If Tadase's right hand wasn't holding the umbrella, it probably would have been brushing against Amu's with every step. She was also too busy taking in his words to speak, quite relieved that he wasn't mad. Finally, after several minutes, she opened her mouth to speak.

"I…I've wanted to apologize since this afternoon…" she said slowly. "I'm sorry…really sorry. I got frustrated earlier too… I didn't want to blame you, so I blamed myself instead. After all, it's not like I had tried hard to defend myself or get help…"

Tadase offered a smile. "Don't worry about that right now, Amu-chan. Rather than that…, I'm a little worried about you. Aren't you cold?"

Amu blinked at the sudden concern, glancing away slightly in embarrassment. It had gotten a bit colder than Amu had expected it to get…but she did have a sweater and rain jacket on. "I-I'm fine. I have like three layers on, it's fine."

"The wind is getting a little rougher and your rain jacket doesn't look very warm… Just a second." Tadase handed the umbrella to Amu, who gave him a confused expression as she held it over his head.

Tadase was trying to take his jacket off to give to Amu but ended up being abruptly halted when a loud crash of thunder resonated in the dark sky above. Amu squeaked and huddled closer to Tadase, clutching his arm tightly. Soon after, the sky lit up with lightning. The thunderstorm she failed to hear because of her headphones had finally caught up to her.

Amu was mumbling to her self, "Ohhh no, please not a thunderstorm! Ohh boy."

Tadase laughed softly, gently removing Amu's hand so he could give her his jacket. "Are you afraid of thunder?" he asked, wrapping the jacket around Amu's shoulders, much to her eminent surprise and embarrassment. "Was that something you forgot to tell me? What else is there?"

Amu chewed her lip, looking away as she clutched Tadase's jacket against her body tightly, trying not to be creepy and smell it or something. It honestly didn't help too much since it was soaked, but it was the thought that counted. "I-I didn't forget to tell you. It just…never came up. Plus… it's a little embarrassing. I'm almost an adult and yet I'm still afraid of thunder and lightning…"

Tadase chuckled softly, hesitantly wrapping an arm around Amu's shoulder. Amu glanced up at him meekly but didn't reject the comforting action. She actually kind of appreciated the attempt at comfort. Her face turned a light pink colour, perhaps just a tad lighter than her hair, but she hoped it was too dark out for Tadase to notice.

"Well, now you don't have to be afraid or embarrassed." Tadase said after a second, taking in the moment briefly. "I'm here to protect you from anything you may be afraid of. No matter how mundane it may seem to you."

Amu smiled to herself, silently thanking Tadase. She abruptly thought of something and stopping walking, causing Tadase to stumble over his feet slightly. "Hey, Tadase-kun? Is your father home?"

Tadase looked over at Amu curiously. "Hmm, yeah, he should be. He usually comes home around dinnertime. Why do you ask?"

Amu hesitated. "I…I think we should try and turn in Saaya…I thought about it and my actions today were pretty…crazy. She might get even madder and something worse could happen…"

Tadase smiled, giving Amu's shoulder a supportive squeeze. "That's a great idea, Amu-chan! I'm sure he'll know how to solve this quickly."

Amu nodded her head, sticking her hands in her pockets. She hummed, realizing she didn't have the note on her and suddenly realized she had to put a hold on her plan. She turned around to face Tadase, politely moving his arm off her shoulder first.

"Tell him I have something to talk to him about tomorrow at school." she decided after she deciding it was too much of a hassle and bother to go back and get the notes just to show them to Tadase's father. "I don't have the evidence on me right now and I promised my parents I'd be back in 15 minutes. I'm sure it's been longer than that by now."

Tadase nodded in understanding. "That's probably better. I'll walk you home then."

Amu smiled gratefully and both teens slowly made their way back in the direction of Amu's house. Both walked in comfortable silence. Neither person wanted to ruin the mood.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived back at Amu's place. Amu gave Tadase his jacket back with a small grateful bow. A loud thunderclap boomed overhead again, though, causing Amu to jump slightly. Tadase laughed softly, still holding the umbrella over Amu.

"Go on inside before it gets worse, Amu-chan. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" he said with a smile.

Amu nodded her head and turned to open her front gate. Out of the corner of her eye, though, she saw a shadow pass behind Tadase. At first, she thought it was just her imagination. That was until she heard unmistakable cackling from just behind Tadase. Amu gasped loudly and Tadase immediately spun on his heels, standing in front of Amu defensively.

"Too late. It's about to get worse."

Word Count: ~4100

A/N: I think I've come to realize just how much I like to emphasize stuff when I write lol. Don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Sorry if I end up overusing the italics. When I read what I write, I like to add emphasis to it so in my head to make it sound more...real?

I've edited this like twice and somehow every time I edit it, it keeps getting longer so I better stop while I'm ahead haha. enjoy the obvious cliff hanger.