I do not own Shugo Chara! or Mohabbatein in any way!

Speech Key:

"The" – Oral/Normal Speech

'The' – Thoughts

AN: Enjoy the chapter and review if you can!

~Love Stories~

oODeclaring Defeat, but Rising VictoriousOo

The bell tolled, signaling the beginning of classes at Katashi. Nagihiko, Kukai and Tadase stood side by side in front of Hinamori Tsumugu's desk in full uniform, their eyes turned to the floor.

Tsumugu didn't face them, rather his back was turned towards them as he leaned against his desk, arms crossed.

"I know that this isn't the first time the three of you have broken the rules of Katashi," he spoke coldly. "And I also know that the three of you are also responsible for the other behaving in a similar manner." He began pacing around behind his desk. "You all have left me with no other choice. But before I make my decision, I will ask you three a simple question," he stated, "however, think carefully before answering, because your answer will decide your fate."

At this, the three students' eyes rose from the floor to their headmaster, who'd at last, turned to face them.

"Are you three responsible for what has happened, or is someone else responsible for your actions?" he asked in the same tone. "Someone who forced and encouraged you all to do this. Think carefully and answer."

Kukai almost wanted to shout in disbelief. 'He wants us to out Yoru-sensei!'

Instead, the three boys exchanged glances and Nagihiko answered first. "We take full responsibilty for our actions, sir, there is no one else involved," he stated.

"We only did what our hearts told us to do," Tadase continued.

"And we don't regret a single thing we've done," Kukai finished, "because we don't feel as though we've done anything wrong."

Although his face, nor posture showed his displeasure at their answer, he only gazed at the three with an emotionless stare. "Start packing; this is your final day at Katashi. You will be expelled tomorrow morning in front of the entire student and staff body."

-Kukai, Tadase, & Nagihiko's Room-

Bittersweet smiles touched the lips of the three boys as they packed their bags.

Kukai held a small ruffled ribbon, a token Utau had given him. The chestnut-haired boy chuckled gently as he remembered the way his relationship with the girl he loved began.

Tadase only looked at the picture of he and Yaya that he'd carried with him for so many years. It was hard to believe that just when he thought he'd never see her again, he did, and not only did he realize his love for her, but she'd also accepted his feelings and became his.

Nagihiko smiled gently as he looked back on how through everything that had happened, in the end, he'd gotten the girl he love to admit her feelings for him.

-Katashi Gazebo-

Rain poured and thunder boomed as Ikuto sat on a chair inside the gazebo, his chin resting on his folded hands. A pensive expression on his features.

After a few moments, he looked up with a determined glint shining through the resignation in his eyes. He got up and walked off to set things right.

-Hinamori Household-

Tsumugu just finished lighting the incense on either side of a large photo of Amu that was mounted above the fireplace, when he caught a reflection in the glass.

Turning around, he watched as Ikuto came into the light. His hair was waterlogged and his clothes, soaked through. He watched as Ikuto took off his glasses and walked towards him until he stood only a foot away. The blue-haired man knelt down on one knee with his head bowed.

"You've won," the younger male rasped, "You've won and I've lost. I never came here to create another Tsukiyomi Ikuto; I came here so that I could prevent another from being created. Forgive them. Your fight is with me, and now here I am kneeling in front of you, defeated and lost. I will do whatever it is that you want; just, please, forgive them. You win, and I lose."

Tsumugu's expression never changed, though a triumphant glint shone dimly in his eyes. He sat down in his arm chair and looked up the bowed head of the music teacher. "You will go up in front of the students, tomorrow morning, and tell them that whatever you taught them, believed in, was wrong."

Ikuto looked up to the headmaster at this, a tear falling down his cheek as his heart broke little by little with each word the older man uttered.

"I want you to tell them that you do no believe in this love business," the bronze-haired man continued, "that you believe it to be nothing more than rubbish, a joke. I want you to ask for your forgiveness for misleading them, and then, you will quietly leave Katashi...forever."

"Yes, sir," Ikuto replied with a heavy heart.

And with that, the older man dismissed the music teacher. But just as Ikuto was walking out, the next words of his former headmaster made him stop.

"I'd told you, Yue-san," Tsumugu spoke, "in wars of love and fear, fear will always come out victorious. I'd told you from the start, Yue-san, that I would win. And I have, just as I said."

At this, Ikuto turned around to look at the older man. He looked up at the photograph of his late lover and a new sense of determination and anger filled him. "Forgive me, sir, but from where I stand, you've lost," he stated.

Tsumugu quickly turned back to the younger man at this, surprised.

"Because from where I stand," Ikuto spoke, "I see a fifty-five-year-old man standing below the photo of his dead seventeen-year-old daughter. You lost then, and you have lost now."

"Have you ever wondered why I came back to Katashi, Hinamori-san? For whom?" Ikuto asked, tucking his glasses into the breast-pocket of his shirt. "The girl I love is not in this world anymore. Who are Kukai, Nagihiko, and Tadase to me? I didn't know them; I didn't know anyone here. I came back here for you, Hinamori-san." He held a hand out to the headmaster.

"I came back for the father of the girl I loved and will always love," he said, his tanzanite gaze bearing into Tsumugu's. "I came back because she always told me that 'my Papa's a really loving man.'. That you were only tough on the outside, but soft within. Came here to break that shell." He smiled softly. "Did you know, Hinamori-san, that I don't have a single photo of Amu?"

Tsumugu just continued to stare at the young man with a blank expression.

"I don't need a material image to see Amu," the blue-haired man continued. "I always have been able to see her, and not always because of the power my key and her lock share. No, even without the power of our trinkets, I still see her whenever I see love."

Tears began to cascade down the young man's cheeks. "And I believed that if I could make one love story blossom right before your eyes, you would be able to see Amu and she would eventually come to see you herself. That you would see how happy she is and it might ease away your pain. I'd only come to show you love, Hinamori-san; I only came to show you love and how beautiful it is. I came because I realized that Amu was incomplete without you, sir, but you failed to realize that she was incomplete without me as well. The both of us completed her; I only came to complete what we couldn't when she lived. I came here to complete Amu; I came to complete her."

Ikuto wiped away his tears and stood tall. "You've won every battle in life, but you lost everything that was worth living for. You lost a daughter then, and you've lost a son now. Forgive me, sir, but from where I stand, you've lost everything. I see a stubborn man with his back turned to the two people that truly loved him. Forgive me, sir. Forgive me."

And with that, the blue-haired man turned around and walked out of the home and into the storm outside, leaving the headmaster to stare after him, once more.

AN: Goodness, this was depressing to write! But there should be only one or two more chapters left, depending on how I divide the last couple minutes or so of the film.

Thanks for reading and stayed tuned for more!

Ciao,

TsukyioTenshi