xv
As Amu's eyes scanned the area, her eyes landed on a suspicious-looking man walking by in a way that was probably supposed to look inconspicuous but really did not. When he noticed Amu looking at him, he began whistling and very awkwardly looked the other way. Not very inconspicuous at all, dude. Amu couldn't help but think as she chewed her lip and lowered her head in an attempt to hide her face. Not that that was any less obvious. Out of the peripherals of her vision, she watched the suspicious man sit down at a nearby bench.
Defensively, she gently tilted Tadase's head away from the bench so that he wasn't as easily identifiable by the man, despite the probability that this guy was already aware of both of them and had been for a while. Amu's theory was that he wasn't able to do anything while there were other people around, but now it was just the two of them, he figured had the perfect chance to try something. Though Amu wasn't really too keen on finding out exactly what that 'something' was. Unfortunately for her, the chances that she wouldn't find out were much slimmer than her chances of finding out.
Amu swallowed a lump in her throat when she noticed the man put his hand in his pocket and take something out. It looked like a small, pocket-sized weapon. Amu gulped once more as the man looked around and stood up once more. The action allowed Amu to catch a glimpse of glistening metal in the man's hand, confirming that it was in fact a weapon and a sharp one at that.
Amu couldn't help but wonder how long this man had been tailing them for. Which was bad because now she was beginning to overthink. Had he caught them at the park? Or maybe the cafe? What if he had been following them since they left the house? The last option gave Amu chills and she tried to shake the thought from her head.
Amu had no idea what she could do in this situation? Would it be too obvious to try to call 911? What if she dialled the number and left the phone out for them to hear…but then they'd need her location. She could call a friend the same way but…how would they know as well where they were? Not to mention what if help didn't come in time? The only thing she could do is just accept fate and maybe hope that, by some miracle, someone walked by, preventing him from finishing the job or, even less likely, someone swooped in to save them.
Amu absentmindedly combed her fingers through Tadase's hair to calm herself down a bit as the armed man approached them. His pace was slow but also felt a little hasty as well. As if he really wanted to get the job done but also didn't want to draw too much attention. Amu really hoped that someone was hiding in the bushes or something, anything, ready to jump out and help them. Or at the very least help Tadase.
"I'm sorry if something happens to me or you…" Amu whispered to Tadase as the man stopped a couple of meters in front of them and smiled menacingly.
The man spoke, but Amu had already prepared herself for the worst and was unable to fully understand what he was saying. After all, what else could she do but just accept whatever was about to happen? Sure, it was reckless and stupid but Tadase needed the sleep, and Amu was just an unarmed, injured teenager. Even if she did try to do something, she could risk getting herself even more hurt. The most she could do was wake up Tadase, but even then, with this guy standing right over them now, there wasn't much he could do either. Especially if he were to wake up groggily. They were really in a lose-lose situation even if they tried to run.
With Amu's tightly closed, fearing the worst, she failed to notice two things. Firstly, the man hadn't made any move to strike despite it being a few seconds since he last spoke. Secondly, someone had stepped between them and the armed man. Of course, her brain just hadn't had enough time to consider how long it had been in the case of the first thing. Finally, her brain caught up to the situation and noticed how long it had been since anything happened.
Amu chewed her lip nervously and curiously opened an eye to see what was happening. Without looking up, all she could see were…two pairs of legs? Of course, she understood one pair but…why were there two? And why were the other legs facing…away from her? Confused, she opened her other eye and peeked upward. Standing between her and the attacker was a man (or maybe a woman, it was hard to tell) in all black. He was currently all but wrestling with the other person as he twisted the attacker's arm this way and that in an attempt to get him to drop the weapon.
Had someone actually come and saved them? Was this even actually happening? Amu found it hard to believe but had no other explanation. She must have had some luck saved up somehow after all the bad luck she'd been having lately. The saviour, if that was really what he was, was quite tall. Unfortunately, she couldn't really get any other identifiable features as the person was wearing all black, including a black hoodie with the hood up. She stared up at the fight going on in front of her in shock and awe. She couldn't believe this was actually happening.
The man in front of them turned his head slightly towards Amu and Tadase and Amu leaned forward further to try and see a face but unfortunately for her, the hood was still blocking her view. He made a gesture with his head that Amu presumed was a 'get the hell out of here' motion and, before Amu could even react, the man had practically disappeared. Even the attacker seemed confused, looking around defensively.
Amu took that as an opportunity to throw a rock at the attacker, hoping to distract him even more and turned to wake Tadase as carefully as possible, shaking him lightly. The rock hit the attacker in the shoulder but unfortunately didn't phase him much. In fact, it only made him even more annoyed and angry.
Out of nowhere, the man Amu could only think of as their saviour landed behind the attacker and put him in a headlock, dragging him away kicking and fighting. The knife fell out of the attacker's hand in the struggle. Still too busy trying to wake Tadase up in a way that wouldn't scare him, Amu once again missed the chance at seeing their saviour's identity. By the time she looked back up, he was gone, and so was the attacker.
When the saviour returned, his hood was back up and too low on his face for Amu to notice. In a very familiar voice, he told Amu to put Tadase on his back. However, due to how panicked Amu was, she was unable to put a face or name to the voice. He had to all but drag Amu away from the scene. Soon, they were back in a more populated area. Tadase was still half asleep and too groggy to realize what was even happening. Amu was worried that Tadase would slide off the saviour's back so kept her eyes on him. She didn't even stop to think or ask who her saviour was until the guy had removed his hood. When she looked over, her jaw almost fell off as she realized just who had saved their lives, again.
"Wait, Ikuto!?" Amu exclaimed at her belated realization. No wonder the voice sounded so familiar. "H-how? Why?"
Ikuto couldn't help but smirk in amusement at how late Amu was at realizing who he was. He chuckled and ruffled Amu's hair. "Tadase had sent me a message earlier telling me where you guys were going. I think he was worried something would happen. Luckily, I was in the area otherwise you'd both be in some serious trouble."
As Ikuto said that, the same wave of emotions that had overcome her when they had re-entered the city the other day had washed over her again in realization. Due to the adrenaline, Amu hadn't really thought about exactly what would happen if Ikuto hadn't shown up. She choked up as she spoke. "I…I could have died…w-we both could have… I-I couldn't do anything…I just…I just…"
Amu crumbled to the ground, her hands covering her face as she began to shake and burst into tears. Ikuto sighed, his smug smile instantly turning into a frown as he looked at Amu wistfully. He gently placed Tadase on a bench nearby and crouched in front of Amu, firstly patting her back. Not caring what Tadase thought, Ikuto then wrapped his arms around Amu in a tight hug. He was sure Tadase wouldn't care if it was to comfort Amu, though he would probably prefer it to be him comforting Amu, not Ikuto. Still…Ikuto instantly remembered why he rarely did stuff like this; he had no idea how to comfort people besides hugging them.
"If that sounded offensive in any way, I'm sorry. I didn't intend it that way, I was just trying to make a, albeit horrible, joke." he rubbed Amu's back a little awkwardly as her tears soaked through his hoodie. "Death isn't anything you should be worrying about. At least not yet. I'll protect you. Both of you."
Amu was a little taken aback Ikuto wrapped his around her comfortingly. At first, it felt a little weird; maybe she was too used to Tadase's hugs. However, considering the situation, Amu felt…warm. It was different from Tadase's hugs, which made her feel warm and fuzzy both inside and out. The only thing she could liken the feeling to was the hug of a big brother, though Amu had never really had a big brother so it's not like she would know exactly. Perhaps it was also similar to the hugs her father used to give her as a kid after she had a nightmare?
One thing was for sure; Ikuto was not very good at comforting others. Amu could feel the awkwardness and uncertainty in his actions, even if they were quite comforting in a way. It was almost as if the thoughts going through Ikuto's head were 'Oh God, how do I stop her from crying before Tadase fully wakes up?'. Maybe that was the most comforting part though; the fact that Ikuto didn't know what he was doing but was still willing to do it in order to stop Amu from crying.
"I won't let you die this early on, Amu," He said, awkwardly moving his hand to pat Amu's head. "You still have a long life to live and I don't want Tadase blaming himself if anything were to happen to you."
Amu pulled away, having calmed down enough to think straight. She glanced towards Tadase, who was still somehow sound asleep on the bench Ikuto had placed him on. Amu was kind of glad Tadase hadn't seen her sudden breakdown. He'd already seen one breakdown earlier in the morning, Amu was sure he wouldn't have wanted to see a second one. She looked back at Ikuto and rubbed her eyes and cheeks from the rest of her tears, smiling slightly to show that she was feeling better.
"Thank you, Ikuto," she said, patting Ikuto's shoulder, suddenly unsure how to respond to Ikuto being so close. "It feels weird saying this but you've helped us out numerous times. I appreciate it, really."
Ikuto pinched Amu's cheek playfully. "Anything for my little bro's girlfriend. You're basically like my little sister now."
Amu frowned at the pinch but couldn't help but chuckle at the comment he made and how similar it was to her own thoughts. "You know, I was just thinking about how you feel like the big brother I never had."
"Full disclosure, you said that yourself, and you can't take it back now!" Ikuto teased, moving away from Amu and standing back up. He helped Amu up to her feet and looked over at Tadase. "Why don't you go make Tadase comfortable until he's ready to actually wake up."
Amu rolled her eyes at Ikuto's first comment before nodding and going back to Tadase. She sat on the edge of the bench and placed his head back on her lap gently. He immediately nuzzled into her, which almost made her melt inside. She smiled and gently brushed some hair out of his face, watching him continue to sleep peacefully. Part of her was glad she didn't wake him up sooner. He deserved this rest.
She really owed a lot to Ikuto, too. He'd saved her from an early demise at least three or four times now. The first time, he hadn't even known her yet still saved her. Amu was starting to realize that he may look sly, mysterious and untrustworthy on the outside, but in reality, he was someone who really cared about those close to him, Amu included now that she, hopefully, was someone Ikuto considered a friend. It also helped that she was dating Tadase.
"By the way, what did you do to that guy after you dragged him off?" Amu asked, remembering she saw him drag him off but didn't see what happened after.
"Oh, the weirdo with the knife?" Ikuto shrugged nonchalantly. "There was a cop patrolling the street and I just gave him to the cop. Apparently, him having a weapon in public was enough for them to detain him for questioning. Of course, I also mentioned he had threatened someone with it and was willing to testify if necessary."
Amu nodded slowly in understanding before drawing her attention back to Tadase, who had begun stirring on her lap. His eyes fluttered open and he looked around, his eyes still half-lidded. He sat up and looked at Amu, not yet spotting Ikuto, as he was out of Tadase's peripherals.
"Amu-chan?" he rubbed the sleepiness out of his eyes. "Where are we? I had a weird dream…"
Amu chewed her lip as she remained silent for a moment. She wasn't sure if she should tell him what had happened or not. For all Amu knew, the dream he had could have been totally unrelated to what had happened. "Did you? I hope it wasn't…a bad dream. Did you sleep well at least?" she asked, trying to sound casual.
He looked around once more, somehow still not spotting Ikuto, who was leaning against a tree that was not even a meter away from the bench they were at. He looked back at Amu in confusion. "Wait, this isn't where we were before I fell asleep… Did…something happen? How did we get here?"
"Well…we were at the park…" Amu mumbled, realizing the jig was up and she would have to tell him anyway. Curse him for being smart even when only half-awake. "I-I think it's best Ikuto explained it."
"Ikuto n-niisan?" After Amu mentioned his name, Tadase finally seemed to notice that his unrelated 'brother' was present as well and his eyes widened. "When did you…?"
"Yo, kiddo," Ikuto gave a playful two-fingered salute. "After you told me where you were going, I got a bit worried. Luckily, I had some things to do nearby. If you were trying to disguise yourself, definitely didn't do a good job. I found you guys immediately. The guy probably did too."
"What do you mean…? What guy?" Tadase blinked, still half asleep and very much confused.
"W-well…" Amu looked down, playing with her fingers nervously. Now she had to tell Tadase the whole story. "After you fell asleep, a suspicious dude happened to walk by… I tried to make sure he didn't see our faces but it seemed like he already knew who we were. I didn't want to wake you up so soon so…I didn't. And then…well, then Ikuto showed up."
Tadase looked from Ikuto to Amu. His eyes got wider as he took in Amu's words and he immediately looked back at Amu. "Wait a minute! You're telling me you just sat there? Knowing you could have died!?"
Amu sighed. Even she was just as disappointed in herself as Tadase sounded. Something bubbled in her chest as she felt the need to defend her actions. In turn, she accidentally raised her voice, nearly yelling at Tadase as she said, "What the hell else was I supposed to do?! Even if I did wake you up, you would probably have been too groggy to do anything, and I'm not as physically capable as those silly rumours make me seem! Not to mention, we're both injured! There was no way we could outrun him!" by the end of her mini-rant, she was panting.
Tadase didn't say anything for a while. Tadase couldn't help but agree with what Amu was saying, as bad as it sounded. It was a reckless move, but Amu was able to think through what she could and couldn't do and decided that there physically wasn't anything. Tadase noticed Ikuto move away from the tree just probably thinking he would need to come between them in case of a fight. That wasn't necessary, though because, after a long silence, Tadase sighed and took Amu's hand in his.
For a second, Amu was worried about what was about to happen but to her surprise, Tadase just pulled her into a tight embrace. His girlfriend could have died. Hell, he could have died. More than anything, he was relieved that they were both alive.
Seeing that he wasn't needed to break anything up, as he had initially thought he would have to do, Ikuto moved back to the tree he had been leaning on and moved to the opposite side of the trunk. He knew what was probably coming and didn't really want to watch his 'little brother' being lovey-dovey with Amu.
Tadase pulled away from the hug and looked Amu in the eyes. He smiled slightly and cupped Amu's cheeks in his hands, kissing her gently before, with much reluctance, pulling away and caressing her cheek lovingly with his thumb.
"Alright, I understand your thought process, Amu-chan but…what if Ikuto-niisan hadn't shown up?" he asked, examining Amu's face.
Amu lowered her gaze dejectedly. "I-I know… Once I saw Ikuto, or well, someone, since I didn't realize it was him at first, was there to save us, I did what I could and threw a rock at the guy who was trying to attack us." she sighed, attempting to move away from Tadase's grip, feeling ashamed. "I'm sorry, Tadase-kun…I ruined our date."
"I don't care about that as long as you're alright." Tadase's hand followed Amu's face as she tried to move her head, forcing her to look back at him. He gently pecked Amu's lips once more to ease her mind. "I'm not mad, you don't need to shy away from me."
"You know," Ikuto called out, reminding the couple that he was still there, "I'd hate to ruin this moment, but actually I'd love to ruin this moment so I can hear a 'thank you' from Tadase." He walked closer to the bench again, looking at Amu with a smug smirk as he added "Even Amu thanked me. And you know what? She said I was like a big brother to her."
It was as Ikuto said that, that Amu realized that calling Ikuto her brother when Tadase was also technically her brother only had one possible implication. She squeaked slightly and shot a glare to Ikuto. Tadase was about to question Amu when she abruptly exclaimed, "W-whatever you're thinking was not what we were talking about!"
Tadase blinked in surprise at the outburst from Amu. Ikuto still had a smug smirk on his face as he chuckled softly, clearly not phased by Amu's glare. Tadase leaned closer to Amu slightly, their closeness, despite them having already been quite close, causing Amu to lean back herself. Tadase let out a mischievous hum, with a smile Amu hadn't seen on him before. It was almost similar to Ikuto's smug smirk.
"What was I, or Ikuto niisan even, thinking about then, Amu-chan?" Tadase inquired teasingly. Amu's face started heating up as Tadase continued. "I wasn't even going to say anything besides questioning why you would come to that conclusion. I assume that's not what you're thinking?"
Amu managed to quickly turn her head away to avoid Tadase's very amused expression, her face now completely red. "N-never mind! L-let's go home!"
She awkwardly stood up, as if she were a robot whose joints needed oiling, and tried to leave but Tadase grabbed her arm, using it to pull himself up to his feet but also almost pulling Amu down and into his lap. He tugged Amu closer as he squeezed her hand.
"God, you're cute," he said, with an amused chuckle, looking at Amu as she once again squeaked, having been pulled into Tadase's chest. "I think I'm starting to understand why niisan likes to tease you."
Amu's face probably looked like a tomato as she kept her eyes glued to the ground. She'd never felt so embarrassed in her life. Ikuto scoffed as he watched the two of them. Tadase glanced over at his 'brother' upon hearing the scoff.
"You guys are sickeningly cute, you know that right?" Ikuto said when he noticed Tadase giving him a quizzical look.
"Yeah, okay. Come to me with that when you have an actual girlfriend." Tadase shot back, holding back a remark that could have implied something else.
"What? Come on, man, it was a compliment!" Ikuto protested.
Tadase just shrugged. "The statement still stands, niisan."
Ikuto just gave Tadase a glare while Tadase responded with a smug grin. Something about Tadase getting a girlfriend before Ikuto made Tadase feel somewhat superior to him in some way. Especially since his relationship with Amu was not anywhere comparable to his partially forced relationship with Saaya. Amu remained silent, her face still buried in Tadase's chest as she tried to get over her embarrassment. The three started walking in silence after that, Amu still clinging close to Tadase to hide her still flushed face.
It took Amu some time to get over her embarrassment, so she stayed silent most of the walk back to Tadase's house. Why was the first thing that came to her mind after thinking about what it meant to mentally think of Ikuto as a brother at that time brother-in-law? How could she think about that? Her face felt hotter the longer she thought about it. She needed to stop thinking about it or else she wouldn't be able to even look at Tadase or Ikuto.
After some time of watching the still very cutely embarrassed Amu, Tadase turned his attention back to Ikuto and cleared his throat awkwardly. "By the way…" he mumbled, feeling a little weird about what he was going to say. "Thank you…Again. For saving us."
Ikuto put his hand on Tadase's head and ruffled his hair. "Hey, we may not be blood-related but you're still my little bro. We may have had our moments where we've hated each other, and we annoy each other quite often, but you're still someone I care about. Plus, I like Amu a lot more than I like that bitch who's been trying to get her killed. She'd make a good sister-in-law."
"O-oi!" Amu's face heated up at Ikuto's final words and, finally removing herself from Tadase's shoulder, shot Ikuto an annoyed yet still embarrassed glare. "Whoever said anything about that?!"
"I dunno, Amu, why don't you tell me?" Ikuto responded with an amused smirk, raising his eyebrows. "You're the one who thought about it first, weren't you?"
Amu kept glaring at Ikuto and punched him in the arm, a slight pout forming on her lips. "I-I was not!" she pouted and added, though in a slight mumble, "I hate you. You may have saved my life but I still hate you."
Ikuto mock gasped as he held his arm, pretending Amu's punch actually hurt. "How could you say that to someone you just claimed was like your older brother?"
"I take it back." Amu huffed and crossed her arms, glaring at Ikuto again. "You're not like a brother, you're like that annoying person who appears at the most random times."
Ikuto rubbed his chest playfully. "Ouch, that hurt my heart, Amu. I already told you that you can't take it back. To think I've saved you multiple times."
Amu just rolled her eyes and looked away. The three arrived back at Tadase's house shortly after and Amu was eager to escape from Ikuto's teasing. Unfortunately for her, Ikuto entered the house with them. Perhaps it was for the better, though, since clearly, Ikuto knew how to fight in case it was necessary again. Ikuto closed the door behind them while Tadase and Amu went into the bedroom. Ikuto locked the door and kept watch through the windows in the living room to make sure no one had followed them back.
While in the bedroom, Tadase had managed to convince Amu that she should go back home since she could only stay at his place for so long. It took a while of convincing but soon he was helping her pack up her stuff. Amu was hesitant, of course, but knew she couldn't just stay at Tadase's place. Especially since her father would get terribly worried and possibly hunt Tadase down for taking 'his little girl' away from him.
Tadase had promised that she could call him whenever, even if it was 3 in the morning, and Ikuto once again offered to be Amu's bodyguard of sorts, if she needed to, also being able to be on call whenever. Amu agreed with both of them just to get them off her case since she knew they would probably keep trying to convince her if she didn't agree. She really did appreciate their concern and support, though. She just felt bad adding her problems to their own.
Before Amu knew it, she was back at her house.
The following day, though, Amu was already beginning to regret leaving Tadase's place. In the middle of the night, she had awoken from a really bad nightmare, shaking and crying. Not wanting to bother Tadase so late, even though he explicitly told her that she could, and not wanting to wake her parents or sister up, she dealt with it alone, curling herself into a ball and sobbing into a pillow. When she got out of bed the next morning, she felt and probably looked horrible. Even her mother noticed something was up when Amu came down the stairs that morning for breakfast.
"Amu-chan, honey, what's wrong?" she asked, walking up to her teenage daughter and cupping her cheeks to get a closer look at her face.
Amu shook her head and gently moved away from her mother's grip. She put on a slightly forced but hopefully reassuring-looking, smile. "I'm fine, Mama. I just, um, didn't sleep very well."
Amu's mother sighed and checked the time. "After breakfast, come with me to my bedroom. We'll get you fixed up. What would your classmates say if they saw you looking like this?"
Amu frowned at what her mother was insinuating. She didn't like wearing make-up, she just didn't see a point. Still, she couldn't say no to her mother. After all, her mother was right. She didn't want Tadase and her friends to worry and didn't want her classmates to come up with more stupid rumours about her. A little make-up wouldn't hurt if it meant concealing her problems. Thus, after breakfast, Amu followed her mother into her bedroom, where her make-up was kept.
Midori sat her daughter down at the vanity and grabbed her bottle of concealer and foundation. Luckily, their skin tones were fairly similar and she got to work, covering the problem areas with concealer before putting a thin layer of foundation over her daughter's face. She even added a natural-looking amount of blush to Amu's face to bring some colour back to her face.
Several minutes later, Amu looked like she would have looked any other day. Her face had more colour in it than it had when she had woken up, her dark eyes had been concealed completely, she even had a bit of colour on her eyes and lips. Midori smiled at her daughter.
"I think you'd look so much prettier if you wore make-up more often," she said, gently putting her hand on Amu's shoulder. "Of course, it's your choice. You look pretty either way."
Amu smiled slightly at her mother's compliment and nodded. "I'll ask about it later, I'm not even sure what to do with make-up in the first place. I think this will do for now. Thanks, Mama. I'd…better meet up with Tadase-kun now."
Midori smiled and patted Amu's head gently. "Have a good day at school, sweetie."
Amu nodded once more and stood up, leaving her mother's bedroom and going back downstairs to gather her things. After putting her shoes on, she left the house and very cautiously made her way to the meeting spot she and Tadase had decided upon. She felt, and probably looked like, a paranoid weirdo as she couldn't help but look around every couple of minutes all the way through the walk, up until she could physically see Tadase waiting for her.
A/N: Lately I've been wanting to edit old stories again and accidentally edited a later chapter of this story earlier so I decided to also edit this chapter to post. I have 4 more pre-rewritten chapters to go before I've caught up on the point I re-wrote up to. It's about to get real intense though, so I may need to have trigger warnings, maybe starting the next chapter or the chapter after (because wowee the chapter I edited before this one accidentally, chapter 20, was quite the doozy, though I think the chapter before it is also quite a mess). Anticipate angst and violence soon, whoever is still reading this. I know FFN has been quite dead lately but I do still like posting here. Maybe I'm too nostalgic.
Also unrelated but I also edited the story I've been mentioning being my last Tadamu/Shugo Chara! story for a while and I'm like...questioning where exactly I want to go with it now since I edited up to the chapters I had and I have no idea if I still have the probably 5-6-year-old paper copy I'd written. Like I know the plot but at this point, I've changed a bit to the point where I'm not sure if my original written copy will be relevant so now I need to just wing it I guess.
PS: I'm always astonished by my ability to extend a fic, even without intending on it. I guess it's because I've gotten better at describing over the years but the original chapters for the story i just mentioned are almost 1k (or more) fewer words than how they ended up after I re-wrote the chapter. For example, the original chapter 1 was a little over 3000k words, and the re-written chapter is a little under 5k words. Amazing what experience writing can do for you. (I've also gotten more comfortable writing longer chapters; maybe like 3-4 years ago I didn't like going over 1k words but now I'm more on the side of not liking to go over 10k words for a chapter lmao.)
Anyway, its late as usual when I end up writing out these A/N's (and then I post the actual chapter later after I've slept) and I'm rambling about things ya'll probably don't care about. I hope everyone has a great day/night/evening/afternoon/whatever time of day you're reading this. Until next time!
Ja-ne! (haven't done that in a while lol)