xvi

When Tadase's figure finally came into view, Amu breathed a sigh of relief. At least he was already there. She was still cautious the rest of the way but knowing Tadase was there was enough for Amu to lower her guard. Still, she made a brisk jog towards him as soon as she saw him. He glanced over at her as she approached and, almost immediately, a bright smile formed on his face.

"Good morning, Amu-chan!" he greeted as Amu stopped in front of him. "Did you sleep alright?"

Amu had been preparing herself for this question the whole way there but she still couldn't help but hesitate to answer. She managed to nod. "Yeah…I guess so."

Obviously, due to the hesitation, Amu's answer wasn't believable enough for Tadase. He stepped forward and examined her closer, his smile immediately turning into a concerned expression. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

Amu looked down, feeling slightly ashamed that she had already been called out. She should have known that she couldn't hide something like that from Tadase. She was pleasantly surprised, however, when she felt Tadase's warm arms wrap around her. For a moment, she was too shocked at the abruptness to react but, after a second, wound her arms around Tadase's torso and, forgetting she was wearing make-up, buried her face into his shoulder. Tadase's comforting words and caressing made all of Amu's negative feelings wash away immediately. She held him tighter, nuzzling into him. When she did remember she was wearing make-up, she mentally hoped it wouldn't rub off on his blazer.

She pulled away after another second and smiled up at Tadase gratefully. "Thank you, Tadase-kun. I honestly…woke up feeling kinda shitty. But just your presence had made me feel a lot better."

Tadase patted Amu on the head, caressing her hair on the last pat. "I'm glad I was able to lift your mood a bit. We should get going, though. As much as I love being able to hold you like this, we'll be late if we keep dilly-dallying."

Amu nodded her head and took Tadase's hand. Tadase smiled at her endearingly and the two of them began walking in the direction of the school. Walking hand in hand, especially with their fingers intertwined, was something Amu would have secretly judged people for before. She had never been a fan of PDA before. However, now that Amu was in a relationship with someone she had strong feelings for, she sometimes wished she never had to let Tadase's hand go. She finally understood why couples did PDA so often. It was hard not to when you were in love.

When they arrived at the school, they ran into Naghiko and Rima just inside the front gate. Rima, having gotten rather clingy since their trip to meet Amu's friends immediately grabbed onto Amu's free arm. Amu smiled at her, which Rima returned. Tadase and Nagihiko chuckled at Rima's sudden flip in personality.

"Good morning, Amu-chan, Tadase-kun," Nagihiko said with a friendly smile. He seemed the most amused yet surprised at Rima's actions.

"Morning." Amu responded at the same time as Tadase had said, "Good morning."

Rima looked at the two of them with an amused, slightly suggestive expression and Nagihiko let out another laugh. Amu couldn't help but look away, her cheeks turning a soft pink. Rima tugged Amu forward as the bell rang signalling students had 10 minutes to get to class. The four teens parted ways, and Amu followed Rima to class since they shared the same morning class.

"Amu, are you wearing make-up?" Rima bluntly asked once they were on their way to the classroom and the other boys had gone towards their own classes.

Amu looked at Rima in shock. "I-is it that obvious? Do I look weird?"

Rima shook her head. "No, no. You look good! Call it an instinct because I wear make-up too, plus I've never seen you wear it yet. Are you covering something up?" she leaned in a bit to examine Amu closed. "It seems heavier around your eyes..."

Amu frowned as they stepped into their classroom. Leave it to Rima, who silently watched everything, to see right through her, even her make-up. "I'll, uh, I'll tell you later."

The two sat down in their assigned seats and soon, their teacher walked in and their class started. Amu had a hard time trying to stay awake the entire class. It wasn't even that the class was boring; it was that her nightmares only allowed her to have maybe 2-3 hours of sleep total. She didn't want to get in trouble for falling asleep in class, though, so she tried to force herself to stay awake, which was incredibly hard.

She considered going to the nurse's office to sleep there but her next class was with Tadase and she knew that if she didn't show up to class, she'd worry him even more. He already knew she'd had a nightmare, she didn't need him knowing how little sleep the nightmare caused her to have. She sighed and looked out the window, hoping that watching the morning physical education class outside would somehow keep her awake.

After what felt like much longer than 2 classes and 2 hours, the lunch bell rang. Amu went to her locker to get her lunch box. For some reason, she couldn't help but think about when she first met Tadase in this exact spot. She was deep in that thought, though she didn't even notice that Tadase had actually joined her at her locker. She was too busy wondering how someone like Tadase could like someone as boring as her.

"Amu-chan?" Tadase poked Amu's shoulder to get her attention. "Are you going to continue staring into space or are you going to come to eat lunch on the roof with the others?"

"Huh?" Amu shook from her thoughts and looked at Tadase, smiling slightly when she saw him. "Oh, Tadase-kun! Sorry. I was thinking about when we met at the end of last year's trimester."

"That was how long ago? Four or five months?" Tadase hummed in thought as he tried to do the math in his head. "Has it really only been that long? It feels like it's been longer…"

"Time flies when you're having fun…" Amu joked dryly. "…Or when you're being threatened by your boyfriend's ex."

Tadase frowned and shook his head as he lightly hit Amu on the head. "Enough of that. We should go and meet up with the others."

Amu rubbed her head with a pout but followed Tadase out of the classroom and up to the rooftop, where she was met by Rima and Nagihiko. Even Lulu had joined them despite not being as familiar with the others.

Amu enjoyed being able to eat on the roof. It had a nice view, and it was a great breath of fresh air. Ironically, though, Amu was terrified of heights. At least it was gated off so she couldn't accidentally fall or get too close to the edge.

Nagihiko waved when he saw Tadase and Amu coming towards them, while Rima just smiled. Lulu, however, jumped up and grabbed Amu's arm, a flurry of words that Amu barely understood tumbling out of Lulu's mouth. Tadase decided it was best to let Lulu and Amu talk some and joined Nagihiko and Rima by the wall.

"Lulu, please, slow down," Amu said, cleaning out her ear slightly, as Lulu had all but yelled in it. She was almost as bad as Yaya in that aspect sometimes. "I can barely understand your accent as is, you're practically speaking gibberish right now."

Lulu frowned and took a breath. She made an effort to not let her accent slip through as much as she spoke her next words "Sorry, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. Rima-san told me you went back to your hometown with Tadase and her. Why didn't you invite me?!"

Amu blinked before chuckling slightly. "Well…it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I was surprised Rima even came."

Lulu pouted. "I can't believe y'all had fun without me! You're gonna have to tell me everything that happened that day! Including what your friends are like!"

Amu laughed and patted Lulu's back. "Alright, alright. Can I eat first, at least? I can tell you later over the phone, or we can go to…your place after school."

Lulu sighed but nodded. "A'ight. I have to go, I just wanted t' talk t' ya before I went to do some club work. You better tell me about your friends later! I'm holdin' ya to it!"

Amu nodded as well, hugging Lulu gently before watching her jog down the stairs that led down from the roof. Amu chuckled softly before joining Rima, Nagihiko and Tadase by the wall. She sat next to Rima and opened her lunch, smiling politely at Nagihiko. For whatever reason, after seeing Nadeshiko, Amu found it weird to look at Nagihiko.

"So, Tadase-kun mentioned you three went to Amu's old school?" Nagihiko inquired, leaning over Rima to look at Amu with a playful smile. "Is my sister doing alright? She didn't cause you any trouble, did she?"

Amu laughed and shook her head. "No, no. Nade wasn't the one who was causing trouble. The trip was fun though! It was good to see my old friends again."

Nagihiko smiled. "I'm glad to hear you had some time to relax. You deserve it, Amu-chan. Really."

Amu mirrored Nagihiko's smile and began to slowly eat her food, swallowing before speaking. "Thanks, Nagi. I'm glad I got to see them again and introduce them to my new friends."

Nagihiko finished up his lunch and stood up. "Well, I'm done eating so I'm going to go and, uh…finish some homework." he looked at Rima. "Rima-chan would you mind, um, helping me with that?"

Rima shot Nagihiko a glare, clinging onto Amu's arm. "Why should I go with you? I wanna stay with Amu. Plus, I'm not even done eating my lunch yet!"

Amu chuckled softly, patting Rima's head. "I didn't think you were the clingy type, Rima."

Rima pouted but remained to cling to Amu's arm. "I don't want to go with him."

"Well, if you insist on being the third wheel…" Nagihiko said with an amused smirk.

Rima shrugged. "That was practically what I was that whole trip, I have no issues."

Nagihiko sighed, not expecting such a nonchalant answer from her and walked up to Rima. He grabbed her wrist gently and all but dragged her away from Amu. "Come on, Rima-chan~ Let's let them have some alone time!"

Rima put up a fight at first but after a minute or so of tugging, she groaned and reluctantly let Nagihiko drag her towards the roof door. She turned back to Amu, with a somewhat pleading expression despite saying, "I'll see you in class, Amu."

With Nagihiko and Rima gone, Tadase slid over and looked at Amu, who was still eating her food slowly. After a comfortable amount of silence, Tadase decided to speak. He swallowed his food and put his hand on top of Amu's, drawing her attention to him.

"So…are you ready to talk about the nightmare you had?" he asked, tilting his head slightly. "Or would you rather not tell me them yet?"

Amu's rice suddenly felt like rocks as she swallowed them. The mention of her nightmare made her almost lose her appetite. She set her chopsticks down but didn't meet Tadase's gaze. "I…I don't think I can talk about it just yet... They've just gotten harder and harder for me to remember, and not in the way I want…" Noticing Tadase's slightly disappointed expression, she put her other hand on top of his and added, "I really appreciate you being there through this though. It really means a lot."

Tadase smiled at the last comment and squeezed Amu's hand gently. "Of course, Amu-chan. You know I'd do anything for you. I get it can be hard to talk about something that horrified you."

Amu returned the smile. Suddenly, she had the urge to yawn. She tried to stifle it but failed, causing Tadase to immediately notice this and tilt his head. He leaned towards her a bit to examine her face, brushing some hair away in the process. Amu chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. Tadase would definitely be able to notice the make-up this close up, and would possibly be able to deduce that the makeup was hiding the dark circles under her eyes. She sighed slightly as Tadase opened his mouth to speak; she already knew exactly what he was about to say.

"You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" it was almost word for word to what Amu had thought he was going to say.

She looked down at her food, which was increasingly less appetizing the more she looked at it, avoiding Tadase's gaze once again. "I…I got a bit of sleep…"

"How much?" Tadase inquired, leaning even closer. Amu could practically feel his breath on her face.

"T-two or three hours…?" she mumbled, poking at her rice.

Amu heard Tadase sigh and lean back again. She didn't speak and just forced herself to eat a bit of her rice, knowing that if she didn't eat, Tadase would just have another reason to worry about him. It still tasted like rocks both in flavour and texture but she managed to chew and swallow them without wanting to throw them up.

She just wanted this situation to end, but she had a feeling it would be a long time before this whole thing ended. Part of her wanted to cry, but she was worried it would ruin her make-up. She decided to stay silent instead, forcing herself to eat despite her appetite almost completely gone now.

After what felt like several minutes of silence, Tadase began to worry about how silent Amu had become. He eyed her with a concerned expression and tapped Amu's chin to get her to look at him. "Amu-chan? Did I say something wrong? Was I being too nosy?"

Amu shook her head, still keeping her eyes glued to the ground. "I-I'm fine…"

Tadase sighed once more and enveloped her into a tight hug. "You always say you're fine, but I know you're not fine. You know you can be honest with me."

Amu just buried herself into Tadase's shoulder, not saying a word. Tadase didn't force her to say anything, either. They stayed, Tadase holding Amu tightly in his arms until lunchtime was nearly over. Tadase just patted or rubbed Amu's back, while Amu tried to keep herself from crying.

"You don't need to be afraid, Amu-chan," Tadase spoke softly, his tone rather comforting. "I really don't want you to go through this alone, either. You know I'm here for you and will come to you whenever you need it. Even if you get kidnapped or something, I will do anything to get you back."

The last sentence Tadase spoke caused Amu to freeze up. Though he may not have meant it, those words hurt more than they comforted. In fact, most of her nightmares involved her getting kidnapped and she really didn't want to think about that being a reality. It was scary enough as just a figment of her imagination; her mind playing tricks on her. She sighed against Tadase's shoulder, feeling him tighten his grip on her as if he knew that Amu had tensed up for whatever reason. Amu wished they could stay like this forever. Unfortunately, the school bell went off, signalling the end of lunch.

Amu moved to get out of Tadase's embrace, albeit reluctantly, but Tadase didn't let her go too far. He stopped her just enough where they were practically nose to nose. He pecked her lips gently before completely releasing her from his grips. "Please, just call me next time you feel afraid, from a nightmare or anything. I don't care if it's 5 in the evening or 5 in the morning. I'll listen to you. Hell, I'll come to your house if I have to."

Amu looked down bashfully, rubbing her arm. "Thanks, Tadase-kun… I really appreciate it."

"I love you so much, Amu-chan," he said softly, helping Amu to her feet.

Amu blushed, still not used to hearing those words. "I-I love you too, Tadase-kun…"

Tadase smiled and took Amu's hand, tugging her forward slightly. "We'd better hurry or we'll be late for class, then!"

The two briskly jogged back into the school and headed toward their next class. Amu still felt exhausted both physically and emotionally but with Tadase by her side, she was able to feel a bit better. Still, she continued to find it hard to focus on anything being said in class.

School ended much quicker than Amu had expected but, by the end of it, she only felt even more exhausted. So much so that she felt like if she had to stay upright any longer, she would collapse. It probably didn't help that she hadn't eaten much of her lunch, either. She tried to stay upright as she waited for Tadase to come out but it was becoming increasingly hard. Her vision kept blurring and she kept seeing black spots. If not for Tadase finally showing up and finding her leaning against the wall in front of the main entrance, in a slight daze, she probably would have fainted and face planted right onto the cement. Instead, when she fainted, she landed on his shoulder.

At first, Tadase had no idea how to react to Amu's actions, as he hadn't realized the situation just yet. He thought it was just a cute action of her showing her gratitude for him or just wanting to rest her head for a bit. He wasn't even aware that Amu was unconscious until she didn't respond to him calling her name several times. When she continued to not move, Tadase realized that she was pushing more of her weight onto him than what would be normal for a cute little act of dropping her head on his shoulder.

"Amu-chan…?" Tadase tried to call out again, with no response. He tried to pull Amu's body away from his but when he did, all of her weight pushed into him as her head drooped further, while the rest of her limbs remained limp. "Amu-chan?!"

Although quite concerned, all Tadase could do was sigh. He wasn't too surprised that Amu had seemingly fainted all things considered; she only ate barely half of her lunch and she had barely gotten any sleep. The most he could do now was either take her to his house or the infirmary and considering the infirmary was closer, that was looking like the better option.

Sometimes Tadase wished he could just live with Amu. Together in the same house or apartment, that way he could always keep an eye on her and be there for her. Unfortunately, them being 16-years-old, with no job made that very hard to do unless by some miracle one of their parents signed a lease for them, which, considering Amu's father, was highly unlikely to be agreed upon. He signed once more as he carried Amu back into the school and towards the infirmary. The other convenient thing about taking Amu to the infirmary was he could have his father drive her either to her own house or back to his place once he was done work.

Gently setting Amu on the infirmary bed, he looked around the office before producing a cloth, which he quickly wet with some water. Tadase didn't feel a fever on her, but just in case, he placed the cloth over Amu's forehead. Soon, time had passed and Amu had already been unconscious for close to an hour. By now, Tadase was beyond worried and his father wouldn't be getting ready to leave for another 30 minutes. The good thing was, at least he knew the reason for Amu's fainting spell, the concerning part was how long it was taking her to wake up.

Once Amu decided to finally wake up, whenever that may be, (though Tadase hoped it would be sooner rather than later), he was going to make sure she ate a full meal since clearly, she hadn't gotten enough nutrients that day. He sighed and went to a vending machine to get some fresh bottled water for Amu to drink when she woke up as well. When he returned, the remainder of the time was spent in almost unbearable silence. The silence was driving Tadase crazy but there wasn't much else he could do about that.

After about ten more minutes, Amu began to stir on the bed. She groaned slightly and a wave of relief washed over Tadase as he watched her eyes flutter open slowly. She rubbed her eyes as they adjusted to the bright white that surrounded them. Then, her eyes darted around and she tried to sit up in a hurry. Tadase frowned and quickly moved to stop her from sitting up, or at the very least, help her sit up a bit slower.

"Whoa, there, Amu-chan," he said softly, "Take it easy, there. If you get up too fast, you might get dizzy."

"Tadase-kun…?" she squinted in confusion slightly as she let Tadase help her sit up. "What happened…?"

Tadase's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't remember? You fainted on me after school ended. If you hadn't woken up, I was going to have otou-san take you back to my place after he was done with work here." he explained. "You've been out for about an hour and a half almost. Do you need anything?"

Amu's eyebrows also furrowed, though hers were in confusion, while Tadase's was concerned. "I…um, water is fine for now…"

Tadase nodded his head and handed Amu the water bottle he had prepared. "Do you need help? You seem weak still, I can open the water bottle for you if you want?"

Amu took the water bottle and opened it herself with minimal problems. "I'm fine, Tadase-kun. I'm not a weak child."

The words sounded a lot more harsher than Amu intended but it wasn't like she could take it back. Or…she could, but she didn't really feel like talking too much. Despite not hitting her head or anything, she had a fairly bad headache. However, Amu's phrasing and tone did make him realize he could potentially be over-exaggerating or babying Amu too much. He just didn't know what else he could do as her boyfriend besides worry, nag and baby her in times like this. Until he was able to confirm that Amu was 100% okay both mentally and physically, he'd continue to worry about her, too.

"Now that you're awake, we should get some food in you," Tadase said, watching Amu take a large guzzle of water. "You didn't finish your lunch, after all."

"I…I guess I am getting a bit hungry…" Amu muttered, pushing the blanket off of her legs and swinging them over the edge of the bed.

"If you don't mind waiting, I can check on otou-san and see if he can take us somewhere across town to eat if you'd like," Tadase suggested, watching Amu, making sure she didn't overexert herself.

Amu managed a smile. "That sounds nice, go ahead. We don't have to go anywhere fancy though."

Tadase smiled as well and nodded, reaching out to caress Amu's cheek gently. "I'll be right back, then."

With that, he left the infirmary to go to the principles office where his father likely was. Several minutes later, after catching his father right on time, he returned to the infirmary with Tsukasa trailing behind him. Upon seeing Tadase return with his father, Amu immediately moved to stand up, Tadase quickly rushing to her side to help her. The three then left the school grounds and made their way to Tsukasa's car.

"So, Tadase told me you fainted," Tsukasa commented as they walked, looking at Amu. His face had the same concerned expression etched in it that Tadase had had. "I take it you're feeling better now?"

Amu nodded slowly, astonished at Tadase's resemblance to his father suddenly. "Y-yes, I'm fine. I'm just feeling a bit hungry now."

"How about we go to a cafe then? Or some place with healthy food, so you can recuperate those nutrients you missed out on." Tsukasa gave a slight, polite smile as they arrived at the car. "Anything in mind?"

Tadase opened the car door for Amu as she shook her head. Tadase then got into the passenger's seat once Amu was settled. He told his father that they wanted to go somewhere new, preferably nowhere near the school or either his nor Amu's house. Tsukasa seemed a little confused by this specific request but shrugged and didn't question it. He just turned the cars engine on and headed off.

A/N: just a reminder because I haven't used Japanese much in this; Otou-san is 'father'. Also, I mentioned onii-san in the previous chapter I think which is 'big brother' (though while in the context I used it in, it was used as 'older brother', it can also just be used by a younger person to refer to any older male figure).

Anyway, a lil bit of sweetness and fluff (and blatant foreshadowing because I love foreshadowing) to prepare for what's coming up. 2 more chapters before shit starts to get real. You'll know something serious is happening when I start adding more trigger warnings before the chapter.

I actually took a part of the chapter after this one to make this chapter a bit longer because I wasn't happy with how I ended this chapter off. Unfortunately, that meant shortening the next chapter but I actually do like where that chapter ends off even with it being slightly shorter.

Since I'm in a good mood and have a few more chapters edited, I'll probably be generous and give you the rest of the chapters I have edited/rewritten. I hope whoever's reading this has a fantastic day/night/afternoon/evening.

Niki, Out.