Hi guys, sorry, I know this is late but school just started again and I'm down with a cold so I haven't been feeling too great. Sorry about that, but on a brighter note this chapter is slightly longer! Now, without further ado here is the next chapter!

P.S. I will probably be updated about once a week now, not as often as the first time round but better than nothing right? :D

Chapter 8: Kiddy King

Amu's POV

"Amu-chan?"

I immediately snapped out of my daze at the sound of that familiar voice. Looking up, my golden orbs met with ruby ones.

"Ta…Tadase-kun?" I asked, shocked.

Hotori Tadase. I haven't seen him in over ten years, the last time we met I was in North America rounding up a bunch of Fallen Angels and he was there helping me. We parted ways after that, and haven't seen each other since.

He'd changed a little, not much though, Angels didn't age and we could appear however we wanted, he looked maybe around 2-3 years older than the last time I saw him, his face was a little more angular and his hair was longer and he'd maybe grown a couple of inches.

Oh, I've missed him. He was the only person besides the Keepers and myself that knew about the incident. About the fact that we all used to be together...the fact I had to wipe they memories to protect them. We all used to be friends back in the old days, he even stayed with us, though he was a little camera shy at times or he was the one handling the camera so there was only one or two photo with all seven of us in it (though I managed to coerce him into taking more photos in smaller groups).

I missed talking to him, chatting to him about nothing or everything. Don't get me wrong, the girls and I talked about everything under (and sometimes above) the sky, but they didn't know about their lost memories and why I had to remove them. Once in awhile, it was nice to have someone who understood what I am going though and I could talk to or ask for advice from. And it was pleasurable talking with him. After all, he was one of my best friends…and my first crush.

"Amu-chan…" he said softly, almost piteously, "Amu-chan what are you doing?"

I smiled at him through the tears, "I'm just trying to clean the place up," I replied as I gestured around, "It used to always be so clean remember? Utau was suck a neat freak back then and she would clean our home everyday, granted she used magic but still, I just wanted to clean everything up," I rambled as my body swayed slightly.

The room was spinning around me. Why was it spinning?

"Amu-chan," he said, gently cutting me off as he took my hands into his and flipped them over gingerly, "You're bleeding."

I stared at my hands and saw that it was true, blood dripped down my palms from the cuts and scraps that lined them. How did that happen?

"I must've cut myself or something. It's nothing serious, really. I don't even feel anything. See?" I said as I smiled, though tears were still dripping down my face, and flexed my fingers.

"Amu," he said seriously, and I seemed to come back to my senses a little at the dropped suffix, then, in a much gentler tone, he continued, "How long have you been here?" he asked.

"I-I don't know," I stammered as I looked back down at my bleeding palms again.

Suddenly, all I could see was red spots as they filled up my vision, tears pouring from my eyes and mixing with the blood as I began to shake. Even more tears streamed down my face as my hysteria got worse and I started to sob loudly.

Tadase immediately took me in his arms and I leaned my forehead against his chest, "It's okay Amu-chan. It's okay. Just let it all out," he hushed and hugged me as I cried.

"Tadase-kun," I sobbed, "I can't do it, I can't wipe their memories again…I can't-I just can't hurt them again," I cried, "They're my friends, I don't want to cause them any more pain than I already have," I whimpered, "They've had to give up so much because of me, and I can't do anything to fix this mess."

He rubbed my back soothingly as he replied, "It's gonna be okay Amu-chan, we'll find a way to make this right, I promise."

"But I love them, Tadase-kun. And I love him. I can't hurt him again…I just can't," I sobbed, "Oh god, what do I do, Tadase-kun? I don't know what to do," I whimpered, but I wasn't expecting an answer from him.

He just hugged me tighter, unsure of what to say.

"I don't know Amu-chan, I don't know," he replied anyways, hid voice laced with sadness.

I hugged him tighter and he rubbed my back soothingly before brushing away my tears and helping me up, "Come on Amu-chan," he said softly, "Just sit down here and rest for awhile okay?"

I nodded my head numbly and slowly unwrapped my arms from around him before settling myself on the couch as he said next to me.

Determined to veer away from the topic of my breakdown, I asked, "No offense Tadase-kun, but what are you doing here?" I said as I tried to wipe away the remainder of the tears from my eyes, wincing a little as I felt a stinging sensation on my palms, but it was already fading as the cuts mended themselves back up.

He smiled at me, though it seemed tense, as though he was afraid of how I would react, "They sent me to make sure that you'll…carry out what you're suppose to," he finished hesitantly.

My entire body stiffened up at that sentence as anger clouded my vision, "You know you're my friend Tadase-kun," I said tersely, just barely containing my rage, "But you also know how much I hate them. By any other circumstances I would love to have you over, but not now. Please, just leave," I said hotly, not looking at him.

He just gently squeezed my had, "Amu-chan, I didn't come because of them. I came because you are my best friend, I haven't seen you for over a decade and I was worried about you. Nothing more. I promise," he said seriously and I could feel his stare drilling into my head.

I finally gave up and looked up at him and when I saw the honesty in his eyes, I smiled through the tears and leaned my head against his shoulder, "Thank you Tadase-kun."

He responded by kissing the top of my head and squeezing my shoulders gently.

There was nothing romantic about that gesture, we both knew it. I'd gotten over him ages ago. It was just a gesture between two friends comforting each other and I was grateful for his presence, and to be honest, it was nice being able to confide in someone.

"Do you wanna go back to your friends now Amu-chan?" he asked after awhile, "They're worried about you, you know?"

I tensed up guiltily before forcing myself to relax as I slowly sat up again, "Yeah," I said hoarsely, my voice sore from all the crying, "We should be getting back."

He smiled comfortingly at me and squeezed my hand again before standing up.

I too stood up and prepared to leave but then stopped short as the photo of the seven of us caught my eyes again.

"Wait," I stopped as I turned to scan over the mansion again. Dirt and dust decorated every inch of the place, except the places that I had gotten to, but even they sparkled dimly, nothing like how this place used to shine.

I smiled brokenly before waving my hand in the air, and, all at once, the grime and dirt peeled off the place and the dust flew away as the peeling paint and broken pieces mended themselves back together until it looked exactly like it used to, beautiful, clean and sparking, but it was a mere shell of what it used to be, a painful reminder of something that could never be the same the again.

I took one last look at the place as the ghost of our laughter rang in my ear. I blinked once and right before my eyes a group of seven teenagers appeared in front of me, sprawled all over the living room, some on the couch some on the floor as they chatted amiably, joking about. They were laughing and smiling, having the time of their lives.

I closed my eyes, drowning in the sound of their laughter, a small melancholic smile tugging on the corner of my lips. When I opened my eyes again, they were gone, and so was the laughter, but the warm feeling remained in my heart as I turned back to Tadase, a proper smile on my face.

"Let's go," I smiled and he returned the sentiment before we teleported back to the house.

Ikuto's POV

"Where are you?" I demanded, "I'll meet you guys."

"We're back at the house, but Ikuto-" Kairi began but I wasn't listening anymore as I shut the phone, effectively cutting him off as I took off to go back home.

"Where is she?" I demanded as soon as I landed.

I saw everyone crowded around the couch, blocking me from seeing who was actually sitting on the said couch.

"I'm right here," a calm voice said and I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw a head of pink hair come into view.

"Amu," I said, "You're okay," I resisted the weird urge to run over and hug her and instead fought to keep my voice neutral and my expression blank.

"Of course I am," she said in the same tone but as soon as she spoke, I knew that there was something off about her.

She was pretty shaken up about something to say the least. She hid it well though, I could barely see through her mask, but as soon as I caught sight of her eyes, I saw the fear dancing in them as they darted about the room, as through she was scared something was going to pop out at her.

I didn't call her out on it though, for one thing I wasn't that close to her, for another, everyone deserved to be able to keep something's to themselves and I respected that.

I scanned the rest of the room and my eyes narrowed when they fell upon a familiar (but then again everyone looked familiar) blonde haired boy. I frowned when I noticed how close he and Amu were standing; he seemed to be almost shielding her as she leaned in closer for security.

Utau sighed and pinched her forehead, "Anyways, back to what we were discussing about, and, I mean no harm," Utau said, directing her remark at the golden haired boy as he shrugged in return with a humble smile on his face, "But why are you here?"

Still smiling annoyingly, he replied, "I just wanted to catch up with you guys," he said smoothly but I caught a look pass between the girls and I knew it was more than that.

"It's good to see you again Tadase," Rima said, her voice was still monotones but she smiled.

Huh, so Tadase was his name. I frowned some more, I didn't like that guy for some reason. He kept bringing out this pit in my stomach as I stared at him and Amu.

"What's going on here? Who is he?" I asked, leaning against the wall of the living room.

"He's a friend of ours," Amu replied then gestured from the group of us to Tadase, "Fujisaki-san, Souma-san, Sanjo-san and Tsukiyomi-san, meet Hotori Tadase, he's the Light Angel and we've known each other for…well…a long time," she said.

"Nice to meet you," they greeted as I made a sound of acknowledgment towards him.

Awkwardly tense silence filled the air as I glared at Tadase why the rest smiled at him hesitantly. Yaya, seemed to be unable to take silences whatsoever because the next second she broke down and started yelling.

"Okay! No more formalities!" she yelled out, pouting childishly, "It's reintroduction time! We will call each other by our firsts names! No 'san' or surnames at all! And if I hear any of that nonsense I'll...I'l...well I'll think of something when the time comes!" she ended all flustered like.

When she finished talking, it was quiet for awhile before there was a chuckle and then another, and then suddenly everyone burst out laughing, even I cracked a smile and suddenly the atmosphere didn't seem as tense anymore.

"Okay then Yaya-chan," Nagihiko chuckled.

The happy mood, however, was broken as Rima sighed, "It can't be a coincidence that we are all gathered here like this."

"I was going to say the same thing Mashi-I mean Rima," Kairi corrected as Yaya glared at him, "Something, or someone," was it me or did his eyes dart to Amu for a second? "Has drawn us here together for some reason," he glanced gravely around the room, "And, unfortunately, these sort of things are never good. The last time we gathered together…that's strange…I don't…remember us ever meeting before," he muttered.

"That's because we haven't smarty pants," Rima deadpanned, obviously annoyed.

"But that's not possible," Kairi denied, "Our history records state that we were created together by the Keepers and we spent the first few decades of our lives training together…I never though much of it before but our history books are never wrong, they fill themselves up by magic. We must have met before…and yet none of us can remember anything," he ended suspiciously.

Another silence followed his little discovery and it even had me stunned. If we had met before...how could all of us not remember each other?

On their own accord, my eyes traveled to Amu. Maybe not all of us don't remember...

"I'm sure you're just overthinking it Sanjo-san, we all have lived for millions of years and we only sound a couple of decades together and maybe we just didn't make that much of an impact on each other," Tadase said after awhile and I could hear his voice tremor a little from nervousness as he twisted his fingers.

"No, Kairi's got a point. Most of us hit off this time, why wouldn't have we the first time?" Kukai intervened.

The others nodded in agreement, even Rima who had disagreed with Kairi just now, agreed with his statement.

I don't know why but my eyes flittered back to Amu's face but it remained in it's cold mask, even the little emotion she had been showing in her eyes previously had vanished and been replace by a hard, stoic look.

"Look, can we please just go home now girls? It's been a long day," Amu said, effectively cutting off the subject.

"I guess we should get going…" Yaya said, obviously reluctant.

"But…?" Amu sighed impatiently.

"But we," cue a freakily synchronized glare from the other two girls, "Fine, I," Yaya sighed impatiently, "Wanna stay the night."

Amu's eyes flashed dangerously for a second and it looked like she was going to disagree but just then her cellphone rang, cutting her off from whatever she was about ti say.

She sighed and took her phone out but frowned when she saw the caller ID and before she answered it, she waved her hand in front of us. At first, I didn't know what she was doing until she began talking and I realized that I couldn't hear her or see her lip movements. She'd muted us out of the conversation.

"No fair Amu-chii!" Yaya complained but Amu ignored her.

Nagihiko sweat dropped, "How about we leave her alone and we head to bed first?"

They nodded in agreement and I grumbled an agreement before we left the living room. But, when we headed up and parted ways to go to our rooms, some weird form of determination took over me as I turned into Amu's room instead of my own.

I laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, intending on waiting up for her so she can't avoid me.

Now, the next part I swear I didn't mean to do, it just happened as the days events washed over my body and I slowly drifted off to sleep. And thank god I was a light sleeper though, or I would never have woken up when Amu entered the room.

"Amu," I muttered groggily, still half asleep as I stood up, but I was still intent on having that talk with her.

I was about to mutter something else when she crawled into the bed, "We'll talk in the morning, Ikuto. Can we just go to bed now?" she muttered, obviously also in a daze.

On hindsight, it should have been pretty obvious to me that something was off then because she must've been used to saying that to me or at least have a certain routine with me for her subconscious to trigger that statement upon seeing me in her room, but then again you'll have to excuse me because I wasn't very awake either.

I just muttered in agreement before crawling into the bed myself. She snuggled closer to me and I placed my arm around her as we fell asleep together.