A/N:
Peaches: Hooray! I feel like my chapters got a little better with this one. I actually wrote this one before I wrote all of the previous chapters (excluding the prologue) BEFORE this one. Which also explains why I posted it today along with the fail short one preceding it, where I made the excuse that I didn't have much motivation to write. Also, it's back to NOT being a total failure length-wise.
Ikuto: That's what she said.
Peaches: F**K YOU.
Ikuto: Peaches does not own Shugo Chara! or Parachute.
Peaches: Enjoy!


Chapter 4: She (For Amu)

She, she is the words that I can't find

How can the only thing that's killing me make me feel so alive?

- Parachute

About a week after Amu saw Ikuto at the hospital, she had found Ikuto's contact information. She tore it to pieces. At the time, she thought that she couldn't ever forgive him for all he had done to her. About 2 months after she ripped up the page, Amu wanted to call him to give him forgiveness, but couldn't now that Ikuto's information was gone.

After a while, Amu's friends tried to bring her back down to earth, after the incident with Tadase, no had heard from her since. They gave up on trying to find her. The only person Amu felt close to anymore was Ami, and Amu barely saw her for fear that Ami would take Amu's problems to be her own.

What no one knew was that Amu hadn't totally lost all emotion. She really was trying to tell herself that she was okay, but no amount of talking to herself or convincing would ever change the fact that Amu was lost in the things she felt all alone.

It was now a year after her parents died. Amu drove past her old home on her way to her apartment from her job. A typical day. These days, Amu told people that sbe felt nothing when she drove past it so that they would leave her alone. She had learned how to appear to block out her emotions so that she felt nothing. No one realized that every time Amu passed the house, which was now occupied by a different family, she wanted to cry. All of the toys in the yard reminded her of her old life.

She drove two more blocks down to her new apartment building. After she had run away, she had found a cheap, grungy apartment in the suburbs. She could easily afford a nicer apartment, but Amu didn't care. Her small place in the suburbs was fine for her. It was a place to sleep. That was enough for her.

Amu turned the key in to lock on her door, which let her into the apartment. The door swung open, and she was shocked to see a boy with midnight blue hair. Ikuto Tsukiyomi?

"YOU AGAIN? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?"

"I was waiting for you, of course."

Amu took a deep breath, stepped into her "cool and spicy" character, and grabbed the taser that she kept in her bag. Ikuto's eyes widened.

"Don't move, or I shoot you. If you don't give me ONE good reason why you should be here in the next five seconds, I will shoot you. Then you can say that you got your ass kicked by a girl. And don't you dare piss me off. Explain. Your five seconds starts now."

"You dyed your hair."

"Yeah, what's it to you? Now give me a reason."

"You never called."

"Huh?"

"I left my phone numbers in your bag, all of them, and you never called."

"Not a legitimate reason. Try again." Amu tightened her grip on the taser.

"But it is! I want you to forgive me!"

"And I decided that I won't."

"'To err is human, to forgive, divine.'"

"Don't even start with me, dude. I stopped caring months ago."

"That's really a shame, Amu-chan."

"Don't. call. me. AMU-CHAN."

"Why not, Amu-chan?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO."

"You may call me Ikuto-kun if you want to, Amu-chan."

"SHUT UP!"

She shot him.


Ikuto started to wake up. Amu looked at him, a smirk on her face.

"I told you not to piss me off."

"Ergh… What the hell was that for?" Ikuto grimaced while trying to sit up.

"For pissing me off, stupid. Duh. Oh, and for breaking into my apartment."

Ikuto sighed. "Maybe that wasn't the greatest idea…"

"Wow, no shit, Sherlock. Now get out."

Ikuto looked at her. "Why? I just got here."

Amu groaned. "Do you want me to shoot you again?"

"No, definitely not."

"Then get out."

"But I want to know, why don't you like to be called Amu-chan?"

"It's not of your business." Amu looked down at her hands.

"Ahh, an emotion other than anger. Color me surprised."

Now seething, Amu hit him across the face. "Don't try and be a wise ass. Get over yourself. Now, if you really want to know, it's the name that my parents called me. You know, the people you killed?"

It was Ikuto's turn to hide his face. Amu internally softened when she realized what she had just said and immediately regretted it, but she wouldn't be the one to admit it. She had to keep her exterior character from faltering.

Ikuto twiddled his thumbs in his lap. "I never meant to kill them, Hinamori-san. It just… happened."

"Well," she said in a standoffish voice, "I wish it had never happened."

Ikuto looked up at her. "Me too, Hinamori-san. Me too."

Ikuto looked like he was about to cry. He stood up quickly. "I should go." He was hiding his face. Amu softened and grabbed him by his shoulders and gathered him in her arms. She felt Ikuto start to sob, but she didn't move to let go. She felt his tears on her shirt and his shaking body.

When his tears started to die down, Amu pulled away and held him by his shoulders. She said, "Listen, Ikuto. I didn't mean what I said earlier. I don't blame you for what happened to my parents."

Ikuto hiccupped. "I blame myself."

"Well, don't. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was! I was the one driving on the wrong side of the road! I killed them! I might as well have just taken a gun and shot them!"

"Ikuto, stop thinking like that. I've wanted to call you for so long, it's just that I ripped up your information…"

"Well, I guess I'm here now, so…"

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi,"

"Yes?"

"I forgive you. For everything."

Ikuto grabbed her for another hug. Amu buried her face in his chest. She felt good that now that she had finally come to terms with the fact that her parents' murderer (however innocent) was truly sorry for what he had done. She smiled with tears flowing down her face.

The two of them stayed like that for what seemed like forever, both of them smiling like idiots. Ikuto was just happy that Amu had learned that he had never meant for any of this to happen. He held her closer, just happy knowing that Amu could be happy for a little while. Amu pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him. She smiled and said, "Ikuto, are you free on Saturday?"

"Only if you don't tase me."

"Well, okay, sorry about that. But you broke into my apartment! Which leads me to the question: how did you get into my apartment anyway?"

"That, Hinamori-san, is an excellent question…. Which you will never know the answer to."

"Oh come on. I want to know. I'm not taking the risk that you can get back in here again."

"Nope. My lips are sealed. Oh, and I am free on Saturday."

"Way to change the subject, Tsukiyomi-san. And that sounds just dandy. Now where shall we go?"

"Well, I know an excellent place. I can pick you up here at 7:00?"

"Sounds like a plan to me." Amu smiled.

"I'll see you on Saturday then."

"I guess so."

"See you later." Ikuto made his way towards the door. "Oh, wait, I almost forgot." He headed over towards the couch that he had been sitting on. He grabbed a plastic bag and handed it to Amu.

"What is this?" Amu questioned.

"It's to make up for the cake that you had in your fridge that I ate while I was waiting for you."

"You WHAT?"

"When is your birthday, Hinamori-san?"

Amu was confused at the sudden topic change. "What?"

"You heard me. That cake said 'Happy Birthday' on it."

"Oh, Saturday. I was planning on eating that cake then."

"Well, obviously you now have plans for that date, so you can eat them now."

Amu was curious now. "Them?"

Ikuto smirked. "The bag, Hinamori-san. The bag."

Amu peeked inside the plastic bag. "MOON PIES!"

"You like them?"

"Well, duh! Who doesn't like Moon Pies?"

"Good." Ikuto walked towards Amu and stopped in front of her.

"I guess I'll see you later, Tsukiyomi-san."

"Please," he said, "call me Ikuto-kun." He kissed her on the cheek and started towards the door. "Bye."

"Bye, Ikuto-kun…" she said as the door swung shut.

Amu ran to her small bedroom and flung herself onto her bed. She was grinning from ear to ear and giggling excessively. When did I become such a romantic? she thought. Never mind. It doesn't really matter. I HAVE A DATE WITH IKUTO ON SATURDAY. Wait, when did this happen? Wasn't it just yesterday that I didn't care if he burned in hell?

Amu started to wonder what he was planning for their mystery date on Saturday…


Ikuto skipped, yes skipped, towards his new-ish car. It wasn't as precious to him as the one that he wrecked, but it was a car. It got him from A to B, which was all that mattered.

Ikuto had a date with Amu! The girl he had liked since she walked into the ICU a year ago had noticed him! It was nothing short of a miracle that she was actually talking to him, much less going on a date with him. Ikuto got into his car and turned on his radio, singing along with every word of every song. He was on top of the world!

And to top it all off, their date was on Amu's birthday! But what do you buy someone that you had only talked to twice in your entire life and had no idea what they liked? Well, as his mother had always told him…

*Flashback*

"Ikuto-kun, I have a question for you. I know that you're only five years old, but when you're married, what are you going to buy your wife for her birthday?"

"Umm… mud pies?"

His mother laughed. "No, not mud pies. Jewelry. You can never go wrong with jewelry."

"But I'm sure that my wife'll love mud pies!"

His mother laughed again. "Okay Ikuto-kun, whatever you say…"

*End Flashback*

Ikuto chucked at his five-year-old self. Well, his mother hadn't steered him wrong with any of her other advice, so Ikuto figured that she was right on the money with this one too. He remembered that there was a little shop near his apartment that sold bracelets, so he decided to walk there after he got home.

As Ikuto got was sitting is her car, going absolutely nowhere, a boy with very long, dark purple hair approached him. He looked o be about Ikuto's age, but much more worn down than most boys their age. The boy stared at Ikuto and said, "Are you, by any chance, Ikuto Tsukiyomi-san?"

Ikuto was perplexed. He had never seen this boy before in his life, and he knew his name? That was kind of creepy… Ikuto gathered his thoughts and responded, "Yes, I am, actually."

He smiled. "I need to talk to you, Tsukiyomi-san. My name is Nagihiko Fujisaki, and I used to be Hinamori-san's best friend."