Me: HELLO!!!!! I guess today is the day I tell you what's on the note, then aye. I admire your patience; I wouldn't have been able to wait without going completely insane.
Ikuto: You already are insane, what difference would it make?
Me: I meant, unhealthy insane. The insanity I have now runs in the family, so it's normal… sort of.
Ikuto: Right… freak.
Me: Thank you. Anyway, I do not own Shugo Chara and would love to hear – well read - your reviews.

Amu's POV

"I can't believe them," Ikuto murmured. I could only faintly hear his voice; I was caught up in a trance again.

"They can't be serious, right?" I asked hopefully.

"Well it was serious the first time, so they can't be joking around," he answered seriously. He glared in my direction and he looked quite frightening.

"What? What'd I do?" I realized he wasn't glowering at me. I turned to follow his gaze, seeing some little kids staring in our direction; listening intently. I joined Ikuto and glared at them too. They turned back to their ice creams as soon as they knew they'd been caught.

Ikuto stood up. "C'mon, we have to get out of here."

"At least get the ice-cream out of your hair first," I said, handing him a napkin. He looked at me, then at the napkin.

"I was planning on having a shower actually," he said suggestively.

"I thought I told you to keep it G rated," I scolded teasingly.

"Ahh but once we're out of the public eye where there aren't any children, that's when it gets at least MA," he teased back.

I sighed and smiled. "I'll never get tired of your games."

"Who said I was playing?" he taunted.

"No, I know you're just playing. You told me before that you wouldn't force me into something I don't want to do, and the purity ring stays on until we're actually married, not just engaged." My smile was smug.

"The girl knows me," he said, slinging his arm over my shoulder as we walked to his car.

x-X-x

My eyes were scanning the room; gazing with wonder at everything around me as I sat at an antique dining table. I'd been to Ikuto's house many times before, but I could never grow accustomed to how beautiful it was. It wasn't as large as a mansion, but it had a similar vibe to it.

"Is it all out yet?" Ikuto asked, straining to see the hair on the back of his head. When there was no reply, he turned to look at me expectantly. His expression quickly became a smirk, before he cleared his throat. "It helps if I get an answer," he hinted. It took me a second to shut my jaw which had dropped as soon as he'd walked into the room wearing only pjama pants. I struggled to stop ogling.

"It helps if you weren't so distractingly good looking," I countered.

"At least I know you're not in it for the money," he chuckled.

"Do you think I'm that shallow, to base love on looks or money?" I asked astounded.

"Geez… just teasing. No need to blow a fuse." He came over and hugged me.

"I know. I'm just… still on edge," I said, looking out one of the many tall glass windows.

"Nothing bad will happen to you. I promise," he told me.

"I know you wouldn't let anything bad happen to me. What bothers me is the fact that you get yourself hurt in the process." My voice choked up at the end.

"I'm a big boy, I can look after myself," he replied confidently. I poked his back where it was still a little tender, making him wince slightly. "Ok, maybe I hurt myself a little, but do you think I care about what happens to me if you're in trouble?"

"I care about what happens to you. It goes both ways Ikuto. I don't care what happens to me so long as you're safe, and you don't seem to care what happens to you as long as I'm safe. So we need to compromise; we both stay safe. Sound good?" I needed him to understand how much he meant to me; how much agony it caused me when he was hurt.

He chuckled and kissed my forehead. "Fine. I will try very hard not to get myself hurt, while trying to keep you safe at the same time. Scouts honor."

"Good, but how do we protect them?" I asked worried.

"I don't know." His voice was saturated with grief.

"We have to find a way," I said determined.

"Well, we could try to bargain with them?" he suggested.

"And trade our freedom for what?" I asked curiously.

"I only overheard it, and I'm not sure if it's true, but they're still after the lock and key."

"Well I can't give them the Humpty Lock. I mean, maybe if it meant them leaving us alone… but I've already given it to Ami." Suddenly a new worry occurred to me. "They won't go after her, will they?"

"As long as they don't know, then I don't see why they-," I held up the note, cutting him off.

"And her having the Humpty Lock only makes it worse," I stated.

"Well if we want to protect them then what are we going to do? Lock them up in a secret lair?" he asked sarcastically. His face turned thoughtful. "We could lock them up, just not in a lair."

"What? We can't lock everyone up," I scolded.

"Not really locking them up, just hiding them somewhere safe," he said, an idea forming in his head. I could faintly guess what it was but where were we supposed to take them all?

"That'd be a great idea… if we had somewhere to hide them, and without them getting suspicious."

"We do," he answered grinning

"More alley cat secrets?" I asked warily.

"No, Utau knows where it is. My real father - not my stepfather - has a small island hotel just offshore. It'd be a great place to hide them since Easter doesn't know about it." His smile was overconfident.

"What are we supposed to say to keep them from getting suspicious? We can't just tell them that we're hiding them for their own safety." My mind was still a little fuzzy so my thought processes were slower than usual.

"Hmm. Rima said you should have an engagement party. Why not turn the party into a holiday?"

"Oh you are a freaking genius! I love you!" I hugged him tighter.

"I know," he whispered before kissing me tenderly on the cheek.

"Your hair still smells funny though," I teased.

"Oops, you got some on your cheek. Let me help you with that," he laughed and licked my cheek.

"Stop it. We have some things to sort things," I argued half-heartedly.

"Today was annoying enough. Let's just get some rest," he suggested, playfully picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. He held onto my legs and carried me up to his – our – room, with me laughing the whole way.

x-X-x

I felt something lash against my skin. Again and again; it wouldn't stop. The pain was crippling, but it didn't hurt as much as what I saw through the veil of red – I refused to think of it as… blood. Tears streamed down my face as I watched the small rise and fall of his chest, lying in a pool of blood, barely alive.

"You know what we want girl," someone snarled menacingly.

"Please stop, just leave us alone," I begged. Someone's fist made contact with my jaw. My head snapped back and smashed into the wall, making me scream out in pain. My incoherent pleads seemed to amuse the scoundrels.

"Well if you can't give us what we want, then he dies," the other taunted.

"Why? Why can't you leave us be?" I screeched, knowing my attempt to appeal to their better nature was useless; they didn't have a single bone in their body that held any decency. I was positive that my screams were more like pleasure to their ears then the tortured pleading I meant for them to give in too.

"Because he is a traitor and traitors deserve to die!" The menacing one who spoke had the role of my main torturer.

"And if you want something done, you do it yourself," the other finished and it was unquestionable that he meant my death. The one act Ikuto had refused to do for them.

"Please," I begged quietly, my tears spilling over into the pool of red around my feet. I felt a steel cap boot collide with my chin and I fell backwards. I rolled onto my side to see them walking away from me. I felt like hell. Every inch of me was aching. I'd never felt pain like this; I hadn't known such pain was possible.

"Don't worry; it'll be slow and painful for him." One of them knelt down beside Ikuto and the other yanked me up onto my knees. He cleared the blood from my eyes and I felt a knife at my throat.

"You will watch this," he ordered.

By Ikuto I saw something silver rise into the air. My heart stopped – it was a knife.

Me: There, all done.
Amu: What about Ikuto? He doesn't die, does he?
Me: Shh calm down. It's all good. Italics represent dreams … or do they? Anyway, thanks for reading and please review; I'd love to hear what you think. I love all of my wonderful, beautiful readers and IAmTwilighter who edits these chapters and is just plain awesome.