A Lot Can Change in a Year

by ThreeLittle EmoNerds

It's been an entire year since Ikuto's odd disappearance. Now, when he comes back, Amu's made some new friends, some of whom have heard of Ikuto and are trying to protect her. Can Ikuto earn their respect and win Amu's heart?

4. The Unplanned Plan

ThreeLittle EmoNerds: Hey guys, we're finally here with chapter 4 of 'A Lot Can Change in a Year'!

Hiromi: Yeah, sorry we took so long, it was me and Kimie's turn to write.

Kimie: Ehehe… Hiromi was busy and didn't have enough time to write with me.

Ayari: FINALLY you finished it.

Kiseki: COMMONERS! I do appear in this chapter, don't I? -stares arrogantly-

Hiromi: -looks bored- Meh.

Kiseki: How dare you speak to me in such a manner you peasant!?

Ayari: -bows down- Of - That's better!

Kimie: Wtf?

Hiromi: I should kill this dude for calling me both a commoner AND a peasant.

Amu: Can we start the chapter already?

Everyone: YEAH!

DISCLAIMER:

We do not own Shugo Chara or it's characters. We do however own our OC's :D

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Chapter 4: Unplanned Plan

Ikuto'sPOV

Damn! Did she faint or something? I looked down to see Hiromi, collapsed on the ground, her charas and mine crowding around her. Before I could do anything, Yoru flew up to my face and yelled, "IKUTOOO! Hurry up and do something! I think she fainted!"

Way to point out the obvious, Yoru. Stopping myself from making that sarcastic comment, I nodded and bent over, slinging her over my shoulder. She wasn't very heavy, since she was pretty skinny anyway. I walked over to a bench that was luckily placed under the shade of a tree.

I put her down on the bench, careful not to drop her too hard or anything. She just layed there unconscious, and I saw her chara, Michiyo, poke her and try to wake her up.

Normal POV

While Ikuto stood over the bench that Hiromi laid unconsciously on, he didn't seem to notice that someone was watching them. A chara.

Kiseki was on one of his 'Embryo Searches' all alone, since the rest of the charas ignored him like always and went to go and play somewhere. Frustrated, he somehow ended up wandering in the park. As he looked around, he saw a figure standing by a bench, with a girl lying down on it.

As he loomed closer, he realized that the figure standing over the bench was Ikuto, the so-called 'Thieving Cat' and the sleeping figure was Hiromi. Alarmed at the sight of the enemy with a Guardian, Kiseki rushed over in the direction opposite of the Royal Garden.

As Kiseki rushed over, he bumped into Ryuu, who was heading towards the Royal Garden along with the other Guardians. He was ahead of the rest of the Guardians as he looked as if he were alone. Ryuu apologized to Kiseki in case he was injured, but he shook it off and warned Ryuu.

"You! Commoner! That Thieving Cat is with the girl with purple in her hair!" he yelled briskly. Ryuu, who was slightly shocked by what he said, considered what he meant by 'girl with purple in her hair'. Hiromi! He thought. Kiseki means Hiromi!

Immediately after realizing this, he almost turned back to where the Guardians were supposed to be, not noticing that they had already caught up. He turned around to face Amu. Seeing the apprehension on his face, she asked, "Ryuu, what happened?"

Ryuu quickly explained what Kiseki had told him a few moments ago, shocked expressions on everyone's faces, and anger overcoming Tadase. Instantly, they all rushed in the direction that Kiseki lead them, going towards the park by the Royal Garden.

As they reached the tree where Ikuto and Hiromi were, Tadase and Ryuu stepped forward, and Tadase shouted, "Tsukiyomi Ikuto!"

Hiromi's POV

I kept trying to open my eyes. It felt like I had been unconscious for hours, when it was probably only 10 minutes or so. My vision was still as black as ever, but I could faintly here the sounds of voices.

"Tsukiyomi Ikuto!"

That's so Tadase. Saying BOTH names. But why is he here? What is Ikuto doing? I tried my hardest to open my eyes, and my attempts finally worked! My eyes had opened, enough for me to see what was going on, but not enough for people to realize that I was awake. As I shifted my gaze around, I saw Ikuto standing by me, and I was apparently on a bench. Tadase and the rest of the Guardians were standing in front of us, Tadase and Ryuu wearing expressions full of anger.

I looked around more and heard Ryuu shout, "What did you do to Hiromi?"

If I could, I would've smiled at the fact that Ryuu cared enough to say that, but I couldn't do anything and the most I could do was open my eyes. I looked to Amu, who looked upset, probably not able to believe that Ikuto would do anything bad to me. Then my gaze switched to Ikuto. I couldn't see his face, since his back was turned to me, but I heard him say, "I didn't do anything!"

That was true. I heard Tadase immediately deny that and accuse him saying, "Liar! You were probably planning to use her for something involving Easter!"

Nah. That doesn't seem like him, even if he does work for Easter. Ikuto replied to that by saying, "I'm not lying. She fainted so I brought her to this bench."

He probably did do that, though I can't say for certain since I was still out cold. I heard more shouts of accusation from Tadase and then I felt myself regain my senses. I groaned and I saw people turn to look at me. I opened my eyes wider, so it was more noticeable that I was conscious, and sat up, holding my head in the process. Ryuu was the first one to run over to me.

"Hiromi, are you okay?" he asked, concern clear in his voice. With the way his voice sounded, he seemed like he would be willing to kill Ikuto if he did anything to me. I guess that would be a pretty normal reaction for him. After all, he is my best guy friend…

I gave him a tired smile and nodded with a weak "Yeah." He smiled back at me as Amu came to me. "Hiromi are you feeling okay? Can you walk?"

She seemed almost as worried as Ryuu, and I returned her questions the same way I did Ryuu's, adding, "I think I can walk, too."

Amu smiled as Tadase stepped in and asked, "Kakinomoto-san! Did the Thieving Cat do anything to you?"

I looked at Ikuto and saw the honesty in his eyes. I turned back to Tadase and shook my head. "He didn't do anything."

Tadase still seemed angry at Ikuto but asked once again, "Are you sure?"

I nodded reassuringly, but I don't think he believed me, so I decided to try and explain. "I was on my way to the Royal Garden 'cause I knew that you guys were gonna be there soon, but I started to feel dizzy, though I didn't know why. I fainted and luckily Ikuto came and brought me here. If it wasn't for him, I probably could've died."

After hearing that, I bet that they'll think Ikuto's a hero. Though I'm pretty sure Tadase could think of an objection. "Kakinomoto-san, why did you call him by his first name?"

Well. I was right. "I call everyone by their first name, Tadase," I said, adding his name at the end as if to prove my point. Everyone nodded in a agreement and Tadase dropped the argument. They knew I was right. I always called people by their first names after I knew it. Though I tend to use last names to certain people.

After agreeing to let it go, we walked away from where Ikuto was. Walking to the Royal Garden, Kimie asked me, "Hey Hiromi, why'd you faint in the first place?"

I didn't know the answer to that. "Dunno," I began. "I just had this tingly feeling in my head then I just fell to the ground, unconscious."

She looked worried for a sec, then her cellphone rang. She flipped it open, looking at a text message and said, "Um… sorry guys, but I gotta miss the Guardian Meeting"

Before we could ask, she yelled, "Sorry! Can't explain!" and dashed off to the opposite direction. Kimie had a strange tendency to run off before Guardian Meetings. At first we thought she was just avoiding them, but she started leaving at other times so it didn't seem like she was avoiding anything. Just going off somewhere.

After another boring Guardian Meeting lead by Tadase, we walked off on our own. I sat on the ground somewhere, near my street with my charas floating around me. I took a small notebook from my school bag and wrote something down on a sheet of paper from it, tearing it off afterwards. "Ayumu," I said as she floated closer to me. "Take this piece of paper to Ikuto."

She nodded and headed off in another direction.

Normal POV

After Hiromi let Ayumu deliver the message to Ikuto, Ryuu walked over to her. "Hey Hiromi!" he greeted her. Hiromi greeted him in the same manner as Ryuu added, "You know, you really scared me when I saw you with that Tsukiyomi dude."

She furrowed her brow in confusion before responding, "Why? 'Cause you thought that he might've done something to me? Like to make me faint or something?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly, like he was keeping a secret. Hiromi, who didn't seem to notice this, laughed. "Don't worry. If he tried I'd kick his arse."

Ryuu smiled as Hiromi added, "Uh, Ryuu? There's something I need to tell you."

Ryuu looked towards her curiously and motioned for her to continue. "You know how I was with Ikuto and whatever?" she paused letting Ryuu nod. "Well… I'm sorta helping Ikuto…"

She trailed off slightly as Ryuu asked, slightly alarmed, "What? Helping with what?"

"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with Easter," she began, knowing Ryuu would want to know that part. "I'm helping him get along better with the Guardians. Ya know, earn their trust and what not?"

Ryuu nodded, showing a puzzled look. "And why does he need to earn our trust?"

"'Cause he needs to get along better with Amu, since there's been a few problems because of him leaving before. But since the Guardians are really protective of her, he needs to earn their trust so they know he isn't trying to do anything bad involving Easter."

Taking it all in, Ryuu responded, "Okay I believe you." As Hiromi's face brightened, he added, "And I'm going to help, too."

"Thanks Ryuu!" she said as she moved forward to hug him. He smiled and hugged back.

* * *

Ikuto was walking around on the streets. He was near the place that he met Amu over a year back. It was a construction site and they met when Amu first used Ran's powers and flew to the top of a building frame. But now the building was finished and no longer just a frame.

Looking back at the memories, he smiled. Suddenly he heard the faint yelling of a chara. And not just any chara. Hiromi's chara, Ayumu. He turned around to face the small floating character. She seemed to be quite tired as she panted slightly. That was when Ikuto noticed what she was holding. There was a piece of paper. It looked about the same as an index card, only it was tinted a faint shade of purple, and the lines were black instead of pink or blue. Ayumu caught her breath and held out the piece of paper. "Here. Hiromi-chan told me to give it to you."

Ikuto accepted the piece of paper, making Ayumu rush back in the direction she came. Ikuto shifted his gaze back to the piece of paper and read it silently. There were only four words written in Hiromi's small writing.

The unplanned plan worked.

Ikuto knew what she meant by that and an idea immediately popped into his head. He shoved the piece of paper into his pocket, not before folding it a bit so there wouldn't be an odd looking bulge in his pocket. He averted his gaze to a nearby tree and chara changed with Yoru. He always wondered how he could do it even when Yoru wasn't with him. Sometimes he felt like Yoru was nearby which was why he was able to do so.

Instantly, Ikuto jumped up into the tree headed toward a familiar location.

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Hiromi: Well I think we did quite well.

Ikuto: It was okay…

Ayari: EHHHHHH?!

Kimie: Why just okay??

Yoru: He'd just upset that there's no Amuto in this chapter~nyaa.

Hiromi: We have that planned in the next chapter.

Kimie: YEAAAH 'CAUSE WE LOVE AMUTO! -fan girl squeal-

Ayari: … -thinking Tadamu thoughts-

Ikuto: Well as long as I get time with Amu soon.

Amu: -randomly walks in- Hey guys!

Ikuto: -smiles mischievously-

Amu: Uh… why is Ikuto looking at me like that?

Kimie: -evil laugh- Just as planned.

Amu: What?! -runs from Ikuto-

Kimie: GET HER!!!!!!!!! -runs with flames in eyes and hair-

ThreeLittle EmoNerds: Well bye for now xD