A/N: Thank you animeluver714, ArtGrrl-Sunna Bluecat, mime-san, xXYoraXx and Ikutoluver995 for reviewing :D

I probably would have written this earlier, but I was sick for more than a week and wasn't supposed to use the computer (I was too tired to anyway). After I got better, I got busier with a bunch of things BUT I now have more time.

My teacher hardly gives homework anyway... but I still have piano so yeah.

mime-san: I'm updating now, aren't I? ^.^

2: An Unexpected Visitor

"Huh?" was the first thing Kukai said since he started following Ikuto, who now turned his head slightly to look at him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Well, uh... I was—" he began. "Uh... you know what, never mind." Ikuto rolled his eyes at him. He could tell what his reasons were. Kukai had always been easy to read. "So you saw the text, right?" Ikuto clarified as Kukai nodded in slight embarrassment.

"Maybe it's from Saaya," he suggested after composing himself.

Ikuto looked perplexed. "I never gave her my number," he commented as Kukai almost immediately replied, "She could have got it from someone... Or maybe she looked you up on the internet! The little stalker!"

Ikuto let out a small chuckle at Kukai's last comment but then silence formed between them. It wasn't exactly the time for laughing. After a few moments, Kukai enquired, "So are you gonna go?"

"Dunno," Ikuto said truthfully. "Should I?"

"Yeah! Just see who it is. If it's from Saaya—who I'm pretty sure it is— then just go set her straight before asking Reiko out." Kukai responded with his regular grin.

Ikuto nodded and made his way out of Fuyuki's house. And despite how simple it sounded, doing that was no easy task. It was quite confusing to have to get past mobs of partying people in Fuyuki's maze of a house. It was a wonder no one in his family had ever gotten lost in it before. After passing at least a hundred people, he arrived at the exit, and no one seemed to notice he left.

The park was only a few blocks away. Ikuto sometimes walked there with Kukai after school. After what seemed like only a couple of minutes, Ikuto arrived at the section of the park with groups of trees and bushes. His eyes searched the environment around him. Suddenly, he heard a rustle of leaves in a bush.


'This is so cliché,' Ikuto thought. "Who's there?" he asked. Indeed, it was very cliché. Like in those movies on TV where people would mistake the sound for a monster or killer and find out it was just a rabbit. Or vice versa. He heard another noise and this time focused his gaze on the exact bush it was coming from. He waited for something to happen. The he saw a few leaves part only to reveal...

A cat?

It had pale gray fur that could easily be mistaken for black if not looked at closely enough. It seemed like any regular cat you'd see except for one particular thing. Its eyes. Although it was normal for cats to have yellow eyes, the cat's eyes had a more golden tone to it, making it look almost unnatural.

Unexpectedly, Ikuto found himself reaching for the cat, attempting to carry it in his arms. Strangely enough, before he could get close enough to it, he heard a voice yell, "Don't touch me!"

Ikuto immediately whipped his head around to find out where the voice came from. It was already dark out, but he could at least tell if anyone was there.

"Hey you!"

The voice came again. This time Ikuto paid more attention to it. It was the voice of a girl, probably a few years younger than him. It was commanding, supporting the words it spoke and wasn't as high as some girl voices you'd hear, but high enough to still be distinguished as a girl. The most peculiar thing about it was that the voice was coming from the direction of the cat.

It couldn't be, right? Cats couldn't talk. Of course not. At first Ikuto thought maybe there was a girl hiding behind the bush that the cat emerged from. But then, the voice was very close and surely, if a person was to be behind the bush, their voice would sound muffled in some way.

His thoughts were interrupted when the voice spoke again. "Hey you! Over here!"

The cat's mouth moved.

"Did you—" Ikuto started to say, looking at the cat, but then it cut him off and said, "Yeah it was me. Don't worry though; I'm not really a cat."

The voice sounded as if it were more interested in telling Ikuto something rather than reassuring him about the situation. Ikuto opened his mouth to say something, but then as if it could read his mind, the cat said, "Never mind about that. You'll find out what I am later. Right now you need to come with me."

This confused Ikuto. "Why do I need to come with you? And to where?" he asked.

The cat sighed. "I can only explain a little, the rest you'll find out later," she began. "You need to come with me to the Chara World, because we need your help."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not coming. I don't think I can help with this. I need to go back to the party and—"

Ikuto was cut off by the cat. "Is going to a party more important than saving a world and learning your past!?"

Although the cat managed to keep a monotone in her voice, Ikuto's refusal seemed to make her more frantic. "My past?" Ikuto repeated. "What about it?"

More annoyance glittered in the cat's eyes. "Well, in this world you've only been told a small part of your past. And I'm sure you'd want to know more of it." She said.

Ikuto suppressed a sigh. "Then can you at least tell me my past?"

"I was instructed not to tell... yet."

'What was she instructed to tell?' Ikuto thought, but then gave in. After all, his past was something he wanted to know more of. "Fine," he said. "I'll come with you."

The cat appeared to smile as she replied. "Good, now step through the portal." Suddenly there was a blinding white flash and a portal full of several different hues and colours appeared before them. Ikuto saw the cat leap into the portal, so not knowing what else to do; he followed her through the portal.

Going through the portal was like going through a tunnel made of nothing but light. In few short moments, Ikuto felt himself land on a hard surface. Fortunately, he landed on his feet, but it took him a while to balance himself.

"Come on," the cat said, motioning ahead of it.

"Where are we going?"Ikuto asked almost immediately.

"You'll see," were the only two words that the cat decided to utter. Ikuto sighed as he followed the cat. At the moment, he seemed to be in a forest of some kind, the trees around him just like around his neighbourhood, only...more alive somehow. All he could do was stare at them in wonder as he followed the cat. The time seemed to go by unusually fast. Partially because Ikuto spent it marveling at his surroundings.

Before he knew it, the cat stopped in front of a wall covered from top to bottom in vines and greenery of all sorts. A puzzled expression reached Ikuto's face. Why in the world would the cat lead him into a wall? The cat, as if reading his mind again, said, "Right now we are in Myrene Woods, one of the many connecting forests of the Magic World. Ahead of this wall is our destination, where I will take you to meet someone."

"Who?" Ikuto questioned, jokingly adding, "Your owner or something?"

The cat, clearly not taking the joke well, shot him a glare. "I told you I'm not really a cat. I'm not a pet or slave. And you're going to meet my mentor."

Ikuto shrugged as the cat disappeared into bushes briefly. A loud clicking noise was heard before her head reappeared and said, "Hurry up."

"Uh, yeah," he mumbled, following the cat, realizing that there was a gate hidden beneath all the plants.

As soon as he went through the gate, a bright light shone on his face, like when you draw the curtains on a sunny morning. Once his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a city before him. Or rather, a village.

It looked just like any other village he would see travelling, but it had more of a fairy tale look to it. Another thing was the people. They looked like regular people, only dressed differently. They looked like the witches and wizards Ikuto read about in stories, only more modern. He even saw a girl turn a guy into a frog with a wave of her hand.

All of it was incredible in Ikuto's eyes, though the cat snapped him out of his trance. "Hey Ikuto, hurry up! I haven't got all day," she scolded. Ikuto nodded and continued to follow her.

They passed by many streets and people, even more wondrous plants and creatures before the cat stopped once again. This time she stopped in front of a small house. The foundation and walls of it looked plain and simple, but the roof looked strange, like two fairy wings placed at an angle on top of a box.

The cat pranced inside. The main room was almost as strange as the roof. There was smooth stone flooring like what you'd see on someone's patio and the walls looked exactly like the sky outside. It was like you never really entered the house. They turned to see a young man enter the room. He wore a white dress shirt and dark pants. His hair was blond and neatly styled, and he had a friendly expression, like those people who seemed happy all the time.

The man seemed to have noticed Ikuto come in, as he smiled warmly and said, "Ah, I see you have decided to visit."


'More like I was dragged here by a cat,' thought Ikuto. He just nodded as the man motioned for him to sit in a nearby sofa. He agreed and cautiously did as he was told, sitting down as the cat rushed over to the man's side.

"Well, young man, I am known as different things around these parts, but my name is Tsukasa Amakawa," he commented. "And this," he continued, gesturing to the cat, "is Amu."

Then, Tsukasa turned to face Amu. "Amu," he said. "You may show this boy your true form."

Ikuto's eyes moved toward Amu awaiting her to transform or something, but she didn't seem very willing. "Can't I just stay like this?" she pleaded stubbornly, but Tsukasa gave her a stern look. She grunted and gave in. "Fine."

Moments later, a bright flash of pink surrounded the small cat, getting larger with each passing second until it changed size so that it was around the height of Ikuto's shoulder, maybe a tad shorter.

As the light began to dissolve, he could see the figure of a person, and in mere seconds, he knew what Amu really looked like. Standing before him was a girl that looked like the age of twelve or thirteen, her height around 5 feet, her eyes were just like when she was a cat, an interesting shade of gold, while her hair, unlike her fur as a cat, was bubblegum pink. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders, some lingering in front of her shoulders and her bangs were styled in a front fringe. A red X-clip was placed in her hair, holding up a small ponytail.

Amu was wearing what looked like a school uniform of some sort. She wore a white dress shirt with a red tie hanging loosely around the collar of her shirt. Over top was an open black blazer with a red band on her left arm. She also had on a plaid red and black skirt with matching legwarmers and black flats. He saw a chain hanging from her neck as well, but the pendant, if even there was one, was tucked into her shirt.

Her arms were crossed as she stood putting more weight on her right foot. She was quite unhappy and she looked away from Ikuto. "There," she said. "Happy?"

Tsukasa and Ikuto both nodded. Before anyone could say anything, they heard a yell from outside. It was muffled, but Ikuto was able to make out that whoever was shouting just said, "Ouch!"

Tsukasa switched his gaze from Amu to the door, and opened it, only to reveal a boy that looked about Ikuto's age, on the ground rubbing the back of his head. Even without looking at the boy's messy auburn hair, or looking closely at his face, Ikuto immediately knew who it was.

"Kukai!?"

A/N: I didn't really like this chapter... in fact I don't really like how I started this story off. It feels rather rushed; most of my stories end up like that. It also feels fairly amateur. I'll try to improve as I go through the story, though.