Amu and Ikuto spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV on the couch. At five, Amu got up to get dinner started, while Ikuto had offered to pick Ami up. Ran went with Ikuto and Yoru as a safety precaution. Just in case they got attacked, she could fly back and tell Amu.
"So what shall we have for dinner?" Amu asked.
"That delicious pasta you made for your parents' anniversary," Dia suggested.
"Alright Dia and Miki you get the ziti noodles while I cut up the chicken," Amu instructed as she pulled a package of chicken breasts out of the fridge. Hotaru's chara floated in the air, staring at the chicken in Amu's hand.
Amu got out a cutting board and a knife and started cutting up the chicken into little chucks. Dia opened the fridge and got out a package of shredded mozzarella cheese and laid it on the counter next to the box of noodles. Miki brought over a jar of marinara sauce.
When Amu finished cutting the chicken, she washed her hands and got out a skillet. She poured a little olive oil in the pan before sliding the chicken off the cutting board into it. Amu put the skillet on a burner and turned it on. Dia was now holding a spatula and was gently moving the chicken around. Amu filled a pan half way with water. She sprinkled some salt into it and added a little oil. Miki and Dia were now taking turns moving the chicken around, making sure it was getting cooked but not burnt. They offered to let Hotaru's chara help but she just stared at them.
Meanwhile, Ikuto waited at the front gates of Seiyo Academy for Ami to get done with her meeting. Ran and Yoru were chasing each other.
"Huh? Where's Amu-chan?" Akira asked, as she and Melody appeared.
"Making dinner," Ran answered.
"What's she making?" Ami asked running up to them, with Hikaru and Rikka following her again.
"Beats me," Ikuto said.
Ami said good-bye to Hikaru and Rikka, then left with Ikuto. Ami stayed silent for the majority of the walk to the house.
"Ikuto-san, are you onee-chan's boyfriend now?" she asked suddenly. Silence.
"Yes, he is," Ran answered for him.
"That's right-nya," Yoru snickered.
"Utau-chan texted me earlier and told me. Don't get me wrong, Tadase-san is really nice and it's obvious that he's in love with onee-chan, but I think you are a better match for her," Ami said, "Of course, Daddy won't be happy about this. It took him a long time to warm up to Tadase-san."
At that moment, they reached the front door of their destination. Ami opened it and announced that they were home. The two heard the sound of a plate breaking.
"Amu!" Ikuto ran into the kitchen with Ami close behind.
Amu stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring ahead of her. In front of her was Dia's egg with an X on it.
"Dia!" Amu cried.
"How did that happen?" Ran asked.
"I don't know. One minute she's helping put cheese on top of the pasta and the next thing I knew she's back in her egg and it has an X it," Amu buried her face in her hands. Ikuto turned her around and wrapped his arms around her.
"Melody, Akira, let's clean this up," Ami said, as she carefully started to pick up the big chunks of the broken plate.
"Don't worry. Don't worry. Leave it to me-desu," a muffled voice said. Amu's egg case, which was resting on the counter, flew open and the green egg popped out. The egg cracked open revealing the green shugo chara.
"Suu!" Miki and Ran exclaimed.
"That's right-desu," Suu said. She flew down to the mess on the floor. A small broom and dustpan appeared in her hands. Within seconds, the floor was spotless. Suu put what she had swept up on the counter.
"Later, we'll use Remake Honey to fix the plate-desu," Suu explained, "Ne, Amu-chan?"
Amu pulled away from Ikuto and ran up to her room and slammed the door. Dia's egg suddenly shot out of the kitchen window and disappeared.
"I'm so confused," Ami said.
"I was wondering why Dia hadn't been X'd earlier," Ikuto stated.
"Earlier?"
"When Tadase broke up with her."
"She did."
"What?"
"Dia did become X'd. For a week."
"For a week? What happened to make the X go away?"
"Utau-chan and Nagi-kun came over one day because I asked them to. I knew onee-chan would talk to them. The X disappeared the next day and Dia was back to normal. Onee-chan was still uneasy, but Dia told me she was still focusing on her inner radiance and she would be fine."
"It was forced."
"Huh? What are you talking about, Ikuto-san?"
"Hayate's spell on Amu didn't work, so now Kaori is personally trying to weaken her. I think Kaori forcibly put this X on Dia."
"You're confusing me even more. Let's talk about this over dinner. You can take some up to onee-chan later."
Ami got out a serving spoon and started to put some pasta on a plate.
Hotaru's chara had flown after Amu and was in the room watching Amu as she cried in her pillow. The sparkle has dimmed, but I still feel the warmth, the chara thought, It intensifies when that blue haired man is the room. When he hugged her, I felt my heart heat up. Like fire.
"Why is Dia X'd again? Am I wavering again?" Amu sat up, holding her pillow close to her.
"Your sparkle has dimmed but it isn't gone," Hotaru's chara said," Tell me. Why is it that I feel such warmth from you? When that man hugged you, my heart felt like it was on fire. Your warmth seems to be directed toward him. And his warmth is directed towards you. It is confusing."
"My warmth? His warmth?" Amu repeated.
"What is that warmth called? It has a name, but I don't know what it is called," the chara pleaded.
"The only thing I can think of is 'love'. It's a good feeling to love and to be loved," Amu sniffed.
Love? That's it!, the chara thought. The Humpty Lock lit up bright blue.
"What?!" Amu said. Amu watched as the X peeled away from the chara and her small body became engulfed with light.
The light only lasted a moment before disappearing. The chara had been transformed. Her hair was now white with bright blue highlights and was pulled into twin tails, which had a spiral curl to the end of each. Cyan heart clips kept her hair up. Her eyes were cyan and shining. She wore a strapless light blue, airy dress that stopped at her knees. On her feet were little white boots. A pair of small, blue butterfly wings adorned her back.
"Arigatou, Amu-chan!" she said, happily.
"The X is gone…" Amu trailed off.
"My name is Ai. I represent the love that Hotaru-chan has hidden away in her heart that she wants to share with the world," Ai said," Amu-chan, will you help me to save Hotaru-chan?"
Amu didn't answer. She buried her head in her pillow again.
"Amu-chan, Dia turning into an X egg was not your fault. Kaori did that. If you help me save Hotaru-chan, I promise to do everything I can to help you get the X off of Dia," Ai said, gently landing on Amu's shoulder.
There was a knock on the door. A moment later, it opened and Ikuto walked in carrying a tray with food on it. He saw the chara sitting on Amu's shoulder and looked shocked.
"What happened in here?" he asked, a little amused," Did you get the X off of her finally?"
Amu pulled the pillow away from her face and sniffed.
"I'm pretty sure Kaori put that X on Dia," Ikuto said.
"That's what Ai just said," Amu replied.
"So that's her name. Maybe now she'll eat something. Ami is putting the leftovers away right now," Ikuto gestured towards the door.
"I think I will eat something now, thank you," Ai said, flying out of the room with a knowing smile on her face.
Ikuto set the tray down on the Amu's desk, before sitting down on her bed with her. Amu scooted away blushing, which only caused him to get closer to her.
"Stop it," Amu said into the pillow.
"Why?" Ikuto was only inches away from her face," I figure, you owe me because I was trying to console you earlier and you pushed me away."
Amu's face grew even redder. The next thing she knew was that Ikuto had gently pushed her over and was lying beside her with his arms around her.
"Ikuto! What are you doing?"
"Hugging you. What else would I be doing?" he asked, innocently.
"…."
"I'm not stupid. I wouldn't actually do something you and your family would kill me for. You know that."
"My sister might get the wrong idea, considering you left the door open and you're in my bed."
"Just admit that you're enjoying this and I'll let you go."
"What kind of deal is that? It doesn't even make sense."
"You admit you like me hugging you and your sister doesn't get the wrong idea because I will let you go and get out of your bed."
"Baka…" Amu smiled, turning over in his arms and burying her face in his chest," You win."
Meanwhile…
Utau was sitting in her apartment talking to her green haired guest. The two were discussing their plans for the next day. Utau planned to surprise Amu at Sanjo Productions with Kairi's arrival. Kairi was staying in the other bedroom of her apartment. Their conversation was cut short by the sound of something tapping on the sliding glass door.
"An X-egg!" Il exclaimed. El examined it.
"It's Dia's egg!" El announced. Utau quickly got up and opened the door, letting the egg fly in.
"Utau-chan….. someone did this to me," Dia said weakly from inside the egg," It wasn't Amu-chan."
"But why didn't you stay with Amu? Why did you come here, Dia?" Utau gently said.
"You can hear me? I tried to talk to Amu but no one could hear my voice," Dia explained.
"Dia, all you need to communicate with Amu is to reach out to her heart," Utau said," That's how it is with everyone."
"I tried everything. Someone is making it so that my voice can't reach her," Dia began to cry.
"Don't worry. I'll help you talk to her. For now you should go back to her. Kairi, I'm going over to Amu's to take Dia back."
"Be careful. With those fiends on the loose, we must stay alert."
"My own heart: UNLOCK!"
"Chara nari: Lunatic Charm!"
Utau spread her bat wings and took to the sky. Within a few minutes she landed quietly on Amu's balcony. Utau looked into Amu's room. Amu was asleep in her bed. Ikuto was lying beside her, propped up on his elbow watching her. Why am I not surprised?, Utau thought with a smile.
Utau gently knocked on the door, bringing Ikuto's attention off of Amu. Ikuto opened his mouth and said something that Utau couldn't make out. Yoru's egg came floating lazily to the door. The egg opened just enough to allow a paw to get out to unlock the door. Utau undid her transformation and slid the door open.
"What are you doing here?" Ikuto whispered.
"I'm just returning something," Utau replied, holding up Dia's egg.
"So that's where she went. Kaori forcibly put an X on Dia."
"Forcibly?"
Amu stirred in her sleep, moving a little closer to Ikuto in the process
"Why aren't you under the covers with her?" Utau looked amused. Ikuto didn't answer.
"Fine. Be that way," Utau walked over to the bed and gently placed the egg in Amu's hand," And didn't anyone ever tell you that it's creepy to watch someone sleep?"
Utau turned and left the room. She transformed on the balcony and flew back to her place. Ikuto sighed and laid down. You're one to talk, Utau, he thought.
(A/N: Amu ate the food, Ikuto took the tray down and came back up to talk to her. She fell asleep after a while. I know I should have put that in the story, but I was struggling with the transitions for it for some reason. :P)
