Okay wow, this one's a little long, and kinda intense. Sorry. It ended up going a different route then what I planned but hopefully you guys will like it. Also, Amu and Ikuto are a little out of character and emotional in this one, once again, sorry but it just kinda happened, they'll be more back to normal in the next one, I promise.

Please review!

*nope I don't own shugo chara*

Chapter 8 ~ Acting vs. True feelings

Amu blinked a few times and looked around in bewilderment. She saw a curtain diagonal from her, a pile of clothes across from her and a shelf full of props to her left. She blinked a couple more times as she took it all in. She was in the prop closet, she had been locked in there earlier with Ikuto. Speaking of Ikuto, where was he? She turned her head to the right only to end up with a mouthful of hair. She spluttered a few times and pulled her head back to see mess of midnight blue hair. She realized that her and Ikuto had been leaning against each other, her head originally propped on his shoulder, under his chin, while his had been resting gently atop her own pink hair. Now that she had moved her head however Ikuto's head flopped to the side, resting against the wall. She breathed a sigh of relief, he was still asleep and quietly scooted a more appropriate distance. She looked around for a few seconds, trying to recall the events of last night. She had originally ducked into the closet to escape detection from Ryan only to later on end up locked in there. After that Ikuto had conveniently gotten hot and removed his shirt. She glanced at him, he was still shirtless, she stared for a few seconds, then forced herself to look away. She surveyed the room, looking for the shirt, she frowned, as far as she could tell the shirt wasn't even in the room. Suddenly she looked down. "Oh." She said out loud. "There it is…." She rubbed the back of her neck with embarrassment, how could she not have realized she was wearing Ikuto's shirt? The sleeves were ridiculously long on her, and thus very noticeable, not to mention the distinct smell of Ikuto that was floating from it. But why did she have his shirt on? She didn't recall putting it on at all. She shook her head, attempting to clear the confusion as she continued going through the events of the night. After taking his shirt off they had ended up in an epic battle of Rock Paper Scissors. Amu blushed, feeling a little odd for referring to something like Rock, Paper, Scissors, as epic, but it was true, the stakes had been high. In the end she was forced to wear the black dress with silk laces. She shuddered at the memory but then softened, Ikuto had handled it surprisingly well. Sure, he had gone and pulled the picture stunt at the end, but ultimately, he couldn't have dealt with the rest of it any better. She breathed a sigh of relief, she had learned something, Ikuto really wasn't all that horrible when it came down to it, he did have a mature side, and she knew she could rely on him in moments of great need, and for her that was important. She had very few people she knew, if any that she could trust, whom she could really rely on. Of course she wasn't referring to asking for help with anymore dresses, hardly, but somehow she knew, even if there didn't seem to be much of a connection, that she could rely on him when life got hard, when all she wanted to do was give up, he would be the one to help her up. She paused, what was she thinking? Where were these thoughts taking her? She suddenly realized that she didn't want to know where the thoughts led, she would much rather ignore them for now, she didn't want to pursue them any further. She pushed the thoughts from her mind and proceeded to go over the rest of the night. After successfully putting on the dress the two had remained in, what Amu felt, was a rather awkward silence. They had talked for a short while and she had hoped the weird sort of tension that had somehow appeared would go away but it hadn't, the conversation had ended abruptly. Ikuto had been acting strange to say the least, quiet, and if possible, completely unperverted, not that she missed him doing all that stuff, but it worried and confused her, she still didn't understand it. And then after that….she paused a moment trying to remember what happened after that, it was all a little hazy to her. She sought the answer for some time and suddenly her eyes widened with remembrance. She clutched her knees once more.

"The hurricane…." She whispered so low, even she could barely hear it. She scrunched her eyes tight and fought back the wave of memories that threatened to overwhelm her. No, she wouldn't allow herself to think of that horrible day, so long ago. She couldn't, she honestly couldn't, not without allowing herself to be completely one-hundred percent broken and vulnerable at the same time. She forced her eyes open. Somehow, she had fallen asleep during the hurricane, it was all a blur once the hurricane started though, she couldn't make sense of it all. She looked over at Ikuto. He had done something, that helped her relax and fall asleep. But what she didn't know, she had never been able to relax during a hurricane, not since….regardless, she couldn't possible imagine what he had done. She subconsciously lifted her hand and brushed her fingers against her lips. She shrugged, whatever he had done she was grateful, beyond words. She leaned against him, as she had been when first waking up and closed her eyes once more. She felt remarkable comfortable, right there, sitting there, leaning against Ikuto. She wanted to let that moment last forever, she wanted to continue feeling like that as long as she could. But she couldn't understand why, and that's what bothered her most. She wanted to know why she felt so safe and comfortable with him, no, she needed to know.

She was jarred from her thoughts however as suddenly she heard the rattling of the door knob. Her eyes snapped open and zeroed in on the door as hope of rescue took flight. The knob jiggled a little then with a creeeeak, the door opened painfully slow. She was so happy, she no longer had to be stuck in this closet, her eyes waited eagerly for her savior to appear from behind the door. When he did, he heart sank.

"Ryan?" she murmured quietly.

He walked in and turned, his eyes fell on Amu and Ikuto and they bulged, Amu was convinced that if it were possible for someone's eyes to fall out of socket from shock, that would've been exactly what happened. She cringed, then realized how she and Ikuto must look.

"ROSIE! What's going on?!" Ryan demanded. The loudness of his voice startled Ikuto awake, but he wasn't one of those people who was instantly alert, he was still trying to gather all his senses when Ryan continued.

"Seriously, I know you guys are cousins and all, but no way, this is too much! Even for cousins! First off, why are you two in a closet, together, as in, alone, and Secondly, Rose, why are you wearing his shirt?!"

Amu blushed tremendously, her heart rate took off with panic, she couldn't handle the pressure, "Um…um, Uh…." She tugged the shirt off and hurriedly shoved it at Ikuto, he accepted it with a yawn and slid it over his exposed chest, "Um..well….y-you see…." Amu struggled valiantly but in the end failed miserably. After all, what possible excuse could she come up with for something like that?

"Stop stuttering and answer my question," Ryan told her, grabbing hold of her arm and pulling her up so that she was standing, "And what's with this dress?" he turned her to the right slightly to get a better look at it, glimpsed the back and did a double take, spinning her around completely, "How…did you lace that?" he asked.

Amu's face turned ten shades darker as she struggled not to make eye contact with Ikuto after the comment and give it away. She stared at the ground.

"Well Rosie? Are you going to answer me or not?"

She looked up at his anger filled face, she wanted to, she really did, she just didn't know how. She opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped as Ikuto grabbed her and jerked her backwards, so she was along side him. Apparently he had finally truly woken up. She watched as he glared intensely at Ryan, the two of them participated in a silent challenge of wills for a short while and Amu just watched as the tension escalated.

Ikuto reached out and ruffled Ryans hair, roughly though, not at all to be mistaken as a friendly way. He left his hand there and his expression hardened, "Rosie, doesn't want to answer you. So just leave her alone."

Ryan's temper flared dangerously. "And who are you to tell me what to do?"

Ikuto smirked and Amu took a step back, sensing that something bad was about to happen. Ikuto wasn't exactly happy, she couldn't tell if it was cause he had just woken up or what, but the guy was mad. He grabbed a fist-full of Ryan's shirt and jerked him towards him.

"Who am I?" he seethed, "I'm the guy who is going to make your life a living nightmare if you don't leave her alone." He suddenly shoved Ryan forcibly into the wall and pinned him there, "This has nothing to do with her. It's not her fault. I'm the one who got us locked in here, I'm the one who took my shirt off, I'm the one who laced her dress, and I'm the one who ki---" Ikuto cut himself short, glancing worriedly at Amu, did she know, about the kiss? He doubted it, regardless, no need to bring it up now. He refocused on Ryan, "So, if you've got a problem, take it up with me not her. Got it!"

Ryan swallowed carefully and nodded slowly, Ikuto released him and backed away, his temper fading quickly, "Now get out of here, and don't mention it to anyone else."

Ryan said nothing, he looked at Amu for a long time, trying to understand it. Finally he just shook his head and turned around; brushing shoulders with Ikuto as he headed out.

Once he was gone Amu breathed a sigh of relief and rested her wobbly legs against the wall. She looked at Ikuto "That….wasn't very good." She said quietly.

He agreed, "No, it wasn't, but I don't really care. I wasn't just going to let him bully you like that, besides, you were drowning, would you have rather I had stayed silent?"
Amu's mind quickly found itself back to that place of pure panic and uncertainty, she immediately shook her head, "no…no, that's okay…your interjection was good….but….did you have to tell him about the laces?" she asked with a hint of embarrassment.

He smirked playfully, "Of course I did, and don't forget I have pictures on my phone to show everyone."

"You wouldn't!" she cried in alarm.

"I would. But only cause I want the world to know how beautiful you are. Now come on, lets get out of here," he told her grabbing her by the hand and pulling her from the closet.

Amu followed in a somewhat stunned silence. Only cause I want the world to know how beautiful you are…. Since when did Ikuto say stuff like that? She was still contemplating it when they reached the room.

"Why don't you change in the bathroom, while I change out here," Ikuto told her.

She nodded, grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom. She shut the door tightly behind her and turned to face the mirror.

She frowned, she looked like a wreck. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were puffy from crying, overall she look exhausted, both mentally and physically. She leaned against the sink and turned the water on, splashing her face a few times, she wiped it off with a towel and rechecked her appearance, it was better but still not great. She sighed, there wasn't much else she could do, she wanted to take a shower but knew she didn't have the time, practice was going to start any minute.

"I'm done," came Ikuto's voice from the other side of the door, letting her know it was safe to exit once she was ready.

She acknowledged him and hurried to finish up. She stepped out of the black dress, glad to be rid of it and changed into jeans and a white halter top, lastly she slid a headband over her head and was at last satisfied with her appearance.

She left the bathroom to find Ikuto waiting for her, it surprised her, "Ikuto, what are you doing? Why didn't you go to practice yet?"

He shrugged, "I figured I'd wait for you," he said heading for the door. "Besides, I wanted to make sure you remembered what you said last night."

Amu paused mid-step, last night? What did she say last night?

Ikuto pulled the door open, she followed him through it, "About Juliet," he started, "Remember, you said you'd at least give it a try."

"Oh! That!" she smiled with relief, "Yeah, no worries I remember."

"Good."

The two arrived at practice a little while later, it turned out they were only about 10 minutes late, so no one had even really missed their presence, they were still setting up and getting ready. It turned out that today they were going to be practicing Princess Bride first, then they would have lunch break and after that, it would be Romeo and Juliet for the rest of the day. Amu headed backstage and slumped atop the prop table with a sigh. Ikuto started rehearsing for Princess Bride and Ryan was once again nowhere to be found, which was a relief to Amu, but at the same time a problem since that meant she had nothing to do but think about her current situation. What had she been thinking when she told Ikuto she would give acting a try? There was no way she could do it. It took enough effort for her to maintain the cool and spicy attitude throughout the school day, trying to be Juliet would no doubt be even harder and more exhausting. She groaned and rubbed her forehead in frustration, despite all that, there was no way out of it, Ikuto wasn't about to let her back out.

With Amu's thoughts of being Juliet filling her mind and Ikuto focused on practicing the first half of the day went by fast, before they knew it, it was lunch time.

During lunch Amu simply picked at her food and pushed it around her plate, she wasn't in the mood for eating, she was still too worried about acting in front of everyone.

Ikuto shook his head and poked her in the side, she jumped upright and glared at him, "Ikuto! What was that for?!"

He grinned, "Lighten up," he told her, "Your way too worried about this whole romeo and Juliet thing."

"But…it's not like it's easy for me to do…"

He sighed, "your ridiculous…" he muttered under his breath, "Come on Amu, it's easy, in some ways it's like when your cool and spicy, but in other ways it's not. Yes it's the same concept of cool and spicy, of focusing on being a certain way and then repeatedly behaving that way, but it's different. It won't be pretending."

Amu stared at him, "What do you mean it won't be acting?"

He shrugged, "Ultimately the choice is yours, it could be acting, if that's how you want it, but if you don't want it that way, then all you have to do is study Juliet, know everything there is to know about her character, find something about her that you can connect with, and focus on that. Sure, you've never been in the same situation as her, but the emotions, the feelings, those are universal. Even on the smallest level you've been able to feel what she has felt, you've felt happiness, and sadness, and anything else Juliet may have felt. In which case, you won't be acting, you'll only be amplifying your own emotions. In truth, that is what real acting is."

Amu thought about it for a moment, "So then…is that how you act, when you're on stage?"

He contemplated it, "Yes and no…for the most part, pretending doesn't bother me, I'm used to it, but there are times when I have been able to find some connection between me and the character and have played off that."

She nodded, "So then…maybe I can be Juliet after all!" she brightened.

"Good," he said, "Cause you've only got about 15 minutes left!"

At that she panicked and hurriedly finished her lunch. She finished just as it was time to go rehearse.

To be honest the rehearsal started out a little rocky, saying that one should connect with a character in a play through emotions is one thing, but doing it is another. And before she could do any of that Amu had to first learn to get rid of her nervousness. After the painstaking first half hour or so things went a little better, Amu had finally managed to push aside the fear and focus. She still wasn't perfect, she hadn't figured out how to connect just yet, but even so, it was an improvement. All in all they had rehearsed about 2 ½ hours. They had just begun working on Romeo and Juliet the other day, so most people still hadn't read through all of their scripts, as a result the practice went rather slow, with the actors and actresses having to do almost everything several times over. They had gotten through two scenes. The first was Romeo and Juliets first meeting at the party and the second was Tybalt and Romeos fateful duel. After that the director suddenly called an end to the practice early and let everyone leave. Except for Amu and Ikuto.

Amu was immediately worried that he was mad at how horrible she had done at acting. Later on, she could only wish that's what he wanted to talk about.

She and Ikuto stood on stage looking out at the director who was sitting in the audience staring intently at them. He stared for a few minutes and a painful silence followed. Amu bit her lip and kicked at the floor with her shoe, Ikuto on the other hand stared around the room in indifference.

Finally the man leaned forward and stood making his way up the stairs to the stage and coming to a stop in front of them."As you two both know," he began, "in Romeo and Juliet, the characters Romeo and Juliet are madly in love with each other. Now, in order for this play to go well, and for the audience to really like it and get sucked in, we have to make it look as real as possible," he broke into a silly grin, "And that, is what we are going to do now. You two get to learn how to look like you're in love."

Both reacted in their own ways. Amu sweat-dropped and Ikuto gave the slightest hint that he was actually interested in what was being said.

"Wh…what…but…h-how…" was all Amu managed to force out.

"Don't worry, we'll start small," he assured her. "First, why don't you two hug."

Amu and Ikuto looked at each other and blinked.

"Um….okay…." they said and moved hesitantly towards each other.

The director shook his head, "You guys are cousins right? Come on, you must have hugged countless times!"

"R, Right…" Amu mumbled looking at Ikuto. She didn't understand why it was suddenly so awkward, they had hugged before…right?

They looked at each other and finally closed the distance between themselves and hugged briefly, they started to pull away when the director appeared and held them there.

"Just stay like that for a moment," he told them. He circled around a few times, then spoke, "Okay, now change the hug from a 'we're cousins and haven't seen each other in a long time' hug, to a 'we're lovers who are desperately in love, and never want to separated,' hug"

"Okay…." Amu said quietly. How was she supposed to do that? She looked up at Ikuto he didn't seem to be sure either, in the end all they did was hug each other even tighter.

The director, whose name was Jeff (sorry, I got tired of calling him 'the director') sighed and rubbed his forehead in weariness…"You guys are going to take a lot more work then I thought…" he took a deep breath and looked at them with renewed determination, "Okay, lets do this!" with that he went to work on turning their hug into a hug of two people in love. He moved Ikuto's arms from Amu's shoulders and lowered them to her waist, took Amu's arms and clasped them around Ikuto's neck, pushed their bodies as close together as possible, and thanks to the height difference he tilted Ikuto's head down slightly, and Amu's upward so that they were staring into each other's eyes. While Jeff stepped back and marveled at his work Amu's blinked a few times and stared at Ikuto, her heart was pounding inside her chest, she was convinced he could hear it. But why was she suddenly so flustered, it was just…acting…right? She did her best to avoid Ikuto's eyes as long as she could, however in a moment of weakness she looked at them and found herself mesmerized by them. They were so….beautiful, no gorgeous. They matched his hair wonderfully and sparkled in the stage light. They were eyes of incredible depth, she felt that, by looking at his eyes she could see into his very heart, and there, she saw, for the very first time something she had never seen before. The sadness…it was gone. That little fleck of sorrow that she had always been able to detect in the corner of his eyes, had disappeared, but what did that mean?

On the other hand Ikuto was staring down at her, struck by her beauty, by how great it felt, to be able to hold her in his arms, he truly didn't want to ever let her go. He would give anything, to be able to stay like that forever, to be able to hold her in his arms for all of eternity. He could think of no better way to spend eternity, then with her by his side. It wasn't just a longing, it was a need. It was as if his heart, would shatter into a thousand pieces if he ever had to go through another day without her. He needed her, more than anything in the world, she brought him such peace and comfort, and joy, the like of which nothing had ever been able to touch. Nothing he had ever done, no one he had ever known had been able to make him feel, the way that he felt now, holding Amu in his arms. He saw that she was staring at his eyes, and so, he looked back and stared into her honey-colored ones and was immediately lost himself in them.

The director stood back, a smile spreading across his face as he watched the two of them. It was the most beautiful site he had ever seen, in all his life. He had never seen anyone with the ability to act that way, it was….incredible. Even he was struggling to grasp the fact it was only acting. If he didn't know they were cousins then he would be convinced, beyond a shadow of doubt, that those two her in love. He grinned widely and started to clap for them. "Wonderful!" he declared. "Absolutely wonderful! I had my doubts! But now, I'm convinced! You two are perfect!"

Just like that the trance was broken, the magical moment between them was over. They looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Okay, so you know how to look hopelessly in love," he stated, "Now let's see you sorrowful in love, let's see the moment where, at the height of all their love, Romeo murders Tybalt and is banished, never again to see Juliet. The two meet, but the meeting is too short, for two so in love, and Juliet is called away," he informed them, " Now this time let's try actually acting this one through, instead of just having you work on a pose, I want you to piece together a scene for me. I'll get you started, after that, go with the flow, don't worry about lines, just make it up as you go."

He cleared his voice "Juliet!" he cried, "Juliet where are you!"

Amu and Ikuto were still more or less in their hugging pose when Jeffs voice called to them as Juliets nurse. Amu remembered the scene and knew how she should respond, more or less.

She tensed at the call and turned to Ikuto, "Romeo….I, I have to go." She let go of his neck and turned from him.

Ikuto's eyes widened as she pulled away from him, his dream was slowly fading away. Her body heat left him as well as that sense of happiness he felt when she was with him. Reality hit him like a bolt of lightning, everything that had just happened…that was all just acting. Amu hadn't really felt that way about him, that adoring look her eyes, it was just for show, the way she had held onto him and pulled him close when they hugged, it wasn't real, it wasn't out of her own desire to hold him, she didn't feel that same need he had, she didn't need him by her side always and forever. After this rehearsal was over, they would go back to exactly the same as before, and nothing would have changed, because in her eyes nothing had happened, in her eyes it was only acting. The thought hurt, it was like a dagger to the heart. After this play was over Amu really would in a sense be leaving him, perhaps forever, he couldn't let that happen! He needed her, needed her to stay by his side, he needed her to feel that way about him in reality, not just when they were on the stage. But even now, as he was thinking this she was stepping away from him, as if it hadn't meant a thing. "NO!" he cried suddenly, his voice filled with desperation as he grabbed onto her hand.

"Romeo!" she responded, "I must go, or else they will find you, and kill you!"

"I don't care!" he told her, in truth he didn't care, if someone were to kill him for loving Amu, he could think of no better way to die. He pulled her back to him, pulling her close once more, and reveling in the sensation. Then he bent down and brushed the hair from her eyes staring intently into them, searching for an ounce, just an ounce of hope that she felt the same desire that he had.

Amu blinked at Ikuto's sudden outburst, she could hear the raw emotion in his voice. She was beginning to wonder if he really was only acting. She turned as he held her close and looked into her eyes. What she saw sent shockwaves through her entire body. Her eyes widened and suddenly she couldn't breathe properly, her breathe came up short and her chest felt tight. The amount of sorrow in those eyes, the pain and heartache, the desperation, it seemed to stretch on forever. She had never seen Ikuto look so sad, in all of her life, it was the worst she had ever seen him. (Picture the look Ikuto has a death Rebel when they fight in the Amusement park….cept worse) She had seen Ikuto through a lot, seen him through highs and lows, but nothing could've prepared her for this. Her heart broke, just looking at him. She had never known a human being to ever feel so much sadness, in her entire life. No one, in their right mind, no one with a heart could see someone the way she saw Ikuto now and not be affected.

"Ikuto…." She whispered. And the floodgates opened. She wrapped her arms around his back and sobbed into his shirt. "I'm so sorry…" she cried amongst the tears. "I don't want you…to be sad anymore…" she told him, "I want…I want you to be happy."