Samaru: Hey whats up! Samaru-chi here, filling in for Teirra-chan. She's on the phone with me and asked me to the disclaimer since she doesn't have internet right now and won't have it until her birthday. So, don't get mad at her for this chapter. Anyways, Teirra-chan does not own Shugo Chara or any of its characters except for her Ocs. Sayonara, minna-chan!

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Chapter four: A pet a day does not keep the vet away.

The little shop on the dark corner that Ikuto and Muko took me to has never been there before. I swear to you, it's new to me. The Sign outside said Veterinarian Clinic, and I chuckled mentally. It's fitting, I'll give them that.

Everything inside wasn't like a normal clinic. Everything had some random color that clashed with what was next too it, and it hurt my eyes to really look at it all as one room. I had to break everything down to one or two items at a time before my eyes started to adjust.

"Oi! Yuuta-kun!" Muko cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down the length of the building, and Ikuto and I waited by the front desk Quietly, if awkwardly on my part. My jaw was throbbing, my heart was beating, face red, bruises everywhere, head bloody…Need I go on? "You'll like this one! You're a fan of hers!"

Moments later, I heard a voice shout back, "EH? You don't mean Hinamori, do you?"

A second after that, a tall girl with short red hair and sharp, but carefree black eyes came bounding around the door behind the desk in the hallway. She wore a white Nurses dress, with high black boots, and I thought she looked rather cute with the red cross over her chest. She had an earring in her left ear that resembled a scary looking crow flying with a chain hooked to its back. In her right hand was the thickest book I'd ever seen in my life, and it was leather bound, like old books, with a strange symbol on it's black cover, like a swirl, but not curved, cut into straight lines.

She smiled a brilliant smile. "It really is." She put the book down on the desk, and grabbed my hand excitedly which made me gasp and cringe. She stopped, face blank for a second as she remembered. "Oh right. You're hurt."

Ikuto sighed. "You have the hyper ness of a squirrel, as always, Yuuta-kun." He released me into her arms and turned away. "While you fix her, see if you can do something about that abnormal heartbeat she has going." He smirked when I flushed scarlet.

She saluted him. "Roger, Ikuto-kun!" She dragged me back down the hall, where even more colors splashed around my eyes, having grabbed the book beforehand. She sat me down in a white chair of one of the examining rooms, and pulled a stool over in front of me. She pulled out black rimmed glasses, and opened the book as they rested on her nose. "Alright, lets see here. So what'd you do?" She asked.

I noticed all of the pages were blank in the book, but she moved her eyes across the pages as if there was something there. Maybe the glasses showed her the words? "I got attacked…by some men…" I shuddered slightly and Mina inspected Yuuta curiously from behind the screen of my hair.

Yuuta giggled. "Sigh, Muko and Ikuto, playing the knights, huh? You have a Shugo Chara no doubt." She went to a drawer of a desk and pulled out some blank forms and a pen, scribbling my name down. "What's her name?"

"Mina!" My chara flew through my hair and floated in front of Yuuta's face. "I'm, Mina."

She smiled. "You're so cute! My gosh, you compare with Yoru." She fluffed up Mina's hair then continued to write. "Did anything…happen?" She looked up at me with her coal eyes.

"No," I murmured, shaking my head. "I'm just beaten and bruised…Ikuto-san and Muko-san stopped them before anything could happen…"

She smiled reassuringly. "You can call them by their first names, or at least with a cuter honorific. They wont mind."

I nodded hesitantly.

"Ok, so, I need you to close you're eyes, Kay?" She Grinned, having found the page she was looking for in her book. "Try and relax. I'm gonna heal you. Don't tell Master, though."

I closed my eyes cautiously, still in a daze. Why were they helping me, someone they didn't even know? What was this place, and why…Why was I being so tolerant? She placed the tip of her fingernail on my chest, and concentrated.

I waited for a good three minutes for something to happen, but nothing changed. I still felt the pain that I felt earlier and wondered what she could be doing.

I heard her gasp. Silently I opened one eye to look at her, and saw that she was increasingly frustrated. She turned on her stool to face the door where the hallway was and called, "Ikuto! Muko! Come."

Moments later they stood in the doorway, curiosity and confusion darkening their expressions. "Nani?"

"I can't get through." Her eyebrows knitted together in light annoyance, as if it was something new to her. "She has something blocking her power."

Ikuto paused for a second, then said, " Mental restrictions?" His lips in a crooked smile. Yuuta nodded. "I'd hurt her going any further."

Muko sighed. "Do it anyway." He threw a worried glance towards Ikuto, who was contemplating silently. Yuuta's face darkened at the thought and hearing how she didn't want to hurt me, but being told to do that anyway was less appealing to me as well. "Wait, what?" I cried, and they turned to look at me. "What am I saying, I don't even know you people."

For a second, I glanced sadness on Ikuto's face, but then I saw his relief, and then he went blank as he growled, "We're being nice, so be thankful."

I refused to stick my tongue out at him, feeling like a child who'd been told to be grateful. (Which had just been accomplished like three seconds ago from you reading this.) I managed to mumble "But I'm confused. You don't know me either, so why help me?"

Yuuta shrugged. "I'm a vet. I heal any animal that comes my way. This is rare for them though, so I don't know about their motives." She eyed them carefully.

Ikuto turned away. "No reason. Now fix her so I can go home."

"You have to stay?" I asked, as he looked at me from the corner of his eye. They were so sharp, so blue and mesmerizing. I thought I only liked Shiro, yet here I was aching for a complete stranger.

"You're the cat we dragged in, right?" Muko laughed, slapping me on a pained shoulder. "We have to drag you out."

Yuuta laid her hands. "I need to fix her before Master gets back, so I do this or I don't." She slammed her hands down onto my shoulders, and I cried out, tortured. She squeezed, and didn't stop in her grip. "Close your eyes, Ame." I heard Ikuto murmur from the door, and I shut them tightly, still subservient to his commands. Ever since his smell entered my body, I haven't been able to oppose his questions or something he tells me, Mina or not.

"This is going to be really painful. Maybe more than what she'll suffer, Ikuto-kun, Muko-kun. Should I keep going?"

Her nails dug into me, trying to keep a hold on my squirming form. "No, stop." I pleaded, wanting her to listen.

But she wasn't listening to me. She didn't want my agonized opinion.

"No. fix her now, Yuuta-kun." Muko replied firmly.

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((Ikuto's PoV))

Even as Muko said that, I felt him searching me. He knew I needed her fixed. He didn't know why, but I was strangely attached to Ame, the girl who had obediently obeyed me since the start. I thought I had myself under control with my emotions, but when her True Aroma filled my lungs--Her intense burning taste of an extremely hot cinnamon stick that smoldered in my chest even now--My True Emotion slipped out. I wasn't feeling the full force of the secret emotion that you don't even know about until you smell the True Aroma of a person, but it was beginning to feel like something I really didn't want right now.

It felt like love.

And right now, it wasn't feeling like some random crush either, but more like a powerful ingrained longing, rooted from the back of my mind, my locked away memories, my hardened heart.

It was Severe. My heart was crumbling the corrosion around it, and I didn't want that. Not yet, because mainly…

I was feeling the True Emotion of Passion. I was seriously feeling the severity of intimate love. No, not like that, Idiot.

Ok, just a little like that, but that's not the point.

I want to be close to her, hold her, comfort her in her bloody pain, caress her--spare the drama--pull her to me and just…love her.

For goodness's sake, I'm not supposed to be feeling like this! I'm Tsukiyomi Ikuto, the guy who's shot more girls down that Muko has grinned, which is a big accomplishment. I can't be close to anyone, especially not her. Anyone but her would be ok, sorta.

Anyone but her.

So, longing to stop Yuuta, I watched as Ame's face went from simmering agony to twisted anguish as Yuuta forced her own power into her heart and mind and drag her locked away power out to spread among her many wounds. It ripped my heart unthankfully in two as she screamed, asking her to stop, over and over as Yuuta concentrated. Even in binding torture, her voice managed to catch my heart's attention, to create the sound of wind chimes.

This was going to be a long night for me.

After a solid three minutes and twenty-two seconds, which felt like a long night, her voice was lost in her sobs as finally, Yuuta withdrew from her consciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, for a single teary, gold-eyed, moment before her eyes closed and her body went slack in her chair. Her head leaned against her shoulder as she fell asleep, to sleep her strength back. She looked so simple, so young when she slept. So defenseless.

Yuuta shook her hands free of what she'd done, shivering. "Oops. I think I went a bit overboard."

I was this close to snarling at her for causing Ame more pain than necessary, but reminded myself that what I felt wasn't my choice.

"So, what do we do about her?" She whispered softly,

I sighed heavily, and Muko examined me curiously. "It's a pain, but, I'll take her home."

What I really wanted to say was, "I'll take her home, because I care that much and I want to hold her and get close to her while I can to feed this feeling."

Muko brightened up a little. "You know where she lives, stalker-kun?" He teased gently, and I stared him down.

"Muko, she's Hinamori Ame. Everyone knows where she lives." I said, bending down to pick her up bridal style, leaning her in towards me. Mina hid behind her hair, shivering at how her power had been spread around, seeing as how she was part of her heart.

She trembled, as if she knew I was holding her. "Besides, I know my city."

I saw random flickers of her dreams in my mind. They were darkened, and muddled. But she seemed to know she was where she needed to be. More on how I knew this later.

Muko sighed and smiled. "Alright. Let's take her back."

Twenty-five minutes later, at Ame's house

My decision had been a bad choice.

I stepped into her clean room and placed her on the bed, shaking slightly when I pulled my arms out from under her. I balled my hands into fists as I took six steps back, flattening myself against the wall.

"Weird reaction." Muko whispered, watching me with his curious brown eyes. "Tell me what's got you uptight." He suggested.

So I did. I told him all about it, because only Muko would understand. I'd explain further, but I don't feel like it right now.

Muko whistled lowly, beaming a wide smile. "Sounds like an imprint of my kind."

(For all of you Twilight fans, where this story's author fits in with, the imprinting thing was really taking place in our world, or at least, Muko's. The imprinting biz was boomin' for Muko's Indian heritage. That's right; his chara is a wolf-dog, sorta. It's really hard to explain.)

"Man I really want to imprint, then I don't have to worry anymore, you know?" Muko continued. "I'm jealous of you now."

"Don't be!" I hissed, "This isn't a good thing. And I'm a cat, not a dog." Yoru nodded from my shoulder. I walked over to the door that led to the rest of her house, and opened it gently. I was planning on slamming the door so her parents would hear it, and just believe she'd come in without them noticing, but that's when I realized I heard footsteps coming up the staircase, a voice calling lightly, "Ame? Are you here?"

Cursing, I shut the door and motioned for him to go out onto the veranda, but he suddenly stopped and pointed.

A car was pulling up the driveway, and the flood light had turned on a the movement of the car. Again, I said something foul.

This was seriously not my day.

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Samaru: Well, that was interesting. While you guys were reading I was too. Teirra-chan gave me a jumpstart of her Shugo Chara chapters and made me upload it since she is writing Kingdom Hearts, vampire stories, and some other crazy things she came up with. She won't be able to upload herself until the weekend after her birthday so til then. PEACE, PEOPLE!!!

Teirra-(on phone) Bye people! Daisuki!! Eight more days till Valentine's Day! Samaru-chi! Stop typing and write more!

Samaru- *sigh* Yes, Teirra-chan. R&R, people.