Amu sighed as she walked home. Her body ached. Ran had put her through a full hour of coreography, and Suu made her stand with her arms spread out in the air for God knows how long. And she still had to explain to her mom about the highlights. Yes, her mom did know about her dream to be a singer, and that she had sent the application, but she had never told her that she had gotten accepted for a live interview and audition. Amu stuck her hand in her pocket and thumbed the paper that Ikuto had given her. Before she had left, she found Ikuto by the soda machine. She asked him for his autograph to give to Ami. Amu turned into her driveway, hesitating outside the door. Amu pulled the hood of her new EASTER hoodie over her head to hide the highlights (and the cat ears) until she told her mom. She walked inside and glanced into the living room. Ami was watching a Tsukiyomi Ikuto music video on TV, her mom was idly flipping through a magazine, and her dad was editing some photography on the computer.
"Uh, Mama? Can I talk to you for a second?" Amu added the "~nya" under her breath.
She watched as her mom looked up and said, "Sure, honey." Amu notice her dad glance at her suspiciously. He had that terrified, "Oh no. My daughter has a boyfriend," look on his face.
Amu and her mom walked to the kitchen to talk in private.
"Where'd you get that hoodie?" her mom asked cheerfully.
Amu pointed to the logo on the front, "Easter," she again added the "~nya" under her breath.
"Oh, why'd you go by there?" her mom leaned against the counter.
"Remeber that application I sent them... ~nya?"
Her mom nodded her head yes.
"They... asked me for a live audition, and I got accepted. I have a manager, and they recorded my first song, and-"
"Oh, my God, thats great honey!" Amu's mom exclaimed as she gave Amu a big bear hug, cutting her off from the most important part of Amu's explination.
"Mom," Amu said seriously.
Amu's mom stopped gushing and payed attention.
"I have the same manager as Tsukiyomi Ikuto... And, he wants to send us on tour already."
Her mom's eyes widened in surprise.
"How soon?" she asked.
"Next week. And... he wants to make it a world tour. So, our first stop will be America."
"Where will you go after that?"
"He isn't telling us. We won't know until we get our airplane tickets the day we leave."
"Wow..." Amu's mom thought it over, showing true concern.
"They said I'm really good. They really want me to go. They sent you an email with my first song in it. And Ikuto is going to help me write a few more before we go."
Amu's mom rushed to the computer. She motioned for Papa to get off, and logged into her email. She turned the volume up and smiled at Amu's choice in song.
"So you're asking for my permission to go?" Amu's mom asked without her eyes leaving the screen.
"Yes," Amu nodded, even though she knew her mom couldn't see it.
"I say yes, you can go."
Amu smiled. She knew that if her mom said yes, then it didn't matter what her dad said.
Amu walked back into the kitchen, "I need to show you something."
"What?" her mom asked.
"Well, remember how you said that the only reason you wouldn't let me get highlights in my hair was because it would be really, really expensive?"
Amu's mom nodded her head slowly, seeing what Amu was getting at.
Amu pulled her hood off, revealing a large streak of ink black going down a chunk of hair in the front, with a slimmer, ruby red streak behind it, and small golden streaks in random places around the rest of her pink hair.
"Oh, thats so beautiful, baby!" she started running the newly dyed locks through her fingers. "I'll go tell Papa for you, and how about you tell Ami."
Amu nodded and walked off to the living room. She crouched down beside her and waited for the music video to end, "Hey, Ami, guess what."
"Wha?" she asked in a high pitch voice.
"I got a gift for you," Amu smiled.
"Oooh! What 's it?" she yelped.
Amu reached into the pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a small white piece of paper. She handed it to Ami, who examined it, not knowing what it was.
"That, Ami, is an autograph from Tsukiyomi Ikuto himself," Amu winked.
Ami gave a loud gasp. Then a squeal of exitement, "You met Tsuyomi Ikuto?"
"Yep. Ami, I am a singer now. Like Ikuto. And Ikuto and I work together," she smiled.
Ami gasped yet again. "Amu! Can I meet him? Can I meet him? Can I? Can I? Can I?" she waved her hands in the air furiously.
Amu giggled at Ami, "I'll see what I can do."
Ami smiled, then looked back to the TV Happily.
Amu walked over to stand beside her mom, and listen to her dad give reasons why she shouldn't go. She inwardly winced when she heard "she's too young!" "She hasn't finished school yet!" and especially "She's my baby-angel!"
Amu sighed and looked at the clock. 8:56. Amu went upstairs and took her second shower for that day. She deffinatly felt like she needed one. She sighed again when she thought of exactly where she'd be going in America. She had expected New York or Las Vegas or some big city like that. Instead, they were going to a city in South Carolina called Beaufort. It was on the coast. Shiragin said that it had beaches, it had docks, and he said that there was something called "marshes" there. Amu had no idea what a marsh was. He also said that some family was letting them use their house to stay in so they don't have to pay to stay in a hotel. She never got around to asking Shiragin if her and Ikuto had to share a room or not. Though she could tell that he wanted them to, just to get his kicks. They would stay there for two days, then they would fly down to Florida to start their tour in Miami.
Amu groaned and dragged herself to her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Who could blame her? She'd had a long day.
Amu kept her eyes shut. She was too lazy to open them against the wind. Somewhere near behind her, loud American music played on the radio. Strong winds blew wildly, tearing at her black shorts and her grey shirt. The sun shined brightly, warming the wooden dock she was laying on. She attempted to fall asleep, but the wind was too distracting. She opened her eyes and looked around from her position low on the dock. Tall grass, or something of the sort, blew wildly in the wind, creating ripples that looked like waves of deep green. The musty smell of the salt water and fluff mud filled her sense of smell. She smiled at the sight. It was as if nothing could go wrong here.
"Amu," she heard a distant voice call her name.
"Amu," the voice called again. She recognized it, but she couldn't put her finger on who's voice it was.
"Amu," it called once more. At this, Amu sat up, supporting her body by her arms, and looked in the direction of the voice. A foot or so in front of her were a pair of tan feet.
Amu followed the sight of the feet up to lean legs, then to long dark blue shorts, then to a shirtless torso, then a head she recognized all too much.
"Ikuto," she said his name, letting it slip lazily from her lips.
He stuck his hand out to her to help her up. She looked behind him. She saw the length of the dock, then the ocean. Then she looked back at Ikuto. Now she realized why he wasn't wearing a shirt. He wasn't wearing a shirt because his shorts were really a dark blue bathing suit. She lowered her gaze to his chest. She felt her whole body go warm. She blushed and took a step back.
"Where are you going, Amu?" Ikuto asked as he took a step forward, a devilish grin on his face.
Amu opened her mouth, but she couldn't speak.
Ikuto stepped closer and grabbed on to the hem of her shirt and started to lift it up.
"Stop that!" Amu yelled as she pushed her shirt back down. She pushed Ikuto down, and he landed roughly on the wooden dock.
He gave her a questioning look, "I thought you said you wanted to go swimming after resting for a bit."
It took a few moments for Amu to process what he had said. Swimming? Oh, of course! They were going to go swimming off the edge of the dock. Amu pulled the collar of her shirt away from her skin and looked down to see the top of her bathing suit instead of a bra. Amu gave a sigh of releif, "I'm sorry, I forgot that I had already put my bathing suit on."
Ikuto stood up and watched as Amu turned around to change.
Amu pulled her shirt up over her head. She tried to figure out how close she was to the end of the dock. She looked at the solid ground ahead of her. She was about ten feet out. She pulled off her black shorts, and hung her clothes over the wooden railing.
"Hey, Amu!" she heard Ikuto yell.
She turned around to see Ikuto leaning aginst the railing all the way at the end of the dock.
"I bet you're too scared to jump over the edge of the dock!" he yelled as he pointed to the railing at the end.
"No I'm not!" she yelled as she started to walk to the end of the dock.
"Then do it!"
"No!"
"You're scared!"
"No I'm not!"
"Then prove it!"
Those words echoed through her head. Suddenly she broke out in a sprint to the end of the dock. She glanced at Ikuto, who wasn't looking at her, but was staring intestly at a group of different colored planks of wood about 15 feet ahead of her. He smirked.
Amu looked back at to where she was running. She stepped on one of the darker planks of wood and everthing seemed to stop. The wood broke under her and she fell. She frantically grabbed on to the part of the dock that was still in tact.
"Ikuto!" she yelled.
She heard feet slowly approach her. Ikuto chuckled at her, then leaned down. He rested his hands on top of hers and wrapped his fingers loosely around hers. He lifted her up and held her over the middle of the break, her legs dangling over fluff mud and sharp oysters.
"Ikuto," she moaned, wanting him to help her up on to the safe part of the dock.
Ikuto chuckled at her, then dropped her into the muck.
Amu screamed as she fell about five feet. Not a scream from a fear of falling, but she saw all the oysters under her when she fell the first time, and she was terrified.
She fell into the mud, the muck splashing up around her, getting into her hair and everywhere else. She started to sink into the mud and lost her balance, falling forward. She opened her eyes and pushed herself back up. She looked around her, seeing blood covering the ground. Her blood. She inspected her body. She saw cuts all on the front of her hands from when she tried to break her fall. She had a cut on her upper thigh, and one on her stomach. There was also a deep gash she could feel on the bottom of her foot. Her heart was beating wildly.
"Goodbye," Amu heard Ikuto's voice above her.
She looked up, the sun's light blurring her vision. She put her bloody hand above her eyes, trying to block out the flaming orb.
She couldn't tell what she was seeing. Was that Ikuto? Was it Ikuto with blond hair or something?
It must have been the sun. Or the blood loss.
Ikuto blocked the sun with his body. He was now just a black figure to Amu, being able to see nothing but the outline of his body.
"Ikuto?" Amu said, in almost a whisper.
"Amu," he said her name.
It sounded different than she had ever heard him talk.
He sounded depressed.
He sounded excited.
He sounded angry.
He sounded guilty.
He sounded innocent.
He sounded like he knew exactly what he was doing to Amu.
"Amu," he said her name, it sounded slurred.
Amu breathed heavily. She needed help. Her cell was in her shorts, Ikuto wasn't helping, Shiragin was getting groceries.
"Ikuto," she pleaded, "Please, Ikuto." Tears streamed down her face, "Please help me."
"Goodbye," his deep voice echoed in the silence.
Amu's knees shook.
"Amu-chan."
Amu's heart stopped.
All was dark.
"Amu-chan."
It echoed through her head.
"Amu-chan."
Endlessly.
"Amu-chan."
That was Tadase's voice and Tadase's blond hair, not Ikuto's.
A/N- Okay, I'm just gonna let you know that I wont be able to work on the story at all next week. So it might be a while until I can get chapter 6 out. Haha... my cat is trying to attack my drawing. R&R (: