I don't own Shugo Chara!

Amu gritted her teeth as she felt a flash of pain on her upper thigh. There was no time to scream.

She quickly darted forward, successfully dodging all the thrusts, heading straight for the leader. She felt another jab of pain filling her arm but she continued, blood streaming from her cuts. When Amu got close enough, she ducked underneath the sword and slid under the leader's legs, surprising him. Before he could react, she had her sword on his neck, ready to pierce. Everyone froze.

The man started to clap slowly, and the others followed suit, cheering and hooting.

"Good job, Amu. You definitely improved a lot from the beginning." The cheers grew louder, and Amu smiled slightly. "But, look at those cuts. You have to be more careful. I can see why you did what you did, however, and for that I must give it to you. You are ready."

Amu bowed to her mentor, who nodded, a smile gracing his usually stern face. She walked out of the arena, accepting the compliments of her former classmates. In a span of five months, she had far exceeded the rest, excluding Rima and Nagihiko. However, Rima and Nagihiko were different; they worked as a pair. Without one another, they were as good as the rest.

Amu made her way to the showers, where she stripped herself of her soiled clothing and relaxed, letting the hot water soothe her. Steam slowly arose around her, letting her pretend she was in the lava lake.

It had been five months since that trip.

Five months since the dreaded news of a war.

Amu sighed and shook her head; it wouldn't be good to feel vulnerable when the war was literally around the corner. The last month was to be used for learning magic: fighting or healing. She had, unsurprisingly since she had learned fighting magic years and years ago, decided to learn healing magic with Rima and, obviously, Nagihiko. Amu had thought that in case-God forbid!- she ever was stranded and injured, she would have the knowledge to heal herself. Rima and Nagihiko learned to heal each other in cases of emergency.

Amu reluctantly stepped out of the warmth and dried herself out quickly before throwing on some wooly pants and a thick shirt. The winter days were approaching, and Amu would have to get used to it. She silently cursed the heavens for letting the war begin in the winter-the water dragons would have the upper hand.

More the reason to beat them.

Amu maneuvered her way to the medical ward; the best choice was to get started quickly. She found the head doctor and told her of her plan, who quickly agreed. The doctor, Maeda, led Amu to a private ward and pulled out a couple of books, setting it before her.

"Read these. And then hands-on experiences."

Without another word, Amu opened the book and blew the dust off the covers, coughing in the process. The writing was tiny and beginning to fade, so Amu had to peer at the words, straining them. She sighed but steeled herself.

It would all pay off.

Ikuto languidly swirled a strawberry in a bowl of melted chocolate and popped it into his mouth. He savored the tangy juice of the strawberry, which was followed by the overwhelmingly sweet chocolate. Mmm. He just adored chocolate strawberries. He was about to take another bite when the door slammed open, revealing a very tired Kukai.

"What?" Ikuto asked, not paying a look at him. Nothing came in between him and his strawberries. With chocolate.

"I'm...so...tired...," Kukai panted, flopping onto Ikuto's bed.

"Hey! Get off!" Ikuto said, wrinkling his nose disdainfully at the sweaty form on his bed. When the man didn't move, Ikuto took the liberty of rolling him off the bed and onto the ground. He dusted his hands and returned to his desk. Mmm. Strawberries.

"Ouch!" Kukai called, but made no move to hoist himself back up. "Why aren't you training?" he asked instead.

"Me? Oh, I'm done. I've been done for a couple of weeks now."

Kukai's eyes practically fell out of their sockets.

"What? No fair! How come?"

"What do you mean how come? I've been training for war since I was, what, 5? 6?" he snorted.

"Still! There's no way you could be done!"

Ikuto yawned and threw himself onto the bed, still holding onto his cherished strawberries and chocolate.

"Well. I did. So. Go train or something and leave me alone,"

"No, there's no way I'm accepting this!" Kukai whined, getting up slightly to glare at Ikuto.

"Hey! Don't give me that look! It's not my fault you didn't train when you were 6. Or 7." Kukai refused to answer and instead plopped back down, still exhausted.

"Are you scared?" Kukai asked quietly from his spot. Ikuto immediately understood.

"No."

"...I am," he admitted.

"It's okay to be scared. It's our first war," Ikuto spoke with confidence and reassurance.

"Then why aren't you scared?"

Ikuto sighed to himself. How was he going to explain this?

-Flashback-

A small boy with dark blue hair bounded into the throne room, his eyes the color of the night sky.

"Dad, dad!" he called out, excitement bleeding into his voice.

The man with brown hair who seemed to bend over slightly turned around, his large ears poking out of his hair. The King was quite a comical sight, although no one dared to say so.

"Yes, son?"mirth bubbled into his voice at the sight of his innocent son.

"I want a sword!"

The King rubbed his temples and bent down to the ground, eye level with Ikuto, who was still smiling brightly.

"Ikuto, the minute you take a sword, you are to lose your emotions on the battle ground. You kill mercilessly. Nothing stops you in that stage." His son smile never wavered.

"Sword!"

The King smiled slightly; of course. His son wouldn't know the horrors of wars yet. The King silently prayed that his pure son would never have to experience the perils of war-he would even give his own life up for it. The King reached into his cloak and found a small dagger that was dulled and handed it over to Ikuto, who laughed joyously and began fighting.

Little did the King know that Ikuto would come to understand those words only a year later.

"Well?" Kukai asked. Even though Ikuto couldn't see his face, he could imagine Kukai's eyes rolling and his mouth wide open in impatience.

"I was... trained to be ruthless on the battlefield. To kill without a glance." Ikuto spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully to make Kukai understand. The whole concept seemed cruel and unneeded, but anyone who was smart enough to look past the "cruelty" would see how necessary it was. Someone who was kind and sympathetic never won on the battlefield.

"I see," Kukai responded.

They lapsed into another round of silence, listening to the winds outside the window blow violently against the window. Ikuto vaguely wondered if the windows would crack but quickly dismissed the idea; these windows were built for resistance. In the silence, each thought their own thoughts, each pondered their own worries, and each came to a conclusion.

The harsh training, the discipline, everything- it would all pay off.

Hello, hello!

I'm wondering if I should delete this fic because I lost part of my love for it, and I didn't get too many reviews. I don't want to sound whiny and ask for reviews again, but I want your opinion- should I delete this fic?

Anyway, thanks to: dragons, amutoo, Better, and God Fenrir for reviewing!

I'll hopefully get another chapter up this week before deciding whether to kill this fic or not.

Thanks for reading, and review!