Hello! Sorry for the lack of updates; my computer broke .

Please, please, please review! It's very discouraging to see that I get views but no reviews because I don't know whether I should continue this or not. Nothing much happens here, sorry!

I don't own Shugo Chara!

X

Ikuto plopped down onto his bed, leaning back into the soft embrace.

"Mr. Ikuto?" a voice outside his door said tentatively.

"Come in." A young girl nervously teetered in.

"Um… Mr. Kazuomi is calling you." Ikuto cursed under his breath and walked to the doorway. The girl cowered underneath his shadow and he rolled his eyes impatiently.

"Are you going to go or not?"

"O-oh! Of course!" He shook his head at her retreating figure. A new maid. He hated the new ones. Ikuto cleared his head and walked to the large doors that led to Kazuomi's office. The wooden doors had small intricate carvings of multiple fairy tales with the usual fairy tale ending.

He knocked on the doors and entered when he heard the tell tale admittance cough.

"What do you want?"

"Ikuto. That's not nice." The older man swiveled his chair towards Ikuto and smiled slowly, his leathery lips stretching over gleaming, white teeth.

"I don't really care. What do you want?"

"You know, Ikuto, Utau is still under my care. So…" Ikuto bit back a curse and bowed stiffly.

"Hello, Mr. Kazuomi. For what reason did you call me here?"

"Better. Anyway, you have a new assignment. You're to kill a girl."

"Then that's my last."

"Since it is a killing job, it is your last assignment. I keep my promises. I'll give you the details by the end of next week, but prepare yourself."

Ikuto nodded curtly before heading back to his room. He opened a small blue book and gazed at the neat row of boxes he had drawn. Eight were already crossed out. A job where he killed someone was worth two boxes.

One person and he and Utau would be free forever.

Forever.

X

Amu sniffed the air and fought back a vomit. It smelled like something was rotting. She stepped around in the dark and found the cord that would turn the light on hanging from the ceiling.

Amu was scared of the dark, or rather, what was hidden in the dark. There were always two cases to the darkness; either what she found in the blackness would be worse or better than what she expected. So when she wrapped her hand around the long chain, she hesitated. But it was better to know… right?

Before she could regret it, she yanked the cord in one swift motion and shut her eyes. The lights flickered on and off and when they seemed to stabilize, Amu hesitantly opened her eyes and bit back a scream.

Carcasses of rats, birds, and other animals were strewn on the floor carelessly, some only bones and others with tufts of fur or feathers sticking out. Near the back of the basement were multiple white webs with hungry looking spiders staring at her.

Amu screamed and turned the light off before bending over and emptying the contents of her stomach onto the floor. She scrambled back onto the foot of the staircase where there was nothing but dust and wept silently. Amu pulled the sweater closer to her in a feeble attempt to protect herself from the animals.

Nothing she screamed to her dad seemed to change his mind and Amu sat on the stairs wide awake.

Was she really worthless?

Did she really deserve this?

Amu was on the brink of a breakdown; maybe she really did deserve this, maybe she should have died but a small flicker of hope in her stomach kept her from diving into the well of despair she was standing at and she raised her head.

X

After what seemed like two days, the door creaked open.

Amu looked up to see her dad towering at the top of the stairs, dressed in a black suit.

"Get ready. We're going to your mom's funeral in an hour." His silhouette left and she staggered up the staircase before the door could lock her in again. Amu shut the door quickly and locked it before going up to her room to shower. She scrubbed herself clean, being mindful of the bruises on her legs.

When Amu finished, she sat in front of the mirror and sighed. A bruise had formed on her cheek. Amu rifled through her drawers and took out a small, unopened bottle of concealer. She carefully dabbed some onto her bruise and evened out the color before inspecting it from farther away. She was new to concealer and makeup.

"Are you done?"

"A-almost!" Amu quickly found a modest, black dress and threw it on before pinning her hair back with a clip and went downstairs.

"About time…" he muttered. Amu lowered her head and they made their way to the funeral.

X

Amu was half surprised to see Tadase and his mother at the funeral. She had completely forgotten about him when she was in the basement.

"Where were you?" Tadase asked gently, rushing over to her.

"I-I was with my dad. Sorry…"

"No, no! It's okay, I understand." He rubbed her shoulders soothingly and she closed her eyes and thanked God for a wonderful boyfriend.

Amu was pulled away into a flurry of people who mourned with her and patted her on the back.

When the funeral was over, she made her way over to her dad who was sitting on a chair by himself.

"Um dad? I'm going to go back to Tadase's."

"Just go."

It was all it took for Amu to get into Tadase's car and hopefully back to her normal life.

X

Amu returned to school with a heavy heart. Thankfully, her routine wasn't disturbed; she went to school before retuning back to her home and sleeping.

Amu enjoyed only English and art, the two subjects where she got to express herself subtly. Both classes were a mix of students from all years, depending on what they were majoring in.

"Amu?"

"Y-yes?"

"What did I just say?" Amu desperately racked her brains trying to figure out what she had just said. It was something about a project since they had just finished learning how to efficiently analyze the subtext. The teacher sighed exasperatedly. "We're making newspapers in pairs for your project. I'm pairing you up." Amu slumped over onto her desk and waited for her name to be called. The teacher's voice droned on in the background and she could hear squeals of delight and groans of annoyance.

"Hinamori Amu and Tsukiyomi Ikuto." Amu looked around. Who was this Ikuto?

"Hey." A husky voice said next to her. She turned around, face to face with a man with blue hair so dark it was almost black. "Listen, I'm sort of busy in between classes, so can you just meet up with me at Café Benne?"

"Sure."

X

Amu drummed her fingers on the chocolate colored table impatiently. She checked her watch. He was running ten minutes late. She was about to get up and leave when she saw a tall figure make their way over to her table.

"Sorry I'm late. I had things to take care of."

"Okay. So we shouldn't have to meet up too many times since we just need to write a story and then edit the other's. I'll write the first chapter and you can write the second."

"That's fine by me. We can meet at my house for the first part tomorrow." He slid her a paper with an address and walked away before she could say anything more.

X

"Hello, Amu." Amu dropped her bags onto a nearby chair and jogged to the living room.

"Yuuki…"

"Ah, yes, it is me. I'm going to stay here for a couple of weeks."

"W-what? B-but I didn't get a notice!"

"Because I didn't send one. I wonder why you're still here?"

"What do you mean?" asked another voice as Tadase entered the room, holding a small bag.

"O-oh, nothing dear," Yuuki said quickly, standing up to hug her son.

"I got you something!" he said, turning to Amu. He pulled out a box and opened it slowly, watching happily as her eyes widened. "Since you're so down lately, I wanted you to be happy!" He lifted the necklace out of the box and fastened it behind her neck. Amu fingered the pearls gently and smiled.

"Thank you Tadase… You didn't have to do this…"

"Anything for you, dear. And one more!" He pulled out another box and Amu saw the anger flitting across Yuuki's face. This time, the box sheltered a matching pearl ring and he fitted it onto her middle finger. "It fits you so perfectly. Doesn't it mom?" Tadase turned to Yuuki and she forced a smile.

"Of course dear. Now go up and get changed for dinner." As soon as he was out of sight, Yuuki turned to Amu and growled.

"Thanks to you my son doesn't even notice his own mom."

"I-I-" Yuuki dashed over to her and yanked her necklace, causing it to break open. The pearls skittered about on the floor and Amu gasped.

"Stay with my son. I dare you."

X

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