Guys. I am so frikken sorry it took me this long to update. It's been over a year, and that's just ridiculous. While I can't guarantee frequent updates, I'll do my best to keep working on both this and TALotTM… I own nothing.
Utau couldn't believe it. They wanted her to do what? Take care of their daughter for who knows how long? Unbelievable. Totally unbelievable. She would refuse, of course. She didn't have the time to take care of a three-year old girl, plus Yukari would totally freak out. It just wasn't possible. She was about to call back to say that she couldn't do it when Ami excitedly hugged her leg.
"Yay! Yay! I get to stay with Utau-chan!" she sang happily, looking up at Utau with big, shiny brown eyes. Utau's maternal instincts kicked in again, and she realized that there was no way she couldn't take care of her for a while. It was a lose-lose situation; if she refused, she would be plagued with guilt for weeks, but if she decided that she would, Ami could interfere with work, and maybe even get hurt in a battle or three.
Glancing at the clock, she realized that it was already five-thirty. "We'll drop off a bag of clothes and other belongings this afternoon!" Could Mr. and Mrs. Hinamori have already brought over anything Ami might need, and she just missed it? Running back out into the hallway, she nearly tripped over a child's sized, sparkling pink duffel bag that had rainbow colored musical notes all over it and 'Ami-chan' in big purple letters.
Yanking the zipper open, she looked inside to find several different outfits, a toothbrush, hairbrush, and other things that she had been previously unable to provide. Ami came out into the hallway and stood next to her, peering over her shoulder into the bag.
"Utau-chan! Can you take my bag inside so I can change, Utau-chan?" Ami asked, looking down at the old T-shirt she was wearing. Utau, still in a daze, nodded. Grasping the handle of the duffel bag, she lifted it up to find that it was surprisingly heavy. Forced to use two hands, she clumsily lugged the bag into the apartment, where she quickly dropped it on the floor. Ami launched herself onto the bag, pulling out different things to see what her parents had brought. Was that a karaoke machine?
Trying to figure out what to do, she watched Ami run into the bedroom with a pale pink frilly dress and close the door behind her. Once she really thought about it, she realized that she half-expected Amu to burst through the door and drag her little sister back home. Then... That's it! Utau could always go find Amu and demand that she take Ami back to where she belonged.
Ami came out of the bedroom not long after Utau made that descision, and Utau quickly grabbed her hand and led her out the front door.
"Utau-chan, where are we going?" Ami asked, panting to keep up with Utau's quick pace. Utau, however, ignored her and only sped up.
Twenty minutes later, Utau slammed open the glass doors of the Royal Garden and everyone inside looked up in shock. Marching up to the table, she looked from one person to the other. She ignored the one with her hair tied up in two pigtails, as well as the short blond girl. Her gaze lingered on Tadase for several moments before moving on to Kairi. She gave a tiny nod to the boy before turning to glare at Amu, who shrank back into her seat.
"Utau-chan?" she heard Tadase ask. "What are you doing here?"
Utau continued glaring at Amu, but Ami had run out from behind Utau's legs and tackled her older sister off of her chair.
"Onee-chan, onee-chan! I'm staying with Utau-chan! Yay!" the small girl squealed.
Amu gulped. "Oh yeah... Mama and Papa mentioned that yesterday at dinner."
Utau grabbed Amu by the collar. "Do you think I have the time to take care of some little kid? You could have at least told me for how long! She'll get in the way!" she hissed quietly enough that she could be certain Ami couldn't hear.
Amu stood up angrily, obviously offended that Utau had spoken negatively about her little sister. "Get in the way of what?" she demanded. "You taking the Hearts' Eggs of countless children? Causing trouble for me and the others? Taking my Character?"
Amu suddenly covered her mouth with her hand, glancing nervously at the small form of Ami, who had frozen when she heard Amu yelling.
"Utau... chan?" Ami whispered sadly. "Utau-chan has been doing bad things?"
Utau wanted to say no, she really did, but there was no way she could lie in front of all of the Guardians and get away with it. Nodding slowly, Utau watched as tears overflowed in Ami's eyes. She watched Ami's tiny body started to move towards her. And right past her.
"Ami!" Amu called to the form of her sister getting smaller and smaller with every passing second. "Ami, come back!"
Amu quickly stood up and sprinted away, desperately calling Ami's name, leaving Utau with the other four Guardians. Glancing back momentarily, she looked past Rima's calculating stare and Yaya and Tadase's expressions of concern; she only noticed Kairi's tiny nod of approval. Feeling bitter satisfaction that she had managed to please somebody, Utau quickly took off after the Hinamori sisters.
After all, Ami was her fan and her responsibility. If there was anything Utau Hoshina never did, it was let down her fans.
Utau forced herself to keep sprinting, desperately wondering where the two younger girls could have run off to. People crowded around her, asking for autographs and asking questions; normally she would have ignored them and pushed her way through the large group of fans, but today was different. She didn't have time to squirm her way through the streets. She had to find Ami.
She was rather annoyed when instead, of finding Ami, Kukai found her.
"Idol-san?" Kukai asked, stepping off of his bicycle. The younger boy had a look of genuine interest in whatever it was Utau was doing... perhaps she could use this to her advantage. Pushing through the throng, Utau made her way over to the spiky-haired boy, subtly glancing at his bike as she tried to figure out how to go about this. Bribery? Asking nicely? Seduction?
...
Then again, bluntly demanding things usually worked well for her.
"Give me your bike," Utau ordered, staring directly into Kukai's light green eyes. "I'm looking for someone, and searching on foot is too slow."
Kukai chuckled. "Cheery as always, aren't you, Idol-san? Alright, here you go. Just make sure to give it back when you find whoever it is you're looking for."
Utau frowned slightly in an attempt to hide her surprised smile, perfectly aware of all of the strangers enthusiastically taking pictures around them. "You're carelessly giving an expensive bike to someone you hardly know; an enemy, at that. You really are a kid."
Laughing again, Kukai watched as Utau stepped onto his sleek, well cared for bicycle. He had to admit, she was pretty entertaining at times. And as for who she was looking for... well, he thought that he might be able to help with that.
"Hey, Idol-san," he said, just as Utau was about to start pedaling. Kukai pointed to a direction slightly off to the left, towards the small forest that they both knew stood between the Fujisaki mansion and the park they were currently standing in.
"Hinamori went that way."
Um. Yeah. I absolutely hate how this turned out. I liked the beginning, but after Utau leaves to go to see Amu, it just seems rushed and... sucky. Plus it's not even half as long as chapter one. Of course, I wasn't planning for every chapter to be 3,700 words long, but this is a decrease of over 2,000... I really suck, don't I?
And, having no experience with it in real life, I do not like writing romance. Because of this, the pairings (assuming there are any; I still haven't decided on that yet) will most likely be unimportant to the plot. They'll just be floating around to satisfy you rabid fangirls.
Finally: I love constructive criticism. I really do. I want to get better at writing, and I will love you forever if you would be kind enough to spend some of your time giving me advice.