Rating: K+

Genre(s): Friendship/Humor

Summary: It started with a coincidental sleepover. And then those twenty steps decided at whose house were they sleeping tonight.

World: Normal world AU

Pairing(s): BestFriends!KuukaixAmu [KUKAMU], mentions of AmuxIkuto [AMUTO] and KuukaixUtau [KUTAU]

Warnings: Umm… None really?

Disclaimer: This was requested by a nameless Guest. Original request: "Can you please please please do one with Amu and Kukai with a bro/sis or best friends relationship?" The plot was shaped by my humble self.

A/N: So considering this is how I actually see Amu and Kuukai's relationship, I thought it weird and extremely frustrating that I couldn't think of a decent plot. For days I just had these undefined ideas, like Ami jumping at Kuukai, and him and Amu playing football together, and then what turned out to be the last scene here. In the end, I just combined it, because I figured it would be the best that way, so now you have snippets. Based around sleepovers.

~A Few Steps Difference~

1.

Amu swore loudly, and that said something. Amu usually didn't swear.

The thing was, it was eleven p.m., it was raining, she didn't have an umbrella and her keys seemed to be missing. What more, she just had an extremely strenuous day so she didn't have time get lunch, and now her stomach was protesting in the most painfully annoying way.

She groaned and whirled her bag over her head, releasing it so it hit the door. She let herself fall to the floor, thinking that this was the day God decided to punish her for all her sins.

Just as she was wondering will she have to spend the night there, outside in the cold wind, a voice called, "Yo."

Amu raised her head, feeling completely miserable. She saw some guy that didn't really ring any bells, and she was pretty sure they never met before. He had brown spiked hair and a massive grin, which Amu thought was rude, considering her current state. Most importantly, he was holding an umbrella (lucky bastard). "You need help?"

Amu was contemplating what should she do. On one hand, she had absolutely no idea who this dude was, and was he some crazy stalker or what else, as well as what he might do to her or what was his idea of "help".

On the other, that umbrella looked really inviting.

"Maybe", she answered cautiously.

He looked as if he was having fun watching her reactions. "It looks like you do to me." He came a few steps closer and crouched next to her. "What's the matter?"

Amu looked at scattered contents of her bag that flew everywhere. Casually searching through them with her eyes, she still didn't see the mean to get into her apartment anywhere. She looked at the stranger again. He was patiently waiting for her response. He didn't seem particularly harmful. And she knew there was a bunch of those old sayings her mum liked, about not judging the book by its cover and never trusting people you don't know and not going anywhere with them, but right now she was cold, hungry and tired enough to go somewhere even with the devil himself if it meant she could get out of that stupid position. "I lost my keys." It kinda slipped without her concious consent.

The guy smiled, which under the circumstances probably should've seemed creepy to her, and she should've thanked him by saying, "No thank you", run away to the nearest lodging place and call the police from there to tell them there is a suspicious person in the neighborhood and then just go to sleep.

But she didn't.

"Good thing I ran into you then", he said.

Amu's sleep hazed mind seemed to have just thrown away any sensible course of action because she found herself saying, "Really? And what do you propose I do?"

He shrugged. "Want to crash at my place for the night? It's only a block away."

It was a seriously bad idea to accept that offer and go and sleep over at the place belonging to a person she never met. It was probably the most foolish thing to do in this or any other situation for that matter.

Problem? Amu was in too much of a bad mood to listen to her brain's excuses anymore. She didn't care if the guy raped her at this point. (Not that she really considered that an option. He just didn't seem like that type.)

So she got up, gathered her belongings (that took a while), stuffed them in the bag and joined the guy under his rain protection. She almost felt like she stepped into Heaven. Guy looked a bit surprised after all, more so when she took his hand in the ways medieval ladies did, so they were linked by elbows, and said, "Well, Mister Potential Rapist, lead the way."

He just silently obliged, offering her a crooked smile. He led her down the street and around a corner, and then down that street a bit and they were there.

He definitely didn't lie – he was living very close.

As he got his own keys for the fence door from his pocket, Amu asked, "Why are you doing this?"

She was watching his back as he answered. "No particular reason. You seemed to be in trouble, and I figured I might be able to help, so I offered."

Amu was having trouble processing this. "Why?"

He unlocked the door and held them for her to come in. "You seem like an okay girl."

"Oh yeah?" she asked over her shoulder while climbing the stairs he pointed. "And how would you know that? From my aura or some crap like that?" Apparently, she was still nervy enough to be mordant.

His grin grew. "No, I was seeing you around campus."

That surprised her. So they were in the same college? Again, she was almost certain she didn't know him, but now, under the dim light coming from the ceiling, she got a better look at him, and some of his features were becoming recognized by her almost dead brain. "Wait a minute", she said as they stopped on his floor and he was shuffling with keys again. "You are that sporty kid. So… Su… Suma?"

"Souma. Souma Kuukai."

He opened the door and they entered his small apartment. "And you are? Something starting with an H, right?"

"Hinamori Amu."

He smiled and extended his hand to her, and when she, a bit confused, shook it, he grinned again and waved the same hand around. "Well, Hinamori Amu, welcome to my humble home."

He showed her where the bathroom and bedroom were, and Amu looked around with interest. It was similar to her own place by size and room locations, but Kuukai decorated his mainly in things having something to do with sports. There were various balls, posters, souvenirs from games he probably went to, trophies from his own ones. It was relatively tidy, though, and cozy enough.

When he finished showing her around, Kuukai turned and said, "Now, since you look like you're going to drop dead from exhaustion, we should probably go to sleep."

"Eh? Ah, yes. And… Kuukai?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks. I just realized I haven't said that yet."

Kuukai smiled fondly and ruffled her hair. "No probs, kid."

Amu frowned at him.

"Really though", she said as he gave her one of his shirts for her to sleep in. "How do I know you're not going to rape me or something?"

He chuckled, and Amu was worried for a moment, but then he said, "Don't worry, kid. I mean, don't get me wrong, you're cute. But I already have a girlfriend."

When Amu woke up the next morning, she had trouble remembering where she was at first. Then she saw the T-shirt she was wearing and it came back. She looked to the side to see Kuukai getting up, yawning and stretching. They got up at almost exact same time, huh? And he kept his promise of not violating her, so that was a plus.

Kuukai turned around and noticed her. He was obviously still too dazed to flash his teeth, but a hint of a smirk passed his face as he said, "Morning, Hinamori."

Amu rubbed her eyes, and murmured a "Good morning." For some reason, though, it didn't feel embarrassing. Amu wondered why. She just slept in the same room with an unfamiliar guy, after all (Kuukai gave her a reserve futon he kept in his closet in case someone from his rather large family comes to visit, as he explained), and she didn't even feel like blushing, and there was no awkwardness in the air. It almost felt natural.

"You can go to the bathroom first", Kuukai informed her. "I have to do morning exercises anyway, so it will be more efficient that way."

"Oh, okay."

She did as she was told, and after she got out and Kuukai went in, she dressed and found her way to the kitchen. She started making breakfast, which was something like saying "thank you" to him. And just maybe a way to calm her stomach, which was once again growling now that she had no bigger worries distracting her.

He was pleasantly surprised, and they ate together, finished preparing and then even went to college together. They only stopped by Amu's apartment (her keys mysteriously appeared in her jacket pocket, at which Kuukai laughed for full two and half minutes while Amu firstly apologized and then proceeded to punch him on the shoulder) for her to change and get her things.

He was making her smile, and it felt pleasant while they were talking. And just like that, Amu knew this was going to last.

2.

"Hinamori! Open the door! I'm freezing here!"

Amu shook her head and got up. As she sighed, however, she couldn't help the small quirk of her lips. Kuukai was such an idiot sometimes.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming, you dork."

She let him in and he practically flew to her living room, Amu following close by and laughing. Kuukai glared at her. "Oh, yeah, laugh your ass off. You try going for take-out in this weather", he grumbled as he set their food on the table.

"I wouldn't mind. I would actually dress myself properly." She lowered her eyes to gaze at her pullover. "It's your fault that you thought a hoodie will be enough while it's this cold."

"I'm a tough guy."

"Really? And why were you whining about freezing a moment ago?" she tittered.

Kuukai decided to ignore the question. "What are you studying today?" he asked instead.

"English. You?"

"Math", he groaned.

Amu let a grin which unpleasantly resembled his own take over her face. "Well, good thing we have food."

He didn't even dignify her a look.

A few hours later, they found themselves too tired to continue doing anything but sprawl around and chat tiredly.

"So", Amu asked with a yawn while scooting her knees closer to her chest, "how's Utau doing?"

"She's fine. A little bit stressed, I suppose. They're really milking her out for this film shooting", he answered from his place on her couch. Amu looked at him from its foothill. "Say, why is it that every time we have a study session like this, you end up on the couch and I end up on the floor? It is my flat, you know."

Kuukai looked at her from where he was laying and then down his nose at himself, like that realization only now hit him. "Well, when we study at my place –"

"When we study at your place, you still end up on the couch."

Kuukai smirked. "Maybe from the same reason I always end up sleeping here and you end up sleeping over there. We're just too lazy to do anything about it."

Amu looked at him flatly, and then sighed again. "I really don't understand what Utau sees in someone like you. Imagine, a superstar dating such a moron."

"Who's the bigger moron? The one who is that by nature or the one who has him as her best friend?"

Amu smiled. "Fair point."

An hour later still, they were asleep in those same positions.

3.

"Hey, Amu."

Amu looked up from the field she and Kuukai have been playing football on and shot him an inquiring look.

His hair was messed up even more than usual, he was sweaty, and his gloved hands held the ball. He nodded his head toward something behind her back. "That guy is staring at you."

Amu looked at him with despise. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for that?"

"No, I'm serious; look, he's practically drooling", he said, stretching his neck as if to see better. "He's not bad, either." He winked at her. "Nice catch, kid."

Amu blushed. All of her screamed that this was just another of Kuukai's attempts to get her to turn away and score a goal for himself; on the other hand, he was never this insistent.

"Look, he has blue hair, and what is that? Is that a violin?"

"Okay!" she snapped. "I'll look. But I swear to you, Souma, if this really is one of your stunts again, you –"

"I'm dead." He looked bored. "You think I don't know that after all this time?" He teasingly snorted. "Come on. He's going to melt if you keep him waiting."

Slowly, very slowly, keeping her eyes on Kuukai until the very last moment, she turned around. And, surprisingly, there was actually a guy there who matched the description Kuukai gave her. He wasn't looking in her direction, though. But he might've turned around in the last second –

A gust of air slapped her cheek as a ball wheezed by her ear. "KUUKAI!"

As they were walking to his place later on, because it was, no matter how small a difference, closer, and it was getting pretty dark, Amu was still fuming and Kuukai was chuckling for his victory. Not that he wouldn't have won anyway, but it was still apparently funnier this way to him.

"But I wasn't lying, you know" he suddenly said. Amu looked at him questioningly. "He was staring."

4.

"Oh, God, I'm beat", Kuukai moaned.

They were coming back from Yaya's birthday party. Neither of them got drunk (although that couldn't be said for everybody there), but it was still pretty exhausting, with all the dancing and what not. Kuukai also had a theory that that Yaya slipped some sort of, well, something in everything eatable, because everyone was acting as high as her on a daily basis by the time party ended.

So he didn't really feel like walking those twenty steps more to get to his own apartment, as Amu's was already so conveniently in front of him. He didn't even have to ask – them spending time and staying at each other's flats was something so common by now that both of them sometimes didn't even notice at first at which one were they. And after that incident when Amu forgot her toothbrush at his place and had to run over there in the morning to get it, each of them got one for the other's apartmant too.

"You know," Amu noticed while letting them in, "I think Ikuto's getting jealous at the time we spend together. I was careful not to mention to him all this about sleeping over, but he did find out somehow. I don't suppose you told him, right?" she finished with a pointed look. She was staring intently, as if hoping his forehead was going to open and spill all his secrets (not that he had any in front of her).

Kuukai rolled his eyes as he shuffled his way to the bedroom and flopped on her bad without a worry in this world. "No, I didn't. Did you consider the possibility of Utau? They are brother and sister after all." A nostalgic look swept over his face. "Man. Who would've thought that the Starer would turn out to be my girlfriend's brother? And that he will have interest in you, of all people." He got a pillow to the head. When he stopped laughing (after getting sure he shot one back), he said, "Although, now that you mention it, I did notice Utau getting a bit weirder about that too." He had a thoughtful expression on. Amu grimaced. "Well, they'll have to deal with it." Then she threw another pillow at him, and, while he was busy wrestling it, ran to the bathroom, yelling, "I'm first!" When Kuukai caught up, she slammed the door to his face.

5.

"Onee-chan! Onee-chaaaaan!" Ami's voice was like somebody was trying to dig a tunnel in her head. Amu prepared herself for the army attack in form of her baby sister, but when the little girl noticed who was behind Amu's back, she ignored her completely and ran over to go koala on that person.

"Kuukai, Kuukai, Kuukai, Kuukai!" she screamed while clinging to him. "You're here! Onee-chan said you might come, but I wasn't sure until now!"

Kuukai forced a smile as he tried to distance himself from her. It was hard, seeing how she wasn't intent on letting go. "Hey, Ami. Listen, I have something to do now, so we will play later, okay?"

"But Kukaiiiii!"

It took ages to shoo her off of him, and then even more to talk her out of dragging him off somewhere instantly. With the promise that he will find her as soon as he's free, she finally left, looking over her shoulder while walking and blinking at him. Kuukai's stomach turned. He returned to Amu, who was, as usual, laughing into insanity at the sight. "That is so not funny, Hinamori", he squeezed out.

Amu wiped her tears. "Oh, believe me, it so is. My little sister having a crush on my best friend? Geez, that is so precious." She started laughing again.

Kuukai ignored her and started to pull her to the house. "Come on. We haven't even greeted your parents yet."

Kuukai liked coming over to the house Amu grew up in. It was big and spacious, with Ami's childish drawings still glued on the walls and her latest test results on the fridge. Everything was full of family pictures, little Hinamori sisters smiling from every corner, some of them dating even before Ami's birth and some having kiddie Amu holding her in her hands as a newborn. The parents were always nice to him, inquiring for gossip on Amu's grades and boyfriends and asking about his family. Amu's father never missed to tell some story from the past, usually containing something Kuukai loved to use as blackmailing material, making Amu blush and go ballistic on her dad. She paid Kuukai back for it when coming to dinner at his family house for holidays – at least two of his brothers would be there, and all of them seemed to have set embarrassing Kuukai as their main life goal. However, this time most of them had to work for the winter, and his parents were visiting some relatives, so, not wanting him to spend Christmas alone, Amu's parents invited him over. And he gladly accepted.

When Amu and Kuukai woke up the morning after coming to Amu's parents' house, it was snowing outside. "Good", Kuukai said with a devilish look on his face. "Perfect for a snowball fight."

Amu, who already started picking her outfit for the day while he was still laying on the futon, snorted. "What are you, a child?"

"I'll bet you three snowballs in the face that Ikuto is in the front, waiting to drag you away from me."

Amu smirked. "Five that Utau's with him."

Let's just say that after some time, which, not so surprisingly, included a lot of running, attempts at kidnapping and Ami's protests, they both got their fair share of snow to the face.

A/N: The numbers are so you don't get lost, otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell when the line is there to mark the next snippet and when is it there just to emphasize that time has passed, although it's still the same event. I mean, you would be able to tell, you're not dense, but it's still easier this way.

Now, I'm actually very content with this one. But that might be just because I love KUKAMU friendship to the extent of not caring for my potentially crappy writing. That is probably why this was so long… I got carried away. Eh. Sorry.

Send me your requests! R&R, C&C if you want. Thank you for reading!