Author's Note:
Sorry this is so late. Had to go to the hospital since I was sick and could barely breathe. Turns out I had both cases of Bronchitis along with an infection that went to my throat so I've been given medicine. The last two days I've been doing nothing but sleep trying to catch up on the 3 + weeks of sleep I've missed from this damn cough. I feel very much refreshed now though. ^^ So here's chapter 4! This one kind of deals with the sibling relationship between Utau/Ikuto, and we get to see Amu. : D. Thanks so much to the following reviewers!:
xxxxCrimson Moonxxxx
Raiken-Ryu
uhyeahi'mweird.
Such a long review! xD And you're totally NOT. Lol. Thanks so much. Yeah. I figured if I made him TOO incompetent, there wouldn't be much of a threat on Amu and Ikuto's end. I think he can be smart when he wants to be, but that's mainly due to his sadisticness than anything. LOL, yeah, I knew it would come across as weird; how many people are able to dial with their feet? One thing I neglected to mention though is that Amu's phone has little tabs that are able to go through a list; then Ikuto would only need to hit the phone button. (Got the idea from my phone) Of course, it was a risk because he could have easily messed up, even though he used the very tip of his shoe. Hope this explains a bit lool. XD
sierraphantom
Ikutoluver: YAY, another Ikuto lover! *Glomp*
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"Chapter 4: Promise"
It seemed no time at all when Ikuto, Utau, Yukari and Nikaidou arrived at the hotel the latter three had been staying at. Ikuto could see it was a fancy hotel, and wondered if Easter would be able to track him down here. Utau seemed to know what he was thinking, for she caught his eye and shook her head. "They might be powerful, Ikuto, but they won't find us here. Plus..." She looked to the floor slightly. "I think they're waiting for you to go to them."
"He knows me too well," Ikuto grit his teeth. "Of course he knows I'll go back...and he'll be ready to sick his men on me then."
"Which was why we suggested a plan," Yukari nodded, as the four began to head up to their room. "Running head-long into a trap would do none of us good. We have to be prepared for the worst, because if your step father doesn't want to lose something, it's definitely his 'puppet'," She looked at Ikuto apologetically. "He didn't exactly plan for you to turn against him, and who knows what he'll do now that you have."
"I don't care what he does to me," Ikuto said shortly. "As long as Amu is unharmed. "
Nikaidou opened the door with the key and allowed them all entrance before locking it tight. "Just to be safe," He answered at Yukari's inquiring look. "Remember, this is Easter we're dealing with. We're all former employees."
Utau took a seat on the couch and freed Amu's charas from their eggs, and Ikuto held the Humpty Lock tightly in his palm, feeling the Dumpty Key resonating in his pocket. He closed his eyes, tuning it out. The lock felt cold in his hand; it didn't belong with him... but with Amu. It would work for no one but her, just like the key worked for no one but him. His left hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the glowing key, giving a shudder as it was pushed closer to the lock until their cold metal brass barely touched.
His sister watched him. "You're wondering what will happen when the lock and key draw together, aren't you?" She said softly. Ikuto simply nodded, then turned his gaze to the carpet. He had tried it once a few months ago, but the lock had rejected the key then; would it make a difference now? In truth, he had his own theory about why it hadn't worked then, and it had been because Amu hadn't quite accepted him yet, and it most likely would never work unless that acceptance went both ways.
But Amu.... loves Tadase...
Sighing, he replaced the items back into his pants pockets, ignoring the shuddering emanating from both. Yukari and Nikaidou went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, and could occasionally be heard bickering over who was cooking what right. Ikuto chuckled lightly, remembering how flustered he made Amu whenever he teased her. The rosy color her cheeks would become, the sparkle in her eyes growing brighter, how she wanted to believe him... but he hadn't been able to be serious. Not then. He was still an Easter pawn, her enemy, and could not grow too close to her because of the forbidden wall between them. Now, however...
Easter had kidnapped her, using her against him; somehow, their relationship had been discovered by his step-father. He'd done his best to avoid her when necessary, not get too close to her in fear of her being taken from him too, but he still could not keep himself away from her. And yet, when he did, when he accepted the pain and the irrecoverable truth - the fact that they were enemies to the end and nothing else - every road he took, every step she made, only aligned them on the same path towards one another. It was always one step forwards, two steps back when trying to avoid her for her own good. Yet he knew blaming himself - or her - would only be taking away the blame on the person who deserved it, the person who had taken everything from him, and would have abducted the girl despite their friendly relationship.
Still.. the fact that Easter had discovered she meant so much to him was very unnerving indeed. Had he been spied upon? Though it didn't really matter how they figured it out; the point was that they had, and now Amu was paying the price for it. "Hey, Utau?" He looked over at his twin-tailed younger sister, who looked up at the sound of her name. "Do you think we should get the Kiddy King involved in this...?"
Utau shook her head slowly. "Tadase would only get the others to invade Easter, and that would only get them captured too. I know they're her friends, but there's certain things they can't even know, for their own safety. We'll break her out of there, without them even knowing, and if Amu wants to tell them then, then they can know. If the situation weren't so dangerous, I'd tell them immediately, but..."
"This is Easter," Ikuto finished. "They got more power."
Utau gave a stiff nod. "We were lucky to get you out. Of course," She looked up at her brother with hard, but gentle eyes. "I wouldn't have rested until I did. It's bad enough you're stuck working for them while I..." She stopped suddenly, pain shining through her lavender eyes. Ikuto walked slowly up to her before placing a hand on her shoulder, causing the blond-haired girl to look up, her eyes now filled with rare tears.
"I'm glad you're free, Utau. I'm so glad." Ikuto said softly. "I've always wanted that. I know what you're going to say," He continued quickly as she made to open her mouth, "That it was for my sake. I know. But along the way, you lost yourself, and that's something I never wanted. Especially for you."
"But.." Ikuto's voice was barely audible. "Ikuto... "
At that moment, Yukari and Nikaidou, talking over one another, re-entered the room, and Ikuto removed his hand from his sister's shoulder and faced them as Utau finally looked back up with a composed face. The red-haired woman smiled at them, holding out two plates of food. "I'm sure you two are hungry. Especially you, Ikuto-san."
Ikuto wasn't aware of just hungry he was until the aroma of the food made his mouth water and his stomach gave loud growls of hungry desire. "Yeah." He got his plate as Utau followed his lead and the four were seated at the coffee table, silently eating while Nikaidou switched on the television to a random channel just to break the silence. There was nothing but the sound of chewing and silverware clattering until the meal was finished, and then Nikaidou switched off the television and turned a hard gaze upon Ikuto.
"First, Ikuto-kun, before we come up with a plan," He folded his hands beneath his chin. "We need to know exactly what happened. As much as you know."
Ikuto looked back at his empty plate. "I was told, upon my arrival, that father wanted to see me in his office by one of the workers. When I got up there, he told me that he wanted me to 'lock something up'. I thought it was my violin that he took from me a few days ag --"
"Your violin?" Utau hissed, her eyes narrowed. "He... took dad's violin from you? Our father's last remaining possession?" The look on Ikuto's face confirmed what Utau asked, and her eyes hardened even more. "That... guy."
"This isn't surprising, though," Yukari put in. "Not with how precious it is to you, Ikuto. He needed a hold over you, and he figured by taking it, he would get it."
Ikuto gave a stiff nod. "He figured I would do anything he wanted because he took that away from me, but when he... lifted Amu up...he said he'd taken yet another precious thing from me.." His voice became a growl, his fists clenched at his sides. "I would not do it. Lock her up in that place. I told him to let her go. He wouldn't. I found myself demanding it, and he started to get pissed because I wasn't doing what he wanted, and the more I tried to get her away from him, the angrier he got, and then he ordered his guards to come in and secure me while he got Amu locked up. They knocked me out and when I awoke, I was in some room. I managed to get out of there with Yoru's help and -- YORU!" Ikuto's eyes went wide as he cut himself off in mid-sentence. "He's still there!"
Utau's expression became one of shock. "I was wondering where he was! So Easter took him as well?" The snarl was heard in the back of her throat.
"We'll get him back, too," Yukari answered. "Please finish, Ikuto."
Ikuto continued. "I had managed to get to Amu. When I saw her, she was pale, dirty, and bloody. They'd obviously hurt her, but before I could get out the door with her, he came and launched something into my shoulder, some kind of needle, I think, and --"
"A needle?" Nikaidou spoke sharply. "What kind of needle?"
"Let me see," Yukari leaned up off the couch and Ikuto pulled the cloth away from his right shoulder to show the wound. The three others gasped, and Ikuto himself swallowed hard at the purple-ish swollen lump emerging from his flesh. "I don't know what it was they had in there, but I just know it knocked me out right away."
"Are you feeling okay? No nausea, dizziness, pain anywhere?" Nikaidou seemed the most shocked out of the group.
"No," Ikuto answered. "Just a little burning from that wound."
Yukari exchanged a nervous glance with the man as Nikaidou sighed. "That purple color to it... you don't find injections that cause that abnormal color. There's only one thing that could be..."
"W-what, Nikaidou-san?" Utau's expression was fearful.
Nikaidou glanced at the girl then back at the wound on Ikuto's shoulder. "That can only be... X-egg energy."
As soon as he finished, Ikuto's heart began to suddenly pound furiously in his throat. X-egg... energy? No way. Then searing pain erupted through his shoulder blade; his head began spinning rapidly, and his stomach churned, wanting to release the contents he'd just finished eating. His hands closed over his mouth as he felt it coming up, and he struggled to his feet to find the washroom, but the dizziness clouded his eyes, and he found himself vomiting as he sunk to his knees with severe pain in his head worse than any headache he'd ever had.
"Ikuto!" Utau was at his side in an instant, moving his hair away from his face. "W-what's wrong with him?" Her voice was panicked as she looked up at the two adults who'd joined her.
"It's taking effect," Nikaidou was astonished. "Apparently, it works right away, then takes time to completely go through the blood stream before starting again. I have no idea how to react to this, I've never seen something like this before. It's in his bloodstream.. surely this can kill him..."
"Ikuto!" Tears were falling down Utau's cheeks. "Ikuto, please hold on! We need a hospital or something!"
He was shivering as though he had been soaking inside a frozen pond. He could feel his eyes rolling in the back of his head as his body began twitching uncontrollably.
"A seizure," Nikaidou noted. "I don't know what they can do, but we need a hospital right now."
He was in no position to protest, and fear was actually overwhelming him. He was scared, not knowing what was wrong with him, what would happen to Amu if he couldn't get to her. If he died here....
"Yukari, go get some cold, wet rags from the bathroom, I'll take him to car with Utau."
Ikuto felt himself being lifted and in a matter of minutes, met the cold, night air before he was strapped into the car, Utau sitting beside him as Nikaidou jumped into the drivers seat and Yukari came running out of the hotel and into the car. They took off immediately, and were very nearly speeding down the road. Not even four blocks down, traffic was blocking the main road to the hospital.
"Come on!" Nikaidou snapped, honking thunderously on his horn.
Yukari was placing the wet rags on Ikuto's wound as well as his head while trying to hold the boy down as he thrashed from the seizure attack. Normally, it would be inadvisable to hold down a person who was having a seizure, but with the window right by Ikuto's head, she had no choice. She felt heat emanating from his forehead. "He's getting a really bad fever, Yuu." The car took off with a screech again down the main road as it cleared.
"Almost there," Nikaidou said quickly. "Hold on, Ikuto, we're almost there."
He couldn't bring himself to say anything; he barely had any idea what was going on. He struggled to breathe, his chest tightening. His airways felt as if they were being constricted. He felt extremely hot from the fever, and groaned as his vision blurred. He was going to die, he was sure of it.
The car jolted to a stop, and he was pried from the car and into cold, wispy air again before his eyes zoomed through white lights and many beeping machines. The last thing he heard was Nikaidou yelling for a doctor before darkness overtook him.
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"Well, well."
Amu's eyelids slowly opened, seemingly taking all of her strength to do so. But she glared hard at the man standing before her, the large-fore headed ugly step father of Ikuto, who was wearing a disgusting smirk as he looked her over. "You look as if you're half-dead."
"Not yet," Amu found herself smirking. "It will take a lot more than this for you to kill me, you ugly bastard. Though I wonder how much it would take for you to die."
A hand snapped across her face, tossing Amu's head back, but the girl did not so much as whimper. "Growing some guts now, are you? Are you confident that my idiotic step-son will come to save you?"
Another smirk. "Not really. I can depend on myself, though I will say that Ikuto's stronger than you make him out to be. He won't just lay down and die. And neither will I."
"Ah." A chuckle. "No wonder he likes you. You've got backbone. Though you're still a little girl, and therefore, you are still easy to break."
"You can try," Amu said indifferently. "But if you get so much as an inch near me, I'll be sure to kick you so hard that you break. You're not as strong as you think you are. And," She chuckled, shaking her head. "I bet Ikuto knows that. Even if I'm not able to get out of here by myself, when he comes, you will wish you never messed with him or me."
Another hard slap to the face made her head jolt sideways, but she met the man's cold eyes with her own. No matter how many times this jackass hit her, she would not cry. She would not break. She was Hinamori Amu, and she still had her Cool N' Spicy side for a reason. She could be cold just as she could be nice.
"You'd better shut your mouth, you brat," Kazoumi sneered. "Or else it'll get you in more pain than you're already in."
"Ha! You don't see me whimpering, do you? Like I'm scared of being hit."
He smacked the girl hard again as he leapt forward and seized her by her neck. Amu stared at him without an ounce of fear, and swiftly aimed a kick to his kneecaps, making the man yell out in pain and crumple to his knees. "You little bitch!" He roared.
Amu was not affected by the insult. "I told you not to come near me, idiot. You'll hurt more once Ikuto kicks your ass."
There was a sudden hard knee to her stomach, making Amu yelp and cough up blood. She couldn't breathe, and her legs wobbled as they attempted to buckle underneath her. Pain seared through her, and she couldn't deny that this hurt more than anything she'd ever experienced before. Tears stung her eyes, but she would not cry. If she cried, she'd break..
"Are you hurting now?" Came the sadistic reply as the man's hands grabbed a handful of her hair. "Maybe now you'll watch what you say. I can hurt you worse than this, little girl. You are not invincible, no matter how strong your will is. I will break you. I will. And no one, not even my step-son, is going to stop me from getting your power."
"My power?" Amu choked out, spitting up more blood. "What power --?"
"The power that allows you to transform using the Humpty Lock. Not just anyone can just use that. There's something about you that allows you to do so...." He lifted her head to look at the girl's face. "I intend to get that power. Just as I will get the same power from Ikuto. I know all about the matching Lock and Key, and with both holder's power, I will get the Embryo." He laughed. "It seems I will be getting Ikuto's power soon enough. That boy is on the brink of death, and when he comes back for you, his power will be mine."
Amu's eyes were wide. "No.." Ikuto was...
"Yes." The man sneered. "I'd think about that if I were you, because while you'll definitely be seeing him again, he won't be the Ikuto you remember anymore. And once I get your power, which I will definitely do, you won't even be able to remember yourself."
"You'll never get away with this," Amu growled. "You'll never get me to do what you want. No matter what you do to me."
Kazoumi, who had gotten up and began walking away from her, turned to smirk at her. "Who said I would just do anything to you? Ikuto may be on the brink of death, but I can hurt him more than just physical torture. And maybe your little Guardian friends, too..."
"NO!" Amu shouted. "You hurt them, and I'll --!"
"You'll what? You can't do anything to stop me, all tied up like that. I will break you, and you had best be prepared to feel the most mental anguish you'll ever feel in your pathetic little life. Hinamori Amu." He exited the room with a sadistic laugh that echoed across the walls.
Amu couldn't stop the tears from running down her face. "You... bastard. You hurt my friends... or Ikuto.. and I will hurt you. My power is mine alone, and you will never have it!"
But she wondered... if Kazoumi would soon get Ikuto's power... what had he done to the boy? What would he do to break Ikuto beyond repair? Her eyes betrayed the fear she felt and her heart was terrified. Ikuto was hurt because of her.."I-Ikuto..." The sobs were escaping her throat against her will. "Please be okay... I need you..."
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The breaking... is about to begin. xD Lol. I feel so bad for them both. ;__; Ugh, can someone please shove evil step dad off the tower already? 8D I know this is moving pretty slowly so far, but it'll pick up in the next few chapters.