Well … hey ! (: Most of you guys probably remember this as my oneshot , Tokyo City , but I decided that I like oneshots , so I just changed it into a whole one-shot collection .

I guess you could say that this one is a …. Tadamu . I'm sorry D: But I couldn't think of any other way to do this story D:

Miruku-chii : So there are no problems , no ? (:

Himeka Tsukiyomi : Me &my friend were totally fangirling over it in school today instead of doing our lab . We're going to be in trouble when that's due …

Snowiisan : Thank you :D

Smallvillegirl2: … OHMYGOD . OH . MY . GOD ! IT'S SMALLVILLEGIRL2 ! *fans face* big BIG fan of your "The Secret Life of Amu" series !

Amutoness : Aw , thank you ! :D

Xhappily-randomx : It's because Amu's cool like that ;D

Kitty-Neko-Chii : Thankyouverymuch (:

Disclaimers :

I don't own Shugo Chara ! , or Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman .

Tsukiyomi Ikuto lay, sprawled out on the bed. There was a rather frustrated look to his face; he never really liked thinking this hard. Earlier today, Ikuto had decided to do the unthinkable for him : actually show up at school for once. He had been ditching a lot lately, faking illnesses and family emergencies to get excused.

Normally, he would go and bother Amu, but the little pink-haired girl had just started junior high, making her busy with the new amount of homework to do and tests to study for. Henceforth Ikuto decided to go back to school, purely out of boredom.

But, now that he's finally showed up, he had a lot of make-up work to do. He had gotten most of it done pretty quickly, it was all surprisingly easy for him. All of it except for the language arts homework, that is.

He was supposed to write. Write about one thing that was really important to him, yet he wasn't supposed to really name it at all in the writing piece itself. It was supposed to make people "guess" about what the important thing was. Ikuto's gut instinct was to write about the violin, but he was surprised to find that he couldn't fill up more than a page about that. Definitely not long enough to turn in for someone his age.

All of a sudden, there was a light tapping on his window. Ikuto turned to look out the window, and saw Amu , barely managing to stay on the small window sill.

Half of Ikuto wanted to stand there and laugh at how clumsy she was looking right now. The other half was already running over to make sure she didn't fall before Ikuto could get her into the room.

"Amu?" He asked as he helped her inside. "What are you doing here?"

The whole thing was surprising; since normally Ikuto was the one that went to Amu's bedroom windows. Amu stared up at him, her wide honeycomb eyes meeting his violet-blue ones.

"Ikuto," She said shyly. "Well… Tadase asked me to the dance."

Ikuto raised an eyebrow. So, Amu decided to come over at who knows how late at night, just to tell him that someone else asked Amu to a dance?

"And…" Amu continued, not noticing Ikuto's lack of response. "The problem is, I don't know how to dance. Well I know how to, I'm just not very good at it. And … you've probably danced with tons of girls, so… do you think that … you could help me practice?"

Ikuto hesitated. Of course, he liked helping Amu out whenever he could, especially when she asked for help. But, help her impress someone; someone that Ikuto was already immensely jealous of for succeeding in taking Amu's heart? That was a whole different story.

"Please…?" Amu begged, her eyes widening further with pleading. "I don't know who else to ask… Rima can't dance to save her life, no offense, Nadeshiko and Nagihiko are out in Europe, Kukai would make the whole thing an exercise project, Yaya wouldn't take me seriously, and my parents would just freak out over me going to the dance with a boy at all!"

Ikuto stared at her. How could he refuse such a cute, innocent face like that? He let out a resigned sigh as he shoved his homework aside. "Sure… I guess."

Amu's face lit up instantly.

"Really?" She exclaimed. Ikuto's face relaxed into a small smirk and he nodded.

"Yeah," He said. "Just keep quiet. I don't want Utau running in here, because then I'd explain why I was up late at night dancing with a little kid."

"I'm not a little kid," Amu pouted lightly. "Now just help me."

Ikuto chuckled softly, pulling Amu off of the bed, and taking her hands in his.

"Okay," He began. "You start off by standing like this…"

~ i s n o w x 3 ~

"So do you get it now?" Ikuto asked. Amu nodded slightly, still slowly swaying along to some imaginary music. She looked so adorable, Ikuto couldn't stop smiling as he watched her twirl around. When she finally stopped, she turned to look at Ikuto and nodded.

"Uh huh!" She answered quite cheerfully, flashing him a smile. Ikuto felt himself smirking at her.

"Well," He told her. "Just come back if you need anything else."

"Sure!" Amu replied, heading towards his bedroom door. "And you don't mind if I just leave through the front door, right? Coming in through the window was kind of... difficult."

Ikuto chuckled. "Go ahead."

As soon as Amu was gone, he turned back to the homework he had to do.

Something ... special ... to me. Something that I can say enough about to fill up more than a page or two.

His mind drifted back to only moments ago, when Amu was giggling as she kept tripping during the dance. Just the memory brought another subtle smile to his face.

The page was filled up within minutes. Filled with somewhat coherent thoughts about the one girl with the pink hair and the golden eyes and could make him smile just by staring at him.

.: some big number of years later (both Amu &Ikuto are adults now) :.

Ikuto stuck the newly made key into the lock, turning it and opening the door with a 'click'. He had just gotten a new apartment, complete with buying new furniture and everything.

He turned behind him, sighing at the boxes. Lots of unpacking to do. Well, he had to start somewhere. Taking a deep breath, Ikuto bent down, picking up the box sitting closest next to him and hauled it inside. As soon as he was done throwing it somewhere in one of the bigger rooms, he walked out to get the next box.

But, instead of the box being on the ground, it was in someone else's arms. Ikuto looked up and saw that they were … Amu's arms.

"Amu?" He asked in surprise. Amu nodded slowly.

"Um…" She said awkwardly. "Hi…?"

Ikuto blinked disbelievingly. Why would Amu, of all people, be here … helping him? It wasn't that he didn't want Amu here or anything, it just seemed like something that was very unlikely. Especially since Tadase and Amu had really hit it off at that dance all those years ago.

Amu smiled at him.

"Well…I live over there…" She explained, pointing at the apartment room across the hall from his. "And I saw you here… so I thought that… I'd… help you …?"

Her voice squeaked slightly towards the end, but Ikuto didn't mind. Amu was standing here, in front of him, volunteering to help with something. Ikuto wasn't ready to complain just yet. He smirked.

"Then bring that box into here," He directed, picking up another box and following her in.

After a few hours, they had all of the boxes inside the apartment, unpacked and emptied. The two of them stood back, admiring their work.

"It doesn't look half bad…" Amu murmured to herself. Ikuto grinned, silently agreeing with her.

"So now that we're done," He said. "Do you want to go … do something together?"

Amu shook her head.

"Sorry," She said, smiling apologetically. "But Tadase already asked me to do something with him… and I told him I would… so…"

Ikuto didn't want to hear the ending to that sentence.

"I get it," He said, trying his best to not sound as unhappy as he felt. "Well, have fun with that then."

Amu smiled at him one more time.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed, already running out of the apartment. "And I will!"

Ikuto sighed as soon as he heard the door slam behind the pink haired girl.

It's been ten years… and yet, nothing's really changed. Amu still likes Tadase, Tadase still likes Amu. I'm still jealous of Tadase. It's basically the past happening all over again…

.: six months later :.

Ikuto woke up, much much earlier than usual, when he heard some very loud knocking on the door of his apartment. Quietly cursing whoever decided to wake him up before he would normally get up, he got up and opened the door. He was surprised to see Amu standing there, wide awake and smiling at him.

"Ikuto!" She practically screamed. "Guess what?!"

Ikuto only stared at her, not replying. Amu shrugged, taking the silence as a hint to continue.

"Tadase proposed to me!" She exclaimed happily. "And and I said YES!"

Ikuto felt it harder and harder to keep that casual smile on his face. If there was any other time that he wished he was Tadase instead of himself, now would be when he wished that the most. He wanted to be that little blonde, prince-like kid. The one that could make Amu smile that brightly, the one that could get her anything she truly wanted.

The one who was loved by her.

As difficult as it was, Ikuto managed to grin at her.

"Well… congragulations," He said as cheerfully as possible, already beginning to close the door.

"Wait!" Amu called, stopping the door with her foot. "You… um … you remember how all those years ago, you helped me practice dancing for that dance Tadase invited me to?"

Ikuto only nodded, his tolerance was beginning to disappear and now it felt like there was something lodged inside his throat.

"Um… " Amu continued. "I know the wedding's not for another six months, and you're invited of course; but… do you think you can help me practice again?"

Ikuto really didn't want to. He'd rather be doing so many other things. Maybe, if he hadn't helped Amu that time, she wouldn't have impressed Tadase enough for them to still love each other that way.

Then Amu might have actually been his.

But, much to his surprise, he nodded and opened the door wider for Amu to come in.

"Let's hope that you still remember at least what I taught you last time," He heard himself say jokingly. Amu smiled.

"I remember it," She whispered, taking Ikuto's hands and practically leading the dance herself.

.: wedding day :.

Ikuto tried to concentrate on the important ceremony going on, he really did. But, he found himself always anxiously glancing at the exit in the back. Either that, or he was glaring at Tadase. Neither was very polite, so he tried to focus on the simple, yet beautiful, design of Amu's dress. It was white and strapless, with lots of ruffles on the skirt trailing down behind her. (picture on blog / profile)

Then his eyes would travel up to the face of the person in that dress, and seeing how happy Amu looked would make him feel pain all over again.

Miraculously, though, Ikuto finally heard the music starting up again, signaling that the ceremony as over. He jumped out of his seat, eager to be anywhere but there. But sadly, there was still the banquet to go to.

Ikuto started walking out, and spotted Tadase and Amu posing for pictures together along the way. The two of them looked so happy together, it almost made him feel sick.

It was like a twisted, horrible version of the Cinderella fairytale. Ikuto wanted something that he knew he would never have, because he wasn't good enough for it. Amu was like the glass slipper, that came when it liked, could change sizes whenever for whatever reasons, or can just vanish from your life. Ikuto actually believed that Amu was his and his only once. Stupidity? No, it was really more like being naïve.

No one ever told a story of what happened if Cinderella's slippers never really fit her.

Ew . Cruddy ending Blech .

Anyways , it's late , I'm mad at my mom again , I've got a Spanish test tomorrow , so I'm going to sleep . Goodnight .

Review ? :D