Got this idea from a book , Sundays at Tiffany's , by James Patterson . It's a really cute book , especially how Jane and Michael are reunited in the end &Michael gets to stay a human forever (: So sweet .

Made a Facebook fanpage . Because I really need to stop accepting friend requests from you guys D: My dad went through my buddy list and he was like "Oh , who's **** **** ? And who's **** ****** ? And who's ******* **** ?" &So on T_T It's so retarded , so I'm just going to avoid that entirely from now on .

But if you already added me , don't worry(: Don't remove me or anything , since I told my dad that you guys are all in my "English class" :D Fanpage link is on my profile page .

Mmm , I seem to love writing about "Amu the little kid" , rather than "Amu the preteen" o: Pedo , much ? xDD jkjk .

xoxFallenStarxox : Thank you !

I'm-amazing-deal-with-it : Thanks ~

HlorkexD : Thank you (:

Rimiish : Ah , so you speak Spanish . Mi espanol es muy terrible ._. Tan tengo que ir una clase para aprender . Fail . o:

Yoone1104 : See your PM inbox for reply .

Amuto20174 : Maybe it's because Ikuto's cool enough to take the pain like a man ? :D Jkjk .

YukiHoshina : OMG TAE YANG *insert gigantic heart here* BABY , JEBAL GUYE SONUL JAPIMA . :D lol , sorry . Spazzed into fangirl-ism for a moment o:

Angel of Randomosity : Aw , don't worry ;D He's always welcome to come have me .

Xhappily-randomx: D:

Aiko-Lawliet-8D : Thank yous ~

Snowiisan : Well that's what you get when I start writing right after breaking up with my bf ._.

Sylvanicara : Okay , byeee !

Sylvanicara : … Bye ?

P.S. Ami's not born yet :D So don't expect her in the story . Ikuto &Amu are only one year apart , or else Ikuto would've been too old for an imaginary friend D: !

"Table for three, please," Mrs. Hinamori said to the waiter politely. Her five year old daughter, Amu, suddenly straightened up and glared at her mother.

"Mom!" She protested angrily. "You forgot to save Ikuto a seat again!"

Amu's mother sighed.

"Amu-chan," She said gently, but in a defeated kind of way. "When are you going to outgrow Ikuto? He's not real."

"And he just had to be a guy…" Amu's father muttered to himself, but was completely ignored. Amu stared at Mrs. Hinamori straight in the eye.

"Ikuto's very real!" She argued. "He talks to me; we play together; everything real people do!"

Mrs. Hinamori took a deep breath.

Amu'll grow out of it soon … I mean, she can't believe in imaginary friends forever, can she?

Behind Amu, teenager Ikuto smirked and placed a hand on Amu's shoulder.

"Don't worry," He assured the little girl. "She's just jealous that you can see me and she can't."

Amu turned to look at him.

"And why can't she see you?" She asked him. "Why can't everyone else see that you're real?"

Ikuto frowned. How was he supposed to explain to a five year old that he was not real; that he was just something that she imagined up? That he was something that would disappear once Amu grew out of him?

He replaced his frown with a reassuring look.

"Well because I'm your friend," He said smoothly. "Not hers."

Amu shrugged, seeming to take that for a legit answer, and followed her parents to their table in the restaurant. As she had expected, her mother had not gotten Ikuto a seat, so she pulled one of the chairs from the table next to their and dragged it beside hers.

"Don't worry, Ikuto," She said, patting the seat. "You can sit here."

Ikuto smirked and climbed into the chair, both he and Amu ignoring Mr. and Mrs. Hinamori's exasperated sighs.

"So Ikuto," Amu asked, turning back to the chair beside her. "What do you want to eat?"

"Honestly…" Amu's father grumbled from across the table. "Do we have to buy 'Ikuto' food, too?"

Amu stared at him disbelievingly.

"Yes!" She said loudly, sounding totally shocked that he would even ask such a thing. "Of course! Do you want Ikuto-kun to starve?!"

"Amu-chan," Her mother suddenly cut in. "You always end up eating it, so you eat two meals. That's really unhealthy."

Amu only glared at her parents.

They don't get it!

Ikuto, who had been quietly sitting in his seat until then, turned to Amu.

"It's fine," He told her gently. "I'm not even hungry anyways. You don't have to get me anything."

Amu nodded.

"Fine," She finally agreed. As she was talking, she saw one of the waiters walking over to take their orders. She turned to Ikuto.

"Ikuto," She whispered, scooting closer to him and pulling on some of his dark blue hair. "Here comes to waiter, so look invisible."

Ikuto smirked, trying his best to "look invisible". Even though he knew that either way the waiter wouldn't be able to see him.

.: Two years later :.

Amu sat up in her bed, yawning and stretching as she glanced around her room. She turned around to wake up her friend.

"Hey Ikuto," She mumbled. "Wake up."

But, there was no one there. Amu's eyes widened the slightest bit, but she didn't think much of it. There were always those days where Ikuto wouldn't be there when Amu got up. He would be gone "talking to fellow imaginary friends", as he put it.

Although, she couldn't help but remember what he had said a few nights back …

"Amu …" Ikuto mumbled, more to himself than to Amu. "You're really growing up …"

Amu didn't bother to look up from the dolls she was playing with, but raised an eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be a good or bad thing?" She asked. Ikuto thought for a moment, then shrugged.

"Both … I guess," He said slowly. "Good for you, since you'll become a more mature person. But … I guess I'll miss you …"

Amu's head suddenly snapped up.

"What do you mean 'I'll miss you'?" She demanded. "You're staying, aren't you?"

Ikuto hesitated. He stood up and walked over to bend down beside the pink-headed girl.

"But if you grow up," He said, trying to keep his voice void of all sad tones. "Then you'll outgrow everything you liked when you were little … you'll outgrow me … and then I'll disappear."

Amu's eyes widened.

"No!" She almost screamed, throwing her arms around him. "Ikuto can't leave! He's my best friend!"

Not to mention my only friend …

Ikuto was startled by her sudden outburst, but slowly put one arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, I won't be gone until you're really ready," He promised. "Besides, when I really do disappear, you won't even remember I existed in the first place."

Amu frowned at her memory. What if … what if this was the time when Ikuto had talked to her about, that time when he would have to leave her?

She let out a small laugh, but it sounded somewhat forced.

"Hinamori Amu," She said confidently to herself. "Don't be stupid. Ikuto wouldn't have disappeared yet. He said that you wouldn't remember anything about him when he did, and guess what? You do remember him. Besides, you're not ready for him to go yet! He's probably out wandering around or something some more!"

Feeling somewhat better about her missing companion, Amu changed out of the pajamas she was wearing and into normal street clothes before bolting down the stairs in her house to join her family for breakfast.

Ikuto … just come back soon, okay? Or else I'll be bored for a longggg time!

.: 10 years later (Amu's 17 now .) :.

Amu stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach the book on the top shelf. After jumping a few times, she finally grabbed it, pulling it down before opening it and casually flipping through it. She frowned.

Crap … this isn't the right book!

Amu sighed. She shoved the book back into one of the lower shelves, not feeling like climbing all the way up there, and headed towards the workers standing around at the front of the bookstore.

Maybe they'll know where I can find it … But if Ikuto were here, he'd have helped me find the right book in no time at all!

At the memory of her imaginary companion, she stopped in her tracks.

Ikuto … he had never come back, but Amu refused to believe that he was truly gone, since she still remembered every moment of when he was here.

Yet … it had been a whole decade since she had last seem him.

She took a deep breath, shaking off her thoughts and continued walking. Her pace quickened noticeably, but Amu made no move to slow herself down. Her walking just continued to quickened, and soon she was almost at a full-blown run. She wasn't even seeing what was in front of her.

… Until she bumped into something. Or, to be more accurate, someone.

When she was finally aware of her surroundings again, she found herself face to face with someone's … back. She looked up , and saw the person turn around and give her a "what the heck were you doing?" look.

He looked so familiar to her. Like Amu had seen him somewhere or known him in a past life. He looked a lot like … Ikuto.

Trying to be conspicuous, Amu took a closer look at him. He looked somewhere between 17 and 25, just like her Ikuto did. His eyebrows, his ears, his hair, and finally, his eyes … they all looked the same. Those beautiful, midnight-blue eyes. The ones she would look into every night when she was a child, and think nothing of it.

Those same eyes that were studying her the same way she was studying him right now.

The man seemed to realize what he was doing, and suddenly straightened up and leaned away.

"Oh …" He mumbled. "I'm sorry. It's just that you looked really familiar…"

Amu shook her head.

"Don't worry," She said. "You looked kind of familiar to me, too."

The man raised an eyebrow and smirked a smirk that looked just like Ikuto's.

"Well then," He told her playfully. "Why don't we go get something to eat, and then we can figure out where it was that we've seen each other before?"

Amu nodded and followed him out of the bookstore. Right before they reached the exit, the man turned around and looked at her.

"By the way," He said. "I'm Tsukiyomi Ikuto. And you are … ?"

~ i s n o w x 3 ~

Ikuto chuckled, scooping out some more ice cream from the bowl in front of him and popping it into his mouth.

"So let me get this straight," He said, another smirk playing around on his lips. "When you were little, you had an imaginary friend that looked like me, acted like me, and had the same name as me?"

Amu felt a light blush form on her cheeks as she turned away and nodded. Ikuto grinned, causing Amu's cheeks to redden.

Is he … making fun of me?!

"What's so funny?" She finally managed to ask him. Ikuto shook his head.

"It's so strange," He said. "Because what I was going to tell you was exactly what you just told me."

Amu tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What … ?"

"I had an imaginary friend when I was younger, also," Ikuto explained. "Her name was Amu, she had pink hair and golden eyes, and she would turn red at just about everything I said. In other words, she was just like you."

Amu's eyes widened in horror as she leaned back into her seat.

This guy … was he some sort of pervert or something when he was little?!

Ikuto sighed.

"But," He continued. "She disappeared one day, and-"

"And you never saw her again," Amu finished for him. "And she told you that you'd forget her when she really did disappear, but you do remember, so you think that she's not gone yet."

Ikuto stared at her, wide-eyed.

"How'd you know?" He asked. Amu shrugged.

"Because the same thing happened to me," She said softly. Ikuto frowned and thought for a moment.

"How old were you when 'Ikuto' went missing?" He asked. A flash of confusion passed through Amu's eyes. How was that relevant to anything?

"I think I was … " She answered slowly. "Around seven years old. Why?"

"So you were seven," Ikuto mumbled to himself quietly. "And I'm a year older than you … so I was eight. And 'Amu' disappeared when I was 8 …"

"The two of them disappeared at around the same time," Amu said.

"And right before she disappeared," Ikuto continued. "It was when I first moved here to Tokyo."

Amu raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh really?" She asked. "Because right after Ikuto disappeared someone moved into the house across the street from mine … "

Ikuto stared at Amu.

"Are you my neighbor?" They asked each other at the same time. Ikuto gave her his address, and Amu widened her eyes.

"You live …" She murmured. "In that house … across the street from mine …"

"And this whole time we didn't notice this," Ikuto muttered. "How pathetic of us. Anyways, so now we know that they were around until I moved to that house across the street from yours."

"Maybe …" Amu suggested. "They did disappear, and we were supposed to forget, but for some reason we didn't … ?"

Ikuto frowned and shook his head. It was so strange, talking to someone he had just met today about an imaginary friend of his from when he was younger. Yet, he was still extremely curious to what had happened all those years ago.

"Ikuto disappeared when Ikuto moved to my street … " Amu said out loud to herself. "Maybe those two are connected …"

"And maybe that's it," Ikuto suddenly said. "The imaginary one disappears once the real one showed up."

Amu stared at him quizzically.

"So you're claiming to be the imaginary friend of mine that went missing ten years ago," She replied flatly. Ikuto shrugged.

"Well you said it yourself, didn't you?" He asked her. "You told me that I was just like him."

"I know I did," Amu protested. "But that doesn't mean that you are him!"

Ikuto stared at her for a moment.

"You know what?" He asked. "Forget I said anything. This is getting too confusing."

Amu only nodded in agreement with him. It was getting confusing; any more of that and her head would've started spinning.

"I … I guess you're right," She said, standing up. "Well, I guess I'll see you around then, Ikuto. Nice meeting you."

She didn't look back as she left him.

~ i s n o w x 3 ~

Amu stepped into the safety of her own bedroom, letting out a sigh.

"That was so weird," She complained to herself. "I met someone that looked like Ikuto … and he was named Ikuto, too, and he looked like Ikuto and sounded like him and everything … "

"What'd you just say about me?"

Amu's eyes widened as she spun her head around wildly, looking for who said that. Her eyes drifted to her bed, and landed on someone lying stretched out on her bed.

"I-Ikuto?!" She practically screamed. "What are you doing here?"

Ikuto sat up in the bed, jumping off of it and walking towards her. Once he was standing in front of Amu, he lifted up a hand to mess up her bubblegum-pink hair.

"Aw, Amu," He teased. "Why so mean? You're being very rude to the person who was your friend when you were little. The one who would check under your bed for monsters at night, the one who would help you find that missing toy you were always looking for … and this is the thanks I get?"

Amu gasped.

"You're not the Ikuto I saw today!" She said. "You're … you're … you're the Ikuto from when I was little!"

Ikuto smirked and nodded as Amu's mouth split into a wide smile.

"Ikuto!" She exclaimed as she threw her arms around him. "Ikuto, where were you? I missed you."

Even though she couldn't see it, Amu felt Ikuto smiling as well.

"It's like I told you," He told her. "I was going to be gone as soon as you were all ready and grown up and didn't need me anymore. But, based on what happened to you today, it seems like you need me all over again. So here I am."

Amu pulled away, her smile fading away rapidly.

"But …" She protested. "I wasn't ready … Do you know how worried I was when you first went missing?"

Ikuto frowned and pulled Amu back closer to him.

"That's what bothers me," He said, his eyes wide with honesty. "You weren't supposed to remember. I have no idea why you did. But, if I knew that that was how you'd react, then I would've never left in the first place."

Amu stared at him.

"So what made you think that I was 'grown up' enough for you to go away anyways?" She asked. Ikuto lifted up his head and glanced out of the bedroom window. He pointed at a light turning on in the house across the street.

"That," He answered. "I mean, look at that guy. His name's Ikuto, he has blue hair, he acts and talks and looks just like me. So obviously you don't need me anymore when you have him living a few feet away from you. Why would you want me, the one that only you can see, when you can have him, the one that everyone else can see as well?"

Amu frowned. His logic worked out perfectly.

"But I still missed you," She said quietly. Ikuto's expression softened.

"I know," He told her. "And now, you should get some sleep."

Amu shook her head.

"But you just got here," She whined. "Will you still be here tomorrow?"

Ikuto hesitated.

"I'm not making any promises."

~ i s n o w x 3 ~

Ikuto wasn't there when Amu woke up the next morning. A sad smile on her face, she climbed out of the bed and headed downstairs, as if it were a regular morning. As if last night didn't even exist in her memory. As if all of yesterday altogether didn't even happen.

But it did.

When she opened her front door to get out of the house, she saw him.

"I-Ikuto?!" She stammered. Ikuto nodded slowly.

"Yeah …" He answered slowly. Amu calmed down.

"So which one are you?" She asked. "The real one or the imaginary one?"

Ikuto grinned.

"The real one," He answered truthfully. "But the imaginary one did have a chat with me last night. I have to admit, it's really awkward seeing someone who looks just like you stand in front of you and start talking to you …"

Amu's eyes widened.

"He did?" She exclaimed indignantly. "But he's my imaginary friend, not yours!"

Ikuto shrugged.

"I'm confused, too," He said. "But he told me to do this."

Ikuto leaned down and gave Amu a quick peck on the lips. The pink haired girl's face was immediately a tomato red.

"Ikuto told you to do that?!" She shouted disbelievingly. Ikuto shrugged and nodded.

"Don't ask me why," He said, looking just as bewildered as Amu did. "He said it was something about how you don't need him anymore or something … I don't know."

Amu frowned. So what was her childhood friend trying to say? That she was better off without him? But who else would she find that could be just like him?

"You know … " The Ikuto in front of her said slowly, a shy expression on his face as he turned away. "He also told me that you like chocolate ice cream a lot. So … do you want to come with me and get some?"

The words that he said couldn't help but make Amu smile just the slightest bit.

She found her answer.

DONE . DONE DONE DONE . Ohmygod , you don't know how long it took me to think of an ending ! Started writing this Sunday night , and now it's Wednesday (or more like early Thursday morning ._.) , and I finally thought of a craptastic ending . 8 freaking pages too D:

Ah well , going on vacation on Friday , be back on Sunday . Going to a cousin's wedding in LA ^^

Review &add the FB fanpage !

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