Inspired by the book "Message in a Bottle" , by Nicholas Sparks (by the way , I find it really sad that Garrett died in the end D:) . My new favorite author(: Because it took me until now to realize that he was the original author of "A Walk to Remember" and "The Notebook" . Both movies which made me cry o: Because they were so great . WATCH THEM . NAO O: !
DonnySpeaks on youtube . Watch his video on "Self Esteem." , because he is the only guy that actually gets it . I'm dead serious . I love the way his mind works (: He would make a really good girl .
Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas ~ Better than mine ._. *points at latest chapter of My Star* But they say that the people who are truly respected are those who can smile at all insults directed at them.
Darkjewl : Well English has always been the class I've done the best in o_o So that was the first one that came to mind . Mk , except it'll have to be on a weekend , since I'm not normally allowed to stay up that late ._.
AhYingx3 : Updated My Star … except it's not exactly an "update" . More like a epic rant / an explanation for why I'm not going to update anytime too soon :\
Otaku-for-life : It's a cute book (: I mean , it's not every day where you find someone that gets to marry their imaginary friend , no ?
Amutoloveee : Mmm , I'm starting to like the whole sweet / cute thing better now o: What do you think of it ? Nice change from all that sappy stuff I write , right ?
Nessz : Don't cry D: Laugh more ! :D Because there are two things that make the world go round : laughter & love (: Ah , I don't fly very often . Last time was … I think when I went to Yellowstone back in August ._.
Himeka Tsukiyomi : Aw , thank you ! :D Don't forget to update your one-shots , too though ! I really love how cute they are and everything ~
Amuto20174 : Errr … imaginary Ikuto'll be fine . He can find imaginary Amu … in that world where all abandoned imaginary friends go ? :D Wild guess , lol .
Snowiisan : Yep . Because he's a cheater with 7 girlfriends :x well … six now since I'm officially done . Heard there was a huge shooting in the city he lived in , and I can't say that I wished the best for him (x
Czy4mnk1254 : D: Don't cry ! Like I said , laughter & love are the two things that make the world spin round n' round xD Ehehehe , I give their marriage until the honeymoon .
Xhappily-randomx : Ah , thank you ! But it's not original . I put it in the author's note , remember ? I got the idea from the book Sundays at Tiffanys' .
Amu slowed her run down to a steady walk, talking the time to enjoy the scenery in front of her. It was like a routine for her, now that summer had come to replace hectic school days: she would get up at whatever time in the morning, and go out for a run to keep herself in shape for when she had to do more guardian work when school started again.
It would always be the exact same routine also. First out of her house, then to the beach then back. The beach was always so pretty; Amu picked that as her destination since she would get there when the sun was in just that most beautiful place in the sky.
Stopping in her normal spot, she put aside her intentions of running and decided to just enjoy herself a bit at the beach. It was still early, not too early but early enough so that the sand wasn't littered with young, annoying kids yet.
She walked slowly, taking her time to enjoy how quiet everything was. Everything looked the same as last time she was here, but she wasn't complaining. It was always the same; it almost looked pretty.
Until something shiny glimmering caught her eye.
Amu stopped in her tracks, the shiny object completely distracting her. She headed toward it, and when she got closer that she realized that it was a bottle. Curiosity got the best of her, and she pulled the bottle out of the sand. Inside of it was a small, rolled up piece of paper. She almost laughed.
A message in a bottle? But that's so cliché …
Still, Amu popped the bottle open and carefully pulled the message out. There were so many smudges on the paper, as if the person who wrote the letter didn't know what they were writing and just scribbled down whatever drifted into their minds.
To my little adorable Ichigo; the letter read.
You probably won't get this … well it's obvious that you'll never get this. I'm tossing this in a bottle in the freaking middle of an ocean. What are the odds that you'll be the one person that'll pick this up?
Anyways, I just wanted to say that even though I'm in Europe right now, I still think about you. A lot. Not joking. I wasn't joking when I told you that I loved you; I did love you and I still do. And I still miss you a whole lot. I miss the way you'd be all curious about whatever it is that I was doing, and then I would tease you about it make you blush in that really cute way of yours. Then you'd get mad, we'd stop talking for a few minutes, and then the whole cycle would start all over again. Sounds pretty lame, I know, but I really did enjoy all that time.
Well … I guess that's all I needed to say. Like I promised, I will be back one day, and I want to know that I will come back and find you when I do. So … just wait for me. Please? It's the least you could do.
Amu continued reading, but that was the end. No signature, no clue whatsoever to who had written them. Yet, it sounded strangely familiar. Like she could directly relate to what was written. "my little Ichigo". Wasn't that Ikuto's old nickname for her? And that was what she and Ikuto would do at nights: Amu would blush whenever Ikuto decided to make fun of her.
She shook her head. It wasn't possible, was it? It wasn't Ikuto's character to do something like this, something as cliché as a spilling out everything he felt into a message and putting it into a bottle tossed into an ocean for anyone in the world to read. And, besides, what were the odds that the person who the letter was actually directed to was the one who would pick it up in the end?
Amu sighed, walking to one of the bins at the edge of the beach to dispose of the bottle properly and then slipping the letter into her pants pocket.
It's so silly … believing that Ikuto of all people wrote that letter. It's already been almost three years since he left; why would he chose now to send one, instead of when he first left … ?
.: one week later :.
Amu set out on her daily run by the beach again; though this time she decided to stop at the scenic place a little longer than normal. It wasn't that she had a sudden deeper interest in the beauty of the landscape, but she was hoping that she'd find another bottle. She had to admit, she was extremely curious about who was the sender, as much as her mind told her that it was Ikuto.
She walked slowly around the sandy beach, even occasionally bending down to dig in the sand in hopes of finding another one. After almost an hour of searching, though, she felt that she should give up.
Maybe it's too early … maybe that it would probably take more than a week for someone to write a letter and then toss it into the ocean…
"Hey, Mom!" A child shouted, interrupting her thoughts. "Mom, look what I found!"
Amu turned around to see who was doing all the yelling, and saw a small child running toward his mother, who was sitting on a beach towel some ways back.
And in the kid's hand was a small glass bottle … with a piece of paper inside.
"Mom," He repeated. "What is this?"
The mother picked it up, holding it away from her as she looked at it in disgust.
"Ugh," She whined in a tone that made Amu instantly think of "bitch". "Why did you pick up such garbage? Look, it's all wet and covered with sand and everything! Here, go throw this away in that garbage can over there."
The young child nodded and toddled off to where his mother pointed to, bottle still in hand. Amu's eyes widened. He couldn't throw it in there; then it would be covered in real garbage and Amu would probably be more reluctant to pick it up. She ran over to him.
"Wait!" She called out just as the child was about to toss the bottle away. "Don't throw that!"
The kid turned to her, head tilted to the side in confusion.
"Why not?" He asked. "Mom said it was garbage."
Amu hesitated.
"Because … um … " She lied. "It's not garbage. Yeah … that belongs to me. And I lost it and was trying to look for it. So … can I have it back?"
So it wasn't that much of a lie. Amu was trying to look for it, and it certainly wasn't garbage.
The kid shrugged.
"Sure," He said, handing her the bottle. Amu smiled at him.
"Thank you!" She said in her most cheerful voice before running off with the bottle. Once she was a good distance away, she eagerly tore the cap off and pulled out the letter inside. She took a deep breath as she unrolled it and started reading from the top line …
To my little adorable Ichigo,
Even though now I'm sure that you're not going to receive any of these. But, I found out that if I keep imagining that you will, I guess it makes me miss you just a little less.
Last time I sent one of those bottles out, I was in France. But, now I'm in England. And as much fun as I'm having travelling around with my dad (who I found back in China, by the way), I still miss you tons. I think of you … a little too much, according to all of those people that work with my dad. They tell me that whenever they try to talk to me or ask me something, I always somehow manage to get you into the conversation. Not that I'm saying that it's a bad thing, though … unless, that is, you want it to be.
Anyways, I was going through my dad's schedule for the next couple of months, and I realized that we'll be coming back to Japan soon! And I promise to stop by and see you when I get there.
And once again, the letter was left anonymously unsigned. Amu frowned, getting more and more curious about who was sending these letters. Even though her mind had already decided that it was Ikuto, she still had her doubts. It was either that it wasn't him, or he had grown up enough in the past few years to do something like this. And that wasn't likely, at least to Amu.
She shrugged, stuffing the letter into her pocket before taking off again.
~ i s n o w x 3 ~
Amu stepped back onto the sandy ground of the beach. It had been a while now, and no matter how often she came back to check every day, there would be no bottle.
Well, get a bit more realistic. Someone out there had dropped a bottle in the middle of the ocean. You were probably already really lucky to find two of them on the same beach, what are the odds that the rest of them will land in the same place again? It's all up to the ocean, remember?
Still, she never gave up. She would religiously come every single day, sometimes even twice a day, to search the sand for her much wanted bottled messages.
However, after almost two hours, she was just about ready to give up her search for the day.
Relax … there's always tomorrow too. Don't give up!
Sighing, she walked over to one of the large rocks on the edge of the beach and took a seat on one of them. Despite their rocky appearance, they were actually quite comfortable if you had the patience to find just the right position to sit in. Once Amu got settled in, she propped up her elbows on her knees, placing her chin on her hands and enjoying the scenery in front of her.
But, like all peaceful things tend to do, it eventually got boring. Amu felt herself beginning to fall asleep…
… Until she heard a loud thump in front of her. Her eyes flew open, and she spotted a bottle, standing up in the sand right in front of her.
And inside of it was a nicely rolled up piece of paper.
She turned her head around, trying to see who dropped it there. And then she saw.
Sitting on one of the rocks behind her, with a huge smirk on his face, was none other than Tsukiyomi Ikuto.
Amu gasped, and she couldn't help but let a huge smile form on her mouth.
"Ikuto!" She explained. "When did you get back?"
Ikuto shrugged.
"An hour ago…" He replied. "Give or take a little while."
Amu held up the bottle that was in front of her.
"So what is this for?" She asked, her thoughts already forming a connection. Ikuto's smirk softened into a warm smile.
"Just read it."
Amu eyed him curiously, put pulled off the cap and dropped the letter out. She carefully unfolded it, and was surprised to see only eight words long, even though the paper was a normal sized piece.
I love you. How about loving me too?
Amu read and reread the paper over again, her eyes wide. After a few minutes Ikuto frowned and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
"Hey … " He said slowly. "You okay?"
Amu's head snapped up and she nodded, her cheeks beginning to color.
"Yeah … " She mumbled. "I'm fine."
Ikuto's frown didn't lighten up.
"But you don't look fine," He said, as if he were stating a basic, obvious fact. Amu stared at him.
"Ikuto," She asked slowly, her voice quieting with every syllable. "If you wrote that … does that mean you wrote these two too?"
She reached into her pocket and pulled out the other two letters, the one that she had found in various other bottles. Ikuto's eyes widened when he saw them in her hand, but he nodded.
"Yeah," He said after a moment of silence. "Yes, I did."
"And are these about …" Amu continued. "Me … ?"
Ikuto smirked and raised up an arm to mess up Amu's pink hair.
"Let's see," He reasoned. "How many people in the world do you think have enough pink hair for me to call them "my little Ichigo"?"
Amu blushed and shrugged as she turned her face away from his gaze.
"Not that many …"
Ikuto grinned.
"So yes," He told her. "Yes I was talking about you. And I meant every word of it, too."
Amu's head quickly turned to look back at him.
"Really … ?" Her voice trailed off. Ikuto nodded, and Amu couldn't help but smile back.
.: two weeks later :.
Amu walked behind her Ikuto, her hand intertwined with his the entire time.
"So you're really going to be leaving again … huh?" She whispered sadly. Ikuto stopped walking. He turned around and smiled at her.
"Yeah … " He said, giving her a hug. "But you already managed to go for a long time without seeing me. This time I'll be back sooner."
Amu frowned.
"Still," She pointed out, pulling the letters . "That was before I got these guys."
Ikuto grinned.
"So then you'll have something to remember me by," He told her. Amu shrugged halfheartedly.
"I know … " She said softly. "But it's three pieces of paper. That's enough, is it? We had so much fun while you were here … "
Ikuto sensed her sadness, and tightened his hug.
"If it makes you any happier," He suggested. "I'll write them more… and this time I'll mail them to your house instead of throwing them in the ocean."
Amu smiled.
"Do both," She said. "Because I think the whole message in a bottle thing is awesome, but I want something from you in case I end up never getting the ones in the ocean."
Ikuto grinned.
"Then I'll be sure to write both kinds," He said, releasing Amu just as he saw his father approaching.
"Ikuto-kun," Ikuto's dad said. "You ready to get going?"
Ikuto nodded.
"Bet there in a minute," He replied before his dad walked away again. Ikuto turned back to Amu.
"So … I guess this is bye … " He said slowly. Amu nodded.
"I guess it is."
Ikuto sighed at the awkwardness.
"Don't forget to write," Amu said.
"I'll call, too."
"You better."
Ikuto smirked one last time before turning around to follow his dad.
"Wait!" Amu called out. Ikuto stopped and turned back to her.
"Yes?"
Amu stared at the ground shly.
"Don't forget … " She said, barely audible. "That I love you."
Ikuto stared at her for a moment longer before quickly running back to her. He bent down and gave her a kiss.
But it was gone almost as quickly as it began.
"I love you too," He told her, before going back to his dad.
~ i s n o w x 3 ~
Amu sat cross-legged on her bed. Even though Ikuto had only left that morning, she already felt that he had been gone for an eternity. She missed him that much.
Then an idea hit her, straight in the head, she ran downstairs and went through the cabinets in the kitchen of her house until she found what she was looking for. An empty glass bottle.
Once Amu finally found one, she grabbed it raced back to her room. She dug through the drawers of her desk and found a piece of paper.
After settling herself down on a chair in front of her desk, she pulled out a pen and began writing at the top of the page.
To my wonderfully perverted Neko…
Mmm . So what did you think ? o: Personally , I don't like that goodbye scene . But it doesn't matter what I think , it matters what the readers think ? (x
Review ? :D
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