Disclaimer: I do not own

Chapter 16

"You're going to America?" Souko repeated, puzzled. She watched her son walk around to the side of her bed and sit down next to her, nodding. To say she was confused would be an understatement. "Wh-why? And have you told Amu?"

Ikuto laughed humorlessly. "I told her yesterday. Don't worry about her, I'm sure she's hardly able to contain her excitement to be rid of me." He stood back up and pushed open the curtains, letting the bright sunlight filter through the blinds and into his mom's bedroom.

Souko frowned as she gazed down at her hands folded in her lap. He still didn't know. She could only imagine how hard this was on Amu to continue to keep the secret away from him. Souko herself wasn't entirely sure of all the details about what had happened, but she knew for sure that Amu didn't leave on her own will.

"God must be playing a sick joke." She heard Ikuto mumble under his breath, continuing to stare out the window.

"Why is that?" Souko asked curiously. Her son turned back around and sat beside the bed once again.

"Just that he first gives me a tumor, making Amu leave, then I lose my memory, a few years later I meet Amu again, then I remember everything and end up being tortured once more." Ikuto shook his head. "Who was the idiot that came up with the idea of sending me to that stupid Seiyo Village anyway? You must know! Tell me so I can go k-"

"It was me."

Ikuto went dead silent as he stared at his mom. His own mother was the one responsible for sending him to Seiyo, making him remember the past he would rather leave forgotten? "I-it was you?" He repeated softly.

Sighing, Souko nodded. "After I did some research and found out where Hinamori Amu lived, I suggested to the judge that you complete your community service in a place that truly needed it, like Seiyo Village. He seemed to like the idea – and the money I bribed him with – and sent you there instead of West Tokyo where you were originally assigned to work."

The young male sitting beside her was still speechless, trying to grasp the fact that him meeting Amu was all planned.

"I then contacted the man in charge of the Village, Tsukasa-san, I believe was his name, and asked him if there was someone loyal to the community who had a free room for you to stay in. He listed off a few names and I was in luck when he mentioned Amu was one of them, so I chose her, of course." Souko continued. "I-Ikuto, please don't be mad at me! I did it for your own good! Plus, I want to be in my grandchild's life. Don't you want to be with your son?"

"Of course I do." Ikuto replied defensively. "But... it's her I can't stand."

"...You're angry with her?"

"I hate her." Ikuto hissed darkly, refusing to make eye-contact with the blond woman.

Souko chuckled softly as she shook her head at her child's nonsense. "No you don't-"

"What kind of person doesn't tell the father of their baby that they're pregnant?" Ikuto exclaimed with an angry huff and a roll of his eyes following after. "Look, mom, I know you like her-"

"'Like'? Honey, I love that girl! I always have and you always have too!" Souko pointed out. "I've adored her ever since I met her. Do you remember that day? She wanted to meet me but you didn't want her to. Why didn't you? Did she embarrass you?"

The blue-haired male shook his head, beginning to get defensive. "Of course not. I just... I didn't want Kazuomi to know about her." He spoke through gritted teeth while thinking of his step-dad. He had never liked him, and now he hated him even more ever since he got his memory back and realized Kazuomi was pretending to be his dad and using him to bring in more profits for the stupid business.

"Why not?" Souko pressed, trying to make him realize how he truly felt about Amu.

Ikuto was silent for a few moments, making the whirring of the fan on the ceiling seem louder than usual. "I knew he wouldn't approve. So I didn't want him to know 'cause I … I didn't want her to get hurt." He finally confessed.

"Well that plan failed, now didn't it?"

"What are you talking about? You think I hurt her when she left me? Oh, please, she wasn't hurt by that. It was her own choice-"

Souko tried her best to hold it back, but failed miserably and released a scoff as she rolled her eyes. "Is that really what you think? Well, now there's where you're wrong. It wasn't her choice to leave. Does that honestly sound like something Amu-chan would do? Ikuto, you know her better than anyone. It should be pretty obvious to you when she's acting weird or suspicious."

"I know she was acting... differently... but why else would she have left?"

Silence once again consumed the room as the two relatives found themselves being pulled into a staring contest with one another. Neither of them knew the answer to that, but Souko had a feeling she knew someone who did. "You don't know anyone else who would know the real reason she left?"

Ikuto still remained clueless to what she was trying to hint, so she gave up. She'd rather have him figure it out himself instead of her having to straight out tell him who would know the truth, besides Amu.

"So, pops. How's your son?"

The new subject made a smile tug at the ends of Ikuto's lips. "He's good. He went with Amu to spend the day in Seiyo." He replied, walking over to the coffee maker at the other end of the room.

Being on bed rest for the past few months due to her fragile state, Souko finally decided to just leave the coffee maker in her room instead of having to bother people to help get a cup for her in the kitchen. Ikuto thought it was a fine arrangement. This way they could continue their conversation instead of him leaving the room for coffee.

Grabbing a mug full of freshly poured coffee, Ikuto waltzed back over to his ill mom and handed it to her before grabbing his coat off of the edge of the bed and throwing it on. Surprisingly it was raining outside. The drought was finally over.

"Well, I should get going." Ikuto decided, bending his upper body to kiss the top of his mom's head. "Get better soon."

Souko snorted and watched her son walk to the door. "Yeah, if I could do that, I would've ages ago." She commented after taking a sip of her coffee. Before Ikuto could leave the room, Souko quickly called after him, desperate to drop one more hint to help him know who to ask to get the truth behind the whole event. "...How is dear Tadase-kun doing? Could you say 'hi' to him for me?" She asked innocently.

The blond could've sworn she saw his blue eyes widen at the realization. "He's... good." He replied slowly, opening the door. "I'll phone him and tell him you said 'hi'."

Once the bedroom door closed, Souko smiled and leaned back against her pillow, closing her eyes. Everything would be worked out now. After Tadase spilled the beans, (which he would, of course, being the innocently honest person he was) Ikuto would finally know the truth.

OoOo

Tadase rose a hand to his mouth to cover a yawn as he shuffled into his kitchen, pulling open the fridge in search for orange juice. Not long after the door of the fridge was opened, his eyes wandered down to the puppy dog slippers on his feet. It was now he decided it was about time to get a new pair.

Wandering away from the fridge, forgetting entirely about his juice, the blond's ruby eyes flickered to the stove's clock, its red numbers telling him it was nearly six in the evening. His nap had lasted longer than he had originally planned, but he shrugged it off and looked around his cozy kitchen. What did he want from in here again? He had completely forgotten. He hated when that happened, because that meant he'd remember right when he sat down somewhere and got insanely comfortable, only having to get back up.

He groaned under his breath and wandered into his living room, deciding to kill time by watching TV before Amu came by to drop off Yoru. Once again, Tadase had offered to babysit the young boy so the girls could all get together to have a chick-flick marathon.

Tadase didn't mind. He loved spending time with Yoru. It was always interesting to hear the boy's dry comments about the lame shows that were always on the television that 'sucked the life out of human beings' as Yoru put it.

Right when a commercial for oranges came on, Tadase remembered what he wanted from the kitchen. He was thankful that he at least wasn't already curled up in his blankets yet. Just after opening the door of the fridge once again, the phone rang.

Mentally telling himself to remember to pour him a glass of juice, the blond hurried to grab the phone, tripping over a chair in the process and landing on the ground as he wheezed out a soft 'Hello?'.

"Tadase, is that you?"

He recognized the voice as Ikuto's. Remaining on the ground, Tadase sat up straight and cleared his throat. "Of course it is. What do you need?" Almost as soon as the words left his lips, he regretted it. It was now that he decided to quickly list off all the reasons Ikuto would want to talk to him, and he didn't like the thought of either one of the ideas.

"You've been best friends with Amu for... ages, right?"

"...Yes..." He replied hesitantly, not liking where this was going.

"So you know everything about her? Including all the secrets she keeps from everyone else?"

The blond awkwardly cleared his throat. He'd rather not answer that in fear of what the next question was. Nonetheless, he said, "Yes..."

"And if I asked you something, you'd tell me the truth?"

Tadase wanted to drop the phone and hide. He knew what question would be next. "You still don't know what happened five years ago, do you?" He guessed, raising an eyebrow even though Ikuto couldn't see him.

There was silence, which he figured was a good time to start explaining. Taking a deep breath, it all kind of came out at once. "Five years ago, Amu was in love with you, like, madly in love. It was also five years ago that Kazuomi figured she would only drag you down, so he decided to threaten her to leave you and never return to Tokyo, that way you could pursue a good career without her around. About a month after she left, she found out she was almost three months pregnant, but she couldn't tell you because she was scared of what Kazuomi would do, also because she believed what he said, agreeing that she would only hold you back if she returned to your life. Amu kept this all a secret from you and continued to lie to protect Kazuomi because she figured he had good intentions and thought he only wanted what was best for you." He inhaled a deep breath after his story was done, letting his head roll back so it was leaning against the couch behind him.

The other line was still silent.

"...What she said to you that day, about her not loving you and you being nothing but a black cat," Tadase began softly, "she didn't mean it. In fact, right after she had gotten into the car, she burst into tears. … It hurt her just as much as it hurt you. And having to continue to lie to you is just as painful."

The blond spoke while walking back into the kitchen, pausing in front of the refrigerator. Didn't he want to get something from there?

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts. It was Amu dropping off Yoru. "Look, I've got to go. I'll talk to you later. Oh, and for the record, for a smart guy, you're not that smart if you actually believed Amu wanted to leave you." He said before quickly hanging up.

Before answering the door, Tadase turned back to the fridge, his eyebrows slanting downwards. What on earth was it that he kept forgetting to grab?

I'm sorry for the delay! It wasn't due to homework, but writer's block! I didn't know if I wanted to torture you guys by making Amu and Ikuto continue to argue or just hurry up and get it over with. I then decided on this, and I must say, I love Tadase in my story. AHA! That sounds so egotistical but seriously, I hate it when people make stories with him being some evil person who'll do anything to steal Amu away from Ikuto, including raping her. It's terrible! Tadase is such a nice person! Ahem.. I've gotten carried away. Love you all! Have a great week and I'll see you soon, beautiful people!

Sheldon Cooper FTW