Disclaimer: Ermagawd, you guys, this chapter is almost completely mine /Shot. Okay, some of it is still ShellyCullen's, but I used a lot and rewrote it into my own scene. And I added a lot of stuff (2k+ words, gais). So, yeah...

Anyways, the plot and other technicalities still go to ShellyCullen.

And Shugo Chara isn't mine.

Chapter 4

Pervert

In front of Amu stood the prince, with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. "I'll need that favor from you now."

The prince stood a merely two feet away from her; he wore a tight shirt with a nylon sleeveless jacket over it.

He pulled a hand from his pocket and brought his arm across his abdomen. He slightly bowed, still looking Amu in the eye. When he straightened himself and put his arm at his side, Amu noticed the dark stain that nearly soaked through the black cotton of his sleeve.

He noticed her looking at it, staring at it, and he found the emotion flashing through her golden eyes easily. A smirk tugged a corner of his thin lips as he asked a simple, "Worried?"

At that, Amu's face flushed a furious red, and the prince couldn't help but find it a bit endearing. "Sh-shut up," she muttered.

The smirk fell from his face as his vision began to blur. "I need that favor," he repeated.

Amu blinked at him, unsure. She felt somewhat obligated to help, but at the same time, she had the need to reject him. Finally, she decided, "Depends."

He sighed through his nose. The prince needed to answer fast; he was getting lightheaded and was struggling not to sway. He gestured to the wound on his abdomen. The blood farthest from the wound was already starting to dry, but the red liquid continued to flow and soak through his shirt.

He groaned, so soft Amu could barely hear him, before he fell to his knees and hit the sandy ground below him.

Rima stood, watching as Amu rushed to him in frantic worry and flipped him over. The sand was colored bright red; she pulled his shirt up to reveal the gaping wound that ran diagonally across his abdomen, along with several scratches. She wondered if there were any on his chest or other parts of his body, but decided to worry about that later.

She turned to look at Rima with wide eyes. "How far are we from base camp?"

The girl looked around, and Amu assumed she's seen the map enough times to know where they are without looking at it. "A few miles, four at the most; if we run without banging him up, we should be able to get him back in a little over an hour."

Amu pressed her hands on the wound, keeping even pressure.

"Check the bag for a med kit," Amu said before she bit her lip.

The pinkette didn't know how to handle these types of situations. Nikaido may have talked a lot about survival skills, but not these survival skills. Rima pulled the metal box out and tossed it to Amu, watching as it hit the ground and skidded the rest of the distance.

Reluctantly, Amu pulled a hand off of his wound and watched as the blood seeped through the spaces between her fingers. She quickly averted her eyes to the box and opened it with her free hand. Her eyes scanned the contents, and she decided to grab the scissors. She cut his shirt open and pulled the cloth aside. Involuntarily, she let her eyes wander; Amu blushed as she shook her head.

Rima was by her side by now, and handed Amu the things she asked for.

The blonde passed her a rag soaked in rubbing alcohol; Amu wiped away as much blood as she could with as much speed as possible to keep the flowing blood from smearing and creating an even bigger mess. She cursed, and asked for the roll of bandages.

The white cotton landed in her outstretched hand. "Mashiro, I need you to hold him up to get these bandages on him."

The small girl nodded and shuffled to the prince's head. Lifting him up with all the strength she could muster, she managed to get him in an upright position. He was deadweight against her, and Rima struggled to keep him there.

Working quickly, Amu wrapped the bandages around his abdomen tightly and watched as the bright blood blossomed on the bandages. She wrapped layer after layer until the blood couldn't bleed through anymore. Ripping the end in the middle, she wrapped the two strips across his back and abdomen and tied it at the end.

Sitting back on her bottom, Amu sighed in some kind of relief. Rima somewhat playfully pushed the prince towards the pinkette, and she jumped. He was unconscious as he leaned against her shoulder.

She blushed and couldn't help but slowly put her arms around him.

So warm...

Amu buried her face in his dark hair and let out a breathy sigh.

Soft.

"Hinamori," Rima called.

Amu hummed absentmindedly, reveling the feeling of the prince's hair in between her fingers.

"I know you two are love birds and all, but we need to get to base," the blonde said as she cocked a hip to the side, putting her petite hand on it.

Wordlessly, Amu's face turned a furious red when she realized what she had been doing. Bringing the prince's arm around her shoulder, Amu firmly wrapped an arm around his back and hoisted him up with her as she stood. She hobbled over to Rima, and before she reached the small girl, the blonde turned around and walked away with Amu following her.

"You realize what you're doing, right?" Rima asked as she led Amu through the forest. The map was stretched out and held in her small hands, and Rima glanced over her shoulder at the pair every now and then.

"Bringing the prince of the Angels of Darkness to our home base so he and his crew can kill us all?" Amu sardonically asked.

"Well, that, and," Rima closed her mouth, keeping whatever she was going to say to herself.

"...and?" Amu said, expectantly.

Rima shook her hand and swatted the air in a dismissive manner. "Nothing," she answered, "nothing."

The pinkette rolled her eyes.

"You," Rima paused to sigh, "you really don't know what's going on, do you?"

"Aside from the fact I'm leading us all to our doom?"

The blonde sighed. She's hopeless. "Look, Hinamori, I'd definitely be all for you two and everything, you know, if he wasn't the prince of darkness." Rima stopped and turned around to give Amu the sternest glare she could achieve with her cherubic face. "But he is, and he's probably got an entire army of Angels waiting on him to give the green light to raid the base."

Amu sighed. "I know. He didn't exactly save our lives, but he let us keep them.

"And we should let him keep his." Amu looked at the prince with worried eyes.

Rima turned around once more, but didn't move.

The small girl continued walking without looking back at Amu. A smile tugged at her lips, and she couldn't help but give in.

How Amu and Rima managed to make it to the pinkette's room without being seen by anybody was a feat that was near-miraculous.

Carefully, Amu set the prince on her bed. Rima went off to tell the commander of the recent events.

The pinkette sat beside his head and leaned against the headboard of the bed. She ran her fingers through his hair, and caught the ghost of a smirk flash on his face before going back to the calm expression—of false sleep. Her eyebrow twitched as her lips pulled into a frown. Pretending to be unknowing of the prince's conscious state, she buried her fingers in his hair and grabbed it, pulling an entire fistful of his hair.

Immediately, his hands flew up to his hair, and she watched in satisfaction as he winced.

"Didn't your parents teach you not to pull on people's hair when they're sleeping?" The playful expression from his face followed Amu's when hers fell. He didn't know what he said, but frowned and apologized anyways.

Dismissively, she patted his hand away from reaching her shoulder and shook her head as she stood to go to the bathroom; her pink bangs covered her eyes to keep the prince from reading them.

He cursed as he sat up to follow her, only to fall as the sudden rush of blood to his head clouded his vision and made him lightheaded. He cursed once more under his breath, and winced when he realized the wound on his abdomen started bleeding through the bandages.

"Shit," he cursed as he fell unconscious.

Rima stood silently, watching Kee uncharacteristically laughing. He wouldn't—couldn't—stop. His face was red, and he was clutching his stomach. Unshed tears sat on his eyelids, and he was supporting himself on one arm that was gripping the table.

"You," he began before laughing again, "you really want me to believe that you have the Prince of Darkness in Hinamori's room?"

Rima nodded, and he went into a short bout of more laughter. "Right, right, and I have Godzilla under my bed."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I'm being serious; he's really in there! We were on the way back from being missing for a day and staying a day at another camp, and he lands in front of us and he goes, "Yo, Amu, I need that favor now because I let you keep your lives blah blah blah," and has this gaping wound on his stomach and Amu felt bad so she took him in and patched him up and then she took him back to her room and he's in there right now!" she finished in one big breath. Rima panted from the lack of air and somewhat irritation.

Kee blinked at her. "And you are sure this is the prince himself?"

She gave a groan of frustration. "Yes, I'm sure! Go look!"

His lips tilted downward on one side and said, "Alright."

Amu sat on the sink, staring at the door in front of her.

She shook her head, trying to collect her thoughts, but in a couple minutes, everything would slip again. Her mind blanked when the prince mentioned her parents, and she just stood and left.

What am I doing?

Amu jumped off the sink and turned around to face it. She crouched down and opened the cabinet under the sink; pulling out a metal box, she stood and walked out, closing the door behind her.

The sight in front of her left her shocked, and she cursed. Of course his wound reopens when I'm gone.

Rushing, she grabbed her pillow and folded it in half. Amu pushed the prince up and slipped the pillow under his shoulder blades, keeping his abdomen off the bed. She grabbed the roll of bandages and wrapped more layers of the white cotton around.

In that moment, Rima walked through the door, and Amu looked up.

"Mashiro, you have no idea how gla—!" She stopped, eyes widening when she saw the commander standing behind the blonde. "H-hey, commander..." she trailed off, slightly gulping.

"Hinamori," he said, "finish treating him, and we'll talk afterwards."

Solemnly, she nodded with her lips pressed in a thin line.

Mashiro told him to wait outside the door instead of in the room if Kee wanted, but he shook his head and sat on the floor, leaning against the wall.

When Amu finished, she turned to look at the commander expectantly, and he began,

"You have some explaining to do."

Amu took a deep breath to calm down and started. "It started a couple days ago when you sent us on the assignment to deliver multiple care packages to the survival camps around the area." It felt more like weeks ago, she thought. "Mashiro and I managed to drop off all except one, sir, to the camp farthest out." Kee nodded, telling her to continue. "We were only a couple miles away, but we had depleted all water sources. We decided that if we ate the dried foods, that would make it worse. So, we continued, dehydrated. And the both of us fell unconscious. When we came to, we were cuffed and tied and held captive in one of the Angel's base camps. We were kept in a secluded room, I think, and the only people there besides Mashiro and myself were the prince and another Angel. I managed to get myself unbound and started a short episode of fighting. Mashiro knocked the Angel out, but—"

Kee dismissively waved his hand. "And I know the rest; Mashiro filled me in on the end and how he got here." He stood and brushed off imaginary dust off his pants. "Why, Hinamori, did you decide to follow through with the favor you owed him?"

"...I don't know," she said, "sir."

He sighed as he pinched the bridge of him nose. "Alright, we'll keep him here for the time being. The moment he wakes up, Hinamori, get some answers on what he needs you to do. Get as many details as you possibly can."

Amu nodded.

"As for you, Mashiro, the Fujisaki guy is waiting for you in the gym. Said something about dancing or whatever," Kee said as he waved a hand.

The blonde blushed as she headed towards the door. Before she made it through the threshold, Kee grabbed her arm. "This stays between the three of us." Rima and Amu nodded, and the blonde girl rushed through the door.

The commander turned back to Amu. "Keep him hidden. He'll be a dead man the moment he walks out your door."

Amu looked down at the prince with worried eyes. "Yes, sir."

The pinkette blearily blinked, having just woken up from a nap. She had her knees drawn towards her and an arm loosely wrapped around her legs. Her other arm was outstretched, and her hand rested on top of the prince's head. She stretched her legs out, hearing her knees pop, and twisted to the side, listening to the pops her back made.

He hadn't woken up yet, and Amu was somewhat grateful. She pulled the nylon jacket open, brushing aside the crusted-with-blood flaps of his cut shirt. The bandages were wrapped tightly around his abdomen, revealing the toned muscle underneath. She slightly blushed and traced the area of the bandages where it was tinted a slight brown.

Amu stood and walked to the small nightstand that stood beside the bed. She grabbed the kit on it and put it beside where she was about to sit. After carefully setting herself on the bed, she gently nudged his arm and watched for his reactions. His nose twitched, and Amu couldn't help but compare him to a cat. She shook his arm gently, and he swatted her hand away. Giggling to herself, she grabbed his shoulder and shook it more vigorously. He stirred, and Amu stopped. When he stilled, she frowned and put her hands on his chest and shook his entire body.

A midnight blue eye cracked open, and after some seconds, the other opened. He blinked at her with slightly wider eyes while sitting up. "Amu."

She frowned. "I don't know if I should be concerned or find it funny that you know my name but I don't know yours."

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and Amu thought back to the cat metaphor. "In time," he mumbled, "you'll find out."

She raised an eyebrow. "You can't tell me now?"

The prince looked at her with a glint of amusement in his eyes. "No," he answered, the sound of a chuckle lacing in with his voice, "I don't really feel like it."

"Huh," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Whatever," she mumbled under her breath. Looking back at the prince, she noticed he was still without a proper shirt. The black one he wore before was cut open, and the nylon coat was gone and must have been thrown to the side while she was still sleeping. "I should probably change your bandages," she paused and bit her lip before continuing, "and get you a new set of clothes." Her bottom lip returned to its place between her teeth, and she expected some form of teasing to come out of the prince's mouth.

"Yeah," he answered before lying down on his back. "Could you go get the change of clothes first, though?"

Rapidly blinking at him in slight surprise, she slightly nodded, and got up to go to a friend's room to borrow his clothes.

Amu groaned in frustration for what seemed like the nth time in the twenty minutes she spent trying to get the prince to change his bandages.

"Just stay still and let me cut it off!" she scolded, scissors in hand.

The prince gulped, and tried to reach for the sharp tool. "It's fine, Amu, I can cut my own bandages off."

"Oh, really?" she asked, hands on her hips—with the scissors still in her small hand. "Says the man who couldn't figure out how to get the steel plating out of the shirt."

The prince furrowed his eyebrows, and his cheeks slightly puffed out as he pouted. "I don't usually have metal in my clothes, okay?"

Leaping at him in a chance—even slightly—of vulnerability, she landed neatly in his lap with one hand on his shoulder. She forced him down in his surprise and worked quickly to get the scissor blade under the layers of bandages.

"Ha!" she exclaimed with triumph, managing to cut through an entire layer without the prince trying to throw her off.

He sat up, keeping himself up with his palms pressed into the mattress under them. He stared into Amu's eyes, and she stared back into his—blue into gold, gold into blue. The scissors fell out of her hand, forgotten as it clattered to the floor. The bandages began undoing themselves, the layers under slowly revealing the defined lumps under his skin.

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the prince leaned forward and let their foreheads touch. Her eyes fluttered, but stayed open, as her lips parted to let out a cool sigh. Her breath danced across his lips and had the distinct smell of strawberries. He could see the blush creeping into her cheeks and probably her ears; he let his eyes slide closed and leaned forward, lightly brushed his lips over hers before gently pressing his lips on the pink pair.

She didn't move, and he felt panic beginning to grow as butterflies in the pit of his stomach. He moved a hand to the back of her neck and pulled towards him. And the bluenette nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt Amu push back with slight force.

He pulled away first and watched as Amu bit her lip and fumbled with her hands.

She stumbled over her words, "Wh-what was the favor, again?" She avoided eye contact, seemingly persistent to act as if what just happened never did.

He sighed, and ran the hand that was on Amu's neck through his midnight blue hair. "I need you to let me stay here." And she looked up at him with brilliant gold eyes. "Even if it's just for a little while," he said. Amu bit her lip and once again averted her eyes.

"Why?"

"It's the reason for this," he said as he pointed to the mess of bandages crusted with dried blood.

Amu numbly nodded as she reached for the white cotton to unwind it. "What happened," she asked, quiet.

The prince shook his head as his eyes clouded over with slight anger. Amu shuddered, but continued to unwind the bandages. Tossing the bloodied bandages to the side, she grabbed the cloth that was soaking in the now-lukewarm water on the small nightstand beside her. Wringing the towel of most of the water, she brought it to the prince's abdomen and wiped the dried blood away, revealing the deep red wound that began to slightly bleed in some areas.

He watched as she worked on his stomach, feeling the slight sting from the wound. He slightly wondered how the wound on his abdomen didn't require stitches.

Suddenly, she stopped in the middle of wrapping new bandages around his stomach, and looked at him with questioning eyes. Slightly, his eyebrows furrowed, and realized what she wanted to ask.

"Ikuto," he said. "It's Ikuto Tsukiyomi."

Her eyes widened at his last name. "Why isn't your last name…?" she trailed off.

Ikuto shook his head. "That's for me to know."

Amu pouted but let it go.

"I'm serious, Amu," he said as he grabbed her hand. "I really need you to let me stay here, just for a while."

"How," she started, slightly stumbling over her words, "how do I know you don't have an army, waiting for you to let them raid the base?"

"You don't," he said, with a slight smirk on his face.

Amu scowled, and punched his abdomen, right above the wound.

He winced and gave a low grunt. "Jesus," he muttered.

"I'll kill you if I have to," she said to him, hand itching to reach for the knife in her pocket.

Ikuto scowled. He opened his mouth to say something, but a knock on the door cut him off.

"Amu?" Yaya asked, knocking. "I'm coming in!"

The pinkette cursed under her breath as she scrambled to push everything off the bed and under it, pulling the blanket over Ikuto and sitting on a surprised Ikuto wrapped in sheets. He wriggled, trying to at least get comfortable as the young girl—right?—began talking to Amu.

Amu struggled to stay sitting on him. He continued to squirm, and Amu poked him in the back, hard, and immediately, he stilled.

Yaya looked at her curiously. "Amu, are you okay? Why do you look annoyed? And what's that lump you're sitting on?"

The other girl gulped as Ikuto let a smirk come to his face. "I'm fine, Yaya," she said. "I'm just a little worn out from the mission I got back from yesterday, promise." To spite her, Ikuto moved, and that earned another discreet poke.

"Why's the lump moving?"

"Oh, uh," Amu began, "it's this—this new pillow…thing…I got…yeah. It's supposed to help me relax," she lied.

"Uh-huh…" Yaya answered, somewhat uncertain. "Okay, well, I only came to check up on you, so, bye!"

When the girl left, Amu sprang off Ikuto, who pulled the covers off. "You just love having me under you, huh?"

Amu furiously blushed and turned her back to him as a smirk stretched across his face. "Shut up," she mumbled. "I was ordered to keep you a secret, and I intend to follow it."

"Whatever you say," he said as he leaned over her shoulder, "Amu." Quickly, he pecked her cheek before rushing to the bathroom with a change of clothes in his hand.

"Pervert," she muttered as she rubbed the spot where his lips had been just seconds ago. "Stupid, freaking pervert."