Amu was in the kitchen, music on the speakers. She was making a cake. Even though Su went back in her egg around the time Amu turned sixteen, just like Ran, Miki and Dia, her skills in cooking were still very good. It had resulted in Amu making dinner and breakfast every day and lunch on the free days. For school days she made bento's. Rima had once suggested that she should study cooking and become a chef. Amu had declined. Just like she declined to be an artist or a sportstar with Kukai. She wanted to make people happy in her own way, and that was, she guessed, Dia's influence. They had all formed her in their own way, her would be selves. When she found that desire to just make people happy, they all went back into the egg's cradle.

Back to the cake.

"Preheat the oven at 180˚C." She did that. She liked to say the recipe aloud, so she wouldn't be too confused about what she had done and what not.

"Heat 110 gram butter up, together with 1dl milk, 1,5dl water, 80ml sunflower oil, 150 gram sugar and 185 gram dark chocolat until it is a nice fluent mix."

That was done and she set to work on the dry part of the mixture. Next: "Mix in a large bowl 250 gram flour, 4 big spoons of chocolat powder and a teaspoon of baking powder. Add two eggs."

She then poured the heated 'wet' mix over the 'dry' mix and grabbed the mixer to make the batter nice and smooth.

"Take the form I'm going to be using... and oil it with some leftover butter so the cake will come out easier. Pour in the batter and put in the oven for 30 minutes or more." She read.

Amu was busy doing as the recipe said when Ikuto came in.

He licked the dough from the spoon she was holding.

"Hmm." he said, making Amu jump, because she hadn't heard him behind her. She put her hand over her heart.

"I'll never even make fifty if you keep scaring me like that." she yelled.

She immediately heard her own words and saw Ikuto darkening.

"Hey, easy. I didn't mean it like that." He had turned away.

"Don't joke about that, Amu."

She sighed and went towards him, the cake leaving on the counter, totally forgotten and not even finished.

She tried to look into his eyes, but he hid them behing his bangs. She sighed.

It had been a fortnight since her first concert, and three weeks since she had heard about the tumor. She and Utau's manager, Sanjou-san, had been busy. Their cd was out, called 'Falling Stars (Never touching ground)', sky rocking the sales and hitting the charts and top tens directly. They had had a few concerts behind them and Amu wasn't stage frightened anymore, not that she had been that way but still... She and Ikuto were steady now. It had been all over the news that she had been taken, but none thought they didn't belong together. Some matches are made in heaven and this was one of them, said some magazines. She would never admit it, but Amu completely agreed on that one. This was heaven.

She still had to take pills and rest a lot and other stuff. Tomorrow she had her next scan, but she insisted to not going to the hospital before graduation. She wanted to seem normal so badly. She laughed softly. Normal? While half the country adored you and could not wait to see her in person? She had to go to school with a bodyguard, but she flatly refused that and bore with their endless questions for photographs and signs. Most of the time she just ignored them. Well, she wasn't there half of the time because she needed to practice dances with Utau, Rima and Nagi and singing.

The teachers knew of her situation, and they let her. Amu could tell they knew from their looks of pity and compassion and from the fact they just nodded when she said she had to go.

"Hey, Amu, are you home?" Ikuto's voice brought her back to reality. She blushed.

"Yes, why?"

"Don't you need to place that cake in the oven?" he asked, laughing as she realized she had forgotten her cake. She was so cute, so pure. She was his angel, his star, the one that had lit up his world and saved him from his darkness. He stared at her, amused, while she rushed to put the cake away, clean the counter and was wondering what it was that she kept forgetting.

She had it.

"Ah! Ikuto, look over here." She gestured him to look into the freezer. There, chocolate lay resting, cooling down.

"Awesome." he said, the only word that was on his mind. She was awesome!

He wanted to take one right away but she slapped his fingers back playfully.

"They're not ready yet, so leave them." she said, pretending to be angry.

"Sure." he said, already planning to take one when she wasn't looking but she seemed to see right through him.

"O, no, you're coming with me." she dragged him out of the kitchen.

**** With Utau ****

Utau stared out of the black windows of her limo. In her mind, a fight was going on whether she should call Ikuto now or leave it to when she saw him at her home.

No, she decided. I'll call him now.

She took out her mobile and dialed Amu's number.

'Come on, answer.' she mumbled to the beeps. When Amu picked up at least, she was laughing and Utau heard Ikuto on the background.

"Moshi moshi?" Amu said.

"I need to talk to Ikuto. Can you give him?"

"Why don't you call him on his cell?" she asked.

"He won't pick up. He'll ignore me."

"Oh." she said. Utau heard how she called Ikuto over, yelling something about 'not touching the cookies'. Utau chuckled. Amu must've made the chocolate cookies Ikuto loved so much.

"Here. Utau wants to speak to you."

"What does she want?" she heard him say and Amu whined.

"Just talk to her, Ikuto-kun."

"-kun? I told you to call me Ikuto-koi, Amu-koi."

Amu was silent and knowing her, she should be blushing a million shades of red.

"Say it."

"Please, Ikuto-k..k..koi." Amu stuttered. Ikuto laughed.

Utau had the feeling they were about to kiss and she didn't want to wait an hour, so she interrupted them by saying: "Hello? I still exist, you know."

"What is it?" Ikuto had taken the cellphone from Amu.

"Well... about what you asked me yesterday. The reservation..." She was cut short by Ikuto.

"Hey Amu, isn't that a burnt cake I smell?"

"Whaaaat?" Amu screamed and it sounded like she was running away from wherever they had been.

"Sorry, I had to get her away. What was it?"

"The reservation is made. Tonight, 8'o clock. Afterwards, you'll see."

He was silent for a while but then he spoke up again. "Thanks, Utau."

Utau hung up and the beeps returned.

*** Time Skip, evening ***

"Oi! Ikuto! Tell me where we are going! And why do I need to be blindfolded?" Amu was a bit angry. Just before, she had been in her room writing a song when Ikuto -damn that cat!- had sneaked up to her and before she knew what happened she was blindfolded and had Utau removed Ikuto to put clothes on Amu. Afterwards Ikuto had taken her to his car and now they were driving.

Ikuto didn't answer, he just smirked.

"You're smirking right now, are you?" she said, suspicious.

"Wow, you're getting psychic. Next thing I know you are reading my thoughts."

"Do I really want that?" Amu asked herself, but he heard her.

"That hurts, you know." He knew she would start denying that and she would totally forget what she wanted to ask. He was right. Maybe I am the psychic around here he thought, amused.

"You're amused with me, I just know it." she said, turning her head to the window even though she didn't see a thing.

'I think it's not a question about being psychic, but how good you know each other' he thought. It made him a bit happy -okay, a lot- that she knew him so good and he her. It made the feeling that he had taken the right choice only stronger.

He pulled the car in a parking lot.

"We're here." he said. He got out the car, opened her door and helped her out. Then he guided her through a door and a space, a restaurant, but she couldn't see that. The other guests started to whisper, but he smiled at them and held a finger on his lips, mouthing them to keep silent.
They went to the garden and he took Amu's blindfold off. She had exact the reaction he hoped to see.

She smiled that smile that made him weak in his knees, which he would never, ever, tell her and turned towards him. "That's so beautiful, Ikuto. Thank you."

*** Amu's pov ***

Under a Sakura tree a table was set, everything already in place. Candles were lit, and lighted the soft twilight up. He pulled back a seat and motioned for me to sit.

I was so touched. It was the most beautiful thing anyone ever had done for me. Everything was so magical and it became even more after he kneeled down. I could tell what he was going to do when he pulled out a black velvet box and tears started to form in my eyes.

"Ikuto-" I started but he cut me off.

"Amu, you are the best thing that ever happened to me, my secret star and I don't want to lose you. You were the one that saved me all those years ago and I'll be forever thankful for that. You were the one that made it all worth it, the fighting and the pain and the sorrow. With everything that happened to you, and me, it made it clear to me that I want to make you mine, in every way possible. So... Do you want to marry me?"