Chapter Eight

"What are you doing?"

I asked.

"Making sure you'rereal,"

he said,

"You are."

"What, Yaya? What are you sorry about?" I asked calmly, leading her in, and sat her on the couch.

I shoved the pictures into my hands. "These are the pictures I took of you guys in the park… it was me in a disguise… Tadase made me do it! He wanted to see how happy you were… and he decided it wasn't happy enough… so he's trying to get you two apart… and when I heard his next plan, I told him I wouldn't go through with it! That I couldn't do this to my best friend! So he,… he beat me!" She started crying again.

I was surprised as I sat next to her, hugging her. "Sh… it's all right. I don't blame you for going on his side. His evil for beating you," I consoled. Ikuto came out then, after hearing our conversation. He sat next to me. Then I couldn't resist asking, "…What is his next plan?"

Yaya didn't want to answer. She just looked down.

"Yaya," I scolded, "you have to tell me, so I can prevent anything from happening."

She looked at me, then looked back down. She grabbed a tissue, wiped her face, and said, "To get Ikuto to fall in love with another girl. Or at least make you think that. And then he'd console you when you were heartbroken."

Ikuto said, "Well, that wouldn't work."

"Just remember that I said that he'd make her think that," Yaya said.

"Well, now he won't," I said, thinking.

"But he'll still try," Yaya said, then blew her nose.

I got up, remembering her scratches, and walked over to the bathroom to get supplies to help her clean up. She couldn't go home like this. Her parents would think she was irresponsible, and not a good figure to be around her younger brother.

I know how that is.

I cleaned her up the best I could. She hugged me, and said, "Thank you Amu-chan. And I'm so sorry! I,… I can't help but love Tadase…"

I laughed without humor. "Yeah, I was there once."

I glanced at Ikuto. He looked jealous. I smiled at him, and he fake smiled back.

We broke the hug, and she smiled like she was ashamed of herself. I wasn't used to this side of Yaya. Only the cheery, happy side, or the whiney, baby side.

I suggested, "We could call the police an--"

"No!" Yaya yelled. Then she looked shocked at herself. "Um, no," she corrected. "I don't want him to go to jail. I mean, It's not like he does this all the time. His 'aggressive king' side came out. And when he stopped and actually realized what he was doing, he stopped, and I ran away," she explained.

I thought about this. "But, still, Yaya! He can't do this to you…"

Yaya then put on her cheery smile. "It's okay, Amu-chan! I'm a big girl now! I can take care of myself, and my brother!" Her face dropped then, just a little bit, to a not-so-big smile, but still a smile. "Thanks for not getting mad, and listening, and… well, taking care of me. I have to go now. My brother needs me." And she was gone.

I glanced at Ikuto.

He smiled, and said, "Everything's going to be fine."

I wanted to believe him.

We went to bed, and I laid there, thinking things over. What next? Was Tadase going to try to kill one of us!?

When I woke up, I was met by Ikuto's face. He was, again, laying on top of me. He was really like a cat! He would wake you up, just by staring at you.

"Ah!" I screamed.

I smile broke across his face. "Matin, Fraise," he said in French. What is it with him and French?

"And that would mean…?" I asked.

"Morning, Strawberry." He kissed me.

I pushed my head up, deepening the kiss. We broke and I smiled. "How do you say, 'kitty' in French?"

"Minou. Why?"

"Matin, Minou," I said, winking and sticking out my tongue.

He laughed. Then, he laid his head on my chest, the rest of his body laying diagonally across the rest of the bed.

He sat there for a while, then a smile sluggishly made it's way across his face.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Making sure you're real," he said, "You are."

I smiled at him. He was still a little childish.

But, of course, I was, too.

We were going to get married tomorrow. Tomorrow! So, I'm going to go out tonight and go celebrate. Nothing, you know… yeah, but we're going out to eat, and Utau planned a surprise.

"So," Rima asked, "where are we eating?"

"Um," I thought, "how about the Cheesecake Factory?"

"Yaya likes cheesecake!" Yaya yelled. I laughed.

"They have good food. But, I would suggest something lighter. Remember, you have a surprise coming up," Utau said, "…And I wouldn't want the food coming up while you're doing it."

I thought. What was I going to do?!

Rima giggled. "She still doesn't know?"

Utau smiled just a tiny bit. "No. And neither does Yaya… she'll tell."

Yaya pouted. "Will not!"

I laughed. "Alright, fine, but where do we eat?"

Utau looked at her watch. "Oh! We should probably eat after, anyway!" she exclaimed and dragged me to her car. We all sat, and Utau drove, until we got to a place I was unfamiliar with.

There was a huge field, and there was a cement lane. There were a couple… planes. Uh-oh. What is she making me do…?

"Hello," I woman greeted us, "So, who's Amu Hinamori?"

"I-I am…," I muttered, tossing nervous glance at Utau, who just nodded. Rima whispered in Yaya's ear. Yaya's face was… priceless. It was an excited face mixed with only about one percent worried-looking.

The woman lead me away, and Utau, Rima, and Yaya were walking away in the opposite direction.

"Um, what am I doing?" I asked the woman. She had hair that went to her shoulders and flipped out a bit at the end.

"You're going to jump out of a plane."

I panicked. Would Utau want me to jump out of a plane? Wait… is it because of that conversation we had earlier in the week? Oh, no… what if she paired up with Tadase, and they were going to try to kill me?! Utau wouldn't do that, right? And Tadase wouldn't want to kill me… would he? No, of course not… but, why jump out of a plane? And why am I following this woman if I knew what was coming?!

She laughed. "Don't worry, You're going tandem. You'll fall for a full minute, then he'll release the parachute."

Oh my gosh. I'm going sky-diving.

"We'll be waiting for you down here, Amu!" Utau shouted.

I waved, with no smile on my face.

I just jumped out of a plane. I just jumped out of a fricken' plane! But wait… I'm falling. Oh my gosh, I'm flying! I,… I can't even describe this feeling! It's so great! I let a scream of enjoyment escape my lips. I just jumped out of a plane, but I was flying!

He pulled the parachute. I floated down, and we landed on our butts.

Utau ran over to me. "Oh my gosh!" I yelled, "I love you so much!" I hugged her in a tight squeeze.

She laughed. Yaya and Rima looked jealous, so I laughed, and hugged them, too.

I jumped out of a plane the night before my wedding.

And I survived to go to the ceremony tomorrow, to be united with the man of my dreams forever.

xD I got this idea of sky-diving because for my brother's 19th birthday, we got him a certificate to go skydiving! And don't you just LOVE Amu's cluelessness?!

Amu: HEY!

Me: xD

Ikuto: I do.

Amu: .... -///////- sh-shut up.

Me: :3

Ikuto: His that shmexy reveiw button!!

Me: I haven't been getting many reveiws lateley... :(