"Amu, do you mind if I walked with you for a little bit?" I asked as we grabbed our bags and prepared to head home. We had just finished up our guardian meeting for the day, in which we had discussed ways to prevent some sort of high-fever inducing virus that was currently spreading throughout the school. And I'd been wanting to talk to Amu for a while. I just never had the chance to talk to her at school without other people around.

"Sure, Miyuki." she said, looking a little bit confused. "But what for?"

I smiled and shrugged, a little bit embarrassed. "I just wanted to talk a bit."

"Okay." Amu said. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the guardians before splitting up, each heading to our respective houses. Well, except for me.

Once we were out of hearing distance of the others, Su was the one to start the conversation. "So what are you going to talk about, desu~?"

"I bet she wants Amu's advice about a guy she likes!" suggested Ran. "Just be honest!"

"Or she could just want to talk a bit." said Miki, rolling her eyes. As time went on, I found that I was liking Miki more and more. And Ran less and less.

"You guys!" Amu said, a bit embarrased by what her charas were saying. "Would you just let her talk?" Amu smiled at me, as if open to whatever I had to say. It felt really good to have someone I could talk to. Perhaps I couldn't talk to her about everything, but it was at least a start. Azami was the only one I could talk to about absolutely anything, and she didn't really count.

"Well... actually, it is sort of about a guy." I said, starting off.

"I knew it! Just be yourself, Miyuki-san! He'll definitely like you!" cheered Ran.

"W-wait, just a minute." said Amu, blushing a bit at where the topic seemed to be going. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a genius when it comes to boys."

"Oh, sorry." I said. "I don't mean about liking boys. I just..."

Amu seemed relieved that we weren't going to be talking about love or anything like that. "Just what?" she asked.

"Just that..." I was kinda reluctant to say it. I was afraid how Amu might react.

"Oh, get on with it!" Azami spoke up from where she was floating along with Amu's charas. "Miyuki-chan just wants to know what you think about Ikuto."

"Oh. Wait - Ikuto?" Amu looked down, blushing. Well, that wasn't the kind of reaction I was expecting. Perhaps this would be a rather interesting conversation. "Why do you want to know about him?"

Now I was the one who looked at the ground. I wondered what she would think if she knew that I hadn't told her or the rest of the guardians that I'd actually talked to Ikuto a couple of times. Though, admittedly, I hadn't seen him for a while now. I tried to think back... it was now the Thursday after I'd received my X-energy power-up, and the last time I'd seen Ikuto was sometime soon after the first time Azami and I had received X-energy (just trying to keep the days straight was confusing me). That made it about two weeks since I'd seen him. I remembered our last encounter - we perhaps didn't end on the best of terms. I can't say that I wanted to see him again, but... well, actually, I did kinda want to see him. If anything, perhaps that was just because I wanted to know what he was up to. Or maybe it was something more. I wasn't really sure myself.

Azami answered Amu's question. "Ikuto has come and talked to us a couple times. So Miyuki wants to know what you think of him. She didn't want to ask the rest of the guardians, since they seem to have been enemies with him longer."

Amu looked at me, as if to confirm what Azami was saying. "Uh, yeah, exactly like she said. You aren't angry at me for keeping it a secret, are you?"

Amu smiled kindly, and shook her head. "No, I understand. In truth, Ikuto visits me every now and then."

I'll admit, I was surprised. Ikuto visited Amu, too? "Really?"

"Yeah." Amu replied. "So can I ask you a question about him first?"

"Sure, I guess." I said.

"How does he talk to you? I mean, is he serious, or kind, or what?" Amu asked.

I thought back to our previous encounters. Each time I had met Ikuto, he had successfully taunted and insulted me. I got angry just remembering it. "He's so frustrating! One minute he seems serious, and then the next he's making fun of me and Azami!" I said, unable to hold back my wrath.

Amu didn't say anything for a moment, seeming a bit shocked by my sudden outburst. And then, she laughed. I could tell she wasn't laughing at me, but it still annoyed me. "What's so funny about that?" I asked, slilghtly offended.

"Nothing." she said, trying to halt her laughter. "It's just that he more or less does the same to me. Did I ever tell you about the day Ran hatched?"

"No." I replied, curious.

"Well, I'd found all three of the eggs on my bed that morning. Later in the day, during a school assembly where the guardians were talking to everyone, Ran chara-changed with me while she was still in her egg, and, uh..." she hesitated for a moment, blushing. "She made me confess in front of the whole school that I liked Tadase. But he rejected me..." she sort of trailed off. She didn't seem to be quite over the incident.

I could just imagine that. Amu, taken over by Ran's personality and saying that she loved Tadase. Perhaps it wasn't quite the smartest thing to do, but I couldn't help but ask, "Do you still like him?" I mean, I was pretty sure she liked him - she always got all dreamy whenever he was around, I'd noticed.

Amu hesitated for a moment, and so Ran chara-changed with her. I noticed that her normally x-shaped hair clip turned into a heart instead. "Of course I love him!" said the chara-changed Amu. "He's so cute and kind, and he's always thinking of others rather than himself."

Then the heart disappeared, and Amu covered her mouth in shock at what she had just said. Then she glared at Ran. "Just wait until I get my hands on you!" she said angrily, reaching into the air and trying to grab Ran. But Ran just dodged out of the way, cheering.

"Go, go, Amu-chan! Be honest! You don't have to hide your feelings!" Ran said.

"Ugh!" Amu half growled in frustration. She turned her attention back to me, seeming embarrassed. "Sorry about that..."

"Nah, it's okay." I said, just barely containing my laughter. "Anyway, go on with the story. I'm sorry I interrupted."

"Oh, yeah. Where did I leave off at?" Amu asked.

Su floated up. "You were at the part where Tadase said no, desu~."

Amu picked up where she left off, trying not to dwell on Tadase's rejection. "Well, I ran out of the assembly and, not looking where I was going, I fell into a hole at a construction site. I wasn't sure how I was going to get out, until Ran hatched and had me 'hop, step, jump' right on out of there. I ended up on a metal beam at the top of the building. That was when Ikuto came. He stole my other two eggs - in a rather perverted way, I might add - and he had the Humpty Lock already with him. I ran forward and grabbed my eggs from him, falling off the building in the process. But the Humpty Lock came to me and made me character transform with Ran, which saved me." She sighed. "Then I ended up falling anyway, and Tadase used his 'Holy Crown' or whatever you call it to save me."

"Wow. Sounds like a pretty exciting day." I said.

"Yeah." Amu replied. "Miki hatched the next day, and then Ikuto tried to steal Su's egg again right before she hatched. The funny thing was, he brought me some snacks later that night because he had more or less destroyed the fruit tarts I was making for Tadase."

"So what do you actually think about Ikuto?" I asked. I really wanted to have a second opinion from someone. I already knew what I thought about him.

"Umm..." Amu thought for a moment.

"Didn't you call him a 'perverted cat-eared cosplaying boy' at one point?" suggested Miki.

"Will you just be quiet!?!" said Amu, embarrassed again. Then she continued. "Well, while he can be really annoying sometimes... And while Tadase thinks he's horrible... I actually think he's good. Perhaps it's kinda deep down, but he's essentially a good person."

I nodded. "I agree. Although that doesn't get him off the hook for messing with Azami and I!"

Miki piped up again from above our heads, where she and the rest of the charas were floating. "So do you really not remember anything from that night you got scratched up? Or did you just not want the guardians to know you were with Ikuto?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." Amu added. "Ikuto didn't really attack you, did he? That really shocked me - I didn't think he would actually hurt someone like that."

I could have kept up the story that I didn't remember anything, but I wanted to let Amu know what had happened. Although I would still have to come up with a bit of a lie, which could have been a problem. But Azami took care of it for me.

"He mocked both of us one too many times." the dragon chara said. "We chara-changed, and he had to character-transform just to keep us back. Eventually, he managed to beat us, and you know the rest of the story."

"Really?" asked Amu. "I can't even imagine that - Ikuto not being able to win easily." Then Amu seemed to catch herself, and continued. "Not meaning to say that I don't think your strong, I just meant- It's just-"

"Don't worry, I get what you were trying to say." I said, grinning at her mistake. I decided to change the subject, to save her any further embarrassment. Plus, all this talk of cats had reminded me of something. "So what poem did you get this time from Nikaido? Wasn't your first one something about an owl and a cat?"

Amu nodded. "Yeah. My first one was called 'The Owl and The Pussy-Cat'. It was kinda odd, but funny at the same time. The one I got this time is 'Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes.'"

"Do you have it memorized yet?" I asked.

"Sort of." Amu replied. "I know most of it, and Miki is pretty good with helping me learn it. She's really great at this kind of fine art stuff, even if this isn't quite drawing."

I looked at Miki, who was practically beaming with pride.

"Do you want to practice saying it?" I asked. "I'd love to hear it."

"Oh... Uh, that's okay. It's kind of a silly poem." Amu said.

"That's okay." I replied. "I still want to hear it."

"Come on, Amu-chan." Miki encouraged. "I'll chara-change to help out."

"No, we're almost to my house, and -" Amu was cut off as Miki made her chara-changed, and the x-clip turned into a blue spade. And then, Amu (still walking along the sidewalk with me) began to recite her poem.

"Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat,
Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes

By Thomas Gray

'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dy'd
The azure flow'rs that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclin'd,
Gazed on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declar'd;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw: and purr'd applause.

Still had she gaz'd; but 'midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The Genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
Thro' richest purple to the view
Betray'd a golden gleam.

The hapless Nymph with wonder saw:
A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?

Presumptuous Maid! with looks intent
Again she stretch'd, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd)
The slipp'ry verge her feet beguil'd,
She tumbled headlong in.

Eight times emerging from the flood
She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.
A Fav'rite has no friend!

From hence, ye Beauties, undeceiv'd,
Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all, that glisters, gold."

With the help of Miki's chara-change, she had recited it quite well. Beautifully, even. She had used great emphasis throughout the poem, and didn't hesitate once. It was actually rather sad and silly at the same time, and Amu's great retelling really reflected both aspects.

"That was really amazing, Amu!" I said, clapping.

"Poor kitty, desu~..." Su commented.

Ran was cheering, which was really starting to get annoying. Amu was blushing. She probably thought it was silly to recite poetry. Admitedly, poetry just wasn't something that most others our age enjoyed. Even I didn't like poetry to any great extent, and I normally liked things that others didn't.

"Yeah, it seems like Nikaido thinks I have some sort of cat obsession or something." Amu said. "I can't think why."

"Perhaps you do have a cat obsession." I suggested jokingly. "What about Ikuto?"

"Come on!" She said, blushing and giving me a playful shove. "Be serious! I hardly even know him!"

I was about to tease her again, but then she stopped and I realized we had made it to her house. I guess the time had gotten away from me - I didn't think we would be close to her house yet.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Miyuki." Amu said.

"Yep. See you later!" I waved and started walking back the way we had come from. But then I heard another voice from behind me.

"Oh, Amu, who's your friend?" I stopped and turned around to see a lady - whom I presumed to be Amu's mom - stepping out of the door of her house. She had her brown hair pulled up in a casual ponytail, and her similarly-colored eyes were curious behind her round glasses. In all truth, if this really was Amu's mom, than the two looked nothing alike.

Seeing that it would be polite to actually come up and meet Amu's mom, I walked up with Amu to the front door.

"This is Yamada Miyuki-san." Amu said to her mother. "She's a friend of mine from school. Miyuki, this is my mom."

Amu's mom smiled. "Nice to meet you, Miyuki-san."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." I said, feeling awkward. For me, it was always slightly strange to meet a classmate's parent.

"Why don't you come in for a bit, Miyuki-san?" asked Amu's mom. "I've got some cookies from a batch I baked a couple of days ago - they're chocolate chip!"

I saw that Amu was looking a bit on the shy side. I could tell - or at least imagined that I could tell - that she really wasn't used to having friends over at her house. "That's okay. I really need to get home." I said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It really wouldn't be any trouble, and I could drive you back to your house if it's a ways a way."

"Well..." I hesitated. I actually did want to talk to Amu a bit more. "Sure. I guess I can stay for a bit."

"Well, you can go with Amu to her room, if you'd like. I'll bring up the cookies and something for both of you to drink." Amu's mom walked back into the house and to the kitchen, where she started getting the snacks ready. I followed Amu in, but she was quickly stopped as a little girl ran up and hugged Amu's legs.

"Big sister! I wanna play with the new chara!" the little girl said, looking first at Azami, then at Amu, and then back again to Azami. I felt Azami tense from where she was on my shoulder. Apparently, she wasn't very fond of this idea.

"Ami! Will you let go of my legs!?" Amu said. Ami let go, looking slightly hurt. Then Amu continued. "This is my little sister, Ami. Ami, why don't you say hi to my friend Miyuki?"

Ami turned to me. "Hi Miyuki!' she said very energetically. Then she turned back to Amu. "Now can I play with the little lizard?" I felt Azami tense again, and I reached up to my shoulder and grabbed her just before she took off. I suppose dragons don't like being called either little or lizards.

Amu saw Azami's reaction as well, and knew better than to give in to Ami's pleading. But she seemed to be having trouble coming up with the words to say no to Ami.

It was Miki's quick thinking that came to the rescue. She and Amu's other charas floated down to Ami. "Try and catch us, Ami-chan!" Ran shouted before the three charas darted in three different directions.

Ami's eyes lit up at the prospect of tag, and she promptly forgot about Azami. "Yay!" she shouted as she began to chase after Ran.

"Will you let me go!?!" Azami asked me as Ami began running away.

"Not yet." I said. "Cool down just a bit more." Azami didn't bother trying to struggle in my firm grip, though I knew she was just waiting for the right moment to make her escape. I made a mental note to never call Azami a little lizard - it apparently annoyed her greatly.

Amu led the way up to her room quickly, and I made sure the door was totally shut before I let go of Azami. Of course, as soon as I did, Azami began to fly around me and whip me with her tail. She scratched me a couple times, too, but each of the cuts was so small that hardly a drop's worth of blood came out, even with her poison.

"Azami, quit!" I said. She persisted for another couple seconds before settling angrily on my head. Then I took a moment to look around. The room was fairly clean, and actually girlier than I had expected. It had a lot of pink mixed in with other pastel colors. Amu went over and sat on her bed, and I took a seat at a desk she had at one side of the room.

I decided to start the conversation. "I like your room."

"Oh, uh, thanks." Amu said. I was definitely sure now that she wasn't used to having other people in her room.

There was a short but awkward pause then. So I tried to get back on to the topic from earlier. "My poem this time is another boring one - at least yours is funny."

"Yeah, I guess I can be grateful for that." Amu said. She still didn't seem perfectly at ease. We had another awkward gap in our talking, as I tried to think what to say next. Thankfully, Amu's mom came in with the cookies and two glasses of milk, breaking the silence. Then she left. It was just me, Azami, and Amu in the room as we started munching on cookies, since Amu's charas were still keeping Ami entertained.

Suddenly, a thought came to me about something I wanted to tell Amu. I knew I probably shouldn't, though. Easter probably wouldn't be too happy if I said what I was thinking. I probably wouldn't have said anything if not for Azami. She sensed my mood somehow and made me chara-change. I felt the familiar strength course through me, as well as a bit of a pulse of dark energy within me. Though Azami and I hadn't verbally said anything, Amu seemed to sense the change in me and look up. She acted curious as she recognized my chara-change. I began talking, getting right to the point of what I had been thinking about.

"Don't you think it's somewhat suspicious that Nikaido keeps on giving you cat poems when you're talking with Ikuto so often?"

"Well... maybe a little. But how would Nikaido know about Ikuto? For that matter, how would he know that I see Ikuto sometimes?" Amu asked.

I had to approach how I answered cautiously. I couldn't just state that I knew he was evil - that would be suspicious in and of itself. Thankfully, my chara-chage's lying abilities now came into play. "Well, I don't know what to think. But it also seems like a lot of the times there have been X-eggs around the school, Nikaido is somewhere around or should have been somewhere close by. Like with that first X-egg I helped out with, or with my friend Mai."

"So wait..." Amu said, thinking. "Are you saying that Nikaido is the cause of the X-eggs? That doesn't seem possible - he's such a klutz, and he's almost always smiling."

"But what if he is evil?" I said. "What if he actually works for Easter? If he works for Easter, then perhaps he would have a good idea about what Ikuto is up to. And he could probably act differently than he actually is."

Then the bulk of my boldness passed as the chara-change left me. It looked like Amu noticed, but she just continued on with the conversation. "I don't know - it just seems so unlikely."

"Maybe you could keep an eye out for him next time you sense and X-egg." I suggested. "I mean, I'll admit, he doesn't act like an evil kind of person during class."

"Yeah. That would be a good idea anyway - just looking out for anyone suspicious whenever there are X-eggs." Amu replied.

Then the door was opened and Ami stepped into the room. "I wanna play with the tiny bat!" She said, looking at Azami. Azami, for her part, seemed even more peeved at that than at being called a 'little lizard.' I barely managed to grab her as she launched herself off of my shoulder. Ami didn't even flinch at the enraged dragon.

"Uh, I think I'd better go, Amu." I said, clutching Azami firmly. Amu's charas, who had floated in after Ami, seemed apologetic that they couldn't keep Ami busy with something else.

"That's probably a good idea." Amu agreed, then led me to the front door (with Ami trailing all the way pouting that Amu was being mean). We said our goodbyes, and I turned in the direction of home. After about a block of walking, I though better of it. As long as I was over here in this neighborhood, I might as well grab some X-eggs. I walked a few blocks away, far enough that I hoped Amu might not sense any X-eggs I might draw out. But, in all reality, there just weren't that many people out walking. I managed to get two eggs from a young couple that had been walking on the opposite side of the road from me, but that was it.

It was probably about six 'o clock or so when I started heading home. I reflected on how I'd been since the X-energy boost of power. I was fairly sure now that Azami and I had the dark energy under control now - we hadn't had any instances when the dark feeling overcame us. There were a couple of times when either Azami or I had felt somewhat dispirited for no reason at all, but each time that happened it was over quickly. It made me feel good to know that we were beating it back.

In fact, I couldn't help but hum a bit as I walked home - that's how good I felt. I had gotten over my guilt; I wasn't having the attacks of depression; and I had even told Amu that Nikaido was bad. Perhaps voicing my 'suspicions' about Nikaido hadn't been a smart idea - especially if Nikaido found out - but it had felt good to just do something that I normally shouldn't (and wouldn't) do. My life was pretty great; I had my power, I was still getting my hundred dollars a week, and I was enjoying myself at school thanks to the guardians and Mai. I couldn't help but think that if life was a mountain, then I was at the very top right now. And though I didn't really think about it, there was a bad side to that as well -

Being at the top meant that I just had a lot farther to fall if I stumbled.

*I Just wanted to remind people that I have a poll on my profile about how bad/good this story is. I'd appreciate it if you took the time to give me your opinions!*