Cat and Mouse Chapter 4, a shugo chara! fanfic

Writer's Notes: Woohoo, last chapter. Wow, pretty short, hm?

Probably because it's a plotless fanfic…

I'm too transparent, people have already predicted correct on what's going to happen~ D:

"Papa! Mama!" Ami squealed, and jumped into her mother's arms.

Amu smiled as she took in her mother's dark brown hair and golden eyes, and her father's light brown hair and golden eyes.

For a second she wondered how in the world she got pink hair. Must've been a recessive gene, hm…

"Welcome back, Mama, Papa," Amu greeted warmly, as she moved forward for a hug.

"Thank you Amu dear, you've done well all by yourself," Midori said, as she embraced her daughter.

"My little sparrow is growing up!!" Tsumugu cried, hugging Amu as well.

"So, what did you think of the prince?" Midori asked she released her daughter, although her husband was little crying in the background.

"Mmm…he's grown on me," the pink-haired girl admitted.

Laughing, the mother picked up a few boxes.

"That's good. Unfortunately, we have a lot of work to do which you'll have to take part in…"

"I know. I won't be able to see him."

"Sorry, Amu dear."

And is this the end,

Of Cat and Mouse?

The cat is growing hungry,

But it is not his stomach that is empty,

It is his heart,

That is growing lonely…

Too late,

Should have run faster,

To catch the mouse…

"Ikuto! You need to shape up, you can't be this irresponsible, sneaking out every night after you get married!" The Queen said, irritated at her son.

"I told you I didn't want to get married, Mother," Ikuto hissed, aggravated as well.

"You have no choice," his mother snapped. "We told you that if you did not find a suitable wife, we would arrange the marriage for you. The time is nearing, Ikuto, you will be 18 soon. And have I been introduced to a suitable princess yet? No."

The prince glared at his mother.

"I have found a suitable girl, mother."

"Oh, then where is she?"

"…I have not seen her for some time."

"Then she must not fancy you as you do her. And I heard the word girl, Ikuto. I want a princess, not a girl. Royalty must marry royalty, not commoners. You have never taken a liking to any of the commoner girl anyway, why change that?"

The two glared at each other until the blue-haired prince stormed off to his room.

"Ikuto!" His mother yelled, but he ignored her and slammed the door, throwing himself onto his bed.

"Ikuto, nya?" Yoru asked, worried.

"It's nothing," his owner replied, his irritation melting.

Two months had passed since the girl last visited him. Why hadn't she come recently? He assumed that she would have stolen something by now.

During his late-night taiyaki adventures, he had heard from Gen that the girl had not been appearing recently, either. No one knew what happened to her; perhaps it was because the shabbier towns had shaped up enough. Or perhaps she was caught, or went to another kingdom, or perhaps gave up being a thief altogether.

Ikuto had never really thought that she was disappear like that. He liked her, that was for sure, and perhaps blinded by his own feelings, he thought she liked him too.

He was always a lone wolf. The stuck-up, haughty princesses from other kingdoms made him yawn, talking about nothing except their clothing and bragging about their riches. He did not particularly mind marrying a 'commoner', but most would probably marry him only for his riches or looks, and not understand him. Finding a commoner who did would be rare, and he did not want to go through all that trouble.

And plus, Amu had grown on him. He liked her, and finding someone else would be like replacing her, which could not be done. She was pretty, she was clever, and she understood him and was not swayed by his sarcastic remarks or his handsome looks. She talked to him like everyone else, not sucking up to him because he was the prince.

He was lonely, perhaps we could say.

He thought he had finally found that someone special, but in the end, she left him, taking his heart with her.

Yes, she was certainly a good thief.

"Girlie's never been caught."

Yes, certainly, he couldn't even catch her when she stole his heart.

"Amu, you look gorgeous, stop fussing with your hair."

"But it's been so long…I'm not used to it, it looks weird…"

"It looks fine, Amu dear. Let me do your makeup, and then we'll leave. We definitely can't be late for this."

"This is going to be so embarrassing…"

"It'll be fine." Midori repeated yet again. "You said so yourself, didn't you? That—"

"NOOOO, MAMA STOP! It's so embarrassing! Don't say things like those out loud!"

Giggling, the mother applied some eyeshadow and lipgloss, and stepped back to observe her work. She studied her daughter for a few moments, then stepped forwards again to apply some finishing touches.

"Mama…" Amu said uncertainly, "…Do you really think this will work out? It's been so long…"

A noise sounded from downstairs, Tsumugu tripping over something.

"…angry?"

Sighing, Midori repeated the words for the third time. "It. Will. Be. Fine. You need to stop freaking yourself out. Alright, we're ready."

Amu gasped, both from nerves and her image in the mirror.

"Mama…is…?"

Smiling, Midori observed her daughter and admired her own work.

"Of course. Now, let's go."

"And this is Princess Hana Kuruzumi, from the Flower Kingdom," said their butler, introducing the princesses from different kingdoms. "She likes all flowers, though Sakura trees are her favorite."

"Huh." Ikuto showed no interest, staring out the window. Today was a nice day, it made him feel sleepy…

"And lastly, this is Princess Yuki Kanao, from the Snow Kingdom. She like fluffy things and animals, especially rabbits."

"Sure…"

As soon as the blue-haired girl left, looking rather dejected, the Queen stood.

"Ikuto. You must now choose a Princess."

"None of them interest me. Don't you see they're all ready to suck it up? I'd rather someone who would actually talk to me instead of having someone else prettying their words up for them."

"Ikuto—"

"HOOOOOOOOLD IT, WAIT A SECOND~ YOU'RE FOREGETING SOMEONE HEEEEEERE!" A voice rang out, extremely loud and clear.

The butler looked confused, and so did the King and Queen. There were supposed to be exactly sixty-four introductions, not sixty-five. Who in the world was this?

The large mahogany door flew open with a bang.

"Osu, How've you been, Souko, Aruto?"

The prince heard his mother gasp, and he broke his eye contact away from the window, glancing at the two people in front of him. A slim, brown-haired woman wearing an elaborate cream-colored dress, and a man with lighter brown hair wearing fancy blue colored robes.

Hm, never seen them before, didn't know who they were, didn't care. They didn't look all too special.

"Midori?! Tsumugu?!" The queen shrieked, disbelief in her voice.

"In the flesh," Midori announced, holding out her arms, in which Souko threw herself into.

"Oh my God, oh my God!!!"

The prince heard his mother shriek continuously, happiness evident in her voice. Soon, she started sobbing, her words incoherent.

Weird. He never saw his mother break down like that, like a little girl.

"Tsumugu!!"

"Aruto! Long time no see, hm? Still playing that violin of yours?"

"Of course, still taking those photos of scenery and your daughters?"

"…That kinda sounds like I'm a stalker or something of my own children…but yeah, I am!"

The two men laughed, linking arms in greeting.

"Where the hell have you been?" Aruto asked curiously, "We haven't seen you in six years…"

Six years…? Ikuto thought, still refusing to break his eye contact from the window. Wasn't that when the Humpty Kingdom fell?

"Rebuilding our Kingdom of course. And we're done, so we decided to come back. Oh, and if you want to permanently merge our two kingdoms together…we can seal it with marriage…"

Tolerance finally breaking, Ikuto stood up, furious.

"Is marriage all you think about?! What about me, I don't want to get married. None of the candidates interest me—" He shouted, and the adults blinked at him before Midori cut the prince off.

"But you haven't met the last candidate," she said, smiling.

"That doesn't matter. There is…was only one girl who I liked, and she is long gone." The prince snapped angrily.

"How do you know she isn't royalty?" Tsumugu asked, smiling as well.

Ikuto was getting more and more irritated, why were these strangers smiling at him like a stupid little boy?

"Because she was a thief."

"Hey, hey, that doesn't mean she wasn't royalty," Tsumugu said.

"She didn't talk like royalty, dressed in it, nor showed any attitude that royalty would hold," the prince replied, still irritated.

"Hey, that hurts you know. Just because I'm not spoiled, talk and act all haughty and done laugh like 'oh ho ho ho!' doesn't mean I'm not royalty," a female voice cut in.

That voice…the midnight-haired prince turned, eyes wide.

"Don't jump to conclusions, you know? You only knew my name, and nothing else."

The girl stepped forward, and she smirked at him.

"Sorry I'm not royal enough for you, Ikuto."

She looked absolutely stunning in her dress, red and white, embroidered with some gold and decorated with lace and bows. Light makeup highlighted her face, her medium-length, bubblegum pink hair hanging in ringlets with a small tiara atop her head.

"…What happened to your hair?" He questioned. It was sort of off topic, but…

"Well," Amu said, fixing a ringlet, "Pink is my natural hair color. But as I worked as a thief, this color is really noticeable, so I put a wig over it. And someone might recognize me."

"Ahhh," Souko said, "So you're the mysterious girl thief who's been shaping up the shabbier parts of our Kingdom."

Smiling, the pink-haired girl curtsied.

"Yes. Princess Amu Hinamori from the Humpty Kingdom, at your service. I like strawberries."

Raising an eyebrow, Ikuto looked amused.

"That's all you have to say about yourself?"

"If you're really interested in me, then you'll figure out the rest, won't you? But there's no point in telling someone about myself if they don't care." Amu said, smiling.

"Then I'll have to say that I'm very interested," Ikuto replied, smirking. Turning to the Queen, he said, "Mother, I've decided that I shall marry Princess Amu Hinamori."

Hiding a squeal, Souko turned to the pink-haired princess.

"Princess Amu Hinamori, do you agree?"

"I'd rather I get proposed to traditionally, rather than having someone else ask me to marry someone…"

Amused, Ikuto turned to his mother, who handed him a small box.

Coming down from his seat, he stood in front of Amu and then sank to one knee.

"Since the first day I saw you, you intrigued me. And as I saw more of you, I began to love you. Princess Amu Hinamori, will you marry me?"

Giggling, the girl held out her hand.

"I will."

He slid the ring on her finger and stood again, gazing into her eyes until Midori coughed.

"Ahem. Well, let us old people discuss the marriage and the past. Why don't you take Amu around the castle or something?"

Mischief dancing in the prince's eyes, he held the golden-eyed princess's hand and led her out the door.

The kings and queens smiled, and Midori and Souko looked at each other and said, "Don't they make just the cutest couple?"

"They might rival us," Tsumugu and Aruto said, as they both hugged their wives.

"Hmmm. Now I'm actually in your room with an invitation," Amu said, sitting on the bed. "…hard to believe we're going to be married…"

The prince looked at her and sat down next to her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were a princess?"

"Well…never really thought of it, truthfully. What am I supposed to say, 'Hey, by the way, I'm a princess from the Humpty Kingdom working as a thief to help fix up your kingdom?'"

"…"

"…What? Why are you staring at me?" Amu said, self conscious.

"Well, I was just thinking…" Ikuto said, "The man I buy taiyaki from…when he told me about you, he said you'd never been caught…"

"…"

Ikuto hugged her.

"Caught you."

Amu laughed.

"Damn, you just ruined my reputation."

"It's okay, you retired as a thief anyway…"

The pink-haired girl fell backwards, Ikuto still hugging her.

He nibbled her ear, and she squealed.

"Hey, hey, I'm still too young for that, you know!"

"For what? You're such a dirty-minded pervert…"

"Grrr!"

And Yoru flicked off the lights, meowing as he floated into his egg to sleep.

And thus ends our game…

Of Cat and Mouse.

"Hey, hey…we were basically ignored…" Ran sighed, sitting outside on the balcony.

"I wonder what they're doing in there?" Suu said, trying to peer through the curtains.

"Make out session?" Dia suggested.

"Eeek! How mature, desu!" Suu gasped, hiding her eyes.

"Hey, what are you drawing?" Ran asked, peering over Miki's shoulder.

"Amu and Ikuto's future child…" the blue spade chara replied, coloring in the eyes.

"Wow…he's gorgeous. Or she." Dia said, "The sparkle is going to be blinding."

"…You think we'll still be around when their child is born?" Ran asked a little sadly.

"…I hope so…but even if we're not…we've served our purpose, and we'll still remain in her heart." Miki replied, a little sadly as well.

"Mmm…but we haven't disappeared yet, so let's be useful and play around to out heart's content!" Ran cheered.

Her sisters smiled.

Writer's End Notes: Ehhh, I was kinda scared that the last chapter would be too short, but I worried for nothing. :3

The ending chapter kinda flowed out. Pretty fun to write. :3

A few notes: This section- "Mama…" Amu said uncertainly, "…Do you really think this will work out? It's been so long…"
A noise sounded from downstairs, Tsumugu tripping over something.
"…angry?"

The full sentence was "Mama…do you really think this will work out? It's been so long…don't you think Ikuto would be angry?"

But I couldn't write that or it would give it away, and even if I wrote 'he' I'm pretty sure you would know who I was talking about, so I had Tsumugu trip of something with a loud noise which blocked out part of Amu's sentence. Just to clear things up, if anyone didn't get that. O:

I barely had any of Amu's charas talk or play a part so they get their own little section.

I kinda messed up the middle where Tsumugu is like "How do you know she isn't royalty" and all that with Ikuto…but I wasn't sure how to rewrite it so I left it there. xP Sorry. =x

So yeah, thus ends the game of cat and mouse. :3

Thanks for reading!