(Start Chapter)

Mornings past, and the days seemed to blur together. I put a lot of effort into the chara's and spending time with them. Ikuto was gone a lot, telling me, "It's fine, I'll be back after you and Hikaru are asleep so if you could be a dear, Angel Eyes, put my portion in the fridge." He'd wink and leave early in the morning, not coming back until... I don't even know when. I tried to stay up to wait for him, but always fell asleep before he came home. Hikaru was off, doing school stuff all the time.

I played with Ran first. I invited Nagi, but he couldn't make it today. I don't remember but somehow Ikuto got in contact with Utau and somehow got Kukai to come over. He said he felt super bad about all that happened and we mended things between us fast. We ran, played soccor, and did a lot of other things that made me sweat my light blue shirt into a dark blue one. We laughed like good old times, but I still felt incredibly hurt buy what had happened. When Ikuto came home he found me crying outside his door, waiting for him to come home. I guess he came home every morning around four, leaving at seven again.

The second was Miki, whom I invited Nagihiko over to do "artistic" things with. Surprise was that Utau showed up with somewhat of a schedule. We danced, we created music, drew on walls and painted on windows and we wrote little stories of the best thing that happened to us so far in life. And the worst. I was surprised to find Utau had married Kukai, but I didn't know that the worst part of her life was when her dad left her family and her mom fell ill. For Nagi he was blessed with Rima, to my surprise, but the confusion of what dancing meant was his worst things in life. Utau and I just side glance glared at him. For me... I didn't show or tell the two girls, I wanted to keep it to myself a little.

I then baked with Su. Hikaru and Ikuto came home to me... and a five layered chocolate cake with triple chocolate fudge chip icing and chocolate chips to decorate alongside a chocolate cream pie, chocolate chip muffins and vanilla cupcakes with rainbow frosting and sprinkles. I still wasn't done cooking. I made so many things from cookies to salmon to three different types of salad. Hikaru and Ikuto were on the phones for hours it seems as they invited everyone they knew over for dinner. Ah, what a nice dinner that was. I got to see everyone again, except for Tadase, which I was overly joyed about. I mended a lot of ties that night, which brought me to my next character change.

Dia. Sweet smile, head cocked to the side slightly, and that shimmering air around me. It helped a lot, seeing people I was close to at once and now trying to mend ties, trying to socialize with adults I didn't know, and children who seemed to be trying to destroy my new house, my sanctuary. Without Dia, I might not have been able to make it, I probably would have broken down from the stress. But I smiled. I continued to smile as I served dinner, entertained the guests with music which Ikuto, Utau and I created together. It left me exhausted.

Ritsu said that I needed to rest, and we'd see each other in the morning.

That was the last night I saw any of them.

I remember having a dream; it was warm, rainbow colored, every little move I made it felt as if my skin rubbed against silk, but cashmere feeling as well. I heard voices off in the distance as I struggled to swim towards them. Then, voices came behind me. It felt like I was in happy-happy-land with some horror movie mixed into it until I started to recognize the voices. There was Ran, Miki, Su, Dia and Ritsuka on one side, and Ikuto and Hikaru on the other side of me.

I was torn. Go towards the giggling and laughing of my chara's, or go towards Ikuto's and Hikaru's saddened whispers. I turned from my smitten chara's and started to move the other way. "Hey!" I wanted to scream though it came out muted. I struggled through the 'cloth' as I tried to swim. "Ikuto! Hikaru!" No sound came. I began to thrash, punch around, kick, and try to move closer to the sad murmurs.

"Ah!" I looked to my right to see blue. I couldn't really see, it was dark and everything was blurry. "Are you okay, Amu?" This voice seemed so similar to me, this feeling on warmth on both sides of my face.

"I-Ikuto?" The warm on my cheeks shifted as I felt pressure under my eyes, rubbing something away.

"Yeah, I'm here." He gave me a light kiss on the cheeks, then kissed me on my eyes, then my forehead. He had his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me against his body. My vision was almost clean but became blurry again. I buried my head in his neck, nussling close to him. "Are you okay?"

"They're vanishing," I said this, though my voice was muffled so I wasn't so sure he could hear... But he is a cat.

"I won't ever vanish from you," he whispered to me. "I won't ever leave you." With those last sweet words I slid back into a more peaceful dream.

When I woke up I felt soar, my eyes especially hurt and Ikuto was, for once, sleeping next to me. He looked so peaceful. My eyes made circles around the room but something was off. It wasn't a room I'd ever been into. Ikuto's room. I jerked up, then looked down at Ikuto to make sure he hadn't woken up. Nope, he just seemed to roll over.

I tried to get up quietly from the bed, which worked except the small noise from the springs. My eyes gazed around the room, amazed by the size and what Ikuto had done with it. The walls were white on the bottom, but became a light blue as it made its way up the wall, then to a dark blue on the ceiling. White specks were left on the ceiling, which made small little stars. I smiled at this, how Ikuto liked looking at the stars.

I moved my gaze back to Ikuto, who was still sleeping, and realized he didn't have a frame for his bed, or a box-spring for that matter. Just two matrices. To the left of the bed, the side Ikuto always insisted on sleeping, were two fake bamboo plants next to each other, then a big dresser pushed up against the wall. The dresser was made from a light wood and had six drawers. On top of it there was a stack of papers and a prize of some sort that was tipped over.

On the side of the dresser was some stacked boxes and then another wall. I looked on, running down that wall. There wasn't a lot of stuff, just some violins that leaned on the wall and a door, which I presumed when out to the house that I knew. I moved my eyes to the wall across from me, which was short, then indented to a bathroom looking area. There was a counter with two sinks and a large mirror. On the counter was some more fake plants, maybe some real from the look of the soil and not just 'plants' in 'cups'. To both sides I saw doors. I'd have to find out which one was the bathroom and which one was a closet. I continued over and saw a television in the corner of both walls. It wasn't all that big but it looked to had surround sound and DVD and VHS players.

When I looked over, nearly completing my circle, I almost gasped, but covered my mouth before I could. There was a large desk with a desktop and a laptop, in the center was a picture of me when I was younger, and a newer picture of me now. I didn't know if somehow Ikuto had taken them from me somehow, or he'd taken them himself when I wasn't looking. In both pictures I had pink cheeks and was smiling sweetly. To who, I don't remember. I also couldn't put my finger on where they were taken. There was fake plants around the computers as well, and I think a real one behind my pictures. When I turned to make a complete circle around the room I hear shuffling, and saw Ikuto moving back and forth.

He reached his hand out, patting the place next to him as he blindly felt to see if I was still there. I sat down on the bed, right out of his reach, to see what he'd do, thinking I'd vanished. He shot up, looking around the room almost as if he was in a panic, then his eyes landed on me and I swear I could see him visibly relax. "Amu," I heard his voice ring out in the silence of the room and it surprised me how silent it seemed without his voice. "Are you okay?" He lightly shifted so he could put his hands on my cheeks.

His question surprised me. "Yeah, of course I'm okay. Why?" He gave me a look. Oh god what happened? He gave me a look. Not a, "you're appealing" or "hi sexy" or even a "your in trouble" look. Just... A look.

"Last night..." but then he stopped... He wouldn't say anymore. He just shook his head and looked at the door that I guessed led into the rest of the house. "Let's make breakfast. We can eat and I'll take you to your job." I nodded and we stood, walking into the main house.

When we went into the kitchen we were greeted by the smell of hot food, we turned to see Hikaru making pancakes. "Breakfast, since I didn't know when you two were getting up." We smiled and sat down for some strawberry banana blueberry hotcakes. We talked mildly... like how Hikaru was doing on his school work, and how the class was treating him, and so on. But right as I was taking my last bite of pancake Ikuto had to say something "important" so I put my fork down and listened.

"Amu, can you promise me one thing?"

I looked up at his sudden seriousness. "Yeah, what is it?"

"Could you please quit your job?" I just looked at him like he was crazy. "I mean, I want you to work at somewhere I won't have to worry about you being looked upon like a meal by other guys." He sighed. "I would like you to either work here at home, I can get you a job for something here at home based, or I'd prefer something that didn't involve other men looking at you like you're a delectable cream anmitsu, no matter how mouthwatering you may be."

A deep blush materialized onto my face and instantly I looked down to my hands, where I was playing with my napkin. I gave a glance to where Ikuto was and immediately looked down. He had a look on his face that said it all. "I only want you, and I only want you to want me. Please, don't let other men see you in that kind of vulnerable state." I didn't need to hear him say it, his eyes gave him away.

"O-Okay... I'll see what I can do."

So... Here I am at my work... Not dressed up and sitting in my bosses office as he grabbed for another tissue to wipe his tears. "I'm sorry, Amu dearest, my daughter... She just said she ha-... Hated me for... For... For not letting her have a slumber party." He cried harder. "I just can't stand my baby not being near me."

"Um... Boss, I wanted to tell you that I'm resigning. I won't be showing up to work ever again..." I looked down for a moment, afraid to look at the boss, but when I did look up I sighed. He was just looking at me with a "What?" expression. I sighed and explained my situation, though when I mentioned Ikuto I stuttered out a "h-h-hu-husband". He sighed and nodded. He told me if my other job didn't work out he'd gladly take me back.

I walked home, looking up into the sky. It was a long walk there, and a long walk back to the house so I stopped at a few parks and relaxed. When I walked out of one park I happened to look over and see Hikaru's school, so why not wait around for him? I went to a close coffee shop and had a cup of coffee, then went back to the park for a short while. When I finally heard the bells ring I went to the front entrance of the school.

"Look at that hot babe..." I heard a boy say as he walked past. Of course the high school and middle school would be right next to the elementary school. "Hey, you waiting for your little brother? I'll take you two out when he comes, you wanna?" I looked over to him and nearly laughed. He really wasn't my type.

I quickly shuffled in my pocked and put on the "weapon" of choice that Ikuto gave me. I quickly pulled my left hand out of my pocket and showed him my ring finger. I made a disgusted look at him and smoothly said, "Ew, gross. Married. Bye." Hikaru showed up right on time. I grabbed onto Hikaru's hand and walked off, though Hikaru didn't leave without saying a few words.

"Don't ever try to hit on my mom again!" I nearly fell into loud laughter as I heard the boy earlier nearly stubble over the words, "married" and "mom". Hikaru and I laughed the whole way home. Though, when we got home I found a note from Ikuto. "I'll be back soon. Make sure you take good care of yourself and Hikaru. Be a good girl and wait for me to come back. Love, Ikuto."

Now that I think about it... I've only been living here for... a week? Maybe? And now Ikuto's leaving and I feel as if I should be running around like a scared child. I don't think I know what to do without Ikuto right now. I feel so torn between the feeling of devastation, of the fact that I'm clueless without Ikuto, or loneliness, because I'm well lonely without Ikuto by my side now.

That night I had another wired dream. It was like a normal day, though at the same time it wasn't normal. It was normal for the dream world. I met up with Ikuto at the food court in the closest mall, smiling, holding hands, and kissing each others cheeks. We went window shopping, saying how this necklace would look amazing around my neck, how these earrings would look great with my hair and eyes. How this wallet screams "Ikuto" and how this ring would be something Ikuto would give a girl he loved.

We went to my house, one that I've never seen before but was very comforting. We laid down and cuddled for a little, listening to music and talking about nothing at all. We kissed a few times, but other than that we fell asleep in each other arms as we laid on the living room floor, looking at the ceiling with glow in the dark stars.

I woke up in the middle of the night, hearing something. Not only did I hear, but I felt it as well. A wet, slimy, fleshy like thing rolling down my neck. A growling sound emitted from some throat very close. When I looked down I saw blue hair and when I gasped he looked up. Ikuto. He looked down again as I did. A huge red, irritated spot was beginning to spread across my chest. I looked at Ikuto in horror, as he looked up to me. "Sorry," he muttered. It was like there was a flash of light, and instead of Ikuto, there was a demon. When the light vanished, Ikuto was back, but looking at my chest now.

He bit in. Tearing at my flesh and gnawing into my mussels. He broke through my ribs, and all I could do was scream. My heart was pumping so fast, trying to keep up with the pain. He looked up to me quickly, then between my heart and my eyes. Another flash of light happened and I saw that demon again, but it was gone. He bit down again, right into my heart this time. Slowly but surly, he finished off my heart, and the last little glimpse I had of Ikuto was that demon who wasn't Ikuto.

I woke with a start, my hands gripping the bed sheets, sweat running down my face. I heard a banging on the wall and knew Hikaru had heard me scream and woke up just enough to bang on the wall to let me know I was being too loud. He never woke up to know what the sound really was, just that it was loud and woke him up. I sighed, looking around my newly decorated room.

My bed lay along the wall under the window, where I now knew was not a good spot because when the sun came up it was shone directly in my eyes. My closet doors were closed because recently I'd just thrown stuff into the "abyss", as the paper said that was taped to the door, that I didn't know where to put at the moment. A five drawer dresser that was filled with my underwear, bras, lingerie (that was accused to be "sexy"), pants, shorts, skirts, some shirts, and some posters, notebooks, pens, pencils, and other "arty" things.

Then the door, closed, with a mirror just in case Hikaru was in the bathroom and I needed to put on makeup or fix my hair. Finally across from me was a black desk. On top of the desk were pictures, such as the two from so long ago that I recently found, some books, on cooking, drawing and painting, and some romance books I like to read. The desk looked so big opposed to it's contents. There was something missing. And I might know what.

It was still dark outside so this was a perfect chance. I left my room and, as quietly as I could, walked into Ikuto's room. He didn't like it when I did this, which I only did once, but he wouldn't know. I went over to his computers and grabbed the item I needed for this project. His camera. I walked out onto the back deck and aimed it up towards the sky. When I took the picture nothing but cloudy gray and black showed up. I went back to my room where I drew a bad star on a piece of paper, took a picture of that on my floor with my laying next to it. I did many other things to create a "star" and photographed it.

I went back into Ikuto's room and printed off the photos. I erased the photos on the computer and camera so he wouldn't find out and placed the camera back where I found it. I went back to my room, with the pictures and cut them out precisely. I taped them to my wall, a colleague of stars, moving from my desk up to my ceiling, them spreading out half way. Later I'd have to buy those stars in my dream, the glow and the dark ones, and have them intertwine with the photos and spread past them.

Later that morning, after I'd stayed up all night, I was back in bed, ready for sleep to overpower me and take me under. No luck. I just stared at the ceiling and what it will become, and what it was at the moment. I also thought of Ikuto a lot. Never did the dream I'd had that woke me with a start cross my mind. Only that Ikuto would be home soon.

I felt shivers as I hear my door open, though when I sat up and looked over to the door, it was Hikaru standing there, not Ikuto. He looked at me, then around my room, then behind him, and back to me. He repeated this for a while before he pointed towards Ikuto's room. "There's a monster in there, and I'm hungry." I looked at him and laughed. I told him that I'd been in Ikuto's room, that he didn't have to fret about any monster. "Hungry." He repeated a few times. I nodded and sighed, getting up and made his some breakfast. Milk. Cereal. A bowel. And a spoon. I smiled proudly at myself that I hadn't burned anything down.

"Have a nice day at school," I said as I waved my son off as he walked to school. I smiled at his back that was moving farther and farther away. I felt arms wrap around me as a breeze moved across my back. When I turned around, no one was there. I thought for a moment I'd felt Ikuto's arms around me, and he turned out not to be there. I must have been tired.

I walked back inside and laid down on the couch for only a few minutes before I completely blacked out. When I opened my eyes again I thought I'd blinked myself into mid-day. No, I'd fallen asleep. I rubbed my eyes as I looked around the room. Nothing had changed except for this smell. It wasn't anything on fire, but it smelt nice. I stood and stretched as I walked into the kitchen, smelling around. I couldn't find anything that was cooking.

It wasn't until later that I noticed Ikuto's door being open, though no sign of him actually being home. I decided I was becoming paranoid, so I took a nice long bath, blaring music as I did so. Some were slow, soft but with a pounding beet, or some were even fast with a metal feel behind it. The hot water with a thin layer of bubbles and some music really put me to sleep, because the next thing I recognize is the water being really cold. Goose bumps formed on my legs and arms even under water. So I got out.

After being dried and clothed I went to my room where I laid down under the covers, and right before I fell asleep again, I noticed it was getting dark.

(End Amu's POV)

(Hikaru's POV)

I walked home from school, just like normal, except it wasn't that normal at all. Normal in the sense that I'm walking the same way, at the same time I always do. Not normal in the sense that someone was following me. I turned to see who it was and it was that boy who hit on my mom some days ago with a bunch of friends this time. I just walked faster. This is were my normal day ended. I went into an ally, then turned from that ally to another. I jumped a fence as I tried to get rid of these guys. Eventually it worked.

I made my way back to the house, and when I get there my mom's no where to be found, but the bathroom door is locked with loud music emitting from the small space inside. Found mom. I pounded on the door some, though no one answered. God I really had to pee suddenly. This wasn't fair at all. I had two choices, both very dangerous. Go in Ikuto's room to see if there's a bathroom in there since it is the maters bedroom, or go downstairs, through the "love nest" and use that bathroom. I also had the option to go outside, though that was less appealing to me.

I ended up going outside in one of our back yard bushes.

When I came inside I wondered back to my room, though when I passed Ikuto's room, his door was open. It was strange I hadn't noticed it before. I felt someone behind me and found Ikuto standing there. He put a finger to his lips, shushing me. I just nodded and passed each other. He went into his room, and me into mine. Later when I walked out, the door to the bathroom was open and the music was off. Music of my own and homework really does drown out the world, huh?

When I looked over to Ikuto's room his door was closed, and them I looked to the other side of me and found my mom's room door closed as well. I walked out into the kitchen to find something to snack on, but found Ikuto making dinner instead. "Hey," I said, looking into the pot he was stirring.

"Your mom's alseep," He said, "Why is she sleeping so much?"

"I didn't notice. I was at school."

"Ah. Well, when I came home she was sleeping on the couch, then fell asleep in the bath, and now she's sleeping in her room."

"Ah."

"So... Do you like curry?"

"Yeah, it's okay. Never really had any other curry than the kind grandma makes when I do see her."

"Grandma? Your mom's or dad's?"

He seemed really curious in my curry eating life... "Mom's. Sometimes I see aunty too, but she's off being "glamorous". Mom says she's wanted that since she could talk and understand."

"Haha, seems nice. What about your Dad's side though?" He looked over at me, and something told me that he was having a heart to heart mature conversation with me.

"I don't really remember them, but I do remember mom's forced smile every time we saw them, and the glares she received in return." I looked down then back up at Ikuto was was just cooking, looking at the supposed curry.

"Ah."

That's all he said for the rest of the night about that topic. Other than that he asked about school and homework. We talked some nice chit chat over dinner, which mom slept through and Ikuto didn't want to wake her, she must have had a rough night or something. We played some video games in his room, something that astounded me, but was not commented upon. Later I went to bed, just thinking about all that had happened when Ikuto was away. Not. A. Lot.

(End Hikaru's POV)

(End Chapter)

Not a cliffy! I'm proud of myself. Now I'm going to have a little bit of a hard time getting together the next chapter... but I think that there is going to be something juicy. It might take long again, I'm not sure. Oh! And vacation is a blast. Sun, so I'm tanning my pale skin, something that runs heavy with the (proper) english blood. Not burning, surprising! And eating smors every night. Yum. I have to say, waking up at 8:30 in the morning on my own, that's a new, but it takes me at least three or four hours to actually become "awake". Man, this is something cool.

Anyways, I hope to hear from you all, even those who don't like to review (I'd be a hell of a lot more inspired if you just lend a word or two but NOOOO! I'm joking, I know you still like the story just don't know what to say.) and see what you have to say. I'll help you a little, tell me what you think of the story so far. There's a hint. Haha.

I love all of you, the readers, the reviewers, and the people, music and events that cause my inspiration to spark. Loves!

Responding to the Reviews Corner!

TheQueenOfMe

I'm not really sure what to say, you've said it all. Haha. Glad you found the chapter funny and delighted you liked it so much. Do you have a preference as to what the dedication will be about? Pairing? Anything special? I'd love to know or would you prefer me to just make something out of produce? :) Let me know. Haha. Loves!