"Hwelp me swissy!" exclaimed Noelle running into my arms.

Her hair was tied up in pretty green bows that used to be Ami's and a matching green dress with lacy white socks. Her eyes were wild with excitement and adrenaline.

"Noelle? Where are you?" shouted Ami who appeared holding hangers full of cute looking clothes.

"There you are," she smiled, her eyes locking on Noelle's right away.

Squealing, Noelle scrambled out of my grasp and raced away.

I smiled. It had been only a week since Ikuto told me that Noelle would be living with us. To be honest, I was a bit concerned. What if she didn't want to stay here? Maybe she would never open up. But after a day, she opened up rather quickly.

She was 4 years old.

Her favorite colors are pink, blue, green and yellow.

She loves seafood and fast food.

Today we would be making her room. Everything was in the garage and all were waiting for was-

Ding-Dong

I waited for one of them to run to the door, but they were so busy in their own little world, they didn't even hear it. Sighing, I walked over and swung the door wide open revealing Ikuto in a white tee, faded jeans that rested low on his hips and a constructers belt slung around his waist. It was a pretty damn hot sight, not to forget about his messy hair.

"Hey hot stuff," I smiled.

"Does that imply to me or you?" he smirked.

I couldn't help but laugh at his comment. What I was wearing wasn't as good as his, but his comment was sweet. I had on a black tank top and gray sweats that I rolled to my knees. My hair was tied up in a high ponytail, my bangs clipped back.

"Sweet. Come in."

"Where are the girls?"

"Ami's trying to dress Noelle in as many clothes as she possibly can."

The moment I finished my sentence, Noelle jumped up into Ikuto's arm, causing him to stumble back a bit.

"Ikuto, don't I look pwetty?"

"You look gorgeous. Why don't you run upstairs and show me your room!"

"Okay!" she squealed wriggling out of his grasp before she ran upstairs with Ami trailing her.

I gave him a slanted look with a smile on my face and when he looked my way, he smirked.

"You're beautiful too, don't be jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I thought it was sweet."

As if he never heard my comment, he sighed, "Oh God, why have you graced thee with so many beautiful women? Thy is only one man!"

I burst out laughing, before we finally went into the garage to get the materials.

We came to lift the two bed frames; they were pretty heavy. I was just about to take hold of one of them when Ikuto came rushing to my side.

"Be careful. Here, I'll-

"Ikuto, please. I can handle this," I said pushing away from him.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

Watch me. And learn.

I lifted the frame and heaved it on my shoulder. Without a slight chance of struggle, I twirled around and smirked at Ikuto.

"Well I'll be we got ourselves a little muscle girl."

"Damn straight. Working hours at the gym does this to you."

"I always thought you were one of those damsels in distress girls," he said picking up another set of headboards.

"Sorry Prince Charming. This damsel has no distress."

"But if there is, can this prince come and save you?"

"Is there any other prince?"

"If there is I'll kick their ass."

"Nice warning. Now let's take these up."

We took the frames upstairs, and then rushed back down to carry the mattress up. I went back down to retrieve the extra accessories. Ikuto grabbed the nails.

I took Noelle and Ami out of the room, deciding to give Ikuto some space. He obviously seemed like he knew what he was doing.

"Where are we going?" asked Noelle who was now dressed in a black and white dress that reached just above her knees. The hood that was pulled over her head was a panda bear.

She is so freaking adorable.

"Let's go and buy you some paint for your walls and all this other stuff."

"Yay!"

We piled into the car and drove to a store that sold all the things Noelle listed as we got inside.

Later

Almost half an hour later, we finally managed to leave the store. Being the little kid that she was, Noelle couldn't possibly decide what she wanted.

"Have a nice day Noelle," cheered the old man who had been our cashier clerk.

"Bye bye!"

She had made friends with everyone. Almost everyone in the store. The cashier. All the other employees that roamed around the store. A few of the kids. A couple parents who wanted a better glimpse at the cute girl in the panda hoodie.

We heaved the heavy bags into the trunk. And by we, I meant me. Ami and Noelle were too busy talking about things they had seen in the store.

When we got home, the house was basically quiet except for the loud thwack of the hammer every couple seconds. Ami dragged Noelle to the Xbox and started to play, while I grabbed a beer out of the fridge for Ikuto. I walked up the steps, the sounds of the hammer turning more ear deafening by the second.

Being as silent as possible, I opened the door and watched Ikuto work. Beads of sweat collected under his hairline, and his eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration. As for the bed, the frames were all put together and the mattress was already set on it. What was left?

"Want a beer?"

Ikuto whirled around, surprise in his eyes.

"Jesus Amu. You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry. Still want a beer?" I asked stepping out of the doorway.

"Yeah, thanks."

I took a seat on the floor next to him and handed him the beer. Settling the hammer down, he took long drags of the beer. At the same time, I rested my head against his shoulders.

"Need some help?"

"Not really."

"You sure?"

"Fine. You can hand me the nails."

"Cool. Can I lie on the bed?"

He paused and studied the bed, then shrugged.

"Go ahead."

I flung myself towards the bed, and settled down on my side.

"Could you hand me three nails from the bag that's labeled G?"

"Sure."

Ikuto hammered those into place before asking, "Now hand me nails from bag A."

Ikuto POV

"We're almost done, can you hand me the corkscrew type nail from Bag F?"

"Sure."

"Finally. Last screw is-

"Here it is."

I looked at her before grabbing the short nail. In a few moments, the bed was entirely finished.

It looked better when it was put together than when we saw the picture on the box. The frames were a set of white frames that had different designs carved into it.

"We should paint the room now," advised Ikuto cleaning up the boxes and little nylon bags.

"I'll go get them."

"Them?"

"Noelle and Ami."

"In that case, I need to grab a few things from the hardware store."

"Sure."

I turned around left room as Amu started to take of the lids on the paints cans. I was almost all the way downstairs when I remembered what I had forgotten to do. Great.

Rushing back up, I cursed when my foot slammed into the wooden staircase. I limped back into the empty room. Amu stared at me then resumed to what she was doing.

"What?"

"I forgot to say bye. Have fun."

I pressed my lips onto her sweet smelling hair softly before jogging back out. As I made my way down, I noticed Ami and Noelle playing Halo.

"Can I play?"

Without turning around to face me, Ami replied, "No you cheat."

"I do not cheat," I pouted.

"Yes you do," sang Noelle turning around to face me with a wicked smile played on her lips.

I laid my palm over my heart in a pained expression.

"You hurt me deep."

Ami snorted while Noelle burst out in small giggles.

"Ikuto, aren't you going to leave?" shouted Amu.

"Yeah go Ikuto," said Ami and Noelle in unison.

"Thy has graced thou with so many beautiful and bossy women. By the way Amu wants you two upstairs to paint," I grumbled sarcastically before shutting the door shut behind me.

Once I was outside I flipped out my cell and called Kukai.

"Hello?"

"It's Ikuto. What's the deal over there?"

"We've found out from a source that was taking care of Noelle that there's an abandoned shack where Kyou used to live."

I got into the car and started towards the store.

"So what's the old man making us do now?"

"Tsukasa's speeding the date up a bit. We're leaving in two weeks instead of the usual month."

"Two weeks? Is that all the information we have on this guy right now?"

"For the moment yes. Rima and Nagi are trying to lure out some more information out of this chick."

"Got it. I'll check back in a while to see the progress."

"Sure."

Hanging up the phone, I turned into the parking lot and entered the store.

I maneuvered straight towards the wall area and searched for a bucket of plaster. While Amu and the rest of them had been gone, I'd noticed a hole in the wall from the easel in Amu's spare room.

Later

Okay so I'd gone in wanting to buy plaster for Amu's wall but I ended up buying things for my house. I'd gotten a ton of dark cherry wood for the floor and a creamy color for the walls. I was just about to leave then when the garden home caught my eye – as you can guess I bought a few flowers for the backyard. After I was sure I was done, there was this bakery right across the street. Then I went and bought a large chocolate cake just for their hard work.

Sighing, I lugged my things into the trunk and sped off back to Amu's house. I'd been gone for a while, God knows if they'd gotten themselves in trouble or something.

When I opened the door, the house was completely silent.

"I'm back!" I shouted.

With no reply coming back, I headed upstairs to see what was going on. The door to the room was left ajar and as I stepped in, I saw the hue of pale pink on the walls. But I didn't see anyone lying around.

Deep in my stomach, a flame of worry ignited. I checked the spare room and Ami's room – no one. The only room left was Amu's. I quietly tip toed in and the moment I was in the room my heart warmed at the sight.

The three of them were lying on the floor and in front of them was Monopoly. Noelle's head was on Amu's shoulder while Ami was resting on her lap. On Amu's face were smears of pink paint

Sighing, I picked them up each one by one and placed them gently on the bed. I put Noelle on the side, then Ami on the other side. And finally, I picked up Amu's fragile like body and put her in the middle. I tucked them in before closing the door and finishing up the room.

The Next Day

Amu's POV

"AH!" I screamed dropping the gun to the floor and bending down to the grass.

"What do you think you're doing? You're not supposed to crouch down in the middle of a shot. Come on Amu, we've been over this 100 plus times," scolded Kain disapprovingly.

I turned to face Ikuto who was wearing a scowl on his face. Not a scowl that was directed towards Kain. No way. It was directed towards me. He had been staring at me with the same expression for the last 20 minutes.

"This gun is different though!"

Kain opened his mouth but closed it again before running his fingers through his dark hair. Which, by the way, he'd done a 100 plus times as well.

"You've been working with pistols and so it's at your comfort level. From what I've heard, you're pretty handy with it, but this mission requires a more advanced type of gun."

"What is this gun anyways?" I asked picking up the dark gun.

I ran my fingers over it's cool metal tip.

"This is a Sig Sauer P226."

"Sig Sauer? P226?" I repeated picking up the gun once more.

The ejection part was thicker than my pistol not to mention the trigger was sturdier. It had the loudest shot of all the guns.

"Try again," said Kain interrupting my train of thoughts.

I picked the gun off the floor and aimed it at the lone and empty can sitting on the table. Ikuto, Kain and I placed the ear protectors which were just like headphones on our ears. I aimed the gun right at the can and in a mental countdown, I shot the can. However, this time I didn't shriek and jump back seeing how I was used to the effects of the gun; I just shot the can then reloaded the gun for the next target.

"Good job. Now let's place two cans up there."

"Sure."

As Kain walked up to set up two more cans, I looked back at Ikuto. The frown was still on his face, but his eyes were light in approval. I shot him a silly grin, causing his frown to slightly lessen.

"You ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, try to shoot these two cans in 5 seconds."

"Isn't that a bit too long?"

"In normal procedures yes. But you're just starting out with this gun."

"Got it."

"5 seconds remember. Ikuto, you ready?"

He pulled out the stopwatch and just as when Kain said 'Go' he pressed the small green button.

I aimed at the can and shot it. Then quickly reloaded the gun and shot again. I looked at Kain with a grin on my face.

"Well?"

Kain looked at Ikuto dumbfounded. Ikuto had the same expression on his face.

"How long did it take me?"

"2.03 seconds."

"Is that good or bad?"

"That's excellent. Have you used guns before you came to work as a negotiator?" asked Kain as he cleaned up the annihilated cans.

"Um…yeah. You could say that."

"Well that's good. I think that's enough for today."

"You guys can go, I think I'm going to practice some more."

"Go ahead."

Once the two of them had left, I waited a bit before pulling 5 cans out of the bag. I moved the ear protectors back on my ears, and aimed the gun. Taking a deep breath I shot each can.

"Damn. You. To. Hell. Bastard!" I shouted each word once for each can.

I repeated this three more times, before taking the ear protectors off and wiping the sweat off my forehead.

"You're not talking about me are you now?"

Startled, I aimed the gun at whoever had snuck up behind. Now, I admit that's a pretty bad thing to do but it was under the circumstances.

Ikuto stood there with his hands, which were holding two water bottles, in the air.

"Um…are you going to put your gun…down?"

My breath froze and my eyes widened. That line…I'd heard that before.

But before I could think anymore, Ikuto cleared his throat.

"Jesus, Amu. I thought I was going to die for a second."

"Sorry about that."

Sighing, Ikuto handed me the water bottle and I chugged more than half the contents down. Sealing the cap back onto the bottle, I took out the gun again, pulled out my ear protectors then gave Ikuto his.

"You're going to keep practicing?"

"Of course. I'm not letting you or Kain have all the fun in France."

"I see."

He stayed quiet, while I went through several more rounds of shooting cans. Near the end, I was able to shoot down 30 cans in 15 seconds.

"That's pretty good, but being as good as us doesn't just mean you have to know how to shoot."

"I know. There's strength and endurance too. That's why I'm going to the treadmill next."

Later

"Aaaah! I'm tired!" I groaned, falling flat to the floor.

"Well I can guess why. Geez Amu, you've been working here for an additional 2 hours."

"I need the training."

"Just don't overtrain."

"I know."

Ikuto held out his hand. And as I grabbed onto it, a thought crossed through my mind.

"You know? We haven't had much negotiation missions lately."

"Tsukasa's giving them all to others. The prick."

"I can't get over the fact you call your boss 'Old man' and 'Prick'."

"He knows that I do. I've been working with him since I was 17."

"That's a long time."

I leaned back against the wall.

"I'd better get packing huh? We're leaving France in a month or so."

"No we're not."

I snapped my head in Ikuto's direction.

"What do you mean?"

He let out a jagged breath and raked his fingers through his hair. A habit he's been doing a lot lately.

"New information has reported a shack where Kyou used to live. Tsukasa said we're leaving in two weeks to cover more ground."

"Does Kain know?"

Ikuto nodded his head.

"What about Kukai?"

"He's the one who informed me."

Dumbfounded, I stared at my feet for a moment before looking back at Ikuto.

"So everyone thought it'd be best if I didn't know?"

"It was just to make sure you didn't get rushed and would take your time to train."

"Am I that unprepared?"

When Ikuto didn't answer, I only released a small breath and smiled in shock.

"Well that's fine. I'm going to prove to everyone that I am as good as everyone else."

"I didn't say that."

I pushed myself up from against the wall and walked towards Ikuto. I cupped his face with my hands and brought myself to my toes. Placing a small kiss on his forehead, I stared at him right in the eye.

"I know. But still…I'm sick of being the one who's protected."

Subconsciously, my mind drifted off to Hikaru, Nina and Renji.

"Then prove it."

"I am."

"Show them you're not all talk."

"I will."

"Show them that the girl I fell in love with is headstrong and determined."

"I will."

Ikuto brought his face closer to mine leaned his cheek against mine. His stubble irritating my cheek.

"You didn't shave," I giggled.

"Deal with it," he smirked, kissing my cheek.

Author's Notes

Hi everyone. So much romance going on. Ha-ha, if some of you don't like all the recurring romance, don't fret action is soon to spring up two chapters later. There'll be so much action, that you'll miss the romance. Oh well.

The strangest thing happened to me today. I saw that I got a review for my story An Amu x Ikuto story. This story is ancient by the way. Anyways, as I'm browsing through, I see a familiar story called An Empty Promise. Interested, I start reading it and it was a good story. Now I check the author – Nekomeme-San. Her stories were Opposites Attract, An Empty Promise and Lost Memories. Then I remembered: I wrote the stories...and I still had the documents on my computer. Nekomeme-san was me. Haha- I can't believe I forgot about all my other stories. I checked the reviews and noticed Foxgrl18 reviewed for An Empty Promise I think. So if you didn't know or have heard of any of those stories. I wrote them. Teehee. My forgetfulness is so bad.

Anyways. Thanks a lot for the reviews. 229? Really I wouldn't have been able to get his far without you guys. Thanks a bundles.

~Forgetfulness isn't the key