A small man walked to the middle of the room and raised his wine glass, tapping it loudly enough to get our attention, but gentle enough so the cup wouldn't break. I held my own cup in hand and gave my focus to the man, as did everyone else in the room.

"Let's all raise our glasses in celebration for Tadase's wonderful gallery."

We all gave a cheer and raised our glasses in agreement. Then we all turned to him, so he could give his little speech of thanks.

"I actually can't express my gratitude to you all. If it wasn't for the people who liked my paintings and bought them, I wouldn't be where I am now. So I thank you sincerely."

The hall broke into a round of applause, and slowly the group scattered to admire more paintings. As Tadase walked back towards me, I felt my ribs give a sharp yelp of pain. I cringed subtly, but straightened so no one would notice. Instead, it was Tadase who noticed.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, it was nothing."

"You sure?"

"Don't worry," I replied giving off a soft smile.

Tadase nodded his head in reassurance. We walked towards the back of the hall and looked at his older paintings. I would've told him that they were beautiful, but that's also what I'd said about the other paintings as well. As we were walking, a peculiar painting caught me by surprise. Gazing at the painting, I noticed something familiar about it. The pink hair and gold eyes – whoever he had painted kind of looked like me?

Walking over, Tadase placed his hand on my shoulder. It surprised me and I wanted to move but manners held me in place.

"I did try painting a portrait of you even if you weren't there modeling."

"That's me?"

"Of course it is. I-

"Amu? Is that you?"

Tadase and I both turned around and there I was face to face with Ikuto's parents. His dad looked charming and his mother stunning. Her blonde hair was curled and came flowing down to her back. It matched the elegant cream colored dress she wore.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs. Tsukiyomi," I answered politely even under his dad's uncomfortable glare.

"Oh none of that formal stuff," she giggled. "Just call me Souko."

She took a moment to whisper something into her husband's ear, and at that same moment Tadase bent over and whispered something into mine.

"You wanted to learn more about Kyou. Ask him."

"Ikuto's dad?"

"You know Ikuto?"

"You know Ikuto?" I asked back.

"Long story."

I turned to face them again, looking into to his dad's eyes. Souko must've noticed something; for she slipped her arm between Tadase's and strolled away.

"I need to ask you about Kyou," I asked once there was no one in earshot.

"There's nothing to know," he said brushing off my comment.

"You must know something! You're daughter was kidnapped by him and your son is working on a case about him.

"I know nothing, because I will not get my information from my son."

"Why not?"

He whirled around and faced me. His face hard and cold.

"Let me ask you this, how is that you got your way back into my son's heart?"

"Back? What do you mean?"

"It's in simple words dear girl. Why are you still in his heart?"

I laughed a little.

"You're mistaken. He broke up with me.

"Of his free will?"

"What do you mean?"

"If he was so into you, why would he just break up with you? Unless there was a deal."

"What deal?"

Explain to me, how I was supposed to take him seriously when every time I looked up, I saw Ikuto. And a deal? What the hell was up with that? Like I'm supposed to believe, this man who obviously bears a grudge against for no apparent reason, his son broke up with me for the sake of a silly deal. Pssh, I'm not that dumb.

Before he could open his mouth to speak again, I stopped him.

"This isn't about me. I came to talk to you about the case."

"But it is Ms. Amu Hinamori. This whole mess began with you."

"Explain to me what you're talking about, because everything that is coming out of your mouth isn't making sense to me."

"It all started when my son became the negotiator for your case 11 years ago."

My heart twisted a little. It was true then – that part at least. He had been my negotiator, and even though I knew, it hurt to hear it directly from someone who actually knew what had happened.

From behind them, I could see Tadase and Ikuto's mother coming towards us. Not giving us much time to finish our heated discussion, I waited for them to come back. When I came to open my mouth, he rushed in his bit.

"In fact you're the whole reason why my family is falling apart."

"Aruto!" exclaimed Mrs. Tsukiyomi looking at her husband appalled.

Tadase looked angry as well.

"Listen Mr. Tsukiyomi, I don't know where this grudge you harbor towards me comes from. And I'm not sure why there's tension between you and your son. That part at least isn't my concern. But there's no reason for you to blame your troubles on me. I'm still coming into terms with my past, so I don't really understand what you've told me. You're pretty much stuck with me until I found your daughter, so why don't we start fresh?"

"Hi, my name's Amu Hinamori. Pleasure to meet you Mr. Tsukiyomi," I said holding out my hand.

Icy blue eyes stared at it, until he was nudged rudely by his wife. Grumbling, he took my hand and quickly let go of it as if it burned his hand.

"Good night Mr. and Mrs. Tsukiyomi."

"Bye Amu dear."

Smiling I walked away, though it was all a façade. On the inside I was a broken accordion. Strange analogy but it fit. Cords were missing, so therefore it played terribly. Sighing, I located the nearest bench and took a seat; much to relief to my aching body.

"Damn, I knew he was going to say something to you," groaned Tadase slamming his fist on the wall.

I turned to face him slowly.

"So earlier today, you had been talking about Ikuto's dad?"

"Yeah. Sorry, if I knew he was going to go off on you like that, I wouldn't have left with Souko."

Souko…that's right he knows Ikuto too.

"Say, how do you know Ikuto again?"

Tadase dragged a hand through his hair – an act that I'd seen Ikuto do numerous times.

"Our parents are good friends, leaving me and him to be best buddies."

"Best buddies? I've never heard him talk about a 'Tadase' before."

He sighed and looked at me in the eye before turning away again.

"Well you see my dream from the minute I could pick up a crayon had been to be an artist. Of course, you see, our parents were very wealthy. And so of course they wanted their children to have a good career. But here's the problem here, my parents didn't care what I did as long as I enjoyed it and it gave me a stable life. Ikuto's mom was the same as my parents; however Ikuto's dad didn't think so."

"What did Ikuto want to be?"

"I'm getting there. Ikuto's dad had a brother who still lived in Japan."

"Still?"

"Yeah, Aruto decided to move to France when Ikuto turned 5. Anyways, Aruto's brother, Kazuya, was a negotiator in Tokyo. Every once in a while, Ikuto and his family would go to Japan and visit Kazuya. And by the time Ikuto was 10, he'd decided to become what his uncle was. But Aruto didn't think being a negotiator was good job at all, and so he kept comparing Ikuto to me. Sometimes when the two of them were alone, other times when I had come over to play. 'Look at Tadase, he's picked a nice job for himself. Why can't you be more like him?' or 'I'd always envisioned my boy to become head of my company when I retired. But now I can't because he's got his head full of useless dreams. That's my boy, but then I look at Yui's son, he's got a nice future ahead of him'".

"That's horrible."

"Yeah, and soon Ikuto started getting tired of this. The friendship started to develop cracks, much like an egg when you hit it on the counter gently. Then I made the ultimate mistake and it was over."

"Ultimate mistake?"

"Not exactly ultimate, but it was a mistake on my part and his part."

"Oh."

"You see Ikuto's little sister, Saya is 11 years younger than him. We were both 15 at the time when she was 4. I was at his house, and he hadn't come home yet. So I was playing with little Saya. I was teaching her how to draw a bunny, but she wasn't the best drawer. We were trading off you see, if I taught her how to draw a bunny she'd sing me a song, and she was a wonderful singer. At the same time Ikuto was being scolder by his dad again, and he came to find me in Saya's room teaching her the one thing that made Ikuto seem lower than me – at least according to his dad. The friendship was over. He shouted at me for trying to turn everyone against him."

"Did you ever tell him he was making a mistake?"

Tadase chuckled seeing how worked up I was getting.

"I did and so did Saya, but he wouldn't hear any of it. End of story."

"Don't you wish you could've had a better chance to explain things to him?"

"Sometimes, yeah. But when he moved back to Japan, I thought 'Oh well'".

The air around us became quiet and I managed not a stifle a yawn. I checked the time; it was 1:30 a.m.

"It's getting late, I should probably head back before they end up worrying about me."

"Yeah, we should."

"Oh no, its okay I can go myself. You have a gallery to do."

"It gets dangerous at night in Paris. Don't worry, I can come back."

"Okay, thank you."

Tadase and I got on his motorcycle once more and he drove me home. It wasn't as fast as when we had gone when we were coming to the gallery, but the speed was slow enough to enjoy the stars outside. Before long, Tadase pulled up in front of the hotel. I lifted my dress a little so the hem wouldn't get dirty.

"Good night Amu."

"Good night," I said flashing him a smile.

I fished through the contents of my clutch for the key and walked into the hotel. The main room was completely quiet and dark, as was all the other rooms. My hand fumbled for the light switch along the wall, and I finally felt the switch and flipped it on. A dim light flooded the room, giving me just enough light to know where I was going. I checked the time on the oven; it was precisely 2 in the morning.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Startled, I jumped back and looked around the room in a state of panic. Just when I was thinking I should've brought my gun, I saw Ikuto get up from the couch and walk towards me. I placed a hand over my pounding heart and breathed in a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's just you."

"Answer me. Where the hell have you been?"

I frowned and looked up at him. What was his problem?

"I was out with a friend Mr. Attitude."

"No, you were out with Tadase."

"It doesn't matter who my friend is Ikuto."

"It does when everyone else and I have been worried sick about you."

Was he trying to pick a fight?

"Thank you for worrying but-

"But nothing, I think you've forgotten why we came to France in the first place!" he shouted taking a step closer.

"I haven't forgotten, in fact the reason I went to the art gallery in the first place was because Tadase said there was someone who knew some information about Kyou."

"Oh really," he sneered.

"Really. Your father. And it seems both father and son seem to like picking fights with me."

"Why were you talking to him?"

"Oh, so now you're telling me who I should be friends with and who I should or shouldn't talk to?"

This was getting out of control.

"Yes."

"What the hell? You have no right to interfere with me private life."

"I do when that private life of yours includes picking fights with my no good of a father."

I glared at him.

"What are you so scared about, huh Ikuto? That he might tell me something that you didn't want me to know…like I don't know, you being my fucking negotiator!"

When he went quiet, I knew he was shocked. Well, good, it was about time I told him all about my feelings. Whether I was ready to tell him or not and whether he was ready to hear me or not.

"Shame I'd already found out way earlier, all your dad was confirm my suspicions."

"How?"

"Seems like your not very good at hiding your tracks, you left my file on your desk when you left me in your office alone and heartbroken. But don't worry, it didn't go to waste you lying scumbag! Why didn't you tell me you were him?"

"You weren't ready to know," he countered back.

"How would you if I was ready or not? Did you once ever take into consideration my feelings on the situation? You accused me of lying about my past, and then you broke up with me. Okay fair enough; well what about you? You knew…you knew and you didn't even tell me. You knew how much I wanted to find that negotiator."

"I found just minutes before you came in. Don't put all the blame on me!"

"Still, when I came into the office, you could've said something. Anything!" I shouted feeling the tears daring to spill out.

I took a moment to pause, my throat was starting to heart and my ribs were pounding.

Ikuto POV

I stared at her as she rubbed her throat a little. I'd taken it too far. Who cares if she had just gone out with Tadase? It was just Tadase. But I couldn't help but hide that twinge of envy.

She looked up at me with large angry eyes.

"The deal. Tell me the deal," she whispered furiously.

"Amu-

"STOP! Stop trying to leave me in the dark! Your dad said you broke up with me because of a deal. I didn't believe it and I still don't. So you tell me, was there a deal?"

Not wanting to see her eyes when I told her the truth I looked down.

"Yes."

Her breath hitched.

"What was it?" she whispered.

"Amu-

"TELL ME DAMMIT! Tell me," she shouted a tear strolling down her cheek.

"I made a deal-

"With who?"

"My dad. After I helped you out and took you to the court case, my dad thought it'd be better if I left you alone. He said it'd be better if you forgot all about that incident. So he said if I wanted to continue being a negotiator I shouldn't make contact with you again. It worked out in the end because I managed to forget about you. But then I met you and I started to fall in love. I never knew you were 'that' Amu."

"Why didn't you tell me that in the first place? We could've worked it out."

"No, we couldn't have Amu."

"How the hell would you know? Did you ever try? No, you didn't, because you always think your way is the best way!"

"My way was the best way; it was the best way so you wouldn't get hurt!" I shouted.

"Oh really, so then why am I so hurt right now? Explain why every time I thought about you my heart squeezed in pain? Explain why when I found out about you being the negotiator I felt betrayed? Explain why when I found out there was a deal, I felt like crying? So that's a lie; now tell me, what's the real reason you decided to carry out that deal? Did you choose your job over your girlfriend?"

"In some ways yes, but hear me out. I figured if he knew I chose my job over you, he'd let me get back together with you. But that wasn't the case."

Flashback

I followed him into his office; the one place I hated. It was the same place that made me seem worthless every time he would scold me.

"Why'd you bring her here?"

"I don't think who I bring here or not is your concern."

"It's my house, or have you forgotten that already?" he shouted.

"It's my house and Saya's house, and mom's house as much as it's yours!"

"You leave for a few years and now you come back with an attitude. So tell me, was it her who brought this change to you?"

"No, I just figured it was time you knew that you ruined my life."

"I ruined your life?" he repeated chuckling. "You ruined your own life. I told you to not become what your no good uncle was, but did you listen, no."

"He's your brother!" I shouted.

"So what? And you're my son, did that make a difference in your decision, no. Not to mention, you've also forgotten the deal I had given you a couple years back."

"I hadn't forgotten. It's because of that deal that my life is ruined. Do you understand me? YOU RUINED MY LIFE!"

Slap -

I stood there as my cheek burned. The look of hate and anger in my father's eyes wasn't hard to miss.

"Do not raise your voice against your father!"

"Hah, you haven't changed at all. You don't get your way, and so you think screaming and hitting will help. It doesn't."

"Don't tell me how I am or how I am not!"

"Then let me tell you this. You did ruin my life. The love of my life is gone now because of you – and yes I am I love with her whether you like it or not. And because of you, I had to let her go, because I knew you'd make her life a living hell if I didn't follow the deal. So congratulations, you won, but don't think I consider you as my father any longer."

End of Flashback

When I looked back at her, she had several tears strolling down her cheek. I slowly raised my hand and was about to wipe away her tears, when she slapped my hand away. Her golden eyes that always looked so happy were sullen and full of fury.

She slowly turned around and started walking away.

"Amu wait!" I shouted grabbing her hand.

"Let go of me!" she shouted.

When she knew I wasn't going to let go, she pulled out something out of her bag and threw it at me.

"I hate you…you…you jerk!" she shouted tears strolling down her face.

I watched her run up the stairs and slam her door shut. My heart felt heavy as I bent down to retrieve what she had thrown at me. It was a bunny shaped lighter and on the back she had written 'To: Ikuto'.

I looked back up at the staircase, and then walked up into the Kukai's room. Without knocking, I walked in and found him sleeping on his bed. Sighing, I took a seat on his chair and just sat there fiddling with the lighter.

"You're a dumb ass," he said looking at the ceiling and his arms folded behind his head.

"You heard?"

"I'm sure the whole hotel heard. You know she's crying?"

"How do you know?"

"Kain told me he was coming out of the bathroom, and he saw her running upstairs with tears just rolling down her face nonstop."

"Thanks," I muttered sarcastically.

"But seriously dude, you didn't have to be so harsh over it."

"I couldn't help it, Tadase was involved."

"Jealous much?"

"So what? I couldn't help it."

"She probably hates you too."

"You're really not helping."

"Just pointing it out. What are you going to do?"

"Nothing."

"Even I know that plan sucks."

"What am I supposed to do? You're probably right, she does hate me."

"I never said don't try. Face the facts Ikuto, if you don't do anything about, she'll be snatched up by another. Someone like her dear friend, Tadase. Now get out of here, I'm trying to sleep."

"Thanks Kukai."

"No problem, now leave."

I left his room with a very slim hope of optimism. I passed by her room and debated whether or not I should go in and make sure she was okay. In the end I decided not to, and headed straight into my room with a guilty conscious.

"What am I going to do?"

A/N

Hello ~ This chapter was a whole lot of nothing – 3 – But I kind of enjoyed writing Ikuto and Amu's fight. But I guess you guys are happy, you found out about the deal. But I think I wrote the fight pretty bad? The part where I made Amu says "Did you choose your job over your girlfriend?" I thought it made her sound bitchy, but then I showed it to my friend on Tumblr and she said it was good. So I just left it there.

And yeah, I feel bad for making Ikuto's dad seem like a dick. *Sigh* Oh well :D Anyways, I did update on time, even though I was kind of freaking out when my mom told me the internet was down. Not to mention this chapter's pretty short. It's almost half of the last chapter. This chapter: 3,900 words. Last chapter: 6,228 characters. Haha.

I love you guys so much, for giving me so much support. And I know I'm going to miss you guys over my vacation. But do not fret, when I come back I'll have super speedy updates, and I can start this new story I'm itching to get out.

HaHa ~

Love,

Neko-Meme