"I'm really going to miss you!" exclaimed Hana enveloping me a tight bear hug leaving hardly any room for me to laugh or even breathe.
I hugged her back and just held her there, wanting to remember everything about her: her eyes, her smell, her smile – everything.
"I'm going to miss you too," I said softly.
It wasn't one of those sympathetic 'I miss you' farewells where you'd forget about the person in a week or so. This was genuine. I really would miss her, she was like another mother to me and for a time I just felt warm on the inside. A different kind of warmth, the only one you can get from parental love. Wiping away a small tear, I turned away from her, walked over towards Tadase and enveloped him in a hug too.
"Bye Tadase, I'm really going to miss you."
"Bye Amu…You know, I have a present for you."
I stepped back in surprise and confusion. A present?
"Tadase, I'm fine I really don't need a present."
"I know, that why I didn't get you a present. I got you two presents," he said with the happiest smile plastered on his face.
"Hold up one minute!" he exclaimed running out of the airport.
With a small confused smile on my lips, I just stood there waiting until I saw his blonde head peek out through the doors with a large box.
"Oh God…" I mumbled under my breath.
In no time he was there in front of me, with the beast of a box. How was I going to carry that all the way to Japan?
"This is present number 1."
"What is it?"
"That's a surprise."
I jokingly flashed him an annoyed smile and thanked him for the wonderful yet mysterious gift.
"That's not all; I have one more for you."
I was about to interrupt him, telling him that whatever had been in the box was fine with me. Hell, I even rambled on and on about how I didn't even need anything. But he cut me short, and pulled out a small box from his pocket. My eyes widened when I saw what he pulled out – a diamond and pearl encrusted bracelet.
"Tadase, I honestly can't take this from you…it's too much. Hell, I haven't even gotten you anything."
"Ssh," he whispered gently. "Hold out your hand."
Almost losing my speech, I held out my hand and he wrapped the cold object around my wrist before enveloping me in another hug.
"Tadase, really about all this, I haven't even gotten you a pres-
"But you did, I got you see you one last time."
"Wha-
"You know, there was this necklace I had seen and it was beautiful. I thought about how it would look on you, but I couldn't buy it. You know why? Remember the first time I saw you on the bridge? That broken necklace in your hands I'm guessing was really important to you. Spending more time with you, I gradually got a conclusion who it belonged to – Ikuto. Right?"
"Did he tell you?"
"No, he's just always had a fondness for cats since we were little. And the strawberry the cat is hugging must be you with your pink hair… I'm giving up on stealing you from him."
When I gasped in surprise he only chuckled in amusement and called over Ikuto. And Ikuto didn't seem too pleased walking over towards us.
"What?"
"You're welcome."
Ikuto looked slightly confused and slightly angrier for not figuring out what he was talking about.
"What are you talking about Tadase?"
Just as he finished his sentence, and before I could really notice anything, he swiftly planted small kiss on my cheek. And then pushed me to him rather hardly forcing Ikuto to catch me so I didn't fall. At this impact, we both flushed and stepped away from each other.
"Tadase, what the fuck-
"She's yours now Ikuto, I not going to try and take her from you anymore. Come back soon, will you?" he smiled gently before leaving the airport.
With the rather awkward position he'd left us in, I called over Kukai and Kain to help me carry his other present with us. I muttered one last goodbye to Hana who was bursting into tears, before the four of us gave the box off with our luggage and walked through security.
At the Gate
Releasing out a large breath, I collapsed onto the chair and just sat there with a straight expression as I stared at the other chairs. A bubbly little girl and what seemed to be her father walked to one of the seats in front of me and sat down. The little girl then whipped out her Ipod, plugged it in her ears, and began lip singing to whatever song was playing. Strangely, this action reminded me of Bella.
She was living with the 'real' TaeYang's mother now and she also had to attend therapy sessions three times a week. And yeah, I found out the day after the incident that the guy we had captured wasn't TaeYang at all but his twin brother, Takuya. As for the both of them, TaeYang was sentenced to 236 years behind prison bars for murder charges, kidnapping, and the running of illegal tests on minors, plus other things he'd done in the past. Takuya had only 6 months in jail because he was threatened to press the button. And though, to me it seemed he shouldn't even be behind bars in the first place, the city of Paris decided that was best.
The rest of the kids were checked out of the hospital yesterday and were able to return to their families. A funeral for Kyou was held, requested by me. What can I say, after all that he did and the way that he died, I couldn't stand the thought of not allowing him some peace in the afterlife. The kids who were killed also had a funeral held for them…even though their mutilated bodies were never found.
Yesterday, we'd also spent the day with Ikuto's family. I mean come on, his little sister was found alive and healthy.
"You okay?" asked Kukai limping his way towards me.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, but Kukai was in crutches. Turns out he had completely ripped open every single stitch from his fight with TaeYang even worse than they had been.
"Yeah, just thinking over some things."
"Like what?"
"The incident."
"Mmm, what about our gelato adventure. That was hysterical."
I laughed, appreciating he was trying to cheer me up. He and everyone else had consistently been checking up on me since the case. Was I really that down?
"It was, I'd almost completely forgotten about that with the case and everything. Even though he had done some bad things, I felt like he had leftover bits of a pure heart…I never wanted him to die. I just can't help but blame myself over the whole thing."
"You know, when I was fighting TaeYang I just thought about being one of those cool guys in the comic books. I got to be the one beating up the bad guys, but then he said some things that I didn't agree with about Utau. So I got angry and beat him up till he couldn't get up anymore."
At this he shrugged.
"Should I continually beat myself up about almost killing the guy? No."
"True, but I don't think our situations matched completely."
We burst out laughing for I think completely different reasons, but it didn't matter. The fact that he was trying made me appreciate it even more.
Before long we were called to board the plane. When I got to my seat, I only stood there causing a long line behind me. This was not happening.
Amu's house
Utau POV
"Hurry the hell up people! Geez, we're going to be late!" I screamed hoping that somebody would come down the stairs.
"Wait!" hollered Ami.
"You said that thirty-five fucking minutes ago!"
"Well wait!"
Yaya was upstairs. Ami was upstairs. Noelle was upstairs. I honestly don't understand what could be taking the three of them so long. Not to mention, Rima and Nagi were running late. Of course. Don't forget about Kairi who's coming late as well.
I paced the living room back and forth with my keys ready. It was as I paced, my eye caught a frame on the hanging on the wall. It was a picture of all of us on Christmas. I stared at us slowly before my gaze stopped on Kukai.
He had better be coming back safe.
On the Airplane
Amu POV
Please tell me this is a mistake.
It has to be a mistake.
This isn't possible.
"Aren't you going to sit down?"
"Y-yeah…"
I put my carryon in the storage area above us and took a seat right next to Ikuto. The only comfort I'd have for the next eight or so hours was that Kain and Kukai were sitting in the aisle next to us. Psh, I didn't even have the window seat. As the plane started for take off, I pulled out a magazine.
x
I didn't even know how many hours we in at this point anymore. Ikuto had fallen asleep a while ago, as had Kain and Kukai. A boring movie, that had been repeating itself over several times already lulled on. When one of the flight attendants started to walk up and down the aisles with coffee and snacks, I didn't hesitate to grab several of the candy bars – a couple for me and one each for the guys. Okay, so I was hungry – beyond hungry to be exact. Airplane food was disgusting and it made me sick to my stomach.
The first candy bar disappeared within an instant with only the wrapper left to prove it was once there. As I sipped my coffee, a red light turned commanding us to fasten our seatbelts. Something clicked on, and the pilot's deep voice flowed throughout the plane.
"Passengers, for safety reason I need you to fasten your seatbelts. We've currently reached Bulgaria and we're passing through a lightning storm."
As soon as he finished his sentence the plane suddenly jolted to the side causing me to grip the handle of my seat with such pressure, I actually managed to hurt my hand. The lights in the plane flickered on and off, and I could hear the cries of the little kids.
A short lady with equally short brown hair scurried through the aisles pausing to talk to those who were still awake.
"Excuse me, miss, can I have you check to make sure the seatbelts of those around you are fastened?"
Without waiting to hear my reply, she scurried down farther down to aisle then paused to talk to another person. Sighing, I un-fastened my own seatbelt and checked Kain and Kukai while the plane was still steady. Kain was okay, but I had to fasten Kukai's seatbelt. When I felt the plane suddenly drop, I gripped Kain's seat and handle bar to prevent myself from falling.
I stayed in that position till I felt like we were okay again. I turned around and went to check on Ikuto. I moved his blanket over to see the idiot hadn't fastened his seatbelt. Rolling my eyes ever so slightly, I leaned over and began to put the metal object into its clasp.
What happened next, I honestly began to wonder why my life was so full of clichés.
The plane unexpectedly swerved to the right causing me to fall right on top of Ikuto, and for my head to hit the window. When I realized our current predicament, my face flushed quite a bit. On the other hand he was still fast asleep. Struggling a lot, I tried to get up off of him – but it was no use. I was stuck in this position until the plane went back to a neutral position.
I pulled up the little curtain type thing that covered the window to see a storm of lights angrily waltzing around. When a lightening bolt erupted close to our window, I made a small frightened noise causing Ikuto to stir.
At first he didn't realize what was going on. He only stared at me with misty eyes then turned his attention to the now uncovered window. He looked at me once more before realizing what was going on. His face slightly turned pink.
"Amu, what are you doing?" he exclaimed in confusion just as the lights went off.
"Look, there's a lightning storm going on. I was instructed to fasten your seatbelt. The plane swerved, and I fell on you. End of story- now help me get off."
The lights started to flicker on and off once more as Ikuto helped me get off him. The task was taking a bit too long, seeing how the plane was still tilted, however to avoid a close striking lightning bolt it swerved to the left releasing me from my prison.
I sat back in my seat and buckled my seatbelt, while Ikuto took time to stare out the window.
"Where are we?" he asked without taking his eyes off the scene.
"Bul-garia," I finished between a yawn.
It was now that he decided to look back.
"Have you slept yet?"
"Nope."
"Aren't you close to tired?"
"Very."
Ikuto frowned at me, but I only rested my head against the very uncomfortable chair. My gaze remained on the window, where the lighting was only increasing in size, quantity, and noise.
He closed his eyes and flashed me a knowing smile.
"What?"
"Nothing's going to happen – go to sleep."
"I'm not scared!"
"Sleep," he muttered. "If anything close to dangerous happens, I'll wake you up, okay?"
I stared into those familiar eyes and vice versa before I finally broke contact and snuggled into my blanket.
"Thanks," I whispered quietly falling asleep sooner than I expected.
Later
At the Airport
"What's taking so long?" I exclaimed impatiently.
"Geez, Amu calm down, we still have to get through security."
I squinted at Kain just to show him I had no intentions what so ever to calm down – this actually caused him to chuckle. I was about to say something, when Ikuto came to say something making it really awkward. Pausing, we stared at each other then quickly turned away and showed them our passports. After that we had our baggage checked. Rather quickly I may add. Then came that hallway sort of thing. You know what I'm talking about, that little or long hallway that connects to the area where everyone is waiting for you. Yeah, there. I practically ran through leaving Kain, Ikuto and Kukai way behind.
I hugged the first person I saw – and just happened to be Utau.
"Utau!" I exclaimed hugging her tightly.
"I've missed you so much Amu."
She stepped back and looked at me.
"You look so different!"
"Do I?"
"Yeah! I haven't seen your hair that long since…never. It's cute!"
I honestly hadn't even noticed that my hair that already reached my backside. Shrugging, I hugged her once more before moving to give everyone else my hugs. But of course I had two lovely little things block my way – not that I minded or anything.
Ami and Noelle stood in front of me with an excited grin on their faces.
"What're you waiting for, aren't you going to give me hug?" I exclaimed.
At this they flung themselves into my arms and we just stood slash kneeled in the tightest bear hug in history.
"I missed you Amu."
"So have I."
"Swissy missed you!" exclaimed Noelle snuggling closer to me.
"Sissy missed you too."
"It took me some time to teach her that line."
After them, I hugged Yaya, Kairi, Nagi and last but least Rima.
Rima, Nagi, Kairi and I were just chatting when Ikuto, Kain and Kukai showed up. The two of them were saying their hi's and hugs when Kukai and Utau caught all of our attention and the attention of all the travelers next us.
Kukai and Utau ran toward each other almost reminding me of a cheesy romance movie and hugged each other. But if that wasn't enough, Kukai grabbed onto her waist and spun her around a few times in a small circle causing her to bubble out in laughter. He then proceeded to kiss her, erupting a few dozen 'Aww' statements from us and their watchers.
I think, just to put on a show Kukai grabbed her one more time, twirled her, and planted a soft kiss on her cheek.
A/N
Romance is in the air! Haha…I'm not sure I just felt like saying that anyways. I'd actually written up this chapter when Microsoft word decided to be a little biotch and delete my chapter. So that left me a little tired and iffy to re-type the whole thing leaving to a greater delay. Plus, I had mythology for summer homework and don't get me wrong I like mythology but I don't want to spend weeks on it - . – Seriously all their names sound the same: Prometheus, Polythemus, Proteus… e . e
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