The Troubles with Cat-Sitting
Definitely was having a brain fart when writing this chapter, but I'm glad it's done! Enjoy:)
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December 15th, Sunday. - The weather is freezing but hints of sunshine are expected to peek through the hazy clouds today.
Tsukasa Pov:
The little black circular clock on the wall read 10:00AM, about an hour before Amu and Tadase called to say they were making their way to the Tsukiyomi house.
As he continued to stir the veggies and minced pork into the curry pot, Tsukasa peered over to the blue-hair boy swinging back and forth quietly in his makeshift baby swing; Ikuto was safely buckled into the swing, long legs dangling over the edge as he watched the children's tv show with keen interest . Yoru remained at the top part of the swing, pushing the contraption back and forth as the cat Chara dozed off loudly, his snores becoming apparent to how late he stayed up caring for Ikuto.
Luckily for Tsukasa, the man knew a carpenter who could customize any object, from turning a small blanket into a massive rug to a teenager's bed transformed to a baby crib. He owed the woman a massive debt for all the household items Tsukasa requested to be made for a "baby teenager, if possible". He did slightly chuckle when remembering the shocked look from the carpenter when Tsukasa asked for a changing table for Ikuto; the woman definitely had a confused look plastered on her face when presented with the request. Needless to say, the carpenter always pleased him with her amazing results, and thus Tsukasa kept her personal cellphone number on a sticky note on the fridge.
"Ok boys, lunch is almost ready! We'll wait to eat until Tadase and Amu are here, and I hear they are bringing a special treat for all of us!" Tsukasa happily chanted as he set the spoon aside and went towards the swing to check on Ikuto and Yoru.
"How are we doing, Ikuto? Wanna come out for a bit?" Tsukasa asked the boy. Ikuto looked up at Tsukasa with a big smile, reaching his long fingers out to grab ahold of the man's growing blond hair; Tsukasa laughed as he took ahold of Ikuto's hands and placed them to the side.
Bending down, Tsukasa started to undo the swing buckles to release Ikuto then wrapped his arms around the teenager and picked him up from the seat on the swing (he decided to leave Yoru alone; Tsukasa knew very well how precious sleep was in this house, especially when caring for Ikuto often subtracted the number of hours Tsukasa was able to sleep peacefully). Carrying Ikuto in his arms, Tsukasa adjusted the boy on his hips and went to the stovetop to check on the curry.
"This is looking so good. We're going to have a delicious lunch to look forward to! Are you happy to see Amu and Tadase again, Ikuto?" Tsukasa kindly asked as he stirred the hot pot of curry with a spoon, Ikuto observing the craft of cooking in front of him.
"Hot!" Ikuto pointed his finger at the pot proudly.
"Yes, Ikuto. The curry is very hot so let's not touch it right now!" Tsukasa laughed as he batted the teen's touchy hands away from the pot and carried him away towards the stairs.
"Let's get you a clean diaper before our friends come to visit!" Tsukasa stated as he tickled the sides of Ikuto's stomach, earning a cute set of giggles from the boy as the two went into Ikuto's bedroom once more and Tsukasa gently laid Ikuto down on the cushioned padding of the changing table. He quickly buckled the teenager into the table and bent down to gather the supplies from a set of matching wooden drawers connected to the table.
"Now let's clean you up before Amu and Tadase are here!" Tsukasa said as he placed the items on the open space of the changing table then went about undressing Ikuto.
"No, no!" Ikuto whined as Tsukasa undid the tabs and took the soiled diaper off to throw away in the trash bin, reaching for the wipes next. Ikuto, whose surprisingly upsetting tone was new for his diaper changes started to flail his arms and kick his legs in frustration as Tsukasa attempted to maneuver his way around the squirming boy.
"What's going on, Ikuto? Don't worry, we're almost done buddy!"
"NO NO!!!" Ikuto screamed out!
Tears started to fall down Ikuto's cheeks as the teenager cried loudly; Tsukasa attempted to quickly clean the boy then placed a new diaper on before fixing the black jean's Ikuto was sporting for the day. Tsukasa ran his fingers slowly through the long, blue hair and wiped some tears away as he picked Ikuto up and bounced him up and down to try to soothe him.
As he vaguely recalled, Yoru had complained this morning about how horrible Ikuto slept the previous night: lots of tantrums were presented when Yoru tried to put his owner to sleep. No wonder the cat Chara was more tired than usual this morning; he practically fell into his bowl of oatmeal when he dozed off at the table during breakfast!
"Ikuto, are you tired? Do you want to take a nap?" Tsukasa asked as he continued to bounce Ikuto on his hip whilst walking back and forth throughout the small room. As the crying continued, Tsukasa peered at the tiny digital clock planted on the side table nearest the crib, reading as 10:20AM.
Amu and Tadase were planning on being at the Tsukiyomi house by 11:00AM; whilst Tsukasa wanted Ikuto to be awake once his friends arrived, the man contemplated if a nap would do the boy good. Ikuto's sleeping patterns were similar to a house cat at this point (always unpredictable when he wanted to sleep vs play) so it may be best if a quick morning snooze was offered.
"No nap!" Ikuto cried as he rubbed his hands against his eyes, clearly exhausted and ornery due to a bad nights sleep.
"Oh, I think you need a nap Ikuto! You'll feel better once you wake up, buddy" Tsukasa gently encouraged to Ikuto as he laid the teenager flat on his crib-bed and raised the bars high up; he adjusted the blue blanket Ikuto had been sleeping with, gave the boy his toy cat to snuggle then went about finding a pacifier to ease the screaming being performed.
"Ah, I found it !" Tsukasa exclaimed to himself as he grabbed the extra set of pacifiers from the closet, picked a pink one with little golden crowns adorned on it (get it hehe;) and went back to give it to Ikuto. Unfortunately the blue haired teenager had other plans in mind, evident by how he managed to sit up and grasp the crib's bars. Ikuto shook the bars as he cried, his face red like a tomato and lots of coughing being produced as he continued to cry.
"Ikuto, you're going to get yourself sick if you keep crying like that! Here, I got a paci for you; let's just try to sleep for a bit" Tsukasa tiredly exclaimed as he placed the soother into Ikuto's mouth and laid the boy back down on his bed.
As he guided Ikuto to turn to his side facing the wall, Tsukasa gently patted the boy's back as Ikuto squeezed his cat toy and suckled on the pacifier; once the time hit at 10:37AM, Ikuto was out cold and snored quietly to himself. Tsukasa adjusted the blanket to fit over Ikuto's shoulders then quietly turned the bedroom lights off and closed the door behind him.
"At this point, I feel like I'm losing brain cells whenever I have to hear Ikuto scream like that!" Tsukasa exclaimed tiredly as he proceeded to head downstairs. While he was hoping to ween himself off of caffeine (he started experiencing stomach issues due to the necessary dependence on coffee, recently), Tsukasa decided that brewing another pot of coffee wouldn't make matters any different.
"The milk helps lesson the damage to my stomach now, and I'll add some sugar too to help" Tsukasa said to himself as he prepared the coffee beans once more.
...
Amu Pov:
Walking alongside Tadase, Amu could feel her cheeks getting hot with anxiety and embarrassment; this was the first time since Ikuto's accident that Amu was alone with the Prince. She didn't know how to feel in the moment as the two kids walked down the sidewalk, the Shugo Charas floating above them conversing to each other.
"Tsukasa called me earlier about Ikuto. He mentioned how Ikuto is starting to crawl and talk more!" Tadase happily shared as he turned his head towards Amu, checking in on the pink-haired heroine as the girl continued to look down towards the ground.
"Yeah, Ikuto is crawling all over the house. He's kinda funny to look at actually!" Amu giggled as she remembered watching Ikuto crawl the first time she went back and visited him last Friday. She also recounted just how exhausted Tsukasa and Yoru were, probably in part due to how energetic Ikuto acted (and how fast he could crawl away from them)!
"It's kinda sweet to see just how happy Ikuto is now. I know we talked with Utau before about how Ikuto wouldn't want this upon himself; it just seems to me, though that Ikuto is starting to enjoy life more. Like, in a sense he was given another chance at life through a rebirth of sorts" Tadase stated as the group turned down the street leading up to the Tsukiyomi house.
"But I miss the old Ikuto. The one who flirted and teased me; the one I fell in love with" Amu sadly thought as she turned her head towards the row of houses. She felt some tears welling up and didn't want Tadase to notice.
Tadase noticed the change in the girl's demeanor; the Prince knew he wasn't the best at reading people's emotions (especially Amu's), but sensing just how awkward Amu seemed whenever Ikuto was brought up in the conversation, Tadase could tell there was an issue present.
While he didn't want to admit it to himself, Tadase knew that the love Amu had for Ikuto was causing the girl's head to spin as she attempted to navigate her newfound feelings for her blue-haired friend, whose personality and whole persona took a 360' spin after the accident at the abandoned amusement park.
*The Day previously; Saturday morning* ...
"Demolition of the former amusement park, where the infamous case against the EASTER company is being handled in court, is scheduled to begin at the end of this month; gates and signs will be posted to warn passerby of the dangers of entering the zone, which is off limits to the public as of today".
That's what the news report stated that Saturday morning when Amu was having her breakfast with her family. Ikuto had shared with Amu before that there was always plans to take down the amusement park his family and Tadase's would often visit, back when they were innocently young and close. Of course, Ikuto admitted to Amu how he hoped changes would be made; considering that the demolition project is already scheduled, there probably was no hope anymore for the park.
Amu remembered her "date" with Ikuto, who surprised the girl by taking her to the long-abandoned theme park after Amu helped Ikuto in the alley way after finding him injured from a fight he engaged in previously. That night, she shared to Ikuto about how she had created an "outside character" that had fit the needs of her big sister role; yet, Amu admitted that she wished she wasn't so stuck with her faux persona and could instead express herself however she feels.
Amu was surprised that Ikuto, the same perverted cat boy she swore to be her enemy also admitted to wanting to show more of his interest and likes to those around him. It was, on that small spinning teacup ride that Amu stated that she and Ikuto should make their "date night" a new beginning for the both of them. A chance to become better people altogether!
Coincidentally, that was also the night that Amu Hinamori and Ikuto Tsukiyomi would slowly start falling in love with each other.
...
KNOCK KNOCK
The sound of the door seemed to alert a pair of footsteps from within the house. As the door opened, Tsukasa came to greet Amu, Tadase and the guardian characters with a big smile on his face. However, Tsukasa's appearance was much more cleaner (compared to last time); his tan shirt sleeves were rolled up but there were no stains present. The man wore navy blue suit pants, bone-white socks and smelt of a pine tree-esque cologne.
"Good morning, everyone! I hope the walk wasn't terrible; the news channel said today was going to be cold!" Tsukasa asked as he stepped aside for the kids to take their shoes off and slipped a pair of matching house slippers on near the door.
"Thank you, Chairman; our walk was good and there was plenty of sunshine to warm everything up!" Tadase kindly added as he and Amu walked behind Tsukasa to the dining room. The Shugo Charas floated right above the kids heads as they themselves made comfort alongside Yoru near the tv in the living room.
"~Hi Yoru!~" the four Charas greeted enthusiastically as they went about huddling near the cat guardian. Yoru, having just woken up from his cat nap yawned in response and rubbed his paws against his eyes tiredly.
As Amu set the little bag of bakery goods she and Tadase collected beforehand, the girl looked around the room in hopes of seeing her blue-haired companion. At the present moment, Ikuto was nowhere in sight!
"Say, Tsukasa; where is Ikuto?" Amu asked curiously.
"Oh, I'm afraid our little kitten didn't have a great sleep last night. He was terribly cranky this morning so I had put him down for a nap. I was planning on waking him up soon so that all of us could have lunch together!" Tsukasa stated as he went about setting the placemats on the table.
"If you don't mind, I have to finish setting everything up for lunch; would you two be alright waking Ikuto up for me please?" Tsukasa inquired. Tadase nodded in agreement as the boy peered over towards Amu for a response.
"No problem, Chairman! We'll go get Ikuto!" Tadase happily said as he and Amu went upstairs towards Ikuto's bedroom.
... ...
The door creaked quietly as Amu pushed it aside and strolled into the room with Tadase behind her; the bedroom wasn't entirely dark as the curtains to the windows weren't pulled all the way down, allowing for some of the natural light to peek through into the room.
To say Tadase was surprised would be an understatement; the blond-haired prince was speechless as he scanned the room and saw not only the crib but the changing table, rocking chair and various baby toys scattered about the ground.
"Come this way, I think he's still sleeping" Amu commented as she guided Tadase to the edge of the crib; the two looked down at the sleeping figure resting peacefully.
Ikuto was on his back, arms splayed out to his sides and his blue blanket covering the majority of his body save his chest region. His pacifier had fallen out once more and his toy cat from the hospital laid next to his face as the teenager snored quietly.
"He sleeps with a pacifier?" Tadase concernedly asked as he made space for Amu to gently shake Ikuto's shoulders.
"Yeah. They help to calm him down when he gets worked up" Amu said as she continued to shake Ikuto back and forth.
A pair of dark blue eyes opened slowly and stared up at the two recognizable faces before him.
"Amu? ... Amu!" Ikuto happily cheered as he smiled brightly and reached his long arms out to hug Amu; Amu laughed as she took Ikuto's hands into her own and gave them a squeeze!
"Hi Ikuto! I'm back; did you miss me?" Amu giggled as she stroked some of the messy blue hair out of Ikuto's eyes. Tadase smiled down at Ikuto, who was too preoccupied by Amu's presence to notice the boy standing next to her. Ikuto turned his head towards Tadase once Tadase coughed anxiously to himself.
"Hi Ikuto! How are you doing?" Tadase kindly asked his big brother figure as he took hold of the crib bars and peered down towards Ikuto, who was still laying down flat against his mattress.
... awkward silence ensued as Ikuto attempted to remember the name of the blue-haired boy who came to visit him in the hospital.
"Bwotha!!!" Ikuto giggled as he reached out his hands at Tadase, who was flabbergasted by the sudden answer! Amu and Tadase shared a laugh as they helped Ikuto out of the crib and brought the teenager downstairs to the table for lunch.
From that moment on, Tadase made an oath to be the best "big brother" to Ikuto he could be; just as Ikuto had been for him many years ago.
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This is probably a part 1-2 chapter scenario; I'm debating about faster uploads but shorter chapters vs longer chapters but the wait time is longer?
Let me know what you think:)