Enjoy.


Chapter 4: Amu's POV:

"Just over there." He said from close behind; his voice seemingly back to it's casual, carefree tone. Tingles danced across her spine from his voice and lo and behold, goosebumps graced her arms once again. Her mind reeled from the feelings he consistently threw at her, and with each moment, she struggled more and more with keeping her composure. It was as if he were hammering away at her reality bit by bit.

"Over where?" Amu asked, squinting her eyes, looking for something specific, something that was within the park that she could see and wasn't plain grass.

Mr. Violin stepped around until he was in front of her. He held out his hand once again; only this time it seemed that he didn't intend to give her a choice. His hand outstretched to hers with a quickness. As if he planned to steer her in the right direction, as if he needed to touch her.

She wasn't sure she was going to let that happen.

She whipped her hands back behind her back and she looked up to him in what she'd hoped was the right amount of annoyance. "What is your deal with reaching for my hand?! Didn't I tell you that I don't want to touch you?"

He took a step towards her causing her to step back in caution. "You did, but I was hoping you'd change your mind," his voice was almost low enough to be a murmur and she could yet again feel the tendrils of warmth that swirled in her belly yet again. Nervousness mixed with attraction was a confusing mix.

Amu didn't feel comfortable with the way he stared at her. The way his gaze skimmed over her body, as if drinking in her appearance. It made her feel self-conscious, and small in comparison. Small, because he was like a forbidden fruit. She had no idea why he was so insistent to hold her hand. All she knew was that she was going to avoid it no matter what.

"I don't see my mind changing at any point tonight," she said, hating her voice for sounding breathless. "As a matter of fact, I think it's time for me to go."

He reached out for her hand for the fourth time since they'd met. He was firm in his resolve to change her mind, it seemed. "Don't deny my hand, please." His lips had pressed into a thin line, and she could see the hidden irritation in them. "I'm just trying to be a gentleman," he paused as if thinking whether or not to say his next piece, "and rejection isn't really something I'm used to."

Amu raised an eyebrow, not expecting such a forthcoming answer. This whole scenario was weird to her. Never, had she thought she'd spend so much time discussing a hand-hold. "Well, I'm very happy to be the rejection that seals in the concept of consent for you."

He scoffed and it almost looked like he wanted to laugh. His hand pushed through his hair and he shifted his weight around in front of her. "I don't understand why you're trying so hard not to. I know that you do, I can feel it."

"Excuse you?" She couldn't help the expression of absolute incredulousness that graced her face. What the fuck? Did I hear that correctly? The confidence this man had would be his downfall. And the mystery behind him that held her interest was beginning to taste sour. "You should making reconsider the words that you say; it comes off arrogant and asshole-ish."

"But it's true." He smirked, looking amused at her reaction. "I can taste the attraction you feel for me. I can sense your fear of touching me." He leaned forward, close enough for Amu to smell the heady scent of him. "And I know that you're fighting it. I just don't understand why. How can the facts be taken as me being an asshole? I never thought of myself as arrogant."

Oh... Amu swallowed, her lips parted and her breath escaped her like a punch in the gut. He was far too close to her for comfort but her body disobeyed everything her mind was screaming. Her eyes fluttered closed and her head tilted upwards in close proximity to his. This is too much. She couldn't understand. Nothing he said made sense to her, but her intense desire for him clouded her mind from thinking into it too much. She could feel his warm, minty breath against her face.

"But you are right to be afraid, Amu. Human self-preservation is a wonder indeed."

Her eyes snapped open, and she stared into endless midnight. His eyes reflected the trees and grass behind her; herself standing right in the middle, looking as small as she felt. There was a playful mischief in his eyes, as well as a dark need that she could not only see, but could almost feel. Anger poured into her, the heat within her danced with the warmth of arousal she felt. Her breath came in shakily and as if sensing the change within her, his eyes widened. Before he could take a step backward she aimed her hand for contact with his cheek, fingers splayed out to make the most of it.

Before she could make the impact that she so desperately wanted, he'd caught her by her wrist, holding her hand quite a distance from the intended target. She stared at him with only anger driving her actions, and immediately tried pulling her arm free to try again. His grip was shackle firm, allowing her no room to wiggle free. He had pushed his hand deep his long-sleeve before grabbing her; and while she could only feel the texture of the fabric, the warmth of his hand made the hairs of her arm stand up. It only made her angrier.

"You have no right to touch me, nor can you tell me about what I fear! I don't fear you, I'm not attracted to you, nor do I believe that you can taste or sense those freaking feelings!" Amu ranted, the more she spoke, the angrier she became. "Why are you in this park? I've been coming here my whole life and I've never once seen you hanging around before! Why now!?"

With that, he loosened his grip on her arm and she made no hesitation to rip it back to her. Rubbing her arm, she made eye contact with him. She would not allow him to scare her from this park; instead, she would scare him. "I want you to disappear, and never attempt this on another woman, or I will not hesitate to turn you in. I may not own this park and therefore can't ban you, but I do not want to see you while I'm here ever again."

The boy was silent for a very long time. He didn't look hurt, or offended. He didn't even look like he was hurt by her attempting to slap him. But he did stare at her. His eyes were emotionless and cold. They held whispers and secrets that no one else's had ever contained. Perhaps they held the secrets to life, perhaps the whispers of death. They seemed to know pain. Enjoy it, even. But they were void of happiness and .

"You're merely human." His voice was soft and quiet, but the acrimony in his words laid in thick. The spitfire she once was vanished in front of him, and she didn't make any attempts to interrupt him while he spoke. "You're young. I can't begin to explain something to you that your mind would not comprehend. You have the Sight, you see me. Yet you do not understand what you see." He eyes dropped to her lips and she had to fight the immediate tickle of wanting to lick them. If he had grabbed her and pulled her close to plant a kiss at this point, she was ashamed to think that she'd most likely would have let him.

"Tsukiyomi Ikuto," he said after a pause. "You now have my name."

"I don't..." Amu had been at a loss since the beginning of his tangent. Finding the words she wanted had escaped her and as frustrating as it was; she wasn't sure that she'd even wanted answers to her questions any longer. Before she could string together a pathetic reply, he continued.

"I have been alive for centuries. I am not immortal. I cannot and will not live forever. But I live."

"W... What? What are you talking about?" She felt like she needed to take a seat. She wasn't even sure how to process any of it, nor if she wanted to. Instead, she'd made the decision to humor him so that she could think of an escape plan from this lunatic in the meantime.

"Do you believe in Faeries?" He looked at her with amusement. He'd had the upper hand and she knew he knew it. As if he already knew the answer; as if he'd had this conversation a million times.

"You mean those tiny, winged creatures that grant wishes or the ones that cause mischief and play dangerous word games?" Amu asked, her brows pushing together. Maybe he'd seen the book that she was reading and wanted to play with her further.

He rolled his eyes and took a few steps backwards. She took the space as cue to shove her hands into her back pockets, taking her own steps back as she watched him. "Surely the stereotypes are getting out of hand?" He wasn't talking to her as he looked at her; his eyes looked as if he were years away, deep into his thoughts and memories.

"It's not that you're entirely wrong, but they're all one in the same," he said. "Humans like to separate the 'good' from the 'bad' in everything, and it has always been incredibly annoying. There is no concept of good nor bad between the Fae. We just are."

She looked at him blankly, trying desperately to find something reasonable in his words to cling to. Fairytales as fact was not reasonable to her. She couldn't and didn't want to make sense of it.

But his eyes were on her still and she knew that he was expecting something to be said from her. "Fae?" He pressed.

Silence.

"The Ageless Ones?"

More silence.

He sighed, pressing his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "The Banshees? Sirens? Selkies? Summer Fae? Spring? Winter? I've seen the books that you read so whether you believe in it or not, I know that you have heard these words befo-"

"I have, and I get it, but I'm not here to talk to you about the myths and legends I read in my books. I was curious about you and your late night violin playing, why you came to my school, why you continue to try to touch me, and why you're feeding me bullshit right now. Are faeries real? No. Can we be real?" Amu interrupted.

It was as if Ikuto tuned out everything she'd said. "We've been alive longer than any mortal has even taken a step on Earth. Longer than the giant monsters who died by meteor. We're experiencing first hand the health of the Earth deteriorating. Human lives go by in the blink of an eye to us, and yet you leave behind the most damage. You consider yourselves superior. You take, torture and study things that you don't understand and yet you call us the monsters; turned us into bedtime stories so that the generations to come disregard us. Us Fae, who've been around for so long and have always taken the backseat in order to make the Earth an easier place to reside on, and yet you fear us because you don't know us."

This was the most she'd ever heard him speak. It just figures that whenever he spoke, he'd have her rethinking everything that she'd ever believed to be true. He spoke to her in a way that made her feel that even though she couldn't believe anything he said, she wanted to at least try to understand him.

"Listen," she started, "I'm sorry. But if it's as you say, you can't blame me for not believing if I've been taught the Fae are tales and fictional! It's not exactly common to have someone tell you they've been alive for centuries and have no proof but the words from their mouths." She tried to defend herself.

"Yeah? And if I gave you proof you'd immediately come to believe me?" He snorted and shook his head. "You'd run away screaming and would never return."

They glared at each other for a long moment, each on drastically opposite sides of the conversation, and neither wanting to find middle ground. It was silent for a while, until Amu couldn't help herself anymore. She laughed. It was all so ridiculous that she had no other reaction but to laugh it off. She laughed even harder when Ikuto's eyes widened in surprise.

"What are you...?" He started but trailed off.

Amu held out her hand, her laugh disintegrated into small giggles. "Truce. I call a truce. I might not be fully on board, but I really do find you interesting enough. Give me proof, and I can promise not to run away."

He stared at her hand, contemplating her words. "Alright then. Truce." But he didn't move to shake her hand.

She frowned and it was her turn to look at her hand to make sure there was nothing wrong with it before looking up at him with her eyebrows nearly touching her hairline in shock. No way. "Are you seriously going to leave me hanging? After all of that bitching?"

"You're willingly holding out your hand. You're willing to touch me." He replied softly, not even a small sign on his face that could hint at what he was thinking.

"Isn't that what you wanted me to do?"

"About ten minutes ago." He admitted. "But now you interest me."

"And...?" She shook her head, confused.

He tilted his head, his hair not fully covering his eyes, but enough to obscure her view of them. "Look up the Gancanagh."

"Are you giving me homework?" She asked, her brows furrowing together. But he was off. He'd fully turned his back to her and walked further away from the pine where she stood. All she had done was blink, and he has no where to be seen. "Wha..." She looked around her but saw nothing other than the usual grass, rocks, and soccer net.

She wasn't sure when the next time she'd be seeing him would be, but whenever she did, she would be sure to ask him to stop doing the whole sneaking up and disappearing act. "Though I have no idea how he does it," she muttered, turning and beginning her trek back through the pine trees. She could've sworn she heard a chuckle but when she'd craned her neck to look behind her, there was nothing to be seen.

She didn't want to make too much of it; she'd already had enough excitement for a night. But one thing she knew she wouldn't be able to put off was the homework he had given her. Off to researching, she thought. What did he say it was? Gancanagh? How do you even spell that?

She walked back to the slide and picked up her book with every intention to head straight home. But instead, she found herself sitting on the slide, whipping out her phone, and inputting the new word into Google. A slew of search results appeared; some sites she had never seen before but Wikipedia was the first result. Wikipedia is the easiest one to look through. Amu thought. She tapped the screen with her finger and watched the page take it's time to load; the park wasn't known to have fantastic service. But that wasn't what she used it for, anyway.

She didn't anticipate to treat what she found to be fact; especially from Wiki. But the game plan that she had created while looking it up was that she could take whatever information she found about it from the site, and bring her newfound information to Ikuto—to see whether or not he ripped his story right from the website. It would further prove that his tale was what she thought it really was; just a tall tale.

Her eyes skimmed through the words on her screen, and her cheeks burned a bright red as result. The book in her hand went slack, and she had to read the first sentence over again once more to see if she really read what she thought she had.

"A Gancanagh is a male Faerie that is known for seducing humankind. The Gancanagh are thought to have an addictive toxin in their skin that make the humans they seduce feel fully and utterly addicted to them."

Toxin in their skin? Amu swallowed hard, the series of events from the last two days replaying in her mind. The hand holding... he really wanted to seduce her. She shook her head and closed out the search window before shutting her phone off. She stood from the slide and shoved her phone into her back pocket before making her way back home. Not that she needed any more thoughts to take back to her bed tonight, but this was one hell of a piece of information that she so desperately hoped was a tall tale.

Hopefully he's just clinically insane, she thought.


R&R. I would appreciate it.