Morg: Heyo! Sometimes I know the story before I start writing.

Ikuto: Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

Amu: I don't like where this is going.

Morg: And sometimes I find it along the way.

Ikuto: Oh, man.

Amu: Great.

Morg: I am happy to say that I've finally found this story and I'm so excited to share it with you!

Ikuto: You're five chapters in!
Amu: Just delete it!

Morg: Enjoy!

~Drama High~

Ikuto sat slumped in his chair with his chin resting on his hand while he stared out the window at the huge tree. In between the shifting leaves, he could see bright spots of color darting about. The charas looked as though they were having a great time playing whatever game it was that they were playing.

One of them was dark blue in coloring. Ikuto couldn't help but smirk as he watched Yoru make friends. The other charas, he assumed, were Amu's. She was the only person at their school that he'd noticed with them so far. And considering they were both a little old to still have them, he wasn't surprised.

"Didn't you hear?"

Ikuto groaned if only in his head as the girl's voice filtered into his thoughts. He hadn't heard and he really didn't want to.

"They said that Amu threatened to kill anyone who messed with her grades."

"Yeah," another girl excitedly whispered. "She threatened a whole group of boys before commanding Ikuto to follow her."

"She's definitely in a gang," the first girl said confidently to the others. "Why else would she think she had the power to say that?"

Ikuto turned his snort into a cough and kept pretending he couldn't hear them talking about him and Amu. He'd already known that the rumors that flew around their school were ridiculous but this one really took the cake. Amu in a gang? They had to be joking.

"It makes sense," one of the other girls agreed. "Why else would Ikuto stick so close to her? She's probably offering him protection if he agrees to do some bad things for her."

Ikuto blinked at that. He mouthed 'bad things' to himself only because he knew they couldn't see his face. Then he rolled his eyes and tried to concentrate on Yoru.

"I know Tadase got hurt when she rejected him but I'm so glad our prince is safe from her."

Ikuto was making a face. He knew he was making a face. He could feel the way his muscles were pulling and he could just make out his reflection in the window. But he had to stop himself from laughing somehow.

He knew why Amu had told the boys who had been bullying him that they had rocks for brains but hadn't really thought the whole school was that stupid. They really would believe anything.

"Honestly," the second girl whispered in a not quiet way. "I'm glad Amu and Ikuto are fixed on each other. Let those freaks be together. They can leave our beautiful prince alone."

"He's sitting right there," a new voice hissed. "Shut up!"

"He's not listening," the first girl dismissed. "It doesn't matter what we say."

Ikuto wished he wasn't listening. He wished he didn't have to hear them giggling to each other about dumb rumors that didn't make sense.

"It's too bad he's a bit crazy," a different girl added in a low voice.

Ikuto was seriously starting to wonder just how many girls were sitting behind him.

"What are you talking about? Why?"

"Because he's handsome."

Ikuto rolled his eyes and went back to watching the charas as he tried to tune them out for the rest of their class. Especially when they started whispering about whether his craziness meant he was into some weird stuff behind closed doors.

He'd never been so thankful for the sound of the bell.

XXX

Amu set her bag in the basket on the front of her bike before she bent down to unlock it. She hummed to herself as she went through the same motions she did every day when she left school.

"Amu."

Smiling, Amu looked up at Ikuto just as her lock clicked open. "Hey, Ikuto. Did you forget it's Wednesday?"

"I need a favor."

"I don't have time right now," Amu said as she frowned. She got back to her feet and put her bike chain away before she looked at him again. "Can I do it later?"

"It won't take long," Ikuto said as he sighed and dropped his chin to his chest. "Just, hit me with your bike."

"What?"

"Put me out of my misery," Ikuto continued as though he hadn't heard her gasp at him. "I just had to sit through two periods of girls debating about what sort of kinks I'm into."

"Oh," Amu said as she realized what was happening. She bit her lip before she met his gaze again. She cleared her throat and did her best not to laugh. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Ikuto moaned as he slouched a bit more in despair. "They were talking about you threatening everyone and how you're in a gang and now I work for you or whatever and then suddenly they were talking about bondage."

"Holy shit," Amu breathed as she tried to stop from laughing in his face. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Ikuto said miserably. "I didn't want to hear them so I ignored it as much as I could."

"I don't even know what to say," Amu said as she finally gave in and laughed a bit. "I've had them say some pretty weird things about me but never that."

Ikuto nodded forlornly as he cast his gaze away from her. "Just make it quick. I don't want to live this life anymore."

"Sorry, Ikuto," Amu said with a grin as she swung her leg over her bike and rested on the seat. "I can't put you out of your misery today."

"Because it's Wednesday?"

Amu nodded. "And because Ami would never forgive me for going to jail. You'll have to persevere."

"Fine," Ikuto said before looking back at her. "I'll keep living. Mostly so you don't fail. We all know how mad you'd be about that."

"Shut up."

"But you better get ready," Ikuto said as though he hadn't heard her. "Because the rumors are that I'm under your protection. And if they're talking about my kinks…"

Amu sighed as she shifted her weight on her bike. "Then they're going to start assuming we're acting them out together. Great."

Ikuto made a face and shrugged.

"Well," Amu said as she walked her bike away from the rack. "I could just ignore them like always."

"I hear an or in there."

"Or," Amu said with a smirk. "I could show up tomorrow with bruises on my wrists and let them go crazy."

"Don't do this to me," Ikuto called out as she started to pedal away. "Amu! You listen to me!"

Laughing, Amu tipped her head back and picked up speed. She had to make it home in time to get started on her editing before anyone else got there. Just because she didn't film every Wednesday didn't mean that she wasn't working on her content.

And as much as she loved her family, she needed peace and quiet when she worked. Keeping her identity a secret was paramount. She could not risk anyone discovering that she was Amulet. Not only because that would make her life hectic, but because she'd made a deal with her parents that she wouldn't reveal her identity until she was eighteen.

Still grinning, Amu tapped on the top of her bag to signal that her charas could come out. Ran was the first one through the open zipper.

"Amu-chan," she cheered as she zoomed up to Amu's shoulder. "Why are you smiling so much? What did we miss?"

"Just happy to be going home, Ran. School was school, you know."

"Yeah," Ran said with a happy sigh as she rubbed her cheek against Amu's. "It's so boring."

Amu snickered as Miki and Su crawled their way out of the bag. "I agree.

"Amu," Miki said quietly as she steadied herself on the top of Amu's bag. "Don't freak out."

Amu frowned at that she looked down at two of her charas. She still had Ran snuggling against her face and Dia had yet to emerge from the bag. "What? Why? What happened?"

"We were playing, desu," Su explained as she reached out to pat Amu's hand. "And we always take a little nap at the end of the day."

"Right," Amu said slowly as she came to a stop at the corner that would put her on her street. "I know."

"He played, too!" Ran added in her cheerful voice. "So Su told him to take a nap, too."

"Really," Su said as she looked up at Amu. "It made sense that he nap with us, desu."

"We weren't expecting you to wait so long to wake us up," Miki said quietly as she studied Amu's face.

"Who exactly are you talking about?" Amu asked as she looked from one tiny girl to the next. "Who was playing with you?"

"You can keep going, desu," Su said as she patted Amu's fingers again. "He's quite tired. He'll sleep for a while still."

"Su," Amu said slowly as she looked down at her little chara. "Are you telling me that someone else's chara is in my bag right now? And that I'm unwittingly kidnapping him?"

"It's fine, Amu-chan," Ran said as she waved her hand in a dismissal as she floated back down to the bag to stand next to Miki.

"What part of this is supposed to be fine?" Amu asked incredulously.

"It's probably fine," Miki retorted as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Amu closed her eyes for a second before she opened them again and sighed. "All right, move out of the way. Let me see him."

"But he's sleeping!"

"I won't wake him," Amu assured them. "Just want to make sure you didn't tie him up or anything," she muttered to herself.

After a bit of gentle coaxing and a little bit more of ungentle coaxing, Amu got them out of the way so she could finish opening the bag her charas liked to nap in. She wasn't sure what she was preparing herself to find but the sight of a tiny blue kitten snuggled up next to Dia wasn't it. "Is he a cat?"

"Yoru is a lynx," Ran whispered to her.

Amu smiled at that before she closed the lid of the bag once more. "Well, I'm not going to get much work done tonight."

"Why not, desu?"

"Because," Amu said with a sigh as she shifted her weight to turn her bike around. "Whoever he belongs to is probably looking for him so we should get him back to the school."

"You could just call him," Miki pointed out as she moved to sit on the bag once more. "That way you don't have to wake him up yet."

"Call who?" Amu asked as she distractedly worked on turning them around. "How am I supposed to know who to call?"

"Amu-chan," Ran whined dramatically as she threw herself backward onto the top of the bag next to Miki. "Of course you know who to call!"

"Yoru belongs to Ikuto," Miki simply said.

Amu froze just as she was about to kick herself forward and start riding back to the school. "What? He belongs to Ikuto? Ikuto has a chara?"

"Yep!" Ran agreed with a cheer.

Amu blinked a few times as she stared down at the bag where Ikuto's chara slept. Then she sighed and turned her bike around once more. "All right, I guess we won't be doing any work on the new video tonight."

"Why not?" Miki asked as she tipped her head back to look up at Amu as Amu drove them all the rest of the way home.

"Because I don't work on them when anyone else is around and I'm going to have to call Ikuto to come pick up his cat."

.

Morg: Perfect.

Ikuto: I don't think you're supposed to decide that for yourself.

Amu: Yeah, the readers should decide.

Morg: All right, they can comment and agree with me.

Ikuto: Shameless.

Amu: Pathetic.