Morg: Heyo!

Ikuto: I was starting to think you weren't coming back to this one.

Amu: I'm fine with that.

Morg: You both know I don't leave a story unfinished.

Ikuto: It could happen eventually.

Amu: I wish it could happen.

Morg: Not gonna happen.

~Drama High~

They were discussing their hallway and the life-size pictures they could create to put on the walls when the top of Amu's bag popped up a little. Amu and Ikuto fell silent as they both turned to look at it. For a moment, nothing happened. Then the lid lifted just a tad bit higher, exposing the three faces looking out at them.

"Well," Ikuto murmured as he gently broke their staring contest, "are you coming out?"

Yoru threw the top of the bag open as he zipped out into the air. He beelined for Ikuto as he grinned. "Ikuto, nya! What are you doing here?"

Ikuto lifted his hand and caught his chara as he shot through the air at him. He allowed Yoru to hang from his fingers as he used his other hand to drag a fingertip down along Yoru's back. "I think the better question is what are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure where here is!" Yoru said cheerfully as he pushed up against Ikuto's touch. "But you're here so it's fine."

Ikuto sighed as he shook his head.

Amu swallowed back a giggle as she watched their exchange. "I suppose this is our cue to stop working for the night."

"Yeah," Ikuto replied with another sigh. "Suppose so."

"I was serious about that walk," Amu informed him as she got up to start tidying away their school supplies. "It's been a while since I've seen anyone else with a chara."

"Oh?" Ikuto asked as he looked away from Yoru and to where Amu was putting notebooks back into her school bag. "How many people used to have them?"

"Quite a few people at school," Amu said with a shrug. "But when their chara went away, they forgot they existed."

"I know," Ikuto said and then stopped for a moment. He looked away from Amu as he ran his hand through his hair. "I know that Tadase used to have one."

"Yeah," Amu agreed a bit darkly. "He did. When Kiseki disappeared he forgot all about charas."

Ikuto just looked at her for a moment. "That sounds like there's a bit more to that story."

"A walk," Amu said firmly. "I want to see your chara change and I'll show you a couple of mine."

"Lead the way then," Ikuto said as he waved his hand through the air and got to his feet. "I'll gladly spend some time with you out and about."

Amu smiled at him as she gathered their trash and dirty dishes from their drinks and snacks. She tipped her head to indicate that he should follow her as she led the way down into the kitchen. Just before she went to put her shoes on, she turned to her four charas. "You guys ready?"

"Yes!" They chorused.

Amu sighed even as she smiled. She turned to Dia and did her best to keep her smile from slipping. "Are you up for tagging along?"

"I'll be fine," Dia said softly as she nodded her head a couple of times. "Su will look after me."

"Of course, desu!" Su all but yelped. She puffed up a bit as if daring any of the others to tell her she couldn't.

Ikuto waited until Amu was locking the front door while the charas all zipped around the yard together to ask. "Is she okay?"

Amu hummed as she pocketed her keys. "Yes, she just gets tired easily. I suppose if we're going to talk about them, I may as well tell you."

Ikuto shrugged as he glanced over and met Amu's eyes as they made their way down the street. "You only have to tell me what you want to."

Amu nodded firmly before smiling as Miki and Ran went flying past them. "The morning I discovered that I had charas, I woke to find three eggs in my bed."

Ikuto's brows lifted as he turned to purposely look at the four charas that belonged to Amu. "That must have been a shock."

"What was worse was that my parents couldn't see them. I really had no idea what was happening. Not until I got to school and could see the tiny people with of my classmates."

"Tadase?"

"He was one of them," Amu said with a nod. "Dia didn't show up until later. She's always been easier to tire out and sleeps a lot."

"I'm honestly surprised that you're not more tired," Ikuto teased as he nudged Amu with his elbow. "Four charas are a lot to keep up with."

Amu groaned as she let her head tip back. "You have no idea. There are rumors going around the school that I'm so far ahead of everyone else because I'm a genius but really I just have a tiny green demon that insists I do extra homework every night."

"Ooooh," Ran sang as she danced higher into the air so that Amu's swipes to snag her missed. "I'm going to tell her you said that!"

"Tell her," Amu threatened as she gave up trying to catch Ran, "and I'll make sure to accidentally leave your favorite snacks behind for a week."

Ran's face went slack with shock. "You wouldn't!"

"Try me."

Pouting, Ran drifted off but quickly lost her sour mood as she was pulled into a game of tag with the other charas. She seemingly forgot about telling Su anything about what Amu had said.

"They definitely keep your life interesting," Ikuto said softly so only Amu would hear him. "I feel very lucky to have Yoru. I can't imagine what having multiple charas would be like."

"I know why I have them," Amu said quietly as she watched them play as they reached the park. "I know that they mean that I can't decide what I want to do with my life and that my heart is still being pulled in different directions but I don't want to lose them. I don't want to forget they ever existed."

"I know what you mean," Ikuto told her as they watched Ran tackle Yoru out of the air. "I don't know what I'd do without Yoru. I'm sure you've heard that my life isn't exactly great. He's my one bright constant."

"I don't care for what the people at school say," Amu said as she turned to look at him. "They were gossiping about your kinks today without anyone actually having any information. What the other kids talk about is just bull shit. But if you say that Yoru is the best part about your life, I'll believe you."

Ikuto swallowed hard but couldn't find the words to say anything in reply.

Amu weakly smiled as she turned away from him and back to their charas. "I love my family. I really, really do, but I don't want to imagine my life without those four little sprites."

"Well," Ikuto said after a minute of just quietly watching them play. "If returning to this hell hole gave me anything, it's you as a friend. Let's go join in on their game. I'd love to see if Yoru and I can give you and the girls a run for your money."

Amu smirked as she met his gaze. "You're on."

XXX

"All right," Amu said with a firm nod as she looked around the hallway. "This is our area. I'm going to sit here and sketch it out real quick so we can see what it'll look like to hang stuff on the walls without actually doing anything yet."

"Cool," Ikuto said as he set his bag down a little ways away from where she was sitting. "I'm going to keep reading through some of this information that we printed off so I can narrow down the facts that we're going to use."

"What a good team we make," Amu said happily as she dragged out a sketchbook and her pencils. "We're definitely going to get a good grade."

Ikuto made a sound of agreement in the back of his throat but didn't say anything else as he started to read.

Amu was content to sit in silence as they worked. In fact, it was her intention that they wouldn't speak to each other again until one of them finished their tasks.

It was a great plan.

If it hadn't been ruined so quickly.

"But Tadase said that he'd take care of Amu," a voice said as it snuck around the corner to Amu and Ikuto. "He said he'd make sure she wasn't mad at us."

"I told you, though. She doesn't like him. He can't do anything about her. If you mess with Ikuto, you're messing with Amu's grade, which means you're messing with Amu. Don't do it."

"Tadase said either I mess with Ikuto or Tadase's going to mess with me. I don't need him causing me problems!"

"But it isn't Tadase you gotta worry about if you decide to mess with Ikuto," the second boy pointed out. "It's Amu and she's far scarier than anything Tadase could do to you."

Amu's fingers tightened around her pencil. Despite the feeling of pride blossoming in her chest, she frowned. Clearly, her words with the bullies surrounding Ikuto the other day hadn't been enough if some of them were even still considering it.

"Look, Tadase might be popular here at school but that's all he is. Amu's got connections, if you know what I mean. Don't mess with her."

Silently, Ikuto turned to look at Amu as he lifted his brows.

Amu shook her head at him as she grimaced. What connections could she possibly have?

"What am I going to do?"

"Just do the same thing we're all doing," the second boy suggested. "Tell Tadase that you'll gladly gang up on Ikuto after the festival. If Amu isn't his partner anymore then she won't care about what we do to him. She won't have to protect him to protect her perfect grades."

The pencil in Amu's hand snapped. She was frowning so hard she almost couldn't see past her own brows.

"Amu," Ikuto whispered as he shook his head at her. "Don't."

But Amu was already on her feet and stomping around the corner. "You!" she yelled as she dramatically pointed at the two boys loitering down the hall. "What's this I just heard about you waiting to gang up on Ikuto until we're done with our project? Are you seriously all so stupid that you believe that the only reason I would care about him is because of a grade?"

"Uh," one of the boys stuttered as he backed down the hall away from the incensed pinkette. "Amu-chan, what are you doing here?"

"I was," Amu ground out as she planted her hands firmly on her hips, "working on my project with Ikuto before you two assholes decided to run your mouths and be general dickheads."

"Amu-chan, we-"

"No," Amu said darkly as she shook her head once. "Bullying others is bad enough. Planning to wait so you don't piss off someone else to get at your target just makes you the worst sort of jerks. If I see either of you giving Ikuto a hard time, hell! If I see you giving anyone a hard time then I will immediately go to the nearest teacher and make sure they understand what is happening. I will report you to the principal. I will call the damn police!"

The first boy nodded weakly as he licked his lips. He didn't dare to speak.

"High school already sucks," Amu spat as she turned up her nose at them. "Why are you trying to make it worse for all of us? Just go away and leave us be!"

The boys scrambled down the hallway as Amu turned on her heel and stomped back around the corner to where Ikuto was sitting forlornly by himself.

She looked at him for a moment and saw the way he was slightly curling into himself. "I am going to find Tadase and sock him in the nose."

"You can't hit him."

"Watch me."

"That will just get you into trouble," Ikuto reminded her as he finally looked up at her. "Don't stoop to his level."

"Then I'm going to berate him verbally until he punches himself in the face," Amu said crossly as she slumped down the wall, this time much closer to Ikuto's side. "I hate it here. These people are such assholes."

"I can't believe you think that way about them," Ikuto gasped in fake shock as he pressed one of his hands against his chest. "And after they were being so courteous to wait to do anything to me until after you were done with me."

"We're friends," Amu said with a huff as she dragged her stuff over to them. "I'll never be done with you."

Ikuto smiled softly to himself but remained silent as Amu mourned the loss of her broken pencil. Being back at school definitely sucked. Having a friend made it a lot easier to deal with.

.

Morg: There.

Ikuto: When am I going to have the chance to save Amu?

Amu: Why would I need saving?