Amuto- No Longer a Stray

Amu rolled over in her bed and placed her feet onto the floor. She yawned and looked over her clock. For once, she wasn’t late. “Good morning Suu, Miki, Ran, Dia,” she greeted them, even though they were still inside their eggs (Dia wasn’t going to out of her egg anytime soon, though).

Amu walked over towards her bathroom. She gasped at awful sight of her hair. It was everywhere. She dragged various combs and brushes through it over and over again, but it just wouldn’t cooperate. “Miki... help,” Amu called out weakly.

“Hmm? Amu, did you say my name?” Miki asked as she floated into the bathroom. Her eyes widened as she took in Amu’s appearance. “What happened to your hair!?”

“Miki, I need help. Can you fix it?” Amu bit her lip nervously. She couldn’t go to school looking like this. Amu looked like she had washed her hair, and then tried to dry it with a cat. Yes, a cat.

“I think I’m going to need help. Suu, Ran, come here,” Miki commanded. She scribbled rapidly in her little sketchbook as Suu and Ran entered the room. “Amu’s hair is a complete disaster-”

“Hey,” Amu protested with a pout.

“-and we need to help fix it, because I don’t think they’ll let her enter school looking like that. This is what I was thinking,” Miki told them as she showed them her little sketch.

“Of course we’ll help desu,” Suu smiled sweetly at everyone.

“Okay! Let’s GO!” Ran cheered as she plugged in the straightening iron. Ran took the straightening iron through her hair, while Miki and Suu sprayed a light hold hairspray over it. As Ran and Miki finished, Suu left to fetch some hairclips. She came back with two silver x-clips adorned with sparkling clear jewels. Suu placed a hairclip on one side of her head, while Ran placed one on the other. They formed two small pigtails, which Miki curled into spirals. They finished off by spraying a strong hold hairspray to keep it exactly in place.

“Thank you so much, girls!” Amu trilled cheerfully. Her hair possible looked better than it ever had before.

“It was no problem, Amu,” Mike responded.

“Yeah! We’d do anything for you!” Ran beamed.

“We’re here to help desu,” Suu finished for them.

Amu changed into her patented school uniform, as the girls had went downstairs to make breakfast. She was glad that she was able to at least accessorize her school uniform. It made it so much more bearable.

Amu whirled around as she heard a knock on her balcony window.”I-Ikuto!?” Amu said alone, though he couldn’t hear it through the glass door. It was always him on her balcony (he was the only one who could possibly get up there), but she always seemed surprised to see him there.

Ikuto knocked on the door again, and Amu let him inside. “Hello, Amu,” Ikuto greeted her with his signature smirk.

“What do you want?” Amu huffed, using her ‘cool-and-spicy’ personality.

And, as usual, it had no affect on Ikuto. “What, I’m not allowed to visit anymore?” he asked.

“No one said you could visit in the first place,” Amu stuck out her tongue at him. “Could you hurry up and tell me why you’re here? I’m going to be late for school.”

“You know, you shouldn’t stick your tongue out like that around me. It’s rather tempting,” he purred, and licked his lips suggestively. A cherry red blush appeared on Amu’s cheeks, and it made Ikuto look rather triumphant.

Amu frowned. “Pervert,” she told him.

“My real reason for coming today,” Ikuto frowned, “was to tell you something.” He looked rather serious now, and a bit sad.

“...what is it?” Amu asked tentatively. Usually Ikuto would take this chance to tease her, to ask her if she worried about him or something. But he didn’t anything of sort, which was kind of unnerving.

“I wanted to say goodbye. I’m leaving, Amu,” Ikuto told her.
She felt oddly empty, kind of raw. “But...” Amu trailed.  You can’t leave, Amu added in her mind. You’re always here, you can’t leave. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but Amu didn’t exactly like the idea of him leaving.

“Goodbye, Amu,” Ikuto leaned forwards and kissed her cheek lightly. Amu stood there, frozen in place, and watched as he jumped off her balcony and disappeared. “Wait...” she called out softly. ...Don’t leave me...

Amu walked dumbly downstairs towards the kitchen and sat there watching as Suu whipped up some pancakes.

“Amu, are you okay?” Miki asked her. “You look a little dazed.”

“You’re not sick, are you desu?” Suu wondered. Her cute little face was turned sad with a worried little frown.

“Amu-chan...?” Ran floated over towards the others. They all looked really concerned.

“I’m not feeling very well anymore,” Amu confided. She really didn’t want to go to school anymore, or even to leave the house for that matter. After being awake for only an half an hour, she felt completely drained.

“Amu, did you say you felt sick?” Amu’s mother came into the room. She frowned, “Amu, if you feel sick you should stay home. Go back up to bed and have a rest. I’ll bring some food up to you later.”

“Yes, mama,” Amu sighed and trudged back up the stairs to her bedroom. She didn’t bother changing back into pyjamas, but just plopped herself back onto her bed. “You girls should go and play with the other charas at school. You can tell the other guardian’s I’m sick as well.”

“Okay, Amu...” her charas agreed and left her to herself.

Amu couldn’t understand why she was feeling so bad. The hollow feeling in her stomach was growing with every passing second. This couldn’t be because of Ikuto... could it? She had felt perfectly fine until he had said he was leaving.

Did she like him? But, he was the enemy! The foe! Her rival! It wouldn’t make sense to like him. A nagging voice in the back of her head insisted that love never did make much sense.

But, but, he was Ikuto! Weird, perverted Ikuto! The enemy Ikuto! The one who bit her ear and teased her relentlessly! The one who was always there for her and protected her. The one who would visit her in the middle of the night just because he felt like seeing her...

Amu curled up on the bed and hugged a pillow to her chest. Even if she did like him, there was no way he would like her back. He was an alley cat, a loner. She couldn’t have him, and never would.

Ikuto did treat her nicely though, and she didn’t have to put up an act around him. No matter how mad she got at him, or how much he teased her, she was always happy when he came around.

Amu wished she knew more about him. He was such a mystery. She knew barely anything about his life, and absolutely nothing about his past. And now she never would. He was gone. Gone forever.

The tears poured hot and wet down her face. It was really unbelievable. She was crying for something she never had, something she never would have. Why was she so sad? She choked back sobs because it didn’t seem very reasonable to cry.
The sky grew darker, and Miki, Suu, and Ran returned home. She pretended to be asleep; so that she wouldn’t have to talk (she did the same thing when her mother had come in with food before). They went back into their eggs when they saw that Amu was sleeping.

Amu was still awake when she looked at the clock and it read 11:40. Only ten more minutes until the next day. She hoped she’d feel better than, but it was an empty hope. She knew it wouldn’t make any difference whatsoever.

Stray tears still snaked their way slowly down her face. Amu heard a knocking sound on her door as she sniffled quietly. Ikuto...? What was he doing here? He was supposed to have left, right? Did she really want to see him anyways? He was leaving, and in the process leaving her.

Amu wanted to stay in bed, pretend to be asleep, to ignore him. She got out of bed, wiped angrily at her tears, and went to open the door. Why couldn’t Amu ever ignore him? He just seemed to draw her like a moth to a flame.

She opened the door, and there stood Ikuto, smirk and all. “What do you want?” Amu demanded rather sharply as she wiped more tears away from her eyes and sniffled.

“Amu, are you... crying?” Ikuto asked worriedly. He took a step towards her, and she took one back.

“No! I’m not,” Amu yelled.

“Generally when there are tears running down someone’s face that means they’re crying,” Ikuto informed her.

Amu turned away from him. “If you’re just going to make fun of me, you can go away,” she said.

“Amu, I’d never make fun of you,” Ikuto sighed. “Tell me what’s wrong.” She crossed her arms over her chest and didn’t respond. “Amu, tell me,” he commanded. Amu stayed silent, so Ikuto went up to her and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. He pulled her tight against his chest and stroked her hair comfortingly.

He was so warm, and she felt so safe like this. She did the unthinkable and relaxed. Amu leaned her head forwards until her cheek was resting against his chest.

“W-well...” Amu started. She wasn’t planning on telling him (actually she wasn’t planning on seeing him ever again), but the words just started flowing out of her mouth. “You said you were l-leaving! And then I realized I’d never s-see you again! And you’re always here, and I’d miss you if you n-never visited me again. I don’t even know very much about you, and since you’re leaving I never will! But, I want to know everything about you, and I want to spend t-time with you. I don’t w-want you to leave!” Amu wailed and buried her face in her chest.

Ikuto furrowed his brow and – to Amu’s disappointment – pushed her back a bit so that she was looking up at him. “Amu, it’s April Fool’s day,” He told her.

“W-what?” She sniffled and rubbed away the new tears that had coming pouring down her face.

“Today was April Fool’s day, the day of playing tricks. It was a joke...” Ikuto laughed nervously.

“Th-that wasn’t f-funny at-t all!” Amu screamed and pounded a fist on his chest. “Let go of me!”

“Ouch! Amu!” Ikuto complained as her fists hit him. “I’m sorry Amu, I didn’t think you’d get upset. I thought there was around a one percent chance that you could be a tiny bit sad, but I never thought you’d cry...”

“So you’re not leaving then?” Amu asked.

“No, I’m not. I’d never really leave you Amu,” whispered Ikuto.

“Good, because you’re no longer a stray alley cat, Ikuto. You’re a housecat now, and you belong to me,” Amu mumbled and crossed her arms over her body to illustrate her point. Her blush was thick and red on her face, and Ikuto loved it.

“Amu,” he breathed. It sounded so full emotion. Emotion that had been stored up and trapped for a long time, and was finally being allowed to come out. Ikuto pulled Amu closer towards himself, and placed his mouth on top of hers. Amu put her arms around his neck and kissed him back. “I love you, Amu-koi,” Ikuto purred into her ear.

“I love you too, Ikuto,” Amu sighed happily as they held each other closely.
Ikuto frowned, “-koi. If you’re saying I belong to you, you should call me Ikuto-koi.”

Amu gave him a dry look. “Fine, Ikuto-koi,” agreed Amu.

He kissed her again before saying, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Amu-koi.” Ikuto moved towards the balcony, but Amu stepped in front of him, blocking his way.

“I told you that you were a housecat now, and housecats sleep in the house,” Amu said as she pulled her balcony door closed. She walked over to her bed and slipped under the covers. “And, good cats usually like to cuddle in the bed at night...” Amu implied shyly. She had to look down at her hands from nervousness as she said it.

Ikuto smiled a genuine smile at her when she looked up. “Well, I’d hate to be seen as a bad cat.” He walked over to the bed and got in beside her. Amu snuggled up to him as he wrapped both his hands around her possessively. They fell asleep in each other’s arms as the numbers on the clock turned to midnight, and April 1st officially ended.