Disclaimer: I do not own the Shugo Chara theme or characters.
Otherwise Tadase would have been hit by a car at this point.

Full Summary: Amu is doing just fine when Ikuto shows up after an eight year absence. She has a steady job and Ran, Miki, and Su's internal guidance to lead her. But he continues to pester her constantly at work, on the street, and even at her house. His teasing turns into demands that she help him find out what Easter is plotting now that the Embryo seems to have disappeared. Her ex-Guardian friends begin showing up, as well, leaving her no time for relaxation. What's a girl to do when her new life seems to be slowly turning into her old one?

A/N: I haven't read the whole series yet, so if anything doesn't make sense, please let me know!
Also, I don't think the Embryo has disappeared, but that's just a little twist I threw in.

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New Life
Chapter One

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Just ignore him. Why should you care that's he's reappeared? He left without caring enough about you to even tell you that he was going. He just went wherever. So why should you care that he's back? Don't be stupid, she berated herself as she stocked the shelves in front of her. She forced herself to keep her eyes away from him, though he was no more than twenty feet away from her. If she actually looked him, she couldn't be sure that she wouldn't burst into tears.

"Amu-chan! Let's go over there! We haven't seen him in so long!" Ran's voice cheered inside her head. Though Amu could no longer see her Charas, she could always hear their voices, leading her on the path they thought was right. "Besides, look at all those girls hanging on him! They should know better!"

"Ah-hem. I think you should remember, Ran, that Amu-chan does not own him," Miki's voice reasoned quietly. "She should just think of something else. Maybe you should draw a picture of that cashier you've been staring at on your next break. He has a very good profile."

"Ooo, you should make him some brownies when you get back to the apartment, as well! He was talking about how much he loved chocolate just the other day. Ask him about his feelings towards peanuts, because they always make a good addition to brownies," Suu said appreciatively. "Or you could invite him over for dinner. I'd love to make his favorite dish."

"One of those girls has their hands in his hair!" Ran's voice was filled with indignation and fury. "Go give them a piece of your mind!"

Amu's head spun to see that Ran had been right. One of the girls had her hands in his hair, purring something about it being as soft as a cat's. How right you are, Amu growled to herself. She noticed that he was far over six-feet tall, towering over the women gathering around him.

Jealousy rose, though she tried to stop it. She had no right to feel that way. As Miki had said, he wasn't hers. There was nothing she could do to stop the other women crowding him.

What's so great about him, anyways? Sure, he's good looking, but there isn't a heart under all that, she told herself. And just because his hair is soft doesn't mean that he's particularly nice. In fact, he's a jerk! All he does is tease people and trick them and cause trouble.

But I've missed him.

When she felt the moisture rising in her eyes, she knew that she had done the wrong thing. She shouldn't have even looked over at him, despite what Ran had told her. She should have just kept her mind on her work and away from the alley cat stalking through her work. Turning her head away, she wiped her eyes with her sleeves. She began walking quickly away, leaving her work where it lay. She would just pop into the bathroom and calm herself down.

How dare he, she thought. I can't believe he would just stand there and allow them to pet him! I hate him!

She didn't pay any attention to the questioning looks her co-workers threw at her, choosing to pretend she was oblivious. It was easier that way.

"Amu."

She flinched at the sound of her name coming off of his tongue coming from so close behind her. It threatened to push her over the edge into complete hysteria.

Her sanctuary was only a few feet away now. If she got in there, she might be able to calm herself down enough to finish out the rest of her shift.

A hand wrapped around her arm suddenly just as she would have pushed into the women's bathroom, stopping her efficiently. "Running away, huh? Can't say I'm surprised," came that teasing voice she knew only too-well. "That isn't any way to greet a friend who's just come back." He gave several infuriating tsks before turning her towards him.

"Get your hands off me!" she shouted, ignoring the looks the patrons of the department store gave her. She kept her face hidden from his view. "Don't ever put your hands on me." She stomped into the bathroom, knowing he would probably just follow her in.

"Amu—"

His shout was cut off when Rika, one of Amu's closest friends, slammed past him into the restroom, snarling, "Whatever you did to her, you'd better back off before I get really mad!" She burst into the stall Amu had chosen to sit in, a furious glare on her face. "What the hell was that about?! Who is that guy?!"

"My name is Tsukiyomi Ikuto," he answered, nonchalantly strolling in after Rika.

The floodgates opened in Amu's mind. She could remember every day she had waited for some kind of communication between them, the seven years she had been disappointed and worried. He had left at the same time as Tadase, though the prince at least had the decency to tell Amu he was leaving.

The only sign that Ikuto had left was when he stopped passing out in her bed, on her floor, or in her closet.

She slammed the stall door closed once more, trying to stop the tears flowing from her eyes. She took several deep breaths, finding them shuddering heavily in and out of her lungs.

"Get out, you pervert! This is a woman's bathroom! Vaginas only!" Rika shouted, stomping up to Ikuto. She was a tall woman, standing at a whopping six-foot-one. Her dark red hair was in its usual ponytail, swinging as she glared up at him. "Besides, even if you were a girl, you couldn't be in here! You're the creeper that's been wandering the store since we opened!"

Amu couldn't believe what she heard. Since they'd opened? But the store opened at seven a.m. and it was nearing two in the afternoon! Why was Ikuto wasting his time in a department store not shopping?

"I've been looking for Amu to talk with her about our sleeping arrangements," he said casually, confident that Rika would leave. Amu could just picture him standing with his hands thrust into the pockets of his jeans, looking almost lazy. He would move around Rika before too long and move into the stall himself, if he was still the same Ikuto she remembered.

Rika sputtered at his words. "Wh-what?! Amu-chan isn't sleeping with anyone, lech! Her bed isn't even big enough to fit two people!" she screamed. "And she would have told me if she was with someone!"

Amu could practically hear him raising one eyebrow at that. "Maybe she just doesn't tell you everything."

As her friend gasped for air indignantly, she could hear Ikuto making his way to her stall. She began panicking, trying to think of something to do to dry her face before he saw her. She had only seconds before he would open the door and look down at her.

His long fingers curled around the top of the door, pulling it. Without thinking, she slammed the lock into place—like she should have in the first place—and squeaked, "G-get out! I'm in a bathroom, for Pete's sake!"

"But you aren't using it," he stated blandly. "Even if you were, I would just wait out here for you, anyways."

She gave a small sigh. Why did he have to be so stubborn? Couldn't he tell she didn't want to talk to him? "Well, I can stay in here all day if I want to." Not. My boss is going to kill me for taking this long already! I'm lucky she doesn't just come barging in, demanding I either get back to work or leave the store.

"I can, too."

Rika jumped in. "No you can't! Do you not understand the difference between a men's room and a women's room?! Is that what the problem is here?!"

"I don't see what that has to do with the situation." He paused for a moment, his hand still on the stall door. "Come to think of it, I don't see what you have to do with this situation. Why don't you leave so Amu and I can talk?"

"That's Hinamori-san to you!" Rika shouted.

Amu felt a small chuckle rising. Rika was so blunt about everything, just like Ran. She didn't care what she said, so long as it was the truth. She hated disrespect and had unnatural intuition about things. Ikuto had to just be rubbing her the wrong way.

Grabbing some toilet paper, she wiped her face, hoping that the splotchy state of her face would be gone before she faced him. She would have to sooner or later, and she wasn't sure if later was even really an option.

She slid the lock out of it place, watching as his fingers once again tightened on their perch. He slowly pushed the door open as if expecting her to slam it closed once more.

Still sitting on the toilet, Amu looked up and said, "Hello, Ikuto."

Giving her a questioning look, he said nothing.

"Amu-chan, don't even bother with him," Rika ordered, moving to grab onto the back of Ikuto's shirt to pull him out. "And you are going to leave the store!" She gave a savage yank, surprised when he didn't budge.

"Rika-chan, it's okay. I'll deal with this myself." Amu rose, keeping her eyes warily on Ikuto. She knew him well enough to expect the unexpected whenever he was around. He would just as soon grab her as he would walk out.

"But Amu-chan—"

Ikuto turned to watch her over his shoulder, his expression dark.

Fear and determination warred on Rika's features as she tried to decide whether to follow her friend's advice or to stay. She turned slowly, keeping her eyes on the pair as long as possible. "Fine, I will. But if you aren't out in five minutes, I'm coming back in here," she hissed tensely. "And I suggest you get him out of here soon because the boss is sniffing around for any reason to fire you." She pushed out the door. "I'll keep her off your trail for a little while."

Amu gave a small smile even though Rika couldn't see it, grateful to have a good friend to lean on.

"Amu, you don't seem to have changed much," Ikuto said suddenly, moving to look back at her once more, his hands in his pockets.

She blinked up at him. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You're still the same little kid you were when I met you."

Anger ate at her. She was almost twenty-one years old! She wasn't a kid any longer. In fact, she'd grown out of childish things long before she should have! "I can't believe—" She cut off her furious retort when that teasing smile curled his lips. He was playing with her! What gave him the right?! Crossing her arms over her chest, she raised her nose, turning her head to the side. "What do you want, Ikuto?"

She could hear his smirk in his voice. "Just what I told your friend I wanted. We need to discuss our sleeping arrangements."

Sputtering, Amu swung her head to him again. "Excuse me?! You think you can just come crash at my apartment without notice?! Ha!" She started stomping away, yelling, "You can find somewhere else to stay, because you sure aren't staying with me!"

His long fingers wrapped around her arm. "Amu, I have more serious things to talk to you about than just that, but it needs to be in a more private area." There was a look on his face that she couldn't place. He seemed almost…protective?

She shook off his hold—and her thoughts—glaring at him. "I don't care what you have to say, Ikuto. Now, I suggest you leave before my boss decides to call the police to check out what you're doing here." She slammed out of the bathroom, feeling a small amount of closure at the exchange. She'd finally gotten in at least part of what she wanted to say to him.

"Amu-chan! Walk a little faster; your boss is coming this way!" Ran warned her. She could feel the three Charas' twittering impatiently, worried for her. She followed Ran's instructions, disappearing into the aisles just as Ikuto left the women's bathroom.

"You!" Sakura, her boss, cried, causing Ikuto's head to turn. "What did you think you were doing in there?"

Amu thanked her Charas for their help, glad to be able to put her mind back to her work rather than Ikuto. Maybe now that he was leaving she would be able to concentrate on her job.

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Amu sighed as she unlocked her door. The day had been so long. After Sakura had finished trying to find Ikuto—apparently he hadn't stuck around to wait for her to kick him out—she had started going after Amu, demanding that she move faster.

After her "talk" with Ikuto, everything had started falling apart. Whole shelves had begun falling throughout the store, even when there were no people near there. And they were random objects, like pet toys and plushies.

She moved silently through her house, disgusted by how messy it was. Between part-time school and full-time work, she hadn't been cleaning up very often. Her things were thrown haphazardly around, clothes littering the floor. There's something I should do tonight, she thought. Maybe that will take my mind off everything. She stretched, her muscles aching. Maybe I'll take a nice hot bath first.

Going into the bathroom, she twisted on the nozzle, feeling the water to make sure it was the right temperature. Pulling out her "emergency" bath beads, she poured some into the bottom of the tub, watching as they shrank in the hot water. Rising, she stripped, wrapping herself in her favorite robe to go to her room and grab her pajamas.

She looked around her room, taking in all that it was. There was a tiny bed—a twin sized set barely big enough for her—with two pillows and an over-large comforter. They were a tangled heap where she had squirmed her way free of it earlier that morning. Her floor was littered with her dirty clothes, giving her an even more slobbish appearance than she deserved.

"I really need to clean," she said quietly, shaking her head.

Moving to the window, she pushed open the curtains, watching the moon for a long moment. "Maybe this place could use some fresh air."

"And some nice flowers!" Suu cried.

"And some art on the walls, photographs, anything!" Miki added.

"I think you need a treadmill, Amu-chan. You don't want to get out of shape!" Ran supplied.

Rolling her eyes, she opened the window, ignoring the Charas' argument over what the one-bedroom apartment needed. She stuck head out, taking a deep, even breath. That's nice.

Moving to her closet, she threw her comfiest pajamas—which was nothing more than a baggy T-shirt that reached down to her knees—and some underwear onto the bed so they would be within easy reach when she got out of her bath.

She casually walked back into the bathroom, closing the door softly, though she didn't know why she did so, and took off her robe, sinking into the water with a blissful sigh.

When she started humming to herself, Amu realized the one thing she had forgotten: her iPod. Usually she would just relax for hours, warming the water whenever it got too cool. But without her music, her peace wouldn't last very long. Sighing, she decided to make it a short bath, a little angry over the waste of her precious bath beads.

I wonder what it was that Ikuto wanted to talk about. The thought suddenly struck her, making her snap upright. What am I thinking?! I shouldn't care either way. He left a long time ago; he's no longer any of my business. Not that he ever really was….

But what if he's in trouble?

"Then you should talk to him about it!" her Charas shouted.

I have no idea where he even is, you guys.

The Charas were silent as if they were trying to think of ways to correct this fact. When they were silent for long moments, Amu sighed. If he really needed her, he would just keep pestering her at work. And I don't work again until Tuesday, she thought. So I should be able to get my guard up, at least a little.

She took the shortest bath she'd ever had: it lasted about twenty minutes. Getting out of the water, she wrapped herself up once more.

She hadn't relaxed at all, though that didn't surprise her. In fact, thinking of Ikuto always put her on edge. She didn't know why the thought of him bothered her so much; it really shouldn't have. It has to be because we never actually said goodbye, she reasoned. If he would have told me he was leaving, I wouldn't have a problem with it. That made her smile. So, the next time I see him, I'll say goodbye and everything will be cleared up.

She drained the bathtub, moving from the bathroom to the kitchen to get her traditional bottle of milk. It would be the best end she could have to such a tedious day.

I hope he's not in a lot of trouble….

With that thought, she went to her bedroom, closing the door. The air was chilly, so she hugged the robe closer to her, taking another sip of her milk.

"You haven't changed at all, have you, Amu?"

Her eyes flew up, catching those almost-mocking blue eyes. What could he be doing in her bedroom?! How had he gotten there?!

Not caring, she instinctively opened her mouth, preparing to scream.

In a flash, he was in front of her, covering her mouth with his palm to muffle any sound that she could make. Keeping his eyes on her face, he said, "Amu, keep your voice down. You don't want your neighbors to find you naked in your room with a man, do you?" Alerted to the little coverage her robe afforded her, she brought one hand up to the collar of it, clutching it closed with a defiant look on her face.

She glared up at him as he laughed at her, trying to shake her head out of his grasp. When her teeth scraped his hand, he narrowed his eyes. "You have two choices, Amu. The first one is the easiest. You can promise that you won't scream or carry on and let me explain what I came here to tell you. Or"—his smirk returned, broad and taunting, as he glanced over her shoulder towards the barely-there bed behind her—"I could just pin you to the bed and make you listen."

Her eyes widened in apprehension and began to search his, hoping to find whether this was his old teasing or a new found seriousness.

Once again, he laughed at her. "Well, it's up to you, Amu." His eyes sparkled with mischief, just as they always had. She didn't know whether or not he would make good on his threat; he had always been unpredictable.

Knowing when she was beaten, she relaxed, nodding reluctantly.

Raising one eyebrow at her, he moved hesitantly away from her until he was just out of her arm's reach. He stood there, waiting for her to do something dramatic, as she had always done before. Nothing was easy with her. However, contrary to everything he thought she would do, she calmly sat on the edge of her bed, sighing and holding her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. "How did you get into my apartment? How did you find me?" she demanded quietly.

He gave her a small shrug. "You let it slip that you lived in an apartment, so I guessed that it would be close to your work. And in a city this size, I narrowed it down to this building or the one a block over." A smirk curled his lips. "I was lucky enough to be walking past when you opened your window."

She gave an indignant sound, forgetting about staying calm for one moment. But she quickly snapped back into character. "Whatever," she said nonchalantly. "Can we get this over with? The sooner you tell me your dire news, the sooner you can leave."

That bothered him. Did she think that he would go through all this trouble to find her if he didn't think it was imperative that he did so? How could she act so laid-back about this?

Fury rose at that. This was about her safety; he didn't have to come tell her! He could have saved himself a lot of time and energy and just stayed the hell away. But instead, he'd found her to make sure that she stayed safe, no matter what.

"Easter is after you," he growled bluntly, forgetting everything he'd learned about tact and calm.

He knew the mistake he'd made when her eyes widened and her head fell off her hands in shock.

The sudden clumsiness thrust him into old memories of her. She still looked so innocent, just as she had when they'd first met. He could see the fierce determination behind her amber eyes, mixed with that same naivety she'd always had. She had let her hair grow past her shoulders, keeping it layered. It was obvious that she had tried to dye the vibrant pink a different color but had decided to go back to her natural hair color because the tips were a fading blonde.

As she righted herself, embarrassed, he noticed that she didn't seem to have gained a pound since he'd last seen her. Her body was still fragile looking, though he knew that, if Ran had anything to do with it, Amu could easily throw a man twice her size. She was a little taller than she had been before, but not by much. He still towered easily over her.

Suddenly, her eyes squinted. She started glaring into his eyes as if looking for some sign of deceit. "Why should I believe you?" she asked. "I've done nothing to them, haven't even heard of them for years, so what would they want with me?" She rolled her eyes, rising to her feet. "If you're trying to come up with a good reason to come back out of nowhere, think of something that makes a little more sense." Scooping up her clothes, she started to stomp out of the room.

Ikuto easily blocked her escape. He bent to her height, putting his face directly in front of hers. "I've never lied to you before, Amu," he hissed. "What makes you think I would now?"

She shrugged like she didn't care, but he could tell how jumpy she was when her eyes didn't meet his. "You want something; I don't know what. But it doesn't really matter, because I'm not taking the bait. You can go out the door or take the same way you came in."

Trying to move around him, Amu found his fingers wrapped around her upper arm for the second time that day. She glared up at him, indignation rising in her. "If you want to keep that hand, I suggest you take it off me."

Defiantly, he yanked her closer to him, ignoring her snarl of rage. "What I want, Amu, is your safety and to know what Easter is trying to accomplish, going after you." He forced her to look into his eyes, to show her exactly what he was thinking.

Silence hung in the air between them for long moments until Amu averted her eyes, whispering, "Don't you work for them or something? How do I know this isn't just you trying to get information from me on whatever it is they want? How else would you know that they're after me, if they keep everything so close to the chest?"

At her question, everything seemed to stop. There was no sound in the room; neither of them breathed. The moments just after were tense, filling the small space around Amu with an uncomfortable unease. From the dark look growing on his face, she knew that she had gone too far before he said anything.

"If you think I would sell you out to Easter," he hissed, "then you must not think much of me." He shoved away from her. "I suggest you get dressed."

Thankful to leave the deafening silence, Amu fled from her room, disappearing into the bathroom. As she dressed, she wondered what had pushed her to run from her own bedroom. Ikuto wouldn't hurt her.

That I know of! I'm too trusting! He could have changed so much in the past years! What am I doing?! I'm letting a virtual stranger in my house! She hastily threw her clothes on, wondering absently if a locked door would have made much difference to him if he'd wanted to get in.

When she opened the bathroom door, she found herself face-to-chest with a calm Ikuto. He stared down at her, his eyes raking down and up her body.

Putting her hands on her hips in the classic female pose of annoyance, Amu hissed, "Keep your eyes to yourself, lech!" stomping past him and into her kitchen. At stressful times like these, all she wanted to do was grab a chocolate chip cookie and lie in bed.

She would even be able to sleep in the next day! No work for three days, no prior obligations to worry about. How could it get any better?

Maybe if The Big Problem left me alone!

Opening her cookie jar, Amu saw Ikuto stop next to the refrigerator. She knew that his eyes were on her and it bothered her. Why couldn't he just leave?

What I want is your safety, he'd said earlier.

Did he honestly think with him around that she was safer? Somehow, she didn't think that being around him was any better than her being alone. He was a stray cat in the most basic sense of the word; he did as he wanted, coming and going as he pleased. Did he expect her to just wait around whenever he did so? She wouldn't. She'd learned the hard way that he was almost never consistent.

"Haven't you left yet?" she demanded without sparing him a glance. "I thought you had better things to do than to babysit a kid?"

She could hear his feet shuffling as he moved to lean against the wall, could feel the sudden anger coming off of him. "Seems like I don't," he said slowly. "Because I plan to 'babysit' you until I find out what's going on or it's safe for you again." He stopped, waiting for her to cut in.

She refused to give him the satisfaction of an argument. "I'm sure you can do so from the bed-and-breakfast three doors down." She strode past him, four cookies in hand. One for me, the rest to satisfy Ran, Miki, and Suu, she told herself.

"No way are you going to eat all those cookies, Amu-chan!" Ran shouted. "They aren't good for you! If you keep using food for comfort, you'll only get fat!"

"She can do whatever she wants! Those cookies are delicious and she has had a very hard day," Suu retorted, offended by Ran's blunt honesty. "If she wants to eat some, let her! And I don't want to hear anything about her being 'fat' again because you know that you'll just work her harder Sunday at the gym!"

Miki remained silent, though her pleasure at the thought of the cookies was obvious.

"I don't think so, Amu," Ikuto said suddenly, breaking into the Charas' conversation. He moved quickly to place himself in the doorway of her bedroom. "I don't know when Easter could decide to come after you. So I plan on being your shadow until this is settled."

He said this with such conviction, she took a step back. He wanted to stay in her apartment? With her?! Couldn't he just do as he was asked for once in his life to save her a great deal of embarrassment and hard explanations?! "No!" she said, too fast. He raised one elegant eyebrow at her. "I mean, you can't stay here! You can't follow me everywhere I go! I have a job and friends and—"

"They'll just have to get used to me being around then, won't they?" When her face began contorting once more in anger, he sighed, "Amu, can you—just this one time—not argue with me? Do you think if this was something I wasn't concerned about that I would come looking for you? If I didn't think that it was imperative for you to stay safe, I wouldn't be here."

For several moments, she just stared at him in wonder. Then, stubborn to the end, she crossed her arms, pouting as she turned away. "Fine, you can stay but—" She stopped when Ikuto turned away, crossing the bedroom to her small bed. "What do you think you're doing?!" she cried.

He paused, blandly watching her over his shoulder. "I was planning on going to sleep."

Amu's eyes widened and her shoulders slumped. "You're kidding, right?" When he said nothing, she immediately snapped back into her earlier anger. "You can go sleep on the floor! You can't just show up and expect to sleep in my bed!"

Ikuto merely smiled. "Somehow, I remember a situation before similar to this. It ended quite well for me, if you remember."

She remembered. And that was why she stopped all movement, even breathing.

"Thought so," Ikuto goaded, crawling into the bed. He studied it. "Don't know how we're both gonna fit on here." He smirked up at her. "We're going to have to be pretty imaginative…."

It was true. He took up almost all of the twin sized bed and had to curl his legs to keep them from falling over the edge. What was enough room for her petite frame was definitely not enough for a full-grown man. If she was even able to lie there, she wouldn't be able to breathe without falling off.

She shook herself, forcing a stern reprimand into her tone. "No, we won't, because you are sleeping on the floor!" She walked to her bedroom closet, reaching for a blanket on the top shelf. I'm never letting Rika-chan organize my closet again, she thought sourly as she tried to reach the very top shelf to get the blanket. She's too tall to understand that short people can't do the same things she can….

Turning to ask Ikuto for help, she found him watching her, settled comfortably under her blanket with a laughing smile on his face. "Troubles?" he asked mockingly.

"Come get this blanket down!" she shouted, stamping her foot.

"No thanks. I prefer watching that T-shirt rise up."

Her face instantly became bright red, and she dropped her arms to her sides. With the embarrassment came anger, a fury that could only be produced after a long day. "Get out, get out, get out!" she screeched. "I don't want you here! I'll deal with Easter myself!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Didn't we have a deal, Amu?" he asked quietly as he slowly rose to his feet.

"I didn't make any deal with you to have you sleeping in my bed and watching me, you pervert!" she roared as he moved closer to her. "If you have a problem with the floor, you can just get out! There's no way you're taking my bed!" She stomped to the foot of her bed, ready to slide into it.

When Ikuto's arms spun her to look at him, she opened her mouth, preparing to bombard him once more with her rage, only to find the world suddenly shifting until she felt the softness of her bed beneath her and Ikuto's teasing face above hers. He covered her mouth with his hand, easily muffling any sound she made, just as he had earlier. "You promised that you wouldn't make enough noise to bother the neighbors. And, for some reason, I think that screaming would bother them," he said matter-of-factly.

She glared up at him, but felt all her energy draining. She really didn't have the strength to fight with him anymore.

When her eyes began drooping, Ikuto froze with surprise. Was she really that tired? She used to fight with him just for the sake of an argument. How could she already be exhausted? With a sigh, he shifted slowly off of her, lying on his side. He moved her closer to the edge on her side so he could better situate himself in the tiny space.

"Go make your bed on the…floor," she whispered tiredly, turning away from him. He knew that she would be asleep in moments, so he didn't obey her command. Instead, he tried to think of ways to make their sleeping area a little more comfortable for them both.

When he began shifting, her voice surprised him. "Don't you dare," she mumbled, squirming away from him. "I know what perverted old men do when they sleep." Then he knew she was out. Her body completely relaxed in his arms, a quick breath rushing out of her like she had been hit in the gut.

He would have laughed, if what she said hadn't somehow bothered him. Despite how innocently it had been said, he wondered if she did have someone in her life, even if her friend Rika didn't known about it. Could there be someone in her life? The thought infuriated him, though it had no right to. So what, anyways? Did he expect that she had been waiting for him?

A little….

Sighing, he chose to ignore that uncomfortable thought. Instead, he shifted, gently pulling Amu close, turning her to face him. Slowly so as not to wake her, he moved to his back, bringing her to lie full length over him. She murmured something, burying her face in the material of his shirt. He smiled, wrapping an arm around her to keep her in place before allowing himself to fall asleep.

This is definitely nicer than the floor.

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Haha, this was the chapter from HELL. I could not finish it to save my life. XD
Hope everyone enjoys…and reviews!
Or at least puts a Story Alert on it. That would make my day. :)
Niixx