Hello~ minna-san. I'm back... After- *looks at calendar* many, many months. Gomenasai! I've been depressed lately since I dropped from the honor roll by five places *sniff* Grace was right... I really do need to study and stop relying on stock knowledge... Pssh... Like that would ever happen.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, own nothing. On with the story!

~Jewel of The Dark~

Damn Taiyaki! It's taking too long! The line's too long!

"Let's go! We need to find Amu-chi!" Shouted a child-like voice that was very familiar.

I saw a pair of bouncing pigtails. Oh hell no.

"We need to get ourselves to the hotel first, Ace." No, no, no!

No time for taiyaki! I need to bolt out of here!

"Ran! Character Change!" I whispered to Ran.

"Hai!"

As soon as she Character Changed with me, I ran as fast as I could back to the hotel, and having groceries with me doesn't help at all. Not at all.

Finally! The hotel!

I bolted right in and ran to the stairs like a mad man.

Where's the room?!

Oh, that's right... On the 4th floor. Damn. Fine... I'll take the elevator. The Guardians are never going to catch up with me anyway with the speed I ran, but they could if they had Kukai with them. Most likely. But they didn't see me anyway. I hope.

Aha! Found it!

I sped right in and slammed the door. And here I stand~ In the light of day~

Wait! There's no time to sing Let it Go! Well... I'm not singing it, I'm thinking of it, so I do have time.

"Oh, Amu, you're back." Ikuto said while flipping through the channels on the TV.

"Hmm..." I responded as I organized the groceries.

"Amu, why do you look like you ran three marathons?"

"I do?"

"Say those words on our wedding! Not now!"

"Whatever." I mumbled as I looked in the mirror. My hair was messed up and my clothes were wrinkled and my face was really red. Okay, so the last one wasn't really from the running.

I walked to the hallway to get a drink but...

"KUKAI! YOU IDIOT!" A familiar and angry voice shouted. Wait. Kukai?! Here?! That means-!

"Lighten up, Pop star. I just..."

"Just what?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"I got distracted, alright!"

"With what?!"

"Dude! Akatsuki Ren, the star player of Japan, just passed by!"

"And so? I've met him before! He shows up at all my concerts, may it be big or small!"

"Wait, what?!"

"Can't believe I met him before, huh?"

"No! It's not th- Nevermind..."

"Hey!"

"Hmm?"

"What were you about to say?"

"Huh?"

"Nevermind..."

Haha... Only those two can have those kind of fights... Wait! I don't have time to laugh at their bickering! But... How did they even get here that fast?

"Kukai, do you have a habit of spilling drinks everywhere?"

"... Why do you ask?"

"Because, you spilled coke at my limo, spilled orange juice at my luggage and spilled iced coffee on my shirt."

"Good point. Maybe I do have a habit..."

"Only you can say that without hesitation, Kukai, only you."

Ahh... They got here by limo and actually used the elevator at the lobby, unlike me.

"Am I seeing pink?" Kukai squinted to where I was. Shit. He has good eyesight to see me behind a vending machine. Only I can compliment someone in this situation, only me.

"Where?" Utau asked as she went nearer to where I was. Shit.

Suddenly a hand covered my mouth.

"-hmph!"

"Shh... You want to get away from those two, right?"

I nodded.

"Then don't make a sound." I obeyed.

I felt dizzy all of a sudden and then suddenly I was in a whole new place. The hand that grabbed me let go and I turned around to see who it was.

Dark green hair peeking out from a fedora, gold honey orbs, brown trenchcoat... Kind of familiar... That's right! The guy I ran into, literally, at the store! Kisshu!

"Hi again, Amu." He greeted with a warm smile.

"First name basis already? Wait, I never got your full name." Hmm... People in Japan, especially in Tokyo, don't only give their first name. That is, if he even is a person.

"Sorry, didn't know you would mind it." He said with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, I don't."

"Really? Thought you did for a second there!"

"Don't dodge my question."

"It wasn't a question, it was a statement."

"Fine. Then don't dodge my statement."

"That doesn't make sense."

"On the contrary, it does. In this case, you aren't dodging it, you were denying it."

"Very witty for a 13 year old girl."

"Please, if you interact with someone witty, it rubs off on you."

"Oh? Really? I interacted with someone for so long, it hasn't rubbed off in the slightest."

"Maybe because you're not witty."

"Ouch. No hesitation in insults, huh? Reminds me of someone..."

"That person may have experienced the same fate I experienced."

"Oh? How so?"

"Teasing, pervertedness, weird habits, and just downright annoying."

"You hit the mark dead on. You two are alike in many ways."

Feels like there's a deeper meaning in that.

"Stop stalling."

"I don't have one, or a real one that I'd actually acknowledge, atleast."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Were you an orphan?"

"No, I have two friends that I treat like brothers and adoptive parents so I'm far away from that."

"Parents? Like real parents?"

"I have biological parents, but..."

"But?"

"They don't really treat me as their child, more like another burden."

"Sorry for asking..."

"That's alright, besides, I have a last name that I got from my brothers, Ikisatashi. Their family adopted me, so I'm fine." How can he say those things while smiling? If that were me, I'd break down.

I just nodded in understanding.

"Oh? No witty remark? Why so?"

"I kind of experienced that as well, but my circumstances are a tad different from yours."

"Go on..."

"People who I thought were my real parents actually weren't. They... Never really intended to tell me. And I know my real mother gave me away-"

I swear his eyes grew wide at that part.

"-sealing the deal that I was theirs, but I have a right to know who I really am and actually knowing who my real family is. They denied a lot of things from me, but I can't keep doing a facade that I hate them, I had enough of that, it's hard to hate people who raised you for 12 years. I still am the same person, just with a different name."

I felt something wet pouring down from my eyes down to my cheeks, then chin. Tears. Look at me. Crying and telling my problems and feelings to a total stranger. Strangely, he doesn't feel like a stranger at all...

I felt someone pull me to them and snake their arms around me.

"Hey, don't cry. Show me that feistiness you have!" Kisshu.

Even more strangely, I just hid my face deeper into his trenchcoat, totally drenching it. Maybe it should be called, drenchcoat. Look at me. Joking lamely while crying my heart out to somebody, the only person I ever did this with is, Ikuto. Ikuto... IKUTO! Shit. He might be looking for me at this very second.

Suddenly, the warmth I felt while hugging Kisshu, disappeared and all I saw was a flash of midnight blue hair. Then, I was in a different person's arms.

"Amu!" Ikuto. Speaking of the devil.

"I-ikuto."

"Shh... Why are you crying?"

I didn't answer and just continued sobbing.

"Hey! You! What did you do to her?!"

"May I ask who you are first?"

"Her boyfriend. That's all you need to know."

Suddenly, Kisshu glared daggers at Ikuto. No, it wasn't a jealous kind of way, more like a overprotective kind of way.

There was an eerie silence then a voice interrupted.

"Amu! Ikuto-kun!" Mom. Really? Is everyone looking for me?

She ran to us and looked like she had the biggest fright of her life when she looked at Kish. Yeah, I gave him a nickname. So what?

"K-kish..." She stuttered.

"Ichigo!" He shouted in glee. He ran to Mom and hugged her like there's no tomorrow.

"M-mom?" I asked in bewilderment.

"Amu... It's him." Mom muttered.

My eyes widened. Kisshu... He's my Dad.

"Huh? What do you mean, Koneko-chan? And what did she mean 'Mom'?" Kish asked.

Mom scowled and crossed her arms.

"Stop playing dumb, Kish. You know what's going on."

"My, my... I guess I was wrong. Wittiness does rub off on people."

"I'm not even going to ask..." Ikuto muttered, still hugging me. Wait, he's still hugging me?!

I got free of Ikuto's grasp and Ikuto pouted.

"What a nice welcome home... A daughter! Who would've known, Koneko-chan?"

"You say it with sarcasm. Why?"

"Because, Amu is Ryou's, isn't she?"

You know, if I had a drink I would've spitted it out by now. I guess, me being dense didn't just came from my mom, but also from my dad.

Ikuto laughed. Yes. He laughed. I would've done the same thing if I wasn't involved. But alas I am involved.

"You really think Amu's from that person? Take a closer look at her." Ikuto said when he finally finished his laughing.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you don't even recognize your own daughter."

Whew. Done! Sorry for taking so long. You know, school and all. I finally found a person in school who actually know this site, she's actually a year older than me. We agree on a lot of things when it comes to anime. We agree that Shugo Chara! should have Amuto as its pairing, we agree that Tadase doesn't deserve Amu... You know, the works. Hope she's seeing this story right now.

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Ja ne!