Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara or any of the characters in this story.

When I first woke up, I had no idea where I was. The sheets were a bit scratchy, the pillow was too fluffy to be mine, and there was something lying across my body. I blinked the remaining sleep from my eyes, turned over slowly...

and stared at Ikuto's shoulder. His bare shoulder.

That was when the alarms sounded. The alarms in my head I mean; actual alarms did not suddenly start sounding, if that happened we'd have a whole different problem! …Anyway, to put it simply, I freaked out.

Ikuto was shirtless, had one arm draped over me and was sleeping with his face right near the top of my head. I froze in place, thinking back to last night.

Okay, so there was me being dense about the whole girlfriend thing

("Oh, Ikuto, I don't understand. Where is your girlfriend?")

Then he snogged me to within a centimeter of my life. After that we had dinner and talked in his room. Apparently Ikuto had been thinking of me as his girlfriend. Would have been nice to tell me sooner. But now I know how he feels. I'm so happy! We talked about it and we're official now.

But still….how the hell did we end up in bed together?

Oh god. Did we…£ $£^(*&?!

Nooo, I can't even think that! I'm mentally flailing around with the thought when I feel something slide down my arm. OHMYGOD I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a spaghetti strap in my life.

I remember now; all the cuddling and talking and feeling so sleepy I just wanted to rest my eyes for a bit. I carefully lift up the blankets and see that I'm only wearing my boyshorts. This duvet is quite toasty I must have slipped off my trousers during the night. Okay, Amu, we all know you have a habit of doing that but try not to do it when you're sleeping over at a boy's house, much less in his bed with him! Quick peek at Ikuto I notice he is wearing pajama pants. An invisible weight is lifted off my chest.

Contently reassured of my "innocence", I creep out from under Ikuto's arm and pull on a pair of socks then grab my jeans. I pad out of his bedroom, down the hall, and into the living room. Hmm, now where was the bathroom again?

Ikuto's apartment is a lot bigger than most places in Tokyo, and there seems to be a million doors and hallways. I find it soon enough and change back into my jeans before splashing my face with cool water. I look at myself in the mirror.

I'm in Ikuto's apartment.

We are together.

Finally.

My reflection stares back at me, blankless. It hasn't exactly sunk in yet. Part of me still thinks I'm asleep and this is all a dream. Honestly, that makes more sense at this point. Who would have thought it would pan out like this? Not me, that's for damn sure! Ha, who I am kidding I'm always the last to know these things.

After roaming around for a bit, finding pretty much every room execept the one I'm looking for, I finally walk into the spacious kitchen. My stomach makes a low goran telling me I had better give it something or else. I try to be as quiet as possible as I open the cupboards on a hunt for some cereal and a bowl. I find them and turn to the refrigerator. I grab what I need and the shut door.

And scream as I almost drop everything.

"Good morning" Ikuto says lazily, leaning against the wall next to the fridge. Thankfully I didn't drop anything but I do have the milk carton clutched in one hand over my head like I'm about to throw it at him.

He notices my stance and smirks.

"That's your weapon of choice?"

"Stop surprising me by popping up randomly..!"

"It's surprising how you still aren't used to that."

I sigh and put the milk on the island in the middle of the kitchen. I once again open the fridge, pulling out more ingredients.

"Well since you're up, I'll guess I'll make something for the both of us. How do pancakes sound?"

"So? Where do you want to go today?"

"Huh?" I pause scrubbing the sticky maple syrup off the plate. Ikuto shuts off the facet and sets down the glasses to dry. He looks at me and smiles.

"It's the weekend you know, you gotta go out on the weekend or the week just isn't worth it. So…where would you like to go? I'll be a gentleman and take you where ever you want."

"Oh…well, actually I should probably stop by home and change…. My parents will want to hear how the sleep over went."

(I called them before dinner saying I had been invited to stay at Nadeshiko's house. No worries!)

"I see…" Ikuto turns the water back on and kindly takes the plate out of my hands to rinse it.

Oh, Amu, what are you doing? He's inviting you on a date you blundering buffoon! Don't turn this down NOOOO!

"But umm!" He looks back at me curiously but my resolve doesn't falter "After I freshen up, can we go get some ice cream?" I smile and laugh, a bit too anxiously.

He smirks back at me.

"Hmm, so you did like when I stole a lick of your ice cream…" He's got that glimmer in his eyes. Arghhh, yup, I walked right in that one. Thinking about it brings all those memories back and I can feel my cheeks begin to brighten.

"Obviously not!" I try to hide the blush but playfully pushing him with my hip. He just chuckles, a genuine smile gracing his face that I can't look away from.

"This time we may as well just share one." I wink at him. He pauses for a moment before setting down the dishes and the brush I was still holding. He takes my hand in his while the other smoothly snakes around my waist. We're pressed up close when he bends down to whisper, "I'd like that."

"Me too." I confess back, giving him a peck on the cheek. But he lifts my chin and kisses me deeply, just like the night before. Good thing he's still holding me because I'm pretty sure my whole body is made out of of jelly right now.

I'm still caught up in Ikuto and our weekend together even as I traipse into prison, err I mean school. In my brain it's just Ikuto, Ikuto, Ikuto. 24/7 coverage of that gorgeous boy and how he's all mine. I can't even concentrate in class. Well, actually I could barely concentrate before all this happened anyway so no news there.

"Hey Amu! My, you must have had a good weekend!" Nadeshiko laughs, pulling up a chair next to me at lunch.

"Oh! Um, yeah it was pretty good!" I laugh back.

She eyes me with a grin "From the look on your face all morning I'd say a bit more than 'pretty good'"

"Aha, I guess you could say that. How was your weekend?" I reply.

Before she can answer, the classroom door opens and Tadase walks in. "Ah, Amu-san. There you are. Can I borrow you for a second?"

I turn to Nadeshiko who shrugs and begins to eat her lunch. I close the lid of my box and nod, getting up to follow him.

I follow him out of the classroom and down the hallway a bit. It hits me the last time we we're together. I'm totally prepared to blame everything on Ikuto until I see Tadase's face when he turns around.

"Amu, we need to talk."

First name only. Uh oh.

"Uh…sure. What is it?" I try to keep my voice calm.

"I feel like something is different. I mean, you suggest we go out but then we get interrupted and I started thinking about things…." he pauses but I don't say anything. He continues, looking at the floor.

"I just… I need to know where we stand. I need to know what we are to each other. Please tell me once and for all."

I hesitate and I hate myself for it. I should be able to tell him the truth yet I know it's going to hurt him and it could very well ruin our friendship. I wish that I could just keep lying to him but then there will be no end to this and I'll end up hurting him more.

"Will you ever return my feelings?" he looks up and into my eyes. Piercing.

I bite my lip. This is going to be hard….

"I….I mean….I…" All the adrenaline is pumping through my body now and I can barely get the words out.

I take a deep breath before continuing. I can feel him looking at me but I tell myself not to look back yet.

"I'm sorry Tadase-kun. I can't. I'm sorry."

Our eyes finally meet. He gazes at me with a hard expression for a second longer then lets out a sigh.

"Of course. I should have known." He's starting to look really down and I'm getting worried. My brain is processing a million thoughts at once. I can't stand this, I don't want to hurt him. Not him. I take several steps forward, standing closer to him.

"Tadase. Please don't blame yourself, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have strung you along. I'm so sorry, Tadase. You're my dear friend and I didn't want to hurt you. I tried to imagine us together but-"

"But you know you really love Ikuto."

I pause for a moment, shocked. "Wha-? How…did you know?"

"I've liked you for a long time, Amu-san. I can tell how you are feeling just by looking at you." He gives a little smile "That, and you show your emotions so clearly. Like an open book, you're so easy to read."

I don't protest. We stand there, looking at each other for what feels like an eternity. Tadase becomes very interested in the floor.

I need to say something to fill this silence. "I'm sorry" is all I can manage to come up with. He doesn't look at me when he speaks.

"It's okay. I'm not sorry for falling for you. I don't regret any of it. I better get going, see you around." He gives a brief nod as he turns to leave and I don't go after him.

Fiddlesticks. I hate this.

I just watch him walk away, rooted to my spot. I know that right now he needs time and if that's all I can give him, then that's what I'll do. I watch him walk all the way to the end of the hall before I turn to walk in the other direction and head back to class.

A/N: GUYS. It's been years. YEARS. I don't even know how to say I'm sorry to keep so many of you waiting. I didn't even think I would ever touch this story again, much less publish this chapter. But here we are! (And it's 3AM and I couldn't sleep and I've been thinking of this story for the past month and I wanted to finish it and I made it my resolution to do so sooooo yeah)

Really though I just want to say thank you. To everyone who keeps adding this story to their alerts and faves. And to one recent review in particular that really made me so happy. Thank you all! Thank you so much!