A/N: yeah...it's just a one-shot.

It was one of those days where the street was filled with cars trundling and squeaking tires sounding against the wet pavement. The sky was murky and it looked like the sun wasn't going to come out today for sure as drops of water spat onto her pale cheek and pink fluffy hair.

"Aww man," Amu whined, fixating her gaze to the gray clouds above as a blustering wind blew, blowing her skirt sideways as a ripple of goose bumps became visible on her legs.

More fat drops sprinkled from the sky and hit her on the face and soon it began pouring—rain pelted and rushed down to the Earth, soaking her clothes as her pink hair clung onto her face.

She stood there, breathing in the crisp air the rain has brought upon, her hair dripped drops of water and clothes became unbearably disgusting and drenched.

"If you continue standing there like that, you're going to catch a cold," a person with a dry voice said but Amu already knew and didn't have to guess who. It was nonetheless, Ikuto.

She spun on her heel and faced Ikuto who was also drenched, strands of his blue hair dripped drops of water onto the ground and his shoulder and his face was covered with crystal clear streaming water. She wondered how long he had been out in the rain even though she herself hadn't been standing for long; she was already wet as hell.

"Speak for yourself," Amu placed her hands on her hip then swiveled on her heel to start running back home on the slippery surface where puddles of water had formed.

"Stupid Ikuto," she muttered as she ran away from as fast as she could.

Ikuto stood there, watching her disappear from his vision when she suddenly fell forward and splashed into a puddle of dirty water. Ikuto watched the fall with much amusement but had slightly felt worried for her. He couldn't believe that a gasp escaped from his lips and the next thing he knew, his legs were running towards her, cautious and wary of where he was stepping on.

"Ow," Amu winced as she checked her knees which were both scrapped and dirtied by the trip; blood was beginning to trickle down her leg.

Stupid puddle and ground, she thought, slowly rising up back to her feet, unsteadily and just when she was able to stumble again, a pair of strong arms caught her from behind.

She looked up to see who and sure enough, Ikuto held onto her with a crooked smile plastered on his face.

She narrowed her eyes at him and thought, 'Oh the devil!' but then said gratefully and quietly, "Thanks." She pushed him gently in attempt to walk but her knees didn't cooperate, they buckled, but luckily Ikuto had a fast hand and seized her by the wrist before she was about to tumble forth.

Without a word from him, he swooped Amu under the legs and carried her, dashing and sprinting agilely through the dreary and gloomy weather with splashing noises sounding through the streets from his footsteps.

Caught by surprise, she wanted to protest at first by this abrupt action but being as tired and injured as she already is, she kept quiet and snuggled up against his chest, dreaming about who knows what.

He felt something bump his chest and glanced at her. He couldn't help but smile amusingly at the girl, she was indeed an oddball. Soon, he came to a slow as he prepared himself to leap up to his room which was about a few meters off the ground.

Once he reached inside his room, he sat her up against a wall and retrieved some clean clothes as well as a first-aid kit. He opened the box and found some bandages and disinfection napkins.

Gently, he took hold of the napkin and started wiping the scrapped area on her knee. She cringed at the touch of the stinging napkin and wanted to pull area but he held knee firmly in place.

"Hold still," he mumbled as Amu whimpered in pain, he gently dabbed the napkin around the infected area of her wound. The slight touch of his skin brushing against her skin made her heart tingle and her cheeks suddenly started burning. Why did she have to feel like this every time they come to contact?

She threw furtive glances at his peaceful and caring face—his eyes were soft and filled with gentleness that she's never seen in her life. She watched him carefully peel the band aid and place it on top of her wound tenderly that her heart nearly skipped a beat.

"There," he said as he gave a faint smile. She looked at him and quietly thanked him in a sheepish manner, eyes fixated onto her knees.

Shortly after, she sneezed loudly. "Oh crap," Amu swore as she started getting into fits of sneeze.

"Looks like someone is coming down to a cold," Ikuto searched through his closet to see if there was anything for her to wear; he took out a sweater and a pair of shorts.

He threw them at her and said, "You should change." And he closed the room door behind him to let her have some privacy.

She picked the clothing article from the floor and started removing her wet clothing and pulled onto the shorts as she swung the sweater over her head. While changing, she suddenly felt languid and dead tired as if no energy were flowing through her body; her limps felt like heavy logs and her vision blurred. Her head was spinning; her head rocked back and forth as she struggled to maintain conscious. She didn't know what to do anymore and shortly after she collapsed onto the hard, cold floor.

Ikuto heard a thump noise from inside and worrying, he opened the door to find Amu sprawled onto the floor where she was shivering and moaning softly.

Going towards her, he knelt down next to her and felt that she was burning on her forehead; she was definitely coming down to a fever. He carried her up onto his bed and gently laid her there and then quickly scampered downstairs to find some medicine in the cabinet.

As soon as he found some tablets, he fed them to her yet she still didn't seem to look any better.

She was still shivering despite the blanket on top of her. What was he doing wrong?

"That's it," he thought and climbed onto bed next to her, hoping to provide her warmth by cuddling her close to him, under his chin.

"Ikuto," she whispered almost inaudibly into his chest.

"Yes?" he stroked her hair caressingly and inhaled her scent deeply—something sweet and fruity.

"I'm cold," she muffled as she shuddered.

"It's okay, I'm here to warm you up," he pulled her closer to him, as if he were hugging her tightly and looked down at the young girl in his arms.

"Just sleep, all right? I'll be next to you," Ikuto pleaded quietly and snuggled his head against her soft, pink hair.

She smiled faintly against his chest and soon slept soundly.

Ikuto, exhausted and worn-out from the day, also drifted to sleep with Amu in his arms for the whole night…his Amu.