I awoke to my phone ringing. I reached my hand out from under the covers to grab my cell phone off my nightstand. Glancing at the caller I.D., I saw that my father was calling.

"Hello," I answered groggily as I slowly sat up in my bed.

"Good morning, my little sparrow! How are you," my father asked very cheerily . Hearing his cheery voice lightened my mood and I felt happy even though I wanted to still be asleep. I got out of my warm, comfortable bed and went outside of my room to go downstairs so I wouldn't disturb my still sleeping friends.

"I'm great Dad!" I replied in the best happy voice that I could manage in my still sleepy manor. I decided on having a cup of coffee to wake me up, so I headed to the cabinet to get a glass, I then walked to the sink to fill the glass with water.

"That's good. How's Araki," my father asked just as Araki himself walked into the kitchen with his disheveled hair and black, silk pajama pants.

"He just walked in." I replied somewhat distractedly as I poured the water into its chamber and turned the coffee maker on after putting my choice of coffee grounds in the funnel.

"The house!?" my father said in a loud tone. He always got like that whenever he got the thought that Araki was not watching over me correctly. I would always have to continuously remind him that I can basically take care of myself and do not need my older brother babysitting me. However, my father would have none of that.

"No. The kitchen." I replied with an exasperated sigh. I leaned my butt against the counter as I waited for my coffee to get finished.

"Oh..." my father got silent. I could bet money that he was either thinking about how he just overreacted a little there or distracted by work related stuff.

"Who's that," Araki asked as he walked by me. I glanced at him to see that he had opened the refrigerator. I looked back down as he pulled out the orange juice carton and closed the refrigerator.

"Dad," I gave as a sharp reply while looking down at the floor. I watched, through my peripheral vision, as his feet shuffled over to the cabinet containing the cups and got himself one out.

"Yes?"

"Not you Dad. I was talking to your son."

"Uh-oh. You called him 'my son' instead of Araki. What happened," my father asked. This is what I loved about my father, even if he wasn't here majority of the time, he knew when something was wrong.

"Well, see there's-" I was cut off by the doorbell ringing. Araki made no move to go and see who's at the door. The visitor rang the doorbell again. "Hold on Dad. There's someone at the door and it seems like I'm the only one capable of going to see who's ringing the doorbell." I said the last bit just to piss Araki off. I walked passed Araki as he gave a low growl, that was obviously directed towards me. I made my way to the door and opened it to reveal Shiki.

"Amu, I got to go. I have an important phone call on the other end." I guess the caller had great timing.

"Bye. I love you."

"Ditto," with that response the phone call between my father and I was over.

I looked at Shiki as he entered into our house and closed the door behind him. He followed me into the kitchen just as Araki was coming out. I continued into the kitchen deciding on having a bagel along with my coffee. I tuned their conversation out as I got the bagel and put it in the toaster oven. I noticed that conversation ended as soon as it began when Shiki sat down at the kitchen table staring at me.

"So has things gotten any better between you two?" he asked as he continued to stare at me.

"Nope. How can they if he chooses her side? Coffee?"

"Well, you could just give her the benefit of the doubt. No thanks."

"I could but that's not me. Especially since i have proof that she's how I say she is. Bagel?"

"Oh really? What's your proof? Your intuition? No thanks."

"Ha. Ha. Funny. Anyway, I overheard her last night, or this morning however you look at it, on the phone with her boyfriend talking about how they were going to jump Araki and take his credit card. She says she has the pin."

"Wow..." Shiki sat shocked. "When do they plan to do this?"

"Today when they go shopping."

"So what do you plan to do?" I turned to face Shiki and looked him dead in the eye.

"I'm going to allow him to get jumped and have all his money taken. Maybe then he'll learn to listen to me."

"You know you're not going to do that. Amu, your heart cares too much for Araki to allow him to get hurt." Shiki said as he gave me his 'yeah right' face.

"My brain, you mean."

"Your brain?" Shiki gave me a very puzzled look.

"Yes, my brain. My brain is in control of my feelings. Not the heart. Ergo, my brain makes me care too much for Araki and my heart does nothing but pump blood throughout my body."

"Really, Amu?" he said with a shake of his head. "Anyway, we need to talk. And don't say 'About what?' cause you know what." Shiki said in a serious tone as he looked me directly in my eyes. I paused for a moment knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"I apologize. You know how I can get," I decided to just get the apology out the way because I knew it would have ended up that way in the end no matter how long we were to talk.

"You apologize for what?"

"I apologize for my bitchy behavior at the amusement park."

"Hmmm… Well, it seems we're on the same page." He stood up from the table and walked towards me. "I want to also apologize for not coming after you when you stormed off."

It was obvious that he was being sincere about his apology. Shiki stepped up to me and pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a moment. Shiki holding me and I cuddled into his arms. Shiki leaned away from me a little and looked deep into my eyes. I stood on my tippy toes and I placed my lips upon his lips. He was in no rush to end the kiss and neither was I. We stood there lips to lips, body to body, enjoying the connection we had with each other.

Before we had a chance to deepen the kiss, the toaster oven made a loud ding signaling that my bagel was done. We pulled back from each other, both our faces flushed and our breathing heavy. My breathing started to slow and go back to it's regular rate.

"Shiki why are you here." we both looked over towards the entryway of the kitchen to see Yaya, Utau, and Rima. I then recognized the voice to be Yaya's.

"To bring you your credit card. Mom said you took off before she could give it to you."

"Oh. I totally forgot about that."

"How is it possible to just forget about your credit card?" Utau questioned.

"Well this is Yaya we're talking about." said Rima in a matter of fact tone.

Everyone started to laugh while Yaya puffed out her cheeks like a child. Rima, Utau, and Yaya then took a seat at the table. Shiki sat across the table from Yaya and slid her credit card to her. I poured myself a hot cup of coffee, grabbed my bagel out of the toaster oven, and took the seat beside Shiki.

"So Amu what are you going to do?" Shiki said as he looked at me. My best friends looked between us with a puzzled expression. I shot them a 'I'll explain later' look.

I leaned back against the chair and sipped my coffee as I thought of an answer to give Shiki. Then, as the expression says, my light bulb went off.

-
I walked down the stairs dressed in a blue sundress that stopped at my knees, a white cardigan over it, and white wedges to match. I kept my hair down and wore no accesories except for the ruby ring that adorned my right ring finger.

"Ready," I asked my partners in crime. Shiki, Yaya, Utau, and Rima looked at me and stood up from the sofa.

"About time Amu. I was getting sleepy," Utau said as she gave a fake yawn. I walked towards the four as I rolled my eyes at Utau.

"You ready for this," Shiki asked as he looked me up and down, no doubt checking me out. His eyes lingered on my legs. 'He always did like my legs,' I thought to myself as a small smirk graced my light pink lips.

"Of course," I replied just as Araki and his soon to be ex girlfriend walked down the stairs. He glanced over to us and continued to go pass and decided to say not one word. I heard the front door open and close. I looked to the people around me.

"Let's do this."