Disclaimer: I do not own SC. Only the plot.

Reply to reviews for chapter 6:

GoldenDragon326: Thank you very, very much for reviewing. I appreciate it ^.^ And as for ur question: Amu stiffened up because she isn't used to being shown signs of affection like hugs. Obviously, if u don't get love from ur family, who DO you get it from? Please enjoy this chapter!

RandomlyBoredWolfy: Thanks a bunch for your support =D I'll be sure to try and update as much as I can!

sylvanicara: Really??? Is that true?? O.O Correct me if I'm wrong, but does that mean your B-day is on the 13th of sep? AWESOME. I'll be sure to dedicate a chapter to you then! For sure!

HlorkexD: Thank u for reviewing first of all =) Next, Amuto's definitely be on it's way soon. Actually, there's some of it in this chap too! And there'll definitely will be more in the next one! Please enjoy!

HeartsTamago: --sniff-- really, you guys give me WAY too much credit. Half of it goes to u anyway. I'm touched. Oh, and as for Nagi, let's see, I'm sure the original character isn't too far off. Just fix a few quotes and rewrite a few scenes, and that should do the trick (btw, you can ask me as many questions as you want. No way would I ever mind)!!

xXbunnyholicXx: Amu's past history still isn't COMPLETELY revealed, so please look forward to it!! And the ooc-ness? Well, I really AM glad u don't mind, though I wouldn't blame u at all if u did anyway -.-' And I definitely give u credit for the dance idea. When I thought of it, i was really reluctant to stick it in, but wen u gave me the same idea, u kinda convinced me to do it =D Enjoy!

TsukiyomiAlikutoMissaWatusi: Thank you for taking out enough time to give me your opinion. And like I said, more of Amu's past is yet to be revealed, so I hope u look forward to it ^.^ SC chapter 43 WAS heaven, wasn't it? Well, for amuto fans anyway. But I'm still dying for Chapter 44 ryt now T.T

Reply to reviews of chapter 7:

sylvanicara: Unfortunately, you're right. It DOES mean there'll be less updates than before --sigh-- that's y I'm giving u guys another early chapter. Be prepared for a long wait -.-' Hontou ni gomen...

RandomlyBoredWolfy: Last day of August?? O.O Lu-cky! Even though i suppose the uniform's not the best -.-' Still, u kno, it's something to be appreciated. U kno what my old one looked like? Yellow check shirts with a dark blue collar and white pants. BLECH! Anyway, enough of my ranting, please enjoy!

xXbunnyholicXx: Thank u =D Nagi ought to get a little mad after being woken up for no reason, no? --shakes head-- poor boy... As for amutoness and rimahikoness, I'll try pitching in as much as I can at given moments :) BTW, Nagi's line made ME laught pretty hard too, wich is kinda wierd considering I wrote it -.-' Ah, well. A month?? You'd really wait that long??? U guys are way too nice!! I know for a fact this fic isn't as good as u make it out to be. However, if u enjoy reading, then i'll enjoy writing it =D

TsukiyomiAlikutoMissaWatusi: Mou, Ikuto feeding a kitty really makes u wanna glomp him, doesn't it?? And thank u for wishing me luck, school was pretty bearable :D

yuz: Lol, poor kitty indeed =D Huge eagle, huh? Exotic ;) Good to kno I have allies! Please enjoy this chapter!!

in-death-we-live: Thank you whole-heartedly for that review! I'll try putting in as much amuto as possible, as according to the situation. Believe me, I'm a HUGE amuto fan myself, I can understand how you feel ;D

HeartsTamago: I think your wishing me luck as had it's effect. The day didn't go perfect (it's SCHOOL after all) obviously, but i didn't have to spend the day scrutinizing the clock, so thanks =) As for the original characters, i'll try uploading them on my profile. Actually, I really want you guys see them myself, so i'll upload lots of 'em! Individuals, together, all kinds! Please check them out if u get the chance ^.^ And thank u for the advice, it's extremely helpful!!!

The Sky's Bouquet: If ooc-ness bothers u, then i hope u'll be happy to kno that i'll be fixing it soon, Sora-chan (Hopefully, i can call u that)! But it's gud to kno that this fic's an exception to ur dislike of ooc in characters =DDD Glad u like it, and hopefully u'll enjoy this chapter too!!!

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"How long are going to wait for me to apologize?" Amu Hinamori turned over a page of her horror/mystery novel, never even batting an eyelash towards the fuming ginger-head sitting all the way across the room. "I told you: I'm not doing it."

"You're really messed up, you know that?" Yaya Yuiki uncrossed her arms, directing an upset glare towards Amu. "You got us really worried last night. And you don't even bother to apologize."

"Worried? For what?" Amu unhooked her ankles and slammed her book shut in annoyance. "It was only... what? 11:30 or something? 11:45 at most. What's the big deal? And I expected you, of all people, to be a hard core party animal, at the very least. Since you are Yaya Yuiki, after all."

"Curfew was at 9:00, Amu," Yaya retorted, carrying the most serious face Amu had ever seen on her, "And I may be a party animal, but I'm definitely no rule-breaker."

"...Whatever." Amu gave up on the matter after a few seconds of staring and silence.

"I'm serious, Amu," Yaya, however, was not willing to let the issue go so easily. "You threw the entire dorm into complete chaos," she snapped, "And let me just say, it sucked like hell."

"Oh yeah," Amu bit back sarcastically, "Because the world totally gets thrown into pandemonium when I don't stay in this crappy joint like a cute, little princess, yeah?"

"Is that sarcasm I detect?"

Yaya sighed in exasperation at the new voice that entered the conversation, while Amu gritted her teeth in response to it.

"As if you even care," the pale pink-haired girl narrowed her dark-looking, honey-coloured eyes at Nagihiko Fujisaki. "Stay out of this."

"You're right, I don't." Nagihiko shrugged carelessly, "I just feel like pissing you off for what you did yesterday."

"What's up with you?!" Amu banged her fist down on the bed, leaning forward to stare at Nagihiko eye-to-eye in animosity, "You really are pissing me off!"

"Amu, don't take your anger out on Nagi. He helped out in calming down the situation a bit too," Yaya declared boldly, paying no heed to Amu's indignant glance at her, "Though I admit, he did it in a pretty pathetic manner."

Nagi rolled his hazel eyes, not even bothering to hide the action. "So you didn't get your 'beauty sleep'," he commented dryly, "Oh, the tragedy, I say."

"Quit it," the hazel-eyed ginger-head snapped back, "It's not funny, Nagi."

She then turned her head to face Amu once more, placing her hands on her hips, her lips tightly closed into a thin line. "And you!" Yaya adressed her by accusingly pointing a perfectly-shaped, french-manicured finger nail at her. "What do you have to say for yourself?!"

Luckily, before Amu had the chance to answer, the dormitory's door burst open, and a yawning, sleepless Ikuto Tsukiyomi walked in nonchalantly, scratching the back of his head, as he trudged forward and dumped the bookbag he was carrying over his shoulder near his bed.

"Man..." he mumbled, throwing himself on his single-bed, "I feel like a freaking zomb--"

"It's his fault." Amu pointed a finger at Ikuto in the same manner Yaya had pointed hers at Amu.

Ikuto's tired eyes snapped open immediately, as he heard the accusation, propping up on his elbows, with a rather clueless look on his face.

"...What the hell??" Ikuto furrowed his eyebrows as he caught Amu, Yaya and Nagihiko staring at him expectantly.

"Let's put it simply..." Nagihiko sarcastically smirked, not at all believing Amu's blame on Ikuto, and interrogated, "Ikuto-san, did you happen to abduct Hinamori-san last night or not?"

"What?!" Ikuto repeated, his face contorting into a mixture shock, disbelief, confusion and disgust, while Yaya laughed humorously at Nagihiko's statement.

"Nice way to put it," Yaya commented, her small shoulders shaking with laughter. She turned her head towards Amu, ginger-coloured pigtails bobbing up and down beautifully. "Isn't it, Amu-chin?"

The latter hid her face behing a pale, out-stretched hand. "I thought I told you to stay out of this," she said to Nagihiko, words coming out slightly muffled and vague.

The four roommates heard a faint knock from behind the door, along with a muffled "can I come in?" in which they recognized to be Rima Mashiro's voice.

"Rima, it's your dorm!" Yaya shouted back with a laugh, hoping her voice would be able to reach the bright-golden eyed girl standing timidly behind the door. The door creaked open quietly, and a small pair of feet stepped in after Rima's head had peeked inside once.

"You're acting like this is the Teacher's Lounge or something, Rima," Amu smiled faintly and pulled the timid blonde in. "I was waiting fo--"

"Great! Rima-tan can decide on this!" Yaya interrupted Amu's half-spoken sentence. She sat up excitedly, her two ponytails bouncing up and down as her eyes sparkled blindingly at a confused Rima.

"Okay," Amu shrugged in an easy-going manner, not at all bothered. "Fine with me. Let Rima decide whether I get punished or forgiven. How about it, Rima?"

"It's alright. You won't get punished, so don't worry, Amu."

A prickling feeling was aroused in the back corner of the pink-haired girl's mind, as she found something unusual in Rima's strangely calm, collected face and unusually expressionless eyes, but was ultimately ignored.

"So there." Amu's pale, triumphant face was viewed to all. "You have your deci--"

"'Punished' is too soft a word, don't you think?" Amu's pale pink locks slapped her face, in a way that could perhaps be perceived as mocking, as she turned around to face Rima, who, with her arms crossed calmly, was burning a scalding hole into Amu's honey-golden orbs with her own. Amu failed to hide her flinch, as Rima continued, "'Torture' would be a much more appropriate term, no?"

Amu ignored Nagihiko's shocked, somewhat admiring gaze, but unfortunately, couldn't restrain herself from flinching harder as she heard Ikuto's discreetly murmured ''burn''.

"Help me out here, will you?!" Amu shouted angrily with an underlying tone of desperation. Ikuto raised his head and simply pointed a questioning finger at himself as he heard the yell undeniably aimed at him.

"Yes, you!" The rosette confirmed, twitching. "You're the one who got me into this mess, remember?! Now get me out!"

Raising an eyebrow, he quoted Amu's words from the night before, "'I'll have you know I had absolutely no intentions of bumping into you here! In fact, I'd like nothing better than to get the hell away from you!'" The blue-haired male quoted, imitating Amu's tone of voice surprisingly well. "'Get you out'. Right. Sure. No problem, perverted kid."

And just like that, his eyes drifted close again.

Nagihiko unsuccessfully muffled his laughter with the palm of his hand. His back facing Amu shaking unsteadily with laughter. Yaya's amused coughs were no help either. Amu's gritted her teeth the hardest she had ever gritted before.

"You listen to me, you perverted, sissy, mama's boy. And listen good. You hear me?" She walked over to his bed before pointing a trembling finger dangerously near to his now-opened eyes. "If you had bothered to remind me of curfew instead of pulling me into a stinking hole with you, then maybe these guys wouldn't be after my freaking he--" Her words were halted immediately by Ikuto.

When he bit her finger.

The room quieted down in less than a second. Nagihiko's muffled laughter, Yaya's amused coughs, Rima's angry protests, and, as planned, Amu's continuous ranting.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

As Amu felt her finger warming up inside Ikuto's mouth, her mind finally began functioning after she felt his tongue lapping at her finger once.

"You..." she whispered slowly, her finger, still inside Ikuto's mouth, starting to tremble. "YOU PERVERT! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID THAT!!!" She wasted no time in jerking her finger away and backing away with a tomato red face that none failed to notice. "GO TO HELL, YOU SICK, SICK, SICKO!!!"

Ikuto lowered his face into his palm, where his light, amused laughs weren't heard, although his teasing smirk was still quite visible.

"A-Amu-chin," Yaya barely recovered from her speechlessness, and watched as Amu stomped past her with a face still carrying a blush quite rich. "Wh-where are you going?"

"To wash my finger," the rosette replied. Yaya was thankful to notice that some of her anger had subsided, but was replaced by something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "And get rid of his sicko germs." Amu made sure she loud enough for Ikuto's ears.

Unfortunately, this only made him laugh harder.

Rima coughed in embarrassment with a light blush of her own, as Nagihiko whistled to himself, impressed.

Rima and Yaya flinched when they heard the bathroom door slam shut as loud as humanly possible.

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The unusally-loud sound of water rushing through the tap pounded in Amu's ears, as she stood in front of the marble sink motionlessly with one hand clutching the finger of another. Her eyebrows slowly lowered as she allowed a sigh to escape her lips.

Staring down at the clutched finger, a sign of hesitance crossed her contemplative, golden-coloured eyes.

Before she could give herself another chance to hesitate, she quickly jerked her finger under the rush of water, wildly shaking her head while doing so.

'What are you thinking, Amu?' she reprimanded herself, a slight, pretty pink blush gracing her pale cheeks with colour. 'I'm so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'

Her chain of thoughts was abruptly broken by a loud knock on the door.

"Amu-chin!" Amu recognized Yaya's peppy voice from the other side of the door, "There was just an announcement! Could you hear it? The vice principal's calling all the students to the assembly grounds! Come out of there quick, will you?"

"You go on without me!" The rosette shouted back in response. She could faintly hear a ''you sure?" which she left unanswered, before her sharp ears caught the sound of several pairs of feet shuffling, along with the creak of the door before it slammed shut.

Sighing, she dragged her feet over to the polished, white bathtub, and seated herself at the edge.

Running a hand through her silky, pink locks, she mused, 'I feel confused.' Her eyes grew cold and impatient. 'I do not like feeling confused.'

After a few minutes of thinking over her state of mind, the pink-haired teenager straightened her back when she caught the sound of the door creaking open again, and a flurry of voices entering her hearing range. Walking over to the door, she heard Yaya and Rima discussing something she strained to hear.

"Amazing! It'll be so, so fun!" Yaya excitedly started. Amu could imagine her clapping her hands together and her eyes shining. "Ne, ne, won't it be fun, Rima-tan?"

"I suppose," Rima nodded, "But... I don't really feel like going, at the moment... besides, I probably won't get a date in time anyway."

"Dates are no problem!" Yaya dismissively waved her hand, "I can just get some random date a day before the event, and you four can pair up! Nagi, you can go with Rima-tan, and Ikuto, you can take Amu-chin! Perfect-o!"

'Wait... what??'

"HOLD IT!" Four suprised heads whipped towards the bathroom door, slammed open. A disturbed Amu stood pridefully and stubbornly at the doorway. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!"

"Way to make an entrance, perverted kid," Ikuto remarked, grinning.

"You're the perverted one here, sissy boy," she retorted back in response. "And what's this about some crappy 'event' that I have to go to. Together with him, none the less?"

"Ah. Right, you didn't hear about it..." Rima realized, her previous anger momentarily forgotten, "Basically, we were told about--"

"The most fabulous, wonderful and exciting event to ever grace this boring place labelled ''sch--"

"In a word," Nagihiko swiftly interrupted any further words from a sparkling Yaya, and opted to continue the explanation in her place, "A dance. It'll be held two weeks from now, so we have time to prepare."

"You're kidding," Amu uncharacteristically whined, seating herself on Rima's pale red single-bed, hands entangling themselves in her tresses. "Dance? Does that suck, or what?!"

"It's not that bad, Amu..." Rima sympathized with a slight smile, being able to relate to the dreadful emotion she was sure her pink-haired friend was going through. "We'll get through it, ne?"

"Well, whether we get through it or not," Yaya informed, winking, "We're still stepping into that dance hall. And, we know what that decision leads to, ne~?"

"Unfortunately."

"I'm guessing, yes."

"Alright-y then!" The pigtailed student gleefully exclaimed in uncontained joy, "Amu-chin, Rima-tan, time to hit a few stores~!"

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Blah, this chappie was kinda boring, don't u think? Tell me, u guys think they're making any progress or just moving their feet at the same place. For some reason, I can't tell XD

On a side note:

1st day of school, kiddies. Booooooring. Only upside was that I got to see my classmates again. But im in a different section than my best friends T.T Hopefully, no unnecessary drama will start like it did last year. I always get dragged into the consequences of stupid decisions made by a particularly stupid friend...

Overall, it was boring. Well, at least we didn't hit the books yet :D As for animes, for some reason, I suddenly miss Special A T.T It was beyond amazing, really.

A special thanks to xXbunnyholicXx for suggesting the idea of featuring a dance! Thank you very much!