Title: Deal with The Devil

Rating: T (prolly will change though)
Pairing: Amuto: Amu x Ikuto
Genre: Romance/Supernatural
Warnings: Rated for language, blood and situations. Oh, and of course: severe raping of Japanese mythology.
Word Count: 3,982
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Shugo Chara! Nor its lovely characters.

Summary: AU. It was just Amu's luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she's stuck with a certain demonic cat who does nothing but tease her and the search to find a way to free them both. And, you cannot forget the responsibility to take down the oh-so-evil Company that caused this all. AMUTO.

A/N: Guys, I am SO SORRY, that this came out so late! Please don't kill me! * begs on knees *
I was meant to update sooner, but I didn't get the chance to write that much. So!
The second chapterrrrrr! Yayyyy~ If it seems confusing, don't worry, it'll get better... at some point....

I want to thank every one who alerted and faved this story, and especially the reviewers; HlorkexD, icelight11, Meep Forever, chocolistic and amutoamutoikutosydney! You made me so happy to know what you really thought about my fic! Again, thank you! :3 But now, onto the story!

Chapter :: 2 :: Of Coffee and Sore Feet

Amu shifted in her bed and rubbed her eyes – the shining light that was pouring in from her balcony window was so bright that it hurt her eyes.

"Please light, go away," she grumbled in discomfort. Why was it that the sun always rose so early in the morning? She yawned and streched her arms above her head to ease the pain in her shoulders – when had they gotten so sore?

Her eyebrows knitted together when she started to think about the day before – though she abandoned the task immediately when the thinking made her wince in pain. What on earth had happened to make her head feel like she had been hit by a truck loaded with canned asparagus? Yes, she did have a grudge against those vile, obnoxious things that her mother just happened to love. Oh joy. But that was a story for another time, because now she had to have a handful of painkillers, or otherwise she was sure she was going to throw up.

"Ughh," she groaned and held her head with her other hand while she tossed the bed covers off and got up from the warm and comfortable bed. "Painkillers, painkillers. Right," she headed towards the bathroom downstairs, where she was sure she had last seen the precious aspirin pills.

She had to watch her step in the stairs because she had more than once slipped and hit her head – a thing she was constantly teased about by her friends and family. They joked about how it had seriously affected her brain. Sometimes, even she thought they were right – like now for instance. What had she done to get this freaking headache?

She walked past the living room and the kitchen of which door was slightly ajar, straight to the bathroom. She dug around the cabinets for a while before she found the container, took a pill and swallowed it with a handful of water. Oh the heck with it, she thought and took another one. It's not like the side-effects would bother her – she could handle a bit of light-headedness. She brushed her teeth to get rid of the vile aftertaste of the pills and washed her face. The cold water cleared her head nicely.

She suddenly felt a pang of confusion that had nothing to do with the drugs. When she had passed the kitchen, hadn't she heard the dripping sound of the coffeemaker? She frowned. She hadn't put it on, right?

Her eyes widened. Maybe some crazy stalker had thought to come up to set up a tea party for her to attend. She looked for a weapon she could use incase of this weird incident. Her eyes flicked around the bathroom, and finally found Ami's pink umbrella which was decorated by multiple teddy prints.

How intimidating. She was sure the possible assaulter would wet his pants in fear. She harrumphed but picked it up, as she still could use it as a weapon if it came to the worst.

She silently tiptoed her way out of the bathroom, and as stealthily as she could – which wasn't much – she sneaked behind the kitchen door that was partially open.

The bubbly laughter of Ran, Miki and Suu floated from the kithcen, and Amu sighed in relief. She lowered her umbrella from the threatening (or so she wished) position, and opened the door fully to step in the room to join her friends, only to freeze in the doorway.

Sure, there was Ran, Miki and Suu, but there also was a blue-haired man sitting with them on the opposite side of the table. A beautiful, very familiar looking man.

It all came rushing back to her.

The kidnapping.

The summoning.

Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

A demon.

And now there he was, sitting by her table, sipping coffee and chatting with her friends who, apparently, were swooning at his every word.

She had to lean on the wall with her other hand, or otherwise her knees would have buckled. It all had happened. It all was real. She had a demon in her house. A demon who now was smirking at her in an infuratingly attractive way.

"Amu!" Ran screamed. "You're finally awake! Come sit here and have coffee with us!"

The energetic screams of hers made Amu's head hurt even more and she winced, but knowing Ran, she obediently sat down on one of the chairs.

Ran looked at her oddly. "Why are you holding an umbrella? Oh well, Never mind. Now! Tell me how you met and when! For how long have you two dated?" She ushered in glee and looked between Amu and Ikuto expectantly.

"Yeah Amu, why didn't you tell us?" Suu asked, a little hurt.

Ran started to bubble about Amu being stupid for not telling how she had caught herself such a gorgeus gentleman, and how that was even possible for Amu, since she was such a cold fish.

Amu almost choked on her on spit. They thought they were dating? What?! And what comment was that about her being a cold fish?! She made a mental note to strangle Ran later. While she was sputtering and trying to breathe, Miki piped in.

"Ran, give the poor girl some space. Are you even sure they are together?"

While Amu was busy thanking Miki in her mind, and deciding to buy her an extra ice-cream the next time they went out to have some, her friends started to have an extremely disturbing discussion about her lovelife.

"Of course they're together! What else would Tsukiyomi-san do here eight in the morning!" They giggled.

"Unless Amu decided to be irresponsible and promiscuous for once and have a one-night stand!" Miki gushed in mock shock, now believing in the ridiculous assumption of them being together. Say goodbye to your extra ice-cream, Amu thought peevedly.

They continued their discussion in an R-rated manner, and while Amu was trying to get a word in, Ikuto was just smiling and nodding along the girls, which did nothing to disperse the gruesome misunderstanding they were oh-so fond of.

"G-guys! Stop talking like I'm not here. Someday, I swear you're going to give me a cardiac arrest," Amu complained.

"You simply couldn't just say 'a heart attack' could you?" Miki asked with a raised eyebrow, amused by her choice of words.

"They're not the same thing. A heart attack is called a myocardial infarction. A cardiac arrest can be caused by-"

"Okay, enough with you and your health studies. Tell me how you two met! I bet it's somewhere romantic, like that wonderful italian cafe, that makes the awesomest coffee ever," Ran started to babble. "So, where did you meet?"

"Uhh..." Amu mumbled. What the hell should she say? "It's this... you see...-"

"We met on a dark alley by the brink of midnight, where I was the blood-sucking vampire and she was the hapless victim." Ikuto said. Well, it's not like it was that far-fetched answer.

The girls blinked for a few moments, before bursting out in raucous laughter.

"You have such a good humor!"

"This one's a keeper, Amu!"

They continued to praise Ikuto to the high heavens, while Amu just sat there, sweat-dropping.

The girls were recovering from their fit, wiping tears from the corners of their eyes, when Suu's cellphone started ringing.

"Oh, we totally forgot! We have pilates class today! In about... five minutes!"

They speedily scurried around, picked up their bags and donned their sweaters.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Tsukiyomi-san!" they said to Ikuto. "And Amu," Ran shot her a particularly meaningful glance, "we will talk about this later."

Amu visibly gulped in horror, quickly nodding in agreement. She could only think of the horrifying drill she was going to get when they were alone – Amu was one of their best friends, and they had to know all of the details of their supposed relationship.

They hurried to the front door and with the last call out of "Remember kids, safe sex!" and giggling, they were out of the house.

Needless to say, Amu was absolutely mortified. And pink. Never forget the pink.

&&&

"What are you doing here?" she seethed in her chair, silently murdering him with her deathly gaze. If only looks could kill...

He just calmly sat there, sipped his ever-precious coffee and answered with an unwavering, twinkling gaze. He clearly was amused by her antics.

"What am I doing here, you ask?" he mused as if he was the best actor ever of Hamlet, pondering the mighty questions of life. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"Don't answer back with another question!" she snapped at him indignantly. "What even happened yesterday after... after that Oni?"

He placed the light-green mug with frog prints on the table and ran a hand through his dark blue hair. "It's simple. You kind of passed out."

Now this had Amu's attention. She had never, ever passed out in her life before. Why had she now? Her mouth curved into a frown and she scratched her head in confusion.

"Well actually, you didn't really faint, you just kind of... went slack. You had lost a lot of blood that night, and I take it you hadn't eaten that much?"

Amu nodded. Now this made sense.

"So I asked directions from you and I carried you here."

"You carried me?"

"Yeah, but it was hard though – you almost fell to sleep on they way here and I had to slap you many times to keep you awake," he smirked mischievously.

Amu blanched. "And where exactly did you slap me...?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

He just smirked wider. "Wouldn't you like to know."

She blinked.

"You pervert! You perverted cat-ears guy!" The pink-haired girl slapped him with her umbrella that she had abandoned before.

"Relax, I didn't do anything to you. Just how lowly do you think I am?" He defended himself. "And besides, you're fun to tease – your face flushes that lovely shade of red, just like now."

She could feel the heat rise on her face, and she was sure she was as pink as he had hinted. Damn that stupid blood circulation system, that just seemed to love to embarass her by declaring it's presence in the most inconvenient times.

She tried to hide the redness of her face by scratching her forehead – only then did she notice that her hand was bandaged, and quite skillfully, too.

"Y- you did this...?"

"Sure," he answered with a quirk on his lips, that for once wasn't mischievous, but actually just kind.

She smiled. "Then, thank you," she bowed her head a little. "I owe you a lot, for you carrying me and bandaging me. Thank you."

He was a bit surprised she could change her mood so quickly from vexed to grateful, and he was starting to smile, until he heard the inevitable - as such was her character.

"But you still need to get out of my house."

He was definitely starting to see a pattern in her behavior.

"Amu... It's not that simple," Ikuto started to explain. He sighed and rubbed his temples – he was sure Amu was going to have a fit.

"I'm going to make this short. When demons are summoned by humans, there is always someone whose blood is used to summon the demon, someone who we usually call the sacrifice.

"The sacrifice's job is simple - to provide the demon food and shelter. You still with me?"

Amu nodded, concentrating attentively on his words, drinking in the information like a thirsty man in the desert. Ever since she was little, she had wanted to know things, wanted to find more about the world. It was one lucky trait she possessed – she didn't have to read for her exams so much that way.

He nodded in response. "When the blood is used to summon the demon, it is a solid contract. A blood bond has formed between the demon and the sacrifice - there is no going back.

"This blood bond ensures that the demon will get his needs fulfilled – after some time, the sacrifice becomes attached to the demon because of this bond, and it affects the demon too.

"The bond enables the sharing of emotions and other nice things, hence why the two participants will become fond of each other. Many times they even grow so attached, that they eventually become mates.

"Unfortunately, there is also a downside to this." He sighed again - clearly she was going to hear something not that good.

"You see... Demons live longer than humans. That's a widely known fact, even though the reputation of demons has changed into blood-hungry mass-murdering folk.

"So that's where the finalizing of the bond comes into play. That... takes the mortality of the sacrifice, and so the sacrifice will no longer be human, but one of us. That way the sacrifice will live as long as the demon will.

"The thing is, you can't choose, if you take the finalizing or not. Eventually it has to be done, or both participants will suffer greatly and become only shadows of their past selves."

He closed his eyes. "And with our case, it's completely the same. I am the demon and you're the sacrifice."

There. He had said it. There still was many things to be said, but this was one of the most improtant things he needed to tell her. They had to do the finalizing, but that would mean that she would have to throw away her life as a human, she would have to get involved with the demon world, that was caught up in a blossoming civil war right now.

She would have to live longer than her family, longer than her friends, and watch as they age and wither when she herself would stay young for a long time.

Amu would never live a normal life.

She let out a breath and buried her face in her hands. This was all beginning to be too much for her to take. "Why? Why me..." She silently wailed.

"Why is this happening to me? Just..." She didn't know what to do. "There must be a way! There must be! They can't leave me like this! There has to be a solution!" She didn't want this. She wanted to be a human, wanted to lead a normal life, maybe have a couple of kids along the way and... She didn't want this! Why was this happening? She didn't even know the man!

It seemed that there was no choice, that they had to strip her from her mortality, rip the last bits of normality from her life.

If only she hadn't gone out yesterday, if only she would have eaten the natto and left to the store the next day. It all depended on bad timing. Her life.

"...how long?" she asked, face turned downwards, staring at her hands that were hidden under the table.

"Excuse me? How long what?"

"How long does it take before we have to do the finalizing?" She turned her head towards him.

"Oh... Well, I think we would last for a couple of years. It all depends on how strong we are then - the temptation to give in will be strong towards the end." Ikuto didn't look happy either. He didn't want to force this on Amu, that pretty pink-haired girl with golden eyes. He wasn't one of those more cruel demons who enjoyed the suffering of others, who were to blame for the bad reputation their people had. Not that it was a bad thing – it had brought them peace and protection from humans.

Humans. The lovely girl in front of him would never live a normal happy human life.

Amu nodded when he heard his response. Ikuto was pitying her, she knew that. And she hated it. She hated the look he gave him, the sad look that was directed at her misfortune.

She wouldn't deal with that. She wouldn't deal with this, damnit! Sure, she could accept to look after a demon, but to turn one herself? No. Just, no!

The chair made a scraping sound when it was pushed backwards and Ikuto winced at the loud sound. He looked up in confusion at her, wondering why she had stood up.

He gasped when she looked at her in the eyes – they were shining with newfound determination, and she was positively glowing.

"I am going to find a way. No one can stop me, no one! We will be freed from this.. this curse, and I am damn right going to make that happen!" She stated powerfully. Her resolution even shook Ikuto, it was so fierce.

Maybe their bond already started to show itself – the way her emotions flowed out of her into him was breathtaking. He could just taste her feelings, feel them like his own. He gasped and gripped the table to calm himself down.

"Then I'll help you." He didn't want this either. "I'll help you look for a way. But on one condition."

Amu looked at him expectantly. "Yes?"

"You still take care of the sacrifice's job. You'll feed me and provide me shelter." He couldn't go back to his world just yet.

Amu watched him intently for a while, looking for ulterior motives. When she found none, she nodded. "That's a deal."

They shook hands as a sign of a contract.

"There's the fridge and the couch is in the living room. You can sleep there until my family comes home from their vacation. Then we have to figure out something else."

&&&

They were sitting on the couch, flipping idly the channels on the tv, surfing mindlessly, when Amu turned to him.

"Tell me more about demons. I want to know more. And I bet it'll help in The Great Search." After their serious conversation, she had cheerfully dubbed their search for the solution as 'The Great Search'. In Ikutos opinion, it sounded like a cheap pirate movie or something.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Humm... Now that you live under my roof, I'd like to know what's your favorite food? What do you demons enjoy to eat, anyway?"

At this, Ikuto gave a big smirk that kind of frightened her.

"What?"

His smirk only widened. "There are many kinds of demons... Each have their own eating habits."

"There are? Tell me more about it."

"Well, I belong to the Tsukiyomi clan, so I'm a cat demon. Meow." He made a pawing motion with his hand.

Amu grinned at him. Even though he was infuriating at times, he knew how to be nice too. "What other demons are there? And what do you like to eat? Fish and milk?"

"You have lots of questions, girl. There are really many demons... I can't even remember all of them - there are so many clans. There are many animalistic demons, and of course your basic fairytale demons aren't always that far off... And the eating, it's not always that tangible," he grinned.

"...not that tangible?" Amu frowned. What was he talking about?

"We demons, we eat normal food too, yes... But I specifically said that you have to feed me, right?"

Amu didn't like the direction this was going. "..yes...?"

"We also eat pleasure."

The silence was deafening.

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, I'm not. And in fact, I'm a bit hungry.."

Amu glared at him with vehemence he didn't think was possible from the pink-haired girl.

"We have a deal. So you just have to endure this. You can start off with rubbing my feet - they're sore. All thanks to you, since carrying you was quite the tedious task – I never knew girls could weigh that much." He replied stingily. Ikuto 1 – Amu 0! Scooreeeee!

Needless to say, some time later Ikuto was decorated by multiple bruises and even more sore feet.

&&&

A/N: So this was chapter 2! I Hope you liked it ^^ This was kind of a "bridge" chapter, so all the fun will begin in the next chapters. And once again, sorry for the delay! I'll update the other chapters sooner.
This was kind of short, sorry for that. The next one will hopefully be longer.

Thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts! They make me so happy ^_^

Liked it, hated it – tell me your opinion with a review 8)