Authors note:: Enjoy~ the more you review, the faster I shall update ~.O

C H A P T E R O N E:

Amu sat on her bed reading manga. It was August, and summer was almost over.

She flipped through the pages quickly soaking up the cutesy love and fun plot line, when she heard a familiar knock coming from her balcony. Ikuto.

Sighing slightly, she marked the page she was on, and placed the book down as she went to open the screen door to let him in

"Yo, Amu." His well-worn smirk made its appearance as he stepped into her room and plopped down onto her bed, carelessly flipping through the manga she had just been reading.

Amu felt her 'cool and spicy' outer character as she snapped "what are you doing here Ikuto?" and grabbed the manga away from him and put on the bookshelf.

Ikuto faked being sad "I'm hurt Amu. How come Rima and Naghiko can come and visit for no reason but I'm interrogated on arrival?"

A vein on Amu's forehead became visible out of her annoyance. "That's because, Rima and Naghiko are my friends." she crossed her arms and glared at him.

Ikuto looked down. "Right." Then he smirked as he suddenly pulled Amu closer "and we're much more than friends, right, Amu?" he said, teasing her.

Amu, enraged, screamed "HENTAI!" as she pounded at his arms to let her go, which he did after little resistance.

Running a hand through his hair, he stood up, and walked to the balcony.

"Catch you later, Amu." He murmured, as he gracefully jumped over the ledge.

Amu sat, bewildered at the side of her bed. Then shaking her head, she walked over to grab her shojo manga and read some more. Ran, Miki, and Suu popped out of their eggs as they exchanged knowing smiles.

Suu whispered, "It's love~desu!"

~*~*~

Down the street away from Amu's house, Ikuto walked.

The sentence played over and over again in his mind. That's because Rima and Naghiko are my friends. He growled softly. After all this time, she didn't even consider them to be friends? What was he to her?

Yoru flitted up from behind him, and worriedly glanced at Ikuto as he asked, "When are you going to do it, Ikuto-nya?"

They walked further away from her house

Ikuto swallowed and grasped the strap of his violin case tighter, shaking his head.

"Not yet. I.. need a little more time..."

Yoru, crestfallen, continued to look at Ikuto. The truth was, it would be harder the longer he waited.

Ikuto looked up at the pitch black of the night and the road that stretched endlessly before him, "…soon."

And they disappeared, two black cats into the night.

~*~*~

Gozen smiled as he looked at the plans laid out in front of him.

A worker explained the procedures as he nodded, inserting corrections and alterations where he deemed fit.

Finally, everything was complete. Everything was going according to plan.

He swirled around in his office chair, his face tainted by pure power and greed. "Ikuto… I have you now. With your precious Amu in my hands, you will bend to my every whim." He smiled at the brilliance of his plan, it could not fail.

With that, he reached over and took a cigar out of a golden covered box and lighted up

The embryo would soon be his.

~*~*~

Ikuto knocked on the glass of her balcony and watched as Amu came to open it slightly

"Go away I'm busy!" she yelled and attempted to slam the door shut.

Ikuto smirked, his foot held the door open

"mmhhmm Amu? I don't think so…I have no intentions of leaving just yet"

He invited himself in and watched as the flustered Amu attempted to shove him out "I have homework to do! Please! Come back tomorrow or something!" Ikuto darkened slightly

Tomorrow was the day.

He sat down at her desk at grabbed her small pile of worksheets. "Is this your homework?" he glanced at the elementary assignments.

She nodded "so?" Amu put a hand on her hip, glaring at him.

"Well…" Ikuto smirked. "Then, obviously, I could help you with this." He grabbed a pencil and illustrated filling out the papers.

Amu's face lit up in joy-the disbelief "why would you do that?" she snapped, her cool and spicy façade showing through.

Ikuto shrugged as he started to work on the multiplication homework for math.

-20 minutes later-

"I don't understand why you would do that!" Amu whined as Ikuto kneaded his forehead

He let out a short exasperated breath "Amu. Its not that hard, you multiply both the tens and the ones spot to each number to get the answer."

Amu frowned and grabbed the pen from his hands "I don't think so" she stated matter-of-factly as she began to incorrectly complete the problem.

Ikuto chuckled and let her do as she wished.

It was her homework, after all.

Soon, with Ikuto's help and a lot more arguing, all the homework was done.

They sat on Amu's bed, both reading random manga they found on the floor of Amu's room. He mumbled to himself, "you know..I don't understand why everyone always goes for this princely characters…I think the troubled ones are far more interesting…"

He got up to leave and Amu looked up to see what he was doing

"well.. I'm off." He mumbled softly

He was met with a cool and spicy "It's about time, you've been freeloading here all day!"

He walked over to the ledge and paused. This was the last time that he would ever be able to do something without her…hating him. The last time he had a chance to do anything.

He glanced back at the room to see Amu expectantly waiting for him to leave.

Slowly, he turned and walked back into the room, unsure of what to do next

"Ikuto? Aren't you leaving?" Amu interrogated, annoyed at his lingering presence.

He looked at her for a moment longer, taking it all in, then he turned away again.

"Yeah" he might of said, as he jumped of the side of the balcony.

~*~*~

Amu happily got out of a relaxing shower and grabbed a bottle of milk to drink on the balcony. "A bottle of cold milk after a warm shower is the best thing ever!" she informed her charas. They nodded, grinning. She told them this often, and they knew it well.

Just above her, sat a sulking Ikuto on the rooftop.

Tonight was the night. He had to do it now or compromise her safety which-

He gritted his teeth-

He would not let happen. He would not let Gozen near Amu. Ever. As long as he didn't care for Amu, or Gozen didn't think he cared for Amu, everything would stay normal. A shiver crawled up his back as he took in what he was about to do and he shuddered

He hopped down and landed right in front of a very startled Amu, who quickly started throwing objects at him

Normally this would be a great opportunity to tease her, but not tonight.

"HENTAI BAKA CAT GUY! GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" shouted Amu as she flailed her arms and tried to make sure everything was covered under the skimpy towel that she had donned after her shower

Ikuto's eyes were downcast as he murmured something about him leaving soon anyway. Yoru frowned sadly as he stared fondly at Miki.

"…Amu."

Amu stopped whining to look at Ikuto, and she realized for the first time that he look particularly sad tonight. "Ikuto?" she wondered what was wrong.

He walked past her frozen form into her room and his eyes scanned her room slowly.

Something…he needed to do something quickly—but what?

His eyes rested on her laptop perched on her messy desk. Throw it on the ground? But, no…too much

Frantic, his gaze flew all around her room. What could he do that would make her Angry?

An idea grew in his mind, and his eyes tightened a fraction.

Amu was behind him now, her hand tentatively resting on his shoulder, "Ikuto? What are you doing? Did you loose something…?"

He whirled around to face her, his gaze blank

He vowed silently to keep his eyes only on her face

~*~*~

Why was Ikuto acting so weird? He hadn't said a word about how she was only in a towel when normally he would have been teasing her to death by now.

She walked up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to talk to her

"Ikuto? What are you doing? Did you lose something?" she asked, frustration creasing her forehead

He stared at her for only a second, no emotion on his face—then

Amu gasped as his face enveloped into his famous trademark smirk

He leaned in to her until his lips were touching her left ear and whispered

"My, my, Amu. Someone's been naughty haven't they? Walking around—"

He quickly snapped the towel from out under Amu's hands—

"…Naked with older guys in your bedroom?"

Amu gasped in shock, trying to cover herself up with her hands

And with tears gathering in her eyes

But Ikuto had already turned around and Amu watched—frozen in shock—as Ikuto quickly dashed out of her bedroom, down the stairs and into the living room.

~*~*~

He took one last look at her face, and then forced his features into the familiar smirk he so often wore

He tried to keep from shaking as he leaned in and uncertainly began,

"My, my, Amu. Someone's been naughty haven't they? Walking Around—"

His breath caught and his fingers trembled. He trained his eyes onto a space on the wall across him

And

Quickly

With regret clouding over his mind,

Threw the towel out from under her weak hands, and left her naked.

He willed himself silently to say the next words,

"…Naked with older guys in your bedroom?"

He quickly sprinted out of the room, not wanting to see her hurt face…or anything else.

He found himself in the living room, staring at Amu's parents

And they stared back.

He then composed his face into a smirk and said

"Hmfph. Your daughter sure is a good ride, But I should be leaving now."

Amu's fathers eyes dropped out of their sockets and Ikuto cringed internally at the trouble he was getting Amu into.

He strolled out the door, as Amu's dad got to his feet and screamed a bloodcurdling, "AMU! COME HERE THIS INSTANT! PAPA IS VERY ANGRY!"

He ran until he was too far away to be seen, and sank into the depths of the shadows.

Yoru flitted around, eyes wide with disbelief at what Ikuto had just done

Ikuto closed his eyes slowly, and smiled a dry, bitter smile.

There wasn't a chance that Amu didn't despise him now.

Mission Accomplished.