UPDATE: Hey everyone, I probably had you all worried I wouldn't be writing anymore for a while there. Well, after those storms the spring things only just kept getting more hectic. Also, I have moved from my old home and now live on the west coast. I plan to start writing the next chapter of the story TONIGHT and have it up with in the nest couple days. Even though you've all waited long enough all ready, please be just a tiny bit more patient.

Thanks to everyone for their support so far,

Samantha.

Okay, so here is chapter five of Ikuto's good deeds. And yes I included Tadase in this one and am making the two of them go to the dance together in this chapter, but she obviously can't go with her cat. Also, I don't hate Tadase, so I gave him sorta the antagonistic role as Ikuto's rival. It won't be portrayed often, but I really thought that I should show some tension between the two boys and keep that element the similar to how it was in Shugo Chara. Anyway, I hope you all like it!

Amu and her mom both sit on the edge of her bed, still talking over the situation. Looking up at the two of them, I decide to help move the conversation along a little by throwing in some animal charm. Hopping up into the spot beside her mother, I let out a small meow and reach up, pawing lightly at her arm. She glances down at me and I stare back up, then cat-kiss her elbow. Next thing I know I'm in her arms, held where my paws are on her shoulder and my back feet are in her hand. She gives me a tight squeeze with her other arm and then places me back on the mattress beside her. I shake my head. That was a bit more than I had been bargaining for. But hey, at least it got the kind of reaction I had been looking for- a positive one.

"He is very cute," She tells her daughter, patting the top of my head. "You shouldn't have lied about it though."

"I know that. I'm sorry. I just felt kinda bad for him and wanted to give him a place to stay." Amu really looks defeated right now.

Mrs. Hinamori nods again at the girl and then lets out a lengthy sigh. "When your dad and I get home from work tonight, we can all talk about this. But I'm sure he'll have no problem with a cat."

"Thanks mom!" Amu's frown disappears instantly, her eyes looking excited.

"Although…" The woman stands now, knowing she will have to leave soon to go to work. "…if you are going to have a pet, it'll be your responsibility to buy the things he needs like toys, litter and food. So you'll need money."

Amu nods at her mother and stands as well now, giving the woman a hug comparably tight to the one her mother had given me. This must be a family of people who love to hug. "Don't worry, I'll get it taken care of! And we can talk about this tonight!"

With that her mom leaves the room, giving her daughter an understanding smile. Ami follows behind her mother only after being called, looking over her shoulder at me with a pouty frown. Man, that must be the only thing I am not looking forward to about being allowed to stay here. I'm not a toddler's toy, by any means.

Amu turns and looks at me, looking shocked by her mother's reaction, or rather her lack of a bad reaction. A huge smile fills her features as she scoops me up in her arms, cradling me like a baby. I just stare at her, finally allowing my body to relax.

"I'm just glad it all worked out." She tells me as I walk beside her on her way to school.

"Yeah, I'm just happy I'm not confined to only one room anymore. It's too cramped for me." I whine back at her, earning a pointed glance from the corner of her eyes.

Instead of scolding me however, she just becomes quiet. Like usual, there is something on her mind and she seems to find it easier to deal with whatever-it-is all by herself. I shake my head, purposefully bumping against her leg. I can feel her eyes on the back of my neck and instantly my body goes tense. "I-if you need to talk about something, you can. Nobody is going to fault you for having worries."

"Yeah I know. I'll tell you about it at home…" She leans down, holding her thumb and index finger in front of my nose. I react without thinking about it, giving her a light cat-kiss on her hand. Mmm, her hand is so soft. When I realize what I just did the hair on my back begins to raise up a bit and I take a step back.

"Do what you want. I'll see you at home." I tell her in an even tone, before turning and walking away. Jeez, it's so easy to be teased when I'm in this body. I chance a glace over my shoulder at her and see her talking to Tadase. I feel my claws come out a bit. I really don't like him.

"So, what was on your mind this morning?" I ask, hopping up on the bed beside her as she flops down.

"Well, there's a dance coming up at the school. It'll be on next Saturday night, the day after the Classical Music event and…I don't have anyone to go with." She buries her face in the pillow, her body language that of a person who's completely drained. It must have been a long day for her.

"You're saying no one's asked you yet?" This is completely shocking to me. If I were human now, I would have asked her. Grant it, she wouldn't have believed me or even taken me seriously in the slightest way, but I still would have taken a shot at it.

"Well, that's the thing," She finally lifts her head, turning to look at me. "It's a girls-ask-guys event. So I will have to ask someone."

"They've never done anything like that before." This is also news to me. I had known about dances at school. I'd even gone to just a couple, to see what they were like. I don't remember there ever being an actual event for girls asking guys out. Usually, they just did that on their own because girls are fickle like that.

"Yeah, the student council president and committee decided on it last month and announced it a few weeks ago. But I can't really get up the courage to ask the person I want to." She lays her head back down, at a complete loss. I place my paw on her shoulder, lowering my head a little bit. I already know who it is she wants to ask out, but I can't help but ask about it anyhow.

"It's that 'Tadase' kid again isn't it?" Jeez, I'm acting like such a pansy. Why do I even care this much if she likes some kid at school? It's none of my business anyway.

"Yeah, but I doubt that he's not taken yet." She replies, her face downcast and dim. What a bad attitude. Does she have to pout for a while before making every decision? But then again, she does have a good point. That might actually be true. If even she likes that kid, then he must be pretty popular in her grade.

"Well, if you can't ask him, why not one of your other friends?" I suggest, trying to be helpful. She only shakes her head, shooting it down. Well, I can't really help her if she's just going to be completely negative about all of this. "You're being really difficult about this..."

"I'm just being realistic. Kukai is in your grade and Rima is going with Nagihiko. Yaya is still in middle school, but she's going because the class president is taking her." She turns over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling blankly. Her mouth set in a frown, her eyebrows crinkled in frustration, she digs her hand into her pillow. It's a good thing she's holding that pillow right now and not me.

"Well, you could just ask him." I look the other way when Amu starts to stare at me in surprise. I may not like him, but I can't go with her so why should she not at least give it all she's got? She can do at least that much. "You never know if he's gonna say yes or no until you ask. The worst that he's gonna say is 'I'm going with someone already'."

When she begins to giggle, I turn to her feeling my tail fan out a little in frustration. Why is she laughing at me? I was being completely serious.

"Come on…you don't have to laugh…" I pout, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "…it seriously isn't funny."

Shaking her hand at me as if she's taking an eraser to the conversation, her giggle fit subsides. I watch her, expecting an explanation for her behavior.

"It wasn't anything like you're thinking, honest…" She pats the top of my head and then swings her legs over the edge of the bed, sitting up and looking much brighter than before. Her smile holds my attention. "It's just…you actually sounded mature for a second there and it threw me. That's all."

She moves to her desk to start on her homework before dinner while I contemplate whether I had just been insulted or not.

"Amu, dinner!" Her father calls up the stairs. She closes her book and picks me up, carrying me down. As they eat dinner and talk about me while I roam around under the table, I can't help but get the feeling that she's introducing me to her family. It makes me smile inwardly. It's nice to be so close to her and her family, though I can't put my finger on why exactly.

"So you found him Amu?" Her mother asks, then takes a bite of food.

"Yeah, I found him that day that I went to the mall with my friends a couple weeks ago." Good idea leaving out the part about completely blowing her allowance on buying me. That might actually convince them that I shouldn't stay here. We don't need that to happen.

"I see," Her father chimes in. "well, you know you'll have to care for him yourself right? He is your responsibility from this point forward."

"Yeah I know." Amu nods at her parents. "I'll take good care of him I promise. I'm going to start looking for work so that I can pay for what he needs." She stands up and goes over to place her plate in the sink, then returns to the table and re-seats herself across from her mother and father. They both smile with approval.

"Well, as long as you know that much," Her mom tells her, collecting the remaining plates from the table. "We're fine with you keeping him."

"We're all happy you're keeping him!" Ami joins in the conversation, taking her plate to her mother. "Now I wanna play with kitty!"

Just like that, the moment is completely broken. She bounds toward me and I take off, hiding under the couch. I hear Amu laugh.

"I think he has a problem with younger kids." She says as Ami tries to reach for me and I try to evade her. "By the way, there's a dance at the school coming up. Since I'm doing much better in science now, can I go to that as well as the classical music event?"

"Go ahead." Her mother says. "Have fun dear."

"A dance?" Her father asks. "Like one that you go to with a boy?" I can practically feel the tension in the room when it goes silent. I peek out from under the couch while Ami's attention is on the conversation.

"That's right." Amu replies, looking at her father as if she's about to be punished for something she hasn't done wrong.

Just at that moment her mother cuts in, looking at Mr. Hinamori. "Dear, it is just a dance."

He turns to protest but abandons that mission when he realizes how deep the look of annoyance is on his wife's face.

"Yes honey." His sigh is one of defeat, deep and heavy.

While Ami is still distracted, I sneak off to Amu's room, hiding myself there until the pinkette comes back up. When she closes the door I finally come out of hiding, jumping onto the top of her desk. She looks at me and smiles.

"I'll try asking him tomorrow."

"Ok." I say in an even tone, trying not to sound too interested, but am smiling inwardly.

She finishes up her homework tonight with a little bit of help from me and then she gets changed and climbs into bed, making a spot for me beside her. I jump up and curl in tightly at her side. It's almost starting to feel normal to me now to be beside her each night.

When she heads to school the Monday morning, I trail behind her. I know she said she'd try to tell him, but knowing her, she'll probably wimp out and not do it. I'm just going to make sure she actually keeps her word.

"Tadase-kun?" I hear her ask, sounding entirely way too shy. I can't help but want to roll my eyes. Why does she have to act like a ditz when he's around? She isn't really like that.

"Yes, Amu?" When he responds to her, she looks down at the ground and I show my teeth a little.

"You said you would. Don't be dumb." My tail twitches from side to side lazily. She better go the hell through with this or I'm gonna get pissed.

She turns back toward the kid. "Umm…I was just wondering if….if you…" Before she can get it all out someone interrupts, a boy with short dark hair and glasses.

"Excuse me, Hotori-san? Can I see you for a second…I need to go over this month's class budget with you." He tells the blonde boy, who answers with a nod. Well, she can't really interrupt him now. He's probably treasurer or something like that.

Amu walks off to her classes, looking rather sad once again and I turn and head off to the house. Now what? If she doesn't ask him soon, she won't be going to that dance at all. That aside, if she doesn't get to go or doesn't ask, I know she's going to be in an extremely bad mood. Maybe I can try and cheer her up some after she gets home from school and goes job searching. Who knows? It may even be worth a good deed if I help her with this. She'll feel a little better, I'll be that much closer to becoming human again and the best part of it all: she won't have to go to the dance with that Tadase kid after all.

I stop in my tracks. I don't even understand why that suddenly matters so much. I never noticed this boy or the fact that she liked him before I turned into a cat or before I had to be around her all the time. At that, just because I am now aware of it doesn't mean it should matter. What should matter is getting these deeds done so I can be a human again! I run off toward the house, heading straight up to Amu's balcony once I am there. I lay down on the hard concrete, pouting about this whole thing until I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. Who needs all this anxiety?

I am awakened by the glass door sliding open sometime later. Amu comes over to me, her hands on her hips. "What are you doing out here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? The Tango?" She crosses her arms at my smart-ass remark. I look at her as if she has lobsters coming from both her ears after letting out a long yawn. "I'm sleeping."

"Well I see that you're sleeping, but why out here? The sun must have been baking you like you were in an oven." She shades her eyes from the sun with her hand, looking up at the sky as if she needs to further elaborate.

"Well, you're going job searching today. We better get going or there isn't going to be much daylight left to get it done." I tell her, standing up and stretching out. "I'll be waiting down on the sidewalk whenever you are ready to go." With that said, I leap down from the balcony and wait for her.

After about ten minutes, she is wondering through town holding a newspaper classifieds page and a pen for filling out applications. I follow quietly behind her, trying not to draw too much attention to the two of us. She stops in front of a local grocery store, then heads inside to get an application done. Next we head toward the mall, because most of the places seeking work are located there. I must wait outside yet again while she goes in to do her thing. As I look around I notice that they have begun to set things up for the music night.

After a good hour inside the mall, Amu finally emerges, looking way more than just pleased. She comes over to me straight away, lifting me off the ground and spinning around happily. However, the only effect this had on me is making me severely dizzy. "A-Amu...what are you doing?" I ask, seeing double when I gaze at her.

"I found a job! It's a videogame store in the mall and I'll get to work with Tadase-kun!" She squeals.

"I'm glad you found a job." I tell her honestly. I'm not glad he's working with you though. I decide to leave that part out, since I really don't see how it's relevant. "Let's get home so that you can tell your mom and dad you found a place to work." She nods at this, starting off at a run while still cradling me in her arms.

After having given it some thought for the evening, I turn and look at her as she stares at the ceiling. She still looks like that dance and everything surrounding it is weighing heavily on her mind. Girls sure do worry a lot about things like that.

"Hey, I thought of a way for you to ask Tadase to the dance." I tell her, keeping my tone even. This really is a pain. What am I? A match-maker? Like it's my job to figure out how to get her dates with other guys. She should be doing these kinds of things herself. She now looks over at me, her eyes practically overflowing with interest. I look away from her now, closing my eyes and resting my head on the pillow beside me. "You make a deal with him like your parents do. Say that since you're going to be working at the store with him, he should go to the dance with you. That way, is seems more like a favor being returned and isn't embarrassing in the least."

I peek open and eye to see her giving me a wide smile. She reaches out and gives me a long stroke down my back as a type of reward. I watch her while she turns back onto her back and gazes up at the light.

"Thank you Ikuto. You really are a good friend." When she says this, it's worth one thousand pats on the back to me for some reason. I feel my chest swell a little and move closer to her, smiling inwardly.

When she runs this prospect by Tadase the following day outside of the school, he is thrilled and accepts. Amu turns toward me and gives a grateful smile as the two of them walk into class together. I head off toward the house, looking down at my collar. The number has now changed again to a 96. I guess that really was worth a good deed, and honestly for as much grief as it caused me, it better damn well have been. I'm not cupid.

When Friday night rolls around at last, I'm more excited than I've ever been for some reason. I feel like a giddy little five-year-old on the night before Christmas. Amu pulls on a light jacket for when it starts to get colder at night and then slings a large, deep purse-looking thing over her arm. She glances at me.

"Well, get in."

"What?" I question, my neck craning in confusion. I'm not one of those little dogs that old, tacky ladies carry in their purses. I have legs, so I can walk.

"Well, if you want to go inside, you're going to have to conceal yourself. If you hold still enough, you should be able to hide in this." She tells me, opening the bag in front of me so that I'll be able to jump in. Seems to make sense when she puts it that way. I jump in, peeking through a small hole in the side. This should be just fine. That kid can have his night with Amu tomorrow and I'll have mine tonight.

When we get to the mall, everything is lit up like the carnival is in town. There are Christmas lights strung around the bushes and trees, streamers and lanterns hanging at almost every available space. There are new food stands set up to bring in more customers. My eyes widen in amazement, my mouth set in a contented line. This night could only get better if I were a human and could enjoy it. Amu walks inside, turning from side to side to look at the different activities and letting me have a good look at everything too. My tail flops back and forth excitedly just being able to see all these things. A bean-bag toss over on the left side of the mall's walk way, a small group of artists playing some classical music up ahead. I get to spend tonight alone with Amu as her friend. The only thing that would make thing night better is if I were human.

"Amu...let's go try the bean-bag toss!" I say excitedly, letting my love of music show. She's the only one who can hear me, so I can't really embarrass myself too much.

She heads over to it, taking some yen from her back pocket and handing it to the man. She gently sets me down so that I can watch from the side. I guess tonight I'll be living vicariously though her in addition to being hauled around in a purse. It's a good thing I'm an animal, because right now I don't feel manly at all.

Amu tosses the first one, just barely hitting the bottom of the wooden target.

"Come on Amu...don't be lame!" I shout at her from inside the bag, making her turn over her shoulder and scowl for a second.

She tosses the second one now and makes the second from the middle. The man behind the stand tells her that she can either pick a prize now or keep playing to win a bigger toy. She chooses to toss again and finally hits the bull's eye. I don't really get to see what toy she picks out because my field of vision is very limited inside of this bag. Next we head off to some of the stands doing presentations and then get something to eat at one of the restaurants. After playing watching her play a few more games, the main event of the night is the concert that they'll be having on the make-shift stage outside. She takes me out and gets an open seat near the front. Finally I am allowed to come out of the bag and sit on her lap.

When the music starts, she places her hand on my back and begins rubbing the back of my neck in rhythm to the violins. I close my eyes and lean my head back against her small, flat belly. Now this night has become really nice. Soft, flowing classical music ringing in my ears accompanied by the gentle touches on the back of my neck and head. The dusk breeze just blowing lightly through my hair. I don't think I've ever felt so at peace.

The following evening when she leaves to go to the dance, I watch her leave still feeling uneasy about the whole thing. I'm just feeling deeply annoyed at her spending the night laughing with him and talking to him instead of me. It's even more annoying that I feel this way in general. I never thought jealousy was an attractive trait and always said it was for little kids, but then here I am acting like one myself. I really am a hypocrite. Instead of giving the whole situation some though, I just head up to her room and curl up on her bed for a nap. Always a good way to deal with your problems: just avoid them altogether and do something else.

Well, that's it for chapter five. Ikuto's feeling a little depressed now huh? Well don't worry, since he got to have his time with Amu too. Please let me know what you all thought of it. And yes, this chapter only had one good deed in it because I didn't really want to throw in two or three of them this time. This chapter was meant to be a little more cute and sweet and is slightly shorter than before. I'll be throwing in a lot of touching moments for the two of them and including the other characters in future chapters too! Look forward to a lot more fun coming your way on Ikuto's journey to become human again.

Also, I do apologizing for updating at the very end of the week. Anyway, thanks for all of your support thus far! And try hitting that little blue review button and leaving some nourishment for my soul ok? haha;)

Also, I am currently considering getting a beta for this story. Even though I go over it many times, I do not catch all my mistakes because of my tired eyes haha. So if you are interested in beta-ing this story for me, send a PM and let me know.