Soro-chan: Second challenge fic requested by Queen Rima. Again, another fantasy-ralated fic, or maybe supernatural? I'll go with fantasy. Although I do suck at these kinds of fics, I hope you all will enjoy this! :) Rated T for umm perverted actions, ne? x) I don't own Shugo Chara!

Shards of Sin

She cried. The dew from her sunshine-colored morning eyes shimmered as they escaped beyond the rims and staining the porcelain surface of her face. No sun shone on this clouded day, no bird chimed in the dawn's breeze, no sight of blue skies reached a single iris in the valley. Not to Hinamori Amu.

Hope was far from her wretched, cursed hand. How could she have done this to her family, to her fiance, and worst of all...

To herself?

Did she even deserve to live?

"No," Amu whispered, burying her face into her hands as she knelt in front of her shrine. "Please... Please forgive me... Kami-sama. What I had done was... was nothing short of unforgivable. But still, I love-"

"What are you asking that old geezer to forgive you about?"

Rose hair froze straight as the girl jumped. She timidly turned around, finding one person that in actuality was not a person at all. "Ikuto... what are you doing here?"

"I didn't see my lover beside me on her bed when I woke up, so I went to go find the kitty that escaped," he purred softly, walking over from the distant tree he was at to kneel beside Amu. "So again, explain to me why you are here?"

Amu was silent, still praying. Ikuto grew impatient.

"Amu."

Still she closed her eyes in silence, her bottom lip quivering. The person who was not a person swung his arm around her and held her neck to his face as he caught those shaking lips with his. Warmth passed through the two, slowly filling the abyss in their hearts. Even when her face grew scarlet and she had run out of breath, he kissed the very life out of her.

"Ngh..." she muttered out of breath as he released her. "In front of the shrine, Ikuto?"

"I'm not afraid of him," Ikuto said. "I'm only afraid of one thing - and that's losing you, Amu."

She shook her head, not daring to look at him. "We both... both of us... last night, it wasn't-"

"It was real," he breathed in her ear, lightly nipping on it. "As real as this," he cupped her breasts through the pale-colored kimono she wore. "As real as this," he repeated as he planted kisses down her neck. "Realer than this," he playfully smirked as he squeezed her left bottom cheek lightly.

"I-Ikuto!" she squeaked in embarrassment. "S-stop this! I didn't say it wasn't real," she hissed at the youkai. The youkai... the demon. The demon she fell in a forbidden, deadly love with. The demon that just as forbiddingly loved her back.

The demon named Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

"It wasn't right," she finished her sentence. "It wasn't right, Ikuto. I am betrothed. I have a family whose values are completely against this relationship we have! I am... I am supposed to be an exorcist!" Fallen drops splatter onto his non-existent shadow. "I am... the heir of the Hinamori Temple..."

"I know," he whispered soothingly, patting the girl's back as softly as he could, careful to not let his lengthened, sharp nails cut into her clothes. "I know that is what you are."

"And yet I... I... I still!"

"Shh," he tussled her into a desperate hug. "Hush. Your words hurt me as you speak them. They are like spell-sealed arrows piercing through my heart, making me bleed from the inside. Every time you speak of the opposition, I bleed just a little more."

"Ikuto!" she threw her arms around her beloved. Demon or not, she loved him. She didn't care that he was the one bringing in all the spirits that were harassing the villagers, although she should be. She didn't care that he was the one she should've exorcised months ago, but she should be. She didn't care that with this relationship, she was betraying her family, her fiance, and her life's original purpose.

But she should be. She should be caring. She should be caring so, so much. But she wasn't caring. If anyone ever found out, her fiance would break the engagement and then kill her youkai. Her family would disown her and leave her in the streets to fend for herself. The villagers would do ill against her. But worst of all, she knew that she would just be deserving of all that, for the number one rule in her family had been drilled into her mind since she first began training her spiritual powers.

Never sympathize, love, nor become attached in any way to anything in the world which is not ours.

That rule did not exclude youkai. And she broke that rule. She broke it into shards of sin. She loved a youkai.

And she gifted him her virginity no less.

Not even Kami-sama would forgive her, not even if she begged on her knees for a thousand years.

"Do not wail in despair, Amu..." Ikuto whispered. "I, too, have broken a golden commandment in my world. I cannot love a human," he said. "And yet here I am, completely heads-over-heels for my Amu-koi."

She blushed. She always did when he called her that daring nickname. "I-Ikuto, don't call me that, p-pervert."

"Why not?" he smirked, kissing her forehead. "Just relax, koi... Everything will be okay. This isn't our first step. This is our final step. We're bonded. Nothing can stop our relationship."

She looked up, planting her lips upon his cold cheek.

"If life worked that way Ikuto, I would have loved you a thousand years ago."

"Which means I could have enjoyed you a thousand years ago. How dare you make me wait," he teased. "How about another session to make up for those thousand years of patience?"

"Wh-what?" she panicked as he pinned her down in front of the shrine. Her legs were between his, his strong hand holding both her wrists above her as the other picked up her chin to face him. "A thousand times for a thousand years?"

"P-Pervert!" she bellowed.

He smirked and kissed her in such a passionate way that no human and demon should ever share a kiss. As the love commenced, so did one man's footsteps away from the scene of the crime. His crimson eyes deceived his eyes, he believed. In no way could his fiancee, he thought as the blonde strands in his hair followed behind his hurrying silhouette, have done that. She couldn't have.

Tadase continued to deny the evidence as he rushed towards the Hinamori Temple.

He wouldn't let that youkai drag his betrothed down. No, he would not.

He swore on his family's honor.

Amu clumsily tripped on her loose sash as she stumbled into her household - the Hinamori Temple. She quietly tip-toed inside, hurrying to retie her sash around her waist. The youkai couldn't even do her a favor.

"Seeing you on the verge of undressed still turns me on despite the past hour of passion. So go on. You don't want to make your family wait now, do you? The youkai laughed, his indigo hair ruffling in the wind as he disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving the disheveled rosette in the middle of the forest, alone, in front of a shrine they just shamed, while her kimono was improperly reworn.

"That perverted demon's going to pay," she muttered to herself as she walked inside her room. Shuffling inside, the struggled to do the sash behind her back before suddenly, it was perfectly tied. "Wha-"

"Amu," Tadase spoke in a soft voice. "That perverted demon will pay, that is what you said, right?"

"T-Tadase," she stuttered anxiously, "I didn't see you come in. W-Were you in here the whole time?"

"Don't change the subject. Answer me."

"I never s-said that."

"Amu." his voice was more firm and stern. "Answer. The. Question."

"I have no answer for you," she spoke in the same stern manner he used. He grew angry.

"I will exorcise him to the world in which he belongs," he spat. "Since you could not. In fact, you've fallen into his very trap."

Amu glared at her so-called fiance. "Is that so? Mind explaining the trap to me?"

"It's simple. He's using you as an object to stay in this world. In gaining your affection, he also gains his freedom to roam the village, to destroy the village, and to shame the very temple your family has passed down to your hands in which you've dirtied."

"You are the same," she scoffed. "You simply want to take over the Temple for yourself as well."

"Delusional, that is what the youkai has made you," he whispered, caressing her jawline. "You've forgotten? The promise we made each other years ago in our childhood? The friendship we strengthened through the years? The love I've cultivated for the moment your heart is joined with my heart..."

She glazed her cold eyes over the person she wished to shut the fuck up. "You mean the excitement you've cultivated for the moment your penis is inserted into my va-"

"And so the youkai teaches you such crude vocabulary. Forget him, Amu. It is for the best that you do."

"It is for the best," she spoke loudly with fierceness evident, "that you leave my room now!"

"Forget him. He'll be gone by the end of the day," he said. "You can count on that," he murmured before exiting the room. The rosette sunk to the wooden floor, crouching her back over her lap as she sobbed into her hands. Because of her, her selfishness, her sinful self, even Ikuto was going to be hurt now. Everything was her fault. How could she make things right? "Kami-sama, please, how?" A bright light came seeping into her window, hitting the black-winged vase before her.

Then she stopped. And then she stood up. Love may not always prevail... but... Tadase was definitely out to exorcise Ikuto. She couldn't let that happen. She would do anything for him, she knew that much. If Tadase managed to somehow hurt Ikuto though...

"Not if I can help it." Then she rushed out the door. She was going to save that youkai - whether she left behind her family and former beloved friend for that or not.

By the time she had rushed outside, she found the two sparring already far outside the temple. In an attempt to interfere, she ran towards the two: Tadase in his white and red hakama, spiritually empowered katana in his hand as he jabbed at the nimble, feline youkai. Ikuto dodged his attacks fairly easily, his black shirt embellished with a silver cross glistening in the light, his black pants untouched. Ears perked out from his attractively rustled blue hair, eyes piercing through the exorcist. One of his hands was armed with a unnaturally large claw.

His indigo-furred tail snatched the katana from the blonde and snapped it in half with some difficulty, but not much. Tadase flinched as it broke, the power he bestowed upon it causing a part of him to crack as well. He whirled around and summoned a more powerful weapon - a Kami scepter. An enormous amount of his energy was spent just making it appear before him, and using it was a completely different matter. A weapon blessed by Kami-sama himself was not one that was simple to use.

Tadase directed the scepter at Ikuto, a golden beam flashing towards the youkai, Ikuto flew and slammed into an invisible force on impact just as Amu reached their battle. A barrier kept her from stopping their fight, leaving her unable to do anything at a thirty feet distance. What could she do? She was going to lose someone soon. A friend she had cherished since childhood, or a lover she would sacrifice anything for.

A lover she would sacrifice anything for.

The message Kami-sama had sent her.

That was it.

"Kami-sama, thank you."

"Amu!" her family cried out. They had just gotten back from the exorcism request in the nearby mountains. "Amu, what are you doing? Come back here," they said. Midori and Tsumugu tried to get to her, but Amu had cast a barrier around herself. Her powers were far stronger than that of her parents despite the age difference. Ami was busy gawking at the battle between Ikuto and Tadase, who were too immersed in the other to notice the ritual Amu was performing, nor the Hinamori family desperately trying to get her to stop.

The two only noticed when suddenly, a force was emitted from the Hinamori Temple. A force like that only happened when a youkai entered the premises, and the force would thrust the being out. Tadase looked over, and during that small distraction, Ikuto clawed right through his scepter and ripped through his hakama. The blonde dropped to the ground, the pain endlessly streaming through his being from the broken scepter vacuuming his powers. His eyes slightly opened to find Amu, and to his alarm, he found Amu, and yet... It wasn't Amu.

It wasn't his Amu.

Ikuto immediately broke the barrier placed around him and Tadase from him being weak, and pain again coursed through the blonde's body. The Hinamori family was too shocked to do anything from the Temple grounds as Amu stood in front of the gates, flexing her fingers and gazing at her five-inch long, black nails embedded with red x's.

Her hair was longer, flowing ravenously around her as a strong aura emanated from herself. Her shirt resembled that of Ikuto's, but instead of a cross though, there was a red x. Her black shorts were studded, and she had red, tipless gloves on, with striped black and red knee-high socks. Large, black wings with streaks of red feathers spread out from her back.

She had become a youkai.

"In return for becoming a youkai," she explained to no one in particular as she tested out her wings in the air, "I gave up my humanity and spiritual powers... all of them." She turned around to face Ikuto, whose face was so readable that it could have transformed into a book. "For you."

His mouth was open agape in awe. "You're beautiful," he said. Tadase grimaced on the ground. She performed a sacrifice ritual. Sacrifice rituals were usually performed by giving up a thousand fresh souls, a massacre performed, to summon the ritual power needed. Of course, you could also just give up your life and spiritual powers, as Tadase had just recently learned a few seconds ago.

Her family gaped in shock and disgust. "Amu... how could you?" Midori and Tsumugu criticized. "You're disowned!"

"As expected," she sighed. "I'm sorry, mama. Papa. Ami..."

Ami gazed at her sister, smiling. "Onee-chan! You're so beautiful!" she squealed. "Are you a dark angel, nee-chan?"

"A youkai," Amu smiled, patting her little sister on the head. "I will always remember you. Hell, I'm going to visit you. Even if I gave up my spiritual powers, I now have even stronger youkai powers. Mama and papa definitely won't exorcise me, so I'll still see you from time to time, I promise."

"Okay, nee-chan!" she laughed before Midori and Tsumugu pulled her into the safety of the Temple. Amu then walked over to Tadase.

"I loved you," he sighed. "I really did. But... I can't love a y-youkai."

"I know," Amu said. "But I... didn't feel the same. I still love you, but not in that way."

"I'll still find a way to get rid of Tsukiyomi. And I'll bring you back to humanity."

Amu laughed before Ikuto swooped down on his feline feet and wrapped his tail around Amu's waist, hugging her from behind. "I doubt you're ever going to massacre a thousand people for her sake, kiddy," he smirked. "Just give it up. She's mine," he teased the blonde.

Tadase groggily got up, retreating. But before he did, he turned around and gave a last smile. "Good bye, Amu. Good riddance, Tsukiyomi."

"Bye," Amu replied as Tadase left into the Temple as well. She turned around and kissed Ikuto. "Now that we're both youkai," she smirked, "there's no taboo anymore, is there?"

"All the guilt is gone?" he nipped at her neck. She giggled at the touch.

"Still guilty. I'm a youkai now! I gave up my humanity, family, my life, just for you, perverted cat." She huffed and puffed, cheeks reddening. "Why couldn't you become a human instead?"

He scoffed. "I wouldn't look nearly as sexy in human form. You, as a youkai though... I can't seem to stop the thoughts from running through my mind. I think it's time for you to visit my home in the youkai world now... it's going to be a long night," he winked as he carried her bridal-style.

"Hmmph," she huffed before opening one eye and kissing his cheek. "Stupid, perverted youkai."

"Your youkai," he smirked as they ventured off into the shadows. The shadows that could swallow a human whole. The shadows that claimed that a youkai could never, ever love a human and bring that human back to their home. The shadows that said the abyss of the heart could never be filled by the other kind.

In those shadows, two black abysses became filled with a rare warmth called love.

Love may not always prevail, but their love sure as hell did.

Soro-chan: There you go Cheryl! I hope you liked it! As for all of you minna-san, I hope you were able to cope with this seriously rushed ficlet :(

Hot, perverted nekos visit the dreams of those who review...