Chapter Text
Previously...
"Ikuto-kun?"
I glanced over to see Midori and my mother staring at me by the opening of Amu's room; I froze still holding Amu.
N-now what?
I stood frozen in my spot, wondering what would happen now? Would Midori realize I brought Amu out of the hospital? I slowly lowered her onto the bed, thankfully she was still asleep or she would realized as well how possibly screwed we were, and covered her up with a blanket.
"H-Hi mom... Ms. Hinamori, I wasn't expecting you back..." I scratched the back of my head, pretending to be embarrassed.
"Why were you holding Amu like that?" My mother asked me, walking towards me as the same question spread over Midori's face.
"I didn't want her to catch a cold... so I lifted her up so I could cover her up," I lied, praying that they would fall for it.
"Ikuto, its the middle of the summer..." Midori sighed; why the hell did I say catch a cold...
The three of us stood there silent until we heard: "So, how was the festival?"
My head shot up towards the door and widened at the teen standing in the frame. Why is she here?
"Ah~! Saaya-chan," The name of the brunette girl was venom in my throat.
My hand molded into a fist as I spit out: "What the hell are you doing here?" with as much anger I could muster without waking Amu up.
"Oh~ Iku~to-kun~!" She squealed loudly that my anger shot through the roof as a side thought wondered if Amu had woken up.
I didn't want to chance a glance to see if she had woken up; I kept my focus on the bitch in front of me.
"Get. Out. Now." I could feel my mom and Midori's confused eyes on me.
It was Saaya's fault that Amu and I fought that day...
Her fault that Amu was kidnapped...
Her fault that Amu was crying the last time I saw her...
She even had the nerve to laugh about the kidnapping...
"Don't be so cold, Ikuto-kun~ I just wanted to see how Amu-chan-"
"DON'T SAY HER NAME LIKE YOU FUCKING CARE!" I yelled, not thinking of anything other than getting Saaya as far away from Amu as I could right now.
A soft moan and rustling of a blanket made me freeze; "Amu-chan, did we wake you?" A feeling of regret was filling me up as Midori past by me and over to her.
I was afraid to chance a look back but my body apparently hadn't understood that because the next thing I knew I was turned around, attempting to block the sight of Saaya from Amu's line of vision. I was slightly glad that the room was dimmed, not trusting the emotions that were probably obvious on my face, as I spoke: "Sorry I d-didn't mean to wake you,"
I could hear footsteps moving closer; I didn't dare a glance back to see who it was but the glimpse of soft curly dirty blonde hair appearing to my left was a comfort. I just I never figured that Saaya would move at the same time as my mother because the next thing I knew, that bitch's voice was to my right: "Ah~! Amu-chan~ Nice to see you after these two years~!"
I was nearly about to drag her out and threaten her when I heard the softest voice: "I... I..."
Amu!
My head nearly swung off my neck as I turned to Amu, who had lowered her face and hunched over.
"I... hate..."
Somehow a chill of déjà vu began crawling up my spine as with each word Amu spoke my eyes widened with fear until it all came together: "I hate you, Tsukiyomi" only this time she was crying not screaming.
My heart felt like it plummet through the floor before hearing a prideful snort beside me; without thinking, I immediately when with my former thought and I dragged Saaya out of the room quickly. Once we were right outside, I pushed her against the wall (Who gives a fuck that she's a girl?) as I threatened her: "If you ever come near Amu again, I will personally make sure everyone knows the truth about Amu's kidnapping! It was your fault! If you weren't so bent on proving the illusion that your better than her: NONE of this would have happened!"
I moved away before muttering: "Amu is the most important girl to me,"
"So that means you do like her," Does she always have to act so condescending?
"Yeah... and now because of you yet again... I've lost her," I growled, recalling the reason for the stupid fight.
Two Years Ago (Third Person's P.O.V.:)
"C'mon Ikuto! You promised!" Amu, sixteen-years-old, complained pulling harder on her best friend's sleeve.
"I'm coming... I'm coming..." Ikuto sighed, letting himself be dragged over to the small ice cream vendor.
He had promised Amu a chocolate ice cream cone if she passed her biology mid-term; needless to say with the idea of getting ice cream the rosette passed her mid-term with a 85%! The duo were taking their cones from the vendor when they heard a sadly familiar voice nearby: "Oh my~ Look, Amu's out on a little date~ with the boy she likes,"
Feeling curiosity fill him up glanced down at Amu before the girl turned around scoffing: "Who in their right mind would like him like that?"
Ikuto felt his heart sank as he too turned around to face Saaya, the most pompous bitch they knew at Seiyo High, with a bored expression on his face. He didn't want to show it but he had, over the years, developed a small crush on his best friend. He had hoped she felt a little the same as he did; maybe not...
"Aww~ poor Ikuto-kun! Forced to spend time with someone who doesn't even like you..." Saaya sighed, giving Ikuto sad puppy-dog eyes.
Saaya laughed as she headed back to whatever she had been doing, leaving the duet in an awkward atmosphere. Ikuto took the first step and decided to sit down on one of the empty park benches around them; Amu followed in suit.
"I can't believe it..." Ikuto muttered, wondering if what was said was true.
"I-I know right? Saaya really is an idiot... Me liking you like that... pssh," A nervous laugh escaped Amu's mouth before silence fell upon them again.
It wasn't until Ikuto finished his cone did he respond: "I meant I didn't realize I was such a horrible person that no one would even consider dating," ignoring how much venom was behind his words.
"I-I-I d-didn't mean it like that," Amu stuttered as she threw out the rest of her ice cream cone.
"Then what did you mean?"
"It's just we're best friends... have been since well forever so I-"
"So you can't ever see yourself liking me as anything more?"
"Ikuto wait, are you- do you... do you like me as more?"
A thick silence fell for a while before Ikuto coughed out with his back still facing Amu: "That's not important! After all, like you said 'no one in their right mind would like me'; so why bother liking anyone myself?"
"Dammit Ikuto! You know I didn't mean it like that!"
"Well you should have used different words!"
"What the hell is with you? Everyone makes us out to be a couple... and you've never let it get to you like this,"
Ikuto knew she had a point but he wasn't about to say the truth; that would be stupid...
"Maybe we should just stop being friends," He had meant that more of a joke than anything else in hopes to stop fighting over something like this.
When there was no reply, he glanced over to see his friend's hands balling into fist before hearing her spat: "Tsukiyomi. I hate you! I hate you!"
"She hates me... talk about déjà vu," I muttered under my breath alone outside Amu's hospital room; I lifted a hand to cover my eyes from wandering glances of the nurses and doctors before sobbing: "I've lost her again..." softly.
I slid my back against the wall that I had earlier pushed Saaya against; I couldn't care that I was an eighteen-year-old teenager sobbing in public over a girl. Amu was important to me and within these two years it only grew. I didn't want to accept it;; wouldn't accept it... but what choice did I have?
I must have been so in-tuned with my thoughts that I never heard soft footsteps approach nor the feeling of someone kneeling beside me because the next thing I knew I felt small arms wrap around my shoulders and a small frame pressed up against me. I lifted my head only to see a familiar pink to my left, which moved shortly after I did to reveal a perplexed Amu.
"W-what was that for?" I asked, confused and scared of what would come next.
"I'm sorry... those words... the ones I said earlier... I don't understand; why would I say those after you stuck by me?" She asked, eyeing me curiously.
I should have known her memory wouldn't come back all at once; I sighed muttering: "Maybe because those were the last words you ever said to me before you were kidnapped."
"You mentioned something to that girl about telling the truth about my kidnapping... Could you tell me what it was?"
As much as I was afraid of telling her the truth that might end up being a blast from an unfortunate past, I couldn't stop myself: "Where do I even begin? We were hanging out around the park because I owed you an ice cream of your choice, although I already knew what flavor you'd pick. Chocolate. Anyway, Saaya showed up and as usual started basically teasing you... saying you had a crush on me... which wasn't anything new... A lot of people constantly were under the impression we were dating. We weren't... just friends... hell we were best friends back then. You basically turned around saying: 'who in their right mind would like him?'... Saaya teased a little further before laughing and leaving us..."
I paused for a moment, not really wanting to continue but the look I was getting from Amu allowed the words to flow out: "I got mad... we argued back and forth and finally, you screamed you hated me and ran off... In short, for two whole years I've blamed Saaya... If she hadn't shown up that day, we wouldn't have had that stupid fight and you'd have been here instead of missing for two years."
"You're hiding something, aren't you?" Her question made my head do a 180 as she added: "I get the feeling that there's a little more... Why would get so angry with me if this was a common thing for us?"
Of course she'd pick that one up... As always Amu, you connect the dots even though this time I cut that part out...
"Because Saaya wasn't exactly wrong you see... One of us was out with the person they liked..."
"You're wrong... though I wonder... what was Saaya trying to prove...?"
"Who knows - wait... did you just say I was wrong?"
I stared at her astounded that she would say I was wrong when I'm not the one having trouble remembering stuff!
"Answer my question," She stared at me, waiting for an answer that would hopefully jog her memory.
"She was always trying to prove that she was better than you... which she was no where close," I sighed, a part of me hoping she would remember everything within the two years she went missing the the events that happened shortly before.
All Amu did was nod her head before sitting down next to me as she spoke: "I guess that makes sense why I would say something like that..."
I didn't bother saying anything because it felt like she had more to say: "I felt insecure considering I had a crush back then on my best friend... who most of the time seemed to treat me like I was still that little kid he used to know," I was about to speak when she continued on, "So that was the part you hid from me? The part that you liked me as well,"
"Yeah,"
"Man, we were stupid kids..."
"..."
"This doesn't mean anything... since I don't remember that event myself yet... that was just my 18-year-old perspective of that story, okay? So I guess we can just-"
"Just help you get your memory back... I'll stick by you like I've done since you've returned," I stood up, offering my hand to her that she took instantly.
"Promise...?"
"Promise,"
/-/ Without you, I was nothing... Now I'm left finding the pieces so that we can return to what we had /-/