Shugo Chara Fan Fiction ❯ Return of the Cat Boy ❯ The Figure From My Dreams ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

A/N: And now the interesting stuff can begin. Amu's pov again.
Amu walked down the street the next morning, her uniform on and Charas buzzing around her head. She’d been sad that morning when she’d awoken and remembered the dream. It had been so amazing, more than she’d hoped for. But it had also made waking up kind of bittersweet, and set her into a sort of melancholy mood.
Because of this, she’d gotten up early and rushed through everything, hoping to get to school where her mind could find some relief from the constant remembering.
Amu sighed as she walked in the front gates, and paused, shocked when she saw that the entire gang was there.
“What are you all doing here so early?” she asked, her fake persona automatically falling into place. She smiled brightly as she approached.
“Ah, Amu-chan,” Nagehiko smiled, “we did call you…”
“But you didn’t pick up,” Tadase finished. “We were about to go over and get you.”
“What for?” Amu looked at them all with innocent eyes-fake eyes.
“We have a problem,” he frowned. “We’ll discuss this in the garden.”
The large group moved to the Royal Gardens, which was similar to the elementary one, but bigger and with larger furniture. The Guardians seated themselves around the table, their Charas floating above their shoulders. Nagehiko wasn’t an official Guardian, but he was considered something along the lines of ‘Vice King’s Chair’ to them all.
“Now can you tell me what we’re here for?” Amu acted nice and excited, when on the inside all she really wanted was to go to class. Maybe have that dream again…but she was dragged back to reality once more when Tadase smiled at her, and she had to fake a blush.
“There has been a recent rise in X eggs, as you may have well noticed,” Tadase said, his smile fading. “This meeting’s purpose is to address this problem. We’ve decided to start hunting in shifts for them once again with the Joker…Hinamori-san, I hope you don’t mind?”
Amu smiled at him, and she was skilled enough to make it appear as though it reached her eyes. “I don’t mind at all!”
He grinned at her before continuing. “On top of that, we have a new student today who has a Shugo Chara and is offering to help us, so they’ll be acting as a sort of ‘Vice Chair’ like Nagehiko is for the King’s Chair.”
“Who is it?” Yaya asked as she reached into the center of the table to nab one of the cookies, then grabbing another to hand to Kukai, who smiled kindly at her. “Is it a boy or a girl?”
Tadase shook his head. “I don’t know. We were merely sent a letter informing us of this from the original King’s Chair, and we sent back notice to have the new recruit come here today. It was all quite sudden. We’ve been given permission to skip the first two of our classes to fill in the new member and arrange things properly.”
Amu cheered with everyone else, pretending to be ecstatic at the two free periods prospect, but she was actually disappointed about it. Those two classes would be spent sitting here, focusing on keeping up her fake character and her mind drifting. That was a dangerous thing right now, and she’d rather be in class where she could focus on classes and not worry about thinking about anything else.
Suddenly, a classmate of theirs walked into the garden and stood at the foot of the stairs leading up to the pavilion the table they were seated at was on.
“Um, there’s a new student outside who says he has a meeting with you, he wanted to know if it was a good time.” He stared up at them, wide eyed.
“Tell him it’s okay,” Tadase replied smoothly. The boy smiled before scurrying off and leaving them alone.
“Seems like it’s a he, and he’s here already.” Nagehiko said, sipping at his tea. “Let’s hope he’s a nice one.”
Amu glanced at Rima, who hadn’t said a word the entire the time. She just sat there and listened, sipping her tea. Calm as could be. Amu sometimes wished she could be like Rima, so cool and collected…
“Long time no see, Guardians.”
All of the Guardians froze in what they were doing, slowly turning to look to the bottom of the steps where the voice had originated. There stood the one person Amu had least expected-but at the same time had most wanted to see.
Tsukiyomi Ikuto sneered at them all, his tail out and waving behind him. He looked over each of them before his gaze finally settled on Amu.
“Hello….Amu-chan.”
Amu stared at him, her eyes wide as a million emotions swept through her. Unfortunately, before she had time to voice any of them, Tadase took over.
“What are you doing here Cat?” he said, voice cold and clipped. His eyes were slits as they glared at Ikuto.
“How rude, Kiddy King,” Ikuto replied in a mocking tone, looking away from Amu for a moment to glance at Tadase, “I’m gone four years and this is the welcome I get?”
“You aren’t welcome.”
Ikuto’s grin was condescending as he climbed the steps, hands in his pockets. “Now, you see, I beg to differ. From what I understand you need all the help you can get.”
Tadase’s mouth tightened, but before he could respond Nagehiko took over. “You’re right, we do need help. We’ll gladly accept you, Tsukiyomi-san. We’re no longer enemies, anyway.”
Ikuto nodded at Nagehiko before pulling up a chair, and the one he chose was right next to Amu.
Amu was suddenly nervous, and began to fidget with her skirt in her lap-bunching and unbunching it. Tadase merely grimaced and asked in a cold tone, “How is it that you’re in school, Tsukiyumi-san?”
Ikuto smirked at him, “I was on the run for four years and couldn’t finish school. So, I’m going to have my last two years here.”
His excuse made sense, and Tadase couldn’t argue with it. At least, not if he didn’t want to look like an obnoxious jerk. So he shut up and allowed Nagehiko to continue and explain about the search schedules.
Amu continued to fiddle in her lap. She suddenly found it impossible to listen to what the others were saying, and to keep up her outside character. It had all shattered to pieces the moment Ikuto had appeared.
“Amu-chan.” The whisper came from somewhere near her right ear. She jumped slightly, and Tadase noticed, his face set in a grim line, but Nagehiko didn’t pause, so he couldn’t interject.
Amu knew that this was what she’d been waiting four years for, but now that it had finally happened, she didn’t know quite what to do.
Good thing Ikuto suddenly took over.
He leaned forward, and Amu felt him suck her earlobe into his mouth. She blushed scarlet-the first real blush she’d had in a long time.
“Amu-chan,” Ikuto repeated. “Why are you so red? You weren’t this embarrassed last night.”
Amu jolted in her seat and turned to look at him. “What are you talking about?” she whispered harshly.
He smirked. “You caught me off guard last night, Amu. But now I’m fully in control. You can’t tell me you don’t remember pushing me up against a desk, can you?”
Amu’s eyes widened. How could he know about that? Unless…, “That wasn’t a dream.”
Ikuto raised an eyebrow. “That hurts, Kitten. How could you think it was a dream? You kissed me so forcefully-”
She didn’t let him finish the sentence, because she had shot up so fast in her chair had fallen backward, and Ikuto just barely managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Amu stared up at him, face pink and eyes wide. He was smiling, and Amu realized that while the other Guardians were shouting their worry, none had stood so none could see them when they were bent this close to the ground.
Apparently Ikuto noticed this too, because his face suddenly became serious, his eyes blazing with a tender affection she’d only seen in her dreams, including the one last night. He leaned down and softly, affectionately brushed her lips with his in a sweet, chaste kiss.
As he pulled back, he whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye,” before pulling her and the chair upright once more.
Amu’s face was the darkest shade of red it had been in a long time, and a part of her liked that very much. So when Nagehiko suggested that the first pair should go egg hunting now and they’d get an excuse to miss school today, Amu jumped at the offer.
“Ikuto-kun and I will go!” she said, raising a hand up high in the air.
“Hinamori-san,” Tadase turned to her, shocked at the honorific and the suggestion, “are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather go with Kukai or myself?” He gave her one of those disarming smiles.
Amu just stared at him, and with the character she’d had for four years suddenly gone, shattered to pieces, even, she found herself left with her true self. With Ikuto by her side once more. And this new Amu had more confidence than the old one, was wiser, but still managed to trip over herself when flustered. In almost every way, she was back to her old self. But there was one thing this Amu wouldn’t do, and that was blush for Tadase.
So when Tadase asked this question, the immediate response from her was, “No.”
Tadase looked taken aback, and as Amu stood up, taking Ikuto’s hand and making to leave, appeared as though he would protest.
“Let them go, Tadase,” Nagehiko said, placing a hand on his shoulder. Tadase looked shocked, but quieted and sat back dejectedly.
Amu looked into the eyes of her friend. She needed it to be Ikuto who went with her now, because she needed to talk to him, confirm what she’d believed was impossible for years. And as she looked into Nagehiko’s dark eyes, she saw that he knew that, had always known that. That he’d seen from the very start that Amu hadn’t been showing her true self to them for four years. And that now that she was once again, he was happy.
Amu smiled tenderly at her friend, then commenced to pull Ikuto away, Charas following behind, who had the biggest grin she’d seen him with since the day she’d met him.



Miki followed behind Amu and Ikuto, lagging behind the other three as she kept pace with Yoru. The moment the cat Chara had come into the garden, he’d floated over next to her, and Miki liked that, was encouraged by that.
Except for the fact that she still had suspicions that he liked someone else.
“So, Miki, nya,” Yoru said, hesitantly, she noticed, “what kind of gifts do you like if it were say, Christmas, or something…”
Miki glanced over at him, noting the faint blush on his face and how he would not meet her eye. “Um, some new coloring supplies, I think.”
She watched intrigued as Yoru slapped himself in the forehead with one of those ‘no duh!’ looks on his face and proceeded to mutter to himself.
She had to admit, she had weird taste in men. But when she looked over once more and saw how cute he looked, she believed that wasn’t such a bad thing.