Heyy :D Well, I was reading back through the recent reviews of My Star, and, as most of you have probably noticed already, some of them weren't so great :\ So I thought I'd try my hand at yet another new story.

I'm not going to discontinue that story, like I did with the Strawberry and the Violin (which is on the verge of being re-continued by the way :D), but I might just alternate on updating that one and this one, depending on how well this one goes.

And for this one, I got the idea from... a beer commercial :D Funny, how I shouldn't even be watching stuff like that...

Well... Here goes nothing then!

"Love is like a soda in its can. If you keep shaking it, over and over again, you'll never know what direction it will splash in."

Chapter One : Kissing You

Hinamori Amu firmly pressed the button to ring the doorbell once, taking a few steps back as she patiently waited for her friend to come to the door. Within a few seconds, the door burst open, revealing Tsukiyomi Utau, one of Amu's best friends.

"Amu!" Utau exclaimed cheerfully. "You came!"

Amu smiled brightly.

"Of course I came," She said, her voice slowly raising up to the level of excitement in her friend's tone. "Why would I miss your birthday party? It only comes one a year!"

Utau grinned that Hollywood- worthy smile. Truthfully, Amu felt a bit jealous of a smile like that. But then again, she was jealous of a lot of things that Utau had or was. It was perfectly normal to be someone as famous of a singer. And a famous singer was exactly what Utau was, while Amu was just another one of her friends.

A very close friend, for that matter.

"Anyways," Utau told her. "Come on in! Oh, and I'll take that for you."

Utau reached for the rather large birthday present that Amu had her arms wrapped around before stepping into the house.

Amu followed her friend in, instantly overwhelmed by the huge crowd already packed into Utau's house. There were so many different people, each one of them unique in their own way. Whether it was a bright, unnatural hair style or some funky outfit, everyone had at least one thing that made themselves stand out from the sea of people.

But one person in particular stood out to Amu more than anyone else in the room.

Sitting in the center of a large couch that was artfully placed off to the side of the room, sat a man. Amu didn't know what made him so noticeable out of everyone else around her. Maybe it was that completely bored expression on his face, as if he totally didn't want to be here in the first face. Maybe it was the way that his midnight-blue hair fell in front of his face. Maybe it was the fact that he was surrounded by a horde of attractive-looking women, all of which were being ignored by him.

Amu had no idea.

"Neh... Utau," She said, nudging her friend's arm. "Who's that?"

"Huh?" Utau asked confusedly, obviously having no idea on what Amu was talking about. Not that Amu could blame her. It was Utau's birthday party, after all. It was expected for the birthday girl to be totally preoccupied with every single of her guests.

"That one, over there on the couch." Amu pointed to the man that she was staring at. Once Utau saw who her friend was motioning to, she immediately looked disinterested.

"Oh," She said dismissively. "Him. That's my brother, Ikuto."

Amu's eyes widened in surprise.

"B-Brother?!" She stammered. "Utau, you never told me you had a brother!"

Utau looked up from whatever it was she was doing.

"I didn't?" She asked. "Hm... I guess it was when we first met, I kind of wanted to keep him for myself...."

Amu raised an eyebrow.

"Keep him for yourself?" She repeated, sounding unconvinced. "Why would you want to do something like that? He's your own brother for God's sake."

Utau stared right back at her.

"Oh trust me," She said. "If you had a brother that had looks like that, you'd want to keep him for yourself too. Don't even bother denying it."

Amu frowned. Her friend had a point.

"Well, not to sound nosy or anything," Amu inquired. "What made you stop?"

Utau stopped to think for a moment.

"That's a hard one...." She said slowly, still deep in thought. "I guess it was because after bothering him about it for years, something inside me realized that I was never going to be able to get him to love me like that. Of course, he'll always love me, as his little sister. Even though that wasn't what I had been aiming for... But I shouldn't think too badly about it, since he's never went out with any girls anyways."

Amu found that one really hard to believe.

"You're saying that he's never went out with anyone," She said. "Ever. I'm surprised that you haven't told me that he's been raped by some desperate girl yet."

Utau gave her friend a hard stare.

"Trust me." She said flatly. "You don't know how many times that almost happened. Which is part of the reason of why he won't go out with anyone. One, he's scared they're going to drug him and he's going to find himself in someone else's bed in the morning, and two, he always complains to me about how all the girls who have any interest in him are complete 'airheads'."

Amu nodded.

"I get it," She said. "Kind of."

"Oi, Utau!"

Utau immediately looked up to where the voice was coming from. It was another one of Utau's friends, running towards them like there was no tomorrow.

"Utau!" She panted after finally reaching them. "There's some... someone spilled... something on the.... carpet."

Utau's eyes widened.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed, rushing off to where her friend was leading her.

"Amu!" The blonde haired girl called over her shoulder. "I'll be back with you as soon as I get that cleaned up, okay?"

Amu nodded and gave Utau an encouraging smile before her friend disappeared from her sight. But Utau was already upstairs, probably half way across the large house by now.

She let out a sigh, pushing some of her bubblegum-pink hair from her face before turning her attention back to Ikuto. He hadn't moved an inch since last time Amu looked at him, still sitting in that same position, still with the same girls surrounding him, same "I totally don't want to be here" expression permanently stuck on his face.

According to Utau, Ikuto seems like such a picky person. That's just too bad.... I wonder what it would be like to go out with someone like that...

~ i S n o w X 3 ~

Ikuto let out another groan as he titled his head back on the couch. Beside him, his friend Kukai gave him a wide grin.

"You really are bored out of your mind here, aren't you?" He asked jokingly. Ikuto sighed.

"Would you like to waste your night away trapped on a couch by a bunch of rabid girls?" He asked. Kukai shrugged.

"Actually," He pointed out. "When you say it like that, it doesn't sound all too bad. I'd actually want to sit down for a whole night surrounded by girls."

Ikuto groaned again.

"Forget it," He muttered. "Whatever it might be for you, I'm hating this. I think the only reason I came at all was because Utau managed to hold my violin hostage."

Kukai laughed.

"Yeah," He said sarcastically. "'Cause Ikuto would be just thrilled to spend a night locked away somewhere with his violin rather than here at Utau's party."

Ikuto gave him a silencing glare.

"You think you're joking." He growled flatly. Kukai leaned a bit back.

"Okay okay," He said. "But listen, I think I know how to make this a bit better for you."

Ikuto immediately sat up.

"I'm listening."

Kukai grinned.

"See that girl with the pink hair over there?" He asked, pointing at Amu. The pink haired girl's cheeks immediately flushed and she looked away as soon as she saw Ikuto and Kukai watching her back.

Ikuto nodded.

"Yeah," He said, still sounding pretty bored. "She's a friend of Utau's. Seen her a lot."

Kukai's grin widened.

"Good," He smiled. "Now how about this. If you can get her to kiss you, not you kiss her, then you get this little check here from me."

Kukai waved a small check in the air. Ikuto, though he couldn't see the amount written on it because of Kukia's excessive waving, didn't look like he believed his friend.

"You're going to pay me with who knows how much is on that check to get a girl to kiss me?" He repeated skeptically. "Why? And why her?"

"I know her," Kukai told him. "We both went to the same elementary school. And last time I checked, she's not one that's going to start falling for you just because of your looks. And besides, you're going to need some practice for if you ever do get a girlfriend. Unless, that is, you plan on going single for the rest of your life..."

Ikuto sighed, pulling himself off the couch and ignoring all the disappointed noises coming from the girls around him.

"Fine," he said. "But you better pay up when the time comes."

Kukai smirked.

"If the time comes," He corrected. Ikuto smirked back and shook his head.

"Nope," He said confidently. "When."

~ i S n o w X 3 ~

Amu aimlessly wandered around Utau's house. Utau hadn't come back from cleaning up the mess yet, and now she was getting a bit bored. Everyone already had a someone else to be talking to, so that left her all alone.

She sighed. This wasn't at all as fun as she had expected it to be. Utau was gone off to who knew where, no one else she knew was here, so now she was all alone.

Until she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Amu instantly turned around, surprised when she saw Ikuto. He stood there, his hair still looking slightly messy, his blue eyes still slightly bored, but this time with a spark of interest in them. Amu's breath hitched as he leaned closer to her.

"Can you come with me for a moment?" He asked, his sweet breath blowing across Amu's face. For a moment, the girl forgot how to breathe, but quickly remembered Utau's words.

He doesn't like airheads.... remember that, Amu!

She took a deep breath and obediently followed Ikuto. The man smirked, grabbing her slim and and holding it in his. Amu was immediately overwhelmed by how warm and gentle, yet strong his grip on her was. It took her full concentration not to act like one of those crazed girls who would never leave Ikuto's side.

The same ones who are now glaring at them with hate-filled eyes.

Amu flinched. All those girls and their instant dislike for her was beginning to scare her.

"Just ignore them," She heard Ikuto whisper to her. Amu nodded and tried to stop her cheeks from turning pink again. But failed. Ikuto saw and let a chuckle escape from his lips.

How cute...

Ikuto finally stopped walking, making sure that he and Amu were out of the thickest part of the crowd, but still in Kukai's view.

"You know," He said, his smirk growing wider by the second. "You're actually really interesting."

And then he leaned down and kissed her.

Amu's eyes widened. Sure, at the beginning of the party she had been thinking about him a lot, but she never thought it would really happen...

Especially like this. She went with her instinct, and just did what any other shocked girl would do.

She slapped in square in the face.

Yeah... that last part may look like a total piece of shit o_o But I got into this huge argument with my parents right before the last "~ i S n o w X 3 ~", and even now, three hours later, I'm still a bit pissed off.

Review. Onegai? :D