Hey everyone! I am SO SORRY for such a late update! I have had let me count, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8+ ideas on how to end this story! So many great ideas, wasted because I couldn't do anything off of them once I got to a certain point! So please excuse my lateness! But hey! This final chapter came out around Christmas! It is like an early Christmas present… Because I totally planned it that way, yeah definitely… ¬ ¬ 8) (EDIT: I lied, it came out way later, TTOTT SORRY!)

Anyways, this is the final chapter to this story, so I hope you enjoy it =)

Thanks for reading! I will plan on coming out with a new story soon, it will be sad TTOTT, and this time I will try to plan ahead so you don't have to wait as long for chapters ^^.

All the crossed out stuff above is a lie. It didn't come out any time around Christmas, and it is not the final chapter! But I still hope you enjoy it anyway, and after I finish it, I will start a new story soon ^_^

Anyways, enjoy! Kikikikiki…

**Flashback**

"E-everything that happened last night…" I started speaking, feeling the blood rush up to my face, as well as Ikuto's smirk increasing with every word I spoke, "was real, wasn't it?" I said in a whisper. I waited for him to respond, my limbs were shaking because I was so nervous, even though I knew what he would say.

"Bingo…"

**End of flashback**

Loop

Then there was silence. Silence that seemed to last hours, and with every passing second, my face got hotter and hotter. I refused to look up. I didn't want to see his face. I didn't want him to see my face.

"Amu~," Ikuto said in sing-song voice. My breath caught in my throat and I froze. My heart was racing.

Suddenly I felt icy fingers on the nape of my neck. My eyes widened and I was to surprised to move.

"You're all red," Ikuto started, "is there something you want to tell me?" He asked me, smirking. When he finished that sentence, time unfroze and I gained back the use of my body. I put my hands on his chest and pushed him away. He 'stumbled' backwards and fell over the arm of the couch and landed back first on the couch, laughing. My eyes were glued to him. I felt like that animal that was about to be captured by the hunter, and the animal knows it's coming, and just wants to get it over with, but a sudden snap of a twig prolonged the inevitable fate.

I edged my way around the couch to get a better look at him, and plan out my escape route. I waited for him to stop laughing, and when he was just chuckling slightly, I spoke,

"W-why are you laughing?…" I asked, glaring at him with suspicious eyes. He looked at me and sat up, this made me take a step back.

"You're so gullible!" he said, smiling. I tilted my head sideways, squinting at him.

"G-gullible… Wha… What are you talking about?" I asked him, shaking my head.

"Wow, don't tell me you are that gullible? Or maybe I should use the word stupid?" Ikuto said, teasing me.

I thought. I filed through everything that has happened in the past few days and found nothing, nothing that could have made me 'gullible'.

"What the heck are you talking about!" I demanded, frustrated.

Ikuto put his face in his hands. He sighed and rose up from the couch, and started to walk towards me. My eyes widened with every step he took, and when he was standing right in front of me, he flicked me in the forehead.

"I was teasing you, idiot," he told me. He looked at me for another second and started to walk away. My jaw dropped.

"What! What do you mean you were 'teasing' me!" I yelled at him.

"What do you mean? I do it all the time? What did you think I was doing?" he asked, turning around to face me.

I blinked at him, trying to understand what had just happened.

"B-but last night, I said… didn't I?" was I really dreaming? No, that was impossible, because he knew what I was talking about.

"Yeah, I know what you said," Ikuto told me, his face slowly losing all emotion, the laughter all but gone. "But you were half asleep, you didn't know what you were saying," he paused. "There is now way you would ever say that in real life," he finished. He started walking towards the stairs, but then turned around to look at me.

"I can't believe after all these years you still fall prey to my teasing," he said, sticking his tongue out at me and laughing as he walked up stairs.

"I'm going to take a shower, so don't get any funny ideas, pervert," he called down to me.

I didn't know what to do. How could I have come so close, yet so far?

"Wait!" I called out after him. Ikuto's head popped over the edge of the stairway.

"What?" he asked. I paused, not really sure why I called after him.

"I…" I started. I starred into his eyes, and saw he seriously thought this was all a big joke. "I hope you drown in that shower!" I yelled at him. He laughed and continued walking back up the stairs.

I waited, and when I heard the bathroom door shut, I collapsed.

"Ugh…" I put my face in my hands. Why did it have to happen this way? It would have been so much easier if things had just ended here and all secrets were out.

Why did life have to be so difficult? Well, then again, I shouldn't expected everything to come so easily with almost no work on my part… But what will I do? I couldn't just tell Ikuto randomly that I loved him, he wouldn't believe me… Ugh! I am so stupid! How could I have fallen for that stupid trick! Well, it was more then usual… maybe he was actually hoping to get something out of me… That persistent perv! What am I doing? Trying to blame this on Ikuto! But if I didn't tell him now, how was I ever going to tell him!

All these questions and more ran through my head will I sat there on the floor. Every time I came up with a solution, I found a flaw. Every plan would surely be a failure. No matter what I did, there was no way to fix this situation! I banged my head against the floor, curled up into a ball and clutched my chest. I really thought I would finally be able to tell him how I felt this time. I shut my eyes tightly and felt tears spilling out. I re opened my eyes and sat up. Why-why was I crying? I asked myself, and I wiped away my tears, which persistently spilled over. I stood up, a little shaky and walked over to a mirror strung on the wall. My eyes were full of tears and they were streaming down my face. I felt so sad. Was this the feeling of heartbreak? Of rejection? But I hadn't been rejected, had I? He just doesn't think I really love him… Or maybe that was just an excuse and he really didn't love me at all…

I felt fresh new tears spilling over at the same time I hear the shower up stairs stop running. I quickly wiped them away and wiped stray ones off of my face. I fixed my hair, which had become a mess after rolling around on the floor, and after that I looked, for the most part, normal… Just a little tired, yeah, that's what I would tell him.

I walked away from the mirror deciding where I should go before Ikuto got out of the bathroom… I could watch T.V., but he would have heard that I just turned it on, I can't eat anything, I just ate an hour ago… No matter what I did, it looked awkward, or like I was trying to avoid or cover something up. I heard the bathroom door open and a ran to the kitchen table. I picked up a coin of the middle of the table and spun it on the wood surface. It spun and spun then stopped. Then I would re spin it. That was kind of like how my mind felt. Idea, idea, idea, nope. Idea, idea, idea, fail. Idea, idea, idea, not happening. No matter what I did, none of my ideas would work in the long run… I continued to spin the coin frantically, trying to look normal when Ikuto came down.

"You still mad?" Ikuto's voice called from the top of the stair way. I stared back up at him, glaring…

He laughed and walked down the stairs to join me. I tapped my finger on the table, matching his foots steps. He walked over to me and sat down in a chair across the other side of the table.

"You're so stupid," he told me, smirking.

"Why?" I demanded.

"For falling for my tricks," he said, winking at me, I glared at him again.

"Well, I didn't think it was a trick!" I yelled at him. Ikuto laughed loudly.

"And that makes you all the more stupid," he said, and sighed.

There was a short silence, and I tried to come up with something clever but nothing came to me.

"Well, what would you have done if it wasn't a trick?" I asked him. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you mean?" he asked, confused. I sighed.

"Wonder if I really loved you? What would you have done then?" I asked him again. He thought about it for a second, and the answered.

"I would have done the same thing," he replied. I sighed loudly.

"I meant, if I really loved you," I told him, annoyed, and slightly embarrassed. He thought about this question for longer, but then he nodded and looked at me.

"Hmm, I don't really know," he told me, trying to read my face. I looked away and picked up my coin again. I grasped it between my fingers and was about to spin when Ikuto spoke again.

"Why do you ask?" I spun the coin right off the table and watch it slide under the fridge. He knew something was up. I recomposed myself and answered.

"I-it was just a question," I told him, a little more shakily then I had hoped.

"Hmm…" he raised an eyebrow at me and I felt my heart was starting to race faster and my face getting hotter.

There was silence for a while, and I was sure he could hear my heart beating against my chest. I tried to fill the silence, and probably only made matters worse.

"Wonder if you want to tell someone you love them, but you can't?" I asked. Why did I ask it? I don't know, it just slipped out. It was completely irrelevant to the conversation, and I just popped it out there. What was wrong with me? Why dam I so stupid as to say something like that, something that just makes me look like I am hiding something! The time it to Ikuto to answer me felt like it would never end… He was probably thinking about how crazy I was.

"Well, maybe you don't truly love them," he told me. I fiddled my thumbs together.

"But wonder if you are positive that you really love them?" I asked another stupid question. I was sure he knew what I was talking about. He couldn't be that stupid, could he?

"Maybe you love them so much you are afraid to tell them because you fear they won't feel the same way about you," he told me again, his voice monotone, his mind obviously occupied.

"But you love me!" I threw out. "And you can tell me!" I left my mouth open in shock. I did not just say that. There was no way I just let those words come out of my mouth. Ikuto's eyes widened for a moment, not in fear or embarrassment, but wonder. But as soon as the opened, they softened once more.

"How did you figure that out?" he asked, his voice never breaking out stuttering. In fact, he had a small smirk on his face. I wanted to say it was obvious, but that was a lie and I knew it would end badly.

"Umm, Along time ago, you did… And Utau told me," Well, that was the truth, too.

He laughed lightly.

"Well, I can tell you because I know I love you, and I know I won't regret it if I say it," he told me, resting his chin in his hands.

"But wonder if one day you stop loving me?" I asked him, my tone a little to worried. He just smiled and said,

"That will never happen."

There was a short pause.

"But-

"What? Are you afraid that I could hate you?" he cut me off. I almost started, but then I bit my lip and looked away from him. He chuckled.

"Well, even if I didn't love you, I could never hate you," he said, smiling.

"R…really?" I asked, surprised.

"Of course, I love you to much to hate you," he said, smirking. I cocked my head.

"But you just said-

"Amu, I know what I said, and it's true that even if I didn't love you, I couldn't hate you, but I will always love you," he told me. I felt my cheeks turning red. I blinked a few times and then looked away.

"…Th…" I tried to say something.

"What?" he asked. I inhaled deeply.

"Th-thank you," I told him.

"For what?" Ikuto asked.

"For, letting me know that you are there for me," I said, blushing.

"Idiot," he started, and I looked at him. "I will always be there for you," he told me. My eyes widened, and I knew that if I stayed here any longer, all secrets would be out. I pushed my chair back an stood up.

"Amu?" Ikuto stopped me.

"Y-yes?" I asked, slightly paranoid.

"What's with all these questions?" he asked. My fears were answered. He was suspicious.

"They're, they're just-

"They're just questions?" Ikuto finished my sentence for me and stood up as well.

"S-so? Tha-that's what they are! Questions!" I said, trying to pathetically defend myself.

"Pretty strange questions if you ask me," Ikuto said, staring into me eyes.

I started to back up, just like I had only a few minutes before. My eyes were locked on his. I felt my back hit a wall. I still didn't look away from Ikuto. He just stood there, a few feet away, crossing his arms. It was intimidating.

There was a long silence. Neither of us moved. He started walking towards me.

"Amu," he called my name in a voice that made me freeze where I stood. "Are you keeping a secret?" he asked me. I gulped loudly.

"M-maybe," I told him, my voice shaky. He closed the last few steps between us, and he was right in front of me.

"What is it?" he asked. I stayed silent, I couldn't bid the words to leave my lips. I looked down and he put his arms on either side of me. I could see his smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"Do you want to tell me, but you can't?" he asked, mimicking me from earlier. My heart stopped for a moment, and I didn't speak. Every new question he asked made my heart beat faster and the blood rise up to my face more.

"Amu," he pause for a long time… I closed my eyes, and I could feel his breath on my face when he spoke. "Do you love me?" he finished.

I was sure all the blood in my body must have risen to my face by now, but somehow I could feel it get redder. I couldn't have spoken if I wanted to. He waited for me to speak. I didn't say a word. I didn't even breath.

"Say it," he told me. This might have been worse then when he asked me if I loved him, because I could have just nodded my head, or even said yes, but not this time. He wanted me to say it, and I knew I couldn't leave until I did. I took in a shaky breath and tried to will noise to come out of my mouth.

"I…I…" I tried to say, but it just wouldn't come out. He was waiting for me to say it, and this time it was the real deal. Even I could tell this wasn't a trick.

"Ikuto…" I inhaled and exhaled again. "I… love you…" I barely managed to say the last word, but I did, and I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. Even though I was still in this situation, it was over, I was free, there was nothing else he could do. He could hug me, he could say it back, he could even kiss me. Was there anything wrong with any of those? Not one. I almost smiled. Then I felt Ikuto's cheek brush against lightly against mine and he whispered two words into my ear,

"Prove it."

¬¬ Ehehehehe

Are you happy with me? Or are you still angry that I got this chapter out really late? If you are, I shall make you feel guilty, because we had a Korean exchange student living with us for a few weeks and they left two days ago, and I was still depressed when I wrote this…

You mad? X) trolololo

Just kidding (About the troll thing, we really did have a Korean student, and I am sad TT^TT)

This chapter feels like it went in a circle, in the beginning she is trapped by Ikuto, and in the end, she is again! X) Maybe that's why I called it Loop =)

Anyways, you shouldn't have to wait to long for the next chapters, because I did you all a favor and planned out the rest of the story before I typed this ^_^

Well, I hope you enjoyed this second epic cliff hanger story twist I did… ehehe…

Please review and thanks for reading! See you at the next chapter!