Hey! Um... Not really anything I wanna say here. So... Yeah. I'm really excited for this chapter though. XD I hope you'll see why. O.O But... Enjoy, I guess! Jeez. I should really be doing homework right now... Oh, and the reason the story is moving so slow is just because I'm being weird. I have a bunch of ideas that I wanna put in but I feel like it's not far enough into the story to put them in yet. I'm strange. XP

To Bear Love's Cross

Chapter 11

Amu rose her head off of her pillow. She looked out her glass French doors. The sun shone brightly. She smiled and walked over to open it, wanting to feel the air and the warmth of the sun on her body. She opened the door and stepped outside.

And stepped right back in, slamming the door shut behind her.

"What the heck?!" Amu whisper-yelled. "It's freezing out there!" Dread filled her stomach. "Oh, no. And I have to go stand out there for hours, washing cars." She sighed. "This is not going to be good. I can feel it already."

She shook her head. "I've got to get ready! I have to be excited! I can't just let this get to me, just like that! What kind of Catholic am I? Rain or snow, hot or cold, helping people is helping people, and that's what I'm doing today!"

Amu walked over to her closet and browsed around. She grimaced when she realized all of her long pants were dirty. She would have to rough it out with shorts. She made sure to pick a nice, wooly sweater to wear. It was old and used-to-be-white gray. She slipped on some tennis shoes and glanced at herself in the mirror. All good, it seemed. She smiled and ran out the door of her room.

"Mom!" Amu exclaimed. "I'm leaving to go wash cars!"

Midori smiled as she replied, "Okay! I'll see you later! Good luck, Amu-chan!"

Amu was already out the door. "Bye!"

Amu quickly hopped onto her bike and rode over to Sanjo-san's house where they were holding the event. What she didn't expect to see was a head of blue hair. Amu grumbled something about a "nosy cat" before walking over to where she saw the teenager.

"Ikuto!" Amu exclaimed.

Ikuto turned around as if he hadn't expected to see her there. Well, maybe he didn't. He could've just come for Utau. He's her sister, after all. "Amu!" he said in dramatic surprise. "I didn't know you were going to be here!"

"What are you doing here?" Amu growled.

Ikuto smirked. "What, I can't help out my sister and her friends? Besides, I brought help."

Right as he said that, a brunette man charged out from behind the house. "Ikuto!" he panted. "Y... Your sister is...!" He steadied his breath before continuing excitedly. "Your sister is a goddess! She just beat me at a ramen eating contest! Me! Kukai Souma! At a ramen eating contest!"

Ikuto stared at him warily. "Watch what you say about her in front of me." Amu couldn't help but smile a little. He was being protective of Utau. Somehow, that was unbelievably adorable.

Amu shook her head. It was time to work. She walked into the backyard where everyone was meeting to do the pre-event preparations. Nagi and a doll-looking girl were arguing in front of a bucket of soapy water that Nagi was pulling into the front yard. The girl looked like she wasn't doing anything. Amu glanced at Ikuto. "Help, huh?" she said.

Ikuto smirked. "I said they were help. I didn't say they were helpful."

Kukai's hand flew to his chest. "I'm hurt, Tsukiyomi! Are you saying that I'm not useful?"

Ikuto rolled his eyes. "You were just talking about my sister beating you in a ramen contest. Considering this is the first time you've met her, I doubt that you had a ramen eating contest before I asked you to come help out."

Kukai looked like he was going to say something, but then didn't. He just turned away and called over his shoulder, "It's not my fault that no one has come to get their car washed yet! I'm just passing time!"

Amu raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure what to make out of these people that Ikuto had brought along with him. She shook her head and began searching for Kairi, just to find that he wasn't there. "Sanjo-san!" Amu exclaimed. "Do you know where Kairi-kun is?"

"If you're looking for the kid with glasses and green hair, he left to go hold some signs and do some advertising with Yaya," Ikuto replied.

"Who's Yaya?" I asked, not entirely expecting the answer he gave me.

"She's from my gang."

Amu froze. She kept telling herself that she was just fine with Ikuto being a gang leader, so long as he was a nice person. And he was... For the most part. Sort of. Except for sometimes... A lot of times.

Okay, I admit it, Amu thought to herself. He's not exactly a good person, but it's not like he's terrible. Sure, he's confusing, and annoying, and perverted, but he's a decent guy.

That's what she told herself, anyways. After all, what other reason could she possibly have for being friends with him?

Amu shook her head. She was thinking to deeply into things. She brought herself back to the real world and out of her thoughts. "Is she... You know..." Amu said, not sure how to put her question tactfully.

"An evil hooligan who is up to no good?" Ikuto said half-jokingly, but the other half she wasn't sure exactly what it was. "No, she's not. In fact, she's probably the best of all of us."

Amu cocked her head to the side. "All of us?"

"Yeah. Rima and Kukai are from my gang too."

Amu didn't know why that surprised her so much. It shouldn't. But somehow, she just couldn't believe that Ikuto had asked three of his fellow gang members to come help us with our Catholic car wash.

"Okay," Amu said, trying to hide the shock in her voice. For some reason she couldn't understand, Ikuto seemed to be watching her, calculating. "That's... Nice. Thank you for asking them to help out."

Ikuto smirked. "Ask. Right."

Amu wasn't really sure she wanted to know what that was supposed to mean.

"Are you trying to seem untrustworthy?" Amu mumbled to herself, but of course Ikuto heard.

"What if I am?"

Amu stared at him. His face still had that joking but calculating expression. She wasn't sure just what he was trying to pull. He came here to help out and brought help, and now he's here acting like an untrustworthy jerk who's worthy of the title gang leader.

"Amu!"

Amu turned to Utau who was running towards her. "Yes?"

"Amu, we've got people out front."

Amu smiled and ran out to where the cars sat waiting. "Here we go!"

Meanwhile...

Kairi stood on the patch of grass that sat between the two opposite roads, holding a conspicuous sign. He didn't say much. The bouncy pigtailed girl said enough that he didn't have to as things stood.

"Oi!" Yaya exclaimed. "We're having a carwash at this address! Ooooooiiiiii!" Yaya turned to stare at Kairi who was still silent. "Kairi-kun!" she said louder than necessary. "Yaya can't be the only one who is yelling! Kairi-kun has to do it too!"

Kairi pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and blushed at being called out on his silence. "Yaya-san, I would, but you're already doing such a good job of it, I would just ruin all your hard-"

"NO!" Yaya yelled again. "NOT ALLOWED! Kairi-kun HAS to scream with Yaya! I'm older than you, so Kairi HAS to listen!"

Kairi sweat-dropped. "H-hai, Yaya-san." Sucking in a deep breath, the green-haired preteen began calling out to the people in cars, though not half as loudly as the girl next to him did.

Today is going to be an interesting day.

"Amu-chan!"

Amu turned from the car she was washing to see a head of blonde hair bobbing among the cars that had accumulated around the house. She smiled brightly. "Tadase-kun!"

Tadase waved at Amu. "I was just coming because I wanted to know if there was any way I could help."

Amu thought. "Well, we could always use more help washing!" Amu looked around. "There's a bucket of soap-water and a hose right over there! Just go ahead and start on a car that doesn't have anyone working on it or a piece of paper on it."

Tadase nodded and hurried to do as asked. Amu glanced around. Kukai wasn't following the idea of work, apparently, because he was too busy teasing Utau to actually do anything. Nagi was working at a perfectly normal pace, but Rima wasn't really doing much. Amu sighed. This wasn't working as quickly as she'd hoped it would. She glanced up again. There was Kukai, Utau, Nagi, and Rima... But where was Ikuto?

As if on cue, someone blew into the inside of her ear. Amu jumped and turned to glare at the person who'd done so. "Ikuto!" Amu growled. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be helping, not sexually harassing people!"

Ikuto smirked. "I am helping. I was coming over to ask if I could join you."

"Why do you want to help me? There's a bunch of other cars that no one is working on. Why not go to one of those?"

Ikuto's smirk somehow became even more mischievous than before. "Because I want to help you."

Amu wasn't sure how to respond, but she didn't have to, because the next second, Kukai yelled, "WATER WAR!" and began hosing everyone down. Rima exclaimed, "My hair! You're going to mess up my hair!" Nagi laughed. Utau's eyes were on fire as she yelled back, "YOU'RE ON, SOUMA!" Kukai shot some water at Tadase who barely dodged it.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. Kukai dodged between cars, avoiding any water being shot back at him. "I'll get you!" He aimed carefully, determined to hit Kukai. And then, he shot the water straight at Kukai.

Kukai. Who was right in front of me at that moment.

Kukai who was faster than Tadase could catch.

The next thing I knew, I was drenched in cold water, made even colder by the chilly weather outside. Amu looked down at herself and blushed hard, throwing her hands over herself.

Her white bikini with strawberries on it was showing through her shirt.

"A-Amu-chan!" Tadase squeaked, blushing. "I-I... I'm so sorry, Amu-chan!"

Amu didn't have any time to respond because suddenly, someone grabbed her wrist and began dragging her inside the house. Amu stumbled after the person, looking up to see that it was a certain teenager with midnight blue hair.

"I-Ikuto!" Amu exclaimed. Ikuto didn't respond. She could just barely see the serious-almost deadly-expression on his face. Amu's blush subsided a bit when she saw the look on his face.

Ikuto dragged her into Sanjo-san's house, not stopping or slowing. He threw the door open and pushed Amu inside, shutting it after her. Amu was surprised at the sudden force that he showed. It wasn't anything that could make her fall, but it was more than he usually treated her with. Typically he wouldn't touch her or if he did, he'd do so gently as if she were a doll. But not this time. This time he treated her harsh enough that she couldn't resist him even if she wanted to.

Ikuto locked the door behind himself and Amu suddenly became very aware of her situation. She was alone in a locked room with a seventeen-year-old guy. She didn't think that Ikuto would do anything to her, but it was still a little strange to think of the situation in a detached manner like that.

And then Ikuto started taking off his shirt.

"I-Ikuto!" Amu yelled, her blush increasing tenfold. At the least. "What are you doing?! Put that back on!"

His back to her, he replied emotionlessly, "Would you rather stay in that shirt and freeze to death outside?"

Amu saw that he was wearing a white tank top underneath his dark blue long-sleeved shirt. Amu widened her eyes when she realized what he was doing. "Y-you want me to wear your shirt?"

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds weird."

He wanted her to stay warm. He was worried that she would get sick if she stayed like this. "Are you going to take it?"

Amu blushed. "B-but won't you be cold?"

He made a strange sound in the back of his throat. "Trust me. I'll be fine."

Slowly, Amu took the shirt Ikuto held, still facing away from her. "Don't you dare peek!"

"Why would I look? It's not like I want you to hate me."

Amu made a face. Something about the way he stressed the word "want" made her think about the question she'd posed earlier and his response.

Turning her back to Ikuto, she slowly slipped off her own soaked sweater. She glanced at him over her shoulder. He stood staring straight ahead, not so much as budging from where he'd stood before.

He really isn't going to look. Amu threw her soaked sweater on the ground and put Ikuto's shirt on. The sleeves went at least an inch past her fingertips, probably more. She breathed in deeply and smiled. He smelled really good. Like man's shampoo and mint... Catnip? Amu couldn't help but laugh.

"What is it? What's so funny?"

"No, it's nothing," Amu said, still smiling. She could still feel his warmth in the fabric. She shook her head and turned around. "Okay, you can look again."

Ikuto turned around and sighed in relief. "Good. Now don't get that wet, or I'll have to drag you home." Ikuto unlocked the front door and walked out. Smiling, Amu picked up the sweater and followed him out.

He really wasn't all that bad.

Lord Jesus,
give us the humility wherever pride reigns,
pardon wherever offense abides,
grace wherever sin abounds;
we pray to You;
Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, have mercy on us!
Amen.

Done! YES! So? Huh? Whaddya think? I enjoyed writing this chapter. XD So what do you think? REview, fave, follow. All appreciated greatly! :D