Well, chapter 12's out! Enjoy! P.S. Sorry for the delay I had so much work to do. Well I guess work can't be the excuse. Forgive me anyway.
"It's been a long time since we've gone out together, yeah?"
Amu nodded. "I guess." Her mind was somewhere else. Ikuto had taken her to that park, after her argument with Ikiro. And now, she was walking with Ikiro in the very park. A part of her heart felt that she had... kind of betrayed Ikuto. But why? It was funny how she had this feeling while she was going out with someone she had longed to be together with for so many years.
"I want to ask you something, actually." Ikiro's voice snapped her out of her daze.
"What?"
"Why do you like Ikuto?"
The question caught Amu off balance. As she fell, Ikki felt no obligation to help her up. But he did, even though he was pissed as hell that Amu had so obviously fallen head-over-heels for Ikuto.
"Sorry. I didn't see that coming," Amu muttered, sensing the displeasure in Ikiro's eyes about this topic. They walked in silence for a moment. Then Amu speaked up again.
"Actually, I don't know if I like him or not. I've already forgotten the sensation of liking someone, and surely it's not the kind of fluttery, easy feeling that happens in books, you know that for sure." She cast a meaningful glance at Ikiro as she went on. "It's painful really. I liked you because you were kind to me, and somehow I just claimed that we were in an extraordinary relationship. I don't understand why. Now that I think about it, why did I get angry with you anyway? Why was I mad when you left me, though I certainly wasn't alone? So many questions, yet the answers are scattered over the path of your life, waiting for you to pick it up wisely." She let out a laugh. "So deep. What a speech. What I'm trying to say is, I don't know what the so-called 'love' feels like. I'm dating you -please don't be offended- because I'm trying to dig out that feeling I had when I was younger."
Ikki stopped and looked at her for a while. Then he took her hand and motioned her to sit down with him on the park bench. "You are one hell of a girl, Hinamori Amu. Several times I have tried to hurt you, you tried to stand up again." He threw back his head and looked at the sky. "I don't want to like you. It's painful. How I have already have a fiance, how you already like someone else. I can see the trust you have for Ikuto, but judging from what you said just now -unless you were lying- so far, you don't have special feelings for him."
Amu considered a moment. "Yes, I think that would be the proper way to put it."
"Friend?"
"So far, yes."
"Would you mind if I kissed you right now?"
Amu stared at Ikiro for a while. Then she laughed. "I've always, always wanted to have the chance to turn down a boy. That sadistic part of me, I guess." She bit her lip. "But, I don't want to turn you down, just for now." Amu took his face in her hands and gently kissed him.
"I see you're having fun with your date, Hinamori Amu."
She jerked away immediately, instantly embarassed. Then she looked up.
"Oh, dear." Rei and Ikuto stood there, frozen in shock.
Holding hands.
