Author's Notes: Wow!! I'm on a writing spree!! I just thought I better not put this thing off anymore. Not while I have those readers that really make my day!! =)

GreatLight432: I'll do my best to live up to your expectations!! =)

Disclaimer: One day, Millie/Luc will be mine, and I will laugh my head off at all those who opposed. It will be the biggest couple in anime/manga/game history. Just you wait and see!! =D Of course right now, I don't own anything related to them. Waah!! ;_____;

The Great Easter Egg Hunt

Chapter 11: And The Winner Is…

           

Sasuke shouted. Wakaba screamed. The former for victory, the latter at the face of defeat. The racket attracted the crowd and their teammates who had been chasing after them.

The boys arrived first, stepping out of a blue orb of light that Luc used to teleport them. Sasuke grinned at them, and then held out the golden egg so that it shone in the sunlight.

"Sasuke-kun, you found it!!" Futch exclaimed.

"Good job!!" Hix lightly slapped the ninja's back.

"Yes." Luc simply nodded.

"Wakaba-chan!! Wakaba-chan!!" The girls yelled. They panted from the extended sprint. When they saw their friend slumped on the ground, however, they picked up their pace.

"Wakaba-chan..?" Meg kneeled beside her. She held Wakaba down by the shoulders to prevent her from attempting to get up.

"Stop that, Meg." Wakaba pushed the trickster's hands away and tried to stand up again. She winced and then fell back on her knees.

            "That won't do!!" Tengaar cried. "Stop over-exerting yourself, Wakaba-chan."

            "I'm okay, Nee-chan."

            "Oh, poor Wakaba-chan…" Millie reached out a hand to remove her left leg guard.

            "I said I'm fine!!" Wakaba snapped. She brushed Millie's hand away.

            "Now, now, don't be stubborn." Tengaar scolded. "Let Millie-chan remove it."

            Wakaba frowned but made no move to stop Millie when the other girl started untying the laces of her leg guard. Millie gingerly slipped off the leg guard and Wakaba stifled a moan of pain.

            Millie gasped, a hand over her mouth. Wakaba's left ankle was now extremely red and swollen. It looked painful to say the least.

            Meg winced. "That must hurt."

            "Oh, Wakaba-chan, now look what you've done!!" Tengaar reprimanded.

            "AND TIME IS UP!!" Rina shouted. "The tallying of the eggs will now begin. Now if the teams will kindly step forward and bring their eggs to be counted."

            "The baka ninja boy got the egg." Wakaba muttered darkly.

            "There's nothing to be done now…" Meg shrugged.

            "HEY YOU!!" Wakaba shouted at Sasuke. She glared at him.

            Sasuke glared back at her.

            Luc was frowning in a disapproving manner at Wakaba. "Don't be a sore loser."

            "We haven't lost yet." Meg retorted.

            "There's your keyword, 'yet'." Sasuke smirked.

            "That's enough, Sasuke-kun." Hix said firmly.

            "Come on you guys, let's bring our baskets to Leona-san and Viktor-san." Futch said. The boys shuffled away. Futch spared a backward glance at Meg, who still seemed quite put off by Sasuke. Then he too, left.

            I found that!! I found that egg first and you took it!! Baka ninja boy!! Wakaba was glaring at the grass. She grabbed a handful of the unoffending weeds and punched the ground. "They might win."

            "That's not the problem now!!" Millie said in her high-pitched voice, but her tone was very serious. Wakaba started.

            "You're hurt!! You should stop thinking about this stupid contest." Millie said.

            She must have said something wrong because the martial artist's dark brown eyes flashed. "Stupid contest??! Is that all you have to say??!" With a strength brought about by the rise of her temper, Wakaba got on her foot.

            "Bring your baskets to them. We haven't finished this yet." Wakaba looked at them, as if daring them to do something contrary.

            The other girls stood up. Meg shook her head. "Don't get so worked up."

            "I'll bring that for you." Tengaar made to grab Wakaba's basket, but Wakaba pulled it out of reach.

            "I can do it." She growled defensively.

            "I said, I'll bring that for you." Tengaar said in her sternest tone. "You stay here. You don't walk." Wakaba looked very unwilling and grumbled but handed the basket over anyway.

            Tengaar followed Millie and Meg, reaching the stone path that wound around the castle and following it until they reached the main entrance. In front of it, Leona and Viktor were sitting on a table, boxes bearing the teams' names around them.

            "Leona-san, here are the eggs I got and the eggs Wakaba got." Tengaar said.

            "Place them here, Tengaar." Leona indicated the box labeled: 'Pretty Girls' with a wave of her hand. "Counting will begin soon enough."

            "And woe betide you if there are any discrepancies in the number of our collection." Tengaar muttered under her breath.

            "What was that, dear?" Leona asked, a smile playing on her full lips.

            "Maa, maa—it was nothing, Leona-san, just… talking to myself, eheheh…" Tengaar forced a laugh and then slipped through the crowd of people and walked back to where Wakaba sat. Or rather, she was about to go there when she saw the orange-clad girl hobbling towards her. At least Nanami was now with her, and one of Wakaba's arms was draped about the older girl's shoulders for support.

            "Wakaba-chan!! I thought I told you to stay there??" Tengaar cried.

            "They're going to announce the winner in a few minutes." Wakaba said. I'm not going to miss our victory… and if worse comes to worse, I will not shy away from defeat.

            "At least let me help you." Tengaar held out an arm for support. Wakaba took it without protest.

            "Yoo-hoo, Nanami!!" Nina called from behind. In one hand, she carried a heaping basket of eggs. In the other hand, she held Flik's hand and dragged him down the stone path as she walked. She picked up her speed, until she was walking beside the three girls. Flik was muttering some incomprehensible phrases.

            "What?" Nanami called back half-heartedly, clearly, she was not in the mood to bicker.

            "Look, how many eggs I've got!!" Nina said in a singsong voice.

            "That's nice." Nanami muttered.

            "Hey, how about you, how many did you get?" Nina asked.

            Nanami didn't answer.

            "Where's your basket."

            Nanami still kept quiet.

            "Well, what about that, you've decided to give up, eh?" Nina said smugly.

            "Nina, I couldn't care less about this stu—little egg hunt." Nanami declared.

            Flik snapped out of his black mood and looked at Nanami, noticing that there was something wrong with her.

            Nina was still rambling. "You should have known, you'd never, EVER win against me, and—"

            "Come on, let's get these to our box." Flik shook his hand out of Nina's grip and grabbed her wrist.

            Nina ignored him. "Nanami, is something the matter? You're too quiet."

            Nanami remained silent. Flik pulled Nina's wrist. "I said, come on."

            "Huh?" Nina was surprised by his stern tone but before she could say anything more, Flik led her away.

            "Is something the matter, Sempai?" Wakaba asked, but almost immediately, she realized that it was a stupid question. Obviously, something is wrong, Wakaba no baka, otherwise, she wouldn't be so down…

            But Nanami just smiled kindly and shook her head. "I hope your team wins, Wakaba-chan, Tengaar-neechan."

            "Thanks," Wakaba said.

            Soon enough, Millie and Meg came. Millie gave them a smile that was meant to be reassuring. Meg shook her head and said. "Don't worry, we'll win."

            "Let me explain the rules for the tallying once more." Rina said. "Yellow and pink eggs count as one egg each. Peach and purple eggs count as three eggs each. Green and blue eggs count as seven eggs each. And the golden egg counts as fifty eggs each."

            Viktor cleared his throat. "Ahem… um…" Leona gave him a thumbs-up sign. Viktor continued. "In the third place with a total of sixty four eggs is the 'Blue Lightning Team'!! Way to go, Flik!!"

            "We did it!!" Nina squealed in glee, pulling Flik up front to receive their chocolate eggs and 1000 potch.

            "In the first place, with a total of one hundred forty nine eggs—and only a lead of seven eggs…" Viktor whistled. "'The Pretty Boys'!! And 'The Pretty Girls' are in second place with one hundred forty two eggs!!"

            "ALRIGHT!!" Futch and Sasuke high-fived each other. Hix gave a faint smile and Luc simply nodded his head. Viktor handed them their prizes.

            "Here you go, girls." Leona deposited a pink bunny plushie and 1000 potch in each of the girls hands. She also returned the box of eggs.

            "Well…" Meg looked at her companions.

            "… You did get second place…" Nanami said.

            "Second place is never enough." Wakaba said in a deceptively calm voice.

            Tengaar shrugged. "Well, who cares it's just a—mff!!" Millie covered Tengaar's mouth before another one of those 'stupid egg hunt comments' make Wakaba blow her top off.

            "If it had been anyone else who got the egg… we would have won." Wakaba said. She was flexing her fingers and glaring down on the ground, a dark look on her face.

            It's all my fault… this stupid sprain. And that baka ninja boy!! How dare he take MY golden egg!!

            Sasuke sauntered towards her, his companions following. Futch looked like he wanted to stop Sasuke.

            "So you have accepted that we are better, haven't you?"

            Wakaba's slumped shoulders suddenly straightened at Sasuke's remark. She looked up at him blankly, her brown eyes expressionless. Without a word, she left.

            Everyone was quiet for a while.

            "… Something tells me, you're in trouble Sasuke-kun." Hix said.

            "Urusai!!" Sasuke barked.

            Futch took his usual composed, impartial stance. "Well Sasuke-kun, you did insult her—"

            "Not another word." Sasuke warned.

            Meg scowled and opened her mouth to speak, but Futch placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

            Luc shook his head, muttering something about immaturity; sexual tension and a hundred and one ways a martial artist can kill a ninja.

            Millie had been staring at the boxes of eggs. Holding up a pastel pink egg, she looked up at Luc and asked, "Do you want an omelet?"

            Luc blinked, then stared at her incredulously.

            Millie turned to the others. "Omelet, anyone?"

Author's Notes again: Tsk, tsk. So what will Sasuke-kun do now? What will Wakaba-chan do to him? Does Luc want an omelet? [O_o] Find out in the next chapter!!