Okay guys thanks so much for the reviews! I didn't quite make it to 15 buts that's okay, I still got way more than normal, so thank you everyone who reviewed! Wow, I'm super excited for this chapter, it's by far my favorite one so far and hopefully you guys will think so too. Please Review!

*no, I don't own Shugo Chara*

Chapter 6

1 perverted cat + 1 sexy dress= lots of trouble

It was about an hour later and Amu had finally stopped freaking out. At least on the outside. It was due mostly to the fact that she had wore herself out. Ikuto had tried everything he could to calm her down but it hadn't helped in the least. He had pretty much given up after the first 15 minutes and sat back and watched as she ran from one end of the small closet to the other practically tearing her hair out. At the end of the hour she sighed and fell against the wall sliding all the way down to the floor and at last sitting. I can't believe I'm stuck in this closet…with Ikuto!!! She looked at him carefully and groaned And after that stunt he pulled earlier with the spaghetti who knows what he might do to me in here! She thought worriedly. But then again…its really not that much different then when we share our room together…except its even better cause there's no bed. She breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe this wouldn't be too bad after-all.

Ikuto slowly glanced over at Amu as she sat across from him.

"You finally stop freaking out?" he asked quietly

She nodded, "I think so."

"took you long enough."

Amu just rolled her eyes at him and didn't respond. She crossed her arms in front of her and looked towards the door still wishing someone would miraculously come looking for them and open the door. Out of the corner of her eyes she saw Ikuto moving and out of curiosity she turned to look.

Her eyes widened with shock as she saw him take his shirt off.

"I-I-Ikuto!!! What are you doing??!" she cried with alarm.

He looked at her, "What? It's hot in here."

She stared at his exposed chest for a few seconds taken in by the firm abs and how truly gorgeous he looked. A blush started to form on her cheeks and she quickly shook herself out of her stupor. "S-s-so?!" she answered. "That's no reason to take your shirt off in front of a girl!"

A small smirk began to form, "What…does it make little Amu uncomfortable?" he asked treating her like a child.

"N,n,no!" she stuttered hurriedly

The smirk spread 'Oh so then you like me seeing me without a shirt on?"

Her eyes widened and her blush immediately spread across her entire face. She quickly looked away from his body, "In your dreams!"

"Why not? I'm sure I'm already in yours," he told her sexily.

"Ehh??!" she cried the blush deepened until she was like a tomato. "Th-th-that's n-not t-true!"

"Are you sure?" he asked wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her tightly against his chest.

Amu tried resisting, "Ikuto!!! Let me go!!" she pressed her hands firmly against his chest in an attempt to push away from him.

He chuckled and looked down at her, "Like the way I feel?"

"WHAT???!!! NO!" she immediately put her hands down to her side leaving Ikuto to press her face against his skin.

She cursed quietly, and looked towards the heavens what did she ever do to deserve this? She sighed and in doing so inhaled the intoxicating smell of his body wash and she started to get light headed and her heart did little flip flops she tried to shake herself out of it, to focus on something else. Why am I feeling this way? I've never before experienced such strong emotions…

"hm, Amu, you stopped?" Ikuto frowned, "Could it be your bored with me already? Would you like to move onto something else?" he asked her suggestively.

It took her a moment to realize what that something else he was referring to and she immediately smacked him on the side of the head, "Pervert! I'm not even old enough to do something like that!"

"So, your saying if you were old enough then you would do it with me."

"NO! Not in a million years, now let me go!" she told him struggling fiercely in his grip.

He laughed and finally let her go, she immediately moved to the farthest corner and he just smiled and shook his head. He didn't know why he got so much pleasure out of teasing her like that.

He took a moment and looked around the closet, it wasn't exactly the most organized place ever. There were props everywhere, as well as some random costumes, in the corner there was a small area closed off by a curtain. He figured the closet had probably been a dressing room originally, hence the curtain and random costumes. He studied the costumes for a few minutes and suddenly his eyes lit up and he grinned mischievously.

"Hey…Amu….sorry bout earlier." He called to her.

She looked over at him but didn't say anything.

"Listen…we're going to be stuck in here for a long time, so we may as well make the most of things."

"What do you suggest?" she asked scooting down so she was once more across from him. He smiled at how easily she always seemed to forgive him.

"Why not play a game, like…." He thought for a moment, "Rock, paper, scissors?"

"Okay…" she said, out of all the games he could've picked rock paper scissors wasn't exactly one she would've thought of. But then again they were stuck in a closet so it wasn't like they had tons of options.

"Ready?" he asked her and she nodded.

"Okay then we'll do best out of three. Alright, Rock, Paper, Scissors!" as he said scissors Amu quickly switched her hand to a fist, indicating rock, while Ikuto made his scissors.

Amu smiled, "Ha! Rock beats scissors!" she cried joyfully as she playfully bopped his scissors with her rock.

Ikuto smiled, "Good job, how bout we make it a little more interesting though."

"I'm listening…." Amu replied carefully.

"Good, like I said, we're playing best out of three, so, how about if I win," he paused and reached over plucking a dress from the amidst the costumes, "Then you have to wear this." He told her tossing the dress over to her.

She caught it but didn't take much time to examine it, all she saw before putting it aside was it was very revealing, she frowned at Ikuto, "And why would I agree to do that?" she asked.

"Because, if you win, then I'll put my shirt back on."

Amu weighed her options carefully, from what she had seen the dress wasn't too too bad and she was already winning, plus, she really wanted Ikuto to put his shirt back on. Her eyes strayed back to his chest and the blush started to reform, she soon averted her gaze, change that, she didn't just want him to put his shirt back on, she needed him to.

"Alright," she said, "We have a deal, you win I wear the stupid dress, but I win, then you have to put your shirt on, and stop being so perverted."

"Deal." He told her smiling secretly to himself, too bad Amu didn't realize he could read her like an open book.

With the terms set they got ready for another round, starting by staring intently at each other. The tension in the air was obvious. "Rock, Paper…Scissors!"

Amu stuck out scissors this time and Ikuto went with rock.

"Thats one win for me." He said, "Which means were tied, next time decides who wins."

Amu glanced nervously at the dress, then back at Ikuto, no way was she going to lose to a pervert like him.

Ikuto watched her and decided to prolong her agony by making the next one a tie.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Amu revealed scissors and Ikuto did likewise.

Amu sweat-dropped and felt the immense pressure of the moment. She had to win, she didn't think she could make it all night with Ikuto continuing to tease her. She took a deep breath and refocused. I can do this! She told herself confidently and stared Ikuto down waiting to start.

"Rock…Paper…..Scissor!"

Amu went with Rock and Ikuto chose paper and as we all know paper covers rock.

Amu stared at their hands in disbelief. No, she couldn't have lost, she just couldn't have. She looked up to see Ikuto, holding out the dress to her an evil smirk on his face.

"Crap." Was all she said, groaning she accepted the dress and headed over to the curtain. She opened it and turned glaring daggers at Ikuto who was still smiling to himself over his victory.

Amu shut the curtain and took a closer look at the dress before wishing she was dead. Amu just had one thing to say about the dress, laces. There was lacing everywhere. She sighed why did she ever agree to this? Oh yeah…its all cause Ikuto had to take his shirt off. She blushed at the mental image of him shirtless and quickly pushed it aside. She stared at the dress with disdain for sometime, she knew she had to put it on, a deal was a deal but even so, she really, really, reallydidn't want to.

Ikuto on the other hand was getting bored with waiting, "Hurry up Amu! That is…unless you want me to put it on for you."

Amu's eyes bulged, "N,no, th-that's n-not what I w-want!"

"Then hurry up!"

"Alright alright!" she called and frowned, there was no use putting off the inevitable, she might as well get it over with.

She quickly shed her clothing and picked the dress up in her hands and slid it over her body then looked in the mirror. The dress fit her surprisingly well, it was like a glove that hugged her body close and revealed curves that she hadn't even known she had. The length was perfect too, reaching just a couple inches below her knees. The main color of the dress was black but the silky laces, of which there were many were a dark pink. The first set of laces were in the front of the dress; right across the chest area there was a rather long dip in the fabric that could only be closed up by the laces. She quickly started to lace it up, making sure to pull the laces as tight as possible, by the time she was done the gap had been sufficiently covered by the intricately woven laces. She tied an extra tight bow at the end to make sure it held together and studied herself. She was surprised to find that once the lacing was done nothing was even being exposed anymore. Maybe this won't be so bad afterall… she thought to herself, as soon as she did however her focus went to the back of her dress where the second set of laces were. The dress didn't start till until mid-back and really it wasn't the dress that started there it was the laces. The laces ran from the mid-back trailing all the way down to about two inches above her tail bone. The gap in the fabric started big but came to a point at the end just like the front had. She bit her lip and twisted, trying to see the laces properly in the mirror so she could weave them in and out of the loops provided.

After about five minutes of trying, and failing Amu gave up and sat on a tall pile composed of clothing and other random stuff in the closet. She rested her chin in the palm of her hand and chewed at her lip. It was official, there was no way she could lace the back of the dress by herself, it simply wasn't possible. Which meant….she would have to have help…from Ikuto. She shook her head there was no way she would let that pervert help her. He would no doubt do all kinds of perverted things to her. She looked at the back of the dress again, if the laces had gone any further down they would've started revealing her butt. She didn't care if it was technically covered just the thought of Ikuto putting his hands anywhere near there made her shudder. She shook her head, as much as she hated the thought there really wasn't any other way though. She took a deep breathe and exhaled nervously.

Sticking her head out of the curtain once more she spoke, "um…Ikuto?" she asked

His eyes were closed and he opened one of them to look at her, "yeah?"

"Um…I, uh…need some…help." She whispered quietly.

"What?" he asked opening his other eye. Did she just ask for his help? No, he must have been hearing things.

She cleared her throat and said it again, this time a little louder. "I said..I…need…help."

He blinked a few times as he struggled to process what she was saying. After a few seconds he stood and walked over to her in a daze without saying anything. Clearly he hadn't expected this…what was Amu trying to pull?

He followed her behind the curtain before finally speaking, "um…okay, what do you need?" he asked still confused.

She frowned, "Before I tell you, you HAVE to promise you won't do anything perverted or inappropriate okay?"

He blinked once more, now he really wanted to know what she wanted. "Okay..yeah sure." He said.

He watched as she let out a sigh of a relief, she was definitely stressed out about something.

"I'm only asking you because there is absolutely no way I can do it myself…" she started, "So don't get any ideas alright?"

"alright…" he said, he still didn't know what she was referring to.

"And if you try anything, anything at all, then I promise you you'll seriously regret it!"

He nodded, man he wished she would spit it out already.

"Alright…" she said slowly. She looked at him for a few moments still unsure if she had made the right choice. She was asking a lot of Ikuto, she was asking him to be far more serious and mature than he had ever been, she was pretty sure he could handle it, but then again…she had been wrong about him before. And this was one of those situations she couldn't afford to be wrong. Oh well…there was only one way to find out.

"I…can't get the laces…." She told him as she slowly turned around revealing her backside to him.

Ikuto's eyes widened as he saw the large amount of bare skin. He swallowed carefully, as his hormones started to kick in. What was Amu thinking, asking him to help with the laces? No guy in his right mind could withstand the sight of Amu standing there like that, so vulnerable, so innocent, so…tempting. Didn't she know better than to ask something like that of him? He frowned, of course she did, but really she had no choice, as she had said, there was no way she could've done the laces herself. He set his jaw, now he understood why she had been so serious. He took in a shaky breathe, Amu was asking a lot of him, knowing full well just what he could do to her in that moment. He stared at her, he wanted to do so much with her that it hurt, he wanted to hold her tenderly in his arms and never let go, to kiss her passionately, to……Ikuto immediately shook his head and diverted his eyes, what was he thinking, this was Amu, his friend, just cause she was drop-dead gorgeous and standing in front of him barely clothed, and they were alone did not mean he should be having these kinds of thoughts. She was his friend, not his lover, and as a friend she was asking him for a very huge favor, he was determined to prove to her that he could do this. He took a deep breathe and prepared himself mentally. He turned back to Amu and reached out with shaky hands, "I'm gonna start at the bottom, and work my way up okay?" he told her quietly, "That way you can get the worst of it out of the way." Yes, he was aware of just how far that lacing went down and just how close it was to her…behind. He was also of aware of how nervous she had to be about him doing this so he was doing his best to comfort her.

She nodded slowly in response to what he said. With that Ikuto laid hold of the silk lace and gingerly thread it through the first two holes, then the third, and the fourth, all the while his hands continued to shake. He took a moment to tighten the bond between the two sides of fabric and was relieved to see how well it concealed what was beneath. Soon after that his hands stopped shaking and he hurriedly continued to lace up the rest of the dress. He finally finished and took a step back smiling, he had done it. It was probably the hardest thing he had ever done, but he had done it. With the danger passed Ikuto allowed himself to relax and suddenly the smirk reappeared on his face. He had proved himself and now it was time for him to go back to teasing.

"Almost done Amu…just hold still for one more second…" he told her reaching into his pocket.

"Okay," she replied, he could hear the renewed comfortableness in her voice and was glad to know she was once more calm.

He pulled the device from his pocket and suddenly Amu heard a clicking sound.

She turned around, "Ikuto…what was that?" she asked. Her eyes fell on the camera phone in Ikuto's hand just as another click went off. Then it hit her, he was taking pictures of her!

"IKUTO!" she screamed, "YOU PERVERT!" she went to snatch the phone from his hands but he pulled it away at the last minute. He looked down at her his eyes sparkling with playfulness. "Awww….is this how you thank me for helping you with your dress?" he asked.

Amu paused a moment and checked the mirror to see if he had finished lacing before taking the picture, she calmed down, at least he had the decency to do that. She turned around and Ikuto was gone.

She cursed and slid the curtain aside as Ikuto hurried to the other end of the closet. She had no idea where he was planning to go, it was a small closet so he couldn't expect to avoid her. Regardless she didn't let him get any further, without thinking she jumped after him, tackling him to the ground.

Ikuto hit the ground with a thud and Amu came down with him, it was the spaghetti incident all over again except this time Amu was on top and she was wearing a dress and Ikuto wasn't wearing a shirt. Immediately the tension and nervousness that had been there at the beginning of the lacing session was thrust back into place as the two stared into each others eyes with complete shock. Amu started blushing as Ikuto struggled to keep the hormones in check. Why had he asked her to wear that stupid dress anyway? So far it had caused him a whole lot more trouble than it had her. He suddenly realized how close their faces were, or more importantly, their lips. Ikuto had never noticed how tantalizing those lips truly were, or how wonderful the smell of her strawberry shampoo was. He bit his lip and shut his eyes. No, no NO! Amu's my friend, I don't have any feelings of love towards her at all. NONE. Then why the heck am I so nervous right now? Why is my heart being at a 100 miles an hours? Why is it I can't stop thinking about kissing her right now? No, there's no way I'm falling for her, no possible way. I can't be. He groaned internally. Who was he kidding? He'd fallen alright, and he'd fallen hard. Somewhere along the way, between all the fighting, and teasing and the games he'd fallen for her. There was just one problem though. Easter. Easter would do one of two things. One, they would use Amu against him to make him search for the embryo, or two, they would do everything possible to tear the two of them apart, even if it meant killing Amu. He shook his head, neither options were the least bit appealing. More than anything in the world he didn't want Amu to be hurt on his behalf, he could never forgive himself if that were to ever happen. He had to stop this, soon, before these feelings turned into something dangerous, into something like love.

Suddenly Amu finally managed to come out of her state of complete shock. Took her long enough. He muttered to himself and she immediately got off of him, moving herself to the other side of the closet "S,s, so-sorry Ikuto…" she stuttered, "I, g-guess I was just so surprised that my b-brain wasn't really w-working there for a few minutes," she smiled innocently noticing his sudden seriousness and thinking it was directed at her.

"Its fine…" he said quietly.

She looked surprised by his response, but he didn't care. She had probably expected him to say something perverted but he didn't, he couldn't do that anymore, he had to start being more serious about this whole thinking of her strictly as a friend thing and perversion wasn't going to help that.

He breathed in and out slowly, doing his best to focus on anything and everything but Hinamori Amu. He studied the room carefully and before too long knew of everything that was inside of it. All the while Amu watched him quietly from the safety of her corner.