Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!

Chapter Summary: Ikuto pops the question, but Amu doesn't believe he'll be able to stick to it.

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Popping the Question

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After their bathroom encounter, Amu could barely look at Ikuto without blushing or stammering. She couldn't believe that he had actually seen her naked! It was so embarrassing!

Of course, there was really no reason for her to be so embarrassed. She knew she didn't have a bad body and it wasn't as if they'd actually done anything. So what if he'd seen her naked? It wasn't as if he'd never seen a woman nude before. She didn't know why she worried herself with something so trivial.

They ate breakfast in silence, though she could feel his gaze on her a great deal of the time. Did he expect her to say something? God, what was she supposed to do?! No matter what she tried to tell herself, it was weird; did he expect something from her? Was he going to disappear and never return? What if he thought she'd meant to do it? Did he think that she wanted him?!

Well, she guessed that wasn't such a bad thing, seeing as she did. Any woman in her right mind would drool over him. She remembered at her high school graduation when he'd shown up; every woman in the room had stared when he'd come up to congratulate her. Some had even come up, asking him for his phone number. He'd politely turned them down, saying that he had an overly jealous girlfriend he had to get back to.

A girlfriend, Amu thought to herself, catching herself staring at his back as he rose to place his dishes in the sink. He has a girlfriend somewhere and he's spending the night here? Why would he do that? She felt her envy towards the unknown woman growing, gnawing annoyingly at her conscious mind. Was he even telling the truth? Probably. He'd left quickly after that. Darn it, why am I getting so worked up over this? He acts like a friend to me; there's no reason for me to get so worried about his love life. It's not like I have any feelings for him or anything.

He turned towards her slowly, as if he felt her eyes on him. Their eyes caught and she felt a flush heating her cheeks. Why was he looking at her that way, like he was trying to size something up? Did he not believe she could look like she did beneath her clothes?

I most certainly do, Tsukiyomi Ikuto, she thought in irritation. Obviously. So why was he staring at her like she was some kind of puzzle?

Rising, she tried to hide her embarrassment by ducking her head down. "I'd better get ready; Rima-chan's coming to pick me up soon." Blushing profusely, she raced past him, dropping her dishes into the sink before dashing towards the bathroom.

As she applied her makeup, she couldn't shake the feeling that he was planning something. The look in his eyes had always led to trouble before and it was unlikely that it had changed.

But what could he possibly be doing?

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She was making it difficult to propose with her dodging him.

He hadn't known what to say at breakfast; she'd been pink the whole time, brightening whenever she caught him looking at her. But had she really expected differently? She was gorgeous underneath her clothes; did she think he would just forget it? Or ignore it? Yeah, right. He was a guy. A naked woman, no matter who she was, would be in his mind for at least a little while. A goddess, however, would never leave.

When he heard Rima's knock on the door, he knew he wouldn't have time to ask Amu then. On the down side, she would have her guard back up if he waited. On the up side, he had enough time to plan out his attack. If he had anything to say about it, she would be swept off her feet and into submission. But it was Amu; she wouldn't make it easy.

Another knock sounded, shocking him out of his reserve. Before he knew what he was doing, he strode to the door, flipping the lock and swinging it open to find a miniature blonde standing before him.

"You lost, Barbie?" he asked without thinking, immediately wincing. It probably wasn't a good idea to taunt Amu's best friend; he wouldn't get any brownie points for it.

Back straight, Rima sniffed disdainfully, "Ugh. I know Amu-chan wastes her time taking in stray cats, but you'd think she'd at least encourage them to practice good hygiene. You look absolutely repulsive." Her nose stuck in the air and she waved one dainty hand at him. "Out of my way, feline."

Raising one eyebrow, he blocked the doorway even more. "You certainly treat Amu's fiancé poorly, don't you, little girl?" He hadn't meant for the words to slip out, and he realized his mistake as her mouth flew open in a very much undignified way and Amu's shocked gasp sounded behind him. Cringing, he turned around with a small grin on his face, hoping to ward off any violence on the pinkette's part. "That was quick, Amu."

"Y-you can't just…just tell people we're getting married! Are you insane?!" she screeched, glaring at him.

Loving anything to do with yelling at Ikuto, Rima jumped in, forcing him to look over at her as Amu stomped towards them. "This is the twenty-first century, Tsukiyomi! Women are allowed to either accept or decline marriage proposals; you can't just decide for them!"

Wiping one hand over his face, he muttered, "I didn't mean for that to come out, obviously. I've just been thinking—"

Amu stalking past him effectively stopped any words that would have left him. As she crossed through the doorway to Rima's side, she asked, "You were just thinking? Do me a favor; stop it!"

Then, before he could think of a particularly witty reply, they were making their way to the elevator down the hall, grumbling to each other as if they didn't believe he could hear them.

"I can hear you, ya know!" he shouted after them before slamming the door.

He found himself alone in an apartment that only seemed to be screaming accusations at him. You didn't do it right, you fool! Now, to make up for it, you're going to have to do everything right! You idiot!

Suddenly, a little floating blue apparition appeared in front of him, shocking him. As it became something a little more discernable, Ikuto realized that it was Yoru that was glaring at him in that caring-yet-disgusted way that only a cat could really pull off.

'You're not very smart, nya,' Yoru muttered, shaking his head in an oddly mature way. 'You gotta think this through, Ikuto. Even a dog could have done a better job of asking her than that.'

With a smirk, Ikuto asked his old friend, "Yeah? And how would you have done it, Yoru?"

Yoru gave him a perfect replica of the same smirk. 'I thought you'd never ask, nya.'

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"He's probably gone now anyways," Amu reassured her friend from the passenger seat. Their shopping bags were piled in the backseat, but their little excursion and heavy spending hadn't lightened the mood at all. Rima had had a dark grimace on her face for most of their outing while Amu had worried her lip a lot. "He never stays long; maybe a night, then he's gone after he's been fed the next morning."

"Like a real stray cat," Rima mocked, hands tightening on the steering wheel. She looked over at Amu, glaring. "I say you just tell him to take a hike, Amu-chan. You don't need to be taking care of him all the time; doesn't he have his own home?"

Amu had heard it all before. None of her friends—excluding Kuukai and maybe Nagihiko—really liked Ikuto, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy his company. Now that she was older, she understood what a great friend he actually was. He listened to her pissing and moaning over stupid things that she shouldn't let upset her, took care of her when she was sick, even helped her with college applications. So if Rima and Tadase and Yaya didn't like him, what was the big deal?

"Sometimes it's nice to have him around. He isn't always so unthinking." In fact, he rarely spoke without measuring in his mind any possible reactions. That was why his words had gotten such a furious reaction from her. But now, looking back on it, he could have just been trying to mess with Rima; he did like to make people as uncomfortable as possible whenever he could. "Besides, it was just a joke, obviously. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have said it out loud."

"Whatever," Rima said, rolling her eyes. "I just don't see how you can spend any time at all with him. I mean, he lacks any sense of tact and general thought towards others' feelings. And what could he possibly provide for you in friendship? He makes fun of you more often than not!" They pulled up to the curb in front of Amu's apartment building quickly, nearly going onto the curb.

"Well, for one, when he drives, he doesn't try to kill me!" Amu half-joked, holding onto the car door for dear life. "And he doesn't always tease me; in fact, lately, he's been sweeter than any other guy I know!"

As Amu unbuckled her seatbelt to get out of the car, Rima spun in her seat, eyes wide as she stared at her best friend. "No," she breathed. "It can't be." She grabbed Amu's chin, forcing her to look at her. After watching the trapped woman's eyes for a few awkward moments, she screamed, "You're in love with him!"

Letting go of Amu, Rima slammed back into her seat, her hands on her face dramatically. "How could you be so stupid as to fall in love with Tsukiyomi Ikuto?! Why couldn't you have fallen for someone better suited to you like…like Tadase-kun?! Why did it have to be him?!" Suddenly, Rima was sitting perfectly upright, her face turned towards Amu. "I'm going to have to be the maid of honor at a Tsukiyomi wedding!" She shuddered. "Ugh, no amount of bathing will get rid of that."

Not knowing whether to laugh or yell at her friend's antics, Amu merely shook her head, getting out of the car slowly. Turning back around to shut her door, she said quite purposefully, "I am not in love with Ikuto. He's just a friend." Slamming the door, she smiled and waved condescendingly.

Rima rolled down her window. "You certainly do act like each other!" she shouted in return, pulling into traffic, cutting off an innocent bystander.

"Call me about yours and Nagihiko's wedding, Rima-chan!" Amu mocked.

Stopping in her tracks as the words left her mouth, she realized that Rima was right. She was acting like Ikuto.

But that didn't mean she was in love with him, did it?

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Ikuto looked around the small apartment. Everything was in perfect order. In the few hours Amu had been gone, he had cleaned the apartment from top to bottom and made a—hopefully—delicious dinner for her. And that was just his apology to her. He still had no idea how to propose to her—Yoru hadn't been very helpful.

Flashback

'You've gotta show her that you're alpha male over any other male that she knows, nya,' Yoru insisted. He floated just above Ikuto, seeming very confident in the advice he was giving his human companion. 'And then you gotta show her you've got good traits to pass on to any kittens you'll have. That's how us cats do things, and it works for us, nya.'

"Yoru, humans and cats are completely different. Somehow I don't think she's thinking about having 'kittens' when she's only eighteen," Ikuto said, shaking his head as he tried to hold in his laughter. He didn't want to offend the friend he was seeing for the first time in at least five years.

'Eighteen!' Yoru scoffed. 'That's old enough to start having kittens, nya.' Scratching his chin, he asked, 'Why do you think she wouldn't be thinking about kittens? That's what females do, Ikuto, nya.' He said this as if to say, "Everyone knows that."

Ikuto couldn't contain his chuckles at that point. "Yoru, if she heard you say that, she would skin you alive." Moving away from the cat, he moved into the bathroom, turning on the shower. "Any other ideas would be helpful, Yoru."

'Why not just ask her, nya? Why does it have to be so much work? If she loves you, won't it just work out?'

"Yeah. But that's just the thing; she has to love me first."

End Flashback

Pulled out of his memory by the sound of the door to the apartment opening and closing with shocking softness, Ikuto made his way out of the bathroom, where he had just been finishing up folding towels—which he had washed.

When he made it into the kitchen, Amu started to scream.

"I left the oven on! And something's in there! I've got to get it out before I start a fire!" She raced to flip off the oven and swung open the door without thinking, grabbing the hot pan holding the skinless chicken he had been preparing out and throwing it onto the stove. "Ow, ow, ow!" she screamed as she was burned.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" he demanded, racing to her side and grabbing her. Each of his arms wrapped around her to take one wrist into each hand, keeping his front firmly pressed to her back. He turned on the facet quickly, shoving her hands beneath the cold spray of water to cool her. "Never take something out of the oven without mitts on! You could have seriously hurt yourself."

Amu bent her head backward against his chest, glaring up at him. "Well, if I would have known you were still here, I wouldn't have burnt myself! But you have absolutely no predictable visiting hours!" She dropped her head back down to look at her hands. "You can let go now; they don't hurt anymore," she grumbled, feebly trying to yank her wrists out of his hold.

He ignored her latter statement. "You should have thought about what you were doing! How could you be so unbelievably stupid? If they kitchen wasn't already on fire, it wouldn't be in the next few seconds it would take you to put on the damn oven mitts!" he hissed, leaning down as he gently rolled her hands in his, checking for any spots he might have missed. "You're lucky I plan on staying around from now on; you're almost too stupid to live alone."

"Excuse me?!" Amu tried to spin in his arms, only finding herself still held firmly in one position. "I'm stupid?! You're the one who told Rima-chan that we're engaged! That has to be the most ridiculous statement of the year! We aren't getting married!" She wiped her face against her shoulder as angry tears rolled down her face. "Let go, idiot! I told you that my hands are fine now!"

He reluctantly released her, keeping her caged against the sink. As she turned to glare at him directly, he said in an almost bored tone, "Actually, I'm pretty sure we will be getting married in the near future, and I'm rarely wrong about these things."

She gaped at him for a long moment before snapping out of it in a fury of waving arms. "You come around whenever you please like some kind of tomcat and suddenly decide that you want to marry me?! You don't even call when you say you will! How can I expect you to even show up to the ceremony?"

He leaned down to look her in the eyes. "Because I'm going to make this work. You need a goddamned keeper!"

Her eyes widened in shocked indignation for a moment before the Cool & Spicy façade coated her features. "Oh, really? You think I need some big, strong man to take care of me? Is that it? Well, there are certainly enough of those in the world that I wouldn't have to worry about suddenly deciding that they wanted to be free and run away!" She barely kept herself composed. Clutching her fists at her sides, she said in a low, angry tone, "If you could prove to me that there's a reason to actually marry you, I might consider it. Maybe considering it. But that will never happen because you don't have anything that I want."

An idea struck him, bringing a smirk to his lips. He stepped away from her, keeping his eyes locked with hers.

"Fine. You just said it yourself: if I can prove to you that there's a reason for you to marry me, you'll do it." He turned, strolling towards her—their, he corrected himself—bedroom. "Tomorrow night we're going out to dinner, Amu-koi. Wear something easy to get in and out of."

She stood there, completely dumbfounded for several moments before shouting, "I said I'd consider it!" Another pause with a slowly blooming flush. "And that better not have meant what I think it did!"

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Phew. Glad I got that out. Lol. I kept getting Writers' Block, but luckily now it's all out of my system for the time being.
I hope you all enjoyed the newest chapter!
Niixx

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Preview
First Date

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"I can't believe I'm actually going along with this!" Amu cried as she rummaged through her closet, looking for a suitable outfit that didn't fit into his easy-to-get-in-and-out-of criteria but was good enough for the restaurant he had told her only moments before he was taking her to. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to fit into only one of the categories. "I have absolutely nothing to wear!"

She heard his snicker from behind her closed—and locked!—door and fought the urge to throw her new stiletto heels at it.

As she glared down at the shoes in her hand, a sudden burst of genius came to her. Whatever she wore shouldn't be easy on/off. No, that would just make him think that he could actually win this little game he'd created for them. What she should do was wear something that would taunt him.

And she knew the perfect outfit that would do just that.

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Oooo! Scandalous!
Hope you guys all like the preview. My plans for next chapter are certainly going to knock your socks off…. I hope.