Disclaimer: I do not own Shugo Chara!

Chapter Summary: Amu is determined to tease Ikuto during their first date, but he has planned a surprise attack.

A/N: Nowhere in the manga or anime does it say that Amu can't swim. Just made it up to fit in. (hint to chapter spoilers n.n)

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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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Ikuto checked his watch for the third time in the last five minutes. God, how long could a woman take to get ready?! He had given her only one set of instructions: something easy in and out of. He smirked a little at the thought; would she heed his request or would she think he was being perverted? No, Amu, you really do need to have something easy to get in and out of…and that can get wet after dinner.

When he moved his gaze back to the hallway that she would have to walk through to leave, he froze, breath catching in his throat as he looked at Amu. Her hair was left to lie on her shoulders, still drying from her shower. She wore a light blue halter top that gave just a hint of cleavage but clung to every curve of her body as it moved down to mid-thigh, easily short dress length. She had on a pair of skinny jeans that looked as if they were plastered to her but she didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable in them. But what topped it all off was the pair of fuck-me stiletto heels she had donned.

They were shiny and black, obviously new. As she moved toward him, he wondered how she could possibly walk in them; they had to be three-inches high and put the top of her head just below his chin. He wondered how often he would get to catch her when she toppled, amounting in an innocent feel-up, of course.

But she didn't waver as she glided towards him, keeping her eyes locked with his in a battle of arrogance. In fact, if he didn't stop having to stop his eyes from dropping to her perfectly compacted breasts in that shirt, he would be the one losing…and in a war of such importance!

"Don't you look"—he paused his low purring for dramatic effect—"edible tonight, Amu-koi." He added the honorific to send her off balance, as he planned to do throughout the night. If she wanted to battle him, she should know he fought dirty every chance he got.

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Amu's P.O.V.

Ikuto was actually being a…dare I utter these words for fear of tempting fate…gentleman? Something had to be wrong. He was suddenly going to announce that he'd done something horrible, that he was going to kidnap me and force me into prostitution or illegal drug testing or something! There was no way that he was just being nice. No, he had an ulterior motive and I wanted to find out what it was.

Immediately.

In the restaurant, he'd been only too much like Tadase-kun. He'd held out my chair for me—without yanking it back so I fell on my ass!—and allowed me to order anything I wanted, insisting that he could take care of the payment issue. Yeah, I know it's the twenty-first century, but free food is free food. Any college student—or anyone saving up for college—knows when to jump at free food. Ramen can only stay tasty for so long.

And, since he was being kind, I didn't see any point in teasing him, as I had planned. Besides, I felt so…watched in the tiny bar/grill he had taken me to. I didn't want to draw any more attention to me or my outfit.

But when we got in his car, he got that Ikuto-smirk on his face again. That one that told me I was in serious trouble. My heart leapt in my chest—it did that a lot around him since I realized that not everything is black and white about wrong and right—and started racing instantaneously. And that meant I wouldn't be at full power battling him.

When he missed the turn for my apartment complex—I knew he knew the way there perfectly from anywhere in the city—I became worried as my thoughts fled back to the other possibilities of his uncommon teasing-less night. What was he planning?!

"I-Ikuto, wh-where are you t-taking m-me?" I stuttered, already imagining the worst. Maybe black and white was a good way to keep everything….

He didn't spare me a glance, but assured me, "Don't worry; I'm not selling you on the Black Market. I just want to show you the best place in the world. I used to go there whenever things got too"—his eyes filled with that self-disgust that I loathed—"let's say, hectic."

Everything was silent for a moment before I felt an improper burst of giggling coming up my throat. Bad timing, but I couldn't stop it. "Thank God," I chuckled. "I was honestly thinking the worst. Selling me into prostitution, testing me with illegal drugs, and anything else along those lines." I wiped my forehead theatrically for dry, imaginary sweat. "Good thing you just promised this has nothing to do with the Black Market."

I was a little surprised to hear him start laughing as he parked the car on an old bridge with one lone street lamp that lighted the area just enough for me to make out the gleam of his white teeth as he smiled broadly.

We stepped out of the car and into the fresh air that calmed me. As we made our way to the river bank below, I didn't realize that Ikuto was behind me until he wrapped his arms around me, trapping my own against my sides. In my ear, he whispered, "Strip, Amu."

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Ikuto's P.O.V.

I couldn't help it. I had to do something to freak her out. The night wouldn't be complete without it.

Prepared for her to scream, I clamped one hand over her mouth as she was inhaling. "Calm down, Amu-koi; you don't want to go swimming in your taunt-Ikuto clothes, do you?" She froze; she hadn't thought that I would know exactly what she was trying to do when she stepped out of her bedroom in that outfit. I released her mouth slowly, not knowing whether she would scream or be furious with me. Either didn't matter. I already had a plan.

She turned in my arms, glaring up at me. Fury. That was good. Her reaction would be all the better. "You disgusting—"

"Take a deep breath," I ordered while grabbing her close and crouching to leap.

Her eyes widened to an unbelievable degree of surprise as she screamed, "Don't you dare—" Her voice cut off with a scream as we were suddenly airborne and hurtling towards the icy water. Before we could touch the water, she shouted, "Ikuto, don't let go!"

And it suddenly hit me.

I had never seen Amu in anything deeper than the shallow end of a pool, nor had she ever jumped into the river with her Guardian friends. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen her duck her head under water before….

Shit.

We went into the water and she had her arms like a noose around my neck. Guilt assailed me as I wrapped my body around hers, trying to keep her body straight so that we would hit the bottom faster. When I felt the mush against my old running shoes—thank God she took off her heels in the car—I kicked off with all my might, sending us shooting towards the surface.

We broke the water quickly; we couldn't have been under for more than a few seconds. Please, please, please, don't hate me for this, I thought to myself as I one-arm paddled us to the shore. She shivered against me the whole while, not saying one word. Her eyes were clamped shut and I felt like a complete ass. I shouldn't have decided to dunk us; this was all a mistake. Now all my chances were gone and she would never trust me again.

And how can you marry someone you don't trust?

Her breathless whisper, however, shocked me beyond belief. Her arms tightened around me as I pulled us onto the shore, laying on my back with her draped across my chest as I felt every horrible thing she could say to me come crashing down in my mind.

"Thank you, Ikuto." Her eyes were big and sincere as a child-like innocence filled them. At my incredulous look, she said, "You didn't let go."

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They were looking into each others' eyes, just watching each other. It was a movie-perfect moment; they were going to kiss, the feeling was in the air. They seemed to be in slow-motion, moving their heads towards one another's. Everything bled romanticism….

Until the flashlight shined on them from above.

Ikuto's head swung up as Amu ducked her head into his chest. He glared at the uniformed man standing on the bridge, who was giving them an all-knowing look. "Sorry to break up the love fest, kids," the officer said. "But you're gonna have to take it somewhere else." He stood there shining the light on them as Amu jumped up, blushing profusely, and Ikuto slowly moved to stand, aggravated by the intrusion. As he walked away, the officer threw over his shoulder, "Best not go in that water again, either. Heard there are leeches in there."

Amu squealed, instantly checking her various appendages for the little pests. "Ikuto, do you see any on me?! Leeches are so gross!"

Seems the end of their date would be peeling bloodsuckers off each other. Yipee.

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When they finally found their way back to the car, Ikuto was in a sour mood while Amu tried to analyze how she could possibly have been ready to kiss him.

Well, he did keep me from drowning. But it was his fault in the first place! And, besides, every other time he saved me, I didn't feel like I needed to kiss him.

'It's because you're in love with him, Amu-chan!' Ran's annoyingly cheerful voice rang in her mind, chorused by Suu's bright agreement. 'If you weren't, you wouldn't want to kiss him half as badly! And how can you not know how to swim?!'

Amu ignored the bickering that ensued, allowing it to be background music to her other thoughts racing through her head. She wasn't in love with him, of that she was certain. Well, how could she be?! He was arrogant, teasing, rarely serious, tall, dark, handsome, caring….

'Amu-chan,' Miki's reasonable tone immediately alerted Amu to what was coming next. 'You love him. That much is obvious from your dreams alone; add that to your words and actions and you've got a perfect masterpiece.'

No! I am not in love with him! Just because I find him attractive doesn't mean anything.

'Lust can easily turn into love,' Suu pointed out.

No, it—am I arguing with my own personalities? She sighed. She was going insane and it was all cat-boy's fault.

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When they got to Amu's apartment, everything was quite as they took turns changing their wet clothes in the bathroom. After an inspection of herself in the mirror proved that no leeches were attached to her, Amu made her way back into her bedroom where Ikuto had already crawled under the covers and was probably half asleep.

She crept towards the bed quietly, gently putting her weight down on it so as not to wake him if he was asleep. You see, when he wasn't under Easter's control with X-eggs, he was a relatively light sleeper and woke when anything happened. Glancing at the clock, it showed that it was ten-thirty. She groaned to herself; she had to get up at six-thirty if she wanted to get to work on time. God, she hated that place. Convenient stores were such a bother.

The moment she settled into bed, it seemed, the phone began ringing shrilly, jerking both she and Ikuto out of their half-sleeping dozes. But as she would have risen to go get it, Ikuto swung towards her, wrapping her in his arms as the rest of his body curled around her.

"Don't get up. Let the machine get it."

The simple words were enough for her and she got used to the ringing before too long. In fact, everything was perfect as she snuggled back into his warmth, bringing the blanket around the rest of her.

"Hi, you've reached Hinamori Amu. Sorry I couldn't make it to the phone, but please leave a message and I'll get back to you. Thanks!" Beep!

"Uh…hi, Amu. I didn't realize how late it is but…well, I was wondering if you're free tomorrow night?"

Tadase's voice on the answering machine seemed to send a bolt of unease through them both as they listened to the rest of the message, Ikuto as tense as a lion ready to pounce.

"Uhm…well, I just wanted to say sorry for calling so late; you must be asleep. Well, call me back! Bye." Click!

There was a long silence between the two in the bed as Ikuto tried to fight back violence and Amu tried to take it in. Was Tadase…asking her on a date? Really? Why?

"So…looks like you've got a fan boy to turn down, huh?" Ikuto growled, the rumble echoing across her back. When she started to turn over, he loosened his hold just enough to allow her to do so. "How are you going to break the news to the Kiddy King that you're engaged? Worst of all, it's to me."

She rolled her eyes and ducked her head into his chest, fingers tightening in his shirt. "Whatever, Ikuto. If I want to go on a date with Tadase I'll—" She yawned, allowing her tormentor to cut in.

"Vomit."

She slapped his shoulder lightly, giving another large yawn. "Oh, shut up and let me sleep."

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Attention!
Now that I have your attention, I would like to announce that I am looking for a beta for this story. To put it shortly, if you're interested, please send me a PM and I will reply to all with an application. Please don't get scared away by that! I just want this story to be the best it can be and so I'm going to be very picky about specifics. If you don't want chapters earlier (of course, you'll go through correcting them) or don't want to tell me that I need to update because my new TWO WEEK UPDATE RULE is about to collapse around me, please do not apply.
For those interested, I will send the pros and cons list to you, if you'd like.
Until later:
Niixx
P.S. I've found a program that can be used to create icons and I really want to test it out with something other than my name. Lol. So if you want one, contact me!

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Preview:
Yoru's Advice

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'Ikuto, don't be so quick to forget my advice, nya!' Yoru encouraged, floating just above where Ikuto could swat at him. 'Show her that you got better genes than that loser, nya.' He made a face as he looked at the pair joking across the table. 'You guys would have much better looking kittens, you know.'

Would you stop calling them kittens?! To humans, they're babies. Babies! Ikuto couldn't help the snap in his voice but regretted it. Sorry. I've been on edge since they started this whole thing.

'Tell her how strong your kittens would be.'

I am not telling Amu that we're going to have kittens!

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Bwahhahaha! Next chapter shall be very devious.
Only not really. Lol. I'm working out the kinks as we speak. :P