Amu tried to break past the awkwardness by asking Ikuto another question. "So, was there like, anything special about Aruto that you liked about him?"

Ikuto continued to give Amu the infamous silent treatment as a response. She did a couple more loops before she decided she would go back inside. She looked back to see an empty space where Ikuto should've been. Amu pulled the golf cart into the lot and went upstairs to find Ikuto sitting on the couch with the TV on and his laptop in his lap.

"Well there you are," she said. She sat down beside him, taking note that he still hadn't put a shirt on, and how loose his pants were around his waist. She didn't say anything to him about it, but she wondered if he had an eating disorder. She had seen him eat, right? Yeah, she had seen him eat. Maybe he was just naturally skinny. But people weren't that naturally skinny, were they? Was that possible? Amu peeked at what Ikuto was doing. He had his email in one tab, Pandora in another, Facebook in another, and he had Google opened idly. Ikuto, noticing Amu's nosiness, promptly shut his laptop and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.

"Scoot down," Ikuto said to Amu, gesturing to the far side of the couch.

"Why?" she asked as she moved down.

Ikuto leaned over and placed his head in her lap.

Amu tried to keep calm, "Ah… Ikuto, what are you doing?"

"I'm tired," he groaned. "I barely got any sleep last night."

Amu, thinking it was her fault, started to feel guilty. "Why didn't you get any sleep?" she asked him as she rested a hand on his bare shoulder.

"Eh," he sighed, "I get fits of insomnia when I'm away from home."

"Oh," Amu said, relieved. The two watched TV for a little bit before they both grew bored. Ikuto sat up and started to walk over to the TV. He opened the cabinet below it and looked through the various old VHS tapes. He picked one up, examined the front of it, and stuck it into the worn VHS player. "What is that?" Amu asked as Ikuto walked back over to the couch she was on.

"Some cartoon thing called the Land Before Time. It's about dinosaurs or something. I just feel like putting something on other than these cheap cartoons they show on TV now," he said as he laid back down on Amu's lap. Neither one of them bothered to pay attention to the movie past the first ten minutes. Amu played with Ikuto's hair while he tested her on her English.

"Water," he would say.

"Water," she would say in reply.

"Computer."

"Computer."

"Happy."

"Happy."

"Brothers."

"Brother."

"Speaking of brothers," Ikuto started.

Amu's breath hitched as she remembered telling Ikuto about Ama and Amo.

"Aruto was my brother," Ikuto said blankly.

Amu sighed the slightest bit, "Really?"

"Nope."

"Well what was the point of that?" Amu asked.

"To see what you'd say. He was really my dad," he shifted uncomfortably under her hand, trying to find a more comfortable position where her fingers weren't right on top of his ear.

Amu raised an eyebrow at him even though he couldn't see it, "Oh really?"

"Yeah, really," he said.

"Hey, Ikuto… Can I ask you something personal?" Amu said nervously.

Ikuto hesitated briefly, "Depends what it is."

Amu lightly tugged on the hair around Ikuto's ear, "Do you have, like, and eating disorder?"

Ikuto brushed her hand away and turned around awkwardly to look at her face, "I've had one, why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. You're so skinny, you know?"

Ikuto took a quick glance at his lower body, particularly where his jeans failed to touch his stomach because of his protruding hip bones, and frowned. "Amu, this isn't the kind of body you get from an eating disorder, so don't even think about it. This is a body of a fully recovered person who just as an obnoxiously high metabolism."

Amu nodded, feeling relieved that Ikuto wasn't starving himself or purging to get that body. Amu continued to study where she could see certain bones; she could faintly see the beat of his heart in his chest.

Ikuto smirked at her, "I know it's totally sexy Amu, but it's impolite to stare."

Amu's eyes shot back to Ikuto's face and she blushed, "Shut up."

Ikuto's smirk only grew at her reaction. He lifted a slim yet still masculine hand and traced her jaw line with his knuckles, "Or do you want to see more?"

Amu was speechless. What the hell was Ikuto doing? He went from playful mode, to angst, to silent, to lecturing, to "teasing." Was he having mood swings or something?

Ikuto chuckled to himself at Amu's inability to form words. He quickly sat up and leaned back, grabbing Amu's wrist in the process. He pulled her into his frame and cupped her face in his hands. He looked her dead in the eye and spoke in a low voice, "Well? Is this what you want, Amu?"

Amu didn't respond, she was at a loss at what to say. She was still trying to figure out his mood swings.

Ikuto started to lean in towards Amu, aiming for her mouth.

And, as if on cue, the sound of the house phone ringing filled the room.

"Oh, the phone's ringing," Ikuto said as he quickly scooted out from under the girl, letting her fall onto the couch. He went into the kitchen and answered the phone. "Hello? Oh, hey Shiragin. Uh, I don't know, I'll ask." Ikuto covered up the bottom half of the phone as he called to Amu, who was in the other room, "Amu, what kind of pizza do you like?"

Amu yelled back, "Cheese," before going back to trying to process what had just happened.

"English."

Amu sighed, "Cheese."

Ikuto uncovered the bottom of the phone, "Amu wants cheese, and I want cheese. Matt? Sure, I don't care. Nah, Amu shouldn't care either. Okay, how long 'till you get home? Okay. Bye." Ikuto hung up the phone. He walked back into the room that Amu was in, "Shiragin will be back with pizza in about an hour. Matt's joining us for dinner.

Amu tried to concentrate on erasing the redness from her cheeks, "Okay."

Ikuto chuckled when he noticed how flustered Amu still was.

"Oh, Ikuto," Amu said.

"Hm?"

"While we were on the golf cart," she started.

Ikuto itched the back of one of his legs with the other foot, "What?"

Amu shook her head, "Nevermind."

"Suit yourself," he said. He sat down on the couch and laid back down in Amu's lap. She sighed. "Problem?" he asked.

Amu sighed, "I guess not." She played with the hair around his ears again. "Hey, Ikuto, why is your hair so soft?"

Ikuto shrugged to his best ability, given he was lying down, "Dunno, just is." He tried to swat her hand away from his ear, but she soon replaced it. "Will you please stop touching my ear?" he asked, a little irritated.

Amu tilted her head to the side, "Why?"

"Because I said so," he swatted her hand away again.

Amu shrugged. Ikuto got up and walked upstairs and went into their room. He walked out of their room only wearing boxers and carrying a towel and another pair of boxers. He walked into the bathroom.

"Are you taking another shower?" Amu called up to him.

"Do you think I spent that whole time cleaning myself that first time? I just sit around and let the water burn me. I'll be out in, like, 45 minutes," he called back.

Amu was about to protest when she realized that she never got to take her shower after they had gone to the beach, but he was already in the bathroom and had the water running. Amu decided that she would take a nap while she waited. She was sure he would wake her up either when he got out or when Shiragin and Matt got back. She rested her head on a pillow and slowly nodded off while watching the Land Before Time.

Amu was awoken by a warm breath near her ear. She felt cool water dripping onto her forehead.

"Amu," she heard, "Open your eyes, Amu."

Her eyes slowly fluttered open to see Ikuto's face above her. She tried to stretch, not realizing that Ikuto had her wrists pinned down on either side of her head.

"Good morning, sleepy-head," Ikuto said with a smirk.

Amu tried to pull her arms up, but Ikuto kept the held down, "I-Ikuto, what are you doing?"

Ikuto didn't reply. He just moved his head closer to hers. He leaned in and nibbled on her ear. His hair, still cool and wet from his shower, rubbed against her neck and sent goose bumps down her body.

"Ikuto," Amu tried to pull her hands away, "Ikuto, stop it."

Ikuto only chuckled. It didn't sound like Ikuto's playful chuckle, either. It was a dark, menacing chuckle, like the kind that bad guys do when they reveal their plans in a movie.

Amu struggled harder and harder and suddenly he was gone. She had struggled her way into a sitting position. She looked down at her lap, confused when she saw a blanket on top of her. She quickly felt her neck to see if it was still wet, which it wasn't.

"Hey," she heard Ikuto's voice from beside her. "What were you dreaming about? You kept saying my name, but not in a good way."

She observed Ikuto. He had a different pair of jeans on, a dark grey t-shirt, and he had a towel resting on top of his head, covering the shaggy hair that came from towel drying it.

Amu quickly looked away from him, trying to forget her dream completely.

She heard Ikuto stand up and sit down on the couch next to her, "Amu?"

Amu tried to hold back tears, but they stung at her eyes like needles. She quickly leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ikuto's shoulders and held her head to his chest which was still warm from the scolding water he used for his showers. Ikuto awkwardly placed one hand on her back, the other stroking her hair, "Amu, what's wrong?"

Amu just shook her head against him, implying that she didn't intend on telling him.

"Fine then," Ikuto said. He pulled Amu closer to him, putting her over his lap in a non-suggestive way as he stroked her hair patiently.

Amu shook her head as her tears started to slow, "It was just… it was just scary." Amu could feel the vibrations of his chest as he let out a low hum in response, possibly signaling that he's had a dream like that before. Amu was soothed by the steady rise and fall of Ikuto's chest and the warmth it brought her face. Amu pulled away and laid back down in the place she was before. Ikuto leaned over her and glanced at her face, which was still red and splotchy. Ikuto got up and went to the kitchen. He got a paper towel and ran it under some cold water and rung it out before bringing it back to Amu.

"Shiragin and Matt will be back really soon," he said to her and he handed her the towel.

She nodded and mumbled a small "thanks" before rubbing the towel on her face to return it to its natural color. Not a minute later, Matt and Shiragin walked in, filling the house with the smell of pizza.