Part 6

I hope it is…well…you will see…this sure changes things…

Please let me know what you think.

Those of you who requested truths or dares keep your eyes open because I used quite a few! Hint, hint…(that means give me more, please.)

(I don't own these characters.)

Truth or Dare

Can-Dee

Elli walked into Town Hall wearing a large purple hat.

And when I say large, I mean colossal, I mean you couldn't walk within a five foot radius of it without running the risk of loosing an eye.

Such outrageous head wear was against the Town Hall dress code. Elli knew this well and wore the hat solely for that purpose.

This was a test.

She plopped down into her seat and tried to brush the massive floppy hat away from her face. Flipping nonchalantly through some papers, she waited….

"Good morning, Elli." Gill sighed, his eyes in a book.

"Good morning, Gill! How has your day been!?" She asked chipperly.

"Busy." Was his curt reply.

She waited.

He said nothing. He didn't even look up.

She turned her head right and left, trying to draw his attention to her wiggling hat.

Gill was oblivious.

She turned back to her papers and side glanced at him. He was staring out the window again, head propped up with his hand, sunlight shimmering in his hair.

Blinking back the fantasy that was blurring her vision, Elli straightened her hat and pretended to work, but couldn't help but worry about her cute little co-worker. What was wrong? For the past few days he had seemed really out of it…acting strangle…not himself. The window became the thing he stared at more than a book, and instead of rushing around and rifling through papers he just sat there. Never had he acted this way…maybe he was sick….?

Just when Elli was about to remove her hat in defeat she heard the gasp she had been waiting for.

"E-Elli?" Gill stuttered.

"Yes Gill?" she asked, turning to him expectantly, causing the hat to jiggle.

"What's on your head…?"

"Oh! My hat!? You like it!?" she said, making an effort to emphasize the sheer enormity of the hat beast.

Now, the correct answer to that question was : "Yes Elli. Your hat is lovely and suits you really well. But unfortunately it is against the dress code, so please remove it while at work." That is what Daniel would say.

But in all actuality, Gill is not Daniel.

"It's horrible!" Gill spat. "It looks like a giant squid is eating your head! Take it off! I can't even pretend to work, its so distracting."

Test Part 1: Failed.

Gosh! She thought. Gill has more social issues than I feared!

She took off her hat.

"What the--!!! What happened to your hair!?" Gill exclaimed.

Elli touched her aquamarine head gingerly. "I thought I'd try a new look… what do you think?"

Everyone knows that girls are sensitive about their hair, if Gill was going to survive in this world he would have to learn how to compliment a girls hairdo even if it was the most disgusting thing on the planet.

Thus, the correct answer to this was : "Your hair is really different. It matches your personality well." Simple. What could be easier than that.

Apparently, Gill liked making things difficult for himself.

"Put your hat back on."

That said it all.

Test Part 2 : Failed.

Elli sighed, shaking her head. If only boys in real life could be like the ones in soap operas….they always say the right thing.

For the third and final part of her test, Elli was putting herself out on a limb. She would have to tell Gill something really personal. Something really fake. Lets face it, she got her lines from "I couldn't help but love you."

"E-em….Gill…?" She mumbled, tucking her blue hair behind her ears.

"What?"

"I-I…um….I need to tell you something."

"What, Elli?" he seemed annoyed.

"I have a friend who has a crush on this…certain person…"

"Yes…?"

"She…um…well, this guy she likes doesn't even seem to know she exists."

Silence.

"He is cold to her….and yet, she cant help but like him."

More silence.

"What do you think she should do?"

Now most people are aware that if you say, "I have a 'friend' who…blah, blah, blah," normally means that it is in fact you who is in this situation.

So the correct response to this question would be something to the effect of : "Tell him how you feel." or "You should ask him on a date." Something like that…

Gill didn't get that memo.

"Your friend must be an idiot."

Test Part 3 : Failed.

Elli sighed heavily. Gill is never going to win a girl. He is too….blunt…

"What!? No strip tease today!?" Called a muffled voice.

Gill leapt to his feet, searching under his desk and in all the corners of the room for the owner, the only possible owner, Akari.

Elli saw her head briefly through the window. A second later she was crawling through it, somersaulting into the room with a loud bang as her back met the floor.

"Oooh….." She groaned, curling into the fetal position. "Gilly…why aren't you shirtless…?"

Gill stared down at her, a strange look in his eye, a weird, almost pained smile on his face.

"Akari…why,…why are you still wearing my sweater-vest!?"

She blinked up at him innocently. "What do you mean…?"

"I took it back yesterday! Did you break into my house again!?"

"Maybe…" She said with a shrug, then curling her legs underneath her, she looked up at Gill like an excited puppy.

"That's illegal." He hissed, then said, "No," to the question he knew she was going to ask. "You can't keep it."

"Oh please!!!" she begged, large brown eyes sparkling.

"No."

"Hmm…" she mused, tipping her head to the side. "Tell you what, I'll give you back your little sweater-vest and admit to breaking and entering…if…you go shirtless for a day!!"

"Keep it."

"Yay!" She did a victory dance in a circle around him. His hand shot out and latched onto her skull, turning her head to face him.

"Why are you here this early?" he asked, bending down so that they were eye to eye, only an inch separating their noses.

"Too close!" Elli gasped silently.

"I'm here to help you work, Gilly! I'll be your personal assistant! And we even match!!!" Akari chirped, squirming under his grip.

"You really want to help?" he asked, releasing her head.

"YES!!!"

"Then leave." he turned and busied himself with a stack of loose papers on a shelf.

She slunk forward and leached onto his leg, causing him to nearly trip over her.

"But, Gilly! We match!"

"That's not a real big motivator…"

"I need money! I haven't made any money in like… a week!"

"You're a farmer, right? Go plant something."

"I'll be your slave!"

His eyebrows raised. "I suppose we could find some use for you…"

"YAY!!!!" She cheered, jumping up and hugging him tightly around the middle.

"Crap…" Me muttered. "What have I gotten myself into…?"

Elli watched enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastically.

Yay! Bonding time! she thought happily.

For the first few hours of Akari's life as a slave, she was banished to the back room to sort through numberless files on unnecessary information. "Alphabetize them." had been her only instruction. So there she was, crossed legged on the floor, papers strewn around her, minding her own business, and even doing what she was supposed to; when suddenly Gill burst in and said, "Enough of that! You have a new assignment!"

"But why, Gilly? I'm doing such a good job…" she looked up at him with big eyes. "Just let me finish."

"No, no, no!" He insisted, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her from the room. "I couldn't possibly stand to hear you sing the, 'ABC's' one more time!"

Her next assignment was to dust. Simple, right? So she danced around the room singing a song from Mary Poppins, dust rag in one hand, a can of dust-be-gone in the other, twirling the rag in between books on the book shelf and all the little baubles on display. Elli enjoyed watching her, it was as if she brought the sunshine into the room.

"Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down!" she sang merrily, brushing a stubborn dust particle off an expensive vase. "In the most delightful--"

"Akari don't break that." Gill mumbled, scanning a filing cabinet.

"--way!" CRASH!"…….oops……"

"Akari! Did you just--!?"

"I'll clean it up…" she ran for a broom and dust pan.

"Forget it!" he exclaimed, catching her by the shoulders. "You would cut yourself."

Elli smiled. Maybe there is hope for him after all…

Akari blinked up into his blue eyes, he frowned then said, "Besides, you would probably miss some pieces and then I'd end up cutting my feet! You fail as a slave!"

Elli sighed. Maybe not…

"I-I fail…?" she whimpered, lower lip trembling, big brown eyes swelling with tears."

He sighed and looked away. "Okay, one more try."

An instant grin appeared miraculously on her face.

So then Gill sent her on a meaningless mission that would simply get her away from Town Hall. He had nearly shoved her out the door, telling her to take a package to the carpentry shop and to hurry back because she had a whole load of errands to run.

But, leave it to Akari to get lost in the town she had been living in for over a year.

"Crud…" She said aloud, shuffling past the inn for the fifth time. "I swear that blasted building is around here somewhere…"

Chase saw her through the window of the inn and popped his head out then called to her.

"Hey Akari! What's up!?"

She whipped around to the sound of her name, searching for whoever had called her. He waved to get her attention.

"Over here!" he yelled.

"Oh! Chasy-Roo!" she exclaimed, running up to the window. "Have you made any delicious cakes today!?"

He smiled and disappeared momentarily, only to reappear a second later with a slice of cheese cake in hand.

"Oooodaladie!" She squealed, taking the offering and forking a huge mouthful down her throat.

"You eat like a pig!" he teased.

She snorted. "I can sound like one too!"

He laughed and leaned farther out the window.

"So I see you are still wearing 'Fashions by Gill'."

She nodded. "I stole it!"

His eyes widened.

"And guess what!?" she whispered excitedly as if this was the greatest secret in the world. "I'm Gilly's slave!"

He raised an eyebrow. "So how's that going…?"

She sighed heavily. "Not so good….he says that if I don't do well on this assignment he will punish me."

Chase's jaw dropped.

"Well, I better hurry!" she said happily, handing him the empty plate. "See ya Chasy! Thanks for the cake!!"

Chase scratched his head as he watched her leave, he was going to have to have a talk with Gill later...

Nearly an hour after her brief visit with Chase and wandering around Waffle town aimlessly; Akari was walking past the Special Spot and spotted Luke leaning up against the tree.

"Lukie!!" She yelled to him, waving frantically. He waved back just as frantically and then motioned for her to come and sit by him.

"Is it just the two of us playing today?" he asked her as she sat down next to him.

"Oh! Is it time to play Truth or Dare already!?" She exclaimed, glancing at her wrist where a watch would have been, but wasn't.

He nodded. "Yeah, where is Sir Gilly?"

Just then Luna and Candace walked up the hill.

"Lu-Lu! Can-Dee!!" Akari sang, leaping to her feet and embracing both of the girls.

Once Luna hand been released from the crushing hug she gasped out, "I hope its okay that I brought Candace. She had been wanting to know where I have been disappearing to for the past few days."

"Of course Can-Dee can play!" Akari cried, as she released Luna's quiet older sister from a similar hug. "We are just waiting for the others before we begin."

The two girls sat down next to each other as Chase's peach head appeared over the hillside, followed by Julius.

"Hey!" Juli said with a smile and a wave.

Candace stiffened involuntarily next to her sister, and seemed to mentally shrink into the grass.

Chase sat down next to Akari, giving an evil glare to Gill who had just materialized out of nowhere.

"Oh there's Gilly!" Akari cheered. "Now we can start!"

"Where have you been Akari!?" Gill suddenly bellowed.

She stared up at him innocently. "I haven't a clue what you are talking about."

"I sent you on a simple errand and you never came back!"

"Oh pish-posh, Gilly. Errand, shmarrand, lets play!"

"That doesn't make any sense!" he spat.

"Sure it does! It does, right Luke!?"

Luke nodded. "Of course."

Gill rolled his eyes, but gave in, plopping down onto the grass next to Juli.

"Alright. Can-Dee can go first." Akari said, smiling widely to the blue haired girl.

"R-Really…" Candace whispered. "I-I don't know who to ask."

"Anyone!" said Akari.

"Um….well, then….Gill, truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"I-I dare you to…." she blushed, then said softly, "I dare you to pat your head and rub your belly at the same time."

Nobody said anything.

Gill patted his head and tried to rub his belly simultaneously. Honestly, he looked like a fool.

Luke snickered.

"SHHHH!" Akari and Chase said at the same time.

Gill dropped his arms and stared at the grass. Why did this dare feel so humiliating….?

"Go Gilly, your turn." Akari said.

"Akari, truth or dare."

"Truth!"

He glanced at the brown paper wrapped box next to her.

"Why didn't you deliver the package?"

"Hee-hee….funny story actually--"

"Summarize it."

"Okay…I got lost…"

He nodded. Of course she did.

"Does this mean I will get punished…?" she asked hesitantly.

"We will talk about that later." he mumbled.

Chase's eyes shot fire at Gill, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Okay…Now, Chasy! Truth or dare!?"

"Dare."

She did an evil laugh.

"Tomorrow you have to come to the game dressed as a French maid!!"

"You're kidding me!?" he complained. "That's the last time I give you cake!"

"Wait! I take it back!!!"

"No, do it Chase!" Luna suddenly piped in. "I bet you would look cute as a girl!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Why does it matter if he makes a cute girl?" Gill mumbled.

Luna rolled her eyes at him. "It makes all the difference in the world!"

"Whatever…"

"Okay, Chase! Your turn!" said Akari.

"Alright…Luna, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"How old are you…really?"

"That is privileged information. Thus, I will use a chicken."

"Are you kidding me!?" Chase complained again.

"Sheesh, Luna. You sound like one of those crazy old women in their eighties high off Botox." Luke said, rubbing his eye.

She shot an "I'm going to get you," look at him causing him to shrink back in fear.

"Yeah and it's not like you're that old, right!? Come on just tell us!" Chase insisted.

"Oh fine! I'm…(bleep)."

"No way!" exclaimed Chase. "You don't look older than six!"

"Well, thank you!" she said, fluffing a pigtail.

"That wasn't really a compliment…."

"Alright, Lu-Lu, your turn!" Akari piped in.

Luna looked around the circle slowly, her eyes landing on Gill.

"Truth or dare?" she said to him.

"Truth." he mumbled.

"Alright! Do you have a secret crush!?"

"Oh! I know this one, I know this one!" Akari sang, bouncing on her heels. "It's 'NO!'" She yelled the 'NO!' in a perfect imitation of his voice.

Gill's fingers were tangled in the grass and he looked as if he was going to throw up.

Luna shook her head, eyes on the blond boy. "You do like someone… don't you…?"

His blue eyes flicked up to hers.

"Chicken." he muttered.

Luna nodded, giving up rather quickly. He looked away from her eyes, suddenly feeling that she could read into him. Akari's confident smiling face faltered for a moment, but for just a moment.

"Gilly…" Akari breathed. "It's your turn!"

He nodded and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Candace, truth or dare?"

She gasped then whispered, "Truth."

Gill decided to be nice to the shy girl. "What's your favorite color?"

Luke hissed something about the stupidest question ever, and was ignored.

"Blue…" She said softly.

Everyone but Luke nodded intently.

"Your turn again, Can-Dee!" Akari sang.

"Um…Akari…truth or dare?"

"Dare!"

"Oh…?" she said sadly, she didn't like thinking up dares…or truths, for that matter. "I dare you to…count to two hundred."

"Okay…one, two, three, four, five, six…"

Needless to say, two hundred second of their life faded away like molasses.

Candace evidently, wasn't the greatest at coming up with questions….

Akari turned to Juli for her turn.

"Truth or dare?" she asked happily.

"Truth." said the boy who was twirling a strand of his hair.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed. "We haven't asked you the vital truth question have we!?"

Juli shrugged.

"Oh-oh no! Well! Ju-Ju, do you have a secret crush!?"

Juli stopped twirling his hair and his eyes drifted somewhere to Luke's right.

"Yeah…I do…" he mused in almost a whisper.

For some reason Candace's face turned a silly red color, but nobody seemed to notice, much to her relief.

"Oh how sweet!" Akari cooed at the same time Luke mumbled something to the effect of Juli's crush's gender.

Juli's eyes narrowed.

"Truth or dare!?" he spat at Luke.

Luke felt his hostility, but stupidly, said, "Dare."

Juli sneered, his red eyes making him look quite terrifying. "I dare you to figure out the square root of 625 in three minutes--"

"No problem!" the bandana clad boy jeered cockily.

"--and Gill can't help you!"

Luke's face fell.

"Chicken?"

"Nope!"

His face fell even further.

"And to spice things up, if you can't do it within that time limit Chase has to really kiss Akari! Yes that's right! No stage kiss!"

Everyone gasped.

Akari stared. "What's with all the kissing dares…?"

Chase wailed. "Why am I always the puppet!?!?"

Juli shrugged. "Apparently everyone hates you."

"What?"

"Never mind. So there you have it. You have three minutes, starting….NOW!"

Luke sprang to his feet and started running toward the forest.

"Wait! What are you doing!?" Chase yelled after him. "Are you going to get a calculator!?"

"Why would I do something stupid like that!?" Luke yelled over his shoulder. "I'm going to find a square root!"

Chase slapped himself in the head, then attacked Juli. "What are you doing!? Telling that idiot to solve a math problem is the most evil dare there is! And then using me and Akari as some sort of toy!? You must be the devil himself!" He shook Juli like a rag doll.

Juli just laughed. "You can thank me later."

A slew of curses tumbled from Chase's mouth as Akari tried to release his grip on the boy's throat.

"Now, now…it's not something worth killing over…" she mumbled, her eyes wide. "Wait…is he breathing!?"

---

"I'm sorry Akari." Chase said, once Juli had been brought back to life thanks to Gill's quick thinking and the use of a large tree branch in a twisted version of CPR.

"For what?" she asked quietly. They were sitting side by side now. Candace was hovering over Juli who was complaining of a strange pain in his chest. (I wonder why?) Luna was sitting up against the tree with an annoyed expression while she picked at her fingernails. And Gill was on the other side of Akari, frowning. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

"I'm sorry that that idiot is going to make me kiss you."

"Um…okay?"

"I mean, its not like I don't want to kiss you! Wait! I don't mean that, I mean--"

"I know what you mean."

"Yeah…" he sighed and ran his fingers through his wild hair. "And I can't even do the stage kiss thing…"

She thought for a moment.

"Is there any possibility that Lukie will figure out the answer?"

"No." Chase and Gill said at the same time.

"Oh…" She sighed. "You know…this will be my first kiss."

Chase's face flushed, Gill frowned even more.

"That's it Akari! I can't go through with this!" Chase exclaimed. "I couldn't possibly take your first kiss, that would just be…cruel!"

"Yeah." Gill agreed. "You could just not play the game. It's not like you are being forced to be here."

"NO!" Akari said passionately. "I love the game too much to give up now! It's okay Chase! I'll give you my first kiss!"

Gill frowned again as Chase's face turned a bright cherry color. "N-No Akari, you can't do that, it's not right."

"Oh come on!" she said. "It's not like a little kiss is that big of a deal."

Gill and Chase sighed. What were they going to do with this girl….?

Just then Luke ran back with a square root.

Yes, a square root indeed. (Mind you, he had bent it into that shape.)

He held it up to Juli's nose proudly and yelled, "I found one!"

Everyone seemed to feel as if a piano had just fallen on their heads, his stupidity hurt them physically.

"Now there's just that little problem about the 625..." he touched his cheek thoughtfully.

"You lost!" Juli croaked from the ground. "And your even late!"

Luke's face seemed to collapse in on itself as he turned to Akari and Chase. "I'm sorry guys…I tried my hardest…"

Akari couldn't help but jump to her feet and hug him sweetly. "I know Lukie, it's okay." she said softly in his ear.

"Well then." She said as she turned to the others. "This kiss…I believe it due." She swiveled before Chase and knelt down in front of him. Juli pulled himself into a sitting position. Luna and Candace both felt they should look away but couldn't. Gill's body tensed up. Luke stared in confusion. She wasn't really going to go through with it, was she? Smiling awkwardly, she reached out and held his face in her hands, his cheeks turning a fierce red at her touch. She seemed to move in slow motion as she pulled his lips closer. The distance between them seemed to melt away. He held his breath, his heart beating fast. Just before their lips touched, she hesitated. Her cheeks suddenly turning red, her hands suddenly starting to shake, suddenly she seemed to realize what a kiss was. She had always seen people do it and she knew it was a way of expressing love. But never had she applied it to anything. Now she applied it to the loud thumping in her chest. She blinked into Chase's violet eyes as if she had forgotten what she was doing.

But he remembered.

He closed the short distance quickly. But only had their lips brushed for less than a second when she was pulled away.

Gill had her by the wrist and was just as shocked as everyone else at what he had done.

"Gilly…?" she asked quietly, blinking up at him.

He tried to swallow but found his mouth was dry. What was he doing, what was he thinking…he had no clue.

"I-I don't think I want you kissing my slave…" he finally muttered.

They all just stared at him and he stared back.

"Let's go." he said, tugging on Akari's wrist and pulling her down the hill. She looked over her shoulder at Chase, who seemed to be frozen in time.

As they disappeared over the hillside the tension remained. Thick like fog but as dangerous as electricity.

"That was really….weird…" Luke finally said, breaking the silence.

The others shifted around uncomfortably, and suddenly Chase leapt to his feet and seemed to fly down the hill in the direction that Gill and Akari had gone.

The remaining four just stared after him.

"What have you done, Juli?" Luna whispered.

He sighed and slid his hand over his long purple hair.

"Looks to me that I have started something…"

Wow…intense, at least it was intense writing it….

I give all wonderful ideas of truths and dares to their rightful owners who requested them. Especially Random Jelly Beans, (who came up with the whole square root kiss thingy) I was seriously like "how the heck could I use that!?" and yet it turned out remarkably….well, I hope. I think I've already said that I didn't want this to be a serious story, and yet, it has become one. I mean, it still is filled with the original silliness, but now everything seems to have a meaning. It's like a monster I have created. I love it, but I no longer control it. It controls me. That's so cliché…but true.

Wow I really need to know what you guys think…please review.