A/N: I meant to update this a lot sooner, but Microsoft Word betrayed me. That might sound dramatic, but it did. And now it won't work, so I'm using Openoffice, which I absolutely HATE. So until Odaasama can fix Microsoft word for me, this will be the last update. But he should fix it pretty soon... I hope.

And once again, I must apologize for my terrible skills at keeping Ikuto in character. I have a really hard time with it, so I just hope this wasn't too bad.

So enjoy the next chapter!

The Million Dollar Bet

Day Four, Part Three

Amu walked onto the largest balcony off the giant house for the second time that day. She hadn't searched it very thoroughly before, and didn't have any idea where Ikuto or Utau would be hiding. Of course, Ikuto would be good at hiding, now wouldn't he? She thought.

At that moment, she happened to look up at the roof. And sitting there, just like a cat, was Ikuto.

"Ikuto! I found you!" she called.

"Come and get me," he said.

"This is 'hide and seek', not 'hide and seek tag'. Now come down here," Amu argued.

"Nope. You gotta catch me," said Ikuto.

"But I can't get up there!"

"What's that? You need some help, you say?" Ikuto jumped onto the balcony from her perch, landing on his feet. He picked Amu up bridal-style, and jumped back up onto the roof. The pinkette protested loudly, but Ikuto didn't let go.

"Ikuto! Baka! You hentai!" she shrieked. He set her on the roof.

"You're the pervert, remember?" he teased.

"I-I am n-not!" Tomatoes, red peppers, and cherry-flavored lollipops were all jealous of Amu's face at that moment. "N-now g-get me down from h-here," she demanded. Ikuto smirked.

"Aww, Amu-chan. My little strawberry doesn't want to stay up here with me?"

"N-n-no!" she replied. Ikuto sat down on the roof, bracing himself against the shingles so he wouldn't fall off—like that would happen, anyway. Then he promptly pulled Amu onto his lap. She, predictably, shrieked.

"Ikuto! You pervert!" yelled the blushing girl. He chuckled in response.

"Takes one to know one," said Ikuto.

"What are you talking about?" Amu scoffed. Ikuto kissed her cheek. Her blush deepened, if that was possible.

"You're the pervert. How many times do I have to remind you?"

~Inside~

The first place Yaya searched was the kitchen. Amu had probably already looked there, but she couldn't help liking the thought of finding some cookies or cake in the pantry while she looked. Much to her disappointment, there weren't any sweets already made. She had a candy bar in her pocket, but remembered the dare. Rima had said "no candy". She hadn't said anything about brownies.

Yaya's face lit up at the thought, as she opened the pantry and food a box of brownie mix*. She red the directions on the back and got to work.

~Outside~

Rima was still sitting on the bridge, sorting out her thoughts, when she heard the clunk, clunk of soft footsteps on the wood platform. The person stood next to her in silence for a while. Rima eventually looked up to find Nagihiko. She'd known it was him, even though she'd been facing the other direction. A tingling heat in her cheeks told her she was blushing.

"Hey, Mashiro-san," he said.

"You were calling me 'Rima-chan' last night," she muttered.

"Ummm," Nagi cleared his throat, "Rima-chan, I wanted to apologize." Rima just stared at the water disappearing under the bridge. "I'm sorry... for last night." Well, that took away Rima's tiny fleck of hope that it had all been a dream. She looked up at him. He really did look sorry. "We were starting to get along a bit better... but I blew it. Will you forgive me?"

There was no answer at first.

"Was that your first kiss, Rima-chan?" he asked, genuine concern and regret on his face.

She nodded. In a way, Nagihiko was happy, but he did regret it.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't know... I don't really expect you to, but won't you forgive me?"

At that moment, Rima had an idea. She wasn't sure why it popped into her head, but she had a strange urge to do it. But when she thought it over, she decided against it... at first. She did want to forgive Nagi, but kissing him again would just be cruel. Yet, Rima was that cold, cruel kind of a person, now wasn't she?

Jumping down from her seat on the railing, Rima faced Nagi. Then she stood on her tip-toes and kissed him right on the lips.

~Not too far off~

Utau had been hiding for quite a while, and was getting bored. Sitting in a tree with leaves and branches poking into you for twenty minutes isn't fun... but it could be interesting. She'd been watching Rima sitting alone on the bridge for quite some time. The blond chibi devil seemed to be deep in thought. After a very long while—by which Utau's stomach was growling, since it was almost noon—a purple-haired boy walked up to Rima.

She'd seen everyone running in different directions, still playing hide and seek, and Nagihiko had come to Rima. Although Rima hadn't been playing, Nagi had found her. He started speaking, but Utau couldn't make out the words. Eventually, Rima nodded. He said something else, and Rima stood.

Utau had to cover her mouth to keep from voicing her shock, when Mashiro Rima stood on her toes and kissed her worst enemy, Fujisaki Nagihiko, full on the mouth.

The first thing that went through Utau's head: OMG, am I dreaming?

The second thing that went through her head: Haha, I knew this would happen sooner or later.

And the last, but possibly most important, thing: Black-mail information.

~30 minutes later~

Kukai and Tadase were also looking for the Tsukiyomi siblings. However, they had refined their search to inside the house. So when Kukai thought he smelled something burning, they both headed downstairs to the kitchen. Indeed, when they got there, a small stream of smoke was flowing out of it. A frightened Yaya could be heard yelling as she tried to do something about whatever was burning.

Bravely, both the boys dashed in to help. The stove was on fire, and Yaya was trying to do something about it, but to no avail. The fire was getting bigger and more out of control by the minute. Kukai grabbed Yaya and carried her out through the side door, setting her safely outside, while Tadase waved his hands around, trying to blow the smoke away.

"Souma-kun! What do we do?" he yelled, and Kukai came back in to try to do something about the fire. At that moment, seemingly by some miracle, Nagi came rushing into the kitchen. He grabbed a lid, placing it over the pot on the stove. When the flames somewhat subsided, he turned the stove off.

"What the heck happened in here?" he asked, opening the door to let the smoke out. Yaya, who was now standing next to Tadase and Kukai, looked sheepish.

"Um... Yaya was trying to make brownies, and.... well..." she twiddled her thumbs.

"Oi, Yaya, why were you using the stove to make brownies?" Kukai asked, raising an eyebrow. Yaya flushed red, and stared at the floor.

"Well... Yaya thought..."

She didn't really get to finish, because everyone started laughing loudly.

A/N: This was meant to be longer... oh well. I got this great idea for the next few days of this.

*Brownie mix: I don't know if this even exists. I know cake mix does, but I'm not sure about brownies. I wouldn't know, anyway, because all the deserts in my house are made from scratch. For the sake of the story, let's just pretend it exists.

Reviews are nice :)