Tada! Part 4~Enjoy and Review please!

P.S. Thanks for all your wonderful comments! I'm so glad you all have liked it so far and I hope this makes you like it even more!

P.S.S. I don't own these characters. (I have forgotten to say that up until this point.)

This means WAR!

Invading Enemy Territory

I think I'm going to puke…Akari thought, covering her mouth to hold back the nausea. With her other had she grabbed Chihaya's arm in a death grip, as she stared fearfully up at Gill.

He was actually smiling…or smirking….or maybe even sneering, down at his prey. Akari and Chihaya being said prey. His dark eyes harpooned them to their spot.

"Having fun?" he cooed, (yeah, he cooed.) His voice was soft and smooth, absolutely terrifying.

"L-look, Gill…" Chihaya began, "It was just a joke…"

"Well, of course it was!" Gill exclaimed taking them both off guard. "A joke! A funny, funny joke…" He shook his head laughing hysterically while the other two shrunk back.

He's lost it!

"Oh…." He said rubbing away fake tears from his eyes. "What? Is it not funny anymore?"

They just stared.

"Well, why not!? I mean you really had me going… I was actually scared!" he ran his fingers through his wind blow hair, and somehow this intimidated them. Then he frowned.

"What's wrong? Why don't you laugh?"

A single large tear slid down Chihaya's cheek from lack of blinking in the last five minutes of Gill lurking over them. And Akari leaned further into his side as the ogre stood to his full height with his lips curling.

"LAUGH!" he bellowed at them, startling Chihaya into coughing out bits of forced laughter that remarkably resembled a dying car engine.

"You know what I going to do, right?" Gill growled, making Chihaya's strange laughter slip into a sigh.

"What…?" Akari asked cautiously.

"I'm going to play your game." He stated with a lift of his chin. "You both better watch your backs."

And with that said he turned smartly on his heel, calling over his shoulder in a mocking tone, "Akari, wash your face. You look like a goblin." And then he disappeared into the darkness.

She rubbed her cheek absentmindedly causing pieces of encrusted mud to flake off while Chihaya suddenly realized his arms were wrapped around her. He quickly released her, his cheeks turning pink. She was oblivious to this, and just stood there with a dazed expression on her face as the same thought kept parading through her mind.

What was Gill going to do!?

"Ya know…" she mumbled, "That wasn't supposed to happen….yeah…that wasn't a part of the plan…"

"I figured that…" he replied quietly.

Akari woke up late.

This was understandable, considering she was terrified the entire night of whatever Gill was plotting to do. Would he do something to her house while she was asleep? Or to her!? Needless to say, she struggled to stay awake, but sleep soon overtook her.

Now it was noon, (she had slapped the snooze button on her alarm clock numerous times) and she still sat in bed trying to open her eyes.

Get up…..go to work…..

Eventually she pulled herself up, managed to get dressed, and stumbled into the sunlight. She gawked at a blurry figure in front of her until it slowly came into focus, then nearly leapt out of her skin.

"Gah!" she gasped involuntarily, as her eyes met the blond boy's.

It was Gill.

Why does he always do this!? He appears whenever you least expect him!

"Did you just wake up!?" he spat at her.

"N-no…." she lied meekly.

He rolled his eyes. "You look like it! Did you even brush your hair!?"

She ran her fingers through her tangled mop.

No….

"Or your teeth!?" he gasped taking a step back.

She snapped her mouth shut and put her hands on her hips.

"What did you come here for!?" she barked.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise then smirked. "My dad wants you to come over to our house for dinner tonight."

"W-what!?"

"Yeah, unbelievable, I know."

She rolled her eyes. "Why!?"

He looked at her like she was clueless, "Well, we obviously don't get along--"

"No, I mean why am I invited to dinner?"

"How should I know!?" he huffed, folding his arms.

She sighed, expecting that a matchmaking mayor had an evil plan.

"Well, dinner is a six. Don't be late." Gill said as he turned around.

"I'm not going."

He looked back at her over his shoulder smirking again.

"Good."

Good looks are spoiled on him, she thought as he left, while miming to shoot invisible arrows at his head until he was out of sight.

Okay! Now time to work!

There actually wasn't much to do…in fact watering the field was the only thing she could do considering she was too poor to buy anything but food. So she did that single chore. Trying to make it last longer than she knew it would, but too soon found herself finished and wondering at what to do next.

How about going adventuring!? She thought excitedly.

So she ran inside her house to gather some adventuring tools and a snack. She unhappily had to forget about the snack part though, seeing as her fridge was utterly and completely empty. Maybe she should have accepted that offer of dinner….wait, no! She would never be that desperate!

So with the help of her trusty, yet ridiculous, map; she journeyed on the outskirt of the town trying to get a bearing on her surroundings. She hadn't walked long before she heard the unmistakable thwack of chopping wood. Turning into a clearing of the forest, she spotted a bandana clad, blue haired young man, swinging an ax enthusiastically. She watched him for a moment as he began to name his swings.

"I'll call this the SUPER AMAZING AWESOME UNBELIEVABLE CHOP OF DEATH!!!!!!!" he bellowed, raising the ax above his head dramatically and whipping it down, missing the log he was trying to cut. "Well…maybe not that one…"

Akari couldn't help busting a gut.

The boy, suddenly realizing he wasn't alone, turned around and smiled sheepishly.

"That normally doesn't happen…" he tried to explain to the girl who was simply shaking with laughter. "Oh, come on, it wasn't that funny." he said starting to smile himself.

"Sorry!" she coughed out.

"Hey…" he said cocking his head to the side, "I don't think I know you…"

"Oh, I'm Akari." She said, "I'm the new farm girl."

"Ahhhh…" he said tipping his head even more.

She felt her spine tickle as he had the normal boy reaction.

"I'm Luke! It's always a pleasure to meet someone new!" he exclaimed with a huge grin.

Not knowing quite what to say to that, she just grinned back at him. And then it became silent. Both of them just grinning at each other. Akari decided she had had enough of that once her cheeks started hurting, and so offered a wave to Luke before continuing on her way.

"Wait!" he called. "Do you want someone to walk with? The woods can be a dangerous place!"

"Sure…" she said a little uncertainly.

"Great!" he exclaimed, tossing his ax off to the side, "I'll show you all the excellent places on the island!"

Little did she know that these "excellent places" consisted of only good areas to chop wood. And after what felt to be the millionth time of Luke explaining why the trees here were so good, she offered to take him over to the bar for a drink just to shut him up.

Of course he took this the wrong way and thought, Oh man, she's so digging me!

The second they walked through the door, Akari was caught in a crushing hug from Chihaya. Luke raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, Chihaya, that's a little out of character…"

Chihaya ruffled Akari's already messy hair and exclaimed, "Why? Akari's my best pal, best friend, and partner in crime!"

She elbowed him in the gut at that last statement and hurriedly tried to talk away the shocked expression on Luke's face.

"He didn't mean that literally, we just—"

"Are you the people who keep breaking into my house and stealing my underwear!?"

She stared at him, a half smile on her lips, waiting for him to crack and admit he was joking.

But he didn't.

"You're serious?" she asked dully.

"Yeah!" he said with a fed up expression on his face. "Why doesn't anybody believe me!? My underwear keeps getting stolen and then put in weird places! I got to figure out who's behind this treachery!"

"You sure it's not just you misplacing them?" Chihaya asked casually while trying not to laugh.

"I don't think I would put my underwear up a tree or in the freezer." He said matter-of-factly, with a tilt of his head.

"Right…." Akari mumbled, and then said, "What's the special today, Chihaya?"

And with that the subject was dropped.

Akari and Luke sat at a table chatting happily, while Chihaya leaned up against the counter near them. They were laughing at something stupid Luke said that apparently he didn't find very funny. So he decided to shield his embarrassment by leaping to his feet, wrestling Chihaya into a head lock, and rubbing his fist against the tall boy's peach colored hair.

This made Akari laugh harder as Chihaya struggled to get out of the hold. Once he finally broke free he punched Luke playfully and tried to fix his wild locks that stuck up in every which way.

This was the moment that they all turned to the door and saw the mayor.

How long has he been there…. Akari thought with a frown, and realized this must be where Gill gets his ability to appear and disappear whenever he was not wanted.

The mayor was speechless for a moment, staring at the trio, but then bounded over to Akari's side and exclaimed, "Ah, Akari! Gill told me I would find you here!"

She stared at him blankly.

"He also said that you refused our dinner invitation!"

She nodded.

"Oh, but why!? How could you refuse? Especially since my darling Gill came to your house and everything!"

Gill….darling…? Um…no.

"I'm busy." She lied.

"Oh, come now," he said glancing at the other two who were watching him intensely. "These two young men would be willing to give you up for a few hours I'm sure!"

Luke shook his head dramatically mouthing a "No!"

Chihaya just smiled maliciously.

"See they are fine with it!" And with that, the mayor snatched Akari's wrist and dragged her kicking and screaming out of her seat and out the door. Chihaya and Luke followed them outside, gawking as she reached back to them with her free hand begging for help. The tall boy just waved while the shorter one with the blue hair put his hands on his hips and frowned.

This is the last time I'm going to see them…Akari thought, using all her strength to not yell at Chihaya to wipe that stupid grin off his face. I'm not going to survive this night…

The mayor swung the door of his house open and deposited his prize on the floor. The prize in question being Akari.

She just lay there staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the inevitable.

"Come sit at the table Akari. The food is almost ready." The mayor said as he disappeared into another room.

She stood slowly, taking in her surroundings cautiously. Bookcases lined the room filled entirely with books. There were windows that looked like a promising exit for escape, but it seemed the mayor had anticipated this and had locked them. That disappointed her. And then of course there was a table…but there was something wrong with that table. Sure, it was an ordinary table, it had four sides, four legs, and three table mats for the three people who would be using it, but it looked…odd. Then she spotted it. There were only three chairs, and this normally wouldn't have alarmed her, except for the fact that two of the chairs were frightfully close to one another on one side, while the third was across from the two all alone. She had a hunch that she was meant to sit in one of those two chairs, and the thought of who would sit next to her made her skip over to the loner chair.

"That's mine." The mayor said, as he peaked his head around the corner, making her jump. "I thought you young people would want to sit together"

Oh, no… She thought instantly becoming queasy.

The mayor walked over to her and put his thick chubby hand on her arm.

"When Gill told me he wanted to invite you to dinner I was so shocked!"

"Wait, what!?" she blurted.

"I never thought he would be bold enough to ask a girl…well… anywhere!" he said ignoring her outburst. "And of all the girls in town he asked you!" He leaned into her as if he were telling her a secret and whispered, "You know, I kind of had the feeling you too weren't getting along very well…but apparently I was mistaken!" he laughed to himself, leaving her alone in the room again.

Oh-no! Akari thought as she started to become hysterical. It was a trap! It was a trap this whole time! She spun around searching for the exit. I have to get out of here! I have to-- I have to—get—WHAT IS HE PLANNING!?

Someone watching her would have noted the crazed look in her eye, the frantic way she darted from one end of the room to the other, and the way she kept muttering to herself about a trap.

Someone was watching her.

This someone was Gill. (Of course.)

He snuck up behind her, put his cold pale hand on her shoulder, and whispered a simple, "What's wrong, Akari?"

She jerked around unable to hide her startled expression as she locked eyes with him.

"You invited me!?" she spat.

"Why, yes. Did I not tell you that before?" he said in a polite, yet mocking voice. "I thought it was very considerate of me. Don't you agree…?"

She stared at him, shrugging off his hand that was still on her shoulder.

"I think this smells fishy." She said sticking out her lower lip.

"Well, that's because we are having Trout."

This took her a little off guard, and a confused expression fell upon her face. He was lost for a second, but only a second, as he stared down into her dark brown eyes.

What…what….he thought, and then shook his head.

"I don't mean the food!" she said with a frown. "I mean this makes you look suspicious!"

He turned away from her and looked over his shoulder, giving her his most innocent expression. "Me? Suspicious? Now, now you must be joking…"

She frowned but couldn't say anymore because his father had come into the room displaying a beautiful cooked Trout.

"Sit, sit!" he declared, indicating the two seats across from him as he took his own.

They sat.

Gill smiled at how the girl next to him squirmed uncontrollably while he sat perfectly still.

They served themselves and all started munching on the fish with little conversation in between bites.

The mayor, of course, couldn't just leave his dinner guest alone, and so he began to babble on about who knows what while the other two just stared at their plates. But once the little man started inquiring about Akari's love interests Gill became fed up of listening to his father try to sell him off like a new car.

"—Now, my Gill is so smart and funny,… sometimes….And it appears as if you two have made a connection, or you wouldn't be sitting here right in front of me—"

"Father." Gill said cutting in. "How was work today?"

This threw the mayor off guard. Gill never asked him things like that. "I-It was alright…" he began before bubbling into a too detailed explanation of what he did every second of that day ending with pulling Akari from the bar.

Gill saw, out of the corner of his eye, her glance up at him with almost a thankful expression on her face. He bit his lip trying to hide the involuntary smile that was threatening to appear.

Yes…your thankful now, but just wait…

They finally finished the meal, after what felt like hours of Akari being roasted on a stove.

She stood, mumbling something about something or another in an excuse to leave as soon as possible.

The mayor jumped to his feet begging her to sit down as he ran to the kitchen.

"You haven't had desert yet!" he called to her.

"I couldn't possibly eat more!" she hollered back, making her way to the door.

Gill just sat there, smirked, and said a sarcastic, "Come back soon."

She rolled her eyes and opened the door.

Water suddenly fell from the sky, drenching her from head to toe. Her hair hung in drippy tendrils as she rubbed the water from her eyes trying to figure out what just happened. She sighed, tugging at her clothes that now clung to her body uncomfortably, and looked up to see a bucket had been tricked out to pour water on whoever opened the outer door.

She spun on her heel and stomped back into the house, her shoes squeaking and her socks sloshing loudly inside them. She came to stand over Gill, letting her hair drip on him until he looked up at her in mock surprise.

"When I said 'come back soon' I hadn't expected you to be back this soon." He looked her up and down, "Gee, is it raining outside!?"

"I just have one question for you…" she seethed.

He smirked, "What?"

"Is this what you call playing our game?"

He tilted his chin, but didn't answer.

"If it is, then….you need to get us back properly! This is just pathetic!" And then she started laughing.

Gill's face fell from smug, to disappointment, to anger as he stood looming over her.

"I-I mean, come on!" she gasped between bits of laughter. "You seriously couldn't come up with anything better than pouring a bucket of water on my head!? I thought you were smart!" She punched him playfully in the chest, his lips curled.

"I mean, I was so scared! I really thought whatever you were going to do would be an excellent prank! But nooooooo!" she wiped the tears that were now streaming down her cheeks.

"It was so lame! So anticlimactic!"

He had had enough of her laughing at him.

"Get out, Akari. Your dipping on the carpet." He snarled at her.

But this just made her laugh more.

"G-Good one! Pfft! Dripping on the carpet! Oh please! You just want me to leave so you can have some dignity back!"

Oh, then he snapped.

He grabbed her head with both of his hand, silencing her immediately, and stared into her eyes.

"Get out—"

"Oh you two aren't going to kiss are you!?" said the mayor with pie in one hand and a silly grin on his face. "If you are, I can just leave now." He backed away into the kitchen again.

Gill turned back to Akari with a huff. Her cheeks were pink and he slowly realized that his were too and that he still held her face in his hands. He quickly walked away from her running his hands through his hair and sighed.

Looking back up at her he barked, "Get out, Akari!"

She was only too happy to oblige.

She ran out the door and down the street straight to the bar, without going home to change out of her sopping clothes, and bumped into a ticked off Chihaya who had been left alone all night with an annoying boy named Luke.

"Why are you all wet!?" he exclaimed.

So yeah…End of scene!

I hope you enjoyed it and please let me know what I could do to make it better!