TADA! PART 5!

EM…yeah, this chapter is mostly about Chihaya. Why, you ask? Because Chihaya is close to my heart. Anyways…please review!!!!

(I don't own these characters.)

This means War!

Stealth Attack

Chihaya ran his fingers through his short peach colored hair trying vainly to calm the insistent cowlicks that sprung in every direction. One in particular, was so bent on flying into his face that he had to trap it down with three hair pins. Three! After giving up on his hair he slipped into his white shirt, buttoned it up, and rolled the sleeves to his elbows. He straightened and re-straightened his shirt, flattening all the creases and fixing his collar. Now all he had to do was slid his feet into his bright blue sandals and he was good to go.

But go where…?

He examined his reflection in the mirror for a moment. His violet eyes stared back at him coolly. How he hated his eyes. I mean, who the heck had purple eyes!? They made him look so…vulnerable. What was it about his purple eyes that made people suddenly able to see into the depths of his soul!? What worried him even more was that he thought they could. Maybe it wasn't just his eye color, maybe it was him. Maybe it was that no matter how hard he tried to guard himself from people his eyes would always give him away.

He turned away from the mirror with a sigh as he ran his fingers once more through his hair.

What should he do? The kitchen wouldn't open for a few hours and it wasn't like he had anything planned. Eventually deciding to go visit Akari, he ran into the kitchen to grab some cookies, before starting down the road that led to her house.

He smiled as he walked. A bag, with the treat snuggly wrapped inside, was slung over his shoulder, and his hands shoved into his pockets. The only sound he heard was the twitter of bird calls, the soft flip of his sandals against the road, and the whisper of the breeze against his neck. It was a beautiful day. Complete with blue skies, bright flowers, and Tao taking a nap under a tree.

He was startled when suddenly Gill flew past him, walking briskly, without so much as a hostile word or a death glare. Chihaya watched the blond boy disappear around the corner and smiled as he remembered Akari telling him of her dinner at the mayor's house. She had been bouncing in her seat, soaked to the bone and shivering, but unable to wait even to go home and change before she told him what had happened. She told him how scared she had been about the pay back Gill promised he would have. And that when she got to his house and the mayor told her that Gill was the one who actually had the idea to invite her, she knew something was up. She started laughing when she told him what Gill had actually done, pouring a bucket of water on her head, and that she had told Gill that she was disappointed that he hadn't thought up something better. She regretted saying that though, because now he might do something worse to Chihaya. But she doubted it. The worst that Gill could do was pour a bucket of water on his head, so he just had to be wary of any suspicious situations involving doors. So Chihaya, for the past few days, had been kicking every door open in anticipation, but so far no buckets of water had been hanging above any of them.

He was still smiling to himself when Luke ran into him, literally, and knocked him flat.

"Gyah! Sorry Chihaya!" he exclaimed as he got to his feet and offered a hand to the boy who was rummaging wildly through his bag.

Oh good. The cookies are safe.

"Its okay." Chihaya pulled himself to his feet and brushed the dirt off his previously crisp clean shirt. "What wrong?" he asked, seeing the blue haired boy's frantic expression.

"W-Well you see…." he began, tugging at his bandana. "I-I lost something…"

Chihaya nodded, encouraging the other boy to continue.

"Something I wasn't supposed to lose…"

"Well most things you lose you aren't supposed to lose, right?"

Luke shrugged. "Yeah…But I really, really, really shouldn't have lost this. Actually I really shouldn't have had it either…"

"Ohhhhhh…." Chihaya said with a tilt of his head. "You took something of someone's and lost it? That's not good."

"I know!" Luke exclaimed with a wince. "That's why I need to find it!"

"Well, I suppose I could help you."

"Really!?"

"Yeah, sure. What was it that you lost? And where was the last place you saw it?"

Luke's eyes flew to the ground, searching the dirt for the right words to say. "I-I lost a watering can….."

"A watering can!?"

"And I cant remember where I last saw it….on a rock maybe….or by a tree…."

"A watering can!? Why do you even need a watering can!?"

"I don't remember…"

"You don't remember why you needed a watering can!?"

"No….I have no idea…."

Chihaya ran his fingers through his hair. This was going to be much harder then it needed to be.

"Okay. Lets start at the beginning. Who's watering can is it in the first place?"

Luke suddenly became fascinated with his boots.

"U-um…..it's……it's um……Akari's….."

"What!?" Chihaya exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "You stole Akari's watering can!?"

He nodded shamefully.

"Why!? You don't even need a watering can! You're a carpenter!"

"I told you already! I don't remember why I took it!"

"What's wrong with you!?"

"I don't know!"

"Akari needs that watering can!"

"I know! That's why I'm trying to find it!"

Chihaya took a deep breath.

"Okay….so you took the watering can….then what did you do with it?"

"I don't remember…"

Chihaya took another deep breath.

"I'm sure you did something…maybe watered a plant….?"

"That's possible…."

"Is that what you did?"

"How should I know!"

"You should know!!"

"Sure, lets say I watered a plant."

"But you have no idea if that's what you actually did, right?"

"Exactly."

"Then this doesn't help us."

They both sighed.

"Well, I think we should tell Akari about this so she doesn't think she misplaced it." Chihaya said.

"Really? I was hoping I would find it before she even noticed it was gone."

"Well it looks like we are going nowhere fast, and she probably has realized it wasn't there."

Luke sighed despairingly but nodded.

So they walked the short distance to Akari's farm, Luke dragging his feet the whole way.

Akari was crouched over in her field, weeding around her precious sprouts. Her short brown hair fell out of her attempt of a ponytail and dangled in her face. She had just brushed away a stray piece of hair, making a large dirt stain on her cheek, when she looked up and saw her two visitors. She leapt to her feet, a wide smile claiming her face, and ran to greet them.

"Hey, Chihaya, Luke. What's up!?" she exclaimed, putting her gloved hands on her hips.

"Oh…nothing much…" Luke said, not meeting her eyes.

Chihaya returned her friendly smile before mouthing, "he needs to tell you something," with a nod at Luke.

She turned to him, her eyes a mix of impatience and concern. "What is it Luke?"

"Well you see I…….I well,…..I didn't mean to…"

"Mean to what?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"I didn't mean to lose you watering can."

Chihaya sighed.

Akari stared.

"You lost my watering can?"

"Yes…..I'm sorry."

"I didn't know you took my watering can."

"Oh, yeah…I'm sorry for that too."

"When did you take it?"

Luke squinted his eyes trying to remember.

"Yesterday, I think." he finally mumbled.

"Yesterday? But I just used my watering can this morning."

"What!?" Chihaya and Luke exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah." she said with a shrug. "So you couldn't have taken it yesterday unless it found its way back to my tool shed all on its own. Are you sure it was mine?"

"Yes it had to be yours, and I remember it was at night…." Luke muttered.

They all stared at him.

"Do you remember anything other then taking the watering can?" Chihaya asked, suspicious of the blue haired boy's story.

Luke thought about this for a long time.

"I vaguely remember running over mountains with it in my arms and pouring water into a cloud."

"Wait, what?"

"I poured water into a cloud, you know, to make it rain-"

"You poured water into a cloud!?" Chihaya exclaimed, abruptly.

Realization dawned on his face. "Ohhhh……it was a dream…." Luke said with a far off look in his golden eyes. "I remember it perfectly now. I snuck into Akari's tool shed and stole her watering can because it was….. magic.….it felt so real…."

Chihaya smacked himself in the head, and Akari rolled her eyes.

"Well…"Luke slowly started to back away from them with a flush making its way across his cheeks. "I'm sorry for stealing your watering can and losing it… in my dream…see ya!"

And on that strange note, he disappeared down the road.

"Well…." Chihaya said, turning on his heel to face her. "That was weird."

"Typical Luke." She said with a shrug.

"That's right." He laughed, slipped his bag off his shoulder and displayed his bag of cookies before her like a trophy. "I thought you deserved a break."

Her eyes widened at the beautiful sight, her stomach growling involuntarily. (she was a starving farmer after all.) "Thanks. But really you had nothing better to do and figured coming to bother me would be better than sitting around being bored."

"You know me so well." he said with a smile.

They sat down on the grass to enjoy their treat. Both munching in silence, but not an awkward silence, a silence that let them enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

"You know what?" Akari said after awhile. "This farm will really be great someday."

"Yeah." he said following her eye over the land and trying to envision a bustling farm. "But you know what will be horrible once it is?"

"What?"

"You wont have as much free time as now. We probably wont be able to pull pranks on Gill, and just sit and hang out….like now…"

"It will be hard, but I promise we will still hang out, and never will we stop pulling pranks on Gill! Life would be meaningless without that!"

"Good." he said, but he didn't really believe her.

"Speaking of the ogre." She said wiggling to face him. "Has he made an attack on you yet?"

"No, nothing. I hope he does soon though, I'm tired of waiting."

"Me too…" She said with a thoughtful glance. "In the meantime we should try to come up with another prank."

"I don't know how we can top that last one!"

"Oh we will. We will blow it out of the water." she said mischievously.

---

After his visit with Akari, Chihaya made his way over to the bar. He tied his apron around his waist, stuck a pencil on his ear, then slouched over the counter waiting for the first customer of the day. He eyed the clock in front of him, willing it to move faster, but with no luck. One finger twirling a strand of hair, the other hand holding up his head, and the only sound he heard was the dreaded tick….tick….tick….

And then the chiming of the bell over the door, signifying a customer, but not the one he wanted.

Gill stood in the doorway. Eyes dark. Lips curling.

Suddenly Chihaya felt like he had been cornered.

"Hello, Chihaya." The blond boy said. "I would like some tomato juice."

Well understandably, this took Chihaya quite by surprise. He had expected thunder claps, fire and brimstone, not a drink order.

Gill wandered over to a table and sat down, the cook still gawking at him. He ignored the stares, and opened a book.

Chihaya made the drink slowly, with frequent glances up at his solitary customer. He was going to do something….but when? And what? Chihaya walked carefully over and placed the drink in front of him. Gill's eyes flicked up for a second as he said a dismissive, "Thank you." before falling back to the pages of his book.

He hovered over the other boy until his eyes shot back up and glared at him.

"You know what?" Gill said as Chihaya was walking away. "People have been saying things about Akari…"

Chihaya froze.

"You want to know what…right?"

Chihaya didn't say anything.

Gill chuckled. "They say that she doesn't belong here. That she's a curse, only bringing troubles to our peaceful lives."

Chihaya turned to him with a dead expression. Gill still didn't look up from his book.

"Silly…huh?" he mumbled.

Chihaya frowned. "Who is saying this?"

"Oh…everybody…."

"That's bull crap. Your making it up." Chihaya spat as he loomed over the other boy.

"Oh, really…?" Gill said, finally lifting his eyes from his book and staring up blankly. "You sure seem to be bothered by it though… Why is that…? You don't….like her, do you…?"

Chihaya leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "What would that have to do with anything?"

"You are avoiding the question." Gill said, turning back to his book. "I assume that means 'Yes'…"

Chihaya glared at the boy with pity. "You are a pathetic little person aren't you?"

Gill's eyes shot up.

"Yeah…you have nothing better to do than be a beast to people, don't you?"

Gill closed his book and stood up.

"You don't care how you treat people, and then you think that you can get what you want from them."

Gill's eyes narrowed.

"Akari is right about you. You are an ogre."

Gill's mouth slightly opened. "She calls me an ogre?"

"Yeah." Chihaya said with a shrug.

He laughed.

Chihaya raised an eyebrow.

"That's actually really funny!" Gill said in between his chuckles.

Chihaya laughed too. "Yeah, it's clever isn't it?"

"She is a worthy opponent."

"She's going to kick your butt!"

Gill's furrowed his brow, then said, "I'm leaving." He took a sip of his tomato juice and walked toward the door.

Chihaya stared, dumbfounded. "Wait! That's it!?" he called after the blond.

Gill glanced at him over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway. "As far as you know…" he said under his breath.

And then he left.

Chihaya shook his head.

"I don't get him…"

He glanced over at where Gill had sat. Next to the glass of juice was a little leather book. He picked it up and examined it closer, flipping it to the first page he read;

"Dear Diary,…"

"Oh Man!" He exclaimed, leafing through the pages excitedly. "It's Gill's Diary!!!"

A number of thoughts now fluttered through his head.

What should he do with this bit of valuable information?

Give it back to Gill…..or to Akari…?

"Akari!" he said aloud, shoving the book under his arm and running toward the door.

No sooner had he stepped outside, a river of blue sticky liquid came cascading down from heaven, slathering him head to toe. His hair hung in his face limply and the thick mess dripped down his cheek. His eyes grew wide in shock.

Gill had done it.

Reaching up with one hand cautiously, he rubbed his fingers over a lock of blue coated hair then brought it to his face and examined the substance.

Paint.

Blue paint.

"Well…it wasn't a bucket of water I guess…" he mumbled.

He looked down at the now blue stained book in his hands. "Might as well still give this to her now…" he mused as he walked up the road to her farm.

He came to her door and knocked, (leaving a blue knuckle mark), and shuffled around uncomfortably as the paint dripped into his pants. She opened the door and burst out laughing.

"W-What happened!?" she managed to gasp out.

He did a fake pout. "The Ogre got me…"

She held her sides as another stream of laughter escaped her lips.

"Oh poor Chi-Chi!" she said tipping her head to the side. "Come in, come in." She grabbed him by the arm and ushered him into her house, he tried to resist, fearful that he would drip blue spots all over the floor.

"Now, now, that would actually be an improvement to my décor!" she insisted, as she planted him into a chair.

"Great, now forever will my butt print be in this chair." he mumbled, then remembered why he had come here.

"Look at this!" he exclaimed, handing her the little diary.

She took it from him, shaking off some of the paint before flipping it open.

"No way!" she squealed excitedly. "Gill's diary!? This is perfect!!"

"Yeah blackmail!" Chihaya piped in.

"No, better than that!" She said as she turned the pages. "We can use this to help in our crusade!"

He raised an eyebrow.

"How?"

"Well, he must have wrote all his secrets in here, right!?"

He nodded.

"That means we can exploit all his secrets! All his fears!!"

"Wow…that's kind of…scary…" he mumbled, as a big clod of paint dripped into his eye.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, running for a towel.

He squinted his eyes, and breathed in through his clenched teeth. (paint wasn't very eye friendly…)

All he saw was darkness. Then a blurry object as he felt her dab at his eyes. Then finally he saw her large honey brown eyes staring into his intently.

"Wow, Chihaya…" She said once she was done. "You have beautiful eyes."

Her eyes were soft, he couldn't look away.

She smiled.

Maybe he would like his eyes after all…just maybe…

End!

So this took me forever to write, I know. I've had some serious writers block and had no idea where to go with this story…but now I have some ideas! Yay!!

Anyways! Please review!!