Chapter 3

Amu walked through the woods back to the cabin. She stepped inside the cabin for a brief moment to drop off her shoes and grab something to eat.

"Amu, sweetie. There you are."

"Mom! You're home early. I wasn't expecting you back until later this afternoon!"

"yeah, well Ami didn't want to get any ice cream. She wanted to come back and 'pway wit her big sis.'" Her mom said, imitating Ami's little kid voice.

"You'd think by now Ami would have learned to pronounce words better," Amu said as she grabbed an apple and started walking toward the door.

"We try. You should head down there. Dad's almost got the tube blown up and we're going to borrow one of the neighbors' boat across the lake. We met them in town. The Tsukiyomis. They're going to come with us."

"Okay, I was going to head down there anyway to go swimming, but that sounds better. Did we bring my water skis?"

"Yes, they're on top of the car still. Unless your father took them down to the water. Better grab your ski suit."

"Okay." Amu ran upstairs and grabbed her ski suit nad dropped off her bag. Then, at the insistence of her impatient charas, she ran down to the water with them.

Amu's POV

I ran down the dirt path that led to the dock. My excited charas floating behind me; urging me to go faster.

"I wonder what the Tsukiyomis are like. I wonder how old their kids are," I asked my charas as we neared the bend near the dock. I usually love to meet people, but I never show it because my 'cool and spicey' character takes over.

"I don't know Amu-chan, but I hope they are nice." Said Ran hopefully.

"They must be if they let almost complete strangers use their boat."

"Maybe."

I stopped at the car and saw my skis on top of the car. I grabbed them and started down the path toward the water.

I rounded the bend and saw my father and my little sister standing on the dock, talking to a man and a woman. I hopped the last few steps onto the dock and the people on the end must have heard my approach because their heads turned in my direction.

"Ah, here she is now." I heard my father say.

I hurried to the end of the dock and put my wetsuit on the bench.

" Mr. & Mrs. Tsukiyomis. This is my daughter Amu. Amu, this is Mr. & Mrs. Tsukiyomi. They were kind enough to lend us their boat for the day." My father said as he introduced us.

"Pleased to meet you. That's very kind of you to let my family use your boat."

"That's alright. Our youngest son, Ryuto, wanted to go out today. But with only his big brother to play with, he sometimes gets bored. He needs someone new to play with once in a while. Your younger sister is about the same age as him."

"Ryuto? That's sounds awfully close to Ikuto. He couldn't be Ryuto's older brother… could he!? That would be just my luck."

"Speaking of Ryuto, dear, where are those two?" asked Mrs. Tsukiyomi.

"I don't kn-here they come now."

I looked over to where a jet ski was approaching the dock, and I almost groaned outloud. It WAS the boy from the forest. Just my luck. At the same time though, my heart seemed to skip a beat. Was I happy to see this boy. This perverted boy who I hardly know? No. NO, I couldn't…

As soon as they came within sight of the dock, I could see he was smirking. Ikuto. Hmmmm. *mental scowl*. Inside my head, I was just about yelling my head off, but my outside character showed nothing of the internal turmoil taking place inside of me.

The two on the jet ski and the youngest one, Ryuto, jumped off and shouted eagerly, " Come on! Let's goooo!"

"Hold on Ryuto," said Mr. Tsukiyomi. " Mr. Hinamori, Amu, Ami, this is Ryuto and Ikuto. You two, this is Mr. Tsukiyomi, Amu and Ami."

"Hey everyone," little Ryuto said.

"Yo" said Ikuto.

As Ryuto was hyperactively shouting, the older boy, er, Ikuto, got up onto the dock. He looked over at me, his eyes lingering too long for my liking, and smirked. That annoying smirk that irked me soo much and the smirk that stayed on his face almost all the time, it seemed. I rolled my eyes and scowled as I looked away.

I turned to my dad and said, Are we going to go or what? I want to get out on the water."

"Sure Amu. Let's go everyone!" Just then, my mom came down the path, carrying her beach bag and a cooler. "Let's go!"

Everyone turned toward the boat and walked toward it. Ami bounced up beside me and grabbed my hand. "Onee-chan, come with me. I want to tube with you."

I smiled down at her and told her, "Okay."

Ami started to pull me toward the water, but I stopped her. "Whoa there Ami, you need your life jacket first," I said as I put her jacket on her. Then we both jumped onto the raft and waited to be pulled out onto the water.

Everyone had a turn on the tube. For some reason, I couldn't keep from watching Ikuto when he had a turn.

Needless to say, Ami didn't hand in there very long. She's a small kid and her attention span, along with her stamina, isn't very long. She soon got tired, so the parents decided to go to shore and talk while Ami slept on the beach on a towel. I was kind of disappointed. I had wanted to go skiing still, but as usual, everything revolved around Ami. Oh well, when I was little, my parents dropped everything they were doing when I wanted to do something, so I guess I can't complain.

"Do you want to keep going?" asked a voice behind me. I knew instantly that it was Ikuto.

"Huh?" I asked, turning towards him.

"You looked like you wanted to keep going, and you didn't get to water ski," he said, eyeing my wet suit on the boat seat. "Plus, I think Ryuto wanted to keep going." He turned to his little brother who was.. asleep on the seat. "Nevermind."

"I don't think…"

"That's a good idea Ikuto. I know that Amu wanted to go skiing sometime this vacation," interrupted my mom.

"Huh. Fine." I sighed.

So, after slipping my suit on and getting in my skis, I sat in the water, waiting to go skiing. Even from where I was, I could see Ikuto smirking at me. "Oh no," I mentally cringed.

He revved the engine, then started off. I looked over at the beach, where everyone else was sitting. Ami and Ryuto were sleeping and the parents were all talking. Great. If I died, no one else would see it. I looked back in time to see the line quickly tightening up as the slack came out of the line. I tensed my muscles in my legs and arms and was yanked up onto my skis.