A/N: first of all, I do not own Shugo Chara. I guess I should be saying that at the beginning, but it's so annoying. Oh well.
Second, sorry about the chap. Alert. I had to copy something from the file when it was uploaded because the file won't open. I'm sorry all my avid readers, but I hope this chapter makes up for it. fyi- Ikuto gets kind of pervy in this chapter. Srry if it sucks, I don't know how to make him act. please bear that in mind.
Last but not least, thanks to all of you who have reviewed. It has encouraged me to keep writing. I also welcome the critical reviews.
Thanks to you all.
Here's the chapter.
Chapter 4
Just like that, I was flying over the water. Instantly, the thrill of the water sport overwhelmed me and I relaxed and sat back for the ride. My face becoming a mask of determination and concentration. I could tell from the speed of the boat that he was trying his best to throw me. The first thing he tried to do was spin around in a tight circle, spinning me out to the end of the tope, twirling me around. I adjusted the angle of my skis and leaned into the turn. After spinning around a couple times, he straightened out and slowed down a little. I smirked. He glanced back and my thought was confirmed. He thought I had fallen off. My smirk deepened as I saw the look of mild shock on his face. He turned right around and picked up the pace again.
That's right. You keep trying. Let's see what you've got. A circle's not going to get rid of me.
I could see how little he had thought of me before. He thought spinning me in a circle could get rid of me. As if. What did he think, I was going to get dizzy and just fall off? Hardly. My face dropped back into its former look and I tightened my grip on the rope.
He was circling around the lake, heading over to the obstacle course set up there. The owners of the lake are big water people and they both water boarded. So, of course, they had a place where they could be challenged a little bit. There were a bunch of things all over the place, but I knew where he was headed… The ramp.
Ikuto's POV
Damn! Okay, I hadn't really put too much stock into spinning her off. Afterwards, I could see how easy it had been for her, so I decided to try something else. There really wasn't anything else to do on the lake, so I went for the obstacle course in the middle of the lake. I saw the ramp right away.
Perfect.
I sped over to it. Just before it, I turned slightly to the right, so she would go over it. When I thought she was about there, I glanced over my shoulder; and my jaw dropped to the floor. Here I was, expecting her to just glide over the ramp and smirk at me, showing me it's that easy. What I didn't expect was for her to be up in the air!
I caught her just as she went off of the ramp. She shot up in the air and began to spin. I could see her passing the rope behind her from hand to hand. She was spinning pretty fast and I grinned to myself. Maybe she'll wipe out. Won't that be funn….Holy shit! Just before she had hit the water she had done a summersault in midair. Then, to my disappointment and awe, she landed.
She didn't go far though; she lost momentum and slowly sank into the water. And she just sat there glaring at me. Whoops. While I was watching her, I had let the boat stop. She rolled her eyes at me and started pulling herself in toward the boat. I went to the back of the boat and pulled her in the rest of the way.
She soon got up to the boat. I put my hand down to help her up onto the ledge, but she ignored it and pulled herself up backwards and started to pull her skis off. I was sure she had done this thousands of times, considering how good she was at skiing, but she started to have trouble taking her skis off. I let her struggle for a little bit, smiling a little, then crouched down beside her.
Amu's POV
This stupid Ski! I couldn't get the damn thing off! I had done this countless times, but for some reason, I couldn't release the straps to get my feet out. (A/N: I don't know if there are straps on skis, it's been so long, but something had to get stuck.) I sat there trying to get it off, with no avail, when suddenly Ikuto sat crouched down beside me and moved my hands away.
"Hey! what do y..." I shouted startled, but Ikuto clamped his hand down over my mouth. Even though I was angry, I couldn't help but notice how nice he smelled. What!! He sat there grinning at me, his hand still over my mouth, one finger against his lips in the gesture of silence. "Shhh. Do you want the whole lake to hear. Things travel on the lake, ya know." He cocked his head and smirked. I just glared at him. Maybe with a slight blush on my face from his scent.
When he was satisfied I wasn't going to shout anymore, he took his hand from my mouth and looked down at my ski. He moved his hand, the one that had been on my mouth, down towards the ski. Letting it trail along my leg part of the way. To my absolute horror and confusion, I shivered!
He caught that.
He smiled. "So you like that, huh Amu?" he teased, that idiotic! smirk on his face.
My face flared up right away. "NO!" I said, remembering to keep my voice down slightly. The last thing I needed was for my family to hear me and look up and see us sitting still on the other side of the lake. No doubt my dad would freak out. "I'm just cold. I'm here, soaking wet, and you're just sitting there smirking at me. Are you going to help or what?!"
He just smiled and turned away to work on the ski. For some reason, he seamed to have an easier time with it than me. 'God must hate me.' After a brief moment pulling on one of the clasps hard, he finally got it undone. The other one was easier. He took them both off my feet and placed them on the seat of the boat. While he was doing that, I took the chance to get up. No doubt he would offer to help me. But my clumsiness took over and I started falling toward the lake. Strong hands grabbed me from behind and pulled me back into the boat.
I thought that he would let me go then, but no. he slid his arms around my waist and sat back. We both ended up on the floor with me leaning back on him. "I-I-Ikuto! Let me up!"
"No." was all he said and he started nuzzling my neck. I could hear him purring and the vibration tickled my shoulder.
"Are you purring!?"
"Yes."he said, like nothing was odd about that. I heard him take a deep breath and I turned my head to look at him quizzically. "Your hair smells like strawberries."
I grimaced and rolled my eyes. "Ikuto, LET ME UP!" I growled at him. For a moment, I thought he was just going to say no and keep me prisoner there longer. But, to my relief, he sighed and let me up. I immediately jumped away and sat on the seat facing him. I crossed my arms and glared daggers at him.
"Aww, come on Amu. Didn't you enjoy it a little bit?" he wined and smirked while turning to the wheel. I just bared my teeth sat there. I would have looked away, but I was afraid he would capture me again. If he did that, I might have killed him.
We rode back to the dock in silence. When we got there, nobody asked us anything, so I guess they didn't notice that we had stopped and Ikuto has harassed me on the other side of the lake.
"Hi everyone." I said, putting on my 'cool and spicy' attitude.
" Hello Amu, did you have a nice time?" my mother asked quietly. Ami and Ryuto were still asleep.
"Yeah, the skiing was alright. I had to go over the ramp. No biggy." I said. I glanced at Ikuto, but he was staring up in the trees. What a weirdo.
"Oh, well, that's not a problem for you, is that? You've been going off that thing for years."
"Yeah." I glanced again at Ikuto, a smug look coming on my face. Then I almost started laughing. Yoru was hanging upside down, right over Ikuto's head, making funny faces.
Ikuto's POV
"Oh, well, that's not a problem for you, is that? You've been going off that thing for years." I heard Amu's mother say.
"Yeah." That was Amu's reply, acting like it was nothing. Which, in this case, I guess it really was. I wish someone had told me earlier that she was so good at skiing. I wouldn't have made a fool of myself. I still would have taken her out, but, , , still….
I was still looking up into the trees. I was sooo bored. Then I looked over at Amu. For some reason, she looked like she was about to burst out laughing! Had I missed something? I glanced over at the parents, but they were all taking care of the younger ones who were just starting to wake up. I looked back at Amu again. I looked at her with a puzzled expression on my face, but all she did was point up above me.
I snapped my head up. Yoru was facing the other way, walking in the air, doing a little bouncy, walking-jiggy thing. (He was just mocking him. I didn't know how else to explain it. Just imagine a mocking dance. xD) I reached up and plucked the little cat out of the air. I could hear him squeak in surprise. I'm guessing that he hadn't wanted me to find out that he was doing that. I looked at him like I was annoyed, and he just spread his paws out in front of him, pads up, and shrugged, still smiling. I tossed him away and looked around for Amu. She was back on the dock. She had taken off her wetsuit and was standing on the edge of the dock. Then she dove in. I saw her little pink head pop up and start swimming away. I glanced ahead of her and saw she was swimming toward a floating raft. I grinned.
I ran over to my parents, who were helping Ryuto to his feet. "Oh, Ikuto. We're going to go back now. You want to come?"
"No, you guys go on ahead. I'll walk back. I wanted to do some exploring around first before I go back. I can bring the jet-ski back too."
"Don't worry about that. Ryuto wants to go swimming tomorrow and the Hinamoris invited us back, so we'll leave it here."
"Okay." They started walking back up the trail, following Amu's parents, who were carrying the sleeping Ami.
I turned back to the water and walked down to the water's edge. I quietly stepped in and waded out. Luckily, the float was a little way out, so Amu wouldn't hear my coming.
When I got out deep enough, I slipped under the water and started swimming my way toward my, as of yet, unawares Strawberry.