Disclaimer: I do not own

Chapter: 6

Ikuto wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before screwing the lid back onto his empty water bottle. After working on re-building the hotel for nearly eight hours straight, he was now ready to take a long shower and sleep for the remaining of the day.

Having community service end up being needing to build under the blistering sun was something he'd rather not do. Any other acts of service was fine with him, but of course it had to be something he hated.

Coming up to Amu's house, Ikuto slowed to a stop in the front yard, where Kukai was picking flowers out of the garden.

"...Is this a secret hobby of yours?" Ikuto asked with a teasing smirk, sitting on the grass next to the brunette, who obviously wanted to be doing something else.

"This is what happens when you get on Utau's bad side." He replied.

The blue-haired man raised an eyebrow at him. "Picking flowers? Doesn't seem too bad." It was better than what Ikuto had been doing for the past couple weeks, eight hours a day. He'd happily gather up bundles of flowers instead.

Kukai shook his head. "No, this is just a side job Utau made me do while she thinks of another way of punishing me for trying to clean her apartment. So far I've held her shopping bags while she strolled around the mall for hours, then I did her heaps of laundry, took her out to lunch, cleaned her toilet, bought her groceries-" He stopped to take a breath. "There's more, but I don't feel like reliving the experiences by listing them."

Ikuto patted him on the back sympathetically, letting Kukai get back to digging up flowers. Well, now Ikuto was a lot more grateful for being able to relax, since there were some people in the world – like Kukai – who still had to work.

Indescribable bliss overwhelmed Ikuto as he stepped inside the air-conditioned house. He mentally thanked Amu for keeping it refreshingly cool.

"No, trust me, I'll definitely come up with something that's so unbearably torturous that'd make him wish he never met me." Utau stated with a creepy smile following shortly after.

Yoru moved closer to his mom, fearing Utau would decide to make him her slave as well as Kukai. "Mommy... auntie's really scary." He whispered to Amu, who nodded in agreement, pulling the small boy onto her lap.

It was then that Utau noticed Ikuto had entered the room. Her jaw nearly dropped to the ground once seeing him. "You're so handsome! Can I like.. touch your face?". Her arms were already outstretched towards Ikuto, making him back away slowly.

"Way to be cool, Utau." Rima muttered over the rim of her cup of tea. Whoever was capable of drinking tea or any other hot beverage in the middle of summer was definitely hardcore. The petite blond sat on the couch with her legs outstretched across Nagihiko's lap, a pillow propped behind her head, and a magazine lying on her stomach. At least one of them was living the dream.

"Alright, your majesty." Kukai said with a scowl on his way over to the armchair Utau was lounging in. "Here are the flowers you requested." He nearly shoved the bouquet into the blond's arms.

Amu stared at them long and hard before her eyes widened, shooting Kukai an accusing look. "Did you take those from my garden?"

There was silence in the room. It wasn't a question, really, since they all knew the answer. Ikuto closed the door of the fridge and lifted the new bottle of water to his lips, trying to hide a smirk. A part of him was very curious to see what Kukai would do.

All eyes were on the brunette. "How about we go to the lake?" He proposed excitedly, pulling Yoru onto his lap as he sat on the carpeted floor. Of course Yoru would agree with him. He loved water almost more than marine animals did. This he got from Amu, since Ikuto hated all sorts of water.

Utau hummed as she pondered this idea. She could always get Kukai to fan her while she sat under an umbrella with her large sunglasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. Sending an evil look in Kukai's direction, she smiled at the plan. "Sounds good to me."

Rima simply shrugged. "Doesn't matter. As long as someone brings sun screen."

This made Kukai grin. "Great, it's settled, then! To the lake!"

Amu opened her mouth to protest, but closed it once seeing Yoru happily run to his room to get his swim trunks and a towel. One trip to the lake wouldn't be that bad. Even though she was planning on getting some housework done, everyone deserved a break every now and then. It was summer, after all.

Ikuto, on the other hand, didn't want to go at all. Just the thought of being in murky, sandy water with unknown substances floating around him was definitely not a turn-on. "Uh, yeah... you guys have fun. I'll stay here and watch the grass grow." That was a whole lot more fun than going to the lake.

"Please can you come with us?" Yoru asked, dropping his towel and pulling on Ikuto's hand. "Please? It won't be fun without you!"

Nagihiko hid a smile as he watched Ikuto, knowing he'd give in. No one could resist Yoru's puppy dog look. Yoru knew this, too, and used it to his advantage. Only in desperate times, though.

Sighing deeply, Ikuto caved. "Alright, fine."

Watching from behind her shades, Rima could definitely feel something was there between the two. It was almost as if they had been friends for years, even though they had met not even a month ago. Her golden eyes then flickered over to Amu, who was packing bottles of water into a bag. Rima couldn't help but think there might be something her friend was hiding from her.

"Hey, shorty, let's go." Nagihiko said with a smile, nudging Rima in the side. She merely sent him a death glare in response, huffing as she stood up. She wasn't that short... never mind, she was, but that didn't mean she didn't feel offended when people teased her about it.

It was just a few minutes later when the group was walking down the empty dirt road, towards the lake. Even though they didn't have swimsuits, they were eager to get there, even if it meant swimming in their clothes.

Kukai led the way, mainly because he didn't want to get caught walking next to Utau and end up having to carry her or something else just as absurd. Rima, Utau and Nagihiko followed shortly after, and Amu was last, holding one of Yoru's hands while Ikuto held the other.

The happiest one of them all was definitely the youngest, Yoru. He felt like his family was finally complete. Ikuto as the dad and Amu, his mom. He looked up at Ikuto and tried to hide a smile, looking back down at his light-up shoes. Maybe this was what it felt like to have a dad. He knew he needed to enjoy it while it lasted.

"There it is!" Kukai suddenly shouted. He looked back at Yoru and smiled. "I'll race you there!". Just like that, he started running.

"That's not fair!" Yoru yelled, running after him as fast as his short legs could take him, which was rather slowly.

Smirking, Ikuto got an idea and scooped Yoru up onto his shoulders and started running. "We're going to beat him!" He yelled confidently before passing Kukai, leaving him behind in the dust.

Amu watched them nervously, her pace automatically quickening to catch up to them. She didn't know what she'd do if anything happened to her son. She then slowed back down and smiled secretly. He was with his dad. She decided it'd be best to let them spend as much time together as possible while they could.

"Hey, b-but, th-" Kukai stumbled over his words, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He definitely didn't make it to the edge of the lake first. It wasn't his fault, though. How was he suppose to know Ikuto was a fast runner? "That's cheating." He groaned, lying in the sand.

Yoru stuck his tongue out before jumping into the water, already yelling for everyone else to join him.

Kukai jumped up, about to catapult into the water when he was stopped by a voice. "Don't you dare, Souma." He shuddered. "I need someone to fan me, now don't I?" He could tell she was smiling that evil 'I-could-kill-you-if-I-wanted-to-but-I'd-rather-make-you-suffer' smile.

He slowly trudged over to Utau, who was already lounging on a towel, holding a Chinese fan out for Kukai to take. "Yes, your majesty." He muttered under his breath. He now knew why she had agreed to come.

Amu sat cross-legged next to Rima and watched Nagihiko throw Yoru into the water. He then picked the boy back up and turned to face Ikuto, who was still standing on the sand. After releasing him, Nagi laughed at the sight of Yoru pulling the very reluctant Ikuto into the cold water.

"Wait, wait." Ikuto said once the water was up to his thighs. He pulled his t-shirt over his head and threw it onto the sand. "I don't want that to shrink." He muttered before diving into the water, his teeth chattering once he came back to the surface. "I-it's friggin' c-cold!"

Yoru suddenly looked mischievous. A splash followed shortly after.

Ikuto glared at the boy who had just dumped a rather large amount of water on him. "Come here." he said innocently, reaching out.

Yoru shook his head as he laughed. "You're gonna dunk me under the water!"

"What, now why would I do that?"

"Then why are you coming towards me? Mom, he's going to dunk me!" Yoru yelled through his little fits of laughter. "Mom, come save me!"

Amu smiled. "I'd rather not. But you have my permission to beat him up if he does try to put you under water." Glancing over at Kukai and Utau, she chuckled at the sight. Even though Utau treated him like a slave now, there would definitely be something else going on between them in the future. She could feel it.

Out of the corner of her eye, the pinkette noticed Nagi slowly walking towards her, which made her pile everything that was supposed to remain dry on her lap. "D-don't get any ideas! I have to keep all this stuff dry, so I can't go into the water right now."

Of course that didn't stop him. With one smooth move, Amu was picked up and thrown into the water.

She glared through her wet bangs at her purple-haired friend, who was now lounging next to Rima. "So that's how it is." She pulled at her t-shirt, hating how it clung to her like it was suctioned. Honestly, she really did like swimming, but only in pools. One thing she hated about lakes and oceans were the fish.

Suddenly, something slimy rubbed against her leg for a split second. That was enough to make her blood run cold and her face pale. "WHAT WAS THAT? THERE'S A SHARK IN THE LAKE. IT'S AN EEL! THERE'S SOMETHING-" Everything else screamed after that was rather difficult to understand. Amu dashed to shore, towards the closest thing – Ikuto. "Th-th-th-there's something there!" She whispered, clutching his arm tightly and pointing to the spot she was just at.

That's what was strange about the two of them. Ikuto hated water, but loved being around fish. Amu hated fish but loved water.

The blue-haired male sniggered. "Hey, Amu, what's that?"

She screamed. Loud. At what? Her imagination. She turned to scramble to Rima, only to run into Ikuto, knocking both of them onto the sand.

It didn't take long for Amu to realize she was pretty much straddling Ikuto. They stared at each other for a very long, awkward time, and she noticed his eyes were still that beautiful shade of blue she had remembered them to be.

"I-I-I-"

Ikuto smirked and rose a finger to silence her. "You're pretty feisty." He teased.

Amu swiftly sprung off of him and hurried over to Rima, feeling her face growing hot.

Just like old times.

Soo I'm thinking next chapter, Ikuto should remember a few more things. Sound good? Oh, and please let me know of any mistakes! Thank you!