Morg: Heyo.

Ikuto: Due to Morg's cold, she won't be speaking much tonight.

Amu: That and she cut her finger on sharp glass today.

Morg: Thanks guys.

Ikuto: She doesn't own anything.

Amu: Nor does she want to!

~Alone With You~

There was a reason that Ikuto liked the hot sun and being on a boat. That reason was currently sunbathing on the deck of the yacht that was taking them from the jungles of South America to the wonders of South Africa. Letting his eyes skim over her very tone and fit body, Ikuto snuck up on his unsuspecting lover.

Amu popped another slice of the fruit that Michelle had given her into her mouth as she listened to borrowed headphones. The music and the sun were perfect. For the first time in a long time she was relaxing without worry. There were times in the jungle that she felt at ease, but there was never really a chance for her to let herself relax completely.

In that completely relaxed state, Amu didn't catch her lover's approach until as ice cube was sliding its way down her exposed belly. "I-Ikuto! That's freezing!"

Chuckling, Ikuto lowered his head to lick off the trail of melted water left on her skin. "But you looked so hot I just couldn't resist."

Amu laughed before pulling his face up to hers for a kiss. The kiss may have started out chaste but it quickly deepened as Ikuto climbed his way on top of Amu to straddle her.

"Hey guys- whoa! Didn't mean to interrupt! I'll be down below if you need me."

They broke the kiss to see the brown head of their captain disappearing into the ship. Amu's face was a lovely shade of red while Ikuto just looked pissed. Of course Kukai had to walk in at that moment. Placing a kiss on the tip of Amu's nose, Ikuto pushed off to walk over to the railing of the ship. "We can continue that later."

The sun was bright in the blue sky even with Ikuto's borrowed pair of sunglasses on his nose. The water sparkled and there wasn't another ship to be seen in any direction. Maybe they had gotten out of South America without anyone pursuing them.

"Hey Ikuto, do you think we'll ever get to go back to South America?"

Spinning around so that he was lazily leaning against the railing of their small ship, Ikuto studied the love of his life as she flipped to lay on her stomach at stare back at him. "Why? Did you forget something?"

Giggling, Amu kicked her feet into the air. "Not at all. I would like to know if Michelle and Yoru are okay. It sounded like he got hurt when we were escaping. Do you think he died?"

Ikuto took a deep breath. That was something he wasn't sure about. Granted, without Yoru they probably wouldn't have made it out of the jungle together. Amu would most likely be heading back to her mother with Ikuto stranded somewhere alone. Yoru had come at the right time to save them. Not to mention Michelle and all she'd done for them. The scream they'd heard while they were running away was one that told Ikuto that all was not well back in South America. "I don't know. I do know, though that Michelle would never give up in trying to save him. She's a smart girl; I have no doubt that she was able to do something for the mane wolf."

Amu nodded before staring out at the ocean for a few moments. "You know, with all the traveling that we've done we haven't actually seen much of the world. Sure, we've been to a few places and plenty of different countries, but I haven't seen the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Christ The Redeemer. Do you think we'll ever get to go back?"

Ikuto let his gaze rise from the girl before him to lock onto the waves of the ocean. There was much more to the places they'd been to rather than the back roads and little towns they'd been hiding in and traveling by. There was way more to South America than just the jungle though they didn't get to see it. "I promise to take you to see whatever it is that you want to see once we can travel freely."

Smiling, Amu laid her head on her folded arms and let her eyes drift closed. "For now, I'm content with just being with you."

Ikuto couldn't help the smile on his lips. Amu always knew what to say to put him in the best of moods.

"Hey guys? I won't interrupt something if I come out, will I?"

Then again, this captain of theirs knew how to ruin those moods.

Amu laughed before calling back to the energetic man that was taking care of them. "Of course not Kukai! Come on out!"

With a grin firmly in place, Kukai appeared in their midst. "So I know that we don't really know much about each other yet, but I figured we have enough time to exchange information what with crossing the ocean and all. So either we can play a game or we can go fishing!"

Amu let her gaze slid over to where Ikuto stood. The good humor that she'd seen in his eyes only moments before was replaced with annoyance as the boat captain turned from looking at her to looking at Ikuto. Amu only smiled before turning back to Kukai. "You know, I've never gone fishing in the ocean. Is it hard?"

Taking the hint, Kukai instantly retrieved his stored fishing tackle and started rigging his lines. "Of course not! We'll have to slow the boat down a little but all you have to do is bait your line and let it go. The fish will come to you! Reeling them in is the hard part but you have Ikuto and I to help!"

After handing Amu one of the poles, Kukai disappeared up into the control room. The hum of the boat got quieter and they rocked less on the waves. Kukai practically leapt back down the stairs to take the pole back from Amu and finish what he was doing. Soon enough a large hook with some feathers and shiny objects was on the end of her line.

"Okay, so we'll hook the pole up to the side of the yacht after I let the line out so when the fish bites it doesn't pull you into the ocean. Once we have caught a fish though, you'll have to take the pole down and reel it in. Put this harness around your waist. When you take the pole down, you place the butt of it in here like this."

Ikuto watched with narrowed eyes while Kukai showed Amu exactly where to hold the pole and how to do it. He didn't like how the captain got so close to his pinkette, and if it wasn't for Kukai's total indifference about Amu, Ikuto would have already knocked him overboard.

"Got it? Okay, I'm going to let the line out now and put the pole in the holder. Then I'm going to set up a second one so we can double the chances of catching a fish. Ikuto can watch the one over here while you watch that one."

True to his words, Kukai hooked everything up before disappearing back up into the control room above them. He gave Amu a thumbs up before pushing the yacht to pick up the pace just a little.

Sighing, Amu kept her eyes on her designated pole. Ikuto did the same, though his eyes couldn't help but slide over to a much better object to look at. From being in the sun so much the last few days since they'd left South America, Amu's skin was looking darker in color and her hair looked brighter. He already thought she was beautiful but now she was just pushing up against godly. In that moment, he remembered when she walked into his beach house that first day of the bet. He'd thought that she was going to be a good girl and easy for him to scare away but she'd shown him right from the start that she was very interesting. Now here they were, half way around the world from that house, completely in love.

"Hey Amu, when you first met me, what did you think?"

Shifting a puzzled look from her pole to her boyfriend, Amu let a small smile cross her lips. "Are you talking about the time you broke into the garden or the house?"

Ikuto chuckled at the memory of their garden meeting. He'd only wanted to see the girl he was going to be stuck with all summer to see if she was the one he'd thought she was. In the garden, he'd found her in a party dress, waiting to see her mother. "No, I'm sure you thought I was a stalker in the garden. I'm talking about the house."

Leaning back on her hands for support, Amu stared at the pole without really seeing it. They'd had a similar conversation before but it wasn't like this was a bad time to talk about it. "I was almost overwhelmed by everything that was happening that day. That was the first time I left my house without going to directly to a party or some kind of event. That whole day was exciting."

"But what did you think of me?"

"What do you mean?"

Ikuto rolled his eyes. Oh his sweet, dense Amu. "Did you think that I was hot or that I was going to be a pain? What was your impression of me?"

"Oh." Amu fell silent for a moment as she tried to recall that day again. More specifically this time, meeting Ikuto at the house. While in her memories, she started laughing. "Do you remember how I took a picture of you?"

A smile ghosted across his lips as well. "If I recall correctly, you also took some compromising pictures on my bed."

A light blush spread across her cheeks as Amu remembered exactly what Ikuto was referring to. "Yeah, I remember that too. Honestly, I was a little worried and put up a front when I met you. You are ridiculously good looking, not that I need to tell you since your ego is already big enough."

A soft chuckled escaped his lips as Ikuto listened to her. "That's not all that's big about me."

There was that blush again, heating up her face in a way that only Ikuto could make happen. "Right, so anyways, I was focused on being free from my house and free from my mother and I wasn't about to let you ruin it for me."

He watched as she settled back down and relaxed once more without taking her eyes off her pole. "Yeah, I remember you cussing at me within the first few minutes of coming in the house. I could hardly believe my ears. In that moment, I had completely changed my attitude about the entire bet and was looking forward to the summer rather than dreading it."

"You thought I was going to be that bad?"

"Well, from what my father had told me, yes."

Amu laughed before she gave him a flirty smile over her shoulder. "I was who my mother wanted me to be whenever she or anyone besides my maids could see me. I figured that once I got on the airplane, I was free to be me."

"You did look sexy when you walked through my door."

"Is that why you thought I was trespassing?"

Ikuto let one of his eyebrows lift up into his hairline. "What was I supposed to think? I was waiting for the prim and proper Amu to show up so that I could get her to leave and you came walking in."

Laughing, Amu looked fondly back on their meeting. "You know, it was rough at first. I knew you were a pervert, but I wasn't sure how perverted so I was watching my every step so you wouldn't jump me but then I figured that I could trust you enough so I just let it go."

With his eyebrow still high on his fore head; Ikuto studied the back of the girl facing away from him. "Let it go? Is that what you call walking around in your underwear and showering with the door open? Do you know how many times I had to stop myself from taking you?"

Sending back a sultry look this time, Amu couldn't help but laugh. "Who said that I wanted you to hold yourself back?"

"From the way you reacted to me kissing you, I could tell that you weren't ready for me to ravish you in the middle of the hallway."

Amu laughed for a few minutes before she settled down. Ikuto had a point. There were a lot of things that she wasn't ready for yet in that house. The summer that they'd spent there was amazing though. From letting him think he was dreaming in the garden to punishing him for tainting her peanut butter, all of them were fond memories. "Do you think we'll ever go back there?"

"To the beach house?"

Amu nodded without looking back. Going back to that house would mean much more to her than she cared to admit. It was where they met and fell in love. It was where she wanted to be with him again.

Ikuto could tell by her body language that her question meant the world to the girl before him. He crossed the small space between them to kneel at her feet. With one of her hands in his, he leaned down to press a kiss to the back of it. "I told you Amu, no matter where in the world you want to go, I'll take you there."

His eyes held promise and to keep herself from crying, Amu glanced away from him. "Oh!"

Ikuto wasn't sure what that response was supposed to mean, but he wanted to make sure she understood how serious he was being. "Amu, I'm serious. If that is where you want to go then that is where I will take you."

Amu glanced back down with a startled expression before she laughed. "I meant, Oh! I've caught a fish!"

Turning his head, Ikuto saw the bent state of the pole she was in charge of. True to her word, Amu had caught a fish.

.

Morg: Sort of a reminiscing chapter.

Ikuto: Did you write all that from memory or did you go back and look at the first chapter of Alone With the Likes of You?

Amu: I bet she looked it up.

Morg: Nope! So if you're a dedicated reader and notice any mistakes or inconsistencies just let me know!

Ikuto: I suppose this is just another ploy to get them to review.

Amu: It probably won't work.

Morg: Then how about the promise of an in the middle of the ocean on a rocking boat lemon?

Ikuto: That could work!

Amu: I hope not.