A Christmas Bet - AxI One-shot

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Christmas is a time for celebration and fun, but for Amu something very important is Santa Claus. She is 100% sure she will be on the nice list and that Ikuto will be on the naughty list. But things are not always what they seem, are they? An Amuto One-shot.
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It was a normal night, like any normal week before Christmas would be, and snow was lightly falling from the dark sky above. Houses were lit with small lights glowing from there windows and if you looked hard enough you could find a tree hidden behind the curtains. The moon was almost full and everyone was safe in their houses enjoying the warmth, even a small pink haired girl named, Hinamori Amu.

She sat at her desk scribbling her wishes for Christmas down on paper. This was the one time of the year when children's wishes came true, the one time of the year when everything was sweet, the time when Santa came to town. She was really looking forward to this year's Christmas, everything was going perfect. She had great friends, a great family and soon to be, a great Christmas. This Christmas was going to be her best Christmas ever, she knew it.

Setting down her dull pencil, she stretched her arms up and decided to take a break. She got up from her desk, careful not to wake her guardian characters, and headed downstairs for some hot chocolate. "Hello, Amu-chan." Her mom greeted her.
"Oh, hi, Mama. Are you making hot chocolate?" She asked.
"Yes I am, would you like some?"
"I guess it couldn't hurt." She shrugged, but was happy actually inside.
"Here you go." Her mom smiled, handing her a warm mug of hot chocolate.
"Thanks."
She took the mug and went back up to her room. When she got there she saw her charas were still fast asleep so she quietly walked to her bed and sat down, drinking her drink.

Hinamori Amu was supposedly the 'Cool n' Spicy' girl from Seiyo Academy, but was actually far from it. When she was little she always had a loss of words when people talked to her, so she started saying short things that wouldn't require much talking. Only, that made everyone around her think that she was cool and the clothes she wore didn't help stop the thought. Her mother had always enjoyed dressing up her daughters, but sometimes, it was a little too much. So from when she first transferred to Seiyo Academy to right now, she was always thought of as something she was not.

She slowly sipped her hot chocolate and decided she needed to add one more thing to her Christmas list for Santa. So she carefully got off her bed and went over to her desk to write. "'One more thing that I want for Christmas this year,'" She read as she wrote. "'is a…" Before she could finish she heard a sound coming from outside her balcony.
"What was that?" She pushed her chair back and went over to the balcony to see what the sound was coming from. But when she opened her curtains to take a peek she saw nothing. Just the same old view she had seen thousands of times before, only tonight, it was snowing. So she gently opened the balcony door and stepped out to take another look. The cool air hit her like a wet snowball, which was exactly what it was, the snow in the air brought with it a cold sensation as it hit her bare skin. She started to shiver and took a quit look around and decided it was nothing, so she turned to go back inside. But when she turned she saw a silhouetted figure in front of her. "Ah-!" Before she had time to panic, she was able to get a quit look at the figure from the small moonlight that reflected off her glass doors. "Ikuto…?"
"Hey." The figure replied, stepping out from the shadows enough to see it was who she thought it was.
"Wh-What are you doing here?! It's," She looked behind him into her room and read the clock. "11:34."
"I just came to visit." Ikuto shrugged. "What are you doing up this late?"
"That's…! None of your business." She mumbled as she walked past him into her room.
"I told you why I was here, so tell me why you're here, awake." He said, coming into her room and shutting the doors so the cold air would stay outside.
"Just…writing." She shrugged as she sat at her desk.
"Writing what?"
"Something."
"You're not going to tell me?"
"A…letter. I'm writing a letter to someone."
He took a peek at her desk and read the beginning of her letter. "To Santa?" He asked with disbelief.
"Wh-What's wrong with that?" She asked, trying to defend herself.
"Only little kids believe in Santa Claus."
"Hey-!"
"And only kids write letters to him." He picked up her letter and started to read the rest of it.
"H-Hey, give that back!" She said, reaching for the paper in his hands. But he only lifted it higher, out of her reach. "Y-You can't read it! It's not for you! You'll get in trouble!"
"I'll get in trouble?" He asked, with more disbelief, taking his eyes away from the letter to look at her.
"Yes! You'll get put on the naughty list! You're always such a pervert, so Santa won't get you anything!" She replied.
"You actually believe I'll get on the 'naughty list'? And you think you're in the 'nice list', don't you?" He smirked.
"O-Of course! I haven't done anything perverted like you have!"
"Really? Because I think you have."
"N-No way! Name one time." She huffed, clearly seeing there was no way that he could.
"Fine, remember that one night when I was hurt from fighting two guys? You tried to help me because I was bleeding and you touched my ears." He said.
"Th-That wasn't-!"
"Or the time when had you ice cream and we shared the vanilla."
"But that was you-!"
"Or when you let me stay at your house and I was in the shower. You thought of looking, didn't you?" He smirked.
She felt her cheeks start to redden. "I-I did not!!"
"And you think I'm the only one on the naughty list." He rolled his eyes, but added. "But being on the 'naughty' list doesn't sound so bad…"
"P-Perv-!" She started, but sighed. "I bet you couldn't even get on the nice list if you tried!"
"What makes you say that?"
"You're always such a pervert that you could never be nice enough to be on it!"
"I bet you couldn't get on the naughty list, you're too innocent and nice for that."
"Wh-Why would I want to be on the naughty list?!" She asked.
"Why would I want to be on the nice list?" He countered.
"If you're not on the nice list, Santa will bring you coal!"
"What's your point?" He asked, just to get her flustered.
"Y-You-! I just-! Ugh! But you couldn't ever, ever, ever get on the nice list!" She huffed.
"Is that a challenge?" He asked, the sound of a chance to prove Amu wrong seemed too good to pass up.
"Well…." She thought for a second. "Y-Yes! I challenge you to get on the nice list by Christmas!"
"And what do I get if I win this bet?" He asked.
"Uh…What do you want?" She replied, unsure of what she could give him.
"How about the thing at the top of my Christmas wish list?"
"What is that?"
"You'll have to wait until the bet is over." He slightly smirked at the ideas in his head.
"Fine. You have seven days to get on the nice list or I win! And if I win, I want my favorite thing my Christmas wish list."
"Deal."

The days grew cooler and the snow grew heavier as time passed. The first day of the bet Ikuto had volunteered at a local animal shelter, to help him win the bet. When Amu found out she teased him of wanting to work with cats because he was part cat (sort of), but he just smirked and the next day she found her name on the volunteer list too. Apparently, he had signed her up to work with him, that was his 'pay back' for the comment she made.

As much as Amu loved animals, working with them all day everyday of her Christmas vacation was not very fun. Since it was Christmas, and she hadn't volunteered on her own free will, the owners of the animal shelter let her go so she could enjoy her break. So, two days had passed and suddenly she was wondering if the bet was still on her side.

The third day of the bet Ikuto had donated money to the homeless shelter and even helped the local church put up their decorations for Christmas.

The forth day Ikuto had been nice to Amu, and it kind of freaked her out. The Ikuto she was used to was not even close to this. He helped her with things that she needed to get done, like, getting her presents for her family wrapped, shopping for last minute sales, and things like that. The new Ikuto wasn't as good as she thought he would be.

The fifth day was the worst day for her, though. That day Ikuto had done some many nice things for so many people she lost count. She was starting to regret the bet she had made with him, but she wasn't going to give up yet. She still had two days left, and those two she would do whatever she could to keep him from doing good things.

The beginning of the sixth day Amu woke up early to spy on Ikuto.  She got changed into a long sleeved purple shirt and dark blue skinny pants with boots and a scarf and went over to the animal shelter. Today was the last day that Ikuto would have to work there, because tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and the shelter lets their volunteers leave for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Normally Amu wouldn't sneak around and watch Ikuto, like a stalker, but today was an 'exception'.

She walked softly on the snow and peeked around the corner of the wall into the shelter, but didn't see Ikuto. "Where is he?" She whispered to herself. "He should have been here by now…"
"Were you looking for me, little stalker?"
She whipped around and saw Ikuto behind her.
"Iku-! I'm not a stalker! I was just…" She struggled for words.
"Spying on me and trying to mess up my work?" He suggested.
"Eh-!?" He guessed right, she thought.
"Well, good luck with that." He said as he walked past her into the animal shelter. "You'll need it."

As the day went on Amu decided to pull a few 'pranks' and try to stop Ikuto from being so…helpful…and winning the bet. She tried letting the animals out of their cages, but he was able to get them all back, even the dogs. They just seemed to love him, and that made her more determined. She tried to make the dogs run around the shelter as he had to give them bathes, but she succeeded. Even after the place was filled with soaking wet dogs and soap bubbles on the walls, Ikuto still wouldn't do anything to her, but send her a sly smile. Looks like he was going to win this.

The final day she even got her charas to help her, but she couldn't even  make a dent in the bet to her favor. Nothing had, is, will, work; she concluded with dread. It was finally Christmas Eve and the bet would end at midnight tonight. Instead of being happy like she had thought she would be eight days ago, she was depressed. The clock ticked away and she could only think about what his wish would be and pray for a miracle. But who wouldn't get on the nice list after helping the animal shelter, helping the local church, donating money to the homeless, giving toys to the poor families, finding twelve dogs and cat good homes in six days, offering to wash cars even in freezing cold weather, helping his sister with her music, and even helping her with her Christmas things. Who in their right mind wouldn't mark him as 'nice'?

Later that day she heard a soft knock on her balcony door, and opened it to find Mr. Nice Guy himself.
"What, Ikuto?" She asked in a depressed tone.
"What's wrong? Are you sad because you know you can't win this bet?" He asked, trying to still be nice, but slowly failing.
"Meh."
"I'll take that as a 'yes'."
"Hmph. Well I guess you can be nice when you really want to be." She said.
"I guess I can." He agreed. "But what about you?"
"What about me?"
"You tried to mess me up and ended up doing bad things yourself. I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up on the naughty list." He said, smirking slightly.
"What!? Me on the naughty list!?! B-But-!"
"You caused dogs to destroy the inside of the shelter."
"But that was-!"
"You let loose the animals and one of them almost escaped from the building."
"I just-!"
"You tried to undecorated the houses I decorated."
"That was-!"
"You even tried to stop me from doing helpful things for other people." He said, shaking his head in fake disappointment.
"I-I can't be put on the naughty list! I'm always good!" She said, trying to convince herself.
"You had been good, but you ruined it by being naughty, Amu-chan." He smirked.
When she first started the bet and Ikuto had said she couldn't be put on the naughty list, she never thought that she could be. But not everything turns out the way we plan.
"So, the bet ends in ten minutes, I think I should do one nice act before Christmas, don't you?" Ikuto asked, his eyes dancing with hidden intentions.
"No." She said in a toneless voice as she moped at her desk.
"Too bad. You didn't decorate you're room for Christmas, so I'll help you."
"Ugh, fine." She sighed. "The decorations are in the closet downstairs. Mama, Papa, and Ami went out to get food for Christmas dinner, so you don't have to worry about them seeing you."
Amu laid her head on her desk and heard Ikuto putting up things in her room, from bells to little ornaments.
"I finished, Amu-chan." He announced.
"What do I always tell you about calling me-" She stopped mid sentence as she looked around her room. Tinsel was hung on the walls, candy canes were scattered neatly around the room, small ornaments hung from the tinsel, and the snow falling outside the window made it even more special.
"What do you think?"
"It's…" She couldn't think of the right word. "Nice. I didn't know you were good at decorating."
"There's a lot you don't know about me." He smirked. "Curious?"
"Uh-" She didn't know what she would have said, but something caught her eye before she could say it. "What's that?"
She walked over to her door and looked up. A small green, leafy thing with a red bow hung from her door frame. "Mistletoe…?"
A small beep from her clock signaled it was midnight. The bet was officially over.
"I won." Ikuto said.
"Yeah." Amu agreed.
"So, for my reward…" He walked over to her and leaned his face down to hers.
They both closed their eyes and their lips lightly brushed together.

Sometimes people don't always get what they want for Christmas, but sometimes there's that rare moment when two people want the same thing and they get it. This is one of those moments.

A Mistletoe kiss.


Merry Christmas
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