Again, I don't own any of the characters and Flame of Recca is copyright to Anzai-sensei…blah blah blah…so who do you want me to pair Fuuko with? Email me your thoughts, ok?

Love Love Aishiteru,

Pink Yuki

Futari no Merry-Go-Round
by Pink Yuki  

Chapter Four - Punch

"So the police went to your place?" Kurei finally looked up from the rack of jackets he was looking at. "What for?"

"Disturbance. Apparently I was talking to myself a bit too loud." Mikagami tried on a red jacket, his voice slightly pissed off. "Nope, I don't think this suits me at all."

Kurei eyed Mikagami like a fashion specialist. "The cutting doesn't fit you."

"Alexander McQueen never fits me." Mikagami took off the jacket and put it back on the rack.

"You are coming to the Christmas party tomorrow night right?" Kurei asked Mikagami when they walked out of the store and made their way towards the car park.

"I think so. I have nothing else to do anyway."

"Well, I am sure those girls in college will be lining up to have a date with you." Kurei grinned. "Mayumi, Hiroko, Sakura, Saori… all those girls in the Mikagami Tokiya fan club."

"I would rather spend my day alone than with any of those ditz." Mikagami said in a disgusted tone. "It surprises me how all these girls manage to survive with an IQ lower than Domon!"

"According to Joker's research, all Madougu holders have an average IQ of 118." Kurei smiled. "Believe it or not, Domon is not the one with the lowest IQ score."

Kurei's smile widened upon Mikagami's questioning gaze, "Mokuren has the lowest score of 93. Domon is an average 99."

"I knew he wouldn't get past two digits." Mikagami snickered.

"Now, back to the Christmas party, who are you going to invite as your partner?"

"Partner?" Mikagami settled himself in Kurei's silver Jaguar XK convertible, "since when are we required to take a partner?"

"There is no such rule, but then after the other day I thought you would ask Fuuko to go with you." Kurei started the engine and shrugged.

"What other day?" Mikagami narrowed his eyes. *What the heck is he talking about?* He thought. *I didn't put on Neon's clothes again, did I?*

"Oh yeah, you forget everything when you were drunk…" Kurei laughed under his breath. "Never mind what I say then."

"Tell me."

"It's really nothing…" Kurei suddenly felt a chill down his spine. At the corner of his eyes, he could see Mikagami giving him a Tell-me-or-you-are-going-to-have-a-taste-of-my-ensui stare. "Well, you two did kiss in the welcome back party, rather passionately I might add." Kurei let out a sigh of relief when Mikagami diverted his gaze to the window.

*So I was the one who kiss Fuuko? No…I mean… that monkey? How nice…no, I mean, what the heck was I thinking?* Mikagami shook his head frantically, while Kurei watched with amusement.

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All Ura Buto Satsujin participants were invited to the Christmas party at the Uruha mansion. Kurei also asked people to bring dates, since the male to female ratio was something close to 7:1. Raiha made his appearance promptly at 9.30, and to no one's surprise, with Fuuko in his arms.

"Niichan, you are bound to loose big time. Much more than when we bet on Domon asking Aki out!" Recca put his arm around Kurei and smiled widely. "You'd better prepare my money soon!" Recca laughed and Kurei frowned slightly.

"Well, it's not official yet, right?" Kurei drank his Chivas on the rocks in one gulp. "At least I will have Joker's money to pay you guys."

"Easy with the liquor Kurei-sama, it's not even 10 yet."

The brothers turned to see Raiha standing behind them, with Fuuko smiling next to him. "Seriously, Kurei you are going to black out before midnight if you keep on drinking like that." Fuuko teased.

"You look wonderful tonight, Fuuko." Kurei stared at Fuuko, who was dressed in a tight spaghetti strap black dress, and smiled. "So in order to keep my hands away from the drinks, would you dance with me?"

"All in all a ladies man now, Kurei-sama? But Fuuko-san already promised to have the first dance with me." Raiha smiled and took Fuuko to the dance floor. Fuuko looked back and grinned, "Kurei, I will come for your dance in a minute, okay?"

"And you say they are not back together." Recca stated matter-of-factly.

"Maybe I should call my banker now?" Kurei muttered to himself while pouring himself another drink.

"Recca-kun, do you notice a rather scary aura over there?" Yanagi walked over after greeting Saicho and Misora at the door.

"Scary aura?" Recca looked over to the corner of the bar. "Yeah, it is rather scary, isn't it? Gives me chills down my spine…."

Mikagami was standing in a dark corner by the bar, observing the purple haired pair on the dance floor. *So she is back with that Pokemon look alike? Hmmp…why would I care? * Unnoticed by their owner, Mikagami's eyes were shooting daggers to the dance floor.

"Mi…Mi…Mikagami senpai?" A voice rose behind him, he turned to find Yanagi standing there with Recca. "Are you ok? You are giving off a, err…, rather strange aura…." Yanagi asked worriedly.

"I am ok." Mikagami squeezed a smile, which in reality scare the hell out of Recca and Yanagi as it twisted Mikagami's bishounen face into a Picasso drawing. "Merry Christmas; and would you excuse me for a minute?" He walked over to Kurei and demanded a drinking contest.

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"Fuuko-san, you still dance so well." Raiha smiled lovingly at his partner.

"You taught me, remember?" Fuuko laughed at his comment. "Is this another way to praise yourself, Raiha?"

"Your tongue is too sharp for your own good, Fuuko-san." Raiha grinned.

"Whatever." Fuuko smiled. "I think I should go get Kurei now, I don't want the owner of this mansion be mad at me." She winked.

"Yeah, I should go catch up with Joker and Neon too… "He glanced over just in time to see Joker being whacked by the red haired assassin. "Or to stop them from killing each other." He sighed.

"I doubt they will kill each other, see how Domon and Aki are? They WERE trying to kill each other, and see how sweet they are now?" Fuuko pointed at the fireplace direction, where the nose-pierced man was presenting Aki the 500 red roses he has bought her for Christmas.

"I guess, but before those two behave like normal human beings, I think I'd better go over before Neon tries Requiem on Joker." Raiha kissed Fuuko on the forehead and walked away.

Fuuko searched for her best friend and finally saw Yanagi dancing with Recca in a dark corner near the dance floor. "Forever so lovey dovey, I guess I should go get Kurei then." She shrugged and walked over to the bar.

"Mikagami, I am not giving you anymore drinks after this until midnight, you understand?" Kurei handed Mikagami his 12th gin and tonic in the course of an hour.

"Kurei! Mi-chan! Merry Christmas!" Fuuko walked over to the bar. "Mi-chan…don't drink so fast, you are going to…" As if on queue, Mikagami started coughing. "…Choke." Fuuko finished her sentence with a huge sweatdrop and quickly grabbed some napkins nearby for Mikagami.

"See." Fuuko stroked Mikagami's back slowly hoping to soothe him a little. "Gee… you are all red already. How many did you drink? At this rate you are not going to be awake for the Christmas cake Yanagi baked."

"12 gin and tonic, plus a few screwdrivers." Kurei answered for Mikagami. "I told him not to drink that much, but he just wouldn't listen." He shrugged.

"I am FINE." Mikagami growled. " And aren't you supposed to be with Mr. Raichu over there? Leave me alone." He stared at Fuuko. Much to her surprise, Fuuko saw intense hatred and sadness in his eyes. Was it her illusion, or did she saw longing in there also?

Fuuko regained her composure and felt irritated at Mikagami's words. "I was just trying to be nice and come see you two, so stop being a freak and jumped at me!" Fuuko stood straight with a hand on her hips. "And for your information, his name is Raiha, not Raichu! Kurei, let's leave this loser here. Come dance with me." She grabbed Kurei and walked away without another look at the ensui wielder.

*Hmmp… she even chooses Kurei over me…who cares…* "That monkey!"

"I heard that!" Fuuko yelled back. "Thanks for such NICE words on Christmas Eve! Fridge Boy!"

"What's with Mi-chan today?" Fuuko asked Kurei on the dance floor. "He seems so… touchy? No, bad tempered."

"No idea." Kurei shook his head. The song turned into a slower pace and Kurei held Fuuko closer. "You know, you are the first dance partner I had who can keep up with my pace."

"You went to dance lessons with Raiha right? He danced as your partner." Fuuko giggled. "Raiha taught me, so it's just natural we dance well together." She smiled warmly at the fire master.

Kurei and Fuuko danced for a long time while having a conversation about their childhood. Fuuko was surprised that Kurei would tell her such personal matter, but nonetheless delighted to know he treated her as a friend.

"You don't think your brother is falling for Fuuko-han, do you?" Joker was sitting near the fireplace with Recca, Yanagi, Domon and Aki, after being nearly torn apart by Neon.

"Well, they do look cute together, don't they?" Yanagi said with dreamy eyes. It was obvious that she was already dreaming of those two getting together.

"Fuuko would probably like to be with someone like Kurei. Someone who treats her well yet independent." Domon said matter-of-factly. "Right, koishii?"

"I don't know Fuuko-san that well, but I think Kurei-sama would want a girl as individualistic as Fuuko-san is." Aki looked over to the couple. "Neon-neechan is too head over heels, Kurei-sama is scared of girls like her." Aki shook her head and sighed.

"Oh, Aki-han, don't worry! I am always here for Neon-han!" Joker quickly said while the others just gave him a dream-on expression in unison.

"Where is Koganei anyway? Haven't seen him all night." Domon desperately tried to change the topic. He knew how long Joker can go on declaring his undying love for Neon, or rather, declaring how absolutely irresistible he is to all female species. "He is usually here for such events."

"He went out with that little fan club of his." Recca lazily replied. "To karaoke or something. Isn't it nice, to spend Christmas Eve with five girls. He said he would be back by midnight though, since the girls can't stay out late."

"Yeah, and so I am back. Is the cake ready yet?" Koganei suddenly jumped onto Recca from behind. "All five of them asked me out tonight, you know, it's so hard to be a heartthrob…" Koganei continued to brag about his difficulties being the most popular guy in his class with his famous fanged grin on his face.

"GET OFF ME YOU BRAT!" Recca jumped, preparing to burn Koganei with his flame.

"Let's get the cake out! It's almost midnight. Recca-kun, why don't you come help me?" Yanagi quickly asked in order to save Kaoru from a painful death.

"Sure, hime." Recca eyed Koganei dangerously before walking off to the kitchen direction.

"Kaoru-chan, you just never learn do you? Recca-han is pretty touchy when it comes to being popular bishounen like us!" Joker laughed as Kaoru and him shared the fanged grin.

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"Merry Christmas!" Everyone shouted.

"As the organizer of this party, I would like to thank everyone for coming and spend time with me and my family." Kurei stood on a chair and happily said. " Now let's cut the cake and drink on!" Everyone cheered.

"Hey! Where's the mistletoe?" Someone cried out from the back of the room. Everyone turned and see none the other but Fujimaru and his date, whom to everyone's surprise was a charming looking girl. "You can't have a Christmas without mistletoe, can you?" Fujimaru, with a hentai look on his face, asked again.

"Ano… it's on the Christmas tree." Yanagi replied, while blushing furiously as she met Recca's gaze.

Suddenly, all the couples (and those who got dragged, such as Neon by Joker) dashed for the Christmas tree. "Am I the only female here without a date?" Fuuko looked around and saw Misora standing not far from her. "Misora-san? How come you are here?" She looked at the very blushed Misora, then noticed the equally red Saicho standing next to her.

"Well, Odousan is here…" Misora looked over to Kuukai, who was singing loudly to 'Rudolph the red nose reindeer' with Gashakura and Kashamaru.

"Aren't you two officially a couple though?" Fuuko watched the two of them getting even redder. "Oh well, there is another mistletoe hanging near the bar so…" Before Fuuko could finish her sentence, Saicho already pulled Misora away. "Lovers." Fuuko laughed behind them.

"Fuuko-san, there you are." Raiha walked up from behind. "Fancy a little trip to the Christmas tree? We can..." He put on his goofy smile and whispered the last part of his words to Fuuko's ears.

"I don't think so, my dear Raiha. We would just disturb those who are there." Fuuko smiled.

"Oh, come on." Raiha grinned when he heard an ice-cold voice rose behind him. "Didn't you hear her saying no?"

Raiha turned around and found a red-faced Mikagami behind him. "I was just asking…" *WHAM!* Before Raiha could finish his sentence, Mikagami used all his energy and punched Raiha in the face.

"Itai! What the hell do you think you are doing?" Raiha stepped back and looked at Mikagami angrily.

"You shouldn't push your luck with Fuuko. You left her, remember?" Mikagami looked at Raiha with one of his iciest stare.

"For god's sake! I was just asking Fuuko-san if she wants to go open the presents under the Christmas tree!" Raiha shouted. " And you hit me in the face for that? She is my cousin! I wouldn't dare try anything on her." Raiha rubbed his face and sat down on the couch nearby.

"SHE IS YOUR WHAT?" Everyone around gathered and asked with intense enthusiasm.

"My cousin! I only found out that she is my cousin today when I went to pick her up. Her father saw me and recognized me, and it turns out that he is my grandfather's sister's son." Raiha felt the pain fading and was startled by the crowd around him. "Is there something wrong?" He nervously asked.

"Whoa!!! I win! I win!" Joker jumped in the air then jumped onto Raiha, putting his face close enough to even kissing the ninja. "Raiha my man! 1 to 100, that's 200,000 dollars!! Thanks to you! Whoa!"

"Can somebody explain what's going on here?" Raiha pushed Joker onto the floor and asked with a confused voice.

"They were betting whether Fuuko and you are getting back together." Mikagami said with a sigh of relief.

"Oh yeah, where is Kurei-sama now? I need to collect my cash! haha….huh?"  Joker looked around and his face suddenly froze at where the Christmas tree was. Everyone turned to look why Joker was in shock and all of them froze in unison upon seeing the Christmas tree.

Fuuko and Kurei were kissing under the mistletoe.

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