"How could you?" Ichigo Momimiya cried as she looked at her boyfriend, Masaya, who hid his face in shame as he sat quietly beside Miwa, Ichigo's best friend.
"Ichigo…" Masaya began, finally looking at her.
"Don't Masasya, just don't" Ichigo cried as she turned on her heel and ran from the room, making through the crowds of people that looked at her in pity, the people dancing.
Finally reaching the door she burst out into the cool night air, her tears still falling. She could feel people's stares on her back as her hair danced on the breeze and her light pink sundress brushed her legs as she walked away silently from the party. When she looked back she could see Masaya standing in the doorway.
Ichigo kept walking, no particular destination in mind. She wanted to call Mint, but she was away for a recital or competition or whatever it was. Zakuro was off modeling somewhere. Pudding was too young and Lettuce was studying for an upcoming exam. She couldn't go home; her parents would sure enough question her. "This is great, just great. The best night of my life," she tried to laugh but it came out as a sob.
Looking around she saw a building loomed in front of her. Making her way toward it she walked up the all too familiar pathway to the doors. Pulling on one, it opened. Walking she looked around the dark, deserted café then dropped herself into one of the chairs around an empty table. Her head dropped into her hands and she cried.
Ryou lay in his room staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He thought he heard the door to the café open a little while ago but disregarded it, thinking he was just hearing things. He would have loved to see his strawberry but she was off on a date with her boyfriend at some party. His strawberry? Since when did he think of her as his?
Thoughts ran through his mind. Questions, pictures, moments in time. But the only thing he could possibly focus on was his strawberry. He sat up, deciding to go downstairs to the kitchen. Maybe something to eat would clear his head.
He opened the door to his room, and then walked down the stairs quietly. As he neared the bottom of the stairs he heard a sound, a cry. Reaching the bottom of the stairs he looked over the café, it was empty all except for the hunched over figure that sat at on the tables, crying. He looked at the figure more closely; a golden bell glinted in the moonlight that shone through a small window.
"Ichigo?"
Hearing her name she looked up toward the sound. Seeing Ryou walk toward her she tried to quickly dry her tears, failing. He stopped in front of her. She looked away.
He could see her eyes were red, she'd been crying. But why? "Strawberry what's wrong?"
"M-Ma- Masaya. He… he…. A-an- and Mi- Miwa. They… They…." She trailed off, bursting into a new round of tears. He went over what he had told him. Masaya, her boyfriend, and Miwa, her best friend. A light went off in his head.
"Damn that Bastard!! He exclaimed, hitting the table with his fist, startling Ichigo. How dare he hurt his strawberry!
"Ryou?" she whispered softly.
"Would you like some tea?" Ryou calmed himself, not wanting to traumatize Ichigo any more than she already seemed to be. He helped her to her feet, steadying her. Taking her shoulders he led her to the kitchen, not trusting her on her own feet.
Once in the kitchen she sat on a stool around the island in the center of the room. She heard Ryou ask what tea she wanted. "Camomile please," she responded. As he set himself busy making tea she studied him. He stood at the counter, barefoot in worn khaki pants and a loose shirt, his hair slightly dishevelled. He looked absolutely delicious.
She looked away from him and soon after, to her delight, he sat across from her handing her her tea then folded his hands together on the surface in front of him. They sat in the silence enjoying each others presence.
Ichigo glanced at him over the rim of her tea cup. She couldn't trace for the love of the boy in front of her to a certain month or day. It just happened. But she'd been with Masaya, and eventually she'd forgotten about those new found feelings. But now they'd surfaced again.
Thinking about it she almost couldn't breathe, and she found herself taking a sharp inhale when his tongue brushed out briefly to wet his lips.
"Ichigo."
Her eyes shot up to his. They seemed to glow in the dim light of the cozy kitchen.
"Are you all right?" he asked, leaning forward a bit on his elbows
"I should be going," she said quietly pushing herself from the stool and walking out into the café.
He watched as she started to leave. He didn't want her to. "Ichigo," He called getting up off his own stool and following her. He was relieved to see she'd stopped at his command. "Strawberry."
He reached out for her elbow, caught it and felt a wave of desire swamp him. She looked beautiful. Her dress hugged her petite figure perfectly. Her cheeks were flushed. Her auburn hair hung innocently in her eyes that were pools he could drown in. Her skin was warm and soft under his fingers, her muscles taut.
He should let go, he thought. Let her walk out the door. It was the only way he would not feel compelled to keep her there with him, away from Masaya.
And, yet, here she was, pausing under his touch, looking at him with those wide, beautiful eyes.
"Ichigo…" He exerted the smallest of pressures on her arm, pulled her slightly toward him.
The next thing he knew they were kissing.
Ryou's hands gripped her shoulders as his lips crushed hers. Ichigo wasn't quite sure how it happened, all she knew was that all the energy she poured into her sadness had mutated instantaneously and without her accord into a desire so strong she could not resist it.
The kiss was dizzying, hot and sensual. Ryou's lips were skillful, his tongue deft. Their bodies pressed into each other as if longing to occupy the same space. Ichigo's very skin seemed to be crying out for his, reveling in the strength and demand of his arms.
This kiss was different from any she'd shared with Masaya. Those were exploratory, sweet, almost innocent. Not this one. Not while the bedroom was right up those stairs, and her body knew it, too.
Desire turned to molten heat in her abdomen her pressed forward into his, her need finding his. She felt his excitement hard against her, and moaned softly into his mouth.
His hands rose to her face and cupped it. He pulled back a fraction. "Let's go upstairs."
She hesitated, and he captured her lips once again. A plea and a promise. An irresistible temptation. Her blood sang, her knees went weak, and she screamed in her head, Yes! Yes! Let's go upstairs!
He backed off again, their lips parting with a soft smack; and he gave her a look that nearly melted her bones. Then he bent slightly and - literally- swept her off her feet as if she weighed nothing.
With a tiny squeal, she put her arms around his neck. He strode across the room and took the stairs two at a time, so quickly Ichigo barely had any time to form the fear that they both might go tumbling down the stairs under her weight. He reached the top and turned swiftly, heading straight into a darkened room and kicking the door shut behind him.
Then he laid her on the bed. She spread her arms and let herself sink farther onto it's surface feeling the downy softness beneath her, a cool duvet, a limitless mattress.
His voice came out of the darkness, from the tall silhouette of a man removing his own shirt. "If you wish to leave I shan't stop you."
Shan't. She sighed. What kind of man used the word shan't? if she closed her eyes she could imagine she was in a fairytale.
She sat up, reaching for him. Her fingers found his belt loop and she pulled him toward her. "I don't wish to leave," she said in a voice so husky she barely recognized it as her own.
She pulled on his belt and released it from the buckle. His hands moved to her hair as she pulled down his zipper, slid his pants, boxers and all, over his lean hips, and found the evidence of his passion.
He groaned softly as she took it in her hands. The silken sweetness hardness filled her palm. She guided it slowly to her mouth.
"Oh Jesus," he uttered, so softly she almost didn't hear it.
Pulling his hips toward her, she held to the firm rounds of his buttocks. His taut stomach touched her forehead as she drew him in then let him so far out he almost escaped her, then drew him in again. His hands gripped her hair and his breathing quickened.
He swore and pulled himself from her mouth, then pushed her down on the bed. He lifted the skirt of her dress and grasped her panties, sliding them over her legs and off her feet. She arched her back as he unzipped the dress and lifted it over her head. Dress gone, his hands ran up the sides of her body to her bra, then snaked around her back and undid the clasp with a deft flick of his fingers. "Beautiful," he whispered.
She sighed. He brought his lips to her breast, finding the nipple of the other with his fingers. The sensation was exquisite.
"Ryou," she breathed, satisfied with how the name slid out between her teeth, barely rustling the air.
He lifted himself and settled over her, his arms on either side of her head he dipped his head and caught her mouth with his. Reaching down with one hand, he touched his fingers to her thigh, the between the, then slid them along the wet folds of her desire.
Ichigo nearly gasped as he immediately found the spot. The man was mystical in his lovemaking, instinctively going to the most intimate, desirous places, satisfying every inch that called out to him.
Her hand reached down and rounded him again, gently grazing upward and back. He let out a deeply satisfied sigh.
She shifted her hips as he stroked her, moaning into the side of his neck, feeling his body tremble as her hands worked on him.
With a burst of starfire, she came, and before she had a moment to return from the heavens he rolled on top and plunged inside of her. She pulsed around him as he pumped inside of her. Adrenaline surging, she grabbed at his body, his back, his legs, his buttocks, moving with him, blinded by physical rapture, throbbing as he hit home again and again with his perfect hardness.
Ichigo felt her world blitz apart and closed her eyes with the overwhelming sensation.
A second later, Ryou exhaled hard and impaled her with one final thrust. Then he shuddered beneath her hands and melted alongside her, their bodies still joined, her arms around his shoulders.
Pulling out of her, he pulled a blanket over them, covering their bodies. She laid her head gently on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. "I love you," he whispered resting his head on her own.
Ichigo was silent for a second. "I love you too," she said raising her head and kissing him lightly.