A/ N: This story is the sequel to my other story "Clouds". This story is the ending to my Ichigox? Series. Please enjoy it!!!

Disclaimer: I don't own TMM or the song "Snow" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers...

٭ Snow ٭


Deep beneath the cover of another perfect wonder
where it's so white as snow
Privately divided by a world so undecided
and there's nowhere to go...

"Snow" by Red Hot Chili Peppers

٭

"Huh?" The feeling of wet touching her nose awakened Ichigo. Ichigo sat up and rubbed her nose; "Was I sleeping?" Ichigo stared up at the sky, which had turned dark from the sun setting; it was quite dark for a young girl to be out this late. The clouds were gone and had completely disappeared. The only thing in the sky, were the things falling from it. Ichigo had her face sitting up towards the sky and had gotten melted snowflakes all over it. Ichigo put her face down and wiped off the wet with her yellow sweater sleeve. She crinkled her nose from the cold flakes. She sat up from the ground and blinked a few times, getting her vision clear.

"Aoyama-kun?" Ichigo looked in all directions, and Masaya wasn't there; "But I was up in the clouds… and he rescued me—" Ichigo then began to think how obscure and stupid what she was saying really was. She then definitely knew she had been dreaming.

"It's so cold!" Ichigo shivered as she hugged herself as she sat in the pure white blankets of snow that had covered the ground while she was in her deep slumber. She placed her hands against the ground and pushed herself up to her feet. She really wasn't expecting this sort of weather; therefore, she wasn't dressed for the occasion. In her little skirt, she was literally shaking her boots.

Ichigo looked all around her as she shivered and breathed heavily; she could see her every puff of breath— it looked like she was visibly smoking. It's funny what air can do when hot and cold meet…

-

Bum, bum; bum, bum…

"Huh?" Ichigo looked all around her current position, "— what's that noise?"

She was in some dark area, she wasn't quite sure if she was even inside or outside— everything was pitch black. It made her fall aghast. "It sounds like—"

Bum, bum…

"— A heart beat…" Ichigo whispered to herself. She stepped all around the area she was even, but still nothing got brighter. She couldn't see a thing, not even her hand in front of her face.

"Aoyama-kun!" Ichigo shouted as the dreaded heartbeat seemed to grow louder and louder in an echo throughout her ears. The beat began to sound like pacing footsteps traveling through the edges of the dark room.

"Is this— my heartbeat?" Ichigo asked herself as she placed her hand over her chest and felt as her heart went ca-thump! Ca-thump! Ca-thump!

Her breath gained more and more air with each heartbeat getting faster and faster. The room grew more dank and lonesome. Until—

Ca-thump!

Ca-thump…

Ca-thump…

"My heart rate's slowing down tremendously…" Ichigo left her arm drop back down by her side as the sounding heartbeat subsided.

"Ichigo! Ichigo… Ichigo!" The sound of someone calling her name took over all the sound of the room. Ichigo's ears perked up as she turned around and looked in all directions of the area; however, doing this didn't do really nay good— it was still, pitch black.

"Ichigo!" the voice called once more.

"Aoyama?" she yelled just hoping someone would reply to her desperate call. "Please, someone! Answer!" she called again. Nothing— no reply. Ichigo felt as if all her hope lost its balance and fell down the depths of a large, and deep canyon; hitting the bottom like a heavy yoke.

"I'm here… it's okay."

"Huh?" Ichigo's eyes opened up wide in a sense of shock as warm arms of comfort wrapped themselves around Ichigo's shoulders.

"A— Aoyama-kun?" her small whisper was light with a hint of moroseness; yet it was happy, she knew she wasn't alone…

"I'll never leave you— Ichigo-san," the voice whispered into her ear.

He keeps calling me— Ichigo… Ichigo smiled as a tear of happiness glided down the side of her cold, pale cheek…

-

Ichigo's face lit up like a lantern as the thoughts left her head like a flock of birds.

"Nya!" Ichigo squealed with happiness. Aoyama-kun had his arms around me! She smiled at her thoughts.

"Achoo!" a puff of cold, fresh air went straight threw her nose, causing her to sneeze; a cold was really coming on fast. Ichigo sniffed and wiped her nose with her hand as a glum expression befell her face.

Ting!

A little snowflake seemed to ring as it hit the tip of Ichigo's red nose. Instead of it being cold, a burning sensation traveled throughout her nose because of the oncoming cold…

"Oh…" Ichigo moaned.

Ting!

Then another one touched her nose, quickly melting to a little water drop, and floated to the edge of her nose— then falling down on the fluffy, white blankets of snow surrounding Ichigo.

"Maybe I should head home now…" Ichigo told herself, "My dad's probably already going to get mad because of how late it is; if I catch a bad cold— it'll be even worse." Ichigo sighed. She turned her body around and began her trip back home. With every step she took, her feet crunched against the deep snow with every heavy footstep. More and more snow would gather around the edges of her shoes…

-

"Help!" Ichigo yelled. No one heard her. "Help!" she called out once more. No answer. "No one's answering…" Ichigo bowed her head.

Ichigo sat in the corner of a winter fortress built of pure, freezing ice. Ichigo's bottom sat down on the hard, cold surface of the ice. She seemed to be alone in a closed off room; everything was so desolate— it almost had an eerie feel to it. Every deep breath Ichigo exhaled was turned to a ball of cold air— clearly seen by the naked eye. Her teeth slightly chatter because of the chill of the ice room, especially with her sitting on it. Her hands were almost turning blue because of how cold it seemed to be; Ichigo's cheeks were a bright, fiery red that matched the color of her nose as well— they could be mistaken for a fire hydrant…

"No one's coming to get me… there's no way out… I don't— I don't know what to do…" a tear drop sneaked its way out of her tear vessels and slivered down her cheek, trying to turn to blank ice with every passing moment.

Suddenly… something caught Ichigo's attention. Ichigo looked up in front of her, and through the walls of the enclosed ice fortress, was a bright florescent light. It stared clear through at Ichigo. She put her hands against the ground to lift herself up to her feet, as she slowly walked over to the wall where the light was coming from. Ichigo stood right in front of the ice wall and placed her right hand upon it.

"It's… warm." Ichigo took her hand off and watched in awe as the ice itself, began turning to water and melting down to the ice floor. Ichigo took a step back and watched as the ice kept fading away until a small hole in the center of the wall began to form. The bright light shined through the hole and Ichigo walked up to it.

"Ichigo…"

"Huh?" a voice sounded Ichigo's name as she stood in front of the melting ice wall.

"Ichigo… it's okay. I'm here."

"Aoyama-kun?" Ichigo blinked and a smile formed upon her face as the last of the ice wall melt and water covered the entire ice floor. The shining light subsided and a familiar face appeared to replace it. "What are you doing here? – Aoyama-kun?" Ichigo asked with teary eyes.

"You were cold… but there's no need to be cold anymore— because I'm here, Ichigo-san." Masaya smiled and wrapped his arms around, the now warm, Ichigo. Ichigo smiled as the side of her face dug into his bosom in comfort…

-

"Oh, nya…" Ichigo had a cute little kitten-like smile on her face as she continued walking through the snow. Aoyama-kun would never let me freeze… Ichigo thought as she smiled up at the dark sky…

Ichigo made her way through the park and entered onto the sidewalk and began walking down the street. Passing car lights, and street lights lit up the street, smothering the darkness of the sky. Ichigo stared down at her feet as she continued to walk; now that she was on a solid surface, the crunching of the snow wasn't as bad anymore.

Snow continued fall, ever so fortuitously, as she continued down the sidewalk. Car horns beeped as they passed her by and slowed down at the traffic lights; it was such a typical snow day. Everything was so bright and beautiful… the only thing that was missing was…

-

"Aoyama-kun!!!" Ichigo screamed; "Aoyama-kun!!!"

Ichigo's screams soon turned to cries of sorrow as she collapsed down to her knees with her face buried in the palms of both her hands. "No!" she managed to scream out through her hands while still grieving. "They took him away…" Ichigo whispered as she almost fell over, but caught herself by firmly planting her left hand on the solid concrete of the ground. She seemed to be outside, alone, but everything was covered in darkness and it made the illusion she was in a dark room. A spotlight seemed to hover over Ichigo as she sat there alone in the dying, green grass of a field. Tears continuously fell from her eyes and hit the light green slivers of grass; they were such a light color, they were almost brown…

"It's— hopeless…" Ichigo sobbed, "they took him away…. And he's never coming back… never…" all signs of hope within her heart seemed to be lost. Ichigo's tears couldn't help but to continue to fall as she sat there with no one to comfort her…

"They'll never take me away from you Ichigo." A voice stated firmly.

"Huh?" Ichigo sniffed her nose and turned around. A figure was vaguely seen just a little ahead of her, walking towards her. Soon, the walking figure began visible as it entered into Ichigo's small little spotlight.

"No one can ever make me leave you…" the figure's voice was very distinct as well as the cuteness of his face…

"Oh Aoyama-kun!" Ichigo jumped and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

"Don't worry Ichigo-san… I'm here to stay…" he reassured her. She released her arms from around his neck and looked into his light, brown, chocolate eyes. He smiled at her as he kissed her right then and there… Ichigo's eyes close din pure, sensational bliss; his lips were so warm and comforting— she could just melt in his delightful arms…

-

"Aoyama-kun…" Ichigo's cheeks turned bright pink as she came within distance of her house. Ichigo blinked a couple times and shook her head, coming back into reality. "Sigh…" Ichigo let out, as her footsteps seemed to grow slower and slower… I really don't want to go home… I'm having too many thoughts… Ichigo stopped walking and stared up at the darkened sky. The moon glowed down at her as several snowflakes landed on her face. She smiled as she closed her eyes for a second.

"Momomiya-san?" Ichigo heard a voice from in front of her.

"Huh?" Ichigo opened her eyes and looked in front of her.

"Hello Momomiya-san." Masaya greeted as he came up to her with just a few inches between their bodies.

"Aoyama-kun…" Ichigo blushed.

"I was just at your house… but they said you weren't home…" Masaya said.

"Oh," Ichigo looked down, "Well I—"

Ichigo was cut off as Masaya lifted up her chin and gave her a peck on the lips… Masaya stood there smiling at her while she just stood there speechless… A little, tiny snowflake fell right upon Ichigo's warm lips, and it melted, dripping right to the snowy ground…

OWARI


Please review!!! This is the end of my Ichigo Series!!! I hope everyone enjoyed all of the stories in this little series; I know I enjoyed writing them. Oh, and, please check out my website, it's posted on my homepage! Tell me what you think!!! Dewa mata!