Five girls sat in a changing room waiting for their jobs to begin but with half an hour to spare, they made idle conversation.
"Pudding wonders what the aliens do in their spare time!" The youngest shouted out.
"What does it matter?" Mint said, elegantly crossing one leg over the other. "Probably eat the souls of innocent puppies." Pudding looked alarmed.
"Taru-taru wouldn't do that! Neither would...well...perhaps Pai would..." Pudding shouted.
"You have to agree Pai's the most terrifying of the aliens." Three of the girls nodded at Mint's statement, everyone but Ichigo. "Oh, you're not scared of Pai, Ichigo? How brave you must be." Mint sarcastically rolled her head to the side and touched her cheek in false admiration.
"I'm scared of him, I just don't think he's the most terrifying." The girls seemed taken aback at Ichigo's confession.
"Well, rabid small children with huge ears can be pretty frightening too..."
"I wasn't talki-" She was cut off as Ryou burst in.
"We're opening early, there's a line waiting to get in." Ichigo put the conversation to the back of her mind as she began the relentless task of keeping everything running smoothly with Mint doing nothing, Lettuce breaking things, Pudding being...Pudding, and Zakuro being mildly terrifying to customers. As usual, nothing exciting happened and she had almost forgotten the conversation, but still it stuck in her mind. It was true that Pai and Taruto were frightening but honestly, it was Kisshu that terrified her.
"Ichigo." Keiichiro called her as she swept the floor. She went to him and followed him into the kitchen where Ryou and the other mews stood. "I'm sorry for this Ichigo, but you've seemed very distracted today and I-"
"More distracted than usual." Ryou cut in. Keiichiro looked at him while Ichigo glared at him.
"I asked the girls if anything was bothering you and they happened to mention a certain conversation from this morning."
"What? The silly conversation we had about the aliens? It's nothing! I'm fine! I was just thinking about...uh...cake! I was going to take one home to my mother!"
"And that has distracted you the entire day? Ichigo, I can understand that you'd be frightened of the aliens but you needn't be. You are a mew mew, and a powerful girl. They wouldn't consider trying anything stupid, and if they did, you'd easily be able to beat them as you have done so many times." Ichigo had taken to looking down at her apron.
"I can't help it. It's just because of my...first experience with Kisshu." Keiichiro looked concerned while the other mews seemed interested, never having been told this story.
"Ichigo, would you like to tell us what happened?" Ichigo shook her head wildly. "Will you tell me what happened?" Ichigo bit her lip and nodded as he waved everyone out of the kitchen and turned back to her.
"Well... I was just walking home then Masha started going on about aliens but I couldn't see any, then, next thing I know, Kisshu's in front of me then he...kissed me." Keiichiro's face contorted into a vague expression of rage covered by a comforting one. "I know it's silly, it's just because it was my first kiss and I hadn't even noticed him. If not for Masha..." Keiichiro put his hand on her shoulder.
"But that is why you have him. To help protect you. And as for Kisshu, I doubt Pai will put up with him doing things like that. In the mean time, I'm sure Ryou won't mind walking you home."
"Whaaa? No, no, no. If my dad sees me with him, or what about Aoyama?!"
"If it is for your safety, I'm sure he would understand. And a simple explanation that you and he are friends would calm your father."
"But we're not friends! I don't like him and as far as I know, he hates me. No, I'm just being silly, I'm fine honestly!" Keiichiro kept eye contact with her, searching for any sign she was lieing and when he was sure she wasn't, he nodded."
"Alright, but the next time you feel unsafe, I'd like you to just run back here." Ichigo nodded and left the kitchen to the cafe and into the changing room. where four pairs of eyes watched her, three pairs concerned, one pair suspicious.
"So, Ichigo, what exactly happened with Kisshu you don't want to tell us?" Mint asked.
"Nothing!" Ichigo took her clothing from the locker and waited until everyone had left the room before getting changed and leaving the room, making a mad dash to the door before Keiichiro could put his little idea into motion. She felt a brief rush of relief when she had managed to get out and lock the door then she felt the usual uneasiness as she walked, clasping her bag tightly, other hand in her pocket wrapped around her pendant. Her pace quickened to a slight run as she got to an empty path, trees lurking over her, it would be so easy to hide there. Anyone could be hiding. Anyone. Her tail and ears were out already, fur on her tail standing on end as well as the hairs on the back of her neck. She searched the space around her as she walked.
"Ichigo!" She spun around, pendant out, ready for transformation as a head of blonde hair came into view. "You idiot. Why did you ignore me?!" Ryou shouted out angrily at her, not yet noticing the fear in her eyes or the tail wrapped tightly around her thigh.
"I- I didn't hear you..." He came towards her, only now noticing the fur on her tail.
"Keiichiro told me." Ichigo covered her face, bright red with the embarrassment of having someone like Ryou know something like that.
"I told him I was fine!"
"Judging by your tail, I'm guessing you're not." She grabbed her tail and tried to forcibly push the fur down to it's usual position. "Come on." He grabbed her wrist and practically dragged her along the road.
When they got to Ichigo's house, Ryou just gave a little nod and left.
"Ryou!" He turned to her. "Thanks. And please don't tell the girls."
"About what?"
"You walking me home, me being scared, Kisshu."
"What about Kisshu?" He spat the aliens name.
"Keiichiro didn't tell you about the first time I...met Kisshu?" She blushed slightly. He shook his head. "Do you want to know?"
"I must admit I'm curious." She waved him over until he was withing inches of her then she whispered to him.
"He kissed me." When she looked up, Ryou looked beyond horrified.
"Did you...?" Ichigo's face went strawberry red again.
"No! No! Of course not!" Ryou nodded.
"I assume this is to be kept from the girls too?" Ichigo nodded and Ryou mirrored her action as he turned to leave, this time getting away. She quickly turned and unlocked the door, sprinting in and closing then locking the door behind her. Only not noticing the note on the back of the door.
Have gone to hotel for two weeks, food in freezer, money on table, no boys.
The first part was all in her mothers tidy script then the last two words were scrawled carelessly on the page, her father's handwriting. She smiled slightly. She knew they were going to be gone, but still they left a note. She folded it and put it on the living room table beside the pile of unneeded money and made her way to the kitchen grabbing a can of juice then running up the stairs to her bedroom and closing the door.
Next, she place a chair in front of the door and sat on the bed. The chair in front of the door had become a habit of hers. It provided reassurance that no-one could get in that way. She sipped at the juice before noticing the window open a few inches. She put her juice down and walked to the window. She scanned around it then shut it. Next, she closed the curtains and pinned them shut with a hair clip. She looked around her room, then, satisfied with her work, she sat on her bed and sipped at her drink idly flicking through a magazine, attempting to rid herself of the feeling someone was watching her.
'Perhaps I should call Lettuce, make sure she got home alright' she said to herself. She knew she really just wanted someone to talk to, but she gave herself an excuse of looking after a friend. Lettuce answered on the second ring.
"Oh, Sorry, Ichigo, I'm having dinner soon then I'm going to bed early! Sorry!"
"Oh, alright, I just wanted to make sure you were OK." Both girls knew her reasons for calling but neither mentioned it. After their goodbyes, Lettuce hung up but Ichigo kept her phone open, willing someone to call her, ask to come stay over and stay awake with her all night. She got changed into her pyjamas at a ridiculously fast pace then dove into her bed, keeping her phone clasped firmly in her hand under her pillow. She managed to almost fall asleep, eyes closing, muscles relaxing, tail and ears gone as her heart slowed to a relaxed pace. She'd curled up into a little ball, pillows, blankets and her duvet cocooning her, just ready to fall into a wonderful little dream, then Masha expanded to full size shouting his little heart shaped head off.
"Alien! Alien!" Ichigo was wide awake right away, face pale, ears and tail out, pendant in hand.
"Where is he Masha?"
"Inside! Inside!" Ichigo's eyes widened as she began shaking. The house was deadly silent. Ever so slowly, she crawled out of bed and padded to the door, removing the chair and leaving her room. She walked down the hall, poking her head into each room, went down stairs and checked there, all the time, Masha held tightly to her chest. There was only one door left, the living room. She stared at the door for a good twenty minutes, begging any God who would listen that it would be Taruto behind it or that Masha had a glitch or an error. Finally, she turned the handle and opened the door quickly. Tears filled her eyes at the sight of Kisshu sprawled out on her couch.
"So, I heard your little conversation today. The one with your dark haired boss."