"Ryou, what's wrong? You look out of breath," said Keiichiro. He was sitting in front of his computer in the lab-basement. Ryou was panting.
"There's something going on..." he said, in between breaths. "with Ichigo. We have to research it... immediately." Ryou grabbed a chair and crossed his arms on the table. He layed his head on his arms.
Ichigo... What is happening to you?
"Ryou, I found something," said Keiichiro. Ryou looked up at the screen.
"You know how you said there was something wrong? The are i many /i things wrong. Ichigo is unable to attack as powerfully as she used to anymore. Spacing out as well. She's getting weaker and weaker by the minute. Ryou, this is bad. All this and many more problems are connected by one major problem," he said, twirling his fingers on the keys.
"This is bad. I can't find out what the major problem is."
Ryou looked carefully at the screen. Keiichiro's fingers kept typing away. He was getting frustrated. Images on the screen flashed and disappeared. Some popped up and some disintegrated. Then a whole load of images flashed up on the screen and Keiichiro's computer made a whining noise, then shut down. The room went dark except for one dim light in the bottom left corner of the room.
A dim light shone, but it wasn't dim. It was brighter than anything. No it wasn't. It was barely seeable. Ryou listened hard for any sign of movement of noise. Then came a voice.
"I won't let you find out what Ichigo's problem is. You'd just ruin my plan. And we can't have that, now, can we? No. Sorry, boys, but Ichigo is going to lose all her energy and lose the will to live. Hahaa!"
A zapping noise filled the room for half a second as a voice came from down the hall.
"Ryou! Keiichiro! Where i are /i you guys!" Mint said as she pushed open the door and turned on the lights. "Why did you guys have the lights off? I swear, boys are too weird... Hey, you guys, what's wrong?" she asked. Ryou's face was covered in sweat and he had his mouth open slightly. His eyes were huge. Keiichiro was the same, only he looked more scared. Maybe even cursed...
"Mint, go find Ichigo. Take Lettuce and Pudding with you. Do not leave her. Ask her to come over to your house, Mint." said Ryou in a calm voice. Mint nodded in an understanding way.
"Wait, why? Ichigo doesn't need to be babysitted, ya know. But I'll do it anyway. I still don't understand why... Oh yeah, and Ryou. There's someone outside with a delivery for you." said Mint as she headed out the door.
"Thanks, Mint." said Ryou in reply. Mint left the room, followed by Ryou. Keiichiro set back to work on getting his computer up again.
"Shirogane, Ryou. This is for you, sir." said the man at the door when Ryou got there."Thank you." said Ryou. He took the box, signed a piece of paper and walked inside. Setting the box on the table, Ryou wondered who would send him something now. He grabbed a pocket knife and cut open the box. A green-gray smoke floated up from the box, then disappeared. Ryou blacked out, then fell to the floor.
"Ms. Momomiya! Sit up please! Thank you. Now, children, If this won't work, than what can we use..."Ichigo sat up, her eyes half closed. She scribbled a picture of Masaya in her notebook and drew hearts all around him. She heard the bell ring. School was over. Thank god! Ichigo was as fast as the wind, go up, got her homework up, her pack, and flew out the door.
"Ms. Momomiya! Please wait for the rest of the class to-" the teacher was cut off by the closing door. Ichigo ran down the hallway until-
"Oooow! Hey! Watch where you're go-" Ichigo looked up.
"I'm sorry, Ichigo."
"M-M-Maaasaya! Umn..." Ichigo blushed. They were almost an official couple now, but it was still hard to talk to him without getting embarrassed. "I'm so sorry Masaya. I'll be more careful from now on."
"It's OK, Ichigo. It was partial my fault. I was reading my book, then I bumped into you." said Masaya. Ichigo admired him for his courtesy. He was always so kind, always putting everything on his shoulders. "But anyway, I was hoping I would find you eventually. I want you to come to the sushi bar tonight. OK?" he asked. Ichigo nodded.
"Of course! It wouldn't please me more than to go out with you, Masaya on a nice sunny day such as this." she said. Masaya looked shocked. Then Ichigo jumped back realizing what she just said.
God, I'm stupid.
"Oooooo k, then. Is 5:00 good for you?" Ichigo nodded.
"Cool. see you at Five!" shouted Masaya as he left. Ichigo had hearts in her eyes as she walked by. She skipped out of the building until-
"Oooow! That's the second time today! Why can't everyone just watch where-oh. Hi, Mintawa."
"Grrr... Ichigo! how many time have I told you not to call me that! Combining my first and last name is not cute! It's horrifyingly stupid!" shouted Mint. Ichigo came up with a new nickname for Mint. Mintawa. Mint hated it. She huffed. "Anyway, I've brought Lettuce and Pudding with me by order of Ryou. We're supposed to stay with you all the time now."
"Huh? Why? I don't need to be babysitted." argued Ichigo.
"That's exactly what Mint told him, but she accepted the order." said Lettuce, straightening her glasses.
"Yeah! And Keiichiro didn't say a thing! Seems fishy to me! I want fish!" said pudding as she jumped up on Ichigo.
"Ok, but... Oh, no." started Ichigo.
"It's OK, Ichigo. We wont follow you to your little date with Masaya." said mint casually.
"Hey! How do you know about when I have my dates! At least you don't know that we're going to Mitsuru! Jeez, you might even follow me there and- Oh, god! I'm sooo stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Waah!" exclaimed Ichigo. Mint rolled her eyes at her. Ichigo and the girls walked on down the sidewalk. They talked a bit about why Ichigo has to be in a group. Mint called it guarded. Lettuce called it company. Pudding called it fishy. Ichigo wondered too, then she looked to her right. A flash of indigo hair flew by. Ichigo stared straight ahead, then she look behind her. That girl from the other day! How...
After the girls helped Ichigo get dressed in a casual way, she went to Mitsuru sushi bar. She looked around for Masaya, spotted him, and went to sit down next to him. They ordered a variety of sushi and started talking. When their food came, Ichigo picked up her chopsticks, but accidentally dropped them on the floor."Darn. Um, Masaya, could you hold on for a bit?" Ichigo said to Masaya, then crouched down to grab her chopstick. Masaya held her arm back and went down under the table to grab it, as he paced her back on her chair. Ichigo felt herself blushing. Feeling guilty she crept down too, after making sure no one was looking. She was looking at his back. Joy. Masaya turned around and Ichigo slipped and then-
-kiss-
"Ichigo! What...?"
"M-M-Masaya! I'm so sorry!" Ichigo felt something pounding at the top of her head. Oh no! her cat ears! She jumped up and ran away to the park.
"Well, how did it go?" asked a voice. A girl stood atop a lamp post.
"You! From the other day!" shouted Ichigo.
"My name isn't 'you' . My name is Tsuki."
Author's note: In chinese, the word 'Yue' means 'moon'. but in japanese, 'Tsuki' means moon. lol.