It was Sunday, and Ichigo had nothing to do.
She didn't have to work today, there was no school, and her parents weren't home. She figured she could sleep all day, but that would throw her internal schedule off. She could call Aoyama, but that wouldn't go anywhere, she thought. He was too busy in England with school. And she had stayed behind, she knew she should have gone along with him. But it was too late, there was no use chastising herself. Ichigo found herself laying lifelessly in her room, on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
"What to do, what to do." She thought aloud. The silence was eating at her. With a grunt, she grabbed her bag containing her phone, her wallet and house keys, and was on her way to the cafe. What were they going to do? Throw her out just because she wasn't working today? She didn't think so. Before walking out the door, she studied her appearance. Her bright red hair was pinned in neat pig tails, though she was getting a little old for such a childish hair style, it suited her, and she refused to change it. Her blouse was cut into a V neck, colored yellow, slimming her figure. Her shorts were black and white checkered, coming a few inches above her knees. For shoes, she wore just a normal pair of thongs. "Good to go," she figured and left the house, locking the door behind her.
The weather was nice outside, bright and sunny, there were hardly any clouds, complete opposite of what the weather man had reported earlier. The streets were full of people on their way to work or to a near store, she herself walking, having not owning a car. This special bakery was the hot spot in town, and she could admit that she was proud to be an employee there. She figured that the cafe was closed right about now, but unlocked and opened the heavy doors anyways. She was immediately greeted by Lettuce and Pudding. "Ichigo, Ichigo!" Pudding ran to grab the red head's hand and pull her farther into the store. "You'll never guess what Shirogane-oniichan bought us all for breaking record sales last month!" The blond was always in the best mood, nothing ever seemed to put her down. So Ichigo smiled, greeted her, smiled at Lettuce and continued to Shirogane's office in the back of the store to find out what Pudding had been talking about. Summer vacation had just started last week and things were already going great.
As she entered the office, she found that it was quite empty, rather than usual, the walls were a bland white. The carpet was torn out to revieal cement. The only thing present in the room was the desk and Ryou's computer perched on top. She hesitated to speak, studying the room quietly. "We're redecorating." Ryou said, without turning from the computer screen. She continued to walk further into the room to his desk, propping herself up on the top of his chair, peering over the top of his head. "What's that you're working on, Ryou?" She asked curiously. He cradled his head with his one fist and scrolled down the window.
"Nothing." He answered monotone. She couldn't stand his one word answers. So she attempted to start again a conversation.
"What was it that Pudding was talking about? She said you bought something for the record sales last months," There wasn't an answer for a long while. She grew impatient quickly and shook his chair, hard. He recoiled from the shock and sternly grabbed her arm. He pulled her close.
"You can't do that to me." She scoweled, not making effort to escape his grasp, they were almost nose to nose.
"You can't ignore me, Shirogane Ryou." His facial expression was full of anger, but quickly sofened to show a smile. He tried to hide it, but failed as he let go of Ichigo's arm and turned back to the desktop. She thought he was just going to blow her off again and continue with his work, but instead he pulled up a seprate page on the internet from what he was already working on and motioned for her to it on the arm of his chair. He pointed at a picture of a new cafe uniform. It was beautiful! The bow in the back was bigger than before, the color was more vibrant and the laces were just, ten times over, more gorgeous than before. "Oh, Ryou, that's just beautiful! I love it!" He kept the smile from before, facing her now.
"That's good, it'll suite you. It'll be here later on today." And with that, he rose from the chair, opened the door and left the room. Ichigo just looked at the dress, wondering when it would arrive and just when would she be able to wear it! Over joyed, she closed the computer window and hurried out the office door to the kitchen of the cafe to greet the others. Zakuro was there, sweeping. Ichigo waved and continued forward. Her stance was tall and her swagger was childish. Being that she was sixteen years old and still had the heart of a ten year old, her personality was vibrant and positive.
"Good morning, Zakuro, where are the others?" Zakuro didn't speak, the same as always, she avoided walking as much as posible. She haulted her brooming and pointed in the direction of the cafe's storage room, than kept on sweeping. Ichigo's smile sort of diminished, where a confused look replaced it. "The storage closet?" Zakuro nodded. "Oh, thanks." She left the kitchen into the small closet, stopping the door slightly ajar. Ichigo opened it further, peering inside to see Mint, Pudding, and Lettuce handeling boxes.
"Oh, Ichigo! I thought it was your day off?" She nodded her head and walked further inside. "Well we just got a new shipment of dishes in today and these are all the extras. So we're storing these away." Ichigo's smile returned as she reached for a cardboard box, she began stacking.
"Need any help?" She asked a little late, throwing a glance over her shoulder. Mint answered as quickly as her vocal chords would allow.
"Yeah! And perfect timing, it's my tea break." With that, she was out of the small closet and into the kitchen with Zakuro. It was about twenty more minutes before the three of them finished and returned to the lobby to open shop. All the lightes were lit, the classical music started to play soft in the background. Ichigo sat backwards in a chair, facing towards the front counter next to Mint, who was drinking tea. Lettuce walked to the front door to change the sign outside from closed to serving. It was almost like there were people sitting out front, waiting for the Cafe to open, because they immediantly started to pour through the door. Mint stood up, washed out her tea cup and started seating costomers happily. The time seemed to fly by, Ichigo had been sitting in the same place for a couple hours, talking to the others and eating a fresh strawberry cheesecake she had paid for and taken from the kitchen.
She was in the middle of taking a bite when a tall man stepped up to the counter, holding a clipboard. Zakuro motioned for her to meet her at the counter. Ichigo stood and saundered over to the two, chewing all the way there. "What's up?" She rocked back and forth on her heels.
"Mr. Asaki has the order of dresses that Shirogane-san has purchased," Ichigo flashed a smile, blushing she was so excited. She was quick to call dibbs on fetching Ryou.
"I'll go get him, Lettuce."
"He's probably in his room."
"'Kay," The strawberry was on her way, climbing the stairs to Shirogane's room. She used every excuse to talk to Ryou. There were so many steps, and she had always hated walking them, but right now, she didn't seem to mind much. His door became visable from the top of the stairs. She was so excited, that she had forgotten to knock. The door flung open to reviel a half naked blonde, standing in only his boxers. This had happend once before, and it was just as awkward as the first time. She stood frozen in the door way, he stood still next to his bed. "Uh, Ry-Shirogane-" She stuttered.
"You never call me by my last name." He questioned.
"Ryou," She corrected, he smiled and looked down to grab his pants that he had dropped when the door had suddenly flown open.
"What brings you up here?" He pulled on his pants, one leg at a time, than buckled them tight. She watched him get dressed.
"There's a man downstairs who has the... dresses you showed me earlier," Her eyes were lingering on his toned chest and stomach, he was always selfconsience about his body, like a female. But he was too handsome to be female. She wondered why he didn't put his shirt on straight away. Or was it that he's comfertable around her? He knew exactly what she was thinking. And he wanted her too. His face was stunning, and she probably had a stupid look on hers, knowing that was the way she was half the time. He answered her broken up statment.
"Well what do I have to do with it? I already paid." She nodded.
"He needs the conformation number."
"Can't he just hand them over?"
"No. Atleast... I don't think so." He posture became poor as she leaned against the open door. "Those are the rules." He sighed and waved her in.
"The paper is in the bottom drawer of my closet if you really want it that bad." As she entered farther into the room, she brushed her hand against the door, pushing it shut by mistake. There was no way that she had noticed though, she was already at the bottom of his closet by now, searching the drawer of papers.
"Found it?" He asked, pulling a black shirt over his head and stepping near her.
"No, what does it look like?" She turned her head to find that he was inches away from her, bent down next to her, reaching over her into the drawer. She staid like that for a while. Or so it seemed like a while.
"You're all red." He looked behind him, "And your tail is brushing up against my back." Ryou laughed and pulled the paper out, handing it to her. She was crouched in his closet, a boy nearly on top of her, and her tail had popped out. To ruin it, Ichigo takes the cake. She stood up fast, looking down at him.
"I'm not red!" She challenged him with her eyes, and his were so soft looking, blue. There had always been this feeling of want she had twords him, and vise versa. But she always had Aoyama there for her. He was the one that took her places, bought her things, and told her he loved her. But thinking back, a bit harder now, she saw that Ryou had always done the same things, in different ways. And for that, she felt like a jackass. Ryou stood up next to her and took her hand.
"Yes, your face is pretty pink." She looked down at the hand that he was holding. Now she was pretty sure that her face was burning hot.
"The conformation number is there," He pointed at a blue number on the cluttered paper. "Yeah, that should work fine." His smile was too charming for her not to smile back at. He gave her a push to the door and she stumbled out of it and down the stairs. Walking down to the front counter took a while longer than it should have, being that she couldn't get her mind off of how much she wanted him. She carried the paper to the man in brown.
"Okay, now that we have the conformation number, I can bring in the packages." Lettuce's attention was drawn to the stairs, than back to the delivery man.
"Shirogane-san, this man has the order you sent for." He nodded in response and continued down the stairs. He wasn't grining anymore, not like he had been while Ichigo was in his company.
"Sure, let's go bring it all in than." The two men hauled the dresses into the shop through the back door, setting the boxes neatly on the floor. None of them could wait to see the beautiful new uniforms. As the blonde used his car keys to tear open the first box, the mews were on the tips of their toes. The first dress was removed from the package and pudding went crazy, soon she was gone, to the bathroom to change into it. Next was Mint, than Lettuce, than Zakuro. Ichigo was the last to recieve her dress. Close after, she disappeared to the nearest bathroom to swap outfits. Quickly, she pulled off her shirt, removed her pants and slipped into her dress. There was a zipper in the back that she couldn't quite reach, but she figured that she would just have someone zip it up in the back. Looking in the mirror, she took her hair down and brushed it down neatly, fixed her makeup and walked out the bathroom door, holding her dress up. She tip toed down the hallway back to the kitchen. She entered the room and looked around to see that she was the only person in there. Quietly she waited for someone to show up.
Ryou entered carrying a handful of dishes, setting them down in the sink. She held on to her sagging, open dress. Ryou stepped near her. "Need any help there?" He asked, gesturing twards the back of her dress. She nodded and turned around, still keeping tight on her grip.
"Just zip it up, I couldn't reach it."
"Sure," Ryou grabbed her zipper with one hand and set his other hand on the small of her back, sliding it around her hip to her waist. She flinched, pulling forward slightly, but quickly relaxing. He slowly zipped up her dress, stepping closer and closer to her until his pelvis touched her spine. When he reached the top of the fabric, and the zipper couldn't go any further, he reached forward to grasp the two ends of a ribbon, bringing them back to tie them in a bow around her back. He didn't let go right away, he stayed close, holding onto her. She melted into his arms, than turned around to face him, pelvis to pelvis. He fed his arms aroun her, keeping her close. They stared at eachother, eye to eye, she wove her hands to hold his shoulders.
"Ryou..." She stuttered. Shirogane came in close, she tilted her head up, she could feel his breath now. Ichigo smiled but it faded quickly when their lips met. Thirty seconds seemed to feel like hours, and he made her feel like it was a good decision to come to the cafe today. She had been waiting a while for this moment. His hands held her waist, she was so delecate, like a flower. Their embrace was broken quickly when the others entered the room dressed in the new uniform. She pushed him away and held her hand over her mouth. Mint smiled and opened her mouth the speak.
"I knew it, I knew it!" Ichigo looked at her deeply, than asked,
"Knew what?" Mint's face became bright.
"Knew that you two were going to hook up after Aoyama was out of the picture." Ryou laughed.
"That's not the way it is! I- We-," Ryou blocked her view from Mint, stepping in front of Ichigo.
"But that is the way it is, Ichigo." There wasn't the same grin on his face anymore, it was extremely serious. He was right, and she coulsn't hide it. Though she felt terrible for feeling this way, knowing that, even if she had still been with Aoyama, but Ryou made a move, she would have chosen him over the tan. She looked him in the eye.
"I like the dress, I think it looks good on me." She faked a smile. "Thanks, Ryou." And she attempted her escape out of the room, but Akasaka stopped her by asking for a group picture.
"Please, I'd like you all the crowd together for a nice group picture," Ichigo stalled, Mint was shooting her knowing looks as she walked over to stand next to Zakuro, who was stanging next to Lettuce. Pudding kneeled in the front. Ryou pushed Ichigo into the front next to himself. Akasaka focused the camera and snapped the picture. Everyone just stayed in their place for a while, untill Akasaka motioned them to move back to normal activity.
"Well, I think I'll head back home." Ichigo put out there, turning to the door. "And I have the day off tomorrow too, so see you Tuesday."
"Um, we're closed tomorrow anyways, so yeah, see you Tuesday." Called Lettuce.
"Yeah, bye," She curved down the hall to the bathroom, changing back into her clothes and brushing her hair down with her fingers. The mew gathered the dress and folded it nicely, returning it to the dressing cabinet with her name on it, and left the employee's bathroom. Ichigo quickly made her way out of the cafe and out onto the busy roads of the town. It was almost five-thirty, so her parents would most likely already be home by now. It was hot and humid outside. Very different from this morning. She gazed at the sky, checking the weather. The clouds were rolling in fast and the atmosphere became thick. She felt a drop hit her face, raising a hand to wipe it off, she sped up to get home. She sure wished she had a car right about now.
When she arrived home, she was soaked, digging in her bag for her house key. Her small hand grasped the key and she was quick to thrust it in the keyhole. Ichigo stepped inside as fast as she could, slamming the door behind her. Her mother greeted her at the door.
"Oh, honey, I didn't think that you had work today." Ichigo shook her head and started stripping her bag off, heading to the bathroom.
"I didn't." Ichigo's mood was ruined thanks to Mint, for giving the truth and embarassing her in front of Ryou. She knew her face was still red. She knew her hair was a mess, she knew that she must look extremely ruined. She knew her mother was talking to her, but her thoughts were overwhelming and wouldn't allow her to listen.
"...take a shower?" Her mother's words trailed out slowly. Yes, she would love to relax for a bit.
"I'll be in the bath, Mom," she answered, and started to the wash room. She took a long bath, staying in there for about an hour or so. Wrapping herself in a towel and whiping the haze off of the mirror, she checked her appearence. She left the wash room, and dressed in her bedroom. Her strawberry pjs hugged her, reminding how tired she was. She crawled into bed, seven forty-five. She listened to the rain beat against the roof until it silenced and soothed to to sleep.
Her phone rang, the caller ID read 'Ryou'. 4:29 AM.
Tokyo Mew Mew fanfic! Tell me what you think, because I'm not to sure I like it at all. Review Review Review Review Review Review.