I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew! (btw, I suggest listening to a upbeat, but sort of remorseful song, like Panic Cord by Gabrielle Aplin, or maybe Selfies by Nina Nesbitt. Or you could do what I did for the last half of this chapter and listen to something deep like Battle Scars by Guy Sebastian and Lupe Fiasco. :) )
Should she call over the rest of the Mews so that they could play Monopoly? Or should the young twenty-year-old just find a video game that she could play by herself? Maybe the redhead should just curl up on the couch and take a nap.
Ichigo looked out the window of her house - of her and Masaya's house. Over the six-or-so years that had passed by, Ichigo and Masaya's relationship deepened. Eventually, when they were both old enough, they lived in the same house. To Ichigo's excitement, Masaya had recently proposed to her! Ichigo didn't even know how to describe how happy she felt! All of the Mews - Mint, Pudding, Zakuro, and Lettuce - were going to be her bridesmaids for the wedding, which was just a short eight months from now.
An annoyed stomach growling snapped the redhead out of her thoughts. Ichigo stood up and stretched her arms. With half-lidded eyes, she made her way to the fridge. Sadly, the refrigerator held nothing but a few scraps. Ichigo scowled and pushed the fridge door closed, making it slam. The noise echoed throughout the empty house, reminding Ichigo of the truth.
Even though she and Masaya were engaged, Masaya was busy in his career. He was training to be an animal rehabilitator, and he often had to go traveling to different sites. The times that he left ranged from a few days to a couple of weeks. Right now, he was traveling in United States.
It was lonely without him.
Ichigo slapped her cheeks a few times, Honestly, I'd better take a walk if the rest of the day is going to be depressing like this... and maybe I'll get some food, too... teehee! I want some oden...
Ichigo slipped on a light sweater to accommodate her from the tingly autumn breezes, glanced at a mirror to fix her long, dark red hair, then headed outside. She put her hands in her pocket, shivering a bit. The young woman wished that she had also put some leggings on; seriously, why in the world did she think that a skirt would be okay in this chilly air? She could just drive, but that wouldn't really relieve her of any stress.
The former Mew walked through the quieter part of Tokyo, swinging her arms as she cheerfully headed to one of her favorite restaurants. She slowed down as she was about to pass by an old park that was going to be demolished soon. Ichigo stood in front of the entrance to the peaceful park, remembering all the old adventures that occurred here. This was the same park where she met Pudding, where quite a few fights with the aliens happened, and so much more. The redhead looked at the one or two couples that walked on the pathways, enjoying the place before it was taken away. She could remember all those evenings when she and her fiancé came here, holding hands, enjoying the warmth of the setting sun...
Ichigo couldn't stop herself - even though she knew that going through the old park wouldn't bring her any closer to her intended destination, she wanted to sit down and relax. So she did just that. Crossing her legs, she leaned back and stared upwards. Above her, the tree branches were full of orange, red, and yellow leaves. There were hardly any signs of green left. The slow, unpredictable falling of leaves calmed her somehow. One leaf fell directly above her, twirling in the air for a little bit before falling on her face. Ichigo smiled, letting out a little giggle. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, glad that she decided to go to the park first.
"Oi, koneko-chan!"
Ichigo's eyes snapped open as she heard a familiar voice. She stood up straight and looked behind her. Standing behind the bench was a familiar boy - no, not a boy anymore, he was a man. Obvious differences could be noticed. Still held up in pigtails, his dark green hair was only slightly longer than it was when he was a child. He wore similar clothes as to when he was an enemy to the Mews, but they were much cleaner and they didn't look as rugged. His bright yellow eyes were focused on her, and there was a serious look on his face, so unlike his usually sly expressions.
"Kish!" Concern replaced the calm look on Ichigo's face, "Why did you come back to Earth? Is everything okay?"
Kish walked up to the confused girl until he was only a few inches away from her. The redhead's eyes widened while Kish leaned down - his face was so close, too close. A warning bell rang off in the poor woman's head.
"Ichigo," Kish breathed out before his lips touched hers. (1) Ichigo closed her eyes, her breath caught in her throat, before she tried to pull herself away. However, Kish held her tight in his arms, forcing Ichigo to gather her strength and push him harshly away from her. Kish stepped back.
The former Mew held a hand to her lips, staring at Kish in horror as he smiled at her, "Ne, Ichigo, what's wrong? I assume that you've already broken up with that darn tree-hugger, so there shouldn't be a problem with us kissing it. Or are you shocked because no one could kiss you as amazingly as I did?" Kish approached her again and used a hand to tilt her head closer to his. He stared into her brown eyes, able to see all the shock, the anger in her eyes. Just how he liked her.
"Do you want another kiss?" he smirked at her before slowly leaning in.
"No!" Ichigo tried to wriggle out of Kish's arms, "Get away from me! "
Ichigo was able to escape his arms and she went into a defensive position, while Kish stood still, his arms still in the air. Shock was written all over his face. The redhead slowly stood up straight, watching him carefully. She could see all those raging emotions in his eyes - the most noticeable was hurt.
The rather frightened girl held her hands behind her awkwardly, twisting her fingers through each other, "I-I'm sorry, Kish. But nothing's changed between Masaya and I. Well, except for the f-fact that we're, eto, engaged and -"
If it were possible, Kish's eyes seemed to darken, "What? What did you just say?"
"I-!" the redhead attempted, but Kish interrupted her again.
"I love you, Ichigo! I came back for you!" yelled Kish, who lowered his head so that his love couldn't see the tears in his eyes. He glared at the ground, trying to force the tears to not fall, "Why can't you see that?! I'm trying my best, Ichigo. What can I do to make you love me?"
"K-Kish," Ichigo tried to say calmly, "I'm so sorry. But I love Masaya, and I don't think I can love you. It's just -"
"Please!" pleaded Kish, coming near her again. Ichigo tried to react in time, but Kish held her in his arms. This time, however, he didn't try to kiss her. He pressed her to him, letting the tears flow. He tried. He tried so hard to come back to Earth. It wasn't the easiest thing in the world, so couldn't he have a little gratitude? Couldn't he have what he wanted?
"Please, Ichigo," he mumbled into her hair, "Just - just stay here with me right now. Please."
Ichigo hesitated, her body tense next to the alien's. He was warm compared to the chilly weather. She reached with her arms and placed them around Kish. She wouldn't ever hesitate to help a friend. After all, that's what Kish is, after he apologized and everything, right?
They stood like that in the middle of the park for a few minutes before Kish let go of her and faced away from her. The redhead felt the cold invade her again. She took a deep breath.
"Ne, Kish, do you want to go to dinner with me? Masaya is on a business trip in America, and the other Mews - I mean, former Mews are probably busy..."
Kish turned to her and smiled cheerfully as if nothing happened in the past ten minutes, "Sure, koneko-chan! Let's go!"
He grabbed her hand and led her out of the park, talking about nonsense that Ichigo wasn't really paying attention to. She just needed to find a way to cheer him up.
Kish, on the other hand, needed to find a way to change Ichigo's mind about marrying that tree-hugger. He just had to. There was nothing else he could do.
Because he tried, he tried to let go of Ichigo, but no other female alien on his planet could match up to her.
A/N:
(1) I always thought that if Kish ever returned back to Ichigo, he'd just be so full of desire and all those lovely feelings that he'd, you know, kiss her. Does anybody else have any other ideas? xD
Thank you for reading the first chapter of "If It Were Us"! I'm planning for this to be only three chapters or so, but it may be longer depending on how much time I have to write. (actually, if I have enough time, I would love to write up until Kish is really able to capture Ichigo's heart, but if I can't then this story will just have a bittersweet ending)
Though it may seem weird to some people, I always imagined that after Deep Blue, Ichigo wouldn't hostile to Kish anymore (unless he does something drastic, like kiss her). And Kish would still be devoted to Ichigo.
Also, I don't spell Kish as "Kisshu" or "Kishu". If you look it up, you can see that "Kisshu" was actually a misspelling in the fansubs. It's really spelled as Kish. I'll also be trying to follow the manga more than the anime (for instance, the names), but I may add some of the things from the anime, too.
I SWEAR THAT THIS WILL NOT INCLUDE MUCH OF AOYAMA-KUN UNLESS IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT, BECAUSE I'M A HUGE KISSHIGO FAN, OKAY?
I hope you guys come for next time! Please remind me to write by sending me alerts by following/favoriting, or reviewing! Love you all!
(also if any of you like Ouran High School Host Club, I have two in-progress for it. ^-^)
~Picandy.