Rain Music

(There's been a change of plans. Forget the preview from Trailing Tears)

Can you feel the love that's in the air?

Can you see the love that's everywhere?

Now I know why my heart is blue,

Ichigo relaxed in a chair by the window. She was lazily dressed in a burgundy and brown plaid poncho with a cream colored top and a pair of loose jeans. Rain pitter pattered against the glass pane and trailed down and out of view. She was Ryou's girlfriend, and having done that, her biggest dream had been achieved.

But if my dream has been fulfilled, then why does my heart feel so empty?

Ichigo sighed and felt empty. She heard footsteps behind her and knew that it was probably Ryou. She felt a pressure on the chair as he leaned against it. "Hey, Strawberry, why're you looking so down?" He asked. Ichigo smiled, but it soon faded.

"I don't know, Ryou. It feels as though a piece of my heart is missing," Ichigo said.

"Yeah, the rain can make you feel a bit depressed, but there's a perfect remedy for that," Ryou replied. Ichigo looked up at him.

"And what might that be?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing big; just a luncheon at the Itachi Jungle Café," Ryou said. Ichigo's eyes widened.

"That's the most expensive restaurant in Tokyo!" Ichigo gasped. Ryou smiled.

"So do you wanna go?" He asked. Ichigo nodded vigorously.

"Ok, then we need to get you a new dress," Ryou informed her. Ichigo clapped her hands.

"Can Minto and Retasu come dress-shopping with us?" Ichigo asked.

"Of course not," Ryou replied. Ichigo stared at him in disbelief.

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Of course they can come," Ryou said, laughing. Ichigo mock punched him, but he ducked.

"I was only kidding!" Ryou shouted.

"Ooo! I'm gonna get you for that Ryou Shirogane!" Ichigo shouted back and began to chase him around the house. Ryou ducked around the corner and dashed up the staircase. Ichigo followed and chased after him. He dashed into a door and slammed it behind him. Ichigo tugged on the door, but he had locked it. She heard the bang of another door slamming shut and looked up to see him dashing into another room. Ichigo ran over to that one and managed to stick her foot between the door and the frame before it could close. They were in Ryou's bedroom.

Ryou ran over on the other side of the bed. Ichigo grabbed one of his pillows and began hitting him with it. Ryou dodged the first blow and grabbed a pillow of his own. Feathers flew and laughter rang. Ichigo tripped over a computer chord and toppled onto Ryou.

"Hah! I win!" Ichigo announced. Then she bent over and kissed him. Ryou broke the kiss and pushed himself up, smiling wryly. "Are you sure you've won?" He asked as he picked Ichigo up bridal style and kissed her. Ichigo closed her eyes and deepened the kiss. Ryou set her down on the bed. "Well?" He asked. Ichigo smiled and looked into Ryou's electric blue eyes framed by golden hair. She smiled mischievously.

"Yeah, I've won," She replied and slid out from under him and out the door before he could do anything. "I'm calling Minto and Retasu!" Ichigo called from the staircase. Ryou smiled and headed out of the room. He followed Ichigo down the staircase and grabbed two raincoats from the closet. He tossed one to Ichigo, who caught it with amazing ease for someone talking on a cell phone, and put the other on himself. Ryou also pulled his scarf from the closet and wrapped it loosely around his neck. He pulled a large black umbrella from the umbrella holder by the door and opened it to make sure there were no holes before opening the door and waiting for Ichigo.

"Kay, see you there Retasu!" Ichigo said brightly and shut her phone. She put it in her pocket and grabbed her purse from a nearby chair before following Ryou out. They walked out to Ryou's classy black car and walked around to the passenger side. Ryou held the door open for Ichigo and shut it when she was in. He then walked around to the driver's side and shook out the umbrella before tossing it in the back and sliding into his seat. Ryou shut the door, put the key in the ignition and drove off.

Ichigo and Ryou met up with Minto and Retasu at the mall entrance. They met and talked for a while as they walked in. "So which store are we headed toward?" Ichigo asked Ryou. "I was thinking you girls could go to a designer outlet or that big store in the back or something," Ryou vaguely replied. "Psh, you don't know anything. Ichigo, we're going dress shopping at Megumi's," Minto reprimanded Ryou. "Shirogane-san, why did you come along for the dress shopping?" Retasu asked. "I'm not going dress shopping with you, however entertaining it might be. I have a few associates I need to talk to and they happen to be here to-day," Ryou replied. Retasu nodded and turned back to Ichigo and Minto, who were talking animatedly.

"Purple and magenta with a little bit of black perhaps," Minto was saying. "Do you think that it should have one of those decoration lace up bodices?" Ichigo asked. Minto shook her head. "Definitely not, unless it's a gothic style dress, but we really should find out what sort of outfit Ryou's going to wear before we decide things like that," Minto concluded. Ichigo looked over at Ryou. "What are you going to wear?" She asked. "Well . . . I was just gonna wear a plain black tux," Ryou said hesitantly, wondering if Minto was going to try to change his outfit to purple and pink, or whatever it was. Minto nodded. "Yeah, you should look fine with that dress, but the real question is what sort of . . ." Ryou tuned out of the conversation as they reached the escalator. "And this is where I leave you three damsels. Ichigo, here's my credit card, tell them to charge it to my IRD account," Ryou said, tossing his girlfriend as shiny platinum card. Ichigo nodded and gave him a quick peck on the cheek before departing to the upper level.

As they were trying on dresses, or rather, Minto and Retasu were constantly picking out dresses and forcing Ichigo to try them on before rejecting them and thrusting them upon the clerk, the subject turned to the aliens. Ichigo pulled on a tight little number with purple sequins and a slit going up to her thigh. "Kish would die if he could see you in that dress," Retasu laughed. Ichigo blushed and pulled it off. And, as Minto handed her the next one, a large puffy purple dress with pink tool liberally ruffled all over it, Ichigo realized what her heart was missing. She was missing Kish. Minto burst out laughing. "This one would've made that stoical little prat Pai crack up," Minto gasped between giggling fits. Retasu lightly cuffed Minto on the shoulder. "Pai was not a prat. It's just that Kish sucked up all his emotions," She replied. Ichigo laughed too as she took off the dress. She pulled on the next one. "Hey guys, I think this is the one," Ichigo squealed.

Minto and Retasu had collapsed on the floor laughing and were hyperventilating. Ichigo bent over and thwacked them both on the back shouting, "Breathe, man, breathe!!" Minto choked a little and sat up, her face flushed from laughing. Retasu quickly stood up and looked Ichigo over. "Spin," Minto said. Minto and Retasu exchanged significant looks. "Seems as though we've found you your dress," Retasu commented. "Strip it off and we'll take it to the register," Minto offered. "Shouldn't we check he price tag first?" Ichigo asked. "Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo. This is Shirogane's credit card we are talking about. And besides, the dress can't be more than $300," Minto replied. Ichigo followed this reasoning, but checked the price tag anyway. "Hey, it's on clearance," Ichigo remarked. "Come on, come on, there's a sale I wanna check at Chiiako's before we leave," Retasu said looking up at the clock on the wall.

Ichigo paid for the dress with Shirogane's card and the trio left the shop. Ichigo called Ryou and promised to meet him at the Cookie Emporium. They stopped briefly at Chiiako's where Retasu found out something she didn't want to know. They found Shirogane at the check out counter of the Cookie Emporium receiving back his credit card and a small package. "Call us later," Minto told Ichigo with a wink as she and Retasu left. Ichigo and the dress walked up to Ryou.

"Hey there stranger, do I know you?" Ichigo asked Ryou playfully. "I'm not sure, but you look vaguely familiar. Are you looking for someone?" Ryou bantered. "Yes, I'm looking for my boyfriend. He's about yea tall and has perfect hair," She responded. Ryou chuckled. "So I have perfect hair, do I?" Ryou asked looking down at her. Ichigo nodded. "It's shiny," She responded wryly, dragging out the 'I'. Ryou laughed. "Where'd the terrible twosome run off to?" Ryou asked. "Oh come on, they're not that terrible. Anyways, they already left," Ichigo replied.

"Well in that case, I'm free to give you this," Ryou said and handed Ichigo the package from the Cookie Emporium as he took the dress from her. "Hot off the press and ready for consuming," He remarked. Ichigo smiled. "You're trying to spoil my appetite for lunch," Ichigo playfully accused him. Ryou smiled and shrugged.

"Open it," Ryou urge. Ichigo smiled and did his bidding. Inside the packaging was a strawberry shaped cookie with red and green icing and little milk chocolate chips pressed in for seeds. Ichigo smiled. "It looks so good that I almost don't want to eat it," Ichigo complained. "Well in that case . . ." Ryou trailed off reaching for the cookie. Ichigo pulled it away. "Hey, I said almost," she repeated and took a bite out of it. She moaned with delight at the taste of the cookie.

"Well, do you like it?" Ryou asked. Ichigo nodded happily. "Do you want some?" She asked and broke off a piece. "Nah, I had at least a dozen while I was waiting for you guys," Ryou refused. "A dozen?!" Ichigo asked incredulously. Ryou smirked. "Okay, I lied, it was just one," he said. Ichigo nodded and took her dress back from Ryou as she finished the cookie.

"So what time is the reservation for?" Ichigo asked. "Well, it turns out that all the lunch times were filled, but we can do a dinner date, so you have time to go home and Minto can beautify you with her horde of cosmetics," Ryou replied. Ichigo smiled. Ryou opened the large black umbrella as they reached the sliding glass doors of the Tokyo Mall.

Ichigo felt a bit depressed as they walked out into the rain. She'd lost two people she cared about to these drops. One was dead to her, and the other was off in space, out there somewhere, probably cursing her for all eternity. The couple reached Ryou's sleek black car and Ryou opened one of the back doors and, taking the dress from Ichigo, carefully hung it on a hook and spread it out so it wouldn't wrinkle. Then he turned to Ichigo. "Come on, going out with me can't be that bad," Ryou said as he slid his arms around Ichigo's slender waist. She laughed a little, like a tinkling bell. "No, Ryou it's not you and it's not me, I'm fairly certain now," Ichigo replied. "Ah, we have a new development in Ichigo's depression from the Rain," Ryou said jokingly as he pulled her a half step forward and up against him. Ichigo leaned her head against Ryou's chest.

"Have I told you that I love you?" Ryou asked. "Not today," Ichigo lazily replied. "Well, we can't have that now can we?" Ryou asked playfully. "Ichigo Momomiya, I loved you yesterday, but I love you more today and will love you forevermore," Ryou said. Ichigo smiled and a fuzzy warmness flooded her body. "Ryou Shirogane, I love you too," Ichigo replied. Ryou kissed her hair. Ichigo's ears pricked up as se heard something from the rain. "Ryou, did you hear that?" She asked suddenly, looking out into the rain. "Hear what?" He asked. "The music. Listen," Ichigo commanded.

Ryou closed his eyes and listened to the pounding rain. The pristine melody wafted through the rain. The umbrella dropped to the ground. "That music, it's beautiful," Ryou haltingly commented. Ichigo smiled and leaned against him. "It is, isn't it?" She replied. Ryou looked down at Ichigo and ruffled her hair. The melody had faded away. "Come on. I think its time to go," Ryou commented and picked up the umbrella. Ichigo ducked into the car and Ryou shut the door behind her. He shook the umbrella out as he walked over to the other side, tossed it in the back with the dress, and slid into his seat.

The motor started and the car drove off. But someone sat in the decorative trees in the parking lot, watching the car and the couple inside it. The someone stored an instrument in his pocket and vanished.