A/N: A. Whole. Day's. Work.

Uh-huh, this took me all day - because, typically, I started from scratch for the millionth time on this contest entry, and I chose the s'morning to get a better idea than the last few I've had. Which, y'know, gave me less tha 24-hours to get the full story developed, written, checked, proofed, formatted and posted.

An amazingly massive thank you to the following members of the FI Forum, for actually putting up with my babbling and waffling about this oneshot, and helping me get myself together with this one: Fireflies Glow, XxXChiharu-Chan-1000-SpringsxX, Immortal x Snow and Marvel Maiden. I owe you lot, sheerly for urging me on to finishing this, even though it's almost 3am and I was ready to call it quits throughout the night.

So here you have it - I've written almost 5000 words today, for animejuliet's RxI Competition! ...I am never writing this much in a day again. Nuh-uh, no way. I'm too slow a writer to try it again. (I realise that a lot of you could probably do this easily, but like I just said, I'm an excrutiatingly slow, easily-distracted writer, and infuriatingly busy at the time being (GCSEs revision), thus making this very, very, very difficult for me - at this moment in present, my head's so clouded I'm almost asleep, so apologies if there are any mistakes left.)

Also, first time I've written RxI in a little while, so gomen for the OOCness. And Berri... no-one else fit the role, and I figured it would be better to use a canon character rather than an OC. So ta-da! My first time writing Berri, too. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own TMM - the proof is the fact I'm skint. If I had money, then I'd have hired a beta reader, or someone to take over the story for me when I needed to go sleep. But alas, it wasn't to be. Also, I don't own the title. It's so late that I couldn't come up with anything, so Chiharu named it for me. Thank you!

Loveology

Blonde. That was the colour dye she had chosen this time. A soft, white blond - not so white it was snow, but nowhere near golden, either. Rather, she noted as she twirled the spool of hair wrapped around her finger, it was like cream. Delicious, milky cream. Her lips parted in a blissful sigh at the thought of the substance, and slowly, a drop of drool began to slide out of the gap. But, as the door handle suddenly rattled, she was jerked out of her daze. Alarmed to find the saliva making its way down her chin, she dropped the hair in her right hand to swipe at it, shoving the butt of the pencil she held in the other hand into her mouth in a form of ludicrous cover-up. And then she sat, still and waiting, for her visitor to arrive. After several moments, however, when the door did not open and her client did not enter, the dilemma finally clicked to her, and she remembered that the lock was still on. Jumping up, she hurried to the door, unbolting it before quickly turning and scampering back to her seat. Straightening her back and folding her hands into her lap, she waited once again for her visitor to properly arrive.

The door opened, and in stepped the client.

Red eyes met chocolate, hers widening in significant surprise. But quickly she composed herself, giving the client a warm, welcoming, "Hi-it's-nice-to-meet-you-(because-there's-no-way-I-know-you-already)" smile. But the redheaded young woman in front of her didn't notice. She was too busy fiddling with her strawberry locks that had somehow become caked with… was that flour? Not even looking at the blonde once as she did so, the redhead guided herself to the seat opposite, plonking herself down ungracefully into it. Blinking and maintaining her smile, Berri waited patiently for her client to acknowledge her… but when almost a minute had passed, and she was still fiddling, her face fell. Shaking herself back into composure, she cleared her throat. It was only then that the client looked up.

"Hello there. My name is Miss Shirayuki, and I'll be your psychologist for the meantime until Dr Reikomiya gets back."

"Oh, hi!" the redhead chirped cheerfully, dropping her hands from her hair and extending one out in a means to shake. Berri took it, giving it a brief jiggle, before pulling back. Turning her attention to her clipboard, which she had not taken proper note of beforehand, Berri only barely managed to resist slapping a palm to her face. Yes, the woman she had suspected to be her long-lost friend - who really wasn't long and lost, just that Berri had stopped visiting a while back - really was her. Well, this was certainly going to be awkward… she just hoped Ichigo didn't recognize who exactly her psychologist was. Holding back a troubled sigh, she forced a sweet smile and addressed the woman according to the name that was on the sheet, pretending as though she didn't already know it.

"Alright, so Miss Momomi--"

"Shirogane."

Berri's head darted up. "Excuse me?" she asked, bewildered. Ichigo was scowling, arms folded huffily across her chest, and back slumped; she looked like a stropping child, rather than the - Berri glanced down at the paper, eyes scanning over the various boxes until they found the one that contained her age - nineteen-year-old she actually was.

"Shirogane made me do it. The baka," Ichigo muttered, eyes cast diagonally downwards at the blue and silver swirled carpet. Berri's eyebrows furrowed.

"Why did he-- er, I mean, why did this 'Shirogane'-san make you do this?" she asked, thankful that she had caught herself before she'd slipped too far. She really did not need Ichigo recognising her… mostly because--

"Because he's a baka," Ichigo replied, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "If you're filling in for Dr Reikomiya," she continued, "you really ought to know why I come to see him."

Berri bowed her head in an almost sickeningly sweet apology. "Gomen, I haven't had time to read through all the files yet. I was just about to get to yours when you arrived, in fact. So," she said, leaning back and raising her head once more, smile plastered across it, "why don't you just tell me all about it, instead? You're here now, so you may as well."

Sighing self-pitifully, Ichigo began, "It's Shirogane. He's a pompous, arrogant, controlling, manipulating, vain, supercilious JERK! And he has been for the… wait a minute - let me count." To Berri's absolute horror, Ichigo laid her hands out flat, curling each finger inwards as she added a year. "…three…four….five…six…SIX! Yes, six years I've known him! And he's been a jerk! He was probably a jerk before that too! I bet he was even a jerk when he was sitting in his cot-- Or even in the womb!"

At the last word, Berri's pencil slid out of her grasp, clattering onto the table that separated the two girls. The sound snapped her from the shock of Ichigo's blunt statement, and she quickly leaned forth to snatch it back up.

"And.... and he's the sole reason you come to see Dr Reikomiya?" she questioned bewilderedly.

"Of course."

The simple answer caused Berri to shake her head in disbelief, and before she could stop herself, the words "Weird, weird girl" left her mouth, albeit slightly under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Ah-- nothing?"

"Oh, ok!"

Ichigo's cheerful smile was beginning to make Berri question the girl's sanity. When they had worked together as Mew Mews… Ichigo hadn't been this… ditsy… had she?

Clearing her throat, she urged, "Well, tell me about the past…" She glanced down at her clipboard, to check how long it had been since Ichigo had last been in for therapy. "…Week," she concluded, finally finding the right information. …Wait, week?! This girl needed counseling every week because of Shirogane? Berri blinked, stupefied, but it went unnoticed by Ichigo, who effortlessly began her tale.

"Well, you see… A lot has happened this week. Shirogane's been particularly infuriating to me this time round…"

Monday

Ichigo hated Mondays. The start of the week always annoyed her - it meant six full working days until her one day off. She didn't know why she worked six days, and often found herself wishing school would come around earlier. But, unfortunately, springtime was the start of the new Japanese school-year, and so she got longer holidays - extra so, considering she was now a university student. However, it needn't matter either way; whether she wanted her classes and lectures to start again or not, she still had to get through the rest of her vacation. Which meant working at the café.

Most of the girls had moved on - Lettuce worked a shift or two a week now, partly so that she could afford a few nice things for herself, but mainly to give Ichigo some tolerable company. Zakuro and Mint had both completely left - the former's modeling career had her running from shoot to shoot all over the world, and the latter had a prestigious ballet academy to attend. Although, Mint did drop by from time to time, if only to taunt Ichigo.

Pudding still worked at the café, but now that she was fourteen, she needed to begin preparing herself for high school. Just a few weeks back, Ichigo had seen her studying for her entrance exams one night at the café. Upon asking the younger girl why she chose to stay at the café after hours, Pudding simply replied with a chirpy, "Shirogane-nii-san lets me. He says I need quiet if I wanna do my best, and my home isn't quiet."

So Ichigo had accepted it and moved on, continuing with her duties.

But presently, she really wished Pudding wasn't away taking the exam. Because that meant that today she would have to confront her blonde jerk of a boss alone. Slamming her head off the nearest wall, Ichigo groaned. However, she reasoned that the sooner she started, the sooner the day would be over with. Shuffling to her wardrobe, she pulled out some half-decent clothes and threw them on, dragging a brush through her tangled locks of long, strawberry hair (she'd been growing it, and now it came to rest mid-back), before deeming herself ready and hurrying out of the door. Halfway to the café, it occurred to her that she hadn't actually remembered to grab any breakfast… But oh well, she'd just have to eat once she arrived. Ryou couldn't stop her - she'd just go to Keiichiro, and the pony-tailed chef would allow her anything she chose.

It really was a nice day though, and had she not been late, Ichigo would have slowed her running to a gentle-paced walk through the park. Kids were milling around the pond when she passed it; they threw pieces of bread in for the ducks and their newborn ducklings, causing them to shriek and squeal in delight when the feathered creatures dipped their heads into the water to collect the soggy food. Balling her hands and raising them to her lips, Ichigo felt an "Awww!" building up in the back of her throat, but before she could release it, a sharp tap on the shoulder made her spin around on her heel.

And there, stood behind her, was non other than Ryou. He smirked down at her, eyebrow raised in amusement. She blinked up at him in response, fists still up and covering her mouth.

"You're late, baka," he declared, in a low voice. "So you really don't have the time to stop and stare, and perv on poor, innocent, little children." He placed his hands on his hips, shaking his head as if in disappointment.

"What?!" she exploded, arms stiffly dropping to her sides, fists clenched aggressively now. "I am NOT perving on kids, Shirogane!"

He barely managed to stifle a chuckle. "You should be careful about what you say, Strawberry," he informed her, pointing at the space behind. Slowly, she turned. A nervous grin and a deep, scarlet blush settled onto her face at the sight of the mixture of confused and horrified children. Snapping back round to face him, she grabbed his wrist and tugged. Unusually, he complied with her silent order, and made no remark towards her actions, nor any effort to pull free from her hold.

Tuesday

Yesterday had been bad enough; Ichigo had barely been able stand the humiliation of the before-work incident, albeit a small one. But when the next awful moment had come along just this morning, she felt as though she could've died. And still felt that way, if she were honest.

"Keep your arms up, baka," Ryou ordered, scowling. She returned the expression, adding her own gesture of a raised middle-finger to it. He snorted at her immaturity, closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall, arms folded. She growled, half at him, and half at the alien that darted around her figure, tightening this, loosening that, cutting this thread and tying another.

Several minutes passed by in silence, Ichigo and Ryou not daring to say a word to each other, in case another argument broke out, and Kish far too busy working to pay attention to the chance of conversation anyway. In fact, that was probably the reason the first one had come about - had the golden-eyed Cyniclon been aware of what was going on, Ryou and Ichigo's fight would have been stopped before it escalated to the extent it did. And Ichigo certainly wouldn't have twisted and made to slam her fist into Ryou's chest, causing her to be pricked by Kish's needle. Although it brought about a swift end to the fight, it had also brought a cold, tense atmosphere with it. One that both parties - the ones that were actually relevant to the situation - were finally beginning to find increasingly intolerable.

Taking deep, calming, steady breaths, Ryou tried to concentrate on something he found less infuriating. However, his train of thought kept returning to the redheaded girl stood several metres away (it had originally been only a couple feet, he noted with bitter amusement, but Ryou had felt the need to move in case she swung at him again). He refused to open his eyes to look at her, else that would defeat the point; it felt like they were having some sort of contest, and that the first to give in and admit the shame of defeat would be the first to apologize. And for some reason, he found himself tipping. Knowing this, he recognized that if he so much as laid eyes upon her, he'd fall completely.

And… He really shouldn't have wound her up. He really shouldn't have annoyed her. As irritating as she could get, sometimes it wasn't fair of him. He pursed his lips, switching to breathing solely through his nose. Perhaps… Perhaps he should swallow his pride this time, and apologize. Deeming that that was the right thing to do, he gave a reluctant sigh, stringing together some form of sympathetic sentence in his head that would cause her to forgive him. But before he could actually come out with it, a cry of, "Eureka!" sprang from the tailoring Kish, and Ryou's attention snapped to him.

Cocking an eyebrow expectantly, he waited for Kish's explanation.

"I've done it! My creation is complete!"

Wednesday

Rain poured down from the sky outside, drenching everything under it as much as it could. It cascaded in streams down the windows, her eyes trying and failing to trace distinct patterns. Truth was, they slipped down too quickly for her to follow. After letting the eighteenth one escape her gaze, Ichigo was about to give up. The only reason she was bothering to watch the rain was because of a lack of something better to do: she didn't want to go anywhere near Ryou - she was sill far too angry with him, but nor could she walk home. The April shower had turned into an April storm, and the rain was lashing down too hard for her to remain at all dry on the long walk it would take her to get home. It was a good thing that Keiichiro had warned them to evacuate the customers whilst the rain was still quite light; Ichigo herself hadn't been allowed to leave. Ryou was still insistent that she clean up, so that the café would be ready for reopening, whenever that may be.

"Strawberry?"

She didn't bother to turn; she'd seen his reflection in the glass, and although they hadn't made eye contact, she knew that somehow he knew she'd caught onto his presence. She scoffed, keeping her eyes locked on him, and pulling her lips into a tight frown. She'd make sure he knew that she still wasn't happy with him. He deserved the guilt.

His calm, controlled posture relaxed a little, and he slumped, hands shoves into pockets and gaze never faltering from her. It wandered a little, however, until he caught her line of vision in the glass. His eyes shimmered with apology… or was that just the slithering water playing tricks on her? Yes, of course it was - after all, Ryou didn't have the decency to apologize.

"…I'm sorry, Strawberry."

Without realising it, she gasped and jolted back in surprise, spinning so quickly she stumbled. And fell right into his outstretched arms.

"Baka Strawberry! Be careful!" he scolded. "You could've hurt yourself!"

"…" Ichigo opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Ryou sighed, pulling her upright onto her feet, but keeping ahold of her until she was steady once again.

"You ok, baka?" he asked, finally letting her go.

"Y-yeah," she stuttered. "Guess I was just a little shocked you actually apologized."

"Is it really that surprising, that you have to try and fall over?"

"Well, you've never really done it before, so, yeah. It is." She placed her hands onto her hips. He folded his across his chest.

"Look, Strawberry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for acting like a jerk, I'm sorry for what happened between us yesterday, and I'm sorry that I forced Kish to make you wear that new Café-uniform outfit," he sighed, moving to rake one hand through his soft, blonde hair. She paused, contemplating his apology, until...

"…You're forgiven," Ichigo whispered, clasping her hands in front of her body. Her chocolate eyes were downcast, searching for anywhere to settle but on him. She didn't know why, but the fact he was actually apologizing… made her heart flutter. Ichigo felt her cheeks warming, and could correctly assume that a blush now adorned her cheeks.

They both remained silent a moment, reveling in the peace and serenity that had, for the first time, washed over them. Until Ryou broke it, with a gentle, uncharacteristic, "Thank you, Strawberry."

She tilted her head upwards to tell him it was no problem, when all of a sudden she found she couldn't speak. His lips met hers, brushing for such a brief second-- And then they were gone. And so was he; briskly walking away as fast as he could, audible curses following in his wake.

She blinked, surprised, and brought two fingers up to hover over her lips. They still tingled.

"Ooh! He kissed you!" Berri squealed, clapping her hands together in childish excitement.

Ichigo leaned forward, giving a curt nod and staring directly into the other's eyes with her own glimmeringly mischievous pair. "He did, but you mustn't tell anyone."

"O-oh? Why?" the blonde asked, taken aback by her friend's-- client's sudden change in mood.

"Because you can't. For some reason, Shirogane says that wasn't to be counted as our first proper kiss," Ichigo explained, sinking back down into the chair and shrugging happily, pulling a confused face. Her attention was briefly caught by the swaying of the trees outside the window, and a small smile tugged up the corners of her mouth upon seeing the little black cat that was causing it.

"You mean there's more?!" Berri shrieked, barely managing to keep herself planted on her own seat; she loved a good, girlish gossip, and this was turning out to be a great one. Ichigo turned her head back to face inside the room.

"Yes, there's more. That happened on Friday - yesterday, right?"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh, Friday was yesterday! But…" Berri's excitement died a little - she really wanted to hear about this next kiss, but there was a day in-between Wednesday and Friday. "But what about Thursday?" she asked reluctantly.

The redhead tilted her head to the side. "What about it? Nothing really happened that day - I stayed home because I thought I'd caught a cold from the rain. So there's not exactly much to tell on the whole Shirogane front."

"So you can move straight onto the kissi-- I mean, Friday?" she squealed delightedly, clapping her hands together once more. Ichigo nodded, before launching back into her story…

Friday

The grass felt soft beneath Ichigo's skin; her fingers curled around a few shoots about an arm's length away, but she didn't attempt to pull them out of the ground. A relaxed sigh drifted through her lips, her eyes closed. Even so, the brightness of the sun was filtering past her eyelids, and its heat was bathing her appropriately-clad body. The breeze caressed the skin of her cheeks and bare legs gently, the warmth of it making her smile. It was truly the perfect lazy-day - the café had been closed because of 'renovations'… by which was meant that the powerful storm the other day had caused a leak to develop in the café's ceiling. Ryou was still grumbling about it - and Ichigo had to stifle another laugh upon remembering why.

He'd discovered the leak yesterday morning, while still in bed. In fact, he was still asleep, given that it was four AM. The quickening drip! drip! drip! of water droplets falling onto his face had awoken him, and after discovering he was no good at attempting to make any repairs in his groggy state, he had vacated the room, grabbing his duvet and making some sort of mutant bed in the underground lab.

Which was where Pudding had found him later on that day, calling Ichigo in a panic-stricken hype because she thought he'd teleported there whilst asleep. To which, of course, left Ichigo in stitches.

And now he was probably still sulking about it, in his classic "I-don't-actually-care" Ryou way. Yeah, right. His bed had been soaked through by the time he and Keiichiro had gone back up to inspect it, once Ryou had fully awoken, leaving only one option: the blonde would need to get a new one. The wood was ruined, and if that wasn't enough to sway the boy's decision (for he was adamant about keeping the one he had, not wanting to fork out the money for a replacement when the problem wasn't his fault), it had promptly broke when Ichigo had sat down on it.

No longer trying to hold back the laughs that threatened to escape, Ichigo burst out into a giggle-fit, earning herself weird looks from passers-by.

"You should really shut up, y'know, baka. You're scaring everyone away."

Her eyes - previously closed to aid the laughing - opened with a startle and searched for the boy who had spoken. Not managing to find him, she rolled over onto her stomach, tilting her head back to broaden her range of vision. Locating him in an instant this time, she pouted, "Shirogane, don't be mean just because you're huffing."

"I'm not huffing," came his careful, stoic reply. She giggled, as if to say "Yeah, right!", and pushed herself onto her hands and knees.

"What's with the cheerful attitude all of a sudden? You've been a total grump the past few days," he acknowledged, cocking an eyebrow… but unusually his face was void of the normal smirk that went along with it.

"PMS," she replied, laughing once again as his emotionless expression melted into one of horror. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. My mood just tends to brighten with the sun, is all."

"…I believe the first explanation more," he stated, kicking off the wall of the café that he leant against and sauntering over to her. She was fully stood now, one hip jutting out to the side in a posed poise, with a grace and elegance she had learnt from her fellow Mews, Mint and Zakuro, a year or so back.

He inhaled sharply, noting how good she looked standing like that. His heart began to race as thoughts of holding and kissing her swirled around his head, but on the outside he maintained a perfectly cool, calm and suave demeanor. Reaching her, however, became too much for him to bear, and he swiftly caught her hands in his and dipped his head to reach her lips. This time they didn't just brush, they locked and held, tenderly, firmly. But it still wasn't enough, and Ichigo squeaked upon feeling Ryou's tongue sliding along her lower lip, begging for entrance. When she didn't give him it immediately, he began to nibble, and her gasp gave him enough room to push his tongue through the gap between her parted lips. Her eyelids fluttered closed, and soon she began responding, smiling into the kiss.

Several moments of pure bliss passed, in which each were both equally unaware of the world around them. They didn't care about the girlish giggles of teenagers passing by, nor their whispers and chattered excitement. They didn't hear the jeering of the male teens, didn't here the gasp of Keiichiro as he came out of the café looking for them. All they knew, in that short time, was each other. But it passed too soon.

Needing air, they pulled apart, stunned. Ichigo was left with a scarlet covering across her entire face, and even Ryou's cheeks were a little pink. But neither minded.

"So, what happened next?!" Berri twittered excitedly, bouncing up and down. She had long-since vacated her chair, and was now jumping madly around the room. Ichigo laughed at the "psychologist's" childishness, but didn't comment.

"Nothing," she finally said, once her laughter had died down enough to allow her time to speak coherently. "We made excuses and went our separate ways for the day."

Berri stopped, mid-bounce - legs bent and arms clasped tightly together in front of her chest - and her mouth fell agape. "NOTHING?!" she cried. "Nothing else happened that day?! B-but why? Why not?"

"Um… because we were too embarrassed and so ran off," Ichigo repeated, rephrasing it a little so that her companion would understand. But the girl was undeterred in her quest to find gossip, and so continued to probe, despite Ichigo's answer.

"Did anything happen today then? Did you kiss again? Is he the reason you got flour in you hair?" she chattered, beginning to bounce up and down again. But… once again she stopped herself, mid-bounce, as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, Ichigo-chan, when you first came in you corrected me and told me your family name had been changed to 'Shirogane', and that Shirogane-san himself had forced you to do that. Why exactly did he do it, and where does it fit in with the rest?"

Ichigo raised a finger, tapping her nose. "Maybe I don't want to tell you."

An aghast gasp emitted from the blonde. "Oh no! But you do, Ichi-chan, you do!"

Giggling, the redhead admitted defeat. Holding her hands up, she said, "Fine, fine. I'll tell you: This morning when I went to work at the café things were a little… odd between the two of us. But eventually…" She paused, grinning deviously at Berri.

"Go on, go on!" she urged, rocking back and forth on her heels in a mixture of exhilaration and impatience.

"…He asked me to be his girlfriend. Yes, we kissed. Yes, he's the reason I've got flour still somehow covering my hair, and yes, it's because I threw some at him first."

"…Why did you throw flour at him?"

"Because I was shocked!" Ichigo exclaimed. "And then he went and dumped the whole bag on me, in revenge."

Clapping her hands at the happy ending, Berri didn't even try to restrain the "Aww" that left her lips. "How cute," she concluded.

Glancing at the clock, Ichigo nodded, before rising out of her chair. "And I do believe it's time for me to go - my hourly session is up, so I better be off, else I'll end up wasting your other client's time. A couple things before I do, though," she started, as she made her way to the door, not bothering to dust herself down-and-clear of flour as she went. "One: You do know that Dr Reikomiya is a family friend, and the type of counseling she gives me is marriage counseling, right? She became concerned a while back that Shirogane and I were acting like a married couple, and after months of denial, I finally let her talk things over with me. And we do so every week. But I only told Shirogane today - and when I explained the purpose of the counseling, he forced me to call myself by his family name for at least the next twenty-four hours."

"Oh, I get it now… And um, no, I had no clue she was your family's friend; Dr Reikomiya didn't tell me much about her clients before she left for her holiday," Berri explained sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

Ichigo grinned: now was the fun bit.

"Oh, and Berri? Next time, if you wanna make someone believe you're not you, don't wear your nametag. Also, just so you know, and that we're totally clear on it - don't fret about being Kish's girlfriend. I never liked him like that, so it really doesn't bother me. With that said, how about we meet up at the café sometime next week for a cake?"

Without actually waiting for an answer - but from the happy twinkle in Ichigo's chocolate eyes, she knew it wasn't really a question - the former catgirl pulled open the door, swiftly exiting through it. Berri was left to stand there, dumbstruck as she watched after the leaving girl.

She had been wrong after all - Ichigo wasn't ditsy, she was smart.

The door suddenly flew open again, and the redhead's face popped inside one last time. "And please, could you tell your boyfriend that if he wants to learn to make clothes for whatever bizarre reasons he has, to actually learn how to do it?"

And with that, she was gone again.

Berri stood corrected a second time. Not only was Ichigo now smart, she was also very, very right…

A/N: The end! And I can finally go to bed and get some sleep, thank goodness!

Review, pretty please with Immi's and Chi's! :D

Goodnight, everyone!

KO xoxo