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Summary::

Ryoma, 15, successful in tennis, Ponta drinking and teaching Karupin somersault tricks. Pretty much everything, except her love life.

A/N::

'thinking about strawberries'

"talking about strawberries"

tQ to my darling beta-reader，Natura bestia!

15 years ago...

"Rinko! What are you doing?!" Nanjiro rose up from the couch with his porn magazine in hand, questioning his 9 months pregnant wife.

"I want that strawberry." Rinko pouted and pointed at the neighbor's backyard, which was a mixture of green, red, purple and yellow plant, she turned her head back to Nanjiro. Upon seeing the latest playboy magazine in her husband's hands, she placed her hands on her hips and screamed, "Put that stupid !#$-ing magazine away! AM I NOT PRETTY AND SEXY ENOUGH FOR YOUR EYES?!?! WHY MUST YOU LOOK AT Ms. December whatever-her-name!"

Trembling at Rinko's sudden outburst of emotions, Nanjiro threw the magazine into the fireplace, accidentally. He gasped, but didn't attempt to save poor Ms. December's face.

"I-I'd go buy you strawberries!" He said, trying to quickly back out of the house.

"No." Rinko closed her eyes, a smile tugged at the left corner of her lips.

"No..?"

"I want that." Rinko pointed to the strawberry in Mrs. Cauliflower's yard, "Nothing else, but that."

Nanjiro widened his eyes. Mrs. Cauliflower was... let's put it this way. She was the most frightening woman in the whole of CherryBerry lane. No one dared approach her, or invite her to gatherings, or to offer her some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. No one, well, with the exception of Rinko.

3 years ago, Rinko and Nanjiro had moved to CherryBerry lane, next to Mrs. Cauliflower. A few days after they moved into the beautiful suburb, Rinko brought some homemade cookies over to visit Mrs. Cauliflower, her new neighbor. Upon ringing the door bell, she was met with a deadly glare, a distasteful look at her own special-recipe cookies and a door slammed right into her face.

But nonetheless, Rinko was obsessively attracted to the beautiful plump strawberries in Mrs. Cauliflower garden.

"Nanjiro..."

"eh?"

"Do I need to repeat myself twice?" Rinko narrowed her eyes, and set her lips into a straight line.

Nanjiro was out of the house.

"Be back in 5 minutes!" Rinko shouted after him, before proceeding to close her eyes and rub her swollen belly lovingly.

Nanjiro tapped his foot on the ground, sweat beading on his forehead. How was he supposed to get strawberries from a cranky old lady with a bad temper, secretive nature with an evil aura surrounding her all the time? But if he returned home WITHOUT those strawberries, Rinko will destroy all of his secret stacks of Playboy magazines, which took him MONTHS to collect.

Considering his options for a second, he decided that the latter will be worse. At most, he'll receive a shout and some dirty looks from Mrs. Cauliflower. While if it was Rinko, it might not only be burnt magazines, it may include no meals, no TV, no tennis... or even worse, kicked out of the house.

Smiling at his clever decision, Mr. Echizen Nanjiro held his head high, chest out and proudly walked into Mrs. Cauliflower's backyard.

Rinko popped the plump, red and fresh strawberry into her mouth. She closed her eyes. Nanjiro waited.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she popped another one into her mouth.

5 seconds passed...

"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING?!?! It tastes more like cardboard and glue!!! Take it away!" Nanjiro didn't have to; Rinko had already flung the bowl out the window.

At that exact moment, Mrs. Cauliflower decided that it was a (good) time to water her new strawberries. She took in a deep breath, savoring the cool and crisp air, and looked up.

Splat.

"AHHHHHHHH!!!"

The silver bowl Nanjiro had placed the strawberries into hung like a "Bob the Builder" hat over Mrs. Cauliflower's white hair. She looked a sight; she did - With pink strawberry juice flowing down the sides of her head and her face, over her chin and onto her neck. A strawberry had fell on her foot too, tainting her $500 newly bought Giorgio Armani leather shoes. She took off the silver bowl gently, and looked up. Nanjiro shivered.

"Rinko! She's looking at us!"

"SO?"

"Well it's all because of your sudden obsession with her strawberries?!"

"You were the one who stole it!"

"Well YOU told me to-"

SLAM

Mrs. Cauliflower had went back home.

"Phew." Nanjiro let out a breath of air, wiping fake sweat drops off his forehead, "I thought she was going to pound us dead or turn us into toads or something."

"Not that fast, hubby." Rinko placed a hand on her belly, as she looked at Mrs. Cauliflower sneering from her kitchen window.

Mrs. Cauliflower sat fuming in her kitchen. Her precious super magical strawberries had been stolen. She was furious. But of course, Mrs. Cauliflower wasn't the Chief of Witches for nothing. She smirked, before proceeding to make her super magical Aozu Version 0.0267, which consist of fish intestines and other unsightly animal organs. AND cauliflower.

They were going to pay.

Oh yes they were.

Early morning next day, Mrs. Cauliflower stepped up onto the front porch of the Echizen residence. Holding a glass of pink bubbling liquid that gave off a terrible odor in one hand, she knocked lightly on the Echizen's front door.

knock knock

The door opened and she was instantly greeted by a half-dressed Nanjiro, half-awake and half in dreamland.

"Who?" He rubbed his eyes with one hand and blearily said.

"Hello Echizen-san." Mrs. Cauliflower smiled, while cackling evilly inside her head.

Upon hearing the old lady, Nanjiro quickly jumped up, "Mrs. Cauliflower!" He slowly backed away, while muttering, "erm.. do you need something..?"

"About yesterday..." the old woman began.

"I'm so sorry! Gomenasai! My wife wanted to eat those strawberries!" Nanjiro babbled on, "I told her not to but she said... Aiya... the strawberries wasn't all that nice anyway! Why would she want it anyway?!?!" Realizing he had just insulted Mrs. Cauliflower's strawberries, he put up both hands and went, "no... wait. no- that wasn't what I meant, i meant-"

"I totally understand Echizen-san." Mrs. Cauliflower smiled, her voice dripping sweet with honey.

'Pfuit! Echizen-san, the only reason I'm not reaching out and slapping you and your wife across the face is because I'd get into trouble with the cops if I did.' Mrs. Cauliflower screamed and flapped her arms. But of course she did not do that in real life, it all happened inside her head. Mrs. Cauliflower would never flap her arms in public, it is too ugly for her.

So instead, she smiled and went, "I totally understand, Echizen-san."

'Pfuit! ' Her inner self thought.

"You do?" Nanjiro relaxed, "That's great!"

"Yes, and I know how pregnant woman have sudden urges to eat certain food. So I brought over some cookies and my special formulated drink, Aozu! Specially created for pregnant ladies!"

"Really? That is so kind of you!" Nanjiro grinned and rubbed the back of his head with his hand, before reaching over and accepting the basket of cookies and glass, "Rinko would love these!"

"Oh, I'm sure she would." Mrs. Cauliflower laughed a bit too loudly, before turning away and merrily sauntering back to her house, an evil grin on her face.

And of course, Rinko couldn't resist trying anything new. She gulped down the entire glass of Aozu and finished all the cookies, crumbs and everything.

Rinko knows that the Aozu had an effect on pregnant women.

What she didn't know what that a) Mrs. Cauliflower was a witch, and b) When drunk by a pregnant woman, the baby inside her will develop some... disturbing strange hormones.

"Oh, that drink was beautiful! Do you think you can ask for more?" Rinko smiled and asked Nanjiro.

Reviews are appreciated.

No actually, they'll not only be appreciated. They will be loved, nurtured, treasured and forever cared for!