Summary: He would have given her the world. But how could she go through with something when her heart was set on someone else? RXI
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew
Needless to say, I never realized how in love I was with someone until I found myself in the arms of another.
Would he had been understanding to the fact that I could never give myself completely to him simply because I loved someone else? I doubted it. I was a gem in his eyes, a ruby that was polished on the outside and admired by only him. I couldn't understand why he showered me with so much, why he wanted me so badly. I simply believed it was because for the first time in Rei Nagahara's life that he ever fell in love.
The day I met him was the day he had flown in from America. He was a famous producer in LA, although he was born in Japan. That was the day he wanted to see the "simpler" side of Japan. He wanted to be away from the crowds, the celebrities, the life he had grown so accustomed to. I felt bad that morning because as he came in for just a quiet, peaceful lunch, I was with Ryou and we were arguing.
"What is it that you want, Strawberry? A raise?" he remarked with a sneer. I couldn't stop the blush that crept up my neck. When had the pet names become so attractive when he said them? His hands were on his waist and upon noticing my reaction, he smirked and laughed loudly. I growled through gritted teeth and poked him in the chest, ignoring that after all the years, I was still a head shorter than him.
"Listen here, Shirogane, if you call me strawberry one more time, I swear I'm going to smack you upside the head with this broom!" I shook the broom I had in my hands to prove that I would.
Rei sat on the far end of the room, Mint was his waitress at the time and even though she tried to make conversation with him, because I think she might have recognized him, he ignored her.
"And for the record," I placed a hand on my hip, "I'm practically a veteran here, don't you think it's high time I get another raise?"
Ryou rolled his beautiful, clear, blue eyes and ruffled my hair. I smacked his hand away but he only sat it back on my head and leaned down to be eye level with me, which I found to be incredibly insulting, since I couldn't stand my incompetence to actually grow an extra foot.
"Strawberry," he started, "you just had a raise."
"Back when I was sixteen," I blurted and smacked his hand away again.
"So what, you're how old now? Seventeen?" he snickered and I glowered.
"Nineteen," I blushed. It hadn't been the first time someone had made the mistake of calling me younger than I actually was. Ryou found that joining in with making fun of me for my young face was one of his favorite pastimes. He broke into laughter.
"Stupid!" I growled, "I have an apartment now! Along with college, I need a raise so I can pay for books."
"So get another job," Ryou rolled his eyes and I felt my face drop. Another job? I could hardly handle school and the job I had then. Stingy Shirogane had kept his five, female experiments as his employees since we all first came to the cafe during our younger years. And even though we all pestered him to hire new girls so we could have more help, especially during rushes, he refused to. He had many excuses, one of which my favorite were because he didn't want any of the new employees to find the old, unused, outdated experimental machines he used back during the Mew Mew Project that he couldn't possibly put into storage or dispose of.
"I can't balance another job on top of what you make me work now," I whined and dropped the broom on the floor.
"Not my problem," he kicked the broom away from me. I found that his lack of compassion and his increasingly cruel sense of humor was becoming the main reason that I hated him so much. But even when I hated him and even though we never got along, it never stopped our immediate attraction to one another.
Shirogane and I had an intimate relationship, yes. Somewhere in the midst of our arguing and fighting and working, we found time to sneak away to the top of the cafe where his room resided to cuddle, kiss, and make love. And that had been going on for years. Although we tried to keep it semiprivate, we knew that some of the others had an idea about what was going on between us.
I hated to think that little Pudding and sweet, shy Lettuce knew about the physical relationship I had with our boss. And I never wanted them to think that we did what we did because I wanted more in my job. They knew I wasn't like that but even my closest of friends enjoyed a good, juicy topic for gossip on slow days. I could never chide them simply because I joined in on it too. And I probably would have been the first to say, "Ichigo is such a slut sleeping with our boss. It's probably because she wants another raise or something. Can you believe her?" if I were seeing it from another perspective.
I stared at Ryou and whispered, "What's your problem?"
"That guy at table seven wont stop looking at you and I'm getting pissed off," he whispered back. I rolled my eyes.
"Go into the kitchen or something, would you? You're taking everything out on me right now and it's getting hard to work around you."
He sneered, "Is it because you like me so much?"
"No." I ignored my blush. He smirked in response and turned away, trotting into the kitchen to help Keiichiro with the baking.
Rei took the opportunity to approach me then. I was reaching down to pick up my broom when I saw his Italian leather loafers next to the handle of my broom. I looked up at him from where I squatted and he smiled, squatting down next to me.
"Hi," he greeted. I wondered if he was and unhappy customer or if he wanted to sell me something so I gave a skeptical look and picked up my broom, "Hello."
I stood up and he followed, taking a step away from me, "The meal was superb." he commented and I grinned, "Thank you. I'll be sure to let our staff know."
He reached out his hand and I eyed him for a moment before I took it and we shook hands, "I'm Rei Nagahara."
"Ichigo Momomiya," I wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to introduce himself and it wasn't like I had ever heard of him and his producing but I assumed he wanted to double check and see if I'd recognize his name.
"A pleasure to meet you," he lifted my hand to his lips and he kissed it softly. My cheeks reddened. Of course Ryou had his own ways of making me blush, but it had been the first time a stranger had ever been so formal and gentleman like.
I took the moment to examine my suitor and found that he was indeed very good looking; Dark brown hair, honey colored eyes, a straight nose. I smiled and he let my hand drop.
"I couldn't help but overhear your argument with your friend there," he nodded to the kitchen where he must've saw Ryou disappear to. I felt instantly embarrassed of our argument. It hadn't been the first time a customer had overheard our disputes and actually commented on it.
"Oh my gosh," I apologized, "I'm so sorry. He's my boss. We're always doing that. I know, it's so unprofessional of us. I'm so, so sorry!"
He shook his head, "No, no, really, it's okay," he smiled and I couldn't help but notice the black earring he had in his right ear. I hated to admit that I always found a guy with a pierced ear to be so attractive and I sighed.
"I just heard that you needed an extra job," he slipped his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.
"Oh that," I leaned against the broom, "yeah. Just with the hours here, I could never balance a second job, plus school."
"Can I make a preposition?" he asked.
"Sure."
"If I double what you get paid here, would you be interested in coming to work for me for a while?"
I couldn't stop my mouth from dropping, "Double?" I squeaked and the broom dropped again with a clatter against the floor.
I quickly regained control over myself and laughed, placing my hands on my hips, "You're joking? I get paid twelve bucks an hour."
"Then twenty four it is," he shrugged nonchalantly.
I blinked, "What! What kind of job is this?"
"Just some simply office work, a secretary maybe?"
A job where I could file papers, talk to people, and sit on my butt a majority of the day for twenty four dollars an hour sounded unreal. I eyed him and was certainly more skeptical than I should have been at the time.
"I'm just not buying this," I shook my head and picked up my broom again. I could hear Ryou screaming 'Get back to work!' somewhere in the back of my mind and I wanted to end the conversation with the handsome man right away. I did want a well paying job, that was correct, but I didn't want a job that I felt was too good to be true.
"Well maybe we can get together sometime and discuss it so that you'd be interested and cognizant of the fact that there is no catch," he smiled and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. From there he took out a business card and handed it to me.
I took it and glanced at him, "Are you serious?"
"Serious as a heart attack," he smiled a toothy grin and I couldn't help but giggle.
"I guess that'd be cool," I pocketed the card into the apron of my uniform.
He took my hand, "Nice to meet you again Ichigo Momomiya. I'll be expecting your call." And with that, he pressed his lips to my knuckles again and left the cafe.
Of course I let Ryou know of the man who offered me an amazing job and as he stripped my shirt in an hungry, fast pace, he only hummed, "Uh huh." before pressing his lips to mine.
We sat on his bed, the spontaneous ritual of after work love making began and I couldn't help but be annoyed with Ryou's lack of response to my story. He leaned on top of me and I grabbed his face, mushed his cheeks together, and totally stopped the mood that he had tried to build up.
"What?" he pulled away and sat up.
"Ryou this is serious," I whined, "You're not willing to give me a raise and I need the money."
He rolled his eyes, "Ichigo I'll give you a raise."
"You will?"
"A ten cent raise," he offered.
"Ugh," I laid back on the pillow. I didn't want to abuse the power of being in a intimate relationship with Ryou to obsecrate for more money. I would have felt like a prostitute then and that wasn't the look I was going for in the eyes of him and the eyes of my coworkers. I decided against asking for a raise while in bed and shook my head, "Never mind."
"Strawberry..." he trailed off as if he wanted to tell me something but changed his mind. Instead I grabbed his face again and brought it to mine. He smirked and kissed me, trying to work back into the mood we were in before I stopped us. He moved his lips against mine and I followed, parting my lips and allowing his tongue to enter. He ran his hands up my sides and to my back where he unhooked my bra. It hung loosely around my shoulders and I giggled between the kisses as he leaned down on me.
The day I decided to finally call Mister Nagahara was the day I actually found out who he was. Zakuro and I were down the street, cheating on the Mew Mew Cafe with a different cafe that happened to have the best tea in town. I looked at the white card with the folded edge and the small, black print and sighed.
"This isn't a date," Zakuro remarked. I shot her a look and she replied with a small, ammused grin.
"I know that," I replied, "but it doesn't stop the fact that I'm nervous. I mean, this guy could be some freak and want to murder me or something."
"Did you ever consider looking up his name?" she asked and peered at the card. She raised her eyebrows after reading the name and leaned back in her chair. She crossed one long leg over the other sipped her tea, "Interesting."
"What?" I asked.
"Rei Nagahara is a famous producer," Zakuro said, "Here and in the States."
"Eh?" I looked down at the card, "You think this is the same guy?"
"Could very well may be," she sat her cup down, "A friend of mine spoke of meeting with him a few days ago. He's back in Japan, if that's what you're wondering."
I nodded, "Hey but wait," I narrowed my eyes, "What would he be doing in an old, seedy cafe like Mew Mew?"
Zakuro shrugged her bare shoulders where her halter top, summer dress cut off, "Everyone likes to get away sometimes. Look at me, I go back to the old, seedy Mew Mew Cafe pretty much every day. I don't have to, but I enjoy the refreshing taste of working there than constantly being on the catwalk. What did this man look like? Maybe you should consider looking him up on the computer and see if he fits the description."
Zakuro was so smart.
She smiled, "And for the record, any girl that Nagahara approaches should consider themselves incredibly, incredibly lucky."
Which I did. I never thought for a second that within a few months we would have had what most considered a relationship of sorts. I was the ditsy nobody and he was the hottest, youngest producer out there.
When I did finally call him, it wasn't him that answered but rather the smooth, calm voice of a woman named Stacy. And Stacy couldn't put me through to Mister Nagahara because, "He's not available at the moment, miss. He's in a meeting."
"Oh great," I thought, "Even she thinks I sound younger than I am." I couldn't help but notice the way "Miss" had rolled off her tongue, as if I were some young, teenage high schooler who wanted to get some cheap autograph from the top producer. After I had gone back to my apartment from lunch with Zakuro, I did look up Rei Nagahara's face. And to my great surprise, it was spot on the man from the cafe. I took the opportunity then to call him.
"Do you know when he'll be back?" I inquired.
"I don't know but would you like to leave your name and a message?" she replied.
"Yeah," and Stacy wrote down everything, supposedly.
I did, however, feel bad for doubting Stacy when Rei Nagahara returned my call that evening. I was sitting on the old 'hand me down' couch from my parents house, watching the cable-less TV's static when my cellphone rang. I was half expecting it to be Ryou since he normally came over on Thursday nights to keep me, for the most part, entertained since my apartment lacked things like a properly working TV and was pleasantly surprised when I didn't recognize my lovers voice.
"Ichigo Momomiya?" he asked.
"Possibly," I replied with a sly grin.
His laughter filled the receiver, "If it isn't, then may I ask who I'm speaking to? Because she has a beautiful voice."
I was so glad he couldn't see the reddening in my cheeks, "Ha. Ha. Is this Rei Nagahara?"
"Possibly."
I laughed then, "Possibly. Okay. I assume you got my call?"
"I was waiting for it."
I smiled, "When can we meet up?"
"How about right now?"
I smirked, "What do you take me for? I'm not that easy."
"You've got me all wrong Miss Momomiya," I could hear the humor in his voice, "Wait. Do you take me as some kind of easy? I'm offended!"
He was so cheesy and I loved it. I broke into a laughter. It might have been just that, which blurred my vision and sprinkled stars in my eyes and blindsided me from what I knew and who I loved. But I couldn't help but be flattered and swept off my feet. Maybe because I didn't know Rei Nagahara and he was that refreshing taste that Zakuro spoke so fondly of. Or maybe because I was simply waiting for something to come from the intimate relationship I had with Ryou but it hadn't yet. All I knew was that months later, I had made a mistake...
...To be continued...
A/N: I honestly do not know where this story came from. I woke up and wrote a story.
There will be a better explanation of everything in the next chapter. I know that a lot of Mature rated stories are more along the lines of sex scenes and bad smut but that isn't exactly what I'm going for here. There will be some "adult themes" that is correct but not until the future. I have never been a great sex scene writer so please, do not expect something amazing. Haha. :)
Okay and yes there is an OC. I was debating between Masaya and an OC but I wanted the OC to be more liked than hated.
I do want to say upfront that this may be a OneShot story. I'll continue it based on its popularity. Other than that, you know the drill! Please read and review.
Kristen