Chapter 2

Strawberrymoon

Ichigo and Ryou stood from afar, their jaws dropped at the scene before them. The wedding had been a beautiful ceremony and the party no less of a dream. Inside the pink café the decorations were just as intricate as the garden's had been. Vines curled around the beams with white and pink roses; banners of red and white mesh hung from the ceiling with dangling red gemmed decorations. The tables were adorned in a similar fashion, with a long cream table cloth that reached the floor with ivory coloured carved chairs, although these had bright red strawberry shaped cushions.
Keiichiro had prepared a magnificent feast with enough types of cake to satisfy a life time, the Mew Mews weren't entirely sure how any of them would be able to eat it all, although Pudding was quite determined.

"NAAAAA NOOO DAAA! So much food, I'll never have to eat again!" she pounced at the banquet table, happily stuffing her little face. Zakuro shook her head with a slight smile and elegantly took a slice of something and wandered off to a table. Mint followed suit after her heroine, even though she had a bit of trouble due to Pudding darting about and taking almost everything Mint was after; Lettuce decided to just join in.
"Pudding, Lettuce! The rest of us are meant to eat as well, you know!" Mint grumbled, with her hands firmly planted on her hips, glaring at the ferocious cake eaters.
"But it's so good… you should try some!" the girl grinned and threw a piece of cake in Mint's face.
"Oh nooo…" Lettuce grimaced.
"I… you… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Mint screamed, her face and long blue dress now covered in pink frosting. She reached over the table in an attempt to strangle the monkey-girl only to have Zakuro catch her by the collar with one hand.
"This is why we can't have nice things…" Zakuro muttered from a safe distance, "Ryou will not be pleased."
"Ladies," Keiichiro popped up out of nowhere, "surely you should wait until the wedding cake is cut, else you'll have no room." He smiled but there was a hint of worry and embarrassment hidden under it.
"You underestimate the power of my stomach, na no da, if not mine, all of my siblings'!" Pudding grinned and pointed towards the children also mowing the banquet table. Keiichiro just sighed.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to interrupt?" Ryou glanced at his wife and gestured to all of the commotion with an arched brow.
"Oh no, I enjoy Mint being covered in pink frosting far too much." Ichigo giggled.
"…as amusing as that is, we won't have anything left to eat and she will probably hug you whilst covered in it."
"She wouldn't dare!" Ichigo's eyes flared and then softened slightly, "Not that it would make much difference… my dress is already pink." She noticed the stern look her new husband was giving her, "Oh fine! I'm sure Zakuro has some dresses hidden away somewhere," her eyes darted about for the purple-headed woman, "ZAAAAAAKUUUUUURRRRRROOOOO!" she screamed, Ryou cupped his ears and winced. Whilst Ichigo had grown up, she still was rather noisy and bubbly, he wouldn't have her any other way but that didn't mean he wasn't frightened for his hearing.
Zakuro turned almost immediately and dragged the sprawling Mint with her.
"Would you be so kind as to find Mint a new dress before she destroys the entire room?" Ryou whispered to her. She nodded and just as bluntly, pulled Mint, who instead of trying to strangle Pudding was now sobbing, towards the changing room. Ichigo giggled profusely; until she too was fired upon by Pudding, though it fortunately missed… and hit Ryou instead. He blinked through the icing and then frowned.
"I'll be in the kitchen…" he grumbled and stormed off. Pudding tilted her head.
"Ryou is mad with me, isn't he?" her shoulders slumped.
"Personally, I found it hilarious but perhaps the Groom was a bit too far. Don't you even think of doing it to me. Besides, I want to eat some of this off a plate, not just people's faces." She grinned, "When Mint is done, we'll take pictures and then cut the cake, okay? Then we'll get this party started."
"WAHOO!" Pudding cheered and bounded off somewhere else. Ichigo smiled to herself and waited patiently.

Ichigo awoke to the sun beaming through the large patio doors in the room; it was so hot that she hadn't bothered to close the curtains, hoping a breeze would blow in through the windows. She wrapped herself in a blanket and padded out to the balcony, watching the sea lap at the beach and birds flying round. She enjoyed the gentle breeze tousling her shoulder length red hair and breathed in the salty sea scented air. A kiss landed on her neck and she turned to see her new husband smiling down at her. They needed no words, the night had been perfect. After so long of getting over the horror Masaya had set upon her, she had finally begun to trust again. Of course, she had loved Ryou in the first place, which caused Masaya's jealousy to act as he did, but she worried constantly something would go wrong, even though she knew she had no reason other than the anxiety that gnawed in her stomach.

Ryou had been there for her in the most pivotal points in her life and that he was still with her and now married to her, left her feeling completely entranced in how lucky she had been. Similarly, he felt the same with Ichigo. Never had he really, truly imagined this would be how his life would turn out, especially not with this girl. In battles to protect Tokyo, he had always been worried for her. The Blue Knight no longer turned up, he may have been born to protect her but he had broken that fate by not loving her unconditionally. Whilst life seemed to give destiny, it was still up to the individual to follow that path. That power no longer held him and now he was just a normal person, somewhere in the world. So long as that place was far away from his wife, Ryou didn't care.

The honeymoon that ensued was like anybody's dream. They explored and relaxed, making their first memories of their new life together, visiting the beach below their room was their favourite, reminding them of many a time in the past. Curiously enough, Ryou thought that sometimes it was all too familiar. Sometimes, out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw someone he thought he recognised from years ago but he could never put his finger on it. At times it also felt like somebody was watching him, he could feel a gaze bearing into his back but whenever he turned, he saw nothing. The distraction had begun to make Ichigo nervous, thinking that something evil had followed them after all. They had hoped to escape their duty for at least a week, the Mew Mew's gift to them. Ryou supposed that with this job though, there could be no true relaxation. They would always be aware and suspicious. Still, he thought it was just his mind playing tricks, the summer heat was too much to sleep in sometimes and he was very tired from other activities with his new wife.

"I can't believe we'll be going home soon," Ichigo pouted, sitting cross-legged on the plush double bed, watching Ryou pack their things, "this has been so wonderful." Ryou reached over and ruffled her hair, she stuck her tongue out at him instead of pulling a face like she used to.
"We have many wonderful days ahead of us, life is only just beginning." They shared their secret smile and he continued packing. "Besides, we need to relieve the rest of the team."
"From eating all the food? Oh yes, such a burden for them."
"I'm sure they've been more active than that."
"I doubt they could be with the amount we have… rather had, hidden in there."
"Perhaps we should find somewhere else." Ryou shrugged. Ichigo looked up and fixated her brown eyes on him.
"What do you mean?" she said suspiciously.
"Well. The café is old and served its purpose, we have enough money to move somewhere else, like an actual house, which we can move our base of operations to. We could then refurnish the café and sell it on."
"Sell it on?!" Ichigo exclaimed, "That place is so full of memories, so much of our lives, we can't give that away!" she huffed. Ryou grimaced; he knew she'd probably react like that. He stopped packing and reached over to hold her hands, forcing her eyes to stare into his. He could feel the tension melting from her.
"We are starting something new, I know change is hard but it is good, if you get stuck in a rut too long, you'll never move from it. The only reason I've really kept that place was because you were in school." He could tell she wasn't entirely convinced and still a bit hurt. He sighed to himself and took a deep breath. "What I'm saying is, let's have our own place. Okay so we won't have the café but we'll have somewhere new to have new memories in."
"Maybe… we could just refurbish it and hire normal people to work there?" she beamed hopefully. His head dropped down slightly.
"We'll talk about it later, okay? Let's just go home first, I wasn't planning to do anything like that for a few months or a year anyway. We'd have to find the place and all sorts of things."
"Very well, Mr. Shirogane." Ichigo nodded with dramatic approval, "We shall return home to those food fiends first."
"Good." He smiled and continued packing.