Chapter 2

After awhile, Ichigo smiled thankfully when she heard the doctor say, "It's a girl."

Holding the small child, Ichigo tried to think of a good name. She stared into the large, aluminous brown eyes. "Her name is Kuri."

Stepping into the other room, Mika looked up at Ichigo. Mika handed her a pink cradle and purple shirt as a gift, and Ichigo smiled in appreciation. Ichigo sighed. "She doesn't have a resemblance to me…"

Mika expressed a sorrowful look. "I'm sure her hair color will be like yours!"

It was, in fact. To define the color exactly, it was a light raspberry. This was the bit of hair Kuri had grown, aging into her fifth month. Ichigo was worried about her baby, for she would work late hours at the bar, the only place Ichigo had the ability to have a job. She pulled on a light t-shirt(it was spring now) and some shorts and headed out for a jog. Ichigo stopped at the front and looked at the happy-blonde Mika, who was holding Kuri up by her arms and balancing her across the floor.

Grabbing a water bottle, Ichigo commented, "She's way too young to learn how to walk! Oh well, I'm out for a jog." Mika lifted her magenta eyes to her and told Ichigo to be careful, she heard it was going to rain. Ichigo thanked her and left.

Ichigo slowed to a walk, catching her breath. Most of the bikers and dog-walkers stopped at the loud clasp of thunder that the sky uttered. Rain tickled Ichigo's face as she looked up. She eventually noticed that she was getting wet and trotted over to a bench sheltered by a Sakura tree. The pink petals fell past her face. Bored, yet not wanting to go back to the hotel, Ichigo started to sing. In the middle of 'Don't Forget to Remember Me', a tall man with dirty blonde hair turned around the corner. He was wide eyed, and seemed to be enriched with her singing. His bangs sat in his face, and he took in a large breath. "Have you ever thought of becoming a singer?"

Ichigo sat across from the man who offered her a job in the singing business. Mika skipped in and poured tea, placing her bum in a soft floral lounge chair. "You should go for it!" Mika said, sipping some of the liquid she just served. Ichigo tapped her chin with her filed nails, polished with baby pink. Kuri crawled over to her, reached up, and tugged her over-sized shirt.

"Sing!" Ichigo and Mika gasped and put their hands over each other mouths.

"Her first word!" Ichigo cried.

"And so young!" Mika added.

"Well, my name is Aaron, so call me when you get the chance." Telling Ichigo this, he handed her a card.

"Ta ta, Aaron!" Ichigo called out to him in a sing-song voice as he left. Mika rushed over with the baby book, and handed it to Ichigo with a pen. She scribbled, 'sing' next to the 'First Word' box.

Mika's face turned serious. "So, are you going to be a diva?" She pushed her hands up on her hair and flashed a smile as she said diva.

"Yes, I am."

A few months later, after her first rehearsal, Ichigo got a phone call from the doctor.

"Ichigo, we'd like to tell something about your daughter." Ichigo panicked.

"What? What is it?"

"Masaya is not Kuri's father."

She grasped the phone tighter. "Then who is?" She heard a sigh from the other end.

"We- we don't know."

"I see." A click came and the phone buzzed, telling Ichigo to hang up too.

The large, five layered triple chocolate cake's candles sparkled with delight. "Make a wish, Kuri!" Kuri stared at the cake with pleasure, and made some happy noises. Ichigo leaned over her shoulder and blew out the candles for her.

"Mommy!" Kuri squealed, this was another word she had learned.

Ichigo could swear she gained five pounds just looking at the cake, and it was tempting, so she called, "Dig in!" Mika cut the pieces up and placed them on the cakes of the party people; Ichigo, Kuri, herself, and the rest of Ichigo's band. The two candles were plucked out. The party eventually ended, and the band members(excluding Ichigo) left. Picking up Kuri, Ichigo noticed the craziest, life-changing detail. Kuri's eyelashes were pointed at the tip, and her eyes were more golden than ever. She called Mika over.

"Take a look at this!" She said, mentioning Kuri's whole face.

"Oh my gosh." Mika whispered. Kuri simply gave them a cute, questioned look.

Ichigo chuckled. "She almost looks like, an old friend."

I figured I would speed the time up a bit, so um, Kuri is now ten years old. So remember that ;)

Kuri nimbly slid through the crowds; she was used to running quick errands. Her father would bark instructions at her, and Kuri would bluntly follow his instructions. Sometimes he would be stupid enough to ask her to go buy him a keg. Kuri quickly adapted to the fact that ten year olds aren't aloud to buy alcohol.

Ichigo, normally being safe and boring, had told Kuri that Masaya was her father. Masaya didn't care; Kuri was like a slave in his greedy eyes. Ichigo swore to herself that she would take that sweet child back all to hers instead of the weekends at dads.

Kuri dropped the loaf of bread on the floor and walked over to her father. He looked up with lazy brown eyes. "Yes," Masaya asked grimly.

"Why don't I look anything like you," She questioned the beer belly bum.

"If you don't like the way I look, get the heck out of my house."

Kuri raised a small hand. "That's not what I-" Masaya ignored her and pointed towards the door.

"You've gotten me my food now you can go." Kuri sighed of the answerless loss, but left anyways.

The light brown wooden bench creaked as Kuri stood up to get on the arriving bus. Just as the door opened, a strange looking person orbed in front of her. One of his extremely long ears had two small hoops in them, and his burgundy hair was messy, probably of his quick arrival.

"Oi."

P.S. For those of you who don't know or haven't read Tokyo Mew Mew, the old friend Ichigo refers to is Kish, an alien. Also, the aliens in TMM have really long ears and can orb places. So this mysterious guy at the end of this chapter is an alien. Understand?