Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.


...Ryou's POV...

I hated to eat at the dining room table. I couldn't remember the last time I had even sat down in the dining room itself, let alone eat in there. The light from the crystal chandelier was too dim, the flickering candles on the table did nothing, the food was food, and the only thing different was the distasteful, irritating fiancé of mine that sat straight across from me, making the entire experience unpleasant. Keiichiro sat at the end of the table, the main course chicken blocking his face as it laid on a tall, white pedestal.

Annoyed, I asked, "Why is that thing on a pedestal?"

"The chicken?" Keiichiro replied.

"Yes," I speared a steamed carrot from my plate with a fork, glancing at Ichigo as I did so. She looked as uncomfortable as I felt and slumped down in her chair, pushing a slice of chicken to the side.

"It's to make it look fancy," Answered Keiichiro, his hands moving as he sliced his food.

I stood up from the table, "Well remind me to tell the cook that the food needs to be edible, not placed on a pedestal like a sculpture," I tossed my napkin on the plate, "I'm finished."

"Ryou you haven't even finished your chicken," Keiichiro pointed out.

I ignored him and left the dining room, not exactly as hungry as I probably should have felt. Since the day I found out the news of my arranged marriage, I hadn't exactly been in the most chipper of all moods.

"It's a choice," Keiichiro stated, the once white paper now beige with age had words written from my parents before they died about an agreement they had made years before I was born with a family they had met and been friends with for a very long time. However, I had never met or heard or even known of these people while my parents were alive and it was never once discussed with me the situation that was at hand. Keiichiro folded the paper in his hands. I couldn't believe the words that were coming from his mouth. After all the years of knowing, now was the time to tell me that I had some arranged fiancé, miles away from my house?

"Of course it's a choice," I grabbed the paper from his hands and slipped it into the waste basket next to my desk, "It's a choice because I'm an adult and don't have to go through with it, which I'm not going to. I don't need a wife to weigh me down. I have a life and dream I'm working on at the moment and a family is not a priority."

"We're not a family?" Keiichiro asked with a smile.

"Don't be cheek with me," I snorted, "you know what I mean"

He shrugged and was silent for a moment, giving me the opportunity to turn back to my work on the computer. After a few seconds and he hadn't moved from where he stood next to my desk, I glanced up at him.

He grinned again and folded his hands behind his back, "There is a reason why I have brought this to your attention Ryou."

I returned my attention back to my computer and as I typed, asked, "What now?"

He coughed and pulled another white folded piece of paper from his back, holding it out to me. I looked up at him and he had a serious expression on his face, "You might want to reconsider that marriage. This is a letter from your attorney. Turns out, you may not get to keep your parents fortune."

I marched into my study, shutting the glass, wooden framed doors then pulled the curtains that covered the glass. Why there were glass doors, I never knew. But one thing I did know was that I was making the right step to keeping my inheritance and that was inviting Momomiya to stay in the mansion. I didn't have a choice at the moment but I was one step closer and that was all that mattered. I walked to my desk, running my hand over my face. Twenty-two years old with my life laid out in front of me and a stupid arranged marriage is the only barrier in my way.

If I had know my parents were serious about the arranged marriage to the point that in their will they'd force me to immediately find a wife, I would've started dating years ago. But it was never a priority. It was never something I was exactly interested in. My career and my future were my main interests and priority and now all of a sudden, that had to change. I opened the curtains to the window outside and looked out. It was getting late. And I could hear the drizzle from earlier start to grow into a heavy rain.

"Fantastic," I groaned. There were plans and things to do for tomorrow and with the rain, it was just going to make it more difficult to get it all done. I sat down in the large, burgundy leather chair. Rubbing my chin with one hand and tapping my fingers on the arm of the chair with the other, I started to calculate my plans for tomorrow before I took out my planner to flip through it.

"Call the company president...make arrangements to talk to miss Aizawa...meeting with the board..." I listed off as I searched for my planner. Opening a drawer to my desk, I found my planner and opened it to the date. Running my finger over the lists of things do to in the morning, I stopped at a note that I hadn't made myself.

"Make arrangements with Ichigo to look for wedding planner? What?" I narrowed my eyes, taking note that it was Keiichiro's writing. I shut the planner and stood up from my desk, ready to hunt down my so-called 'best friend'.

When I found him, he was in the overly large the living room, reading a book near a fire he probably prepared himself. The vintage chair he sat on squealed as he moved, his fingers slickly turning a page in his book, his reading glasses at the tip of his nose. I cleared my throat and he looked up, the familiar smile immediately breaking out across his face.

"Ah, good evening Ryou," he motioned towards an equally vintage looking couch near his chair. I had given him the permission to decorate most of the rooms in the house. Apparently the living room was where he went through a 30's phase. I shook my head and held up my planner, "What's this?" I asked.

"Your planner," he answered as he took of his glasses and shut his book.

I nodded and flipped to the page with tomorrows plans while Keiichiro watched patiently. When I found it I asked, "Why does it say that I have to make arrangements with Momomiya to look for a wedding planner?"

"Because you're going to need one unless you plan on making up this wedding on your own," Keiichiro pointed at me with his glasses.

"I don't want anything to do with planning this wedding Keiichiro," I said icily, "If you want it to be spectacular, fine. For all I care, we could sign the papers and be done with it. Then I could ship her back off to her parents." I turned around and began to leave the room.

"So you're saying then that I can plan the wedding with Ichigo?" My friend asked.

I shrugged, holding my hands up in the air, "Do what you want. I don't care."

"You're going to regreeeet it," he sang.

This made me stop in my tracks. Why, of all things, would I regret planning a wedding with a girl I barely knew, didn't like, and had to marry? I wouldn't. That's the thing. I wouldn't have regretted it at all. What I had said to Keiichiro was true. After we were officially "married", I planned to never speak to the girl again. I planned to start where I left off at and continue my work. I planned to continue my work even through the wedding and marriage. The wedding, the girl, the marriage were things I had no concern for, and I would've bet anything that Momomiya felt the same way. Why would she feel any different than I had?

Just like me, the girl was forced into the marriage. So we supposedly had a "choice" but we both knew somehow we were going to be sucked into it. Getting married at this age? Why? We weren't in love. We had no real motivation to actually go through with it except for the facts that our parents were somehow involved. I knew her parents were incredibly ecstatic to know they could finally ship their daughter off to live with a wealthy young man. I was only in it because my parents, may they rest in peace, basically even from their graves were forcing me to do it. As ghosts, they were still trying to run my life. Almost ten years after their death, they were making me do things I didn't want to do.

But it didn't matter. What the will said was what I had to go through. At the age of twenty two, I was to have a wife and family in order to keep my inheritance.

"You're fuckin' kidding me right?" I tore the attorney's letter from Keiichiro's hands. I was standing now, practically pacing my study as I read the printed words on the white sheet of paper. I read the letter once, then twice, and then a third time before the words actually set in and registered.

"I am to have found a partner and gone through a legal unionization or marriage before the ending of the year, December thirty-first in order to keep my inheritance and estate?" I spat out the question, the paper falling victim to my hands as I crumpled it into a ball.

"Considering you don't have a girlfriend or ever really had one," Keiichiro began as took a glass bottle of old brandy down from a shelf on the wall, "I thought that this would be a good time to bring out the letter your parents had written to you about the arranged marriage. And because I doubt you'll find a woman to marry you based on your looks and charms," I thought I saw him roll his eyes but I ignored it, "and I also doubt you'll find a woman who actually reaches your standards, I figured the best way to approach this situation is to call in what your parents are obviously wanting you to do."

"Marry a girl I've never met before," I looked at Keiichiro as he poured the brandy into a clear glass. He grinned and nodded, "Preciously."

"You're suggesting I actually go through with this arrangement?" I asked.

"I'm not just suggesting it," he bent down and took the old folded letter from my parents from the waste basket and held it out to me, "I'm telling you to do it."

He handed me the cup of brandy and I took, along with the letter. My best friend was a smart, smart man. To save my inheritance, my estate I had spent years working to build up, and my integrity I was going to marry someone I never even knew.

When I awoke the next morning, the light from my bedroom window was shining brightly on my face. I blocked out the sun with my arm and sighed. "Why hadn't I shut the curtains before I went to sleep last night?" I questioned my stupidity and rolled over on my side to check the alarm clock. It was early. Too early. But now I was awake and there was no way I was going to get back to sleep. I had a hard time getting to sleep as it was.

Rolling out of bed, I slipped on a pair of slippers and made my way down to the kitchen. Scratching my shirtless chest, I yawned loudly and made my entrance into the kitchen. Much to my surprise, I wasn't the only one up so early.

"Mornin'," the red head greeted with a mouthful of cereal. She sat on top of the counter near the sink, her legs swinging carelessly as she munched on breakfast foods. I cocked an eyebrow, "Good morning?"

I took down a mug from a cabinet and filled it with the coffee that had just finished brewing. I glanced back over at Momomiya and noticed what she was wearing. A tight pink tank top and loose, faded plaid shorts that looked too big even for me. Her hair was pulled up and a bright yellow sweatband was wrapped around her head. Taking my coffee in my hands, I leaned against the counter and asked, "What's with the headband?"

She paused a moment from chewing her cereal and looked at the ceiling as she thought. "Mmmm," she finally hummed and shrugged, "I don't know. I always wear it. It keeps the hair out of my eyes."

"Your hair is already pulled up," I pointed out. She shrugged again in response and took another big bite of cereal. When did I start buying cereal?

"Would you...like some coffee?" I asked, pointing my thumb over my shoulder at the coffee machine. She sat down her bowl of what looked like milk now and said, "Sure," with a smile I had yet to see on her. I took another mug from the cabinet and filled it with the fresh coffee. She took it in one hand but didn't drink it. Instead she continued to hold it while carefully reaching for her bowl of cereal sugar milk in her other hand. Once she was holding both liquids, she slowly poured the milk into her coffee. This flabbergasted me.

She stirred the now light brown coffee with her forefinger, licked her finger after she was done, and took a long drink of the caffeine sugar mix. I stood watching, my mouth agape at the girl. "What the hell was that?" I thought. I always drank my coffee black. It was strongest that way in my opinion. And I knew people added creamer and sugar sometimes. Keiichiro always added enough creamer until the coffee was almost white. But never had I seen someone add cereal milk to their coffee.

Momomiya sat the mug down on the counter and stretched her arms in the air, "That was delicious," she said to no one in particular and laughed. She hopped down from the counter and sat her cereal bowl in her sink. She leaned against the counter, her arms resting on the edge, her leg bent outwards as she chugged the rest of the coffee down. This also stunned me.

Momomiya hiccuped, rinsed out her dishes, gave a little wave, and left. As she left, Keiichiro walked in, watching her with a grin as they passed each other, "Mornin'," they greeted and she was gone, probably running up the stairs, two steps at a time.

"Ooooh!" Keiichiro laughed when he saw me standing in the kitchen, "Were you two having breakfast together?" he batted his eyelashes in a stupid attempt to mock me. I continued to stare at the exit of the kitchen where the girl had left through.

"She drinks coffee with cereal milk and can chug it down in less than three seconds," I stated. Keiichiro had his glasses on, a blue robe covering up most of his body like an old man. He smiled, "You know, she is something. I've only known her for less than a day and I can see that."

He pulled the blinds on the window in the kitchen and squinted at the sky, "Looks like it started to clear up over night. Good thing too. Ichigo and I are going to go a store that specializes in weddings to start looking at invitations. Then to an agency where I know someone who's going to pull some stings on getting a perfect wedding planner," he smiled, "sure you wouldn't care to join us?"

I narrowed my eyes and nodded, "I'm sure."

He shrugged, "We're leaving around three if you care to join us."

"I don't care," I answered, setting down my coffee mug then leaving the kitchen. "And I'm not going to care ever."

Author's note: Oooh looks like a relationship is starting to develop. Anyways, thank you my...single reviewer. I appreciate the feedback. Uh, well see you guys next chapter.