Hikari: Wow, I'm updating!

Ryou: And she still doesn't own us.

Hikari: T.T

Ichigo: Enjoy!

In A Nutshell

Chapter 3

Sick

"She's gone," Ryou said, shocked and confused as he looked into the room Rika had once occupied. Ryou collapsed to the ground in shock and sickness, he had been working day and night for a week now to find Rika, and it just now set in that she was gone, and was not coming back.

"Ryou," Keiichiro called upstairs. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," Ryou said in shock. The tears swelled up in his eyes, but he did not have the strength to cry. He did not have the strength to do anything anymore. He just sat there in shock as he looked at the empty room before him.

"Why did you leave," Ryou asked himself quietly, hoping that she would answer him and come back. She was his little sister, and he loved her in that way more than she could imagine.

Keiichiro came up twenty minutes later to find Ryou still on the floor in Rika's room, only this time, he was passed out, Keiichiro gently picked Ryou up and moved him to his own room where he could rest.

Soft blue eyes, still wet from the tears that never fell, flickered open and looked around the room. Where was he? And why were the walls so dark and lifeless?

The last thing that Ryou remembered was being outside Rika's room with no strength left in his body, then, blackness. He must have passed out and Keiichiro must have brought him here. Only, he did not recognize where he was.

Ryou looked on for a minute longer until the image of where he was finally registered in his mind, this was his room. This dark and roomy area was where he slept, or, used to. Since Rika had left, he had not slept at all.

He could not sleep, or eat. The only thought that occupied his mind was finding his little sister. Between clearing up the remaining Chimera Animas, the girls had been looking for her, but no progress had been made, she was nowhere to be found.

Ryou stared blankly at the bare walls, when he found Rika, he would have to decorate the room. It just looked so bland and lifeless, like he felt right now. But then, Ryou tore his eyes away from the depressing scene of the blank walls and attempted to stand. No luck. He merely fell back on his white sheets.

"Ryou," Keiichiro said, appearing in the door as if by magic. "You need to rest."

"To Hell with resting," Ryou muttered. "I have to find her."

"No you don't," Keiichiro tried. "You have to rest."

"What if she gets hurt," Ryou said quietly, knowing from the start that this excuse would get him no where."

"She is a resourceful girl," Keiichiro said gently. "She is smart enough not to get hurt. I have faith in her. She will come back when she wants to."

Ryou did not have the strength to argue anymore and laid his head on the white pillows and closed his murky blue eyes. Maybe rest will bring him peace, for at least a little while.

"If I find her, Ryou will get better," Ichigo said to herself as she walked down the forgotten alleyways of Tokyo.

The areas around her were barren and she had only seen a few faces in her time out here, but she was determined. Although she loved Masaya more than anyone else in the world, Ryou meant the second most to her. Despite his cruelties to her, he had helped her through a lot in the few years she had known him. Now it was time for her to repay him and find his sister for him.

Ichigo went on and looked down every dark alleyway and avoided as many of the overly-sketchy people who were looming in them, with the smoke floating gracefully yet deadly around their thin bodies. She trembled in slight fear, but continued on, she was a Mew Mew and that meant she knew how to defend herself in time of need.

Ichigo had grown up so much since she was first injected with the DNA, three years ago. Now she was fifteen and heading off to high school with Masaya soon. They were going to London, England, away from the past Ichigo had here in Tokyo.

A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought about the past and how it affected all of them, how much closer they had come because of it. Retasu had learned to stand up for herself, Minto had reclaimed her brother and they were the best of friends now. Purin had friends to help her and her large family. And Zakuro, she had learned the meaning of friendship. Ichigo, she learned what it means to take charge and stand up for what she believes in.

Those were the best years of her life, and a part of her did not want to give them up, even if it meant leaving Masaya. But another part of her was willing to follow Masaya to the ends of the Earth and back just to be with him. She shook her head to put an end to these thoughts, she loved Masaya, of that she was certain.

"Is he alright," Ichigo asked with concern floating in her chocolate brown eyes.

"He'll be fine," Keiichiro soothed, patting Ichigo on the head lightly. "He is just exhausted from all the stress, this has been hard for him, you know?"

"I know," Ichigo sighed. "I'm just worried is all."

It was the next day and the café was due to open in twenty minutes. Ichigo had come early to save Ryou the trouble of yelling at her, but Keiichiro had chosen that time to tell her that Ryou was sick. He would not say how sick or what was really wrong, al he would say was that Ryou is "sick from stress."

As Keiichiro finished his little speech, Ichigo quickly fled the room to set up. "I'm sorry," Keiichiro said quietly as he went into the kitchen. "I just thought you should be the first to know."

All throughout the day, all Ichigo could think about was Ryou, even when she was on her date with Masaya, Ryou's image flashed through her mind. Masaya knew something was up, and when he asked, Ichigo told him. But his reaction was not one that most would expect, he did not yell and scream that Ichigo should think only of him. Instead, he brought her into a tight embrace and let her cry into his shoulder, or wherever she happened to have her head.

They stayed like that for awhile and Ichigo felt better afterwards, but she also told Masaya that she would not be able to make their date tomorrow. She had to search for Rika. Masaya nodded in understanding and they carried on with the rest of their plans.

Hikari: Remeber READ AND REVIEW! It does make me update faster!