I do NOT own Naruto or Tokyo Mew Mew but I DO own this fanfic.
A while after her conversation with Temari and Kankuro, Ichigo began to train more. She wanted to become stronger. If she could just be stronger, she figured could protect those she held dear to her heart. Also, she would be able to seize back the happiness that had been wrongly taken from her so many times. The weak couldn't survive in this world where shinobi reigned, but yet, love seemed so foreign? Love in this world was a twisted concept. You fought to protect those you loved, but hurt the loved ones of others in the process. A unnerving truth, a way of survival. But, was this 'way of the shinobi' much different from the way of life in her world?
Many weeks passed, and Ichigo did not visit Gaara. She heeded Temari and Kankuro's words and stayed away. This was difficult, for she longed to see him. She wondered if she was a terrible girl. She liked Gaara. She always knew she had, but she tried to push this thought to the back of her head. Wasn't it wrong to love someone else? She had given her heart and soul to Masaya. She couldn't just abandon him, even in death. Could she?
Gaara usually isolated himself in times when Shukaku was angry, like he was now. He had been shut up in his room for a few days straight, excluding the times when he emerged for the occasional meal. While he was in his room, he had time to think. He thought about Ichigo. He wondered how much he had frightened her. Did she find him disgusting? Did she hate him now?
Gaara didn't want to live like this. Having everyone run from you and hate you, it was disgusting. Sooner or later you find yourself disgusting. But Shukaku would not allow his vessel to die, so Gaara was forced to lived a cursed existance.
So here was the question: Would he just continue to live like this?
Gaara didn't wish to. He wondered if he could change this.
Now he thought of Naruto.
Maybe, just maybe, he could...
Just then, he heard Temari enter through the front door. Kankuro had been sleeping on the couch, but woke up from the noise.
"Oh, Temari, it's you," he said.
"Yeah," Temari replied. "So have you been sleeping the whole day?"
Kankuro didn't reply.
Gaara heard Temari sigh. "You had better not get lazy, Kankuro. I saw that girl, Ichigo. She was training her butt off today. I was a little impressed."
"Wow," Kankuro sounded surprised. "So do you think...what we said to her...?"
"Maybe."
"So she really likes him that much."
"It seems so."
Gaara looked out the window, to see if he could spot Ichigo, but to no avail.
Gaara lay on his back and stare at the ceiling.
He touched the kanji symbol he had engraved in his forehead. "Ichigo...one day...just wait. I won't give up either."
Time passed rapidly, and soon the days turned into months.
Before Ichigo knew it, her time in Sunagakure was up and it was time to return to Konohagakure.
It was her last night in Sunagakure. She was to leave with Naruto and Kakashi the next day. She lay in the bed, and thought about her time in Suna. She had had a lot of fun, and made some new friends. She had become stronger and Kakashi had offered to teach her a few jutsus.
She had even found a new lov-.
Ichigo stopped herself. That word lingered in the back of her mind, with an image of Gaara.
Ichigo looked up at the clear, starry sky.
"Masaya," she said. "Is it wrong? Am I wrong for being this way? The way I feel is undeniable, but...I can't betray you."
A few tears fell from her reddish-brown eyes.
"I wish I could see you, Masaya. I wish I knew what you would say to me."
Little did she know that she already knew.
Ichigo now found herself at an amuesment park. The lights gleamed brightly against the night sky, and the sounds of music, laughing children and cheerful cries filled the air. Masaya and her were hand in hand, enjoying each other's company. The love between the two of them was tangible, their bond unbreakable.
Masaya led Ichgo to a bench, where he kissed her passionately. There was a spark between them that was unlike any other that Ichigo had felt before. Perhaps that was love.
As they finished kissing, Masaya smiled at Ichigo. "Ichigo. No matter what, I always want you to be happy. Always. This is my greatest desire. I want you to keep smiling like you always do. Share that smile with the world!"
"I will, Masaya," Ichigo smiled brightly.
Suddenly, all that was around them melted away. It became blurrier until it completely faded.
The bench, the carnival, the people, it was all gone.
Ichigo stood in a place of nothing-ness. In front of her stood Masaya.
"Ichigo," he was smiling at her. "No matter what, I always want you to be happy."
Then Masaya faded away and before she could even utter a word, and interior of the Sunagakure apartment came into view.
Ichigo had now awakened from a dream.
When she realized that Masaya had been a dream, and that now she had been forced back to reality, she began to cry, quietly.
It then occured to her that she had been dreaming about a date her and Masaya had gone on almost a year ago.
"No matter what, I always want you to be happy."
That sentence lingered in her head.
Ichigo wiped her tears. Masaya's answer to her question, that was it.
She'd had it all along.
A/N: Thanks for reading everyone! :)
