I hate this chapter. oO It wasn't at all how I expected it to be. I had wanted to get around to writing this chapter already, but when I got here, I wrote down the stuff I had planned for it, and what? Only 1500 words, what?! So yeah, it was a darn toughie, trying to shove in a bunch of random stuff that I didn't even plan to have in here. That's why this chapter will suck after you read it. If you were bored, there are reasons behind it.

In fact, the next two or three chapters might be a bit dull, I must say. All the big chapters start at around Chapter 14, so yeah. Or is it 12? Yeah, might be 12. Yup, it's 12. So, this chapter, along with chapters 10 and 11 are just Ryou/Ichigo bonding-ness and such. Which might sound good to you Ryou/Ichigo shippers, but you'll probably get bored of it quickly.

So, as you can see, I am ranting quite much in the author's notes sections, why, because this chapter is so darn SHORT, it bugs the heck out of me! I hate short chapters. It makes me wanna pull my hair out. Yup, yup, yup. Hair. Out. NAO. Yup.

To the two people that bashed this story ... gosh, I love you, guys! XD -still laughing- Jisu, you're my favorite anti-RxI person ever! x3 (Oh, and Saica too! x3) And "anonymouse" ... haha! I'm in such a giggle fit! XD I love ya, too! And love-ness to everyone else I know. You get love too, Cherrio! Hugs to all! Wh00t! And thanks to everyone for getting me up to the 200 reviews! YOU'RE ALL AWESOME! WHOO!

ANYWAY! About this chapter, it's well, not too exciting, as I so pointed out before. I swear, I need to get Ryou and Ichi's thoughts back into the game. I think that's why these things are shorter than planned. Cause they aren't THINKING. They need to think, because no thinking leads to death. It does. I read so. Yup.

So, yes, go ahead and start reading the chapter, before you fall unconscious due to the frustration you are forming from reading these pointless notes from me, that may not really be notes, but are just pointless rants that make absolutely no sense. Oh well, I blame Carmen. That's right, I'm talking to YOU, Carmen Sandiego! I'll find ya! I WILL! ROAR! Oh, and a big thanks to ... THE BEATLES! For being my awesome background music while I banged my head on the desk as I attempted to write this chapter. Peace to John Lennon:D

IX. DASH

My life reads like the classifieds.
Pages of what's for sale; what's on the auction block.
Attention bidders! It's Lot 45.
He's got a decent voice, he's got that crooked smile.
Hold on, you haven't heard the best yet.
He writes good storylines, he's got those honest eyes.
So take him home for just $9.95.
He'll sing the songs you like, he'll keep you warm at night.
-'Classifieds' by The Academy Is ...

Ichigo stared at her cellphone, remaining quite lost in her thoughts. Why had he called her? Wasn't it only a few hours ago that she had received the letter announcing their so-called "break-up"? She sighed, not really knowing what to think of any of it.

When she had answered the phone, she remembered feeling a tinge of excitement upon hearing his voice. Oh, how she loved that voice. It felt as if it had been so many months, even years, since she had heard it. But no, it had only been a few days before.

And on that day they had spoken, she could have sworn they were happy. They sounded happy. But upon getting the letter, she must have guessed that maybe he wasn't happy. But if he hadn't been happy, how did she never get a hint, a sign, anything to pre-warn her of his want to break up?

Now, there he had been, calling her up, asking to talk with her. And what did she say in return? Nothing. Just silence. It took a good minute or two for her to get her voice back, and by that time, she still didn't know what to say to him. After all, what could she say?

She stepped back onto the bridge, where Ryou had waited for her as she spoke on the phone with her possibly ex-boyfriend. Upon hearing her footsteps, he turned around, taking a moment without really saying anything to her, until he finally spoke up. "So ... what happened?"

She shook her head, putting her hands in her pockets. "He wanted to talk. But, um, I said it wasn't a good time. I guess, I don't know. I just don't think I'm ready to talk to him right now. I told him to call me back tomorrow," she explained, laying her arms on the railing and resting her head on them.

Ryou just stared at her in confusion. "Wait a minute, why would you say that? I thought you wanted to talk to him. Now you want to wait?"

"I thought I did. But, I mean, today's just been a whole mess after another. I just can't deal with all of this drama right now," she said, though she wasn't even sure if she was making much sense. True, she had wanted to talk to Masaya in order to clear all of this up, but she had mixed feelings right now and she really needed time to think things through. "I just think that this has been good for me, you know."

No, he didn't know. He raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders to let her know that he wasn't on her track.

"Today, it's just been you and me, and I've been without Masaya. This is like a chance for me to see what it's like to just be free, to be without him. I mean, I never thought about not wanting to be with him, but this sort of lets me think about it, and lets me just see what life is like without him."

By the look on his face, you could easily tell that Ichigo wasn't the best at explaining things, considering he still wasn't exactly getting her. "Well, your wording's a little bit here and there, but I might understand the general meaning of what you're trying to say. You just want to experiment and try to be without him for a day."

"Exactly!" She exclaimed, nodding her head, relieved that she somehow made sense in her short rant. "Besides, I promised you we'd have our 'day of fun' and I can't just back out of that now to get into some Masaya drama that could be reserved for later. Plus, don't we have a bet to complete?"

Ryou nodded, but sighed. "Don't you think little Aoyama might get all upset cause you were kissed by me thirty times in a day? Not to mention that this was immediately after the two of you broke up," he paused, thinking his words over. "Actually, it started even before you broke up. Hmm."

"It's just a bet," she answered immediately. "Besides, like I said, this day isn't about Masaya. This is just a day to just relax and be by myself and just enjoy a day without having a boyfriend or worrying about love and all of that stuff."

"All the while, making out with another guy," he stated with a smirk.

Ichigo turned slightly red at the comment. "Hey! This is just a bet, Ryou. And we're not making out. We're just ... it's just tiny pecks here and there. Nothing that should be considered a big deal." She failed to mention the few deep, long kisses they have already had. She knew as well as he did that those were definitely there, but she figured that they really didn't need mentioning.

He shrugged, deciding not to further mention it either. "If you say so, Ichigo," he said, though he continued to smirk, letting her know, he obviously knew better.

She scoffed. "You know, Ryou, I hate you," she stated, though she was trying to hold back a chuckle.

He just shrugged, poking her forehead, as they once again began walking, off of the bridge. "I'll live."

She poked him back on his shoulder. "I'm sure."

"As well. You should be." Another poke on her arm.

"Of course." A poke on his arm.

"Good." A poke on her back.

"Yes." A poke on his back.

"Mhmm." A poke on her stomach.

"Yup." A poke on his stomach.

"Indeed." A poke on her cheek.

"Yuh-huh." A poke on his cheek.

"Quite." A poke on her nose.

"Definitely." A poke on his nose; with a tippy-toe for this one.

Instead of continuing the conversation further, he grabbed at her sides and began to tickle her, causing her to burst out into sudden laughter. Now he knew for sure that he had won the argument.

"Whoa, hey! That's ... not ... fair!" She tried to protest in between giggles. She attempted to fight back, but he showed no signs of backing down. "Alright, fine, fine! You win, okay?! You win!"

Still, he continued, laughing himself, until he finally decided to give her a chance to breathe, and thus let her go. However, she was still laughing even as he removed his arms from around her. He took this chance to quickly lean down and kiss her. After all, he still had a bet to win. "Looks like there's something else you're about to lose, Ichi," he commented, with the use of a nickname.

She crossed her arms, grinning. "You haven't completed the thirty yet, Ryou-chan."

"You want to start the tickling again, Ichigo?"

She bit her lip. She didn't think she had enough breath in her to go through that again. Still, she couldn't help but to continue making comments back at him. "I think I'll pass with that, Sparky."

He shook his head and chuckled. He was prepared to start tickling her again, but was interrupted by a strange young raven-haired girl appearing suddenly before them.

"Helloooo! Greetings, my friends! I am the great Mademoiselle Plumster!" shouted the Plum girl. Ryou and Ichigo took a few steps back in fear of this random, scary stranger appearing out of no where. "I am a famous and professional fortune teller and for just a yen or two, I can tell you anything, anything at all, including what awaits you in your future! Just ask the question and I'll give you a dash of Plum magic!"

Ryou blinked at the girl in confusion. "Um ... who are you?"

The Plum girl groaned, shoving what appeared to be a business card written in pen in his face. "I told you! I am Mademoiselle Plumster and for just a small price, I can tell you anything you want! So what do you want to hear? What's gonna happen with your career? Your education? Your love life? That's always the most popular category these days."

"Um, right. Look, Miss ... Plum or whoever you are, I don't think we really have the time for ..." he trailed off, already dragging Ichigo in the opposite direction.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Plum shouted, running in front of them to prevent them from moving forward. "I'm not a fake, I swear! I can really tell you absolutely anything you want! I really am psychic, yuh-huh! And I can prove it!" She pointed to Ryou. "You, the emo orphan dude with feelings of unrequited love, who just needs to take a break," she stated, before turning to Ichigo. "And you're some sort of cat-girl with some love issues and only half a brain."

Ichigo gasped. "Hey, I do not have half a brain!"

"Hmm, you're right. Probably more to a fourth."

But Ryou just raised an eyebrow, seeming quite impressed, even though he figured the whole idea of psychics and fortune tellers were just plain silly. "Alright, fine, I'll go along with this. What's in the future for me then?"

Ichigo replayed the words in her head. Yeah, she had gotten most of the facts correct. Well, except for the whole thing about having only half a brain–or one-fourth or whatever–because that was definitely not true at all. But wait. "Hold on, unrequited–?"

"Don't jump so fast there, emo dude! I don't do this stuff for free, you know! That'll be 5000 yen!" Plum said, completing forget her whole "a yen or two" guarantee.

Ryou shook his head, preparing to walk again. "I don't have time for this."

Plum groaned, giving up and shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, fine! I'll do this stuff for free, alright!" She gave in, mumbling something under her breath about making a living and so on and so forth. "Alright, so you want to hear about your future, right? Well, okay then," she said, closing her eyes, going into deep thought.

Ichigo was only half-listening, still wondering about the "unrequited love" thing, as Ryou waited impatiently for Plum to continue on.

"Okay, well ... you'll be very successful in life; your career will do you wonders. You'll live in a big place, looks like a café of some sort. There'll be plenty of people living there. Oh, and it seems that you'll be married!" Ryou raised an eyebrow at this. "Hmm, red-haired girl, very spunky, although annoying." She opened her eyes. "It's the catgirl next to you, in fact."

This caught Ichigo's attention. She and Ryou both remained silent for a moment, looking at one another. Then, at the same time, they both burst into sudden laughter, causing Plum to become confused.

"Erm, what's ... so funny?"

Both could barely breathe, much less speak, but Ryou managed to cough and speak up. "You honestly believe that Ichigo and I are gonna get married?"

Plum blinked, not knowing why they were finding it hard to believe. Though it wasn't too much of a surprise to see their reaction. After all, most people didn't tend to believe her fortunes anyhow, whether they were true or not. "No, it's true. You and her are gonna get married in the future. And you'll have four–no, five–kids," she paused, having to think on this. "Hmm, or maybe it's six? Could be more."

That only made the idea even more funnier and insane than it was before. Ichigo continued to laugh, finding the plain idea of her and Ryou getting married just truly crazy. Kissing Ryou was one thing–she was crazier enough to be doing just that, but maybe it would have been more crazier not to, who knows–but actually marrying the guy was something she'd only do if she were to suddenly start doing drugs, which that would definitely be the last thing Ichigo did. Well, the second to last thing, seeing as how marrying Ryou would be the definite final thing she'd do.

And having kids with him? Way to result to madness! And not just one or two, but there was an estimate of at least five or six?! She knew some fortune tellers were cracked, but this was really quite the prediction.

"Well, that was ... anyway, thank you very much for that information, madame. You ... have a good day, will you?" Ryou said, as he took Ichigo by the arm and walked in fast paces away from the young, strange fortune teller.

Plum still couldn't figure out why they were so shocked and surprised by her vision. It seemed like a pretty normal, typical prediction to her. She shrugged, deciding it was no point to worry too much. Too bad she didn't get paid for it, though. She would just have to find another victim.

She turned her head, spotting a young-looking lawyer dude with fuzzy brown hair, yapping away on his cell phone. She grinned, as her plan went into action. "'Scuse me! You there!"

As for Ryou and Ichigo, they were some long yards away from the scene now. They finally slowed their pace, attempting to catch a quick breath.

Ichigo continued to giggle, not being able to get that silly fortune teller out of her head. "Can you believe her? The two of us married!"

Ryou shook his head, still not believing what he had heard. "You're frustrating already. It'd be some kind of suicide to have you as my wife," he announced plainly. As usual, he had his signature smirk on, as he pinched her arm.

"Do you enjoy picking on me?" She asked, though she knew the usual pattern. It wasn't as if it'd actually make much sense if he didn't make fun of her in one form or another. "Or does it just come naturally?"

He scratched his chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Hmm, well that might be a tough question," he cleared his throat in attempts to put on his smart, lecture tone. "You see, I do find much entertainment in the torture I give you, thus making the former option true. However, it seems that whether it is by choice or not, as with the latter, it has just become a true part of me, I suppose."

"Thus making them both true?" She asked, making an attempt at using his choice of vocabulary.

"I believe so."

She sat down on a bench, as he followed behind and sat down beside her. "If you say so."

He nodded. "I do say so."

Ichigo gave a quiet chuckle, and just looked up to the sky, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't get it. It was only a few hours ago that you were the one person in the world I absolutely hated the most and now," she paused, and he tilted his head, waiting for her to continue. "Now, I guess, you aren't as bad as I thought you were."

"Is that so?"

"I think so."

It was true. Just yesterday, she really hated her employer. He annoyed her to the point where she wanted to bang her head repeatedly with a cereal bowl and then stick her head inside a water-filled fish bowl–with fish included–and just watch to see what happens. Yup, it was that bad.

But now, she didn't think she'd go to that extreme. Sure, he was still completely annoying. But after a while, it wasn't so bad having him around. She might actually be beginning to get used to the whole idea. Of course, she wasn't really liking him in that way, but she did really like him as a person.

He crossed his arms, and turned his body in the seat to completely face her. "Well, this is quite a surprise to hear, Momomiya. You sure you aren't falling in love with me now?" He asked. Yup, the smirk was there. The smirk is always there.

She scoffed. "Don't get so cocky now, Shirogane. I'm just saying, you're not a bad person. I'm not pouring out my heart out to you or anything. You're still annoying and you're still a jerk, but maybe you aren't as bad as I thought you were. That doesn't make anything I believed about you not true. It just makes it less of a bad thing."

She knew the wording in there was all wrong and quite confusing, but she hoped he got the point anyway. She knew that he was just kidding about the 'falling in love' thing, but she made sure that he knew it was a true fact that she wasn't and was not planning on falling in love with him anytime soon. Wait–she took that back. She was not falling in love with him ever.

No matter what, or how less of a bad guy he turned out, he was still Ryou Shirogane, her ultimate jerk of a boss. Yup, it was what he did best.

He sighed, pretending to be upset. "Alright, Ichigo, I believe you. Just make sure that you know that you are and will always be the little, annoying, spunky strawberry catgirl that drives me to the point where I'm willing to cut my own arm off just so I have something to throw at you."

She laughed. "And you're the mean, jerk, boss-man, and catboy who I just love to hate."

He grinned and gave a solid nod. "Proud of it."

She rolled her eyes, in mid-smile, looking away from him for a brief moment. It was then that something quite interesting caught the corner of her. She adjusted her eyes to get a better view, and when she saw that it was what she thought it was, she suddenly formed an idea. She stood up, and turned to Ryou, taking her hand out in front of him for him to take. "Come."

He raised an eyebrow, not quite sure what this sudden gesture was. "Um, what?"

She bounced up and down, wanting for him to hurry it up. "Come on! I want to take you somewhere!"

"Seriously? I mean, we've already had the beach and the karaoke and everything. Aren't you even the slightest bit tired, woman?!"

She laughed at his tone, and shook her hand. "We made a deal for a day of fun and that is what we are having. Therefore, you have to listen to what I say and go wherever it is I want to take you."

"And why is that the rule?"

"Ryou!"

He groaned, taking her hand and standing up. "This better not something crazy again. No more swimming, singing, or anything of the bizarre kind."

"Not to worry, my friend, this requires very little movement, but still contains all of the enjoyment," she explained, as she dragged him along the street to her desired destination.

Upon seeing with where they were headed, his eyes widened. "Oh no, Ichigo ..."

She just smiled. It was time for a little dash of Ichi-magic and fun.

-End, Part IX.

Sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks! I hate it! ROAR! Oh well. Erm, yeah. So, in this chapter, you might have noticed TWO of my other characters shoved in for the sake of my lack of sanity. Plum, the horrible fortune teller, is my child. Yup. Well, she's my ultimate role-playing character, Arisa Shimizu, who I just happened to want having made an appearance in my story. Why, cause she's AWESOME! Wh00t! The other character is the un-named lawyer dude Plum goes to bother after Ryou and Ichigo leave. There's no name mentioned, but he's Bob Pushkaboomda. He's awesome, too.

So, anyhoo, I'm sure you hate this chapter too, even if you DO so happen to review it with "omg! so awesomeee! please write more!". It's okay. You can be nice. I like nice people. But you can be honest, too, you know. I like honesty. It makes the world a better place. :D (Or does it?)

Since I'm nice, and because I have disappointed all today, I shall provide a little hint at what you can expect for the next chapter. It's Chapter 10 (like, obviously) and is entitled "10". Yup. Just "10". I didn't choose it. Blame the 30 Kisses community. So, I guess, the title doesn't really hint much. It's a Ryou-centric chapter, which includes much peace, love, and photobooths! Okay, well, not so much peace as there is love, but there's much of the photobooths! You all know the photobooths, right? Those little tiny rooms, no bigger than the usual port-a-potties, where you snap little cute pictures of yourself or you with your friends, which can be found in malls or in the middle of the street or in such places. They're nice things, and I felt really it'd be interesting to include them in the story.

Another hint? Listen to "Photobooth" by Death Cab For Cutie. That's the intro song for the next chapter. It's a cool song, too, so I'm sure you'll like it. :D

And because I'm getting annoying with the most ultimate LONGEST AUTHOR'S NOTES SECTION EVER, I shall finally get to your favorite part of the CLIFFHANGING VOICE! WHOO!WHAT does Ichigo have planned for the two of them (well, if you read a little higher, I'm sure you SHOULD have figured it out, Sherlock)? WHEN will this day of fun–or insanity–come to an end? WHO agrees with me that this was probably the worst chapter written in the history of mankind (or at least for this story)?! WHY are my chapters suddenly all short now instead of the humongous chapters I used to do? WHERE is Carmen Sandiego and can someone tell her to stop sending writer's block aura in my direction? HOW can I start writing like a true writer again? Answer to the last? NEVER. NOOO! Err, maybe never. Maybe tomorrow. Or next week. Or next month. Or by Easter. Oh! I like Easter. WORSHIP THE BUNNIES! Until next time when the great Arisadonna brings you a GOOD chapter of THIRTY KISSES! Err, we'll see about the good part.