Finally, the update! I'm sorry I couldn't post right after getting the reviews, but I was working on the other story, which is finally coming to an end! YAY! My first fanfic close to completion!
So, apparently this whole mall scenario is going to take longer than I thought. I hope you don't mind! I seem to have trouble moving the story along since I like to focus on specific scenes.
R & R! Anywho, enjoy the read!
Chapter 11: Payback, Part I
Getting a Little Dirty :X
"Damnit jerk. That's a little too close." The brightly blushing Ichigo seethed as she shifted around uncomfortably. After their escape from the store of all that was pink, fluffy and girly (how suitable for Shirogane's tastes the girl noted as she thought of his lovely cafe), the pair of felines had transformed immediately back to humans at the entrance of the shop. They had made a mad dash for the bathrooms from there, hoping that Mint was still around.
Ichigo currently found herself pinned against the wall between the entrance to both the female and male restrooms in a very compromising position. But the blond soon loosened his grip on her and turned around before speaking. "Eh, we don't have to go through with it if you don't want to." No, but it was worth it to get back at Mint.
"Oh, just get back here." She grabbed at his sleeve, forcing him to spin back around as she pulled the unsuspecting blue-eyed blond vigorously back towards her. It's all pretend, it's all pretend! The nervous girl thought desperately to herself. Ichigo wrapped her arms tightly around his back pressing herself into his toned chest, ignoring her sudden shallow breaths as her heartbeat raced. Why did this pretend game have to feel so real?
He stared down at her, eyes widening with shock; his body was tense at the sudden contact, but no sooner had Ichigo noticed that the blond leaned in ever closer, nose brushing her fiery cheeks. "So strawberry panties, hmm?" the low rumble of his husky voice cooed. She looked away from his knowing smirk but felt his continued gaze pierce through her as she resisted the urge to let her ears pop out. She mildly heard footsteps in the distance... was that Mint? Goodness, she had almost forgotten.
"M-Mint's coming!" she whispered to the blond, who only rolled his eyes at her. "You're totally ruining the mood here strawberry." He said softly before blowing into her ear.
"W-What mood? There's no m-mood between us!" She cursed at herself for her stuttering tongue, revealing more than she had wanted to. "You're right, but I'll be sure to build one up" he said, voice hushed as strands of his hair tickled at her face, staring at her with such hungry eyes that they caused a sudden warm sensation to spread through her body.
"Just relax" he purred as he brought his cheek against her own, bringing a firm hand to stroke the back of her neck. "I-chi-go" He blew the syllables of her name carefully into her ears, enunciating each sound with the sexiest tone she had ever heard. It's pretend, just pretend! But by GOD, he really was incredibly hot when he tried to be. She tensed up more under his touch. It was just all too much to take in, even if her fingers itched to explore his body. Sure she thought she could act, but- but this really was impossible to just "act." Not when it felt soo incredibly...
Goodness Ichigo, stop that! She shook her head. No, she wasn't going to keep being the same silly girl who got nervous over everything. She was becoming a new and changed Ichigo and by her strawberry bells, she was going to step up and act!
"Look Ichigo, I don't bite." He cooed as she stared up at his hungry eyes. She stirred at his use of her name. It sounded so good to just hear him call her Ichigo. "Unless you want me to."
It's pretend, she fervently told herself despite giving in to the urge of allowing her hands to slide under his vest to explore the muscled abs and arches of his torso. She fought the urge to kiss him as she felt his breath on her neck. No, that was the agreement. No kissing and he hadn't once kissed her, but now he was touching the curve of her neck with the tip of his nose, slowly tracing his way down the base of her neck at the collarbone. She felt his hands stroking her legs as he slowly traced a single finger up her skirt.
"Eep." She unwillingly let out as she felt him suddenly bring his hand up her thigh and slip it onto her butt, giving a light squeeze. His fingers smoothed the lacy outline until his hand found its way to her wildly lashing tail. Ichigo was certain her heart was going to burst out of her chest. He allowed his hand to run through her tail, which suddenly stiffened at his touch and upon reaching the end, he brought it back against the base of the tail to keep it from view. Even his soft strokes against her cat-like features made her shiver involuntarily.
"Oh. My. God." She could hear Mint's voice, as she dug her face into the blond's chest, keeping hidden. Ryou was facing the wall so there was no way Mint could tell who they were.
"Keep going," he breathed harshly to Ichigo, whose ears were also hidden from view. He pressed against her even more, pinning her with more pressure against the wall.
"Get a goddamn room." Ichigo peeped over his shoulders, only managing to retreat a few seconds too late from Mint's sharp eyes, which had caught the sight of her ears.
"ICHIGO?" She heard her friend's voice screech in utter shock, and then heard her clear her throat to recover her smug attitude.
"Keep going" Ichigo heard the blond hum with his deep voice, breathless. Her body went slightly limp at the sound. It was just so irresistibly sexy. She let out a soft whimper accidentally. Who was she kidding? She wanted him. She wanted him badly. To hell with it. He didn't have to tell her twice.
"No no no. It can't be. That is soo not Ichigo. She would never do something like that. It's not even her style. And she wouldn't wear clothes like that." Mint muttered incoherently to herself as she brought a hand to her unsteady head. "But...weren't those cat ears?"
Mint turned around to get another glance. "Maybe I'm just seeing things? I didn't see a tail." She looked at the pair groping at each other, very much disgusted at the excessive PDA. That was truly something she could go on without seeing today, though the couple seemed to be enjoying themselves very much. The uneasy Mint immediately turned back around, cursing to herself silently for giving in to curiosity by turning around.
Ichigo felt his arm wrap around her waist, pulling her in tightly as he gave a light nibble on her ear. She purled at the simple yet incredible sensation. She brought her hand up ruffling through his neat golden hair as her other hand continued to press against his firmly toned body.
"N-no friggin way that could be I-Ichigo." Said a very red Mint before she turned away from them to walk off.
The redhead suddenly felt the blond pull away, hand releasing her hip as the other pulled out from the back of her shirt. Her body screamed for him to come back; oh how it longed to feel the warmth of his skin after it had a touch. Even as he brought his head away from the curve of her neck, she felt the surface of her skin tingling at the blissful sensation that still lingered.
He took a step back, and much to Ichigo's surprise and embarrassment, her arms were still trapped under his shirt.
"Uhhh..." she managed to utter awkwardly as he raised an eyebrow at her. Finally, she took a step forward to slip her arms out.
"That was horrible." The blond stated flatly, though his ears were glowing red and his cheeks was adorned with a rosy pink. "I was doing all the work! Geez, I thought that with all that time you spent with Masaya, you might've had some idea about what to do." She suddenly saw him draw back a little, though she had not caught on.
Rather, in all her flaming red glory, cheeks as red as her strawberry hair, she fumed back. "Well I'm sorry I'm not as experienced as you, but it's not like me and Masaya ever did anything like that..." Ichigo looked away from him, a little embarrassed.
"What are you talking about? Experienced? I've never done that before." He looked at her, voice completely serious though he was smirking.
"W-what? No way." Ichigo had accidentally let the words slip, but soon covered her mouth. She really shouldn't be feeding his arrogance even more. Though she was honestly surprised; considering how he always had girls throwing them at his feet, she had thought that he must have been with quite a few by now to her agitation.
He was grinning at her. Ugh, so he had heard her.
The blond brought a hand to comb through his messy hair and gave a light sigh. "Geez Ichigo, you've got no sex appeal at all. That wasn't remotely enjoyable." He was already walking away from her and back towards the store.
"W-what?! I have plenty!" she screamed after him quite infuriated by his comment. Her ears and tail were no longer in place. "And don't think that I liked it at all either!" She lied through her teeth.
"Pftt. Do you even know what sex appeal means?" He said as they walked back to the shop. "I have sex appeal, you don't. I mean, take for one, my enormous fan club." He smirked.
"O-Of course I do you idiot...and I could soo have a fan club of my own." She screamed, absolutely fuming at the insult.
"Prove it." He sneered as the sign of the clothing shop came into view. "Try to be a little more convincing next time strawberry? Mint almost didn't buy it this time." With that, he transformed into Alto.
What? There was a next time? The redhead shuddered at his words, though her heart leapt just the slightest. Well, she had known the plans from the beginning, and it didn't involve stopping so soon. Ichigo picked him up, and though she glared at him all she wanted, she still brought the self-satisfied looking kitten to her lips. Ick. Furry lips. So this is what Shirogane had to deal with all this time.
Mint had entered the shop some time ago, which allowed for kitty Ichigo to sneak back into the dressing room without being caught at the entrance. But only when both she and Alto had managed to transform back into humans did they realize something. She was still wearing those clothes that Mint had seen her in. So after her smug boss was shooed out of the dressing room as a cat, Ichigo hurriedly tried on a pink top with a cute black kitten at the center and slipped into a pair of jeans. Her heart was thumping so loudly that she was sure everyone in the fitting rooms could hear.
"Ichigo?" She heard Mint call, signalling for her to show her what she was wearing. With her back leaning against the door, she pressed her hands to her lungs as she attempted to catch her breath. Hopefully Alto had gotten out without getting caught and successfully transformed back. But their narrow escape wasn't the only reason she was left breathless.
When the redhead stepped out, her best friend only shook her head in disapproval. "No, no, no. This isn't a change in style at all. It's time to go somewhere else. All they have here is your normal clothes. I thought we were trying to change your image." Mint said exasperated, with the red in her cheek still lingering.
After ordering Ichigo to change back into her own clothes, she asked her if there was anything she wanted. The redhead, not being the complete idiot that her boss often claimed her to be, said there was nothing, even though she really did like that outfit Mint had seen her in before. So as the Mews and Keiichiro left the store, Ichigo slipped by the counter to secretly buy her new set of clothes herself.
She had just reached out her hand to pay the cashier, when she felt her arm pulled aside and saw a gold colored credit card shoved into the cashier's hand. "Let me cover it strawberry."
She turned to her right, glancing at the blond, a little confused. "Besides," he mindlessly brought his hand to comb through his hair "You didn't look half bad in it." Ichigo stared at him, just catching the red tint on the tip of his ear before he turned around to face her. This guy really was bipolar. Hadn't he just called her completely unattractive before?
"Thank you." She said with mixed feelings as he snatched the bag of freshly folded clothes before she could get to it. She followed him out of the store, heart still thumping erratically at the thought of what she had done with him. It was so dirty. How on Earth had he convinced her to agree to this? She felt her cheeks grow warm, probably now bright pink, as she recalled the very brief few minutes of resistance before she had consented so easily.
Her cheeks only grew redder as she continued her thoughts, her skin tingled at the memory of his touch. Ichigo shook her head violently – that was of course, right before he had said she had absolutely no sexual appeal at all. Her thoughts returned to his insult as she winced at the words. She just couldn't shake it off. Who was he to tell her that? That idiot didn't know what he was talking about.
So he needed some convincing? Oh hell, he's getting it. Just he wait, she would definitely win the next round.
Her eyes narrowed a bit as she stepped out of the clothing shop to meet her friends. She was however, met with a very pleasant surprise.
"Are you sure she was still in the fitting room?" Mint had her back turned towards the pair now leaving the store as she wildly waved her arms around. "Cuz I swear it really looked like Ichigo. I mean, I couldn't really see, but I thought I saw cat ears. She was totally sucking face with some guy. Really! I think she has some secret boyfriend or something. And they way they were just all over each other, it was totally si- " Mint stiffly turned her head around upon seeing the red-faced Lettuce point behind her, hearing Pudding hush her like mad, and Zakuro whose eyes darted from Mint to the listeners behind her. "silly Ichigo." She turned around to face the smiling redhead and smirking Ryou. Oh, this was good. Things were going according to plan. Was Mint finally getting a taste of what it meant to mess with the leader of the Mews?
And yes, Ichigo Momomiya can act. So she simply kept calm and pretended to look clueless when she asked Mint. "What are you talking about?" Her tone was sweet and innocent, not in the least suspicious for her.
"Uhuhuhuh..."Mint stepped back slightly from them, as she brought her hand awkwardly to her head. "Let's, uh go to the next store, shall we?"
"See. I told you that was stupid!" Pudding told Mint as she hurried off on her own. "Besides, Ichigo-neesan only has eyes for Mr. Chef." She hopped up and down. Under normal circumstances, Mint would have taken this opportunity to once again get Lettuce to help Ichigo and Keiichiro link arms, but for some reason, the blue-haired girl only grumbled slightly, steadying her head with two hands as she sped away. She just didn't have the energy for it at the moment.
Meanwhile, Ryou who would have normally been supremely agitated by Pudding's comment simply slipped his hands casually into his pockets, feeling pretty good about himself. Besides, between him and Keiichiro, he had already gone further with the strawberry, not that he was keeping track. In fact, he had gone further with her than even her three year long boyfriend. But of course he wasn't particularly happy over that fact; he was just feeling good that he had managed to take away some of Mint's self-satisfaction along with time away from the baka and his ex-best friend together.
"What's that Ichigo?" Zakuro pointed to the pink paper bag Ryou held in his hand. Ichigo turned her attention to the bag. She shifted her gaze towards the ground, letting her ruby bangs hide her expression. She could feel her cheeks getting warm again, and desperately hoped that Zakuro wouldn't notice.
"Why are you asking her? It's mine of course." Her blue-eyed boss stated bluntly. She turned around to give him a look of thanks, only to have his attention caught by the very sharp idol. "You buy girl clothes?!" Zakuro had stopped in place, raising an eyebrow suspiciously at the blond. "Never took you for a cross-dresser..." she muttered under her breath, to which Ichigo stifled her laughter.
"Pft. How else do you think Keiichiro and I come up with the designs for your uniforms?" He replied matter-of-factly, completely ignoring her comments. Ichigo turned to him, expression brightening at his quick-witted thinking. Impressed, she couldn't help but gape at him.
Was that red she saw on his cheeks?
"Stop staring baka." He flicked her forehead as soon as he noticed her gaze. Ryou barely noticed the hurried footsteps of a certain chef. Keiichiro ran over to Ichigo in the very next moment, settling himself right between the two as he snatched Ryou's wrist and spoke.
"Will you stop that already? Stop acting like such a child and start treating Ichigo like a gentleman should." Keiichiro's voice was steady and free of malice, but he stood firm. He dropped Ryou's hand and proceeded to rest one arm along the redhead's shoulder, leading her ahead towards Mint, Lettuce and Pudding.
Ryou watched the pair walk away, the once annoying itch was now much less severe. He failed to notice the pair of wolf eyes following him as a smile crept up on his lips. He was certain that he was caught too deeply in the strawberry's idiocy, now that he found that his mouth preferred its curved position rather than the regular straight emotionless line whenever he was with that baka.
Keiichiro may have won this battle, but not the war. Ryou Shirogane wasn't going to give up that easily.
This was originally going to be a really long chapter concluding the mall scene, but I decided to just continue with it in the next few chapters so that there can be more interaction between Ichigo and Keiichiro along with the other Mews. Plus, the I+K thing hasn't really been going, so I thought I'd stick it in there for competition later on ;) There are some other things I want to include too...
What'd you think? Honestly, I was about to take out the whole groping scene because I thought maybe it was a little sudden so it might have seemed out of character. But, it's all for the sake of the plan! And only something so shocking would totally throw off the usually calm Mint.
Meanwhile, I am considering starting yet another TMM fanfic with Ichigo and Ryou (Who else?). I know the whole body switching thing might be a little played out, but I thought I might give it a try. It just sounds like a lot of fun to write about.