Quiche wasn't sure whether or not he was about to get his nose re-broken, but this time, he wasn't in the mood to take a punch. As soon as the metal door of the café clicked shut behind them, Masaya turned to face him, a hardened look of subdued anger on his face. Quiche leaned against the outer wall of the café and glared back.
It took every fiber of self-control not to taunt the object of his malice – standing there, powerless, angry and hurt. He looked like he had been crying.
Good, Quiche thought. I hope she shattered him.
Instead, he set his jaw and started in a low tone: "If you're looking to take your anger out on my face, I won't hold back this time."
Masaya continued to glower at him. "I'm not here to start a fight," he muttered. "I just want to know what's been going on between you and Momomiya."
Quiche clicked his tongue and began to pick at his nails. Interesting. Ichigo was still keeping secrets.
"Ask her yourself," Quiche replied coolly. "She'll tell you what you want to know."
Quiche wanted so badly to rub everything in Masaya's face. To describe in detail the way the curve of her hips fit in his hands. The way she wrapped her arms around his neck when she kissed him. But Quiche had made a promise to Ichigo not to tell her secrets again, and this time, he intended to keep it.
Masaya wasn't satisfied.
"She's only telling me what I want to hear," Masaya said.
He paused, as if waiting for an answer. Maybe he was waiting to see if Quiche would gloat.
"So you don't believe her?" Quiche asked. He cocked one eyebrow. "And you'll believe me?"
Masaya scowled. "That's not it," he muttered. He sighed and averted his eyes. "Listen, when Momomiya told me why she wants us to … go our separate ways … she told me it had nothing to do with you. But when I kept talking with her about it, she mentioned there's some kind of — I don't know — 'connection' between you two."
Masaya's gaze snapped back to Quiche. "I don't understand it, but obviously I can't tell her what to do. I just need to know she's not being led down a dark path."
Quiche tried not to appear surprised, even as it felt like his stomach had just done a backflip. Ichigo hadn't told Masaya about what had happened between them physically. But the fact that she mentioned a "connection" between them while breaking up with Masaya…
No wonder Masaya was furious with him. Quiche collected himself and narrowed his eyes. He had to choose his words carefully.
"So you don't trust her after all," he said. "Ichigo is an adult; she can make decisions on her own."
"I know that," Masaya shot back. "Believe it or not, when you love someone, you want to look out for them. You want the best for them, even if you're not together. Not that you would know."
Quiche crossed his arms. "That's a low blow, especially coming from you," he growled.
"It's the truth," Masaya replied defensively. "I don't trust you or the way you act around Momomiya. I don't want to see her end up hurt because of you toying around with her."
"So if you don't trust me either," Quiche muttered, "then you wouldn't believe me if I told you Ichigo is more to me than just a plaything."
"Words are just words, Quiche," Masaya said.
"In that case," Quiche started, glowering, "does my saving her life not once, not twice, but three times over the past two weeks mean nothing? How about the final battle of Deep Blue's awakening, when I died protecting her against you?"
Quiche meant it to hurt, and he could see in Masaya's face that it had. Masaya set his jaw, his eyes dark, furious.
"You want to go low, I'll go low," Quiche hissed. "But you're sorely mistaken if you think I don't love Ichigo just as much as you ever have."
A look of surprise flashed across Masaya's face, cutting through the fury in his features. It was brief, and his expression quickly soured once more.
"One grand act of heroism during a battle is nothing compared to almost four years of being in a relationship with her," Masaya muttered. "You can't possibly understand what Momomiya and I have together."
"Try me," Quiche growled. "Because last time I checked, she's still dumping you."
Quiche saw the muscles under Masaya's sleeves flex. He allowed a smirk to curl on his lips. Masaya was obviously struggling with his anger. Quiche knew that he was probably itching to hit him again.
A small, subtle burning feeling bit at the back of Quiche's mind. He felt a tiny whisper of Deep Blue's power flaring and dying. Quiche furrowed his brow. Fascinating. Masaya's rage was deep enough that Deep Blue's power was still latching onto his dark thoughts as a catalyst.
He'd have to talk to Pie about that later.
For now, Quiche refocused his gaze to Masaya, grinning smugly. "Did I strike a nerve, my lord? Want to try breaking my nose again?"
Quiche knew he probably shouldn't keep kicking him while he was down, but he was having too much fun.
Masaya let out a long sigh and closed his eyes in an apparent attempt to calm himself down. When he reopened his eyes, his gaze was vaguely distant. Like he was trying to block thoughts from invading his head.
"Just because I'm not Ichigo's boyfriend — or fiancé — doesn't mean I won't be part of her life," Masaya muttered. He glared up at Quiche, his eyes snapping into a sharper focus. "You're not rid of me yet."
The way he said it was unsettling. Quiche tilted his head to one side.
"For now," Quiche replied coolly. "Time is a fickle thing."
Quiche lifted off of the wall of the café and stretched his arms. The light around them was growing orange as the evening approached and the sun began to sink behind the horizon. It was getting late, and Quiche was beginning to feel like their conversation was a waste of breath.
Besides, he had to find a way to talk to Ichigo. If not now, soon.
"Lovely chatting with you," Quiche muttered sarcastically. He turned away from Masaya's angry stare.
Without waiting for a reply, Quiche pulled open the back door of the café and went inside. He wanted to believe that it was his last conversation he'd ever have to have with Masaya, but he had a feeling in his gut that it wasn't so.
It didn't matter, at least not then. Quiche caught sight of Ichigo's ruby red hair whirling around her head as she turned at the sound of the door opening. Her wide, brown eyes were full of surprise, curiosity and something that looked like concern. He could lose himself in those eyes for ages – full of fire, full of hope. Even with the cloak of sadness thrown over her disposition, she was as beautiful as a summer's day.
Quiche realized that Ichigo's expression was troubled, curious – as though she was asking a question. He quickly reached the conclusion that she had to be nervous about what he had told Masaya. Quiche quickly, subtly shook his head, softening his look in earnest, as if to reassure her. It worked. Ichigo visibly relaxed, her shoulders slumping slightly.
Quiche hardly noticed everyone in the café staring at him. It was like everything else had fallen away into the background as he tilted his head and smirked at Ichigo, striding into the dining area of the café with renewed confidence.
They had too many words left unsaid, but now was not the time. He knew he had to get her alone. Tonight.
As soon as the metal door clicked shut behind Quiche and Masaya, Ichigo felt everyone's eyes on her. Ryou crossed his arms and blew his bangs out of his face.
"Alright, Momomiya, start talking," he muttered, a hint of amusement in his tone.
Mint, standing next to him, elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. "Ow, what the hell?" Ryou whined, glaring down at Mint.
"Don't be a jerk!" Mint snapped. "Poor Ichigo just broke up with her fiancé and you want to interrogate her?"
"Well, this is awkward," Berry mumbled, exchanging glances with Tasuku. He looked sheepish.
"Listen, I know that looked bad just now," Ichigo started hurriedly, her voice an octave too high, "but it's really not like that. Aoyama and I went our separate ways for a lot of reasons but it's not … it's not what it looks like."
"So you're not fooling around with Quiche after all?" Tart chirped.
Pudding started to giggle, but straightened her back and grimaced as Mint shot her a dirty look from the other side of the group. She quickly switched to scowling and rumpling Tart's hair. "Taru-taru, don't be rude!"
Ichigo felt her face growing redder by the second. "N-no! Of course not!" she stammered. "We didn't – that's not why Masaya and I broke up."
It wasn't exactly the full truth, but Ichigo didn't fully trust the company of everyone around her.
Luckily, Lettuce came to her rescue. She cleared her throat and interjected with a soft, strong voice. "Listen, we should all be here to support Ichigo, not to start silly rumors. Let's be kind, okay?"
Silence. The rest of the group exchanged hesitant glances with each other. Mint and Berry nodded slowly.
Surprisingly, the next to speak was Zakuro. "I agree. We should all stay out of Ichigo's personal business. She needs time to recover after today."
Zakuro's co-sign on Lettuce's suggestion seemed to be enough for the rest of the group. Mint stepped forward next. She came closer to Ichigo and took one of her hands in her own.
"Ichigo, you should come stay with me tonight. We should have a night with just us girls, you know? I think it would do you good to be around friends."
"Ooo, a sleepover?" Pudding piped up from behind Mint. "I'm in!"
"Me too!" Berry chirped. Mint nodded at the other two girls.
"Me three," Lettuce added with a smile and a tilt of her head.
"I'll see what I can do," Zakuro added.
"Okay, it's a plan, then!" Mint declared. She squeezed Ichigo's hand and smiled up at her reassuringly. "Sound good, Ichigo?"
Ichigo let out a long sigh and smiled. Even though she felt like curling up into a ball on her bed for the rest of the night, Mint was right – she could use the company of friends. Somewhere away from her own thoughts for the night. She nodded.
"Yeah, I'm in!"
Mint grinned. "Okay, great! I can head back to my place after this and get ready. You should all go get overnight bags ready."
"Can we take the cake to go?" Berry asked. She sounded sincere, but she broke out in giggles along with the rest of the mews. Ryou rolled his eyes and looked like he was about to remark on their plans for the night when everyone heard the sound of the back door swinging open once more.
Ichigo stiffened and watched with wide eyes as Quiche strode down the hall of the café and into the dining area. He didn't have any new bruises on his face, thankfully. His golden gaze found her quickly and latched on with a strange intensity that Ichigo found hard to decipher. She wondered to herself how much he had told Masaya – and whether she should be worried about Masaya knowing their secrets.
As if to read her thoughts, Quiche shook his head subtly, quickly. Ichigo noted with surprise that he must have read her expression perfectly. Her shoulders slumped as she felt tension leaving her body. Quiche's face changed in the next moment, that stupid, familiar smirk climbing up his face again as he came to stand next to Pie, near the back of the group. He tilted his chin up at her with a look of dogged confidence.
It took a moment, but Quiche seemed to snap out of his entrancement with her to notice everyone was staring at him. He looked around at everyone's bewildered expressions and raised one eyebrow. "What? I know I'm nice to look at, but it's pretty rude to stare."
"Can it, Quiche," Mint snapped, glaring up at him.
Quiche held up his hands defensively, "Woah, okay. Touchy today, are we?"
Before anyone could respond, the back door flew open again and Masaya strode down the hall. Everyone's attention turned to Masaya, who had a painfully fake expression of calm on his face. Ichigo bit her lip and watched as he came to stand next to her.
He jerked his head towards the front door. "I'm going to head out. Walk with me for a minute?"
Ichigo swallowed and nodded. Instinctively, she took one of his hands in hers. It felt right still, though she knew it looked odd to her friends, who were watching as they made their way out of the heavy double doors at the front of the café.
The sun was just beginning to dip low on the horizon, the golden light of dusk beginning to fill the sky. Masaya let out a long sigh and stopped just beyond the threshold of the door, clutching Ichigo's hands in his. She looked up at him and immediately saw the pain in his soft brown eyes.
"I...I don't want to make this hard for you, Ichigo," Masaya started, "but just know that I really wish you all the best. I hope...I hope we can stay in touch."
His words felt cold. Almost as if he had already rehearsed them in his head.
Ichigo nodded and bit her lip. "I...yeah, of course," she agreed. She smiled sadly up at her now-ex-fiancé. "I want the best for you too. Really, I do."
Masaya returned her sad smile with a half-smile of his own. "I know you do," he murmured. He reached up to brush a lock of hair away from her face. His touch was warm, gentle.
Every word, every movement of his made a small part of Ichigo want to take it all back. Take back the breakup, take back everything she had said about them not being compatible. A small part of her yearned for the familiarity of their relationship. The warmth of his loving eyes...his gentle, sweet words. She thought of all of the dates they had been on together, all of the late-night phone calls, and all of the exchanges of "I love you."
It hurt feeling like she was losing a huge part of her life as she knew it. But she also knew that what she longed for didn't exist anymore. At least, not in the way she needed. A greater stirring in her heart told her that she was exactly where she should be. She knew, deep down, that it was time to go.
Ichigo slipped her hand out of Masaya's and folded her arms behind her back. She took two steps backwards and tilted her head to one side, smiling. "Have a safe flight, okay?"
It felt like she was driving a wedge between them, but it was what she needed to do. It wouldn't do either of them any good to linger.
Masaya's expression glossed over into a stony calm once again. He nodded and smiled weakly. "Thanks, Momomiya." He paused for a moment, as if deep in thought. "We'll talk sometime soon."
Ichigo wasn't sure what the remark meant, but she wasn't in the mood to tell him "no." She simply nodded and widened her smile.
"Goodnight, Aoyama," she murmured.
"Goodnight, Momomiya," Masaya replied softly. He turned, and then Ichigo was watching him walk away.
Her hands still folded behind her back, Ichigo rubbed the bare skin on her ring finger and sighed. Without the diamond on her finger – and everything it represented – it felt like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. It felt like she was 17 again. Like she could do anything she wanted. Like the world was suddenly wide open for her to explore.
It felt like she was free.
Time seemed to fly by as the girls all rushed to pack overnight bags for the sleepover. Ichigo told her parents about the breakup as soon as she returned home. Her mom seemed confused at the sudden split. But she reassured her daughter with warm words and a long hug. Her dad seemed indifferent, though he offered to "take care of that punk kid if you want." Ichigo laughed and reassured him that she could handle her ex just fine on her own.
Once she had her overnight bag packed, Ichigo walked with Lettuce to the train station, and boarded the train that took them to Mint's wealthy suburb on the outskirts of town. Her beautiful estate was tucked in a lush expanse of gardens illuminated in the dim light of her home. Ichigo and Lettuce knocked on the huge, elaborately-carved door, and one of the Aizawa family staff welcomed them in. Ichigo was delighted by the smell of pork steamed buns wafting through the mansion.
Pudding and Berry had already arrived. Pudding was showing Berry how to slide down the banister of Mint's grand staircase in the entryway. Both blondes perked up and waved as Ichigo and Lettuce came to greet them. Ichigo beamed up at her friends and felt blissfully warm to share their company.
"Hey, dinner is almost ready!" Mint called from the dining area of the mansion.
"Thank goodness!" Berry exclaimed. "I'm starving! All I've had to eat today is cake!"
"Is Zakuro here yet?" Lettuce asked, looking around at the number of discarded duffel bags in the entryway of the home.
"Big sis Zakuro couldn't make it," Pudding said sadly. "Some kind of last-minute work thing. Being an adult sucks!"
"Well, more food for us then!" Ichigo said with a grin.
Lettuce, Berry and Pudding smiled and exchanged glances with each other. Ichigo realized they were probably thrilled that she was in good spirits. She knew her friends had been worried for her. Laughing and smiling, they all made their way to the expansive dining room down the hall.
After a huge dinner of pork buns, fried rice, steamed veggies and egg noodles, the girls retreated to Mint's elaborate bedroom on the top floor of the mansion. Ichigo felt blissfully bloated after eating more than her fair share of the delicious feast. Mint fetched extra pillows and duvets from her laundry room storage, and spread them all out on her floor to make a giant nest of bedding. The girls all laid on the floor and passed the time showing each other funny videos on their phones, playing a card game Mint had dug up from her game room, and generally making the conversation about everything except Ichigo's breakup.
It was silly, stupid, and altogether perfect.
By the time the lights were out and the girls had fallen asleep one by one, Ichigo's face was sore from laughter. She stared up at the vast ceilings of Mint's bedroom and listened to her friends' breathing around her. Pudding, a little off to her left, was starting to snore.
Ichigo had so much to reflect on from the day, but the one thing that stood out in her mind was her sudden moment of clarity about the importance of her friendships. Their sleepover had only further confirmed that Ichigo needed her friends in her life. Her life in Tokyo was too precious, too important for her to give up.
If she had gone along with Masaya's plan to move abroad, she wouldn't have just left Tokyo behind. She would have left all of her friends, her family, her work, and everyone else she knew and loved behind, too. Laying in the blanket nest on the floor of Mint's bedroom, Ichigo knew that her heart belonged here. With the people who loved her, in the city she fought to defend over and over again. If she hadn't broken it off with Masaya, she would have left herself behind, too.
The thought quelled the deep melancholy that sat in the pit of her stomach after the heart-wrenching breakup. Ichigo closed her eyes and idly let her mind drift back to everything that had happened in the eventful day.
Suddenly, Ichigo felt a strange, sharp pulling at the front of her mind. It felt like a string was attached to her consciousness, tugging it at intervals. The bizarre feeling made her sit up in the blanket nest and look around. None of the other mews seemed to be stirring; everyone else was asleep.
Ichigo narrowed her eyes and gazed out the window.
The déjà vu hit her like a slap in the face.
She knew this feeling. She knew exactly what it was – because she had experienced it before. It was during another sleepover at Mint's mansion, over two years ago. It was the night Zakuro joined Tokyo Mew Mew. She remembered how she followed the strange tugging, the feeling of something needing to be found. Two years ago, Ichigo had wandered out into Mint's gardens, and found…
Oh.
"Wait, but that means…" Ichigo mouthed to herself silently. She flung the duvet off of her lap and quickly, quietly stood up. Then, she tip-toed out of the mess of blankets and towards her duffel bag. She pulled out a hoodie from her bag and shrugged it over her loose camisole and leggings. She kept replaying the memory in her head over and over again, refusing to believe she was right.
The door to the bedroom creaked as Ichigo closed it behind her. The tugging on her consciousness was fainter now, slower. Ichigo tip-toed down the side stairs in her bare feet and stole out the kitchen door. She found a bucket off to one side of the door and stuck it in the doorway, so that it would stay open for her on the way back.
Her heart was beating loud in her ears as she took off across Mint's lawn. The dewdrops on the grass nipped at her bare feet. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she searched the gardens up ahead, her feline eyes adjusting to the dark of the night. She hoped the Aizawa family's security guard wouldn't find her out here on her own.
Ichigo wandered further into the vast garden paths surrounding the mansion. She could only hear the sound of her breath and the rush of blood in her ears. She was only half-sure what she was looking for, but she knew she had found it when she turned a corner, and a small gazebo came into view.
Quiche was sitting on the roof of the gazebo, cross-legged and fiddling with the dagger Ichigo recognized from the night before. He twirled it in his fingers quickly, effortlessly, and Ichigo's eyes fell on the glint of the moonlight on the metal before anything else. When Quiche's fingers came to a halt over the gilded hilt of the dagger and the movement stopped, Ichigo swallowed hard and looked up at him.
Her mind felt like it was rushing at a million miles per hour. Quiche's catlike pupils were wide in the dark of night as he studied her. His expression was smug, curious. He rested his chin on one hand.
"Lovely of you to join me, kitten."
"You!" Ichigo hissed, clenching her fists. "You figured out how to get in my head! How long have you known how to do that?"
"Mm, not long," Quiche purred. He raised his hand with the dagger and waved it away, the weapon disappearing into thin air. "I have a theory, that's all. I used it during the battle today. And I wanted to test it again."
Ichigo tilted her head to one side, struggling to wrap her mind around what he was talking about. It suddenly dawned on her that the tugging on her consciousness was the same pull she felt during the battle earlier in the day. When she was falling into unconsciousness, after she had been poisoned – she had felt a jolt of panic, and heard her name. Then, the pulling on her mind. It was one and the same with the feeling she had felt just now.
"But wait, you've done this before," Ichigo said in a loud whisper. "Here, at Mint's house. Over two years ago. You were able to get into my head then, too."
"By accident, yes," Quiche replied. He stretched his arms over his head casually. "When I found out you and the girls would be at Aizawa's place again … I couldn't resist the temptation to have a little fun reliving some memories."
He smirked down at her from his perch on the gazebo roof. Ichigo had no doubt in her mind that he was revisiting the memory of the last time they were here, in the garden of Mint's estate. They hardly knew each other then, but Ichigo remembered how Quiche had his hands all over her when he appeared suddenly and tried to steal a kiss from her in the middle of the night. It was a different time, under much different circumstances. Ichigo remembered being so confused that night, because it was the first time she realized that Quiche wasn't interested in hurting her. He could have ended her life so easily, but he chose to grab her and tease her instead, until her friends came and found them.
His harassment was still terrifying at the time, but when Ichigo revisited the memory, it felt like the first time she realized that Quiche might have actual feelings for her.
Ichigo scowled and crossed her arms. "Wait, so what is this weird brain connection, then? Does it have to do with the thing where you can hear me when I'm in trouble?"
Quiche shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know, kitten … I think your powers go a lot deeper than you think."
Ichigo furrowed her brow. "What do you mean?" she asked in a murmur.
Quiche let her question hang in the air for a moment. Ichigo swallowed and watched as he straightened his back and moved his legs to jump off the gazebo. Ichigo took two steps back and crossed her arms over her chest as he landed on his feet and dusted off his hands. He was back to wearing human clothes again – a dark-colored tee and some kind of black pants. Ichigo's guard was up as Quiche walked up to her, his hands tucked in his back pockets. He stopped just a foot from her, watching her reaction carefully. Ichigo felt her face growing flushed.
The box of matches. And she was covered in gasoline. An explosion waiting to happen. The tension crackled between them as Quiche tilted his head to one side.
"No one has ever mentioned anything about feeling you were in trouble?" Quiche murmured. "Not the voice, just a feeling. None of your friends have had ... I don't know ... a feeling when something was going wrong?"
Ichigo thought about it for a moment. She realized she had actually heard the mews mention something like that before. Like they could feel there was something wrong. But she had never thought it was directly related to her powers. Ichigo remembered how Ryou and Keiichiro both described a strange feeling of panic in their gut when she had fallen unconscious after the final battle with Deep Blue.
No, there were definitely others. Other people had the same connection, but maybe in slightly different ways.
"Wait, but ... but what does that mean?" Ichigo wondered aloud. She glanced off towards the mansion where she knew her friends were still sleeping peacefully. "And why…"
Ichigo's gaze snapped back to Quiche. She furrowed her brow and murmured, "...why is it so strong with you?"
Quiche shrugged lightly and raised one eyebrow. "Beats me, kitten. It's your power, after all." Ichigo pulled her hoodie tighter around her and bit her lip. She glanced back towards the mansion, thinking about all of the times her friends told her they could sense something was wrong with her. It wasn't just Masaya and Quiche, it was all of her close friends – but to different degrees, and at different times.
Ichigo was lost in thought, and jumped in surprise when she felt Quiche's fingers under her chin. She sucked in a sudden, shallow breath as he turned her face to look him in the eye. The warm flush quickly bloomed on her cheeks again. She felt her muscles stiffen. Quiche looked at her with playful curiosity.
"You know, your boyfriend had some choice words for me today," he purred. "Want to tell me about this so-called 'connection' we have? The one that's got him all riled up?"
Ichigo scowled and tore her face from his hand, stepping back. She wondered to herself what Masaya had told Quiche. But, she knew that she probably couldn't get a straight answer out of Quiche. At least, not while he was in this kind of mischievous mood.
"He's not my boyfriend," she spat, "and neither are you. If you came here to try to get something out of me now that we're broken up, you can just leave now."
She glared up at him and clenched her hands into fists. If there was one thing she was not in the mood for, it was Quiche's stupid mind games.
"Aw, come on – you always assume the worst of me, don't you, kitten?" Quiche whined. "Aoyama seems to think the worst of me, too. It's okay, I don't take it personally."
He smirked and crossed his arms. Ichigo watched his eyes flick up and down over her appearance just briefly. She was about to tell him to go away, but he let out a "hmm" of amusement. "I was wondering where that jacket went," he remarked. "The esteemed leader of Tokyo Mew Mew is not just good at keeping secrets, but also good at keeping other people's stuff. What a twist."
Ichigo glanced down at the hoodie she was wearing and felt her face grow bright red. She realized it was Quiche's hoodie. The one he gave her the night he walked her home from the café two weeks ago. She hadn't recognized it when she was hurriedly packing her overnight bag.
She felt like ripping it off and giving it back, but she wasn't wearing much underneath. She bit the inside of her cheek and tried to pack her embarrassment away in her mind.
"I– I didn't–" she stammered, "I'll give it back! I just–"
"Mm, don't worry," Quiche hummed. He took a step closer. Ichigo flinched as he lifted his hand to grasp one of the drawstrings on the hood. He toyed with it between his fingers. His fingertips were inches from her face as he regarded her with playful eyes. "It's yours now."
Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh and looked back towards the mansion. She hoped the mews hadn't woken up and discovered her absence. She didn't know what they would think if they found her out here, with Quiche. She was glad to know about the strange mind connection, but now she knew they had work to do. She knew she had to talk to Ryou and Keiichiro about whatever it was in her abilities as a mew that allowed her to have a mind connection with the people close to her. But, that could wait until morning.
"I'm going back to bed," Ichigo declared, turning her attention back towards Quiche. He dropped the string of the hoodie from his fingertips and returned his hands to his pockets. Ichigo resented how stupidly cute he looked with his head turned to one side, with that dumb, happy look on his face – like he was trying to memorize every inch of her. She had to remind herself that it was entirely inappropriate that they were even talking at that moment, mere hours after her breakup with Masaya.
"Can I come?" Quiche said with a grin.
Damn it.
Ichigo rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Quiche caught her wrist as she turned. Ichigo glanced back at him with equal parts frustration and surprise. Why wouldn't he leave her alone?
"It's funny," Quiche started, "how in just fourteen days, you've managed to be such an awfully fickle cat. But, you know, you're always free to make your own decisions."
Ichigo realized he was thinking back on the conversation they had the night he had walked her home from her shift at the café – the night he gave her the jacket she was wearing now. Everything was so different. Everything had happened so fast. Fourteen days practically felt like four months. The gala, the fight with Masaya, the engagement, the kiss with Quiche on the roof, the breakup – all of it had happened in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
"You're always free to make your own decisions."
"You're right," Ichigo replied quietly. She smiled lightly and raised her chin. "And this time, I choose me."
Quiche hesitated for a moment, thinking carefully. Then, a wide smile spread across his face. His grip slipped from her wrist to her hand. "Good," he said, squeezing her fingers.
Ichigo was half-expecting Quiche to argue with her. His reaction surprised her, and she furrowed her brow. Her confusion only seemed to further amuse Quiche, his grin widening.
"But you know," he continued slyly, "I'm not going anywhere, kitten. In fact, I think we're on the schedule together tomorrow afternoon."
Ichigo let out a long sigh and shook her head in mock annoyance. She couldn't help but smile slightly at Quiche's attempt to lighten the mood by talking about the café. "I'll swap with another one of the girls, then," she replied coyly, pulling her hand from Quiche's grip. She folded her hands behind her and took a few steps backwards. "Try not to make a mess of the place without me there."
Ichigo tore her gaze away from Quiche and began to walk back to the mansion, her bare feet numb from the cold grass tickling her skin. She breathed in a deep breath of the cold, crisp night air and smiled wide.
She should have known it wouldn't be that easy to leave. It was never easy with Quiche.
"Hey, Ichigo," he called from a few steps behind her.
Ichigo turned and glanced back. Quiche was watching her with his hands behind his head and a sly grin on his face. His bright gold eyes almost glittered in the dim light of the gardens. Ichigo readied a retort – something to the effect of "wipe that stupid grin off your face" – but she watched the air around him grow distorted, and he disappeared.
Ichigo flinched and whirled around, anticipating what she knew was about to happen. Sure enough, Quiche reappeared next to her in the next instant. Before she knew what was happening, Quiche leaned down and planted a firm, warm kiss on her cheek.
He took two steps back and grinned even wider as Ichigo stood frozen in place. She felt like she could melt into the ground, her face burning with warmth. She clenched her hands into fists, not knowing how to react. She didn't know whether to be furious with him, or simply pretend the kiss didn't affect her as much as she knew it did. Luckily, she didn't have to find the words.
"Thanks for the kiss," Quiche purred. He turned, and in the next moment, he had disappeared into thin air once again.
Ichigo let out a long sigh and rubbed the side of her face where his lips had just been. "Idiot," she muttered to herself spitefully. Her whole body felt warm, despite the cold of the night air outside. Her walk back to the mansion was spent putting the stolen kiss out of her mind, and trying to decide whether or not she wanted to give back the hoodie.
When Ichigo finally crawled back into the nest of blankets, she felt like she was finally tired enough to sleep. The cold pillow in her corner of the blanket nest felt blissfully good on her warm, flushed skin. She had just pulled the duvet up to her chest when Lettuce turned over on her side to face her. Lettuce cracked one eye and looked up at Ichigo.
Ichigo stiffened.
"Can't sleep?" Lettuce whispered.
Ichigo nodded and let out a long breath. "You could say that," she whispered back. She smiled and sunk further into her pillow.
The corners of Lettuce's lips turned up. She reached out from under her duvet and took Ichigo's hand in hers. Ichigo smiled, but her smile quickly fell as she saw Lettuce furrow her brow.
"Your hands are freezing," she remarked quietly. Her bright blue eyes, still heavy with sleep, found Ichigo with a worried gaze. "Were you … outside?"
Ichigo considered what she should say to Lettuce. In the spirit of honesty that Ichigo had adopted over the past two days, she told her the truth.
"Yeah," Ichigo whispered. "I had a weird feeling, and I had to follow it. Like I needed to find something I lost."
Lettuce searched her expression just briefly before her eyes closed again. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she murmured.
Ichigo's hand was already warmer in Lettuce's loose, gentle grasp. She lifted her head just briefly to look around at all of her friends dozing off in the giant blanket nest.
She thought of everything they had been together, everything she had taken for granted. Everything she had almost lost. Everything she had come to love even more. Her friends, her city, her home.
Tomorrow was a new day. Full of possibility. Full of hope. A whole new world, to be whoever she wanted.
Ichigo smiled and squeezed Lettuce's hand.
"Yeah, I did."
(A.N./
One more chapter to go – the epilogue chapter! Thanks to everyone who's been following along so far. Please leave a review if you liked this latest update!
Huge shoutout to all of my repeat reviewers who have been with me this whole time: LenaCastle, DrDark7, SunnyDonna, Ameliamarieh, sungkyungrr, FairyRingsandWings, James Birdsong, and many more guest reviews! You all rock!)