THE STRAWBERRY HIS WITCH
PROLOGUE
" I bid the sun goodbye,
to welcome the moon. "
The sounds of sobs echoed throughout the night sky as a boy with bright orange hair found himself curled up on an empty park bench, his body felt numb against the rain soaking his clothes… he had always hated the rain.
Clenching his fists in anger, he could not fight the hot tears skimming down his red cheeks. I… wasn't strong enough to protect you, mom. I'm so sorry... He begged for forgiveness countless of times, begging any out-worldly force out there to bring back the sun… his sun. He expected no answer, slowly losing the remaining warmth he would no longer feel.
Bright azure eyes gleamed curiously from the sounds of painful whimpers. With dark brows furrowing together, she walked with the gentle footsteps towards the crying boy, cautiously as if not to scare him away. She had not plan to stumble upon the crying boy when she went to walk along the riverbank, as she did every night since moving to Karakura to look at the beautiful phases of the moon. Yet, she felt a harsh pang in her heart when she witnessed the boy falling apart and could not tear herself away from staring at him.
When she was close enough to see his damp orange hair, she gasped, startled by the warmth filling her cheeks.
He was one her classmates from school!
Holding a hand to her chest, she gave a nervous lick of her lips.
She normally wasn't very social, in fact, she was quiet and shy. Since she moved back to Karakura from England, she found it difficult to reach out from her comfort zone and make any new friends. Not that she did not try, but everyone seemed to be loud and colorful, and she felt intimidated by it all.
The one friend she really missed the most from London was her best friend, Ninny. It had felt like forever since she had last seen the green-eyed blonde. The last thing she heard from hear, she was currently training under some management company to become an idol.
Her cheeks revealed of soft pink dew at the orange-haired boy, when she finally had realized that she been standing there, simply staring at him in the rain. She shook her head to rid herself of these embarrassing thoughts, internally hoping she was not intruding as she finally spoke...
"H-hello?" she softly called out to him in the rain, "Are you alright?"
Brown ambers shot up to the sound of her voice, orange brows crinkled together as he saw through his tears… a beautiful girl with long black hair and familiar dark blue eyes stood only a few feet away from him, right near to the riverbank he despised. Quickly wiping away at his tears, he sat up straight from embarrassment at being caught crying, especially by the new girl from his class. He could not ignore her even if he tried, not when she saw him crying over his… dead mother.
He could not look away from her worried round face or her trembling lips.
She began to fidget when he did not answer.
Clasping her hands together, she tried again with a shy flush of the cheeks. "I-I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I-I wanted to see if you were okay—"
"… Why do you care?" he numbly questioned.
The girl flinched from the blunt question but ignored the harshness in his voice. Instead, she stood still, grasping nervously at the ends of her soaked lavender skirt. "B-because... we're classmates." taking a small step forward, she continued towards, "… Why were you crying?" she quietly asked from beside him once she took the seat next to him.
He felt his own cheeks redden upon the proximity, but it quickly dimmed when he remembered her question. "The kids at school…" he mumbled to her, "… they were making fun of my hair." as he spoke, he raked a hand through his spikey orange hair, but weirdly enough, it was something the girl beside him, adored.
"You should ignore them." she slowly turned to him, "There isn't anything wrong with your hair… I like the way it looks." The girl softly admitted, her cheeks burning a deeper shade of pink.
His brow eyes widened slightly in shock, "Y-you do?" he stuttered with a quivering bottom lip, "My mom… she used to tell me to ignore them too, that she loved my hair—" he trailed off with a quiet sob, yet before the girl next to him could see his tears, he turned his face away, feeling ashamed.
"Where is your mom now?" she gently inquired with sad blue eyes.
"… She died a couple weeks ago… it was all my fault…" he cried to himself as he pulled at his orange hair, "Why did I beg her to go to the park… we should've just gone home—"
"… You shouldn't blame yourself," she attempted to comfort him, wiping away at the tears that mingled with the rain. "From the way your mom sounds... I don't think she would want you to blame yourself, either..."
The girl did not understand the painful feeling inside her chest, but it pained her to see her classmate this way. She could not claim to know what it felt like to lose a parent, but she knew by the sight of him, it was unbearable.
Inhaling a shaking breath, the boy looked at her with teary brown eyes before he gathered her into his arms and buried his face into her onyx tresses, dampening her hair with his tears. Sobs began to wrack his body as he no longer fought against the pain that was eating at his soul, grieving the loss of the sun… Kurosaki Masaki.
The blue eyed girl tried to console the weeping boy, rubbing his back in comfort as he buried himself in her warmth. With the moon glowing sweetly on them, she looked up to the sky with a silent prayer on her lips. 'I'll take care of him… I promise.' she thought to the universe as the orange haired boy held her as if she were his very own lifeline.
Squeezing her own shut, the girl had begun to feel tears of her own as she mourned for a person who no longer shined in the world of the living.
Among the quieted sobs were the sounds of rain drops and crickets as the two children held one another. For the first in many days, the boy felt some semblance of peace, but he knew this loss had changed him forever, he could not go back to smiles without thinking of the sun. Yet, as he sat next to the girl with black hair and dark blue eyes, he could not help but compare her to the moon. Soft and gentle… now that he didn't have the sun, he found himself seeking comfort from the moon.
When he finally broke away from their embrace, he wiped away at the evidence of his grief as an embarrassed hue colored his cheeks when he noticed her damp hair.
"Sorry." he muttered.
"It's okay." she said simply, pushing her hair over her shoulder.
The boy with orange hair spoke again, "… Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because, it hurts to see you sad…" she softly revealed to him, ignoring the pounding in her chest as her azure eyes found his amber gaze.
The two found themselves sitting in silence, he did not say anything when he felt her head against his shoulder, nor did she when his hand became intertwined with hers. For hours they sat underneath the moonlight, unafraid of the dark, but as the rain continued to pour, the boy began to wonder about the shivering girl beside him.
"Wait, where are your parents?" he scowled at her, neither of them realizing that this would be his signature look.
"At home—"
His eyes flashed in anger, staring down at her cool innocent face, "You mean to tell me, that you came to the park at night, alone… all by yourself?! When it's raining?!" he slightly exclaimed, "Are you crazy?! Do you know how many perverts come out at night?"
Her brows furrowed together in confusion, "… But, you're out here by yourself, too…"
"That's different!"
"Why? Because, you're a boy?" she haughtily shot back.
"No! Because, I know how to defend myself!" shaking his head with an exasperated sigh, he stood up from the bench and held out his hand, "C'mon, I'm walking you back home—"
"… Y-you don't have to!" she blurted out in shock, "I don't live far from here—"
He simply quirked a brow at her, "Then, it shouldn't be that long of a walk." he finished with a small grin. He waited until she relented with a shy blush to take his hand. The two soon began walking together, her long black hair was a stark contrast to his short spikey orange hair. Scratching the back of his head with his free hand, he looked to the corner of his eye at the innocent girl, before he suddenly realized that he did not know her name.
"Hey… uh, what did you say your name was?" he asked with a somewhat of a sly tone.
She simply laughed, quietly, but it was there nonetheless. "I didn't."
Releasing a groan from the back of his throat, he resisted the urge to school, "Shouldn't I know yours? I'll tell you mine—"
"… But, I already know your name, Kurosaki-kun." she teased him with a small smile, "We are classmates, after all."
Ichigo tried to fight the flush reaching his cheeks at the sound of her saying his last name, "Ichigo." He corrected with a casual shrug, "Just Ichigo."
"If that's the case…" she stopped in mid-step, turning to Ichigo with pink cheeks. "… I'm Niihashi Noel. I was never a fan of formalities, so… I'd prefer you to use my given name."
"Noel…" he repeated to himself, a certain warmth sinking into his cold chest when he uttered the name. It felt entirely too right to say her name, and after tonight, Ichigo knew the moon would hold a larger meaning to his life.
As he scowled in thought, Noel looked at Ichigo with a look of adoration, though she suddenly found herself musing over his own name.
'Strawberry-kun?' she mentally snickered at herself, but Ichigo did indeed look like a strawberry with the way his cheeks twinged red. "Ichigo… like the strawberry?" she inquired innocently enough.
"NO!" he shouted, momentarily letting go of her hand to explain, "'Ichi' means number one and 'go' means guardian!"
"Like a protector?"
Ichigo nodded with a determined look crossing his face, "Yeah… that's what my mom always told me." Noel stood speechless as she observed his face, the look itself sent a chill up her spine. His stare held a voiceless promise to her, but she did not look away. In fact, she felt comforted by it as his amber eyes never left her own azure hues.
Suddenly, he reached for her hand, startling her from their staring. "… I should get you home before you get sick—"
"… But, Ichigo, it's really not that far—"
"… I'm walking you home and that's final!" He refused to listen to another word as they walked under the moon, unafraid of the dark because each squeeze of their hand reassured both that they were indeed together.
Neither of them noticed the rain stopped.