Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, Gap,and I certainly don'town most of the characters featured here in these stories. If the character is a plain mage, then chances are that it is indeed my character.

-----------

"Daisukeee… where the heck are you?"

It wasn't a peaceful day. The voice of a young boy was calling out for his pet dog, but it seemed that the dog wasn't anywhere in sight. The birds flew away from their resting place as the boy passed them, since they were convinced that he was going to give them more chaos than they wanted.

"Otou-san's going to kill me for letting him escape from me…"

Ryou Shirogane was not a happy nine year old boy. First, he overheard his parents arguing about him – then he made somewhat of a mess in the kitchen. What came next? He lost Daisuke, his pet dog, of course. Today was really not his day..

"Excuse me? Is this your dog?"

Stories of Our Hearts: Ryou's Tale

Ryou took a closer look at the speaker. It was boy roughly about his age, though his hair was a red color – and it was spiked, too. The boy's blue eyes were the same color as Ryou's, though his clothing was more awesome-looking than Ryou's boring clothing.

"..Yes, that's my dog. Thanks. I'm Ryou, by the way..."

Ryou received the leash from the boy, at which Daisuke came trotting back to the blond.

"My name's Roy. Pleased to meet you…but you know you have absolutely no fashion sense, right?"

Ryou sweatdropped. Roy was certainly a blunt boy, wasn't he? The boy gave a nod, realizing that he didn't really have some sort of "fashion sense", as Roy called it.

"My mother made me wear this." Ryou made some sort of face as he looked down at his clothing, causing the other boy to give a small laugh.

"Why don't we go shopping, then?"

"Shopping?" Ryou blinked. Why the heck did his new friend want to go shopping? It wasn't that Ryou didn't have the money to go shopping, but the boy wasn't in the mood to do so.

"Yep. We'll get you some new outfits!"

"Do you have a sister? If so, her influence is rubbing off on you…"

"Eheheh…I guess I need to stop hanging around her, right?" Ryou gave a nod at Roy's words. Girls and shopping did mix, but on the other hand… boys and shopping usually never, ever mixed.

"So…where exactly are we shopping?"

"I really don't know. Gap, maybe?" Roy really did have an answer for almost everything. Ryou started to walk in the direction of the store along with his friend; Daisuke trotting behind them.

Even though it was Saturday, there weren't many people at the stores. Was there some special holiday this weekend or something? Whatever the case was, the stores weren't as jam-packed as they would normally be.

"Well, here we are." Roy began to open the glass doors of the Gap, waiting for Ryou to tie Daisuke to the tree nearby. Instead, the boy sweatdropped at Ryou. The boy didn't seem to be used to this store.

Ryou gave a nod, turning back to Daisuke. The boy tied the leash onto a nearby tree, ignoring the dog's whimpers. "We'll be back soon, boy..."

"Oiy, Ryou-Ryou. Can you hurry up a little bit?"

Ryou gave a laugh. Roy was giving him a nickname already? This ought to be an amusing friendship…if it would last as long as the nine-year old thought it would…

"Yeah, yeah... I'm coming."

-----

Seven years had passed since that day in America. As everybody knows, Ryou went on to operating the Mew Project in Japan, married Ichigo, and so forth. Those memories of the day in America had been buried in his mind, though they wererekindled on this day…

"Hey, Ryou-sempai… Ari knows one of your childhood friends…"

Ryou was jolted back to reality by hearing the voice of a young mage. "Don't be ridiculous… I had no childhood friends…" The sixteen-year old lied, though it certainly didn't seem like one to him.

"It must've been Shuugo's friend, then." The answer that Ryou had given seemed to satisfy Minoru, for the boy went back to talking to the others in the café.

"That's pathetic. You don't remember, do you?"

All eyes in the café went to the new-comer in the room. This boy seemed way too familiar to Ryou, though the crimson-haired boy would never, ever tell his origins from his appearance.

"Roy-sempai. Nai." Shikari greeted, giving a wave to the new-comer. The crimson-haired girl seemed to know what she was talking about, since she and Roy began talking amongst them in a steady conversation.

That's when it hit Ryou. Of course…that boy had to be Roy. Otherwise, why else would he talk to Ryou like he knew him? It all made sense now…

"Did your archery arrows miss your target, Roy-Roy?"

Roy rolled his eyes at Ryou's words. "Long time no see, Ry-Ry."

Usually, Ryou would hate it when anybody gave him that nickname – especially if the one giving him that name was either his little brother Shuugo, his wife Ichigo, or somebody like Gamu. But today – the sixteen-year old boy loved the familiar sound of that nickname…especially when it was said by somebody he had known longer than anybody else...

"You finally came. What took you?" Ryou gave a rare smile, causing most of the people in the café to blink.

"Apparently Shikari was correct, ne?" Minoru asked, looking at the two curiously. It certainly seemed that way to the young earth mage, and nothing anybody else said would be able to change his mind.

"Let's see…insane aliens, the occasional blow-up of a lab or two…"

Ryou sweatdropped. So much for lying and saying that he had a normal past, ne? But at least this day was certainly better than the ones before it…

------------------

Well, Ryou's tale is done. Look foward to Mushi's tale, ne?