Perfection
Ichigo sighed, leaning her chin on her hand. She stared out the window; the late autumn afternoon breeze attacked the almost-bare trees, shaking more brown leaves off.
"Who..."
She had a lot to think about. Kisshu...was back. Just when she thought he disappeared, there he was again. Just when she thought her three suitors were narrowed down to two...the last one came back. The aggressive one. The one...
The one she just could not stop thinking about.
She admitted she would love Masaya for the rest of her life. Ryou grinned, actually congratulating her for it. They spent time together at Cafe Mew Mew, but the more times they interacted, the better friends they became. In fact, Ichigo even thought of him as her best friend, better than Miwa, Moe, Berii, or Minto.
"Hey."
"Oh, hi, Ryou." Speak of the devil...or rather, think of the devil.
"What's wrong?" His hand reached out to grab another chair. "The other girls left already, and Keiichirou had to leave to buy some groceries."
"For the cafe?"
"No, regular stuff."
"Oh." Ichigo focused on one brown maple leaf, fluttering down to the sidewalk.
"Now then, you can't hide anything from me, Ichigo. I know something's wrong."
Ichigo winced. Yes, they had become close. Very close. He really was like a best friend...
"It's...I don't know. I'm not sure if it's Masaya or Kisshu."
"Go on."
"I...I think I'm beginning to wonder if I can admit to loving somebody for the rest of my life. It's like...well, I'm thirteen. Thirteen-and-a-half. What if this's too soon? I'm not even in high school, and I 'married' a guy." Ichigo whined. "I think I love him, but I don't know! Ever since Kisshu got back...I think I've been having second thoughts."
Ryou chuckled. "You think you like Kisshu, huh?"
"I don't know if I like Kisshu! He still kisses me...a lot. And, you know, it makes me think. What if Masaya isn't the perfect guy? How do I know that the only reason I think I love him so much is because I've never dated anybody else?" Ichigo asked.
The brown leaf shattered as a boot stepped on it.
"Then tell him that."
"Huh?"
"Tell him you aren't sure. If he's as great a guy as he should be, he'll understand." Ryou stood up, and started to leave the room. "People who are in love know that sometimes, you have to let the one you love go."
And then he left.
Ichigo sighed again.
"I think we have to break up."
"What?"
Ichigo looked down. She hated to do it...but really, was there any other way?
"I said, I think we have to break up." The cat-girl tried, but she couldn't look Masaya in the eyes. She just couldn't. Even if she didn't love him, she knew what pain she was causing him. And...She wasn't a bad person! How could she stand to see that pain in his face?
"Ichigo...why?"
"I don't know if I love you. I think...I only love you because I've never dated anybody else." She took a peek, and immediately looked down. He looked on the verge of tears. "You...you should date somebody else. Other than me. That's what I'm going to do."
"You're breaking up with me...because you aren't sure if you love me?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
There was a minute of silence. Ichigo winced as he suddenly took her hand. His grip was soft and caring. Like...Ryou's. Like Ryou's when he told Ichigo that he loved her, even though he knew it wouldn't work out.
Like Ryou's...when he started to date. Date somebody else. And like Ryou's even when Ichigo felt happy for him, without a hint of jealousy.
"I wish you the best of luck Ichigo. I hope you find somebody you can love without doubting it." His smile shook.
Ichigo squeezed it. "You too, Masaya."
Then she dropped it, and ran.
The girl tapped her foot. Where was he? She knew he watched her at all times. She knew he was going to follow her to the park. So...where in the world-
"Hey, kitten."
Oh, there he was!
"Hi, Kisshu!" Ichigo greeted, brightly. Yes...the man of her dreams...
The green-haired alien smirked. "You dumped your boyfriend, huh?"
"...Yeah."
"And..."
"I want to wait two weeks."
His jaw dropped. "Huh?"
She straightened, looking him in the eyes. "Two weeks. I don't want to date anybody for two weeks."
"I don't get it."
"It's so I don't date you because I have no boyfriend. On Earth, we call it the rebound. I want to make sure I love you." She smiled weakly. "I don't want to wait, but it'll be good in the long run. Is that okay with you?"
He smiled, stretching. "Yeah. That's fine. In two weeks, I'll meet you back here to get your answer, right?"
"Yeah. In this very place." She pointed to a bench behind her. "I'll be sitting there if you aren't here yet, okay?"
"I'll do the same. See you then."
"Bye, Kisshu," Ichigo waved as he teleported back to his ship. She took a deep breath, and brushed her pink hair out of her eyes. "I can wait...it's only two weeks..."
"Only one week and three days more..." Ichigo whispered, tapping her foot as she stared at a clock in her bedroom. "Why can't time move any faster?"
She'd been having dreams about him. In all of them, a dark-haired boy picked her off her feet, and said he loved her. She knew it was Kisshu- he was in an alien world. He even apologized, in every single one, for attacking her those times in the first series of Kirema Anima attacks.
And they all ended right before they kissed.
"ARGH!" The girl groaned, throwing a pillow against the wall. "I love him! WHY DID I DECIDE ON TWO WEEKS? WHAT KIND OF IDIOT AM I?"
"Five days, five days," Ichigo muttered in class one day.
"Huh? Did you say something, Miss Momomiya?" Her Geometry teacher asked, pausing in his diagram of a half-plane.
"No sir!" The girl squeaked, sitting up straight and turning red in embarrassment. Everybody stared at her, and as the teacher turned his attention back to the diagram and explanation, she sank into her seat.
"KISSHU!" She yelped, leaping up from the bench. "I've been waiting!" Ichigo threw her arms around him.
"Really?" He asked, surprised. "I thought I would arrive early...I couldn't wait!"
"Me neither!" Ichigo giggled, hugging him tightly. "I love you, Kisshu."
"I love you too, Ichigo."
The next five weeks were bliss. The two of them did everything together. Shopping, movies, breakfast, lunch, dinner, moonlit walks, hot chocolate...everything imaginable.
And Ichigo was perfectly happy. The only thing that bothered her was her dreams. They were the same as they were during the two weeks she had waited to start dating him. She had thought they were caused by her impatience, but why would they still have been there when they had been dating? For five weeks?
"Ichigo! Sorry I'm late!" Kisshu greeted as he teleported in front of her.
Ichigo grinned, hugging him. "Hi, Kisshu!" She reached her head up, and kissed him. "It's okay."
"Thanks for waiting. Taruto crashed one of the ship's computers, and Pai couldn't fix it alone. Two servers needed to be rebooted at the same time-"
Ichigo silenced him with a finger over his lips. "I said it was okay. Let's just enjoy the date, okay?"
"Yeah! We're going to that new bakery, right?" He asked as they walked down the busy Tokyo road, hand-in-hand.
"Uh huh, it's called Hana Pan. Minto went there with her new boyfriend, and she said they have good cookies and cake." Ichigo leaned her head against her boyfriend's shoulder. "But I think I'll give their quiche a try."
Kisshu chuckled, and wrapped his arm around her waist. It was perfect...
"Hi, Ichigo!" Ichigo was shaken out of her happy Kisshu-trance as Minto's voice broke through her thoughts of love. "Hi, Kisshu!"
The couple turned to look at the bird Mew Mew, who was leaning against the wall of a cafe rival to Cafe Mew Mew.
"Minto, why are you standing outside of Magic Cafe?" Ichigo wondered aloud. "You know Ryou hates the owner. Besides, we think they stole our raspberry jelly cookie recipe."
The girl shrugged, her blue hair not in the buns bouncing around. "My boyfriend and I thought it would be...less awkward to meet here than Cafe Mew Mew. Besides, we both live closer to Magic Cafe." She looked down the road. "Shouldn't you two go to Hana Pan now? They run out of stuff quickly on a cold day like this." Her blue eyes darted back towards Ichigo. "Well, what are you waiting for? GO!"
"Okay, okay!" She tugged at Kisshu's hand. "We're leaving!" As they started to walk away, Ichigo just couldn't resist the urge to tease her friend. "What, is your boyfriend some kind of-" Her words stopped.
Her feet stopped too, which caused Kisshu to stop walking.
"MASAYA? Your boyfriend is MASAYA?" Ichigo shrieked.
Minto chuckled weakly, grabbing Masaya's hand. He too looked a little guilty. "Well, you did dump him, and he's really sweet. I mean, you said all the girls at your school liked him, so I guess I'm similar to the girls at your school."
Masaya shrugged, although he failed to feign indifference. "You did say we should date other people. Why can't I date Minto if you're dating Kisshu?"
Kisshu growled, and pulled at his girlfriend's hand. "He's right. Come on, Ichigo."
"Yeah..." With one long, last look at her ex-boyfriend and friend; she jogged to catch up.
Minto too stared after them, meeting Ichigo's eyes for a second. When they were out of sight, she sighed. "Masaya, I can't do this anymore...I mean, it was fun, and I really do like you, but you haven't gotten over her yet."
His shoulders slumped, and he stared at the ground. "Yeah...I miss Ichigo."
"So...should we break up? Or...no, that seems to abrupt, and somebody would ask who dumped who...drifted apart?"
"Yeah."
"Still friends? I'm here, you know, if you want to talk to somebody about Ichigo."
"...I guess so. Thanks, Minto." With that, he walked off, his hands in his pockets.
Minto leaned against the wall of Magic Cafe. "I guess the awkwardness couldn't have been avoided."
That night, Ichigo once again found herself throwing her pillow against her bedroom wall.
"Why? Why?" She whined, hugging a stuffed animal black cat Kisshu bought for her. "Why does it bother me that Masaya and Minto are together? I don't love him! I love Kisshu!"
Sighing, she sat up, and grabbed her sugary pink cell phone, hitting one of her programmed numbers. It rang quite a few times, but finally, a male voice cracked over.
"Hello?"
"Ryou?"
"Oh, hi, Ichigo. What's wrong?"
"How do you always know when something's wrong?"
"You don't call me this late when everything's okay. It is late; therefore, I know something in the world isn't as it should be. So spill."
"Okay-"
"And could you do it fast? I'm kind of busy right now."
Ichigo blinked. "Huh?"
"You caught me in the middle of a date. Retasu and I are at this fancy restaurant, and I don't want them to kick us out. It's her birthday."
"Oh yeah. Tell her that I'm sorry, and happy birthday."
"She knows."
"Yeah. Um, just call me back soon, okay? I think-"
"You're doubting your relationship with Kisshu."
"How-how'd you know?"
"Lucky guess. That, and you're jealous that Minto is dating Masaya."
"Was that also a lucky guess?"
"No, that was because Retasu just told me. She was the one that suggested they meet up every time at Magic Cafe, since you two weren't likely to go there. You still feel guilty about that time when their cook stole the recipe off of you and-"
"Didn't we agree to never speak of that again, Ryou?" Ichigo spat.
"Yup, we did. So, I'll call you back soon, okay? The waiter is giving me angry looks."
"Yeah. Bye." She ended the call, and leaned back on her bed.
Suddenly, it rang again. Seeing it was Ryou again, she hit the green button to connect the two. "What is it now?"
"Ichigo, remember, there's no such thing as perfection."
"...Yeah. That's a very philosophical thing to say."
"Thanks. I'll relay that to Retasu. Bye!"
And once again, the call was terminated.
Ichigo sighed.
"There's no such thing as perfection...so, neither Kisshu nor Masaya is perfect. But..." Ichigo reached over to pick up a ribbon with a bell on it. "Who is closer to perfect?"
She sighed, and surprised herself when tears started to fall. "I can't decide...I'm only thirteen! How am I supposed to know what love is?"
The thoughts raged in her head, and although this would normally keep a person up all night, it put her to sleep instantly.
"There's no such thing as perfection..."
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew; it belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida, Kodansha, and any other respective and legal owners.
Author's Note: Okay, uh, I REALLY want a Kisshu/Ichigo fan's response on this. I really, really, really want one of you Kisshu/Ichigo fans to review. Actually, I'd also like a Masaya/Ichigo fan to review, as well as a Ryou/Ichigo fan to review. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this! I just sat down, and wrote it. Yup. Please review! Even if you don't belong to (use the Anonymous Review function) or if it's years after this has been updated, I ALWAYS welcome new reviews!