Chapter Two—An Eventful Night at the Café

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Ryou mumbled, not taking his eyes off his work.

Keiichiro entered the blonde's room. "Ryou," he said softly.

He looked up. "Yes?"

"Perhaps you should go to sleep now," the ponytailed man said. "It's one AM."

Ryou nodded. "In a few minutes."

Keiichiro sighed. "Well, I'm going home. Good night, Ryou."

Ryou nodded again as his friend left the room. Of course he was right. Ryou was a workaholic; everyone knew it. He needed to at least get a good nights rest, but that didn't seem like an option right now. And this time, it wasn't because of his work. Every spare moment, every second he didn't spend concentrating on his work, he was thinking about that girl. That girl. He wasn't even sure why. He stopped his work for a minute to ask himself.

Why do I like her? Well, for one she was fun. Everyone liked to be around her. She was considerate of others' feelings. She was an idiot, but a cute idiot. She was cute in everything. She was such a drama queen. She made people laugh. She made people happy. She was always happy. Unless, of course, she was with him. Not that he really did anything to change that; but he didn't do anything to really make it that way either.

Ryou sighed. Again. Keiichiro was right; he needed to get some rest. Of course he still had some work to do… He decided to just take a nap. Maybe when he woke up he would just forget all about Ichigo.

He took his shirt off—as he always did when he slept—and flopped down on his bed. His hand shot up to his forehead suddenly. "My head…" Another migraine? He had been having quite a few this week. He had been under a lot f stress lately, but he had a feeling that it had more to do with the cat DNA, and he knew that eventually things would get a lot worse than just a migraine. Well, sleep would help. He closed his eyes and tried his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his head.

…………………

Ichigo wrote something down, looked at it for a minute, crumpled it up, and threw it away. It landed in her wastebasket along with the other ideas she had rejected that night. "Nyargh!" she yelled in frustration. "I just can't think of anything!" She had been trying to figure out a way to get Shirogane to like Retasu, but could think of nothing. She was just too distracted by what Aoyama-kun had said about talking to her employer, and was getting more anxious about it by the second. If she wasn't yelling at him, Ichigo was really nervous to be around him. What would she say to him?

Maybe I'll just write out what I'll say to him, she thought. She tore a new piece of paper out of her notebook. She bit the eraser of her pencil as she thought of how to begin. "Shirogane-san, may I speak to you for a moment?" she said as she wrote it down. No, that was stupid. He wouldn't listen to her if she was being too nice. He was too much of a jerk. She crossed it out and started again. "Shirogane, I can't take it anymore!" Well, he wouldn't listen to her if she was too mean, either. She crossed that out as well. "Shirogane, there's something on my mind." That sounded okay, she decided. "So, nice weather we're having." She quickly crossed that out. Small talk didn't work with Shirogane; it was best to get right to the point. Besides, what if it rained or something? "You're probably gonna think this is really stupid for me to say," she wrote, "but there's some things that've been bothering me. You always act like such a jerk so—" she crossed that part out, "You're not always the nicest guy. To me, I mean." That made her sound like a complete idiot. "You're not always the nicest guy to me." That would have to do. "I feel like I should at least have a little more respect around here. And if you could help out with the café instead of locking yourself in your room all day, that would be great too." She smiled to herself, satisfied. That sounded good enough. She would just have to forget about the raise.

Okay, so now she had something to say to him. Would she be able to say it? No. Of course not. Maybe…she could just give him a note? Yes, that would have to do. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to actually tell him all that stuff. She rewrote her letter on a new piece of paper and examined it for errors. It looked pretty good to her. Great! she thought. Now, when should I give it to him? That thought had never occurred to her. She guessed she could give it to him at work, but then the other girls would see it and ask about it… No, it was best to give to him when no one else was around. She would just have to give it to him before work. But when before work? She could show up early and give it to him, but Akasaka-san was always there before she got there. He showed up at about five, or something like that; Ichigo wasn't even sure. And she couldn't wake up that early anyways. Especially when she went to bed this late; it was already 1:30 AM.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed when she realized what to do. She would take it too him right now. Akasaka-san wasn't there, and she could just leave it in the café instead of having to give it to him, which she really didn't want to do anyways. She smiled, happy she had thought of a solution. She put on her slippers and headed outside, deciding not to change out of her pajamas since no one would be out at 1:30 in the morning to see her.

She quickly made her way to Café Mew Mew, clutching the note tightly in her hand. The front door was locked, as she expected, but Akasaka-san hid a spare key above the door in case either he or Ryou lost theirs, and showed it to the catgirl in case of emergencies. This wasn't an emergency, but there was no other way she knew how to get into the café this late at night—or early in the morning.

She slowly opened the door and looked around. It was dark and everything was locked up. "Hello?" she said. When there was no answer, she went up the stairs to Shirogane's room.

At first she just stared at his door, contemplating what to do next. She could slide the note under his door, but he probably wouldn't see it in the morning. She remembered, from the few times she had been in his room, that there was a desk with his computer and a picture on it. He would probably see her note if she put it there.

She opened the door slowly, half expecting to see Shirogane waiting for her there, but he was hidden under the covers of his bed, tossing and turning fitfully. Ichigo crept over to his desk to leave the note, but stopped to stare at the sleeping boy. He must be having a nightmare or something, she thought. She unconsciously walked to his bedside and sat down. The blonde was breathing fast, as if he had just ran a long distance, and was covered in a layer of sweat. Ichigo touched his face and brushed his hair out of his eyes like he was a child having a nightmare instead of her arrogant boss who she…Hated! How could she be doing this? She hated Shirogane! I'm just gonna leave the note, and go home to bed, she thought. But…when she had touched his face, he was so warm like he had a fever or something… No. She had to go. Shirogane might be having a nightmare, but there was nothing she could do about that. She stood up to leave.

"Ah!" Ryou cried in his sleep. "No!"

Ichigo immediately dropped the note and sat back down. She didn't care how he treated her; Ryou needed her help and that was all that mattered. "Shirogane, wake up," she said softly. "You're having a nightmare."

Ryou seemed to be gasping for air. "Ah! No! Help!" Ichigo began to panic. She had never seen him like this…"Shirogane, wake up," she said more firmly. He began gasping more and appeared to be grabbing for something. Ichigo shook him, but he seemed to only get worse. "Ryou!" she shouted in panic.

Ryou's blue eyes suddenly shot open and he grabbed Ichigo's hand pulled her close to him. The catgirl knew she would never forget what she saw in those blue orbs. Sorrow, frustration, confusion, pain, grief, fear…all in the eyes of a fifteen-year-old boy. She thought to herself that no one deserved that, although she didn't even know what it was he didn't deserve. All she knew was that Ryou was supposed to be a conceited teenage jerk, not a depressed kid who might have lost more than she'd ever know. It didn't seem fair. Why? What did he do to deserve this?

Ryou started to come to and became a little more aware of his surroundings. "Ichigo," he said, still breathing hard.

"It's okay," she said. She was surprised at her own tone of voice toward him, which was soft and comforting, like a mother might comfort her child.

Ryou's eyes were still wide with confusion and fear, but he began to calm down a bit and as he did he grew more tired than anything else. He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep immediately, like nothing had happened.

Ichigo sighed. Well, now she knew it was more than just a nightmare. She would just have to ask him about it in the morning. She started to pull her hand out of his, but he woke up instantly.

"Don't leave me," he seemed to beg, pulling her closer.

Ichigo nodded and smiled at him. Her parents might worry…but that didn't matter right now. She laid down next to the blonde. "I won't," she promised.

He held her closely and fell back to sleep instantaneously again. Ichigo closed her eyes and started to drift off. He smelt nice. Like…roses or something. Why hadn't she noticed that before? Well, she was never that close to him before. It was almost disturbing.

But just almost.