A/N: Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. Thank you my reviewers. I'm sorry to hear that some of you were despising this chapter just because of the Masaya part. Ooh! Anyways on to my idea. Ryou has finally realized that he has some type of feelings for Ichigo; he just needs to figure out what to do with them. Ichigo takes a trip down memory road. And while Ichigo is still working on her jealousy, Masaya ends up getting a class with her at school. He wants them to be friends but what if he wants more then that and how will Ryou react?
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
…Chapter seven, Ichigo's POV…
The lake rippled whenever a slight breeze blew across it. Some of the ducks that lived by the lake scrambled to my feet as I threw breadcrumbs. Next to me Mint stayed quiet and watched me intently. I wasn't sure if she was zoning but I ignored her until I was done throwing the bread to the ducks. After a minute I turned and looked at Mint, "What's up?" I asked. She sighed, pulled the collar of her coat closer to her neck, and walked to the bench that we always sat on in front of the lake. Resting on it, she buried her face into her hands.
"Did I do something wrong?" I wondered and sat next to Mint. She wouldn't look at me when I set my hand on her shoulder, "You okay?" I asked. She sighed again and brought her head up, but still didn't look at me. The gray sky made the atmosphere uncomfortable but I still watched my best friend waiting for her reply. Mint stared at the lake and finally spoke.
"If I tell you something will you get mad? I just want to know." Mint asked
This confused me a moment. I shook my head with my eyebrows raised, "You can tell me anything and I wont get mad." I promised her.
Mint looked a little bit relieved and leaned back in the bench. She still stared ahead at the lake, "I have a crush on someone."
"Yeah?" I said in a still listening voice. I leaned forward on the bench and swung my legs back and forth impatiently. That was becoming a bad habit but I ignored it even though I knew it bugged Mint. She thought it was improper and told me often that I should act like a young woman, not a mere child who was bored.
"Yes, but here is the part that I am a bit worried about." Mint paused and folded her hands on her lap, "The person I like is someone you used to love dearly."
"It's okay. I wont get mad." I reassured her. Mint turned her head and looked at me.
Her face tensed a bit but she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "I have feelings for Masaya."…
… My eyelids shot open but as the light poured into the room, my eyes became sensitive and I squinted. Yawning, I tried to take in my surroundings. "Odd." I thought as my eyes wandered around the small room, "I don't remember falling asleep in a different room." That's when it hit me that this wasn't any room, it was Ryou's room. I sat up immediately and ignored the blankets that were twisted around my body. When I fell asleep last night, I remembered I fell asleep on something warm and soft but solid. That was Ryou's chest. I blushed deeply and stared down at the blond boy.
He slept quietly, with his head nodded off to the side, resting on his shoulder. It surprised me that he found it comfortable that I, the girl who was heavier then she looked, was sleeping on his chest all night long. I turned and looked at the clock behind me. "8:30 AM" it blinked in bright red numbers.
"Damn," I cursed softly and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The blankets fell off my shoulders and landed on my thighs. Shaking them off, I stood up. I was about to run home, but someone caught me by the arm. I whirled around, startled and stared into the eyes of my own boss.
"Ryou?" I breathed. My cheeks reddened and I couldn't believe how close I was to his face. Ryou gave me a stern look then slowly released my arm. I backed away and went to the door.
"Leaving so soon?" Ryou asked and sat up in the bed. He pulled the blankets off his body and sat on the edge of the bed.
"I…I can't stay." I said, shaking my head. Ryou remained expressionless; he just stood up and walked next to me.
"What's the occasion?" He asked, setting his left arm on the wall next to my head. "Is he blocking me from leaving or is he stretching?" I wondered and stared at his arm.
"No occasion," I explained shaking my head, "I have school." Ryou pulled his arm away from the wall and nodded. He walked to the door and smiled.
"Shall I escort you?" He asked.
It took me a minute to realize what he asked me but when I finally got it I responded quickly, "I don't want to cause a burden."
"Why?" Ryou lifted a blond eyebrow, "You already are one."
I frowned. He was still such a jerk. I crossed my arms and looked away from him, "I'll just walk."
"In the rain?" asked Ryou, pointing at the window. I turned around and watched as raindrops hit the window and slid down it. The gray clouds made it seem dark out and I sighed. It was obviously going to rain a lot this winter.
"Yes in the rain." I replied, still with my arms crossed.
"You're so stubborn." Ryou said in an annoyed tone.
"And you're a jerk." I snapped back. He shrugged and leaned on the doorframe.
"If you have school, are you going to walk home first and get you're uniform, which will cause you to be even more late then you are? Or are you going to go straight to detention for not being dressed out properly?" He asked.
"Oh my god!" I thought panicky but refused to show it. "I forgot about the uniform. My teachers are going to be furious. I am going to be in so much trouble when mom and dad find out. They are going to ground me for life!" I let my arms fall to my sides and I whispered, "What am I going to do?"
"I can either give you a ride to your house, like originally planned and you can grab your belongings then I'll take you to school. Or you can get into trouble. Personally, I'd choose the first one, only because I'd hate to see my grades slip for missing class." Ryou explained. I guess I had no choice in the matter.
"Fine, I'll go with you." I mumbled. Ryou grinned and ran his hand over my head, ruffling my hair. "That's my girl." He said. He walked out of the room and down the hallway, whistling merrily. I bet it was because he was once again, right.
I stood there in the middle of Ryou's room, take-out plates and boxes scattered around my feet, while I pondered the words that were just released from his mouth. "That's my girl?" I thought. What did he mean by that?
"Heh." I laughed quietly and pressed my cold hands to my face, making the burning sensation go away. I obviously was blushing again…
…Ryou had always been a stuck up, rich, snobby boy. He had money but I rarely saw him use it. His bedroom was small when he could probably afford to enlarge it. I never saw him in expensive clothing. So I always wondered if he ever did buy anything expensive. When I noticed he never did I just assumed he didn't want to spend his money but…
"I stand corrected, Ryou." I mumbled and stared in awe. Ryou pressed the button and unlocked his car then looked at me. He followed my gaze to what I was looking at and nodded.
"Yeah, I had it especially painted." Ryou smiled and put his hands on his waist, "Just for her." Now there were times when I would've suspected that Ryou would buy something extremely expensive like a car or maybe a boat and that's why I never saw them. But no, what Ryou and I were staring at was a painting. Not just any painting though, a beautiful painting of a blond woman. The woman was wearing a long pink silk dress. It was the back of her, but her head was turned at an angle so that we could at least see the side of her face. She was beautiful even though I couldn't see all of her. The painting was done in watercolor, which made the white, yellow, and red roses at the bottom seem like a dream.
"W-why do you keep it in the garage?" I asked. I wasn't sure if that was going to offend him in any way but I needed to ask. It was hanging on a bare wall in the garage. If I were Ryou, I would've put it out in the café for everybody to see. Why did he hide in the back of the café, in the garage with his car and tools?
"Because I work out here a lot," Ryou explained, "And whenever I came out here the room would seem dreary and lonely. So one day I took it out of the hallway and added the picture to that bare wall just to see if it would lighten up the place. And it did so I kept it out here." He smiled, almost beamed at the picture. He must've loved that woman dearly. She was young so I assumed it was someone he still knew.
I looked down at the floor while my cheeks turned red, "So, uh, do you love this person?" I kicked at a little pebble.
"Yes, very much!" Ryou responded happily. When Mint told me that she had feelings for Masaya I felt like something had come crashing down on my body. I hated to admit it but, it had only been a couple of months since Masaya and I broke up, so I still felt like he was my Masaya. The fact that yet another girl had taken interest in Masaya made me sad or mad, either one of the two.
But crushes didn't stay forever. They had to at some point die and wither away. That was why when Mint told me of her feelings I congratulated her, telling her that she had picked a very wonderful guy to fall in love with. She had corrected me quickly; telling me that they were feelings for Masaya, not love. Deep down in side, I smirked knowing that those feelings would never grow. They would die and whither away.
When Ryou told me that he loved this woman deeply though, that feeling of crashing came upon me once again and I turned away from Ryou. I would've done something stupid, like ran out into the rain and all the way home but the terrifying voice of my principle yelling at me rang through my ears. I needed to stay with Ryou.
"Well let's get going." Ryou suggested and opened up the passenger door. I slid in and from that point I stayed silent. Ryou didn't talk either, he just dropped me off at home and I went and got my stuff. As I opened the door, there was a note.
"Hey Ichigo Honey,
Daddy and I are going with those friends who came over yesterday to go look at the new offices in a different town. We wont be back until tomorrow night so no wild parties and no leaving the house. Call me sweetie. I love you very much.
-Mom"
"She must've written that yesterday when her friends came over." I assumed and walked into the house. I ran upstairs quickly and grabbed a uniform from my closet. I ran back downstairs and out the door to Ryou's car again. The rain poured down on the sidewalk and I was careful not to slip. But as I looked up at Ryou's car, he was talking to someone. I could see the green umbrella propped up over the car. I stopped walking and watched while not taking notice to the rain that was wetting my uniform and me. Ryou laughed and waved as the person with the green umbrella began to leave. It was a blond girl who was probably about a year older than me. She ran across the street and onto the sidewalk.
That must've been the girl in the painting. All those times I was jealous of Mint and Masaya could never compete with this feeling of jealousy. I was jealous of that girl now. "Why?" I wondered and carelessly began walking back to the car. I was glad it was raining at the moment because hot tears began to roll down my cheeks.
… It was about half a year ago around spring when Mint came running up to me out of nowhere. She was breathing hard as she stopped in front of my house. I was playing with a soccer ball when I noticed her gasping from the lack of air. I was so worried for her. Her driver wasn't anywhere around so I assumed the worst.
"What's wrong?" I asked and grabbed onto her shoulders, trying to get her to gain air. Mint shook her head while inhaling large amounts of air.
"Mint, what happened?" I asked again.
"Something...Masaya." Mint gasped.
"Masaya?" I repeated. Slowly I wondered if Masaya had hurt Mint or touched her. Mint nodded and brought up her head. I suspected there to be tears in her eyes but she didn't look sad at all. She was smiling and then snickered a little.
"What happened?" I asked again but with a less worry tone.
"Masaya asked me out!" Mint laughed, "He wants to be with me. I ran all the way here to tell you!"…
… Going back on that memory, I could've been jealous of Mint and Masaya all along. It was because then they had each other. Mint had someone to turn to and so did Masaya. They were together and happy. I felt alone and with no one there to turn to. The feeling of jealousy that I experienced when I saw that girl with Ryou was beyond envy, it was almost hatred. "Why?" I wondered. No, I didn't need to wonder any more. I was in love with Ryou. There was no denying any longer that I didn't feel something for Ryou. But when I saw that he loved that girl I felt alone once more.
The car honked and I looked up to see Ryou waving his hand at me, "You're going to be even more late." He shouted.
I nodded and started walking to the car, but my carelessness got to me and I stepped in what I thought was a puddle. It was more of a small hole in the sidewalk filled with water. I slipped and fell backwards, hitting my head on the sidewalk. Everything went dark for a moment and I wondered if I had blacked out.
"Ichigo?" Someone called my voice. I must've only been knocked out for a few seconds, because I wasn't inside anything and it was still raining.
"Ow!" I mumbled and opened my eyes. Ryou was staring down at me with his eyebrows raised.
"You alright?" He asked.
"I slipped." I stated and rubbed my head. When I rubbed my head I felt something soft and I noticed I was lying on Ryou's lap.
"Yeah, I know." Ryou kind of laughed. I smiled and sat up all the way. When I looked up at Ryou, my heart began to pound in my chest. Ryou's wet hair stuck to his forehead while raindrops slid down his cheeks. He looked just like he had the night he asked me out.
"What's wrong?" Ryou swiped a piece of wet red hair that dangled in front of my face.
"It…hurts." I murmured.
"Your head?" Ryou asked and offered his hand to help me up. I grasped it and he pulled me up. I rubbed the back of my head and then shook it. It felt fine but it was my heart that was hurting. My chest tightened and it stung to even look at Ryou. I quickly turned away from him and picked up my uniform. It was wet but it would probably dry by the time we got to school.
"Ichigo?" Ryou asked.
I turned around, "Yeah?"
"I…uh…I really…I really think we get you to school." Ryou finished and walked to the car. He started it up and I slid in on the passenger side. The rainwater dripped off my body and landed on the floor of the car. Ryou pulled away from the sidewalk and down the rode to my school. The silence was beginning to kill me so I gathered some nerve and finally asked, "So, who's the girl in the painting?" I was trying to ask politely but it came out in a jealous and cocky tone.
"Why are you suddenly wondering?" Ryou asked and drove around a corner. We were almost to my school.
"I just wanted to know?" I sneered. That came out all wrong too. I was beginning to sound like a real bitch.
"Is it a big deal?" Ryou pulled up to the school.
"Yes," I blurted out. Oops! That wasn't supposed to come out either.
"Why?" Ryou turned off the engine and turned to me.
"Because…never mind." I started then stopped, unbuckling my seat belt.
"Seriously, why?" Ryou asked again.
"You don't want to know." I assured him
"Yes I do." Was he starting to argue with me?
I gave him a funky glare and started with the most arrogant voice I could ever conjure up, "Okay, since you really want to know, I'll tell you. I have to worst jealousy problems in the world. I used to be jealous of my best friend because she had a boyfriend. But she didn't just have any boyfriend, she had my ex-boyfriend. I was jealous because of that reason. I shouldn't have even cared then. But I did. I cared because I still had feelings for him and she took him away. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was also jealous because Masaya took Mint away from me. She was my best friend and I never saw her. So really, I was jealous of both of them."
Ryou looked surprised but he remained silent waiting until I got it all out. I went on, "Oh, so I was jealous of the perfect little couple. I would've killed to have those two split apart. I envied them both so much but that was until you told me to knock it off. And I did, I stopped being so jealous of them. I knew that one way or another they wouldn't break up just for my selfish wishes. Then I realized I envied someone even more than Mint and Masaya. I envy the girl you are in love with. You know why I envy her? Because I love you!" I turned away from Ryou and opened the car door, running towards the school gates.
I ran past those and to the front doors where I fell to my knees, sobbing. I stared at the doors while tears rolled down m cheeks. "Why is this happening to me?" I thought and rubbed my eyes. Everything seemed to go from bad to worse for the past week. I stopped crying and stood up, inhaling a deep breath.
"You know you shouldn't run off like that in the rain," Ryou said from behind me, "you could slip and bump your head." I rubbed my eyes but still stared in front of me.
"It's like whatever I do, something always goes wrong." I sighed, "I mean I never meant to be jealous of Mint and Masaya. Ever since they started dating everything seemed to fall apart. It was just they had each other and I felt like I had no one so I took it out on them. Then there was that day when I thought you had feelings for me so I asked you and…and things just felt all wrong. It was like nothing was going to go my way."
"Yeah?" Ryou said.
"Yeah," I laughed sadly, "Everyone wants something but they don't know what that something is."
"I know what I want." Ryou said.
I laughed sadly again and turned around, "Yeah? And what is that? That girl?"
"That girl in the picture was my mother, Ichigo." Ryou said smiling. Oh! Had I been so wrong? I frowned and shook my head feeling stupid.
"The other girl was a customer who came by and picked up a cake the other day. She recognized me so she came to the car to thank me. She loved it." Ryou stood in the pouring rain shaking his head. I felt like an idiot.
"I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions." I apologized, "And I'm sorry for being so envious towards you."
"You don't need to be sorry. The girl you should be envious of is someone you know quite well." Ryou said and stepped closer to me.
"I know her?" I asked and looked up at him, my heart pounding at a thousand miles per hour.
"Yes you do." He nodded.
"Who?" I asked.
"You." He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine…
… I quickly changed in the locker room into my uniform. It was still damp but I would live. I ran down the hallways carrying my books in my arms. Turning a corner, I didn't realize there was someone there. I slammed right into the person, dropping my books.
"I'm so sorry." I apologized picking up my books.
"Ichigo?" The person asked.
"Eh?" I looked up wondering who the person was. I tried to keep a low profile at my school so it surprised me that a random person knew me. It was Masaya. "Oh hello." I responded and finished trying to pick up my books. He kneeled down and picked up a book.
"Chemistry?" He asked.
"Yeah." I said as he handed me the book. I looked up and our eyes met for a second. He smiled, tenderly. I rolled my eyes away from his gaze, grabbed my book, and stood up.
"Who do you have?" He asked as I began walking away.
"Excuse me?" I asked cocking an eyebrow as I turned around.
"Who do you have for chemistry?" He asked.
"Um, I don't know the teacher but the room number is F111." I said wrapping my arms around the books, "For period 3."
"Sweet, we have the same class." Masaya laughed.
"Heh, well that's great. See you then." I walked away.
"See you then." He called as I walked the rest of the way down the hall. I seriously had no interest in him any longer. Ever since this morning all I could think about was Ryou. I couldn't believe he kissed me. I smiled and pressed my forefinger to my lips. I was finally happy. I finally felt no jealousy when I saw Masaya.
"I know what I want and that's to be with you Ichigo." Ryou said after he kissed me.
I pushed open my second period class door and prepared for a long hour of English. "I get to see Ryou after school." I sang in my head as I tapped the pencil on my desk. My teacher yelled at me a couple of times for not paying attention during class but I ignored her, still tapping my pencil on the desk. The bell finally rang and I walked to my next class. It was unfortunate that I had to have Masaya in it.
As I sat down at a desk, Masaya came trotting into the room with one of those 'Hello world, admire me' smiles. I ignored him, hoping he wouldn't sit next to me. That was another wish that didn't come true. He sat next to me and smiled, "Hello Ichigo. How are you?"
"Since an hour ago?" I sneered.
Masaya laughed and nodded, "Something interesting always happens during periods. I was just wondering."
"Well nothing happened." I said rather annoyed, "It was English and none of my friends are in that class."
"I'm sorry to hear that." I'm sure he would've said more but our teacher cut him off as he wrote down the assignment on the board. He talked for minute or two about a lab we were doing then set out all the materials, showing us how to do the first part. It was one of those liquid experiment things and I knew there was bound to be someone in this class who would set off an explosion. Masaya put on his goggles and gloves and stared at me.
"Well?" He asked.
"Well what?" I shrugged.
"Aren't you going to put on your goggles?" He asked.
"Oh, that's right. We're lab partners now. Okay, whatever." I said sarcastically and wrapped the oversized glasses around my head.
Masaya handed me tubes of liquid and I set them in the containers as the directions said. I could feel Masaya's gaze drilling into me but I remained working and paying attention to the liquids. After a minute or two Masaya coughed.
"What?" I asked still pouring in different liquids and writing down the conclusions. I sketched down a few words and asked again, "Yes Masaya?"
"Do you, I don't know, want to start over?" he asked.
"What?" I stared at him.
"We could be a couple again. Let's try it just one more time." Masaya suggested with a tint of plead in his voice.
"I don't think so." I shook my head and poured the new solution in with some powdery looking stuff.
"I know you still feel something for Me." he said. I was in such shock at what he said the tube of liquid slipped from my hands and onto the lab table. It oozed out of the container and onto the floor.
"What?" I exclaimed and grabbed paper towels, wiping up the mess.
"Come on, I know it and you know it. Let's try out our relationship just one more time." Masaya said again.
"Look Masaya, I don't know. First off you're dating Mint and it would be wrong if you cheated on her…"
"Oh, our relationship isn't going so smoothly." He interrupted.
"Is that that only reason you want to hook up with me again? Because I'm happy without you right now. And I'm sure Mint is going to hate your guts when she finds out you're hitting on me again." I threw the paper towels away.
"No, of course not!" Masaya said defensively, "I just thought…"
"But you weren't thinking. Mint is obviously happy with you so don't ruin her happiness. Even if you guy's are having trouble, we had a share of our problems before too. We worked through it now it's your turn to do that with Mint." I turned and poured the powdery stuff in clear liquid. I mixed it and set it over a small flame. That shut up Masaya for a minute. The class was almost over so I decided to pack up, putting the experiments away.
"Can we at least meet after school to talk?" Masaya asked when the bell ran and I was walking out the door. I thought about it a moment.
"I'm meeting a friend but I guess we could talk for a second." I shrugged. Masaya seemed satisfied with the answer and waved walking away. The rest of the school day flew by faster than I thought and before I realized it, the last period bell rang. I walked outside to the front of the gates where Ryou promised he'd pick me up. The rain was still coming down pretty hard but I waited patiently, knowing that he would be coming at any second.
Then Masaya showed up. He ran up to me and asked, "Why can't we just try to start over?" Boy, he got straight to the point on this one.
"Because I found someone else and I'm happy." I said frowning.
"But I miss you. We were happy together before too. I went away for a month and you want to break up?" Masaya seemed upset.
"Masaya this just isn't the time. That was a year ago and you know it. We both knew that our relationship wouldn't last when we're both on different sides of the world." I said shaking my head.
The next thing I knew Masaya wrapped his arms around me, holding me close to his chest. I tried pushing away but his grip was on tight.
"Masaya?" I asked.
"Please," he sounded so pathetic, "Just let me hold you one last time."
"Let me go." I tried pulling away. As I struggled my head turned to the side and I saw something I knew would ruin my day. Ryou stood there with an umbrella, staring at me. He gave a nasty glare and turned around, walking away.
"No!" I yelled, "Ryou!"
Masaya loosened his grip as he heard what I yelled and looked at me. "Is that who you're in love with? Ryou?" he asked. I finally was able to shove him away and I went running down the sidewalk after Ryou. Yes, everything I did went from bad to worse. But was it always my fault?
…To be continued…
A/N: Okay everyone; I am sooo sorry for the wait. Like I said, I had finals and then something awesome happened to me. I got a boy friend! Whoo-hoo. I made this chapter super long because it was such a long wait. I needed to get to a point where Ryou was pissed at Ichigo for something. I'm sorry if Masaya seemed OOC much. Anyways, I kept starting this chapter then redoing it so that's pretty much the whole reason why it took so long. Thank you all my reviewers. Now what's happening in the next chapter? Ryou is angry at Ichigo. Ichigo is pleading for forgiveness but not only to Ryou, but to Mint. Can Ryou forgive her for a small mistake or will he shun her away? Can Mint forgive Ichigo or hate her forever? Romance in the ending. And we're getting closer to the last chapter of My Envious ways. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS CHAPTER WAS TOO LONG OR SUCKED. Thanks again and until my next chapter- KTHM