Well, I better get this up before December 30th. So its time to reply to reviews!

Chibi Strawberry Neko

Yokie

BlueButterfly aka Darkmistress

Lauren

Kagura-The Living Wind

Liz-Sakura

PrettyPinkSugar

Kokari

Nekoxlove

RyouLovaGirl

Mayalen

Kay1fire

Firediva

Hikaritenshi2000

StrawberryNekoGirl

Leo's Starlight

Mewmewgurl

Anonymous

K paradox

Mew Lizzy

Kaneko-101

Onto the chapter!

I do not own TMM.

Ichigo sat in her room. I had been one whole week since her father had pulled her away from Ryou, and that's all she ever did. She sat in her room, refusing all meals and calls. She only left to go to the bathroom, and it was right next to her room. She was getting thin, and was tired, even though she spent most of her time sleeping. Her skin was becoming paler and paler by the day.

"Ichigo? Please come out?" her friends Miwa and Moe ushered from outside of the door. Ichigo just looked over from her spot over by the window. She sighed and slowly watched to the door. She opened it and gave a weak smile to her friends. "Sorry guys….I just haven't been the same since I came back home."

"Well come on! There's a Masaya Aoyama TV concert on in five minutes!" Miwa said. She shuddered at his name, but managed to give her friends another weak smile. "I….I'm not really into him anymore…."

"Well just come watch it with us for old times sake…please?" Moe pleaded. Ichigo sighed again and nodded, as she walked to the living room, the first time she stepped out of her room not to use the bathroom. "I don't see why they just can't watch it in my room, "thought Ichigo.

…………………………………………………………………

"Eh, commercials. Want me to get some popcorn?" Miwa suggested. Moe beamed at the idea while Ichigo just stared at the TV. An ad came up, making Ichigo look closer….

"The Mew Mew's are back, with their brand new cd!" the ad said, showing a picture of all four members of the band. "Miwa, come back in here!" Moe yelled. Miwa returned holding a bag of un-popped popcorn, just as they flashed a large picture of Ryou. Ichigo stared at the screen with wide eyes. "Ooh! It's Ryou Shirogane! He's so hot!" the two girls echoed at the same time. Tears filled Ichigo's eyes.

"Ichigo…..what's wrong?" Miwa asked. A knock was heard on the door and Ichigo didn't get up to answer it. The butler answered the door, and inside the room walked Masaya Aoyama. "OH MY GOD! IT'S MASAYA AOYAMA!" Miwa and Moe shrieked at the same time. The singer acknowledged them with a shiny smile. "I came here to speak to Ichigo, ladies," he said in a super-sweet tone. ((Gag))

The two left to the kitchen, as the commercials had cut and Miwa didn't want to get popcorn anymore. "What do you want?" Ichigo asked through clenched teeth.

"I want you to be my girlfriend again…."

"No."

"Come on, Ichigo. I mean, I am so sorry for that incident…."

"Which one? Trying to rape me? Sicking your gang on me? Sending me home!" she screamed.

"Ichigo, please," he said, grabbing her wrists. She managed to slip one hand free and slapped him as hard as she could. "You don't want to be with me, and you're not really sorry! You just want to be with me…because I'm me! I'm Miss Ichigo Momomiya, and I can get anything I want, and I hate it! So get out of my face, you creep!" she screamed. Masaya just smirked. "Don't worry, I'll find a way, and when I'm done, you'll be begging me to be my girlfriend."

He turned around to leave, and Ichigo ran back up to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and began to cry. She went threw her drawers and threw out her clothes in rage. "Why, why did he bring me back! I don't want to be here! I want to be…."

"I want to be by Ryou's side."

She hiccupped as a small piece of paper fell to the floor. She picked it up and stuffed it in her pocket, and she wandered to her desk to write down a song of her own.

…………………………………………………………………

She sighed, wishing this would ever get to him. And then she picked through her pocket and unfolded the tiny scrap of paper. On it was the phone numbers of all three members of Mizakuse.

She tried Zakuro first. At the sound of Ichigo's voice, Zakuro put down the phone.

Next was Lettuce. She didn't know if Lettuce was actually busy, or if she was just ignoring her. The phone kept ringing.

And then there was Mint, the girl who probably hated her most for this whole scandal. She dialed the numbers and Mint picked up right away. "Mint….its Ichigo…"

"Oh….I'm sorry, but I don't speak to liars. Please call back never…"

"Wait!...Don't hang up…..please…"

"And why shouldn't I? I don't like to be messed with, Ichigo, and boy, did you cross the wrong path when you thought of lying to me! And I can't believe….you just left Ryou!"

"I didn't! My dad dragged me…Masaya…"

"Don't go blaming this all on your dad and Masaya! You didn't even put up a fight! You just accepted that you were being dragged away and just reached out your hand hoping he would grab it! I mean….why…..how could you break his heart like that? He thinks you don't like him!"

"But…..Mint….please…listen…."

"…..you've got two minutes….."

"I….I love Ryou…..and…I am locked in….please…can you help me escape?"

"……..Maybe……."

"Mint! Ok, I am sorry for lying to you…I mean….I need to do some things by myself……but…I need your help escaping…please?"

"……Well…..when you put it that way…what's the plan?"

"I can't get out of the house. The only way I can get out is going to a party my parents are throwing tonight down town. If you were to come dressed as my driver…"

"Are you serious! Me! Your driver!"

"Mint!"

"Ok, ok, fine. What time?"

"My regular driver comes at five. If you could come about fifteen minutes before…."

"Alright. That gives me a couple of hours….uh…where do you live?"

"Look it up, Mint. I'm sure some psycho posted it on the net."

"Right….well then, I'll see you then…."

"Wait!"

"What else could there possibly be!"

"A secret code. It will be 'no guilt'."

She sighed. "Fine." The phone clicked, and Ichigo put it down. I gotta get ready then" she said.

…………………………………………………………………

The song she wrote in her bag, she prepared herself at 4:45. "Mint should be here soon…"

"Miss Ichigo, your driver is here. And they said something like……no guilt…..could you know what that might mean?"

Ichigo smiled. "Its nothing. I'll be on my way now."

…………………………………………………………………

"Do you know where Ryou is?" Ichigo questioned.

"No……not really….do you think you have any clues?"

"……..Is there maybe a shrine to his sister?"

"Actually…yeah…..there is……at his parent's house," Mint said.

"Step on it!" she shouted.

…………………………………………………………………

When they reached the house, Ichigo asked Mint where the shrine was. Mint told her it was in the back of the house, where the garden used to be. "And Ichigo….good luck."

She smiled. "Right. Mint, you better hide. By now, they've probably figured out I've gone awol again, and are following us."

Without another word, she dashed into the house. Every time she took a step while running, it felt like she was taking up too much time. Time seemed to slow itself as she raced to the back door of the house. She opened it and smiled, only to find that Ryou wasn't there.

A frown replaced her smile. "He must not be here," she said. It wasn't long before she fell to the ground and began to cry.

"I wish…..I wish I could find him…"

Ichigo dried her tears. Mint had added in while they were escaping that no one had seen Ryou in days. "Maybe I'll never find him."

She dried her tears and walked back through the door. Saddened by the fact that she may never see Ryou again, her tears watered, blurring her vision. The front door was soon within arms reach and she was just about to pull it open when she heard a faint noise upstairs. It had sounded as if something had fallen.

Ichigo, frightened as ever, decided to be brave and go check it out. She slowly walked up the stairs, thinking of what it could be. A burglar? Another gang member? A runaway?

Or maybe….it was Ryou.

With that thought in mind, she ran up the rest of the stairs. Hope filled her heart once more, as she pinpointed the exact room the sound had come from, and almost kicked it open.

And there was Ryou.

"Oh…..hi," he said. He had the same dull look in his eyes Ichigo had had for the past week. She got closer to him and smiled. He noticed that she had gotten a tad thinner and sighed. "Not eating much lately, huh?"

"Yeah….just…wasn't hungry…."

"Ah….I see."

"Ryou…..um…." words could not describe how she felt at the moment. So she just handed him the song she had written.

Message from the Heart

I hope you can forgive me

Loving you has never been so complicated
Oh, you bet it is
Very complicated, but I love you so much
Every bone in my body aches for you

You make me feel so safe
Over and over again, hold me
Until the end of time

Right now, I wish I could be with you
You're the only one I love
Only I hope you can forgive me, and hold me
Until the end of time

He smiled. "This…this is really good, Ichigo…" he said.

"Did you find it?"

He paused. "Found what?"

"The secret message. The reason its called message from the heart is because there is a secret message in it, and it comes from deep within my heart. And it's the message….that shows I wrote this for you, Ryou…..and…I know this sounds silly….but if you can't find it….try using your heart, and not your eyes."

Ryou scanned the paper over and over again. He sighed. "I can't find it, Ichigo."

"Use your heart….and not your eyes."

He scanned it once more, looking deep within it. And this time, he found it.

I LOVE YOU RYOU

He looked at Ichigo. She smiled at him, and then saw a flicker in his eyes. His dull eyes seemed to glow, and they looked alive again. He pulled her into a hug, holding her as tight as he could. Once they broke free of the hug, he gave her a kiss.

A passionate kiss to seal their love for one another. Ichigo pressed against him harder, deepening the kiss, and Ryou did the same. Her hands wandered down his chest and up his shirt, massaging his chest. He slipped his tongue into her mouth and he could have sworn he heard her moan.

Once they separated, out of breath, he held her even closer that before. He kissed her neck as they sat there together. And Ichigo was finally able to say what she had wanted to say at the dance.

"I love you, Ryou….don't ever let me go."

I think that's the most intense kissing scene I've ever written. 0.o Yay me! Lol, yeah, a big accomplishment in my life! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, and I hope it doesn't take you too long to find the secret message either. Heh heh, I am very crafty in mysterious ways. 0.o Well, read and review, over and out. -Nibzo