Disclaimer: Congratulations to Mia Ikumi for creating a great anime, curse you for not putting Ichigo and Ryou together.
Sunday, 12th March 7a.m.
Ryou stared at the Mew Mews for as long as could behind the counter, well as long as he could before one of them noticed him and warned the others to get back to work before he yelled at them. He couldn't believe it. Mint was sitting drinking tea instead of getting the café ready (as per usual), but unlike usual, Ichigo hadn't yelled at her for being a slacker…not even when Mint had told her she was ungraceful and ungrateful (as per usual). What was wrong with her? She had been quiet ever since she'd come with the other mew mews at 5, not saying anything – not even to complain about the early time which he had made them come in to tidy up the café, or about her date with Aoyama. Ryou wasn't the only staring, everyone in the café had stopped what they doing- causing Lettuce to smash yet another plate.
"Ichigo? Are you okay?" Pudding run over to Ichigo and gave her a hug. Ichigo gave a start, and after a couple of seconds returned Pudding's hug.
"I'm okay, Pudding. Sorry, Mint. I wasn't listening, please could you repeat what you were saying?" Something was definitely not right with Ichigo.
Sunday, 12th March 6p.m
"What's the matter with you?" Ryou asked Ichigo for about the 5th time in the past 10 minutes. Ichigo sighed and gave the same response.
"Nothing, Shirogane! I'm fine." Ryou rolled his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Ichigo had been like this all day. No matter who asked her, or how ever many times, she always gave the same answer. The only time she had acted anything like her usual self was serving the customers. Then she had been her usual switched on (well, as switched on as Ichigo can be), calm, nice self. Otherwise she had been like a zombie.
Ichigo had finally finished doing her share of the cleaning (which was most of it, since she was the only one that could really be bothered to do a good job), and walked into the changing room to change back into her normal outfit. Ryou smirked as an idea came into his head and got off the table he had been sitting on.
Sunday, 12th March 6.05p.m
Ichigo walked to the door of the café not paying attention to where she was walking. Which explained why she walked into Ryou.
"Shirogane! Why were you standing there?" Ichigo said crossly as she picked herself up from the floor. Ryou hid his smirk behind his hand. Finally! The old Ichigo was coming back.
"Hey! You walked into me! Anyway, you're not leaving until you tell me what's wrong." Ichigo stared at Ryou as if he'd grown a second head.
"You actually care?" Ryou just managed to keep himself from wincing. Was he really that mean to Ichigo? Well, at least she seemed to be returning to normal.
"Of course I do, Ichigo! I know it doesn't seem like it, but… I think you're a really good friend, and you're upset, and, and you're not leaving until you tell me what's the matter!" It took several minutes for Ryou say some of his feelings for Ichigo. He didn't like letting his emotions out, it showed people weaknesses he had.
While he had been speaking, Ichigo's face had softened from angry to curious and then to an expression of sad happiness. Ryou wasn't sure what he was expecting to happen next, but it wasn't what happened. Ichigo gave a short, high-pitched scream and threw herself into his arms. Ryou's eyes widened, and by instinct rather than anything else he put his arms around her to prevent them from both falling over. As he got over what had happened in the past minutes, Ryou felt something wet on his shoulder. He looked down and saw tears running down Ichigo's face onto his shoulder. He smiled and lifted the girl up and carried her to the nearest table. There, Ryou sat down and arranged Ichigo on his lap and began to rock and comfort her as he could remember his mother did when he was upset.
"Ichigo?" He asked after 5 minutes. Ichigo looked up at him with a tear-stained face. "What's the matter? "
Ichigo laid her head against his now soaked shoulder and sniffed.
"Aoyama told me I had to quit my job at Tokyo Mew Mew, and stop being Mew Strawberry, or he'd…he'd…" At this point Ichigo buried her head into Ryou's shoulder once more and began to cry heartily again.
Ryou's forehead creased as half as his mind puzzled over what Ryou would do if Ichigo didn't quit, and the half flipped over what Ichigo had just said. Why the hell had Aoyama even thought about telling Ichigo to quit? Being a mew mew was her destiny! However, Ryou kept this hidden as he stroked Ichigo's hair and comforted her again, waiting for another lull in Ichigo's crying storm.
Sunday, 12th March 6.08p.m
The rest of the Mew Mews were walking down the avenue from the café when they heard Ichigo scream. After a quick glance at each other, they raced back down towards the café. As they reached the front door, Zakuro stopped suddenly and veered off towards the side of the café.
"What's she doing?" Pudding whispered.
"She probably heard something. Come on." Mint whispered back over her shoulder as she ran after Zakuro. When Mint, Pudding and Lettuce found Zakuro, she was peering through a window with Keiichiro. Lettuce scowled for a moment when she saw how close Keiichiro and Zakuro were, but then her curiosity of what they were looking at took over and she took the place on the other side of Keiichiro and looked into the café. What she saw took her breath away. Ichigo was snuggled up to Ryou, and they were talking. Or rather, Ichigo was talking and Ryou was listening. Every few minutes Ichigo would bury her head in Ryou's shoulder and he would comfort her until she began to talk again.
"What do you think they are talking about?" Lettuce said quietly. Zakuro shrugged in response.
"I can't hear through the glass, but I have a feeling it's about why Ichigo was so out of it today. She didn't argue once!"
A squeak from Mint made them all turn around, including Keiichiro.
"What is it Mint?" asked Pudding. Mint was staring at her watch.
"It's 6.30! I promised I would be home before 6.15 today! I have to go, see you guys tomorrow, say goodbye Ichigo for me!" She ran off, followed by the other mews that had made similar promises to their families, leaving Keiichiro at the window watching Ryou and Keiichiro. He smiled and said to himself.
"I'd better make some extra food for dinner, we seem to have a guest."
Monday, 13th March 3.p.m
"Afternoon, Akasaka!" Pudding said happily as she skipped into the café kitchen (We don't think Pudding would enter the café any other way). She looked around for a few minutes and then asked,
"Where are Ichigo and Shirogane?"
"I don't know, Pudding." Keiichiro replied. "I haven't seen either of them since Ryou walked Ichigo back last night after dinner. I was hoping one of you might have seen them."
Zakuro came into the kitchen with a pile of dirty plates in her hands.
"Have we got Ichigo's home phone number?" she asked, having heard the conversation with her super hearing.
Keiichiro nodded. "Just in case there's an accident at the café and your parents need to be contacted."
Mint had caught one to Zakuro's plan. "Then it's simple! We call Ichigo's house and ask if she's ill and if we can speak to her. We then ask her if she's seen Ryou!" While Mint had been speaking, Keiichiro had grabbed the phone and dialled Ichigo's number. The mews fell silent as he began talking.
"Hello Mrs. Momomiya, this is Akasaka Keiichiro, please may I speak to Ichigo? … She's not home? Well, please could you tell me where she is? … You haven't seen her since yesterday morning? … No, I'm sorry none of us have seen her since yesterday evening when a friend of hers walked her home… She didn't arrive home… Don't worry, Mrs. Momomiya, we will look for them, then alert the police. Don't worry. Goodbye." Keiichiro looked up into the anxious faces of the mews.
"She isn't there, is she?" Lettuce asked worriedly.
Keiichiro shook his head and clenched his fists. However he looked up at the Mew Mews with a smile on his face and with a light tone in his voice.
"Don't worry, get back to work. They'll turn up." The Mew Mews nodded and headed back out to the café. The moment they had left the kitchen, Keiichiro dropped the façade he had been putting up and hit the wall hard.
"Damn you, Ryou! Where are you? And is Ichigo with you?"
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