Disclaimer: I have nothing to complain about unlike those ungrateful others out there :P! im kidding! HONEST! I'll get on with the story…

Previous Chapter

"Hello Miss Mint, Hello Miss Ichigo… can I ask you to dance?" said a familiar blonde-haired boy.

Mint greeted him with a smile, obviously not knowing who he was or what he did to anger Ichigo, but Ichigo gave him a weak smile. She knew that she had to be polite and her parents wanted her to dance with every bachelor in the party.

Before Ichigo said yes, which Mint was pressing her to, Ichigo started looking around the party, hoping to see that the annoying boy was not single, but indeed engaged, and she did not have to dance with him.

Ichigo saw no one, and saw Mint from the corner of her eye glaring at her, so she reluctantly took his hand, as he wrapped his arm around her waist to dance.

Chapter 3

Ichigo walked with the blonde-haired boy to the dance floor, and was eyed by a other bachelors. Ichigo's stomach turned… why couldn't they have come to her sooner?

The boy stopped and looked into her eyes. Chocolate eyes met ocean blue ones. She stared at them for a moment, entranced at its color, but then pulled her gaze away and looked down. The boy smirked and put one arm on her waist and the other around her hand. Ichigo just looked at him, blushing as he put his hand around her waist. When he started to try to dance, she didn't budge.

"Can you at least dance with me, people are starting to look and I hate people staring at us? I mean, I did you a favor by dancing with you… I could see it written on your face that you were absolutely smitten with me that you're afraid to dance with me! I mean, I would have loved to dance with your beautiful sister but didn't want you to get jealous." he chuckled, making Ichigo blush and get angrier.

"I am not smitten with you! You're so arrogant! And how did you find out MY name and my SISTER'S name anyway? Why couldn't you dance with HER? I wouldn't care anyway… I was looking and waiting for someone!" she countered.

"Be quiet… anyway… I'm surprised you hadn't asked my name? Well… I guess I am over your authority to-" he said and put his finger to her rose-colored lips to stop her from interrupting him. He looked at Ichigo's face, which was getting angry.

He was right. Ichigo was getting very angry to the point where she just wanted to burst into tears. She didn't want this annoying jerk to dance with her, she wanted Mayasa. This was definitely not how she planned her time to be. She wanted to have a romantic talk with Mayasa, stare into his eyes, walk into the garden, and share a kiss. But that definitely wasn't happening with the annoying boy trying to get her angry and miserable.

Ichigo took a deep breath.

"Okay… if you're here to annoy me, please find somebody else! I'm getting very annoyed with you, and I'm trying to be nice but you always have to just be so RUDE!" Ichigo said honestly, holding back the face of misery which will probably make his smirk wider.

You could tell the blonde-boy felt bad for hurting her feelings, for his smirk wiped off and put in its place was a look of concern, understanding, and regret.

"I'm sorry… I just have a bad habit of toying with people…" the boy said earnestly. He frowned, showing that he was sincere. Ichigo took a moment to think, and decided to forgive him. She smiled at him, giving him her warmest smile. He was confused for a moment, but then understood and smiled back.

"Hello then, my name is Ichigo…" she smiled her warmest smile to him.

"My name is Ryou… Miss Ichigo, you look very beautiful tonight…" the boy said, bowed, and kissed her hand. Ichigo blushed, this was just the boy she met earlier who was rude to her and now he was being quite nice. She curtsied in response.

"Now shall we dance?" he asked. Ichigo didn't say a word. Besides the fact that she didn't like him earlier, she wasn't very graceful. Like her sister said, she was a klutz and horrible at dancing.

Ryou tried to move her but she still didn't budge. He didn't ask, but he had a confused look on his face, and had a type of disappointment in his eyes. Ichigo felt bad since she thought that he though she hated him.

"No Ryou! It's not like that… I just…" Ichigo blushed telling him this. She didn't like others to know she couldn't dance.

"What?" he asked gently.

"I…can't… dance…" she said slowly and he just smirked.

"I'll teach you then…" he said. She looked at him, at first with worry that she'd step on his feet, but she felt a strange trust towards Ryou, so she followed him.

The first few minutes they were dancing were terrible. Ichigo kept on stepping on Ryou's feet. Ryou may have stayed quiet, but his face darkened every time she stepped on his foot.

"I'm so sorry Ryou! You know what… maybe we should stop…" murmured Ichigo, very embarrassed. As she turned away, Ryou grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him.

"No, Ichigo, just relax… and look into my eyes…" he told her as they started dancing again.

Ichigo didn't like the advice he'd given her, since she felt weird every time she stared into his eyes, so she kept her eyes to her feet. He directed her eyes to his, and sooner than later, they were dancing without Ichigo stepping on his foot.

Ichigo looked back at her feet in amazement that she didn't step on his foot. She smiled and then looked at him.

"I can't believe I did it!" she said excitedly. He said nothing and just smiled.

"You know what? I'm usually a klutz at dancing…" Ichigo explained.

"It was nothing…" Ryou shrugged, and just continued smiling. Those moments of dancing were a bliss for Ichigo. Ryou seemed to listen to everything she was saying, though he hardly said a word. Ichigo had a fun time just talking and dancing.

When Ichigo felt okay around him, after they had been dancing for a while, she laid her head on his chest. She felt him tense up, yet he pulled her closer and relaxed again. They had danced like this for a few moments until she heard some giggles and gossip among the girls they passed by. Ichigo immediately realized what she was doing, and pulled her head away from him.

The look on Ryou's face was the same as usual, but more relaxed, and they continued their dance. Ryou still hadn't said a word.

Ryou finally said something once he heard and eyed the bell around Ichigo's neck. He let go of her hand to make it ring.

"That bell looks familiar…" he said frowning a bit.

"It belongs to my ancestor Ichigo… funny on how we were both named the same name!" Ichigo said.

"Well it isn't that funny… I was named after my ancestor too…" he said quietly.

"You are the descendent of Ryou… so what?" Ichigo looked at him yet smiling, he looked at her, surprised, yet just kept on smiling. She was dancing with her family's enemy, something that she would have hated before, but for some reason she didn't care.

"Excuse me…" there was a tap on Ichigo's shoulder. She turned around as her eyes met onyx ones.

"MAYASA!" she squealed.

"Hi Ichigo!" he smiled back. He then stared at Ryou, but said nothing.

"Oh!" Ichigo said dumbly, "Mayasa, this is Ryou, Ryou, this is Mayasa!" she introduced both of them to each other.

She noticed though that though they greeted each other, they didn't shake hands. Before she pointed that out, Mayasa asked her to dance with him. Color rose to her face as she shook her head and turned to Ryou.

"Do you mind?" Ichigo asked Ryou.

"No, I don't mind at all!" Ryou said with a smile.

"A smile that covered his lips, but not his eyes," Ichigo noted.

When she looked at Mayasa again to say that she would dance with him, she noticed that his eyes stared at her hand, or more of what she was holding. She noticed that she was still clutching Ryou's hand, which she let go of immediately and blushed.

She noticed that there was a tiny bit of sadness in Ryou's eyes, but before she could make sure, he kissed her hand and left.

Though she was with her crush, she couldn't help but wish she just kept on dancing with Ryou. There was a feeling with him that made her feel better with him than Mayasa, even if he wasn't exactly the perfect gentlemen. But, Ichigo ignored that thought and turned to Mayasa.

"Would you like to dance m'lady?" Mayasa smiled.

"Of course dear sir," Ichigo mocked and Mayasa just laughed.

"You haven't changed…" he laughed.

"I haven't?" asked Ichigo, a bit disappointed that he didn't think she'd grown prettier.

"You didn't get prettier… you're more beautiful than ever…" Mayasa whispered as he took her chin to make her eyes meet his. Ichigo blushed.

Mayasa put one hand on her waist, while his other the other took hold of her hand, as she danced with him.

Ichigo tried to enjoy the dance, like she always wanted to, but she couldn't. It's funny on how a boy you just met, can take your heart away in just a second.

Ichigo hadn't seen Ryou for the rest of the party, which made her a bit sad. She refused other dances after her dance with Mayasa, and kept near her parents and socializing with other women at the party.

At the end, when the party was over and they were driving home, Ichigo felt a tad sad that she might not be able to see Ryou again. She was unaware that a pair of eyes staring behind a window was watching her carriage leave.

Ichigo went home and up to her room and dressed in her night gown. She let her hair down and brushed it. One would say that she was vain because she kept on brushing it even though it was tangle-free, but it was a way for Ichigo to calm herself down. Ichigo brushed her hair so that she would have something to do with her hands.

ACHOO!

Ichigo sneezed, and her nose was getting red.

"That's just perfect!" Ichigo thought to herself, she was getting a cold.

Mint stopped by her room looking quite happy.

"Looks like somebody's thinking about our young strawberry!" said Mint, skipping down the hallway, leaving Ichigo confused about what she said.

Little did she know that she would be seeing Ryou sooner than she thought…

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How was it? U know how it is for every story, and it's also in mine. R&R PPLZ! Again, NO FLAMES! If you really can't help but write a bad thing… please why don't you just say one good thing about it! I'm a bit on the emotional side about the reviews…

Oh! And for the sneezing thing, if you've watched Bride and Prejudice, you would know what I'm talking about!

If you haven't, if somebody's thinking of you, you sneeze. That's how you know. Get it? I'm sorry if this chapter was shorter than usual...

Aphros