Color me enthusiastic and flattered - I don't think any of my other fics ever got such a warm and widespread reaction before! Thank you all. If I haven't responded to your review and you have an account here, please feel free to PM me and I will send you one that hopefully isn't crappy.

I'm counting everything as canon in the Tokyo Mew Mew universe - so that includes Berry, even though I usually call a la Mode discontinuity, and Ringo from the PS2 game that only lucky Japanese people have. (sulks) I will make a brief reference to my all-inclusive canon, since there was one in the first chapter too. First person to name both lines from both chapters in a review gets digital ice cream.

On with the show!

White Chocolate With Strawberries

He almost kissed me.

It was past closing time; Ichigo and Lettuce were the only Mew Mews still in the café. Mint and Zakuro had left together, talking of shopping; Pudding did one last acrobatic trick for the customers and bowed out - she had siblings to feed.

All the while, Ichigo's nerves were on edge. She kept imagining what had happened in the kitchen, which felt to her like a dream-like scene in a movie. Shirogane being so close to her... his finger stroking her ear, pressed over her lips, his nose touching hers... the idea make her think of Masaya and shudder.

"Ichigo-san? Are you all right?"

She flinched, then became aware again of her green-haired friend and nodded. "Oh... yes, Lettuce-san, I'm fine."

Lettuce hastened to catch a falling plate. "I know you don't want to work on White Day, since it looks like we will be... I know if I were you, I'd rather spend the day with Aoyama-kun... or someone else I loved."

"Huh?" Ichigo blanked automatically - a wave of sadness came over her as she caught her friend's words, and she nodded quickly. "...Yes, I would rather. But Shirogane insists on me working...as he always does...so, I guess I'll go to see Aoyama-kun in the morning, before White Day really begins."

Lettuce smiled. "I really admire your determination, Ichigo-san. Coming back to fight more Kirema Animas after we thought we had them all... helping our new friends... most of all, sacrificing what little time you have with Aoyama-kun for the café and us."

Ichigo flinched at the reminder.

Unseeing, Lettuce went on, her blue eyes shining with admiration. "In fact... how long has it been since we heard from Aoyama-kun, or he was here and not in England? The last time he was in the café was..." She paused. Frowned.

Ichigo spoke softly. "Nearly a year ago. Last White Day."

"Oh... Yes. He's been abroad on and off for so long... you must be glad he's coming back in time for you to give him some of Akasaka-san's chocolates."

"Yeah. Glad."

They finished clearing up the café at last, stacking the chairs in high towers and pushing them over to the sides, and placing the dishes in the currently-empty kitchen. Ichigo's thoughts were so preoccupied that she didn't even stop to wonder where Keiichiro might have gone.

Lettuce seemed to finally notice her air of distraction, too - she smiled at Ichigo, bade her farewell at the gates, and headed home.

Now she was alone.

It was one of the few times she'd been alone in a whole year. Between the constant work at the café, her double role as Mew Mew and student, and the sudden overprotective spike in her parents' behavior, Ichigo had been consciously and unconsciously shielded from solitude wherever she went.

There was more than enough of it now.

Tears suddenly stung her eyes, startling her. Who am I kidding? she thought, rubbing her face with one sleeve of her thin jacket. I've been lonely for a year.

She started to walk aimlessly, letting her feet take her where they would. It's time to go home, she thought, but her feet didn't comply; Maybe I'll go by the school, she thought another time, but she didn't end up walking near there either. In the end, she looked up and found herself trudging through the park, heading for a dove-white bench in the center, next to the fountain.

Aoyama-kun and I sat on this bench.

Ichigo smiled faintly. Then her eyes filled with tears again, and this time she did nothing to stop them. It was a strange midpoint - she rocked back and forth on the bench, laughing and crying alternatively.

There had been many, many memories shared with Masaya on this pure white bench, and by the fountain, and in the park itself. How vivid they were! Hiccoughing with laughter, she recalled a moment here after the awakening of Deep Blue, when her newly-revived Masaya had tried to feed the pigeons here. And how they had attacked him, pecked at him, pulled at him! It was as if they knew then of his alien origin, when they hadn't before.

More, more, more memories washed over her. Ichigo let them come, and wrapped her jacket around herself, keeping them close.

I'll see Aoyama-kun tomorrow...

The thought thrilled and saddened her.

...first thing. As soon as I get some sleep.

The first thing she was aware of was rushing water; the second, an annoyingly-familiar voice; the third, the smell of fish.

"Baka strawberry. Just what are you doing out here?"

"Mmmm..." Ichigo stirred. She yawned, showing previously-absent fangs, and stretched out from hair to toes. Recognition finally dawned, and with a squeak she realized several new things in succession:

The first thing: the last thing she remembered was - was falling asleep horizontally on a bench. She was still on that bench - in that park - now.

The second: It was no longer late afternoon, with the birds going off in trees to rest and the sky turning pale pink and orange. Now it was morning - parts of the sky were still inky blue, while the area of the sky where the sun was rising was a riveting red.

The third new thing? The one speaking to her with such obvious worry hidden in his voice was Ryou.

"Nya? Shi - Shirogane!"

His blond hair and pale skin looked darker in the early morning, but those mischievous blue eyes were shining as deviously as ever.

"Tsk-tsk, Momomiya Ichigo," he scolded, and sounded at least partially serious. "Out all night! Your parents have been frantic. They've been searching for you, calling all of your friends, disturbing my much-needed sleep... and here you are, taking a catnap in a closed park! Honestly, you little stray. I'll bet this isn't the first time you've run away from home." He wagged his finger her way.

"Y - Y - Who are you calling a stray, Shirogane? What I'm doing in the park is none of your business anyway!"

"It actually is - since I was kind enough to offer to find you. While it is four hours of my life I'll never get back, I suppose finding you was worth it."

"You suppose? You jerk!"

Ryou sighed.

Ichigo got up hastily from the bench, brushing peeling white paint off herself. As she did, she frowned at the blond high-schooler - and was startled by just how concerned he looked. He noticed her attentive gaze and looked away; she did not. Her brown eyes saw the sleepy lack of focus in his blue ones; the way he ran his hand through the blond hair she only now noticed was ruffled and untidy; and the fact that he wasn't standing up straight like always, but slouching.

And then Ichigo noticed a delicious smell.

Trying to surreptitiously sniff and speak, she addressed her boss in a quieter voice. "You've... been looking for me all night?"

Ryou shrugged. "More or less. I roamed the streets as Alto, then as myself when it got lighter... Tokyo's quite active at night. I'd forgotten."

Ichigo felt her face grow hot. It was bad enough that her parents had called her boss (especially since she doubted that her father had been civil); Ryou had sacrificed his sleep to try and find her. She knew well that he hardly slept anyway. Cat ears materialized on her head, symbol of her shame.

The promise she had made to him swam back into her memory. I will... do my best, Ryou. But had she done her best yesterday? Half-heartedly working at the café, practically sleepwalking to the park and camping out in a thin jacked without telling anybody beforehand. Her blush deepened.

I need to do better... like I promised him I would. But...promises are so easily broken.

Ichigo blinked rapidly, frantically. No! No! No! Not here, in front of him...

He saw her anyway, and tilted his head to one side. "...What's wrong?"

"N-nothing. Gomen nasai - sorry." Ichigo blinked a little more until she felt safe in speaking again, and in looking into Ryou's blue eyes once more.

Yet as she did, she noticed something.

Her employer was wearing a jacked - actually a coat, the same long brown one he had been sporting yesterday afternoon. Something shiny and silver was sticking out of one of its pockets. And from that silver shiny thing came the delicious smell that held Ichigo's nose hostage.

Fish.

Her ears twitched; her cat's tail materialized as well, and then there was no turning back. Quick as a cat, she snatched the silver shiny out of Ryou's pocket and balanced it in her hands, tossed it back and forth.

"Hey! Give that back, Ichigo!"

"No way!" Ichigo danced out of Ryou's reach, dodging his every skilled lunge (she had forgotten about his more- refined Iriomote Wildcat genes). As she did she studied the label on what turned out to be a can. "Wait - this is tuna! Shirogane, you've got tuna!"

"Well deduced," Ryou said dryly, lunging again. He gave a frustrated growl as he missed again.

"Oh, ha ha," she retorted, as always resenting his jabs at her intelligence. After all, not everyone was a genius. "You wore that jacket yesterday, and I didn't smell any tuna on you then."

"Naturally," Ryou said. "I found snoring here, about an hour ago. You were relatively safe, and I was hungry... so I got some tuna. Note that, baka - my tuna. Now hand it over."

All the sympathy and fellow feeling drained out of Ichigo like water from a bathtub. Here she was trying to understand him and get along with him and be grateful that he had come looking for her; and what should she learn but that Ryou had put off a supposedly frantic search for her to get food!

Her blood boiled. Her face flushed for an entirely different reason. Such hurt and anger flowed through her that she considered becoming Mew Ichigo just to smack the blond around with her Strawberry Bell.

"Why you - ! I...! Ooooh!" Ichigo threw back her hand and yowled. "You don't care about anyone but yourself, Shirogane!"

Ryou winced, but quickly shoved it off. "So I've been told."

His nonchalant attitude was the last straw. "Oh, you! Just - just get out of my way, then! I'm leaving."

That got his attention - but, she realized as he suddenly took a tight grip on her arm, not in the way she had anticipated.

"Oh no you don't, catgirl. I've found you at last - now I'm taking you home. Didn't I say your parents have been out of their minds with worry? It's past time you were back where you belong."

Ichigo strained to get free, inwardly cursing his strength and equally-formidable reflexes; he shifted as she did, so that any attempt she made was a useless dance. He matched her steps, and smiled at his own genius.

"Shirogane! I have somewhere to be, and it isn't home! I have to go there!" Her voice trembled, and he noticed. "I need to go there..."

Ryou's blue eyes seemed to soften. However, it lasted only a moment - then he was frowning. "I promised I would bring you home."

"I'll go home on my own!"

She felt something warm and heavy being draped around her, and temporarily did not feel a hand restraining her wrist. Ryou had put his coat around her shoulders.

She was stunned. "Shirogane-san..."

He did not look at her; he studied the pavement, the white bench, the fountain. "Your parents told me that you'd been different in the past year. Guarded. Quiet. Reserved. They're worried about this, on top of everything else, so... Please. Come with me."

His kindness moved her, as did his entreaty - it was not the first time Ryou had offered her his coat, or been so nice to her. Still, though, her eyes could not help but suddenly burn with tears. "Sh-Shirogane... I c-c-can't. Today's... it's White Day..."

She turned away. Tears fell into the fountain.

Ryou appeared confused at first. Then something occurred to him: his blue eyes widened, and he felt both his face and heart clench with empathetic pain. His breathing quickened. He wanted to touch her, to comfort her, but he dared not. It had clicked for him, though - the gears in his head were spinning now. He was started to solve the mystery.

"Ichigo."

The catgirl flinched before turning around. She was no longer crying, but her eyes were still rimmed with red.

Ryou stepped closer to her, into her personal space. He put one hand on her shoulder and started to lead her out of the park, toward the gate he had jumped over earlier to get in.

His words were less than comforting, though. "Come with me. Don't argue."

For once, Momomiya Ichigo did not argue.

Ta-da! Chapter Two.

Thank you all again for all your wonderful encouragement! Another chapter down and at least one more to go...