Author's note: Lol. Well, here I am again with another chapter. I really don't know how long this fic's gonna be, just to let you know.

Last chapter, I made a mistake, so I went back and fixed it. The inside of Cafe Mew Mew in this fic doesn't look the same as it used to, seeing as it's just a house now. I'll go into more detail in chapter five.

Lastly, 'Oc-chan' means 'uncle' (in a casual, friendly tone) and the chapter title means 'Go away!'. You'll see why when you read it.

Chapter Four: Acchi Itte!

Nothing about that morning in Daiken High School would have suggested to anybody that something was drastically different. It appeared to be a morning like any other, with everyday shoes being swapped for school shoes, random gossip being exchanged and students walking down the corridor, swinging their briefcases without a care in the world. It sickened Momomiya Ichigo that everyone could be so happily oblivious to the travesty that had befallen her life.

As she took off her everyday shoes and pulled her school shoes from her shoe locker, she felt a tap on her left shoulder. Turning round, she saw the face of her friend, Yanagida Moe, whose blonde hair was much longer than it used to be. It was now in front of her shoulders, tied in two loose pigtails with pink bobbles.

"Morning, Ichigo!" Moe said, her hazel eyes sparkling.

Ichigo forced a smile. "Morning, Moe," she replied. She then felt a tap on her right shoulder. Turning round, she saw her other friend, Honjo Miwa, whose brown hair was also longer than it used to be. It was barely brushing her shoulders and had been layered.

"Morning, Ichigo!" Miwa said, her grey eyes sparkling just as much as Moe's.

Ichigo couldn't hold her fake smile much longer. "Morning, Miwa."

Miwa's smile suddenly disappeared and she looked worried. "What's wrong, Ichigo? You okay?"

Ichigo put her everyday shoes in her shoe locker. "Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah... I'm fine..."

Moe grabbed her shoulder and turned her round to look her in the eyes. She was no longer smiling either. "Cripes, you look really miserable. What's wrong?"

Ichigo shook her head, her smile finally slipping from her face. "It's nothing."

Moe frowned. "It is so not nothing." She paused for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, fine. We can talk about it later, if you want." Ichigo nodded as she dropped her school shoes to the floor and placed them on her feet, so Moe's voice sounded happy when she next spoke. "So, where's Aoyama-kun this morning?"

Ichigo felt her heart plummet into her stomach at the mention of that name... and had to fight for control over the tears that wanted to flow from her eyes.

Miwa giggled. "Have you two slept together yet?" she asked devilishly, elbowing her in the side.

Ichigo fought even harder to keep down the tears... but they'd be flowing loose at any moment... and her friends would be fussing over her until she told them what was wrong... and then they'd know... they'd know what had happened...

"Oh, look, talk of the devil!" Moe said cheerfully. "It's Aoyama-kun!" Ichigo's heart skipped a beat. "Let's leave these two alone, Miwa."

Miwa giggled again. "Okay. Bye, Ichigo!"

"Yeah, bye, Ichigo!"

Ichigo instantly straightened up, now able to see her friends hurrying away from her, and wanting desperately to call them back... but her voice had died in her throat. She hung her head; that would arouse suspicion anyway... Why on Earth would Momomiya Ichigo be begging her friends to stay when her wonderful, perfect boyfriend, whom she loved more than life itself, was coming over to talk to her? She cursed them for no longer having shoe lockers near hers.

"... Ichigo-chan?" Masaya's voice asked tentatively.

Gritting her teeth, she turned away from him, closed her shoe locker and picked up her briefcase. She stared at the floor, keeping her voice as monotone as possible when she spoke. "Leave me alone."

She heard him take a step towards her. "But, Ichigo-chan, I-"

"Please stop calling me that..." Her voice was starting to waver as she fought down a sea of tears that begged to be released.

There was a moment's pause. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry..." He paused again. "I knew it would hurt you, but..."

Ichigo shook her head, the tears beginning to leak from her eyes. "Stop..."

"I just want you to understand why I did what I did..."

"Stop it..."

"I didn't want to hurt you... I only-"

"Stop it!" She turned to look him in the eyes, the tears flowing easily down her face. Sobs wracked her throat as she took in his familiar appearance. "I d-don't want to... to hear it! N-Nothing you say can... can fix what you... did!" She took a moment to breathe deeply. "Just... go away! N-Never sp-speak to me again... Aoyama!"

With that said, she turned and ran away from him for the second time in two days, her hear breaking into pieces from what she'd just called him to his face: 'Aoyama'. Calling him by his surname was like throwing away everything they'd been through together in the four years they'd been a couple. Calling him 'Aoyama' and 'Aoyama' alone was like talking to him as though he were a stranger... a stranger whom she wouldn't even grant the decency of a polite honorific, such as '-san'... She sobbed as she continued to run; there was no fairy tale ending to this story...

All throughout his first two lessons that morning, Aoyama Masaya simply couldn't concentrate on anything. The teachers were trying to teach him new things... and he wanted to learn them... but all he could think about was Ichigo.

He sighed quietly as he, for the tenth time that morning, wrote her name in kanji in his notebook; his heart had been at breaking point as it was with her telling him to stop talking and go away... but when she'd called him 'Aoyama'... his heart had snapped in half. Four years of being together... four years of happiness... thrown down the drain. She didn't even want to talk him politely anymore, never mind affectionately... and that thought had made silent tears drip down his face at the sight of her running away from him.

He twirled his pencil around miserably between his fingers; all this just because he had to be an idiot and fall in love with someone else. A part of him wished that he'd never met Kobayashi Haruka... then he would have never had to see Ichigo's heart break so badly...

Ichigo... he thought, feeling his heart twist as a large lump formed in his throat, I'm so sorry... Why did this have to happen? Why did I have to do this to you?

Masaya watched as Haruka blinked at him, disbelief written all over her face. "You're... kidding... right, Masaya-kun?" she asked.

He sighed in response, looking away from her and shaking his head. "No..." he replied.

She was silent for a moment, then she lowered her voice. "But... isn't that the whole reason you broke up with Momomiya-san?"

He nodded slowly, feeling as though his heart was crumbling away inside of him. "Yeah..."

There was another moment of silence. "So, then... why?"

He lowered his head, letting his dark blue bangs cover his eyes. "Because..."

"... Because what?"

"... Because I can't get over how upset I made her..."

Haruka made a sound of irritation. "Masaya-kun... you knew this would upset her. We talked about this before you told her. Remember? Two days ago? I was leaning out my window, talking to you and-"

"I know, I know..."

"So, then, why? You broke up with her so you could be with me, right? Don't you want to be with me anymore?"

Masaya, horrified by her words, spun his head round to look her in the eyes. "Yes, I do! I just..." His eyes melted back into sorrow.

Haruka sighed. "Masaya-kun... do you want her back?"

Masaya blinked at her in disbelief. "No! I... I don't..." He looked back down at the floor. "I just... I really upset her... more than I thought I would... more than I'd hoped to." He paused a moment. "I didn't want to upset her at all... but I knew I would..."

A short growling sound came from Haruka's throat and he looked up to see her running her fingers through her long brown locks. "So... do you think you and I will ever be able to start a relationship?"

Masaya gave a slow, solemn nod. "Eventually. I just... need us to put it on hold for a while... because I really can't handle it right now. Is that okay... Haruka-chan?"

Haruka looked away, clenching her lips together and looking very irritated with him. She then gave a deep sigh through her nostrils and turned to look him in the eyes. "Fine. If you don't want to start a relationship yet, because you're too upset about how your ex is feeling, fine." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Just don't stay in wet blanket mode too long, okay?"

Masaya's mouth fell open in shock... and he stared at his would-be girlfriend, unable to believe that she'd just called him a wet blanket. He lowered his head for the third time; she was right, though. Maybe he was far too soft for his own good...

Do I even deserve Haruka-chan? he wondered. Does such a wonderful girl deserve a boyfriend who's such hard work to be with?

Haruka sighed in exasperation. "I'll talk to Ichigo tonight after school. You've shown me where she lives before, so I'll just go straight to her house after I've gotten dressed." She paused. "Hopefully, I can help get rid of this dark cloud of misery hanging over you two."

Finally, it was the end of the day and Kobayashi Haruka was at home after being walked there by a still-miserable Masaya. As she changed out of her school uniform into a pink spaghetti-strap T-shirt, blue jeans and white sneakers, she took one last look in the mirror, breathing deeply and preparing herself for what she was about to do.

Okay... she thought, I just have to go to Momomiya-san's house and talk to her about Masaya-kun. Shouldn't be a problem, right? She paused. But what exactly am I supposed to say? "Sorry, but your ex is mine now, so get over it already"? I don't think so. She gave a light smile. I'm not that mean. She paused again to think for a moment. All I have to do is a have a nice, pleasant conversation with her about how Masaya-kun never meant to hurt her. He just fell in love with me, as I did him. She nodded, a confident look on her face, as she picked up her brush to give her long brown locks a once-over; she wanted to look nice when she got to Ichigo's house.

As Haruka walked down the street, she became more confident with every step she took; she could do this, no problem! Ichigo was sure to understand! Sure, she'd still be feeling the sting from her and Masaya's break-up, but she'd be alright enough to listen to her while she set things straight.

She slowed down slightly, however, when she thought about the reason she'd fallen in love with Masaya in the first place. If... that... that terrible event in her past... had never happened, then she would never have hated perfection so much... meaning that she would never have scolded Masaya for being as perfect as he was... and if that had never happened, he'd never have felt compelled to open up his heart to her, become more emotional and reveal just how much angst was truly locked up inside his heart.

Haruka felt her heart twist into a knot, but she shook her heart to rid herself of the horrid memory that had started all of this... although it was hard to whenever she thought of her beloved Masaya... and how much he'd been suffering deep inside before she'd come along and forced him to talk about his feelings.... She scowled; he'd been like that too. Only he wasn't like Masaya. He could never be like Masaya.

Ten years ago, back when Kobayashi Haruka had been six years old, she'd found out a horrible truth that she would never forget... something that would make her no longer like or trust fairytales. Up until that point, she'd loved her uncle; he'd always been the Mr. Perfect of the Kobayashi family. He'd been handsome, smart, athletic, sweet, sensitive and had never gotten angry about anything. Every girl had adored him and he'd had many girlfriends over the years... but something Haruka could never understand was how they'd always break up with him a few months later... but she'd never let herself worry over the matter. After all, he'd been perfect. Even his name, Benjiro, meant 'peaceful' and 'enjoy peace'.

However, one day, when her regular babysitter, Murayama Aiko, had taken the night off to attend her best friend's sweet sixteen birthday bash, Haruka's parents had asked Benjiro to cover for her... and, originally, Haruka had been overjoyed; she'd always looked up to and admired her perfect, Prince Charming uncle more than anything... and he'd always told her that she was his little princess.

Haruka scowled deeply at the memory, because, very soon after her parents had driven out of sight, she'd discovered the man her uncle truly was. He'd instantly changed from Jekyll to Hyde... from Prince Charming to the evil fire-breathing dragon... and had gotten extremely angry with having to babysit her... calling her regular babysitter something awful for going out partying and leaving her there for him to look after when he had much better things to do.

Six-year-old Haruka's eyes widened in horror at her uncle, unable to believe the drastic change in his behaviour. She felt a lump clog her throat as she asked, "Wh... What do you mean? I... I thought you liked me..."

Benjiro rounded on her, his face bright red and contorted in fury. "Like you?" he replied in a menacing snarl. "Don't make me laugh!" He shoved her to the floor. "I never liked you, you little bitch! I've always hated you! I hate kids! They're annoying, they're whiny and they take up my time! I hate you!"

Tears spills from Haruka's eyes as sobs wracked her body. Where on Earth had her wonderful, perfect uncle gone? He'd always been so nice and sweet to her before... but now? He was acting like a completely different person... as though aliens had abducted the uncle she knew and loved and had replaced him with an evil clone.

"O-Oc-chan..."

"Shut up!" He grabbed her upper arm. "And get up, you lousy bitch!" He yanked her to her feet and shoved her in the direction of the stairs. "Get to bed! I never wanted to babysit you, so I'm not going to babysit you, got it? Bed!"

Haruka clenched her teeth in anger; just the thought of her horrid, two-faced uncle was enough to make her furious... and, if that wasn't bad enough, she'd spent that entire night curled up in her bed, crying her eyes out... and, as soon as her parents had come home, he'd been all nice and sweet and perfect again! They'd never suspected a thing. She breathed deeply, attempting to soothe herself, though it didn't do much good. She'd never told anyone about her experience, as she knew perfectly well that no one would have believed her. Her uncle had spent his entire life pretending he was perfect, bottling up all feelings of hatred inside... then, as soon as he'd been alone with his six-year-old niece, he'd unleashed his anger. True, she could have suffered a lot worse, but she was still scarred from her experience. She'd hoped that it had been a one-off thing too, but, as she'd found out the few other times that Aiko had taken the day off and Benjiro had replaced her, it hadn't been.

She took another deep breath to calm herself and thought about Masaya. When she'd first met him and discovered that he was just as perfect as her uncle Benjiro had seemed, she'd had to squash down the feelings of anger and hatred that had kept attacking her heart every time she'd spoken to him; she hadn't wanted to think of them as one and the same... she'd wanted to give Masaya a chance... allow him to prove that he wasn't like Benjiro... but a month into knowing him had made her worry slightly about what kind of friendship she was getting herself into... She smiled; she knew now that Masaya was nothing like Benjiro. He only hid feelings of angst and misery, wanting to keep the world happy and not make everyone worry about him. He cared... whereas Benjiro had only hidden feelings of anger and hatred at the world. He certainly didn't care.

She shook herself out of her thoughts as she noticed that she was standing outside of Ichigo's house. She took another deep breath, calming her thoughts, and knocked on the door. It was a minute or so when the door opened, revealing a very pretty woman with dark red hair and reddish-brown eyes exactly like Ichigo's.

"Oh, hello," the woman said, smiling. "How can I help you?"

"Momomiya-san?" she asked.

"Yes, that's me."

Haruka bowed politely. "Hello. My name's Haruka. I'm here to see your daughter."

The woman's smile brightened. "Oh, okay! Ichigo's upstairs. I'll just call her down for you. Why don't you come in?"

Oh, yeah, like my would-be boyfriend's distressed ex would want me in her house... She smiled. "No, that's okay. I'll wait here."

The woman blinked at her confusedly, but smiled. "Okay, then. One minute." She disappeared into the house, leaving the door ajar. "Ichigo! You have a visitor!"

"I don't want to see anybody!" Ichigo's voice replied.

The woman sighed loudly. "Ichigo! I don't know what's up with you lately, but don't leave your visitor waiting outside! Talk to her out the window, if you must!"

"... Fine! Fine!"

The red-haired woman appeared at the door. "I'm so sorry about this. Ichigo's been... in a funny mood lately."

Haruka smiled, slightly uncomfortable about the whole situation... that she, herself, had obviously caused. "No problem."

As soon as the woman disappeared back into the house, Haruka took a few steps back and looked up at the window to see Ichigo, clad in pink pyjamas, open it and lean out with her arms folded on the window sill.

Ichigo scowled. "Oh... it's you, Kobayashi," she said coldly.

Haruka frowned at the rude comment; so she wasn't even going to be polite about this? Well, she wasn't about to stoop to that level; she was going to be polite, seeing as she had no reason not to be. She cleared her throat and smiled. "Hey, Momomiya-san!" she replied.

Ichigo's scowl deepened. "What do you want?"

Haruka again bowed politely. "I just wanted to talk to you about what's happened recently. I hope you don't mind."

"... Go on."

"I'm sorry I fell in love with your boyfriend. I-"

"Ex-boyfriend, thanks to you..."

"I know, Momomiya-san, and I'm sorry... but neither of us could help it. Being next door neighbours, we spent a lot of time getting to know each other... but we just got to know each other a little too well, it seems." She paused for a moment. "He never wanted to hurt you. He spent a long time trying to prepare himself to break up with you." She smiled slightly. "He's far too soft at heart. You and I both know that. The thought of hurting you crushed him... but he really wanted to be with me... and I really wanted to be with him."

Ichigo looked really annoyed now. "I knew it! You two did conspire to get me out of the way!"

Haruka blinked. "Huh?"

Ichigo pointed an accusing finger at her. "Don't play dumb! You said he spent ages working up the courage to break up with me! That means you two had been plotting together! And let's not forget gym class, where you tried to sweeten me up before he broke up with me!"

Haruka waved her hands around. "No, wait! I wasn't being conniving doing that! Honest!" She placed a hand on her heart. "I wanted us to be friends, so there'd be no hard feelings between us. Masaya-kun really loved you, so I wanted to-"

Ichigo suddenly looked murderous. "'Masaya-kun'? 'Masaya-kun'? How dare you! Only I've ever been given permission to call him 'Masaya-kun'!" Her face was now bright red with fury. "How long have you been calling him that?"

Haruka suddenly felt very small. She fidgeted with her fingers. "Um... just under a year, I think..."

"A year? But you've only known him a year!"

Haruka glanced in the other direction and back again. "Aheh.... yeah... we kind of made a deal a month after I met him... and, ever since, I've been calling him 'Masaya-kun'... It's a long story, Momomiya-san."

"... Get out of here."

Haruka felt surprised. "Huh?"

Ichigo thrust her arm into the distance. "Get out of here! Go away!" It was only now that Haruka noticed the tears streaming down Ichigo's face. "I never want to see you again, Kobayashi! And tell Aoyama that I never want to speak to him again!"

This declaration shocked Haruka so much that she couldn't speak; she'd just called Masaya 'Aoyama'... not 'Masaya-kun', like she'd always known her to call him... or even 'Aoyama-kun', like all other girls at school called him... and, besides that, she'd told her to tell him that she never wanted to speak to him again... She could already see the pain of his crushed heart reflected in his eyes once she told him that...

"I-"

"Tell him never to approach me in school, out of school, or anywhere on this planet, for that matter, ever again! Now, go away!"

Ichigo moved off the window sill before slamming the window shut with such force that the glass vibrated loudly in its frame. Haruka jumped, her heart skipping several beats, as the very loud sound penetrated the quiet afternoon atmosphere.

"Ichigo!" she heard the woman yelling in a very angry tone. "Just what are you doing?"

Taking deep breaths and willing her heart to calm down, she walked away from Ichigo's house, feeling rather sad. Wow... so that's what she thinks of me? Cripes... She sighed. Oh, well... I'd best go break the news to Masaya-kun... She cringed. Ugh... this won't be pretty...