Author's note: Hi! Wow. I've got way too many fics to update. It's gonna take forever to finish everything. Lol.
Oh and I've changed the name of Ichigo's high school from 'Daiken High School' to 'Toranokokoro High School'... and I made a mistake with the schooling system. Kids start Japanese high school at 15, so I'll alter it and have Ichigo be in her second year.
Lastly, 'hoshiraito' means 'starlight'... and the chapter title refers to the three places that Ichigo mentions in the chapter.
Chapter Five: Starlight, Great Sword, Tiger Heart
Ichigo sat on the floor of her bedroom, dressed in her pink pyjamas and staring blankly at a yellow photo album in her hands; after everything that had happened to her in the past two days... Masaya dumping her for Haruka, her running into and confiding in Ryou, Haruka trying to talk some sense into her... this album shouldn't have still meant anything to her. She should have thrown it in the trash as soon as Masaya had dumped her... but she couldn't; it was one of her most precious items... second only to the cat bell choker that was now lying on the floor at the other end of the room.
Her grip on the album tightened; she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to look inside. It held too many precious memories that now meant nothing. Her perfect fairy tale – that she had always imagined would end in a perfect white wedding, married to the world's most perfect man, before having his perfect children and living a perfect life – was no longer possible. If she looked inside, she would probably cry.
She also wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to go back to Ryou's house anymore; she was miserable and didn't know if she wanted any company. As soon as she'd arrived home from school, she'd gone straight to her bedroom and changed into her pyjamas. At that moment in time, she was very tempted to just sit on the floor all day, wallowing in her misery.
Bracing herself, she opened up the photo album, suddenly eager for the warmth of Masaya's past love for her. She craved to hold him again and feel the warmth and comfort of his body against hers... but all she had left of him now was this measly photo album. The first photo that she saw was the one from their very first date at the museum; they were twelve years old, sitting in a photo booth and smiling happily at the camera... and the photo was lined with a border of pandas.
Ichigo's heart twisted into more and more painful knots as she flipped through the pages; there were so many happy moments of them together captured on camera, most of which were taken either by Moe or Miwa using Moe's camera... and there were at least ten photographs for every season of every year. Her and Masaya licking ice cream cones together in the spring... her and Masaya lounging on the beach in swimwear in the summer... her and Masaya holding hands on a street covered in multi-coloured leaves in the autumn... her and Masaya building a snowman together in the winter... her and Masaya linking arms... Masaya tugging playfully at the red ribbon in her new single high ponytail while she giggled... her and Masaya dressed in kimonos at a festival, her in pink and him in blue... her and Masaya kissing on a park bench, following by several photographs of her blushing at the camera in embarrassment and charging angrily at Moe for secretly taking that photograph... her and Masaya at fifteen years old, wearing their brand new Toranokokoro High School uniforms and beaming proudly at the camera... her and Masaya kneeling at opposite sides of a table, doing homework together... her and Masaya at the zoo... her and Masaya queuing up to go on a rollercoaster... and the final photograph in the album was of her and Masaya at her sixteenth birthday party, him waving to the camera and her flashing a peace sign.
Anger and depression clouded her vision; all this was ruined! Ruined because of that damn Kobayashi Haruka! She'd gotten in the way of everything! Her life had been utterly perfect before she'd come along! She pictured that average-looking, brown-haired, green-eyed girl and, enraged, threw the album to one side. It smacked into her dresser and landed open and upside-down on the floor.
She clutched her legs to her chest in misery, tears leaking down her face; life used to be so sweet... so simple... In her youth, she'd never had to worry about heartbreak, because everything she'd ever wanted had been right there in front of her... In fact, she could still remember with perfect clarity the two days in her life that had marked a turning point in her and Masaya's relationship: the days when the two of them had finally stopped calling each other 'Aoyama-kun' and 'Ichigo' and had, instead, begun to call each other 'Masaya-kun' and 'Ichigo-chan'...
Ichigo felt content as she sat on a park bench, leaning her head on the shoulder of Masaya, her boyfriend of two years, and staring up at the beautiful purple-tinted sky. It was a romantic evening, the birds singing melodic tunes of courtship and the light breeze gently toying with her dark red pigtails. She and Masaya had just been on another wonderfully perfect date – wandering around town hand-in-hand and walking at a very slow and relaxed pace – and the world, as usual, felt perfect.
"Mmm... tonight was nice, wasn't it, Aoyama-kun?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was," he replied.
She snuggled closer to him. "What do you want to do tomorrow?"
He chuckled. "Ichigo... as much as I want to go somewhere tomorrow, don't you have homework to finish?"
A fleeting moment of panic grasped her heart, but she let it melt away. "Oh, yeah... Hmm... well, maybe we could do our homework together at my house."
He chuckled again. "Silly girl... I've already done mine."
Ichigo spent a second pouting, then she smiled. "Well, could you help me with mine?"
"Sure."
She giggled, her face heating up in happiness. "Thank you, Aoyama-kun."
There was a slight pause. "Ichigo?"
She pulled away and looked up into his brown eyes. "Hmm?"
"I've been thinking about something for a while now..." He beamed kindly at her. "It simply isn't fair that I'm being so familiar with you while you're still being so formal with me."
She blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
He leaned closer to her, causing her breath to catch in her throat and her heart to pound in her chest. "It has been two years already... so I was wondering if, maybe... you could call me 'Masaya-kun' from now on?"
"Eh?" Her face exploded in a furious blush in her shock. "M... M... 'Masaya-kun'?"
It took a minute for it to sink in... but, when it did, she felt like she'd died and gone to Heaven. She could feel herself floating on the clouds of a perfect fairytale wonderland; he wanted to be on first name terms with her! At that moment, she was the happiest girl alive.
Four days after Masaya had asked Ichigo to call him 'Masaya-kun', instead of 'Aoyama-kun', the two of them had gone on another date. This time, they'd gone to the movies, where they'd watched a delightfully romantic movie about two star-struck lovers finding their way back to each other after ten years. Ichigo was in yet another deliriously happy mood when the movie ended, so she was beaming at nothing as she and Masaya walked out of the theatre hand-in-hand.
"Wow..." she said, "that movie was great. It was so touching, I even cried a bit."
"Aww, Ichigo..." Masaya replied, turning to her with a slightly sad look on his face, "don't be crying about some movie."
Ichigo laughed it off. "Oh, don't worry, Masaya-kun! I'm alright now. Anyway, they were happy tears!"
Masaya paused a moment before smiling. "Well, okay." He gave her hand a light squeeze. "I just don't like knowing you're upset about something."
Ichigo, feeling herself float away on a cloud in her besotted state of mind, leaned into him and closed her eyes. "Oh, Masaya-kun..."
There was another pause. "Ichigo?"
She opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Hmm?"
"I love how you call me 'Masaya-kun' now, you know."
Ichigo blushed, beaming at him. "You do?"
"Yeah... so, I, uh..."
She blinked in curiosity. "What?"
"Well, I've been thinking these past couple of days..." He blushed. "Since you're calling me 'Masaya-kun' now... would it be okay for me to call you 'Ichigo-chan'?"
Ichigo's heart stopped dead in her chest. Her legs immediately halted and her breathing became laboured. "I... I... I... Ichigo-chan?" She felt like she was about to faint. Convinced that this was a dream, she slapped herself across the face... which really hurt. She held her stinging cheek. "Ow..."
Masaya looked shocked. "Ichigo!" He suddenly looked worried and slightly hurt. "Why did you...? Are you okay?"
Ichigo felt dazed; she'd always dreamed of this day... the day when she would be calling him 'Masaya-kun' and he would be calling her 'Ichigo-chan'. She never thought it would come! But... it was finally here! She couldn't believe it. She was utterly speechless... and so overcome with emotion that she started crying again.
Ichigo rested her forehead on her knees and stared at the pink fabric of her pyjama pants; why did things have to turn out this way? Why did Kobayashi Haruka have to move next door to Masaya and seduce him the way she had? Why did she have to take her perfect life away from her? Were the heavens above openly mocking her? She'd asked herself those same questions over and over again all day and she still had no answer.
She heaved a deep sigh as she turned her head to the side, too depressed to bother wiping her sodden face; she'd followed Masaya everywhere... and had always known that she would follow him to the ends of the Earth, just to be with him, no matter what... and that had cost her much more than she'd ever imagined. As though it enjoyed rubbing her face in her misery, her mind suddenly began to play back those days, the days where her only care in the world was to be near Masaya, wherever he went...
At the age of six, when she'd started at Hoshiraito Elementary, she'd met Aoyama Masaya for the very first time. She'd never paid much attention to him back then, seeing as he'd just been one of the crowd in her eyes. His charm, however, had managed to win him plenty of friends in a short space of time and he'd quickly become known all around for his sweet and gentle nature. Over the course of that year, he'd won even more attention from his classmates because of his continuous string of unbelievably good grades, as well as his modesty about said grades... which had marked him out not only as a smart and hard-working boy, but one with no trace of an ego. It was in the following year, when he'd been eight years old, that he'd begun taking part in several different sports, earning the attention of more and more students around the school. By the time he'd been ten years old, he'd decided that the sport he enjoyed the most was kendo, so that was what he'd primarily begun to focus on. By this point, he'd gathered an enormous female fan base, all of which had come to see him as the perfect boy. Even Moe and Miwa had had crushes on him, constantly gossiping to each other about how amazing he was and how he'd make the absolute perfect boyfriend.
Ichigo, nine years old at that point in time – since she'd not had her birthday yet – had been somewhat oblivious for a while, not truly understanding what all the fuss over one boy was about. However, later on that year, Masaya's popularity with the girls had skyrocketed so high, she couldn't help but give the matter some thought. She'd sat on her bed, recalling all the fairy tale movies that she'd seen in her childhood... all the handsome Prince Charmings falling in love with the beautiful princesses and every royal couple living happily ever after... and realised that her childhood dream to find her own Prince Charming and live her own perfect happy ending was still as strong as it had been so many years ago. It hadn't taken long after that for her to realise that Masaya was very much the perfect image of a Prince Charming, causing her to become what she could best describe as an obsessive fangirl. By the end of that year, by which time she'd turned ten, Moe and Miwa had finally discovered how obsessed she was with Masaya. Both a) realising that they didn't like Masaya half as much as she did and b) wanting to be supportive of their best friend, they'd both eventually pushed aside their crushes on him in order to leave him for Ichigo.
Two years after her obsession over Masaya had begun – Ichigo at that point in time being almost twelve years old – the sixth-graders had finally reached the end of their time in elementary school... and Masaya had announced that he was going to Daiken Junior High, the school that specialised in kendo and whose very name meant 'Great Sword' Junior High.
Ichigo scoffed, scowling slightly; she, like almost every other girl in their year, hadn't had any second thoughts about which junior high she'd wanted to go to. She'd been so obsessed, she'd have followed Masaya anywhere. She hadn't cared that the school specialised in kendo, all she'd cared about was being able to see Masaya's beautiful face, hear his beautiful voice... and watch him get fantastic grade after fantastic grade before beating down every opponent in his path in kendo. Once Moe and Miwa had deduced that they would not sway Ichigo from going to Daiken Junior High, they'd decided begrudgingly to follow her there, so that the three best friends wouldn't have to get separated.
Ichigo's mind, not wanting to recall the details of junior high, skipped forward in time to when she and Masaya were fifteen years old and still a happy couple. Masaya had announced to her a few months previously that he was planning to go to Toranokokoro High School, the high school known for being tougher on its students than any other high school in Tokyo – both physically and academically – and whose very name meant 'Tiger Heart' High School. She'd been a little intimidated by the prospect of going there, but, since he'd been determined by any means to go, she'd instantly decided to follow him, still determined to follow him everywhere he went like an obedient puppy. As for Moe and Miwa, they'd decided against arguing that time around and had simply followed Ichigo and Masaya to Toranokokoro High School.
Ichigo gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she felt a sudden desire to punch something; she'd spent a year slaving away in Toranokokoro High School, driving her mind to the brink of insanity just to be able to stay in the school. One major screw-up and they'd throw her out on her ear, no questions asked. She'd grown to hate the school so much, because it simply pushed her too hard most of the time. One of the only lessons that she felt she could relax in was gym. At least there, she was good enough at what she was expected to do to not die of exhaustion and migraines afterwards.
What really boiled her blood, though, was what all of this blood, sweat and tears that she'd poured into staying at that school was actually worth. She'd done her best to be by Masaya's side until the end of the final year, struggling through the turmoil that is Toranokokoro High School, only for him to break up with her one month into their second year! How was that fair? She'd been getting excited over the thought of striking it lucky and getting the course of her choice in the same university as him! But, now, all of her hard work seemed to be for nothing!
Feeling tears pour down her cheeks yet again, she realised that she desperately needed some company; she felt so lonely and pathetic like this... yet who could she talk to? She didn't want to have to explain to Moe and Miwa that Masaya had broken up with her; they'd barrage her with questions and, worse still, shower her with pity... and she really didn't want the pity. The other Mew Mews were out of the question; she didn't want to drag them away from their own lives just to burden them with her problems, like a selfish brat.
She lifted her head as she suddenly remembered Ryou; she'd already said that she was going to go round to his house tonight anyway, didn't she? So he'd be expecting her... so she wouldn't be bothering him or burdening him with her problems! She smiled slightly; and he wouldn't pity her either, because the guy had always possessed too much pride to pity anybody... at least outwardly! She nodded to herself; yes, she would get dressed and head to Ryou's house as planned. She was about to move when she suddenly remembered that she'd been crying. Lifting a hand and touching her wet cheek, she immediately felt that it was damp and sticky; okay, so she'd have to clean herself up first...
"Ichigo?" Sakura asked in a confused tone.
Damn... Ichigo thought as she stepped away from the front door, almost got away... She turned towards her mother, who was walking in from the kitchen, and plastered a falsely bright smile on her face. "Yes, Mom?" she replied.
"Where are you going?"
"Um..." Aw, damn, I can't say I'm going to see Shirogane. For one, she doesn't know who he is... and, for another, although she won't mind so much, if Dad somehow found out... She held back a shudder. "I'm, uh... going to Moe's house!" You idiot, you can't leave it at that! She'll get suspicious! Say something else! "Didn't I mention it?" Oh, that's good. I made myself sound really innocent there. One gold star for me.
"Oh." Sakura smiled. "No, you didn't, you silly thing." She began walking towards the living room, but glanced at Ichigo over her shoulder. "Well, have fun! Your father's in the shower right now, so I'll tell him where you've gone when he comes back down."
"Okay, thanks, Mom!" Yes! Home free! She opened the door. "Bye!"
"Bye, Ichigo."
Ichigo quickly walked out, shut the door behind her and headed down the road, both happy and amazed that she'd gotten away with that so easily.
Finally, Ichigo had arrived back at Cafe Mew Mew, dressed in a yellow short-sleeved T-shirt, a matching yellow hair ribbon and a blue denim skirt that reached her knees. On any normal occasion, she'd have chosen a considerably shorter skirt – usually to impress Masaya, but also partly because she liked wearing short skirts – but she'd had a sneaking suspicion that Ryou would have only made fun of her again. She scowled at the memory, balling her fist in annoyance, and used that fist to knock on the door. She then lowered her arm and waited. A couple of moments later, she got bored, so she clasped her hands behind her back and started rocking back and forth on her feet. Finally, the door unlocked from the inside and opened to reveal a tall blonde boy.
He smiled at her. "Hey, Ichigo," he said pleasantly.
She pulled her hands apart, let her arms swing at her sides and smiled back, though it was considerably more forced than his was, since she was still rather depressed. "Hey, Shirogane," she replied.
Ryou shoved his hands in the pockets of his white jeans. "How are you feeling? You any better than yesterday?"
Ichigo shrugged. "Yeah, a little."
He nodded thoughtfully, then stepped aside to let her pass. She took him up on the offer and strolled past him into the pink interior of Cafe Mew Mew. As Ryou followed her inside and closed the door behind him, Ichigo gazed at her surroundings with interest. Yesterday, she'd, of course, seen how different the place looked now, but she'd been far too upset and depressed to care. Now that she was feeling slightly better – and not busy bawling her eyes out – she could appreciate how much nicer it looked. It no longer looked like a cafe, where waitresses served tea and cakes to a gathering of customers, but an actual person's home.
Instead of there being lots of white plastic tables – and a maximum of four white plastic chairs to each table – there was one of these tables near the front door with two chairs pulled up to it. Nearby, on the floor, there was a giant fluffy cream rug, which looked so comfortable that Ichigo was half-tempted to walk over and lie down on it. Averting her gaze, she looked at the other end of the room, where she saw a red sofa – which had a closed black laptop sitting on it – and a matching red armchair - which had a television remote sitting on it – facing the corner of the room, where there was a large television sitting on top of a second plastic table, which – unlike the first – had no chairs pulled up to it. Looking elsewhere in the room, Ichigo noticed that – in the small area that was separate from everywhere else and somewhat sectioned off – there was a large dark blue bean bag pushed up against the wall. Ichigo walked towards it to get a better look and noticed that, much like the sofa and armchair, the bean bag was facing a large television that was sitting on top of yet another table – which was pushed up against the opposite wall – with no chairs pulled up to it. However, this table appeared to have several game consoles underneath it and several boxes of video games surrounding it.
"Ah..." Ryou chuckled. "I see you're snooping around my house."
Ichigo's pride suddenly perked up and she whirled to face him with a huff. "I... I was not snooping!"
Ryou rolled his eyes. "Yeah right." She was about to respond when he pointed his arm towards the bean bag. "That's the game area." Ichigo calmed herself down and looked where he was pointing. "I hang out over there when I wanna chill out and play one of my Nintendo consoles." He pointed his arm towards the sofa and armchair and she looked in that direction. "That's the TV area. I hang out over there when, obviously, I wanna watch TV... or when I wanna use my laptop." He chuckled. She looked back at him and saw that he now had both his hands on his hips and he was smirking at her. "Any questions?"
She pulled a face at his smug attitude, but her curiosity about Cafe Mew Mew's new layout made her drop it. She pointed to the rug. "Yeah, what's with the rug?"
"Oh, that. Well, I wanted to make the place look more homely, so I bought a rug. It really has no use except to make the place look less bare."
"Oh." She paused, then pointed to the table. "And why do you still have that cafe table?"
He chuckled again. "Well, duh... I use that as a dining table." He paused. "Or as a place to have a serious conversation with anyone who drops by."
Ichigo flinched at that, since that had been exactly what had happened with her yesterday. "Right..."
There was silence for a moment. "Anything else?"
Ichigo paused again to look around the room; it was certainly very different from how she remembered it... although it still didn't look very homely. She guessed that was because the room was far too spacious, so there wouldn't have been much that Ryou could have done with it.
Suddenly, a thought struck her about the place and she smirked. "Yeah, actually." She turned to face him. "Why haven't you made this place look a bit more... macho?" She watched his muscles tense and she smirked wider. "Unless, of course, you like living in a house that's pink with heart-shaped chairs and windows..."
His jaw visibly clenched and she resisted the urge not to laugh at him. He cleared his throat and glanced away. "You know very well that this place might need to turn back into Cafe Mew Mew one day..."
"Yeah, I know... but why did you make it pink in the first place? You didn't have to, did you? I mean, just because you were planning on hiring five girls to work as waitresses here..."
Ryou heaved a great sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, well... part of why Keiichirou and I painted it this colour was that we assumed you five would like it more and feel happier to work here..."
Ichigo raised an eyebrow, feeling curious. "Hmm?"
"And the other part..." He groaned. "We were sure that the awful colour would be enough of an eyesore to drive most people away..."
Ichigo froze, taking a moment to absorb this information, before she burst out laughing. She watched as Ryou folded his arms and blushed very slightly, which only made her laugh harder. "What... what made you think... that... the five... waitresses would like it... but no other girl would?"
Ryou groaned again. "Okay, okay, I know... it was a stupid mistake to make."
"So, now, you're... you're stuck... living in a pink house!" She could feel herself going bright red in her hysteria.
Ryou gave a frustrated sigh, pausing only for a moment. "Yeah... you could say that." Ichigo doubled over in her laughter, finding the situation far too hilarious to be able to stop. She was just having trouble breathing when she heard Ryou walk away from her. "Just... go watch TV or something... and stop being a pest..."