Chapter 12:

7 Days

Cat- Hey guys! Sorry this is kinda late, summer break started yesterday and I caught up on my sleep XD

"Sometimes second chances work out better than the first because you already learned from your mistakes." ~Anonymous

After yelling at Kisshu, Ichigo made a beeline to her dorm, hoping that Lettuce was there. She ran and ran, not looking back to see if anybody was following her.

When she reached the dorm she ran in and slammed the door behind her, waking up the greenette who was sleeping in their bedroom. "Ichigo? What's wrong?" She asked when she saw the tears falling from Ichigo's eyes.

"Kisshu…Mint…angel…you've been through this?" Ichigo rambled, not making any sense. But Lettuce knew.

"Come on, sit down and I'll make you some hot chocolate." Lettuce said as she guided Ichigo toward the couch. She went to the closet, grabbed a blanket and placed it on Ichigo.

She then went into the kitchen and began making the drinks, not forgetting to put mini-marshmallows on top.

She brought the two mugs over and gave one to Ichigo as she sat on the couch. "Now, tell me what happened."

"Well…when we started dancing with different partners at the dance, I was dancing with Masaya and Kisshu was dancing with Mint. When I looked at them, Mint caught my eye and smirked at me. When she looked back at Kisshu, she leaned in and kissed him…"

Lettuce slightly gasped. "Yeah…but I didn't stick around to see if he kissed back or not, cause Masaya saw what I was looking at and asked if I wanted to step outside. So we went and he comforted me. All of a sudden he said "Now," and I felt a cloth over my mouth. It was slightly damp, so I'm guessing it was a sleeping drug. And when I woke up, I was in a shed chained up, gashes in my arms and legs with Mint standing in front of me with a bloody knife in her hand.

"Then she started talking all this shit about loving Kisshu since they were kids and them being together all the time. She told me about this agency and how their goal was to get rid of the angels and shit like that…but then she started talking about when I came here and how she and Kisshu started to drift apart. How she knew it was all for the job, but felt like he didn't love her anymore. So, she wanted to get rid of me, killing two birds with one stone; getting rid of the angel and me.

"Then Kisshu showed up, spouting nonsense about he was in love with me, and at that point I didn't know whether I believed him or not. Then Kisshu and Mint started yelling at each other, Mint pulled out a gun, tried to shoot me, but my angel saved me."

"You actually saw your angel?" Lettuce said with a shocked expression.

"Yeah, it was kinda interesting. So then she started talking about how the five that they protected will be needed and shit in the near future. How aliens have been detected years ago and the long process of getting angels to choose five people so we can fight them or whatever. Mint and I started arguing, she wanted to kill me again, but my angel made her fall unconscious. She took Mint back to her dorm and left me and Kisshu to talk…which was a bad idea and I don't want to talk about it."

Lettuce smiled sympathetically. "That's it?"

"Yeah, but Mint said that you went through this too…"

Lettuce's smile turned into a frown. "Yeah…it didn't happen exactly the way it happened for you, though. Kisshu and I were "best friends" and Mint got jealous, as always. My angel was gone after that. It only happened last year…"

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Just last year…was he the only friend you had?"

Lettuce nodded sadly. "Yeah. Then after Mint did her job, Kisshu started making fun of me, saying how I was an idiot not to realize that he was being my friend for an ulterior motive….anyway, enough about me. Are you going to class tomorrow?"

Ichigo looked at her mug, half of the creamy substance left, still steaming. "No…I'm not even sure if I want to stay here anymore…I wanted to start over here, but all it brought was bad memories…"

"I understand. You should call your parents; I'll help you pack your things."

Ichigo picked up her phone and called her mom.

"Ichigo, what's wrong?" Her mom said when she answered.

"It happened, mom. Just like dad thought it would."

Her mom sighed on the other line. "I guess he hasn't changed. Tell me what happened."

Long story short, Ichigo told her mom what happened from start to finish. She even asked if she could go home and start back at her old school. Her mom agreed when she found out that it was winter break.

So, Lettuce helped Ichigo pack, and by the next day, she was ready to go home. Lettuce started tearing up halfway through their goodbye and gave each other a tight hug, saying they would see each other again. And then she was gone.

~After Winter Break~

He hadn't seen her in two weeks. Two agonizing, painful, and dreadful weeks. He wanted to see her, hug her, smell her, kiss her…again. He wanted to apologize with all his heart, whisper sweet nothing's into her ear, and tell her he loved her. No, loves her to this day, week, month, and year.

But she wasn't there.

She wasn't in the class he looked forward to all morning. The class he would actually stay awake long enough for her to hear his apology. The class he woke up early for. She wasn't there.

Noticing Lettuce in the front, Kisshu walked up to her. "Hey Lettuce, have you seen Ichigo?"

Lettuce snapped her head up and gave a cold glare into his amber eyes. He flinched slightly.

"She's gone." Lettuce spat.

Two words. Two simple words that you learn in kindergarten. Two words that you would never think would have such an effect on one person. Two words that made his world crash and burn.

He bolted out the classroom.

~~000~~

After three hours of research and bus rides, he made it to her house; standing in front of the door while it was pouring unexpectedly outside. Rain drenched his hair and clothes, clinging to him like a lifeline.

Knock Knock

He knocked on the door, silently praying that there would be an answer.

Click

The door opened, and Kisshu's eyes widened. She looked like she hadn't gotten out of bed in weeks. She had dark circles under her eyes, which were red and puffy from crying. She was wearing pink pajamas and a blanket was wrapped around her.

"K-Kisshu? What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo said, her voice laced with venom and surprisingly…hope.

"Ichigo…can we talk?"

"…You have one minute."

Kisshu smiled gratefully and sighed. "I'm so sorry for everything. I didn't mean to hurt you at all. I wanted to protect you from what I had to go through every day. But, at the end of the day, I couldn't. There were so many days when I wanted to tell you what was happening. But I knew I couldn't. It was so hard. But there isn't an excuse for lying to you. I love you, and that's a fact. It will never go away, and I hope, somewhere deep in your heart, that you still love me."

Ichigo was close to tears. She was close to jumping on him and suffocating him with a hug. To breaking the small strand of anger she had left. But she didn't give in.

"Ichigo? Please say something." Kisshu pleaded.

To his dismay, Ichigo looked down at her bunny slippers.

He turned around, tears threatening to spill, and started walking away.

"…week…." Ichigo mumbled.

Kisshu stopped and turned around. "What?"

"One week…" She said again, looking at him.

"For what?"

"One week, to show me that you love me. One week to pick up where we left off. One week….to make me fall in love with you all over again." She said.

Kisshu wanted to jump for joy and start yelling and screaming like a kid at an ice cream truck. But instead, he ran to her and hugged her tight.

"Thank you…" He whispered.

He smiled when he felt Ichigo wrap her arms around his neck.

The week starts tomorrow.

Cat- Well, all done. So, I'm kinda losing inspiration for Tokyo Mew Mew stories, so I think this is my last one for a while. I've been getting into Fairy Tail and I have so many ideas for that, so after this story is done (and the incoming surprise that will be announced in the last chapter ;D) Fairy Tail will be my main focus. Maybe a couple oneshots here and there, but not that much until I come up with a decent story line. So, I bid you farewell! Ja ne! (Btw, update schedule on my profile)

Nyan Cat Flies Away~(my new signature XD)