Author's Note: This is a MasayaxIchigo one-shot I wrote for my friend, Jisu, for her birthday. It's from Masaya's POV. If you don't like Masaya and can only say bad things about him, then please do not even bother commenting on this story. I'm tired of him getting bashed by the community.

A Little Light

Aoyama Masaya frowned at himself in the mirror. It was true that he should be overjoyed at that moment, excited, anxious - but he wasn't. So what if today was the big day of the kendo championship he had been training for every day after school for the past two months? So what if it was a beautiful day outside, just the right temperature, with the birds chirping peacefully just outside his window?

Even given all this, Masaya knew the world around him was slowly fading away. Disentigrating. Sometimes, briefly, it was almost as if he could feel himself fading, and the strange dreams he had been having lately only made it seem all the more an unavoidable truth. He had been so cynical towards his peers for so long that he hardly felt anything for himself. He just smiled at them. He smiled and did everything he was supposed to do, and watched as the people around him responded to these empty smiles in positive ways and then walked off without a second thought about them, leaving something empty behind. An emptiness that continued to expand.

"Masaya, it's almost time for your match, isn't it? Don't stay in there too long. I want to hear all about it when I get back from work tonight!" That was the voice of his mother. Well, not his real mother, but the woman who had adopted him. She was a lawyer, always busy with a case, but she did listen to him - when she found the time to, which wasn't very often.

"Okay!" he called back, running a brush through his hair quickly and buttoning up the clean white shirt that was hanging loosely around his shoulders. Staring back at the mirror, Masaya put on his game face, eyeing the mirror with a determination that would certainly catch his opponents offguard, make them hesitate before attacking. He left the bathroom, his facial expression relaxing as he did so into the usual smile that was required of him.

When he reached the door, he noticed that his father (the man he called his father) had already left for work.

"Be careful, okay honey?" the mother said from the shadows of the kitchen.

Masaya nodded lightly, "I'm off now."

Only Rau, the dog, bothered to step into the foyer to watch Masaya slide the door shut behind him, whining as his master left.

When he reached the school grounds, Masaya was a bit surprised to see someone waiting there for him. It was not the usual crowd of fangirls, but instead, just one female. Her red hair was tied up in two pigtails on each side of her face, framing a genuinely happy smile as she spotted him. Momomiya Ichigo.

"Aoyama-kun!" she called cheerfully with a wave of the hand, the bell at her neck - the bell he had given her - jangling clearly and lightheartedly in the morning air.

This made Masaya pause in his tracks as something fluttered into his stomach. An actual feeling. Yes, Ichigo was the one person able to do that - to make him feel anything remotely real. To make him feel like he was real.

Masaya quickened his pace until he was standing infront of her, his expression having brightened by magnitudes.

"Ichigo, I didn't think you were coming today," he was very sure she had said she had work today, but that didn't stop him from being glad that she was not.

Ichigo giggled, "Well, I somehow managed to get out of work when I told everyone that today was your big match, Aoyama-kun. I didn't want to miss it."

In other words, she had bribed the others to fill in for her.

Masaya laughed a little too, "Thank you, Ichigo. You've made me really happy."

Ichigo blinked a moment, a blush spreading across her cheeks, "Oh, it was nothing! I really wanted to cheer you on!" She raised her fist energetically in the air, but then her face fell and she lowered her arm slowly, "Of course... when I told Shirogane I wouldn't work today, he said I'd have to work twice as hard on Sunday to make up for it..."

Masaya smiled at her nervously. He was actually surprised that Shirogane would even allow Ichigo a day off. The few times he had met him, the blond seemed to be in a terrible mood, and he guarded Ichigo like a mother hen. Masaya supposed it was to be expected, seeing as Ichigo was one of his successes. A science experiment that he wanted to keep close at hand. That is - she was Mew Ichigo. Masaya knew it, but he never mentioned it to anyone. This girl who now stood talking to him was the leader of a group of superheroines. The very idea made him worry. Ichigo was so small, and she didn't seem particularly tough. Suppose she found herself face to face with an extremely strong monster? Suppose she got hurt? Masaya couldn't allow that to happen. But what could he do to stop it?

He didn't mind that the girl he loved was a Mew Mew. He just wished he could protect her...

Ichigo looked confused as the face of her boyfriend became clouded. She had to call his name several times before he would respond.

Perhaps there really was nothing he could do for her.

"Aoyama-kun? Is everything okay?" Now she looked worried, her eyebrows knit in concern. Her fingers were brushing his cheek, and had been for a while.

Masaya forced a smile, "I'm fine, Ichigo. Just... be careful, okay? But, why don't we stop by a coffee shop later? Just the two of us?"

Masaya's request seemed lost on Ichigo, but at the mention of a date, the catgirl's face began to glow as she folded her hands together infront of her chest, "Sure! I'd love to!"

"Aoyama! The match starts in ten minutes!" a male voice shouted behind them.

"I'm coming!" Masaya called over his shoulder.

Turning back to Ichigo, Masaya kissed her cheek softly, "Meet me right here after the match?"

Ichigo brightened, balancing on the tips of her toes and responded with an enthusiastic "yes!".

The two of them headed in the direction of the gymnasium where they were forced to part.

"Good luck, Aoyama-kun! Do your best!" Ichigo called after him. Her optimism was soon drowned out, however, by the muffled roar of the crowded building and the squeals of fangirls. Cries of "kote!" and "men!" rang out, followed by the loud slaps of wood against plastic. As Masaya went to grab his kendo gear, however, it was Ichigo that stood alone in his mind, like a light in the neverending darkness that had swallowed up the rest of the world.

I will do my best... he told himself firmly, I'll do it for her sake. So that one little light never goes out.