A/N: Last chapter. Thank you reviewers, enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
"If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."—Anon.
For the moment it seemed like time had stopped. That eerie feeling of terror eluded me and I wanted to die. I wanted to collapse to the floor and just die. But I had to actually talk to Ryou. I always had to be the last to talk in order to be on top. I should've just shut my mouth and walked out of the café, like any normal rejected girl would've. But I was not only rejected, I was torn apart, smashed, and spit on by all of my close friends and not just by Ryou. I stared up at the sky and checked my watch. It was 4:49 but it seemed later because of the gray rain clouds that lingered high in the air.
"Clear sky's today, perfect change from the constant rain." The weatherman sang earlier this morning. I took a deep breath and ignored the tears that crowded my eyes. Slowly I finished walking around the lake and shuffled over to 'the bench'. The one everyone always sat on. I rubbed my right arm with my left hand and contemplated just going home. "What's the point of sitting here if no one is going to sit with me?" I wondered as the tears I worked so hard to keep from coming, rolled down my cheeks.
"I'm so pathetic." I cried into my hands as I sat on the bench. The few tears that I had tried to hold back now turned into sobs and I cried uncontrollably. I thanked God it was getting late and not many people were out walking in the park to actually notice me. I finally stopped long enough to breathe but my bottom lip began to quiver and I started up crying again.
"Your being unreasonable, Ichigo. Crying will get you nowhere in life." My great aunts words chimed in as I remembered something from when I was little. I was being baby sat while my parents were away on a Valentines Day weekend. I must've been ten and the boy who I had a crush on didn't give me a Valentines Day gift. I came home and cried my heart out but my Aunt just shook her head, disapproving in my reaction. "Disgraceful." She called my crying. I sat up on the bench and wiped my eyes.
"I will not disgrace myself." I decided but then another thought came to mind. When mom and dad come back from their vacation I told mom about my present less Valentines Day and how I cried. She hugged me and said, "It's all right to cry. You're crying for something you love. It's an emotion and you can't help it." The tears came flooding back and I silently wiped them away.
"What's the point?" I sighed. Great Aunt Momomiya was right! It didn't matter; my crying would do no good for me. And it would get me nowhere. I took a deep breath and slumped on the bench. I got a boyfriend, was dumped by him, was yelled at by him, my best friend now hates me, and my best guy friend is blaming his action on me. "All in less than day." I murmured and rubbed my arms from the cold air. The once light evening breeze now became a strong wind and I stood up, rubbing my arms.
"I should've brought a jacket." I crossed my arms and began to walk home.
"This should help." Someone said and before I could look up, a jacket was around my shoulders. I would've expected it to be Masaya, since we both had something in common: The people we loved both hated us. But it wasn't. I would've wished for it to be Ryou at first, but not all wishes can come true.
"Daddy?" My eyes widened at who it was. My dad laughed, patted my head, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "What are you doing here?" I asked as we began walking.
"Well your mother called me on my cell phone to go look for you and a so-called Mr. Shirogane but I only found you. Imagine that, my little girl on a late at night lunch date." My dad laughed.
"What is he talking about?" I wondered and stared up at him.
"Oh yes, and I found something that you might like as I came looking for you." Dad snapped his fingers and began walking faster. I jogged after him and we turned a corner that left the parks entrance. He stopped dead in his tracks and I bumped into his back.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Mr. Shirogane." My dad said and held out his hand. I gasped and backed away quickly from my dads back.
"Mr. Momomiya." Ryou said and shook my dads hand. "How could he just shake my dads hand and act like he isn't still angry with me?" I wondered nervously and looked down at my sneakers. I played with the cuff of my dad's jacket and pretended I didn't know Ryou, though I knew that was stupid. "Your parents already know that he's your boss? Obviously you'll know him." My mind said.
"I know, shut up." I hissed to myself. My dad turned around and laughed.
"Ichigo, this is Mr. Shirogane, your boss. You can at least say hello." He said.
I gazed at Ryou's face and I began to blush deeply. He didn't look as angry but he still had this pissed look. I couldn't say hello casually, not like I used to.
"Uh…um." I drew my eyes away from his and looked every which way.
"Excuse me, Mr. Momomiya." Ryou sighed and took a step to the side.
"I would like to speak with your daughter though." He said right before he walked past me.
"Yeah, sure. Have her home soon though." My dad smiled, waved and walked to his car that wasn't parked too far away.
Ryou looked at me and his expression didn't change, "Come with me."
I swallowed and nodded, following behind him. He trotted back to the park and we walked all the way to 'the bench' again.
"Please sit." He said pointing at the bench. I nodded ever more nervous than before and slowly sat down. The feeling of being in a courtroom didn't help at all with my nervousness and I began to wring my wrists. Ryou still stood up, leaning on the oak tree close to the bench. He didn't look at me but at the pond (lake thing). A few floating ducks took notice to the approaching evening and waddled out of the water. They huddled together and sat down on the grass.
"I'm sorry." I finally blurted out. Ryou turned and looked at me. "I'm so, so, so sorry." Tears ran down my cheeks. Maybe it was the fact that his presence was just making my nervous that made me break down and cry or I was scared out of my wits. "What you saw wasn't my fault. Masaya," I cried a little harder, "Masaya just grabbed onto me. Things weren't going so well with Mint and he thought that I could make up for that. But when he figured out that I wanted you he let me go. By then though it was too late." I leaned forward and sobbed into my hands, my elbows resting on my thighs.
I could not believe what I was doing. I was crying my heart out in front of Ryou. "You're disgracing yourself. Stop that!" I told myself over and over again but other words told me to keep going.
"It's all right to cry. You're crying for something you love. It's an emotion and you can't help it." Mom said that it was all right and that's why I didn't and couldn't stop.
"Ichigo?" Ryou called my name softly. He set his hand on my back and but that didn't stop me either.
"I'm s-sorry." I hiccupped.
"Don't…don't apologize." He muttered and ran his hand over my head.
"S-sorry." I stuttered, the tears came lighter and I sat up straight.
"Stop saying you're sorry." He said. I wiped the tears away and looked at him. "Now listen. I finally understand what happened. It was my mistake. Or misunderstanding. I see things and take them as that. I should…apologize. I want us to be more than just employees." He looked at me.
I looked away and frowned slightly, "Now that I got all the crying out of my system and actually have a chance to talk to you, I think you're right. Maybe we should, I don't know, start all over or something. Because…" I didn't have time to finish. Ryou grasped my chin and pulled me towards his mouth, kissing me lightly on the lips
The rain started and came down in sheets, soaking us both. We let go and I stared up at the sky. "Shouldn't we get out of this rain?" I asked.
"Why?" Ryou asked sitting back on the bench, "We've caught each other in it before." I laughed and leaned back, resting my head on his shoulder.
"What about Mint and Masaya?" I forgot about them. "Nice! Forgetting about your best friend who probably hates your guts."
"I'll explain to Mint that it was a misunderstanding. I wont make 'what's-his-buns' (Masaya) seem like the bad guy either." Ryou said and wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
I smiled and realized that, that's probably where I'd rather been: in the soaking rain, on 'the bench', with the boy I treasured the most right next to me. My envious ways were replaced and I no longer needed to be jealous of my best friend.
"I'll have to tell her that." I thought with a grin. It was like that one guy said, "If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don't, they never were."(—Anon.)
I recognized then how true it was as Ryou intertwined his fingers with mine, the rain still pouring, and the feeling of adore and love still lingering.
The End!
I also want to thank my best friends for supporting me, especially my best friend, Lauren. She really inspired me to write this story because of her and herex-boyfriend, Andrew. No one knows WHAT I had to endure when they were dating, which gave me the idea of 'My Envious Ways'. So now everyone knows my little secret on how I came up with this idea. Heh. I'm working on another story for Tokyo Mew Mew that should be up sooner or later. (That's what I always say.) It's another romance too! Thank you everyone again, I love you all! I appreciate you guy's reading thisstory. Sorry if this wasn't such a satisfying ending but it was all I could conjure up. Thanks again for reading 'My Envious Ways'- KTHM