DISCLAIMER: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew

She sat stood there, snowflakes falling and mixing with the rain. She stood waiting like a princess for her prince or a woman waiting for her husband to come back from the sea. But she knew he wouldn't come. He never would again. She'd told him to leave her alone, to never come near her again. Masaya... why?

The boy that had seemed so perfect turned out to be not so perfect in the end. He had cheated on her and she knew it. But she'd disregarded it, for whatever the reason had been. He'd hurt her. And as she stood in the sleet, slowly freezing, she looked up at the sky. Why?

She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she saw Ryou Shirogane. "What are you doing? You're going to freeze out here!" He shouted over the wind.

"That's the point!" She shouted back.

Grabbing her hand, he pulled her towards the cafe. "I'm not going to let you freeze Ichigo. Sorry."

She looked at the hand that held her own, pulling her forward, forcing her frozen legs to move. "Carry me," she whispered. "I can't feel my legs."

Stopping he turned to the girl. Her cheeks were rosy, her nose was red and so were the tips of her ears. Her hair danced on the wind. She was beautiful. He stooped to give her a piggy back and she climbed on, leaning against him, resting. "Thank you."

Once inside the cafe Ryou let her down and helped her into the kitchen. As she found a place around the island in the centre of the room he put the kettle on, making tea when it was done. Going to sit beside her he watched as she let her hair down, placing the ribbons on the table as he put a cup of tea down in front of her. He watched her hair fall. Over the years it had grown out it fell to the middle of her back now. She had grown a bit taller, but not by much. She had filled out nicely, had curves in all the right places. She wasn't just beautiful. She was gorgeous.

"Thank you. Again," Ichigo said looking into her cup of tea.

"Why were you out there anyway?" Ryou asked studying her as she tensed at the question.

"Trying to freeze. Trying to forget," Ichigo answered looking up, finding the wall ahead of her interesting to look at. There was a moment of silence and Ryou's unspoken question was answered. "Masaya cheated on me. He's been cheating on me for a while. I refused to accept it. But tonight I was finally forced to, when I caught him. I guess I didn't want to acknowledge it because I liked being loved. Even if it wasn't real."

"Did you ever think that there might be someone else that loves you? For real?" Ryou asked looking at her. And when she turned to him, a questioning look on her face, he leaned in and kissed her lips softly.