Her Prince Charming

Summary: Amano Ichigo, 14-year-old girl who still dreams of being a princess, is a skilled patissiere in France. One day, she gets an invitation to work with Mari Tennouji; Henri-sensei's other favorite student in Japan. She accepts, knowing that there would be definitely be fun, hard work and strong rivals. But she never expected to find her Prince Charming…

Chapter 1

Normal POV

"Finished!"

Amano Ichigo beamed proudly as the teacher inspected her work, nodding approvingly. She always got praises from her creations, but Ichigo never failed to be happy from them.

Her best friend, Luna, held up her hand, expecting a high-five. "Good job, Ichigo-chan!"

"Thanks, Luna!" Ichigo laughed and touched the redhead's palm with hers.

Smiling in return, Luna realized that she had to tell her best friend something. "Oh, Ichigo-chan! Henri-sensei came to our room just this morning when you were out practicing. He asked for you, and I think it was something urgent,"

"HENRI-SENSEI DID?" The brunette exclaimed, her cheeks flushed from excitement.

Luna gave a nod, and Ichigo felt like squealing. She loved Henri-sensei; he was her favorite teacher and treated Ichigo quite like a father. He loved her just as much, making her one of his favorite students. Unfortunately, he had to go on errands a lot, therefore causing Ichigo unable to visit him often. You could imagine how ecstatic Ichigo was to finally talk some business with him.

"Ichigo,"

Said one grinned in response. "Yes, Henri-sensei?"

"Would you take the chance to go to Japan?"

The brunette was surprised, as this was NOT the question she was expecting. "Eh? Japan?"

"Yes. You are Japanese of blood, so the language shouldn't be a problem, correct?"

She nodded, a bit hesitantly. "Yes…but…Luna-chan is also Japanese of blood…so…"

"I am aware that Akiyama-san is Japanese, but there is a special reason for you to go. That is to work with Mari Tennouji, my favorite student. You are my other favorite student, and therefore many people wish to see you two in action together,"

Her eyes widened slightly, taking in all this information. "W-What? But I'm only 14-years-old! I just might stuff everything up!"

"Does age matter to being a skilled patissiere? No. You can definitely do it, Ichigo," Henri-sensei smiled, supporting her.

Ichigo thought about it for a minute, and then decided to take up the offer. "Alright then! Amano Ichigo is going to try her best!"

She wasn't sure if she could actually succeed in this. Many have praised her work, but she knew she was clumsy. What if she was so careless that it ruined everything?

"Ichigo-san?" Her eyes blinked as she spun around to view the source.

It was Pierre, one of her classmates. He had pale blonde hair, with pretty cyan blue eyes that glistened like crystals in the sun. Unlike herself and Luna, Pierre actually had French blood in him, although he was partly Japanese as well. Ichigo and Luna were just raised in France, though they knew Japanese because their parents spoke it often when they were young.

The brunette tilted her head slightly and grinned. "Good afternoon, Pierre!"

"Good afternoon…There were some rumors in the staffroom that you were going to Japan? Is it true? Why?" His eyes were filled with a tinge of fear, but determination.

She gazed at him for a while, and then answered. "It's true. Mari Tennouji is Henri-sensei's other favorite student. I want to work with her, want to see what type of person she is,"

"But! I-I still…I want to tell you something," Pierre glanced expectantly at her.

Ichigo grinned. "Sure! What is it?"

"I…I like you, Ichigo-san,"

Unfortunately for Pierre, Ichigo took this as a sign of friendship. "Great! I like you too! I like all my classmates! So we're friends now, right? You can call me Ichigo now!"

"Oh...Okay," He couldn't say much, he was too stunned…or heartbroken.

Oblivious to Pierre's sudden gloom, Ichigo waved and skipped off, ready to tell Luna the news too. Poor Pierre. But moving onto Ichigo's side of thing, she spotted Luna's tousled red hair in the lounge room. The perfect place for a heart-to-heart talk!

"Luna,"

Her best friend looked up, question printed in her eyes. "Ichigo-chan! Yes?"

"I'm moving to Japan!" Grinning, she sat down on the nearest table.

Luna dropped the pencil she was currently holding, and her jaw lowered. "What. The. BBQ."

"BBQ? I like roasted beef the best!" Making a cheery comment didn't help Luna.

The redhead angrily slammed her hand on the table. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, ICHIGO-CHAN? WHY WOULD YOU SUDDENLY GO TO JAPAN? TELL ME WHY! NOW!"

"Uh…to work with Henri-sensei's other favorite student?" it came out more of a question.

Luna glared at her best friend. "Are you serious? What am I meant to do? Run myself crazy because no one's here to accompany me at night? What?"

"I didn't know you were afraid of ghoulies! It's not that much of a big deal. I'll only be staying for a while, that's all! A year at most, probably,"

She sighed. "You're my best friend, Ichigo-chan. How could I not miss you? But let me ask you a question. Do you really want to?"

"Yes, I do. Because it's Henri-sensei's request." The reply was swift and non-hesitant.

Luna noticed this. "Alright, then. I won't stop you from chasing your dream. Just remember, you better not have any troubles. If someone bullies you, call me and I'll go and put an axe in their butts right away!"

"Thanks, Luna," Ichigo was smiling now, happy that her best friend accepted this.

The redhead gave her a grin in return. "You are my best friend, after all,"

"I love you," the brunette ran over to receive a hug.

She got one. It was a pleasant and quite cute sight. Two best friends hugging each other for the last time before they part.

But finally Luna released. "Hey, did Pierre tell you anything?"

"You mean that he wanted to be friends? Yeah," Ichigo replied, a bit disappointed that the hug wasn't as long as she'd like.

Her best friend raised an eyebrow. "Is that all he said? Oh wait, you are a bit slow. What were his exact words?"

"I like you,"

The redhead's left eye started twitching. "Ichigo…you're really slow! Well, I won't tell you the real meaning yet. I'll leave Pierre to that! Anyway, he'll be really sad when you go, like I'll be,"

"I know, you'll miss me right? I'm glad that you think that way, but Henri-sensei and what he wants is definitely my first priority," As she was a bit confused at Luna's first statement, Ichigo instead responded to her second.

Luna frowned. "Mhmm. Why do you like Henri-sensei so much anyway? He never actually taught you in all your years at St. Marie's,"

"Oh…" Dreamily she closed her eyes, "that's a secret!"

Luna smiled, but it was one of those sad smiles. You know, their lips are curved upwards, but their eyebrows are like upside down. Ichigo kept her fondness of Henri-sensei a secret, even to her best friend.

"You should pack up now, right?"

The brunette's eyes lit up, and she nodded whilst grinning eagerly. She packed her suitcase just like how she did everything- fast-paced and energetically. Soon enough she was done and ready to go.

As soon as she was going to run out, someone else ran in.

It was blonde girl with hazel eyes. "Ichigo-chan,"

"Ah, Megumi!" exclaimed Ichigo, her eyes lighting up with pleasure.

Megumi, Luna and Pierre were her cooking partners. She viewed them as the ones most closest to her. It was a bit sad to leave them now, but she knew it had to be done.

The blonde stood on the edges of her toes, trying to make her small body seem taller. "Have you thought about this, Ichigo-chan?"

"Yes. It's hardly ever Henri-sensei asks me to do a favour for him. And now he has...I can't refuse," The brunette had definitely made her decision.

Megumi grinned. "Fine, I knew you were going to say that. Stubborn chick,"

"Geez, I'm not stubborn!" pouted Ichigo.

Luna chuckled. "Well, you had better get going, hadn't you? Wouldn't want to be late for Henri-sensei's first favour,"

"I wish you could come too, but..."

Her blonde friend gave a light grin. "Make some good friends, Ichigo-chan,"

"Of course!" The brunette beamed, and then ran off to the front gate.

All her classmates, the ones who liked Ichigo, saw her off.

When everyone left, Ichigo looked up to the sky, smiling slightly.

"Japan, huh?"