Ok, I decided to write this because I saw the music video to the country song, “There Goes My Life” and fell in love with it. I didn’t want to make a songfic, but something that was similar to the theme of it. You’ll have to see that music video even if you don’t like country; both it and the song are amazing. This one-shot recently went under some editing, therefore it is not also a bit changed, but better written so its easier to understand. I hope you enjoy!

Ichigo walked toward her boss, Ryou with a very unsure look on her face. She was obviously worried, only sixteen year old without a care...and then along came this...she had betrayed a lot of people doing this, including herself.

“Ryou...I...I...” fear overcame her. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move, and maybe couldn’t even breathe. Sixteen-year-old super hero waitress, her life was being washed away like writing in the sand. Ryou turned her way. Obviously, by the look on his face, he was very busy and in a very bad mood.

“What? Let me guess, more bad news. Lettuce probably broke a plate, god, Ichigo, that is not the kind of news i want to hear, and...” He kept babbling. Ichigo’s eyes were streaming with tears. He was only a couple years older than her; 19 to be exact. But this would still be hard on him. He was still babbling and babbling, and finally when she felt like she couldn’t take it any more, she snapped. She broke down and cried right there in front of him. Ryou’s rage was all of the sudden gone, turned to sorrow instead. He wondered what she could be crying about...and then it hit it possibly be...she was...was...

Ichigo mustered all the courage in her, or what was left of it. Silently, she stuttered “Ryou...I...I...this...this is really hard to say...but...I’m” she paused one last time, tears falling from her eyes, “...pregnant! And then, she fell down again. She couldn’t believe she just said that. Ichigo, age 16, was indeed three weeks pregnant with Ryou’s child.

Ryou thought he was going to collapse as well. This could this really be happening! Then he remembered exactly what happened. “Of course,” he muttered to himself. Now he was really stressed out. Just then, Lettuce came through the door with a stack of dirty plates and dropped them all right in front of Ryou’s feet. Seeing Ryou right there made her feel even guiltier. “Ryou, I’m really sorry! I...I can pay for them if you just take it off my paycheck,” she said.

Silence. Ryou didn’t even bother addressing the fact that Lettuce was there. He just stared at Ichigo, wide-eyed. Tears were welling up in his eyes too. He usually didn’t act like this. His emotions usually hid inside him. But this was too much for him to handle.

Lettuce stared at Ryou, wondering what could be wrong. She then looked from Ryou to Ichigo and back again; Ichigo, a crying mess on the floor and Ryou, the usually cool guy who was holding back his own tears, and as much as he tried, they still fell.

Ryou jumped, he had finally realized that Lettuce was standing there. “Oh...” Ryou said trying to cover the change in his voice. Because he had been crying, his voice sounded different. He stood their speechless, until finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “I’ll……I’ll be in my room….if anyone….if anyone needs me,” he stuttered through his tears.

He ran off to his room, and as he ran, you could see a tear drift from his face to the floor. Ichigo was still a crying mess on the floor. Lettuce scrambled to the floor, but not to clean up the mess she had made, but to help Ichigo calm down. She didn’t exactly know what was wrong, but she still found it her duty to comfort her. About three minutes, she started to calm down. “It’s alright, Ichigo. Please stop crying. Here, come with me; we can head to the bathroom and get you cleaned up.”

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“Where is Lettuce?” Mint questioned in annoyance. “I sent her into the kitchen to give the dishes to Keiichiro, and put some a salt-shaker on Table 4 about 15 minutes ago.”

“Mint, you’re being impatient,” Zakuro commented. “I’m sure Keiichiro just gave her a different job and she’s just busy at the moment.” Mint looked like she was going to lose it if Lettuce didn’t come back this second. “I’m gonna go look for her…….by the way, has anyone seen Ichigo? I haven’t seen her all day.”

“I saw her come in here this morning, but I never saw her leave. She looked pretty shaken when she got here.”

“Well we better look for them!” Mint shouted, now worried about her friends. “They could be in trouble!” They all got up and joined in the search for Lettuce and Ichigo. From the kitchen, to the storange room, they searched every room available. Finally, they came upon a bathroom, and when they opened the door they were surprised to see Ichigo crying into Lettuce’s shoulder.

“Ichigo, what happened? You’re a mess!” Mint said worriedly. Deep lines had formed under Ichigo’s eyes from crying so much. She looked hurt, confused, and angry at the same time.

“I don’t want to talk about it! Leave me alone.” Lettuce looked at her friend in concern. Once Ichigo had told her the whole story, she instantly tried her best to comfort her. Nothing had worked. “Ichigo, you have to talk to Ryou though,” said Lettuce as calmly as she could, pretending that the other three weren’t there.

“Tell Ryou what?” Mint asked. Lettuce looked at Mint irritated, then turned back to Ichigo. “Do you want me to leave you alone to think?” Lettuce told her friend. Ichigo just nodded; she couldn’t really talk right now. Lettuce got up and gave Ichigo a pat on the back. “Just listen to your heart.” She then turned to the other girls. “Come on; Ichigo just wants to be alone right now.” They quickly followed her, and Lettuce but a sign on the bathroom door telling people it was unavailable.

“Um….what just happened?” Mint asked. “Lettuce, is Ichigo okay?” Lettuce didn’t respond to Mint’s question, even after she started asking it several times.

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Ichigo sat in the bathroom to think, not moving from where she had sat with Lettuce only minutes ago. But this time, Lettuce wasn’t there. She knew she had to talk to Ryou sooner or later. She then began wondering how long she could hold this off. “Well it can’t be for nine months,” she said, trying to laugh. No use. She then stood up. It was a now or never situation. She had to tell Ryou how she really felt.

That she had fallen in love with him.

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His pillow soaked with tears, Ryou thought of being a father at the age of 19. Could he handle it? What if Ichigo didn’t want him with her? What if Ichigo didn’t want the baby at all?

He then heard a knock on the door. He wiped his tears and asked as calmly as he could “Who is it?” A reply came soon after. “It’s me, Ichigo,” Ryou’s heart began to beat wildly. “We need to talk.” Even though he had thought it impossible, his heart beat faster. “Come in,” he said as clearly as he could. She hesitated on opening the door, and creaked it open slowly. She stuck her head in the door and he made a hand motion, issuing her to come in. She slowly walked toward him and took a seat next to him on his bed. Ichigo was done crying, and could now talk calmly.

“Ryou...I...” she paused. “What came over us?”...” Ryou wasn’t quick on the response. He had thought about this over and over in his mind. What had come over them? And whatever it was that had come over them, it was still there. After about 2 minutes, he replied “Ichigo...I...I love you...and...well...I guess i thought...if...if this happened...I would be sealing a relationship between us,”

“Ryou...”

“And if...if you want to go back to Masaya, I understand.”

“Yeah right, I would break down. If Ichigo were to leave, it’d be my slow suicide. A bottle of pills would do the trick, and then…….BAM! I’m gone. Out of everyone’s way.”

Ichigo muttered something under her breath that he couldn’t make out. “Come again?” he asked

“I...I...I wanna stay with you, Ryou,” she stuttered. “When I first met you, I thought there was something about you. It was instant chemistry, granted it wasn’t a good mixture at first we learned to get along. And then you kissed me,” she paused, her fingers moved to her lips. She touched the spot where he had kissed her, and remembered how wonderful it had felt.

“And I knew what it was. I loved you, more than I ever loved Masaya. I...I can’t stop this feeling inside of me, at first, I wanted to...but then...that day...I couldn’t control my emotions...its partially my fault...my emotions weren’t satisfied with what I was doing. I……I want to have this baby...boy or girl, whatever it will be I still want to give life to it. It shows my eternal love for you.”

“But what about your parents? We can’t keep this a secret from them forever,” Ryou said.

“Yes, we can’t. In time they’ll get suspicious when my body starts changing. But we should worry about that later. Right now, we have bigger things to worry about,” she calmly stated.

“Right. Your school will start to get suspicious too. What do you think we could do?”

“We’ll find a way through this. It’s hard to believe, but what’s happened has happened, and we can’t change that fact. This...this is a miracle Ryou. And……I know longer feel like I let myself down...”

-End-

There is a sequel! It’s called “The Battle for Ichigo’s Heart”! Please do not e-mail me anymore about making a sequel since there already is one! Look under my profile and you should find it. Read and review, over and out. -Nibzo