-- Treasured --

Angel Of Sincerity: I love Tokyo Mew Mew, so I’m really excited about posting this fan-fic online for you all, personally I believe it has a lot of potential, but that’s for you guys to decide. The characters in the show are so amazing and unique, so I hope it shines through in my story!

Please read and review!

Chapter One: 6th Annual Singles Masquerade

The Recommended song for this chapter is –

Someone (Furious F EZ Remix) – D.H.T. featuring Edmée

Ichigo entered the large beautifully decorated function centre as she smiled nervously. The room was slowly filling up with countless available young men and women who were slowly pairing up and making their way to the dance floor or the bar.

Suddenly she developed a gut feeling that she shouldn’t have come, and that she should just sit in an isolated corner all night, but to her surprise she pushed these negative thoughts aside. After all what would be the point of turning up here and promoting such anti-social and un-Ichigo like behaviour? Besides it’s not like anyone would know who she was since it was the 6th annual singles masquerade, an event which she had always meant to go to ever since her nasty break-up with Masaya only days after she had defeated Deep Blue and saved Earth.

Sighing Ichigo slowly strutted off in the direction of the bar, ignoring the fact that she was underage. She had decided to wear a flowing white silk strapless dress which brushed over her white stilettos as she walked, along with a matching mask and a brown wig with loose curls styled into it as she knew that her identity would be rather obvious since she was one of the only girls of her age with crimson hair.

Looking across at the dance floor she felt a pang in her heart as she watched the nervous couples dance slowly to the serene music being played by the small orchestra present at the function. ‘I had that once…That feeling that made me all giddy inside…’ she thought as she sighed sadly, “But I’m 17 now and a lot has changed since then!”

“You’re 17, single and obviously sexy…I think I’m about to propose already,” a obviously older but sleazy man said with a smirk as he placed his cold hand on her shoulder making her jump as she turned to come face to face with him, as a look of disgust spread quickly across her face. “Then again maybe I should propose we do something more erotic first to set the mood and ‘develop’ your skills in certain areas,” he continued.

Screwing up her own face, Ichigo slapped him across his face and stabbed one of his feet with the heels of her stilettos. “Stay away from me you creep!” she said coldly as she turned on her heel and started to walk off.

The man reached out and grabbed her hand tightly as he twisted her wrist, causing her to wince in pain as she was forced to look back into his dark brown eyes. “No one denies my company! And no one walks away from me!” his eyes narrowed as his poisonous voice filled Ichigo’s mind causing her to shake with fear of what he would do next.

Looking around anxiously Ichigo realised that people had noticed the strangers actions but seemed to fear him or not care at all. This frightened her even more as her eyes went glassy. ‘Masaya used to protect me…Now I’m all alone…’ slowlytears trickled from her eyes, ‘…No one even cares…I’m just some girl to them…I’m just some girl.’

“Well? Are you going to do as I say!” the sleazy man yelled as he tightened his grip on her wrist.

Looking up at him Ichigo’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Never! I would never dishonour my self or my family by associating with someone like you!” she said stubbornly as she looked away.

“I bet that’s what your past lovers said as well. Isn’t it?” A blonde man asked as he approached to two wearing a traditional Japanese formal outfit of some sort with a black mask. “Leave her alone she’s done nothing to deserve this at all!” he yelled seriously as he glared at the other man.

The sleazy man raised an eyebrow as he turned to face the newcomer. “Are you attempting to upset me? Because it’s not working kid,” he snapped as his eyes flickered angrily as he lied.

This made the blonde man laugh. “Oh really? Not at all…well that must be because you have no honour left for the taking, you have soiled your family’s name Hiroshi Yamakino,” he said casually as he smiled.

“How did you know who I am?” the other man asked in panicky tone of voice as his eyes widened in shock. “Who are you!” he growled as his eyebrows furrowed.

The blonde man just smirked at his opponent, not even needing to open his mouth to even mutter another witty comment as it wasn’t needed.

“Answer me you coward!” the older man yelled as he threw Ichigo to the floor. Completely loosing interest in what he could possibly do to her for the moment since someone knew his identity and was publicly announcing that he was dishonouring his family name.

Ichigo looked up at her defender with both excitement and fear as she nursed her aching wrist. ‘Who on earth is this guy?’ she wondered as she continued to watch the scene before her.

The blonde shifted uncomfortably as he saw Ichigo thrown to the ground, as if she was worthless and unimportant. “How can you treat anyone like that Hiroshi? She’s not a toy or a piece of trash. She’s a human being and she deserves your respect,” he said coldly as he approached his opponent.

“Oh yeah?” The older man laughed half-heartedly, “Well how about you respect this!” He retorted as he kneed the younger man between the legs causing him to fall to his knees in extreme pain for a moment before the younger man swiftly flicked his own leg into the air and shattering the other man’s shins as he fell to the ground yelling in pain.

Looking from one man to the other Ichigo was stunned by the scene before her. Two complete strangers had fought because of her, and the victor even fought for her honour. ‘This is so…strange. It’s almost surreal…’she thought to herself adding a complex word to make herself feel more mature even though it was only for her own benefit.

Struggling to his feet to blonde got up slowly and walked over to Ichigo, hesitantly taking her hand and helping her to her feet.

Ichigo blushed as she took his hand gratefully. The whole time she had forgot that she had been thrown to the floor.

Smiling at her he released her hand from his firm grip. “Are you ok?” he asked in a slightly worried but strangely familiar tone of voice.

Looking into his hypnotic ice blue eyes, she couldn’t manage to do anything for a few moments other than nod her head and mumble, “Mmhmm,” as her response to his question.

“Ok…That’s good…Well I better go, I wasn’t going to stay for long anyway, but I think security will be looking for me so I better leave, I’ll see you around then,” he replied awkwardly as he smirked and started to walk away.

Snapping out of her giddy state Ichigo grinned uncontrollably. ‘Wait! You can’t leave yet!’ her mind screamed in realisation. “Wait! Can I get your number?”

“And them he gave me his number and I gave him mine,” Ichigo said dreamily as she cupped her own cheeks with her hands as she smiled.

“Oh! Ichigo Onee-chan has a crush on her mysterious hero, na no da!” Purin said excitedly as smiled uncontrollably and started to race around the room at an incredible speed, making Ichigo laugh and blush a light shade of pink.

“I actually can’t remember the last time I saw you this happy Ichigo,” Retasu added as she placed a large pile of clean dishes on the table closest to her in the cute café.

Getting to her feet Ichigo twirled around on the spot as she giggled. “I love this feeling, it’s like what I had with Masaya…but better…I can’t explain it that well…But I love it!” she squealed excitedly.

Suddenly the door to the kitchen swung open. “Get back to work Ichigo or I’ll dock your pay. I could hear you from the back of the restaurant you know, and I thought someone had set the metal detector alarm off…That’s how loud and squeaky you were!” he said coolly as he placed his hands in his pockets.

“What!” she shrieked while her face turned bright red, and she stormed over to her blonde haired blue eyed boss.

Ryou groaned as Ichigo shrieked. So maybe he was wrong, maybe she was worse than a metal detector alarm and more like a fire truck’s siren.

Zakuro, Minto, Retasu and Purin looked at each other knowingly. This would surely be another normal day at the Café Mew Mew, it just wouldn’t be complete without the hourly Ryou and Ichigo feud that even some of the regular customers enjoyed watching.

“Mrs Kiyanoto says that watching their fights is like watching the days of our lives minus the romance and death…” Minto muttered to the others, “…But I think that the death part will be included soon, just look at Ichigo I think she’ll strangle him at any moment.” They all sweat dropped at this.

“I do not sound whiney! And you’re not going to dock my pay, I earnt it fair and square!” she whined, further proving his point.

He raised an eyebrow and snickered. He loved to harass her, tease her, provoke her, confuse her and especially frustrate her at any given chance. Infact it was one of his favourite past-times. “Are you questioning my authority Ichigo?” he asked daringly.

She looked at him shockedly, not saying a word as he continued.

“Because last time I checked I was your boss not the other way around. So I’ll dock your pay if I want…actually I will dock 3 days pay, as a matter of fact,” he said almost cheerfully as he smirked.

Her eyes widened as she stamped on of her feet down angrily. “You’re such a jerk Ryou!” she screeched as she glared at him.

Digging his hands deeper into his pockets Ryou sighed. “Imagine what that means to me Ichigo,” he replied coldly as he turned to walk up towards his room.

“Arrgh! You’re driving me insane! Why can’t you just say what you mean Ryou!” Ichigo screamed at him.

Minto laughed at this. “Wasn’t she always insane though?” she whispered to Zakuro who just smiled.

Turning around on the staircase Ryou smiled at Ichigo wickedly. “Ok Ichigo that’s it I have a chore for you to do.”

Concern flooded Ichigo’s mind as her face paled and became expressionless. “What exactly do you mean by chore?” she asked worriedly.

Ryou threw a silver key to Ichigo. “Scrub the cellar’s floor…It’s black at the moment I want to see those white tiles again,” he said with a smile as he started to walk back up the stairs but he stopped and turned around shortly. “Oh and you cant have any help or I’ll give you something else to do,” he added as he smirked and walked up into the loft.

“Why does he have to be so cold and heartless!” Ichigo growled as she picked up a scrubbing brush and bucket from the cleaning cupboard.

Retasu sighed sadly. “We both know that he’s not always like this Ichigo. He has a caring side too…” she said sweetly.

This made Ichigo scoff at her friend rudely. “I’m sorry Retasu, I didn’t mean to be rude but that’s one side of his multi-facet personality that rarely sees the sunshine,” she said dramatically as she threw her arms in the air for extra effect.

“ICHIGO! ARE YOU DONE WITH THE CELLAR ALREADY?” Ryou yelled from upstairs knowing quite well that she was just chatting with the others.

She grimaced as she started to walk towards the cellar.

“ICHIGO!” He yelled once more.

“I’M GOING DOWN STAIRS NOW YOU JERK!” she yelled back as she rolled her eyes and stomped down the stairs cursing the whole way down.

Zakuro sighed. “He’s far too harsh on her and too lenient on us…”she said as she rested on her broom.

Purin threw a table cloth on the table. “She was just happy…” she replied sadly as she raced to help Retasu with another table.

Rasing her eyebrow Minto looked at them confusedly. “Lenient on us! Yeah right if you ask me Ichigo has it easy,” she replied as she took a sip of her tea.

Zakuro sweat dropped, ‘She’ll never get it will she?’ Looking away she noticed a white tablecloth rolled up underneath the cake counter. “What’s this?” she mumbled as she walked over to it and unrolled it causing a black mask and a male traditional Japanese formal outfit to fall out of the large tablecloth and onto the ground.

“Isn’t that just like the outfit that Ichigo said that guy was wearing…” Purin noted as they all looked at each other in shock.

Retasu’s eyes grew huge. “Does this mean that Ryou was the guy that helped Ichigo?” she asked shockedly.

Quickly picking up the items of clothing and the mask Zakuro re-rolled the outfit in the tablecloth and put it back where she found it. “It’s likely but who knows…We just can’t tell either of them, who knows what might happen if we do...” she said sternly.

Silence filled the room for a moment before it was broken by Purin. “Not even by accident?” she asked sady.

“NO!”

Upstairs in the loft Ryou lay on his bed, typing a sms to his mystery girl. ‘She seems so similar to me, I’ve just got such a good feeling about this girl…its weird.’

Hey,

Sorry I didn’t stay longer last night, I would’ve loved to talk longer. I know this is really sudden but would you like to go out for dinner tomorrow night with me?

Hope to hear from you soon. Bye.

He smiled and clicked the send button. “Well I hope she replies soon,” he whispered to himself.

“NYA!” Ichigo screamed downstairs as she raced out into the dining area, which was luckily empty as she had a tail and cat ears appear as she ran towards her friends clutching her mobile phone. “HE JUST ASKED ME OUT!” she screamed excitedly.

Angel Of Sincerity: So how was it?

Please REVIEW, even if it’s short, I don’t care. I want to know what each and every one of you thinks of my fan-fic. I don’t mind if it’s an anonymous review either by the way.

Hint: The more reviews I get, the quicker I will update. So if you liked it tell your friends about it!