Presenting to You [TMM, RxR, 30 Kisses]

[sunrises]

Title: Present to You
Author: regalblaze
Pairing: Ryou Shirogane x Retasu Midorikawa
Fandom: Tokyo Mew Mew
Theme: #7 - superstar; #14 - radio-cassette player
Disclaimer: TMM doesn't belong to me, so don't kill the authoress here. ^^;

For some reason beyond his comprehension, my employees decided to attempt something rather rash. Since they were all girls, I won't even bother telling you exactly why they attempted this task (since, well - I'm a guy. Rather self-explanatory)

As two of them worked rather busily on a stage, and another two hurriedly scrubbed the tables..

It seemed as if they decided to host a party. Of what kind? How the heck was I supposed to know?

"Shirogane-niikun!"

I looked up from my own shuffling feet, focusing my attention on the young girl swaying from side to side in front of me.

"Yeah, Purin?" I asked, blinking.

She grinned, bringing out her hand. "Ichigo-neechan needs money for tonight. Can we have a raise?"

I groaned. "If you want money, you don't need a raise. What's it for?"

Her eyes shifted over to the redhead, her lips forming a frown. "Erm... it's a sec~ret~"

I frowned. "Uh-huh..."

She nodded, taking the money I had pocketed between my fingers. "Uh-huh~ You're wonderful!"

My palm met my hand. What exactly were they planning to do, especially with all that hard earned money, anyways? It didn't seem like a good idea... for some reason, I kept thinking they were planning something horrible.

I turned, walking outside. It wouldn't do to worry about something that I couldn't help.

I hadn't walked very far when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Glancing over my shoulder, I smiled weakly.

"Retasu-san? Is something wrong?"

She shook her head no, returning the smile. "N-no... but... the others would.. would like to see you inside.."

I squeezed her hand as I turned to face her. "All right. Lead the way."

We began to walk back to the cafe in silence; it was mainly a disappointment for me. Today.. I guess I thought it would have been different for me. Maybe I was wrong to think that Keiichiro had told everyone what today was.

"Close your eyes," She said softly, bringing out a blindfold.

As I was now blind, I couldn't quite see what was going on. I could hear murmurs, though, along with the occasional faint whisper. Someone was giggling (probably Ichigo); others seemed to have brought out other things.

She then took it off me.

....I guess it would be easy to describe what I saw, but.. in the moment, it seemed like so much more.

The girls had decorated the entire cafe, putting up various balloons, streamers, and what-not around. As I looked around, I could sense that they weren't the only ones around tonight.

Ichigo's boyfriend was standing next to her, smiling at me.

I could see Berii's boyfriend as well, but the two of us didn't get along, mainly because he lived off caffeine. (Talk about a waste of his time, no?)

"Happy Birthday, Shirogane-san!"

I didn't know what to say. Instead, I bowed to all of them, replying, "Thank you."

Ichigo and Berii exchanged glances, giggling.

"Shirogane! Why don't you sing for us~?" Ichigo asked, pushing me up onto the stage. Even if today was my birthday, it seemed that she would never let an opportunity pass. (Darnnit.)

I frowned. "Ichigo, I don't really know..."

"It's only a karoke bar.." She pleaded, pouting.

...Why did girls have this invincible face that made men do whatever they want them to? I sighed, putting a hand up. "Fine, fine. But where's the music?"

She pointed to an extremely out-dated cassette player. "Will that do?"

I shrugged, having given up on resisting her plans for domination of me. "Fine."

She went to the player, turning it on as she handed me a microphone. I caught it, tapping to the beat with my foot.

I guess I became lost in the song, because I couldn't sense that they had gotten Retasu to sing with me. Her voice... I hadn't heard it before. It actually kind of sounded nice.

As we continued to sing, I had yet to notice that all attention had been focused onto us.

The song faded away; I tossed the microphone back to Ichigo as soon as I finished singing the last line.

"Hey, Retasu?" I asked.

She blinked. (I had actually caught her at the wrong time - she was talking to someone, and hadn't been looking at me.) "Yes?"

"Can you look up? I think there's something in your eye."

She nodded, turning towards me. As she looked up, I leaned in closely. My lips met her own; I wrapped my arms around her waist.

As we reluctantly let go, I heard the cheers and the whistles of the other cafe-goers.

"...Happy Birthday. Did... did y-you like it?" She asked softly, her entire face a beet red.

I slowly nodded. "...Yeah, I did. Thank you."

She grinned slightly, walking slowly to greet her friends. I simply watched her, then turned away to meet my own.