Are You Ready to Rumble?
A Tokyo Mew Mew story by Tsumina
(Disclaimer: I do not own TMM)
Ichigo Momomiya stood in the crowded subway, her short form lost in a sea of people. It was about six o'clock and many adults were returning from their jobs, others were leaving home for their night shifts. It was so noisy today that her mind was buzzing, but she didn't care.
Today, Masaya was returning from England. It had been three painfully long years until he'd been able to rip away from his studies. Those advanced schools were all but easy.
The subway came to a halt and Ichigo was the first to leap out and make a run for the airport. When she reached its glass doors, someone put a hand on her shoulder.
"Excuse me, miss. Do you have luggage you need me to…gah?!"
She turned around and came face to face with none other than
"Ryou?!"
Indeed, it was our adorable little Ryou, dressed up in an airport uniform. He even had a nametag.
"Ryou, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked hurriedly.
"The café's closed for the week, remember?"
"Oh yeah…"
= . = Flashback, nyaan! = . =
"Look what I found!" Pudding exclaimed as she walked into the Mew Mew Café. She dropped five pounds worth of fireworks on the ground, "We can have a great time with these!"
Ryou's eyes widened in horror. "You're not actually going to-?!"
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG
= . = End the Flashback, nyaan! = . =
"Keiichiro's just about finished with the cleanup." Ryou commented, leaning up against the wall. "So what are you doing here? Meeting up with someone?"
"Masaya's visiting. Can you believe it? After all this time!"
"Heh, I can believe it, alright." Ryou restrained a grimace. What he wouldn't give to have ONE day of not having to listen to her chatter on and on and on and on about him. He was surprised he had actually forgotten Masaya was arriving today. "Well, you'd better hurry up."
"Mmhmm!" Ichigo nodded happily. She turned to leave. "I'll see ya at work, Ryou!" And she skipped through the doors.
"Isn't it enough that I can't have her without your name haunting me and rubbing it in every God forsaken day, Aoyama?" Ryou mumbled before returning to his job.
"MASAYA!" Ichigo squealed as she thrust herself at a tall, dark haired boy. He smiled down at her.
Masaya had changed a little. He was taller, perhaps by two or three inches. He still dressed the same as always, however.
"Ichigo!" he placed a delicate kiss on her forehead and hugged her tight. "I've missed you so much!"
"Oh my gosh!" she replied, "I can't believe it! You're back! It's been so long! I'm so excited! Come on, let's head home already! Come on come on come on!"
He chuckled. "Wait till I get my bag-"
"Got it!!" she announced triumphantly. And indeed, she had already seized the bag from the luggage belt and was slowly but surely pushing it towards the door at the amazing rate of two centimeters per second.
She hasn't changed a bit, Masaya noted, Still the ecstatic Ichigo I know and love.
He's changed a lot, Ichigo observed as she broke a sweat pushing the suitcase. I hope he's still the wonderful Masaya I know and love!
Ryou tried to keep a straight face as he saw Ichigo throwing her back out to help Masaya with the luggage with its owner trying to offer help in the process.
"Need some help?" he asked, stepping in and wheeling a baggage cart beside him.
"Oh, thank goodness, Ryou!" Ichigo cried out.
He didn't answer. He had locked eyes with Masaya, and they were almost scowling at each other. Ichigo timidly tried to break the silence with an "Um…" but failed miserably.
"We meet again, Ryou."
"Indeed."
"You've been keeping an eye on Ichigo like you promised?"
Ryou smirked. "Of course. I'd never let anything happen to her."
Masaya frowned. "You've been paying her well?"
"She deserves all ten dollars for every week, if not more."
"Hm…"
"Hm…"
They stood there for what seemed like hours while Ichigo shifted her weight from one foot to the other, humming loudly, hoping that she could snap them out of it. When she thought she couldn't take it anymore, she resolved to scream as loud as she could.
"MASA-- OW!!!"
Someone plowed into her from behind. It was Pudding…on a unicycle.
"Hullo, Ichigo!!"
Masaya and Ryou both blinked and turned to look at the monkey-like child who had proceeded to juggle bowling pins.
"Hello, Pudding." Ryou sighed, helping Ichigo up.
"Good to see you, Pudding." Masaya said, handing Ichigo her purse.
"Welcome back, Masaya!!!" Pudding shrieked, waving vigorously but in the process dropping the bowling pins on her head. "Gah! AAH! GYAA!!"
Ichigo, Masaya, and Ryou looked on as poor Pudding fell off the unicycle, completely knocked out. A passing group of people stopped to stare.
"………" Ichigo exclaimed.
"………" Ryou agreed.
"………" Masaya interjected.
The awkward silence was broken as Lettuce walked in, carrying a poster that read 'WELCOME HOME, MASAYA!'.
"Hello, Masaya! Good to have you ba- AAAHH!!" True to her clumsy nature, Lettuce tripped over Pudding's unconscious form. "Oww…"
"Careful, Lettuce." Ryou said, helping her up as he had done with Ichigo. Lettuce responded with a light blush and thanked him. As she did so, Mint and Zakuro walked in through the glass doors.
"Aw, we missed the reunion of Mr. And Mrs. Aoyama!" Mint moaned with remorse. Zakuro, of course, did not show that she shared in the disappointment.
"Hey," Zakuro said emotionlessly to Masaya. He waved back.
"Well, shall we get going?" Ichigo asked.
= . =
They had all decided to walk home, even Ryou, who carried a motionless Pudding carefully in his arms. They had decided that it was best to leave the unicycle and bowling pins behind. Ichigo and Masaya exchanged loving glances every half minute, which made Ryou want to gag. But if Ichigo was happy, he should be too. He kept a smile plastered on his face. Lettuce and Mint walked ahead but Zakuro led the way.
"Well, nothing much has happened," Ichigo explained to Masaya. She flicked the bell on her neck. "I still have the cat bell you gave me."
"Wow, you still have it?"
"Of course! I've kept it safe and clean this entire time. Oh, speaking of cats, I forgot to tell you this. I didn't completely get rid of my cat genes. They're never really going to go away, but at least I won't turn into a cat anymore, right? That's so embarrassing…but I think I can deal with the cat ears popping out." As if on cue, her cat ears did pop out from all her excitement.
Everyone couldn't help but laugh, even Ichigo. But as they laughed, her ears perked up. And she turned around, as if looking for something.
"What's wrong, Ichigo?" Ryou asked worriedly.
"There's someone following us. I can hear them." She slowly looked up into a nearby tree. "Show yourself!" she yelled.
The stranger did, and everyone gasped in surprise.
"Kish?!"
"Hey, Ichigo!" he said, waving and smiling, "What's up?"
"Kish, what are you doing here?" she frowned.
"I thought I'd stop in and visit, ya know?" he grinned even wider and jumped out of the tree, landing safely on the pavement. "Missed you a ton after I went back home." He walked up to her and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.
"Eek! Kish, don't do that!"
Masaya and Ryou both clenched their fists but didn't say anything.
"Oh, I brought some friends too." He gave a shrill whistle and Pie and Tart also came out of the tree. Kish said, "We're all going to stay at your house, Ichigo!"
"What?!" she protested, "No! Masaya's going to be over! I can't have three aliens around my house in the meantime! No, Kish! You guys can't stay!"
"What a rude old hag," Tart smirked.
"I'm not old, I'm not a hag, and YOU'RE the one that's being rude!" Ichigo snarled.
"Well, what if Tart and Pie didn't come?" Kish interrogated hopefully.
"Wait!!" Tart yelled, "Where are we supposed to stay?" Kish shrugged, truthfully not caring.
"With me, of course!" squealed Pudding, who had revived while no one noticed. She had even jumped out of Ryou's arms and given Tart a big hug. "Welcome back, Tar-Tar!"
"Eh…hi…"
"I have lots and lots of beds at home because my cousins visit often," she piped, "but they're not here, so you can pick one! Oh, this'll be so much fun!"
Tart had no dislike for Pudding. In fact, if he had any fondness for any of the Mew Mews, it was for her. No matter how rotten he had been to her in the past, she acted like nothing happened. Still, he didn't want to let on that he liked her. "Do I have to?"
Pudding froze and sniffled. "You…you don't want to stay with me?"
"Congratulations," Pie murmured, "You made her cry."
"What…no! Come on, don't cry! I'll stay with you, alright? Is that better?"
"Yes oh yes oh yes!" She seemed to instantly stop being sad and she wrapped her arms around his middle. "Yahoo! Tar-Tar is staying with me!"
Ichigo's face was turning a lovely crimson color. "It doesn't matter that Tart isn't staying! I don't want to have Kish and Pie in my kitchen, scaring off my parents!"
"Pie, find a place to stay." Kish said. His comrade did not reply.
"Okay…fine. Which one of you will let Pie stay at your house?"
"Not me." Zakuro replied instantly.
"Not me." Mint repeated.
"No room at the inn!" Pudding said, contradicting the fact that she had plenty of beds to spare. No one seemed to care.
The spotlight was left on either Ryou or Lettuce.
Lettuce bit her lip. She knew that Ryou had a small room. He couldn't fit Pie in there. And even if he could, she knew he'd be quite angry about having this unexpected visitor.
"I-I'll…um…" she whispered.
"What, Lettuce?" (doesn't matter who said it)
"I could…um…"
"What?"
"I'll-"
"Lettuce, we can't hear you."
"PIE CAN STAY AT MY HOUSE!" she finally forced herself to say. The volume of the statement was enough to knock everyone off their feet. "Whew…"
"Okay, thanks Lettuce," Ichigo said, "But what about Kish? My mom would flip if she saw Kish chasing me around attempting to kiss me! And Masaya would probably be uncomfortable about that too!"
Masaya, in the meantime, had attracted a mob of girls and was trying to flee them and get back to the group.
"He'd probably be so annoyed or sickened that he'd want to leave!"
This made Ryou think. And think. And think. It was a golden opportunity. His eyes would have sparkled, but in anime, I don't see guys do that a lot and plus, this is Ryou we're talking about. He cleared his throat. "Ichigo, surely you could shelter this poor alien for a few nights? What with your loving and kind and caring heart and all."
Poor Ichigo. This was supposed to be a happy day for her! She whimpered and hid her face in her hands.
(Tsumina: That's the end of the first chappie! How'd you guys like it? Please review and include any suggestions! I want to be a great writer when I grow up and this is awesome practice! Shout outs to my sister Meggy and my almost sister, Shijimi-chan! Love you both!)