A shadow floated under the new moon sky. It moved slowly and its large wings beat the air furiously as to stay aloft. The figure stopped only once over a large apple orchard. Its human head slowly turned as it scanned the mass of trees below. And then, like that, it was gone. It had slipped noiselessly down into the dense plant life.

Flashes of golden light quickly followed the figure's disappearance. Then, after a heart wrenching cry of pain, the shadow was back in the sky. It was barely noticeable against the moonless sky as it flew back towards the city.

…

Remon awoke the next day to the sound of her alarm clock. It was her first day at high school since her family had moved to Tokyo, Japan, and she didn't want to be late, like she often was.

After slipping on the new school uniform, which consisted of a blue and white top and skirt, and brushing her teeth, Remon quickly grabbed an apple and hurried out the door. She had memorized the way to her school from a map the day before and hoped she wouldn't get lost. She ran as fast as she could to get there as early as possible.

Her sides heaved as the school came into sight. Remon sighed in relief and continued towards the building. Once inside she quickly got her schedule and began searching for her classroom. After walking around the building at least five times Remon eventually found her room. She stepped inside as to make sure she wouldn't be late.

In front of her on the other side of the room stood a group of girls that looked as if they had been talking about something serious. A girl with short dark blue hair that was pulled up into two small buns on either side of her head said something that caused the others to look in Remon's direction. They looked away quickly as to not embarrass her, but an unnatural shade of red had already enveloped part of Remon's face. Their conversation seemed to change topic as the group went back to talking.

Remon awkwardly stood in the doorway for another few seconds until the bell rang and she had to move. Students filed into the room and quickly took their seats. By the time the tardy bell rang Remon was the only one standing in the room and her face took on the shade of red again.

"Hello class!" announced the teacher as she walked into the room. "Today, as you can probably see, we have a new student!" The class stayed silent and she continued. "Well then, would you like to introduce yourself Miss?"

Remon opened her mouth but no sound came out. Public speaking was one of Remon's greatest fears, but standing in front of any size group of people was nerve racking for her. "I-I'm Remon, Remon Kimi," Remon squeaked before repeating herself more clearly.

The class again stayed silent and, to hurry things along, the teacher pointed out where Remon was to sit and began class. Remon didn't listen as she slowly walked to the back of the room, instead she watched the girl that was to sit to her left. The girl had dark red hair that fell to just above her shoulders. Her eyes were a dull brown, but they hinted at the colors red and pink. Remon could tell that there was something different about the girl, besides the fact that she hung around with a group of other girls in an otherwise empty classroom talking about who-knows-what.

As Remon took the seat next to her the girl spoke. "Hello Remon! I'm Ichigo, Ichigo Momomiya; it's nice to meet you!"

"Yeah, nice to meet you Ichigo," Remon barely said. Remon was lost in thought as class went on around her. 'How could someone trust me so easily? Especially since I haven't done anything to encourage friendliness? Why would I, of all people, be found trustable? What's with this girl, Ichigo, right? Hm…'

The day went by in a blur and soon enough Remon began her walk home. She had a ton of homework that would only take forever to accomplish but instead of getting home quickly, she just slowly wandered down the streets in the general direction of her house. All-the-while the girls of the morning stuck in her head. She had seen them throughout the day individually but never again together. Remon knew that there was something different about each of them, but she couldn't put her finger on what. She just knew that there was some sort of connection between them and herself.

…

Ichigo watched as Remon left the school. Earlier that day she had noticed a pink mark on the back of Remon's neck that looked like the mew mark she hid on her right inner thigh and Ichigo knew that it could mean only one thing.

"Remon's a mew mew," she announced to the small group of mew mews she called her friends.

"What?" asked Lettuce before she could stop herself. Lettuce Midorikawa was a shy girl with short dark green hair with the exception of two long braids that fell to her waist on the back of her head. Her eyes were blue and she wore glasses over them. She could be quite clumsy at times, but brought much laughter to the group, making her fit in just fine. The animal she was fused with was the Finless Porpoise, which was ironic since Lettuce herself didn't know how to swim.

"She's a mew mew, like us, like you," Ichigo stated again. "I saw her mew mark, it's-"

"Where is it?" Pudding Fong asked anxiously. She was the little monkey of the group, literally! She was infused with the Golden Lion Tamarind along with her energetic, happy personality. Her bright blonde hair barely reached her chin in length and curled around over her cheeks. There were two small braids that ended just below her shoulders and fell from the back of her head. Her orange-brown eyes always sparkled with the energy and confidence of the young girl she was.

"-on the back of her neck," Ichigo finished.

"Hm… we'd better discuss this with Ryou and Keiichiro," said Zakuro. Her voice dull with her distraction of being lost in thought. Her dark purple hair that fell almost to her waist, swayed as the group began walking towards Café Mew Mew, the mew mews secret HQ and work.

…