An Unusual Friendship
A/N: This is not my usual thing, but this story is about Ryou. I'll give some background first, so it'll make sense. This will probably be a one-shot. Have fun with it!
Several years ago: Keiichiro held a young Ryou back as they watched the Shirogane's home go up in flames- and the Chimera Anima they had been researching fly away. Ryou turned to look at Keiichiro. "Emiko was supposed to come over today…" he said.
"Let's go check on her and her parents, maybe it's not too late," Keiichiro said. He and Ryou ran to the car, and drove to the Imamuras' home. The door was locked, and the car was gone. Ryou sank to his knees. "She's gone too…" he said.
Real time, about six months after the final battle between Tokyo Mew Mew and Deep Blue:
"Damn!" Ryou said, pounding the door of Ichigo's house. "Kisshu got her!"
Lettuce sighed. "He looked like he was trying to protect her from our attacks," she said. "Maybe they're not lying about the aliens being here on vacation."
"We should let this play out," Zakuro said. "Let's go back to the Café; there's no more that we can do here."
The others nodded, and headed back.
At Café Mew Mew: Keiichiro heard teleportation in the main room, and ran out, only to see an alien girl about Ryou's age with blue eyes and reddish brown hair. He was even more surprised when she said, "Keiichiro, it's been a while. Do you remember me?"
"Do I know you?" Keiichiro asked, puzzled.
"Yes," the girl said sadly. "I've changed quite a bit since you last saw me. But maybe you'll remember my name."
"What is it?" Keiichiro asked.
"Imamura Emiko," the girl said.
Keiichiro's jaw dropped. "But… you died in the fire!" he said.
"It's a long story, but I wanted to see Butter too," Emiko said. "Is he around?"
"He went to stop Kisshu from kidnapping Ichigo," Keiichiro said.
"Guess I've got two explanations," Emiko said ruefully. "Kisshu didn't kidnap Ichigo; Pai did, and Kisshu's been taking care of her since Pai injured her by accident. Pai apparently wants to do some tests on her, but luckily for you guys and her, Kisshu won't let him."
"I guess you've got a lot of things to tell us," Keiichiro said. "Emiko, I'm so glad you're safe." He came over and hugged her as she said, "Thanks, Keiichiro." She hugged back happily.
This is what Ryou and the other Mews found when they came in- Keiichiro hugging an alien. "Keiichiro, what the HELL are you doing?" Ryou asked.
"Oh good, you're back," Keiichiro said, letting Emiko go. "Emiko came back!"
Ryou's jaw hit the floor, while the others just looked confused. "Hi Butter," Emiko said, smirking.
"It is you," Ryou whispered. "Where have you been?"
"It's a long story," Emiko said.
"Let's sit down," Keiichiro said. "I'll go make some tea."
The others sat down, and Ryou said, "Raven, where have you been? I thought you died in the fire!"
Emiko's face went serious, and she said, "No. I didn't die, but my parents and your parents did. That fire was set."
Ryou's jaw hit the floor again, and he said, "That means the aliens didn't do it?"
"Right," Emiko said. "The fire was set by a scientist who had somehow discovered that I was the only person in the world compatible with Cyniclon DNA. He stole your parents' research, knocked all of us out, and kidnapped me. Your parents apparently had Cyniclon DNA in their lab, and he stole that, then injected all of it into me. He wanted to do something like what you did with the Mew Mews, but it didn't work out that way. The Cyniclon DNA turned out to be stronger than my human DNA, and it completely wiped out my human DNA. I'm a Cyniclon now."
"Is that why you never came back?" Ryou asked.
"No," Emiko said. "I was kept in that scientist's lab as an experiment, until about a year and a half ago."
"How did you escape?" Ryou asked.
"Kisshu broke me out," Emiko said. "I had sensed someone like me nearby, since I had a bunch of new powers, most of which I didn't know what to do with, and I guess he sensed the same thing, because he came to the lab, and destroyed the teleport canceller that the scientist put on the building. Kisshu found where he was keeping me, and broke me out. He killed the scientist, and blew up the lab. Then he took me to his base, and offered me a home in return for my help."
"You helped him with his mission?" Ryou asked incredulously.
"No," Emiko said. "He didn't need help with that; what he needed was a person who had the skills to keep Pai out of the kitchen. Pai can't go into a kitchen without destroying something; he's a complete disaster. And Kisshu and Taruto are typical guys; they don't know how to cook. So in return for a home and learning how to use my powers, I started cooking for them. I didn't really mind; they're all really nice. Taruto can be kind of bratty, and we tease Pai about being a zombie. Kisshu's really nice, though. I know you don't like him very much, but he's been protecting Ichigo since Pai decided to kidnap her a few days ago, and he never wanted to hurt her. Kisshu's a great guy, actually. I had lost my voice from shock after the fire, and being treated like an experiment didn't help. Kisshu helped me learn to talk, use my powers- he's been really wonderful. He didn't even mind when I told him I used to be human; by that point, he had seen how good I was at keeping Pai out of the kitchen, and he loves it when I hit Pai over the head with a broom, so he decided to keep me around, despite the fact I'm not exactly like him, Pai and Taruto."
"You've been living with them this whole time?" Ryou asked softly.
"Not the whole time; but since you know now that the Cyniclons didn't cause your parents' and my parents' deaths, I think you should give them a chance," Emiko said. "When they and I went back to their planet with the Mew Aqua, we were able to heal it, but we all got exiled for helping the Mews kill Deep Blue. We have the ship to live on, but that's it."
"But why is Ichigo acting differently toward Kisshu? She used to hate him," Ryou said.
"Ichigo never actually hated Kisshu; she pretended that she hated him more than anything to make sure you wouldn't get mad," Emiko said. "She knew you hated him and his brothers, so she didn't tell anyone that she didn't really mind Kisshu. And frankly, I don't think it's unreasonable that she's pretty much head over heels now. He died trying to save her; I think it was only a matter of time before she realized that she had feelings for him as well. They're both happy now; please don't separate them. Kisshu would never harm her or treat her badly."
"What about before?" Ryou asked.
"That was different," Emiko said. "Kisshu was under orders, and technically, even though he hurt her sometimes, he had been ordered to kill Ichigo- and all of you as well. He never did that, which is another reason he was exiled. He loves Ichigo far too much to kill her, or even seriously injure her."
Ryou sighed. "I won't separate them," he said softly. "Knowing the truth makes things look different now. Do they know you're here?"
"Yes," Emiko said. "I told them- and Ichigo- about the fact that we were childhood friends, and they said I should at least come see you. I'm glad I did. I figured that you would think I died in the fire, and I wasn't sure how you'd react to seeing me, now that I'm no longer human, and I've been living with the people you hated the most. I'm glad you survived too; I didn't know if you were alive or dead until Kisshu took me in, and I saw a picture of you on Pai's dartboard."
"Wait, why am I on Pai's dartboard?" Ryou asked.
"He's jealous because he thinks Lettuce loves you- which may be true, I don't know- but he's in love with Lettuce, therefore acts somewhat like Kisshu did with Aoyama. Kisshu has a picture of Aoyama not only on his dartboard, but on the punching bag he uses for training," Emiko said, snickering.
"Lettuce-oneechan loves Pai!" Pudding said happily. "She told Pudding!"
"Pudding, did you have to?" Lettuce moaned.
"Pai will be happy, you should tell him," Emiko said.
"Raven, are you staying?" Ryou asked.
"Do you want me to stay?" Emiko asked.
"Yes," Ryou said. "I missed you."
Emiko smiled. "Then I'd be happy to stay."
I know this is totally OOC for me, but I had this weird dream, and decided to post it as a story. In case people are wondering, Emiko calls Ryou 'Butter' because of the color of his hair, and he calls her 'Raven' because her hair when she was human was black. Oh, and Emiko is not me.
For those of you who love the 'Ryou must die within two chapters', just don't flame me for this. If you like it, please review- if not, just don't flame me, k? Thanks!