Snow

Summary: A suden cold snap comes to Tokyo, bringing with it a girl named Yuki. She's been turned into a Mew, but that might be a bad thing...

Rating: T

Genre: Drama/Horror

Lettuce was the first to notice her. Even though it was early November, it had been a mild day, and the doors of the Café were open while the girls cleaned and got ready for the day.

She was about an inch shorter than Zakuro, with shoulder length black hair and dark blue eyes, around which hung a look of sadness. She was wearing a pair of black jeans, a white shirt, white shoes, and was holding a white clutch purse that had a blue snowflake embroidered on the front.

"Hello," Lettuce said. "We're not open yet, but if you come back a little later, we can -"

"No," The girl interrupted. "I -I need – This is the headquarters of Tokyo Mew Mew, isn't it?"

Now she had the attention of all six girls.

"Um…I'm gonna go get Ryou." Berry said a she darted back through the Employees Only way.

"What makes you so sure this is Tokyo Mew Mew's headquarters?" Zakuro asked coldly.

The girl gave a slight smile. "It's called Café Mew Mew."

"So, we decided to name it after Tokyo Mew Mew." Mint said carelessly. "So what?"

The girl gave another sad smile. "You're not a very convincing liar." She said. "Well, maybe I'm wrong. But if I am, do you know where I can find Tokyo Mew Mew?"

"Why do you need to find them?" Ichigo asked.

In response, the girl reached into her purse and pulled out something, which she set down on the counter. It was a Power Pendant.

Ichigo, Mint, and Lettuce's eyes widened. Zakuro's narrowed. "Where did you get this?" the purple-haired girl asked.

"I got hit by some sort of ray of light, and when I woke up I found this." Just please take it back, don't ask me if I can become a Mew Mew, and let me get away from here.

"So, there's another one. Perhaps I should look into having the Mew DNA infuser disassembled." The girl watched as Berry came back into the room, followed by a blond boy.

"Wait, Ryou, you knew there was going to be another Mew?" Ichigo asked.

"I had my suspicions." He replied. "The gun was accidentally fired off again, so I suspected another Mew would show up."

"You really should at least put a safety lock on that thing." Mint pointed out.

Please don't ask me if I can transform, the girl begged silently, only to have her worst fear realized a moment later.

"Can you transform with this?" Ryou asked as he picked up the Pendant and held it out to her.

The girl hesitated. "Do I have to?"

"Of course you do." Ryou replied. "If there's another Mew, I'd certainly like to know about it. Besides, it won't hurt you."

Lettuce quietly moved over and closed the front door as the girl took the pendant. She sighed and then kissed the pendant.

"Mew Mew Almond, Metamorphosis!"

A moment later, her body began to glow. The Café seemed to fade away as she spun around through a flurry of snowflakes, some which landed on her body, where her armbands, garter, dress, shoes, and gloves would be. More snowflakes clung to her back, then seemed to explode away, leaving behind a pair of white, triangular bird wings, and a bird tail.

Her body had stopped glowing. She swung her left hand out, and the snowflakes on it turned to ice, then made a slight ching noise as the ice shattered away, leaving a dark grey glove with a dim gray band around the edges. She swung her right hand out, only to have the scenario repeated. She swung her left leg out, allowing the snowflakes to freeze and shatter away; leaving a dark grey, high-heeled boot that stopped a few inches below her knee, then repeated for her right leg. She curled into a ball, then quickly spread out, allowing the rest of the snowflakes to freeze then shatter away, leaving her wearing a dark gray dress with a top like Lettuce's and a skirt like Mint's, plus the rest of the accessories, all done in dark gray and edged in dim gray.

A moment later, the snowflakes around her neck shattered away, leaving a collar in the same gray shades as her Mew outfit, and then a piece of ice shaped like a snowflake shattered away from her collar, revealing her pendant.

Her transformation complete, she lifted up and spun around again, landing in her end pose; a large, pale blue snowflake appeared behind her as she clasped her hands together.

Then it was over. The snowflake and rest of the end pose faded away, and she was standing in the Café again. She unclasped her hands and stood up a bit straighter.

"Wow," Ichigo gasped.

"Hooray! Almond-oneesama is a Mew Mew!" Pudding shrieked, only to have Mint scold her.

"Pudding, be quiet. Remember what we told you about inside voices?"

"Is Almond your name?" Lettuce asked.

"No." The girl replied. "My real name is Yuki."

"Well, Yuki, it looks like you'll have to join the Mew Mew team." Ryou told her.

No! Don't say that! You have no idea what you're about to do! Yuki silently cried, then spoke up, "Um, is it… do you really need me to join Tokyo Mew Mew?"

"Yes." Ryou replied. "We really do need you to join Tokyo Mew Mew."

No, no, this is so wrong!

"We'll need a some DNA to test, though, to figure out what you're infused with."

"Test?" Yuki looked down. She was still wearing her Mew outfit.

"Don't worry, Miss Yuki. It's not as bad as it sounds."

Yuki looked up. A slightly older man, with long brown hair in a ponytail had emerged from the back room.

"Yuki, this is Keiichiro." Ryou said. "He helped me with the original Mew project."

"All we need is a few hairs to test, or a feather." Keiichiro told her.

Yuki plucked a feather from her wing and handed it to Keiichiro, then de-transformed.

"Thank you." Keiichiro smiled as took the feather, then headed back to the computer room.

"I'll get you a uniform." Ryou said as he also turned and headed for the back room. "The girls will introduce themselves."

"I'm Ichigo Momomiya."

"Berry Shirayuki."

"Mint Aizawa."

"Lettuce Mirdorikawa."

"Pudding Fong!"

"Zakuro Fujiwara."

"Well, you already know I'm Yuki." She replied.

"Why are you so glum, Yuki-oneesama?" Pudding asked. "Do you want to see some of my tricks?"

Yuki gave her a cheerless smile. "Maybe later, Pudding."

"Yeah, what's the matter, Yuki?" Berry wanted to know.

"It's- It's just that…Look, I really shouldn't work here." Yuki said. "It would be bad, okay? Can I just quit? You don't need me on your team, and if you know the truth, you wouldn't want me on it."

"Why?" Mint asked. "Are you a pickpocket?"

"Well, no."

"Well then," Mint began, but she was interrupted as Ryou came back into the room, carrying a cream-colored uniform trimmed in bright white, which he handed to Yuki. "Sorry we don't have any gray ones."

"It-it's okay." Yuki replied. "I like white."

Ryou then noticed that everyone else was still standing around. "What are the rest of you doing?" He demanded. "I'm not paying you to stand around and do nothing! Berry, show Yuki where the changing rooms are. Ichigo, why aren't you finished with that table yet? Lettuce, it's time to open."

The girls hurried back to work, except for Zakuro, who never hurried unless she was Mew Zakuro.

Ryou stalked back to the computer room, hearing the clatter of computer keys as he entered. "Have you figured out what Mew Almond is?" He asked Keiichiro.

The older man didn't even look up from the computer. "It seems Mew Almond is infused with the DNA of the Ivory Gull." He said.

"Something wrong?" Ryou wanted to know. "You seem rather hesitant about her." Almost more hesitant about her then she is about herself.

"Look at this chart." Keiichiro told him. "See, this pink section represents her human DNA, and this white part shows her Ivory Gull DNA. But I can't figure out what this blue part is supposed to represent."

Ryou studied the screen. "Did you run it against our database?"

"Yes, but it came up negative. If this is a new endangered animal, then no one's ever heard of it before."

"Hmm…" Ryou mused, but before he could come up with an idea, a red, blinking pop-up appeared on the screen.

"Uh-oh, we've got trouble." Keiichiro said as he turned back to the computer and began typing rapidly. "There's some kind of monster attacking Tokyo Park."

"I'll go get the girls." Ryou said as he turned and raced out of the room.

He burst into the main room of the café and found that no one had arrived yet. "Girls, close the café."

Berry looked confused. "But it's barely been opened yet."

"There's a monster attacking the park." Ryou told them. "You have to get down there and stop it, right away!"

Ichigo looked at the others. "He's right. Let's go, ladies!"

As Ichigo and the other quickly closed the café, Yuki slipped back to the changing room to get her purse, since that was where she had put her Power Pendant. "I hope things go okay." She muttered sadly.

"Mew Mew Ichigo, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Mint, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Lettuce, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Pudding, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Zakuro, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Berry, Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Almond, Metamorphosis!"

In no time at all, it seemed to Almond, the seven of them had arrived at the park, only to find a monster no one had expected to see.

Mew Lettuce gasped. "It's a Yeti!"

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"It's also known as an abominable snowman." Zakuro told her.

You should have sent me away before it came to this, Mew Mews. Almond thought. But it's too late now.

"Let's go!" Ichigo shouted. "Today and again for the future of the earth, we serve!" And with that, Mew Ichigo pulled out her Strawbell Bell and began to attack.

The other Mews followed her lead.

"Don't you have a weapon, Almond?"

"Huh?" Startled, Almond turned to see Mew Berry standing there.

"You have a weapon, don't you?" Mew Berry repeated.

"Um…yes." Almond said as she summoned a dark gray shield, edged in white. "This is my weapon." It had a diamond shape, plus small spikes at the top, bottom, and three one each side.

"Wow, that's a long shield." Berry observed. "Anyway, c'mon. By the time we get in there, the Mews will have defeated the monster!"

I could only hope they'll have done that. Almond contemplated as she reluctantly followed Mew Berry.

"Ribbon…Zakuro Spear!"

"Ribbon… Lettuce Rush!"

"Ribbon…Minto Echo!"

"Pudding Ring Inferno!"

By now the Yeti, or abominable snowman, was reeling from the attacks.

"Hurry Almond." Berry urged her. "As soon as you go, Ichigo and I will combine our powers and finish it off."

"Umm…" Almond paused, but lacking a plausible excuse, she just sighed. "Okay.

"Ribbon…Almond Lance!" A pike of shot off the front of her shield and landed a direct hit on the Yeti.

"Berry, let's go!" Ichigo called to the blond, who nodded her consent.

"Ribbon…Doubleberry check!"

Defeated, the creature gave up and vanished in a cloud of snow.

"Hey, look." Mint pointed out. She caught a flake of snow that had fallen from the overcast sky on her glove. "It's snowing!"

"And getting colder." Lettuce shivered slightly.

"Uh… I- girls, I really need to get home." Almond said. "Is it alright if I don't go back to the café with you?"

"Sure." Mint said with a shrug. "By the time we got back, it would be time to go home anyway. We'll see you later."

"Thanks." Almond said. She hastily de-transformed and ran off.

The Mews watched her leave, then turned to each other.

"Well, Almond seems nice." Lettuce said.

"There's something not right about her." Zakuro spoke up.

"Huh?" Berry asked as the Mews turned to the wolf-girl.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo wanted to know.

"Exactly what I said." Zakuro told her. "There is something not right about that girl. She's so … unconfident"

"But, Zakuro, even I'm like that. Most of the time." Lettuce said.

"I know, but you're not as bad as her. Look how she ran off, just now. Mark my words, she's hiding something." Zakuro warned.

"Well, I have to get home." Berry said. "I have a lot of homework to do."

"Pudding has to go make dinner for her siblings, na no da."

"Yeah, see you guys later."

And with that, the Mews broke up and headed for their homes.

What was the third DNA in Mew Almond's body? Ryou wondered as he got ready for bed. He and Keiichiro had ruled out alien, or one of the alien's parasites. So what was it?

Oh well, he philosophically told himself as he turned off the light and got into bed. He'd sleep on it, and maybe have an idea in the morning.

Outside the Café, it was dark. A few streetlights provided illumination of the falling snow, and a lone figure walking through the snow. Her hair was black, and her eyes were ice blue. Her lips were as red as blood, and the falling snow and chilly air did little to deter her as she as she seemed to float above the snow.

She arrived at Café Mew Mew and turned up the walk. The doors were locked, their icy cold handles refused to turn under her hands. Without hesitation she stepped back and used a gust of snowy wind to blow open the doors. They slammed into the walls behind them as she moved silently through the first floor of the café, a trail of cold air, ice and snow surrounding her as she floated over the floor and up the stairs.

Ryou felt as though he'd only been asleep for a few minutes when the pervading sense of cold woke him up. Somewhat shocked by the bitter cold, he looked up, and saw the last person he had ever expected to see. "Yuki?!"

She looked exactly like Yuki, she was even dressed in Yuki's Mew Mew outfit. But somehow she seemed different and it was more then the snow and cold surrounding her.

Her eyes were now an icy blue, Ryou noticed, and seemed to alter between being vacant or seeming sadistic. Her outfit color had changed, too. It was now predominately a snow white, edged in black.

"Oh, no." Ryou whispered as he finally realized what the blue in Yuki's chart represented. "Yuki-onna."

She laughed, softly and cruelly. "Please, Ryou-sama, don't get up for my sake."

"What do you want?" Ryou demanded.

"What do I want?" Yuki, in her altered state of mind, moved closer to the bed and cupped his chin in her hand. "I want you, Ryou-sama."

Before Ryou could react, she moved forward and kissed him, leaving him immediately frozen.

"I want you dead." She pushed him back down onto the bed. "Mew Mint is right. You really should take better care of that ray gun of yours. Thanks to the Mew Power now dwelling within me, I am stronger than I have ever been before!"

Amid spiteful laughter and burst of snow flurries, the Yuki-onna faded away.

No sooner had Yuki-onna vanished, then Keiichiro awoke. The café seemed to have been invaded by an unreal cold.

With a sigh, Keiichiro got up, realizing he would get no sleep unless he could figure out what was going on. Maybe one of Ryou's experiments had gone wrong again.

He headed down to the first floor of the cafe, but as he entered the hallway, he noticed a trail of frost leading up the stairs and to Ryou's room.

"Oh, my, that can't be good." Keiichiro said. There was a draft coming from somewhere downstairs, he could feel it; but he changed his path and headed for Ryou's room.

Maybe it was just an experiment that had gone wrong, he repeated to himself as he knocked on the Ryou's door. "Ryou? Are you in there?"

There was no answer. An experiment gone wrong? He mused for the third time. But what kind of experiment would cause this? He glanced again at the trail of frost on the floor.

"Ryou?" Keiichiro asked as he opened the door. What he saw when he opened the door shocked him.

"Ryou!"

T.A.R.N.S.: Well, this is either a very original plot, or a very cliche one. So I'd really like my reviewers to tell me whether they think it's cliche or original. If you're confused about something, it'll probably be explained in the next chapter. Anyway, a yuki-onna, for those of you who don't know, is a Japanese snow monster who usually takes the form of a beautiful woman. I wanted to do character who had a shield for a weapon and the powers of snow/ice, and I'd been reading about Yuki-onnas, so I figured what the heck? I'm not sure how Ryou got tangled up in it, though. But I like the suspense. (The only thing that worries me is that Ryou's fans might not like it.)

Anyway, I expect this to be a short story, and plan to wrap it up next chapter. (It was supposed to be a oneshot, but I broke it in half.) Please Read & Review!