Chapter 1: Prologue
This was my original Tokyo Mew Mew Fanfiction that I wrote back in 2005; I've decided to go back a re-work it now that my writing has improved and the story has sunk in a little more. Enjoy the rewrite!
Tokyo Mew Mew Once More: Prologue
Her alarm clock landed with a clunk on the bedroom floor. Ichigo sat up, groggy, and swung her legs out of bed. These last couple of weeks had been heavenly—no aliens to battle, no café to work in... Granted, Masaya had left for London, England, but he did call her nearly every day; he was expected back at the end of summer break.
"Aoyama-kun…" she whispered softly. She reached up and touched the little bell and collar around her neck. Now halfway to sixteen, Ichigo felt compelled to take a look back on the last year of her life: she'd changed so much since she'd meet Akasaka-sama and Shirogane; she had her life more or less figured out; she was in love with her Aoyama-kun and had done well in school despite all the other things going on in her life that year.
Sitting at her vanity table, Ichigo began to put her hair up in its traditional pigtails. Truthfully, she had nowhere to go that particular day, nothing to do so she released the tuft of hair in her hand and began to brush it out. Maybe she'd just let it hang down today.
"Ichigo honey," whispered her mother opening the door a crack.
"I'm up Mama."
"You have a couple of guests waiting for you in the family room," she said with a smile. Who, she asked standing up. Sakura shrugged and left the room simply asking her daughter to hurry as to not keep them waiting.
Out in the family room, Keiichiro and Ryou waited patiently for Ichigo to come and join them. "Do you think she'll be willing to come back?"
"That depends," Keiichiro began. "Are you going to tease her mercilessly, insult her, and otherwise irritate her?" There was a pause. "Ryou?"
"I'm thinking." Keiichiro chuckled softly and shook his head. Ryou seemed to be a little on edge, almost nervous. They'd already gone to see Retasu and Mint the other day, and Zakuro was away at the moment doing an extended show in Germany for the summer; Purin was on the list for later in the day. They hadn't seen the girls for the past couple of weeks; there had just been some unspoken code amongst everyone that a break was in order. It was time to pull back together though. Something odd was still going on, and they needed to be prepared.
"Shirogane... Akasaka-sama? What are you doing here?"