Tokyo Mew Mew: A La Fresco/La Dolce Vita side story: Snow Kiss
For the most part, Minto could safely say that she had probably been more surprised than anyone the first time she and Zakuro had slept together.
The popular theory that, while she was devoted to the taller woman, Zakuro her saw as nothing more than an acquaintance and a comrade-in-arms at best had been something she had been completely in agreement about.
That had changed, however, when she woke up in the models bed, sans clothing and tucked under the arms of said model like a teddy-bear.
Not wanting to wake the still slumbering wolf, Minto had lain there for what felt like several hours, trying to digest the magnitude of what exactly had happened during the past 72 hours of her life that had landed her in this position.
Two mornings ago, she'd opened up the cafe's issue of the newspaper after Ryou had discarded all sections not pertaining to his money, and had ended up at the entertainment section, where she saw a certain object of her affections walking into a popular nightclub with someone's arms wrapped rather tightly and intimately around her waist.
She nearly had a heart attack as she recognized the face that those arms belonged to.
Digging her cell phone out of her purse with a trembling hand, she dialed to number of the person she was hoping would refute the claims made in the article.
"Ta-kun, where were you last night?"
"Minto-chan? What are talking about? What's wrong?"
"Just answer the question, Taki!!"
"With Fujiwara Zakuro, that model you work with!! Just give me a chance to explain before you-" Minto didn't hear the rest of the exclaimation as she slowly closed the top to her phone.
"Minto-chan, could you please-" Ichigo had begun. She stopped mid-request when she saw the look on her best friend's face. It was one she recognized all too well. She imagined that she'd had that same look on her face when Masaya had turned into Deep Blue. She also knew the feeling that went along with that look. Like you were being stabbed directly in the heart.
Her own heart ached for Minto to think that the other girl was going through that.
She signaled to Retatsu, Purin and Berri to take care of the cafe while she talked to Minto and led the heiress to an empty booth to sit down.
"What happened? Are you okay?" By way of reply, Minto, who really didn't trust herself to speak at the moment, pushed the article she'd been reading over to Ichigo.
'Aizawa Taki-kun, of N-G productions third grossing band ASK, with his new fiancée, model Fujiwara Zakuro-san, at Zepp Tokyo last night, arriving for a limited performance between ASK and N-G's Bad Luck. When asked about the engagement, Aizawa-kun's representatives said...'
"Oh, Minto-chan..." There was really nothing more that Ichigo could have said at the moment. Nothing that could have alleviated the paleness of her friends face or the way her jaw and fists were clenched so hard that she knew it must be painful.
"...I don't even know why I'm getting so worked up about it..." The blue-haired girl muttered after a moment, her voice rough with the emotions that she trying her damnedest to keep from spilling out. "It's not like I didn't know that this would happen eventually, I mean...Taki's suited to her. They'll probably be really happy together and I'll just be..."
"Minto-chan..." Ichigo sighed again and placed a hand over her friends shaking arm. There was still nothing she could say. She could remain silently supportive.
"Do you think...You could cover for me for a few days...There's no way I can be here right now. Not when there's a chance that-"
Ichigo nodded and watched as her friend flew from the building in every literal sense of the word.
For her part, Zakuro was far less surprised when she woke up that morning with feathers tickling her sensitive nose.
She sneezed and Minto practically leaped out of the bed with the forcefulness of the action.
She sat up with a yawn and ran a hand through her sleep matted hair, observing that her bedroom was, indeed littered with small blue feathers.
"You're molting?" She tried desperately to disguise the amusement in her voice but failed horribly.
"N-no...It's just something that happens when I'm nervous sometimes." The smaller girl commented. She'd pulled the sheets off the bed in her attempt to leave it as soon as possible. She pulled them tighter around herself as she huddled in a corner of the room.
Zakuro raised an eyebrow and leaned against the headboard of the bed, watching one of the feathers as she twisted it in her fingers.
"What on earth would you have to be nervous about? It's not like I haven't already seen everything and expressed my avid approval. Several times."
Minto blushed and Zakuro couldn't help the small smile that crossed her own features as she reflected how cute the action was.
"I-but..." Anger quickly replaced embarrassment as she huffed and turned to the bed again. "You're engaged to my cousin! This never should have happened so stop teasing me about it and help me find my clothes." Zakuro tilted her head to the side curiously as Minto began crawling around on all fours looking for the articles that had been tossed haphazardly around the apartment the night before.
"Are you saying that you regret sleeping with me?"
"Don't patronize me! I don't need your sympathy!" As she stormed past the bed on the hunt for her blouse, her wrist was caught in a grip that she knew would have been impossible to break.
"Is that what you thing this was? You think I pity you?" Minto winced slightly. Whether it was from the pain in her wrist or from the cutting tone of the questions she wasn't entirely sure.
"What else is there? Like I said, you're engaged to Taki. Why else would you be doing this?"
Zakuro was silent for a moment, looking into the blue eyes that gazed into her own before she let Minto's wrist go sharply and sat back against the head board again, folding her arms.
"Sometimes, I wonder how it's possible that you're even more stupid than Ichigo."
Author's Notes: I really, really didn't intend for this to be multi-chaptered but a recent fight with my girlfriend left in the mood to write angst. The second chapter of Shine, which I positively didn't intend to finish, is also an example of that.
Anyway, this is a side story to my Tokyo Mew Mew story arc which for the most part details the ups and downs of Minto's and Zakuro's relationship. Yes, I changed how I writing their names, I don't know why, this way just seems better at this point.
Snow Kiss, which is the first ending to the D.Gray-Man anime is by Nirgilis and it just seemed to fit. It'll be the first one in this series that doesn't have a French or Italian name and if I continue it after La Dolce Vita is done, will be the only one.
Obviously, this takes place before A La Fresco and if you'll remember, it's been a slight crossover with Gravitation from the beginning, which is where the parts about Aizawa Taki, N-G and Bad Luck come in.