Author's Note: To explain "introducing" Ringo, I mean that it's the first time I've used her(or Berry and Tasuku for that matter) in one of my TMM fics. Now, I don't know her whole story- 'cept that she's the red Mew Mew and she's from the video game- so don't judge. If anyone actually knows her story, what animal she's fused with, and if she has a love interest, please tell me. I'll also be introducing two new Mews of my own creation: a Red Panda and a Grevy's Zebra. (I honestly don't know how to pronounce Grevy, so don't ask.)

The girl's name fused with the Red Panda is Sakura Nahoko. She has green eyes and tan skin(not so much tan like Momo Adachi on Peach Girl, for those who are unfamiliar with the show). Her hair is a light red pixie cut(similar to Haruhi Fujioka from ouran High School Host Club, for those who don't know, except it's styled the same way as Rika from Higurashi- I know some people don't know this show very well). (No boy interest.)

Momoko Ayame is the name of the girl fused with the Grevy's Zebra. Her hair is chin length and is white with black streaks. She has no bangs and no part in her hair, so it just smoothes back(kinda like Yolei from Digimon(season 2)- and everyone should know that one). Her eyes are a very dark brown; alomst black. Her skin is very pale(the healthy kind of pale, of course), so she gets sunburns easily. (Could care less about a boy interest.)

Okay, so now that I've got all that covered, here are the ages for everyone: Ichigo and Mint are 15(Masaya and Ichigo are the same age, so he's also 15), Lettuce is 16, Pudding and Tart are 11, Zakuro and Momoko are 17, Berry and Tasuku are 14, Ringo and Sakura are 13, Ryou is 18, Keiichiro is 24, Kish is between 15-16, and Pie is between 17-18. Whew! That was a lot to type! Dang...

[The Real] Summary: Ryou has always loved Ichigo, but never said anything. She's always thought she hated him because he was a "jerk". What happens when Masaya starts acting weird(as if that's not normal), Ryou's actually being nice and helpful(to Ichigo), two new Mews come onto the scene, and everyone finds out that Lettuce has a HUGE secret about a whole other life they don't know about? Evidently, you get this very long story.

Well, that's enough outta me! I hope you enjoy the story and the conversation at the end of this chapter! R&R! Thank you! ^^

Ichigo and Ryou

(a TMM fanfic)

Chapter 1

He's always loved her. Ever since that fateful day when he saved her from that rat Chirema Anima, he has loved her and wanted nothing more than to be close to her- except maybe her boyfriend, but he wasn't that greedy. The other Mews, Keiichiro, and Tasuku could tell he had deep feelings for her and wished he'd just tell her already. Sure, he didn't accept the feelings at first, but the more the feelings grew, the more he couldn't take it and succumbed to the feelings. There were only two problems: 1.) He always picked on her, making her "hate" him. 2.) She had a boyfriend.

She never really knew about her feelings for her blonde, blue-eyed boss. Everyone at the café seemed to think she liked him, but she would always ignore them and deny any voices in her head that told her they were right. Sure, he was extremely cute- no, scratch that; HOT- and intelligent beyond all other humans on this planet, but that didn't mean he was the nicest guy in the world, especially since he was as rich as Mint. Maybe she liked him before she and Masaya got serious, but he kept proving her theory of him being a pompous and arrogant jerk, which was a big turn-off to her. About the only thing that drew her to him was his eyes, his cat DNA, and the fact that he treated her differently from everyone else. She would like him if it weren't for two things: 1.) He always picked on her, making her "hate" him. 2.) She had a boyfriend.

It's a Saturday, meaning that school was over for the week. Ichigo Momomiya was exiting her new Junior High School. When Berry joined the Mews about two years ago, Ichigo had to join her other friends at the same school the new leader was going. It was hard at first, getting used to not having Moe and Miwa there to tell her how much of a freak she is (not that she would mind) and not seeing Masaya all the time, she almost lost it. Too bad this school was an all-girls' school. Ichigo and Berry missed their boyfriends most of the day. At least they could see them at work.

The six girls had finally arrived to Café Mew Mew to find their newest teammate, Ringo, already there. Dressed in her red waitress uniform, Ringo served the customers their tea and cakes. As soon as she heard the doors to the café open and close, she looked up and smiled at everyone.

"Hi girls!" She welcomed.

"Hey Ringo," the Mews greeted.

"How was school?" Ringo asked politely as she walked up to her colorful friends.

"Really great," Berry answered.

"We had a super cute guest speaker!" Ichigo beamed.

"I'll say. He was more attractive than Ryou," Mint agreed.

"I-I thought he was very intelligent," Lettuce added.

"He was a hunk!" Pudding squealed, jumping up and down.

"He was alright," Zakuro shrugged indifferently.

"Sounds awesome! Well, better get back to work before our bosses see us just standing here," Ringo advised.

"Oh. Heh heh. Right," Ichigo said nervously and sweat dropped, causing Mint to smirk at her and Berry to smile encouragingly to her.

After the first two months when Ichigo came back, Berry quickly got used to the bickering between her and Ryou. That's when she knew they liked each other. Ringo could tell as soon as she saw them together. Tasuku didn't get it until Berry told him, and then he saw all the signs. Lettuce was a little sad since she had a crush on Ryou. The others found it very obvious.

Now dressed in their work uniforms, the Mews got to work taking orders, serving the orders, welcoming the customers, and delivering orders door-to-door (this, obviously, would be Berry and Tasuku). Well, three of them did. Ichigo, of course, was working hard as usual: waiting on tables, getting tea for Mint every ten minutes, cleaning up Pudding's post-circus tricks, and cleaning up Lettuce's messes. Berry was working too, but got distracted by Mint who kept inviting her for 'tea time' whenever she got back for more orders. Ringo had fun watching Pudding's tricks as she carried out orders to her customers.

As expected, Mint was perched at her table in the corner and sipping at her tea. Today's select was herbal. Lettuce was nervously greeting customers and cleaning off the tables when they left, never failing to drop a plate or glass on her way to the kitchen. Pudding did her tricks and messed up every so often; either crashing into a person or wall, or losing her balance. And Zakuro, though she did do her job, kept scaring off the customers with her signature glare.

Yep, today was just a normal day at Café Mew Mew. But it seemed that the boys were late. Masaya and Tasuku hadn't shown up yet and Ichigo and Berry were worried, since they were always there on time. Then, as if on cue, Tasuku barged through the doors. But there was something wrong. His left hand was covering his left eye and it almost looked like he was crying. Everyone in the room watched him as he stormed up the stairs to the bathroom in the hallway.

Not long after this did Masaya walk casually into the pink building, smiling his usual makes-you-wanna-gag (A/N: That's what I call it.) smile. All eyes in the room turned to him, wondering what was going on. Ichigo waited two more seconds before walking up to him.

"Hi Masaya. Do you know why Tasuku just came in here the way he did?" She asked cautiously.

"Oh, he ran into something on his way here and got pretty embarrassed about it due to all the people who saw it happen," he replied calmly, still holding his smile. (A/N: LIAR!!!)

"Oh. I hope he's alright," Ichigo said sympathetically.

Berry- who overheard their conversation- piped up and offered her help. "I'll take him an ice pack." She ran to the kitchen and was running up the stairs in a flash.

Keiichiro came out of the kitchen wiping off his hands with a dish towel. "What was that about? One second, I'm minding my own business as I was putting the finishing touches on one of the cakes, and Berry frantically runs in. The next second, she's out as soon as she was in with a pack of ice."

"Masaya said that Tasuku ran into something and was embarrassed," Ichigo reported.

"What did he run into?" Keiichiro turned to Masaya for the answer, as did Ichigo and nearby eavesdropping ears.

"He wouldn't say. I saw him like that when we met on the street," Masaya explained.

"Maybe Berry will get it out of him," Keiichiro hypothesized. "Well, enough talking. Let's get back to work."

"Okay," Ichigo and Masaya said in unison.

Everyone went back to what they were doing: serving, taking orders, performing tricks, dropping dishes, sipping tea, glaring, and eating/drinking (if you were the customers). In about twenty minutes, Berry finally came back downstairs and empty-handed. She looked horrified. The other Mews noticed this and immediately gathered around her.

"What happened? What did he say?" They asked at the same time.

"I-I'll tell you a-after work," she stammered. "We should just worry about our job for now."

How weird, Ringo mused. Tasuku's being very mysterious about this.

I get the feeling something big is going to happen, Minto contemplated.

I hope everything works out fine in the end, Lettuce thought.

Tar-Tar should work here. He would look totally cute in the waiters' uniform, like what Masaya and Tasuku wear! (A/N: You don't need to be a genius to know who this is.)

Hmm… Something's up, Zakuro suspected. I get the feeling we don't know the whole truth as to what happened to Tasuku. And I think I know who we need to talk to about this. Zakuro turned her head slightly towards Masaya.

Berry repeated 'poor Tasuku' in her head over and over again.

Something's not right, Ichigo confirmed with herself. Why does it seem like we're not getting the whole story? Masaya's acting a little… odd. His smile is distant and his eyes hold hatred. What the heck is going on? This is when something finally hit her. Hey, wait a minute… "Hey Ringo," she called. The red Mew walked over to her to see what she wanted. "Where's Ryou?" She asked uncharacteristically timidly.

"I think I saw him go downstairs to the basement just before you girls got here. I guess he had something important to research. But I thought I heard him mutter something about you, Ichigo," Ringo explained as she looked up at nothing and put a finger to her chin as if deep in thought.

This caught the wildcat's interest. "Huh? What was he saying? Do you know?"

"Um… It sounded like, 'With Ichigo's luck, she'll be late for work even if the school is in such a short distance.' I started wondering what he meant by that." Ichigo sweat dropped at this. "He must really like to pick on you because you always show up at work early- the same time as everyone else. I don't see why he would say that."

"Yeah, well, you weren't here for the first year and a half that I was. My old school was much further away and even when I left school early, I got here late. You only know the 'Ichigo Momomiya' that stands before you now."

"Oh. Okay, I guess that does explain it then. But what about the raise you always argue with him for? It seems to me like you work very hard."

"Believe me; I used to work a lot harder than this. Before you and Berry joined, I was pretty much the only one who ever did any work around here. Notice how Mint's at her table, Lettuce is dropping plates, Pudding's messing up her tricks, and Zakuro is scaring the customers? That's how it was when we were first starting. Busy days were the worst."

"But you still work so hard, even though Berry and I are helping you now."

"That's because Ryou gives me more tables to serve than you guys. Plus, I've got Mint ordering me to get her tea every ten minutes."

"Ryou really should give you a raise," Ringo commented.

Ichigo looked to her and started whimpering. "That means so much to me for you to say that, Ringo! You and Berry are definitely my favorites." She gave her apple friend a bear hug.

Ringo happily obliged the hug and patted her strawberry friend's back. "Why don't you try asking for a raise right now?" Ringo suggested as she and Ichigo parted. "You haven't asked for one in a while and if you ask real sweetly, I'm sure he'll give it to you." She smiled warmly.

"Are you crazy?! He'll just laugh at me and make some stupid joke about me like he always does." Ichigo folded her arms across her chest in a huff and pouted. "And I'm sure if that happens, it'll be the time I finally break down and lose it."

"Just try. You never know if today might be the day."

"I used to think that."

"Come on Ichigo. Aside from Pudding, you're the most positive girl I know. You have to have faith in yourself."

Ichigo thought about it for a second longer before admitting defeat. Slumping her shoulders and letting her hands fall to her sides, she said, "Okay. I'll do it."

"That's the way to go!" Ringo cheered and pumped a fist into the air. "Tell me what happens. Gotta get back to work."

"'Kay." With that, Ichigo headed to the basement where her blonde boss would surely be waiting to reject her demand.

End of Chapter 1

Me: Oh... my... GOSH! I never thought I could write conversations like that! I'm so flippin' proud of mahself! ~hugs self~

Tart: Could you be any weirder?

Pudding: Yay! I want to hug myself too! ~hugs self~

Tart: ...I'm surrounded by freaks.

Pudding: Come on, Tar-Tar! You have to hug yourself too. Mine made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!

Tart: ...Fine. ~hugs self~ There. Happy now?

Pudding: (jumping up and down with excitement)

Me: Oh, yeah. I think she's verrrrry happy. Now, if- Pudding settle down...

Pudding: (settles down and looks up at me, smiling)

Me: ...if you two wouldn't mind, will you-

Pudding: Okay!

Tart: You don't even know what she was gonna say yet.

Pudding: ~shrugs~ I had a feeling.

Tart: ...

Me: AS I was saying, if you two wouldn't mind, could you do the 'thing'?

Tart: What's the 'thing'?

Pudding: Come on, Tar-Tar! You know what the 'thing' is!

Tart: ~folds arms~ No, I don't. And stop calling me 'Tar-Tar'!!

Pudding: You big silly! (whispers in Tart's- foot-long- ear)

Tart: Oh! That 'thing'!

Pudding: Duhhh!

Tart: (puts hands on hips and turns to me with a frown) Well, why didn't you just say so?

Me: (smacks hand to forehead and shakes head) Everyone knows what the 'thing' is. I assumed you knew.

Tart: Hmph! (folds arms across chest again and turns away from me) Excuse me for not living on this planet!

Pudding: So here's the 'thing': REVIEW!!!

Me: Um... Please?

Tart: ~mumbles~ Hmph. I coulda figured out that's what she meant.

Pudding: But ya didn't!

Tart: So what? (pouts and sticks out tongue)

Me: Like we said, review please. Arigato!