TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
Well, well, it looks like Arisadonna strikes again, this time with yet another Tokyo Mew Mew fanfiction story. I know that Thirty Kisses still isn't halfway finished, but I just couldn't wait to start up my next story. Do not cry, my friends, for this doesn't mean that I'm done with Thirty Kisses, because yes, I'm still writing that one too. I just wanted to try out something new, since I haven't done so in a very long while.
This time around, I decided to take a different approach. I know I'm known for my infamous RyouxIchigo fanfiction stories, and no fear, this will also be added to that list. However, instead of only focusing on the dynamic duo, I decided, "Why not look into the lives of the other characters?" So yes, in this fanfiction story, we'll be looking into the lives of Minto, Retasu, Purin, Zakuro, Keiichiro, Masaya (hides), and some other characters you might not have even thought about. As for the aliens, hmm, we'll see.
So, furthermore, each chapter of Thirty Kisses featured lyrics from different songs and artists. I'm still doing so, except instead of numerous artists, the only artists I'm featuring is my ultimate favorite, The Beatles. Since I'm not writing this story with influence of a fanfiction challenge like Thirty Kisses, each chapter is influenced by and named after a different song by The Beatles, instead of challenge subjects. Also, the name of this story, Tomorrow Never Knows, is also a song title of The Beatles.
That's all there is to tell you, I guess. Go ahead and enjoy the chapter, okay? As always, 10+ reviews per chapter, not as payment, but as encouragement. Good reviews make me happy and make me more encouraged to write. And more encouragement means more writing and faster updates. So review, review, review!
I. TICKET TO RIDE
I think I'm gonna be sad, I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad is going away
She's got a ticket to ride, and she don't care
Ichigo Momomiya was in dire need of a vacation. And not just a casual day off, where she'd go out on the streets eating some ice cream with her perfect boyfriend or she'd sleep in bed all day like the lazy kitten she was. No, she needed an escape from this little–well, big–island of Japan and off to some far away country where she'd be miles and miles away from the one man that just loved to stomp on her every hour of the day.
Because as far as she knew, even if she was with Masaya enjoying some cookie dough ice cream, her torturous emplorer would end up appearing as if out of nowhere to tease in order to get her all steamed up. If she was drifting off in cloud nine, he'd call her right up to tell her that she needed to work some overtime to help the café out. And even if she was able to get some sleep without him on the other line of her phone, he'd appear in her dream, shouting out orders and insults in her direction.
There was no doubt about it. Ryou Shirogane was the devil.
He was an evil man whose only purpose in life was to watch as Ichigo's life crumble up bit by bit as he slowly tortured her watching her face the endless struggle day by day.
He teased her by making fun of her weight despite her weighing no more than a hundred pounds. He pretended to try to kiss her despite the fact that each and every time he ended up tricking her into almost going for it. He forced her to work more than she should have, accusing her of being lazy despite the fact that she was the only one at Café Mew Mew who did any work at all.
That man needed to suffer. How he would, Ichigo did not know, but she knew for sure, that she needed to plan her revenge on him slowly and carefully, for his downfall was now her own ultimate goal. If his purpose was to torture her, she would do nothing less than return his actions back at him. Ryou Shirogane would learn the meaning of justice. The day would come.
But, that day was not now. This day was the first day of freedom. This day was Ichigo's day of escape from the big city of Tokyo to an entire new location where she wouldn't have to worry about overtime, crashing dishes, or rude, obnoxious customers.
Ichigo was going to Las Vegas.
Of course, the only thing she wouldn't be escaping is the torture of her emplorer's presence. After all, the blond was the one who was taking her along for the vacation in the first place, along with her other partners-in-crime. As he tends to do as the most random moments, he finally gave in to all of the complaints he was receiving about working too much (although, Ichigo's complaints were the only real valid ones) and decided that they could all use a little break.
So his plan was to fly them over to Las Vegas. True, none of them were even legal for the whole ordeal of gambling and whatnot, but with Ryou's connections, anything was possible, and with no need for fake ids, they had the entire city of Las Vegas open to them.
The whole plan sounded very nice in Ichigo's head, yes, although she hated that she had to crumble down to Ryou's offerings and give in to his supposed "generosity". No, he wasn't being nice about this. Either he had something up his sleeve or he was forced into giving them a vacation.
After all, Keiichiro, his trusting sidekick, was the true kind soul of the duo, and did everything in his power to see that the girls with happy and satisfied with anything. Ryou was just a meanie who every so often would listen to Keiichiro and give in to being nice.
No, that Ryou was not a saint in her eyes, no matter what he did. However, if he was offering her a paid vacation, she'd just have to drop down her dignity for a moment and take the free offer.
As of now, her packing was done, and her mind ranting was satisfied for the moment. The next step of her first day of vacation was to head over to the place where it all happens: Café Mew Mew.
- - -
Ryou sighed, watching the chaos which filled in the large main room of his little pink café. He wasn't complaining about the current mess, for he figured the day would begin like this, considering all of his days began this way. In fact, if things were calm and peaceful right now, then that would present a problem.
No, his sigh was for different reasons. He was taking a vacation.
Sure, vacations were the bright, golden events that caused most people's eyes to sparkle, but Ryou was definitely not "most people". Well, neither were the other girls, but he was just ... well, he was Ryou.
Relaxation wasn't something he was comfortable with. True, he stressed himself out everyday with managing his own café, dealing with the havoc the girls caused, and the whole Mew Project business, but in truth, all of it was what kept him sane. If he wasn't busy with so much, he'd probably have to kill himself.
Because relaxing meant time for thinking, and thinking led to over-thinking, and then over-thinking would lead to depressing over everything that was screwed up in his life, and depressing over that would just make him go crazy. And Ryou was one who made sure that everyday he kept his cool.
"It appears everyone is almost ready," said the pony-tailed man beside him. Ah, Keiichiro. Yes, that man was one of the subjects which helped Ryou with keeping his sanity, and probably the only person who understood him, even if just a little bit.
Ryou examined the girls. Minto sat in a seat, sipping her tea, as her loyal servants came in, one by one, carrying numerous heavy bags filled with items that perhaps Minto didn't even need. Retasu, who kept dropping every one of her bags in the midst of constantly dripping over pretty much nothing, attempted to shove in her fallen items back into the suitcases. Purin attempted to sneak her monkey into her backpack, after numerously being told that monkeys wouldn't be allowed on the plane. As for Zakuro, well, she actually seemed to be ready and waiting.
"Are ... you sure about that, Keiichiro?" Ryou asked. By the looks of it, this would be taking longer than expected. At least they would be leaving on Ryou's private jet, so they wouldn't exactly have to worry about missing the plane.
Keiichiro sweatdropped, giving a sigh. "No, but do you think they'll ever really be ready?"
Well, that was true. They couldn't expect for the girls to ever be in order. They'll just have to go along with things the way they already were. Of course, something definitely was out of order right then. "Ichigo's not here," Ryou said, though he had already noticed several minutes before.
"Well, she's usually late anyhow, no? I'm sure she'll arrive in a few minutes," Keiichiro told his friend, who pretended not to be worried.
He nodded. "Right, of course."
- - -
"Excuse me!" Ichigo shouted, waving her hands in the air, as yet another taxi cab raced past her, as if they had not even noticed the young girl bouncing up and down on the sidewalk, in attempts to catch their attention.
That was probably the seventh cab to do such a thing to her. It made Ichigo wonder whether she just had bad luck with every situation that came her way or if maybe people just really didn't like her.
"So much for vacation, things still suck around here," she said to herself, putting her hands on her hips and sighing. But still, she believed that once the plane left for the Americas, everything would end up being just fine. After all, Masaya would be coming along with her.
Yes, after much begging, Ichigo finally was able to convince Ryou to allow her to take her boyfriend along in order to spend some quality time with him. She noted simply that he wouldn't be a bother, and it wasn't like Ryou didn't have the money to pay for him too. Actually, with Ichigo's constant begging and rude comments, she was pretty surprised that in the end, Ryou went along with it.
Either way, the point was, that Masaya would be coming along and all would be okay. Just as long as she managed to find someone that would stop to give her a ride over to the café. Because there was absolutely no way she would be walking over there with all of her heavy bags.
She could call Masaya, but he had no call, so really, there was nothing he would be able to do. She sighed, realizing that if no taxi cab would stop for her, she only had but one choice left in this situation.
- - -
"Now, Retasu, just make sure to be careful so that nothing falls out. I did manage to seal it up tight this time, so it should be alright, okay?" Keiichiro told her, with a smile, as he handed her the suitcase.
Retasu took it from him, bowing her head. "Y-yes, thank you very much," she stuttered, trying to smile back, but still quite nervous about the mess she was making throughout the café.
The last of the servants finally came into the café with Minto's belongings, all of which were quite exhausted from their work. Minto clapped. "Now that I know I have everything here, it's time to pack up my things into the limo. Onward, men!" She ordered, with a mischievous smile.
The men groaned, trying to indicate to Minto how tired they were, but immediately they received a glare in return, which caused they to stand up straight, beginning to grab the bags once more and racing out the door.
Ryou locked the cage with Purin's monkey inside, and looked over at the small girl. "As long as he stays in there, he can come along, alright? But he can't be running around freely, got it?"
Purin frowned. "But, but, but! He hates being locked up!"
"Either this or he stays, your choice," he told her.
She sighed, nodding. "Okay," she said, with a sad tone. However, the minute Ryou turned his back and walked away, she giggled, opening the cage, letting her monkey out, and replacing it with a stuffed one. She let the monkey go in under her shirt, popping his head out from the top. "There's no way they're keeping you in there, na no da!"
Ryou watched as the girls–besides Minto, of course, but with the help of Keiichiro–began taking their bags outside into the limo, which awaited them outside. He sighed, seeing as there was still no sign of Ichigo. Something wasn't right. After all, she, out of all of the the other girls, was looking forward to this trip more than anyone else.
Just as his mind began to wander, he heard a musical tune from his tone. He pulled it out of his pocket, flipping it open, ceasing the Beatles tune which had played. "Hello?" he answered.
There was a silence on the only line, and all he heard was an awkward sigh. "Um ... Ryou?"
He knew the voice immediately. "Where are you, Ichigo? Everyone's already carrying their things out to leave, after being here all morning, and you're the idiot who hasn't even shown up yet," he told her, in a bitter tone. Of course, he wasn't really angry, but worried being the more correct word. However, to conceal that from her, he had to pretend to be a bit bitter about the whole thing.
"Would you relax?! It's not my fault!" She shouted back at him through the phone. "Look, I need ... I was just," she kept pausing, hesitating to ask what she was preparing to ask. "Can you come get me?"
He blinked. "All the trouble to ask that?"
"Shut up!" She shouted, which caused him to smirk, despite the fact that she could not see him. He knew how much it frustrated her to stoop down and ask for his help. "Look if you don't want to help me, it's fine, I'm just saying–"
"I'll be there in a few," he told her, and clicked the off button without awaiting a response from her. Well, he was gonna get quite a lecture for that. He turned to Keiichiro. "Take the girls to the airport. I'll catch up with you later."
Keiichiro blinked. "Where are you going?"
Ryou sighed, putting on his jacket, pulling out his keys from the pocket. "To pick up a lost kitten."
- - -
Ichigo grumbled to herself, sitting on her suitcase by the sidewalk, as she waited for Ryou. Why couldn't there have been another choice other than to resort to calling him? Now this would probably end up being one of those things that he held against her for as long as he wished. This really was a sucky first day of vacation.
"No worries! Once I am on that plane, I'll be free of that jerk, and I'll just ignore him the entire time, while I'm with Masaya," Ichigo told herself outloud, just as she noticed a car approaching. She strained her eyes slightly to get a better view of the driver. Of course, it was Ryou to both her fortunate and unfortunate luck. Now she had to be stuck in a car with him for some time, but at least she was a minute closer to freedom.
Still grumbling, Ichigo stood up, as Ryou got out of the car and walked over to her. "You in need of my service today?" He asked her with a smirk, crossing his arms.
She said nothing in reply, only giving him an angry glare. She picked up her suitcase and shoved it into his arms, as she stomped over to the passenger door, opened it, and sat inside.
Ryou only shook his head and sighed. He stepped over to the trunk of the car, putting her luggage inside, wondering about how stubborn she could possibly be. He walked back to the side of the car, and sat down in the driver's seat, looking over at her. "Ichigo–"
"Nuh-uh, don't talk. Drive," she said, staring straight ahead.
He wasn't at all offended by her tone, and gave a chuckle, as he turned the car back on. "Whatever you say, Ichigo."
- - -
Keiichiro watched as the men began carrying the girls' luggage into the jet. The girls talked amongst themselves, all looking very excited about their upcoming flight. Well, except for Zakuro. She never did seem to have much of an expression on her face.
It was then that Masaya Aoyama appeared walking towards Keiichiro, carrying his luggage. He gave a smile to the man, nodding his head. "Hello, Keiichiro-san," he greeted.
Keiichiro nodded back at the boy. "It is good to see you, Masaya," he said, and sighed. "The men will carry your luggage into the plane. We're just waiting for Ryou now. He went to pick up Ichigo."
"Oh, so she isn't here yet?"
"No, not yet."
Masaya sighed, but smiled. "Well, alright. I'll wait for her then."
Keiichiro nodded and looked around, but there was still no sign of Ryou. Taking out his phone, he dialed his friend's number, and waited as it began to ring.
There was a click heard as Ryou picked up his phone. "I'm almost there. Just get everyone into the plane already. Don't make them wait," he told him immediately.
"So, Ichigo was alright?" The ponytailed man asked.
"Ichigo's ..." There was a pause, as Ryou gave a sigh. "Ichigo's being Ichigo. Everything's fine."
Keiichiro sighed in relief. "I'll prepare everyone for the flight then. I'll see you in a few minutes."
- - -
Ryou clicked off his phone, and looked over at the strawberry girl. "Now, may I ask what your problem is today?" He said, secretly quite frustrated with her silence. As nice as it was to have her being quiet for some minutes, it was actually kind of upsetting him, considering he didn't know why she was quiet.
Ichigo didn't look at him. "We are not speaking."
"Obviously we are, otherwise how would our words get across?"
She took a moment before responding. "Can't we ever get through a day without the smart remarks?"
"Can't we ever get through a day without you getting all upset over everything I do?" He asked her in return, as he drove on. But this time, she said nothing, and stared out of the side window. "Fine, don't speak then."
She groaned. "Gosh, I hate you, Ryou."
He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Ditto, Ichigo, ditto."
-End, Part I.
So what do think of this little story so far? I know, it kind of sucks. xD Err, the others are gonna be a challenge to write, cause I'm not used to writing for characters other than Ryou and Ichigo. Masaya's kind of cheap so far, too. Keiichiro's whatever. I think I'll have fun writing for Purin, though. I love hyperactive characters
Unlike Thirty Kisses, this story isn't based off a challenge, so as of now, I have no idea what I could write for upcoming chapters or even how many chapters I'll end up writing. But right now, just let me know what you think of the story so far, and ask me any questions you have about it. Also, other than RxI, I'm not sure what other pairings I'll set up here, or even if I'll set other pairings up. So, I'm setting up a poll for the next few chapters on what pairings other than RyouxIchigo, you'd like me to have on here.
So, for the part of my stories I'm known for: the cliffhanging segment! WHAT is up with Ichigo and her cold shoulder towards Ryou!? WHO thinks I'm really sucking with keeping the characters in-character!? WHY did I decide to write up yet another Tokyo Mew Mew story!? WHEN will I update the next chapter, considering I'm so darn slow with updates!? WHERE is that good old Carmen Sandiego that loves to be mentioned in everything I write!? HOW am I going to handle writing so many stories this summer!? All will be revealed–although not really–in the next chapter of ... dun dun dun! Tomorrow Never Knows!