She was never the popular one… always picked on as a kid, and never loved by anyone.
But when she met them, she finally felt like she belonged. Like she had a place in the world…
"Have a nice Christmas kids1" the principal called as the hundreds of teens flooded out of the school building. Among those hundreds was but one kartami megumi. She was the last of them to stroll out of the building, along with her best friend izumi.
"Can you believe it's going to be Christmas in two days? I'm so super excited!" izumi shouted with glee. She was beautiful. with blonde hair that looked almost white, and to die for curves, kartami looked like a frump compared to her. Kartami was short with freckles, glasses, and short black hair. Though complete opposites on t he looks scale, they were like Siamese twins on the friends scale.
"geez izumi, you must be getting something awesome this year."
"Not really, im just excited about the snow, and the pretty dresses, and the mistletoes!"
"Yeah, you and Keith will be kissing all night."
"Probably! I'm just so happy we found each other! I love him so much… I hope we get married!"
They walked with the rest of the crowd as they dispersed into the direction of their homes, guided by the entire administration so there wouldn't be any squabbling between year long rivals.
"Oh shoot, stay here kartami. I left your present in my locker."
"You got me a present? Thanks a lot izu!"
kartami hugged her friend before she took off into the school. Kartami took a seat on the trimmed grass and sighed. She really loved that girl… she bowed her head in thanks for such a great friend.
Just as she was about to go look for her, kartami got a glimpse of a man in all black clothing through the schools all glass doors and her best friend pinned on the lockers with a small ribboned box in her hands. The man In black snatched it and threw it out an open window and slammed izumi into the ground. She crawled towards the door only to be pressed into it by the mans boot. She lifted her head and met kartamis horrified stare with an equally disturbed face. The violent man stuck a small black box in izumis face and slammed his thumb on a bright red button. An explosion engulfed the entire building In flame and blew out all of the windows. It rocked the ground and a wave of heat hit kartami like a freight train.
"IZUMI!"
2 days later….
The rain fell softly and fog blanketed the sky. Kartami sat quietly on a wet bench clutching the silver necklace in the ribboned box the bomb squad salvaged after the explosion. It had an African serval cat charm dangling from it. It was kartami and izumi's favorite animal. Her sudden death left kartami almost completely alone. Her parents passed away three years ago in a car accident, and her grandmother could barely do anything but use her arms.
"izumi… im so sorry.. merry Christmas…" she said solemnly, getting up from the bench and stalking off into the mist. A bright pink café illuminated the grey sky with festive lights and music. She scurried over quickly, wanting to celebrate for the lost times of her and her deceased friend.
"Welcome to café mew mew! May I take your order?" a girl in pink with her nametag reading ichigo asked.
"An eggnog please." Kartami said, smiling softly at the girl.
"okay, one moment please! In the meantime, enjoy the festivities and free karaoke!" she said before whisking off into the crowd of people.
...........0.0.0.
"Starting a new mew project I see?
"yes, and this time they wont know she was even chosen. Until the time is right. '
...........0.0
Kartami sipped on her eggnog gingerly and nibbled on a Christmas tree cookie while watching the happily drunk couples sing and dance around the room. Every so often, a couple would stop under a mistletoe and kiss sweetly, which made pictures of izumi and Keith flash across her mind.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a pink puffball chirping "alien! Alien!"
A girl In a green dress rushed over to a fire alarm and pulled the lever making the showers come to life and all the couples flee the building. Kartami cowered under a table and sank out of sight.
A blue eyed boy burst through the kitchen doors and made sure everyone was gone.
"Mew mews, do your job!"
"Mew mint!"
"Mew pudding!"
"Mew lettuce!"
"Mew zakuro!"
"Mew ichigo!"
"METAMORPHO-SIS!"
the five girls transformed in colorful light and turned out to be the infamous Tokyo mew mew. Kartami started in awe as they finished transforming. All of a sudden the air rippled a few feet above and away and above the group.
"Kisshu! How dare you ruin our fun!" ichigo yelled.
"Ribbon strawberry check!"
The green haired golden eyed alien dodged the attack hastily and disappeared next to ichigo. Coincidentally, they stood under mistletoe and it fell on the boys head.
"What's this for?" he asked, pulling on the leaves of the plant.
"it's a mistletoe! You have to kiss now!" pudding called.
"argh! Pudding be qui—"
her sentence was cut off by kisshu's busy mouth on hers. He kissed her so passionately all kartami could do was blush.
"ahem!" a red headed little boy called from above the heads of the mew and alien.
Ichigo pried kisshu's face off of hers and stumbled back.
"You pervert! Ribbon strawberry check!"
kisshu was blown backwards into the red head and past a lilac teen, who looked boredly past them.
"ugh, theres no point in this anymore. Im going home." He said, as he disappeared with an eye roll.
"Whatever. Seeya losers!" the red head shouted blowing a raspberry at the team.
Kish was still sitting on the floor. He looked curiously at all the lights and color patterns.
"And, what's all this stuff about?" he asked innocently.
"None of your business! Now get out of here! And don't ever think about kissing me again you freaky stalker pervert!" ichigo shrieked Angrily.
He looked like his feelings were hurt and he teleported away with a sad look on his face.
Kartami quickly crawled out of the back door to the café , excited at her recent discovery.
............
a few hours later, it was finally dark outside. Kartami made delicious dinner for her and her grandmother, set up a brilliant Christmas tree, and dressed her and her grandmother in matching red dresses. their Christmas their Christmas tree emitted the smell of pine amd glowed with happiness. She smiled at her work, but frowned when she thought of how excited izumi would have been for her.
"merry Christmas grandma! I love you!" kartami said, kissing her grandmas cheek. Her grandma smiled weakly and gazed at the tree lights.
" im going for a walk okay sweetie? I'll be back in about thirty minutes." Kartami declared, before giving her grandma a hug and pulling on her black sweater over her spaghetti strapped dress.
The streets glowed with activity and there luckily were plenty of open shops. She went into one, and came out with a heart shaped locket and a music box. She sat on a snowy , lighted bench next to an equally decorated oak tree. There she noticed a familiar face with his knees tucked into his chest and his arms clutching his legs.
She didn't know if it was safe to approach him, but she wasn't going to let him freeze in the snow, even if he wanted to.
"Uhm, do you need any company?" kartami asked shakily, unsure of her safety.
The boy jerked his head up and kartami noticed tears running down his pale cheeks.
"Nah, no thanks." He said coldly.
"Well, merry Christmas."
"Huh?"
"Merry Christmas?"
"…uh…"
"You don't know about…?"
"No…"
Then kartami remembered his confusion at the café. Then she remembered how mean ichigo had been to him.
"why are you crying?" she asked, pulling her arm out of her sweater and placing the empty side on kisshu. He looked at her suspiciously and shrugged out of the jacket.
"I gotta go." He said, wiping his tears away, embarrassed for being sensitive in public.
"Wait! Present!" kartami said, fishing the locket out of her pocket.
"Present? For what?"
"its Christmas." She said, putting the locket in his hand and closing his fist around it. She gave him a hug and Kish stood frozen in the same position when she gave the locket to him.
" uh, thanks."
Kartami pulled off her jacket and shoved it at kish, who was just about to run the other direction.
" you look awfully cold—no, keep it I have another one at home." She said when kish tried to shove it back.
"….uh…" was all he said. Not wanting to hurt the weird human girls feelings, he slipped the jacket on. It fit him quite well actually. And it kept his exposed stomach from freezing.
" hey wait a second! I've seen you! You were at the café!"
"darn, ya caught me!" kartami giggled. "That's why I came over. You seemed a little sad is all. Im not a mew though."
"Yeah, I know your not a mew. You didn't do anything except sit under the table staring at everyone." Kish said , rolling his eyes.
"yup, im just some weird frumpy girl with nothing unique about me. I survive."
" I think your really cute, not frumpy. The freckles are cute too." He said half laughing half in shock that a girl like her would be insecure.
" thanks! You're the first person to call me cute, other than… my friend izumi. She was killed in an explosion two days ago."
Kisshu's face fell and he looked sad all over again.
" its not your fault. A lot of things remind me of her. Like, Christmas is her favorite time of year, we both like African servals , and when I saw you and ichigo kissing , it reminded me of her and her boyfriend keith. They were really in love…"
"yeah, well ichigo hates me. Shes in love with some other chump named aoyama masaya.
I can never be with her.." he said, his voice cracking on the last words.
Kartami realized that Kish had his heart broken a lot of times, by the same ichigo.
"and that's why I hate those stupid mews! They don't understand and their always getting in the way of my plans of killing that worm and being with my kitten!" he shouted angrily, with angry tears threatening to expose his sensitivity again.
" im so sorry…" was all she got to say before she dragged him into her arms and hugged him tightly. She hugged him so hard he accidentally let a sob out. Hesitantly, he hugged her back, confused and wanting to get his hands close enough to his hair so he could yank it for sobbing in front of a human he barely knew.
" lets hope the next time I see you its hugs and kisses instead of kicking and hitting each other between you and the mews." Kartami said into his shoulder.
"pssh, your funny too." Kish sneered. Suddenly kartami felt his hands creeping down her back and extremely close to her bottom.
" gwaaah!" she screeched as she yanked away from him and smacked him in the head. He was smiling again, and she was happy for that, even if it was for the wrong reasons. She smacked him again so he wouldn't be encouraged to do it again.
"pervert!"
"heh, its nice to have a new toy. Later freckles." He said, giving her kiss on the cheek before disappearing with a laugh.
Kartami walked home, glad to have made a new friend to seal the hole where izumi had once been.
............
kartami returned home and spotted her grandmother still staring fondly at the multicolored lights.
"Tadaima!" kartami called as she handed her grandmother the music box.
They enjoyed the rest of the evening together, not knowing what was in store for them the next day.
"welcome to café mew mew—you were here yesterday!" mint exclaimed.
"yeah, I really like the treats here. Do you have any tea by chance?" kartami asked quietly.
Mint's eyes lit up and she ran into the kitchen happy to be serving someone with a taste for something other than cake.
......………...0…...0………..0.0.0.
"mint? Who are you giving this order to?" ryou asked seriously.
" just some girl with freckles and glasses."
"Ryou walked over and took the tea cup from mint and sprinkled in a pink dust.
"what are you trying to do?! Kill her?!" mint screamed.
"something like that " he said sarcastically.
...........0.0.0.
Meanwhile, pai typed hurriedly on his laptop, tart tossed a bouncy ball around, and kish sat quietly in the corner lost in thought.
"what's the rush pai?" tart asked, not taking his eyes off of his game.
"I just got readings of a DNA match up. The mews may be trying to recruit another girl."
kish looked up with a playful expression on his face.
"good, I was getting bored playing with the same people."
"this isn't a game kisshu—"
"Yeah yeah it's a mission blah blah, whatever I get it pai." He sassed as he got ready to teleport.
"And where do you think your going?"
"Probably to see that old hag—I mean, mew ichigo…" tart stammered as kish gave him a cutting glare.
"I'm going to find out who my newest toy is." Kish said as he disappeared with a devious grin.
..0……...0……..0.0.0…….0.0…...
"Here's your tea. Enjoy." Zakuro said harshly, practically dropping the tea on the table.
" uh, thanks…a lot..?" kartami said shakily, taking a nervous sip. It tasted weird, but the weirdness made it irresistible. she drank it faster and faster, ignoring the burning in her mouth. She set the empty cup on the table and wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt.
When she looked up she noticed she was the only person left in the café.
She quickly got up and scurried to the front door but skidded to a stop when she noticed that lettuce had plastered her body to the door.
" why don't you stay for a little while? She asked quietly.
"well, okay then.." kartami said with a smirk.
She took a seat next to lettuce and looked around the café.
" its really cute in here… who designed it?"
" I did." Ryou said, sitting across from lettuce and kartami.
" oh wow, you're a guy? Well, I love coming here." Kartami said politely, gazing into his eyes.
"you'll be coming a lot more often…" he said darkly as he snapped his fingers. Kartami felt a stabbing pain in her stomach and she fell over in pain.
"Aah! What did you—argh!" she screamed as she fell over on the ground with a thud.
Kartami blacked out momentarily and shuddered on the floor with fear. In the blackness of unconsciousness, she thought she noticed a catlike figure prodding towards her.
It stuck its paw on her leg, a little higher than her knee. She felt a bubbly feeling and opened her eyes sluggishly.
"urgh…what the … what did you do?!" kartami yelled angrily at ryou.
"well, you just became a mew mew. You've ingested the genes of an African serval." He said flatly, as if he's explained this hundreds of times.
"what?!" was all kartami said before her hands flew up to her head and she stroked the kitty ears that protruded from her head. Just as she was about to launch herself at ryou, she was interrupted (again) by masha squealing "alien alien!!"
"Ready to test your new abilities?" ichigo asked, winking at flustered kartami.
"No! Not at all!" she thought.
Karatami slinked into the background and eventually crouched beneath a table, hiding her large ears.
Kish, pai, and tart teleported into the café, ready for a fight.
"Alright freaks! Hand over the mew aqua and we might just kill you quickly!" tart yelled.
"except you , my kitten…"kish said, as he winked at ichigo, who in turn winced.
Pai glared at kish and summoned up a parasite, who swallowed up a passing beetle and turned it into an acid spitting monster.
"Mew mews! Metamorpho-sis!" the girls called, as they transformed energetically.
The beetle turned its wrath towards pudding and hissed at the small girl.
"yuck! It's a nasty bug! Ribbon, pudding ring inferno!" she chanted, as a bright yellow pudding trapped the monster inside.
"ribbon, strawberry surprise!" Ichigo called, as the monster disintegrated with a howl.
"What?! we lost already?!" tart whined.
Pai looked like his old self, bored and fed up with this whole Tokyo mew mew thing.
Kish just rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Whatever, I'm leaving." pai declared, and teleported out of the room.
"Bleeeh!" tart sassed as he stuck his tongue out at the group and teleported away.
"bye bye koneko Chan.." kish purred as he leaned in to ichigo and kissed her on the cheek.
"Kish!" she yelled as she swiped at him. He hopped out of the way and teleported away with a chuckle.
"Alright Na no da! Pudding cheeped as she punched a fist into the air.
"That wasn't much of a challenge…"mint sighed, sipping on a hot cup of fresh tea.
"sometimes I think they're getting more pathetic every time…" ryou said, nodding his head at mints statement.
"well, we kicked their butts anyways! Except for SOMEBODY." ichigo said, turning kartami's direction.
"what was I supposed to do?!" she hissed as she whirled around to face ichigo.
"who do you think your yelling at?! I'm the leader you know!"
"well your criticizing me because you turned me into some hybrid human, and you expect me to know how to fight?!"
"excuse ME! No one told you that you had to fight!"
"listen to what your saying! It makes no sense at all you—"
"ok ladies, settle down and why don't you have a little tea?" keichierou bargained.
" I don't want any tea! I wanna be human again!" kartami shouted as she turned and dashed towards the door.
"Kartami wait!" Lettuce called.
Kartami ignored her name for the first time in her life and walked straight through the door.
Her oversized serval ears disappeared and she plopped down on a park bench.
"so I take it you don't like it huh?" a familiar voice said.
"kish? How did you find me? And no. I don't like it."
"first of all, you and koneko Chan were arguing so loud you could hear it into the next dimension, second, it's nice to know you're the new mew instead of some girl I don't know."
"Yeah, well, just because you're my friend doesn't mean in giving you any leads on whatever you guys are fighting about."
"It's not like you know anything about it anyway." Kish said sarcastically. "And you're my friend, but you're also my new enemy."
"Yeah, that's right! If you want a fight lets go then!"
"Heh, you sure are a lot braver now than you were when you were in the café. Maybe koneko Chan was right. Maybe ryou did make a mistake."
"She said that?!"
"Oops! I wasn't supposed to tell…" Kish said deviously.
"I thought you were my friend Kish. Friends tell each other when someone says something bad about them." Kartami said quietly, leaning closer to Kish with a look of false innocence in her eyes. Kish moved uncomfortably away from her gaze and turned away from her.
"That's for you to figure out on your own freckles." He said, as he kissed her on the cheek and teleported away.
...........0.0.0.
Kartami walked into her festively lit house and threw her jacket on the couch. Her grandmother was fiddling with a Christmas ornament and shining it on her orange Christmas tree sweater.
"Hi grandma. Ready for dinner?" kartami asked, rubbing her grandmothers wrinkled forehead. Even when she was sick it never felt hot to the touch. Always cool. Kartami always thought maybe it was because of old age, but she didn't know for sure.
She wheeled her grandma into the kitchen and stopped her in front of a counter.
"today we'll be making your favorite…apple pie! We're having deserts for dinner tonight just because I feel happy. For you." She added, because she definitely wasn't happy.
They baked diligently, grandma cutting apples (while kartami carefully watched), kartami cooking and stewing and baking. They set the finished delicacy on the granite kitchen counter to cool and kartami stared fondly at it. She and her grandma had made it. She used to do things like this with izumi.
Izumi. She hadn't thought about her friend for a long time. Ever since the whole "mew"tation, (corny, I know!) Kartami didn't even have time to think of her own grades in school. Not like anyone cared. The kids and teachers at her new school were strict and hostile. She didn't have any school friends to talk to, and she sat alone at lunch, as if she had some kind of deadly disease. At her old school, before it and her bff izumi were blown up by some freaky terrorist, everyone wasn't always nice, but they didn't shoot you hot glares because you sat near them.
Kartami picked up a large knife and pressed it into the flaky crust of the pie, her mouth beginning to water as a result of the hot steam caressing her nose and tickling her nostrils with the sweet scent of apples and butter. Her grandma's eyes got all sparkly and what not and she began to feebly lick her lips.
Kartami served her grandmother and took her to her bedroom for a nap after she was finished. Kartami cut a small chunk out of the pie and got a scoop of ice cream. She sat at the doily decorated yellow dining table and just as she was about to taste, a crash resonated from the hallway in the living room. She was so surprised that she accidentally knocked her whole bowl on the floor and it shattered into pieces, pie splattering all over the bottom of the counters. She cursed quietly at the broken bowl and pulled out the golden egg shaped pendent that enabled her to transform into mew kartami.
Using catlike stealth, she peeked around the kitchen corner to see who she was about to open up a can of beat down on. When she noticed the intruder, her heart started beating so hard she though it would fly out of her chest and break through the wall.
"Argh, stupid vase…" CRASH! "Crap! Stupid other vase!" he hissed as he clumsily broke another vase he was looking inside. "Where the hell is it?!"
"Mew kartami…metamorphosis…" kartami whispered as she kissed her golden egg. A bright powder purple light engulfed kartami's body. A feeling of cool rain hitting and slipping down her skin consumed her, the smell after a storm, and the sound of pounding precipitation. After the light dimmed, kartami looked herself over. She was in a pleated purple skirt with a dark violet belt snug around her waist, and a purple zip up tube top, and instead of elastic strips holding them to her body, there were thin belts. Her boots were about ankle high, and she had purple fishnets that stopped at her shin. Just above the nets, was a mark that looked like a puddle shaped as a cat.
"OhmygoodGAWD!" she hollered as she tugged on her serval ears and fiddled with her skinny tail. Then she smacked her hands over her mouth. There was still an intruder after all. "ah forget it. He heard me." She thought.
"What are you doing here!" kartami shouted at him.
Tart whirled around and let go of a glass bowl he was looking in and it went flying across the room. it shattered epically, spraying glass shards all over the place.
"you almost took off my head you…boy!" kartami said.
"whatever stupid girl! Hand over the mew aqua and I can end this quickly!"
"Mew…what what?"
"AH-KWAH. MOO AH-KWAH." He said, over pronouncing the words.
"what in the worlds is that? Wait—is that what you guys are fighting about? Some dumb water?"
"it's not just dumb water dumb girl! Now move out of the way so I can find it!" he said as he swiftly drifted past kartami.
"oh no you don't ! You're not welcome in my house!" she yelled as she gripped his ankle and pulled downwards.
"Oof!" he cried as he hit the ground face first. A shiny crystal slid across the floor and stopped near her grandmothers door. It began to shine brilliantly and tart snapped his head up to see the gleaming jewel . "awesome!" he yelled as he snatched his leg away from kartami with a glare and picked up the jewel. "the reactor went off!"
he picked up the crystal excitedly and twisted the doorknob to kartami's grandmother's room. He was instantly yanked backwards by the pigtails protruding from his head and put into a headlock by kartami, who had at least a good foot and a half on the short boy.
"how do you keep yanking me me around like that?!" he shouted, as he struggled to get her arm from around his neck.
" your like ,what, 4''8? And 60 pounds?"
" I'm 65 pounds!" he screamed, kicking his legs in the air. "Why am I even still here? I can teleport into the room!" he said devilishly as the air began to ripple and he disappeared.