Alright, Aster here! So, I'm publishing the first chapture of my Tokyo Mew Mew fanfiction! ~Ignites fireworks to create a glorious fanfare~

I hope everyone likes it!

Unfortunately, I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew or any of the characters other than Hakusada

/o/

Chapter 1

Coming Down Abruptly

The Saturday morning rush had ebbed away, leaving a clam within the walls of Cafe Mew Mew that all present knew would be interrupted as soon as the clock struck twelve. In preparation for the disturbance in the short lull, the waitresses and varying colored uniforms went about preparing tables, washing dishes, and sweeping the floors, aside from the one dressed in blue, who sat at a corner table, casually sipping tea. The owner of the Cafe, a blonde man called Shirogane Ryou, was leaning against the wall nearest the cash register. As he had been doing the majority of that day, he continuously glanced at the clock on the far wall, then quickly returned his attention to the work being done by the girls. He did this subtly, in order to keep anyone from noticing his persistent glances that could have been mistaken for anxiousness. No, he assured himself that it was nothing of the sort. Rather, it was anticipation. So he told himself. He denied the dull tension in his stomach.

He took another glance at the clock. Close enough to time, he decided. He pushed himself off the wall. With arms crossed, he traversed the restaurant floor. "Girls," he stated with a monotonous authority, "I'd like to see you in the kitchen. Now." He disappeared into the kitchen area on the last syllable.

The girls exchange quizzical glances. A moment of silent inquisition past between them before, with a slight shrug from their red headed leader, they dropped whatever it was they were doing. They followed the blonde man into the kitchen, where they found him leaning against the seat, speaking in hushed tones with the Cafe's chief, Akasaka Keiichiro. Upon their subsequent arrival, the conversation dropped off so that the two men could properly regard the five girls.

"What did you want to see us about, Shirogane-san?" the green haired girl with glasses, Lettuce, asked in a soft, polite tone.

Ryou and Keiichiro exchanged glances, as though asking one another who would begin this conversation. Keiichiro took point on the matter. "We have a special guest coming to live with us here at the Cafe. Ryou is picking her up at the airport this afternoon."

The vibrant yellow girl, Pudding, hopped and threw her hands up excitedly, jumping to conclusions, "A new Onee-chan?!"

This prompted the other girls to exchange surprised glances. The blue one, who had been sipping tea prior, posed the question, "Is she another Mew Mew?"

"No," Ryou bit, making the statement with an necessary amount of force but he continued on so smoothly that no one seemed to notice. "She's just a normal girl."

Sensing the silent wonder as to why a normal, everyday girl was going to be coming to live at the Mew base of operation, Keiichiro offered, helpfully. "Her name is Hakusada Yume. She and Ryou grew up together. Their families were very close."

"Yume's mother fell ill some time ago and, during that time, she contacted me and asked that we take her daughter in the event anything were to happen to her. Unfortunately, the worst has happened," Ryou continued. "As promised, we will be taking care of Yume for now on."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Zakuro put in observantly.

Ryou nodded. "I'm aware of that. That's why I don't want her to know anything about the Mew Project. The less involvement she has, the better."

"That's going to be hard secret to keep if she's living here at the Cafe, isn't it?" the red headed leader, Ichigo, pointed out.

The blonde man sighed, "Yes, Ichigo. Of course it is. If it were up to me, Yume wouldn't be coming here, but she has no where else to go."

To defuse a growing tension in the room, Keiichiro moved on to a different matter. "Whatever the case, Yume is a shy girl. We'd be greatful if you girls would be kind to her. Ichigo, she'll be going to the same school as you."

With a smirk, Ryou added, "Yeah, and it'll be your mission from now on to take care of her during school hours. I'm holding you personal responsible for her for her safety."

Ichigo flushed, her cat ears jumping to life from the top of my head. "What?!" She was going to go on about how he was not the boss of her every waking moment, but he had started walking toward the back door of the cafe.

Ryou gave a short wave over his shoulder. "Get back to work. I've got to get to the airport."

Ichigo grumbled under her breath as he left but returned to work along with the other Mews just in time for the lunch rush to come down upon them.

/o/

Yume was reluctant to release her nails from the armrest of her seat when the plane came to a full stop. The landing had left her heart pounding painfully in her chest, not that it had ever stopped pounding from the moment she had boarded the aircraft. She had never been comfortable with flying, or heights of any sort for that matter. Flying alone for the very first time had only increased her anxieties. As the other members of the flight gathered their carry on and exited the plane, she remained in her seat, waiting for a wave of dizziness and nausea to pass over her.

When it was only she and a few others left on the plane, a stewardess came over and touched the white haired girl on the shoulder. Yume jolted, startled. She glanced hurriedly over her shoulder, her wide crimson eyes taking in the smiling woman who, throughout the trip, had taken extra measures to insure that Yume didn't have too rough a trip.

"Everything alright, Sweetie?" the woman asked her, cheerfully. "I'm sure you'll feel much better once your off the plane."

The pale girl nodded stiffly. Her legs feel a bit too light, she stood a bit unsurely, using the chair for support as she tested her balance between one foot and the other. After she was certain she would not fall flat on her face, she grabbed her backpack from the shelf above her seat. Slipping it onto her shoulders, she gave the kind stewardess a grateful nod, then ushered herself off the plane and into the crowded airport.

There was an unsettling amount of people in the airport. Yume grabbed the straps of her backpack, squeezing them as she steadied herself. Breathing deeply, she made a conscious effort not to brush shoulders with anyone as she traversed the crowd to the baggage claims area. After claiming her suitcase and rolling bag, she found an alcove devoid of rushing people packed too tightly together. There, she propped her bags against the wall. She slipped her backpack off one shoulder so that she could rummage through the front most pocket. She pulled her cellphone out of the pocket and turned it on. Once it was on, she scrolled through the contact list until she found the name of the person who was supposed to be meeting her at the port. She called the number and put the phone to her ear. She counted the rings. Once...twice...

/Yume?/

"Hi, um, are you here yet?" she asked, fidgetting with one of the black ribbons that tied her hair into long, wavy tails.

/Yeah. I just got here. Where are you?/

Not quite sure where she was, exactly, Yume glanced around the expansive hallway in search of anything discernible. "There's a little convenient store across from me. It's called..." -She narrowed her eyes.- "Mochika's."

/Got it. Don't move./

Without saying any matter of goodbye, the phone gave a click to signal that the other side of the line had gone dead. Yume flinched at the abrupt hang up. Removing the phone from her ear, she looked at the screen, a digital clock and a dragonfly background staring back at her. It had been...such a long time since she and Ryou had seen each other. Unpleasant 'What If' scenarios played in her head. What if he didn't recognize her? What if it took him a long time to find her? Worst of all, what if some stranger came up to talk to her? She frowned herself, unable to push the notation to the back of her mind, where she would have preferred them to be. She snapped her phone shut and pushed it into the pocket of her dress then readjust her backpack so that its weight was distributed properly between her shoulders. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she waited, fidgeting with the edge of one of her pigtails, trying not to concentrate on unsettling 'What If's' that, she reminded herself, were highly unlikely and even if they did happen, there were easy amendments to the problem. As time wore on, she shifted between on foot to the next to animate her anxieties.

Yume was almost ready to pulled out her phone and call Ryou once again when someone called out her name. She glanced up, seeing a blonde man approaching her that looked only vaguely like the older boy she had known years ago, but the recognition traveled over her with no doubt.

"Ryou-nii-san?" she asked, looking up at him as he stopped right in front of her with his hands in his back pockets.

"Look at you," he smirked in response. Removing one hand from his pocket, he purposefully flicked her on the nose. "You've grown up. Well, at least a little bit."

Yume wrinkled her nose in response, a pout forming on her lower lip. "I've grown up quite a bit since you last saw me..." she rejected.

"Have you now? I didn't notice," he hummed.

He was making a great effort, she noticed, to act toward her the way he did when they were children. This made her feel somewhat happy, but she could sense the effort he was putting into things. It was unnatural. Neither of them knew how to approach each other. They had been in very little contact, which made communicating a bit like treading water; One had to focus with care on keeping their head comfortably above water without getting exhausted. Still, no matter how time had change them, Yume had missed her surrogate brother dearly. Ignoring his final banter, she wrapped him up in a hug around the waist.

"I missed you, Ryou-nii," she stated, softly smiling, feeling a melancholy tightness in her chest. She felt tears in her throat. Reunited with one precious person only to never see another again, but she had cried to much over that person and that person would be sad to see her so miserable. Her mother would never wish for her tears, so she refused to shed anymore, now that the funeral was over and she was set to start her new life.

There was a tension in Ryou's shoulders when she felt hugged him. He didn't seem to be expecting such an embrace, despite how "hug happy" she had been as a kid. After a moment, he relaxed and returned the gesture with a tight, one arm squeeze of his own. "I missed you too." He pulled back and, roughly, disheveled her bangs. "Come on, now. Keiichiro's waiting."

Yume huffed and brushed her fringe back into its proper place as best she could without a mirror. Ryou, before she could protest properly, had gathered up her suitcase in one hand and her rolling bag with the other.

"I-I could get those!" she insisted.

"Let's get going," Ryou pretended not to hear hear and began walking toward the exit.

Yume opened her mouth to make more of protest, but deemed doing so useless. Taking a quick glance around, she trotted to catch up with Ryou before he was swallowed up by the crowded airport.

/o/

The ride from the airport was a quiet one aside from ideal questions. How have you been? How's school? How was your flight? What have you been up to? Such questions were exchanged, awkwardly, as the two felt each other out until Ryou pulled in to the back area of a quaint Cafe. Yume, from her seat in the convertible, looked up at the structure. It was so...cute. When Ryou had told her about it, he had mentioned it was designed to be feminine in appeal, but this was not quite what she was expecting. Still staring at the building, she slipped out of the car, intent on grabbing her bags from the backseat. The blonde, however, had beat her to it. He seemed hell-bent on not allowing her to carry her own things, aside from the backpack that she had yet to take off.

He led her into the employee entrance of the establishment, managing to push the door open despite his hands being full. "Keiichiro!" he announced upon entry. "We're back."

"Welcome back!" the brunette replied, putting down the pastry bag he was using to decorate a carrot cake.

Yume was surprised to see that, unlike Ryou, Keiichiro hadn't changed much at all, though he had been a young adult when she knew him in any case. But still, she had expected something, like a change in the length of his hair or even in his gentlemanly disposition. It was, however, as though not a day had passed since she last saw him.

Keiichiro smiled at the snowy haired girl who lingered uncertainly in the doorway, glancing around as though she was looking for the exact crack in the wall where she could belong in this new place. "Yume-chan," he greeted kindly. "Look at you. You've grown into a fine young lady."

She blushed just a little bit at the complement. She went over and hugged the older man, who returned the embrace with ease, unlike Ryou. "I've missed you both so much." After everything—The funeral, strangers issuing condolences, the lonely plane ride-she was beyond comforted by being around two people who were like family to her when, days prior, she had begun to wonder if she had any left at all. It was a peace that she had been lacking in the last week.

Keiichiro held her at arms length. "And we're happy to have you here with us again," he assured her with a broad smile. "I hope the flight here wasn't too terrible for you, or have you gotten over your fear of heights?"

Yume emphatically shook her head. "I-I still don't like it at all, but there was a nice stewardess who looked out for me!"

"That's good to hear. Having to fly on your own must have been frightening." Yume couldn't help but notice that she was being regarded, in that statement, as though she were still quite small, though she was a child in Keiichiro's case, no matter how she looked at it.

Ryou placed her bags against one wall, out of the way. "Are we busy, Keiichiro?" he asked.

Keiichiro shook his head. "We had one customer, last I checked."

"I'm going to call in the girls then," he informed.

He stepped out of the kitchen area. Yume edged to Keiichiro's side, slightly behind him. It didn't take rocket science to figure out that she was about to be introduced to people whom she had never met before and that made her uneasy and nervous. She felt like shrinking into herself. Keiichiro, who must have sensed her discomfort, winked encouragingly at her as five girls entered the kitchen.

"Everyone," Ryou began, "this is the guest I was telling you about."

Keiichiro prodded Yume out from behind him. She stepped forward with her pale cheeks tinged a red a few shades lighter than her eyes and her hands folded in front of her. She hesitated, ringing them nervously, before bowing lowly. "M-My name is Hakusada Yume," she squeaked out. "Erm, please take good care of me!" Realizing how odd that must have sounded, she straightened, sinking her head into her shoulders, feeling her neck turn pink.

"Hello, Yume-chan," the red headed girl was the first to greet her. She made a gesture toward herself. "I'm Momomiya Ichigo. We'll be going to school together."

The girl with glasses chimed in next. "My name is Midorikawa Lettuce. It's very nice to meet you, Hakusada-san."

"Y-Yume, please. That is...if you don't mind," the newcomer requested. To this, she received a nod.

"I'm Pudding, na no da!" the youngest of the group announced enthusiastically, raising her hand like a pre-schooler. "Pudding-chan is happy to meet Yume-onee-chan!"

Yume blinked, surprised. "O-Onee-chan?"

"That's just what she calls all of us," the girl who wore her hair in bun stated helpfully, her tone ringing with a rich dignity. "My name is Aizawa Mint. Charmed, I'm sure."

The last and oldest of the five regarded Yume with sharp eyes for a long moment before stating her own name. Just her name. "Fujiwara Zakuro."

"Like the..." Yume almost ventured, recognizing the name as a famous model and actress, but she stopped herself. "N-No...nevermind. I'm, uh, glad to meet all of you!"

There was a rustling in the front of her backpack that made Yume tense. Then, the sound of a zipper being forced open. The next thing Yume knew, a light pink fluff ball with a red ball hanging off an antenna was circling her head. "Don't forget Shu! {Whistle, whistle} Don't forget Shu! {Whistle}" the little creature tweeted between sharp whistles.

"S-Shu!" Yume quickly snatched the tiny robot from the air. "You aren't supposed to just come out like that!"

The other girls in the room looked absolutely gobsmacked, staring at the little creature not craddled in Yume's hands, being scolded.

"T-That looks just like Ma-" Ichigo started, but when shot a deadly glare by Ryou, she stopped short. "Erm, I mean...How adorable!"

Yume was deeply flushed. She looked apologetically at Ryou and Keiichiro. Keiichiro only smiled stiffly to assure her. Ryou sighed, shaking his head in a resignation that signaled that, though undesirable, it was fine.

"You must be tired," Ryou stated, picking up her bags once again. "Why don't I show you to your room so you can get settled in before tonight?"

Yume nodded. "A-Alright. I-It was nice to meet you all." She bowed again, then followed Ryou upstairs.

He led her to a room that had her name printed with great care on a wooden plaque. He opened the door for her and set her bags down out of the way of the door. Inside, there were several unpacked boxes of things she had shipped earlier on, though clearly not all of her things had gotten here yet. The furniture in the room was clearly brand new, consisting of a canopy bed, a large dress, a desk, and a side table.

"It isn't much," Ryou informed her. "But you can decorate it however you want, make it yours."

Yume considering arguing that it was far beyond "not much," but she knew better than to argue with the older boy, so she just smiled gratefully, feeling pinpricks of tears brought on by the kindness being shown to her. "Thank you so much, Ryou. You didn't have to."

He frown at her, then ruffled her hair into such a mess that her pigtails came loose. "Don't start that," he order, pushing his hands into his pockets. "This is your home and we're your family. If you need anything, just ask. I'm going back down to help with the store. If you need anything, ring mine or Keiichiro's phone."

Yume nodded and was left alone in the strange room that was to become hers. She released Shu, allowing him to fly around the room, whistling away. She shut her door and observed the room further, eying her bags and the unopened boxes. As she considered unpacking and setting things up, she it finally dawned on her how tired she felt after such a long trip. She sat down, roughly, on her new bed, already outfitted in a light blue bed set.

She was really here. This was home now. This was...She felt a tear travel down her face. Frustrated with herself, she wiped it away, than rubbed her eyes to make sure that no more moisture could escape. No more crying, she reminded herself. No more. She would be happy. That's what her mother wanted. That's why her mother made these plans, that if she died Yume would come to live with Ryou and Keiichiro.

Sighing at herself, she laid back on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling fan, watching it rotate. It wasn't really that she was unhappy, she observed. It was just that...She had a very unhappy thing happen to her and it still weighed heavily upon her. Still...so heavy. But she was happy to be here, living with Ryou and Keiichiro, like all those years ago. She was happy for the new experiences that were coming and the change of scenery. She was glad that she was no longer spending her days in a hospital, watching her mother fade away. She had many things to be happy about and any things to be grateful for. She was happy, there was just that unhappy weight that just...hadn't been lifted yet.

One day...she decided as her consciousness faded and she was overcome by a lulling sleep.

/o/

There was an unexpected figure above Cafe Mew Mew. The green haired alien, Kisshu, hovered looking down at the pink building below, a smirk playing on his lips as he imagined his kitten's reaction to his surprise visit. Heh, he loved to see his Ichigo bristle with anger. Not only did it have a certain adorable appeal, it also gave him a tingling sense of amusement. Snickering to himself, he readied himself to teleport into the eatery but his attention was devertedby a car pulling in behind the cafe. He had seen the vehicle several times before, occupied by the creator of the Mews, Shirogane or something like that? But that wasn't the interesting part, it was the person in the passenger seat. Even from his high vantage point, he could see that it was a girl.

His curiosity peeked, he waited for Shirogane and the girl to go inside the Cafe before teleporting himself beside the kitchen window. From there, he peeked in, observing as the girl he had never seen before acted with an awkward familiarity toward the other man with a hand with the Mews. Kisshu didn't even care to try and think of his name. He could only vaguely hear what was being said behind the glass, but as the girl was shown to the Mew Mews, an already present thought crossed his mind. Could she be...another one? Why else would some girl come to the Mews' base of operation toting baggage that suggested a long stay? He could think of no other reason, even if her nervous demeanor did not in the least give him any sense of combative ability. He became sure of this idea when a puff ball very similar to Ichigo's struggled out of the girls backpack. She had be a Mew. Why else would she a robot similar to Ichigo's? Something else, however, nagged at him. From what muffled little he could hear, there was no mention of the Mew Project and when the girl's creature had appeared, why did that Shirogane shoot Ichigo such a silencing look? Pai, he was sure, would insist on more information before jumping to conclusions.

When the girl was led away, Kisshu went searching, intent on watching a bit more to see if he could catch any indication of his theory being correct. Unsure of where, exactly, she had been taken, he teleported himself from one window to the next, until he found himself outside what was, clearly, a female bedroom, peering in from only the side of the window, he could make out closed up boxes. Shirogane and the girl were conversing. Vaguely, he caught 'home' and 'family' before the white haired girl was left alone in the room, save for the fluff ball that she had released to flit around the room.

It seemed that, aside from being a Mew, there was one other plausible reason for her being there; She could be related to the blonde guy somehow. This theory was much less interesting, Kisshu thought. Still, it was something to take notice of. Whatever the case, she had a connection to the Mews. That could be used to their advantage, couldn't it?

Kisshu paused his mal-intended observing when he noticed a tear had fallen from the unfamiliar human's eye. Why, he wondered, was she crying? His brow furrowed quizzically and he narrowed his eyes, feeling a sick little tug at his chest. Why did he have the slightest notion of care? That was the better question. He didn't, he told himself. All of this observing was to decide what this girl was and how she could be used to his benefit. That was all. And that was also why, as the girl laid back on her bed and her breathing slowed to that of sleeping, he intended on getting a closer look at her.

The alien teleported himself into the room. Levitating so not to judge the volume of his foot falls, he edge closer to the sleeping girl. Suddenly, her fluffy thing was circling him, whistling sharply. "Alien! Alien! {Whistle} Ali-!"

Kisshu cursed and snatched the thing from the air, muffling it between his two hands. Annoyed, his brow twitched. He looked around the room, quickly, for somewhere to stash the alerted thing, though he sincerely contemplated smashing it. He ended up slamming it into one of the empty drawers of the dresser. He heaved a relieved sigh, only to freeze when the girl stirred. In that moment, Kisshu froze, his hand still on the handle of her dresser while he glanced over his shoulder and he didn't breathe. The girl rolled over onto her side but, to his ease, did not wake.

Aware that the robot could still be her whistling alerts, though the noise was considerably muffled by its confinement, he felt a need to tread with an excess of caution. He floated, slowly, over to her bed, there, he watched her for a moment, breathing slowly, entirely unaware of the danger in the room. It was upon the close inspection of her sleeping form that he felt something...Something familiar but unrecognizable. What, he couldn't quite say...

/o/

When Ryou returned downstairs, the girls had not gone back to work. They were still in the kitchen, waiting for him. Evident by how, as soon as he walked in, all eyes shot toward him. Keiichiro smiled apologetically. This caused the blonde to assume what the question about to be thrown at him was. Clearly, the brunette had been unable to quell their curiosity.

Ichigo, as leader or resident loudmouth—He couldn't decide which.-shot the question toward him, almost spitting it at him. "Why does she have a Masha?!" she demanded.

"You led us to believe that she didn't know anything about the Mew Mews," Mint put in, placing her hands on her hips.

Ryou sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He could feel stress tensing the muscles into knots. "She doesn't," he assured them.

"S-She doesn't..?" Lettuce asked, timidly. "But, Shirogane-san..."

Keiichiro, seeing no more reason that the truth should be kept under wraps in light of things, piped in, "Yume-chan's parents worked along side Shirogane's in creating the original Mew Project," he informed them.

"In the same Chimera Anima attack that killed my parents, Yume lost her father and developed lacunar amnesia, meaning, basically, that she forgot everything to do with the Mew Project and the accident," Ryou explained, crossing his arms as he leaned against the kitchen door frame. "After everything, Yume's mother washed her hands of the project."

"Then why...does she have a Masha?" Ichigo asked again under different syntax.

"Shu is the original "Masha," R1000, to be exact," he explained. "My father gave him to Yume as a companion when he was dubbed obsolete. He's been with her ever since, they he's not supposed to show himself the way he did today."

"If Yume-chan's parents were involved in the Mew Project, doesn't that make her being here even more dangerous?" Ichigo asked, carefully.

"Yes, very," Ryou replied, abruptly.

"We considered sending Yume-chan somewhere else," Keiichiro explained. "Specifically, to study abroad."

"But after loosing her mother, that would just be another harsh blow..." Mint observed.

Keiichiro nodded. "It's not an easy decision, but right now, Yume needs to be around people that she trusts.

/o/

Kisshu hovered cross-legged in the air, watching the human girl sleep for longer than he had originally intended as he tried to sort out what feeling looking at her was trying to pull from him. It was too vague, however. Irritatingly, he couldn't decipher what it was, but it did make him even more intrigued by the girl. Beyond the who and what she was, there was also this feeling that he couldn't put a name to. He wanted to know more. He decided, he wanted to play with her, if only as a method to tease his kitty cat.

The alien was startled from his thoughts when there was a rapping against the room door. "Yume-chan?" the devil spoke from beyond the door. His lips twitched into a smirk. "Yume?" Ichigo called again. Kisshu considered sticking around just to see the surprised look on the Koneko-chan's face when she saw him lingering in the room of this new girl, but when the door began to turn, he thought better of it. He'd wait. For now, he would tell Pai about the girl. He evaporated right as the door opened. "Yume-chan, Keiichiro thought some Chamomile tea would—Oh, oops," Ichigo stopped herself, her voice ebbing off to a whisper when she realized that the girl was asleep. "Sorry..." Ichigo back out of the room, closing the door behind her.

/o/

I appreciate you reading the first chapter! I'll be glad for any ratings, constructive criticism, opinions, or anything else you would like to tell me!

A little tidbit; I didn't give Yume a food name for a reason, which will become more apparent as the story goes on. The name, meaning 'Dream', is meant to set her apart from the other characters as well as something else but I'm not telling yet! ^ - ^

Thanks again everyone!

-Aster