Assault

Disclaimer: I don't own Pai or anybody else from Tokyo Mew Mew

A/N: So I think I must have had a pretty high fever last night, because I was lying in bed and ideas for emo oneshots kept pouring out of me. Seriously, they would not shut up. This was in principal a good thing, because as you all know I'm insecure about my ability to write angst, misery and death, but I was thinking at the time: 'okay, brain, very good, now will you shut up and go to sleep? Please?

Anyway, this was the last one that I thought of, but it's the first one I'll write. Enjoy!

It is easy to feel a fierce, righteous hatred for the humans in the abstract, but when he gets down to individuals it becomes somewhat different. He feels an odd mix of derision and familiarity at the simplicity of their lives, the necessity of eat-sleep-feel that dogs even the most high-minded among them. These living quarters are full of well-used clutter and the evidence of routine; even the cold, echoey laboratory feels like home. The kitchen is scattered with preparations for a simple meal: pasta in the scale-pan ready for cooking, water simmering on the stove and a jar of the herb-and-oil paste which humans call pesto.

And over and among it all, the two men at work.

'Hey, Keiichiro, is it ready yet? I'm starving.'

'Don't take bits out of the pan!' a second voice scolds. The rap of a spoon across knuckles, and a yelp of protest from the man named Ryou.

'It'll be done soon, we're just waiting for this water to heat so that I can boil the…'

The dark-haired man trails off, smile slowly fading and eyes widening in horror, for the very good reason that he has just seen a tall, murderous alien step into his kitchen. Pai locks eyes with him in a long, slow gesture of acknowledgement, advancing slowly, a step at a time. The man swallows and slowly sets down his wooden spoon.

'Keiichiro?' Ryou asks. He senses the atmosphere, freezes and turns. He sees Pai, and his mouth falls open in a silent oh.

'What are you doing here?' he says loudly.

'I'm surprised you ask that question, human.' Pai pauses, savouring the next words. 'I'm here to take your lives.'

'What do you want with us?' Keiichiro asks tremulously. The edge of panic is sharp in his voice.

'I'm tired of these inconclusive battles of ours.' Pai is perfectly relaxed. The Mew Mews have left this place for their homes long ago. He has all the time in the world; more than enough time to explain himself. 'In my opinion, it is high time one side or the other made a decisive assault. As far as I can see, your fighters have little or no understanding of the technology which co-ordinates their missions. That is all controlled by you. If I can take you out of the picture, it should provide my side with a considerable advantage, don't you think?'

'What if I tell you it's not that simple?' Ryou says. It's rather pathetic, watching them cower, but the yellow-haired one has a little courage left. 'What if I tell you we're not stupid enough to take the defence of the world entirely upon ourselves; that we have associates in the government who are more than capable of filling our role? What then?'

Pai stiffens for an instant, then relaxes and smiles.

'Then it doesn't make a jot of difference, human, because I have absolutely nothing to lose by killing you.'

He summons his fan. Keiichiro recoils.

Ryou doesn't. He hurls the boiling water from the stove into Pai's face.

Pai jerks backwards with a yell. For a moment the pain is foremost in his mind, and in that moment Ryou acts.

'Keiichiro, run!' he cries.

Pai can't see, but he can hear. There are footsteps to his right, bolting out of the kitchen, and much closer at hand Shirogane Ryou is moving. Pai's ears give him a picture of the boy dashing forward and springing right at him.

Foolish.

He raises his hands, grasping for the limbs of his opponent, but his fingers close on empty air. There's nothing. And then needle-sharp points are raking across his face, gauging at his eyelids. Pai staggers, crying out. There's blood in his mouth, fur choking in his nose, a furious hissing and spitting coming from somewhere above him…

Somewhere in his shocked- and pain-fogged mind, information is clunking together to make sense. DNA…transformations…a cat. A cat?

He swipes at the creature with one hand and it springs lightly away, dodging him with more agility than a human could ever hope to possess. He stumbles upright and cracks his eyes open. His vision is blurry and stung with tears; he knows he's lucky to be able to see at all. His eyes scour the room for a moment, and then he spots a fluffy grey tail sliding out of sight beneath the workbench.

Pai curses. He had thought this would be an easy hit, but already the two men have succeeded in pulling the first, most basic and most effective trick. They've separated, and now he has to choose to go after one or the other. But which one? There's no knowing what the tall one may be doing, but if he leaves this room it will be an easy matter for the cat to slip away…

He stares at the unit the cat has disappeared under. He can't teleport into space already occupied by a solid object; a creature this small could play hide-and-seek with him for hours. The other one, then. There's a heartbeat in the basement. Pai turns and descends the stairs.

Keiichiro is bent over the desk, some kind of communications device in his hand, flickering panicked glances between his work and the door as Pai's shadow fills the frame.

'Girls, girls, are you receiving me?' he gabbles. 'We're being attacked at café, repeat, attack at Café Mew Mew, quick, meet up, don't come al –'

Pai clamps an arm around his neck from behind and jerks backwards. There's a snapping sound, and the receiver drops from Keiichiro's hand, clatters off the desk and dangles, bouncing on its curling flex. His head lolls back against Pai's shoulder. Pai thrusts the corpse away from him, turns and begins to climb back up the stairs.

He's moving more slowly now, because he knows he's failed. He believes what the yellow-haired male said about backup in the government; now that he thinks about it, it makes sense. Destroying the Mews' central control won't have the decisive effect he'd hoped; he's broken their comfortable camaraderie, perhaps. Nothing more. He didn't even manage to stop Keiichiro's message from going through. And now the Mews will be shocked. Angry. They'll come screaming for revenge…

And that damned cat. He wishes he could settle things with Shirogane, who is responsible for outwitting him, but in that shape he could have fled over the rooftops or into the gutter or down any one of a dozen streets, vanishing into the anonymity of the humans' teaming city like a needle into a haystack.

Stop, Pai! he orders himself, halting in the centre of the kitchen. Think! Use your head! You can easily find out whether or not he's still here!

He closes his eyes, bows his head and listens.

And there it is. A flurry of terrified heartbeats. Lungs pumping the air in and out. He fancies he can even hear the hairs standing up on the back of its neck as it realises he's heard it.

Pai grins, purpose flooding his limbs once more. At least he can finish this. Provided, of course, that he can catch the cat before the Mew Mews get here…

What he doesn't know, and Ryou does, is that the transformation can only last for ten minutes before it becomes permanent. And in the glaze of fear, Ryou wouldn't be surprised if he's missed a few minutes. Probably he's still well under the limit, but now he finds that he favours facing the danger like a man. Better than being stuck as a cowardly kitten for life, anyway.

Pai turns in time to see the shape of a human blooming up in the doorway between the kitchen and the café. He's surprised. So easy? The Mew leader's cerulean gaze meets his, his golden hair falls forward into his eyes…Pai flies at him like an arrow from a bow, knocking him through the doorway and pinning him against the rose-pained wall.

'Bastard!' Ryou is screaming, landing kicks that Pai barely feels. 'Monster! Murderer –'

'Silence!' Pai jerks him away from the wall and slams him back into it with all the strength in his body. Ryou's head snaps backwards into the brick, and there's a cracking sound, as though of ribs stressed to breaking point. 'You dare to throw your pitiful insults at me? You imagine that you know what true hatred is? Taker! Destroyer!'

'Murderer!' Ryou howls, thrashing so hard that for a moment Pai almost loses his grip. 'You killed Keiichiro!'

'One less human scum –'

'Your kind killed my parents! You've killed my whole family! Murderer!'

Pai stops at this. Ryou, sensing the change, grows still and meets his eyes. Briefly Pai wonders what he must look like, his face burned and scratched and smeared with blood and hate. Living in the bitter climate of his home planet, he's witnessed his share of death. He's seen families decimated by famine and disease, and he knows that the pain of hunger and cold is nothing to the pain of loss.

He hadn't expected to feel pity for this human, but he does.

'Shirogane-san! Akasaka-san! Where are you?'

Pai sighs. The Mew Mews are here. He'll have to get out fast; there's no way he can fight all five of them on his own. He lets go of Shirogane's collar and arm, and the boy crumples to the floor at his feet, clutching at his chest, his face contorted with pain. Pai takes a step back. He doesn't know where it's coming from and nor can he explain the logic behind it, but it's a merciful impulse and it makes him feel marginally better.

He teleports just as Ichigo reaches the door.

Ryou lies where he has fallen, listening to the sound of the girls moving around outside. He doesn't doubt that Keiichiro is dead, even though he hasn't seen it with his own eyes. There's no way the alien will have left him alive. He isn't even sure why he's alive himself.

It's too hard to think about. Instead he focuses on the sound of the Mews' approach: the thud of the locked door being kicked down, the clatter of their booted feet on the polished café floor as they come tumbling in and spread out to search, their high, girlish voices calling his name.

'Shirogane-san? Shirogane-san?'

They're closer, and closer, and then suddenly they're on him, Zakuro rolling him into the recovery position and carefully feeling him for injuries, Lettuce hindering rather than helping, clutching his hand and crying all over the place, Pudding staring as though she can't quite believe what her bright young eyes are seeing.

'Minto?' he groans. 'Ichigo? Girls, girls, stay out of the –'

A scream rises from the basement.

'Too late,' he mutters, and closes his eyes.

A/N: So then Pai and Ryou had a screaming bitch-fight around the café and it was lolARIOUS.

True xxx

Ninja Izzy, reporting for duty… OH MY GOSH DO YOU REALISE WHAT SHE JUST DID? She MURDERED Akasaka-san! She killed him! And Pai was a bastard, and Ryou was mean to Lettuce in his narrative! Remind me never to get on the wrong side of True's feverish mind. Eugh… I'm tempted to say "don't review", as a revenge for killing Keiichiro-kun, but I have to admit she made a pretty good job of it. This was Dark stuff (with a capital 'D'), and very seasonal, too.

Off to scream at True some more,
Izzyxox