Chapter 2: A Funny Bit of Chemistry

Eep. I'm definitely not going to get this fic done by the deadline. I hope that doesn't disqualify me, but if it does, eh, it's my own stupid fault. Anyhow, this chapter gives a much better indication of what the fic as a whole will be like, in terms of tone and character dynamics and whatnot.

Talking with people about the first chapter, it turned out that not everyone is as familiar with A La Mode as I figured they were. The next paragraph is full of spoilers for ALM, so if you somehow want to read this fic without being spoiled (and, um, good luck with that), skip it.

Duke is the leader of the Saint Rose Crusaders, the villains of ALM. The Crusaders are a group of teenagers with various superhuman abilities who want to reshape the world in some way that's never really made clear in the canon. Duke, in an uncomfortable, awkward case of cultural appropriation on Ikumi's part, wears a KKK robe and hood—though she isn't a KKK member or even particularly racist—and throughout the series, her gender is never made explicitly clear. She's a woman in my stories because I think she looks female without her hood, but I may be incorrect. Her "real" name, Kou, is a joke: According to the dictionary I used, "Kou" is the equivalent of a Western noble, like a lord or, well, a duke. She does not have a canon real name.

Oh, and Duke and Ryou don't canonically have a past together. This story is an AU with a prequel for a reason.

"Kou... What... How did you—" Ryou shook his head, trying to clear it. No use, he was still too flustered to make sense of things. "How have you been, Kou?"

She laughed a high, clear laugh. Ryou remembered the warmth of her real laugh and shuddered.

"No one's called me Kou in a long time. I go by Duke now."

"I fail to see how that's much of a difference."

"Ah, you would. So, what've you been up to since I last saw you? Revolutionize genetics yet?"

"Nah," Ryou replied guardedly. "Just research, stuff like that. You know."

Duke's eyes hardened, and her false smile dissolved into a thin, flat line.

"Don't lie to me, Ryou. It doesn't become you. I brought you here because you're the leader of Tokyo Mew Mew. I didn't even know that you were, well, you when I asked Blue to bring you here."

"What are you doing here, Kou? And what the hell are you wearing? After the way you left, I think I deserve some answers."

Duke studied him for a moment, and then the fake smile bloomed again on her face.

"Yeah, I guess you do. You remember what happened. After—after that, I just couldn't stand being around people any more. I felt so alone... Oh, Ryou, you can't even imagine how terrible it is to be the only one of your kind in the whole world."

"You're right. I should have—"

"Don't worry about it," she said, her eyes shining and her smile bright and brittle. "It turns out I'm not the only one. I found these teenagers, who... Well, they've suffered a lot more than I have. I finally have a family, Ryou."

"I mean, I'm happy for you, but that doesn't explain why you kidnapped me. Oh, wait, pardon me," he corrected with a sarcastic quirk of his lips. "It doesn't explain why you kidnapped the leader of Tokyo Mew Mew, who just happened to be me."

"My family and I are going to change the world, and we don't want to come into conflict with your girls."

Ryou stiffened. Kidnapping didn't strike him as the best way to make this kind of negotiation. What if she hadn't known him? How would this conversation be going then?

"What do you mean, Kou?" he asked guardedly. "What exactly are you planning to do?"

"We're going to reshape this gauche world into a paradise free of prejudice. We want to make the world a better place, Ryou. And we don't want to fight Tokyo Mew Mew."

"Tokyo Mew Mew was created to protect the people of Earth. If you don't endanger them, then there shouldn't be any problem."

He smiled reassuringly. God, Kou was still beautiful. She was also the best friend he'd ever had. None of that silenced the little voice in his head that said she was dangerous, that she had indeed been dangerous even back when he'd known her in college. But no, that was stupid. Whatever was going on with Kou now—and he had no concrete evidence that anything was going on with her—they had been true friends back in the day. If she was going down a dangerous path, he could pull her back.

"Do you want to go get lunch with me tomorrow?" he asked before he could give himself time to think about it. Damn. He hadn't seen her for six years, and he was still afraid of her rejection.

"I'd like that a lot, Ryou."

"Tomorrow at one, then? We can meet in the park outside my café. Judging by how you kidnapped me, I assume you can find that, right?" he asked with a smirk.

"Sounds good."

"Oh, and Kou?"

"Yes?"

"Don't wear that robe when we go out, okay?"

She laughed. He had a feeling that everything was going to be all right.

o()o

When Ryou got back to the café after being led blindfolded out of Kou's building—secrecy, you understand—he was surprised to see the building dark and deserted. He didn't remember the power going out, but either it had happened during his scuffle with Kou's bodyguard, or something unrelated had knocked it out. Honestly, he hoped it was the former. One semi-crisis at a time was enough for him.

"Girls, are you all okay?" he called into the building's dark interior.

A scrambling sound came from the kitchen, and he tensed, half-expecting a chimera, but it was just Ichigo and Minto.

"Oh, Ryou! Thank goodness! What happened to you? We were so worried!" Ichigo babbled.

"Can you fix the power? I'm tired of dealing with this scaredy-cat," Minto chimed in.

"I'm fine," he replied, purposefully gruff. "You should have been dealing with the problems here instead of wasting time worrying about me."

Ichigo looked hurt. She was his greatest creation, not to mention a sweet little girl. He didn't want to hurt her, but at the same time, he wasn't sure of the situation with Kou quite yet. If she wasn't a threat, he didn't want to alarm the girls for nothing.

"I thought you were past the point where you had to keep secrets from us," Ichigo said sulkily.

Minto took her gently by the arm and steered her away from Ryou.

"C'mon, Ichigo. You know him. If he wants to be a jerk, he's gonna be a jerk. Don't waste your time on him."

Ichigo allowed her friend to lead her away, but Ryou could have sworn that he saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. He sighed inwardly. If he wanted her to be in fighting shape the next time a chimera showed up, he'd have to smooth things over with her somehow.

"What did you say to her?" someone asked from behind him.

When he turned, he saw Zakuro framed in the doorway, hands on her hips.

"Where were you?" he retorted, suddenly and inexplicably defensive.

"I was out looking for you," she replied, and he had no smart reply to that. "Whatever you said to Ichigo, you should go apologize. She's a good kid, and she really looks up to you. She really hates it when you're short with her."

Back when Ryou had first met Ichigo, she was like a stone cactus: dense and prickly. She never took anything he said seriously other than as a reason to snap back at him. When had that dynamic changed? He didn't particularly want to be around an Ichigo who took offense at every little thing. He nodded, though.

"You're right. I'm too hard on her."

Zakuro didn't seem to sense his inner irritation and bemusement, because she nodded and walked past him into the café. At any rate, he would probably have to talk to Ichigo at some point, if he wanted her to be of any use. But that was low on his list of priorities: First, he had to get the power back on, and then figure out what the hell to do about Kou.

Unfortunately, Ichigo found him while he was messing with the generator—which happened to be behind the wall he'd crashed into. Just his luck. Not for the first time, Ryou wished he could connect the place to the municipal electrical grid, but for such a little building, the café and labs used a lot of electricity, and he didn't want anyone at the electrical company getting suspicious.

"What do you want, Ichigo?" he asked, half-hidden behind the wall. "I'm a little busy right now."

"I thought you should know we got attacked while you were gone."

She was clearly angry. He couldn't see her at the moment, but he could imagine her face flushing red with annoyance and her hands clenching at her sides. She'd saved the world, but he had to remember that she was only a child, no more than fourteen. Almost the same age he was when he first met Kou. He didn't remember ever being as immature as Ichigo could be, though.

"By a chimera? Thanks, Ichigo, but you didn't have to tell me. I trust you and the others to handle the little leftover chimeras by yourselves."

She let out a hiss of frustration.

"I don't know why I even try talking to you, sometimes..."

To Ryou's surprise, she sounded sad rather than angry. He missed her irritation. At least he knew how to deal with that.

"Did I misunderstand you? Calm down and tell me what happened."

Of course, she was already calm. But he didn't have an "Ichigo is depressed" script, so he had to make due with his old "Ichigo is irritated" one. Perhaps this had started happening when Aoyama left for England. Ryou didn't know for sure if Ichigo acted like this with her boyfriend, but just in case, he wished Aoyama would hurry up and come back. Ryou wasn't equipped to deal with this.

"Fine, but only because it's important. We were fighting a regular Chimera, but then this weird guy showed up."

"Weird guy?" Ryou pulled himself out of the wall, suddenly taking this very seriously indeed. "Do you mean it was another alien?"

"No, he looked human, but he was wearing these crazy fancy clothes and he... Mind controlled us, I guess. I don't really remember, but Purin says we were totally under his control."

The bottom dropped out of Ryou's world.

"Then you girls need to stay on high alert," he said, trying to sound authoritative even though the room was spinning. "I'll try to find out everything I can on this new threat, but until we know for sure what's going on, you all should be on your guard. And Ichigo... I'm sorry I was so snippy."

Ryou felt nauseous, but he didn't let himself fall back against the wall until Ichigo left. He tried to tell himself not to jump to conclusions—after all, this might have been a completely unrelated event. But he was a scientist above all, and the likelihood of two separate well-dressed psychics suddenly taking an interest in his girls was improbable, to say the least.

He slid down the wall and sat on the floor, taking large gulps of air that seemed thinner than it had five minutes ago. Willing himself not to throw up, he decided that whatever was going on, he would find out the truth tomorrow at lunch.