Spanish Lady
Pai, nothing if not thorough, had run into something of a puzzle. While collecting data on the Mew Mew team, he had even researched the objects they used as weapons in Earth's database and, while only one of them was actually meant to be used as a weapon, all of them were reasonably appropriate concerning their purpose and the character of their bearers.
Cross: a religious symbol. Whip: an item used in former eras to punish criminals and slaves. That would certainly suit the formidable Mew Zakuro.
Arrow: a projectile weapon equipped with bird feathers to increase its speed. Swift, elegant, and sharp, just like the little lorikeet Mew. Not to be underestimated.
Tambourine: a percussion instrument. The Pudding Ring was perfect for a noisy child.
Heart. The organ pumping blood through the veins of the human body. As a symbol, it denotes love. Pai asked himself wryly if Kish knew what his 'toy's' weapon represented. The younger man would probably come up with a dozen inappropriate jokes.
But how in Deep Blue's name had Mew Lettuce wound up with a pair of castanets?
Castanets. Percussion instruments used in the Mediterranean version of the continent Europe, traditionally accompanying the flamenco dance.
The image Pai came up with on his computer was of a brown-skinned, black-haired human female, with a red rose behind her ear, her frilly skirt swirling provocatively as a pair of castanets rattled in her hands. She looked about as unlike Mew Lettuce as one could imagine.
"Darn it!"
Kish's irritable squawk made Pai close his screen automatically. He turned around to meet his comrade's scowl with one of his own.
"Let me guess – your mission was a failure."
"Oh, shut up!" Kish floated on top of one of the unbroken columns in their space and propped his chin up in his hands. "It would've worked. It should've worked. It was the fish girl, you know, the mousy one?"
"Mew Lettuce."
"Whatever. My puppetmaster Chimera had'em all tied up, right, just like five juicy flies in a spiderweb. And then what did Miss Fish Scales do? She launched a jet of water from those clacky things of hers and melted all the webs! They work as long as her fingers can move, she says. Next time I'll chop her fingers off with my swords, eh, Pai! Whaddaya say to that?"
You will do no such thing, was Pai's first thought, so vehement that it surprised even him. Why should he care? She was his enemy.
"I have a theory," he found himself saying instead.
"Another one?"
"I believe the Mew Mews' weapons reflect their characters as well as channeling their powers. Only those who are aggressive by nature – Mews Mint and Zakuro – bear overtly weaponlike objects, namely the bow and arrow and the whip. The other three, being more agreeable, bear musical instruments – or in Mew Ichigo's case, a symmetrical shape."
"I always knew my kitten was special," said Kish, smirking. I don't need you to tell me that."
What Pai did not say was that Kish's account had given him a new idea. It was completely useless as far as the war was concerned, so he would to better to keep it to himself.
They work as long as her fingers can move. Mew Lettuce did not need room to swing a whip, shoot an arrow or aim a blast of power from that heart-shaped whatever-it-was. She was a modest being whose strength showed itself in unlikely places.
And perhaps, somewhere deep inside her heart, there was a bold and beautiful dancer waiting to come out.
