CHAPTER ONE: One Tough Night
"This is what it feels like, little girl! To get stepped on, to want to be accepted, but you never will be!"
Zakuro bolted upward in her bed, sweating from her nightmare. She reached one hand to rub the sweat off of her forehead. Her purple bangs stuck to her forehead from the sweat. "That's lovely," she breathed the words to herself and pushed the covers off of her slender body. One step at a time she made her way to the bathroom to wash the sweat away.
Her hand reached for the light switch and turned the
lights on. Her appearance in the mirror seemed weak. Zakuro gently
placed a hand on her cheek, feeling her smooth, pale skin. She just
didn't seem the person that she was before.
"Zakuro, who are
you turning into?" she thought to herself and sighed deeply. She
turned on the water and let it run a bit; she felt herself growing
weaker with each day. Zakuro knew that she would need training in
order to recover from her injuries and regain her power.
A thought popped up in Zakuro's head: I need to check on my injuries. Carefully she lifted her white tank top and revealed a bandage wrapped around her waist. Slowly, Zakuro unraveled the bandage and revealed a massive wound that she received from one of her recent battles. Suddenly Zakuro fell to her knees, clenching her side. "Damn you, the one who did this to me…"
With the water still running, Zakuro collapsed completely and crashed to the floor, limp and helpless. A few moments later she awoke and chuckled lightly to herself, remembering what Ichigo had told her when she was in the hospital: "Zakuro…be strong, for the Mew Mews. They look up to you… be strong." Zakuro remembered the tears that flowed down Ichigo's light pink cheeks, and how the Mew Mew leader bolted out of the hospital room, afraid to show any weakness in front of the oldest and most respected Mew Mew.
Zakuro reached her hands under the water and let it collect in her palms. The water felt cool and refreshing against her forehead. Tiny drops of water rolled down her face before she wiped them off with a towel and slowly advanced back to her comfortable bed.
"Zakuro, be strong…" With those words echoing in her mind, Zakuro fell asleep and hoped for reassuring dreams, something to tell her that she would recover soon.
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THE NEXT DAY
The aching pain in Zakuro's side awoke her. She lay on her side, struggling to fight the pain and praying that it would lessen soon. The stinging sensation seemed like it would last forever.
At last, the pain ceased, and Zakuro continued to lie on her side, her body trembling. Those shocking waves of pain have occurred at least once a day the past week and Zakuro couldn't do anything else but bear through them and hope that one day her injuries would completely heal. All Zakuro wanted was that she could go back to fighting with the Mew Mews again.
Zakuro gathered her strength and decided to finally get up and start getting ready to go to Café Mew Mew to start her working shift. Even though she couldn't fight and had random waves of intense pains to worry about, the eldest Mew Mew tried her best to help out the Mew Mew project, which meant working daily shifts. The other Mew Mews felt reluctant to let Zakuro push herself, but Zakuro insisted on helping out as much as she could. The Mew Mews knew well that Zakuro could be stubborn if she wanted, so they decided not to press on and let her do what she wanted.
Zakuro dressed up in her uniform and wore a coat over her outfit. Zakuro stuffed her hands in her pockets to hide them from the harsh winter weather and began her slow-paced walk to Café Mew Mew. Zakuro glanced over her shoulder once she was farther along the sidewalk and saw her mansion standing proudly. She smiled when she remembered all of the great memories that happened there: inviting the Mew Mews for dinner, and sometimes watching movies with them, having small parties and get-togethers. Zakuro shook her head and concentrated on the present once more.
Zakuro's relaxing walk turned out to be nicer than she expected. The calm wind blew her hair across her face. Birds called out their songs to one another, and the light gray clouds ran from one side of the sky to the other, showing signs of possible rain. Zakuro adored this weather; somehow, it made her feel like her worries would be washed away by the rain. Zakuro looked up at the gray sky and felt a raindrop on her nose. Another one landed on her cheek, and the rain slowly increased.
By the time Zakuro reached the Café, her coat was drenched, but luckily, her uniform was slightly damp. Zakuro hung her coat on the rack by the entrance doors of the Café.
"Hey, Zakuro," Ichigo greeted her cheerfully. Zakuro nodded to her and Ichigo ran over to where Zakuro was standing. "How are your injuries healing?"
"Hm," Zakuro grunted in response and shrugged. "They're okay, I guess."
Ichigo's dark pink eyes seemed to dance with glee all the time. Zakuro envied her slightly for being so happy all the time. She shook the thoughts off and decided to finally get to work and hopefully forget about the rough night she had.
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Hooray, chapter one up! I tried to put this up fast (I mean, who wants to look at only an introduction?) and I'm sorry if it seems short; I tried my best. n.n Please read and review and I promise that a good story is on your way! c:
Mew Khitty-