NYA!!!! Muahahah… I am back!!! Muahaha…
All readers: O.o What is wrong with her?!?
Me: Mauahahah… I am HYPER!!!!
Everybody else: "…"
ME: Thankies to those who reviewed!!! (for chappie 6)
Last Chapter:
4 bodies fell to the ground as they fainted from exhaustion.
Ichigo thought she saw a flicker of light before being consumed by darkness…
Chapter 7: Could it be?
Ichigo's eyes fluttered open. She stared at the ceiling. Wait… this is not my home ceiling!
She bolted upright in the bed, her sore muscles protesting.
"Wha—" Her eyes widened as she took in her surroundings. She was in Ryou Shirogane's room. On his bed.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!" She screamed. That caused Ryou to run from the bathroom, where he had been shaving. He had shaving cream on his chin, and was holding a razor.
"What's wrong?!? Is there an enemy?!" He asked.
"What's WRONG?!?!? I'm in your ROOM! And I was sleeping in it!!! On your bed!!! That's what's wrong!" Ichigo shrieked.
Ryou took a moment to absorb this. Calmly shaking his head, he said, "Well I'm sorry we didn't have enough rooms to let you all sleep in this luxurious hotel."
Ichigo fumed. "But of all places did I have to sleep in your bed?!?"
"Nothing wrong with that." Ryou calmly stated. He started to go back to the bathroom, to continue shaving. Ichigo then realized that he was wearing nothing but a towel around his slim waist. She blushed like mad and looked in another direction.
Looking at the other side of the room, her expression went like this: O.o
"RYOU SHIROGANE!" She yelled. She stared in horror at the spot next to her. There was another pillow beside hers, and it had marks of being slept on.
"YOU SLEPT HERE?!?" She pointed at the spot beside her. "NEXT TO ME?!!?"
"Well, its my room…" He started.
Ichigo fainted.
Keiichiro brewed coffee in the kitchen. Judging by the volume of Ichigo's yells, she had found out. Keiichiro sighed. He had warned Ryou, but he didn't seem to care. He took several cups of drinks and brought it to the room where Mint, Lettuce, and Pudding were sleeping. He laid it down gently on the table, and shook each of them awake.
"…" Each of them protested, but gradually got up. They sipped some coffee (tea for Minto), and were wide awake in about 2 minutes.
"Why are we here…" Minto asked. Her eyes suddenly widened. "ZAKURO-san! We didn't manage to save her…" She started to cry.
"No, no, it's fine, Minto, don't cry!" Keiichiro gestured wildly.
"Zakuro is fine."
"WE SAVED HER?!?! WHERE IS SHE!?!?" the 3 mews burst out simultaneously. Keiichiro calmed them down, and continued.
"She is fine, but still very fragile. Her body is re-adjusting to the 3-dimensional world. We must let her rest."
Ichigo woke up. Yet again, she remembered what had happened, and her body swayed, threatening to collapse again.
She still couldn't take in the fact that she had slept, for a whole night, next to Ryou.
"NYA…" She yawned wearily. Too bad that last night… last night!!!!! Zakuro!
"SHIROGANE!!!" She yelled.
"What…?" Ryou's weary reply came from the bathroom.
"Er… last night…" Ichigo started.
"Yes?"
"Well, what happened after, eh, we blacked out?" She asked.
Sighing, Ryou walked out of the bathroom. "Which part do you want to know?" He said wearily.
"Er… everything?" Ichigo said. Seeing the expression on Ryou's face, she continued, "Well… did we save Zakuro? I thought I saw something before I fainted…"
He nodded. "Yes. Zakuro got out." He hesitated, then continued. "She is still very weak… it appears that something is wrong with her… but it shouldn't be anything fatal."
"Can I see her?" Was Ichigo's question.
"I'm afraid not. She is still in a critical condition and must have rest." Ryou said.
A sigh was Ichigo's only reply.
"Now, ladies, drink up, and you have today off work." Keiichiro ushered them.
"But, how is Zakuro?" They persisted.
"She needs rest. Her body still needs to re-adjust; I told you already. You can see her in 3 hours. It should be long enough."
"Fine." With that, they gathered their things and got ready to return home. Just then, Pudding realized that they had forgotten about Ichigo.
"Where is Ichigo-san, na no da?" She asked.
"She is in another room. We couldn't fit you all in here." Keiichiro replied.
"Which room, na no da?" Pudding asked again.
"Ryou's room." Keiichiro couldn't avoid telling them. Sorry. He mentally told the couple upstairs.
"!!!!!!!!!" The 3 mews gaped at him. "You gotta be kidding…"
"No, I'm not…"
As if to prove that point, they heard Ichigo's shrieks of dismay.
"See…"
"RYOU SHIROGANE!!! DON'T EVER SLEEP ANYWHERE NEAR ME AGAIN!!!" Ichigo yelled, not caring about the double meaning in those words.
"... er… you've got today off work…" To be honest, he had enjoyed last night. Having Ichigo next to him was a great comfort. She was so warm, and cute…
"Good! Finally! A day off work!!" Ichigo got her things and ran out, muttering, "Er… thanks for bringing me back…", almost inaudible.
Ryou grinned. You're welcome, he thought. Remembering something, he followed her out, calling "Ichigo! You can come back in 3 hours to see Zakuro!"
"Okay—" Ichigo replied. She ran back home, where her parents were… still sleeping (it's Saturday!). Sneaking in, she crawled back to her bed, and pretended she had never left.
XxXxXxXxXxX 3 hours later XxXxXxXxXxX
"Mom I told you I am going to a friend's house! BYE!" Ichigo ran out of the house, towards the mew mew café. She wondered how Zakuro was doing.
She was panting hard when she got there. Minto, Pudding, and Lettuce had just arrived.
"You're here to see Zakuro-san too?" Lettuce asked.
"Y-yes…" She was still panting. "Let's… go…"
The 4 mews went together to the basement lab.
"Shirogane!" Can we see Zakuro?!" Ichigo called out to the darkness.
"Sure." The reply came from Keiichiro. He walked over. "This way."
He lead them to a room where Zakuro was resting.
"Zakuro-san!" They yelled with pure joy as they saw their comrade and friend.
"Hush." They jumped at the sound of Ryou's, who had somehow mysteriously appeared. "Not too loud."
Ichigo sat down on the edge of Zakuro's bed. "Zakuro-san…" She murmured. She looked at Keiichiro, asking, "Is she awake?"
"She woke a while ago, and is resting."
Ichigo nodded. She reached out her hand, patting Zakuro on the shoulder.
"I'm awake." Zakuro opened her sapphire eyes. "I'm fine…" She sounded tired.
The mews yelled for joy, stopping when Ryou glared at them.
"It's just… there is one thing. I… can't transform for now."
Silence greeted these words.
"Why, na no da?" Pudding asked.
"Well, my powers have been affected by the flipping of 2 and 3 dimensions, temporarily. Just like my body needs to re-adjust, my powers will take longer."
It seemed reasonable enough. After all, none of them had even been trapped in a 2-dimensional world before…
"Do you remember who the people were?" Ryou asked, straight to the point.
Zakuro looked at him. For a moment, he thought he saw a glitter of triumph in those eyes, which flashed red. Nobody else seemed to notice. The trick of the light, maybe.
"I don't really remember. After the person took me away, I blacked out, and then the next thing I knew, I was 2-D. It's not hard to know, you can feel it. Then, I saw you pour power into the plane I was in. I felt a gradual uplifting, coming into the 3-D world. It felt strange, I fainted again, and I was back here."
Everyone nodded—except Ryou, who was looking curiously at Zakuro. Piecing several ideas together, he opened his mouth to speak.
"Zakuro… can I see your mew mark?"
She looked at him again, as if weighing him with her eyes. "Okay." Lifting her shirt a little, she revealed her belly button. "It's just that… when I got slashed by the monster… it's still healing and you can't really see the mark."
True enough, the mew mark could barely be seen under her healing flesh. She covered it after a moment, and said, "Why do you ask, Shirogane?"
"Just curious." Was Ryou's curt reply.
After a few more questions, etc, Keiichiro finally ushered them out, insisting that they leave Zakuro alone. They trooped back out reluctantly.
The computer was beeping. Ryou ran over to see what the problem was. After staring at it for a moment, he said, "Keiichiro. You've gotta come look at this."
Both men looked at the computer screen for quite a while. It couldn't be…
"Too many unexpected things have been happening lately…" Ryou muttered. He turned around to face the mews.
"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked.
Ryou took a deep breath, and began. "A strong intake of power has been summoned in an area close by. A while ago, a sort of black hole appeared, and started sucking in energy. Normal people wouldn't notice it, but our sensors have come up with it."
"Is is the aliens' doing?" Lettuce asked timidly.
"No." Keiichiro intercepted. "We," He looked at Ryou, who nodded. "We think that it may be the forming of a portal."
A portal?!? The same thought rebounded in the 4 mew's minds. What??!?
"Where does the portal go to?"
"A parallel universe. We had no idea that this would happen. The chances of 2 universes actually touching are… one in a billion, or less…"
"Also… an upsurge of power similar to yours appeared…"
"How could that be!?" Ichigo exclaimed.
They ran to the place where the mass intakes of power had been recorded. Haze and smoke emerged from an abandoned underground basement.
A vaguely glowing blob of darkness swirled in the centre of the space, causing everything to whirl around it. It seemed to be sucking in everything around it, and yet not at the same time. It looked almost like an illusion.
They approached the swirling debris carefully, walking in. The mews had transformed, just in case. The swirling blob looked more menacing than ever.
Suddenly, out of the darkness, came a voice, a clear ringing tone that cut through piercingly, demandingly.
"Who tries to enter the Lynesif portal? State your names."
Out of the looming darkness, a figure appeared. The figure of a mew…
WOW! A new mew! (yes, it is a new mew…). I originally wanted to add more detail, but… I guess I'll put that in the next chapter…
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!
I suppose nothing interesting has happened so far… except for the little hints I drop here and there (do you notice them?) that may reveal what is going on…
Zakuro… she seems different, doesn't she? A new mew! Who could that be, and what was she doing at the portal?!?! So many questions that could be asked!!
So… er… if u wanna find out, stay tuned to… "A New Mission"!! Chapter 8 will be up ASAP.
