Chapter Seven

In Mint's Words

Ryou sat down on a pink fluffy chair in Café Mew Mew. Where were they? Their plan should've been foolproof. There were three aliens, so three opponents, and if Masaya wanted to fight, four. If the other aliens weren't in this with Kish that meant there were just two opponents and four Mew Mews, excluding Mint, that is.

Ryou's thoughts were disturbed by Keiichiro walking in. "Whoa. What's up with you?" he asked.

"THEY'RE NOT BACK YET!" exploded Ryou, standing up and throwing his fist angrily at the pink table, then rubbing it cuz it hurt.

"Who?"

"Ichigo, Lettuce, Zakuro and Pudding! Kish kidnapped Mint and so they went to get her!" Ryou snapped.

"How long ago?"

"YESTERDAY!!!!"

Keiichiro's eyed opened wide. "Let's go," he said.

…………………………….

Mint stepped out of the bathroom and back into that pukey green room. She hated this room. She missed the Holiday Inn suite. And what sucked the most was that all her friends' efforts combined and she was still stuck here! She sighed and climbed to the top bunk, stopping on her way to glance at the bottom bunk. Four bodies were lying motionlessly there. One was blonde, one was a deep redhead, one had sea green hair and the last had purple hair.

Mint climbed the rest of the way up the ladder. She jammed her hands underneath her pillow to warm them up in the chilly room. She felt a notebook underneath.

"Ichigo Momomiya's Notebook" it said on the cover, "I will be back." Then, in a heart, it said "I Love Masaya!" Mint laughed. Ichigo wouldn't think that now. In another, bigger heart, it said "I Love Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro, Ryou and Keiichiro!" She smiled and opened the notebook to the first page.

Day 1, it said…

This is so frickin retarded! Now I have to do whatever Kish wants and call him "Master"! It's stupid! Mint, Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro did everything they could, but I don't think Kish is planning on letting me go anytime soon.

Tears leapt to Mint's eyes. She could imagine being here for a month without going insane, maybe two, but never two years! She flipped ahead to Day 34.

Day 34

My God, I can't believe I've already been here for a month. I've been really busy, that's why I have written for a week. Kish had started writing a list of things for me to do the night before. It's not just 1. Do dishes; 2. Do laundry; 3. Go back to your room, either. It's more like 1. Do dishes; 2. Do laundry; 3. Tuck me in for my nap; 4. Wake me up from my nap; 5. Take a bath using that special shampoo I bought you; 6. Dress up in that tight outfit; 7. Strip; 8. Make out with me for an hour…well, you get the point. Yeah, and that shampoo smells so gross. It's sickening! And Kish never brushes his teeth. So making out with him? Grosser than the shampoo.

My body's changing. I can tell. My hair is so gross; I only get to wash it once every couple of weeks. I look absolutely repulsive. I even found a Cheetoh in my hair the other day. Yuck.

Mint sighed and flipped further ahead.

Day 119

I think today's my birthday, but I'm not sure. I'm not even sure whether today's the one-hundred-and-nineteenth day I've been here. Well, anyways, happy birthday to me, even if it's not! I'm fifteen, I guess.

Mint kept flipping, but stopped at the last page Ichigo had written on.

Day 722

I've been here WAY too long. I need to get out. The sun burns my eyes even to see. I looked out the tiny window in my room and saw girls jumping rope. These cute guys were driving in a sweet truck. I miss everything about my old life. Dare I say it, I miss SCHOOL!!! I wish I could just leave. But since a recent break-in, Kish has locked me up. I haven't actually left my room for two weeks. Wait – yes, I did, five days ago! Kish brought me out (ok, he dragged me out) and yelled at me to make dinner for him. Well, joke's on his cuz I baked a dead rat in his sauce! Ha ha!

Later

What if I never get out of here? I'll go frickin crazy! Maybe I'll commit suicide, just to leave here. Wait, hold on. Someone's at the door. Maybe my friends came to save me. Ha ha, she laughs with false hope.

'That's where we saved her!' Mint thought. She shut the book. She jammed her hands back under the pillow, not sure what she was hoping for. She found a pen and a cherry Jolly Rancher. She popped the Jolly Rancher in her mouth after slight hesitation (how old was that thing anyways?) and wrote in caps the page after Ichigo's last entry: MINT'S JOURNAL IS FROM HERE ON! Then she began to write her own entry.

Day 3

This is Mint. I'm Ichigo's friend. Ichigo, Zakuro, Lettuce and Pudding are lying unconscious below me. Kish's fault. Don't ask.

She heard a noise and peered down to investigate, but saw nothing to wrote on.

Well, anyways, Kish locked me and the four other Mew Mews in this pukey ugly nasty icky gross dirty did I say pukey green room! I'm NOT going to be in here for 722 days like Ichigo was. I won't go out without a fight.

The noise came again, and this time Mint said, "Is someone down there?" Hey, if no one was there, she'd just be going crazy. No biggie.

"Mm…Mint?" someone said. Mint raced down the ladder to the floor and fell into tears as she saw Zakuro sitting up.

"Oh, my God!" she cried, "You're up!"

Zakuro closed her eyes and rubbed her head. "Ughhh," she said, "Where am I?"

Mint hesitated. She didn't want to tell Zakuro. But she had to, "We're kinda sorta Kish's captives. This is Ichigo's old room."

"Ah," Zakuro said. She grasped her left wrist and muttered, "Ow. My wrist really hurts," almost inaudibly. Mint gasped and noticed how her entire wrist had turned the darker shade of the walls. Kish did more damage now. He must have learned more since the last time they'd sparred.

"Will ya be OK?" Mint asked quietly.

Zakuro nodded in reply. Neither she nor Mint felt much like talking.

A knock came at the door and Mint opened it, surprised to find it unlocked. Kish walked in, smiling with concern showing in his jade eyes.

"The maid was gonna bring up dinner, but I thought I'd see how everyone is," Kish said, "You know, since I'm such a nice guy and all." He smirked, and glanced around at the two conscious captives. His gaze continued around the room but paused on the small redheaded body. A worried frown replaced his sneer.

"Everyone's fine," Mint said, stepping in the way of his view, "Now if you don't mind, we're all hungry, so could ya give us our dinner so we can have our peace?"

Kish grunted and said, "Yeah." His eyes looked apologetic. Mint felt a short pang of sorrow for him, but forgot about it as soon as she saw the weak dinner. There were three sandwiches and four bottled waters. Kish cleared his throat and said, "Sorry. The chef quit and we need to go grocery shopping. This was all we had and I'm not a great cook. Would you like to come to the dining hall to eat? Cuz, it's open if…"

"Kish!" Mint interrupted impatiently, "Haven't you done enough damage for, let's see…a lifetime?!"

"Sorry, I was just…bye." He left, shutting the door quietly and locking it.

"Sandwich a la Kish, Madame?" Mint joked.

"Why, thank you," Zakuro said, taking the sandwich.

They sat in silence for a moment. Finally, Zakuro spoke, "He really sounded sad, didn't he?"

Mint scoffed, "I don't care. He deserves it. We're locked here and it's his fault."

"Yeah, I guess."

Chew, chew. Swallow, swallow. Silence, silence.

"You didn't have to come back, you know," Mint said, sighing, "I would've been fine. This is really all fault!" She began to cry, "If you hadn't come back, it'd only be me here! You guys would be safe and…and…"

"And you wouldn't," Zakuro said, "Think of the greater good here, kid! We're together. We have each other for company, so we won't go crazy. And I saw guilt in Kish's eyes. Maybe he'll let us out."

"Yeah, maybe he'll let us out, but…" Mint said.

"But?"

"Not Ichigo. Never Ichigo."

Zakuro agreed, but the words stuck with her, echoing forever in her head.

Bwahaha! There stuck! With no way out! But wait!!!!!! More to come soon!