Me: I think there's a ghost following me! First, sometimes when I'm alone I hear these weird noises, like water running or footsteps when I'm completely alone, and then, today, I glanced over my shoulder and thought I saw someone, but when I looked back there was no one there! *shivers*
Kish: I think you're just paranoid.
Me: That is true but still! It's creepy! Oh yeah! To try and get the ghost thing off my mind, I have a question! Would someone mind helping me decide what I should do as far as the Chimera Animas? I'm not sure if I should have new aliens, the Saint Rose Crusaders came back, or what. I also thought about bringing Ringo in and making it that Gato had come back...but I don't know! So, I would like some oppinions if it's okay. Anyway, on with the story!
Disclaimer: StrawberryKousagi does not own Tokyo Mew Mew nor anything related to it.
"Talking..." "Thinking..."
Kish was sitting on the roof of a skyscraper, staring out at the city, all the bright lights and people walking around, it was night by now and he couldn't contain it anymore.
"Yes!" He shouted, punching the air, he had planned on him being the one to ask her out first, but she had beat him to it, either way it was still a date. He heard snickering from somewhere behind him and turned to see who it was.
"What's up with you?" Tart asked, "Ichigo ask you out or something?"
"As a matter of fact, she did." Kish said smugly.
Tart looked surprised, "Really?"
"Yeah, to Mint's party." Kish said.
"You know you keep saying her name wrong, right?" Tart said.
Kish shrugged, "So?"
Tart sighed, "Well, anyway, Pai said you have to come back to the ship now, it's getting late and he doesn't want you out past ten."
Kish chuckled softly, "He sounds like Dad."
Tart smirked, "Yeah, he does."
The next day, after school and part-time jobs…
Ichigo had just now finished the picture she'd been drawing of the girl with wings and was putting it up in the window like the store's manager had told her to do before her shift ended.
"Hey." A voice said from behind her.
She looked over her shoulder and saw it was the blond guy from Café Mew Mew, "Oh, hey," She hopped down from the ladder she'd been standing on, "What's up? Uh…Ryou, right?"
"Yeah," He said, "I was just passing by and saw you, thought I'd say hi."
"Oh, well, hi." Ichigo said.
"You seem to be coming by the café more than usual lately." Ryou said, "Not that I mind it."
As Ichigo folded to ladder, she said; "Yeah, I guess so, I was planning on going over today to."
"What for?" Ryou asked, "I mean, obviously to see your friends, but it's like ever since Kish came, you've been around more."
Ichigo stopped, still holding the ladder, "Really?" Ryou nodded. "Huh. Well, I do have to give him back his jacket."
Ryou raised an eyebrow, "What jacket?"
"He let me borrow his jacket," Ichigo said, blushing, "When we went to this coffee shop yesterday because it was raining."
"What were you doing with Kish?" Ryou asked.
"We were just-" Ichigo stopped short, turning to the blond, "Do you have a problem with me being with Kish?" She held the ladder with one hand and placed the other on her hip.
"N- well, maybe you should ask Berry about him." With that, Ryou walked away, leaving behind a rather confused Ichigo.
---
"RIBBON…MINT ECHO!"
"RIBBON…PUDDING RING INFERNO!"
"RIBBON…ZAKURO SPEAR!"
"RIBBON…LOVEBERRY CHECK!"
"RIBBON…LETTUCE RUSH!"
With all five attacks, the Chimera Anima was destroyed.
Minto panted, "That was the third time this week we've had to fight these things!"
"You're right." Zakuro said.
"Is it just me, or are these things getting harder and harder to beat?" Berry asked.
"Berry-oneechan is right, na no da!" Purin exclaimed, "They are getting harder!"
Minto sighed, "This is to weird! But whatever, let's head back to the café, Ryou's waiting for us." The girls powered down and started for Café Mew Mew when Minto's cell phone rang.
She pulled the blue device out of her purse and answered, "Moshi moshi?"
"Minto! It's me, Ichigo." Minto had to admit, she was rather surprised that Ichigo still had her number.
"Ah! Ichigo, how are you?" The mews listened to what they could of the conversation, Berry being the only one really able to hear everything.
"Just fine, you?"
"Good, good."
"Hey, I was just wondering, when exactly is your parents' party?"
"Saturday, the girls are planning on meeting at the café around twelve in the afternoon; you should meet up with them, too."
"Hmm…alright, I guess I can…oh! Would Berry happen to be with you?"
"Yeah, just a sec." Minto handed the phone to Berry, "She wants to talk to you."
Berry looked a little surprised, but took it anyway, "Yeah?"
"Hi!" Ichigo's voice came through the phone.
"Hi, what's up?" Berry asked.
"Well, that blond guy –Ryou- was passing by were I work today and stopped to say hi and, well, he said some stuff…"
"What stuff?" Berry asked, sounding concerned.
"Stuff about…Kish. He said to ask you about him."
"Why?" Berry asked, the rest of the mews listened intently.
"I'm not really sure, he just seemed, I don't know, worried about me spending so much time with him."
"You were with Kish?"
"Yeah…I asked him…to Minto's party." On the other end of the line, Ichigo was blushing, just thinking about it.
"Great!" Berry said, "Good for you!"
"Thanks! But…what would I need to know about Kish? I mean, for Ryou sound kind of worried like that…"
"Um…" Berry blinked, biting her lower lip as she tried to think of something to say, "I…well, there's nothing you need to know, really, but…"
"But what?"
"It's nothing!" Berry said, "Just…don't worry about it, I'm sure it was just Ryou being protective of you! You used to be like his little sister, you know?"
Berry heard Ichigo sigh, "Yeah, I guess…well, that was it, thanks, and bye!"
"Bye!" With that, Ichigo hung up and then Berry slowly snapped the phone shut.
"What's up?" Minto asked.
"Ryou said something to Ichigo about Kish," Berry said, "And I want to know what…"
Kish was wiping down a table when Tasuku walked to him, a washcloth folded over his arm. "You look unusually happy today."
Kish chuckled, "Am I that obvious?"
"You are." Tasuku said.
"Ichigo asked me to Mint's party!" Kish said, beaming a bright smile.
"Really?" Tasuku asked. "Well, I'm actually not that surprised, Berry said she should."
Kish's face fell, "She was told to?"
"Not really," Tasuku said, "Berry only suggested it, asking you was totally up to the strawberry."
Kish smiled again, happy that it had not been because she was simply told to, but because she wanted to.
The door opened and the girls walked in. "Where's Ryou?" Berry asked immediately.
"Right here." Said blond haired boy walked out of the kitchen, "How'd it go?"
"They're getting harder to beat every time!" Minto complained.
"Can I talk to you?" Berry asked him.
"Uh, sure, I guess." Ryou said, he turned and they walked into the kitchen.
"What's up with Berry?" Tasuku asked.
Minto sighed, "I'm not sure, something about something Ryou said."
In the kitchen, Berry asked Ryou; "What'd you say to Ichigo about Kish?"
"Nothing," Ryou said.
"Well obviously it was something!" Berry said.
"I just…" Ryou sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I don't like her spending so much time with him."
"Why not?!" Berry demanded, "He's perfectly nice, and it's not like he's trying any of his old stuff!"
"You weren't even here for that!" Ryou exclaimed. Berry flinched. "Sorry." He mumbled.
"It's fine." Berry sighed, "But don't go to Ichigo and tell her things about him that she doesn't need to know."
"I know what Kish is up to." Ryou stated, "He's trying to get her memory back."
"So?" Berry said, "You know, it might be a good thing. It's not fair to us and it's definitely not fair to Ichigo! She deserves to know who she really is!"
"Berry, there is a ten percent-"
"Five percent!" Berry interrupted him, "There is a five percent chance that something will happen, Kish had Pai ran a test on his computer and that was his result."
Ryou raised an eyebrow, "And how do they know it was accurate? They didn't have her to test on."
"Neither did you!" Berry said, "All you had to go off of was a chance test!"
Ryou glared at her, "I don't approve of this."
"I don't care." Berry said. Without another word, the two each went their separate ways, Ryou to the basement and Berry to the front room.
---
It was only a few minutes later when Minto walked down the stairs to the basement and spotted Ryou sitting in his computer chair, alone.
She cleared her throat, "Um, Ichigo is here," Ryou turned his chair to look at her, "I just thought you'd like to know."
Ryou smiled at her and nodded, "Thanks."
"And also," Minto began, "What was it that you said to Ichigo? Berry said it was something about Kish?"
Ryou stood up, giving Minto a serious look, "Kish is trying to get Ichigo's memory back."
Minto took a few steps forward, "Is that…a bad thing?"
"Well, there is a chance something could happen to her," Ryou said, "A chance that I'm not willing to take."
Minto looked to the floor with a sad expression, "But…we all miss her."
"I know." Ryou said.
"Then why won't you let her remember us?!" Minto exclaimed, looking up at him. "We need Ichigo! We need our leader!"
"Berry makes a fine leader, Minto," Ryou said, "She's just as capable-"
"Berry isn't Ichigo!" Minto shouted, cutting him off. Her eyes began to water and she buried her face in her hands.
"Minto…" Ryou looked surprised, but then his expression softened and he walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her, "What's done is done, and we can't undo it."
Upstairs, in the front room, Kish and Ichigo were standing near the door while the rest of the employees had retreated to either the back hallways or the kitchen.
"Um, here." Ichigo said, blushing, as she held the pale green jacket out to him.
"Thanks." Kish took it, smiling at her.
"So, um, Minto said that everyone was going to meet here before her party and she'd have someone come pick them up," Ichigo said, "She said I should come to…are you going to?"
"I didn't know actually," Kish said, "I don't even think Minto knows I'll be there."
"Oh, well…" Ichigo adjusted her messenger bag that was hanging on her shoulder, the short, black strap suddenly feeling like it weighed a ton, though with her sketchpad and art pencils in it, it probably did. "Crap!" She squeaked when she accidently dropped it and it fell to the floor.
Immediately, both Ichigo and Kish were on the floor trying to gather everything back up.
"God, I'm such a klutz!" She thought to herself, blushing. When her hand bumped into Kish's she blushed a deeper red and pulled her hand back.
Curious as to what it was, the green haired alien picked up a piece of loose paper that had been in her sketchbook and looked at it. He smirked at it, though he didn't know what it was supposed to be exactly but Ichigo herself was in the center of the page dressed in a pink dress with a white apron and had…now this confused Kish as he looked at the people more closely, Ichigo drew cat features on herself, complete with the little bow on her tail, she was running after who he guessed was Masaya, though he was wearing a red waistcoat and a pocket watch and had white rabbit e ears, Minto was sitting on a mushroom and had wings, peeking out from behind a tree was Tart, with large ears, and Purin, with monkey features, dressed in orange shorts and yellow t-shirts. Up on one corner was Berry, with rabbit ears and a cat tail, wearing a white dress and next to her was a girl that Kish didn't recognize, but she was wearing a red dress and had a little, red bow on her head. Near Minto was Ryou with gray cat ears and a matching tail, and lastly, sitting in the grass, was Kish and Tasuku. Kish had large ears and Tasuku had rabbit ears, Kish was wearing a brown button-up vest and dark green pants and Tasuku was wearing a white button-up shirt and brown pants. How'd she know what animals everyone was and about the alien ears? There were a few people missing though, such as Zakuro, Keiichiro, Pai, and Retasu.
Ichigo snagged the picture, still blushing. "You shouldn't look at peoples' stuff without asking first."
"Sorry," Kish said, "Who're all those people?"
Ichigo looked up at him, raising an eyebrow, "You don't know what Alice in Wonderland is?" That wasn't quite what he'd been meaning but okay.
"Who in where?" Kish asked.
"Alice in Wonderland," Ichigo repeated. "A book by Luis Carrol?" Kish stared at her and shook his head slowly, not knowing what she was talking about. Ichigo sighed and stood up, putting the picture in her sketchbook and that in her bag. "Well, anyway, I guess I should get go-"
"Wait!" Kish said, she looked up at him, "Um…when's Minto's thing?"
"Her…?" Ichigo looked confused for a minute but then realization crossed her face, "Oh! You mean her parents' party? This Sunday, we're getting picked up around noon."
Kish nodded, smiling, "I'll be there then."
Ichigo smiled back. "Great! Bye."
"Bye." Kish watched as she walked out the door. Once she was gone, he looked down at his jacket; she must have worn it on her way there because it was still a little warm. He smiled at the thought and wondered if maybe it still smelled like her, but as Berry, Tasuku, Purin, and Zakuro returned to the room, he thought it best not to try finding out.
Me: To me, it seems like not that much happened in this chapter, that might be true or it might just be because I wrote it, but anyway! Sorry if Minto was a little OOC, but with Ichigo having her memory gone, everyone's going to be kind of emotional. And I'd like at least two or three reveiws for the next update please!
Tasuku: Thanks for Reading and please Reveiw!!!