10: White Noise and a Photo Display
"Morning!" Nova chirped when Ichigo and Lettuce walked through the doors of the cafe.
"Who are you and what have you done with my foul mouthed friend?" Ichigo demanded.
"I'm right here, Ichigo. Can't you see that?" Nova grinned.
"She certainly seems happy," Lettuce smiled.
"I have a killer hangover but I'm doing just fine!" the fox girl chirped. She skipped to the kitchen as Ryou and Keiichiro emerged.
"What happened to Nova?" Ichigo asked, slightly scared.
"She got drunk last night as a way to deal with the girl's death and passed out," Ryou snorted. "She just barged in here at eleven at night, screaming at the top of her lungs and waving around a bottle of booze like it was a flag!"
"Not so loud!" Nova wailed as she walked back into the room. "My head feels like it's been beaten with a frozen T-rex."
"Whose fault is that, you lush?" the blond barked. The 'lush' in question cringed and pressed a hand to her head.
"Hey, be glad I didn't kill myself because I felt so crappy about it. I could've done a lot worse things than get wasted," she retorted, dropping a stack of paper on the table before flipping through it.
"What is all that?" Lettuce asked, eyeing the paper covered table.
"Stuff," Nova grinned. "I'm almost done..."
"Done with what?" Ichigo asked.
"You'll see when we open. Just be patient," she smirked. "Any news on Berry? Dustin told me that she wasn't home when he went to check on her yesterday night..."
"I haven't seen her since we split up yesterday afternoon after the battle. Maybe she stayed with Tasuku," Lettuce said.
"Where is Dustin?" Ichigo asked choppily, scratching her cheek.
"I sent him out to get a poster board for me. I can't go out in this state," Nova replied, tapping her head.
"I'm back!" Dustin announced, waving a white square above his head. Nova clutched her head and curled up a bit. "Sorry!" he apologized in a loud whisper. "Here," he said, thwacking her head with the white board.
"Hey, what do you think?" she asked, holding up a small piece of computer paper with a pencil sketching on it. "I finally thought of a name and logo."
"'Vixen Photography'? Sounds kinda suggestive if you ask me..." Dustin mused.
"Girls, what to you think?" Nova asked.
"How cute! It's so... unlike you," Ichigo replied, eyeballing the mostly cursive lettering. The 'n' in 'vixen' was topped with fox ears and the 'y' in 'photography' ended in a bushy fox tail.
"Yeah, well, you people are rubbing off on me, with your cute cafe and your cute uniforms and your cute cuteness," Nova sneered, grimacing.
"I like it," Lettuce smiled. Nova grinned and resumed whatever she had been doing.
"Morning everyone!" Pudding cried as she, Mint and Zakuro entered the room. "What's everyone doing?"
"Wishing you'd keep it down! Haven't you ever had a hangover?" Nova growled, pressing a hand to her head again. "For your information, monkey, it's not fun the morning after you get drunk."
"Aren't you a bit young to be drinking?" Mint inquired.
"Pssht, I've been drinking since I was thirteen," Nova scoffed.
"Thirteen?" Zakuro repeated. "You don't consider that young?"
"Well, twelve turning thirteen, give or take a day or two," she shrugged.
"Why?" Pudding inquired.
"Now is not the time for idle chitchat! We must find out comrade!" Nova pounded her fit on the table. She pressed her hand to her forehead yet again and bit her lip. "Berry is missing and who knows what foul demon has taken her prisoner!"
"Are you sure you're well enough to be part of a search party?" Mint asked skeptically.
"Give me some credit, toothpaste girl," the sniffed.
"Toothpaste? What do you mean by that?' Mint demanded.
"Your name is 'Mint'. My toothpaste is mint flavored, thus making you toothpaste girl," Nova grinned. "Argue all you want; I've got all day."
"Where would we start looking?" Lettuce asked worriedly.
"We could start in Harajuku. She has to pass through there to get to her house coming from Disneyland," Ichigo suggested. "We could ask around and see if anyone's seen her."
"But wouldn't anyone who was around last night be long gone?" Zakuro replied.
"It's our only option," Dustin said firmly, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.
"Excuse me; have you seen a girl with long blond hair and brown eyes?" Lettuce asked.
"Have you seen our friend? She looks like this," Ichigo showed someone a photo of Berry.
"Did you see a girl like this last night, by any chance?" Pudding asked, mimicking Ichigo's method.
"Hey, does anyone have an icepack?" Nova parked. "My hangover's not getting any better..."
"Whose fault is that, you lush?" Ryou sniffed.
"Stop calling me a lush!" she replied hotly.
"Now, now, there's no need to bicker. We have more important things on our hands," Keiichiro said firmly, grabbing Nova's wrist and dragging her away from Ryou.
"Sorry," she mumbled, looking down at the ground. "Um, Keiichiro?" she started. "About la..."
"I know where you can find your friend," a child's voice interrupted her. They looked down to see a boy no older than eight, with pale blond hair and large green eyes. He wore black shorts and a white button-down shirt with a black collar shaped like bat wings and a small red tie. He also had a black and grey hat with small bat wings perched on top of his carefully coiffed hair.
"Really?" Nova asked, forgetting her hangover for a moment or two.
"Yeah, yeah!" he grinned. "Just listen..." he smirked.
The boy opened his mouth to speak and a horrible noise was emitted. Everyone in the immediate area reacted to the noise, clamping their hands over their ears and/or running away. Nova shrieked and held her head. The noise was earsplitting! Of all days to have a hangover... she couldn't even think, the noise was so awful.
"What is this, white noise?" Ichigo cried over the sound. No wonder Berry was missing. If that boy used this attack on her, she wouldn't stand a chance. All of a sudden the white noise stopped. Ichigo looked up to see a small orange fox biting viciously into the boy's led. He screamed in pain and tried to kick the animal away. The fox released its grip and barked at the boy, blood dripping from its teeth.
"You stupid animal!" the boy cried, clutching his leg. "How dare you bite me? I am a demon of noble blood! Scum like you is not worthy of even being near me!"
"Stop screaming, little boy," Ryou said gruffly, picking up the boy by his collar. "Where is Berry?" he demanded.
"I'll never tell a filthy human like you," the boy spat. "The deaths my father is planning for your pathetic race is far too gracious."
"You're a demon?" Lettuce asked.
"No duh, four eyes. What gave it away?" he snickered darkly.
"Ladies, I believe we have a hostage," Ryou smirked, binding and gagging the boy. He screamed in protest and tried to kick but a hand chop to the back of his neck silenced him. The blond slung the boy over his shoulder like he was a sack of potatoes.
"What good will it do now that he's unconscious?" Ichigo exclaimed. "Now we won't know where Berry is!"
Nova sniffed the air and rubbed her ears. It seemed that her hangover had disappeared when she turned into a fox. That was good, because it allowed her to focus on the issue at hand. She sniffed at the air again until she caught onto Berry's scent, a sort of mixed berry shampoo smell. She scratched Ichigo's leg, trying to get her attention. The redhead glanced down.
"What is it?" she asked. Nova barked once and took off running. "Nova, come back!" she followed the fox down the street to a hotel. "We don't have time for this! We need to find..." she paused when she saw Nova scratching at the door furiously. She looked to Ichigo once and barked, resuming her scratching. It was frustrating being so small; she couldn't do anything on her own. "You're so smart!" Ichigo cried, opening the door. Nova sniffed and rolled her eyes. Well, duh.
Ichigo picked up Nova and pushed toe door open wider. It stuck a bit because it was a side door and clearly hadn't been used in a while. It creaked as it swung open slowly and the two inched inside, wrinkling their noses at the stagnant smell hanging in the air.
"Why do the bad guys always pick run down places as hideouts?" Ichigo asked. Nova barked in agreement and leapt from Ichigo's arms. She padded to the elevator and sat down waiting for Ichigo to come. A pile of boxes fell over, making a loud and sudden noise. Ichigo yelped and a moment later a small black cat stood where she did.
"That startled me," she panted.
"Well, now we can communicate easier," Nova chuckled.
"Why are we taking the elevator? We'd need to stop at every floor so you can catch her scent," Ichigo whined.
"Well, if you wanna waste time and energy climbing who knows how many flights of stairs, be my guest," Nova replied, standing up on her hind legs and pressing the 'close door' button with her nose. She jumped and managed to hit the '2' button. The two animals switched between pressing buttons for the next floor each time one was dubbed 'clean'. On the tenth floor, they finally found something. "This way!"
The pair paused only once in their race down the hall, when Nova lost the scent for a moment.
"I can't reach the doorknob," she sighed, flicking her tail angrily.
"Kiss me, then I'll get it," Ichigo replied.
"Alright, but you'll wish you were dead if you tell anyone," Nova grumbled.
"Don't worry," Ichigo huffed. "Why aren't you back to normal? Well, we can fix that later."
Nova grunted with disdain as Ichigo picked her up and slowly reached out a hand. The doorknob was deathly cold against her skin and the creaking sound that came when the door swung open didn't make her feel any better. The air was stale and carried the scent of old age and decay, though the building itself couldn't be more than twenty years old. The windows were covered by heavy curtains that blocked all light except a small sliver from where the two pieces of fabric were drawn together, but it barely made a dent in the darkness shrouding the room. Ichigo inched slowly into the room, tightening her grip on the fox in her arms. She felt Nova tense and her tail twitched angrily. The door slammed shut suddenly, making Ichigo jump and scream. She stumbled backwards and hit a table, landing hard on her rump. Nova barked angrily, the hair on the back of her neck standing up because of the adrenaline rushing through her veins.
"Who's there?" Ichigo demanded.
A light flickered on, pale orange and rather dim. It only illuminated a small area of the hotel room. Ichigo swallowed the lump forming in her throat. It must be a suite, judging from the size of the room itself, and there was still no sign of Berry.
"Surely you remember me, Ichigo," a sultry voice replied.
Nova growled at the voice, knowing it all too well.
"You..." Ichigo breathed. "You're Nova's brother..."
"I suppose I was, once upon a time. But I've moved on to bigger and better things. Now, let's play a game, shall we? How about hide and seek? Try to find your friend. She's somewhere in this suite," Branden chuckled.
Nova barked at him sharply. He picked her up by the scruff of her neck.
"Ah-ah... you'll have to wait your turn, Vixen," Branden mumbled. "Go on, get up and search. I promise there are no demons waiting in ambush. I wouldn't want to destroy this room. It's so grand, so lavish..."
Ichigo stood up and carefully inched around the room as Branden chattered. There was a large couch in the center of the room, and a flat screen TV across from it with a long coffee table between the two. The dim orange light didn't help much, but she could see the detail in the design of the furniture and decorations scattered around the suite. Had the hotel been up and running, the room must've cost a fortune to stay in, even for a single night.
"Admiring the decor, Kitty? But you're so middle-class, so of course you've never witnessed such splendor firsthand. Of course, things are much grander in Hattunka. If you'd like... I can take you there. Of course, there are a few... circumstances. You may very well have to give up everything you know... your family, your friends... your boyfriend... your power as a Mew Mew, everything," Branden said, following her at a safe distance.
Ichigo let her hand graze the silken bedcovers. She thought she heard whimpering, but that could very well have been Nova, still in Branden's iron grip.
"Stay quiet, Vixen, and you won't get hurt," he hissed, tying a strip of fabric around her snout and another one around her legs. She whimpered faintly as she was thrown to the floor and slid to a halt. There was something nearby, something large and breathing heavily. She somehow managed to turn her body enough to see what it was. Berry slumped against the wall. She was breathing heavily and her clothes were tattered, torn and spotted with blood. Thick ropes bound her arms to her abdomen and a large strip of white cloth covered her mouth. She glanced fearfully at Nova.
"Why would I go there?" Ichigo asked huffily. This hide and seek was starting to irritate her. Something warm and thick snaked around her waist. She realized it was Branden when she heard his breathing near her ear. One hand moved up to grab her breast while the other stroked her thigh.
"Because it's far better than this miserable world now that you humans have taken over and destroyed it. If you come with me, you can have any little thing your heart desires. Riches, jewels, money, you can live a life of luxury," Branden whispered in her ear.
Despite her growing hatred for demons, she had to admit that she was slightly intrigued. Maybe it was the fact that his body was so intoxicatingly close to her own, or the fact that he was groping her, but she was starting to get a little excited. What would happen if she went to live with the demons? Could she stop fighting and killing? He said she could have anything... did he really mean it?
"You only have to give me one simple little thing," Branden continued.
"What's that?" she asked breathily, her back arching involuntarily as he continued to stroke her inner thigh.
"Your innocence," he smirked. She gasped as his hand moved again between her legs.
"Ribbon Golden Symphony!" Dustin's voice echoed as golden light burst into the room. Branden released Ichigo, who fell forwards onto the bed. She brought a trembling hand to her mouth and looked at Branden's writhing body fearfully.
"Are you alright, Berry?" Lettuce inquired, untying her comrade.
"Y-yes... I'm fine... thank you," she panted.
"Did he do anything to you?" Zakuro asked.
"No... he just groped me. There was no damage done," she replied. "But my head is killing me and my ears keep ringing."
"From that little boy, no doubt," Mint snorted.
Nova was untied by Pudding and growled dangerously at Branden.
"Oh my, looks like the party's been crashed. Damn shame, I'll have to come back later... when there's less interference,' Branden chuckled, vanishing into a black puddle on the floor.
"Ichigo, are you okay? You're trembling," Dustin inquired, helping Ichigo to her feet. She clung to his shoulders both for support and out of fear. Hot tears stung her eyes.
"H-he... he..."she stammered, the tears falling down her cheeks.
"It's alright. Don't worry," he said comfortingly, pulling her into a hug. "We'll beat the demons and all this will seem like a bad dream."
"It's not a dream, it's a nightmare," Mint scoffed, folding her arms as she changed back to normal.
"Welcome... back!" Berry chirped, adding 'back' when she saw Ichigo and Mint come through the front door. "You okay, Ichigo?"
"Yes, I'll be fine!" the redhead grinned. She had gone to the hospital with Berry and Mint shortly after leaving the abandoned hotel, but Berry's wait time had been far shorter than Ichigo's.
"That's good. You've gotta see this!" the rabbit-cat girl grinned.
"What is it?" Ichigo inquired.
She joined her friends where they crowded around what looked like the menu that was usually set up outside the front door. After wiggling her way to the front, she saw it wasn't a menu, but a photo display. There was a picture of Zakuro and Mint having afternoon tea; one of Pudding juggling plates while standing on a ball; a picture of Lettuce when she wasn't breaking and/or dropping something; Ryou and Keiichiro in the kitchen decorating pastries; Berry and Tasuku leaving for a delivery; Dustin pretending to play the guitar while he cleaned up a mess with a mop; Ichigo glancing over her shoulder at Masaya; Nova smirking up at the camera.
"Wow! These are amazing! Where did you get these?" she asked Keiichiro.
"I took them when you people weren't looking," Nova replied, trying to hide a grin. "You can be glaringly oblivious sometimes."
"You took these?" everyone gasped. Dustin chuckled at their reaction.
"Yeah, why are you so surprised? Don't tell me you haven't seen me with my camera," Nova said matter-of-factly.
Oh... now that she thought about it, Ichigo did see Nova with her camera quite a bit.
"I thought I could use the cafe as a base of operations, so to speak. That and I was hired to take photos for the menu," Nova said, pressing a hand to her cheek, which had turned light pink. "You know, advertisements, employee of the month photos, that sort of thing."
"Maybe you're not as bad as you appear," Ichigo chuckled. She was coming to like this girl - attitude aside - very much.
Area 51 1/2 1-17-11: whew, sorry this one took so long! I've been busy with Godsend and unfortunately, I've come across a bit of a roadblock (writer's block) so it might be a while before chapter 8 of HoA comes out. I hope you'll be patient with me.
And I started another story (about Mustang) so there's that one I can work on when I get sick of Godsend. Along with OR, ALBE, TMM (not Tokyo Mew Mew, The Military's Monster), this one, FMAY (of which chapter 8 has been done since summer vacation last year, I just keep forgetting to update it) and I'm sure there are more.
Alright, I put this link on the first chapter if HF (Horsefeathers, my Mustang fic) but here it is again, to my DA account. .com/
Until chapter 11!