I AM SO SORRY *banging head against wall*

But I swear, I'll make this chapter as long as I possibly can without it being too excessive!

So, on that note, I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew.

"I don't see why we need to prepare for the arrival of the stupid Prince."

It was a cold morning, and the market was busy yet again. Hardly anyone paid the two maids any attention, but Lettuce eyed Ichigo from the corner of her eye with concern. If anyone heard her, she would probably be arrested for speaking out against the Royal family. But a few days in a cell hardly seemed daunting compared to execution.

"It isn't for several weeks, anyway," Ichigo continued, adjusting a bag filled to the brim with decorations in her arms. "Why bother preparing now?"

Lettuce smiled a little. "Any parent would want something like this for their child," she mused. "I suppose that would apply to the Royal family as well. But there's no real point in complaining about it now, though."

"I suppose not," Ichigo mumbled bitterly, the harshness in her tone surprising even her. She had been acting strange for a couple of days, enough to bother her. Ryou had even called her out on it when he returned, demanding why she was so 'stressed' when she wasn't even in charge of a rebellion...yet. She glared at a particularly happy-looking star in her bag of decorations.

"Mint's Mistress has been pulling her away from her duties," Lettuce continued cautiously.

"I noticed," Ichigo mumbled, relaxing. This was a much more comfortable subject.

Lettuce smiled slightly. "I am looking forward to seeing her dance," she said, sounding more at ease. "I've heard so many people say she's a wonderful dancer, and I'd love to see it for myself."

"What makes you think we'll be invited to the party?" Ichigo joked.

"By the time the Prince arrives, I'm certain all five of us will be here," Lettuce said, more confidence in her voice than Ichigo had ever heard coming from the shy girl. "They'll want us to keep an eye on the Nobles, and...er, well, observe them, I suppose?"

"Why on Renegade would we want to do that?" Ichigo asked flatly. She started to glare at the star again. Wjy was it so stupidly happy?

"Well...for it," Lettuce said quietly, not daring to actually speak its name. "I've heard several rumors that the Prince is skilled with a sword; I've also heard that he has two special blades that he uses in combat."

Ichigo snorted. "You've seen them!" she exclaimed, sounding scornful. "All just fancy titles...we can take down their protectors easily! I bet that when we do, they'll cower at our feet and ask us not to hurt a pretty little hair on their heads!"

That was hardly the truth, but saying it loudly, for the whole world to hear, for anyone to hear, sent a dizzying rush through her veins.

Lettuce stared at her friend, wide-eyed. "Momomiya," she whispered urgently. "Please, calm down! You might be heard!" This was completely unlike the red-haired maid.

"I..." Ichigo sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just...I just saw something. I guess that's why I've been so moody lately. I shouldn't take it out on you, Lettuce. I'm sorry."

The green-haired girl only nodded slightly. She watched Ichigo curiously, before a smile lit up her face as she watched her mutter at her bag to 'stop being cheerful'. For as long as she knew her, Lettuce never really thought Ichigo capable of such deep emotions. Surely, she was capable when it counted, but during times like this...

Lettuce had been shaky about joining such a dangerous mission. Overthrowing the Cyniclons? It was a suicide mission. But the powers she was given, the things she could do...well, call her naive, but looking at her new friends now, Lettuce was sure that maybe, just maybe, they had the slightest chance of victory.

"Stupid Shirogane, stupid grass, stupid plants, stupid moss, stupid pathway, stupid palace..."

Ichigo was muttering a string of insults to the things that she currently hated. It was childish, but there was no one around to hear, so why not grumble a little?

She had been ordered about ten minutes ago to clean up the path of the garden. She didn't even know the palace had a garden until then, but she wasn't very surprised.

The place was peaceful, she had decided. Flowers whose names she did not know littered the ground next to the long stone path that wove through the garden. Trees provided shade almost everywhere, protecting her from the sun. It was every gardener's dream, and she could only imagine what Aoyama would think of this place. At the thought of her first love, her bad mood evaporated, and she had a dreamy smile on her face.

But now was hardly the time. She returned her attention to the stone path, frowning. As far as she was concerned, it was the only bad thing about it. It was dirty, probably remains of mud from rainy seasons, and moss grew between the cracks. When Rei had told ordered her to do this ridiculous task, she had done so grudgingly.

"Nobles often don't walk there," she had admitted. "But her Highness insists that everything must be perfect when her son returns."

"But won't it just get dirty again?" Ichigo pointed out. Rei had no real responce to that. But orders were orders, and right now she had to clean this stupid path, no matter how pointless it was.

Still, she supposed it wasn't a bad place to be. It was hidden from the main corridors, and hardly anyone except the gardners ever visited. This wouldn't be a bad place to walk around when she had finished her chores.

Ichigo looked at the rag in her hand, then down at the path, letting out a quick sigh. She had several hours to do this job...she could afford a few moments of wandering, right?

She walked down the stone path, humming to herself. There wasn't a sound to be heard except her footsteps. The gardners had probably finished their job, so she was certainly alone. The quiet was nice, she decided. The gossiping maids did get a little tiring after a while, and that was saying something, but quite the chatterbox herself.

As she moved down the path, her attention drifted to a tree near the path. There was nothing particularly special about it, other than the fact that it was much more climable than the others, but that hardly should have mattered, seeing as she didn't know how to climb a tree. Still, she approached it, running her hand down the bark ot it. She inspected it, and had she not been looking so closely, she would not have seen the small inscription embedded into it:

K.

She frowned; she had heard stories how humans sometimes carved their initals into a tree, sometimes with a loved one right next to it, but no one had done such a thing for many years now; Cyniclons would never dream of doing such a silly human thing, and humans didn't have much buisness to have a knife on them, except for cooking. She doubted any of the gardners would do such a thing to the plants they worked so hard to care for. No servants would dream of such a thing and probably never had time to do so.

Who was 'K', anyway?

The sound of yelling snapped her from her thoughts. The yelling was faint, but it was enough to catch her attention. She removed her hand from the tree and walked back down the path, frowning. The voice sounded an awful lot like Mint...she should check, just in case. Leave the pathway to the gardners.

"A-Aizawa, please, calm down!"

"This is hardly something to be upset about!"

"Hardly? Hardly?! Oh, the ignorance of you! I don't care if you have a higher position than me in the Cyniclon's eyes, I am not afraid to stare you down!"

Ichigo stepped into the kitchen, watching Mint poke Shirogane in the chest, a snarl twisting her features. Lettuce stood in the background, looking almost petrified. For the weeks Ichigo had now known her, she had never seen the short girl so angry.

"What happened?" Ichigo asked, completely baffled by the sight before her.

Mint spun around to face Ichigo, scowling with such ferocity Ichigo almost thought the girl would grab a knife and stab her. Instead, Mint simply glared, fists clenched.

"Apparently," she hissed, "I'm not entertaining enough!"

"Sorry?"

Mint turned to Lettuce and Ryou. Ichigo watched nervously as Lettuce's face paled; even Shirogane looked a tad bit uncomfortable with the girl's harsh glare on him. "Go on," Mint snarled. "Tell her! Tell her my embarrassing moment!"

Lettuce stepped forward nervously. "W-well, Aizawa was called to have a meeting with her Mistress, and her Mistress was speaking with the king about arrangements, and he said that they couldn't entertain all the guests, they would have to have another entertainment party to keep it 'fresh'..."

Mint stomped her foot, creating a painful-sounding THUMP. "That's basically insulting my entire training!" she shrieked. "I've spent hours on my dance, I don't care where my loyalties lie, no one insults my dancing!"

I don't care where my loyalties lie...

"To add to the insult, it was a travelling circus!" Mint sneered. "The ringmaster acted so shocked, so honored that the king would love to have him perform at the palace, that he had no idea that he would be rewarded for his long, tiring hours in the circus..." She sniffed. "He planned this from the start, I expect!"

"Is...is that it?" Ichigo asked, feeling a little annoyed. She came over here to find Mint ranting about her wounded pride? What a waste!

"Oh, that isn't all!" Mint retorted. At this, Ryou's eyes narrowed a little.

"I couldn't do anything to stop it," Akasaka admitted. "We were under direct orders to take her in, seeing as most of the other servers left, leaving only you three to serve the meals."

As if on cue, the doors to the kitchen burst open. A girl wearing a bright orange dress, a heart-shaped apron, and a little lace headband in her golden hair came bouncing it. Her eyes sparkled as she surveyed the scene, not even wavering at the disdainful look on Mint's face.

"Hello, na no da!" the girl said cheerfully. "Pudding! Nice to meet you all!"