Author: A little rearrangement in the chapters for anyone who has read the notebook version. This one cuts off sooner than the handwritten so that chapter twenty-two will be longer.
No worries, loyal online readers. This chapter still has over 3,000 words.
As Ryou got off the phone, he noticed Grace ascending the stairs with a tray containing a few bowls of the stir fry that she and Keiichiro had made for dinner. "Hey, I wouldn't go up there right now if I were you," he warned her.
Grace pretended not to hear him. Over the past months of fighting without Ember there to make Ryou be reasonable, Grace had realized that he wasn't as nice as she had first presumed. The crush she had once had on him had died. Another reason for this may have been her natural aversion to confrontation. She had noticed Raquel drooling over Ryou every chance she got lately, and the swan mew wasn't going to get into it with her fox friend over him. Saving the world was something worth the fight. A boy, however, was not.
As she reached for the doorknob of Ember's door, she shifted the tray onto her hip with her free hand. Coming through the door, Ember's dresser blocked Grace's view of the bathroom entryway. As Grace sat the tray down on Ember's bedside table and asked her friend how she was feeling, a flash of blue from the direction of the bathroom caught her eye, and she turned around. There was an alien with blue eyes and blue hair leaning against the bathroom door, wearing a robe of blue silk.
"Um… Ember," Grace began tentatively. "Who is this?"
"This is… Chaim?" she looked at the blue-haired alien and asked for conformation. He nodded. "Yeah," Ember nodded too.
"He's my cousin," Kisshu supplied. "He's also the prince." When Kisshu called attention to his royal position, Chaim blushed a bit. "But anyway," Kisshu continued, "he's in exile right now - like me - because he thinks there is no reason that our kind should be fighting Earthlings."
"Oh, okay," Grace nodded.
Chaim turned to Kisshu and asked in Cyncloni so the girls couldn't understand, "Are all Earth girls as cute as this one?"
"Huh? I thought I was the only one with such exotic tastes. Maybe you're not such a goody-goody after all," Kisshu teased in the same tongue.
"Sh- Shut up!" Chaim snapped, blushing.
Kisshu gave a lopsided grin. Chaim was acting like his normal self again, apparently calmed down from his indignation. It may have been an oxymoron, a prince with insecurities about himself, but Kisshu just thought it was fun. Kisshu asked his cousin, still speaking in their native language, "Chaim, why are you really on Earth? You're an exile now, yes. But if you found the ideal planet, why venture to the substandard one?"
"I think you know why, Kisshu," Chaim stared at the ground.
Kisshu replied, "Yes, I do. They won't accept you there, so you figured you'd try someplace else, neh?"
"Y- Yes," the prince stuttered.
Kisshu nodded and then began to speak in English again. "I can help you if you want."
Chaim flipped the topic with the switch of language, "Well, I really do need a place to stay…"
Kisshu shook his head, amused at his cousin's attempt to switch topic. He wouldn't let him get away with it. "Just make an alternate dimension," Kisshu said nonchalantly.
Chaim gave him a look like aren't-you-forgetting-something? as he said, "That's a skill they only teach to warriors, remember. And as I am not a warrior…"
"Oh yeah," Kisshu said, somewhat annoyed at Chaim's ability to counter his counter. "I forgot about that…" he trailed off, noticing the smell of the food that Grace had brought in. He stared at the bowls of rice and vegetables. "I haven't eaten since Ember went unconscious," he remembered aloud.
Ember's eyes went wide. "But wasn't that two months ago?"
"Hai…" Kisshu's stomach growled a bit, and he grinned embarrassedly.
"You never have had a substantial appetite," Chaim recalled, as if this were normal for Kisshu.
"It does smell really good, Grace. Did you help Akasaka out?" Ember complimented.
The redhead smiled a bit and her legs assumed second position. "Yes, I did," she answered shyly. She handed two of the three bowls and forks to Kisshu and Ember. One more sat on the tray, and Grace had intended it for herself. She had planned to stay up here for dinner and catch up with her now finally awake bestie.
Chaim's stomach also growled a bit. Kisshu looked up from the bowl of food that he was practically inhaling. "Teleporting that far takes a lot of energy doesn't it, Chaim?"
"It's alright," Chaim forced a smile and crossed his arms over his stomach, trying to compel the noise to stop.
Although Grace had become slightly bolder over the past months, she had not lost any of her compassion. Lifting the bowl from the tray, she put the fork in it and walked over to where Chaim stood. She held it out to him. His icy blue eyes melted for about a nanosecond. He hadn't expected this kindness from humans. Accepting the bowl, he told her, "Thanks."
She shrugged. "It's no big deal. There's more downstairs. That is, if Ryou and Emma haven't eaten it all," she grinned as she walked toward the exit. "I'm starting to think they're infused with pigs rather than felines," she joked, leaving. She stuck her head back through the door for a moment, saying, "When you're finished, you can put the dishes on the tray and set it outside the door." Then she closed the door again and descended the stairs.
"Was he still up there?" Ryou asked as she passed through the dining room.
"Yes," she replied. "And he apparently needs a place to stay."
Ryou banged the table. "No, that is not acceptable!"
Emma chuckled and murmured, "He's having a hissy fit, mreow!"
Grace just sighed as she filled a bowl with stir fry in the kitchen. She returned to the dining room to eat it.
Ryou had called in the Tokyo Mew Mews for reinforcement against the aliens' newest plan (or at least Grace's assumption of it). Because she was already in America for a photo shoot, Zakuro Fujiwara arrived the next morning. When Keiichiro opened the door, Zakuro was surprised to look past him and see a blue-haired alien sleeping on the couch. She raised a slender eyebrow. "Akasaka-san," she asked in Japanese, "who is that?"
Chaim's sensitive ears awoke him with the sound of a strange voice. He sat up stretching and yawned. "Where am I?" he asked himself in Cyncloni. Upon remembering, he exclaimed to himself in English, "Oh yeah." He noticed the girl with the grey eyes and purple hair standing in the doorway. She was staring at him as if he were some form of biological waste.
It was at this moment that Ryou entered the room, and the girl's jaw dropped. "Shirogane-san, what happened to you?" she asked in Japanese.
"I'll explain that when the others arrive," he supplied in the same tongue, scratching one of his cat ears. "I don't want to have to go over it more than once."
Zakuro then asked in English while pointing to Chaim, "Who is that and what is it doing here?"
"I'm… not exactly sure," Ryou responded honestly. The grey wolf mew frowned in dissatisfaction, but crossed the threshold anyways.
Grace woke up in a room with neon green walls, finding herself zipped inside a sleeping bag of the same color. She had slept on the floor of Emma's bedroom, the tigress mew still snoring in her bed under a bright yellow comforter. The redheaded ballerina pulled herself from her cloth envelope and stretched her legs out in front of her. Feeling tense, she leaned forward, gracefully folding her upper body over her lower body in a toe-touch.
There was a warbler perched on the windowsill outside which Grace noticed as she stood up. The bird chirped and wheeted before letting out the gargling warble for which it was named.
Emma punched her pillow and mumbled, "Stupid bird," under her breath. "Go back to sleep."
"Good morning, Emma," Grace breathed, managing to hide her amusement under a mask of politeness.
Emma moaned, raising her head to look at Grace from under the mess of brown bangs that had been mussed by the night's fitful sleep. The brunette had felt like she was being watched, and the eerie sensation had driven away the Sand Man. She now plopped her face back into her pillow, refusing to get out of bed unless it was absolutely necessary. The warbler on the sill continued its auditory assault of happy chirrups. As the foot of her bed was near the window, she kicked the glass pane just hard enough to frighten the annoying ball of feathers to a distance at which it would at least be slightly less loud.
Grace chuckled to herself as she left Emma to her doomed-to-fail attempt at catching a few more Z's. The trumpeter swan opened the door to Ember's bedroom and peered in, wondering if her best friend was awake yet. She was greeted by golden eyes and a fanged smile. "Kisshu, didn't you sleep?" asked the baffled girl.
"No."
"Won't you be tired the rest of the day?" she inquired again.
"No."
Grace raised an eyebrow, but closed the door behind her as she left, shaking her head in confusion. She descended the stairs to find a girl with long, purple hair glaring at the Cynclonian prince. "Did I miss something?" Grace asked sweetly, managing to pull off some of En Pointe's sarcasm.
Ryou inclined his head to the purple girl in introduction. "Grace Swann, this is Zakuro Fujiwara. She is one of the Tokyo Mew Mews that participated in the fighting of the first invasion." He then nodded in the other direction. "Zakuro, this is Grace Swann, Wild Mew number two. The two of you actually have a similar weapon."
"I am pleased to meet you," said Zakuro in a cold manner that unintentionally implied the opposite. She extended her hand.
"Um… hi," Grace replied shyly, accepting Zakuro's hand. The wolf mew moved their joined hands up and down rather stiffly.
When the awkward handshake was over, Chaim (who had watched) decided to try enacting some Earth manners. "Hello, Ms. Fujiwara. I am Chaim Ikisatashi," he stretched forth his hand.
"I don't care," Zakuro glared at him coldly. Chaim looked slightly taken aback.
"That's a little harsh for someone who is on our side," Grace commented, brow furrowing in sympathy.
Zakuro took in Grace's words, and then turned to Ryou. "Ichigo told me the threat this time was aliens. Was she misinformed?"
Ryou shook his head. "No, she wasn't. But it seems they're splitting into two different factions. Am I right?" He asked Grace. The girl merely shrugged.
"It's correct," Chaim answered. "Or it would have been, had I not been banished before releasing my information," he spat. He gave the nekomimi a sideways glance. "In this case, I'm not for my people trying to conquer Earth."
Zakuro raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "And why not?" she managed to make her tone sound curious rather than accusatory.
Chaim met her eyes. "Because we don't need it."
Being as it was the first time Ryou and Grace had heard this information as well, all three DNA spliced persons shouted, "What?" Keiichiro's face assumed a shocked expression.
"We don't need it," Chaim repeated. "There is another perfectly viable planet out there on which the only pre-existing life is plants. There wouldn't even be a war over it. It would merely be a changing of residences. And the planet isn't even polluted! There would no violence and the planet gained wouldn't be substandard.
"So as far as the Earth Recovery Plan goes, I'm against it. And if the rest of my people knew what I know, I'm sure they'd agree."
Grace nodded resolutely. "Good for you! Now, who wants breakfast?" Ryou and Zakuro stared at Chaim like he was… well, from outer space. Grace walked into the kitchen to get started on breakfast omelets, and Keiichiro followed her, both of the confrontation-haters eager to escape the thick atmosphere.
Zakuro then spoke to Chaim in a voice that seemed to resonate off the walls because of the silence. "So does this mean you will help us stand against them?" Ryou looked at the Cyniclon with this same question in his eyes, though he said nothing.
Chaim's visage became pensive. "Is it possible to stand against Blood Red? But, then again if anyone could, wouldn't it be me? My gift of telekinesis would surely make me a strong foe, would it not?" He pictured the looks on their faces and smiled. "It would be interesting, certainly. Pai has publicly snubbed me more than once, regardless of the custom to respect the monarchy. It might be fun to see fear on his face if it were inflicted by me." Still grinning at this idea, he looked back up at Zakuro. "Alright. Yes, I will."
Aimee and Raquel came over later to check on Ember's condition. As they knocked on the front door, Josué pulled his Ford Mustang into the driveway. By the time Grace opened the door, the blue-eyed-blond was standing behind the two girls.
"You guys missed a lot a very important stuff…" Grace blinked at them owlishly.
When the three walked through the door, they were filled in on the specifics by; a scientist, a Wild Mew, and Tokyo Mew, and an alien whom they had never before seen. The details had just been cleared up when Kisshu and Ember walked down the stairs, the latter leaning sleepily on the arm of the former, who was wide awake despite having not slept.
Everyone stared at the couple with mixed reactions. Grace was confident that Ember could handle herself. Chaim was happy that his cousin was happy. Ryou was still suspicious of Kisshu's motives, but couldn't deny that he had saved Ember's life. Raquel thought that Ryou was right, no matter what the nekomimi believed, and resigned herself to suspicion as well. Aimee frowned, knowing that if he tried anything, she could always bite him. Josué hated Kisshu's guts, assuming the alien was the only reason that Ember didn't want to get back together with him. Zakuro balked at the trust this Wild Mew displayed toward the pervert that had stolen Ichigo's first kiss.
"Ohaiyo, minah!" (Good morning, everyone!) Kisshu grinned.
Ember looked up at him drowsily. "Ohio? No, Kish, we're in Kentucky."
"Huh?" Kisshu didn't understand. Ryou tried to stifle his laughter. "What's funny?" Kisshu asked him.
"Well, first off, Ember; 'Ohaiyo' is Japanese for 'Good morning'. Kisshu, there is a state called Ohio quite a few miles northeast of here. And the third thing…" the blond paused as he realized that the time the two of them had spent in bed together wasn't really funny at all. "It's afternoon."
"Honto ni?" (Really?) Kisshu scratched the back of his head somewhat nervously.
Grace shook her head in amusement and walked to the bathroom. Raquel laughed now, understanding why Ryou had been laughing and merely trying to adjust to his humor. Aimee muttered under her breath, "Scapegrace." Ember caught this and glared at her as the couple dismounted the final stair.
Ryou seemed to notice the absence of one particular mew. "Where is Emma?"
Emma Leigh had just fallen back asleep. He sighed in relief. He worried that his hiding place in the oak tree opposite of her window may have been discovered.
Their plan to kill off Ember had somehow failed, and Pai blamed himself for the recovery of the Mew leader. But they had gathered plenty of data in the meantime; enough to destroy the mews once and for all. It would be easy enough to coat the Chimera in a fireproof liquid before the battle. The sudden health of the pyrokenetic would not affect their victory.
Gestation of the Ultimate Anima would be finished within three days, and once the battle was won, they would not kill the mews. Oh no, they would not kill them. The powers of the Mews would be studied and manipulated as a means by which to finish conquering the Earth. He wasn't sure of the methods for this, but he was aware that Gentiel was working on it. The outcome of this battle would be the outcome of the war. Focus was more important now than ever. Determination was key. "So, why can't I focus? Why does my motivation seem to have evaporated into thin air?"
Pai reached a trembling hand up to his lips, and he knew why. "Blasted bond," he muttered under his breath as he stared through her window. His mind and his biology were in conflict for the first time in his life, and he didn't know how to deal with it. At that moment, he chose the route of his circumstantial predecessor. He would pretend this didn't happen. Distancing himself from the complicated reality, he would force his body to comply with his mind. It had done so for all of his life, so it shouldn't be that difficult, or so was his hypothesis. Never would a scientific estimate be more wrong.
Ryou tore off the yellow comforter, then grabbed the pillow from under her head and tossed it on the floor. Emma let out a meowl of protest. "Get up!" Ryou hissed, his tail standing straight up in annoyance.
"I'm part cat," she mumbled. "I get to sleep during the day."
"You DNA is no excuse. I have cat genes myself and have been awake for three and a half hours," he spat back. "Now get off the bed or the next thing I remove is the mattress!"
"Ungh," she moaned, but obliged. She stood up and bent to pick the pillow up off of the floor. As Ryou made his way toward the exit, the fluffy object collided with the back of his head as Emma murmured, "Meanie."
When the tigress mew had changed out of her pajamas and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, she bounded down the stairs in blue jean shorts and a lime green tank top. Her first stop was the refrigerator, out of which she grabbed an energy drink. Then she returned to the living room and sat on the couch with Ember and Kisshu.
"Lord help us," Ember mumbled. "Emma has caffeine." The tiger mew just chuckled, taking sips from the can.