I'm going to start dropping more hints about Lavender's past. She's got a whole load of serious stuff going on. I may have had Lavender talk about Harry in earlier chapters, but it's not due to any romantic feelings (yet). It's mostly due to her own guilt. She feels like a coward for not helping Harry out when she knew he was being treated badly. She also feels pretty horrible about subconsciously forcing the role of 'hero' onto someone else. Now she knows that she can be a hero too, and she's not going to let up once she returns to her own world.
That being said, I think Lavender has grown to appreciate Harry more than she did before. He took on the role of 'hero' with no complaints and now she knows just how hard that is. She's started to look at him in a whole other way and that may lead to romantic feelings in the future.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Tokyo Mew Mew
….
The month of July passed by and it was onto August.
Some strange things had been happening lately. For starters, it seemed the Chimera Anima could now be based off of plants for some reason. Could they really be called Chimera Anima? Chimera Plants?
The aliens also seemed to be forcing more of their efforts on destroying them too.
Masha was kidnapped at one point, but they managed to retrieve him from another dimension.
In Japan, they got a summer break starting on the fourth of August and all the way until the end of the month.
They also got a pile of summer homework.
Lavender decided that she'd focus her attention on that, considering there was no telling when the next attack might come. If she was too distracted, she might never finish!
Lavender decided to get her hair cut, she'd always admired Togo's hair and decided, after finding what kind of style it was, to get a hime cut.
She wondered if she might have been slightly influenced by the Japanese aesthetic. A hime cut was quite traditional and kind of old fashioned, but it still retained some popularity in modern times.
It was before her naginata tournament that she noticed her eyes were a little bit different.
Lavender had always had pale blue eyes, but now they looked kind of purple. Just a bit.
She winced a little.
She'd always been told she had her father's eyes.
She didn't know how to feel about the color being just a little bit different now. Should she be thankful?
She'd always looked a lot like her mother, she'd been told that often. With straight, hime-cut hair, she felt she looked less like her mother now and more like…herself.
Or maybe she looked more like the person she wanted to be.
The girls' naginata summer tournament started midway through the summer and ended only a few days before. Their team actually won the tournament!
Lavender found she was quite proud. She'd never really accomplished anything before…well, other than saving the world, er, another world. But this was different. This sort of victory wasn't accompanied by pain or regrets. It was hard to put into words exactly.
While she was busy with the tournament, there had been a Chimera Anima attack on the town. Another hero had shown up during a dire moment. Someone, a boy called the Blue Knight.
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Lavender was wearing a dark purple bikini with a light purple sweatshirt that was partially zipped down. She'd bought the outfit in the last world after having been invited to the beach by the Kaisha organization. The girls, and Ryo and Keiichiro were all in swimsuits too.
They were at the beach.
For some reason, Ryo had decided it would be a good idea to take them all on a mini vacation. They'd taken the train there with packed bentos and a nice lunch.
This was probably the most relaxed Lavender had been in a while.
The sun was so nice…
They spent most of their time chilling out, building sandcastles and playing in the ocean.
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"Nyan?" Lavender opened her eyes, "I had a weird dream where there were aliens…"
She sat up suddenly, realizing the sky had gone dark.
"Wait a minute, there really are aliens!" She realized.
A giant starfish chimera anima and a giant…sea slug or something? They were heading towards the beach.
Lavender transformed in a flash of light.
Her body glowed, changing. Her human ears changed to those of a cat, and a tail elongated out of her spine. Her clothing vanished and was replaced by her usual miko-style battle outfit.
She summoned her staff, sending purifying ice and snow at the aliens.
The attack hit the starfish.
And then Retasu burst out of the water, she was glowing! And she had a tail like a mermaid instead of legs!
Her light seemed to move the clouds away.
"Those animals live in the ocean and are sensitive to light!" Minto realized, "Now's our chance!"
She summoned her bow and arrow.
"Ribbon Minto Echo!"
"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"
"Ribbon Purin Inferno!"
"Ribbon Strawberry Check!"
The chimera anima burst into light, then returned to being normal animals, dropping back down into the sea.
They all transformed back, looking human again.
"It's about time you woke up!" Minto looked at Lavender, obviously peeved.
Lavender felt her face turn red,
"I…I was really excited about going on vacation…and I didn't sleep."
All of a sudden, her ears popped out.
The girls started to laugh.
"It's not that funny…" Lavender trailed off.
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They returned home later that evening after playing in the water and running around in the sun, Lavender was getting tired again.
"Mou, you already slept for three hours today and you're tired again?" Minto scolded her as Lavender's eyes started to close.
"Mn." Lavender confirmed.
Things started returning to normal when they got back. Café Mew Mew was packed when they opened up again. There were lineups down the street!
Lavender helped Keiichiro in the kitchen with the baking part. Purin was on dishes. Although, for some reason, she suddenly collapsed.
Lavender rushed over to her when she noticed something wrong, quickly catching her.
"What is it?" Lavender paused. She could feel the heat radiating off of her, "She's burning up…"
Maybe she'd caught Ichigo's flu from a while back?
"She has a fever." She looked over at Keiichiro.
"Take her to the back." Keiichiro said with concern. He stopped what he was doing.
"Don't worry." Lavender told him, "I can take care of her. She only needs one person to look after her, nee?"
"Ah…I suppose…" He trailed off.
Besides, the café was busy and Keiichiro was a better cook than Lavender was anyway.
"Don't worry." Lavender said, "I can handle it."
She maneuvered Purin onto her back, carrying her piggyback style, then moving to the back rest area. She lay Purin out on the bed and started looking through the first aid kit.
"Let's see…Ah, this will do." She put a cold press on Purin's forehead.
She grabbed a glass of water as well, returning to her bedside.
Purin opened her eyes after about half an hour.
She tried to get up.
"You don't need to get up." Lavender said quickly, "Here. Drink some water."
"Mm…thank you…" she said, taking a few sips, "I need to go…"
"Go?" Lavender repeated, "Go where?"
"Pick her up…"
"Her?" Lavender parroted, trying to make sense of it.
"I need to pick her up. She's at daycare still and I'll be late."
Lavender tried to figure out what she meant and then…
"You mean…your sister?" She guessed.
She'd heard Purin had younger siblings, but she didn't talk about them all that much. She was kind of guarded at times.
"Mn." Purin nodded her head.
Lavender drew in a deep breath.
"Why don't I pick her up for you then? You can call the daycare and…"
"No. It has to be me. She won't leave unless it's me…"
Okay then…
"How about…How about I go with you then?" Lavender suggested.
"Eh?" Purin looked at her in confusion.
"I'll go with you." Lavender decided, "I can't let you go home alone in your condition. Or rather…if you try to go off on your own, I'll just follow you anyways, so you'll be stuck with me no matter what."
Purin gave her a weird look,
"Mou…I'm not a kid…"
Lavender immediately felt a flashback.
Don't treat me like I'm a kid!
Lavender closed her eyes,
"Yeah. I guess you aren't." She could sort of tell that she wasn't, "I'm not treating you like a kid. I'm treating you like someone who might collapse at any second. What would you do if it was me? Or if it was Momomiya-san or Minto-san or Zakuro-san or Retasu-san?"
Purin paused, then scrunched her face,
"Make them stay here and rest."
"That's right." Lavender said gently, "However…I can tell this is important to you. I can carry you on my back if you want. That way you can rest while we're making our way there."
"Purin doesn't…" Purin paused.
"I'll be your chauffeur then." Lavender said, "And you can be a valiant knight on her way to rescue the princess…from a preschool."
Purin laughed a little at her attempts to cheer her up.
Lavender got up,
"I'll leave you to change." She decided, "Then we can leave together, okay?"
"Okay…" Purin agreed.
Lavender exited the room and waited for her to finish.
The door opened and Purin came out. She did not look steady on her feet. Lavender crouched down.
"Here you go. Get on my back."
Purin hesitated a moment, before getting on.
"Just leave it to me." Lavender told her gently.
They left through the kitchen.
"Keiichiro-san? I'm taking Purin to pick up her sister, then I'm taking her home, so…I'm ditching work, bye."
Keiichiro chuckled,
"Bye, Brown-san. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Sure. No problem." Lavender said as he walked through the restaurant and out the front door, squeezing past the line of people.
"Lavender-neechan…thank you…" Purin murmured.
"You're welcome." Lavender said, shifting her a little so she didn't fall, "Which way are we going?" She asked her.
"Mm…turn right and straight down."
Lavender did as she was told.
It was a longer walk than she had imagined. Purin was very tired and soon fell asleep. Lavender didn't mind. She managed to get an address off of her before she passed out.
She finally reached the place. It was sunset now.
"Oh my, Purin-chan!" The daycare worker said, looking worried, "What happened?"
"She passed out at work." Lavender said, "I work with Purin-chan. She's my friend. I wanted her to stay and rest a bit, but…she said she had a sister here and wouldn't let me leave without her."
The daycare worker looked worried.
"Pour girl…"
"I assumed she was in a difficult situation." Lavender said, looking over her shoulder at a sleeping Purin.
Ever since she saw Purin working in the park that day, she'd known there was something going on.
"Mm…a few years ago, Purin-chan's mother passed away. Her father left to continue his training to become undefeated in martial arts."
What a crummy father, Lavender thought.
However, that sort of reminded her of her own family situation.
"So, Purin-chan was left to take care of her younger siblings. Cooking, cleaning, I think she's even been making money on the side. Even though she attends school too…"
"I think I understand." Lavender said softly. She didn't elaborate on that thought.
"I'll take care of Purin-chan while she's sick. I can sleep over to make sure everything goes well and cook breakfast. I'm usually up early for my club, but I'm sure they won't mind me taking a week off."
"I'm glad." The daycare worker said, looking relieved.
"Oneechan!" A little girl came running out of the daycare.
Lavender smiled down at her,
"Your oneechan isn't feeling very good right now. I'm your oneechan's friend, so, I'm going to take care of her until she's better, okay?"
The little girl nodded.
"My name is Brown Lavender, but you can call me Lav-neechan. What's your name?" he asked her.
"Heicha." She said timidly.
"It's nice to meet you, Heicha-chan. What a cute name. Do you think you can help me, Heicha-chan?"
"Help you?" She looked confused.
"Mn. I need someone to guide me from here to your oneechan's bedroom. Your oneechan needs sleep. It's a very important quest."
Heicha nodded her head,
"Leave it to Heicha!" She said.
Heicha took off running. Lavender followed after her. She turned to the daycare worker and waved to her.
"Bye! I'll see you later, I think."
"Bye, Brown-san. It was nice meeting you."
Lavender turned back and followed Heicha down the street towards their house. It wasn't too far away. The distance was a lot shorter considering the trek they'd taken from the café.
It looked like a Chinese style house rather than a Japanese one.
Heicha took off her shoes and Lavender did the same, putting them away. She was then led up the stairs to Purin's room.
She gently tucked her into bed.
Lavender turned to Heicha.
"Mission complete." She smiled at her.
Heicha smiled back.
"Now then, how many of there are you?" Lavender asked her, "I need to know how many I'm cooking for, nee?"
"Heicha has four older brothers."
"Four…" Lavender shook her head.
She was cooking for six…no, seven people, including herself.
"Alright." Lavender said with a smile, "Leave it to me, okay? Why don't you go downstairs and I'll start cooking?"
Feeding six people wasn't something she'd done before. Lavender knew how to cook. She wasn't the best cook in the world, mind you, but she knew a thing or two. Her aunt had taught her when she'd been growing up…
-Flashback-
"Lavender? Lavender, are you okay?" A woman with short-cut brown hair knelt down to where the tinny girl was sitting at the coffee table.
She was crying, shaking her head.
"Mum…won't eat anything."
Her eyes widened,
"Your mum won't eat?"
"I tried making her food, but she won't eat it and…I'm really hungry, Aunt Ness."
Her aunt winced,
"How long has it been since you've eaten, Lavender?" She asked the young girl quietly.
"Two days…"
"Okay…I'll make you some food right now, alright? And then…then I need to make a call."
"Aunt Ness?" Lavender sobbed, "I can make food. I can feed mummy. I just need to cook better."
"Oh, sweetheart…"
Somehow, that pitying look stung worse than that cold gaze her mother so often got when she looked at Lavender.
It was always like this…although it had been getting more difficult lately.
-End Flashback-
Lavender chopped up some onions, letting them cook in a hot pan. She took out some ground beef and meshed it with the big, black spoon she was using.
She was going to have to make double the amount she normally made. No, triple. Some leftovers wouldn't hurt.
The water was starting to boil, so she added in the spaghetti noodles.
"Some diced tomatoes…" Lavender continued with the sauce, now stirring it and adding in a few spices and olive oil.
Her chore list was a lot like the one she used to have. She could see it on the wall.
Once she was done, she served the kids some pasta (all kids loved pasta, right?).
"Now then…" Lavender started cooking again, although this time she was preparing rice porridge for Purin. She knew it was a comfort food for those in Japan. It was good for someone who was sick.
She looked the recipe up on her phone (they didn't have cellphones like these in the muggle world back in her home world).
She brought it up to Purin's room with a tray.
"Purin-chan?" Lavender whispered.
Purin's eyes opened.
"I made you some food. I'm going to set it down over here on your bedside. Try to eat some of it. You're going to need your strength to get better, okay?"
"Ah…I need to cook…"
"I've already handled it." Lavender told her, "Everyone's been fed. I'm following the schedule on the whiteboard you wrote out. I hope that's okay."
Purin looked surprised, then lay back in bed.
"Thank you…I didn't know you could cook, Lav-neechan."
"I've been cooking since I was very little." Lavender told her, "I'm used to this sort of thing. I'm going to clean up downstairs and see about making your brothers get their homework done, okay? I also plan on staying with you for the next few days. Until you're better."
"Eh? D-demo…you don't have to do that." Purin protested.
"It's fine." Lavender told her, "I don't really have anyone waiting for me at home. And I'm used to waking up early for my sports club meetings."
"Eh? You have no one waiting for you at home?" Purin wondered.
"There's the caretaker." Lavender said, "She's nice enough. Nicer than…who I was living with before."
Purin stared at her. She tilted her head to the side,
"Did your kaa-san die too?"
"No." Lavender shook her head, "My kaa-san doesn't like me."
"Eh? But…but a kaa-san is supposed to love their kids." Purin looked confused by the very concept.
"Not all mother's do." Lavender shook her head, "My mother loved me once…maybe. But after my father died…she abandoned me."
"Abandoned…" Purin's eyes widened, "Maybe…maybe she's trying to make money for Lav-neechan, or…"
"I don't really want to talk about it, Purin-chan." Lavender said sharply, interrupting her.
Purin tensed, then looked down at her lap mutely.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to be harsh." Lavender apologised.
Maybe she'd gone too far…but it wasn't anyone's business.
Purin shifted a bit. She took the lid of her bowl off and took a bite of the porridge.
"It's really tasty!" She looked surprised and happy. She was obviously trying to break the awkward mood that had set in.
"Thank you." Lavender relaxed a little, "Get some rest, Purin-chan. I'll be back up here in a bit to check on you, okay?"
She walked out of her room and closed the door gently. Then she made her way downstairs and got to work.