A/N: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, only my OC.

...

Chapter 1: I'm a What!

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She had dreamt of a mammoth. Her dreams had never looked so magical. The giant thing came crashing into her like she had a target on her head. Yet, it disappeared into her body like it was nothing. Then, she was enveloped in warmth and felt safe.

Next time, she'd avoid going to animal exhibits altogether.

She woke up to a light being flashed in her eye. The security officer gave out a breath of relief as they helped her sit up and informed the others that she was okay. She was completely confused. Seeing that on her face, the security officer explained to her that she had been trapped under that replica for 3 hours. She blanched at this, unable to believe it. She had been stuck here for 3 hours and no one helped her?! She frowned deeply at the man's words, and he quickly claimed that when they were calling out and asking people if they were okay. She was unresponsive. They were too preoccupied cleaning other areas of the installation. They left the mammoth replica last since they would need the extra manpower, and didn't wanna tire everyone out too soon. He apologized profusely for not helping her sooner, but she rolled her eyes, no longer caring. Her head was killing her, so she just wanted to go home. However, the security guard stopped her from getting up.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but we're going to need your parents to pick you up. You were passed out for 3 hours and may possibly have been internally hurt during the earthquake. Out of concern for your health and safety, you'll sit here in the meantime while you confirm who'll be coming by."

She couldn't believe it. This could not be happening right now! She wasn't a kid, she could make it back home on her own. Not to mention, she should be in school right now. If her parents found out she ditched she'll be screwed! Watching the man walk off, she planned on how to get out of there. Too many people were by the door, so that was no use. And there's clearly no back exit here. She bit her thumb. What was she supposed to do?! She then felt the urge to pee and a realization hit her.

"Excuse me? Where's the bathroom?"

Bathrooms always had open windows.

...

Ryou and Keiichiro walked into the exhibit later that evening. They were wrapping everything up, and talking to the manager when they heard a security guard mention that the young girl who escaped earlier left her school ID behind. Ryou and Keiichiro shared a look as the older man walked over to the guard.

"Good evening, sir, I'm the Exhibitions Curator. I'm sorry for eavesdropping, but I'd to personally thank you for assisting with today's event, especially after what happened with the earthquake. I heard a patron was giving you trouble and left behind her school ID?"

The guard stuttered out a sheepish, "Y-Yes sir! Also, no problem, that's what I'm here for!" He then released a tsk, sighing. "That little trouble maker escaped through the bathroom window and left it behind! I have it here." He took out the school ID. It was inside of a cute wallet that had a peculiar keychain attached. This made Keiichiro chuckle.

"Ah, then I'll take it. I can drop it off at the station." He took it from the security's hand and thanked him again before walking back to Ryou. They both headed out.

"Seems like your test subject is a troublemaker." Keiichiro mentioned as they got into the car. Ryou said nothing to this, so he continued. "Well, I suppose that's a saving grace. You wouldn't have found her unless she ditched school. Odd that such a cute girl would go to an exhibit like this by herself, though."

"She was stuck under that mammoth for 3 hours."

"A side effect from the fusion, much like the earthquakes."

"Hmm."

"So, are you planning on returning her school ID, or will we hold onto it for a while?" Keiichiro asked.

Ryou, still in deep thought, responded after a moment. "Hold onto it. We can use it as an excuse to meet up with her if necessary."

Keiichiro frowned. "If necessary? Are you telling me that you're not planning on telling her what we've done?"

"We can't let her know about the Mew Project, much less what happened to her because yes, she was compatible with the Mammuthus Primigenius, but what if we don't receive any results? If she's unable to transform, she's of no use to the Mew Project."

Keiichiro tightened his grasp on the wheel. "She'll never know what we've done to her?"

Ryou looked down at the picture and name on the ID. His brows furrowed. "She will when she shows results. If there's no clear side-effects, it's safe to assume the fusion was a failure, regardless of the compatibility." He knew his words were harsh, but ignorance is bliss. If Kiui Aoyama turns out to still be a normal school girl, he'll let her stay with that thought.

Keiichiro didn't agree, but he knew the boy was right. He silently wished they had never found her.

...

Kiui lingered in the back of the crowd. The boys and girls in front of her were cheering like crazy, as always. They rushed to the gym like clockwork whenever her younger brother started Kendo practice. He's talented, perfect, and kind. She doesn't blame him for being popular… Kiui clenched her fists and glared at the ground as she continued to lean back against the wall and listen to them calling out Masaya's name. The envy inside her grew, as she wondered why she couldn't be that popular.

"Hey! Kiui-chan!" Called out an annoying voice. She quickly pushed herself off the wall and cleared her bitter expression. She walked towards her friends, who were all grinning about something stupid. "We missed you yesterday, what happened?"

"Yeah, we texted you a ton but you never responded back. What's up with that?" Maki repeated, getting up in her face. She failed to understand personal space, like always. Kiui lightly pushed her away, making Maki glare at her as she checked to see if her makeup was ruined. The others laughed at that as they waited for her response.

"I was trapped under a mammoth so I couldn't check my phone." She wished she was joking. Everyone released another obnoxious laugh as Maki eyed her weirdly. Kiui walked ahead, rolling her eyes as the rest followed.

"Anyway, you missed Hana's fall! She was sitting on top of the slide when the earthquake happened and-" Kiui just nodded her head, tuning out of the conversation entirely.

This was her life for the next 3 months.

...

Ryou hoped for a miracle to happen. During their final hour, Kiui popped up and they pulled through. Yet now, she was truly solidifying that she's a normal, middle school girl with nothing to prove in regards to their experiment. He sighed, accepting his failure.

He had done his best, but it was time to move on. His experiment had failed. At the very least, Ichigo had found the two other Mew members. She was well on her way.

Kiui woke up worse for wear that morning. After her fist fight with Maki yesterday, she didn't wanna go to school and bump into her or the others. She at least wanted to let everything die down before they hung out again. They may be annoying jerks, but they were her only friend group. Without them she was alone. She'd rather die than be deemed a weird loner. But maybe she should die, after all that's what she deserves. Maki's words yesterday may have been harsh and crossed over the line, but Kiui couldn't say a thing because they were true and she knew that. Curling up underneath the covers, she tried to block out what Maki said to her and couldn't. It rang and rang in her inner mind.

"You're pathetic, Kiui!"

"You stand there, hiding away from Masaya-kun because you can't stand him. You're jealous, you're angry, you're the absolute worst! You should just die!"

Kiui jumped at the knock at her door. She sniffed quietly as she waited to hear who was on the other side. But she knew. Ever since he was adopted he always knocked at her door in the morning to wake her up for school. That didn't stop even after she started ignoring him.

"Kiui-nee…? Are you awake?" Masaya's calm voice rang softly, muffled by the door. "It's time for school."

Kiui refused to respond. Rinse and repeat, this is how their lives have been since Masaya started middle school. They used to be really close before then, but she fucked it all up like always.

"...You left your bag behind at school yesterday. I'll leave it here for you." There was a thud and pause. "Your breakfast will be on the table. Try to make it on time today."

Hearing the footsteps echo away down the stairs, Kiui just wanted the world to disappear and her guilt crept up once again. Masaya hadn't done anything wrong. She didn't know how it started, but day by day she started to resent him for merely existing. She hated him, and hated that she felt that way. She was a terrible older sister.

Masaya was a good kid, but that only made her hate him more.

...

She didn't want to go to school. Kiui debated calling her parents to tell them that she was sick, but she knew calling the school would cause more problems. The teacher would just end up mentioning her lack of attendance, then her parents would have to come in for a meeting and it'd be a whole thing. She would be late, but at least she'd show up.

Exhaustedly, she slammed her foot to the ground and it fell through the floorboards. She couldn't say a thing as her jaw dropped and screamed internally. Yanking her foot out of the floor in a panic, she flopped backwards on her bed. Normally a move like that would have her bed frame creak only a little bit, but much like with the floorboards, it made a noise before breaking to the floor. Kiui stared at her ceiling in disbelief wondering if she was going crazy.

This couldn't be happening. No way this could be happening.

Carefully, Kiui made slow, gentle movements to get up and off her bed, avoiding the new hole in her ground. That's when she was attacked by a searing headache caused by an uproar of sounds too muffled together to understand. It was as if everything in the world went off at once. Not knowing what to do, she rushed to try and grab a pair of headphones off her desk when her OTHER foot broke through the floorboards. Yanking it out, she tiptoed as lightly as she could to the other side of the room and placed them on her ears. They didn't help all that much, so she stuffed tissues in her ears as well. Only then, the sound kind of muffled. Kiu began panting. She didn't understand what was happening but she was scared. Her whole body shook as she cautiously looked back at the destruction she caused.

How was she going to explain this to her parents?! No, no. No, that's not what's important right now! She thought as she tried to calm herself and assess the situation. Maybe everything in her room was just super old or poorly made? That kinda explains it-what about her headache and all that noise she's hearing right now? Kiui remembered her fight yesterday, and how she hit her head extremely hard on the ground. That could be the cause! Concussions are a thing! She'd never heard of concussions having this kind of effect but modern medicine is still learning things everyday so that could be it…

Kiui took a deep breath and released it. Carefully, she got up. She applied very light pressure to her feet as she stared at them and walked forward. The floorboards creaked, but they didn't break so that was a great sign. She did her morning routine slowly so as to not break a thing. When she was ready and in uniform, her ultimate test was walking down the stairs. Each step killed her softly, and her breath would continuously hitch in suspense. Finally reaching the bottom, she cheered and had tears in her eyes. Now, all she had to do was get to school.

Opening the door made the noise worse. Yelping as she hunched over and grabbed the headphones over her ears, Kiui quickly stuffed more tissues in there. Again, that lowered the volume to a tolerable level, but Kiui knew she wouldn't be allowed in school like this.

What was she going to do?

...

"Yes, I understand Fujiwara-sensei. Thank you." Masaya bowed before closing the door. As he walked through the halls, he was hard in thought. Here he was again, making up excuses on why his older sister hadn't attended school today. She had left abruptly yesterday, too. When he arrived, a couple of his classmates were talking about a fight behind the school. The students seen involved were the kids his sister hung around with, so Masaya figured she was a part of it and was just laying low to avoid getting in trouble. Still, she wouldn't have to worry about this at all if she stopped acting out. He had no idea why his older sister had a sudden shift in attitude. He was worried and hurt in the beginning when she started ignoring him. Now he was just angry. If she was going to be this way he should leave her to face the consequences and tell their parents.

Masaya stopped in the middle of the hallway, looking down at the homework he was tasked to give her. He was quiet as he stared at it. He didn't understand why this was happening. A part of him was mad at her, yet there was this voice in the back of his head telling him that there was an obvious reason why she hated him the moment he entered middle school. And that was because he's-

"Aoyama-kun…!" He snapped back to reality at the sound of Ichigo's voice. Smiling, he forgot all his troubles as he turned around and greeted the flustered girl.

"Hello, Momomiya-san. How are you today?"

"I'm perfect! I-I mean I'm doing perfect-ly well today, haha!" Masaya chuckled at her usual antics. "H-How are you today, nya?" She recently started ending her sentences with that signature phrase. It was a little weird, but Ichigo was a strange girl. Used to her behavior, he now found her quirks pretty cute. Still, she slapped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment.

He chuckled again. "I'm doing okay today." He lied. Ichigo could tell immediately he was as she furrowed her brows. He forgot how observant she could be. Sometimes it irked him.

"O-Oh… are you sure?" She asked. "You can talk to me if you need to anytime! I'm always here for you, Aoyama-kun, nya!" Ichigo got closer to him as she stared deeply into his eyes. She really was a sweet girl. He gave her a charming smile and she blushed at their close proximity. Spazzing back, she apologized quickly for getting in his face and offered to help him carry his papers.

He politely declined, seeing as it was only a couple of worksheets, and she deflated. "Let's walk together. You have history next, right? I can drop you off on my way." She perked up at the offer and immediately agreed.

Planting herself right next to him, she was clearly over the moon and he smiled at her adorable nature. He really liked Ichigo. He didn't expect her to be so unpredictable and cute when she first asked him out. He wanted to know more about her. She made him feel nice and warm. He was his happiest when he was with her. After his year, he needed a bit of carefree comfort.

"Uh, Aoyama-kun?" She fidgeted. "Do you- Do you have any plans for this Sunday?"

"I have Kendo practice, but it's ending early that day." He replied easily. He was happy she was making the first move this time. After she asked him out first it was always him inviting her. It made him worried she wasn't as into him as he was towards her.

"Oh! Then do you wanna see a movie with me after?" She perked up, eyes shining. "My dad got these tickets from his job and it'd be a shame to let them go to waste! We can go and have dinner after."

"So like a date?" It didn't need to be said, but he liked teasing her.

She stopped and looked down at her feet shyly. Masaya's heart began to beat quickly as he watched her slowly gaze up at him and smile before nodding. He really did like her a lot. Masaya lightly blushed as he grinned and then continued walking, chatting about meaningless things. It was like they were in their own little world. The troubles with his older sister were quickly forgotten.

...

He may have given up on Kiui, but he still needed to return her school ID. Ryou was originally going to have Ichigo give it to her, but that would only raise questions about why he had it in the first place. Ichigo was stupid so he could easily lie to her. Still, it was just easier dropping it off at her mailbox. He needed to leave the Cafe for a bit anyway.

It was a pretty nice day and everyone was out. As he came up to her residential area, he saw that it was a pretty regular suburban neighborhood. All the Mew's had varying house's and were economically different, so it allowed a nice variety among the girls. If Kiui joined them she'd be on Ichigo's level. As he walked up and took in the colorful front garden, he saw that the door was open and rushed over to the collapsed figure in front. He was shocked to see that it was Kiui in an odd state. She had headphones stuffed with tissues and was clearly in great pain by the expression on her face. Quickly, he phoned Keiichiro.

Ryou's first thought was to take her to the hospital, but with the altering of her DNA it could cause unwanted individuals to start poking around. These could also be side effects. It'd be better for him to take her back to the Cafe and monitor her status. Waiting for Keiichiro, he heard her grumble about everything being too loud. Mammoth's had hypersensitive hearing due to their large ears. This would explain her headphones. He'd need to find a solution if her advanced hearing is hindering her ability to live her daily life.

"Ryou, what's happening?" Keiichiro ran out of the car and started checking Kiui's vitals. Relieved she was okay, he quickly lifted her into his arms and rushed her to the car. Ryou followed after him and got in the passenger seat as they drove off.

"She's suffering from side effects from the Mammoth's DNA. By the sounds of it, she's gained advanced hearing."

Keiichiro gripped the wheel tightly. "That means we can't take her to a hospital. What're we going to tell her family?"

"We can say that we've taken her to a private clinic then transfer her there once we've resolved this." Ryou responded easily. Keiichiro could tell that deep down though, he was scared. As much as he wanted to continue in his father's footsteps, Ryou was still a child who feared for all the girl's safety and wanted them to come out of this unscathed. Keiichiro knew that deep down he was blaming himself for Kiui's state. If he hadn't insisted on infecting her with the extinct DNA, she wouldn't be suffering right now from symptoms they can't control and have no solution to fix.

"She'll be okay, Ryou." He comforted him. "The first girl we've seen that was compatible with extinct DNA isn't going to succumb to it so easily. She's resilient, I know it."

"Yes, let's hope so." Ryou muttered as he stared intently at their patient.

When they arrived at the Cafe they set her up in a private room in their lab and Keiichiro quickly notified the family about her "hospital admittance". Quite the caring family, they freaked out over the phone and insisted on seeing their daughter. Keiichiro was currently trying to calm them down as Ryou checked Kiui's vitals. They were all over the place. The first thing he decided to help her with was with her hearing as she wouldn't stop complaining about it in her sleep. Since he didn't know how to alter her DNA further to get rid of this ability, he decided to create hearing aids that allowed her to control the volume of the world around her. He quickly got to work on those as he vigilantly kept an eye on her from the other rooms' cameras.

The girls eventually arrived to work at the Cafe, and Keiichiro informed them that for the next few days he and Ryou would be very busy so the shop will be closed for a bit.

"Is everything okay?" Lettuce asked, concerned.

"Does this have anything to do with the Kisshu and the Chimeras?" Ichigo asked, demanding answers. She was already on edge due to the news about Masaya's sister, now this?

"Oh, Ichigo, stop being paranoid! Enjoy this sudden vacation and use it to take your precious Aoyama-kun on a couple of dates~" Mint teased her, making the girl blush deeply.

"Mint-san is right. There's no need to be worried!" Keiichiro assured the girls with his usual charming smile. "Ryou and I will still be available, but we need to get a few things in order before we open back up. Until then, take Mint-san's advice and use this time as a pleasant vacation to go on dates."

"When will we be back?" Ichigo quietly asked, suspicious of the whole ordeal. Normally they'd warn them ahead of time if something like this was happening.

"Ah, it should take no longer than 2 weeks. We'll call everyone when we're ready to open up!" He responded easily. Due to his nonchalant attitude, she was forced to accept this answer.

"Oh, well, then maybe we should do something together while we're away from the Cafe." Lettuce suggested to the other girl's as they began talking amongst themselves, heading out of the Cafe while waving goodbye.

Keiichiro sighed a breath of relief. Normally, Ichigo would never confront him like that, but that just shows how odd this entire situation was. He didn't believe it was right to keep this all a secret from the girl's, but there's no point in filling them in until they've confirmed that Kiui will be okay. This would only alarm and scare them. They didn't need any more worries on their shoulders, especially since the team is far from completed.

When he returned back to the lab, he saw that Ryou was nearly finished with a small contraption. It looked like a hearing aid. Looking at it, Ryou explained that it was a prototype for Kiui to help her adjust to her advanced hearing.

"I added a turn to the side that'll help her alter the volume. Hopefully with this, it'll help with the discomfort and ease her." Getting up, he placed them on her immediately. He then turned it down and her disgruntled expression immediately turned to that of relief and she began to sleep peacefully. "With this, the shock of today should subside and she should be awake soon."

"Her vitals seem to be stabilizing already." Keiichiro noted. He then asked the question that was burning in his mind. "Are you going to tell her the truth when she wakes up? About the Mew Project and what we did to her…?"

Ryou stared at her before closing his eyes and nodding. "She may never be able to be a full Mew Mew, but if she's forced to live with her side effects like I am, she deserves to know the truth. Even if she hates us for it."

Keiichiro laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, saying "You should rest for now. I'll keep watch over her."

Nodding, Ryou left the lab and Kiui in Keiichiro's care. He could only hope that when she wakes up, she'll try to understand why he did what he did.

...

As Kiui stirred, she felt like her head was filled with thousands of bricks and immediately started gagging. A man with a comforting voice gave her a trash bin as she spat up bile and rubbed her back reassuringly. She couldn't panic about where she was as she quickly took the medicine he gave her because after swallowing she realized her ears felt itchy and weird. Warning her not to take them out, she felt around and was informed that they were hearing aids to help her. She failed to understand as she looked up at the unfamiliar man. He looked down at her smiling, and that's when the alarm bells in her head rang.

Where the fuck was she?! Who was this guy? How did she get here?!

Quickly, she launched herself out of her bed and the same thing that happened yesterday happened today. Her foot broke through the floor and not even Keiichiro could hide his shock from this development. As he gaped at the girl's strength, she squirmed to get her foot out before carefully taking slow and soft movements away from him. As Keiichiro stared at her in disbelief, he shook his head and called out for Ryou. Quickly, a strange blond teen rushed into the room and gaped at the hole in their concrete floor. Kiui froze and only stared at him, wondering how many more people were going to come rushing in.

"Did she…?!" Ryou uttered out and Keiichiro nodded. "Super human strength… incredible…" All the girls had different abilities in their human forms, but it was normally an increase in their gymnastic skills. Never having to do with their raw prowess. "By the looks of it, we need to find a way to stabilize this increase in power."

He turned to look at Kiui, who was staring at him with wide, confused eyes. "This happened yesterday too, right? Judging by the careful steps you're taking and your lack of reaction."

Kiui couldn't respond. She was too freaked out and frightened by what was happening. She woke up in a strange place, being taken care of by a strange man and now this guy was talking to her like he knew what was happening and found it all completely normal. She gazed at her surroundings and realized that she was being held in some weird science lab.

"Hey! Can you hear me?" Ryou snapped her back to reality as he walked toward her. Kiui tried to take a step back but stopped because she didn't want any more of her feet going through the floor. Roughly, he grabbed her head and whipped it to the side as he adjusted her hearing aids. "They're at normal volume. So then you were just ignoring me." He sounded amused and Kiui ripped away from him. She glared at him and he gave her a calm smile. She then realized how handsome he was and felt a bit embarrassed.

She shouldn't be embarrassed though! He kidnapped her. Was this stockholm syndrome already?!

"W-Why am I here?!" She tried to sound tough but instead her tone came out raspy and unsure.

Ryou's expression grew serious. He waved for Keiichiro to bring over some water and a seat for their "guest". Forcing Kiui to sit down, he refused to speak to her until he brought up images on his various monitors. They were DNA charts, graphics she couldn't understand, and some pictures of mammoths. It was really weird. The man named Keiichiro was nice and tried to ask how she was feeling, but Kiui wasn't up for small chit chats. When she continued to be unresponsive, he only asked if he could double check her breathing and she refused. He nodded and left her alone after that.

"Aoyama Kiui, age 14. Attends TK Academy and has a 3.0 GPA despite rarely showing up for classes. Lives in - district and has a normal family. Was adopted at the age of 4 and suffers from no health abnormalities." Kiui grew cold as Ryou stated out loud her private records. Was he stalking her?! There's no other way he could know this. "Your younger brother's also adopted and is the only one biologically related to you, but he was only brought into your family a couple years back. Odd."

She felt herself burn up as she yelled out, "Leave my brother out of this you psycho! I asked you why I'm here, not about my life!"

Keiichiro laid a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down. "I think it'd be best to explain everything to her before she gets more upset, Ryou. We don't know if her anger will have a further negative impact on her side effects."

Ryou nodded and rolled her closer to the screens. He then declared "Kiui, you're the only human in Japan to be compatible with the Mammuthus Primigenius. A creature I'm sure you recall being trapped under a couple of months back."

Oh, she didn't need to be reminded at all. Stupid thing still popped up in her dreams all the time. But what does that have to do with anything?

"Everything." Ryou responded, clearly able to read her thoughts from her expressive face. "When you entered that Extinct Animal Exhibit we were able to read your DNA and see that you were a match so we altered and mixed it with the Mammuthus Primigenius. The mix was partially successful and you've now obtained superhuman abilities. You have advanced hearing and inhuman strength. We're unsure how long this will take to stabilize, but you'll keep these abilities until the Mew Project is completed. We've brought you here to monitor you during this period and we're going to help you get used to your new powers. Once we see that you're able to control them, we'll let you go back home."

"... Mew… Project…?" Kiui could only mutter this as her brain melted. She couldn't comprehend anything that he said. This handsome guy was insane. Truly insane. No way did he think she'd believe any of that?! "A Mew Mew… like those Mew's on TV…"

She quickly launched herself up from the chair, screaming "You expect me to fu-" Both of her legs through the concrete floor. As she fell over from shock, the glow of the many monitors in front of her were blinding as she stared up at the image of the mammoth in front of her. That creature reflected heavily in her wide, disbelieving eyes.

...

A/N: Depending on how I'm feeling, I'll try to upload a new chapter every month. I gave the school a random name since they haven't named it in the reboot and it didn't have a name in the old anime either. Again, this story is gonna exclusively follow the old anime's timeline since I'm more familiar with it and cause of nostalgia lol.

Please feel free to leave a review or follow the story. Thanks!