MEW MEW METAMORPHOSIS! Chapter Eight: Getting Acquainted

Author's Note: BIG ANNOUNCMENT: You want to know why this story takes place about after episode 26 of Tokyo Mew Mew? Well, it's because I haven't seen past episode 26. You know who would really like to see past that poiny? Me! I'm saying this for two reasons:

1) These plot lines are mine and completely original, the whole thing. My friends sister stole my ideas after I told them to her and let's just say I wasn't exactly pleased

2) Anyone who can tell me where to get past episode 26 will have my deepest gratitude!

"Eh! You look so pretty!' Ichigo exclaimed, clasping her hands together in admiration.
"You do! You do! Na no da!" Pudding joined into Ichigo's praise.
"None of us look that pretty in the Café uniforms!" Lettuce walked up beside Ichigo and absent-mindedly threw her pigtails behind her back.
Kami (short for Kaminari) blinked unsurely a few times. "Umm...Arigatou...I guess." She sighed and stared up to the ceiling in desperation.
"She's not as pretty as Zakuro-sama!" Mint stood alone across from Zakuro and smiled.
"Maybe..." Ichigo turned to go back to work, "but I bet Kami-chan could be a model to if she wanted."
Kami left the five girls and walked over to the kitchen area of the Café. She stared at her silver and black uniform a moment before walking into the room.
"There very cute uniforms, Ryou-kun." She stood by the sink and picked up a dirty dish.
Ryou looked up at her, all the girls called him Shirogane. It was...new.
"But..." she put on a teasing smiled, "aren't the skirts a bit short?"
Akasaka laughed quietly from the counter where he was preparing a plate of tarts.
Not waiting for Ryou to make a comeback, Kami continued on, "at least they're cute. Just like everything else you make. I guess it is that way, with a designer major in college." She put the plate down, her smile gradually growing, "though, I won't ask why a teenage boy would build a Café and painted it pink. With, might I add, an obsession of hearts. Maybe you were trying to attract pretty girls."
Shirogane gave a long sigh, remembering why he and the girl hadn't gotten along very well in college. Even though she had been the only other one his age, their personalities were different. He knew Kaminari Mitsuki was a very intellectual person, even if she hardly ever showed it.
Kaminari set down the cleaned stack of plates on the table. She knew she was tormenting that poor blonde-haired boy on the inside. It was just one of her odd ways of showing she cared.
"Kami?" Ichigo entered the room quietly. "How old are you? I don't mean to be rude but..."
"Oh, it's okay." Kaminari sat down across from Akasaka, "I'm seventeen, going on eighteen."
"S...S...Seventeeeeeen!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Ichigo went into a small hysteric, "a college graduate, seventeeeeeen!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?"
"Is something wrong with that?" Kaminari blinked.
"You can't go to college until your eighteen!"
"Ryou-kun graduated at the age of fifteen. See, it's not that weird."
"Fif...fif...fifteen!" Ichigo kicked the wall in surprise, "my toes! Fifteen!?!" she ran out, holding her foot, eyes watering, "wait! You went to college Shirogane-kun!?"
Kami got up and closed the kitchen door impolitely after Ichigo. "What a klutzy girl." She brushed her hair back behind her ears, a scowl on her face. "Super heroes? You've got the Klutz, the stuck-up, the geek, the circus-performer, and the prettier stuck-up. "Kaminari muttered to herself walking out through the back door of the restaurant. "How are they supposed to save the world."
Ryou had a faint grin on his face as the girl left. Maybe she was right, they were an odd bunch of people-not what he had expected when he first initiated Project Mew. But still, they had remained consistent in defeating the enemy time after time. He just hoped they could keep it up.
Kaminari walked down the street. Autumn leaves fell down from half- barren trees around her.
Why do I feel so guilty all of a sudden? She thought angrily to herself, what I'm doing isn't wrong, it's my mission...but you wouldn't think so, right, Keiko-chan?
 "Excuse me?" a voice sounded from behind the wondering girl, "do you work at Café Mew Mew?"
Kami looked down at her outfit and stared at the boy behind her, he had dark hair and kind eyes. He looked fairly happy...
"Eh? Me? Yes, I'm newly employed there. Can I help you with something? I'm sort of off work right now."
"Sorry, I'm Aoyama, an acquaintance of Ichigo's."
"Ichigo Momomiya, I know her, not terribly well though."
"Could you give her a message for me? I would tell her myself but, I don't know if I can right in front of her face. It's sudden."
I can tell he cares for Ichigo very much. Kami shook her head of her thoughts.
"No, I can't. If you really care about this girl that much, then you should deliver the message yourself."
Aoyama looked a bit surprised for a moment, but he smiled after a second or two, "you're right. But the Caf's closed right now. I guess I can wait."
"Don't procrastinate too long!" Kaminari called after him, waving her arm.

Kami sighed and leaned over a near by bridge. The river flowed quietly under it, small waves lapping the sides of the banks in the breeze. "Look at me, giving advice. I suppose I have plenty to give, I've lived through so much." Kami pulled a watch out of her pocket and watched the hands tick together in perfect timing. "7:30," she said aloud, "7:30."

"Ryou, she's been out for quite a while, I think you should go check on her."
Shirogane looked up in surprise at Akasaka, he hated how persuasive this man was, he was always so darn nice, that you always did what he said.

"I'm only doing it because you asked so politely and I need some fresh air."
"And she might know something we don't." Keiichirou added as he watched the boy depart.
Ryou didn't have to walk far. The girl was in the park behind the Café, standing on the bridge. For a moment he thought someone was with her, but she was just talking to herself.
"7:30 was the time when they left me." Kami didn't notice Ryou a few yards away, she was lost in her own thoughts. "Oka-san, Oni-san, Onee-chan."(mother, older brother, older sister) Kaminari's eyebrows furrowed in anger, but tears ran down her flushed cheeks. "Why did you leave me all alone? Left me for dead. Did you really think they could take care of me in such fragile state? My grandparents died only a few years after, I was all alone."
A smile spread across the girl's face, though tears still streamed down it. Ryou arched an eyebrow towards her in confusion, finally calling out to her.
"Hey! Mitsuki! The Café is closing down for the night, you should probably go home!"
The girl looked up in surprise, her tears vanishing...

(Ichigo:)"And that was how we gained another comrade, Mew Kami. She's been staying with us a couple months now, fighting diligently by our side. There seems to be something sad about her...I still don't get that whole 'five rulers' thing, but I think I'll ask her some day.
Since Mew Kami's been with us I've seen another side of Shirogane- kun. Usually he's either really mean or really kind, but lately, whenever Kaminari is around, he's quiet. Just like the day I first met him. It's not an angry quiet like before, however. It's sort of a peaceful quiet. They both fight a ton though, I thought he fought with me a lot, he and Kami are at each other's throats half the time. To make it worse, Kami has moved into the Café. Since the college term is ending, her housing contract down at Tokyo U is expired. Akasaka (with the help of me!) convinced him to let Kami stay here for a while. I don't think he minds...too much...eh...!"