Chapter One
Mew Who?
"So Mew Anzu wasn't really Mew Anzu? That's interesting." Ryou said, folding his arms behind his head. When they had gotten back at the pink and white café that served as their base, all of them spilled the story about what had happened to their comrade.
"Very interesting." Keiichiro said. "When I injected her with the panda DNA, I didn't expect her to react to it like this."
"Will this happen to any of us?" Lettuce asked worriedly.
"No, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't. Anzu was a special project, so I made sure that what affected her wouldn't travel back to you." Keiichiro said kindly, giving Lettuce a smile that would reassure anyone.
"There's something else." Zakuro said, solemnly looking at the two gentlemen in front of her.
"That's right." Ichigo said quietly. " Mew Momokio said that there was another Mew out there somewhere. Do you know anything about that?" She asked them.
Ryou looked at Keiichiro seriously and Keiichiro gave him an equally serious stare. "No. Not at all." He said.
"Well then, I supposed she could be a naturally occurring Mew." Ryou said.
"What? What's that?" Pudding asked while doing a handstand on her giant ball.
"As you know, all of you girls contained a certain DNA sequence that allowed you to be fused with certain animals. The only explanation I can come up with is that this unidentified mew contains some dormant animal DNA. How she came to be like that, I have no idea, unless she is an alien, which I highly doubt." Keiichiro finished.
"An alien? Like Kish? And Tart?" Lettuce asked.
"No." Ryou said. "She could be an all new type of alien. But don't worry about it." He said. "Now all you guys have to be on the lookout for the new Mew. Listen in on conversations when you're waiting tables, and be ready for anything suspicious."
"Right! We'll find our friend!" Pudding shouted and began bouncing off the walls, literally.
"Go home right now girls, and be sure to get some rest." Keiichiro said.
"Yeah, none of you are of any use if you're tired. Of course some of you aren't any use when you're well rested either." He said, looking at Ichigo. Ichigo, however, didn't take the bait or reply to his teasing as she usually did. This immediately caught Ryou's attention and curious, he followed her out the door.
It wasn't until three blocks later that Ichigo noticed Ryou behind her.
"What do you want now?" She sighed, visibly exhausted.
"I want to know what's going on with you." He said simply.
"You want to know what's going on with me!" She yelled back at him, tears streaming unexpectedly from her eyes. "How's this? I just saw one of my teammates change into something else after saving my life! Now she tells me there's another Mew out there that I have to go find! It just keeps getting harder!" She yelled, her cheeks now wet and glistening with tears.
"I never said being a Mew Mew was going to be easy." Ryou said, his face blank of emotion, but his heart tearing inside. He positively hated it whenever Ichigo was distraught.
"I just don't think I can do this any longer." She whispered, tears continuing to flow silently down her cheeks.
Ryou, completely shocked, remained silent for a few seconds. "What's really wrong Ichigo?" He asked.
"Ryou…" Ichigo said, facing him "Ryou, Masaya's sick."
"What?" Ryou asked, a second wave of shock rolling over him. Ichigo knew how he felt about Masaya. Even though she didn't know how he felt about her, she had an idea of how he felt whenever she mentioned Masaya's name.
"Masaya's really sick. He has been for some time." Ichigo continued. "He's been to many different doctors, but they don't know what's wrong." She continued, sobbing. "He's in the hospital now, and has been for two weeks. I..I just don't know what to do."
"Umm, everything will be alright." Ryou said awkwardly, patting her shoulder.
"Really?" Ichigo asked looking into his sapphire blue eyes, wanting to believe him.
"Yeah, I'll have Keiichiro take a look at him." Ryou said, feeling a little relieved that Ichigo wasn't crying as much now. "You just worry about finding that new Mew. Leave everything else to me and Keiichiro."
"You know, you may be a pain sometimes, but you're a good person underneath." Ichigo said, wiping away her tears.
"I could say the same thing about you." Ryou retorted. "Now get on home." He said, and before she could reply, he turned around and walked back to the café. The sunlight glinted off his bright blonde hair, and Ichigo smiled. She had the best friends in the world.