Chapter 8- Clouded Future
"Wait, Pudding, really?" Berry paused, leaning on the edge of the sink of the kitchen. "You kissed an alien?"
Pudding giggled, focusing her attention on Berry, Lettuce, and the three red rubber balls she decided to start juggling (with only her right hand). "Kinda!"
"What'd'ya mean, 'kinda'?"
"I gave him a candy drop!"
Berry looked at her friend like she grew another hand, while Lettuce smiled gently. "She passed him a candy drop via her mouth." Berry blinked, her red eyes showing absolutely no comprehension what so ever. "Pudding had a candy drop in her mouth, and when Tart's mouth was open, she dropped the candy into his mouth."
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW, BERRY-BERRY?"
"Oh! Yeah, heh, now I get it!" Berry giggled as she smacked her forehead, which caused her blonde ponytail to flop around. Because the cafe closed for the day for an all-day cleaning session, the girls didn't need to wear their uniforms.
But still...all three were annoyed that they were the only ones present. Sure, Zakuro hadn't technically been released from the hospital, and nobody knew where Mint lived, but that still left Ichigo and Ringo. The two, however, were lucky, and Zakuro invited them and Keiichiro to come along with her when she went out to lunch.
Which meant that the three non-mentioned girls (and Ryou; somebody needed to make sure Pudding didn't destroy Cafe Mew Mew) were stuck cleaning. All day.
But breaks were often, thanks to Pudding's abilities to push Ryou over the edge and Lettuces abilities to make him stay calm, so the three Mew Mews found time to...you know, gossip.
"Anyway, Berry? How is Tasuku?" Lettuce asked, smoothing her blue-and-white plaid knee-length skirt. Her hair, unlike Berry's, stayed in its normal pigtail braids. Pudding also didn't change her hairstyle, since, really, Pudding could not be Pudding if she didn't look like Pudding! Or so she said.
The aforementioned almost-thirteen-year-old giggled. "He's great! Just yesterday, we went to Tokyo Disneyland, and it was so fun! But he almost got sick from one of the roller coasters. I think it was something he ate, he really doesn't seem like the type to get motion sickness."
Pudding nodded enthusiastically, her four small braids bobbing up and down. "Yes yes yes! He's so awesome on his roller skates! Which brings me to my next point. WHY ISN'T HE HERE TO HELP US?"
The bunny-cat-girl leaned backwards a little, since Pudding decided to go for the up-close-and-personal-glare, and had to struggle to keep from falling in the sink. "He has a dentist appointment! He said he might come by in an hour!"
"Pudding, stop scaring Berry," a young male voice reprimanded as the door swung open. "Hi Berry, Pudding," he looked at Lettuce, "Lettuce."
Lettuce turned a few shades pinker, and held her hands behind her back. Her green eyes swung down to stare past her white short-sleeved shirt, skirt, socks and shoes, and down to the tiled floor. "Um, hi...Ryou."
Ryou raised a blonde eyebrow, before turning to Berry and Pudding. "When were you saying Tasuku might come?"
"An hour, maybe more. I dunno though."
"Ah, okay." The young boss turned on one black-boot heel to leave, but then remembered something. "Oh yeah, almost forgot. There have been an increase in kirema anima sightings."
Lettuce blinked. Berry blinked. Pudding...picked up the rubber juggling balls she had forgotten about and dropped.
"Wait, what?" Berry asked, her hands going to her pink dress' waist. "More of them?"
"I'm surprised nobody shouted."
"Come on, Ryou, tell us more!"
"Well," he began, walking back over to the three of them. "People have seen some weird, big animals recently. More than, say, a month ago."
Berry looked at him. She really had to get as much information as possible, as she was a co-leader of the band of Mew Mews, and Lettuce was too busy blushing to listen. Pudding...well, they had long since given up on trying to make her retain valuable orders. That nine-year-old acted like a monkey with a short attention span on a sugar high all the time. "That's it?"
"Pretty much."
"Come on, Ryou, there has to be more."
"Other than you all, plus Ringo and Ichigo, need to fight them?" Ryou yawned, smoothed his blonde hair, and absentmindedly brushed his collar. "I guess it's a little dangerous because two of our Mews are...unable to fight, but hey, you and Ringo didn't help the original Mew Mews fend off the aliens. I think five can do it again."
Lettuce, Pudding, and Berry all stiffened. Recently, they'd stopped mentioning Zakuro and Mint, since it all was just too strange and painful. The older Mew Mews even decided that Pudding should stay away from Zakuro for a while, since she didn't know the details of what had happened.
Surprisingly, Zakuro agreed.
Even still, none of the present four individuals believed she did anything wrong. None of them could see Mint committing that crime, especially not to a girl. Besides, she was twelve years old!
No, even though it was suspicious that Mint ran from the police, they couldn't believe them.
They couldn't even consider that Mint was guilty. Never.
And yet, they still couldn't bring themselves to mention her name.
"Thank you for coming," Zakuro stated, eyeing her lunch. It was simple, just some yakisoba, but Ichigo said it was a good restaurant.
Keiichiro smiled softly at the oldest Mew Mew. "It's our pleasure, Zakuro. We're happy to see that you're recovering so well." Zakuro took a long look at her boss, who wore a simple crisp white shirt and brown pants. Casual, yet formal.
"Yesyesyes!" Ringo bounced, her bow bouncing with her. This time, luckily for Zakuro, a thick blue bow replaced the thin red one from before. Her outfit matched the bow; she wore a light green tank top with a white cloud pattern, short sky blue shorts, white folded-over socks, and black shoes.
Ichigo nodded, looking at her cousin. The one thing that annoyed Zakuro was that Ichigo wore the same thing as Ringo, just pink where the green was. I mean, I know they're cousins, but still, she thought as she brushed back her lilac hair. The model opted for a light purple sundress, plain, and simple.
"Umm...so, Zakuro, you're feeling better now, right?" Ichigo asked, a little uncomfortable, as she wrung her hands in her lap.
The older teenager let a small smile twitch on her face. "Yes, Ichigo, I feel a lot better." The wolf-girl felt even more like her old self (health wise) when Ichigo lit up after hearing that. "In fact, the hospital is going to discharge me later this week. I'll still have to go in for frequent medical check-ups, but I can go home."
Keiichiro looked at her, frowning. "Zakuro...you're renting an apartment here, right? To go to high school?" Zakuro stiffened. How did he know about that? "I'm not sure if it would be great for you to live by yourself...especially if you get worse overnight."
Ringo's eyes started to water. "W-what? You live by yourself?" Zakuro glared at Keiichiro, and Ringo took that as an affirmative. "That's so saaaaad! Zakuro! You should stay with me! Or Ichigo!"
Ichigo grinned. The thirteen-year-old had such a...kind smile. "Zakuro, you can stay with me if you want. We have a guest room, and my parents would be okay with it."
Now Zakuro felt uncomfortable. She liked living alone! It made her focus on her studies as well as her modeling career. But...Ichigo was her friend...plus, she was the leader of the Mew Mews. There was no WAY she would let anything happen to her friend.
"...Maybe..."
"Yay!" Ichigo squealed. "It'll be so fun! Ohmigosh, Zakuro, it'll be like one big sleepover!"
"Uh huh."
Ringo looked at her yakisoba, took a huge bite, chewed it, swallowed it, and then stared at Zakuro before speaking. "Hey, so...we're going to still fight the kirema anima, right?"
"Well," Keiichiro began, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "Yes, and no. Zakuro, it might be a good idea for you to take some time to fully heal. The transformations and battles might put too much of a strain on your healing process, so I think it would be beneficial for you to not fight for awhile. If you decide to stay with the Momomiya family, I want you to be with Ichigo at all times, or her parents. I want you to be safe, and I want somebody to be able to contact the hospital as soon as possible if an emergency occurs."
Zakuro glared at him, but fought the urge to say, "I'm fine by myself," since he looked genuinely worried.
As the other three then turned the topic to the latest movie they had seen, Zakuro looked down at her yakisoba, playing with a noodle with her chopsticks. A carrot shred slid out of her grasp, and dropped onto the rest of the noodles.
"Hey, Zakuro, look! A yakisoba stand!" Mint dragged her "older sister" over to the stand, looking at the steaming dish. "Mm! With carrots! They taste so good in yakisoba. I'm getting some; do you want one, Zakuro? My treat!" Mint hugged Zakuro's arm, looking up at Zakuro's face with admiration and happiness.
Zakuro sighed, forcing the memory out of her mind. That was the day before Berry became Mew Berry, when they were walking home from the cafe. Mint said she wanted some food, and then spotted the yakisoba stand. Zakuro shrugged when she asked if the model wanted any, so Mint ordered two. They ate at a nearby table.
Mint...there was no way she raped Zakuro. None. I mean, she...no, it wasn't romantic. Not at all, she just felt...really close to me...
Mickey whined, putting his fluffy paws up on the windowsill. He stared out at the scenery, resting his chin on the sill.
He barked, wagging his tail slightly. He missed Mint.
She would always hug him, and say how much she loved him.
Where had his Mint gone? He missed her so much. Her parents were no comparison.
The mansion felt...so empty...
Without Mint.
"Hey, Teruna!" Mint waved as she jogged up to her friend. They had arranged to meet outside Yama no Mieru Cafe, a small cafe with a menu similar to Cafe Mew Mew, but with less selections. Mint decided to wear a yellow three-quarter sleeved shirt with a cyan knee-length pleated skirt, along with white socks and orange slip-on shoes. A small yellow ribbon acted as a hair band, with the bow positioned at the top of her head.
Teruna waved. She wore a grungy brown long-sleeved shirt with moss green cargo pants, and her bushy blue-green hair fell down her back in her trademark single braid. "Yo. Saaya and Nanao are coming...but Nanao had to stop at the library on her way. They'll be here in like, ten minutes or something."
"Cool."
The other girl raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms. "While you're here and there's no conversation...Akiko, what was with your little freak-out yesterday? I mean, tomorrow's Saturday, and my mom needs to know who's coming before school. So...you know, you've got today to think about it." She sounded a bit angry about...Thursday.
Mint looked away. She didn't want to go to Tokyo...but... "I'm not sure. Teruna, how about I call you this evening with my answer? I promise to think it over, but I'm...really...well, I don't..."
"Well? Spit it out, already!" Teruna snapped, tapping her foot. "Whatever it is, you can tell us! Sheesh! What, did you kill somebody, or something?"
Wow, that wasn't that far off, Mint thought to herself, though she didn't answer verbally.
Before Teruna could shoot anything back, they heard someone's voice. "Teruna! Akiko! We're here!" Saaya sprinted up to the two of them, her red hair flowing in the breeze. Her normal yellow ribbon held it up in a style similar to Mint's, although the bow sat at the base of her neck, hidden by her hair. She had changed from her school uniform, like the others, into normal clothes. Her outfit consisted of a red halter-top dress over a skin-tight yellow short-sleeved shirt, and she wore orange flip flips. How she was able to sprint in those things, Mint would never know.
Nanao walked up to the two, her black skirt twirling between her legs. She wore what she usually wore, a black skirt and black vest over a white collared shirt, white tights, and black Mary Jane-styled shoes. Her short black hair fell to her shoulders, straight, and not a strand out of line. "Good afternoon! I'm sorry we're late."
"Aw, come on Nanao, we don't care!" Teruna laughed.
Saaya giggled, then looked at Mint. "Akiko, are you coming to Tokyo with us?"
Silence.
"Uwaaa! You mean you aren't?"
"I have to think about it some more."
Saaya's dark red eyes glistened. "B-but...it wouldn't be FUN without you! Okay! Teruna, if Akiko's not going, I'm not going!" She stomped her right foot on the ground to emphasize her point. Her flip-flop flopped along with it. "She shouldn't be here alone, that would be so sad! Disneyland can wait!"
Nanao looked quickly between her three friends, and then looked down. "I guess...I should stay home too, then...I can visit the Edo Tokyo Museum some other time."
The bird-girl sighed. She knew how much her friends wanted to go to Tokyo, and Teruna would be so much happier if her friends went with her and cheered her on at the tournament.
Since when did being Akiko become so hard? Mint thought as she watched Saaya and Teruna argue. It's almost not worth it to live here, in Moriyama, as Akiko. Maybe I should just, I don't know, turn myself in or something. Relieve my friends of the pressure.
Ugh. I can't believe I'm thinking so...unlike how I usually think. I need to be selfish again, she thought, smirking a little. "You know, I think I will go to Tokyo. I'd like to see...the Tokyo Tower. Go up to the top. See the view...like from a bird's eye, or something."
"REALLY?" Saaya squealed before squeezing Mint in a short, tight, friendly hug. Teruna shoved Mint playfully, and Nanao just grinned. "OHMIGOSH! This will be SO fun! I know! We'll hit all the shopping places one day, cheer for Teruna at all her games, then Edo, then the tower, then DISNEYLAND! Wheeeee!"
Mint then watched the three girls chatter about plans.
Like I'll be able to be Akiko there.
Maybe I should turn myself in.
Kumotaka clucked as the branch he sat on swayed in the wind. He surveyed the scene below him solemnly, it looked as if his darling little Mint doubted herself.
I wonder if she will be fine after this trip? He wondered mentally what could happen there. Would not it be horrible if...she was to be caught by the police? It would be so easy to tip her off to an officer. Or lead a reporter to her. Or have her stand by a picture of herself as Mint Aizawa, so somebody would see the similarities. Mint is not acting very thoughtfully right now. It is a large threat to her personal well being to go to Tokyo.
It would be so easy to exploit her weaknesses there.
He glared at her friends. "They know she has a secret," he mumbled to himself, this time out loud. Who would hear him? The branch he stood on hid him from sight, since it was leafy and pretty high. The sound wouldn't travel down to the sidewalk and cafe. "I wonder...what if she found out my secret? That would be...rather disastrous. Although, I should probably tell him that she's going to Tokyo, so he can prepare."
The Harpy eagle hissed at the thought as he edged closer to the trunk of the tree. "Everything would be ruined if she found out about me...all my hard work..."
"The whole plan would fall apart."
Number Two smirked to himself as he strolled down to Moriyama streets, his hands in his pockets. Really, he looked like any other pedestrian in the city, as he wore a casual suit. Only his hat and sunglasses made him look any different, but he made sure to exit from the Moriyama Eye Clinic to make it look like they were for medical reasons only.
Not shield his identity from Mint Aizawa.
Yama no Mieru Cafe was conveniently located across the street from Suzuki Books, a small, privately owned bookstore with a large number of books displayed outside on racks. It made him look innocent enough to pick one up and pretend to glance through it while watching Mint from across the street. He made the top of the book, which happened to be about the local trees, just under Mint's image, so he could see her even better.
He saw Mint giggle as one of the other girls, the redhead, made a joke or shared a piece of gossip. Whatever it was, Number Two didn't care. He just wanted to watch Mint.
Then, a small movement in the pine next to her caught his eye. The man looked up, and saw Kumotaka.
Kumotaka also saw him.
They made eye contact, and Number Two nodded, reaching his hand up to tip his hat towards the bird in a friendly manner. Then, the bird nodded, and took off, flying in the direction of the Shiroyama Laboratories.
Number Two then turned his focus back to Mint, who had received her pastry. Number Two couldn't tell which kind, since, you know, it was across the street, and his vision wasn't that great.
"Well, ya li'l' Minty girly, I see ya al'ri'. Yep, I see ya." He sneered. "'Nd when our plans succeed, I won' see ya anymore. 'Cause you'll lose. May'e 'ven die. Or else, someth'n' bad'll jus' hap'n. I dunno."
"But you'll def'nately lose. 'Cause I know someth'n' ya don'."
"Hey, sir?" Number Two looked over to see the owner of the store staring at him. "Are you going to buy that?" She sounded...annoyed. And a little scared.
The man laughed roughly, and tossed the book back at her before walking away.
She haughtily put the book back on its rack, dusted it off, and glared at his receding figure. "Creep."
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew; it belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida, Kodansha, and any other respective and legal owners.
Author's Note: Whew! Sorry about that! This chapter took so long…and it's about 3000 words, yet no action! Sorry! Number Two's totally awesome name will have to wait. Although it may not be that awesome…although I liked Sanishi and Yonsetsu myself. Heheh. Anyways, I had HUGE Writer's Block on this one, but I know what's going to happen now. I just needed a chapter to tighten tension, flesh out and play around with some characters, and just give some space between attacks. And figure out Number Two. I still don't have him all planned out. I know pretty much everyone but him. Grr. But after this, I think the action will pick up. I mean, the next day is, in the world of Flying Solo, Saturday. So yep... Yeah…so I hope the next chapter will go up soon. I'm not sure though. I have to finish other stuff, and school is going to start up on Tuesday (sob). Yup, and thanks to the people who have reviewed so far. You're a huge help. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 8, and please review so I know what you think!