Chapter Fourteen: Inspiration for a New Song 用于一只新的歌曲的灵感

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately... like is any of this for real or not?" –Kingdom Hearts I

Ryou started to enforce the 'take Masha wherever you go' rule on Tuesday. I had to admit that having Masha follow me around wasn't as bad as I thought. He seemed to know how to stay inconspicuous, except for the occasional "Tweet" that came out of my backpack. Tuesday, the day after the audition, and the day before the people who made the cut were posted, seemed to dribble by, slower than molasses. That morning I explained all the tryout details to Takara, who was still indifferent about me trying out for the fencing team.

"You know," Takara said, "If you make the cut, you'll be the first girl ever to get on the fencing team."

"Really? So the team's always been made of guys…"

"The first girl on the fencing team." Don't get me wrong, the title sounded nice and everything, but it would give me a lot of expectations to live up to. And then there was that whole clichéd secret-identity-superhero ordeal. Well, it was secret as long as Kish kept his stupid mouth shut. How was I supposed to balance that in with friends, school, and (sigh) Kiyoshi?

I woke just as the Wednesday morning sun began to rise above the rooftops of Tokyo. Good, I have time to eat a bigger breakfast. I walked into the kitchen, surprised that everyone had gathered in there, looking at a piece of paper that sat on the table. Ryou turned when he saw me.

"Komori? Oh, I didn't hear you come in." he said nervously. I grabbed the fruit bowl off the table.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing." Keiichiro said as politely as he could, shooing me out of the kitchen. I beg to differ, if it has anything to do with aliens. I munched down on the bowl of fruit, nervously anticipating school. Ichigo walked out of the kitchen and noticed me eating the entire bowl of fruit. She gave me a weird face.

"You're pretty hungry, huh?" she said laughing.

"Huh?" I asked, and then looked down at the fruit bowl to see that everything was almost gone.

"Oh, um, I'm just nervous about if I made the cut for the fencing team. And I tend to eat a lot when I'm nervous." I lied. Ichigo just nodded and trotted upstairs. I checked my watch and noticed that it was time for me to go to school.

"Hey, Ryou, I'm leaving!" I yelled as I walked out the door, stuffing Masha into my backpack.

"'Kay." He murmured back. When I arrived at school, my stomach was full of butterflies (and fruit). Takara saw me step out of the limo and waved at me. When I sat down next to her she said, "Well, today's the big day, right Komori?"

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever been this nervous before." I said quietly. Takara looked around.

"It looks like the fencing team got the morning off." She observed.

"Probably because the list for new members is posted." I guessed.

"Yeah, maybe." She replied. I took in a deep breath.

"Okay, do you want to come with me to see if I made it?" I asked Takara. She pondered it for a bit, and then looked up at me with her usual smile.

"Sure, I'll be your moral support." She said. As we walked over to the gym, I was glad I wasn't alone. Well, technically I wasn't alone before, with Masha stuffed inside my backpack, but I think you get the point. Then I noticed the white list taped onto the front of the gym door. As we approached it, the butterflies in my stomach grew into giant moths.

"Here we go, Komori." Takara said with her hand on my shoulder.

I put my index finger on the list and scrolled down slowly.

"1. Tatsu Yama, 3

2. Ume Chidori, 7

3. Kame Suzume, 5

4. Botan Matsu, 13

5. Nami Kikko, 12

6. Katabami Kumo, 8

7. Komori Hoshi, 10

My name!

I couldn't believe that my name was actually on the list! When Takara read my name, she started jumping up and down excitedly. Feeling the giddiest that I had ever felt, I joined Takara in jumping up and down like and idiot. Then we started to shake our hands in the air and started making high-pitched squealing sounds. What am I doing? Then I turned and noticed Kiyoshi was leaning on the wall, watching us act like idiots.

"Presuming that you're not jumping up and down like morons for sadness, I'm guessing you made the cut?" he asked.

"Yes!" I said, breathless from all the jumping I had done.

"Good! I knew that you would." He said giving me one of his giant mysterious smiles. "Are we still on for Saturday?" he asked.

"Of course!" I replied, blushing.

"Cool, see you at practice tomorrow morning, then." He smiled and walked into the gym. Takara stared after him until she was sure he was gone. Then she stared at me, her eyes wide.

"He asked you out?" she whispered.

"Yeah." I whispered back. After I answered she started to jump up and down again. This time I put my hand on her head to stop her.

"I think we've had enough jumping for the morning, don't you?" I asked. She just laughed as the bell rang for class to begin. The whole day I was happier than I ever remembered being. I was so happy, that when Masha let out a shrill "Tweet!" in my backpack, I didn't even try to strangle him…like I usually did. When I got home, the whole house was deserted.

"Hello! Is anyone home?" I yelled. They're probably in Ryou's lab, or something. That's what I thought until I heard screams from upstairs. I dropped my backpack, hearing Masha "Tweet!" in pain. I unzipped my backpack and stroked Masha.

"Sorry, Masha." I apologized. Another scream echoed from upstairs. What's going on up there? If only I could see the hallway surveillance tapes…Wait…MASHA!

"Masha! Access the upstairs hallway surveillance cameras!" I pleaded to Masha. Masha made a weird buzzing noise and then projected a hologram of the hallways. I looked over each camera, looking for anything suspicious. Then from upstairs I heard the screams come more frequently with crashes between them. There. On camera 29. A giant kirema anima rat was upstairs attacking Ryou, Ichigo, Masaya, and the Aliens! The aliens were trying to hold it off, but by the looks on their faces, they wouldn't last much longer. I would've transformed, but I knew Masha recorded everything that it saw. Ryou, Masaya, and Ichigo were fighting it off with little success. Ryou had some sort of taser gun that he kept zapping the rat with, which actually just made the rat even angrier. Dang it, Masha! Go away! "I've seen enough, Masha." I whispered, knowing that I would have to transform.

"Masha, what I'm about to do, you can never let Ryou find out, understand?" I said solemnly. Masha tilted his head to the side and then gave me a "Twerk!" sound.

"I guess that's a yes." I said. I held my hand up. "MEWTEMORPHOSIS!"

Masha's eyes widened in surprise and he gave a frightened "Tweet!" when I emerged from the shroud completely transformed. I put my finger up to my lips.

"Shh! Not a tweet to Ryou, okay?" I asked Masha. He slowly nodded his head. (Or body, I'm not sure) I bolted upstairs, following the sounds of destruction. It didn't take that long to find the Kirema Anima. Kish noticed me as I darted into the room.

"We need some assistance, Mystery Mew." He said, shooting a bolt of lightning at the kirema anima, emphasizing the word 'mystery'.

"I'd be happy to assist." I sneered, summoning my Passion Sword.

"How dare you hit these people! For your evil actions, I will make you pay!" I said, starting to lunge for the kirema anima. But I wasn't fast enough, and it swatted me in the stomach with its giant paw. I landed on the ground with an "Oof!" A wave of pain washed over my stomach. I put my hand on my stomach, praying to a God I didn't believe in for the pain to stop. When I took it away, my hand was covered in shimmering crimson. Oh, no! I'm bleeding! I forced myself to get back up. I picked my sword off the floor and firmly grasped it in my hand. In my fury, I lunged at the kirema anima and stabbed it directly in the chest. It gave a roar and withered down back to its original size. Ryou grabbed my arm before I could launch myself out the door.

"Who are you?" he demanded. I leaned forward and grasped my bleeding abdomen. I don't have much time left; I have to get out of here!

"Ugh, I…don't think...it's really…eh, your…business." I gasped.

"Wanna bet? You used my machine to turn yourself into a Mew; therefore, it is my business!" He snarled. At this point, I had lost a lot of blood, and the room was starting to get blurry. Ichigo ran to Ryou and pried him off me.

"Ryou! Can't you see she's hurt?" Ichigo yelled. With Ryou distracted for that small space of time, I managed to fly out the open window at the end of the hallway. Ryou chased after me, and yelled something, but I was too far away to hear. The world was so blurry it looked like a dripping water painting. It was tough for me to make my wings to move. I couldn't hold them up any longer, and found myself falling towards the pavement. Everything went dark.

When I woke up, Kish was staring straight into my face. I tried to sit up; pain swept over my stomach like poisoned blades. "Lay down," Kish said quietly, "I sent Pai and Tart to get some bandages. They're also bringing that one guy."

"…Where am I?" I gasped.

"You're in a deserted alleyway. I followed you after you flew out the window." He snickered.

"It seems you made Ryou really angry."

"Does he know?"

"I don't think he does. But now he's starting to worry where you, Komori, are. So Pai and Tart are going to get some bandages to wrap you up. Pai's going to try to heal your wound, but I'm going to bet that other bat kid'll be able to do a better job." Kish replied. I nodded as Pai and Tart returned with bandages in their hands, aided by the winged alien that had fought with them in our first battle. He knelt over me and gently placed his hand above the sever. A bright light shot out of them that sent a tingly, warm feeling through my body. He looked down with a small triumphant grin painted on his lips. His face was unusually pale, his features nothing remarkable, yet I could tell there was something special about him.

"It's healed. But just to make sure it doesn't open again, we're going to bandage you up." Pai said. They lifted me slowly and wrapped bandages over the wound that had now turned into a bloody scar.

"I feel like a mummy." I chuckled quietly.

"You might want to transform back to normal before you go home." Kish pointed out.

"'Kay... Mewtemorphosis!" I nodded, transforming back to my regular self.

The winged alien's eyes widened in shock; he wobbled slightly as if he were about to faint. He probably never saw a Mew before.

"Hey, kid. Can you get Komori home? We've got some stuff to do." Kish said.

"It would help me if I knew where she lived." The 'kid' replied coolly as he tried to regain his composure.

"You can't miss it; it's the biggest house in the entire neighborhood." Tart answered.

"Here, we'd better hurry and get you home." He said, picking me up.

"Hey, I can walk, you know!" I yelled.

"Yeah, I know. But if we want to get you there fast, we're gonna have to fly, and even though you were healed, it takes the body time to regain the blood it lost." He replied, shooting into the sky with me cradled in his arms. In less than two minutes he gently placed me at the front door.

"Good luck!" he winked.

"Wait!" I called after him. He turned around in midair.

"Yes?"

"W-who are you?" I asked. He flashed a small, mysterious smile.

"I am the dark aid to the light." He said, dissolving into the air, disappearing. Well… that was informative. I gazed at the air where he had stood, shook my head, then slowly opened the door and walked in. Ryou was standing in the middle of the living room with his hands smothering his face.

"Ryou! Are you okay? I came in a while ago and I heard screaming, so I went to go find help!" I lied.

"Yeah, we're all okay. It was just a…never mind." He sighed. Ichigo and Masaya walked up to Ryou and Ichigo patted Ryou on the shoulder. Masha came up to me and snuggled into my neck. I laughed and scratched the top of his head.

"Thanks, Masha." I laughed. Ryou came over to me and started to pet Masha too.

"See? You warmed up to him pretty well." He said, the youthful twinkle returning to his eyes. "Yeah, Yeah." I shrugged running upstairs, grateful I had gotten away. I went up into my room, took out a pencil and pen, and began to write some ideas for my next song collaboration.