xuri: Heyyy... anyone. I really have nothing to say, since it seems no one has reviewed, so I have no way of telling if anyone has actually read this. So please review. Keep the flame going, people! x3 If you like what you're seeing, let me know, pleaaasssseeee?

I doesn't own Tokyo Mew Mew. :3

Blend (chapter two)

..Defining Encounters..

"...chigo? Ichigo?"

She was pulled up from the darkness, slowly, surfacing back to consciousness. At first, Ichigo was relieved - the state of mind where nothing could be felt, seen, or heard was truly frightening. But then memories of the voices began floating back to her, and she felt stiff with terror; had they come back to torment her some more? What were they, anyways?

"Ichigo!"

"No!" Thrusting her hands out, she tried to push the disembodied voice away. Well, except there was actually a body there - living, breathing - right by her. She squeeked in surprise, her light pink eyes fluttering open. Ichigo's eyes widened.

"Sh-shirogane!"

"Yeah, that's me," The blonde said calmly, letting go of her shoulders. Ichigo almost lost her balance and fell back down, but caught herself just in time.

Sitting up straight, she inquired, "Uhm, What are you doing out here?"

"Research," Ryou replied simply, shrugging his shoulders. He glanced over his shoulder with a frown, and then turned back to Ichigo, "What about you? I don't seem to recall you coming here that often..."

"Well... uh..." Blinking, Ichigo tried to remember why she had come to Inohara in the first place. No real reason stuck out to her. Then she remembered her cellphone, and how she had called Masaya, and then come here, with no where else to go... "I don't really know, I guess. I just stumbled over this place and decided to wander around..."

Nodding, Ryou seemed to accept that. He was silent for a moment, his aquamarine eyes lingering on the girl. Finally, he spoke up again, "Ichigo, were there aliens out here?"

"What?" Ichigo cried in disbelief. Aliens? They were gone, weren't they? What did Ryou mean? "No! What, why? Did you find something out? Did they come back? Are--

"No, no!" Hurriedly, he shook his head, trying to calm the panicked girl down. "There shouldn't be any aliens, Ichigo. I was just wondering..." He leaned forward, grabbing the tip of her cat ear, "...Why you were transformed."

"Kyah!" She knocked his hand away angrily, jumping to her feet as if to kick or slap him for touching her ears agai- Wait. Ears?

On instinct, her hands flew up to her head, forgetting all about Ryou's little poke. There they were - a pair of large, noticeable cat ears poking up from her head. Ichigo looked down at herself - she was in her pink Mew uniform. She caught sight of her tail from the corner of her eye. Ichigo had transformed. But why? She had been running. Running away from all those voices. And then, poof, she was Mew Ichigo...

"I can fight... I can!"

Ichigo had a blank look on her face. No one had been there... So... Who was telling her to fight? They sounded so much like them, like the other Mews...

"Ichigo, what happened?" Ryou asked quietly after standing to his feet as well. In a bit of a daze, Ichigo looked over at him, as if considering whether she should share it or not, and then nodded, staring back at the ground. She explained it as clearly as she could, even though the details seemed fuzzy and rushed to her the whole way through. Just recalling the events, and the things those voices kept saying, made her head hurt. Not understanding these things, even afterwards, just made her feel even worse. Once she was finished, it was completely silent.

"So... You heard the voices of the other girls?"

Ichigo nodded, sniffling a little bit.

Ryou paused, looking up at the sky for a moment. Then, turning back to Ichigo, he narrowed his eyes, "Are you sure you weren't just imagining it? I mean, the girls are - "

"What?" She stared at him in disbelief. How could he not be taking her seriously at a time like this? "What? Are you trying to say you think I'm crazy? I am not crazy, Shirogane! I really, really heard them!" Ichigo shouted, stomping her foot for emphasis.

"I never said that."

"You were implying it!"

"You assumed that I was implying it. Maybe I wasn't."

"Grr! You're sooo frusterating, Shirogane! Can't you be serious for once?"

Ryou chuckled. "I know you're not crazy, Ichigo," He said simply, a smirk still on his face. It faded after a minute, to show the transformed girl that he at least took some of this seriously. "So... what now? You have no idea who was talking to you or what they were trying to tell you, if anything at all. We know it couldn't have been the girls... And that's it. I don't have any idea where to go from there."

Nodding sadly, Ichigo looked down at the ground. "...I don't know..." She murmured to herself. It had been so scary... She had been so afraid. The voices and the panic were gone now, but... What if they came back? What was Ichigo supposed to do - try to defend her life, or run around until she knocked herself out again?

She wrapped her arms around her shoulders, and shivered. Only now did Ichigo notice how dark it was - how long had she been lying there, anyways? - and how cool it had become outside, especially in the forest. Her current outfit wasn't exactly warm, either. The girl wasn't going to say anything, but Ryou noticed almost right away.

"It's getting late. You should be heading home," He nodded, turned, and then added, "I'll walk you to the Cafe, if you want."

Normally, Ichigo might have snapped at him or become suspicious of his courteous behaviour. But right now, she really did want to go back home, even if it meant having to put up with Ryou for a little while. Nodding, the pink-haired cat girl started to walk in his direction, de-transforming as she did so. As much as her brain told her to worry and try to analyze the situation, right now all she wanted to do was go to sleep.

The two wandered out of Inohara Park and back down the street in complete silence. Ichigo was completely distraught, and seemed to fidget uncomfortably as she walked. Ryou, as usual, was impossible to read as he stared blankly ahead. The silence became eerie, even more so in the complete dark, and she didn't want to occupy herself with only her thoughts. They were depressing enough as they were.

"...Shirogane?" Ichigo mumbled quietly, staring down at the ground.

"Yeah?"

"..." She was completely quiet for a little bit, before turning to look up at him. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink, from the cold, or... "Thank you, Shirogane. I probably should have said that earlier..."

"It's not a problem," Ryou shrugged simply, looking down at her only briefly as they continued walking, "I know how girls are with the dark. You'd probably see a tree or something and start screaming about it until your cat ears popped out. I wouldn't be surprised if you fainted again..."

Ichigo nodded slowly. "Yeah..." She blinked, and then frowned at him. "Hey! What is that suppo-"

The blonde haired boy cut her off as he gave her a little pat on the head. "Slow as ever, Ichigo." She instinctively shut her eyes tightly until he pulled his hand away. "Here we are - the cafe."

Opening her eyes again, Ichigo saw that they were indeed stopped infront of the cute, pink building. Even in the dark it seemed to have a happy look, if a bit less noticeable than before. A pang of guilt and sadness suddenly overwhelmed her, so she turned away. What's with me today? It's just a cafe... It's not like I'll never get to see it again. Even so, she didn't want to look at it. Not right now.

"Do you want to come in? Have a hot chocolate, or something?"

Snapping out of her mini-funk, Ichigo turned to Ryou. She shook her head a bit drowsily. "No, it's fine... I think I'm just going to go home."

"Alright," Ryou replied, nodding towards her, "Have a good night, Ichigo."

The droopy-headed girl nodded, and turned to start walking down the street. As soon as she got home, she would plop down on her bed, bundle up in her covers, bury her head in her pillow, and fall into a nice, deep sleep... Ichigo sighed dreamily. Mm. Sleep.

"...Hey, Ichigo?"

"Huhh?" She mumbled in reply, looking back over at Ryou, who was looking directly at her. He paused for a while before lifting his hand and pointing in the opposite direction.

"You're going to wrong way. You were going home, right, Strawberry?"

Ichigo stared at him. It took her a while to process what he was saying. "...Oh. Right." She smiled weakly and turned around, heading off the other way. I guess I needed sleep even more than I thought...

--

Instead of fluffy-castle dreams with Masaya in them like Ichigo had wanted, she got nightmares that night. Dark, creepy, foreboding nightmares. They came, one after another, until she sat upright with a jolt, sweat covering her entire body. The worst dream, the one that rang the clearest in her memory, came very last. Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro and Berii... All of them were in it. They had come back, but they weren't themselves. Every one of them had turned into a monster, chasing Ichigo and chanting out her name. Fight, Ichigo... FIGHT! But she couldn't fight back. She couldn't hurt them... not her friends...

Needless to say, Ichigo was a complete wreck the next day. Cherri and Roxi could barely get a few words out of her, let alone an explanation for her mopey behaviour. But Ichigo knew. Even though she wouldn't say anything, she knew how terrified she was right now. Battling had been one thing - a completely different thing, in fact. Having to battle something you couldn't see, couldn't find, even something you didn't even know whether you were supposed to fight or not - it left Ichigo with a confused, sick feeling in her stomach. Worst of all, she didn't know how to make any of it go away.

I guess I got my wish, she thought bitterly to herself, several times throughout the day. It was hard to pay attention again. Her mind kept wandering, making up scenarios and trying to solve them, trying to figure out what was going on. Nothing came to her. For the last block of the day, she had Science - it didn't really matter to her. Ichigo would just get distracted, no matter what the subject happened to be.

"Miss Momomiya," Ichigo looked up to see many faces turned towards her, including Mrs. Kazuhawa, who was currently speaking, "How nice of you to join us. Please take a seat."

It took her a little while she realize she was late for class. Even her sense of time had slipped her by. Shaking it off, she nodded, and quickly stalked off to sit down and open her text and notebooks. For the sake of her grades, Ichigo made something of an effort to pay attention to the notes that Mrs. Kazuhawa was writing down... but her attention began to slip again.

What does it mean? Will my nightmare come true? Are those voices able to harm me, or are they really just my imagination? Were they trying to get me to transform? Why? Thinking that hard made Ichigo's head hurt, so she tried looking back up at the notes. Mrs. Kazuhawa was gone - instead, there were words written neatly across the whiteboard in blue felt, obviously expected to be copied down. Sighing, the girl took out a pen and started scribbling them into her own notebook.

"Neh, Ari-chan! You're so pale..."

"Hm, really?" Picking up a conversation, Ichigo stopped writing and listened. Not that it was any of her business. They weren't whispering or anything, though, so she figured she wasn't really intruding. "I think I've just always been like that... Runs in the family, you know?"

"Not really," Ichigo saw the girl who was speaking give a little shrug, "But, oh well. You must burn really easily, right?"

"No, never, actually."

"Wah! You're sooo lucky, Ari-chan!" Completely forgetting her attempt at keeping low-profile, Ichigo was now staring directly at the two as they continued chatting, without the teacher in the room. One of them she didn't recognize or know; the other one she remembered as the 'new-girl'. She'd never had a chance to speak with her yet. "I'd love a nice tan, but I always get those horrible sun burns. Worst of all, it just fades back to normal after it's all healed!" The girl paused, and then added, "Are all the people from Kyoto like that?"

Ichigo was still tired, and disoriented from all that was going on. "...Kyoto...?" She wondered aloud, without really realizing it.

"Uh-huh, Kyoto. That's where I transferred from," Jumping slightly in her seat, Ichigo looked up to see the blue haired girl standing up, facing her, "That was already explained. Weren't you paying attention?" She put a hand on her hip.

"Er," Ichigo still appeared a bit bewildered that she was suddenly being spoken to, "Well... I thought I was... But maybe... Well, I didn't mean to say - "

"Whatever," Waving it off hurriedly, she sighed, "It doesn't really matter. Even though I'm stunned that you were able to 'doze off' during my entrance, if that's what you were doing..."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. "Uhm... You're Ari, then, right?" Her voice sounded plainly uncertain. What did this girl expect her to say?

"Yes, that would be me," Ari dignified it with a brief nod, "Chiyako Ari, transfer student from Kyoto. Just in case you forgot already. And, you're Momomiya Ichigo."

"Urm, yeah," She nodded slowly and blinked. How did she already know her name? As far as Ichigo could remember, they'd never been introduced before... Gah. Glancing up at her, Ichigo saw her green eyes, specked with gold, staring at her intensely. There was no wry smile on her face, as there had been before, but the leer seemed to pierce right through her mind. It made the hairs on her neck stand upright. Ari paused, and opened her mouth to say something, before Mrs. Kazuhawa stepped back into the room.

"Please go back to your seats," The woman acknowledged coolly, and proceeded to erase the notes to put up new ones. Ichigo flinched.

Well, so much for better grades...

--

And, once again, Ichigo managed to accomplish absolutely nothing. Except stress herself out, and possibly be causing a massive headache. By the time she left school, she was completely wiped out, and had a very hard time standing on her own to feet. Home. Home. I want to go home, she kept telling herself, stifling a little bit of a yawn as she walked away from the school yard.

"Heyy, Momomiya!"

Voice? Ichigo started at the sound. The part of her that was at least half-awake reminded her that none of the girls called her 'Momomiya', so it probably wasn't the 'voices' again. Still, she couldn't help but look around in a bit of panic.

The only other person around was the blue haired Ari, who was waving and approaching her. Ichigo sighed in relief.

Still... strange...

"Momomiya? Are you in there?" The red haired girl jumped in surprise as Ari suddenly appeared infront of her. Her mind must be wandering more than she realized.

"Eheh... Yeah." Ichigo smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. Wait... Why is she talking to me?

"Well, now that we've been introduced, I just thought I might get to know you," Ari ran a hand through her hair, shrugging coolly, and then looked down at the uniform she was wearing. "...These are so plain. Don't you get sick of them?"

"Er..." Sweatdropping, Ichigo shook her head nervously. She had a feeling that the school uniform wasn't the topic on hand right now. "Not... really. You just get used to them after a while,"

"Hm. How disapointing," She replied airily, glancing up at the sky, "Anyways. Want to take a walk and chat, or something? I have a ton of time to spare."

"Oh. Yeah. Sure," Truthfully, the only thing Ichigo wanted to do was go home. Maybe take a nap (cat nap?), or laze around in her pyjamas. But Ari was new to the school, even to this city, and Ichigo decided it would be good to be kind towards her. She was probably just looking for friends. Although, as she looked at Ari now, Ichigo could hardly see her as the type to be desperate for 'friends'.

"Great. Come on, I know some great stores we can stop by on the way, too," With that, she started walking, head up high. It took Ichigo a moment to catch on, and she followed quickly behind. "Sooo, what kind of things do you do in your spare time?"

"Uhm, well, I go shopping, sometimes, but only if I have money... And, I used to have a part time job, but that-"

"Ohh? Really?" Ari seemed to take interest in this right away. Ichigo thought it sounded a little bit forced. "What kind of job?"

"I worked at a Cafe..." Ichigo blinked. No one ever seemed to think her job was interesting, even Moe or Miwa. They just passed it off as something normal and unimportant. After a moment, she added, "As a waitress."

"Wow. What Cafe was it? I think a part time job is just what I need... You never can have too much money." She smiled mischieviosly, smiling walking at a casual pace.

The strawberry-haired girl gave a tiny sigh. It was depressing just to say. "The owner actually closed it down a while ago... but... It was 'Cafe Mew Mew'. It was in this really cute pink building, and the waitresses all got to wear these cute uniforms, with these really adorable shoes, and the cakes were really good..." Ichigo fell silent, feeling as if she could cry. So much had gone on there.

She really did miss it.

"Cafe Mew Mew... Cafe Mew Mew... Hum, that sounds familiar, somehow," The other girl pondered aloud, seemingly oblivious to Ichigo's sorrows, "Umm... Oh! I remember now!" She smacked her fist down into her palm dramatically, causing Ichigo to jump. It looked like a light bulb had gone off in her head. "Those girls that fought those alien things! They were...Mew... Tokyo Mew Mew!"

"Oh... Right. Them," Ichigo said shortly with a shrug. Still, she was a bit surprised - some people here still talked about it, but only a little bit. What were the chances that someone from Kyoto would know about, and still remember, her and the other girls...?

With a broad smile on her face, Ari continued chattering on, even though Ichigo wished she wouldn't. "Tokyo Mew Mew! They were so awesome... I wonder what happened to them? They were all so pretty, and powerful, and had these cute little outfits... Infact..."

Pausing, Ari looked over at Ichigo, a grin lingering on her lips. Ichigo, herself, wasn't paying much attention - half because she didn't want to depress herself over her old life of excitement, and half because she was sure she'd start stuttering on turn red if she tried joining in the conversation. Not that it mattered.

"... One of them looked a lot like you, Momomiya."

"Nehh?" Her eyes widened and she looked up at Ari in shock. Then, realizing how bad that would look for her, she quickly waved it off with a smile. "R-really? Wow, what a coincidence! One of the...urm... Mew Mews, looking just like m-"

"I knew it! Heyyy, you don't have to hide it from me! I won't tell a soul, I promise," She grinned, tracing a large 'x' over her heart. Ichigo appeared to want to say something else in retort, but was quickly cut off as the other girls nudged her in the shoulder. "So, what was it like, Momomiya? Why aren't you fighting any more? Who are the other girls? What are they doing? Did the Cafe close down because the aliens aren't here anymore? Are you still fighting crime on the street as a Mew Mew?"

"Um, I never said I -"

"I watched you guys on TV all the time," Ari cut her off quickly. Ichigo was having a hard time here - a sweatdrop appeared on her head. She was barely able to squeeze a word in sideways. "You fought with such style! I doubt the news coverages did you any justice, though... They did focus on a lot of those monsters though. Figures." Giving a little shrug, Ari heaved a sigh, before continuing on in a hurry, "I couldn't help but notice some little glimpses of those... Aliens. I always thought one of them was a little bit cute... What was his name again?" A light blush appeared on Ari's cheeks, and she tilted her head in an effort to hide it. "Ke...Ki...Kis-"

"Kishu?" Ichigo cried in disbelief, forgetting her 'low-profile' plan, "You... think Kishu's cute? How could anyone think that Kishu-"

"Oh, but don't you agree?" The two stopped walking then, Ari looking over at Ichigo curiously. Even though she was still shocked and a bit disgusted by Ari's claims... Ichigo couldn't help but wonder where they were. She didn't see any stores around. It looked a lot like an alley. Then again... "Hmm. How strange... I really thought you were in love with him, Momomiya."

Ichigo twitched. "WHAT?" She exploded, throwing her arms out. Her face was burning - what was this girl talking about? "What-- how-- Why would you ever think that? Ew! Ew-Ew-Eww! I'm in love with Aoyama-kun! Aoyama-kun! Not - no - wah!" Ichigo was practically flailing by now, trying to use every possible phrase to indicate there was no truth to the nonsense Ari was saying. Where would she get an idea like that? More importantly, why would she actually believe it?

While it might seen like an overreaction, the statement seemed to really send Ichigo into a chibi-panic. She was obviously very worked up over it. Only after a few moments of Ichigo-freak-out, she noticed how deadly silent it had become. Ari had acknowledged the statement with a small nod, but was staring intently towards Ichigo, her eyes absent of thought. She doesn't... believe me? Ichigo looked at the girl strangely. Why...?

"Oh! The store I like is just around the corner! Wait here, okay? I'll be right back," Ari suddenly said, and hurried off down the pathway before Ichigo could object. She fell silent, and shrugged to herself. That had been a little bit awkward, anyways. A little time to herself would give Ichigo the space to calm down. No one had ever accused her of something like that before... Maybe she was just reading too much into it. Still, was it just her... Or did Ari seem to actually care about her reaction?

After pondering to herself for several long moments, Ichigo noticed that Ari hadn't returned yet. Hadn't she said 'be right back'? It was possible that she was getting carried away with her shopping... Or she was bored with Ichigo and was trying to slip away from her. After waiting a few more minutes, she peered around the corner, and started to walk in the direction that Ari had gone, looking around curiously.

"Wonder where she went..."

As the girl paused to glance around another corner, something grabbed her from behind. Ichigo tried to scream, but a hand closed tightly over her mouth, another arm snaking tightly around her neck with a sai in hand.

"Bye-bye, Momomiya Ichigo," Ari's voice whispered in her ear.

--

Next Chapter:

There's a new threat, and Ichigo has to face her all alone. Even if she's able to barely skim death once, how long can she keep it up? She's still a Mew, but her powers can only do so much... And with all the other girls scattered throughout the world, what options does this leave her?