Peaches and Cream

Yep. My muse is back. With help. Yay for Morgana! She is my backup muse and gives me ideas when I'm brain-dead. I think this thing would have died after the first chapter if she hadn't helped me. Also, just to clear things up if you were wondering, Momo's last name doesn't mean anything. I just modified my own last name so it sounded Japanese. Shapiro turned into Satiro. Yay. And sorry for the LONG wait between updates. I just had major surgery on my back, so as you can imagine, I wasn't exactly in a good place to write.

I think I'll let someone else do the disclaimer this time. Oh, Purin!

Purin: -back-flips into the room- At your service, na no da! Xanthera Onee-chan doesn't own Tokyo Mew Mew, na no da. But she owns Momo Onee-chan and Vampire Onee-chan and her other friends, na no da.

Me: I'm not going to put the translations here this time. You should now them by now.

As we entered the café I was once again bathed in the happy atmosphere of the cutest shop in Tokyo.

"Ichigo-san!"

I turned and saw the green waitress from the other day rushing towards us, holding a tray under her arm.

"Ichigo-san, you found--" She was cut off as she tripped over her own two feet and fell on her stomach, sending the tray flying in my direction. I was barely able to catch it and stop it from hitting me in the face. That was one time I was happy for my karate reflexes.

The girl quickly stood up and began apologizing profusely. "Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!"

Somehow I managed to get the words, "Hey, it's okay!" to reach her ears.

Ichigo patted the girl on the shoulder. "Retasu, it's fine," said. "It was just an accident." She turned to me and said, "Momo, this is Retasu Midorikawa."

"Nice to meet you," I said, bowing.

"You too," Retasu said, shyly. She turned to Ichigo again. "Ichigo, do you know where Purin is?"

"It's her day off, remember?"

Retasu gasped and bowed again. "Gomen nasai! I forgot!"

As Retasu continued to bow and apologize, I whispered to Ichigo, "Is she always like this?"

Ichigo nodded. "Yeah. You get used to it, though."

"Ah, late again, Ichigo?"

Ichigo whirled around to face another frill-covered waitress, this one in blue, who had her black hair tied up in bao buns and was sitting at a table drinking tea.

"Minto, you're not in a position to talk about not working!" Ichigo said as she stormed over to her coworker. "All you ever do is drink tea! I may be late a lot, but at least I actually work when I do get here!" The navy haired girl remained stoic and sipped her tea again, which made Ichigo practically explode. Luckily, all she did was steam. "Besides, while you were sitting here being a lazyass, I found our new companion!" At this point, Ichigo gestured towards me and stood proudly next to me, as if I was some sort of trophy. Which, for some odd reason, I was okay with.

Minto remained unperturbed as she said, "Well, duh. Isn't that precisely what Ryou TOLD you to do?" She looked up at Ichigo batting her eyelashes innocently. "Who would I be to interfere?"

Ichigo's face began to swell with anger when I stepped in to stop the impending explosion. "It doesn't matter, you did a really great job of informing me of the circumstances, Ichigo."

Minto narrowed her eyes at me and was about to respond, when we all heard a rather loud clank on the other side of the café. I looked over and saw a purple waitress serving a terrified customer. Without even having to look closer, I was able to recognize the face of the acting industry whom I worshipped. Which, needless to say, sent me into convulsions.

"F-f-f-fu-Fujiwara-san?!" I managed to stutter. "Zakuro Fujiwara, the very essence of perfect acting, is working HERE?!" Slowly, (which is very typical of me) I put the pieces together. "So…" I said quietly to myself, "I'm going to be fighting alongside my idol?"

Ichigo doubled over laughing. "Join the club!" she said, pointing at Minto.

Minto glared daggers at the red-haired girl. "Ichigo, I told you not to say that out loud in front of Onee-Sama!"

"But it's true!" Ichigo laughed, clutching her stomach.

"You know I don't like her in just that way!" She looked over at Zakuro, admiringly. "It's deeper than that."

I looked at Minto's eyes and the pieces clicked. "No way."

"Way," Ichigo said, wiping a tear from her eye. "It's L-O-V-E, lo--" She was cut off as Minto sent a punch flying in her direction. Thankfully, it missed.

I snickered at the girls' antics. This was quite entertaining. But now wasn't the time. I tapped Ichigo on the shoulder and whispered, "Could we maybe get back to the task at hand? Namely, explaining to me what my new job requires of me?"

Ichigo nodded and walked away from a red-faced Minto.

"You came here before, so you already know what the basics of being a waitress are, right?" Ichigo said as we walked toward the kitchen.

I nodded.

"Let's just hope that you have a good memory."

I laughed, "No need to worry about that!"

"One should hope not."

Ichigo bristled and jumped in surprise, shrieking in a pitch to make your ears bleed. She whirled around to face the speaker, a tall blonde boy who looked about seventeen. His face was, in my opinion, flawless. No chin stubble, no acne, no nothing. And he was wearing a black leather sleeveless top that revealed his muscular arms. Hot muscular arms.

But he was nothing compared to the man standing next to him.

He looked to be in his early twenties, and was wearing a fancy chef's uniform with a pastel green top and red scarf. His brown hair was tied back in a long ponytail that was hanging down almost to his waist. His chocolate eyes sparkled with intelligence, and the very air around him radiated with coolness. I nearly fainted at his charming smile. Unending sexiness was standing right in front of me and smiling at me. ME, the girl with freckles, glasses, braces, and a figure like some out of the Blair Witch Project.

I leaned into Ichigo, blubbering, "Who is THAT?"

"That's Keiichiro Akasaka. Now, if you'll excuse me."

She got up in the blonde boy's face and started screeching something incomprehensible, though I think I heard something about how she told him a thousand times not to sneak up on her. I assumed at once that this was the "Demonic boss, Shirogane," she had mentioned earlier. There was no way the man next to him could be demonic in any way, shape or form.

"Calm down, Strawberry," he said, pushing her away from him.

Ichigo's eye's burned. "I told you not to call me that! Three simple syllables! Ee-chee-go, is that so hard?!"

I was about to intervene when Keiichiro lifted my hand to his face and kissed it. I blushed a deep shade of magenta as he said in a gentlemanly voice, "I'm very pleased to meet you, Miss Satiro. I am Keiichiro Akasaka, and don't be afraid to come to me if you have a question. And please excuse them. Ichigo and Ryou get into these fights all the time. It's best just to let them be."

I managed to get my mouth to work enough to say, "A-alright. Then where to now?"

"Come into the kitchen and we'll get you fitted for your uniform. Please, come this way."

Keiichiro led me into the kitchen as Ichigo and Ryou followed, Ichigo steaming and Ryou acting like nothing had happened. As we entered the kitchen, a small pink blur flew in front of me and squeaked, "At your service, Momo!"

I stared at the pink, cat-eared fluff ball and squealed at how adorable he was.

"That's Masha," Ichigo said, now mostly calm. "He helps us out by signaling us when there's danger nearby."

"You'll need to get changed so you can start working," Keiichiro said as he handed me a small box. Apprehensively, I opened it, and my jaw dropped as I saw the frilly monstrosity that I was meant to wear. I could immediately that working here was NOT going to be fun.

Ha! Comedic cliffy! Don't forget to review, peoples! NO FLAMES! Flames will just fuel the fire going in my hearth. Geez, it's flipping FREEZING out here in Colorado!