Author's Note: When a character is talking to Ténèbres and their words are in italics, that means that the character is speaking Japanese and she doesn't understand it. Also, I'm not fluent in French, so forgive me if my French sentences are off a bit.

I hope to make updates a weekly thing from now on. I'm hoping to get this story finished so I can work on a sequel to "Musuko." Anyways, on with the story!

Verus Benevolentia: Chapter 2 - Suspicions

Ichigo sighs as she finishes cleaning the store before the afternoon rush was about to begin. As she walks to the kitchen to put up the broom, a lot of things went though her mind.

"Who was that girl in the boy's uniform?" she thought, "Why did she sneak into the café and why did Shirogane and Mr. Akasaka go after her? Not only that… What's going on with the aliens and why are we being attacked again?... OH, NO! I've been so worked up over this that I forgot about my date with Aoyama tonight!"

Her thoughts were soon interrupted by the sudden smell of smoke. Worry soon turned into panic as she sees the charred cinnamon buns in the oven.

"Buns on fire! Buns on fire!" Ichigo screams out loud.

Buling suddenly bursts into the kitchen with a huge bucket," I'll put it out no da!"

Ichigo looks down at Buling annoyingly as the water puts out the fire and makes her soaking wet at the same time.

"Thanks a lot," Ichigo says sarcastically.

"You're welcome, no da!" Buling accepted without noticing.

"… I'm going to go change uniforms."

Ichigo stomps off into the locker room as Minto and Retasu watch her pass by.

"Ichigo looks stressed out again today," Retasu remarks.

Minto sighs as she drinks her tea, "She brings it on herself most of the time. It's not like we have to work here. It is just a cover after all. If she'd just learn that, she wouldn't have to work so hard."

Retasu looks down, "I guess so but how else are the customers suppose to get their orders?"

Minto stays quiet for a second, "… How should I know? All I know is that you girls are covering for me and because of that, I don't need to work."

Retasu stares at Minto in slight disbelief, "… but isn't that kind of… ," she suddenly stops herself, "... never mind. I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"N-Nothing!"

Ichigo walks into the locker room where she notices Berry trying to get her hair brushed but seems to be failing to be able to straighten it out. Ichigo goes over and takes the hairbrush.

Berry turns around in surprise, "Ichigo?"

Ichigo smiles at her, "I did say that I was going to help you with your hair when we got back, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's get this hair straightened out."

A short while later, as if it was magic, Berry's hair was as it was before. She stares at it in the mirror as it shines in the lamplight and strokes it gently.

"Ichigo, you're so amazing!"

"It's nothing special. By the way, I noticed that you seemed especially panicked about it today, which isn't like you at all. Is there anything special happening today?" Ichigo aske while getting out of her wet clothes.

Berry looks down, "Actually, there is. Mr. Shirogane is letting us off of work early today, so I was planning to…"

She is suddenly interrupted as the door bursts open and a silver-haired, preteen boy jumps in and slides around in his rollerblades.

"Hi, Berry! Are you ready for tonight?"

Berry's whole face turns red, "T-Tasuku!"

"Yep, that's me!" He confirms as he gives her a hug, "So, are you ready for tonight's date?"

"Tasuku?"

"Hmm?"

"You know that you're in the girl's locker room, right?"

"Of course, I do. What's wrong with tha…?" He looks over and notices Ichigo covering herself. He then laughs nervously, "Hehe… Sorry. I better get to work."

Tasuku then leaves just as fast as he came in. Ichigo then starts getting dressed as fast as she can.

"I'm really sorry about that," Berry apologizes.

"It's okay. He's spontaneous like that and full of surprises. I bet that's one of the reasons why you like him so much."

"I guess."

"I've noticed that you always each other by first name."

"Yeah. We've known each other since we were really young. So, I guess it comes naturally for us."

"I think that's wonderful. It shows how much you mean to him and how close you two are."

"B-But, you haven't called Aoyama by his first name yet."

"I know. I'm waiting for the right time. When I do, I want it to be a special occasion."

"... I see."

Ichigo then changes the subject, "So, you're nervous about a date tonight?"

"Yeah… He told me that I can choose wherever I want to go but I'm not sure where. I'm afraid I might pick a place he doesn't like."

"If you're nervous, how about I join you?"

"What?"

"Aoyama and I haven't been on a date in a while and we were planning an outing for ourselves tonight as well. So how about we come with you two for a double date?"

"Do you mean it? It won't inconvenience you two or anything?"

"Nope. To be honest, I was so busy thinking about our current mission that I sort of forgot that I even had a date tonight."

"I see," Berry smirked, "You're just trying to save yourself from getting scolded."

"No! Aoyama would never scold me for forgetting. He's too kind of a guy to do that. If he wasn't, he would've gotten angry at me dozens of times."

Berry laughs a bit, "I was just kidding."

"Oh..."

"Anyways, we better hurry and get to work before Mr. Shirogane and Mr. Akasaka return."

"Yeah."

They both walk out of the locker room and head to the main café room. Ryou and Keiichiro come in with Ténèbres at about the same time. Ichigo walks up to them, noticing that the girl was keeping herself from looking at the rest of them in the eye.

"What's going on?" Ichigo asked, "Why did you bring that girl back?"

"She's staying with us for a while," Ryou answers, "She will also be working here."

"Does that mean she's a Mew Mew too?"

"Not exactly. The DNA she has isn't one of an endangered animal. I'm going to do a few tests on her to see if there will be any side-effects."

"I see…"

"I better get to the lab to get a few things ready. Keiichiro, introduce her to the other girls and make sure they all get to work."

"Okay," Keiichiro says as Ryou goes down into the basement. Keiichiro then turns to the other girls and holds Ténèbres' hand, "Don't be shy."

Ténèbres pulls her hand away, "Don't touch me."

"Sorry…, " He then looks at the girls, "This is Ténèbres. It's French, so it's pronounced Ten-eb. She's not sure of what kind of job she wants, so we'll have her try being a waitress for now. So make sure to guide her on what to do."

Buling stares at her for a while, "Big Brother Akasaka, is she going to wear that boy's uniform?"

"That was part of the deal to get her to stay."

"So, she prefers men's clothing?" Tasuku asked out loud. He then stares at her and gives her a thumbs up, "That's so cool!"

Ténèbres just stares at him with cold eyes but then her attention goes over to Ichigo, who walks towards her.

"Welcome to the Café Mew Mew team. My name is Ichigo Momomiya. I hope we can learn to get along and become friends."

Ténèbres stays quiet and then whispers to Keiichiro, "That's one of the reasons why I don't want to talk to anyone here."

"Hmm?" Keiichiro was confused.

She sighs with annoyance, "Je ne les comprends pas."

Keiichiro suddenly figured out the problem and then realized that he was talking to her in English the whole time.

He then talks to the girls, "It seems we might have a problem. Ténèbres can only speak English and French. So I guess being a waitress is out of the question. Looks like she'll be doing kitchen work and handing you ladies the food."

Minto frowned, "Are you sure this will be a good idea? She doesn't seem to want to get along with us as it is. It'll be even harder for her to work here with a language barrier."

"We have no choice in the matter. As long as she stays in the kitchen, I'm sure there won't be many problems."

Zakuro, who stayed quiet and the whole time, continues to stare at Ténèbres.

She soon breaks her silence, "I'm not sure about this. I don't think she should stay here."

Ichigo, partially shocked that Zakuro joined the conversation asks, "Why do you say that?"

"We don't know who is causing all these recent attacks and, all of a sudden, this girl, who most of us can't understand, comes in an infiltrates the lab and now has no choice but to stay. For all we know, she could be the enemy or, at least, they're working through her."

Berry shakes a bit but regains her composure, "I'm sure you're just over-thinking this. She's just a foreigner who doesn't understand what's going on," she then turns to Ténèbres, "Ne soyez pas offensé par ce qu'elle a dit. Elle est inquiète à propos de l'équipe (Don't be offended by what she said. She's worried about the team.)."

Ténèbres was slightly shocked that Berry knew French but keeps herself from showing it and looks away, "Je ne comprenais pas ce qu'elle a dit. Je n'ai donc pas de soins (I don't understand what she said. I don't care.)."

With that, Ténèbres goes into the kitchen, leaving the others to stare and wonder what just happened.

"We better be careful with her," Zakuro stated.

"I agree with you, Elder Sister," Minto replied.

"Why am I not surprised?" Ichigo asked, rolling her eyes.

"There's no need to be suspicious," Keiichiro said as he tries to lighten the mood, "I'm sure she's just shy and acts like that to hide it."

The clock suddenly chimes showing that it was 1 PM, the afternoon rush.

"We better get back to work," Keiichiro said as he went into the kitchen.

Ichigo and the others remained deep in thought for a couple of minutes but they all stopped once the first customer came in. Ichigo then puts on a smile as she met the customer at the front desk.

"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! How may I serve you today?

The green haze of the alternate dimension still filled the air as a young, alien man with shoulder length brown hair sits in the center of the room, examining the data he collected earlier that day. But he found it hard to concentrate on his work due to racing thoughts of concern and anxiety. He tapped his foot nervously as another young man with red hair in a loose ponytail, wearing a long, buttoned red robe with a vest over it, came over to him. The young man immediately gets up from his spot.

"How is she?" He asks, slightly concerned.

"She's as well as can be expected despite the current condition she's in. What I still don't understand is why you even brought her along in the first place. Our government didn't authorize us to leave. Now that means both you and her are in danger if we get caught."

"I know… It's just that... it's our first, you know? I'd be more nervous about it if she wasn't here with me. So nervous that I wouldn't be able to do any of my work."

"Hmph. Just be grateful that I'm passed my training to be a medic before we left or she wouldn't have been able to come at all."

"I am…"

"Then get some work done. My computer sources tell me that some of the Mew Mews and a Mew Aqua source will be at this location tonight," He said while holding up a device with a dot pointing at the spot, "I want you to go there, attack and take the Mew Aqua."

"I understand."

The robed, young man started to walk off towards his room. The other watched him.

"Torte?"

The man stops and looks back at him, "What is it, Crêpe?"

"Thanks."

Torte nodded and walked off into the darkness of the hallway and into his room.

About a couple of hours later, the customers started to leave Café Mew Mew. Ichigo and the other Mew Mews finished cleaning up and put the dishes in the kitchen while Ténèbres started washing them, still with the same cold expression on her face.

"Let's go, Berry," Ichigo said, "We'll get dressed and go on our double date once Aoyama gets here."

Berry smiles, "Okay."

They both walk into the locker room together. Zakuro stays out while the other Mew Mews and Tasuku to go in the locker rooms. Keiichiro finishes storing the left over cakes and pastries and leaves the kitchen.

"I'm going to check on Ryou to see if he's made any progress," he states as he walks to the basement.

Zakuro then goes into the kitchen and stands across the room, staring at Ténèbres. Ténèbres remains quiet as she cleans.

Zakuro then proceeds to speak to her, "Why are you here?"

Ténèbres ignores her and puts another dirty tray into the soapy water.

Zakuro got impatient, "Je sais que vous pouvez me comprendre (I know that you can understand me.)."

"… So, you can speak French as well. Are there any others that can secretly speak French that I don't know about?"

"No, just Berry and me. Now, why are you here?"

"I just needed a job."

"Then why did you go into the lab when you first got here?"

"… My stupid curiosity got the better of me. A mistake that I won't make again."

"So… you don't know anything?"

"Other than the fact that you all seem to take your jobs too seriously, there's nothing worth knowing."

Zakuro then walks out of the kitchen without saying another word and thinks to herself, "So, she doesn't even know about the Mew Project. I wonder how those two are going to explain that to her."

Ichigo and Berry get out of their café uniforms and put on their regular clothes. Tasuku once again bursts into the room causing Retasu, Minto and Buling to cover themselves and scream.

Tasuku yells with a huge smile on his face, "ARE YOU READY BERRY?!"

Berry blushes with embarrassment, "Tasuku, will you please stop that?!"

Tasuku looks at the other Mew Mews and blushes slightly, "Sorry again… but when I think of you, you're the only one I see in the room."

Berry's face softens as she gives him a kiss on the cheek, "You're so sweet."

Meanwhile, Aoyama was waiting outside of the café. But, instead of his usual smile, he was thinking about the dreams he had been having recently.

"Why am I dreaming like this again? The Deep Blue part of me is gone, so it can't be him. Could a new, dangerous threat be coming? Will Ichigo be directly involved? Will I be the cause again?… That can't be. All of the Mew Mews are in my dreams and the one crying is a girl in shadow that I've never seen before… Sad but full of hatred for everything around her."

Suddenly, the front door of the café opens up and Ichigo, Berry and Tasuku walk out. Aoyama then smiles at them to hide any concern that he was having.

Ichigo smiles back, "Hey, Aoyama! I hope you don't mind but I was wondering if Berry and Tasuku could join us on a double date?"

Aoyama looks over at them as Tasuku whispers something in Berry's ear, causing her to giggle. Seeing them and their first bonds of love was calming to him, helping him forget the worries that he had a minute before.

He smiles gently at Ichigo, "Sure, I don't mind."

Ichigo beams with joy, "Let's go then! I know a great restaurant we can go to!"

Ichigo skips off, humming to herself, while the others follow her but, unknown to them, they were being followed by a certain stranger…

To be continued…