TEARS FOR THE LOST

Newmew: Dude I gotta rest up for a party tomorrow!

Kisshu: 0-o why wasn't I invited

Newmew: …

Kisshu: YOU ALL HATE ME

Ichigo: Yup.

Newmew: You're just pissed off because of what Kisshu's gunna do to you in the next couple chaps.

Ichigo: N-NO! THAT'S N-N-NOT EVEN IT!

Newmew: hehehehe liar.

Kisshu: ?

Newmew: you'll see…. Mwahahahahaha

Kisshu: NEWMEW4YOU DOES NOT OWN TOKYO MEW MEW BECAUSE SHE WOULD HAVE KILLED MASAYA IN THE FIRST EPISODE!

Newmew: oh ya that sounds like ice cream on a cloud…

Ichigo: …

Kisshu: HA YOU DIDN'T DENY IT YOU REALLY DO HATE HIM!

Ichigo: no no no no um….

Newmew: ahahahaha ok on with the story…

Chapter 12~ The hot spring

Ayuta opened her eyes sleepily. The couch she had slept on wasn't as comfortable as the bed would have been. She stretched and looked at the clock on the wall. It was pretty early so she could start finding out where she was and how to get to the café. "Ugh the café." She made a disgruntled face. Even though she knew she had to go back to show them she was a mew mew, she would rather do anything else. They had erased her memory, which was probably illegal.

She got up groggily, still in her tank top and skirt with boots. The back of her tank top was torn and she could smell the dried blood. She walked to the sink to see it had a little water in it still. She ran it and put a cup that she had found in a cupboard under it. When the glass was half full she turned it off and took her shirt off. She walked into the bathroom and carefully wiped the cuts with a wash cloth that was in the medicine cabinet. She wiped the blood up then threw it off the balcony. She carefully put her shirt back on and brushed through her matted hair with her hands. She moved the trash can off the door and exited to walk down the long hallway. She went down the stairs to the lobby. She could barely get through it; there were blackened spots everywhere as if there was a fire here and there. She pushed the front doors open with great effort and stepped out into the morning light. She breathed in the misty morning.

"I'M ALL RIGHT!" She screamed, alerting the world she wasn't dead yet. Yet. She repeated to herself, looking around to make sure the green haired alien wasn't waiting for her. When she confirmed she was alone, she looked around where she was. There were multiple other apartments around, and the dead end was next to the one she had stayed in, except she was on the other side of it now. There was a small dirt road that ran up and down the street. It was too misty to see if it lead to a main road so she just started walking.

The mist got thicker as she walked down the dirt road, and she noticed there wasn't any noise. "No crickets?" She asked herself as she traveled down the eerily path.

Pretty soon it was getting hard to see her hand in front of her face. She stopped and tried walking back, but couldn't feel the dirt road any more. She reached down and felt damp grass under her hands. "Great now where am i?" She grumbled standing back up. She put her hands out and walked forward, hoping to touch something that would give her a hint of where she was.

Her hand grazed something rough and damp. She stopped and felt it again, it felt like bark. She moved her face closer to it and saw it was a tree. "Am I in the forest?" She asked the tree. She continued her blind search and shortly found another tree and another. "Yup." She muttered, greatly disturbed how she had gone from rows of apartments to a forest.

She continued walking and soon smelled something. She sniffed again. It smelt… well it was hard to describe. She continued walking and soon heard water crashing. It got louder the more she walked and soon she could identify what the smell was. "Smells like a hot spring!" She whispered. Suddenly her hand landed on a hard moist surface. She moved her hand over the bumpy thing and concluded it was a rock. She heard water crashing close, like a small waterfall. She walked next to the rocks, her hand trailing over them until

SPLASH! She tripped over a part of the ground sticking up and tumbled into warm water. She surfaced quickly and found it was a spring, water was running down the other side of the rocks she had walked next to and it fell into a large pool of steaming water that had little mist around it strangely. Ayuta saw that she had tripped over the edge of the spring and fallen right into the relaxing waters. Ayuta sighed, the warm water soothing her aching muscles and her cuts. She submerged herself into the water and smiled.

When she came back up for air, she heard someone. Turning her head side to side, she searched for the mysterious voice. "What if he found me?" She asked her head. She growled and braced herself for a fight. "Kisshu! If that's you I'm not going back with you!" She screamed. She turned around and saw something she had missed earlier. A little house that was long and quite cozy looking was behind the spring. An elderly couple stood in the doorway, looking at her. A sign above the door read 'Karabi's hot springs'. Ayuta realized that the couple was probably the owners.

She scrambled out of the spring and bowed to them. "I'm terribly sorry, I fell in and the water was so relaxing… Um…" She felt a wrinkly hand touch her shoulder. She looked up to the old lady, who was examining her cuts.

"Dear me, darling forget about the spring, what happened to you?" She asked, touching one of the cuts. Ayuta flinched and the lady drew her hand back. "Please sweetheart, it was an accident, come inside so we can treat your wounds." Ayuta thanked her and the lady hustled her inside the little hut.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ayuta bit back yelps of pain as the lady washed and treated her cuts. She had told her they weren't that bad, but since they were on her back she hadn't gotten a chance to see them. Before the old woman had started treating them, she had a mirror at an angle so Ayuta could see them. They were infected clearly, and were bright red. Ayuta didn't know they were like that.

"I'm Karabi Sakura and this is my husband Karabi Daisuke, we own the Karabi hot springs. We heard a splash so we came out and saw you were in the hot spring; you seemed to be enjoying yourself. Then you yelled something about a Kisshu and not going back." Sakura said as she put something on her cuts that caused a small yelp to come out of Ayuta.

"I'm Mana Ayuta, thank you very much Karabi-san and Karabi-san." She thanked them over her shoulder. Sakura chuckled.

"Please darling, were not complete strangers now. You can call me Sakura-san or just Sakura if you want. Same for my husband, Ayuta-chan." Ayuta nodded her head. "Now tell me, how did you get these awful cuts?" She asked as she felt her wipe up whatever was left from the cut.

"Well I fell on some glass." She said simply, not wanting to explain how or why…

"Dear me, well I'm glad you found your way here, they look terrible." She heard a raspy voice tell her. This reminded her of what she was doing in the first place.

"Ah, Sakura-san, have you heard of a café called, café mew mew?" She asked. Sakura shooed the old man out and he chuckled. She closed the screen and lifted Ayutas shirt up all the way so she could wrap the bandages around her cut.

"Hmm I have, in fact me and my husband were going to go to such a café in a couple days, to have some of their famous tea." She said, wrapping the bandage around her.

"That's perfect because, you see I have to get to it but I don't know how to get to it…" She said. Sakura finished wrapping the bandage around her and pulled her shirt back down.

"Sweetie, you seemed lost. Why don't you stay with us for a couple of days?" She asked. Ayuta wanted so badly to do so, but knew she couldn't put these nice people in danger. Kisshu would be looking for her.

"No I couldn't possibly, my parents-" She bit down on her tongue hard and tasted a little metallic liquid. "-would be angry if they couldn't find me." She lied, hoping the kind woman didn't realize the painful pause she took. She didn't seem to suspect anything.

"Ok but were going to have to give you some new clothes, these are filthy." Sakura said and chuckled as Ayuta looked down at her clothes. It was true, they were filthy. Her once yellow skirt was now a dark gold with black spots here and there and tiny tears in it. Her tank top was black, but it was obviously as gross as her skirt, and her boots were shrinking slightly from the water. Ayuta pulled them off and set them on the ground.

Sakura left the room to fetch her some new clothes. Ayuta sighed and looked around the cozy room. The floor was bamboo, and the walls looked to be normal white drywall with cute pictures of the couple decorating them. A small wooden desk was in the corner, papers very organized. A small window looked out to the spring, and Ayuta could see the mist was gone. She got up out of her chair and looked out it. They were in the middle of a forest, no dirt path to be seen. Ayuta breathed in the woodsy smell mixed with the spring water smell; it was a very relaxing scent.

Now that Ayuta thought about it, this whole area was relaxing. The house the spring the forest… maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay here a few days. She shook her head back and forth throwing the idea out of her mind. No, she couldn't put these people at risk of Kisshu. But maybe he wouldn't find her. Maybe he would give up and assume she had gone and got lost, or died. Maybe she wouldn't go back to the cursed café, maybe shed stay with these people, maybe they'd take her in, maybe shed finally have a family…

Ayuta smacked herself on the head. "Ya and maybe I'll grow wings and fly around the world." She mumbled. Well technically she had grown wings because she was a bee…

Ayuta gave a short laugh. She cracked herself up. "When was the last time she laughed?" She wondered. Then she realized, not for a very very long time. "It's so hard to relax anymore…." She whispered to herself.

"Darling why are you at the window?" Sakura asked from the doorway. Ayuta jumped slightly and turned toward her. She had a white tee shirt and blue jeans in her hands. Ayuta walked over to her.

"Just admiring the spring." She said and took the clothes out of the woman's hands and stripped down, giving her her wet clothes. Ayuta slipped on the white tee shirt and wiggled into the jeans. She took her socks off and gave them to Sakura also. The woman handed her slip on brown sandals. Ayuta placed her feet in them and bowed to her, thankful for the clean warm clothes. Sakura smiled to her.

"Now do you want a ride to the café?" Sakura asked her kindly.

Ayuta opened her mouth to answer, but someone did it for her.

"No she's fine!" A peppy voice said, and Ayuta saw Kisshu shimmer into the hut next to her.

(AN HOUR EARLIER)

Kisshu teleported in front of the many apartments, grumbling about how Pai overreacted to the news of how he lost Ayuta. He looked around him and saw the other side of the dead end he was at earlier. He floated over to it, examining the area. He spotted a ladder on the side of the building. Following it up, he saw it led to a window. He growled, angry he had not realized this earlier. Now he was sure she was in this building, but where? He floated back to the front of the apartment and saw the front doors were slightly open. He went to the other side of the building and saw another empty alley way.

As he was turning away, he saw something white and red on the ground catch his eye. He floated over to it and saw it was a bloody rag. He picked it up and sniffed it then smiled. "Ah Ayuta, even your blood smells good!" He said and looked up. All the windows were closed except one. Flying up to it, he looked inside and saw it was obviously occupied. He went inside and looked around. It was empty, meaning she had already left. "Dammit." He grumbled. He floated back outside, looking down the dirt road. A forest was not far away, and mist was heavily floating in it. Kisshu listened carefully, his elf ears twitching in concentration.

"Am I- forest?" He heard bits of a grumbled sentence. A smirk crept upon his face and a fang stuck out. He opened his golden eyes, anticipation wild and unrestrained dancing in his eyes. He slowly walked down the dirt road and into the forest, still listening intently.

"Yup." He heard faintly. He licked his lips and moved deeper into the forest. It was hard to see anything, what with the damned mist, but his cat like eyes scanned the misty forest.

"It- like- spring!" Her voice barley caught by his bat ears.

"A spring?" He chuckled. Floating up above the trees, he looked down at the forest trying to find a spring. He found a spot with little mist, a pool of water with a tiny hut next to it. He looked down at it and saw something fall into the water. He floated back down near it. He looked from behind a tree and saw his Hachi-chan enjoying the hot spring. He smiled and whispered indirectly to her.

"Can I join you?" He chuckled, wondering what her response would be if he asked her that.

Her eyes snapped open and she looked around wildly. He ducked behind the tree.

"Kisshu! If that's you I'm not going back with you!" She shouted. He mused over her words and smirked playfully.

"So feisty." He chuckled and planned to teleport into the spring behind her and surprise her. Right before he did he heard her climb out. He peeked from behind the tree and saw her talking to an elderly couple. He pouted and teleported on top of the house. She went inside and he leaned back putting his hands behind his head.

"So do you really plan on not going back with me, Hachi-chan?" He asked the morning light.

Pretty soon the mist started to dissolve and Kisshu heard yelps from inside the house. He floated down next to a window and peeked inside. Ayuta was on a stool with the elderly lady cleaning her cuts. She yelped out in pain and Kisshu narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, Sakura-san, have you heard of a café called, café mew mew?" Ayuta asked the lady.

Kisshu hissed mentally. "So that's where she's going." He thought and floated back up to the roof. "Well she's not going there before I get my… Ichigo…" He mumbled but something about saying that seemed different than normal. Her name. Ichigo's name didn't give him that high that would have sent him into a frenzy of scenes, or make him extremely happy, or make him go into deep thought about her feelings toward him. It didn't do anything for him. He tried again. "Ichigo." Nothing. He also noticed he didn't call her neko-chan like he would have instinctively done.

He pondered over this when he heard Ayuta's voice from the window below him. He looked over the side of the roof to see Ayuta's head poked out the window. Her hair was wet, so her normally light blonde hair was a shade of deep gold. He put his face on his hands and stared at the top of her head. She was so pretty… and much more fun than Ichigo. He smiled and mentally chuckled. She went back inside and he floated back down to the window. He looked through it just in time to see her strip off her clothes. He had seen her change once, in her apartment, but this was different, she was wet. She had on a pink bra; she was a good sized girl, not to big not too small. She had white panties that were slightly see through. She had her back to him, allowing Kisshu to see her butt.

He growled quietly, getting a little excited. She put clothes and slipped on sandals.

"Now, do you want a ride to the café?" He heard the lady ask. He narrowed his eyes and teleported into the room.

"No she's fine!" He called out and appeared next to Ayuta, smiling wildly.

Ryou sat in the lab, franticly searching for the location of the alien. They had just missed him at the aquarium the desk told them. They reviewed the security cameras and saw he had Ayuta, and she managed to escape from him. But they didn't know how far she got before Kisshu had caught up to her. They had searched the area, but couldn't find Kisshu or Ayuta. Now he had showed up on the radar again, and Ryou was desperate to find the two. The location set onto a small forest, on a small hot spring. He called the girls down to the basement. They all came rushing in.

"Did you find them, na-no-da?" The worried monkey girl asked.

He pointed to the location. "Kisshu is here, he's probably with Ayuta. Bring her back here safe and sound! If you lose the fight, Zakuro make sure to grab onto Kisshu and teleport with them back. Put up a dam good fight girls!" He ordered. They all looked at the screen, then transformed.

MEW MEW ICHIGO-

MEW MEW MINT-

MEW MEW LETTUCE-

MEW MEW PUDDING-

MEW MEW ZAKURO-

METAMORPHASIS!

They ran out of the café, determined to save their comrade.

Newmew: omg that was long, but I wanted to put up a very, anou, specific scene…

Kisshu: hehe look at Ichigo.

Ichigo: T^T

Newmew: Are you sad Kisshu's forgetting about you?

Ichigo: NO! I have something in my eye…

Kisshu: Suuuuurrreee

Newmew: REVIEW PLZ!