Dawnstep: Hey there, everyone! Sorry again for long wait in the updating… n.n BUT! Guess who comes in this chappie~ ^.^
As-Yet-Unknown-Protagonist: Hey there! :D
Dawnstep: Would you mind doing the disclaimer, dear?
A-Y-U-P: Not at all, Akatsuki-chan! Dawnstep does not own Tokyo Mew Mew/Mew Mew Power, or any of its characters, plot elements, settings, etc. etc. She does, however, own me.
Dawnstep: Here we gooo~!
The First Day of a Brand New Start, Part I
-Three Days Later-
Ryou watched carefully as the girl and her friends were about to leave the café. Just as they neared the door, he meticulously finished straightening the sign and took one step back. Turning neatly on his heel, he surveyed the scene which was, he thought, satisfied, just as he'd planned it to be. The raven-haired girl was nudging the tall redhead beside her, whispering into her friend's ear and pointing at the sign. Its perfect red lettering read "Help Wanted-- Part Time" in tall, commanding script.
The black-haired girl said now, a bit louder, "Hazel, look! Isn't that just the luckiest thing?!"
She gasped. The other two girls turned around and their heads whipped back and forth in a comical manner between looking at Hazel and staring at the sign.
"Go for it, Hazel!" one of them said eagerly.
She nodded slowly, her nut-brown eyes glimmering. "Yeah… yeah! Guys, go home without me, 'kay?"
"Sure! See you tomorrow, Hazel-chan!"
"Later, Hazel!"
"See you at school!"
Ryou watched as she cautiously drew nearer. When she'd reached him, she bowed and said, voice quivering, "Err… excuse me, mister…?"
He bowed, smiling. "Ryou Shirogane. And you are?" Like I don't know.
"H-Hazel Kiran, sir!" she said, blushing furiously and bowing. "I… um, I… couldn't help but notice your sign, and I'm sort of… looking for a part time job right now, so… er…"
Perfect. "Certainly. Would you come with me, please?"
"So," he said as he led her towards the kitchens. "Why are you looking for a job? You look a bit young."
She nodded. "I'm fifteen. I- er… well, it's really a bit early, but I'm saving for college. I'd like to go in America! But, that being oversees and all, and money being a bit tight at home already…" She trailed off, seeming to realize what she was saying. "Oh dear! I'm sorry, if I blab like that you can always tell me… Was I boring you?!" She seemed mortified.
Ryou laughed softly and shook his head. "Not at all, not at all," he said, thinking approvingly, She may be a bit of a chatterbox, but she's polite, and brave enough to tell a complete stranger she's a bit poor. Interesting. Maybe she's even better than we thought!
As he swung open the door to the kitchen, he yelled, "OI! Keiichiro! I think we've got one!"
Up from behind a gigantic cake popped Keiichiro's head. "Oh?" he said, smiling gently. "And who might this be?"
Ryou nodded back at the wide-eyed girl, who still seemed unable to take in anything except the size of the cake. "This is Hazel Kiran-san," he said, and she snapped to attention. "Hazel, this is Keiichiro Akasaka, my partner and our pastry chef." Keiichiro bowed, still smiling. "Pleasure to meet you." Hazel hastily bowed as well, her face pink. "A-and same to you!" she said, her voice sweet.
"So, you're interested in a part-time job here?" Keiichiro queried, wiping the flour from his hands with a wet rag.
Her russet-colored head bobbed quickly. "Yes, sir. Very much so. I really love this place- my friends and I come here every day!"
"And your parents know?" Ryou checked.
"They… yes, well, they said I could have whichever job I wanted, so long as I'm home for dinner!" she said, rubbing her head, embarrassed.
"Good enough for me!" Ryou said, shrugging. "Come on, I'll take you on a tour."
As soon as they were out of the room, Keiichiro turned to the stack of dishes to his right. "Well? What did you think, girls?"
Up popped the Mew Mews, who started talking all at once.
"She seemed brave!" said Ichigo approvingly.
"She was sweet!" exclaimed Pudding. "Na No Da!" she added as an afterthought.
"She was so nice!"whispered Lettuce admiringly.
"Yes, she was polite," agreed Zakuro.
"I feel sorry for her, having to save for college," said Mint.
"She was great!" finished Berry happily.
"I'll take that as a yes!" said Keiichiro, laughing. "I have to agree, she seemed even better in person!"
"Mew Hazel," mused Ichigo. "Yes, I think it'll work!"
Keiichiro smiled, then sighed. "Speaking of work… I suppose that's what we'd better get back to. Lettuce, table seven said…"
*****
Meanwhile, Ryou was leading Hazel through a labyrinth of rooms below the café. Who would have thought there was so much down here? She marveled as Ryou named each door they passed. "Storeroom A… B… C… freezer…"
But she wasn't listening anymore. Why was it down here? She'd caught the glint of gold in her peripheral vision, and, naturally, turned to see what it was. The large golden cat stared back at her, its sapphire eyes glinting in the light of on small bulb hanging from the ceiling.
"Shirogane-san?" she called, mesmerized. "What is…?" Her finger hovered, as though of its own accord, a millimeter away from the statue's nose.
Ryou spun around and, seeing her, his eyes widened, and he yelled "Hazel-san!! Don't touch-!!"
Too late. Her finger gently tapped the cat's nose, and a blinding flash of light coursed through the room for a moment, and then it was gone and Hazel tumbled to the ground, unconscious. He raced over, checked her pulse just to make sure nothing was wrong, and, satisfied that all was well, picked her limp body up, muttering, "Well, that wasn't quite what I was going for, but it'll have to do," strode upstairs.
*****
All was dark. She was sure she was dreaming, for all around her swirled stars and galaxies and nebulas, some unheard music guiding their celestial dance. She was warm and content, and so she drifted. For a while she drifted…
But then, in the distance, appeared a blowing red-brown light. It grew, and grew, until it identified itself as some sort of four legged creature with a longish neck and a swishing tail. In a few moments more, it proved to be a horse. It walked nearer, slow and deliberate, then silently stopped when it was a few feet away from her. It gazed at Hazel. She gazed back.
After a few moments of this, however, it took three more steps forward, and stopped. Then, gently, carefully, it lowered its head, touching its soft muzzle to a spot just above her left eye. This spot grew warm, and the glow faded from the horse, so that it could no longer be seen, and moved to that area of her forehead.
And she understood that the horse was within her now…
*****
Slowly, Hazel began to surface. As she woke she heard a gentle hum of noise; fuzzy voices that washed over her calmly as she slept.
Wait… slept?!
Crap! Crap! I fell asleep?! On my first day?! THIS. IS. NOT. GOOD. OH CRAP!
She sat up abruptly. "Hey! Shirogane! She's awake!"
The crimson-haired girl looked back at her, friendliness glittering in her chocolate eyes. A pink maid dress immediately identified her as one of the café's waitresses. "Had a nice rest?" she said, voice warm and understanding. "I would be willing to bet money you just had the strangest dream."
How on Earth does she know…?
But every thought was driven abruptly from her head as her blonde boss rounded the corner.
"I am SO sor-"
Ryou smiled and pressed a finger to his lips in a shushing motion. "It's okay. I think Ichigo here and I know almost exactly what you just went through."
"Um, what?" She was completely mystified.
He smirked. "You've heard of the Mew Mews, right?" At her nod, he continued, "Well, welcome to the team."
Seeing Hazel's still completely confused face, Ichigo shouted after him as he left the room, "Um, Shirogane? You could've explained that a bit better!"
Turning back to Hazel, she bit her lip, murmuring, "Jeez, there's just not an easy way to say this. Uh, Hazel? You're now a… Mew Mew."
Steamrolling right on past Hazel's shocked gasp, she continued her explanation "See, Ryou and Keiichiro made us- the Mew Mews- by taking the DNA of an endangered species and splicing that with our DNA, so we can transform and fight and stuff like that. There's six of us, plus you. Ichigo, that's me, DNA of the Iriomote Wild Cat, Mint, the Blue Lorikeet, Lettuce, the Finless Porpoise, Pudding, the Golden Lion Tamar-"
"HIYA!!"
An orange ball of hyper-ness had collided with her side, and was now hugging her tightly. "Hiya, hi! I'm Pudding na no da! How're you doing onee-chan?!"
Ichigo laughed and rolled her eyes. "Like I was saying, Pudding- Golden Lion Tamarin, which is a monkey. Then there's Zakuro, with the genes of the Gray Wolf, and Berry, with both the Andean Wild Cat and the Amami Rabbit. And now, there's you- Mew Hazel, containing the genes of the Prezwalski's Wild Horse."
There was a moment of silence as Hazel processed this onslaught of information, then she delightedly clapped her hands, squealing "OMIGOSH! I love horses!!!"
Ichigo and Pudding laughed along, but they were interrupted by a giggle.
…from a box.
Ichigo rolled her eyes, then giggled, calling, "You guys didn't have to hide, you know."
Out from behind the box came four girls: a girl with a haughty, pale face with twin dark blue buns, who was glaring at a blushing girl with a green plait down her back and glasses- the source of the giggle, Hazel surmised- and a tall, purple-haired figure with the body of an angel, a bored expression on her lovely face, and finally a grinning blonde with sparkling blue eyes. Respectively, they wore blue, green, purple, and yellow-white dresses.
"Hiya!" said the blonde, bouncing forward. "I'm Berry Shirayuki. Nice to meet you!"
Hazel smiled politely while Ichigo added, "Yes, and these are Mint Aizawa-" the blue-dress girl-"Lettuce Midorkawa-" funny name, thought Hazel- "and Zakuro Fujiwara." Hazel smiled and bowed to each of them, which seemed to do something to endear her towards Mint, who still looked haughty and cold.
"And I'm Ichigo Momomiya," she continued, "leader of the Mew Me-"
There came a dry, questioning cough from Berry.
"Oh, fine," snapped Ichigo, pretending to be cross, "co-leader with this thing!" She proceeded to poke Berry, who poked back, sending the pair into a giggling, poking fit.
Hazel watched for a few moments, chuckling, then saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her whip her head around quickly. Ryou!
He caught her eye, winked, then called out, "Having fun, girls?"
Ichigo froze with her finger an inch from Berry's forehead, Berry in mid-giggle. They both turned bright red, then slowly turned around to face Ryou, standing at attention. He smiled quickly, then said, "They're almost here, I just got a message to inform me they'll be arriving in five minutes. Why don't we all go down to the computer room and Ichigo can fill Hazel in on the way?"
They all filed out, with Ichigo and Hazel bringing up the rear. "Um," said Hazel. Ichigo smiled quickly at her, then groaned, saying, "I only have five minutes?!? Um, this'll be the abridged version." And so she broke into the story of the aliens, the war, and the new threat. As she listened to the cat-girl's explanation, all she could think was: I'm about to meet aliens?!
As Ichigo finished up, they entered Ryou's computer room, and lined up against one wall, forming a neat row.
"Okay, I think I get this, but let me check," said Hazel, bemused. "All that crazy trouble three years ago was from aliens?"
"Right!" replied Ichigo.
"And now they're coming back to help us?"
"Right."
"And I'm about to meet the three who were attacking us, plus five more they've brought along to help?"
"Right again," Ichigo said, smiling.
"Oookay. …That's a lot to take in," muttered the bemused horse-girl.
Ichigo laughed, then suddenly tensed and stared at the middle of the room.
In eight spots at the direct center of the lab, the air seemed to be warping. Hazel's heart stopped beating for a second as she watched dim outlines appear in each spot, of all different sizes.
Then they were there, and she didn't know what to think. The only things they seemed to have in common were the lean physique, pale skin, and long, pointed ears. And the wacky hair colors- some of them, anyway.
One caught her eye, and then everything else faded away. The eyes- they were molten amber, shimmering and deep, light and dark, elated and grieving all at once. They perfectly offset the forest-green hair, tied in two longish pigtails just in front of the ears. He was beautiful. So… beautiful.
He stepped forward, his eyes on Ryou, his voice calm. "Shirogane-san," he said gravely. "We're back."
Dawnstep: -shoves charries out of room- AND STAY OUT!!! I NEED TO TALK TO THE READERS!!
Characters: -grumblemutter-
Door: SLAM!!
Dawnstep: Sorry about that. But they wouldn't like what I'm gonna say, haha. Er! Anyway, I snuck some fluff in there at the end lol. Ah, y'all knew it was coming xD And, over 2,000 words aiee . crazy long chapter much? –whacks self- Oh well, we all have our flaws right? Anyway, how'd you guys like Hazel? :D She's… well, we're pretty alike. It makes it easier to write her. –shrug-
Kisshu: I JUST HEARD MY NAME!
Hazel: Me, too!
Ichigo: …wait, I just thought of something. Kisshu, why don't you just teleport in there?
Kisshu: -headdesk- and I didn't think of that… why?
Dawnstep: TOO LATE! :D –opens door-
Anyways, but yes. What'dya think? Oh, and I keep meaning to get around to this, but forgetting: the rating. This Fic Rated T by the NFFRAD (National Fan Fiction Rating Association of Dawnstep) for: violence, romance (no lemons or anything of the sort though!), mild language, and most of all: fear of under-rating. xP
Also- a humongous thank-you to the wonderful Fireflies Glow, who has agreed to beta this story. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
And, one last thing… the bit about Ichigo being "co-leader" with Berry? I thought that's how it was, but Fireflies Glow thought Ichigo was the sole leader once she came back, so I checked the manga… but I was rushing and skimming a scan so if it really is Ichigo alone, I apologize. I've only read the manga a couple of times since I have to do it online as I haven't been able to buy them… I mostly watch the anime, and since there isn't an a la Mode anime… -shrug-
Next Up: The First Day of a Brand New Start, Part II!