Hello all! ^.^ This is my new AN style.
Kisshu: Because she's weird like that.
Dawnstep: -whacks- SHUDDUP! D:
A-anyway! Updates, updates, yayyyy!
All right, without further ado- The First Day of a Brand New Start, Part II!
Kisshu stepped forward, his heart pounding. His voice was calm, betraying none of the emotions boiling right below the surface.
Who is she? he thought, his heart pounding. Mustn't look at her, mustn't stare… must look at Ryou.
"I see you've got your new Mew Mew, Shirogane-san," he said, his voice even. His heart was still thumping loudly, and he knew his companions could hear it.
But he couldn't help it; there was something there. This reaction was nearly on the same level of his reaction to Koneko-chan. The shimmering brown eyes, wide with wonder, the light amber-red hair, shoulder-length and straight, and the amazed flush in her cheeks…
She was staring at him.
All this thinking went on inside of ten seconds as Ryou replied, "Indeed, Kisshu-san," and the room was silent for a moment.
"Well," he said smoothly after a few seconds. "I suppose I'd better let my comrades introduce themselves." Prodding Kishata in the back to go first, he stepped backwards.
Rolling her eyes at him, she stepped forward and gave their people's traditional gesture of greeting, crossing her right arm over her chest so that her wrist was over heart and bowing. "Hello and well met. I am Kishata, Kisshu's maneta."
Seeing the humans' confused expressions, Kisshu clarified, "She's my cousin."
Blushing, she stepped back, and another, smaller girl stepped forward to fill her empty spot. Bowing, she flashed her dimples and said in her high, sweet voice, "Hiya! Well met, I'm Mira. And this is my manta- er, brother," she corrected hastily, "Blane."
Blane poked her and said, "I can introduce myself, twerp." Grinning and bowing at the humans, he added, "Well met, I'm Blane." Then they stepped back as one, looking no less than twins- though Mira was seven years younger, at ten, and three inches shorter, their pin-straight blond hair, fair skin, and sparkling green eyes were identical.
At this point, Ichigo leaned over to the newest member of her team and spoke quickly into her ear, pointing at Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto in turn. She's giving her backgrounds on us, Kisshu realized. Koneko-chan is so thoughtful.He returned his attention to his comrades, which caused him to realize he'd been staring.
Ack! No, no, no! I've got to act normal. As in, no staring! C'mon, Kisshu, snap out of it. Just because she's a pretty girl doesn't mean you can stare at her when you should be concentrating on the diplomatic meeting!
He was drawn back to the real world by another of his companions stepping forward and bowing. "Greetings and well met. I am Noxar," he said, his long black bangs falling over his storm-gray eyes. He hesitated, but then added, "…and I owe you all a most sincere apology. I was the one in charge of the daa'ken, so it's my fault we didn't know of their escape until they were already gone. I hope you will forgive me."
As he stepped back, Pai reached over to pat his shoulder. Kisshu heard him whisper, "Not your fault, friend," but then he was distracted by the last of their number stepping up.
"Well met," he said with a smile, bowing so low that his medium-length brown hair nearly brushed his knees. "My name is Gure." And then he actually winked, aiming this gesture, it seemed, at the blond Mew. Her name was Berry, wasn't it? Kisshu rolled his eyes, though it did strike him that this was a bit hypocritical of him… after all, wasn't he the one who dropped from the top of a building to land a kiss on the lips of a certain red-haired neko-girl? He grinned a bit, remembering the scene, but then snapped back to reality as Gure finished his introduction.
After Gure stepped back to rejoin the group, there was a long, slightly awkward silence. Finally, though, Kisshu grinned and said, "Okay, then. Well, we have a full background on you lot, obviously, so… Oh, wait a minute. What about miss…" He trailed off, gesturing at the amber-haired girl, who blushed as their gazes locked for an instant.
"Oh, yes," Ryou said. "Uh, Hazel, would you like to…?"
She jumped a bit, as though sensing everyone's eyes training on her, and her cheeks flushed bright red. "N-no… no, Ryou, would you mind?" she mumbled, looking down at her feet.
Ryou cracked a half-smile. "Not at all, not at all," he said. "This," he continued, "is Hazel Kiran-san. She contains the genes of the Prezwalski's Wild Horse, an extremely rare type of horse. We… well, we haven't seen her transform yet, so that's really all I can tell you."
Another silence rolled in, this one even more awkward, as everyone stared at each other, their feet, or the ceiling… or perhaps all three. No one seemed to want to talk, but finally Keiichiro, speaking up for once, gestured across the room and said, "Well, now that that's out of the way, why don't we just kind of…"
"…mingle?" Ryou suggested. Keiichiro nodded.
There was a split second of silence, and then, all at once, Noxar and Pai strode over to Ryou and Keiichiro. Gure, trying to look suave, strode over to Zakuro, and, seeing this, Kishata huffily stalked over to Mint, Lettuce, and Berry. Blane looked around, shrugged, and then followed her. And a certain orange blur raced across the room to glomp Taruto.
Okay, Kisshu, he thought. You can do this.
Taking a deep breath, he smiled slightly and paced over to Ichigo and Hazel. As he neared them, the auburn-haired horse Mew flushed and looked down. He felt his own cheeks flash slightly as he allowed a slow smile to slide across his face. Halting, he said, "Hello, Ichigo. And, er… Hazel, wasn't it?" He remembered her name, of course, but he wasn't about to make her think he was paying close attention to her or something. Something told him she'd faint if he showed any interest in her, and that would put a dent in relations with the Mew team.
Ichigo looked a bit surprised at his offhand greeting. Guess she didn't expect me to be so calm, eh? he thought. Her voice was a bit suspicious as she replied, "Hello, Kisshu."
"How're things?" he queried. "How's your tree-hugger?"
Rolling her eyes, she shoved him. "Oh, shut up!"
Now grinning ear to ear, he shoved back, glad that they could, apparently, have friendship, even if she didn't love him.
He turned to face Hazel. Her bronze-red hair glinted slightly in the dim light, and her soft caramel eyes were still stretched wide as he examined them.
"Hey," he said easily, extending his hand in greeting. "I'm Kisshu." He smiled gently, watching with interest as she hesitated, but finally took his hand.
"H-h-hello, Kisshu," she replied, her voice soft and sweet. And nervous. But he was going to ignore that for the time being.
His heart thumped. What was this? She said two words to him, and he already felt this? It couldn't be.
He became aware that he was still staring into her eyes. Flushing slightly, he looked down. Ichigo was glancing rapidly between the two.Kisshu, in his little daze, didn't notice that Hazel, too, had been staring wide-eyed, and was now blushing furiously and looking in the other direction. A slow, crafty smile slid onto Ichigo's face, and her eyes glinted mischievously.
"So," she said. "Hazel-chan, Kisshu-kun. You guys stay here for a second. I'm gonna go talk to Mint, okay?" She skipped off, leaving the pair behind in an extremely awkward silence. Kisshu watched curiously as she flitted over to the bird Mew, standing on tiptoe to whisper quickly into her friend's ear. Mint whipped her head around and gasped, her eyes shining, and Ichigo nodded seriously, then the pair giggled and darted away. They conversed briefly with Ryou, and then raced out of the room, upstairs, it seemed.
Kisshu raised an eyebrow questioningly and turned back to the equally confused Hazel. "I take it you haven't the slightest idea what that was about either, then?" She shook her head, laughing softly. It took every ounce of his meager self-control not to reach out and stroke her hair as it flipped around when she shook her head. Must. Not. Be. A. Pervert.
Suddenly Ichigo and Mint were separating them. Ichigo faced Hazel, saying something he couldn't make out, and the bird-girl slowly turned around to wink at him, eyes knowing. He raised an eyebrow. He had a sneaking suspicion he knew what they were up to.
Ichigo now backed up a bit and turned to Kisshu. "Hazel's going to transform upstairs. It's her first time! Come on, you're coming too." She grabbed his arm, dragging him along before he could protest. Mint pulled Hazel along in a similar manner, and soon they were upstairs, in the now-empty café.
Ichigo let go of Kisshu and bounded over to Hazel. "Okay, this is how it works." She tossed the redhead a round golden pendant. "That's a power pendant. You touch it, yell, 'MEW MEW HAZEL! METAMORPHO-SIS!', and you'll get in this little bubble of light and transform. The sequence is different for everyone, so I honestly can't tell you what to expect. Here, I'll demonstrate."
"MEW MEW STRAWBERRY! METAMORPHOOOO-SIS!"
A pink light enveloped her, and an occasional sound, such as the tinkle of a bell or the slightest hint of music, reached the ears of the three still waiting silently. Then the rose glow slowly receded, and Ichigo appeared in her familiar Mew outfit: strawberry dress, boots, gloves, bubblegum-pink hair and eyes, soft black ears, and a long, waving black cat's tail with a red bow and a bell at the end.
She grinned at Hazel, ears twitching. "Your turn!"
The other girl looked at her, nervous. "O-okay. I'll try," she said, taking a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut, and stepping into the center of the room.
"MEW MEW HAZEL! M-METAMORPHOOO-SIS!"
A light brown orb encased her, and the faintest trickle of some upbeat, tinkling music leaked from the ball of light. It took a full thirty seconds, but finally the brown light faded to reveal…
She wore a bronze miniskirt and short, cropped halter top that exposed her pale stomach; the halter ties met at the top hem of the shirt in a perfectly round orb of amber, and were tied in a big bow at the back of her neck. Her feet were encased in tawny ballet slipper-like shoes that were tied with amber ribbons, and her hands were covered by matching tawny fingerless gloves, which reached up to her elbows. Her hair and eyes were now the color of warm cinnamon, her bangs clipped back with more amber, smooth and polished, and the customary Mew garter, choker, and armbands were in their correct positions. On her forehead, above and slightly to the left of her left eye, her Mew mark was revealed: four rounded amber triangles, with two interlocking 'u' shapes in the middle. Finally, to complete it, two long, triangular brown ears, darker and muddier than the rest of her bronze tones, poked up on either side of her head, and a long, silky black horse tail poked from the back of her skirt.
He stared. She stared back. Mint stifled a giggle.
She slowly turned in a circle, stopping to face Ichigo. "Well? How do I look?" she queried, laughing softly.
The pink Mew smiled. "Gorgeous! What'dyou think, Mint? Kisshu?"
Mint flashed her teeth and nodded. "Very pretty, Hazel-chan."
Kisshu nearly choked as he walked up behind her. That smell- it was so different from the other Mews' fruity scents: it was warmer, aromatic, not as clean. It smelled like… nuts? Oh, yeah. I guess… isn't there a nut like that? Hazel… hazelnut?
Mint nudged him. "Well, Kisshu?"
He smiled, brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. "I think she looks very nice." He pretended not to notice the raging blush that spread across her cheeks as he said that- even he wasn't as mean as to call her out on that.
He was determined. He would do it this time- this would not be a repeat of the past. Maybe this time around he could drop the obsession and maybe even fall in love with the pretty girl like a normal person. Maybe. Well, perhaps that was a little clichéd, but hey, a boy can dream, right?
He smiled.
Well? How did you all like it? ^.^ More fluff, haha. Not as long, this time- but then, I actually cut a lot of stuff out from the original draft. I wrote some really Mary Sue-ish "love at first sight" stuff, so that had to go. Overall, though, I really like this chapter.
Kisshu: -hits- Why did she blush so much?
Dawnstep: Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai, Kisshu-kun, but I can't tell you yet! Figure it out on your own, hmm? :D
…yeah. I may or may not do a ref sheet for Mew-ified Hazel pretty soon, and if I do I'll put it in the next chapter's AN. That's about all. Oh, wait- as an incentive to get people to review- heh heh heh –evillaugh—I'm going to 'casually mention' how some reviewers (mostly those who asked questions) got little itty-bitty chunks of future plot as a reply. So…. Incentive! Muah-ha-ha-ha. I'm mean. Anyway, see you all next time! –waves-