Aria - Good guess.
Ranma - I like Ichigo... x.x Yes, she can be an idiot, but she does have good qualities about her as well, and she's not heartless. All of the characters have their flaws. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change the pairing for this fic. I like Lettuce, too, because she is nice, and I intend on keeping her in the story. Maybe I'll do an RxR one-shot someday...
Bree - Bad girl, no cookie for you! I'll be taking that knife. x.x
Some songs I listened to while working on this chapter... "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Green Day, "Every Heart" Inuyasha, and "Waiting for Magic" Ace of Base, among others. This chapter didn't turn out at all how I had planned, but I guess it's alright. Let me know what you think, okay? I may add to it because even though I fought with it, it still turned out rather short...
And... more responses at the end...
Chapter Nine - Caught Without an Umbrella
My feet seemed to get heavier and heavier as I sloshed through the streets, seeking the warmth of the pink castle which I had accepted as 'home'. The ball of fur cradled in my arms didn't make a peep the entire way. I don't know what it is with me and cats. I guess since the Mew Project, they've become almost as important to me as humans, but besides that, no one deserved to be left out in the cold.
I flung the cafe door open, flicking on the lights as I crossed through the doorway and into the dining area. The kitten growled a bit, disturbed by the sudden contrast in lighting. I snagged a towel from the closet, dumped it in a chair, and placed the feline down on it. The bedraggled creature curled into a tighter ball, trying to keep warm.
I shivered myself, "Just hang on a sec and I'll be back with the hairdryer..."
Climbing the steps, I ducked into the bathroom and grabbed a towel for my own hair, Keiichiro's brush, and the miniature hairdryer. Realizing I was still soaking wet, I kicked off my shoes and shed my shirt, leaving them in a heap by the door.
I returned to find the little one in the same state as I had left her. I plugged the appliance into the closest outlet.
"I know this is going to be loud, but we need to dry you off," I explained, lifting the kitten down from the chair and setting her on my leg. She groaned a bit in protest, but made no other motion to stop me.
The hairdryer hummed to life, blowing out warm air. When I was convinced that my patient was not going to move, I picked the brush up in my other hand, and began brushing out the tangles with one hand and holding the dryer with the other. After a while, she started growling in protest. She probably wanted to curl up in some dark corner, alone, and fall asleep, unbothered.
"Not yet, koneko-chan..." Satisfied that no more matted fur was to be found, I discarded the brush and continued blowing the warm air. As her coat dried, it kept it's shiny onyx coloring. There were no bells or tags on her anywhere. Probably a stray. A few moments later I switched off the appliance and sat it beside me.
"Nyaa..." she said quietly.
"Yeah, I'm done. You must have had a rough day. I've never seen that many tangles in my own hair, and that's saying a lot."
The cat mumbled a bit, still resting. I reached my hand out and scratched her cheek gently, and behind the ears. She seemed to become less tense under my touch, and after a while a light rumble rose from deep in her throat. The motion was comforting, and I continued to stroke her, fueling the rhythmic sound of a contented soul.
The kitten continued to purr, slowly allowing her eyes to open. Soft pink eyes. No way...
I stared at the cat. The cat stared back. After what seemed like a year, her eyes widened and she let out a loud scream, swiping at me with her claws, back arched, and leaping away and onto a chair a safe distance from me.
"Oh yeah... I really needed that..." Glancing down at my arm, I saw that there were now four burning red lines decorating it.
'What the heck are you trying to do to me!' she screamed in cat-speech.
"Only bringing you out of the rain, idiot!" I shot back.
'Why am I here? Where's Masaya? Why am I here? Why are you... kyaaaa! Put some clothes on you jerk!' she panicked.
"Oh, like you haven't walked in on me atleast twice before..."
'Sh-shut up!'
"And anyway, what happened to your bell? It's not like I knew it was you..."
She thought about this, 'My... my bell?' She turned her head to stare at her tail, then brought her paws up towards her neck, 'Oh no! My bell's missing! What am I going to tell Masaya!'
I shrugged, rising, and decided that I would put a shirt on. Returning, Ichigo was pacing across the table top, mumbling to herself.
'You never answered my question! Why am I here?' she hissed at me.
"You were staggering around an alley during the downpour. I thought I was doing a stray a favor."
'Why was I there? Last I remember, I was dancing with Masaya...' she wondered aloud.
I slid a chair out from under the table and sat.
'He must be so worried about me! I just left him there... I hope he's okay...' she continued to fret. 'And he was going to get me another glass of punch too... That's the last thing I remember...'
I thought about it. She had somehow gotten excited and turned into a cat... atleast it had to be something along those lines. Wait... Punch?
"Ichigo, how many glasses of punch did you have?" I asked.
She stopped pacing, and looked at me, 'I dunno. three or four maybe.'
"I think it was spiked..."
'Spiked? You mean...'
"Maybe someone snuck liquor into the punch bowl and the effects of the alcohol in your system, which you had obviously never had before... messed with your head and ended up turning you into a cat..."
'You have got to be kidding me! I'm not a drunk!'
"You're so little your system probably has very low tolerance for that sort of thing," I pointed out, "Then you must have left the party and lost your bell somewhere along the way."
'This is awful! I have to find it!' she protested.
I gave a shrug, "In the rain? You'd never find it. Just have that guy buy you a new one."
'But it was important to me!' she yelled back.
"Well, I know that..."
'Then quit being a meanie and help me look for it!' she demanded loudly.
"You're going to stay like that?"
Continuing without noticing my question, Ichigo shook herself off and bounded across the floor, 'If we hurry, maybe we can find it before it gets too dark! Yes, exactly! Let's... um... what?' She looked to the floor, which was right under her, then up at the ceiling, which was many yards away, then at her paws.
'Um... I'll just stay this way... I think... until we find Masaya.'
"It'd save us trouble if you resumed your human form. Besides, you have a cellphone, don't you? You could call him and find out where he is and if he's seen your bell." I crossed my arms boredly.
'You really enjoy making me feel stupid, don't you?' she asked me in an annoyed tone.
"Not particularly."
The cat sighed, paced in a circle, then sat again, 'You know I have to kiss something to change back.'
"Yeah, I know."
'There's nothing around to kiss.'
"There isn't?" I joked.
'I am not... no!' If it was possible for cats to blush, she just did. Grabbing her near the shoulders and hoisting her up in one quick movement before she could realize what was going on, I brought her close. My lips lightly touched the pink of her nose.
Ichigo squirmed, screaming insults into my ear, as a pink glow bloomed around her. When the light receeded, Ichigo stood there awkwardly in the same clothes I had last seen her in. "You are such a jerk! I can't stand you!"
"I just did you a favor..."
She fell silent then, looking away abruptly, "That's your excuse."
"You can call him now," I offered.
Ichigo hastilly brought out her cellphone and pressed '1' on speed dial. Two rings later and her expression brightened, "Masaya! I'm soooo sorry! ...huh? No, I'm fine. I'm... with a friend. ...really! I was so afraid I'd lost it! Drive home? Uh... no, that's okay... I'm fine. Yeah, see you tommorrow. Love you too, bye. Muah!" The strawberry ended the call and turned her attention back to me.
"He found my bell..."
"That's good," I replied quietly.
Ichigo dropped the cellphone back into her pocket, "Shirogane... could I have a hot chocolate, please?"
"Hunh?" I blinked a few times before taking in her request, "Uh... sure... but it won't be anything like Keiichiro's..."
"That's okay..."
As I made up two mugs of hot chocolate, Ichigo returned to her seat at one of the tables and rubbed her head with her fingertips. Returning, I sat next to her and handed her the mug.
"Uh, thanks... I have a headache now."
"There's some medicine in the cabinet..." I started to explain, prepared to get up again.
"No. I don't want it. Who knows what sorts of weird things it'll do to me if I take it..." she rolled her eyes and took a sip of the hot chocolate, blowing on it first.
"It's too rich, huh?"
"No, it's fine," she insisted.
There was a long pause. Neither of us spoke. Finally Ichigo gave in.
"So you're living in the cafe alone while Keiichiro's in Egypt digging up stuff at the pyramids?"
"Yeah..." I acknowledged quietly.
"Don't get me wrong or anything. I don't feel sorry for you..." she grumbled.
"Good. You remembered I told you not to," I approved, faking a smile.
Ichigo frowned at that, "You just seem like the sort of person who may not show it, but actually thrives on interractions with other people."
"...so what do you want from me? Knowing you, there's a reason why you didn't leave."
Ichigo toyed with the bow on her dress. "Well..." she started, glancing up at me, "You don't care if I show up tommorrow, do you?"
"No..."
"Good! Because I really want to see Lettuce and Pudding again!" she announced with a brief grin, "It's too bad that Zakuro-san isn't here, though... and Mint, even if she was a pain in the butt sometimes..."
I took a sip of my hot chocolate, letting a silence linger.
"I'll be honest with you, Shirogane," she continued, her voice getting flat, "Some part of me actually missed you while I was in England. Funny, huh?"
"Not really..." I answered cautiously, "It was too quiet."
"Eh?"
"It was too quiet here... I missed having my ultimate weapon around."
"Oh? Is that so! I guess an ultimate weapon is still all that I really am to you."
"No, Ichigo. Besides, you're not a Mew Mew anymore... I can't really call you my ultimate weapon."
She said nothing for a while, playing with her bow again, "...no. You can't really... can you?"
"Nu-uh..."
"Um, hey, I have another favor to ask you!" she spoke up suddenly.
"Boy, you're a pain! What is it?" I grumbled, crossing my arms and sending a smirk in her direction.
Seeming somewhat encouraged by the return to my usual self, Ichigo sheepishly brought out the little pink fluffball I had given her long ago.
"Masha quit working a few days after we defeated Deep Blue..." she explained appologetically, "Do you think there's a way you can fix him?"
"You waste my time, make me fix you hot chocolate and now you tell me that you've broken my robot? Geez, Ichigo..."
"I'm sorry! It wasn't my fault!" came a defensive protest, "Besides, you never explained much abaout him..."
"I'm joking; let me see," I took the R2000 from her and looked it over quickly, "Well, the problem's definately internal."
"Uh-huh..." she mumbled, lost already. I retrieved a screwdriver from a drawer and sat back down gingerly. It was nice to have an excuse to tinker with something again, although I couldn't figure out why the creature had stopped functioning. Examining the inside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I tightened a few things and flipped a few switches. Bored, Ichigo leaned forward in her chair to see what I was doing.
"Is he fixable?" she questioned.
"Nothing appears to be broken... so I don't know why..." Tightening another screw, the object pulsed in my hands, stratling us both, causing a shriek on Ichigo's part, and me to jolt backwards. I bolted the back panel down as oversized eyelids pulled back to reveal huge eyes. Wings hummed to life, and R2000 rose into the air.
"Welcome back, welcome back!" it greeted.
"Masha!" Ichigo cheered, cuddling the cat-eared plushie, "You're back, nya!"
"I'm back, I'm back!" R2000 agreed.
"Nya?" I cocked an eyebrow. Why did she just say... 'nya'?
Ichigo giggled nervously, "Sorry, I got used to saying it, but anyways. Arigatou, Shirogane!"
"Sure..." I replied, allowing a slight smile.
"Woohoo! Masha's back!" she returned to her seat and drank up the rest of her hot chocolate quickly while R2000 floated around our heads.
"Why did you want it back anyway? It's not very useful now that the aliens have stopped attacking..."
"I dunno," she admitted, "But I got used to having him there ever since you gave him to me. Besides, he can track things besides aliens you know! He's very useful for sales hunting."
"How nice to know my work is being used at the Tokyo Mall..."
Ichigo laughed, punching my arm, "I wasn't being serious! Well, yeah I was, but... he's also good for finding people in crowds, and for delivering letters and..."
"Anything not involving that guy?" I interrupted.
"And doing homework?"
I shook my head, "You haven't changed."
"Neither have you, if that was a complaint," she shot back.
"I'm not sure if it was or wasn't," I explained further.
Ichigo countered, "You still haven't changed."
"Fine..." I accepted my fate. I didn't have to change, did I? There was no reason to.
Ichigo sighed, "Well, I think that was enough excitement for one day. I'll never drink punch again."
"And I'll never rescue you again..."
"You don't need too," she sniffed.
"I will anyway..." I admitted. No point in lying on that note.
Ichigo was petting R2000, but she paused briefly and tilted her head at me, "Why? I have Masaya... I don't need you to risk your life for me anymore. Besides, what in the world could possibly happen to me now?" She laughed light-heartedly.
"Because..." I started.
"Because...?" she asked.
The pink thing shot out of Ichigo's lap and hovered over the table between us.
"Chimera Anima, Chimera Anima, Chimera Anima, Chimera Anima!" R2000 repeated urgently. Over and over, those syllables formed in the air. Neither I nor Ichigo budged. This couldn't be right. It wasn't possible. We had defeated all of the Chimera Animas.
"Shirogane, is Masha still broken?" Ichigo asked quietly.
"Unlikely..." Finally getting ahold of my senses, I bounded downstairs to the lab, a flashing red orb met me on my descent, a muted alarm sounding. I pulled up the closest chair and set to work on the nearest keyboard.
Ichigo scampered down the steps after me, voice shaking, "Sh-shirogane?"
My fears stared back at me from the other side of the monitor. No. This wasn't happening... Time stopped.
Ichigo was shaking me when I snapped out of my trance, "Shirogane! Shirogane! Tell me what's going on!"
"We missed one of them, Ichigo..." my voice came out as a whisper.
"What do you mean by 'we missed one'?"
"Do you remember, Ichigo, the Chimera Anima that Deep Blue supposedly destroyed? It was one that Pie enhanced..."
"Yeah... I think... I remember it..."
"It wasn't destroyed in that blast, Ichigo, it transported itself to another location until it could recover... it wasn't created by Pie, it's been here for hundreds of years..."
"What! Are you absolutely sure?"
"Yes, Ichigo. That was the Chimera Anima that killed my parents. I'd recognize it anywhere... and these computers don't lie."
A/N: Mew Popsicle and Ameku get cookies. You basically figured it out... I must be really predictable...
So far I only have the pinata idea for the birthday party. Please send in more ideas for things we can do at the birthday party at the end of this fic. We wanna make it fun! If it helps, it's going to be Ryou's birthday party!
Chapter Ten next, "Red Alert". Please keep reading, nya. And thanks for the reviews.