A/N: Hey guys! Gypsy here. So, this is chapter one. ^^ You may be rather confused as to what's going on while reading this, so here's a brief description of the story: This is an AU fic. The main characters from Tokyo Mew Mew are hunter-gatherers living in the wild, divided into tribes. There are five tribes, each based on one of the animals the Mews were infused with the genes of in the canon; the Sea tribe, the Bird tribe, the Wolf tribe, the Cat tribe and the Monkey tribe. The people of each tribe have a close kinship to the animal their tribes are based on, and they have developed some of the same abilities as these animals. I.e. swimming well, hunting well, climbing well, gracefulness, stealth, heightened senses of smell and hearing, etc. That's all I can tell you without revealing too much of the plot. :P

Oh also, we'll be doing a quote before each chapter. Here is the first one:

"There is no smoke without fire." ~Anonymous

And now, chapter one.

Chapter One: Smoke

It was misty in the gorge. From away downstream the sound of crashing surf suggested a fresh breeze blowing off the sea, but here the high cliff-walls sealed the river in perfect calm. Splashes of dripping and flowing water echoed from cliff to cliff, emphasising rather than breaking the silence. All was quiet, expectant. The stillness before morning.

The vapour swirled as a boy sprang from the bank and landed on one of the many stepping stones in the river. He crouched for a moment, perfectly still, trying to quiet his breathing as he scanned the water. The translucent black stream slid past, smooth and uninterrupted. The boy waited. Then there was a sudden splash and chirrup, and a brown head broke the surface before the rock. A sea otter.

The boy had jumped sharply at the creature's abrupt appearance; now he relaxed and grinned. The otter watched him for a moment with bright, inquisitive eyes. Then it gave another chirp, turned tail and dived, swimming downstream.

"Thanks, friend," the boy murmured, touching his fingers briefly to the tribe mark on his collarbone. Then he jumped to his feet and followed.

The otter swam on until it reached the place where the river left the gorge and spread out into a series of wide, still pools, each trickling slowly towards the sea. There it took up its station on a smooth rock overlooking the water. The boy squatted on the gravel opposite it and waited.

A bird twittered somewhere away towards the land, and the fog began to turn silvery as it was lit from above with sunlight. The sigh of the waves moved in time with his breath, lulling him, keeping him patient. The otter was so still that it might have been a part of the slick black rock on which it sat. And then suddenly, he saw the minute change in stance...

The otter dived, there was a flurry and splash, and a dark shape went streaking away underwater. The boy lunged forward with his spear, and where the otter had missed, he hit home. When he raised the spear, a splendid silver fish was flopping on the end of it.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed again. The otter was watching him expectantly. Swiftly he hacked off the head, along with a respectable amount of flesh, and tossed it across the pool. The otter darted forward and snatched it, looked at him for a moment and then vanished swiftly among the rocks.

"Hoy! Masaya!"

The boy turned, searching until he spotted the shadowy figure approaching through the mist.

"Kisshu," he returned, waving his arm. "I caught a fish!"

"Woot!" the other boy cheered, tossing the stick he carried up into the air and catching it again. As he crossed the stony river the boy named Masaya fell into step beside him, and they emerged together onto the beach, already bright and golden with morning.

"Where'd you find it?" Kisshu asked as they strolled along the beach, searching for somewhere comfortable to sit down.

"In one of the pools back there. An otter led me on to it."

"D'you reckon it was trapped there after high tide? If the otter knew about it, that suggests it's maybe more than a one-off."

"Maybe. Either way, we should look again tomorrow."

"Yup. What is it?"

"Sea bass, I think," Masaya answered, steering them towards a log of driftwood. He sat down, set the fish across his knee and began scraping at the scales with his knife. "If it is, it definitely won't have come down the river, but if there's a shoal of them around then they might be getting trapped in the tide pools quite a lot, like you said. More than a one-off."

Kish opened his mouth to answer, but they were interrupted by a shout from the cliff.

"Masaya! Kisshu!"

Kish craned his neck back, shading his eyes and squinting up at the cliff. "Minto? What are you doing over our side of the range this early?" he yelled.

"And will I be making a habit of it, because if I did it would be all your dreams come true," the girl replied. "Sorry, Kisshu. I'm looking for Retasu; have you boys seen her?"

"Gomen, Minto-san, I was up early," Masaya said. "I haven't seen –"

"And what exactly are you planning to shoot with that bow here on the beach?" Kish cut in.

"A brace of Midorikawa boys," Mint said darkly. Kisshu raised his eyebrows and Masaya blushed.

Mint slung the bow across her back and picked her way to the edge of the cliff.

"Minto, you will break your neck," Kisshu remarked as she began to climb.

"No Bird breaks anything," Mint retorted. "I'm looking for Retasu because she's still got my shell necklace that I lent her for the Roe Moon festival, and I want it back."

"Not like Retasu to withhold other people's possessions," Kisshu said musingly.

"Just like her to be forgetful though," Mint returned, dropping down onto the sand and strolling over. "Hey, that's a big fish, Masaya."

"You can come to our camp tonight to help him eat it, if you like," Kisshu offered. Masaya elbowed him furtively in the ribs, and Kisshu stomped on his toe. Mint looked away from the tussling boys, turning her face into the wind that had veered round and was blowing from the cliffs. There was a faint taste of woodsmoke carried on the breeze.

Lettuce jumped a narrow streamlet and headed for the stand of trees that marked the start of the forest. She had come partly because she knew that there was fruit to be had at this time of year, partly to enjoy some time alone and partly in the hope of meeting someone.

She pushed her way deeper into the undergrowth, moving quietly out of habit but not troubling to look around or to listen too carefully. Large predators were scarce here, and the land for fifteen miles around was the territory of the Midorikawas – the Sea people – and their allies the Aizawas. Anybody she might meet here was a friend, even if they didn't belong to either tribe.

She came out into a clearing and suddenly smiled. Skipping in the sunshine was a small, yellow-haired girl.

'"Purin-san!" Lettuce called, stepping forwards. The girl spun round, beamed in response and came bouncing over.

"Retasu-'nee-chan!" she exclaimed happily. "What are you doing here this morning?"

"I was gathering fruit," Lettuce answered. "You know there isn't much tasty that grows right out on the cliffs, so I have to take advantage of the season while I can. I'm about ready for a rest now, though. Want something?"

The two girls sat down with their backs against a tree and Lettuce chose two of the best fruits she had gathered and passed one to Pudding. They munched in silence for a while, and then Lettuce said:

"We've had good hunting in my village these past few days. What about you?"

"I like this time of year," Pudding said with her mouth full. "There's plenty to eat on every bush."

"Hai." Lettuce nodded, then reached into her bag and produced a parcel of oilcloth that she'd placed at the bottom. It contained several strips of dried meat.

"We've been smoking it with juniper wood," she said. "I think it makes it taste quite different. Aromatic. Try some."

Pudding took a strip and tore it in half with her teeth. Lettuce didn't miss the reigned-in eagerness in her eyes. She took the other half and put it into her cheek, and they chewed in companionable silence.

"Good?" Lettuce asked after a while.

"Mmmmm," Pudding nodded, champing industriously.

"I thought you'd like it," Lettuce said, her voice coming out muffled around her mouthful. "You can take the rest of that, if you like."

"Oh no, onee-chan," Pudding said. "There's enough for days there."

"Honestly, Purin, we can easily spare it," Lettuce insisted. "It would only go bad if we tried to store it all." Pudding was staring at the meat, her brow furrowed. Take it, Lettuce thought, please just take it.

"I have something for you too, onee-chan," Pudding said at last.

"Something for me?"

"Hai. Hang on a minute..." Pudding began to rummage in a pocket on her leggings, and then her hand came out curled round something made of shell and beads.

Lettuce leaned closer to examine it. It was a small scallop shell, polished clean to reveal its gleaming marble of brown and white. Three bright feathers hung down from it, and between them were strands of beads: seeds dyed red and green. Pudding held it out to her, so she took it and turned it over. The back was fitted with a slim wooden pin, carefully whittled, that would allow her to clasp it into her hair. She could imagine how much time and effort must have gone into making it.

"Arigatou, Purin-chan," she whispered. "It's...it's beautiful."

"It's fair, ne?" Pudding said. "You share your food with me often, so I thought I'd –"

A monkey shrieked in the branches above, and Pudding froze.

"Nani?" Lettuce choked. The other girl's eyes had changed. Suddenly the laughter was gone, and they were full of shock and – Lettuce peered closer – anger.

"Purin-san?" Lettuce wavered.

Pudding hissed something incomprehensible, turned and vanished into the tree.

Lettuce felt utterly at a loss. She looked up at the thick canopy of leaves, wondering, not for the first time, whether she had really happened across Pudding or whether the young girl had allowed herself to be seen. It was more than possible; look at the way she had disappeared into that tree. And she would have to be good at woodcraft, to live out here as easily as she appeared to, completely alone...

"Smoke, na no da!"

Lettuce jumped as Pudding suddenly reappeared above her, balancing on a branch as though it were the easiest thing in the world.

"Nani?" she said again, beseechingly.

"Smoke on the horizon, na no da!" Pudding repeated, in the same fierce undertone.

"S-smoke?" Lettuce stammered. "Purin-san, people are always lighting fires at this time...my tribe, or the Aizawas –?"

"It's not coming from the Aizawas!" Pudding growled. "Over that way. North."

"North?" Lettuce scrambled to her feet and swung herself into the tree. She was a careful climber, and Pudding swarmed up ahead of her and was waiting impatiently when she reached the crown of the tree and poked her head up out of the leaves.

"There," Pudding said. Lettuce turned in the direction she indicated, her ribbons, long and magnificent in a female, unfurling from under her hair. Air wasn't as dense as water; no vibrations passed through it that could tell her anything useful. But she could taste the scent on the wind clearly enough, feeling it on her ribbons and in her nose at the same time as she saw it.

Smoke, curling up from the horizon, away inland across the plains.