Animal Instinct

Chapter VII

When they were all back at the pet shop, all sitting around the table, or in some cases, near the table, Ryou spoke again.

"Alright. Tell us exactly what happened when Tart appeared."

"The weird floating guy?" Leon asked. "His name is Tart?"

"Yes." Zakuro replied. "What happened when he showed up?"

Berry, who had been sitting on the floor and using the side Zakuro's chair for a backrest, frowned and looked at Pudding, who shrugged, then rabbit-girl turned to face Ryou. "He was looking for Count D's pet shop. That is specifically what he said."

Ryou and Keiichiro looked at each other. The other Mews looked around uneasily.

All but Zakuro. "So, whatever they want is in this store." She said straightforwardly as she sipped her tea.

"Is there any Mew Aqua here?" Ichigo asked.

"There is." The Count replied.

"Then maybe that's what the aliens are after." Leon suggested.

Ryou shook his head. "It could be, but it doesn't make sense. Why did they never show up to search for it?"

"They could have," Keiichiro spoke up. "None of ever stayed inside the store when the aliens attacked. They could have been searching while their Chimera Animas were rampaging."

There was a pause as the group considered this, then D spoke.

"The Mew Aqua is still here. I checked on it this morning."

"We've also been out since then," Leon pointed out.

Ryou turned to Masha, who had been fluttering next to the blonde. "Go check and see if the Mew Aqua is still back there."

"Masha will, Masha will," Masha chirped as he flew off.

"So, what do we know for sure?" Mint asked.

"We know for sure there's something in this shop those floating freaks are after," Leon replied.

"Count, what do you sell in this store?" Keiishiro asked. "Anything besides animals?"

"I sell love, hope, and dreams." D replied.

"Well at least we know the floating freaks are only after the animals." Leon said.

"So who do we know who would keep attacking even after we're waiting for them to show up?" Ichigo wondered. "Surely Kish and the others would have given when they realized we were waiting for them."

"Never stops 'em from trying to destroy Tokyo." Zakuro pointed out.

"That's a city. This is one particular place." Ichigo replied.

One place in particular. The entire Mew Mew group mulled that over for a moment, then everyone looked up at the same time and said, "Gateau de Roi."

"Wait, what?" Leon asked.

"Gateau De Roi," Zakuro repeated.

"He's one of the aliens, and he's attacked a localized area before. Last time he showed up, he attacked the nature reserve that Ringo lives on." Ichigo said. Ringo nodded.

"He also seems to have a higher rank than the rest of the aliens." Ryou added.

"de Roi is also good at being stupid. He has this thing that if he attacks enough, he'll finally drive us away." Mint said. "It never seems to dawn on him that we eventually figure out he's up to something, and it also never seems to dawn on him that when we're literally sitting around waiting for him, he should probably go attack something or somewhere else."

"True, but we shouldn't underestimate him," Ryou warned.

"It fits de Roi's M.O." Zakuro said, glancing at Ryou and Keiichiro. "What do we do now? Should some of stay here or not?"

"It doesn't seem to matter if we stay or not," Mint pointed out. "We haven't been able to stop these last Chimera Anima alone, it only works if we're all together."

Ryou nodded and turned to the Count. "I guess it's up to you then, Count D. Would you like some of to keep staying here?"

"It makes no difference to me," D replied. "As you say, you all have to be at the site of the attack to stop the Chimera Animas."

Leon tossed his phone to Ryou. "I'll stay. Besides, it's what my boss assumes I'm doing for the next few days anyway. Put you number in my phone, so I can call the next time one of the monsters shows up."

Ryou entered his number into the phone, then tossed it back to Leon.

"And here," Leon pulled out Berry's phone, with its tiny strawberry rabbit charm, and tossed it over to the girl.

"Thank you," Berry said as she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"If you need us again, don't hesitate to call us," Ryou said as he and Keiichiro stood up. "And if you can't reach us by phone, we're staying at the Farmer's Daughter Hotel."

"Taruto, your failure is inexcusable." To say that Gateau was not happy was something of an understatement. "You were supposed to transform the three-headed dragon into a Chimera Anima, but in your carelessness transformed a stupid octopus."

"Well it's not my fault. You could have been more specific other than just Chinatown." Tart told him. "Do you know how many Chinatowns there are? You're lucky I found the Chinese Count's shop at all!"

"Tart that is no way to speak to Gateau de Roi," Pie pointed out sharply. "You must show him the same respect you would show Kish or I."

"That means Tart will show no respect at all," Kish pointed out.

"KISH!" Tart and Pie exclaimed.

"Enough of your foolishness," Gateau ordered. "I don't have time for it. It's time for the final phase of my plan."

"Are you finally going to tell us what your plan is?" Tart asked.

"Yes. Because I'll need all of you to help me carry this off." Gateau said with a smile.

Tart still had questions. "What's in that pet shop that's so important, anyway?"

Gateau turned and floated a few feet away, relishing the fact that his plan was about to come to fruition. Master Deep Blue would be most pleased with him this time…

He turned and floated back. "There is a Mew Aqua in that shop. And we will take it. But there's something far more valuable there: animals."

"Animals?" Tart repeated.

"Animals," Gateau said with a nod. "I wonder what would happen to those Mew Mew girls if suddenly every animal in that store became a Chimera Anima?"

"We've tried multiple Chimera Animas before." Pie told him.

"True, but there are many fantastic creatures in that store. And if they all become Chimera Animas, the Mews will be in over their heads. If the Mews are defeated, then who will stand in our way?" Gateau asked.

"You'll have to get rid of the Mew Aqua first," Kish spoke up. "Unless you want them to use it to stop us."

"I know that," Gateau replied. "What do you take me for? Now," He turned to Pie and Tart. "Let's start amassing Para Paras. We'll need a lot of them."

Ichigo giggled and rolled over on the bed. She was the only one in the room that she was sharing with Pudding and Ringo.

She was alone because all the other girls were currently down at the outdoor pool.

She was also on the phone with her boyfriend, Masaya Aoyama.

"No, we're having a great time. I mailed you a gift. Look for it at you house soon." She told him.

"That's great." Masaya replied. "Are you going to tell me what it is?"

Ichigo shook her head, even though Masaya couldn't see. "Nope. You'll have to wait until it gets to your house to find out what it is.

He laughed. "I'll look forward to it. I walked by the café today. It looks empty, but not like anyone's broken into it. Akasaka-san and Shirogane-san live above the café, don't they?"

"Yep."

"Anything else interesting happen over there?"

"Well…" Ichigo hesitated. Masaya knew that she was a Mew, but still, she didn't want to worry him.

"The aliens followed you, didn't they?"

"Yes," Ichigo said sheepishly. "But so far we've been able to handle it."

"Be careful, Ichigo," Masaya told her.

"I will. Don't worry, the other girls are helping too."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Masaya."

Ichigo closed her cell phone and looked out the window. If only they could have a nice, normal vacation. But nothing had ever been normal since she became a Mew.

Then she got up and went to get her swimsuit. If the aliens weren't going to attack for awhile, then she could at least join her friends in the pool.

Well, maybe their vacation wasn't completely washed out yet, Zakuro mused as she lay out on a beach chair by the pool, a long pink cover-up and white shirt, along with a sun hat and sunglasses, protecting her from the actual rays of the sun.

Why Ryou actually thought that Tokyo Mew Mew could go on vacation and not have some calamity follow them was beyond her, but it also wasn't her job to worry about it. At least they could enjoy the pool.

Lettuce was in the deep end of the pool, trying to reach the actual bottom while holding her breath. She said that the chlorine in the water irritated her lungs when she tried to breathe underwater in a pool. Zakuro didn't know about that, but then again, Zakuro admitted, she wasn't a mermaid either.

Berry, Ringo, and Pudding were playing down in the shallow end of the pool. Mint was sitting on a beach chair a few feet down from Zakuro. The lorikeet girl was sitting under an overhanging tree branch so that from the waist down, she was in the sun, and from the waist up, she was in shade.

All the better to read her new magazine without the sun shining directly onto the page.

The door that led back into the hotel opened and Ichigo came running out, dropping her towel by the side of the pool as she did.

"Cannonball!" Ichigo shrieked as she jumped into the deep end of the pool, nearly landing on Lettuce's head.

When the catgirl got back up to the surface of the water, Zakuro told her, "Ichigo, you shouldn't run by the edge of the pool. You might get hurt."

"Okay," Ichigo agreed. "But if we do get hurt, we can just have Ringo help us."

"Still, don't run."

"Okay." Ichigo said, then turned to Lettuce. "So, you wanna play a game?"

"What kind of game?" Lettuce asked.

"I dunno…let's make something up!"

"Hey, can we play too?" Berry asked.

"Sure. Help us make up a game." Ichigo replied.

Zakuro leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes behind her glasses as the other girls talked about what kind of game they could play.

For now, the wolf-girl would go back to her nap.

When Keiichiro returned to the room he was sharing with Ryou, he was rather surprised to see the blonde sitting on the edge of one of the beds, a TV remote in his hand.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you watch TV," Keiichiro said cautiously, not sure whether what he said would make the blonde drop the remote and say he had to get back to work.

"Well, I don't have any work to do," Keiichiro could hardly believe his ears. "And it is supposed to be a vacation, so until we get a phone call from that detective, I figured I might as well relax."

"It's good that you're finally giving yourself a break." Keiichiro said as he set the sodas he'd purchased from the vending machine down on the nightstand.

"Uh-huh," Ryou replied, somewhat absent-mindedly. "Except I haven't found anything to watch." He clicked through a few more channels. "I can't find anything that I used to watch when I was younger."

"Chances are, most of that stuff your mother didn't want you watching when you were younger," Keiichiro told him.

Ryou didn't reply, he just kept moving through the channels.

Keiichiro picked up one of the sodas. "The girls are out at the pool; I thought I'd join them."

"Okay. I'm gonna stay here." Ryou said.

"Alright," The other man replied as he headed towards the door. It would be nice if Ryou took some time to relax for a change.

"Aah! Stupid goat!" Even from the very back of the store, Count D was still able to hear Leon's shout. The Asian man repressed a grin and headed back out to the front room.

Sure enough, Leon had T-chan by the horns and was holding the tetsu back. For his part, T-chan was still snapping his teeth at Leon.

"Alright, T-chan, that's enough," D told the tetsu.

"But I'm hungry!" T-chan stopped snapping at Leon long enough to protest. "And I haven't had human for awhile and it would taste so good."

"T-chan," D repeated, and with an exasperated huff the tetsu pulled free from Leon' grip and jumped down off the couch, wandering to the back of the store.

"Dumb goat." Leon muttered as he watched the creature lumber off. "Why do you even keep that thing around here, D?"

"He's a very rare creature, you know." D replied. "And he makes for very good security."

"Whatever." Leon leaned back in his chair.

"It's nice that I've been able to open the store for a change." D said as he went to put his 'closed' sign out on the door.

"What with all of the havoc these aliens have been causing recently, I haven't been able to have the shop open for very much of the day." D continued as he came back.

"Yeah. Well at least the aliens haven't done anything so far today," Leon said, glancing at his watch. "At this rate, this may be the first day since Tokyo Mew Mew's arrival that there hasn't been some kind of alien attack."

Count D glanced at the clock in his store. "It's almost time for tea." He said as he turned and vanished into the kitchen.

As they were having tea a few minutes later, D mentioned, "You seem to have accepted the fact that Tokyo Mew Mew really does exist."

"It was hard not too after the second time I saw them fight. But I still think it's weird. Especially their transformations. One little flash of light and they're dressed, just like that. No woman gets dressed that fast."

"One little flash…" The Count repeated, thinking of the numerous ballet steps that Mint did to transform, and the steps that the rest of the girls did to transform.

"Weird. You gotta wonder how someone gets that kind of power." Leon said, then took another slurp of his tea. "But as long as they're not using it for evil, it's no concern of mine."

"Indeed."

Gateau de Roi knelt in the room, and waited as it was filled with blue tinge, announcing his master's arrival.

"Master Deep Blue, we are almost ready. I feel that this plan will be foolproof this time." Gateau said.

"It seems to me I've heard this before." Deep Blue replied.

"I'm sure that this time it will work, Master," Gateau said confidently. "Whenever we have attacked before, we always used small groups of Chimera Animas, not large ones. If we release a large hoard of Para Paras into this pet shop, we should have more than enough Chimera Animas to take down Tokyo Mew Mew and the rest of the world as well."

"For your sake, Gateau, I certainly hope so. I grow weary of waiting."

"I know, Master. We are working as hard as we can." The green-haired alien paused, waiting for a reply, but when he looked up the blue tinge was receding, Deep Blue having left.

The alien frowned contemplatively, then turned and walked away.

Just outside the room, Pie was working at his computer.

"Pie, how close are you to having collected all of the Para Paras we will need?" Gateau asked.

"We're nearly forty percent of the way there." Pie told him.

"Well, speed it up," Gateau replied. "I want to be able to attack tomorrow morning."

"Very well."

How long had it been since he'd relaxed like this? Ryou couldn't really remember.

Even more astonishing was the fact that he had already wasted two hours doing nothing besides watching TV, and it felt good. He grinned. He would have to make sure this didn't become a habit.

Ryou rolled over onto his side and glanced at his cell phone, which was sitting on the nightstand and had not rang all day. It was really very unusual.

Almost like the aliens had decided to take a day off, too.

Which was very strange.

But for now, Ryou decided, maybe he'd better enjoy it. He shut the TV off and left to go see what the others were doing. Then another thought occurred to him, and he stopped and went back to his computer.

Gateau is so confident that he can win…I wonder if he realizes how good those girls really are at fighting. Kish mused as he sat on top of a skyscraper, overlooking Los Angeles.

Stupid humans. You've taken a beautiful planet and ruined it. But we'll have our revenge. Just wait and see.

And then the air around him shimmered and rippled, and he vanished.

Tokyo Mew Mew was still out by the pool when Ryou arrived. On his way out, a thought had occurred to him, and he had an idea for everyone.

"So, are you all about done here?" He asked.

Everyone looked at him. "Well, actually I was getting kind of tired," Mint admitted.

"We can go back in." Berry said. "What's going on, Shirogane?"

"I was thinking about an early dinner." He told them. "So I went ahead and made some reservations. Did you all bring nice clothes?" He asked, giving Ichigo a suspicious glance.

"Wha-! Of course I did!" She spluttered.

"Good. You should all go get ready to eat." He said as he turned away from the annoyed catgirl. "I found really great reviews for this restaurant and we've got guests to pick up before we get there. Be sure and dress nicely."

"That Ryou is really something else." Ichigo muttered thiry minutes later as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, putting her hair back into it's pigtails. "First he says he's taking us all out to eat, then he gets after me for not having clothes. Of course I have clothes. These are the same clothes I used at the party on his cruise ship."

"Ryou onii-chan does do lots of nice things for us, though." Ringo added, doing a little twirl in her sari-like dress. Her red ribbon was till in it's place on her head. "We must be going out to a very nice restaurant to be dressed up like this."

"Pudding agrees!" The monkey girl added, almost tripping on the long sash of her cream-colored, lacy dress.

Ichigo reached for her black, lace-cuffed gloves and slid them on. "Is everybody ready? Let's see if we can beat Ryou and the others down to the lobby."

XXX

Lettuce had also used the dress from the party on Ryou's cruise ship. And with her hair out of it's braids and pulled back by a barrette, she felt elegantly grown up. Berry was wearing a pretty pink-and-white dress with a pink headband in her hair, and Mint was wearing a dark blue dress with a long slit up one side. Her accents were shoulder-length white gloves, and she had left most of her hair down, twisting some of it into tiny odango buns.

There was a knock on the door, and Lettuce grabbed her purse and went to answer it. Keiichiro was standing on the other side, wearing black pants with a matching dinner jacket and white shirt. "Are you ladies all ready?" he asked.

"We are," Mint told him as she swept towards the door, pausing to shove the room key into her own tiny purse. Berry followed Mint and Lettuce out the door.

"Ichigo and the others are waiting in the lobby, and Ryou expects the car here to pick us any minute." He said as he offered Lettuce his arm. The other girls followed as he led the way down to the lobby.

Just as Keiichiro had said, the other three girls were waiting, along with Ryou who was wearing his white suit. Zakuro showed up a moment after they did, wearing a red dress and apologizing for being late.

"You're not very late, Zakuro," Ryou told her. "We only just got here. The car's not even here yet."

As if to belie his words, a uniformed driver came into the building a moment later. "I'm looking for a Mr. Ryou Shirogane and his party."

"That would be us." Ryou said as he walked over to the driver. "We're going to need to make a stop before we head to the restaurant. I have the address here."

Outside, Ichigo came to a dead stop as she realized what kind of car Ryou had rented: a black stretch limo.

"You've got to be kidding me." She muttered.

"I'm not," Ryou replied as he came to a stop behind her. The chauffer went forward an opened the door for the group, and they all climbed into the limo.

"Ryou, this is really impressive." Mint said as she took a seat. Keiichiro climbed in behind her, and the chauffer shut the door.

"I thought it might be nice to eat somewhere fancy at least once while we're in L.A." He replied.

"So where are we going?" Berry asked.

"I made reservations a restaurant called Spark Woodfire Grill." Ryou told her. "But we're going to make a quick detour by Chinatown before we go eat."

Count D had been more than a little surprised when his phone rang at four o'clock that afternoon. After all, the pets he'd sold that morning wouldn't all turn out to be malicious, and even for the two that were, it was a little early for anything to start happening.

So he was somewhat surprised to answer the phone and hear Ryou Shirogane on the other end, especially because he hadn't given Ryou the number for the store.

Then again, he realized, it wasn't much of a reach that Ryou Shirogane could find it.

"What was that all about?" Leon asked after the Count had hung up the phone.

"That was Shirogane. He has invited us to dinner tonight." D replied as he turned to face the detective. "He also said that we would need to dress somewhat formally."

"Formally? I don't know if I have time to go home and get something formal." Leon said as he took his feet down off D's table and sat up in his chair.

"It's nice of you to stop using my table as a footrest, Mr. Detective," D said. "And I have something you could borrow, if you'd like."

"It's not one of your dresses, is it?"

"As a matter of fact, it is not. Wait here, I'll get it for you." D vanished into the back of the petshop, and returned a few moments later with a box. "This was my grandfather's, but I'm sure he won't mind if you borrow it for the evening."

Leon opened the box. "A suit? Hey wait a minute," He glanced at the mantle.

D noticed. "Yes, it's the same one my grandfather is wearing in that picture."

"And you still have it because…?"

"I'm just running the shop until my grandfather comes back."

"Uh-huh." Leon looked back down at the suit. "Well it won't hurt to try it on, anyway." I would hate to be underdressed.

"Follow me; I'll show you were you can change," D said as he turned away. Leon stood and followed him into the back of the shop.

After dropping Leon off in Chris's room, D went to his own room and went through his own closet, looking for something to wear.

Much to Leon's surprise, the suit fit him fairly well, although there was no way he would ever be able to button the coat.

"You look nice, Leon," Pon-chan, who had been sitting on the bed, told him.

"Thanks, Pon-chan. I think this will do just fine." Leon replied. "I wonder if D is ready yet." He headed back out the door, Pon-chan on his heels.

In the front room, he found D already sitting in a chair, waiting for him. Q-chan was perched on his shoulder and squeaked as Leon entered the room.

"So, how did it fit?" D asked.

"Pretty good, actually." Leon said. "Though I am more prone to white for my suits, and… D, what on Earth are you wearing?"

The count's outfit was a long, floor length robe, with long sleeves and shoulder spikes, much to Leon's surprise. Three long strands of jade beads draped down around the side of his robe, matching the two long strands around the Count's neck. The front piece of his outfit was done in patterned black, which offset the color of the rest of his outfit. At his side, connecting the three strands of beads, was a small pouch.

"Sheesh, D, don't you think you're a little overdressed?" Leon asked. "What is that, another family heirloom?"

"As a matter of fact, it belonged to my grandfather's grandfather." D replied. "Hmmm…do you really think I'm overdressed?"

There was no time to answer, because at that moment there came a knock on the door. Leon opened it.

The chauffer was standing there. "I'm looking for a Count D and a Detective Orcot."

"Well you found 'em," Leon said as the Count came up behind him.

"I was asked to give this to the Count," The man continued, holding out a folded sheet of paper and Masha, who was asleep.

D accepted the robot and the paper. He unfolded the paper and read the note.

Count D,

Please leave Masha in your shop while we're gone. If a Chimera Anima shows up, he can send a signal immediately to alert us.

Shirogane

The Count set Masha down on an end table along with the note, and turned to Leon and the chauffer. "I believe we're ready."

"I will escort you to the car," The chauffer said. He turned and headed back up to the street, Leon behind him. D followed after he had stopped to lock the door. Outside they found a limo waiting, much to Leon's surprise.

"Count D! Detective Orcot!" Berry exclaimed as the two of them got in.

"Kyu!"

"Q-chan too." She added as she spotted the creature.

"Wow, Shirogane, do you think you've done things extravagantly enough?" Leon asked as he took a seat. "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but this is gonna have to cost a fortune."

"Good thing I have a fortune." Ryou replied.

Count D, a far greater diplomat than the Detective, told the Japanese man, "Thank you for inviting us."

"Don't mention it," Ryou waved the words away. "I just thought it would nice to have a relaxing dinner while the aliens weren't attacking."

"You'll all have to come over for tea tomorrow afternoon." D told the group.

Mint smiled. "We'll be glad to," She accepted on behalf of the group.

Ryou checked his phone. "Masha will alert us if anything happens at the pet shop while we're gone."

"I read the note." D affirmed.

"Then tonight I suggest we enjoy ourselves." Keiichiro said.

T.A.R.N.S.: Alright. I hope no one was bored, but before things start to really pick up in the next chapter, I wanted a break. And this chapter, like the others was supposed to go on for eleven pages, but I got stuck on page seven, and by the time I got it moving again, it was fourteen pages. But that's alright.

I apologize for the delay, but real life comes first. Hopefully, I can get this story finished this summer since I started it last summer. That would be nice. The idea is that I can have a bit of time off this summer, since I only have half the classes I normally take in the average college semester.

Some real life facts here. The Farmer's Daughter hotel is apparently a real hotel somewhere in L.A. I don't know if they have a pool. The site I was on wanted to me to book a room, so I got off there as soon as I could. And the Spark Woodfire Grill is a real L.A. restaurant, but I upped their dress code because I wanted to do something dressy. And yes, the outfit I described for D comes from "Dynasty." I loved that outfit from the moment I saw it. And I only just now realized how close I came to putting Leon in a Chinese robe. Just that close!

Anyway, please Review! Since I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, I would really like to get at least two reviews before I update again. that's not too much to ask, is it? Please?