A/N: This is a rewritten version of The Tokyo Mew Mew Saga: Love's Legend. It follows the original Tokyo Mew Mew origin story with some added detail, as well as a few minor details in its English version Mew Mew Power.

*Two Years Later*

"Tag, you're it!"

Ryou looked up from the book he had been reading and frowned. It was a sunny summer day and the Shirogane/Nikini family were enjoying the outdoors in the grassy haven of their backyard getaway. Mrs Shirogane had set up a picnic and was slicing up some watermelon to share. Mamaya was greedily popping food into her mouth. Mr Shirogane was too busy indoors with his work, but Amaya didn't mind. Maybe it was normal for fathers to always be working inside. Ryou, however, had immediately planted himself down at the base of a tall Japanese maple tree and begun reading a thick volume of some book Amaya couldn't understand. She was not having that.

"I don't want to play. I'm too busy," he protested.

Amaya pouted. "Oh come on, Ryou! Don't be a big boring baby! That book doesn't look like any fun!"

He looked back down at his book and continued reading, eyes moving side to side as he scanned each line. Ever since Amaya had moved in, and maybe even before that, Ryou had taken it upon himself to always be studying. When she asked, he always said, "I'm studying to take on my father's research one day."

Amaya wasn't sure what it was his father studied but it seemed complicated. "Come play with me! Studying in the summer is boring!"

Ryou smirked. "My intention isn't to have a good time," he retorted.

She frowned. "What does that mean?"

Ryou looked up at her and scoffed. "Just leave me alone, okay? Go play with Mamaya or something."

Amaya stuck out her cheeks and pouted. She stamped her foot on the ground. "Fine! But you know what? Don't come crying to me when you have no friends cuz all you wanna do is be a boring old man!" she shouted.

That day she'd stomped away and reverted to playing with Mamaya like nothing had happened. But the next day, she returned home from school and rounded the corner to find Mrs Shirogane placing Band-Aids over Ryou's face and legs. She hurriedly raced back behind the corner before they'd seen her to listen in to their conversation.

"Who did this to you, Ryou?" Mrs Shirogane's worried voice asked.

Ryou said nothing.

"Was it those boys in the grade above you?" she asked.

Again, he said nothing.

Amaya immediately regretted the words she'd said that day under the maple tree. If he was being bullied, maybe Ryou really didn't have many friends. They went to the same school, but he was two grades above her - they hardly saw each other on the playground. For all she knew, he was getting bullied right in front of her.

Would you protect your mother and sister and everyone else if you could?

The next day, Amaya came home from school with bruises and cuts covering her legs, arms and face. She walked into the living room where Mrs Shirogane sat sewing the buttons on a white blouse for her husband. "I'm home," she said, setting her backpack down on the floor next to her.

"Welcome home, dear," Mrs Shirogane said, glancing over her shoulder. She smiled at her and turned back to the shirt in her hands before freezing and doing a quick double-take. "Amaya! What in the world happened to you?! Who did this to you?!"

Amaya looked down at herself. She saw bruises and scrapes and a few cuts on her knees and elbows where she was beginning to bleed. She looked back up at Mrs Shirogane and shrugged. "I hit one of them. Then they hit me back, so I kept hitting them. Then they pushed me and started hitting me again."

Mrs Shirogane stood from her chair and knelt to Amaya. "You got into a fight?! How many were there? Amaya, you should know better than to hit people," she scolded.

Amaya flinched when she touched a sore spot on her forehead. "There were five of them."

She pulled a First Aid Kit from the table beside her chair and set it down on the floor next to her. She took out a few things like cotton balls and a little bottle of clear liquid and began applying it to her forehead. "Amaya, you can't do this again. It's not good for a lady to pick fights. Look at your school uniform: it's all dirty and torn."

Amaya huffed. "They started it! They were picking on Ryou so I told them to go away but then one of them hit me, so I hit him back!"

Mrs Shirogane frowned and looked at Amaya. "You mean, you stood up to the boys that were picking on Ryou?"

Amaya nodded. "My daddy told me a long time ago to protect people whenever I can! I said something mean to Ryou and told him he had no friends. I didn't mean it . . . But I can protect him if he can't do it himself! Those boys came out a lot worse than me! I won!"

The blonde woman smiled and gave her a tight hug. "That's very sweet of you, and I'm glad that you would protect my son like that, Amaya. But you have to promise me, no more fighting with the kids at your school. Promise?"

Amaya sighed. "Okay . . ."

After she was done getting bandaged up, Amaya went to her room. It was a lot like her old room, but still different in a way. It was large and spacious, and sometimes it made her feel like she lived in a house all by itself. There were glass doors leading to a balcony outside, and even a bathtub built in on one corner of the room. Her old room never had that.

The floors were marble. Because of it, it was easy to hear when people were walking on it. So when she heard footsteps that weren't hers, she turned quickly toward the door, heart pounding. She was half-expecting to see a monster there. Instead, it was Ryou. She took a breath and tried to relax.

"You didn't have to do that, stupid," Ryou muttered.

Amaya frowned. "Do what?"

His face went a little pink. "You know, pick a fight with those guys. I could have handled it."

She smiled. "I know. But I wanted to."

He scoffed. "You're weird," he muttered. "Thanks."

She grinned and watched as he turned and left.

So they continued on. Amaya and Ryou gradually became closer. They were far from becoming the best of friends, but Ryou stopped reading to play with her once in a while and Amaya didn't bother him as often as she did. The boys at their school still tormented them, but they had learned their lesson not to pick a fight with Amaya. All in all, things were going well. Amaya was happy. She was beginning to feel like a normal girl again.

But then, one day, Amaya came home late. She'd gone to her friend's house after school and was waiting for her driver to pick her up. Usually her driver was right on time. Mrs Shirogane got worried when Amaya was a few minutes late. But that day, he never showed up. The parents of her friend had offered to drive her home, which she gladly accepted. But as they were driving up the parkway that led to her garage, something bright caught her eye. The car rounded a corner and then began to slow. That was when Amaya saw it.

The entire house was up in flames. For a moment, Amaya was frozen. Then the images of the scaly monster crossed her vision. Her mind's first thought was of her parents. Then Mamaya. She screamed. "No! Mamaya! Ryou!" she shouted. She tore her seatbelt off and pushed the car door open, jumping out and rolling to her feet. She ran up the driveway toward a familiar red Mercedes that was parked up near the door. Two figures stood there, but she was too far to see. One was very tall, the other her height.

As she got closer, she saw the familar blond hair. "Ryou!" she shouted.

She saw him turn to face her. Tears were in his eyes. "My mom and dad . . ."

Her first concern was her sister. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Was my sister in there? Tell me Mamaya is safe!"

His eyes went wide. "Mamaya . . ."

She turned and darted toward the house without another thought. She heard voices shouting after her, but she ignored them. She'd already lost her mother and father. She was not going to lose Mamaya too. Memories of her in the hospital, clinging to her little sister for safety from her own nightmares filled her head. She'd never known until now how much she needed her.

The flames crackled around her and roared in her ears. She'd never known how loud fire could be until now. In school, they taught you to stay low to the ground. Amaya got down on her hands and knees and began crawling around. "Mamaya!" she shouted. "Mamaya, can you hear me?!"

She crawled down what used to be the front hall. She peered into each doorway as she passed them but they were too full of flames for her to see any of them. Sweat beaded her ashen forehead. She was too afraid to even feel her fear. "Mamaya! Answer me!" she shouted again.

"Amaya? Is that you?"

She perked up. That was her sister's voice. "Mamaya! Where are you?"

Her voice was getting quieter. "Over here . . ."

She peered into a doorway on her left. Some tall pieces of wood had fallen over and had landed in a pile on the floor. At the base of the pile, Amaya saw a familiar streak of mahogany red hair. "Mamaya!" she screamed. She ran over, forgetting to stay low to the ground, and pulled off the pieces she could reach. Mamaya had been caught between a few pieces that had fallen over. Luckily it didn't look like any of them were cutting through her, but she was wedged too tight between them to move. Her entire midsection was stuck.

Mamaya looked up at her sister, blood trickling down her face from a cut she'd received on her forehead. "Amaya, I'm scared," she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Amaya grabbed her sister's hand and forced her tears back.

"Why does this keep happening to us?" she whimpered.

Amaya shook her head. "I don't know," she murmured. "But I won't leave you. As long as we're together, we'll be okay."

Mamaya folded her free arm against the floor and buried her face into it, her sobbing muffled by the roar of the flames around them. Amaya clutched her hand tight to her chest and leaned over her, her silent battle against the tears in her eyes lost. She wondered if they'd see her mother and father again, or if they would see Mr and Mrs Shirogane. She wasn't sure, but she had a feeling they were gone too. She felt sorry for Ryou. It wasn't going to be easy for him to move on. She knew he loved his mother a lot.

But it was too late now. Amaya wasn't going to make it out of here to ever know. They were going to die.

"Over here! There are some kids over here!"

Amaya looked up. Something was coming toward them. She tensed. She saw a scary face and freaky eyes. Was she going to get eaten by monsters or would the fire be the cause of her death? She squeezed Mamaya's hands in hers so tightly, Mamaya let out a yelp.

But it wasn't a group of monsters coming toward her. It was a crew of fire fighters.

A man knelt to Amaya and began reaching to pick her up. She screamed and struggled out of his grip. "No! Save my sister first!" she exclaimed.

The man looked down through his oxygen mask at the little girl sandwiched between the planks of wood. He probably hadn't even seen her there. He looked over his shoulder and started barking at the others to help him out. Two others ran over and helped him lift the planks that had fallen over Mamaya's body. When she finally came loose she scrambled into her big sister's arms.

"We've got to get out of here," the man said. He grabbed Amaya and lifted her into his arms. Another man did the same with Mamaya. As they began to run, a high-pitched laugh rung through the fiery halls.

The fresh air hit Amaya's lungs like a freight train. She coughed against the unnatural change in oxygen levels and looked back over the fire fighter's shoulder. The house was beginning to fall. Planks of wood and bricks crumbled to the ground. It seemed they had gotten out of there right in the nick of time.

The laughing rung through her ears again. She looked up toward the sky. There, sure enough, was her worst nightmare. Its scales were bluer than before, and its body had grown. It must have only been a baby the first time it had attacked her, because now it seemed to be even scarier. Its purple mane had grown longer and wilder, its talons were sharper and its teeth were thicker. It had long, powerful-looking wings that spanned almost as wide as the house. Her heart pounded. She was too terrified to scream.

The man holding her turned around and let out a surprised yelp. "What the hell is that?!" he shouted.

The monster's laugh finally ceased, but only so that it could flap its long wings and disappear into the shadows of the night.

Once again, Amaya passed out.

Again, Amaya came to in a hospital bed, although this was not the same one. She was told that she had been asleep for almost two days, and that the doctors had had to clear her lungs out to make sure they hadn't gotten debris or toxins in them from the fire. Ryou was okay. Mamaya had needed stitches, but aside from that she was also okay. They were alive.

They had put both she and her sister in the same hospital room. Mamaya's bed was to her right. Ryou was stationed at an empty bed to her left. A tall man with long, dark brown hair in a ponytail was almost always at his side taking care of him, asking him if he was all right.

Amaya looked at her sister's sleeping form. With tears in her eyes, she finally realized it: they were all each other had.

Ryou stood. "I'm going to the cafeteria. Want anything?"

Amaya shook her head. "I'm fine."

Ryou nodded and made way for the door, the brunet man following behind. "Okay, see you later."

She nodded back. "Yeah. Bye," she murmured.

He gave her a quizzical look, but left anyway, shutting the door behind them.

Amaya sat up. She pulled the oxygen tube from her nose and looked down at the IV resting in her wrist. She gulped. She'd seen this in movies, but she had always looked away. Taking a deep breath, she slowly slid the needle out of her arm. When it was finally out, she carefully placed it on the table next to her bed. She grabbed a Band-Aid from the table and slapped it over the IV hole.

She had to move fast. She saw a nurse put her and Mamaya's clothes in the closet near the window last time. She ran to it and pulled it open. Sure enough, there they were, all clean and folded up neatly. She pulled her hospital gown off and stepped into her clothes, then grabbed Mamaya's things and went to her bed. She pulled her sister's oxygen tube and IV out and shook her awake. "Mamaya. Mamaya, wake up!"

The four-year-old groaned and slowly fluttered her eyes open. "Sleepy," she murmured.

Amaya shook her again. "I know, I know. But wake up, okay? We need to get out of here."

She opened her eyes and looked up at her big sister. "Get out of here?" she asked.

Amaya nodded. "Look, I don't know why, but whatever that thing was, it keeps following us. We can't stay here, or else the people that they dump us with will be put in danger too. I don't want more people to die because of us. Do you?"

Mamaya shook her head rapidly.

"Good," Amaya said. "Then we need to run away. Get dressed."

She obediently did as was told. When she was done, she climbed out of her bed and looked at the door. "How do we get out with no one seeing us?" she asked.

Amaya took her hand. "Just stay quiet and keep your head down."

She nodded and bowed her head. Amaya opened the door and peered out. The reception desk was just a little bit down the hall. Thankfully, the exit was in the opposite direction. All they needed to do was get through the doors to the hallway and then they would be home free. She tugged her sister along and began walking down the hall, not too quickly but not too slowly.

"How are the Nikini sisters?"

Amaya's head shot up. She glanced over her shoulder but no one was talking to her. She slowly looked around her. A woman down the hall behind them was speaking with Doctor Matsumiya. Amaya gulped. That wasn't good. They would probably be going in to check on them. She squeezed Mamaya's hand. "Run," she whispered.

Mamaya needed not be told twice. They ran down the hall until they reached the doors and Amaya threw them open. Then they continued running down another hall that passed the cafeteria. Amaya glanced in through the glass windows as they ran and for a moment her heart stopped as her eyes met Ryou's. He'd been looking out the window to see who was running past them. She continued running, squeezing her eyes shut and praying that he told no one.

When they finally reached the exit, Mamaya slowed to a stop and bent over, panting tiredly. "I'm pooped!" she wailed.

Amaya grabbed her. "We can't stop, they'll find us. We need to keep running!"

Mamaya looked up at her. "But!"

Amaya knelt with her back toward her. "Hop on then. But hold on tight," she said.

Mamaya nodded and hopped up onto her sister's back. As soon as she was securely clinging to her, Amaya began running again. She wasn't sure where she was going or how far it was, all she knew was the further she went the better.

An hour later, Amaya was bent over herself, panting so hard she felt like a dog. Her throat burned and her chest ached. Every muscle in her body cried out. The pavement under her hands and knees had never looked so inviting. It also wasn't helpful that it was a heated day in July. The fabric of her uniform blouse clung to her and kept her body overheated.

Mamaya had gone in to the little shop they had stopped in front of to ask a waiter for a glass of water. She finally returned from inside and handed the glass to her sister. Amaya took it and drunk from it greedily. Some of it trickled from the corners of her mouth but she didn't care. She welcomed the cool liquid as it slid down her neck.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth and set the glass back down on the ground. She stood and sighed. Then she knelt to her sister again. Mamaya hopped onto her back and propped herself up.

They had gotten far enough that Amaya no longer needed to run. Still, they had reached central Tokyo and the streets were too busy and dangerous to allow Mamaya to walk freely on her own. Amaya couldn't risk losing her in the crowded roads. She had no idea where they were. She simply went forward.

As she continued walking, she took a turn down a street that was less crowded. There was a park with a large fountain there. Lots of kids and adults were there, playing and walking and sitting on benches. She smiled. It looked simple and happy. She wished she could go and play, but she was much too tired and it would be getting dark in a few hours. She had to find a place for them to stay the night.

Further down the street, she passed a school. It was big, but not as big as her old school. Amaya's school was a private school, mostly for those who had the parents who could afford it. The sign on the front of this school read "Daikan Junior High School."

She kept walking. Further down the street was another school, this one reading "Okumura Daifuzuku Junior High School." She continued past it and frowned as she thought. There sure were a lot of schools on this street.

She sighed. She was getting tired. The afternoon heat was cooling to a sweet evening breeze. The sun was beginning to set. As if on cue, her stomach began to rumble. She couldn't remember the last meal she'd eaten. She felt Mamaya shiver against her back. "Amaya, I'm hungry," she whined.

Amaya nodded. "I know. Just hold on, okay? I'll figure something out."

They kept walking until they came to a street full of ramen stands. Her mouth watered. The smell of miso filled her taste buds. She propped Mamaya up and stepped in front of a stand with colourful lights and big signs written in big letters. A man and a woman were standing behind the tables. "Hello!" the man said cheerfully. "Would you like some miso ramen? It's world famous!"

Amaya's stomach grumbled in response. Her eyes were heavy with tears. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "I . . . I don't have any money."

The woman frowned and leaned in toward them. "Are you lost, little girl?"

She nodded.

The man flashed them a cheerful smile. "That's okay! This one can be on the house! Just be sure to come back for more, okay?"

The sisters perked up simultaneously. They climbed up onto the stools and nodded. "Thank you!"

The man set a bowl in front of each of them. Amaya practically drooled. She and Mamaya dug in, hardly even breathing between gulps.

The man smiled at them both and then turned to look up at the TV above them. He leaned his elbows on the table as his wife reached up to turn the volume louder. Amaya looked up as she slurped at her noodles. A man was on the TV with a bunch of pictures behind him. She realized this must have been the news. When he wasn't studying, her father used to always watch the news. Amaya had always found it boring.

But the images on the screen behind him seemed familiar.

"Breaking News," the man said, "it has been reported that today at 7:30pm, or right around that time, the Shirogane mansion burned down. The owners of the estate, Dr and Mrs Shirogane, unfortunately did not make it out alive, however their son is now in the care of Fujioto Hospital and, to our knowledge, is alive. Two young girls who were also under the care of Dr Shirogane and his wife have also made it alive, however it is reported that they are now missing. If you see little Amaya and Mamaya Nikini, please do not hesitate to report to your local police station. Here are their photos."

Amaya's heart dropped. She was in trouble now.

The man looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Guess that explains why the two of you are running around with no parents with ya," he chuckled.

Amaya gulped. She was no longer interested in the ramen. Heart pounding, scrambled off her stool and grabbed her sister, pulling her down with her. "Th-th-thanks again, mister!" she wailed, and with that, they sprinted away. She could vaguely hear him shouting after them, but she ignored his calls. She just ran.

They continued running until they came to a deserted alleyway. There, Amaya let go of Mamaya's hand and slumped to the ground to catch her breath. Mamaya sat next to her and shivered. The air was beginning to cool way too much now.

Tears of frustration stained her cheeks. She dug her fingers into the ground. "Geez! What do I do now?!" she exclaimed. "Everyone in the city will have seen those pictures. How are we not going to get caught now?!"

If only she could change her appearance somehow. Amaya was beginning to think she shouldn't have dragged her sister away. She looked down at the younger girl. She was shivering and practically falling asleep, her head drooping down toward Amaya's shoulder. She sighed.

"Heeeeeey! Look at what I found! Two little lost girls."

Amaya's eyes went wide. She looked up from her sister and toward the voice she'd just heard. A shadow moved further down the alley. She gulped and grabbed her sister's hand, preparing to run. Was the monster back? Was it getting ready to finish its job?

But instead of a monster, a boy stepped out from the shadows. Three boys. They were much older than Amaya, with cigarettes between their teeth and their hands shoved deep into the pockets of their torn varsity jackets. Amaya cringed away, pushing Mamaya's half-conscious form behind her back.

One of the boys, a tall guy with greasy black hair, plucked the cigarette from his mouth and leaned in toward Amaya, kneeling down on his knees. He blew out, the smoke engulfing Amaya's face. "What are you doing all alone in a dark, scary alley little girl? Didn't your parents ever tell you that it's very dangerous to be out in the dark all alone? You could get kidnapped."

One of the other boys behind him fidgeted nervously. "Yo man, let's just leave them alone. They're just kids."

The dark-haired leader glared back at him. "They're not just kids, you moron! These are the kids from the mansion outside of town. The one owned by that rich family. The news has reports all over the place for them. Think of the money we could get if we held them for ransom!"

"Do you know how much trouble we would get in for that? We could go to jail!"

Amaya shook her sister but she was too deep in sleep to wake up. She groaned. She had to get them out of there, but she couldn't lift Mamaya when she was sleeping. She had to do something, but what? These boys were planning anything but rescue.

"Excuse me."

One by one, everyone gasped. Amaya looked up and over her shoulder. A woman stood behind them in the light of the alley's opening. She walked up to them and smiled. "I'm sorry, it seems some of my children escaped during recess. I believe you have them confused for someone else. Although, you really shouldn't be planning on kidnapping young girls," the woman said, stepping up in front of Amaya.

The boys backed up and looked at the woman. "Tch," the leader scoffed. "Whatever. Let's go, guys."

They begun their retreat.

The woman turned and knelt to the two girls. She smiled at Amaya and lifted a finger, wiping away a tear on her cheek. "Don't cry," she said gently. "I'm going to take you somewhere you won't have to worry about people like that. How would you like to sleep somewhere safe?"

Amaya looked at the woman warily. She wanted to trust this woman, but what if she took her back to the hospital? Did she know who they were?

The woman smiled. "My name is Ms Rosbe. I run a children's shelter for lost and homeless kids. It's a lot like a daycare, except not just during the day. I promise I won't take you back to the place you ran from. I won't even tell anyone you're with me if you don't want me to. But I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that I left two children out on the street. Will you come with me?" she asked.

Amaya watched the woman carefully. She had short brown hair that was longer in the front, and cheerful looking blue eyes. Perhaps she could be trusted. Amaya wanted to believe she could. Either way, it seemed she did not have much of a choice. Slowly, she nodded. "Okay."

Ms Rosbe picked up Mamaya's sleeping figure and took Amaya's hand to help her up. "You're safe now," she said. "I promise."

A/N: Ms Rosbe is Kiki's sister's teacher in Mew Mew Power. She has no name in the Japanese version, so I'm just sticking with the English name. Also, in Mew Mew Power, Corina tells Zoey that Kiki lives in a shelter. This will also be canon in this story. Aside from that, so far, everything is from the canon Tokyo Mew Mew storyline.

Thanks for reading!