Henlo!! Welcome back! Chapter 7 is here and I hope you enjoy!!

Pudding's siblings show up here! It's 2 years into the future so they grew up as well which is why They can hold up conversations

Taruto enjoyed his time with Pudding, a lot. A whole week went by and the more they communicated the closer they became. It's all fun and games but on the other hand it was torturing the younger alien.

The more they hung out the more he desired to be with her, not as friends, but as something more, and it embarrassed him. He didn't want to let himself think about that but she appeared in his dreams, he zones out thinking about her. He can't escape the monkey mew, she wouldn't leave his thoughts no matter what he did and the more he was around her the bigger his crush on her got and he hated it.

He has to hate it.

"She doesn't like me back anyway" his thoughts screamed.

Taruto was sitting at the dinner table watching Pudding's 2 younger siblings draw and chatter about their day.

"What are you drawing?" The hazel eyed alien asks

Honcha looks up "something random, nothing specific" he answers

Heicha Nods "Tart-niichan how long are you staying actually?"

"For a long time" Tart answers

"You don't have school?" Honcha asks

Taruto nods "I do but I have a leave of absence but it doesn't matter anyway cuz we have vacation at this time"

"Lucky!!" Heicha chirps

Heicha's eyes lower down on Honcha's drawing and notices what he's actually drawing and she grins "Ne, who's the girl you're drawing Honcha? Is that you beside her?"

Honcha's face flustered up and he covered his drawing with his hands "I- I said it was nothing specific!!"

Heicha giggles "you liar!! I heard from the others you like this girl in your class!" the smaller girl yells

"I DO NOT!!" Honcha yells back

Tart snickered, he enjoys bickering between children but if it got any bigger than this then he had to stop them, sadly, but Pudding asked him to.

Honcha looked at Taruto with betrayal in his eyes "Why are you Laughing Too Tart-niichan?! It's not funny!"

Taruto grinned "it kinda is"

"You have to be on my side you know! You know how it's like don't you?!" Honcha cried

The alien blinked "what... what's that supposed to mean..." He felt like something he didn't like was coming up next

"You're a grownup like nee-chan! For sure you've had crushes before" Heicha says

Taruto shook his head immediately in defense "first of all I'm a teenager, s-second of all, NO I HAVEN'T. And t-third of all, since you compared me with Pudding... does that mean she had a crush before?" He asks with curiosity but hinted nervousness in his tone of voice.

Heicha Nods "nee-chan mentioned it once, about liking someone but she didn't tell us who"

"And the fact is that it's been like 2 years since she told us. It was around the time when you and your alien friends left earth and Tokyo Mew Mew defeated you! Plus she said the guy she liked wasn't around anymore apparently" Honcha answered "that he went away or something like that"

There is that horrible feeling again.

but it feels like it has worsened since he last felt it on Valentine's Day, Taruto Didn't like this feeling, this is one shit of a feeling.

"Oh.." is all he could let out. His face saddened without his knowledge.

Honcha studied Tart's face and came to a conclusion "Tart-niichan likes Nee-chan!"

Heicha's eyes began sparkling while Taruto flinched "N-NO I DO NOT?!" He yells, his face reddening by the second

"THEN WHY DID YOU GET UPSET?!" Heicha yells back "Tart-niichan is like Nee-Chan's husband na no da!! He helps her with dishes!! They're in love!!"

Taruto shook his head so fast he practically became dizzy "T-THATS CALLED BEING THERE FOR A FRIEND AND SECOND OF ALL I AM CERTAINLY NOT UPSET" he says standing up, he was blushing uncontrollably.

"AND D-DON'T CALL ME HER HUSBAND YOU-"

"Who's Husband who now Noda?"

"P-PUDDING?!" The younger alien yelled in surprise, she came out of nowhere

"Heicha are you and Honcha bullying Taru Taru noda?" Pudding says raising her eyebrow

Heicha shakes her head in a no direction "noooo!!"

Pudding sighs and giggles "well Pudding and Taru Taru got our shifts at the restaurant Noda, so make sure to behave while we're gone"

Honcha and Heicha both nod at the same time "yes nee-chan!!"

Taruto quietly watched the events happen from the side lines, hoping the topic from before didn't rise up again.

He and Pudding left the house together and were walking towards the restaurant.

"Hey Pudding isn't it easier if I just teleported us to the restaurant?" He says, he wasn't really in the mood to walk all the way to the restaurant just to stand for a few hours straight in the restaurant itself.

Pudding nods "that is very much easier na no da"

"right? So why don't I-"

The monkey mew didn't let him finish his sentence as she suddenly transforms into Mew Pudding.

She looks back at the now confused Taruto "lets race Taru Taru! Pudding being in mew mew mode makes it even" she grins

Taruto shook his head "hell no I'm ti-"

"LOSER HAS TO DO THE DISHES TONIIIIGHT!" She yells as she runs off into the distance with an inhuman speed.

"H-HEY WAIT-" He yells, but instead of running he straight up starts flying.

Pudding was running with all her might, she really wasn't in the mood to do the dishes later today. She looks back and sees Taruto easily catching up to her.

She giggles as the adrenaline shoots throughout her tiny body and proceeds to summon her PurinRings.

She jumps and faces him, shooting Puddings from her PurinRings towards him.

Taruto managed to dodge them just in time "HEY WHATS THE BIG DEAL?!" He yells, a little bit annoyed

"Taru Taru is flying Noda! It's way more fair if he got some obstacles!" She laughs, she stomps on the ground and starts jumping in between the trees

Taruto grinned to himself "You're on Monkey girl"

/

The two arrive at the restaurant, Pudding was victorious.

"WOOHOO PUDDING WON NA NO DA!" She yells and jumps up and down.

Taruto, a little beaten groans in frustration "SINCE WHEN CAN YOU CONTROL THE LITERAL EARTH?? THAT WAS SO UNFAIR. AND YOU WERE NEVER ABLE TO DO THAT" he yells

Pudding giggled "Pudding got that new ability a year after you guys left na no da, and managed to perfect it" she smirks

"I had ZERO Clue" Taruto sighs and stretches his body "now I'm even more tired than beforeeee why did you even wanna race?"

Pudding smiles evily "cause Pudding didn't wanna do the dishes"

Tart rolled his eyes "whatever"

Pudding approached the restaurant door "that and..." she looks back at him "Pudding wanted to play with Taru Taru very badly" she laughs, entering the restaurant.

Taruto got flustered by this comment.

Another day at cafe Mew Mew and surprisingly there weren't as much costumers as always, it was a chill day.

Taruto was sitting in the back room, moping.

Right after cheering up by racing Pudding he immediately heard Heicha's voice in the back of his mind

"nee-chan mentioned it once, about liking someone but she didn't tell us who"

Over and over again he heard Heicha's voice haunting him with the new found information the two siblings gave him.

It's understandable that she liked someone else, he was horrible to her, so he can't be selfish. But he was.He was trained, taught not to be selfish. But he couldn't help but be, about her. And he hates that. It's embarrassing.

He pissed off Shirogane with this attitude so he sent the younger alien to the back to have his break early.

The brown haired alien heard 3 knocks on the door and saw Zakuro coming in "excuse me" she says

She walks over to him and sits across from him

"Do you also have a break?" He asks

The wolf mew nodded "and its not that busy"

Taruto Made a small noise as a response.

Zakuro looked at him curiously "why was Shirogane mad at you?"

"He didn't like my attitude, my bad" Taruto cried.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" She asks him.

"No... nothing really happened, I'm just frustrated about something"

Zakuro hums in return "do you want to talk about it?"

Taruto looked up at his former enemy in surprise. He didn't expect that from Mew Zakuro herself, the intimidating one, the mew mew who punched Kisshu in the face and left a whole bruise for an entire week.

The alien Couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable, and nervous. Plus there's no way he's talking about his Pudding problem with one of the monkey's closest friends. Hell, not with anyone in that matter.

Taruto shook his head "no thanks"

Zakuro stared at him "There was a study that showed that if you talk about your problem with someone else that it'll lift the weight off of your shoulders" The purple haired mew responds "and maybe the other person could help you get to a conclusion about your problem" she shrugs

The younger alien sat in silence, she had a point, but he's still holding himself back from asking her.

No.. it's embarrassing. I don't like being embarrassed. This is stupid, Stupid, stupid stupid. But she's one of Puddings closest friends wouldn't she know more about her than I do? But no... it's too embarrassing I can't ask I can't I can't I can't I can't I can't-

Taruto's eyes widened, he crossed his arms and looked away, trying not to make eye contact.

"Well... I have this friend"

Zakuro smiled at him and raises her eyebrow "mhm. A friend from home?"

Taruto slowly nods in response.

"H-He... he likes this girl, f-from my home planet!" He stutters "and she's really nice to him, but she's nice to everyone and treats him the same as everyone... so he's not sure i-if she likes him b-back that same way"

he said it. It's out in the open. And the funny thing was, he felt relieved.

The more the younger alien spoke the more red his face got "A-And I'm just frustrated for him! Since he's my friend and all..." he says still avoiding eye contact.

Zakuro nodded in return and snickered "ah. I see. So that's the problem.."

Taruto slowly looked at her and nodded

The wolf mew rested her head on her hand "are you sure.. she's treating him the same way?"

Tart stayed quiet for a second "yeah"

"I don't think so"

"What?"

Zakuro softly smiled "from analysing your story, it sounds like the girl your friend likes has a very strong poker-face" she says "She treats him differently, but because of her poker-face your friend doesn't notice it" she continues

"Her poker-face?" Taruto raised his eyebrow

"Mhm" Zakuro nods "People with poker-faces never put the first step because they are scared themselves, which is why they put on a poker-face. My advice to your friend is that he'd make the first move instead"

Hearing that final sentence flashed Taruto's cheeks in all different kinds of the color red.

"H-He can't!!" He yells

"Why not?"

Yeah, why not?

Fear of rejection? Fear of ruining his good friend relationship with Pudding? When she rejects him, his entire visit to earth wouldn't be the same anymore. The Awkwardness, uncomfortableness. What if she got disgusted?

Taruto's blood went cold, it looked like he saw a ghost. All these bad possibilities it was making him feel sick.

Zakuro looked at him in concern "hey, don't think about it with so much depth. Is it the fear of rejection?"

Taruto slowly nodded, that and the fact this is extremely embarrassing for him. He has a big pride, falling for his former enemy, it's something to laugh at isn't it?

"Hey, Taruto look at me" Zakuro says, in a serious tone, the young alien looks up and looks into her eyes.

Her face softened "trust me, I know about these kind of stuff. You don't have to worry about rejection, it won't happen" she smiles

Taruto blinked "y-you don't know that!" He says crossing his arms

"All I need you to do is trust me"

The boy snapped "You don't know anything! she's way better than me! In SO. MANY. WAYS. There's zero chance that she likes me back! Zero! Nada!" He was on the verge of tears.

Taruto surprised himself, he didn't know he was so frustrated about this, more than he thought he was.

Zakuro looked at him and listened.

She hums "I think you should just have more faith in yourself" she says

"You also have amazing traits, don't look so down on yourself, Taruto"

Taruto looked at the purple haired mew, her eyes softened, it looked like she genuinely cared. But he doesn't understand why.

"Why do you care so much?" He asks

Zakuro shrugs "'cause the past is the past. We are former enemies but we're on good terms now no?" She explains "and I care a lot about Pudding and her happiness too" she smiles

Taruto blushed uncontrollably and started stuttering.

Zakuro snickered at his reaction that she knew all along about who he was talking about.

"Plus I Heard from Kisshu that Cyniclons have natural handsome/pretty faces, so you don't have to worry about that either" she snickered

The young alien pouted, his face full of red "she's way prettier than me..." he mumbled

"I heard that" Zakuro smiled

Taruto slapped himself mentally "Why did I even say that outloud"

Zakuro stood up "you heard me, use this new found information to its fullest" she says and leaves the room.

Taruto didn't know the wolf mew was so caring, maybe cause he only saw her serious side on the battle field. He appreciated it though.

This is very embarrassing. But if he didn't do anything then Pudding wouldn't do anything, and that means there would be no progression, according to Zakuro that is.

It'll be risky, but he needs to step out of his comfort zone for this to work.

Thank you for reading Chap 7!

I feel like Zakuro is like an older sister type towards the mews, especially towards Pudding. I'd imagine Pudding would tell her all about how she misses Taruto. Her reasons of questioning in chapter 5 was all so that she could observe and find out about what Taruto's feelings are towards Pudding :)

And why she knows it won't go wrong.

And about Pudding's new ability: controlling the earth! In episode 8 of the original anime Pudding summons a whole rock to protect Ichigo from a chimera, I figured because she's so young that she didn't realise she had something more than just creating Pudding rings. So her aging up was her finding out that she could control the earth at some extent.

Again, this is all a head canon of mine, not canon!

I'll see you again in next chapter! Thank you for reading!