Hello and welcome back!
Like I said last chapter, the fluffness is gonna up a lot from this point on!
I hope you enjoyy
-—
Taruto was getting a little bit worried about Pudding.
Ever since they left the cafe she's been acting weird.
Well not exactly weird but he felt like she was somber, and that for him was weird. Especially cuz Pudding never got upset about anything.
Then he found her up the stairs looking at a calendar, it looked like she saw a ghost. Sadness and guilt were circling through her eyes.
That's when he noticed it for the first time, what Zakuro told him about in the break room.
Her pokerface.
He tapped her shoulder and just when she turned around to look at him her smile returned, acting like nothing had happened.
Taruto found it scary of how well she could do that, she did it so naturally.
It was insane, if he didn't witness her sorrow eyes before then he wouldn't have even noticed it.
Both of them were sitting on the couch watching tv, Taruto's favourite show was on but he couldn't even concentrate on watching it.
"Why isn't Pudding telling me anything? Did I do something wrong? I'm too scared to ask, what if she's feeling uncomfortable around me"
He looked at her again, her expression looked so scared, Tart freaked out, he didn't know what to do. She's never acted like this before, this is all so new to him.
The best thing he can do is comfort her the best way he can.
He reached his hand towards her and softly landed his hand on her head, and started caressing it.
She flinched and looked at him in surprise.
"Are you sure you're alright monkey girl? You look a little bit ill" He says.
Pudding nods "Ofcourse Taru Taru, Pudding is fine"
The younger alien didn't believe it, he was a little bit sad she wasn't telling him what's upsetting her but she must have her reasons.
"Tell me when somethings wrong okay" he says softly
Pudding nods again.
He kept caressing her hair, it was so soft he couldn't pull away. A feature that always stood out to him even 2 years ago, her beautiful blonde hair. Even if he did not want to admit it back then he'd always wanted to touch it for some reason. The way it redirects the sun in her mew form and the way it fits so perfectly with her tan in her human form was gorgeous and mysterious to him.
He was so focused on caressing her hair that he didn't notice the changes on Pudding's face.
Until he looked at her. His eyes widened.
Her face was bright red, her eyes closed as she leaned into his touch. She was blushing uncontrollably, which made him blush in return.
Taruto in response took his hand back immediately as he blushed too in deep red. Pudding slowly looked towards him and blinked"w-what's wrong Taru Taru?"
"n-nothing! Nothing at all!" He says redirecting his face back to the tv
"what…. what was that expression for?!" He blushed
He glanced at her again, her face already returned to normal as she's watching the tv.
"she was b-blushing right? B-But at what? Me patting her hair?"
….
"I kind of… want to see that again"
It was new, very new. Every expression she makes besides her happy smile is new to him, especially the blushing one. It made him want to see it again, her red expression, the embarrassment he always felt when she messes with him.
But why did she blush? Was he wrong all along? Does she like him?
It made him feel things he hasn't felt before, was it excitement? It had to be. The butterflies were dancing around his in his stomach as he got nervous about thinking about making a move again just to see her flustered face again.
"Taru Taru" she says as it snaps him out of his thoughts
"Y-yeah?"
"Pudding will head to bed now"
"oh alright, i'll see you in the morning"
Pudding smiles and nods at him and proceeds to make her way up the stairs.
For the Next few days Pudding's attitude got even worse. Pudding was way out of character, she was quiet and every morning she looked worse and worse and Taruto really got worried. Worst part of all is that she's not telling him what is happening. He asked Zakuro and she theorized that maybe it's cause the death anniversary of her mother is in 2 days.
That has to be it, he thought.
Talking about her mother is something that's very hard for the monkey girl, and that is understandable.
Tart made up his mind and proceeded to take over more chores for her, for now.
"Are you sure?" Pudding asks
Taruto nods "It's okay I will send the kids to bed, go rest monkey girl you look very tired"
The blonde haired girl nods and made her way to her bedroom, she looks back at him and smiles "Thanks Taru Taru" and she closes her door.
"what's wrong with onee-chan na no la?" Heicha curiously asks
The young alien smiled at her "Pudding is tired from school, it's alright I will take care of her" he doesn't know if the kids know about it, so he decided to keep it safe.
Heicha smiled and gave the young alien a big hug.
He arrived in his own room and laid down in his bed. "This shit is exhausting" He sighs
"do it for Pudding, I'm sure she will turn back to normal after the death anniversary passes. She will be back to her usual happy go Monkey girl personality." He smiled to himself, he hates loud people but in this case, he loves it when she's hyper and enjoying herself. It makes Pudding, Pudding.
He loves her out going personality and used to see it all the time. Now that she's seeing more sides of her he feels like he's getting to know her more than before. And he secretly loves that. But at this moment he misses the hyper energetic Monkey girl. Which is why he's going to do his best to support her in the next few days.
Thinking about her, he slowly drifted away to dream land.
…
CRASH
A loud noise was heard that shook the young alien awake.
He looked at the clock, seeing the bright 2:47 AM.
"Who is awake at this hour?"
He teleported down in the kitchen, surprised to see a familiar monkey girl on the ground.
"Pudding?"
"Oh Taru Taru! Pudding sorry noda! She let a glass cup fall on the ground" Pudding panics as she tries to clean it up
"let me help you" the young alien says worriedly.
Taruto took over the broken glass and throws it in the trash can.
"Why are you up at this hour? Don't you have school?" He asks
Pudding slowly nods, Taruto could see the bags under her eyes, it looked like she hasn't slept in days. "Yeah. Pudding wanted to make warm milk for herself, but she didn't see the glass on the edge of the counter" she sighs "one of the boys must have put it there. Oh and don't worry Taru Taru, Pudding's siblings are all heavy sleepers, Pudding is sure they will not be awaken from this noise" She softly smiles
"alright" he responds "Why do you want warm milk? Sit down I'll make it for you"
She blushed a little bit and sits down on a chair "O-Ohkay… well Pudding can't sleep" She frowns
The young alien pours in the milk in a baby blue colored mug with dark blue wings on it and proceeds to put it in the microwave. He quietly chuckles to himself, apparently Tokyo Mew Mew got so popular that the people of Tokyo made actual merch of them. He shook away his thoughts "Why can't you sleep?" he says facing her, waiting for the milk to be done brewing.
Pudding frowns even harder as she's struggling to talk "P-Pudding hasn't told Taru Taru this 'cause she did not want to upset his stay here" She softly says "But in 2 days, it's mama's d-death anniversary" She stutters.
Taruto felt so bad for the poor girl. He slowly nodded, listening to her as she continues.
"And for years before her death anniversary, Pudding gets nightmares and that causes her to not sleep very well, so in order to fall asleep again, she needs her warm milk. It helps her sleep but it won't keep away the nightmares unfortunately" she explains
"so that explains thetiredness" he thought
The microwave beeped
The young alien grabbed her mug out of the microwave and slowly handed it to her while sitting across from her on the dining table "That explains the bags under your eyes" he answers with a very worried expression
"It's okay noda, when it passes it'll all go away" She answers "then Pudding will wait for the next one to arrive" she looks down in sadness
"Okay I have to distract her somehow, think of something fun to talk about Taruto" he determinedly thought to himself.
"H-Have I told you about how my 2 years apart went? It was horrible, Kisshu was whining about the old hag all day" He scoffs changing the subject
Pudding blinked at the sudden change but immediately smiled after "how so?" she giggled.
They talked for a full 20 minutes, if you were eavesdropping all you could hear was laughter from the 2 in the other room.
Tart smiled at himself, she still wasn't fully herself but she's actively talking to him again with a smile on her face, and that's all what mattered to him right now.
Pudding softly smiled "Alright it's past 3 am now, we should go to sleep noda, Pudding still has school"
Taruto nods as a response. The monkey girl slowly stood up "thanks for keeping Pudding company Taru Taru, Pudding appreciates it" She smiles
the younger alien smiles in return "anytime"
He saw her walk off towards the stairs, but then it hit him.
Suddenly it seemed like everything was going in slowmotion
"Didn't she say the milk helps her sleep but it doesn't do anything against the nightmares…?"
He observed her as her soft smile faded into a somber expression as she proceeds up the stairs.
"ugh. I hate this. I feel so hopeless. Isn't there anything that I can do for her? To at least have her have a good night rest?"
He was desperately trying to find a solution but nothing was working as he helplessly watched her go up the stairs in slowmotion.
Then an idea hit him.
"P-Pudding!" He half yelled
The monkey girl turned back around to face him with a curious expression on her face "huh?"
"….Do you want to… sleep in my room?"
UH OH. CLIFFHANGER MB
Sorry that this chapter is so short, it'll be longer in the next!
I'll see you again in the next chapterrrr.