Tokyo Mew Mew Fan Fiction ❯ In the Pantry, of All Places ❯ Chapter 1

I disclaim Tokyo Mew Mew.

 

…..

 

The summer sky was crystal clear and serenely blue: a canvas for the feather dusted clouds that passed in front of the bright sun, shading the creatures below from its persistent rays. A soft breeze blew, rustling the leaves of the lush trees that grew along the busy streets. Two blue birds twittered past, their jubilee apparent in the happy dips and turns of their delicate wings. Retasu paused in front of the cafe's front window to dedicate a moment of revered silence to such a view. She let out a breath along with the tension she had built up through the course of her day. Her relaxation flowed throughout her body, and her muscles loosened…perhaps too much. The all too familiar sound of shattering china met her ears and jarred her senses, jerking her back to her chaotic life style with a fierce tug. She blinked and looked around her, noticed that every customer was regarding her coldly, and looked to the floor in shame. There was a collage of china about her feet in splintered pieces. The various cakes splattered comically on the ground, their moist frosting dripping in a mocking sort of way, and the imported tea soaked into the intricate carpet that bordered gaudy and elegant, a perfect fit for the Mew Mew Cafe. The circular tray that Retasu had once held precariously on her splayed hand spun around like a dropped coin until finally stopping to a halt. The muffled sound seemed to echo in the silence that followed after.

 

“Sorry,” her voice came out a hoarse squeak. Quiet murmurs could be heard as the people adverted their attention from the mortified girl to their previous conversation. A comforting hand gently grabbed her arm and led her to the back of the room, toward the kitchens. She looked up through her bangs to catch a glimpse of her rescuer. It was Ryou, unsurprisingly, and his kindness only made Retasu feel worse. She looked back at the mess she had caused and saw Purin and Zakuro stooped down low with cleaning rags and a trash can. The lump that formed in the back of her throat was overwhelming, but she managed to bite back the tears. The quiet murmurs resided into whispers as Retasu passed by each table, but she could hear their callous remarks just as clearly as if they were screaming in her head.

 

“That's the third plate today!”

 

“What a klutz”

 

“Why don't they replace her?”

 

“Can she do anything right? That was my tea she dropped!”

 

“What misfortune,”

 

Retasu's attention caught at the last table, and when she turned in its direction her eyes met intense amethyst ones and held. Had she ever seen such eyes? The moment was only a span of a few seconds, but long enough for the man sitting at table number 5 to make a strong impression on the shy girl. It wasn't until the kitchen door swung to a close behind her that the connection was torn, and even then it took Ryou's insistent repetition of her name for her to drift back to the linoleum floors.

 

The smell of delicious pastries was so pungent that the very air was dense and palpable with the aroma. It reminded Retasu of what the Amazon must be like. `A pastry rainforest,' she thought to her self, and almost smiled.

 

“I'm sorry,” Retasu began meekly, interrupting whatever Ryou had been saying to her. But what did her apologies mean to him anymore? She couldn't guarantee that she would change. She couldn't even replace the beautiful dishes that now lay in a shattered mess in a dumpster now, for every penny of her last paycheck went into her high school tuition. Retasu tried to add something to her apology, but her mind drew a blank. She wanted to close in on herself, to just disappear and stop causing everyone so much trouble. She let out a surprised gasp when she felt a strong hand lift her head firmly upward until she was looking right into a pair of marble blue eyes.

 

“Are you listening?” He asked not unkindly. Had she been listening? No, she hadn't even known he was talking. Ashamed once again, Retasu tried to lower her eyes, but the hand under her chin wouldn't let her. They were interrupted when the kitchen door swung open with a vengeance to let Purin through. The heavy door would have smacked Ryou right across the face if Retasu hadn't caught it with her hand a mere inch from his nose. She was just as surprised as Ryou was. Although she was a mew, her reflexes weren't always the sharpest.

 

“Sorry!” Purin chimed, then grabbed a tray and rushed out again. Retasu let go of the door and it swung slowly closed with an innocent air.

 

“Let's… go over here,” Ryou said uneasily, and led her to an adjacent room that served as the kitchen's pantry. It was dimly lit and crowded and Retasu tried to keep a polite distance away from the handsome boy to no avail. `If he made an effort as well, then may be we could continue this comfortably…' she thought, eyeing the yard of space behind him and the wall. Practically painted onto the stacks of flour and sugar, Retasu began to apologize once more, but Ryou only sighed and rubbed his forehead in an aggravated way, making her fall silent. Ryou continued to rub his forehead, his eyebrows dipping into a frown. The overpowering urge to cry was enormous, but Retasu kept it together for her boss' sake. The last thing she wanted to do was burden him with tears. Ryou glanced up at her, and the frown increased into a scowl.

 

“Would you stop looking at me with those eyes! You look like an abused dog!” Came the harsh whisper, Retasu felt like a glass of water that was filled up just over the rim. One more bump, and she would surely spill. Ryou saw it too, and he went on hurriedly in a softer tone. “Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, I've just had a really long day,” It was here that he listed a series of events that had happened to him over the last couple of hours that made his life a living Hell.

 

She couldn't help it, the gallon sized glass tipped over and Retasu burst into tears. Not just about her clumsiness, but the stress of her new high school and the ridiculous tuition she had to pay, not to mention the fact that she was in charge of protecting the entire earth from alien attacks! All of it seemed to leak out of her at once and all Retasu could do was let it all out.

 

After a short recovery, Ryou wrapped his arms awkwardly around the sobbing girl. She grabbed the front of his shirt in two fistfuls and buried her head into his chest and cried harder then she had ever cried before. The two stayed like that for a while, Retasu using her boss' finest shirt as a handkerchief and Ryou stroking her frizzy green hair in an attempt to sooth her. Keichiro had wondered over to help, but Ryou simply shook his head to convey that there was nothing either of them could do. He left after closing the pantry door. Ryou wanted to call after to open it again, but didn't want to interrupt the girl's crying, finding it rude.

 

The truth was, Ryou found himself strangely detached from the situation. Sure he felt sorry for the poor girl, but he couldn't bring himself to that level of despair. Maybe it was the fact that he needed to be a pillar of strength for Retasu, or that he never cried to begin with. In a way, he envied the soppy mess Retasu was able to create on a daily bases. He wondered what it was like to be that free with one's emotions. Probably just as bad as keeping them locked up, he thought.

 

Retasu's sobbing eventually reduced to sniffles, and it was then that she looked around her once more, making sure not to look at Ryou, suddenly embarrassed at the scene she had just made. She was then struck with the realization that the pantry door had closed sometime during her fit. She stared at the door, accepting the napkin Ryou had fished out of an almost empty box labeled Bulk Napkins. There was something about that door that fascinated Retasu, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. She was in the middle of blowing her nose when it hit her, causing her to make a weird sound between a shriek and a sneeze.

 

“What?!” Ryou asked, startled by her reaction. Retasu looked at the door with horror, then to Ryou, then back to the door again, “What?” Ryou asked again, not sure if he should be concerned or amused.

 

“The door!” Retasu finally blurted, as if this explained everything. Ryou eyed the door, which seemed honest enough, for a door, anyway.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“The door!” Retasu began again, clearly displeased with his lack of common sense, “It locks!” When Ryou continued to stare at her with a blank face, Retasu added, “From the outside!”

 

Ryou could have sworn he heard crickets in the back round. Was she crazy? Why would he, a genius, build a café with a pantry that locked from the outside?

 

“Nonsense,” He told her, strode over to the door and turned the handle confidently… only, the handle didn't turn. Instead, it stayed inarguably stuck into place. “It must be jammed,” he explained to the green haired girl, but he could feel his resolve crumble with every slam of the door. He pounded on it and hollered, but no one came to their rescue.

 

“What in the world,” He turned and saw Retasu looking at something in her palm with great dread. “What?”

 

Retasu showed him the little trinket she held in her palm. It was made to warn the mews of an alien attack with a sequence of flashes. It goes without saying what it was doing at that very moment.

 

“Shit,” Ryou hissed under his breath. No wonder no one heard him, the whole group had forgotten the two of them on their rush to fight the aliens.

 

“I can break down the door!” Retasu told him, determination in her eyes. This is my chance! she thought to herself.

 

“No, don't—“ Ryou started when he realized what she was going to do.

 

“Mew Mew Lettuce Metamorphosis!” Retasu declared confidently.

 

“Retasu! Wai—“

 

Ryou thought she couldn't do it, but she'd show him. She would prove to him that she was needed on the Mew Mew team!

 

“Lettuce Flash!” She yelled, aiming for the door in front of her. A stream of blinding green light left the canastas in either hand and splashed against the door with more force than a fire hose. When the attack ended, Mew Retasu opened her eyes, winded. Instead of an exit, however, there stood the seemingly flimsy door, unharmed.

 

“I tried to tell you,” Ryou sighed, exasperated and dripping wet. “This entire structure is built with a titanium hybrid,” He walked over to the door and knocked on it three times. The sound was solid, rather than hollow like the doors in her house. Mew Retasu wondered why she hadn't noticed it before; it made since, after all, to build a secret lair out of something that could resist enemy attack. Feeling incredibly stupid, she looked around at the mess she had caused with her miniature flash flood. All the food was saturated in water, the bags of flour and sugar seeping grotesquely from the seems, threatening to burst. They were standing in a seven-inch deep puddle of the green tinted liquid. The only lone light bulb flickered and buzzed above them, threatening to spark out. A thoroughly chilled Ryou glanced nervously at it, then back at Mew Retasu. She looked forlorn, unsurprisingly. Her bright green hair was drenched and fighting against the confines of her hair-ties. A few tendrils were plastered to the sides of her face, the curly Qs adding an artistic flair to her features. She seemed to feel more natural in her Mew form; her stance was taller, her gaze was confident, and despite the fact that she felt stupid for her mistake, she didn't look as if she were going to go into a mental break down at any moment. She walked over to him, concern in her eyes, and Ryou had to will himself not to take an uncertain step backward.

 

“Ryou, you're cold,” She said simply, and reached out to touch his arm, “I'm sorry,” she said. Ryou gulped, trying not to stare at the bit of cleavage that peaked over the top of her uniform.

 

“I'm fine,” He said, glad that his voice was more certain than he was. She smiled slightly and turned toward the back of the pantry to search the shelves. Ryou was left with a third degree burn from where she had touched him, savoring the sensation and loathing it at the same time.

 

He needed to pull himself together. This was not the time nor the place nor the person. Damn these blasted hormones! he thought fiercely. I'm a prodigy! I can rise above this! But he couldn't help but admire the smooth contours of Mew Retasu's figure as she stretched to get a box on the very top shelf.

 

“Um… Ryou?” She asked, breathless, and again Ryou had to shove unwanted (and very wanted) images from his mind.

 

“Hm?” He inquired, not trusting himself to talk correctly.

 

“Could you help me with this? It's heavy…”

 

“Oh.” He made his way over and helped her with the box labeled Table Cloths. Mew Retasu grabbed a flowery pink one and snapped it open with a flourish. Miraculously, the material was only wet around the edges. She then wrapped it around Ryou in one fluid motion and secured it around his neck. He looked down at his new attire when she was finished and broke out into a grin.

 

“Um… I don't quite think this is my color,”

 

“Sure it is,” Mew Retasu retorted, unabashed, “It brings out your eyes,” She said this so seriously that it took him awhile to realize she was teasing him. He let out a laugh, setting the box back on the shelf once more.

 

“Oh, wait, did you want one? Aren't you cold?”

 

“No, I'm more comfortable this way,” She smiled. Ryou could tell. She was like a whole different person, or, rather, the real Retasu.

 

There was nothing left for either of them to do except wait the return of their comrades. They couldn't even sit! Retasu fidgeted. First with her hands, then with her hair. Ryou popped a fist into his palm, as if struck by an epiphany, and turned toward a shelf. Retasu waited eagerly to see what he had thought of. Of course he would have thought of a way to get out of here! He's a genius in his own home! Ryou was removing boxes from the second to bottom shelf and setting them unceremoniously aside. Retasu noted how strong his arms must be to lift so many heavy boxes with such little effort. She continued to fidget with her hair while she watched him until she had unraveled both braids. When the whole shelf was clear, he climbed onto it and laid down on his back. Retasu stared after him, waiting for the grand finally. It never came.

 

She tried not to get too disappointed at the fact that they were stuck here for some time. Chimera battles usually lasted five to six hours, anyway. Mew Retasu knelt down by the shelf opposite Ryou's and began clearing it off as well. Man these boxes were heavy! It took her all her strength just to unload the middle sized ones, what would she do about the larger ones? As she tried to struggle with a particularily heavy box, she heard the water slosh as Ryou made his way over to her. He took the box from her hands as if it held cotton candy rather than a block of lead, and set it aside without a word.

 

“Sorry,” she told him.

 

“Why?”

 

“For…this,” she flopped her hand around on her wrist, “everything. It's all my fault. From the very moment I dropped that dish…” Mew Retasu sighed and busied herself with the chore in front of her. Ryou muttered something under his breath.

 

“Huh?” Retasu asked him, and to her surprise Ryou's face flushed bright red.

 

“Uh, I said that it's not that big of a deal!” He did n't look at her, instead he reached out for another box. Was he getting sick? Mew Retasu began to fret. What if he got a fatal illness? And it would all be thanks to her. Reaching out, she laid a hand on his forehead.

 

“Are you feeling okay? You're warm,”

 

Ryou was indeed warm, but he was guessing it wasn't from a sickness.

 

“I'm fine!” He insisted and reached for the last box on the shelf, “There you are!” Standing abruptly, he marched over to his shelf to lay down. Retasu looked after him, his odd behavior worrying her even more.

 

…..

 

TBC…maybe