Tokyo Mew Mew Fan Fiction ❯ To Be A Traitor ❯ II ( Chapter 2 )

A/N- please note that “To Be A Traitor” takes place a couple of years in the future, yet absolutely nothing is resolved. This might explain why Ichigo's behavior is so different. She's not OOC, just more mature. Thank you to those who reviewed, I'll make sure to return the favor!

 

Disclaimer: Tokyo Mew Mew may be harmful to those allergic to cats, birds, shellfish, apes and/or dogs.

 

…..

 

Ichigo made her way through the dark hallway to her parent's bedroom and slumped on the bed, exhausted. She was just about to slip off into dreamland when she remembered her mew mews. They had probably left an infinite amount of messages on her cell phone--which she had left at the café--and would most likely break into her house if she didn't check up with them soon. Groaning, she rolled over to the phone sitting on the nightstand.

 

Her girlfriends had fought valiantly as always and won with only a few minor cuts and bruises to show for it. Apparently, Masha had showed up with the aqua drops just in the nick of time. All of them had asked about the “Kish thing”, as they put it, but Ichigo warded them off with subtle topic changes. After they said their good nights, Ichigo stared at the cordless in her lap, thinking of her boss and the fight they had. With a defeated sigh, she dialed his number.

 

“Hello?” He answered after the first ring. Ichigo imagined him sitting in his room in front of his computer, maybe with Masha on his shoulder.

 

“Hi, it's me,” Ichigo started awkwardly.

 

“Oh,” Came the icy response. Ichigo cringed.

 

“Well, it's just…that, um--“ She stumbled.

 

“What is it, Ichigo? I've had a pretty rough day, you know. Being kicked in the back of the head by some alien --that shouldn't have even been there! --Isn't my idea of a good evening. So, whatever you have to say to me, make it quick.” Ryou said in a short, terse tone. Ichigo couldn't help but drop her jaw a little. That was the most she has ever heard him say at once, unless it was important, scientific information. Then she realized she was supposed to be quick and was now leaving Ryou in total silence.

 

“I'm sorry for yelling at you!” Ichigo blurted out. She hated this. She almost wished Ryou would start calling her an idiot right now, just so they can continue their pointless banter. There was a pause, a sigh, and then:

 

“Idiot,”

 

“What! I'm not the idiot, Idiot!” Ryou remained silent, but she could imagine his smile as she tried to hold back a relieved laugh.

 

“So…we're okay?” She went on, feeling lighter as the guilty weight lifted from her conscience.

 

“Sure,”

 

“Good, `night, then,”

 

“'Night,” Ichigo almost hung up when she heard, “Oh, and Ichigo? I'm sorry too.” Then with a click the call ended.

 

Feeling thoroughly satisfied, Ichigo turned off the lamp and snuggled into the pillows, falling into a deep sleep.

 

…..

 

Ichigo opened her eyes the next day to her parent's voices.

 

“We're home!” her mom called out.

 

“Sweetie? You here?” her dad's voice made it's way upstairs.

 

`Oh crap! The laundry!' Ichigo panicked, thinking of her mom's note. `I forgot to sort it!' She scrambled out of the tangle of sheets and down the stairs with scattered thoughts, just missing her parents walking the opposite direction towards her bedroom. When it dawned on her what had happened last night, and who currently inhabited her bed, it was too late. `Kish…' Ichigo looked upstairs, horror struck at the sound of her bedroom door opening. There was a deafening silence and Ichigo hoped upon hope that her extraterrestrial friend had enough common sense in him to have teleported away to his ship. Her heart beat a total of three times before she heard an ear splitting scream.

 

Guess not.

 

Ichigo ran to her doorway to find Kish wide eyed and terrified, still in her bed, clutching her sheets and pinned against the headboard. Her father's face was purple from rage and his eyes held a demonic gleam; he was muttering incoherent threats with his arms outstretched, trying to strangle the boy in his daughter's bed. He most likely would have killed Kish by now if it weren't for her mom restraining him.

 

“Ichigo!” her mother cried, gaining her father's attention and calming him momentarily.

 

“Mom…” She began lamely, then her father saw the bathrobe Ichigo was wearing, it's tie loose and her cleavage showing.

 

“AAHHRG!” he bellowed and charged with new vigor toward Kish, his hands finally enclosing on his throat. He shook Kish like a rag doll.

 

“No!” both women exclaimed, aghast. Then Kish vanished in a flash of static and her dad was left strangling air.

 

“Wha…” Her father stared down at his hands, glancing between the two. Her mother was staring at the spot Kish was occupying just a moment ago. Both had their backs to their daughter, who was trying to tip-toe away, her face conveying a, “Yikes! I am totally doomed if I don't get out of here right now” expression. When she was at a safe distance, she ran to the front door, not bothering with shoes, and fled down her block. Her eyes were squeezed shut in anger and frustration, `Why did this have to happen?' She repeated over and over in her thoughts. `Why why why?!'. To make matters worst, she then collided head on with another person.

 

Whop!

 

There was a stunned silence as the heroine tried to gather her bearings and failed. In a blurred rage, she let out all of her anger right there on the spot in a very dignified manner.

 

Or, as another could put it: she had a fit.

 

“Damnit!” She screamed, flailing her arms about and getting up to stomp the ground for good measure. She fumed for a bit, wiping her messy hair from her face and ignoring the tears. `Mom and Dad will have to know by now. What normal being from this planet has ears like that? And can vanish? Or “teleport”, whatever. I have to tell them about Kish, the aliens…everything. I'll have to tell them that their precious daughter is a mutant freak with ears and a freaking tail, for crying out loud!' As quickly as it had started, her tantrum seized, and now she was back to sitting on the ground, crying like a baby. She didn't dare look at this poor innocent victim of hers; this witness to all of her pathetic-ness. Her curiosity got the best of her, however, and she looked up to see… a dumbstruck Masaya, sitting on the sidewalk.

 

It took everything the cat girl had to not turn tail and run, or even hide in that bush in front of her neighbor's house. Hell, she even thought of attacking her long-term crush, but no, this, at least, she would deal with.

 

Yes, she would deal with this situation like a lady.

 

In a couple of years, she would be laughing about this, right?

 

Either that, or she won't even remember this incident for it was too traumatizing for her mind to handle.

 

But for now, all she could do is scoop up the bits of dignity she had left and move on with her life.

 

All she had to do was…deal with the situation.

 

Anytime now.

 

Right…Now!

 

Unfortunately, it was at this time that Ichigo fell victim to one of her infamous brain farts. She just sat there, staring at Masaya with her mouth open and her mom's bathrobe as loose as ever. Thankfully, being the gentleman he was, Masaya apologized and helped the girl to her feet once again.

 

“Are you okay?” He asked politely, keeping a safe distance from his classmate, “I'm sorry I ran into you, I didn't look where I was going…”

 

“Yes,” Ichigo managed to choke out, “I mean, no! I'm the one who should be apologizing!” She then noticed that Masaya's eyes had traveled down to her torso, and, with her own glance, she could see why.

 

“Ack!” She screamed and did something she would regret the rest of her life. Perhaps it was all of the time she spent with Kish and his groping during battle that inspired her reflexes to do such a thing. She watched her hand move on its own accord as if in slow motion, and then:

 

Smack!

 

The sound echoed back at them as time seemed to freeze to a halt. Masaya finally brought his hand to his cheek and turned to look at terrified Ichigo.

 

“Sorry!” was all she could say before she ran around the boy, away from his curious gaze. Why did he look at her like that? She wondered as she straightened up her blasted robe once more. Not what she'd expect from a guy she just slapped. Before she knew it, she found herself in front of the Mew Mew Café, banging on the closed doors. Ryou finally came down and let her in.

 

“Why the hell are the doors locked?” She asked him, pointing back at the doors with an accusing finger.

 

“Ichigo, it's Sunday.” Was all he said. He infuriated her right then. Him with his passive expression and know-it-all brain. Why was he so damn smart, anyhow?! But no, it wasn't that he was too smart. `I'm just too stupid…' She could feel her cat ears lower as her emotional roller coaster went down again.

 

`Cat ears…' She thought randomly, but never had time to finish the notion, for a voice interrupted her reverie.

 

“Ichigo?” It was Keiichiro, “Are you alright, Ichigo?” he finished wiping away flour off his hands with a towel and came over to her. He sat her down on a chair and hurried to the kitchen, only to come back with a waffle and some strawberries. “From our breakfast,” he explained, setting the plate in front of her. “Now if you'd excuse me, I have some work to do.” He set off toward the basement, giving Ryou a significant look before doing so.

 

“Thank you,” Ichigo said miserably. What did she do to have deserve such friends? Ryou sat across from her and waited until she was done eating before interrogating her. `How considerate,' Ichigo thought sarcastically.

 

“What happened?” he asked, Ichigo groaned as the morning's events came back to her.

 

“Everything”

 

“Everything?” He arched an eyebrow.

 

“Ya, everything,” She replied snidely. She really didn't feel like telling Ryou about her parent's and Masaya, or the fact that she was clad in only a bathrobe, for it all started with Kish taking refuge at her house.

 

`He's trying to kill all of us and still you protect him!'

 

“Ichigo…” He was becoming impatient. She buried her head in her arms and grumbled a reply. He sighed and got up from his chair, disappearing up the flight of stairs to his bedroom before coming back down with a stack of neatly folded clothes, “Here,” He set them by his friend that was destined to save the world. Without another word, he left for the basement to help Keiichiro out.

 

Ichigo's ears twitched a couple of times as she listened for any sign of life within a four-yard radius. Once she was certain she was alone again she lifted her head up to see the clothes Ryou had left for her. She hated his random acts of kindness and loved them at the same time. With a nosy exhale and a snort she grabbed the shirt and jeans and stomped to the Café's restroom to change. The outfit was ridiculously big on her, seeing how the articles belonged to Ryou. She had to cuff the pants and the shirt collar kept drooping over her shoulder. Still, it was a lot better than the alternative. She splashed some cold water on her face and headed toward the basement. She had decided that Ryou had a right to know about Kish, what if she was putting her friends in danger? She walked over to where Keiichiro was sitting.

 

“Um, where is…”

 

“Upstairs doing some research on his laptop,” He kept typing while talking to her. Ichigo had always admired multitaskers.

 

“Thanks. And the waffles were delicious,” She earned a smile from the chef and made her way to Ryou's bedroom. A memory of him with his shirt off popped into her head from the first time she visited his room all those years ago. She was used to the good-looking young man now, though, so she wasn't as easily flustered. She ignored her blush and knocked three times on the door.

 

“Come in,” he called. She opened the door with a slight creak, sat on the bed and faced the head honcho of the Mew Mew project. He was looking important on his computer.

 

“I'm ready to talk,” she stated in a thick accent that made her sound like a cheesy villain. Ryou smiled and closed his laptop. He swiveled his chair and took a thinker's pose. `It probably comes naturally to him,' Ichigo mused.

 

“Well…?”

 

“Um, okay, where to start…”

 

“Let's start with what happened after I was knocked out by the enemy,” He smirked.

 

“Yes, okay. I was pissed off at Kish for hurting you…” If Ryou had any feeling about this, he didn't show it, “and so we fought and I kicked his butt,”

 

“Alright, and then?”

 

“Well, for some reason he didn't go back to his ship and teleported the two of us to my bedroom…”

 

“Your bedroom?” His face was void of any emotion but his eyes were staring right into—no, through her own. Ichigo felt insecure under his intense gaze and looked away.

 

“Yes… But we didn't do anything!” Ichigo flailed her arms about animatedly, finally getting why Ryou was looking at her like that. He waved it off and she continued.

 

“Well, his bandage on his back had been torn in the fight, so I fixed it up again. He ate some food and then went to sleep.” She concluded. `That's all he needs to know, right?'. However, Ryou continued with his questions.

 

“Uh-huh, and what was with the robe?”

 

“I took a shower and didn't have any clothes on hand—I was in my parent's room—and so I borrowed my mom's.”

 

“Where were your parent's?”

 

“At a party,”

 

“Did they stay the night?”

 

“Um, yes…” Ryou looked at her, expecting her to continue. When she didn't, he went on instead.

 

“So, where's the alien now?”

 

“I don't know,”

 

“You don't know?”

 

“He teleported somewhere,”

 

“Without a goodbye kiss?” Ichigo stuck her tongue at him.

 

“Yes, without a goodbye. He didn't exactly have time for it…”

 

“Why not?” This was it. They had finally reached the part of the story where the “Everything” starts.

 

“Well… My parents came home and they saw Kish in my bed. Dad tried to kill him and he vanished right there.”

 

“How'd you explained that?”

 

“I…didn't,”

 

“Your parents didn't ask about the alien in your bed?” Ryou's eyebrow rose slightly.

 

“Um…they didn't really have me there to ask…”

 

“You ran away,” He stated simply. There was no question about it.

 

“Yes, I `ran away', okay?” her temper flared; she got up off the bed and threw her arms in the air, “I mean, I can't just tell them!”

 

“Tell them what?”

 

“That I'm a freakin' mutant, that's what!” There was a silence as Ryou just stared at Ichigo. “What?” She challenged.

 

“You haven't told your parents that you're a Mew Mew?” He finally questioned. Ichigo fell back onto his bed with slumped shoulders, her head in her hands.

 

“No,” She agonized.

 

“Ichigo, it's alright if you tell them. All the others have told their loved ones,” Ryou's voice held a bit of sympathy.

 

“I've tried,” Ichigo lamented, shaking her head, “I've tried…” and, to her horror, she was crying again. Ichigo felt Ryou's hand on her shoulder. “Why am I so weak?” she asked him, her voice thick with unwanted woe. “I'm supposed to be strong! I have to save the world! How can I do that if I have to blow my nose every minute?” She sniffed.

 

“Idiot, that's what makes you the strongest,”

 

“Huh?” Ichigo looked up, wiping her eyes. Ryou's hand on her shoulder felt like it was burning through the t-shirt she was wearing.

 

“Your compassion for people and the need to protect the weak makes you the peerless leader of the Mew Mews. Nobody can do it better than you,” Ryou's blue eyes were looking into her brown ones with complete and utter sincerity. `He's so close…'

 

“Ryou, I—“ But she was cut off when his lips met her own in a fierce kiss.

 

`What?!' Ichigo shrieked in her mind, her eyes wide.

 

…..

 

TBC