**This is another one of the five stories I've been working on. I really hate myself for this story, but whatever. Now I'll have to do 3 stories at once T^T
Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy this story**
When I woke up, I was in the weirdest situation that could've ever come to mind. I was lying in the middle of a park, wearing the frilliest dress imaginable by the likes of me. I sat up quickly, examining myself. Looking at my arms, my legs. My eyes fell on the dress again. A strand of my hair fell in front of my eyes. The same colour as a dark red cherry…
WHAT?
My hair is blonde!
I threw myself to my feet, looking around the field I was in. I almost had a heart attack when I saw a large, cylindrical building. It was pink, white, red and covered with ribbons. On the roof was a small golden idol in the shape of a cat with wings. I swallowed, almost vomiting as I realized where I was. I swear my face was paper white, as I felt the blood drain from it. I nearly fainted, before I caught myself mid-fall. I started laughing out loud like a complete psychopath.
Oh for the love of God.
I was in Tokyo Mew Mew.
That can't be it, that's impossible. I thought to myself, dropping to my knees. It was all around me, though. I looked at the building again. I was absolutely positive it was Café Mew Mew. But what really caught my attention was a girl walking my way. She looked about 13 or 14, and she was wearing the same frilly dress I was, but green. Her hair was green, too. She was wearing it in two long, slender braids down her back, and there was a pair of large glasses covering her eyes.
This was Lettuce Midorikawa.
What startled me about her, however, was her words.
"Ichigo-san! What are you doing just lying there? Get back in here!"
My eyes widened. I simply pointed at myself, as if to say 'excuse me, are you talking to me?' Lettuce walked up to me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back to my feet.
"Of course I'm talking to you!" she started to sound slightly annoyed at my refusal to move. "Is there something wrong? You're so pale!" Lettuce held her hand to my forehead. I pushed it away.
"No, there's nothing wrong. Nothing! Why would… something… be… wrong?" I gritted through my teeth. I pinched my arm hard, but nothing happened. It only hurt like Hell.
"You're acting strange… are you sure there's nothing wrong?" Lettuce cocked her head slightly. "Either way, you need to get back to work. With the two of us gone, the only one doing any real work is Zakuro."
I shook my head and tried playing along. I was still adjusting to the feeling of light-headedness. If this isn't a dream, I'm going to be feeling like this a lot. I followed Lettuce to the Café. Entering it, I saw many things I recognised from watching the anime series on YouTube. A young girl with black hair in ox horn-style buns, about 12, sitting at a table drinking tea from a little cup. Mint Aizawa. A young woman, about 15, with long, straight, almost violet-black hair walking back and forth around the Café, bringing orders without a smile. Zakuro Fujiwara. And finally, a small girl, around 8, with short yellow hair spinning plates with little cakes on them. Pudding Fong. I took it all in, feeling a mixture of awe and happiness. So many times I had wished I was in Tokyo Mew Mew, so many times I had wanted to meet everyone. Now I was Ichigo. Not just playing Ichigo, living Ichigo.
This was just plain cool.
I snapped back to reality at the sound of a shouting. Lettuce turned in the direction of the voice's origin and smiled.
"Coming!" she yelled. I was just standing there, when I realized I should be helping…
I swear, if we were really in an anime world, there would've been the world's biggest drip on my face.
I ran toward the voice, too. It was a rather tall, muscular guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. Ryou Shirogane. Of course, I thought. I wasn't sure why, but I did. I took the plates he was holding out on a tray I only just realized I was holding.
"This is for Table 10." Ryou told me. I took off then realized I had no idea where Table 10 was. I turned around.
"Where is Table 10?" I asked, embarrassed. Ryou frowned at me, impatient. But, her pointed to the table anyway. I smiled as if nothing had happened and thanked him, heading off in the right direction. I placed the order on the table, smiling. I then basically did my duty from then until the end of the day, trying to figure out my situation. I occasionally got lost, but I didn't dare ask Ryou. He kind of scared me when I asked him before.
At the end of the day, I flumped myself down in a chair next to Mint. Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro sat down next to me. Pudding grinned at me, laughing.
"You look really tired!" she smiled. "I mean, more than usual. Is there something wrong?"
"No, there's nothing wrong. Why would there be?" I answered, trying to muster a happy smile. Pudding was right though, I was really tired. I wasn't used to this kind of labour.
"Ichigo, if there's something wrong, you can tell us." Mint urged me to spill, but I couldn't just tell them I wasn't Ichigo. I liked this dream, or whatever it was, and I didn't want to ruin it for myself. So I just shook my head.
"There's nothing wrong!" I whined. "Leave me alone, okay?"
"That isn't like you, Ichigo." Zakuro spoke up.
I clapped my hands over my mouth. That hadn't come out the way it was supposed to…
"I mean, I'm fine! Stop pressuring me…" I sighed.
"Now that sounds like the Ichigo-san we know." Lettuce smiled at me. She had always been one of my favourite characters, and she was really nice to me now. This couldn't get any better. I put on a goofy grin and leaned back in my chair. I was perfectly content until the next sentence slipped out of Mint's mouth.
"That's good to know. I thought you were having trouble with Aoyama-kun…" she said, smugly. I couldn't help what came out of my mouth next, interrupting Mint horridly.
"I hate that guy!" I screamed, right before I realized exactly what I was saying. The four girls around me were staring at me with really wide eyes. I had just said I hated my boyfriend.
Boyfriend.
BOYFRIEND.
The word echoed through my head, and I felt like vomiting. Masaya Aoyama was Ichigo's boyfriend, and right now, I'm Ichigo. Oh, dear God, I was having such an awesome time…
"Ichigo-oneechan? Are you okay?" Pudding stood and faced me.
"Yes, I'm okay! It's just… just…" I groped at my mind for an answer I could give them for my outburst. I couldn't come up with any good ones, so I just randomly said "OH! Look at the time! I'd better get going… BYE!" and raced out of the store as fast as my legs would carry me. Still running, I looked down at my legs. Normally, Ichigo is my exact size, so I was perfectly used to running fast like this.
I'm just glad I'm Ichigo and not Pudding or Zakuro… I thought, laughing to myself. Yikes!
Eventually, I came to the edge of a large pond. I recognised it as the pond from episode 23 of the anime series.
I am such a nerd… I thought to myself, sitting at the edge of the pond, dangling my legs into the water after taking off my shoes and socks. Out of absolutely nowhere, I began to laugh really hard at nothing. The water felt so nice… the breeze was wonderful… everything was perfect.
Then I noticed the little bell around my neck.
Stupid Masaya Bell.
I took it off and set it on the ground next to me, rubbing at the spot on my neck where it was. It was red, hot and itchy. Ichigo really never took this thing off, did she? Meh. The air on the red spot felt quite nice, and I sighed to myself. Then I looked at the bell again. It was a pretty bell, but it disgusted me as well. I knocked it into the grass with my hand.
I heard a faint rustling sound coming from the place the bell landed. I turned to it quickly and saw two pairs of eyes boring into me.
"Why are you hiding from me?" I asked, like I knew who was there. I didn't, but I sounded like it. Lettuce and Pudding popped out from the bush, looking embarrassed at being discovered. I let out a faint smile as Pudding picked up the bell.
"Why did you throw your treasure away?" Pudding asked me. I blushed, realizing what I had done.
"I don't want it anymore." I answered, telling the truth. Sort of.
"But Aoyama-san gave you this bell!" Lettuce exclaimed. The two of them were pretty shocked at what I had said. I nodded.
"And I don't want it anymore." I replied, sounding nothing like Ichigo and everything like me. "I don't like that bell."
Pudding and Lettuce were confused at me. I silently wondered what made me think I could get away with saying this, but I just sucked it up.
"I'm just going to walk around the park for a little bit. You can hold onto the bell, in case I change my mind. If not, Pudding-san can keep it." I smiled and put my shoes and socks on again. Then I turned around and continued walking.
There was a dense forest before me. This made me smile. I removed my shoes, socks, apron, headdress and anything that wasn't necessary. I left it all in a neat pile outside the forest, and I ran inside it and began to climb the trees like a me. I felt so alive, just climbing around. Felt so free. Nothing could stop me.
Until I fell out of the tree from surprise.
"Now, you can't be that surprised to see me!" A voice came from the tree branch where I was sitting. I had, luckily, landed on my feet. Well, maybe not so luckily, seeing as I was now part cat.
"I'm not. You just startled me, is all." I replied, smirking and looking up at the branch. For a split second, I felt like vomiting. It was nearly six metres off the ground.
"You seem awfully cheerful today, Koneko-chan. Did something good happen?" Kisshu landed on the ground next to me, grinning like only he could. I let out a small smile. I've always liked Kisshu, and I couldn't help but show it. Then I realized exactly who I was again, and tried to hide my own emotions and replace them with Ichigo's.
Let's just say I was failing. BADLY.
I really hate being a Kisshu fangirl.
I took a closer look at him. He was taller than I expected, which I hated a little. I stopped for a second, and just looked at Kisshu for a little.
"You're acting strange, Koneko-chan. Like you're actually happy to see me for once." Kisshu cocked his head at me and I grinned a little.
I couldn't control myself. I had to hug him, and I did. Kisshu was startled at the action, and I thought to myself.
If this is real, and not just my dream, I messed up Ichigo's life in less than a day.
Oh, whatever.
I never liked her much, anyway.
I was really lost. Ichigo had friends, enemies, family that were used to a specific personality. Now, that personality had been switched with mine, and I REALLY wasn't sure what would happen when -or if- I went back to normal.
"I'm glad I decided to visit today, then." Kisshu smirked. I pretty much knew what he was thinking. He didn't understand what was going on, but he really didn't care. Neither did I, as a matter of fact. I stopped hugging him and backed away from Kisshu, blushing and looking at my feet. What I had just done was embarrassing, but I had loved it anyway. How many times have I wanted to do that? Every single episode of Tokyo Mew Mew I've ever watched? It didn't matter.
"When did you start visiting me?" I asked, trying to be as Ichigo as possible.
"I must not have had much of an impact on you." Kisshu chuckled.
"You kidding?" I muttered to myself, but he heard me. I couldn't help but smile like myself. That was, definitely not Ichigo.
I couldn't take this embarrassment any longer. I turned and began to run into the forest behind me. Avoiding roots, bouncing off tree trunks, leaping over the occasional low branch in my path. I felt free again, just running like this. Other than the occasional twig in the face, I was having a great time. I never had the chance to simply run like this in my old life.
Especially not with Kisshu following me.
I could basically feel him, flying after me. This didn't bother me one bit, as it would probably have bothered Ichigo. I really didn't care about that right now. I suddenly couldn't hear anything for a second, then I could hear everything around me. From watching Tokyo Mew Mew, I could instantly tell Ichigo's (or mine, whatever) cat ears had popped out.
This was thrilling, for lack of a better word…
I had simply forgotten why I was running in the first place.
All I could notice was how nice the air felt.
I clambered up another tree and set myself down on one of the highest branches, among the leaves. I felt like I could see everything. I looked around, and poked my head out of the topmost layer of leaf. After letting my eyes wander for a little, I saw the Café in the distance. I had always noticed how girly the place was, just never how frilly it looked in real life. I shimmied down the trunk a little. I had a view of most of the forest from here.
I saw something moving near the bottom of my tree, almost perfectly blended in with the forest floor.
Kisshu.
He was actually looking for me, which was really weird.
For me, anyway.
I'm not Ichigo (well.. I sort of am, but not exactly), so I wasn't used to this.
I don't know. Was she?
I really had to stop thinking about what had happened to me, because it was giving me the biggest headache imaginable. I sighed. This was all so confusing, so strange. Suddenly, Kisshu's head was facing me.
Oh God. He actually heard me? I thought to myself. Of course he did. (Silently pardoning my next thought) With his ears? I always figured they had a use besides looking awesome.
The next thing he did, I should've expected.
He appeared right next to me in a matter of seconds.
"What's the hurry?" he said, surprising me a little. I really had no way to reply, in any way. "You can really run, you know that, right?" I couldn't help but blush a little.
"I… can't say I've ever thought of that, but… yeah…" I gave myself a mental smack in the face. That was so… so ME of me, messing up like that.
"You seem different." Kisshu cocked his head. "For one, you aren't doing anything to avoid me."
The words just slipped out of my mouth.
"MY LIFE IS SO WEIRD!"
"Pardon?" he chuckled a little. I covered my mouth with both hands, relying only on the cat tail I had just noticed I had for balance. "Why are you so strange all of a sudden?"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, I know what you mean, but… what? I'm confused!"
OH MOTHERFREAKING GOD DID I EVER HATE MYSELF!
I couldn't help it. Messing up was one of the things I do regularly. I couldn't stand the fact that I was even messing up when I wasn't me. No matter 2 metres off the ground or 200, I had to run.
"I'm sorry." I apologised for nothing, then I just jumped out over the forest.
"ICHIGO!" Kisshu shouted at me. I couldn't tell what was in his voice at this point, I was too busy trying to get away from life. I could feel myself falling through the trees, slowly approaching the ground, where I would undoubtedly end this once and for all.
But it didn't happen.
Not the splatting.
Not the trees.
Not even the falling.
I was just in the air.
At once, I assumed I was flying. My lifelong dream, coming true.
I wasn't sure exactly how to feel when this wasn't the case.
Kisshu had caught me.
I was falling, but instead of just watching, he had acted to save my life.
Why? I thought to myself. WHY?
Unsure exactly how to feel, I blacked out. And that was all I noticed until I had awoken to a big surprise.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
**Yeah, that's me. I mess up too much, forget what the conversation is about, blank out… I know, I can be crazy sometimes too. Just wait for what happens next, it'll blow you away~
(at least, I hope it does)**