Inner Demons

Moon: My first horror fic! Time to experiment with the demon concept!

Ichigo: Why do I have a bad feeling about this...?

Moon: Maybe because I'm planning on sending your conscious mind to a dark world and maybe pair you with Kish...

Ichigo: WHAT THE CRAP? THAT WAS NOT IN THE CONTRACT!

Moon: That won't matter...you're under my power now. I does not own TMM or MMP...or else THIS would happen!

Full Summery: After finding out Mayasa has betrayed her, Ichigo falls into a strange, soulless state she doesn't resurface from. She soon finds out that she's trapped in a world of demons, and if she doesn't get out fast, her soul will twist and warp until she becomes one of them. When Lettuce and Pudding get trapped in that world while trying to wake her and the wrong people find out about the truth of the Mew Mew Project, will Ichigo succumb to the darkness? KxI PxT LxP possible RxOC and ZxK.

Chapter 1: Agony and Falling into Shadows

"NYA~! I'M LATE!" Ichigo cried, throwing on her school uniform and rushing down the stairs. "This is the third day in a row! My teacher's gonna be MAD AS HECK!" She grabbed her school bag and ran out the door.

It was a cloudy day, and everyone seemed twice as grouchy. After getting hollered at for being late, Ichigo managed to get her homework in and sit down.

The entire school day was blurry. To Ichigo, it seemed that every girl was staring at her and giving her weird looks. Finally, when it came to recess, what seemed to be every girl in the school body surrounded her.

"Ichigo!" they cried.

"Is it true?" One asked.

"Has he really left you?" Another pestered.

"What happened? Were you rude to him?"

"Did you ignore him?" They seemed to be ready to die for answers.

"What are you all talking about?" Ichigo asked, flustered.

"MAYASA!" They all cried simultaneously. "He's asked Nami out?"

"WHAT?" Ichigo cried.

The girls looked at each other in confusion. "Uhhh...don't you know?" The first girl asked. "He said you broke up with him over the phone three days ago."

"I didn't!" Ichigo cried. "No. I won't believe it!" She wormed her way through the crowd and ran away from the bewildered girls as quickly as she could.

/Later that day

Ichigo was walking down the street, through the park. Her mind was spinning from what the girls at school had told her. It can't possibly be true, not after everything we went through, the mew project, the defeat of Deep Blue- Her train of thought abruptly broke off. Two teens were kissing by the fountain. At first she didn't recognize them, but after a second they broke apart and she saw Mayasa's face.

"Ugh, look at the time!" The blonde girl exclaimed. "I've gotta go."

"Do you have to?" Mayasa complained. "You've only been here ten minutes."

"Sorry Mayasa-kun, but if I wait much longer I'm gonna be late for dance class!" Nami kissed him again and ran down the road.

Ichigo just stared blankly, her mind still processing everything that had just happened. The bell that Mayasa had given her slipped off her neck, as if cut by something. Gradually, she became aware of a coldness seeping over her body, like someone was running a finger down her spine.

"Sleep." A voice urged. "I will avenge your broken heart. Just...sleep..." It was as if someone who's body was made of ice had leaned over and embraced her. Everything went numb. The sky grew dimmer and dimmer.

"What's...hap...en...ing..." Ichigo could vaguely hear people crying out in fear and alarm as she hit the ground. The world went black for a while...

/With the people in the park

Mayasa looked the way Nami had disappeared and sighed. "Too bad...I was hoping she'd stay longer..."

Suddenly, people around him started screaming. Their voices were filled with fear, as if they had come face to face with the devil.

"Oh my god, what is that?"

"What's wrong with that girl?"

"Run away!" People pushed him to the ground and nearly trampled him while running away from the park. Getting up with a groan, he looked up...and his blood ran cold.

Ichigo was lying on the ground, her brown eyes staring soullessly at the sky. But it was the entity in front of her that he was staring at. It was a girl...she looked a little like Ichigo's mew form, with the same pink hair, eyes, cat ears and tail. But her outfit had become a pink satin dress that had strange red streaks on them. Purple spiked boots graced her feet, and long silver claws extended from her fingers. There was a pink sash along her seductively slender hips, and there were two knives and a gun resting on it.

"I...Ichigo?" Mayasa's voice shook. The girl threw back her head and laughed darkly, curling her lip back to reveal fangs. Sharp, pointed fangs.

"I should probably be thanking you." She spoke. Her voice resembled Ichigos, but it was colder, laced with ice and hate. "But at the same time, I utterly despise you. You are responsible for the pain in my chest. Insofar as I can call it heartbreak...demons, shadows like me, don't have hearts. And yet still hurts." her clawed fingers ran gently over her chest. "And it won't go away..."

The girl stalked towards him, slowly pulling out the longer one of her knives. Mayasa backed away, until he bumped into a tree. "...until I destroy the cause." She let loose another icy laugh. "My hikari may have loved you endlessly, but I am not so sweet or forgiving."

"W-What do you want from me? M-money? I-I'll give you as much as you want!" Mayasa cried.

The girl's fangs slipped over her lips. "Foolish boy." She raised her knife high.

The terrified screams of a boy could be heard for miles around...

She pulled her knife out of his body. "You aren't dead. Yet. I just want to savor your pain. UGH!" The demon girl let out a sudden exclamation of pain, then looked back towards Ichigo. "Damn. My hikari's spiritual strength must be running out..."

Sighing, she sheathed her knife. "Oh well. I'll have to finish evening the score with certain people in her life when she recovers." There was a flash of red light, and the girl was gone, leaving a bunch of ally cats to mew in confusion.

/Lettuce's P.O.V.

"What's going on?" Mint asked in irritation. "Even for Ichigo, this is beyond late!"

"Should I go looking for her?" I suggested. Ryou nodded, annoyed.

"Yes Lettuce, you go do that. And she better have a good excuse for being this late!"

"Pudding will come with you na no da!" The hyper orange haired girl announced. I smiled.

"Then let's find our friend." We both headed out the door and down the street. We looked everywhere we could think of until we finally reached the deserted park. And what I saw nearly made me scream.

Aoyama-san was slumped against a tree, stabbed repeatedly by a knife. There was blood all around him. And a little ways away, Ichigo lay unmoving. Running over, I knelt.

"Ichigo? Ichigo!" Her eyes stared blankly at the sky. They were just a sea of brown. No sign of life or the warm spark that made her the Ichigo I knew and loved as a sister.

"Ichigo-nee-chan?" Pudding whimpered. "This isn't funny na no da! Wake up! Ichigo!"

We tried everything we could think of, but no amount of pinching or shaking woke her. The worst part was the fact her body was ice cold. No sign of warmth or life, except for the rapid beating of her frightened heart. And there was this lingering chill in the air...I felt like someone was running a finger down my spine...

"Sleep well hikari..." A voice sang softly. "...my hikari...rest your tired, broken soul...shine, please, my hikari..."

"Hikari?" I mumbled. "Doesn't that mean 'light'? Who's there? And why are you calling Ichigo-san your hikari?"

No answer came, just the sound of a soft, ice-cold lullaby. Call me crazy...but it sounded like Ichigo's voice, but different, somehow...

I looked between my dear friend and Aoyama-san, grabbed my mobile and dialed 911. "Please help! My friend's been attacked!"

There is something seriously wrong with this...

/Ichigo's P.O.V.

I had no idea where I was, how I got there, or why I was even there in the first place. I was sitting in some dark, cold place. The wind howled around me, and water sloshed by my feet. I felt so exhausted I couldn't move.

"Sleep, hikari." A voice sang. "Sleep, rest your broken soul..."

"Who...are...you...? Why...do you...call me...your light?" I called into the star-lit sky. The only reply was the wind...howling through the trees..

I lay down, deciding to take a nap. Before I fell asleep I could have sworn I saw a girl who looked like me, only demonic, leaning over me, singing that same lullaby. "Sleep well hikari..." She kissed my forehead, and I sank into a dark, cold, dreamless sleep.

/Lettuce's P.O.V.

Ichigo's parents were frantic. The entire park was taped off, and me and Pudding were questioned for hours, asked repeatedly if we had seen anything or anyone strange in the area. And each time we said no. I resisted the urge to tell them about the whole finger down my back thing though; it could be explained perfectly logically. I was just freaked out about my friend's condition and my mind was playing tricks on me.

But somehow I felt like I was just fooling myself. A lingering chill told me something was stirring.

Something dark.

Something with no mercy.

End Chapter

Well...I hope that turned out the way I wanted it too...I guess I'll just wait and see what the reviews say. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Inner Demons!