sorry for not updating sooner ... its hard with older sisters and devorced parents ... and then theres school ...grade 9 is murder ! i have pat coming up so ive been busy ... well here chapter 3 ... hope you enjoy it !

NekoYasha101: Once again….I think the phrase that I'm to say is "I do not own Tokyo mew mew" ….way to ruin my dreams people…now how am I to sleep tonight ... tear

Chapter 3
Chocolate Chip Pancakes

(Ryou's point of view)

He had just stood up when he heard a voice say, "Ah! Ryou, put a shirt on!" At the sound of this voice he turned around, and found himself inches away from a very familiar face.

He stepped back in surprise, forgetting that the chair he had just been sitting in was right behind him. There was a loud thud as he fell backwards, his legs caught on the chair while the rest of him body fell to the cold floor. That's twice today I've fallen now. I'm slowly turning into Ichigo! That's when he remembered the intruder that had startled him, causing him to fall in the first place.

He looked up at the familiar face as the red head leaned over the chair to look down at him while he lay uncomfortably on the floor. Am I dreaming? It can't be…

"And you call me clumsy," the red head said, laughing at her own joke.

That laugh, that voice, the smell of strawberries. I'm not dreaming…she's really back! Ichigo! My strawberry! He wanted to jump up and hug her. He wanted to take in the scent of strawberries that was slowly filling the room along with her presence. He would even tell her how he felt about her, even if only to get the feeling that haunted him from building in his stomach any more. He was just so happy to have her back! Why is she back? What about her and Masaya? With that thought he withdrew all the things he wanted to do back into his mind, his stomach starting to build up as he did this. Best not press it. Don't want to wake up and find out this is a dream.

(3 rd person point of view thingy….no ones thoughts)

Snapping back to reality he noticed he was just looking up at her. She was starring back at him, though she looked slightly uncomfortable under his gaze.

"You just startled me," he said as he pushed her off the chair and got up. His legs hurt from the odd way he had landed. "That doesn't count as being clumsy. Even if it did," he said as he stepped over to her as she stood before him. He then flicked her nose and finished, "Your still a bigger klutz then me, you baka strawberry."

He thought he saw a flicker of joy cross her face as the sound of her nickname, but was quickly replaced with a pout. He quickly discarded the thought though, it was Ichigo after all.

"I'm not a baka!" she said sharply. "You…jerk!"

Ryou laughed. She still couldn't come up with any good comebacks. That was almost the only thing she could think of when he would call her a baka. "Good to see you haven't changed."

She turned away quickly, walking towards the kitchen. She was blushing slightly, and by turning away, she was hoping he hadn't noticed. "I just came back, and I thought I'd come to see the place. I'm going to grab myself something to eat, I'm starving," she said, a little flutter to her voice. She had missed this place, even the people in it. She blushed some more.

Ryou of course, being the intelligent person he is, totally missed the blush that had come to her face, or the flutter in her voice, or even the git in her step as she walked into the kitchen.

"I'm going to go and put a shirt on now," he said as he hurriedly made for his room. From the kitchen Ichigo muttered, "Good," in a fake voice.

In his room, Ryou grabbed a clean t-shirt from the almost empty dresser and felt to return to the kitchen, afraid Ichigo might have managed to destroy the kitchen in his absence. When he came back down Ichigo had her head in the fridge. He simply smiled and made his way into the kitchen, his own stomach growling as he did.

"You hungry?" Ichigo asked as she turned to look at him from the fridge, noticing he was wearing his favorite shirt. After asking him she returned to searching the fridge, for strawberries no doubt. His stomach growled again in response. Ryou blushed a light shade of pink at that, though Ichigo didn't notice. She simply laughed and continued to search through the fridge.

"Um…" he said looking over her shoulder into the fridge. "The strawberries are right there," he said pointing to the middle shelf. They had been hidden behind the lettuce.

Ichigo quickly pushed the lettuce to the side and grabbed the box of strawberries. Smiling up at Ryou she placed them on the counter, and then went back into the fridge, looking for something else. She hid the blush that covered her face, both from him being so close to her, and because he had known what she had been initially looking for.

"What are you looking for now?" He asked, leaning closer in, his chin almost resting on her shoulder now.

"I learned a thing or two about cooking while I was oversea. I'm going to make us something," she said, not turning to him. She was still blushing.

"You don't have to," Ryou said simply, his face hiding any emotions he was feeling.

"I have nothing else to do," she said as she grabbed a handful of different things, turning on the burner as she began going into the cupboards.

Ryou leaned against the wall as he watched Ichigo in amazement. She was cooking! And she wasn't burning anything either! From watching her he determined that she knew what she was doing, so after realizing that he wasn't needed, he leaned again the wall. That was about five minutes ago.

He was finally figuring out what it was that she was making. He figured out quickly enough that it wasn't anything too big. And by the way she was making it, and the things she put in it, it was something that he had most likely eaten before. The style that he was using definitely looked like it was from here.

She placed some of the batter she had made into a pan that had been heating on the stove. As it was sizzling she grabbed a bowl and put the strawberries into it. She then turned to Ryou and held out the bowl. "Go put this on a table, and grab some chairs for us to sit around it while you're at it," she said, having noticed the change he had made. "After that you can set the table," she said as she turned back to the stove and tended to what it was she was making, adding something that Ryou couldn't see as she flipped it over.

"Hai mother," he said quietly, though he knew she heard him. He snickered to himself at the comment. She would get mad at him later for that, but it was worth it.

Ichigo turned to say something in response, but sizzling came from the pan as she flipped the batter again and placed it on a plate beside the stove. As she poured more batter onto the pan, she made a mental note to get mad at him later for that comment.

Ichigo brought over what she had cooked and sat down beside Ryou as he finished setting the table and sat himself down. He laughed lightly when he saw the chocolate chip pancakes on the plate she had just set on the table.

Ichigo pouted when she heard him laugh. She used to not be able to cook the simplest things. And now that she could, she was proud of it, and liked to show that she could. Plus, oversea she had learnt a few tricks to make them very tasty! She snickered as she though of what Ryou's face would look like when he took his first bite.

"Just eat it! They're really good, and it's the perfect time to have them anyways," she said as-a-matter-of-factly as she grabbed her fork and stabbed the pancake on the top of the pile, bringing it onto her plate.

Ryou looked over at the clock, realizing that it was almost eleven o'clock. He was surprised that the hours had gone by so fast. Normally he would sit around waiting for the time to come for him to make his lunch, not wanting to eat too early.

Quickly he thought of something to say about her cooking as he grabbed a pancake and a few strawberries. "I'm crossing my fingers that you don't give me food poisoning," he said, grinning mockingly in her directing as he cut himself a slice of the pancake and stuffing it into his mouth.

He saw Ichigo shift her gaze of to him, even though her head was down towards her plate. It was good, but was he actually going to tell her that? Once before she had cooked for him, but when he said that he liked it, she had stormed out in a flutter. What would she do this time? Would it be just as easy to make something up to annoy her?

Before he could ponder anymore on the subject he spoke the words out of control, "These are actually really good! What'd you put in them?" he was astonished by his own words. He quickly stuffed a strawberry into his mouth before he could say anything more.

( Ichigos point of view for a minute here )

Ichigo giggled when she saw his face. He had smiled up at her from his plate. Then it seemed he noticed what he had said. A slightly shocked looked spread across his face, then he quickly shoveda strawberryin his mouth, almost like to keep himself in control.

( Back to third person or whatever it would be...thingy-mabob)

Ichigo took another bite, then remembered the comment he had made earlier when she was ordering him around the kitchen. She laughed inwardly at what she had done. It was true, she had been acting like a mom in a way, but it was fun. He had obeyed, and even though he had commented on it, he didn't seem to mind too much. But all the same she decided that she would scowl him a little for his words.

"Ha, so there, my cooking isn't that bad after all! And about that comment before, I am not a mo-" she started to say, but was quickly interrupted.

"Why are you here?" Ryou asked softly, his voice drained completely of emotion. He was avoiding eye contact with her, his eyes glued to the pancake that he was poking at with his fork.

Ichigo was stunned by his words. She had avoided the subject as long as possible, even though she knew he would ask about it sooner or later. She had just hoped later.

"Well, its spring break, and all the girls are off doing their own thing, so I thought I'd come over here and see what you're doing. Is that so wrong?" she asked smugly. She knew that he had not meant his question like that, but for some reason she didn't want to answer his question, so she tried to avoid it completely.

"I mean why aren't you overseas with Masaya? You shouldn't be back until the summer. You said so yourself before you left," he said, continuing to poke at his pancake.

Ichigo felt a lump form in her throat at his question.

Well thats it ! hope u liked it ! it took some thought...i didn't want to make ryou seem girly or anything with him wanting to know why ichigo was there...but i couldn't have him yelling at her...or crying or anything like that...he had to be the same confused, emotion hiding ryou we all know and love! Masaya will be coming into the picture latterz...complicating everything and all as usual...then theres kish and pie and tart and the reast of the mew mews ! oh ya ! they definately will be coming back ! cant wait ! hope people are liking this so far ... its still getting to the plot and all ... but i really am having fun with this story !

thnz to my reviewers ! hope u guys like this chapter 2 !

And Chris...I unblocked u just so uz know ! Way to Be !