Leo arrived to school on time on a cold Monday morning. Her friends were very pleased with her attendance and they congratulated her on her punctuality.

"Well thank you but I came fairly early for a reason today guys. Amber, Shirogane is trying to restore all the information and history of Project Mew Mew and would like some DNA samples from you. He plans to draw blood from you like he did to me. We can tell Yogurt after school," Leo said as she sat down with her friends.

"What!? I mean what? That's great news but still I'm surprised he just doesn't have the cafe rebuilt," Amber replied in shock.

"With what money? He invested it all into that shitty little lab and the amount of expensive equipment in it," Leo said with her arms crossed.

"Um with my money? I'll talk to my parents tonight and see what we can do. Shirogane is just stubborn that's all."

Jojo and Apollo just quietly listened to the girls' conversation. Apollo decided to speak up and see if he could add to the conversation.

"Maybe I can help? If it's information you need to collect I'm really good at digging into things. How else do you think Fox found out about your pasts?"

The girls all looked at their usually quietly sarcastic friend. Both felt violated but he peaked their interest.

"I'll take you up on that but stop stalking us," Leo replied firmly.

"I wasn't stalking. Anyway I don't have anything else to do and I would love to accompany you when seeing Yogurt."

"Alright. What about you Jojo?" Leo asked as she turned towards him.

"I'll tag along but there's not much I can honestly contribute. I'm really good at being morale support though."

"Yes you are," Leo replied with a sweet smile on her face.

They continued talking with each other before they were approached by Usagi.

"Good morning Leo," he said casually with a sweet smile on his face.

All four stopped talking and turned in his direction. Leo couldn't help smirking back. She stood up from the her seat and Usagi felt less uncomfortable when he saw the response he received from her.

"Good morning," she replied as she grabbed her backpack.

"Can I walk you to class?" he asked in a charming voice.

"Is water wet?"

"That depends if water thinks it's wet but from our perspective I'll say yes."

"You're an idiot."

He chuckled warmly and they both walked off together. Amber and the two other guys were shocked by the entire exchange.

"Is she… is she actually flirting!?" Amber asked herself in disbelief.

"That's what it looked like, I hope that's what was happening," Jojo replied with a hopeful grin.

"So you think she's over Rabbit?" Apollo asked bluntly.

"You need to… ugh no I don't think that she is," Amber nearly scolded him for his frank words.

"Well maybe there's hope I guess but I don't assume anything but the worst."

"I know."


Leo and Usagi walked through the hallways and she tried her hardest not to show she was even remotely interested in his character.

"And hey I made you something," Usagi said as he stopped. She watched him place his backpack down and he pulled out a small canvas. He handed it to her and she immediately gasped.

"No way! You did this!?" Leo exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah I told you if you take the picture I'll paint it."

"Jesus Christ it looks so real! You did this in one day!? Wow you're so talented!"

"Yeah but I didn't finish my math homework."

Leo giggled and she held onto the canvas. She loved that he actually painted her bad picture of him. She joked with him for a bit before she started examining the canvas.

"Hey did you sign it?" She asked as she looked for his signature.

"I usually forget to. Check the back," he replied.

"Sign it then, here I have a pen," Leo handed him the canvas while she searched for a pen in her bag. Mamo handed her the closest pen to him and she quietly thanked him before zipping her bag up.

She handed Usagi the pen and he leaned up the wall to sign it. He handed it back to her and she stared at the small message he put on the back of it.

"To the cool girl with the cute hair and the fierce eyes - Usagi Mishimoto."

"Oh my god you're so…," she paused for a moment to find the right word to describe this unique boy.

"Weird?"

"Yes but that's not the word I was looking for."

"Ruggedly handsome? Charming? Stunningly intelligent?"

She couldn't help smiling at his obvious joking tone of voice.

"No to all three of those things you goof. I was thinking more like eccentric."

"Ah that is a good one. How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Huh well I'm seventeen. I thought you and I were the same age."

"I'm not in any of your classes why would you think that?"

"You have a dignified nature about you. I like it. That's all."

Leo hugged the canvas to her chest. Usagi noticed this and he leaned up against the wall feeling proud that she loved it.

"Thank you," Leo said shyly as she looked at her feet.

"You're welcome, I'm glad you like it."

"You really didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

Leo looked up at him and his charming blue eyes made her heart skip a beat. She looked away quickly and tried to shake off the feeling. She felt vulnerable and took a deep breath.

"Well I should get to class now and you should too. I'll see you later probably," she said as she quickly started to walk off.

Usagi didn't chase her. He let her go and gave her a simple wave goodbye. She was almost surprised he didn't follow her like a puppy. She appreciated his gentle mannerisms. She saw Amber ahead and she quickly caught up to her popular friend. The two girls walked together to their first class and started gossiping about a few students in the school.


After school, Amber and Leo had decided to see Yogurt. The guys tagged along and walked beside each girl. Apollo was the most excited out of all of them to see her. She was the love of his life and he seemed to glow every time he saw her.

"You think we'll be inconveniencing her?" Amber asked.

"Yogurt? Pfft no. She's way too much of a sweetheart to think of any of us as a nuisance," Apollo replied curtly.

"He's right. Yogurt doesn't get inconvenienced. Anyway she'll be happy to see us," Leo agreed.

"Speaking of which, who's the guy you walked off with this morning?" Jojo asked calmly.

"He's no one special. Just a guy who thinks I'm cute for some reason," Leo replied frankly.

Amber rolled her eyes and chuckled. She teasingly poked Leo's shoulder.

"I don't know Leo, you seemed pretty interested if you ask me. If you didn't care about him you wouldn't have walked with him."

"Oh please. Things like this happen all the time. It's no big deal."

"Leo you haven't spoken to anyone new for years and now suddenly you're hanging out with a new person? Who also happens to be a cute guy… and is interested in you. C'mon," Jojo interjected.

Leo glared at him before turning her head in denial. She knew she wasn't interested in Usagi romantically but he was a fairly interesting person to talk to. He had a unique and kind of fun personality. She found a little bit of pleasure in talking to this boy.

"He's just a friendly person who also happens to be kinda cool. There's nothing happening with us. Geez you guys are so hopeful that I'll just throw my panties on any guy that happens to think I'm cute."

"Oh please no one said that Leo. No one wants you to take your panties off for anyone. I just think it'd be healthier if you would let go and just live life and find someone cool to be with. You've distanced yourself from everyone so much that it's concerning. The Leo I know is outgoing and friendly and stubborn and likes to have fun. Not some sad pathetic girl that hates everyone and everything. Besides wasn't that Amber's thing before she met you?" Jojo stated with concern in his voice.

Leo sighed and Amber giggled only a little and immediately agreed with him. Leo saw that her friends were obviously concerned about her and only wanted her to be happy again. She tried to keep her head up and stand her ground.

"I'm fine and anyway the fact that you assume that I need a boyfriend to be happy is absolutely ridiculous," she said with her arms crossed.

"Well maybe not but it seems like that's the root of your problem," Apollo curtly responded in his usual stoic voice.

He shrugged his shoulders and he received a death glare from Leo.

With an exasperated sigh she calmly replied, "well it's not."

Their conversation halted when they arrived at Yogurt's house. They were just in time to see the girl in question walking up to her front door. She heard their footsteps and turned around to see who it was and in the drop of a dime she grew excited and ran up to her friends.

"Hey guys!" Her lisp made her happy face more adorable than it could be.

Apollo walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. Leo took a step back and watched them quietly. She thought it was sweet how easily he melted over her. There was always something refreshing about seeing them together and it warmed Leo's heart every single time. To think Apollo, a very stoic and sometimes cold-hearted guy, could so easily falter and melt over such a happy careless girl. She could only think that maybe even the coldest hearts could be warmed by something or even someone.

"I missed you so much since I last saw you," Apollo said gently.

"Awww me too. I'm glad you're here."

"Do you wanna go out later tonight?"

"Isn't it a bit cold lately?"

"But I can keep you warm."

Yogurt giggled and he hugged her tighter. Everyone thought it was sweet but Leo had to interrupt their reunion.

"Sorry if I'm suddenly imposing but we also came here to let you know that Shirogane is attempting to reclaim Project Mew Mew's glory. He has this crappy lab and is collecting our DNA for the good of "Mew Mew History" or whatever."

Yogurt took a moment to process what Leo had said. She soon smiled wider and grew excited by this news.

"That's great news! Us Mew Mews fighting side by side again!" Yogurt exclaimed happily.

"I don't think so," Leo retorted.

"Leo's just a bitter tiger but she'll get it over it one day," Amber said jokingly.

"No that's okay. We should go now. I'd like to see Shirogane again," Yogurt replied.

They agreed with Yogurt and it seemed it'd be much easier to just get it over with. The sooner the better Leo thought to herself. After deciding to go, they set off to the lab.


Upon arriving there they were immediately greeted by Cho. Her bouncing hair and happy enthusiastic face caught everyone but Yogurt off guard.

"Good afternoon everyone! If you don't know me yet my name is Cho and I'm a close friend of Anastasia and Dannie. And I have had the pleasure of already meeting the beautiful Leo Aoyama here. Oh I've studied your DNA so closely and it's absolutely remarkable. It's so odd how genetic mutation just works so well with your DNA structure. When I explained to Shirogane about my love for science and microbiology he gave me the opportunity to be here. It's so secretive and I feel so lucky to meet you ladies under these circumstances."

Cho spoke and led them to the lab all at once. Leo was disgusted by her. There something about Cho that absolutely bothered her but she couldn't put her finger on it. Cho looked at Leo with her usual happy face.

"You're so beautiful," Cho said sweetly.

"Flattery will get you nowhere with me," Leo replied curtly.

"Oh please I wasn't just talking about you on the outside. I was talking about your genetic makeup. A tiger is a such a powerful animal."

Leo shifted uncomfortably and Jojo stood next her protectively.

"Leo doesn't necessarily take comments like that well but we appreciate the thought," Jojo said as he took a step in front of Leo.

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable but someone like Leo I'd expect her to tell me herself."

"You're making me uncomfortable and I want you to shut up and stop talking to me," Leo replied bluntly.

Cho looked away and tried not to show she was hurt by Leo's response. She gathered her confidence and looked at Amber and Yogurt.

"Right then let me get Shirogane for you guys."

She walked off in a hurry and left everyone standing around waiting.

"This is my second time meeting her and I absolutely can't stand her," Leo uttered.

"Me neither. She makes the hair on the back of neck rise. There's something wrong with her. And her obsession with you is freaking weird," Apollo replied quietly.

"I think she's nice," Yogurt said with a sweet smile on her face.

"No one can do any wrong in your eyes huh?" Leo asked as she turned towards Yogurt.

She nodded and Leo shook her head in disappointment.

"Maybe we should give her a chance. She's probably just really excited for this opportunity and can't believe any of this is really happening," Amber replied hopefully.

"I'm amazed you're trying to give her some wiggle room."

"You don't even know her."

"Are you serious? She studied my freaking DNA and then attempted to discuss it with me. That's not only really creepy for someone I hardly know but it also rubs me off the wrong way. It's actually disgusting."

"She's a good friend of Dannie and Anastasia so she must not be a bad person and if Shirogane has welcomed her in helping restoring Project Mew Mew then I don't see anything wrong with her. She deserves a chance."

"Fine but you're not the one she's trying to clone."

Amber laughed and tried to shake off Leo's comment. Shirogane walked in to greet the group. He gave each teenager a nod before escorting them to his office.

"Glad to see you all here ladies. I hope you don't mind if I take blood from you. Leo, your sample was misplaced so I'll have to do it again," Shirogane explained.

"Disgusting. Did you ask Cho where it went?" Leo asked sarcastically.

"What?"

"Oh she didn't tell you how she obsessed over my genetic structure?"

"I asked her to look into it. I was the one who misplaced it."

Leo rolled her eyes and went with it. She couldn't shake the odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. She sat down and Ryou place her arm on the table.

"Okay Leo, I'm sorry you have to go through this again," Ryou said as he pulled out a needle.

"I've been through worse pain, it's no big deal."

"Right. I know but still."

"What's with Pai anyway? Why did he suddenly surface?"

Ryou leaned back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and tried to think of a way to begin his story. Leo waited and looked over her shoulder.

"You look conflicted," she said quietly.

"Well Pai expressed his boredom in not having a purpose. I extended a hand to him to ask for his help since he's known for being very intelligent and seasoned in research. My only conflict is he used to have a crush on my wife and…"

"Disgusting."

Ryou stopped at Leo's comment and scoffed in spite of himself. She smiled at him and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm kidding. It's obvious he respects you and all of your work. His presence is just a strange one that's all. I find it strange that he just showed up one day asking me to contribute."

"I believe he has good intentions."

"So do I. I'm not worried about it."

Ryou gave Leo a gentle smile.


After finally leaving the lab, Cho had chased after the group of five with Anastasia and Dannie behind her.

"Hey where are you guys headed? We were wondering if you all wanted to go out to eat hangout since we haven't done something like that in a while," Anastasia asked sweetly.

"Sorry Yogurt and I were gonna go out later tonight. I hope you don't mind," Apollo replied.

"Mmhm sorry. Maybe next time?" Yogurt was sympathetic and sorry but she rather have been with her boyfriend.

"That's okay what about you too? Going on a hot date as well?" Anastasia asked turning towards Jojo and Amber.

"I didn't plan on it but it actually might be nice," Amber replied and glanced at Jojo looking for approval.

"Sure," Jojo responded quietly.

Anastasia grabbed Leo's arm and smiled.

"Looks like it's a single girls' night out then! Bye guys," she said with a wide smile.

They parted ways and Leo walked beside the other girls uncomfortably. She knew what was coming the moment she agreed to go with them. They joked around and told inside jokes to each and as much as Leo adored her teammates, Dannie and Anastasia, she couldn't relate to them other than when it came to being a Mew Mew. She walked uncomfortably behind them and tried her hardest to take part in conversation if she saw an opportunity to. She wanted to make an excuse that she had a stomach ache and wanted to go home but it was true that she hadn't seen them in a while and she was also hungry.

It wasn't long before her saving grace came for her. She looked up to see the unexpected. It was Usagi. He seemed to saying goodbye and parting from his friends. She wanted to call out to him but decided against it.

"Leo!" His angelic voice had grabbed on to her hopes and rescued her from an awkward night with Cho.

"Usagi, hi how's it going?" Leo asked as she came to a halt.

The other three girls stopped and greeted the man before them. He gave them an awkward wave before returning to his conversation with the object of interest.

"Not much just came back from the gym with my friends."

"Wow look at you. What a show off."

"Does sitting on the pool bench and sketching the entire time count as an extreme workout?"

Leo giggled and nodded her head before poking his chest. She then rubbed her chin with a curious and questioning look in her eyes.

"Gee I don't know that's a good question huh? Considering how hard your chest is," she replied teasingly.

"Bones are pretty hard aren't they. I see you're with your friends. I'll see you later then?"

Before Leo could respond Dannie and Anastasia teased her.

"Aw go home with him Leo, he's a cutie you deserve it," Anastasia said playfully.

"Yeah go have fun. But not too much fun," Dannie agreed before winking at her.

Leo felt her face heat up before turning towards Usagi.

"Well…," she paused as she stepped towards him.

"Oh um," he hesitated for a moment before the three girls cooed goodbye at them and left them, giggling.

"I actually just wanted to head home," Leo muttered awkwardly.

"Me too. I can walk you home if you want."

"Sure that'd be nice."

Usagi smiled and she lead the way. They both spoke to each other about light-hearted things and had weird discussions about school. Leo never wanted to admit that she thought maybe Usagi was really cute. He saw her holding herself and rubbing her arms from the cold of the evening. He slipped off his jacket and placed it gently around her shoulders.

"You looked cold, I hope you don't mind," he said sweetly.

"Thank you, you're so sweet. Do you treat every girl like this?" Leo asked quietly as her hands held on to the jacket tightly.

"Like what?"

"You're so gentlemanly and nice to me. I feel like you're like this every girl."

"No. If I was like this to every girl word would get around the school and I'd be known as your neighborhood escort."

Leo chuckled and Usagi, feeling confident, put his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to warm her up. Leo sighed and took in the soft scent of his cologne. Only for now was this okay she thought to herself. It was after all cold and the weather would possibly start to get rainy since it was the beginning of March. She welcomed his touch but only this one time. She leaned her head on his chest and he gave her comfort.

"You're adorable," he whispered quietly to her.

"Am I really?" She replied softly.

"Of course."

They walked the rest of the in silence and once they finally reached Leo's home, they stood in front of the gate facing each other.

"Well I'll see you tomorrow then. At school I mean," Usagi said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah I'll see you tomorrow."

Usagi took a deep breath and grabbed her hands. She looked at the ground her face went red in embarrassment. She remembered she was wearing his jacket and she quickly scrambled to take it off.

"Your jacket," she said worriedly.

"Keep it. I have a ton more at home," he replied with his usual sweet smile.

"I c-couldn't. I mean it's yours."

"It's fine."

Before she could protest he leaned towards her and placed his lips on her forehead. The sweet gesture caught her off guard and she couldn't help feeling vulnerable. She casted her head down and stared at the ground.

"Hey I'll see you tomorrow. Don't worry about the jacket I want you to have it."

"Usagi… you don't know anything about me and I'm not ready to jump into a relationship. You should just quit while you're ahead and leave me alone. I can't make you a happy person," Leo said as she gripped the jacket tightly.

"Hey, hey, hey calm down. You're okay. I didn't ask if you were ready or not. We'll just go really slow then okay?" He assured her very gently and calmly.

"Slow? I don't know why you want to try with me. I'm letting you know this is a lost cause."

Usagi placed his hands on her cheeks and gave her a sweet, affectionate smile.

"We can just be friends then," he said finally.

"And you're okay with that? Even though you like me? I don't want this to be a painful thing for either of us. I don't think we should even be friends. I don't want to hurt you or your feelings."

"Again, calm down. It sounds like you're afraid and I'm okay with that. Just go have your dinner and get some sleep and we can talk about it tomorrow okay. And please, keep the jacket. Good night, Leo."

He ruffled up her hair and parted from her. She watched him walk away and she teared up. She couldn't understand why he wanted to try. She took a small breath and made her way into her house.

"Good evening, how was school? You were out for a bit weren't you? Hanging out with your friends?" Ichigo asked sweetly.

Leo looked up at her mother and nodded. She took a seat at the dinner table and she zipped up the jacket Usagi gave her. It smelled like him. She admired the scent and she closed her eyes and remembered the feeling she got when he held her.


That night Leo had just gotten out of the shower and Mamo greeted her when she sat on her bed to dry her hair. She quickly slipped on her underwear and strapped on her bra before her eyes wandered over to Usagi's jacket. It was a plain black jacket and with a hood. It was soft and warm and the only thing that made it so unique is that it smelled and belonged to him. She pushed her pajamas aside and decided she'd wear the jacket to bed instead.

"Aw you like him," Mamo teased sweetly.

"Shut up, Mamo," Leo whispered as she finally climbed into bed to rest.

"Hey I know when you like someone, okay. I've seen you have a crush on a guy before. You like that boy don't you?"

Leo didn't reply. Mamo climbed over her to find her sound asleep. He crawled under blanket and snuggled up to her side before powering down to sleep mode.