Prettyinpinkgal: Hi! In case you haven't read it yet, the previous chapter has been redone. It's in Ryou's POV, and it's a different conflict thing. So, if you haven't read it, it'll be best to do so now before you continue on with this chapter. For those of you who have, onto the story! Thanks for your reviews, peoples! This time, it's Ichigo's POV, but it's going to be switching back and forth. Oh, and cookies! You all get cookies for your reviews and support! Even if you're just a reader, you get a cookie! Now, onto the disclaimer...

Disclaimer: Ryou & Kish: Prettyinpinkgal doesn't own anything of Tokyo Mew Mew! Only us, because she bought us off of eBay...(which we still hate her for...)

Prettyinpinkgal: (smiles and shows button to shock collars)

R&K: NEVER MIND! WE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING!

Prettyinpinkgal: Oh, by the way, Kish, you're making an appearance in this chapter :)

Kish: I get to see my kitten? Yes! You're not so bad, after all!

Prettyinpinkgal: (to Ryou) See? I'm not so bad after all:)

Ryou: (glares at prettyinpinkgal) You made Ichigo hate me. You're that bad and worse.

Prettyinpinkgal: Awww. That's not nice. (gets ready to push shock collar button) Umm... right, the story. Well, here ya go! Oh, and "No More Words" by Ayumi Hamasaki is going to be the song in here. Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

JUST A DREAM

CHAPTER SIX: ALIENS AND PARTIES

I feel the others staring at me. This is just great! Perfect time to lose my pendant. I shift from one foot to the other, praying that somehow I'm wrong and I just dropped it in Ryou's room...

Ryou. That jerk! I hate him! But if my pendant really did burn down in that house, I wouldn't have been able to help them anyway.

I shake my head. It's getting harder and harder to think. Everything's happening at once. I probably could have saved at least one of my parents when my home burned to the ground.

"C...come on. Let's get to the battle," I say.

"But Ichigo..." Retasu says nervously.

"It's fine. I might not be able to help much, but I'll do my best," I reply, grinning a tad. I still feel Ryou's aqua eyes staring at me. I wish he'd stop. I go to shoot another glare at him, but I stop. For some weird reason, I kind of like that he's looking at me; it makes me feel kind of safe, like he won't let anything happen to me... What am I thinking!

"Ichigo...Ichigo?" a voice says, shaking me out of my thoughts. It's Zakuro. "It's time to go," she says, her eyes showing some concern.

"Wha...? Oh, right. Okay, coming!" I rush off with her. Guess the rest of the Mews already left.

We finally reach the stupid aliens. I guess I'll be the distraction or something. Huh...I'm not the distraction that much, am I? Oh well. Guess there's a first time for everything!

"Kitten!" Holy cow. To make this oh so wonderful day even better, let's throw in an obsessive big-eared alien bent on world destruction and has a huge crush on me. Fantastic.

"Hey, are you actually just here to go with me to our ship this time, Kitten?" Kish says. Don't get me wrong, it's kind of sweet how he likes me, but I'm kind of not in the mood for his stupid attacks.

"Maybe after I grow a few more arms and call myself a squid," I say irritably. Mews Mint and Lettuce kick another chirema anima's butt, while Pudding "plays" with Taruto and Zakuro takes care of Pai.I wish I could help. If only I could transform...

"You don't look very happy.Is it because your little houseisgone?" I freeze. How the heck does Kish know about my hou...oh no.

"You didn't..." I snarl. I've never, ever been this mad in my entire life. "You were the one who killed my parents, weren't you?" My fists clench and unclench. It's taking every ounce of my being not to kick this sorry alien's butt.

"Sorry, Kitten, but that was just a bonus. Killing your parents wasn't on our agenda. But hey, they were going to die once we defeated you anyway!" He leans in closer, his eyes looking more concerned. "I'm sorry,"he says quietly. "I know that parents mean a lot." Kish looks away. "Mine died when I was five. I don't remember them much, but what I do remember is that I always felt happy with them."

My eyes widen for a moment. So he knows what I've gone through. Then again, so does Ryou... No. That doesn't explain Kish's actions.

"Why'd you do it," I say, making my voice sound so cold that icicles could appear. It came out more like a statement than a question.

"Well, it's not like I knew you're parents were in the house! I mean, Pai did figure there was a possibility that humans could be in there, but..."

"But you started the fire anyway. Well, what do you know, Kish? It turns out my parents are DEAD 'cause of you!" I yell. I bite my lip, trying not to start sobbing. "Like I said before," I say, my voice much calmer, "why'd you do it?"

"Because we wanted this," a voice says suddenly. I turned and there was...a new alien?

"The name's Melon," he says. He looks as serious as Pai, and appeared around a few years older than him. "As I was saying, we wanted this." Raising his hand, he revealed my pendant.

"Give that back!" I shout. He sneers at me.

"Quite the toughy, aren't you? Unfortunately, you don't seem to understand the whole "taking over the world" concept. We take your planet. We watch you all get obliterated. And with you unable to transform, it just makes our plan progress more rapidly."

"Darn it," I mutter under my breath. Suddenly, a kick lands right at my stomach. "Oof!" I land on my back. I faintly hear the others cry, "Ichigo!" as I slowly stand up. Melon punches me point blank, sending me flying again. I cry out as I land on the hard ground.

I hear Melon say, "That's enough for today! Let's leave them alone...for now." I think I hit my head really hard. Everything's going fuzzy. I try to sit up, but everything becomes pitch black.

Ryou's POV

When I see Ichigo's bloody body and the girls' worried faces, I feel sick. Keiichiro takes her into my room and gets something to stop the blood. When he comes back down smiling and says she'll be fine with some rest, I feel myself relax. Thank God she'll be alright.

Keiichiro says, "Ryou, tell the girls about your idea." Immediately, the Mews perk up.

"What is it, na no da?" Purin asks enthusiastically.

"I was thinking that we should have a party to cheer Ichigo up. She seemed to enjoy the last one."

Minto nods. "That sounds perfect. It's just the thing to cheer her up. I mean, we can't expect her to get back to her spacey, perky self because of some party, but every little effort will help."

Retasu smiles. "Yes! We'll have to do any little thing to get Ichigo happy again."

Two hours later...

We finally have all the details picked out. We've decided to have the party tomorrow. Keiichiro says Ichigo will feel fine by then. I think about the last party. It was probably the best night in my entire life. I had been dancing with Ichigo. Heh, she was so nervous when I pulled her onto the dance floor! It was the closest I'd ever been to Ichigo.

But of course,I'm not expecting this to be like last time. Last time, Ichigo didn't worry about her pendant. Last time, Ichigo wasn't an orphan. Last time, Ichigo wasn't homeless. Last time, Ichigo didn't hate my guts.


Ichigo's POV

I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday. After yesterday's fight with the aliens' new leader, I'm feeling much more energized. I'm even smiling! I thought about it last night. My parents would want me to smile and move on with my life. I still love them so much, but Mom and Dad would want me to smile, like always, so I will. I think Minto, Retasu, Zakuro, and Purin all know that I'm pushing myself to be cheerful, but they haven't said anything.

Akasaka-san walks intoRyou'sroom (Ryou sleeps in the lab), carrying a package. "Hello, Ichigo," he says cheerfully. "I have a package from Ryou."

I frown. Is this another way to get me to talk to Ryou again? "I don't want anything from him."

He sighs. "You'll need it for tonight. You can't come downstairs wearing jeans, can you?"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"There's going to be a party tonight, so you'll need something to wear." Curious, I open the box and find a gorgeous pink dress. As I gape at it, I hear a noise at the door. Tokyo Mew Mew walks in, each carrying a box.

"We know you don't have a lot of stuff right now, so we all bought you something to go with the dress!" Retasu said cheerfully.

"I...I don't know what to say," I say quietly. "Thank you all so much!" I say louder, a huge grin on my face. I'm so happy! I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have friends like these.

"Don't thank us," Zakuro says, a small smile on her face. "Thank Shirogane. The party was his idea. He picked out the dress, too."

I frown. I'm not really mad at him anymore. Actually, I don't think I ever was. I think I may have just wanted someone to blame for my parents' deaths. "But," I say after voicing my previous thoughts to the others, "now I have Melon and the other aliens to blame!"

The others laugh, and I thank them again. "Is Ryou going to be at the party?" I ask, trying to sound like I didn't care.

"Uh-huh! You should talk to him then!" Purin says.

I smile. "Exactly what I was thinking."


The party is incredible! Everything is so beautiful and fancy and everything! After going into the restroom quickly to make sure I look alright, I walk out onto the dance floor. I notice Ryou at the refreshment booth, scanning the crowd for someone.

I probably really hurt him. He loves me, and I acted so awful to him. I stare at the ground. "I'm so horrible," I whisper.

After a few minutes of staring at the ground and thinking, I hear someone say, "Hey, Strawberry."

"Nyaaa!" I cry in shock. I feel my head. Darn cat ears! I quickly cover them, then I attempt to cover my tail. This can be really annoying sometimes. I glance up, and I see Ryou there.

"I'm glad you came and wore the dress," he says hesitantly.

My ears and tail disappear. I let my hands drop to my sides as I say, "Thanks. It was really nice of you to think of this for me. And," I add, "thank you for the dress."

"It's not too plain then?" he asks.

"Plain? It's beautiful! The most gorgeous dress I've ever seen! Even more than that other one you picked out for me!"

"Glad you like it," he says, smiling. For some reason, my heart skips a beat.

"Um, Ryou? I'm..." I bow. "I'm so sorry!"

"For what?" he asks, sounding genuinely confused.

"I was so mean to you even though you saved my life and you were there when Aoyama cheated on me and you were trying to comfort me about my parents and I'm ramblingaren't I?" I say in one breath.

He blinks. "I don't blame you for being angry with me..." He stops for a moment or two. "Does this mean you don't hate me anymore?"

I smile. "Yes, I'm not mad anymore."

Ryou's aqua eyes light up, and a smile covers his face. "Good, I'm glad!" I feel my face get a little warm. This is the first time I've ever seen him smile like that.

Another song comes on. "Do you want to dance?" Ryou asks me.

I smile at him. "Sure."

And as we dancearound, the music barely audible to us, I realize that I may actually feel something other than friendship for Ryou.

Kitto kitto bokutachi wa

Ikiru hodo ni shitteyuku

Soshite soshite bokutachi wa

Ikiru hodo ni wasureteku

Hajimari ga aru mono ni wa

Itsu no hi ka owari mo aru koto

Iki toshi ikeru mono nara

Sono subete ni

Moshimo kono sekai ga shousha to haisha to no

Futatsu kiri ni wakareru nara

Aa boku wa haisha de ii

Itsu datte haisha de itai n da

Kitto kitto bokutachi wa

Kanashii hodo ni utsukushiku

Yue ni yue ni bokutachi wa

Kanashii hodo ni kegareteku

Mamoru beki mono no tame ni

Kyou mo mata nanika o gisei ni

Iki toshi ikeru mono no tachi

Sono subete ga

Moshimo kono sekai ga shousha to haisha to no

Futatsu kiri ni wakareru nara

Aa boku wa haisha de ii

Itsu datte haisha de itai n da

Boku wa kimi ni nani o tsutaerareru darou

Konna chippoke de chisana boku de shika nai

Ima wa kore ijou hanasu no wa yametoku yo

Kotoba wa sou amari ni mo

Toki ni muryoku dakara

Prettyinpinkgal: Hallelujah! Another chapter done! All nighters are great that way; you get to write as long as you want XD. I'm impressed, it's about three thirty at night and I'm hardly tired! (My eyes are getting a little sore for looking at the computer screen so long, though) And it's so long... XD! Please review everyone! And remember, I changed the previous chapter, so please read it!