A/N: Hooray for longer chapters! I'm werkin' it. Your comments and such are always helpful and welcome!

The silky breeze danced joyfully across a grassy field, making Amaya feel as if she were lounging in paradise. She stared up at the bright blue sky, making shapes out of the fluffy white clouds as they were slowly weaving through the sky. She felt more relaxed than she ever knew possible.

The sound of wind chimes hummed through her ears, and she looked up to see children in white, flowy clothes chasing one another through the grass. She smiled and looked back down at her lap to see that she, too, wore a long, strapless dress that flowed through the wind. Part of her wondered why, but a bigger, more dominant part of her pushed those worries away.

"Amaya," a soft, familiar voice called out to her. The sound reached her ears like a song. She turned in the other direction to see Ryou standing there. He, too, wore all white. Perhaps it was the theme.

Dream-Amaya stood when she saw Dream-Ryou and ran to him, propelling herself carelessly into his arms. She buried her face into his chest and smiled.

A gentle hand caught her chin and guided her head toward his. Dream-Amaya was already expectant of what would happen next: she leaned forward as he did and then she slowly shut her eyes until -

Something wet collided with her nose.

Amaya blinked herself groggily awake. The first thing she noticed was that she'd drooled all over herself in her sleep. The second, and certainly less comfortable, was that Aja's wet nose was in her face.

Amaya sat up in horror and wailed wordlessly in both shock and disgust. Whether it was over her dream, her drool, or the wet-nose stuff all over her face, she was not quite sure. "Ahh! Aja! How did you even get up here?!" she cried. She pointed at the tiny nest-like bed at the foot of her mattress. "That's your bed!"

The fox cub looked up at Amaya and mewed. 'But I was cold!' she whined.

Amaya groaned loudly.

Beside them, Mamaya stirred. She groaned sleepily and sat up, looking over her shoulder toward them. Her hair was a rumpled mess and her eyes were droopy with sleep. "What the hell's going on?" she slurred tiredly. "Amaya, what time is it? Why are you yelling?"

Amaya was too frustrated to even answer. She stomped to the bathroom they shared and shut the door behind her, desperate to clean off her drool and wet-fox-nose mess.

After shutting the door and turning the light on, she quickly hopped into the shower and cleaned herself. She stood under the spray and washed her hair, then began scrubbing herself down. She sighed and stared up at the white ceiling, allowing herself to get lost in the warm water and steam.

She'd dreamt about Ryou.

Her face went red just thinking about it. She'd dreamt about kissing him. She was happy and carefree and kissing him. How could she have thought of something so utterly terrifying? What had she been on?

How could she look him in eye after this?

She groaned. For the first time in forever, she was dreading going to the cafe and sought the solitary solace of her school hallways. She could handle looking like a loner in the library, but to be stuck with Ryou Shirogane after having a romantic dream about him? No way! Maybe she could get away with calling in sick today.

She sighed. She knew she couldn't. Ichigo had already told Ryou that she had a date with her boyfriend after school. With their best waitress away, Ryou would need all the help he could get.

She shut off the water and stepped out of the tub, towelling her hair and rubbing herself dry. She wrapped her towel around herself and opened the door, a cloud of steam erupting from the opening around her.

Mamaya was sitting up in her bed, stretching her arms above her head as she woke. She looked over her shoulder at her sister and smirked. "That was a pretty long shower. I was going to knock on the door to tell you to hurry, but there were lots of groans and sighs, so I figured I wouldn't interrupt you. Is that why you woke up all bothered?"

Any other person would have taken the question completely seriously, but Amaya knew that tone in her sister's voice too well. She huffed and stuck her nose in the air, determined not to play into her game. "I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered stubbornly.

Mamaya's grin was lethal. "Oh? So you weren't satisfying your horny teenaged needs?"

Amaya's face went beet red as images of Ryou in the shower with her filled her head. She sputtered and shook her head violently from side to side. "N-n-no! I d-don't know what you're talking about! Shut up!"

She wanted desperately to wipe that smug grin off her little sister's face.

"Your face is awfully red, Amaya," she said casually.

Amaya shot her a glare as she began dressing herself. "Don't bring up things about my 'horny teenaged needs' then. Geez, you're too young to even be talking about that stuff. Even I'm too young for that," she muttered.

Mamaya grinned and stood as she, too, began dressing for school. "Yeah, yeah. You'd better figure out what to feed that thing by the way," she said, gesturing to the fox cub that was curled up on Amaya's pillow. "If I wake up one night and find out she's been eating my arm because of her lack of meat, I'm not going to be happy."

Amaya glared at her. "Aja wouldn't do that," she retorted.

Mamaya grinned, but said nothing to reply. She softened a bit and looked down at the fox cub. Amaya had brought her into the shelter three days ago without Ms Rosbe knowing, and so far they'd been able to hide her, but they knew it couldn't last forever. Soon Ms Rosbe would find out and then they'd be in big trouble for hiding her. At first, Mamaya had been set on telling her right away, but the fox cub had begun to warm up to her and she just couldn't stand the idea of Ms Rosbe throwing the poor thing out on the street again. What if it ended up starving and cold?

Fully dressed, Amaya walked to the window beside her dresser and pushed it open. She leaned out, sticking her head outside and drawing in a deep breath of fresh air. She exhaled and looked up at the cloudless sky. The air smelt of freshly cut grass and newly blooming flowers. She loved mornings like these, when the air was cool and fresh and the grass was still beaded with the remains of morning dew.

Amaya knew that she couldn't deny a wild animal her meat. It made her upset to see animals kill other animals, but that was the circle of life, and Aja had to do what she needed to survive, too. She looked over her shoulder. "Aja, wake up!"

Aja knew the drill. It had only been a few days since she'd settled in her new home, but they'd established something of a routine. Amaya and Mamaya woke up, dressed for school, opened the window and waited for Aja to come back, fully fed. Then they'd wash her down to get the blood off her and begin on their way to school. Amaya wasn't sure what Aja did after that, but she'd given the fox cub strict instructions not to be discovered by anyone else at the shelter.

At first, Amaya was worried; Ms Rosbe came into everyone's rooms in the morning to check if it had been cleaned properly and to vaccuum and polish the furniture. But Aja had apparently come up with her own system, because she had yet to be found by anyone as far as she could tell.

The fox stirred awake at the sound of Amaya's call and perked up happily. She ran toward the window and jumped, expertly landing on the window sill next to Amaya. She looked around, shoulders hunched in a predator way as she examined the lawn critically. As soon as she caught sight of a squirrel at the base of a nearby tree, she ran.

"It's a good thing we got the last room at the end of the hall, otherwise we wouldn't even have a window," Mamaya mused as she brushed her shoulder-length red hair.

Amaya nodded and began brushing out her own hair. It was longer and a bit darker than her sister's but everyone always told them that it was what made them look the most like sisters. Mamaya liked hers shorter and around her shoulders, but Amaya liked hers long - it reminded her of her mother.

"Amaya! Mamaya! Breakfast!" a voice called outside the door.

"Okay!" they chimed.

Amaya leaned out the window to see Aja bent over a tiny motionless animal. She grimaced, but focused on the fox instead. "Aja, we'll be back! Be careful when you come inside!"

The fox didn't reply but Amaya knew that she'd heard her. She always did.

The idea of Aja understanding what she said and vice-versa was still strange to Amaya. Sometimes she wondered if she was really losing it. Since the first attack, there hadn't been any other signs of Chimera Animas, though Ryou and Akasaka were constantly searching. It was easy to forget that she was still a Mew Mew, and that she'd been given the ability to understand what Aja said all because her father had decided to test his study on her.

Mamaya hadn't asked anything about Aja or the cafe or Ryou Shirogane either. In a way, Amaya wanted to tell her everything: that she was a Mew Mew and that it was because of their father and that all the other girls at the cafe were just like her. But in another way, she wished she could avoid it forever. Admitting it to Mamaya would be admitting that it was real and that it was something Amaya had to cope with. Not talking about it made it easier to try to forget, much like all of her other problems.

She sighed. Why did things have to be so complicated? Not only did she have to start facing school again, but now she had to deal with juggling the cafe, her homework and the fate of Tokyo, and even the world, on her shoulders. This couldn't have been fair.

Mamaya's elbow nudged her in the ribs, interrupting her from her reverie. "You're spacing out again," Mamaya muttered."You've been doing that a lot lately."

Amaya laughed nervously, absentmindedly nudging at the food on her plate with her chopsticks. "Sorry," she murmured.

The dining room was like a small cafeteria, with wooden tables and benches lined up in two rows of four. Most of the kids sat near the back of the room, the furthest away from the door, because it was the closest to the food. A group of kids were sitting there now, chatting idly about whatever it was they usually talked about. Amaya and Mamaya always sat away from them, near the front. It wasn't that they didn't get along with the kids when they wanted to, but they never really fit in with them the way that others did. It was like being at school, Amaya noted. There was always a lingering reminder that she could never belong with them.

"Not hungry?"

Amaya shrugged. She couldn't eat when she knew she had to go back there. What if Max saw her? What if he had said bad things about her because she'd ran out on their date? What if everyone hated her now because she had been so mean to him? How could she focus on food then?

"I don't like it either," Mamaya murmured.

Amaya looked up at her. "Huh?" she asked.

Mamaya looked down at her plate, eyelids heavy. "I hate it at school. People are mean and the teachers don't care and nobody is really there for anyone, you know? It's like, all my life I grew up around you, and all you've ever shown me was unquestionable loyalty and now I'm surrounded by people who don't even know what loyalty is. I thought that loyalty was something to live up to - that you were something to live up to, and you are - but now I'm starting to realize that it's people like you and me who don't do so well in places like these."

Amaya didn't even know what to say. Mamaya was never much of a compliment-giver, but now she found herself on the receiving end of the highest form of praise Mamaya could muster up. Whatever she'd done to deserve it, she hoped she never ruined it for herself. On top of that, the younger girl had just summarized everything Amaya felt in less than three sentences. She had no idea her sister even felt that way.

She reached out and put a hand on top of her sister's, squeezing gently. "I know. Those people will do anything to see you lose that sense of loyalty, but don't let them take it from you. You earned it," she said reassuringly.

Mamaya forced a smile and looked back down at her plate. "I wish I didn't have to go back," she murmured.

Amaya grinned. "I feel you."

"Can't we tell Ms Rosbe that we don't want to go back? We can just keep getting tutored here! It's easier," she asked.

Amaya wished she could tell her sister that they could, but she knew that she had to be responsible about this. Ms Rosbe and the others at the shelter were sticking their necks out for them, big time, and to ask for them to retract their favor was not kind at all. She shook her head. "I wish, but no," she said sadly. "Ms Rosbe just wants us to have a life outside of this shelter. We're smarter than the other kids here, Mamaya - we have a chance at a future. We can't have a future if we don't go to school."

Mamaya sighed, and in that moment, Amaya knew exactly how she felt.


"All right Aja, be good and don't get caught," Amaya said.

'I won't!' the fox chirped.

Amaya grinned. "All right, well we're off. I'll be home late from work, so Mamaya will make sure you get something to eat. Be good for her tonight, okay?"

The fox barked her reply.

Mamaya stood on the other side of the room near the door, backpack slung over her shoulders. "You sure have a weird relationship with her. It's almost like you talk to each other or something," she muttered.

Amaya gulped. Was she already starting to blow their cover? She turned and laughed nervously. "Yeah right! Me, understanding her? No way!" she said.

'That wasn't very smooth at all,' Aja said dryly.

Amaya sent her a glare. It was the first time she had given Amaya any kind of attitude. Perhaps she was already getting into her rebellious teenage phase. How many fox years passed for every human year? Was it the same as dogs and cats, she wondered?

"We're going to be late, Amaya," Mamaya said as she made her way down the hall.

Amaya cursed. Her sister was right. She grabbed her backpack off the floor and ran after her, butterflies twisting nervously in the pit of her stomach all the way out.


By the time Amaya arrived at school, first period had already begun. She shuffled awkwardly to her desk while her teacher continued the lesson and opened her books to start taking notes. She could feel numerous pairs of eyes already staring at her, but she focused solely on her binders and notebooks instead of their dagger-like gazes. Perhaps if she tried hard enough, she could forget they were even there, though she highly doubted it.

She was in math class, and they were learning about bell curves. She groaned. This was something she'd never learnt about before. She would have to stay in the library and look up extra lessons in order to catch up with the rest of her class. She shouldn't have skipped so many days in a row. She shouldn't have been skipping at all! What had she been thinking?

". . . Hasn't been here for almost a week!"

Her stomach dropped. Were people . . . talking about her?!

"I wonder if they'll push her back to regular level classes? How'd she make it into AP classes anyway?"

"I hear she was home schooled. Maybe her tutors were super strict."

She continued writing furiously. She couldn't listen to what they were saying. She had to focus on her work. She had to catch up. Bell curves. Think about bell curves!

"Didn't she and Max hang out once? I wonder if he's got his eyes on her?"

She practically felt her heart crack as the led of her pencil snapped.

Keep writing. Don't listen to them.

She pushed the led back out through her mechanical pencil and immediately began writing again. She groaned inwardly, and for a moment she wished she could retract all the things she'd told Mamaya earlier this morning about responsibility and having to do something with their lives. She wanted to run home and never come back. If only she could.

You can do this, she told herself.

She hoped.

Why did Max have to come into the topic anyway? What did he have to do with her not being at school? Maybe he really had said things about her while she was away! This was like her worst nightmare. She'd thought that maybe she was just being dramatic, but she knew now - in high school, always expect the worst to really happen.


The library. Things were safe here. Things were quiet, nobody was whispering things about her, and the only thing Amaya had to worry about was finishing her homework so that she wouldn't have to stay up all night doing it after work. She'd finished writing down all the notes she could about her lessons, now it was time to research them so she could actually understand it. She sat down in the middle of a long row of computers and signed in to one, setting her books down carefully around her so she could write out her notes.

Amaya had never used a computer before, but she figured it couldn't be too difficult. She moved the mouse and watched as the screen changed from black to blue, with a box in the middle that asked for her username and password. She cursed. What was her username and password supposed to be? She sighed. She hadn't even logged in and she was confused.

"Trouble?"

She jumped. That voice. It couldn't be!

She looked over her shoulder, blood draining from her face. "M-Max!"

He grinned and knelt over her shoulder, making her blush. She turned her head back toward the computer screen, face red.

"Looks like you haven't used these computers before," he said. "Need some help?"

She nodded shyly. "Actually," she murmured, "I've never used any computer before."

He looked at her, eyes round with shock. "Never?"

She shook her head.

He "hm"ed and shrugged. "Well, your username is the first four letters of your last name and your first initial, plus the last four numbers on your student ID card. Your password is 'HTAKARA' in all capitals. Then you're in," he explained.

She stared down at the looming keyboard and gulped. Okay. Now how was she supposed to type on this thing? The letters and numbers seemed easy enough, but how did she do capital letters and lowercase letters? Was there a button she was supposed to press to switch from numbers and letters? Why were there other symbols over the number pad? She was getting dizzy.

"Um," she squeaked.

Max laughed, making her face go red all over again. "Man, you really don't know how to work this thing, do you? Here, scooch over. I'll type for you and you tell me what to do. How does that sound?"

She looked up at him shyly. "But, don't you have to stuff you came in here to do?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not really. Now you'd better tell me what you want done or lunch will be over and you'll be screwed," he said.

She looked up at the clock behind her and yelped. He was right! Lunch was over in twenty minutes! She had to work fast if she hoped to be finished everything on time. She turned to him and immediately started listing off the things she had missed while away, nervousness waiting on the edge of her concentration like a tidal wave ready to consume her.


By the time the bell rang Amaya considered herself a lucky girl. She'd completed everything with Max's help, and he hadn't even said anything to her that might have hinted at why she was away for so long. Now they were packing up her things into her book bag to head to their next class and she couldn't be any more relieved. Maybe she would make it home free without having to deal with his questions at all!

Although she knew people were still wondering. The kids whispering in her first and second and third period classes were enough to confirm that. Still, she would rather them talk about it and wonder behind her back than actually ask her for the real answer, because that was something she could not do. She was never good at lying, especially on the spot. What would she say if someone finally asked her?

Amaya was interrupted from her reverie when a text book appeared in front of her face. She looked up and noticed that Max had been saying something to her. She cursed herself. She had to stop zoning out in the middle of her conversations. "W-what?" she asked.

He grinned. "I said I guess it's a good thing I ran into you in here," he said.

She laughed nervously and took the text book from his hands, holding it in her arm instead of trying to shove it into her already loaded book bag. "Yeah, I guess so," she replied.

"I thought I wouldn't see you again seeing as how you've made yourself scarce these last few days," he commented.

She fidgeted nervously with the corners of her textbook as they began walking toward the library exit. "Oh, no," she murmured. "It's just, um, well I wasn't here for a few days that's all. But it's not because of anything that happened here."

He frowned as they walked into the hall. "Oh? Were you sick?" he asked.

She nodded. "Y-yeah! I was feeling really sick and I couldn't come to school for three days," she said. "My, uh, mom really hates it when I go out while I'm sick."

He grinned and nodded. "That makes sense. Mine gets on me about that stuff too."

She groaned. Great. Not only had she lied about why she wasn't here, but now she had him thinking she had a normal home life. How was she going to keep up with her double life? Well, triple life technically, because now I have to hide that I'm a Mew Mew, too. My life is nothing but a bunch of lies!

She felt the pressure on her shoulders get heavier at the thought. Usually when it came to things like this Amaya would always go to her sister to let it out and talk it through, but Mamaya didn't know about her being a Mew Mew, or even about her skipping school to hang out at the cafe. She wanted to tell her, but at the same time she feared that her sister would reject her for being a freak. Who else did she have? Ichigo and the others knew nothing about her home life, so she couldn't go to them. She was beginning to feel tired. She hated keeping secrets.

I wish I could tell you everything, Max. But you would just call me a freak and make fun of me.

She sighed. They were walking down the almost-empty halls, side by side, as they made their way to class. They both knew that they were late but they both did not care. She wondered where his class was. He seemed to follow her around even though it didn't coincide with his own plans sometimes. Maybe he wanted to make sure she was okay.

She began to slow and smiled up at the taller, blond boy. "Well, thanks for all the help, Max. I owe you big time."

He grinned and shook his head. "Nah, don't worry 'bout it. It's the least I could do since you're new and all."

She shook her head, suddenly feeling like she had to prove to him how grateful she was. She'd treated him so terribly lately and she wished she could take it all back, especially seeing as how he was being so kind to her. "No! I mean, I'm new and you hardly know me and yet you're being so nice. I'm really grateful for that. I don't really have any other friends here so . . ."

He smiled, and the freckles under his eyes reached upward. "I used to be new here too. I totally get it," he explained. "Anyway, we should both get to class. I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded, smiling encouragingly up at him.

He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it, then waved and began to walk away. "Bye Amaya," he said over his shoulder as he went.

She waved, still aware of the warmth on her shoulder where he'd squeezed it. "Bye," she said, watching his back disappear.

She smiled. She was glad Max was her friend. Maybe if they continued as they were, Amaya really would be able to tell him some of the things she stressed about.

"Miss Nikini, I suggest you step into class before I lock you out of it," a harsh voice snapped behind her.

She stiffened and hurriedly ran into class. "S-sorry!" she stammered, sitting down obediently in her seat. The door slammed behind her, masking the subtle giggles around her. Amaya bit her lip and stared down at her desk. Max had cheered her up a bit, but being in class right now only reminded her of the stressfulness that was left in the day.


Amaya left school feeling mentally exhausted. She couldn't believe that all day, people had had things to say behind her back. She'd heard some people saying that she was sick. Others said that perhaps her parents had wanted to pull her out of school for something. She'd heard runaway stories, kidnapping stories, practically everything under the sun. She couldn't believe some of the things people could make up these days.

Now for a long shift at the cafe. As if her day couldn't get any more stressful. She'd left school feeling mentally tired but she would leave work feeling all-around exhausted. She couldn't wait until she was finished her shift and was able to go home, curl up next to Aja and sleep all night.

She kept that nice image in her mind until she saw the cafe's bright pink roof over the treetops in the near distance. She stopped, heart pounding as she stood frozen in the middle of the side walk. Her mind flashed back to her dream last night. Images of Ryou. Kissing. Touching.

She could practically hear her pulse racing in her burning ears. How was she going to look at him after that? What if he could tell just from her face?

You're getting too nervous. You need to calm down before-

Too late. She could feel her ears and tail pop out as soon as the thought crossed her mind. She yelped and quickly covered her head with one arm, tail with the other. She cursed herself and forced a deep breath. "Calm down, calm down, calm down! Think of something else! Something else!" she wailed.

She looked down at the ground and drew in a deep breath. Then another. Then another. With every exhale she felt her heart slow a few beats. She moved her arms and looked back over her shoulder to check herself: no tail. She felt the top of her head: no ears.

She sighed deeply. Now she just had to keep calm like this for the rest of the night.

She stepped up onto the cafe's walkway and opened the door.

"Excuse me, waitress? Um, this tea, it's a bit cold. Could I get it warmed up?"

"Miss! Can I get a glass of water!"

"I'm still waiting on my Tiramasu!"

"And my Creme Brulee!"

"Ah, yes! Right away!" Lettuce cried from one end of the dining room, carrying a tray of orders in one hand.

"Coming right up!" Pudding cheered, balancing four plates over both hands.

"Why do I have to work so hard, too?!" Mint whined, dashing in the opposite direction.

Amaya watched the fallout incredulously for a few seconds before finally reacting to what she saw. The cafe was packed. She must have been a few minutes late. She shouldn't have taken her time leaving school. Had she known, she would have rushed right over.

"Amaya, don't just stand there! Go change. Tables three, four, six and seven are yours," Ryou barked from across the room. Even he was waiting on a few tables, trying not to let the girls fall too behind everything.

Amaya nodded and hurried toward the change room to obey. She changed quickly and emerged from the room a few seconds later, finishing up the last few knots of the ribbon of her apron behind her back. Then she immediately began waiting on the tables Ryou had assigned to her. She had to prepare herself; she knew that this would be a long, tiring day.


"Thank you for coming! Please come again!" Amaya chirped, waving cheerfully as the last few customers finally made their way down the cafe entrance way and toward the street. She watched politely as a young couple and their two children walked down the sidewalk, waiting until they disappeared to finally drop her facade. She slumped and leaned against the wall beside the door. "Ahh! I'm so tired!" she wailed.

"I never want to see another cake again," Pudding murmured.

"Lettuce, pour my tea? My fingers are sore from all the typing at the register," Mint complained.

Lettuce groaned. "I-I can't do it. So tired," she grumbled, head in her folded arms against the tabletop.

"It's a miracle we found Amaya when we did, otherwise you three girls would have been left all alone to wait on those tables by yourselves," Ryou snickered as he stepped into the room. He stood tall and relaxed, and looked not even half as tired as the other girls did. Amaya practically cursed him right there.

"What about you?" she muttered, sitting down at the table where the other three girls had already stationed themselves. "This is your cafe, so shouldn't you be helping a little?"

Ryou scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm too busy investigating aliens to wait on customers."

"But Shirogane, you were helping up until Amaya walked in," Pudding commented.

He glared at the young girl. "Don't be ridiculous. That was just to hold you all over until Amaya arrived."

They shared suspicious glances.

"Now, now, Ryou, don't cause the girls anymore trouble than they've already had today," Akasaka chastised as he entered the room.

Amaya looked up and over her shoulder. The tall brunet man was walking in with a tray in hand, a cake sitting idly atop it. He set it down onto the table in front of them and smiled. "You've all had a long day and you worked very hard. It's only right that we return the favor, so enjoy this cake and some tea. Rest up and then head home to get some sleep. You all deserve it."

Pudding grabbed a fork and cheered. "All right! Thanks Akasaka!"

"This looks delicious!" Lettuce beamed.

"It's nice to be appreciated. If only Zakuro were here to celebrate with us as well," Mint sighed happily.

Amaya stared at the cake in front of her. It was a double-layer strawberry shortcake, adorned with a beautiful strawberry pattern on top and a chocolate sign that read "Good work!" The idea of eating it sounded wonderful to her, but she knew she couldn't. Too bad, she thought. Maybe she would take a slice home for Mamaya; after all, she still owed her sister for keeping her secret about Aja.

"Aren't you going to have any, Amaya?" Lettuce asked, holding out a plate in offering to her.

Amaya blushed, not knowing that she'd been so obvious.

Ryou folded his hands behind his head and cleared his throat. "Damn, I forgot to tell you, Amaya is allergic to strawberries. I guess that's my fault."

She shook her head and smiled. "It's okay, I'm not hungry. But my sister would probably love a slice," she said, not wanting to make Akasaka feel bad.

Akasaka smiled. "Of course. If you'd like, we also have leftover chocolate cake in the kitchen. How about I give you a slice of both to take home?" he asked.

She nodded. "Thanks."

Lettuce smiled. "I didn't know you had a sister, Amaya. What's she like?"

Amaya grinned and shrugged. Her sister was many things. "The complete opposite of me," she joked. "She's outgoing and kind and gets along with everyone. She's got no problem making friends at school, or anywhere really. Maybe that's why we get along so well. She's the loud one and I'm the quiet one."

Ryou snorted. "I beg to differ. You can be very loud when you want to be."

She glared up at him. "Don't make me kick you."

He grinned.

She huffed. Part of her knew that Ryou was just trying to make her feel better about herself, but she wasn't comfortable with him so openly talking about her the way she had been when they lived together. It wasn't that she couldn't trust the Mew Mews, but she didn't want them knowing that she lived in a shelter or that she'd lost her parents or that she'd had to run away when she was eight years old. She didn't want those sad looks of pity or to answer the curious questions. She just couldn't handle that.

CRASH!

They jumped. What had that sound been?

An alarm began blaring from down the hall. Akasaka ran toward the sound to check what it was and returned moments later with a panicked looks on his ashen face. "It's a Chimera Anima! Quick, we need to move! It's headed for the middle of the city!"

Ryou turned to the girls. "Right. Tokyo Mew Mew! Let's go!"

Amaya blinked rapidly in disbelief. She couldn't believe it. School, work and now a Chimera?! She just wanted to go to bed!

"Ugh! You've got to be freaking kidding me!" she cried.

"Mew Mew Mint!"

"Mew Mew Lettuce!"

"Mew Mew Pudding!"

"Mew Mew Blackberry!"

"Metamorphosis!"