Kissed By An Angel Or Two

by MewBleuberri

I guess a person would start an Autobiography with their birth or childhood. No thanks. I'm going to start mine with the day my life really began. The day I met my first love, my first friend and other important people in my true life....

14. I was Never Destined for Simple a Life

Chapter 13:

I was Sooooo never Destined For A Simple Life....

I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry about the almost year! I've been very busy and at a writer's block! GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!!!!!!!! *anime sweat drop*

Anyway! Featured in this chapter: Nisiki's secret, Bleuberri's hair problem, Ryou's life-changing question, Kish's sacrifice, who the mysterious Maya is, Mint's porposal, Nisiki's other secret, and more! Enjoy!

OF COURSE I DON'T OWN THE ORIGIONAL TMM CHARACTERS OR KINOMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CLAIMER: Bleuberri, Bleuberri (same person), Nisiki, Maya, Kuriachania, Kwin, Meiya, Suika (Not in this chapter but mentioned), & Janasu (not in this chapter).

I was standing in front of three people. This dream was all-too-clear. Standing beside me, quivering, was Kinomi. One of the aliens was, without doubt, Kish. There was no mistaking the green hair and kinda poufy-sleeved top on the right. The other alien had the same body structure as Kish, but the other guy didn't have green hair, he had red hair; He was also taller and wasn't wearing any shoes, and didn't have poufy sleeves. I now realized that it was Kwin. Both of the alien guys were floating, grabbing at an invisible something around their necks. There was another alien behind them, holding both of his arms up, his hands supposedly grabbing the two other aliens' necks. He was even taller that the red-haired alien and had long black hair and a long dark blue robe thing on. It wasn't only the fact he was evil or that he was choking both of the guys that scared me, it was his eyes. They were blue-grey like mine and the pupils had a tinge of red to them. He was also smiling with insanity. Another person was off to the right of the group in front of me, on the ground. I focused my eyes on him and recognized him at once. It was Ryou. I tried to scream and run at him, but my dream-self didn't let me. I looked back at the struggling aliens, eyes widening. As I watched, Ksih slumped in the other tall alien's magical grip that was choking him. Kinomi screamed....

Sitting up quickly, I gasped. It was the same dream that had been haunting my sleep for a while, but this time scared me more than anything else. This dream had been all-too-clear and Kinomi's scream.... it was enough to make me shake like a leaf.

The sun streamed through the window happily, but it did nothing to brighten my spirits as I looked around, still shaking from the dream. Ryou stood out on the balcony, hair still slightly ruffled from his night. Padding out to him, I put my arms around him and leaned against his warm body, grinning.

Ryou jumped half a foot in the air. I laughed and let go of him, asking, "What's up Ryou?"

"Besides the fact that you're freezing cold and just near made me fall of the balcony, you mean?" he asked, turning around and staring at me, an eyebrow raised and a half-smile on his face.

"I'm cold?" I asked, looking down at myself from different angles.

"Your skin is cold as ice...." Ryou muttered, walking over to me and hugging my body against his, his intention to warm me. I hugged him back, laying my head against his chest and sighing. A few seconds later, it seemed, I realized that I was hungry. My stomach rumbled and Ryou laughed a little.

"Shutup, I'm hungry..." I grumbled, letting go. A wondrous smell caught my nose, wafting from downstairs. "And that heavenly..." I said, my mouth watering and I turned around, wanting my eyes to have x-ray vision to see what the smell was.

"Let's get something to eat then..." Ryou said, walking back into the house, an arm around my shoulders. He steered me through the hallway and down the steps. The smell was soooooo goood... and he led me into the kitchen, where we both stopped short. I'd thought that Keiichiro was cooking, but he wasn't. Nisiki was.

Obviously he'd learned to cook while he was away because he was making about six different things at once and hadn't even broken into a sweat. Everyone else was sitting around a table, watching him in amazement. He looked over his shoulder at us when we walked in and smiled, saying, "I hope you're hungry cause this stuff's almost done!"

Ryou and I took a seat side-by-side, me sitting beside a bed-ruffled Kinomi (who sat beside Pudding also). A few minutes passed of watching Nisiki then he turned and set out the breakfast he had made. It was a ginormous meal consisting of French Toast, eggs, sausage, biscuits (home-made), pancakes, waffles (again home-made), a fruit platter, various types of juices and coffees and teas, crapes, muffins (homemade also), some cereal, milk, granola bars, coconut-granola, blueberry-granola, and a bunch of different types of jams and cream-cheeses. Pudding wasted no time in getting her stuff, Kinomi dove in also, Mint grabbed a tea and a strawberry muffin and some mixed fruit, Lettuce got some OJ and a biscuit with orange jam on it and a small amount of grapes and watermelon, Ryou got me a small plate of French Toast with butter only on it and a glass of vanilla chai tea (yes I blushed), and got himself almost the same but with coffee instead and blueberry syrup on the French toast (again, I blushed), Keiichiro got a mug of coffee and an apple, Nisiki got himself a thing of eggs and a crape and a lot of pineapple slices, and Zakuro got a small cup of grape juice and half of a waffle. Everybody dug in, except for Nisiki, who was watching Zakuro. "Come on, Zakuro-chan! You've got to eat more than a nibbles-worth!" he said incredulously and he got up and sat beside her, putting a lot of fruit and a muffin on her plate. When she didn't eat any of it, he slid closer to her and put his face next to her ear and murmured, "Don't make me force-feed you..."

She shivered and flushed then picked up a piece of honeydew melon and bit into it with a bit more ferocity than necessary, a bit of juice running down her chin; Nisiki wiped it off with a thumb. During this whole ordeal, nobody else was watching except for Mint and I, and we exchanged a look like 'He's so flirting with her' then went back to eating, smiling slightly. We spent a little more time on the beach but didn't go into the water because there was heavy rip tide along our stretch of beach. Later, we got all our stuff packed up and went back to Tokyo around 3 in the afternoon, tired and tanned.

Everyone went home when we arrived at the cafe. I walked with Nisiki back to my house, very tired. Yawning, we both settled into our rooms and dozed, glad to be back home. My cats were glad to see me and listened as I quietly told them what happened at the beach. We all agreed that we weren't surprised that I had been struck by lightening. It had been, after all, the seventh of the month... In a heap on my bed, my cats and I fell asleep.

But the thing is, I couldn't sleep. Some noise was keeping me up and at around two in the morning, I got up and checked to see what the sound's source was. After checking Nisiki and everywhere else, I meandered outside to see if the stars could lure me to sleep.

That didn't work; the noise was only louder out here. Sitting down on a rock, I looked up at the sky and received a shock. Hovering over my house was a spacecraft of some sort. It was dark gray with black stripes on it. So thiswas the source of the noises....

I stood and started to form a plan to get up there and somehow confront whoever was controlling it. A millisecond later, a beam of steady blue light washed over me, half-blinding me. It was almost like the light when I had turned into a mew....

Then there was complete darkness.

Then I was sitting inside a circle of light, in a gray robe, and around me sat animals emanating a certain color of light around them and from their eyes. One off to my right was a medium-sized cat with pinkish light around its form watched me curiously; a small blue bird beside the cat t kept shifting from foot to foot and preening it's feathers; a medium-large porpoise, with a gentile green light around it, kind of floated in the air as if it were in some invisible tank of water and watched me with kind eyes; a little monkey with orangey-gold light that couldn't seem to keep still kept pacing and doing a handstand- that was strange to see a monkey do a handstand- and shifting from feet to hands; a wolf sat on it's haunches and stared at me coldly, it's eyes unkind; a small fox with a bright red light around it that was pacing and flicking it's fluffy tail to and fro; and finally the panther. Wait. Not thepanther... my .

I looked around myself wildly, mildly confused and afraid, pulse rushing through my ears. "Calm yourself, my child..." voice said in a soothing, slow voice, Quivering, I looked at the panther, who had risen to her feet; I only knew it was a she because of her voice, which sounded a little like my mother's but much lower.

I was about to demand where I was when a bright white light made its presence known over me. Looking up, I saw an orb of white light, descending down to me. Part of me wanted to know what it was and another part wanted to shy away considering I didn't know what would happen to me if I did. Making my decision after the orb stopped above me, at a height I could reach if I stood up, I came to my feet and started to reach for the orb. The animals all began to rise to their paws or move about, chattering excitedly. Hesitant, I withdrew my hand but the pushed foreword, touching the orb with a finger.

All at once, the animals began to walk, or in the porpoise's case: float, around me in a circle. A burst of panther strength sang through my veins and I grasped the orb, feeling a small round object like my mew pendant in its center. The animals ran faster until they were only blurs then all the colors: pink, blue, green, yellow, purple, red, and icy-blue, shot up into a dome around me and came to the light I held in my palms, making it glow brighter. As the ends of the strands began to all come together, white strands of light began to swirl around me, the robe I had been wearing vanished and was replaced with a 'cloak' of white light. I began to shiver as the strands were almost at the end, with adrenaline/cold. And, once again, there was a flash but I didn't black out. Instead, I floated in a standing position in a black nothing-ness with what looked like sakura petals floating around me in a sphere in the colors that the animals had been giving off. Slowly, I curled into a ball around the light that I was still holding and whispered, "Mew...Mew.... Shadow...."

Then what seemed like all the pain in the world raged all over my body, making me convulse into a tighter ball, trying not to scream.

I awoke in the soft half-light of dawn that filtered through my eyes, feeling quite sore. I groaned, attempting to turn and opened my eyes fuller and saw Mica sitting beside my head on one side and Obsidian on the other.

"Hey guys..." I said softly then I gasped. My voice wasn't my voice. I know It sounds weird, but it's true. My voice is normally low and hoarse but now, it's still low, but it's smooth and almost comforting. At the sound of my-not-me voice, Mica awoke instantly and pushed her tail into Obsidian's nose to wake him up. He lifted his head and looked down at me, yawning.

"Thank goodness you're back..." they said at almost the same time, pawing my face gently with their claws sheathed.

"Back?" I said, trying to move my sore fingers or toes and failing.

"We watched you come out here and sit down on a rock then attempted to fish back sleep again. But then there was a flash of light and then you were gone," Mica said, her voice low and quiet as she stood up.

"I came out here to look for you but I didn't find you anywhere. We both spent about half the night looking for you up and down the boulevard and when we didn't find you, we came back here with the intention of being awake when you returned," Obsidian continued, sitting up beside me and licking his front paws, watching me with a steady sapphire gaze.

"Then, we're so sorry, we fell asleep out here waiting for you. Until another slightly dimmer flash of light woke us up and we found you lying here. I knew automatically that it was you from your scent but Obby, here," that's Mica's pet name for Obsidian, "Was hissing at you because he didn't recognize you."

"You didn't recognize me?" I said, turning my eyes on Obsidian, "Why not?"

"Bleuberri, you look different your fur's all long..." (Mica and Obsidian call hair 'fur'), Obsidian said, pausing with his tongue on his paw and looking at me sternly.

The shock was enough to make me sit up, despite the pain all over my body. I yelped softly at my hair, which had pulled. True, I had gotten used to having long hair- in the FRONT of my head- not ALL OVER my head! When I tugged a strand of my hair in front of my eyes, I noticed two things: 1) It was very long and 2) IT WAS BLONDE!

It was at that point in time that I looked all around my body to see a veil of fine, light blonde hair surrounding my body. It looked longer than Kinomi's. At this point in time, it took all my self-control to keep from screaming or something of that nature. If I did, I probably would've woken Nisiki up.

As if I had to worry about that! Nisiki came out into the garden the next second from the kitchen- a smell of waffles baking reaching my nose- and stared at me. I glared back but didn't tell him that staring is rude because I didn't want to freak him out even more with my voice. "What...did.... you.... do?" He said, coming over and walking around me in a circle, eyes roving over me.

All I could do is sit there until he repeated in a freaked-out voice, "What did you do!?"

"I don't know, baka! If I did know, I would've told you by now!" I half-yelled, flinching at my voice again.

Nisiki flinched also and stopped short in front of me. "Why is your-"

"Once again: I. Don't. Know!"

"But... whaa...?" Nisiki said, then he sighed, sitting down in front of me and putting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms. His hazel eyes stared at me until I began to feel self-conscious. "Stand up." he said after about five minutes.

I shook my head and winced, my temples throbbing. Nisiki's eyebrows came down and he repeated with a bit more force, "Stand. Up."

Clenching my jaw, I got to my knees, avoiding pinning my hair down, and stood up. My bones seemed to creak and I felt as if I had been in a fencing match with kendo sticks. I sucked in a breath and clenched my jaw and eyes, feeling a dizzy spell coming on. "What's that around your neck?" Nisiki said.

I opened my eyes and found him reaching out to touch my chest. Out of pure impulse, I half-screamed and grabbed his hand, catapulting him over my head and slamming him onto the ground. Quickly, I let go of his hand and knelt down beside him, half of me trying not to laugh, half of me hoping I didn't hurt him too bad. "N-nisiki...?" I said, keeping the laughter out of my voice, touching him on the shoulder.

"Ok.... that hurt..." he groaned, pushing himself off the ground after he spat dirt out of his mouth. "What…the hell you to do that?" he asked, turning around so he could sit with his back against the rock I'd almost smushed him against.

"I thought you were going to-"

"Grope you?"

I nodded, flushing slightly.

He laughed softly and said lowly, "As if.." For that, I punched his chest softly, glaring at him.

The momentum of the punch made me realize there wassomething around my neck. I put a hand around back of my neck and slipped a leather cord around my head, slipping it over my hair, until I had it in my hand and examined it. Around the cord was a small multi-faceted crystal that reflected a color each time it caught the light. Except for the center, which was a soft, pulsating white light, and it seemed like it was keeping up with my heartbeats; each time my heart beat, it pulsed with the hardness of the pound. My hypothesis was that if I wore it while running in the dark, it would pulsate faster and glow brighter.

"I can't go to work like this..." I muttered after I'd put the pendant on my neck.

"Yes you can and you have to."

"You aren't my guardian! You can't decide that!"

"Yes I am, and yes I can."

"Well then, mister guardian, do you think I should go to work?"
"By walking like you normally do..." I punched him again, just harder.

"I meant, what should I do about my hair?"

"Cut it."

"I don't have time to. Work starts in about fifteen minutes!" I said, glancing down at the watch he always wore, "OH SHIT! WORK STARTS IN FIFTEEN MINUTES!" I yelped, jumping up and running inside. Changing quickly, I formulated many plans on what to do. Everyone would freak if they saw my hair and I didn't have time to cut it... and if I stayed home from work, Ryou and Kinomi would no doubt come and see what's wrong… All these thoughts ran through my head as I raced around, gathering stuff and doing my daily routine. When I ran past my door leading to the hallway, I stopped short, seeing a black beret. My eyes lighted up, a little smile twisting on my lips.

I dashed into the cafe with just enough time to change without being seen by anyone but Zakuro, who was distracted by Nisiki a minute later. As I changed, I checked the small mirror in the bathroom to make sure my hair didn't escape the beret. Here's what I did: I put my hair- with difficulty- into a large bun on my head and put the beret on my head. It probably won't last for very long but hey, it works for now! And I kept on the crystal pendant, tucking it under my frilly work collar and my dress front. My first plan was to put it in my boot but I already had a letter opener in one so I wasn't going to make myself even more uncomfortable....

I walked outside, boots clunking on the tile as I went to the first table to start waiting, but I stopped when I only saw all the girls, Keiichiro, Nisiki, and Ryou gathered in the main cafe. My first thought was that Nisiki had told them what had happened...but he hadn't had enough time for that. "Uuuh.... what's going on, guys?" I asked, moving back into the shadows of the doorway.

"We've located some mew aqua," Ryou said, looking around at me from his leaning-seat on a table, "So we closed the cafe..."

"Oh... well...should we...um...go then... to find it...?"

"We don't need to," Ryou said, standing up and walking toward me.

"Uuuh.... why not…?" I asked, taking a half-step back.

"What's wrong, onee-san?" Kinomi said, getting up and walking over to me. I stiffened. Surely, at a close proximity, they would notice my hair. "Why are you wearing your hair like that?"

"What's this big bump in the back, na-no-da?" Pudding said loudly, poking the back of my head on the bun. "Oneeee-saaammaaaa... you're hiiiidiiing someethiiing na-no-daaaaa..." she said, drawing out the words and poking me in the ribs.

BY that time, all the other girls and Keiichiro formed a ring around me, leaving me in the dead center. "Um... I put my hair up..." I said, smiling sheepishly and giving Ryou a glance. He looked curious.

"What's this big bump, onee-sama na-no-da?" Pudding repeated from Kinomi's side, cocking her head.

"It's my..." I couldn't find the words.

"Oh stop with your shit," Zakuro strode out from her place near Nisiki and yanked off my beret, causing my hair to cascade out of it and come out of it's cruddy bun around me, falling to just below my knees.

Nearly everyone leaned in, eyes wide. Ryou looked really shocked; so shocked, in fact, that his mouth had fallen open a little and his eyebrows went down. Nisiki didn't do anything, but instead shrugged when Mint threw him a questioning look. "What the-" Kinomi said, eyes the widest.

"What on E-earth did you d-do?" Lettuce said, reaching out and touching a fine, long strand with one of her fingers.

Everyone else besides Zakuro and the guys came foreword and started touching my hair.

"It's long.... na-no-daaa..." Pudding said, her eyes sparkling. Reading her mind, I heard imagine how long that would take me to braid na-no-da...

"It looks like gold." Mint said, holding a small amount in her palms. Her thoughts were: almost like my gold chain with the pendant one it....

"It's so silky and soft and smooth...." Kinomi marveled, running a hand down my head and back. "I'm almost envious..." There's no way my hair could be like this... it would take half a million gallons of mousse and gel... said to me in her mind.

I know what you're thinking: Ok yeah sure... Her hair's long and blonde... so what? Well, these people have only seen me with poorly cropped hair that reached my elbows in the front and was black as ebony. Now, it was long, silky, and even-ly trimmed at the bottom, silvery-blonde, and reached the middle of my shins. BIG difference there!

I started to get annoyed and ducked, hair touching ground, and got away from the group's hands. "So...." Mint said, turning to Ryou, "What to we have to do? Where's the mew aqua?"

"Here."

"Here?!" we all said together, even Zakuro, who looked at him incredulously.

"Where is it?" Lettuce said, cocking her head to the side.

"Standing right in front of you."

Everyone looked at him incredulously and almost everyone in the vicinity started laughing and laughing hard. Except for Ryou, Keiichiro, and Zakuro.

"Are you trying to say you're aqua, Ryou?" Kinomi said, wiping a tear of laughter out of her eye, "Cause, no offense, but you don't look like you could turn into a little pink rod or start glowing like a blue light..."

"I wasn't talking about me..." that shut us all up, "I'm talking about you, Bleuberri."

Everyone turned slowly to stare at me. My brain seemed to go on buzz. I could barely think. "Me?"

Ryou nodded and smiled. "We discovered, early this morning, a large amount of mew aqua in the garden in your house. When we saw an outline of it, we immediately saw that it looked like a person...a girl...with panther genes in her...."

"That's impossible. If you were searching for mew aqua, wouldn't you have found it sooner if it was me?"

"She has a point...." Nisiki offered. I thanked him with a glance.

"But something could've happened to trigger the mew aqua to become prominent." Keiichiro said, stepping in. One for Ryou & Keiichrio.

"What could 'cause mew aqua to become more prominent'?" Lettuce asked.

"We haven't figured that part out yet... Which is why I need to take you upstairs and analyze you, Bleuberri," Keiichiro said, smiling at me.

"Hell to the no," I said, giving him the look that said I wouldn't do anything with him unless I was shot with a tranquilizer dart.

"Keiichiro, didn't we agree that I was to do the testing?" Nisiki said, "You did call me, after all"

"Hell to the double no." I said, backing away.

"Would, you two shut up? I'm her boyfriend, so I should do it," Ryou said, coming foreword and grabbing my hand, leading me up the stairs. When we were in the hallway, I hear everyone shout 'Boyfriend?!' downstairs.

"Ryou, I'm flattered to think that you're my," I blushed a bit, "boyfriend. But was that a way to get them to shut up so you all could find out if I was mew aqua?"

"Uuuuum...." I saw his ears turn red and suddenly flashed back to the night when we went to have lunch together the first time. "Yeah.. sure....let's go with that......" he said, ears redder. I blushed too, heart pounding in my ears. If I didn't stop, the pendant would glow though my dress.

He led me into a very back room that was kind of cold. In the center was a kind of orb-pod-thing... It was a big Plexiglas sphere with a bunch of buttons below it, standing about 5 feet off the ground. "Ahm... you need to get in the orb..." Ryou said, going over to the buttons and punching a couple until a hole big enough for a person to crawl into slid into sight. A small line of steps shot out of the side of the machine, stopping below the orb opening.

Hesitant, I made my way over to the machine and up the stairs, climbing into the hole and sliding into it, coming to rest at the bottom. The hole closed up with a clunk and the steps retracted and a whirring sound filled the orb. Little holes appeared in the top and below me, looking like speakers. "You ok?" Ryou's voice said.

I looked out the Plexiglas and nodded at him, getting nervous. "Ok, before you freak out, a haze of white...fog will enclose around you and your body will act of it's own accord. If there is any mew aqua, it will light up. You start feeling sick or claustrophobic and I'll bring you out, k?"

I nodded again and heard the speakers turn off. There was complete silence until a steady hissing sound finned the orb. Above me, the cloud of white 'fog' started to descend down into the pod through the same holes where Ryou's voice had come from. Glancing out the pexi again, I saw Ryou's face; he was standing close to the orb, looking up into my face, eyes tender. Half-dazed from the smell the fog gave off, I put my hand against the cool glass, giving him a small smile. He smiled back and reached up, his hand against the glass to, near mine.

I started to rise up into the thick clouds, my hand coming away from the glass, I still saw Ryou's face, but not very clearly as I started to straighten up, arms spreading out by my sides, legs coming off the pexi, feet limp and pointing. My now long hair moved like an ocean wave, spreading out around me. Eyes closing, I went completely limp, letting the 'fog' take me into a white oblivion, as if I was asleep but instead of being black, it was all white. Then, all at once, moving pictures showed through the white. They were memories. My memories.

I saw my young childhood and then the explosion that killed my parents, then that witch Kuriachania coming towards me through the smoke, taunting me; I saw my lonely life afterwards, cutting my own hair and dying it black, practicing fencing with Nisiki, cooking a large meal for him and I after a long day of traveling and testing in a tournament, watching my cats play with and chase each other, going to various book openings- including a couple of my own books, typing my stories on my computer, going into the cafe before the rain fell, turning into a mew, Kish, fighting and being a mew, Kwin, Kinomi, everyone, and then...Ryou. He was the clearest picture yet. He was shouting something then a ball of blue light hit him and he was knocked into the air, crashing into a wall then to the ground.

I was lying on the ground, someone holding me tightly. Tears were running down my face. "Wha-what happened?" I asked shakily. Even when I was quaking with sobs, my voice was smooth as silk.

Ryou's face became clear as I blinked rapidly, embarrassed that I was crying. He looked at me so kindly and tenderly and, not to seem too hopeful/mushy, lovingly....

"Hey..." he said, smiling partway.

"Hi... what happened?" I asked, sitting up, gathering my hair in a ponytail and putting it over one shoulder, and looking at him straight.

"You started to scream so I let you out... you reacted in the worst possible way to the fog..."

"What was that crap?"

"I don't know the exact compositions but I know that it is almost pure oxygen like... 63%... and it has a chemical I found when... never mind...."

I didn't want to press him because he looked so...hurt and sad. "Anyway... about what you said earlier...about you being my-"

"Um..." he blushed and looked away, a teeny smile on his face, "I've never done this but..."

I could barely believe my ears, let alone breathe. Is he really...?!

"Um…well..." he took a breath, reminding me of the day I'd invited him to have lunch with me, "Would you…um...go out with me...officially..?"

I stared at him. And stared. And stared. Oh my friking god, he really had just asked me out. "What?" I said.

Ryou's eyes widened and he said quickly, "Sorry... if you don't want to... that's ok...."

"You complete baka."

"What...?"

I glomp-hugged him, putting my mouth close to his ear, kissing it briefly, "Of course!"

I felt his smile on my neck and he wrapped his arms around my waist, giving me a hug-squeeze. I buried my face in his hair/shirt collar, sniffing in his vanilla scent deeply. He rested his head on my shoulder, nose near my throat and hugged me a little tighter.

A few seconds later, we seemed to drop back down to Earth and broke apart, flushing. "uh... was there mew aqua on me anywhere..?" I asked a minute later.

"You weren't in there long enough for me to see any...." Ryou said. Then, seeing the look on my face added quickly, "I'm not gonna make you go in there again!"

I sighed and smiled at him. "So...." he said after yet another minute of looking at each other, "How did your hair get like that in such a short time segment...?"

I started to tell him about the dream. When I mentioned the fact that it was like when I'd turned into a mew, his face went a little pale. "What's wrong?" I asked, a little alarmed.

He shook his head and said, "Nothing..."

I continued my story and finished it within ten minutes, keeping out the part about the pendant. I found myself using my hands a lot to describe the actions, and pretty soon, I was standing on my knees; Ryou was also. Ryou and I laughed when I told him about my Nisiki-blowout, "That's..." Ryou started. I could tell that he couldn't find the right words to say to my story, "..."

"I had trouble with finding what to think too..." I laughed, looking at him.

"..........." He stayed silent and then said, very un-Ryou-like, "You're smile is so beautiful..."

I blushed, eyes getting a little big. "Um... thanks...?", I said, a little shocked that he would/could say something like that.

"Really.... it is..." he murmured, scooting closer to me. The shock was still the dominant emotion careening around my brain.

Ryou kept scooting closer until our bodies were almost touching. He leaned in and pushed his soft mouth against mine. The kiss was sudden, so it took me a second to slip into it fully, wrapping my arms around his waist after he pulls me closer. I sighed and parted my lips slightly, closing my eyes. Ryou's tongue slid out of his mouth and into mine, meeting mine and curling around it. This kiss wasn't long, but it was enough to get my heart racing to the point where the pendant began to shine through my dress, lighting our faces and chests brightly.

Ryou broke away first, about 45 seconds after the pendant started to glow. "What's this...?"

"The pendant..." I tugged it out from underneath my dress "That was in my dream…"

I pulled it from around my neck and handed it to Ryou, watching the crystal grow brighter. Right when it left my hand, it stopped glowing as brightly was now very faint. And so did I; I wasn't glowing, but I felt faint.

I started to sway, head reeling. Suppressing a moan, I shut my eyes tight, biting my lip to stay conscious. "Are you ok?" I heard Ryou say as if he was behind glass.

"No, actually...." I muttered, clenching my hands into fists. Through the dizziness, I felt a thump on the back of my neck and felt the pendant back on me; I was instantly better.

"It seems almost as if the crystal if your life-force..." Ryou said. I heard him move around so he was beside me, most likely to catch me if I passed out.

"Whaaaaaaat?!" I jolted upright, eyes flying open.

"Calm down... it was a hypothesis..." he said soothingly, laying a hand on the back of my head and running it down my hair.

"I really hope so...." I muttered then sighed, standing up. "We should go back downstairs...."

"Ok..."

He got up also and I followed him out the door. While we walked down the hallway, I noticed his left wrist. Clamped around it was the collar I'd put on him in cat form the first time I'd seen him as a cat (even though I did not know it was him at the time....). "Have you been wearing that since I put it on you...?" I asked, looking up into his face.

His cheeks turned pink and he 1/4 grinned, the corners of his mouth tugging back. "Yeah... why?"

"Nothing...." I couldn't' help but smile.

We reached the landing and Ryou said that we were going to open the cafe after all today. That didn't please anyone.

As soon as the boys were all downstairs, everyone except Zakuro swarmed me, bombarding me with the same question: 'Are you two together-together?' or 'Is Ryou your boyfriend?!' and other variations of the same questions. I answered them all the same: Think what you want.

The normal flow of girls started about half an hour after we opened the cafe, all of them giggling and raving about something going on at the local school. "Kinomi, what do they keep talking about?" I asked as she and I took refuge in the bathroom: her to catch her breath and put my hair in a braid.

"The mid-semester dance of course!" She said, excited as she twisted my hair around itself.

"Hmm.... what's the theme? I might drop by in the middle of it to see what's going on... I've never been to a dance..."

Kinomi's hands stopped. "You've.... never...been to a...dance?!" she said incredulously, resuming her rapid braiding.

"Well... no. I was too young when I went through middle and high school..."

"Oh.. I forgot you'd already been through school..."

She finished braiding and we both went back out to find the cafe almost empty. "I'd almost forgotten that we opened the cafe late.... it's almost closing time..." Kinomi sighed, going over and taking an order with a smile.

I followed her lead, taking an order of lemon-cream custard and a toffee hot chocolate with milk. A few seconds after I'd come out with the order, exactly two minutes before closing, the doors opened, the sunlight of sunset streaming in. "We're closed for-" I started, setting the bag with the cream and hot chocolate then stopped and stared.

A tallish boy in a big baggy black and red hoodie jacket over a grayish t-shirt, his hands in the pockets, and long slightly baggy dark jeans stood in the doorway. There were thick army-looking black boots under the jeans. The boy's hair was medium-dark emerald green and longish, obscuring the majority of his face. Hiding behind his emerald hair were two of one of the most awesome pairs of eyes I'd ever seen. They were a deep bronze-gold color and sparkled brilliantly. His skin was paler than a human's. Something was maddeningly familiar about him and I couldn't place a finger on it.

The boy looked shocked, but his eyes sparkled anyway and his silky hair swaying slightly as he shifted to his other foot. "Um... hi..." he said, looking confused, "What did you do to your hair, neko-chan?"

I think my chin touched Florida. Or, it could've if it were possible.

"Um..." was all I could muster as I walked toward him. He sounded like- no exactly Kish.

"Hey...." he said and smiled down at me, still looking confused, "Can you talk..?"

I took in a deep breath, calming myself. There's no way this could be Kish... Kish was an alien... this guy's human... and just so happens to look like Kish.....

"Bleuberri, we're closing up, it's time to go...." I turned to see Kinomi walking toward us then stopping in her tracks, her eyes glued to guy-who-looks-like-Kish. "Oh my...." she said then she swayed.

The new guy was beside her in an instant, catching her before she fell to the floor in a faint. The guy stood up, Kinomi in his arms and placed her gently in a nearby chair. "She fainted..." he said.

"Naw, Sherlock?" I said, sarcasm finding it's way back into my system.

"Who's Sherlock?" guy-who-looks-like-Kish asked, looking at me, a confused expression on his face.

"Who are you?" I said, not answering his question.

"You don't recognize me, neko-chan?" he asked, looking a little hurt.

"Err..." I shook my head, confused about the 'neko-chan' comment, "You look like someone I know... just...."

"Just human?" He said, a devastatingly cute smile lighting his face. "It's me, Kitten..."

Kish's old pet name for me echoed in my head. "K-k-Kish....?!" I said, eyes getting very big.

He smiled even wider. I think my chin touched Florida again. That's about the only way to explain the shock I was feeling. "How… the hell.....?" I said, sitting down across the table from unconscious Kinomi.

Kish opened his mouth, about to say something, then the door to the cafe opened again and two guys came in. My face turned pale again and I went deathly cold again, seeing Masaya. I must've looked afraid or angry because Kish turned and saw them too and his eyes widened when he saw Masaya. He stepped back a little, aura turning grey-yellow with fear.

The other guy looked very similar to Masaya and had very dark green hair and bright blue eyes similar to Kinomi's. "Oh hi..." the other guy said, looking over at me and smiling. I couldn't help but smile back. His aura was a very kind sort-of yellow-green. Kind and healing/caring... "What's wrong with Kinomi?" he said, looking really freaked-out now and he went over to Kinomi, reaching down and feeling her forehead.

"What happened…?" Masaya asked, looking over at me and smiling slightly, "You're new, aren't you?"

My fists clenched under the table and I shook my head. "You're not...? Then... who are you..."

"Ichigo must've forgotten to tell you that I'm the new mew. She's not here, by the way.... I'm Bleuberri Fujiwara," I told him, fighting to keep my voice calm, "I'm the one who ran into you that day..."

"Oh yeah... I didn't recognize you...." Masaya said, smiling, "Hey, Ichirou, I'm going..." He said as he turned, heading out the door. Wow... what a dense jerk-off....

"K...." the guy with blue eyes- Ichirou- said, not even glancing over at Masaya as he left. As soon as he was gone, Kish and I relaxed.

"Um... Ichirou- is it? - Who are you...? Are you Kinomi's brother…?"

"Yeah..." he said, straightening up and looking at me, "And you're the great Bleuberri onee-chan that Kinomi keeps telling me about..?"

Onee-chan....? "Yeah...."

"So… what happened, neko-chan?" Kish said, sitting down in front of Kinomi on another chair.

"You came in and she fainted..." I said, looking at Kish like 'You were there. Why are you asking me?'.

"Onee...chan....?" Kinomi muttered, stirring. I was beside her in an instant.

"What, youngling?" I asked-out of some weird impulse- peering at her.

She opened a large blue eye and looked up at me, opening the other. "I had the...best dream...."

"Yeah…? What happened…?" I asked, feeling like a real older sister.

"I was about to go home and I saw Kish...." she said dreamily. I heard him snicker lightly and shot him a glance that said 'shut up before I box your ears'. "And he was..."

"Human?" Kish said, ignoring my glance entirely and leaning foreword, smiling, so she caught full sight of him.

Kinomi's eyes went waaay bigger than mine had gone and she swooned, fainting again, her eyes rolling shut.

I rolled my eyes too and looked up at Ichirou. He was looking at Kish in a funny way. A mixture of shock, confusion, and something I couldn't identify. It was like 'oh my god, you're the one my sister is going out with?!'

A few minutes of staring later, Kinomi stirred again and sat up fully in her chair, stretching and yawning. "Hi, Bleuberri-san!" she said when she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Hello, youngling."

"What happened?"

"You passed out…" Ichirou said, looking relieved.

"Hi Ichirou!" she said, smiling widely at him.

"Hi, Kitsune-chan," Kish said, getting up and stretching also.

Kinomi's eyes snapped to Kish and her mouth fell open. "Kish?!???!?!??!?!?!?!" she said, getting up to and taking a step towards him.

He smiled and nodded, holding out his arms as if he was expecting a hug.

Well... lemme tell you this: he got waaaaaaaay more than a hug. It was more of an ultra-glomp. He looked happy at that. Add a kiss to the equation and you've got a couple who won't drop back to earth for about five minutes. Ichirou and I turned around, similar expressions on our faces.

And of course, to ruin a perfectly fine moment, a chimera-anima attacked.

The cafe walls and floor shook as something landed outside. The other mews-except Ichigo, who had gone home early because she was feeling sick- came out of the changing room, in normal attire and Kinomi and Kish broke apart, Kinomi springing up and looking ready for action- if not kind of tipsy-kiss-high....

"Hello again, LOSER!!!" A super-annoying child's voice sang from above us and I knocked Ichirou out of the way as a small knife came flying at him.

"Your aim is terrible!" Another, similar voice said.

"like yours isn't any better, Meiya!" the first voice said.

"Oh shut up, Maya and let's get to killin'!' the second voice.

I felt myself freeze up. Maya… that little demon girl who had put a knife to my throat. Who had threatened me. Who wanted to kill me. Who was teamed up with Kuriachania.

"Mew Mew Mint!"

"Mew Mew Lettuce!"

"Mew Mew Pudding!"

"Mew Mew Zakuro.."

"Mew Mew Kinomi!"

"Metamorphooooo-SIS!" they all said, raising their mew pendants into the air.

There were multiple flashes of light around me, including one from Ichirou. I just kind of stood there, the transformation words not coming. "Uuuh... Mew Mew Bleuberri! Metamorphooooo-SIS!" I said uneasily and there was a slight flash of light and I was Mew Bleuberri. The only thing different was that The Crystal was on my collar instead of my mew pendant and that my black hair was back in place.

Without pausing to think about this, I careened outside to where everyone was battling two mammoth mutant...squirrels...?

"What the hell?" I said, stopping and staring. Yes, my eyes weren't deceiving me, they were huge, gray, mutant, freaky-but-still-kind-of-cute-in-a-creepy-way squirrels. And sitting on each of their heads was the same person. No, wait... they were twins. They both had flame red hair, one cut in a smooth bob- the other in a kind of wild-bob-, and both had lazar red eyes with slit-pupils. Both had similar outfits on- a strapless band of reddish-fur around their tops, furry also reddish-brown shorts, boots that came up to just below their shins in the fur again, fingerless wrist-gloves (like pudding's) in the fur. Hidden amongst their thick hair were a pair of tall, fluffy-tipped dark reddish squirrel ears, and erected behind the two was a full, fluffy squirrel tail. Aha.... great... a few other new evil mews... and they had... red squirrel genes.... Ok then.....

The twin on the left glare-sneered at me when I arrived, her fingers flexing and another small knife-sword appeared in her hand and she slid off her beast just in time to miss an attack from Pudding. "Maya, where are you going?!" her sister said, looking down at her. Her sister-the one who had spoken- had the straight bun.

Within a second, she was running- scampering- at me full speed. I had just enough time to summon my Vocal and put it up in a shield before she sprang on me, eyes quite insane. The shield knocked her out of the air, but didn't hurt her like a normal human would've. Instead, she sprang up and attempted to get into the shield. After trying and failing about 17 more times to get in, she was standing- quivering in fatigue- looking around for a way to get in.

Then her eyes fell on human-Kish and a malicious smile darkened her face and she started to walk, then run, to him. "No!" I screamed, breaking my shield immediately. Kish was backing away slowly as Maya sped toward him.

Then what seemed enough like a miracle to make me believe there was a god happened. Nisiki crashed out of the earth- YEAH! He had been hiding under the ground, listening for a good time to help- and stood in front of Kish, samurai sword glinting gold in the sunset. Maya slowed slightly then went ahead, faster. "Come any closer and you will be sorry," Nisiki growled, hazel eyes aflame.

Zakuro turned from her spot of battle and saw Nisiki, her eyes widening with comprehension. Her mouth fell open as she watched Maya speed toward him, knife ready to stab. She started to run to them, a scowl showing that she was going to attack. "Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" She shouted, thrashing her weapon through the air and sending the purple light ribbon at the area just in front of Nisiki. The blast buffeted Nisiki slightly, sending him back half a step and a wind over him. It sent little Maya three-quarters of the way back to her beast, who had just been beaten by Kinomi, Mint, and Pudding.

"Bleuberri! We need your help!" Mint screamed as the other squirrel roared- why is everything that doesn't normally roar roaring?! First a slug, then ants, now a squirrel- in fury and swiped at the group of Ichigo and Lettuce, who both dodged and sent another blow at it.

"Sorry!" I said, head flipping back and forth from Zakuro, who was battling alongside Nisiki with Maya- who somehow put up a good fight- to her and Lettuce and Pudding.

"Bleuberri Vocal Sonic boom!!" I yelled, slashing the vocal through the air in multiple swings so many waves burst out of the end. They hit the best and sent it down in an instant, not needing our combined powers.

Again, I ask anyone- Why do these frigging dizzy spells keep hitting at the worst times?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I sank to my knees, holding my head tightly, eyes watering. A scream from Kinomi made me look up and see her kneeling too, holding her head also. A vision came to us both, knocking us both unconscious.

A massive KA-BOOM! hit my ears a second later, the force knocking me to hard, unkind concrete. Large, unfriendly waves of heat whipped at my back mercilessly. Smoke clogged my senses of sight, smell, feeling, even taste. A solid oblivion of gray-green smoke all around me. "MUUM!" I screamed shrilly, my voice sounding like when I was 5 as heat and smoke seared my eyes. "MUUUM!"

"your mummy's gone." A silky voice said.

I looked up to see a slim figure coming from my left. My eyes hurt, my chest hurt, my hands and knees were throbbing from where I'd caught myself. "MUUUUMY! DAAADY! ZAKURO!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face. Red eyes glinted from the person's face that i couldn't see.

"RIKKUUUUU!?" I heard a faint voice yell, "RIKKUUUU?!"

The shadowy person hissed and melted away into the smoke.

"ZAKUROOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, throwing myself into my sisters arms.

"WHERE ARE MUM AND DAD?" She yelled, looking around us frantically. Her hair slapped my face multiple times.

"ow. Zakuro!!!" I yelled, clutching at her shirt, sobbing, "They're dead!!"

"Oh...." she said. The sound reverberated funnily inside my head as my eyes began to droop. "WE NEED HELP OVER HERE!!!" Zakuro yelled as sirens reached us throught the dense smoke. that reverberated too as my head dropped back. I fainted as a guy in a bright yellow suit reached us.

A new scene met my eyes. I was floating in what seemed to be a black ocean, bubbles coming up from my nose & mouth. They were colored blood-red. "Bleuberri.." A voice soft as velvet whispered through the oblivion, tugging me a little from the cold blackness.

"Bleuberri....!" the voice was louder, more frantic. My thoughts muttered 'What...?'

"Bleuberri!" I crashed though the surface of the ocean, orange sunlight hitting my eyes. The lights popped in and out of my vision and then flickered away as I turned my head away from the light.

"Finally..." the velvet voice cushioned my ears as I looked to it's speaker. Then I almost gasped. Nisiki, the one guy who I loved like a brother (A BROTHER!!!!!!) but hated for his sarcasm, had brought me back from a near-coma. That and the fact that he was looking at me tenderly made me scoot away and sit up, still in Mew form. "Where's Kinomi?" I asked.

"Over here, onee-chan!" Her voice said brightly from my left. I whipped my head around to see her sitting in the grass, Kish beside her, and a tall guy with long brown hair in a pony tail. I would've thought it was Keiichiro but this guy's eyes were bright green. That and he was in a pair of short-shorts and a robe-thingy.

Kinomi, who's this? asked her.

It's Ichirou... replied...don't...

"Hey, Ichirou, why are you in a dress?" I asked, fighting the smile.

The look on his face was priceless. "See! Even Bleuberri thinks it's a dress!" he said, gesturing towards me. Nisiki and I snorted and turned away from him, hiding our laughs.

"It's not a dress...." Mint said from beside Zakuro.

"Looks like it..." Nisiki muttered, making me cover my mouth with my hands and squinting my eyes shut.

"Alright, everyone!" Keiichiro said, coming out of the cafe, sounding a little stern, "Is there a reason you all are still here...?"

"We got attacked, obviously!" Kinomi said, her blue eyes shooting fire. Heh heh… that quick temper made me so proud sometimes

Keiichiro blinked and looked around. "Well.... okay... good job...." he walked back into the cafe.

"Well...." Ichirou said after a minute, "I guess we should...go...?" he looked at Kinomi, who nodded.

"Hey.." Mint called before everyone went away. I heard her thoughts: 'I regret asking this'. "My parents are holding a banquet tomorrow and Nanny pestered me to invite you."

Everyone declined. "I have school," were Lettuce, Kinomi, Ichirou, and Pudding's responses. "I have to go to a mentoring meeting," Nisiki said. "I have a photo shoot to do," Zakuro said, a smallish hint of 'sorry' in her tone.

"Bleuberri?" Mint asked as everyone but Nisiki, who loitered near the sidewalk, walked away. Her eyes were hopeful and she was thinking Please? I don't want to be alone with middle-aged hypochondriacs.

I half-smiled and said, "Sure."

"Well," Mint said, snapping instantly back into Mint mode. "It's all formal, no exceptions."

"Uuuuuuuh......." I said, regretting I'd said yes. "Well..."

"What?" she said, her voice cutting and edgy with a hint of sarcasm.

"She doesn't have a dress," Nisiki called over.

"Thaaanks..." I grumbled then looked back at Mint, who was looking me up and down, not looking surprised.

"I might have something that'll fit you..." she said. "But I don't know..."

"Why doesn't she come over to your house and spend some time over there?" Nisiki suggested.

I glared at him, thinking Mint wouldn't agree. Until she shrugged and said, "Sure."

I stared at her. "Don't hug me," she said, stepping back one step.

"I wasn't going to..." I said.

"You're really going to wear a dress?" Nisiki asked as we walked home. "I'd pay money to see that!" I'd changed back into my human form and the normal black hair had stayed.

"Shut up before I punch your face in." I grumbled, wincing as a reflection of the bright sunset gleamed off a car into my eyes. I'd seemed to become more subjective to light since this morning when I woke up to find my hair blonde.

"Easy," he said, raising his palms to calm me down. I just glared at him through silted eyes. "I was joking, grumpy ass."

"I feel like I'm in a hangover..." I mumbled, rubbing my eyes against my hands.

"How would you know what that feels like?" Nisiki asked sharply.

"I read about it, baka," I said lowly, wincing as another sunlight caught the pond we passed.

"Oh..." He went quiet. "Well.... are you official?"

I looked up at him confusedly, raising an eyebrow as we turned a corner where there were tall houses that shaded out the sun.

"You and Ryou," he said, hazel eyes dark and kind of brooding.

"Oh..." I flushed pink and watched a bird overhead interested-ly.

"You are...." he said.

His tone made me look around. "What's with you?" I asked as I watched his aura turn gray-dark green in slight anger/jealousy. His outer ring was white for his wolf genes.

"Nothing," he said loftily and sped up a little. He had turned his face back in front of him and was giving the death stare at the sidewalk.

I grabbed his arm and stopped him. "Tell me now." I said, confused and angry, the pink flush turning my ears red with anger. "What's' wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, looking down into my face then looking away.

"Liar."

"No"

"Yeah"

"n.o."

"Hell yeah."

"Stooop...." he groaned, trying to break out of my grip, but I held firm.

"Tell me what's wrong and I'll let go."

"Well..." His aura turned rosy. Good god, who was he thinking about…? "It's about you-"

"ME?!?!??!?!?!" I yelped, letting go of his arm, my hand feeling burned and tingly.

"What? What's wrong with you?" he said, reaching out to touch my shoulder. I Yelped- feeling a sense of deja vu- and grabbing his hand and pulling him over my shoulder, slamming him into the ground. "You're making a bad habit of throwing me into the ground..." he groaned as I dropped his wrist and backed away.

"Do you- you- you...." I said, not being able to say the rest.

"What?!" he yelped, sitting up and leaning away from me. "Like you?"

I stared at him, face turning red. His was tinged with pink. "Wrong Fujiwara, Bleuberri." He pinched his lips together right after he said this and looked away.

I stared. And stared. And stared. My mouth opened, chin touching Florida for the third time today. "You...like.... Zakuro?!??!" I said slowly as he turned red and I turned more pink than red. "Oh. my. god."

"Uhhhh.... yeah..." he stood up and started to walk away. "Let's go. You have to get ready to go to Mint's"

The back of my head tingled slightly and I reached back to pat it then continued.

"By the way..." he snickered slightly, glancing over his shoulder and continuing on, "Your hair's changing color."

I stopped and looked into one of the huge windows we were passing. Slowly, starting at the roots, my hair was turning light blonde and long again, the back lengthening. "Let's go," I said and hurried down the street, hoping no one was watching. Another tingly feeling tickled the back of my neck and I turned, looking behind me but still walking. The sun had disappeared behind a heavy cloud and everything was shadowy. Above the concrete about 8 ft. up, the air seemed to ripple and waver, then it went still. Turning back around, I hurried up to catch up to Nisiki, glancing over my shoulder.

I stood in front of very large, ornate gates in front of a bigger-than-average mansion, clenching my duffel bag tightly. Swallowing hard, I pushed through the gates and over the huge lawn with trimmed topiaries and gargling fountains, my now-in-a-pony-tail blonde hair wavering behind me. I'd hardly remembered packing the duffel bag and walking here because I was in a daze at Nisiki's secret infatuation. Truth be told, though, I wasn't surprised one bit.

I knocked lightly on the 3-story door and waited, hearing light footsteps. The door was illuminated by the crystal, which was pulsating brighter and more faster with my pulse. Pulling the crystal out from under my gray t-shirt, I examined it, squinting at it. It appears as if it's your life force... 's words echoed in my head and I shook my head quickly, putting It back under my shirt. Slowly, the door opened and a little old lady peered up at me from behind her spectacles. "You are Bleuberri, yes?" she asked, voice edgy.

I nodded saying, "Yes ma'am."

A smile broke over her face and she opened the door to let me in. Taking long strides, I walked into the foyer, taking in the large, swooping staircase and the polished tiles. Mint stood on the right side of the steps and came foreword, not looking very happy. "Hi Mint." I said and stopped as she walked foreword.

She nodded her head and glanced at the little old lady. "Dinner will be served shortly in the dining hall." the old lady smiled then looked up the stairwell as a door opened. Mint looked up as well and her expression hardened. I glanced up and did a double-take.

Walking down the stairs, one hand in his pocket, and the other holding a college text-book that I had in my room, was a very handsome boy. He had mint's color hair and deep mocha eyes. His hair would've reminded me of Ryou's if it had been flipped back in a wind-blown look on the sides. Ok.... you're cute. walked down the stairs, walking past Mint and pausing to look down at us. "Hello," he said quietly then walked out of the house, flanked by two guards.

I stared after him and then looked back at Mint, who looked downcast. "Well... let's go to my room...."

We got to her room and I hesitantly set down my duffel bag on the floor, near the door, looking around. The room was big, about 1/3 bigger than my own. A huge bed, another slightly smaller pullout bed opposite it, dominated a corner. A dresser took up another corner and the wall near it had a huge double-pair of mirror doors. A huge pair of French door-windows dominated a wall and led out to a spacious balcony, which overlooked the side of the house's lawn. "Was that your brother?" I asked as she looked out the huge window.

She nodded curtly and said, "He's going to study abroad after a few more weeks."

"Oh..." I felt a little sorry for her, learning from her thoughts that she spent most of her days in this big house alone. "What's his name?"

She looked at me sharply. "You don't like him, do you?"

I looked at her like 'are you serious?'. Then realization dawned on her face. "Ooh..." she said, "His name is Seiji."

"Ok." I nodded then looked away, feeling uncomfortable. I didn't really spend that much time with Mint and hardly ever talked to her so I didn't know what to say.

"Dinner is served, Miss Mint and Miss Bleuberri," The little old lady called through the door just as the smell of pork reached my nose.

Mint and I walked out of her room and I followed her into a church-like dining room, the white china plates lay out with rich dishes. The old lady listed out all of the dishes, but I didn't pay attention until she mentioned the dessert would be mini pound cakes with vanilla ice cream. I watched Mint as I ate; she picked at her plate, not really eating. After I had finished, she led me back up to her room and into her closet.

My chin almost dropped, but I wasn't very surprised that her closet was the same size of her room. Very expensive-looking dresses lined the walls and shoes took up half of one wall. I'm not a very girly-girl that squeals like a pig when she sees a lot of dresses and shoes I meandered into the closet and fingered through the dresses.

Finding a Chinese-looking blue and silver dress, I tried it on. I walked out into the main room, where the full-length mirror stood and looked into it, shifting around and moving my ponytail out of the way. There was a sniff from behind me and I turned to see Mint standing in front of the window, her shoulders quivering. "Mint..." I said, fear and shock gripping at my heart, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she snapped, clenching one of her hands.

I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently turning her around. Tears leaked from her brown eyes and her lip was quivering. "Does it have something to do with Seiji?" I asked.

She shook her head and glanced away, lip trembling and a small sob escaping her lips. "I'd offer words of consolation...but I know none..." I said, trying not to look sympathetic.

"I-it's not j-just Sei-seiji," she said, looking up at my eyes then looking away. "It's..."

"Everything?"

She nodded, her body quivering. I led her over to the bed and sat her down, sitting beside her. "It's just…hard," she looked down at her lap as I reached over and pulled a handkerchief out of a little box, handing it to her. "I was normal and everything....now I'm a superhero. Seiji won't speak to me. Only Ichirou listens to me." Her face vanished behind the handkerchief.

"I'm listening," I said. Hearing her thoughts, I added, "and I promise I won't tell anyone anything."

"It's just that..." her ears turned red and her body convulsed in a sob, "I want to protect him...and Seiji... but I don't know how.... and I'm afraid..." She couldn't go on explaining but she didn't have to.

"Well..." I sighed and couldn't think of what to say, "I would say we're in the same boat... but..."

She raised her head, her eyes only showing, and looked at me. "Really?"

"Well..." I shifted, "Yeah... I want to protect two people that I love,"

She looked confused. "Ryou and Nisiki," I said, not sure about the latter.

Her eyes and face crumpled and she hid her entire face again. "What? What's wrong?!" I said, freaking out more.

"Y-you only care for those two?" her voice was muffled.

"I thought we were just listing boys we wanted to protect..." I said, sighing, "Truth be told.... I would die...if it would save everyone...."

There was silence for a long time then she slowly looked out at me. "I don't want you to die..." she said quietly.

"I didn't say I was going to die..." I said, very shocked.

"You're too..." she stopped herself as a sneeze raked her, turning her face into the handkerchief again. She looked back out at me then yawned slightly.

I yawned also, turning away. "Stop yawning..." I grumbled, "It's contagious."

She laughed shakily. "Sooo.... about the party tomorrow...." I said. She rolled her eyes. "Who all's going to be there?"

"Not very many people...." she said, a thinking expression on her face, "The Yons, the Rens, the Yotsuras...." her voice faded off as she looked at my face. "What?"

"I-" I was a little shocked, "I know all of those people...."

She stared at me for a minute then asked, "how... can you know them...?"

"My parents held a lot of dinners and parties when they were…" I held off, heart stopping for a second in pain, "and they forced me to be present at each one. So I was well known at them."

Mint stared at me. "Well...maybe they forgot you." she said, a bit of normal Mint coming back in.

"Hopefully..." I shuddered, remembering old, withered faces.

Mint yawned again. "We should get some sleep." she said, "We need to be up early tomorrow to get ready." She eyed my hair and I rolled my eyes.

After she changed into her nightdress, she asked for help in undoing her hair, which I did. "Wow..." I said as she brushed it a little. "You should wear it like that more often.."

She looked over at me, "Yeah.... the buns hurt after a little while..." Her hair was wavy and silky when down.

I changed into the red and black tank top and black capris I'd brought and sat down on the pullout bed, finding it very sink-y. "Ooooh...." I mumbled, laying backwards and stretching out, sinking a little into the middle of the mattress. "This is heavenly...."

Mint looked over at me and stared. "What?" I said, propping myself up on my elbows, "My mattress at home is kind of hard."

She nodded slowly and looked away, clucking her tongue. A small dog scampered excitedly into the room and leapt onto her bed, liking her face. I smiled as she laughed and said, "Enough, Mikey."

Mikey looked around and yelped in my direction, sniffing me. She padded across Mint's bed and leapt onto the one I was on. I held out my hand and waited as Mikey looked at it, coking her head to the side. Tentatively, she stretched out her neck so her nose was near my hand and sniffed. She turned and walked away, tail up, and went back over to Mint. Mint giggled, "She mustn't like you very much…"

"Well...I am part cat and have two cats," I said, shrugging. Truth be told, I'm not all that fond of dogs.

A little while later, after Mikey had settled into her own little bed beside Mint's; Mint clicked off her light via remote and turned onto her side, facing the window, which was cracked. I curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my knees and looked out the window as Mint fell asleep. Lying awake, I stared out the window at the cloudy night, the moonlight shining on me then hiding its face behind a cloud again. Closing my eyes, I tried to get some sleep.

And, of course, I couldn't go to sleep. The tapping at the window didn't help either. I sighed and pulled the cover up over my head, curling into a tighter ball. That only made the tap increase in tempo. I tried to ignore it and tried to sleep...until it got on my nerves. Lifting a small portion of the blanket, I peeked out at the window.

It was pitch black until I made my eyes turn panther-like; they glowed through the darkness out the window. The tapping stopped and a small shadow in the shaped of a cat pounced up onto the ledge on the balcony. Curious, I got up, quiet as a shadow, and slipped outside, sliding the door shut. As soon as I stepped outside, a small gust whistled by and the moon lit up everything for a second, including the cat. "Alto!" I almost squealed, recognizing it.

The small gray cat turned, it's blue eyes sparkling. It hopped down then a white light played around it's form and he grew, tail shrinking back into his butt and fur disappearing, leaving tan human skin. A few seconds later, Ryou was standing on all fours, blinking up at me, his cat ears and crooked tail slowly vanishing. He stood, in nothing but long black pants and his red collar, smiling. I smiled back, cheeks turning slightly pink. "Hey," he said quietly as he leaned against the side of the balcony.

"What are you, stalking me?" I asked sarcastically, leaning against the balcony also and smiling up at him.

He chuckled and nudged me with an elbow, "No...." he said quietly.

"Well...." I nudged him back. "Why are you here then?"

"I couldn't sleep...."

"Weird...." I murmured looking away for a second at the moon.

"What?"

"I couldn't either," I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side. "Aren't you cold?"

"No, I brought a jacket," I looked around the balcony, eyes not seeing any, "It's under the balcony."

"Oh..." I looked up into his face again. The crystal started glowing brightly again, pulsing along with my pulse.

"Getting excited?" he teased, pulling me close so I was leaning against his chest.

"No." I said teasingly. When his smile drooped a little I hugged him, "I has joking."

"So you are?" His voice made his chest vibrate, making me shiver slightly.

I didn't answer; I just held him, laying my head on his chest and closing my eyes. "What happens if you stay as a cat for too long?" I asked.

"I don't really know... but the nearer I get to the ten-minute mark, the more like a cat I feel like. Why?"

"How long do you think I can stay like a cat?"

"I think the longest is about six hours," he paused, "Why are you asking me all of this?"

I shrugged, "Just curious..."

The moon came out of hiding and my cat eyes adjusted, pupils turning to slight slits. A scratch was on Ryou's shoulder and looked fresh. "What did you do?" I said, pulling away.

"What?" he looked at me, confused.

"You're hurt..." I reached out a finger and touched the scar. Ryou stiffened as dim light seeped around my finger from the scar. Gasping slightly, I withdrew, watching as the scar started to seal up, the skin knitting a new layer of skin. At the sight, I swayed and sat down slowly. That was one sight I really never want to see again.

"Are you ok?" he knelt on one knee in front of me, trying to see into my eyes.

"Sorry.." I said faintly as he pulled me to him, plumping me into his lap, "That just was..."

He put his arms around me and hugged me tight around the shoulders, laying his head on my shoulder. His breath rolled across my neck and I breathed in deeply, turning my head to look at him. Raising his eyes, Ryou looked back at me, a teeny smile on his face.

The air rippled like water in a pond over us then Kwin materialized, hovering in front of the balcony. Ryou and I's heads snapped up, expressions similar. Ryou asked lowly, "What do you want?"

Kwin glared at us, arms crossed, hair dancing in the wind. "Kwin...." I said, standing up threateningly. "Go away," My tail and my ears folded back twitched in anger as my hair rippled.

He looked at me, an almost sorry look in his blue eyes as they glimmered. "Whatever you say..." he looked sad as he materialized away, the air rippling again. I thought I heard him say something else just before he went away but I was starting to feel tired, so I dismissed it

"I might need to go...." Ryou said as he stood up. Suddenly, taking my face in his hands, he pressed his lips against mine softly- my tail and ears popping back into sight- then started so shrink as my hands case around his waist. He turned into a cat before I could fully enjoy the kiss. Now Alto, he looked into my eyes and purred once. Then he leapt out of my arms and onto the balcony, stealthily sneaking down and padding away quickly. After I watched him go, I turned and went inside, savoring the heat as I slid the door shut again. Sliding into the covers, I turned over, curling into a ball, making my ears and tail go away.

Mint poked me awake what seemed like an hour later. "We need to get ready," she said as she went into the closet, followed by two maids. Two more were out in the main room with me and helped me into the dress and sat me down to work on my hair. As they combed and twisted my long blonde hair, I watched people- more maids and butlers- scurry around the garden in frenzy. After they'd done my hair, twisting it into two buns with long strands hanging off of it and two thick pieces in the front floating down, they turned my chair around and started to pad on makeup on my face. I held up my hand and stopped them, "No. This is fine..." I was shocked when they really backed off and bowed.

Turning, I saw why. Mint had re-entered the room, in a very pretty, rich, dark turquoise sundress that ploufed- for need of a better word- around her knees. Her hair was down and wavy, a turquoise band hidden among her locks. "Well...." she looked over at me and walked over to the door, "It's no use to anyone when you stare..."

"You're one to talk," I said as she was staring at me. I walked out of her room and into a hallway then stopped; I thought I'd seen a guy standing in the hallway. Mint rushed past me, "Come on, we need to be early!"

I groaned and hurried after her, the breeze around my shins making me feel weird. My boots were the only shoes I'd ever worn and the thick-padded Japanese-looking silk slip-ons felt weak and flimsy. "Is there going to be food?" I asked as my stomach grumbled in displeasure.

"Later on, yes..." Mint said briskly as we went down another hallway. Her house was like a labyrinth. Finally, we arrived outside as a gentile wind picked up, ruffling Mint and I's skirts. I was glad I'd work some shorts under the dress if the wind was going to be blowing. The party went on and I became Mint's shadow, being too shy to speak to anyone, even though I recognized a few of them.

That plan didn't work out because there were more than 'middle-aged hypochondriacs'. The families had sons and daughters around my age. When I lost Mint in the crowd, a group of high-school guys swarmed me. "Hey" a few called. They all were eyeing my chest and bare legs, perverted thoughts running through their minds.

I ignored them and walked through the group, looking for Mint. As I walked over toward the edge of the crowd, I spotted her, glaring at a short girl with very long badly dyed blonde hair and a very annoying voice.

The girl was saying something like 'life-long enemies' or something like that. I almost laughed; I hadn't seen this bitch in about seven or eight years and she hadn't changed one bit. Her name was Kanna something-or-the-rather and we had known each other since about four years old.

"Mint," I said softly as I walked up to beside Mint and stood with my arms crossed, "Who's this?"

Mint jumped at my 'appearance out of nowhere' and Kanna looked aghast. "What do you mean, you don't know who I a-" she began to say until she looked up into my face. "Oh my goodness...." God her voice was nasal.

"Remember me?" I almost sneered, looking down at her, "You haven't changed one bit."

Kanna paled considerably, her large green eyes getting even larger. She made herself look smaller and turned away, walking quickly- I note that she stumbled mostly. Mint turned to me, "What the heck," she said, her brown eyes trying to figure me out, "Was that about?"

"She said I was her sworn enemy when we were four," I said, shrugging. Mint laughed and I knew why- Kanna had done that to Mint also. I grinned a little.

Then Mint turned serious again, making my smile drop. "I overheard some guys talking about almost robberies committed in Tokyo," she said lowly, turning her back on the other guests. I nodded; I'd heard a little of that too. "And the weird thing was... the guys who were trying to rob the places were caught on tape then the camera would get really fuzzy and then within a minute, after the alarms were set off, the screen would clear and the would-be-robbers would be bound and gagged..."

I contemplated this until she said something else, "And people passing by the area of the would-be-robbery would see something take off into the sky..."

We looked at each other sharply. "Do you think it's another mew...?" I asked.

Mint looked aghast. "No one else knows how to do what Ryou..." a corner of my mouth tugged up, "and Keiichiro have done. What are you grinning at?" she asked, looking annoyed.

I shook my head a little and said "Nothing..."

A screech hit my ears and I recoiled to the ground, covering my ears with my hands. Mint looked down at me and knelt beside me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked as the ground shook a second later. Mint almost lost balance then steadied herself... then ducked as a huge saucer with razor-edges whizzed past her face.

She turned and I looked over to see a large-ish- AGAIN, LARGE ANIIMAL THING!!- ugly-ass, fat, gopher or beaver thing. Mint, her hand still on my shoulder, yelled "mew Mew Mint! Metamorphosis!"

Then a weird thing happened. I didn't say anything, but an icy blue-more white than icy- with slightly darker blue streaks came to life around me. When the light was gone, I stood up, feeling....short.

I looked over and saw Mint's normally calm and narrow eyes-directly at the height of my own- wider than dinner plates. "Oh....my....god...." she uttered, looking me up and down.

"What?" I asked, then looked over at her house, into a window. "Oh my god..." I said, mouth dropping.

I looked exactly like Mint; I was in her mew outfit and everything-with the exception that everything was some shade of black, my eyes were still blue, and that the little hang-y things that fell on either side of Mint's face were waist-length. And the wings were a bit bigger and looked almost like angel wings, just not as pretty and the tail feathers were fluffed out. The pendant had been replaced with the Crystal.

Another saucer whizzed between us and we jumped away from each-other, turning to face the....gopher.

"Mint Arrow!" Mint yelled. At the same time, Mint's weapon- just black- appeared in my hand and when Mint pointed her weapon at the...gopher... and shouted her attack, the weapon I held did the same. "Ribbon Mint Echo!" Instead of a pink light arrow coming from mine- like it did hers- a white arrow burst out of it.

Both arrows hit the...gopher... and it screamed- again the screaming- and shrunk down, a little jellyfish alien thingy coming out of it's chest. A small black robot-looking very similar to Masha- floated from the direstion of the house and "ate" it. Kanna the witch lay on the ground, where the gopher-beaver thing had been, unconscious. For about three seconds. She leapt up and looked around, spotting me first.

"Oh my god," she said, running over to me and hugging me tightly around the neck. "You, like, saved me! You're so awesome!"

I looked over at Mint to ask her 'help me!!' but she still stood there staring at me. "Kanna, we need to go before that thing gets back here!" a woman said from off to our right.

Kanna looked over then leapt away from me. "How much for your powers if anything else like that attacks me?" she said eagerly, eyes glittery.

Mint had made her way over to me and when I looked over at her, she looked as enraged at I felt. We both raised our hands and smacked Kanna on her cheeks. She flinched and ran off, crying.

We glared after her then Mint turned back to me. "We need to find the others and show them..." she said, looking me up and down.

No need for that because the next second, Lettuce, Pudding, Zakuro and Kinomi- Kish running behind her slightly and tripping a lot- swarmed Mint, asking if she was ok and where I was. Ryou, Keiichiro, and Ichirou came running just when Mint pointed at me.

Everyone's eyes snapped to me and I felt weird and shifted from foot to foot. Pudding rushed over and attacked me, tackling me and sending me for the ground. "Who are you?!" She said loudly, brown eyes alight.

"I-i'm Bleuberri!" I yelled.

"No way, our voices are even the same?!" Mint yelled, coming over and looking down at me as Kinomi pulled a stunned Pudding off of me.

"Apparently," I said, standing up and looking at her.

"Too weird!" she said, backing away from me a few steps and bumping into Ichirou.

"Bleuberri, how did you get like this?" Keiichiro said, walking up to me and looking me up and down.

I looked over at Mint, who explained everything. "How do I get back to normal?" I asked Keiichiro.

"I...don't know," Keiichiro, "We didn't create you."

I stared. "He means we didn't create you to be like this," Ryou said.

I stared at Ryou. "Do you think it's like the mew thing, just think it and I'll go back?"

"You could try..." Ryou said, shrugging.

I thought. And thought. And thought. "Nothing's happening!" I said, starting to mildly panic.

"What about the cat thing?" Kinomi suggested from Kish's arms, "You know.." Kinomi looked embarrassed, "Kiss someone and go back to normal..."

I looked over at Ryou, who nodded. Walking over quickly, I stood on tiptoes- since mint was so short- and put my face close to Ryou's. God, it'll be like kissing Mint heard him say. "Will not!" I said, annoyed by the comment.

Ryou jumped then leaned in quickly and pushed his soft mouth against mine. Nothing happened. He withdrew and looked down at me.

Shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitwas all I could think as I backed away from Ryou, more panic building in my chest. "WHAT THE-" I heard a voice say from my left.

My head whipped around, seeing Nisiki staring at me and Ryou. "Who the hell are you?" He asked, walking up to me. Holy shit he's even more of a giant from Mint's perspective... thought as I looked up at him. "Are you some cousin of-" He studied the front of 'Mint's' hairdo on my head- the long part in the front. "Oh my god." he said.

"Hi to you too." I said, glaring at him. He flinched. Even when she's Mint, she's got a hard glance.

"We need to figure out how to change you back..." Nisiki said after about three minutes of silence.

"Well no shit," I snapped, shaking.

After everyone had made suggestions and I had tried them, they pretty much gave up and left me alone with Ryou (Mint was in her room getting dressed). His back was turned to me and he was looking at the sky. I just stood there and looked at him.

"Ryou..." I murmured, staring at the back of his head. "What's-"

"Nothing..." he said, turning and smiling at me; The smile didn't reach his eyes. I looked between the gentile but guarded blue. "I have to go..." he said, turning and starting to walk away.

Anger flamed. "What, you're not going to stay and try to help me?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "Just because I look like Mint?"

He stopped. "No. I just...need time to think."

"Has too much happened to you?" I said playfully-sarcastically.

He turned and smiled "No. I can take it." His thoughts showed otherwise. There were many conflicting (for need of a better word) thoughts careening in his mind.

I remained silent and watched him walk away. "Woooow...." Nisiki's voice made me blink and turn. He was leaning against a tree a few yards away; he pushed off of the tree and jogged over to me, hazel eyes soft.

"You ok?" He asked, smiling down at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him "Shut up."

He looked a bit mad "What? Just because I care for you you're going to snap at me?"

I blinked again and shook my head a bit. "Gomen. I'm just.... a little overwhelmed."

I kept my eyes closed and breathed for a minute until Nisiki's arm came around my shoulder. They flew open and all I could see (and smell) was Nisiki's jacket. "Nisiki?" I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Hugging you," He murmured.

"More like smothering me. I can't breathe," I said. Er...more mumbled.

Nisiki only held me tighter then released me. I coughed when he let go and shook my head. "What's with you?" I asked, looking up into his face. Wait, it was his hair because he had turned and was walking away.

"Nothing." he said, walking quicker. "Come home when you want" He called over his shoulder, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

I watched him go, brain buzzing. When he had gone, turned my face skywise and glared. "What the hell did I do?" I said quietly, raising my hands in a questioning demenor.

I walked home after shrugging on a big overlarge-jacket that hid my....wings and tail and took my bag out of Mint's room. The wind had picked up and thunder rumbled behind me. Everytime the wind brushed the back of my neck, I would snap my hand back, thinking that my hair was growing back but then I would remember that I had Mint's hair. It was about midnight when I had reached my house and, listening intently, and heard that Nisiki was asleep.

I looked around and climbed up one of my walls to sit on the roof. The wind blew my Mint-hair around my face and tugged at the buns; I reached up and released the buns from their binds and let the hair blow around. Thunder rumbled, shaking the house a little and sending vibrations up my spine.

When I shivered a little, the Crystal lit up the night a little (I had pulled it out) and then I felt warm. "What, are you a portable heater now?" I muttered, fingering the Crystal.

I half expected it to talk back. Why not? Scanning the darkness encircling me in a ring, I saw a glint of sparkly blue and when I moved foreword to investigate, Kwin came into veiw.

"You," I breathed, leaping at him angrily. Surprisingly, he didn't move out of the way and let me land on him, pinning him to the roof. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here," I growled.

"Really?" Kwin said, raising an eyebrow. "I was under the impression you wanted to change back to 'normal'"

I narrowed my eyes, "And you want to help me? Why is that?"

He kept quiet, eyes flicking away. "Do I need an ulterior motive?" he asked.

"Well-" I started, pausing. "You usually-"

"And why do you always demand reasons for simple acts of kindness?" he said before I could say anything else.

"I don't"

"Yes you do. I've got witnesses and victims,"

"Victims?"

"Remember when Nisiki," I blinked. So he was on first-name-basis with him..? "Asked if you were ok earlier?"

"Of course I do. What about it?" I snapped.

Kwin raised his eyebrows and gave me a look. "What?" I snapped, scowling.

"Don't scowl," he said, "it's not very cute on you."

I'd half a mind to kick him in a certain place, but exercised self-control, not something that I have at times like these. "So...d'you want me to help you change back?" he inquired.

I nodded slowly but didn't move otherwise. "You need to get off me then, as hard as that'll be," he taunted, smirking.

I leapt away, landing in a crouch, watching as Kwin sat up and shook his head. Then he just...sat there...looking at me. His eyes bored into mine, as if trying to relay a message. Thinking this thought, I tried to get into his mind but was forced away with a painfull stab into my brain like a knife.

I was too distracted with trying to get a message from Kwin that I wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. He had floated over to me and had his lips close to mine, whispering something I couldn't hear then licked them. Well, I just about lost it. "What the ********* (a bunch of choice curse words)" Are you doing, you bastard!?" I yelled, trying to kick him, only to miss because he had teleported away. Laughing.

I could tell that I had gotten back to normal because when I tried to stand up, I stood on my hair (of course) and almost fell onto my back in my garden (since cats land on their feet). I probably looked like I was about to explode when I walked into the kitchen, Nisiki had been up after all and was reading off of a laptop (my laptop, as it happens!) and flinched when I walked in. "Holy Damn, what happened?" he asked, trying not to laugh (I guess short people with angry expressions made him laugh).

I grumbled something and went to my room and threw myself on the bed, falling asleep almost instantly. For some reason, I had a strange dream involving flying elephants, a donkey, several sugar cubes, and a bouncy ball (what the smoof did I eat at Mint's party..?)

"Bleuberri..." Nisiki's voice pricked at the silence, "Bleuberri!"

"Whaaaat?" I said crossly, looking around at the doorway, where he was standing.

"Mint's here and wants to talk to you," he replied then vanished from the doorway.

"ooo-k?" I muttered, getting up and attempting to brush the knee-length blonde devil out (and not entirely succeeding).

"Hey," Mint said, smiling as I walked into the foyer, where she was standing, "You're back to normal."

"Yeah, thanks for pointing out the obvious," I laughed and Mint giggled. "So..why are yyou here?"

"Remember the almost-robberies that I heard and told you about?"

I nodded. "Well, there's been another one this morning and there's a threat letter for tonight as well"

"Should we try to catch them?" I asked.

"No," Mint said, "I think we should go to the site and see if anyone comes"

I stared at her face then grinned, she grinned back.

Nisiki rolled his eyes and walked away, muttering, "Women and their mental language..." He had no idea...

Soon, Mint and I were hidden in a building owned by a close Aizawa friend, looking out of an open window at where the robbery was supposed to take place. Mint was on her third cup of tea and I was on my second cup of (shocker) coffee, shaking from the caffeine. "When was the time supposed to be?" Mint asked, stirring another sugar cube into the dainty7 china cup.

"the reports said about," I checked the clock off to the side, "five minutes ago."

"We must be in the wro-"

A shadow flew past the window, followed by a 'swoosh'. "Mint!" I yelped, leaping up and looking out of the window at where the shadow had gone. The alley and front of the store to be robbed were all vacant and deserted. Mint leaned to one side, looking out of the window also. "Well..." I said, withdrawing my head and turning, "I guess that was just wishful thinking."

Another whoosh sounded and a gust made my shirt flap forward and almost knocked me off balance. "Kyaa!" Mint yelled, cringing away from the window.

I turned to see a thin- limbed human figure silhouetted against the light with large black wings like a bat's and glowing red eyes.

Lalalalla! Hi peopole. Again, I am soo sos osososossosoosososososoooooooo sooooooo sorry for the long delay. I hope you have not forgotten this story. If you did, I am glad you found it.

Please RnR doki~!

The song for today (or tonight) is Rinne~~Rondo by On/Off. I aint putting up the lyrics cuz I don't feel like going after them so you go find them *bleeh*