I woke up shaken.

What was that? He… he died… in front of my eyes.

I was immensely scared by what I had just seen. That was not a vision of the past, I was sure that was a vision of the future.

It took me a moment to realize someone was holding my hand. I looked over and saw Shirogane sleeping on the side of my bed. I think he felt my movement because he opened his eyes and looked at me. The moment our eyes met, I felt tears well up in my eyes and I started to cry.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

I let go of his hand and put my hands in front of my face. I wanted to tell him, tell him what I had just seen but I couldn't. How in the world do you tell someone you saw him or her die in front of your eyes?

He did something unexpected though. He got onto my bed and pulled me into his arms. I wanted to push him away from me. It felt wrong to have him hold me all the time. I hated I had become this wreck who cried all the time and had to be held. But the reality of the situation I was in, the fact I was so hurt and so scared. I was so scared of losing him that instead of pushing him away I clung onto him. And in this situation I realized something. That at some point I had begun to no longer see him as the guy who would look after me while my parents were gone and he had become the man I wanted to hold me close to him.

"What is it? Rido?"

I nodded seeing this would be a good enough reason for me to react like this. I hated lying to him, especially after last night.

"Minato told me he left even before any of the other guests left. He didn't even bother to say goodbye."

He moved my hair out of my face.

"I trust your parents but I do not trust Rido and frankly your parents didn't have enough security last night to cover upstairs so I just stayed by your side."

I started to calm down a bit, listening to his calm voice and the words he spoke. I thought he was going to let go but he just shifted me in his arms and gently tilted my face to look at him and kissed my forehead.

Oh… I blushed.

He let my face go and put his hand on the top of my head, forcing me to lay my head down.

"Try to sleep a bit more. I'll stay by your side so don't worry."

I closed my eyes. I didn't think I would fall asleep but being in his embrace made me feel calm and relaxed.

A couple of days later I was on my way to the café.

My parents had been shaken after what had happened with Rido but not as badly as I had been. They had seen my reaction to it all though, and had not been too happy with letting me go anywhere.

"That's what he wants."

We were sitting at the dining table, eating our breakfast.

"He wants me to be scared and feel secluded."

"I don't like the thought of him trying to get closer to you." Mom looked worried.

"He is a dangerous man, Mitsuki." My dad warned me.

"I know…"

And then for the first time I told them about a part of my visions, I told them about the women I had seen and about Rido.

"You are giving us more reason to not trust him." My dad looked worried.

"I do not intend to let him control my life. I want to do things like any other girl my age. I know this is not possible but I want to see what I am able to do. I want to see how much fun I can have within boundaries."

"And you want to test those boundaries." My dad said.

"I want to explore them, and at some point we might consider moving them." I looked at my parents.

"I will do as you say, I will consult you and update you about my whereabouts. Heck, feel free to put a tracker on me. Just let me learn to have a life here in Japan."

I saw them look at each other.

"We will discuss this. We will speak about this more tomorrow."

The next day I had heard their decision, approving it under a few conditions.

I was to actually have a tracker on my phone and had to turn it on when I was alone, meaning I was now allowed to go places alone. I would not have to turn the tracker on if I was with people my parents knew and trusted, this included Shirogane, Akasaka-san and Kai-san. Kai-san was someone I had not met ever since I returned to Japan, I did know what he looked like thanks to my visions.

I looked out of the window. I thought back to Christmas Eve. I had realized something, something I hadn't spoken about to anyone. When I was little I had been friends with a boy. Over the past few months I actually had been having flashbacks to this boy, I could never see his face but it was clear he and I had been really close. Over the past few weeks I had been seeing a face in the face of Shirogane and during Christmas I realized it had been him. The little boy who had been my best friend since I was little had been him.

It was so gloomy outside, it was raining and it didn't seem to stop anytime soon.

"We have arrived m'lady."

The driver got out and then opened the door for me.

"Thank you very much."

"It's my pleasure." He returned my smile.

I walked to the front of the café and saw it was actually pretty quiet. I checked the notice board but it didn't say they were closed. I walked in and saw it was indeed really quiet.

"Mitsuki onee-chan!" Pudding came up to me.

I saw the others look at me.

"Hey everyone. What's with the long faces?"

"It's so quiet, we're bored."

I laughed. "Well, join me for tea then."

I saw their faces lit up.

They helped me to a table and took my order. They sat down around me and we quickly started to talk.

"Mitsuki-san, Hello."

"Akasaka-san, good afternoon."

"Ryou isn't here, if you're looking for him."

"That's okay I actually didn't come because of him."

Akasaka-san looked slightly surprised at me.

"I came because I wanted to talk with my friends." I smiled brightly.

"Precisely, we are her friends and we like to hang out together." Berry replied.

I laughed at her reply.

We chatted for quite some time, we were able to because there were no customers.

"Is it always this quiet?"

"Oh no, it's just because of the weather. When it's like this outside not many people come to the park and not to the café. And if they do come they often are here during lunch." Lettuce replied.

"I am very content with that, because I can have my tea at tea time in peace." Mint said.

I smiled and stood up. "I am going to the restroom for a moment."

"Okay!"

I walked to the hall when I heard the backdoor open and Shirogane came in.

He looked at me.

"Hey."

"Hey, can I help with that?"

He stood there, completely soaked by the rain with his arms full of bags.

"No it's fine. I need to take it upstairs anyways."

"Okay." I smiled.

He walked upstairs while I went to the restroom. I went back after using the rest room when Akasaka-san stopped me.

"Mitsuki-san? Can you take this to Ryou upstairs? He is the second door to the right." He held a cup of coffee and a map of files.

"Yeah sure, give it to me."

I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Shirogane?"

No one answered and I opened the door. He wasn't there.

I put the cup of coffee down and lay the map down next to it. I looked at the picture at the bed for a moment, my mind not fully registering what it showed. I just went through the door when a wave of dizziness came over me.

"This won't do!"

"But… Miss…"

"I said you had to change some things and you didn't. How can I work with someone who doesn't listen to my instructions?"

"I am so sorry."

"Start again, I will be back again tomorrow. This medicine isn't only for me but for so many other people."

I put the hood over my head and walked out. I looked at my reflection in the window, quickly pulling the hood further over my head. Blonde hair, so it was one of the women I had been seeing in my visions. But… Those eyes, they were red.

I opened my eyes, where was I?

I realized I was still at the café. I turned and then saw Shirogane standing by the window, he was drinking from a bottle of water and he was not wearing a shirt.

I held my hand in front of my eyes.

"Are you awake?"

"Yes, can you please put a shirt on?"

He laughed and I heard him walk. I put my hand down and saw him put on his shirt. I blushed. Yes he certainly trained as I saw a six-pack just before he pulled his shirt down.

Our eyes met and he started to grin.

"Like what you see?"

"Shut up!" I threw the pillow I had been laying on at him.

He laughed at my reaction. He walked over and sat on the corner of the bed. He took the hand I had put in front of my face to hide the fact I was bright red and moved my hair away from my eyes.

"You fainted again. Did you have a vision?"

"Yeah…"

"What did you see?"

I explained what I saw.

"Her eyes were red because she cried?"

I shook my head. "Her eyes were red instead of blue."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know."

I looked at him and then saw something in his neck. I sat up and pulled his shirt down.

He flinched and grabbed my hand.

"Don't."

I had already seen.

Huh? My hand lifted and I touched my own neck. It's the same as mine…

Right then the door flung open and Akasaka-san came in.

"Ryou, we have a problem."

Shirogane immediately stood up and walked past Akasaka-san.

"Stay with her."

"Yes."

I didn't understand what was going on. Before I could say anything I felt another dizzy spell as pain in my chest. I collapsed forward.

"Professor?"

I heard my own bubbly childlike voice.

"He isn't here."

I climbed up a chair and looked at the papers on the table. "Mew project."

I read the papers and then looked at the gun that lay next to the papers.

"Oh. What does that do?" I lifted up the gun. "It's heavy."

I pulled the trigger, what was in the gun hit me in the neck.

"Ouch!"

A bright light surrounded me and I fell off the chair. I hurt so badly.

"Mitsuki-chan!"

I looked up and saw "Keii nii-chan." I started crying.

I heard someone running and met the face of the father of Shirogane.

"Professor, she used the gun."

I opened my eyes and met the eyes of Akasaka-san who sat on the chair across from the bed.

"Are you okay?"

I sat up.

"I need to ask you something and I need an honest reply."

"Okay."

"That mark in Shirogane's neck, is that because of the mew project?"

I saw him flinch and the look in his eyes darken.

"I take that as a yes. Does he know about what happened? What I did back then?"

"He does not, and you should not tell him."

"He should know about it and you know that." I looked him straight in the eyes.

"I don't want to keep things from him."

My heart ached and I raised my hand to my chest.

Why does it hurt so much?

I turned and took the picture in my hands. My fingers touched the picture and I realized why my heart ached. It ached because I felt heartbroken, heartbroken over the loss of 2 people who had meant the world to me and I had not been able to remember until now. I knew they has passed away but I had not been aware what they had meant when he told me he lost his parents.

I felt tears well up in my eyes and bit my lip, I was not going to cry. Not again and not in front of someone. I wiped my eyes and put the picture back.

"I need some air."

I stood up and walked downstairs and into the cold winter evening. I was aware that what I was doing was stupid. First off, I didn't have shoes on. Second, I didn't have a jacket on either.

It was still raining too. I don't know how long I was standing there but I suddenly felt two hands on my shoulders, turning me around and walking me straight back into the café.

Right then a towel covered my head.

"What are you doing outside like that?"

Shirogane dried my hair as much as it was even possible with how long my hair was. He took another towel and put it around me. I was shaking because of the cold.

He suddenly grabbed my hand and walked me upstairs, straight into the bathroom.

"You need to undress."

"Huh? What?"

"I won't look, just take off your clothes and put on this rope. You are getting hypothermic like that."

I did as he said while I looked at his back.

"Done?"

"Yes."

He turned back around and took out a hairdryer.

"Turn around."

I did and he started drying my hair.

"Your mark."

"Yes?"

"It's because of the mew project."

He stopped for a second.

"It is."

I took off the necklace I always wore.

"Why?" He touched my neck.

"Why do you have that?"

I turned around and looked at him.

"Because I did something I should not have done."

He turned me back around and while he continued drying my hair we just stood there in silence.

Shirogane suddenly spoke up. "I tested it on myself before I used it on someone else."

Just then I realized what he meant.

"Those girls? They are part of it?"

"They are. They are Tokyo mew mew. They are the girls who came to your rescue when you got attacked. We got an alert of a chimera animal. When Yuuki and Daisuke came in all upset when we were about to leave I realized what was going on."

"Ah, so that's what happened."

"Yeah."

He turned off the hairdryer and put it down.

"Are you one of them?"

"I don't know."

"I am sorry Mitsuki. I don't want you to get you involved in this but I might have to."

I knew he was about to walk away. I grabbed his hand and made him face me.

"That's okay. I am not asking you to involve me, but I am also not going to ask you to hide this from me. Just let things happen."

I could see in his face he felt defeated and upset about this, he didn't look at me at all.

"I do want to ask something else though."

He looked at me then.

I smiled sheepishly. "I have no clothes to wear."

"You literally just asked me to take them all off."

I knew my face was red. He turned away from me but I could see his ears turned red.

"I'll get you some clothes. Wait right here."

He walked out the room. I sat down on the floor. What had just happened?