Oh man, I have never been so full since I started college. Collapsing down onto my old bed at my parent's house, I fought the urge to just go to sleep then and there instead of studying for my test coming up this Friday. Since I had been working non-stop at the café since it opened, I had been given half a day off with pay. After fighting yesterday, I didn't really want to return to my empty dorm room, so instead I called my parents and was more than welcomed back home for a good meal and a comfortable bed to sleep in.

College Mew Mew 6

By: Satashi

"Ichigo, want to watch a movie with us?" My father peeked his head into my room, which was empty except for a bed, TV. and desk. "You've been studying for a few hours now, you need a break."

"Hmmmm…." I leaned back in my chair and stretched. "Sounds good. I could use a break." I stood and stretched out. "Give me a few minutes."

"Sure thing." He smiled at me before retreating back downstairs to the living room. I was about to follow him after arranging my books, but my cell phone went off, catching my attention.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Ichigo!"

"Masaya!" I hopped onto my bed, smiling. "How are you? I miss you!"

My boyfriend laughed. "I missed you too, although I saw you yesterday. Strange thing, almost as soon as I got to the airport, I had this strong urge to see you again."

"Oh, ummmmmm…."

"…Ichigo?"

"Ah, sorry. I got lost in thought. I really do miss you. Maybe you are homesick already?"

"It wasn't that kind of feeling…" He paused a moment. "Is everything okay over there? Are there…any disturbances?"

Oh, I forgot. He always knew when I transformed. The Blue Knight changed at almost the same time I did. "Um…"

A sigh. "There is…I should come back."

"No!" I stood up and paced. "I won't let you. I'm fine; all my friends are with me. We'll be perfectly okay."

"Ichigo."

"Really. I promise. But more importantly, did you meet everyone and get there okay? I didn't get to talk to you long at the airport."

He chuckled. "Actually I'm with them all right now. We're at a party."

"That would explain all the commotion in the background." I giggled. He was obviously trying to make himself not to look like a whipped puppy dog when it came to me. Although I didn't understand what was being said over on his end, I did catch my name a few times with kissing sounds following. It's times like this I wish I learned English better than I did. "You're being teased."

"Hey now," His voice was pleased at the same time.

"I'll let you go back to them then. Can I call you tomorrow after lunch?"

"Ah, sorry, Meeting first thing in the morning. I'll try and get you later?"

"Work." I pouted. "There's a big time difference isn't there?"

"Six hours. It's one in the afternoon here."

"Then just call my cell when you can. I'll be sleepy, but I'll live. Ah! Daddy's calling me. I have to let you go. I'm going to watch a movie with them."

"Sure. Bye Kitten."

"Bai bai." I clicked off my phone and tossed it on my bed. "I'm coming!" I shouted downstairs as I left my room, cutting off the light.

My dreams faded away from me as the alarm clock beeped steadily. Not knowing what was going on at first, it took me a while to realize what exactly was making the sound that had invaded my sleep. The covers fell from my chest as I sat up; wondering why I had set the alarm so early and put it all the way across my room so I couldn't just hit the snooze button on it.

Oh yeah, Friday. I had a test first thing in my History class. Heaving a sigh, I swung my legs over my bed and padded my way across the room to shut it off. "I need a shower…" I mumbled to myself, sleepily walking to my closet to sort through it, hoping I had left some of my good cloths here last time I visited. Finding a long sleeve green sweater and some blue jeans, I plucked them from the rack and made my way to the bathroom.

The hot water sprayed over my body, giving a pleasant drowsy feeling. After letting it spray on me for a few moments, I turned around to let my hair get wet and wash over my skin. Pausing just below my inner thigh, I traced the marking there with my index finger. After everything that went on, I had forgotten to check to see if it too had come back. Smiling down at it, I felt more awake. Luckily, being part wild cat, I had gained a speedy recovery time from battling, and my bruises were mostly gone now, minus a particularly sore spot on my side where I was hit.

The conditioner rinsed from my hair smoothly, finally letting me cut off the water and step outside of the shower. Walking to the mirror, I used my hand to rub the fog off of the surface and look at myself. I didn't think I was particularly beautiful, a little plain would be a better word for it. I had strawberry red hair and big brown eyes. Turning my head from side to side, I inspected closer. I still didn't see how Masaya could call me pretty.

Maybe I should try something new? Looking in the cabinet, I opened my mother's make up box.

"Morning." I greeted my mother, walking into the kitchen. "You're up early."

"I don't get to see you much anymore, the least I can do is make you breakfast." She smiled at me, and fixed my bangs a little. "You look pretty this morning, what's the occasion?"

Nervously, I ran my hand through my pony tail. When my hair wasn't in pig tails, it was rather long. "No reason." I replied to her, sitting down to eat. "I just felt like a change."

"It's nice," My dad stated, walking into the kitchen as well, stopping a moment to flick the bell that was tied to my ponytail holder. It jingled every time I moved my head. I would probably get weird looks in class during my test if I wasn't careful.

"Thanks."

"Hey, did you see the paper?" My father asked my mom as he skimmed it over.  I took a drink of orange juice- "The Mew mews are back!" – Only to spit it out and cough.

"Are you okay?" My mom asked quickly, patting me on the back. I took the napkin handed to me by my dad, and wiped my face and the table, blushing.

"Sorry," I mumbled, taking the paper and looked at the front cover, where we all stood. Someone had taken a picture of us while we posed after winning. The headlines proudly stated Mew Mews fight against aliens again!

"Those girls sure have gone through a lot," My mom stated, looking it over. "Especially the cat. I remember all those years back when she had that breakdown."

"I'd rather not talk about that," I said softly, cleaning up my mess. "What they do has nothing to do with me afterall. I'll leave the earth up to them, nya." I clasped my hand over my mouth. The meowing had become a massive habit lately.

My father placed his hand on my head and smiled. "Not going to be late are you?"

"Eh?" Looking at the clock, I jumped up. "Oh man, I am!" Giving my mom and dad a quick hug and kiss, I grabbed my book bag and slung it over my shoulder, running out the door. "I'll call you later!"

I had forgotten that I didn't have my bike with me, so getting to class on time would be impossible.  With any luck I would only be five to ten minutes late, depending on how long I could run. The downfall of that was that I had Track meeting later in the day. Either way I looked at it, I was getting definitely screwed.

So lost in though was I, I didn't even notice the car turning in front of me until it honked its horn. Scared, I jumped into the air and landed on its hood, screaming. It stopped quickly and the driver got out almost as fast. "I'm so sorry!" He said, worried, as I caught my breath. "I'm running late and didn't look. I'm sorry, are you okay? Oh man, I'm going to get fired…"

"Are you okay, Ichigo?"

Looking up, Zakuro was in front of me, offering her hand to help me down. "Zakuro?"

"I'm late for filming, but since my driver almost killed my best friend, the least I can do is offer you a ride to class, ne?" She smiled, showing that she knew well and well that something like this wouldn't hurt me at all, being a Mew Mew.

"Thanks a lot Zakuro." I said, bowing as I got out of the car, a full five minutes early. The people around me all started to gather as Zakuro smiled at me.

"Anytime, Ichigo. I'll see you later?"

"Of course." I bowed again. "Should I tell them you'll be a few minutes late?"

"Please do." She winked at me before the driver drove off, leaving me waving to her.

Suddenly aware of everyone looking at me, I gave a small "What is it?" before turning and walking away, looking down and blushing at the sudden attention everyone was giving me.

Sitting down in my class, the boy that sits to the left of me greeted me with a smile. "Hi there," He spoke, catching me a little off guard. He didn't usually talk much to me.

"Good morning," I replied. "Ready for the test?"

"I think so. Say, I didn't know you were a movie star."

"I wha-?"

"That was Zakuro wasn't it?" He smiled. "And you're so pretty today, you must be shooting with her, right?"

My cheeks burned, and I suddenly felt a little shy. "Er, no. She's just an old friend…"

"Hi." Turning, I looked up at another guy I didn't even know. "I'm Recca. I, er, know this is sudden, but would you like to get lunch with me later today?"

Oh….Oh wow. "I, err, that is…"

"Mou! Why is everyone acting so weird today?" I asked no one in particular as I stuffed my cloths into my duffle bag. Track had just ended, and I was shocked to see the stands more full of boys than normal to watch the girls run. "This is starting to irk me."

"Calm down Ichigo," My friend Levina patted my shoulder. "It's probably because the Christmas dance is coming up in two months. All the guys normally start searching for girlfriends about now so they'll have a date."

"I already have a date!" I sighed out, zipping my bag closed. "He's just in England right now."

"It'll be okay," She patted my shoulder as she passed. "Just hang in there."

"Mou, I'm hungry." I sat down at an empty table of the café and laid my head down.

"Don't you have a class?" Ryou asked, looking down at me.

"Not going." I didn't look up. "I'm sleepy, still a tad sore, and don't want to mess with anything else today."

"Well we don't open for another hour," He trailed off a moment before walking off, hands in his pockets.

I don't know how long I lay there, but it must have fallen asleep. When I awake, Ryou was next to me, shaking my shoulder lightly. "What is it?" I asked sleepily, rubbing my eyes.

"Here. Eat up." He slid a tray in front of me. A bowl of chili and some corn chips with a large glass of milk. "It's good on a chilly day like this." He pulled out a chair and turned it around, sitting on it backwards so he was leaning on the back of the chair. "We haven't got a chance to just talk. How is everything?"

I ate a bite of the offered food, glad for the hot feeling as it went down my throat. I didn't even realize how cold I had been earlier while running. "I'm okay I suppose."

"You live on campus don't you?"

"Yeah, don't have a room mate. I'm in the third girl's dorm on the other side of campus. Room 307."

"I never liked dorms."

"Me either, the room is small, you share a bathroom with twenty other people, and it smells funny."

"Why don't you move out?"

"Can't afford another place." I took another bite. "I tend to stay with Mint a lot, and I go home every weekend usually."

"You can come stay here if you ever get lonely." He looked away. "I don't have a lot to entertain with, but it's always a choice. Me and Keiichiro live here together."

I smiled at him, patting his hand which made him flinch lightly. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

"N-Not that I think you'll need to, after all." He stood, and started to walk off. "Just trying to be friendly."

I laughed to myself. He never was the type to just come out and say he was worried about someone.

"By the way,"

"Hm?"

"R2000 misses you, so I'm loaning him to you again." The little machine/pet/thing that was Masha flew over to me and rubbed against my cheek. "Take care of him for me, will you?"

"Of course!" I stroked Masha a few times before letting him poof into a small keychain like form, which I hooked to my cell phone.

"And also, we're having a meeting later. Masha filmed everyone last battle and we've diagnosed everything."

"Right."

"Okay, here's the low down," Ryou spoke as a video started playing behind him of yesterday's battle. "From what we have gathered, the enemy is in two sets. One by himself, and the other consisting of five people. First off, the familiar one. Kish."

The video behind him changed to a black background with a green grid on it. Kish stood on the left side of the screen with data on the right. "As before, he uses two nightsticks to battle, as well as controlling Chimera Animas. His physical power isn't very strong, but he's fast and can control a certain energy source to enhance his attacks. By himself, he shouldn't be much of a problem once you all regain your full powers and are familiar with them again."

The screen flashed, showing Saucer. "This is Saucer, seemingly the leader of the second group. He, like all the other aliens, can fly and teleport. His physical powers are uncertain right now, but he controls telekinetic abilities and can form them into nun chucks to battle."

A new person. "Incred. Controlls lighting and has sensory paralyzing abilites. Fast, strong, but likes to act alone it seems."

Another. "This man is known as Kei. He controls the earth element it seems; able to spit open the ground and otherwise move it at will."

I observed the man as Ryou spoke. Long brown hair and a tan vest with matching pants. He had black slip on fighting shoes and green eyes.

"This is Black Rose," Ryou continued, showing a woman with pink hair and a full black long sleeved shirt and red pants. "Controls wind. She's fast. Very fast. Her physical powers are weak, but don't let that fool you."

"And finally we have Yosuke, the wielder of fire. Although he's not as quick as the others, his power is off the charts, able to crush rocks and break through trees with ease."

Keiichiro stepped forward to address us. "One at a time, they would be easy to beat as a group, but together they are a powerful team that is very dangerous. Our tactic will be to locate the Mew aqua's as soon as possible while avoiding any confrontations possible. We know that Saucer is able to summon Chimera Animas, but are unsure about the rest. We'll have to collect more data as we go."

"So these are the people invading earth," Pudding stated it as more of a fact than a question.

"Hopefully this won't last too long," Lettuce's voice was determined, however. She had grown so much over the years.

"It won't be hard if we work together." Zakuro's voice was faithful.

"And we'll be living a normal life again," Mint finished for everyone.

"Do we have any leads on a Mew aqua yet?" I asked, taking the role as leader of the group.

"Just one."

"We'll get on it first thing in the morning."

Ryou nodded at us. "We're counting on you, Mew Mews."