"Eh? Vacation?" I stopped pushing my broom and looked over at Ryou. "This is sudden, especially after today." It was already closing time at the café and only Ryou and I were left to finish up. Ryou because he lived here and me because, well, I was available. "Where do you want to go?"

College Mew Mew 14

By: Satashi

"Ski resort." He held up some tickets. "My friend works there, and it just opened up. Sent me a few tickets and told me he would reserve us some rooms if I wanted to take anyone." He handed me one of the slips of paper and I looked over it as he continued. "Its cold enough here as it is, but it would still be the perfect time to go skiing, don't you think?"

I nodded, thinking it over. "Yes, well, we do have a week of from college next week." I pondered this. "Fall break. We get a few weeks off for Christmas, but that isn't for another two months. Okay, sounds good. When do we leave?"

"This Sunday. Tomorrow is Saturday, that's a day you have off so the girls will come in for the lunch crowd. I can tell them then."

"Can Masaya come too?" I smiled at him as I pulled out a rag from a pouch in my dress and started helping him wipe down the tables.

"Yeah." He seemed a little disappointed for some reason, but shrugged it off. "You're helpless without him anyway. Wouldn't want you to fall down and hit a tree or anything."

"Mou! Idiot!" I threw my rag at him and sniffed. "I'm perfectly fine by myself."

Catching my attack, he smiled lightly. "You missed a spot," he threw it back at me.

"Welcome back," I greeted Masaya lazily as I flipped through the pages of my magazine while lying on the couch. My feet were propped where your back would usually go and my back was laid across the seat, so I was basically almost upside down. Walking past me, Masaya paused to look. I smiled up innocently at him. "What is it?"

"N-nothing..." He took a few more steps, then turned and looked back at me again, where I just smiled up at him sweetly. "I'm...going to take a shower..."

"Okay. Want me to fix you some dinner?"

"Er, yeah...please..." He stumbled a little and retreated to his bedroom, almost running into the doorframe as he did so. I stifled a laugh and crossed my legs at the ankles. He was so cute when he was shy. But then again, it wasn't everyday when you come home to your girlfriend wearing one of your unbuttoned dress shirts and not much else. Hearing the shower run, I rolled off the couch and went into the kitchen. Humming a song to myself, I began to take things from the cabinets and prepare a dinner for him.

I gasped lightly as I felt Masaya's arms snake around my stomach from behind. He pulled me back against him and kissed my neck lightly. Blushing, I traced his arms down to his fingers, where I gently pried them away from me so I could turn around and kiss him. "Not tonight honey." I winked. "Tomorrow's your birthday; I got us tickets to the zoo, so we need to be sure to get enough sleep so we can walk."

"I'll live," he kissed me again playfully and trailed his fingertips across my sides under my shirt, making me laugh. "That tickles."

"Where's the fun in it, if it doesn't tickle?" He asked mischievously before pushing me down on the bed and pinning my arms above me with one hand. "If I seem to recall correctly... you're ticklish...here." He slowly moved a single fingertip over my now exposed ribs.

"Kya!" I tried to wiggle out of his one handed grasp, but unfortunately I had particularly small wrist and his hands were large; well suited to grip a sword handle. "That's not fair. Pinning me up like this. Let me go and I'll give you something good..."

"I think you're lying," He teased me back, tickling me again for a second.

"Maybe...maybe not," I winked at him suggestively. "You may just enjoy this one."

"What is it?" he let me go, only to be pounced on and pinned himself.

"Revenge!" I attacked his ribs, making him squirm and laugh out under me.

"Mmm..." I sat up in bed and yawned, instantly shivering. "Stupid cold mornings," I muttered to myself. Stretching out, I slid from the bed and adjusted the collar of my shirt. With a smile, I turned back around and leaned over the bed, kissing Masaya's cheek. "Morning Honey, happy birthday."

"It's not morning until I get my coffee," he protested sleepily. "Can't I sleep in on my birthday?" Rolling over, he replaced me by hugging onto a pillow.

"We did, it's almost eleven." I replied, shaking him a little. "You can't sleep away your day, now get up and dressed. I'll have you breakfast shortly."

"What about my presents?" He asked playfully, waking up more. "I want a good morning kiss."

I laughed at him and leaned over, pecking his lips. "There, that's all you get until you get out of bed. Now come on," I pulled on his arm lightly. "Brush your teeth; you got some serious morning breath going on."

"Oh yeah, like you don't," Masaya smiled at me and slipped out of the covers, stretching out. "What are we having this morning?"

"Bacon and eggs." I winked at him. "I know how to fix that properly after all, and I don't want to burn anything today."

"Wohoo! Happy birthday Masaya!" I grinned as Masaya held his cell phone away from his ear. Mark was obviously having a good time today at the fair with his girlfriend. "What'cha get?"

"Nothing yet," He replied, skeptical of putting the device any closer to his ear in fear of another yell. "It's not even lunch yet man. I haven't left the house."

"Ichigo's there isn't she? She must have given you something. Spill the beans man, she make a lot of noise or what!?"

I choked into my milk and felt my cheeks burn. "No, for your information she does not!" Masaya yelled at him, and then realized what he just said and smacked his face with his hand. "I didn't mean that in any way associating with our love life what so ever."

"Sure you didn't man. Anyway, Brittany's coming back over here so I'll let you go. Give me a shout later all right?"

"Will do." He clicked off his cell phone and looked at me. "What?" He asked, embarrassed. "You know how Mark is."

"Boys," I sighed. "Anyway, I do have a gift for you, let me go get it." I winked and trotted past him into the bedroom and then to the closet. Hopping up, I pulled down the pink bag up on the top rack and dug around in it, picking out two items and re-hiding the rest for later.

Coming back into the kitchen/living room area, I held out a small package and another larger one. "Ta-da! Open them!"

He laughed at me and shredded the paper off the smaller package first. Opening the box, he smiled at it. "Wow, it looks really classy," He told me, as he admired the frame and picture in it. "We had this one taken last year didn't we?" He held it up to show me, although we both knew I had put it in there to begin with. "While we stayed that week in the mountains with everyone."

I nodded at him and sat down across from him at the table, propping my cheek on my hand. "I didn't know what else would go with the frame." My legs crossed at the ankles and I watched him set it on the table, facing him, as he reached for the other package. Opening it up just as quickly as the first, he laughed.

"Nice choice," he complimented, looking over it. Taking the large book from the box, he opened it up, reading the note I wrote on it aloud. "Masaya, Thanks for all the joy and love you have given me in my life. I hope you enjoy this book, nyan" He paused and looked at me, grinning like an idiot. "You actually wrote out 'Nyan'?"

I grinned. "What? It's a cute sound, don't you think?" I looked at him sideways. "You don't complain when I say it at night."

He blushes and scratched his cheek. "That's different...Ah, there's more?" He looked back in the box and pulled out a sweatshirt. "Ah, thanks! I need some more cloths; most of mine are getting a little old."

"That's what you get for getting an apartment and no job, you bum. Can't afford new cloths." I winked at him as he put it on, changing in front of me. Masaya, luckily, had been given three scholarships for his grades and one for Kendo. As long as he kept them all up, he would be fine not having a job and still live an easy life at college. Of course, he could probably only work at the café if he wanted a job. Running off as the Blue Knight every now and then would surely get him fired really quickly.

"Hey, I work plenty hard," He replied, sniffing. "If I get that job for the documentary for the discovery channel, I'll be really, really busy."

"How is that going, anyway?" I asked, leaning forward.

"I should get a call any day now," He replied happily. "But on the subject of animals, shall we be off to the zoo?"

"Yeah!"

"Hey, look over here, it's a panther cub." I called out, pointing down into a recessed section of the land. "They're so cute!"

Masaya leaned over the rails next to me. "They are. Ah, look, that one looks like you!" He pointed to a smaller cub, who was pitch black with light pink insides of his ears.

"I don't know if I should say thank you or be upset," I replied, grinning at him.

"Be upset and let me make it up to you by buying a drink." He winked at me. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

"Okay," I watched him run off and waved at him as he went away. Smiling, I looked back at the panther cubs. They would be in the contact time this turn around. The two cubs started to wrestle around with each other, biting and pawing playfully. Laughing, I leaned over onto the rail to keep myself amused until my boyfriend got back.

"Excuse me," I looked down to see a young girl pulling on my shirt. She couldn't be more than six and didn't look Japanese. "I'm lost; can you help me find my father...?"

"Umm..." I knelt down to her and tried to piece together what she had asked me. It was times like this that I wish I had learned English. Thinking quickly, I replied as best as I could. "Hello. You are lost?"

She nodded up at me, almost crying. "I can't find my Daddy." She sniffed and a tear went down her cheek. "I'm scared."

I licked my lips unconsciously and translated the words that I caught from her: Daddy and scared. "I can...you daddy find." She wiped away her tears slowly. Taking this time to think, I began to try and process how to ask her about what he looked like, but she suddenly called out to someone behind me.

"Uncle Masaya!"

"What!?"

"Tiffany! What are you doing here?" Masaya knelt down to her. "Wow, you've grown up. How old are you now?"

"Six." She pulled on his sleeve. "I can't find Daddy, can you help me?" She pointed at me. "She said she would help too."

"What's going on?" I asked, amazed. "Masaya, who is this little girl and what is she saying?"

"She can't find her father," he translated for me, which I already figured out. "She asked me to help find him for her. As for who she is," He picked her up and held her on his waist, letting her wrap her arms around him. "She's Mr. Fujitaka's daughter. He's the head of endangered species in England. Remember when I lived over there? I spent most of my time with him."

"I see..." I looked around. "Well, I guess we should go find him?"

"Where did you see him last?" Masaya asked the girl in English.

"We were with the Iriomote Wildcats."

"Iriomote..."

"...Wildcat?" I felt the insides of me pull. It was the only two words I understood. "There's a wildcat around here?"

"Must be... It would explain why Mr. Fujitaka is here. Anyway, lets head over to the roped off section. That's where he would be at I'm assuming. Tiffany here should have..." HE looked down at her and pulled a card around her neck. "A pass for it." He turned to her. "Did he say he would meet you anywhere if you got separated?"

The little girl shook her head. "I was supposed to stay at the day care, but I saw a cat walk around so I followed it."

"She said she followed a cat. Let's take her to the daycare, around the offices. She wouldn't need a pass if she was at the other one."

All of a sudden a few people ran past us, talking into their walky-talkies with the word "STAFF" on the back of their shirts. "The only other place is the west section! We're searching now!"

"Tiffany, honey, what did this cat you followed look like?"

"Like that one." She pointed behind me.

Slowly I turned around, swallowing thickly as a large spotted wildcat took a few steps toward us. I was vaguely aware of people running around me, screaming. "Um...Masaya? You know all about them, don't you? You told me they were nice, didn't you?"

He put his hand on my shoulder. "Ichigo, I'm going to distract it. I want you and Tiffany to run, okay?"

I swallowed. "I'm part wildcat, I'll distract it."

"Ichigo, no!" He tried to pull me away, but I took a few steps forward. "Masaya, run, do something with her. I can transform. I'll be fine."

He paused a moment before nodding. "Everyone's away. I'll take care of her. Wildcats aren't hostile to their own kind." He turned and ran off, holding the young girl close to him.

My ears and tail popped out and I knelt down. "Here kitty kitty." I made a becoming motion with my hand. I felt my cloths shift around me and then heard a tingling sound of the bell on my tail ring. The Wildcat hesitated a moment before walking over to me and sniffing my hand. "That's a good girl. I won't hurt you." I looked at the collar on the large cat. "So, you're name is Nancy huh? That's a cute name. Why are you outside here?"

The animal gave a loud meowing sound, making me jump lightly. It was as if I could almost understand her. When I was a cat myself, I could understand other animals but when I was a Mew Mew, it was as if I could feel what they were trying to say. "Wait a minuet...if Tiffany saw a cat that looked like you, that means you lost your cub didn't you?" She roared/meowed again and I stood up. "Well then, I guess we'll have to find her then."

"I wonder where Nancy could be..."

"I'm sure she's safe."

"There she is!"

I smiled at everyone as I walked toward them, holding a baby cub in my arms and the large wildcat beside me, keeping my pace. I laughed and blushed as the cub pulled at the top of my dress and shifted it so it was looking over my shoulder. "This thing is actually kind of heavy," I greeted Masaya.

"Amazing!" an older man said, looking at us. From the English language, I assumed it was Mr. Fujitaka. "The Iriomote Wildcat is extremely territorial! I never imagined that it would-"He stopped his speech and took a few steps back as Nancy growled at him when he got to close to me.

"Ehehe, I better guide her back to wherever they are keeping her." I told Masaya, who was trying not to grin. "Where is that?"

He turned to the man. "She said she would guide Nancy and the cub back to their area. She is part wildcat of the same species so they won't harm her. Where should they go?"

"Absolutely amazing! I never thought when I agreed to come here to oversee the transportation of these animals to the reservation I would meet a human who could interact with them so casually!"

Masaya scratched the back of his head. "He seems to be fascinated by you."

"Mou! I'm not some kind of animal to be studied!"

He blushed. "Er, she said she doesn't like to be looked at like that, and would like to take these back to where they belong."

"Oh! I am very sorry. Please, follow me."

"And thanks to a Mew Mew, the Red date animal Nancy, also known as a Iriomote Wildcat, has been safely brought back to the pen in the zoo while awaiting it's transportation to the Amazon reservation where it can live in it's natural environment."

I blushed, trying to ignore the video camera following me and the reported in front of it. I couldn't wait until they closed that lock so I could get out of here.

"Miss? Miss, could you answer a few questions?" She held the mic toward me, pleading look in her eye. "Why do you fight the aliens? How did you get your powers? Who are you?"

Glancing over at Masaya a moment, I turned to her. "I'm Mew Ichigo! Half wildcat, half human, all loving the planet!" I pointed at the camera. "Don't worry about the aliens, we'll be of service whenever you need us, nyan!" With that, I leapt into the air and landed on top of a building, where I jumped again and again until I landed in a safe place to detransform. Sighing, I rotated my shoulder. "So much for a nice relaxing day."

My cell phone rang, catching my attention. Opening my purse, I took it out. "Hello?"

"That was nice," Masaya greeted me. "I love how you pawed at the air before you leapt off."

I laughed. "Oh shush, I'm on my way back. And I still want that drink you promised me."

"Eventful day," Masaya said, stretching out after putting an armful of presents down onto the couch. We had stopped by the café earlier where everyone threw a surprise party for him. After being stuffed full of a specially made cake from Keiichiro, we all talked and danced until almost eight.

"Did you have fun?" I asked him, smiling.

"It was a blast." He hugged me and kissed my forehead. And then trailed down to my lips. "Now I get to spend the rest of it with you. Couldn't get better."

I returned his kisses a moment before pulling back and blushing. "I still have one more gift."

"You do?" He asked lightly before kissing me again.

Purring, I returned it before replying to his question. "I do." I kissed him again. "Go take a fast shower so I can prepare it."

He raised an eyebrow at me and I blushed darkly. "Go, now, or you won't get it."

"I'm going, I'm going." He laughed and walked into his bedroom, grabbing a towel from the hamper of cloths we have yet to put up. Smiling at me one last time, he closed the door.

I waited until I heard the shower running before slowly making my way to the closet and picking up the bag I had left in their earlier. "I can not believe Zakuro talked me into this," I whispered to myself as I pulled out what was inside.

I looked up as the bathroom door opened and he stepped out in a pair of shorts and a loose shirt. "All clean," he told me playfully, shaking his hair and sending water flying. I smiled at him as he stopped in front of me to stroke on of my cat ears. "So, what is this mysterious last minute present that I had to take a shower for?"

"Right here," I held up a pink bag.

"Oh, Victoria secret! Woohoo!" He took it from me and looked into it. "Hey, it's empty..."

"I know..." I blushed darkly, slowly taking off the long sleep shirt I normally wore to bed. The bag dropped from his grasp and I could see his eyes get bigger. "This present, however..." I whispered, stepping close to him and pressing my body against his. "You'll have to unwrap it slowly..." I blew into his ear and stood on my tiptoes, kissing him.