This sucks. I'm sore, tired, and only want to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, the knocking at my door was still persistent and I knew I had to answer it. Stumbling out of bed, I had to catch myself to keep my legs from collapsing. Apparently I still hadn't recovered from last night. Wincing, I looked at the clock. "Great. Just great, we overslept two hours."

College Mew Mew

By: Satashi

"Morning Ichigo," Mint greeted me cheerfully as I opened the door, still putting one arm through a long shirt. "You just waking up? We are ready to leave. Everyone is already in the van."

"I'm sorry, Mint. I'm tired, sore, and we overslept. Go get breakfast or something and come back? We didn't sleep at all last night…"

"Apparently not," She replied, reaching to my hair and pulling lightly on a spot that was matted together. "Someone had fun on his birthday it seems."

Blushing and now more awake, I grabbed my hair back and glared at her. "Don't you dare say a word."

"Oh, that hurts. Your love life is none of my business."

I felt bad hearing that. "Oh, sorry, I just thought that-"

"Unfortunately, I am your best friend, and there are three other girls who are also your friends waiting on you. They at least deserve to know why." To my utter horror, Mint turned and called, loudly, to the van. "Hey girls! Guess what Ichigo did last night!?"

"Masaya. Masaya, wake up. Come on, we need to get ready and check our luggage. Masaya. Masaya, come on!" I shook him, fighting the urge to join him in the bed and just snuggle up and sleep.

"What?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes. "Good morning."

"Good morning." I blushed when he smiled at me. "Um, did you have a good birthday?" In response, I found myself suddenly pinned to the bed, a playful Masaya on top of me. "I'll…take that as a yes?" I blushed darker as he nuzzled my neck. "We need to get ready, honey. We need to –ah- stop that." I smacked his head. "We need to shower and be ready when they come back. Also- mmph!" I returned his kiss after he decided to leave my neck alone. "Masaya," I broke free to get some air. "We need to…" Another long kiss. "Okay, five minutes." I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. A moment later I felt his hand massage my back and a warm pleasant feeling invaded my mouth. Blushing, I took another breath of air as he pulled back from the kiss. "Maybe ten…"

"You'll be the death of me!" I shouted at him as I hurriedly pulled my sweater on. "They'll be here any second!"

"Not my fault!" He countered, almost falling over putting on some blue jeans. "You were still wearing…that!"

"Fine, I won't wear it anymore." I blew a kiss at him as I retreated from the bedroom and into the bathroom. "I have to fix my hair."

"Hey, I need in there! You take ages to do that!"

"First come, first serve!" I shouted back, closing the door and locking it. "A girl needs some privacy."

"Geeze! Women!"

Smiling, I turned on the water faucet and ducked down enough to rinse out my hair, seeing as how we never got into the shower. In the bedroom I heard him rummaging about frantically, probably double checking out luggage and making sure we had everything we needed on our week long trip.

Brining a comb to my head, I winced as I combed through it. "Stupid jerk." I muttered, using my other hand to grab my deodorant and try to put it on at the same time. Managing to accomplish this feat, I then grabbed the blow dryer and began to fix the damage of bed hair and generally try to look pretty.

"Ichigo, come on! They just pulled up and I haven't brushed my teeth yet!"

Laughing, I opened the door and let him rush by. I picked up the small suitcase with wheels on it and walked to the door, stopping to look in the hallway mirror and make my ears go down. Answering the door, I smiled up at Zakuro. "Good morning."

"Good morning," she replied, patting my head. "I got you and Masaya an order to go. Are you ready yet?"

"He's in the bathroom," I replied, smiling. "Oh, and, er, well, thanks for the birthday suggestion."

She laughed at me. "I was only playing with you at the time, I didn't mean for you to take it seriously. You really did it?" she started to laugh more.

"Hey, that's not funny!" I pouted up at her, and she gave me a sisterly half-hug.

"Any more?" She pointed at my bag.

"Ah, there's one on my bed and Masaya should be getting his too."

She winked at me, walking into our apartment to get my other bag. I smiled and walked to the van, where Ryou was lazily waiting in the driver's seat. Keiichiro was waiting for me outside, however, and offered to load my bag for me. He was always so nice about things like that. Unlike a certain someone I knew... I looked at Ryou, who grinned as if reading my thoughts. I stuck out my tongue at him, and sucked it back in before Keiichiro turned back around.

Smiling innocently at him, I watched him walk around the other side of the van to get back into the passenger seat. I then heard the van rev up quickly and felt the exhaust blow over my legs, leaving a soft black haze over them and my socks. I quickly turned to glare at Ryou, who was whistling along with the current song on the radio. Muttering under my breath, I was about to return to the apartment to make sure Masaya had gotten ready when I felt him lean down next to my ear.

"Hey, Zakuro is looking at me kind of funny, did I do something?"

I blushed and got into the van, not answering him. Sitting down, I turned my vision to my lap and found my fingers suddenly interesting enough to hold my gaze. After a moment, I spared a look up at Pudding. She looked back at me, and then grinned. Feeling my cheeks get hot, I looked back down into my lap.

"So this is it, huh?" I asked, stepping out of the van and into the cold night. The snow crunched under my feet as I walked a bit. Shivering, I hugged myself and looked around. Soft white puffs of mist came from my mouth as I breathed, but I didn't really mind the weather. I had waited long enough for snow, and here it seemed to be plentiful.

"More or less," Ryou replied, looking at his map in the headlights of the van. "We should go… That way," He pointed at a small building not far off. "That's where the lounge is I'm assuming."

"Then let's go before we freeze." I took a few hurried steps to catch up with him and walk by his side. Originally, he was going to go check us in on his own, but I needed to get some fresh air. The constant teasing of the girls had driven me crazy on my way up here. "Thanks again for inviting us," I told him, smiling up at his face. I only came up to his chest now. Since he was American, he had naturally grown to a little over six feet tall. I barely pushed five foot five after I hit my growth spurt. Oh well, at least Mint was still shorter than me.

"Ah," Ryou replied lightly, like he always did. "Come on," he opened the door and held it for me. I blinked at him, not expecting something like this. Keiichiro was always the one to be a gentleman around me and the other girls.

"Thank you," I smiled at him, obviously looking impressed, because he turned his head so I couldn't see him. Stepping inside, I looked around. "Wow, this place is prettyful."

"Is that even a word?"

"It is now," I replied, winking at him.

"Ryou!" I turned to look at the voice. A man with short red hair was waving over at us, smiling happily. "Glad you could make it!"

"Thanks for the invite," Ryou greeted him back, shaking his hand. "How have you been?"

"Good. Business is starting to pick up as word gets around. I'm glad you came." He looked down at me. "Is she your girlfriend?"

I blushed and looked down. "Um, I'm-"

"A very close friend," Ryou replied for me, patting my head. I smiled lightly, but still looked down. Ryou was acting rather nice tonight, a good change from his ever present teasing. "Unfortunately, she's not mine."

"I see. Well, did everyone make it?"

"Eight of us in all. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all," The man replied, getting a key from behind the counter somewhere. "Here is the key to the best cabin around. Family and friends get-away package. Four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a hot tub. Not to mention it's the closest to the ski lift."

"Oh wow!" I exclaimed happily, looking at the man with a cute look. "That's great! A hot tub, really!?"

"Top of the line," He winked at me, laughing. "It's not a hot spring, but you'll have a great time none the less."

I pulled on Ryou's sleeve happily. "Oh wow, thanks for inviting me!"

He seemed a little surprised at me, but couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "You're way too hyper after such a long trip." He turned to the person behind the counter. "Thanks Leon. I'll come by in the morning to catch up. Right now, I have a full van of people who have been riding for over nine hours."

"Of course," Leon replied, giving Ryou a set of keys and me as well. "Let me mark it on your map." He drew a red line from the building we were in to another building not really far off. "Here you go. There are other people around as well; we're almost three quarters full already. Maybe you'll make some friends. The Animal Rights people are here as well too, inspecting the area to make sure it's safe for the animals. Please cooperate with them if they come across you."

"Of course!" I replied before Ryou could. "We all love animals. In fact, Masaya is in the Animal club in college!"

"Oh really? Their should be a few students around as well. Maybe you'll run into some of your friends."

I smiled happily. "Yeah!" Turning to Ryou, I pulled on his sleeve. "Come on, Ryou; let's get back to the van. I can't wait to see our house."

"Sure, sure." He started to walk with me, waving his hand over his shoulder. "I'll come in for breakfast, tomorrow Leon."

"Till then!"

I shivered as the door opened as we began the walk back to the van. "You could have parked a little closer."

"Keiichiro parked, not me," was his response. I laughed to myself, but stopped as I sneezed. Almost instantly, I found a warm jacket around me. "You idiot, you should have dressed warmer than that. If you get a cold on the first day of vacation, it would be bad."

"Oh…oh, thanks." I pulled his jacket around myself and smiled. "You know, if you acted nicer like this all the time, I'm sure girls would be falling all over you."

"Hmmm." His response was casual, as if dismissing the thought.

"Or boys, whichever you prefer."

He stopped walking and I quickly ran the remaining way to the van, laughing as he shouted at me loudly.

"Oh wow!" Pudding exclaimed as we walked into the cabin.

At the doorway, it immediately opened into a huge living room. Walking a few steps in, there was a flight of stairs in front of us with an open doorway to the right. Looking in it, I saw a large kitchen. I looked around, awed at everything. The stove range was large and had a counter table top on both sides of it, as well as a window right over the range. Walking a little more in, I opened the large refrigerator and grinned. It was so large even all eight of us would have a little trouble filling it up to last us a week. Turning around, I walked past Mint as she was examining the kitchen as well and walked around the big wooden island in the middle. There was a dining room attached as well, with a long table and chairs all around it.

Walking back through the open doorway, I smiled at Pudding, who was running up the stairs. Deciding to stay on the first floor until I saw everything, I continued into the living room. There was a fireplace against the far wall, with a long 'L' shaped couch next to it as well as a TV. Grinning, I ran over to it and knelt down to watch Keiichiro light it, only to be disappointed to find out he was only checking to see if it was gas or not. Luckily for me, it wasn't and I was informed of a pile of fire starter logs outside as well as some cedar logs for burning.

I walked through a doorway to the right of the fireplace and into a room with a cover on the floor, at the bottom of a receded area. Walking down the few stairs, I pulled up one side of the cover and laughed happily to see an oversized hot tub under it. I let it back down and looked around the room. Several fake plants were around, and the walls were mostly glass, so you could see outside. Although I couldn't make anything out but a few trees now, I was sure it would be a spectacular view during the day.

Retreating back into the living room, I looked to my left and saw a bedroom with two beds in it. Lettuce was already setting her suitcase down onto a bed so I waved at her before continuing on my way. I found one of the bathrooms on my way to the stairs, but decided to hold off on my shower until I was finished exploring and unpacked.

Trotting up the stairs, I let my hand trail against the wall. I was surprised to find it flat and completely smooth, even though it looked just like real cut wood. Whatever finish they used on it was really nice. Reaching the top, I looked around and let my hand keep trailing the wall as I walked. There was a balcony along the upstairs section so you could overlook the downstairs. Smiling, I looked into the rooms, finding Ryou in one of them and returning his coat by draping it over him and winking thanks.

I then found another room that only had one bed in it, probably the master bedroom. Seeing Zakuro in it, I was about to leave, but she patted my head and told me that it was mine and Masaya's room since we were the only ones who surely wouldn't mine sleeping together, as the other bedrooms all had two beds in each.

I smiled as Masaya walked next to me and dropped our suitcases down. "Nice place," He said, grinning. "I could get used to this."

Nodding, I agreed. "Yeah, I really like it."

A/N: WARNING! The following author's notes are a rant about the dub Tokyo Mew Mew. If you don't care, or just want to ignore my opinion of this, then please skip ahead to the next chapter. If you do read, and I offend anyone, I'm sorry in advance. If you wish to take up a problem up with me, please use email. Thank you.

I saw the fox box preview of Tokyo Mew Mew dubs today. They called it "Mew Mew Power", although I thought it was going to be "Hollywood Mew Mew". Well, whatever the name is, it sucks. They changed everyone's names, the voice actors suck, the music sucks, no one is in character, and they just all around butchered it to hell and back. I expect nothing less of 4Kids after all these years. Card Captor Sakura (also done with help by Nelvana), Yu-Gi-Oh, and now Tokyo Mew Mew.

One of the worst things, however, was Ryou giving the "Line up" of everyone. They didn't even get the animal's right….Iriomote Wildcat was changed to "mountain wildcat" Now, granted, my endangered species knowledge is limited, but one thing I do know, is in the anime and manga, the Iriomote Wildcat was always shown in a forest, not a mountain. And Ryou said that Ichigo had "powers too numerous to mention" …..Yeah, I mean she has the strawberry check, strawberry check surprise, and the one time only strawberry healing….wait, can I count that high? Three? Wow, they can be numbered after all. Apparently, kids in America can't count past two these days.

Also, they said that Lettuce's main power they were counting on is her knowledge. Um, yeah, I know she goes to a privet school and all, but not one single time in the manga do they mention anything about anyone's grades. The only school mentioned at all is Ichigo's classes.

As for their attacks, I didn't quite catch them all because I was in shock. I did manage, however, to catch that Zakuro uses a "dagger" instead of a "whip" ……..How can you mistake a whip as a dagger!? And Lettuce uses "Morse code" tare nets. Morse code? Please, it's a fugging musical instrument you idiot translators! Not a device to relay Morse code!

I don't remember all of the dub names, I only caught…."Kelly" (I think) as Ichigo and "Bridget" as Lettuce. I will admit that when bringing this to America, they could take rights to change their names. Tokyo Mew Mew is a show for little kids after all. Having a character named "Lettuce" or "Strawberry" just won't fly here in America. Although, I am kind of curious on how they'll do the English Language sections in the anime. Maybe they'll make them speak French of something. Or probably Spanish. Also, Ryou and Keiichiro are American. How they going to change that? Probably cut it out all together.

All in all, I'm upset at the preview. I will admit, however, that dubbing is needed to help spread anime. Maybe these kids will see the show, like it, go online, and try to learn more about it. During that time they'll see that it's already released as a manga and go buy it. Maybe even get the fan subs. I can't say I like dubbing of Anime, but even a hardcore fan like me can see that it does help the community grow

A bad thing though; when and if it does do good in America, we'll be flooded with a ton of new fanfics of people using the dub names and attacks and plot line (which if anyone who's seen Fox anime knows they change the entire plot of the series. I won't even touch on how they raped CCS). So the original people here who write are going to get flames by 8 year old kids yelling about how our names are "wrong" and how "this and that happened like this you moron". sighs oh well, there are some mature kids out there who will do it properly at least. There are some kids out there who are more mature than that.

Okay, this ends my rant. I just didn't want you people to wake up one Saturday morning and flip through your channels and see Ichigo going "In the name of the moon I'll punish you!" or something like that. laughs of man, I wonder what they'll change her speech too? "With your powers combined! I am Captain Strawberry!" "Goooooooooooooooooo planet!"

3 I always wanted to say that 3