Okay, so I apparently wasn't very good at snow skiing. I've fallen countless times, and have gone down the slop around twenty different times. So far I haven't managed to make it down without falling, but I was at least getting more confident about it. I still don't like the ski lifts. They were un natural.

College Mew Mew 18

By: Satashi

I shivered as I walked into the small log restaurant at the bottom of the mountain. Closing the door behind me, I took off my heavy jacket as I walked in and looked around. Bits of snow flaked off of me as I hung my skis up on a section for them. All I wanted right now was to get out of my mittens and wrap my hands around a nice large cup of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows in it.

I saw a mess of blond hair near the back of the restaurant, near the fireplace. As I began to walk, I noticed it was Ryou. Deciding that he needed some company, and that he also wanted to buy my lunch, I flopped down in front of him and laid my head on the table. "I'm cold."

"Yeah, snow tends to do that to people," Was his casual response. Looking up, I watched him sit down his mug and look back out the window. I mentally debated stealing his drink, but I figured it was probably already too cold for my liking, so I lifted up and caught a waiter's eye.

"May I help you, cutie?" He asked me with a smile.

I blushed a little, not expecting him to try and flirt with me. "Er, yeah. Can I have a mug of hot chocolate? With a lot of marshmallows in it?" I heard Ryou laugh lightly for a second before he caught himself. "And put it on his ticket."

"Hey!"

"Would you like anything else?" The waiter asked me, ignoring Ryou. "May I suggest some cake? It's really yummy."

"Um, no thank you..." I looked down at my lap, wishing the man would stop talking to me like he was. I was starting to feel uneasy with the flirtatious manor he had.

"Maybe some fruit?"

"Look, pal, just bring her, her dang hot chocolate." Ryou spoke up, shocking me.

The man looked shocked, as if just noticing Ryou. "Sir, if you do not lower your voice, I'll have to ask you to leave."

Ryou looked positively stunned. "You're making her uncomfortable," He replied coldly.

"I'll be right back with your order," he spoke to me, flashing a smile that made me question his mentality. "I'll be back shortly."

I looked down at my lap again, blushing. "Um, thanks." I told Ryou softly. "I couldn't have done that."

"Where's Masaya?" He asked, changing the subject on me. "You not with him right now?"

I let out a small sign. "No, he got better at this way quicker than I did, so I let him keep going so he could have fun and not be held back by me."

"You not doing so well?"

"I fall down a lot," I winked at him, grinning. "I'm such a klutz sometimes."

"That's for sure."

"Hey, you're not supposed to agree with me!"

He snorted, taking another drink out of his mug. "Oh great, he returns."

"Here you are cutie." He told me, setting down the cup in front of me. "Can I get you anything else?"

"Er, no, that will be fine."

"Are you free later this evening?"

"Eh!?"

"My shift ends soon, would you like to go out? I can teach you how to ski like a professional." He put his hand on my shoulder and smiled down at me

"I'm her instructor." Ryou spoke up, glaring. "Take your hands off of her!"

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Like hell I will!" He stood up, making everyone turn to us. I had never been more embarrassed before. I wanted to scratch the waiter's eyes out, and hug Ryou at the same time.

"Is there a problem?" A familiar voice spoke up.

Turning, I saw Leon standing there, looking at us. Oh yeah, Leon was the manager of the ski resort. Therefore, this restaurant was under him as well. I was about to tell him that nothing was going on, but Ryou beat me to it. "Ah, Leon," he greeted, suddenly grinning.

I smiled and put my face in my hands, laughing and willing it all to go away at the same time.

"I must admit, I've never gotten someone fired before," I grinned, holding my skis over my shoulder as we walked to the lifts. Ryou was carrying a pair as well, and had his snowboard on a latch in the restaurant for him to reclaim later. He was going to teach me how to ski for the last hour that we had until we all had to meet up again. AS we got closer to lifts, I slowed down a little. "Hey... Do we have to ride those things?" I pointed at the ski lifts, even though it was obvious what I was talking about.

"Of course." He replied easily, walking over to it and standing, waiting for the next lift to come pick him up.

Shocked, I ran over to him before it could come. "Don't you dare make me ride one by myself!" I scolded him, grabbing his arm and looking behind us to see the seat coming. "I don't like these things..." I felt it bump against us, making me automatically sit down on it. Instantly I pulled the safety rail down and closed me eyes, gripping it with one hand and Ryou's arm with the other.

He was silent a moment before biting back on his laughs. "Ichigo, you are such a girl sometimes."

"Shut up," I gripped his arm tighter, making him wince. "These things aren't natural."

"Of course not, they're man-made with steel strong enough to support a little over half a ton of weight before breaking. I don't even weight two hundred pounds." His voice got a little cockier. "But we all know that you weigh a lot more than what you look like."

Oh, he didn't! I turned to glare at him and give him a piece of my mind, but his free arm raised the safety bar. Screaming, I latched onto him, shouting every curse word and nasty comment that came to my mind. When I ran out, I dug deeper into my mind and then let loose on every raunchy comment I had ever heard on late night television as well.

Skiing wasn't as hard as I thought it was. After having someone actually teach me, my trips went a lot easier. I only fell down twice on my last run down the mountain, and was quite proud of myself. Ryou turned out to be a good teacher after all, saying that he had already taught Lettuce some earlier in the day. Right now, however, I just wanted to change out of my damp frozen cloths and take a nice, long bath. After that I would curl up and read a book in a chair next to the fireplace. Yes, that's exactly what I would do.

The warm air greeted me and Ryou in a burst as we stepped through the door. Laughing, I shook off the snow on my hat and rustled my damp hair under it. My cat ears twitched a little, making me smile. As I took off my jacket, my tail escaped its warm hiding spot and lazily hung out behind me as I fumbled with the snow pants I wore. Finally ridding myself of those and left in a long sleeve shirt and a pair of sweatpants, I walked the few steps into the living room, only to jump back and make my ears and tail go away just as Mark walked past me.

He gave me an odd look, and then shook his head, muttering "It couldn't be..." before making the rest of his way into the kitchen. Sighing in relief, I walked into the living room where Masaya was talking to someone. Upon getting closer, I realized that it was the same man from the zoo when it was Masaya's birthday. They both noticed me at the same time and Masaya turned to him, motioned to me, and said something in English that didn't make any sense to me, aside from my name. The man offered his hand, which I shook. He then turned to Masaya and replied to him.

My boyfriend grinned and the two shared a laugh. "He said you're a very charming lady," Ryou told me as he walked by and up the stairs to his room.

Blushing, I bowed politely to him before retreating from their English conversation and into the kitchen. "Mark, why is he here?"

He blinked and looked over at me, in mid bite of a sandwich he was making. Not bothering to swallow, he answered me. "He took us here."

"Eh?"

Mark took a drink of a Mountain Dew ™ and grinned at me. "He came down to Japan to oversee the transfer of the Iriomote Wildcats. When that was done, he went to the college to visit the U.M.A club and endangered species department. I met him there and told him about this place where Masaya was talking about visiting. When he found out about it, he took the opportunity to take us here to study wildlife in their natural environment."

"And he just did that on a whim?"

"Well, he was waiting for a call from the higher-ups on who was chosen for the documentary."

"Did Masaya get it!?" Mark looked away a moment, telling me all I needed to know. "Aw..."

"Yeah, some jerk-off T.V. star offered to do it as long as William did the documentary. So of course, a star on a documentary would get it more ratings, therefore making it more money. The guy doesn't even care about animals either, it's obvious. He's doing it for publicity."

"That isn't fair," I pouted, catching an offered drink from him. Popping the top, I took a drink.

"Yeah, so unless Masaya has a super famous movie star or something on his side, it's a no-go."

I blinked. "Movie star, huh?"

Zakuro walked into the kitchen, grabbed a small bag of chips and started to walk out, but stopped. "Why am I getting a really weird feeling?"

"I'll be indebted to you forever, Zakuro." Masaya said, bowing to her. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

I waved at Mark and Mr. Fujitaka as they walked away and got on their snow mobiles to go back to their cabins. When they were gone, I closed the door and smiled at Masaya. "Congratulations."

Zakuro smiled and patted my head before turning to Masaya. "You owe me dinner for this."

I covered my laugh with my hand and walked past them, grinning. "I'm going to take a bath. You two sort things out."

I closed my eyes and lie back in the oversized bathtub and let the hot water hit my body as it wanted to. Sighing out, I sank a little lower and inhaled deeply through my nose. Mentally I debated on how long I should stay in here, and then decided that there was another shower downstairs so I could keep it as long as I pleased.

After a few minutes I opened my eyes and wiped the water from my face as best I could. Reaching beside my leg, I picked up my tail and brought it closer to me so I could examine it. I have done this countless times before, but I was always still awed by it. It was an extension of my spine, I knew, but it was still shocking at how sensitive it was. A good tug on it would make me almost blank out for a moment. I still remembered each time someone had landed a hand on it long enough to pull. I had slapped Kish the second time he pulled it when chasing after a Mew Aqua source. From the looks on his face I was pretty sure he would never do it again.

I smiled as my tail twitched in my grasp, silently wondering why it was being held I none place for so long. I never really had much control over it, not that I haven't tried. It came when it wanted to and left when I wanted it to. As for actually being able to move it on my own, I am proud to say that I can make it move in any direction that I wanted it to. Unfortunately I had to close my eyes and concentrate really hard before it would do it. I practiced every night in the bath, hoping that I could train it to wrap around my waist and tuck the tip under itself so it wouldn't lash out. I've done it before, but I couldn't walk very far without it undoing itself to swing behind me.

I stroked the fur on it a moment, getting a pleasant feeling. I smiled to myself and let it go back down, where it rested on the bottom of the bathtub peacefully as I started to lather some shampoo into my hair.

I still didn't know how I would be able to run in the competition without my ears and tail flying out behind me as I did so. I have thought of many scenarios where I even wrapped my tail around my waist myself and tied it there with some strong. Aside from being really uncomfortable, I couldn't even run with it bound like that and it always broke free on it's own before I made it far at all.

Letting out a sigh, I leaned forward and let the shower wash away the soap from my hair. I really liked these showers. I could sit and let the water beat on me as long as I wanted to. Masaya had one like this as well in his apartment. Traditionally, Japanese bathtubs were large and made for soaking, with a small shower head to wash off with before getting in. Myself, I preferred to be bathed in a spray. The only downfall was I couldn't read while doing that. A laugh escaped as I remember Masaya complaining almost on a nightly basis how I would hog his bathroom for an hour so I could have some alone time with myself and my book.

Grinning, I left myself lean back again and close my eyes. The water was especially good tonight after being in the snow for so long. It felt soothing and relaxing all at once. I could almost go to sleep in here...

"Wake-y, wake-y, little Ichigo."

I moaned lightly, wondering who had interrupted my dream of having an all you can eat doughnut breakfast and slowly made out the image of Zakuro kneeling down and smiling at me. "Za....kuro?"

"Ah, she is alive." She replied teasingly. "Ichigo, you can't stay in the shower so long with the water like that, it'll make you sick. Come now," She offered me a hand to help me up. At first I thought I was perfectly able to stand on my own, but after the simple act of sitting up, I found myself dizzy. "See there? I told you so."

I smiled at her, allowing myself to be helped out and then found a towel on my head, drying my hair lightly. "Be sure to drink something when you go downstairs, or you'll have a nasty headache later."

"Yes, mom." I replied, closing one eye as she dried the hair closer to my forehead. Zakuro smiled at me. She was several years older than all of us and served as our source of worldly knowledge at times. I couldn't even begin to count the times I had run to her seeking help on my love life or my life in general. It was really hard going without her when she went away to film her movies.

"Is she out yet?" Ryou asked, annoyed, walking by.

Blushing, I grabbed the towel around my head and covered myself with it. "Kya! Pervert! Letch!"

"I didn't look!" He protested angrily, continuing on his way.

I glared at the slightly cracked door and breathed heavily, tail lashing behind me. "I bet he looked."

Suddenly Keiichiro's voice was heard from downstairs. "Masaya! Put that knife down!"

Looking at Zakuro, I smiled. Masaya was such a cute dork sometimes.

Yawning, I rolled over in the bed and away from Masaya's loose hold on my waist. I made myself slowly sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I stretched out and arched my back, letting out another loud yawn. "You're letting cold air in," my boyfriend complained, pulling the covers closer around him and replacing me with a pillow.

"I love you, too." I snorted out, standing and walking over to the dresser to get some warm cloths on. After dressing, I left the room and walked downstairs. To my surprise, Lettuce was already up and sitting in the dining room, looking out the window while drinking from a steamy mug. "Good Morning."

"Ah, Ichigo," She smiled at me. "Good Morning. Sleep well?"

Stretching out again, I nodded. "Yeah, pretty well. What you drinking?"

"Cappuccino. Want some?" She motioned to a coffee pot full of hot water. "The packets are above it in the door."

I have never had cappuccino before, but I recalled Lettuce once saying that she started out every morning with a cup of it. "Sure," I opened the door above the coffee maker and slipped out a small pouch to pour in a mug.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"I'm going to go running as soon as I finish this," I replied happily. "The tournament is coming soon and I need to be ready."

"Have you figured out a way...I mean..."

"Not yet," I told her, waving it off. "I still have time, we'll think of something." I stirred the frothy mixture slowly. "Is this stuff really that good?"

"It's the best."

Zipping up my coat, I checked my shoes one more time before opening up the door and heading outside. It was really cold, and the sun was just barely over the horizon, shedding only enough light to see. Playing the map of the resort in my mind, if I looped around from where I was and headed to the lounge, it would be roughly a mile or so if I ran on the outer circle. It wasn't as much as I was accustomed to, being on the track team, but it was good enough.

I started as a brisk walk, finding the small puffs of air in front of me amusing as I breathed. When I felt my heart start to beat a little faster, I picked up my pace to a light jog, and then to a nice sprint when my legs were used to moving fully again. My ears and tail came out next, manifested by my increased heartbeat. My ears were covered nicely by my cap and my tail was down the right pants leg of my snow pants. Annoying, yes, but soon it twitched on its own and wrapped itself loosely around my waist before drooping lazily the reminder of the way. Once again I wished I could tuck the tip of it under itself to keep it there.

Shrugging it off, I kept running. Perhaps I would stop by the lounge for a break later. We only had a few more days before we had to go back, and I intended to be sure to have all the fun I could before then. Smiling, I nodded to myself. "It's going to be a good day," I spoke aloud, now leaning forward and running full tilt. "Nothing is going to stop me from winning that competition!"

A/N: yay, chapter done. Not really pleased with this one, to be honest. I think it's a little boring. But anyway, Chapter 19 will be a little better and 20 will have enough action to make up for it all. If you haven't voted for the next story yet, now's the time to do so. As it stands, the next one will be Kish/Ichigo. Anyway, please review and look forward to the next chapter, which I hope will be out tomorrow night. See you all there, nyan!