Sighing, I leaned against the wall and pulled Ryou's jacket closer around me. It was already night time and I had yet to find a job. Almost all of the jobs were taken, and right now my pamphlet had so many marks ran through the names, only a handful was left. Those were already past closing time, though, and would have to wait until tomorrow. One of the ones listed was the Mew's bar and Grill, which I was currently leaned against. It was the one Masaya spoke of earlier, but like he said it hasn't opened up yet.

TMM: College Years III

By: Satashi

"Can I help you with something?" A voice asked, making me turn to look at the speaker. He was American with long brown hair swept into a pony tail. He looked really familiar but I was having trouble placing a name with the face. "Ah, you're Ichigo-san, aren't you? You came in for the blood test yesterday."

Suddenly I remembered him. "Keiichiro, right?"

"That's correct. What are you doing out on such a chilly night?"

"Job hunting." I showed him the pamphlet. "No luck, though. I'm about to go find some dinner somewhere around here. Know of any places?"

"As a matter of fact I do." He smiled at me and motioned to the door he had just come out of. Realizing it was the entrance to the restaurant, I began to ask, but he bet me to it. "Its okay, come on in."

"Thank you." I walked in the door and into a slightly warmer large restaurant type room. There were booths all along the walls and tables scattering the floor. Also in the very middle was a large square bar with all types of glasses hanging from the cabinets above it. "Wow, nice place."

"Thank you. We've tried hard."

"Who you talking to, Keiichiro?" Another familiar voice asked as a blond male walked into the room. "Ichigo?"

I blushed. Both of them had remembered my name. "It seems Ichigo-san is in need of a job and a place to eat."

Ryou put his hands behind his head and let out an audible hum. "Well, we could always whip up something real quick like if you wanted to."

"Please, have a seat," he motioned to a bar stool, which I took. "Wait here; I'll go make you something."

"Oh no, you don't have to!"

"It would be my pleasure." He winked and walked off to a back room, which I assumed, was the kitchen.

"You legal?"

I blinked, but answered anyway. "Yeah, why?"

In a quick motion, Ryou hopped over the bar and pulled a large bowl shaped glass from the top. "I have a treat for you." He grabbed several handfuls of ice from a cooler and tossed them into a blender along with even more strawberries than ice and mixed them up before throwing in something that looked like yogurt and a few other things, topped off with some rum. Finally pouring the thick substance into a glass, he topped it with a dab of whip cream and slid it to me with a straw. "Here you go."

"What's this?"

He leaned on the bar on both arms and grinned. "With a name like Ichigo, you've never had a Strawberry Daiquiri?" he looked at me a moment before motioning to it. "Go on, try some."

I moved the glass closer to me and took a sip of it, amazed at how it tasted. "Oh wow, this is actually really good."

"Of course it is."

"You are so full of yourself."

"But I can make a damn good drink."

"That's true." I laughed and drank some more. "I didn't know you two worked here."

"We own the place," He replied with a grin. "We are opening up tomorrow maybe."

"Maybe?"

"We need some employees. Keiichiro is the chef, I'm the bar manager and waiter. We need at least five people. One person to help me, three waitresses, and one more cook."

I pondered it a moment before asking. "Hey, um, I really need a job..."

"You're hired."

"What, really?"

"Rather not take it?"

"No, no! I'll take it!" I waved my hands frantically. "By all means, I'll take it! Um... What am I taking exactly?"

Ryou hopped up on the counter and crossed his legs, looking at me. "I need someone to work with me here first. Since I'm sure we won't have too many customers at first since we don't advertise, one more person here with me will be fine. We can serve everyone at the bar until we get another waiter or waitress."

"I've never done that before..."

"It's easy. Just smile, be polite, and card anyone who looks under thirty who gets something alcoholic, which will be just about everyone you see at night. We're a bar and grill so food for lunch and dinner and bar at night for parties and such."

"How much will I get paid?"

He tilted his head to the side. "How much you want?"

"Do I keep tips?"

"Of course."

"Um, five an hour?"

"Oh come on, we're not some cheap run of the mill place. You're going to be worked to death until someone else comes."

I laughed. "Seven then?"

"Sounds great."

Smiling, I looked around. I had a job now and it seemed that I would enjoy it. The restaurant was a nice place with kind people in charge. "So it'll just be us three?"

"For a while. You have your schedule yet?"

"Nuh-uh."

"We'll need you as much as you can, how much can you work?"

"As much as I can." I drank more of the drink he gave me and licked some whip cream off my finger. "I need to get a lot of hours in so I can afford everything."

"Sorry for the delay," Keiichiro said, walking into the room with a meal for me. "Here you are, Ichigo-san, and Ryou, how many times have I told you not to sit on the counter?"

He flushed and hopped off behind the bar again and leaned on it as I was served. "I was hoping to hop off before you came back in."

"Oh wow, thank you!" I looked down at the plate and grinned. If this tasted even one percent as good as it looked, I was in for a treat.

"You really don't have to walk me home again," I told Ryou as we walked across campus. The sun was setting already, casting everything a dull red color. "Last time I stole your jacket." I fidgeted with it a moment, looking up at him.

"It looks good on you, keep it."

Blushing, I zipped it up and put my hands in the pockets. "It is comfortable." I looked over at him and chewed on my bottom lip a little. "You seem distracted. Is something wrong?"

"Well," He sighed. "It's kind of hard to explain, actually... You see..."

Before he could go any farther a large bird swooped down between us, narrowly missing me. Ryou, to my surprise, leapt clean into the air and over the bird to avoid it. Turning to look, the brown oversized falcon swept back into the air and turned. A moment later it stopped and hovered over the shoulder of a man hanging in the air.

His face was covered by some type of helmet that had a wing on either side of it. His body had a type of light armor over it, covering his arms, chest and legs. It was a shiny green that matched his hair. "Why hello there!" He called out to us, voice distorted a little. It was hardly noticeable, but I could tell a slight lag between him talking and his voice coming forth. "It seems I've found the right place." The man looked over at me. "Osiris, kill her!"

The falcon swept down again, making me scream. My body lurched to the side and I rolled a few times, realizing that Ryou had tackled me out of the way. The falcon was already once again hovering above the man in the air. "What's...what's going on?" I asked Ryou, scared.

He swallowed and stood up, helping me to my feet. "Sorry about this, Ichigo." He reached behind himself and pulled a gun like device from his pants. "I was hoping to offer this in a different type of situation..."

"Ryou!" Turning, I saw Keiichiro running toward us. His look was grim.

"Ah, both are here. I can destroy all of our resistance before it even starts. What a shame, I was hoping on having some fun first."

"What... Is he talking about?"

"Keiichiro!" Ryou handed him the gun and cast a look in my direction. "I'll distract him, you know what to do."

"Aye..."

"Don't think we don't know about your genetic plans." The man spoke again, looking at us. "I'm here to make sure it never happens."

"You're going to have a tough time doing that..." Ryou cracked his knuckles. "It may not be much, since my DNA didn't match, but I still have some in me."

"Ohhhh?" the man grinned. "We'll see about that."

In a flash, the green haired man was in front of Ryou, punching him hard in the face. Ryou's face snapped to the side, but he still managed to grab the fist that hit him and jerk on it enough to off balance him. Ryou yelled out and flipped him over his shoulder. The man with the falcon seemed amused by this, and hovered upside down in the air, looking at him. "Not bad. But not good either. Osiris, Blitz beat him!"

The falcon screeched and flapped its wings hard, shooting out something that seemed to be feathers. Several impaled onto Ryou, making him collapse to his knees. "Shirogane!"

"Ichigo!" Keiichiro grabbed my shoulders and held me in place. Struggling against him, I tried again to get to Ryou. "Calm down! Listen to me!" His voice rose a little and I was shocked enough to look at him. I never imagined that his voice could be anything but polite. "This here is the only thing that can save us. Put against the neck, it'll-"

Screaming out, I saw Keiichiro lurch to the side as the man air tackled him. Looking down, I saw the gun type device in front of me. Was I supposed to put it against the man's neck and pull the trigger? Shaking, I picked it up and looked at the man now walking to me.

"Hmmm. Are you the only one left?" The bird hovered behind him again, looking at me with cold green eyes. Yelling, I gripped the gun and ran forward. The man seemed amused by this and allowed me to get close enough to him to put the gun almost to the front of his neck before my wrist was grabbed. "So this is the only genetic weapon you have? A close range injection device? I was hoping for something more from the reports I've read..." He twisted my wrist, making me cry out and fall to my knees. "I wonder... What effect will this have on a human?"

"What...?" I looked up, terrified at the grin on the man's face. I then felt a small prick on the side of my neck and then an odd feeling as something was injected into me. I could feel it literally flow all the way through my veins all over my body.

Then came the pain.

Gripping my head, I screamed out and fell to the ground, hunched over and pulling on my hair. My hands started to feel two soft furry things about the same time my tailbone started to hurt as well. A searing pain shot through my spine and I felt sick. Then the world lurched and suddenly I didn't feel as if I was myself anymore...

"I think she's waking up."

"Ichigo?"

Someone rubbed a wet cloth over my forehead, making me feel immediately better. "Wha...?"

"Good, she's herself again."

"Shiro...gane...?"

"It's me. How do you feel?"

"Thirsty..."

"I'll get her a drink."

"Thanks, Keiichiro." Again a cloth was wiped over my face. "You did great, Ichigo."

"Did what...? I don't remember." I sat up slowly, realizing I was in a bed. Looking around, the room was deserted of almost all types of things normally found in one's bedroom. There were no pictures, posters, things strewn around, or anything of the sort. Only a bed, which I was currently in, and a computer desk with a laptop on it, and a mirror next to it. "Is this your room? What happened to that guy?"

"You beat him Ichigo."

"I... what?" My head felt funny, making me reach up to run my hand through my hair, only to pause at what I felt. Swallowing, I ran a finger along something that felt furry on top of my head. Testing, I pinched one, sending pain down through it. Leaning forward, I looked into the mirror. Screaming out, I pushed myself against the wall by the bed and grabbed the two cat ears on top of my head. "What's going on!?"

"You're our new biological weapon, Mew Mew." He grinned. "I was surprised when he injected you with the weapon, since that's what we wanted to do anyway."

Not listening to him, I reached behind myself and felt my tail. It twitched out of my grip and lay back on the bed. "I'm a cat." I spoke, dazed. "You turned me into a cat."

"Well, technically, that alien turned you into a cat. We just... kind of made the thing that did it."

"Here you are," Keiichiro spoke, walking back into the room with a large glass of water. Handing it to me, I gratefully drank almost half of it before taking a breath of air and then drinking the rest. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm scared and I want to go home..."

"It would be best if you stayed here for the time being, until we can be sure you are okay." Keiichiro took the glass from me and sat down on the bed. "Ichigo-san, you have been chosen to be head girl of the Mew Mew team, a group of five people who's DNA match that of Red Date animals..."

"Basically," Ryou cut in, "Aliens are trying to take our planet. They use Chimera parasites to attack, a type of thing that infects animals to turn them into powerful beings of destruction. We decided to fight back using DNA from Red Dates. Combined into humans with the right type of DNA, they turn into a seriously powerful warrior to protect the earth."

"Short and simple, like always." Keiichiro grinned lightly.

"Aliens...attacking earth... I have to fight them..."

"More or less."

"I need to lie down." I fell back against the bed and closed my eyes.

"You should sleep." Ryou spoke, walking out of the room. "Tomorrow you'll feel better."

"We'll be around, if you need us." Keiichiro added in as he walked out. "And Ichigo-san... What you did tonight was for the best of the world..."

The light went out and the door closed, casting darkness over me. What did I do tonight? It was so confusing. All I remember was cold yellow eyes looking down at me under the helmet that that green haired male wore. A pain in my neck, and then...darkness...

Sighing, I rolled over on my stomach and pulled my pillow close around my head. Everything today has made me drowsy, and I decided to try and get some sleep.

A/N: I had to change a little of what I had planned for this story to make it a little more interesting. Also, I know this differs greatly from what the manga and anime go by, but that's the point : ). I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am writing it. Any suggestions, request, or advice is welcome. Please review if you can : )

Teaser: Looking at the door, I noticed a student in the doorway. He looked a little lost, and double checked the room number with the schedule in his hand. Finally deciding that this was the right place to be, he walked in and then noticed me. Hesitating a moment, he walked over and sat down next to me. "Hi there. My name is Kish... this is World History 101, isn't it?"