I knew that a Frat Party was different than the regular parties I have been to in High School, but what I saw was something I definitely didn't expect. Back in high school, people brought beer from the store and shared with their friends. Here we had set up three different kegs of the stuff and shouted out that it was free, courtesy of Mew Bar and Grill. People were drunk all around me even though it wasn't past eight yet. Also the house where the party was being held at was so packed it was hard to move around. Smoke hung thick in the air, making me want a cigarette myself. It was quite a shock, but fun in a way as well. I loved when people got drunk enough to start acting stupid. It always made me laugh.

TMM: College Years IX

By: Satashi

To my surprise, I found Mark and Darren with their guitars up on a platform in the living room of the three story frat house. Along with them was a drummer I didn't know and a singer who I also couldn't place. I had heard about them telling me they played in a small band sometimes but I never really though about it. I gave them a wave when they noticed me and got grins in return. Mark already looked quite plastered himself.

I found Ryou a bit later. He was leaning against one of the beer kegs passing out plastic cups to people and inviting them to have some. Laughing, I pushed my way over to him and smiled before digging in his jacket pocket and fishing out the pack that he always seemed to have. "Want one?" He asked me as I pulled a cigarette out. I had left mine at home.

"No thanks." I lit it and winked before leaning next to him. "Big party," I called out over the loud music and people yelling.

"Yeah. Probably over a hundred and fifty people here." He replied, plucking my cigarette and taking a hit off of it. I took it back and glared at him.

"Get your own." I gave him the classic cute look before I started to bring it to my mouth.

"Momomiya-san!"

I almost dropped it. "Aoyama-kun! You're here too?"

"Yeah." Masaya looked over at Ryou, and was rewarded with a full glass. "You smoke, Momomiya-san?"

"Um...no. This is his, I was holding it so he could pour." I gave it back to Ryou, who raised his eyebrow at me but placed it in his mouth anyway. "Oh, Aoyama-kun, this is Shirogane. I work with him. Shirogane, this is Aoyama-kun. He's a really good friend. Lives in my apartment complex."

Both of them looked at me and then to each other. For a moment, Masaya's mouth twitched into a sneer. "Hello."

Ryou looked about the same. "I see."

I blinked. Did they... not like each other or something?

"Momomiya-san, let's dance." Masaya took my hand and pulled me toward him.

"Kya! I don't dance!"

"It's not hard." He grinned over at Ryou. "Well then, if you'll excuse us."

"Come back soon, Ichigo." Ryou told me with a cocky attitude. "I'll need your help to advertise."

"Okay!" I waved at him as Masaya pulled me over to the more-or-less dancing section of the house.

I really didn't know what to do at first, but after Masaya ditched his drink and started to move with the music, I just coped what everyone else was doing. My back against his front grinding away to the beat. It was fun, embarrassing, and quite amusing all at once. After a while I lost myself in the good times and let myself go. I was having a blast and didn't care about anything else at the time but having fun.

"Cheers!" I clapped my cup against someone's I didn't know and we both drank. When my cup was empty I laughed out with him and his group. "Make sure to come to our Restaurant sometime!"

"You got it babe!" They chorused before laughing and walking away.

The lights were swirling a little bit and when I turned to walk back to where I normally stood, my balance was lost and I fell forward into the chest of someone. "I think you've had enough." Ryou's voice spoke down to me. "How many have you had?"

"I dunno......thirty, forty......"

He helped me stand straight and I gave him a weird grin. "Ichigo, count to ten for me."

"One......Two......Four.......Five.......I forgot three didn't I? Three....Six....."

"Yeah, you've had enough. No more beer, do you understand me?"

I nodded dumbly. "Suuuuuuuuuuure." My words were slurring. "I've only had five."

"Five?"

"That comesafterthirty dusn' it?"

"Oh yeah. Sure does." He leaned me against a table. "Stay here. I'm going to tell Keiichiro that I'm taking you home okay?"

"I don't want to stay here, I want to dance."

"No you don't. Stay here."

"No."

"Stay here."

"Okay...." I shook my head 'no'.

"Whatever, I'll be back."

Several guys came over to me a little bit after Ryou left and I somehow managed to fill up their glasses for them. I don't know what happened after that, but after a lot of cheering and yelling I found myself up on the table dancing seductively while at least thirty guys cheered.

"Take it off!"

I raised my shirt a little to tease them and then began to pull it off, but someone leapt onto the table and grabbed me. "I think not, little girl."

I looked over at who it was and smiled. "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Mark!"

"Come on. Down we go." He glared at the people yelling at him and surprisingly made them shut up. He leapt down and helped me down as well. "Yo, Masaya!"

"I thought that was her." He looked at me. "Ichigo, are you drunk?"

"Noooooooooooooo" I nodded my head 'yes' and my single word slurred.

"She was going to strip tease man, we should have let her and taken pictures to tape against her bedroom door so she would see them when she woke up."

"Darren, you're an idiot." Masaya petted my hair as I leaned against him. I knew I would fall down if I tried to move. "I think her co-workers are around here somewhere. One girl has green hair. Lettuce was her name I think."

"Her? She's on the outside."

"We need to get her home before she does something stupid." Masaya continued to gently stroke my hair in an effort to keep me still.

"Don't take my hair band off, my cat ears will come up." I told him drunkenly.

"Cat ears...?" He whispered, moving my hair band a little. "Momomiya-san, are you-"

"I got her." Ryou's voice suddenly came up and I felt myself falling backwards. I was caught and when I looked up I saw Ryou standing above me. He must be holding me.

"Shirogane!" I moved my hands out in an overly surprised manor. "You came back! Woohoo! Let's dance!"

"Let's not. I'm taking you home."

"I want to dance!"

"I'll take her." Masaya suddenly spoke up, stepping forward. "It's on my way anyway."

"She's my responsibility." Ryou countered. The two glared at each other for a while and I finally waved my hand between them.

"I don't feel good."

Each of them made a face. Finally Ryou sighed. "You really owe me." He spoke down to me before starting to walk away.

"Hey, wait!" Mark suddenly called out; making Ryou turn and making my world spin around in the process. "Here." He placed a ponytail holder on my stomach, and I was amused by it. "To hold her hair. Trust me, it sucks without one."

Ryou nodded.

The cool air helped me a little as I was carried from Ryou's car to my apartment door. I no longer felt sick to my stomach, but everything was starting to move really, really slow and it was confusing me. "Why do you drink when you know you can't hold it?" Ryou asked me as he climbed up the stairs.

"I dunno..." At least I could talk straight now. "It seemed like fun at the time."

"This is beer, not hard liquor like last time. You're going to either be sick as a dog tomorrow or have a massive hang over. Probably both. How many did you drink? Can you answer that now?"

"Five glasses maybe. I don't know, I lost some of them and refilled a new one."

"No wonder. Ichigo, you can't even handle a six pack." He slid his hand into my pocket and fished out my keys. "You're an idiot. Those cups are huge."

"Gee, thanks." I leaned my head against his shoulder as he walked in my apartment. "I don't think I can sleep."

"You won't, you're too delirious. You need to sober up some, take some medicine, and then rest." He sat my feet on the ground inside my bathroom and caught me as I almost fell over. "You can't even stand?" I leaned against the wall.

"I'm standing. I'm holding up the wall, see?" When I moved my head, the world spun around and I found myself on the ground, looking up at him. "Oh, the ground needs me now. Hehe, want to help me hold up the ground?"

"You need to get in the shower. Luke warm water. It'll help." I nodded lightly and took off my shirt. At least I knew how to do that. "What are you doing?"

"Stripping." I answered him with a weird look. "You take off your cloths before you take a shower don't you?" At least I think you did. Right now I wasn't really sure.

Ryou watched me slide down my jeans and kick them to remove them the rest of the way. For some reason I knew better than to take off my underwear but the fact that I was in them in front of Ryou didn't seem to register with me.

Now clad in a bra, panties, and two socks, I slowly crawled into the bathtub and laid in it. "Now what? I'm in the shower."

"You're hopeless." Ryou sighed and turned on the water, making it shoot down on me.

Two minutes later I was strangely aware of things. Sitting up, I looked over at Ryou and realized exactly what was going on. "Kya! Pervert! Letch!" I crossed my arms over my chest and pulled my knees up to my chin. "What are you doing?"

"Taking care of your sorry butt," He retorted. "Where do you keep your towels?"

"Under my sink..." I watched him like a hawk as he opened the door under my sink and took one out. While doing this, I cut off the water. Taking the towel from him, I glared. "Turn around."

He sighed and did as I requested. I waited a moment before undressing the rest of the way and standing up. Quickly I patted myself dry and wrapped it under my arms to cover everything. Unfortunately when I tried to step out of the shower, my stomach reminded me that although I could think clearly again, it was still full of liquid. "I'm going to throw up."

"Not again..." He helped me stumble over to the toilet, where I almost immediately lost everything that I drank that evening. While this went on, Ryou pulled my hair into a tight, wet, sloppy ponytail to keep it from falling in my face.

"Never gain... I'm never doing this again..." My stomach lurched again and I leaned back over, not even caring that my towel slipped.

"Next time you're on your own." Ryou rubbed my back lightly. It felt incredibly calming, and made me feel better as well. After a few second I felt my towel being wrapped around me again and tucked in over it. "How are you?"

I tried to answer, but threw up again. "Never again, I swear to the gods... I learned my lesson this time..." I leaned back. "I'm okay now. Nothing left."

"Good." He stood and picked me up to carry me. "Now to brush your teeth. Can you do that?"

"I think so." He sat my feet down gently and I held onto him a moment before leaning over the counter and grabbing my toothbrush. "My medicines in the kitchen. Above the fridge..."

"Right."

I looked in the mirror and shook my head lightly while brushing my teeth. I had seen movies in school about people drinking before. I never thought I'd do it myself. Especially enough to puke my guts out in front of a really cute boy. Come to think of it, didn't Ryou take care of me the first time I got drunk too? It was a hazy memory but tonight seemed to bring it back to me. Maybe he really did care about me...

I rinsed out my mouth with some scope and felt ten times better after doing so. Ryou came back later with some pills for me to take. Swallowing them, he held up a sleep shirt that he must have gotten from my drawer. "Arms up."

I shook my head lightly. "I sleep naked." I blushed darkly after realizing I just told him that. "My tail..." I thought of the reason why I did so after I was changed. "It gets caught up in my shirt. Wakes me up..." I wasn't about to strip the rest of the way down, even after I told him that.

"Ah." He guided me over to the bed, where I sat down, holding my towel up to my chest. He gently took it from my hands and started to dry my hair with it slowly. The feeling made me close my eyes and sigh contently. It felt really nice to be pampered like this. Coming from the cold as ice jerk Ryou only made it better. I had learned to ignore his outside face over the time that I've known him. Deep down he was one of the sweetest people I knew, and he showed that side to me more than enough to make me believe it. "There you go. Lay down."

I nodded and pulled the sheet over me before sliding into bed. I don't care how sweet of a boy he was, he got to see enough skin on me tonight to last him a lifetime; and I wasn't about to let him see anymore. But looking at him, I couldn't help but smile. "Want to stay here for the night?" He raised an eyebrow at me and I laughed a little, making my head hurt. "I meant on the couch."

"No thanks." He leaned over to kiss my forehead. "Call me if you need anything okay? I have to get back to the party. It won't be over until past one in the morning."

"Okay..." I looked up at him. Ryou was still right over me. I was reminded of Masaya yesterday, when we spent almost an hour on my bed making out when we were done studying. The way he held me and kissed me came back in my mind and before I knew it, I had my hand around the back of Ryou's neck and was kissing him as well.

Realizing this, I pulled back and blushed darkly. He only smiled down at me, pecked my lips one more time, and stood up to walk away. "I'll see you later. Come to work if you can tomorrow." He waved over his shoulder and I watched him cut off my light and then heard the front door open, lock, and then close behind him.

I looked up at the ceiling. After a moment, my lips turned into a small grin. That was actually worth everything that happened tonight. He was a great kisser.

Rolling over in bed, I wondered exactly what that screeching noise was and where it was coming from. After a moment I realized that it was my cell phone demanding to be answered. The pain in my head wouldn't go away until the noise stopped so I decided that answering it would be the best course of action. My eyes stayed closed as my hand patted my headboard for my phone. I finally managed to grab it and pull it to my ear, clicking the familiar button. "Hello?" My voice was hoarse and sounded foreign, even to me.

"Ichigo? Is that you?"

Oh great, it was my mother. "Hi mom. Yeah...I have... a cold."

"Aw, poor thing. For a moment there I thought you were hung over."

"No mom, I'm not" I groaned inwardly. My head was throbbing and I was too scared to open my eyes in fear of blinding pain from light. "Don't worry, I'm a big girl."

"Are you sure you didn't get so drunk you had to have someone hold up your hair while you threw it all up? You did go to a party last night after all. I was in college before too, you know."

"No, mom, I'm not that dumb." Actually, I was that dumb.

"Are you coming home? That's why I called. I need help setting up the Halloween decorations for the local haunted house the parents are doing this year."

I totally forgot about promising to do that. "I'll have to ask Shirogane for a day off. I'll call you later okay?"

"Okay Hun. Take some medicine for your headache okay?"

"I will. I mean, I don't have..."

"Mmhmm. See you later Ichigo."

"...Bye mom." I clicked off my phone and sighed. Oh yeah, I was going to get a really good lecture/teasing when I get home. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, finally opening them and looking around my room. I managed to lean over to grab my pack of cigarettes and light one just as my phone rang again, almost making me drop it on me sheets. Clicking it back on, I answered. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Momomiya-san."

"Aoyama-kun!" I winced at my own happiness that pierced into my head when I got excited. I couldn't help but curse my own stupidity once more. "G'mornin."

"Want to come have breakfast with me and the guys?"

I slowly inhaled and felt a little better already. "Sure. When should I be over?"

"We're cooking right now so come on over. You have any medicine there? I bet you have a killer hang-over."

"Yeah I...wait a second, how did you know I was hung over?" I didn't clearly remember seeing him again after I started to drink.

Suddenly I heard Darren shout in the background. "Did you tell her she stripped yet!?"

I stripped!? Oh. My. God.

"You started to, but Mark stopped you." Masaya read my mind. I was relieved but I already finished off my cigarette and was reaching for another to try and calm me down after hearing that.

"Aoyama-kun, do me a favor and never let me drink again?"

"Sure thing."

"You're a doll."

"I know. Coming over?"

"Be there in ten minutes."

"Great!"

I hung up the phone and collapsed into the covers. At least I would get to see him. My phone rang yet again as I was about to get up. With a low growl I clicked it on. "Yeah?"

"Good to hear from you too."

"Oh, Kish! Sorry I snapped. I have a massive headache."

"I can't talk long. I have...plans... for later today. Just wanted to check in on you to see if you've done any of the project?"

"Eh? Oh yeah, I have two pages done." Finally something today that made me proud at least. "Do you need them?"

"Nah, just wondering about where I should start on it. Okay, got to run now. I have to find someone."

"Okay. Bai bai Kish."

"See you, my kitten."

I hung up again and smile lightly to myself. His casual flirts always seemed to make me feel a little better about myself.

I finally got out of my bed and started to brush my teeth with my right hand as my left rooted through my closet for a shirt to wear. It was supposed to be cold since a front was moving in so I grabbed a tight fitting knitted sweater and a casual pair of blue jeans. After finishing up and getting dressed, I lifted my shirt a little and made my tail wrap around it quickly and tuck in under itself. I had gotten so used to my tail that I could even make it pick up small items if I wanted to. That came in handy while I was cooking. I grabbed a black hair band from my little hat rack by my door and headed out.

A quick jog in the cold woke me up completely and made my headache fade away dramatically. When I reached their apartment, I didn't even bother knocking and walked right in. "Morning guys." I kicked the door closed behind me and smiled as they waved to me as they ran around getting things. "What's going on?"

"Going home for the weekend!" Darren told me as he retreated back into his room and returned a moment later with a duffel bag and a larger mesh bag packed full of dirty cloths.

"You're going home to make your mother wash your cloths?"

"What's wrong with that?" Masaya asked me, making me turn to the kitchen. He was doing the cooking it seemed. "We all are."

I put my hands on my hips. "How often do you guys go home?"

All three looked at each other a moment before Masaya replied. "I don't know? Every three weeks or so?"

"And how often do you do your laundry?"

"Every three weeks or so?" He gave me a light lopsided smile.

"You're hopeless." I walked next to Masaya and looked at what he was doing. "Want some help?"

I waved to the boys as they drove off. I was dropped by my car so I could drive to work and then leave from there to go home myself. I didn't go home last week so I was already a little homesick. At least Ryou would probably let me have a day off considering it's been two weeks since I last had one. I couldn't wait until we found the other two members of our group so I wouldn't have to work every single day of the week.

Speaking of Ryou, I was a little nervous about how to react around him today. The last part of the party was a little hazy to me, but I could still remember the small kiss we had before he left. Well, not really a small kiss since tongue was involved, but that wasn't my concern right now.

I paused just outside his door and looked at it. Should I act casual? Maybe a little flirty? After all, I didn't really know my feelings clearly just yet. Maybe I should just smile at him and see what he does in return? Yes, that would be the best.

Ryou came out of his room then and I blushed lightly, looking up at him. I smiled at him shyly and clasped my arms behind my back. "Yo," he greeted me casually as he walked past.

I stood there a moment in shock before turning around and yelling at him. "'Yo!' is that all you can say!?"

He turned half way to look at me. "What do you mean?"

"No 'how are you?' or 'Do you feel okay?' or 'gee Ichigo, you sure do kiss well.'?" I clasped my hand over my mouth. "I said that last part out loud, didn't I?"

Ryou looked at me a moment before walking over to me, placing his hand on the small of my back and pulling me close to him. The next thing I knew his lips were on top of mine. All too soon they left and he gave me a cocky smile. "You sure kiss well." And with that he patted my head and turned, walking away.

I licked my lips, blushing. "You sure do have a way with girls, you know that?" I ran to catch up with him and walked alongside of him. "What if I didn't want to kiss?"

"You would have stopped me."

"You confuse me sometimes."

"I try."

"I need half today and tomorrow off so I can go home."

"Okay."

I put my hands behind my back and hummed to myself.

A/N: Meep. I did it again. The same night I updated last chapter I wrote all of this but like 500 words and just could not write anymore for some reason. I'm going ahead and posting this chapter because I don't know how long it'll take me to kick this writer's block out of the way. Review please, that always helps out. Anyway, shout out to Mew Cherry a.k.a Ryou Shirogane, the owner of Neko Tokyo for giving me episode 5 of TTM, which I have been searching for for ages. I'd also like to thank all of my regular reviewers as well. I'd love to list them out here, but I'm scared I may accidentally forget one and then I'd feel bad for days on end about it sweat drop.

See you next chapter, which is going to introduce Zakuro and Maybe Mint as well.