I was a little weird returning home after being away for so long. Although it's only been two weeks, it was still an odd feeling. I have lived in this house as long as I can remember and the first time I ever moved was going into my apartment. Now even though it was still a familiar house, I didn't live here anymore. It's a little hard to describe it, but the feeling was still there. It wasn't until I saw my old room that I realized that I truly didn't live here anymore.

TMM: College Years X

By: Satashi

"What did you do to my room?" I asked amazed as I walked into it. No longer was it sickingly girlishly pink like I had it, but a calm cream color. The only thing that reminded me that it once was my room was my bed that now had a different comforter on it, and my desk that I didn't take with me. Everything else was different. A small TV, a dresser, pictures on the walls, and many more things. "You turned it into a guest room?" I figured they would, but still! It was my room. Well, it wasn't anymore...but that didn't matter!

"You like it?" My mom asked me while walking in. "Took us a few days but we got it done."

Wednesday

"It looks nice."

"Aw, you're sad aren't you? There, there" My mom hugged me. I couldn't help but laugh a little and hug her back, but suddenly I was pushed at arm's length. I was about to ask what was going on, but she gabbed my sweater and pulled it to her, sniffing it. "Ichigoooooo."

Oh crap! I smelt like smoke. "What?" My mom crossed her arms and tapped her foot, glaring. "Shirogane smokes, he's my boss, and what do you want from me? I smell like beer too at the end of the work day!"

"So it wasn't you?"

"Do you think I would be dumb enough to start again?"

"Well... good point. I'm sorry honey."

I didn't lie at least. Not really. She just....got the wrong idea...

I felt bad. Obviously I was dumb enough to start again. I didn't have time to contemplate this, however, as my phone rang. Clicknig it on, I brought it to my ear. "Hello?"

"Ichigo! What's up?"

"Hey Darren. Nothing much, I just got home."

"Cool. Me too. Can I ask a favor?"

"Sure?" I waved my mom off when she tried to listen in on my conversation "Go away mom, this is Darren, not Aoyama-kun!"

"Spoilsport." She patted my head and left me to my lonesome in my room.

"Cool. Here's the thing. Mark is crashing at my place Sunday night and we're on the other side of town than Masaya is on. You live close by him? We can't come pick him up for school Monday because we're going to a band practice. Won't be home till late Tuesday night."

"I guess. Where does he live?"

"Where do you live?"

"...I'll call him in a bit."

"Thanks! We owe you." He didn't even wait for me to reply and I heard his cell phone flip shut and then silence.

"Well, that was weird..."

My time at home seemed to go by quickly. I had a good meal that for once I didn't have to cook myself, as well as a nice long hot bath in my familiar bathtub. It was the little things that made me really realize that I was 'home' again. The smell, the feeling of being really welcome, the company, even the couch and TV made it that much better.

The only bad thing was my room was a strange sense of 'odd'. I knew everything about the room, but everything was different at the same time. It made me a little uneasy, so I decided to do something I haven't done in a while: Call Ryou. It was already past midnight, but I was still awake thanks to the cat genes in me. I took a one to two hour nap every day around lunch, so staying up this late didn't really affect me at all really.

He answered on the twelfth ring and greeted me lovingly with an "Ichigo, why on earth are you calling me at.... Twelve thirty at night...again."

"Because I want to. What'cha doing?"

"Sleeping?"

"Mmhmm, what else?"

He groaned and I heard the covers shift as he sat up so he wouldn't fall asleep talking to me. "Nothing else. What are you doing?"

"Just kind of sitting here in my room. I'm at home."

"I thought you went to your parent's house?"

"I am."

"Ichigo, in college, 'home' is wherever you aren't at the current moment."

"That makes no sense."

"You're just weird."

"Anyway, I was thinking,"

"Don't hurt yourself."

"Ha ha, very funny. But anyway, we need to do something."

"Such as?" He seemed to be walking around, and I heard him open a door and then a pause as he chugged something. Probably drinking milk straight from the carton.

"Well, Pudding, Lettuce, and I fight together, but besides work we never really hang out because our schedules are so different. I was thinking of all of us taking some time off to do something. I don't know, shopping, lunch, movie, you know. Something to just be together."

"Yeah, okay. We'll close down the restaurant for a day tomorrow. How's that sound?"

"Great! Sunday is the only day off Pudding has, so it'll have to be then. I can call them tomorrow and ask."

"Good."

I curled up in my bed to get warm, a little annoyed with my tail as it got caught up in my shirt. I wanted to wear something to bed since I was at my parent's house again. It would suck for my dad to come wake me up and me kick the covers off at night or something. "So what are you doing now?"

"Now that I'm awake?" I could tell he was only slightly annoyed at me for waking him up purposely.

"Of course." I giggled lightly. He was so cute sometimes.

"Cookies and milk. Leaning against the counter."

I smiled and decided to tease him. "What are you wearing?"

"Cloths."

I rolled my eyes. "Figures."

"What are you wearing?"

"A shirt," I teased him back.

"And under that?"

I blushed darkly. "A secret." He laughed at me, and I smiled. For some reason he always could make me smile. I liked that a lot. "Or do you really want to know?" I giggled a little.

"Currently these cookies are more important." I heard him bite into one.

Oh that was mean! I waited a moment to see if he would drink some milk after eating. He went quiet and I assumed he was, so I spoke out my mind. "They're pink and see-through."

Sure enough I heard him choke and cough. I laughed happily; sure he spit it all over himself. "Oh you suck." He growled at me as he began to clean up. "I should hang up on you right now."

"Yeah, but you won't."

"Why do I put up with you?"

"Because I'm cute?"

"More like I need help at the bar."

"Oh sure." I rolled onto my back and snuggled under my blankets. We continued to talk until I noticed that my clock clicked over to three AM. "Oh wow, we've been talking for three hours."

"Really?" I heard him shift around in bed. "Yeah, we have."

"I should let you go. See you tomorrow around lunch I guess?"

"Sure."

"Sweet dreams...Ryou." I blushed lightly at calling him by the first name.

"G'night." His phone clicked off and I gaped at my cell phone.

"Stupid jerk could have at least noticed I said his name!" I fumed and chunked my cell phone across my room and buried myself under the covers. "Inconsiderate jerk has no clue how a girl feels." I let out a cross between a sigh and a growl.

Luckily neither Lettuce nor Pudding had anything to do the next day so I managed to get them both to meet up with me at the restaurant. I, for once, arrived early. After letting myself in with the key Ryou had given me, I made my way up to his room and peeked I through his door. The lights were off and I could make out his sleeping image in the bed. The alarm clock above him was flashing 'snooze' in the lower right hand corner of it.

Smiling, I closed the door behind myself and made my way over to him, sitting on his bed. "Shirogane?" I shook him. "Shirogane, wake up." He mumbled something and rolled back over. I glared at him and shook him harder. "Shirogane dangit, wake up."

His eyes slowly fluttered open and he sat up, face almost slamming into mine. I blinked at him and he looked at me, face not an inch from mine. The next thing I knew, his lips met mine in a kiss.

Blushing, I pulled away. "What was that for?"

"Your face was right there."

"Oh so that gives you a reason?"

He gave me a lopsided smile. "Are you complaining?"

"That's not the point." I crossed my arms. How dare he kiss me after ignoring that I called him by his first name? That's just rude. "You overslept. Get up; the girls will be here in a little bit."

"What's bugging you this morning?"

He got out of bed and I noticed he was only wearing boxers. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of me blushing like mad and running from his room, I simply put my hands on my hips. "It could be the fact that someone was inconsiderate to me last night."

"Says the girl that called me half past midnight."

My tail twitched out behind me and wagged spastically. "You have no idea about how a girl feels do you!?" I started to storm my way over to him, but I tripped over one of his shoes on the way and went flailing.

"Ichigo!" Ryou moved to catch me, but we both ended up falling anyway. I found myself next lying on the ground with him on top of me. My skirt was hiked up to my waist and my shirt was revealing my bra on one side. We just looked at each other a moment before he swallowed and spoke lightly. "Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't quite seem to. Instead I just nodded lightly with an "Uhn," sound. I shifted a little and blushed, offering him an embarrassed smile. He returned it in a rare, true playful smile of his own. I was sure we would both start laughing, but suddenly-

"Oh wow, you two are closer than I thought!" Pudding's voice sounded as she turned on the lights. "Wow, Shirogane, you move fast don't you!?"

"Oh my," Lettuce looked in over her shoulder. "Ichigo-san, at least consider your plans before doing something like that."

"This, this isn't what you think!" I tried to move at the same time as Ryou and his hand ended up slipping up my shirt. "Kya! Pervert! Hentai! Letch!"

Ryou sighed as he walked down the mall with the three girls and best friend. Again his hand went to the four small scratch marks on his cheek where I had slapped him earlier. I felt a little guilty as I watched him and I made my way to walk next to him and speak softly up at the boy. "Sorry, does it hurt?"

"Not really," he replied, looking ahead.

I looked down at my feet a little bit. "Sorry all the same. You didn't mean to feel me up did you?"

"You have nothing to feel." He retorted. My eyes went wide and I turned to slap him again, but he was smiling. In public, Ryou was smiling down at me. My heart started to beat fast and my vision turned back downwards as I quickened my pace to walk next to Pudding.

The girl stopped, however, and grabbed my arm, pointing. "Ichigo-neechan! Look!" She pointed at a small girl shop that was covered with small cute things and ear rings of the sort. "I want to get my ears pierced! Will you sign for me since you're over eighteen?"

"I don't know," Lettuce spoke up; standing next to us as the guys behind us just kind of looked around at other things so they wouldn't be caught in such a girly shop. "Wouldn't your mother have already signed for you by now? You're almost eighteen yourself aren't you?"

"My guardian is too busy to come here with me," Pudding replied, tastefully informing us that her mother must have died or went away. "But she wouldn't mind at all if I got them done. Oh, I know, why don't we all do it together?!"

"I already have two holes in each ear," I rubbed my left earlobe thoughtfully. I rarely ever wore two earrings at once, but my friends talked me into it a few years ago. "I don't really want to pierce the top of my ears that would hurt..."

"Aww... How about you, Lettuce-neechan?"

"Eh? My ears?" She too held her ears. "I don't know..."

"They aren't pierced?" I asked, leaning over to look. "Lettuce, you should go for it. It doesn't hurt at all, I promise."

"I don't know..."

"If Ichigo does too, will you?" Pudding grabbed both our hands. "Come on, lets all do it together!"

"I already told you, Pudding, that I..." I noticed she was looking at my stomach. "What? My belly button? Oh no, no, no. No way."

Pudding looked over at Lettuce, who smiled nervously. "If Ichigo-san does it, I will get mine done."

I knew she was trying to get out of it, as I sounded firm in the fast that I didn't want to pierce my naval, but Pudding grinned at me. "And Ichigo-neechan already told Lettuce to go for it, so that means she wants her to, which in turns that she does too!"

"What? Wait, I-" I was startled and before I knew it, Pudding had gotten an employee and gotten Lettuce nervously looking at different ear rings to go in. She looked incredibly nervous but at the same time I could tell that she had wanted this done for a while. The poor girl was probably too scared to do it on her own without friends there with her. Sighing, I grabbed Ryou's sleeve lightly. "...Shirogane... Hold my hand while they do it...?"

"What?"

I looked down. "I'm scared. My belly button is going to be pierced..." I looked up at him, and he seemed to like the idea quite a bit, as his lips turned into a half grin. "Now you're definitely going to do it." I pulled him with me, not giving him a choice. If he wanted it done so much, he was going to be my moral support.

"Ichigo-neechan, does it hurt to have your ears pierced?" Pudding looked at me, and I couldn't help but giggle lightly despite my own nervousness.

"Not at all. Just pricks a little bit." I pointed to my ears. "See? I've had it done four times in all, so you can trust me."

My words made her visibly ease up and she joined lettuce to look for a design. After looking myself, I found a simple light gold hoop with a small strawberry charm on it. Well, it matched me name and all so I decided that that's what I wanted.

A few moments later I was in a chair with my shirt pulled up to my chest behind a cute fold out wall. A nice girl was chatting with me about how it wouldn't hurt at all and how it would look so cute one me with my name being 'Ichigo' and all. I gripped Ryou's hand and gave him a nervous glance. His eyes were on my stomach however, making me blush darkly. "And here we go." The lady smiled at me and pulled a bit of my stomach up so she could properly do it. "You have such a cute stomach," She laughed lightly. "Makes it hard to get it right. Don't worry; I've been doing this for years. Ready? Here we go."

She pulled the trigger on the small gun device and gave me a new belly button ring.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhhh"

Pudding dropped the small ear ring packet she was holding and swallowed thickly as I limped lightly out of the folding wall. "Ichigo-neechan... did it...hurt that bad?"

Lettuce looked absolutely horrified, hand on her mouth.

"It only hurt a little," I smiled lightly, standing up straight and lifting my shirt a little to show them. "But that wasn't me screaming."

"My hand!" Ryou coughed out, holding it lightly, tears in his eyes. "Oww...."

Pudding instantly broke into laughter. "Shirogane-niichan, you scream like a five year old girl on helium!"

We continued on our way in the mall with me walking a little slower than normal and almost constantly pulling up my shirt just a tad when no one was looking so I could see it again. Ryou was still looking at his right hand every now and then, but my left hand was holding his in a friendly manor in a way to apologize for crushing his other one. Pudding was humming to herself, sporting a simple gold stud in both ears. Lettuce had simple emerald gems in her ears, also small. Keiichiro had his hands in his pockets as he walked along with us. Although he hasn't done anything yet, I could tell he was happy to be with us all. He didn't get out much since he owned his own business and did most of the mew mew research. I couldn't blame him for enjoying just being out of the house for a change.

Pudding clasps her hands behind her back as she walked. "It's a shame it's not summer time. We could all go to the pool or something."

"We could," I thought aloud. "The place on campus has an indoor swimming pool. It's heated so it'll be warm. Ever been there?"

"Of course not," Pudding looked at me sideways. "I'm seventeen, Ichigo-neechan."

"Oh yeah," I scratched my cheek. "We could go... I can bring in two guests at a time, and so can Lettuce..."

"I don't have a bathing suit though," Lettuce spoke up nervously.

"It's okay. It sounds like fun. I haven't been swimming in a long time," Keiichiro spoke out, making me smile. "We can all go shopping for swimsuits when we're about to leave. My treat."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly..."

"Its okay, Lettuce," Ryou interrupted her. "He's as rich as I am."

I snorted. "You just want to see us in bikinis."

Ryou looked down at me and smirked. "You don't really have a lot to look at."

"What, are you calling me flat chested!?" I took my hand from his and crossed them across my chest, glaring. I knew I was a little...under-devolved... but that didn't mean he could say it! I looked over to my left and suddenly got a wicked idea. "Shirogane-chaaaaaannnnnnnn! Come with me in this store!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me.

Ryou stumbled a little bit and by the time he realized just what was going on, Pudding was already laughing while going over to a bench to sit and wait for us. It was then that he found out that I had drug him into the Victoria Secret store. His face immediately went red. "Whatam I doing in here?" He whispered harshly into my ear as I led him deeper in by his hand.

"Helping me shop," I replied easily, passing to look into a small section. After a moment, I took out a g-string. "Would this look nice on me?" I winked at him and he actually took a step away from me.

"Er...I..."

I smiled. "I'll take that as a yes." I put it in a small basket I got at the door and continued on, picking up a see-through lacy black bra. "Oh wow, look at this. It would match perfectly wouldn't it?" I held it to my chest. "What do you think, Ryou-chan?" I stepped closer to him and put my hand on his chest. "Would you..." I looked up at him and dropped my voice, talking huskily up to him. "Like to see me in this...?" Slowly I ran my tongue over my lips. "Or maybe...Out of it...instead?"

His face paled and slowly his eyes rolled up into his head just as a small trail of blood came to his nose. A moment later, he hit the ground. "Ha!" I snorted down at him. "'Not much to look at' my foot! That'll teach you to mess with me."

Several girls around me suddenly cheered me on, and I took a little bow as Pudding and Lettuce guided a blushing Keiichiro in the shop to help carry out Ryou.

"Wha...?" Ryou learned forward and took the small cloth of ice from his forehead. "What happened?"

"You passed out," I told him simply. "Are you okay?"

"Where is everyone?" He looked around. We were both on a bench someone on a lonely section of the mall.

"Over there." I pointed to a store far away. "Buying swimwear. Pudding is going to get one for me. I was watching over you."

"How long was I out?" He sniffed and wiped his nose when I gave him a tissue. "Not bleeding at least..."

"About two minutes," I answered him, puffing out my cheeks in anger. "Still think I'm not much to look at?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but closed it when he saw my face. "Um, sorry." He scratched his cheek. "I was just messing. I didn't mean to hurt you..."

I looked in front of us a moment before lightly scooting over next to him. The boy took the hint and let his arm fall over my shoulders. "You know..." I spoke softly. "I wouldn't mind it...if you acted nice all of the time...Ryou-chan."

His hand tightened a little on my shoulder, and I knew that he had heard me at least. "I am who I am," He replied lightly. "But... I'll try I guess. I feel like it."

"I'd like that." I looked up at him and offered a smile, which he took and returned. He then noticed my pink bag in my hand and blushed again. "I got a few things," I blushed as well, sliding the Victoria secret bag into another, larger bag that I had. Still looking down, I fidgeted a little. "Sleep ware that I can put on for naps..." My cheeks grew hotter. "Stuff I wouldn't mind you seeing me in..." I shyly looked over to the side to see his reaction, and I noticed her was gone. I didn't even feel his arm being taken away from my shoulder. I fumed darkly and growled.

A moment later, however, a cookie was in front of me. Looking up, I saw that Ryou had one as well. I took it from him and bit into it, noticing it was warm and filled with a cream. "I saw them being taken out of the oven over there," He pointed at the cookie place in the food court across the hallway. "So I thought you'd like one."

"For being an idiot, you sure are smart sometimes." I smiled and we shared a drink together as we waited for our friends.

A/N: I don't know. I just don't know. One moment I'm writing fine, getting 3-4 k words every few days and then it just.....I don't know. Writers block. We all know the feeling. This chapter isn't even done but I've waited so long, I feel like I at least owe you what I have so far. This is already almost as long as "College Mew Mew" and it was 21 chapters long. Wow. But anyway, sorry for the long delay. I hope you at least found this chapter funny. Please revuew and encourage me xx I'm having trouble writing.