I walked a little way behind Mikio, hoping if I did so it wouldn't look like we where walking together and if anyone from school saw me they wouldn't go tell everyone that I was seeing him.

"You're slow, you know that?" Mikio called back to me. I rolled my eyes and kept walking, hoping we would get there soon.

'Slow is the total opposite of me buddy' I thought. I started to get a little chilly because I hadn't been expecting to be out so late so I hadn't worn anything to keep me warm for nighttime conditions. I sneezed and then felt a jacket put around my shoulders. I looked up to see Mikio had taken off his jacket and put it around me.

"Um… thanks…" I said nervously.

"No problem, you should wear wormer clothes, it gets cold at night."

"Well I wasn't expecting to stay out this late… if you had told me I was going to be there so long I would have ran home and got a jacket before I went back…" I said starting to get a little cross with him.

He obviously noticed he was starting to swim in dangerous waters so he quickly changed the subject, "So who was that boy you were with at the café earlier today?"

"I already told you, I go to school with him." I said in a fluster.

"I mean, who is he to you?" Mikio said as if it had been an obvious question.

"What do you mean?" I asked, although I new perfectly well what he meant.

"Well is he a friend, a crush, a boyfriend, a study partner who likes you? What?" I quickly turned to him and looked him strait in the eyes.

"What do you mean by a study partner who likes me?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well its obvious isn't it? The way you two were talking, the way he looked at me when I walked over, you'd have to be really dense not to notice…" said Mikio smartly.

"Why you little…!" I started but held it back. I didn't want to make a habit of punching people. I had noticed that after punching that freaky Nariyuki I felt like punching people more often. We turned the corner and walked up to me driveway. I look off the jacket he had let me use and handed it to him. He looked at it, then handed it back.

"Keep it… then at least I'll know you have a jacket." I took it from him and smiled one of my nicest smiles I could give, a very meaningful one.

"Thanks… that's vary nice of you… um… see you at work…" I walked up to my door and opened it quietly so my parents wouldn't know I had come home with a boy. When I was shutting the door, I peaked a look outside to see if he had left. He hadn't. He was still standing at the end of the driveway, apparently watching to make sure I got in safe. I shut the door and started to head up to my room.

"What do you have there Yuki?" I jumped and turned around to see my dad standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and had probably seen the whole thing.

"Just a jacket Daddy," I said holding it up for him to see.

"I don't suppose it belongs to that boy at the end of the driveway?" he asked.

My dad understands me the best out of my parents, but he is still a dad and they can be vary protective of their daughters. That's his only flaw.

"As a matter of fact it does Daddy! You weren't by any chance spying on me were you?" I asked, giving him a look.

"Of course not… I was just… what were you doing with a boy anyway? And why do you have his jacket?"

I rolled my eyes. The only thing Dad doesn't understand had to be boys. If he understood that no mater what he said I was going to date then everything would go much easier, but no. He had to choose that as his flaw.

"Daddy, he was only walking me home. And he just gave me his jacket so he would know that I had something warm to wear. He was just being nice. Can I go now? I need to call Newnan." And before he could answer I ran up the stairs and into my room. I flung myself onto my bed and grabbed my cell of my bedside table. I quickly dialed Newnan's number and laid my head on my pillow.

"Hello?" answered Newnan, sounding bored.

"Hey Nan! It's Yuki."

"Oh, hi Yuki! So how did the date go? Tell me everything!"

I told her all about our time talking in the café and after I told her about meeting up with Mikio she stopped me.

"Who is Mikio?"

I stopped. I had forgotten that Newnan hadn't met him. And there was a good reason for that. She hadn't been in the woods with me when I was attacked by Nariyuki, when he kissed me, when I socked him in the face, when I hid in the log and was pulled out to what I thought would be my doom. She hadn't had Mikio jump and push her out of the way of the snake, or her grab him and jump into a tree. She hadn't seen me transform into my mew form and fight a Kimera Anima. She was clueless.

"He's just… the insistent manager of the café we were at. I had applied for a job there and he was telling me that I had got the job…" I said of the top of my head.

'Nice save…' "Anyway we left and Akinori was being a little quiet so we sat down and I asked him what was wrong and he asked me if I like Mikio! I told him no and I was going to make some rood comments about him when Akinori kissed me!"

I heard Newnan squeal on the other line and yell, "They kissed Mint! You owe me $20!"

I smiled to myself. Just like Newnan and Mint to make those kinds of bets.

"I better go… I have to run some arenas for Mum tomorrow and she always sends me off supper early. Talk to you later!" I hung up the phone and sighed. I pulled on my blue pajamas and walked over to Cherry's cage. I opened it, pulled her out, and cuddled her against my cheek.

"Sorry I haven't been hanging out with you lately Cherry. Life is going crazy… come on… lets go to bed. You can sleep with me."

I walked over to my bed and placed her on one of my pillows. She is spoiled. She gets a whole pillow to herself. I switched the light off and walked over to my window to pull the curtains shut. When I got there I could have sworn I saw a shadow. I opened the window and looked outside. I didn't see anything so I shut the window, and just to be on the safe side, locked it. Then I pulled the curtains shut and turned off the light. Climbing in bed I couldn't stop thinking about that day, my first kiss with Akinori (Thanks to Nariyuki, he wasn't the first person I kissed), getting a job, walking home with Mikio, him giving me his jacket. I fell into a happy sleep, and for the first time in a month, I had a peaceful dream of finding all the other mews, going on dates with Akinori, having more kisses with Akinori, me kicking Nariyuki's butt, and having a conversation with Mikio that didn't involve any fighting or arguing.