A.N: *sobs of joy* You beautiful people reviewing my story! Konekokitticat11, WarriorLeila, kisshuismylife, RedHoodLover, MugetsuPipefox and NeneKenevra, I cannot thank you all enough for your lovely words of encouragement.

Anyway, I was designing some possible MEW outfits for later on, and Mum walked over and asked if I was drawing a cat-girl Katniss… I think that's a compliment!

The boy with the dark green hair stood with an arrogant pose, one long, pale hand rested on his hip, and his chin raised, like he thought he was better than me.

"Kish?" I repeated. "Well, Kish, you can take your stupid name and piss right off to whatever stupid nightclub you came from!" His strange clothes did make it look like he'd come from a rave or something like that. He wore a dark baggy shirt which was too short and revealed some of his midriff, and matching pair of shorts with strange red things on his arms and black boots. Sort of like a Goth who'd gotten dressed in the dark and accidently dyed their hair green instead of black.

"What's a nightclub?" he asked curiously.

"Are you screwing with me?" I said in disbelief.

"No," he smirked, "but I'd like to." I growled and muttered a very rude word. This guy was some freak who was clearly off his face and trying to waste my time.

"Yeah, whatever. I've got places to be," I snapped. I didn't feel safe turning my back on him, but nonetheless I whirled around and tried to storm off after my friends. Of course, moments later I felt a hot hand grasp my shoulder and spin me around.

"But kitten, we've only just met," he pouted playfully.

"Shame... Why do you keep calling me that?"

"What?"

"Kitten."

"Your fighting style, maybe? You stand off to the side until you're in danger then lash out with your claws," he grinned. His wide smile revealed pointed teeth that eerily reminded me of a vampire's fangs.

I was speechless. What he said was right on the mark – I'd stayed out of danger and let the girls fight until I was under direct attack. I'd have to train and get better and fighting so that doesn't happen anymore. Moreover, what he'd said was incredibly frustrating, because I didn't have a comeback for it. I growled angrily again and ran off. I heard his footsteps chasing after me, almost inhumanly fast.

"Oi! Quit running off," he shouted. His voice was right behind me. I sidestepped quickly and allowed him to careen forwards. He recovered his balance and turned to shoot me a fierce glare with his amber eyes. "Hm, not bad. You've got quite a lot of fight in you, huh?"

He leaned forward until he was uncomfortably close and I could feel his body heat radiating towards me. His face was right in front of mine and suddenly I realised – he was trying to kiss me! I hissed and grabbed his face in my hand. His skin was too hot to be human. I shoved him aside and hastily retracted my hand.

"No thanks, buddy. I have a boyfriend, you know!"

"Oh, really?" he asked, seeming genuinely interested. "Tell me, where does he live?"

"None of your business, freak," I spat. I started backing away slowly, but he matched my every step.

"Ichigo-oneechan!" a female voice called out. I turned and saw Pudding speeding towards me and heaved a sigh of relief. Kish's eyes narrowed when he saw the rest of the girls round the corner after Pudding.

"Outnumbered," he grumbled. "I'll come and play with you again, kitten. You owe me a kiss!" He quickly vanished down a side-street and seemed to dissolve into the shadows. I shuddered. Dirty perverted freak! If I see him again in this lifetime it'll be too soon for me.

The girls arrived by my side. Lettuce anxiously checked me over to make sure I was okay.

"What the hell was that?" Mint said, sounding disgusted.

"I think that was the thing Ryou warned us about," Zakuro mentioned. She looked over at me. "Ryou is Shirogane's first name, by the way. Anyway, you seem to be okay. Did he try and fight you?"

"Ugh, I wish. He tried to kiss me!" I hissed.

"Ooh, Ichigo's got a secret admirer already," Pudding giggled.

"That's not 'admiration', that's sexual assault," I sighed. "Sorry for the hold up. I should have just machete'd him, but he looked too human. I didn't even realise he was a – Chimera? Is that what he was?"

"Not quite. Alien would probably be more accurate," Lettuce said thoughtfully.

"Next time I'll stick one of these through his freaky ears," Mint warned, waving one of her arrows about. "Ichigo, you should've chopped his dirty lips off! After all, you've held up my bath now. I hope you're pleased with yourself." I smiled to myself – it was almost like Mint was showing that she actually cared, even if she was doing it in her own strange manner.

Funnily enough, after you kill a monster together, you automatically become friends. On the way back to that weird building – what's it even called? MEW HQ? That would be hilarious – we somehow ended up discussing Alien fashion choices.

By the time we made it back to MEW HQ the only lighting was the street lamps. I'd completely forgotten that we were in Tokyo while we were fighting. Now, I could easily tell from the lack of stars in the sky. The sky wasn't black, or even dark blue, but a somewhat sickly grey-orange colour. The one thing I hated about cities was the lack of nature – no stars, not enough plants, pollution… Visits were fine, but I wasn't sure how I'd survive living in the city. I'd lived in a green, tree-filled area my whole life, only a short drive away from the ocean!

The ten-storey building appeared before us. It was undoubtedly tall, but dwarfed by some of the enormous skyscrapers surrounding it. Once we stood in front of the panel which served as a door, it opened from the inside and we stepped in.

Shirogane was waiting for us. He actually smiled when he saw us. Not a smirk, not a condescending grin, but a genuine smile!

"Job well done, girls. Go clean yourselves up and meet back here for the debriefing," he told us, sounding far kinder than usual. Maybe he does have a shred of a conscious after all. At least, enough to feel sorry for us after he sent us out after a monster which could have killed us. The girls and I stepped into the elevator and Zakuro took us up to level six.

"This is where all of our daily living things are," Lettuce explained. "Apartments – with ensuites – as well as a small kitchen, laundry, and a shared bathing area. The rooms all have a double bed and a desk and are surprisingly big."

I whistled, impressed. Out of all the levels, this one seemed the most… comforting, I suppose. Thick white carpet under our feet, cream walls and artwork around the walls graced this floor.

"Bathtime!" Pudding giggled. "Ichigo-oneechan, come into the shared one with us, it's more fun that way." We walked through the lounge room to the laundry, which had a door leading to the bathing area.

It looked more like a spa to me. At first, we were in a small changing room with towels and pegs for hanging clothes on, but a tiled area with a bath that looked more like an indoor pool was visible through the doorway. The other girls all stripped off, leaving their dirty battle gear on the floor, grabbed a towel, and jumped into the bath.

"We have to be naked?" I grimaced quietly. Still, I wasn't going to be that one person who made it weird. I mentally braced myself, then copied the other girls. I wrapped the towel around myself and headed straight for the main bath.

"Ichigo, you're meant to rinse off first," Mint huffed. I noticed showers lining the walls and I nearly face-palmed. Of course, I should have known that, I've only been studying Japanese culture for six years already… I washed the last flecks of blood, Chimera spit and Alien cooties off me then slipped into the hot bath water.

The hot water was reinvigorating. At first, I felt too awkward to speak, but the other girls chatted freely as they relaxed so I soon found myself drawn into the conversation. Soon I was so engaged in talking that I forgot we were in a bath and all my initial awkwardness seemed to melt away into the water. I was actually disappointed when Zakuro suggested that we should probably get out and go downstairs for the debriefing.

We dried off and moved back into the changing area. We moved our dirty clothes into the laundry area. It looked like there was a roster, and luckily my name hadn't been added onto it yet. Poor Lettuce was stuck with washing the bundles of dirty clothes.

"Hey, I just realised that I have absolutely no clothes," I announced. Not even underwear – my only pair was now in the washing machine.

"You'll have to borrow some clothes for now," Mint suggested.

"Is that an offer?" I beamed. I followed Mint to her room and she tossed a pair of frilly blue panties and a matching night-dress at me. "Thanks so much, Mint!"

"I don't have any bras that will fit you," she responded. Casually brushing off my thanks, of course. And besides, it was true – Mint definitely had a flatter chest than me.

I pulled on the clothes she'd lent me. The dress seemed to fit pretty well, despite our difference in height and body shapes. I went to wait out in the living room and dried my hair thoroughly while the others got changed. Everyone emerged in varying levels of dress. Mint had a cute, white and lacy pyjama set on, Zakuro was wearing silk boxers and a band t-shirt, Pudding had donned a singlet and pyjama pants with bananas printed on them, and Lettuce was wearing a big, baggy Doctor Who t-shirt with leggings.

We praised each other's choice in pyjamas then returned to the first floor. Shirogane was waiting, sipping on a mug of coffee.

"Took your time," he muttered to himself. He flipped the projector on, and suddenly we were watching footage of ourselves fighting the Chimera. I felt almost sad seeing it while it was still alive. "Zakuro, you did an excellent job of leading. Focussing the entire team on a single task proved to be effective in this situation. Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, brilliant job on disabling it – dodging attacks and attacking in the gaps is a good way to go. Now… Ichigo…" He looked at me seriously. "You're going to need training. Allowing the Chimera to get that close to you is dangerous. Usually it's people's first instinct to get out of the way of a giant dog thing, but no, you just stand there."

"Well excuse me for not having any training," I said sarcastically.

"No, you can't try and be sassy while wearing something as ridiculous as that," he chuckled.

"I don't have any of my own clothes! You kidnapped me while I was in school uniform!"

"Fine, we'll go shopping tomorrow then. Anything else?" Shirogane finished. Everyone shook their heads – it had been a fair critique of the battle. "Okay, then, dismissed!"

"Guys, did you hear that?" I grinned excitedly. "Shopping! In Tokyo!"