"I didn't expect to see you here as well," Ichigo replied with a giggle. "But I guess it makes sense since this dorm has the exchanged student rooms." In the corner of her eye Ichigo saw a high top table with chairs. She walked over to it and dragged one of the chairs over to the front desk. She then took her seat. "I was going to go get dinner, but I really don't want to eat alone." Then idea dawn on her. "Have you eaten? I could order a pizza and have it deliver it to here."

Kish smiled. This was definitely going better than his disastrous attempts at trying to make Ichigo love him while simultaneous trying to take over her planet. Too bad he wasn't supposed to be getting attached... He had not planned to stay on Earth permanently.

But self control was not one of his strong points, so... "I'd love to eat with you. You can pick the toppings. I'm not picky." 

He had heard of pizza but never had a chance to taste it until now. Either way, it sounded good and he really would eat just about anything. Earth had so many wonderfully different foods to chose from while his planet was still developing new recipes.

Ichigo pulled out her phone and ordered a pizza. A part of her wanted to get anchovies, but that was the cat side talking. She ignored it and got bacon and pineapple instead. An odd combination, but it tasted good. After ordering their food, Ichigo and Haru had a small chat. She wasn't quite sure what to talk about with him. She mainly wanted to get to know him more, but wasn't sure how. She could ask him questions, but that could get annoying. Ichigo wasn't good in the boys department. She only had one boyfriend which didn't end to well...

When the pizza arrived, Ichigo got up from her chair and greeted the pizza man. She paid for the food and brought back to Haru. She sat back down in her chair and opened up the pizza box. "That looks amazing!!" She grabbed a slice. "Dig in."

Kish took a moment to look over the pizza before taking a piece. It looked very interesting and he didn't hesitate before taking a bite.  It was delicious, and he had to remind himself how rude it would be to devour it too quickly.  "This is delicious!" he said with a smile.

They spent most of the night talking with Kish answering more random questions for random residents. Soon he had to close the office.  He told Ichigo his office hours and then they parted ways for the night.

Ichigo was happy that her and Haru hit off. The one thing she worried about studying aboard was making friends. Haru being from Japan was a plus because they had a better chance of seeing each other after graduation. She bid him goodnight and went back to her dorm. Ichigo stayed up for a little bit before going to bed.

As the week went by Ichigo and Haru spent a lot of time together. She kept Haru company as he worked at the desk. They did their homework together as they talked. During the weekend the two had dinner together Saturday night. Sunday they went site seeing in Seattle and had lunch. It has been awhile since Ichigo had a good time with a guy. She couldn't help wondered if they could blossom into a relationship. The thought of it made her blush!

On Monday Ichigo woke up late. She dashed out her dorm and ran to get to her first class on time. As she was running Ichigo heard a loud of thud. She stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around. There right behind her was a bird Crima Anima. It knocked down a tree. She gasped and made a run for it as it came after her. She quickly got behind a building and grabbed her pendent of her pocket. Despite the war with aliens being over Ichigo never left home without it. Ryou always told her and the girls that you never know. 

"Mew Mew Strawberry Metamorphosis!!!" She shouted and the pendent glowed. A light engulf her and she was now Mew Ichigo, but her appearance was somewhat different. Now that she had long hair it was braided into a ponytail. Her outfit consist of a pink tunic with a pink skirt. She wore a dark magenta belt across the skirt. Mew Ichigo came out from her hiding spot and approached the the Crima Anima. It was destroying things as it was looking for her.

"Stop right there!!" She shouted. The monster turned and looked at her. "For the Earth's Future! I will be at service, Nya!" She then did her little cat pose. Mew Ichigo quickly did a face palm. "I guess old habits die hard..."

The monster came at her and Mew Ichigo quickly leaped up into the air. She landed behind it and kicked it right in its back. The monster went flying and landed on the ground. It almost shamed into a building.

"I better end this quickly," Mew Ichigo spoke to herself. She then summon her weapon. "Strawberry Wand!" A heart shape staff appeared before her. The Mew Aqua from the battle with Deep Blue fused with the mew pendents. Thus upgrading the Mews' weapons. Mew Ichigo then attacked the monster with her wand. It killed the monster which free a pigeon. Before Mew Ichigo could rest from the battle bystanders were gazing at her. She quickly leaped into the air and landed on a building.

When she landed on the building, Mew Ichigo shook her head. The pigeon she saved landed on her head and began to coo. "What was that Crima Anima doing here?" Mew Ichigo was in disbelief about the whole attack. Why would there be aliens attacking? Their planet was fine now. "I guess I should contact Ryou.."

Kish laid on one of the college buildings that morning, enjoying the sunshine as he waited for class time. It was surprisingly peaceful on the roof despite the large crowds of people running to and from classes below him. The peace was ruined moments later when he heard the sounds of a battle.

Kish sat up and peaked over the edge of the building he was sitting on at the fight below.  "Mew Ichigo...?" he whispered, stunned not only by her appearance but also by the monster she was fighting. It was definitely a Crima Anima. There was no denying that.

'What the hell?!' This shouldn't be happening. His people were at peace with Earth, and attacking other planets without military backing was strictly illegal. His people should not be here.

The fight ended and he saw Ichigo jump right toward the adjacent building. He couldn't stick around for her to see him, so he quickly teleported back to his room.  Thankfully, his roomate had a morning class earlier than his so the room was empty.

Kish grabbed his laptop and logged on to his planet's network.  He did a quick scan of his email and multiple news sites, but there was no indication that anything had changed. Protesters still thought Earth was rightfully theirs while the majority was happy with the planet they had. There was no military action being planned or executed to take Earth.

As a last ditch effort, he dialed Pai's number and waited for his older friend to pick up the line.

Pai's face appeared and he stared hard at Kish for a moment before realization entered his features, "Kish, I forgot what your disguise looked like. It's been a while."

Kish nodded, "Sorry to surprise you. I don't want to go out of disguise in case my roommate gets out of class early. With my luck, he'd be one of the humans that actually saw us when we attacked. Not that he ever leaves his house from what I've seen..."

Pai rolled his eyes, "Like your non-human language isn't obvious enough that something is strange about you.  Is there a reason you're calling? I have something due for work by the end of the day."

Kish narrowed his eyes but otherwise ignored Pai's comment.  "There is a reason I'm calling this time. Today the college was attacked by a Crima Anima. I didn't see the source, but I know for a fact it was definitely one of ours. Do you know what's going on?"

Pai stared at him in surprise, "No one should be attacking Earth. It's still highly illegal to do so."

"Can you report it for me?" Kish asked.

"I will, but chances are they'll tell you to take care of it. They're not exactly happy you up and left without notice."

Kish sighed while the school's bell rang.  "You're probably right... I need to go.  Send me an email once they respond."

He didn't wait for Pai's response before closing the computer and teleporting to the tree outside his class building.  He rushed into the building, already late for class.

Observation Complete.

An alien was standing in front of a large computer. A video popped up displaying Mew Ichigo's fight from earlier. The alien was a tall male with short silver hair and had gray silver eyes. He also wore a pair of black glasses. When the video ended, he replayed it one more time.

"She's quite strong isn't she?," spoke a voice.

The alien turned and saw another male alien standing there. He was about average height. He long red hair which was tied into a ponytail. He also had red eyes. The red hair alien joined the other alien at the computer. 

"Watch the fight from afar, Roy?" the silver alien asked him.

"Of course!" Roy answered with a grin. "I had to see it in person! Now I know why she gave Kish and the others trouble."

"She didn't see you?"

"Nope. So what do you think, Sora?"

"Liked you said she is quite strong. She took down the Chrima Anima with ease," replied Sora. He touched the computer screen and exited the video. Sora then made a profile of Mew Ichigo appeared. "My data tells me that her last encounter with Mew Aqua gave her a boost in power. Hence why she looks different transform and wields a new weapon."

"Huh," Roy spoke and folded his arms. "So I guess that happened to the other mews. Should we study them as well?"

Sora glanced at his comrade and nodded his head. "That might be a good idea.  However, we could be wasting our time."

"It doesn't hurt to double check."

Sora exited of Mew Ichigo's profile and opened up a GPS program. He entered the other mews' names and the program began to search for them. It didn't take long for the results to pop up. "It looks like they all still live in Tokyo."

Roy clapped his hands in delight. "Prefect! We can send a Chrima, when they're all together!"

"I'm not sure Roy.. There's a possibility that they could be still in contact with Kish and the others."

"Pish posh!" Roy waved his hand. "So what if they are? They don't know we're with the rebels. We'll just have to make sure they can't trace us."

"Fine, but you get to send out the Chrima."

"Sure thing, boss!" Roy then disappeared.

Meanwhile Mew Ichigo was still standing on the rooftop. She was debating to go contact Ryou or go to class. The best thing to do would go to class. Haru was probably wondering where she was. He probably saw the attack and would worry if she didn't show up. So it was decided. Mew Ichigo jumped off the building and landed behind a tree. She detransformed and ran to class. She made it just barely.

All through class Ichigo's mind wondered about the attack from earlier. Could Kish and his friends be responsible for this? No! They had no reason too! Ryou told her that the Mew Aqua healed their planet. Which means? Could there be other aliens that still wanted Earth? Could they be attacking Tokyo as we speak? She shuttered at the thought. Ichigo hoped her friends were all right. Pudding was in high school while Minto and Lettuce attend universities in Tokyo. Meanwhile Zakuro was still a model and would sometimes travel to other countries. 

"That's it for today," the teacher spoke. Ichigo shot up from her chair and gather her things. She was planning to skip her next class to call Ryou. Before she could leave the classroom, Haru placed his hand on her shoulder. She gave him a confused look. He asked if her could talk to her private. She just nodded her head and followed him. As they walked she wondered what he wanted to talk about. She then realized that Haru barely talked to her during class. Oh no!!! Did he see her turn into a mew mew!? He probably thought she was a freak!!!! Haru took her down one floor and found an empty classroom. He then shut the door.

"So.." Ichigo spoke trying to sound nervous. "What's up?"

Class went by extremely slowly as Kish tried to plan a good way to reveal himself to Ichigo. Best case scenario, she would forgive him for lying to her and they would continue being friends while investigating what was happening with the attack. Worse case scenario...  He wasn't sure.  Maybe she would hate him... Or maybe she would just be mad? He wasn't sure. He just didn't want to lose the new found friendship he had created with her.

Kish looked at Ichigo when she wasn't paying attention.  She looked worried. What if she was already blamed him and the others?  He clenched his fists.  He would have to tell her as soon as possible. So he led her to one of the empty classrooms and locked the door before turning to her.

"Ichigo, I haven't been entirely honest with you... On the first day of class you asked if we'd met before, and the truth is we have. In fact, we knew each other for a while, and you were not particularly fond of me. I might not have said anything if you weren't attacked this morning..." He said as he reached for the watch on his left wrist. It was the basis for his transformation.

"Just please believe me when I say my people did not order that attack this morning," he murmured, pushing the side button on the watch. Suddenly, his disguise faded, his hair lightening to its normal shade and his ears growing back to their normal size. He was sure his eyes also changed back to amber, though he couldn't see it.

Ichigo stood there stunned. Haru was Kish!? How could this be? Yet it made prefect sense? She bit her lip. Ichigo felt alittle upset due to fact that Kish hid this from her. Yet she understood why. When they met, it probably freaked him out that she was attending the same school as him. Kish probably had no idea she was study abroad. At least she hope that. They have spoken in years. Ryou only talked to Pai.

"What..." she began to say. "What are you doing here, Kish? Why did you lie to me?"

Kish quietly watched as she went from shocked to upset to... understanding maybe? No, probably not.  She wasn't yelling at him, though, so that was a good sign. Finally she asked questions he could answer. 

"Well.. I wanted to spend some time on Earth.  Like an extended vacation. Maybe experience some of the different human cultures. I liked Seattle so I thought I would stay for a while and applied for college to give myself something to do. I thought being on the other side of the world from Japan would be good enough... But then I saw you in class and couldn't help but strike up a conversation. I thought it would be best if you didn't know who I actually was..."

She eyed him carefully as he talked. Judging by his body language he was telling the truth. Or he was a really good lair. Ichigo would give the benefit of the doubt. She couldn't help, but be touched that he didn't want her to who he was. It meant he respected her now. Was it possible that he matured? Or was he really like this, but the stress of saving his people drove him insane? Ichigo wanted to ask him these questions, but now was not the time.

"So," she said changing the subject. "Who was behind that attack?"

Kish frowned and shrugged at her question. "I don't know for sure. I called Pai this morning to confirm nothing on our planet has changed. He confirmed the attack was not ordered. It's illegal to attack other planets without the military's backing, and Pai is among the decision makers. He said he'd report it for me, but it's likely they'll tell me to take care of it since I'm already here.

There are some groups that come to mind though... Not everyone was happy we defied Deep Blue and gave up on getting Earth. Multiple organizations have cropped up to protest staying on that planet.  They're a minority of the population, but they're also extremely vocal and constantly try to sway the rest of the population. It's likely someone from one of those groups decided to act on their own."

Ichigo let out a groan and shook her head. Sayonara peaceful life.

"Well, we better go talk to Ryou then," Ichigo spoke. "I wonder if these rebels attacked Tokyo as well." Ichigo opened the door and walked on out with Kish following right behind her. She could have called Ryou you there, but she rather use Skype than her phone. Long distance can be such a pain. They head back to their dorm and went to her room. 

Luckily Ichigo's roommate was at class. Ichigo motion Kish to sit down on her bed and she grabbed her laptop and sit down next to him. She booted up her laptop and signed into Skype. She glanced at the time on computer's clock. It was 10 am in Seattle which meant it was two am there. She hoped Ryou was awake. She scrolled down her contacts list and saw that he was online. She hit the call button. It rang for a few seconds until Ryou picked up.

"Hey," he answered. They could see that he was sitting in his lab. "Don't you have.." He cut himself off, when he noticed someone was sitting next to her. Kish was back in his disguise not wanting to take the risk of Ichigo's roommate walking in.

"Ryou, it's Kish," Ichigo said noticing he was looking at him. "He's here studying aboard as well."

"Oh, so is that why you called me?"

"No. I was attacked today by a Chrima Anima."

"What!?"

"Kish, said there are groups of people from his planet that still want Earth. He thinks it's a possibility that someone from those groups is acting on their own."

Before Ryou can say anything an alarm went off. He looked away from the computer screen and went over to the main computer in the lab. A giant message was the screen saying Tokyo was under attacked. He click the message with his mouse and a video popped up. A cat Chrima Anima was destroying parked cars. Ryou then quickly returned to his other computer. "We're under attack as well. Call me later." He then hung up.

Ichigo closed her laptop and turned to Kish. "Do you think there's more than one?"

Kish bit his lip. "It's hard to say... My people can teleport, so it could be one person in two different places or it could be two or more working together. Depending on how their base is set up, it wouldn't be too hard to go between here and there.  

It's weird that they're bothering with Tokyo at the moment when they could focus on defeating you first. It's not every day you get the leader of your enemies so far separated from their teammates.  Either way, the other Mews should be able to handle it. Pai, Tart, and I were the only ones who knew how to fuse the parasite with a human soul, and it's not like we would share that information."

Ichigo nodded her head. She was confident that her friends could take care of themselves. She got up from the bed and placed her laptop back on her desk. She was now wondering what they should do next. Ryou said to call later so they could go back to class. But could she sit in class all day? She glanced at Kish.

"What should we do now?" she asked him. "I'm not sure if I can pay attention in the rest of my classes today."