Missing
The Cyniclons were startled when the Mews ran up to their latest battle site without Mew Ichigo. They also immediately noticed that the four remaining Mews were steaming.
Pai ordered the Chimera Anima to attack- and Lettuce completely destroyed it with one attack. Then the Mews turned to face the Cyniclons, and Zakuro called angrily, "Where is Ichigo?"
Taken aback, the three Cyniclons didn't respond for a moment, until Kisshu said, "How should we know? Isn't it Blondie's job to track her?"
"Her pendant's signal disappeared yesterday; we think someone broke it," Mint said. "And she's not answering her cell phone."
"Just because she's missing doesn't necessarily mean we have her," Pai said. "Ask her boyfriend." Then he teleported back to the ship, followed by Kisshu and Taruto.
The Mews looked at each other, and then headed back to the Café. They found Ryou and Keiichiro waiting, and Ryou asked, "Well?"
"They didn't know anything," Mint said.
"Pai said to ask her boyfriend," Lettuce commented.
"We already asked him, and her school friends," Keiichiro said. "They didn't know anything, and her parents are away again."
"Then what happened, na no da?" Pudding asked.
"Unfortunately, I have no clue," Ryou said. "Without a way to track her pendant, I can't track her. And her cell phone is still in her room. Maybe she was kidnapped?"
"Who'd kidnap Ichigo?" Mint asked. "Her family's not rich or anything."
"Do you think someone found out about her involvement with the Mew Project?" Zakuro asked.
"Wouldn't they be after us too, then?" Mint asked.
"Not if they don't know who we are," Lettuce said. "Even if someone knows Ichigo's identity, it's possible they don't know ours."
"But how would they find out about her and not us?" Mint asked.
"The only person who might know is Aoyama; she told him and he dumped her," Zakuro said. "He's the only one besides us who knows about Ichigo."
Before the others could respond, the doors to the Café opened, and to their surprise, Moe and Miwa came in. "Any word on Ichigo yet?" Miwa asked.
"No, but we have a hunch Aoyama might know something," Lettuce said.
"We really should have warned her NOT to tell him about being Mew Ichigo," Moe sighed. "We'll go interrogate him; he's scared of us."
Before they could leave, though, the group heard teleportation, and the three Cyniclons appeared. Pai sighed as the Mews tensed and said, "Kisshu and I can't find Ichigo either. She's invisible on the radar I have, and Kisshu can't sense her. The only thing we know is that she's still alive."
"And before you ask, Deep Blue doesn't have her," Kisshu added. "We ran a scan of his dimension as well as Earth. Ichigo's nowhere to be found."
"The telepathy connection I have with her is broken too," Lettuce said. "Maybe something's blocking her powers?"
"Or it's blocking out our powers," Kisshu said. "Did you guys have equipment with a cloaking mechanism?"
"We had a cloaking device on a room in the basement, and a back-up if that one failed," Keiichiro said. "What are you thinking?"
"What if Ichigo is hiding for some reason?" Kisshu suggested. "If she stole a cloaking device, it would explain why we can't find her."
"But a cloaking device isn't immune to you trying to sense her energy signature," Pai pointed out."
"Actually, we had something that would erase the girls' energy signatures in case they needed to infiltrate your ship for some reason," Keiichiro said. "If she stole both devices, she'd be literally invisible to any and all attempts to find her, mechanical or otherwise."
"But if Ichigo's hiding, what is she hiding from?" Mint asked.
Moe sighed, reminding the others that she and Miwa were still there. "My guess is that Ichigo's hiding from Blondie," she said. "If she is hiding, it's probably because of Blondie." She turned to Miwa, and said, "Go get it."
Miwa turned and ran out, leaving the others puzzled. "Go get what?" Pai asked.
Moe sighed again and said, "Ichigo's diary. She writes everything in there, and rarely misses a night. Miwa's going to go get it, and she and I can figure out whether Kisshu's theory is right or not. The rest of you don't get to look."
"Why?" Ryou asked.
"Do you WANT her to kill you once she finds out?" Moe asked. "It's bad enough that Miwa and I have to resort to this, without the rest of you reading her personal thoughts. Normally we wouldn't do this at all, but I suppose desperate situations call for desperate measures."
The others sighed, and settled down to wait. Thirty minutes later, Miwa came back in holding a piece of paper. "I copied the page that we need," she announced, and read out loud, "I heard another conversation between Blondie and that guy he's been talking to." The others looked at Ryou suspiciously as Miwa read out, "Blondie was telling the guy all he had to do was keep Keiichiro busy long enough for him to get me. I assume he's going to rape me, so I've decided to go into hiding. I know he'll figure it out if I go to the Cyniclons' ship, so I'll find somewhere else. I don't need to put them in danger. I just hope the guy he's been talking to doesn't find me. He sounds dangerous. I won't put others in danger either, so I guess this is it for a while. I only hope Moe and Miwa think to find this."
Miwa looked up, and said, "That's all it says."
The others were a bit busy glaring at Ryou. "Ryou, why would you rape Ichigo?" Keiichiro asked.
"And who was it you were talking to?" Kisshu asked.
Ryou looked panicked, and didn't respond. Then he turned to run, but Kisshu teleported in front of him, swords out, and snarled, "At this point, it doesn't matter why you would rape Ichigo, but you ARE going to tell us who you were talking to."
"I don't know what his real name was," Ryou said.
"What did he look like?" Kisshu asked.
"You don't need to question him, Kisshu," Pai said unexpectedly. "He was talking to me. I disguised myself as a human so I could get more information on the Mew Project, and it worked a lot better than I thought it would. As time went on, though, the meetings I had with Blondie got uncomfortable for me, because he wanted my help in getting rid of you. When I realized his intention was to rape Ichigo, and hope that I could keep Keiichiro busy, I left, and I was going to tell you all this today, but then we found out that Ichigo had disappeared, so I didn't have time. I didn't realize she was listening in on the conversations."
"So all those nights you were gone weren't spent stalking Lettuce?" Kisshu asked.
"No, Kisshu," Pai said wearily. "Take Blondie somewhere else to kill him, I'm sure the girls don't really need to see this."
Kisshu grabbed Ryou by the throat, and teleported to the woods near the sakura tree. He then pinned Ryou to a nearby tree with one hand, and used one of his sais to stab Ryou through the heart. He slit Ryou's throat to be sure, and let him drop, then incinerated the body and teleported back to the Café.
He found the others waiting, and Pai asked, "Is he dead?"
"Yep, and I incinerated the remains," Kisshu said. "Any ideas on how to find Ichigo?"
"Unfortunately, no," Keiichiro said.
"Is there a way to remotely deactivate the devices she stole?" Kisshu asked.
"The cloaking device, yes, but not the energy-disguiser," Keiichiro said. "I'll go try to deactivate that." He left, and the others settled down to wait.
Fifteen minutes later, he came back, and said, "According to the computers, it's deactivated. I got a faint trail of the energy from it, and it was coming from Inohara Park."
"I'll go find Ichigo," Kisshu said. He teleported out, and Pai sighed. "That's probably for the best; if it's one of you guys, she might run again," he said.
With Kisshu: He teleported to the sakura tree, and started looking around, trying to find Ichigo. Finally he went into the woods, and started searching there, thinking maybe Ichigo would find it a better place to hide. He tried sensing her, and this time, to his surprise, it worked. He saw her in a clearing surrounded by bushes, and she looked scared. He immediately teleported to her, and she looked up as she heard the teleportation. "Kisshu?" she asked.
"I'm here," Kisshu said. "I killed Ryou, it's safe for you to come back now."
"What about the guy he was talking to?" Ichigo asked.
"It turns out that was Pai disguised as a human; he was trying to get information on the Mew Project, and didn't realize you were listening," Kisshu said. "Do you want to go back now?"
"Yeah… I broke my ankle, that's why I'm here instead of the sakura tree," Ichigo said.
"Your ankle's broken?" Kisshu asked, worried.
"Yeah," Ichigo said. She picked up a heavy backpack and put her arms through the straps. Kisshu gently picked her up, and teleported back to the Café.
The others were waiting, and looked worried when they saw Ichigo. Kisshu set her down on a chair as the others came over. "Ichigo, are you okay?" Moe asked.
"My left ankle's broken, but other than that I'm fine," Ichigo said. "Thanks for finding my diary."
"Sure," Moe said. "Pai said he can heal any injuries you have when he gets back from killing Aoyuck."
"Okay," Ichigo said.
Ten minutes later, Pai teleported back in, and said, "Oh good, you found her. Ichigo, are you okay?"
"My left ankle is broken," Ichigo said.
"Take off the shoe and sock on that foot, I'll see what I can do," Pai said.
Ichigo obeyed, wincing, and Pai put a hand on her ankle, and said, "I have to straighten the bone; try to stay still." Ichigo nodded, and Pai maneuvered the bone back into place, then put his hand on Ichigo's ankle, and started healing it. Her pained expression relaxed, and when Pai took his hand away, she said, "Thanks, Pai. I'm tired…."
"Kisshu can take you home; now that I've killed Deep Blue's human host, we're forming a truce," Pai said.
Kisshu took that as a cue, and took Ichigo's hand, then teleported to her room. "Can you stay?" she asked sleepily as they landed.
"Sure Koneko-chan," Kisshu said. He watched as Ichigo took her shoes off and climbed under the covers of her bed, and then he settled down next to her. She looked up at him sleepily, and he gently stroked her hair. She purred as she fell asleep, and Kisshu smiled.
I know it's short, but I wanted to try out the Mystery genre, so here's my attempt at it. It's not great, but please review and tell me what you think!