Uh-Oh Chapter 2:
Problems Arise
After Lettuce left, Ichigo asked, "Taruto, do you want to stay here?"
"It might be for the best," Taruto said. "Pai might be after me, and that would put Pudding and her siblings in danger. Do you mind?"
"No," Ichigo said. "It's a good idea. I gave Kisshu the spare room, do you mind sleeping on the sofa bed?"
"I don't mind, but I think it would be safer if Kisshu slept with one of us close by," Taruto said.
"Ryou knows where my room is, so I guess I could sleep in Kisshu's room with him, and you could either have my room or the sofa bed," Ichigo said.
"I'll take the sofa bed, your room isn't very safe if Ryou knows where it is," Taruto said. "And I'd suggest locking all the windows and doors just in case."
"Okay," Ichigo said. "Why don't you take Pudding home, and I'll start locking up, since you can teleport back in, right?"
"Yup," Taruto said. "Close the curtains in your room; if Ryou comes he won't be able to see whether or not you're in there."
"K," Ichigo said. She got up and locked all her windows, then closed the curtains as Taruto teleported out with Pudding. Then she went to Kisshu's room and locked all the windows, closing the curtains in there too. Kisshu followed her around as she locked every window and door she could find. Then she locked the basement up, and looked at Kisshu, who looked sleepy. "Kisshu, do you mind if we sleep together, or do you want me to sleep on the floor?" Ichigo asked.
"Can we sleep together?" Kisshu asked sleepily.
"Sure," Ichigo said. "Let me just get pajamas on, k? You can go back to our room."
"I don't have pajamas," Kisshu said.
"I'll get you a shirt, k? I don't have any pants that will fit you," Ichigo said.
"K," Kisshu said. Ichigo went upstairs and got a black shirt that looked long enough, and brought it to Kisshu. "Thanks, Ichigo-oneechan," Kisshu said.
"Sure," Ichigo said. "I'm going to go get my pajamas on, so why don't you go change in our room?"
"K," Kisshu said, and left as Ichigo gathered up her pajamas. She went to the bathroom, changed and brushed her teeth, then came out to find Taruto waiting.
"Do you need help with the sofa bed?" she asked. "Or do you mind sleeping on the sofa? Kisshu's really tired."
"I'll manage," Taruto said. "Night."
"Night," Ichigo said, and went to Kisshu's room. He was sitting on the bed, looking sleepy. Ichigo closed the door softly, and came over, then climbed onto the bed with him. He slid under the covers, and Ichigo did the same. As she laid back, Kisshu snuggled up to her, and she put her arm over him gently. Soon they were both sleeping.
The next morning Ichigo woke up because Kisshu was poking her. "Ichigo-oneechan, wake up!" he said. "It's morning!"
Ichigo yawned and sat up, looking at Kisshu, who looked happy. "You seem energetic today," she said. "Do you want breakfast?"
"Yeah!" Kisshu said, and hopped off the bed. Then he ran out as Ichigo got out of bed. As she went downstairs, she heard Kisshu say excitedly, "Taruto, breakfast time!"
As Ichigo came into the living room, she heard Taruto say grouchily, "Did you have to push me off the sofa to wake me up?"
"Yep," Kisshu said happily. "You're awake now, right?"
"A little too awake," Taruto grumbled.
"Kisshu, it's not nice to push people off sofas because you want them to wake up," Ichigo said. "You could have just poked him awake, or let him sleep."
"Aww…" Kisshu said.
"Tickle," Taruto said.
To Ichigo's surprise, Kisshu flinched and ran behind her, clinging to her leg. "No tickling!" he said.
"Are you going to promise not to push me again?" Taruto asked.
"Yes, just don't tickle me," Kisshu said.
"Fine…." Taruto said. Noticing Ichigo looked puzzled, he said, "Kisshu's afraid of being tickled, because it causes him to stop breathing for some reason."
"Oh…" Ichigo said. Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Ichigo said, "Taruto, take Kisshu upstairs and stay quiet. If that's Ryou, I'll get rid of him, but it's better that he doesn't find you two."
"Understood," Taruto said. He took Kisshu's hand and teleported upstairs. Ichigo waited till she heard a door close before answering the door.
Sure enough, it was Ryou, and he immediately asked, "Ichigo, did those aliens do something to your mind?"
"No, why?" Ichigo asked.
"You quit, that's why," Ryou said.
"I quit because I hate working for you," Ichigo said. "You obviously take pleasure in making me as miserable as possible; I see no reason to work for a bastard like you."
"You're hiding something, and I'm going to find out what it is," Ryou said.
"I'll kill you if you come near me again," Ichigo snarled. "Seriously, I've had it. You don't care about anyone but yourself; maybe I should just kill you now?"
"You wouldn't actually kill me," Ryou said. "I know you better than that."
Ichigo snarled, and claws shot out of her fingers. She clawed five lines across Ryou's face and said, "Next is your throat, you worthless jerk. You won't live much longer anyways, but if you want to live for today, I'd suggest getting out of my house."
Shocked, Ryou left, and Ichigo shouted, "And don't come back!" Then she went back into the house, and closed and locked the door, making sure the deadbolt was locked too. Then she went upstairs, and knocked on the door of Kisshu's room. "It's safe, you two can come out," she called.
Taruto opened the door, and said, "Thanks. Kisshu's pretty hungry; can we have breakfast?"
"Sure," Ichigo said. "What do you guys want?"
"Is toast okay?" Taruto asked.
"Sure," Ichigo said.
"Oh, and Kisshu's severely allergic to bananas, so you might want to throw any out that you have," Taruto said.
"Thanks for the warning, I'll go throw them out," Ichigo said. She went downstairs, gathered up every banana she could find, and threw them in the outside garbage. Then she came back and called, "They're all gone, you can come down!"
Taruto and Kisshu came down the stairs, and Kisshu immediately ran over and asked, "Can we have toast now?"
"Sure," Ichigo said with a smile. She got out bread, and asked, "What do you want on your toast?"
"What is there?" Kisshu asked. "I've never had toast."
"There's jam and butter," Ichigo said. "You can have some of both, or just one."
"What's jam?" Kisshu asked.
"Fruit that's been cooked with sugar, it's really good," Ichigo said. "I've got strawberry, raspberry and apricot."
"There's no fruit on our planet," Taruto said. "Kisshu, I think you'll like strawberry."
"K!" Kisshu said. "Ichigo-oneechan, can I have strawberry?"
"Sure," Ichigo said. "Do you want to try butter too?"
"What does it taste like?" Kisshu asked.
"It's salty," Ichigo said.
"I don't like salty…" Kisshu said.
"Okay," Ichigo said. "Taruto, what do you want?"
"Can I have butter and apricot jam?" Taruto asked.
"Sure," Ichigo said. "Do you know what that looks like?"
"Yeah, should I get it?" Taruto asked.
"Please, I'll put the bread in the toaster," Ichigo said.
"K," Taruto said, opening the fridge. Ichigo put four slices of bread in the toaster, and pushed the button thing down.
Taruto had gotten the butter and jams out, and Ichigo got two butter knives out. The toast popped up, and Ichigo got plates, then put two more pieces in. Taking the plates over, she said, "Here's toast for both of you."
"Thanks," Taruto and Kisshu said.
"Kisshu, I'll put the jam on for you," Taruto said.
"Aww…" Kisshu said. Taruto gave him a stern look and started spreading strawberry jam on Kisshu's toast.
"Here you go, and try not to make a mess," Taruto told Kisshu, who took the toast and started eating as Taruto put butter and jam on his. Ichigo came over a minute later and put strawberry jam and butter on hers, then sat down to eat with Taruto and Kisshu, who was almost finished.
By the time he was done, Kisshu had managed to get jam all over his face. Ichigo sighed and got a napkin, then started cleaning him up. Then she and Taruto finished eating and washed and dried the dishes.
They spent the rest of the day playing with Kisshu, until Ichigo went to make dinner. As she was putting the pasta in, she noticed Kisshu was sitting at the table watching her. "Kisshu, it's not going to cook faster if you watch me," Ichigo said gently.
Kisshu drooped a bit, but then Taruto ran in. "I think Ryou's coming back," he said. "I can feel something approaching this house."
"I guess I'll just have to kill him," Ichigo sighed, turning off the stove. Then she sniffed the air, and asked, "Do you smell something sweet?"
Taruto and Kisshu also sniffed, and said, "Yeah…" Ichigo suddenly felt sleepy, and said, "It's sleeping gas!"
It was too late, though; Kisshu was already asleep, and Taruto and Ichigo fell to the ground, asleep as well.
When Ichigo woke up, she immediately noticed Kisshu was gone, but Taruto was still on the floor. She shook him awake, and said, "Kisshu's gone. Go get Pudding, I'll call Lettuce and we'll go to the Café, that's the only place I can think of that Ryou would take Kisshu."
Taruto nodded and teleported out. Ichigo ran to her room, grabbed her pendant and transformed, then grabbed her cell phone and dialed Lettuce's number. As soon as she picked up, Ichigo said, "Meet me at Café Mew Mew; Ryou's kidnapped Kisshu."
"On it," Lettuce said, and hung up. Ichigo slipped her cell phone into a pocket, and ran out the door. She ran to Café Mew Mew, and arrived at the same time Lettuce did. Pudding and Taruto were waiting, and Ichigo said, "Let's go get Kisshu, guys."
The others nodded, and Ichigo kicked the door down. She and the others ran in, and went to the basement. That door was locked, and Ichigo heard what sounded like a scream. She and Lettuce kicked the door down, and followed by Pudding and Taruto, ran in.
They stopped dead at what they saw. Keiichiro was tied up in a corner, and Ryou was standing over Kisshu, a knife in his hand. Kisshu looked terrified, and Ichigo snarled, "Let him go, Blondie."
"Never, and you can die with him," Ryou said. He held the knife to Kisshu's throat, and said, "One step closer and he dies."
Cliffie! Review plz!