Ichigo's Illness Chapter 4:
Recovery and Planning
Kisshu was woken up a while later by a tickle in his throat. He started coughing, and Ichigo looked up. She pulled him up, and held him until the coughing subsided.
"I really don't feel good," Kisshu said after he stopped coughing.
Ichigo helped him lie back down, and put a hand on his forehead. "You still have a fever, so I'm not surprised," she said. "I'll go get more of the medicine, okay?"
Kisshu sighed, but nodded. Ichigo got the medicine, poured a spoonful, and fed it to Kisshu. He swallowed it, and said, "Yuck. What should we do after I get better?"
"We might as well try to set up some kind of peace talks," Ichigo said. "To be honest, though, before I got sick, I was planning on quitting the Mews."
"What? Why?" Kisshu asked, startled.
"I'm really sick of fighting, and I'm even more sick of Ryou," Ichigo said. "He's been mean and nasty to me and only me from day one, and if it wasn't for the other Mews, I'd have quit Café Mew Mew, at least, a long time ago."
"So Blondie didn't give you a choice?" Kisshu asked.
"He didn't give any of us a choice," Ichigo replied. "He turned us all into Mews, and since he found me first, he made me the leader of the team, and made me find all the other Mews and get them on our side. At first I didn't mind finding the other Mews; it meant I'd have friends to share the secret with. But after a while of fighting, having to work in the Café, and hearing Lettuce try to convince Ryou that you, Pai and Taruto couldn't be all bad, I began to think more and more about just leaving the team to fend for themselves. If I told Lettuce the reason, she might have followed me out the door. I think she's sick of Ryou's prejudices too."
"Wow, Lettuce was trying to convince Blondie that we're not that bad?" Kisshu asked. "Can I tell Pai? He'll be really impressed."
"I guess so," Ichigo said. "But we have to find a way to get our groups together first. And before that can happen, you have to get better."
"I guess you're right," Kisshu said. Suddenly he started coughing again. Ichigo pulled him up again, and when he stopped, she helped him lie back down.
"Get some more sleep," Ichigo told Kisshu. "You need it to recover."
Kisshu nodded, and went back to sleep. He woke up again the next morning, and noticed that Ichigo was also waking up. When she saw that he was awake, she came over and asked, "Kisshu, are you feeling better?"
"Yeah, actually," Kisshu said. "I feel a lot better."
Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, and said, "Well, your fever's gone, so that's good. Do you want something to eat?"
"Yeah, that'd be great," Kisshu said. "I think I have some bread around, do you want to have toast?"
"Sure," Ichigo said. "I'll make it, so stay there."
"Thanks, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said. Ichigo smiled at him, then went to find the bread. She finally found a loaf of white bread, and put a few pieces in the toaster. She decided not to ask where Kisshu had found all this stuff, in case he did something illegal to get it. (Which, of course, he did- he stole it all from either Pai or some human store.)
While the bread was toasting, Ichigo looked in the fridge, and found butter. She didn't find any jam, but that was fine. She buttered the toast, and brought some back to Kisshu, who was sitting up by this point. Then they both ate their breakfast in comfortable silence.
After they were done, Ichigo said, "Kisshu, are you feeling up to teleporting? I think we should get our plan underway soon."
"I agree," Kisshu said. "I think I can teleport." He tried, and before Ichigo could figure out where he went, he grabbed her from behind, causing her ears and tail to pop out. Kisshu laughed and let go. "Well, I can teleport now, so who are we going to see first?" he asked.
Ichigo checked the clock and said, "Well, the Cafe's still open, so let's go to Pai and Taruto first. I hope they don't attack, I don't have my pendant."
"Maybe we should get your pendant first then," Kisshu said. "Just in case."
"Okay, it's in my room," Ichigo said. Kisshu smiled and took her hand, then teleported to her room. Ichigo reached under her desk, and pulled out a small box. "I'm all set," she said.
"Great, let's go to the spaceship," Kisshu said. Ichigo nodded, so Kisshu took her hand and teleported.
They arrived in the main room, and found that Pai and Taruto were waiting there. Pai looked at Kisshu and Ichigo, then said, "Kisshu, where the hell have you been, and why are you with Mew Ichigo?"
"Nice to see you too, Pai," Kisshu said. "I was in a dimension that I created a while back. Ichigo got sick, and her parents left her, so I took her there to take care of her. Then I got sick, and she took care of me. We came here with an idea she had."
"What is this idea?" Pai asked.
"I thought that we should stop fighting, and in order to ensure that you and your people would survive, we would give you all the Mew Aqua, on the condition that you stop attacking," Ichigo said. "We have to talk to the other Mews as well, but I'm pretty sure that everyone except Ryou will agree that this is a better idea."
"This suggestion actually comes at a good time," Pai said. "Deep Blue, our leader, has vanished, and we haven't heard from him in about two weeks."
"That's probably for the best," Kisshu said. "You know he was always dead set against cooperation."
"Alright, so what's next?" Pai asked.
"We go to Café Mew Mew, and talk to the others," Ichigo said. "Let's go."
"Okay," Kisshu said. Pai and Taruto nodded, and they teleported to Café Mew Mew. Luckily, the Café was empty now, except for the other Mews, Ryou and Keiichiro. Ichigo knocked on the door, and nodded to the Cyniclons, then went in. The Cyniclons followed her.
Lettuce was the only one in the main room, and her jaw dropped when Ichigo, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto walked in.
"Lettuce, are the others here?" Ichigo asked.
"H-hai," Lettuce said.
"Can you get them, please? We've got something to say," Ichigo said.
"Sure, Ichigo-san," Lettuce said. She went to the basement, a bit puzzled, but somehow happy. She sensed that there might be a change in the air for the Mews and Cyniclons, and that made her smile as she went to the basement and said, "Ichigo's back, and she wants you all to come upstairs."
"Ichigo's back?" Ryou asked, jumping up. He ran upstairs, followed by the others. Lettuce came last, and wasn't really surprised to hear Ryou shouting at Ichigo, "WHY did you bring the aliens here, Ichigo!?"
Ichigo said calmly, "I brought them here so we could talk over an idea I had."
"Is that why you disappeared?" Mint asked.
"No, actually I got sick, and Kisshu took care of me, because my parents weren't around," Ichigo said. "Then Kisshu got sick, so I took care of him until he could teleport, and we went to talk to Pai and Taruto."
Everyone except Lettuce, who was smiling, had their jaws on the floor. "Kisshu took care of you?" Mint asked, shocked.
"Why is that surprising, Birdy?" Kisshu asked.
"Maybe because you spend most of your time trying to destroy us," Mint said.
"Eh… Yeah… Sorry 'bout that," Kisshu said.
"So back to the topic at hand," Ryou said. "What is your idea, Ichigo? And this better be good, since you were gone for four days."
"I thought we could form a truce, and in return for the Cyniclons to stop attacking, we would give them all the Mew Aqua to save their planet, rather than taking ours," Ichigo said.
Ryou's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" he asked.
"This isn't exactly something I would joke about," Ichigo said. "Of course I'm serious."
"I'm glad someone finally agrees with me," Lettuce said, shocking the others. "I tried time and again to convince you all that this fighting is just wrong. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels that way."
"You were right all along, Lettuce," Ichigo said. "Thanks for planting that idea in my head, I don't think I would have come up with this otherwise.
"You're welcome, Ichigo-san," Lettuce said. "Now we just need to convince the others." She looked around.
Pudding was the first to speak, and she said, "Pudding likes this plan, na no da. Now Pudding can hug Taru-Taru whenever she wants!"
Taruto turned pale at the thought of Pudding hugging him whenever she wanted.
Zakuro spoke next, and she said, "I think this is a good idea. This way, we can all cooperate, and not fight endlessly. This battle wasn't really going anywhere anyways."
"Well, if Oneesama says it's fine, so do I," Mint said. "I'd like to stop fighting too."
Keiichiro said, "I agree. You girls have been through enough, if we could form a truce, that'd be good for everyone."
Ryou was starting to look like a fish out of water. Finally he said, "I can't believe you all. The aliens have done nothing but attack you from day one, and now you think they've suddenly changed? Are you all insane?"
"NO, we are not," Ichigo said. "You're the insane one, thinking that forming a truce is a bad idea. If you had any common sense, you'd see that this is for the best. I thought you created Tokyo Mew Mew to protect the Earth, not to murder the Cyniclons."
"I did," Ryou said.
"Then what's the big deal?" Ichigo asked. "Don't tell me you're going to let your prejudices get in the way of what's best for everyone."
"I'm not willing to do this," Ryou said. "I don't trust the aliens, and I think it's a bad idea to give them the Mew Aqua."
"Jeez, what a stubborn jerk," Ichigo said. "You really don't care about anyone but yourself, do you?"
"I care about you," Ryou said.
"Very funny. I'm well aware that you actually hate my guts," Ichigo said. "I don't really think that was a good effort."
"But it's true!" Ryou said. "I've always cared about you."
"Are you kidding? You treated me like dirt from day one, and NOW you expect me to believe you care?" Ichigo asked incredulously. "For your information, I hate you. And I know you hate me back, so don't pretend you don't. It's not amusing, Ryou."
"You hate me?" Ryou asked, shocked.
"Why does that surprise you?" Ichigo asked. "Before I got sick, I was about to tell you that I was quitting both Café work and the Mews. I was sick of fighting, and I was even more sick of you. You're nothing but a selfish, racist jerk, and I hate you."
"Ichigo, you were going to quit?" Mint asked.
"Yup," Ichigo said. "I'm glad we came up with this solution to fighting, but just so you know, as long as Ryou owns Café Mew Mew, I won't work here."
The others were shocked.
Keiichiro finally said, "Well, that's entirely your choice now, Ichigo. Now that we don't need to fight, you all are free to do as you please."
To be continued... sometime tomorrow! Review Please!