Chapter Six: Play Date
Ichigo knocked softly on the door to the Healer's ward, and it was opened by a short, smiling woman in her late thirties that looked exactly like Rin, whom Ichigo took to be Pie and Tart's mother. She wore the typical Healer garb of a gray dress, but hers had red sleeves, setting her apart from the others, indicating her position as Head Healer.
"Hello," Ichigo said, giving the woman a smile.
"Greetings. You must be Momomiya Ichigo. I have heard much about you," The woman said. "I am Ikisatashi Risa, and you have already met my brood, I believe."
"Hai, Ikisatashi-San," Ichigo said.
"Please, call me Risa, or if you wish to be more formal call me Oba-San," Risa said. "The way Kish talks about you has made you family in my head and heart."
Ichigo smiled, wondering just what Kish had been telling people about her.
"Arigato, Risa Oba-San," Ichigo said, bowing her head. "Is Kish awake?"
"Barely," She heard from inside the room. Then Risa's smile grew.
"Please, come in" She said and in a whisper added, "Perhaps his disposition will improve at seeing his 'Koneko-Chan'."
Ichigo entered the room. It was small and had a few cots, several cabinets and a desk. There were several doors leading off from that room and Ichigo wondered briefly what was behind them, but if she had to take a guess she would say that those were where the medpods were kept.
Kish lay on the cot furthest away from the main door. Instead of his military dress she had always seen him in, Kish was wearing dark green pajama bottoms made out of a soft material and no shirt. Instead, off-white bandages wrapped around his entire torso, holding together the broken ribs and hiding the stitches from the stomach wounds. His broken leg was bound and propped up on a pillow. Ichigo also saw a bandage cover the cut on his forehead. Kish lay still with his arm with the fractured wrist over his eyes. He moved his arm so that he could look at Ichigo with one amber eye when he heard her move closer to him, then covered his face again.
"Ohayō, Kish," Ichigo said cheerfully.
"Ohayō, Koneko-Chan," He muttered as Ichigo sat down in the chair beside him.
"Well, someone doesn't seem to be feeling himself today," Ichigo said.
"I'm frustrated," Kish explained. "Risa Oba-San said I can't enter battle for another month, possibly more. Says it's my own stubborn fault, because I refuse to get into a medpod. Doesn't help that practically every bit of me hurts, almost tauntingly."
"Why don't you get into a medpod, then?" Ichigo asked. "Pie and Rin told me that you'd be completely fine after being in one overnight."
"There were men and women hurt worse than me that need it more," Kish said. "I'm conscious, I'm not bleeding to death or have an injury that can't be healed without technology. When one is available, I will get into it just to finish the healing process."
Ichigo nodded, though Kish couldn't see this with his arm over his eyes.
"I met Éclair last night," Ichigo said, thinking that a change of subject would be good for Kish.
"Oh, did you now? I was wondering when you two would run into each other," Kish said, smiling.
"She told me that you told her all about me," Ichigo said. She smiled mischievously. "She told me that you were right. That I am very pretty."
Kish uncovered his face and stared at the grinning Ichigo, his eyes wide.
"She told you that?" Kish squeaked out. Ichigo nodded and Kish slapped his palm to his forehead, muttering something Ichigo suspected was a curse word.
"She's very cute," Ichigo said. "She seems to love you very much."
Kish smiled again, his embarrassment forgotten.
"Yeah, she does. And I love her too. She looks exactly like our mom and always knows how to make anyone smile, even Pie, and as you know, he doesn't just smile at anything."
"She was very concerned for you last night, because you hadn't come to tell her goodnight," Ichigo said.
Kish nodded sadly.
"Last night was one of the few nights I've not been able to tell her goodnight. Even when I was on Earth, I would call her every Earth morning, before she went to bed here on Cynnth," Kish sighed. He looked down at his body, then up at Ichigo. "You'd believe me if you were five and I told you I slipped and fell down some stairs, right?"
"Yeah, sure, if I didn't know you could fly and teleport," Ichigo said dryly. Kish scowled.
"Taken by surprise?" He asked hopefully.
"Just how many times have you 'fallen down some stairs'?" Ichigo asked.
"Far too many and am in desperate need of new tragic, unfortunate and unexpected accidents unrelated to fighting to use as an excuse," Kish said. He sighed. "It'll have to do for now. Chun Mee's bringing Éclair by any minute."
Just then, there was another knock on the door. Risa opened it and Éclair came bursting through. The little girl looked much like she did the night before, though now her clothes were different. She wore pink ankle-high boots with long white pants and a short pink tunic dress overtop.
"Kish Onii-Chan!" Éclair cried out as she ran towards Kish. She threw herself onto her brother and Kish winced as she pressed into his injuries, but smiled, returning the hug Éclair was giving him.
"I take it you missed me," Kish said, getting Éclair so that she lay at the side closest to the wall, his arms wrapped around her.
"Yes! Éclair was so worried for Onii-Chan when he didn't come to say good-night. Then Éclair met Ichigo Koneko-Chan and then Pie-Chan found us and tucked Éclair in. Pie-Chan didn't tell Éclair that Kish Onii-Chan was hurt till after breakfast. What happened, Kishy?" Éclair's big blue eyes were full of worried tears as she looked up at her brother. Kish squeezed her to him.
"Silly Onii-Chan fell down stairs again," Kish said, giving her a sheepish smile.
"Again?" Éclair asked, giving Kish a look that said 'really?'
"Again," Kish said, looking abashed.
"Silly Onii-Chan," Éclair said with a sigh and snuggled in closer to him. "Onii-Chan needs to stay away from stairs. They bring him nothing but bad luck."
"Yeah, they sure do," Kish said, gently kissing the top of Éclair's head. Éclair smiled contently. She looked up and noticed Ichigo.
"Ohayō, Ichigo Koneko-Chan," Éclair said, grinning up at Ichigo.
"Ohayō, Éclair-Chan," Ichigo said, returning the smile.
"Did Ichigo Koneko-Chan come to visit Onii-Chan?" Éclair asked curiously.
"Yes, but I'll go now so that you two can have some time together," Ichigo said, standing up. To her surprise, Éclair sat up and grabbed her wrist.
"Please stay, Ichigo Koneko-Chan," Éclair begged, smiling up at Ichigo, her big blue eyes pleading.
"Éclair, Ichigo can leave if she wants to," Kish chided Éclair gently, reaching his hand up to rub her back.
But Ichigo felt a sudden inability to say no to Éclair. She was just so cute and sweet.
"I'll stay," Ichigo said, resuming her seat.
"Yay!" Éclair cheered, beaming.
Éclair then proceeded to talk Kish and Ichigo's ears off, telling them exciting stories of the things that had happened while Kish had been on Earth finding the Mews. She had both teens smiling so much their cheeks hurt and got them to laugh with her vivid retellings of funny events.
At one point, Kish had to force himself to stop laughing because his ribs and wounds hurt too much from the action. Éclair's eyes widened with fear as Kish took deep breaths, turning to lay on his side, his eyes closed, his arms wrapped around his stomach. She sat there and tenderly stroked Kish's forehead while Ichigo rubbed his arm, trying to calm him down as Risa approached, looking worried.
"Risa Oba-San," Éclair said softly as Kish finally relaxed, still taking deep breaths. "Is Kishy going to be alright?"
Risa smiled gently at Éclair.
"Your brother is as strong as rock," Risa said. "With rest, he will be fine." She gently rubbed Kish's shoulder and noticed Kish's drooping eyes. "Though I do believe visiting is over for now and Kish needs to rest."
Éclair nodded sadly and kissed her brother's cheek.
"Have a nice nap, Kishy-Chan," Éclair said.
"See ya later, Clair-Bear," Kish murmured as his eyes closed. "Bye, Koneko-Chan."
"Good night, Kish," Ichigo said, taking Éclair's hand.
Éclair led Ichigo out of the Healer's ward and down the hall, Éclair floating and Ichigo walking. Ichigo let her lead her down the maze of stone hallways, not recognizing where they were going.
"Where are we going, Éclair?" Ichigo asked.
"To Éclair's room," Éclair said, grinning up at Ichigo. "Éclair wants to show Ichigo Koneko-Chan her room."
Ichigo was brought into a room that was brightly lit, a large area rug and the walls were bare, but had brightly-colored child-like paintings on them. There was a wooden bed with a pink quilt and purple pillows. Ichigo saw that the little cat stuffed animal she had first seen Éclair with the night before sitting on the pillow. There were also four other animals: a yellow monkey, a blue bird, a purple wolf and a pale green porpoise. There was also a wooden chest at the foot of the bed and a small wardrobe in the corner. In another corner of the room was a small door.
"Where does that door lead to?" Ichigo asked out of curiosity.
"Kishy's room," Éclair said as she led Ichigo to the center of the room. "Onii-Chan made sure that he would be nearby incase Éclair had bad dreams and wanted to sleep with Kishy."
That was very thoughtful of him, Ichigo thought. She really is very important to him.
Éclair gestured to Ichigo to sit on the carpet while she dug through her trunk. Ichigo studied the paintings on the wall. She saw that they were of trees, flowers (all pink and purple), animals, a blue sky and the people in Éclair's life, all painted by her. She recognized Pie, Tart, Rin, Rirī, Rozū, Risa and Curry, and she also saw that there was one of Éclair standing beside Kish, holding his hand. Up high in the painted sky was two tall figures, also holding hands. One was a man that looked a lot like Kish with dark green hair and blue eyes and the other a woman with bright red curly hair and gold eyes. She realized that those must be Kish and Éclair's parents, how Éclair remembered them when they were alive.
"Here they are!" Éclair exclaimed as she pulled out a small wooden box. She opened it up and carefully placed the contents on the carpet. They were all small character dolls, such as Hello Kitty and My Little Pony.
"Onii-Chan brought these to Éclair from Earth," Éclair explained, picking up a pink pony with a curly mane and three balloons on its hindquarters. "Does Ichigo Koneko-Chan like to play with them?"
"Yes," Ichigo said. "I haven't in a long time, though."
"That's okay," Éclair said.
The girls played for a long time, laughing and giggling. Éclair suddenly paused as Ichigo pushed back some of her hair. Éclair crawled over to Ichigo with wide eyes and then began touching the cat-girl's earlobe.
"Ichigo Koneko-Chan has stones in her ears," Éclair said with wonder.
Ichigo was confused as to what she was saying, then remembered that she had put in earrings with small pink crystals in them.
"They're called earrings," Ichigo said. She took one out to show Éclair, who held it in her hand with curiosity. "On Earth, lots of girls have their ears pierced and wear them."
"Wow…" Éclair whispered in amazement as she gave the earring back to Ichigo. "Why do human girls pierce their ears?"
"I… I really don't know," Ichigo said as she put the earring back in. "It's fun to accessorize, I guess?"
"Accessorize?" Éclair repeated, her small brow furrowed as she tried to wrap her tongue around the word.
"Yeah, to put on jewelry and carry cute purses and stuff," Ichigo said.
"What's jewelry?"
Ichigo blinked. She never expected this question, but then realized she had yet to see a Cyniclon wearing any type of jewelry. She even vaguely remembered Kish, Tart and Pie's curiosity every time they came across a piece of jewelry they all thought contained Mew Aqua.
"You know, it will be easier to just show you," Ichigo said, taking Éclair's hand. The two left Éclair's room and Ichigo somehow managed to find her way to her room. Éclair sat on the bed while Ichigo dug through her suitcase and pulled out a small plastic box. Ichigo opened the box, then dumped the contents onto the bedspread, Éclair's eyes widening as she did so.
Éclair carefully ran her fingers over the silver chains of the necklaces, over the beads on a bracelet, the jewels on a hairclip.
"They are so beautiful," Éclair whispered in awe.
"Would you like to try some on?" Ichigo asked. Éclair nodded.
The two girls spent a long time trying on Ichigo's jewelry. Ichigo had never seen anyone look so happy than Éclair was, playing dress up. They heard a knock at the door.
"Come in!" Ichigo called.
Chun Mee—a pretty young girl with long, curly, dark blue hair and matching eyes—entered the room, smiling at the two.
"We've been searching for you everywhere," The alien teen said, looking at her charge sitting on Ichigo's bed. "You missed lunch. It's dinnertime now, and Ikisatashi-Sama says that you can go see Kish after you eat."
"Yay!" Éclair said, leaping to her feet. She looked down at her bracelet laden arms and the necklaces around her throat. "Ichigo Koneko-Chan, can I wear these to show Kishy-Chan?"
"Sure, Éclair," Ichigo said, smiling.
Éclair beaming, the three girls made their way to the Dining Hall.
Crummy ending, I know, but it's supposed to lead into the next chapter.
