Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew or any of its characters

Claimer: I, chop4tess, own this story, its plot, and any and all original characters

Welcome to chapter ten of the 2014 rewrite!

Enjoy!

Chapter ten: Masaya's back from America

When Ichigo woke up she found herself lying on the couch in the sitting room with a cold towel on her forehead. For a moment Ichigo couldn't remember what happened. She recalled answering the front door but after that everything was black. Ichigo slowly sat up rubbing her belly. Her baby kicked in response and that was when he walked in. Ichigo froze as the events of a few minutes ago came rushing back to her. Silence rang loud as Ichigo stared at her ex-boyfriend for the first time in over a year. Masaya had changed quite a bit during the time he'd been gone. His face had lost that rounded look to become more masculine and mature, his eyes didn't seem so big anymore and he'd filled out with muscle. He was wearing a pair of pale blue jeans and a white shirt open at the neck. His face was so familiar yet so different it made Ichigo's heart break.

"Ichigo, how are you feeling?" Masaya smiled but his shoulders were stiff and he made no move to approach her. "I didn't mean to give you a fright."

"Masaya," it felt strange to hear his name coming out of her mouth after all this time, "I'm fine I just…." Ichigo trailed off as Masaya's eyes flicked briefly to her belly before going back to her face. Ichigo bit her lip and squirmed in place. What could she possibly say? Ichigo had never thought she would have to face Masaya. She hadn't expected to ever see him again. In fact she had completely forgotten about him. The truth made her heart twist in guilt and shame.

"So how is everyone doing? I've been out of the loop for a while." Masaya asked throwing Ichigo slightly. He's avoiding the elephant in the room, Ichigo thought to herself.

"Everyone is fine and we're no longer at war with the aliens! Can you believe it? We going to try and live alongside each other in peace instead of fighting." Ichigo laughed shakily. Masaya smiled but it didn't touch his eyes. Ichigo knew one of them was going to have to mention her pregnancy at some point. The unasked question hung thick in the air making it hard to breathe.

"That's great news. I have been worrying about you fighting without me, or rather, without the blue knight." Masaya's voice sounded strange. Ichigo twisted her hands in her lap. She knew he was upset and she also knew he had every right to be. She hadn't given him a second's thought after she found out she was pregnant. Her mind had been occupied with thoughts of Kishu, her baby and the alien relocation plans.

"Masaya…" Ichigo took a deep breath. Masaya hated the aliens even more than the other mews. How could she make him understand her feeling for Kishu? How could she tell him that she carried Kishu's baby?

"It seems the end of the war isn't the only thing that's changed around here." Masaya looked pointedly at her belly. "I would ask if it's mine but that would be somewhat impossible." Masaya twitched as if someone had electrocuted him. His face contorted briefly before he reined in his emotions and smoothed his face into a blank mask. Ichigo hated the fact that he had to pretend in front of her. They had been so close before.

"I'm seven months pregnant," Ichigo stated quietly.

"Congratulations," Masaya said but the word sounded awkward coming out of his mouth. "If I may ask; who is the father?" Ichigo went breathless and wondered if she was going to faint again. She curled her hands into fists. Dishonesty wouldn't help anyone in the long run.

"Please just promise me you won't flip out or anything." Ichigo pleaded softly. Masaya nodded but his movements were jerky and stiff. Ichigo took a deep steadying breath. "Kishu is the father." Masaya froze and his brown eyes went wide in shock. The silence was so absolute even the birds in the garden stopped singing.

"Did he rape you?" Masaya asked his voice shaking with barely supressed anger.

"No of course not, why do people keep asking me that? He's not as bad as you think Masaya." Ichigo stopped talking when she saw how dark Masaya's eyes had gone. He was even starting to shake.

"You slept with that alien willingly?" Masaya hissed making Ichigo flinch. "So while I was in America and refusing every girl that asked me out because I respected you too much to betray you like that, you were having sex with that thing?" Masaya's voice rose until he was almost shouting. Ichigo flinched again as guilt wrapped itself around her lungs and chocked her. Ichigo hadn't really known whether Masaya was seeing other girls or not but to have the truth shoved in her face made her feel more pathetic than she'd ever felt before.

"We only started seeing each other a little while ago. I just couldn't deal with the pain of you leaving and Kishu took away that pain. I was miserable Masaya and Kishu made me feel good about myself again. I never intended to become pregnant or for this to happen. But I love my baby and I'm going to keep him and raise him with Kishu as a family. Please Masaya, you have to understand." Ichigo felt like crying as Masaya glared at her as if he'd never seen her before. She'd never seen this kind of hate on his kind face and to have it directed at her made Ichigo want to run and hide.

"So this is my fault?!" Masaya snarled. "I left you alone and sad so it's my fault you ran into the first pair of willing arms you laid eyes on?"

"That's not what happened –"

"I remained faithful to you!" Masaya snapped. "I was alone and sad too you know! I missed you all the time but I didn't run around with other girls because I respected you. It's a shame you didn't have the same respect for me." Masaya shook his head. "I can't believe you would demean yourself by having sex with the enemy!"

"You have no right to judge me!" Ichigo yelled back. Anger and guilt conflicted in her chest creating a storm of emotion further heightened by a heady mix of pregnancy hormones. "How dare you pass judgement on me!"

"You cheated on me Ichigo, not the other way round. I have every right to pass judgement! I'm the insulted party here." Masaya shook his head and stepped away. "I came home for the summer holiday hoping to see you again and make up for all the time we lost. I went over a hundred different situations in my head over how you would react but this I never would have thought." Masaya looked at her belly and narrowed his eyes. Ichigo wrapped her arms around her baby as if she could shield him from Masaya's anger.

"I know I hurt you and I'm sorry for that but you've been gone for over a year! We broke up the minute you got on that plane we just never said it out loud. I wanted you to go and I wanted you to follow your dreams and be happy. I still want all that. But you don't own me Masaya. You cannot come back and yell at me."

"Funny, I never thought for a moment that we had broken up. We promised to wait for the other at the airport and I kept my promise." Masaya marched past Ichigo towards the door and stopped with his back to Ichigo. "I want nothing to do with you while you're carrying that creature's half breed thing." Ichigo gasped at the disgust in Masaya's voice. His spine ramrod straight, Masaya stormed out of the house and slammed the front door shut behind him. The silence seemed unbelievably loud after Masaya's departure. Ichigo's ears were still ringing from the fight. He hates me. Ichigo buried her face into a cushion and cried.

:-:

Masaya stomped down the pavement as anger surged through him. This anger shocked him as he'd never felt this kind of anger before unless it was directed at the aliens. The fact that he could feel this much hate for the person he loved scared him slightly. But how could she let Kishu of all people touch her? How could she consent to even being in the same room as him? Masaya couldn't understand it. And now Ichigo was pregnant by that alien. It was as if the Gods were having a joke at his expense. The girl he loved was carrying the baby of the guy he hated.

How could Ichigo even consider having the baby at her age? She was only sixteen! What did she know about babies? Masaya was amazed her father hadn't destroyed the whole house in rage. He could remember the day when Shintaro challenged him to a duel when he and Ichigo started dating. If her father was that protective when his daughter was merely dating then how did he react to being told she was pregnant? Did he even know who was responsible for Ichigo's condition?

As for Ichigo believing that Kishu would stick around, Masaya snorted. Kishu would dump Ichigo soon enough leaving her to raise their half-breed child alone. There was no way that alien could feel anything even remotely like love. The aliens only understood hate. There was also no way the aliens would want to live in peace. Masaya bet they were just feeding all these pretty lies to the mews to lull them into a false sense of security. They would bring more aliens to this world and they would join forces to wipe humanity off the face of this world just like they always planned. He couldn't believe that the mews were so gullible.

Masaya turned the corner and continued to walk back to his home. While at school in America he had been staying with an American family to help improve his English and he had greatly enjoyed their company. But he had been home sick so his parents paid for a return flight to Japan for the holidays. He had been glad to be back in his home country and to speak his first language again. Before going to see Ichigo he had caught up with old friends and family, all of whom had been glad to see him again. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed them.

When Masaya gathered the courage to go and see Ichigo again he had passed a flower shop and spotted some white and red roses in the window. He knew Ichigo loved roses so he'd brought them before heading onto her house. It was after school so he guessed she would be at home or at the café. He'd thought she would be delighted to see him again. He'd thought she would throw herself into his arms and kiss him like she used to. He would see her smile again and hear her voice. Their lack of contact had weighed on his mind and he'd wanted to make it up to her. He still found it hard to believe that she had really cheated on him. He'd never have done anything like that to her. God knows he'd certainly had lots of offers.

When he arrived at home Masaya went straight to his room ignoring his mother's 'hello' from the kitchen. He shut his bedroom door and dropped onto his bed with a groan. How could she do this to me? Masaya felt tears build in his eyes and he buried his face into his pillow.

"Poor little human, she broke your heart didn't she?" A soft female voice cooed making Masaya jump. He sat bolt upright to see a beautiful female alien sitting on his desk with her legs crossed at the knee. Her black hair fell like a silken wave down her back and her golden eyes seemed to glow in her unnaturally pale face. She was wearing a tight fitted black sleeveless dress with black boots and a pair of black gloves to her elbow.

"Who the hell are you?" Masaya jumped off his bed onto his feet and brought his fists up defensively. The alien held up her hands in the universally recognised gesture of surrender and smiled at him. Masaya shivered. This alien may look beautiful but Masaya could sense that she was very powerful.

"My name is Nikki." Nikki smiled and dropped her hands. "I'm not here to cause trouble."

"Forgive me if I find that hard to believe." Masaya replied. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I have been watching you and I saw that unfortunate reunion you had with the red head." Nikki shook her head as her red painted lips turned down into a sympathetic grimace. "How painful that must have been for you, to find out that the girl you love has forsaken you. I feel sorry for you, to know that the girl you promised yourself to turned her back on you for your most hated enemy."

"I don't need nor want your pity!" Masaya spat. "And in case you haven't noticed you are my enemy as well."

"I don't have to be." Nikki purred uncrossing her legs and hopping elegantly off the desk. Her booted feet made no sound as they touched the floor. "If I wanted you dead you would be dead already." Nikki walked up to Masaya who slowly lowered his raised fists but the suspicious gleam never left his eyes. "I need your help Masaya. Kishu used to be my comrade in arms but he's betrayed me and my people. He's forsaken us to die on a poisoned world. I want him and the other two dead but I can't do it alone."

"Wait, if you're an alien why aren't you helping them?"

"Just because I'm an alien doesn't mean I'm their friend you know. As a human this should be a concept you understand." Nikki tossed her glossy black hair over her shoulder.

"Don't you want to take over our world?" Masaya asked narrowing his eyes at Nikki.

"I only want revenge on Kishu and the other two. My fight is not with the people of this world nor the mews." Nikki added with a smile. Masaya frowned and turned away from Nikki's intense golden gaze. If all Nikki wanted was to kill Kishu then he certainly didn't have a problem with that. But what about Ichigo, what would she think?

"Ichigo has already betrayed me, killing Kishu would feel really good but it wouldn't turn Ichigo's heart to me."

"Ichigo is under a spell." Nikki commented making Masaya start in surprise. "There's a love spell we aliens can use to turn another's heart to us to the point where they truly believe that they are in love. It is forbidden to use it and considered rather low but that didn't seem to stop Kishu."

"You expect me to believe this nonsense?" Masaya growled.

"Come now, do you really believe that Ichigo woke up one morning and fell in love with her most hated enemy?" Nikki arched an eyebrow and Masaya fell silent. Nikki had a good point.

"How do I break the spell?"

"It can't be broken until the one who cast it dies." Nikki answered smiling at Masaya.

"Then we need to kill Kishu now!" Masaya smirked as he pictured the light leaving Kishu's eyes. It was nothing less than he deserved for daring to defile his Ichigo.

"I'm afraid that can't happen just yet." Nikki walked closer to Masaya. "I need Ichigo's baby alive and the shock of the spell breaking would cause her to miscarry. My plan is to wait until the child is born then for you to distract Kishu while I take the child. Kishu will come after me for his son and I will kill him. "

"I won't raise that creature as my son." Masaya snarled. "I don't want anything to do with it."

"Ichigo won't even remember having the baby once the spell is broken. I will keep the child for myself and you will have Ichigo to yourself." Nikki explained.

"So we kill Kishu in two months?" Masaya cracked his knuckles.

"I'm afraid not," Nikki sighed. Here came the hard part. "We will have to wait several years before our plan can be acted upon."

"Why wait? I want that alien dead now!" Masaya yelled. Nikki placed a finger on Masaya's lips to still his protests.

"Calm down sweetheart you'll get your revenge. Kishu is bound to be overprotective of the child at first but the older a child gets the less time they spend with their family. It will be easier to snatch the child if his parents aren't around to protect him. My presence here must be kept a secret at all cost otherwise our plan will fail." Nikki gave Masaya a coy smile. "Trust me."

"I'll never trust you," Masaya pushed Nikki's finger off his lips.

"Not even if I offered to train you?" Nikki asked sweetly.

"Why would you train me?"

"To make you stronger of course. You are strong but your skills are weak compared to Kishu's. I can train you to become the best." Nikki leaned forward. "Good enough to kill Kishu without breaking a sweat. But only if you agree to help me." Masaya was quiet for a few minutes before he smirked.

"You've got yourself a deal."

:-:

Mint couldn't wait to tell Ichigo about Zakuro and Keiichiro. They were going on a date tomorrow so Ryo would be in charge of the café. He wasn't too happy about it, since if they were to run out of cakes then they would have to close early but surprisingly he'd agreed. Ryo seemed to be locking himself up in his lab and was being even more unsociable than normal. Mint rolled her eyes as she pressed the doorbell to Ichigo's house. Ryo was a mystery that Mint had yet to work out. Sakura answered the door and smiled when she saw Mint.

"Hello Mint, have you come to see Ichigo?"

"Yes, is she in?" Mint asked politely.

"Yes she is but she is very tired so she's resting right now. Could you come back tomorrow?" Sakura smiled sadly. Mint blinked in surprise then shrugged.

"I'm sorry to hear that Ichigo's not feeling well. Could you tell her that Zakuro and Keiichiro are going out on a date tomorrow? If she's not feeling well I'm sure that will make her feel better."

"No problem Mint I will pass the message on." Sakura smiled.

"Goodbye Mrs Momomiya," Mint waved as she turned and walked away. I hope Ichigo is ok.

Sakura shut the door with a sigh and made her way back to Ichigo's room. She had come home after meeting with a friend to find Ichigo crying on the couch. At once the worst possible reasons for Ichigo's distress had gone through her mind as she rushed to her daughter's side. After getting the story out of Ichigo Sakura realised that whoever this Kishu was he and Masaya certainly had some history. This news just made Sakura all the more eager to meet this Kishu. Masaya had always been such a nice boy; Sakura couldn't imagine him hating anyone so much that he would hurt Ichigo so badly just for dating that person. But then again jealousy was a powerful emotion.

"Ichigo, can I come in?" Sakura knocked on Ichigo's bedroom door before walking in. "Mint came round with some news for you." Ichigo sat up and rubbed at her red and puffy eyes. She managed a smile however. "She said that Zakuro and Keiichiro were going on a date tomorrow."

"Oh that's great news; they'll make a great couple." Ichigo was glad that someone in the world was feeling good today.

"I wish them both the best. How are you feeling Ichigo?" Sakura asked concerned for her daughter. She sat down next to Ichigo and gently squeezed Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo leaned against her mother and took a deep breath.

"I'm doing better. I don't think I'll be getting over this for a while but I have a child to think about. My baby takes priority over past boyfriends." Ichigo rubbed her stomach and smiled sadly as her baby kicked gently.

"I knew you would make a good mother." Sakura kissed her daughter's forehead with a proud smile. Ichigo hugged her mother back and took comfort in her warm embrace.

:-:

It was late that evening and Kishu was in his room lying on his bed. He had gone round to see Ichigo earlier but she had already been asleep so he'd left her in peace. Ichigo often became tired now she was further along in her pregnancy. He just hoped that everything was alright. It felt strange not to have spoken with Ichigo all day. Kishu was jolted from his thoughts by a knock on the door. He pushed himself upright and glanced at the door. "Come in," he called loudly. Taruto walked in and grinned at Kishu.

"I thought you might be asleep." Taruto commented and Kishu shook his head.

"Nah I was just daydreaming. What's up?"

"Pai wants to see us, something about the machine he's been working on." Taruto reported with a grin. Kishu leapt off his bed with a huge grin, his golden eyes gleaming in excitement.

"But he said it wasn't ready this morning. What could he have done in seven hours?"

"Well maybe he was closer than he was letting on. You know how he is." Taruto shrugged with a smile. "Shall we go and find out?" Kishu nodded and the two aliens hurried down the corridor and headed downstairs towards Pai's lab. Please let it be done. Kishu thought to himself as he pushed open the heavy metal door to Pai's lab.

Pai was standing with his back to the door examining a sliver grey machine with his arms crossed over his chest. The machine was just about tall enough to fit a person and shaped like a cylinder. A control panel was next to the machine hooked up with several thick cables. Green lights blinked on the panel and a steady humming could be heard.

"You wanted to see us?" Taruto piped up when no one said anything. Pai turned and Kishu was surprised at how tired he looked. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he could do with at least ten hours decent sleep. Not to mention a decent meal. When was the last time he ate? Despite his appearance, Pai graced his brother-in-arms with a rare smile.

"Guys, I think I've done it."

*End Chapter*

A new character and a new alien threat appear. Nikki is fun to write as she's so badass.

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