Ch. 11: Brothers
The Mew Mews and Kisshu arrived inside the castle of Deep Blue thanks to their combined powers. There was an opening from the outside and that was their entrance. They landed on the ground of the castle and look around for any signs of danger. Well, everyone but Ichigo. She feels something.
"I feel it," she mumbles.
Kisshu and her friends look at her startled by what she said. Lettuce asks, "Feel what?"
Ichigo looks like she's in a daze as she stares up at the stairs in front of them. "A strong, warm, nostalgic power."
Mint asks, "Mew Aqua?!"
Ichigo still looks like she's in a daze as she asks, "Is that what this is?"
Kisshu quickly asks, "Where do you feel it?"
"It's up there," Ichigo answers, pointing to the top of the stairs.
Kisshu fallows her hand and says, "That's where Deep Blue should be." Ichigo gasps in surprise then.
"Really?!" she asks. He turns to her and nods.
Mint asks, "What?! Did Kisshu say something?"
Ichigo turns to her friends and answers, "Kisshu says that Deep Blue is up there."
"Then that's our destination," Zakuro says.
Mint nods and turns to the girls. "Let's go!" They all nod in agreement and they start running to the stairs, well Kisshu decides to fly. Then Kisshu feels danger.
"Watch out!!" he yells.
Ichigo, being the only one who heard him, stops running. The other mew mews didn't. Then an attack hits the ground before the running mews; two bolts of lightning, one blue and the other yellow. The other Mew Mews go flying back and Ichigo gasps in horror.
"Everyone!!" she screams, running to them.
Kisshu yells, "Ichigo, stand back!!" She stops and looks up. She sees a huge blast coming at her but before it could hit her, Kisshu stands in front of her. His barrier stops the blast.
"Kisshu!!"
Both Ichigo and Kisshu look up and they see both Pai and Taruto with a kirema anima. Taruto was the one who called for him and he asks, "Why are you protecting that witch?! She killed you, remember?!"
Kisshu growls and glares at his friends in irritation. He mumbles, "If they can hear me, I would say something to that." Then his eyes widen in realization. He just remembers something.
"Taru-Taru," Taruto hears. He looks to the side at the ground and he sees Pudding standing up. "Do we have to fight?" she asks.
"Pudding…" Taruto mumbles, seeing her pleading face. But then he remembers Flamiche's words. He tells her, "Put up or shut up!" Pudding looks hurt from his words as the other Mew Mews look up at him. "Because you die or we will! This is the last fight!"
Pai then yells, "Kisshu, don't protect her this time! Go, kirema anima!"
The kirema anima opens its mouth and a blast forms inside. Kisshu stands his ground in front of Ichigo as the mew mews quickly get up. When the kirema anima launches its attack, Kisshu was going to protect Ichigo again but the other mew mews beat him to it. They stand in front of her and took the attack. Kisshu and Ichigo are surprise as the girls collapse to the ground again.
"Girls!!" Ichigo screams, running to them this time.
Mint sits up and tells her, "Don't worry about us. You have somewhere to be, right?" Ichigo looks confused as she feels Kisshu's hand on her shoulder.
She looks up and Kisshu tells her, "She's right. Let them handle Pai and Taruto."
"But…" Ichigo mumbles, trying to protest.
"Go, Ichigo-san!" Lettuce tells her.
After a moment, Ichigo puts on a brave face and nods. "Alright. Please be safe!" Then she gets up and runs, Kisshu flying besides her. They head for the stairs and Pai growls at her.
"You're not going anywhere!" he yells. He gets a blast ready but Kisshu turns to him and flies up to him.
Kisshu places his hand on his shoulder and Pai feels that. He flinches in surprise as Kisshu tells him, "Stop it, Pai!" He does. The blast in his hand begins to fade away and all of a sudden, it feels like he's not in the castle anymore. He doesn't even see the castle anymore. Only a dark abyss with no one else but him and Kisshu.
Pai looks at him in surprise and asks, "Kisshu?!"
Kisshu waves and greets bored, "Yo, Pai! Long time no see."
Pai couldn't believe he's seeing him, or at least in this dark abyss he is. Quickly he asks, "Why did you die for her, Kisshu? She's in the way of saving our people. Don't you care about everyone back home?"
"I do," he answers. "But I care about Ichigo too. That's why I died."
"Why?"
"Saving Ichigo was no different than saving the people I care about. We already lost so much back home. If I had lost Ichigo that day, I don't think I could have bear with the pain. That's why I'm content with losing my life. She was worth it. Don't you think so, if it was Lettuce who nearly lost her life but she didn't because you took the blow for her?"
Pai's eyes widen as he asks, "Lettuce?"
Kisshu just shakes his head and smiles. "Let me tell you something," he says. "There is nothing wrong with loving someone. I saw the way you looked at her when she was hurt. You didn't like it so don't pretend that you don't care. Next time, fallow your feelings when you already feel so strongly for her. Think about it."
In the real world, Kisshu extracts his hand from Pai's touch and Pai comes back to reality. Kisshu smirks before fallowing Ichigo. To Pai, that discussion felt like it took minutes when it's only been a second. Soon, both Kisshu and Ichigo were out of sight and going up the stairs to Deep Blue.
The fight continues and Pai looks up. His eyes instantly landed on Lettuce and she has her weapons in hand. She points it at the kirema anima and yells, "Ribbon Lettuce Rush!!" The kirema anima saw her attack and dodged it. Lettuce gasps in horror as the kirema anima comes at her. He hits her and she goes flying. "AAAHHHH!!!" she screams as she's flying full speed to the edge of a square pillar. Pai sees that and gasps.
Right before Lettuce's back was going to hit that edge, Pai appears behind her and her body crashes into him. His back hits the pillar and there was a loud…
Crack
Hearing that, Taruto turns to the two and he sees Pai and Lettuce hitting the wall. Pai doesn't scream. He tries to deal with the sudden excruciating pain. What he did was similar to what Kisshu did but Pai didn't get hit with glass or a broken pipe, his back was snapped in two. They both began to fall and Taruto watches in disbelief. He screams, "Pai!!!" Pai and Lettuce land on the ground and Taruto didn't move towards them. He was horrified and angry. He turns to the other mews and glares at them. "Damn you all!!" He sends an attack at them and the girls only got seconds to dodge the attack.
Lettuce flinches from the pain of the fall as she opens her eyes. She begins to push herself up and as soon as she's in sitting position, she sees Pai. She gasps in how distorted his body looks and she can hear how shallow his breathing is. Her reaction was panic.
"Oh my god!" she breathes out in shock. She crawls to him and she calls, "Pai!" He looks up at her with weak, dying eyes. That look causes Lettuce to start tearing. "Just hang on, okay?! You're going to be alright! Oh god!" She coves her mouth from the sight of how his body looks bent. She knows that his spine is broken and she knows that people who get a broken spine will die without immediate medical treatment and for those who survive only escape death for a short period of time and they can't walk for the remains of their life. Lettuce doesn't know what to do but cry. She asks, "Why? Why did you save me…all of a sudden?" He didn't answer in words.
Pai lifts his hand to her face and it rests against her cheek. Her eyes are wide as he wipes away tears from her face and his gentle touch feels so warm against her skin. Lettuce couldn't believe this action as Pai smiles at her, a real smile. It almost made her heart leap if she wasn't so sad about his injury. Then Pai just gave up. He closed his eyes and his hand falls from her face. To her, his hand fell in slow motion. She couldn't believe it. Pai just died right in front of her and he did it for her. She covers her mouth in surprise and her eyes unleashed more tears.
"Waaaahhhh!!!" she sobs. "Pai…"
Crash
"Aaaahh!"
Lettuce's head snaps up and she sees her friends still fighting the kirema anima. That's right. She has to fight. Her friends are in danger.
Lettuce looks back at Pai and wipes her tears away. "Thank you for saving me, Pai-san," she tells him. She bends down closer to his face and gives him a small peck on his cheek. After that, she gets up and runs to her friends' aid. When the kirema anima sees Lettuce coming to the battle, it raises its arm up and swings it at her. She jumps out of the way and that arm will end up hitting whoever is behind it, Taruto.
"Taru-Taru!" Pudding screams, seeing that arm. He stares at the arm in surprise but then he sees Pudding in front of him. She gets hit by the arm and goes flying through the air until she hits the ground and bounces like a rock.
"Pudding!!" Mint calls.
Lettuce screams, "Pudding-san!!"
Taruto and Zakuro stare at Pudding in shock, until Zakuro gets angry. She pulls her eyes from Pudding to the kirema anima. She readies her weapon and aims it at the kirema anima. "Ribbon Zakuro Spear!!"
The other mew mews got angry as well and start attacking only the kirema anima again. Taruto disappears for a moment. He appears in front of the wounded Pudding and she opens her eyes to look up at him. She breathes out painfully, "Taru-Taru…"
He growls at her for a moment. "What'd you do that for? Were you stupid or something?!"
She shakes her head. "No, na no da. Pudding just wanted to protect her friend, na no da." Taruto's eyes widen in surprise for a moment before pain covers his face. Her words hurt her more than anything.
But then he calls her, "Stupid monkey!" He goes to his side and he pulls out a knife suddenly. Her eyes stare at the knife as he raises it up. "You shouldn't have done that! I should kill you for what you've done to my friends!" Pudding didn't look the least bit afraid and her eyes cause Taruto to hesitate.
Zakuro looks back at Pudding from the corner of her eyes and she sees Taruto with a knife ready to stab her. She aims her weapon at him. "Ribbon Zakuro Spear!!" Taruto hears that and turns around just in time for that attack to hit him. He's hit away from Pudding and she suddenly sits up to watch him hit the wall behind the kirema anima.
"Pudding!!"
She looks up and she sees Mint yelling, "Get over here!" Pudding nods and gets up to run to her friends.
Taruto pushes himself from the wall and winces in the pain of the wall. "Damn," he mumbles.
"Mew Power…"
Taruto's eyes widen in surprise as he looks up. The mews are together and they have their weapons and they're aimed at the kirema anima and him.
"EXTENSION!!!"
There was a big light of colors and it hits the kirema anima and Taruto. The last thing the girls heard before the light began to disappear was the kirema anima's scream.
The light faded away and the kirema anima is gone. But on the ground is Taruto and he has his eyes closed. Pudding gasps in horror and runs to him. "Taru-Taru!!" The girls watch as Pudding runs to Taruto's side. She sits on her knees by his side and lifts him up. "Taru-Taru…?"
Taruto squirts his eyes shut before opening them. He looks up at Pudding and she already has tears leaking from the corner of his eyes. He feels weak and it's really hard to breathe. He knows what's happening, as well as her. He's dying and she took part in it. And yet, he feels no resentment towards her for what happened. He tries to smile and he tells her, "Sorry, Pudding for what I said. I didn't mean them." He stopped for a moment and Pudding took that time to whimper. Tears roll down her face and Taruto has on the sweetest face Pudding has ever seen him put on. "I never really hated you." Right after that, his eye lids feel heavy and he breathes out his last breathe. He has a peaceful look on his face as Pudding looks panicked.
"No, na no da! You can't die, na no da!" she screams, shaking him. But he doesn't wake up and she doesn't see him breathing. "TARUTOOOO!!" Then she begins to sob. She holds his body closer and cries for the loss of her friend.
Mint and Zakuro look sad for their friend as Lettuce looks to the side where Pai should be. Lettuce runs to him and Mint and Zakuro notice. They watch her run to his side and she sits down on her knees as well next to him. Her hand touches his face and it's already cold. She doesn't flinch away as her finger tips trace their way to his hair and then his arm. She stops at his hand and grasps it. Her tears return as she squeezes his hand and tells him, "I'm sorry for what happened. I'm so, so sorry." Then she starts sobbing as well. Both Mint and Zakuro just watch their friends cry for their aliens.
"It's over," Zakuro breathes out, tragically.
Mint nods. "Yeah." Then both of them collapse on the ground for rest and they pant. They can't go on anymore. Mint looks up the stairs that both Ichigo and Kisshu went and could only say one thing. "Ichigo, please be safe. The rest is up to you."
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Ichigo and Kisshu were still going up the stairs when Kisshu got a really bad feeling. Not a danger feeling, but more like a feeling that something bad happened. He stops and turns around to look down the stairs. Noticing that he's not flying by her side, Ichigo stops running a few steps ahead of him and turns around to see Kisshu staring down at the stairs. She asks, "Kisshu, what's wrong?"
"I don't know," he answers. Then he turns his head to look back at Ichigo, there are tears running down his cheek from his eyes.
"Oh Kisshu." Ichigo quickly goes down the stairs to him and raises her hand. Her attempt was to try and wipe away his tears but her hand goes right through him, as usual. She pulls her hand back and asks, "Why are you crying?"
His hand goes to his cheek and he wipes away one tear. He looks at it and stars at the teardrop. He answers, "I don't know."
Ichigo's hand rises to his and she tries her best to grasp his hand. He looks at her in surprise and she tells him, "We will go through with this. Everything will be okay."
Kisshu stares at her a little longer before smiling. He uses his other hand to wipe away his tears and he answers, "Yes!"
"Mew Ichigo!"
Both Kisshu and Ichigo look up and they see Flamiche. He's at the top of the stairs and he has a staff in his hands. Kisshu quickly tells Ichigo, "Ichigo, be careful! He's at his most strongest when he uses his weapon."
Ichigo gulps and tells him, "Like he isn't touch enough!"
Flamiche's eyes narrow at her and he aims his weapon at her. "Prepare yourself, Mew Ichigo! Today, you will die!" Both guys expected Ichigo to summon her weapon right then for protection but she doesn't.
Ichigo shakes her head and answers, "No." Both of them look at her in surprise and confusion as she tells him, "I'm sorry but I am in a really big hurry right now and I can't fight with you." She takes the first step out and Flamiche reacts.
Flamiche raises his staff and swings it down. What comes at her is a wind blade. Ichigo's eyes widen for a moment of seeing it until she jumps out of the way before she gets hit. Kisshu covers himself when the attack hits the stairs and rocks start flying everywhere. Ichigo lands on the ground like a cat and tries running up the stairs again. Flamiche attacks her again with the same attack but she dodges again. Soon his attacks came sooner and it became really hard to go up any more steps. Ichigo was lucky enough to have time to land on the ground and rest before she had to jump up and doge another wind blade. Kisshu watches Ichigo dodging the attacks and soon, he can see her starting to get tired. That's not a good thing because she needs ever ounce of energy she has to fight Deep Blue. Then he has an idea.
Ichigo lands on the ground again and another wind blade comes at her. She gets ready to jump up to dodge it again but Kisshu appears in front of her and creates a barrier. Flamiche sees Kisshu for a moment like before until his wind blade hits the barrier and his brother disappears. Still, that one moment was all Kisshu needed before turning to Ichigo. He tells her, "Ichigo, I need you to ask him about the time I tried to use his weapon!"
Ichigo is surprised and confused by that. "What?!" she asks.
"Just ask him!"
Ichigo stares at Kisshu's face to see if he's serious and he is one hundred percent serious. She looks up at Flamiche and yells, "Flamiche! Do you remember when Kisshu tried to use your weapon?" Flamiche's eyes widen from that question. Ichigo waits for him to attack her again but she does. She carefully watches him as his eyes turn to ice.
"Why not ask Kisshu if you want to know so badly?" he asks. "Especially since you can see him."
Before Kisshu could answer for her, she answers, "I want to hear it from your mouth." Kisshu looks up at his older brother and Flamiche is silent for a moment.
Flamiche lowers his staff and he answers, "When he was really young, I left my staff alone for one moment and when I came back, Kisshu has a bleeding arm and my staff is on the floor with blood splatters on the ground." Flamiche chuckles for a moment before saying, "He was only five when it happened. He didn't know better. I had to give him a few bandages just to try and heal the wound but it left a scar."
Ichigo then notices Kisshu moving in front of her. She looks at him and she hears something being unwrapped. Kisshu takes a step to the side and turns to Ichigo half way. He shows her his left arm and there is a long scar from his wrist to his elbow. Kisshu chuckles in remembrance. "I was a stupid kid back then who wanted to be exactly like his older brother. A quick thinker, patient, and strong." Ichigo kind of gets the message as she looks back up at Flamiche.
"Kisshu wanted to be like you when he was a kid," she tells him. "You were everything a good fighter should be."
"But I didn't want to be like that!" he yells. Ichigo and Kisshu are surprise by that as Flamiche looks like he's suffering emotional pain. He looks away as he confesses, "It was because I was a good fighter that it caused my little brother to drift away from me. I wanted to keep the promise to mother and father that I would keep him safe and I would protect him. That's why I became a warrior so that I can be strong enough to protect him."
Kisshu adds, "And it was because of that it made me jealous." Ichigo looks at Kisshu and he explains, "I was always compared to him and it made me angry. I was the best in my class but I could never surpass my older brother."
Ichigo turns back to Flamiche and says, "Kisshu was jealous of how great you were and he wanted to surpass you but he couldn't."
Flamiche looks more in pain then. He almost looks like he's going to cry as he adds, "When it was the day of deciding who would save us by going to earth and destroying the humans, I was picked instead of Kisshu. I knew how badly he wanted the mission so I backed down and allowed him to take it." Flamiche's fists are in tight balls as he mutters to himself, "If I didn't step down, Kisshu would still be alive! I failed in my promise to protect him."
Kisshu turns to Ichigo and tells her, "Tell him that I failed in my promise as well! The promise we made together." Ichigo looks a bit uneasy from the sudden command but she looks back up at Flamiche.
"Kisshu says that he failed in his promise as well," she tells him. He looks at her in surprise as she adds, "The promise that you both made together."
Flamiche looks sad again as he explains, "It was the promise that he would come back victorious and alive. We made it on the same day I stepped down and it was on the day I saw my brother smile after so long." Then he couldn't stand. Flamiche takes a step down and then sits on the first step. He places his weapon on the ground and hides his eyes with his hand. "He wasn't supposed to die. He wasn't…supposed to die…"
Ichigo looks at Flamiche in sympathy. He truly, deeply cares about his little brother. Kisshu looks back at Ichigo and says, "Tell him that letting me go on the mission was something I am eternally grateful for."
Ichigo looks up at him and quickly says, "You tell him." Kisshu looks surprise as she explains, "Express it to him so that he can understand."
"Koneko-chan," he calls, using his nickname for her. "I can't."
"Yes, you can," she tells him. Flamiche looks up at her in confusion as she tells him, "I can't keep telling him what you're saying, Kisshu. I'm not a telephone!"
Flamiche asks, "What's going on?" Ichigo looks back at him and lets out a sigh. Looks like she has to say it anyway. But right when she was going to tell him, she sees Kisshu flying pass her from the corner of her eyes. She stares as Kisshu flies up to his brother and then hugs him, as careful as he can so that he doesn't go through him. To Flamiche, he feels his touch but he's confused by it. "What's happening?"
Ichigo slightly smiles as she starts to take steps closer. She tells him, "Kisshu's just showing how much he appreciates of letting him go on the mission."
Flamiche takes a moment of surprise. He can feel Kisshu hugging him, not hard since Kisshu could easily go through him but it's enough to satisfy him. Ichigo is only two steps away from Flamiche when she stops and Flamiche mumbles, "Kisshu…" He feels Kisshu pull back a bit and Ichigo sees him smile at his older brother.
"Thanks, big brother," he tells him. "I'm really happy right now."
Ichigo had to admit that this scene is a really touching brother-brother moment. She almost feels like crying as she tells Flamiche, "He says thanks and that he's really happy." Then, Flamiche didn't care about his warrior pride. This girl who told him what Kisshu is telling him when he can't hear has broken him. He begins to cry and Kisshu holds him again.
After watching the two brothers a little longer, Ichigo goes up the rest of the stairs. Seeing that she's passing them, Kisshu lets go and flies pass Flamiche. "Ichigo!" he calls. She stops and turns around to face him. He asks, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to deal with Deep Blue," she answers. "Kisshu, you need to stay here with Flamiche."
But he asks, "Why?"
"Kisshu, I'll be fine. Don't get jealous but Masaya needs me while Flamiche needs you." She turns half way back to where Deep Blue is and tells him, "I'll be back." Then she turns around to run.
"Wait!"
She stops and turns around and the next moment, Kisshu's lips meet hers. She's surprise by the sudden action but she relaxes and closes her eyes to savor the moment of his lips pressed against hers. Then they break the kiss and she stares deep into his golden amber eyes as he does the same to her chocolate brown ones. He tells her, "Please be careful."
She smiles at him and raises her hand to his face again. She tries as best not to have her hand go through as she tells him, "I promise." Then she turns around and runs away. He slightly reaches for her but he stays where he is and watched her go. When she was out of sight, he turns around to his brother.
Flamiche is still crying as Kisshu walks over to him. He sits behind him and leans on his back as best as he can. Flamiche gasps from the touch and takes a moment before asking, "Kisshu…?" He nods.
"I'm here, brother," Kisshu tells him, rubbing his back. "I'm here." Then his hands smoothen their way to Flamiche's shoulders. Flamiche had the urge to touch his shoulder and expect to touch his brother's hand but he knows he can't. He cries again and Kisshu leaning against him for comfort.