Namida Chapter 11:
Explanations and Apologies
They heard the front door open, and Sakura call out, "Ichigo, we're home!"
"Coming," Ichigo called back, and looked at Yuki and Kisshu. "Let's go," she said. They followed her downstairs, and to the living room, where they found Sakura and Shintaro with a bunch of luggage. Their jaws dropped when they saw Kisshu and Yuki. "It's not polite to stare," Ichigo said.
"Okay, so what's the story?" Shintaro asked.
"I'm actually Mew Ichigo," Ichigo said.
"So why are you with them?" Sakura asked.
"This is Kisshu, and his adoptive mom, Yuki," Ichigo said. "I found Kisshu unconscious on the sidewalk outside our house about two weeks ago, and brought him home. Ryou had been being extremely nasty to me, so I decided to take Kisshu home rather than handing him over to Ryou, who would probably kill him."
"Okay, so why did you miss so much school?" Shintaro asked.
"Kisshu didn't wake up for four days, and when he did wake up, he had a really bad concussion," Ichigo said. "And he told me that his older brother Pai had tried to kill him and his younger brother Taruto, and was now out to get them. I figured that Taruto would be with Pudding, so I called her, and told her to bring Taruto here and stay with me to ensure that she and her siblings would be safe. Ryou was spying on us with our Mew pendants, and he sent Lettuce to try to get rid of us. She decided to join us, and stayed here too. We've all pretty much been in hiding for the last two weeks. I didn't feel safe leaving Kisshu here alone, and it was good that I didn't, because Ryou broke in and tried to kill him. I used my attack to incinerate Ryou, so he's not a problem anymore."
"You incinerated him?" Sakura asked.
"I cleaned up the ashes, if that's what you're worried about," Ichigo said
"No! I'm worried that you'll get arrested!" Sakura wailed.
"Keiichiro promised not to tell, and seeing as the Mew Project is technically illegal, he can't go to the police without getting arrested," Ichigo said.
"Okay, so you incinerated Ryou…" Shintaro prompted.
"Pai showed up a while later, and attacked," Ichigo said. "Then he told us that he couldn't disobey his leader, because he was holding his parents hostage. He told us that his leader's human host was Aoyama, so Lettuce and I killed him. Pai got Yuki and her husband Hayako back, and they've been with Keiichiro, though Yuki's been spending a lot of time here."
"Why?" Shintaro asked.
"I figured these two should have some supervision," Yuki said.
"Thanks," Shintaro said. He looked at Ichigo and said, "You and Kisshu are together?"
"Yup!" Ichigo said happily. "I'm really happy!"
"Do I get to challenge him to a kendo match?" Shintaro asked.
"NO, you don't!" Ichigo and Sakura said firmly.
"One was more than enough," Ichigo said. "I know Kisshu would never hurt me. I think that should be enough for you. I'm aware that you think I'm a baby, but I think it's time you realized I have a mind of my own and don't need you to hold my hand wherever I go. I wish you trusted me, Dad."
Shintaro was now speechless, and Sakura said, "Ichigo's right, Shintaro. Did you even consider how it might feel to a thirteen-year-old for her father to treat her like a baby?"
"Um…" Shintaro said uncomfortably.
Sakura sighed. "I thought not. I'll lecture you later. Ichigo, what's happening now?"
Yuki was the one who answered, and she said, "I sent Pai back to our planet, since I don't feel that he can control himself, and we are trying to form a truce. There's one more thing, though. It's not a good idea to separate Ichigo and Kisshu for very long. And since Ichigo can't exactly come back to our planet, I would like you both to adopt Kisshu."
"Um…. is there more to this?" Sakura asked.
"Hai," Yuki said. "But it's going to take a bit of explaining."
"Let's all sit down, then," Sakura said, and dragged Shintaro over to the couch. Yuki sat in a chair, and Kisshu and Ichigo sat down on the loveseat.
Yuki waited till everyone was settled, and said, "I should give you the background first. Cyniclons- that's the name of my race- have a quality that I don't believe humans have, although Ichigo might have it. We are able to sense when we've found our soulmate. The person we find also knows it, and whether their parents like it or not, we are bonded to the person we find. This normally would happen in a Cyniclon's early twenties, but Kisshu's not your average Cyniclon. That's why it doesn't surprise me that Ichigo is his soulmate, even though she's not a Cyniclon. Ichigo seems to have a similar sense; she told me earlier today that she has a feeling she'll never find anyone else. That might be because she is half cat, but I don't know. Anyways, people who are separated from their soulmates for any lengthened period of time will become depressed, and occasionally even suicidal. Taking Kisshu back to our planet without Ichigo would probably result in disaster, which I'm sure you don't want."
"I don't mind adopting Kisshu," Sakura said. "But if he's living here, I need to sign him up for school, and no offense, but the ears are going to be a problem."
"Maybe Keiichiro could figure something out to change Kisshu's ears," Ichigo suggested.
"I had some pills that Pai developed, but I don't have them with me, and I don't know how he made them," Kisshu said. "They were on the ship."
"Hayako's back, I'll call him," Yuki said, and closed her eyes briefly. Then she said, "He's on his way now."
A few minutes later, the air began to ripple, and Hayako appeared. "Konbanwa," he said. "Yuki, what did you need?"
"Do you know if the pills Pai developed to change our ears are still on the ship?" Yuki asked.
"Yep, and I told him to give the instructions on how to make them to Keiichiro," Hayako said. "We're all set." He turned to Sakura and Shintaro and bowed slightly, saying, "You must be Ichigo's parents, it's nice to meet you."
"You as well," Sakura said.
Hayako smiled and turned back to Yuki. "You've explained the situation?" he asked.
"Hai," Yuki said. She turned to Sakura and asked, "So it's okay with you to have Kisshu live here?"
"Yes," Sakura said. "Shintaro will get used to it eventually as well. Especially since he keeps complaining about my decision not to have any more kids."
"Why is that, if you don't mind my asking?" Hayako asked.
"The first time was scary," Sakura said. "Ichigo was born nearly a month early, and the doctors thought she wouldn't make it. I don't want to go through that again. And now we'll have two kids anyways!"
Shintaro was sulking, and said, "I didn't expect the second one to be my daughter's boyfriend."
"Get over it, Dad," Ichigo sighed. "It's not a very pleasant feeling when your dad doesn't trust you. I know Grandpa wasn't like that; why are you so untrusting of me?"
"He's like that because he still thinks you can't take care of yourself," Sakura said bluntly. "It would be nice if he would listen to you."
Shintaro was still sulking, and said, "If I listen, what's going to happen?"
"I'll be happier," Ichigo said. "And maybe you'll realize that just because I don't like living alone for weeks on end, doesn't mean that I can't take care of myself."
"I thought you liked it," Shintaro said.
Ichigo rolled her eyes. "I HAD to say that, or you'd never stop treating me like a baby," she said. "I like it better when you guys are around, and I think it would be nice now that Kisshu's going to be living here too. Most kids' parents don't leave them alone all the time, and you tend to leave the day before something happens, like this last time. Aoyama broke up with me for being a Mew Mew, Ryou made me wash dishes for four hours for being late, even though I came in crying, and the only reason I didn't go home and cry myself to sleep is because I found Kisshu on the sidewalk. Even though I couldn't talk with him, it felt nice having someone there. I don't like being alone 24/7."
"You leave her alone for weeks at that age?" Yuki asked. "I don't know about here, but on our planet, we stay with our kids, so they know that we love them and want to be around them. Do you not like being around Ichigo?"
"We love being around her, but we thought she wanted time alone," Sakura said.
Ichigo buried her face in Kisshu's shoulder, and said in a muffled voice, "You couldn't tell that I was just saying that so you could have fun? Yuki's idea of parenting sounds nicer."
Kisshu hugged Ichigo gently as her parents started looking ashamed. "We're sorry, sweetie, we didn't see that," Sakura said.
"Obviously," Ichigo said bitterly. She pulled away from Kisshu and stormed upstairs. A minute later they heard a door slam. Kisshu stood up and teleported, leaving the others to talk.
With Ichigo: Ichigo was lying face down on her bed when Kisshu teleported in. She didn't look up; she just asked in a muffled voice, "Do you think my parents hate me?"
Kisshu sat down next to her and started stroking her hair as he said, "I don't think so. I think they just don't understand you the way you want them to. But I think they'll listen now. I'm guessing they just didn't understand that you really did want them around, but now that they know that you do, I think at the very least your mom will listen."
With Sakura, Shintaro, Hayako and Yuki: Yuki sighed. "It's pretty obvious to me that Ichigo needs you two around," she said. "As long as you don't treat her like a baby, and stay with her, she'll be happy. She's right, you should have realized that she was just letting you go because she didn't want to make you miserable or get treated like a baby. And if you're serious about taking Kisshu in, I think you should stay here unless it's some kind of emergency. Kisshu isn't ready for being alone without parents, even though Ichigo will be here. Deep down, he wants someone who will treat him like a teenager, and be there for him, besides just Ichigo. Not many people on my planet treated him like a teenager; they treated him like an adult, and had really high expectations that he struggled to meet. If you want them both to be happy, you're going to have to be here for them, and not just over the phone. Even though you'll probably have fights, they both need you there."
Sakura buried her face in her hands. "I really should have seen this before…" she said sadly. "Do you think there's a way to make it up to her?"
"Stay with her," Hayako said. "She wants you around, and she wants you to start treating her age-appropriately. Those aren't hard things to do, are they? Vacations aren't a necessity. You'll be better off staying here. If you want Ichigo to love you, you have to be here. A relationship- any relationship, no matter what kind- is a two-way thing. Both parties have to work together to make it work. And a long-distance relationship doesn't make anyone happy. I don't mean to make you feel bad, but I can't imagine leaving one of my children alone for three weeks. I admit that this time it was probably better that you were away, considering the fact Ichigo and her friends were basically barricading the house against their enemies, but what about in the past? Every child I know wants to have their parents there when they need them. If they're not there, the child will begin to have doubts about how much their parents care."
Yuki continued, "You're also going to have to remember Kisshu's feelings as well as Ichigo's. I don't think you want him to be nervous that you'll just leave anytime you feel like it. After his real parents died, and after we managed to get him to leave his room, he started to get kind of clingy to us. Admittedly he was six years old, but while he's matured, his need to have a family hasn't changed one bit. A family that isn't there isn't going to work for him. And it obviously doesn't work for Ichigo either. Sakura, you should be aware that he might become clingy to you after a while, but since he's scared of Shintaro, he probably won't become clingy to him."
"Why is he scared of me?" Shintaro asked.
"He knows you don't like the idea of Ichigo having a boyfriend, and therefore believes that you're going to hate him no matter what," Hayako said. "I tried to tell him that's not necessarily true, but he's convinced that you're scary and hate him."
"I told you that your hatred of boyfriends was going to come back to bite you," Sakura said dryly.
"Kisshu is very responsible with Ichigo," Yuki said. "And he's proved to me that he's responsible. I let them sleep with each other, and they didn't do anything besides act like the other was a teddy bear."
"You let them SLEEP together?" Shintaro asked incredulously.
"Yes," Yuki said calmly. "Kisshu is a horrible liar, if he had done something, which I know he wouldn't, I would be able to tell. And they didn't do anything besides sleep. They like it; I saw no reason to object."
"You should trust Ichigo," Hayako said. "We both saw right away that she's responsible too. She wouldn't go too far either."
"I've always trusted Ichigo, and I don't have a problem with them sleeping together," Sakura said. "Shintaro, on the other hand…."
"I know, I know, I'm too overprotective and I should go soft before being overprotective becomes hazardous to my health," Shintaro said sulkily.
"Are you going to go soft?" Sakura asked. "Or are we going to have to have more little chats?"
"Okay! Okay! I'll go soft and they can sleep together!" Shintaro said.
"Good," Sakura, Yuki and Hayako said together.
"I think you two should go talk to Ichigo and Kisshu," Hayako said. "They should know what's going on."
"Okay," Sakura said. "Shintaro, let's go."
Shintaro followed her upstairs, and to Ichigo's room. Sakura knocked, but didn't hear anything. She quietly opened the door, and looked in. Kisshu looked up, startled, and came over, putting a finger to his lips. "She fell asleep a little while ago," he said softly. "If it's urgent, though, I can wake her up."
"We do need to talk to both of you," Sakura said.
Kisshu nodded, and went back to Ichigo, shaking her gently. "Koneko-chan, time to wake up," he said softly.
"Nyaaa…" Ichigo said disgruntledly. "Do I have to?"
"Your parents want to talk with us," Kisshu said.
Ichigo sighed and sat up. She looked at Sakura and Shintaro warily. "Yuki told you we've been sleeping together, didn't she?" Ichigo asked.
"Yes," Shintaro sighed. "And before you say anything, we've decided you can keep doing that. Your mom claims it's hazardous to my health if I don't go soft, so yes, I am going soft."
"Really?" Ichigo said, perking up a bit.
"Really," Sakura said. Her smile faded as she said, "Ichigo, we're really sorry we haven't been more understanding. And we're going to stop the vacations, so we'll have more time with the both of you."
Ichigo perked up a bit more, and so did Kisshu. "So now you'll be there when I get back from school?" she asked eagerly.
"I will, but your father may have to work late sometimes," Sakura said. "But I'll be here, and if I go shopping, I promise I'll leave a note or call you."
"Thanks," Ichigo said. "Is Dad going to be nice to Kisshu too?"
Shintaro sighed. "You do realize the main reason I hated Aoyama was that he was a good-for-nothing pretty boy with no brains, right?" he asked. "I don't hate all boys, and for your information, I used to be your age, no matter what you may think."
"So you don't hate me?" Kisshu asked.
"No," Shintaro sighed. "And even if I did, I'd try to be nice because my wife and daughter would never let me hear the end of it. But I don't hate you. I hated Aoyama, though."
"So did I," Kisshu said. "I'm glad he's dead."
"Kisshu, do you have human clothes?" Sakura asked.
"No, just these," Kisshu said.
"Okay, I think I'll take you and Ichigo shopping tomorrow, while Shintaro comes up with an excuse for Ichigo's three-week long absence from school," Sakura said.
"Thanks," Kisshu said. "Did you say something about school?"
"Yep, I'll sign you up when we figure out the pills to change your ears," Sakura said. "Tomorrow we'll go shopping, and maybe get ice cream."
"YAY!" Ichigo said.
"And Kisshu, you can borrow some of Shintaro's clothes for going out," Sakura said.
"Okay," Kisshu said. He looked over at Ichigo as she yawned. "Tired, Koneko-chan?" he asked.
"Yeah…" Ichigo said.
"You two go to bed," Sakura said. "See you in the morning."
"Night," Ichigo and Kisshu said. As Sakura and Shintaro left, the two of them climbed under the covers and snuggled up to each other. Ichigo turned out the light, and Kisshu pulled the blankets up. Then they both drifted off to sleep.
That worked out well… Next chapter, they go shopping!