Ch. 11: Remember Who You Are

Ichigo silently walks back to a sleeping Pudding and a sleeping Lettuce – the fish maiden sleeping in her little pond with her legs merged into a fish tail while the monkey girl is lying on her little vine bed hanging from the branches. Near Pudding's spot is Ichigo's bed – a flat three layer pile of banana leaves. It's empty, obviously. The cat princess hasn't slept on it all night because she was somewhere else, crying her eyes out. Her throat hurts from sobbing, there's bags under her eyes, her nose is finally cleared from all the snot that leaked out when she was crying, and her eyes are swollen. Now it's the brink of dawn and Lettuce and Pudding should be getting up soon. Good thing since Ichigo really doesn't want to be alone right now.

Ichigo wipes her eyes again in case of any tear stains or snot that might still be on her face. She prepares herself and goes up to Pudding. She nudges her shoulder and calls, "Pudding…Pudding…Get up it's morning." Pudding opens her eyes sleepily and the first thing she sees is Ichigo's eyes right in her face.

"AAAHHH!" she screams, falling off her bed and into Lettuce's pond. Lettuce wakes up and looks around alarmed as a wet Pudding clings to Lettuce for dear life.

Ichigo tells her, "Calm down, calm down, Pudding! It's me alright!" After a moment, Pudding lets out a frustrated growl while Lettuce looks down at her, waiting to see what she's going to say.

Stepping out of the pond, Pudding points a finger at Ichigo. "Don't you ever do that to me again, na no da! You nearly gave me a heart attack, na no da!"

Ichigo weakly tells her, "Sorry." Lettuce gets out and her tail becomes two legs again. Both her and Pudding notice the hint of sadness on their friend's face.

Lettuce asks, "Ichigo-san, are you okay?" Ichigo looks startled from that question.

Trying to look clueless, she asks, "What? There's nothing wrong."

"Liar, na no da," Pudding accuses. The attention is on her as she concludes, "Something happened, na no da. Something bad, na no da. What happened between you and that guy, na no da?" Lettuce gasps in surprise of that as Ichigo lets out a sight. Should have known she couldn't hide anything from them.

"Can we not talk about it?" Ichigo asks. "I don't need this right now, and honestly I just want to put it behind me – like I do for everything else." From the look on her face, Lettuce looks sad in sympathy for her friend while Pudding looks away, almost like she too is remembering something just as tragic.

Lettuce asks, "Where is he now?" Ichigo shrugs her shoulders.

"Oh he left a long time ago," a voice answers. That was unexpected.

The three animal-girls look up to see Keiichiro sitting on a branch on their tree with a cup of tea in hand. When Ichigo looks at him, she feels like as if she's met him before but she can't remember how when he advises, "I suggest you should go after him. Going alone I believe is not good idea." Lettuce and Pudding are confused as Ichigo looks a bit hurt. So again, he runs…

Looking away, uncaring, Ichigo says, "That guy can do what he wants alone. I don't care anymore."

"Your friend's right; you are a liar. Didn't expect for you to grow up into one."

Well that was a little rude. "Who are you anyway?!"

Showing her a friendly smile on his face first, Keiichiro quickly gets off the tree and lands on the ground behind her, almost like he disappeared and reappeared like a cyniclon's transportation. They all look behind Ichigo and he tells her, "You might want to ask yourself that question." He takes a sip of his tea. "This needs more ants." Unlike Kisshu, they weren't grossed out by his taste in drinks. They're just confused on what he said before.

"Excuse me?" Ichigo asks.

Keiichiro looks at her in the eye and says, "Okay then, I'll ask. Who are you, Ichigo?" She opens her mouth answer but after thinking about it for a moment, she shuts her mouth sadly.

Then Pudding asks, "What are you talking about, na no da?"

"She already knows who she is so why would she ask herself that?" says Lettuce.

"To tell the truth is I don't know," Ichigo tells them. They gasp as Keiichiro watches her intensively. Ichigo looks guilty as she mumbles, "I thought I knew who I was but now, I'm not so sure."

"Well I do!" Keiichiro tells her, but Ichigo refuses to look up. "You're Sakura-sama's heir." She looks at him that time, gasping. But he waves and tells her, "Good bye." Then he leaps up, flips in the air, and lands on a far off branch before running off into the forest.

"Wait!" Ichigo yells, chasing after him.

"Ichigo-san!"

"Ichigo onee-chan!"

But the panther is long gone after the weird monkey. It only took a minute of glancing at each other before those two decide to chase after their friend.

Ichigo tries her best to chase after the older monkey. She even uses her super cat speed to try and catch up but he's just way too fast compared to anyone half his age. Keiichiro jumps from one branch to the other and swings through vines while Ichigo's jumping over roots, logs, and rocks. Good thing she can still see him but just barely. Since she's using most of her focus on him and where she's stepping, Ichigo doesn't notice where exactly they're going until suddenly, Keiichiro is right in front of her.

"Stop right there, please!"

She does and she barely hits him in the process. Ichigo is panting while Keiichiro still looks as calm and normal as if he wasn't just running at insane speed. He sits down on a rock near a lake and starts drinking his tea again. Once she got some breathe in her lungs, Ichigo asks, "You knew my mother?"

After a sip, he tells her, "Correction! I know your mother."

Ichigo looks guilty after that. She has to be the bearer of unpleasant news. "Forgive me for telling you this, but I'm afraid that my mother died when I was young. A long time ago."

"My goodness, child," he calls her. She's confused as he points to the area over her heart and says, "She's alive in here. She has always been with you, living inside." Then he presents to her the lake. "Look."

She hesitates for a moment, wondering if this monkey is alright in the head but there is no deceit or misguidance in his eyes. So she takes the chance and walks over to the edge of the lake. Looking over the water, Ichigo gasps in absolute shock. Instead of seeing her own reflection, Ichigo sees Sakura looking up at her.

There is a faint voice in the wind.

"Ichigo…"

Ichigo looks around, her ears twitching in all directions, and asks, "Mother?"

Then the wind begins to blow. It starts off soft and then the force starts to pick up as it circles around the area where Ichigo stands – separating her from everything else. The leaves of the forest, the lost feathers of birds, and the seeds from the weeds are the only indicators to how the wind moves. The panther princess tries to cover her eyes from the things that nearly blew into her eyes but then she feels a familiar hand under chin. She knows this touch all too well and it's been so long since she felt it. Looking up and dropping her hands, Ichigo sees her mother standing before her as if she's really here; her hand cupping Ichigo's cheek with a sad, lonely expression.

"My dear child," Sakura calls her. "You've forgotten about me."

Ichigo cannot believe that this is happening but she quickly tells her, "I'd never forgotten you, mother! Not a single day has passed by that I have not thought of you."

"But you only think of me as a tragic memory. When you left your place in the Mew Mew land, you have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. The only thing I am to you now is a tragic event that has brought nothing but pain and despair."

Ichigo can feel tears coming to her eyes and it's not from the dust in the wind. "But it's my fault that you died! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"I don't blame you, sweetheart," she tells her, much to Ichigo's surprise.

"What?"

She sees her Sakura smiling and then she kisses her daughter's forehead – like how she used to do long ago. "How could I ever blame my precious child? I love you and you should remember that and go back home."

"But how can I? I'm not the same person I was long ago."

"You are my daughter and always will be. You are also the rightful heir to the throne and you must take your rightful place as queen. Remember that and your powers can be limitless."

Then the wind's force starts to fade away as Sakura's hand drops from Ichigo's face. Ichigo can see her mother starting to look transparent and her form is slowly disappearing. That begins to scare her. "Wait! Don't go, please!"

Sakura smiles at her daughter more warmly and tells her, "Remember who you are, Ichigo, and you will be unstoppable."

"Mother!"

But the wind dies down completely and Sakura's ghost completely disappears. The only thing that Ichigo grabbed when she tried to reach for her mother is the pieces of leaves, feathers, and seeds. Looking at her hand to see them, the wind blows them away and this time, it softly gusts away in one direction. She watches them glide up into the sky and she sees the morning sun breaking through the clouds.

Then Keiichiro just jumps up and grabs the few leaves and seeds he could get; much to Ichigo's startlement. She watches him examine his spoils and then cheers, "This is what I needed." He breaks the leaves and drizzles the rest into his tea cup. After swirling it together and taking a sip, he sighs in content from the taste. "Ah, much better." Ichigo smiles at that as he looks up at her. "So what are you going to do now, Princess Ichigo?"

Chuckling at the title first, she answers, "I guess I need to go back home. I know what I have to do but I know it's not going to be easy. I should probably say goodbye to Lettuce and Pudding, first."

"Why, na no da?"

Ichigo and Keiichiro turn around towards the forest and they see both Lettuce and Pudding leaning either on a tree or a rock to rest for a little bit. They look like they've been running for a while.

Ichigo asks, "You guys?"

Lettuce looks up at her and after a few breathes, asks, "Ichigo-san…tell us truthfully! Are you…Are you the daughter of Queen Sakura? The heir to the throne at the Mew Mew Land?"

Ichigo lets out a nervous laugh and with a scratch to the head, she answers, "Guilty."

Suddenly, both girls are in her face and ask, "Why didn't you tell us?!/na no da?!"

"Sorry, sorry," she tells them, weakly. "I didn't think it mattered anymore before but now, it does." She steps back to give each other space and tells them, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to go back home and face my past. I can't keep running forever."

"It might be wise to take them with you, Ichigo-san," Keiichiro recommends, taking another sip. How can he still be drinking tea from that cup without a teapot nearby? Doesn't that thing ever run out? "Taking the throne back from your uncle will not be easy. He has an army of Kirema Animas at his command and you are just one animal-being. I warned Kisshu-san this earlier but he insisted on going alone. He figured that you still needed time to calm down after what happened."

Ichigo did not expect to hear that. "Wait, Kisshu went back to the Mew Mew Land on his own?!"

"To face his past as well, yes. Something he should have done a long time ago."

Ichigo starts to feel panic for her childhood-sweetheart at the thought. "But that's suicide! What in the world is he thinking?!"

"Kisshu-san has his own demons he needs to face. He wanted me to tell you that you don't have to forgive him for what he's done, but I think you need to understand his situation a little more before you do that." Keiichiro goes to his pocket to search for something and once he has it, he offers it to Ichigo. "You dropped this," he says. Hesitantly, Ichigo reaches her hand out for it and what he drops into her palm is an earring. Looking at it closely, Ichigo knows exactly what this is. Lettuce and Pudding look over her shoulder to see it.

"This is…"

The very earring that Ichigo tore off of Kisshu's ear those years ago when he was Kish. How come Keiichiro has it?

"You remember that, don't you?" Ichigo's face is the only answer he needs and he sees a question in her eyes she's too shocked to ask. He explains, "I found it on the floor near the gorge shortly after I heard of Queen Sakura's death and I did some research on it. Based on its structure and mechanics, it's a manipulating device."

"A manipulating device?" Lettuce questions for her friend.

"Yes," he answers. "Whoever wears that earring will have their memories sealed away in a very tight and almost impenetrable safe in their heads. With the memories locked away, it can be very easy to replace the truth with something else. Then that person can simply be manipulated by whoever that truth-giver is. That can effortlessly result in an alternative personality."

"S-So then, almost like how a child abides by the morals and principles taught to them by their parents?"

"In a way. Whatever the truth-giver says will become that person's law and reality, and follows whatever the 'master' commands. No wonder he confused those desires with his own. He couldn't tell the difference." His eyes looked directly at Ichigo to strongly indicate something.

She got it, remembering the last few words she shared with Kisshu. "So when I ripped this off of Kisshu then, he started to get his memories back and return to normal, right?"

With an almost tragic look on his face this time, Keiichiro replies, "That is the ending result but look how long it took for him to recover." Ichigo's eyes widen to that. "I imagined Kisshu-san had that earring for a while, strengthening the control as the years came by, so the timing is fairly reasonable. However, I believe he must have had some sort of head-start."

"What head-start, na no da?" asks Pudding, finally speaking.

"Only a very important, very strong reminder of his past could have given him the chink he needed to help break the lock on his memories. I found a sort of malfunction in the earring and I assumed that something must have happened while he was still wearing that to have caused it. Ichigo-san, you are the most important girl to him. Do you remember anything that could have done it?"

Ichigo replays every memory she has of Kisshu when he was Kish and at first, nothing comes to mind. Besides that he did steal her first kiss but is that really something strong enough to help him? As corny as it would be if it did, Ichigo doesn't think that did it. That was nothing compared to the kiss they had yesterday. Then remembering what Kisshu mentioned last night, didn't he say something about hearing Ichigo call for him and he tried to go to her?

"At the stampede in the gorge, I climbed this tree to try and avoid it but it was old and skinny. It wouldn't hold me for long. I was so scared I screamed the first name that I could think of."

"You called for him," Keiichiro finishes for her. Then he smiles. "A cry for help and to return to you, who devotedly waited for him for so long. And it was that cry that helped freed him. You wanted him back and he came back."

As flattering as that information is, Ichigo asks the older monkey, "But why did he have this earring on in the first place?! Was it forced on him?"

"From my research, the control is much stronger when it's put on willingly and the wearer honestly wishes to forget."

"T-Then why?"

Keiichiro looks up like he's thinking, still calm and then he answers, "Not too sure."

Ichigo nearly falls over for that blunt answer, her friends wide-eyed. She yells, furiously, "What the hell do you mean you're not sure?!"

"Well it depends," Keiichiro corrects. "One could easily let their hearts become black by thoughts of revenge, extreme sorrow, or hatred."

"Revenge, sorrow, or hatred?" Ichigo mumbles, as if making sure she heard him right. Then that memory she recalled before, the other promise he made that haunted her for days when she was young, comes back again and she gasps. "K…Kisshu ran away when he was little after his father died in a fighting accident when there was a competition to decide who will be the new ruler. I tried to stop him from leaving but he told me that he was leaving to become stronger and then he will take his revenge on the new royal family."

Lettuce asks, "Then wouldn't that mean…he had wanted to kill you?!"

"I believe his feelings of revenge towards the royal family was what opened the opportunity to manipulate him but it was much more than that," Keiichiro corrects, again. "It was because Ichigo-san became the new princess that he lost the resolve, and all that was left was despair and anguish. He cared about you too much to hurt you but the pain was too much, so he took the easy way out. I'm sure Kisshu-san didn't have any idea to what would happen after he accepted the earring."

Ichigo is starting to believe that now. And to think she cried all of last night because she honestly thought that Kisshu wanted to hurt her. She should have believed in the little boy she used to play with and who she childishly promised marriage to. But those days were so long ago and both of them grew up to two very different people. That's not even an excuse!

Gripping the earring in her now tightly clenched fist, Ichigo almost crushes it when she asks, "Do you know who made the earrings? It wasn't just Kisshu who had this! There's two more, right?"

Keiichiro looks up at the sky to see how far the sun has risen as he replies, "Yes, but I'm afraid you don't have time to ask me too many questions. I don't know who created such a device but I do know whoever he or she is, that person works for the current king – your uncle."

Lettuce and Pudding nearly drop their jaws at that while Ichigo tenses. Dare she asks, "What do you mean?"

Looking back at her, his response is, "Deep Blue has an army of Kirema Animas. Who do you think created them?" She gets it instantly and fear appears in her eyes now. "I wasn't just concerned for Kisshu-san to fight against all of them. I was concerned if he'll be chained by his master's persuasion again."

Oh dear god.

"I need to go after him, now!" Ichigo exclaims. She turns around to run but Pudding steps in front of her.

"Not without us, na no da!"

"Pudding?"

"We're going with you, Ichigo-san," Lettuce declares.

"I can't drag you two into this. It could get dangerous and you'll get hurt."

"So can you, na no da! Haven't we been together these past five years, na no da? We are a family and we stick together, na no da!"

The determination is strong in Pudding's eyes and Ichigo honestly cannot say 'no' to them. Looking at Lettuce, she's the exact same way. They really are the best friends Ichigo could ever ask for. Even though there is still a part of her that warns she shouldn't let them, her head nods. "Thank you, everyone." Turning to Keiichiro, she says to him, "Thank you so much for this. I swear on my mother's name, I will take back the Mew Mew Land and become its Queen."

Smiling in approval now, he says with the tea cup up to his lips, "I expect nothing less from Sakura-san's daughter."

Ichigo nods to him again in respect and then with one look at her friends, they nod as too – ready to follow her. Then they were off, running like the wind towards the Mew Mew Land. Keiichiro watches them go and then sips his tea again. This time, finishing the drink.

"The Queen has returned. I will see you soon, Zakuro."

"You're a fool, Kish; trying to fight me alone," Deep Blue says, staring down at the defeated and bloodied cyniclon at his feet.

Pushing through the pains rippling though his body with every slight movement he makes, Kisshu looks up at the Mew Mew Land King and glares as much hate as he possibly could. Too bad at the moment, that is all he can do. Sheathing the sword he had to use to stop him, Deep Blue turns around and walks toward the counter of his quarters. With his back turned, Kisshu takes the chance to try and get up so he could attack again.

"Hold him."

Two sets of hands grab Kisshu and force him back down on the crater he made when Deep Blue fought him. He tries to struggle but Sardon and Tart have a firm grip on him now, their silver earrings glowing from Deep Blue's will.

"Kish, come on! Relax!" Tart pleads.

Sardon says, "It'll be over soon. You'll return to normal soon."

What does he mean 'return to normal'? Peeking out from the dirt, Kisshu sees Deep Blue opening a box and he takes out something small that glistens in the small light. Oh god, he knows what that is.

'To hell with that!' Kisshu tries to struggle harder but his 'brothers' have a good grip on him and they're not as weak as he is right now. With each failed struggle Kisshu tries to make, the more blood he loses to the broken concrete. So the more he struggles, the weaker he becomes.

Deep Blue approaches him again and he commands, "Hold him still." This time, Sardon grabs a handful of Kisshu's hair from the top of his head and holds him up firmly for Deep Blue to stab a silver earring on Kisshu's already scared ear. Oh no. Chuckling first, Deep Blue snaps his fingers and then Kisshu's new earring glows.

Then he screams.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" All struggling stops and Kisshu collapses onto the ground, his body twitching and his skull feeling like it's being torn in apart.

"Kish!" Tart calls, looking really concern if his brother will be alright but he's still holding on so his 'brother' won't rip the earring off. Sardon is the same. Deep Blue only chuckles louder watching this.

Kisshu is seeing the memories that he only just regained and they're starting to dissolve away and disappear from his mind– just as they did before when he wanted to forget about his father's death. Tears are flowing out of his eyes and down his face when he sees those types of memories, as well as the ones when he was 'Kish' and hurt so many people. Most importantly, when he hurt the girl he loves. He doesn't want to see them, but he doesn't want to return to that life again, either!

Seconds pass and soon every memory left as his screaming dies down. Kisshu is lying on his stomach and both Sardon and Tart have released him, waiting for any sort of result. The tears are gone and Kisshu slowly starts to sit up. He blinks like he just woke up in an unfamiliar area. He asks, "Where am I?" He looks around and he sees Sardon, Tart, and Deep Blue. "Who are you people?"

Before Tart could make a comment about that, Deep Blue answers, "We're comrades, Kish. I am the King of the Mew Mew Land and these gentlemen next to you are your brothers. Don't you remember?" The earring glows a bit and it took Kisshu a moment to progress all of that.

Soon he smirks and the evil is back in his eyes. "Not really but if you say so, Deep Blue-sama, then I believe you."

Deep Blue smirks as well and tells him, "Good."

Hey guys! So how was the chapter?

Just to make a small announcement, since I am nearing the end of this story, in a few days I will be unleashing the first chapters of two new stories. One of them is also an old idea that needs to be shared with the world and the other is fairly new.

Old idea: "The Cat Demon of Notre Dame"(I'm sure you know what parody this is)

New idea: "My Promise to Keep"(this is a future-base fic with TMM kids, but it's mostly Deep Blue-base. Trust me on this one guys)

It's this new story idea that got me back into writing for this account again and rereading/rewatching all my TMM books/episodes. I had almost forgotten how adorable and/or manly Kisshu was. Went a little crazy in the episodes but he matured greatly near the end, but you guys already know that – LOL!

So anyway, just want to let you know! Till next time!