Depression Chapter 12:

Mint's Revenge

With the funeral behind them, Sakura and Ichigo were starting to feel a bit better. Having Kisshu, Pai and Taruto live with them was a big help. It would have been pretty lonely otherwise.

Right now they were all busy helping Sakura and Keiichiro work on reopening Café Mew Mew. Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro had all agreed to come back, but Mint was refusing to talk to them. Ichigo didn't really mind; Mint hadn't done anything anyways, and she pointed that out to the others.

Keiichiro sighed. "You're right, she never pulled her weight," he said. "And now that you've killed Aoyama, she wouldn't come near you. It would probably be a nuisance to have her fighting with you all the time and just sitting there while everyone else works."

"Then let's not bother inviting her back," Ichigo said. "We've got Kisshu, Pai and Taruto now, we don't really need an extra person."

"You didn't call me Kishy…" Kisshu said, pretending to be sad.

Ichigo didn't notice the pretend part, and said, "I'm sorry, Kishy."

Kisshu smiled. "I don't mind," he said. "You can call me Kisshu or Kishy. Or both."

Ichigo smiled back, then said, "Keiichiro, do the uniforms have to have those short skirts? I thought they were cute at first, but guys started flipping my skirt, and if that happens again, Kishy's going to scare the customers away."

"Good point," Keiichiro said. "I'll see what I can do about new uniforms. In the meantime, why don't you all start cleaning up around here?"

Everyone nodded, and they spent the rest of the day airing out the café part and cleaning. As they were finishing, there was a knock on the door, and everyone looked at each other. "The Café's not open, who could that be?" Lettuce wondered.

Ichigo sighed and went to the door. "I'm sorry, we're not open," she said to the two men outside. "We're having our grand opening next Wednesday, you can come back then."

"We're not here to eat treats, Miss Momomiya," one of the guys said.

"How do you know my name?" Ichigo asked nervously. "Who are you?"

The man took out an ID card and showed it to her, saying, "We're members of the special guard of the Aizawa family. We're here to ask you and your friends some questions."

Keiichiro came up behind Ichigo, and said, "Do you have authorization to ask us questions? I was under the impression you needed a warrant to come here and ask questions, especially if you're from a private police force."

"We have a warrant," the second man said, holding out a piece of paper. Keiichiro took it and looked it over, then sighed.

"Fine, come in," he said.

The two men walked in and everyone sat down at the tables. "We were asked to do this by our master's daughter, Aizawa Mint," the first man said. "I am Agent Oniro, and my partner is Agent Menai."

"And why did Miss Aizawa ask you to do this?" Keiichiro asked.

"She claims that one of your employees killed her boyfriend," Agent Menai said. "Momomiya Ichigo, to be precise."

"How on Earth did Mint get a boyfriend?" Ichigo asked. "I didn't even know she had one."

"So you deny the accusations?" Agent Oniro asked.

"Yes," Ichigo said. "I didn't think Mint had a boyfriend. She's so stuck-up I assumed she'd never get anyone. Besides, why would I kill her boyfriend, even if I had known she had one?"

"She claimed you were jealous of her, and that you couldn't take it that she was better than you," Agent Oniro said.

"Why would she think that?" Ichigo asked. "I wasn't jealous of her; I thought it was rather sad that she thought she was so much better than everyone around her. It must make it hard to make friends."

"She does have a lot of trouble making friends…" Agent Menai said- and got whacked over the head by Agent Oniro.

"So, who was Mint's boyfriend?" Keiichiro asked.

"Aoyama Masaya," Agent Oniro said.

"We heard he went missing," Ichigo said. "You think he was killed?"

"We can't figure out any other explanation, and neither can the regular police," Agent Menai said. "His parents didn't receive any demands for a ransom, so we think he was murdered, not kidnapped."

"I honestly don't know why you'd think I did it," Ichigo said. "Are you positive Mint wasn't just going crazy because she lost an important person to her?"

"Uh… she has been a little off recently, but we had to follow orders," Agent Menai said. "I guess this was a waste of our time. We'll go back and tell her father that the investigation's come to another dead end."

"I think that's for the best," Keiichiro said firmly. The two agents both stood, bowed, and left.

Everyone sighed when they were out of sight around a corner, then Kisshu said, "Good acting, Koneko-chan."

"Thanks Kishy," Ichigo said.

"We may not have seen the last of Mint, though," Zakuro said. "We'll have to be careful- especially you and Kisshu, Ichigo."

"Yep," Ichigo said. "At least the excuse that Mint's probably gone insane from losing Aoyuck will keep for a while."

"Yeah…." the others said.

Finally Keiichiro said, "Well, it's getting to be dinnertime, so you all should get home to your families. I'll get to work on getting new uniforms, and we'll have the grand opening next Wednesday. Till then, you can have free time."

"Great!" Ichigo said.

Everyone else started to leave, and Pai and Kisshu teleported Sakura and Ichigo home. Taruto was having a sleepover at Pudding's.

When they landed in the living room, Sakura said, "Who wants noodle salad?"

"NOT me," Kisshu said. "I spent a week and a half eating nothing but noodles while I was recovering before the funeral, I don't want to see noodles for a very long time."

"Should we order pizza?" Sakura asked.

"What's pizza?" Kisshu asked. "It doesn't involve noodles, does it?"

"No, it's a big flatbread with tomato sauce, cheese, and other toppings, like meat and vegetables," Sakura said. "Ichigo likes pepperoni and mushrooms."

"Okay," Kisshu said. "That sounds pretty good."

"Pai, is that okay?" Sakura asked.

"I'll eat just about anything," Pai said. "I'm not picky."

"Yay, pizza!" Ichigo said.

Sakura smiled and went to get the phone. "Kishy, let's go back to my room," Ichigo said. "The pizza usually takes about half an hour to get here."

"How does food get here on its own?" Kisshu asked.

"Someone delivers it," Ichigo said.

"Oh," Kisshu said. "Let's go to your room now."

"K," Ichigo said. They headed upstairs, and went to Ichigo's room, then sat on the bed. "Hey, why is the window open?" Ichigo asked.

"Did you open it and forget?" Kisshu asked.

"I don't think so," Ichigo said- just as they saw a shadowy figure in the tree. "Who's out there?" Kisshu called.

There was no response; instead, something came flying through the window and lodged itself into Ichigo's shoulder. Ichigo cried out as Kisshu ran to the window. Strangely, whoever was in the tree was gone. Kisshu ran back to Ichigo, and pulled what looked like a dart out of her shoulder. Then he noticed she was going pale, and soon after, she collapsed. "ICHIGO!" Kisshu shouted, which brought Pai and Sakura running.

"What happened?" Sakura asked, scared.

"Someone shot this at Ichigo and vanished!" Kisshu said, holding out the dart. "They were in that tree, but when I went to look closer, they were gone!"

Pai took the dart, and studied it. "This has poison on it," he said grimly.

Kisshu and Sakura looked at him in horror. "Can you do anything?" Sakura asked.

Pai put his hand on Ichigo's chest, and said, "The poison has only just begun to take effect. I can counteract it with my powers, but Ichigo will need to heal on her own after that, counteracting the poison isn't going to be easy."

"Alright," Kisshu said.

Pai nodded and closed his eyes, his hand still on Ichigo's chest. His hand began to glow, and continued to glow for the next ten minutes. Finally the glow flashed, and Pai took his hand away. "That should do it," he said tiredly. "She has to heal on her own now, and I need to rest, that was tough."

"Okay," Sakura said. "I guess I'll put the pizza in the fridge to eat another time, unless you want some now."

"Too tired…" Pai said.

"I'm going to stay with Ichigo," Kisshu said.

"Okay," Sakura said. She and Pai left as Kisshu tucked Ichigo into their bed, and sat down to wait for her to wake up.

Ichigo didn't wake up until midnight, by which point Kisshu was on the verge of panicking. He calmed down a little when he heard Ichigo ask, "Kishy?"

"I'm here," Kisshu said. "How are you feeling?"

"I don't feel that great," Ichigo said. "What happened?"

"Someone shot a poison dart into the room and it hit you in the shoulder," Kisshu said. "I'm sorry I didn't push you out of the way."

"Well, then you'd be poisoned," Ichigo said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" Kisshu said. "Pai said he counteracted the poison, but that you'd have to heal on your own while he gets his strength back."

"Okay…" Ichigo said sleepily. "Can you sleep with me?"

"Sure," Kisshu said with a smile. He climbed into the bed next to her, and she snuggled up to him. He gently hugged her, and they fell asleep soon after.

Well, Mint's out for revenge. Luckily Ichigo got the police off her trail, but now she's been poisoned. And I'm sure you all know who was in the tree. I'll work on this more soon! Review!