Why? Chapter 14:

Aoyuck's Return

As soon as the six teens left the schoolyard, Ichigo said, "We'd better go talk with Ryou and Keiichiro. If the principal was able to figure out Kish's identity, who knows who else might guess?"

"Let's not," Kisshu said. "I'll just change my hairstyle, and then people won't think that. The main reason the principal came up with is that I look the same as I did two years ago. And not many people know about my running skills."

Ichigo sighed. "We should at least let them know that he knows," she said.

Kisshu thought, then nodded. "Let's go," he said. He turned to their four friends, and asked, "Are you coming too?"

"Sure," Moe and Miwa said together.

"I'll come," Mei said.

"Same here," Hayate said.

Kisshu nodded and said, "Follow us." He started walking to Café Mew Mew, and the others followed.

When they reached it, Mei said, "I've been here before."

"This place is pretty popular," Ichigo said. "Let's go, I assume Ryou and Keiichiro are downstairs."

The others nodded, and Ichigo went up to the doors, then opened them. The other Mews were getting ready to open, and they looked up. "Ichigo, what's up?" Mint asked.

"We need to talk to Ryou and Keiichiro," Ichigo said, closing the door behind them.

"And your friends?" Mint asked warily.

"That's part of what we need to talk about," Ichigo said. "Please go let them know we're here."

Mint sighed, and got up for a change, then went downstairs. A few minutes later, she returned with Ryou, Keiichiro, and Pai, and went back to her seat. Ryou sighed. "What happened?" he asked.

"The principal guessed," Kisshu said. "And it didn't help that Aoyuck decided to tell the entire school. Moe and Miwa made sure the rest of the school doesn't think that, but today the principal called us in to talk about a rumor that got started, and then he asked why if I had met Aoyuck two years ago, why wasn't I at the school. I tried the 'homeschooling' excuse, but he didn't buy it. And no offense guys, but Moe and Miwa giving him the 'you're going to die if you keep this up' look probably didn't help."

"We tried to tell him we'd all be better off if he didn't know, but he insisted," Ichigo sighed. "And since he had called Mei and Hayate into the room to talk about the rumor with us, we had to swear all three of them to secrecy."

"You're certain no one else heard?" Keiichiro asked.

"I soundproofed the room, it's next to impossible," Kisshu said.

"How much did you tell him?" Ryou asked.

"Only our identities, not yours, not about the Café," Kisshu said. "We did tell him about Aoyuck and the truce, but that was about it, besides our identities. He doesn't know anything about the Café or any of you who work here."

"We told him that if he tells people, the school will be under fire," Ichigo said. "He swore not to tell anyone."

"And these two?" Pai asked. "Moe and Miwa I already knew about, but what about these others?"

"We won't tell either, and if Aoyama starts up again, I can throw him off the kendo team," Hayate said. "Kendo is his life, that should keep him quiet."

Kisshu blinked. "I thought his life was screwing trees," he said.

Ichigo, Moe, Miwa, and Mei burst out laughing. Hayate sighed. "No wonder the principal thought you started that rumor…" he said.

Pai sighed. "Kisshu, where did you get that idea?" he asked wearily.

"He's a treehugger; I thought he might be doing something other than hugging them," Kisshu said.

"I don't know where my parents and I went wrong…" Pai moaned. "What would your parents think?"

That must have hit a nerve, because Kisshu lowered his head and teleported. Ichigo glared at Pai, and said, "You're going to apologize if I have to drag you to wherever Kish is."

Pai sighed and closed his eyes, then said, "It looks like he's in your room, it's very pink."

Ichigo went over, grabbed Pai's arm, and told Ryou, "Pai will be back later."

"Oh, fine, just don't hurt him too badly," Ryou sighed.

Ichigo nodded, and asked, "Pai, do I have to drag you, or will you come willingly?"

"I'll come willingly; your friends look like they're going to eat me," Pai said gloomily.

Ichigo looked at Moe and Miwa. "Do you want to come?" she asked. "I think Mei and Hayate can go."

"We'll get going, and we won't tell," Mei said. "Have fun!"

"Oh, we will," Moe said evilly. Pai gulped as she and Miwa came over and along with Ichigo, dragged Pai off.

The three girls dragged Pai to Ichigo's house, ignoring odd looks from passerby and Pai's complaints about being dragged, and when they got there, Ichigo let go and opened the door, then went in, followed by Moe and Miwa, who were still dragging Pai. Strangely, Sakura didn't come to the door. Ichigo closed the door, took her shoes off, and motioned to Moe and Miwa, who promptly dragged Pai up the stairs- none too gently, either.

To Ichigo's surprise, her door was closed. She knocked softly, and to her surprise, Sakura called, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Mom," Ichigo said. "Can we come in?"

"Sure," Sakura said. Ichigo opened the door, and saw Sakura sitting on the bed, hugging Kisshu, who had his face buried in her shoulder. His shoulders were shaking, even though he wasn't making a sound.

"Moe, Miwa, and I dragged Pai here," Ichigo said.

"I don't like Pai…." Kisshu mumbled sadly.

Ichigo came over and sat down with him and Sakura, and said, "I know, but Pai has something he needs to say."

Moe seemed to take this as a cue, because she whacked Pai over the head. "OW!" Pai shouted.

"That's all?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo sighed. "No, I think Moe was just trying to give him a little 'encouragement'," she said. "Now, what do you have to say to Kisshu, Pai?"

"I'm sorry I brought up your parents, Kisshu," Pai said. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just complaining again. I'm sorry."

"Mmph…" Kisshu mumbled. "Complaining is going to become hazardous to your health."

Miwa whacked Pai this time. "Obviously," Pai grumbled, rubbing his head as Moe and Miwa snickered.

Kisshu slowly took his face out of Sakura's shoulder. He looked at Ichigo, who put her hand on his cheek, rubbing the tears away with her thumb. "It's fine-" she started to say, but was drowned out by Pai shouting, "WILL YOU QUIT IT!?"

Ichigo and Kisshu turned to see Moe and Miwa smirking, having whacked Pai together. "What did I do to deserve this?" Pai moaned.

"You made Kisshu cry, that's what," Moe said.

"I apologized, now can I go back to work?" Pai asked gloomily.

"Oh, fine, but this better not happen again, because we know where you live," Moe said with an evil grin.

Pai gulped and teleported off. Miwa giggled. "That worked," she said.

Kisshu dried his face and said, "I'll say. Thanks, guys."

"Sure," Moe and Miwa said together. "We'd better get going. See you at school!"

"Bye," Ichigo and Kisshu said.

The next few weeks at school were uneventful. Hayate sometimes joined the girls and Kisshu on the roof for lunch, and they talked a lot, learning more about each other.

One Monday, Kisshu, Ichigo, Moe, Miwa, and Mei walked into school, only to see a bunch of girls putting up a banner. They went up to the girls, and Miwa asked, "What's up with the banner?"

"Didn't you hear? Aoyama-kun's coming back!" the girl said excitedly.

The four girls and Kisshu groaned. "Great…." Kisshu said sarcastically. "More fun."

The girl they were talking to looked puzzled. "What's wrong with him coming back?" she asked.

"He's an evil bastard who spends his free time screwing trees," Kisshu said bluntly.

"You shouldn't believe that rumor," the girl said.

"It's true," Kisshu said. "We were going to start telling people ourselves, but someone beat us to it. Too bad, it would have been nice to be the ones to convince the entire school that their kendo star is a creepy jerk."

"Are you sure about that? Or are you just jealous?" the girl asked.

"I'm positive, and he's jealous of me, not the other way around," Kisshu said.

"Something tells me this is getting nowhere," Mei said. "Come on guys, let's leave the fan girls in peace and get to class."

"So I don't get to strangle her for suggesting I'm jealous of Aoyuck?" Kisshu asked.

"That's illegal," Ichigo said dryly as the girl looked nervous. "Come on, let's go, before you get any more ideas."

Kisshu scowled and walked off, followed by Ichigo and the others. "Can't I kill him? Please?" Kisshu asked as they walked.

"NO, for the fifteen millionth time," Ichigo sighed. "There is absolutely no way you could get away with it and not end up in jail. And where would that leave me?"

"Point taken, I'll just maul him a bit," Kisshu sighed.

"Well, at least he's not in our class," Mei said brightly. "Poor Hayate, Aoyuck's in his class."

They reached the classroom, and sat down. The teacher came in a while later, and said, "As you all know, Aoyama is coming back, but just know that a lot of celebrating means a lot of people in detention- got that?"

"Hai, Sensei," the class chorused.

The teacher sighed and started the lesson.

When the bell rang, Ichigo, Kisshu, Moe, Miwa, and Mei were the last ones out, and they weren't happy about leaving, since the halls were decorated. "This is sickening," Miwa grumbled. "Just look at this place!"

"Tell me about it," Kisshu sighed. "Why couldn't they just be quiet about it?"

"Beats me," Ichigo said. "But this makes me want to throw up. Miwa's right, it's sickening. I hope the principal makes them take it down soon."

"Me too," Kisshu growled. "I don't know what they see in him."

An unpleasant voice from behind them said, "Maybe they see someone who's not a freak like you."

The girls and Kisshu spun to see Aoyuck behind them. Kisshu just said, "I wouldn't be talking about freaks, you tree-screwing bastard."

"Are you trying to get taken down again?" Miwa asked. "You never learn, do you?"

"I'm not trying to get taken down, I just wanted to know why you corrupted Hayate," Aoyuck said.

"He didn't," Mei snarled. "I told Hayate that Kisshu is a really sweet guy, and since I was telling the truth, he believed me. Whether you like it or not, Kisshu is here to stay, and unless you want Hayate to throw you off his team, I'd suggest leaving us in peace, you tree-screwing jerk."

Aoyuck snarled, but before he could do more, Hayate said from behind him, "Care to explain why you're harassing MY girlfriend and my friends?"

"HE'S your FRIEND!?" Aoyuck asked in disbelief. "Do you have any idea what he is?"

"Kisshu's a nice guy, who has good friends," Hayate said calmly. "And whether or not your insane theory is true, I could care less. Quit harassing them, or you're off the team- for good."

Aoyuck sputtered for a minute, then stormed off. Hayate came up to them, and said, "I don't think that's going to be the end of it."

"I don't either, but thanks," Kisshu said. "I like having friends."

"You didn't before?" Hayate asked.

"No, everyone was jealous of me and my skills," Kisshu said. "So my two brothers were my only friends, until this summer, when I got together with Ichigo."

"Well, I'm happy to be your friend," Hayate said.

Kisshu smiled happily. "Thanks, Hayate," he said.

Well, things are heating up again. And I know you're not happy that I haven't killed Aoyuck yet, but I'm trying to figure out how to do it so no one gets arrested. Sorry, and please review!