Chiyo: So... *looks at Mitsukie and Keiichiro* ... *giggles evily and throws them into the closet* 7 HOURS IN HE-

Izumi: It's 7 minutes isn't it?

Chiyo: ... Mayyybeee? Hey! If you look back at chapter 18, they totally kissed and-

Izumi: ... Chiyo... You have a crowd to please...

Chiyo: I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS *pats down messy hair*

Pudding: o_o what were you doing?

Chiyo: I WAS SLEEPING GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER GEEZ

Zakuro: .

Chiyo: -_- I don't own TMM please get your mind ouT OF THE GUTTer

Chapter 20

Birthday~!

With a sigh and a nod, Mitsukie helped out Keiichiro whenever he needed it and the girls were busy like always. The day passed by and Lettuce was smiling, for the first time today.

Izumi was still mad and depressed, not talking too much. (A/N: I'm stupid and don't remember the ammount of days that passed after Valentines Day, so lets pretrend it's April if it's not already XD) In the changing room, Izumi looked at the calender. 'April 16th huh? It's Mitsukie's birthday today then... I can't let her be unhappy on her birthday, even if yesterday was... Scary...' Izumi thought to herself as she looked in the mirror in her locker. Her hair was quite a mess, so she patted it down and left the changing room with the other girls. "Hey! Mitsukie!" Izumi smiled, grabbing Mitsukie's hand. "Come on!" She giggled, pushing the depressing thoughts out of her mind as she ran backwards, up the stairs as she held Mitsukie's hand. "Lets all stay late tonight!"

"Wh-what's up with the sudden mood change...?" Mitsukie asked, being pulled to the dinning room.

The others caught on, knowing what today was. "Yeah! Lets stay late!" Ichigo cheered, catching Ryou's attention and making him smile. He was happy that Ichigo was smiling again.

"Yeah! I can show you amazing tricks, Mitsukie!" Pudding yelled.

"Hm. Maybe staying late won't hurt." Zakuro said, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.

"If Zakuro-oneesan is going to stay late, I will too." Mint said, folding her arms.

"I'd like to stay late!" Lettuce smiled.

Keiichiro poked his head out of the kitchen, hearing Mitsukie giggle. Izumi, running backward to a table near the kitchen, was smiling. It wasn't even forced, it was a pure, happy smile. Keiichiro brought out the cake that Mitsukie and him were starting to make and set it on the table. It had the number '18' in candles. (A/N: Also, Keiichiro is 26, making him 8 years older then Mitsukie ,,, Please don't take that like Ib who's like 9 and Garry who's like 18 and hate the pair just because their age is so far apart.) "Happy birthday, Mitsukie!" He smiled warmly.

"Happy birthday!" The girls yelled- well Mitsukie was gazing at Keiichiro and Zakuro and Mint calmly said it.

"G-guys..." Mitsukie smiled, looking at the cake. It had black frosting, making the white icing outline of the red panda stick out. Well that explains her tail in Mew form... There were cherries in place of the heads for the icing people. The icing Ryou and Ichigo were holding hands, making Ichigo blush. "Th-thank you..." She said, not thinking about the night before.

Keiichiro light the candles and turned off the lights so that it made the cake stick out more. "Make a wish!" Ichigo smiled.

'A wish?' Mitsukie thought, a bunch of wishes flying through her head. 'I wish that the girls stay strong, no matter what happens to anyone they know or love...' Mitsukie thought to herself, keeping her smile as she blew out the candles. (PRESS B TO BLOW- I'll just stop with my crappy references and just... Shut up now...) Ichigo, Izumi, Lettuce, and Pudding all cheered and clapped. She felt really happy as the lights came back on. She recieved a smile from Keiichiro, making her heart miss a couple beats. Everyone ate the cake, celebrating Mitsukie's birthday and making everyone feel better. Mint and Zakuro waved and left the cafe. "Hey, why don't we all take you to the amusement park, Mitsukie?!" Pudding asked, jumping around.

"I-I don't think now is a good time though..." Mitsukie smiled at Pudding nervously.

"Tomorrow should be fine!" Pudding whinned.

"I agree with Mitsukie. When we kick everyone's butts, we can take her to the amusement park then!" Ichigo smiled.

Lettuce giggled, watching as Pudding folded her arms. "We should have a day to relax though." Keiichiro said, not taking anyone's side. "Although it's bad timing for the Cyniclons to be here, I still think we should just have a day to relax."

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Lettuce smiled.

"How about Saturday?" Ichigo suggested.

Pudding cheered, fist pumping. "Lets all go to the amusement park with all the water slides! We should totally go swimming while we're there!"

Mitsukie and Izumi looked at each other worried, staying quiet. "Okay!" Lettuce and Ichigo agreed, a big smile on their face.

"You girls look worried all of a sudden." Keiichiro pointed out, looking at Mitsukie and Izumi.

"I uhh..." Izumi started.

"We can't swim..." Mitsukie finished, rubbing her head nervously.

Pudding started laughing while Ichigo and Lettuce started to giggle. Ryou and Keiichiro chukled, leaving Mitsukie and Izumi to look down in embarrasment. "We can teach you." Keiichiro said with a smile.

"Pudding has to go check on her brothers and sister! Bye!" Pudding yelled, charging home.

"I should head home too, goodnight!" Lettuce called as she started heading home.

Izumi's smile started to fade, not wanting to go home, until it turned into a frown. "I... Don't really want to go home... My parents are just going to want to question me about last night and I'm really in no mood for that... Mitsukie, would it be okay if I spent the night at your house?" She asked, still frowing slightly.

"Of course!" Mitsukie nodded, smiling.

Ichigo stood up, smiling. "Goodnight, guys!" She said, grabbing Ryou's hand and pulling him out of the cafe.

Izumi smiled at Mitsukie. "So... You and Keiichiro, huh?" She giggled, covering her mouth a little.

"Wh-what?!" Mitsukie stumbled backwards, her face red.

Keiichiro chuckled, watching as Mitsukie flailed her arms. "Oh come on, even Keiichiro will agree right? You guys are cute!" Izumi giggled, running to the door. "Come on, lets get a good nights sleep!"

"Goodnight, Keiichiro." Mitsukie waved to him, walking home with Izumi. "Hey, Izumi?"

"Hm?" Izumi looked at her friend, a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry to bring this up, but who exactly was that girl?" Mitsukie asked, looking worried for her friend.

The smile didn't fade, but it wasn't forced either. "Her name was Yumi. She was my friends sister, so I knew her pretty well. Maeve, the girl that opened the door when we got to her house, she's Yumi's daughter. You see, when Yumi was yonger, she was forced to walk to and from elementary school alone, and one day was kidnapped. No one thought anything about it, her parents didn't really like her and her sister was never home anyway. But... I'm pretty sure you can tell where her getting kidnapped by a group of perverted jerks leads to." Izumi explained, smiling the entire time. "She was really a nice person, but I guess I can't be too mad over Seiko killing her..."

Mitsukie walked inside her house, leading Izumi to the living room. "Why not? Wasn't Yumi a great friend of yours?"

"She... Was deathly sick..." Izumi said, streching as she sat down next to Mitsukie on the couch. "Hey!" Izumi turned towards Mitsukie, her hands on Mitsukie's. "Don't worry about it! Lets just sleep, okay?"

Mitsukie nodded, the two girls falling asleep on the couch.

Meanwhile, with Ichigo and Ryou, they lied in bed, their backs towards each other. "Ryou...?" Ichigo called his name, rolling onto her back.

"What?" Ryou asked, keeping his back towards Ichigo.

"..." Ichigo felt her face heat up as she thought back to when they were alone, the first night there. (Geez, what are we doing? Playing fnaf? XD) "N-nevermind."

Ryou rolled over to his back with his hands under his head. "What's on your mind?" He asked, causing Ichigo's heart to skip a beat as she thought back.

"Wh-why... Did you..." Ichigo started, but stopped since she was too nervous to say anything else.

"Kiss you?" Ryou asked, shifting his eyes over to her. Ichigo nodded, knowing what he meant by that. He chuckled a little, rolling onto his side so he was facing her. He was oddly close, making Ichigo blush more. His warm breath on her jaw, just under her ear, ran all over her neck, dancing in soft rhythms. "Why do ask?" He asked softly and quietly, smirking.

Ichigo's face was redder then her hair and she wouldn't say anything for a bit. "W-w-well..." She said finally, Ryou's breath still on her neck. "I-it's just that I wasn't quite expecting it..." She whispered. Ryou's smirk grew a little when she said that. "What are you smirking at?!" She asked, pretty much demanding an answer and shot her eyes away from Ryou.

"Nothing." He said calmly, watching her blush and look away.

"Riightt..." Ichigo dragged out, feeling Ryou's breath get warmer. "Ah!-" Ichigo was going slap Ryou and yell at him for being a perverted jerk as he put his head next to hers, not doing a thing.

"Geez, getting defensive already, Strawberry?" Ryou teased.

"Sh-shut up!" Ichigo whinned. Ryou yawned and started to drift off to sleep. Ichigo's heart was pounding as she closed her eyes to fall asleep. She found herself facing Ryou, their noses touching, and still couldn't fall asleep.

"Awe, look at the little love birds!" Killi giggled, making Ichigo and Ryou sit up quickly. "Come on, Ryou, I would love to get to know more about you!" She smiled.

Ichigo transformed and stood between Ryou and Killi. "What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"I came here for my baby, that was all." Killi smirked, pinning Ryou to the bed. Being a doctor and scientist, Killi was able to make a pill that (Please call me stupid as many times as you want if this is already a thing and feel free to just slap me. As much as you want. No I'm serious. XD) can make the person fall in love with whoever puts the pill in their mouth in about an hour. As Ryou went to try shoving her away, Killi smashed her lips onto Ryou's. She pushed her tongue into Ryou's mouth carefully and pushed the pill into his mouth. Killi jumped up and ran over to Ichigo. "I'll be in the park waiting, okay?" She smiled, teleporting off.

Ichigo detransformed and looked at Ryou confused as he started coughing. "I'll go get a glass of water." She said, running downstairs. She came back and handed Ryou the cup. "Are you okay?" She asked, clearly worried for him. Ryou just nodded, taking a sip of the drink.

As this was happening, Izumi and Mitsukie was woken up by an evil giggle yelling Izumi's name. "Izumi~! Izumi~!" Seiko called, causing the girls to chase after Seiko. "Come on~!"

"Where is she taking us?" Izumi asked, transforming with Mitsukie.

"It's probably a trap..." Mitsukie said, rubbing her eyes.

Izumi looked over at her friend. "Then I'll walk into it, go get the others. If anyone is going to be hurt by Seiko, I want it to be me, ok?"

Mitsukie nodded. "Fine, but don't get yourself killed, ok?" Mitsukie waved to Izumi, running to Lettuce's house.

"Gee, Izumi, quite brave! Wanting to kill yourself to save your friend." Seiko laughed.

"I'll do anything for my friends." Izumi whsipered, following Seiko.

It was quiet until they got to the park, everyone else there as well. "So, Izumi. You said you'll do anything for your friends?" Seiko asked as she flew to the group of Cyniclons. "Well, you're pretty much killing yourself, sweetie!"

Izumi chased after Seiko still, summoning her scythe. "I don't care!" Izumi yelled, swinging her scythe and missing everyone as they all jumped backwards. "I'll do anything as long as they're okay."

Zephyr and Seiko sighed in annoyance to Izumi. "Reckless..." Seiko whispered, glaring at Izumi. Kisshu, Taruto, and Pai were no where to be found, leaving Pudding and Lettuce a tad worried. Weren't they on the girls side? Or, were they just pretending to be nice to them? Lettuce and Pudding were a bit sad, catching the eye of Pashibaru. "You know, recklessness is what killed your friend. That girl she was with looked pretty weak too..."

"Keep. Her. Out of this!" Izumi yelled, skimming Seiko's arm with her scythe and immediately went on the defense, changing her scythe to her spinning scythe blades around her.

"Ah this'll be fun..." Seiko smirked.

Izumi was caught between Zephyr and Seiko, making them both pretty mad. Pudding and Lettuce were ready to fight Pashibaru, Rin decided fighting against Mitsukie could be fun, Marin went back to Ichigo, and Killi wasn't up for fighting, so she stayed idle for a little bit.

Chiyo: Bah I probably let some of you down ,,, Sorry! But hey, Mitsukie's birthday was pretty fun to write XD

Izumi: Can you let me kill Seiko ? I mean come on, she's psycho!

Chiyo: Ha... No pun intended? *Lazy finger guns*

Izumi: -_-

Chiyo: ...Ok... Well I hope to see you guys in chapter 21 where crap goes down and is longer then this chapter!