Yams
Set during the series.
Kisshu was looking for Ichigo again. To his surprise, she wasn't at the Café or at home, and it was Saturday, so she shouldn't have school. Finally he decided to sense where she was, and focused. He saw her in a food store, and teleported to the roof. There didn't seem to be a lot of people around, so he decided to wait for her to come out.
About ten minutes later, she came out, muttering something about something called 'yams'. Kisshu landed behind her silently and asked, "What are yams?"
Ichigo squeaked and spun. "Jeez, don't scare me like that," she said.
"It's fun," Kisshu said.
"For who?" Ichigo asked.
"Uh… me?" Kisshu said.
"Not fun for me," Ichigo sighed. "What did you ask me again?"
"What are yams? You were muttering something about them," Kisshu said.
"They're disgusting vegetables that turn orange when you cook them," Ichigo sighed. "My mom and dad like them, and they sent me to get some for dinner. I hate yams."
"What do they taste like?" Kisshu asked.
"Sugar-coated potatoes," Ichigo said. "They're actually a type of root."
"That does sound disgusting," Kisshu said. "Pai wanted fried fish and baked potatoes tonight, so I guess I'll be making that."
"Fish sounds nice…." Ichigo said dreamily.
"Koneko-chan, are you okay?" Kisshu asked.
Ichigo snapped out of it and said, "Cat genes taking over, sorry. Cats love fish."
"I have an idea," Kisshu said. "Why don't you come over for dinner?"
Ichigo perked up. "That sounds nice, but what are Pai and Taruto going to say?" she asked.
Kisshu smirked. "Nothing, or they'll be foregoing dessert," he said. "And then you and I can have all the chocolate cream pie I made."
"Are you a good cook?" Ichigo asked. "I didn't realize you could cook."
"According to Pai, I'm better than Cupcake-Man," Kisshu said.
Ichigo looked shocked, and said, "You must be amazing, then. Keiichiro's the best chef I've ever met. He's WAY better than my mom, and she's really good- except for her choices of vegetables."
"I just thought of something," Kisshu said. "Why are you being nice?"
"Because I quit Café Mew Mew, and I had to hand my pendant in," Ichigo said. "Sorry I hurt you, but I was only faking it so Blondie wouldn't kill me. Little does he know, I can transform without the pendant. He was using it to spy on me, so I couldn't tell you about my feelings. I'm surprised you didn't notice that I broke up with Aoyama a month ago. Don't you spend a lot of time stalking me?"
"I noticed you weren't with him as much, I didn't know you broke up with him," Kisshu said. "So you do love me?"
"Yep," Ichigo said cheerfully. "Do you love me?"
"Always have, always will," Kisshu said with a smile. "Let's take the yams to your place, and then you can come over."
Ichigo smiled and started walking, followed by Kisshu. When they reached her house, she asked, "Do you want to come in?"
"Uh… sure," Kisshu said. "But won't your parents freak out?"
"They do that anyways," Ichigo said. "Or at least, my dad freaks out a lot. He's completely insane." She opened the door, and called, "I'm home, and I brought my friend!"
Sakura came out saying, "Oh, good, did you get-" she broke off when she saw Kisshu. "I suppose there's a reason you brought the alien attacking Tokyo to our house?" she asked.
"Kisshu invited me over for dinner," Ichigo said. "I figured I'd drop off the disgusting yams and let you know that you and Dad can have a nice dinner alone."
"What are you having for dinner?" Sakura asked warily.
"I'm making fried fish and baked potatoes, and chocolate cream pie for dessert," Kisshu said.
"No salad?" Sakura asked.
Ichigo and Kisshu made the exact same, 'yuck' face. "We've got lots of fruit, but I honestly don't see the appeal in vegetables," Kisshu said.
"I guess that's fine," Sakura said. "How long are you staying, Ichigo?"
"I don't know, I'll call before I come home," Ichigo said.
"Fine," Sakura said. "Have a nice time, I'll make sure your insane father doesn't do anything when you get back."
"Thanks," Ichigo said. "Here's your yams."
Sakura took them, and went back inside as Kisshu took Ichigo's hand and teleported to his ship.
They landed in a kitchen, and Kisshu asked, "Do you want to help with dinner?"
"Sure," Ichigo said. "But you should cook the fish, I have a tendency to try to eat it before it's cooked."
"Cat thing?" Kisshu asked.
"Yup," Ichigo said gloomily. "I can't visit the aquarium anymore, either. I start thinking about dinner, and the fish start looking really tasty. It's irritating."
"Okay, you can do the potatos," Kisshu said. "The chocolate cream pie is cooling in the fridge. I'd better check to make sure Taruto didn't eat it." He went to the fridge, and looked in. His face formed into a snarl, and he said, "Taruto ate half the pie. He's going DOWN."
"How about I make some cookies while you take Taruto down?" Ichigo suggested.
"Okay, there's a cookie recipe somewhere around here," Kisshu said, coming over to the counter and looking through a book. Then he said, "Okay, here you go. Double chocolate chip mint cookies. The ingredients are in that cabinet, and I'll get the eggs and milk, since the fish is in the fridge."
"Thanks," Ichigo said. Kisshu went and got the milk and eggs, then got a bowl, showed her where the measuring equipment was, and teleported out. Ichigo looked at the instructions, preheated the oven, and started mixing the ingredients together. When she was done, she looked under the oven, got out a large baking sheet, and greased it. As she was putting the cookies on the baking sheet, she heard teleportation, and looked up to see Pai staring at her. "What are you doing in this kitchen, Mew Ichigo?" he asked warily.
"Baking cookies, what does it look like I'm doing?" Ichigo asked. "Taruto apparently ate half Kisshu's chocolate cream pie, so I offered to make cookies to go with the pie."
"Where is Kisshu?" Pai asked.
"My guess is beating up Taruto," Ichigo said.
"And why are you on this ship in the first place?" Pai asked.
"Kisshu invited me over for dinner, because my parents are having yams, and I hate yams," Ichigo said. "Oh, and I quit working for Blondie, so I finally got to tell Kisshu I love him."
"You quit the Mews?" Pai asked.
"Yup, but I can transform without the pendant," Ichigo said. "Blondie is totally evil. I couldn't take working for someone whose evil could outdo the Devil and Deep Blue put together, so I quit." She put the cookies in the oven, and set the timer for fifteen minutes.
"You're freaking me out," Pai said.
"Why?" Ichigo asked as she started cleaning up.
"You spent about two months doing nothing but attacking us and rejecting Kisshu, and now you're in here baking cookies for us!" Pai said.
"You're the genius, why didn't you notice I was only faking hating Kisshu so Blondie wouldn't kill me?" Ichigo asked.
"Uh…" Pai said.
Ichigo giggled as the timer beeped. "Oh good, the first batch is done," she said. She put on a pair of oven mitts, and took the cookies out. Then she put them on a cooling rack, and started the next batch. After putting them in the oven, she turned to see Pai literally drooling. "Pai, you're drooling," Ichigo said.
"They smell good," Pai said defensively. "Can I have one?"
"Not until they're cooled; you'll burn your mouth," Ichigo said.
Suddenly Kisshu teleported back in and asked, "How are the cookies going?"
"Second batch is in the oven," Ichigo said. "Does Pai normally drool when you make desserts?"
Kisshu snickered and said, "Yup, but unlike Taruto, he doesn't usually eat half the dessert while I'm not looking."
"I wonder what Lettuce would think…" Ichigo said thoughtfully.
"Tell her and die," Pai said.
"Yeah, whatever," Ichigo said.
"You sound like Kisshu," Pai grumbled.
Ichigo giggled as the timer beeped again. She took the second batch out, and said, "There's enough for another half batch."
"Okay," Kisshu said. "Why don't you do that, and then we can make dinner."
"K," Ichigo said. She put the cookies on the sheet, and put them in the oven.
A while later, they were done, and Ichigo added them to the large pile she already had. "Leave the oven on, we can bake the potatoes in there," Kisshu said.
"K," Ichigo said. "Where are the potatoes?"
"I'll get them, you won't be able to reach," Kisshu said, and floated up to open a cabinet over the stove. He took out a bag of potatoes, and handed it to Ichigo.
"Why do you keep them up there?" Ichigo asked as she started washing them.
"So Taruto won't get them on his sugar rushes," Kisshu said. "He tends to destroy stuff, and with the amount of potatoes we have, we'd never get the place cleaned up again. Anything we want to be kept safe is put in the higher cabinets, because they can be locked."
"Taruto can't control himself?" Ichigo asked as Kisshu got the fish out.
"Not on sugar high," Kisshu said. "Sugary foods make him act like he's on drugs. Cyniclons can't eat too much sugar, or we start acting like we're on drugs. Taruto loves it, though, so he eats a lot, and gets on sugar high at least once a week. Pai and I can't eat a lot, though, and we can control ourselves. Sometimes too much sugar can make me sick, because I'm not used to it."
"I like desserts, but I'm not into candy the way Pudding is," Ichigo said. She started poking holes in the potatoes to let out steam as she continued, "Does Taruto get candy a lot?"
"Yeah, we find these huge bags of candy in his room," Pai said.
"I'll have a word with Pudding; I thought it was strange that she kept bringing huge bags of candy to the playground," Ichigo said. "I doubt she realizes what sugar does to Taruto."
"THAT'S where he got it!?" Pai asked.
"You didn't notice they're head over heels for each other?" Ichigo asked. "Jeez, you're not very perceptive, are you?"
"Pai also has NO common sense," Kisshu said. "And he's a complete disaster in the kitchen."
"I thought Pai was a genius," Ichigo commented.
"I've discovered you can have no common sense and still be extremely smart," Kisshu said. "Are the potatoes ready to go in the oven?"
"Yep," Ichigo said. "You can start the fish." She started putting the potatoes in the oven, and then closed it up. Kisshu poured oil into a skillet, and put the breaded fish in. "That looks good…" Ichigo said dreamily.
"Are you feeling okay?" Kisshu asked, watching her stare at the pan.
Pai sighed as Ichigo didn't respond. "Her cat genes just took over," he told Kisshu. "I think I can keep that under control until you're done." He went to Ichigo, and put a finger on her forehead. Her eyes slowly went back to normal, and she looked startled.
"I don't feel like jumping on the counter anymore," she said. "What just happened?"
"I neutralized your cat genes," Pai said. "The technique will stay till after dinner, so during that time, your cat instincts won't take over your mind."
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Ichigo asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Pai said. "It's an ability I developed in case something went wrong for us in one of our battles with you. I would be able to neutralize your powers. What I did just now was simpler, though. I temporarily canceled out your cat genes, so your instinct to eat something way too hot would be canceled out."
"You can neutralize our powers?" Ichigo asked.
"I haven't tested it, but I think so," Pai said.
"You might not have to; Lettuce and Pudding quit as well," Ichigo said. "I was going to call them up to help me find you to ask if we could get rid of Blondie and form a truce, but then my mom wanted me to buy yams for her, and I met Kisshu on my way home, and things just spiraled off from there."
"Lettuce quit?" Pai asked.
"Yup, she was sick of fighting the guy she loves, and so was Pudding, and so was I, and besides, Ryou spent his free time using my pendant to watch me changing," Ichigo sighed.
"Lettuce loves one of us?" Pai asked.
Ichigo and Kisshu groaned. "You are so clueless," Ichigo said. "You didn't notice she's head over heels in love with you?"
"Uh…." Pai said- just as Ichigo's cell phone rang.
"Great, it's Blondie," she sighed. "Hey, now I can tell him I've got a new boyfriend, and it's NOT him!"
Kisshu snickered as Ichigo picked up, and said, "What do you want now? I told you, I'm quitting!"
"Why the HELL are you on the aliens' ship!?" Ryou asked.
"How did you know that?" Ichigo asked suspiciously. "Did you implant something into me?"
"Uh…." Ryou said.
"You're dead," Ichigo said. "And in answer to your earlier question, Kisshu invited me over for dinner, since we're together and my mom is making yams."
"WHY ARE YOU AND THAT FREAK TOGETHER!?" Ryou shouted.
"Because we love each other," Ichigo replied calmly. "And because Kisshu's not a freak, he's a really sweet guy. And I'm hanging up now, because I have to take the potatoes out of the oven. I'll be by later to incinerate you." With that she hung up. Then she sighed. "I think Ryou might have implanted something into me," she said.
"I'd better check that out, sometimes implanting things into people is a means to kill them," Pai said. "I can probably deactivate it, though."
"I suppose dinner's going to have to wait?" Kisshu asked dryly.
"Yes, unless you want whatever Blondie implanted in her to start recording what we're talking about," Pai said.
Kisshu sighed and put a lid on the fish, turned off the stove and the oven, and teleported Ichigo to Pai's lab, followed by Pai.
When they landed, Pai said, "Ichigo, I need you to lie down on that table."
Ichigo went over to the table a bit nervously, and climbed onto it, then laid back. Pai came over, and put his hand over her heart. Then he closed his eyes, and tried to sense whatever Ryou had implanted into Ichigo.
Kisshu was watching, and got worried when Pai's eyes snapped open. "What happened?" he asked.
"There is a tracking chip in her body, but it's pretty close to her heart," Pai said. "Much longer, and it will enter her heart, and be impossible to get out without killing her."
Scared, Kisshu asked, "Is there a way to get it out?"
Pai sighed. "Yes, but it'll take a toll on both me and her, and I might need a power transfer from you as well. Go tell her parents that Ryou implanted something into her, and I need to get it out. If they want to come here, tell them they can't come in here until I'm done. And tell Taruto I might need some of his power too."
"Understood," Kisshu said. "Koneko-chan, I'll be back."
"K," Ichigo said.
Kisshu teleported directly to Ichigo's front door, and knocked. The door was opened by Sakura a few minutes later, and she asked, "What happened? You look grim."
"I need to talk with both you and Ichigo's father, can I come in?" Kisshu asked.
"Hai," Sakura said. She let Kisshu in, and led him to the living room. Shintaro looked up, and asked, "Alright, what happened?"
"Ryou implanted something into Ichigo," Kisshu said. "If we don't get it out, it will enter her heart."
Sakura and Shintaro both looked scared. "What do we do?" Sakura whispered.
"My brother can remove it, and he wanted me to tell you that if you want to come to our ship, you can't see Ichigo until after he's gotten the chip out," Kisshu said. "And Ichigo's going to need to stay with us until she recovers. Teleporting her will just make her worse."
"Your brother is a doctor?" Sakura asked.
"We use the term 'healer', but yes," Kisshu said. "He's one of the best. I know he'll be able to get the chip out. But I need to get back, he's waiting because he might need some of my power to do this. Do you want to come?"
"We'd like to, if that's okay," Sakura said. "I know perfectly well if I leave Shintaro here alone, he'll kill Ryou and end up in jail."
"That's my job," Kisshu said. "Let's get going."
Sakura and Shintaro got their shoes on, and Kisshu teleported them to the ship, outside of the lab. Then he called Taruto telepathically, and waited till he was sure Taruto was coming before knocking on the door. Pai came out and said, "Oh, you brought them?"
"Hai," Kisshu said. "Are you starting soon?"
"Hai," Pai said. "We're just waiting for Taruto. I already put Ichigo to sleep, so she'll be asleep through the whole thing."
"Good," Kisshu said. He turned back to Shintaro and Sakura, and said, "You can wait out here, there are some chairs over there."
Sakura nodded and dragged Shintaro over to the chairs.
Taruto teleported in a minute later, and said, "What's happening?"
"We're getting a chip out of Ichigo's body before it kills her," Pai said. "I need you and Kisshu to stay in case I need more power."
"Oh, fine," Taruto said.
Pai nodded, and said, "Let's go." Kisshu and Taruto followed him into the lab.
Pai went over to Ichigo, and put a hand over her heart again. This time, his hand started glowing, and he slowly made a motion that suggested he was pulling something up. Five minutes later, the glow started to flicker a bit, and Pai said, "Kisshu, I need help."
Kisshu immediately came over and took the hand Pai held out, and started pouring his power into Pai. Another ten minutes passed, and finally Pai lifted his hand up in a sharp motion, and a small chip popped out of Ichigo's chest. Pai opened his eyes, and grabbed the chip, then threw it in the air and snapped his fingers. It exploded in a puff of smoke. Then he turned to Taruto and said, "Taruto, combine your power with Kisshu's and give it to me; we have to heal the injury created by taking that thing out."
Taruto grabbed Kisshu's outstretched hand and combined his power with Kisshu's. Kisshu took the combined power and gave it to Pai, then said, "That's all we've got."
"That's good enough," Pai said, and put his hand back over Ichigo's heart. His hand began to glow again, and he closed his eyes, concentrating. Ten minutes later, his hand stopped glowing, and he said, "That should do it, but if she starts having problems, come get me. I'm going back to my room, I need to rest. Go tell her parents she needs to stay here, and Taruto, if they need to go back, you need to teleport them; Kisshu shouldn't be teleporting that distance right now."
"Hai," Taruto said.
Kisshu gently picked Ichigo up, and said, "Taruto, get the door."
Taruto ran over and opened the door, and Kisshu went out, followed by Taruto. Sakura and Shintaro looked up, startled, then came over. "Is Ichigo okay?" Sakura asked.
"We got the chip out, and Pai healed the injury created by that," Kisshu said. "I'll know more when she wakes up. I'm taking her to my room; I'll sleep on the floor for now. You two can stay, but if you want to go back, Taruto will be teleporting you."
"We can't take her home?" Shintaro asked.
"No, teleporting her in this condition will at worst kill her," Kisshu said. "I'll take care of her, I promise. Pai will too. Taruto's too busy playing with Pudding to be here. Which reminds me, Taruto. You are absolutely forbidden to eat sugar while Ichigo's recovering, understand? Otherwise, you can die."
Taruto gulped and said, "I won't eat sugar."
"I think we do want to stay, if that's okay," Sakura said.
"You can have the spare bedroom," Kisshu said. "I'm taking Ichigo to my room; Taruto can show you."
"Thanks," Sakura said.
"Follow me," Taruto told her and Shintaro, and led them off. Kisshu carried Ichigo to his room, and tucked her into his bed. Then he pulled up a chair, and sat down to watch her.
Well, it started with yams…. If you want me to continue this, plz review and let me know! I'll work on Namida till I get an answer.