Happy Halloween/Celtic New Year everyone!
Chapter Thirty-Eight:
"Well, aren't you a cute little kitty?" Kish said, grinning at Ichigo as she emerged from the dressing room dressed in black tights, leotard and shoes, wearing a fake cat tail and ears and her cheeks had eyeliner-drawn whiskers.
"Nya!" Ichigo said with a grin as she made a cat-like batting motion with her fists. "I am the pet cat of a very handsome wizard."
Kish was dressed in a dark green cloak with plain black clothes underneath (that he 'borrowed' from Pie) and had on a crooked wizard's hat with a wide brim.
"Ah, but how will the other wizards know that you belong to me, my Koneko-Chan?" Kish said, tapping his chin in mock thought. Then he snapped his fingers and reached into his pocket. "I know! With this!"
He pulled out a black ribbon with a small silver heart-shaped charm on it. He tied it around Ichigo's neck. She ran her fingers over the heart and found that there was something engraved on it.
"What does it say?" Ichigo asked.
Kish grinned mischievously.
" 'Ichigo Koneko-Chan. If lost, please return to Kishu Ikisatashi'," Kish said. Ichigo smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Thank you, it's very cute," Ichigo said.
"You're welcome, Koneko-Chan," Kish said. He leaned down towards her as she gently rose on her toes, her insides shaking.
Was this the moment, was she and Kish finally going to have their first kiss as a couple?
"You two have great costumes, na no da!" Pudding said as she suddenly appeared beside them. She wore a long white gown and her hair in two buns on the side of her head, and looked like a blond Princess Leia from Star Wars. She grabbed the hands of her now irritated friends. "Come on, everyone else is in the kitchen in their costumes, na no da!"
Pudding dragged Kish and Ichigo into the kitchen. Everyone was wearing their Halloween costumes. Rozū sat on the counter, swinging her feet wearing a black witch's costume that had a red spider-web design on the knee-high skirt, black and red striped tights, black boots with golden buckles, and a witch's hat with roses pinned to it. Rirī wore light green scrubs as a doctor, while Tart was dressed as a Jedi with a toy lightsaber hooked onto his belt. Zakuro wore a blood red dress and fake fangs as a vampire, while Mint wore the costume of an Egyptian princess. Lettuce seemed nervous in her white tights and green leotard, fake butterfly wings on her back, worried that the costume piece on her back was going to make her clumsier than usual. Rin was dressed in a medieval princess dress with a crown of flowers atop her ringlets, while Keiichiro dressed as a knight.
"Ryou Onii-Chan, Pie Onii-Chan, where are your costumes, na no da?" Pudding demanded.
"I'm wearing mine," Ryou said, gesturing to the orange t-shirt he wore that read 'Costume'. "I've got an actual costume for the party tonight, though."
Pudding seemed satisfied with this and turned to Pie, who was dressed in his normal Café attire.
"You need a costume, na no da," Pudding said.
"Why?" Pie asked.
"Because it's Halloween, na no da! It's tradition, na no da!" Pudding exclaimed, tapping her foot as she glared at the older boy.
"Then I am going as a waiter from Café Mew Mew," Pie said.
Pudding glowered.
"You have to be something you're not, na no da," She said.
Pie sighed and went over and picked up a sheet from the basket of laundry Rin had folded that afternoon. He quickly tied one end around his neck like a cape and looked back at Pudding.
"Does this appease you?" He asked.
Pudding shook her head.
"No," Pudding said. She tapped her chin briefly then her eyes widened. "Pudding knows what Pie Onii-Chan should be, na no da!"
She ran and made a dash to the basement, returning with a lab-coat tossed over her shoulder. She jumped up onto a stool, took off Pie's tie and vest and threw the coat at him with an order to put it on, which he reluctantly did while she ran to the sink and stuck her hands under the faucet. She jumped up onto the stool again and starting running her wet hands through Pie's hair, ignoring his outbursts of indignation. She removed her hands and looked satisfied, having made Pie's hair stuck out in odd ways, more so than usual.
"Ta da! Now what does he look like, na no da?" Pudding asked her friends.
"Well…" Mint said as she studied Pie. Then she smiled and chuckled. "Really, Pudding? A mad scientist?"
"It's fitting," Rin said with a laugh.
"I am not sure if this is a compliment or not," Pie said dryly as Rozū dragged him to a mirror to show him how he looked in his new costume. But even he could admit that Pudding had made a good choice for his costume.
They went to work as usual, the customers thrilled by their spooky treats and the wait staff's costumes. Rozū was instantly a crowd favorite, and many girls squealed with delight, saying 'She's so kawaii!' much to Rozū's chagrin.
Midway through the afternoon, Keiichiro poked his head out of the kitchen.
"Pudding, phone's for you!" He called.
Pudding bounded away into the office, returning a few minutes later.
"Pudding will be a little late to Mint Onee-Chan's party, na no da," Pudding explained to her friends. "That was Daddy. He's going to be late coming home from work and asked if Pudding could take the little ones trick-or-treating. Pudding should be at the party before eight o'clock, though, na no da."
"Do you want me to go with you?" Tart asked.
"No thank you, Taru-Taru," Pudding said. "Pudding won't take her brothers and sister too far from the house, and it will only be for an hour, na no da."
"Just be careful," Ichigo said. "There's always a bunch of weirdoes out on Halloween."
"Pudding knows, na no da," Pudding said cheerfully. "Pudding will be careful, she promises, na no da."
Later that evening, the Tokyo Defenders minus Pudding were at Mint's mansion along with Shinji, Homare and Massaya. Shinji was dressed as a pirate, Homare as a fairy in a yellow dress with matching wings, Massaya was Indiana Jones and Ryou had finally changed into his costume, going as Zorro.
"Uh, do you know how to actually use that thing?" Rin asked as she looked at the whip on Massaya's belt.
"No, he doesn't," Homare said, rolling her eyes. "He's been trying all day, and he hasn't been able to get it to work at all."
"That's not true," Massaya said indignantly. "I know exactly what I'm doing! Watch!"
And so, his friends watched as he unfurled the whip, which promptly wrapped hit a waiter carrying a tray of drinks, which promptly fell on a young woman who promptly shrieked. They all cringed and Massaya quickly hid the whip behind his back.
"Way to go, tree hugger," Kish said sarcastically.
"Give it," Zakuro said, holding out her hand. "Just give it. You have proven to be unworthy of this weapon."
Massaya promptly handed the whip over to Zakuro, his head ducked. Zakuro shifted it in her hand, then unfurled it, grabbing a glass off another tray and bringing it back to her hand, not a drop spilled from either her glass or the tray.
"Show-off," Ryou said, smiling slightly.
Zakuro just shrugged and sipped her drink.
"How did you do that?" Homare asked in awe.
"Zakuro is just cool like that," Mint said with a grin.
"Hello, Mint."
Mint cringed as she recognized the voice. She put on a fake smile (one she had spent years perfecting) and turned around.
"Hello, Kanna," She said to the orange haired girl wearing a beautiful pink princess dress and tiara that those who had met the girl did not doubt that it had real diamonds in it.
"Lovely party," Kanna said, smirking just as falsely as Mint. "Of course, if it was at my house, it be twice as spectacular."
"Of course," Mint said with forced pleasantness. "So, where's this amazingly handsome boyfriend I've been told so much about?"
Apparently, Mint was intending to strike a nerve because her smile became slightly victorious as Kanna's smile dropped.
"He didn't meet up to my criteria," Kanna said haughtily. "Next time I'll choose better. Now, where's your beau? The cute soccer player?"
Mint shifted awkwardly, glad that Shinji was currently in deep discussion with Seiji about soccer.
"Well," She said hesitantly. "We're dating, but we haven't made anything official yet, so he's not really my boyfriend yet."
"Ah, so in other words he's still up for grabs?" Kanna said, glancing over to where Mint was looking, smiling as she saw Shinji. "Better hurry up and make it official or someone might steal him right under your little high-class nose."
Those who hadn't been previously exposed to Kanna felt a sudden rush of hatred for the girl. So when Kanna turned, about to walk away, and her brow furrowed as she saw Kish, Pie and Tart, the three boys simultaneously came up with the same way to get revenge when she said,
"You three look familiar. Have we met before?"
"Ah, yes, we have," Kish said, wiggling his fingers in front of Kanna's face. "In your dreams. I am so glad you said something, or I feared my spell hadn't worked. However, I am sad to see the side-effect of resembling a toad is indeed a bigger problem than I had first intended, for which I apologize."
"Do not be foolish, wizard!" Tart snapped. "She is clearly under the influence of my Jedi Mind Trick! It only works on the weak minded, you know. However, I see now that I should have made it stronger so that she would be unable to recognize me. I clearly underestimated her intelligence level."
"Ignore both of them," Pie said, shoving away Kish and Tart. "This clearly means that my experiments have worked! Tell me, my dear," Pie said in his bland voice, taking both of Kanna's hands in his. "Have you been experiencing lapses in memory, or feeling a sudden urge to eat worms?"
Kanna, now outraged, snatched her hands out of Pie's grip.
"Why am I not surprised that you invited a bunch of freaks to your party, Mint?" Kanna sneered before she sauntered away.
Mint snickered once Kanna was far enough away.
"Thanks, guys, watching her face was priceless," She said to the three alien boys.
"Our pleasure," Pie said, allowing a rare, self-satisfied smirk.
"What's her deal?" Rirī asked. "Why is she so mean to you?"
"When we were seven, she declared us mortal enemies," Mint explained. "Since then, she has done her best to be better at me with everything. I get a good grade, she has to get a better one. I wear a pretty dress, she must have a prettier one. I start dating a guy, she must find one that is handsomer and richer than mine. Fortunately, she's decided to not be better than me at dance. She chose beauty pageants and baton twirling over spending hours every day practicing ballet."
"So, she's always been like that?" Homare said.
"Yeah," Mint said. "And you know what? I'm fine with that, because I know I'm nothing like her. Or, at least, I'm not now. I think I would have been had I not become friends with Ichigo, Lettuce, Pudding and Zakuro. "
"Thank goodness for that," Ichigo said. "So…" She said a few minutes later when it was just the Mews and older two Cyniclon girls hanging around the refreshments table. "What's the deal with you and Shinji?"
"There is no 'deal'," Mint said hastily, pouring herself some punch. "Why would you think there is?"
"Well, you told Kanna you and Shinji aren't officially a couple yet," Lettuce said.
"So?" Mint asked.
"You've already been on lots of dates this month, and you two are always texting each other or talking on the phone," Rirī said. "I may be wrong, again our cultures are vastly different, but doesn't that make you boyfriend-girlfriend?"
"I don't know," Mint said. "I've never had this serious of a relationship with a guy before, and I want him to be the one to make the first move."
"Um, you might want to reconsider that," Zakuro said, biting her lip.
"Why?" Mint asked, not turning around.
"'Cause Kanna's over there flirting with Shinji," Rin said.
Mint turned suddenly and to her horror saw that Kanna was chatting with Shinji, batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly.
"Oh, no, she didn't," Mint said, her brown eyes narrowed. She put down her cup of punch and raised her chin proudly. "If you will excuse me."
"Well, this should be interesting," Kish said as he, Rozū, Pie, Keiichiro and Ryou approached, all watching Mint go put an end to Kanna's flirting.
"Yep," Ichigo said. "Where's Tart?"
"He had a headache and went to lie down for a bit," Keiichiro said.
"Doesn't surprise me," Zakuro said. "Kid's eaten more sugar tonight than he has in the past month while he was getting ready for try-outs. He was bound to get a sugar headache."
"The try-out results are given out tomorrow at school," Rin said. "And Tart's a notorious nervous eater."
"Pardon my interrupting," Seiji said, approaching the group. "But, Midorikawa-San? Will you please follow me?"
"Um, sure," Lettuce said. She looked up at Pie, who nodded slightly and followed her.
Mint's brother led the two down the hall, wondering where they were going. Finally, Seiji opened a secret door in the wall. Inside the room were many monitors for security cameras and guards inside. Sitting down in two chairs across the room was an unashamed Hiroki… and a horrified and embarrassed Uri.
"Uri!" Lettuce said, staring at her brother in shock. "What are you doing here? And what's going on?"
"These two were caught trespassing, probably intending to gatecrash," The head guard said, scowling at the two boys.
"Come on, it was just a bit of Halloween fun," Hiroki said with a smirk.
"Uri, do Mama and Papa know where you are?" Lettuce asked her brother, who shook his head, shame-faced. She sighed and turned to Seiji.
"I'm not planning on pressing charges," He said. He wasn't happy, but he wasn't angry. "However, I will ask that they leave immediately."
Lettuce nodded and started thanking him for this, but Seiji brushed it off.
"Don't worry about it," Seiji said. "Boys will be boys, and at Halloween especially."
"Then I will take Uri home now," Lettuce said. "And I promise, this will never happen again."
Uri stood up and went to his sister's side, staring at his shoes.
"I'm very sorry, Aizawa-San," Uri said, bowing.
"Apology accepted, young man," Seiji said. Hiroki just shrugged as he pulled himself to his feet.
Less than five minutes later, Lettuce, Uri, Pie and Hiroki were standing out the front gates of the Aizawa mansion.
"Well, I'm off," Hiroki said. "I've got better parties to crash."
"Hiroki," Lettuce said, following him as he started to walk away. "I don't care what you do-"
"You'll love me anyways?" Hiroki asked with a grin.
"But keep my brother out of your mischief," Lettuce finished, now annoyed.
"Come on, Uri's a big boy, he knew what he was getting into," Hiroki said. "You baby him too much, Midori-Chan."
"I'm not babying him!" Lettuce snapped. "Yes, he can make his own decisions, but I don't want you convincing him to make bad ones! If you get arrested, I don't care. But I don't want to have to bail Uri out with the police. You were lucky tonight, but your luck won't last forever!"
"You don't mean it," Hiroki said, smirking. "You care. A lot. Because that's what you do. You worry and fret over everyone and try to keep everyone happy."
Lettuce frowned.
"You think that I'm the same girl I was when you left four years ago. In many ways I still am. But I've also changed. I'm stronger than before. I just wish you could see that," Lettuce said. With that, she turned on her heel and walked back over to Pie and Uri.
"Are you alright?" Pie asked.
Lettuce sighed.
"I wish I knew," She said.
Meanwhile, across town, Pudding smiled as her siblings raced over to her, showing her the candy they had just received. Her brothers were dressed as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while Heicha was Rapunzel from the Disney Tangled movie.
"Alright, everyone, it's time to head home, na no da," Pudding said. Her siblings groaned.
"Just one more street, Onee-Chan? Please?" One of her brothers begged.
"No, Chancha, na no da," Pudding said. "Daddy should be home by now, na no da."
As the siblings walked down the emptying street, Pudding's blood froze at hearing a chilling voice call from behind her.
"Look, Mylo, it's Taru-Taru's precious little girlfriend."
Pudding gasped and turned over her shoulder. Floating in the air was Mylo, and beside him was Chile, sitting in a cross-legged position on top of a lamppost. Chile's grin grew with lust and greed as he ran his eerie orange eyes over Pudding, giving Pudding shivers. She suddenly knew how Ichigo felt when Kish was still her stalker, and how Rin felt everytime Mylo tried to flirt with her. It was not a feeling she wanted to have ever again. She knew she was in trouble.
"Oh no." Pudding whispered, her eyes wide as she tried to come up with a plan. She couldn't—wouldn't—transform, not in front of her siblings.
"I would just love to kiss those sugary-sweet lips," Chile said, licking his own lips as he spoke.
Mylo smirked.
"Then let us capture your prize, Chile," He said, bringing his sword out as Chile brought out his jutte weapon, hitting it lightly against his hand menacingly.
Pudding pushed her siblings behind her, praying for a miracle as the two aliens slowly advanced toward them.
Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! Is Pudding going to be alright? Can the team get there in time? Find out Friday, Nya!