Ch. 12

"Ichigo, come on, you're going to make us late to work!" Lettuce called up to the closed door. She and everyone else had already started eating breakfastandwere half-way finished. Still, no response from Ichigo's room.

Lettuce, now tired of yelling, stood up and stormed up there. After a minute, she let out a cry.

Everyone raced upstairs nearly trampling each other. They all gathered into Ichigo's room. She was lying on the bed, on her back as Kish had left her, and was shivering under the covers. Her eyes were closed and her breathing was labored.

"Pudding, call Ryou, quick!" Lettuce ordered.

Pudding bounded downstairs.

Lettuce put her hand to her Ichigo's forehead and gasped, "She's burning up!" She then tired shaking her awake, "Ichigo, Ichigo wake up!" But it was to no avail. Ichigo's eyes would not open. "Ichigo! ICHIGO!" Still, she remained asleep.

Kish felt his heart explode with pain at the sight of Ichigo's frail body.

Pudding had returned to the room. She and Lettuce placed a cold washcloth on Ichigo's forehead and took her temperature.

Lettuce's face went white, "103."

Not long after, they heard a car screech to a halt outside. Pudding raced downstairs to let them in. Ryou and Keiichiro raced upstairs. They froze for a second at the sight of Ichigo then went straight to work. They began setting up some machine and hooking things to Ichigo's arms. After about ten minutes of this, they were starting to get somewhere.

"It's her cat genes," Ryou began, "as I figured. Something has happened recently to put her in this state. She stuck in some kind of hibernation. It must be some defense mechanism of her body to protect her from some kind of emotional pain. Her body is trying to destroy itself."

Everyone quietly listened.

"Now, we have to figure out what triggered this state. Something recent must have happened."

The girls and Ryou and Keiichiro looked at the trio of aliens.

"It's just a wild guess, but it could have something to do with you three." Ryou stated.

"But what? What about them caused her some kind of pain?" Keiichiro asked.

"Have any of you done anything?" Ryou asked them.

They all shook their heads.

"I didn't think so. Even if you did, it probably wouldn't put her into a state like this. I am suspecting it's more personal to her. Maybe something to do with her friends." Ryou glanced in Lettuce and Pudding's direction.

"But, we would never do anything to Ichigo." Pudding defended.

"I know. Has Ichigo ever done anything to you?"

They fell silent.

"Something that must have brought her some kind of pain?"

Still silence.

"Guilt or regret, perhaps?"

Silence.

"Something to do with the aliens?"

Then, their eyes lit up.

Ryou nodded, "bingo."

Ichigo made a movement in her sleep.

"She's listening." Ryou declared.

"Ichigo," Lettuce kneeled down beside her, "you can't possibly be feeling pain over what I think you are."

Ryou got up and pushed out all the men with him. They all went downstairs to let the girls have their time alone.

"Ichigo, it was so long ago." Lettuce continued. "You were just trying to protect me. You were trying to be a good friend, a good leader. You did what you thought was best." Tears started forming in her eyes.

"If anyone should feel guilt, it should be me. I never should have allowed myself to go so far. You were right about him. He didn't really have feelings for me but I wanted him to. I wanted it so bad. I felt so safe when he held me. I thought he cared for me. I really did." The tears came down harder now, "I...I loved him."

Ichigo started moving more. She was trying to get back. She had to. Lettuce needed to know. The true reason for her painful guilt was, "he loved you too."

"What?" Lettuce looked up from rubbing her eyes, "Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked at Lettuce, "He loved you. He really did. I could see it in his eyes. He only said what he did to protect you. To stop you from being in pain. He did it for you."

"You mean..."Lettuce felt her heart heal itself. After all this time, it felt healed. In those quick seconds, she dared to dream again. If what Ichigo said was true, then, maybe, just maybe...

"Ichigo, don't ever feel bad for what happened that night. You were acting on what you believed to be right and no one can hold you against that."

"Lettuce, you have a heart of gold." was Ichigo's reply.

Ichigo rose from her bed, picked all the little devices off her arms and embraced Lettuce and Pudding in a weeping hug. Ichigo felt a huge weight lifted from her soul. Her breathing returned to normal and her temperature under control.

When they came downstairs, they boys all stood at the sight of them.

"Ichigo, how do you feel?" Ryou asked.

Ichigo smiled brightly, "Better than ever."

Kish couldn't help but smile as well. She looked wonderful. She reminded him of watching the first flower bloom in a field of flowers.Chuckling to himselfat the thought he turned to Pie, who was also wearing a satisfied smile.

After they all sat down to a lunch by that time of day, Ryou and Keiichiro collected their things and left. Leaving the girls with the rest of the day off.

It was the middle of the afternoon and they were all sitting around drinking tea and talking like old friends when a beeping noise filled the air. Pie reached down and unclasped a device from his pants pocket. Kish and Tart had sudden worried expressions. Pie sat there and poked at the device for a minute before glancing at Kish and then Tart, "It's a message from home. It's been seven months on our planet. Our exile is over. We are free to return home. A ship will be in the park at sunset. If we are not there, it will leave us here."