Chapter 4: Brother's Friends

"Brother? Wha-What are you doing here?" stuttered Ren almost speechless.

"I came for a visit little brother." Kishu said, still holding the attack from Hao.

"Oh how sweet. Your brother has come to your rescue." Hao chuckled.

Kishu pushed the spirit of fire's arm away, and smiled.

"I will not let you harm my brother, or his friends."

Chocolove was stunned, for he had not been with the others at the time they met Kishu and his friends. He rubbed his eyes. "Wow, my fever must be getting worse, I'm seeing crazy alien dudes!"

"No, he is there!" said Jun smiling at her brother's appearance.

"What?" Chocolove was utterly confused.

"You see; about a month ago, right before we met you, my brother came for a visit. Kishu is his name. He is an alien from another dimension." Jun explained.

"Great, now I'm going crazy." Chocolove muttered.

"Our father had an affair with an alien he met her using ancient Tao family technology. He conceived Kishu, unknowingly, and then returned to us. Our mother never knew until a few years later when his mistress showed up with a little baby Kishu. But, this was all before Ren was born." Jun finished.

"Wow, your family is really messed up…"

"You can't do anything to protect him from me. If he refused to fight along side me, than he will not fight with anyone ever again. And you can't do anything to stop me from killing him; you're just a weak little alien." Hao scowled.

"I may just be an alien, but I most certainly am not weak." Kishu said with a hint of annoyance on his brow.

Horo Horo had pulled himself up, but he was seeing two of everything. "Hey Ren, is that your brother I'm seeing?"

"You shouldn't be standing." Ren said not taking his eyes of his brother.

"Oh? You think you are strong do you?" Hao said in a mocking manor.

"Stronger than you know." Kishu said smiling in an evil way. "You see, you are a shaman, correct?" Kishu asked, Hao nodded, "Well, you have been trained to fight other shaman, but I am not a shaman like my brother. I know how to fight shaman, though. I have been to this world more than once, and I have seen my brother and his friends fight. I have an advantage on you."

"You think you have an advantage? I am the almighty Hao, I am strong. And I will show you just how strong I am." Hao smiled.

The fire spirit lunged at Kishu, igniting its fists ablaze. Kishu smiled and teleported out of the way. Hao stopped in his tracks. He glanced around and saw Kishu levitating behind him. The fire spirit turned around to face Kishu. Kishu was levitating at eye level with the fire spirit.

"I see. You are not of this world; I do not know your strengths or weaknesses. Yet, you understand how shaman and spirits operate. I understand." Hao said as the spirit relaxed. "I suppose I have overstayed my welcome, then. I will leave."

Hao and the spirit of fire took their leave instantly, like a flame extinguishing.

"Well. I guess I scared him off, eh, brother?" Kishu said turning to Ren and landing back on the ground.

Ren just stood there and stared at his brother.

"What do you want?" he said glaring at him.

"Can't I stop by to say hello?" Kishu said shrugging. "What is this?" he gestured to Chocolove.

"That is Chocolove." Ren answered.

"What ever happened to that druggy? Lyserg?" asked Kishu inspecting Chocolove up close.

"He left with these people called the X-Laws, and then we met him." Ren said crossing his arms.

"Wow, a sweaty one, this one." Kishu said poking Chocolove.

"He is ill." Ren said.

"KISH!" exclaimed Jun grabbing Kishu, and shoving Chocolove onto the ground to get to him. Pyron picked him up and again, threw him over his shoulder. Jun hugged Kishu and petted him on his head. "Why on earth did you come back so soon?"

"Aren't you happy to see me, sis?" he asked, looking a little hurt.

"Of course! But I wasn't expecting you back so soon."

"Well, I thought I left our last visit off with a little too many questions unanswered. Plus, I want to get to know my little brother a little better! Maybe watch him fight a few battles, see what he's capable of!" he said patting Ren's pointy hair.

"Humph…" grunted Ren. In truth, he was happy to see his brother, but he wasn't about to start showing emotions this late in his life.

Anna, seeing the alien boy in front of her, decided to apologize to Yoh and the others for not believing them when they had told her about their adventures in Kishu's world. "Well, I guess I believe you, Yoh. Maybe you did go to another dimension." Anna said, not looking at her fiancé as she apologized.

"So, Kishu, where are your enchanting friends?" asked Ryu looking around for Zakuro.

"Oh, I thought I would meet up with you first, see how your doing, I'm going to bring them all here this time, to see your world!" Kishu said smiling.

"Why exactly do you continue forcing us to meet with your odd friends?" asked Ren.

"Well, I thought you of all people could use some extra friends, brother." Kishu replied.

"What are you waiting for? Go and get them!" exclaimed Yoh, hoping he could persuade Mint to eat some of his granola this time.

Kishu did not hesitate, she disappeared into thin air.

In the Mew Mew Dimension:

"Where's Kishu?" Ichigo asked the two aliens blocking the Mew's exit from the café.

"He is not joining us, yet." Pai answered crossing his arms.

"What do you mean, yet? Is he coming?" Ichigo asked stepping backwards.

"Ha, the way you are talking about him sounds like you like him!" Taruto laughed.

"Do not, don't ever say anything like that ever again, RUNT!" Ichigo screamed.

"HAG!" Taruto yelled back.

"Taruto, we are not here for name calling, you know what we are supposed to do." Pai said neutrally.

"And what, may I ask, are you here for?" Lettuce asked shyly.

"You will know momentarily." Pai said glancing at Lettuce.

"Why can't you tell us now?" Mint asked them.

"Because I can't." Pai answered, "Kishu told us not to, yet."

The air around Ichigo began to shake and blur. Suddenly, Kishu appeared with his arm around Ichigo's neck.

"ACK! LET GO OF ME SLIM BALL!" she screeched pushing him away from her. Her ears and tail popped out, she hissed and clawed at him like a cat, and then she ran and hid behind Zakuro.

"Now that was not a very nice greeting kitty-cat." Kishu said smirking. "No need to get all frisky."

"Shut up! What do you want! Why don't you let us out of here, we want to go home to our families!" argued Ichigo pointing at him.

"Family. That is the reason I brought you here, I am going to take you with me to see my brother's dimension this time. Won't that be nice, Ichigo? Seeing my brother and all his friends again?" said Kishu grinning.

A memory of Horo Horo saying her hair was, of all colours, red, flashed in her mind.

"Why would we want to see your friends?" asked Mint remembering the rudeness of Yoh's granola-pushing.

"Don't be mean Ichigo's friend." He said to Mint.

"It's Mint." She said snarling.

Ichigo pushed her ears and tail back in.

"So, what if we refuse to go with you?" asked Ichigo frowning.

"Well, you don't really have a choice." Kishu said. He snapped his fingers, and their surrounding melted away before them.

"Finally, Brother, what took you so?" Ren asked as Kishu and his friends appeared. All the people who had crowded around them were all gone now.

"Sorry, I had a little chat before I left." Kishu said shrugging.

"Oh my gosh! Where are we?" Ichigo said as she glanced at the surroundings.

"Oh, this is my brother's dimension." Kishu said gesturing to the land around.

"YOU!" Horo Horo yelled pointing at Ichigo.

"YOU!" Ichigo screamed pointing back.

"You." Pyron said staring at Pai.

"You." Pai said turning to Pyron and Jun.

"You?" Yoh said raising a bar of granola to Mint.

"You…" Mint replied looking away from Yoh.

"Who?" Chocolove said quietly, as he took this all in.

There was a long and awkward pause.

"YOU, NA NO DA!" Pudding yelled breaking the silence and hugged Taruto.

"HEY! WE'RE FROM THE SAME DIMENSION, REMEMBER!" Taruto yelled pushing her away.

"Silly Taru-Taru!" Pudding giggled, "I know, Na no da!"

"We're friends of Kishu." Zakuro said glancing at Chocolove as Pyron placed him on the ground; he seemed to be almost fully better now.

"That's….. Ren's brother? I'm so confused!" Chocolove said holding his head. "WHO ARE ALL YOU PEOPLE?"

"Well, I'm Pudding, this is Ichigo, Mint, Lettuce, Zakuro, Kishu, Pai and this is Taruto, Na no da!" Pudding said pointing to everyone individually, then putting one arm around Taruto's neck and pointing to him with her other hand.

"It's Taru-Tar-" Taruto began, and then covered his mouth with his hands. "I- I mean Taruto, that's right." He stuttered, removing his hands from his mouth. Kishu laughed at his friend. Taruto realized pudding still had her arm around his neck; he smacked it away and crossed his arms angrily.

"Uh… Okay…" Chocolove scratched his head.

"Kitty, why don't you go say hello to your friend?" Kishu said, referring to Horo Horo.

"Do you want me to fall in love with him or something?" Ichigo yelled turning to Kishu and putting her hands on her hips.

"Of coarse not, Kitty, I would hate that!" Kishu said lowing his eyebrows .Ichigo smiled and raised an eyebrow to him.

"Oh, really?" Ichigo said grinning wider, "Well, what if I did fall in love with him?"

"You didn't." Kishu said simply.

Ichigo's smile turned to an annoyed frown; she turned and walked over to Horo Horo and grabbed his coat.

"Whatcha - Whatcha doing?" Horo Horo stammered nervously. Ichigo smiled evilly. Horo Horo ripped free of her clutches and fled from her. "Get away!" he screamed.

"I just want to ask you something, WAIT!" Ichigo yelled and ran after him.

"Ah… Ichigo is so cute when she is desperate…" Kishu said watching Ichigo chase Horo Horo, who was completely terrified by the chasing.