Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Ichigo? Are you awake?"
The door opened with a click and a creak. Ichigo groaned, cracking open puffy, tired eyes into the morning light. Her head hurt, and her throat was dry, scratchy. Her mom stuck her head into her room. She checked her watch.
"Ichigo, it's nearly 9 AM!" her mom exclaimed. "You've already missed your first class!"
Ichigo sat straight up. She gasped, and her raspy throat elicited a cough. "What?" Ichigo yelled, throwing off her comforter. "Crap! I slept in!"
"Well get a move on!" her mom yelled. "Honestly, Ichigo! It's only your second day back at school after spring break!"
Ichigo rushed around her bedroom, throwing on her uniform and shoving books into her backpack. "I know, I know! I just had a rough night at work!" she lamented to her mom – a half lie.
"Well it's no matter now!" her mom said, exasperated. Ichigo threw her hair into a ponytail, checking her appearance in the mirror briefly, and rushed past her mom in the doorway. She hastily stepped into her shoes and sprinted out the front door.
The short train ride to school and her remaining classes went by in a hazy blur. Ichigo felt as though she'd only gotten a couple hours of precious sleep – she'd spent the whole night trying to sort through her thoughts after her encounter with Quiche in the café kitchen.
Waking up and going through the motions at school, Ichigo felt more than ever that the kiss meant nothing in regards to her relationship with Masaya. She was decidedly still very much in love with Masaya, and Quiche's kiss did little to change that. More concerning was the seemingly uncontrollable reaction she experienced under her skin and in the pit of her stomach when it happened. Ichigo couldn't help but feel immensely guilty for her reaction. Why did she feel that way about the kiss?
Leaving her last class, Ichigo resolved to put the night out of her mind until she found the right moment to speak to Masaya. The timing had to be perfect; Ichigo hoped the ball of nerves in her stomach wouldn't cause her to stumble over her words when the time came to tell Masaya what had occurred. She found herself struggling to suppress the voice in her head telling her that something was different – that the nerves in her stomach weren't just anxiety, but maybe a mix of something more. Her subconscious thoughts grew louder by the day. Ichigo found it exhausting to always feel like she was arguing with her own brain.
Not to mention the charity gala was only a day away – a welcome distraction, especially with Masaya as her date. Ichigo forced her mind to refocus on what she would wear to the gala – she hadn't even begun thinking about how she would find a dress in time. But the mere thought of the two of them dancing together at the event put Ichigo's mind at ease.
Her peace was short-lived – Ichigo was halfway to the café when she heard a scream up ahead, along a row of shops across from the city park. Ichigo immediately broke into a run, wide eyes searching for what the cause of the commotion was, but suspecting the worst.
Two classmates of Ichigo's rushed out of the alley between the shops. "Turn around! Run!" one of the boys yelled to Ichigo. "There's some kind of monster!" Ichigo clenched her jaw – it had to be a chimera.
"In the alley?" Ichigo yelled back at them as they passed her on the sidewalk.
"Yes! Run!" the boy yelled back, turning briefly to answer Ichigo.
Ichigo knew it couldn't be anything but a chimera – but she was alone, and too far from the café to find help. She could call someone, but she didn't want to waste precious seconds when the chimera could harm innocent bystanders. Determined to do her best on her own, Ichigo ran into the alley to see what was lurking there, drawing her pendant as she rounded the corner.
The first thing she saw when she looked down the alley was beady red eyes. The chimera shrieked at her – a high-pitched, dreadful cry that made the hair on the back of Ichigo's neck stand up. It appeared to be some kind of rat – it was the size of a human, and was covered in greasy, green-tinted fur. Ichigo recoiled, quickly kissing her pendant and transforming into Mew Ichigo. She felt the familiar warmth of her power encircling her body.
Opening her eyes after her transformation, Ichigo drew her strawberry bell and crouched, anticipating the chimera to pounce. It snarled at her, then dove towards her on all fours, coming out of the shadows.
The chimera was fast – Ichigo barely managed to jump away, even with her enhanced jumping abilities as a mew. She quickly sprang up from the sidewalk to a deck of an apartment to her left, then jumped to the roof of the apartment building. Gasping for a breath, she looked down below her and saw that the rat chimera was scrambling up the side of the building already.
Ichigo felt herself begin to panic. She raised her bell to fire a Strawberry Check, but the first sound hadn't even left her lips before the chimera's claws were already to the top of the building. Ichigo turned and sprinted to the end of the roof, leaping onto the roof of the adjacent condos. She forced herself to swallow her fear of heights.
Glancing back, the chimera was right on her tail – it was running on all fours, and it seemed to have the same jumping capability as she. Ichigo ran as hard as she could and cleared the gap from the condo rooftop to another, skidding to a stop on the roof of the next building over. She raised her bell to fire her attack.
"Ribbon Strawberry-"
She couldn't get to "Check" before the fast-advancing chimera smacked her strawberry bell out of her hands with its long, rubbery tail. Ichigo let out a shriek of surprise. She retreated quickly, scanning for where her weapon landed. A flash of pink was in her perimeter – it had skidded to the edge of the rooftop.
Sweating, Ichigo's eyes darted between the rat chimera, crouched and ready to pounce, and her weapon. She wasn't sure she could get to her strawberry bell in time. She would have to keep running around the rooftops to try to draw the chimera away, buying her enough time to grab her weapon again. It was eerily similar to the encounter with the mole chimera; Ichigo knew that she sometimes struggled in close, hand-to-hand combat, and running in circles was far from ideal.
Suddenly, the chimera took off in a sprint and pounced towards Ichigo. Ichigo dove to her side to avoid the bite of the chimera. She skidded on her side, then gasped as a flash of blue shimmered in the corner of her eye. She looked up and saw the chimera covered in blue bands of lightning. It dropped to the ground, stunned.
"So the mouse is chasing the cat?" came Quiche's voice from the air above them. Ichigo looked up as Quiche landed on the rooftop between her and the chimera, weapons drawn. He was back to wearing his battle uniform she was familiar with.
"Quiche!" Ichigo exclaimed in shock. "How did you know I was here? Where are the others?"
"I'll explain later," Quiche said hurriedly. The chimera was beginning to stir, emitting a low growl. "Get your strawberry bell and follow my lead."
Ichigo nodded and took off towards where her strawberry bell had landed. All of her emotions surrounding Quiche were temporarily forgotten, replaced now with pure adrenaline. With Quiche's help, she had renewed hope to finish off the chimera.
She snatched up her weapon and whipped around just in time to see Quiche with one of his tonfas in the chimera's jaw. He swung the other one around and slammed it into the chimera's ribcage. It had the intended effect of throwing the rat-like beast fully on its back – it wheezed and shrieked in pain as it fell.
Ichigo rushed over, readying her strawberry bell, but Quiche held out his arm to stop her. "Stay back; it's still got bite."
Sure enough, the chimera sprung up again, hissing and spitting at Quiche. Quiche stepped in front of Ichigo and raised one of his weapons. Crouching, Quiche suddenly teleported directly in front of the chimera, dealing a blow to its stomach and knocking it over the edge of the building.
"Follow me!" Quiche yelled back at Ichigo. He dove off the edge of the building after the chimera. Ichigo heard the sounds of screaming civilians from the street, just now seeing the chimera in broad daylight. She rushed to jump from the roof to an apartment railing, then down to the street, where Quiche was trying to draw the chimera away from the road.
There was a small crowd of onlookers standing at a distance now – a few of them coming closer to try to take videos with their phones.
"Please keep back!" Ichigo yelled at the onlookers. She circled wide around the chimera and Quiche. Quiche had almost drawn it to the park with quick jabs and small shocks of his blue lightning. Ichigo saw more people in the park taking out their phone to film.
"Everyone needs to leave! Now!" Ichigo yelled into the park, waving her hands at the onlookers. A good half dozen people heeded her request, backing up and running the other direction. Ichigo whipped her head around to look back at Quiche. "Why are we leading it to the park?" she yelled.
"Trust me!" Quiche yelled back, swinging at the chimera to taunt it. The chimera pounced towards him, now in the grassy part of the city park.
Quiche warped further away from the monster, then and dropped his weapons, slamming his palms down on the grass. He focused on the chimera with narrowed eyes, and suddenly, a tangled mess of roots erupted from the ground to surround the chimera's wriggling, greasy body. It shrieked in terror as it struggled to break free of the fibrous entrapment.
"Ichigo! Now!" Quiche yelled back at Ichigo. Ichigo rushed towards the chimera, holding up her strawberry bell.
"RIBBON STRAWBERRY CHECK!"
The chimera shrieked once more before dissolving in a beam of hazy, pinkish light, leaving behind a bloated rat and a tangled mess of roots and grass. Ichigo lowered her weapon, still breathing heavily. A small group of onlookers began to clap.
Ichigo turned back towards Quiche, who stood up and dusted off his hands nonchalantly. "I haven't used plant abilities in forever," Quiche remarked, grinning back at Ichigo. "It's usually Tart's speciality. Not too shabby for no practice, huh?"
"Wait, what happened to the others?" Ichigo asked, looking around the park curiously.
Quiche crossed his arms. "I was alone when I heard you, and I didn't want to waste any time so I just came myself."
"What do you mean?" asked Ichigo. She furrowed her brow. She hadn't called anyone – and she was still far from the café.
Quiche glanced around them, uncrossing his arms and walking over to Ichigo. "Let's talk somewhere a little more private, hm?" he said. He was eyeing the small crowd that had developed in the park, curious to see what was going on.
Quiche put out his hand to Ichigo. "Close your eyes and hold your breath," he instructed. Ichigo looked from his hand up to his wary gaze as he observed the onlookers around them. Hastily, trustingly, she put her hand in Quiche's.
Quiche quickly pulled Ichigo into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Before Ichigo could react, she felt an odd feeling like the first drop on a roller coaster. She remembered Quiche's instructions, then, and held her breath with her eyes closed. Her feet felt like they had left the ground, and her hair flew around her face like she was falling.
The next moment, she felt her feet touch ground again. Cracking one eye open, she observed that Quiche had teleported them to a secluded patch of trees deeper into the park. Sighing in relief, Ichigo suddenly remembered that she was still in Quiche's arms. The smell of cloves graced her nose once again, mingled with a musky sweat and a tinge of iron.
She ripped herself out of Quiche's grasp quickly, scowling up at him with a flushed face and angry pink eyes. All of a sudden, her sleepless night of confused thoughts came rushing back into her memory. "Th-this doesn't change anything, just so you know! I'm still mad at you!"
Quiche wore a smug grin as he slowly powered down to street clothes once again. "What, after I practically saved your life? You're so ungrateful, kitten."
Ichigo balled her hands into fists. She followed Quiche's lead and powered down into her normal appearance. She was about to reply with another angry jab before she remembered that Quiche hadn't told her how he'd known she was in trouble. "Wait, what was that all about with you 'hearing me' anyway?" she prodded.
Quiche hesitated for a moment, seemingly sorting through what to say. "I'll walk and tell you," he offered, jerking his head to the right. "The café is this way."
Ichigo fell in step with him as Quiche began to walk, hands in the pockets of his denim jacket. She suppressed all of the annoyance she felt with Quiche, wanting to have a clear head and open mind to what he had to say. "So do you remember when I showed up to battle the first chimera a week ago, the one on the train?" Quiche started.
Ichigo nodded, "Yes?"
"Well," Quiche continued, "How do you think Tart, Pie and I knew to come find you?"
Ichigo thought about it for a moment. It had never dawned on her that the three had shown up out of nowhere – she always thought that they had seen her on a news station or something. That whole day had been a blur.
Puzzled, she looked up at Quiche expectantly. "I...I don't know," she replied.
"Right. So, when Pie, Tart and I were walking around downtown, I heard a voice out of nowhere," Quiche continued. "Pie and Tart thought I was crazy, but I heard it clear as day and told them we had to follow it."
He paused for a beat. "It was your voice. I heard you calling my name, and the voice led us to the train."
Ichigo, perplexed, looked up at Quiche with wide eyes. Her voice? How? Quiche was deep in thought, digging through his memory. "It gets weirder," he said. "It happened again a few days ago, when you and the fish girl, Midorikawa, were attacked by the mole chimera."
Suddenly, memories began to snap into place for Ichigo. She remembered how Pudding told her that Quiche had warned them something was wrong. She also remembered Quiche's hushed conversation with Pie that day – a conversation about a voice. The pieces began to fall into place.
"Wait, so that's how you found me just now?" Ichigo interjected. "You heard my voice again?"
Quiche looked down to her. "Yeah, except this time I was alone, working on a part for our ship. I came by myself because I didn't want to waste time." He paused, smirking. "And I'm glad I did, because you were in deep shit with that chimera."
"I was handling it!" Ichigo insisted, knowing it was a lie. Regardless of her annoyance with Quiche, she couldn't help but wonder about the ability to hear her voice. Remarkably, it wasn't the first time someone had told her that they heard her voice calling to them when she was in distress.
"The only other time I've ever heard of someone hearing my voice like that…is when Masaya became the Blue Knight," Ichigo mused, thinking aloud. She remembered conversations she had with Masaya after he divulged to her that he had been the Blue Knight all along. His description matched Quiche's to the T. "He always told me that he heard my voice calling his name before he transformed."
"Interesting," Quiche remarked, grinning. "It seems like I'm your new knight."
Ichigo glared up at Quiche. Her annoyance reignited like gasoline on a lit match, all of her frustration with the alien boy bubbling up to the surface. "If you think you're anything like Masaya, you're wrong," she spat, clenching her fists at her sides.
Quiche retained his smirk, glancing down at Ichigo. She saw a spark of something wild flash across his liquid gold eyes.
"You're right – I'm nothing like him," he replied coolly.
Something about the way he said it gave Ichigo chills. There was a deeper meaning in his words, she knew. Something about the differences between the two – and the events of the night before.
Ichigo sucked in a breath. She felt words beginning to tumble off of her tongue. "Listen, I hope you know –"
"Ichigo!"
A voice sounded from the path ahead. Ichigo's attention snapped to the bend in the walkway, where Pudding was bounding around the corner in her mew form. "Where's the chimera?" Pudding asked, leaping around Ichigo and Quiche. The rest of the mews, Pie, and Tart were right behind Pudding.
"What's going on?" Ichigo called to the group. A small part of her was thankful for the distraction from her conversation with Quiche.
"We saw an alert on Shirogane's radar that there was chimera activity back this way," Zakuro replied, stopping and crossing her arms. "Seems like you two have already handled it."
Just behind the group, Ryou and Masaya ran around the corner. Ichigo immediately locked eyes with her boyfriend. A look of relief passed over Masaya's expression. Then, in an instant, it soured as his eyes moved to Quiche, still standing side by side with Ichigo.
"It was a small, common chimera animal," Quiche announced to everyone, "Some kind of rat. I found Ichigo by myself because I didn't want to waste time by coming to find all of you first."
He paused, grinning and nonchalantly draping his arm over Ichigo's shoulders. "Turns out, Ichigo and I make quite the team."
Ichigo grimaced anxiously and ducked out of Quiche's arm. She felt heat blooming on her face and hoped no one would notice. Masaya was at her side in the next moment, posessively collecting Ichigo into his arms. Ichigo relished the warm, comforting feeling of her boyfriend's arms around her.
Masaya glared pointedly at Quiche.
"What do you mean 'waste time coming to find you'?" Masaya demanded in a raised tone. "How did you get to Ichigo first?"
Ichigo was rigid, tense in Masaya's hug. She could feel the tension in the air – a crackling, buzzing animosity hanging thick around them. The mews, Pie, Tart and Ryou were listening carefully, she knew. Quiche was seemingly unfazed. Ichigo watched Quiche's gaze leave Masaya's for a moment, locking eyes with her briefly before meeting Masaya again. His smug smile widened.
"Quiche, did it happen again? The voice?" Pie interjected, standing off to the side.
Looks of confusion passed over the faces of the mews. Quiche turned to Pie, "Yeah, this is the third time now."
"I'm sorry," Masaya interjected, voice raised, "Could someone explain? What is going on here?"
Quiche glanced between Pie to Masaya. "It seems..." Pie started hesitantly, choosing his words thoughtfully, "...that Quiche has developed the ability to hear when Momomiya is in distress. This is the third instance of Quiche hearing her voice when she is in danger."
Masaya tightened his grip on Ichigo, then released her. He looked down at her, confusion filling his gaze. Ichigo, eyes wide, opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say. Masaya's head snapped up to look back at Pie. "There's no way," he muttered, his voice low.
"The first time was when we first arrived – the train incident," Pie continued warily. "The second time was when Momomiya and Midorikawa encountered the chimera alone. This would be the third."
Masaya turned his attention back to staring daggers at Quiche. Quiche nonchalantly stretched his arms, placing his hands behind his head.
"Ichigo tells me that this isn't the first time someone has heard her voice when she's in trouble," Quiche prodded. There was something dangerous in his eyes, then, as he continued with a smirk, "Pity you don't have that power anymore, hm?"
The rest of the mews, Ryou, Pie and Tart instantly froze. The tension was thick enough to cut into. Ichigo, thinking fast, tore herself out of Masaya's grasp and stood between him and Quiche, holding Masaya's hands in hers. She fixed Masaya's gaze with her own, hoping to hold his attention long enough to calm the situation down and clear the air.
"Aoyama," Ichigo said softly, "It's okay, I'm safe now. You have nothing to worry about."
Masaya's eyes softened for a moment, searching Ichigo's calm expression for truth. Ichigo saw him clench his jaw as he squeezed her hands reassuringly. To her dismay, his hands left hers and Masaya began to walk towards Quiche. Quiche crossed his arms, straightening his back. Ichigo saw Tart and Ryou both widen their stance in her peripheral – evidently prepared to separate a fight.
"Listen carefully, because I'm not going to tell you this again," Masaya said quietly, an edge to his tone. He stopped less than a foot from Quiche. The two were nearly the same height, glaring into each other's expression. "Ichigo is mine. I don't care about whatever ability you have — don't even think about laying a finger on her."
Masaya's voice was even-keeled; patient, yet resolute. Exactly what Ichigo would expect. She herself was a nervous wreck, the memory of the night before creeping up from her subconsciousness. Her kiss with Quiche replayed in her mind once again. A terrifying thought presented itself: Quiche could tell Masaya about what happened last night – here and now. Before she had the chance to talk to Masaya.
Inhaling sharply, Ichigo was lucky to make eye contact with Quiche in that moment. Quickly, subtly, she shook her head ever so slightly, pleading with Quiche's fiery expression. She hoped he knew what she was signaling. Quiche narrowed his eyes; Ichigo felt as though a moment of understanding passed between them. Quiche tore his eyes from Ichigo and refocused back to Masaya.
"Soon enough you'll understand that Ichigo is neither yours, nor mine, nor anyone's but her own," Quiche replied. His smirk was gone now, his words as sharp as razor blades. "You'll see."
(A.N./
So, Quiche hearing someone (assumedly Ichigo) calling his name near the end of TMM Re-Turn chapter 1 was the thing that made me want to write this fic to begin with. It's a really interesting detail Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida added in, and it's easy to miss on your first read-through. But it IS canon, I swear! Go re-read Re-Turn if you don't believe me. :)
One kinda weird, sort of not canon thing I'm adding is how the aliens are able to change their outfits so quickly in Re-Turn - I'm not sure how to address it perfectly so I'm just assuming they can somehow change their apparel at will like the mews transforming. Please bear with me while I try to tease out how Re-Turn is different from the original manga, haha.
Also, holy crap, I'm close to 1,000 views on this story? Who are you people?! I am honestly shocked that this fandom still gets readers! Big shoutout especially to everyone reading from Vietnam, Italy and the UK - there are a ton of you! Please drop a review (guest or signed!) if you're reading from a country outside the US!)