Kisshu stared at Pai and Trauto blankly, taking in the words that they had just said and letting them process in his mind. He wasn't sure if it was real or just a joke, if it was a joke it was a sick one. But the pair seemed fairly serious with the words they had just said. Kisshu blinked, and shook his head still shocked, "Y-you're serious?" The pair nodded and looked at each other, "Really?" Kisshu wasn't sure if he was dreaming or if all of this was real. Was Pai really suggesting this? He looked at Taruto who nodded and then back at Pai who nodded also. "So this... This is real? You're not fooling me around?" He was really keeping his guard up.

"Kisshu, if this wasn't real then we wouldn't have suggested the idea in the first place! Besides, it benefits us all..." Taruto crossed his arms and legs, floating in the air where he had just been standing, "I mean I was the one to come up with the idea, but Pai was the one who suggested we make it permanent..." Kisshu's face changed, he no longer had a stern look as it had been replaced with a wide smile, his eyes lit up with happiness which is something that hadn't happened since the planet was restored.

"When can we leave?!" He asked, clearly bursting with excitement. Pai crossed his arms and lent against his desk.

"Well, I was hoping we could leave as soon as possible. Perhaps tonight. It would be easier to slip out unnoticed..." Kisshu nodded and placed his thumb under his chin and finger over the top. He was thinking hard about the situation.

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"Depending on the ship, three to four hours... Obviously we'll be taking our ship so that's roughly three hours..." Kisshu crossed his arms and sighed.

"So judging by our ship it should take us three hours, that leaves us an extra hour which remains if we were to take a different ship, no?" Pai nodded, "I see... So we could split that hour, half for preparation and the other added to the flight time..."

"By what you're saying Kisshu, you're implying we would get there quicker if we had extra time?"

"Who cares about timing? We're going there and not coming back aren't we? So what's the point? We get there when we get there!" Taruto butted in, smiling like an idiot. Kisshu and Pai looked at each other and then back at Taruto. He seemed pretty excited to be going back, but out of them, who wouldn't be? Kisshu chuckled and walked towards the door of Pai's study, stopping next to Taruto to pat his head.

"See you both at the ship in a jiffy!" He gave a thumbs up, a wink and a cheeky smile to the pair before exiting the room, closing the door behind him of course. Once he'd done that, he could barely contain his excitement. He rushed to his room and started pulling things out of draws, cupboards and his wardrobe. He set out what he'd definitely was going to take. On his bed he had placed a few sets of clothing(including underwear), another set of arm ties; just in case the ones he was wearing got dirty and a few other things he deemed important. After placing them in a bag, he threw it over his shoulder and headed to the hallway. He turned to take one last look at his room and sighed happily, slowing sliding the door shut. He adjusted the bag on his shoulder and teleported to the ship where he found Pai already waiting. He smiled at his purple haired companion and patted his back. Taruto teleported in not long after with a bag that was slightly bigger than Kisshu's and Pai's put together. The pair gazed at each other before eyeing Trauto's bag once more. "Taru...to? Don't you think that's a little big?" Kisshu asked.

"What do you mean? It's perfectly fine!" Taruto crossed his arms and turned away, "What's wrong with it?" Kisshu and Pai each held up their own bags, both roughly the same size. Taruto looked for a second before turning away again, "I think my bag is perfectly fine! I just have more significance inside it that yours does!" He pocked his tongue out in a childish manor. Kisshu did it back and received a smack round the head from Pai, to which Taruto started laughing about.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Kisshu groaned.

"You don't fight fire with fire... So do not react to childish behaviour with childish behaviour..."Pai spoke blankly and returned to the controls of the ship. Kisshu rolled his eyes and waved his hand as he walked away.

"I'll be in my room..." He exited the room and sighed. He looked at the door once and shook his head with a smile. He could tell Pai was tense and he knew exactly why. It was the same reason any of them were tense, they were seeing people they loved for the first time in 3 years... What if they were too late? Kisshu slapped his cheek softly and continued to his room. He shouldn't be having these thoughts now. Taking a deep breath he retreated to a cabin on the ship.

On Earth:

"Lettuce! You can't be serious?" Ichigo stared in awe at her friend as they sat on the couch. Lettuce had her head down and her hands in her lap, a light blush covered her face and a small smile was on her lips. She looked at her red haired friend and giggled at the look on her face. She was staring with her wide brown eyes, her jaw was wide open.

"I am Ichigo... I thought I should try and forget about Pai... I don't think he's coming back and what if he never does? Who knows if he ever had feelings for me... I'm not going to wait around for someone I am so unsure about..." Lettuce looked down at her hands, "besides... He's a nice guy..."

"But really? Ryou?" Ichigo leant against the arm rest on the sofa not once taking her eyes off of her green haired house mate. "I suppose... It would make sense... Before Pai you did seem to have a thing for him... I just wish maybe he'd noticed you earlier, ya know?" Lettuce looked up at Ichigo and smiled, tilting her head slightly. The fact that Ichigo wasn't criticising her for this made her happy. She was sure that the others wouldn't be as caring as this, especially Mint. She and Ryou had a history together, it wasn't anything serious, they never got that far. Just remembering that made Lettuce's face drop. Ichigo noticed and became concerned. "Lettuce? What's wrong?"

"Nothing... I was just thinking..." She looked down at her hands, "What's Mint going to say?" Ichigo sighed and moved next to her friend putting an arm around her shoulders.

"She won't say anything, she hasn't got the right to... She has a new boyfriend now anyway, that foreign guy? I forgot his name..." Lettuce nodded and looked at Ichigo. She leant her head on her shoulder and sighed. "Fancy some hot cocoa?" Ichigo asked softly. Lettuce smiled and nodded. The red head got up and walked into the kitchen. She got two mugs and poured the contents of the cocoa packets into mugs. She prepared the rest and made the drinks, topping them off with whipped cream. She took the drinks back into the living room and handed Lettuce her mug. Ichigo sat next to her and looked at her drink, "Don't worry about Mint. If she doesn't support you the rest of us will. We all love you Lettuce... Never think otherwise..." Lettuce nodded and the girls sipped their drinks at the same time. When they lowered their cups they looked at each other and laughed, due to the white foam moustaches formed by the cream.

A few hours later, around 1:30am, the girls went to bed. Lettuce went straight to sleep, curled up tightly in her blankets keeping herself warm. Ichigo, however, didn't sleep. She stayed up, wrapped in her green fluffy blanket, looking out her window at the sky. The moon and stars were truly beautiful, giving off a soft glow to everything below them. It was the daytime for the night crawlers. She smiled at the stars, knowing that one of them was his planet. She sat on her knees and opened the window, leaning her arms against it, "Where are you Kish? It's been a while since I spoke to you huh? I've got so much to tell you when you get back... So make it quick... Okay?" She smiled to herself and sighed, "Goodnight..." She laid down and curled up under the bed covers leaving her window open. Little did she know that he was closer than she thought.

Hey guys!

I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others. It's because I had some trouble working on it when I have a few things going on.
I haven't been sleeping at night recently so I've been writing this and it's very difficult to come up with ideas when you're tired... Thanks for the fantastic reviews as always. They really make my day knowing that my fic makes people happy.
I'd like to apologise for the slow pace of the stories development, but it will hopefully pick up after this chapter.

Thank you again guys.
And apologies!
See you in the next one!