Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew… WAH!!!

Ok, this might be a slightly cheesy chapter… but I had to put it in. What can I say? It's weird, but slightly crucial. I have no excuses for its lateness either. I can only beg forgiveness

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"I need to see Kish," Tart told the mew breathlessly. "I need to confirm that he's not hurt. Pai thinks he is, and he's going to torture Pudding!"

"What?" yelped Ichigo. No! She had to lie then. "Well, he's fine, okay? So, um… yeah. Why don't you go tell Pai that?"

"Ichigo, please!" pleaded Tart, resisting—with some difficulty—the urge to tell her that she was a stupid hag who needed to move. "I need to see him. Please!" He needed some bribery here, he decided. "I—I'll even let you see Pudding!" The diminutive alien hoped that Pudding was in condition to be seen.

Ichigo was torn. She knew if Tart saw Kish's burns, he'd have to tell Pai about them, which would make things worse for Pudding. However, if she kept him away, he'd be suspicious, and that would make things worse for Pudding. If she let him see Kish, then she could see Pudding… but what if Tart was lying?

Ichigo's brain wasn't wired to think like this. She'd just have to trust her instincts and hope for the best. "Come in, then," she grumbled, moving the cinderblocks and unlocking the padlock, then opening the doors and entering the cellar.

Tart followed Ichigo into the dark room. Kish, apart from having lifted his head at the sound of his friend's voice, hadn't moved from his helpless-looking position. "Hey, Tart," he whispered, then, having confirmed his friend's presence, buried his face in his knees again.

Tart was horrified. "Ki—" he whirled around to face Ichigo. "What did you do to him?" the child demanded, incensed. "He never acts like this!"

"He was hitting on me again, what did you expect?" snapped Ichigo, trying unsuccessfully to dodge the question.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Tart screamed at her, his words pretty near unintelligible.

"Nothing!" Ichigo cried frantically. "I didn't do anything to him, now go tell Pai to leave Pudding alone!"

"Kish?" Tart asked his friend, ignoring the mew. "Kish, what did she do to you?" the youngest alien asked, placing a hand gently on his comrade's shoulder.

"Don't try to teleport away with him," Ichigo warned. "It won't work."

"Give me some credit!" snapped Tart, secretly disappointed. He'd hoped to do just that. The boy turned back to his friend, masking his distress. "Kish, seriously, what did she do?"

Kish didn't think he'd be hurt for telling his friend—but for all he knew, he could be. In the past few hours, he'd realized that the mews would use force to get what they wanted, and to punish people. It was something he hadn't expected. It was better to keep quiet. "It's nothing, Tart," the green haired alien lied, shaking his head.

Tart grabbed Kish's hand and felt the indentations on the back of his hand and his palms. Squinting, the alien could make out the telltale signs of acid burns. "Nothing, hm?" he asked, glaring at Ichigo. "I—I'd kill you now, you stupid old hag! Except that Kish would probably suffer for it! You—" the young alien's face contorted. Somehow it looked more funny than threatening. He forced his face to relax and his fists to unclench. "Can I at least bring him some medical supplies?" he asked coldly.

"Maybe later. First I want to see Pudding—and she'd better be okay," Ichigo warned Tart.

"Yeah, she'd better be," Tart replied, not even thinking about the fact that he was agreeing with his least favorite enemy. "I'll go petition Pai—touch Kish again and I swear, I will kill you." With that last warning—one that Ichigo really couldn't take seriously—Tart teleported.

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"Please Pai, please, I need to take Pudding somewhere, just for a couple minutes!" pleaded Tart. Seriously, he'd spent two hours trying to convince Pai! Who knew what Ichigo was doing to Kish for Pudding's prolonged absence?

Or all the pain that Pudding might be in right now…

"For the last time, I'm torturing her in the mildest way possible, but it takes some time. I have to have her here for a while," Pai answered, bored. "I don't know why you're so anxious to get her out anyway. Surely you don't care anything for her?"

"Please Pai, I can't tell you—but I swear! Half an hour—I mean—she—" Tart knew he was babbling, so he shut up.

Pai sighed. The brat was really annoying him, maybe it was time to give in. "Very well," he finally conceded. "Half an hour. She'll have a minute of true torture for every extra minute you two are gone. Capiche?"

Tart frowned. "Capiche? Huh?"

Pai rolled his eyes. "Oh, never mind," he sighed, exasperated, before he entered the torture chamber.

"Hey, kid," he snapped, flipping the 'off' switch on the water dropper, then untying Pudding. "Tart wants you for something. You'd better remind him that you're to be back on the ship in half-an-hour or there will be hell to pay. Capiche?" he asked, certain that a human would be able to understand the human slang, unlike Tart.

No such luck. "Capiche? Huh?" Pudding asked, confused.

"Save me," Pai groaned, looking upwards. He opened the door and pushed the monkey mew out. "Half-an-hour, don't run off, and stay out of this room when you get back… unless I say so. Time starts…" Pai looked at his watch "…now."

Tart took Pudding's hand tentatively, trying to tell himself that it was gross, he hated having to hold her hand, and she had cooties. There was just no convincing his heart this—what? Tart wondered if he was coming down with something…

Tart shook it off and teleported, concentrating extra hard to bring Pudding with him. They landed on Earth, and Tart decided he owed Pudding an explanation. "I—well, I told Ichigo that if she let me see Kish, I'd let her see you," he explained to the astonished girl.

"Really? Cool!" Pudding squealed. She had missed her friends, after all. The girl spun around in glee, then caught a glimpse of Tart's face. Even though his face was in slight shadow, the monkey child could tell something was wrong. "Tar-tar? What is it?" she asked curiously.

"Huh?" was Tart's eloquent reply.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh…" Tart frowned. "Pudding, what did Pai do to you? He wouldn't tell me," the child added.

"Oh. Chinese Water Torture," Pudding answered, shuddering a little. "It's more torturous than it's described as. It's… annoying," Pudding finished lamely. She knew that most people laughed at the idea of Chinese Water Torture as torture… but then again, if tickling was considered a form or torture, why not little water droplets?

"Ah. Well… I'm glad he didn't hurt you really badly," Tart told her, drifting back to his thoughts as they hurried towards Ichigo's house. Tart mentally kicked himself for not just teleporting right to the place. This was more time when Kish could…

"That's not all you're thinking about," Pudding observed, atypically serious. "Are my friends being mean to Kish? No… they can't be! Are they?" she asked, giving Tart an anxious look.

Tart flinched. "Well, he's certainly not getting Chinese Water Torture," the boy muttered cryptically.

"Do you need a hug Tar-tar?" Pudding asked, wanting to cheer her unusually quiet friend up.

"No. And stop calling me Tar-tar."

"You need a hug!"

"No I don't!" Tart yelled as Pudding leaped on him, almost knocking him over. The youngest alien staggered, trying to keep his balance and push Pudding away at the same time. Finally he succeeded. The young alien brushed himself off indignantly and walked the all of three feet to Ichigo's house.

"Tar-tar? Do you ring the doorbell or me?" Pudding asked uncertainly. Maybe it was a stupid question, but she didn't want to take chances. She trusted Tart, but still… Better to play on the safe side.

"Huh? Oh, I guess I'd better," Tart decided hastily. He unconsciously grabbed Pudding's hand for reassurance as he rang the doorbell. He quickly stepped backwards, then realized that Pudding was squeezing his hand tightly. To his intense embarrassment, he was returning the favor.

The door opened a crack, and Ichigo peered out. The girl recognized them and stepped outside, closing the door with a snap. "What took you so long?" she hissed, glaring at the alien.

"Sheesh! Pai didn't want to let her go," Tart answered, matching her glare. He did not release Pudding's hand, telling himself he had to make sure she didn't try to escape. "We have about fifteen minutes, then we need to be back, and I'll be supervising the entire visit," he warned Ichigo.

Now Ichigo felt a bit bad. She had tried to keep Tart away from Kish, but here the alien was, willingly allowing her several minutes to see her friend. Of course, she'd prefer if he gave Pudding back, but… again, Ichigo's mind wasn't wired to deal with this sort of thinking. "All right, both of you come in then," the cat mew agreed, opening the door and letting the two children in.

Tart and Pudding simultaneously stepped over the threshold and followed Ichigo into her living room. They passed the mew's leader's mom, ironing clothing, and for a moment Tart froze. It appeared though, that the woman didn't know about the kidnapping and thought this was just a routine visit; she smiled brightly at the boy before returning to her work. The young alien blinked, then dashed to catch up to the girls.

Tart felt distinctly awkward as he settled down on an armchair in Ichigo's living room. He'd never exactly been in a human's house, save for Puddings. Even then, it had always been to help her out, never for a social visit.

"Pudding… you're all right?" Ichigo asked her friend as the monkey mew plopped on the couch.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine!" Pudding answered cheerfully. "Tar-tar's being really nice, and Pai wasn't too mean to me. How's the café doing?"

"I left early today," Ichigo replied. "I had to bring Kish here—they said I have to keep him here! Even though he's my stalker!" Ichigo turned red at the thought. "Um… so far Mint has done nothing, as usual. No… wait, she taste-tested tea." The cat mew rolled her eyes. "What else is new?"

"No kidding," Pudding added, casting her mind around for another topic. "Well, have you seen Masaya?"

Ichigo grinned dreamily, and flowers of love seemed to surround her face—although Pudding and Tart put that down to an optical illusion. "I didn't see him today, but he called me. He's doing great, and we're going out on Sunday! We're going to go to the park, and see a movie, and…"

Tart's unease grew as he checked the time frequently throughout the visit. "Ne Pudding, time's up," he told the girl as Ichigo's clock showed that they had been on Earth for a total of 25 minutes. He didn't want to take any chances. "Come on."

"Oh. All right," Pudding agreed, standing up. "Bye-bye Ichigo oneesan!"

"Pudding, wait! Can't you—"

"She can't stay. Are you crazy?" scoffed Tart. "Even if Pai didn't kill her, he'd kill me. Now let's go before we're late." Tart seized Pudding's hand slightly more roughly than before, and the two faded out of view, back onto the ship.