Here it is!! Another update! I promised I'd be updating (or posting) stories at least once every 2 weeks - I'm trying my hardest to stick to it (even though it's been 4 weeks)! I couldn't get any time on the computer to actually write it. Anyway, I'll get onto writing now.
Before I forget: for anyone who has read my story Ichigo's Secret - it's a oneshot, I won't be updating it. It's just several of the reviews mentioned an update and it's on alerts. I just wanted to make that clear.
Time for the story - REVIEW PLZ! As per usual: I don't own TMM.
Chapter 5
A Blackmailer's Tricks
"Hurry up! Where's my tea?!"
"On it's way!" Minto called cheerily from the kitchen. She glared down at the delicate china cup in her hands, several thoughts of smashing the fragile ceramics crossing her mind. But she would probably get burned if she did, and therefore chose not to. A growl threatened to gurgle from the back of her throat, so, taking a deep breath, the high-class girl fought it back down. She composed herself and then attempted to glide in her usual manner out of the room. However, it was hard to do so.
Entering the main room, her eyes immediately locked onto the scheming red-head who had perched herself on a seat in the middle of the café. A smug smirk plastered itself upon her face, twisting her lips into, what looked to Minto, like a distorted smile.
Walking over to Kiichigo, she placed the teacup in front of her and forced a smile onto her face.
"Here you are," she said, feigning sweetness. Kiichigo mirrored her candy coated words, replying with a, "Thank you so much." before raising the cup to her lips and taking a slurp. Unused to such lack of table manners, Minto had to stop herself from grimacing.
And when the girl complained, she had to bite her tongue in order not to snap at her.
"Eww! This is disgusting! Take it back and bring me another!" Kiichigo demanded with a flick of her hand…for the sixth time that day. Minto swore her eyes couldn't get any narrower. Thin slits had formed and she could barely see out of them. Through gritted teeth, she managed to mutter, "Ok. I'll just be a minute."
Grabbing the mug, she turned on her heel and almost stomped into the kitchen. Throwing the door open, she began grumbling, praying that the people downstairs in the lab were close to coming up with a solution for all of this. Oh why on Earth did Ichigo had to have such a…a…a blackmailing bitch of a twin sister?!
As soon as the question ran through her head, she gasped. She had always been brought up with the lesson: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. The same for thinking. Lucky for her, teasing Ichigo wasn't included in that.
She began boiling the water again and had just placed a fresh tea bag into a clean cup when the door opened to reveal Retasu. She was chewing on her lip - not a good sign - and one hand was raised to her chin. Seeing her made Minto calm a bit - but only slightly. The tension in the atmosphere was still as high as it had been since Kiichigo found out.
Sighing, Minto raised one of her own, tired hands to her forehead. Closing her eyes, she muttered to her friend, "Anything yet?"
Though hesitant, the answer came. "No…n-not really. Shirogane-san can't turn Kiichigo into a Mew like us, but he says he can't not do anything and risk her blabbing to the rest of the world. So, we still have a dilemma. And you? How are you getting on?"
Groaning, Minto said, "That girl is the worst…urrgh. I've made her six cups of tea and each one she's refused saying that they're 'disgusting'. I know I make Ichigo make my tea for me, but this is just ridiculous! At least I don't force her to make me half a dozen and then make her get rid of them!"
Snorting, she finished her rant and turned to Retasu. After the threat from the lab (and plenty of shocked reactions), everyone had come to the conclusion that Kiichigo would have to be kept out of the way so they could decide what they would do. Of course, being the devious devil that she was, Kiichigo had just smirked and told them she would call everyone she knew and tell them while they were doing this…unless someone entertained her in the meantime. At first, Purin had offered, reeling off all the tricks and acts she could perform to the clearly unimpressed girl. But Zakuro had quickly come to the realisation that when Kiichigo said entertain she meant run around and do her bidding.
And in the end, Minto had been volunteered.
Casting her now opened orbs down to the floor, she murmured that Kiichigo was a tyrant and told Retasu to get everyone to hurry up as she didn't know how much longer she could take this. Making tea wasn't the only thing she had been ordered to do that morning. Thank goodness her friends didn't know what else, because she would never live it down…
Her head snapped up as the water finished boiling and she immediately grabbed the kettle, ready to pour it onto the teabag. Turning to Retasu one last time before leaving, she gave a tired, ghost of a smile. The green-haired girl returned it and then left the room herself, heading back to the steps that would take her to the basement.
Upon reaching the bottom, she proceeded to poke her head into the overcrowded room. Everyone was so deep in discussion that they didn't notice her. It was only when she spoke did the heads twist her way and a rosy hue formed on her cheeks due to the attention she received.
"I think…anou…maybe someone should switch with Minto-chan. She looks very tired and deserves a break."
Ryou eyed Retasu, considering the girl's statement carefully. It had been quite a while since Minto had been sent up there - and for all he knew, Kiichigo had kept her running about and most likely working (something the blue-haired girl was not used to - though he would never admit it aloud. Ichigo would demand a raise even more if he did) the whole time.
He nodded his head, asking, "Well, who's going to take her place?"
"I will na no da!" volunteered Purin as she leapt up in the air, hand raised as if she were in a classroom.
Once again, Ryou nodded his head. Most likely, Purin would drive Kiichigo insane after about two minutes and hopefully the manipulative minx would lay off of them all for a while.
After noting his approval, the blonde-haired girl made a dash for the stairs that would take her up into the main part of the café. Immediately focusing his attention back to the rest of the group, he picked up the discussion from where it left off.
"The Mew Project is over so we can't inject her with any animal genetics," he stated bluntly, not actually wanting to debate about this, but rather about what to do with Ichigo's twin. Personally he would have liked to gag her and throw her in a closet for several hours to teach her a lesson, but he knew Ichigo would have a fit if he tried anything to harm her.
The catgirl herself was slumped in one of the chairs, vaguely aware of the conversation, but mostly tuned out; in her own little world. She couldn't come to terms with how much Kiichigo had changed. No, she hasn't changed. She's just a little uncomfortable and is acting out of character is all, Ichigo tried to reason with herself. A small voice in the back of her mind was arguing her denial, however, it faded out as Ichigo played over and over again the same thought.
Sighing, she attempted to rejoin the conversation. "Well, what other reasons are there not to let her? If we tell her to be careful, then maybe she can have the genetics without having the pressure of having to fight with them. I mean, we all went through that, but it doesn't mean she has to," she said.
"If we let just anyone have animal DNA inside them, then the whole world will be half animal. That good enough for you?" Ryou replied, leaning back further into the other chair, seemingly not bothered about Ichigo's reasoning - which only served to get her rattled.
"That's exactly it though; she's not just anyone, she's my twin!" she countered, hands slapped onto her hips.
This shocked the other occupants of the room slightly. Ryou sat up, eyeing Ichigo carefully, taking into consideration the seriousness of the situation - the one of what to do with Ichigo when he told her 'no'. But he could handle her, after all, he had done many a time before. Everyone could handle Ichigo's tempers…just not everyone could do so very well. And Ryou was one of them.
"Forget it baka. The answer is no. It's not going to change anytime soon, so give up."
Her orbs began to fill with water and it took almost everything she had at that moment to stop the sparkling tears from spilling down her cheeks. Didn't he realise what was at stake here? Didn't he realise that they could trust Kiichigo if they gave her what she wanted? Didn't he realise she cared a lot about her sister?
"Just because you have no family and couldn't care less about anything important doesn't mean that I'm the same!"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she prayed there was a way to take them back. Her hands clapped to her mouth and her pent up tears fell down her face from her eyes that now resembled saucers. Genuinely shocked by what she had said, she began to whisper an immediate apology, "Shirogane I--"
"Shut up Ichigo," Ryou interrupted coldly, his words piercing her like icicles, stabbing into her being. It hurt her that much. Without a word more, he rose to his feet and walked away. But as he passed her, she noticed something she hadn't seen before - his eyes were glistening, and not with the happiness she was used to seeing in another's eyes.
Her body shook, her gaze directed to the floor. She could feel her friends shooting her with deadly glares, even Minto who had not long since entered the room.
"Shirogane, I'm sorry," she whispered, so quietly that it was only audible to herself and Zakuro, who stood nearest to her.
Zakuro glare softened a little, which would have comforted the smaller red-head had she been looking. But what was said was said, and no matter how much easier and better it would have been if she were able to, the wolf-injected model could not take back Ichigo's words.
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For a long time the room was silent and at unease. Without Ryou, they didn't know how to approach the situation. He was the one with all the scientific knowledge and his genius brain was the most capable of coming up with a solution to their current problem.
Keiichiro refused to take part in the debate, instead he opted to tap unknown things into the computer, dragging up various files or other and saving, what the girls presumed was new data, into them. He seemed annoyed as the speed and inaccuracy of his typing led to believe. He hit the keys hard and fast, causing many mistakes. It was as though his mind was elsewhere, like, maybe on how Ryou was doing.
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Meanwhile, upstairs, Kiichigo was just about ready to rip her hair out. Purin was driving her insane with no sign of letting up on her antics anytime soon. The monkey girl was in the middle of performing one of her latest tricks - balancing a plate on one leg, standing on the other atop of three tables and a chair and her arms were being used for juggling whatever she could get her hands on. Every time Purin tried this trick, it failed miserably.
Multiple crashes and clatters were heard, along with an "Oops…oh well, I'll get it next time, na no da!"
"I can't take it anymore," Kiichigo groaned to herself. "There has to be something better to do than this."
That's when the idea came to her. If she was not mistaken, she remembered that Ryou had left the basement to go upstairs earlier on and she hadn't seen him come back down yet.
"He must still be up there," she muttered, a sly grin forming on her face.
Glancing over at Purin, she noted that the child was still busy clearing up her mess of broken plates and the few chairs she had knocked over. Standing, Kiichigo slowly and cautiously made her way out of the room on tip-toe, careful not to let the other girl see her.
Making it to the stairs unnoticed, she proceeded to climb them until she reached the next floor. Peering down the hallway, she checked no-one else was around and then scampered along it. The first door she came to, she tapped on lightly before opening it to reveal a spare room. The bed was neatly made and the cream curtains were open. A small bedside table stood beside one wall with a cute, cream and wooden lamp on top of it. Apart from that though, there was nothing much else in the room. Unless you counted the chest of drawers meant for filling with clothes.
Edging her way out of the chamber, Kiichigo quietly closed the door behind her and then ran to the next one. She did this several times, not finding much that would interest her - although, she did want to know what was kept behind the locked door she had come across. Obviously it was something important, as when she tried the door, it would not budge. Even when she shoved her whole body weight onto it it wouldn't give. She became fed up with it in no time, though her curiousity could never keep at bay. She kept turning and twisting as she walked down the hallway, half expecting the sealed door to open as if by magic.
Reaching the last door, she gave it a push and it clicked open. However, there was a big difference between this room and the others. This chamber contained a person. And not just any person; the one she had been looking for. Ryou lay on his bed with one arm shielding his eyes. His deep breathing and silence signaled to Kiichigo that he was asleep.
She stared at him, watching him rest. She didn't know how her sister could say he was unattractive because to her, he was gorgeous. His blonde hair fell into the parts of his face she could see and she could imagine his bright cerulean eyes. At this thought, she had to restrain herself from squealing. He was, what she would refer to as, the 'perfect height' and it was an added bonus that his torso was extremely toned. It was only then did it occur to her that he was shirtless. However, she didn't freak out and go red at this sight, unlike her sister. She merely cocked her head to the side and smiled. Although a pink pigment was visible on her cheeks, she didn't let it faze her.
After a minute or so, she decided to have a look around. Turning, Kiichigo made a beeline for the computer.
"Don't even think about it."
She froze. She turned. And that's when she realised he had been awake the whole time. Now her blush came. Crimson stained cheeks rivaled her hair in colour and her eyes darted to the floor. She was aware of his eyes boring into her, most likely he was trying to comprehend why she was there.
"What are you doing in my room?" he asked.
"I got bored, so I went looking around," she replied, leaving out the fact that she had actually been looking for him.
"Well get out, go back downstairs and wait like a good little girl."
Instantly her composure changed. She raised both her eyebrows and her head at his comment, but otherwise remained motionless. Seeing that she wasn't going to go anywhere, he stood and grabbed a shirt, throwing it on much to Kiichigo's disappointment.
"Someone's in a bad mood," she said, smirking.
"Well, someone's sister made me angry," he replied bitterly, placing a hand on her back and giving her a firm shove in the direction of the exit.
"Whoa, whoa. Ichigo's made you mad, huh?" she asked grinning.
"Yes," he answered without hesitation, though he was suspicious as to why there was a smirk on her face. Shaking his head, he ordered, "Now go."
She giggled, looking at him in a flirtatious way.
"One moment. Let me give you something to make you feel better."
Confused as he was, Ryou didn't even have time to ask before she twisted her body round and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Parting from the befuddled boy, she winked and then headed off towards the stairs, leaving the blonde to open and close his mouth like a goldfish…
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A/N: Finally finished!! The ending of this chapter was supposed to go differently, but when this idea came to me, I figured it was a nice little twist (although it was going to end up happening eventually).
I'll be getting back on track with updates from now on. So you can expect another chapter up in the next couple of weeks. Also, it's my birthday in a few weeks time and I'm thinking of posting a oneshot around then…
Now, here's the fun bit: if you want Kiichigo to do something in the later chapters, let me know. It can be anything: just make sure it'll stir things up. I've already got a few ideas…
KO xoxo
