The Truth is Hard to Handle

Chapter 6

Mint

I had the weirdest dream last night! I dreamt that my momma and daddy got busy and had a ton of babies while I was at some soccer camp. See, I just have one older brother in real life, but here I had at least two older brothers and maybe a couple older sisters. I had a few younger brothers and sisters too! And a TON of babies. But the weirdest part was all the babies were in eggs! Red eggs for girls, blue eggs for boys. And my little brothers and sisters were kicking the eggs like friggin soccer balls! It was so, so, so WEIRD!!!! Anyways, to the story!!! Hope you like it!!!!

The phone rang at eight-thirty AM, waking Ichigo from her sleep. She glanced around, but didn't see Ryou in her room. Had he left for home overnight?

She recalled last night's events vaguely. Mint had called . . .

Mint!

Becoming aware of the phone still ringing, she grabbed it just before the answering machine picked up. "Hello?" she said.

"Hello, Ichigo," Mint said sadly. She sounded distant, as if she were about to say something she really wished she didn't have to. She sounded sad.

"Oh, Mint!" she sighed, "I'm so glad it's you!!!"

"Yeah . . ." Mint replied, once again distantly. It sounded like a man was telling Mint what to say to Ichigo.

"Mint? Is everything OK?" she asked, becoming worried.

"Yeah, of course, Ichigo! Everything's fine. I just called . . ." Mint drifted off. When Ichigo listened close, she could hear someone saying, "Goddamn it, girl! Tell her!" Finally, Mint began talking again, "I called to say I . . . I . . ." she broke off again, but this time started talking immediately again, "I sprained my ankle doing ballet yesterday and that's why I can't come to work. I'm sorry." Then she hung up.

"Ookie," Ichigo said to no one in particular, hanging up the phone. But the second she put it down, it rung again.

"Hello, Ichigo," the voice said, "this is Kish."

Ichigo sighed, annoyed, "What do you want, Kish?"

Kish didn't answer right away. On his end of the phone, someone screamed, "NO! NO!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!"

Finally Kish came back onto the phone and said, "Yes, Ichigo, we've got Mint here."

Ichigo fought back tears. "Why?" she asked, "Why . . . What do you want with her?"

Kish laughed an evil laugh, "We're still at the Holiday Inn." Then he hung up.

Ichigo leapt out of bed and ran downstairs to find Ryou asleep on the couch. "RYOU! RYOU! RYOU! RYOU! GET UP! GET OFF YOUR FAT ASS AND GET UP!!!!!!" she screamed at him.

Ryou stirred and sat up. "What?" he said irritably.

"Jeez, not much of a morning person are we?" Ichigo teased.

Ryou grumbled, "What, Ichigo?"

"Oh, yeah!" Ichigo cried, remembering why she had woken him up in the first place, "Kish had Mint! He kidnapped her! And we need to go get her!" She grabbed her coat and Ryou's keys and sprinted to the door.

Ryou jumped off the couch and grabbed Ichigo's hand to stop her. Her face was tearstained heartbreaking to see. Ichigo lifted her head to meet Ryou's eyes. Ryou look deep into her eyes, feeling her pain. He held her close to him and said, "You can't go. I'm sure this is a trap to get you over there."

Ichigo gulped and sniffed, crying more into his bare chest, "I know it is. But she was screaming. I bet they're hurting her."

"Sh, sh," Ryou said, trying to calm her, "She's strong. She'll hold on until we can go save her." Ichigo moved even closer to Ryou, breathing in his warm smell. "We'll fix this," he said, "We'll fix it, and we'll fix it without giving you up. I'm never letting you go ever, ever again." Ichigo closed her teary eyes and nodded into his chest. He sighed heavily and whispered , "Let's call the rest of the Mew Mews then to help get her back."

………………………………….

Kish paced back and forth in front of Mint and Masaya. "Why hasn't she come yet?!"

"She's not stupid!" Mint snapped, "And Ryou's not just gonna let her fall into your idiotic trap!" Kish fumed and slapped her across the face.

"Not stupid?" Kish asked, "Huh! Chicken's more like it! I bet she's too scared to come and help you."

Mint glared at him, well you know, more than usual, and simply stated, "We'll see."

Kish stopped his pacing and pivoted to face her, "Why, you little . . . can I just kill you now, you know, ease my pain?"

"God!" Masaya shouted, "Why isn't she here yet You said . . ."

"She's here," Mint said, "Get ready to have your butts kicked." This resulted in another firm slap across the face, but Mint didn't care. She'd been there two days and was already sick of the place. How Ichigo lived in that hideous pukey green atrocity for two years she had no idea . . .

Ichigo was in Mew form, and she wasn't alone. Pudding, Lettuce, and Zakuro followed close behind her. Mint was truly glad. She knew this battle would bring a lot of bloodshed. She also knew this would be one battle they'd fight without her.

Ichigo's face was red, Mint noticed. Mint assumed she'd been crying. What she also noticed was that Ichigo completely avoiding Masaya's eyes.

"Give her back, Kish!" Zakuro ordered. Ichigo didn't seem very into kicking the aliens' butts tonight.

"You don't get something for nothing, now do you?" Kish taunted.

"Name your price!" Pudding said.

"I'll trade Mint for Ichigo."

Mint pushed past Masaya, who'd been blocking her way to her friends. "NO!" she screamed, "Don't! I'll live here forever to save you, Ichigo!" Kish didn't slap her this time, but took his razor sharp nails and scratched her from her right eye to her left ear. She screamed and fell to the floor.

"STRAWBERRY CHECK!!!" Ichigo screamed, enraged from Kish's torture. The attack hit Kish full-fledged as a fight broke out.

In an instant, Kish was in motion. He grabbed Pudding by the shoulders and instantly, she fell to the ground . . . just like that! Lettuce aimed a kick at Kish's face, but he caught her foot in midair. At his touch, she collapsed as well.

Zakuro wasn't quite so easy. Finally, after much dodging on both their parts, he caught her hand. She struggled for a moment, then dropped.

"Ichigo, Ichigo, Ichigo," Kish said, "Come here, baby."

Ichigo took off in motion. She did back flips, cartwheels, even somersaults to avoid him. Both Kish and Masaya seemed to have been enjoying themselves up until this point.

Annoyed and tired of chasing her, Kish shouted, "STOP!!!" and shot a soccer ball sized fireball at her. Ichigo made one wrong turn and collided with the fireball.

"ICHIGO!!!" Mint screamed, running to her. Masaya was right beside her. Mint knelt beside Ichigo's body in tears.

Masaya stood and towered over the Kish. "You . . ." he fumed, "You said she wouldn't get hurt . . . not physically! Look what you did!" He threw his arm out to gesture Ichigo.

Kish was flustered, "I . . . I . . . didn't mean to . . . I mean . . . SHE WOULDN'T HOLD STILL!!!!"

Mint ran to Pudding. By now, her face was red and wet from sobbing so much. "What did you do to her?" Mint cried, "Will she die?"

Still flustered, Kish replied, "I really, really hope not."

"YOU HOPE NOT!!!!!" Mint ran to Zakuro, her beloved idol. "Zakuro," she whispered, "Zakuro, please wake up! Please!" Then she stood and ran to Lettuce. She laid her head on Lettuce's chest and just wept.

Hope y'all liked it!!!!! PLEASE review!!!!!! I need to know what you guys think about it!!!! Please tell me!!!!!