(A.N./
Oh here it is,
It's Chapter Five!
On which the
Reviewers thrive.
Swarming insects can relate;
They're up to my knees
By chapter eight.)
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Ichigo shoved a damp towel further into the hole in the bathroom wall. She sighed and wiped her sweaty brow as she glanced up at Retasu,
"How many of these water outlets have we plugged?" Retasu put a finger to her lips and thought for a moment before saying,
"Well, counting the hole we plugged back about ten minutes ago, I'd say around ten or fifteen." Ichigo groaned,
"Purin, could you hand me another towel from the cupboard?" Purin danced her way to the bathroom cupboard, grabbed a thick, puffy towel, and danced back to Ichigo,
"Here you go, na do da!" Ichigo thanked her and took the towel. She shoved it in after the last towel and took a step back to admire her work. The hole looked sturdy enough. But she wasn't quite satisfied…
"Minto!" she called, "Could you please hand me toilet plunger?" Minto stuck her nose into the air,
"As if! Like I'd ever touch that nasty thing!" Ichigo rolled her eyes,
"Purin?"
"I'm on it, na do da!" In a split second, Ichigo found the plunger in her outstretched hand, Purin wearing a goofy smile of self-pride. Ichigo smiled and shoved the plunger lengthwise into the hole to re-enforce the towels. She stood up and motioned for the Mews to follow her,
"Let's get to the next one."
Despite their hard work of trying to stop the water from coming, the flooding wasn't slowing up. The water level continued to rise, and it seemed as though the Mew's valiant efforts were a lost cause. But Ichigo, being the leader of the team, forced a smile and a word or two of encouragement. And so they continued on with their tedious work.
Retasu, now taking the position at the back of the traveling chain of Mews, said,
"Should we begin with the upstairs? I am pretty sure I heard water coming down the stairs quite a bit ago…" Ichigo nodded,
"Sure! Sounds like a good idea!" She shifted the course of the chain and began the descent up the stairs.
The stairs did have water rushing down it. It looked -and sounded- like a giant waterfall. Whether this was a new development or not, Ichigo didn't know; all she wanted was to stop the water. She yelled,
"Everyone, hold onto the handlebars tightly! You can slip easily here!" The Mews obeyed and broke the chain, occupying their hands with gripping the handlebars. They slowly began to inch their way up the staircase, taking care not to slip and fall.
Finally, when they reached the top, Ichigo led them to the right side of the hallway. However, she forgot one crucial thing as they reached the top of the stairs.
They forgot to link hands.
As soon as she had taken a couple of steps, she heard excited splashing and gasping. As soon as she turned, however, there was nothing behind her; only waves and empty air was present where her friends had once been.
She looked around, beginning to panic. The aliens must not have gone in the first place! They would be the only explanation for this! Even after knowing the cause of the disappearance of the Mews, Ichigo was certainly not comforted in the least bit. She bit her tongue and fidgeted with her hands as she glanced around her in panicked jolts.
Slowly, though, she took a step forward. Then another. Then another. She soon found herself walking down the hall in small, cautious steps. She had to find her friends, regardless of who took them and what kind of situation she was in herself. Why didn't the aliens touch her? Was she being targeted?
As she was peering around the edge of what appeared to doorway, she was surprised to see a staircase set back into the wall. Curious to its origins, and hoping to find a clue about her friends, she took a few steps forward and began to ascend the staircase.
The steps were dusty, cracked, and dry. Never before had dry ground sounded so good to Ichigo. Her feet began to dry as she ascended the steps, as well as collected a small amount of dust.
By the time she reached the top, her feet were nice and dry. She blinked and adjusted her eyes to the dark of the room. She soon realized that it wasn't a room; it was an attic. Its massive size appeared to stretch from one end of the house to the other. It was a good thing, too, because the attic was crammed full of dusty, old boxes and trunks. Abandoned furniture and broken chandeliers lay piled on top of shelves or other items, or maybe even set carelessly on the floor. Altogether, the room was packed.
Ichigo was so ever curious to what was in the attic, but then she remembered what she was doing in the first place. She pivoted to walk down the stairs before she spied a big, fancy-looking trunk set off to the side a few feet away. She furrowed her brow and turned to it, walking over. Undoing the latch, she threw it open. She immediately began to cough, though, because of all of the dust that erupted from the trunk when she had opened it. Wiping her eyes, she gazed into it.
Ladies' gowns and dresses were piled high inside it, all neatly folded in with great care. Ichigo gaped and dug her hand into the chest, sifting through all of the dresses of faded color. They all seemed to be evening gowns of some sort, made for a girl of Minto's age. Even though they were obviously very old, they registered to Ichigo as "simply gorgeous".
One of them especially caught her eye as she was rummaging. She yanked it out and held it up to inspect it. It was a flowing, satin, strapless dress, a crisp white in color. A simple red sash was attached to the waist, and small, glittering gemstones embroidered the hem of the top and bottom. It seemed to have lost some of its elegance over the years, but Ichigo still thought it to be beautiful.
She bit her lip when she was reminded, once again, why she was up in the attic. She soon concluded, however, that this would be much better to wear around the mansion then her flimsy pajamas.
So, after glancing around the attic in paranoia of being seen, Ichigo slipped the dress on over her pajamas. She tied the sash around her back and smoothed down the fabric. She scowled at the fact that it didn't quite fit, and that she must have gained weight (Ichigo avoided thinking about her weight as much as possible, though she really didn't have much to worry about in the first place).
She looked around the attic curiously, and her eyes soon rested on a full-length mirror standing in one corner of the attic. She strode over to it and wiped the dust off with the palm of her hand. Once she was finished, she took a step back to examine herself.
The dress, indeed, had a very flowing-like quality to it, and reminded Ichigo of the morning breeze. She twirled around a couple times and discovered the satin felt extremely good on her legs, as well as made the dress look very elegant. She smiled to herself as twirled a second time, facing away from the mirror. She tried to recall any dancing moves she had learned when she had been at the ball with Ryou.
She took a graceful step forward and twirled around, extending her legs to make a ballet jump. She landed gracefully, quite proud of herself. Cat abilities do have their perks.
She twirled in the other direction, music played in her head as she stepped lightly across the room in a simple dance. The dress felt wonderful, and Ichigo felt so at ease. She closed her eyes and sighed, extending her arm and lifting it above her like she had seen Minto do. Of course, Minto was much more graceful and beautiful than Ichigo could ever hope to be, but she was proud of herself, nonetheless.
She hesitated her dancing, though, when she felt a hand intertwine with hers. She didn't open her eyes, though, because she already knew perfectly well who it was. A second hand slunk around her waist and she felt the heat of another body. Instead of pulling away or yelling, though, she sighed and repeated as she had done with Ryou, placing her arm loosely around his shoulder.
She continued to dance as he took the lead, both of them striding across the attic. Ichigo found herself stepping on his foot once or twice, and his balance would falter occasionally, but that was fine with her. I mean, they weren't perfect, were they? Ichigo just wanted to enjoy a calm, graceful moment outside the chaos of what was going on around her.
And so, when Ichigo felt herself being dipped low, she finally snapped to her senses. It registered in her mind that she had just been dancing.
With Kisshu.
In a dress.
Alone.
A blush slowly crept to her face when she felt hot breath on her ear. He spoke in rushed, quiet tones,
"Pai and Taruto are waiting to ambush you farther ahead in the hall, and torture you for information. Get as far away from this floor as possible, and watch where you step. There is a huge pipe that is gushing water in the kitchen; block that and the water levels will slow considerably." Ichigo nodded solemnly, repeating the information over in her head as not to forget. Kisshu slowly backed off from her ear and lifted her back onto her feet.
"Wait," Ichigo said, "Why did you tell me this? Didn't you want to kill me?" Kisshu looked at her with a bemusing smirk. He answered only in a simple word,
"No."
Then, he was gone. Ichigo, now quite shaken at the idea of an ambush waiting to happen, ran down the attic stairs and flew across the hallway. Her feet made a quiet pitter-pat as she stepped quickly down the stairs. Looking ahead, though, she saw that the water had already reached five feet deep or so, covering the first three stairs.
She debated with herself whether to try and swim or to find some kind of boat when she heard a muffled,
"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" followed by a crash of breaking glass. Ichigo's face brightened when the doors to her right slammed open and Zakuro emerged.
"Zakuro-san!" Ichigo called, "I'm so glad you're here!" Zakuro looked up in surprise,
"Ichigo?" Ichigo ran over and tackle-hugged Zakuro,
"Zakuro, you've got to help! The aliens took the rest of the Mews, and I don't know where! One minute they were there and the next they were gone!" Zakuro grimaced at the news and touched her pendant, speaking to Ryou,
"Suspicions confirmed, Mew Lettuce, Pudding, and Minto have disappeared. Ichigo is fine, but the house is flooded. I'm going to investigate."
"Rodger." came Ryou's voice. Zakuro half-smiled at Ichigo,
"Well, you're alright, at least." Her face soon became stiff again, though, "What else do you know?"
"Well," Ichigo said, "I just found out that Pai and Taruto are at the end of the hall on the right, waiting to ambush me. From what I heard, they want to torture me for information or something…"
Zakuro didn't prod any further then that. Ichigo watched in awe as she moved swiftly and quickly to the end of the hall. She was temped to follow, but she remembered Kisshu's warning and kept at the sidelines, craning her neck to try to see what was going on.
Soon she heard the zap of electricity and Zakuro's counter-attack with her whip. Bright lights shined out of the last room of the hall. She heard the sounds of weapons clashing and Zakuro calling, "Ribbon Zakuro Spear!". The urge to get into the room and get a bird's-eye view of the battle was overwhelming for Ichigo; her curiosity was getting the best of her. She just simply longed to see what was going on. She was the Mew leader; she could watch, right? She could stay out of trouble, right? I mean, honestly, she didn't have to be babysat all the time. She just wanted to get a quick peek…
Before she was fully conscious of it, Ichigo felt her feet moving in a rhythmic manner under her. She was taking small steps towards the battle in the hallway, taking her time to reach her destination. She slowly began to move, one step at a time. She still wasn't fully conscious; her senses felt dull and numb. Something inside her thrashed about and screamed for her to stop, but she didn't. It was like she was under a spell, or in a trance.
She counted her steps aloud in a small whisper.
"…nine…ten…eleven…"
"Ichigo!"
The voice sounded distant to her, unidentifiable. She continued to take another step…and another…
"Ichigo! LOOK OUT!"
She snapped out of her daze just in time to feel a hand pull her away from the streak of bright yellow lightning that flew past her face. She turned to see Zakuro, panting, and looking both angry and worried. She growled,
"What do you think you're doing?!" Ichigo only shook her head,
"I…I don't know…" She soon felt Zakuro push her out of the way, once again, to avoid a blue lightning bolt. She landed on the ground, but stood up slowly. Zakuro spoke again in a monotone,
"Get down to the first story. Now." Ichigo began to panic,
"But Zakuro, I'm not very good at swimming! I'll drown for sure!" Zakuro shook her head,
"Ichigo, could you please try?" Ichigo sighed and nodded, leaping out of the way of another attack. She charged down the stairs and waded into the water, wincing at the temperature and the amount of debris involved.
Farther and farther she went in, and, when she took a step off the stairs, she felt herself immersed in water. Her foot caught on something she perceived to be a fancy, carved dining table. Her foot was wedged in one of the cut designs. It ached, and Ichigo tried desperately to pull her foot out. She was needlessly exhausting herself, and she knew it. She gave a final tug, then gave out on herself. She felt the water seep farther over her, and tried to gasp for air, but only swallowed a mouthful of dirty water.
The last thing she remembered was a splash from the water above her, and a fervent tug at her arm.
Then, everything went black.
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