Ooookay! Two VERY important things!

I found out that the video series really does show Retasu's family! So, just in case people are wondering, I guess I made up a new family for her, since I didn't know she had one in the show (well, you know what I mean, right?)

Kish and Ichigo get slightly out of character, romantic wize. I don't think its too big, but you let me know in your review, k?

Enjoy!

Reisha glanced at the clock the Midorikawa's stove.

8:16

That's it, Retasu is never this late. I have to do something. She walked over to the phone, feeling shaky for some reason. Quickly dialing the number she waited impatiently until the other line picked up. "Kakashi Midorikawa speaking, who is this?"

"Honey, it's me. Retasu isn't home yet, and I don't know why, I can't reach her cell-phone either."

"Dear, are you sure? Maybe she went to hang out with some friends after work or something."

"Kakashi, what if something happened to her!" Mrs. Midorikawa accidentally let a sniffle escape before calming herself. "When you're done at work, could you check at that café she works at and see if they know anything? Please, Kakashi, I'm really worried."

"All right, honey, all right. I want you to sit down and relax; I'll go looking for her right after work is done. Don't worry; everything's going to be okay."

"Thank-you dear, I'll- I'll call if she comes home."

"You do that sweetie, now go sit on the couch and wait. You'll see; everything will be fine. I love you."

"I love you, too."

The line clicked off, and Reisha couldn't help but feel the urge to pray. Dear God, if there is a God, don't let any harm come to my precious Retasu.

Xxx

"Ichigo! Did you find anything?" Ichigo turned her tired eyes to regard Mint, who was in mew form. Everyone had been searching for four hours now, and not one trace of their friend had shown up. Pudding had gone off on her own, saying she would 'smell Lettuce out', but so far it appeared to be a dead end for her too.

"Nothing Mint. How about Zakuro?"

Mint shook her head in agitation. "No, she didn't find anything either. Where the heck could Lettuce have gone? I mean, since when was she the type to wander off?"

Ichigo glared at her friend. "I doubt she did it willingly."

Mint glared back but then backed down. "I know," she sighed heavily, "I know."

Xxx

Lettuce hurt.

She knew she hurt because every time her heart pumped blood it felt like her body was trying to pulse with it. And the fact that she was groaning without trying also attested to this.

What happened? I know I fell down at the café, but I shouldn't feel this sore in the morning. Lettuce willed her hands to curl into fists on her bed, trying to find comfort it the soft covers. Her hands only scratched at a hard floor. Oh dear, did I fall when Keiichiro gave me the list of supplies? Wait, I never got him the supplies. What did I do? She turned her head, but brought her face to the floor so she couldn't breathe right. Couldn't breathe… "Ah!" She remembered! Pai had gotten her; he had blocked her breathing until she passed out!

With effort Lettuce opened her eyes and lifted herself up into a sitting position to look around. She was in a small, bare room. Maybe slightly bigger than her closet back home. "Hello?" she called tensely, but her voice fell heavily in the closed in space. The room was blank, everything a dull gray, and the door blended in so well she almost thought there wasn't one.

Retasu dragged herself up from the floor and took careful steps to the door. She shook the handle carefully, then vigorously when it didn't give way. I'm trapped! Her hand reached for her pocket to grab her pendant and use her attack on the door, but she didn't find it. Of course they took my pendant, what did I expect? Her cold feet also told her that her other sandal must have either fallen off somewhere, or had been taken as well. "Hello? Please, let me out!" She waited for a stressed moment, but heard nothing. "Please! Let me out!"

Lettuce's situation finally fell on her. She was captured by the enemy. She would either die or be used against the people she loved. There was no way for her to get out and warn them about what the aliens were planning. And she had failed them.

Retasu felt the tears well up. "Please, please…" She walked over to the far corner from the door and sunk to the ground, covering her face as she cried quietly. I'm sorry, Ryou… I'm sorry you guys…

Xxx

Pai watched from the hidden security camera as Lettuce cringed in the back corner of her confinement area. Mew Lettuce…He felt like he was watching a fellow soldier go through torture, instead of carefully guarding a dangerous enemy. Though she's not much of a danger any longer. He glanced down at her pendant, sitting on the cold machinery looking completely out of place with its girlish appearance. His eyes shot back to the camera's screen as the green mew flinched.

A quick look at a monitor to his left told him that her heart levels were still high, unhealthy for a girl her age. But what did I expect from her, that she'd receive all this with a collective calm? It took him a second to realize he had. He sighed and glanced at the monitors again. He had injected her with tiny organisms that were ultimately harmless to the person, but could get a great deal of information on how that person felt. Right now her stress levels were rather high.

And increasing.

He would never be able to study her if she maintained this much longer. Pai waited patiently until the feeling that his body was rippling water subsided. When he opened his eyes, he stood directly in front of her doorway. He opened the cell door cautiously and found he had startled her. Lettuce's face was streaked with tear trails, and her red face kept sniffling from a stuffed nose. Pai sighed inwardly.

He took a few steps towards her but found her cringing away in the small space provided for her, looking absolutely terrified. Like a caged animal. He realized. His next steps were more cautious, trying hard to appear harmless. "Mew Lettuce, look at me." She already was, of course, but the horrified look on her face wasn't her. Not that I would know, of course. "Mew Lettuce," he repeated sensibly, "Your stress levels are radiating too high for the average human, you need to calm down."

Lettuce let out a soft groan, which must have also been a laugh. "I- I'm thorry. G-g-give meh a m-moment."

Pai was stunned. She complied so willingly? Was this a trick? What would be the point of such a trick?

In a few moments she really did have herself under control, though it was strained. Lettuce didn't look at him, but spoke quietly, "I… apologize for my behavior. Is this better?"

Pai could only nod. Is it healthy for a human to be so compliant? I'll have to research this later. "Thank-you."

He turned to walk away, hoping she could remain calm now, but Lettuce called him back.

"Wait!"

He turned and regarded her to find that her already brittle emotions were plummeting back into stress. "Pai, please. I know it's your duty to take back earth for your people, but please, please don't do what you're going to!"

What am I supposed to say? Surely she can't think that I'll comply, but if I don't she'll never regain composure! But I can't lie to her…Wait, yes I can. "Perhaps…"

He felt his ear twitch slightly as she jumped in astonishment. "The experiment is just that, an experiment. There are signs that it might backfire on us completely, and its future growth will be the determining factor in the total outcome of the plan." His emotionless mask poured the lies out like honey, not a single nerve giving away his twinge of unease. "If such a thing were to occur, the plan would have to be aborted and ultimately exterminated. Now," he did his best to appear, like he had heard earthlings describe it as, the 'good' cop. "despite this possibility, if you want to protect people, you'll meet the terms that I ask of you." He gazed indifferently at her until a meek, submissive nod was given. "Good." With that he left the room, locking it firmly behind him. His heart twisted with what he didn't say: Were not letting you go. Even if this plan fails, you're not going free.

Xxx

Kisshu looked on from the security cameras as Pai left the room. That skinny, arrogant liar. Not that Kish blamed him from lying, the mew's stress levels were already down into a minor area, but he was giving her false hope, and Kish didn't find that appealing. This would backfire on him, Kish knew with utmost confidence.

Pai reentered the room, looking rather surprised to find Kish there.

"Great performance, Pai. But I'd have to give it a 7, you didn't have enough emotion put into it."

"Kish, what are you doing in here?"

"Admiring your handy work. I didn't think you could reduce a girl to tears like that. Did you see how she cringed when you walked towards her? You need to work on your social skills."

Pai's brows furrowed. "You and Taruto were to leave and relay the message to the mews, have you done it?"

Kish shrugged, seeing Pai wasn't going to allow himself to be angered so soon. "Not yet. Tart said something about having to catch 'his escaped victim' before we went."

"Then help him look for it, I don't want to give them anymore opportunities to find out our plans."

"So how are you going to do this?"

Pai narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Kish shrugged nonchalantly towards the camera displaying Lettuce, who looked on the verge of sleeping sitting up with her head cradled in her propped up arms. "Is she going to stay in there all day till you need her for some experiment? I hear (unlike you) it's bad for humans to spend extensive amount of time pent up in a dark room. And what about eating? I've seen Ichigo eat a lot of food (Or maybe that's just my Ichigo?), and none of what normal human girls eat is anything we have on board. Is she going to sleep like that forever? And what about using the restroom?"

"I get your point, Kish." Pai rubbed his temple irritably. Hostages were more trouble than they were worth. Why didn't I think of these things? How is it that Kish thought of it before me? He's the one love struck with a human, not me! "Alright, I'll take care of… taking care of the green mew."

"She has a name you know."

"In the meantime." Pai spoke emphatically. "Deliver. The. Message."

"Sure thing Pai." Kish walked past him towards the door before turning back, the gleam back in his eye. "And by the way, she'll also need new clothes, you trashed the old ones. Make sure you get the right size!"

Kish left with a smirk, Pai's blushing face and twitching ear replaying itself in his crafty mind.

Xxx

"What do you mean she didn't come home?" Ryou looked at Mr. Midorikawa in alarm.

Retasu's father looked miserable. "My wife didn't alert me that Retasu was missing until about quarter after 8. It's not like Retasu to go off on her own without telling anyone."

Ryou winced inwardly; he hadn't lied through his teeth this much in years. Outwardly his face kept up a concerned look. "I wouldn't have a clue; she left just a little bit after the others, like she normally would. Does she have a boyfriend she might be with? You know, its nice weather, maybe he surprised her with a date."

A hardness that can only be found in fathers came to his voice. "Lettuce is not dating, and if she is, the man she's dating does not have my permission to date her."

Oh boy, over protective parent alert. "I see. Well, I'll call the other girls and see if they know anything. Teen girls seem to have a need to never stop socializing."

Mr. Midorikawa tried weakly to smile at the attempted joke, but failed miserably. "All right, please let me know if you find out anything. I don't want to get the authorities involved yet, but…"

"I understand sir, the moment I know, I'll call you."

He sighed as he turned to go. "Thank-you, Mr. Shirogane."

The moment he left through the door, Mint, Ichigo, and Pudding skulked out of the back room. Mint had cancelled her ballet rehearsal to keep searching, while Ichigo had merely told her parents she was asked to stay later for clean up. Pudding had only to make sure her siblings were fine before coming right back to help. Their faces looked about as bleak as Retasu's father's had. Ryou's façade dropped, his shoulders slacking immediately. This is a tough pickle. "Okay girls, we're going to have to keep up the idea that Lettuce disappeared after work. I don't know what we're going to do, but the Midorikawa's can not get the police involved with this."

Ichigo sighed. "Ryou, the aliens wouldn't, you know…" she glanced wearily at Pudding, "um, they wouldn't… really really hurt her, right?"

Mint and Pudding looked more beaten by the question, it was something all of them were trying very hard not to dwell on.

"Girls, I… they wouldn't do something without reason, and there's not much reason to… really really hurt Lettuce." The thought made his gut do painful twists.

"Ryou!" Keiichiro pounded up the stairs. "Ryou, there's alien activity!" He stopped short, looking white-faced above there heads.

Ryou spun wildly at him. "Is it an attack? Can you sense Lettuce? Where's the signal?"

A voice spoke mockingly above their heads. "Look up."

All heads snapped up to see what Keiichiro had already seen. Kish and Tart hovered lazily above them, Tart holding a paper bag in his lap as he grinned scornfully at the group. Ichigo was the first to respond. "Kisshu! Pudding, Mint!"

"Hey!" Tart hovered closer to the ceiling as Mint whipped out her pendant, "We're just messengers this time!"

"Then what are you doing here?" Ichigo fumed, already guessing.

"Ah, kitty. Do you know how tantalizing you sound when you're mad?" Kish shot down and wrapped his arms around her, his body leaning suggestively close to her own. "But you know why we're here. It has to do with an innocent little bookworm mew who happened to walk into our grasp."

Pudding frowned at Tart. "So you do have Lettuce, na no da!"

Ryou glared menacingly at Kisshu, who had to let go of his struggling Ichigo. "For all we know Lettuce got away, and you're still looking for her."

Kish gave him an equally menacing smile. "Taruto, open the bag."

Tart snickered and threw the bag on one of the café tables. Keiichiro approached it wearily, gasping when he took out the bruised grocery supplies and one of Lettuce's sandals.

Kish regarded the group with dangerous eyes. "We figured that would be enough, if it isn't, we could just send her ear or something, if that works for you. Or better yet, how 'bout this?" He held out a shining mew pendant at the whole group, savoring their look of defeat.

"All right Kish," Ryou looked at him angrily. That :beep: of a alien is going to be torn limb from limb when I get my hands on him. "Name your terms, we want Lettuce back."

"Too bad, pretty boy." Kish smiled as Ryou said a few things he shouldn't have said in front of Pudding. "We're under Pai's orders. You and your mews aren't allowed to try anything; no attacking, no snooping. You play meek in your little café, and we don't hurt the porpoise mew. I'm sure you can guess what happens if you go against that."

Ichigo couldn't take it. Without thinking, she bolted out the doors to the back. She couldn't tell if she wanted to cry from being worried about how Lettuce was, or from so badly wanting to do physical damage to the aliens it was like a siren's call. How had this happened? She was supposed to be there for Retasu, she was her best friend, so why hadn't she been able to stop the kidnapping? Ichigo pounded once on the railing, too overwhelmingly frustrated to think of any useful plan.

"Ichigo, na no da?" She glanced back and realized her friends had followed her out.

"Sorry Pudding, should we go back in?"

Mint scoffed, "Why bother, the stupid aliens followed you out too."

"Hey! Watch it bird-brain!" Tart yelled from above them. Kisshu glanced at his companion and shook his head in disappointment at him.

Ichigo looked up at the green-haired alien, trying hard to fight down her tears. "Kishy, could you come down here?"

Going completely against his better judgment and Taruto's 'don't you dare' glance, the love struck Cyniclon flew back down to his Ichigo. "Need someone to kiss your tears away?" He smirked at her immediate blush, but lost his smile as her hands wrapped around his neck and began to strangle him. "Ahhh! Kitty, stop that!"

"You- listen- here- Kish!" Ichigo jerked him hard with every word. "Lettuce is my best friend, and if you don't treat her right, there's no chance that I'll ever kiss you! In fact, you mess up one hair on her head and I'll rip out fifty of yours, got it?!"

Kish was completely oblivious to the threat and even forgot that he couldn't breath. "You mean you'll kiss me if I keep the porpoise safe and sound?"

"I mean I might," Ichigo mentally gagged, "might allow you to kiss me."

"I already kiss you." He said with a pleased grin. Mint muttered something under her breath along the line of 'perverted freak'.

"Then I'll willingly kiss you instead!" Ichigo silently begged Masaya to forgive her unfaithfulness, but it seemed the only way to protect her friend.

Kish cocked his ear closer, a wry grin on his face. "I'm sorry, what was that, Ichigo?"

Ichigo squeezed his wheezing neck for good measure. "I'll… I'll… kiss you! But only if Retasu doesn't get hurt!"

Kish tried to ignore the bruises forming on his neck. "Hmm… well, I'll see that she's treated nicely, but if she brings it on herself, there's nothing I can do."

"And you'd better make sure she's okay." Ichigo released his neck, though Kish didn't move away. "But," she looked down in embarrassment, "deal."

"I want a kiss right now."

Ichigo looked up in alarm. "What?!"

Kish shrugged nonchalantly, "I think I need a little motivation for taking care of someone who's so boring. So, deal, or no deal?" he moved his body closer to Ichigo's, gently tilting her face up closer to his, "Well?"

It's for Lettuce, It's for Lettuce! Ichigo blushed furiously as she leaned in closer towards Kisshu, his face mere centimeters from hers. Despite the fact that she was supposed to kiss him, Kish leaned in and kissed her first. For a brief moment, Ichigo felt something she hadn't felt before, and she leaned in to get more. This seemed to please Kish, whose kiss became a little fiercer. Ichigo vaguely heard Minto telling Pudding to stay behind her and for Tart not to look before she came back to her senses. Turning the darkest shade of red at this point Ichigo tried to move her mouth away from his only to have him follow her and continue to try and get in her mouth. After roughly pushing him he finally let there lips part. "Okay! There's your kiss!"

Kisshu laughed at her flustered face. "Aw, c'mon Ichigo. I didn't get nearly as much out of that as I had wanted too."

"Hey, pervert, don't forget the reason why she gave that to you." Minto allowed Pudding to come out from behind, who had such a wide grin on her face you could tell she didn't have to think much about how it had played out.

"But kitty! Just one more?"

"No!" Ichigo burst angrily. "I already have to give you one after we get Lettuce back, so don't push me!" Inside Ichigo's head was in turmoil. She had enjoyed the kiss, how could she? This was such a betrayal to Masaya! Sure she agreed to kiss him, but did she have to yearn to kiss him again like this?

Kish sighed unhappily. "Well, I suppose now I have something to look forward to." He flew back up to Taruto, who clearly had watched the whole thing and was blushing like mad. "I'll make sure the porpoise doesn't go dying on us! Till next time, kitty!" And with that they teleported off.

Minto walked up behind Ichigo, "I think you enjoyed that a little too much." She whispered mischievously.

"Shut it!" Ichigo squealed, right as Pudding came forward and asked for extensive details. When they walked back inside, they found Keiichiro busying himself in the kitchen and Ryou blushing, saying he was heading down to the lab to still see if he could find anything.

"I doubt, you know, that they are reading our computer sweeps. I'll be going now."

The three girls watched him leave in confusion. "What's wrong with Ryou, na no da?"

Ichigo caught him glancing back at her. When she looked, he blushed more and then went quickly down to the basement. Ichigo's face went bright red again. "RYOU! YOU WERE WATCHING, WEREN'T YOU?"

REVIEW!! REVIEW!! Review! K, I know, I got a little off, slightly, I didn't think it was that bad! But let me know what you thought, thank-you!