Blissful Returns
by: Lunar Wave

To Hide from Them

(December 25, 2035, Seirei Residence)

"Ramira!" Kokoro bounced on their bed... The Seirei family happened to have a guest room, but is now officially the girl's room, as Kokoro now insists to sleep with Ramira. Ramira continued her sleep but Kokoro persisted.

"If you don't wake up, you're not getting any food!" Kokoro told the sleeping girl. Ramira barely even moved from her place.

"Fine, you asked for it, Bani." Kokoro said, preparing for a shout into the girl's ear. She shouldn't have bothered with trying to wake her up. At the word "Bani," Ramira jumped out of the bed, and tackled the girl onto the ground with her hand over Kokoro's mouth. When Ramira finally registered her surroundings, she remembered that she was adopted as a Seirei, and is currently at her new home, where no one could have possibly heard Kokoro's voice. Ramira sighed and let the girl go. Ramira was still wearing the clothes she wore last night, as she didn't have any nighttime clothes. Her orchid decorated hoodie was wrinkled, her hair slightly unkempt.

"That was dangerous, Ramira…" Kokoro pouted. "You could have broken my bones like that."

"Sorry, I get jumpy." Ramira mumbled.

"Why on earth would you need to actually be jumpy?" Kokoro gritted.

"Only the people who I'm hiding from know that name, Kokoro." Ramira hissed into her sister's ear.

"It's a gang name?" Kokoro grinned.

"Don't be idiotic." Ramira looked away. "It's just how the name they know me by."

"Oh, hello Ramira!" Ramira turned to the door to find her mom by the door, with a box in her hand.

"I walked around the neighborhood and found this lovely young lady." Seimei grinned. "I asked if she had any hand me down clothes, and she gave it to me for quite a low price." Ramira moved towards her new mom and took the box. She placed the box on her bed and opened it. What she saw caught her by surprise and caused her to fall down on the floor.

"What's wrong, Ramira-chan?" Seimei asked.

"… This 'lovely young lady' you said you found…" Ramira stammered. "Does her name happen to be Akatsutsumi Momoko?" Inside the box laid a few clothing that remarkably resembled Momoko's own clothing.

"Why, yes." Seimei looked at her child in confusion. "Why, Ramira, do you know her?"

"… Well, sort of." Ramira shrugged. It was true, though. Bani never really knew much about Momoko's personality except what was told her.

"I see…" Seimei grinned. "She sort of looked a bit like you. Why, if not for your hair and eyes, I could have sworn you were twins."

"And did you tell Momoko of who these clothes are for?" Ramira asked.

"No… And I sort of forgot where she lived as well…" Seimei sighed. Then she smiled. "Well, it's time for you to try them out, Ramira." Ramira nodded and sighed.

(Akatsutsumi Residence)

"Where is it, where is it?" Momoko went through her closet, desperate to find a certain item.

"What's wrong, Momoko-sis?" Kuriko peered into the room only for a skirt to hit her face. Kuriko pouted as she threw the skirt onto the bed.

"Kuriko, did you happen to see a purple ribbon?" Momoko asked the girl.

"Oh, you mean that ribbon that was quite long for a normal hair ribbon?" Kuriko said. "It was the first time I found it so I sort of played with it a bit…" Momoko looked at Kuriko.

"Where? Where is it now, Kuriko?" Momoko asked the girl.

"I sort of stuck it inside a box of clothing that was lying on your bed." Kuriko scratched her head. Momoko stared at Kuriko, wondering whether to shout or just run out of the door and start searching for the woman who she gave away her hand me down clothing to. She went with both, complaining about her bad luck as she rushed out of the room. She needs to find that woman, fast.

(Gotokuji Residence)

Miyako hummed as she wiped the floor of her house when her compact started ringing. Miyako pulled it out, flipped it open like a flip cellphone and found Momoko on the screen, panicking.

"Miyako, Kaoru, this is an emergency!" Momoko frantically said. Miyako guessed that Kaoru was also at the other line

"What happened?" Miyako asked the girl.

"Bani…" Momoko panted. "Bani's ribbon is missing!"

"What!" Kaoru's voice echoed from the compact. "I'll help ya! Mou, Momoko, how did you lose it?" Momoko went into a rant about her selling some of her clothes to a woman she didn't know and Kuriko happened to accidentally add the ribbon inside the box.

"Lesson, Momoko, if you're going to sell clothes, double check the clothing before you lift it and give it to the recipient. And at least know the name of the buyer." Kaoru sighed.

"Tokyo City's big, so it'll be almost impossible to find that ribbon now…" Miyako sighed. "And for all we know, that ribbon had already been cut into tiny pieces."

"That ribbon happened to be part of a PPGZ suit. It's virtually indestructible." Momoko said. "I once tried to cut it into three, but it broke the scissors instead." Momoko laughed weakly.

"I see…" Miyako sighed. "No good now. We'll never find that ribbon unless we find it on a younger girl that is wearing an unbelievably long ribbon."

"Um, Miyako, those clothes I sold away still fit me." Momoko said. "She should be around our age."

"… Oh." Miyako nodded. "Then we'll be searching for a girl that is wearing your clothes then."

"Well, we'll do a search, but don't get your hopes up." Kaoru shrugged. "The population of Tokyo is a bit too many for my liking if we want to search for a girl that is wearing clothes similar to yours. Let's just hope that they don't send the ribbon into the garbage can."

(Seirei Residence)

Seimei and Kokoro's eyes were wide. As though they just saw a very famous person at their house and can't believe it. Ramira shifted uncomfortably as the two were staring at her. Her hoodie was inside the hamper, waiting to be washed and ironed. What was underneath the hoodie is what surprised the two. Underneath the hoodie were a phlox jacket, and a purple leotard. Now the accessories that adorned her body the night before made sense. The skirt was attached to the belt that was hidden by the hoodie. The odd bracelets and anklets on her wrist and feet respectively were the rings that were part of the body. The black fingerless gloves lying on her bedside table was also part of her outfit. Her shoes were her booster shoes, the same ones used by the Powerpuff Girls Z. In fact her clothes clearly pointed to her being a Powerpuff Girl Z, no matter what they say.

"… You're a Powerpuff Girl Z?" Seimei's eyes blinked uncontrollably, as Kokoro's smile widened with every second. Ramira sighed and released her suit. The gloves on her bedside disappeared. What was left of the clothes she had, she speedily covered with the clothes she had received from Momoko. The clothes fit perfectly with her body.

"To answer your question, yes." Ramira sighed. "That was my Powerpuff Girl form, Lunar Bliss."

"Oh wow! SO cool! We got a Powerpuff Girl Z right in our own house!" Kokoro jumped up and down.

"But we never saw you at the news reports, Ramira…" Seimei racked her brain, searching for anything she can recall about Ramira.

"… I'm not exactly what you'd call an active hero." Ramira laughed weakly.

"Well, that's about to change, Ramira!" Kokoro grinned. "You HAVE to help people!"

"I helped you last night." Ramira argued. Kokoro grinned.

"You need to help more people, Ramira!" Kokoro insisted.

"It's no good, Kokoro." Ramira shook her head. She pulled out the circular compact from its slot. "The compact is the only way for a Powerpuff Girl Z to know of any danger, and this compact isn't connected to the lab." Ramira snapped the compact back.

"I see." Kokoro sighed.

"I doubt I'll be using my powers for good anytime soon." Ramira said. "And I'd prefer to leave the monster counterattack to the Powerpuff Girls Z."

"I see." Kokoro sighed. "But will you help the Powerpuff Girls if they need your help?"

"I don't think I have much of a choice at that, Kokoro." Ramira said while rummaging through the clothes box, folding the clothes neatly and placing it in her closet. She picked up the black ribbon on the bedside table and tied it to form her customary shoulder length ponytail. It was then that her stomach growled in protest. "You know, all this talk about clothes, we forgot to eat."

"Yeah." Kokoro laughed in reply, her stomach growling as well. The family moved towards the kitchen. Soon the three were at the table, finished eating.

"Can we keep my identity as a Powerpuff Girl Z a secret?" Ramira asked the other two females within her new family.

"Sure." Seimei nodded.

"But who are you hiding from, Ramira?" Kokoro asked her.

"Hmm, well… Secret." Ramira smiled. She stood up. "I'm going out for a while."

"Sure, Ramira-chan." Seimei smiled. Seimei gave her a copy of the address to make sure that if she gets lost, she'll be able to return. Ramira left the building. She looked backed at her home, memorized its location, and started towards the park where she usually goes to see the bunnies, her original namesake.

(Park Pet Shop)

After a while of looking at the rabbit's antics, Ramira heard voices.

"It's no use." A voice said. Ramira thought it was familiar and familiar isn't her preferred voice at the moment.

"This is your fault, Momoko." The voice continued. Ramira recognized it was Kaoru who was speaking. She looked towards the source of the voice and she definitely saw the purple haired girl speaking through her compact. Ramira started running back to her home. Kaoru managed to spot the girl.

"Hey… That girl's wearing clothes that look like what Momoko usually wears…" Kaoru said slowly as Ramira gets away. "What the…" Kaoru bolted with realization. "The ribbon!" Kaoru runs after the girl, who made headway into an alley. Kaoru rushed after her but lost sight of her immediately. Kaoru searched around.

"Ch... Powered Buttercup!" Kaoru yelled, accompanying her yell with a slash through her compact. Soon, Buttercup was flying over the city, searching for her mystery person.

"Eh, Buttercup?" Momoko asked through the compact. "You found her but you still lost her?"

"Well as they say, found and lost." Miyako sighed.

"You mean lost and found." Buttercup corrected. "But your version is correct, I guess." Buttercup scanned the city for a bit. "Oh well… I can't find her." Buttercup jumped into an alley and reverted again.

"That was too good to be true." Momoko sighed. She was currently sitting in a cake shop, eating a piece of cake.

"Momoko…" Kaoru said through the compact. "WHAT IS WITH THE DIFFERENCE IN WORK?" Momoko sighed.

"It'll be too hard to find her anymore, Kaoru." Momoko reasoned. "She may have…"

"She may have what? Momoko!" Kaoru called through the compact, but Momoko had already snapped the compact back into her belt, finished off her cake, and ran towards the girl she found wearing her clothes. Ramira had passed by the cake shop in an effort to get away from Kaoru.

"Today just isn't my day." Ramira groaned as she found Momoko trailing after her.

"Hey, wait!" Momoko called, but Ramira ran into another alley and Momoko lost sight of her. Momoko sighed and pulled out her compact.

"Lost her…" Momoko panted.

"You saw her?" Kaoru gasped through the compact.

"It would seem that she loves alleys." Momoko replied, causing Kaoru to sigh. Meanwhile, Miyako was skipping across the street, searching for the girl as well. Miyako continued her skip when she saw a girl wearing clothes that looked like Momoko's clothes. Ramira gasped at her luck and ran past Miyako. Miyako waved to her with a grin. It was then that she remembered that she was also searching for a girl wearing Momoko's clothes. Miyako sweat dropped as the girl had already turned the corner.

(Seirei Residence)

"Wow, you seem tired, sis." Kokoro remarked. Ramira sighed as she closed the door behind her.

"… Never mind that." Ramira said. She walked to her room and collapsed in her bed. She lay on her bed for a while when a voice emanated from the room.

"Why are you running, my dear Bani?" A voice crept into her ears and Ramira tried to cover her ears with the pillows.

"Leave. Me. ALONE!" Ramira yelled to the voice.

"You can't escape me, my dear Bani."

"Get lost!" Ramira yelled.

"Suit yourself. You should be grateful for the chance I'm giving you." The voice pouted.

"I did not want this!" Ramira said. "I never wanted to be revived!" The voice cackled.

Ramira was suddenly shaken awake by her sister.

"Bani, you really shouldn't sleep in the morning, or you'll end up not being able to sleep at night." Kokoro remarked. "And it's lunchtime." Ramira nodded, trying to shake away the feeling of that very realistic dream. Even Ramira knew that that was not a normal dream. It was not even a normal nightmare.

"Leave me alone… you evil fiend." Ramira mumbled as she walked with her sister out of the room.

Chapter End

Momoko: Surprising as always. You just removed the Blissful part of Bani's Return.

Kaoru: Hooray for those who can't guess who the voice was. It can be quite painstakingly obvious who it is.

Lunar: Who cares? The next chapter will probably be To Imply the Truth.

Miyako: Next chapter will be when she goes to school, correct?

Lunar: How did you ever guess? It will be 2036 by that time.

Momoko: Kay, everyone? Review if you want to!