Betraying My People Chapter 3:
Pai and Taruto
"We should get the tracking device on your transformation device disabled," Kisshu told Ichigo.
"Okay," Ichigo said. "I'm not good with technology, though."
"That's fine, I can figure it out," Kisshu said. "You're pretty calm about this."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo said.
"I mean your parents just died, and you're not crying or anything," Kisshu said.
"I don't think it's sunk in yet," Ichigo said. "That part of this whole thing seems unreal to me. Or maybe I'm just too tired to think about it."
"You're tired?" Kisshu asked.
"Yeah, it's pretty late on Earth," Ichigo said. "And having cat genes doesn't help."
"Why's that?" Kisshu asked.
"Cats need about nineteen hours of sleep a day," Ichigo explained. "It's a good thing I'm only half cat, or I'd be sleeping all the time."
"Wow…" Kisshu said. "I only need about seven hours to go back to full strength. I guess humans are different, though."
"A regular human my age is only supposed to need nine hours," Ichigo said. "But some of us like to sleep more than that."
"That sounds like being lazy," Kisshu said. "Let's go find a way to disable the tracking device." He led Ichigo to another room, and took a tool box off a shelf. "Where's your transformation device?" he asked.
Ichigo dug around in her pocket, and produced the pendant. She handed it to Kisshu, and he started to examine it. Suddenly it started beeping, and Kisshu dropped it. "Why is it doing that?" he asked.
"Someone might be trying to contact me," Ichigo said. "Just ignore it. Ryou and the others can go to hell for all I care."
Suddenly Ryou's voice came through the tiny speaker. "Where are you?" he asked.
Ichigo picked up the pendant and said, "That's none of your business. Go to hell, Ryou." She tapped the pendant, cutting him off. Then she handed the pendant back to Kisshu. "That should take care of it for a while, but you might want to disable the communication device in there too, or we'll be getting a lot of those calls," Ichigo said.
"Okay," Kisshu said. He took a tiny screwdriver and opened up the pendant. Then he got to work.
An hour later, he was done, and Ichigo was half-asleep. Noticing this, Kisshu said, "Do you want me to show you where you'll be sleeping?"
"Yes please," Ichigo said tiredly.
Kisshu handed back the pendant, and said, "Follow me."
Ichigo followed him to a room with a single bed, a desk, a small nightstand, and a closet. "The bathroom's just down the hall, second door on the left," Kisshu said. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"
"Yes please…" Ichigo said.
"Good night," Kisshu said.
"Good night," Ichigo replied. She closed the door as Kisshu left. She got out her pajamas, and put them on, then basically fell into bed. She was asleep immediately.
The next morning, she was awakened by banging on the door, and Kisshu shouting, "Ichigo, we've got company!"
Ichigo jumped out of bed, and yelled back, "I'll be right there!" She quickly got her clothes on, and brushed out her hair. Deciding she didn't have time to put it up, she got her shoes, grabbed her pendant, and ran out the door.
Kisshu was waiting for her, and he said, "Come with me." Ichigo followed him to the main room, and saw two more Cyniclons. One was older than her, with purple hair, and he looked serious. The other was still a child, and he had brown hair and a bored expression. Kisshu said, "These are my brothers. Pai-" he pointed to the older Cyniclon- "And Taruto." He pointed to the younger Cyniclon.
Ichigo bowed and said, "Nice to meet you."
Both nodded, then Pai turned to Kisshu. "Deep Blue-sama has informed us that we are to help you eliminate the humans. He also said that the leader of the Mew Mews joined us. Why is that?"
"Her leader killed her parents, so she came to me and said she wanted to join us," Kisshu said. "I thought- and it seems Deep Blue-sama agrees- that without their leader, it will be much easier to take the others down. With them out of the picture, we should have no trouble taking over this planet."
"Very well," Pai said. He turned to Ichigo and said, "Mew Ichigo, do you know how to fight?"
"I have my Mew powers, if that's what you mean," Ichigo said. "And I have cat reflexes."
"What do you look like when you transform?" Taruto asked.
"I can show you," Ichigo said. She took out her pendant, and transformed. Taruto started giggling. "What?" Ichigo asked.
"That outfit is silly," Taruto said.
"Personally, I hate it, but it was part of the becoming a Mew, so it's not like I've got a choice," Ichigo said.
"I think it's cute," Kisshu said with a smirk.
"What is your weapon?" Pai asked.
Ichigo summoned her Strawberry Bell, and showed it to Pai. "Who came up with these things?" Pai asked.
"Ryou, the guy who killed my parents," Ichigo said. "I'm guessing he's some kind of pervert, considering the outfits he created for the Mew Mews."
"I can probably change the outfit and weapon," Pai said.
"Why not just turn her into a Cyniclon?" Taruto suggested. "Then we wouldn't have to worry about the transformation. She wouldn't have to transform."
"If we did that, we'd be spending months teaching her how to use those new powers," Pai said. "I'd rather change the pendant."
"Either way is fine, but I'd like to do something about this totally embarrassing outfit," Ichigo said.
"Okay, give me your transformation device," Pai said. Ichigo detransformed and handed her pendant over.
Pai took it and teleported out. "Do you know how to cook?" Kisshu asked Ichigo.
"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Let me guess, none of you know how, right?"
"Not really," Kisshu said awkwardly.
"And Pai is a disaster in the kitchen," Taruto said. "Kisshu, remember the time he poisoned us?"
"Ugh, I don't even want to think about that," Kisshu said. "That was awful."
"What happened?" Ichigo asked.
"Pai made this really weird thing for dinner, and we tried it," Taruto said. "Mom and Dad didn't try it, but the rest of us spent two days doing nothing but throwing up. Ever since then, Pai isn't allowed near the kitchen."
"That makes me feel sick just thinking about it," Kisshu said.
"Sorry," Taruto said.
"So I take it I'll be cooking for you guys?" Ichigo asked.
"If you want to eat, than it's a good idea," Kisshu said. "And keep Pai far away from anything you're making."
"Got it," Ichigo said. "What do you guys want for breakfast?"
"I'm not sure what we have right now," Kisshu admitted.
"Then let's go look," Ichigo said. "Do you have a kitchen?"
"Yeah," Kisshu said. He led the way to a large kitchen, and said, "Anything in here, you can use."
Ichigo nodded and started looking around. She found a lot of ramen, and a few boxes of cereal. There was a bowl of fruit, and a bunch of other random things. Then she looked in a cabinet, and found a box of pancake mix. "Do you guys want pancakes?" she asked Kisshu and Taruto.
"What are they?" Kisshu asked.
"You have pancake mix and you don't know what it is?" Ichigo asked.
"Something like that," Kisshu said. "So what are pancakes?"
"Flat cakes that you cook on a griddle or a pan," Ichigo said. "They're better with fruit or chocolate chips, but they're good plain too."
"Okay," Kisshu said. "Do you put anything on them?"
"I like maple syrup, but I don't think you have any," Ichigo said. "There might be some at my house, though."
"Where would it be?" Kisshu asked.
"The refrigerator," Ichigo said. "It's probably on the doorshelf, if the police haven't taken stuff away yet."
"Okay," Kisshu said. "I'll go look for it."
"Be careful," Ichigo said.
"I will," Kisshu said. Then he teleported out, and Ichigo started making the pancake batter.
Halfway through the first batch, Ichigo noticed Taruto was staring at her. "What?" she asked.
"That smells good," Taruto said. "Is it going to be ready soon?"
"Yes," Ichigo said. "Do you want to tell Pai it's breakfast time?"
"NO! He'll blast me out the door for disturbing him!" Taruto said.
"Okaaay…." Ichigo said. "I guess we could save some pancakes for when he's not busy."
"That's a good idea," Kisshu said, teleporting back in. "Is one of these maple syrup?" He held up a bottle of chocolate sauce and a bottle of maple syrup.
"The one in your right hand is maple syrup, the other one is chocolate sauce," Ichigo said. "Both are good."
"Okay, good," Kisshu said. "Are the pancakes done?"
"The first batch is," Ichigo said. "I was just about to put more on."
"YAY!" Taruto said. "Can I have the first batch?"
"You and Kisshu can share, there's four pancakes," Ichigo said. "And remember, we're saving some for Pai."
"Yeah, yeah," Taruto said. He and Kisshu came and got two pancakes each, then went back to the table as Ichigo put the next batch on.
Soon there was a large plate of pancakes, and Ichigo had finished up all the batter. She sat down to eat, putting aside five pancakes for Pai. Kisshu and Taruto had already finished their share of the pancakes- except for one, which they were fighting over.
"Honestly, just cut the pancake in half," Ichigo said. "You don't have to fight over it."
Taruto suddenly grabbed the pancake and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. "YOU'RE DEAD!" Kisshu shouted.
Taruto finished chewing, and smirked. "Catch me if you can!" he said, and teleported out. Kisshu teleported out after him.
Ichigo sighed; now she had to do the dishes. She got up and started washing the dirty dishes.
Pai came in a while later, and said, "I finished your pendant. Try it out."
Ichigo obeyed, and she transformed. Now she was wearing a pair of loose dark pink pants tucked into short black boots, and a black skintight shirt. She had hot pink fingerless gloves that went halfway to her elbows, and a black ribbon tied around her neck, which supported her pendant. Her hair hadn't changed from her human color and was pulled back into a single ponytail, and there were two curls hanging on either side of her face. Her cat ears were the same, but her tail now had a black ribbon with a pink heart on it. "This is great, thanks Pai!" Ichigo said.
"You should have a new weapon, too," Pai said.
"Okay," Ichigo said. She concentrated, and words came to mind. "Strawberry Blade!" she cried, and felt something in her hand. She opened her eyes, and saw that she was holding a long sword with a black hilt and pink strawberries along the blade. "Cool!" she said, and made it disappear.
"Good," Pai said. "Do you know where Kisshu and Taruto are?"
"No," Ichigo said. "They both teleported out a while ago, fighting over the last pancake. I managed to save you some pancakes, they're over there." She pointed to the counter.
"Thank you," Pai said. "Would you see if you can find Kisshu and Taruto? I think we should start planning."
"Sure," Ichigo said. She walked out of the kitchen, and started looking around. Then she heard the sound of shouting, and ran towards it.
She found Kisshu and Taruto in a huge empty room, shouting at each other while rolling around on the floor beating each other up. "Um… guys?" she said.
They ignored her, and kept beating each other up. Ichigo got fed up and shouted, "OI!"
"WHAT!?" Kisshu and Taruto yelled.
"Pai wanted me to find you two so we can start planning," Ichigo said. "So can you stop fighting?"
Kisshu sighed. "Truce?" he asked Taruto.
"Fine…" Taruto said. "Let's go find Pai."
Next chapter will be up soon. Till then, keep reviewing!