Betraying My People Chapter 13:

Deep Blue's Host

Finally Kisshu and Ichigo broke apart for air. "That was… amazing," Ichigo said.

Kisshu smirked and said, "So you do love me."

"I thought you already knew that," Ichigo said.

Kisshu was about to reply when Pai ran in and said, "I found Deep Blue's human host, we have to go to Café Mew Mew now!"

"Okay," Kisshu said. He took Ichigo's hand and teleported, followed closely by Pai. They landed in the basement, and Keiichiro, who was at the computer, looked up, startled.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I found Deep Blue's human host, call the others," Pai said. "Taruto's with Pudding."

"Got it," Keiichiro said, and picked up a cell phone. He quickly called all four of the other Mews, and told them to come quickly. After he finished, he snapped the phone shut and said, "Let's go upstairs, we can wait for them."

Kisshu, Ichigo and Pai followed Keiichiro upstairs. Mint was the first there, and the others weren't far behind. "We should go back to the basement," Pai said.

They all went back to the basement, and Zakuro asked, "So what's the urgency?"

"I found Deep Blue's human host," Pai said. "His name is Aoyama Masaya."

"Hey, isn't that the guy you had a crush on, Ichigo?" Kisshu asked.

"Yes," Ichigo said. "But I love you now, so you don't have to worry about me interfering with this."

"That's good," Pai said. "We need to kill him as soon as possible. Any ideas?"

"I know where he lives, but if we go there, his parents might get involved," Ichigo said.

"I guess that's a bad idea," Pai said. "We need to find some way to get him alone."

"Yeah, but HOW?" Kisshu said. "There are so many people here, it's going to be hard."

"What if we kidnapped him and killed him afterwards?" Mint suggested.

"That might work," Keiichiro said. "We need to find him first, though."

"Good point," Pai said. "Ichigo, do you have any idea where he might be? School's out for the day, right?"

"Either at home or at the school for kendo practice," Ichigo said. "If he's at the school, though, we're going to have problems. Every single girl at the school has a major crush on him, and they all go to the gym to watch him practice."

"Should we check out the school, and then decide what to do?" Taruto suggested. "If he's still there, we could ambush him on his way out."

"Good idea, Taruto," Pai said.

"How do we get there?" Taruto asked. "I don't know where it is."

"I do," Kisshu said.

"How do YOU know?" Ichigo asked. "Were you stalking me or something?"

"Yes," Kisshu said. "I can lead you guys there."

Pai sighed and said, "Fine. But later you are going to explain why you were stalking her."

Kisshu smirked. "Let's go," he said. "Ichigo, come with us, you know what he looks like better than I do."

"Okay," Ichigo said, then transformed. Kisshu smirked again and picked her up bridal style. She squeaked.

"What? You can't fly, so I have to carry you," Kisshu said.

"Fine…" Ichigo said. "I wish I could fly."

"I thought cats didn't like heights," Mint said.

Ichigo sighed. "Good point. Should we get going?"

"Yes," Pai said. "Kisshu, lead the way."

Kisshu nodded and flew up, then flew in the direction of Ichigo's school. Pai and Taruto followed him.

They finally reached Ichigo's school, and landed on the roof of the gym. There was a bunch of noise in the gym, mainly the sound of fangirl screams. "Yep, sounds like kendo practice," Ichigo said. "Every girl in the school turns out for that."

"Creepy," Kisshu said. "I guess we wait."

Half an hour later: "I'm BORED," Taruto moaned. "Can't we just go in and get the guy?"

"No, there are too many people there for it to work," Pai said. "Be patient."

Ten minutes later: "AAAARRGH!" Taruto yelled. "I can't take it anymore!"

Before the others could respond, the noise in the gym died away. "Great, Taruto, I think you blew our cover," Pai said.

He was proven correct as a large number of people ran out of the gym and looked around. Suddenly one girl looked up, and said, "There's people on the roof!"

"We're done for," Kisshu moaned. "Thanks, Taruto."

Taruto looked guilty.

"Ichigo, do you see Aoyama?" Pai asked.

Ichigo looked closely at the crowd, and said, "No. Maybe he's still inside."

They heard footsteps behind them, and spun. A few of the students had come up from the staircase to the roof. They looked a bit scared, but one girl asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for someone," Taruto said.

The girls there started to get starry-eyed. This faded when Kisshu and Pai both whacked Taruto over the head. They were surprised when all the girls shouted, "HEY!"

"Yes?" Pai asked.

"You shouldn't beat up little kids," one of them said.

"I'm NOT a little kid!" Taruto said indignantly.

"Aww, he's so cute," another girl said. "Who were you looking for?"

"Aoyama Masaya," Taruto said.

"He's been missing for about a week," the girl said. "Everyone's really upset."

"You don't seem upset," Taruto said.

"I think he's a good-for-nothing pretty boy with no brains, but my view isn't popular," the girl said.

Kisshu burst out laughing. The girl looked at him curiously. "You feel the same way?" she asked.

Still laughing, Kisshu said, "Yep. My girlfriend used to be obsessed with him, and it took a while for her to warm up to me. I hate the guy."

The girl looked happy- until Pai whacked Kisshu again. "Why do you keep whacking your friend?" she asked.

"Because he's being stupid," Pai said emotionlessly.

"If you keep whacking him over the head, he'll get brain damage," the girl said.

"His girlfriend has the ability to heal," Pai said.

Ichigo whacked Pai in the head, and said, "I don't think you want to give Kisshu brain damage. I'm not going to have any energy left if I have to keep healing Kisshu. And the energy I do have will be spent making your life miserable for hurting my boyfriend."

Pai sighed, rubbing his head. "Fine…. I'll stop," he said.

"Good," Ichigo, Kisshu, and the girl said in unison.

"Shouldn't we get back?" Taruto asked.

"Probably," Pai said.

"Where are you going?" the girl asked. Suddenly her eyes widened, and she said, "Café Mew Mew?"

"Um… how did you know that?" Taruto asked.

"I don't know, the answer to my question just popped into my head," the girl said. "That was weird."

"Um… you haven't noticed any strange markings on your body recently, have you?" Ichigo asked.

The girl looked thoughtful. "I found a weird symbol on the inside of my wrist a while back," she said. "Does it mean something?"

"It means you'd better come with us," Pai said. "What's your name?"

"Kasumi," the girl said. "Tanika Kasumi. Why do I need to come with you?"

"Long story," Ichigo said. "And we have a friend who'd be better at explaining this. Can you come with us?"

"Hai," Kasumi said.

"Good," Kisshu said. "We're teleporting, so grab one of us, okay?"

Kasumi nodded and grabbed Taruto's shoulder as Kisshu took Ichigo's hand. Then they teleported to Café Mew Mew. Keiichiro looked up, startled, and said, "Who's this?"

"This is Tanika Kasumi," Ichigo said. "She told us she has a marking on her wrist. I think she might be a Mew."

Keiichiro looked shocked. "I thought there were only going to be five," he said.

"Is it possible one more was made after Ichigo quit?" Pai asked.

"Maybe…" Keiichiro said. "Kasumi, will you show me the marking?"

Kasumi rolled up her sleeve, and showed him the marking. It was shaped like a heart, but it was pure black, not a color like the others. "That doesn't look like the other Mew markings," Keiichiro said.

"What do you think it is?" Ichigo asked.

"I'm not sure," Keiichiro admitted. "Kasumi, is it okay if I do a blood test on you?"

"I guess, but why?" Kasumi asked.

"To see what caused this marking," Keiichiro explained.

"Okay," Kasumi said. She followed Keiichiro into the basement, as did Ichigo and the Cyniclons. Keiichiro had her sit in a chair, then took a needle, and took some of her blood.

"All set, let me get you a bandage," Keiichiro said. He put a bandage on her arm, and turned to Pai. "Did you succeed?" he asked.

"No," Pai said. "Kasumi told us Aoyama's gone missing."

"Um… sorry for interrupting, but what's going on?" Kasumi asked.

"I'm sorry, we should have explained it first," Keiichiro said. "Pai and the others brought you here because they thought you might be a Mew Mew."

"You said something about that earlier," Kasumi said. "What's a Mew Mew?"

"I'm a Mew Mew," Ichigo said. "There are four other girls who are Mew Mews as well. I'm half human and half Iriomote Wildcat. All of us are infused with the DNA of a Red Data animal. We were originally created to fight off these guys"- she pointed to the Cyniclons- "but we formed a truce, and we're working together to save their planet. We're also working to stop their evil leader from taking over the Earth."

Kasumi looked a bit overwhelmed. "Am I a Mew Mew?" she asked.

"We're not sure, which is why Keiichiro is going to run a test on the blood he took from you, to see what, if anything, your DNA is mixed with," Pai said. "I think that due to that marking, you must be infused with something, since it's not a birthmark."

"Is there something I have to do once we figure out what I'm infused with?" Kasumi asked.

"We're going to be looking for a substance called Mew Aqua, which, if we can get enough of it, has the ability to bring my home planet back to life," Pai said.

"Okay, is it hard to find?" Kasumi asked.

"Very, but we're almost finished with a sensor that will allow us to find it," Pai said. "When the sensor is finished, we'll start searching."

"Okay," Kasumi said.

"Pai, you said Aoyama had disappeared," Keiichiro said. "Any theories on why?"

"It's possible Deep Blue has him," Pai said. "If so, we're in for a tough fight. That's the only explanation I can think of for why he'd disappear without a trace."

"That's not good," Keiichiro said. "Is there a way to pinpoint where he is?"

"I can try," Pai said. "I'm going back to the ship. The rest of you are free to do what you want until I figure out what's going to happen." He teleported out.

"I'm going to look at the blood sample," Keiichiro said. "Why don't you go upstairs, it might take a while."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Kasumi, would you like to stay, or go home?"

"I'll stay," Kasumi said. "I'm curious to find out what happens."

Ichigo smiled and led her and Kisshu upstairs. They sat down at a table, and Kasumi asked, "So, what's your name? I don't think you told me."

"I'm Ichigo," Ichigo said. "And that's Kisshu."

"It's nice to meet both of you," Kasumi said. "Ichigo, do you have a human form?"

"Hai," Ichigo said. "But if I show you, you can't tell anyone, okay? It's really important that we keep our identities secret. Otherwise we'll all get dissected."

Kasumi shuddered. "I understand," she said. "I don't want to get dissected. I won't tell anyone."

Ichigo nodded and detransformed. Kasumi's jaw dropped. "Momomiya Ichigo?" she whispered in obvious shock.

"Hai," Ichigo said.

"Everyone thinks you're dead," Kasumi said softly. "It was on the news when your neighbor called the police after finding your parents dead, and you missing. The police never found the killer, and it was assumed that you had been kidnapped for some reason. After a while, they gave up the search, and you were put on the 'presumed dead' list of missing people. What happened? Your friends were devastated, especially Moe and Miwa. Why didn't you let anyone know you were alive?"

"I couldn't," Ichigo said. "I would have not only revealed the Mews, but I would lose the chance to avenge my parents."

"So that means you know who killed them?" Kasumi asked.

"Yeah, the guy who created the Mews got angry after I quit, and killed my parents, and tried to brainwash me. His brainwashing machine didn't work, so I remembered everything," Ichigo said.

"That's horrible!" Kasumi said. "So what happened to him?"

"I killed him," Ichigo said. "He deserved it."

"Wow," Kasumi said.

"Yeah," Ichigo said. "Please don't tell anyone I'm alive, okay? I don't want to have to explain why I disappeared."

"Okay, I won't," Kasumi said.

The three of them sat around in silence until Keiichiro came upstairs and said, "I got the results."

"And?" Ichigo asked.

"Well…"

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