Betraying My People Chapter 23:
Kittens
The next morning, Ichigo and Kisshu woke up at about the same time, and noticed the same thing immediately: they both had turned into kittens overnight.
"This is just great," Kisshu said sarcastically.
Ichigo sighed. "Should we try kissing again?" she asked.
Kisshu went to her and kissed her. Nothing happened. "Why didn't anything happen? Does this mean we're stuck in cat form for good now?" Kisshu asked, starting to panic.
"Calm down, I'm sure there's some way to get back to normal," Ichigo said.
Then they heard Aunt Hamaya say, "Aren't you two up yet?" She came into the room- and stopped dead when she saw them. "You both turned into kittens?" she asked. They nodded. "I'll go get Pai," Aunt Hamaya said. She left, and Kisshu and Ichigo looked at each other. "Let's hope Pai can get us back to normal," Ichigo said. Kisshu nodded.
Pai came in a few minutes later, and looked down at them. "Were you two kissing again?" he asked.
Kisshu shook his head. Pai sighed. "I guess I'd better take you to the lab," he said. He picked them both up, and teleported. For some reason, Kisshu's cat instincts didn't like teleporting, and he dug his claws into Pai's hand right as they landed. "OW! Which one of you did that!?" Pai yelled. Ichigo pointed an accusatory paw at Kisshu. "I should have guessed," Pai said darkly. He glared at Kisshu.
Kisshu got nervous, and decided to try acting cute. He mewed at Pai, who, unfortunately, didn't fall for the 'cute kitty' act. "If you're not careful, I'll only turn Ichigo back," Pai threatened. He put the kittens down, and looked at his hand, which had five small claw marks on it. He sighed and said, "Thanks to that, Kisshu will be the one I do the tests on."
"Nyaaaaaa!" Kisshu wailed. Pai was unmoved, and said, "You want to go back to normal, right?" Kisshu and Ichigo nodded. "Then don't complain," Pai said.
Kisshu sighed. Pai picked him up and put him on a table, then started looking for something in a cabinet. He finally pulled out what looked like a terrarium, and went back to the table. He put it down and set Kisshu inside of it, then put a screen with a strange device on it over the top. "This is a sensor, it should be able to show me what happened, and then I can hopefully counteract it," Pai said. "And I need you to stay calm, Kisshu, it's not going to work if you're jumping around."
Kisshu glared at him but sat still. Pai pressed a button, and a light started shining down on Kisshu. Pai hooked a cord to the sensor, and attached it to his computer. The light started sweeping back and forth over Kisshu's body, and data started appearing on the screen of the computer. Pai went over and looked at it, and his eyes widened. When the data stream stopped, he sighed. "Nya?" Kisshu asked.
Pai looked at him, and said grimly, "I can't figure out how to turn you both back. Something in your cat genes has caused both of you to turn into cats, and I can't figure out how to fix this."
Ichigo had jumped onto the table, and she and Kisshu looked at Pai in horror. Pai sighed and took Kisshu out of the terrarium thing, setting him down next to Ichigo. She mewed sadly. Kisshu nuzzled her, then hopped off the table, and ran to Pai's computer. Pai watched as Kisshu used his paws to type in, 'What about Keiichiro?'
"That's not a bad idea, we could go back to Earth and see Keiichiro," Pai said. "Let's go inform the Council and our family." He picked up Kisshu and Ichigo, then teleported to their house. Uncle Aran heard the teleportation, and came in. "How'd it go?" he asked.
"I can't figure out how to turn them back, but Kisshu suggested going back to Earth and consulting with the guy who helped create the Mews," Pai said. "Should I inform the Council?"
"Good idea," Uncle Aran said. "Take them with you, I'll tell Hamaya."
Pai nodded and teleported to a door, then knocked. "Come in," Siria-sama's voice said. Pai entered the room, closing the door behind him. Siria-sama was the only one there, and she asked, "Did something happen?"
"Hai," Pai said. "Kisshu and Ichigo have both turned into kittens." He set the two kittens down.
Siria-sama came over and knelt. Pai immediately did the same as the kittens looked up at Siria-sama. "Myu?" Ichigo asked.
"Can you understand them, Pai?" Siria-sama asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Pai said. "Kisshu seems to have retained some of his Cyniclon knowledge; he can type what he needs to say. He suggested taking himself and Ichigo to the assistant of the leader of the Mew Project, who might know how to fix this. I admit that I have no clue how this happened or how to fix it. I came to ask your permission to take these two back to Earth in order to see if this problem can be fixed."
"That's a good idea," Siria-sama said. "You have my permission. Good luck."
"Thank you," Pai said, bowing. He picked up Kisshu and Ichigo as Siria-sama stood up. He bowed once more, and teleported home.
Aunt Hamaya, Taruto and Uncle Aran were waiting anxiously, and Aunt Hamaya asked, "How'd it go?"
"We're going back to Earth," Pai said. "I'm not sure when we'll be back, but we will come back."
"Can I come?" Taruto asked.
"I suppose," Pai said. "I do need a copilot."
Taruto smiled and said, "Are we leaving now?"
"Hai," Pai said. "Teleport to the ship, I'll meet you in the control room." Taruto nodded and teleported off. Pai teleported to Kisshu's room, and said, "You two stay here." He waited till they nodded, and teleported off.
Kisshu sighed. "I hope Keiichiro can turn us back," he said.
"Me too," Ichigo said. "I'm sleepy, can we go to sleep?"
"Sure, I am too," Kisshu said. "I guess that comes with being a kitten."
Ichigo nodded, and they curled up together. Soon they were both asleep.
About eight hours later: Taruto came into the room and saw Kisshu and Ichigo curled up into little balls. "We're here," he told them, gently shaking Ichigo and Kisshu. Unfortunately, kittens don't like being shaken like that, and Kisshu woke up fast, then sank his claws into the hand shaking him. Ichigo put her paws over her sensitive ears as Taruto yelled, "OW! That HURT, Kisshu!"
Pai teleported in and said, "Kisshu, did you scratch Taruto?"
Kisshu gave him an innocent look. Pai didn't buy it and said, "You've really got to stop that. I know it's not easy being a kitten, but taking it out on me and Taruto isn't okay. And we just arrived, so we're going to go see Keiichiro. NO scratching while I teleport, got it?"
Kisshu hissed, and Ichigo nudged him. He settled down and let Pai pick him up, while Taruto picked up Ichigo, who seemed to be much more docile. Then the two Cyniclons teleported to the basement of Café Mew Mew.
To their surprise, the Mews and Keiichiro were there, looking at the computers intently. They spun as they heard the teleportation, but relaxed when they saw it was just Pai and Taruto. "That was fast," Keiichiro commented. "How's it going on your planet?"
"The Mew Aqua worked," Pai said. "But that's not why we're here."
Before he could say more, Pudding said, "Where'd you get the kittens, na no da? They're so cute!"
"That's actually why we're here," Pai said. "The kittens are actually Kisshu and Ichigo. I'm holding Kisshu, and Taruto's holding Ichigo."
"How did that happen?" Keiichiro asked.
"We're not sure," Pai admitted. "After we healed the planet, we found that Kisshu had turned into a kitten for some reason. Ichigo discovered that she could turn him back by kissing him, and I discovered that Kisshu had somehow gotten cat genes. Yesterday morning, my mother went to wake them up, and found that they were both kittens. I don't know how to turn them back, and I was hoping you would be willing to help."
"Of course," Keiichiro said. "But how did Kisshu get cat genes?"
"My guess is that it came with getting the same healing power as Ichigo," Pai said. "They seem to be gaining the same powers for some reason."
"Alright," Keiichiro said. "I need to do a blood test on both of them, and then I can probably counteract whatever is causing them to turn into cats." He got out a small needle with a canister attached, and walked over to Pai and Kisshu. Kisshu hissed. Keiichiro sighed. "You want to get back to normal, right?" he asked. Kisshu nodded. "Then you have to stay still," Keiichiro said. "It won't take long."
He was right. Soon he was taking out the needle, and wrapping a tiny bandage around Kisshu's leg. He did the same with Ichigo, then said, "Pai, why don't you help me try to find a way to counteract the transformation. The rest of you should keep Kisshu and Ichigo out of here, so you can take them upstairs, and take the fish out of the fridge. Maybe it will keep them happy."
"Nya?" Ichigo asked, perking up. Keiichiro smiled.
Kisshu also looked happy at the mention of fish. "I'll stay down here, who wants to carry Kisshu?" Pai asked.
"NOT me," Taruto said emphatically.
"I'll do it," Lettuce said. She took Kisshu from Pai's arms gently, and scratched his ears. He purred at her and settled down in her arms, while Ichigo reached a paw out toward Pudding.
"Pudding, I think Ichigo wants you to carry her," Taruto said. He handed Ichigo to Pudding, and Ichigo purred. Then they all went upstairs, and Zakuro went to the kitchen. She came back with a plate of tuna, which she placed on the floor. Lettuce and Pudding put Kisshu and Ichigo down, and watched as they ran to the plate, and started eating. Soon the tuna was gone, and Ichigo and Kisshu started to settle down. The Mews sat down on the floor, and started petting them. Soon they noticed something odd, though. While Ichigo willingly got petted by everyone, everytime Zakuro tried to pet Kisshu, he ran away. The first time he hid behind Lettuce, and only came out when he saw that Zakuro wasn't any closer.
They were talking about this, since none of them could understand cat language, and Lettuce said, "I noticed that even after we formed a truce, Kisshu seemed to be nervous around you, Zakuro-san. I don't know why, but I think that even in kitten form, he seems to be afraid of you for some reason."
Zakuro sighed. "Maybe he doesn't like wolves," she said. "They eat other animals, so maybe that's why?"
"Cats eat other animals too," Mint pointed out.
"Pai said Kisshu can still type," Kasumi said. "What if we found a way to let him type and asked why he's scared of Zakuro?"
"I have a miniature laptop," Lettuce said. "I'll go get it." She went to the locker room, and came back with a small laptop. She started it up, and opened a Word document. "Kisshu, can you tell us why you're afraid of Zakuro-san?" Lettuce asked.
Kisshu walked over and started typing. When he was done, Lettuce read out, "I don't like wolves. They attacked me when I was little." She sighed. "I guess that explains it," Lettuce said. "Taruto, did you know about this?"
"No, I didn't," Taruto said. "But I'm younger than Kisshu, so it might have happened before I was born."
The others looked at Kisshu, who nodded. He then jumped onto Lettuce's lap and settled down. Ichigo had been settled on Pudding's lap, but after hearing that, she jumped off and went to Kisshu. "Nya," she said firmly.
"Myu?" Kisshu asked. He sounded uncertain.
"Nyan, myu myu nya," Ichigo replied. "Nya, myu!" She pointed to Zakuro, then Pudding.
The others were confused. It made sense if Ichigo was trying to convince Kisshu that Zakuro wasn't scary, but why had she pointed to Pudding?
Lettuce suddenly had an idea, and said, "Ichigo-san might have noticed how much you care for Pudding, Zakuro-san. She could be using that as a persuasive argument."
Whatever the case was, Kisshu sighed and got off Lettuce's lap. Then he started to very hesitantly walk in Zakuro's direction. He stopped halfway, and Ichigo was obviously impatient, because she pushed him. This caused him to trip, and he sort of rolled head over tail till he bumped into Zakuro. He picked himself up, and glared at Ichigo. Taruto started laughing, and Kisshu lifted one paw, and made sure Taruto could see his little claws. That shut Taruto up pretty effectively. Kisshu gave the kitten's version of a smirk, and then sighed, looking at Ichigo again. She nodded, and Kisshu hesitantly looked at Zakuro. She very slowly reached down and rubbed Kisshu's head. He was a bit stiff at first, but slowly leaned into her hand, enjoying the sensation.
Pai came in around then, and stopped. "Kisshu's letting Zakuro pet him?" he asked.
"Ichigo had a talk with him," Lettuce said. "Have you figured something out?"
"Well…."
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