Betraying My People Chapter 30:
Bad News
Kisshu and Ichigo landed on their bed and flopped back. Kisshu sighed, and Ichigo looked at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.
"I never understood why Mizuki was such a jerk," Kisshu said. "His dad was really nice, and so is his mom. And now he's breaking the law just to get revenge on me."
"Some people don't turn out well, no matter who raises them," Ichigo said. "Look at Ryou. Keiichiro said his parents were wonderful, and Keiichiro is wonderful too. But Ryou went evil, and in the end it didn't matter who had raised him, he was still an evil person. Some people just aren't good people. It doesn't matter if they had the best parents in the world, they could still turn out to be like Ryou or this guy Mizuki."
"You're probably right," Kisshu said. "And I probably shouldn't worry about it too much, because if we have to take him down, that's all there is to it. It doesn't make sense to worry about why he is the way he is."
Ichigo smiled at Kisshu. "You're right," she said. "We need to focus on keeping our family safe, and saving the Council."
Kisshu took her hand as they sat up. "You always make me feel better," he told her softly.
"I'm glad," Ichigo said with a smile. Kisshu smiled and kissed her.
Suddenly someone knocked on the door, and Kisshu sighed, then called, "Come in!"
The door opened and Siria-sama came in. Ichigo and Kisshu both stood and bowed. Siria-sama smiled and said, "No need to be so formal, I just came in to chat. Everyone else is hiding from Pudding and Taruto, since they both were eating candy. Now they're running around like maniacs." She sighed. "I should have warned the Mews not to bring sugar near Taruto. He gets way too hyper, I've noticed."
"It wouldn't have worked, Pudding would find some way of sneaking candy," Ichigo said. "She apparently can't live without it. She's pretty obsessed."
"Oh well," Siria-sama said. "I actually wanted to thank you both for taking care of me while I was a cat. Not an experience I would wish to repeat, but I thank you both for being so gentle."
"It was our pleasure," Ichigo said. "We've both been kittens; it's pretty easy to understand now how to treat them. I am glad we could get all of you back to normal quickly though, when we were kittens, Kisshu and I got rather embarrassed when we changed back."
"Why?" Siria-sama asked.
"We basically begged Lettuce to bring us home with her, and we were starting to get more kitten-like, so we did some things we never would have done in our normal forms," Kisshu said. "It's a good thing we got turned back when we did though; Ichigo and I both had this moment before we returned to normal where we felt we were meant to stay kittens. Keiichiro said it was from being in kitten form too long; if it had been much longer, we wouldn't have been able to change back."
"Well, I guess I should thank you for getting me and the others there so quickly," Siria-sama said. "I noticed Taruto was very hyper while in kitten form."
"Kittens in general are pretty hyper, and judging by the fact that he was about three weeks old, it makes sense," Ichigo said. "That's why I started petting him, it calms cats down when you pet them. It was cute when he fell asleep in my lap."
"I noticed that you seemed to be talking with him," Siria-sama said. "Can you understand cats?"
"I could understand him, so I assume so," Ichigo said. "I think it's something new, though; either that or I just have to concentrate. I don't remember being able to understand Kisshu the first time he turned into a kitten."
"Interesting," Siria-sama said. Then she asked a strange question. "Ichigo, did you know that in our culture parents usually arrange marriages for their children?"
"No," Ichigo said. "That happens sometimes in my culture too, but more often people marry for love rather than their parents' wishes. It used to be that everyone had arranged marriages, though. Why do you ask?"
"Have Aran and Hamaya talked to you about the subject of marriage at all?" Siria-sama asked.
"Just once, when I mentioned that I assumed that I would take the name Ikisatashi someday anyways, I didn't mind taking it now," Ichigo said. "We were talking about adoption."
"I see," Siria-sama said. "So you intend to marry Kisshu someday?"
"Hai," Ichigo said. "I know that's what I want, and I think that's what he wants too- right Kisshu?"
"Hai," Kisshu said. "I can't imagine marrying anyone but Ichigo."
"You two are very lucky then," Siria-sama said. "It's good that your adoptive parents approve of you two together."
"I'm glad of that too," Kisshu said. "It would be hard if Aunt Hamaya and Uncle Aran didn't want Ichigo. But she took good care of me and Pai and Taruto, and they're very happy with her- not to mention she's a great cook."
"Thanks Kisshu," Ichigo said, blushing. "It's a good thing, though, since Pai is such a disaster. It's a good thing you didn't see what he tried to do while you were recovering from the banana you ate; he said he tried to make soup, but it looked like lumpy glue, and it was burning. I told him to take it off the stove, clean up the mess, and stay out of the kitchen. I didn't want the smoke alarm going off."
"Thanks," Kisshu said. "The smoke alarm is really painful, and I really wasn't feeling good already."
"What are bananas?" Siria-sama asked.
"It's a type of Earth fruit that I'm very allergic to," Kisshu said. "They taste good, but I get really sick, so I stay away from them. I think it's good they don't grow on our planet."
"Is there a lot of fruit on Earth?" Siria-sama asked. "There's next to none on our planet."
"There's a ton of fruit," Ichigo said. "I like strawberries best."
"So do I," Kisshu said. "I had them, and they reminded me of Ichigo, not to mention they're sweet and juicy."
"I wonder if Earth fruit could be grown on our planet," Siria-sama said thoughtfully.
"Pai could figure that out," Kisshu said. "And I bet Keiichiro would help."
"I'll talk to them about it then," Siria-sama said.
The intercom came on and said, "We're entering the atmosphere of Cyniclonia, please stay seated."
The ship got bumpy for a while, then evened out and landed. Pai came in a few minutes later and said, "We're here."
"Thank you, Pai," Siria-sama said.
"Of course," Pai said, bowing. "The others are in the main room, but my parents put Taruto and Pudding in a forcefield, so we'll have to wait to let them out. Should we go to the Council?"
"Hai, but we should be careful," Siria-sama said.
Pai nodded, and walked out, followed by Siria-sama, Kisshu and Ichigo. They reached the main room, and Pai asked, "Is everyone ready?"
"Hai," the others responded.
"Alright, we're teleporting to the Council meeting room, so all of you who can't teleport, grab one of us," Pai said. The others obeyed, and soon they were standing in the middle of the Council meeting room. Strangely, it was empty.
"That's odd, someone's supposed to be here at all times," Siria-sama said. She looked worried.
Suddenly they heard a small, "Myu?" A black and white kitten came out from under a chair, where it had been hiding. It walked over and said, "Nyan, myuu myuu."
"WHAT!?" Kisshu and Ichigo shouted together. "Every member of the Council has been kidnapped?"
The others looked shocked. Ichigo and Kisshu both knelt, then Ichigo asked, "Were they turned into kittens as well?"
The kitten shook his head. "Myuu, nya nya. Nyan, myuu!"
"You were only turned into a kitten because you tried to fight?" Kisshu asked. The kitten nodded.
"What's your name?" Ichigo asked.
"Myuu nya," the kitten said. Kisshu looked shocked and said, "Hiro-sama!?" The kitten nodded again.
"Who did all this?" Siria-sama asked.
"Myuu nyan, nya myuu nyan nyan. Nya!" Hiro-sama said.
Kisshu looked up at Siria-sama and said, "I was right, Mizuki and Sanosuke are working together."
"Is there any way of finding out where they went?" Siria-sama asked.
"If I had DNA from someone I could probably track them," Pai said.
"MYUU!" Hiro-sama said loudly, and ran over to a spot by the back wall. Pai went over, and said, "This is perfect, thank you Hiro-sama."
Hiro-sama came back as Pai took a hankerchief out of his pocket, and swiped something off the floor. He came back and said, "One of them was injured. I will get right to work trying to track this person down. My assumption is that they're all together."
"Please do," Siria-sama said. Pai bowed and teleported out.
Kisshu and Ichigo looked down at Hiro-sama, who was looking rather depressed. "What do we do to turn him back?" Kisshu asked. "I don't exactly want to be running to Earth every time someone turns into a kitten."
"Well, when you turned into a kitten the first time, I kissed you and you went back to normal," Ichigo said. "I don't think it's a good idea to disturb Pai right now. Should we try that?"
Kisshu sighed. "Siria-sama?" he asked.
"If you think it might work, we might as well," Siria-sama said.
Ichigo nodded and picked up Hiro-sama, then kissed him on the nose. Then she put him back down. Sure enough, he began to glow, and soon after, reverted back to his normal form. Ichigo and Kisshu got to their feet as he did.
Hiro-sama sighed and said, "Thank you, Ichigo. I appreciate you turning me back."
"You're welcome," Ichigo said. "I guess all we do now is wait for Pai to find out where the person he's searching for is."
"Yeah…" the others said.
I think I'll work on something else for a while, so this is it for tonight. Review!