Amnesia Chapter 15:

The Funeral- or the Disaster

The next morning, everyone got up and got ready for the funeral. Then they drove down to the church, where they met up with Shintaro's brother and his family.

Ichigo stayed close to her mom and Kisshu, not giving her cousins more than a glance. After brief greetings were over, the family went into the church for the ceremony. Ichigo and Kisshu sat between Sakura and Shintaro, as the priest began to speak. After he was done, first Aunt Hanabi, then Shintaro, then their brother Tanoru went up to speak.

After the speeches were done, the priest said, "Now let us have a moment of silence, in memory of Momomiya Kaori."

Everyone was silent until the priest said, "Thank you all for coming. I offer my sincere condolences on the loss of a great woman to all those who knew her."

Everyone in the church stood up, and began to file out. The reception was next door, in a large conference hall.

When they got there, there was a bunch of food set out. Ichigo and Kisshu went over to the tables, and picked out a few things each. Then they went to a small table and sat down.

Kisshu tried a piece of sushi he had picked out and said, "This is good, how's yours?"

Ichigo had picked out some shrimp tempura and wanton soup, and she said, "Mine's good too, do you want to try it?"

"Sure, thanks," Kisshu said.

Ichigo used her chopsticks to put a piece of shrimp tempura on Kisshu's plate. Kisshu tried it and said, "This is good too. Do you want some of mine?"

"What do you have?" Ichigo asked.

"I've got sushi and miso soup," Kisshu said. "I'm not sure what's in the sushi though."

"Can I try a piece? Maybe I'll know what it is," Ichigo said. Kisshu gave her a piece, and she said, "I think it's red snapper, cucumber and avocado. It's good."

Kisshu smiled, then looked over her shoulder. "Ichigo, who's that?" he asked.

Ichigo turned and groaned. "That's Shino," she said. "Let's try to ignore him."

Kisshu nodded, and continued eating as Shino came over and asked, "Is this seat taken, Ichigo?"

"It is if you want to sit there," Ichigo said. She went back to her soup.

Shino sat down anyways and asked, "So who's your friend?"

Ichigo and Kisshu did their best to ignore him. It was obviously annoying him, and finally, after five minutes of asking the same question, he shouted, "Are you deaf or something!?"

Ichigo looked at him and said, "No, we're just ignoring you."

"Why would you do that? You like me, I know it," Shino said smugly.

"As a matter of fact, I hate you, and you should get that through your head. I know it's tough having absolutely no intelligence, but even you should realize by now that I hate you. Besides, Kisshu's my boyfriend."

"Why him? I'm way better," Shino said.

"Actually, you're a complete jerk who no girl in their right mind would date," Ichigo said. "Besides, we're cousins, not friends."

"It's not uncommon for cousins to fall in love," Shino said.

"Look , Shino, I've had it. If you don't leave now, and stay away from me for good, not only will I set my dad on your trail, I'll also kick you where the sun doesn't shine," Ichigo said as calmly as she could manage.

"You wouldn't do that if I do this," Shino said, and grabbed Kisshu by the neck, lifting him off his feet.

Ichigo's reaction was lightning fast. She jumped up, grabbed both Shino's wrists, and twisted, forcing him to let Kisshu go. Unfortunately for Shino, she wasn't done. She judged the distance between Shino and the nearest window, and seeing it was a short distance, she lifted Shino into the air by his collar- and threw him out the window. A loud screech and a crash were heard as Ichigo said, "Oh well, I guess there was a thorn bush under that window." She dusted her hands off and went to Kisshu, completely ignoring the dead silence in the room.

"Kisshu, are you okay?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu coughed and said, "Yeah, thanks for that. You were right, he is evil."

Ichigo helped Kisshu up as Shintaro came over and said, "Good job, but I think everyone except me is in shock."

"Oh well," Ichigo said. "I've always wanted to do something like that to Shino."

"Your uncle doesn't look too happy," Shintaro said. "I'll handle him, you two should go outside. If you see Shino, just don't kill him. You can knock him out, though."

Ichigo grinned. "Thanks Dad." She then towed Kisshu outside.

They went around the side of the building, and Ichigo said, "Dad was right, they do have a nice garden here."

"There's a lot of flowers," Kisshu said. "What are those red ones?"

"Roses," Ichigo said. "I like them. There's a lot of different varieties and colors of roses, not all of them are red like that."

Kisshu walked over to the rosebush and sniffed one. "They smell like those red berries," Kisshu said.

"Strawberries?" Ichigo asked.

"No, the ones that are kind of crunchy," Kisshu said. "I don't remember what they're called."

"Raspberries?" Ichigo said.

"I think so," Kisshu said.

Ichigo came over and smelled the rose. "You're right, they do smell like raspberries," she said. "Red roses are supposed to be a symbol of undying love. Why, I don't know. But they're pretty."

Kisshu looked at the rosebush, then broke one off, and said, "I love you, Ichigo."

Ichigo took the rose, and said, "And I love you too, Kisshu."

Kisshu took her face in one hand, and pressed his lips to hers gently. Ichigo was somewhat surprised, but she kissed him back.

Some time later, they broke apart for air. "You're a good kisser, Kisshu," Ichigo said.

"Thanks, so are you," Kisshu said.

Suddenly they heard clapping, and spun around, startled. Ichigo's whole family, minus Shino, was standing there, clapping. Kisshu and Ichigo both turned red as Sakura, Shintaro, Aunt Hanabi, and Ichigo's uncle Tanoru came up to them.

"Were you watching us?" Ichigo asked.

"Hanabi was walking in the garden already, and when she saw Kisshu give you a rose, she immediately ran into the building and screamed something along the lines of, "Get out to the garden, you've got to see this!"" Shintaro said.

Ichigo and Kisshu were now dark red, totally embarrassed. Sakura noticed and said, "It's fine, you two. We all thought it was cute."

"Um… thanks?" Ichigo said.

Ichigo's uncle Tanoru said, "I wanted to apologize for Shino's behavior today. Kisshu, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Kisshu said.

"Good," Tanoru said. "I'm going to try to make sure he stops harassing you both. Oniisan here was extremely upset with me." He pointed to Shintaro, who was looking innocent.

"What'd Dad do to you this time, Uncle Tano?" Ichigo asked.

"Threatened to kidnap Shino and send him to a juvenile delinquent's school in Hiroshima," Tanoru said. "Not as bad as last year, surprisingly."

"What happened last year?" Kisshu asked, curious.

"A shouting match and a threat to throw Shino to the sharks," Tanoru said. "And last year, I was the one who got thrown out the window. By the way, Ichigo, have you been working out or something? I didn't know you were that strong."

"More like, 'or something,'" Ichigo said. "Working at Café Mew Mew sure wasn't easy."

"Well, good for you, and I'll try to make sure you don't have to throw Shino out the window again," Tanoru said.

"If there is a next time, I'll just drag him to Tokyo Bay and throw him in," Ichigo said. "I rather like the idea of feeding him to the sharks."

"Um… I think I'll just go enroll him in that school you mentioned, Shintaro," Tanoru said. "Then your daughter won't go to jail for murder."

"You do that," Shintaro said with an evil grin.

Tanoru backed away slowly, then hightailed it out of there.

Shintaro laughed and said, "He still scares just as easily as when he was ten years old."

Aunt Hanabi giggled, and soon everyone was laughing.

Finally they calmed down, and walked back to the reception hall.

A while later, everyone was getting ready to go. Ichigo, Kisshu and Ichigo's parents were going back to Aunt Hanabi's to get their stuff, and then they would head home. On the way to Aunt Hanabi's, Aunt Hanabi asked, "So Kisshu, how old are you?"

"I don't know," Kisshu said. "Ichigo, do you know?"

"You're fourteen," Ichigo said. She turned to her aunt and said, "Kisshu has a very severe case of amnesia, so there's a lot about him we don't really know. If it's urgent, we ask his older brother."

"Why didn't his older brother come today?" Aunt Hanabi asked.

"Pai and his younger brother Taruto live with someone else," Ichigo explained. "I offered to take Kisshu in, since the guy Kisshu's brothers are living with only had two extra rooms. And Mom is homeschooling Kisshu."

"Wow," Aunt Hanabi said. "You're lucky, Ichigo, my mother never would have allowed me to take in my boyfriend, amnesiac or not."

"I agree, and Dad's been really good about it, considering he had to give up banana bread," Ichigo said.

"Kisshu, you're allergic to bananas?" Aunt Hanabi asked.

"Very allergic, I get really sick," Kisshu said. "I got sick the first night I was staying with Ichigo, since I didn't remember that I was allergic to bananas, and it tasted good."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Aunt Hanabi said. "I guess I shouldn't send the banana bread I made home with you, then."

Shintaro, who was driving, groaned. "Sorry," Kisshu said guiltily. "Maybe you could just keep it far away from other food in the house?"

Shintaro perked up, and said, "That sounds good."

"Take it to work with you," Sakura said. "I still don't think it's a good thing to have in the house."

"Fine…." Shintaro said. "As long as I get some, I guess I'll be happy."

"I guess I'll wrap some up, then," Aunt Hanabi said.

They reached her house, and she went to get the banana bread while the others loaded their stuff into the car. When they were done loading, Aunt Hanabi came out and handed Shintaro the banana bread, then hugged everyone goodbye. "Come again soon," she said.

"We'll try," Shintaro said. He was about get in the driver's seat when Sakura said, "Put the banana bread in the trunk, it'll make the car smell like bananas otherwise."

"Fine…" Shintaro said. He put the bread in the trunk, and closed it up. They all got in the car, and headed home.

Halfway there, however, Kisshu said, "Um…. Sakura?"

"Yes Kisshu?" Sakura said.

"I don't feel good," Kisshu said.

Ichigo sniffed the air in the car and said, "I think the smell of banana bread is affecting Kisshu. I can smell it too."

"Even though we put it in the trunk?" Sakura asked.

"Either that, or Dad put some in his pocket," Ichigo said. She and Sakura looked at Shintaro suspiciously.

"Uh…." Shintaro said.

"You are in SO much trouble," Sakura informed him. "I'd suggest pulling the car over, Kisshu's looking pretty green. Kisshu, can you hold out for a few minutes?"

Kisshu nodded, and Shintaro switched lanes, then pulled over. Kisshu immediately got out of the car and threw up on the side of the highway. Ichigo got out too, and started rubbing his back, as he got everything out.

By the time he was finished, there were a few more cars pulled up, along with a police car. Shintaro was talking with the police officer as Sakura came over. "Kisshu, are you feeling any better?" she asked.

"Somewhat, but I don't think going back in the car is going to be very good for me," Kisshu admitted.

"That's actually what Shintaro's talking with the police officer about," Sakura said. "We're trying to get a ride for you and Ichigo, since we know you'll continue to get sick if you ride in our car."

"Sorry," Kisshu said.

"It's not your fault, it's Shintaro's," Sakura said. "I warned him, but he didn't listen. And you did a good job holding out until we pulled over."

Shintaro and the police officer, as well as a young woman with black hair came over just then. "I'm sorry, Kisshu," Shintaro said.

The police officer gave Shintaro a stern look, then said, "Miss Ayako here has offered to drive the kids home, but she'd like Mrs. Momomiya to come too, since she has very little idea of where she's going."

"That's fine," Sakura said. "Shintaro does know the way to his own house, after all. Thanks for the offer, Miss Ayako."

"You're welcome, and please just call me Mikomi," the young woman said. "My car's over here, if Kisshu's feeling better."

"I'm feeling better," Kisshu said. "Thanks."

Mikomi smiled and led the way to her car. They all got in, and Mikomi pulled out into the highway.

Sakura gave her directions as they went, and Mikomi made easy conversation. Eventually they stopped talking, though, since Kisshu fell asleep.

Finally they got back to their house, and Ichigo shook Kisshu awake. They said their goodbyes and thank-yous to Mikomi, and Sakura gave her directions back to the highway. Then Sakura and Ichigo took Kisshu inside.

"I'm sleepy," Kisshu said.

"You should probably go to bed anyways," Sakura said. "Do you want Ichigo to be there?"

"Yeah, if she doesn't mind," Kisshu said.

"I don't mind, I'm actually pretty tired too. I'll go get my sleeping bag," Ichigo said.

"K…" Kisshu said. Sakura helped him back to his room while Ichigo went to get her sleeping bag. She quickly got her pajamas on and went back to Kisshu's room. He was already half-asleep, but when he saw her he said, "You'll be here, right?"

"Of course," Ichigo said. She hesitated, then said, "Do you want me to sleep with you?"

"Sure…" Kisshu said sleepily. Ichigo smiled and climbed onto the bed, then lay down next to him. He snuggled up to her, and she hugged him as they both fell asleep.

Cute, right? Don't worry, Kisshu's just tired, not sick again. They had a long day.