Amnesia Chapter 19:
Rikia's Request
Rikia landed in Ichigo's living room and said, "Poor Pai. At least I had a reason to leave."
Sakura came in and said, "What was the problem?"
"My mother snuck onto my ship and found us," Rikia said. "At this moment, she's probably chewing out Pai for giving Kisshu amnesia."
"Well, dinner's ready, so you should come and tell us about it over dinner," Sakura said. They all went and sat down at the table, and started eating.
Eventually, Sakura asked, "So what's your mom like, Rikia?"
"She's strict," Rikia said glumly. "She's very big on being polite, though you wouldn't guess that by today's display. And she will nag you until the end of time if she wants you to do something. I swear, if something she wanted done didn't get done before she died, she'd come back from the grave and haunt the person until they did what she wanted. I know she cares about us, but I'm getting tired of her nagging."
"Wow, I think I'm glad she's not my mom," Ichigo said. "I have a temper, and things would probably get pretty explosive if my mom nagged me 24/7."
"I have a temper too, but since I'm the only one of her kids who still lives with her and Dad, I try to keep a lid on it," Rikia said. "It's hard sometimes."
"Should I be glad Sakura took me in?" Kisshu asked. "I don't think I'd like being nagged."
"You should be grateful," Rikia said. "I doubt many humans would let their daughter adopt her boyfriend."
"You're right there," Sakura said. "I thought Kisshu was really sweet, so I was happy to take him in, and I haven't regretted it."
"I miss banana bread," Shintaro said.
"SHINTARO! It's not Kisshu's fault he's allergic to bananas!" Sakura said. "And I know you like having him around, so don't start on the 'I'm against all boys' track. It might make Kisshu sad."
"I'm sorry you can't have your banana bread anymore," Kisshu said. "But don't you like apple desserts too?"
"Yes, but I'm not as seemingly obsessed with them as you are," Shintaro said.
"Am I really that obsessed?" Kisshu asked. "I just like apples."
"And apples are good for you, so Shintaro will stop talking now," Sakura said. "Do you like other fruits, though?"
"I like berries," Kisshu said. "And peaches."
"Do you want a peach dessert sometime?" Sakura asked. "Peach cobbler is good."
"That would be nice, but didn't you say you had apple cake?" Kisshu asked.
"Yes, I meant I'd make the peach cobbler another time," Sakura said. "Apple cake is tonight's dessert."
"Yay!" Kisshu said. Sakura smiled and started clearing the dishes.
Suddenly Ichigo's pocket started beeping, and Rikia tensed. "What's that?" she asked warily.
"Pai's trying to contact me, hang on," Ichigo said. She took the device out of her pocket and pushed the button.
"Ichigo, my mother is insisting on meeting your parents and she's driving me and Taruto nuts!" Pai said.
"And I suppose you want me to ask if she can come over too?" Ichigo said.
"Yes, before she figures out how to get out of my room," Pai said.
"Hang on," Ichigo said. She turned to her parents and said, "Pai and Rikia's mother wants to meet you both, so is it okay if she and preferably Pai as well come for dessert?"
"Sure," Sakura said.
Ichigo turned back to the device and said, "Okay, but you should come too."
"We're on our way," Pai said, and hung up.
Five minutes later, Pai and Kasumi teleported in. Pai looked rather harassed.
Rikia looked at him and said, "How bad was it this time, Pai?"
"Bad," Pai said. "Let's just say I'm extremely glad I was exiled right now. I can't go back with you two."
"Yikes," Rikia said. "Mother, do you have to be so hard on everyone?"
"Yes," Kasumi said. She turned to Sakura and Shintaro and said, "My name is Kasumi, it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Kasumi," Sakura said. "I'm Sakura, and this is my husband, Shintaro."
"Nice to meet you," Shintaro said. "We're having dessert, do you want some?"
"What are you having?" Kasumi asked.
"Apple cake," Kisshu said. "It's really good, you should try it."
"Alright, thanks for the offer," Kasumi said. "I don't know much about human food."
"I already like it," Rikia said. "I wish I could stay here."
Kasumi sounded surprised as she said, "You want to live here? What about home?"
"It's not the same without my brothers," Rikia said. "You and Dad have been wonderful, but I really miss my brothers."
"And if you stayed here, how exactly would I be getting home?" Kasumi asked. "Even if you do stay here, I feel that I need to stay on our home planet."
"Autopilot, Mother, autopilot," Rikia said. "I would program it to take you back to our planet."
"Alright, next question," Kasumi said. "Where would you stay? Keiichiro already has Pai and Taruto, and Sakura and Shintaro have Kisshu."
Rikia drooped. "Um…" Kisshu said.
"Yes?" Sakura asked.
"If Ichigo and I shared a room, Rikia could have Ichigo's room, she says she's obsessed with pink too," Kisshu said.
"And is Ichigo okay with this idea?" Sakura said.
"I like sleeping with Kisshu, so I'm fine with it," Ichigo said. "And I think Rikia and I are about the same size, so we could share clothes."
Shintaro said, "If you share a room with Kisshu, we are buying another bed, got it?"
Ichigo drooped. "That might be a good idea," Sakura said. "That way you'll have a choice."
Ichigo perked up as Shintaro started sputtering. "You've seen how responsible Ichigo and Kisshu both are," Sakura said. "If they want to sleep together, I'll give them the choice. But we can still buy a second bed for that room."
Shintaro deflated and said, "And school?"
"Not sure," Sakura admitted. "Rikia, have you been to school?"
"Yes, but the only thing I don't know is Japanese history," Rikia said. "That's a problem, right?"
"I'll call the school and see," Sakura said. "If it is, I'll homeschool both you and Kisshu."
"You're homeschooling Kisshu?" Kasumi asked.
"Yes, unfortunately, he forgot how to read Japanese characters," Sakura said. "I've been working with him on that, and he's getting much better. But he wouldn't do well in a public school, so when I took him in, I offered to homeschool him as well. I used to be a teacher anyways."
"Why did you stop?" Rikia asked.
"When Ichigo was first born, I had to be with her a lot, because she was born too early," Sakura said. "The doctors weren't sure she would survive, actually."
"Wow," Rikia said. "Ichigo seems really strong now."
"Yeah, I proved it at my grandma's funeral," Ichigo said. "My cousin tried to choke Kisshu, so I threw him out the window."
"COOL!" Rikia said.
Ichigo laughed. "It was fun," she said. "There was a thorn bush under the window, too."
"Great job," Rikia said. "I would have liked to see that."
"I'd been wanting to do something like that for a while, but this was the perfect chance," Ichigo said. "My cousin is evil anyways."
"Um.. back to the whole thing about Rikia living with us…" Shintaro said.
"Yes?" Sakura said.
"I'm fine with it, but Kasumi, is this okay with you?" Shintaro asked.
Kasumi sighed. "If she calls me sometimes, I'm fine with it, but if she doesn't, I will send Kohaku to check on her- got that Rikia?"
"Yes, Mother, I promise I'll call," Rikia said. "Anything to keep Kohaku away."
"Who's Kohaku?" Kisshu asked.
"My best friend's brother, who is a complete jerk, but has a major crush on me," Rikia said. "Yet another good reason to leave home."
"Alright, if this is okay with everyone, then you may stay on Earth," Kasumi said.
"It's fine with us," Sakura said.
"Welcome to the family," Shintaro said.
"Thanks so much," Rikia said.
Pai cleared his throat and said, "I think we should go back to Keiichiro's, it's getting late."
"No apple cake?" Sakura asked.
"I guess we could stay a little longer," Pai said.
Everyone laughed as Sakura went to cut the cake.
Interesting twist, huh?