Cyniclonia
Eventually Ichigo and Lettuce fell asleep on Kisshu's bed as the ship continued flying.
Six hours later, Kisshu teleported in and woke them both up. "We're here," he said when they were awake. "Leave your stuff, I'll have someone come get it later. We've been called to meet with Hideki-sama, my leader."
Lettuce and Ichigo got up and straightened their hair and clothes. Then Kisshu teleported them to the main room, where Pai was waiting. Pai took Lettuce's hand, and Kisshu took Ichigo's. Then the two Cyniclons teleported their fiancées to what looked like a huge mansion's gates. There were two guards in front of the gate, and Kisshu walked up to one of them. "We were told Hideki-sama is waiting," he said.
"That's correct," the guard said. He and his partner pulled the gates open, and Kisshu motioned to the others, who followed him up to the front door, just as it opened. Another guard bowed and let them in, then said, "Follow me."
Kisshu and the others obeyed, and the guard led them to a large set of doors, then knocked. "Come in," they heard. The guard opened the doors, and motioned for Kisshu and the others to go in.
Kisshu walked to the center of the room and went down on one knee, the others copying him. A Cyniclon man with graying brown hair rose from a throne-like chair, and said, "Please, get up."
Kisshu, Ichigo, Pai, and Lettuce got up, and the man said, "Welcome back, Kisshu and Pai, and welcome to you, Mew Ichigo and Mew Lettuce. I am the leader of the Cyniclons, known to my people as Hideki-sama."
"It's an honor to meet you," Ichigo said. "I'm Ichigo."
"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Hideki-sama said. "And I assume your friend is Mew Lettuce?"
"Please just call me Lettuce," Lettuce said. "It's an honor to meet you."
"Thank you, Lettuce, it's a pleasure to meet you as well," Hideki-sama said. "But where is Taruto?"
"Mew Pudding isn't old enough to be away from her family, so Taruto is staying on Earth until she's of age," Pai explained.
"Very well," Hideki-sama said. "I suppose you brought Lettuce and Ichigo back so they can settle in?"
"Yes, I think it's best if they have the chance to learn about their new home before having any big events," Kisshu said. "We informed their families and Ichigo's childhood friends that we'll contact them when they've settled in and we've got the weddings planned."
"That sounds fine," Hideki-sama said. "I assume you'd like to take them home?"
"With your permission," Pai replied.
"Of course," Hideki-sama said. "Ichigo, Lettuce, welcome to Cyniclonia."
"Thank you, Hideki-sama," Ichigo and Lettuce said together. The four of them bowed, and then Kisshu and Pai teleported the girls to the front of a huge mansion.
"Wow, this is where you live?" Ichigo asked. "This is bigger than Mint's mansion."
"We live here with my parents," Pai said. "They're both eager to meet you; let's go in." He led the way to the door, and as he reached it, it was opened by a Cyniclon man in a butler's uniform. "Master Pai, welcome back," he said. "Your mother is waiting in the family room; your father had a meeting."
"Thank you," Pai said. He led the others in, and to a room off the main room. A Cyniclon woman who looked a lot like Taruto got off one of the sofas when she saw them, then ran over. "I'm so glad you're back!" she said. "I see it went well?"
"Yes, Mom, you had nothing to worry about," Pai said, hugging his mother. "Mom, this is Midorikawa Lettuce, my fiancée."
"It's nice to meet you," Lettuce said.
"You too, Lettuce," the woman said, smiling. "You and Ichigo can call me Yuki."
"Aunt Yuki, this is my fiancée, Momomiya Ichigo," Kisshu said.
"It's nice to meet you, Yuki," Ichigo said.
"You too, Ichigo," Yuki said. "I'm glad you and Kisshu are together now."
"Me too," Ichigo said. "I really missed him."
"He missed you too," Yuki said. "The past five years were busy, but Kisshu spent most of his spare time moping."
"Ichigo spent the last five years crying, and the first year after he left, she was repeatedly telling me she'd be better off dead," Lettuce said. "We weren't very busy after we quit working for Ryou, and I think it was really hard on Ichigo, not having Kisshu around."
"Why did you quit?" Pai asked.
"Ryou kept saying how happy he was that you guys were gone, and we got fed up with him and quit," Ichigo said. "He's racist. We tried to ignore it at first, but then he called Kisshu a freak, and I beat him up, and then told him he was dead meat if he tried to make me work for him again. And then he said bad things about Pai and Taruto too, and Lettuce beat him up the day after I did, and then Pudding smashed a plate over his head and beat him up the day after that."
"Didn't you guys get in trouble?" Kisshu asked.
"No, Keiichiro was fed up with the racist comments too, so he just patched Ryou up and told us we could go," Lettuce said. "He's nice."
"That sounds like 'too nice for his own good', but it's for the best," Yuki said. "I think Kisshu and Pai would be very sad if you girls were in jail."
"We could just teleport them out," Kisshu said. "But I wouldn't want Koneko-chan to go to jail."
"Good," Yuki said. "Ichigo, Lettuce, I had two rooms set up for you, and your things were brought to them, but you're welcome to share with Kisshu and Pai if you want. After the weddings, you'll get different rooms that are better suited for two people."
"Thanks Yuki," Ichigo said. "I like sharing with Kish."
Kisshu smirked and said, "I like sharing with you too. You're fluffy."
Ichigo and the others started laughing. "Fluffy?" Ichigo giggled. "That's funny, Kish. You're warm and cuddly."
Kisshu turned red as the others started laughing. "Relax, it's a good thing," Ichigo said.
"Can we talk about something else now?" Kisshu asked. "Like maybe food?"
"Aw, is someone hungry?" Yuki asked, still giggling.
"Yes…" Kisshu said. "Pai wouldn't let me eat in the control room, so I haven't eaten in NINE WHOLE HOURS!"
"You're getting spoiled," Pai commented. "You used to be able to go two days without anything to eat, and now you can't even go nine hours?"
"I may have been able to go two days without food, but as I recall, that was everyone's worst nightmare," Kisshu said. "I got so grouchy that I nearly killed Kino when he called me a 'potted plant'. Not that he wouldn't have deserved it…."
"That was a nightmare," Yuki said dryly. "There's some fruit in the kitchen, have some of that. It'll be dinnertime soon anyways. Pai and I will show the girls around."
"Mom, that's going to take at least an hour, can't we just show them how to get to their rooms?" Pai asked.
Yuki sighed. "All the bedrooms are on the second floor, so let's just show them how to get there, and save the tour for tomorrow," she said.
"Okay," Pai said. He looked at Kisshu, and said, "Are you coming?"
"I'm hungry…." Kisshu said.
Ichigo giggled and said, "Go eat, Kish. Pai and Yuki can show us around, right?"
"Yup," Pai said. Kisshu perked up and teleported off. Pai sighed and asked, "Should we show you your rooms?"
"Sure, thanks," Lettuce said.
Yuki smiled and said, "The staircase to the second floor is just down this hallway." She led the way down the hallway outside the family room, and then up a wide staircase. When they reached the second floor, Yuki went to a door on the left side of the hall, and said, "Ichigo, this is your room." She opened the door, revealing a pink room with a huge bed, a walk-in closet, and its own bathroom. There was a wooden dresser, a desk, a bookshelf, and a nightstand with a lamp. Ichigo's suitcases and backpack were neatly arranged at the end of the bed.
"Wow…." Ichigo said. "Yuki, this is amazing!"
Yuki smiled. "I'm glad you like it. Kisshu told me your favorite color is pink, so I tried to make your room similar to what he described- after lecturing him on stalking, of course."
Ichigo giggled. "Is Lettuce's room green?" she asked.
"Come see," Yuki said. She led the way across the hall to another room, and opened the door. This room was spring green, and was similar to Ichigo's, except she had two bookcases as opposed to one. Her suitcases were at the end of the bed as well.
"Yuki, this is great, thank you!" Lettuce said.
"Sure," Yuki said. "Pai got lectured on stalking too, though. He admitted that he spent hours every other night watching you sleep."
Ichigo and Lettuce looked at Pai, who was pretty red, and giggled. "Pai, what does your room look like?" Ichigo asked.
"Um…." Pai said.
"Did you forget to clean it before leaving?" Yuki asked sternly.
"Maybe…." Pai said uncomfortably.
"Go clean your room, I'll keep showing the girls around," Yuki said sternly. "I'm sure you don't want Lettuce to see your usual pigsty, right?"
Pai flinched and said, "Not really…. I'll go clean my room." He teleported off.
Kisshu teleported in soon after, looking pleased with himself. "Hey, where'd Pai go?" he asked.
"He had to clean his room," Yuki said.
"I cleaned mine before we left," Kisshu said. "I thought Pai did too."
"Apparently he forgot," Yuki said. "Why don't you show the girls your room while Pai's cleaning?"
"Okay," Kisshu said. "What will you be doing?"
"Oh, you'll see," Yuki said sweetly, and teleported off.
"I hate it when she uses that voice; it almost always means that I'm in for some really unpleasant surprise," Kisshu said. "One time when I was little, she used that voice, and the next thing I knew, I had to spend two hours at Kino's house."
"Who's Kino?" Ichigo asked.
"The worst fighter the military academy ever saw," Kisshu said. "And the most evil jerk on the planet. We hated each other on sight, and he never missed an opportunity to make me miserable. The only good thing that came out of him harassing me was that he spent so much time doing that as opposed to training that he failed the military's entrance exams six times, until they finally kicked him out. I, on the other hand, passed with the highest score in the history of the academy on my first try. Boy was he mad. Gloating about that was pretty fun, actually."
"Jeez Kish, you must be amazing," Ichigo said. "Is that why you were sent to Earth first?"
"Yup," Kisshu said. "Hideki-sama informed Deep Blue when he first appeared that I was the best warrior our people had ever seen, even though I was fourteen at the time. So I got sent to Earth first, and that turned out to be a good thing, because if it had been someone else, Deep Blue might have had an easier time of taking over."
"Wow…" Ichigo said softly. "Hey, can we see your room now?"
Kisshu smiled. "Sure Koneko-chan," he said. "It's actually next door to yours. I think Aunt Yuki did that on purpose."
"Cool!" Ichigo said happily. Kisshu smirked and led the way to his room. He opened the door, and went in, followed by the girls.
His room was a nice grass green, and basically everything in there was green or black. He had a huge bed with forest green blankets and black pillowcases, a black nightstand with a spring green lamp, a black dresser, a green bookshelf, and a large desk that looked like it was made of mahogany. He also had a walk-in closet and his own bathroom. "I don't get to spend much time in here, but it's relaxing when I do," Kisshu said. "Now that I'm getting married, I should have more time at home, though."
"Why don't you have a lot of time here?" Ichigo asked.
"I was appointed General of the Cyniclonian Army after coming back here and healing the planet," Kisshu said. "I originally didn't want that, though, so I made a deal with Hideki-sama. The deal was that I would be General until I married you. If, when you were of age and you still didn't want to be with me, I would remain in that position. If you agreed to be my wife, I would have no further obligation to that position after the wedding. And that's a good thing, because all the weekly meetings and stuff are irritating."
"Does that mean you'll still have meetings before the wedding?" Ichigo asked.
"No," Kisshu said. "Before Pai and I left, I trained another guy who I felt had the skill to take my place, and he'll be there instead of me. I get to show you and Lettuce around, and help you get used to how things work, since Pai won't be able to get as much time off as I have."
"What will Pai be doing?" Lettuce asked.
"He's in charge of the Agricultural Science Lab," Kisshu said. "He doesn't have an assistant, though, so I think he might ask you to be his assistant."
"Why doesn't he have an assistant?" Lettuce asked.
"My guess is that no one matches up to you," Kisshu said. "Pai spent a lot of time stalking you, just like I did with Ichigo. He knows more about you than you'd think."
"Did Taruto stalk Pudding?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"No, he just made a rather freaky shrine to her," Kisshu said. "It's a tiny little room that's got the walls and ceiling plastered in pictures of her that he either drew himself or made me draw, and there's a table in the middle of the room with a box that has a lock of her hair in it. He's got a bunch of yellow candles in there too, and some incense."
"That's CREEPY," Ichigo said, shuddering. "I didn't know he was THAT obsessed."
"He doesn't know that I know," Kisshu said. "Pai doesn't know either, and neither do Aunt Yuki and Uncle Hayako."
"Wow…." Ichigo and Lettuce said.
They heard a knock on the door, and Kisshu called, "Come in!"
Pai opened the door, and said, "Mom said dinner's ready; come downstairs."
"What are we having?" Kisshu asked, as he and the girls followed Pai back downstairs.
"She didn't say," Pai said. He led the way to the dining room, and opened the door, then went in.
The others followed him in, and were startled to see the room was decorated, with a banner saying, 'Welcome, Ichigo and Lettuce!'
"Do you like it?" Yuki asked.
"This is so nice, thank you Yuki," Ichigo said.
Yuki smiled and said, "We're waiting on my husband, and then we can eat."
"I'm here," a Cyniclon man said, coming into the room. He looked at Ichigo and Lettuce, and said, "You can both call me Hayako."
"Thanks," Ichigo said. "I'm Ichigo, nice to meet you."
"Hi, I'm Lettuce," Lettuce said. "It's nice to meet you."
Hayako smiled, then turned to Yuki and asked, "Can we eat now?"
"You sound like Kisshu," Yuki giggled. "Of course we can eat. Come sit down, all of you."
The others came over, and Kisshu sat down, Ichigo sitting next to him. Yuki sat down on Kisshu's other side, and Hayako sat at the head of the table. Pai sat at the end, and Lettuce sat next to him. The food was already set out, and they started passing around a bowl of pasta with some kind of creamy sauce, and a plate of what looked like fried chicken. "This is really good," Ichigo commented.
"I'm glad you like it," Yuki said. "Kisshu brought back a bunch of cookbooks from Earth, and we've started eating Earth food as well as what we were eating before. He's gotten pretty good at cooking."
"Kish, you can cook?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah," Kisshu said. "I had to learn because Taruto was too lazy and Pai can't go into a kitchen without destroying it. And since I was on Earth, I learned how to cook Earth foods. I used to borrow cookbooks from Keiichiro- not that he was aware of it. And after a while, I started going out at night to steal cookbooks that I could keep. When we came back here, I just took the whole collection with me."
"That's really cool, Kish," Ichigo said.
"You think so?" Kisshu asked.
"Yup," Ichigo said, smiling.
A while later, they were done with dinner, and Kisshu asked, "Koneko-chan, should we go back to your room?"
"Sure," Ichigo said.
Kisshu smiled and took her hand, then teleported to her room. "Do you want help unpacking?" he asked.
"That would be great," Ichigo said. "I do have a lot of luggage."
Kisshu smiled and opened one of her suitcases, then said, "Let's get to work."
They started sorting her clothes into the drawers of her dresser, and as they worked, Kisshu asked, "Do you want me to show you around town tomorrow?"
"I'd love that," Ichigo said.
"If Pai's too busy, we might be bringing Lettuce, but I'm sure you don't mind, right?" Kisshu asked.
"Not at all," Ichigo replied. "We're good friends, and I like spending time with her."
"Good," Kisshu said. "I'm hoping Pai will be able to show her around, though; I want to spend more time with you." He smirked when Ichigo blushed, and then said, "I should warn you, some people might ask you if they can touch your ears."
"Why?" Ichigo asked.
"To see what they feel like," Kisshu said. "Your ears are different than ours, obviously, and it makes people curious. Don't worry about it; you can say no if you don't want someone to touch your ears, and it's highly unlikely people will do it without permission."
"Okay," Ichigo said. They finished unpacking, and Ichigo asked, "Do you want to sleep together again?"
"Yeah, but can we sleep in my room?" Kisshu asked.
"You don't like this one?" Ichigo asked.
"It's not that, I just haven't slept in my room in a while," Kisshu said.
"Okay," Ichigo said. "I don't mind which room we sleep in. I'll get my pajamas."
"You can change and get ready; I'm going to my room to do the same," Kisshu said. "It's the next door down, okay?"
"Okay," Ichigo said. Kisshu left, and Ichigo started getting ready for bed.
I think I'll put the tour of the town in the next chapter. I really have no excuse for updating this late, so I'm sorry. But here's a question: whose wedding should be first? Review and tell me!