Escape Part 5:

Moe and Miwa

The weekend passed by without incident, and Monday morning, Ichigo got up and went to school. Moe and Miwa were waiting at the gates like usual, and they looked happy to see Ichigo. "Hi guys," she said.

"We're so glad you're back," Moe said. "Is Kisshu going to be coming to school?"

"No," Ichigo said. "My mom's homeschooling him. He's got a pretty severe case of PTSD, and I told her that the crowds and the idiotic girls at this school wouldn't be good for him."

"PTSD? That doesn't sound good," Miwa said as they started walking into the school. "How's he doing?"

"He's pretty much recovered from teleporting here, but he's still depressed, and he gets nervous sometimes," Ichigo said. "Loud noises are hard for him to deal with, and he's very clingy to me. I wanted to ask if you'd like to come over today, though."

"Sure, we'd love to," Moe said. "Let's get to class, we can talk later."

The day went without incident; all the girls were busy moping over the lack of Aoyuck, so Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa got ignored, which was fine with them.

On the way home, Ichigo said, "Guys, I know you like telling new people that if they hurt me, they'll go down in flames, but please don't tell Kisshu that. I don't want him to be scared of you. I know he'd never intentionally hurt me. He's a lot different than he was two years ago, and it's really hard on him."

Moe and Miwa looked at Ichigo, and saw that she was serious. "We understand," Miwa said gently. "And we won't tell Kisshu that he's going to go down in flames if he hurts you. We'll trust your judgment, Ichigo."

Ichigo smiled as they reached her house. "Thanks," she said.

The girls went in, and Ichigo called, "We're back!"

"We're in the kitchen," Sakura called back. The girls took their shoes off, and went to the kitchen.

Sakura, Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto were sitting at the kitchen table, and they looked up as Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa came in. "Hi girls," Sakura said. "I've got chocolate chunk cake in the oven. It'll be out soon."

"Yay!" Ichigo said.

"Ichigo, who are your friends?" Pai asked.

"Sorry, this is Miwa, and this is Moe," Ichigo said, pointing to them. "We've known each other since we were three."

"Nice to meet you," Pai said. "I'm Pai, and this is Taruto. I think you already met Kisshu."

"Yep," Moe said. "Nice to meet you as well."

"I actually wanted to talk to both of you," Pai said.

"Why?" Miwa asked.

"You both need to train your powers, right?" Pai said.

"Yeah," Moe said.

"We decided that I'd be the one training you both," Pai said. "Does your mother know about this?"

"Not yet, we weren't really sure if we should tell her," Miwa said. "Should we?"

"Hai, but do it here," Pai said.

Moe nodded, and took out a cell phone. She dialed a number, and waited. The others watched as she said, "Hi Mom. Miwa, Ichigo, and I have something to discuss, can you come to Ichigo's? Oh, good. See you then!" Moe hung up and turned to the others. "Ten minutes or so," she said.

"Okay," Sakura said. "The cake should be cooled by then." She went to take it out of the oven, and set it on the stove.

Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Moe went to get it. She came back with a woman Sakura's age, who looked like Moe, except her hair was pulled into a braid. To the others' surprise, she didn't seem startled or scared when she saw Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto. Instead, she sighed. "I had a feeling it would come to this," she said softly.

"What's going on?" Miwa asked. "Did you know we were only half-human?"

"Yes," Mrs. Yanagida said.

"So why didn't you tell us?" Moe asked.

"I didn't want to upset you, and when you were younger, would you really have understood me telling you you're only half-human?" Mrs. Yanagida asked. "When the attacks started, I didn't want to lose you, so I decided that even though you were old enough to understand, I wouldn't tell you. I suppose you all want the full story?"

"If you don't mind," Pai said.

Mrs. Yanagida sighed. "I was nineteen when I first met Moe and Miwa's father," she said. "I don't know exactly what he was doing on Earth; he never told me. And at first, I didn't realize he wasn't human; he did an excellent job of disguising himself. We got close, and started dating. Soon we were sleeping together, and that became the end of everything."

She paused, then said, "Eight months after we started dating, I discovered I was pregnant. I was nervous about telling him, but I did so, and he became nervous as well. That was when he told me he was a Cyniclon, not a human. I asked him why he would choose a human girl, and he simply said, "Because I think you're special."

She paused again, then continued, "He was called back to his planet, but before he left, he told me that he thought there might come a time when our two planets were at war. He claimed that if that happened, he would come get me and our child. He never did that."

"Why did you separate us?" Moe asked.

"I wasn't capable at the time of supporting both of you, and my best friend's first baby died of an incurable heart condition," Mrs. Yanagida said. "I told her my problem, and she said she'd take one of you in. When it became clear you two were fraternal twins, I gave her Miwa, who looked the least like me."

She sighed, then continued, "I remained single my whole life, waiting for the girls' father to return, but even when Tokyo Mew Mew started fighting the Cyniclons, he never returned. Around that time, you and Miwa started being very secretive. At first I was worried that the three who came here had gotten to you somehow, but then I saw a close-up photo of Mew Ichigo. After studying it for a while, I realized that Mew Ichigo looked just like your friend Ichigo. I decided that you had probably figured that out, and were trying to keep it from me. Since I trust you two, I never told anyone."

She sighed again, then said, "I don't know why he never contacted me or came back, but I raised the girls to the best of my ability."

"I'm sorry to ask, but do you remember their father's name?" Pai asked.

"I could never forget it," Mrs. Yanagida said a bit sadly. "His name was Tsukimori Yahiko."

Pai, Taruto, and Kisshu's jaws hit the floor. Mrs. Yanagida looked puzzled, and said, "You know him?"

Pai closed his jaw and said, "He's our leader. Yahiko-sama has been our leader for about twelve years. I imagine that's why he didn't come back for you; he was unable to leave our people."

The others all looked stunned. "I hate to say this, but we need to contact him," Pai said. "Who's coming with me?"

"We'll come," Mrs. Yanagida said, motioning to Moe and Miwa.

"I will as well," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded, and said, "Kisshu, stay with Sakura. Taruto and I will teleport them to the ship."

"Don't get arrested," Kisshu said.

"We won't," Pai said. "Taruto, you can take Moe and Miwa, I'll take Ichigo and…. uh…."

"Yume," Mrs. Yanagida said.

"Thanks," Pai said. "Ready?"

The others nodded, and Pai and Taruto teleported them to a large room with lots of screens and buttons. Pai went over to a large screen, and typed a number into the keypad next to it. The screen when from black to clear, and a few minutes later, Yahiko's face came up, looking startled. "Didn't I exile you?" he asked.

"Yes, and please don't kill me for this, but I found out something interesting about the twins," Pai said.

"Go on," Yahiko said.

"They're your daughters," Pai said.

Yahiko's jaw hit the floor. "Yume had twins?" he whispered.

"Hai," Pai said. "Yume-san is here, do you want to see her?"

"Yes," Yahiko said.

Pai moved aside, and Yume came over. "It's been a long time," she said softly.

"Too long," Yahiko said. "I am so sorry I couldn't come back for you. I suppose Pai told you I was appointed leader after being called back here?"

"Hai," Yume said. "But why did you exile Pai and Taruto? You didn't use to be like that."

"I had to find some excuse for sending them to Earth," Yahiko said. "The decision to put Kisshu in jail was not mine; it was forced upon me by the Council here, who have been very angry over Deep Blue's death. When Zen and Hiroshi told me the condition Kisshu was in by the time he reached Earth, I decided that I would find some way of sending Pai to Earth. Pai is the best healer on Cyniclonia besides his father; he had the best chance of healing Kisshu. Which reminds me, how is Kisshu doing?"

"Not well," Pai said. "Physically, he's healed and basically back to full strength. However, he has a very severe case of PTSD, and he's not doing too well with that."

"I knew sending him to jail was a mistake," Yahiko sighed. "Pai, do you remember the recessive trait in my family's bloodline?"

Pai's eyes widened, and he asked, "You're thinking you might be able to reverse the PTSD?"

"I might need some of your power, but yes," Yahiko said. "I inherited the trait. I'm coming to Earth; please let whoever needs to know know that I'm not coming to attack."

"Understood," Pai said. "We'll be waiting in the same place you came to before."

"Good, see you soon," Yahiko said, and cut the connection.

Pai sighed and said, "Let's go back; we need to explain this to Kisshu."

The others nodded, and Pai and Taruto teleported them back to Ichigo's house.

New developments! Review plz!