Not an exciting chapter but it tells you more about Suika and his two friends and gets the story going kind of.
For anyone who is wondering: Suika means watermelon, Kehki mean cake, and Mikan means orange.
Ichigo cracked open the door of the cafe, peeking in to see if anyone was there. She felt relieved when she saw the main lobby empty and walked in with Kisshu trailing behind her. They heard Keiichiro and Ryou chatting quietly in the kitchen.
"Wait here," Ichigo whispered to Kisshu. He sat cross legged in the air and leaned back with his hands behind his head. Ichigo walked to the kitchen and Ryou saw her first.
Keiichiro looked over his shoulder, noticing something had caught Ryou's attention, "Ichigo-san, I thought you had left."
"Well, I did, but..." She poked her forefingers together and looked concerned, "just don't freak out, okay?" Ryou and Keiichiro raised an eye at each other.
"If you broke something, I'm taking it out of your paycheck," Ryou said.
"I didn't break anything!" Ichigo defended, "Remember how the aliens said they'd visit before they left?" Ryou furrowed his brow and walked quickly passed her and into the main lobby. Ichigo and Keiichiro followed closely behind.
Ryou stopped when he saw Kisshu sitting in the air. "What are you doing back?"
"Saving Ichigo's cute butt," Kisshu said. Ichigo blushed a little at the comment and shot a glare at him.
"From what?" Ryou asked, hands on his hips.
"Some psycho that hates me," Kish said. "He's going after her because he found out that I love her."
"And you think you're going to protect her?" Ryou said, almost sarcastic.
Kisshu planted his feet on the ground, "I am going to protect her. You don't know what this guy or his friends are capable of."
"And why should we trust you?" Ryou asked.
Kish narrowed his eyes, "I thought we ended the war on good terms?"
"We did," Ryou said, "but that doesn't mean I trust you with these girls."
"Ryou, I think we should at least give him a chance to explain," Keiichiro said.
"He did already save from this guy today," Ichigo said.
"You were attacked?" Ryou turned to look at her, "Why didn't you transform? The other Mews would have come for you."
"I kind of forgot my pendent here," Ichigo said, knowing he would be upset that she would forget something like that.
"You need to stop doing that!" Ryou scolded, "you're the leader of this team. You never know what could come after you."
"I know, okay?" Ichigo defended, "just give be a break. Things haven't exactly been blowing up since the Saint Rose Crusaders left."
"The Saint Rose who?" Kisshu asked, raising an eyebrow. He was ignored.
"You still don't know what could happen," Ryou said, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"I'm sorry, alright?!" Ichigo exclaimed, "I'm sorry I'm not some Mr. Perfect who never forgets anything, like to put a freaking shirt on!"
"I was in my bedroom!" Ryou said, "You came in without knocking! Again!"
Kisshu watched in amusement as the two argued. Pai and Taruto appeared behind him and he turned around to face them. "Where were you two?" He asked, "you were supposed to be here before I was."
"We had a minor setback at the ship," Pai said.
"Minor setback?" Tart looked up at his older brother with irritation, "You lost one single paper of your research and said we couldn't leave until you found it! You could have just looked for it later, it's not like it was gonna just fly off on its own."
"It was important that it be found," Pai said, "it contained information on the Mew Aqua we brought home."
"I saw what it was," Tart said, "it was your study about that dolphin mew turning into a mermaid from over a year ago!"
"It is still of importance to our planet's full recovery," Pai said. Tart snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Kisshu," They heard Ryou call. Kish turned around again to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm going to need to know everything I can about this guy."
"How about you rally the troops so I only have to explain this once?" Kish said.
"Fine," Ryou said, "but I better be able to trust the three of you."
It was a fairly short wait for the all the mews to show up. They knew it had to be important if Ryou was calling for a meeting out of nowhere. Berry and Retasu arrived first, smiling and chatting as they walked in.
Retasu's eyes landed on Pai first. "P-Pai-san!" She gave a small, quick bow at the waist, "I didn't know you were here!"
"Hello, Retasu," Pai said, only bowing his head because he was sitting at a table.
"Who the hell are you?" Kisshu asked, pointing at Berry.
"Um..." Berry was unsure of how to answer and looked to Ichigo for help as she took a seat next to her.
"Be nice!" Ichigo said to him, "this is Shirayuki Berry. She's a mew who joined us earlier this year to help fight the Saint Rose Crusaders. She's also second in command, so watch it."
"Yeah, I still don't know what you're talking about," Kisshu said.
"We'll explain all of that later," Ryou said, "it's a long story."
"Who is this guy?" Berry asked Ichigo as she took a seat next to her.
"Kish, one of the aliens that attacked Tokyo," Ichigo answered.
"Oh, I remember seeing that all over the news!" Berry said, wide eyed.
"I'm hurt you didn't tell your new friend about your alien lover," Kish said with a fake pout.
"Lover?" Berry questioned, surprised.
"Don't make it sound like something it's not!" Ichigo exclaimed, "he used to claim he was in love with me and practically stalked me."
Kisshu glared at Ichigo, "do you seriously still not believe me? Even after I died protecting you?!"
"You tried to kill me several times!" Ichigo retorted.
"I was trying to save my people." Kisshu leaned closer to her face, "I thought it was the only way!"
"Then you shouldn't have fallen in love with me!"
"You seriously think I chose to fall for my enemy?!"
"Well-"
"Enough!" Ryou shouted. "If you two can't get along, you can't sit next to each other."
"Fine by me..." Ichigo said, crossing her arms over her chest. Kisshu snorted and slumped back in the chair, also crossing his arms, and looked towards the wall.
Zakuro arrived, having just gotten out of a photo shoot. "When did they get back?" She asked Keiichiro, taking a seat next to him.
"Just today," he answered.
Minto and Purin arrived right after. "Thank you for the ride, Minto-oneechan, na no da!" Purin said, smiling up at Minto.
"It's no big deal," Minto said, "I pass your house on my way home from dance class anyway."
Purin's eyes landed on Taruto and he braced for impact as she lunged at him, yelling, "Taru-Taru!"
"Yeah, hi, Purin," he grumbled as he tried to loosen her arms from around his neck.
"When did you get here, na no da?" She asked, "why didn't you come see Purin?"
"I just got here today," Tart said, "and why would I go see you?"
"Because Tar-Tar is Purin's friend, na no da!" Purin exclaimed.
"Why are they back?" Minto asked Ryou with her fists on her hips.
"There's a new threat," Ryou said, "Ichigo is being targeted."
"What?!" Retasu exclaimed, putting her hands to mouth, "that's awful!"
"Kish is going to explain why and by who," Ryou said, gesturing for him to start.
"On my planet, our military separates us into groups of three or four," Kisshu started, "since Pai, Tart, and I are family, we got to stay together. But there was another group that wanted the Earth mission more than anyone else. Suika, the one that attacked Ichigo earlier, and his two buddies, Kehki and Mikan. Suika is pissed because he still believes Earth is rightfully ours and instead of retrieving it, we brought back the Mew Aqua. Kehki and Mikan agree, but they don't seem to care as much. They'll still fight, though, just to make our lives miserable. They're just pissed that we got chosen over them and now we're considered heroes on our planet."
"Do they have any weapons?" Ryou asked.
"Probably not, unless they broke into the armory," Kish said, "but they're still dangerous. Suika can read minds and emotions. That's he found out about Ichigo. Kehki can control fire and Mikan is like Tart; he can control plants."
"Seems like quite the trio," Keiichiro said, "what made your military choose you over them?"
"Pai's got more brains than the three of them combined," Kish said, "I ranked highest in fighting hand-to-hand, and Tart might be younger, but he has more control over himself than Mikan does. That kid can get insane." Kish leaned to his left and playfully punched Tart, who was sitting at the table next to him, in the shoulder with a smirk on his lips, "watch out 'cause they'll probably be after Purin soon, too!"
"Shut up..." Tart mumbled, brushing Purin's hair out of his face. She had forced him to let her sit on his lap.
"If we are to protect the Mews, we must know what we can about them," Pai said. "We need to know what strengths and weaknesses they may have. Suika will strike at whatever he thinks could make his target vulnerable."
Ryou put his elbows on the table and clasped his hands together in front of his mouth, "how can I be positive I can trust you?"
"Damn it, Ryou!" Kisshu said, narrowing his eyes at him, "Ichigo's life is in danger here!"
Ryou simply stared at him for a moment, "fine. We'll work with you, but you won't get my trust that easily."
"Just tell us what we need to know," Pai said.
"I'll give you copies of the girls' profiles," Ryou stood and headed for the basement.
"So, where do you three plan to stay?" Keiichiro asked.
"We have a base near the park from our last mission that we shall use," Pai said.
"A-are Suika and his friends the only reason you came back?" Retasu asked, looking down at her hands folded in her lap.
"Yes," Pai said. He noticed her head hung a bit lower and she seemed sad almost at that answer.
"Oh, come on, Pai!" Kish said, "We were due for a visit anyway. We promised a year ago that we would."
Ryou returned with a very thin stack of six papers that he handed to Pai, "these will tell you everything you need to know about them."
Pai studied the top paper for a moment, "Mew Ichigo craves tuna?"
"Ryou!" Ichigo whined.
Ryou chuckled quietly, "it was just a side note I made." He became serious, "Ichigo, as much as I hate to say this, I'm going to have Kisshu keep a close eye on you."
"What?! No way!" Ichigo protested, "It's still summer break for another tree weeks, I'll just say with Berry. I'm sure it won't be a problem. Right, Berry?"
"I don't mind," Berry said.
"Kisshu knows this guy better than any of the girls," Ryou said, "he'll know what to expect."
"Aoyama-kun can-"
"He isn't here, Ichigo," Ryou said, "and now that Deep Blue is dead, he can't become the Blue Knight. He can't protect you anymore." Kish felt an urge to smile knowing that he could look after Ichigo better than Aoyama could now but held it back and kept a straight face.
"But- I...argh!" She slid her crossed arms onto the table and let her head fall onto them.
"Aw, come one, Koneko-chan!" Kisshu said, grinning, "we'll have fun together." Ichigo peeked up and eyed him suspiciously, not trusting him to behave himself.
I'm going to try to start making the chapters longer. The next one isn't very long either, but it's relationship building between Kish and Ichigo. I hope you enjoyed this update, and please review!
