Heartache and hardships are a part of life and without them we would not be able to fully appreciate the good times and what we have and who we have around us. Although I tell myself this and I know it to be true, it does not stop how I feel at times. That being said it does give me hope that it will pass and I will be okay again. I will be happy again.

I continue to write because making stories has always been a great joy to me, even though my focus is very broken lately and I can't sit down and work solely on one project without getting restless.

Again, I'm sorry.

And again, thank you so much.

Its been a while since I replied to reviews but I won't ignore you if you throw me a PM; conversation is a wonderful road that leads to friendship :)
Yeah, I'm soppy~

*~ To Know Him ~*

*~ Chapter 24 ~*

"When I get my hands on that stupid, idiotic, ridiculous, terrible -" the blue mew's irritated grumbles trailed off as she and the other mews raced towards the cafe as fast as they could.

The reason for her anger and anguish was the disappearance of their mew leader, Ichigo. Again.

Despite the delightful weather of glorious sunshine with a pleasant cool breeze, everyone had woken slightly on edge for today's departure. The people of Tokyo and the world were glad as it marked the day the Earth was safe from alien attack while said aliens finally left. But a small group of people did not share that same enthusiasm as the rest of the world.

There were a few heart-broken people and then some just genuinely broken people. After the two year ordeal they just weren't sure how they would cope without them or even just how to move on after the whole experience. Some didn't know what they were supposed to do now, of course continue to help the Earth...but with an empty void now echoing within each of them.

The mews had all planned to meet early to see their new found friends off, having said goodbye to the alien boys the night before so that they could spend all of the day getting the ship powered ready for the travel and space jump. However when the pink mew hadn't turned up at the meeting place and then proceeded to not answer her phone when they called, they realised that she was most likely up to something.

The girls finally turned up at the cafe and rounded the pink eye sore to the field behind in which the Cyniclon ship was currently settled and waiting for launch. Had it not been the catalyst for the boys leaving today it would have been a magnificent sight. The giant royal blue diamond stretched proudly toward the sky, the point piercing a thin wispy cloud just above. White square disks seemed to float suspended in a perfect circle around the middle of the diamond body and its four long spires were currently planted firmly on the ground acting as if they were supported legs albeit not being physically connected to the spaceship.

Mint dug her mobile phone out of her purse as they continued to close the distance toward the ship. One last time she dialled her Mew leader's number and it went straight through to voicemail this time. Before all of this the phone had been ringing so either Ichigo's mobile had lost battery...or the girl had switched her phone off. Biting her cheek Mint dialled a number for the first time since buying the receiving device the day before.

It rang twice before a voice that made her heart ache answered, "Good morning, my friend. I didn't expect a call so soon. Is everything alright?"

"I'm sorry, I know you guys must be busy but...Ichigo's gone missing," Mint stuttered not sure how she must sound to a clearly busy Cyniclon. Mint huffed as if exhausted already and added, "I think maybe -"

Pai cut her off with his own exasperated groan, "I should have known - he's been acting jumpy all damn morning. KISH! Where've you hidden her?!" The alien cried also sounding exhausted. Before hanging up, he quickly added, "My dear, I'll call you back."

There was a click and the line went dead. The mews stared up at the alien spacecraft waiting for orders as there was nothing else they could do for now.

"We just...panicked, okay?!" Kish cried throwing his hands haphazardly in the air, while Ichigo stood beside him hands folded in front of her and her head hung in shame. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes were averted. All the while Taruto was in the background still working on powering up the ship doing his best to pretend like he wasn't there.

"No! It's not okay! I'm so mad at you right now!" Pai snapped angrily pacing in front of them. He stopped in front of the mew and spoke sternly, "I'm disappointed in you too. I never took you for such a fool."

"Hey," Kish said stepping in-between them and drawing Pai's icy stare again. He held up a hand with inverted brows but he didn't raise his voice, "Don't take it out on her. It was my idea. She had nothing to do with it."

"So am I to believe you kidnapped her then?" Pai asked sarcastically and with enough venom to evidently show he wouldn't believe that lie even if they tried. When Kisshu frowned and dropped his hand in defeat Pai narrowed his eyes and spoke coldly, "No, I didn't think so. She followed you of her own accord. You are both incredibly stupid for this insane act! We have peace! Why would you jeopardise that?!"

Kisshu went to speak but Pai held his hand up and his voice raised just a tad, "Not another word! I'm not interested in your excuses! You've added time to our departure, which means you've added time until our return - and you already know that we will return! So its not like you're never going to see each other again!"

"But-"

"No, Kish," Pai interrupted.

But he insisted, "No, listen! I've loved her for so long now and we've only just... I found love, brother," Kisshu looked to Ichigo as she looked up at him through her lashes, the hint of a blush dusting her cheeks. Pai's expression softened looking at the obvious bond between them. Kisshu gently took Ichigo's hand and turned back to Pai once more, "I know we're going to return. But I also know that that's gonna be a long time coming... and it hurts just knowing that."

The rage suddenly melted away and Pai was left feeling utterly defeated and exhausted. The older alien sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Kish, you're not alone feeling this way. We share the same despair and longing that you do. Taruto and I just said our goodbyes already as you were supposed to do. You think that if we could you wouldn't see that little monkey girl prancing around the room? We've all... bonded with people from Earth. Humans. We will all miss them, as they will miss us." He paused and looked between the two love birds in front of him. He all of sudden felt uncharacteristically uncomfortable and he shifted his body weight from one foot to the other. A thought struck him, a new hope for them to hold on to - one that he was currently holding on to himself at this moment in time. He pulled out the small device that the blue mew had given him just yesterday and held it up, "Do you know what this is?"

"I think so," Kish shrugged wondering where his brother was going with this.

"A mobile phone?" Ichigo also answered, tilting her head in question.

"Correct," Pai nodded and offered her a very gentle half smile before he explained, "Akasaka-san and I will be developing a communication link between worlds. We worked out some blueprints and a series of codes and programming plans for each of us to build the means separately on either planet. The distance is far but if we drop two relay satellites on the way back home we should be able to connect the calls." He paused and then summarised, "We'll be able to talk to each other while we're away."

Ichigo's eyes widened and she jumped toward the older alien, "What? Really?!" Pai simply smiled and nodded. The grin that broke across the redhead's face was practically luminous as she chuckled out of pure joy and threw her arms around the older alien, "Oh my god! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This is wonderful!"

Pai let a gentle laugh of is own escape his lips as he brought his hands to rest lightly on her shoulders, "It's not just for you, you know."

Ichigo giggled and bobbed her head, "I know! But I'm just so happy!" She then beamed up at him warmly with her arms loosely around his waist and spoke with a sincerity that first surprised him, "Thank you for everything! Thank you for being my friend when all was said and done!"

The alien's eyes flickered up to his brother briefly who was smirking back at him with his arms crossed, leaning on one foot. Pai sighed with a lazy smile on his face as he shook his head and leant down to properly return the hug, "No, thank you. For not dying when I attacked you - god, I'm so sorry - and for opening my heart to a more peaceful solution. Thank you for showing me kindness that I don't think I deserve."

"You think you can knock me down with a little lightning?" the young woman chuckled as they parted and she regained some of her usually confidence, "I'm Mew Ichigo, y'know! For the future of the Earth, I'll be of service! Ack!"

The mew's surprised yelp turned in to giddy giggling as she had been captured from behind and swept up in to the arms of the young man she loved. Kisshu spun them twice and pulled her close to him while the older alien crossed his arms and shook his head with a smirk on his face.

They were hopeless... and they were going to find this distance very difficult but then so would Taruto... and so would he.

Ichigo had endured a full half hour of Mint yelling even after Pai had mentioned that he had already scolded both her and Kish for their crazy stow-away plan. Mint had gotten so heated that she had even started to well up and, just as they tears began to spill over, the girls embraced each other and just held on for what seemed like the only way they wouldn't fall apart today.

Hours passed and the sun had just sunk below the horizon. There was a small orange glow stretching toward the sky reaching from the fallen star which met the deep purple and royal blue gradient of night. It was sprinkled with far away twinkling stars and the different colours and lights bounced off of the sheen of the space craft as it hummed to life making the hearts of the onlookers skip a beat. The four limbs of the ship lifted from the ground and curved inward so now the craft was fully suspended in mid air.

Just then Mint's mobile began ringing. The blue mew hit answer and set it to loud speaker. Impatiently she asked, sounding almost terrified as her voice broke at the end of her sentence, "Are you ready?"

"Just about," came Kisshu's voice meaning they also had the device on loud speaker in the control room.

The girls - joined finally by Keiichiro, a jittery Ryou and even a few members of the public - had moved as far as the cafe to watch the launch from a safe distance.

Ichigo and Pudding huddled around the cellular device beside Mint.

"I miss you already, Taru-Taru!" Pudding cried.

"Pudding, I haven't even left yet!" Taruto's voice whined but then he added as an after thought, "I'll miss you too."

"Pai..." Mint began and paused but he didn't reply - he was probably busy with the final inputting of commands, "Don't make us wait, okay?"

The perfect circle of plates around the ship began to rotate around the central diamond, first incredibly slow and then gaining in speed to a constant motion. The space craft began to lift and tears began to gather in the girls eyes yet again. Just when Mint thought he wasn't going to reply, he repeated what he had said when they were alone, "I won't be long."

"I love you!" Ichigo called as the ship slowly rose in to the sky and, just as the plates had done moments before, began to gain speed. Flames broke out at the top as the point of the craft pierced the atmosphere and the diamond, glistening from the reflection of the lights and stars around it, exited the Earth. In panic Ichigo screamed repeating herself, "Kisshu, I love you!"

"Ichigo, I- " the line went dead as the ship enter hyper-speed and fell out of range of the satellites.

Was that cruel? Maybe a little.

I hope you guys don't mind the shortness of these last few chapters. My brain is not being kind to me as of late so this is all rather difficult to write without struggle. Many apologies~ And many more thanks and appreciation for all who have stayed and read this with me over the years (it should not have taken this long and I apologise for that also). That being said this is not the last chapter as even I would hate such an open end without closure. How many more chapters left? Maybe only one, maybe two? Either way I'm not going to promise when it will be posted, only that it will be posted.

Love you all very much so~!

All the love in the world,
Hazard x x