Disclaimer: Still own nothing except for my OCs.

The vastly black emptiness of space had a very calming effect. It made someone forget about their worries and just let themselves float slowly on through. It helped Ichigo to forget that she was rushing toward an alien planet to help a species she knew almost nothing about and that despite whatever excuse Ryou had managed to come up with, her parents would still almost certainly kill her whenever it was that she returned home. Yes, space was very calming.

She still had a ton of questions, but Pai had answered none of them. He had only told them that the message had been sent and that they'd arrive at the alien planet in two days. Then he'd left them to their own devices.

"Hello!" Ichigo nearly jumped out of her skin and looked to see none other than Rice standing beside her. She hadn't been there before, so she must have teleported or quietly walked.

"Hello Rice," Ichigo smiled after she had gotten her heart to stop its rapid beating. She would have scolded the young alien for scaring her so, but judging from the look on her face Ichigo didn't think it would have had much of an effect. Probably would have tempted her to scare her even more.

"Why are you looking out there? There's nothing interesting," Rice scoffed.

"I think it's exciting. I've never been in space before. And I certainly had never planned on it," Ichigo explained.

"Really? That's hard to believe. Me and Brie-oniichan are always in space. It's not too exciting. Just a bunch of rocks and empty space," Rice said disdainfully.

"Maybe. But it's calming to me. It helps me forget about everything stressful," Ichigo said.

"Like what?" Rice prompted.

"Well I'm worried about what my parents will say when I get back and how long I'll be gone. There's also a lot that I don't know and am still confused about," Ichigo explained.

"Oh. Well what do you want to know?" Rice asked.

"Ummm… how about where Kish is? Can you answer that?" Ichigo asked.

"Nope. Leader-san specifically instructed for none of us to talk about Kish-oniichan," Rice said.

"Okay. Well how about this then. How did all of this happen? How exactly did your planet become the way it is now? And how did Pai become 'Leader-san?' " Ichigo inquired.

"I'll just explain everything from the beginning. It'll be easier this way," Rice said. She floated up off the ground until she was level with Ichigo and crossed her legs. She gazed at Ichigo with hazel-blue eyes and then launched into her explanation.

"I was only four when Pai, Kish, and Tart-oniichan returned home with the Mew Aqua, so I don't remember too much from that time. Mostly all that I know came from what people have told me. I really didn't care too much then either, because mine and Brie-oniichan's mother had just died, and back then I was always really sad.

"Well, when Pai, Kish, and Tart-oniichan came back everyone was in an uproar. They'd all been expecting them to come back with our savior Deep Blue and then we'd all go to Earth and live there like we used to. But they said that all this time Deep Blue had been lying and that he wasn't our savior at all and that the Mew Mews really weren't evil, but that they had helped them to defeat Deep Blue. A lot of people got angry and thought that they were lying and called them traitors. They put them in jail and a big, long trial was held. I think at one point someone got so angry that they tried to make one of the animals on our planet into a Kirema Anima and tried to get it to destroy the jail and kill the three of them. It got really bad. There was a lot of fighting and even more people died.

"After a long time the trial finally ended and it was decided that the three of them were telling the truth. They used the Mew Aqua on the planet and it became really pretty again. There were flowers everywhere and lots of animals. For the first time in a long while there was enough food for everyone and it was sunny all the time. It was nice, but a little weird at first because everything had been so bad for such a long time.

"When everyone saw that the planet was better they started calling Pai, Kish, and Tart-oniichan heroes. They were given a three days festival in their names to celebrate, which was really good because we hadn't had any festivals since the planet froze. They were also given all sorts of special honors. Since the mission was originally Kish-oniichan's he was given the highest honor; the position of military commander. His first order was to appoint Pai-oniichan as his advisor and to make Tart-oniichan his second-in-command. Everyone thought it was a great idea, even if Tart-oniichan was a little young.

On our planet military commander is the second most powerful role there is. There's only one higher role, and that's the Lord of the planet. The commander of the military controls the whole military and gives them missions. The commander is a very powerful role and a great honor. When Kish-oniichan accepted it it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Especially not with Pai-oniichan as his advisor.

"For a while everything did go really well. But then Kish-oniichan started getting depressed and Pai-oniichan started taking more control. Everything still went well, but a lot of people started to think that Kish-oniichan's depression meant that the peace and wealth we had was coming to an end.

"After that our previous Lord was defeated and a new one took over. He wasn't very good, and not a lot of people really liked him, but he was the new Lord and so everyone had to listen. Kish-oniichan stopped doing his job altogether and Pai-oniichan took over. People started to get sick and die suddenly, and so did the planet. Everything became bad again, and then even worse. Even more people started dying and the new Lord blamed it on Pai, Kish, and Tart-oniichan. He said that if they hadn't helped the Mew Mews stop Deep Blue then our race could have been living peacefully on Earth. Everyone knew that it wasn't true but they were scared and had to listen, and soon they all started to believe it. The Lord stripped Pai, Kish, and Tart-oniichan of their titles and made them regular fighters again. He didn't banish or exile them, but he might as well have. Having your title stripped from you is a loss of honor and pride.

"Not too long after that Kish-oniichan thought of you guys. He thought that you Mew Mews might be able to help us. And so he asked me, Pai, Tart, and Brie-oniichan if we'd be willing to go and ask you guys if you would help us. And so here we are," Rice finished. She shrugged, as if to say that the whole story really wasn't all that interesting, but Ichigo couldn't believe her ears. All that had happened in just three years? She hadn't suspected that anything like that could have been happening while she was just peacefully unaware.

"Wow. I feel like I've missed out on a lot," Ichigo said. "It's almost funny you know. When it was time for me to become a Mew Mew again I didn't want to. I was so reluctant. I just wanted to be normal and stay normal. I thought it would be horrible to be a Mew again. I felt so bad for myself because I knew that I wouldn't be able to be normal anymore. That hardly compares to everything you've all been through."

"I guess," Rice shrugged.

"What do you mean? How can you just say that and shrug?" Ichigo questioned.

"Well when you were normal again having everything change must have been pretty bad because you were used to everything being good. I was born during a huge snowstorm. I'm used to things being bad. I told you that it was weird having everything be good. I would wake up each day and think that I was dreaming, and that one day I really would wake up and it would all be gone. I'd be sad then, sure, but it wouldn't be too bad because I had known it would happen soon anyways. And so when it did happen I wasn't really that upset. Everything's the same, just that now it's a little bit worse than before," Rice said.

"That's so sad," Ichigo commented.

"I guess," Rice said again. She didn't say anything else and teleported away. Ichigo stood there. Black space loomed in front of her but all Ichigo could see were Rice's hazel-blue eyes.

It struck her just how adult Rice really was. She looked and acted like a normal little girl, even the way she spoke made her seem like one, but she was really much more mature than that. I made sense, given the environment she had grown up in.

And her eyes. They'd been so empty when she'd said that. No anger, no sadness, just empty. It was unnatural for a person's eyes to be so empty when they were talking about something terrible like that. Rice was hiding her feelings and doing a very good job of it too.

Ichigo sighed and looked away from the window. Suddenly space didn't seem so interesting anymore. It seemed like just blackness and a bunch of rocks like Rice had said. Rice… She didn't know the youngest alien well but it appeared like she was just a hyper little kid like Purin and Tart had been. But that was just a façade she put up. It must be the same thing with Tart. Ichigo evidently didn't know the aliens as well as she thought she did. They were all hiding the horrible things that had happened in their past. It made Ichigo feel all the more guilty about how she'd acted when she found out that she would have to be a Mew again.

Sighing again, Ichigo left the window and looked up at the ship. She pushed away her guilt and started walking. The past was the past. Feeling guilty wouldn't help her in any sort of way so there was no use in punishing herself over how she'd acted. She was a Mew Mew and now she had promised the aliens that she would help them. And she intended to keep that promise.

00000

Time passed slowly on the alien spaceship. Pai had told them all that it would only take three days to reach the planet but for the Mews it seemed to take three weeks. The novelty of being on the ship wore off when every door led to a room which had been previously explored. All of the Mews were growing restless and agitated, even Purin, who was growing tired of playing with Tart and Rice in all of the same rooms. Brie had retreated to his room, and when he was out he only appeared to look down on them all. Pai stayed in the control room piloting the ship the whole time. Sometimes Retasu joined him but for the most time she was in the immense library reading nonstop. Zakuro resided in the room she had claimed as her own and Minto was downright snotty to anyone who tried to talk to her. Ichigo often found herself sitting in her own room as well, thinking about the strange things that had happened to her since she'd became a Mew Mew again and even before that.

Everything had begun with the first dream about the aliens she'd had. In that dream she had been looking for Pai, Kish, and Tart. She'd found them but Kish hadn't been with them and she had run off trying to find him. After that she'd heard that weird voice and then she'd become a Mew Mew again. She'd had another dream about Kish and when she'd woken she had again heard the voice. She went off to battle another Kirema in the morning and had met Brie for the first time, and when she'd been knocked unconscious Kish had wormed his way into her head again. Nothing had happened for a while and then the Mews had gone off to Tokyo Tower. But before that had happened Ichigo had felt a pain in her head, and then a second time when they were at the tower. And then she'd heard yet another voice in her head and now she was here on the ship and nothing strange had happened since.

Ichigo thought briefly that she was going crazy. It would explain a lot, but somehow she didn't think that that explanation was correct. Everything that had happened to her was all somehow connected to the aliens and the situation she was in right now. It had to be.

The first two times she had heard the voice it had told her the same thing. She needed to save them-and him-or they were doomed to die. The aliens must be the people the voice had talked about that she was supposed to save. It made sense and Ichigo didn't know anyone else who the voice could be talking about.

The third time she'd heard the voice Ichigo didn't think that it was the same one as the first two. The first voice didn't really sound like anything; it was flat and monotone but calm, and held no emotion. The second voice was harsh and angry. It was filled with venom and loathing. It definitely hated her, and Ichigo believed that it was the reason her head kept on hurting. But who could have the power to do that and who could hate her so much? At first she had thought that somehow the owner of the cold voice was Deep Blue, but now she wasn't so sure. The parson hated her and Deep Blue had also, but the voice had said that they were connected and that she was his. Why would Deep Blue say any of that? And more importantly, Deep Blue was dead. There was no possible way that he could come back. So the second voice couldn't be his.

The other thing that was bugging her was her dreams. They all seemed to be focusing on Kish, including the first one, even though he hadn't actually been in that one. Even outside of her dreams, anything concerning Kish was a mystery. Pai had instructed no one to talk about him, but tart had told her that Kish would be happy to see her. That would imply that when they reached the alien planet he would be there. But he wasn't here on the ship, so that could mean he was away on a mission.

Then there was also what Rice had told her. According to Rice, Kish had been called a hero and been made the military commander. But then he had gotten depressed and had eventually been stripped of his power by the new Lord. Why had Kish become depressed? He'd had a powerful position and his planet had been flourishing so why would he stop doing his job? Maybe Rice was leaving something out, or her story just wasn't right.

Then came the dreams themselves. The first one seemed like a vision of the future or something similar but the other two were more like warnings to stay away. In the second dream Kish had specifically told her that they didn't need her help and that she should go back to her earth. And then in the third dream he told her not to listen to Pai and Tart, who wanted her to help them. So for whatever reason Kish wanted her and the rest of the Mew Mews to stay away, even if the alien people were suffering.

Another interesting thing about the dreams was how Kish had acted. In the second one Kish had looked the same as he had three years ago and he had acted strange and almost violently up until the end. Then he had pleaded with her. It was like he'd been trying to scare her but hadn't actually wanted to hurt her.

The Kish of her third dream looked and acted more realistic than the other one. He was older and reminded her of exactly how the Kish she used to know acted. It was a crazy thought, but she felt like she'd been talking to the real Kish in that dream. There was no other way that he would look older like he did. Sure she could try to picture what he looked like, but she didn't think she could make an image that well. This led Ichigo to believe that Kish had been the real thing. If that was true, then how was Kish able to get into her head and dreams like that? And what had happened to Kish at the end of the dream to make him act the way he had? Could he be in trouble? And then there was still the question of why he didn't want Ichigo to come to begin with.

For the majority of the three days the Mew Mews were stuck in the space ship Ichigo was in her room trying to think of answers and explanations for the questions she had, but she wasn't able to. Her mind was stuck in a rut and she could only come up with the same answers she had already thought of. She didn't tell any of the other Mews about what she was thinking because she didn't want them to worry about her, but she bet that if she had she might have been able to at least think of some other explanations. But instead she didn't ask them and decided that she would wait until she reached the planet and then find her answer.

00000

The whole ship rattled and shook viciously as it landed. Within just a minute all of the Mews were out of their rooms and in the main part of the ship, anxiously waiting to finally get off it and step onto the surface of the alien planet.

"Well we're here," Pai remarked as he entered the room. "This is our planet, Baron. I've landed as close to our city as I could get, but we'll still have to walk a bit to get to the entrance." Pai walked to the side of the room and pressed a segment of the wall with his fingers spread. A sea-green light appeared under each of his fingers and then the segment popped open to reveal a small compartment with a smaller white box inside. Pai took it from the compartment and then the segment in the wall was in place again, as if it had never been there.

He opened up the white box to reveal ten syringes filled with a bright, almost neon blue liquid. Each syringe had been securely held in place with a padded clasp and the edges of the box were padded as well to ensure that the syringes couldn't break. Pai walked in front of them with the box and carefully held out a syringe.

"I've told you all about the landscape of our planet. It's covered in volcanoes and lava. It's extremely hot, and almost nothing can survive on the surface. There are few animals that are able to survive the intense heat and neither of our species are one of them. In order for us to get to the city we'll each have to use this," Pai said, bringing forth the syringe. "This is a serum injected into your bloodstream to lower your body temperature. At first you'll be cold but when you step out of the ship that'll change. This version of the serum isn't as concentrated and so it will not last as long, so we'll have to be fast." Pai took several more syringes out of the box and Ichigo gulped loudly at the sight of them. She had a fear of needles and of things in general being stuck inside her.

"I-Is there another way that I could take that?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

"Are you scared, ya old hag?" Tart inquired gleefully.

"Shut up midget! I bet you are too!" Ichigo retorted hotly

"Nuh-uh!" Tart spat, sounding very much like the childish alien she remembered him as. To add to this effect he stuck his tongue out at her and Ichigo couldn't help but laugh.

"There is no other way for you to take the serum. It'll have to be injected," Pai said, interrupting the two of them from their childish fight. Ichigo flushed when she realized just how immature she'd been acting. Tart mumbled something along the lines of "stupid old hag" under his breath and he too was silent.

"If there are no more questions then I will go around and give you all the serum. Then we can be on our way." With that Pai went first to Brie and took his arm. He cleaned his underarm with a cotton ball he got from the box and then slapped the skin a few times to get a vein to show. Then, with carefully skilled hands, he stuck the needle in a vein and injected the light blue liquid into Brie's arm. Ichigo flinched at the sight and began to mentally brace herself for when it was her turn.

Pai went next to Tart, who smirked at Ichigo and stuck his tongue out again at her as the needle slid into his arm. Rice went up next and then Pai stuck the Mew Mews. When he came to Ichigo she closed her eyes and bit her lip as Pai injected the serum into her. Almost immediately she felt cold where the needle had gone in, and that coldness spread through her body, leaching the warmth from her. With some surprise she saw that both Tart and Rice were shivering, and although Brie was holding himself rigidly still, his lips had begun to turn bluish.

Pai stuck himself with the needle then and tossed the vial into the trash. "We can go now. Remember, this serum won't last too long so follow me and don't wander off," Pai instructed. He walked into a different room and they all followed, shivering and rubbing their cold arms as they went. Pai opened the door to the spacecraft and with some slight hesitation coming from the Mews they all headed outside.

The startling contrast to how the planet had appeared three years ago compared to now shocked Ichigo, as well as how similar the planet was to the first dream she'd had. The surface was barren and cracked in many places. Hot steam burst from these cracks in short, powerful bursts that could burn you if you weren't careful. Clouds of smoke hung in the sky and made breathing difficult. Small, hot fires were scattered randomly about the land and every few seconds lava would spurt from the land like a geyser. Within seconds they all forgot how cold they had been and were concerned with how hot they were. Pai didn't let them look around the landscape for too long before he'd started off at a fast pace.

It didn't take too long for Ichigo to grow tired of the hot, barren landscape and for the excitement she felt at being on an alien planet to quickly wear off and irritation to take hold. It was too hot and she was sweating like a pig. Minto was complaining about the walk and how hot she was, and the heat and complaining were giving Ichigo a headache. Retasu asked her a question and she nearly bit the poor shy girl's head off. After that the only talking came from Minto and Purin mumbling something once in a while. Zakuro was silent and bore the extreme heat like the aliens did and Retasu walked quietly, trying to stay out of everyone's way lest she be yelled at again.

"We're here," Pai told them finally. All the Mew Mews looked around to see the city but there was only more barren land in all directions. Brie walked away from the group and stood by a large reddish-brown rock that extended from the ground in a roughly cylindrical shape. He knocked on the rock twice, then waited a moment and swiftly knocked three more times. The ground started to shake and rumble like there was an earthquake going on and then started to crack apart. Ichigo was again reminded of her first dream and how near the end of it the ground had broken apart and lava had spewed froth. The memory of it made her want to bolt, but the aliens were all calmly standing there so she stopped herself. If they didn't think that there was trouble then there probably wasn't, even if her instincts told her to run.

The ground began to rise where it had cracked, slowly, and then faster once it got going. Bit by bit sunlight entered the space underneath and Ichigo saw that the piece of land was actually a hatch that covered a dark stairway leading downwards. Machines were underneath the piece of land that had made it rise and they operated silently. Another machine clicked on and lights above the stairway turned on. The machines stopped moving as the segment of earth stopped rising completely. Pai stepped towards the stairs and advanced downward. The Mews looked at each other before heading down also. Brie hit something before following tem, and the latch started to close again. The lights stayed on.

"We'll be there once we reach the end of these stairs," Pai said.

"It's underground?" Minto questioned.

"Yes. We had a city aboveground but by now the fires have destroyed it. When the Mew Aqua ran out and the land began to get hotter we were forced to return to this city, the same one we had resided in when the land had been frozen. We found that under the surface of the earth it was actually cooler. And of course we developed technology to help cool it even more. Still, it is hot, but not hot enough to need the serum. I'm afraid that until you Mews are able to adjust to the heat you may be uncomfortable," Pai answered.

"Why don't we just use the serum to make us cool?" Purin asked.

"The serum takes time and many resources to make. We can't just waste it needlessly," Brie responded harshly. Ichigo frowned. She understood the need to conserve resources but she didn't think that Brie had needed to say it like that. Purin was only eleven and most likely didn't understand the need for resources. Brie seemed not to notice the look and continued to descend down the stairs.

The stairs seemed to be endless. They continued to descend through the earth as far as Ichigo's eyes could see. She didn't have a watch but she thought that they'd been walking for twenty minutes. Not too long after the group had first started going down that they noticed that more and more rocks were showing up in the dirt walls. Soon the dirt was completely replaced with stone. Despite the intense heat above them, the stone was cool. When Ichigo ran her fingers over it she discovered that there were carvings and symbols etched into the stone. The lights above them barely provided her with enough light to see them clearly. All she could make out were a few lines. Her fingers felt large and intricate designs on the face of the stone. She wondered what they were and thought about asking but didn't. Pai and Brie seemed determined to reach the city and the other Mews didn't notice the stone at all.

Even further down a sort of faintly luminescent moss had started to grow on the stone walls. Ichigo was surprised by it. She didn't know too much about moss, or any other type of plant-life for that fact, but she did know that most plant-life couldn't grow in these types of hot conditions.

Thanks to the light given off by the moss Ichigo could see the stone better now. All along the face of it were vertical and horizontal lines that formed a sort of grid. The moss was growing in most of these spots. There were no fancy designs now, but just the grid-lines that the moss was growing in. It was disappointing, but then when Ichigo thought about it, it made sense. The further down the hall they traveled the cooler it got. Before, when there had been all of the designs there hadn't been any moss because of the heat. But now that it was cooler the moss could grow. Moss had very short roots, so it didn't need to send them into the ground too much, but it still needed some purchase, and that was what the lines were for. For whatever reason, the aliens were growing and harvesting the luminescent moon.

Pai stopped abruptly and Ichigo almost bumped into Minto. The rich girl turned to glare at her and then spun around with her nose sticking up in the air.

"We're here," Pai said. Brie opened up a bag he had somehow acquired and distributed out brown hooded cloaks to the group. They all put them over their heads and waited. "When I open this door," Pai explained, "you will see our city. I want all of you to say close to me and not talk or look at anyone. Don't speak, even if someone addresses you. For right now its better if no one sees that you are the Mew Mews so don't draw attention to yourselves." And then Pai opened the door.

The alien city was breath-taking. It had been carved from the very ground it existed in. Houses were made out of the same stone Ichigo had seen in the stairway. Now that she could see better, she saw that they were all a reddish-brown hue, and all of them had the same carvings and designs on them. They were squarish little huts, many of them were only one story tall, but the closer you moved toward the center of the city the taller the buildings got. Ladders had been carved into the sides of houses so that people could climb onto the tops of them, but for what Ichigo didn't know.

Directly in the center of the center of the city was a building taller than some of the ones Ichigo had seen in Tokyo. Unlike the other buildings, this one wasn't just a square hut. It stretched as far up as the top of the ceiling, narrowing as it went so that the very tip of the huge building was still attached to the ceiling. Four smaller, twisted spikes surrounded the tall one in the center, and came up to about half its length before stopping. There were jagged windows cut into the stone building. The lights were on, but that didn't make the building look any less menacing. She shivered as they passed it and wondered what it was for.

There were many aliens walking around the city, all of them wearing similar brown cloaks. Most of the adults that wondered the streets looked tired and weary, and a few of them had bad coughs. There were few children playing outside of their houses but for the most part there were hardly any to be seen. A few toys rested on the ground, still because of the absence of air. That and the absence of more people and playing children gave the city an abandoned feel to it.

The entire city itself rested in a huge cavern that had been carved from the earth. The amount of people and strength it must have taken to do this surprised Ichigo. Had it all been accomplished by hand or did the aliens have machines that helped them? She could ask Pai, but only after they had reached wherever it was that they were going to.

Their little group didn't cause too many glances from the aliens as they went, but Ichigo did see a few people looking at them a little curiously. Feeling exposed, she pulled her hood closer to her face and covered her mouth, then increased her pace a little. She did notice however, that most of the alien females ere just as beautiful as she'd thought they might be. Even with the heavy brown robes they all wore she could see that they were slender and moved with more grace than a human ever could. They had fair skin and high cheekbones that gave them an exotic frail look. Their large liquid eyes added to that image. Each had different types of precious jewels hanging from their pointed ears.

Pai led them to a house that was on the outskirts of the city. While most of the houses on the outskirts were short, this one was large and tall enough to have a second floor. Pai opened the door without knocking and ushered them in.

There was a woman in the house that immediately struck Ichigo as familiar, though she wasn't sure how. She was an alien, and had all the features of the ones Ichigo had just seen outside, but she seemed more dignified than they had. She too was beautiful and slender and frail, but she was much paler that any of the aliens Ichigo had encountered outside. Also unlike the ones outside, her ears were not heavy with precious gems and metals, but she wore only one pair of large gold, earrings with a single purple gem centered in the middle of each. When she saw all of them her lavender eyes widened with what Ichigo mistook to be fear. A second later she identified the emotion as shock just as she rushed over to Pai and threw her arms around him.

"Pai! You're back! Oh, I was so worried that you would get caught," She cried. Pai wrapped his arms around her gingerly.

"I'm fine. We all are. We made it and now everything will be alright," Pai reassured. The woman smiled at him and then turned her eyes to the rest of them.

"I'm so happy that you're safe too Brie," She said and then hugged him too. A very faint blush crept into his cheeks but otherwise his face remained unchanged. He gave her a hug back and the woman released him and knelt down to gather Tart and Rice up in her arms and kissed them both on their cheeks.

"And of course I'm happy to have you two back!" She laughed. Tart and Rice both half-heartedly tried to escape and Rice gave her brother a look that clearly said "help", but in the end they both gave up and hugged the woman back. She stood up, traces of a smile still on her face, and looked at the Mews.

"You must be the Mew Mews," She said. Ichigo nodded.

"Yes, these are them. Ichigo, Minto, Retasu, Purin, and Zakuro. Mews, this is my mother Crêpe," Pai said. As soon as he said it Ichigo could see the resemblance between the two. How could she have not seen it before?

"It's very nice to meet you Crêpe-san!" Retasu exclaimed. She threw her head down in a bow and when she rose again her face was flustered.

""Oh please just call me Crêpe! No need to be so formal," She smiled.

"H-Hai!" Retasu said.

"Mother," Pai said sharply. Crêpe turned to him and Pai motioned to a stairway in the back of the house. All at once Crêpe's smile evaporated and she appeared troubled. "His condition is almost the same as before you left. He hasn't gotten any better, but he hasn't gotten any worse wither. I suppose we can be thankful for that much but…," Crêpe trailed off. "He's sleeping right now, but if you go up there be cautious; he's in one of his fit stages." Pai nodded and then he, Brie, Tart, and Rice all headed upstairs. Ichigo started to go with them but a hand on her arm stopped her. Crêpe was holding her back, shaking her head.

"It's better for you five to stay down here," She said.

"Why? Who's up there?" Minto asked. Crêpe didn't respond.

"Do you girls know how to cook?" Crêpe asked instead. Purin nodded eagerly, telling her all about Café Mew Mew and the different pastries and cakes that they made there. Everyone else didn't seem to notice or care about the switch in the subject and they added the things they could cook to the list Purin had started. Ichigo briefly wondered about just who Pai and Crêpe had been talking about before deciding that it didn't matter too much. Sooner or later she was bound to find out. Before long she had joined in the conversation with the others.

Crêpe explained to them that she wanted to cook a big meal to celebrate their safe arrival and that if the Mew Mews didn't mind they could help her. They all agreed and set about getting ingredients and food for Crêpe and helping her prepare the table and do tasks. Everything seemed so normal that for a moment Ichigo forgot that she wasn't on Earth anymore and that she was here to save an entire species. Crêpe reminded her of her own mother or maybe a kind grandmother. She was the type of person you could talk to about anything and get helpful advice from. Pai was lucky to have such a kind mother. Or to even have a mother.

Crêpe told them all about how Pai and Brie had always been good friends since they'd been around the same age. Later on they had become close friends with Kish when they went to school. Together the three of them had tormented their teachers and pulled many a prank on their classmates. Usually all of these tricks and pranks had been planned by Kish, who Crêpe told them had been just as mischievous back then when he was younger. Ichigo understood that completely and found herself laughing along at the tales Crêpe told about when the three of them were younger. It seemed like Kish was always getting Pai and Brie into some sort of trouble.

Kish's mother had been friends with Tart's and so when tart had entered school Kish had taken him under his wing. Tart idolized Kish, Crêpe told them, and so whatever Kish had thought would be fun Tart went along with, and now the two of them got Pai and Brie to follow them in their schemes. Those were the fun times, Crêpe explained.

The fun times ended with the death of Kish's mother. His father, along with Tart's, Brie and Rice's, and most alien children had died in a battle. Kish had been too young to remember him and for most of his life his mother was the only person who had taken care of him. Kish had been heartbroken and began to act out more than usual in what most of the time were dangerous ways. Pai's own father died not too long afterwards. Brie hadn't been able to understand why Kish was acting the way he was and ended up gravitating more toward Pai. Tart tried to stick with Kish but the older alien didn't want much to do with him then.

Only two years afterward had Pai, Kish, and Tart all been assigned to the mission on Earth to bring back Deep Blue. Brie had wanted to go, but he had to help his mother take care of Rice. Crêpe assumed that they must have rekindled their friendship during that mission when they'd all come back there hadn't been any problems. And Kish had cemented their friendship by giving both Pai and Tart big positions of power when he'd been the military commander.

Brie and Rice's mother had just died a few weeks before the three of them had come back, and when they'd learned of this Pai, Kish, and Tart had all been there for them. A year later when Tart's mother died, leaving him with a newborn baby sister, Crêpe had decided to invite all of them to come live with Pai and her in their house. Now all of them lived together.

"You're very kind Crêpe," Retasu said as she carefully put ingredients into a bowl.

"Nonsense. It was the right thing to do. And I do have such a big house. I needed more people in it," Crêpe smiled.

"Um Crêpe? Do you thing you could tell me something? Do you know where Kish is?" Ichigo asked. Crêpe's smile faltered and she looked down at the slab of meat she'd been tenderizing.

"Ichigo, I like you a lot but there are some things that I cannot tell you. You must understand that it's for your own good," She answered firmly. When she looked up again her smile was gone.

"Why won't anyone tell me?" Ichigo wanted to ask, but her question went unheard because of a sudden loud bang. Everyone's head turned to the ceiling and they flinched as another bang shook the house.

"Mother!" It was Pai's voice from upstairs. "We need you!" Without another word Crêpe hurried upstairs. Without thinking about what she was doing, Ichigo followed her. Tart and Rice teleported in front of her, their faces white and shaken.

"You shouldn't go up there," They told her but Ichigo paid them no heed. She was tired of being left in the dark and wanted to know what was going on, even if it wasn't the thing she really wanted to know about. She climbed the stairs two at a time and halted once she got to the hallway. There was only one open door that she saw and she headed for that one.

The first thing that Ichigo noticed upon entering the room was that by answering this question she had also answered the biggest question she had. For lying on the bed was Kish.

At first she was so happy to see him that she didn't notice what else was wrong with the picture. When the realization hit her she felt like she would be sick. Kish was pale, paler that he should have normally been under any condition. His skin was covered in a sheen of what had to be fever sweat and his clothes were drenched in it. His emerald bangs were plastered to his forehead and he was so skinny-too skinny. He looked like a skeleton.

Pai and Brie were on either side of him holding him down to the bed as he thrashed around wildly and screamed. Kish's gold eyes were wide and terrified. They reminded Ichigo of an animal's eyes when it was being chased by some large predator. Crêpe was standing over him, trying to force him to look at her and to understand that they were his friends and they wouldn't hurt him. He screamed and thrashed even more, contorting his body and trying to throw Pai and Brie off his arms. It looked like he was being tortured.

"Kish," Ichigo said quietly. Pai, Brie, and Crêpe all looked at her and Kish used the distraction to try and throw them off again. Ichigo couldn't watch anymore. She ran out of the room crying.

She bumped into something in the hallway and saw that it was Pai. He must have teleported out of the room, she thought absentmindedly. She collapsed against his chest and started to sob uncontrollably. She couldn't seem to stop her tears from falling but she didn't care. Let Pai and everyone else see her tears, because seeing Kish like that had been terrible. Terrible because he was sick.

00000

"Kish."

That word echoed in his head again and again, letting him have no rest. It was his name of course, so it wasn't that he was trying to remember where he'd heard it, just who had said it. The voice that had spoken his name was very familiar, he just couldn't quite remember. He supposed he'd been having a fit again, and Crêpe had given him medicine to soothe it. That always left his head feeling fuzzy and cloudy, and he could never quite make any connection to his memory right away.

It hadn't been Pai or Brie or Tart; it was a female voice. Not Rice. Maybe Crêpe…? No, not her either. What other female would be talking to him? No one ever visited them or Crêpe since the new Lord had come to power, and he didn't think anyone even knew about him being sick other than his friends. So who?

He struggled to rid himself of the fog in his head so that he could think, and slowly it worked. His brain thought of Ichigo. That did make sense, he admitted, but why would Ichigo be here when he had specifically told her not to… Ichigo!

"Ichigo!" Kish cried, jolting up in his bed. He winced as the sudden movement aggravated his sore body, but quickly he forgot about the pain as Ichigo floated in his head again. Brie was in the room with him and when he saw he was awake he rushed to his bed.

"You need to lie back down. You are not well enough to move around yet Kish," He said softly but firmly. Kish glared at him defiantly.

"You brought them here didn't you? I told you not to but you did anyway," He said. Brie said nothing, which made Kish suspect that he was right. The Mew Mews were here.

"Bring them here," He ordered.

"Kish, you aren't well enough," Brie protested.

"I'm not dead yet," Kish said, "Now bring them here. Because I bet you didn't tell them everything." Sensing that he was fighting a losing battle, Brie said no more and left the room. When he was gone Kish allowed himself to lie back down on the bed. Brie was right, he did still need to rest but this was more important.

Ichigo… His chest pained him when he though of the cat-girl. He wondered how much she had changed and if she still had that stupid boyfriend of hers. She had obviously seen him during one of one of his fits, but had it just been her or all of the Mews as well? Why hadn't Pai prevented them from entering this room? He hadn't wanted anyone else to see him like that.

What would it be like to see Ichigo again? Things were different now then they had been before. They'd been enemies before and for right now at least they were allies. He had always felt the same way about Ichigo but had her view of him changed at all? He would find out in a minute anyway, but that didn't stop his growing feeling of apprehension.

The door to the room opened and Pai, Brie, Tart, and Rice entered. Behind them were the girls. They all looked older and more mature but it was Ichigo who caught Kish's eye. She hadn't grown much taller, but her body had grown curvier and more womanly. She looked much less childish than the Ichigo he remembered and her eyes were no longer filled with naïve innocence but had gained wisdom and knowledge. The innocence was still there but it has heavily guarded now. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders but she still wore it in ponytails tied up with ribbons. Her eyes met his gaze and Kish found himself looking away.

"Kish, is this really necessary? You need to rest and the girls were helping Mother cook. They've already decided to help us of their own free will," Pai said.

"I'm sure that you didn't tell them everything," Kish said strongly.

"What do you mean Kish-san?" The fish-girl, Retasu asked.

"Pai didn't tell you everything. He left out anything that would influence you to stay on Earth and not help us. I know why he did it but he shouldn't have. He shouldn't have brought any of you here," Kish said darkly.

"The current leader of our planet, our Lord, hates you Mew Mews. He hates Pai, Tart, and me too. When we returned to our planet with the Mew Aqua everyone was happy and we made our planet beautiful. We were hailed as heroes and given positions of power. When our old Lord died and the new one took over he called us traitors for working with you to defeat Deep Blue. "He stripped us of our titles and now everyone hates us. They all believe that we would have been better off with Deep Blue, and because of that they hate you as well. The Mew Mews are considered our enemies and if you get caught then you'll be killed," Kish explained. He looked at all of them, judging their reactions. This wasn't just something they could do and then go back home. This could be deadly.

"You all need to go back. Pai can take you. Doing this is too dangerous and you could end up being killed," He said slowly, clearly pronouncing each word, allowing them all to sink in.

"No." All the occupants of the room looked at Minto, who was glaring at Kish haughtily.

"We've had to turn back into Mew Mews again, fight Kirema Animas and aliens, were kidnapped, spent three painstakingly slow days aboard a spaceship, and snuck into this house like we were outlaws and now you're telling us to go back, that it was all for nothing?! No! I won't allow that! Even if we did go back, who's to say we would lose our powers again and return back to normal? There's no guarantee on that! I say that since we're already here we do what we came here to do! Okay, so there'll be danger. When haven't we been in danger? You say that we could die, well we could have three years ago too but we didn't. That's why we're Mew Mews and not normal humans. I'm staying here and nothing that you can say will change my mind. So I suggest that you save your breath because it looks like you'll need it," the snobby bird-girl snapped. Kish was stunned. Out of all the Mews, Ichigo had usually been the most outspoken one. But here was selfish Minto doing a complete 360. Ichigo obviously hadn't been the only one to change.

To Kish's dismay the other four Mews agreed wholeheartedly with what Minto had said. Also to his dismay, after that first initial outburst he had no more control over the conversation. Nothing that he said held any influence over the girls. It looked like the Mew Mews were staying.

Okay, so like I said, both chapters were long, especially this one (longest yet) and both had a lot of stuff happening in them. You finally get to see what's been going on with Kish! Yay! Next chapter'll have him actually interacting with Ichigo.

Oh, one quick thing: I still hate my title and haven't come up with a better one. Anyone have any ideas?

Okay, so I've got quite a bit to say now. You really don't have to read this I suppose, but whatever. It took me a long time to type these chapters because the computer that we're using right now is actually my dad's. Long story short, we got our computer back for like two days and my brother screwed it up. He managed to delete EVERYTHING from it and now it won't go on the internet. So everything that I had already typed up was gone and I had to start over from scratch. It wasn't really too bad, but I just like to complain. Heehee. But anyways, we were trying to get it fixed -again- and that's why it took much longer than I thought it would. So sorry 'bout that!

Another thing, unfortunely over my period of no computer I kind of lost intrest with TMM. So yeah, that's bad. I will still be typing this but I might not be putting up any other TMM fanfics. We'll see I guess. My new guilty pleasures (two of them!) happen to be Yu-Gi-Oh (yeah I know, Yu-Gi-Oh? Come on!) and Death Note. I started reading the manga for DN and found out that I REALLY REALLY like it. And there just happens to be a pairing that I love. The same goes for Yu-Gi-Oh. I just happened to realize my love for it one day. Also, the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged Series had a big influence over this decision. My friend showed it to me and it's awesome! So yeah, I'll be writing more fanfiction for those two series.

Okay, time for more bad news! (Yay, don't you just love it?) Again, over my period of no computer I had a phase of writer's block. So I really haven't written much for this story. I got over it thankfully, but right now I've got no idea what to do with the next chapter. Well no, I have an idea of what to do with half of the chapter, it's just the othr half that's being problimatic. I'll figure out something, it just might take a little bit. So hopefully these two chapters will hold you all over and you'll stay with me through this story!

Thank you all for being so thoughtful and thanks for not forgetting about this story! Remember to review! Oh, and sorry for any spelling errors there might be in this. I was lazy and didn't proofread too much. Thanks again! I heart you all! Heehee ;D