Reunited

Two weeks after the Cyniclons left, Ichigo and the other Mews had returned to their normal lives. They had all quit Café Mew Mew after a discussion with Keiichiro, and the Café had closed down. Another plus was that Ryou had been arrested for sexually harassing Ichigo. Little did anyone know up till then, Pudding had a collection of photos of Ryou pinning Ichigo against the wall. Once the Mews took them to the police, Ryou got hauled in for questioning, and was currently in jail for twenty years, due to the fact that the police found out about the Mew Project. The only reason Keiichiro hadn't joined him was that Ichigo and Zakuro had convinced the police he had only gone along with Ryou's plot to protect the girls.

Ichigo's life had gone back to semi-normal; Moe and Miwa were still as overprotective as always, and her grades had gone up, due to the fact that she had more free time now. She kept herself busy with her studies and hanging out with Moe and Miwa, but she still missed Kisshu. She knew there was a good chance he wouldn't come back; she had hurt him too much. Sometimes she wondered if she actually deserved the second chance he had given her, but she was grateful all the same. With Aoyama dead and Ryou in jail, she found that she was much happier anyways.

Another three weeks passed uneventfully, but then Ichigo received a call from Lettuce, who wanted to come over. Ichigo agreed, and fifteen minutes later, the girls were sitting in Ichigo's room. "So what did you want to talk about, Lettuce?" Ichigo asked.

"Do you think they're going to come back?" Lettuce asked.

"I imagine it's going to be a while," Ichigo said. "They have to get there, heal the planet, tell their people about Deep Blue- there's probably a lot of things that need to be done before they can come back. Pai said he'd come back to visit, and I think he will. It's pretty clear that he loves you, just like Taruto loves Pudding. And we don't know how long it takes to get to their planet. I know you miss him, but I'm positive he'll come back."

"Thanks," Lettuce said. "How are you doing?"

"I guess I'm fine," Ichigo said. "I've decided to make the most of the second chance Kisshu gave me, even if he never comes back. I can't really blame him if he doesn't love me anymore; I realize that I put him through more pain than anyone should have to go through, and that he probably can't forgive me for that."

"You never know," Lettuce said. "I don't believe that true love fades that quickly."

Ichigo sighed, and Lettuce asked, "Would you be able to handle it if Kisshu just wanted to be friends?"

"I guess it would be better than him hating me, but I think it would still hurt," Ichigo said. "I know I don't really deserve to be his girlfriend, considering how much pain I put him through, but it would be nice to at least see him. So I guess the answer is yes; I could handle it if he didn't want to be anything more than friends."

"I think whether you deserve to be Kisshu's girlfriend or not should be left up to him," Lettuce said. "If he comes back, and says he wants to be together, that should be enough for you. It's not good to doubt yourself."

Ichigo smiled reluctantly and said, "You're right. Thanks, Lettuce."

Lettuce smiled and said, "You're welcome. Thanks to you too."

"Why?" Ichigo asked, puzzled.

Before Lettuce could respond, Ichigo's cell phone rang. "That's odd; it's Keiichiro," she said. Picking up, she asked, "Hi Keiichiro, what's up?"

"Is Lettuce with you?" Keiichiro asked.

"Yes, is something wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"Come to the Café, you'll see," Keiichiro said, and hung up.

Ichigo and Lettuce looked at each other, then grabbed their shoes and purses. Soon they were both running for Café Mew Mew. They reached it in record time, and Lettuce opened the door. She and Ichigo went in, and stopped dead.

All the other Mews were there, along with Keiichiro- and Kisshu, Pai, and Taruto. Taruto was being glomped by Pudding, and Kisshu and Pai were sitting at a table, watching them with amusement. Everyone looked up as Ichigo and Lettuce came in, and Kisshu nudged Pai, who got up, and walked over to Lettuce and Ichigo as Ichigo closed the doors. "Lettuce, I missed you," he said.

"I missed you too, Pai," Lettuce said shyly. "That's what Ichigo and I were talking about; how much we missed you guys. I think Ichigo even missed Taruto."

The others started laughing as Ichigo said, "No I didn't. Why would I miss being called an 'old hag' all the time?"

"Pudding informed me I have to stop," Taruto said, having managed to free himself from Pudding's death grip.

"Good," Ichigo said. "So are you moving in with Pudding now?"

"Yep," Taruto said happily.

"I'll be checking up on them, however," Pai said.

"That's a relief," Ichigo and Lettuce said together.

Keiichiro cleared his throat, and said, "Ichigo and Lettuce, Pai, Kisshu, and Taruto are here to stay; apparently they were getting too much attention for saving everyone, and asked permission to come live here."

"Great!" Lettuce said happily.

Ichigo remained silent, watching Lettuce hug Pai. She had a small smile on her face, but the others could tell it was somewhat forced. Lettuce and Pudding got their wishes, Ichigo thought. I should be happy for them, even though Kisshu hasn't even looked at me. I guess that's it, then.

Taking a deep breath, Ichigo said, "Was there anything else? I should get home and do my homework."

"Ichigo, it's Friday," Mint said. "You've got the whole weekend."

"I've got a lot of housework and laundry to do this weekend," Ichigo said. "I'll think I'll go home." She opened the door, and slipped out, then closed it behind her. The others heard her run off, and all of them glared at Kisshu.

Pai sighed and asked, "Kisshu, when are you going to talk with her?"

Lettuce looked up at Pai, puzzled. Pai noticed and said, "Kisshu's too stubborn for his own good."

"So in other words, you do want to be with Ichigo, you're just too stubborn to admit it," Lettuce said to Kisshu. "Please don't let this turn into when Taruto thought he hated Pudding; Pudding could handle it somewhat, but Ichigo can't. She won't be able to handle having you around if you don't say anything to her."

Kisshu sighed and said, "I'll go now." He teleported off.

Landing at the large sakura tree in Inohara Park, Kisshu saw Ichigo curled up under it, crying. He walked over, and asked softly, "Ichigo?"

He watched as Ichigo went still, and then she looked up. Kisshu almost took a step back; her eyes were completely devoid of emotion, as was her voice when she said, "Hi Kisshu-san. What's wrong?"

"When did you start using '-san' after my name?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo shrugged, staying silent. Kisshu was getting kind of worried; Ichigo never acted like this. "Did I hurt you?" he asked.

"No," Ichigo said, still in that emotionless voice. "Why are you really here?"

"Ichigo, do you love me?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo looked at him, the emotionlessness leaving her eyes. "Yes," she said. "I always will."

Kisshu looked at her, and asked, "Ichigo, do you want to be my girlfriend?"

Ichigo smiled happily, and said, "I would love to. Can you come live with me?"

"If that's what you want, I'd be happy to," Kisshu said. "Should we go back and tell the others?"

"Can I have a kiss first?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu smirked and kissed her, and was surprised when she kissed back with more passion than he did. When they broke it off, Kisshu said, "You're good at this."

"Thanks," Ichigo said, blushing. "So are you."

Kisshu smiled and took her hand, then teleported them back to the Café.

Okay, so the second part sucks, but I got a request to continue and decided to do it. This is it on 'Masks', so please review on your way out!