Trust Issues

It hadn't been long since the all the Mews had been found, but the Mews, Ryou, and Keiichiro had noticed a change in Ichigo. She seemed to have trouble trusting people. In battles, she worked well as a team member, but that was about as far as it went. At the Café, she avoided talking with anyone, and the others had noticed she was avoiding Ryou in particular. She never gave any explanation, and didn't talk to any of her teammates about whatever it was that caused her to change.

Currently the Mews (minus Ichigo), Ryou, and Keiichiro were having a meeting about the subject. "So does anyone have any ideas on why Ichigo's so closed up lately?" Keiichiro asked.

"I noticed she never talks about Aoyama anymore," Mint said. "Maybe he did something to her?"

"It's a possibility," Zakuro said. "I also noticed that whenever one of us mentions family, she goes somewhere else, or ignores us. Maybe her parents did something?"

"Maybe it's a combination," Lettuce said. "We all noticed she's avoiding Ryou like he has the plague or something, and she avoids discussions about families. Maybe we should talk to her school friends; they might know more."

"But they don't know any of us," Keiichiro pointed out. "It's pretty unlikely they'll tell a bunch of strangers why their best friend is having trust issues."

Suddenly they heard knocking on the front door, and Zakuro warily opened it. To their surprise, it was Moe and Miwa. "Have you seen Ichigo?" Moe asked. "She was supposed to meet us after school, but she wasn't even in school today."

"No, but we wanted to talk with you two anyways," Ryou said. "Come in."

Moe and Miwa came in, and Miwa asked, "Does this have anything to do with Ichigo being Mew Ichigo?"

The Mews, Ryou, and Keiichiro were shocked. Noticing this, Miwa said, "We've known Ichigo since we were all three; it wasn't hard to figure it out. Don't worry, no one else knows besides us."

"Do you know why she's having trouble trusting us?" Lettuce asked.

Moe sighed. "Aoyama was abusing her," she said softly. "We found out, and beat him to within inches of his miserable life, but she's still having trouble being around guys. And she's even less comfortable around guys who have feelings for her, so she'll be avoiding Ryou and Kisshu like the plague."

"Is that the only problem she's having?" Keiichiro asked.

"Her parents left," Miwa said. "They send her money each month, but they moved to somewhere near Okinawa. She wanted to stay in the same place, so she didn't tell anyone besides us. We've been having a lot of sleepovers, though, since we live close to each other. Unfortunately, we can't live with her full-time. We've been talking to someone who wants to help Ichigo, but getting through to Ichigo on this matter isn't going to be easy. The main thing in our way of working this out- besides Ichigo's trust issues- is Ryou."

"Why am I in your way?" Ryou asked.

"She's afraid of you," Moe said bluntly. "And she's also afraid of what you might do if you found out who we asked to help her."

"Why is she afraid of Ryou?" Keiichiro asked, puzzled.

"She knows that he has feelings for her, but since he teases her so much, and doesn't treat her like he loves her, she's now convinced that he's going to rape her if she lets him get too close," Miwa said. "And she's also convinced that his hair is radioactive- but that's probably true."

"My hair is NOT radioactive," Ryou grumbled. "And I don't see why Ichigo would believe I would rape her."

Zakuro sighed, and asked, "Who is it you asked to help her?"

"Kisshu," Moe said. "We asked Kisshu to help her."

"Are you INSANE!?" Ryou asked incredulously. "They're ENEMIES!"

"We asked Kisshu to help her because he loves her more than his own life," Miwa said calmly, as if Ryou hadn't spoken. "And while he also teases her, he really only does it when they're fighting. Outside of the battlefield, he treats her completely differently. Besides, he knows what will happen if he hurts her."

"What will happen?" Mint asked.

"I'll get beaten to a bloody pulp, and they'll make sure I'm never able to walk again," Kisshu said gloomily as he came into the Café.

"Why are you here?" Mint asked.

"I found Ichigo unconscious near her school, so I took her to Pai, and he said he'd see what was wrong while I came and told the lot of you that she's fine," Kisshu said. "Well, she's safe, anyways. I don't know about fine, since she was unconscious when I found her."

"You left her with PAI?" Ryou asked.

"He's a healer, so yes, I left her with Pai, and he knows what will happen if he does anything to her," Kisshu said. "Moe and Miwa made it very clear that he would be in extreme pain- and unable to reproduce, if you know what I mean."

Before Ryou could respond, Kisshu's pocket started beeping, and he sighed, then took out a circular device, and pressed a button on the side of it. A miniature hologram of a Cyniclon man appeared, and he said, "Kisshu, report."

"On the mission, or your daughters?" Kisshu asked.

"Both," the man said.

"The mission is still at a standstill," Kisshu said. "I'm currently at the Mew's base; I was going to put in your request when you called. And your daughters have threatened me with imminent doom at least three times this week, so they're fine. I think I'm the one who needs protection from them…."

The man laughed, and said, "I guess they take after me. Are they around? I'd like to say hello."

"Of course," Kisshu said. The Mews, Ryou, and Keiichiro were shocked when Kisshu walked over to Moe and Miwa, and said, "Here they are, Hideki-sama." He handed the device to Miwa, and she and Moe walked off to talk a little more privately.

"Moe and Miwa are Cyniclons?" Lettuce asked.

"Half, their mom is human," Kisshu said. "Their father, however, is the leader of my people, and once he found out he had twin daughters on Earth, I was assigned to protect them. If he actually had watched them grow up, he'd know that those two don't need or want protection from anyone. So I've been training them how to use their powers instead. I finally managed to convince them that the captain of the martial arts team at their school doesn't really need to be blasted with an energy ball simply because he called Ichigo ugly. They have some self-control issues."

"Does Ichigo know about this?" Ryou asked.

"Of course, they told her right after I told them- which was about a month ago," Kisshu said.

"What did you mean by 'request'?" Keiichiro asked.

"Oh, we wanted to form a truce, now that Deep Blue's human host is dead," Kisshu said. "Turns out Deep Blue never wanted to help us, so I talked with Pai and Hideki-sama, and they both suggested that we use Mew Aqua on our planet. So we decided since you guys have almost all the Mew Aqua, we'd offer a truce- you give us all your Mew Aqua, we stop attacking and will probably never be heard from again, unless of course you want us to come back."

"That sounds like a good plan, but what about Ichigo?" Keiichiro asked.

"Moe, Miwa, and their mom are all coming back with us, so we'd bring Ichigo too, if she wants to come," Kisshu said. "Which she does, last I checked."

Before the others could respond, Pai teleported in, and Kisshu immediately asked, "Is Ichigo okay?"

"I can't wake her up," Pai said. "The only injury she had was a broken wrist; she didn't have any head injuries. I came to see if you'd try waking her up; I thought maybe it's because of her trust issues. Maybe her subconscious doesn't think it's safe to wake up."

"Okay, I'll try," Kisshu said, and teleported out. He landed in the medical ward, and saw Ichigo lying in one of the beds. He went over and gently tapped her forehead, focusing on seeing her wake up. To his surprise, she started to stir, but didn't wake up. He tapped her forehead again, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Koneko-chan?" Kisshu asked softly.

"Kisshu?" Ichigo asked. "Where am I?"

"You're in the medical ward of our ship; I found you unconscious by your school, and brought you here," Kisshu said. "What happened? Pai couldn't wake you up, and he said you had a broken wrist."

Ichigo thought, then said, "I was late to school, and a bunch of the girls who hate me ambushed me, but I don't remember what happened after that. I guess they knocked me out."

"Where were Moe and Miwa?" Kisshu asked.

"Probably in class; I slept till like ten, so I'm sure they figured I wasn't coming in," Ichigo said. "I didn't sleep well last night."

Kisshu sat down with her, and asked, "Are you feeling better now?"

"I think so," Ichigo said.

"I went to the Café to tell them about the truce," Kisshu said. "I think we should go back; I left Pai there."

"Okay," Ichigo said a bit nervously.

"It's okay, I won't let Ryou near you," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled at him and got her shoes on, and then Kisshu teleported her to the Café.

They landed in the main room, and found Keiichiro handing Pai a box, Moe and Miwa nowhere to be seen, the other Mews eating cake, and Taruto and Ryou sulking. Except for Ryou, they all looked up, and Keiichiro said, "Oh good, you're back. Ichigo, are you okay?"

"I'm fine now," Ichigo said. "Where are Moe and Miwa?"

"Moe's at your house packing your stuff, and Miwa's at their mom's place, helping pack their stuff," Pai said. "They said they'd meet us on the ship."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Why are Taruto and Ryou sulking?"

"Taruto's sulking because he can't have cake," Pai said. "I don't really know why Ryou is sulking."

"Ryou's sulking because he can't have Ichigo," Keiichiro sighed. "And because Moe gave him a black eye for suggesting Kisshu did something to Ichigo. And just because he likes sulking."

Ichigo was looking nervous again, and the others noticed. Kisshu wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and whispered in her ear, "I won't let him near you, and neither will the others. I'm here, you don't need to be scared."

Ichigo calmed down a little, and asked, "Are we going soon?"

"We can go now," Pai said. He looked at Keiichiro, and said, "Thank you for the Mew Aqua. You can contact me at the number I gave you, but Taruto and I might visit anyways. It's pretty unlikely Ichigo and Kisshu will be back, though, so if any of you have anything to say, now would be a good time."

"Ichigo, you've never coming back?" Lettuce asked.

"There's nothing left here for me besides painful memories," Ichigo said. "I don't want to come back."

"Alright," Lettuce said. "We'll all miss you."

"Thanks," Ichigo said. Lettuce smiled, and then along with the other girls, came over and hugged Ichigo.

When they broke apart, Kisshu took Ichigo's hand, waved to the others, and teleported back to the ship.

They landed in Kisshu's room, where they found Moe, Miwa, their mom Yume, and a bunch of suitcases and a few boxes. "Is that all clothing?" Kisshu asked.

"No, the cardboard boxes are food," Yume said. "I told Hideki that I'd bring whatever I could."

"Good idea," Kisshu said.

"Ichigo, we put all the stuff we thought you would need in the two suitcases by the sofa," Moe said.

"Thanks," Ichigo said gratefully.

Pai teleported in and said, "I suggest you all get settled; we're leaving in five minutes."

"Okay, thanks Pai," Kisshu said. Pai nodded and teleported out as Kisshu and Ichigo settled on the bed, while Moe, Miwa, and Yume settled down on the sofa. Five minutes later, the ship began to move.

They were on their way to a new life.

If this gets continued (which is highly unlikely), it won't be anytime soon, but please review on your way out!