Poison
Kisshu and Pai were fighting again about forming a truce with the Mews. "Pai, you KNOW Deep Blue won't help us after we get the planet for him; why can't we just form a truce?" Kisshu asked in exasperation.
"Because their blonde leader will kill us; he'd never agree to it!" Pai said. "I have no intention of forming a truce anyways. We'd have to go back to our planet as failures. Is that what you want?"
"Not if we got all their Mew Aqua," Kisshu said. "We just need to-"
"I don't want to hear it," Pai said. "It's pointless and you know it, Kisshu. We're better off working for Deep Blue; at least we'll survive."
"No we won't, he'll kill us once we're of no more use to him," Kisshu said angrily. He was surprised when Pai teleported, but didn't think about it until he felt something prick his neck, and a sharp pain. As he stumbled, he heard teleportation, and looked over his shoulder. There was no one there, and Kisshu sighed.
He started to teleport to his room, but a sharp pain shot through his neck, and his teleport spun out of control. As he reappeared, he started feeling dizzy, and blacked out as someone called his name.
The person who had called his name was Ichigo; he had landed in her room by mistake. She ran over and caught him as he blacked out, then put him on her bed. Suddenly she noticed something on his neck, and saw that it was some kind of dart. Was he poisoned? she wondered as she took it out. Jeez, if Ryou did this, he's going DOWN. But I should wait to ask Kisshu who did this; if it's not Ryou, he'll know Kisshu's here, and most likely send Mint and Zakuro to kill us both. I did quit today, after all.
She knew shaking Kisshu would cause the poison to spread faster, so she gently put a hand on Kisshu's cheek, and said, "Kisshu, wake up."
Kisshu stirred a bit, and Ichigo said, "Come on, you need to wake up."
Kisshu slowly opened his eyes, and asked weakly, "Koneko-chan?"
"I'm here," Ichigo said. "Kisshu, who poisoned you?"
"Poisoned?" Kisshu asked. "Is that what that prick was?"
"You had some kind of dart in your neck," Ichigo said. "Who did this to you?"
"Pai, he's mad because I want to form a truce," Kisshu sighed. A sharp pain shot through his left shoulder, and he flinched.
"Do you know how to counteract the poison?" Ichigo asked.
"Can I see the dart?" Kisshu asked. "I don't know what kind of poison it is."
Ichigo handed him the dart, and he looked at it closely. Then he sighed. "Pai's got no common sense," he said bitterly. "This doesn't even HAVE a cure."
"Pai's going DOWN after I figure out how to save you," Ichigo said grimly.
"You WANT to save me?" Kisshu asked, startled.
"I was faking hating you until I quit the Mews," Ichigo said. "Can you tell me anything about the poison?"
"All I know about tarka poisoning is that whoever it happens to spends about two days in intense pain with a high fever before dying," Kisshu said gloomily. "And it spreads fast. As far as I know, there's no known cure for it. Healing can keep it at bay for a while, but even that won't work forever."
"Do you think Pai would have any ideas?" Ichigo asked.
"Maybe," Kisshu said. "He was really into poisons for a while. But how are you going to call him?"
"I can use telepathy," Ichigo said.
"Okay," Kisshu said.
Ichigo nodded, and screamed telepathically, PAI!
WHAT DO YOU WANT!? Pai screamed back.
I want to know how to cure tarka poisoning! Ichigo shouted.
Why do you want to know that? Pai asked.
You poisoned Kisshu, that's why, Ichigo said. Is there a cure, or not?
She heard a sigh, and then Pai said, There is, but you might not like this. You need a quarter cup of human blood, and half a cup of cow's milk. And he has to drink all of that mixed together.
Fine, but you WILL be explaining why you did this after I cure Kisshu, Ichigo said, and cut the connection.
Kisshu was looking at her, and she said, "Pai says there's a cure, I'll go make it."
"Uh… okay," Kisshu said.
Ichigo left, and went to the kitchen. She got out two measuring cups, a knife, a glass, and the milk, then poured a half cup of milk into the glass. Sighing, she then picked up the knife, and slashed her arm open. Then she put the quarter cup measuring cup under the injury, letting her blood flow into the cup. Suddenly she remembered something, and asked telepathically, Pai, does it matter than I have cat genes?
No, your blood is still human, Pai said.
Good, Ichigo said, and cut the connection again. She realized the measuring cup was full, and carefully poured it into the milk, then mixed it up. Ignoring the fact her arm was still bleeding, Ichigo carried the cup of blood and milk upstairs to her room.
To her dismay, Kisshu had fallen asleep again. "Kisshu. Kisshu, wake up," Ichigo said, putting a hand on his cheek.
Kisshu groaned and opened his eyes. He took one look at her, and asked in horror, "What HAPPENED!?"
"You don't want to know," Ichigo sighed. "I made the stuff Pai said would cure you; you have to drink all of it, k?"
"O-okay," Kisshu said. He sat up, and Ichigo handed him the glass of blood and milk, steadying him as he drank it. "Jeez that tastes awful," he said when he finished. "What was that, anyways?"
"Don't ask," Ichigo said. She started feeling dizzy, and then her vision started going black. She felt herself falling, and then everything went black.
Kisshu noticed Ichigo was going pale, but before he could say anything, she blacked out. Kisshu noticed her arm was still bleeding, and screamed telepathically, PAI! Teleport to Ichigo's house, now!
What happened? Pai asked.
It looks like she slashed her arm open or something, Kisshu replied.
On my way, Pai said. Two minutes later, he teleported in and went to Ichigo. He looked at her arm, and put a hand over it. The bleeding slowed, then stopped as the cut began to heal. When the skin closed, Pai took his hand away, and asked, "Where's the bathroom?"
"Across the hall," Kisshu said.
Pai left, and Kisshu heard running water. Pai came back with a wet cloth, and started cleaning the blood off Ichigo's arm. When he was done, he picked her up gently, and said, "Kisshu, scoot over."
Kisshu obeyed, and Pai tucked Ichigo into her bed next to Kisshu. Then he put a hand on her chest, and said, "She's probably not going to wake up till tomorrow. And you're in no condition to get up either."
"Whose fault is that?" Kisshu snapped. "Seriously, do you even care about me, Pai? Why did you poison me? I thought you were my friend!"
"It was an accident; I was trying to put you to sleep before you got too worked up," Pai said. "I thought it was a sleep dart, not a poison dart. You know getting too worked up is bad for you since you got that chest injury."
"Well, poisoning me isn't helping me recover either," Kisshu snarled. "And it's your fault I got so worked up; if you would just form a truce with the Mews, none of this would have happened!"
Pai sighed and teleported out, feeling gloomy. He landed in the sakura tree in Inohara Park, and settled down. Kisshu's right, he thought gloomily. If I wasn't so stubborn, we'd have a way to save our people, and I wouldn't be losing my best friend's trust.
He was still thinking some time later, when he heard someone call his name. He looked down, and saw Lettuce standing under him. "Hi Lettuce," he said gloomily.
"Are you okay?" Lettuce asked. "You sound sad."
"Kisshu probably hates me by now," Pai said gloomily.
"Did you do something to him?" Lettuce asked.
Pai sighed. "I accidentally poisoned him," he said glumly. "He was getting too worked up again, and I thought it was a sleep dart. Turns out it was a tarka poison dart. And he's even more upset because thanks to that, Ichigo collapsed."
"I'm confused," Lettuce said. "Why did Ichigo-san collapse? And why would you put Kisshu to sleep simply for getting too worked up?"
"Kisshu still hasn't fully recovered from the injury the Blue Knight gave him, and getting too worked up usually results in him coughing up blood," Pai said. "It's hard for me to calm him down, so I usually put him to sleep before he starts coughing up blood. But this time I took the wrong dart, and it poisoned him. He somehow ended up with Ichigo, and the only known cure for this particular type of poison involves a quarter cup of human blood. And because Ichigo didn't bandage the injury she gave herself trying to cure him, she collapsed. And YES, it is all my fault, because if I had common sense, and had looked at the dart I was taking, Kisshu wouldn't have needed that cure."
"Can you feel if he's still angry?" Lettuce asked.
Pai concentrated, then said, "Now he's crying…."
"Let's go," Lettuce said. "You get to apologize on your own, but someone needs to make food for those two, and Taruto told us you're a kitchen disaster."
Pai sighed and floated down, then took Lettuce's hand and teleported to Ichigo's room.
With Kisshu: After Pai had left, Kisshu had gone straight from angry to depressed, and was currently crying into Ichigo's pillow. She hadn't woken up yet, which only added to his gloom.
He wasn't paying attention to anything, so he didn't notice that Pai had teleported in with Lettuce until he felt someone rubbing his ears. It felt nice, and he started to relax, taking his face out of the pillow. Then he felt a hand on his forehead, and someone said, "He's got a fever."
Kisshu looked, and saw Lettuce and Pai standing over him. Pai had been rubbing his ears, and Lettuce was taking her hand off his forehead. Suddenly he felt a tickle in his throat, and started coughing. He felt Pai put a hand on his chest, and started to feel sleepy as the cough went away. Soon he was fast asleep again.
A few minutes after Kisshu fell asleep, Pai took his hand away, and said softly, "He got too worked up again. I'll stay with him and Ichigo; can you go make something light for them to eat later?"
"Sure," Lettuce said. "Why were you rubbing his ears?"
"It's a good way to calm him down," Pai said. "And it relaxes him. My mom used to do that when Kisshu was crying about his parents."
"Wow…" Lettuce said. "I'll go make some soup, k?"
"K, thanks," Pai said. Lettuce left, and Pai settled down next to Kisshu, then started rubbing his ears again. Kisshu sighed happily.
A few hours later, Kisshu started to wake up. He sleepily opened his eyes to see Pai looking down at him. "How are you feeling?" Pai asked him.
"I feel relaxed," Kisshu said. "I think I'm fine."
Pai put a hand on his chest, and said, "You're almost back to full strength. Take it easy till tomorrow afternoon, k?"
"K," Kisshu said. "I still can't get too worked up, can I?"
"I think it'll be a while longer," Pai said. "I'm sorry, Kisshu."
"Does you apologizing mean you're willing to form a truce?" Kisshu asked hopefully.
"Oh, fine, but we need to get rid of Blondie," Pai said.
"Let's talk to Ichigo when she wakes up," Kisshu said. "Thanks, Pai."
Pai actually smiled, and said, "You're welcome, Kisshu."
Yet ANOTHER idea….