"Flight number 1217 from London, England to Tokyo, Japan is now boarding." I heard the lady announce over the speaker. 'I guess it's time to go.' I sighed internally.

I was one of the first people to get in line, since my boarding pass was first-class. Once it was my turn, the lady had ripped my ticket along the perforated line and

handed it back, telling me to have a nice flight. 'Like hell I will, I am finally getting away from that cheating, tree-hugging scumbag.' I thought irritably. As I pulled

my only pink, strawberry covered suitcase behind me, I thought about all of the events that finally led to me walking along the hallway to the airplane that was going

to take me back home. 'How could I waste four years of my life with him? What am I supposed to do now that I am seventeen?' It hurt so much, but I hide it by just

channeling the hurt into burning rage for the baka Masaya. I quickly stop thinking about him when I was about to step into the plane. "Hello, welcome to Air Japan."

said an overly joyful flight attendant. I completely ignored the comment in the fake sugary voice and tried to find my seat. '3C, 3C, where could it be? Ah! Found it!' I

stored my suitcase in the overhead compartment and sat in my seat that was near the aisle. 'Good thing I got this seat! I hate looking out the window and see how

high up the plane is!' The seats were in sets of two, so there would be someone sitting next to me. 'I hope the person won't be annoying. I am so not in the mood for

it.' After a couple of minutes, a strange, forest green-haired boy that seemed my age stood next to me. 'Oh great, looks like I'll be sitting next to a weirdo for the

duration of this long flight.' Once he stored his suitcase above us, he turned and eyed me up and down. The first thing I noticed was his incredible warm golden eyes.

'It's like I'm swimming in a sea of gold!' I thought, awestruck. The next thing I noticed was his abnormally large, elfin ears. 'I wonder what type of disorder caused

THAT.' I thought incredulously. 'Although, I have to admit, his ears do look pretty cute!' I giggled out loud, and he cocked his head to one side, looking at me

curiously. "Hi, my name is Kisshu. Why were you giggling at me?" he asked. 'The expression on his face is cute too!' "My name is Ichigo, and I was giggling because

of the confused expression on your face. It was really cute!" I'm usually straightforward, so when I said that there was the tiniest hint of a blush on his face. 'Why is

everything about him cute?' "Well, your giggle was pretty cute too. It was almost as high as a kitten's meow." He smirked. "Excuse me? My voice is NOT that high!"

My voice cracking at the end did not help me prove my point. Kisshu's smirk got even wider. 'Stupid puberty.' He then stepped over me slowly, deliberately making

his jean-clad butt get up close and personal with my face, and sat in the seat that was closest to the window. "Whatever you say, Koneko-chan. You should probably

put your seatbelt on, almost everyone's on board and we are going to move soon." Kisshu said arrogantly. 'Who does he think he is? And what was with the butt

flash? He's freakin' pissing me off!' "I'll do whatever I want to, thank you very much! And don't call me Koneko-chan, you perv!" "Perv, huh? That's the best you can

do?" I crossed my arms and pouted. "Humph!" Kisshu merely chuckled and focused his gaze on the seat in front of him. But as much as I hated it, he was right. We

started moving in a couple of minutes and while we were on our way to the runway, two of the flight attendants went through the safety procedures in case of the

"unlikely" event that something would happen. 'With my luck, the plane would catch on fire, lose oxygen, and crash into the ocean.' We soon made it onto the

runway, but the plane stopped to wait its turn to take off. I've always hated this part of air travel. Taking off scares me to death; I always end up holding the person's

hand that happened to sit next to me at the time. Sooner than I would have liked, the plane started to speed down the runway, accelerating with each passing

second. 'Oh great, it's starting.' I shut my eyes quickly and grabbed Kisshu's hand, which was conveniently placed on the arm rest, in a vice-like death grip. I could

tell that Kisshu and turned his head in surprise, but I didn't care. We soon rose into the air and the feeling of being airborne made me clutch Kisshu's hand tighter, if

that was possible. Once the plane rose a couple thousand feet and leveled out, I slowly released my grip. I gradually opened my eyes, but I did not expect that

Kisshu's smirking face would be a few inches away from my own! I yelped in surprise and tried to push him away. "Soooooo…you're afraid of airplanes?" he

questioned. "No, just taking off. It scares me to death." "Yeah, I noticed that when my hand was beginning to be numb from the lack of blood." he said sarcastically.

"Shut up you insensitive jerk, you wouldn't understand." I didn't have the window seat, so I just averted my gaze to the aisle. A couple of seconds later, I felt a pair

of arms encircling my frame and pulling me awkwardly into an awaiting chest. I was taken aback about how kind and gentle that gesture was, disregarding the

awkwardness altogether. Although, it is kind of hard to hug someone when you're strapped onto an airplane seat and rendered unable to move freely, while the

armrest also serves as yet another hindrance. I felt my eyes widen in surprise as I turned my head towards the direction Kisshu was in. "What are you doing?" I said

curiously. "I'm trying to comfort you, silly! What, you wanted a kiss instead?" Kisshu murmured into my ear enticingly, letting his warm breath caress the sensitive

appendage. I felt my face grow very warm, turning as red as well, a strawberry. 'He's already got me blushing and he's only known me for twenty minutes!' "N-n-n-n-

no, a h-h-h-hug is f-f-f-f-fine! I stuttered. "Awww, you're blushing! You're already falling for me? Because I've fallen for you!" Kisshu teased. My face got even redder

and I doubt that I would be capable of saying anything resembling to actual words. "O-o-o-of c-c-c-course I h-h-h-haven't! I-i-i-i-in y-y-your d-d-d-dreams!"

"Starting from now you will be." Kisshu replied smoothly. 'I should just stop talking now, or I will turn into the human strawberry! For Christ's sake, my face is

probably redder than my hair!' Kisshu sniggered again; he's been doing a lot of that lately. "What, cat's got your tongue? Or are you just speechless of how good-

looking I am?" 'Just ignore him, and I must stop blushing! Someone might come over here and see me and ask what's wrong!' "Oh, I get it. You are giving me the

silent treatment because I keep making you blush. But you know you can't ignore me forever. I am your seatmate for the next couple of hours, you know." 'Darn it,

he's got a point there.' To try to calm down, I got up from my seat and went to the bathroom. I sprinkled water on my face to help cool down the blush and then I

dried it with a paper towel. I then took a couple of deep, Kisshu-cleansing breaths before I opened the bathroom door. I walked back to my seat and as I was about

to sit down, the plane went through some turbulence and I ended up landing on Kisshu! 'Oh great, this would happen just because it's me!' "Hey, if you wanted to sit

on my lap, you could have just asked, you know." Kisshu pointed out nonchalantly. I righted myself and sat in my seat, thinking about the blush that would be on my

face and about the wasted bathroom trip. Just as I was about to bark a retort at Kisshu, a flight attendant gave me and Kisshu a menu to order our food and drinks

from. "I'll come back in a few minutes to ask what you want, okay?" she told us. We both nodded and looked at our menus. 'Thank Kami-sama, she just saved me

from more disaster!' 'Ooooohhhhh, they have chicken, and a strawberry shortcake for dessert! They also have a strawberry smoothie!' I smiled at the thought of me

having all of these heavenly goodies. "See something you like, besides me of course?" 'There goes my blush again! Gosh darn you, Kisshu!' "Why should I answer to

you? You'll know in a couple of minutes." I replied crossly. As my eyes found their way back to the menu, the lady came back and asked us what we wanted. We both

ordered, and in another few minutes, we both had our food. I looked over to see what he ordered, and Kisshu did the same. Yet another smirk began to form on his

pale face. 'How the heck did he order the same thing that I did?!' "What a coincidence, huh Koneko-chan?" "Shut up." I said simply. I shyly began to pick at my food.

'It's delicious!' I thought happily. I quickly gobble all of it in less than five minutes. When the lady took my tray away, I decided to take a quick nap. Kisshu was

remaining surprisingly quiet, but I didn't pay any special attention to it. When I woke up, I yawned like a cat, and noticed that it was dark outside. I also noticed that

Kisshu was watching TV. I just relaxed and stayed in the position I was in when I was sleeping. When Kisshu noticed that I woke up, he took off his headphones and wore

the gentlest smile I've ever seen on his face. "Did you know that you were sleeping on my shoulder for the past three hours?"He looked like he was in heaven. The

expression on his face was so peaceful, and Kisshu's eyes shone soft and bright, radiating warmth into my soul. "Uhhhhh…" I have no idea what to say! Kisshu's

current appearance rendered me unable to find any words. 'Could it be that he actually likes me? No way, we just met a few hours ago!' I quickly lifted my head from

its comfortable resting spot, my face once again aflame. 'How does he keep having that effect on me? It seems that anything he says makes me blush!' "Hey Ichigo,

are you alright?" Kisshu's face had lost its tender look, confusion and a little worry now inhabiting the available space. "Y-yeah, of c-course! W-why w-wouldn't I b-

be?" Oh man, I stuttered again! I tried so hard to make it not noticeable! 'Am I falling for him? Grrr! Darn you Kisshu!' "You stuttered again! I told you that you liked

me!" Kisshu said animatedly. "Shhhhh! Calm down! Are you trying to—" "Hello. Our flight to Japan will end shortly, as we are making our descent now. We will be

landing in ten minutes. On behalf of the whole staff, we hope you had an enjoyable flight and we thank you for flying with Air Japan!" Just as the intercom had turned

off, I felt the plane take a noticeable dip. Kisshu and I didn't talk for the remainder of those ten minutes. The plane had finally landed and we were speeding down the

runway. When the plane slowed down, the pilot had skillfully turned it around and parked at the right gate. When the plane was at a standstill, everyone was at a

frenzy to collect their luggage and flight attendants were busy saying goodbye to the leaving passengers. Trying to ignore the chaos, I stood up, along with Kisshu, to

get our suitcases. We both got off the plane together and walked through the passageway that would lead to a terminal. When we arrived at the terminal, Kisshu

grabbed my hand and lead me to a quiet place. "Looks like we're saying goodbye, Koneko-chan. Even though we just met, I really am going to miss you." Kisshu told

me sincerely. 'I can't believe it, but I'm going to miss him too. He made me forget all about the baka and got me to smile again. I think that I may actually be falling for

him.' "I'm going to miss you too, Kisshu. But this isn't goodbye! Do you have a cellphone?" Kisshu pulled out his green phone just as I pulled out my equally pink one.

"Yeah, why?" I took his phone and gave him mine. "I'll give you my number and you can give me yours! We can call each other all the time and maybe even go to a

movie or something!" "Heh, and I thought you didn't like me. Now you're already asking me out?" Kisshu teased and laughed softly. "S-s-s-shut u-up! To tell you the

truth, I think I kind of like you." I added timidly while looking down at my feet. Kisshu put an arm around my waist, and placed a hand under my chin to lift my head

up. "I knew you couldn't resist me! I like you too, Ichigo." Kisshu then kissed my cheek, his lips soft and warm against the side of my face. As I blushed

uncontrollably, we both added our numbers to each other's cellphone and gave the phones back. "I guess I'll be seeing you soon, huh Koneko-chan?" "Yeah, I guess

so." We then went our separate ways, each with a smile on our face and the anticipation of our next meeting in our hearts.