Why? Chapter 1:

Shock

It had been a year since the final battle with Deep Blue, and a lot had changed, at least for Ichigo. She no longer worked at Café Mew Mew; Ryou had fired her. The Café had gone downhill after she left, but she didn't really mind; Ryou hadn't been a very pleasant person to work for anyways.

However, the biggest change was something that no one would have expected of her. Not even a week after the final battle, Ichigo had broken up with Aoyama. She didn't explain why, and no one could figure it out. The other thing that puzzled them was that after she broke up with him, Ryou had found her in his lab, unconscious. When he woke her up, she point-blank refused to explain herself, despite threats, arguments, and yelling. That was what caused him to fire her.

What no one knew was that Ichigo had used one of Ryou's inventions to erase all her memories of a certain person.

A year later, she was walking home from her friend Miwa's house. It was the first week of the summer vacation, and they were planning their summer with Moe.

Ichigo was walking past a clock tower that always seemed familiar to her when she heard a voice call out, "Oi, Koneko-chan!"

Why does that name sound familiar? I'm sure I've never heard it before, Ichigo thought, looking around.

She looked up, and was startled to see a boy on top of the clock tower. She was even more startled when he jumped off, and floated down to her level. "Did you miss me?" he asked.

Ichigo looked confused, and said, "I don't know you. Why would I miss someone I've never met?"

She watched as the boy's eyes widened. Then she noticed his ears were long and pointed, and said, "Are you a friend of Pai and Taruto?"

"Wait, you remember Pai and Taruto, but not me?" the boy asked.

"I'm pretty sure I've never seen you before," Ichigo said. "Who are you?"

The boy's face went dead white, and before Ichigo could ask if he was okay, he collapsed, unconscious. She caught him, worried, and gently set him down, then knelt next to him, and put a hand on his forehead. He's burning up; I wonder what happened? she thought. Well, at least Mom and Dad went on that cruise, so I guess it's fine if I bring him home. He's pretty sick, and I can't just leave him here.

Ichigo picked the boy up, surprised by how light he was. Then she carried him back to her house, and went in. Kicking the door shut behind her, she took the boy to the guest room, and put him on the bed, taking off his boots before pulling the blankets over him. Then she ran to the bathroom, and grabbed a washcloth, soaking it in ice water and wringing it out before going back to the guest room and putting it on the boy's forehead. I wonder who he is…. she thought. He's kind of cute. Maybe we could be friends, now that the aliens formed a truce. Though why they're back, I don't know. Maybe Pai and Taruto came to see Lettuce and Pudding. I haven't gotten a call, and they haven't attacked, so I doubt it's anything serious.

Suddenly teleportation sounded in the room, and Ichigo looked up. Pai appeared, and she said, "Hi Pai. Do you know who this is?" She pointed to the boy.

Pai's eyes widened. "You don't remember Kisshu?" he asked.

"That's his name?" Ichigo asked. "I don't think I've ever seen him before. Do you know him, then?"

"Kisshu was the first of us to come to Earth," Pai said. "You forgot about him?"

"I don't remember him," Ichigo said. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Pai said. "Why don't you remember him? And what happened, anyways?"

"I don't know the answer to either question," Ichigo said. "He collapsed after I asked him who he was, and I noticed he had a fever, so I brought him here to take care of him. But I don't know why he collapsed. Does he have some kind of medical condition?"

"No, I assume he went into shock from hearing that you don't remember him," Pai said. "Do you want me to find out why you forgot him?"

"You can do that?" Ichigo asked.

"Hai," Pai said.

"Okay," Ichigo said. "He seems nice."

Pai looked startled, but put his hand on Ichigo's forehead and closed his eyes without saying anything. A minute later, his eyes snapped open, and he looked at her in shock. "Are you okay?" Ichigo asked.

"You did it on purpose?" Pai whispered.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Ichigo said.

Pai collected himself and said, "You used some kind of process on yourself, in order to erase your memories of Kisshu. Why, I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with how many times you rejected him?"

"I rejected him a lot?" Ichigo asked. "Why?"

"I'm guessing for two reasons," Pai said. "One is that you were in love with that Aoyama kid, but Kisshu also referred to you as his toy, and I think that you didn't like that."

"I don't think I would like it if someone called me a toy," Ichigo said. "I don't know anyone who would like that. Do you know why he called me 'Koneko-chan' earlier?"

"That was his nickname for you," Pai said.

"I like it," Ichigo said. "So why'd you come back?"

"To see Lettuce," Pai said. "Taruto came to see Pudding and eat candy, and Kisshu came to see you."

"Why?" Ichigo said.

"He loves you," Pai said. "And he really missed you."

"That's sweet…" Ichigo said. "He seems really nice, is it okay for him to stay here?"

"If that's okay with your family," Pai said.

"My parents are off on another trip," Ichigo said. "I'm the only one here for the next three weeks."

"It's fine with me," Pai said.

"Can he take human medicine, or do you have something?" Ichigo asked. "He has a pretty high fever, and the cool cloth will only help a little."

"I can heal," Pai said. "I'll just heal the fever."

"K," Ichigo said. She watched as Pai went over to the bed, and put his hand on Kisshu's chest. His hand began to glow, and Kisshu's breathing evened out a bit as the color left his cheeks. Five minutes later, Pai took his hand away, and said, "Let him sleep it off, he'll be fine when he wakes up."

"Okay, thanks Pai," Ichigo said. "I'll stay with him, so you can go back to Lettuce if you want."

"Okay," Pai said. "I might come by later to see how he's doing, is that okay?"

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yeah, do you want the number?" Pai asked.

"Yes please," Ichigo said. "I'll put it in my Contacts." She got out her cell phone, and Pai told her the number. She typed it into her phone, and pressed Save. "Thanks," Ichigo said.

"Sure," Pai said. "Please take care of Kisshu, k?"

"Of course," Ichigo said, surprised.

Pai nodded and teleported out. Ichigo settled down in the armchair, and waited for Kisshu to wake up.

Two hours later, Kisshu started to stir, and Ichigo noticed. She went over and asked, "Kisshu? Are you feeling better?"

Kisshu opened his eyes, and looked up at her. "You called me Kisshu," he said.

"Pai said that was your name, was he wrong?" Ichigo asked.

"No, that's my name," Kisshu said. "So you still don't remember me?"

"No," Ichigo said. "Pai came by, and he says apparently I erased all my memories of you somehow. Maybe that's why Ryou fired me…."

Kisshu sat up, looking worried, and asked, "Why did you do that?"

"I don't know, I don't remember," Ichigo said. "Pai thinks it's because I apparently used to reject you all the time. Maybe I didn't want to remember putting you through a lot of pain. But if you want, we could start over. You seem really nice."

"Do you like me?" Kisshu asked.

"I don't know yet, but I asked Pai if you could live here for a while at least, so we can get to know each other better," Ichigo said. "You can have this room, k?"

"Okay, thanks," Kisshu said. "You said Blondie fired you; so you're not working at Café Mew Mew anymore?"

"Blondie? You mean Ryou?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah," Kisshu said.

Ichigo giggled. "I like that, can I call him that too?" she asked.

"Sure," Kisshu said. "I like making up nicknames."

"I like 'Koneko-chan'," Ichigo said. "Can that be my nickname? Pai says you used to call me that."

"I-If you like that," Kisshu said.

Ichigo smiled happily. "Do you have a nickname?" she asked.

"No," Kisshu said.

Ichigo thought, then said, "Kish! Can I call you that?"

"Sure Koneko-chan," Kisshu said happily.

Ichigo smiled again, and said, "I'm hungry, do you want dinner?"

"Sure, what is there?" Kisshu asked.

"Lasagna," Ichigo said. "Do you have any allergies I should know about?"

"Bananas, and it's a pretty severe allergy, so if you've got any around, can you get rid of them?" Kisshu asked.

"Sure, I don't like them, but my dad does," Ichigo said. "You stay here, I'll go throw the bunch in the kitchen out."

"Thanks," Kisshu said. Ichigo skipped out, leaving Kisshu to his thoughts.

Having an overactive imagination is not always a good thing…. Please review, or I might die.