Broken Up, Deep Inside
Kisshu had had a hard life. After his parents died when he was six, he was adopted by his aunt and uncle. They loved him, but it was still hard not to have his real parents. Things only got worse when he joined the military academy. The instructors there were quick to realize that Kisshu was extremely skilled, even at age seven. Six months after he entered the academy, he was better than the instructors for his age group, and was moved up two grades. He had always been bullied for various things, including the color of his hair, but it got far worse once the other boys there realized that their instructors were paying more attention to Kisshu than anyone else. The more popular students made sure Kisshu had no friends and was bullied on a daily basis. The only thing people didn't do was attack him physically; they knew they'd get taken down, and Kisshu never attacked without having been attacked first.
The only kids who didn't hate Kisshu were Pai, Taruto, and the girls, but Kisshu hated all the girls, so Pai and Taruto were his only friends.
By the time he was ten years old, Kisshu was better than all the instructors at the academy, and all the warriors he had fought as well. The instructors decided then that they would test him once more by having him fight Shiro, the planet's strongest warrior.
Shiro laughed when he saw Kisshu; Kisshu was a thin kid who was about two feet shorter than him. He had just made the biggest mistake anyone could make; laughing at Kisshu. The referee called for the fight to start, and Shiro and Kisshu started fighting. Shiro never landed a blow on Kisshu. Ten minutes later, Shiro was so badly beaten up he collapsed.
After that, the Council of Cyniclonia declared that unlike most warriors, Kisshu didn't have a fighting level. He had passed Level 6, which was the highest level a warrior could achieve. At age ten, Kisshu became the first Cyniclonian warrior with no fighting level, and took Shiro's title of the best warrior on Cyniclonia.
After that, things just got worse. People started to avoid Kisshu, and the girls his age all became over-obsessed fan girls.
Soon after he turned fourteen, the Council summoned him. He found out that someone called 'Deep Blue' had come up with a plan to take back Earth from the humans who now inhabited it. The Council had apparently told Deep Blue that Kisshu was the best choice for the mission. Kisshu accepted the mission; it couldn't be any worse than what his life was like on Cyniclonia.
As it turned out, he was wrong. It was a lot worse. For starters, he fell in love with his worst enemy, Mew Ichigo, who absolutely hated him. Soon it became clear that he just couldn't kill her. Deep Blue sent Pai and Taruto to Earth to 'help' him; but it only made things worse. Pai, who used to be his best friend, spent hours scolding him for falling in love with the enemy, and Taruto just teased him. He started spending hours locked up in his room between battles, getting more and more depressed as the rejections from Ichigo got harsher, and Pai turned into a mindless drone. Taruto had discovered something humans called 'candy' which was basically pure sugar. Therefore, Taruto was on sugar high every other night, which meant Pai locked himself in his soundproof lab, and Kisshu ended up sleeping in Ichigo's tree for peace and quiet.
Kisshu's depression got a lot worse as time went on, especially since Pai and Taruto didn't want to hear about his problems. They didn't seem to care, and that just made Kisshu more depressed. He repeatedly wondered if he'd be better off dead; no one seemed to care about him anymore. He didn't even notice that Ichigo had stopped rejecting him; he wasn't seeing as much of her due to the fact he spent most of his time locked up in his room. He had given up trying to act cheerful; it was just making things worse.
One day Kisshu was ordered to attack the Mews solo, so he teleported to Earth. Randomly landing in some park, he saw that it was filled with lots of couples. It was a nice day out, but that didn't help Kisshu's mood; he was thinking about what it would be like if he and Ichigo were one of the couples there, just having fun together. He realized he really didn't have the energy to attack, and sat down on a bench in a part of the park where there weren't any people. He watched the sky for a while, then looked around.
Suddenly he heard a very familiar girl's voice say angrily, "Leave me alone, you tree-screwing freak! I am never going to go out with you again, so get over it and go make out with one of your fan girls, you cheating loser!"
Kisshu looked over in the direction, just in time to see Ichigo nail Aoyama in a very sensitive spot with her knee. He crumpled to the ground, and Ichigo started walking in Kisshu's direction. He contemplated teleporting away, but decided to stay.
Ichigo spotted him, and came over, then asked, "Kisshu, what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" Kisshu asked.
"You're skin and bones, and you look like you haven't slept in months," Ichigo said worriedly.
"My life is hell," Kisshu said. "I guess I just stopped taking care of myself after a while."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ichigo asked. "We could go back to my house, if you want. My parents aren't home."
"Uh…. I guess…." Kisshu said.
"We don't have to, it was just a suggestion," Ichigo said.
"No, let's go," Kisshu said. He took her hand and teleported to her room. Ichigo stumbled a bit, and Kisshu steadied her, asking, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a bit dizzy," Ichigo said. She pulled him over to her bed, and they sat down. "So do you want to talk about what's bugging you?" Ichigo asked.
Kisshu sighed. "I guess it's just everything," he said. "My life has been a living hell since my parents died when I was six, and when I came here, it just got worse, especially since Pai and Taruto came. They used to be my friends, but now unless it's about the mission or candy, they don't want to hear my problems."
"I'm one of those problems, aren't I?" Ichigo asked.
"To be honest, yes," Kisshu said. "I knew it was a bad idea to fall in love with my enemy, but you're different from other humans, and the girls on my planet all happen to be weird fan girls who keep swarming me. And when I found you, I thought it would be nice if you returned my feelings, even though I had no clue how a relationship would work out between us. I wanted to keep believing that it would work, but lately I've just given up hope. It's probably just the depression talking, but sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. At least then I wouldn't have to deal with all this."
"You wouldn't be better off dead," Ichigo said softly. "At least, not in my opinion. I love you, Kisshu."
Kisshu looked at her, shocked. "Y-you do?" he asked.
"Yep," Ichigo said. "I dumped Aoyama for you, and I want to help you get out of depression, okay?"
"I don't think that's possible, at this point," Kisshu said gloomily. "I don't even remember what happy feels like anymore."
Ichigo reached up, and rubbed Kisshu's ears. She felt him start to relax, and then he said sleepily, "That feels nice…."
"Sleepy?" Ichigo asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah…." Kisshu said.
"Can you take your boots off before going to sleep?" Ichigo asked.
Kisshu nodded and took his boots off, then curled up on Ichigo's bed. She gently pulled the blankets over him, and sat down with him. He watched sleepily as she reached out and started rubbing his ears again. It relaxed him, and soon he was sleeping.
Ichigo kept rubbing Kisshu's ears until her wrists and hands got tired, and then she just sat with Kisshu, watching him sleep. He looked very peaceful.
Four hours later: Kisshu was still asleep when Ichigo heard teleportation, and mentally groaned as Pai appeared. He did not look thrilled, and he looked even less thrilled when Ichigo glared at him and put a finger to her lips. Sighing, he asked quietly, "Why is Kisshu here?"
"I told him I'd help him get less depressed, and unless you're here to help with that, I would recommend you leave," Ichigo said, her voice equally quiet. "I'm fairly certain Kisshu doesn't need more lectures on your mission right now."
Pai came over, and Ichigo watched him warily as he put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. "How did he get this depressed?" he asked softly.
"My guess is it had something to do with the fact you and Taruto were unwilling to listen to his problems," Ichigo said. "And I do realize that it's mainly my fault he got depressed, but having someone to talk to probably could have prevented him from getting so depressed he thought he'd be better off dead."
Pai looked horrified, and asked, "He tried to kill himself?"
"No, but he told me he's been wondering if he'd be better off dead, since everyone except me hates him," Ichigo said. "And the only reason he knows I care is that I told him."
"I don't hate him," Pai said.
"Good luck convincing him of that," Ichigo said. She noticed Kisshu was stirring, and put a hand on his cheek gently, asking, "Kisshu?"
Kisshu sleepily opened his eyes. "Koneko-chan?" he asked sleepily.
"I'm here," Ichigo said softly. "How are you feeling?"
"A little less tired," Kisshu said, sitting up. Then he noticed Pai, and asked warily, "Why are you here?"
"I was worried when you didn't come back," Pai said. "So when I figured out you were here, I came to check on you."
"Since when did you care?" Kisshu asked.
"I've always cared," Pai said.
"I doubt that," Kisshu said bitterly. "You never have anything nice to say to me, you only want to hear about it if it's to do with the mission or Deep Blue, and it just feels like you don't care. I don't know what changed, but you're not the Pai I knew growing up. The Pai I knew wouldn't scold me for falling in love; he'd help me get through the fact that the girl I love hated me. But instead, you just went on and on about how the mission was more important than feelings. Seriously, Pai, what happened to you? Are you a clone or something? Or was the Pai I knew when we were younger just a lie?"
Pai sighed. "I'm not a clone, I was just trying to help our people, and I guess I went overboard with the idea that Deep Blue was going to save us all," he said. "I really didn't mean to hurt you, Kisshu."
"Does that mean we're still friends?" Kisshu asked.
"We'll always be friends," Pai said. "And YES, we can go along with your plan."
Kisshu perked up. "Plan?" Ichigo asked.
"We want to cooperate to collect the Mew Aqua, and then use it to heal our planet," Kisshu explained.
"My group might have enough now, but we can check," Ichigo said. "I think it should wait till tomorrow, though; it's getting late. Would you two like to stay for dinner?"
"Sure," Kisshu said happily.
"Okay," Pai said.
"Great!" Ichigo said. "Are either of you allergic to anything?"
"Kisshu's severely allergic to bananas," Pai said.
"I don't have any, so that's fine," Ichigo said. "Bananas are disgusting."
"What are we having?" Kisshu asked.
"I was thinking pasta with meatballs," Ichigo said. "Is that okay?"
"Sounds good to me," Kisshu replied.
"Alright," Ichigo said. "Let's go downstairs and I'll get that started."
Kisshu got up, and he and Pai followed Ichigo downstairs for dinner.
I'm just not good at endings…. Review?
