Mixed Feelings

Ichigo and her teammates were fighting Kisshu and a large Chimera Anima that looked sort of like a dragon. Actually, the other Mews were fighting the Chimera; Ichigo was fighting Kisshu, who was teasing her again.

After a few minutes of this, Ichigo said, "Kisshu, just quit teasing me and get out of my life!" She took out her Strawberry Bell, and blasted him with her attack, not really caring that he looked hurt as he teleported off. She turned to find that the others had defeated the dragon Chimera Anima, and sighed. "Let's go back, minna," she said. The others nodded and followed her back to the Café.

Meanwhile, at the Cyniclons' ship: "You failed AGAIN!?" Pai shouted. "Do you even care about our people anymore, Kisshu? We both know that the Mews would be dead if you actually fought with your full power."

"I'm just uneasy about killing them," Kisshu said. "I don't think Deep Blue really wants to help us; and if I'm right, we don't have the power to defeat him on our own."

Pai's face twisted with rage, and he shouted, "Kisshu, get out! If you're going to betray Deep Blue, you might as well go live with the humans!"

"But-" Kisshu started.

"NO!" Pai shouted. "Get out of here, Kisshu!"

Kisshu gloomily teleported to the tree in Inohara Park. It only added to his gloom when he noticed the injuries he had gotten from Ichigo were still bleeding a bit. Maybe if I hadn't fallen in love with Ichigo, this wouldn't have happened, he thought. Pai's right, I could have easily killed her and her friends in one battle. But if I did that, Deep Blue would have the chance to take over Earth, and I'm fairly certain he'd just kill us too after we obtained the Earth for him. And I wouldn't put it past him to wipe out everyone else on Cyniclonia. But I can't make Pai see that, and now I've got nowhere to go. Unless, of course, I go ask Ichigo, but she'll probably say no. I guess it can't hurt to ask, though. He teleported off.

With Ichigo: Ichigo had been thinking since the battle, and couldn't get the look on Kisshu's face out of her mind. Why can't I stop thinking about him? she wondered.

Because you love him.

What? I don't love Kisshu. And who are you, anyways?

I'm your conscience. And if you weren't so hung up on your current boyfriend, you and I both know you'd be with Kisshu by now.

But Kisshu doesn't love me! He thinks I'm a toy!

Then why does he look broken whenever you reject him? If he was just playing with you, it wouldn't hurt him that much. And Aoyama doesn't love you; he broke up with you today, remember? Kisshu has said numerous times that he loves you. Aoyama never said that.

Alright, let's say I am in love with Kisshu. How the HELL would I get that around Blondie?

Where there's a will, there's a way. You're stubborn; you should know that. You want Blondie dead anyways; so just kill him, and problem solved.

Somehow I don't think it'll be that simple….

So when are you going to tell Kisshu you love him? It had better be soon.

Who said I love Kisshu?

Ichigo, are you really going to argue with yourself?

Point taken, I'll tell him next time I see him.

Good choice.

The voice seemed to have gone, and Ichigo was about to get up to go make herself dinner when she heard something at her window. She went over and opened the window, looking out. She didn't see anything at first, but looking more closely at the tree, she noticed a pair of golden eyes looking at her. "Um… are you planning on coming out?" Ichigo asked.

"Do I have to?" Kisshu asked.

"No, I was just thinking that that tree doesn't seem like a very comfortable place to be," Ichigo said.

"Since when did you care?" Kisshu asked.

"Since I started having mental wars with my conscience," Ichigo muttered, hoping he wouldn't hear her.

She was hoping in vain. Kisshu snickered and said, "Going insane, Koneko-chan?"

"Hey, you're not much better," Ichigo said indignantly.

"How am I insane?" Kisshu asked. "I'd say a better descriptor would be 'spontaneous'."

Ichigo sighed. "I'm not going insane," she said. "Why are you still in the tree?"

"I don't want you to scream," Kisshu said.

"I don't get why I would scream," Ichigo said. "I only scream when you startle me."

Kisshu sighed and teleported into Ichigo's room, behind her. Ichigo turned- and her hands flew to her mouth. Kisshu was pretty badly injured. He sighed, and said, "I knew you'd be shocked."

"I did that?" Ichigo whispered.

"Yes," Kisshu said. Suddenly he realized he was getting dizzy, and put a hand on his forehead, staggering a bit. His vision started going black, and he felt Ichigo catch him right before everything went black.

When he woke up again, he noticed everything around him was pink, and he was lying in a bed, covered with the blankets. He turned his head, and saw Ichigo looking at him worriedly. He also noticed a sleeping bag on the floor next to the bed, and asked weakly, "How long have I been out?"

"About twenty hours," Ichigo said. "You blacked out yesterday evening, and it's about four in the afternoon now. I took care of your injuries, but how are you feeling?"

"I feel awful," Kisshu said, his voice weak.

Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, then said, "You're burning up. Can you take human medicine, or should I be calling Pai?"

"Human medicine is poisonous, and Pai kicked me out," Kisshu said gloomily. "That's why I came here; I had nowhere else to go."

"You can stay," Ichigo said. "I'll go get a cool cloth, k?"

"K," Kisshu said. He watched her leave, and waited a few minutes. Then she came back, and put a cold cloth over his forehead.

"How's that feel?" she asked him.

"It feels nice…." Kisshu said. He looked out the window, and asked, "What's the kitten doing in your tree?"

Ichigo spun, then went to the window, slammed it open, and yelled, "Ryou, get the hell out of my tree before I incinerate you!"

The kitten changed back into Ryou, and he snarled, "Care to explain why Kisshu is in your room?"

"That's none of your business," Ichigo said. "Try anything and you die, got it?"

Before Ryou could respond, they heard from the ground, "BLONDIE! YOU'VE GOT 1.5 SECONDS TO GET DOWN BEFORE WE MAKE YOU GET DOWN!"

"You two think you can make me do anything?" Ryou asked.

Ichigo looked out the window as Moe and Miwa nodded to each other, and then Moe said, "Look Blondie!" She held up a wallet.

"THAT'S MINE!" Ryou shouted. He glared at Ichigo, then got out of the tree, and as Ichigo watched, started chasing Moe and Miwa, who were both much faster, and laughing their heads off at the same time.

Ichigo giggled. "He should be dead within the next hour or so," she said happily. "And Moe and Miwa will have a bunch of money."

"Your school friends are into killing people?" Kisshu asked.

"Only people who hurt me," Ichigo said. "I think they actually came here to tell me that Aoyama's in the hospital or something, but now they get to kill Blondie too. They'll be ecstatic for weeks."

"Why would the treehugger be in the hospital?" Kisshu asked.

"He dumped me," Ichigo said. "And last I checked, Moe and Miwa were finished making it painfully clear that that was a VERY bad move. It worked out well for one person, though."

"Who's that?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo ruffled his hair. "You, silly," she said. "The little voice in my head yesterday was right; if I wasn't so hung up on Aoyama, I probably would be with you."

Kisshu was so shocked he started coughing, and Ichigo pulled him into a sitting position. Suddenly they both noticed he was coughing up blood, and Ichigo waited till the coughing subsided a bit to say, "I'm going to call Pai. I can use telepathy. Maybe he's cooled down a bit."

Kisshu just nodded, and Ichigo yelled telepathically, PAI!

What do YOU want!? Pai yelled back.

I want you to come heal Kisshu; he's at my place and he's coughing up blood! Ichigo said.

And if I say no? Pai asked.

I'll scream at you telepathically till you get the worst migraine of your life, Ichigo said.

I'm on my way…. Pai sighed, and cut the connection.

Ichigo smirked, and said, "That worked."

"What did?" Kisshu asked, just before he started coughing again.

"Threatening to scream at Pai till he got the worst migraine of his life," Ichigo said.

Kisshu tried to respond, but started coughing up blood again, just as Pai teleported in. Pai came over and put a hand on Kisshu's chest. His hand began to glow, and Kisshu's coughing subsided a bit. "Kisshu, lie back down," he said.

Kisshu obeyed, and Pai put his hand back on Kisshu's chest, then sighed. "You've got some kind of heart problem," he said. "That's why you're coughing up blood. I might need more power."

"Take mine," Ichigo said.

Pai looked startled, but nodded. "I'll let you know when," he said. "Stay quiet." Ichigo nodded and watched as Pai put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. Kisshu fell asleep, and Pai put his hand over Kisshu's heart. His hand began to glow brightly, and Ichigo watched him concentrate.

Fifteen minutes later, he said, "Ichigo, I need your power. Grab my hand." Ichigo immediately obeyed, and Pai started to pull her power out.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and finally Pai took his hand off Kisshu's chest. "That wasn't easy," he said. "He's pretty much healed, but he's going to need more rest before he's able to get up. He shouldn't have more heart problems, but if he pushes himself, the problems will come back. I don't know what caused this, though."

"I have a feeling it's my fault," Ichigo said glumly. "You've heard the term 'broken heart', right?"

"You think you literally broke his heart?" Pai asked.

"Is it normal for him to have such a severe problem?" Ichigo asked.

"No," Pai said. "I guess you're right. Why did you reject him so much?"

"I don't like being called a toy," Ichigo said. "Why did you kick him out?"

"Because I'm too stubborn for my own good," Pai said gloomily. "He thinks Deep Blue doesn't intend to help us, but I wouldn't listen, and that's why I kicked him out."

"Do you want to form a truce?" Ichigo asked. "Blondie should be dead by now. My friends were going to kill him for being so nasty to me."

"There's only one more problem," Pai said. "Your boyfriend is our leader's human host."

"He dumped me, he's on my friends' hit list," Ichigo said. "Should I tell them he needs to die?"

"Kisshu will have a fit," Pai commented. "Why not let him do it?"

"Because he needs to recover," Ichigo said. "He's in no condition to be killing people."

To their surprise, Kisshu asked, "Can't it wait till I'm better?"

"Don't we run more of a risk of Deep Blue actually appearing that way?" Ichigo asked.

"She's got a point, Kisshu," Pai said.

Kisshu sighed. Ichigo looked at him and asked, "Would apple pie make it better?"

Kisshu perked up. "Fine, your friends can kill Treehugger, but I want LOTS of apple pie," he said.

"You're so cute," Ichigo said happily. "I'll call them up." She picked up a cell phone, and dialed a number. "Hi Moe," she said when she got a response. "Aoyuck needs to die; he's the Cyniclons' leader's human host. Can you handle that?"

"Sure," Moe said. "Oh, Blondie's dead, and we're going out to dinner soon; do you and Kisshu want to come?"

"Kisshu's recovering from me breaking his heart; can it wait till he's better?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure, let him know we both hope he'll be better soon," Moe said.

"Will do," Ichigo said. "Ja ne!"

"Ja ne," Moe said, and hung up.

Ichigo looked at Kisshu and said, "Moe says feel better soon, and when you get better, they're apparently taking us out for dinner with the money they stole from Ryou."

"K," Kisshu said. "Can you make apple pie now?"

Ichigo giggled. "Sure," she said. She kissed his cheek and went back downstairs.

Another bad ending…. Review?