Exception

Summary: Ichigo finds a rather annoying exception to the "no kissing" rule.

Disclaimer: Tokyo Mew Mew belongs to Reiko Yoshida (the writer) and Mia Ikumi (the illustrator).

Ichigo Momomiya raced through the empty streets. Her paws made hardly a sound as she darted away from the giant dog behind her. The bell around her tail gave her position away each time she attempted to hide. This had to be the third time she had run away from this particular dog since she changed into a cat.

'Damn mistletoe! Damn Ryou and that damned experiment that made this way!' Ichigo cursed in her head as she ran. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of a familiar floating alien. He stood alone; the alien was more than likely scoping out new places to cause havoc. Never before had Ichigo been happy to see him. She launched herself onto his back. Her nails unintentionally extended from her paws.

"What the fuck?" He yelped and twisted at his torso. His hands grasped at her gently despite the pain that her nails more than likely caused him. He held her in front of him. Ichigo hissed angrily as the dog ran up to them barking viciously. Kish smiled slightly. "Ah, I see. Kitty was being chased…" Ichigo's eyes widened as he conjured one of the jellyfish-like aliens that he used to create chimera animals. Ichigo hissed at him. He glanced over at her. His golden eyes were surprisingly reassuring. "Don't worry, Kitty, it's not for you." She reached forward and pawed his face toward her. It did not hurt him, but it was enough to make him look over. Kish blinked. "What is it, Kit-" Ichigo took advantage of his attention and lunged forward. Kish's eyes widened.

'This cat…is kissing me?' In his shock, the jellyfish alien dissolved. 'What the…' A blinding light surrounded him. The shock of it caused him to drop the cat. The dog ran away yelping at the light and the overall strangeness of the situation. Ichigo knew that the light would die down soon; she would have to be out of his sight. She did not want her enemy to figure out that she turned into a cat just by being kissed! She froze as she realized what she had done. She had kissed Kish! The facts that it was out of desperation and that there were no other people around suddenly did not matter. The freeze had caused her to lose her chance to duck out of Kish's sight. Vaguely, she could see Kish's golden eyes widened and a fanged smirk drifting over his lips.

"So…" He started teasingly. Ichigo glared at him.

"Don't say a word," she demanded of him. Her eyes widened as his golden eyes came closer to her. Panic flushed her as she realized what he intended to do. She slammed her hand over his lips and pushed his face back. "I don't want to be a cat again!" She scolded without thinking. Kish's green eyebrows shot up into his bangs. Ichigo jerked her hand away with a small yelp after his fang pricked her hand. He licked his fang. Ichigo, against her better judgment, stared at his fang. His tongue retreated back into his mouth and his bottom lip covered his fang again. His lips then curved into a smirk. Ichigo forced her eyes away from his mouth. A small squeak of surprise escaped her as his lips crashed against hers. She tensed as she waited for the shrinking feeling that occupied her transformation, but nothing came. Kish's lips were still on hers. She cracked one brown eye open to see Kish's closed lids. She jerked away from him. "Huh?" She mumbled. Ichigo touched her lips and tilted her head. Kish stared at her. A horrible idea had the cat girl stomping her foot in aggravation. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared angrily at the almost smug alien in front of her.

"I thought you were supposed to turn into a kitten," it was a statement but he managed to make it sound like a question. Ichigo pouted a little harder; this caused Kish to smirk.

"You seem to be the only fucking exception!" She growled angrily. Kish's smirk turned into a smile.

"I'm honored, Kitty…" he told her teasingly. Ichigo opened her mouth to tear into him over the statement, but his lips met hers again. They vanished just as quickly as they had come. Kish was no longer in sight.

"KISH!" She shouted angrily into the cold night air. In another dimension, Kish smirked and touched his lips. Ichigo had willingly kissed him and had allowed his lips to linger on hers for more than just a few seconds.