I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew

"Ichigo!". "Forget it, sweetie. She is not coming". "What do you mean 'not coming'? Momomiya Ichigo, get down here immediately!". "Sweetie, do you know what date it is?". "What date? What are you tal- O. It is that day. I see". Mrs. Momomiya smiled at her husband, who had stopped trying to get his daughter downstairs to have a proper breakfast. "Always the same, every single year…" he grumbled "What's the matter with that girl?". His wife walked towards him and pecked him on the cheek. "I don't know, love. I think it has something to do with a boy". "A boy? What boy? Ichigo hasn't been seeing anyone since that Aoyama guy broke up with her three years ago!". "I know, I know". "You think it has something to do with that no-life?". "No, I don't think so… She seemed to be over Masaya pretty fast. No, it must be something else. Now, let's have breakfast, won't we?".

A young girl shuffled back to her room from on top of the stairs. Her red hair waved behind her as she moved. It had grown in the past five years and now reached to her shoulder blades. She had a glassy look in her brown eyes. Absent-minded she closed the door of her room behind her and sank down on the ground in front of her bed. She was still in her pink pyjama's with strawberry motif and her pink robe.

That day, they called it. That one particular day she allowed herself to face her own brokenness and shatter into pieces. Once a year that day came, claiming all of her attention like he had always done before he left.

He left.

It had been five years. She hadn't seen him in five years. Not because she didn't want to, but because she was afraid she might hurt him again. And she found she couldn't live with him getting hurt, especially not when she was the one hurting him. So she didn't contact him, not even after she figured that she could barely live without him.

It had been an unpleasant discovery. The pain, whenever she thought about him. The emptiness in her heart, eating away her every thought and feeling. She missed him so bad she didn't think she could live through it. It was atrocious and her boyfriend didn't actually like it… After two years of watching her thinking about someone else he ran off. That had been quite a shock, she must say. Mostly because it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. It was easier to deal with that pain then with the pain of losing him.

So she decided to lock away the pain she felt and only release it on one particular day in the year: their anniversary. The day they had met. The day of her first kiss. It was the only day in the year she showed anything of her pain and she always made sure none of her friends was near to see it. Her parents had noticed, of course. How could they have not? Yet, they didn't know what was going on. They didn't even know he existed.

But she did.

She knew he existed, somewhere far away, moving on. She had heard that he was in pain from her friends. But she didn't react on it. If she would have reacted and gone to see him, she would have only broken him some more, eventually. There was no way she would do that, so that was an easy decision for her to take. Even though there wasn't much she wanted more then to see him again.

The pain had lessened with the years. It had become easier to forget about her pain and just live her life as it was. There were periods she didn't even think about him anymore. In a few years he would be completely gone from her mind and she would be able to look forward again. To her future. Maybe she might fall in love again.

But that was still in the future. Right now she wasn't even able to stand on her feet, brought down by the pain in her chest that tried to burn her away with every movement she made. "Kish…".

She had told her friends she'd take today off and all of them had accepted that without asking, even Ryou. Sometimes she thought they might have just looked through her all along. It would have surprised her when she had found out that they didn't know anything about her suffering.

She didn't even try to pull herself together. She knew it would be no use. So she just leaned against her closed door, pulled up her knees and placed her face on her knees, letting go of the tears that had been locked up inside her heart for the past 365 days. "I miss you…".

"I knew you would".

Ichigo's eyes dashed open and she lifted her head so quickly it caused the back of it to bump against her door. But she didn't even feel the pain. She stared to the person on the other side of the room, mouth fallen wide open and eyes like saucers.

He had matured. His eyes looked older, wiser. As if he had gone through a lot since she had seen him for the last time. But his eyes were still like pools of gold and his fanged smirk was still as always present around his lips.

She was stunned. How did he… When did he… Why did he… She had to take a moment before she could handle her confusion. He took a step towards her with a concerned look in his eyes. "Koneko-chan, are you alright?".

This was the moment Ichigo became completely aware of what she looked like.

Hair a mess. Still in her pyjama's. Tears running over her cheek. Mouth fallen open. Sunk down on the ground.

That wasn't exactly the way she hoped she'd look like when they'd meet again. But she was afraid there wasn't anything to be changed about it right now.

"Am I… alright?". "Yes…". Kisshu took another few steps, reaching her quite fast and now looking down on the confused girl "Are you alright?". "Do I look alright?". Ichigo was starting to get back to being who she was again. "No. You look terrible. No offence". Ichigo roughly wiped away her tears and ran her fingers through her hair. "O, shut up. I wasn't expecting any visitors today". "Why not? It's our anniversary, is it not?". He remembered. Of course he remembered. "You didn't show up last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, or the one before that. So why would you show up now? Why are you showing up now?". "Because I wanted to see you".

Well, you couldn't accuse him of being indistinct.

"Really now…" she muttered, while still trying to grab hold of reality. Was this really happening or had she gone mad? She had to admit she didn't care at all.

"Really" he answered, grabbing her waist and helping her to her feet, smiling carefully. She felt his hands holding her and she couldn't help but noticing how much she had longed for that touch for the past years. He didn't let go of her. On the contrary, he curled his arms around her body and pressed her to his chest.

Ichigo couldn't say or do a thing. She wasn't even able to think properly. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest and her breath hitched. Why didn't she notice those reactions from her body to him before? It was a bit strange… Well, guess she just didn't want to notice them. She had been so blind when she was still with Masaya. It was probably for the best he left her, because she would have stubbornly held on to him, not wanting to admit that their love had bled to death. That way she would have never been here, with him holding her as if he would never let go again.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" he asked her with a soft voice. "I haven't" she said breathless. "Yes, you have. Every time I came to earth, you weren't there. That can't have been a coincidence, Koneko-chan". Koneko-chan… She hadn't heard that nick-name for so unbelievably long…

"I didn't want to hurt you". Honesty was probably the best thing right now. "To hurt me?". "Yes…". "Why would you hurt me?". "I always hurt you". "What made you think that?". "The truth. Every time I see you I hurt you, one way or another". "I disagree. You are definitely not hurting me right now". "No, but I probably will… Somehow…". Kisshu let out a snigger. "You can't hurt me easily, honey". "Yet still…". "How would you hurt me by holding me?". "I'm not holding-".

God. She was holding him. When did her arms slip around him? When did she nuzzle her face against his chest? She couldn't even remember.

He smirked down upon her, not even bothering to answer her. Ichigo let go of him while a blush ran across her cheeks. "Fine, I was holding you. I just… I… You… You're an old friend and… Well…". "Then hold me" he said with a mischievous glance in his eyes, grabbing her arms and placing them around his neck. His arms curled around her waist again and he pulled her so close she came to stand on her tiptoes.

Using her own words against herself. God, she had missed that.

She didn't understand what he was doing. She had expected him to be… well, over her by now. To have moved on, really moved on. But he held her not as if they were old friends meeting again. He held her as if they were lovers meeting again.

Then he had really been in love with her for all these years? Why? It wasn't like she was exceptionally pretty or nice. She was just her. Just a random girl with cat powers. He hadn't even seen her for al those years! Of course, she didn't change a bit, yet still! He had been in love with the memory of her. Of who she was.

No. That wasn't it. That way this couldn't feel like this. There must have been something else.

There were two options: the first one was that he had been spying on her for the past five years. The second was that this was love.

Even though she found the first one fairly easy to believe, she couldn't help but shivering while considering the other. Love. Real love. Could she have found it in an alien? Well, why not. She had always been quite a freak. It would make complete sense when her true love would turn out to be from another planet. Just imagine, if she wouldn't have changed into a mew she might have never found him.

But she did. She found him. Well, if he would turn out to be her true love.

"I can't believe I haven't seen you in five years…" he whispered astonished "Yet it still feels like this…". "Like what?". Her breathing was shallow. She hadn't been held like this for… Well, actually, she hadn't been held like this ever before. Even Masaya hadn't held her like this. That might have been why she felt like a clumsy teenager. She didn't know how to handle her feelings. It was all so huge and intense and overwhelming.

Kisshu loosened his grip a bit so he could look her in the eyes. "Like this…" he said with a soft voice. She understood what he meant, of course. She also felt it. But how was she supposed to express that? Ever since she had met him she had only tried to not express her feelings towards him, unless it were feelings of anger. It was a sudden change to have to express her every feeling. With him showing up like this, no one could have expected that she would have been able to do it immediately. So she remained silent while looking in his eyes, as if she didn't understand.

Guess what? He didn't fall for it at all.

He had noticed, of course. He had noticed how she whispered his name and how she had broken down. How she had held him without noticing. How her breath had hitched and her heartbeat had sped up. How could he have not noticed?

It was a bit of a shock for him. He had never suspected that he could have this effect on her. That leaving would have this effect on her. He had hoped, yes. He had dreamed. But he had never actually believed that she might miss him his bad.

It was fantastic.

Of course, the fact that she had been in pain wasn't. But the fact that she had actually missed him was. Enough to make that Aoyama run off. Enough to drive herself crazy. Because of him. He had won eventually.

And it felt good.

He was definitely going to enjoy it as much as possible. He was going to make her love him even more. Make her admit that she loved him. And love her so much that she wasn't able to resist him any longer. The best part was that he knew he would be able to do that. It wouldn't even take much effort. He already had her, really. He just had to make her realise it. That would be fairly easy. She didn't even move her arms away.

This would be fun.

He didn't notice the smirk that appeared around his thin lips. But she did.

Triumph. Where did that triumph come from? He seemed so completely pleased. It was annoying and tempting at the same time. It was tempting to make that smirk last forever, because there was an air of pure happiness behind it. Whatever he had just realised, it made him incredibly happy. She loved to see him like that. She would do anything to keep him feeling like that. Nevertheless, she didn't know how, because she didn't know what he was thinking on that particular moment. She did have some conjectures, though.

"What are you thinking?" she asked suspicious. She probably didn't even want to know, but she couldn't stop herself from asking. "Nothing" he answered after her voice had brought him back to reality. The mischievous glint appeared in his golden eyes. "Just that I haven't kissed you for ages". Ichigo's eyes widened a bit.

He was right, of course. He hadn't kissed her for ages. But what did that mean? Was he going to kiss her? Why she even bothered to ask herself though the answer was so obvious is still a secret.

He was already holding her, so it was like there didn't change very much. He only moved his face towards her, waiting for her to move away, because he knew she would. And she did.

"Not going to happen, Kish" she said as she wrenched herself from his grip and backed off a couple of steps. He smirked. The game had begun.

"Why not?" he asked while walking towards her again. With every step he took forward, she took a step backwards. "You don't have a boyfriend anymore, do you?". "No" she said "Masaya and I broke up a couple of years ago". "And you're not in love with him anymore?". "No, I moved on. He wasn't as perfect as I thought anyway… I had to forgive him for cheating twice…". Kisshu stopped moving towards her, astonished. "He cheated on you?". Ichigo nodded, not caring about it the slightest bit. "Twice". "Twice?". "Eh… Kish…? Are you alright…?". Kisshu's fingers were shaking slightly and a muscle in his neck twitched. "That son-of-a-bitch…". "Kish!" Ichigo said with a shocked little smile. She put her hand for her mouth and giggled because of his reaction, as if she was a little girl. "And you forgave him?". Ichigo nodded again. "Twice?". "Hey, people are fools when they're in love. Besides, if I wouldn't be with Masaya anymore, it would have been a lot more difficult to deny the fact that I-". Just in time she shut up. But she had said enough to catch his full attention. His anger faded as he fully began to fill in her sentence. "The fact that you what, kitten?" he asked, the mischievous glance back in his eyes again. "N-nothing" Ichigo answered while scolding herself "Never mind". "O, but I do mind". "You really shouldn't". "That won't do". "Pity". She wouldn't give in. She wouldn't tell him that she almost said 'that I was in love with you'. Never.

He took a step towards her again and she took a step backwards again, finding that he had driven her into a corner and she was with her back against the wall of her room. She gulped and he smirked. He had planned it all out, of course. He knew her reactions as if they were his own. He also knew exactly how to use them in a way that was profitable for him.

As said before, annoying and tempting.

He bridged the space between them in a blur, placing his hands each on one side of her head against the wall and making her unable to escape. She was like an imprisoned bird in a golden cage. And she was completely aware of it.

It was comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. Rather frightening, she had to admit. Had she really fallen in love with the alien guy? Of course. Why not. As if she hadn't seen him in triumph enough already.

"What were we talking about again?" she asked to distract him. "Me kissing you" he answered smirking. Darn. She forgot. "Something that is not going to happen" she reminded him while pushing herself against the wall as close as possible. His left hand placed itself on her neck and his fingers ran through her red hair. She couldn't stop the blush from appearing on her cheeks and mentally cursed her human reactions. He noticed that his fingers were causing her blush and the mischievous glance brightened. Slowly he began to move his hand across her cheek, examining her every feature. Ichigo focussed on remembering how to breath and had to close her eyes to keep herself from losing her mind. She tried to ignore his touch, but failed to. He didn't actually make it easy either, the bastard. Instead of keeping it to touching her cheek with one of his hands his other hand also slid towards her face and he took it in both hands. She was absolutely stuck. No way to escape. Or so she thought.

But she wasn't the type of girl to give in that easy. She opened her eyes just in time to see him closing in again and placed her own hand over her mouth, causing his lips to collapse with her fingers. That wasn't really good for her state of trying to keep her self-control either, but it was better then his lips onto hers. In a twisted way it was.

Then guess what happened: all of a sudden, there were cat ears popping out of her head and a tail curling around her waist. Ichigo cursed again, out loud this time, while Kisshu's smirk grew even further. "Am I making you nervous, Koneko-chan?". As an answer her ears twitched a bit. "No, you're not!". "Really now?". Ichigo's breath hitched as he closed in. She pushed her hand even tighter to her lips, that started to tingle, a reaction that was not on her hand. He crooked his head a bit and examined her face, which he was still holding in his hands, a bit further with his golden eyes. She started to feel a bit embarrassed. She really looked like a mess today. What must he be thinking…

Wait, she should care about what he thought of her! She shouldn't! Yet… Well, let's just all admit it. She did. She cared. Great.

"Well then…" he whispered "Since I'm not allowed to kiss your lips, for whatever reason there may be…". Ichigo gave him one hell of a suspicious look, with reason. Kisshu closed in once again and pressed his lips on her forehead. Ichigo blinked and her lips started to tingle harder. She knew him good enough to know that he wasn't going to stop now. And he didn't, of course.

He started to kiss all of the features she hadn't covered with her hand, which was, to be precise, every single one except for her lips. Ichigo had to focus all of her attention on her breathing. In and out. In and out. Ignore the guy. Just ignore the-.

His lips touched her temple.

What was she thinking about again? O, yes, ignoring.

Ignore the guy.

"Why won't you let me kiss you? Don't you care for me?". He sounded so sad, it was absolutely torturing. "No! Of course I care for you!". "Then what is the problem?". He had had enough of the game already. It was nice, of course, but he hadn't seen her in freaking five years. He needed her.

He let go of her face with one hand and his fingers grabbed hold of the hand she had placed over her mouth. Exasperatingly slow he removed her hand from it's place. Ichigo didn't resist. She wasn't able to, because he was overwhelming her with his desperate, confused, loving, hungry golden eyes. It was breathtaking and made her unable to move. To even lift a finger. Her hand fell next to her body.

His fingers brushed across her lips. "I love you…" he said with a husky voice. Ichigo's eyes widened in shock. It was as if there was short circuit in her head. The words echoed through her mind.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

"I love you".

Now it was time for his eyes to widen as she spoke. "I love you. I love you. I love you". She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips onto hers, on which he immediately reacted with his arms curling around her waist (where her tail still was, by the way) and holding her so tight she might be killed. Yet she wasn't, because she felt unbelievably strong. She had just found out what had been torturing her for the past few years.

It was love.

She smiled through their kiss. He smiled back.

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