I sat in the chair, unmoving. How could I move? The man – er, alien – of my dreams stood before me and told me he was going to kill me. Squee! Wait, scratch that – Spaz! He's going to kill me! I leapt out of the chair just in time to watch a silver sai get caught in the chair's metal backing that I was leaning against less than a second earlier.

"D*mmit!" Kisshu growled. "Well, you're only delaying the inevitable. If you want to turn your death into a game, that's fine with me. I could use a little fun."

I slipped my hand into my pocket and curled my fingers around my mew charm. My mind was too frozen to think of what to do next. Good thing instinct takes over once I'm holding the charm. I can't remember my movements. All I remember of those few seconds is a shout of, "Mew Mew Strawberry, METAMORPHO-SIS!" and me landing on the roof of the outdoor sun canopy, clad in pink battle clothes.

My mind snapped back into function when Kisshu rushed at me with his sai and a really loud warrior yell. I yelped and jumped, doing a backflip off of the canopy and sailing through the air, only to land on my feet on the rooftop. I managed to whimper, "But I don't want to fight you."

His hearing must have been stronger than a human's – Oh, no duh, Kaylee! Those huge ears aren't just for added sexiness, y'know. – because he stopped in mid-charge and mid-air. Mr. Sexy flies too. Nya! I no longer wanted this to be a car-crash-influenced dream.

Kisshu chuckled and smirked. "Good. Then let's get this over with nice and quick. Stand still." He aimed his sai at me.

"I'm not just gonna let you kill me!" I screeched. My tail flicked once – nervously – causing the bell attached to it to ring.

He just smirked and flicked his wrist, releasing his weapon. I dodged the blow and crashed into one of the stray chairs on the rooftop, overturning it. I had no choice. It had come to this. I was about to break three years of fangirling with this solitary phrase. "Strawberry Bell!" The weapon appeared and I aimed it at him. "Don't make me use this!" I said with fake confidence that came across as totally cowardly. I realized that I had tears running down my cheek. Oh great. Now I look like a scared little girl about to pee herself. I'm only crying because I don't want to hurt him. He's Kisshu! I ah-dore him! But no, all he's gonna see is some wimpy nekomimi with some lame sparkly weapon.

Kisshu raised a green eyebrow and grinned evilly, displaying his pearly fangs. Oh I can't try to kill him at all. Not after that. Ryou will have to find the Mew Mew in Canada or something. Kisshu just flippin' smiled! I'm ready to hang up this bell for good. He chuckled a little. "What's the matter, little Mew? Don't have the courage to do the job your DNA chose for you?"

Did he just insult me? I was expecting it, but… Oh, what the heck. I want to know if this weapon actually works. "It's not that, but…" I began, smiling suggestively like my normal, brave self. His golden eyes widened and I thought I caught a glimpse of surprise in them. I took my opportunity. "Ribbon Strawberry – heck!" I started laughing. "I can't even take myself seriously. Like I'm gonna beat anything with a ribbon and a strawberry?"

He grinned and raised his eyebrows in amusement, his eyelids lowering into a smug expression. "You like me, don't you, kitten?"

No guy figures out I like them without me wanting them to! "Ribbon Strawberry Check!" and a blast of pink light burst from the heart-shape I held and smacked Kisshu in the face. Oops. He landed on the rooftop with a thud as I stared.

It was then that I noticed the other guy; a human. He sat just inside the doorway of the library rifling through the contents of – my purse! I thundered to the door as fast as lightning, throwing it open when I arrived and smacking the culprit on the back of his head with my Strawberry Bell. "Seriously?" I roared. "I have enough to deal with right now without a random thief showing up! Give me back my purse!"

The man just stared at me, a horrorstricken expression on his face. From somewhere in the library, a librarian told us to, "Shh!" The robber just emptied his pockets into my purse and shoved it in my general direction before making a mad dash for the elevator. I gave a determined nod before scooping up the bag, zipping it shut, and then exiting back out onto the balcony. I leapt up to the roof of the second floor and left my purse there, out of the reach of random money-grubbers.

Suddenly, Kisshu appeared beside me. "That hurt, kitten. And here I thought you were going to be easy to deal with." His sai materialized in his hands again.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I admit that I overreacted. So… Do you want to go in the library and sign some sort of peace treaty or something?" I smiled amicably. He tackled me and pinned me to the roof, sai pressing against either side of my neck. The metal was warm and surged with some sort of energy just under its surface layer. I could feel my skin start to tingle rather unpleasantly, though my stomach was doing quite the opposite. "I'll take that as a 'no'," I managed to retort. He leaned in closer to my face and the intensity of the sting from his sai increased.

"You want peace, kitten? That's not going to happen. However, feel free to surrender. If you do, I'll make sure that we only enslave the humans of this nation rather than kill them. I might even let you live to be my own personal slave." He grinned in a way that let me know that his train of thought had just crashed into the gutter like mine had.

I bit my lip and searched his face for anything that looked like lying. But I wasn't sure how to read alien body cues and facial expressions. I steeled my pink gaze on his golden one. "I'll think about it."

He frowned and tightened his sai on my neck, but then loosened them a bit. "Are you serious?" He didn't seem to believe me.

"Yes, I'm serious," I snapped. "It's a major decision. I have to do a whole cost/benefit analysis and calculate the odds of my failure if I try to fight and all of that stuff. If it was just my life at stake here, I'd probably say 'beam me up'. But you threw in the entire country, and frankly, that's a lot of people. So yeah, forgive if I need to think about it for a couple of days." I could feel the defiant scowl on my face. I could see it reflected in his honey-gold eyes. I would have looked pretty scary if my eyes and hair weren't pink and I didn't have cat ears sprouting from my head. No wonder he always messed with Mew Ichigo in the anime. It is extremely hard to take her – or, me – seriously.

He dropped his sai and they clanged on the roof beside me. One of them scratched my neck as it fell. He smirked and leaned in close, whispering into one of my human ears, "You're in no position to be making such demands, kitten. But this is entertaining, so I'll oblige. Three days. If you haven't made up your mind by then, I'll kill your people and then force you to be my slave whether you want to be or not."

I shivered, but it wasn't because I was afraid. This was really turning me on and I didn't know what to do with all the energy that was welling up in my body. My mouth was right up against his ear; his sexy, elven ear. I quickly stuck out my tongue and licked it on some freaky impulse. Was this some kind of kitty kiss? His head shot up and he stared at me quizzically with those intense eyes. Kaylee, you are in soo much trouble. So much sexy trouble. I managed to choke out in a rather breathless voice, "Like I said, I'll think about it."

"Good girl," Kisshu cooed. "But before I let you up," he gave me a seductive glare, "I'm getting revenge for that."

I didn't have to ask what he meant. Ear licking is a very strange thing to do. He leaned in again and grabbed my chin forcefully. And then I knew that one thing was about to go down the way it did in the anime. My very first kiss was going to be Kisshu Ikisatashi. "I love my job," I thought again as his lips closed over mine. The pressure he exerted with his kiss was almost painful. And then there was pain as one of his fangs cut my lower lip. He pulled back and looked at me with a devilish grin on his face before standing and vanishing.

I lay there for a few moments, trying to take it all in. Finally, I stood on the roof of the second floor and looked down at the balcony. The only evidence of our battle was that one of the chairs was knocked over.

If I really did like Kisshu, then why did I feel so violated? All he did was kiss me. Considering his reputation, it could have been worse. But you're basing him off of the anime character. I reminded myself. This real-life Kisshu could be totally different from the fictional one you're used to. What if…? What if he doesn't even like me? What if he hates me and is just utilizing what he sees as his opponent's greatest weakness? And what if he has no intention of keeping the bargain we made? It was then that I knew: As much as I wanted – really wanted – to give into Kisshu's charms, I couldn't. I was going to have to fight him with all of my strength. This battle wasn't about me or my absurd affections. It was about Earth and the people on it that I had been charged to protect. "I hate my job," I grumbled inwardly.

I stood on there on the roof and looked out at the things going on around town. I had friends here. I had enemies. And I had family. So I did the only thing I could. I struck a provocative pose and said, "For the future of Earth, I'll be of service!"