Neko Chapter 3:

Back to Normal- Sort of

Ichigo took Kisshu home, and when she went in, she called out, "I quit! Boy, I left him speechless!"

"Does that mean I'll get untied now?" Shintaro asked from the living room.

Ichigo went in, and saw her father tied to his favorite recliner. She burst out laughing. "I don't find this amusing," Shintaro said. "Ryou didn't do anything, did he?"

"No, he just yelled, "Get back here!"" Ichigo said. "I stuck my tongue out at him. He's probably steaming right about now."

"I hope you told him not to come here," Sakura said, coming in to untie Shintaro.

"Yep, and I told him about the sword and the flamethrower," Ichigo said. "Maybe he'll think twice now."

"Good," Shintaro said. He stood up and shook himself. "Did you have to tie me up?" he asked Sakura.

"Yep," Sakura said.

"Can I invite Moe and Miwa over to meet Kish?" Ichigo asked.

"Sure," Sakura said.

Ichigo grinned and took Kisshu upstairs. She set him down on the bed and said, "I'll introduce you to my friends, k?"

"Are you sure?" Kisshu asked.

"They're great, and they like cats," Ichigo said. She grabbed her cell phone and dialed a number. "Hi Moe, would like you to come over and meet my kitten?" she asked. "Really? Okay, see you then. I'm inviting Miwa too. Ja ne!"

Then Ichigo dialed another number, and said, "Hi Miwa, Moe's coming over to meet my kitten, do you want to come too? Great! I'll see you then." Ichigo hung up and said, "They'll be here soon, k?"

"Are they friendly?" Kisshu asked.

"Yes, and they're also very understanding of me," Ichigo said. "Do you think I should tell them about my other identity?"

"Won't you have to explain that your kitten is a Cyniclon?" Kisshu asked.

"Not necessarily, and then it would explain why I can understand you," Ichigo said.

"Do you trust them enough to be sure they won't tell anyone?" Kisshu asked.

"Yep," Ichigo said "We've known each other since we were three."

"Your choice," Kisshu said.

The doorbell rang, and Ichigo got up, went downstairs, and opened it to see Moe and Miwa. "Hey Ichigo," they said.

Ichigo smiled. "Come on in," she said. "Kish is in my room."

"You named your kitten Kish?" Miwa asked as she and Moe followed Ichigo upstairs.

"Yup," Ichigo said. She let Moe and Miwa into her room, then closed the door. She looked around for Kisshu, and found him on her bed, waiting patiently. Moe and Miwa looked over, and Miwa said, "He's adorable."

"Yeah, but why is he green?" Moe asked.

"Kish is a little different," Ichigo said, smiling happily. She sat down on the bed, and Kisshu came over to sit on her lap. Moe and Miwa sat down on the bed too, and Kisshu looked at them warily.

"He looks kind of wary," Miwa said.

"Kish isn't used to humans," Ichigo said.

"He seems to really like you," Miwa commented.

Ichigo's smile faded, and she said, "That's because I'm half cat."

"What?" Moe asked. "When did that happen?"

"When my evil blonde boss decided he wanted to fight off the aliens who have been attacking Tokyo, and infused me with cat genes," Ichigo said. "I was NOT happy with him."

"Does that mean we can beat him up?" Miwa asked hopefully.

"Just try not to get arrested," Ichigo sighed. "You've already had two pretty close calls this year, and I don't think Ryou's going to be like the principal and lie to the police about why you beat him up."

"Oh, fine…." Moe said. "So I suppose there's a reason you didn't tell us?"

"School isn't the best place to talk about it," Ichigo said.

"Good point," Moe said. "Um…. what brought on you telling Aoyama that you wanted to break up? You used to be totally obsessed with him."

"His idea of fun is cleaning up a river," Ichigo said. "And while it's nice that he cares so much about the environment, I realized that he's a pretty boring person."

"I heard him muttering something about aliens," Miwa commented. "Did you fall in love with one of them while fighting?"

"Yep!" Ichigo said.

"He's not going to hurt you, right?" Miwa asked. "Because if he is, we're going to take him down."

"No, he's not going to hurt me," Ichigo said, noticing Kisshu was shrinking away from Moe and Miwa.

"I thought you said they were friendly," Kisshu grumbled. "They're going to take me down. That doesn't sound friendly to me…"

"Oh, honestly, they're not going to take you down," Ichigo said. "As long as you don't hurt me, they're harmless."

"Um… Ichigo, why are you talking to your cat?" Miwa asked.

"He's now convinced that you two are going to take him down," Ichigo sighed. "I told him if he doesn't hurt me, you won't take him down, but he never listens."

Moe looked at Kisshu, and said, "The alien you're in love with is a cat?"

"He didn't used to be a cat," Ichigo sighed.

"I guess that explains the green fur," Miwa said.

Ichigo sighed again. "Try not to scare him," she said. "He's not comfortable around humans. Except for me, and I'm only half human."

"He's shaking," Moe said.

Ichigo gently picked Kisshu up, and cradled him in her arms. "It's okay, they're not going to hurt you," she said softly. She started humming something that sounded like a lullaby, and Kisshu started to relax. Soon enough, he was sound asleep, and Ichigo gently put him on her pillow for a nap. Then she motioned to her friends, who quietly followed her out. When they were outside her room, she said, "Sorry, I guess he's not ready for more humans than my parents."

"That's okay," Moe said.

Suddenly they heard a warping sound in Ichigo's room, and ran back in. Pai was standing there, and Ichigo said, "What do you want, Pai?"

"I want Kisshu, where is he?" Pai said.

Kisshu ran over to Ichigo, and jumped on her shoulder, then hissed at Pai. "I'm not going back, you'll just lecture me for hours on how Deep Blue is always right," Kisshu hissed. "And I'm not leaving Ichigo alone."

Pai looked shocked, and Ichigo asked, "Can you understand him?"

"No, but I know that's Kisshu,"Pai said. "Why is he a cat?"

"Something about licking the blood off my cheek yesterday," Ichigo said.

"And what did he say? He sounds upset about something," Pai said.

"He said, "I'm not going back, you'll just lecture me for hours on how Deep Blue is always right," Ichigo said. "And then he said, "And I'm not leaving Ichigo alone."

"I was afraid of that," Pai sighed. "Not exactly great timing, Kisshu."

Kisshu tilted his head to one side. Pai noticed and said, "After you disappeared, Deep Blue decided he'd had it with us, and went to go bring in his human host. I went to the Café after that, but when I asked about a truce, Ryou threw a plate at me and told me Ichigo had quit. So I decided to come here and figure out what was going on."

"I quit because I hate Ryou," Ichigo said. "He's an evil jerk."

"So it had nothing to do with Kisshu?" Pai asked.

"No, I also quit so I could spend more time with Kish," Ichigo said. "I love him, but I was pretending not to so Blondie wouldn't throw me out. If he did that, I wouldn't get to see Kish. But I didn't think Kish liked me. I'm glad he explained that he did."

"Do you know how to turn him back?" Pai asked.

"Uh… maybe," Ichigo said. "But I'm not sure it'll work. I can try, though." She took Kisshu off her shoulder, and kissed him on the nose. When she broke it off, Kisshu began to glow, and she put him down. As they watched, Kisshu began to change back into a Cyniclon. When the glow faded, Kisshu stood up, back to normal. He also immediately noticed Ichigo looked sad.

"Koneko-chan, what's wrong?" Kisshu asked.

"Now that you're back to normal, you're going to leave," Ichigo said sadly. "I don't want you to leave."

"You're dad's going to have a fit if I ask to live here," Kisshu commented.

Ichigo hugged Kisshu, burying her face in his chest. "I don't want you to leave!" she wailed, and started crying.

Moe and Miwa were still in the room, and Miwa said, "Should we go get your parents, Ichigo?"

Ichigo muttered something that sounded like, "Maybe…"

Miwa sighed, and left. Pai teleported out as Kisshu started stroking Ichigo's hair. She was still crying.

Shintaro and Sakura came in a minute later with Miwa, and stopped dead. "Um… Ichigo, what's going on?" Sakura asked.

"I don't want Kisshu to leave," Ichigo said sadly. "Now that he's not a cat anymore, he probably has to leave, but I don't want him to leave."

"Kisshu, do you have somewhere you need to be?" Sakura asked.

"No, and I never said I had to leave, I said Mr. Momomiya would have a fit if I stayed, and then Ichigo started crying," Kisshu said. "I don't mind staying, but I thought you both would mind."

Sakura sighed. "Ichigo, did you have to jump to conclusions like that?" she asked.

"Maybe…" Ichigo said sadly. "Dad hates boys, though."

Sakura glared at Shintaro. "Why are you glaring at me? I'm not that bad," Shintaro said.

"Yes you are," everyone else said.

Sakura sighed again and said, "Kisshu, do you have parents who would object to you living with us?"

"No, I'm an orphan," Kisshu said.

"Would you like us to adopt you?" Sakura asked, putting a hand over Shintaro's mouth.

"You'd do that?" Kisshu asked. "I could be with Ichigo?"

"Sure, and if Shintaro does NOT behave, he can sleep in the garage until he mends his ways," Sakura said. "It's pretty clear that you leaving is making Ichigo miserable, and I think that if you don't leave, she won't be miserable, and she'll go back to being happy."

Kisshu and Ichigo both perked up. Ichigo took her face out of Kisshu's shirt, and said, "So Kish can stay?"

"Yep," Sakura said. "He can have the guest room. I just have to clean it out, k?"

"Okay," Kisshu said happily. "Thanks, Mrs. Momomiya."

"You can call me Sakura," Sakura said.

"Okay, thanks Sakura," Kisshu said.

"Do you have anything you need from where you're living now?" Sakura asked.

"Not really, I don't have a lot of stuff," Kisshu said. "I just need one thing- these pills Pai made that will turn my ears human. And I should tell Pai and Taruto that I'm going to live here."

"Who are they?" Sakura asked.

"My brothers," Kisshu said. "Actually, their family adopted me, but I want to be with Ichigo. And they live on another planet."

"Alright, you go do that, and I'll start setting up the guest room," Sakura said.

"Thanks," Kisshu said. He looked at Ichigo. "I'll be back, I promise," he said. Ichigo nodded, so he teleported back to the ship.

Yay! Kisshu's going to live with Ichigo now! Review plz!