5

Crap.

The word ran through Kisshu's mind, along with a few others as he sprinted through the maze-like hallways of the spaceship.

He had gone to Earth to deliver a letter, and had been gone for ten; fifteen minutes at most, apparently long enough for her to disappear from his bed where she had been peacefully laying, unconscious, for the last four hours.

Crap. Ichigo where are you?

He rounded a corner, having to grab at the wall to make the turn. He ran as fast as he could down the next hallway, breathing hard; not from exertion, but from anxiety. If something had happened to her…

…he didn't know what he would do.

He looked left and right as he raced forward, skidding to a stop when he glanced into a room and saw a flash of red hair.

She was in the viewing room. She sat on the bench in the middle of the room with her chin on her knees and she stared out, past the huge glass pane in font of her, at the Earth in all of its glory.

As Kisshu watched, she sniffed and brought her hand up to her eyes, angrily wiping away tears.

"Koneko-chan?"

She whirled around and glared at him. "What do you want?"

He walked over to her and sat down on the bench next to her, albeit a few inches away. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all. But, now that you mention it, I had to tell my boyfriend that I was a Mew Mew…oh, and I was surrounded and attacked, and my head got torn apart, and then there's the fact that I was kidnapped! Did I forget anything?"

More tears ran down her cheeks and she did not attempt to brush them away. Kisshu reached up a hand and did the job for her. "Don't cry…"

She swatted his hand away, and avoided his gaze.

"Kish, why are you so weird?"



The alien blinked. "That's a strange question."

"Y-you're so…perverted and deathly one second, calling me your toy and stealing kisses; then you're all quiet and calm, and you're actually nice to me. Why?"

Kisshu suddenly seemed to find something on the floor interesting. "I…don't know."

…But he did know. Inside himself, he was fighting between his priorities and his wants. On one end of the scale, there lie his entire race, his loyalty to his people; on the other end was the life of Ichigo, the girl he loved with all his heart.

The alien smirked. "So, you're saying you like me?" He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close.

Ichigo shook her head, flinging a few tears into the air, and moved back to where she had been sitting. "Stop it, Kish. Pai already hurt me enough."

"Did…it really hurt?"

She turned to look at him, confused. There was a touch of…concern in his voice. Her lower lip wobbled slightly, and suddenly, unable to hold them in any longer, she nodded and the tears poured down her cheeks.

Kisshu tentatively reached a hand toward her as she let her head fall into her hands, and he watched her shoulders hitch with sobs. He wanted so much to comfort her, to hold her…

Giving into his desires, he enveloped her in his arms, rocking her back and forth gently. "Shhh, koneko-chan…"

He waited for her to push him away, for her to rush out of the room. He waited for her to tell him to go away, like she always did.

To his great surprise, she buried her head in his chest and sobbed into his shirt. She just sat there, allowing him to comfort her.

I am here for her, when she needs it, he thought with slight pride, and not her precious Aoyama-kun.

6



"What exactly is this?" Ichigo asked, pointing at the food piled on her plate.

Kisshu shrugged. "I dunno. It's from your planet, so you should know."

She stared doubtfully at the plate. It was piled high with some kind of weird brown stuff, with broccoli and carrots mixed in. "It looks like…vegetable curry. Or something…"

Kisshu cautiously raised a forkful of curry to his mouth and chewed. His face lit up, and he turned to Ichigo. "It's really good! Tart actually stole something edible this time."

Ichigo looked at him strangely for a few seconds, and then dug into her own meal. She seemed to relax with every bite she took, and by the time her plate was empty, she was sitting back against the side of Kisshu's bed with her eyes half-closed. They were eating in his bedroom, on the floor, since the kitchen had no table.

It was a lonely-looking room, having only a single bed and a desk occupying it. There was a bulletin board on one wall covered in bits of paper with writing in a different language on them. There was a door on another wall, leading into the bathroom, and yet another door on the third wall that led back out to the hallway. The bed occupied the fourth wall.

She had been here two days already, and Kisshu was being so nice to her. He had told her straight off that no-one would hurt her while she was here, and when Pai had taken some of her blood for tests, Kisshu had held her hand while Pai painfully drew blood from the vein.

I feel…safe around him, she thought and looked over at him, watching him eat his food, and I…I think I might just…

NO! I'm in love with Aoyama-kun! He's in love with me! End. Of. Story!!

But…still, I…

"See something you like, koneko-chan?"

A bright red blush flew across her cheeks and her cat ears popped out. "Pervert," she mumbled.

Kisshu reached over and stroked her cat ear, laughing lightly. "So cute…"

Ichigo reeled back. "What?"

The alien looked at her, confused. "Hasn't anyone ever told you that your cat ears are cute?"

Ichigo shook her head. No one ever has, she wanted to say, not even…Aoyama-kun.

He shrugged. "Well…now someone has."

Ichigo looked at him again. "K-Kish?"

"Yah?"

"Well…I…thank you."

"You're welcome. Oh, Pai gave me this. He said that if you misbehaved I was supposed to turn it to '4' and flip the red switch. But I won't. Do you want it?"

She turned to him to find that he was holding out the silver machine they had used to capture her with. "B-but…why…?"

Kisshu smirked. "I don't need it." Suddenly, moving so fast he was a blur, he set down his empty plate and pounced on her, straddling her hips and forcing her wrists down on the hard-wood floor.

"Kish!"

He smirked when he saw her outraged expression. He laughed and said, "Koneko-chan, you look so cute when you're mad!"

Ichigo blinked as the alien on top of her continued to laugh. All at once, though, his expression became calm and his eyes took on an emotion she had never seen before.

He moved his head closer, and pressed his lips against hers, trying to cram all of his suppressed emotion into that one, simple kiss. Ichigo's eyes widened, but after a while, her body began to respond and she gently kissed back.

After a few seconds, Kisshu—Kisshu—broke the kiss and got off her, helping her into a sitting position and pulling her into a tight embrace. His hot breath tickled her cat ear as he whispered into it.

"I love you, Ichigo."