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Ryou slid back on Rachael's lap. "Baakaa," He sing-songed into her ear. He then left out the door.

Switched!

Chapter 4 – The Aliens

Rachael went out the door and down the stairs. 'What was that about?' When she got off the last step she noticed Pudding with a little boy with long ears and brown hair in two pigtails.

"Tart?" Rachael asked.

"What do you want, you old hag?" The boy rudely replied. "If you're looking for Kish, he's talking to Ryou in the kitchen."

"Kish?" Rachael repeated to herself. For some reason she felt like she knew him before. In fact, she felt like she knew everyone here, even though she's never met them before. At least she thinks she never met them before. Suddenly someone hugged her from behind and broke her from her thoughts. "Nyaa!" she said in shock.

"I've missed you so much, koneko-chan!" he said.

Rachael turned around to find herself face-to-face with Kish. "Koneko…chan?" Rachael repeated.

"That dirty playboy didn't steal you already did he?" Kish said. "That's not even a fair fight! I didn't even get here until a few minutes ago!"

"Are you talking about Ryou-san?" Rachael asked as she pushed herself away from Kish's clutches.

"Drop the 'san'," Ryou interrupted. "There's no need for formalities."

"Oh, sorry…" Rachael trailed off in her thoughts. "How about 'Ryou-kun'?"

"Just 'Ryou' is fine," Ryou sighed. "But I guess that's good enough."

"I have to say," Kish smiled. He dropped the bomb on her, "there's something about you that gives you an air of innocence. Anyone could tell that you're not really Ichigo. Why even bother to conceal your identity, Rachael-chan?" Rachael's attempts to swat him away were futile as Kish hugged her once more.

"How did you find out?!" said Rachael, astonished and blushing.

"Ryou-kun told me," Kish blamed, as Rachael conveyed what he said.

"How did Ryou-kun--." Then it hit her. She traced her memory back when Ryou found out who she was.

Flashback:

Ryou played with her hair. "You've never had a boyfriend, have you?" Ryou said, waiting for the answer.

"N-no…" Rachael sputtered.

"That's weird, considering you were so cute," Ryou took a photograph out of his pocket and showed it to her. It was a school picture of Rachael! She was wearing her school uniform, and posing for the camera.

"Where did you get that?" Rachael asked, not at all surprised that he knew who she was. She had forgotten all about pretending to be Ichigo.

Ryou smiled, "I have my resources. The name, Rachael, is pretty cute, too. Doesn't it mean 'Innocent Baby Animal'?"

"Yeah," Rachael said. It didn't look like she even noticed Ryou's face getting closer and closer to hers.

"It fits well," he told her giving her a kiss. Suddenly, Rachael transformed into a small black cat.

Ryou slid back on Rachael's lap. "Baakaa," He sing-songed into her ear. He then left out the door.

End of Flashback

"…So that's why…you called me…Baka…" Rachael was dumbfounded. She stared at the ground, red-faced and too embarrassed to speak.

"Awww! So cute!" Kish said to himself, petting her head and still embracing Rachael tightly. "What did he do to you?"

Rachael was humiliated. 'Ryou-kun…this whole time…' Suddenly she broke from Kish's grasp and stared at Ryou, her face flushed red.

"Ryou-kun!" she said. "You…you stole my first kiss!"

Surprisingly, Ryou's reaction wasn't what Rachael thought it would be. It was nothing. Just a blank stare.

"Hn?" Kish noticed him blush a little. When he looked at Rachael's expression, he knew why.

"Anou, koneko-chan?" Kish said straight-faced but also blushing, "I know you're trying to be serious, but if it's your face, everything looks too cute to be serious." He was about to hug her again when Pai walked into the room.

"You're name is Rachael, am I correct?" Pai calculated. "My name is Pai. Yoroshikun."

"The pleasures mine," Rachael mumbled. She was embarrassed by what Kish said before. 'Kish keeps going on and on about how I'm too cute,' she thought. 'Maybe he's just trying to get me to fall for him…But then, what was that look that Ryou-kun gave me? I don't understand at all!'

"Can you two leave us alone for a few minutes?" Kish asked impatiently. "I wanna talk with my cute little koneko-chan."

Pai teleported out of the room without a word. Ryou hesitated and looked at Rachael. She looked confused. With so many things going on how could she not?

"Rachael-chan?"

Rachael looked up. This was the first time Ryou called her by her real name.

"Tell me if he tries anything funny with you, okay?" Ryou said. He took one last look at Rachael and left the room with his hands in his pockets.

As soon as the door closed, Kish whispered in Rachael's ear, "Ryou's still listening to us. He's standing next to the door to make sure I don't do anything wrong. We're going to teleport, okay?"

He grabbed her wrist and teleported. "Nya!" Rachael yelled in surprise. The feeling of teleportation was the strangest feeling she ever had. It was as if she was on a rollercoaster and she had just dropped straight down. 'But somehow,' she thought as she dozed off, 'It feels nice.'