Kitten Love Chapter 9:

Ichigo's New Power

Kisshu woke up a while later, feeling dizzy. He put his hand on his forehead again- and immediately yanked it off. Ichigo was looking at him in concern, and he laid back as he told her, "I think my fever went up. Not to mention I'm dizzy." Ichigo came over and rubbed his cheek lightly.

Kisshu put a hand over his eyes and groaned; he was getting dizzier by the minute. "Not good…" he muttered as he heard footsteps.

Lettuce came in a minute later and said, "How are you?"

"Worse," Kisshu said. "I'm really dizzy, and I think my fever went up."

Lettuce felt his forehead, and gasped. "You're in really bad shape," she told him. "Pai's a little better, I'll go talk to him. Oh, and I brought a bucket in here after you went to sleep, so don't try to get up if you feel sick."

"Thanks…" Kisshu said weakly. He heard Lettuce leave, and sighed. The dizziness was still getting worse, and he looked at Ichigo. She looked back worriedly. Kisshu was about to say something, when he felt his stomach start doing backflips. On top of that, it HURT. He clapped a hand over his mouth, and looked around for the bucket. Ichigo pointed to the far side of the bed from her, and Kisshu flipped over and dragged the bucket closer just before he got sick. This time felt a lot worse; five minutes after he started, he still felt like his stomach was doing backflips, and he couldn't stop throwing up. He opened his eyes- and got scared, because he was coughing up blood. Finally he stopped, gasping for breath. He laid back, and looked at Ichigo. When he tried to speak, he soon found his voice was gone too.

Ichigo had noticed the blood on his lips, though, and even though her mind was slowly turning into a cat's mind, she knew she had to do something. As Kisshu laid back again, his breathing harsh, she climbed onto his chest and began purring.

Why is she purring? And more importantly, why did she climb onto my chest? Kisshu wondered. Suddenly he felt really sleepy, so he closed his eyes, and almost immediately went to sleep. Sound asleep, he didn't notice that Ichigo was emitting a pink glow.

Ichigo had felt something inside, like her Mew powers, which told her to climb onto Kisshu's chest and start purring. She soon felt power flowing out of her into Kisshu. For some reason, she knew she shouldn't open her eyes. Finally she felt the flow of power stop, and decided to open her eyes. When she looked up, she saw Pai and Lettuce looking down at her, seemingly shocked. "Ichigo, you were glowing," Pai said.

Ichigo looked at him, then at Kisshu. Lettuce said, "I think you healed him, Ichigo-san. Pai, can you check?"

Pai nodded, and placed a hand on Kisshu's chest. "You're right, Lettuce," he said. "Kisshu will be fine when he wakes up. That's amazing, Ichigo. Especially since you're not in Mew Form."

"What if this power only works when she's in cat form?" Lettuce asked. "She climbed onto Kisshu-san's chest, and started purring, two things she can't really do in human or Mew form. Maybe the reason it worked is because she was already in cat form."

"Whatever the reason, it's great," Pai said. He patted Ichigo's head. "Good work," he said. Ichigo squeaked. Then she curled up for a nap, still on Kisshu's chest.

Kisshu woke up two hours later to find Pai sitting next to him, and Ichigo asleep on his chest. "Pai, are you feeling better?" he asked.

"I'm feeling a lot better, what about you?" Pai asked.

"I feel fine," Kisshu said. "What happened? Earlier I was coughing up blood, now it's like I was never sick."

"Ichigo healed you," Pai said. "When Lettuce came to get me, and we came back in here, Ichigo was sitting on your chest, purring, and she was glowing pink. The glow was spread over your body, and when it faded, I checked you out, and she had completely healed whatever it was you had."

"Wow, but she's not in Mew Form," Kisshu said.

"Lettuce thinks it might be that she can only heal in cat form," Pai said. "She had curled up directly over your heart. I think Lettuce might be right; she has to be in cat form to heal."

"Interesting," Kisshu said. "Well, it worked, I feel great."

"I'm glad," Pai said with relief. "I was pretty worried when Lettuce came to get me, saying your fever was really high. And I saw blood in the bucket; you had me pretty worried."

"Sorry," Kisshu said. "I'm fine now though. And hungry."

"Let's get something to eat," Pai said. "Lettuce made some soup."

"Ichigo's sleeping," Kisshu said.

"I'll get her off," Pai said. He picked Ichigo up gently and placed her on the bed. She immediately curled back up and continued sleeping as Kisshu got out of bed. He was about to walk out the door when Pai said, "You should put your shirt back on…"

Kisshu looked sheepish, and grabbed a shirt, then put it on. Then he and Pai left Ichigo sleeping on the bed.

Ichigo woke up a while later, and stretched, yawning. Then she noticed Kisshu was gone, and got worried. "Myuuu…." she said sadly. Then she jumped off the bed and went out the open door to look for Kisshu. She looked in lots of rooms, but didn't find him. She decided to smell him, and sniffed the air. She smelled some kind of food, so she headed in that direction. Finally she came to the kitchen door, and saw that there were feet under the table. She walked around the table to find Kisshu. He didn't see her at first- until she jumped on him, startling him. "Ichigo, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Myuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" Ichigo wailed.

"I think she found you gone and got worried," Lettuce said.

Kisshu looked down at the kitten who was rubbing his chest in a rather frantic manner, and said, "Sorry, I just wanted to let you sleep. Thanks for healing me, I feel great!"

"Mya?" Ichigo asked softly.

"Really, I'm fine," Kisshu said. "Sorry I worried you."

"Nyaa…" Ichigo sighed, and climbed onto Kisshu's shoulder.

"She's getting really attached to you, Kisshu," Pai said. "She's also getting more cat-like, which worries me."

"You think that soon she won't be able to turn back?" Lettuce asked.

"That's what I'm worried about," Pai said. "I'll go call Keiichiro, he should know." He got up and teleported out as Ichigo drooped on Kisshu's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said. "We'll work something out."

"Myuu," Ichigo said.

"Are you hungry?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo jumped onto the table, and sniffed the bowl of miso soup Kisshu was eating. "That's mine, but I guess you can have your own," Kisshu said, looking at Lettuce.

"Do cats even like miso soup?" Lettuce asked doubtfully.

"Maybe Ichigo does?" Kisshu suggested.

Lettuce sighed and put a small amount in a little bowl, then put it on the table. Ichigo went over, then started lapping it up. When she was done, she looked hopefully at Lettuce. "Myu?' she asked.

"You like that?" Lettuce asked. Ichigo nodded. Lettuce gave her more, and she lapped that up as Pai came back.

"Uh… I don't think that's very good for her," Pai said.

"She likes it," Kisshu said. "She asked for more."

Pai sighed. "Some animals will eat things that aren't good for them for that reason," he said. "They like the taste, so they'll eat it. Kind of like dogs and chocolate. Dogs will eat chocolate, even though it's really bad for them."

"You mean Ichigo's going to get sick?" Kisshu asked, worried.

"Maybe, but I do have the ability to heal, so she'll probably be fine," Pai said. He took the half-empty dish of miso soup away, and Ichigo hissed. "It's not good for you, so you need to stop eating it," Pai said. "I'll go get you some milk."

Ichigo's ears drooped. Suddenly it sounded like she was choking on something. Pai came over and put a finger on her chest, then said, "I was right, cats shouldn't eat miso soup." His finger began to glow, and Ichigo stopped making the choking sound. Finally Pai took his finger away and said, "She needs to sleep off the healing, so take her back to your room, Kisshu. And don't teleport."

"Okay," Kisshu said. He gently picked Ichigo up. She didn't even stir as he carried her back to his room and put her on his bed.

Two hours later, Kisshu was worried, because she wasn't even stirring. This is all my fault, he thought as tears started to run down his face. I should have listened when Lettuce said she didn't think it was good for her. Eventually Kisshu's emotions caused him to fall asleep.

Ichigo woke up a while after Kisshu fell asleep and stretched. She was feeling better, but that quickly faded when she noticed Kisshu was asleep next to her, and his face was tearstained. Worried, she went over and started licking his cheek, hoping he would wake up okay.

Kisshu woke up to something like sandpaper rubbing his cheek. He opened his eyes- and saw Ichigo about an inch from his nose again. He sat up fast, and fell off the bed with a thud in the process. Groaning, he looked at Ichigo and said, "Didn't I tell you to poke me or something next time?"

Ichigo's ears drooped, and her eyes went really sad. Kisshu saw, and reached out to pet her, but she backed up a bit, then burrowed under his blankets. Kisshu sighed, and heard a muffled wail. "I wish I could understand cat," he muttered. "I never expected to have a cat for a girlfriend, though." This produced another muffled wail from under the blankets, and then Ichigo got out from under the blankets and ran out the door.

"I hurt her feelings, didn't I?" Kisshu said to the now empty room. He sighed. "I'd better go find her and apologize, she was probably just worried because she knew I'd been crying." With that in mind, he started looking around the ship.

Half an hour later, he still hadn't found her. Finally he teleported to Lettuce, hoping she'd know something. He found her in the kitchen, and she was cradling Ichigo in her arms. Lettuce hadn't seemed to notice him for some reason, and she was talking to Ichigo softly. "Come on, it's not that bad," she said. "Kisshu still loves you, he's just worried, like the rest of us are. None of us wants you to permanently become a cat. Is that what you want?"

Ichigo shook her head. "See?" Lettuce said. "It's not going to be easy if you turn into a cat for good. What about your parents? It's not only Kisshu who wants you to turn back, and I'm certain he's not only worried about the fact that it's harder to kiss a cat. He really cares about you, he didn't mean to hurt your feelings. And you really shouldn't wake someone up by staring at them, it's not a very nice thing to do. Would you like it if Kisshu woke you up like that?"

Ichigo shook her head. Lettuce sighed. "I'm sure Kisshu's looking for you, so you should go find him. I think you both need to apologize, since you scared him, and he hurt your feelings. I know it was scary when you woke up and found him lying next to you with his face tearstained, but you could have poked him rather than scared him awake. And I know you got scared because you though he might have hurt himself, but you could have checked to see if he was breathing before panicking. Next time, check first, then panic, k?"

"Myu," Ichigo said softly.

Lettuce petted her a little, then gently put her down.

Apologies and more fluff next chapter. It's currently 2:30 AM, so that's it for this morning people. Review Please! :)