Chapter 10: Honey, Honey

Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.

-- Robert Frost

"So when did you get a new Mew?"

"Nya!" Ichigo cried, dropping the plates she was washing in the sink.

"Sorry, Kitten," Kish chuckled, leaning over her shoulder.

"Don't do that ever again!" Ichigo scolded him and moved half a foot away. "You scared me! Get out of here, Kish."

He crept closer towards her. "I don't want to."

She sighed, shoving him away with an orange rubber glove. "Fine, what do you want then?"

He took a stack of plates and put them in the lower cupboard of the café's kitchen. "Just to talk."

"What?" Ichigo looked surprised.

Kish appeared confused. "You didn't want me to help you with the dishes?"

"Oh, no, it's okay," Ichigo replied hastily. "You can put stuff away."

"So then, when did you get that new Mew?"

"Oh, Berry. She arrived about... Oh, a year after you guys left."

"We missed a lot," Kish thought out loud. "She's kind of cute, I guess..."

Ichigo's head perked up, slightly disturbed by the fact. Of course Kish can get over me. He should get over me. I mean, why couldn't he? Besides, it's been seven years since he last saw me and it's not like he should wait for me or something. And, I mean, it's just Kish. Why should I care about Kish? Since when does he mean anything to me anyway? It's just because he's a guy who had a crush on me for a while, that's all, it's perfectly normal to be a little jealous and... Wuah, I hate my love life sometimes!

"Uh, she and Tasuku have been an item for a while now."

"She's cute. But not as cute as you though, Kitten..."

Abruptly, Ichigo pushed a plate into his hands and pretended she didn't just hear that. Kish was hitting on her? And she was engaged...? He laughed carelessly, placing the plate into the cupboard.

"Yeah, I know," Ichigo sighed, convincing herself his comment and her reaction was a figment of her imagination, "and I missed you guys too."

"I missed you too, honey..."

Honey...

"Hey, you okay, Kitty-cat?" Kish waved a pale hand in front of her face and Ichigo blinked a couple times. "I thought you left me for a second."

"Oh, um, nothing," Ichigo mumbled.

Honey, honey... Why did that ring in her head all of a sudden?

"How come you don't wear your hair in pigtails anymore? It's always down nowadays and when it's up it's not in pigtails. Not that it's bad or anything, I always preferred your hair down..."

Ichigo touched her hair automatically, running a hand through her single ponytail and resisting the urge to take it out. "I don't know. I'm not thirteen anymore, Kish."

"I know, but I miss them. Anyway," he grinned, "how's life been while I've been gone?"

"Pretty good. Y'know, fighting to save the world, going to college, marrying Masaya." Kish's eyes flickered for a moment when she mentioned Masaya, but Ichigo did not notice. She hummed an unfamiliar tune to Kish, slight smile upon her lips.

"What are you studying in college?"

Ichigo giggled. "You actually care about what I wanna be?"

"Yeah," Kish nodded his head enthusiastically, adding under his breath, "I care about you at least."

"Well, it's kind of unexpected. Kind of weird for me, I guess. I mean, Ryou's this scientist of course, majoring in animal science, and minoring in genetics... And then Keiichiro has the café, and I think he'll be this famous chef one day." Ichigo pretended to put on a chef's hat, water sprinkling Kish from her gloves, and she giggled again. "Oops, sorry! But I think he'll have a baking TV show or something, y'know? And then Zakuro's still off being a model, and Mint's staring in this ballet with bunnies or something--"

"Wait, bunnies?"

Ichigo made a pair of bunny ears on the back of Kish's head. His head tingled from the touch. "Yeah, bunnies." She stiffed a giggle. "It's a play, and it's called The Rabbit's Dandelion, I think. It's based off a children's book and it's really popular. I remember reading it a long time ago when I was around five or something."

"So does Mint hop around on stage with a dandelion in her paws or something?" Kish asked, grinning.

Ichigo burst out into laughter and smacked him with her wet glove. The soapy residue ran down his side, and Ichigo laughed harder. "No, she doesn't!"

"Hey, I'm soaked!" Kish whined, and with a playful grin, reached his hand down to splash some water on her.

"Watch it!" Ichigo giggled, splashing more water on him. A lock of Kish's hair got wet.

"My hair! This means war, Kitty-cat!"

"Ichigo!" She panted half-heartedly, exhausted from laughing. "Call me Ichigo!"

"Ichigo," Kish repeated.

Ichigo cleared her throat, embarrassed by her actions (What am I doing? He's not my Masaya! I feel like this is back in the old days...) and continued.

"And then Lettuce is studying to become a teacher. An English teacher, I think. You know how she is with reading and that stuff, and she's always been the smartest out of all of us. I'm not sure what Berry's doing yet, and I don't think she's sure either. Tasuku might go into business, y'know, selling things, but I don't think that's gonna happen. Masaya's studying environmental science, of course, and he's first in his class. He's been invited to speak at a bunch of different conferences already." Ichigo's face lit up at the mentioning of him, and she giggled slightly. "He'll be great. I know he will... Pudding's still going to school, of course. She's a tenth grader now, and she's pretty into the drama department up there. She's good, too, and can even act serious, I think she'll make it to Broadway someday, uh, I..."

Kish cleared a strand of hair out of her face and Ichigo lost her train of thought. "Gosh... What was I talking about?" He placed the piece behind her ear, and held his fingers there for a moment longer than necessary. Ichigo shook her head. What is going on with me today?!

"What about you?"

"Huh?" Ichigo shoved a plate into Kish's hands, reaching down for the next.

"What are you planning to be?"

"Oh, me. Eh, nothing special, I guess. I mean, it's just that I really like animals and all, and I-- will you move away from me already? I can't concentrate." Kish's face was only centimeters away from hers, and it made Ichigo uneasy.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he said before grinning. "You just... You should see your face when you're focusing on something. It's sweet."

"Um, thanks... I guess?" Ichigo offered before moving onto safer grounds, cheeks a brilliant shade of red. "But I'm planning on becoming a vet. I really like working with all the animals and stuff, although I've got to work on things a bit with dogs... They kind of sense the cat genes, I guess."

"That makes sense, I mean, you're part cat, aren't you, honey?"

Honey, honey...

"Oh, um, yeah, I hope so. I just don't want dogs to hate me." Ichigo squeezed her eyes shut before asking, "So what about you guys?"

"Us?" Kish asked with a slight chuckle. "Well, Pai was planning on becoming a scientist like Ryou until the Betrayers came. He likes to analyze everything, but you already knew that. Tart's, y'know, Tart. He's still in schooling, too, like Pudding. He's been out of it for a little while, the last two years, because of fighting the Betrayers. But it's kind of military. Not quite military, but daily training is part of their core values." Kish rolled his eyes. "They're almost training them to fight. He'll probably go into service later. And me? I've just been hanging around, honey. I'm already in service, but I'm thinking of getting out of it."

"How's, uh, life been though? I mean, you must be famous."

Kish chuckled. "Yeah, we're famous. But we were famous before. I mean, we got chosen out of everyone to go on that mission. That's out of the entire population. So we were famous as soon as our names got called. My mom, of course, was freaked and didn't want me to go, but I went anyway. I sneaked out, actually. Tart's parents went ballistic since he was only eight. They were certain he was gonna be killed. And Pai's parents just told him, 'Go. Fight. Win,' but in some smart language and with words I don't understand."

Ichigo laughed and paused. She cleared her throat. "What's your family like?"

Kish snorted. "Ha. Chaotic. Crazy. I'm the oldest, but my parents tell me I act the youngest. I have a younger brother and sister."

Ichigo smiled a bit. "What are their names? What are they like?"

"You don't really wanna know about them, do you?" Kish looked surprised although secretly pleased. Do you... care for me?

"No, I do. Tell me." Ichigo did really want to know, but more for the reason that it kept them on safer grounds than topics that might involve Kish's flirting.

"Well, now my brother's about seventeen. He's really good with the girls, but not as good as me, Kitten! And, I've only ever wanted one girl..."

Ichigo tried to crack a grin. It makes sense the girls would like him... Why am I so happy when he says he only wanted one girl? And, what's up with the wanted? Why not want? But why would he still like me? Ugh. Get yourself together, Ichigo. He's probably not even be talking about you. Slow down. You're marrying Masaya. You love Masaya. You just need a cup of tea, and you'll stop thinking about this perverted alien already. Right?

"… His name is Meringue. And my sister... Mango's, um, around twelve now. She says there's this creep at school who's really interested in her and she hates him because he took her first kiss."

Ichigo began to laugh. "Remind you of anyone?"

"You aren't talking about us, are you?" Kish's face lit up. "Hey, I took your first kiss?"

"What do you think?" Ichigo began, but as she moved to step back from the sink, she slipped on a sudsy part. Shutting her eyes, Ichigo let out a cry and expected the tile floor to make contact with her head in a moment. She was falling, falling, falling...

"Nya?" Ichigo asked. The tile floor was nowhere near her head, and Kish's nose was touching hers. Ichigo realized that he had caught her in his arms.

"Y'know, speaking of kisses," Kish whispered, and Ichigo became intensely aware of their closeness. His eyes were a deep golden, exotic color when she thought about it, and Ichigo felt her heartbeat speed up. "I haven't kissed you for a long time..."

Ichigo shoved him away forcefully and snatched a plate again. She could practically see the shade of red that was surely on her face. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Ichigo's breath hitched. Her back touched his chest, and she couldn't breathe. What's happening to me? Ichigo scrubbed vigorously at the plate in her hands, trying to ignore him the best that she could and failing. My cheeks must be bright red now...

"I'm not making you nervous, am I, honey?" Kish asked, half spoken and half whispered. Slowly, he began to turn her around. Ichigo dropped the plate into the sink. It landed in it with a loud splash.

His lips were so close, barely an inch away. His gaze flickered from her eyes and back down to her lips. He leaned in closer, and she could feel his breath on her lips. Unconsciously, Ichigo closed her eyes and began to move towards him. His arms, almost automatically, wrapped tightly around her waist. "Koneko-chan," he whispered.

And Ichigo snapped out of her reverie. "I... I have to go!" She cried.

"Honey!" He called, but she had already dashed out the door and was halfway down the street. She didn't stop until the café and Kish were long behind her. Ichigo stopped to pant, leaning against a stone wall and sinking down to the ground. She shook her head, taking it in her hands.

"No," she whispered. "Not happening."

Honey, honey...

A/N: Yay, some chemistry (fluff, haha?) between the pair arises! So much fun to write, especially for this couple. They're so cute together. I planned on writing much more, but figured it was too much for the beginning. I mean, the relationship needs to develop, doesn't it?

Ah, well it looks like Ichigo is discovering that she doesn't hate Kish as much as she thought. So, will she push him away even more or just accept it? And how is she going to hide this from Masaya? Ichigo's reactions, in my opinion, are perfectly logical. Right now, Ichigo's chalking up these feelings because Kish used to like her and she thinks it's just a weird thought for her to think of him as liking someone else. And you always want what you can't get right? So, Ichigo's using that as the excuse for that growing chemistry. Obviously, that excuse isn't going to help much later for her because Kish is definitely still interested in her!

So, the reason I've mentioned "The Rabbit's Dandelion" is because it's like an allusion to a book Mia Ikumi, creator of Tokyo Mew Mew, mentioned reading once in one of the manga volumes. :)

I've continued with the naming of desserts tradition with Mango and Meringue! Lol. Next up will be some TxP time! Feel free to let me know what you think about this whole thing, and thanks for everything you guys! :)

~ Bunny