(A.N./ All of the people with this story on their alert lists must be wondering what the fudge is going on. Well, by popular demand, I decided to add one more chapter to this story. I hope this proves a more satisfying ending to this story! Enjoy!)
--
So…was that it, then?
"The evil demon was cast out of the land, and the Prince and Princess lived happily ever after."
The End?
That can't be right.
The "evil demon" contemplated his next strategy, sulking in his alternate dimension of misery.
Or…so he called it. The evil demon's name, in fact, was Kisshu, and he was not in a pleasant mood. After desperately trying to thwart the relationship of "Princess" Ichigo and "Prince" Masaya, he had been confined to his green-lit lair by his older sibling, who was also not a happy camper.
All the more depressing was how long it had been since Kisshu had seen the light of day. A week or two, possibly? He counted off the days on his fingers. He had been in the dimension for thirteen days. About two weeks, really. He had once heard an human saying that stated that thirteen was an unlucky number. Superstition had never really been a subject of his interest, but, considering the circumstances, he was ready to believe any sort of explanation for his miserable luck.
Kisshu was growing more and more desperate by the hour. He had to do something to get out of here. There must be some kind of plan or strategy buried inside his head he could still use.
Digging to the source of his problems, he began to strategize.
Now, he thought, If Ichigo had never met Masaya, what would be her reasons not to like me?
One: He's her enemy.
Two: She thinks of him as a perv.
Three: Well, whether he imagined it to be so or not, Masaya was still in the way.
Summing up his thoughts, he asked himself,
What if I started over with her as a different person? Would she like me for me?
As cheesy as that sounded, Kisshu found the phrase "love me for me" perfectly fitting in the situation, and was about to put it to action.
First of all, he would have to get out of the sickening dimension of death, doom, and confinement he was beginning to loathe. Pai was currently at a conference with Deep Blue, undoubtedly requesting more parasites be manufactured after Kisshu's little "Masha incident". But that didn't mean that the teleportation sensors wouldn't be up, and Pai wouldn't be standing in front of him faster than you could say "pocky" if he would happen to hear the alarm.
The only choice Kisshu had was to do what he hoped this wouldn't come to; yet more destruction to their mission was at hand. He hated causing Pai and Tart so much misery, but it couldn't be helped if they were treating him like some kind of dog that you tie a leash on and scold when it's being bad.
He got up from his sitting position on one of the sandy-brown, stone pillars and cracked his neck a bit. He flew over to Pai's main computer system and typed in a password into the keypad, praying he had the correct one.
Bingo. Pai had used his birthday again.
Kisshu tapped a few buttons and opened a few pages before whipping out a Dragon Sword. Looking around him nervously, he turned back to the screen and raised the sword…
He brought it down with a deafening smash. The entire screen lit up in a blazing red, and an alarm not unlike the teleportation one rang in his ears, along with a computerized voice,
"ALL SYSTEMS MELTDOWN. ALL SYSTEMS MELTDOWN." The drone-like voice continued at an extreme volume. Kisshu began to panic. He was NOT expecting that Pai had his computer guard on.
Despite the noise and confusion, he managed to teleport out of the dimension just as he saw a second teleport hole open up across from him. Pai was just moments too late.
Kisshu touched down with a thud on a rooftop in Tokyo. He breathed long, deep breaths, stifling the urge to laugh and scream at the same time. He had just escaped his imprisonment, but think of what Pai will say when he gets back! Kisshu shuddered as the image of Pai's furious face flashed across her mind.
Still glad of his victory, and thankful for the feel of the wind on his face once again, his high spirits were renewed as he advanced farther into his plan,
Now then, I'll have to borrow some supplies from an earth store. I'm sure they won't miss a product or two, considering it was taken for such a noble cause, too.
He smirked to himself and teleported down to the downtown Tokyo district.
Ah, it felt good to be outside again.
--
Ichigo was humming to herself cheerfully as she carried a stack of dirt dishes to the kitchen. Not that work and dirty dishes make her happy, it's just that she had a date with Masaya in an hour or so. Ryou held no grudges against her, so she would most likely (knock on wood) be released at regular time, or in about thirty minutes. She kicked open the door to the kitchen with her knee and swept into the kitchen, only to trip over a misplaced stack of dishes on the floor.
"Nyaaaa!" she yelled, flying forward through the kitchen. Her tray of dishes hit the opposite wall, smashing its contents, and the stack of plates she had just tripped over also tipped, resulting in a terrible 'CRASH!'.
This little incident did not go unheard by the customers, the waitresses, or Mr. Ryou Shirogane.
He stormed into the kitchen,
"Baka strawberry! What in Kami's name do you think you're DOING?!" The corners of Ichigo's mouth switched slightly,
"Uh…I'm…"
"That's absolutely right!" he said in a exasperatedly sarcastic tone, "YOU'RE going to clean up this mess, and YOU'RE staying here for an hour after we close to mop the floors!" Ichigo stuttered nervously, eyes getting bigger,
"B-but what if I finish before an hour?!" Ryou put his hands behind his head and walked out of the cluttered kitchen, calling over his shoulder,
"Then you'll do it a second time!" Ichigo growled and yelled back,
"I HATE you, Shirogane!"
From her little pile of broken shards of dishes, Ichigo began to mope.
How in the world am I supposed to meet with Masaya now?! she asked herself in desperation. She curled herself into a ball, hugging her knees tightly. The last thing she wanted to do right now would be to clean.
Just then, Akasaka Keiichiro came through the door and saw the distressed Ichigo and her pile of dishes. He said calmly,
"Ichigo-san, what happened here?" He offered her his hand and she took it, lifting herself up.
"I tripped over the pile of plates." she indicated where the remaining few plates were stacked, only about three in number. Keiichiro bowed in apology,
"I am so very sorry, Ichigo. This is all my fault, I put the plates there in the first place. I will clean them up for you, how about that?" Ichigo's face lit up,
"Thank you so much, Akasaka-san!" She bowed in thankfulness and rushed out of the kitchen to continue witnessing, leaving Keiichiro to the mess, and smiling after her as she left.
Ichigo cheerfully skipped over to the next table that needed service, and cheerfully sang,
"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! May I take your order?"
"Well, you're cheerful today."
She frowned and opened her eyes to look at the customer, recognizing the voice from somewhere. But…she didn't recognize the teenage boy in front of her in the least.
He had jet-black hair -partly concealed under a black beanie- that came to his chin, and crystal blue eyes. Dressed in casual attire, he was leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. Ichigo recognized his face from somewhere, but she couldn't place where…
"Do I know you?" she asked curiously. The boy raised an eyebrow and smirked,
"Actually, I think you do. Now, are you ready to take my order or not?" Ichigo straightened up and her face tinted a light red,
"Y-yeah! Our special today is the strawberry parfait with whip-"
"I'll take that." he replied casually interrupting Ichigo. She tilted her face to the side, studying him intently,
"Seriously, where do I know you from? Do you go to the same school as me or not?" The boy just gave her an equally curious glare,
"Weren't you ever told not to stare? Now, may I have my order sometime today?" Ichigo nodded shortly, turning on her heel,
"Alright, then! Right away!" With that, she marched off in the direction of the kitchen, shooting the boy a curious look over her shoulder as she went.
One she got to the kitchen, she slipped into the back room, where Retasu was getting her things together to leave. She whispered to her,
"Retasu, before you change, could you investigate something for me?" Retasu blinked,
"What is it?"
"There's a strange boy in one of the tables that says he knows me, but he won't tell me who he is! I need you to be my private investigator, okay?"
"Private investigator, na do da?!"
Ichigo winced at the high-pitched, excited voice as Purin came bounding up behind her, squealing excitedly,
"Can I be a private investigator, na do da?!" Ichigo sighed and turned to her,
"No, Purin, I think Retasu will handle this one."
Purin's eyes grew big, and she whimpered pitifully,
"But…but…I really want to, na do da!" Small, crystal tears collected on the sides of her eyes as she stared up at Ichigo pitifully. The corner of Ichigo's mouth twitched as she hesitated,
"Uh…" Retasu stuttered nervously, adjusting her glasses while she tried to forge an excuse to get out of the job, "W-well, I think Purin-chan would d-do a better job than me…I mean, I'm terrible at l-lying…" Purin's face lit up,
"Pretty please, na do da!" Ichigo sighed in defeat, massaging the bridge of her nose wearily,
"Alright…" Purin cheered,
"Yatta, na do da! I'll go right away!" With that, she grabbed a nearby tray and headed to the kitchen to collect the strawberry parfait from the counter. As she watched her, Ichigo raised an eyebrow,
"How did she know what he ordered?" Retasu smiled a bit,
"Purin has her ways…"
--
Kisshu sat back in his chair in the café, smiling to himself. This was going quite perfectly. He was trying to accomplish the tricky task of sitting on the border between "random stalker" and "mysterious hot boy". At the same time, he had to keep everyone around him in the dark about his identity, at least until the right moment. He was trying to make Ichigo curious enough about him, though, and right now, he was succeeding.
--
Full of spunk and determination, Purin dashed over to the table with the mystery boy and set the parfait before him.
"Enjoy, na do da!" The boy looked at her, smirking a bit,
"Everybody here is rather cheerful today, ne?" Purin blinked,
"Wow, Ichigo-oniichan was right, you do sound familiar." The boy stared at her blankly for a few minutes before his face broke out in a grin,
"Am I really that recognizable? Too bad, I thought this disguise would work." Purin put on her detective face as she made a mental note of the word "disguise".
After sitting in awkward silence for a few moments, the boy spoke up,
"Do you have paper and a pen?" Purin nodded,
"Yup, na do da!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, she pulled out a small notepad and a pen. The boy eyed her strangely before taking them. He picked up the pen and prepared to write. Before he did, though, he remembered the past incident with his handwriting, and thought,
Think neat. I can't make this look my regular handwriting.
He made his characters in neat, clean strokes, taking a while on each character. Purin, in the meanwhile, was hovering over him, curiously prodding at him or his clothes every once in a while. She was about to pull off his beanie, but he stopped her,
"Don't touch me, please," he said, pulling his hat securely over his head. Purin made another mental note about resistance to having his hat removed.
Very suspicious indeed, na do da…
Finally, when he was done, he ripped out the page and folded it twice, neatly. He handed it to Purin,
"Would you mind giving this to Ichigo?" Purin nodded excitedly,
"Yup, sure I will, na do da!"
"No peeking." he added. Purin nodded, looking a bit guilty, like that was exactly her plan to do. The boy pulled out a ¥1000 bill from his pocket and handed it to her,
"That should cover it, ne? Keep the change." He waved in goodbye and took his parfait with him, walking out the pink door. Purin immediately rushed to the back room of the Café,
"Ichigo-san! I've got some big clues, na do da!" Ichigo turned from her conversing with Retasu,
"Really? What happened?" Purin bounced up and down excitedly,
"Okay, so I figured out that the guy's wearing a disguise, and that he doesn't want anyone taking off his hat." Ichigo sweat dropped, sighing,
"Purin, the disguise I could figure out on my own, but no one would want their hat taken off-"
"And he gave me this note to give to you!" Purin interrupted, thrusting the paper at Ichigo. She took it gingerly and opened it, Purin and Retasu reading over her shoulders. It read,
Ichigo,
By now I'm sure you're curious as to who I am. I'm not telling you who I am, though, neither am I telling Purin. I will give you a chance to guess, though, once every day for the next three days.
I have already left plenty of hints with you and your friend. If you don't guess by the time three days is up, I will tell you in private after your shift on the third day; if that should happen, I will tell you where to meet.
Good luck,
?
Ichigo looked up from the paper, sending a blank stare to the wall on the opposite wall from her, trying to solve the riddle.
Okay, for one, he knew her and Purin's name, although neither had introduced themselves. He also knew that Purin and her both worked here and were good friends. That narrowed it down quite a bit from her automatic conclusion of "random guy from school".
Maybe Purin's thing with his hat was significant after all; did he have a bald spot or something?
Okay, scratch that, that piece of information helped none.
He admitted he had on a disguise, too. That proves that he's going through quite a bit of effort to make Ichigo guess who he was. For what purpose she didn't know. Why was he messing with her in the first place? Ichigo had no idea.
Turning back to possible people, she thought,
Okay, so he knows Purin and I, and also where we work. That's the best clue we have right now, I'd say.
Just then, she snapped out of her thoughts when Ryou called to them,
"Shift's over! We're closing up. Ichigo, you're staying behind." Ichigo was about to make a nasty retort when something dawned on her,
Ryou wasn't there the entire time the strange boy was. He could have easily changed in and out of his costume and makeup in the time space he was given. He's also wealthy enough to afford all of that stuff, too!
But that still doesn't solve the question as to why he would be making Ichigo play the "three-day guessing game".
Nevertheless, it was the best lead she had. She was anticipating tomorrow, when she would be able to confront the mystery boy once again.
--
Once having escaped the "overly-pink-so-it's-not-even-cute-anymore-pink" café, Kisshu teleported discreetly to a nearby tree and sat down wearily, handing his legs over the edge and putting his head up to rest on the trunk.
That went perfectly, he thought to himself, smirking at his success, That went even better than the painting. Now, if I can keep these contacts in for much longer, this might actually work.
He blinked several times and realized how much the things actually itched. He lifted a finger to his eye to take the first out, but accidentally prodded his eye instead. He inhaled sharply and retracted his finger, blinking his right eye several times. He saw, when he recovered, that he had dropped his contact. He drifted down from the branch and picked up the clear object once he found it after a few moments of searching. He looked up to see a person on the sidewalk, on their way out from Café Mew Mew, giving him a perplexed look. Kisshu immediately realized he had one eye a crystal blue, the other an unnatural gold; plus, he had just drifted down from a tree.
I've got to be a little better about keeping my disguise… he thought. He grinned sheepishly and teleported from the spot, leaving the lone spectator with their jaw slightly open, gaping at the spot where he was.
--
Pai and Taruto were both seated on stone pillars in their dimension, each opposite from each other. Pai was discussing Kisshu's escape,
"He destroyed the computer systems and caused a meltdown, then left. I do not know what drove him to do it. I thought I had convinced him with the speech I gave two weeks ago after the parasite incident." Taruto nodded,
"He's been sulking around ever since. Maybe he just snapped?" Pai sighed wearily,
"I think you might be right. Whatever the case, it would be best if we could bring him back here as soon as possible, then I will straighten out matters once and for all." Taruto stood up and said,
"What are we waiting for, then? Let's get going!" Pai stood up also, and they both teleported to earth to begin their search for their "misguided" companion.
--
Day 1.
--
Ichigo was excited for her job.
Wait…what was that?
Did I just say she was excited for her job?
As strange as it sounded, she was, for today she would reveal the mystery boy to be Ryou! She had thought over her conclusion the previous night, and confirmed that it MUST be Ryou; who else matched the clues?
So, when the café opened, she was in much the cheerful mood. As she served customers, she would constantly shoot suspicious glares at Ryou if he happened to walk past, which was fairly rarely. Every once in a while, though, she would pop in on Akasaka and ask him about Ryou's location. Every time, he would reply something close to,
"Probably in his office; I don't know for sure." After which response, Ichigo would nod, thank him anyways, and return to her duties.
Finally, when she came to a table with a customer's order, she saw him waiting patiently at one of the tables. He was relaxing by tipping back in his chair, with his hands behind his head, like he was the day previous. He was also wearing the exact same black beanie, but a normal clothes change. Ichigo smiled mischievously and strode over to the table. The boy looked up at her and smirked,
"Hello, Ichigo-san. Do you have a guess yet?" Ichigo slammed her hand on the table for a dramatic effect, getting close to his face to make an impact,
"You're Ryou Shirogane!"
The boy backed up a bit and snickered, trying to suppress his laugh. Ichigo's face fell as he continued,
"Nope, wrong answer. I don't have his tan skin, neither am I as tall as he is. Besides, he's right over there." He waved his hand that wasn't behind his head casually to the direction of the kitchen. Ichigo turned to see Ryou just disappear through the kitchen doors. She growled and scowled at her defeat, turning back to the boy. She shot him an angry glare. He straightened up in his chair and waved his hand,
"Hey, hey, don't get angry at me! You'll get another chance tomorrow!" Ichigo rolled her eyes in disappointment and turned away from the table, keeping a low voice,
"Are you actually going to order something?" The boy shrugged,
"No thanks. I've got to get going." He waved a short goodbye before walking out the door. Ichigo stared after him the whole way, curiously wondering why in the world he was messing with her like this. I mean, did he just like to mess with her to make her mad? Was that his sick form of enjoyment?! The more she thought about it, the more mad she got.
But, as she was walking to the next table to pick up their order, she continued thinking about possible suspects.
After taking the customer's orders, she walked back to kitchen with a perplexed look on her face,
What if he's not a boy?! What if it's one of the Mews in disguise?!
Conveniently, at that moment, Zakuro came through the door and strutted into the café. All of the customers turned to "oo" and "ahh" at the model who made her entrance, strutting to the back of the café like nobody's business. Ichigo narrowed her eyes,
It could be Zakuro! She's shorter than Ryou, taller than me, and had almost the same color eyes as the mystery boy!
But that still didn't answer the question of why he, or she, would be trying to manipulate Ichigo. Whatever reason, the coincidence of Zakuro entering the café minutes after the mysterious boy was pretty significant.
So, Ichigo decided, She was going to guess Zakuro tomorrow.
--
Kisshu sighed and ran his hand through his dyed-black hair. This was getting a bit harder. She seems to be on the right track, she wasn't making random guesses as expected. She guessed a logical answer that could make sense, that is, if it wasn't for minute details that didn't fit into the puzzle.
Immersed in his thoughts as he leaned up against the side of the café, he didn't notice Zakuro walk by. She stopped on the path next to him and stared at him for a few moments. Kisshu looked up at her when he felt her stare boring into him. He bowed his head slightly,
"Zakuro." She replied with a nod,
"Kisshu."
With that, she walked into the door to the café. Kisshu snickered to himself,
Zakuro, on the other hand, can guess who I am with one look.
--
Day 2.
--
Ichigo wasn't as confident about her guess today, but she was going to try at it anyway. I mean, she had another guess, right? Plus, she had her reasons why she would guess Zakuro. Blue eyes, about same height, the whole walk-through-the-door thing. She had excuses if she was wrong. But still, there were a lot of reasons why it WOULDN'T be Zakuro.
Like she said, though, it was good enough.
So when Mr. Black-hair-blue-eyes walked casually in the door to Café Mew Mew and sat in the same table he usually did, Ichigo was ready.
She did her usual march over to him and slammed her hand on the table, once again. He just had a calm look on his face as he studied her imploringly. She said fairly loudly,
"You're Zakuro!"
That was all it took for the boy to break out laughing. Ichigo nearly jumped back in surprise; not only because of the sudden outburst, but because the laughter was so…familiar. It's ring was sharp, but very lighthearted at the same time. He continued laughing for a several seconds (earning the attention of half of the customers), then dried his eyes wearily and choked,
"You seriously thought I was a WOMAN?" Ichigo, now quite ashamed, bowed her head low and nodded slowly. The boy managed to stifle the rest of his laughs and was now quite serious.
Seeing Ichigo in such an awkward state, he leaned forward in his chair, closer to her face and spoke in a low whisper,
"Do I really look that much like a girl?" Ichigo looked up onto his face, studying his features. She noticed the skin tone and nose from somewhere…but where?
Ignoring her questions, she answered,
"Not really." The boy sighed wistfully, getting even closer to her,
"Good. I was worried that-"
"Oy!"
A call from the other side of the room caught both of their attention. Ryou was standing by the door to the kitchen, eyes fixed on the boy,
"No flirting with the waitresses, please!" Ichigo shot him an angry glare. Ryou arched his neck to get a good look at the boy behind Ichigo. He furrowed his brow in a befuddled face when he saw him. Still eyeing the two, he continued his steady pace into the kitchen and out of sight.
The boy breathed a sigh of relief,
"Well, Shriogane's really tough on you lately, huh?" Ichigo made a mental note that the boy knew Shirogane's name. She rolled her eyes,
"No, he's always been like that."
The boy snickered.
Ichigo scowled,
"How is that funny?" He shrugged and got up form his chair, walking out the door,
"See you tomorrow. Good luck guessing!" Ichigo watched, dazed, as he disappeared out the door, resuming his grin as he went along.
Alright, she thought, So he's not a girl and not Shirogane. He's certainly not Akasaka-san, that's out of the question. So…who?
"Arg! This is so…frustrating!" she muttered to herself.
She then remembered her job.
Plastering on a half-smile, she turned and strutted off to the next table,
"Welcome to Café Mew Mew, what would you care for today? Our special is the Raspberry Tart a la Mode!"
--
Kisshu sighed in relief as he stepped out of the café. He leaned against the back wall of the pink castle and gradually sunk down to a sitting position, back still leaning on the wall. The first thing he did was take off his contacts. He had gotten used to taking them on and off, but they still itched like crazy.
After removing them both and slipping them back in their plastic case in his pocket, he sighed wearily and teleported.
Lately he had been staying in an abandoned room of a vacant motel. The maids never bothered to tend to it due to it never being used, and pure laziness. They never had much of excuse to do so, though, since the locals were all scared of some "ghost" thing that was supposed to haunt room 131.
But Kisshu found it rather comfortable, and there he stayed.
Food was a matter of duck-and-run with most grocery stores, or at least where he couldn't be seen teleporting. Pesky cameras were always all over the place. You could never be too careful.
Despite all of this trouble, he had just one more day left until his plans with Ichigo would come to an end (for now); then he would make some kind of attempt at re-establishing Pai and Taruto's trust with him.
Speaking of Pai and Taruto, he thought, I wonder where they are…?
He chose to ignore this question when his stomach growling noisily interrupted his train of thought. He sighed and decided the best plan of action for the day would be to shoot for the back kitchens of the local fast food restaurant.
That place was one of the few exceptions to where he could teleport in, knock over some stuff, have some random guy try to punch him in the gut, random guy misses and earns a bloody nose, and he teleports out with his food. Simple, ne?
I only have to live like some kind of criminal for one more day, he thought. Thinking his statement over, he smirked to himself, Of course, I'm kind of already a criminal, you know, with the whole attacking the planet thing?
Ah, the irony of an alien on earth.
Suddenly, he felt a ripple of air in front of him. His eyes widened when a figure came into view. Taruto, he recognized. At the same time this was happening, though, the handle to the door to the room rattled as someone was trying to budge the rusty handle. Taruto came into full view, and he did not look happy. Kisshu looked frantically from Taruto, to the door, back to Taruto, and then to the dresser across the room. He made a "shh"-ing motion with his hand and steered him over to the closet, shoving him and himself into it. Taruto, now with clenched teeth, whispered hoarsely,
"What do you think you're DOING?!" Kisshu just shushed him and they both looked through the crack in the closet door. Two teenage girls walked through the door, both dressed in tight, summer clothes and designer handbags. Kisshu and Taruto both made a face as the new arrivals spoke in overly-high voices.
"Oh my god, this is going to be so much fun!" the first one squealed, bouncing on the bed. The second came over and flipped off her shoes. They landed against the wall in a thump as she replied,
"Yeah, my daddy got a raise yesterday, so he's paying for all of this!" The other one giggled,
"You know, my daddy could've paid too! I mean, he IS getting me one of those new Mercedes models for my birthday!"
Kisshu looked down at Taruto with one eyebrow raised. Taruto gave him the same inquisitive look. Then a small, impish smile crept up his mouth.
"May I?" he whispered. Kisshu grinned and nodded,
"Be my guest."
Taruto made no hesitation to move his arm in a strange, flowing motion and raise it up to high above him. Not seconds later a giant root came through the window of the motel with a crash, shattering the glass dramatically. The two teenagers screamed,
"OH MY GOD!"
"Get it OUT!"
The root continued to creep over the beds and furniture, gradually twisting all around the room and the panicking, squealing girls, who looked not unlike small, caged pigeons. Kisshu was grinning in delight, and Taruto held the same impish smirk as his hand continued to move, commanding the plant's motion.
The door to the room slammed open as a crowd of men in suits, appearing to be the managers of the hotel, stormed in,
"What is going on in-" He was cut off when Taruto made a root twist up his ankles and cause him to stumble and fall. He immediately got off his face and bellowed orders,
"Someone call plant control, animal control, the military…someone call someone!"
Kisshu, snickering, elbowed Taruto,
"Take that as our cure to leave?" Taruto nodded, still grinning. Kisshu held his arm and they both teleported to a nearby park, where they slumped down under a tree. Kisshu looked over at Taruto. Taruto grinned, so did Kisshu. Then, they broke out laughing; laughter filled all of the noise in the park. Kisshu was rubbing his eyes he was laughing so hard, and Taruto was clutching his stomach.
This must have lasted for a minute or two, because, when they both stopped laughing, Taruto was so tired he was taking deep, slow breaths. Kisshu was just sighing heavily every five seconds. He finally spoke,
"Did you see the look on that guy's face?!" Taruto grinned,
"Priceless!"
Immediately when Taruto got a good look at Kisshu, though, he stopped and his face hardened. He narrowed his eyes,
"You tricked me into loosening up, didn't you?!" Kisshu jumped back,
"No, no! Honestly, I didn't plan any of that! That was just you being the mad little genius!" Taruto scowled,
"Who are you calling little?!" Kisshu smirked,
"Why, I'm calling my imaginary friend little!" Taruto snickered,
"Honestly, I can't stay mad at you for long, can I?"
"We're like an old, married couple!" Kisshu exclaimed. Taruto began to laugh again, as Kisshu watched in great amusement. Taruto's laugh was a lot like Kisshu's, except more cheerful. He was the kind of person you want to laugh along with.
"So," Kisshu said, after Taruto had calmed down, "What were you going to say before, then?" Taruto's face stiffened once again, and he said,
"Pai is really, really mad at you leaving and breaking the computers. If he finds you, you're dead meat." Kisshu sighed and closed his eyes,
"Yeah, but what am I supposed to do about it?"
"Apologize," Taruto stated. Kisshu clenched his teeth,
"Give me one more day." Taruto shook his head,
"Kisshu, don't push your luck."
"Too late."
They sat in awkward silence before Kisshu got up,
"If Pai asks, tell him that you saw me flying over some rooftops, but I got away too fast, and that I looked really beat up." Taruto nodded, raising an eyebrow,
"Why 'beat up'?" Kisshu shrugged,
"Pity points." Taruto smirked a bit,
"Got it. See you in a day. I'll meet you right here tomorrow at…"
"Seven o'clock P.M." Kisshu finished. Taruto narrowed his eyes a bit,
"Alright then. See you." Then he teleported, and disappeared from sight. Kisshu sighed in relief.
Just one more day…
--
Day 3.
--
Ichigo sat up from her bed with a jolt.
She had just spent almost the entire night wondering over the mystery boy's identity, and now she was absolutely SURE she had it right!
The mystery boy was Masaya!
How could it have been any more obvious? I mean, she really should have made it clear to herself when her heart beat faster every time she studied him, and why he was so familiar. Plus, Masaya's the only other person that would know all of the people of Café Mew Mew! The pieces of the massive jigsaw puzzle were coming together!
But…the last piece didn't fit.
That last piece of the puzzle, the most crucial one to the whole picture, wouldn't fit.
The simple piece was a simple question: Why?
Masaya as the answer for the mystery boy situation still didn't solve why in the world he was playing the guessing game with her. She didn't see any reason why Masaya would want to trick her like that.
Despite the still-unsolved riddle, Ichigo concluded that, when she revealed the mystery boy as Masaya, that she would ask him why he did the game in the first place. Knowing Masaya, he probably had a very logical reason.
Ichigo let go of all of her muscles and fell back onto her pillow with a "fumph" of the cushion meeting her head. She instantly fell asleep, fully confident and satisfied with her answer to who the mystery boy…who Masaya…was.
--
"Welcome to Café Mew Mew! Our special today is the melon and kiwi gourmet smoothie!" Ichigo said, sounding as cheerful as physically possible. The two girls she was serving exchanged glances and followed Ichigo to an open table, where she seated them. Her eyes, however, were not on the customers, but were scanning the room for Masaya. It was near closing time and he still hadn't made an appearance. Ichigo wondered if he was busy or something; she didn't know. Whatever the reason, it had to be a pretty good excuse for missing out on her final confrontation.
When she thought all hope was lost, five minutes 'till closing time, she saw him walk through the door and nonchalantly seat himself at the same table, like he had been doing for the past three days. Ichigo furrowed her brow when she compared him to her mental image of Masaya. She couldn't fit two and two together quite right; they looked too different.
Of course, she thought, walking up to the table, I guessed Zakuro, didn't I?
With that, her confidence rose again as put both hands down on the table and leaned closer to the boy until she was at perfect eye level,
"Here goes my final guess!" The boy raised an eyebrow at the cheerful voice,
Boy, is she confident about this.
Before he could think over it farther, Ichigo pulled him into a hug,
"I should have guessed sooner, Masaya!"
Ichigo smiled and blushed a bit at the familiar feel bubble up inside her, and the warmth pulsing through her.
I missed you, Masaya, she thought.
The boy's eyes widened and he hesitated to return Ichigo's gesture. Ichigo noticed this and pulled back, still keeping her hands firm on his shoulders,
"What's wrong?" she asked curiously. The boy blinked, face tinting red slightly,
"Um…Ichigo?"
"Yes?"
"I'm not Masaya."
That was all it took for Ichigo's jaw to drop and her eyes to widen. She was so sure, so sure, it was Masaya. The feeling, the look, the attitude, everything fit…well, almost everything.
The boy averted his eyes to his hands fidgeting under the table,
"I'm sorry I'm not who you want me to be." He looked up sadly at Ichigo, who had something between a perplexed and scared look imprinted on her face. She relaxed her muscles on her features slightly and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
"Okay. It's okay. I'm fine. This is…alright." she muttered to herself, she cracked her eyes a bit and looked at the saddened boy in front of her. She opened her eyes fully and smiled a bit,
"That's okay that you're not Masaya. I'd like to get to know you better, whoever you are." The boy returned her smile and sighed wearily,
"Good. I thought I sensed a rejection coming on there." Ichigo laughed half-heartedly and sighed.
"I'll see you around back after your shift, then I'll tell you who I am." the boy said. Ichigo nodded slowly. She turned to see Ryou motioning that it was time to close. Ichigo nodded to him and walked off to the dressing rooms. Luckily, it wasn't her turn for table cleaning after her shift. As she rounded the corner to the dressing room, she spied, out of the corner of her eye, that the chair the boy was just sitting in was empty.
That's funny, she thought to herself, I thought he was just there a second ago.
She shrugged and continued on her way to her locker.
--
That was close, Kisshu thought to himself as he walked around to the back of the café, I thought she had me there.
Nevertheless, everything was going smoothly. Ichigo said she wanted to "get to know him better". That was a pretty big step toward victory. The only thing he had to worry about now was how Ichigo would take the shock of his identity.
Maybe she'll punch me, or transform…maybe she'll faint. Oh Kami, I hope she doesn't faint.
He massaged his forehead with his hand and tried to think positive. Maybe everything would go right. Maybe Ichigo would actually accept him.
Not likely, Kisshu thought. Once a pessimist, always a pessimist.
He stopped his worrying when he saw Ichigo step out of the back door a few yards away…
--
Ichigo hesitated as her hand felt the cold metal of the handle on the back door.
Whoever it is, she thought, I'm going to get to know him better. He seems like he could be…a good friend.
Right now, she wasn't about to admit submission to the butterflies in her stomach, even though the boy outside wasn't Masaya.
So she turned the knob and stepped out onto the stone pathway encircling the café. She turned to see him waiting patiently a few yards away, leaning up against the building. He was facing the other direction, and seemed to be occupying himself with something on his face.
"Um…" she said, trying to get his attention. She walked forward until she was only about a foot away from his back. He still didn't turn, though, but rested his hand at his side. After a few moments, he spoke,
"Rather then actually telling you my identity, I think you might be able to see it. Please don't do anything….rash." With that he turned slowly, facing her with a nervous look on his face.
Ichigo gasped when she saw his eyes. One of them was crystal blue, but the other…
The other was a beautiful gold. Bright as the setting sun, and deep as the deepest ocean, it sparkled in the light of the sunset.
At that moment, everything fell into place for Ichigo. The look, the voice, the attitude, the feeling…it all fit. She didn't know why she hadn't guessed before. She didn't know why she hadn't even considered him to be…
Kisshu.
The mystery boy was Kisshu.
She was still standing stalk-still in front of him with gaping eyes, trying to process the shock of it all. Kisshu was getting rather uncomfortable with the awkward silence. He bit his lip and said meekly,
"Ichigo?"
She snapped to attention immediately. Blinking a couple times, she contemplated,
What now?
Should I slap him? Should I hug him? Should I just walk away? Should I transform? No, that would cause too much commotion. The last thing I want is Shirogane-san to find out about all of this.
Choosing to disregard all of these options, she stated a simple word,
"Why?"
Kisshu sighed and ran his hand through his hair,
"I thought you might ask that. The answer is that I simply wanted you to recognize me as someone else, someone who you can trust better instead of hating on instinct. I wanted you to see the other side of me." Ichigo lowered her eyes, relaxing her muscles,
"I…I'm sorry, really. I just can't trust you knowing who you really are." She smiled meekly, "You know, I can't trust someone who's trying to destroy my race."
Small tears collected on the sides of her eyes and she turned to hide them, wiping them with her sleeve,
This is so embarrassing. Why am I crying? I shouldn't be crying! I'm acting like a little kid. Before she could stop them, broken sobs began to escape her lips. Kisshu scowled and mentally kicked himself,
Nice going, stupid. You made her cry.
However, he saw this as an opportunity to play nice guy, so he walked up to her slowly and put an arm around her shoulder. He soon felt her try to shrug it off, though. He frowned and only used the other arm to pull her into an embrace, stroking her red locks soothingly,
"Sh, Ichigo, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you." Ichigo shook her head and whimpered,
"I'm just so confused, that's all." she clung onto his shirt as she spoke, "I'm just not sure how I'm supposed to react." A few silent moments passed between them.
Suddenly, she pushed him back,
"For one, I shouldn't be hugging you." She hesitated, biting her lip, then reached up and slapped him across the face, hard, "Secondly, I should have done that a long time ago." Kisshu massaged the side of his face and held a solemn look as she continued in a quiet voice,
"I've already made up my mind that I like Masaya, not you. You're my enemy, and the very reason why I was turned into a catgirl freak." Kisshu stepped forward, holding Ichigo's face in both of his hands gently. His face the picture of anger,
"Who ever told you you were a freak?! Your cat ears, tail, and attitude are all things that make you, you! They're beautiful, just like…you are." he finished, relaxing his features.
Ichigo stared up at him, slightly dazed. She felt one of Kisshu's hands move slowly downward from her head, tilting her chin upward as he leaned in closer to her face. Ichigo's eyes got wider as she battled with her initial instinct to back off at the impending "danger".
But as she felt the hot breath on her face, and took in his scent, she surrendered to her feelings. She closed her eyes as she felt his lips gently press against hers.
Oh, what sweet surrender it was.
Everything else she felt, the confusion, guilt, the pain…just melted away underneath her. All that mattered in the world, all she was concerned with…was him and herself.
The last piece of the jigsaw puzzle fit. No cramming, no scissors, no adjustments had to be made for the perfect picture of his face to come to her mind.
Soon, however, she felt him break away, releasing her face gently. He looked depressed; guilt was etched all over his face as he spoke,
"I'm so sorry."
Ichigo shook her head, drying her eyes with her sleeve,
"I-it's alright. I think you've cleared up a f-few things for me." Kisshu smiled, smiling lightly,
"Yeah…same here." he reached his arm around her and gave her a small huge before releasing her and turning,
"See you next vicious battle for mankind?"
"I guess." Ichigo said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Kisshu waved an airy goodbye before he disappeared in a ripple of air. Ichigo took a deep breath and smiled at the place where he left,
I'll never look at you the same way again.
--
Kisshu braced himself as he teleported back to the dimension that he had previous residence in. Pai was going to do something terrible, he knew it.
Sure enough, when he arrived, Pai stood in front of him, arms folded. A stern look stood out on his face as he stared at Kisshu, looking over his attire with a disgusted face. When he returned his gaze to his one gold eye, one blue, his face softened.
Taking a deep breath, Pai pulled Kisshu into an awkward hug,
Kisshu blinked and raised his eyebrows at the strange gesture, but Pai soon released him, keeping a stern voice,
"You're an idiot." Kisshu nodded,
"I know. Sorry."
"Old habits die hard?"
"Exactly."
"Are you finished?" Pai said, glaring at Kisshu. He nodded,
"Most likely. At least, I won't be destroying the computer systems anymore."
"About that," Pai said, "As a punishment, you're going to have to fix them today. No food until it's done." Kisshu winced at the mention of the heavy chore, but managed to keep a faulty smirk on,
"…right."
Pai handed him a heavy toolbox, of which Kisshu almost dropped because of it's weight. Kisshu rocked back and forth before steadying himself with the big, red box. Pai teleported and Kisshu set the box down, pulling out a spare part.
Happy ending? he thought as he examined the object.
He smirked to himself,
Close enough.
--
The End.
For real this time.