Author's Note: So right now I'm updating pretty fast, and hopefully I'll keep this pace up, but once I start getting mountains of homework again I probably won't be as speedy. Be cool though - I will finish the story!

Thank you very much for reading this far and I hope you are enjoying it! Feel free to review! It's very encouraging!

Disclaimer: I only own my OC's, not Tokyo Mew Mew or any of its characters.

Chapter Ten: That Hated Word

"Maybe I should just send you back."

"No, Kisshu!" Abandoning all of her usual dignity, Parfait was cowering on the floor at Kisshu's feet. His Dragon Swords clutched loosely in his hands, he stared down at her with nothing but anger. He wasn't in the mood to play games like he usually did. It was a side of him no one ever saw, but when it came to hurting Ichigo's feelings…well, that was unforgivable.

"Do I have to protect her from you too?" Kisshu spat. "Because it's looking an awful lot like that's the case."

"Kisshu!" Parfait cast her glowing, golden eyes up to meet his. "It's not that I was trying to hurt her! I just – you know how I get when I see other girls with you! They're not good enough for you, I'm just-"

"They're usually a lot better than you, Parfait," Kisshu snapped. "Especially Ichigo. And just for your information, there has never been anyone else for me but Ichigo."

Parfait gasped, backing away. "You can't be serious! You, and a human?"

Kisshu scowled at her. Then he said, "Not exactly. She still hasn't recovered from the death of Aoyama."

Parfait looked relieved. Kisshu's face hardened, and he suddenly gripped his swords tight. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to protect her!" he said, sending Parfait cowering to the floor again. "She may be a powerful Mew, but she's no match for the enemy aliens, especially if she gets caught by herself. If I have to protect her from you as well, then I'm happy to humor you."

Parfait glanced at the tip of the sword. "You wouldn't kill me. I'm one of your best warriors."

"No – however, I wouldn't hesitate to mutilate that face you take so much pride in."

Parfait gasped again, clutching at her smooth cheeks. "You wouldn't!" she said, her face filled with horror.

"Watch me," Kisshu snarled, heading toward the door. "If I hear you've even talked to Ichigo again, you won't be able to look at yourself in a mirror!" With that dramatic sentiment, Kisshu stormed out.

Streaking down the hall, Kisshu almost passed right by Pie, who was standing at one of the windows. As it was, Pie looked unusually agitated – which wasn't to say it looked much different then what he usually looked like. But Kisshu had been around Pie long enough to tell when something was up.

Kisshu stopped abruptly beside him, his pulse slowing gradually. Pie had a piece of paper clutched in one hand, and though his eyes were focused outside, he was frowning awfully hard, as if he had a headache. Kisshu asked, "You look tense. Something happen?"

Pie glanced at him, his concentration breaking. "Hmm. You as well."

"It's all right, it's been handled. Where are Crumb, Scone, and Soda?"

"Downstairs in the basement. They've been obsessed with the human's technology ever since we came here."

"I see." Kisshu tried to see what was on the piece of paper. Pie swiftly folded it back up into a neat square, and hid it away. Kisshu's curiosity was piqued. "What is that?"

Pie glanced at him sideways. "Nothing." Without another sound, he teleported away. Kisshu shrugged. He was used to Pie doing things without explaining them. His bigger concern, for the moment, was making sure Ichigo was okay.

Last night he hadn't been able to find Parfait – in fact, he hadn't been able to track her down until this afternoon. Now the Café was about to close, and if he didn't hurry up he would miss talking to Ichigo again. Hopefully by now she had calmed down and wouldn't try to run away again.

When Kisshu arrived downstairs, he was surprised to see there was one human customer who had yet to leave. Then, as he registered what exactly this human was doing, he felt himself grit his teeth angrily.

He had been sitting by himself at a table. But then, Ichigo – dressed to perfection in that highly enticing work uniform – brought over a slice of cheesecake on a small white plate, and a cup of tea. Hiding behind the corner, Kisshu could hear what the awkward looking boy was saying.

"Th-this looks really great, Ichigo-san!" The boy pushed his glasses up his nose.

"No problem, Takata. Desserts are our specialty."

From behind the corner, Kisshu grinned wickedly. His beloved neko-chan sounded like she wanted to bang the idiotic human boy over the head with her serving tray.

The boy named Takata took a bite of the dessert. "This is delicious!" he said. Then he added, "Do you wanna share this slice with me?"

Fuming behind the corner, Kisshu wanted to drop-kick the little fool out of the Café, and then maybe stab him. No doubt about it – he still had a tendency to get insanely jealous when another boy was too friendly with Ichigo.

For her part, Ichigo sounded tired and ready for him to leave. "Sorry, I'm still on the clock," she said, trying not to sound too rude. Kisshu saw her walk back into the kitchen – noticing, in particular, the way her legs moved in that extremely attractive way – and immediately teleported over to meet her inside.

When she saw him leaning against the counter, Ichigo almost dropped her tray. "Kisshu!"

He gave her a wide grin. "Hey, neko-chan. What, don't I get dessert too?"

Ichigo smiled, her familiar blush creeping up. "Sure. What kind would you like?"

"How about you choose for me." Kisshu met her eyes, holding her gaze for as long as he could before she blinked and turned away. She meandered over to the dessert station and pondered the remaining options. They'd had a busy day, and most of the trays had been completely emptied.

"Hmm…I think…I'm going to have you try…the strawberry shortcake torte." Happy with her decision, she grabbed a dessert plate and scooped up some of the concoction left in the tray, then grabbed a can of whipped cream and artfully sprayed a few dots on top. Then, she set up a sliced strawberry for a garnish on the side. Picking up a clean fork, she held out the whole ensemble to Kisshu.

Grinning, he took the plate from her. "Looks good, neko-chan. Arigouto."

"Sure thing." Ichigo waited anxiously, bobbing on her toes, as he tried it. As he'd expected, it was delicious.

"Mmm," he said, not even bothering to form a coherent compliment before taking a second monstrous bite. To his delight, Ichigo let out a giggle.

"Glad you like it! So, um, how have you been lately?"

Kisshu polished off the plate and handed it back to her. "Not bad. We've been trying to track the enemy aliens to see if they've landed, but it's hard because their technology is so different from ours. Neither your or my people are so much into the manipulation of body parts as they are."

Ichigo wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, definitely not."

Kisshu paused for a moment. "And how have you been? Better?"

Ichigo nodded, looking embarrassed. "Hai. Uh, sorry about acting so weird yesterday."

"It's all right. I had a little talk with Parfait."

Ichigo looked nervous. "Was did you say to her?"

Kisshu smiled. "Don't you worry about it, kitty-cat. Just keep being as cute as you are, and I'll make sure she watches her mouth."

To his amusement, Ichigo ducked her head humbly. He started to reach out to tilt her chin back toward him. But before he could, she turned away and started to clean up.

"That would be nice," Ichigo said, turning on the faucet and squirting soap into the sink. "I'd hate for us to stop being friends because of that."

Kisshu felt like someone had thrown ice water in his face. "F-friends?" He was stunned. Was that really all that Ichigo thought of him as?

"Sure," Ichigo said casually. "And we are good friends, aren't we?"

"H-hai," Kisshu stammered.

"Good!" Ichigo smiled at him. "I hoped so. Maybe sometime we could hang out with some of the Mews, or your alien warriors – you know, a big group of friends going on an outing together. That sounds fun, right?"

"Uh huh," Kisshu said unhappily. Ichigo stopped the water.

"I have to go get Takata's plate. He's probably done by now." She gave him another sweet smile and disappeared from the kitchen.

Kisshu was rooted to the spot. Friends? Friends? He couldn't believe how awful it sounded. He didn't want to be her friend! He wanted to be her boyfriend, her protector, her lover, not just her friend! Couldn't she see how much he wanted her? How badly he needed her? He couldn't have hid his affections even if he'd wanted to.

Grinding his teeth with frustration and bitterness, he teleported away, unwilling to look her in the face and hear that hated word again.

--

"Finally. Done for the day." Ichigo sighed, stretching her arms over her head. "Now I can go home and relax…maybe take a bath. That sounds nice," she said happily. "I wonder what Pie-san thought of Lettuce's poem!"

Humming to herself, she cut through the park, noticing how nice the air felt on her skin. It was a temperate evening – one of the last, because fall was ending soon. It would be winter next month. She'd have to take out her white coat from the back of the closet.

"Hmm…but the red one's cute too," she mused, thinking out loud. "I guess I could just alternate wearing them on different days-"

THWACK!

"Aaahh!" With a skull-splitting crack, Ichigo felt something collide with the back of her head, sending her flying onto the pavement. Wincing, she tried to push herself up and look behind her. Both her knees were scraped and her lip was bleeding. "Ouch…" she moaned, looking around. "What was that?"

"So you're Ichigo. Leader of the Tokyo Mew Mews."

Ichigo finally saw him step out from behind a tree. She gasped. He didn't look like any alien she'd ever seen before. In fact, she'd never seen anything like him before.

He was tall – taller than Pie or Keiichiro, even – with long, flowing white hair and scales crusted over his face, arms, and hands. He wore a long black cloak with a hood, and tied with a blue sash. His eyes were a frightening, fiery red, and they were glaring at Ichigo as if she were a speck of dirt on the ground. As if she were less than nothing. No doubt about it –her second encounter with a strange alien was definitely more terrifying then her first, with Kisshu.

Even worse, she had yet to try transforming back into Mew Ichigo. Ryou said that they all still had the DNA in them, but Ichigo had been afraid to. Now, when she was faced with a battle, she was literally shaking with fear. She was both embarrassed and ashamed by how scared she'd become.

Her hands trembling, she fumbled for her pendant. The alien narrowed his eyes at her. He said, "Are you sure it's her, Zohn?"

"Positive, Mahng." To Ichigo's dismay, another alien stepped out from behind a second tree. He was slightly more wiry than the first, but his swarthy face was even creepier. "You're right though – she looks like she'll go down easily."

Mahng tossed a rock in the air and caught it. Ichigo realized that was what she'd been hit in the head with. Mahng glanced at Zohn. "Should we take her now?"

Zohn grinned. "Now Mahng, you know we always play with our enemies first before we dismember them. She's still got a lot of blood to spill. Come, Ichigo of Earth, show us some more blood!" he screeched, hurling another stone at her. Ichigo leaped out of the way just in time, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid the next one, thrown by Mahng. It cut into her shoulder, and she cried out with pain.

"Okay," she said tightly. "You can do it, Ichigo. MEW ICHIGO, METAMORPHISIS!" she cried, kissing her pendant.

A glow illuminated her. It grew stronger. But as Ichigo felt the familiar power being to course through her, she was suddenly seized by terror, and she shut her eyes tight and froze up. Immediately, the power ebbed away, and she was shocked to find that she was unchanged. Before she could even more, another larger stone hit her in the stomach, and she crumpled over.

"This is almost too easy," Zohn said, his next throw gashing her head. Ichigo struggled to get back up. She was confused.

"Why…didn't it work?" she whispered. She felt completely vulnerable. She couldn't change, and now, she was going to be stoned to death by the enemy aliens. Not even her Mew speed and agility was working properly. Zohn started laughing, and she looked over. She gasped.

Mahng was holding a rock the size of her fist. If it hit her in the wrong place, she was sure it would break her bones. She sprang up from the ground, but Mahng had already thrown the stone.

She was running…running…not fast enough…the stone was coming closer…

"ICHIGO!"