Neko Chapter 21:

Nightmares

That night, Kisshu decided to sleep with Ichigo again. She was still acting pretty clingy, and he figured they'd both be better off if he slept with her. Ichigo certainly didn't mind, and after they both got in bed, she attached herself to Kisshu, then fell asleep. Kisshu started stroking her hair, and she started purring. He fell asleep soon after, relaxed by her purring.

Later that night, however: Kisshu was woken up by Ichigo whimpering. Just as he was about to wake her up, she screamed, "KISH!"

Scared, Kisshu shook her, but received no response. Instead, Ichigo started crying in her sleep. Sakura and Shintaro came in a minute later, and Sakura asked, "What happened?"

"She's having a nightmare, but I can't wake her up, and now she's crying," Kisshu said. "Can you call Pai?"

Sakura picked up Ichigo's cell phone, and scrolled through her contacts until she found Pai's number, and hit Send. Kisshu was stroking Ichigo's hair, trying to calm her down, but it wasn't helping. And she was literally attached to Kisshu, clinging to him. Sakura came over and said, "Pai's not picking up."

Kisshu sighed. "I guess that means telepathy," he said. He closed his eyes, then suddenly got another idea. He focused on Pai, and saw him reading in his lab. Kisshu concentrated, then snapped his fingers. He heard a 'thump', and opened his eyes. Pai was sitting on the floor, and he immediately yelled, "KISSHU!"

"Kill me later, something's wrong with Ichigo," Kisshu said. "And she won't let go of me, so no, I can't get up."

Pai got up and came over. Ichigo was still crying, and she was also still sound asleep. Pai put a hand on her forehead, and said, "I guess the nightmare problem just kicked in. Traumatic experiences leave scars on the person's mind, and that often results in nightmares. Ichigo's nightmare is about you killing yourself, Kisshu. I'll see what I can do." His hand began to glow, and Ichigo's tears slowly stopped. Her body, which had been tense, relaxed, and she relaxed the death grip she had on Kisshu.

A few minutes later, Pai took his hand away, and tapped Ichigo's forehead. She woke up with a gasp, and Kisshu asked, "Koneko-chan, what's wrong?"

Ichigo looked at him, then unlocked her arms from around his waist, and put her hand on his chest. "Uh… what are you doing?" Kisshu asked.

"What happened to the injury?" Ichigo asked, sounding puzzled.

"Koneko-chan, you had a nightmare," Kisshu said. "I'm fine. Except for the bruises on my ribs…."

"How did you get bruises on your ribs?" Ichigo asked.

"You had a death grip on my waist," Kisshu said dryly.

"You're still alive, though, right?" Ichigo asked, sounding worried.

"You can't tell?" Kisshu asked. "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Not for long," Pai said dryly. "You're doomed."

Ichigo sounded panicked as she asked, "Why is Kish doomed? Did something happen?"

"Pai, don't scare Ichigo, I think she's had enough for one week," Kisshu said.

Pai looked at Ichigo, and said, "Fine, you can be doomed later."

"I don't want Kish to be doomed!" Ichigo wailed- and started crying again.

"Pai, I think you should leave, and stop talking about doom," Sakura said. "I don't think dooming Kisshu is going to be very good for Ichigo's state of mental health, which is already getting a bit shaky."

"Sorry," Pai said, and teleported out.

Sakura sighed and sat down with Ichigo and Kisshu, then said, "Ichigo, Pai's not going to do anything to Kish. He was just upset because Kish dragged him out of his lab to come help you, k?"

Ichigo looked at her, then back at Kisshu. He smiled reassuringly and said, "Pai's just upset because he was daydreaming about Lettuce when I dragged him here. He'll get over it, so don't worry about me getting doomed."

"Okay…" Ichigo said sleepily. "I'm tired, can we go back to sleep?"

"Good plan," Kisshu said. He looked at Sakura, who got the message, and pushed Shintaro out, then tucked them in, and said, "Sleep well."

"Thanks Mom," Ichigo said sleepily as she snuggled up to Kisshu again. Sakura smiled and closed the door as she left. Kisshu and Ichigo snuggled up to each other, and went back to sleep.

The next morning Ichigo woke up first for a change, and looked over at Kisshu, who was still sleeping. He didn't look very happy, and Ichigo decided to see if petting him would help. She started stroking his hair, and soon after, his face relaxed a bit, and he started purring. I wonder why it took him this long to start purring, she thought. I started purring the first time I got petted. Maybe it's because he's not human. Oh well, it's really cute. She continued petting Kisshu, and he continued purring.

A while later, Kisshu started to wake up, and noticed that Ichigo was petting him, and he was purring again. Purring feels kind of strange, he thought. But Ichigo playing with my hair is nice. He sighed a little and leaned into her hand. "Kish, are you awake?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just like that feeling," Kisshu said.

"I can tell, you're purring again," Ichigo said. "Your purring is really cute."

"It feels weird," Kisshu said. "I guess I'm just not used to it." He sat up, and suddenly started feeling dizzy.

Ichigo noticed he looked puzzled, and asked, "Something wrong?"

"I'm dizzy," Kisshu said.

Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, and said, "You don't have a fever, so that's not the cause. Lie back down, it'll just get worse if you sit up."

Kisshu laid back on the bed, and closed his eyes, putting a hand on his forehead. "Can you call Pai?" he asked.

"Sure," Ichigo said. She grabbed her cell phone, going through her contacts list, and hit send as soon as she reached Pai's number.

Two rings later, she heard, "Ichigo?"

"Hi Pai," Ichigo said. "Kish is really dizzy, but he doesn't have a fever. Can you come over?"

"On my way," Pai said, and hung up. He teleported in about five minutes later, and said, "What happened?"

"I sat up and started feeling dizzy," Kisshu said. "I don't know why, but every time I open my eyes, the room starts spinning."

"Were you doing anything before that?" Pai asked.

"I was purring because Ichigo was petting me," Kisshu said. "Do you think purring is bad for me?"

"I don't think so, but I can check," Pai said. He went over and put a hand on Kisshu's forehead. Then he looked puzzled. "I can't sense the problem," he said.

"Does that mean you can't fix it?" Kisshu asked. "I think it's starting to affect my stomach too…"

"Ichigo, go get a bucket," Pai said.

Ichigo ran to the hall closet, took out a bucket, and ran back to her room. Kisshu opened his eyes when he heard her footsteps- then groaned, clutching his stomach. Ichigo quickly handed him the bucket. He took it, turning green. "I hate thr-" he didn't even finish the sentence before he threw up. He felt Ichigo rubbing his back gently as his stomach lurched again, and he continued throwing up. Kisshu thought he was done a few minutes later, and he said, "I think-" but then had to turn back to the bucket quickly, as his stomach started lurching around again.

Ichigo and Pai were worried; Kisshu didn't seem to be stopping, and he really didn't sound good. It sounded like he was choking as he threw up. Pai went over and put a hand on Kisshu's stomach as Kisshu threw up again. His hand began to glow, and Kisshu felt his stomach stop lurching. Soon after, Kisshu stopped throwing up. "Thanks Pai," Kisshu said- only it came out in a whisper.

"Are you any less dizzy?" Pai asked.

"I don't feel dizzy anymore," Kisshu whispered. "Why can't I speak above a whisper?"

"I think it's probably from all that throwing up," Pai said. "You lost your voice from that. Is your throat sore?"

"Kind of," Kisshu whispered.

"I'll heal that, but that might not help the fact that you seem to have a pretty bad case of laryngitis," Pai said. "You probably shouldn't talk much for a while, or your voice won't come back."

Kisshu looked at Ichigo sadly. Pai sighed and said, "I suppose you want me to give Ichigo the ability to use telepathy?"

Kisshu nodded, and Pai went over to Ichigo, and asked, "Is that okay?"

"Yep, and it'll cut down on the phone calls," Ichigo said.

Pai put a hand on her forehead, and a minute later she felt something like an electric shock in her head. "Okay, focus on me and think what you want to say," Pai said.

Ichigo concentrated, then said telepathically, Can you hear me?

Yep, Pai said. Aloud he said, "You're all set. I'm going back, try to keep Kisshu from talking aloud."

"I will," Ichigo said.

Pai nodded and teleported out.

I know it's insanely short, but I'm really tired for some reason, so I'll try to get more out soon, k? Please review!