Brought Together Chapter 26:
Practice Match
Kisshu came out of shock and said, "You want me to fight Ichigo?"
"It's just a practice match," Kuro-sama said. "I want to make sure the other males realize that Ichigo is qualified to go on missions with you."
"Um… If my blade touches Kisshu's, it could paralyze him temporarily," Ichigo said. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
"You could both fight with practice swords, but I think this is a good idea," Kuro-sama said. "Besides, Ichigo, you have the power to heal, right?"
"Oh… yeah…" Ichigo said.
"Fine…" Kisshu said.
"I'll go call the force together, and we'll meet in the training room of your ship," Kuro-sama said. "Pai and Taruto, please take Sakura and Shintaro to your parent's place, I'd like them to stay there for the time being. Kisshu, Ichigo, you should go find some practice swords."
"Hai," they all said, and parted ways. Ichigo teleported back to the ship with Kisshu. Once there, Kisshu led Ichigo to a room she hadn't been to before.
"This is the armory," Kisshu explained. He watched as Ichigo looked around. "This is where we keep all the spare weaponry we need for battle, and where we keep practice swords and other practice weapons."
"There's a lot here," Ichigo said. She went over to a wall of swords and picked one up. "This one feels light enough," she said. "It actually feels similar to mine."
"That's good, you should choose something you feel comfortable with," Kisshu said. He had picked out a pair of blades that looked similar to his Dragon Swords, just without the blue stones in the hilts. Kisshu looked at Ichigo, sighed, and said, "I guess we should go to the training room now."
Ichigo sighed too, and nodded. The two of them teleported to the training room, where they found Kuro-sama and a group of males waiting for them. "We're waiting for Takoi, and then everyone will be here," Kuro-sama said. Almost as soon as he said this, a male Cyniclon teleported in.
"Everyone's here," Kuro-sama said. "Will one of you referee this match?"
"Hai," a male Cyniclon said. "Am I explaining the rules as well?"
"Hai," Kuro-sama said.
"Okay," the Cyniclon said. Then he called out, "Take your positions in the middle of the room."
Ichigo and Kisshu did so, and the male called out, "The rules are simple. Whoever disarms their opponent first wins. You may do whatever you want to disarm your opponent. Are both contestants ready?"
"Hai!" Ichigo and Kisshu said.
"Then you may begin the match!" the Cyniclon called out.
Ichigo and Kisshu both lunged forward, swords out. Suddenly Kisshu flew up, and dived at Ichigo, who dodged, causing Kisshu to have to teleport before he hit the ground. Ichigo sensed him teleport behind her, and flew up. Kisshu followed, and Ichigo spun around in midair, just as Kisshu lunged forward. Ichigo brought up her blade, and blocked Kisshu's strike. Kisshu pulled away, and Ichigo flew back a bit, then lunged forward. Kisshu blocked her strike, and teleported behind her. She heard the sound, and teleported to the ground. Then she flew back up, and teleported behind Kisshu, who turned. As he brought one blade up, Ichigo thrust her sword through the prongs of Kisshu's blade. She then twisted her sword, and Kisshu was forced to let go of the blade, or get a broken wrist. The blade fell to the ground. The onlookers gasped. Ichigo lunged at Kisshu again, and he brought up the other blade, lunging forward himself. Ichigo teleported to the side, and as Kisshu brought up his blade again, hearing the teleportation, Ichigo used the same move she had on his other blade, wrenching the second blade out of Kisshu's hand. The second blade fell to the ground, landing next to its partner.
The referee, though obviously shocked, called out, "This match is over! Ichigo wins!" Ichigo and Kisshu both landed on the floor, both gasping for breath. Except for Kuro-sama, everyone's jaws were on the floor.
When she caught her breath, Ichigo said, "Well, that was interesting. Good fight, Kisshu."
"Thanks, Koneko-chan," Kisshu said. "You were amazing, none of these guys have ever beaten me." He nodded to the other young males in the room.
"You mean until just now you were undefeated?" Ichigo asked, surprised.
"Yep," Kisshu said. "That's why they're all in shock."
Ichigo blushed and said, "I didn't really expect to win. Maybe I just got lucky."
"That's probably why you won, you weren't overconfident. Others get overconfident sometimes when they fight me, but up till now, no one's ever beaten me," Kisshu said.
The other Cyniclons were starting to come out of shock. The referee was the first to fully recover from the fight, and he said, "Um… are you sure she's level 5? Looks more like some undiscovered level, if she can beat Kisshu."
"Well, maybe…" Kisshu said.
"Um… I don't really think I'm any better than Kisshu, I think I just got lucky," Ichigo said.
"Well, it seems you're definitely qualified to go with the males on missions," Kuro-sama said.
"They look scared," Ichigo said. "I don't want people to be scared of me, just because I beat Kisshu once."
Kuro-sama looked at the others thoughtfully. "Maybe having this practice battle wasn't one of my better ideas," he admitted. "They're all pretty shocked."
"I think I agree," Ichigo said. "I'd rather have people underestimate my skill than be scared of me."
"If word of this gets out, we're in trouble," the referee spoke up unexpectedly. "Not only will everyone be scared of Ichigo, but Kisshu's reputation would be ruined."
"I'm more concerned about Ichigo than my reputation," Kisshu said. "Kuro-sama, what should we do?"
"This is a problem," Kuro-sama said. "We can't exactly ask everyone in here not to talk about what happened, it'll get out sooner or later anyways. Also, if we keep it quiet, people will get suspicious, and start drawing conclusions. And if people find out how good Ichigo is, she'll either be stalked or avoided."
"Stalking I can handle, but I don't like being avoided," Ichigo said. "I don't want to be all alone."
Kuro-sama turned to the other males in the room. "Well, does anyone have suggestions?"
"We might as well let this play out," one male said. "If things start getting bad, we call a town meeting and decide what to do about this. We don't know for a fact that people will be scared of Ichigo; I think some people will even be pleased that she's giving Kisshu a run for his money. If we see that she's getting stalked or avoided, we have the Elder Council step in, and the problem will be solved. Everyone respects the Council, and no one would go against Kuro-sama's word."
"You have a good point there, Shiro," Kuro-sama said. "Alright, that's what we'll do. However, I do expect those of you here not to shout this from the rooftops. Ichigo doesn't need publicity, especially considering her parentage and past."
"Hai!" the others all said. Suddenly one male, shorter than the rest, said, "Not to be disrespectful, Kuro-sama, but what did you mean by Ichigo's 'parentage and past'?"
"Were you not around when she first came back with Kisshu, Pai and Taruto?" Kuro-sama asked.
"Um… no," the male said.
"It's up to Ichigo if she wishes to share this or not," Kuro-sama said.
"Well, since I'm going to be a part of the team, I might as well," Ichigo said. Then she sighed. "I wasn't originally a Cyniclon," she said. "I was the leader of the team sent to oppose Kisshu, Pai and Taruto when they came to Earth. I used to be half human, half cat. However, Pai and Taruto took me to their base after one of the battles I had with Kisshu, because he had collapsed, and they thought I had something to do with it."
"Wait, so this isn't the first time you fought Kisshu?" the male who had asked about her past said.
"No, but it's the first time I fought him one on one, since when I was fighting for Earth, he always used Chimera Animas, rather than his swords," Ichigo said. Then she continued, "It turned out that what I had said to Kisshu during that battle caused him to go into shock, and he got sick from that. Pai explained that Kisshu wasn't lying about loving me, and I decided that I'd take care of him while Pai was working. However, when Kisshu got sick, Pai's healing powers weren't working for some reason."
Ichigo paused, then said, "I told Pai to inject his DNA into me, so I could gain the power to heal. And I did gain the power to heal. I healed Kisshu, and we formed a truce to save your planet, rather than having them take Earth."
"Wait, so why are you a Cyniclon if Pai only gave you new powers?" the male who had refereed asked.
Ichigo replied, "I started to gain Cyniclon traits a while after I healed Kisshu, but when my hair- which used to be red- started turning green, Pai did a blood test on me, and discovered he had made a mistake. Instead of his DNA and a potion to help my body adjust to the new powers, he had injected me with his DNA and that of Kisshu's twin sister, Ichigo. That's why, according to Pai, I turned into a Cyniclon. My parents are still human, but I'm a Cyniclon now."
"That's incredible," the short male said. "I didn't know Pai was capable of making mistakes."
Ichigo giggled. "He was probably kind of distracted at the time, so you can't really blame him," she said.
"Koneko-chan, why was Pai distracted while doing something that important?" Kisshu asked.
"Oh that's right, you were still unconscious when that little incident happened," Ichigo said. "Pai went to get Taruto to watch you in case you got worse. He told Taruto he'd be in his lab with me if something happened. Then Taruto said, "Doing what? I thought you liked Lettuce."
Kisshu burst out laughing. Ichigo giggled too, then noticed everyone was looking puzzled. "In case that didn't make any sense, Lettuce was a member of my team, Tokyo Mew Mew," she said. "We were very good friends, and Pai fell in love with her."
"So Taruto thought Pai was going to do something perverted to you?" another male asked.
"I think Taruto was just teasing," Ichigo said. "He wanted to get a reaction out of Pai- and it worked."
"What did Pai do?" the short male asked.
"He turned red, and said, "I am not Kisshu." Then he explained that he was going to inject me with his DNA, and told Taruto to go watch Kisshu," Ichigo said.
"What did he mean by 'I'm not Kisshu'?" another male asked.
Kisshu abruptly stopped laughing. Ichigo looked puzzled. "He meant he wasn't going to do anything perverted to me," she said.
"Why would he think Kisshu would do something perverted to you?" the referee asked.
Ichigo turned to Kisshu. "Kisshu, did you only act like that around me?" she asked. "These guys obviously have no clue what I'm talking about."
Kisshu started to look a bit nervous. Meanwhile, the others were getting more confused by the minute.
When it became clear that Kisshu wasn't going to say anything, Ichigo sighed and said, "Never mind, it's nothing. Just Kisshu playing games with me. I know he likes to tease, but he wouldn't do anything perverted to me."
"Okay…." the others said.
Kuro-sama then said, "Okay, I think it's time we got back. Remember, no shouting about Ichigo's victory from the rooftops."
"Hai, Kuro-sama," everyone said. Then they all teleported out.
Kuro-sama nodded to Kisshu and Ichigo, who bowed, and then he teleported out as well.
This left Kisshu and Ichigo alone.
Bad chapter ending, I know. Please don't flame me for having Ichigo beat Kisshu. Ichigo's really on a roll, though, first she kills Ryou and Deep Blue, and now she beat Kisshu in a sword match.