Fire and Ice: Chapter 8
Heya! How art thou wondrous reviewers! I'm doing good! I fell asleep for two hours after eating...like...a whole crap load of turkey on Thanksgiving. Then I had a piece of pie...and when I got home, after watching a bunch of Inuyasha, I was asleep for god knows how long after that...like...seven hours of sleep...that's more than I get in two days normally...wow.
Kachie's back from Florida! She bought me an adorable flamingo stuffed animal, and she bought me a HUGE Sesshoumaru wall scroll. I swear...I can die happy...BUT, that would leave you guys without this wonderful story to read, (lol, wonderful my ass,) and so I shall live...woot!
Disclaimer: Okie dokie...I hope none of you ppl actually think I own this...cuz I don't...(duh...)
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Kisshu yawned a bit and stretched. He couldn't believe that he had fallen asleep while in enemy territory. Sure, there was a truce going on between them, but that didn't mean that he could let his guard down. He sat up and looked around; Pai, Ichigo, and Lettuce were awake, just perfect...
"Getting awfully comfortable aren't we Kisshu?" Pai asked slyly. Kisshu glared at him.
"Awe shut-up Pai, at least I'm not eating ice cream with mindless teenage goodie goodies..." he retorted. Pai rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say fool...at least I don't fall asleep while someone's plotting against me...I wait until after you and Taruto attempt and fail multiple times, then when you've tuckered yourselves out, I rest easy," he said. Kisshu yawned and leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes.
"Whatever...like I said before, you can't touch me..." he replied lazily. Ichigo and Lettuce giggled.
"Think what you want Kisshu..." Ichigo said mysteriously. Kisshu opened an inquisitive eye at her before shrugging and yawning again, too tired to think too hard. Lettuce couldn't help but laugh openly.
"Kisshu, you should...you know what, never mind, ignore me..." she said, shaking her head. Why ruin everyone's fun for his personal dignity? This was Kisshu after all...
Kisshu looked at her for a moment, "Captain Goodie herself was about to give me advice wasn't she? Well, for your information, I don't need the advice of a human..." Ichigo couldn't stand it any longer; staring at Kisshu for so long had taken its toll on her, and she burst into laughter. She grabbed her cell phone and held it out in front of her and took a picture of Kisshu, only causing her to laugh further. She showed Pai the phone and he chuckled when he saw the photo.
Kisshu growled, "What exactly is so funny! Is there something wrong with my face or are you just going insane?" This only caused Ichigo to laugh harder, and to fall off of the couch. Lettuce joined in soon after, and Pai had to fight his own urge to do the same.
Mint yawned and stretched from her spot in a chair as she sat up fully, rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out, "What the hell is so funny? I need my beauty sleep!" After a moment's pause, even Pai lost it this time. The three on the couch just kept laughing and laughing. Mint stared at them for a long moment.
"Ooookaay...you've officially freaked me out now..." she said, shaking her head. Ichigo tried to control herself.
"Pai...we...Kisshu...FACE!" was all she got out before falling prey to her fit of laughter once more. Mint blinked a few times before looking at Kisshu, to see what was so funny. Her eyes got wide.
"What is so damn funny? They've been laughing at me since I woke up!" Kisshu complained. Mint bit her lip to keep from laughing, but her resolve was short lived. She too fell under the spell of laughter and was hunched over in her chair trying to get air. Kisshu growled and stood up.
"Stupid goodie-goodies...I'll see what's so damn funny..." he mumbled, heading towards the bathroom to see a mirror. Mint gasped for air as she wiped a tear from her eye.
"Did you..." Ichigo nodded and held up her phone, showing Mint the picture. It sent the girl into another fit of laughter.
Suddenly, a loud yell was heard from the bathroom, effectively waking up the rest of the group from their nap with a start. It was followed by, "I'm gonna get you Pai! And you too Ichigo! This has deranged kitty written all over it!"
All Ichigo did was smirk, "Mrow...?"
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"Kisshu..."
"Shut it."
Lettuce gave him a sympathetic smile, "Kisshu, it's not that big a-"
"You too! Shut it! I can't believe that I had Captain Goodie plot against me in my sleep...a deranged cat-girl and Pai is bad enough..." he muttered darkly. Ichigo pouted playfully and moved to sit next to him when he abruptly disappeared and reappeared to the kitchen. Kachie's surprised screech and Keichiro's yell gave him away.
"You know Ichigo..." Lettuce began, "We may have gone a bit far with the clown make-up...he seems pretty upset..." Ichigo sighed and nodded a bit. Ryou walked into the room and stretched a bit, still a little tired. Hekele followed a few seconds later.
"Personally, I thought it was hilarious...you save that picture strawberry?" Ryou asked. Ichigo smiled and nodded.
"Yeah...but I think I might delete it...as a peace offering...I think Lettuce is right in that we went too far..." she admitted. Pai, who was still on the couch, scowled.
"Trust me, with all the antics he's involved in...he deserves it..." he stated. Hekele sat in a chair nearby and shrugged.
"Maybe those two are right...it seems like Kisshu has hurt feelings...I mean...he's been sulking for an hour..." she said. Pai grumbled a bit but nodded. He was about to say something when Taruto came running into the room, yelling at the top of his lungs. He was followed closely by Pudding, who was spraying silly-string at him relentlessly. Taruto ran a couple of circles around Pai, effectively getting him sprayed with the annoying stuff, and then kept running around the room before finally heading out another door and eventually into the kitchen; Kisshu, Kachie, and Keichiro were all yelling and pots and pans could be heard clanging in the distance. Eventually, the group in the living room heard a disappointed , 'awww,' followed by an equally disappointed 'it's empty'.
Ryou blinked a bit, "Well, you don't see that every day..." Lettuce looked at Pai and giggled a bit, trying to contain her laughter. Ichigo however, not missing a beat, snapped a picture of him with her phone.
Pai grumbled, "Why exactly did you do that?" Ichigo offered him a sympathetic smile.
"For the good of evil...and making it up to Kisshu..." she joked lightly. Pai snorted.
"Same thing if you ask me..." he retorted. Ichigo smiled a bit wider and headed for the kitchen to see Kisshu, ignoring the glaring alien at her back. Ryou and Hekele looked around nervously, not really wanting to stay in the same area as an annoyed Pai.
"So...Tweety Bird...what do you want to do?" he asked. Taking the hint, Hekele answered him.
"Lets...go for a walk...and we can bring Pudding and Taruto too...if we can get him to wear a bandanna over his ears or something..." she answered. Ryou looked at her oddly.
"And why would we want to do that?" he asked. Hekele grinned.
"Entertainment purposes...Pudding bought a set of small water guns at one of the rest stops on the way here..."
"Ahh...well, let get those two and get going..." Ryou replied. Hekele didn't object and followed his already retreating form to locate the two young trouble-makers.
Pai and Lettuce were left standing there, alone, and Pai looked rather annoyed. His eye twitched slightly, a sign of annoyance not usually shown. He had half a mind to go after the two younger ones and dunk them in Mint's pool, but knew that it was too late now. He felt movement and looked down at Lettuce, who was pulling some of the silly string off of his shoulder.
She smiled at him shyly, turning a bit pink, "Here, let me help you get this junk off."
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"Kisshu..."
"Leave me alone Ichigo..." was his reply. Ichigo sighed and sat next to him, looking straight ahead. She had not found him in the kitchen, but on Mint's balcony off of the upstairs recreation room. Apparently, after also being bombarded with silly-string, he had retreated there. Ichigo pulled a little clump of the said stuff out of his hair and tossed it to the ground below, earning a slightly confused look from Kisshu. She pulled out her phone and flipped the her picture of him and his 'make-over'.
"I'm deleting the picture Kisshu...you can even see for yourself..." she said, holding it up and hitting the delete button. The picture vanished before his eyes, but he didn't say anything, still feeling a bit hurt by the extent of the prank. Ichigo sighed once more and flipped the picture to the one she had gotten of Pai. Kisshu couldn't help but smirk when she showed him.
"Peace?" she asked innocently. Kisshu rolled his eyes a bit and looked away. Ichigo narrowed her eyes at him a bit.
"You know, you started it, and I'm not apologizing...all those times you kissed or tried to kiss me, all the times you attacked me, all the times you tried to steal the Mew Aqua from us, and all of your pranks on top of that...I'd say you deserved a good joke to be played on you...I'm not saying sorry for getting even..." she informed, looking away from him defiantly. Sensing her rising annoyance with him, Kisshu looked over at her from the corner of his eye.
He wasn't really mad anymore, just supremely annoyed. He knew that he had it coming, but did they really have to make him look that ridiculous? He could probably have handled his hair being put into five creepy braids, the glitter they also had put in his hair, definitely the smelly perfume, and perhaps even a tiny bit of make-up, but doing all of that plus clown make-up? Definitely not. He would stand by the fact that no man, human or alien, deserved that kind of torture, no matter what pranks he had pulled in the past.
"I'm not forgiving you kitten; no male of any species deserves that kind of humiliation...I owe you complete and utter embarrassment...and I intend to pay up before this little truce of ours is up..." he swore. The smiled that had steadily formed on Ichigo's face dropped a bit, once more confusing Kisshu.
"So...you think that after this whole thing, despite how we're all getting closer to one another, we'll still end up fighting in the end?" she asked, a bit sadly. Kisshu sighed softly.
"We have a world to save kitten...a whole race to bring back here...and we can't do that while dangerously prejudice humans are waltzing around an already over-populated and dying world now can we?" he asked. Ichigo looked down.
"And we can't let you wipe out an entire planet of people so that you can do all that..." she whispered. Kisshu nodded.
"I know kitten...and that's why we're going to keep fighting...both our sides will do what we need to do to succeed in our mission...and the stronger will win, and the weaker will die..." he stated. Somehow, saying the words seemed to depress him, like he knew that he was right, but didn't want to be. Kisshu idly wondered if Pai or Taruto had thought about this yet, seeing as he knew that they were integrating quickly into the group, even though they had no intention to do so in the beginning.
Kisshu had thought about this topic many a time, ironically because of the cat-girl in front of him. He had fallen in love with her, he knew, after their first battle. The first time they had met, (and the first time he had stolen a kiss,) he had only wanted to tease her, but after their first battle she had grown on him almost instantly. It wasn't until later that he realized that he actually had fallen for her, but once he had figured it out, he knew that he had all along.
But she had her 'precious' Aoyama-kun, whom Kisshu knew she loved dearly. And though he hated the pretty-boy bastard with a potency until now not yet explored, Kisshu loved Ichigo too much to take him away from her...
Sighing once more, Kisshu turned to Ichigo, looking her in the eye, "I can promise you something though..." Ichigo looked at him oddly.
"What's that Kisshu?" she asked, just above a whisper, not being able to elevate her voice any more than that. Kisshu smiled at her, sadness dancing in his eyes, though for what, Ichigo wasn't exactly sure.
"No matter what happens; I'll be sorry kitten." With that, Kisshu pecked her lightly on the cheek and transported himself back to Serenity, bent on getting away from his current distraction for a few hours. He'd check up on the 'bad guys' while he was at it...
Ichigo sat in the same spot on the balcony, her hand lightly touching her cheek in confusion. Kisshu always tried kissing her, (most of the time succeeding,) but he never kissed her on the cheek...never. He was always being a piggish pervert and going right for her lips, but not this time. And maybe it was the honest remorse dancing in his eyes as he had spoken to her, but she wasn't upset with him either...she just couldn't bring herself to be...
She felt her heart beating in her chest with an odd intensity, one usually only reserved for Masaya, and Ichigo looked to the sky in confusion.
Why's my heart beating like this...for him?
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"I officially quit...I'm ordering pizza."
Kachie looked up at Keichiro and smiled as she grabbed the mop from the broom closet to clean the mess up with, "Don't be silly...we'll get the remnants of our first attempt cleaned up in no time and can try to cook lunch again in peace...Kisshu, Taruto, and Pudding didn't disrupt us that much..."
Keichiro looked at the massive puddle of what was once a huge pot of French Onion soup and nodded firmly, "I'm ordering pizza, and quite frankly, if the aliens don't end up liking it; tough..."
Kachie smiled as she diligently mopped up the soup, "Quitter..." Keichiro shrugged.
"Well, if shoe fits..." he muttered lightly, causing Kachie to laugh.
"Keichiro-kun...stop putting yourself down and order the stupid pizza...I'll be done here in a minute..." she said. Keichiro smiled slightly at her and grabbed the phone and phone book.
"Whatever you say Kachie-chan..." he said jokingly, giving her a mock salute. Kachie rolled her eyes at him as he began looking for the number. Keichiro smiled as he did so; maybe he'd take her out again soon...he liked the idea of spending more time alone with her. It was hard for him to hug her and hold her hand while around their friends, and he didn't quite understand it.
Wow...have I been with these guys so long that I've forgotten what it was like to have a private life? I actually feel sneaky...and there's absolutely no reason to feel that way... he told himself, shaking his head. He found the number for the nearest pizza place and ordered a few different pizzas for the group. If they argued about the toppings, they could pull off the ones they didn't like themselves...
As he hung up the phone, Keichiro's eyes drifted to Kachie, and he smiled once more. Maybe...he'd take her out that very night. Their last date had been ruined by the very news that led to this whole thing...maybe he could make up for it.
"Kachie-chan?" he asked her. Kachie looked up from where she was rinsing the mop out.
"Hm? What is it Keichiro-kun?" she replied. Keichiro smiled.
"...Would you be interested on going out to eat with me tonight? I'm sure the group can fend for themselves for the night...there's enough of them to pop popcorn or something..." he joked. Kachie giggled a bit and blushed.
"...Sure...I'd like that..." she said. Keichiro's smile turned into a broad grin, thrilled that she had accepted.
"Wonderful...then I shall utilize the best restaurant research tool I can think of to find us a nice place to go..." Kachie smiled.
"And what exactly is this tool? A pointed forefinger hovering above the phone book's restaurant directory with closed eyes and a random choice?" she asked teasingly. Keichiro feigned an insulted voice.
"Never something so simple my dear...I'm going to pester Mint until she tells me where the best places are...she's bound to have eaten in all of them at least once..." he admitted. Kachie smiled and shook her head.
"Well, that's true...and if it works...then why not?" she conceded.
Keichiro smiled at her, "Precisely...now, lets set the table for those pizzas...they'll be here in fifteen minutes..."
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Taruto was once again running from Pudding, only this time because he was being sprayed with water from her two squirt guns. Ryou idly watched the insanity from his spot next to Hekele; the two younger kids really were a good source of entertainment...
He and Hekele were walking casually along the beach; Hekele had never seen it before, and Ryou had figured that it'd be a nice place for their walk. He couldn't help but smile softly at her awe in the vast ocean and seemingly miles of coastline.
"Pretty nice huh Tweety Bird? See what you've been missing?" he asked rhetorically. Hekele nodded a bit as she breathed in the salty smell of the ocean.
"It's wonderful out here...everything's so beautiful..." she said, looking around once more. There weren't many people about, probably because of the hot noon sun, so the group had the beach virtually to themselves. Taruto came running back towards Ryou and Hekele, with Pudding in close pursuit, still yelling his head off.
"Pudding! You baka! That stings! Quit filling those up with salt water!" he complained as he hid behind Hekele and Ryou, using the older two as a shield. Hekele squealed a bit as she got hit with the water, and Ryou declared that it was every person for themself. He took off in another direction and left Hekele standing there. Taruto also ran away, leaving a not semi-soaked Hekele glaring at a playful Pudding. After a thirty second stand-off, Pudding held out one of her toy guns to Hekele.
"Peace na no da?" she asked timidly, her eyes shining with an evil plan. Hekele picke dup on this and took the squirt-gun.
"Peace...now let's get those chickens..." With that, she and Pudding took off after the boys, who had stopped their fleeing in order to figure out what was going on. After seeing Hekele charging at them with one of Pudding's toys, Ryou ran as far as he could from Taruto. He figured that Hekele was after him because he had been the one to get her wet, but instead, she came after Ryou. After cursing mildly, he tried to put as much distance between them as possible, recalling how fast she was.
It didn't work for long, for after a minute or so, he began to feel his back be pelted with water. Getting and idea, he stopped suddenly and turned around, just in time for Hekele to nearly collide with him. In one quick, fluid motion, Ryou swung her over his shoulder, making her drop her squirt-gun. He carefully bent over and picked it up, making sure not to drop the kicking and squealing girl.
"Ryou-san! Put me down! Come on!" she complained, trying to get off of his shoulder. He only smiled at her an squirted the back of her head with the toy.
"Nope...it's retribution time..." he declared firmly. Hekele's eyes got wide.
"Retribution? You started it! You ditched me to keep yourself dry!"
"After saying that it was every man for himself..." he corrected. Hekele managed to hit him on the back of the head lightly.
"First of all, you said that after you took off...second, you didn't say anything about women being in it alone...your quote clearly said man, it said nothing about female participants!" she countered. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw water below her; Ryou had taken her to the water's edge.
"Ryou...I'm warning you...do NOT drop me in the water! I swear...I'll-" Ryou cut her off.
"You'll what? Tell on me? I'm so scared Tweety Bird..." he said sarcastically, stopping knee deep in the water. He could feel Hekele looking around frantically, hoping for either Taruto or Pudding to save her.
"Ryou...please don't drop me in the water...please? I promise I'll never squirt you with water again...just don't get me soaked..." she pleaded. Ryou smirked. He swiftly swung her down from his shoulder. Hekele screamed and shut her eyes, grabbing Ryou's neck; trying anything to stay dry. It wasn't until she heard Ryou chuckling that she realized that she wasn't wet, and opened her eyes.
Ryou was smirking from ear to ear as he held her a good inch about the water line; he had effectively frightened her with his sudden motion. He idly realized that it was a good thing that he hadn't actually intended to drop her; if he had, he'd have been as soaked as her.
"Baka Tweety Bird...if I was that annoyed with those stupid squirt guns...do you honestly think I'd risk getting completely soaked by dropping you into the ocean?" he asked, amused. Hekele nodded.
"Yes...yes Ryou, I do..." she admitted honestly. Ryou made a surprised face and sighed. He straightened his body so that he was standing completely upright, and was about to let her down. However, a loud yelling from above them distracted the two...
"Bombs away!" Taruto had just released Pudding from his hold of her from a good ten feet above the two teens in the water, and there wasn't enough time to move before the inevitable happened...
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Lettuce and Mint were laughing their heads off when Ryou, Hekele, and Pudding had come through the door. Taruto had transported ahead of the group out of fear for his life at the looks of pure evil that had radiated from Hekele and Ryou at Pudding and himself. Pudding was completely unfazed, however, and had walked home with the two.
Kachie and Keichiro walked out of the dining room, where they had been setting up the pizza boxes, when they heard all the noise. Neither of them could suppress their laughter when they caught sight of the two. Both of them were dripping on the floor, soaked to the bone, and very, very angry. Pudding, finally getting the hint, made a mad dash for the door, deciding to play outside. Taruto, not wanting to potentially die, did the same.
Keichiro grabbed towels for the two as he tried to remain in control of himself, "What on earth did those kids do to you two?" Ryou growled.
"I was threatening to throw Tweety into the ocean for getting me with Pudding's squirt gun, but I wasn't really going to... and while in knee deep water, the little cretins transport ten feet above us and Taruto drops Pudding on our heads...which was apparently her plan all along..." he grumbled out. Mint had to stifle another fit of laughter.
"That's wonderful...I wish I had been there to see it..." she admitted. Hekele scowled as she made her way upstairs to her room to change.
"It wasn't funny..." she groused. Ryou followed suit and went to his room as well, wanting to get into some dry clothes, and away from his friends for the moment before one of them asked how he had gotten Hekele knee deep into the ocean if she didn't want to get wet.
Pai, ever the inquisitive one, turned to Lettuce after he had left, "How much do you want to bet that he carried her into the water kicking and screaming?" Lettuce smiled softly.
"I think you're right...he certainly left in a hurry...he probably wanted for us to drop it and not think this far into the incident..."
Pai shook his head, "He doesn't know us well enough does he?"
Keichiro looked at the two of them and grinned, "Sadly, no; now go and get your pizza before it gets cold and I have to reheat it in the oven!"
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Zakuro sighed as she looked across the coffee table at Pudding and Taruto. She had been uncharacteristically suckered into a game of Go-Fish, and she was losing to both of the kids. Pudding took one of her kings and slapped down her final pair, thus winning her third straight round. This sent Taruto into another tantrum in which he accused her of cheating in which Zakuro refused to involve herself with. And after mentally deciding to never have children, she grabbed the remote from the couch and flipped through the channels. After settling on a news channel, she and the kids began their tenth round of the game, which Zakuro expected to lose once more.
Hekele and Kachie joined them a few minutes later and were watching the news from the couch, as were Pai and Lettuce. Lettuce was currently trying to talk Pai into doing something other than sitting on the couch all day, and Pai was mulling over his options. Seeing as 'his' couch kept getting crowded, he eventually agreed to play ping pong with Lettuce.
The military has issued two missing person campaigns that are being conducted in various cities across the nation; it is not being said why these two girls are of interest to the military, or who exactly they are. All that has been given to the media are descriptions of the two. Both females are approximately sixteen years of age. One is of Chinese origin and has silver streaks in medium length black hair with brown eyes. She usually wears contacts to make it appear as though there are also specks of silver in the eye color. The other female has short blond hair with red flames and has blue eyes. She also wears contacts that alter her eye color; red will usually be seen mixed with the blue. For a list of cities currently being searched for the two females, watch the bottom of your screen. If you have taken in these girls to your home, turn them over to the proper officials immediately...
All motion in the room stopped; it was hard to tell if anyone was even breathing it was so silent. Pai and Lettuce had heard the news bulletin from the room over and were standing in one of the doorways with wide eyes turned to the television. They couldn't believe what they had just seen and heard. Apparently, the military was putting on a more proactive approach than the group had originally thought.
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"I can't believe that they're doing this...doesn't it put them at risk?" Ichigo asked as she walked through the drug store with Lettuce. They were on the mission to get some hair dye for Hekele and Kachie, while Zakuro and Mint were hunting for colored contacts at another store.
Lettuce shrugged sadly, "Well...yes and no. I guess there were bound to be people who would find out about their temporary bases. If they come out and give an excuse now...then they're covered, and this way, they've got the media on their side as well..." Ichigo sighed and nodded. Lettuce noticed this and took the initiative.
"Ichigo...you've been out of it all day...what's wrong? You've been like this ever since you apologized to Kisshu..." she prodded lightly.
Ichigo sighed, "It's just something he said...I mean...can you picture us fighting after this whole thing is over? He's convinced that we will..." Lettuce lowered her gaze.
"So...he's not really being more friendly...just acting? I wonder if Pai and Taruto are too..." Ichigo shook her head.
"He seemed really upset when he said it...He went on about how they'd still have to complete their mission, and how we would need to stop them, and that would be why we would keep fighting...and then afterwards...he said something else..." she elaborated a bit, not wanting Lettuce to get the wrong idea. Lettuce looked at her curiously.
"And what was that?" she questioned. Ichigo sighed.
"He told me that...no matter what happens...either way...he'll be sorry," she said. Lettuce smiled softly to herself, having an idea as to what Kisshu had met.
Instead of going off on her hunch, she asked a more sociably acceptable question, "And let me guess, he ruined the peaceful, if not sad, moment by trying to kiss you again. Am I right?"
Ichigo blushed lightly and touched her cheek absently, "Yeah...the lil perv..." She said it with less conviction than she wanted to though, and Lettuce picked up on it.
Good God...she's falling for him isn't she? How ironic that the one person she's all but sworn to hate ends up worming a way in that backwards heart of hers... she thought as she mentally shook her head. But she was one to talk; she herself was getting extremely fond of Pai. He was very intelligent, and fun to talk to, at least to Lettuce anyway.
"Earth to Lettuce...you're passing the hair care aisle...you awake in there?"
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"Kachie-chan...it's not bad at all..." Keichiro said as he looked over Kachie's new appearance. She was sore about having to dye her hair all black, and to have to wear contacts to make her eyes look normal. Keichiro himself already missed her old appearance, because though it was different, it was still his Kachie.
In truth, she looked lovely either way, but he himself preferred her regular streaked hair and silver speckled eyes. He lightly ruffled her hair, careful not to mess it up too much, and was delighted to see her smile a bit. The two were still going out to eat; Keichiro had thought that it would be good for her to get out and about for an hour or two.
Kachie sighed and shook her head, "I've been different since I was born Keichiro-kun...I've grown attached to that fact rather than resentful...and it feels odd to suddenly pretend to be someone I'm not." Keichiro smiled at her lightly.
"Then don't pretend to be another person...just think of this as a temporary disguise...not a permanent altercation..." he tried. Kachie sighed once more and nodded.
"I don't really have a choice now do I? It's either this or be locked up inside for the rest of my known life..." she admitted. Keichiro softened his gaze at her and took her hand gently in his.
"Kachie-chan...please do not be so sad...you're still you, and that's all that matters. Now come on...let's get out of this house and get you some good, not-so fast, food. I don't want you getting attached to mere pizza..." he joked lightly. Kachie blushed a bit and nodded.
"Maybe it's not so bad...I guess I'll have to get used to it anyway..." she nodded to herself firmly, making a mental resolution to stop complaining, before speaking once more, "Ok...let's get going...getting out will definitely help..."
Keichiro grinned at her a bit before placing a chaste kiss on her forehead, "Atta girl..." Kachie blushed five shades of red as he led her out the door by the hand. Keichiro was smiling the whole time.
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"Your hair's fine Tweety Bird...if anything, you look more like your name's sake...same goes for the eyes..." Ryou tried, poking a sulking Hekele in the arm. Lettuce looked over at the girl and sighed.
"Hekele...I know it'll take some getting used to, but trust us...you look fine..." she added hopefully. Neither Hekele or Kachie had taken to having to change their looks, but Lettuce suspected that it was more based on principle than simply being unreasonable.
Hekele shook her head, "It's not that...It's just that...well...we came out here thinking that we would be safe...and now this happens...I just don't see the point..." Mint, who was drinking tea next to the girl, gave her a startled look.
"What do you mean you don't see the point? The point is to keep you two blended in and safe..." she said slowly, looking at her friend.
Hekele smiled softly, "...and when they get desperate enough to actually show our pictures on television? Then to keep us safe we'll be locked up inside...and then they'll search door to door...and eventually...they'll find us..." Pai, Zakuro, Lettuce, Mint, Pudding, Taruto, and Ryou just stared at her. Ichigo did as well, but her silence didn't accompany the uncomfortable subject.
"Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, 'cuz I'm pretty sure we can outsmart these idiots. We've got two geniuses, five genetically altered super heros, and three aliens on our side; they have guns and tanks, big whup," she said casually. Hekele glared at her a bit.
"And hundreds of computers, and vast intelligence operations, and public support, and millions of dollars in funding...and I'm pretty sure that they've got more than two geniuses...Let's face it, we're out-numbered, out-gunned, and out of public favor; no matter the valiant fight, we'll end up losing the war..." she said sadly. No one spoke for a few minutes, not knowing what to say. Ichigo was visibly trying to come up with a counter argument, but even she couldn't just blow off Hekele's train of logic.
Ryou, however, took a different approach. Standing up, he lightly pulled Hekele up with him, surprising the girl. "Come on Tweety Bird...you've been cooped up too long if you're thinking that far off your hinges...we're going out for a bit..." he stated, leaving no room for question. Hekele, confused, obliged and Ryou led her to the door. After getting their jackets and bidding a quick farewell to their equally confused friends, they left, Ryou leading Hekele by the wrist.
The rest of the group just sat there awkwardly. Pudding was the first to speak, "What just happened na no da?"
Taruto looked at her and shrugged, "Who knows...old people are weird..."
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"Damn...where are Pai and Taruto? I figured that they'd be up here by now..." Kisshu cursed lightly. He hadn't wanted to spend all day on Serenity alone, but he wasn't quite sure if it was safe to head back down to Earth yet. After all, Ichigo was probably still reeling about his little peck on the cheek; she was always pissed off when he pulled crap like that...
Kisshu made his way over to Pai's computer, deciding to check up of the military once more. He had done so as soon as he had returned to the ship, but not once since then. He had located a new make-shift base within forty miles of the group. It worried him a bit, but as with most of the bases in that radius, it wasn't active.
Hold it...'most' of the bases... Kisshu quickly took another look at the computer screen and brought up an image of the active bases from when he had first arrived back on the ship. There were five out of sixteen active bases within the forty miles...there had been none earlier. He pulled up a wider image, showing all the bases in Japan, and to his astonishment, some of the ones from farther away had packed up, and weren't there at all. It was then that he noticed a large concentration of bases clustered in a circle, and his eyes widened in horror.
These bastards are good...but now our dear goodie goodies are trapped... Kisshu gathered a file of the new data and transported himself to Earth, right in the middle of Mint's table, where the group sat playing Rummy.
After yelling in surprise and nearly falling over, a very disgruntled Mint addressed him, "What the hell was that about! Can't you appear off to the side a few feet?" Kisshu glared at her and tossed Pai the files as he hopped off the table.
"We've got serious problems...the military's running around like headless chickens and packing up their bases..." he said urgently. Zakuro raised an eyebrow at him.
"I hate to ask a stupid question, but isn't that a good thing?" she questioned. Kisshu shook his head and Pai answered.
"They're relocating...towards us..." Kisshu nodded.
"There are sixteen bases within the forty mile radius we mentioned earlier...five of them have already become active, and with all these other ones moving around, I'm sure more will..." he explained. Ichigo bit her lip.
"They've found us? So soon?"
Pai shook his head, "Not likely...they wouldn't send out a force like this and relocate all their men if they had found you...now, if they were given difficulty...they most certainly would. They do, however, seem to know that you are within this vicinity...they must have implemented tracking nodes within the two..."
Lettuce thought for a moment, "But...why now? If they had the ability to track them...then why didn't they sooner, while we were back in Tokyo?"
Pai paused for a moment, before shaking his head, "Two possible reasons...One: They figured that they were in Tokyo after tracking them, and were just taking their time with a subtle approach. Two: they were coming after you five all along as well and wanted to be prepared before charging in there."
Kisshu, snapped his fingers suddenly, "Those nodes are likely to be sensitive aren't they Pai? Easily damaged?" Pai nodded slowly and he continued, "Well, when they used their powers on me that day I told you about...their body temperatures probably changed drastically as they used their powers...wouldn't that damage the nodes?" Pai nodded to himself seeing where Kisshu was going with his supposition.
"The nodes were damaged by the extreme and rapid change of temperature in their bodies and so is no longer accurate...so the military knows that they are within the forty mile radius they are gathering around, but not where within it..." he thought aloud. Lettuce nodded.
"Their powers grew a little out of control after Kisshu left that day...Hekele actually lit on fire...and Kachie lost grip as well...and then there was that time at the carnival...that definitely did the damage if nothing else..." she offered, carefully avoiding the fact that the aliens had been the cause on both occasions.
Ichigo looked at the two aliens after a moment's worth of thought, "So...what do we do now?"
Kisshu and Pai looked at one another, contemplating their options. "Where are they? Hekele and Kachie?" Kisshu asked. Pai shook his head.
"Out...with the resident geniuses...Kachie and Keichiro won't likely be back for a few hours...and who knows when the other two will return..."
Kisshu swore under his breath, and then looked at Pai, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Pai sighed dejectedly, but nodded.
"Unfortunately...yes...we might have to relocate them for a few days once they return..."
Zakuro's eyes enlarged slightly as what they were saying sunk in, "Please tell me I'm getting the wrong impression from the word 'relocate'..." Upon seeing the shake of Pai's head, she groaned, "Shirogane and Keichiro aren't going to like this..."
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Me- Dun dun dun...cliffy!
Kachie- Damn cliffy...I haven't even finished reading the last chapter yet...I've got too much school work to read all of your old updates! Now I gotta read another one!
Me- Mwuahahahahaha...does it look like I care? I've got reviewers to support here! Speaking of which...time to write my Inuyasha chapter! Yay!
Kachie- Yes...she gets to write her favorite chapter now...the one I helped her with...
Me- It's only my favorite chapter until the next big chappie...when I add my latest plot twist...which is ironic...because the story is beginning it's downward slope...meaning it is slowly coming to an end...in like...a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 7 chapters...it sounds like a lot...but...yeah...it isn't to me...
Kachie- How long does this story have?
Me- Well...between 6 and 9 chapters I'd say...certainly no more...hopefully no less...by the way...REVIEW PPL! I need feed-back!