Author's Note: See? Told you all I'd be back
animezebra: You and Toni… Oi vey :P And yea, I know I'm stiff. I'm always stiff. I'm using this silly thing as therapy grin I figure fluff's the best way to fix rigidity, eh?
KishxIchigo and ReccaxYanagi and SetoxSerenity Forever: Thanks for the review . Yea, that's one heck of a collection you've got there; it's good to know that someone shares my death wish for IchigoxMasaya.
Kishy: Updating away! Thanks for your review.
Supercookies567: First, nice username. Cookies rock. Second, thanks for the review .
Thanks given, we move on to the next chapter. Again, expect nothing fantastic, but enjoy if you can.
Disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew. As previously stated, if I did, Masaya would be dead and the Blue Knight's head would be mounted on my wall. Kisshu and Ichigo would be expecting their fifth child, and the world would be a happier place.
As often happened when she had a close meeting with Kisshu, Ichigo's mind went momentarily blank. All thoughts fled, everything from what she had for dinner last night to, and she could not admit this, especially not to herself, her love for Aoyama-kun. It all vanished into the arms of oblivion when that golden stare, so penetrating, so frighteningly intense, settled on her. Usually, after this erasure of thought, the first ideas to tentatively make their way back into the light involved something along the lines of Get off of me, you perverted freak! As her mental gears slowly resumed their turning, Ichigo realized that today was different.
He looks different. He's still smirking, but something's wrong, something's missing, something's wrong…
A quick glance at his whole form and she gasped again, not the gasp of embarrassed shock that usually followed the alien's appearance, but one of more disturbed surprise.
His shirt was torn on the left from collar down to chest; between the two jagged edges, she could see the angry red mouth of the frighteningly deep wound she knew he carried from the recent battle with the Blue Knight. It's been a few weeks, hasn't it? Why hasn't it…?
The dark green of his hair was lightened by a fine layer frost and snow. The strands of hair tied with ribbon were stiff with it, frozen in place. She could see the frost on his long eye lashes. Suddenly, she was aware that the slight trembling of his fingers was just an offshoot of shivers wracking his body. Suddenly, she saw how his skin was even paler than normal. She realized that his breathing with strangely halted, that his grip on her was not as vice-like as it usually was.
All this came to her in a half-blink before movement came back to her, and she jerked back, eyes wide, hands reaching instinctively for her metamorphosis charm before stopping halfway.
"What… What are you doing here, Kisshu?" she began, her voice far softer than the accusing cry she often reacted with. Her hands hovered over the charm; she swallowed quietly before continuing. "Why aren't you with Pai? And Taruto? You… you shouldn't—"
Her voice refused to serve her. She bit her lip, conflicting thoughts swirling in her mind. How she wanted this to be like always; how she wanted to transform and force him away from her with her habitual screams of idiot and declarations of loyalty to Masaya. She even wanted to hear Kisshu's possessive remarks, even his threatening demands for her, anything to mark this as normal.
As the alien boy slowly alighted on her small balcony, eyes following her as she backed away from him, she knew that her wishes were futile. They were obliterated by the way he leaned against her window sill, by the way a frightening desperation dulled his eyes, by the timid voice of Lettuce gently chiding her, gently guiding her towards the idea He's hurt.
"They won't take me, Koneko-chan. Ichigo…"
It suddenly occurred t her that he could climb inside; she had backed up to give him all the space he needed. This idea dominated her mind, and her fingers brushed her charm as her fear took charge, only to quickly ebb when she realized with a wave of a different sort of horror that he did not have the strength to lift himself over the edge of the window.
"Kisshu…" He cut her off abruptly, a shadow of his typical smirk lifting his lips as he murmured, "They won't. Deep Bl—"
Eyes continuously wide, hands trembling, Ichigo watched as he gave a harsh cough, watched as drops of scarlet decorated the snow of her window sill. Deep Blue? she thought frantically, Did Deep Blue… could he have…? Her thoughts came in panicked fragments, but eventually she came to her own conclusion: Had Deep Blue ordered banishment? Ichigo knew next to nothing about this mysterious being the aliens seemed to follow, but considering the respect with which they spoke of him, he seemed perfectly capable of ordering such a thing. If he had, if Pai and Taruto were obeying, then that meant—
"You're it, Ichigo." He whispered it over the piercing gales of wind, so soft, so pleading, that the girl barely heard the last syllable pass his lips before his knees buckled, his eyes fluttered closed, and he sank to the ground.
His fall seemed to drag on forever, Ichigo noticed as she watched his limp form. Her eyes followed his endless descent, stared in paralyzed shock just as they had the last time when she, so absorbed in disbelief, had let him slip from her grasp. That moment suddenly rang loud and vivid in her numb psyche, and the next moments sped by her abilities of recognition. Without conscious thought, she found herself leaning halfway out the window, arms half-encircled around the alien boy to keep him from hitting the balcony pavement.
A second later she had somehow hoisted herself outside, constantly keep Kisshu's limp body from hitting the ground. She kneeled down before him, and as his body fell against her, his head resting against her shoulder, she realized where she was and what she was doing. Later, she would wonder what kept her from dropping the body then and there.
"What am I doing?" she wondered softly to herself, tensing against an answering howl of wind. What was she doing, exactly? She looked down at her unconscious enemy, took in his full appearance at close range. She bit her lip in despair; simply put, he was badly wounded and nearly frozen.
I can't just leave him, can I?
Again, that memory of that battle, of his awakening her, of his plea filled her mind. Ichigo took a deep breath as her resolve strengthened. There was no leaving him, not like this.
I can't, not like this.
Her mouth set in firm determination, she bent down further, shifting Kisshu onto his back and into her arms with as much care as she could manage. Steeling herself for what she anticipated as a difficult task, she began to lift him, only to be surprised at how little he weighed.
Slowly, gingerly, she climbed back into her room, carefully, pushing the window open to its full extent with her back before bringing the alien through. The silence was soon broken by Ichigo's sigh of relief as she pulled her leg over the sill.
Now what? she wondered, surveying her room and finally allowing her gaze to fall on her bed. A moment's hesitation was answered with It's all that's here, and she crossed her room. She lay him down gingerly, always mindful of that garish wound which, she realized with mute horror, was actually bleeding. It must have opened up…
Ichigo quickly rose to close the window, then returned to the prone Kisshu, taking a truly good look at him. As she did so, tears, unbidden, unwelcome, but inevitable, filled her eyes.
She was so accustomed to seeing him impish, playful, cruel, quick and cunning, that she had been shocked by his collapse all those nights ago after the dream chimera anima's destruction. Now, seeing the raw edges of his unhealed wound, the numerous bruises the Blue Knight must have left behind, seeing the way his body, lying unconscious, still shook with cold (How long was he out there?), she hung her head in a shame she could not understand, but knew that she somehow deserved.
She did not understand this new feeling, this unbidden spawn of Lettuce's declaration at that battle. She did not want its complications, its suggestions. She wanted a simply division between friend and enemy, but she knew, staring at the boy before her, that such things had flown from her grasp as soon as Masha announced Kisshu's presence. Now, lifting a hand to gently brush his frozen bangs from his eyes, Ichigo made a silent resolution.
I won't let you die.
Author's Note: And now, the fluff and sappiness can begin! As before, read and review, please. I'll take all criticisms, preferably constructive, and suggestions. Hope you enjoyed .