Mixed Emotions
Dear readers,
Thank you for stopping by and reading my story. Whether you are new, or you have stuck with me for a while now, I would like to thank you all for your support. It is, indeed, flattering to see that people from all around the world are enjoying my writing. I will do my best not to disappoint you guys!
As some of you have already noticed, each of the chapters' titles derives from the actual text of the story and sets the mood for what is about to happen. This time, we have Mixed Emotions, which, I believe, neatly depicts the subtle changes in the characters.
James Birdsong – Thank you for your comment! It is nice to hear from you again and I am delighted to know that you've enjoyed reading my story. That means a lot to me!
DrDark7 – Thank you for your comment! I hope that you will enjoy this chapter just as much, or maybe even more? Will Ichigo embrace it? Let's find out!
Kishlover985 – Thank you for your comment. I do not want to spoil the plot for you, so I will say just one thing. Scroll down and enjoy!
NeKoGirl – Thank you for your comment! I agree with you 100%. Wouldn't the whole manga/anime be a totally different work if it was actually Ichigo that falls in love with an alien and not vice versa?
As always, please enjoy and review!
I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew
The first thing that Ichigo heard the next day was Mint's sharp voice somewhere relatively close to her ears.
"Ichigo, wake up, and stop drooling. Gross."
"Well, good morning to you too," the auburn-haired girl mumbled with a poignant amount of irony, as she turned around and rubbed her sleepy eyes.
"I am getting you the bib today, just so you know," Mint replied, not missing a beat.
"Why, thanks. How sweet of you, Mint!" Ichigo acknowledged her jab but did not proceed with their conversation any further.
Checking her phone, the Mew Mew leader was instantly acquainted with two very important things. First, she had no signal; the second being that it was already 10 am!
"MINT?! Why did you not wake me up earlier?! We are supposed to meet for the sparring in less than an hour!" Ichigo shrieked, leaping out of her bed with the speed of light.
"I tried," the blue lorikeet Mew answered in a cool tone, "but you were so fast asleep that you did not even hear me. Tell me," Mint's face glowed evilly, "did you dream about Kisshu again?"
It was a joke, but Ichigo's face gave the truth away anyway.
Mint raised a quizzical eye brow at her friend, "Well, you don't say," before she shifted her focus back onto her tea.
It was at that time that Ichigo noticed that Mint had been having breakfast. Getting a little nearer, Ichigo's eyes grew wide with surprise.
"Where did all this food come from?" she asked, totally perplexed.
"Oh, one of the staff members brought it here more than an hour ago. Make sure you eat at least something before the sparring contest. I would not like to see you lose everything. That would be a very bad promotion for the team."
"Gee, thank you," Ichigo remarked sarcastically, before plopping herself onto the chair opposite to Mint, and grabbing a piece of toast.
"Anytime," the black-haired girl offered and the two lapsed into a comfortable silence.
"So once you start fighting, we will see everything on the screens from above here. That is why it is necessary to fight with everything you have, so that we can collect data which are as accurate as possible. Have fun, but don't flank it. This serves both the entertainment and scientific purposes."
Ichigo groaned when Ryou finished with his lengthy speech. It had not been even two hours since she woke up, and a part of her already longed to return back to her bed and sleep through the day with no regrets. The other half brimmed with a strange sense of excitement though; excitement entrenched in nostalgia, that is, which she could ascribe only to her Iriomote cat genes that were rapidly pulsing through her veins in anticipation of their imminent fight after more than a three year long absence. The simple notion that the aliens discarded their standard military attire for the time being and, instead, changed into their familiar battle uniforms made the whole experience all the more authentic. As she slowly let the past memories come to her mind, Ichigo could not help but shiver under the sole effect of the approaching sparring.
The premises they were to fight on looked spectacular, if anything. It seemed that the alien building complex, as Ichigo decided to call it, since the word hotel did not quite cover all the facilities, featured not only work area and rooms, but also training fields, foyers and clubs. This had definitely made her feel somewhat relieved, when she realized that all she had to do was to go six stories up in the elevator and that was it. As a consequence, she and Mint had even made it on time for their meeting.
"So you will be monitoring our every move on the computer while we spar?" Zakuro clarified.
"That will be correct," Ryou confirmed her assumption.
"And we shall record everything in detail for any future objective," Pai finished, leaving everybody in the glass surveillance room with a feeling that ranged on various levels of discomfort.
"Wow, I did not know somebody was as invested in science as Pai," Kisshu retorted, a slight shock washing over his face.
"I came to the conclusion that they get off to it. These graphs and tables must be for them like what porn is to normal people," Ichigo noted before yelping in pain, as Ryou's fingers found their way to pinch her butt again.
"Should we proceed with the first match then?" the purple haired alien turned away from the screens, regarding everyone around him.
"Yes," Ryou took a seat next to Pai and, putting a headset on, he nodded to Taruto and Pudding.
"You go first."
"That is enough, Taruto. Take it seriously," Pai's solemn voice thundered through the speakers, as he narrowed his eyes at his younger brother.
In a reaction to that, Taruto reassumed his fighting stance and started to attack Pudding with a newly-found ferocity. This earned him two results, respectively. First, Pai finally remained quiet and Pudding, by contrast, became even more excited.
It did not take long until they found each other kneeling on the ground, slick with sweat and short of breath. Since neither of them seemed completely willing to call it a tie, nor surrender, Pai eventually had to step in and proclaim their fight as finished.
Taruto then helped Pudding on her feet and they both transported back to the surveillance room where they were met with enthusiastic cheer and clapping.
Next, Zakuro was to take on Kisshu and that surely was a battle to witness.
"I am going to personally enjoy this," Zakuro said, her spear at a ready.
"Likewise," Kisshu grinned, summoning his sais.
With all their jaws practically on the floor, the rest of the Mew Mews looked out of the glass window wall at Zakuro and Kisshu who had been dealing each other heavy blows one by one. Only Pai and Ryou remained unaffected with their eyes trained on the monitors and their fingers readily hitting the buttons on the keyboards.
"Oh, shit," Kisshu cursed when one of his sais fell out of his hand due to Zakuro's relentless attacks.
It was then that Zakuro managed to catch Kisshu's ankle with her weapon and with no hesitation blasted him with her Ribbon Zakuro Spear.
"Way to go, Zakuro," Mint congratulated her idol, once they both returned to others.
"You're getting slow, Kisshu," Pai stated casually, his eyes never leaving the graphs.
"Relax, Pai. I was not fighting for real," Kisshu quipped and by the reaction on Pai's face, he knew he had hit the nerve; in some twisted way, that gave Kisshu far more joy than beating Zakuro thousand times in a row.
Mint was then to spar with Pai.
That, however, was an extremely short-lived match, since Pai, true to his reputation, wasted no time in beating Mint to a pulp. What came as far more surprising was the fact that the blue lorikeet Mew, to everyone's astonishment, accepted her defeat in a seemingly convivial manner.
It was Ichigo's turn afterwards and, as she waited for her opponent already on the ground, Ryou leaned forward in his chair, eager to witness the Mew Mew leader in action.
"Taruto, go and fight her," Pai ordered out from his seat, blissfully ignorant of Taruto's personal reservations.
"That old hag? In your dreams," the younger alien stuck out his tongue, proving that he had truly not matured by that much.
Hearing this, Pai's eyes narrowed into slits.
"I cannot go and fight her, since I want to see the changes on the screens."
"Let Kisshu fight her then," Taruto countered, defiance burning in his eyes.
Pai gave him a pointed look before he turned to the microphone, addressing Ichigo directly.
"It seems the next battle will be Kisshu versus Mew Ichigo. Are you ok with that?" Pai waited for her answer before glancing sideways at Kisshu.
When he saw them both hesitate but ultimately nod, he exhaled sharply and motioned for Kisshu to join her on the battle field.
"I must say I was kinda hoping that things will turn out this way," Ichigo smirked, cracking her knuckles when Kisshu materialized in front of her out of thin air.
"And why is that, kitty cat?" Kisshu asked, equally nostalgic about the chance of revisiting their memories.
"So I can kick your ass one last time," Ichigo bit back and she charged at him, summoning her strawberry bell.
"That is incredible. Look at how fast they move," Ryou murmured, unable to take his eyes off of the tables.
It had been more than fifteen minutes since Ichigo and Kisshu began to spar and it scarcely appeared as if they were nearing their end any time soon. To say that their fight had not been a spectacle would be an understatement.
Even if they first started off rather carefully, they quickly dropped the gloves and went at each other with everything they had. Owing to that, it was their sparring match specifically that was the most redolent of all the previous battles on Earth. Unbeknownst to them both, Ichigo and Kisshu had created their own little bubble; a safe space wherein they forgot everything and everyone around them, solely focusing on beating their opponent with all their might and at any cost.
"I'm glad that he at least fights her seriously," Pai commented, writing down some more information concerning the battle, "that way, we can actually see the practicalities of the regained Mew Mew powers in action."
And there was a lot to see, indeed.
Kisshu had just teleported on the ground right in front of Ichigo's face and, ready to deal her a final blow, he raised his sais in the air; but not before she swiftly crouched down and swept his feet from under him.
"Ouch, that hurt," he whined, as he fell down on his back with a small thud.
Ichigo did not hesitate for a second. Promptly, she threw herself at him and straddled his lap, pinning his arms firmly by his sides.
"Who's the winner now?" she smiled in triumph, adrenaline still pumping through her system.
"This takes me back, not gonna lie," Kisshu sniggered before his mouth tampered into an evil grin.
It was then at that precise moment that Ichigo became suddenly very aware of how close her body was to his; of how much she can feel his skin against her fingers and how laborious their breathing was. Once they started sparring, she had immediately forgotten about her mixed emotions towards Kisshu, but now, after they had finally slowed down, it all came back tenfold. She tried her best to look him in the eye and suppress the scorching need to lower her gaze at his bare abdomen area where she had cut his shirt short. It proved rather difficult.
"You lost, Kisshu," the piercing stare he directed at her made her nervous but she refused to look away and show any weakness.
"Are you sure about that, kitten?" he chuckled darkly before the air around him began to ripple and he disappeared beneath her.
"Damn," Ichigo jumped back onto her feet instantly, knowing that their fight was far from over. She assumed her fighting stance but the inability to predict his teleportation portal put her at a complete disadvantage.
From the left? From the right? From the front? From the back?
"Yoohoo, up here, sunshine," her mind registered his voice, but her body was too slow to have reacted to it.
Ichigo gasped as he briefly appeared in front of her, just to teleport again and twist her hands behind her back in the process. When she reopened her eyes, Kisshu was standing behind her, his body pressed firmly into hers, as he held her wrists in one hand, while his sai prodded against the soft skin on her neck.
"Is this it? I thought that you wanted to kick my butt?" Kisshu taunted, his breath faintly tickling her cheek, making her insides twist in knots.
"I st-still can," Ichigo stuttered, positive that the light shudder that had run down her spine had absolutely nothing to do with fear.
She was extremely grateful that he could not see her face at that moment.
"Oh is that so? Because from the looks of it," he paused, moving his lips closer to her ear, "curiosity killed the cat and now you're mine."
Ichigo's mind was temporarily suspended when the little bits of her unconscious dreams successively pervaded her vision. She felt it again; the feeling she had whenever he was around, be it physically or just in her thoughts; how her knees threatened to buckle at any minute; how her heart fluttered in her chest at the mere mention of him; how she felt as if she wasn't getting nearly enough air; and, of course, the gradual stirring in her lower belly that made her eyes screw shut in pure ecstasy. She was excited, aroused even; and, the person who got her so carried away was none other than Kisshu.
The cold metal of his sai that was touching her neck felt incredibly great on her hot skin, but it was nowhere close to quench the searing heat that was slowly building within Ichigo's body. She knew that she could not hold herself much longer around him; in fact, it took only one more movement, an insignificant gesture really, when his thumb caressed her wrist that she leaned back into him and let a small moan accidentally escape her lips.
And, although it was barely above whisper, Kisshu's reaction was instantaneous.
He frantically tore himself away from her in horror and put as much distance between them as he could.
Pai, upon seeing that, shot up from his seat and swiftly teleported himself on the ground next to Kisshu.
"Mew Ichigo, if you wish to continue fighting, I will be your opponent now. Kisshu, please go back to others in the surveillance room," Pai's tone flat, giving away nothing.
Ichigo did not quite understand what had just happened but she figured that her psyche would appreciate if she could get whatever it was that was bothering her out of her system. Plus, she did not want to be close to Kisshu anytime soon. That is probably why she briskly nodded at Pai and readjusted her fighting stance straight away.
With most of her powers depleted, their fight was hardly considered fair, nevertheless. It was not until Lettuce decided to join them that the Mews started winning, while still having fun. Ichigo wondered how weird and incredibly different that sparring match was, as opposed to the one which she had had with Kisshu.
In the meantime, above the battle field, everyone in the glass surveillance room turned briefly at the green-haired alien, when he wordlessly teleported back, before their attention refocused on the fight below them.
Sitting in the chair, with his expression obscured by emerald green and dark shadows, Kisshu continued to listen to the exciting cheer and Taruto's passionate screaming at Pai to "finish them." No one paid any special attention to what had just transpired between him and Ichigo; no one but Ryou who, despite being heavily concentrated on the screens, stole an occasional cursory glance at Kisshu from his peripheral vision, the wheels already turning in his head.
