Too close

Dear readers,

Thank you for stopping by and reading my story. I appreciate all the support to no end. Thank you very much for all the kudos and reviews! They make me super happy!

Speaking of happiness, is anyone else also as elated as I am about My Chemical Romance reunion and their tour? Man, I have been to two of their concerts in one week! That is crazy! Not even joking here. One week! And I almost never go to concerts to begin with! But I guess I was just so psyched about the fact that after so many years of waiting, they DID get back together in the end rawrrr! Awww, there are so many cool things happening this year. My Chemical Romance concert, Tokyo Mew Mew remake in July, it sends my head spinning hahahaha

Last time on The Road to Perfection, we had quite an intense moment between Kisshu and Ichigo during the sparring match, did we not? And who was the winner of the whole contest, actually? Probably Ryou, because he got all his sought-after data without as much as lifting a finger haha!

Now, before anyone proceeds any further, I would like to stress that, as the description firmly states, this is a fanfiction that falls under the category romance/drama. AND, that so far we are almost one third in the story. I plan to finish around thirty chapters, so there is yet more drama and romance to ensue. Hold onto your hats!

DrDark7 – Thank you for yet another comment! Yes, Kisshu has a plan, indeed! But I am not quite sure if Ichigo will be happy about that. We shall see!

James Birdsong – Thank you for yet another comment! I am happy that you enjoyed the last chapter! I like that one a lot too. Plus it gave me the perfect opportunity to start building up some real drama!

NeKoGirl – Thank you for yet another comment! I am so happy that you enjoy the story so much! And I am sorry to hear that I keep you awake at night! If it makes you feel any better, Gerard Way's singing voice has been keeping me up at night too haha

Kishlover985 – Thank you for yet another comment! Intense it will be, I can promise you that. I hope that you're gonna like it!

As always, please enjoy and review!

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew

"Wow, that was so much fun. But I feel like I might have a lot of trouble walking tomorrow," said Lettuce once she powered down into her normal clothes.

"I know, right?" Ichigo nodded in agreement, "but it was completely worth it. Did you see Pai's face when you hit him with your Ribbon Lettuce Rush? Damn, girl. That was awesome!"

"Yeah, na no da! Lettuce is great. Almost as great as Pudding the greatest," the monkey girl applauded enthusiastically, making the green-haired Mew tint with blush.

"I-I just hope I did not hurt Pai too much," Lettuce tried to keep a straight face but the redness in her cheeks remained heavily indicative of her inner affection for the alien.

"If you ask me, you should have whipped his ass far more. That way he would not be so high and mighty all the time," Ichigo cracked a joke at the memory of the parting words with which Pai had decided to officially end their sparring contest.

It was not as much the declaration itself that, again, had made his attempt somewhat awkward; the girls felt far more puzzled by the way he had put it, which made everyone naturally reassess whether or not Pai truly possessed no emotional intelligence whatsoever.

"Ichigo, don't say stuff like that," Lettuce scolded her companion meekly but she herself had to stifle a soft laugh. Pai really was not the greatest speaker on the subject of empathy, or any kind of mentoring for that matter.

When both he and Ryou had thanked everyone for their patience and effort once the last sparring match was over, Pai then wanted to express his gratitude in a very blunt way. It all sounded a little too strange, but the weirdest part was definitely the ending when he strived to convey his warm words of welcome in regards to the soon approaching celebrations on Cyclonia.

"Tokyo Mew Mew," the purple haired alien spoke with grand solemnity in his gaze, "Please keep in mind that even though we come from the same planet originally, our customs greatly differ from yours and vice versa. Please allow yourself some benefit of the doubt while you acquaint yourselves with our manners and culture. I am rather positive that you will find certain aspects," he paused, sending a glare in Kisshu's direction, "objectionable…but I can assure you that everyone will be on their best behavior. As our guests and primary saviors, we expect the same from you."

Feeling Ryou's stern eyes transfixed on her, Ichigo could only gulp and pray that whatever Cyclonia had in store for her would not interfere with her role as a Mew and the protector of Earth.

"Don't sweat it. Attending all these parties every single day is a pain in the ass more than anything! Man, I wish it was all over already," Taruto muttered under his breath, sighing deeply at the unpleasant prospect ahead of him.

"Wait till you get a little older, then it's a completely different game," a mischievous glint crept onto Kisshu's features but it soon subsided as his eyes locked with Ichigo's, "catch you later."

He quickly teleported away, with Pai and Taruto in tow shortly afterwards. Ryou stretched his back muscles and, grabbing his laptop, he intended to carry on with his research in Pai's lab.

"You're not gonna rest, Ryou?" Zakuro's inquiry betrayed a slight mark of concern.

"Not with all this new data collected," glancing over his shoulder, the blonde flashed her with a semblance of calm reassurance, "don't worry I am used to a very tight sleeping schedule. Besides, Keiichiro needs to know about all this too. Tomorrow is the beginning of the festival, so make sure you take some time off. Meeting dismissed," Ryou advised, as he continued on his way out.

"And that is exactly why he will never have a real life girlfriend," Ichigo noted wryly.

"Yay, we are off the hook, na no da," Pudding dashed to the door with a loud squeal, forcing Lettuce to run after her with their room card in her hand.

"Pudding, wait up, please!" the green haired Mew called out, but was too slow to match Pudding's lightning speed.

Zakuro smirked at that sight, before she followed suit and also left.

It was suddenly only Ichigo and Mint standing alone, and the former knew that her best friend would surely address the elephant in the room sooner or later. She was not wrong at that. In fact, Mint was even quicker than Ichigo had thought.

"So Ichigo? You and Kisshu during the battle. What was that about?" Mint asked. Not mocking, not snickering, just a curious question.

"I don't know, to be honest," Ichigo responded after a while, when they too set off on their way back, "I felt….all kinds of things when we were fighting but I am not quite sure what to make out of it," she admitted, confused at her own reactions.

"Seems pretty obvious to me," Mint replied, giving Ichigo a sly grin.

"You think?" Ichigo hesitated.

"Yup. I mean, Pai had to even come between you two and Kisshu did not say much upon his return. Actually, I don't think he had said anything at all. Come to think of it, even his goodbye was a bit strained, don't you think? You wrecked him, Ichigo. That guy must be in love with you all over again. Poor boy. And with a hopeless idiot like you. He must have gone crazy."

Ichigo tried to protest but Mint had already stated her opinion and, clearly, she was in no mood to pursue the topic any further. Contrariwise, Ichigo was dying to rant on her crush on Kisshu, as well as to receive some help of how to cope with that; which is predominantly what spurred her to venture with another query in the end.

"But what should I do, Mint? Do you think I should like confront him about that? And see what he thinks?" Ichigo tried, with a faint hope in her tone; a faint hope which was soon smoldered to ashes.

"I'm not here to tell you what to do, Ichigo. You should figure it out by yourself," Mint scoffed before she punched the button on the stainless steel elevator and the two of them started to descend in the air.

Blaming her naivety, Ichigo could only groan.

Why did she never learn?


Later that evening, someone knocked on her and Mint's door. Ichigo had been reading a magazine while Mint was in a bath tub; although it would scarcely make a difference, should the roles be reversed, as Mint had made it perfectly obvious to Ichigo that she was under no circumstances her door man.

"Get a life, Ryou! It's beyond bed time," Ichigo shouted without breaking away from her article. Who would have thought that celebrity gossips could be so juicy?

Knock, knock.

Ichigo's patience was running thin now. And, when another knocking sound was heard, she counted to ten before she blew her fuse. Swinging her legs off of the bed, she slammed the door wide open and screeched with utmost fury.

"I said, get OUT," Ichigo stopped abruptly, as her hands went up to her mouth when she spotted Kisshu floating right in front of her.

"Happy to see you too," he retorted somewhat amused and Ichigo immediately flushed at her mistake.

"I'm sorry, I thought you're Ryou. He's impossible. Two hours ago, he came to our room just to check if our pendants were still activated," she explained sheepishly, massaging her temples in an attempt to calm her rugged breathing.

"Who is it?" Ichigo heard Mint's voice coming out of the bathroom.

"It's just Kisshu," Ichigo hollered back.

"Ah, ok. Have fun!" a completely unnecessary comment, which only resulted in making the Mew Mew leader flustered some more.

"Just Kisshu? Kitten, now you're hurting me," he mocked offense, but his eyes were glowing with the little flames all the same.

Ichigo wanted to initially smack him but thought better of it. His playfulness clearly signaled that he had returned back to his usual self, however annoying it was, and that must have meant that he was ok with what had happened earlier between them, and that he was ready to move on. For that, Ichigo was immensely thankful.

"Sorry about that, we're a crazy bunch, remember?" she joked before her face turned a little less red and a little more serious, "so how can I help you?"

At this, Kisshu's features slightly hardened and he took a deliberate pause until he opened his mouth again.

"Can we talk? Just the two of us?"

Ichigo swalloved, mentally checking what kind of underwear she had put on and whether or not she had removed make up from her face already.

"S-sure," she answered at last, shooting him a nervous smile.

"Great, thank you. Now, give me your hand."

She did as he said, and they disappeared in the ripple of the air.


"Wow, where are we? It's so beautiful," Ichigo gasped, when she reopened her eyes and she was instantly presented with a night sky illuminating the extensive display of white and gold statues and the most exotic flowers she had ever seen. It took her another moment to let her feline genes adjust to the darkness surrounding them before she could discern the vivid colors with clarity.

"It's the royal garden," she saw Kisshu's shadow move from behind her, as he neared closer, stopping just an inch away from her body.

"It's amazing," Ichigo breathed out, too taken aback by the scenery that she had briefly forgotten with whom she had been dealing.

"I'm glad you like it," he smirked, his gaze glittering in the dim light.

"I really do," Ichigo turned around to face him only to be immediately struck with the intensity which was blazing in his eyes. It rendered her speechless, making her revisit her dreams momentarily, thinking what the real purpose of their late night encounter truly was.

"Ichigo," he said and the way he pronounced her name made her insides twitch. It was not kitten, kitty cat or any of his usual pet names for her; instead, he called her by her name, her real name, and it was the most beautiful sound to her ears.

"Yes?" she half expected that his scorching stare would burn holes into her body at any moment, but his facial expression soon changed, and a serious look crossed his features before he spoke again.

"I have something I need to say to you before this goes any further."

"Kisshu, if you wanna talk about the fight today. I'm sorry... I just…you were-you were so close. And I-I could not control myself. I am sorry," Ichigo stammered lamely, fully aware of how weak and stupid her own actions had made her seem.

"That's alright. I should have let Pai fight you. I don't know why I didn't," Kisshu chuckled half-heartedly, but there was something hidden behind that action that had made her unnerved; something strongly reminiscent of grief and sadness.

"Because you wanted me to kick your butt?" Ichigo challenged despite herself.

Upon hearing this, Kisshu's eyes temporarily gleamed and she could discern the little flames resurrecting, "I am pretty sure I kicked your butt, if memory serves me right."

"Maybe you should check your memory then," Ichigo winked at him cheekily, "because as far as I am concerned, it was a tie, unless you want to admit that you have chickened out."

The look that he gave her was of utmost incredulity and it wasn't until his lips stretched into a fanged grin that she knew that her words had affected him more than he would be willing to let on. Ichigo's features softened at that realization.

Sighing, she chose to proceed with honesty.

"But thank you. I really appreciate our match today. I missed fighting like this so much. You have no idea. Due to the loss of my powers, I felt so dull and dead on the inside, it was almost unbearable. You made me feel like nothing has changed today. It felt so good, so easy. I can't believe I had to travel five hours by an alien ship to feel alive again."

Kisshu did not respond off the bat and, instead, looked ahead of himself into the distance, his brow scrunched in thought.

"Do you wanna try and fight again now? I'm ready," Ichigo fished her pendant out of her top and was about to kiss it when Kisshu's hand stopped her midway.

"Don't."

"Huh," Ichigo paused, confused, "why not?"

Kisshu exhaled sharply and trained his eyes on her before he continued.

"Ichigo, I asked you to come here with me because I need to tell you something. I want you to know that, regardless of everything, I am honestly very happy that you have come to Cyclonia so that I could see you again and briefly relive the old memories with you. But I also want you to know that I have been strictly against it, when Pai suggested inviting Tokyo Mew Mew to our celebrations, specifically because of you."

Kisshu let his words hang in the air, watching her reaction carefully, as if he was trying to memorize every inch of her.

"Because of me, w-why?" Ichigo repeated, her voice breaking slightly.

As he kept staring deep into her eyes, she could see various emotions playing across his face until one eventually became more prominent than others. It was that of determination.

"Because I am in a relationship with someone very special at the present moment and she is the reason why I cannot fool around with you anymore. Today proved that being too close might be troublesome…for both of us. I don't want you to leave Cyclonia, but I would very much appreciate it if we could keep this between us on friendly terms only."

A warm, sweet breeze trickled through the garden, shaking the leaves on the old trees above them until everything, the wind and the branches alike, stilled with the mere echo of gravel on the path disrupting the tranquility.

The sound of his voice faded in her mind, when she ultimately began to register what he had been telling her, and she tried her best not to look deflated. Her thoughts felt like they were rushing at a million miles per hour while her body stayed frozen on the spot, losing the familiar feeling of the ground beneath her.

With her excitement instantly vanished, Ichigo's face visibly dropped and her shoulders sank down, as she let her nails dig into her palms. She felt like he had kicked her in the gut. No, if he had kicked her, it would have hurt less, she was sure of it. Here he was, the only person, who had made her stomach clench in agonized knots of longing Ichigo had not experienced in what seemed like eternity, if ever; the person she craved kissing with such passion she didn't consider possible. Standing here. In front of her. Rejecting her.

What a twist!

But could she blame him? He had told her enough times that he had loved her. And she had coldly rejected him without batting an eye. Why was she so surprised then when he finally rejected her instead? And, more importantly, why did it hurt so much? Could pride hurt that much? Ichigo had serious trouble believing that.

"S-sure, friends. What else would we be, right? I mean, after so many years, heh? Come on," she forced her tears back in and, faking her real emotions, she hoped that he would not be able to call her bluff.

Ichigo felt like an idiot. Big, big idiot; clueless and completely out of touch with reality. How could she even expect that there was a chance that he still harbored any feelings for her after such a long time? When had she become so stupid and obnoxiously selfish?

Oh, Ichigo, what were you thinking, believing that he would be waiting for you all these years like a little sap, her conscience cried, 'get real!'

She must have smiled the most artificial smile in the universe but she did not care. And, even if he could see through her, he did not say anything. He merely eyed her, warily, ready to provide any additional explanation, should there be a need of it. The problem was Ichigo had heard enough. There were no more answers she wanted to know at the current moment and Kisshu was literally the last person on Earth, or Cyclonia, that she desired to see in front of her now. She urged herself to maintain her composure because crying in front of him somehow seemed even more humiliating than the simple act of rejection itself. Tearing her gaze away, Ichigo raised her chin before she heard herself talk out loud.

"So n-now that you told me everything, friend, can you teleport me back…to my room, please?"

She wanted him to scream at her, to oppose her, to get involved in an argument with her or to tell her there was no way that he would let her go like this, but Kisshu remained neutral.

"As you wish," he placed her hand into his and once she opened her eyes, she found herself in her room, alone, with tears threatening to roll down her cheeks dangerously.

"That was quick," Mint observed, emerging from the bathroom with a semi-wet towel around her head, "Ohhh, heyyy, wait, Ichigo, what's the matter?" Mint yelled after her but Ichigo did not wait a second longer, as she burst out of the door, running to the only person who could put her out of her misery.