Yet another painful chapter! Yay!

Next week's chapter might be a couple days (weeks) late. Why? Because this week is EXAMS week! *dies*

Recap: Last episode, Ichigo was visited by a dead Lettuce and everything exploded. That... sounded better in my head.


Kisshu saw her bubble-gum pink hair a second before he saw her, sprawled out unconscious on her bed. Ichigo was almost hidden by the flames. He raced over and checked her pulse, still breathing.

Quickly, Kisshu picked Ichigo up, careful not to let her get hurt by the fire currently swallowing up Ichigo's room.

How the hell had the fire even started? A powerful alien could do it, if he or she really wanted to, but he couldn't see Ichigo setting her own room on fire, not on purpose, anyway. Of course, if it wasn't on purpose, that would mean she'd have to do it subconsciously, which was literally impossible. The amount of power that would take would burn out an alien's body from the inside.

Besides, she would have to be provoked to set her room on fire, and what could cause her to do that? She'd just been sitting there alone.

Pai and Taruto rushed past Kisshu as he brought Ichigo into the hallway. He set her upon two chairs. It wasn't exactly comfortable, but he doubted she would mind, given the state she was in. He needed to go and help Pai and Taruto quickly.

When he arrived back at the room, more than a quarter of it was flame-free. As none of them had the power to create water, and no fire extinguishers existed in the aliens' dimension, they were teleporting to and from the room, carrying buckets of water. Quickly, he joined in.

Unfortunately, they didn't get far. As Kisshu emptied his first bucket of water, he uncovered something he had never seen before.

A twisting, demon-like creature rose from where it was hiding, hissing. It was entirely black and purple - or, at least, it had been. When Kisshu, blinked, it changed form. From a hideous, towering creature to a young alien girl. It was Ichigo.

"Kisshu." Ichigo said.

"Ichigo, what are you-? How did you get here?" Kisshu stuttered, he had just seen Ichigo unconscious. How could she be here? And how did she get here without him noticing?

"Don't you care about me, Kisshu?" Ichigo asked, a hurt expression on her face.

"Yes, I care about you, Ichigo. Why would you think that I didn't?" Kisshu responded, confused.

"You tricked me." Ichigo said. "You hurt me. You betrayed me. Don't you care about me, Kisshu?"

"Ichigo, I-" His task forgotten, Kisshu dropped his bucket and stared at her. "Of course I do, Ichigo."

"Then why did you change me? Wasn't I good enough already? Why did you trick me? Why did you hurt me? Why did you betray me? Don't you care about me, Kisshu?"

"Ichigo, it wasn't my choice. I'm sorry, Ichigo, I'm so sorry-"

"You hurt me. You don't deserve me. You don't deserve any of this. Don't you care about me, Kisshu?"

"Ichigo-" Kisshu stopped, Ichigo was right. He didn't deserve her. He didn't deserve anything.

"You shouldn't stop this fire. You should join it. You don't deserve any of this. Don't you care about me, Kisshu?"

Ichigo was right. Ichigo was entirely right. He didn't deserve anything. He shouldn't put out the fire.

"Don't you care about me, Kissh-" Ichigo was stopped before she could finish her question.

"No, Ichigo! I do care-" Kisshu was stopped mid-sentence when he saw the dagger sticking out of Ichigo's chest, but no blood.

Looking up, he saw Pai standing behind Ichigo, holding a dagger that was lodged in her chest.

Ichigo smiled. Not her sweet, caring smile. A different smile. A dark, malevolent smile. She laughed.

"I guess the game is up, then." She said, only it wasn't Ichigo anymore. It was the demon-like creature he had seen before. Kisshu was unable to move. Pai cursed under his breath, then raced forward and knocked Kisshu out of the way of the giant, misty fist slamming down where he was a second ago.

"Wha-" Kisshu stammered before Pai pushed him back.

"Go!" He said, before yelling. "Fuu rei sen!"

He got it in one hit, the creature screamed and writhed, before dissipating into nothing. Pai sighed in relief, then turned to Kisshu.

"Are you OK? How deep did it go?" Pai demanded.

Kisshu shook his head. "I don't know what you mean."

"Don't you know what that thing was?" Pai asked. He sighed in annoyance at Kisshu's lack of response. "It was a zaia, short for zaiaku-kan akuma. A guilt demon."

Kisshu shook his head. "I don't understand. What did it do?"

Pai said, "It's one of Abaya's creations. It looks into your soul and finds what you're guilty of. It shows you what you're most ashamed of, and helps that guilt overwhelm you with poor copies of people you feel you've betrayed." He looked pointedly at Kisshu. "I heard you say 'Ichigo'."

Kisshu nodded, not sure what else to do. He couldn't believe he'd been fooled by this.

Pai looked sympathetic. "What you did wasn't wrong. You did it for a good cause. The universe will thank you for this." Suddenly, he looked up, alarmed. "Speaking of Ichigo, that zaia was probably in there long before we arrived. I'd suspect it's been there for days."

Kisshu realized what Pai meant. He whispered to himself, "Ichigo…"

"This could be a problem." Pai said, "Zaias make people feel so guilty that they kill themselves, then they feed on the body. They're not very strong physically, but they can get inside your mind. Being left alone with one for three days… Who knows what that could do."

Kisshu pondered this in silence, until his thoughts were interrupted by a young voice.

"Great helping, guys. I really appreciate it." Taruto said sarcastically from behind them, putting out the last of the flames. Clearly, Taruto had not seen the drama unfolding before them.

As he turned to look at Taruto, Kisshu reassured himself with the fact that Ichigo was still alive. He knew her body was still intact, but he could only hope that the same was true for her mind…


Well... that happened. But the zaia is good and dead, and the actual story (the prophecy one) should continue next chapter. Now the only thing I have to worry about is my exams... *cries*

As always, thank you for your support with your reviews, favorites and follows. See you next week(ish)!