I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
"Almost done..." Pai said softly, wiping off the sweat from his forehead. It had been several hours since he had first started healing Kish, and Pai was worn out.
Kish merely grunted his response. He still had broken ribs, but at least none of the ribs were piercing his organs anymore...though, the pain was still intense. Looking up at Pai's face, Kish frowned. Pai looked exhausted, almost to the point of collapsing. "Take a break Pai. You've already stabilized my health. I can deal with the broken ribs on my own."
Pai nodded his head and removed his hands from Kish. Taking a deep breath, Pai stumbled a little as he walked out of Kish's room. Before Pai left the room though, Kish yelled out, "thank you Pai." Pai mumbled something and left the room.
Gasping as he tried to move, Kish slowly got to his feet. "Damn ribs..." Kish complained, wincing. Looking over to the computer, he said, "wrap my chest with some bandages." Kish blinked as his chest suddenly felt bound. Looking at the white strips of cloth now encircling his chest, he walked around the room for a few minutes to see what the damage was to his body.
With his chest wrapped up so tightly, Kish was able to walk with no pain but if he turned his head more then a few degrees in any direction other then straight forward, the pain returned. "Sort of restricting, but I'll live," Kish said with a small smile. He closed his eyes and sighed. What do I do? Kish thought, deep in thought.
Before Kish had teleported Ichigo away, she had appeared worried about him. On the other hand, she could have been worried about not getting home, Kish thought. So which was it? Had Ichigo screamed Kish's name because she had feared her way home was cut off...or had she screamed because she thought he had died.
"A question without an answer...or rather, an answer that I might not want to find out," Kish said, his voice barely a whisper. It was all a matter of time before he would be sent back to earth to once again fight the mews...and Ichigo. A small smile spread across his face. Maybe it was for the best. After all, Kish had tried his best, endured so much pain, and still failed at convincing her that he was sorry...at least, he though he failed. There was still a small possibility that she did actually forgive him after his last stunt, but Kish wasn't going to hold his breath on that belief.
It had been several several weeks since that day. Kish was now almost completely healed physically, but he was now craving Ichigo to such a extent that he couldn't get her off his mind even when he tried. He was going to go insane if he was kept away from her much longer.
At long last, Deep Blue ordered another search for mew aqua, giving Kish an excuse to go and see Ichigo. His long awaited question would soon be answered...something that Kish both savored and feared at the same time. As he prepared himself mentally for seeing Ichigo, he couldn't stop the feeling that he was going to get hurt, badly.
Shrugging off the feeling, he stood beside Pai and Taruto before teleporting with them to high above Tokyo City. After checking around for the mews, the three split off from each other to search a wider area. Taruto went towards the city, Pai went towards the sea, and Kish went towards the forest area.
Making sure he was alone, Kish teleported into a forest just outside Tokyo. Frowning at a slight pain in his chest, he put his hand up towards the sky before gathering energy in his palm. Releasing it suddenly, he repeated the process a few times. "The bait has been set...and now it's time to wait," Kish said softly, his eyes scanning the area. He was hoping that the energy would be enough to cause the mews to come and investigate the cause...with Ichigo along with them.
After ten minutes of waiting, Kish felt a strange itching sensation on the back of his neck. If he didn't know better, Kish would have sworn that he was being watched. A leaf fell in front of him, and for some reason it triggered the forgotten memory of Zakuro. "Shit," Kish cried out as he was tackled by someone immediately after the thought. Falling to the ground, he began to wrestle with the opponent. It wasn't until he saw the person's pink hair that he stopped fighting.
"Kish!" Ichigo cried out, rolling off of Kish. Both of them stood up and stared at each other for a few minutes.
"Ichigo..." Kish started to say before Ichigo shook her head.
"Just listen to me for a few minutes. After you teleported me away, I sat in my room and worried that you had died. Just a few days ago though, I heard Pudding talk to Taruto about how you were alive. Since then, I've been thinking about what I should do. It wouldn't be right to forgive the pain that you caused me, but it also wouldn't be right to ignore that you endured a lot of pain, maybe even more then me, to earn back my trust," Ichigo said with a emotionless face.
Smiling, Kish said, "I'm happy now. It doesn't really matter what happens now, because my question was answered."
Puzzled, Ichigo asked, "I answered what question?" She blinked and suddenly Kish's face was only centimeters away from her own.
"I didn't know if you would be angry if I survived. I know you have every reason to hate me," Kish replied. He leaned slightly forward until his forehead gently touched Ichigos.
"Why should I be angry that you lived? I cried for hours because I thought you had died," Ichigo said, her pink eyes staring in puzzlement at Kish's golden ones. She surprised Kish by not breaking eye contact. "I know I should hate you forever, but for some reason, I can't."
Kish reached up and place his hands on Ichigo's shoulders. "You can hate me...it's ok. I truly am sorry for what I did Ichigo, and I wish I could change the past to stop myself from hurting you the way I did... but I can't. It will always be there, and I can never forgive myself for even thinking that I could force love from you," Kish said softly.
"You can't force love Kish," Ichigo told Kish, smiling softly. "You prove love for another...something you did."
Now puzzled himself, Kish asked, "how?"
"You endured torture, near death, and a whole lot of pain just to prove how sorry you were to me. When I heard that Zakuro had tortured you, I realized that you were trying to get me. At first, I thought you were going to hurt me again, so I asked everyone to help keep you away. It wasn't until you stole me away from school that I realized that you were only trying to talk with me," Ichigo replied solemnly.
"I wanted to talk with you...one last time," Kish said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Eyes slightly shifting, Ichigo asked, "why one last time? Did you expect me to kill you?"
"Honestly, I was hoping you would have killed me. In fact, I would have died if it wasn't for you screaming my name that last time. It was enough to cause me to want to live," Kish answered truthfully.
Ichigo was silent for a few seconds as she took in what Kish had just said. He continued to speak after a brief hesitation, "the guilt...it was so strong that I wished death, but not by anyone's hand other then yours. I owed you that much at least."
"Kish...I think I should forgive you. You are much better at punishing yourself for mistakes then I could ever do, and you definitely got your punishment...probably more then you deserved," Ichigo said, smiling.
Smiling himself for a few seconds, Kish's face saddened before he said regretfully, "Ichigo...you will never know how sorry I am for hurting you. I will never forgive myself for it, but I also cannot live without you. So, here is my final question: what do you want me to do?"
Ichigo bit her bottom lip as she thought. The question had caught her completely off guard. "I want you too..." she began to say before Kish gasped and disappeared in a flurry of movement. Ichigo blinked and looked around, a rustling of leaves the only indicator that Kish hadn't teleported away. Remembering what had just happened, Ichigo had seen a purple energy whip wrap around Kish before he disappeared. Realizing that Zakuro had just captured Kish, Ichigo began to search for signs of them. She had to find them, and fast.
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