I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew.
Kish opened his eyes and knew immediately that he wasn't going to be alive for much longer. The room he was in looked like a prison cell from a old and abandoned jail, but that wasn't the part that concerned him. It was the fact that Zakuro was standing only a few meters away from him, holding her purple energy whip in her left hand. Testing his arms, Kish found that he was bound up with thick rope and tied to a steel chair. "Awake at last Kish?" Zakuro asked, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The smile was one of triumph and of his doom.
Sighing, Kish stalled for time while he thought. "Aren't you tired of this game? Ichigo doesn't hate me anymore and has forgiven me to an extent," Kish said, his eyes darting left and right, looking for an exit.
"Two things," Zakuro said coldly, her eyes like hellish, purple flames. "One; Ichigo may or may not have forgiven you, but I will never forgive anyone who hurts my friends. And two, if you're looking for an escape, think again. This place is isolated from all outside interference and there is no chance that anyone will find us before I'm done with you."
"Fantastic," Kish muttered under his breath. He normally could have teleported away, but he had to move his body just a little to open the portal, which the ropes tied around him were preventing him from doing so. "I'm guessing you won't consider just releasing me and letting Ichigo deal with with my punishment?" Kish asked halfheartedly, knowing what Zakuro would say.
"Never," Zakuro growled. "I know Ichigo; she would never hurt you in the way that you deserve. That's exactly why I'm going to give you a punishment that will be, in many ways, worst than death itself."
Great, Kish thought, she's going to skin me alive...probably literally. Slowing his breathing down, Kish mentally prepared himself. Zakuro looked puzzled as she lifted her left hand and brought the energy whip cracking over Kish's head. Kish flinched at the sound.
"Scared yet?" Zakuro chuckled, coiling her whip for another strike.
"Pff, you missed me. I bet you couldn't even hit the broad side of a barn," Kish taunted, not caring anymore about his situation. He knew his life was probably going to be painfully extracted from him, so he thought he minus well taunt his tormentor.
Snarling, Zakuro sent the purple whip cracking at Kish again, only this time, not missing. Kish's head snapped back as the whip hit the center of his forehead. "If you think that I'll kill you right out and not give you a chance to feel pain, you'd be dead wrong," Zakuro said coldly, recoiling her whip again.
Dazed, Kish hadn't comprehended what Zakuro was saying about until his right leg suddenly exploded in a fiery pain. Kish couldn't help but release a gasp from the sudden pain. It felt as if the bones in his leg had caught fire, a hot liquid feeling.
"Oh, I haven't even begun to try to cause you pain yet Kish," Zakuro chuckled, as if she thought torturing Kish was amusing. Kish was just beginning to recover enough of his senses to know his leg was terribly injured.
For several hours, the definition of hell was shown to Kish. His entire body was not only on fire, but every square inch of his being was screaming for Zakuro to stop, to just end the pain. His determination was shattered after the first half hour, and he then started to beg for mercy. Of course, his pleas fell on deaf ears.
"I think you've had all you can take," Zakuro smirked after four hours of inflicting torture to the barely conscious Kish. "This final stroke will split you from skull to heart...if you have one" she added, not caring that Kish couldn't focus on her. As Zakruo lifted her whip for one final attack, Kish shifted his glazed eyes to look at something behind Zakuro. Catching his eye shift, Zakuro whirled around in time to receive a knockout blow from Ichigo's heart shaped weapon.
"Kish!" Ichigo gasped, running over to Kish as Zakuro fell limply to the ground. Ichigo didn't waste time examining the numerous wounds or how much blood Kish had lost. It was a wonder that Kish was alive, much less conscious of Ichigo. Kneeling down, Ichigo sat down in a way that allowed her to move Kish's head to rest on to her lap. At closer examination, the wounds were even worst then they first appeared. Kish was bleeding from about ten deep gashes on his chest, various cuts on his legs and arms, and his face looked like someone had taken rusty nails and dragged them vertically across Kish's cheeks and forehead.
Kish weakly grinned, dark life blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "I guess I really do know how you felt the day I tortured you Ichigo..." Kish whispered, barely heard by Ichigo's sensitive cat ears.
"Kish...stay with me! I'll get help..." Ichigo started to say before Kish raised a hand to stop her.
"Don't bother with that Ichigo...I don't think I'll live long enough to see a human doctor," Kish whispered. Slowly getting up, Kish's vision blurred dangerously for a second. As he started to see in hazy detail again, Kish saw that Ichigo was once again standing, tears in her eyes.
Ichigo started to say something, but stopped herself. Kish was starting to fall over, and she had to rush forward to keep him from hitting the ground. "Thanks," Kish mumbled, seeing darkness.
From the amount of blood on the ground, Ichigo knew that Kish would die if he didn't stop the bleeding. "Kish, open a portal to Pai. Maybe he can help..." Ichigo suggested, but Kish shook his head.
"I barely even have the energy to move on my own anymore. I need to have a clear head to where I'm going, and I just don't have that focus right now," Kish said, almost to himself.
"Please Kish...tell me how to save you," Ichigo sobbed. Kish shook his head slowly before smiling.
A mischievous look appeared in Kish's eyes as he said, "a kiss wouldn't hurt."
Ichigo didn't know how a simple kiss would save Kish from the terrible wounds, but she tilted Kish's head up and gave him a light kiss on the lips. "Just a little more..." Kish urged, his eyes seemingly inflamed with an unknown emotion. Ichigo's tears fell on Kish's cheeks as she kissed him again, this time trying to will the life back into him.
Sighing, Kish started to sag back to the ground. "Kish!" Ichigo cried out, suddenly fearing the worst.
As Kish sank down, Ichigo realized he literally was sinking...straight into the ground where a portal was open. She hesitated for a moment and, on impulse, jumped in with him.
Isn't this a great world, Kish thought. He had no idea if he was dead or merely dreaming, but it didn't matter to him. He visioned a world where he never harmed Ichigo, and she had fallen madly in love with him. It was enough to keep Kish thinking he was in a utopia.
After several weeks of this utopian existence though, Kish began to see why it couldn't possible be the real thing. Ichigo seemed to have no purpose in life other then to make Kish happy, which was fun for a little while, but soon made him miss the real Ichigo and her personality. After all, Kish thought one day, Ichigo doesn't just walk next to me and feed me grapes. She would talk to him, maybe even tease him. Anything but live her life to make him happy like this.
Kish had finally given up hope on the utopia when blinding lights filled his world. "Ugh...whats going on?" Kish complained, attempting to shade his eyes with his left arm. Instead, he found his arm heavy and unresponsive. Realizing something was wrong, Kish tried to move all his limbs and found them all equally heavy and unmoving.
"Kish? Can you hear me?" Pai asked, face a blur in Kish's eyes.
Slowly realizing his situation, Kish's eyes slowly adjusted to the white room around him. "Where...where am I?" he asked Pai, confused.
As a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips, Pai told Kish what had been going on since he had been brought there.
"I was working on some project when a teleportation portal opened near me. Naturally, I was annoyed at the disturbance, but when I saw you close to death with that girl Ichigo clinging to you, I went to work healing you. Whoever did this amount of damage to you must have had practice torturing people or been an expert at nerve clusters because every injury on you were in specific places that caused excruciating pain. Its a miracle you survived," Pai chuckled, mostly to himself.
Thinking for a moment, Kish looked around. "You said that Ichigo came with me...what happened to to her? Where is she?" he questioned, not seeing her anywhere.
Pai frowned. "To tell the truth, I've been so preoccupied with you I haven't been watching her...but also, I haven't had the need to either. She's been by your side for the past several weeks, always hoping you'd come back from the land of the dead." Pai shrugged as he said, "of course, today was a little different. She gave you a kiss and whispered something in your ear . I'm guessing that's what brought you out of your trance."
Kish smirked, then winced at the sudden pain. "I'm not fully healed, am I?" Kish asked, feeling his bones shift slightly with the barest of movements.
Pai shook his head. "I don't think you'll be healed for a long time actually. But, the best thing you can do is to rest and not get worked up over anything."
Easier said then done Kish thought, thinking of how long he'd been asleep. Several weeks? Has Ichigo been here everyday, waiting for me to wake up? Not sure what to do, Kish decided he needed to see Ichigo.
Pai seemed to read Kish's mind. "I'll go find Ichigo and tell her you're here." With that, Pai stood up and walked out of the room. Kish sighed before looking around. The room was about the size of an average gymnasium, but most of the space was filled with ancient machinery that looked like old ruins. To the average person, the machinery would look old fashioned but Kish knew that they were in fact the most advanced computers in the universe.
Turning his eyes back to the door, Kish waited for Ichigo to show up. After five minutes though, Kish's eyes started to droop and he was soon sleeping.
Kish slowly came awake to the taste of strawberry. At first, he thought he was being fed the fruit when he realized the texture was more satisfying then that. The next thing he realized was that he could feel warmth on his face. Slowly, Kish opened his eyes to see Ichigo kissing him full on the lips. Kish couldn't contain his smile.
"Kish! You're alive!" Ichigo exclaimed excitedly, kissing him again before he could say anything. The her taste brought Kish fully awake and made him happy to be alive.
After Ichigo finally stopped kissing him, Kish took a deep breath and grinned. "Did I worry you? I'm sorry, but I would do it all over again if I got these kisses as presents every time I woke up..." Kish started to say before Ichigo hugged him. The hug caused him pain, but Kish ignored it.
"I was really scared Kish...scared you wouldn't live," Ichigo sobbed. Kish didn't know how to react, so he just hugged her back.
After a few minutes, Kish said in a whisper, "I'm sorry that I scared you."
Ichigo sat up so Kish could breath properly. As he took a few slow breaths, she wiped the remaining tears away from her eyes. Kish couldn't help but notice the gesture was like a cat cleaning its face. Kish thought it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen.
Next chapter is the last one; it'll be short and to the point.