Disclaimer: Would I lie to you? I don't own TMM. Kish would have beaten that pansy Masaya to a pulp and eloped with Ichigo by the end of the second manga if I did!

Well folks, I'm pretty sure this is the shortest chapter so far of the eighteen or so I have pre-written, sorry about that.

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"Shit, Ichigo's coming," Kish whispered hurriedly into the phone as he heard the shifting of cinderblocks overhead. "She'll probably take my phone, so I don't know if I can call again," the alien told his friends. He heard the lock click, and the door swung open, flooding the cellar with light. Ichigo stood at the entrance. She saw Kish holding the phone, and a look of fury crossed the girl's face. She stormed into the cellar as Kish backed into a corner.

She was getting too close; she'd have it in a second. "Remember, hold out for a mew aqua, no matter wha—ow!" he yelped as Ichigo swiped his arm with her extended cat claws, causing the golden-eyed alien to drop his phone.

Ichigo reached for the cell at the same time as Kish. "Give it to me!" she hissed, her hands scrabbling over the floor, over Kish's arms, trying to seize the phone before her captive did. Finally the leader of the mew team's foot connected with the small, silver device. The object skidded away and smashed into a wall, then broke.

"You baka!" Ichigo seethed furiously. "You should have told me that you still had your cell phone!"

Kish raised an eyebrow. "You didn't ask," he stated truthfully.

Ichigo attempted to slap the boy. He ducked out of the corner, causing her to miss and hit the wall instead. "Jeez, what'd I do this time?" the teenager complained. "I was just telling the truth!"

Ichigo seized Kish's arm and slapped at him again, this time connecting with the side of her victim's head. "Ooh, she's feeling feisty," Kish teased, knowing it would anger the girl.

"Oh, that's it!" Ichigo yelled, infuriated, losing control. "I cannot believe that you're hitting on me at a time like this!" The girl grabbed a small bottle out of her purse and uncapped it. Again, Kish couldn't read Japanese, but it looked suspiciously like sulfuric acid. Well, she had warned him…

"Oh shit," Kish muttered nervously, attempting to bolt. No once could have told if it was an accident; it happened so fast that neither of them could have said if Ichigo meant to do it or not. The pink cat mew took a step after her prisoner and sloshed a good bit of the strong acid onto the slightly sloped floor. The liquid raced across the floor and streamed over the alien's feet, splashing up when it hit the obstacles to land on his lower legs as well, eating through the wraps with ease.

Kish screamed as the acid began to eat through his skin. The alien slapped at the stuff, trying to get it off, but that only served to spread the undiluted liquid around and get it on his hands. "Fuckit fuckit shit ow ow—" Kish stopped being coherent—which in a way was a good thing—and merely threw his head back and screamed in agony.

Ichigo blinked. She'd forgotten that acid burned that quickly and that badly, most likely because she had no experience with them. "Um… I need to wash it off… crap." The cat mew bolted out of the cellar and came back down with the garden hose. The girl doused Kish with it, soaking him completely as she succeeded in washing the acid off.

Kish pushed himself of the ground and sat, his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around his legs, his face buried in his knees, the picture of total misery. Ichigo felt a guilty twinge, most likely because she had never seen the teenage look so helpless. Yes she had seen Kish injured before, but he had always fought tooth and nail despite the pain. Never had she seen him look…afraid…

What was she thinking? Afraid or not, he was still Kish. He was still her enemy. He was still her stalker, he was still her prisoner, and he'd scared her enough! He was getting what he deserved.

Wasn't he?

The girl heard a pounding sound on the cellar door. "Hello?" called a familiar, slightly muffled voice. "Kish? Are you in there?"

"Tart!" Kish's head jerked up at the sound of his friend's voice.

Ichigo snapped to attention and bolted outside the cellar. She slammed the door shut behind her before the diminutive, youngest alien could enter. "Why are you here?" she demanded of the younger boy coldly.

"I need to see Kish," the child answered breathlessly. "I have to confirm he's not hurt. Pai thinks he is, and he's going to torture Pudding!"

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Pudding was hyperventilating by the time she and Pai reached the torture chamber. No, no, this couldn't be happening! She was barely even ten years old! Surely that was too young to be tortured, even Pai should know that, shouldn't he?

The oldest alien pushed open the door to the dreaded room. "By all means, ladies first," the man said, bowing mockingly and gesturing towards the place with his arms. The room had a slightly coppery smell, as though a lot of blood had been spilled there, although it looked clean enough. The shivering child forced herself to enter the room, albeit with the air of a person climbing the steps of the Tower of London.

"Sit here," Pai ordered, gesturing carelessly to a chair. Trembling, Pudding eased herself into the chair. The monkey girl closed her eyes to hold in tears of sheer terror as Pai flew easily to a cabinet and removed a length of rope. The girl winced slightly as the rough twine wrapped her arms and torso to the chair, holding her immobile.

A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Out of the blue, a drop of water fell on her head. "Huh?" the girl asked, opening her eyes and looking around. She didn't see Pai anywhere.

"I'm going to go easy on you, since all we have is a hint of Kish being in pain." Pai's voice echoed loudly from all sides of the room, causing Pudding to wince at the noise. She waited, but the man didn't elaborate.

Drip! Another drop of water fell on the girl's head. She growled and cursed the leaking ceiling. What the heck was going on?

After a few minutes of nothing, Pudding began to wonder if this was some kind of sick joke to scare her. That would be preferable to torture, but she wanted to know for certain! This was driving her insane!

Chink! Another droplet of water hit the girl on her nose. 'Oh! I get it!' the child realized. 'Chinese water torture!' She'd heard of it, but had always laughed it off as the sissiest way to hurt someone. So that was what Pai meant by 'taking it easy on her!'

Plink! Curses. Of all the stupid, annoying, infernal ways to be tortured! It didn't even hurt! But jeez, it was annoying! Even painful torture had to be better! Well… actually, maybe not.

Wait for it…wait for it…wait…wait…wait…where was that next water droplet? Maybe the torture was done, and Pai just hadn't untied her yet. Maybe—

Dlink. "Argh! Stupid, stupid…" She was going to go nuts. "This isn't decent!" Pudding yelled, although she highly doubted Pai cared—if he could even hear her.

A few seconds… a few minutes… half-an-hour… Clink! "Gyah!" Pudding shrieked, shaking her head, twitching slightly. "Cut it out Pai! This is so annoying!"

There was no answer. Nor was there another drop. A minute, and hour… more than an hour…

An hour and a half later, another drop of water hit the monkey mew on the head. "AAAAUUUGGGHHH!" the girl screamed in frustration.

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Kudos to Eddie for reminding me of Chinese water torture! Unknowingly, my anime-hating friend, you helped fuel a Tokyo Mew Mew fan fic. I'll enjoy watching you writhe in mental agony when I tell you this! I know, I'm mean.

So… Raise your hand if that kind of torture wasn't what you were expecting! If you're reading this because I mentioned torture in the summary, don't feel let down. The torture is most of the reason why this is rated M. It's just that the painful-type torture comes later. I wasn't in the mood to be creative when I wrote this chapter. So Pudding can consider herself lucky! For now…