Teirra: seeing as how I'm at home without internet, I'm going to hope you all reviewed, and that they were good.

Riku: So far you've only gotten good reviews. That's good, Right?

Teirra; Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, if I really have a horrible part, I don't want people to old back their tongues. I want to be criticized! Woot!

Riku:ØØ Freak.

*Axel Randomly glomps Teirra*

Axel: I missed you so much! You haven't written about me in so long, I was beginning to think you abandoned me! Nooooooooo! Where's the fiery love?!

Teirra: Never!--Huggles-- Axel will always be my favorite game character. I banish thee, Riku (Sorta)! Speaking of favorites, where did my Shugo Chara guys go?

Riku: -sigh- Nari scared them off.

Axel: ha!-points finger- I told you she'd leave you!

*Sora pops up*

Sora: Kk, Teirra doesn't own any Shugo chara, except for the fanficiton on the space ß (Btw, that's a Down Arrow, incase it doesn't show up right, cuz the other day my symbols didn't turn out like the symbols they were supposed to be)

Chapter Ten--Ripping

//Ikuto's PoV//

I was seriously pressing my luck button when I had Ame mesmerized with me, especially when I had her shirt off of her. Her Tank-top was a dark gray color, so nothing could show through directly. I chuckled. She was a fan of polka-dotted bras.

But, I had to be extremely careful when doing my test. I could forget the whole purpose of coming here. Her eyes were slowly making the red streaks darker and more noticeable, as her heart beat began to speed up once more, and that was just barely snapping me back into reality whenever I felt my fingers twitch in a direction she would slap me for, scent or no scent.

She really was a pretty girl, despite the dark titian across her cheeks. She gasped when I pulled her closer than what she already was, brushing the covers of her bed back as she came up on her knees. She only towered over me for a moment before I stood up, avoiding stepping on the pair fighting on the floor. I hoped that wasn't how me and her would end up, but those were our true selves down her, so…

I heard her confused thoughts as she, too, tried to keep her emotions in check, miserably failing at it. I had a lot more practice at this.

Then I asked her a question I desperately hoped she answered 'yes' to.

"Ame, are you seeing another boy around here? Maybe one with a cat chara, like Yoru?" I had no idea the effect my voice had on her until she made a mental note of it in her head. This was dastardly amusing.

She shook her head, watching as I smoothed out the kinks in her silver-white hair. "You're the first and only guy I've met with a cat Chara." Her voice shook, and she was definitely feeling intimate. BAD.

I hissed a swear, and she winced. "Is that bad?"

Was that…a whimper? I dove into her thoughts, and quickly realized that my smell to her was viewing me as if I was a tomcat, which in a way, I was, but, that's not the point. By this, I mean that the reason she was so submissive was due to the fact that the cat in her knew that I could show her exactly what it meant to be angry, and in a cat's world that meant, well…Use your imagination.

She had no choice but to fear me. Fear for her life, really, spare the drama.

Which was Bad, and Good.

Bad, because that was making my heart cry out to her, and I couldn't say one word of comfort, lest she starts getting any more attached to me than she already was.

Good, 'cause then, if it gets bad enough and I have too, I can send her away and she can't meddle into my affairs. That would keep her safe when I couldn't.

I shook my head to get back on track. "We officially have a problem. Now to test my theory…"

On the way here, I had tried to figure out the most logical reason for this. And I had used the facts of the everyday process as my guide.

So, as I began to move my hand in what was her idea as strangely electrifying, I explained my worries.

"Ame. I need you to listen very carefully, okay?" she nodded, taking a gasp of breath as my fingers ran across a sensitive part on the back of her neck. I watched as her eyes faded back and forth between red streaks, and gold, with her pounding heart. I was being cautious not to fully make her eyes Rip. When this thing happens, we call it Ripping Eyes, because it's like her eyes were being slashed open by claws in a diagonal fashion of three separate streams of color.

"I only ask if you're seeing somebody, so I can blame your illness on them." I informed her as her eyebrows came down in a frown. She had it figured out now, why she was having her eyes shift color and whatnot. It was her heartbeat. "Mina probably doesn't know if you haven't been informed yet."

"Doesn't know what? Can you stop now, because my eyes are starting to hurt now, and I want to stand up…" As she asked her voice got quieter. She'd been afraid to ask. It seemed I was apparently too close to her for her to defy my Aroma on that low of a level of request.

I stopped and pulled away from her. She stood up, tugging her shirt back on, flustered. She huffed and stared at the ground for a moment, before putting her hands behind her back and looking back up at me.

Her eyes were now a light gray on the pupil, irreversible for now. The red was more visible now, and humans will begin to notice it. She bit her lip, puzzled. What a cute expression.

"I came here, to find out why your eyes were Ripping. Go ahead, look in your mirror." I motioned to the one on her vanity, since she hadn't gotten her full body one replaced.

She gasped, covering her mouth with both hands in surprise. "Is that what you were doing? Making my eyes like that?"

"Actually, you were doing it to yourself. I was only nudging it in the right direction." She turned on me, eyes blazing defiantly, and she opened her mouth to say a retort, but she clearly thought better of it when she took a hit of my scent again. Instead, she asked softly, "What is it doing to me?"

I huffed for a moment, standing across from her, a good four feet away from each other. The only light came from a solitary yellow lamp on her desk, and the silvery light behind me from the frosted glass door. It was setting a gloomy mood. "That's what I want to know. How is your sight now?"

She looked down. "I don't know how to explain it."

She didn't have to. I could see it just perfectly in my mind. It was like she was looking through a glass of milk, with only a few glimmers of what was in front of her. Right now, the milk wasn't very thick, but in a few days time, it will get worse.

I told her that, and she began to hold back tears. Her hands went to her chest in an elegant way, And I glimpsed the tears at the corners of her eyes, "But--there's got to be some explanation, some reason or cure, right?" Her voice got thick when I didn't answer right away. "Right?'

I stayed silent for a moment longer. "I don't understand it either." I held out my hand to her, motioning for her to come to me, to reassure her that maybe I could ease her discomfort in some form or fashion. Hesitantly, she took it, and we sat down on her bed. She leaned into me freely this time, and I put my arm around her shoulders.

I was definitely breaking my own rules. She'll get more attached if I keep this up!

But, I couldn't help it. I can't fight what she was making me do. I had to hold her, had to help her.

"I should probably explain now. Examples, examples…"I murmured, not looking at her as I tried to think of something that would help with this. The only thing I could think of to use would be…me and her. I sighed. "Say, if you were as healthy as ever, and me and you were going out--"She stiffened, and her heartbeat went up again. She forced herself to calm down before her sight got any worse, "Chill out, Ame. It's only an example."

"Example, Right." She told herself.

I continued. "The first time I kiss you in that stage of dating, your eyes would immediately begin to Rip. The next morning, you'd be completely blind. But here you are, slowly progressing towards that state. Without me." She didn't say anything, only played my words over in her head. "The red part of your eyes, well, that would be blue, because my eyes are blue." She thought that made a bit of sense.

"And this only works for cat Chara owners?"

"Only. If you'd dated someone else, you'd be perfectly fine, but once you go through the Ripping, you and the guy who did it to you are stuck together for life, unlike the relationships of real cats." She chuckled slightly, not really into the mood for jokes. " This is because guys like me were born with two sets of power, my own full set of strength that helped me to go about my daily life, and the second set which is supposed to be Ripped to the cat chara owner…I fall in love with." I hope she didn't hear that pause. "Because girls like you weren't born with a set of power of your own. It's sorta imperative that you do get Ripped. But, there's more than just the blindness that worries me."

She groaned. "What more could there be?"

"Nausea, morning sickness, dizziness, passing out, coughing fits, muscle spasms. Constantly."

"How do they go through all of that?!" She cried out, mortified by what she probably had coming for her. I didn't know, since no one has ever Ripped by themselves.

"The Blindness only lasts about two weeks, and the symptoms even less. Then, the rest of their life is normal." I said, and she looked up at me again, and I couldn't help but look back. "You mean, I might be able to get my sight back?"

"'Might' being the key word here, yes." I nodded, and saw the glimmer of hope in her eyes.

"But how am I Ripping, without someone else?" She inquired, grabbing hold of my hand tightly.

I thought about it. "I think, you're doing it to yourself. Since you're supposed to be taking someone else's power, and yet, your not, you must be taking it from yourself, hence Ripping."

Suddenly, I turned to her and took her face in my hands, gently wiping the tears away from her cheeks. I could see her trying to make me out clearer than what she was, focusing and unfocusing like a camera lens. Her heart made no sudden jerk, as much as it wanted to.

"Ame, Yuuta told me that maybe I should try to block out what it is doing this to you. She doesn't really know what you're going through either, but she says it's worth a shot to try. I'm against it, but…It's your choice. I could add on to your symptoms, or they could completely be wiped away. I'll do it if you say you want me to." I said this slowly, so maybe she'll think carefully about it.

She didn't know what I meant by that. She wasn't piecing it together. And another thing was bothering her. "Ikuto, I met you, what four nights ago. You hardly know me, I hardly know you, and yet you help me when I least expect it. When did we become such good friends for you to do so much for me?"

"Right now, that's when. From now on, you and I are friends, alright? Even though it would be better if we weren't friends, doesn't mean I don't want to be." I said it before I meant to. I had really wanted to think over it before I answered. And there I went, shooting off what was really on my mind at the moment.

But what I'd said just made her feel all the more reassured. "Then, help me out, because I want to be your friend too." She smiled sheepishly, as if asking for help was the last thing she needed to do, but wanted to do so badly.

I put my forehead against hers for a moment, listening silently as the snow outside melted to rain. What was I doing? Mentally preparing myself for this?

Hell yeah.

I leaned back to see her again, saw how deep her eyes were, how different they were now that the red had come through. She bit her lip for a nervous moment, before I murmured. "Be still."

For another moment, all that could be heard in the room was our breathing and the rain on her windows. Even Yoru and Mina had stopped to watch and listen, and Karasu was finished with her design, so she was observing silently too.

Then, as tenderly as I was capable, which in her opinion was accomplished, I pulled her face to mine, pressing my lips to hers gently.

Teirra: I think it's a great spot to stop, don't you agree? M'Kay. I like cliffhangers. They fill me with everlasting joy and--

--Flying Axel Glomp!!--

Teirra: Ah!

Axel: Write about me next time!! I haven't had any action with Nari in like, three months! TT

Riku: for everyone who obviously hasn't read her OCS of Kingdom Hearts, her main character Nari is a girl torn between choosing Axel, or myself. The reason Teirra is reluctant to put this up on fanfiction is because with the length and detail and the screwed upness out-of-wack story line would be interesting, yes, confusing, yes, long, yes. This would seriously take about fifty chapters or more, and most people would be bored by then.

Teirra: Can't---Breathe!! Axel, gerroff!!

Axel: R&R people, or I'll Glomp you too. got it memorized?