"Wow, the beach is so wonderful this time of year!" running across the sand-dunes, towards the beach, Ichigo and Kish tripped over their own feet.
"Ouch! That hurt." Muttering to herself as she sat up from where she'd toppled onto Kish in the sand, she brushed herself off and pulled Kish to his feet. Needless to say, it wasn't, at all, easy. How would you feel if YOU had to pull a nearly fullgrown man to his feet after he'd fallen off of a sand dune?
"I'm alright, but are you ok, Ichigo-chan? I didn't hurt you, did I?" Placing his arm around her back, Kish helped her to stay standing.
"I'm fine. Sorry if I crushed you or anything." She apologized, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment.
"Are you kidding? You're light enough, we could fly you on a kite and save some money. We wouldn't need one of those gaint boat kite things." Kish joked, pointing to the airborn men and women on the kites.
"T-thanks, I guess." Muttering again, she began to walk over to the shoreline.
"Wait a sec, you just ate, have no sunscreen on, and have just fallen down. Sit and rest a bit." He commanded, pulling her back, making her sit on the beach blanket he'd set out, under the huge sun umberella. "Then we'll see if you're ready to swim. Now, lay on your back and I'll help you with the sunscreen." He instructed, holding up the exra strength sunblock.
"Fine," she groaned, laying out on her stomach. Followed by Kish's hands traveling the length of her back, from the bottom of the dark blue bikini top, to the top of the dark blue bottoms.
"Kish, I think I can get my arms and legs." She protested, reaching for the sunscreen bottle.
"Ah, ah, ah. This is officially our vacation spot. That means that this is your mandatory vacation. So, by process of common sense, I'm going to be waiting on you, hand and foot. Weather you like it or not, I really don't care." He chuckled, watching her face turn read.
"You had all of this planned from the very beginning, didn't you?!" she accused, lifting her arm to point her finger at him. "Also, aren't you supposed to be the invalid that I'm caring for? What happened to the stress? Did you even tell the others where we were going?" she questioned, staring right into his deep hazel eyes.
"I left them a note saying you and I were vacationing on the beach and didn't want to be disturbed. As for the stress and all, you nursed me back to health so quickly. We can play doctor tonight, if you want to." He teased, rubbing in the sunscreen on her upper arms.
"No thanks. Besides, I don't really NEED a vacation." She protested, going to walk away. If only she had remembered the fact that Kish could teleport.
"I never said you DID. Besides, are you quite sure you can make it back on your own? We aren't on earth, we're in a completely different world. There's a pretty good chance that you might get lost and wouldn't be found alive. You might starve to death, you might get killed or raped or both!" his list went on and on as he got more frantic.
"Kish, listen to me now." She began, placing her hand on his cheek to get his attention. "I can defend myself in dangerous situations, I'm pretty sure I can hunt my food, and I'm also pretty sure that your grandfather has some kind of security watching us, if not himself." Upon stating this, she turned and walked off. "Besides, Gramps gave me a whole string of maps to use." She called over her shoulder, holding up the maps.
"Oh, that might be so, but just think, if you go back, things will get noisy and hectic again. I could always see it in your eyes. You're always searching for a way to relax, but your duty as gaurdian of all things gone wrong, a position which you've self appointed yourself to, comes first." He stated, teleporting infront of her as she walked.
"Look, I realize that everyone has their own problems, but I want to help those people. It's not really that much of a hastle to me." Walking around Kish's body baricade, Ichigo kept walking.
"Do you hate people or something?! Every time someone's in any kind of danger, you're right there to help them. Yet, you never accept the help that's offered to you. You never let anyone else near your heart. Is it because you don't want to hurt them? Is it because you think it's just another thing in life that someone expects from you? Have you gotten this way from leading the mews? Well, can I continue or has the list I've just mentioned spoken for itself-" SMACK!
Walking off after smacking him across the face, Ichigo sighed with misery. The things Kish said, they were true and they hurt. Yet, it didn't seem that Kish could see that, no matter how much he said he loved her. He just couldn't see her pain, due to his self induced anger.
This turn of events had left Kish stunned and confused, standing alone on the beach, his hand pressed gingerly to the spot where Ichigo's hand had made contact with his cheek. "Did I hurt her that badly? I didn't mean to say those things. I probably really screwed up! And just when she and I had gotten to trust each other." He muttered to himself, walking away, to his families beach-house on the coast, alone.
Sniff, "He's probably right. I probably DID shut out everyone. I just didn't want them hurt if something happened to me." Sniff. She sat alone, her knees pulled to her chest as she hugged her arms around them, wishing it were Kish. The waves gently lapped against the rocks of the shoreline. Some coming over the top of the rock where she sat, stinging her bare arms with its cool.
She had been sitting out thee all day, and had gotten pretty burnt in the process. Yet, she hadn't noticed the time OR the sun. she was just too depressed and alone.
"I guess he was right, I DO need a vacation. Just a while, to sort out my thoughts." She decided, lifting her tear-stained face as she went to climb off the rock she was purched on.
MEANWHILE:
"I guess I over reacted. I better find her and apologize. I guess my own ego got in the way. I'm just so worried about her. After all, she's been through a lot lately, taking care of me and all. The push of marriage probably doesn't help that much either." He determined, getting up from the steps of the beach-house to get a flashlight and find her. "She's probably cold and hungery and lonely. I better find her fast, before some creep tries to pull anything." He reasoned, grabbing the flashlight and a coat for Ichigo, when he found her. Yet, it was a little to late to prevent any creeps from crawling over to the poor, defenseless cat-girl.
WITH ICHIGO:
"Hey, baby. Why don't you come to my place and warm up?"
"Yeah, you look cold, come over and crawl in bed with me."
Turning to face the intruding voices, she came face to face with two drunks, hobbling over to her, a perverted glint in their have glazed eyes.
"Get lost." Trying to act cool and ignore them, she walked passed them, hoping they'd leave her be. Wrong.
Grabbing her wrist, the short, beerbellied drunk yanked her back, and into his chest. Now, more than before, Ichigo could smell the strong aroma of beer and old spice, mixed with sweat. "Where do you think YOU''RE goin'" he snorted, leaning over to kiss her.
"Yeah, aren't ya gonna stay and play for awhile?" the tall, skinny one asked, reaching up to cop a feel.
He would've, too. If only Kish hadn't shown up.
WAM THWACK KICK PUNCH CRACK!
There the two lay, in a broken and beaten heap on the sandy rocks, Kish standing over them, glaring down in hatred. Kichking the heap one last time, he spoke, his words dripping with venomous anger and hatred, his eyes glowing fierce red.
"Touch her again, and you'll experience pain that's greater than death. I'll make you suffer, then I'll kill you slowly. I might even give you to the sharks." Spitting on them one last time, his features changed from deadly, to frantic and concerned. His eyes burned with love as he ran over to where Ichigo had backed up against a rock, obviously frightened.
"It's alright now, Ichigo. I won't let them hurt you." He declared, pulling her into his chest, covering her shaking body with the jacket.
Upon making contact with Kish's bare chest, Ichigo, now feeling safe, began to cry silently, wrapping her arms around him.
"Ichigo, I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't have a clue what you felt. Please, I only wanted to see you smile, willingly, without being held to anything. I wanted you to be able to relax." He explained, returning her embrace, with equal the love.
"No, I'm sorry I got so angry at you. What you said was true. I just didn't want anyone to be hurt if anything happened to me. I'm sorry I worried you like that." She whispered, resting her head on his chest, relying completely on Kish for protection as he carried her back to the beach-house.
MORNING:
"Wake up, sleepy-head! Breakfast is ready!" grinning as he watched her eyes, slowly, open.
"Kish, why didn't you wake me up? I could've easily made us both some breakfast." She argued, getting up to take the tray Kish was carrying.
"No, bad kitty!" thumping her on her nose with his free hand, he lead her over to lay back on the bed while he set down the tray overtop of her and the blankets.
"But Kish-"
"Have we forgotten so quickly?" he asked, gently pushing on her forehead to make her lay back.
"Forgotten WHAT?" she asked, folding her arms infront of her in an act of defiance.
"When we got back to the beach-house, you agreed to let me take care of you. You ALSO agreed not to argue or complain abouot it. Besides, it started to rain on our way here, so you might have gotten sick. You have a fever, after all. So, in order to keep your strength, you need to eat." He explained, setting down the tray, laden with hot tea, some warm waffles with strawberries, and two slices of bacon with a side of buttered toast. (yummy)
"Fine," she reluctantly agreed and began pick up her fork, about to dig into the waffles. Only problem being that Kish had stopped her by placing his pointer and middle finger on the utencile.
"What? You told me to eat." She argued, looking up at him.
"Yes, but I also said that I'D be taking care of you. That means that I get to feed you, and you can't argue." He chuckled, swiping up her fork, before she could get it.
Ok, next chapter is a lot of mush between the two. I'm just glad I'm back! *does the moonwalk, then the sprinkler. Then, somehow combines them and trips over her feet.* I'M OK!