I'm BACK! Now, to get down to the wonderfully sweet mushie lovey scene! *pulls out popcorn and a soda hat with twistie straws!* READY!

"Open wide, Ichigo-Chan!" chuckling to himself as he watched ichigo reluctantly open her lips to accept the forkfull of yummy, hot waffles and ripe strawberries.

"Kish, I'm fine, honest-ACHOOO!" groaning in misery, she went to pick up the box of tissues that had been set at the bedside. Only problem was that Kish thought she was a kid and quickly snatched up the tissues before she could get to them.

"No, you're not." He stated plainly, wiping her nose with the tissue. "Besides, you need to rest on your vacation. Besides, I don't want my kitty to feel miserable with this cold, so I'm gonna take good care of you! Open wide!" lifting the fork to her lips once more, she opened them to allow Kish to feed her some toast.

"Kish, I'm not a kid, I can feed myself!-" she was stopped, abruptly, by Kish. Giving her a dark stare, he began to speak.

"Y'know, if it's this much fun to feed you waffles, strawberries and toast whenever you speak to argue, then I wonder what you'll do when we get to the bacon, then the tea." He pondered, making it obvious that it was a threat. Basically what he stated was that, if she continued to argue, he was going to KEEP forcefeeding her until she settled down and accepted his 'help'.

"Evil!" she muttered, aiming her powerful pointer finger straight at him.

"Bacon time! Just quit struggling and this can be a quick and painless process. I honestly don't get it though… most women love to be swooned over and pampered to this extent, but you fight me on it with all you've got.' He pondered, lifting the food to her lips. Yet, instead of allowing him to feed her, she began to speak.

"Maybe because I hate being fussed over and fed like I'm a kid. Besides, it's the kinda stuff you probably read in a magazine…. By any chance, did you pay Harmony to buy you a Cosmo, in order to find out what I like and dislike?" at this point, he realised he'd been found out, and tried his best to state his case.

"Well, I just wanted to know what you did and didn't like, and Pai told me that I should read Cosmo, because it covers all kinds of women." At this, he lowered his head and blushed, then began to shed crockadyle tears (Fake tears) to get Ichigo to take pitty on him.

"Huff, fine, you can feed me. BUT, I DON'T like being fussed over and pampered like those girls in Cosmo, it's a disgrace! They look anirexic!-"

"Bacon train, now entering the station!" Kish cut her off before the high point of her ranting could begin.

"You're not only evil, you're sadistic!-" she began to protest, but was, again, cut short.

"-If you don't want burnt by tea when I try to get you to drink it, then I'd stop struggling against it so much!" chuckling again as he held the teacup to her lips, he watched as the parted and allowed the tea to enter.

"Kish, put the strawberry down…" she commanded, as Kish approached her, holding a strawberrie in between his teath. "Kish, don't! stop right there!-"

Too late, Kish had made one final move, and had trapped ichigo on the bed. As of right then, he was slowly nearing her face with the strawberry.

"I'd open up, if I were you." He was barely audible as he spoke, still holding the fruit between his teath.

"Kish, don't, stop!-" again, cut off. Yet, this time it wasn't by words. No, this time, it was lips-to-lips, full-on contact that quieted her. "Mph! mmmm! Mm. mphmmm!" finally, out of air, they reluctantly seperated their lips from each other.

"Hey, don't give me that look! You said it yourself, and might I say, you're quite a pervert." He stated, continuing to hold her to his chest, the strawberry long gone.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" she questioned, glaring up at him.

"Well, you said it yourself… it went something like this. 'Kish, don't stop!'" he mocked in a highpitched, girly, voice.

"First off, I don't sound anything like that! Second, I wanted you to NOT come over and kiss me!" she declared, trying to pull away from him.

"Ah, you're breaking the agreement! Remember, I'm allowed to baby you like this, and you can't argue!" he stated gleefully, holding up the teacup to her lips.

"mmm" with tightly closed lips, she turned her head to the side, not allowing Kiish to feed her. Or, so she though.

"Fine, then I guess I'll just keep you here longer then! It's fine with me. After all, the only way for you to get out of this situation…is to let me feed you. Besides, weather you like it or not, I'll feed you, even if I have to kiss you a thousand times to get that food down your throat." He threatened, giving her a knowing gaze.

"Fine-" cut off by a fork full of waffle, she sat there on the bed and gave Kish the death glare, knowing that there was no other way out.

"See, isn't this a lot easier than fighting over it?!" he asked, picking up the toast.

"Yeah, I guess." She muttered, opening her mouth on instinct, to allow Kish to feed her.

"Listen, Ichigo… I'm not doing this because I like to make you suffer. I'm doing this because you don't feel well, and I thought that maybe it'd cheer you up to be treated like this for once." He explained, gazing lovingly into her deep rown pupils. "Besides, you're not feeling well, and I wanted to show you I cared." He cofessed, letting the crockadyle tears flow again. Yet, these weren't QUITE fake. Infact, the meaning behind his words showed Ichigo they were real.

"Fine, but I get to feed you whenever you're sick then." She stated, sighing as she bit, chewed, and swallowed a piece of waffle and strawberry.

"OK, but will you where a cute nurse outfit? It'd make me feel better." He knew she wouldn't catch it that quickly, seeing as how she agreed to it.

"Fine, but in return for the nurse outfit and the caring, I get to make you do anything I want after the fact." By now, Kish knew she'd figured it out, and he could only BEGIN to imagine her revenge, so to speak.

"Alright, all done! Now, are you feeling up to taking a shower, or can I run you a hot bath. Just a reminder though: if you choose the bath, I'll be sitting on the edge of the tub, washing you." He had to hold in a grin as he watched her plop back onto her pillow.

'Wait, she probably really wanted to relax in a bath, alone for awhile. She needs to relax, or else she might feel worse.' He thought to himself, sitting on the edge of the bed. 'Besides, if she faints in the shower, then I'd feel even worse. Showers are too fast, she wants to feel nice and warm and secure.' Sighing, he got up and headed to a dresser.

Leaning down, he opened the oak dresser to pull out a pair of black jean shorts that came to the knee, a gray T-shirt with words on it, and a small bag of other clothes he'd gotten Harmony to collect for their vacation. (underware)

"Here, put these on after your bath. I'll go run you some bath water, I'll be right back." He explained, setting the clothes by her on the bed before he walked out.

RESTROOM:

"Ok, she'll probably want some bubble bath, and maybe a squeaky duck, maybe some strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner, some towels and a washcloth. Oh, and some candles!" as he went into the restroom, he began to grab for a ton of strawberry stuff, even a pink squeaky duck.

"Ok, Ichigo-Chan, bathtime, Kitty!" he went into the bedroom quietly, and began to rub the cat-girl's burning cheek. "Poor thing, she has a fever still. Well, a bath might change that." As he stated this, he lifted her and her clean clothes off the bed and carried her gently into the restroom.

Shinning blue tyle, an inground bath and shower mix, a sink a toilet, a stand for bathing items, and a window, high above the side of the bath, allowing the afternoon sun to peak through.

"There you go, kitty. Here, I'll leave you to get unchanged and get into the bath. Just call when you're done." He instructed, setting her, gently, on a white plastic stool infront of the sink.

TEN MINUTES LATER:

"Ok, I'm done, Kish." She called softly, tiredly, out to him.

"Alrighty, just relax and rest in the warm water for awhile. Destress some, let it embrace you." He was trying out his psyciatry on her, trying to get her to relax enough to make her fever go down.

"Hey, Kish?" lifting her head from the large bubbles in the bath, she stared up at Kish, letting them make eye contact.

"Yes, Kitty?" he asked, crouching down to sit on the side of the tub beside her.

"Thanks, for taking such great care of me." Placing her palm on his cheek, his eyes bulged a little, and it was like her thoughts were racing through him.

She meant what she said in tthat thank you. She really DID appriciate it. She really did care for Kish.

Yet, he also realized just how fragile she was. Being sick and all, it was tough on her. She needed to feel happy, or her fever might increase.

"Ichigo, answer me honestly… do you love me?!"

Needless to say, the question caught her completely off her guard. Also, it didn't seem as though she could sense that he could feel what she felt.

So, keeping his hand firmly placed upon her cheek, he dared look her in the eyes as she gave him her answer, knowing full well that he would feel her true answer, no matter what.

Thus, if she told him yes, just to calm him, it would only cause him to hurt even more. That was what he feared.

"Kish, yes, I do love you. Very much so. You've taken wonderful care of me, and you've taken a lot of time from your own schedule to do so." She answered, staring him in dead in the eyes, smiling in thanks and love.

Thankfully, and to Kish's delight, she was telling the truth! It took all he had not to jump through the roof in glee. He wanted to scream to the world. Yet, that could wait.

"Wait, how did YOU know about my schedule?! I keep my planner locked up tight!" uh-oh! He'd found out.

"Well, you see…late last night, when you went to sleep, I'd figured you look stressed, and I remembered that Harmony had said something about you keeping a buisy planner, now that you were leader of your people. Anyways, I figured you'd try to take care of me, so I watched you lock and unlock your drawer, where you keep the planner. Originally, that's why I didn't want you to make such a ig fuss about all this." She explained, sinking ack into the bubbles, in fear that Kish might be mad at her.

Frankly, he was. Infuriated even! Yet, he could still see that she was fragile, and had sensed her fear. Besides, she'd done it to try and help him. So, he really couldn't bring himself to hate the woman he loved.

Yet, he was still a bit angrey at the fact that she went behind his back and snooped through his planner. To him, it was a violation of trust.

"Gomenasai, Kish. I just didn't want you to have to stress over things like this. I wanted to protect you, yet I ended up falling apart." Lowering her head in defeat, she started to whimper silently.

"Ichigo, hey, look at me. Ok? Listen, I'm not happy that you went behind my back to look at my planner. But… I also realize that you were concerned about me." Here, he paused, letting his words sink in.

"So, that means-"

"BUT, that still doesn't excuse the fact that you did all this; hiding your own pain and weakness, pushing yourself to stay strong, and forcing yourself to stay awake however." He cut in, irritably.

"You're probably mad at me now, huh?" she whimpered, curling up into a ball-like state.

"Ichigo, I'm not mad at you. Just, whenever something like this accurs, don't go behind my back to find out what it is. Also, stop holding in your suffering, just to make sure I'm not stressed. Because, let me tell you, taking care of you actually reduces my stress. It gives me meaning and inspiration! It keeps me going!" smiling as they, once again, made eye contact, he leaned over and kissed her.

The kiss was soft, sweet, gentle, pure.

All at once, and very suddenly, to their amazement, Ichigo's fever went down.

Ok, I'm not quite sure if that was mushie enough! I was just in the mood to write something sad, so I did. It was an impulse thing. Thank you to all of you that review this, you've been such a great encouragement! God Bless.