(A.N./ And we're back with chapter five! This one, as you might notice as you read, is a bit more…dramatic then some of the last, at least towards the end, hence the abnormally long length (at least compared to previous chapters). But, with out further revealing spoilers, read on!)
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Tap. Tap. Tap.
Light footsteps echoed in the lime-green-colored space of the alien dimension. Pai drummed his fingers on his control pad.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Swish.
The swish was the sound of the turning of the heel, as the footsteps continued in a steady pacing manner.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
"Kisshu, would you stop that?"
Kisshu looked up from his pacing,
"Doing what?" Pai waved a hand wearily in his direction,
"Pacing like that. It's distracting."
"Well I'm not making any-"
"Yes, you are making noise. It's annoying and distracting me from my work." Kisshu sniffed indifferently,
"You need to take a rest, that's what."
With that, he continued his steady pacing. He was thinking, and pacing seemed to help him think. Hear that? he said to himself, I'm turning into Pai.
Still, he had a lot on his mind.
No, rephrase that.
He had things on his mind that he needed to sort out.
First of all, he had just had his first success with Ichigo, if you call her keeping his gift a success. To him, it was a huge accomplishment, considering the circumstances (via, their "relationship"). So he was going to build around that information to devise his next plot.
So Koneko-chan likes gifts, ne? he thought to himself, It would be safest, then, to give her another gift. In fact… he turned the plan over in his mind once or twice. This would definitely work. He smirked to himself, but his face fell when he happened to glance at Pai typing on his supercomputer. Just to test his theory, he leapt off the ground slightly and tried to teleport.
In an instant, Pai's entire computer system lit up a blazing red with an alert sign. A shrill, deafening alarm sounded in the room.
Pai jolted around to look at a panicked and sheepish-looking Kish. He typed in a few codes on his computer and the lights and beeping ceased. Turning to Kish, he growled low,
"Kisshu, did you try to teleport, even though you are, once again, under house arrest?" Kisshu decided to do more of his luck-testing.
"No." he said in his most frank voice he could muster. Pai nodded,
"Lying, as expected from you." Kish rubbed the back of his neck as Pai continued, "What you just heard and saw was the alarm system going off. I set up the dimension with a signal that detects any trace amounts of teleporting coming from you specifically. Let me narrow that down for your small mind. Don't do stupid things, Kisshu." Pai turned back to his computer work as Kish sighed and sat down, cross-legged on the spot.
This sucks. he thought to himself, Pai is in the worst kind of mood from me losing virtually all of his art supplies, and I have come up with yet another plan, only to find out I can't put it to work.
He huffed in frustration. Setting his mind to work again, he quickly came up with a solution.
Getting up from his sitting position slowly, he took off from the ground and flew a little distance from Pai's living space, took a few turns, and found himself in Taruto's room. Taruto, no surprise to Kisshu, was sleeping. His curled-up form lay under his disheveled sheets. He heard small snoring noises every few seconds.
Grinning to himself, her picked up a small pen among the multiple items strewn across Taruto's floor, he took off the cap and bent down to Taruto's face. Precariously trying not to make the slightest noise, he began to draw.
After about five minutes, when he was completely satisfied with his work, Kish stood up and put the cap back on the pen, tossing it back on the messy floor, and picking up another object in the process. He then shook Taruto brisky,
"Oi, Sleeping Beauty. Get up." Taruto groaned a bit and blinked his eyes open,
"What?"
"I need you to do me a favor."
"Yeah, sure I will." Taruto muttered sarcastically.
"Say cheese."
Without waiting for a response, Kish readily took aim with the camera he had just picked up and took a picture. Blinded by the flash, Taruto ducked back under his sheets,
"Geez, Kish, what was that for?!"
"This." he replied smugly as he shoved the screen of his digital camera in Taruto's face, now peeping out of the sheets. Taruto's eyes grew wide at the picture. A messily drawn moustache and glasses, with a complimentary goatee, was adorning his tired-looking face. He was about to snatch the camera, but Kish was too quick for him,
"Uh, uh, uh. Now, you will do exactly what I say or this is being shown to everybody you know. Including Pudding-chan." Taruto stiffened and glared up at Kish,
"You dirty ba-"
"Tisk. Where do you pick up such language?" he said smartly, grinning from ear to ear.
"From you." Tart grunted stormily.
Kish, however, was having a ball.
"Now, listen to my instructions carefully. Fail to obey and consequences will result in total social humiliation."
--
The busy streets in Tokyo bustled around noisily in the rush hour time of day. Confused chatter, the motor of cars, and those little city noises filling the air.
Shuffling through the throngs of people crowding the sidewalk was a figure that appeared quite short. He was wearing a long, tan trench coat and a large, dressy cap that appeared much too big was on his head, small tufts of brown hair sticking out from beneath it. Amber eyes were peering out from under the hat, a strong essence of defiance prominent in his angry glare.
"I swear, I will have no mercy on Kish when I catch him singing in the shower again on tape…" he hesitated a moment before an evil smirk crawled up his lips, "Not only that, I'm going to catch him during one of his Gackt performances-"
His mischievous and evil train of thought stopped right in its tracks as Taruto stopped walking. He took a few steps back and peered in a shop window through the crowds of people.
"This is exactly what he wanted. It should do nicely."
Before anyone could wonder or stare, Taruto made the quick move of teleporting into the store, snatching up the object of interest, and teleporting back to base.
--
Upon arrival, Kish looked up from his staring contest with the ceiling to greet Taruto warmly,
"What took you so long, midget?" Taruto resisted the urge to throw the nearest object on the floor at him and shoved the stolen item in his face,
"Here." Kish took it delicately, holding it up in front of him,
"Hm. Very nice. The quality is wonderful. Good job." Kish gave him a little pat on the head. Taruto, however, was not so easily shaken off.
"So, where's the camera?" Kish grinned,
"I stored it away for safe keeping." Taruto looked like he was about to blow, "…but that's not all that I'd like you to do. What I want you to do next is to deliver this to Ichigo's room without making any noise." Taruto huffed,
"Oh, come on! Why can't you-"
"I can't teleport, remember? And besides, I still have-"
"Yeah, yeah." Tart rolled his eyes in frustration, "But how am I supposed to keep it quiet? It was pretty noisy on the way here."
"I'd say that was a lie, considering it's quiet now. See, even when I shake it around, it doesn't give a peep." To demonstrate, Kish lifted up the object and waved it back and forth.
"Yeah, yeah. It's probably scared of your ugly face, that's what." Taruto muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Kisshu asked curiously. Taruto rolled his eyes and sighed,
"I said, 'I'd better get going'." Kisshu smirked,
"That's better!" Gently placing Ichigo's gift back into Taruto's hands, he added,
"Oh, one last thing." Taruto sighed yet again as Kish took out what looked like a small microchip,
"Attach this to its tag." Taruto was obedient in taking the small device and clipping it on the tag.
"What is this thing anyways?" he asked. Kish smiled cheerfully,
"I'm glad you asked! This happens to be a very small, live webcam that rides on a radio signal!" Taruto raised his eyebrows,
"Don't tell me your that much of an idiot to go digging through Pai's electronics again?!" Kish grinned,
"Aw, come on. Like he's going to miss one single invention of his. Ne, Taruto?" Taruto sighed once more,
"I'm just going to get this humiliation off my shoulders, okay?" With that, a ripple of air was disturbed around him as he teleported away. Kish got up from the bed and strode over to a screen he had set up on a desk. The webcam's signal broadcasted to the screen from the tag of the gift, so he could see a clear image of what exactly Taruto was doing…and what Ichigo was doing, as well as clear sound quality. He grinned as he watched the screen intently…
--
Taruto teleported to the tree outside Ichigo's window and tried his best not to disturb the branch.
"Geez, I wonder how Kish stays out here all night." he muttered to himself. Positioning himself on the branch, he looked into the window in front of him to see that Ichigo's pink, girly room was empty. He quickly and quietly teleported inside, set the gift on her desk, and teleported out, before Masha could raise an alarm. Wiping his brow in relief, he proceeded to teleport back to base.
--
Ichigo stumbled into her room after her dinner consisting of her dad's homemade curry and white rice. Sure, she wasn't one to criticize, but when it comes to homemade curry, there are exceptions that are set in place. She flopped on her bed and sighed, shutting her eyes in her tiredness,
"Ah…today stunk. Classes were too long, I forgot my homework, Ryou worked me to the bone, and dad's curry is giving me a stomachache. In fact, I think I could curl up and sleep right…" she turned over in her bed and spied the object on her desk.
"Nya… (Hello…)"
Ichigo cocked her head,
"A kitten? What's it doing in my room?"
A small, black kitten with bright, shining green eyes sat patiently on her desk. She got up off her bed and lifted it up off the desk, cradling it in her arms. The kitten snuggled up to her,
"Nya, nya… (That feels good.)" Ichigo whispered softly in its ear,
"How did you get in my room, may I ask?" The kitten purred softly,
"Nya, nya nya…nya nya. Nya nya. (Some little boy put me here against my will.)" Ichigo lifted the kitten off her chest to look it in the eyes, her eyebrows raised,
"What did this little boy look like?"
--
Kish was mentally cursing himself for not remembering. Ichigo can speak to cats! Another one of her talents he admired. But now, it would lead to his own demise.
In spite of himself, Kish kept his eyes glued to the screen as he turned up the volume level on the monitor…
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"Nyaaa nya nya ny, nyaaa nya (Brown hair in pigtails, big ears, revealing outfit.)" Ichigo furrowed her brow. Taruto. But why would he put a kitten in her room?
"Nya Nya Nyaa Nya. Nya Nyaaa, Nya Nya. (He was under threat from an older boy, green hair, big ears, also revealing outfit.)" This time, Ichigo tightened her grip on the kitten in her anger unconsciously.
"Nya Nya! (That hurts!)" Ichigo released the kitten from her grip,
"I'm sorry, It's just that those two boys make me angry. Where did you come from in the first place?"
"Nya nya Nya Nyaa. Nya Nyaaaa nya Nya nyaa nya Nya. (A place with lots of animals, people walking outside, and fancy white dresses in the place across the cars.)" Ichigo nodded,
"I know that place. Would you like me to take you back in the morning?"
"Nya nyaa. (Yes, please.)" Ichigo smiled,
"Are you okay staying here for the night?"
"Nya nya. (Yes, I'm fine.)" Ichigo nodded and wandered over to her bed to make a sort of nest out of spare blankets. The kitten spoke again,
"Nya Nyaa nya nyaa. (There's something else you should know.)" Ichigo looked up momentarily from her bedding and continued her work,
"What is it?"
"Nya nyaa nya nyyaaa, Nya nya. (The green boy put a live webcam on my tag)." Ichigo's head shot up from what she was doing and looked directly at the kitten's tag. Sure enough, a small device with a tiny, red light was attached to the tag. Ichigo took a deep, calming breath and walked over to the kitten,
"May I have your tag for a moment so I can speak to the green boy?"
"Nya Nyaa nya. (Go ahead.)" Ichigo gently took off the kitten's collar and held it up to her face, examining the camera closely. She walked into the nearest bathroom, as not to disturb the rest of the house with any kind of screaming that would take place.
--
Kish was NOT a happy camper. In fact, he felt like crawling into a hole or going missing for a couple days…
Maybe even dying right there.
This was the last thing he expected and he was not ready for a direct speech from Ichigo. At all.
Boy, was he in for it now.
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"Kish, you INSOLENT JERK!" Ichigo screamed into the tag, "Do have ANY idea how angry I really am?! I'd guess NOT, because you NEVER understand human emotions EVER!"
--
Kish gritted his teeth, That was harsh.
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"I thought you actually got it through to your thick skull that I DON'T LIKE YOU months ago! Besides that, all of these incidents over the past days have really gotten to me, believe it or not, and I've just about reached my tolerance point!"
--
Okay, now it was certain.
Kish wanted to drop dead right there to escape this.
--
"So I will take this poor, abused kitten back to the adoption center where it belongs, and forget this EVER happened!" She paused for a moment before saying,
"And just for the record, I'm throwing away the painting!"
--
That was about all Kish was going to take in one night.
"DRAGON SWORDS!"
With one sweep of the swords, the entire screen was smashed into thousands of pieces across the desk with an ear-splitting crash.
A piece of glass dropped off the desk and onto the floor; the small plinking noise echoed eerily in the room as it landed.
He slammed his fist on his desk,
"ARG! Why can't I ever do anything RIGHT?!"
--
After the words escaped Ichigo's lips, the little red light on the microchip stopped glowing. She smiled,
"I guess he took that as his cue to leave." she sighed happily, "He won't be bothering me for a while now, and plus, I'm glad I got that off my back!"
She walked back to her room and removed the microchip, placing the collar back on the kitten. She picked it up gently, like holding a baby, and placed it into the little nest of blankets she had made. She kitten snuggled up warmly under the smooth cotton, shutting its eyes peacefully.
"I promise you'll be home by tomorrow," Ichigo said, stroking its head, "Goodnight."
She turned from the bed and walked to her dresser, taking the picture of the rose off of it. Striding over to her trash can with confidence, she raised her arm as to slam it in.
But…it wouldn't move.
She just couldn't throw it away. She struggled with herself, trying to make her arm fling that canvas straight in the trash. But she just couldn't do it.
Instead, she lowered her arm down and walked back over to her dresser. Hesitantly, she opened one of her drawers and shoved it deep into the bottom of it. Pushing it all the way back and moving the clothes back, she shut it with a satisfactory shove.
No one will ever know.
I just couldn't throw it away.
--
"Kish! Kish, Pai wants to speak with you about the invention you stole! He looks pretty mad, so If I were you I would…Kish? Kish, are you there?" Taruto opened the door hesitantly, "Kisshu?"
All he saw was a curled up ball of Kisshu on the bed.
"Oi, wake up. Don't make me get the camera-"
"Shut up."
His words sounded so cold and icy, like they could pierce straight through your heart.
Taruto took a step back,
"Kish? Kisshu, are you alright?"
No response.
Taruto took another step back,
"I-I'll tell Pai to…talk to you…later. Bye." with that, he left the room in a hurry, slamming the door behind him. Kish turned over in his bed, sighed deeply, and shut his eyes.
Deafening silence reigned in the room for a few moments before Kish spoke quietly,
"I'm not giving up. Just…not yet."
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