Trapped in the Fandom Net
Me: I'm back!
Neko: Thank goodness. You were entrapped in the Land of Writer's block for so long I was starting to worry.
Me: Well, worry no longer! I have returned and I bring the next chapter with me! Take it away Neko Ice!
Neko: BladeofMoonlight does not own TMM or MMP. Nor does she own Once Upon a Broken Heart, that belongs to Bebbe5.
/Drama Genre
Ichigo wrapped her arms around her knees. She remembered waking up and finding that Moon had completely vanished. The group had come close to panic before Neko came back. The girl said she had a feeling she knew what was wrong, and not to worry.
She had been in the safety of the Drama Genre for something like a week, and she was starting to get used to a tight complex of emotions: anger, sadness, jealously, happiness...all for no apparent reason. It probably had something to do with the atmosphere of the Drama Genre, but only Moon really knew about that.
Suddenly; POOF! Moon stumbled out of thin air and fell unceremoniously on her back. "Ow! Everyone alright?" She called, standing up.
"Moon!" Ichigo jumped to her feet. "You're back!" Pudding bounded over and hugged her.
"What happened?" Ryou asked. "You just vanished!"
"I got trapped in the one place in any existence that one wishes to avoid at all costs." Moon replied, hugging Pudding and shivering a bit. "The Land of Writer's Block!"
"Writer's...Block?" Comprehension dawned on Ichigo. Moon could create other realities, and doing so was sort of like writing a book... "So you got stuck there?"
"Not an experience I'd repeat for the camera." Moon grumbled. "I hate getting stuck there. Anyway, I got the card I needed." She reached into her pocket and drew a black card with a white comet on it, and on the surface was the trademark symbol of Drama. "Let's get you guys to the TV!"
"Moon, what is this?" Mint asked. She was holding a romance card, as you could tell by its soft rose color. On it, however, was the mark M. "Can we watch it?" The title was Strawberry Passions.
Moon`s eyes widened. "AHHH! MINT, DONT!" She ran over and snatched it out of the bird mew`s hand.
"What`s wrong?"
"This is a story completely devoted to LEMON SCENES!" Moon exclaimed, thrusting it into her pocket. "Watch it, and you pretty much chuck your innocence out the window. Of a two hundred story building!"
"...Lemon?" Pai asked.
"Think. It`s a three letter word that ends in x." When they stared blankly at her, Neko sort-of facepalmed.
"It`s how a girl gets pregant."
"Oh..." The group said collectively, eyes widening.
"How did you know Moon?"
"I ALWAYS check the reviews before reading a story with that rating. Anyway, come on. There`s a story that needs watching!"
Moon and Neko lead the group over to a TV screen that they remembered seeing from the other genres they had visited. The area looked cheerier than Tragedy, but not as beautiful and warm as Romance. It was somewhere in the middle. Moon inserted the card and the screen turned blue.
It read; Once Upon a Broken Heart, by Bebbe5
Ichigo eyed the title warily. Ever since watching only ten more minuets, she had become extremely suspicious of realities with titles like that.
Chapter 7: Regaining conciousness
With every step Ichigo took down the stairs which led to the basement, the determination, which had accompanied her at the beginning, started to let place to uncertainty and to a million of thoughts.
Her pace became less marked, more hesitant, until she stopped once she was in front of the door Pie had pointed to her.
Her right hand started to reach out in order to grab the knob, trembling, before stopping half way to it.
"What will I do once I'll be inside?" she thought " when I'd made up my mind to come down here, I did it without thinking too much. My heart has acted for me. Oh God what was that supposed to mean?" her voice screamed in her mind "No, now it's not important, I've a task to achieve and it's a matter of life and death by now. Let's go".
This said, with renewed decision, she grabbed the knob and opened the door.
Ichigo gulped, fearing that she would see the beaten and bloody figure of a dear friend, or worse. Everyone except Moon and Neko seemed to be holding their breath.
"Who`s there?" Lettuce asked softly.
She found herself in a room with completely blank walls, of an even light grey. Next to the walls there were many beds, each one of them connected to some strange machines, all different.
Lying on the last bed of the left line there was him, Kisshu.
Ichigo`s mouth almost hit the floor, Kish himself looked equally shocked, and the other mews gasped collectively.
He was also wearing an oxigen mask. Ichigo looked at it curiously:
"Why is he wearing that? I don't remember what… Oh God!" It had come back to her mind the scene of a few hours before: Deep Blue had pierced Kisshu from one side to the other, so at least one lung must have surely been damaged.
She then noticed, while the tears made more and more pressure to come out, that a transparent plastic thread was attached to his arm and that in it a liquid, unknown to her was flowing.
"Probably" she thought "it serves to keep you alive."
I DON'T GET IT! Ichigo screamed mentally. Why is he in such a state, and why am I so worried about him?
Kitten is...worried about me? Kish thought, staring at the screen in wonder.
Holding back the tears, the girl took a chair and positioned it at his bed side, then took a seat on it.
She crossed her hands on her lap and lowered her gaze, trying to find something to say, something to do, in order to help him to recover.
Silence oppressed her a lot, but what made her the most nervous was that hammering Beep Beep which came from a machine next to Kisshu's bed. Surely it served to check on the heart beat.
Ichigo found herself hypnotized, while looking the green lines which made a weird leap at every beep. The beat of the alien wasn't either slower or faster than the one of a common human being. She was once more surprised at finding out how their races were similar to eachother.
A little bit of the tension she had before reappeared and she started:
"Well, hello Kisshu, here I am"
'STUPID!' She said to herself 'how the hell are you starting a conversation?'
"Weird..." Tart muttered. "The hag actually seemes worried about him."
"I AM NOT A HAG!"
"SHUSH!" Moon snapped. "I`m TRYING to listen to this."
Ichigo clammed up and returned her attention to the screen.
Her cheeks had blushed a little bit, maybe because of the embarrassment to be with her ex-enemy ('like you've ever really been one' she thought looking at him) or maybe because….. No, what was she thinking?
Now she really didn't know what to say, she was paralyzed and her head seemed to have a vortex of a thousand colours inside
Then, inexplicably, she felt some words coming from her heart, like the first time she had transformed. Without thinking two times about it she said:
"I wanted to thank you for having saved me not one but two times. You've been very brave and I couldn't believe you would have done all those things for me."
'Liar!' a tiny voice screamed in her , but she didn't listen to it.
Now I`m lying to myself...? Ichigo thought.
Kish had nothing to say, he just gaped at the TV.
"I also wanted to apologize for the way I treated you. I've been insensitive. Instead of always roughly pushing you away, I should have given you the opportunity to talk. Maybe it could have been born a beautiful friendship or.."
Ichigo stopped even redder than before. Then she looked at the still unmoving alien and sighed. Almost unawares her hand caressed his cheek, tenderly, while the tears which she had retained before became more insistent now at the borders of her eyes.
"Just if I think that it's all my fault if you're like this…" transparent drops started to fall from her eyelids, streaming down her face.
"If you hadn't had me in your thoughts, maybe you would have been able to defeat that monster Masaya had become. You were right when you were saying he would have made me suffer. He's killed you, he's almost killed me, he's lied to me by saying that he was the one who's brought me back to life. But now I don't care about him. I inly care about you. You must recover!
Weren't you always saying that you would have never left me alone? That you would have never stopped playing pranks on me, making your avances? That you would have kept on trying to beat me and to take me away?
It's not fair that you're going away because of me, it's not fair that you're letting yourself go because of me.
By now Ichigo`s brain stopped all rational thought and she just stared, her mouth agape. The mews followed suit with identical OMG expressions.
Kish was starting to smile, and Ryou bit his lip. Pai, Tart and Keiichiro looked surprised and intriuged by the scene.
Because this is the reason why you're not waking up, isn't it? It's because I've always refused you. You must wake up and find a girl who is right for you, who can make you feel loved like I wasn't able to do. And believe when I say that she will be lucky, because she will have your heart. You're a fantastic person, one of the best I've ever met.
Now you must wake up, because upstairs everybody's worried, even Ryou. I'm worried for you because I can't think about a life in which you aren't there popping out from every corner and stealing me a kiss, about a life without your stupid remarks.
Now wake up please!"
The tears by then were flowing like a river from the chocolate eyes of the girl and ended on the face of Kisshu, wetting it like dewdrops wet a leaf still asleep from the coldness of the night.
And just like that leaf wakes up, thanks to that tender contact, so the eyes of the alien started to tremble, in the effort of opening.
Ichigo by then had totally given up to desperation and her hands, with which she was covering her face, forbid her from seeing what was happening.
Suddenly a hand was posed over hers, startling her.
"Kitten…. Don't cry again, please" Kisshu murmured with a voice that was feeble, but anyway full of that force which distinguished him.
"K.. K.. Kisshu?" she said looking the beautiful amber irises which were sweetly staring back, a soft smile was enlightening his face.
Moon couldn`t restrain a giggle at the stupified expressions of the people in front of her. Neko simply smirked in amusment, something she didn`t do very often.
"KISSHU! YOU'RE AWAKE! YOU'RE BACK!" she cried hugging him delicately but eagerly anyway, tears of joy were now crossing her face.
He tried to reciprocate, happy of that contact, but managed only partially in his purpose, still half blocked by the pain.
He anyway tried not to let his kitten see the pain he was in, but most of all the coolness that his heart now felt towards her.
It wasn't wise to immediately tell her the decision he had taken when he had woken up, not for now anyway.
"Oh, it's wonderful to have you back here. You don't know how I was afraid not to hear you anymore."
'So I had to sacrifice myself to make you realize that I'm of some value in your heart?' He thought, always keeping his smile on.
"Are you alright Ichigo?" he asked trying to hide the anger he was feeling.
"You're asking me if I'm al right? Well, yes thanks to you." She answered blushing a little bit.
'So I had to die two times to make you be nice with me?'
He thought, then cutting out his thoughts. If he had kept on formulating them probably he would have exploded.
"How did I end up here?" he asked changing the subject.
"Pie and Keichiiro had brought you here, when they had realized that your situation was worse than they thought. By the way, everybody will be worried. I'll go up and tell them you've woken up, alright?" she answered and, before she went out, she gave a quick kiss on the alien's forehead.
She didn't notice the look, slightly sad, slightly angered which those amber eyes sent her before she disappeared on the stairs.
And the screen went blank.
"You know, if you guys stay like that for much longer, you faces will freeze that way." Neko said playfully.
Ichigo came out of her trance. "Ah...I was just surprised." She stammered finally.
"We all were." Mint muttered. "YOU, crying over Kish? You the one who wishes most that he would just die and meet the devil."
Ichigo whirled on the bird mew, eyes blazing. "I DO NOT!"
And so began another Ichigo vs Mint argument. Moon rolled her eyes before starting to laugh. "The other chapters to the fic of pure awesomeness can be found on Bebbe5's profile. Anyway..."
She looked around. "Pudding! Pick a genre!"
The monkey girl paused and began to think. "Hum, na no da...how about...Horror..." She smirked evilly.
"Oh you evil little monkey girl." Moon gasped, pretending to be shocked. Then she grinnned. "And I know just the story. Come on!"
As they left the genre, Ichigo felt like someone was staring at her. Turning around, she saw the figure of a boy with two pure neon-green eyes staring at her intensely. Her blood seemed to freeze, but she bravely held his gaze.
The soulless in the shadows looked intriuged. "So, you aren`t as much of a baby as I thought you were."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, blinking.
"Aren`t you part cat?" He asked. The voice was deceptivly soft, but there was ice in it too. "Can`t you smell the familiar blood on my hands?"
"Ichigo! Coming or what?" Those neon eyes widened, and the being vanished into the darkness. Disturbed, Ichigo turned around and ran after Moon and the others.
Can`t you smell the blood on my hands?
Had he managed to kill someone important to her?
End Chapter
/Author`s Note: Sorry for not updating in a while, I was in-your guessed it-the land of writer`s block. I hope you liked this chapter, and please R&R on your way out!