Hello darlings! I must apologize PROFUSELY for the extreeeemeeeelyyyyyy long gap between chapters here. I said it would be because of National Novel Writing Month, but I really have no excuse, because I failed DISMALLY at NaNoWriMo! I apologize! *bow* This chapter is sorta turmoil-ish, so I hope it makes up for my uncoolness!

Chapter 8:

All around him bustled activity. People walked past maneuvering felled trees and slabs of wood. He could hear Kaybler shouting order. The constant sound of the pounding of nails filled the clearing.

Building had begun.

They made wonderful progress that day. They had decided that to start with, they were going to build big buildings and divide them into sections, and several families would live in each building-at least for the time being. With everyone in the village helping out, the work was going fast-the first building was well on its way.

Later that night, the whole village had a bonfire. It would be, Kaybler had decided, a good opportunity for the people of the village to relax a bit, get some fresh air, have fun. They needed that, they really did. So, all the strong young men and women gathered wood and piled it outside the cave systems entrance. Soon, they had a roaring fire going, and nearly the whole community was gathered around it, some warming their hands, some roasting bits of food, some simply sitting back and reveling in its heat.

Kisshu leaned against a small sapling, a bit farther away from the fire. He felt relaxed-more relaxed then he'd felt in a long time. He observed what went on with the villagers gathered around the fire, wearing a small smile of amusement.

He watched as Pai and Taruto got into yet another argument. This one, was, as all the others, fairly ridiculous: it was about whose turn it was to go get more wood.

Taruto stamped his feet angrily. "Its your turn, Pai!"

Pai looked unbothered. One of the infuriating thing about arguing with Pai was that it was, for the most part, a one-sided argument. It was very hard to get a reaction out of Pai. "I just went, Taruto."

"Yes, but you only grabbed a little, and my load was much bigger! It's your turn-" Taruto's voice got squeakier when he was upset; it was pretty entertaining.

"Enjoying the show?"

Kisshu looked up to see Searadesi standing by him, wearing a shy smile. He smirked at her. "Do you blame me, Seara-chan?"

She smiled bigger. "Not really."

The stood by each other, watching Pai and Taruto's increasingly hilarious fight, in companionable silence. Something about Searadesi was easy; Kisshu didn't feel the need to fill the silence, or be formal. He could just be.

"Kisshu-kun, what happened on Earth?" Searadesi asked suddenly. "What was it like?"

Kish didn't answer at first. He'd been asked this question before, and he never liked answering it. But for once, he actually felt like it might be a good thing to tell the story to Searadesi…not just the bare facts, but everything.

So he did.

He told her it all. Arriving on Earth, serving Deep Blue, sending Chimera Animals at the humans, fighting the Mews and failing, again and again and again….Taruto and Pai arriving because Kisshu wasn't succeeding, something had gone wrong, Kisshu wasn't strong enough, couldn't win…

And still fighting and failing, not able to win, because the Mew Mews were just too strong. The growing realization that maybe their mission was not as innocent as they had first thought, maybe, in fact, they were doing something wrong….

And throughout it all, Ichigo, Ichigo, strong and steadfast, beautiful and unbeatable. What had started as a small fascination with her had risen to a crush, and then to an unhealthy obsession. In the end, when Kisshu had realized the truth, that Deep Blue was evil and that he, Kisshu, would do whatever it took to protect Ichigo, his feelings for her had blossomed into a single note of pure love. And then they'd left, and she'd been happy, happy with Aoyama, and happy that Kisshu was gone…

As he told his tale, Kisshu felt his voice shake with emotion, sometimes anger, sometimes sadness. He was embarrassed, but he could not stop; he had to finish the story, had to get through it once and for all so he could be cleansed of it.

He felt his voice almost give out as he finished. "And then we returned here…." He fell silent.

For a few moments, there was silence. Technically, there wasn't-there was still the crackling of the fire and the yells of Taruto and the happy shouts and laughter of the villagers-but with him and Searadesi, in their own little bubble, all was quiet.

Kisshu knew what was going to happen next. Searadesi would make some excuse and then leave, wanting to be away from him, the shameful alien who fell in love with a human and could not even save his own planet.

Instead, he felt a small, warm hand slide over his, and when he turned his head in shock, Searadesi was still there, staring up at him earnestly with her big moon eyes, violet locks framing her face. She said, "It's okay, Kisshu-kun."

Kisshu was so surprised he couldn't speak. He was vibrantly aware of the warmth of her hand on his, and without even thinking about it, he flipped his own hand over to grasp hers, fingers interlocking.

Seara smiled at him and said again, "It's okay, Kisshu. I promise." Kish felt something in his chest, something that had been wound so tightly and unbreakably for such a long time, since his parents had died, perhaps….unknot. Its pieces unwound from each other and fell away, dissipating in the wind.

He'd never felt so unburdened.

Before he could think it through, he had taken one step and Searadesi was in his arms. One of his arms was around her waist, the other over her shoulder and against her hair. He felt her warmth in his arms and hugged her tightly, feeling that freeness, that sense of weightlessness, course through him. She was standing stock-still with surprise, her face peeking over Kisshu's shoulder. Before she could say anything, Kisshu broke the moment himself and whispered, "Thank you, Searadesi."

Almost as quickly as the hug had begun, it was over, and Kisshu didn't look at Seara as he stepped back and walked quickly away. He was reeling, terrified of seeing anger or disgust on her face, and right now, he just wanted to savor this newfound feeling of light in his chest.

As he hurried back to the cave system and into its depths, he tried not to think too much about what had just happened, because something had changed, something more than just the lightening of Kisshu's heart. What was this feeling? What had just happened between Searadesi-chan and himself?

Yay! Kisshu is starting to let go of Ichigo! What will happen when he sees her again, I wonder...? MWAHAHA! I WILL SAY NO MORE