Hello lovelymuffins! I finally got around to updating! *chorus of halfhearted applause* Now don't be like that! How about this? The story is almost FINALLY DONE AND COMPLETE! *slightly more enthusiastic applause* Yes, I know! It's gone on muchhh longer than I had planned! Anyway, there should only be one more chapter, two at the very most! Thanks for those who've stuck with it!

Near the end is a chunk from Ichigo's point of view. I'm normally a bit careful with switching the point of view around, but I felt like it could be a good addition :)

I recieved a review I felt the need to reply too :) Someone was a bit put out that the story isn't Ichigo/Kisshu. I just wanted to say that, TRUST ME, I wanted Ichigo and Kisshu together, too. I realllllyyy did. But that was never the story I set out to write. With everything that had happened and with Ichigo and Kisshu both being in the places they were, I just couldn't see it happening. I'm sorry! This was my attempt to give Kisshu a happy ending without Ichigo. I hope the ending doesn't disappoint! There are so many AWESOME Kichigo fanfics out there, though, if that's what you're looking for. I highly recommend Whitewolfffy's "Hearing Voices" or Breezyfeather's "The Psychotic Alien We All Enjoy" and sequel. They are extremely entertaining :)

ENOUGH RAMBLINGS. ON WITH THE STORY.

Chapter 14: Info

Kisshu faced Ichigo's frozen eyes across the expanse of her bedroom.

She stared at him, her mouth slightly parted. He watched the cocoa eyes he knew so well and saw a wide range of emotions flit through them. Shock, curiosity…fear.

That panged him a bit, but he couldn't blame her for it. After everything he'd put her through, he supposed it was only to be expected.

Smirking softly, he spread his hands wide and said, "It's alright, koneko. I'm not going to hurt you."

Her face relaxed, and her eyes finally settled on the one emotion he hadn't expected: happiness. Breaking into a smile, she said again, this time with excitement, "Kisshu!"

She rushed him and threw her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. Surprised, he didn't react at first, before slowly winding his arms around her and squeezing her snugly. It felt right.

After a moment, she withdrew from him and questions flew from her mouth. "But why are you here? How did you get here? Are Pai and Taruto here? Is something wrong?"

Kisshu's expression became serious, a shadow falling over his face. "It's a long story. Everyone's gathered back at the café."

Ichigo nodded, picking up on the gravity of the situation. "Let's go." She grabbed her Mew Pendant off the desk. Catching sight of the cell phone, she hurriedly fired off a text and threw it on the bed. Then she stood at the ready and held out her hand.

Kisshu couldn't suppress a grin as he grabbed her hand and teleported away. He knew she wasn't doing it for him, but it was still nice to know that if need be, she could cancel a date with Aoyama.

The pair appeared in the main room of the café. It was empty.

"They're probably all down in the basement," Ichigo said. They walked down into the basement that served as a control room for the Mews.

Everyone was there, in the vast dark room with an array of screens and controls. Akasaka and Ryou were conversing quietly, whilst the Mews and aliens reacquainted themselves. Searadesi was silent and subdued. When she saw Kisshu, her eyes lit up, and the flicked to Ichigo. She bit her lip.

Kisshu didn't notice right then. The aliens stood up and greeted Ichigo, and she responded warmly.

After the pleasantries were over, Ryou stepped forward. "Kisshu. Pai." (POOR TARUTO, IGNORED AGAIN. AT LEAST HE HAS PUDDING.)"Not that we aren't glad to see you all, but why are you here? What's wrong?"

All of the alien's eyes shifted to look at Searadesi, and the humans followed their lead. Searadesi, sitting quietly, shifted uncomfortably.

Kisshu started, "Well. After we left here, we went back to our planet. We used the Mew Aqua to heal our planet, and it worked…better than we could have dreamed of. But, well, Searadesi here…." He gestured at her. "…she's been having…visions."

He paused. Mint interjected, "Visions?"

Pai answered, "We believe it to be a result of the Mew Aqua that permeated Deep Blue's body. When he was on our planet, it seems it may have rubbed off on the atmosphere and affected some of the villagers. So far, Searadesi-san is the only one. At any rate, she has shown great powers of premonition."

Pudding jumped in with child-like excitement. "You can see the future, onee-chan? Can you predict whether Pudding-chan will ever be a famous street performer?"

Searadesi smiled lightly and said, "It's not quite…like that. I can't decide when or what I want to see. The visions come, whenever they want, about whatever they want. It's out of my control."

She took a deep breath. "The point is, yesterday I had a vision." She fidgeted with her hair nervously, then forged ahead. "I saw Tokyo, and eventually, nearly all of your planet, being destroyed by a horrible creature." There was a collective gasp from the humans. "It's because of Deep Blue. When he was killed, the Mew Aqua in his body was released, and it's been slowly mutating animals into a…terrible monster….deep in the earth."

Zakuro asked quietly, "How soon?"

Searadesi shook her head. "I can't be completely certain. Two days or less."

A heavy silence fell across the room as everyone, aliens, who had already heard the news, included, contemplated that.

Akasaka said hesitantly, "Searadesi-san, I must ask…are you certain about this? Completely certain?"

Seara paused, considering, then squared her shoulders. "Yes. I'm absolutely positive."

There was another moment of silence. Then, in a flash, Akasaka was over at his computer screen, Ryou leaning over him. Fingers flying across the keys, Akasaka explained, "We've been running regular checks of the area around here for any suspicious activity, but if it's deep in the earth, it's likely we didn't pick up on anything."

A few more clicks and a graph-like, rough image appeared. Everyone huddled around the screen.

"Is that it? Is that the creature?" Ichigo asked.

Akasaka nodded. "It must be. This is nearly a mile beneath Tokyo."

"How big is that thing…?" Taruto wondered.

Akasaka squinted at the screen. "It's hard to say….it appears to be…changing as we speak."

Kisshu saw that he was right. The shape did appear to be morphing at the edges as they looked on.

Akasaka let out a breath of air. "It's at least 150 feet wide."

Silence fell once again. That was nearly half the size of Tokyo Tower, the tallest structure in Japan.

Ryou broke the grim silence. "Well. I guess we'd better get on it. Keiichiro, Pai, run some tests and get as much information on that thing as possible." Akasaka and Pai nodded and set to work. Ryou turned to Searadesi. "Searadesi-san, we need to ask a few questions. Where and how exactly did this creature emerge?"

She pursed her lips. "Well…I don't know this area and I didn't see it for long, but it was a square green area…surrounded by pink…all in a big silver oval."

Zakuro looked at Ryou. "That sounds like National Olympic stadium." Ryou nodded and, with a few rapid clicks, pulled up a picture of the vast stadium on one of the screens.

"Was this the place, Searadesi-san?"

She nodded. "Yes! That's it. As for how….the creature tore its way out of the earth and then out of the stadium, into the city."

"What did it look like?" Lettuce asked, sounding awed and fearful.

Searadesi sighed. "I couldn't get a good look at it, but…it's just like it was on the screen…it kept changing."

Ryou ran his hand over the back of his head. "Fantastic," he muttered.

He met Ichigo's eyes.

She said quietly, "We need to evacuate Tokyo."

Ryou held her gaze, then nodded.

"Evacuate Tokyo? And give them what reason?" Pudding asked.

"The people of Tokyo know that the Mews have saved them before," Ichigo pointed out. "If they're smart, they'll listen to us if we tell them they need to leave."

Ryou nodded his agreement. "We'll have to make some calls." He ran his hand through his already tousled hair. "This is going to take some work and planning."

He looked at Kisshu. "We are grateful for you coming all the way here just to warn us. Fighting this thing unprepared would have been devastating.

Pai stopped typing. Kisshu raised an eyebrow and said, "No problem, Shirogane-kun. But we didn't just come back to warn you. We're going to help, of course."

Ichigo stared at him, mouth open.

"Help?" Lettuce repeated in her quiet voice.

"Yep. Why do you think we brought all of them?" Kisshu gestured at the aliens who'd never been here before, Arigo, Brittlee, and Marzac. "No offense." He winked. Becoming serious again, Kisshu said, "It's the least we can do after everything that's happened."

"Yeah! We're going to defeat this thing!" Taruto said determinedly.

The Mews and company stared at the aliens for a moment, before Pudding tackled Taruto again. "Taru-taru, I'm so proud of you! Being friends is great!"

Kisshu smirked, shaking his head, and caught Searadesi's eye. She, too, was looking at him with eyes that were proud.

Ichigo's point of view:

Kisshu was different.

As everyone gathered in the depths of the basement discussed the situation at hand, Ichigo discreetly watched Kisshu. The same thought struck her again and again: he was so different.

Everything about him seemed lighter. Freer. Sure, before he had always put on such a cocky, smirk-y attitude-but under that façade, all too easy to see, had been something darker. Roiling beneath the surface, Kisshu's emotions had been so clearly barely within control, and every move he made was unpredictable. That was what had scared Ichigo the most about him. He'd been so wild.

Now, the carefree act was…real. Certainly he was, for the most part, serious at the moment, considering the situation at hand, but every expression on his face and every word he spoke revealed that something in him had healed.

She wondered what had changed.

His planet was safe. That was surely a humongous factor.

The Mews and aliens were no longer at war. That, too.

But that wasn't just it. There was something else.

Something in the way Kisshu's gold eyes hovered on the girl, Searadesi. Something in the way he stood protectively behind her. Something in the way that, when she spoke to him, the very faintest of blushes lit his pale face, and he fidgeted with his fingers.

A piece of information came home to Ichigo, and she was shocked.

Kisshu didn't seem to love her anymore.

If she was right…he seemed to care for…Searadesi.

She felt slightly at a loss. Who was Kisshu if he didn't love her anymore? How was she supposed to treat him?

Then the full implications hit her. If Kisshu didn't love her anymore…he could be happy.

Loving her would only ever bring him pain, because Ichigo knew in her heart, without a doubt, that Aoyama was the one for her. And even if he hadn't been, she could never love Kisshu in that way.

If Kisshu loved someone else, he would be free.

He and her could be friends.

Everyone could live happily.

That is, if they could defeat this creature soon to attack her hometown.

Next chapter hopefully SOON! Review if you have a mo! :)