Blue Planet Chapter 12:

Irreplaceable

Kish felt a twinge of remorse about leaving Pai alone with Lemana, although he shook the feeling off. Just moments ago, the aliens had been engaged in an argument, because Kish had wanted to visit Earth to tell the Mews of their plans. Tart had taken his side, but Pai was reluctant to risk going to Earth too often. In the end, however, he had acquiesced, and the two aliens had teleported off, leaving Pai with nothing but a frown on his face and a scheming female alien for company.

Of course, Kish had an ulterior motive: Ichigo. The moping, quiet redhead was nothing like the exuberant, cheerful Ichigo of his memory. This brought about an unusual emotion in Kish: worry. The alien had a sneaking suspicion that Masaya had something to do with the unexpected change in Ichigo's personality, as he couldn't remember seeing the irritating boy since he had arrived. Good riddance!

So here he was with Tart, simply floating and staring at the unfortunate 'closed' sign hung on the doors of Café Mew Mew. Doors were no problem when one could teleport, so of course he had been inside. To his disappointment, no one was present, and there seemed to be only one solution.

"I'll go tell Ichigo, and you go talk to your precious Pudding." Kish teased the shorter alien beside him. Anger and embarrassment flushed Tart's face bright red, and he was about to respond with an indignant retort when Kish smirked teasingly, amused to get such a reaction out of the younger alien, and teleported away.

The air in Ichigo's room wavered, and Kish appeared soundlessly. And lo and behold, there she was; curled up like a cat in her bed, sleeping peacefully.

I wonder how she does it. Kish thought with a sigh, fondness in his mental voice. Going after a boy she hardly knows without reason, turning a blind eye to true love. And why? Each unanswered question only seemed to raise more.

Knowing he would have to wake her up, Kish quickly and quietly pressed the alarm button on Ichigo's clock, then teleported downstairs. Amusing as it would be to see her reaction if she woke up to the sight of an alien in her room, he had a feeling it would not go well with this new Ichigo. Soon enough, however, Ichigo was on her way; dark red hair messy and unkempt, and clothes wrinkled. She did not seem at all surprised to see him, although she had the look about her of one too unhappy to be surprised by much anymore. Merely glancing at him, she sighed.

"This had better be about the battle." She began, eyeing him dully and suspiciously.

"What, aren't you happy to see me?" Kish replied, feigning injury in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the old Ichigo. However, he was to be disappointed, for she simply looked away for a moment, before returning her gaze to the visitor in her home.

"Would you like some breakfast?" She asked blandly, and Kish, giving up his act, nodded lightly.

"Actually…I came here to tell you about a plan that we have…" He began.

"What plan?"

"Well, when we first came into possession of our ship, we discovered a member of the Elite – they're a group of thirteen first-class female warriors – on board. Her name is Lemana, and we've persuaded her to help us with a spy mission to the mothership. We're holding her captive."

"Can she be trusted?" Ichigo asked, her voice slightly muffled as she went about preparing rice balls.

Kish raised his arms and shrugged. "I don't really know for sure. She's a tough one. But I think so." He answered, watching her create the food with mild interest.

"Well, just don't do anything stupid." Ichigo replied, placing the food on plates and moving toward the table. Peering strangely at the still hovering alien, she motioned toward the table, and the plate.

"You could, you know…sit down. If you do that." Kish raised his eyebrows, but took her suggestion, descending slowly to the ground. He took a few experimental steps, but adjusted easily. It wasn't going marvelously, with Ichigo…but better than he had hoped. After taking a bite of his rice ball, and murmuring appreciatively, he decided to see if he could get her talking.

"So, Ichigo" Kish began, his tone with a bitter edge to it, "How's Masaya?"

Ichigo flinched slightly at the sound of his name, and her face clouded over quickly. At first, she gave no response, but then, with her voice much more bitter than Kish's, it came at last.

"He's gone, and he's not coming back. For me, at least. I thought he liked me, loved me, the real me. But that wasn't it. He was caught up in the drama, the story, the whole…the whole 'saving the world and the environment' thing. Now that I'm not some kind of warrior for nature, he just…lost interest. No further explanation, just off to England. Why should he care about how I feel? Masaya has thousands of girls head-over-heels for him. I won't be hard to replace."

With the overwhelming sadness in Ichigo's voice, Kish was surprised that she wasn't crying. Then, he realized, she had already been crying, so much that she had no more tears left. She had shed her tears, and with them, her emotions, and been left a hollow shell. Anger sparked in Kish that anyone would dare treat her so, but it was quickly drowned out by compassion, and a desire to help Ichigo, to make her understand what a wonderful, beautiful person she was.

"No one could replace you, Ichigo! Ever. You are…you are truly one of a kind. Masaya was worthless to begin with, and remains that way. He may not love you, but I do, and I always will. I can help you through this, but I can't tell you what to do. But Ichigo, one question…will you let me love you? You don't have to love me back."

"Kish, I just need a little more time to heal, then I'll decide."

"Ok. I'll be waiting." Kish smiled.

"Who said I'd say yes?!" Ichigo began, but was cut off by Kish's finger shushing her.

At first she looked startled, then Kish smirked.

"It's nice to see you back to your normal self again." He said, and quickly rose from the table, jumped into the air, and teleported away, winking roguishly before disappearing into thin air.

"What…wait!" Ichigo called after him, reached out toward him, but he was gone.

So she sat, pondering, and the only trace to show that he had been there was a plate of unfinished rice balls.