Chapter 18

" Seriously." Adam Grey, a fair complexioned brunet, lamented. " What's up with you and ditching all of our plans?"

Saline emitted a nervous laugh, eyeing the binders in her arms wearily.

" Sorry about that. I have a lot going on."

" I see. You're dumping me." The brunet dramatically lifted the back of his hand to his forehead; his face scrunched up in mock pain. " Let me guess? It's not me, it's you?"

" Shut up." Saline smirked, peering at him from the corners of her eyes. " I've been busy, that's all."

" Busy is one thing; you look tired,like, all the time." The grey eyed boy observed, eyeing the girl with speculation.

" Yeah, well. . ." Saline sighed. " I am tired."

Adam snorted in return, cracking a joke that Saline wasn't paying much attention to. Her mind was still on the previous week. Her conversation with Ryou didn't go as well as she had planned. He had wasted half an hour telling her absolutely nothing and seeing that she couldn't argue with his piercing gaze, she acted as if she was content with his banter and quickly left the lab, vowing never to be in a room alone with him again. And on top of being clueless on practically everything, she found it also necessary to complicate her life even more by trying to avoid Dustin. In the beginning of the year she had thought of him being in half of her classes as a gift; she realized now that it was more of a curse. Not to mention all the tiresome gossip she tried to ignore.

" Did you hear? They broke up!"

" Nuh-uh! Why?"

" Apparently Dustin thinks Saline's freaky. . ."

" Oh my God! No way! Now that you mention it, I heard her talking to herself a few times."

She did not. . .NOT. . .talk to herself. Nope. No way. Nuh-uh. Maybe she occasionally, key word: occasionally, thought out loud but she did not talk to herself. Well. . .maybe there was that one time. . .Saline shook her head. There was no point in caring about what the girls at her school gossiped of; gossip was poisonous. She had learned that the hard way. Rushing to her third period and anticipating lunch, she sat down in her seat quickly. Faking a cheery smile and a warm hello to a few people, she took out her planner and began writing down her assignments. Recently she found it hard to concentrate and had developed a serious one track mind. On top of the confusion, the avoidance of Dustin, the gossip, and the conveniently endless piles of homework that seemed to pop up as a result of final exams, she found herself thinking of the stupid psychopathic alien. Kisshu. Kisshu, Kisshu, Kisshu. Ugh. . .

She felt her heart race a mile a minute at the thought of him, anxious for when she'd see him again. He was sure to be angry and that thought alone made her queasy. She realized a while ago she had taken a sick sort of liking to him and it frustrated her how serious he acted one moment and how the next he went back to teasing her; she had no clue what his true feelings were. There it was again; confusion. Saline didn't like being in the blind spot. Why did people have so many things to hide any ways? She sighed for the umpteenth time, and remained oblivious to her ranting Language Arts teacher.

I should give up on guys, she thought meekly, give up on guys, move to Vienna and start living the life of an art merchant who seeks refuge every night in a church. Doesn't that sound fun? The negative thoughts were soon penetrated by the shrill ring of the fire alarm. Clamping her hands tightly around her sensitive ears, Saline winced at the noise. The class got into an orderly line, and filed out the door. With all the other classrooms doing the same, Saline easily spotted Cassidy who, humorously, also held onto her ears tightly. Nudging the other when she drew near, she snuck a look toward the teacher and began to whisper.

" I sense the aliens."

" Really?" Cassidy leaned foreword. " Are you sure it's not just a cafeteria fire?"

" Positive."

Saline's heart fluttered and she looked around her, half expecting to see the golden eyed alien to pop up and smirk at her. Cassidy gave her a strange look, and looked in the direction she was staring toward.

" What are you looking for? Kisshu?" She half joked.

Saline fidgeted in her place and avoided the others eyes.

" No. Why would I look for him?"

Cassidy shrugged in response and jumped as the teacher shushed them. Rolling her eyes she flipped out her phone discretely and texted a quick message. A distant noise, like that of a bomb, exploded and sent Cassidy's hair whipping around her face. Saline shielded her eyes from the blowing sand and coughed at the pungent smoke. Quickly slipping her phone back into her pocket, Cassidy searched for her pendant.

" Whether you were looking for him or not. . ." Cassidy muttered. " We found him anyways."

" Is that a tree?" A voice cried in panic. Sure enough, a giant tree sailed toward the crowd of students. The neat rows dispersed and the students leapt left and right, sending the teachers into wails of fear and frustration. The tree hit the side of the building, breaking windows and cracking the wall.

" Everybody, out the front! NOW!"

A body of people flooded the area, crushing Saline. Trying to move the opposite direction, she was shoved to and fro, almost falling beneath the feet of the rushing crowd. Cursing the fact that she couldn't transform and hop to safety, she trudged foreword, not certain if Cassidy was behind her or not.

" Oh no, don't tell me you're stuck in the crowd, sweet heart?"

A few people screamed, yelling something or another about a flying elf and the crowd seemed to move with an even greater urgency. Saline peered up, struggling to keep herself safe from the hectic crowd. Kisshu reached down and with ease, gripped her wrist. Pulling her up and high above the building, he finally stopped, leaving her to dangle. Students gaped and pointed; the principle stared with wide saucer eyes, screaming to the equally frightened faculty to help the girl get to safety.

" What are you doing?" Saline exclaimed as her relief left her. At first she thought he was lending a hand, but soon found her idea to be null. He continued to let her dangle.

" Reveal yourself."

" What?"

" You heard me." He leered, eyes glinting with malice. " Reveal yourself or I'll maim you."

Saline accused herself of going insane because at the very point he uttered the word 'maim', she felt the sudden urge to break out into a fit of giggles. Even when he summoned one of his daggers and placed it onto her vulnerable wrist, she found it difficult not laughing. The inside of her chest squeezed and pulled at the same time, sending her stomach to churn unpleasantly. Her heart raced, and she found herself unable to pin point what had caused the action; the fact she was about to die, or the fact that it was Kisshu killing her. He grinned venomously, and she felt her insides crumble.

" Let go of her!" Cassidy's command was muffled by the crowd. Someone shoved into her, sending her pendant flying into the mass of people. After sending a desperate look to her friend, she dove after it.

The cool metal of the knife pressed against her skin, and tears sprang to her eyes.

" Tell them! Tell them you're a mew mew!" Kisshu's voice rose. Momentarily his dagger retracted from her skin to gesture towards the news team piling out of a white van. " Smile at the camera, kitten! And tell them who the hell you really are!"" Stop it! Stop it!"

Kisshu shook her like a rag doll.

" Tell them or I cut straight through your wrist!" He screamed.

Saline eyed the camera's wearily.

" No! No! Just stop it! Put me down!" She protested, tears freely trailing down her face. He wouldn't do it, he wouldn't. . .he can't! The cold blade grazed her wrist. " Cassidy! Crystal! Marissa! Help!"

Kisshu grunted and Saline felt the sudden sensation of falling. Strong arms held onto her, holding her close and leapt onto the grassy court yard. Setting her down gently, she felt a tug on her arm and a cloth wrap around it.

" It's only a graze, he didn't cut you." The voice spoke gently, and she realized that her eyes were still tightly shut. Opening them, she stared with wet eyes at the boy in front of her. His hair, wavy and blonde, complimented his bright blue eyes hidden behind a silver masquerade mask. Standing she saw his outfit was that of an aristocrats. " Are you okay?"

" I'm fine." She wiped away her tears.

" Back off!" Another voice commanded. Looking to her right, Saline saw another boy fending off Kisshu. He was clad in the design of a playing card, outfit consisting of red and white. Kisshu sprung to his feet and swiped at the boy.

" Come back over here kitten!" Kisshu's smirk never falter and instead seemed to grow wide into a grin. The other boy, the brunet, swept at the alien with his golden scepter. Kisshu, fighting back but head not fully in the fight, motioned with one arm to Saline. " I love your face when you're serious, but you're beautiful when you cry!"

" You-you. . .psycho!" Saline shrieked. " You insane bastard! You're completely out of your mind! I can't believe I ever. . .that I actually. . ."

Her words hitched in her throat, as Kisshu's face fell to confusion. In his momentary second of inattentiveness, the brunet with the scepter hit the alien square in the jaw. He flew backwards, blue blooming on his alabaster skin, as his daggers flew to the ground.

" We'll hold him off as best as we can." The brunet turned to Saline, teeth clenched and eyes fired with determination.

" Yes, go help the other mews." The blonde one nodded towards her.

Saline's eyes widened.

" How do you know about the mew project?" She hissed.

" That's not important." The brunet replied. " The more time you spend with us, the more trouble the others will be in."

Hesitantly, the coiled haired girl nodded and bounded to the opposite direction of the crowd. She heard Kisshu screech something incomprehensible but she forced herself to ignore him and ran foreword.

A/N: Wow. . .I feel like I'm making Kisshu more crazy than he is. . .but then again, wasn't he crazier in the manga than in the anime? I think that was the case; if I remember correctly that is. Well, Saline seems to be into psycho's but even she knows when to back off. Don't worry kiddies, it'll work out. . . Or will it? Who knows. . .

School's been hectic. I've been meaning to update but I hadn't got a round to it. Sadly, my Ipods screen cracked and my ear phones stopped working. . .bleh. So hence forth GrooveShark has become my best friend. This is significant, why? Because I can't write without listening to music (though this habit proves to attract spelling and grammatical errors at times). I had two songs in mind for the chapter title, but of course I could only use one. Conveniently, my initial idea for this chapter proved to be to long so I divided it up. The title for this chapter is inspired by Heartbreak Warfare by John Mayer : ).