Heyho!

So sorry for not updating for so long. This week's been really busy, and I'm actually still very busy, but I found some time to post this chapter real quick. But first, an important announcement:

I am going on holiday for a month, and I have no idea if I'll have internet where I'm going. So don't expect updates for a while. If I do have internet there, I'll post a new chappie as quick as possible!

There, I feel better now:)

I haven't been able to check the spelling in this chapter so if you find mistakes, sorry! But it's extra long, so I hope that makes up for it:)

Enjoy!

Ichigo's p.o.v.

And that's how it went. We spent a few weeks just driving south, away from Tokyo. I still didn't feel comfortable with this. Kishu should've been in Tokyo, confessing his love to whoever he was in love with. But he insisted that he didn't want to leave me alone with this. Secretly, I was really glad he didn't want to go, even though I would never admit it. Even so, I made him promise that as soon as I had found my family, he would rush straight to his love and tell her straight out. I would drag him there myself if I had to. And trust me, I could. He agreed, albeit a bit reluctantly, in the end.

Our drives were filled with fun chatter that I had missed so much in prison. There was food, there were books, a small dvd-player, and best of all, music.

I had always loved singing, and a lot of people had always complemented me on my voice. Hey, I'm not bragging or anything, just telling the truth.

We brought up a lot of old memories to. I laughed more in those weeks than I had in a year, and it felt amazing.

Sleeping was embarrassing though. During the day I would sit in the front next to kishu while he drove. In the evening we would get something to eat at some restaurant or a drive-through. That's usually when I started to feel tired. Then, a few hours after we got back into the car, and I literally couldn't keep my eyes open, kishu would command me to go to bed. I would argue, he would argue, and I would lose. Then, when I woke up the next day, kishu would always be next to me, hugging me tightly too him. I guessed he was still dreaming about his crush, but it still made me blush like mad.

All the driving we were doing was getting us nowhere really. We didn't have a single clue where my parents could've gone. Probably somewhere remote and secluded. Maybe with one of the cat covens, but I didn't remember the way to any of them. Our only hope was me activating the pendant, which should always 'lead us home'.

So far, no luck.

'Come on!' I growled, frustrated. I clenched the pendant in my hand, willing it to come to life, or make me come to life, or whatever! Just to do something, anything to help me!

'Don't get angry at it. It'll work. Just give it some time,' kishu tried to calm me.

'But what if it doesn't work at all? What if I need the coming of age ritual to activate it? I've never even seen it before! I doubt I can do it on my own.' I drifted off as I stared dully in front of me. 'Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm not strong enough. Or maybe it's a sign, telling me that I don't deserve to find my family. That I should stay a lone cat.'

Kishu reached over and grabbed my hand, gently squeezing it. 'Don't say that. Of course you need to find your family. They need you.' He glanced over at me. 'And you need them.'

I looked to him again and smiled, reassured. Kishu always knew how to make me feel better. It's the reason he was my best friend.

I looked in front again, just about to put the pendant back in its box, when a large black cloud in the distance caught my eye.

'Kishu? Do you see that?'

'Wha-' he started, then cut off. He had spotted it as well.

'What do you think it is?'

'I don't know, but it doesn't look promising.' He glanced at me. 'Wanna take a look?' I nodded, and he pressed the gas pedal, hurrying to get us over there.

I heard the screams from a few minutes distance, and I saw the bright glow in the sky. A fire, and a big one by the looks of it. Someone was probably trapped! We saw a small wooden cabin caught in flames. 'O my god!' I screamed as kishu stopped the van. We both got out. I was sure Kishu could hear the screams now too over the crackling of the flames.

'We have to do something!' I yelled at Kishu.

'I'll call 911!'

'There's not enough time!' I shouted, panicking. We had to get those people out of there! How, how...!

'Ichigo!' Kishu yelled at me again. 'You're glowing!' what in the name of the holy cupcake...

I was actually glowing, my pale skin now aglow with bright blue light. I felt the pendant, that I had been clutching violently in my hand, shake. I looked at it and, out of nowhere, words popped out of my mouth.

'Mew mew strawberry, metamorphosis!'

I kissed the pendant softly, not understanding what I was doing, and yet knowing fully what to do at the same time. Quite unnerving actually. A few spins, somersaults and cute poses later, I was standing there, a little dizzy from the dance routine I had just performed, in a puffy pink dress with small gloves and cute boots. What the...!

I heard the screams in the building once again, and, again, words came out of my mouth.

'Strawberry bell!'

A heart-shaped frame with a bell on it appeared in my hands.

'Strawberry check!' I aimed at the house, and light shot out of the strange object, dousing some of the flames. Okay, I had no idea what was going on, but it was actually helping me save those people!

'Call 911!' I shouted at Kishu in a hurry. Then I sped into the house.

I jumped from room to room as I dodged falling pieces of burnt wood and furniture on fire. I coughed as I called for the people in the house. Soon I heard someone call back. I sped into a room finding a young woman with a baby in her hand. She seemed a bit reassured, until I came in that is. She screamed when she saw my ears and tail, which was by the way wrapped in this really cute bow and a bell... focus, ichigo!

'Ssshhh, calm down, I'm here to help you!' she stopped screaming, and backed away as I came forward. Then she glanced at her baby, and back to me.

'Can you save my baby?' she screamed at me, holding the bundle out to me. She was trusting me with her baby?

'I'll save you both!' I called, and rushed to her, picking her up. 'Hold on to the child.' I ran back the way I came, looking for the exit.

We made it out of the house alive, and I put the lady on the ground next to kishu. He looked me over to see if I was alright, and I nodded. I turned back to the woman.

'Was there anyone else in there?'

She nodded with tears in her eyes. 'My husband, and my son. In the basement! Hurry, please!' funny how people learned to trust others when they truly needed to.

I made my way back into the house, quickly finding a set of stairs leading down. In the basement I saw two figures slumped on the floor coughing. A man holding a little boy, who was weeping into the man's chest with fear. I jumped over to them and pulled the man up. When he felt me tugging at him, he stared at me, wide-eyed. I was impatient, knowing somehow that this house was going to collapse any second.

'Give me the boy!' I shouted, and he obliged. Then I ushered him to climb onto my back, which he did. I told him to hold on tightly and I prayed that he would actually listen in the coma-like state he was in now. Then I was rushing up the stairs. I struggled this time, seeing as the man and the boy were heavier. But the house was starting to groan loudly, and the fear was giving me an adrenaline-boost. With one last burst of power, I ran out of the house just as the house collapsed behind me.

I stumbled to where Kishu was taking care of the woman. The man got off my back and took the boy from me, walking to his wife and baby and embracing them tightly. I sunk onto my hands and knees unsteadily. I heard a small pop, and suddenly I was back in my normal clothes.

That's when I realized I was shaking violently, and tears started to leak out of my eyes. Guess this was what a near death experience felt like.

I felt arms encircle me and I pushed myself closer to Kishu, desperately needing the comfort. 'You were amazing,' Kishu whispered to me, and I smiled.

'Not much of a hero, though, seeing as I burst into tears right after the first rescue.'

He pushed me playfully, and I pushed him back, laughing again. Had I seriously just saved a family from a burning house? Pride filled my every vein.

Said family came over to me, the man holding the baby in his arms and the boy by one hand. The woman leapt over to me a hugged me tightly. I gasped, surprised, and then gently squeezed her back.

'Thank you, thank you so much! I owe you my family's life! How can I ever repay you?'

I was all ready to decline, but a thought popped into my head. 'Well there is one thing...'

'Tell me!'

'Please don't tell anyone I saved you, or that we were here,' I told her. She looked at me in confusement.

'Why not? Everyone should know about you, because...'

'You know what I am, don't you? And you know what they do to people like me? Do you want me to end up in prison?'

The woman looked at me hesitantly, then shook her head. 'You don't deserve prison. You are good.'

I smiled. 'Of course I am! Who told you I wasn't? You know what, don't answer that.'

I backed away, planning to leave. The paramedics would probably be here soon, and they wouldn't react well to me.

'Wait!' the father called. 'Will we see you again?'

I smiled again. 'When the world accepts us for who we are.' With that, I pulled kishu with me to the van that was parked around the corner. At least Kishu had thought of that much. We sped off, away from the smoldering remains.

He drove for about half an hour at a maniacs pace. Then he turned into a side road, drove far enough not be seen, and stopped the car. He grabbed his first aid kit again, and turned to me.

'So, we getting that wound sorted or what?'

I looked myself over and noticed that I actually had this huge wound on my arm, and I hadn't even noticed it. Guess I really was an airhead.

I giggled to myself as kishu cleaned the wound and wrapped some bandages on it. When he finished, we both looked up into each other's eyes at the same time.

You know those moments when two desperately-in-love-but-don't-want-to-show-it characters in TV shows look into each other's eyes and it's like there is nothing there except them? I used to burst into a fit of fan-squeals when that happened, cooing and awing and laughing my head off all at the same time.

This wasn't like on TV. This was way, way worse. Or better. Or both.

My head swam as I stared at Kishu and he stared back. My heart quickened, and as I hesitantly leaned forward, I tried to remember how to breathe. Just as my lips were about to brush his, I snapped out of it, pulling my head back with a snap. Kishu seemed slightly dazed, with a very distant gaze in his eyes.

I breathed in heavily. I had almost kissed Kishu. But... why? It wasn't as if I... I mean, I didn't think I... then again... was I actually falling for Kishu? I couldn't be, right? I couldn't! First of all, he was human. Not of my species. And second, he was in love with someone else, for god's sake! How could I be that stupid!

The truth was, I was stupid. I had fallen in love with Kishu, a mere human. No, not a mere human, the kindest and most sincere of all humans. And I had fallen hard. my heart was soaring, higher and higher with every beat. And yet at the same time, it was plummeting, dangerously close to hitting the surface and breaking into thousands of pieces.

Because I was not the one he loved.

I felt like crying at the thought. Wanting to have some private time, I started undoing my seat belt.

'I... I need a nap,' I lied to Kishu, who still seemed slightly fazed. He nodded and restarted the car while I climbed into the back and dropped myself onto the heap of pillows. I faced away from Kishu so he wouldn't be able to see my face and let the tears spill out of my eyes.

Who was the girl Kishu was in love with anyway? He hadn't told me anything useful, hadn't given me even the tiniest hint. Maybe it was reneé. I remembered the girl from my used-to-be class who had practically every boy at her feet and worked part-time as a model. She was pretty, really tall with violet hair, and really cool as far as I remembered. Kishu and reneé would make a cute couple.

I fell asleep with a haunting image of Kishu and reneé, embracing each other, and me in the distance, totally ignored and lost.

Kishu p.o.v.

I wasn't sure what to make of the sounds behind me. There was a lot of sniffing and the occasional whimper. When her breathing slowed, it did not stop. She squirmed in her sleep, as if fighting something in her head.

Wanting to investigate, I parked the car somewhere in some dense bushes and climbed into the back.

Her face was tear streaked and pained, much like the day I had seen her in prison. I frowned worriedly, and stroked her cheek with my hand. Her whimpering only got worse, and I got scared. Did she get hurt in the fire and was she in pain? I grabbed her face with my hands, softly, and tried to wake her up. After a few whispers and shakes, she started mumbling.

'Mama?'

I relaxed. She was missing her family. That's why she was crying.

'It's alright, Ichigo,' I whispered. 'I'm here.'

'It's hard, mama.'

Wow. She was really out of it. Might as well go along.

'What's hard?' I whispered.

'Love.'

I felt taken aback. Ichigo was in love? Could it be... my heart pounded hopefully as she kept mumbling.

'It's so hard, because I love him, but he doesn't love me.'

'Who, Ichigo?' I whispered urgently. 'Who?'

'K-kishu,' Ichigo whispered, with her eyes wide open. She was awake.

'You... you were listening to me sleep talk! You pervert!'

'But... but... I... you... uuuuuuhm...' before I got the chance to say anything decent, Ichigo bonked me on the head, hard. I rubbed my sore spot while she glared at me.

'That should teach you to meddle in my dreams!'

'Sorry!' I mumbled, holding my hands up in surrender. 'It was just, you were crying, and then you were mumbling about love...' I smirked at her. 'Is my kitten in love?'

Her face turned red as I called her by her new nickname. 'Don't call me that! And, FYI, I am SO not in love! Or crushing on someone! Or anything! So butt out, Kishu!'

I held up my hand in mock salute to her and got up so I could start driving again. In my head I was groaning. So close. Real close. But I would find out. Mark my words.