Betraying My People Chapter 7:

Recovery and Planning

By nighttime, Kisshu said his stomach was feeling better, but he still had a fever. Ichigo put a cold cloth on his forehead, because Pai said that they couldn't mix the stomach medicine with the fever medicine.

Ichigo was about to leave for the night when she heard Kisshu say softly, "Can you sleep in here?"

She turned back, and saw Kisshu looking at her almost pleadingly. "Fine, but I'm sleeping on the floor," she said.

Kisshu sighed, but said, "Thanks, Koneko-chan."

Ichigo went and got her blankets and pillow, then took them back to Kisshu's room, and laid them out. Noticing that Kisshu was asleep, she curled up and went to sleep herself. And as she slept, she began dreaming.

Ichigo's dream: It started out normally. She was waking up in her room. It was a weekend, so she slept in. She got up, but before she could start getting dressed, she heard her mother scream. Ichigo ran downstairs, and saw Ryou standing over her parents, a bloody knife in his hand. Both her parents were dead. Ryou smirked and said, "You deserved it for quitting." Ichigo fell to her knees in shock, as Ryou disappeared. Then Ichigo began sobbing.

-End dream-

Ichigo woke up with a gasp. It took her a minute to remember where she was, but then she saw Kisshu, who was still sleeping. Ichigo realized her cheeks were wet with tears, and quickly wiped her face. She still felt scared, and she looked over at Kisshu again. He was sleeping peacefully, and Ichigo started to wonder if sleeping with him might be better than sleeping alone. She didn't want to have the nightmare again. Making her decision, she got up and quietly went over to the bed, then gently curled up next to Kisshu. Then she fell back to sleep.

The next morning, Kisshu woke up feeling a lot better. He stretched- and his arm hit something. Confused, he looked next to him- and saw Ichigo sleeping next to him. His face lit up, until he noticed her face was tearstained. He started stroking her hair, and was surprised when she started purring. Then he noticed she was starting to wake up. "Koneko-chan?" he asked softly.

Ichigo opened her eyes, and said, "Kisshu?"

"Yeah," Kisshu said. "Are you okay?"

"I was dreaming that I saw Ryou kill my parents, and when he saw me, he said, "You deserved it for quitting." Then I climbed in with you, because I was scared," Ichigo said. She sounded sad. "Do you think if I hadn't quit, Ryou wouldn't have killed my parents?"

Kisshu took her in his arms and said, "You didn't cause their deaths. Ryou's evil, he might have done it anyways. Don't think that it's your fault your parents died. It's Ryou's fault, not yours." He felt Ichigo shaking in his arms, and looked down to see that she was crying silently. "I guess it finally sunk in, huh?" he asked her.

Ichigo nodded. Kisshu held her tightly, and said, "Don't worry, I'm here for you."

Ichigo gradually stopped crying, and said, "Thanks, Kisshu."

Kisshu smiled at her. "We should get ready," he said. "Otherwise Pai will come bang on the door."

Ichigo giggled. "Okay," she said. "I'll go get dressed. Meet me in the kitchen?"

"Sure," Kisshu said.

Ichigo left, and started getting ready. She took a quick shower, and did her hair, then walked to the kitchen. Kisshu was already there, and he was making something. Ichigo sniffed the air, and realized he was cooking bacon. "That smells good," Ichigo said.

"Thanks, I thought it would be nice if I cooked for a change," Kisshu said. "The bacon's almost done."

"Do you want me to make toast?" Ichigo asked.

"Way ahead of you," Kisshu said, pointing to the toaster, where there were four pieces of toast waiting.

"Thanks Kisshu," Ichigo said.

"Welcome," Kisshu said. "The bacon's done."

Ichigo smiled and got two plates, then put one aside for Kisshu, and took the other to the toaster. "Are we saving some for Pai and Taruto?" she asked.

"No, they can make their own," Kisshu said. "Even Pai can't go too wrong with toast."

"Okay," Ichigo said. She took two pieces of toast, and got a few slices of bacon. Kisshu did the same, and they sat down at the table and started eating.

A few minutes later, Taruto teleported in and said, "What'd you make this time, Ichigo?"

"Kisshu made bacon and toast," Ichigo said. "There's still some bacon if you want it."

Taruto floated over to the stove, and grabbed a few pieces of bacon. He was about to take a bite of one when Ichigo said, "Taruto, don't you have any table manners? Get a plate and sit down with that."

"Make me," Taruto said with a smirk.

"Who taught you manners?" Ichigo asked.

"My mom, but I didn't really care," Taruto said. "So, are you going to make me sit down to eat?"

"No, but don't blame me if you choke," Ichigo said.

Taruto grinned and stuck all the bacon he took into his mouth at once. Luckily he had only taken three pieces, but he still started coughing.

"I warned you," Ichigo said. Taruto managed to swallow and glared at her. "What? You should know better than to stuff that much food in your mouth at once anyways," Ichigo said. "Honestly, you eat like a pig sometimes."

Kisshu started laughing. Taruto glared at him and said, "You're not much better!"

"Actually, Kisshu actually chews his food," Ichigo said. "You're the disgusting eater around here."

"What if it's traditional for me to eat like that?" Taruto said.

"Then why don't Kisshu and Pai eat like that?" Ichigo asked. "Besides, I think that any reasonably civilized culture would at the very least chew their food. It's hazardous to eat without chewing."

"So I'm uncivilized?" Taruto asked.

"Pretty much," Kisshu said. "At least the rest of us have table manners. Ichigo's right, you eat like an animal."

"Grr.." Taruto said. Then he muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Stupid old hag…"

"Insulting the cook isn't a good idea," Ichigo told him. "I'm in control of what you eat, so unless you want to eat broccoli while the rest of us are having pancakes, I suggest you don't call me an 'old hag'."

"I HATE BROCCOLI!" Taruto screamed. "I won't call you an old hag! Just don't ever bring broccoli into the kitchen!"

"Fine…" Ichigo said.

Pai came in a minute later, and said, "I heard screaming, is everything okay?"

"Taruto's scared of broccoli," Ichigo said. "I told him if he started calling me an 'old hag', he'd be eating nothing but broccoli."

"Why would Taruto call you an old hag?" Pai asked.

"We were telling him he ate like an animal," Kisshu said.

"That's true," Pai said. "Taruto, you really should change your rather disgusting eating habits."

Taruto growled and teleported out. Pai sighed and said, "Kisshu, are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling a lot better," Kisshu said. "I think my fever's gone, too."

Pai came over and felt his forehead, and said, "Yep, your fever's gone. Good timing, while you were sick, Deep Blue-sama informed me that we should attack the Mews soon. I told him we'd do it when you were better."

"Okay, what's the plan?" Kisshu asked.

"We're going to attack that pink building," Pai said. "I think we should do some scouting first, though. Ichigo, what time is that place open?"

"Three in the afternoon," Ichigo replied. "And it closes at seven, but the other Mews usually stay to do clean up afterwards."

"Let's go when they close," Pai said. "It'll give us a better chance of getting rid of them if there aren't a lot of others to get rid of."

"That's provided they're still there," Ichigo said. "I did tell them that Ryou killed my parents. If he confessed, or they found out the truth, the Mews might not be a problem anymore."

"Well, we'll have to see," Pai said. "Let's go there tonight, and see what we find."

"Okay," Kisshu and Ichigo said.

I might not post again tonight, but I'm not sure yet. Plz review!