Betraying My People Chapter 16:

Not Good

The next morning, Kisshu woke up first. He noticed right away that he had a really bad headache, and got worried. What if this is another illness from Deep Blue? he thought. I really don't want to spend another month and a half unable to do anything, especially if Deep Blue appears soon. With that in mind, he decided to wake up Ichigo. He shook her shoulder, and she started to wake up. "Kisshu? Is something wrong?" she yawned.

"I have a really bad headache," Kisshu said.

Ichigo became alert almost instantly. She sat up, and said, "Lie back, I'll see what's wrong." Kisshu obeyed, and Ichigo put a hand on his forehead, then closed her eyes. Suddenly she yanked her hand away, and opened her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Kisshu asked. "Besides the headache?"

"Your skin started heating up," Ichigo said. "It startled me." She put her hand back on his forehead, and said, "You've got a fever, but it's not as bad as last time. I don't think this is from Deep Blue; I think you just have a cold."

"Can you do something about that?" Kisshu asked. "If Deep Blue appears soon, I need to be at full strength."

"Okay," Ichigo said. "Let me get my pendant." She got up, pulling the blankets back over Kisshu, and went over to Kisshu's desk, where she had left it the night before.

It wasn't there.

Ichigo told herself not to panic, and started looking around the desk. Then she checked her pockets. Still no sign of it. Kisshu notice her looking worried, and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"I can't find my pendant," Ichigo said, sounding scared.

"Is it possible that it's in your clothes from yesterday?" Kisshu asked.

"I'll check," Ichigo said. She felt around in the pockets of her skirt from yesterday, and finally said, "It's not there either!"

Kisshu started to look worried too. "Why would it disappear?" Ichigo moaned.

"Go ask Pai, maybe he wanted to look at it," Kisshu said. "I thought I heard teleportation in here last night, but I could be wrong, I was tired."

"I'll go now," Ichigo said. She ran out and to Pai's lab. Pai was just coming out and asked, "What's up?"

"My pendant is missing, do you know where it is?" Ichigo asked.

"No," Pai said, looking worried. "Do you need it now?"

"Yeah, Kisshu caught a cold," Ichigo said. "I don't think it has anything to do with Deep Blue, but he asked if I could heal him."

"Did you look everywhere?" Pai asked.

"Hai," Ichigo said. "I can't imagine what could have happened."

"I can't either," Pai said. "Did you hear anything last night?"

"No, but Kisshu said he might have heard teleportation," Ichigo said. "He was too tired to say for sure, though."

Pai looked scared. "This is bad," he said. "If someone who can teleport took your pendant, we're in trouble. I can't see Taruto taking it for any reason, so it must be related to Deep Blue."

"What do we do?" Ichigo asked. "If Deep Blue tries to kill Kisshu again, I'll be powerless!"

Pai seemed to be thinking, and then said, "Try transforming without the pendant. The power's inside your DNA. It might work."

"O-okay," Ichigo said. She concentrated, and then shouted, "Mew Mew Strawberry! Metamorpho-SIS!" To her surprise, it worked! Soon she was fully transformed, and she turned to Pai. "Thanks, great idea!" she said to him.

"Good," Pai said. "You should go to Kisshu, we need him at full strength."

"Hai," Ichigo said, and ran back to their room.

Kisshu looked up as she came in, and said, "You found it?"

"No," Ichigo said. "But Pai suggested trying to transform without the pendant, and it worked!"

"Great!" Kisshu said. His smile faded as he began coughing, though. Ichigo went over and put a hand on his chest, and she began to glow pink. The glow flowed into Kisshu, and he stopped coughing. Finally they both stopped glowing, and Kisshu sat up. "Thanks Koneko-chan, I feel a lot better," Kisshu said happily.

"Good…" Ichigo said.

"Are you okay?" Kisshu asked, worried by how tired she sounded. He got up- just in time to catch her as she collapsed. "Ichigo? ICHIGO!" Kisshu cried out. He put a hand on her forehead, and his eyes widened. She was burning up. He put her on their bed, and covered her with the blankets. Then he teleported to Pai, and before Pai could say anything, said, "Ichigo's really sick! I think Deep Blue caused her to get sick this time!"

"Kisshu, you need to calm down," Pai said. "It's not going to help Ichigo if you panic."

"How can I calm down!?" Kisshu shouted. "The only reason I'm still alive after what Deep Blue did to me is because Ichigo can heal. I can't heal! And as far as I know, neither can you or Taruto!"

Pai grabbed Kisshu by the shoulders, and shook him, saying, "We'll find a way to help Ichigo. You need to calm down! If she sees you like this, it'll scare her! I won't let her die, and knowing how stubborn you are, you won't either. Get a grip!"

Kisshu took a deep breath, and let it out. "Thanks, Pai, I needed that," he said. "But what should we do?"

"I'll get the medicine," Pai said. "You go back to her." He teleported out, and Kisshu teleported to Ichigo.

She was asleep when he got there. Pai teleported in, and said, "You're going to have to wake her up."

Kisshu nodded, and shook Ichigo's shoulder gently. She stirred, but didn't wake up. "Ichigo, wake up," he said, shaking her again.

Ichigo 'nya'd' and opened her eyes. "I don't feel good," she said.

"Pai has some of the medicine for you," Kisshu said. "Can you sit up?"

"I think so," Ichigo said. She tried, and managed it, but looked pretty tired out. Kisshu took the medicine from Pai and gave her two spoonfuls. "Yuck," she said. "Can I go back to sleep?"

"Yeah, sure," Kisshu said. Ichigo laid back down, and fell asleep within seconds.

"You should stay with her," Pai said to Kisshu. "I'll leave the medicine here, but don't give her too much; this stuff is pretty strong. And call me if something happens."

"Okay," Kisshu said. He sat down next to Ichigo as Pai teleported out.

I know it's short, but I received an idea from OkamiAmaterasuLuver for Ichigo's Illness, so I'll work on that for a while. Review!