Betraying My People Chapter 37:

Bad Hair Day

Ichigo was still watching Kisshu sleep about two hours later. She had already checked to make sure he wasn't sick, so she knew he was just worn out from worrying.

Another hour passed before Kisshu stirred, and as soon as he was awake, he asked, "Ichigo?"

"I'm right here," Ichigo said.

"How long have I been sleeping?" Kisshu asked.

"It's been about three hours," Ichigo said gently. "I put you to bed after you fell asleep in my arms. You were pretty worn out."

Kisshu sat up, and said, "I was really worried about you. Please don't do something like that again."

"If I hadn't, I would have died anyways," Ichigo said. "I don't have the training to beat you in a sword match. And I couldn't bring myself to hurt you, no matter what."

Kisshu was starting to look sad again, and Ichigo said, "Kisshu, we still have to save our family and the rest of our people. I'm fine, so don't get so depressed. We both need to stay strong."

Kisshu looked at her, and smiled reluctantly. "You're right, like always," he said. "Any ideas?"

"We should try to find our family, Siria-sama and Hiro-sama, and tell them what's happening," Ichigo said. "After that, we can all work together to defeat Gen."

"Where should we look, though?" Kisshu asked.

"You can't teleport to someone?" Ichigo asked.

"Only if I know where they are," Kisshu said.

"Can you sense where they are?" Ichigo said. "Maybe that'll show you where they are. They're probably all together."

Kisshu closed his eyes and concentrated. "Uh-oh, it looks like they're all tied up in a little hut in the woods, and the storm's still going," he said finally. "Let's go get them." He got up, and took Ichigo's hand, then teleported to the hut. They landed outside, and Kisshu put a hand over the latch, checking for anything suspicious. Both he and Ichigo were already soaked from the rain, but luckily, there was no spell on the door. Kisshu took out his Dragon Swords, and cut the door down. Then he and Ichigo went in. Sure enough, Aunt Hamaya, Uncle Aran, Siria-sama, Hiro-sama, Pai and Taruto were all tied up. Ichigo and Kisshu immediately began untying them, and soon they were all free. Siria-sama stood up and sighed. "Thank you both for freeing us," she said. "What is the situation right now?"

"Gen said he was going to brainwash the Council with the help of Choji-sama and his wife," Kisshu said. "I don't know how far he's gotten in doing that."

"Why?" Siria-sama asked. "Weren't you there until you found us?"

"Gen brainwashed Kisshu into attacking me," Ichigo said. "I managed to get him back to normal, but I got injured in the process, and Kisshu used up a lot of energy healing me. That was about three hours ago, and I don't know what happened after Gen left, since I was looking after Kisshu, who wore himself out healing and worrying about me."

"Are you both okay?" Aunt Hamaya asked.

"We're fine," Ichigo said. "But I think we should get back, the storm's still going."

"You're both soaked, were you walking around to look for us?" Hiro-sama asked.

"No, we teleported straight here, but I wanted to make sure we could get out again, so I slashed up the door, and Ichigo and I got soaked just being out there for five minutes," Kisshu said. "It's pretty bad out there."

"I suppose we'd be better off teleporting home, then," Uncle Aran said. "Siria-sama, Hiro-sama, you are both welcome to come with us. I don't think it's wise to go straight back to the Council if Gen may have brainwashed them."

"I agree," Hiro-sama said. "We appreciate your hospitality."

"Let's go, the wind's picking up," Siria-sama said. The others nodded, and they all teleported to the main room of the Ikisatashi's home.

Aunt Hamaya noticed Kisshu and Ichigo looked cold, and said, "You two need to get out of those wet clothes before you catch a cold."

"Okay," Kisshu said. He and Ichigo went back to their room, and got some fresh clothes. Deciding it wasn't the end of the world if they changed together, they both went into the bathroom and started drying their hair and skin. Ichigo changed quickly, and looked at Kisshu. Then she giggled. "Your hair is standing on end," she told him in response to his puzzled look.

Kisshu looked in the mirror and winced. Then he grabbed a comb and started trying to comb his hair, which was pretty messy. After the fifth time he hit a tangle, Ichigo said, "Here, I'll do it. It helps if you wet the comb sometimes." She ran the comb under the tap water, and then went over to Kisshu. Then she started combing out his hair. Soon she was done, and she said, "All set. You can put your hairties in now."

Kisshu did so, and said, "Thanks, Koneko-chan."

"Sure," Ichigo said. "Let's go back to the others."

When they went out to the main room, Taruto immediately said, "What took you so long?"

"Kisshu was having a bad hair day," Ichigo said.

"Not surprising, grass isn't easy to comb," Taruto said in a disgruntled tone of voice.

Kisshu lowered his head, and as he walked away, Ichigo, Pai, Uncle Aran, and Aunt Hamaya all shouted, "TARUTO!"

Taruto gulped as Siria-sama and Hiro-sama looked confused. "Um, can someone explain what just happened?" Hiro-sama asked.

Aunt Hamaya sighed. "Kisshu's very sensitive about 'grass' comments," she said. "He got teased a lot because of his hair when he was younger, and even now. Not to mention everyone was jealous because of his fighting skill." She glared at Taruto.

"I had green hair when I was young," Siria-sama said unexpectedly. "I got teased too, actually. I'll go talk with Kisshu. The rest of you stay here." She walked off as the others bowed slightly, then went back to glaring at Taruto, who was getting very nervous.

With Kisshu: Kisshu was lying facedown on his bed, and didn't look up to see who was coming into his room. He just said, "Whoever just came in should go tell Taruto to jump off a cliff."

"I don't think there are any cliffs in this area," Siria-sama said in an almost teasing tone.

This, naturally, caused Kisshu to look up sharply. Then he jumped up and bowed, saying, "I-I'm sorry about that…."

"It's fine, I understand you being upset," Siria-sama said. "I was born with green hair too, you know. It's not easy."

Kisshu looked at her, surprised. Siria-sama smiled and said, "I bet you get teased a lot, and it really hurts, because you had no control over your hair color."

Kisshu looked sad, and said, "Yeah…."

"I was the same way," Siria-sama said. "It never stopped hurting that people didn't like me simply because my hair was different. As time went on, and I became the leader of the Council, people stopped teasing me, and now the majority of our people forget that I used to be the one with weird hair. But I want you to know that you're not the only one who had to go through this. And you got lucky with Ichigo, I've heard some of her comments on how beautiful she thinks your hair is."

Kisshu smiled slightly. "You're right," he said. "Thanks, Siria-sama."

"You're welcome," Siria-sama said with a smile. "Let's go back and plan our next move against Gen. I'm sure the others are done with Taruto by now."

Back with the others: Taruto was still getting scolded. Just as Siria-sama came back with a more cheerful Kisshu, Aunt Hamaya yelled, "And you're grounded for two months!"

Kisshu laughed, and the others turned. "Good to see you're happier," Uncle Aran said. "Was Siria-sama helpful?"

"Hai, very," Kisshu said. "So now I can gloat about Taruto's punishment, right?"

"Wrong," Aunt Hamaya said. "Unless you want to get grounded too."

Ichigo giggled as Kisshu scowled and said, "Fine, I'll gloat where no one can hear me."

Aunt Hamaya sighed but didn't pursue the subject. Then Taruto said, "Do I have to apologize?"

"I can add floor cleaning to the punishment," Aunt Hamaya said.

Taruto looked horrified and said, "Kisshu, I'm really sorry I made a comment about your hair."

"Just don't do it again," Kisshu said. "Because if there is a next time, you'll get strangled- after Aunt Hamaya grounds you."

Taruto gulped, and said, "Fine, no more hair comments."

Bringing things back to where they started, Hiro-sama said, "Shall we start planning?"

A bit of a cliffie… I won't be posting till tomorrow or later, so in the meantime, you can send reviews! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!