I DON'T OWN TOKYO MEW MEW

STORY

(Saturday-date night)

(With Kissu and Ichigo)

This date was not going anything like what he had pictured. All evening, Kissu had been on his best behaviour and had done everything he could to impress Ichigo, but she wouldn't even look him in the eye. Eventually he just couldn't take it. "Ichigo, will you stop staring at the merry-go-round and look at me!!"

Ichigo turned round, still not looking him in the eyes. Kissu took her by the shoulders and forced her to face him "Ichigo" he said a little more softly "Please" she flinched "look at me". Ichigo tried to ignore, but when she heard Kissu's voice change to such a different tone, she couldn't help but look up, and be amazed with what she saw.

Kissu was looking at her with a mixture of anger, and…sadness? She was stupefied. Usually Kissu was always so cocky, confident, consistent, always with an irritating gleam in his eye, but never sad, he looked almost desperate.

"What is it about me that disgust you so much, huh? So much that you'll barely look me in the eyes!!?" he asked his eyes on hers "Kissu…" she whispered, not really sure how to continue.

But before she could even answer he let go and turned away "I didn't ask you on this date for any sinister reason, I did it because I really like you". Ichigo was stunned, she reached forward, but the instant the second her hand touched his sleeve she noticed something different about him. "Kissu?" she asked.

He was staring at something, with a shocked expression painted on his face. "Pai…!" she spluttered "no…way!" Ichigo followed his gaze, and saw Pai, getting off a roller coaster with Bridget. She was laughing, her face glowed in the neon lights of the rides as she jabbed Pai in the arm with her elbow in a playful way and he let out a small laugh before taking her hand and leading her towards another roller coaster.

"I don't believe it" Kissu said, a huge smile breaking out on his own face "I do not believe it" he was laughing now "This is…out of this world". Ichigo looked at him in confusion, "What?" she asked confused.

Kissu turned to her "Ever since I've known Pai, he's never shown emotion in public, other then anger, annoyance. He never cries, he never smiles, and he sure doesn't laugh. But there he was, laughing…with a girl!"

Ichigo chocked an eyebrow at him, "I never took you for the type to care this much about your friends" she said curiously. Surprisingly, Kissu didn't take it as an insult and merely shrugged "I don't wear my heart on a sleeve, so what? But Ill tell you this. I wouldn't care this much usually, but Pai's different. He's like a brother to me, when…" he drifted off for a second before continuing "…well, it doesn't matter, he just changed after that day. But now, just then, he looked…normal."

Ichigo watched Kissu's face for any changes, anything to show he was lying, but his eyes reflected true concern and happiness for his friend. And the thought made her smile, fortunately Kissu did not noticed it. As he sighed "Im half tempted to steal Tarts new video camera and follow them, but then…" he turned back to her "...you would be without a date, wouldn't you" he grinned a lopsided grin, and it was just so Kissu, that Ichigo couldn't help but laugh.

Which increased Kissu's grin, until he went all serious again "look Im sorry for…what I just said, just forget about it. Can we start again…?" he took her chin and tipped it up to his till her eyes were forced on his "with out you treating me like one look in my eyes and you'll fall head over heels in love?" he joked sarcastically. "If no, then you can walk out of this date, and Ill explain to your friends. Ill even give you a ride home"

Ichigo was very tempted to take him up on his offer; after all she hadn't even wanted to go on this date in the first place. But seeing Kissu's face back then made her curious about this new side of him. "Im hungry" she said taking his arm with a smile

Pai was…having fun! For the first time in a long time he was actually having fun. They had just gotten of their third roller coaster, and Bridget was practically glowing.

She had lied, she didn't hate roller coasters, she loved them.

The second they were strapped to the little cart, and about to ride down their first hill, instead of clinging on to his arm with her eyes shut like most girls usually did, she clung to the edge of the bar, and screamed with pleasure as the cold air hit her in the face and the cart sped down the railing and such a speed that people behind them squealed in fear.

But not Bridget, she whooped and screamed and adored every minute of the terrifying experience, that he was stunned. When the ride was over, he had rushed her onto another rollercoaster, just to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. But sure enough, she was exactly the same on the second one. Sheer joy showed on her face, she was having so much fun, that Pai felt her happiness shake off onto him as he began forgetting about his cold exterior and started to just have a blast.

When the ride finally came to a halt, the two sauntered off, both slightly dizzy and both sat down on a near-by bench. When they had finally caught their breath he was able to speak "that was fun" Bridget sighed from beside him. Pai didn't do much else but nod. "Can I ask you something?" he suddenly asked. Curious, Bridget nodded.

"Why'd you study marine biology, if you're not that interested in it?" Bridget eyes widened as she shook her head wildly "I do like it!" she protested. Pai sat up "don't lie to me, your about as much interested in marine biology as I am in dancing around in a frilly tutu. So why pretend?"

Bridget was in a dilemma, for some reason, she wanted to tell him, but not the whole thing, not yet. "My parents don't approve of what I like to do. They said I had to get my head out of the clouds and into something practical. And I though marine biology was sort of interesting, so I chose that."

Pai cocked an eyebrow, "and what was the thing you liked to do before?"

Bridget did something so unlike her, and tapped the side of her nose as she said cheekily "that's my secret".

Pai couldn't help but grin and laugh, when Bridget was more relaxed and not stuttering at every word, she was actually, an interesting, person to talk to.

She was just so sharp, intelligent and funny, he found himself loosing himself in conversation. And the things they talked about were interesting too. Throughout the whole time they were waiting in the line for the rollercoaster they talked. Most girls talked about makeup, their friends and always tried to bring the conversation onto indicating that she was interested.

But Bridget, like everything else she did, surprised him when she started up a discussion about politics. For the next twenty minutes, Pai was able to talk with a girl, and not zone out after two seconds. And he liked that. True she wasn't anything like Retesu, but in her own way, Bridget Verdant was alright.

"Now…" Bridget announced, breaking him out of his train of thought "It's my turn to ask you a question" Pai shrugged "Fire away"

Her expression suddenly changed into a more serious one "Why did you save me that day, one my first day?"

Pai hadn't been expecting that, "what, more is there to know? I helped you out, isn't that enough?" he asked, his own cold exterior creeping back. Bridget shook her head wildly "N-no it's not that Im ungrateful, I…I was just curious."

Pai shrugged, he couldn't tell Bridget about Retesu, the one thing he knew about dates, was to never mention another girl on one. Usually he didn't care, but with Retesu it was different. For some reason he didn't want her to get pissed off and leave, not when he was actually enjoying her company.

"I just hate when people do things like that, and you looked so…freaked out…I couldn't just stand there" he said, hoping he was giving a good enough answer. Luckily, Bridget only smiled "Well…Thank you" she said.

Pai looked down at her and suddenly his heart skipped a beat, her smile was so beautiful, not like Retesu's, but still so beautiful. He wanted to stay like this, with her smiling, caught in this moment, forever.

"Ok then" she said "lets go on another ride before we meet Ichigo and the others by the fairest wheel" she turned and ran to another roller coaster, and it was a good thing that she had turned, because she missed seeing Pai's face breaking out in a furious Blush.

(With Pai, at school)

Pai went over the events of the date as he waited for class to start. He was troubled, why had his heart had skipped with Bridget? Not only skipped, but been mesmerised by her smile? That wasn't supposed to happen; he wasn't supposed to feel that way about any girl, any one but Retesu. But…he thought of Bridget and an image of her smile passed through his mind.

"Hey Pai how…Whoa!! Pai you're actually smiling" Kissu gasped. Pai snapped out of his day dream and realized that he had been smiling into thin air. He turned his head to the window, and saw faint blush grazing his cheeks in his reflection. "What the…?" he started but just then the bell rang and the class started spilling inside.

Ichigo flounced in and dropped her self in her seat. Kissu looked up hoping to meet her eye, and he did but the second their eyes met she dropped her head down to the table and pretended to be asleep. And in about ten seconds, she was asleep. Kissu grinned "By the way Pai I need to talk to you later."

Pai shrugged, not really listening. He was watching the door for Bridget. He knew she was in, he had seen her earlier that day while she made her way to the library.

So where was she?

"Something's not right…" he murmured. The teacher walked in and began to take attendance, now he knew something wasn't right. Bridget didn't seem like the kind of girl to be late for class or skip lessons, especially the time when Sensei took attendance.

"Sensei" Pai called out "I need to use the bathroom". The teacher watched Pai's face; but he didn't show any emotion, so it was hard to tell if he was lying. "Yes Kinimoto-san" he said eventually, handing out an out-of-class pass "but don't be late for first bell".

Pai snatched the pass and ran out the classroom. He had a bad feeling about this, he had to find her. Pai swung the door to the library open to find it deserted. "Yamouro Sensei!" he barked at the librarian "did you see a girl with green hair, glasses and really blue eyes walk out of here?"

"Yes" the librarian said nodding her head "nice girl, came to study, ended up helping me re-arrange the whole fiction section instead" she smiled "she left about twenty minutes ago.

That wasn't right, if she had left twenty minuets ago, then she defiantly should have been in class on time. Maybe he was just overreacting, maybe she had just stopped off to help the school janitor restock the vending machines or something, and it sounded like something she would do.

But still, that bad feeling annoyed him, and it wouldn't leave him alone until he found her. So Pai thanked the librarian and took off running down the hallways. Suddenly when it seemed as if he would never find her, Pai heard a shriek come from one of the halls and that shriek sounded a lot like…"BRIDGET!!" he yelled running down the corridor.

He turned a corner and saw…three girls emptying out the contents of someone's back pack on the floor. It was filled with books, papers, and other things. They fell to the ground with a clutter before the red haired girl threw it to the ground and stomped on it. "That's what we do to dogs like you, ones who weasel their way into good books of our Sempai's" she sniped.

Pai could see the legs of the girl they were bullying was bruised and cut, as if the Beckys had been kicking her repeatedly. The girl whimpered. Pai wanted to save her, but he also wanted to find Bridget. Just as he was making his mind up, one of the Beckys reached out and tugged on the hair of the girl "Well, answer us, what happened on that date. And don't lie; we know you went on a date with our Pai-Sempai."

Pai's blood stopped and he rushed up to get closer to the bullies, as he was approaching he saw in the hair in Becky's hand was green! "I told you" the girl screeched from the pain "Nothing happened!!" it was Bridget's voice!

"HEY!!" He yelled furiously. The Beckys jumped back to reveal a very beaten up Bridget. Her braids had been pulled out; her glasses smashed, her nose and the side if he lip running with blood, her legs were even more bruised from the kicking then he'd thought and her arms were covered with bruises and Chinese burns.

Pai didn't know when else he'd felt this angry. He'd been angry when he had found out Retesu had gone, but this anger…was something entirely different "What do you think your doing" he said, his voice like razor sharp ice that cut into the Beckys. "I thought I told you before to stay away from her" he walked over and scooped Bridget into his arms bridal style, she gratefully passed out into his chest as he began walking away with her. "Wait! Pai Sempai!" someone yelled he half-turned.

The blond and the brunet were cowering in fear, but the red-head looked angry "Why would you care about her? She's just some stupid girl who doesn't belong here. What happened to you being in love with someone else? What? Im not good enough to warm your heart, but she is? That girl makes me so sick. What's so good about her?"

He turned around fully and glared the coldest most deadly glare anyone would ever see at Becky "Because" he sneered "unlike you she doesn't beat people up or use dirty tricks to weasel their way into good books of her Sempai's. She's decent, smart, and ten times the person you could ever even hope to be" he said his voice deadly and with that he turned and left them in their tracks, but not before adding "By the way, I wouldn't recommend getting comfortable in this school, because you wont be here for very long"

Pai brought Bridget to the Nurse's office, only to find her gone. So he had to treat Bridget himself, so it was a good thing he had learned first aid.

As he got out the first aid kit he heard a small groan from behind him "Pai-Sempai? What happened? Where am I?"

Some of Pai's temper cooled down and his eye's softened as he turned to see Bridget. She was really banged up and still trying to push herself up into a sitting position. He sighed and pushed on her shoulders, forcing her to lie down. "To answer your questions: you were beaten up over something stupid, and you're now being treated by me in the nurse's offices because for some strange reason, she's not here" he dipped a tissue in a jar of something and said in a soothing, unusually calm voice "Its Ok, It's over"

Bridget sighed and allowed him to dab some antiseptic on her forehead, ignoring the stinging pain "That's a relief" she sighed again "Though, I can't imagine them letting you walk away with me so easily with out a word in edgewise" she asked

Pai growled "they didn't have much of a choice" he snarled "don't worry, I can have them expelled for this, they wont be doing this again any time soon…." The second he mentioned expulsion for the three Beckys, Bridget's eye's widened "What!" she sat up so suddenly, wincing from the pain in her shoulders. "No, You cant, you can't have then expelled, don't!"

Pai just stared at her for a second before bursting out "How can you be defending them, just look at you, you look like someone who just came out badly in a fight with a bunch of vicious cats" Bridget looked down. "What did they want anyway?" he asked as he bandaged the arm with the Chinese burn.

Bridget sighed "It was nothing; they just wanted to know what happened on that date. Info, they wanted to know everything about you. Once when they asked, I made the mistake to hesitate and they realized that I wasn't being completely truthful"

Pai raised his eyebrow and why didn't you tell them, nothing really happened, there was nothing to hide" Pai suddenly thought of the time he had been mesmerized by her smile, and decided to keep that to himself.

Bridget shook her head "no, that wasn't what they were interested in. you're always so with drawn Pai-sempai, they wanted to know about you, you hobbies your family your habits, things like that"

Pai frowned, during the time he had spent with her waiting for roller coasters, he had many times relaxed too much and let slip something about his family or his child hood or one or two things about the relationship he had with his father. He had hated himself for it after, but Pai kept his face absolutely emotionless as Bridget smiled and nodded understandingly. It was another thing that he liked so much about her.

While he did hate the idea of these girls knowing anything about him, he didn't understand why she didn't tell them. "So why didn't you say anything" he said, again keeping his face impassive, while inside, he was soo anxious "you could have saved yourself a beating. Trade a few of my secrets for your safety. And besides, its not as if any of the things I told you mattered much to me-" "your lying" Bridget cut him off and Pai looked up "What?"

Bridget matched his gaze with her own "You're lying when you say those things didn't matter. When ever you said something, you would scrunch up your eyebrows and your eyes would look so sad. The things you told me did matter, and I had no right to tell some nosy girls your business, I respect your trust more then that".

Pai was stunned; this girl just kept surprising him. She was completely different from any other girl he had ever met. She actually valued his trust enough to let her self get beaten up to keep it. Pai felt his heart buzzing again, no one had ever made him feel like this before. His heart was skipping beats, his pulse was racing and he suddenly developed a strange interest in Bridget's lips. She was so beautiful…and in a way cute.

He leaned forward and took her cheek in his hand. A blush covered her face as Bridget stuttered "P-Pai sempai w-what are you-" "What" he cut her of "what are you doing to me?" his voice was gruff; it sent shivers down Bridget's sine "why do you do this to me?"

"W-what?" she managed to get out.

Pai's eyes bore into her as he said "So much, I can't seem to stop thinking about you, you make my heart do strange things, you surprise me and it's not because you look like…" he trailed off as Pai realized something. What in the world made him keep comparing Bridget to Retesu? She wasn't any thing like Retesu, she was better, she was real, and she was here, with him. And the fact that he had actually come to that conclusion, half terrified him.

"…what are you doing to me?" he repeated before finally closing the distance between them with a chaste kiss that was over as soon as it had started, leaving Bridget blinking, blushing and still looking cute.

Pai wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her again, but at that exact moment, the school nurse decided to waltzed her way in "Goodness" she gasped "what in the world happened here" she indicated Bridget's still un-bandaged forehead and legs.

Pai pulled away from her and gave the nurse an up-to-date report on Bridget's injuries before nodding to Bridget "See you later Verdant-san"

Out side the nurse's room and half way down the corridor, he sank to the ground. He had just kissed Bridget Verdant, and…liked it. No, liked it was an understatement, that one kiss had sent his heart pumping. And not once, during that kiss had Retesu's face fitted into his mind, instead it had been replaced with Bridget's. And it had felt so right

Bridget pressed her finger tips to her lips. While she was aware of the nurse faffing about looking for a cold compress, she wasn't paying any attention. Why…? He wasn't suppose to do that, he wasn't suppose to kiss her, or send her emotions scattering, it made her job here harder if she couldn't tell her feelings apart.

She was suppose to hate him, but...Bridget closed her eyes and sighed to herself, there was no fooling herself, she knew that if she didn't watch herself, she might end up falling for the one she was trying to trip up.

DONE

IF YOUR WONDERING WHY SHE WANTS TO TRIP Pai UP WHEN SHE 'S SUPPOSE TO BE FALLING IN LOVE WITH HIM…THEN YOU GONNA HAVE TO REVIEW TO FIND OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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