I stared at him in disbelief. "What?"
"Just what I said, kitten," his voice was suddenly hard and emotionless. It lacked the love that had permeated it yesterday, the confusion from the day before that, and the curiosity he had had all week. He flipped his sai once in his hand before dropping it into his lap. But it didn't land in his lap. It disintegrated into thin air. "Pai changed my job again. I have to fight you now." He got to his feet and walked halfway across the room, staring at me as I sat in my bed, staring back at him.
"Kisshu…" I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt. It felt like I had won the lottery and then lost the winning ticket before I could claim my prize.
Kisshu managed a small smile. "But I've told you before, kitten. I don't like mixing business and pleasure." He suddenly teleported directly in front of me and gave me a quick peck on the mouth. Floating backwards a little, he whispered, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I stared at my lap and blushed furiously. I knew he was about to leave, but I didn't want him to. "Kisshu, wait…" I trailed off when I looked up and realized that I was talking to an empty room.
"What?" Ginger yelled in surprise. "You… he… you… And now he has to kill you?" I had told her everything that had happened this past week. I needed to tell someone. I had fallen in love with my enemy, and he with me, only to be reminded that we were in fact… enemies. Ginger furrowed her brow. "Tomorrow, you have to trick him into drinking a diet soda," she concluded.
I sighed dejectedly. If only it were that simple. If only I could use the weakness I had learned this week against him. But Kisshu's allergy to an artificial sweetener wasn't going to save me. My Strawberry Bell wasn't going to save me. Nothing could save me, because I wasn't fighting an enemy. I was fighting someone I loved. And the pain that stemmed from that fact… nothing could ever save me from it.
There is one farmer left in my suburban town. He has fields in the most random places. Two are beside one of the town's main streets. A couple of them lie off of some back road, separating two different subdivisions. But the largest of his fields is actually right behind my house. My back yard slopes down into a corn field, separated by nothing but a chain-link fence and a small row of trees.
And this was the field I stood in today, clad in Mew Strawberry's mini-dress, cat appendages sticking out of my head and rear. I was very thankful for the knee-high leather boots. They would be good protection against any snake that might be in here and decide to bite me. But I was out here today for something bigger than a snake.
Masha floated near my shoulder, shouting, "Chimera Anima! Chimera Anima!" over and over again. My muscles were tensed. I was ready. But then I saw it. It was a giant snake-like thing that hissed at me. As I stared at it, I thought something along the lines of me so not being ready. I waited for it to attack, but… it didn't.
That's when Kisshu burst out from behind a row of corn stalks and pinned me to the ground. He was smiling. "I think I've solved our problem, kitten," he grinned at me.
"W- What?" I struggled to grasp his words in my shock.
He leaned his face down and kissed me on the cheek before saying, "We don't have to fight. We just have to act like we're fighting." He kissed me on my other cheek and then added, "Pai's sensors only tell him our positions. They don't tell him what we're doing." He kissed me on the forehead now. "And so, as long as I have a Chimera, and as long as your Strawberry Bell goes off every few minutes…" Kiss. "… we're in the clear. We can do whatever we want. It won't even look suspicious if I'm on top of you." He smirked this time. "Pai will just think we're wrestling." Kiss. "But we won't be." Kisshu stared into my eyes, and I into his. I remembered how they had been hard and metallic almost a week ago. Now they were and smooth and sweet as honey.
I thought about his words. If we weren't going to fight, what did this mean for us? For Earth? For Kisshu's race? But when he dipped his face in again and kissed me on the lips, I realized that I really didn't care. And maybe that's why I kissed back.
This went on for quite some time. Kisshu and I had our little 'battle' rendezvous and Pai was none the wiser. Ryou texted me and let me know that Mew Lettuce was infused in China. Pai dispatched Miru (a female alien) to fight her. Ryou informed me that Mew Pudding had been found in France. Pai sent Taruto after her. And when Mew Zakuro was uncovered in Australia, Pai himself had to leave headquarters in order to battle her. The Brazilian Mint was fighting a male alien who Kisshu told me was called Natir. All around the globe, Mews fought aliens; except for in America. God bless the land of the free and the home of the brave and our melting pot spirit and all that jazz. Here in America, Kisshu and I made out and had the time of our lives.
But one day, Kisshu showed up with some sort of bazooka-looking device. He aimed it at me. "Sorry, kitten," he apologized. "I still love you, but I have to save my people. So today, I make you mine." He was acting more and more like the anime Kisshu as of late, but I hadn't expected this. "You're too much of a threat as you are now. But I'm going to fix that." Then he readied his weapon… and fired.
The pain was intense. I was thrown into another world. It seemed almost like a vision. And as the pain intensified, I saw a cat come out of my body and leave me. No… It didn't leave me. It was more like it was yanked out of me. It hissed and squalled and clawed the air. Tears blurred the edges of my vision. - Actually, it might not have been tears. - But nonetheless, the blur was there. As the cat was pulled farther and farther away from me by some unseen force, I stretched my hand out toward it. But I couldn't reach it, and I couldn't move. "Wait," I whimpered. "Come back. I need you!" But all that happened was the wall opened in one place like a door, shining white light into the eternal darkness. The cat was pulled through the door, and the door shut behind it. Then the world went black.