Kill Zone

Ichigo's mind could not wrap around what she had just heard. Her pulse was pounding hard in her throat as she stared in stunned silence. They could not be serious! There had to be a mistake of some kind. Maybe she was not understanding them correctly. Her eyes fell on the weapons he had shoved into her hands. the blades shining in the light of the sun. The thought of using them made her stomach flip before but now that she knew who he wanted her to kill it made it her weak in the knees. Her body felt suddenly disconnected and weak as her mind took her places she did not want to go. Since Duke had Kisshu, she had no choice but to comply, but how could she do this? There was no way she could really do this!

Her voice faltered, but finally came forth, though shrill, "You can't be serious! Why? What reason is there in killing him?"

Duke smiled malevolently, "I need to begin a war. If he is killed a new war will begin because of outrage over the slaying. It will spark a new revolution."

"But that doesn't make sense! Why him? He is only a child!" Her eyes turned to the Café and traveled back to the little group, watching as Pudding ran back toward the large doors. Mint and Lettuce were still there with Taruto. Ichigo swallowed hard, her breath catching in her throat. Taruto... it just couldn't be him. What reason was there in killing him? How would that start a war?

"Exactly! It is because he is a child that a Mew Mew killing him needlessly will spark so much anger. The boy's people will be enraged that you sprung an attack on him after you declared peace with the aliens." He paused, shifting his weight a bit, "Considering Pai is now a high ranking commander in their fleet and Taruto's father is also very highly ranked, there is sure to be a swift response. This new war will begin and then a new era can be ushered in for both aliens and humans." His cold eyes drilled her. "I know that you likely cannot see it but this is a good thing for both our civilizations. After this war all unnecessary people will be eliminated. Only the best and strongest will survive, and in turn it will create a world of only superior beings on each side! Both our kind will be left with a society of only the most worthy beings and it will create two perfect worlds."

"That's right!" Happy Child grinned wide, eyes gleaming with a crazed and unquestioning faith in his leader, "Only the worthy will be left alive! We will be in a world full of perfect, strong people, like ourselves. We will never be looked down on by the stupid lesser minded people who envy our superiority. It benefits us and you."

"A utopia of only the worthy, think of that, child!" Duke smirked, clearly enjoying how his follower was spewing his words back to him, "I realize it is likely out of your reach to see our wisdom at the present but you will come around. Everything is in place for the war and the extermination of needless beings! I simply need the trigger, you."

Ichigo realized in horror that she was looking into the face of a madman, pure evil. "You're insane!"

"Silence!" Royal Highness' fist crashed into her jaw without warning, "Never speak to him in such a manner again! He is the savior of the world, you just don't see it yet." It almost seemed like he was trying to prove himself for some reason.

Ichigo clutched at her face with one hand, trying not to show that it hurt - Wanting to remain strong in this situation was difficult.

"Either you kill that boy or Kisshu dies a terrible death. It is up to you. However, understand that this is not a bad thing. There always must be sacrifices before there can be great triumph. It is regrettable to end a young life but I assure you it will be worth it. His sacrifice will be remembered forever as the thing that brought a new world into existence."

"Now hurry up and do it!" Happy Child gave her a shove and she fell to the ground.

With eyes half clouded with threatening tears, she turned her gaze away. She needed to focus or she would never get through this. Pudding was in the café now, which might be a fortunate thing. If Pudding was there she knew she would not be able to go through with such a deed. Gripping the two weapons she ran forward trying desperately not to think about what she was going to do. People in battle did it all the time, dissociation. As long as she did not think of who, or rather what she was doing, it should be fine. Kisshu's life was what she was fighting for, and that was all she had to think about.

Horrifyingly, Duke was right about the weapons. As she held them in her hands she did know what to do with them. It was the same as when she held the strawberry bell, she just knew how to use it, like they were made for her. She could not breathe, her heart beating itself to death on the walls of her ribs. The closer she got the harder her heart pounded and the closer she felt to a panic attack. She fought back the tears and struggled past the dread and dizziness. She could not think too much about this. All she could focus on was what would happen if she disobeyed. As she came closer Lettuce noticed her.

"Ichigo! Where have you been? We were so worried about you! We were just about to go looking for you." The sweet, gentle girl called out to her.

Her breath hitched in her throat, strangling her, her swift pace faltering. They looked so happy to see her. They had no idea why she was really here, seeing their long lost friend coming, not a killer. Her feet moved her unevenly as her eyes dropped to the ground. No, she could not look at them… she had to focus on nothing but the weapons. Focusing on the weapons only, nothing else, would be her only chance. The age old 'Don't think, just do it.' The weapons. Keeping Kisshu alive. She put a little energy into the weapons and they activated instantly. Three long blue spikes extended from each of the metal wheels. Lettuce shrank a few steps back as she watched with wide eyes fixed suddenly on the weapons.

Mint's voice was strained as she finally managed to speak as well, "Ichiog… what are you doing?"

Ichigo closed her eyes hard, little bit of water pooling on her lashes. With each breath she reminded herself not to think. There was nothing she could do but obey the order. This was the only thing she could do to save Kisshu, and she had to keep him safe. No matter how she thought about it there was nothing she could do to save everyone this time. Before, she always had Kisshu around to foil his own plans to kill her, but things were different now. It seemed a lifetime had gone by. A few days ago she would never have pictured herself here like this but you never knew what you were capable of until your back was to the wall - Something precious to you hanging in the balance. All she knew now was that she would do anything for Kisshu, even kill.

She lifted shaking hands, weapons poised, aiming for the little alien.

He stared at her in shock, big golden eyes confused as his focus drifted to the points of the blades, "Ichigo?"

Mint moved closer apprehensively, looking more afraid than Ichigo had seen her in a long while, "What are you doing, Ichigo?"

Her pink eyes fixed on Taruto, the boy she was supposed to kill. Clearly, his mind was working to comprehend the strange situation. Though they had been enemies, the Mew Mews were the last people he would expect to try to kill him. Taruto even turned against Deep Blue for them. He was far more a friend then an enemy. There was some amount of trust, a mutual trust that had been built over time. Pudding and Taruto had even become close, even loving. The thought that Ichigo would be trying to kill him seemed unable to sink into his mind, a wall of confusion blowing it.

She twitched with a shot of disgust, fingers tightening around the handles, her head spinning inside her skull. Pudding would never forgive her for this. Neither would Kisshu, for that matter. Kisshu would always hate her even though she was doing it to save him. Taruto was his friend and he would never, never forgive her. Her lungs took in a slow drag of air to try to steady herself. Really, he would never want her to do this. If it came to such a choice he would not want her to sacrifice his friend to save him. If she did this it would destroy him, knowing that it was because of him that she took such a path.

Her mind flashed to Pudding again, those big innocent eyes and child's features. A small whine of her inner conflict escaped her lips unintentionally. She remembered how it felt when Aoyama died. How much worse would it be for Pudding, him dying this way? If she came out and saw him dead, murdered in such a way, how much worse would it be for her? How could she put that little girl through something so horrible?

Even putting those things aside, how could she do this? If Duke was right about it being able to start a war there was no way she could do it. He needed a Mew Mew to kill him, anything else would not be as effective. He needed the Mew Mews that made peace with the aliens to be the ones to break it to create the maximum outrage. Such a breaking of the agreement of peace they had established would indeed be a declaration of war. The entire human race would be a target once again, and on a larger scale this time. With their world restored, they would be a stronger force to defend against. With only three aliens, earth had nearly been taken over, so she could not fathom what the arrival of more would be like. There was no way she could be a part of starting a war, not even to save Kisshu. He would not want her to do this either.

What was she doing? Slowly, and shakily she lowered the weapons. The blue energy spikes dimmed then vanished as she let the rings slip from her fingers, metal scraping the tips of her fingers as it fell. Her mind staggered over her actions, nearly clicking over them like a computer. Her eyes slowly fluttered closed, allowing the lightheaded feeling to engulf her, chest heaving with her breaths. How could she even have considered this for a moment? No matter what, she could not go along with this. Kisshu would not want her to do this anyway. Even if it meant the two of them had to die, she knew it was best. They would die together. Duke would kill him and then her, and she would gladly join him in death. This is the way Kisshu would want her to go. He would not want his friend to die or his recovering country to be ravaged by a new war. No matter what happened to the two of them she knew there was no other choice. They would be the sacrifices, it seemed... one or two for the many. Deep down she knew they would kill them eventually anyway, no matter how closely she followed their orders. Just because they said they would not kill them if she obeyed meant nothing. "I'm sorry, Kisshu." She whispered.

"Kill him!" She heard Duke's voice echo harshly inside her head and she felt an increase in pressure.

Her eyes jolted open then squeezed shut. "I can't. . . I won't!"

"Kill him!" Duke's voice boomed in her head so loud it hurt every nerve in her body.

A lone tear trickled from the corner of her eye as she nearly convulsed with the impact. "I can't kill him! No matter what you say, I can't do it! He's a friend too! I won't help you! No matter what you do to me, you can't force me to!"

Pain instantly seared through her brain, every nerve ending in her body pulsed with enough agony to making her cry out. "Obey my command!" The voiced shrieked.

"No! You can't force me to! You don't control me!" Ichigo screamed back with just as much volume.

Something sharp and strong pierced through her head, gripping her hard, and pulled. She could feel herself being ripped out of her body. She could still see the others with her eyes, but her mind began to go dark. She saw two things now; the place where her body was, but also the dark place her mind was being swallowed into. The pain in her head was increasing dramatically, so much that she felt instantly weakened, her will to fight dimming. Ichigo was in two places at once. In one place her friends were moving to catch her as her body collapsed - In the second Duke stood before her, menacing, black sword in one hand. Ichigo stiffened, pinned to some unseen wall. Without a word Duke thrust the weapon into her right shoulder. She heard herself scream but was not sure if it was confined in her mind or carried over in her body as well.

"You should listen to my orders. I told you I can get inside your head. I can create illusions so real you can feel them the same as if I had done it to your body. I can cause intense suffering to the mind, which controls you sense of pain! The mind and body are linked so some injuries can even carry over to the body." He swiftly drew it out and slid the blade across her shoulder.

Pain shot up and down her arm in bolts, causing her to jerk and thrash in an attempt to escape it. The voices of her friends were calling her name. Her senses were overloading on every level. Somehow she could hear them still and know what was happening out there as well as here. Her mind and body were nearly fully separate, yet oddly linked. The outside world was like watching something through a dirty mirror or seeing shadows cast over a wall. She vaguely made out the figures of Royal Highness and Happy Child coming up behind Mint.

Ichigo focused her energy, hoping her words got through to her body. "Watch out, they're-" She was cut off by her own shriek of pain as Duke sliced into her waist.

"You should worry less about them and more about what I am going to do to you." Duke whispered coldly leaning into her as he shoved the blade deeper.

Taruto moved Ichigo's body out of the way as something crashed down where they had all been. Royal Highness must have thrown something with telekinesis, or who knew what else. She could hardly see with Duke's presence overloading all else. Her voice must have reached through. They must have been able to hear her. She was not sure how well it went through though or if they always heard her. She cried out as he began wildly slashing her legs and arms.

"I do not appreciate it when someone defies my wishes!" Duke growled, the sound echoing terrifyingly around her.

Ichigo was lost in the white hot pain as he drove the dagger into her again and again. Her wounds screamed and burned with deep radiating pain. It felt like her body was on fire. She was trembling as he continued to stab and slash at her body. Clenching her jaw closed, she tried not to let it show how her teeth were chattering and worked to stop the shaking. She really did not want to scream or cry anymore in case the others could hear, she did not want them to hear this. The tears she could not stop at all, they flowed harder each time the blade connected. Desperately, she tried to fight him off but her limbs would not obey. It hurt so terribly she could hardly contain her reactions.

"You are a brave child, trying to show me a strong face." A blood stained finger traced slowly down her cheek before she felt the sharp sensation again.

"I'm a Mew Mew!" She tried to make her voice sound strong and threatening, but it was far more a set of strangled cries than anything, "You won't get me to surrender or do as you say!"

"I know. I can't force you to do things as I can normal humans," Duke smirked, actually seemed to be enjoying himself, "I did miss judge you. You did ruin my plan, but not to worry, I still have a use for you."

Ichigo shrieked as he drove the blade through her hand then swung around and thrust it through her midsection - Throught one side and out the other. Before pulling it out he gave it a vicious upward twist. Her body convulsed suddenly, beyond her control, never having known anything could hurt like this. Deep in her mind she heard crashing sounds from outside this nightmare. The others were fighting. She tried to see what was happening but it was so hard. The pain made it impossible to think clearly, let alone focus on anything. Still, she had to know, had to see! Her body was on the ground but everyone was near her. Taruto and Lettuce were in her line of sight. Pudding, Zakuro, and Akasaka had arrived as well. Keiichiro was scooping her body up into his arms and moving her away from the ensuing battle. She could feel the motion around her.

"What are you doing to Ichigo?" Lettuce screamed at the two hovering near.

"She should have obeyed Duke! Since she's not one of us, the chosen four, he will not show her mercy! Now she must suffer the consequence of her foolishness." That voice belonged to Royal Highness.

"This is fine as long as it is entertaining! Even if she did mess up the plan, Duke will still win." The younger let out a giggle.

Ichigo curled her fingers around the collar of Keiichiro's shirt, desperat for something to connect her to this world, "They are trying to start a war." She murmured.

Duke thrust the blade into her chest with a primal growl, successfully drawing her back to him, "Silence!" He hissed.

No, no, she had to stay connected! Her shrieks and whines made Akaska cradle her closer to his chest. He spoke but she could not hear him over the sound of her flesh ripping and bones breaking from the frenzied attack of the black sword. Her mind was a mess of agony, fear, and confusion, body a trembling wreck. By now she must have lost a great deal of blood, then again, it was in her mind so it might not have been. She did wonder what affect this had on her mind. Would it break? After this she might be paralyzed or brain dead. She could hardly imagine she would survive, quite sure she was going to die soon.

Taruto dodged yet another attack and landed next to her. Her glazed pink eyes watched with a lack of normal function. Blue Bayou and Sweet Juliet had also joined the fight, if she was seeing correctly. Ichigo focused the very last of her energy, clawing and scratching to connect with her body. She had to try her best and fight through the pain. What happened to her did not matter, but she had to tell them what she knew. If it was the last thing she could do she had to warn them! They would be able to stop it. There were not a lot of details she had to give, but she could tell them a little.

Her hand caught Taruto by the wrist, speaking as fast as she could before she lost them, "Taruto, you and Kisshu have to get away! They want to kill you so they can making aliens and humans enemies again. They're going to-" She gasped, body arching and twisting in the arms around her.

Duke's knife dug deep into her throat, and up into her jaw, totally silencing her. A gagging whimper escaped her as he pushed it up through her mouth and into her brain. She could no longer speak at all. Inky darkness spreading over her in waves. She no longer had any strength to fight it. Ichigo was rigid as the pain in her head increased beyond what she could endure. She probably would have screamed but she no longer could. A terrible sleep swallowed her in a drowning sea as she slipped away. The last thing she heard was someone screaming her name.

Kisshu jolted upright in his bed, eyes wildly sweeping the room. Where was Ichigo? How had he gotten back to the ship? Why had they let him go? He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. What was going on? There had to be a reason he had been released. He knew too well that he had not been here the whole time. He knew he had been taken to a strange house where Ichigo had also been taken. He knew because he remembered being there, but more than that he had the marks to prove it.

He moved to the mirror and switched on the light next to it. His face showed the evidence of his stay at that house. The blood was dry now but it was there as a reminder. Moving was still a reminder too because he was still tender in some places. He touched his face gently and surveyed the damage.

He flicked the water on and began carefully cleaning away the blood from his face and body. He was sore and some joints were hard to move. His body protested against the punishment it received. The marks of the chains were still visible on his wrists. After a while of cleaning up he looked presentable enough. He leaned against the sink as he tried to clearly remember more about his time in that place. It was hard to remember. He remembered that man though and he remembered Ichigo. He remembered her being ripped from his grasp.

The outside door swished open and he heard several people entering fast. Had the man come back with his people? Were they coming back for a fight? Kisshu eyed the door and eased slowly toward it. He reached out to open the door but it glided open in his hand. A familiar alien boy rushed into the room and bolted for the bed.

"Taruto! What are you doing?"

The boy whirled to face Kisshu with a face as ashen as a mountain top, "We have trouble! It's Ichigo…"

Kisshu's heart jumped into his throat. What happened while he was out? He could not have been sleeping that long? What did Taruto know? Had he found out something? He moved toward the boy before he noticed the others standing in the doorway. It was the Mew Mews, all of them but Ichigo. It must have been serious if Taruto let them all in here.