I Belong To You: A Kisshu And Ichigo Love Story

Chapter 3: I Love You Either Way

Under the dark cover of the night, Kisshu slipped quietly into his room and closed the door behind him without a sound. Then, groaning a little, his placed his hand over the small, glass globe on the stand by the door. Immediately, the room was flooded with light, which was projected by the globe.

Leaning against the door, Kisshu gripped the frame and tried to keep from letting his legs give out. Sweat and red dirt was smeared across his face – his hair, neck, and chest were wet with perspiration. There were a few tears in his pants. And in his side – a large tatter of his shirt fell away, revealing an oozing wound he'd gotten from his now slain opponent.

Panting heavily, he pushed off from the door and stumbled a little. He shoved his bangs impatiently away from his eyes. As he walked unsteadily across the room to open the window, he stripped off the ruined shirt and tossed it onto the floor. He winced as he stretched out his arm to touch the window. The glass melted away at his touch and a cool breeze blew in. He sighed, standing there for a moment and breathing the air that now felt so temperate, and that held the scent of flourishing life.

Since bringing back the Mew Aqua, his planet had grown to become as beautiful as the planet Earth – no, even more so. His people didn't pollute as the humans did – their technology didn't do any harm to their environment. For two years, his family and friends, as well as everyone else on the planet, had lived peacefully – well fed, well clothed, everyone sleeping in a warm bed and waking up to a bright sun and the smell of the flowers outside.

Never had Kisshu been surrounded by such beauty and prosperity. However, this jewel in the galaxy had become a target for other aliens, and as Kisshu, Pie, and Tart had been the ones to bring salvation to the planet, they had been appointed commanders of the army. Kisshu was the leader, closely flanked by Pie, with Tart growing fast as an equally skilled warrior and leader.

Coming in from a battle, Kisshu was wounded more than normal. He knew perfectly well why. The distraction hadn't left his mind once – not even for a day – since leaving Earth. Some days he thought about her more than others, but he never forgot completely. And even though he didn't dream, he spent plenty of time thinking of what he would've done differently if he'd been able to go back and talk to her again.

He would've taken Ichigo into his arms. He would've called her by his beloved pet name, "neko-chan", and he even though he would've wanted to tease her like he always did, he would've instead kept his smart mouth shut and just held her, petting her fluffy pink hair and letting her cry for his dead rival, Aoyama-kun. Even though he should've been glad that Aoyama-kun was gone, Ichigo's pain had been almost unbearable to see. He had almost been angry at the dead Earth boy for making his Ichigo so sad.

Instead, Kisshu had left, and become famous on this his adopted home planet. He, Pie, and Tart were global heroes. They lived well, and had as many comforts as they had responsibilities. But it was not enough for them.

The only thing Kisshu wanted was Ichigo. And he knew that Tart had developed a badly-masked affection for Pudding, the little yellow monkey girl. He was sure that part of Tart's maturing into a leader had been because he had to try and not let him missing her distract him, in the same way Kisshu had to do with Ichigo. As for Pie…though he was the most impassive of all, there had been moments where Kisshu suspected he'd felt something for the green one - Lettuce, with the glasses. Pie had never verbally confirmed this, but Kisshu thought he was right.

Letting out another groan, Kisshu stepped through a doorway in the wall, and again lit the room with the globe. The soft golden glow illuminated a still pool of water, which steamed enticingly. Smiling a little, Kisshu finished stripping and slid into the water. Immediately, the tension in his muscles began to relax, and even though his wound stung slightly, it felt incredibly good. He let his head sink into the water, unbinding his hair from the ties in front of his ears. Like a cloud of green seaweed, he let his hair float gently in the water, washing away the grime and sweat of the battle. Finally, he resurfaced again, shaking the water out of his eyes and clearing his sopping hair from his eyes.

He leaned back against the side of the pool, his thoughts drifting as lazily as the water. Ichigo…he thought back to her sweet face, her red hair tied up in two tails. And then as Mew Ichigo…those little pointed black ears, pink hair, and that long tail with the big red bow and bell on the end, that made her look like a wrapped present. His little kitty-cat, always scowling at him when he released a Chimera Animal on her and the other Mews…

He laughed a little at that, and grinned to himself. "I love you either way, neko-chan, as a Mew or a normal girl."

A noise behind him. Kisshu stiffened. Then…

"Whheeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

With a huge splash, Tart hurtled over Kisshu's head into the water. Sputtering furiously, Kisshu teleported over to Tart and hit him over the head, yelling, "What do you think you're doing, you little brat!"

"Hey, lemme go, Kish! I was just having some fun! Lighten up, will ya?"

Pie teleported into the room as well, already cleaned up from the battle and looking serious as usual, or perhaps even more so. Kisshu turned away from Tart in disgust, and while Tart began paddling around the small pool, Kisshu went over to the side and leaned over, addressing Pie.

Pie said, "There were survivors, Kisshu. Some of the enemy escaped."

Kisshu said, "We can't always get them all. But I think we gave them a good enough fight to keep them too scared to come back."

Pie said calmly, "I disagree. They will simply try a different tactic."

Kisshu raised an eyebrow. "Did you have something in mind?"

Pie paused. Kisshu noted a change in the air. Suddenly, he realized that Pie was about to say something very serious. Tart picked up on it as well, and he stopped splashing around in the water.

Pie duly noted that they were both paying attention, and said, "I've just finished interrogating one of our captives. Apparently, their race has an entire line of technology based entirely on the usage of the blood of their enemies."

Tart said, "Eww."

Kisshu shrugged. "So?"

"So," Pie continued, "one of these such machines is capable of reading someone's blood, meaning, deducing images from the imprint of the blood, thereby giving the viewer a look into that someone's mind."

"What are the pictures of?" Tart asked.

"Anything that someone has seen. A memory. And anything that someone feels particularly strong about shows up more clearly than any other image."

Kisshu frowned. Something was starting to click. "Hmm…so if they had some of our blood…because we were all wounded…"

"…they would have a huge advantage over us," Pie finished. Tart looked shocked.

"B-but that means…can they see…?"

The realization hit Kisshu harder than a full blow of Strawberry Bell. "Ichigo!" he cried, straightening up, as traces of his usual languid manner gone.

"Pudding-san!" Tart cried.

Pie said nothing.

"You don't mean," Tart said, "that they'd go and try to hurt the Mews to get at us?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Pie looked at his two comrades. Tart looked on the verge of panic. Kisshu could feel something building up in him very fast. Something explosive.

"If they…if they even touch her…" he snarled, his golden eyes flashing. He hurtled himself out of the pool and into his room to get dressed. "Can we confirm your theory, Pie?"

"We don't need to. They did it for us."

Kisshu paused while throwing on his shirt. "What?"

Pie teleported into the room, closely followed by Tart, who had wrapped himself up in a towel.

"What do you mean by that, Pie?" Tart asked.

Maintaining his stony calm, Pie said, "After the captive confessed the technology to me, we received a message from the enemy. It said they were heading for Earth to find the group called the Mew Mews, and if we didn't surrender ourselves as well as our planet to them, they'll kill the Mews and any other human that gets in the way."