I Belong To You: A Kisshu And Ichigo Love Story

Chapter 23: We'll Do This Together

Kisshu's eyes flew open. He stared. Tears were streaming down Tart's face. There was terror in his eyes. Every part of him was shaking.

"PLEASE, KISSHU NO! YOU CAN'T!"

Kisshu gasped, "Hey, Tart…take is easy-"

"It's not possible." Pai's voice was cold – no, frigid. Like a death in the middle of winter. Briefly, Kisshu wondered if Pai had ever looked as angry as he did now. Maybe when he was in battle…fighting an enemy…but never when he was talking to a friend. Pai said, "There is no record of any of our kind ever attempting such a thing. It is madness. It's suicide."

"It could work," Kisshu pleaded, "if I just-"

"No. We won't allow it."

"Please don't, Kish," Tart begged, sniffing. Behind him, the three other aliens – Crumb, Soda, and Scone – looked horrified at the idea. Soda leaned over and whispered something in Crumb's ear. Crumb gave a nod, and then cleared his throat.

"Kisshu-sensei…if you do this…you'll not only be risking your own life, but everyone else's as well. That's against our laws. Committing such an act is punishable by-"

"There's nothing else I can do," Kisshu hissed through clenched teeth. "Nothing. Without my help, Ichigo is going to-!"

"We will fight the Chimera Animals." Pai was still speaking in the same, deadly tone. "If we combine our efforts-"

"You don't understand," Kisshu snarled. He felt a sort of persistent buzzing in his ear – a reminder that while they were standing around arguing, Ichigo could be fighting for her life. "They are more powerful than anything we've had to face! Without a stronger Chimera Animal's powers, we don't have a chance of weakening them enough to defeat them!"

"So you're saying," Ryou interjected, "that Parfait has both the Infusers and the souls? How would she have transported them from your planet to here? Without anyone noticing? Without you noticing, no less-"

"There's plenty of ways!" Kisshu snapped. "Our security system stinks! With nothing but a do not enter sign, it would've been easy for someone like Parfait to disregard the rules!"

"But…I thought your technology was quite advanced," Lettuce said timidly, looking rather confused. "Why would something like a security system be so weak?"

Kisshu had to bite his tongue to keep from snapping at her. Though it wasn't that he was mad at her specifically - they were just wasting so much time. Stifling a sigh, he turned to her to explain.

"Well, yeah, we are really advanced in some things – but for most of my life, the scientists have had to pick and choose what they study and improve. They couldn't be bothered with stuff like security systems, not when they had to study and train all the special kids and worry about feeding our entire race on nothing." The memories made Kisshu growl in the back of his throat. "We'd had winter for so long…keeping everyone alive and training us was the government's priority. Everything else took second place."

It wasn't in Ryou's nature to look abashed, but for once he kept silent, and Kisshu supposed that it was his way of backing off. Lettuce merely looked sad. Kisshu turned back to Pai, who had not yet lost his frightful expression. Beside Pai, Tart gave another sniff.

Kisshu said seriously, "Once I turn into-"

"No."

Kisshu tried again. "Once I turn into a Chimera-"

"No."

"Pai!" he shouted, losing his temper again. "There's no other WAY!"

"There is," Pai insisted. "We can fight them as we are. There is no need for you to change."