Sometimes life was really good for you, randomly granting you a vacation with your friends to get away from everything. Luckily for me, the gods of fate decided to smile upon me for a few days, giving me and all my friends three days and two nights at a lovely little log cabin in the woods on the fat side of Japan. Of course it took us almost two days of driving to get here, but I think it was well worth it.

Jungle of the Heart

By:

Satashi

Looking out the window of the log cabin, I smiled. It was nice and warm inside, and the mug of hot chocolate in my hands felt extra nice. We were currently staying with Mint's Uncle, who owned most of the land around here and watched over it. He was a forester, so he knew a lot about the surrounding area. When a break came up in all of our college classes, he didn't hesitate to call up Mint and invite her and all of her friends to come stay in this cabin.

It was a nice place, surrounded by trees with nice crisp clean air. We were on a mountain side with a river running along the bottom of it that ran for several miles. It was actually a white water rafting course as well. The upper part at least, when it neared the part where the water went between two mountains, it got too dangerous because of a waterfall.

"Are you coming or what?" Mint asked me, leaning over my shoulder.

"Coming for what?" I looked over at her and blinked.

"We're all going on a hike, remember? We're all waiting on you!"

"Oh, that's now?" I quickly got up and sat my mug down on the coffee table next to me. "My bad, yeah, let's go." Noticing that she was already walking out the door, I jogged the rest of the way to meet up with her. "Hey! Wait up you little snob!"

It was a little chilly outside, colder than normal since we were in the mountain area. All of the leaves were changing colors and starting to fall, giving everything a really pretty look. So far we have been hiking for almost an hour. My legs were only just starting to feel a small amount of strain on them, mainly because my cat genes kept me in such good shape. Smiling, I walked on; staying just behind Mint's Uncle Thomas and listening to him point out random things and talk about them.

So far I had learned that there were several types of bears around this area, as well as many other types of wildlife. Fortunately for us, they all stayed at the bottom of the mountain areas mainly. Still, the fact that Thomas was carrying an issued rifle on his back 'Just in case' made me feel just a little uneasy.

Finally reaching the top of our particular mountain, we all gathered around to stand on the large, decently flat surface of it. "This here is a popular site for couples to come to an' eat dinner." Thomas spoke to us in his heavy Osaka accent. "Been waiting for a while to show it to you girls. What'cha think ladies?"

"I think it's kind of boring, myself." Turning, I looked up into the sky. Pai, Tart, and Kish were all hovering in the air, looking down at us. "I see this kind of view all the time since I can fly."

"Kish!" What was he doing here? Opening my mouth to shout out at him, I was cut off by Pai.

"There seems to be no particular energy signature around this area." He spoke, looking into some sort of hand held device. "There is no Mew Aqua."

"Oh man, this bites. I thought we would get one today, too." Tart's shoulders sagged. "I swear, making us come all this way for nothing."

"It was your decision to follow us on our vacation!" I pointed up at him. "So don't complain, you little midget!"

His eye twitched. "I told you not to call me that, you old hag!" Raising his hand, he formed a parasitic alien in it. "I'm going to blast you clean off this mountain!"

"Tart! There's no reason to waste energy today!"

"I don't care, Pai! Go! Chimera Anima!" He threw the parasite down and I could only watch as it rammed into a woodpecker.

Gasping out, I watched the small bird start to mutate and transform into a chimera. Mint's Uncle took the gun from his back and raised it up, only to find Pai in front of him. "You are not needed on the battle field. Sleep." He waved his fan in front of Thomas' face, instantly making the older man pass out.

"Girls! Let's battle!" I ran forward to the beast and felt myself transform as I did so. Jumping up, I landed a clean jump kick to the animal's check area. The bird, however, simply shrugged it off and flapped its wings, sending me flying back by the force of the wind generated.

"Oops. Got you!" Kish spoke into my ear, arms wrapping around my waist. He had caught me in the air. "Well then, I think you owe me a kiss for that."

"Dream on, elf boy!" I grabbed his hands and pushed hard. Forcing them down, I got enough slack to pull myself upwards out of his hold. Twisting myself, I wrapped my legs around his head and flipped down, sending him crashing hard into the ground. Landing easily next to him, I grinned. "How was that?"

"Almost worth it," Kish replied, coughing on some dust. "Pink. Should have guessed."

Realizing what he meant, I blushed and tried to kick him. He grabbed me foot and yanked on it, sending me off balance and making me fall. Landing, I pushed up with my hands and lashed my other foot out, making him let go. Kish twirled around, however and swung one of his nightsticks downward, clipping my shoulder.

Grunting in pain, I realized it was slightly dislocated from the move. "That hurt, you know." I complained, forming my bell in my hand.

"Sorry 'bout that." He slashed again, trying to knock my bell out of my hands. Side stepping, he flew past me and I used the moment to trip him. Kish fell down and I looked over to the side to see how everyone else was fairing. Zakuro already had the Chimera Anima mostly beaten while the other girls were taking on Tart and Pai.

"You're not paying attention!" Kish yelled, one again hitting my arm. Screaming out, I actually felt my shoulder joint pop out from its socket.

"Straw berry check!" I put my bell in his face, knocking him back from it. The blast shot around Kish and blew the dirt from where he was standing. A large semi-transparent shield was in front of him, generated by Kish's hands, which were straight out in front of him.

We both started to pant from keeping the attack going after a few moments. Sometimes it seemed my attack would break through his barrier while other times it seemed that his energy shield would overpower my blast. Finally his knees gave out at the same time I could no longer hold up the bell with only one hand.

Seeing the attack die, Kish quickly stood up and ran to me. Too weak to do anything, I was tackled hard. We rolled on the ground for a moment before I managed to get my foot on his stomach and push. His hand stayed around me, though and when I kicked him off, I was pulled too.

My stomach lurched when I suddenly realized that I was pulled off the side of the small mountain top. I free fell for almost three seconds before hitting the ground hard and starting to roll down. I tried to stop myself, but every time I almost seemed to get enough momentum to put my legs in front of me, I would hit a rock and once again slide down the loose gravel and dirt.

Kish shouted out as he hit a larger rock. He stopped momentarily, and tried to stand. I grabbed for him to stop myself as well, leading for us to both once again start sliding down.

When the water hit me, I realized that we had somehow managed to slip into the rapids that ran along the bottom. Gasping out, I was sucked underwater from the force of the current. I kicked my legs hard, but I couldn't quite seem to keep myself from going even deeper. With only one useable arm as well, I realized that I was probably going to drown.

I felt an arm wrap around my waist. Looking over, Kish was next to me. One of his hands grabbed a large rock. His eye closed and several bubbles came from his mouth as he pulled hard onto it.

My head surfaced and I took a large gasp for air, followed by Kish. The water was hitting against us hard and I felt my Mew costume disappear from the lack of energy I had left. "Kitten!" Kish screamed, getting my attention. I felt tired and sick, and my body was hurting so badly from crashing into things on both the mountain and in the water that I just wanted to sleep. "Kitten, pull up, we can get out of here!"

I could only smile at him weakly before almost blanking out. I instantly felt my hold on him get slack and I was whisked away from the sharp current so fast that if I didn't already know it would happen I would have been shocked from the suddenness of it all. Water splashed into my mouth, making me choke. It tasted fresh and clean, amazing me to know that it would be the death of me.

I began to cough, losing all the air I had left in me, spinning randomly in the rapids and hitting several things along the way. I felt something grip me again and barely managed to make out Kish once again. His eyes were wide and scared, even underwater. Had he come to rescue me? My lips turned into a small smile before everything started to grow black. His mouth opened and several air bubbles rang out...It was almost as if he was screaming my name...

I didn't feel too good when I awoke next. I was stupidly cold, and I felt something in the back of my throat. I noticed a pressure on my chest and then something pinching my nose and lips pressing against mine. Air invaded my lungs, making me cough. When I did so, I was helped to a sitting position and had my back rubbed while I coughed up water. I leaned onto whoever was helping me and shivered. Breathing hard, I was embraced and felt my arms being rubbed. I couldn't do anything but close my eyes and try to get warmed up a little bit. I felt sick and my shoulder still hurt. When he hand reached up to my shoulder, I gasped and pulled away, clinging to it.

"Oh, it's dislocated." I just then realized that it was Kish next to me. "Here, this is going to hurt." He grabbed my arm and I instantly tried to get away. "Sit still dang it!" He pressured me to the ground and gripped my arm harder, making me scream. "It's your own fault!" He put one foot on my good arm and pressed down so he was standing on it. Tears sprang to my eyes and I wanted to sob out right then and there. "Prepare yourself."

I heard a loud crack on my shoulder and instantly the blinding pain shot down to a dull throb all at once. Closing my eyes, I allowed him to help me sit up again. "There. Isn't that better?" He gently rubbed my neck, making the pain fade a little more.

"Don't...touch me...." I managed out, voice shivering in the cold. It was already cold enough outside, but now I was soaked through and the wind was blowing constantly almost.

"Che. That's a heart felt 'thank you'." He scoffed and pulled away from me. Instantly I felt even colder without him blocking the wind for me. He was probably freezing as well. "And after I saved your life and gave you C.P.R too."

"I bet you just wanted to kiss me." I hugged my knees and sneezed.

"Fine, see if I care." He looked at me. I knew it was supposed to be a mean glare, but it was more of a scared and hurt look instead. I felt bad inside seeing that look. He had saved me after all. "I'm leaving."

Kish leapt backwards and faded out from view, but appeared not five feet away and collapsed onto the ground. "Kish?" I managed to get up and run awkwardly over to him. "Hey, you okay?"

He sat up and shook his head. "Well this just sucks...Keeping that shield up for so long drained all my energy. I can't teleport... probably can't fly either..."

"Well that's just peachy." I sneezed again, sniffing. "Great. I have a cold."

"We need to get dried off." Kish looked around and then stood. "Come on, let's gather some wood. Hopefully we'll be found soon. Some smoke will help as well." He paused a moment and offered me his hand to help me up. When I didn't take it at first, he looked offended. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"A little late for that," I took his hand and allowed him to help me to my feet. "I don't think I can even walk long..."

"That was you slinging us off the mountain top." He countered as we walked into the woods to look for some sort of dead branches we could burn.

"You dislocated my shoulder."

"You kicked me first."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"What, are you three years old?"

He snorted. "You started it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

I growled and walked past him. "You are such a jerk sometimes."

"What did I do?" He kicked up some leaves to look under them.

"Other than ruining my vacation and trying to kill us? Oh nothing at all Kish!"

"You have a real attitude problem, you know that!?" I gasped. Kish had never snapped at me like that before. "I risked my life you save you, and not even thanks! I could have let you drown you know. It would have worked out better for us. But nooooo, I just had to rescue you. I even gave you mouth-to-mouth with no ill thoughts whatsoever! You have any idea how scared I was that you were going to die!? The least you could do is not act so hateful to me!" He threw out one of his arms in a frustrated manor. "All I ever wanted to do was make you my girl, and you always reject me! I even told you I would back off from your planet for it! But you never accept me, even when I do everything I can for you!"

"Shut up Kish!" I interrupted him, closing my eyes. "Just shut up!" He was hitting on all the subjects that always confused me.

"What does it take to make you understand that I love you!?" He grabbed my shoulders. "What will it take to make you see me!? Huh!?"

"Shut up!" I pulled away and started to walk. "I need to be alone." I fell to the ground and hugged my knees to try and get a little warm. "I'm scared and confused..." I knew everything he said, all to well. That's why I had to yell at him to be quiet. I already knew it. I knew he loved me, and sacrificed everything to try and buy me some time to make up my mind. What scared me was...I was almost tempted to try and get to know him more, maybe ask him on a date or something, just to see. Just to see if he really was a kind person under that warrior mask he wore. Underneath his hollow laughter and fake smile he always wore.

"Fine. I'll be around..." His voice was hurt deep, making me hug my knees some more. I listened to his footsteps as I hugged myself tightly. Sneezing again, I shivered. I was so cold it was almost hurting me. Also my mind was racing so fast I was getting a headache. Shivering again, I blew into my hands to try and warm them a little bit.

Several minutes later, Kish was finished collecting twigs and broken pieces of wood. We were in a forest currently, already forgotten which was it was back to the river from our arguing and random walking while doing so earlier. The trees weren't very crowded at all, and sometimes, like in the area we were in, there were several feet in-between each tree. The ground was dry, and hand almost no grass on it, making a safe place for a small fire.

Kish kneeled down and placed a few large rocks in square, then put several branches into the isolated area. "Hope this works..." He whispered, holding out his hand. At first nothing happened, but then I noticed a small ball of energy form at his palm. Gritting his teeth, he made it large and pressed it against the logs, slowly making them get hot enough to ignite. He looked drained after the feat, but he still managed to feed the flame enough to make it take over fully and start to blaze. After getting it stable, he stood up and walked over to me.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm cold..." I slid forward to the fire and held out my hands. Kish nodded at me and then hesitated a moment. Slowly he got behind me and sat down. Gasping, I felt him scoot forward with his legs on both sides of me. His arms then wrapped around me and pulled me close. "...Kish?"

"It'll warm you up faster," He whispered, hugging me to him. Blushing, I realized that he was, in fact, freezing as well. His arms were so cold they actually made mine feel a little warmer. Him staying behind me like that would make me warmer, but he would still be freezing.

"You're cold," I stated simply, rubbing his arms for him. He took in a breath to say something, but I cut him off. "Don't complain...Just enjoy it." I turned sideways so I was sitting in his lap with me legs over to his side on top of his left leg. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I rested against his shoulder. I felt his swallow and then each out his hands to try and warm them as well.

"Ne, Kish?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you so kind to me?"

He didn't answer at first. When I was going to repeat myself, he finally spoke. "You know why."

I hesitated a moment before nodding lightly and resting against his shoulder again. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Being a bitch."

"Apology accepted." His voice told me that he truly accepted it, but I also knew from the sound of it that he was still hurt from the way I had acted. Deciding to make it up to him a little bit, I moved a little closer to him.

"You're comfortable." I whispered to him, making him tense up a little bit. "But I'm still a little cold...Put your arms around me?" I closed my eyes and blushed as he slowly brought his arms from reaching to the fire and placing them around me. Moving one of my hands from his neck, I placed it on top of one of his. "You're hands are big."

"I'm a guy."

"I noticed."

Looking up at him, I realized he was blushing. "Kish...?"

"Yes?"

I hesitated, and then looked away. "No, nothing." I sneezed again and leaned back against him. "I'm sleepy."

"Go to sleep then."

I shifted a little to get more comfortable. "Can I trust you?"

"Yeah." He answered immediately, then paused a moment. "Yes. Yes you can. I promise." His arms tightened around me. "I promise I won't do anything..."

For once, I actually believed him. Closing my eyes, I let out a small sigh. I was still freezing cold, but at least I was getting warmer. "I'm sorry Kish. For everything... I'll try to be a little nicer from now on."

"I'd...like that."

"Just give me some time..." I felt myself drift off to sleep. "To sort my feelings out..."

A/N: Sorry it took a while to get this one out ; been kind of busy lately. Anyway, I hope you enjoy! next chapter will be the ending, unless you guys want me to drag this one out a bit. I think my other idea for my story will be put on hold untill I get all these little ones taken care of. anyway, see you next chapter please review. .