MewMid: I'm alive! Working on stories again! I missed it.

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It was nice to have made some peace with Kish, although there was no trust to be had from her end. The redhead strode quietly, still deep in thought about the conversation she had with Kish earlier that day. The storm had cleared up for a while, but was now back, looming over the city like a bad omen. She took a deep breath of the warm humid evening air, she was almost home.

As she rounded the corner and approached her house, something was off. There was someone tall standing outside the front door, an alien.

A lighthearted smile appeared on her face when she realized who it was, a familiar tall alien knocked gently on her door. He must have heard her footsteps because he turned and looked right at her as she walked up through the yard, smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?"

Pai suddenly felt very awkward, he wasn't sure what had possessed him to come down here. After Tart had told him that she wanted to see him again, he felt obliged to come see her. But now that he was here, he wasn't sure how to put it.

"Tart told me you wanted to see me."

Ichigo felt a flutter in her stomach, Tart must have over-interpreted what she said when she asked about them. However, she couldn't help but be thrilled to see the purple haired alien. Her smile widened and she motioned towards the door behind him,

"I'm glad you came down. Come inside?"

He nodded, her happy reaction made him feel a little better about suddenly appearing here to see her. He followed quietly as she led him into the home and dropped her bag in the foyer. Pai felt awkward being in her home, still uncertain of what he really was doing here.

"Make yourself comfortable, couch is over there."

The alien made his way into the living room, observing his surroundings and how humans arranged their homes. It seemed fairly similar to how his people arranged their living quarters. He gingerly made his way over and sat on the couch. Within a few moments, he was joined by the lead mew. She seemed peppy still,

"So you'll never guess who came to see me today."

"Kish."

She made an inaudible sound and then huffed, her eyebrows furrowed together as she spoke,

"How'd you know?"

"Since he was not on our ship today, and you are of high importance to him, and you deemed it necessary to bring it to my attention, it was the logical choice."

A chuckle escaped the girls lips and she looked away, remembering her conversation with Kish earlier.

"Yeah, he came to ask me if we could start over."

Pai seemed slightly interested in the idea,

"How do you feel about such a thing?"

Ichigo seemed surprised, he suddenly regarded her feelings as important? It was a pleasant surprise, maybe this cold alien was warming up a bit. She took a deep breath and looked back over at him as she explained,

"I'm happy he's realized that we aren't going to happen, and that being friends is important before any type of relationship can blossom."

The word relationship made her look away, the prospect of having a relationship with Kish didn't seem possible. Not after what happened. The grey eyed alien looked towards the window as rain drops began to decorate the glass. He wasn't sure what to say to that, since he wasn't really the type to go out and make friends with lots of people. Ichigo felt uncomfortable with the lack of response from the alien and piped up once again,

"I consider us friends Pai… if that means anything to you."

The sudden tenderness in her voice made him look back to her kind eyes. They stared at each other for a few moments while the alien let her words sink in. Friends? The only friends he had were back on his home planet, not that he had many, nor had he seen the ones he did have in a long while. He sat more upright and slightly nodded to the girl, but not revealing any emotion on his face,

"It does."

A huge grin appeared on the cat girl's face and she reached out, nudging him playfully,

"See? Look at us bonding."

A sickeningly adorable giggle followed her words as she leaned back completely on the couch. He sat straight up still, barely taking up half the seating area because he was seated so close to the edge of the couch. Ichigo eyed the stiff being beside her, she suddenly felt rather frisky, for lack of a better word. The cat part of her DNA made her want to toy with him suddenly, because he was so stuffy and distant. She also felt curious about his personal life, and what type of kisser he was.

The thought made her heart skip a beat, why would she think such ludicrous a thing? How Pai kissed? She had already been kissed by Kish, he was rough and pushy. But this alien in front of her was calculating and decisive in his movements, she imagined that he made his moves on a woman cautiously and played it like a chess game.

What an interesting prospect.

"When was the last time you kissed a girl?"

The question caught him completely off guard, and he looked back to her with an almost surprised expression. He shifted slightly, clearly perturbed by the sudden question. The cat girl realized how nosy she was being,

"Sorry! I didn't mean to be nosy or annoying, I was just curious."

"I suppose it's been about a year."

The girl leaned straight up, and looked at him in shock. He furrowed his brows together; confused by her response.

"Really?"

"Yes."

Ichigo sighed and shook her head,

"That's no good, it's such a nice thing… a nice feeling I mean."

Pai thought back on his experiences, he did enjoy the touch of a female. Females' skin is softer and so warm to the touch, he pressed his lips together as he got lost in thought.

His sudden silence made her nudge him again,

"You don't miss it?"

Narrow grey eyes gazed back up to meet her questioning stare, he did miss it. He tenderly reached out with his left hand and grazed her right cheek with his fingertips, feeling the warm flesh gave him a chill.

"I do."

The cat girl didn't dare move, it was this tenderness that only she had seen that drew her to him. Pai was so strong and she was used to how distant and untouchable he was. And here he was, touching her face in a surprisingly delicate way. It reminded her of when he took care of her after the incident with Kish.

She was frozen in place, and the touch slowly disappeared. Pai mentally kicked himself and looked away from her, showing a rare emotion that resembled embarrassment,

"I apologize. That was inappropriate of me to-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the girl grabbed his shoulder and turned his upper body to face her. Their eyes met again as the mew closed the distance between them and shocked the alien when she pressed her lips against his. His eyes were wide open for a second, but the contact was electric. His body temperature immediately rose and he melded his lips into hers, savoring the warm gesture. Her hands were now supporting her upper body and his hands found the sides of her jaw. His long fingers reached all the way to the sides of her head in her fiery hair, and he urged her forward towards him.

Ichigo gasped when her weight shifted forward and the alien grabbed her shoulders, pulling her to lay on top of him. Her face immediately flushed red and she shook her head,

"Oh god I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

Pai's gaze was different now, and it made her really look into him. His expression was like nothing she had seen before, it was soft and longing. The girl relaxed somewhat and lowered her head down onto his chest, using his large pectoral muscles as a pillow. His heart was racing in his chest, and it made a smile creep up onto her lips. The blush felt like it was burning her cheeks she was so embarrassed that she had done that.

But he felt so relaxed under her, this was a side of him she had never seen. It was like a secret, and it belonged to her. This tender moment was something entirely new and exciting, never had she imagined she'd be laying on her couch with Pai- the alien that had nearly killed her and her team on multiple occasions.

Her lips tingled as she thought about the kiss, her left hand lifted and she touched her fingers to her lips. The alien breathed slowly under her, he felt so relaxed. He hadn't been intimately close to someone in so long, he had almost forgotten how wonderful it felt to hold another being so close.

…

Pai had planted another kiss on her head before leaving, but she was half asleep by that point and barely remembered the kind gesture. And at the cafe the next day, Ichigo could hardly contain herself as she worked. The thought of her planting a big kiss on that dark and ominous alien made her giggle in excitement. No one would ever have expected it, and that was half the excitement.

By lunchtime, Ichigo seriously could not contain her secret and felt obligated to tell someone. Someone she could trust. Lettuce.

The green haired mew had a look of concern as her leader pulled her into the hall between the main seating area and the kitchen.

"What is it?!"

The spectacled mew exclaimed, looking worriedly at her dear friend. The grin on the cat girl's face was so wide as she giggled,

"I kissed Pai last night!"

The words didn't seem to register with Lettuce, she blinked a few times and craned her head closer, staring intently,

"What?"

"I kissed him! Pai stopped by to see me because Tart told him I wanted to see him, and we were just sitting on my couch… and I just kissed him. I don't know why, but I really wanted to. And it was amazing!"

The aquatic mew blinked some more and took a deep breath, she smiled kindly at her friend,

"I'm happy for you Ichigo! Forgive me, but it seems so unusual. I never would have imagined-"

"You can't tell anyone!"

Ichigo snapped, interrupting the girl. Lettuce immediately nodded and reassured her that she wouldn't say a word. But just as she said those words, a certain blond haired mew hopped out from around the corner with a huge toothy grin on her face. Ichigo huffed and shook her head at the young mew,

"Not now Purin! I am talking to Lettuce!"

"I heard what you said na no da!"

A lighthearted giggle followed her words and Ichigo groaned, not wanting the loudmouthed girl to know what had happened. Lettuce wasn't sure what to do and looked at Ichigo in surprise, unsure of what she could say to remedy the situation. The lead mew pointed at the smallest girl and tried to be serious through her excitement,

"Don't tell anyone."

…

"So I heard you kissed Ichigo."

The eldest alien paused where stood at the kitchen counter on the alien ship, he was in the middle of making coffee when this intruder interrupted him. A chill ran over Pai's skin as he turned to face the source of the voice. Tart huffed as he hopped up to sit on the counter beside him,

"Did you really? Kish is gonna be pissed if he finds out."

Pai regained his composure and continued what he was doing,

"I did, and if Kish has a problem he's welcome to bring it to my attention."

The steely response didn't satisfy the young alien's curiosity.

"Why'd you do it? No way she likes a weirdo like you."

The tall alien seemed calm and unfazed by the insult,

"Although it isn't any of your business or concern, she kissed me Tart. So I can't answer that question."

The brown haired alien seemed taken aback by the statement, he was quiet for a few moments as the human's coffee maker rumbled. Pai looked over at him; only to be met with a confused stare.

"She did? That's so weird."

"You finished?"

Tart scoffed and crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at him,

"Kish is gonna lose his mind if he finds out. Especially after the 'lets be friends' talk he and that hag had."

The older alien leaned against the countertop, reminiscing about the run in with Ichigo last night. It was certainly odd, and would most likely result in some tension with his adoptive brother Kish if he did find out. The silence bothered the small alien beside him,

"I never would have seen that coming. Sheesh!"

As Tart hopped up, Pai couldn't help but mutter to himself,

"Neither did I."

…

A certain green haired alien ruffled his hair dry with a towel as he walked out of the bathroom into his bedroom. His room door was open and a small brown haired alien floated just inside the doorway.

"Thanks for knocking."

Kish spat as he walked over to pull a shirt out to go with the brown shorts he was wearing. The young alien scoffed,

"I was just seeing what you were up to."

"You must be bored."

Tart rolled his eyes, he always had some kind of snarky response.

"Yeah whatever, I was going to go to Earth today and was seeing if you were going too?"

Kish pulled the shirt over his head and ruffled his hair again, trying to get it to dry. Tart's question seemed odd for some reason, but he shrugged off the feeling.

"Yeah i think I'm going down to the cafe. Why?"

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MewMid: Ooooh Angst! Will Tart tell him?