Pool Party

Ichigo sighed as she watched the other Mews swimming in Mint's private pool. Being half-cat, she really didn't like swimming. She was wearing a swimsuit, but had no intention of going in the water. She was just grateful Mint hadn't invited Ryou, because he'd be teasing her about being a scaredy-cat. She wasn't; she just didn't like going in the water.

"Ichigo, why don't you jump in?" Mint asked.

"No thanks," Ichigo called. "I don't feel like it."

"Come on, it's a pool party na no da!" Pudding said. "Where's the fun if you're not in the pool?"

"Cats don't like water," Ichigo said calmly, while thinking, I can't believe I let them talk me into coming….

"Then why are you wearing a swimsuit?" Mint asked.

"Tanning," Ichigo said. "Besides, better safe than sorry with YOU around." Mint just smirked.

Her smirk faded, though, when a high-pitched voice from above them cried, "CANNONBALL!"

The Mews looked up sharply as Taruto dropped out of the sky, creating a tidal wave when he landed in the pool.

After the water calmed down, Taruto popped back up, and noticed all of the Mews besides Pudding glaring at him. "What?" he asked.

"I'm gonna drown you, you little runt," Mint snarled.

"I can breathe underwater, that's going to be kind of hard," Taruto said.

"Why are you here in the first place?" Zakuro asked.

"Pai said that we should study you guys, but I think he's got an ulterior motive," Taruto said. "And Kisshu's around somewhere too."

"Does Pai's ulterior motive involve harming us?" Mint asked.

"No, he wants to kiss Fishy, he just won't admit it," Taruto said. Lettuce turned red as they heard teleportation.

Pai and Kisshu both appeared, and sighed when they saw Taruto in the pool. "Taruto, what did I tell you?" Pai asked wearily.

"Beats me, you said something about Birdy's pool, but then I fell asleep because you were using your robot voice," Taruto said. "So when I woke up, I came here and fell out of the sky. That was FUN!"

"You created a tidal wave," Mint said grouchily.

"I thought the point of swimming was getting wet," Kisshu commented. "Hey, where's Koneko-chan?"

"Over there, refusing to get in the water," Mint said evilly, pointing.

Kisshu got an evil grin on his face, and teleported behind Ichigo, who just said, "There is no way you're going to get me to go in the water."

"Come on, water's fun!" Kisshu said. "Do you not know how to swim?"

"I know how to swim perfectly well, but cats hate water," Ichigo said.

"Let's teach this kitty to love water!" Kisshu said excitedly.

"Forget it," Ichigo said calmly. "YOU can go in the water."

"You're acting like Pai," Kisshu commented. "That's exactly what he said the last time I told him we should go swimming. The only difference is that you don't sound like a robot."

"Mmhm…." Ichigo said. "Are you leaving me in peace now?"

"Fine…. I'll go swim without you," Kisshu said sulkily. Ichigo shrugged and closed her eyes- then squeaked as Kisshu scooped her up and jumped into the pool. Ichigo squeaked as they hit the water, and Kisshu let go of her. She swam away from him as Mint said, "Nice, Kisshu, you got her in."

"Yup," Kisshu said happily, ignoring Ichigo's death glare. "Nice pool you've got here."

"Thanks," Mint said. "I think Ichigo disagrees."

Kisshu looked at Ichigo, who was glaring at him. "Come on, swimming's fun," he said.

"I'm gonna drown you," Ichigo growled.

"You really want me dead?" Kisshu asked, his ears drooping. He was surprised when Ichigo looked at him with stars in her eyes. She's looking at me the way she looks at Tree-Freak, Kisshu thought. "What's with the face?" he asked Ichigo.

"Can I pet your ears?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

The Mews all looked at her like she had two heads as Kisshu asked, "Why?"

"They're CUTE!" Ichigo said happily. "Especially when they droop like that."

Kisshu was shocked, and asked, "You like my ears?"

"Yup!" Ichigo said happily. "I'm attracted to cute things."

"So why aren't you attracted to me?" Kisshu asked.

Ichigo mumbled something along the lines of 'too hot for your own good', and Kisshu burst out laughing. "HA! I knew you'd admit I was hot someday," he said happily.

"Are you going to get big-headed now?" Ichigo asked warily. "Because if so, there's no WAY I'm going to kiss you."

"I promise not to get big-headed," Kisshu said quickly. "Can I have a kiss?"

"I guess so…." Ichigo said. Kisshu smiled happily, but before he could kiss her, there was a loud SPLASH, and they looked over to see Pai standing in the water. "Taruto, you are dead," he said in monotone.

"Taru-Taru doesn't look very dead, na no da," Pudding said. "Taru-Taru looks alive."

"Pai, why don't you calm down?" Lettuce suggested. "I don't think killing Taruto is a good idea."

Pai deflated, and sighed. "You need to work on anger management," Lettuce told him. "Killing and harming others doesn't solve anything. It only creates more hatred."

"Is that why you're always telling me we should form a truce?" Pai asked.

"Partially," Lettuce said. "But our two races are both originally from Earth; why can't we just get along?"

"What do we do about our totally uncooperative leaders?" Pai asked. "Your leader hates my race, and my leader hates yours."

"Deep Blue needs to die, period," Kisshu said. "He'll just wipe us out along with the humans. We can't take the risk of leaving him alive."

"True," Pai said. "His human host is that kid you call Tree-Freak."

"YAY!" Kisshu shouted happily. "I get to get rid of my least favorite person on this planet!"

Ichigo sighed. "Don't tell me you're still obsessed with him," Kisshu said.

"No, but my school friends landed him in the hospital in a coma, so you'll have to be careful while killing him," Ichigo said.

"Jeez, what'd he do to you?" Mint asked.

"He was cheating on me," Ichigo sighed. "Luckily for Moe and Miwa, the police force is afraid of them, so they didn't get arrested. No one wants to end up like Miwa's cousin."

"What happened?" Pai asked.

"Miwa's cousin told Miwa when she was ten that he thought I was ugly, and she beat him nearly to death," Ichigo said. "And then Moe found out about this, and since she couldn't take her anger out on Yoshi, she decided she'd teach Miwa's uncle a lesson. And Miwa helped. Yoshi was in the hospital for nearly four months, and his dad was in there for three weeks, and spent another two at home before the doctors said he could go back to work. And to think Moe and Miwa were both ten at the time. They've been taking people down since they were about five, and over the years, they've gotten so strong I doubt even Kisshu could beat them. And before you go racing off, Kisshu, I don't want you three fighting."

Kisshu sighed. "Can I go kill Tree-Freak now?" he asked plaintively.

"Don't you want to put some dry clothes on first?" Ichigo asked.

Kisshu just smirked, pulled her out of the pool, and still holding her hand, snapped his fingers. Ichigo realized she was dry, and looking at Kisshu, saw that he was dry too. He smirked at her and asked, "You were saying?"

Ichigo sighed and said, "Never mind. Thanks."

"Sure! I'm off to kill Tree-Freak!" Kisshu said happily, and teleported off.

Ichigo smiled, but then her cat hearing picked up Pudding and Taruto snickering almost silently. Looking over to see what they were amused about, she saw Pai and Lettuce kissing. When they broke it off, Ichigo said, "Good job Pai, I thought you'd never man up."

Pai turned red as Lettuce said, "He didn't. I kissed him."

"Good for you," Ichigo said. "Pudding, are you going to kiss Taruto?"

"Pudding wants to hug Taru-Taru, na no da!" Pudding said happily, and glomped Taruto, who struggled against her death grip. She held on, giggling, until Taruto gave in and hugged her.

This was about when Kisshu came back, and he said, "Well done, Midget."

"She started it," Taruto said. "Did you kill Tree-Freak?"

"Yep," Kisshu said. "I went a little overboard incinerating him though; there's a large scorch mark where the bed used to be. Now what are we doing about Blondie?"

"I suppose we could try locking him up; but if that doesn't work, we can kill him," Ichigo said. "Let's do that tomorrow; it's getting late. Kisshu, you can spend the night with me if you want."

"YAY!" Kisshu shouted, and took her hand, then teleported to her room. As soon as they landed, Kisshu asked, "We get to kiss all night, right?"

"Not all night, but yes, we can kiss," Ichigo said. Kisshu immediately kissed her passionately, and she kissed back, amazed by how good at kissing Kisshu was.

By the time they broke it off, they were both in heaven.

I'll leave the rest to your imaginations; I should work on something else. This was a request from Pinkluver98, so I hope she and all of you like it and review. Look, Ryou didn't die!