Disclaimer: After Fifteen chapters, need you ask?
Authors Note: It's a little shorter than most, but a chapter is a chapter. Originally this was going to be stuck on the end of Chapter Fourteen, but I decided against it, mainly because Chapter Fourteen was completely involved with Ichigo's Point Of View, and the beginning of this chapter focuses more on Kisshu.
Thanks for the great reviews, and I hope the cliff-hanger of both last chapter and (admittedly) this chapter wasn't and won't be too much for you to bear. Chapter Sixteen should be up soon, but I cant make any promises.
Lyrics by Three Days Grace.
Chapter Fifteen – Unguarded.
Anger and agony
Are better than misery
Trust me, I've got a plan
When the lights go off, you'll understand
What are you doing, Kisshu? His mind urged. Kish shrugged off the thought. He was the leader of the expedition, it was his choice.
Ichigo blinked up at him. For a brief moment, he entertained the thought of kissing her then and there. However, as he had stated only a moment ago – business came first.
Playing games was for later.
He inwardly smirked at the wicked thought.
'As I stated, with this added complication which, of course, is almost entirely composed of an internal affair between us and another enemy – of which you have little to do with at the moment – I do believe this is the best thing, as of now.'
When Ichigo remained silent once more, he continued, 'Of course, this will not be an official truce between my people and yours, nor our expedition and Tokyo Mew Mew, but more of an unofficial agreement of sorts. Between two leaders.'
Between two leaders, he could almost hear the words echoing through her mind, as he knew her that well.
He only hoped she would take it the right way.
The look on her face, past the initial surprise and dismay, was one of contemplation. She was seriously entertaining the thought of the idea, like he had hoped she would, without any ulterior motive.
Just like him.
When the moments glance of scepticism crossed over her face, Kish knew he had to persuade it from taking over her opinion entirely. 'Listen. I'm saying this as a guest, not an enemy or a hostile. You let me into the house, didn't you? That must mean, on some degree, you do trust me.' He shuddered at the thought of using her own words against her, as he knew that she would probably regret saying them, but he had no other means of persuasion. 'You said so yourself. On some level, somewhere in your mind, you do care about me – personally. All I'm asking of you is to trust me.'
'I know it's a lot. Probably more than you can find yourself to give, but for a moment just hear me out.' He finished, pleading to whoever was holy that she was convinced by his lengthy dialogue.
He watched the emotions that flashed over her face.
Scepticism, surprise, uncertainty, discomfort, deep thought and finally…
Her face was set hard, features toned in a level of seriousness. As he watched her expression, he pleaded harder, as he knew that once that fleeting glance crossed her mind and her features were moulded in such a way, there was no turning back.
It was a look of determination, sudden confidence in her abilities and herself.
A look, he might add, that he found completely irresistible when it arose.
She held out a hand. 'And I, Ichigo Momomiya, agree to your terms for a truce.'
They shook hands, silently, professionally…
…And then she smiled.
Dreading the awkward silence he knew would stretch out between them in the next moment (something, of which, he hated even more so than ruining moments, something he was about to execute in the next second or two, with his actions), Kish set onto his face his trademark smirk. Ichigo faltered.
His grin only grew from there.
He stepped in towards her, a sudden plan blooming in the confines of his mind.
'How about we seal this truce, eh?' He said, the wicked idea becoming an almost-reality when he executed the mannerism without even noticing he did so until it was already, and long after, over and done with.
Ichigo felt her confusion rise as he took another step in towards her and proceeded to land his hands on her shoulders, the impish smirk still playing on his pale, crystalline face.
'N-Nya?' Ichigo asked, perplexed, as was her nature.
Kish took the plunge. With a sweep of his hand and all the while palming her face, he moved in for a kiss. He could imagine it, in that moment, soaking in the smell of her perfume and feeling her lips collide with his in the most final manner. Then, of course, she would push away…
Yet it never got that far. Ichigo had no time to refuse because Kish had no real time to execute this plan. Unspoken and unheard, from the opposite side of the room, someone cleared their throat.
They turned, in complete and utter shock, to meet the cold, amethyst eyes of Pai, standing side-by-side with Eustachia.
His eyes narrowed when he approached the scene. 'Found you.' He said, monotone voice deepening in tightly-leashed fury.
Kish, he was sure, thought in unison with Ichigo, in that moment, Oh dear.
Before he had time to explain himself, however, Pai raised a hand and his deep, booming tone smothered the room as it echoed throughout the confines of the cold, small bathroom.
'Eta kuram na smekh…'
Kisshu lost control over his motor functions, right then, and soon after; his consciousness.
'Eta kuram na smekh…'
She saw the previously lively body of Kish fall to the ground, rendered inert by the sudden phrase. In her minds eye, she remembered, the sudden quote bringing back an onslaught of memories that she had barely scratched the surface about.
It was a dream…
Her dream…
'Ichigo, ICHIGO!' A voice called to her a moment later. It was Kisshu. The alien ran up to her, and stood in the spot where the flame-man just was.
Ichigo stared down at the object he had given her. It was a small, deep crimson stone, as big as the palm of her hand. It shone in the light of the fire. She spun it around in her hands. She noticed that one side was curved and polished, whereas the other was flat and jagged.
She looked up again. Her eyes met Kisshu's.
His voice was unusually deep to her ears.
'Eta kuram na smekh'
Her world faded into blackness once again.
Ichigo simply stared at the approaching forms of Pai and Eustachia in shock as to what just happened. The phrase, its affect over him was… unexpected? Yes, but not the word she was looking for. Amazing? No, it was definitely not in a positive context.
She found the word she was looking for.
Terrifying? Yes. It was terrifying.
Before she could respond and, gladly, before she was expected to respond, Eustachia, the nurse of which she had only ever met once – and who still looked as beautiful as ever – bowed deeply and lowly in her direction. A devastatingly sad smile crossed over the alien woman's face as she eyed the inert body of her dear friend and patient.
'Forgive our intrusion,' She began, her voice proper and polite, 'But you were – and still are, mind you – harbouring one of my patients.'
After hearing the words herself, Ichigo felt herself relapse into a stunned silence. An action, of which, seemed to be common for her in that hour.
She eyed the alien male, of which she knew better than Eustachia, really, who simply grimaced at her, meeting her eyes only to glare solidly in her direction, before turning on his boot-clad heel and walking back into her bedroom, teleporting promptly after…
…Leaving Ichigo with Eustachia.
The alien in question moved towards her, quickly and suddenly. Ichigo jumped, which caused Eustachia cause for alarm. They stood in stillness.
That is, until she decided to continue her reasons and actions for approaching her in the first place – the action being, of course, to scoop up Kisshu from his current – and quite uncomfortable, mind you – position on her tiled, bathroom floor.
'Wait!' Ichigo half-bellowed, before she even realised she did. She had her arm outstretched, in the signal that screamed, in itself, "stop."
Eustachia stopped in her tracks, as she had done barely thirty seconds before.
'W-What are you going to do to him?' Concern for Kisshu's safety clouded over her intentions for asking her to stop. Ichigo bit back the many strings of curse words that came to her mind when she realised she had, once more, acted in a way that could only have cause for concern, especially when it came down to her personal feelings for the alien boy.
She shook her head.
Masaya, her mind urged, Masaya.
Yet the arguing sounded weak, even to her own ears.
Eustachia's reply shattered the train of thought that she was pursuing. Ichigo was glad for the sudden derailment of her mental locomotive of contemplation.
When she met the alien's sapphire eyes, she found them searching hers, observantly. Ichigo blushed under such a gesture so searching. When Eustachia looked at her like that, she felt like an open book, like the nurse could read every thought and feeling she had ever had simply by staring at her for long enough.
She shuddered.
'I will not hurt him,' she began, curtly, 'Unless it is absolutely nessesary for the survival of our planet. As this is unlikely, he is relatively safe…'
Ichigo had to stop herself from breathing a sudden sigh of relief. Another action of which gave her pause. Before she had a chance to reply, Eustachia managed to cradle Kish in her arms.
Once she had certified her hold on him, she finalised her statement.
Her final words chilled Ichigo to the bone.
'…For now.'
And then she disappeared.
Eustachia felt the familiar feeling of teleportation swarm across her and abruptly fade as she found herself materialised back on board the Prometheus, the captain of which was momentarily incapacitated in her arms.
Her mind flashed back to Pai's willingness to carry Kisshu's weight, yet her simple, sad smile and refusal and explanation that Kish was her patient, and she would take care of him accordingly. As they paced the corridors, she frowned down on herself for not deciding to take the extra help.
Somehow she managed to keep Kish's figure steady in her arms. In front of her, Pai called, 'Tart?' She stared at his retreating back, then moved to follow, moving at a slower pace than the elder alien due to the extra weight she had to carry along with her.
'Taruto?' She tried, echoing Pai's utterance to some extent.
'Honestly,' Eustachia began, 'Did you have to put him to sleep?'
'He would not have gone accordingly,' Was the reply emanated from the preoccupied accomplice pacing in front of her. She averted her gaze from his back, a million thoughts flashing across her mind, the single most important one of which she spoke in the next moment.
She flashed back to his face, of which he had revealed to be deadpan, as per usual, when he turned her way, stopping abruptly to speak to her properly.
'But you didn't know that for sure, did you?' She spoke, finding her voice.
He spun back around, contemplating her words yet giving no reply as of yet. She watched his dark, plum-coloured hair light up with the sudden illumination of the wall-lighting that had been added to the ship to give it a unique, modernised feeling.
With a frown, he continued walking down the corridor. Eustachia followed, as per usual.
That is, until he stopped right in front of her. If it wasn't for her sudden lack of pace due to Kisshu's reliability on her frame to support his dead weight, she would have slammed directly into him. She was about to utter a silent complaint or mental swear-word, yet his sudden pause was more unnerving than frustrating.
Still, she glared at his retreating back.
She continued, still speaking about the topic of Kisshu and the means of which he had ended up unconscious – the words Pai had executed in order to make Kisshu compliant. Which were, of course, against the will of his superior, something that counted as being a court-marshalled offence within the government of Madrona, their home planet. 'I don't think it was the right move, considering the circumstances –'
However, the words trailed off when her eyes met the object of his fixation and her mind suddenly flashed to his exact thoughts, fears and the underlying feeling of dread that rose to her throat, almost suffocating her with its colossal power.
'Oh no.'
Taruto was lying on the floor, directly in the middle of the corridor, unconscious.
Their thoughts mirrored each others.
This is not good… in the least.
End Note: I'm so, so, SO sorry for the cliff-hanger, again. This one, however, was totally planned. But I'm finally getting into the hang of writing this story again, and am submerging myself with this story (while trying, and failing, to balance schoolwork in the midst of it all) until I can at least get up to Chapter Seventeen or so.
It's hard to tell how long this is going to be. I was originally going to try for Twenty chapters, but considering I've already gotten up to Fifteen and still have at least half the plot to get through, it will probably be a LOT longer than I thought it was.
And then, there ARE the two sequels. If I decide to write them, or not.
I really should have planned it all before I started. Hah.
Oh well.
Take care, enjoy, and review (but only if you want to! ... is that too contradicting?) …
Love,
Exangeline