Sorry for the long wait peeps, I've been busy and never really got round to starting chapter 10..Enjoy ;)

Chapter 10

"Some of the greatest things in life are unseen. That's why you close your eyes when you kiss, cry or dream..."

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Dark pupils narrowed into cats-eyes as Kisshu faced down his opponent. He drank in the form of it, gauging every possibility, every hint of a weakness. He was confronting his greatest challenge yet. Straighting up (some might say he was trying to appear bigger) Kish reached out and grasped his enemys neck.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Kish jumped, and dropped the shower head. He'd been concentrating so much on trying to get the water running, he hadn't noticed Yoichi creeping up behind him.

"Ha ha ha" His elder chortled, quite entertained by Kisshu's suprise. "Awww, did I scare you? That's no way for a trained warrior to behave...Nothing should suprise you."

"A RECOVERING trained warrior." The green haired alien said through gritted teeth. Although there was no physical trace of the attack that had almost cost him his life, his mental state was not as good. Every now and then he would give a little start at some unseen thing behind him, expecting to be ambushed by the she-demon Akuma.

"Hey, why'd you leave Ichigo?" Kish asked with a worried frown. His beloved, his Konneko, was exhausted after a very strenuous weekend. He'd entrusted Yoichi with the task of watching over her sleeping form while he washed the sweat and grime off from the battle.

"She started talking about you man. It's like she knows you're not there. Well, when I say..."

"Talking? What did she say?" In the five brief minutes he'd been gone from her side, she was talking about him? Odd. When he'd left Ichigo had been in a deep sleep, taking deep breaths at regular intervals. She'd been like that for 10 hours straight, and was showing no signs of waking up anytime soon. Kish had stayed seated next to her bed, constantly vigilint. No sleep, no rest. No food. The same rigid position, eyes locked onto the cat-girls peaceful features. He didn't want to let her out of his sight.

"AIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!!"

A screech issued from the bedroom. The aliens' ears protesed against the harshness of the noise.

Ichigo had just woken up. And she didn't like being alone.

When they got there a matter of seconds later, the cat-girl was a state. She'd drawn into the very corner of her bed and pulled the covers around herself. Green eyes stared into the middle-distance and salty tears streamed down cheeks pale with fear. Ichigo rocked rhythmically back and forth and repeated the same sentence over and over again.

"No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Kisshu...Don't die..don't leave...I love you." The very last part was murmered. "No. No..." And then she repeated herself, a constant track of the same words.

Kisshu hurried over, tripping up in his haste to get to his konneko-chan. He knelt before her and took her face in his hands. Ichigo continued to stare unseeing into the air, even though the alien was only inches away from her. Gently, he forced her to look at him.

"I'm here, Ichigo. Right here. Konneko, my love...I'm not going anywhere."

"Kis- kisshu?" Her own savoir, Kish, was right in front of her? "Am I dead? Why?!!" She screamed the last word, angry. "Why must my memories haunt me like this? What did I do to deserve this torture?"

Salty tears glistened on the green-haired aliens checks. Ichigos pain cut deeper than any blade.

"Konneko, I'm here. Look at me. Look into my eyes. This is me. " Kisshu's voice was hoarse from tears. He traced smooth circles with his thumbs on the smooth skin of her face. Ichigo wasn't the only only one that needed reasuring that this was their reality.

What happened next suprised Kish. The cat-girl threw her arms around him and enveloped him in a tight hug, burying her face into his shoulder. It became slick with tears. But the alien didn't care. He just held onto Ichigo for dear life. To him, she was his life, all that was worth living, fighting for. He couldn't bare to see her in pain. Every tear that fell sent a shockwave of pain from his head, down to his toes and then (the most painful sensation of them all) into his heart.

"I..I thought I'd lost you." Ichigo finally managed to choke out, the sound muffled because she was talking into his shoulder. But Kish heard clearly enough.

"Honey, you haven't lost me" He hugged her tighter. "You're never going to get rid of me" Both of them smiled weakly at the joke, although Kish meant every word.

Yoichi was begining to feel uncomfortable. He shifted about in his location at the doorway. He never could handle emotional situatuons like this one very well. "I'll leave it to Kish." He decided and left the room. The couple on the bed were too absorbed in each other to notice the blue-haired aliens departure.

Ichigo's sobbing slowed to short gasps of air. This might've been down to the soft caress of Kisshu's fingertips on her check, or just the fact that she'd realised that the alien was actually there, and not some illusion.

"Sshhh." He soothed.

Ichigo just clung tighter. After a pause, she raised her head and said something. Something that Kish, even in his wildest dreams, couldn't imagine her saying in reality. He blinked and asked her to repeat the question. Maybe his senses had still not recovered properly...yes, that must be it.

"Please don't leave me,"

So he HAD heard Ichigo correctly. Kish opened his mouth to reply, but...

"Never ever leave me. Kish, I-I need you" Ichigo pulled away and looked down, blushing a rich shade of red. "C-can I ask you something?" Her eyes stayed fixed on the same position.

The alien frowned. "Sure honey. What is it?"

"Do you love me? Like, really love me?"

"Of course I do! Why do you think I came back?!" Kish was quite literally gobsmacked. How could Ichigo doubt it?

"But- even after all this time?"

"Yes, even after all this time. Ichigo, I read a quote somewhere, and it explains exactly how I feel:

'Love is never wanting to lose faith, never wanting to give up, and never truly moving on. Love is knowing and praying in the deepest part of what's left of your heart that they feel the same.' That is my deepest desire, for you to feel the same way towards me as I do to you." Kisshu paused and took a deep breath, shut his eyes and when he re-opened them he said:

"Forget it. I'm making a fool of myself. I'll just leave..." The alien hung his head like a naughty schoolchild and stood up. "Yoichi can take care of you."

"No"

"Sorry?"

"No."

All Kish could do was stand there, confused. What did Ichigo want?

She stood up and stared deep into his golden eyes. A shiver ran down the aliens spine. It was like..It was like she could see past his eyes, and into his soul.

"Kisshu... I love you. Listen, when I thought that you were..." Ichigo gulped and looked away at the memory off last nights attack. Her gaze returned to his eyes. "When I thought you weren't going to get up again, I couldn't bare the thought of it. Never seeing you move again..never having to try and dodge your attempts to steal a kiss..." She smiled weakly. "Point is, almost losing you made me realise how much you mean to me. You never realise how much someone means to you until you lose them...or almost lose them. What I'm trying to say is...Your feelings are receprocated. I do love you. So much..."

"I..don't know what to say..." Kish hesitated. He was rather overwhelmed by Ichigo's confession.

"You don't need to say anything."

At that moment, Ichigo kissed him. Not the other way round, it was Ichigo stealing kisses for once. She hugged Kish, and it seemed that she moulded to his chest perfectly, like it was meant to be.

"I'll never leave you. Promise."

[But of course, I can't leave you with a soppy ending =P ]

From the doorway Yoichi watched with a disgusted look on his face. Mouth wide open in an "Eugh" and eyes popping out their sockets. He'd just come to ask if they wanted something to eat, and they were kissing?!! From kissing to crying... "I'll never get girls." Yoichi concluded "Too many next?" He glanced at the kissing couple, wrapped up in their embrace.

"On second thoughts, I don't wanna know!"

The blue haired aliens mind boggled at the possibilities...

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I hope you liked it ^^ It's taken me about three weeks to finish that ^-^;; So, comments would be much appreciated. =D Hope it wasn't too monotonous... I wasn't sure how long to make it.I don't think the characters are very in-character much either.... This is the last chapter, and there may or may not be a sequel =P Tell me what you think.