Who Are You? Chapter 10:

Ichigo's Recovery

Ichigo giggled, and said, "Kisshu, that look on your face is so CUTE!"

Kisshu smirked. "That's cute too," Ichigo informed him. "I'm hungry, is there anything to eat?"

"I'm sure there are plenty of things," Sakura said. "What do you want?"

"Waffles?" Ichigo suggested.

"Do you guys have a waffle iron?" Sakura asked Kisshu and Pai.

"Uh…" Pai said.

Kisshu sighed. "Yes, we do, but Pai isn't allowed near it, because he blew up the last one," he said.

"Well, you can show me where it is, and Pai can keep Ichigo company," Sakura said.

"Don't worry about it, I'll make them," Kisshu said, and teleported out.

"Kisshu can cook?" Sakura asked.

"He's about ten times better than Keiichiro," Ichigo said. "He made chocolate chip pancakes a few days ago, and I've never tasted pancakes that good."

"And to think he learned on his own," Pai said. "I guess you could compare it to his fighting skills."

"Wow, that's incredible," Sakura said. "So why can't you cook, Pai?"

"I don't know…" Pai moaned. "It seems like every time I try, something explodes or catches fire."

"Maybe I could-" Sakura started, but Ichigo said, "Mom, don't go there. Kisshu says Pai somehow melted ten pots, burned fifteen more, poisoned the soup he made with sink cleanser, set off the smoke alarm fifty-five times, blew up the oven AND the toaster, as well as the waffle iron, and nearly cut his hand off trying to cut up a peach. And I bet he tried to cut up a peach with a meat cleaver or something. I'd rather not see our kitchen or Kisshu's destroyed, so PLEASE don't offer to teach Pai how to cook."

"Why would you put sink cleanser into soup, Pai?" Sakura asked.

"I thought it was salt!" Pai said.

"How did you melt ten pots?" Ichigo said.

"Um… the stove wasn't heating up very fast…." Pai said.

"Which I suppose means you decided that shooting lightning at the pot would help it heat up faster?" Ichigo sighed. "How come you didn't get electrocuted?"

"I don't know," Pai said grouchily.

"What don't you know?" Kisshu asked, coming in with a plate piled with waffles.

"Why he didn't get electrocuted shooting lightning at the pots he melted," Ichigo said. Pai was sulking.

"THAT'S how they melted!?" Kisshu asked incredulously. "Your lack of common sense amazes me sometimes, Pai. How could ANYONE be that dumb?"

"Mmph," Pai said. "Can I have waffles?"

Kisshu sighed. "If you stop drooling," he said.

Pai wiped his mouth, and glared at Ichigo, who was snickering at him.

"I put chocolate chips in the waffles; we're out of maple syrup," Kisshu said. "I think there's some butter, though."

"It's fine," Ichigo said. "Chocolate chip waffles sound good."

Kisshu set the plate down as he said, "I hope they taste good too. I'll go get some plates and napkins." He teleported out again, and came back a few minutes later with four plates, four forks, and four napkins. He looked at Pai, who was about to say something, and said, "NO, you are NOT dishing the waffles out. Sakura can do it, because then you won't complain that Ichigo and I got more than you did. Nice try, Mr. Greedyguts." He handed the stack of plates to Sakura, who started dishing out waffles as Kisshu handed out forks.

"Come get them," Sakura said. Kisshu immediately grabbed two plates, handed one to Ichigo, then sat down with her on the bed. Pai sulkily took a plate, and bit into a waffle. "Pai, use your fork," Sakura said sternly.

Pai groaned and started cutting up his waffles with his fork. Ichigo and Kisshu were doing the same, and Ichigo said, "These are amazing, Kisshu. I think if you opened a bakery, you'd put Keiichiro out of business in less than a month."

Kisshu blushed and said, "I don't know about that, but I wasn't planning on opening a bakery…."

Ichigo giggled as she finished her waffles. "You're cute when you blush, too," she told Kisshu.

"Sounds like you think I'm cute, period," Kisshu said, smirking.

"Ichigo also thinks you're really hot with your shirt off," Pai said.

Ichigo buried her now bright red face in her hands as Kisshu asked, "When did you see me with my shirt off?"

"When I was a cat…." Ichigo mumbled into her hands. "I didn't mean to type that into Pai's computer when he was questioning me, but I did, and now I'll never hear the end of it."

"Nope!" Kisshu said cheerfully. "Admitting that gets you MORE teasing."

"Just not around my dad, or he'll kick you out," Ichigo sighed.

"So I get to tease you when your dad's not around?" Kisshu asked excitedly.

"As long as you don't overdo it, or call me your toy," Ichigo said.

"I won't call you a toy anymore anyways, but what happens if I overdo it?" Kisshu asked.

"No kisses," Ichigo said, and snickered when Kisshu looked horrified.

"I promise I'll never go overboard!" he said, sounding panicked.

Ichigo giggled and pulled him into her arms, saying, "Jeez Kish, calm down. As long as you don't overdo it, you can have lots of kisses."

"I have a nickname?" Kisshu asked, hugging back.

"Yeah, do you like it?" Ichigo asked, sounding tired.

"I love it," Kisshu said. "You sound tired, do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Can you stay?" Ichigo asked sleepily.

"Sure," Kisshu said. He helped her lie back down, and covered her with the blankets. She settled back, and fell asleep as Kisshu started stroking her hair.

The next two days were the same. Ichigo was getting stronger, and by the fifth day after she tried to kill herself, she was back to full strength. She packed up, and Kisshu and Pai teleported her and Sakura back to their house.

Unfortunately for them, Shintaro was home, and he came storming in as soon as he heard the teleportation. "Hi Dad," Ichigo said.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME COME!?" Shintaro shouted. Ichigo, Pai, and Kisshu clapped their hands over their ears.

"Tone it down, or you're not getting any explanations," Ichigo said. "That HURT."

Shintaro sighed. "Fine…" he said. "So why wasn't I allowed to see you?"

"Kisshu went into depression and I knew you'd scare him, so I told Mom that if she wanted to see me, she had to tie you up, and make sure you didn't come," Ichigo said. "I seriously don't get why you can't accept that I love Kisshu, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop trying to scare him away from me. Especially since you acted like him when you were my age."

"Don't remind me…" Shintaro said grouchily.

"Koneko-chan, what does that mean?" Kisshu asked, puzzled.

"Dad apparently had a crush before Mom, and he used to stalk her like there was no tomorrow," Ichigo said. "Apparently she introduced him to Mom, since she already had a boyfriend, and Dad fell head over heels, forgot about his previous crush, and eventually got married to Mom. But the point is, Dad used to be a stalker too. So he really shouldn't be giving you grief about all the time you spent stalking me- unless he wants Moe and Miwa to find out."

"Won't they find out anyways?" Kisshu asked.

"Knowing them, yes," Ichigo said. "They guessed that I was Mew Ichigo, it probably won't be hard for them to find out that Dad used to be a stalker. And he wasn't as good as you are, either."

"So I'm better at stalking?" Kisshu asked.

"Yeah, but then again, Dad belongs in an insane asylum, which is why he apparently fell flat on his face sneak attacking his previous crush," Ichigo said. "I've never seen you do that."

"I do NOT belong in an insane asylum," Shintaro said grouchily.

Ichigo ignored him and said, "Kisshu, Pai claims you can't handle my room. Is that true?"

"No, Pai's the one who can't handle your room," Kisshu said. "He came looking for me ONCE, saw the solid pink room, and freaked out. I had to sleep in that tree that night, because Pai was mumbling about, 'pink insanity'. And then he went off to research whether cats were attracted to the color pink, and I seriously think his insanity took a turn for the worse that night. I don't really mind your room, and the pink panda thing is cute. The only thing wrong is that picture on your bedside table."

"You can go destroy it, but try not to destroy the frame," Ichigo said.

"The frame is contaminated, it needs destruction," Kisshu said.

"Oh, fine, just don't destroy anything else," Ichigo said. "And then come back and we can talk about you living here."

"YAY!" Kisshu said, and teleported to Ichigo's room.

Pai looked at Ichigo, and said, "Aren't you worried about him dying from pink overload?"

"You're a lunatic, Pai," Ichigo said. "There's no such thing as 'pink overload'. And for your information, I loved pink before I became a Mew, so it has nothing to do with my cat genes."

"I'm NOT a lunatic!" Pai said indignantly.

"Whatever," Ichigo said. "You and Dad will get along very well. And look at it this way- you'll both have a friend when the guys with the straightjackets come for you two."

Sakura giggled as Pai and Shintaro glared at Ichigo. Before they could do anything, though, they all heard what sounded like something going up in flames, and maniacal laughter.

"I TOLD you he'd get pinkness overload," Pai told Ichigo.

"And I told YOU, there's no such thing," Ichigo said calmly. "He's probably just happy that the picture he was talking about went up in smoke."

"That's pretty happy," Shintaro commented, as Kisshu teleported back downstairs.

"It's gone," Kisshu said, snickering. As he came over, Pai put a hand on his forehead, and Kisshu asked, "Pai, what are you doing? I don't have a fever, if that's what you're worried about."

"I'm trying to see if your mind is unharmed from the pink," Pai said. "Stay quiet."

Kisshu burst out laughing. "Pai, you're the one who's lost it," he laughed. "There's no way PINK could cause me to go insane."

"Then explain the maniacal laughter," Pai said.

"You didn't hear that every time I played darts?" Kisshu asked. "I drew this picture of the treehugger with horns, and tacked it to a dartboard. And every time I hit the eyes, I'd start laughing maniacally. I'm surprised Taruto didn't complain to you."

"So you were laughing maniacally because you destroyed something with the treehugger's face on it?" Pai asked.

"Yes," Kisshu said. "I would have preferred to send him to hell myself, but SOMEONE decided to let her friends get there first!"

"They're unstoppable, if you knew them, you'd know it was pointless to say, "Leave the killings to us," Ichigo said. "Which reminds me, I need to tell them to give Dad his flamethrower back."

"They STOLE my flamethrower and killed Aoyama!?" Shintaro asked incredulously.

"Yup," Ichigo said. "The minute they heard he needed to die before he became Deep Blue, they said, "We'll do it!" And then they went off to 'borrow' your flamethrower and Moe's mom's meat cleaver. Dad, you know what they're like. Mom's already sworn not to tell, I hope you'll do the same, since they're the only reason I'm still alive at school."

"I won't tell, but they'd better give that flamethrower back soon," Shintaro said.

Ichigo sighed. "I'll go call them," she said.

I'll get more out soon; I just got a request for more on Do You Want to Live with Me? Review plz!