I Belong To You: A Kisshu And Ichigo Love Story

Chapter 16: Hai, I'm Here

"Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did."

- William Allen Butler

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Two weeks later....

"Neh...I'm bored," Tart complained. "When is the Café going to close?"

"The same time it always does," Pai said tonelessly. Tart scuffed his foot against the rooftop impatiently.

"Pudding hadn't talked to me all day," he muttered, scowling at the ground. "She's been so busy with work and school and all that."

Kisshu was barely listening to what his friends were saying. The three of them were sitting on top of the roof of Café Mew Mew, watching the sun set.

"Well, it's kinda pretty, I guess," Tart had said, noticing the sky when they first came up.

"It's the pollution," Kisshu grumbled. "It makes the colors especially bright."

Tart glared at Kisshu. "You're no fun at all anymore," he complained. Kisshu didn't answer, and Tart sat down on Pai's other side to sulk.

They had be sitting outside for at least an hour - Kisshu couldn't be sure, as time seemed to be extremely inconsistent lately. During the day, it was slow - Kisshu spent some of his time in the basement of the Café with Crumb, Soda, and Scone, some in his room, and most of it on rooftops. His locations varied - sometimes he stayed at the Café, and sometimes he chose a skyscraper. Consistently, he found himself passing the time by staring out at the sky, sometimes talking to himself, but more often than not unable to find words to adequately express his feelings.

It had been two weeks. Two long, unhappy weeks of Ichigo staying away from him - nothing felt right. No matter where he went or what he did, he was always uncomfortable, always upset or brooding. Pai and Tart sometimes stayed with him, but often times Tart grew bored and Pai had to go check on their friends' progress in tracking the aliens.

"There has been very little activity," Pai told Kisshu and Tart. Tart brightened a little.

"Well, that's good - guess it's too much to hope for that they've given up, neh?" he asked.

Pai nodded solemnly. "I would say so."

Kisshu said quietly, "It's suspicious that they've laid low for this long. It feels like they're wasting their time just hanging around."

Pai glanced over at Kisshu. Kisshu realized Pai was wondering if he was referring to himself at well. He glared at his friend. "But I'm sticking around until they go away," he added. Pai gave a barely perceptible nod and looked back out to the sky. Kisshu settled his head on his curled-up knees.

Tart cleared his throat, then ventured tentatively, "Pudding says that Ichigo's doing okay."

Kisshu looked over at Tart, instantly alert. Tart didn't usually talk about Ichigo when Kisshu was around. Come to think of it, no one did. As if they thought pretending she didn't exist in front of him would help at all. At this point, he was starved for information about her. The only time he saw her, he kept to himself...because technically, he wasn't supposed to be seeing her at all.

But he couldn't help it. He just couldn't. Kisshu said, "She is? What's she doing? What did Pudding say?"

Tart shrugged. "Not very much. Just that she's training with Ryou because she's having trouble becoming a Mew again."

Kisshu turned away, his pointed fangs glinting just slightly as his gritted his teeth in anger. Ryou was just her mentor, and he got to see her every day. It wasn't fair - for Kisshu, Ichigo was on his mind all the time. He couldn't have gotten her sweet face out of his head if he'd tried. Though, granted, the last time she'd talked to him, her normally cute, happy face had been filled with sadness and a little fear. He hadn't meant to hurt her - he knew he'd gripped her too hard - but he'd been so upset, and mad, and confused that he'd let his emotions run rampant. Nowadays, he was acting more like Pai - barely smiling, rarely joking - not at all his normal sneaky self.