Welcome to Café Mew Mew!

Ichigo entered the café sleepily. It wasn't that she hadn't slept well, but her dreams kept bugging her, and waking up early never quite agreed with her, especially on weekends.

Ryou better not be around now or God so help me I'll…

"Hey, Ichigo, you're late!" Ryou complained from somewhere out of sight in the (secret) lab behind the café's kitchen.

"Yah, by like five seconds! Cut a girl some slack!"

Pudding seemingly popped out of nowhere in her yellow waitress uniform.

"Were you getting ready for something? Are you going on a date with Masaya after work? Is that why you took so long, with getting ready and such? Tell me, tell me, tell me!!"

Ichigo sighed. "No. I haven't been sleeping well. Let's just get to work, okay?"

"Okay!" Pudding grinned.

"Where's Lettuce? And Mint? And, now I think about it, Zakoru?"

"Lettuce is cleaning up a plate she broke, Mint is drinking her morning tea, and Zakoru…" Pudding recited, then faltered.

"Modeling job, right?" Ichigo sighed.

"I think…"

"Whatever. If she's not here to help, I don't think it's all that important." Ichigo picked up a broom and started sweeping.

"Good morning, Ichigo." Keiichiro stepped out smiling from the kitchen. "Did you end up skipping breakfast again?"

I swear, that man reads minds

."Yah. Didn't have time to eat."

"Sit." Was Keiichiro's reply, as he disappeared back into the kitchen only to return with a delicious-looking pastry and tea.

Ichigo sat obediently and ate with much gusto. "This is great, Keiichiro! You're the best!"

"I'd like one of those too, Keiichiro, please!" Pudding piped up.

"Of course! One for you too, Lettuce? How about you, Mint?"

"Y-Yes please." Lettuce stuttered, having finished cleaning up the shards of the plate she had dropped.

"Sounds good." Came Mint's reply from her seat not too far away.

"Alright, then! The café doesn't open for half an hour, so Ryou shouldn't mind if you're not all working just yet." Keiichiro served everyone, and then disappeared once again.

"Can't believe he makes us all come half an hour early! I mean, who does he think he is? I could be sleeping in like a regular person on the weekend, but no! Ryou just has to ruin it for me." Ichigo grumbled at her empty plate.

"We are his employees, Ichigo. We do get paid, and so he expects us to be here early to get ready for our customers." Mint sipped her tea.

"What do you mean our customers!? You don't even work!" Ichigo seethed.

"What are you all doing? I thought you all were supposed to be working!" Ryou scolded, seeing his employees sitting around, eating.

"We're eating, thank you very much! I had to skip breakfast because of you, I hope you know!" Ichigo fumed.

"Well, your done eating now, aren't you? Now, get back to work!" And with that final order, Ryou marched off.

"I hate him." Ichigo grumbled, picking up her plate to return it to the kitchen, then went outside to sweep and get away from Ryou.

She was almost finished sweeping when she heard a crash. Assuming Lettuce had just dropped another plate, she ignored it.

"Oh my god!!"

The panicked exclamation sent Ichigo running to the source of the crash; the kitchen.

Lettuce and Keiichiro stood, frozen. Lettuce had tears running down her cheeks, and Keiichiro's cheerful smile seemed frozen.

Ichigo quickly saw why.

Broken plate fragments were scattered around on the floor in-between the two. One of them had impaled itself in Keiichiro's leg. Black fabric became tinted as blood trickled from the wound; the shard was long and thin, and only about half of it hadn't dug itself into Keiichiro's leg.

"Oh…oh my god…" Ichigo could barley speak, it was too much.

The frozen three heard footsteps. Ryou entered.

"What's the….oh." He was struck silent.

Keiichiro kneeled on one knee.

Is he going to faint? Is the blood loss that much?

Ryou's eyes grew wide as he realized what was going on.

Lettuce gasped. "Don't!"

Ichigo was confused. Then she saw it. "Keiichiro…"

In one swift motion, small smile still in place, Keiichiro wrapped his fingers around the shard.

Hearts skipped beats. There was no sound, scream, not even the moan Ichigo had expected at the least.

Then, it was all over and the shard, about as long as Ichigo's middle finger, lay bloody in Keiichiro's hand.

Ryou spoke first. "That…that was dangerous and stupid. You should have gone to the hospital and had it removed! Why didn't anyone stop him?!"

Ichigo wanted to yell at him, to tell him he could have stopped it, but she realized tears were slowly forming in Ryou's eyes.

Keiichiro sighed. "Just get me a bandage." His customary smile, one he had even worn when taking the shard out, had faded.

Actually, he looks really pale…

"I'm sorry, Akasaka-san!" Lettuce fought to keep back tears. "I know it's not enough, but I really am! This….this is my entire fault! If I wasn't such a stupid clumsy worthless little girl I could have prevented all of this!"

"It's not your fault. That was a pretty stupid thing of me to do anyway. I shouldn't have worried all of you! Please, try to forget it. The café should be opening in just a bit!" Keiichiro tried to cheer everyone up.

Ryou exited and returned with some clothe to dress the gash. Zakoru and Mint appeared too.

Mint surveyed the situation. "Lettuce! Broke another plate already? Someone could get hurt, with you around. I mean, seriously...oh my god." She stared at Keiichiro as he bandaged his injury.

"You're…hurt…" Zakoru looked shocked.

Keiichiro smiled at her briefly, and then turned back to his work.

"

Well, nothing to see here, I don't really like blood, lets go, Zakoru!" Mint blurted, rushing out.

Ichigo glanced at Zakoru. Mint was tugging on her arm, trying to get her to leave with her. Zakoru seemed not to notice. The silent mew walked slowly up to Keiichiro and did something quite unexpected.

She kissed him, her lips gently pressed against his.

Mint, Ichigo, Lettuce, and Ryou watched wide-eyed.

Keiichiro pulled himself back almost immediately, flinching away from her touch. He stood and walked out.

"Thank you for your concern, everyone, but I'm as fine as always."

Keiichiro's words hung in the air, as wounding as the shards of porcelain had been.

Perhaps, to some, even more so.

"What was that?" Ryou strode into the lab, hands folded behind his head, trying to look as unconcerned as possible.

"Don't ask me, Ryou. Ask her." Keiichiro's words seemed not to come from him; his tone was slightly tainted and cold, his words themselves sounding bitter and frigid.

"That doesn't sound like the Keiichiro I know…" Ryou's expression mirrored the concern for his friend he felt inside. After all, this was Akasaka Keiichiro, the young man who had once been even younger, seemingly inexperienced, who had taken on the burden named Shirgone Ryou ever since his parents had been killed in the lab fire so many years ago. Akasaka Keiichiro, he-who-never-stops-smiling-unless-he-thinks-no-one-is-looking-or-the-situation-calls-for-it. Akasaka Keiichiro, Ryou's parent, mentor, companion. Friend to everybody. Ryou would give anything to have the people skills Keiichiro had. Truth be told, sometimes he envied his companion. It would be so nice, just for one day, not to constantly be reminded of his parent's horrible deaths, not to be reminded that the girl he loved had feelings for another, not to be reminded he had the fate of the world on his shoulders.

Akasaka Keiichiro, you have the perfect life.

So why, oh why was Keiichiro so upset?

"I'm sorry, Ryou. You're right, it doesn't sound like me at all. I shouldn't be making everyone so worried. It was wrong of me. Forgive me." Keiichiro smiled contritely, something only he could do.

"How is it wrong for you to make us worried, Keiichiro? Us worrying is our way of showing we care. It isn't wrong." Ryou was now very worried.

"Well, a person being upset isn't good, is it? And I made you and everyone else upset by the things I said. That isn't good. Isn't good meaning bad, meaning wrong. So it was wrong, I was wrong, and I should apologize, which I did. Now, you either need to reject or accept my apology. So, which is it?"

Ryou just gapped at his friend. "You…you don't have to apologize for being sad and making us care about you, Keiichiro! If we care, it's our own choice, and we are only upset because we never noticed you were sad before."

Keiichiro thought for a moment. "So…you were upset because I was sad and you wanted to help?"

"Yes."

Keiichiro beamed, a new idea forming I his head. "Then I won't be sad anymore, and then you won't need to help, and then nobody will be upset! It shouldn't be too hard, to never be sad. Some people are sad all the time, so surely someone can do the opposite. Anyway, it's practically what I do everyday, so it really should be quite easy. Everything just goes back to normal!"

Ryou just stared at Keiichiro for a couple minutes, in shock. "K-Keiichiro, being sad is part of life. It…its part of being human. Part of life's great experience. If you're never sad, you aren't really living life."

"Ah. I see…" Keiichiro pondering this for a moment. "What do you expect me to do then, Ryou? Die?"

Ryou sat down, and, with head in his hands, started to weep.

Keiichiro stood and put his arms around his friend, an embrace reminiscent of when Ryou had been so much younger, kept up by the nightmares of fire and burning houses that plagued him, reminding him night after night of the disaster that had taken away those closest to him.

Keiichiro could not remember the last time Ryou had cried in front of him, it had been so long ago. He could, however, remember the last time Ryou had cried quietly behind closed doors, hoping desperately not to be heard, not to have such weakness discovered. Yesterday. Keiichiro, his hearing being quite acute, had heard it all, but had not acted. Ryou would just have stopped crying, perhaps only when Keiichiro came to comfort him, perhaps for much much longer.

You are but a child still, Ryou. Do not be afraid to let your emotions out. It is not a weakness.

It never is, not for people like you. You are meant to live life to it's fullest, which means enduring sorrows too.

That is how we are different, Ryou.

I hope you will forgive me for deceiving you so.

But really, when you think about it, I smile too much.

That's just proof I could never be happy.

Ryou let everyone off early from work. The action surprised Ichigo, but deep down she was kind of happy. This meant she could see Masaya, or perhaps head home to spend more time with her family, or hang out with a friend....

No. No friends. No Masaya. Not today. Ichigo decided to just head home. She needed some time to think. Her friends wouldn't understand her problems with being a Mew, and Masaya's presence suddenly seemed a bit unwanted. Anyway, being around him only reminded her of Kish's affections, which would only make her nervous and embarrassed and her cat ears would pop out. Yes, home was definitely the place to go. There were too many worries none of her friends or family could understand, and there was no better place to think than locked up in her room.

Ichigo hurried home, grabbed a cooling cookie from off her mom's baking racks on the counter, and tramped up to her room. Shutting the door, she put her bag down next to her desk, changed out of her work clothes, and laid on her bed, munching on her cookie.

Mmmhh. Good cookie. Chocolate chip.

Ichigo smiled as she made herself more comfortable on her bed, half wondering why she got up in the morning, it was so nice and cozy here.