This is for Soccer-Geek's contest. I know Pai and Zakuro is an iffy couple, because some people ship them, but I ship PaixLettuce and Zakuro with Ryou. I hope I'm still allowed in the contest.

Masks

A PaixZakuro fanfic

It was a slow day in Cafe Mew Mew, everything was normal, but there was a strange tension between Lettuce and Ryou. Zakuro noticed, but kept quiet, brushing it aside as nothing. Mint sat at her table, 'testing' the tea of the day. Pudding entertained the few customers there were with her monkey tricks, Ichigo and Zakuro served the customers, and Lettuce apologized profusely as she cleaned up the remaining shards of a plate she recently broke. The orange sky outside the heart-shaped windows indicated that the day was almost over. As the last of the customers left the cafe, Ryou walked out of the kitchen.

"Alright, good work everybody! You can go home now." Ryou announced. Ichigo bounced up and down happily and began to race to the change rooms. Ryou grabbed onto her collar as she raced by, making her stop abruptly. "Except you, strawberry, you have to clean up the place first," he ordered.

"WHAT?!" She screeched. "I have a date with Aoyama-kun! I've already been late for our last date, I can't be late for this one! Please, let me go!" Ichigo pleaded, her cat ears were flat against her head. Ryou put Ichigo down.

"If you don't clean, who will?" He asked, his arms crossed against his chest.

"I will," Zakuro volunteered. She looked to Ichigo with a hint of a smile on her face. "Go get ready for your date." Ichigo's eyes widened and a huge smile formed on her face. She ran to Zakuro, grabbed her hands and jumped up and down.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She quickly repeated. In a flash, she was gone to the change rooms. The other girls, except for Zakuro, followed. When Zakuro was alone in the very feminine room, she smiled to herself.

"Young love," She said to the empty parlor. She stood in silence for a moment and then she went to go get cleaning supplies. She started with washing the tables. She spritzed some cleaner onto the table and grabbed a cloth. She absentmindedly moved the cloth around in a circle as she was deep in thought. Everyone thought she was flawless because of her appearance and the way she acted. She looked as though she didn't care about what happened around her, but she did care. She was like most teenagers, save for the part about her being a model. She had her insecurities, as well as her crushes. She couldn't come to terms with it, she didn't want to seem vulnerable, so she wore her emotionless mask. Sometimes it slipped and she would show that she cared about something, but it was a very rare sight. Zakuro had a huge crush on Ryou, but she didn't show it, she had been hurt too many times by boys. There was definitely another boy on her mind though. Pai Ikisatashi. If anybody could understand Zakuro, it would be him. But he was the enemy, and he wouldn't care about understanding her. He obviously fancied Lettuce, her confidence and will to stop the war piqued his interest. Her heart cried and Zakuro felt it breaking at the thought of them being together. Both of the boys she liked had crushes on Lettuce. Zakuro would always be their second choice. She blinked rapidly as she snapped out of her trance. She stopped washing the table and looked at the clock on her phone. She mentally sighed. She had been cleaning the same table for half an hour. I'm never gonna finish cleaning, am I? Zakuro sat down on a chair and sighed.

"Come to think of it, I only heard three girls leave. Pudding, Mint and Ichigo. Lettuce didn't leave yet?" She pondered out loud. She got up and walked to the change room. The door creaked as she opened it and she slipped inside. She scanned the room. She was alone. All of the uniforms were hung up neatly on their hooks and the room was neat and tidy. Her brow furrowed as she left the room and walked towards the kitchen. A sweet aroma filled her nostrils as she walked in. Keiichiro had his back turned to her, decorating a dozen cupcakes with pink icing and rainbow sprinkles. Keiichiro looked over his shoulders.

"Ah, Zakuro! You're just in time to try one of my cupcakes!" He smiled generously. He offered her a cupcake and she took it from him, nodding her head in thanks. She took a small bite and her eyes widened in surprise.

"They're very good!" She exclaimed.

"You think so? They're tomorrow's special, Rainbow Cakes." He smiled. He gestured to a chair beside him. "Have a seat!" She sat down and Keiichiro poured her some Jasmine tea. She held the steaming cup in her hands and stared down at the beverage.

"Thanks." She said quietly. Keiichiro nodded.

"No problem." He put the icing down and set the cupcakes aside. He pulled up a chair and started the conversation. "So," he started. "What brings you here? Usually Ichigo stays behind to clean up."

Zakuro shrugged.

"She had a date, and Ryou was about to force her to stay behind, so I filled in for her."

"Well that's very nice of you." He mused. Zakuro sipped her tea and simply added an "I guess." They sat in comfortable silence until Zakuro remembered the reason she was there.

"Oh, do you know where Lettuce is? She didn't leave yet." She questioned. Keiichiro looked puzzled.

"I'm not sure, I thought she would've left by now." He admitted. "Maybe Ryou knows." Zakuro finished her tea, thanked Keiichiro and headed upstairs to Ryou's room. Her eyes were on the floor as she made her way to Ryou's door. She looked up to see another pair of feet on the other side of the door frame. She looked up to see Pai, listening intently to the conversation going on on the other side of the door. Zakuro pulled her pendant up to her mouth and was about to transform when Pai held out his hands, telling her that he wasn't here to fight. Her eyes remained locked onto his as they eavesdropped. Ryou's voice and Lettuce's voice traveled through the door.

"How long until we should tell them about our relationship?" Ryou asked.

"I don't know, but I don't like keeping secrets from my friends. Shirogane-san-" Lettuce was immediately silenced.

"Call me Ryou, not Shirogane. We're dating, so it's okay, remember?" He corrected her.

"H-hai. Sorry, R-Ryou." Lettuce stuttered.

"I love you, Lettuce." He declared. And then there was silence. Zakuro felt her heart shattering into a trillion pieces. She didn't need to open the door to see what was going on. They were kissing. Zakuro looked at Pai, who paid no attention as he stared at the door, heartbreak written all over his face. Zakuro could tell he was feeling the same way. Zakuro tiptoed away from the door and into the change room. She changed into her normal clothes and whispered her transformation. She pulled out her whip and pressed the heart with golden wings on it. She teleported to the roof of a skyscraper and watched the sunset. She reflected on everything bad that ever happened to her. She would get as depressed as she could and then let the depression flush itself out of her system. Then, she wouldn't feel upset about it. But today was different. She was too deeply wounded for it to heal immediately. Tears welled up in her sapphire eyes, A tear dangled over the edge threateningly, as if it was going to spill over.

"Don't you dare cry, don't you dare cry." She chanted over and over again. She internally threatened the tear and kept yelling at it to not fall. It disobeyed her and slid down her cheek. "Traitor..." She muttered angrily. She dug her fingernails into her palms and tried to concentrate on not letting any other tears fall. Footsteps were heard behind her and she quickly wiped away the tears and put her mask back on. She turned around to see Pai standing behind her.

"There you are." He said to Zakuro. "I was looking for you."

"Why? So you can send a Chimera after me? Just do it already and get it over with." She said coldly.

"No, I must talk to you." He persisted. She glared at him.

"So, talk. I'm not getting any younger. Besides that, what were you doing there?"

She snapped.

"I was going to get more food from the kitchen, since we're out of food on our ship. But as I teleported in, my ears picked up two voices on the second floor. So I located the source. I only got there a couple minutes before you did." He explained.

"Why didn't you just use the door?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Be honest, if you saw me at the door, would you let me in?" He asked, a faint smirk on his face.

"...Touché," She sighed. His smirk left his face.

"Why were you there?" He asked.

"I didn't know where Lettuce was, because she hadn't left. I was worried something happened to her." She explained. There was silence for a moment. "If that's the only reason you came here, you can go now." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"I thought you would want someone to talk to." He stated.

"Well, you thought wrong," Zakuro retorted.

"You may say that, but your eyes tell a different story." Pai said. Zakuro was stunned at his sudden statement. "Your eyes get lighter or darker depending on your mood. When you are happy or uplifted, they are clear and bright blue, like the sparkling ocean. But you are upset and heartbroken now. They are clouded and dark blue, like a gloomy day. You push others away in fear of being hurt and rejected. I know that more than anybody. I may be a being of science, but I can also hurt. Seeing Lettuce and that blond boy together makes me hurt inside, but it pains me even more to see you like this. You may not have noticed but I have been studying you since I first came to Earth. At first, I thought I had only been interested in you as a scientist is to a specimen, but I became more and more infatuated with you. I would lay awake at night thinking of you and picturing us together. Lettuce was, what you humans call it, a crush of mine. You are always on my mind, Zakuro, you are the one I love. I'm sorry it took so long for me to see that." His apology was very sincere and beautiful, almost like poetry. He studied Zakuro's eyes to see something he never thought he would see. Tears of love and joy. Her eyes were clear as day and sparkled with admiration. Both of their masks clattered to the ground and their true faces shone through. They embraced and looked into each others eyes.

"I love you, Pai." Zakuro whispered. They leaned in and shared a tender and loving kiss as the last of the sun disappeared behind the horizon.

THE END

This was so fun to write and turned out waaay better than I expected. I hope everyone enjoyed this fanfic.