Like Two Sides Of A Coin

Written by Asuka's Knight

Your standard disclaimer: I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew, nor do I make any money from it. Blah-Blah, yada-yada, I really don't think I need to be wasting your time with stuff like this so let's get right to the reason you decided to come here, namely the fic. Let me know what you think, and if there are any improvements you believe I can make. Oh yeah, and thanks for taking the time out to read it.

Unfortunately, I've only had experience with the dub, but I've kind of seen that using anything from the dub is likely to get me the ass-chewing of a lifetime so I'll try my best to use the original names and attacks, but if you could keep this in mind when you review, I'd be very thankful.

However, I am going to use everyone's dub ages except Keiichiro. This is just a personal preference, but I apologise if it offends anyone.

All my information regarding the Japanese names, attacks, ages et al came from Mew Mew Power Uncensored so I'm giving the credit where credit is due.

"Pleeease, Ryou! Can't I go home? This place is dead." Ichigo asked, clinging onto Ryou's leg as he tried to shake her off.

"You've still got thirty minutes left," He said, sounding annoyed. "You offered to work Mint's shift today."

"That's only because I need the money, and she didn't tell me that no one came in at this time of the day. Why do you even keep the cafe open?"

"Because that's what the sign outside says, we're open until six. So, no, you can't go home."

Realising the situation called for desperate measures, Ichigo decided to unleash the most devastating weapon in her arsenal: The puppy-dog eyes. "Have a heart, Ryou," She pleaded, stretching her brown eyes as large as she could while putting on the most beseeching expression she could muster.

It worked. "Alright, if a customer doesn't walk through that door in the next minute, I'll let you go."

Confident that she would soon be taking off her waitress outfit and heading home, Ichigo watched the seconds tick by on Ryou's watch. With three seconds left, the bell above the door tinkled. Feeling as though her legs were about to collapse, she turned towards the entrance and saw an older boy sitting down at a table.

Ryou seemed to find her discontent funny. "Better go tend to your customer, Ichigo. Only twenty-five minutes left to go." He walked into the back, but glanced over his shoulder one last time. "And chin up, your ears are showing."

Sullenly, she put her hat back on to hide her ears and walked over to the table. If this guy wanted a glass of water, or didn't leave a decent tip, he was going to end up as kitty-chow. He glanced up from the book he was reading and Ichigo got a good look at him. He had dark brown hair that lay in a thick tangle on his head, covering his ears and the better half of his forehead. A pair of calm blue eyes was looking at her with some interest. He looked reasonably fit, and wore comfortable clothes; a red shirt, a pair of jeans and a pair of white sneakers. Nevertheless there was something about him that she couldn't place. He looked like he should have been smiling; he just had one of those faces. But there was only a ghost of a smile, like someone had done a very bad job of painting over his usual expression.

"Welcome to cafe Mew Mew. My name is Ichigo, what can I get you?" She asked, hoping the annoyance she felt for him wasn't showing through in her voice.

"I'll have a Double-thick chocolate shake, please." He said and handed her back the menu he hadn't even looked at. Sighing in her mind but giving him a smile she hoped would get her a bigger tip, she took the menu and went to go place the order at the kitchen. While she waited for it to be prepared, she began collecting the plates and glasses from the other tables and stacked them all on the table next to the customer. Ryou was always complaining about how he had to go around gathering them himself, and she decided that even though he had enjoyed her discomfort maybe a little too much, she should try to look like an enthusiastic worker. She had just done the last table when Keiichiro called her to say the order was ready.

Ichigo took the glass and made her way to the table. Her only comfort was that the day was almost over, and that after this guy showing up, it couldn't get worse, could it?

Of course it could.

As she drew next to him, she tripped and for once her cat reflexes kicked in a little too late. She managed to prevent herself from taking a face-first dive onto the floor, but ended up dumping the entire glass of milk and ice-cream into her customer's lap.

"I'm sorry!" She said as he stood up, the milkshake dripping down the legs of his jeans. "Here I'll clean it up."

Ichigo hurriedly grabbed a napkin from the table next to him, unaware that it had been lying beneath a stack of plates. They both became very aware, however, as the whole heap crashed onto the floor.

The noise brought Ryou out of his study and Keiichiro from the kitchen. "What is going on he-?" Ryou began, but then he saw the shattered remains of about twenty plates on the floor, Ichigo standing right next to the devastation with a look that said she wished she was somewhere else and a young man, whose jeans were sporting a pattern he probably hadn't come in with, looking a little thunderstruck.

"Ichigo, what happened here?" Keiichiro asked, wondering how Ryou was going to react to this.

"It doesn't matter," Ryou said shortly and spoke to the customer. "I apologize for my waitresses' clumsiness. Unfortunately we're closing in a few minutes. When you decide to come here again, I'll make sure you get another drink free of charge." He turned to Ichigo. "Ichigo, these plates are coming out of your pocket. If you want to get them paid quickly, I'd suggest you stay after closing time and help Keiichiro clean up the kitchen. You can start tonight." When he had said his piece, he went back into the office

"I'll go get the broom." Keiichiro said quietly and back to the kitchen. This left Ichigo with the customer, who, not knowing what else to do, started picking up some of the broken pieces off of the floor.

"Would you please leave?" Ichigo asked him, trying to keep the anger in her voice down. This guy hadn't just ruined her day, but also the foreseeable future. She didn't even want to begin to think how long it was going to take to pay Ryou back for the dishes.

"I'm trying to help." It was a perfectly reasonable response, but unfortunately Ichigo didn't really feel very reasonable anymore.

"You've helped enough!" She yelled, taking a step towards him. "It's not enough that you messed up my chance to go home early, now I've got to take the little money I make here and pay back my boss for broken plates, plates that wouldn't have gotten broken in the first place if you had just picked another place to have your stupid milkshake! I don't want to take the chance that you're going to screw my day up any further, so just leave!"

At this point, Keiichiro came back and saved him from any more of the furious girl's wrath. "Ichigo, forget what Ryou said. You don't need to help me with anything in the kitchen tonight, just go and take off your uniform and go home. I'll have a talk with him about your paying for the dishes."

Wiping angry tears out of her eyes, Ichigo went into the locker room and began getting dressed in her normal clothes. A sleepy Masha emerged from her bag, but immediately came around when he saw his friend.

"Ichigo? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Masha," She replied, trying to smile. "It's just been a really long, really bad day. But there's at least one thing I can look forward to: I'm pretty sure I've hit rock bottom so it can only get better from here on. Come on, we're going home."

When she left the locker room, the customer was gone. Only Keiichiro was still there, sweeping up the plates into a dustpan. He looked up as she came in and smiled.

"I've got some good news for you. You don't need to pay for the plates."

"Really?" She asked and hugged him. "Thanks for talking Ryou out of it. You do work fast."

"Actually," Keiichiro said and carried on with sweeping. "I didn't have anything to do with it. The customer who just left, he paid for them."

Ichigo's mouth dropped so low, any further and they would have had to wire it back. "What?"

"He asked me how much I thought they would cost to replace and when I gave him my estimate, he just handed me the money. I tried to give it back, but he wouldn't hear of it. He said that he didn't enjoy causing trouble for a pretty girl, and left."

"Oh," Now she was feeling kind of bad. "And after today, I don't think he'll be coming back. I wish I could just thank him for it."

"You still could," Keiichiro held out a book, which she recognized as the one the young man had been reading. "He left this here in his rush. I think he's one of those people who are pretty fond of their books it's got his address inside. It's on the way to your house, so you could go give it back to him as a peace offering."

Ichigo took the book and read the message inside. "If you happen to find this book, it means I've been an idiotic ass and left it somewhere. I'd appreciate it if you'd bring it back to me, and I'm willing to give you a reward for playing the Good Samaritan (Believe me, it's more than you'd get if you tried to sell it)."

"Okay, thanks." She was about to leave when he called her back. "What is it?"

"Ryou wanted you to leave Masha behind tonight, so he could just make sure he's still working alright."

"Oh," She opened her bag. "You heard him Masha, time for a tune-up." The pink robot floated out and down to the basement lab. "I've got to get going if I still want to stop by my rescuer's house and make it home before dark. Bye, Keiichiro, see you tomorrow."

In a considerably better mood, Ichigo left the cafe.

Ryou didn't look up from his computer as Keiichiro came into the basement. "Is Ichigo still here?"

"No, she's gone home. Ryou, were you really going to make her pay for the dishes?"

Ryou sighed. "I guess not. I just wanted to make sure she'd be more careful."

Chuckling, Keiichiro leaned against the wall next to Ryou's desk. "If the male customers keep giving her free passes, I don't think she ever will." When he saw Ryou looking at him with a quizzical expression, he explained what had happened.

"He didn't want to make trouble for a pretty girl." Ryou mused as he typed away. "That's so corny."

"Well, Ichigo didn't think so." Keiichiro saw what Ryou was working on and frowned. "You're researching another Red Data animal? Don't you think we should find the fifth girl first?"

"I just think it's good to be been pretty quiet for the past few weeks, and I don't like it."

"Interesting choice."

"What do you mean?"

"No, I just think that it's curious you've picked another feline as the Red Data animal whose DNA we're going to use."

"Are you implying something?" Ryou asked, turning to Keiichiro with his usual serious expression.

"Not at all," Keiichiro replied with a slight grin. "Not at all…"