I need this up by today so I really must hurry. This is for True Colours Alternate Pairings Contest. By the way: Happy Birthday True!
I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew
Since there's always some debate as to how old the characters are, and since this in the future I'm gonna list ages of the characters in this fic, even the ones that may or may not show up.
Ichigo – 16 Mint –16 Lettuce – 17 Pudding – 13 Zakuro – 19
Masaya – 16 Ryou – 19 Keiichiro – 23
Kish – 17 Pai – 21 Tart - 14
It was before the first hint of light crept into Lettuce's bedroom when she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She stretched and yawned, and then grabbed her glasses with a smile. She got out of bed and stretched a bit more. Lettuce smiled and sat down at her desk, she got out her brush and started to manage her exceeding long hair. After the knots from the night were out she started the delicate process of braiding her hair, and finished quickly because of years of practice. She pulled on a dark green tunic with thick silver lining and black leggings. She grabbed a bag from her desk before leaving her room.
Lettuce looked outside the window at the still dark sky and smiled, the green haired girl went downstairs and outside, slipping a pair of black flats on before leaving. She started to walk towards the harbor, and hoped she wouldn't miss the peak of the sun over the water. The way the water glistened in the first light of the day was just beautiful. Not to mention the Sakura trees were at peak and the petals falling into the water would just add wonders to the magnificence of the scene.
Lettuce arrived and the sun was just starting to creep over the horizon. She pulled out her camera and started snapping the pictures. The green haired girl was mindful to get everything, and that she did. She got the water and the trees, and she got just the water, and the suns reflection on the water, and the horizon, and just the trees, and just the flowers, and just the petals. The mew looked through the pictures she had taken and smiled.
She declared herself done for the day and deserving of a warm cup of coffee when she noticed another person out. The person was a few hundred feet away and had his feet in the water. She wouldn't have noticed him had it not been for the ripples in the water that she quickly snapped another picture of. She walked over to him and smiled when she recognized him as someone she knew.
"Hello, Aoyama-san," she greeted him. She hadn't seen him in a few weeks and was glad to see he was doing ok. The battle anniversary was always hard on them all, and it was three weeks ago that the three year anniversary of the Mew Mew's victory over Deep Blue. The café had closed down so no one saw each other as regularly as they had before, but no one had completely gotten out of touch.
"Midorikawa-san, how are you?" he asked, turning to look at her with a warm smile. Lettuce couldn't put her finger on it, but something seemed off about it.
"I'm doing well, and what about yourself?" she asked.
"I'm ok," was all he said.
"Good to hear, how are things with Ichigo?" she asked, she needed to pinpoint what had seemed off before.
"I'm not sure to be totally honest, what about things with Shirogane-san?" he asked in an effort to change the subject.
"Would you like to go get a cup of coffee and talk about it?" she asked him, not willing to let him get off topic, after all they were friends.
"Thank you for the offer," he said and she reached out her hand to him. He took her hand and she helped him to his feet once they were back on the ground. The dark haired boy smiled, and slipped on his shoes.
"It's no trouble, that's what friends are for" she told him and led the way to a nearby family owned coffee shop that was open at the early hour. He got in line behind her and she shook her head, "My treat."
"Nonsense, I can cover the coffee," Masaya told her.
"I know you can, but I want to," she said and they both ordered black coffee. Masaya won the battle to pay and the two sat down at a table outside. "So, what's been bothering you?" she asked and took a sip of her coffee.
"It's not anything I should be worried about, but I can't help it. You know Ichigo is supposed to be on vacation with her family for Spring Break?" he asked her and she nodded. "I walked by her house yesterday and both of her parents were out working in the yard. Her father said something about not trusting me to keep Ichigo safe while she was away."
Lettuce gasped, Ichigo had lied? "A-are you sure you heard correctly?"
Masaya nodded, "Even if I hadn't heard him correctly Ichigo's said, 'Stop worrying, Aoyama-kun's a good boy,' I walked away so they wouldn't see me and get worried," he told her, looking into his coffee cup.
"She lied to all of us?" Lettuce couldn't believe it, one of her best friends had lied to her? But not just to her, but to her boyfriend, and family, and all the people that she loved the most.
"I didn't want to believe it, it's been bothering me since I heard it this morning," he swallowed hard, and his grip on the coffee cup tightened. "She's supposed to come back in two days."
"Oh, Aoyama-san, I'm so sorry you had to hear-" Lettuce started but she was cut off.
"It's not even hearing that hurts, but I worry that she's not gonna come back," he confessed to the green haired mew.
"There has to be a good reason," Lettuce said and grabbed his arm to get his attention and smiled encouragingly at him. "Right now I think the best thing you can do is go talk to Ichigo's parents, and maybe the three of you can come up with something. If you can't," she got down a piece of paper and wrote a cell phone number on it, "give Ryou a call, he's on vacation but he'll want to know, and if anyone can figure it out he can," she told him somberly.
"I think it's my turn to ask if you're ok," Masaya told her and looked at her expectantly.
"He tries hard not to let it show when he's with me, but Ryou's heart still belongs to Ichigo, it's about time I told him I know," she explained with a sigh. Masaya nodded, he had known about Ryou's feelings for his girlfriend for a long time and felt bad for Lettuce.
"I'm sorry about that," Masaya apologized, half for himself and half for his girlfriend.
"Why? It's not your fault, and I don't even blame Ryou, much less you or Ichigo," she told him honestly. No, she didn't blame anyone but herself for her sorrow. She was the one who had fallen in love with him when she knew he was in love with her best friend. Her phone started ringing, she saw it was Ryou, "Do you mind if I take this?" she asked Masaya.
"No, of course not, I should actually be going," he told her. They both got up and she hesitated a moment before giving him a hug, they said goodbye and Masaya walked off and Lettuce answered her phone.
"Hey, Ryou," she greeted her boyfriend, and held her phone to her ear while packing up her camera and throwing out her empty coffee cup.
"Lettuce, how are you?" he asked her, and she imagined his face smiling at her.
"Ok, I just got done at the harbor," Lettuce told him, "you're having a good time, right?"
"Yeah, enjoying myself, I hadn't been back there in a long time, but I'm still having fun," Ryou replied, she could tell going back to the site of where his old house had taken its toll on him.
"I'm glad," she answered, "we're gonna have to talk when you get back, but don't worry about it, enjoy your last two days of vacation."
"All right," he was a little confused by the statement, but he knew better than to argue with her, or rather he had better manners than that.
"I've missed you," she told him and almost couldn't stop herself from crying at the thought of breaking up with him.
"I've missed you too," he told her.
"I love you," she told him, tears silently starting to fall down her cheeks.
"I love you too, I gotta go," he told her and she and waited for the click that signified he had hung up before closing her own phone. She slung her bag over her shoulder and started to head home. Spring break only had a few more days left, she didn't really want to go back to school, and yet she would, and no one would ever know anything was wrong, even though she was vulnerable and sobbing at that moment.
Hope you all liked it, please review!
~Cy
