Oh, wow. This story is a million years late. I started my songfic series a couple years ago I think, and I'm just now getting around to finishing it. As always this IS Lettuce and Ryou, but it starts out weird. I'll explain in the summary. Enjoy!
-Silver
Summary: After Lettuce and Ryou went their separate ways, Lettuce moved to Scotland to study marine biology in the lochs. Ryou stayed behind and tried to move on with his life, eventually they both started seeing new people, but one day Lettuce is sitting, finishing her dissertation, and hears a song on her radio. It's the one she sang to Ryou that day, many years ago, on their first date. She is taken back and finds the reason she feels so empty. What will happen when Lettuce goes back to the café and finds Ryou has moved on? Will it matter? Read to find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew. If I did I wouldn't be wasting my time writing fanfiction. I'd make it real.
Our story begins five years ago, in a time when everything was simpler. It was two years after the mew project and the girls had lost their powers long ago. Ryou and Lettuce had been going out for a year or so, she was 13; he was 17. A few days before their one year anniversary Lettuce called Ryou to the park, she broke it off with him, leaving him speechless. A few days later, Lettuce came into the café and told everyone she had been offered an internship with a famous marine biologist in Scotland and was leaving the next day. The girls were sad but understood the important opportunity this was for Lettuce and wished her good luck. Lettuce hugged each of the girls in turn and told them she would miss them. She left the next day. The morning of her departure, Ryou found a note tacked to the front door of the café. He took it down and read the neat scrawling handwriting.
Dear Ryou,
I know I hurt you, and you can probably never forgive me, but just know, it had nothing to do with you. I need to grow up some. I think that you love me deeply; to an extent I cannot return until I have matured more. Please understand that and do not be sad. I want you to move on with your life, as I will in the months to come. Know that I do love you, but this is for both of us. It will be better this way.
Yours always,
Lettuce
Ryou read the letter and kept it all those years, those long five years that followed, and that is where our story starts in that small pink café with its' long haired chef, beautiful young waitresses, and one slightly bitter owner. "Ichigo, can you take this to table 30?" Keiichiro asked the young woman.
A bright-eyed, red head nodded and flashed a heart-warming smile, "Of course, Akasaka-san!" She took the tray from the chef and almost floated over to the correct table.
A tall blonde surveyed the scene. The four waitresses in the café were kept quite busy. Ichigo and Minto were now 18 and had matured greatly. Ichigo had grown her red hair out to the small of her back; she had grown a few inches, and had soft curves. Minto had stopped wearing her hair in buns three years ago and now wore it in a long ponytail that reached her shoulders, she even worked. Pudding was now 15, and wore her hair in a messy twist on the nape of her neck. Zakuro was 21 and the same as she was five years ago, but much more patient and kind. The mews had softened her. Ryou sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He retreated back into his room and pulled out a small piece of paper. He read it again and thought of the green haired mew that had given it to him.
In a dark room, is where our story picks back up. The room is dark except for a single desk lamp shining brightly. The desk seems to be ready to flood over with books, all kinds of books on the same subject of marine biology are scattered over it, on the floor, and on the couch in the corner. In a chair, there is a woman reading quickly, scanning for some final fact to finish her dissertation while the radio plays on. Her blue eyes shine brightly with anticipation, green hair falling gently out of its' ponytail. As she finds the fact she was searching for her face lights up and she finishes the long paper. She sits up and stretches, smiling happily. She stands and starts to head to turn the radio off, but the song catches her attention.
I am unwritten, Staring
at the blank page before you
Can't read my mind
I'm undefined
I'm
just beginning
The pen's in my hand
Ending unplanned
Open up the dirty window
Let the
sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for
something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release
your inhibitions
Lettuce gasped and memories of her ex-boyfriend Ryou come flooding into her mind.
Feel the rain on your skin Oh, oh I break
tradition Staring at the blank page before you
No one else can feel it for you
Only
you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words
on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life
with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is
still unwritten, yeah
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines, oh yeah
yeah
We've been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can't
live that way oh, oh
Open
up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you
could not find
Reaching for something in the distance
So close
you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Lettuce makes a snap decision and pulled out her large suitcase. She puts all of her clothes into it, all her books, everything. She tacks a note to her door for her mentor to find in the morning and leaves. The radio is still on, fading into the distance…
Feel
the rain on your skin (Gospel) Feel the rain on your skin The rest is still unwritten The rest is
still unwritten
No one else can feel it for you
Only you
can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on
your lips
drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life
with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
the rest
still unwritten
Staring at the blank page before
you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find
Reaching for something in the
distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your
inhibitions
No one else can
feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one
else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words
unspoken
Live you life with arms wide open
Today is where your
book begins
The café closes up for the night and Ryou is walking home with Ichigo when Ichigo stops and turns to him. "Ryou?"
"Hm?" He replies and turns to her.
"Do you ever think of Lettuce, you know, in the most random times. You'll be doing something and she'll pop into your head?" Ichigo asked and took his hand in hers.
"Yes, I do. All the time. I've learned to deal with it though," Ryou said and turned his eyes away from his girlfriend.
"I understand. Today, Pudding broke a plate and started apologizing, and she and I both had to stop and hug each other because it reminded us of Lettuce. I miss her," Ichigo said and a tear slid down her cheek.
"I do too," Ryou said and opened the door to Ichigo's apartment, "goodnight, Ichigo-chan."
"Goodnight, Ryou-kun," Ichigo replied and closed the door behind her.
Ryou walked home and went to bed.
The next morning Ryou awoke to the sound of knocking on the café door. He got up and groggily called out, "I'm coming, hold on."
Lettuce stood on the front stoop with her ipod in her pocket. She had set it on shuffle and when Ryou opened the door a new song came on.
Closed off from love Ooooh... But something
happened
I didn't need the pain
Once or twice
was enough
And it was all in vain
Time starts to pass
Before
you know it you're frozen
For the very first time with you
My heart melted
into the ground
Found something true
And everyone's looking
'round
Thinking I'm going crazy
"Lettuce?" Ryou breathed.
"Hey," Lettuce said and gave him a little smile.
But I don't care what they say Keep bleeding
I'm in love with you
They try to pull me away
But they don't know the truth
My
heart's crippled by the vein
That I keep on closing
You cut
me open and I
Keep, keep bleeding love
I
keep bleeding
I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding
Keep,
keep bleeding love
You cut me open
"What are you doing here?" He asked as she walked in with her suitcase.
"I think I left some things unspoken, and the other day I heard a song…and I remembered. I had to come back," Lettuce replied and turned back around to face him, blue eyes bore into blue eyes.
Oooh, oooh... Trying hard not to hear Hey, yeah! But nothing's greater
But they talk so
loud
Their piercing sounds fill my ears
Try to fill me with
doubt
Yet I know that their goal
Is to keep me from falling
Than the rush
that comes with your embrace
And in this world of loneliness
I
see your face
Yet everyone around me
Thinks that I'm going
crazy
Maybe, maybe
"Like what? You made it perfectly clear the night you broke up with me, and the next day," Ryou said, sounding a little cold.
"I know…but I do think I left some things unsaid, like how much I love you, and how much it hurt to leave," Lettuce replied, stepping closer to Ryou.
But I don't care what they say Keep bleeding
I'm in love with you
They
try to pull me away
But they don't know the truth
My heart's
crippled by the vein
That I keep on closing
You cut me open
and I
Keep, keep bleeding love
I keep
bleeding
I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding
Keep,
keep bleeding love
You cut me open
"Hurt you? What about the pain you caused me?" Ryou said angrily.
"I know. I'm so sorry, you cannot understand how badly I feel. Please, see that I'm telling you the truth!" Lettuce cried out.
And it's draining all of me I
don't care what they say Keep bleeding
Oh they find it hard to believe
I'll be wearing these scars
For everyone to see
I'm in love with you
They try to
pull me away
But they don't know the truth
My heart's
crippled by the pain
That I keep all closed in
You cut me open
and I
Keep, keep bleeding love
I keep
bleeding
I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding
Keep,
keep bleeding love
"I do, but Lettuce, I've moved on," Ryou said and turned away.
"I didn't expect you to wait for me, but now I'm telling you that I fulfilled what I said I needed. I've grown up, I love you with my soul," Lettuce replied and put a tentative hand on his shoulder.
You cut me open and I Keep bleeding
Keep, keep
bleeding love
I keep bleeding
I keep, keep bleeding love
Keep bleeding
Keep, keep bleeding love
You cut me open
and I
Keep bleeding
Keep, keep bleeding love
"Ryou, please," Lettuce pleaded.
Ryou turned around and pulled her gently to him, "I've missed you. Don't ever do that to me again."
"Never."
Okay, I don't know if that's too much of a cliffy or something, but I thought it was a good ending. There is an implied break-up with Ichigo in the earlier part of the story. Also, I do not own Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" or Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love". Review!
-Silver
