Chapter 2 – The Saving

Ok. So this chapter should be the last one to place in context (place, characters, mood between Ryou and Lettuce...) It's a little bit more of a what you can see in other stories, but that's what came in mind, so bear with it :D

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She didn't know how she had found herself in this place, but she was starting to feel really uncomfortable. Having a half naked Ryou in front of wasn't helping her case neither. So she tried to remember how she had gotten herself in such a position.

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"Why? ... Why are they here? I didn't think it was that hard just to leave me alone..." silently muttered Lettuce while looking discreetly through the ajar door.

Seated just in front of her hiding place were the trio of doom, as Mint had called them. The three girls who seemed to have taken such a liking to the café that, since Lettuce started to work there, that they also started to show up every day. At first, they just glared her way, as if she caused every torment on Earth or, in this case, their lives. But then everything turned out worst; it wasn't just hatred coming out from their pores. They would a mess on their table and, since they always especially asked for Lettuce, she had to clean everything up. Then, they would complain that she was too slow or that she didn't get their right order and other small things like that. The others, of course, knew what was going on; Mint could see everything from her perch, Ichigo was always only tables away, Akasaka-san bribed information out of Mint and Ryou just seemed to know everything that was going on in the café. So, someone always made a move to go help her when the trio would cause problem, however Lettuce would always stop them from a shake of the head or a movement of the hand, and face the three with a smile.

Still, one day, they went too far. Other than the frequent criticism and snide remarks, a little bit louder than usual, they made her trip... while she was carrying their three cups of HOT tea. So as it always happen, the cups and their content went flying in the air. As luck would have it, everything fell on Lettuce; both the hot liquid and the hard cups of tea. At least, lucky for her, Ryou and his incredible reflexes were there. So before, the scalding tea could scar her for life, he dragged her upstairs, she hadn't even seen those stairs, surely breaking every door on his way, and put her in the shower under very cold water.

"Sh-Shirogane-san! It-it's c-cold!", helplessly yelled Lettuce.

"Sorry, but there's no other way. We wouldn't want you to get a burn."

Strangely, it seemed that during all the commotion, she had lost her glasses and they had both found themselves in the shower. Ryou had to act too fast to notice that he was also a target to the cold water. They were now face to face, so near, that, even without her glasses, she could see him clearly; how the beads of water would sting at the tip of his bangs hiding part of his intense blue eyes piercing her soul from within or how he would slightly shiver from time to time because of the water.

"You know, you should have let us do something about those three girls. I'm sure nothing of that would have happened if we had stop them earlier. Lettuce, don't let others trample over you like that.", he sighed silently. "You're too kind for your own good..."

Suddenly, he took conscience of the fact that the water was really cold so he turned it off and stepped out to go fetch some towels.

All the while, Lettuce was looking down, thinking of what Ryou had just said and felt ashamed of being so weak. Deep inside of her, she knew it wasn't her fault, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling guilty. Because, even though the trio of doom were mean, maybe if she had been able to reach them and become their friend they wouldn't have turned out so bad. Or maybe, if she had let Ryou, Ichigo, Mint or even Akasaka-san act in her defence like they had wanted to, she wouldn't have broke three cup of tea and force Ryou to sweep in and save her. With those thought running through her head, she didn't see Ryou come back in dripping wet with three towels in hand. He handed one to her, but since she was still looking at the floor, Ryou took it as a sign that she felt exhausted after everything that happened and took on him to dry her hair. When she felt the soft feeling of the towel over her head she startled a little, but Ryou held her in place and continued to dry her hair off. She was feeling so secure and comfortable in his presence.

'It seems that Ryou is always saving me these days, could it be...', Lettuce thought, but was interrupted by Ryou who just finished with her hair.

"There you go, all dry.", he stated while staring at her. "You know, you really have beautiful hair. You should let it loose sometimes", he remarked taking a strand of her hair in his hand. However when he stepped back, he saw that she was still shivering in her wet clothes and he also misinterpreted the blush creeping up her face due to his action as coldness taking over her. "Sorry. I forgot about your clothes. Wait here, I'm gonna get you something dry to wear."

Before she could say anything, he was once again out of the bathroom. Less than a minute later, however, he was already back in with some of his clothes in hand.

"It surely will be too big for you, but I'm sure it's gonna be more comfortable than what you're presently wearing. Oh, and here are your glasses. I found them in the corridor", he said handing her the clothes and glasses. " And don't worry about the clothes, yours will have to be put in the dryer, and in between you have to wear something, so don't mind it, okay?", he hastily added when he saw that she was going to refuse his offer. "I'm going to be on the other side. So you can just change here, and we'll go put your clothes in dryer after."

And once again, before she could say anything, she had found herself alone in the room again. Having no other choice, Lettuce changed into Ryou's clothes taking a sniff of his scent at the same time; a sweet smell from always being in the café and one more bitter like coffee, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Anyway, he smelled just like him, someone who looked harsh at first sight, but was truly good at heart. Once she was done, she took her clothes, glanced a last time at the mirror to see if she her hair wasn't too messy, the boy had to have some strength to dry her hair on such a short length of time, and stepped out.

Until now, she had succeeded to keep her cool and only blush ever so slightly, even in front of a very near and wet Ryou. However, in presence of a half naked man, even more a half naked Ryou, she could stop herself from becoming beet red.

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He had his back turned to her, so she tried to take the time before he turned around to calm down. Still, it seemed that luck really wasn't on her side today, because, before she could tone down her complexion back to normal, he faced her. At first, he was like a stone, a surprised look etched on his face like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. But then, the shock passed and in two short strides he was in front of her, still without a shirt on, minutiously examining her for any sign of injury.

"Are you alright? Does it hurt anywhere? Is there a burn?", he worriedly asked.

"I-I'm f-fine, Shirogane-san", she stuttered. "Thanks to you, again", she smiled.

When he smiled back at her, she had to hold her breath. He was always charming, but when he smiled, it's like the world had gotten brighter, and she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"Glad to hear that. Now I think we should go back down to show them you're still alive and see if everything's alright. I heard quite a chaos when I brought you upstairs earlier", he pensively said.

She still couldn't keep her eyes off him. Even his pensive face was enchanting; lips slightly pursued, eyes in the vague and eyebrows faintly nearer each other. However, a knock on the door frame brought them both to reality and they could see Akasaka-san in the shadow of the corridor a small smile on his face.

"Um, Ryou? The girls had to go for an.. emergency. I told them you would join them at the usual meeting point. How-e-ver... you should probably put a shirt on before going", remarked Akaska-san.

His cheeks now faintly pink tainted, Ryou rushed to put a shirt on and was out after casting a rapid goodbye to the two and left in the room.

"So, Lettuce, we should probably go put those in the dryer", he said pointing to her clothes. "Wait for me in the kitchen, and I'll prepare something for you after putting your wet things in the dryer", he added after she nodded.

Once again, she was left alone after Akasaka-san had grabbed her clothes and walked away. So she went downstairs toward the kitchen. However, when she got to the café, everything was a mess. Chairs were thrown down, tables were misplaced and many remains of unidentifiable things were lying everywhere. Clients must have left rapidly, because there were half empty plates on almost every table, and several footsteps were printed in the food over the floor toward the exit. Deciding she didn't want to know what happened there yet, she skipped straight to the kitchen where she patiently waited for Akasaka-san.

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When he came back he made a beeline to the oven and asked her straight what she wanted to eat.

"I-I don't mind. I've already caused a lot of trouble today, I don't want to add making me something to the list...", she desperately trailed off.

"Lettuce-chan. Look me in the eyes.", he waited to continue until she finally did as asked. "I don't want you ever again to say such things. We're all here for you, Ichigo-chan, Minto-chan, Ryou and me. After, everything everyone has done for your sake today, they wouldn't want you to throw it all away by pitying yourself. So cheer up now, and I'll make you taste my new recipe. It's a strawberry, vanilla and chocolate swirl cake. The same as Neapolitan ice cream, but in form of a cake with real pieces of strawberry."

"T-thank you, Akasaka-san.", said Lettuce with tears brimming at the corner of her eyes. "It means a lot to me what you just said. For long, I thought no one cared for me, and even if I tried my hardest, people wouldn't notice me or become my friends."

"It was my pleasure Lettuce-chan. How about a cup of hot chocolate with the cake? I meant what I said about it soothing a broken soul.", he said with a friendly smile.

After a lot of testing, they had to try more than one piece to be sure the cake was that good, and sending all of their taste buds in heaven, Lettuce had enough courage to ask what was bothering her since Ryou had left earlier.

"Um... A-Akasaka-san, why does Ryou live up here? Over the café? When I was upstairs earlier, I noticed a bed in the room and Ryou seemed to know the place well, and he had spare clothes to lend me and change into, and also the first time I came, he also changed himself, so I was wondering if or why he lived up there?", she said in a rush turning her last sentence in a question.

"Wo, Lettuce-chan, calm down. In truth, yes you're right, Ryou lives over the café. However, I can't give you much details since it's not my place to tell, but Ryou is an orphan so the café is kind of his home.", slowly responded Akasaka-san thinking of what he should say. "He may not look like it, but Ryou is a genius. He's only 17, but his IQ his over the average. So, being kind of out of the ordinary, when his parents died he closed himself off and created this façade to protect himself", at that Akasaka-san smiled sadly. "Anyway, if you want to know more don't be afraid to ask him.", he cheerfully said trying to change the mood.

Not wanting to embarrass herself or put Akasaka-san in a situation he didn't to be in, she let the subject drop, but still remembering that she'll have some more questions for Ryou one day... when she'll find the courage to ask.

"So Akasaka-san, what did Ichigo, Minto and Shirogane-san had to do. It seemed urgent, did something bad happened?", inquired Lettuce trying to find a better subject.

"Don't worry about it Lettuce-chan. Now we should go and start to clean the café if we want to be done before nightfall.", he vaguely said while taking off.

Once again, Lettuce let it drop not wanting to create tensions between her new boss and her and followed him prepping herself to work. Her head was so full of Akasaka-san's hazy responses to her questions and the intense session of cleaning waiting for her that she missed the ajar door, left by the girls or Ryou in their hurry, which was leading to unknown basement to her. Café Mew Mew wasn't all it seemed to be, and she had many discoveries to do about it yet.

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Okay. So I've updated chapter 1 and 2 (once again), because I didn't really liked what I had written so far. However, there are only minor details in the chapters. (just to add, if you see any mistakes, please tell me, thanks :D )