Chapter 9 – The Visit

Okay, here's the next chapter. Aren't I kind, putting it up within 24 hours? Truth be told I had it in mind, and it's shorter. Anyway, I put more action between Ryou and Lettuce here, even though it's not that much. The next chapter will take things even further, but for now enjoy... :D

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Ryou was pacing, making a hole in the floor of his room. The café was open, but he couldn't yet seem to mingle and socialize. They were meant to search for Lettuce, not keep appearances up. They needed to try to talk to her and make her see reason. If she had attacked them without even blinking, it meant that they had to act swiftly before it was too late. Her DNA was merged with two other ones; the alien's and an animal's, aquatic it would seem. They needed to bring her back; his sweet, caring, ever so compassionate and kind Lettuce.

That morning he had woken up late postponing the moment to get up and see that Lettuce hadn't arrived. She was usually the first to appear on the café's doorstep on the week-end to help him open, but this time was not the case. He knew that she wouldn't come anymore, but it didn't mean that he wanted to face it anyway. At least until they brought her back. He knew he should tell the others about Lettuce's impromptu visit in the middle of the night, but for now he only wanted to remember how much fun they had working closely only the two of them together.

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Ryou was roused with a start. He was sure he had heard someone knocking on the door. He turned around and looked at the clock, it was only eight o'clock and they didn't open before nine. It was usually Ichigo who opened on the week-end, but she always came at the last minute adjusting everything in between the clients. It seemed that today she was eager to work. He finally got up, when the knocking stopped. If Ichigo had finally came to her senses and arrived early, he wasn't the one who was going to push her away for doing her job for once. So he hurried to the door without caring for his clothing or lack of clothing in this case. He arrived at the door just as the girl was walking down the alley of the café. However, it wasn't Ichigo who had came around early.

"Wait, don't go!", Ryou said holding the door opened.

Lettuce had heard the bells before she the call. However, she didn't dare turn around. Ichigo had asked her to open up for her, but hadn't given her any information on how or when to do it. All she knew is that they opened at nine, so she took a chance and arrived an hour early. She had forgotten at first that Ryou was probably still sleeping and when no one answered or came to open, she finally remembered that fact. So now, she was beet red, her back to him not daring to turn around in case of seeing an angry Ryou just roused out of sleep.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Shirogane-san", she said meekly her back still to him.

"Lettuce don't worry about it. Habitually it's Ichigo who opens on the week-end and she's not one to get up with the sun.", he said apologetically.

"It's okay. I-I can come back if you prefer.", she proposed.

"You don't need to", he chuckled. "Why don't you just turn around and come in? I'll help you. Knowing Ichigo she mustn't have gave you any details about what to do.", he thought aloud.

"O-okay, If you don't mind", she said softly turning around and getting by him rapidly.

He chuckled softly at her embarrassed demeanour and followed her inside. He had stayed up late the night before to do some research on the aliens and hadn't found anything again. He was starting to get frustrated with all the research, but except the fact that they weren't from Earth, the aliens still stayed a mystery to them. He was lacking sleep and getting restless by the lack of answers. Yet, the presence of Lettuce and her personality was cheering him up and he found himself up to the work once again.

"I don't", he smiled. Then he clapped his hand ready to get things started. "So let's get to work!"

"Um... maybe you'd want to get d-dress?", she offered even more flustered.

Lettuce was purposefully looking at some point behind Ryou. She couldn't look him in the eyes and she would never let herself get caught at admiring his body. She already knew he was well shaped from the shower incident, but drooling over him would get her into an even more embarrassing position than the last one. Something on his neck suddenly draw her attention, but finally noticing his state of undress – he always slept with only the strict minimum, so when there was an emergency he could easily put something on and run – Ryou went upstairs slightly blushing and promising not to be long. Thinking he maybe had a birthmark on his neck, Lettuce tucked the information away for later confirmation and waited.

Then, while she waiting for Ryou to get dressed, Lettuce decided to change too. Since she would have to do it for the job, why delay for later what you could do right now? With that in mind, she went to the locker's room and put on her uniform. However, when she searched for her apron it was gone. She didn't panic, because it was only an apron, but she was slightly over the meter of nervousness. She thought she had lost the apron, and she knew how Akasaka-san had put so much effort in sewing it for her. She didn't want to cause any more problems what with the Trio of Doom incident, but she knew she had to tell Ryou about it. It's not like she could hide the fact that she was missing her apron, or that she could sew one with nothing and in less than 5 minutes. She took a big gulp of air and entered the café ready to face Ryou.

At first, Ryou noticed how cute Lettuce would look into a dress. True, it was the same uniform as usual, but without the frilly white garment it was more casual. The green really suited her, complimenting her hair. Her endless legs even more endless in her short dress, and the small of her waist – where he was sure his hand would fit perfectly at the back – made her look breathtaking. He shook his head. He was gaping at Lettuce and his thought didn't even make any sense, Keiichiro would laugh at the loss of his usual cool demeanour. Aware of her suddenly, more-than usual, upset conduct, Ryou, as a caring person for everyone's well being – okay, maybe more when it concerned a green haired girl – asked her what was wrong.

"You can tell me everything, Lettuce", he insisted.

"W-well, I t-think I've lost the... um... apron...", she confessed in a small voice.

"That's all?", he chuckled. "Don't worry, Keiichiro took everyone's. He said something about updating the uniform.", he added quickly in fear of hurting his frail friendship with her.

She didn't seem totally comfortable with him yet and he didn't want to scare her away since he had to look after her. She may not know it yet, but one day she would have to face great dangers. For now, he wanted to keep her safe.

"R-right. I was worried I lost it, and added even more work on Akasaka-san's shoulders who already cooks all day for the café. And then I was also concerned that you wouldn't be happy about it, since I've got this really cute uniform for not even a month yet and I had already lost it, but then I wouldn't have mind sewing another one or paying for one either. If you don't think my sewing skills are enough to create such a fine things with all those frills and - ... I'm rambling again.", she finished in a small voice, flushing.

"As I said, don't worry about anything, Lettuce.", Ryou reassured. "Anyway, I think it's cute, it suits you."

"Um... t-thanks Shirogane-san", she stuttered.

"Lettuce, what have I told you? You can call me Ryou, I won't get offended and everyone calls me that", he smiled.

"B-but I-I couldn't!", she said with big eyes.

Seeing her agitated over only a name, Ryou had to laugh again. His laugh was a deep rumble coming from within, and Lettuce was kind of proud of getting such a reaction of happiness out of Ryou. Sure, he was laughing because of something she did, but it didn't feel like when the Trio of Doom was mocking her. It was more affectionate and she was certain that if she asked him to stop he would. So she remained standing there, waiting for Ryou to calm down... her own smile gracing her lips.

"Okay", he wheezed completely out of breath to continue laughing. "Let's get to work before it's too late. Here you are ready for work and arriving early and I'm distracting you."

"It doesn't bother me. I could be in worst company", she said boldly with a flush.

Ryou once again laughed at her small try of humour and couldn't help but find it endearing.

Akasaka-san had arrived early also to put back the aprons, when he had stumbled on Ryou's and Lettuce's exchange. He couldn't help but spy on the two of them. It's been so long since he had at last seen Ryou so carefree and he was glad that Lettuce had appeared in their lives.

::: ::: :::

Lettuce was stuck in some kind of spaceship with the aliens. It was dull and creepy. The ship was damaged pretty badly and no one had seen fit to repair it yet. There were only the rooms and the cockpit in good shape. Since their arrival, Tart had tried to contact their home planet, Kish had disappear and Pai had shut himself in his lab to plan their next move. At first, Lettuce had tried to sleep, however the beds – if the rectangular protuberance made of metal could be called beds – weren't comfortable at all. Completely restless she had tried to get out, but Pai had stopped her telling her to stay put. With school and the café Mew Mew out of the way, she didn't have anything to let her mind wander on though. During her sleepless hours of boredom, she had discovered that she could change back into human if she wanted, and she had formed a plan to exploit this new found abilities. Locking Pai into his room, knowing he wouldn't notice anything before it was too late and easily passing by Tart, Lettuce got out at last. Now, all she needed was a new wardrobe and make an impromptu visit to some old friends.

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First stop was Aya, the leader of the Trio of Doom. Her memories were getting clearer and clearer by the day and she knew she wanted revenge on that girl. For her, Lettuce had decided to go plainly as her old self. When she appeared in Aya's room in the middle of the night, she only floated over her at first while sending evil vibrations in her direction. She was pleased to see that her dream was turning to nightmare, however she got bored of it and summoned water, cold water, and splashed it on the defenceless girl. For the next part, Lettuce had floated down and was trying her best to look like old, useless Lettuce. Aya woke abruptly totally frozen to the bone. When she first saw Lettuce, she was surprised, but then anger took over and, even though Lettuce's presence was abnormal in that time of the night, commanded her to bring her dried towels.

"What are you waiting for, useless girl!", Aya had spat when she noticed that the girl wouldn't move.

At that moment Lettuce had enough and put her plan in action. In front of the soaked Aya, she started to transform; her hair getting darker, her ears growing, her eyes becoming slits and clothes changing. When Lettuce took off to tower over her, Aya wasn't trembling because of the cold anymore. She opened her mouth to scream she water flowed her mouth and nose; she drowning and she couldn't make a sound to save herself.

"You will never lay eyes on me again", Lettuce hissed. "You will never attack another person again and you will even forget I existed.", she then commanded.

When Aya could finally scream, Lettuce was long gone. When her parents found her, they had no explanation for her dampness or the unintelligible sentences about drowning from within and not attacking others anymore.

That same night two other families found themselves with their daughter in the same frightened state.

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The last stop of the night for Lettuce more delicate. She wasn't sure how to she should proceed. With the Trio of doom it was easy, as long as she got her revenge it didn't really matter. However in his case things were different. She loathed him from her memories, but something else was also nagging her at the back of her head, but she couldn't remember what. Anyway, she had to act before the sun was up, and Pai would get after her. She then decided to just go and see how things would turn out. Besides, if anything turned out wrong, she had some tricks up her sleeves.

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The ::: ::: ::: is because it's another part, but in Lettuce's point of view which equals at Ryou's past... All in all, it's not really important, just wanted to precise.

So...? not really long, but worth it? Don't be afraid to share your thoughts.

P-S: I know my timeline is not perfect, but let's say that the flashback of Ryou at the start happened between chapter 2 (The Saving) and 3 (The Changing).