Chapter 1

A Wilted Piece of Lettuce

"Good morning everyone." Ryou greeted his employees as they entered the pink café. As it was a Saturday, the girls were dressed in clothes other than their uniforms. Lettuce noticed the moment she stepped through the entrance that her boss was in a much better mood than usual. He was never this perky. She other the other hand still smoldered inside, but she consciously refused to try to let it show. She needed to appear normal and completely unaffected by his presence in the room. Usually, when ever she saw him she got butterflies in her stomach, blushed a lot, and she always dropped things or tripped over them. She wasn't naturally clumsy, she just seemed to be whenever she was thinking about Ryou-which was most of the time.

"How is everyone?" Keiichiro asked, coming through the door way from the kitchen. "We have some news."

"Yes." Ryou said, motioning for them to take a seat. When they had done so, he began. "We have decided to keep Café Mew Mew open even though there is no immediate need. Since you have destroyed all the Kirema Anima that were left and that we know of, you should resort to your normal selves once again. Now, you can continue to work here or you may leave. It's you're choice." He finished.

"Leave Café Mew Mew?" Cried Pudding, from her perch on the table. "No way! We're all like family! One big happy family!" Well I'm not happy Lettuce mentally contradicted her, but said nothing out loud.

"Yeah, as much as I hate to admit it, you've all grown on me." Mint said, ducking a playful slap from Ichigo.

"I have some time off from work, so I can stay." Zakuro said, looking around.

Lettuce was just about to add her bit when Ryou cut her off. "Okay, its decided then. You'll all stay on as waitresses." What? Do I not count? Lettuce fumed. Is that what they think? Damn it Lettuce, you're letting them walk all over you again-just like those girls from school. How can you be so weak?

"Um, actually." Lettuce started, then stopped. She hadn't meant to say anything. For a few seconds, the café was dead silent.

"What's that Lettuce?" Keiichiro asked her, and five other pairs of eyes locked on her with slight interest. None of the people there had expected her to make any arguments; they were so used to her being supportive of anything that would keep the group together.

"Um actually," Lettuce started again, "I can't really stay. "

"Why not!" The girls cried, obviously shocked.

Because I've been betrayed. Because I can't work with people I can't trust. She silently argued. "Um. I have a lot of school and family work I've been forced to put off in order to save the world." She said. The lie had slipped out without her even knowing. "Now that the world is safe again, it's all going to catch up with me. If I don't want to be buried in it, I have to get at least some of it started." She continued.

"We all have stuff we need to deal with." Retorted Ichigo trying to look her friend in the eye, but Lettuce just stared though her as if she wasn't there. A hurt expression appeared on the girl's face, but only for a fraction of a second.

"But Lettuce has all those advanced classes." Mint reminded her. "She's one of the smarter ones of the group." She continued, earning a glare from her pink-haired coworker.

"What are you saying?" Ichigo asked, a threatening tone in her voice, but Mint, for once, did not rise to the challenge. Instead, she looked at Lettuce with a deep concentration, as if trying to figure out a puzzle.

"How about a leave of absence?" Keiichiro offered to her. "That way when you're done, you can come back to work? I'm sure Ryou would understand. Right Ryou?" He asked, turning to his friend and frowned slightly at what he saw.

Ryou was looking at Ichigo deeply, and only snapped to attention when he heard his name. "Huh?" He asked. "Oh, yeah. You can have some time off-take all the time you need."
"I don't know when I'll be done. It might be a while." Lettuce replied, trying not to cry at the indifference Ryou was showing to her sudden announcement.

"Whenever you're ready, we'll be here." Keiichiro said, giving her a reassuring smile. He always knew what to say to take the sting out of Ryou's comments or actions, but this time it was useless. The damage had already been done.

"Well, I guess I'll go then." Lettuce said, standing up slowly. The tears in her eyes had already threatened to overflow, but she couldn't let them see. The group of girls and Ryou and Keiichiro watched as she turned around and walked calmly out of the café where she had spent some of the most memorable and best times of her life. Once she was beyond the pink exterior of it, she began to run down the crowded street, faster and faster, trying to run from something she knew she could never escape. She bumped into a few people who gave her both confused and rude looks. She ignored them however. She had something much more frightening to run from. Her emotions.