A/N: Last chapter! I'm sorry if I suck at romance…but this chapter keeps true to the title. Hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN TOKYO MEW MEW.

& & &

Retasu had nothing to do but sit and twiddle her thumbs. Two hours ago, Pai had dropped her into this room and had then promptly left. The room was small, perfectly square and contained a metal cot.

There was no door (which was odd, but Retasu didn't stop to think about it much…)

A few minutes later Pai teleported in. The lack of proper entrance startled poor Retasu and she yelped, falling off the bed with a crash. Pai stared at her as she clumsily righted herself. "Gomen nasai!" she apologized hastily before sitting back down on the bed. Pai shoved a tray at her. "I thought I should feed you." He muttered sourly. Retasu accepted the meal, which turned out to be a cheese sandwich and dozens of small blueberry candies (Pai had asked Taruto what humans ate and Taruto, being young, annoying and utterly clueless about human lives, had convinced him they ate nothing but candy and had even lent him some to feed to the human).

Retasu waited expectantly for Pai to say something else, but he just stood there and stared at her, arms crossed. When it was evident there was nothing else to be said, a fierce blush crossed Retasu's face and she bowed her head. "A-arigato Pai-san, for bringing me food."

Pai had noticed her expectance and sighed heavily. "Retasu-san, what did you expect? That I would let you go free?"

Retasu blinked. "Pai-san, I…"

"Well, I can't!" he snapped. "I have a duty to my people."

The girl lowered her head. "Of course Pai-san. How silly of me, to believe in fairytales."

Pai grunted. What a waste of his time...

"We've informed your friends of our demands. They will be meeting us at Tokyo Tower in a half-hour to exchange Mew Aqua for your safety."

Retasu's eyes were hard. "Will you keep your promise?"

Pai looked taken aback at the girl's change of mood. "Of course," he reassured her, trying to ignore the previous conversation he'd had with Kisshu earlier.

"After they give us the Mew Aqua, Deep-Blue-sama says to slit Green's throat. You'll be in charge of that, right Pai?"

"You will be returned to your friends unharmed." He said again, as if repeating it to himself could ease the guilt that was wriggling its way into his subconscious. Which he shouldn't feel. Because she was the enemy. She stood for everything he opposed. Except…she didn't. She was mild-mannered, polite, was the only one of the Mews who had wanted to somehow reach a truce.

Retasu's voice was full of suspicion. "I don't believe you."

Pai sighed again and sat down beside Retasu on the cot. "Retasu-san, I'm not going to lie to you. Deep-Blue-sama wants us to dispose of you after we receive the Mew Aqua from the Mews."

Retasu felt like all the air was being knocked out of her. She took several deep breaths and smiled painfully. "All that trouble for me? And here I thought I was useless…"

The words made Pai feel…ashamed, and he drew his gaze to the floor, playing with one of his armbands.

"Retasu-san, you're not useless…"

His voice was quiet but still Retasu caught it; her responsive laughter was bitter.

"Pai-san, I…I can't even win against a MARSHMALLOW." She cried suddenly as her tears started to fall. Pai froze. Hesitantly, he lifted his hand and patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.

"I can't go against my leader."

Retasu nodded. "I understand."

Pai was about to stand up when she said, "No, actually I don't. Can't we…work something out? Between our races?"

"No."

Retasu heaved a sigh of exasperation. "Why not? Why is it always 'no'? Surely you can give me a reason?"

"I can!" Pai had turned to face her and Retasu withdrew. His face was so stony that she was afraid he was about to attack her.

"Deep-Blue-sama said that we'd save our planet. I'm not just doing this for myself Retasu-san. I'm doing this for my friends, and for the family I have left!"

Retasu also rose from the cot and approached the tall man. "Pai, I'm sure if we all sat down and talked things out…"

Letting out a grim chuckle, Pai shoved her roughly back onto the cot.

"Talking is for the weak." He hissed before disappearing.

& & &

Ichigo grudgingly had to give Shirogane props. In less then an hour, starting from the moment he had heard of Retasu's kidnapping and using only a few baubles from a costume jewellery necklace bout off a customer, he had constructed a handful of fake Mew Aquas. As he explained to the girls, he had modified the electromagnetic waves so that the stones reacted on Masha's monitor at a Mew Aqua frequency (1) (the girls thought it best to simply smile and nod at that particular time and Shirogane, who had been expecting some sot of appreciative outburst for his genius, was slightly miffed). Of course, like everything Shirogane did, Ichigo had tried to find some fault in it.

"But Shirogane, won't the aliens figure it out?" she asked as they clustered around the glittering blue gems in the Café basement. Shirogane eyed her coolly. "I'm basing this plan on the theory that they won't check because they think you're really that naïve."

Ichigo huffed but relented.

"Besides, there's a chance they may not play fair either." He reminded her.

Knowing Kisshu, Ichigo thought to herself, there was a very good chance.

& & &

Pai was sulking. He was not sulking like Taruto (who would yell and throw things and make trouble on missions) or like Kisshu (who would become snarky and lock himself in his room), but he was definitely sulking. Kisshu and Taruto had noticed too.

"What's wrong?" Kisshu demanded, a white bandage plastered over the bridge of his nose (he insisted Retasu had damaged something, but Pai had simply called him a baby and told him to suck it up).

"Nothing," Pai responded sharply. They were standing in the middle of the control room, preparing for their trade-off. Kisshu wrinkled his nose. "Yeah right."

"Kisshu, I'm fine."

"Yeah, whatever."

Truth was, Pai felt guilty. Because as hard as he tried to imagine Retasu as the enemy, he just couldn't. In fact, if they weren't fighting on opposite sides of a war, she was the kind of girl he'd date…

Pai blinked, horrified, and then promptly hit himself over the head with his hand. Kisshu gave him a stare but said nothing.

Taruto appeared, Retasu on his arm. "Let's go!" he urged, his face malicious. The meeting place had been already decided on (Tokyo Tower) and when they arrived the Mews haven't.

Taruto crossed his arms impatiently. "You'd think they wouldn't be late for this."

Retasu had been transferred to Pai, who would deliver the final blow. As he kept his two hands on her shoulders, he vaguely realized she was shivering, tiny quivers that hadn't been noticeable from afar.

He leaned down and put his lips next to her ear. "Don't make a sound." He warned her.

She took that as a threat and her shoulders drooped.

Mew Ichigo emerged from the shadow of a nearby building, her face etched with worry. In her hand in a small vial was the Mew Aqua. The other Mews flanked her.

Kisshu instantly went ballistic. "Ohisashiburi desu (2) Ichi-chan!" he chirped cheerfully. Ichigo shot him a glare.

"We brought the Mew Aqua," she ground out. "Just give us Retasu back."

Kisshu grinned. "First, you have to give me the Mew Aqua."

Ichigo glared. "What if you go back on your word?"

Kisshu shrugged, unfazed. "Then I guess you'll hafta trust me, right Ichi-chan?"

Ichigo continued to protest loudly until Kisshu threatened to leave. Heaving a sigh, she relented. "Okay! But you'd better give us back Retasu!"

She walked toward Kisshu and he lowered himself to the ground. She handed over the Mew Aqua and he hovered up into the air again. Ichigo stood there with her fists on her hips, trying to disguise her panic.

"Well?" she demanded. Kisshu was hunched over his cupped hands, studying the Mew Aqua intently. Ichigo shot a desperate look over at Minto, who simply nodded her head, face taut with tension.

Suddenly, Kisshu's shoulders started to shake and he threw his head back, shaking with laughter. Ichigo took a step back.

"What?" she shouted angrily. "What are you laughing at?"

Kisshu giggled. "It seems you've gone back on YOUR word Ichi-chan. This Mew Aqua is fake!"

He turned to Pai. "All right Pai, just cut Green's throat and – "

He broke off, and for good reason; Pai and Retasu were gone.

& & &

Retasu was very confused. One minute she was being held above Tokyo Tower and the next she was in front of her house with Pai.

The alien wasn't saying anything and his face was masked by a shadow from the light of the lamppost.

"Pai-san, I – "

"We're even." His voice was emotionless. Retasu blinked.

"You took care of me while I was incapacitated, and I helped you out in a deadly situation. So we're even."

Retasu sagged visibly.

"Of course. Thank you very much Pai-san. I don't know what – "

Pai leaned down and kissed her on the lips. She remained motionless against his mouth, until she finally realized what was happening. Hesitantly, she shuffled closer to him and he leaned in slightly before breaking off.

Retasu's face was red as a tomato and Pai chuckled. "Goodnight Retasu-san."

Retasu nodded, a bit shocked, and then turned and went into her house.

Pai exhaled loudly in relief. His head was spinning, and it wasn't from the residing hangover.

He also turned from the dark house and prepared to teleport, but instead he came face to face with Kisshu.

In a rush, the whole of his grammatical structure left Pai's memory and the only thing he could manage, "Gah."

Kisshu cocked an eyebrow. "I saw EVERYTHING." He said in a tone identical to a middle-school gossip girl.

Pai fought to keep a serious expression on his face. "Really?"

Kisshu smirked. "But I won't tell."

Pai remained stoic.

"I can't believe you're in love with Green," Kisshu teased. "I won't spill, but you're the one who has to tell Deep-Blue-sama why you didn't kill her, or disappeared during our mission."

Kuso (3) Pai thought, but nodded.

"All right. I'll be along soon."

Kisshu shrugged and turned to leave.

"Kisshu…" Pai gave a half-smile. "Thank you."

Kisshu winked. "No probs."

As Kisshu phased away, Pai turned again to stare at Retasu's house.

Kisshu was wrong. He wasn't in love with Mew Lettuce.

He might, however, be falling in like with Midorikawa Retasu…

END

A/N: (pants) I only had like, a paragraph to finish, so I hurried and finished it…now my mum's giving me dirty looks.

Thanks so much for all the reviews! The third instalment in the trilogy will be up soon. It's called, 'What Happens When You Come Back to Life'.

Yay! R&R please!

EDIT: Oops…I realize the footnotes made no sense…so I fixed that. Teehee…

1 – uhh…pretend that makes sense…

2 – is a casual way of saying, 'Long time, no see'.

3 – basically means, 'Shit'.