I am so happy every time I get a review, I cannot possibly express myself with words x3 I'd like to thank you all individually, but I'm way too lazy xD Please review after you read!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It'd been raining for almost two days, and it didn't show any signs of letting up. The streets had flooded, and Lettuce was yet to see one person outside since the trip to the park. In fact, when she looked out the window, she saw several bicycles float by.
"I think it's pretty safe to say you'll be staying with us for awhile," Lettuce told Pudding, glad they were stocked on food. "But who'll take care of your siblings?"
"Don't worry, na no da. I got Tar-Tar to take care of them!" Pudding chirped.
"They're eating meeeee!" a certain brunette wailed from where he was lying on the ground. Several small girls clung to his legs, while the others danced around him. Candy wrappers littered the ground.
Pai snickered. "That must be going well."
Lettuce frowned, setting down her book. "He doesn't exactly seem like the ideal babysitter to me. . ."
"Don't worry," Pudding smiled. "As long as he didn't give them candy, he should be fine, na no da."
Lettuce gazed out the window at the bleak sky, where rain still poured harder than ever. She stood up from the table where they'd been gin rummy and stretched. "I'm gonna go take a bath- I'll be back soon." The porpoise mew disappeared upstairs, her footsteps fading away.
Pudding looked at Pai slyly. "You know. . ."
"I don't want to hear it."
Pudding gave him a defeated look and slid off her chair. "Fine then, be that way, na no da." She hopped up the stairs to wait for the older girl to finish her bath.
Pai looked across the table and saw the book Lettuce had been reading. Another romance novel. She seemed to have her nose constantly buried in those things, he realized, casually picking it up. He leaned back in his seat and began to read.
Half an hour later, Pudding and Lettuce were sitting in the latter's bedroom. Lettuce was hugging a pillow on her bed while Pudding attempted to braid her dark green hair. It was only nine o' clock, and she wasn't very tired, but Lettuce was wearing her shamrock green pajamas. Pudding had borrowed a long black t-shirt to wear.
"There, I'm done, na no da," Pudding exclaimed, handing the older girl a mirror. Lettuce admired the damage for several seconds before starting on Pudding's.
The phone rang suddenly, but stopped before Lettuce could reach it.
"It's for you," Pai shouted from downstairs. Lettuce picked up the portable and heard a click as Pai hung up. For several seconds all she heard was silence.
". . . Hello?" Lettuce said timidly.
"Oh, hey, Lettuce, it's me! Ichigo!" a female voice said hesitantly.
"Hello, Ichigo-san!" Lettuce said, brightening slightly. "How've you been?"
"Um, fine. Was that. . .Pai I just spoke to?"
"Yeah. Don't ask, please? It's kind of a long story."
Her friend shrugged over the phone. "O-kay, whatever you say. And don't worry," she giggled, "I won't tell Shirogane-san. He'd probably send in the firing squad or something. As long as you guys aren't having some weird affair."
"We-We're not having an affair!" Lettuce stammered to Pudding's amusement.
Ichigo talked for a bit while Lettuce bobbed her head sympathetically and asked questions in the right places before static filled the phone and the line suddenly went dead.
"Ichigo-san? Ichigo-san, are you there?"
Retasu squeaked as the lights flickered and went out.
"Cool!" Pudding exclaimed, while Retasu waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She tentatively got up from her bed and left the room, Pudding following her closely as they crept down the steps to the kitchen where Pai was nowhere in sight.
"Come on, Pudding, let's try and find the candles," Lettuce said, straining her eyes against the pitch black.
Unbalanced as ever, it didn't take very long for the older mew to trip over something and hurtle towards the ground.
"Shoot," Pai muttered, immediately appearing at her side as he caught her by the small of her back. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice close to her ear. Lettuce felt a strand of his hair brush her face and managed a weak nod. Helped to her feet, she stammered a string of apologies.
"It's fine," Pai said, looking away.
"Don't you have a fireplace, Lettuce onee-chan?" Pudding interrupted, the first to notice that they were still all standing in the dark. "Maybe we can light it in the living room, na no da." They reached the living room in a crude game of follow the leader, blindly trailing Pai.
Lettuce struggled to move the television to the side, revealing an old brick fireplace behind it. Pai somehow managed to light it with some silverware, and the two mews sat on the floor and talked while he stared at the dark ceiling from the couch.
"Let's play a game, na no da!" Pudding suddenly cried.
"No, thank you," the two teenagers replied simultaneously.
"It's a good game this time, though," the blonde insisted, frowning.
"What is it?" Retasu asked, curiosity getting the best of her. Pai's eyes narrowed visibly.
Pudding disappeared for several minutes and returned carrying a terribly familiar pink box. "Let's play Pudding's love test!"
"Not this again, Pudding!" Retasu squealed, her face bright red at the memory of the last time she'd tried to use it on her. "Put that thing away!"
Pai raised one long eyebrow, leaning closer to get a better view. "What is that?"
"I-It's nothing!" Retasu said, pushing the older boy away.
"It's a love test to figure out if you two are soul mates!" Pudding grinned proudly, "It's an old Fon family machine, na no da, and it's almost never wrong!"
"Soul mates?" Pai repeated, blushing faintly at the idea. "That's silly, monkey girl. I'll have to insist you put that away." But it was too late, Pudding was already typing in their names on the candy pink keyboard.
"Pudding!" Lettuce shoved the younger girl out of the way, but the machine was already calculating the results. Her face was on fire as she saw the percentage. Pudding started laughing.
"W-What's so funny?" Pai demanded, seeing the look of absolute mortification on the porpoise mew's face.
"It's one hundred percent, na no da!"Pudding grinned, showing Pai the machine, which did, indeed, display a huge 100. "You guys are destined to be!"
"You can't base that kind of stuff on a machine, Pudding," Retasu said, though her hands were still hiding her face.
"Is it true, Pai na no da? Do you think Retasu onee-chan's beautiful? Do you want to hold her? Do you want to kiss her? Do you want to have babies-"
"I think it's time for bed," Pai said through gritted teeth, his face an uncharacteristically dark shade of red.
Ten minutes later Pudding had begrudgingly fallen asleep, and Retasu was snoring softly beside her, her face still a pale shade of pink. Pai would never admit it, but it was incredibly amusing to watch her flustered. Lying on his side covered in pillows courtesy of the monkey girl, Pai watched Lettuce sleep. She looked especially sweet in this state, her chest barely rising and falling as she breathed. Her face was framed with soft hair and her skin shone by the fire.
Pai would never admit it, but. . .
. . .She really was beautiful.
And that was the last thing Pai though before he fell asleep, too.