Still embraced in the alien's arms, Ichigo looked around, relieved that he had kept his word and had teleported her a block away from the café.

It was peaceful outside. The trees swayed lightly in the gentle breeze and the sun shone down warmly through the drifting clouds and onto her face as she looked up into the sky.

Looking back at Kish she sighed, knowing that despite the lovely weather outside, she would be stuck inside with the irritating blonde and his little sidekick; the evil snobby slave-driver.

She frowned at the thought off running around after everyone while Mint sat lazily in the corner sipping tea all day. It just didn't seem fair.

The boy stared at her disgruntled face, wondering what she was thinking about.

His hand left her waist and crept up her body to her face and started to caress her cheek lovingly. She gazed into his eyes, her mouth once again forming a small smile.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked her warmly, still staring longingly into her beautiful orbs.

"It's such a nice day today." She blushed at her words then inwardly scolded herself. This moment was starting to sound too much like her first date with Masaya and she did not like it at all. The alien raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue.

"I was thinking about how horrible it's going to be stuck inside with Ryou and the slave-driver on a day like this."

"Don't worry. There will be other days," he replied, reassuringly.

Sighing, she looked around again. She could smell the scent of strong spring pollen drifting from the nearby park and the smoke coming from back gardens where people were sat having barbeques. The sound of busy traffic in the distance filled her ears, which reminded her that she too would be busy soon and had to hurry if she wanted to be on time.

"Yeah… You're right." As she turned her head back to face him again she caught a spec of green in the corner of her eye.

The alien leant forward and locked his lips with his own before she could inspect what she had seen. As she leant closer and began to kiss back she heard a startled gasp to the left of her and she pulled away from Kish and snapped her head in the direction of the noise.

There stood a very confused girl, watching them worriedly.

Knowing that she had been caught red handed; the cat girl gave her lover a quick peck on the lips and slipped out of his arms.

"I'll see you later." The alien smiled at her, silently wishing her luck then disappeared in the rippling air around him. Ichigo walked towards the girl and smiled.

"Hi Lettuce, you're on your way to work?"

"Y-yes," she stammered, and looked around the empty clearing where the two lovers had been in disbelief. "Y-your dating him?" She asked, unsure of how to approach the subject. The red-head nodded.

Ichigo started walking and the shy girl followed after her. "Yes, for about three weeks now." She looked down, scared of hurting her friend. "I didn't tell anyone in case Ryou found out. He'd go absolutely ape shit."

The bookworm frowned disapprovingly at Ichigo's choice of words for a second then shrugged it off.

"I know he would. But you can't keep a secret as big as this from everyone. You will have to tell them." The cat girl sighed, defeated.

"I was going to tell everyone soon, but I guess I might as well do it today." Lettuce smiled.

"Good. And afterwards you're telling me everything that has happened."

As they approached the café the first thing that they noticed was that compared to normal, it looked substantially darker inside. Even in the day the café had lights on to brighten the place up, but today something was obviously different.

Walking up to the door, they saw a florescent note stuck to it that in Ichigo's opinion, stuck out like a sore thumb. "Closed today?"

Lettuce slapped herself on the forehead. "Ryou rang me up this morning and told me that the café was going to be closed today… Guess I forgot. I'm such an idiot!" She mocked herself. The cat girl smiled.

"Hey. More time for me to tell you about Kish. Want to come to my house?" The green haired girl smiled back.

"That sounds great. I want to know everything."


Thirty minutes later the two girls were sat in Ichigo's living room together, both holding steaming cups of hot chocolate. The bookworm stared at her, waiting for her to tell her the much awaited story.

"Well… How'd you… Y'know… Get together?" She asked shyly.

"It was the day that Masaya broke up with me. I was extremely emotional and Kish decided to teleport in to annoy me. I told him to get out and without making sure that he'd left I stormed into the bathroom to take a bath, which left him snooping around my room and getting perverted ideas." She gazed out of the window for a minute, not wanting to continue.

"And then what?" Lettuce urged.

"I closed my eyes and started singing in the bath. While I was doing this he must have teleported into the room and heard me. When I stopped singing he commented on it." Lettuce stared, shocked at what the cat girl was telling her.

"He saw you naked!? Please tell me you kicked him out!" Ichigo smirked a little, amused by her friend's reaction.

"When he teleported in he was naked too. He quizzed me on why I was so upset and I ended up breaking down on him. He said a lot of nice things to me and I started to believe he loved me… and we… y'know."

"Y'know what?" She stared in disbelief with eyes as wide as saucers, not fully wanting to know the answer.

"We had sex in the bath."

The cat girl continued to tell her curious friend everything that had been happening. She explained what had really happened the day when the little robot had sent for help, and the mews turned up at her house to find an angry robot locked in the wardrobe and with no alien in sight.

She explained how Ryou had caught Kish crouched over her in the closet and how he thought that he was about to rape her. Lastly she told her about the alien's efforts to try to give her a date she'd never forget.

Listening eagerly, the bookworm let out a long sigh. "Wow… That's a lot of stuff that's been happening." She trailed off into thought about what the red head had told her and blushed slightly as she thought about their date.

"He's so romantic yet he doesn't even know it. I'd love it if a guy took me to see the stars in space…" Ichigo smiled and looked at her friend.

"I really love him Lettuce. I'm not sure if I'll be able to fight him anymore." The clever girl looked away.

"Yes that will cause quite a problem." She sighed and looked at Ichigo hopefully. "But things will sort themselves out. I'm sure of it. They always do." She smiled.

Ichigo returned her comment with a grateful smile.

"Thank you for listening. I really needed to talk to someone and I'm so glad you understand."

Glancing at the clock, Lettuce stood up sharply.

"It's ten already!? I can't believe I've been here all day! I have to go home! My parents will kill me!" She looked at Ichigo worriedly. "Sorry I couldn't stay longer. I'll see you at work tomorrow." She darted for the front door, down the drive and round the corner.

Turning the lights off downstairs, she pulled her hair out of her pig-tails and walked down the hallway, then climbed the stairs and went into her room. Standing in the darkness, she changed into her pyjamas then climbed into bed.

Her last thoughts before she drifted to sleep were about how she was so lucky to have a friend like Lettuce.


Not long after she descended into a deep sleep she was awoken by the piercing tone of her phone ringing. Eyes still shut tightly she grumbled and reached on her bed side table, fumbling to find her phone. Her hands made contact with it and she snatched it up and accepted the call.

"Hello." She said sleepily.

"It's Ryou. We need your help at the café." His voice was shaken and filled with urgency. "The other girls are on their way now."

"Huh… Why?" She asked curiously. She was sure that if the green haired alien was to attack then he would have told her in advance. "Kish is attacking?"

The blonde withheld a growl that threatened to escape his throat when he heard his name.

"No… We've never seen these aliens before. They must be new ones sent to earth. Come prepared and please hurry."

"Uh… Ryou?" She heard the phone clatter to the floor, a lot of noise in the background and then the line went dead.