I don't own Tokyo Mew Mew (I just wish I did, heh).

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BEEP!... BEEP!... BEEP!... BEEP!... BE-thump!

"…Nnnoughhhhh… …Oh!"

Retasu's eyes flew open in panic. The sun's up already! What time is it?! Her bleary eyes searched until she found her glasses. Turning, she found the clock glaring 7:55 in red lights at her face. "No! I'm going to be late again!" She tried to jump out of bed in her haste, but got tangled in the covers and fell yelping to the floor with a satisfying thud!.

"Is that you Retasu?" she heard her mother call from far below.

"Mom! Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"You looked so peaceful sweetie! And you haven't been getting enough sleep anyway, always working on those school applications or work…"

Mom! Retasu inwardly groaned. Ignoring the mess of bed sheets she'd just clamored out of she ran for her closet. What should I wear?! Mm… how about the tan Capri's, and…the blue tee? No, better work with the green tank. Where are my sandals?! Oh, there they are. Now, what else? Think Lettuce! … Okay! The white button down sweater over top of the tank! She vaulted out of the closet over to her room length mirror, her hair a total a mess. Oh, my brush, where's my brush?! She glanced franticly over to her dresser and found it sitting innocently on top. Retasu snatched it quickly and began yanking at her hair. Parting it in half in the back she quickly braided one side and worked on the other on the way down the stairs.

"I'm sorry Retasu, I'll wake you up tomorrow if you'd like."

Her mom was still in her PJ's, though she was sporting an alert face with her strong coffee in hand. Her dusty brown hair was set in a messy bun that somehow always set her blue eyes off just right. Retasu Midorikawa glanced at Reisha with a flustered smile. "Don't worry about it mom, it's my fault. Has dad already gone to work?"

"Not yet."

Mr. Kakashi Midorikawa entered the kitchen with a tired but happy face, his dark green hair smoothed back in a tidy appearance. His narrow glasses made his grey eyes seem all the more clear. "Off to work again?" He smiled shrewdly at his daughter.

"Um, oh! Bye mom, bye dad!" Retasu hurried out the door.

"But what about your breakfast?" Mrs. Midorikawa called after, but her daughter was already out of hearing range.

"How about I eat it for her?" Kakashi sidled up to his wife, eyeing the plate with scrambled eggs and jellied toast meant for Lettuce.

Reisha sighed with a smile and passed him the plate. "Dear, does Retasu seem more… sporadic nowadays?"

Mr. Midorikawa glanced up from the eggs. "How so?" he asked while chewing.

"I don't know, ever since she started working at that café… she does seem happier, but I'm worried about how it's effecting the rest of her life."

Reisha's husband gulped down the last bit of the toast and kissed her gently. "Honey, Retasu's a big girl now. Look at her! Taking on her own job without us pressing her, looking into colleges already, and maintaining high grades. She can handle herself! She got that hard-working gene from me." He smiled with total confidence.

Mrs. Midorikawa eyed the clean plate. "Well at least she didn't inherit your eating habits."

Kakashi reclined back in his chair. "Well, at least she didn't inherit your nit-picky attitude." He grinned mischievously at her.

"Uh-huh. Do you realize it's now 8:01?"

Retasu's dad jumped from his seat in alarm. "Ah, great, I'm going to get yelled at for being late!" He gave his wife a quick parting kiss before dashing out the door with one shoe on. Reisha watched him go with a lover's laugh.

Xxx

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Retasu burst through the doors to the café.

"Lettuce, there you are!" Ichigo walked briskly towards her, holding a garbage bag at a safe distance away from her body.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" she repeated again.

Ichigo waved it off. "Ryou's been bunkered down in the basement all morning, he doesn't know yet. And I won't tell him, don't worry. Can you take the trash out for me real quick, please?"

"Uh, sure." Taking the bag gingerly from her friend, Retasu smiled warmly. "Thank-you Ichigo."

"Don't thank me yet!" Ichigo started dashing back towards the kitchen. "I think it's filled with an experiment gone wrong!"

Lettuce sniffed and regretted it. It had to be that fish-and-cinnamon cake Pudding had tried to create yesterday. Oh well. At least Ryou doesn't know I'm late again. She quickly walked out the doors and to the back where the dumpster sat patiently.

After dumping the disgusting smell Retasu rushed inside and changed into her uniform. She glanced at her figure in the room length mirror. I almost look cute in this. She thought wistfully as she looked at her reflection. Almost as cute as Ichigo. Retasu adored her friend for her individuality, but felt jealous sometimes towards her. And who wouldn't? She was cute, strong, and she always attracted attention. Even from the aliens! She's so lucky.

"Lettuce! Are you in there?" Mint called from outside the door.

"Oh! Ah, yes! I'm sorry for taking so long, I'll hurry!"

"No hurry Lettuce, just saying that Keiichiro wants you for something in the kitchen. By the way, I won't let Ryou know you were late again."

Retasu sighed quietly. "Alright, thank-you!"

"Whatever…" Mint's voice trailed off as she left.

Lettuce finished putting her articles away and left the changing room. Turning into the kitchen, she found Ichigo handing Keiichiro a slip saying that table 8 wanted the Cheesecake Sampler. Pudding was busy washing the dishes while simultaneously working the stove and checking the various cooking foods.

"Lettuce, there you are." Keiichiro smiled brightly at her and walked over to her with a tray. "This is for table 4. Careful not to be late next time, you're lucky Ryou didn't catch you."

She blushed with embarrassment. "I know sir, I will be, I promise."

"Don't worry." Keiichiro chuckled softly at her blush. "I won't let him know about it."

Lettuce could only nod, still blushing. How many times have people said that to me, 3?

As she walked out towards table four she looked about the café. They were having a rather busy day; there was even a waiting line. Table 4… table 4…there!

Table four was occupied by two girls and what appeared to be their dates. "Hello," Lettuce gave a nervous smile. "Um, who ordered the Strawberry Shortcake?"

"That'd be me." A lovely blond claimed, her hair was set in one of the latest styles.

"And the Mango Shake?"

"Right here." Claimed the boy with black hair and glasses, a bold grin wrinkling his features.

"The Chocolate Cream Puffs?"

"Here." Said the girl with dark brown hair, casting a thank-you to Lettuce as she set down her plate.

Retasu turned to the last customer, a boy with brown hair and blue eyes. "Then you must have ordered the Rustica Fruit Tart?"

He nodded quietly. As Lettuce leaned to set the plate down a departing customer bumped into her. Oh no…

Everything that happened afterwards was instantaneous.

The Rustica Fruit Tart fell to the table upside down, and the tray was knocked out of her grasp, colliding with the Mango Shake and splashing over the black-haired boy and his blond date. The blond jumped up screaming about her new skirt. Lettuce bowed and apologized and tried to find the towel she carried around, but the girl shoved her down on the floor. To try and break her fall Lettuce grabbed the back of the brown-haired girl's chair, but merely brought the girl within the chair down with her. The girl's boyfriend stood up to assist her but slipped on the spilt shake and fell face flat. The blond continued to rant as her boyfriend laughed at the scene that played out before him. The customer that bumped into her finally turned around, saw what happened, and came to assist with begging pleads of being sorry.

"Lettuce!" Ichigo and Mint hurried over to the catastrophe. "Lettuce, are you okay?" Ichigo bent down and helped her friend up.

"Her?! Your worried about her?! Look what she did!" The blond girl glared angrily at Lettuce. "You shouldn't be having a girl that klutzy work here! I demand to see the owner of this business!"

Mint regarded her with a cool stare. "Unfortunately he is busy at the time. But we'll let him know about your complaints."

"Liar! You're just trying to protect the nerd!" The black-haired boy stopped laughing. "Do you see this skirt? It cost me $135.00. And now there's Mango gunk on it! What do you plan to do about this? I outta sue you, you green haired freak!" She pointed at Lettuce with infuriation.

Ichigo blew a fuse. "Well," she purred in a soft tone, "we are deeply sorry about your clothing. But! I have a simple solution." Ichigo casually reached over to pick up the girl's strawberry shortcake, then smashed it against the girl's chest. She then rubbed it around the cute tank for more emphasis. "There! Now your clothes match!"

The girl's face grew an unhealthy shade of red. Her boyfriend jumped up. "Hey now! What was that for?!"

"Ichigo? Is everything- oh…" Keiichiro stepped out of the kitchen to find the entire café watching the spectacle unfold before them. He peeked back into the kitchen muttering something to Pudding about grabbing the cleaning supplies before trotting over to the mess. "My sincerest apologies for this," He looked at each customer at table 4 in turn, looking genuinely abashed. "Please, would you care to step into the back room to clean up, and then I would be happy to give you free refreshments for your trouble."

"Fat chance!" The blond turned with a huff and stalked to the door, her boyfriend following carefully behind. "See if I ever dine here again!"

The other couple looked at their friend with embarrassment. "We'll, take the refreshments." Said the brown-haired boy.

"I am so, so sorry…" Lettuce looked down and tried not to cry in embarrassment, noting that the whole café was starting to buzz with comments.

The girl looked at her pityingly. "Don't be, it was an honest mistake. Gretchen over reacted, she's more at fault then you."

"No, it was my mistake, it always happens. I sincerely ask for forgiveness."

"It wasn't your fault Lettuce." Ichigo glared at the doors where the girl had departed. "What a jerk." She muttered.

Mint sighed. "C'mon Lettuce, I'll help you freshen up."

Keiichiro ushered the guests into the back to clean up while Pudding and Ichigo fixed the mess. After awhile the café resumed normalcy, and the incident was ignored by the next hour.

Lettuce's outfit was far too messy to just wipe off and continue out the day, so Keiichiro told her to change into her day clothes and to stay and help in the kitchen. Mint had taken one look at the uniform and then back at Lettuce. "What do you plan to do to clean this?" she had asked in her rich-girl tone.

"I-I suppose put it in the wash, maybe use some stain remover…"

Mint scoffed. "You'll ruin it that way! I'll have my people clean it for you; it'll be here tomorrow for you to wear."

"Uh, thank-you Minto! That's very generous of you!"

"Yes, well…" Mint had left the room with a satisfied ego.

Keiichiro sent Pudding out to waitress and had Lettuce wash the dishes and get things out of the oven. Though she had a few slip-ups during it, on the whole she did wonderful. Keiichiro even told her just that later towards the end of the day. "You've done a marvelous job, Lettuce."

"Thank-you Akasaka-san."

He glanced out the window at the dwindling customers. "Hm… well, it seems that things have calmed enough. Do you think you could head to the store and grab some things for me, Lettuce?"

She beamed at him. Anything to get away from here right now. "Certainly!"

"Alright then, one moment," He went over to the counter and grabbed a notepad and pen. "Let's see now… Well need some more flour, powdered sugar; some half-n-half hmm… some more vanilla extract would make me feel safer, and how about some fresh apples? There!" He ripped the paper out and handed it to Lettuce. "That should be everything, just be sure not to take too long getting back."

"Yes sir! I'll be back soon!" Lettuce gave him a pleasant smile before exiting through the back door. She waited until she got outside of the café's fence before smiling happily. "Freedom!" She called out quietly.

Glancing around she watched other people pass by on their own business. It's so peaceful out here, nothing like the café when we work. Retasu sighed contently. Today's mishap had really played hard on her nerves, and it felt good to finally get out of there and relax. Maybe Keiichiro suspected that. She mused to herself. He's so kind hearted to everyone; I don't think I've ever once seen him lose his temper. And Ryou… Retasu shook her blushing head, smiling sadly to herself. She admired Ryou very much, even to the point where a crush wasn't out of the question. But who was she to him?

An employee.

A Mew Mew.

Just a girl.

A girl who's not Ichigo…Lettuce frowned. It was silly to compare herself to others, her mother had told her that so many times, but…

All right, no more of this pity party! Keiichiro's waiting for me and I won't let him down! With little more thought on the matter she jogged towards the shops and market.

Hurray! I have now posted the real first chapter! Sorry for the lack of action, but just sit patiently till next time! SO…. REVIEW!!!! At least 2 reviews for this chapter, or I take longer to post it. Call it an incentive for me to give you your next chapter?? I know, I'm being mean, I'm sorry!

REVIEW!!!