My Sea, My Sky

Chapter One: Fuwatto

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

A/N: Howdy y'all. This used to be chapter two of Arashi, but I decided that that fic made more sense as a oneshot, so I'm re-posting this as the sequel to Arashi. What will happen now that Pai and Lettuce are secretly together? I gave it one of those lame 'why Pai and Lettuce love each other' titles because I don't even really know where it's going yet. Well, I know exactly where it's going, but I have no idea how it's gonna get there, so I can't really sum it up in a title yet, capiche? I may come moaning to some of my loyal readers for bunnies at some point.

PS: Fuwatto means 'floating', for want of a better chapter heading.

'Do I hear the sound of floating?'

Shirogane Ryou emerged from the basement of Café Mew Mew and looked suspiciously around the room for the cheerful culprit. His eyes fell on Ichigo first, but she didn't look intolerably happy; rather grumpy, in fact. Her mood probably had something to do with Mint, who was calmly sipping a cup of tea and refusing to take her share of the work, as was her wont. No unusual happiness there, either. Pudding was as exuberantly hyper as ever, but he'd grown as desensitized to that as any normal person ever could, and it wasn't even worth checking Zakuro, who always kept her emotions firmly under wraps. Which only left...

'Lettuce-san?' he asked, approaching the table where the green Mew was setting out bowls of stirrers and lump sugar. 'Is everything alright?'

'Oh!' she exclaimed, seeming to jerk out of a small trance. 'H-hai, Shirogane-san.' She turned back to her work with a faint, unconscious smile on her lips. Ryou continued to stand behind her, tapping his foot in agitation, but Lettuce seemed blissfully unaware of his presence. She finished setting the table and then looked up across the room and caught Zakuro's eye.

Zakuro had been calmly stacking plates by the kitchen door, but sensing Lettuce's gaze she looked up and gave an affectionate, knowing smile. Lettuce blushed, hugged her menus to her chest and then practically skipped off to lay them out, leaving Ryou standing by her first table with his mouth hanging open.

He looked from Lettuce to Zakuro, and then back to Lettuce, and then to Zakuro once more. Around him Mint, Ichigo and Pudding stilled one by one, finding his performance more interesting than their various tasks, but Zakuro was carefully ignoring him and Lettuce seemed to be entirely in her own world. She arranged her menus as though performing some kind of dance routine, looked up at a spot in thin air, blushed deeply and gave a little spin on the spot.

'Lettuce-onee-chan seems to be in a good mood, na no da,' Pudding observed faintly. Ryou gave a desperate kind of nod and then caught sight of Keiichiro walking along the hall with a tray of fresh-baked muffins.

'Keiichiro! A moment, please!' he called stiffly, marching after him.

'We've known each other for ten years, Ryou,' Keiichiro pointed out mildly as Ryou frogmarched him into the kitchen and rounded on him.

'Lettuce is happy!' he announced.

'...is that a bad thing?' Keiichiro asked, looking faintly perplexed.

'Keiichiro, it's not like her!' Ryou wailed. 'She's smiling and skipping around and she seems to have formed some kind of alliance with Zakuro!'

'I really don't see the problem.'

'You don't know what it was like! They just sort of smiled all knowingly at each other and...and...giggled and...'

'Hmmm, I understand your concern,' Keiichiro observed gravely. 'One never knows what these females may be plotting. However, in this case it seems to me that the answer is fairly obvious. I believe that Lettuce-san must be in love.'

'Keiichiro,' Ryou declared, whirling round and jabbing with a finger to emphasise his point, 'I think that is extremely likely. Extremely likely. Lettuce-san –'

'Are you feeling jealous, Ryou?' Keiichiro asked smoothly.

'Jealous?' Ryou ran a hand distractedly through his hair. 'No, why on earth would I be?'

'Well, you must surely be aware that Lettuce-san has had feelings for you at some point, but if her affections are now directed elsewhere...Ryou...you must have known that, surely...what? You didn't?'

'Oh, dear Lord,' Ryou said, clutching the counter and turning to face Keiichiro with a hunted expression on his face. 'You d-don't think they're c-cooking up one of their...their...boy-entrancing projects for me, do you?'

At this point they were interrupted by a stream of apparently uncontrollable giggles issuing from the closed kitchen door. Ryou strode over to it and pulled it open, to reveal Ichigo standing in the doorway, arms wrapped tightly around herself, bent double with laughter. Pudding and Mint were standing behind her.

'ICHIGO!' Ryou thundered.

'G-go-men-na-sai-Shiro-gane-san!' Ichigo spluttered, slowly crumpling down onto her knees under the weight of her own laughter. She gazed up at him, brown eyes wide with dismay at her own behaviour. 'I...boy- entrancing!' She pushed her fist into her mouth, trying to choke off the stream of giggles. Mint was watching her in alarm, but giggles were issuing from her mouth as well. Pudding didn't look as though she got it at all, but she wasn't letting it spoil her enjoyment of the situation.

'Now, girls...' Keiichiro began, stepping forward to try and restore some semblance of order to the scene. In a kind of trance Ryou looked over the heads of the three Mews and into the front room of the café. Zakuro was watching from a safe distance, an enigmatic half-smile on her lips, but Lettuce didn't seem to have noticed that anything at all was amiss. She was still carrying on serenely with her work and – Ryou's eyes widened incredulously – singing to herself.

A ray of sunlight shafted through the café windows.

'Look, everybody!' Lettuce cried, swinging around to address the chaotic assembly in the kitchen doorway. 'The sun is shining! Oh, isn't it a lovely day!'

'Wow,' her friends murmured, shaking their heads as one.

* * *

'Shirogane-san was quite puzzled by your good mood today,' Zakuro told Lettuce as they changed out of their uniforms at the end of the day. 'I think he and Akasaka-san suspect that you're in l –'

'Meeeeeeeeeppppp!' Lettuce squealed, flinging her arms suddenly around Zakuro and squeezing the breath out of her. 'Oh, Zakuro-san, I love him! When do you think he'll come again? Will I see him tonight? Will he be able to get away? Aaaaiiii, I don't know what to do, what shall I wear?'

'Wear something blue; it compliments your eyes. Maybe a skirt or maybe jeans, it depends how much you want to lead him on. Listen, Lettuce, I don't know. I'm sure he'll come to see you as soon as he can, but you have to remember that until he tells Kish and Tart what he's up to it's going to be difficult for him to make time. And while we're on the subject, it would be a good idea to clarify the date of his next visit before he leaves from now on. You can't let him get the idea that he can just turn up whenever he feels like it and expect you to drop everything...Lettuce, are you listening to me?'

'Oh, uh...hai, Zakuro-san,' Lettuce nodded vigorously, bouncing up and down on the bench where she was sitting. 'But I'm also being excited. I'm...multitasking!'

Zakuro gave in and smiled. It was wonderful to see Lettuce, usually so apologetic and reserved, unstintedly happy for once.

'Multitasking is a fine skill, and should be practised and honed whenever possible,' she observed, helping lettuce to her feet, pushing her bag into her hands and draping her jacket around her shoulders. 'Come on, Lettuce, home now...'

'Yeah, home...' Lettuce agreed vaguely, allowing herself to be led out of the café. It was already growing dark, and their breath made clouds in the air. 'I think I want to take Pai-san to the library next time he comes. I know last time he tried to attack it with all those Chimeras but I can show him how to use it properly...I can get him to read all my favourite stuff; I bet he'll like 'A Wizard of Earthsea', it's got that blend of racy adventure and complex atmospheric description that I think he might like...'

'You should become a critic, Lettuce,' Zakuro suggested. 'Listen, I go this way now, but I'll see you tomorrow...hurry home, it looks like it might even snow. And make sure you don't get lost, OK?'

'Oh no!'

'What's wrong?'

'Don't leave me! What if he turns up after you're gone! What do I say to him? Zakuro, I feel sick...'

'Well, if he is here he's not exactly going to show himself while I'm with you, is he? The whole point is that you spend time alone together.'

'I s-suppose so...' Lettuce murmured, fiddling with her plaits and shifting from foot to foot. 'Oh, but I don't know...'

'He won't kiss you if you ask him not to,' Zakuro reassured her, 'and as for the talking, you just have to try to relax and let your feelings take over.' She stepped closer and put her hand on Lettuce's shoulder. 'I know it seems frightening, but when you do meet him you'll find it's the easiest thing in the world. I promise.'

'Arigatou, Zakuro-san,' Lettuce whispered. Zakuro smiled fondly. The younger girl probably didn't realise this, but she looked absolutely lovely, her blue eyes wide and shining. In Zakuro's opinion, Pai was lucky to have her.

'Goodbye, Lettuce-imouto-chan,' she smiled, turning away. She gave a quick wave over her shoulder and hurried off. Lettuce watched after her until she had disappeared round the corner, feeling very much comforted. Then she shook herself slightly and set off down the road that led to her home.

* * *

Pai was floating twenty metres above the ground, an uncharacteristically dreamy expression on his face. He propelled himself lazily after Lettuce as she hurried along the twilit street, reflecting back on the conversation he had overheard between her and the wolf Mew. He was seeing the latter in a whole new light after watching the way she had reassured Lettuce outside the café. Before this he had only ever thought of her as one of his most dangerous adversities and the possessor of an irritating and misplaced sense of superiority, but it seemed she had a decent streak after all.

His gaze softened as he gazed down at Lettuce's green head. Her anxiety of a few moments before gave him mixed feelings; on the one hand he didn't want her to be afraid of him or anything less than blissfully happy, but on the other the idea of her being shy of him was thrilling. And when he'd stopped briefly by the café in the early afternoon, he had overheard the two men who ran the project discussing her unusual high spirits. Was that something to do with him? That idea was enough to set excitement bubbling in his throat.

He dipped lower. Lettuce gave a little skip, and his stomach imitated the motion enthusiastically. He would declare himself in a moment, and what's more he would admit to having followed her for ten minutes beforehand – he wasn't Kish – but for a moment it was pleasant to just watch her walk, uninhibited by his or anyone else's presence. And in just a moment he would call to her, and she would turn and give one of those dazzling blushes...

'Midorikawa-san, are you skipping?'

* * *

Lettuce's tingly, fizzy feeling vanished as suddenly as if it had been switched off. The street around her, which she had scarcely noticed in her daze of happiness and nerves, suddenly closed in around her, gloomy and menacing. She knew that voice. It belonged to Aya, the sharply beautiful girl with black hair cut into two cruel points on either side of her face, whom Lettuce knew all too well from tense, lonely lunchtimes and early morning races to school carrying three people's homework in addition to her own...

A cold, empty giggling told her that Aya was not alone. If she had been, she probably wouldn't have greeted Lettuce like that at all. She would have been all smiles, linking arms and promising to corn-braid her hair for her and advising her on exactly what colour would best bring out her eyes. It was this trait that made these three girls so terrifying. Their ability to switch from deadly enemies to the sweetest of friends as easily as a frog hops from water to air.

'H-hai,' she said unsteadily, turning in her tracks. 'I suppose I was skipping.' She gave a nervous little half-laugh, raising a hand unconsciously to her lips.

'Why were you skipping?' Aya asked, stepping forward into Lettuce's view. Her friends, neither of them as skilled or refined as she was, stood flanking her with their arms folded and mocking, hungry smiles on their lips.

'Were you having a little game with yourself, maybe?' Aya took a step closer, her eyes on the ground, a slow, cruel smile twisting her mouth. 'You like to play with yourself, don't you, Midorikawa-san?' she said quietly.

Lettuce felt her throat close up and her cheeks burn. 'You stay away from me!' she gasped thickly, stumbling backwards. She felt sick. She had to get away.

'Oh, don't leave so soon, Lettuce,' Aya cooed. 'Look, I didn't mean it. It was just my little joke, right girls?'

'Right,' they chorused, their voices so horribly convincing that Lettuce nearly gave in. But no. She was stronger now.

'It's not a joke and you know it,' she said. 'I have to go home.'

'Surely it can't be past your bedtime yet?' Aya exclaimed in mock surprise. 'Come on, stay and hang out with us for a little while. You can teach us your game.'

'I don't want –'

'Oh Lettuce, please teach us your game!' one of Aya's friends cried, leaping forward and seizing her hand in mock supplication.

'We're not as cool as you, Lettuce, and we really want to learn,' the other agreed, grabbing her shoulder.

'It's settled, then,' Aya purred. 'Teach us the game.' She linked up with Lettuce on one side, and the other two followed suit so that she was firmly sandwiched between them. Their touch made her skin crawl. 'Now skip with us, Lettuce!' Aya trilled, tugging the whole line off down the street. Lettuce lurched along clumsily between them, stumbling, resisting, dragged in their wake.

'You know,' Aya called above the noise of their feet, and Lettuce wondered how long she would carry on with the undignified spectacle herself in order to make her victim suffer, 'I think Midorikawa-san's mummy has the right idea. Instead of forcing your kids to go through all the hassle of parties and boyfriends and horrible things like that, you make sure they come home by seven PM and give them their din-dins and pop them into bed –'

Lettuce stopped dead, digging her heels into the ground with all the tenacity of a stubborn mule. Their line skidded and lurched, hauling on her arms until they felt dislocated, but at last they were all still.

'I don't have to listen to this,' Lettuce announced.

'Soz, babes, I didn't quite catch that.'

'I said, "I don't have to listen to this" ' she repeated, wrenching her arms free. 'I'm going home, and you can't stop me.'

'Aya, I think we've upset her,' one of the girls said.

'I think you're right,' Aya agreed. 'Oh, Lettuce, I'm sorry...'

She reached forward and wrapped her arms around Lettuce, but Lettuce gave a yell and fought free, pushing her roughly away.

'You –' Aya choked, and all three of them lunged at her. Lettuce wasn't as strong as three girls, but she was faster than any of them, and a practised fighter on top of it. She twisted away the arms that reached for her, ducked and fetched up behind them, poised on the balls of her feet.

'I said I'm going home,' she whispered.

Aya's face was livid, but at Lettuce's words she pulled herself together, shaking back her hair and rubbing her twisted arm.

'We'll see you in school then, Lettuce,' she promised, and then the three of them turned and ran off, disappearing quickly into the gathering dusk.

Lettuce leaned against the ally wall, her breathing quickly turning to hysterical pants. She pushed her hair back from her face, blinking back the tears that threatened to overwhelm her.

'I –'

She gave an inarticulate scream, slamming her fist into the wall. She had been so stupid! Why did she let them push her around like that? She shook her head. Thinking like that wouldn't help anything. She had to get home.

She took a shaky step forward, and another, and found herself enveloped in a pair of warm arms.

Then the tears started.

'Shhh, Retasu-chan, shhh,' Pai whispered, stroking her hair gently with one hand, over and over. Lettuce pressed her face into his chest, trying to muffle the sound of her sobs, and to hide from the pity she knew must be filling his eyes. She felt sick with shame. Why now? Why?

'No,' she moaned, 'oh, no...'

'Lettuce?' he asked, tipping her head back to look into her eyes. She broke away from him with a strangled cry and flung herself down on the curb, burying her face in her hands. She couldn't bear to touch him, not after what he'd seen, but at the same time she wanted him to hold her...a fresh wave of tears battered her as she realised what a stupid thing she'd just done. He'd tried to comfort her, and she'd pulled away. She dropped her head onto her knees, feeling so horribly exposed and lonely, and let the misery engulf her.

But Pai would not be so easily put off. She heard him move, felt him settle beside her. His arm wrapped around her for a second time, and then he pulled her gently against him and laid her head on his shoulder.

For a moment Lettuce was too stunned even to cry. She could only sit completely still, acutely aware of the texture of his clothing and the heat coming through it, of his strong, gentle hand against her cheek and his steady breathing. After a while the tears began once more, but the sobs did not. She sat perfectly quiet while her tears flowed steadily down her face and soaked into his shirt, drenching it through and sticking it to her cheek. She felt strange. Shocked and miserable, but perfectly content at the same time, and more than a little lightheaded from the amount of crying she'd been doing. At last a dull, pounding headache began to establish itself, and her eyes ran dry. Then she sat up and steeled herself to speak.

'I'm sorry you had to see that, Pai-san,' she said. Her voice was reasonably steady, and she even managed a little laugh. She shot a nervous glance at Pai. His eyes were hard, boring into the opposite wall.

'If I could have shown myself to them...' he said in a low, deadly voice.

'P-pai-san...'

'Retasu.' He turned and pulled her close, leaning in so that they were cheek to cheek as he caressed her face, his fingers moving urgently against her skin.

'Gomen-nasai,' she whispered.

'Why are you apologising to me?' he demanded in such a ferocious tone that she ducked and hid her face in his shoulder. 'I'm sorry,' he said more gently, 'but I do feel angry.'

Lettuce gave another little sob, and his arms tightened around her. 'I can fight m-monsters, but I c-can't even stand up to th-those girls,' she mumbled. 'I know it's stupid, but I didn't want you to know. It's so stupid...'

'Lettuce, look at me,' Pai said quietly. Lettuce wanted nothing more than to crawl away and hide, but instead she forced herself to meet his eyes for the first time since he'd appeared. He was as beautiful as ever, eyes black in the semi-darkness, skin ethereally pale. His face held a host of emotions: sorrow, anger, pity...love. His expression was full of deep, tender love, which slowly grew and won out over the other feelings, seeming to reach out and envelope her in its warm glow. 'You mustn't listen to them anymore,' he whispered, 'because I can't bear it. You are much too beautiful to be trampled on by the likes of them.'

'I'm not as beautiful as –'

'You are the most exquisite creature I've ever seen, on this planet or my own. I can't tell whether that girl has the potential to be beautiful or not. Her spite shows on her face. It makes her ugly. But you...' Slowly, reverently, he smoothed her hair back from her face, gazing deeply into her eyes until she couldn't think. '...you are selfless.'

'Pai...' she breathed, raising her fingers to brush lightly along his cheekbone. He cupped her face in his hands and touched his lips to hers. His kiss was as soft and as warming as a sunbeam. It cast a golden light which shone inside her, and made her strong.

'I won't listen to them anymore, Pai-kun,' she said clearly. 'I'll listen to you instead.'

'Good. Then listen to this.' Pai placed his hands either side of her waist, kissing her neck tenderly. 'I love you.'

She ducked her head and a single tear trickled down her cheek. Pai wiped it away with his thumb and then rested his forehead against hers, running his fingers through her hair. Lettuce shuddered a little with leftover shock, but his hands were so firm and so gentle...they were soothing away all the panic and the pain...

'It's OK, Retasu, you're safe with me,' he murmured softly, and it was true, though she didn't know how. He was her enemy, and yet he was comforting her. She was completely vulnerable, and yet she trusted him as completely. Everything was so quiet, so still, as though the world had fallen silent just to allow her to focus on how close he was, and the exact feel of his hands as they twined slowly into her hair. Suddenly he leaned in, closing the gap between their lips for a second time. Her heart jolted. The kiss was soft and chaste, but it went on and on, every motion full of eloquent love. She lost all track of time, lost in the moment, until he finally broke the contact and pulled away. His eyes lingered on hers, even more sensual than the kiss, and Lettuce, looking inside herself, found that she was feeling nothing but dazed love.

'Arigatou, Pai-kun.'

'Do you feel better now?' he asked, releasing her and smiling for the first time.

'H-hai...' Lettuce was experiencing a wobbly feeling that had nothing to do with dehydration.

'I was...following you after you left your work,' Pai said, looking slightly sheepish now, 'meaning to ask you if – after you've finished your school time – you would like to spend some time with me? Tomorrow?'

Lettuce looked up at him in surprise. He was watching her closely, looking almost...hesitant? Bashful?

She flung her arms around him.

'Well, uh, Lettuce-chan,' he said, patting her head in surprise.

'I'd love to!' she exclaimed. 'What will we do?'

Pai gave her a true, joyful smile, and she could have sworn that the sun popped obligingly back up above the horizon, bringing a few summer birds with it to sweeten the moment. 'Anything you like,' he said. 'This is your planet. You can show me the customary occupations for two young people in our situation.'

'OK!' Lettuce leapt to her feet, her face shining with joy through its clinging mask of tears. All her earlier excitement was flooding back so fast that it was making her lightheaded. 'I'll –' she looked down at her feet, giving the blush which Pai had been waiting for. 'I'll have to tell my mum where I'm going, but...'

'She won't object?'

'I don't think so...where will I meet you?'

'I'll wear some human clothes and wait for you outside your school – '

'You will?!'

Pai gave her a puzzled look. 'Yes, if that's acceptable to you...?'

'Of course, it's just...'

Pai frowned, trying to keep up with her as she hopped from foot to foot.

'...just that girls get met by their boyfriends from school, but now you're going to be meeting me and...I mean...wait, oh no!'

Pai just laughed and grabbed her hand. Boyfriend. Somehow he quite liked the word.

'Let me teleport you home,' he said. 'It's getting dark.'

'OK...' She gave a little gasp as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.

'If you will guide me...' he said. 'Ready?'

Lettuce squeezed her eyes shut as the air rippled around her. It felt as though the whole world was being taken apart, not forcibly destroyed but just tumbling inexorably to pieces. She couldn't judge their speed in the void that followed, but they must have moved very fast, because solidity came upon them with a sudden jolt, matter reformed, and then they were standing outside her house and the sky was well and truly dark.

'Ack,' Lettuce commented when she could speak again.

'I know,' Pai agreed dryly. It had started to snow lightly; he shivered as a feathery flake landed on his nose.

'Well...' she began, suddenly flustered, 'I guess I'll – see – you...'

'Tomorrow,' Pai finished for her, kissing her swiftly on the lips and destroying the last of her composure. 'Until then, sweet Retasu-chan...'

He gave a deep sigh as she disappeared inside her house with a glance over her shoulder and a quick, shy wave. Maybe his farewell had been melodramatic, but it was what he wanted to say to her. He couldn't make her feel special enough.

He chose to walk a little way back before teleporting. It helped to induce a better frame of mind in which to mull over the encounter, and to ponder possible ways of solving her problem with the human girls.

A/N: I have a feeling that it degenerated a bit after the three Beckys. I've been plotting out too much PaiXLettuce fluff in my head of late, that's the trouble. I should pack it in for a while, refresh my palate with some Kichigo or something. Or maybe PuddingXTart. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this.