I disclaim TMM.

Obsession

Ichigo opened the door to café mew mew slowly and peered in. Keiichiro smiled sadly at her and waved her inside, the other mews were gathered around him, all except Lettuce. Ichigo was late.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Keiichiro shook his head in amusement.

"Don't worry about it," he replied. "I was just explaining that you will all continue in your duty and that you will all remain working at the café." Ichigo nodded, trying not to think about the reason that Keiichiro would have to tell them that. She worked slowly, her mind on other things and she was still washing up when Mint came over and grabbed her arm.

"Where's Lettuce today?" she asked, frowning. Ichigo looked sad.

"I don't know, we all know that she liked him, maybe she just stayed off today."

"She wasn't at school either!"

"Mint," said Ichigo, exasperated. "She's grieving!"

"So are we, but we don't get the day off," Mint huffed and stalked out the room. Ichigo turned back to the dishes. She wasn't worried about Lettuce, she would turn up tomorrow; Ichigo was sure.

However, Ichigo and Mint still decided to go round her house and check if she was all right. Her mum let them in.

"Yes she has a visitor at the moment, but I'm sure you can go on up!" she waved them vaguely up the stairs and turned back into the kitchen. Ichigo pulled Mint up the stairs and stopped quietly outside the door; from inside they could here quiet murmurings. Ichigo pushed the door open and peered in; Lettuce was sitting on her bed talking earnestly to the stranger that had been at Ryou's funeral. Ichigo felt weird, as if she knew the man. She was about to burst in but something made her stop. The two figures on the bed were leaning into one another and as Ichigo watched, the man slid his arms around Lettuce and kissed her. Ichigo gasped and whipped her head out of the room. Mint frowned at the expression on her fellow mew's face.

"What is it?" she hissed in Ichigo's ear. When she got no reply Mint pushed past her and peeked her head into the room. Her eyes widened in shock and, instead of retreating quietly into the hallway, she burst through the door and into the room.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, waving her arms around her head. Ichigo followed Mint into Lettuce's room and yanked angrily on her arm. The two figures on the bed shot apart as if they had been electrocuted and both of their faces turned bright red.

" Mint!" Mint ignored Ichigo and turned on Lettuce.

"We thought you were grieving! We thought that was the reason you didn't come to work or school!" she stopped to suck in a deep breath and Lettuce covered her mouth with her hand. "Instead we come here to cheer you up and we find you making out with some stranger!" Ichigo yanked on Mint's arm again and Mint stopped, she was breathing deeply and staring accusingly at Lettuce and the handsome stranger. There was silence for a minute as everyone sat frozen, staring at one another in disbelief, then a voice drifted up the stairs.

"Lettuce? Is everything alright up there?" Lettuce jumped.

"Yes mum," she called shakily back. She turned back to her friends and gave a nervous squeak at the anger on their faces. Her blush deepened and she stared down at the floor.

"I can explain," something about the stranger's voice sounded familiar and not just because they had heard it at the funeral.

"Oh, can you!" stormed Mint. The man smiled, which infuriated Mint even further.

"Yes, I can. I don't think you got my name did you? Well I'll tell you if you promise to never tell anyone," Mint and Ichigo stared at him incredulously and Lettuce looked at the floor, a small smile twitching at the corners of her lips. "My name is Ryou Shirogame!" Ichigo burst into manic laughter and everyone turned to stare at her. She stopped with a snort and blushed harder than Lettuce.

"That's not funny!" she giggled. "Our boss has just died and your making sick jokes like that." The man reached a hand up to his head and removed the wig that he was wearing, underneath his hair was blonde, and something about his face had also changed, becoming more familiar. The silence that followed Ryou's actions pressed down on the people in the room, seeming to weigh a huge amount. Ryou smiled and once again slid an arm around Lettuce's waist. Everyone stared stupidly at their boss, seeming incapable of words until finally Mint spoke.

"So you two are finally together then?" her words were followed by more silence as everyone in the room turned their incredulous eyes on her. She blushed and soon everyone but Ryou was blushing different shades of red. Ryou laughed.

"I guess we are," he chuckled self-consciously. More silence followed as they struggled to think of something to say. Ryou suddenly felt the urge to disguise himself and soon he had his wig on, just in time. Pai was knocking on the window.