A/N: My second fic in the update stream I need to get done. Surprisingly, this didn't take as long as I thought it would have - even though it's up later than I wanted it to be. It was supposed to be posted on Wednesday 17th, because it's a birthday present for Essence of Gold - I guess this has to be a belated gift instead? Sorry about that, Essie-chan; I'd intended it up on your birthday, which is one of the reasons I dropped out of your contest - so that I could get it up on time. But as life goes, unexpected things pop up, and they prevented me from being able to finish this in time.
Anyway, a little different to what I normally write, but... Hmm, I'll let you lot be the judge on whether it came out well or not. It's my very first attempt at Pai x Lettuce, so is it any good?
Disclaimer: I don't own TMM.
Yuki no Shita ni
~Beneath the Snow~
Time can sometimes stand still. A moment, though fleeting and ignored, can sometimes become locked in what feels like an eternity; a forever of silence, of nothing but everything as one. The clock seems to halt - the long, metal hand of the wristwatch ticking round just freezing in place. The snow stops falling, the cars no longer speed past, and even the glimmer of the streetlight seems distant. And the eyes, wide with surprise and disbelief, stare unblinking into a second pair across the way.
Cliché though it may seem, this is how Lettuce found herself on that late February night. Her thick-gloved hands fell from the pockets of her coat, her chin darted up out of the warm comfort of the scarf wound tightly around her neck, and her jaw fell agape in a near-silent gasp. Less then five feet away, under the brilliant orange glow of the streetlight, he stood, calmly staring back at her. His deep, knowledgeable eyes held no emotion; no way of telling quite what he was thinking, or of what his intentions were.
But, as moments go, they do eventually pass. The stillness breaks, and although there are no cars whizzing past as of yet, the snow begins to fall, and swirl, and land on whatever surface is available.
Which, coincidently, turned out to be his face. And it was his movement, as he reached his arm up to brush the white, crystalline flakes from him, that brought her out of her trace.
She blinked - several times, to make sure he was real, and then even going as far as to rub her eyes with her gloved-hands to confirm it. Of course though, she was wearing her glasses, and the only thing she succeeded in doing was pushing the frames into her aqua orbs. Lettuce released a squeak of discomfort, causing Pai to raise an eyebrow at her foolish actions. But he did not comment, merely continued to study the girl before him with a strengthening intensity.
He recognized her - physical traits of hers were similar to ones of those he had seen the likes of before - but for some reason, he couldn't quite place where from. Although, he did admit to himself that he hadn't exactly visited Earth in a long time, so his memory of such a human was likely rusty. Still, he felt obliged to say something to the girl stood in front of him - her presence felt far too familiar for him to just teleport away. A name grasped the tip of his tongue, begging to be spoken. Such an urge he had never had before, and in defense he bit it back. However, his brain had already begun formulating and identifying… comparing this human's features to the ones of those he knew so well… And he was unable to deny the fact that they were similar. Exceedingly so. But was it possible that she could be--
"Mew… Lettuce?" he spoke slowly and precisely, his mouth moving perfectly around each syllable so as to make certain that it was coherent.
She looked herself up and down quickly, fear that she had somehow transformed into her Mew form gripping her. Lettuce almost sighed in relief upon seeing that she most definitely hadn't. Her gaze returned to his face, and she blushed. "Y-yes?" she stuttered meekly.
Oh… Pai wasn't actually expecting that outcome. "You're the human form of Mew Lettuce?" he questioned, eyes narrowing in curiosity.
"Y-yes."
Well… he guessed it made sense; after all, Kish was the one who messed about with the Mews' normal lives (admittedly, the Mew Mew's red-headed leader's more than anyone's), so Pai had never really had to take much notice of how they appeared in their regular form.
He watched her with a scrutinizing gaze, examining her much like she was a lab rat trapped in a cage. 'She doesn't look half-bad, for a human being-- In a purely scientifical way, of course,' he thought, the end of the chain somewhat rushed in haste to correct himself. He coughed once into his hand - a way that was custom on his home planet to prevent a blush from showing up - causing Lettuce's head to dart straight upwards from it's half-bowed position. Which was when the two locked eyes again… but this time they hastily pulled away, Lettuce beginning to fidget and sway from foot to foot and Pai simply facing elsewhere.
It was silent a moment, once again.
Only this time, it was Lettuce who shattered the silence, mumbling an almost inaudible, "A-anou…"
"Hm?" he acknowledged, upon immediately realising she wasn't going to continue if left without a prompt.
"Anou… Pai-sama, w-what are you doing here?" she asked, her voice as low as a whisper - however, his big ears were able to catch the words effortlessly.
"If you think I'm here to attack you or this planet, you needn't worry. I am not. I came for a personal reason, and that only," he elucidated.
"O-oh," she stuttered, though somehow a little more confidently than before. "Then… um… what are you…?" She trailed off, leaving the question unfinished, but he got the message.
"Is there a particular reason I should tell you?" he asked dubiously, folding his arms across his chest and raising his eyebrow.
"W-well…anou… I just… I was just curious," Lettuce explained, her head rocketing downwards and her hands clasping together, thumbs twiddling nervously. A car sped past, throwing up a bit of snow that had landed on the road. It flew onto them, Pai merely raising his eyebrow at the slushy stuff, but unfortunately, Lettuce was drenched - the cold, wet snow melted against her warm body, soaking through her clothes to her skin. Clumps of snow clung to her braids, and she desperately tried to brush them out. Pai watched her curiously, studying her actions; she didn't notice until all the snow was gone from her hair, and when she looked up she caught his eyes staring at her intensely. Shying away under his gaze, she took a couple steps back, rubbing her body to warm where the wet had made it cold. Casting her own eyes away, she began to chew her lip.
"…Because of the snow."
Her head darted up, eyes wide with surprise. "P-pardon?"
Pai sighed. "I came back to Earth because of the snow. We don't have this stuff on Cyniclon; the planet's far too hot to generate frozen liquid. In fact, it barely creates liquid at all - unless you count molten rock, but then, that isn't exactly consumable--" Halting abruptly, he took a breath and cleared his throat. "That is… well, you probably wouldn't understand, considering you're not even from my planet… My apologies for confusing you," Pai corrected himself.
"Oh, no, it's fine! I understand completely - it's like Io, right?" she said hurriedly, but upon noticing his blank look, pressed it further. "Io - it's one of Jupiter's moons; it's the most geologically active object in our Solar System, and--"
"No, I know that," he interrupted. "I've done plenty studies of your entire Solar System. I was just… confused as to how a mere human could understand such a thing."
Lettuce blushed. "Science is one of my favourite subjects."
This caught his interest. "Oh, really now?" She clasped her hands in front of her body, tilting her head and nodding. Then, she smiled at him; he blinked in surprise. Never had he received such a gesture before. Deducing it as really nothing much special - although he had to mentally fight to find the logic lurking in his head to prevent another blush creeping up - he decided to interrogate the perplexing girl further.
Pai had returned several days later to the snow-induced planet, wanting to have another look around while it was still in the midst of the wintery season. So when he had hacked into Japan's news system from his spaceship that afternoon and discovered the weather forecast had announced heavy snowstorms for that evening, Pai had become curious. Curious enough, that he made his way down towards the planet, teleporting into a backstreet of Tokyo. It was sheltered - houses built almost-far-too close together giving him a barricade from the swirling snowflakes falling upon the rest of the city. Pai had never seen a 'snowstorm' before, and his scientific wonder was getting the better of him; he craved to see what it was exactly that bombarded the city. So he made his way to the entrance of the alley, stepping outside and exposing himself to the Earth-weather.
His eyes clamped shut automatically, refusing to open even when he willed them to. The world was white - spinning, thrashing, clawing white that lashed out at him, taking hold of the alien boy and coating him in a thick layer of the frozen precipitation. He shuddered violently, his body jerking in a desperate attempt to warm itself up. What was happening? What was this? He took a step forward, then another, then another, still intent on exploring the snowstorm thoroughly. But it wasn't long before he found himself unable to go any further. The wind blew back on him, pushing against his form so much that he struggled to advance. The blizzard spun in all directions, twisting and spiraling so much that nothing in front of him was very visible. Concluding that snowstorms weren't what he had originally anticipated - a rather pleasant, cathartic experience - Pai figured it was probably a good idea to return to his ship.
Coming to a halt, he forced his arms apart, preparing to teleport.
His eyes shot open wide… before squeezing closed again due to the snow. For a moment, he forgot to breathe; his heart quickened rapidly inside his chest, pounding until the drumming sound was all he could hear in his ears. Dread flooded his stomach, creating a feeling much like a bout of nausea. He was unable to teleport. Pai couldn't teleport. The… strain, of pushing himself through and through against the snow, the freezing, ice-cold temperature that he was highly unused to… had took a toll on his energy levels… and if he was low on energy then, he reasoned, technically he wouldn't have the strength to teleport. So he was stranded. In the middle of a snowstorm.
As it dawned on him, he felt a wave of darkness come over his being… and he fell to his knees, energy completely drained, instantly blacking-out.
It was a sheer matter of coincidence that a dark shape appeared in the storm. And as it drew closer to Pai's unconscious body, it's shape began to define, showing the curves and figure of an adolescent girl. Bundled up in the thickest of coats, gloved hands gripping the sides of her body, scarf twisted snuggly around her neck and hat pulled down to her eyes, Lettuce emerged through the flurry and came across the alien.
One of her hands flew to her mouth, and she scampered over to him as fast as possible, sinking to her knees beside his body in the snow. After giving him a quick check over, she deemed that if she didn't get him into shelter soon he'd most likely catch hypothermia. Chewing her lip, she tried to determine how exactly she could carry him somewhere safe. Needless to say, so caught up in her worries was she, that Lettuce didn't notice the black silhouette hovering behind her…
It was warm when he woke. Too warm to be… His eyes opened sharply, waiting impatiently for them to slowly adjust to the lighting of the room. Or technically, lack-there-of. It was dark - not pitch black, but close enough - and Pai guessed it was nighttime for Japanese Earthlings. He was definitely still on Earth - that much he knew, despite not having a clue whereabouts he was. But there was one thing he knew absolutely: he was comfortable. There was something under him, and something placed over him, and something for his head to rest on… and they all just made him feel so warm and cozy. It confused him, but he also still felt slightly… weak. His strength still hadn't fully returned, and therefore he knew he would still be unable to teleport out, so he was stuck wherever he was for the time being.
So he guessed he'd have to just take a look around in the meantime.
Something few people other than Kish and Tart knew was that Pai was terrible for exploring anything new. If he was landed anywhere he had never been before, nine times out of ten he'd immediately start checking out the surroundings. And this place was no exception.
So, pushing the warm… was it a blanket? off of himself, he stood… before suddenly collapsing backwards onto the bed. He almost groaned, placing his face into the palms of his hands; his legs had given out beneath him, sending him rocketing back down and thus meaning he was in absolutely no shape to do anything at all. Other than lay down and wait. Pai debated it over in his head, mulling over the concept of remaining motionless and waiting in vain for whoever had brought him here to return, or attempting to stand once again and try and take his leave.
After moments of thought, he chose the second option. It was far too risky, after all, to stay put - the human (for he was certain it at least had to be a human) that had found him and lugged him here could be anyone, and with his pale skin, overgrown, floppy ears and abnormal Earth-dress-sense, it was sure to be concluded that he was not from this planet. Well… depending on whether the human was woefully, ignorantly stupid, or if it was as smart as that girl had turned out to be. For a second, he prayed it was the latter, for then there was even a small chance it was the Mew… though clearly, that was only because he knew she'd understand him and not freak out, not because he was really hoping to see her once again. However, coming to his senses, he quickly changed his mind and wished it was the former option - a stupid human might at least think he was a melanin-deficient boy suffering from unusually large ears, and give him some chance to escape without asking too many questions.
Readying himself, he maneuvered his body to the edge of whatever he was sat atop, and pressing his hands against the soft surface as firmly as possible, he pushed himself up. And this time, he stayed upright. Triumph and relief washed over him, but he quelled them, knowing there was no reason to feel the emotions if he had not proven himself to be fully successful - there was no reason to give himself false hope. No, in order for the emotions to be justified, he must be able to walk. So Pai lifted his left leg, and took a step forward. And promptly collapsed.
The sound made a resounding thud!, to which Pai cursed. He pursed his lips, stopping the sarcastic comment pouring out from behind them. 'Oh joy. They'll never have heard that.' Sure enough, to Pai's dismay, a set of heavy footsteps came storming up the stairs. His fists clenched with tension. He held his breath. The handle shot down and the door swung open, banging against the wall forcefully. And there, with light flooding into the room from behind her, stood the one person Pai had been hoping to see. His breath released in a swift gush, a small, ghost of a smile pulling at his lips.
"…Lettuce-san?"
"Ah! Pai-sama! Oh, you have to be careful! Are you ok?" she called, rushing over to him. But Lettuce being Lettuce, in her haste managed to trip and plummet face-first towards the ground. The only problem being that she was far too close to Pai when this occurred. Her torso smacked into his, taking him down to lie flat against the carpet with her. Their legs tangled, both of their attempts to right their suggestive position only leading to becoming more caught up in the other. She tried to prop herself up onto her elbows, but a sudden shift in movement caused them to give way beneath her body, sending her toppling into Pai's chest. But this time, apart from her squeal and his pained moan, they remained still.
Her face was the reddest it had ever been, thankfully buried into his shoulder so he was unable to see it. But he was too busy fighting back the pink dusting on his on cheeks to notice anyway. His breathing was slow and steady, despite what had just happened, and with each inhale Lettuce was risen slowly, each exhale causing her to descend again. Against their raging emotions, they were calm, both slowly and half-reluctantly melting into the other. All sound faded out, until his strong heartbeat was the only thing she could hear. All feeling drifted away, until the girl snuggled up against him was all that was there. And for a moment, everything was perfect.
But of course, perfect moments are often ruined, broken by unexpected intrusions and inappropriate comments.
"Well, well, well. Lookie what we have here…"
"Kish! Get. Out. Now," Pai growled, as his gaze settled on the new form hovering in the doorway. Somehow, Lettuce's blush darkened several shades; she'd forgotten the golden-eyed alien was still around. Kish simply smirked, placing his hands on his hips.
"Now, now, Pai. Is that really any way to talk to the boy who helped carry you and your girlfriend out of the snow?" Kish taunted, laughing when he saw Pai's eyes shoot open wide. "Oh… oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise that she wasn't your girlfriend… yet," he continued, making the fake, patronizing apology as clear and implying as possible.
Which was when Pai cracked, his fist clenching and unclenching, eyebrow twitching with suppressed rage. "Kish…" he growled.
Hurriedly, with a grin plastered across his face, Kish waved, before teleporting out. Too filled with rage to consider his surroundings, Pai was suddenly overcome with a wave of energy, and followed the younger alien. Which ultimately left Lettuce lying alone in the middle of her bedroom floor. She sighed softly, staying still a minute, before standing up and sadly walking turning to flop on her bed.
Thick, soft snow blanketed the streets, piled so high it prevented life from moving about in the city. Snow-ploughs couldn't get through to clear the blocked roads, forcing the whole of Tokyo to come to a halt. The previous night's blizzard had really taken its toll on the city. Some lone, brave citizens ventured outside, wandering the tricky streets enveloped in heavy outdoor clothing. For one girl in particular, this task was proving particularly tough. Lettuce had to heave her feet high into the air before being able to bring them down in a step forward. It was taking up a lot of her energy, and a lot more time than she had originally anticipated. But still she continued to press on through.
Turning a corner, she began making her way down a familiar street. She kept her head bowed low, not really wanting to look around and in fear of remembering the other night. But she couldn't prevent it plaguing her, and she sighed as she glanced up to see where she was going. And came to an abrupt halt, breath catching in her throat.
He was stood under the lamppost, clearly distinguishable in the daytime light. Pai leant against the tall streetlight with his arms folded across his chest, patiently waiting for something… or someone. Hope and curiosity captured her, and she only narrowly stopped herself running over to him. Reaching the alien boy, she clasped her hands together and chewed her lip, giving him time to pick up on her presence before speaking.
But when he spoke without bothering to open his eyes, she almost fell backwards in surprise. "I apologise for running out last night; it was rude of me, especially since you were so hospitable and kind."
"…Ah…" she squeaked, causing him to crack open an eyes to stare at her expectantly. Clearing her throat and straightening out, she started over. "It's no problem - you were angry at Kish; I totally understand," she replied sweetly, brushing off his apology as nothing he need be concerned about with the wave of her hand.
He sighed, massaging his temples. "No, it's not ok. And another thing that isn't…" He paused, opening both eyes to gaze at the shy girl. "…is the fact I never thanked you for it."
This caused her to gasp, and blink, surprised. "Anou…" She trailed off, bowing her head. However, a smile crept across, and in a moment she brought her head back up to beam at him. "You're welcome, Pai-sama."
He allowed himself to smile, just this once, and slowly, gingerly, outstretched his arm to pat her awkwardly on her head. She giggled happily, the reaction growing when she felt a snowflake land softly on her nose. They both glanced up, noticing the swirl of snow beginning to drift lazily down from the sky above. And thus, they shared their third moment of peace. But like their previous two, this one was broken yet again.
"I have to go," he murmured, vision still lingering upwards and hand still placed carefully on Lettuce's head. "I'm not meant to be staying long. I have to return to Cyniclon today."
Deflating a little, Lettuce sighed, before forcing a sweet, sad smile onto her face. "…I understand. But… you can always feel free to return. It'd be nice to see you again, someday."
"It's mutual, Lettuce-san," he said, finally allowing himself to drop his hand and step away from her. He nodded to her once, in a bidding of farewell, and faded, disappearing as he teleported his way back to his spaceship.
"Goodbye, Pai-sama," she called after him, waving at his vanishing form as she did so. Smiling to herself, she continued to walk along the street, content.
And thus, they parted the same way they had met. Beneath the snow.
A/N: So how was that for my first attempt at PxL? If I get enough positive feedback (meaning please review! XD), then I might have another go at the pairing again. And hey, that was actually not bad to write, so it might even become one of my regular pairings. What do you lot think? Please review and let me know, ok? ^_^