The assurance wasn't enough to appease Neko. "I- I don't know if I can go back to bed," she admitted.
Mi-chan scooted to the other side of her bed and patted the side Neko was at. Neko hesitated. They weren't exactly kids anymore. "Come on," Mi-chan encouraged her gently.
Neko climbed onto the bed and lay next to Mi-chan, facing away from her. Mi-chan put her arms around her twin, in an effort to comfort her. "You and me�"
Neko almost smiled. She echoed her twin. "You and me�"
"�will always be�," Mi-chan continued.
"�will always be�"
"�the best of friends." "�the best of friends."
"No matter what you do,�" "No matter what you do,�"
"�I will always protect you." "�I will always protect you."
"Trust me to love you."
Neko closed her eyes, feeling so incredibly dumb that this stupid chant they had made up at the age of five still could relax her so much. "Trust me to love you," she finished.
When she thought about it, it wasn't so dumb. The mantra served as a reminder that Mi-chan would tell her if she disapproved of Tenshi for any reason. That she would never force Neko to choose between her and Tenshi. And that she would always accept Neko for who she was.
So Neko let her heart rate return to normal, and tried to fall back into a more peaceful sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko stared at the blank screen of the vidphone. Calling a friend was not supposed to be this stressful.
*Just don't mention Tenshi-kun. Or the dance. No to Tenshi-kun and the dance. Tenshi-kun and the dance. Oh, and anything related to the Sailor Senshi. Okay, so no Tenshi, dance or Senshi.*
This was ridiculous! She punched in Hoshi's number.
"Moshi moshi," Hoshi's okaa-san, Chiyako, appeared on the screen. "Ara, Neko-chan! Let me get Hoshi." She left the screen's view calling, "Hoshi! The Mizuno twins are calling." Neko figured it was too late to tell her that it was just her. Mi-chan was out dirt biking. Isaac had scheduled a race with her weeks ago. "Hoshi?" Chiyako returned. "I'm sorry, Neko-chan. I guess she went out. I'll tell her you called."
Neko's face fell. "Oh, okay then. Thank you."
"Oh, wait! Here's an idea," Chiyako suddenly seemed excited. "On Thursday, I'm coming to Crystal Tokyo for an inventor's convention sponsored by Inobeeshon Inc. Hoshi's on summer break� why don't I bring her with me for a visit?"
"Really?! Sugoi!" Neko absolutely lit up with delight. "Let me check with my okaa-san. Mom!" Chiyako laughed at her enthusiasm as Neko ran off to find Ami.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan loved the summertime. She got to race all the time. And, Kami, she loved dirt bike racing.
She ran through the garage and into the house, on a high from beating Isaac and the other three guys once again. It was so satisfying to win in a sport usually reserved for guys. She couldn't wait for the tournament that was coming up.
She almost yelled out a "Hello!" when she saw Neko sleeping on the couch. Poor Neko, she was so unused to having bad dreams interrupt her sleep!
Mi-chan wondered if anyone else was home. She went into the kitchen for a snack and found a note from her mom.
Michiru,
I went shopping. Kimahou's with the FPCs. Don't wake Neko, she's
napping in the family room.
Love,
Mom
Well, that answered that question. Mi-chan already knew Ryo was at work and Chibi at his temple. So for all intents and purposes, she was by herself.
She fought the urge to make herself a huge hoagie sandwich, grabbed an apple from the basket, and ran up to prepare herself a bath. She loved to race, but she was tired of being covered with the dirt and sweat that came with the sport.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan always let her long hair dry naturally. Neko might use a hair dryer, but Mi-chan usually just let it air dry.
She put on a plain old T-shirt, obviously not what she planned to wear when she went out with Jian-wa later. But she didn't want to get her nice clothes wet from her hair. She threw a towel over her shoulders for good measure.
She wondered briefly if they got any mail today. She hadn't seen any on the table, but if Ami had left before it came, it might still be sitting in the mailbox. She went downstairs, much more quietly than usual, since Neko was being such a sleepyhead, and opened the front door.
And almost ran into Tenshi.
"Oh, uh�." Tenshi withdrew her finger from the doorbell that she was just a second away from pressing. "Konnichi wa," she said, somewhat shyly.
Mi-chan was still a little surprised to have opened the door and find Tenshi there. And then it dawned on her that as she hadn't spoken yet, with her hair down and her tattoo covered, Tenshi probably was under the impression that she was Neko.
She opened her mouth to enlighten her - it would be tremendously awkward if Tenshi did something dramatic like kiss her or tell her some big secret or something - when Tenshi spoke instead.
"Ano, is Koneko here?"
Mi-chan blinked. "Uh, yeah. Demo she's asleep." As an afterthought she added, "Ne? You knew I wasn't her?"
Tenshi laughed. "Were you trying to fool me?" Though Mi-chan shook her head, Tenshi confessed, "Well, I thought you were at first. But then I looked in your eyes."
"My eyes?"
"Hai. You and Koneko both have deep and beautiful eyes, but hers are softer than yours. Yours are a bit more confident, if you don't mind me saying so. Besides," she said with a brilliant smile, "they didn't sparkle at me like hers do."
Mi-chan nodded, fascinated. Tenshi did have the tendency to be incredibly charming, and even Mi-chan found herself falling under her spell at times. She wondered if Jian-wa would be able to differentiate the twins without the usual tells.
"Demo if she's sleeping, I guess I'll go. She wasn't expecting me or anything."
"Tenshi-kun," Mi-chan said with a roll of her eyes. "She'll wake up for you." She didn't want to explain to Neko why she let her sleep through a visit from Tenshi. "Wait right here."
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