She glanced at Hoshi. Well, at least there were a couple of guys who had been taking turns dancing with her. *This party might turn out to be okay after all.*
Jian-kun squeezed her hand (which he had been holding since they stopped dancing). "One of these days, I'm going to take you out dancing for real. Then nothing's going to interrupt us."
"That's alright," she promised him. Then she added, "You know, you don't have to wait. You could go dance now. I just have to keep an eye on Hoshi-chan."
"Are you sure that it's necessary? I mean, she's your guys' best friend. Don't you think she'd understand about Neko-chan's sexual orientation and accept it?"
Mi-chan frowned. "Well� Neko-chan is worried about it. Hoshi-chan's never said anything to me that made me think that she's heterosexist - well, except maybe that her parents aren't big fans of Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama - but Neko-chan seemed pretty certain about it. And she doesn't want to lose Hoshi-chan as a friend and neither do I, so I'm helping. I mean, I don't like it, but I don't want Neko-chan to have to stress about it." She sighed, remorsefully. "I just wish I could talk to Hoshi-chan about it."
"I'm sorry this is so hard. I can't imagine what it's like," Jian-wa admitted.
"Yeah�. Ne, Jian-kun? Why don't you distract Hoshi-chan after this guy? You can make sure she keeps busy dancing until Neko-chan and Tenshi-kun are ready."
Jian-wa gave her a strange look. Then his eyes softened as he tried romantically, "I'd never dance with anyone but you."
Mi-chan allowed her eyes to leave the dance floor long enough to see if he was being serious or not. "Why? If you were otherwise occupied, I'd dance with other guys! I mean, you're obviously my first choice, but if you weren't around or didn't want to, I wouldn't sit around bored for no reason."
"Demo- Ne, Mi-chan?" distracted from their discussion, he pointed to the dance floor. The song had just ended, and Hoshi and her current partner had seemingly decided to get a drink. They started towards the refreshment table. *Shimatta, we didn't think about that. So much for me and Jian-kun distracting her. Well, at least Neko-chan and Tenshi-kun are just talking�. Kami-sama! Can't those two keep their hands off each other for five minutes?*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko and Tenshi were talking and laughing and forgotten about Hoshi. Puroko had soon grown bored with them and grabbed her cake to take back to the table. Shortly after she had skipped off, Tenshi asked Neko, "Ne, do you want to go for a walk outside with me?"
"Ara, I'd love to!" But then Neko remembered her promise. "Demo, I can't because I promised Hoshi-chan I'd stay and watch the ceremony with her."
"Oh, was her okaa-san one of the presenters at the conference?"
"Hai. She's a great scientist on Mercury!"
"Well, that's cool."
Neko was pleased that Tenshi could talk about Hoshi without getting upset. Too bad the opposite wasn't true.
She was deciding how best to explain her gratitude to Tenshi when another guest at the party ran into her. The force and suddenness of the collision threw her off balance, and she almost went flying into Tenshi.
Tenshi instinctively reached out and grabbed her, pulling Neko into the safety of her arms.
Badum. Badum. Neko realized that she was not about to crash into Tenshi, the table, or the floor. She opened her eyes and looked up, right into the bright aquamarine eyes of Tenshi. Neko forgot about everything else.
"Daijoubu ka, Koneko?" Tenshi whispered.
Badum. "I'm fine." She settled into Tenshi's embrace and closed her eyes, half expecting Tenshi to kiss her.
*Neko-chan!*
"Oh!" At the sound of Mi-chan's voice, Neko jolted out of her dreamy state and pushed herself away from Tenshi. Tenshi stared at her in surprise and hurt. "A- Arigatou, Tenshi-kun, for catching me." Neko couldn't look Tenshi in the eyes. Couldn't take her wounded expression. She looked away, and waited for Tenshi to say something, bracing herself for the possibility that those words might be angry.
She waited for what, in her distressed state, seemed like an eternity, but was really only the second it took for Hoshi to reach her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi couldn't help feeling angry and confused. She had almost been caught up in the moment a minute ago, but her devotion to Neko had stopped her from acting on her emotions. She knew Neko didn't want Hoshi to see them being romantic, and she respected Neko's wishes. So she had been surprised when Neko relaxed in her arms. It was different from a touch of their hands or even Neko grabbing Tenshi for comfort at the race. This allowed Tenshi to lower the defenses she had recently put up for Neko's sake.
Which had made it all the more disconcerting when Neko had pushed her away a few seconds later. And now she wouldn't even look at Tenshi.
"Neko-chan?" Just when Tenshi didn't think the situation could get worse, Hoshi arrived. "Hi, Tenshi-san," she said, not allowing any warmth into her voice at all. "Ne, Neko-chan, I'm parched. Do you want to go get a drink with me� doushita?" Neko was staring at the ground, avoiding looking at either Hoshi or Tenshi.
"Nothing. I'm fine."
Hoshi glared at Tenshi. "What did you say to her?"
"Huh?" Tenshi stood there, dumbfounded. What had she said to Neko? Hoshi had sent Neko into a state of emotional turmoil this week, and she wanted to know what Tenshi had done?! It was all Tenshi could do to keep from giving Hoshi a piece of her mind right there. But when Tenshi looked back at Neko, she managed to keep her anger in check.
"You don't understand-" she began to say through clenched teeth.
But Hoshi wasn't done with her accusation. "What I understand is that she was with you, and now she's upset. What I understand is-"
"Stop it!" Neko cried. Hoshi looked at her in shock - Neko almost never raised her voice. "Don't argue about
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