Tenshi had finally escaped from her teammates, but she couldn't find the green haired girl anywhere. She shyly checked out the locker room before changing into a T-shirt and jeans (much more comfortable than her school fuku), but the girl didn't seem to be there. Oh, well. Maybe she'd see her in the halls tomorrow.
She walked over to her car, which was parked in the spot closest to the gym. On the way, she found herself checking out the nice motorcycle that was parked in the half space next to her car. It was a beautiful Suzuki, colored white and blue. She knelt down to admire it better, when she heard a shout from behind.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing�?" She trailed off. "Tenoh-san?"
Tenshi looked up to see the girl who she'd been vaulting against standing there in front of her. She had changed into nicer clothes and had taken down her hair, which Tenshi thought was beautiful. "Oh, is this yours? I was just admiring it. Looks fast� but a dirt bike'd be better."
"I know. Mi-chan has one. She's much faster on it." She wasn't mad though, because she smiled.
"Mi-chan?"
"Oh, my twin, Michiru."
"And you are�," Tenshi prompted, thinking of the coincidence that this girl's twin had the same name as Tenshi's mother.
"Gomen nasai. I'm Mizuno Neko."
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Neko-chan," Tenshi said, thinking that this explained how Neko had known her last name and how her twin had ended up as Michiru. Mizuno Ami-sama was connected to the water, as was her Michiru-mama. It made sense that she might name one of her children after Michiru.
"Ne, you too, Tenoh-san."
"Enough with the 'Tenoh-san' stuff. Call me 'Tenshi.' Either 'chan' or 'kun' is an acceptable honorific. 'San' is unacceptable!"
"Ok, Tenshi-kun." She smiled. It was so kawaii! Tenshi hoped that she'd be seeing that smile a lot.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko got on her bike and couldn't stop smiling. She had been so upset, but now she couldn't help being happy. That was until she tried starting her bike. It wouldn't start. She tried again. For the third time today she realized what an idiot she was. She was going to fill up the bike on the way to school, but they were running late, so she had forgotten. And now she was out of gas. She must have been running on fumes and at the speed she was going�. Well, this was great. The busses weren't running and it was kinda far to walk home. But there was a gas station a couple of blocks away.
"Won't it start?" She jumped. She thought Tenshi had left and was surprised to see her getting out of the car next to her. Neko hadn't noticed that she had gotten into it. "I'm sorry, I just hadn't started yet and you looked like you were having trouble."
"Oh, yeah. I was running late for school, and I drove it down here on fumes, and now it won't start." Duh. Did she need to tell the whole story to people when they asked? She now realized that Tenshi would think that she was an idiot too. *Baka!* she thought angrily to herself, *You couldn't just say, "I'm out of gas"?*
"Well, why don't we throw it in the backseat and I'll give you a ride to the station?"
Neko looked at the backseat of the convertible and shook her head. "I don't want to ruin your nice car. It's just a couple of blocks to the station. I can walk."
I won't hear of it." Tenshi walked over to the bike and walked it to the car. She started to attempt to lift it, but even though she was pretty strong and the bike was made with the new lighter metals of the day, it was a little heavier than she could handle. "Well? Are you going to help?"
"Oh, gomen!" For the hundredth time that day, she found herself blushing, but she helped Tenshi put the bike in the back. As she hopped in the front, she smiled shyly at Tenshi. "Arigatou, Tenshi-kun" she said quietly.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They had decided to skip the gas station altogether, opting to get to know each other a little better on the way to Neko's house. She had informed Tenshi that she could always fill up her tank there, as long as it wasn't too much trouble. Tenshi had assured her that it wasn't.
"Rescuing damsels in distress is in my job description," she explained. Neko-chan giggled. Kami, she was pretty! Tenshi had heard that the Mizuno twins were bishojo, but she wasn't expecting this. She couldn't believe how quickly she had fallen for this girl. She wanted to ask her to the dance, but she didn't know how Neko-chan would take it. And she didn't want to end their relationship before it began. She'd made that mistake before and scared away girls that she would have considered her friends if she didn't want to date them. She could tell already that she wanted to spend more time with Neko-chan so she decided to play it cool for awhile. At least Neko-chan seemed comfortable with her parent's relationship.
"Hey, you want some ice cream?" she asked suddenly as they stopped at a light in front of an ice cream parlor. She smiled as Neko-chan's face lit up. "I'll take that as a yes," she laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko couldn't believe that Tenshi had suggested ice cream. She loved ice cream. Especially coffee flavored ice cream.
She looked over the menu and found what she wanted - Mocha Chip. She took out some money and walked over to order. But suddenly, Tenshi's hand was on the one that she had money in. "My treat."
"Honto?!"
"Sure, what do you want?"
"Lucky! Mocha Chip would be good."
When Tenshi handed her the cone she asked, "So were you responsible for my sister's new love of coffee ice cream?"
"Huh? Oh, Puroko. Yeah, sorry, I was trying to take her mind off what had happened and it's my favorite."
"No, it's fine. I mean, good thinking. Sometimes it's hard to distract her, though sometimes it's real easy." She laughed. "You know, typical little kid."
"Yeah." Neko wondered if Tenshi saw her as a little kid. She was slightly younger than Tenshi and she remembered her mother telling her stories of the difference that one year made between the Inner Senshi and Haruka and Michiru when they met. Both sides had felt removed from the other, even thought there was only a year's difference. And Tenshi would've been taught by her parents. Maybe she saw Neko as an upset kid who
