She stopped and looked at Tenshi. She looked familiar, although Neko didn't think they had ever met. Neko tried to place where she'd seen her face before, but she couldn't remember. She had never seen any past yearbooks or team pictures or anything.
Neko was surprised at how easily Tenshi got over the bar, especially with no warm-up, or anything. Now the bar would go up to 14' and they'd have to go again. She realized she was now competing at a height she'd never jumped before.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko's first two attempts had failed and she only had one more chance to jump 14' and succeed. Otherwise Tenshi, who had got it the first time, would win. She still could remember how easily Tenshi had gotten over the bar. It was as if the wind had reached up and helped her over. She refused to fail this time. Not with Tenshi watching. "Makinai, " she said quietly.
She ran towards the bar, put down the pole and escaped from gravity once again. She angled herself over the bar and gave an extra push to get over. It worked, but she had touched the bar and it wobbled unstably. As she landed, she realized that she needed to get out of the pit as soon as possible, or if the bar fell, she would lose. She jumped out in a direction she usually didn't go, not realizing that the pit had been partially put over the sand pit, and lost her balance. As she fell, she put her hands down to catch herself, but managed to scrape the palm of her right hand. "Baka," she scolded herself. That was something she expected from Chibi or Mi-chan, not herself. To make matters worse, the bar stayed where it was. She had succeeded, but she now felt like an idiot. "Daijoubu ka?" A concerned voice asked her. At first she thought it was a guy, but she looked up and saw it was Tenshi. Her aquamarine eyes were filled with worry for the younger girl, and Neko couldn't help feeling like she should alleviate that worry. She nodded and tried to smile, but her hand actually hurt quite a bit.
Tenshi offered her a hand to get up, and Neko took it. But as soon as she was up, Tenshi looked at her palm in concern. "Oh, you have to clean this right away." Neko looked at it and realized that there were sand particles seemingly embedded in where she had skinned her hand. Tenshi led her to the first aid kit that the coach kept by the side of the track and found some cotton balls and cleaned the wound with some rubbing alcohol and found some antibacterial ointment. As she started to clean the wound Neko found herself blushing. *She really is quite attractive,* she thought, *even if she does look a tad boyish.* She smiled to herself at the thought, a tad was a bit generous. If Tenshi did her short dirty-blond hair a bit differently, she could pass as a guy.
When Tenshi finished with the alcohol, Neko didn't know how to respond. She didn't know whether to be upset because Tenshi seemed to think that she needed taking care of or to be glad that she was there to make sure Neko was ok. She decided a simple thank you would be best.
"Arigatou, Tenshi-san."
Tenshi laughed. "Oh, I'm not done yet." She took Neko's palm and kissed it. "A wish that your palm might be healed fast." Then she added the antibacterial ointment. Neko was blushing even more furiously now. She wondered if Tenshi was just being really nice, in a charming sort of way, or if there was more to it. Neko hoped so. She was enjoying being cared for by the girl anyway.
When Tenshi was done, they made their way back to the rest of the team. They were looking at the two of them expectantly. Rika came forward. "Ne, ne, Tenshi-san, can you still jump as high as you used to?"
Tenshi smiled, "Um, I haven't for awhile, but I can try."
Neko looked at the bar and realized that it was almost a foot above where it was before. Her heart sank. She'd never get over the bar at that height. Not yet, anyway.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Tenshi was over the bar, but she just barely got over it without knocking it off. This was horrible! She had gotten so out of shape in such a short period of time. How did she expect to compete professionally if she got this out of shape with a short vacation? Ok, a long vacation, but that wasn't her fault, was it? She couldn't believe that she had almost knocked off the bar at 14'8''. She used to be able to get to 15' with no trouble. She rolled out of the pit and realized that the other girls had talked the cute girl with the long green hair into trying. *Poor girl,* she thought.
She watched as the girl tried to get over the bar three times, but she failed every time. The last time she was really close, but the bar wobbled off of its posts and fell right before she got out of the pit. Tenshi could tell that she was very upset by this. But Tenshi was actually very impressed with the girl. Someone had told her that her PR was 13'8'' before today, so almost making it a foot above that was something to be proud of.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko heard the clank of the bar and knew she had lost. And with everyone watching. With Tenoh Tenshi watching!
She had finally placed her, while watching her go over the bar. She didn't know how she could miss it. She was practically the clone of Haruka-sama. Her eyes were greener, obviously from Michiru-sama's influence, and her hair was a tiny bit less yellow and was styled slightly different, but there was no mistaking that that was the face of Haruka-sama's daughter. And the way she seemed to flow with the wind over the bar, there was no denying it. She knew that Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama had another child, but she had never met Puroko's sister. It made sense. The Tenoh-Kaiou family went on vacation before she had gone to her first pole vault practice and just got back the other day. Tenshi had all the good manners and charms of her parents. And she was beautiful.
Neko couldn't believe she had failed in front of her!
"Kakkoii!"
She turned to find Tenshi holding out her hand once again, this time obviously to shake it. She looked into the aquamarine eyes, searching for some sign of teasing, but it wasn't there. Tenshi honestly thought she had done a good job. Neko relaxed and took her hand. She even was able to genuinely smile. "You too, Tenoh-san! You looked like you belonged to the sky when you vaulted."
"Arigatou, demo�." Tenshi was cut off as the other girls crowded around her to give their congratulations. Neko decided she should take the opportunity to escape so she could change and go home.
