Both Neko and Mi-chan had ruined their best dresses fighting mud yoma on a cruise ship a few weeks ago. Suddenly they both seemed to realize that they didn't have anything to wear to the dance.
"Neko-chan?" Mi-chan asked her twin as they got ready to go to bed. "Are you going to the dance?"
"Hai, Mi-chan."
"Are you upset about me going with Jian-kun?"
Neko-chan giggled, much to Mi-chan's relief. That was more like it. She had known that Neko-chan was in a better mood than before, but this confirmed that she wasn't upset about them dating.
"We need to go buy new dresses. Do you think the 'Bank of Mom and Dad' will pay?"
"Um, considering how we ruined the old ones, probably not," Neko replied. They both giggled. They had gotten in trouble for disobeying Ami and going on the singles cruise, but Mi-chan had thought it was great fun, and they had kicked some serious yoma butt.
The girls had changed and continued chattering on the way to the bathroom to brush their teeth.
"So should we go to the mall after school?"
"Hai, how lucky that it's the only day that neither of us has an afterschool activity!"
"Hai. Sonna!"
"It's not that surprising." Mi-chan glanced at her sister who was looking at her palm in surprise. Mi-chan couldn't see anything wrong with it at all. "Oh, nani?"
Neko-chan blushed. "Nothing. A wish came true, I guess. That's all." Mi-chan didn't understand, but she left it at that, sensing that Neko-chan didn't want to comment on it further.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day at school, Neko kept hoping to see Tenshi, but naturally she was in college and their schedules never crossed. Neko had never checked to see if college freshmen ate lunch with the high school students, but she was grabbed by Jian-kun and Mi-chan to practice Kempo at lunch anyway. As usual, Jian-kun and Mi-chan were flirting too much to do much anything else. After practicing some sidekicks, roundhouses, and spinning rear kicks, Neko excused herself to use the toilet. She really didn't think they had noticed a thing. *Kami, she's going to have that kata down!*
She quickly glanced into the lunchroom as she passed by, but she couldn't really see anything. She turned around and almost ran right into someone.
"Tenshi-kun!"
"Neko-chan! What are you doing here?"
Neko suddenly became very aware that she didn't exactly look her best right now. Her hair was a mess because she hadn't bothered to put it up, and she was just working out, so naturally, she was a little sweaty. Also she was dressed in some ratty old clothes that she liked to work out in. She blushed in embarrassment.
"Ano, I'm on lunch break. Are you too?"
"Iie, I was just on my way back to class from the restroom." They both stood there awkwardly for a second.
"Uh, what are you wearing to the dance? Mi-chan and I have to go buy dresses because our old ones were, uh, ruined." Neko assumed Tenshi knew about the new Senshi, but she didn't know for sure. "If we're going to, uh, hang out at the dance, we, uh, probably shouldn't� clash." It's not exactly what she had wanted to say. She knew it was a weak attempt to find out what Tenshi was wearing, but by putting it in girl talk terms she hoped to cover it up. Too bad she was so nervous about it. She looked up at the older girl.
"Oh, I was just going to borrow one of Haru- I mean one of my mom's old tuxes."
"Oh!" She hadn't considered that possibility.
"But if you want to know my opinion, you should wear a red dress. It will go great with your eyes and hair."
"Hai, arigatou." She could feel her face turning red again, both because now Tenshi was looking at her hair which was a mess, but also because Tenshi had taken the time to think about what she would look good in. "Ano, I don't want to keep you from your class."
"Don't worry about it, it's just calculus." But she turned to leave. "Ja ne, Neko-chan!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
*Girls are so confusing!* Tenshi didn't know what to make of Neko-chan. *Does she just want to "hang out" or is there more? Does she know that I want to date her? Is it just wishful thinking on my part to say that I think she wants the same? Shimatta, how did Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama ever hang out before they started dating? How could they confess their love, knowing that they'd still need to be partners, that it would be horrible not to be friends anymore?*
She thought about it, not paying any attention at all to class. She was trying to remember stories about when they had met and how they had gotten together. She knew they hadn't had a normal relationship because they had to deal with their mission, but she also knew that they had always been devoted to each other, even before they had admitted their relationship. She sighed. At least they had the history of their Silver Millennium past lives to guide them somewhat. She also seemed to remember Michiru telling her stories about how they conveyed their feelings without actually admitting anything directly. Something about wanting to go driving in Haruka-papa's car?
*Ok, we've done that, so now what?*
Maybe she'd ask them when she got home.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko and Mi-chan had spent all afternoon shopping. They were pleasantly surprised to be able to shop without finding any excessively huge (and therefore, evil) sales, but were able to find nice dresses at a reasonable price. Mi-chan never had any money, so this was always important to her, but Neko didn't know where she and Tenshi were going to dinner, and therefore had no idea how much it might cost. She considered calling her to ask, but she was tired of talking about the dance with Tenshi without knowing what Tenshi thought of their relationship.
And Mi-chan wasn't making it any easier. "So did you find a date for the dance?" She had asked.
"I'm going to hang out with a friend from pole vault." *There's that word again. "Hang out." It's so noncommittal.*
