Tenshi and Neko entered the smaller room and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, he was more persistent than I gave him credit for," Tenshi said as she started to close the door.
"Tenshi-kun, could we not close that all the way?"
"Why? Afraid of the dark?" Tenshi's voice was teasing, but as she hit the light switch, Neko could see that she was a little hurt. It took her a second to figure out that she must have thought that Neko didn't trust her. Although she was embarrassed by her irrational fear, Neko thought she should probably explain.
"I- I'm just a little claustrophobic if you close the door, that's all."
"Oh." Tenshi relaxed a little. "I didn't know."
"Well, it's not like I advertise the fact."
Tenshi laughed. "It could be worse. You could be afraid of heights."
"Hai, that would've been worse. We'd have never met."
Both looked away and blushed.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later, as they chatted while sitting on one of the tables in the room, Tenshi entertained the idea of kissing her. She was trying to decide if it was too soon or not. They had gotten so comfortable with each other so quickly it was hard to imagine that they had just met. She didn't want to sacrifice all that by taking things too quickly, yet the whole date had been about taking things quickly. And everything had just seemed so right between the two of them. *Maybe it wasn't so perfect when other people were around, but when it's just the two of us, it sure seems perfect.*
Another thought occurred to her, *I've known her for three days, and yet I feel like to be without her would be torture. Could I be in love this quickly? Is that possible?*
~*~*~*~*~*~
Mi-chan tapped her foot impatiently. *Now where is that boy? Five minutes ago he was begging for my undivided attention and now he's gone. Neko-chan's right, guys are dumb!*
Her thoughts were interrupted by a crash and screams from the crowd. She looked up to see about six yoma shaped like musical instruments standing on the stage. "Shimatta!" She scanned the quickly retreating crowd for her siblings. As soon as the crowd was cleared, they'd have to transform and fight.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Chibi just barely caught Kou before he managed to escape. "Hello Miss Starlight. Perhaps you'd be interested in fighting today."
Kou looked back at the instrument yoma and shook his head. "Instrument yoma are bad. They make annoyingly loud and cacophonous noises. I don't want to imagine the sirens and bells that will come out of those things."
"Look, I know that stuff bothers you, but best case scenario, we've got 6 v. 6, but only if you stay."
Kou recounted, but could only come up with five new Senshi. "Who's the sixth one, again?"
"Well, I'm not sure, but Tenshi-san might be one."
"How do you figure?"
Ha, Kou hadn't realized that Tenshi-san was related to the two Outer Senshi. "Well, duh, being Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama's son, it's very possible that he might be a Knight� or a Starlight, I suppose."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Kou smirked. Neko-chan might have known, but obviously none of the rest of her family knew that Tenshi-chan was a girl. Watching their reaction to her transformation might be worth fighting against the yoma. A Knight? Ha!
He looked bravely at the yoma that most worried him - it was made from a synthesizer. He shivered but said, "Henshin yo!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jian-wa entered the room silently and watched the couple on the other side. They were sitting on a table talking to each other, totally oblivious to his presence. Well, it was time to change that.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko had been jolted out of her dreamy state of mind by the click of the door shutting. She looked up panicked, but only found Jian-kun standing at the front of the room. *That baka! He knows I'm claustrophobic, why'd he do that?*
"J- Jian-kun, wh- what are you doing here?"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Jian-wa had forgotten that Neko-chan was claustrophobic. She had gone white the instant she had realized the door had shut.
That'll make it easier. Kill her now while she's flustered and untransformed!
He ignored that command as he flung a shiruken at Tenshi-san instead.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Neko didn't even think about it. She instinctively reached out and caught the shiruken with her left hand before it hit Tenshi. She felt the searing pain as the shiruken's blades tore through her hand. But she managed to keep a hold on it, or rather, it had lodged itself into her hand. She pulled it out (not quite a painless operation in itself) and threw it on the ground.
She jumped off the table attempting to put herself between Tenshi and Jian-kun, and faced him. "Jian-kun," she said in an angry almost-whisper, "what are you doing?!"
She felt Tenshi stand up behind her and take her wounded hand. That act alone made her feel better, but she still couldn't comprehend what had just happened. It didn't make sense. No amount of jealousy could possibly affect her best friend in this way, could it?
"J- Jian-kun?" she asked pitiably. She looked into his eyes and couldn't believe what she saw there. It wasn't jealousy. It was hatred.
It was evil.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The general frowned. The boy had disobeyed her and it might end up costing him later. *He should have attacked the Mizuno girl first, not the Tenoh girl. She doesn't have any power.* She sighed.
