Amethyst woke up and sighed happily. She really liked it here on Earth. She couldn't wait until Team Eclipse took over here. Then she and Jasper could live here together forever.
She opened her eyes and fixed them on her lover who lay next to her in bed. He was so peaceful when he was asleep. He was pretty peaceful when he was awake too, but here in bed he looked like a sweet little boy. She was sorry she had to wake him.
"Jasper, my love," she called softly, "time to wake up."
He mumbled some answer about not wanting to wake from his dream.
"Come on, sweetheart. You'll have just as good a dream tomorrow night, I promise." Amethyst made sure that his dreams were always pleasant when he was with her. She stroked his short light blue hair. "Jaspy," she sang, "if you don't wake up, you can't enjoy things like this." She leaned over and tenderly kissed him.
That did the trick. Jasper returned it with an affectionate kiss of his own. But when it was over, he asked, "Why again are we up so early?"
"I want to send Mizuno Neko another nightmare."
He yawned and stretched. "I thought you could give her nightmares without concentrating on them. You cursed her necklace or something like that? And why do you need me?"
"I can, but this one's going to be different. And everyone else is still in bed, and it's lonely and tiring to make nightmares. I wanted you to keep me company. Is that so much to ask?" she pouted.
Instantly Jasper was sitting up with his arms around her. "No, sweetie. Shh, I'll be here with you."
She seemed soothed, so he gave her a quick kiss and suggested, "Should we get started then?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Struggle as she might, Neko couldn't break free of the person holding her.
"Who are you? Superman?" she asked sarcastically, as she tried kicking her legs into her assailant. She had no idea who he�, or she, or it, was.
This was getting her nowhere. She couldn't figure out how else to escape, short of transforming. Unfortunately, without her henshin stick, she couldn't even do that.
"Don't bother fighting it." The voice was female, but although it reminded her of someone dangerous, she couldn't place it. "You can't change your fate."
Before Neko could respond, a blue rose flew through the air and hit her captor. Nevertheless, she held onto Neko.
It could only be one person. "Night Angel!" Neko cried. Not Night Angel, but rather Tenshi stepped into the light. "Tenshi-kun, no! Get out of here!"
But Tenshi was devoted to her mission and to Neko. "Not without you, Koneko! I came to save you, and I'm not leaving until you're safe!"
Even in a nightmare (for Neko did understand that this was a dream because the theatrical way Tenshi presented her dialogue sounded so corny), Neko didn't want Tenshi to die. "Both of us dying won't solve anything. Please go!"
"Too late!" Neko's captor yelled as the rose was thrown at Tenshi. It flew at her chest, and seemed to pierce her heart. Tenshi's eyes went dead as she sunk to the floor.
"No!" Neko screamed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
RIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!
Neko sat up in bed, clutching the edge of her sheets, as the alarm clock pulled her out of her of her nightmare.
Mi-chan didn't miss the feeling of alarm coming from her sister. "Neko-chan, daijoubu ka?"
"Hai," Neko flashed her an uncertain smile. "I just was a little startled, that's all." No need to worry her with the details of her dream. No need to tell her about it at all. For some reason, she had managed not to let Mi-chan know that she had continued to have these dreams. Maybe Mi-chan just absorbed Neko's terror into her own nightmares and didn't realize it was coming from the other twin, but somehow Neko had lucked out in that respect.
Neko was perfectly fine with Mi-chan thinking that she was the only recipient of recurring nightmares. It wasn't like Mi-chan could save her from them.
Besides, this one had been totally different. Mi-chan hadn't even been in it. Only Tenshi had come to save her. Only Tenshi had died.
Neko shook her head to clear it. "Just a little startled," she repeated quietly.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Happy birthday, sweetie," Michiru said with a kiss on her eldest daughter's cheek.
"Thanks!" Tenshi said happily. "Wow, it must be a special occasion if you're up this early too."
It was true, Michiru almost never got up this early unless she had something going on, whereas Haruka was always up at this time to see Tenshi and Puroko off to school. But today was Tenshi's birthday and Michiru and Haruka were going to try and get things ready for this evening. "Well, it's your last teen year. So it must be special," Michiru gave her as an explanation.
"We're still just doing the standard family dinner, right?" Every birthday in the Tenoh-Kaiou household was celebrated with a special dinner for the birthday girl, which always included her favorite food, plus many other things she liked. It had been a tradition for as long as Tenshi could remember, ensuring that at the very least they'd spend that special night celebrating as a family.
"Hai� demo�." Michiru glanced at Haruka as if asking for her permission before adding, "If you want, you can invite someone tonight. Anyone you want."
"Honto?!" Tenshi's eyes shone, and she gave her mother a big hug. Nobody had ever been allowed to invite someone to a birthday dinner before. "Thank you, Michiru-mama!" she laughed, practically dancing out of the house, making sure to grab Puroko and her bento before she did.
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