"Ara, you're one to talk about tradition!" Michiru exclaimed with a sly smile to her wife.
"You know she's just going to bring Neko-chan. Why'd you go through that 'anyone' stuff?"
"Well, now it's her choice. She could bring a friend over. We haven't seen Rika-chan for awhile."
Haruka shook her head. "That's why it'll only be Neko-chan. She doesn't hang with anyone outside of that circle anymore. Neko-chan, Michiru-chan, and that Chang boy - they're the only ones who ever see her outside of school. And the latter two only because of Neko-chan. If something were to happen between them-"
"It won't," Michiru said sharply. "They're blessed, remember?" They both remembered all too well. That, and a previous thought by Haruka that if it was best in the long run for them to break up, it was still a possibility. But Michiru didn't like to dwell on that very unromantic interpretation. "It's been too long. They must be meant to be together, right? Don't you agree, Haruka?"
But Haruka remained silent. She wouldn't disappoint her wife with her true feelings on the subject today.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko and Mi-chan ran downstairs and grabbed some breakfast before running out to their bikes.
"Hi, Dad!"
"Hi, Dad!"
"Hey, girls." Ryo handed them some toast and their bento. "Any big plans for today?"
"Nope. Same old stuff," Mi-chan told him.
But Neko did have something going on. "It's Tenshi-kun's birthday," Neko answered distractedly. "I don't know if we're doing something."
Ryo frowned. "Neko, you sleeping okay?" he asked, knowing full well that Neko was worried about something related to a dream. Make that multiple dreams. That was odd. Their entire lives, Neko had rarely had nightmares, while Mi-chan often did. He had always just assumed that whoever handed out dreams, just made a miscalculation and gave all of the twins' nightmares to Mi-chan automatically. Either that or in some part of their shared subconscious, Mi-chan stole all the nightmares to protect her sister from them. He almost laughed at the thought. That would be something she'd do!
But that didn't explain why as of late, Neko had started having nightmares. He knew from her current thoughts that she had had one last night, but he also thought that she might have been disturbed by them before.
And unlike Mi-chan, she obviously didn't want to talk about them with him. "Ano," she said, as looked back and forth between the two of them, "I haven't really been having trouble sleeping. I just, you know, had a bad dream. Nothing to worry about," she finished reassuringly. As Kimahou came downstairs, she grabbed her bento and younger sister's arm and started towards the door. "I'll call if Tenshi-kun and I are doing something," she promised.
Ryo looked at Mi-chan, who seemed just as unsure of what was going on with Neko as he did.
Chibi came down whistling. But he saw his dad's concerned face and silenced himself quickly. "Something wrong?" he asked, suddenly worried he'd done something.
It was a long shot, but Ryo asked his only son, "Gebriel, you don't happen to know what's bothering Neko, do you?"
"Uh, Neko-chan?" Chibi instantly panicked, as the only thing he could think of was Neko coming in late earlier that week. "Noooo, I can't thing of anything�."
Despite his efforts, Chibi was telecasting his thoughts all over the place. Ryo frowned at him as he focused more intently on reading his son's thoughts. Mi-chan recognized the look. Someone was about to get in major trouble, and she didn't want to be in the room when it happened.
"Uh, I'll meet you outside, Chibi�." She waited for Ryo to dismiss her. As he could tell she didn't know what Chibi was hiding, she didn't have to wait too terribly long. With a nod from him, she was out the door.
Ryo gave Chibi a severe look, and the boy knew he was caught. Well, Neko was caught; he hadn't done anything�.
"Ano, Neko-chan did come in a little late the other night. Do you think she could be worried about that?"
Crossing his arms in front of him, Ryo didn't change his stern face. "No, that's not what's bothering her. Do you want to tell me why you think it should be, and why this is the first I've heard of it?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"It figures," Chibi sniffed as he walked down the hall, shuffling his feet. "I finally get a girlfriend, and then I get grounded. And it was Neko-chan's fault, too."
"You know, if you keep talking to yourself, people might think you're crazy."
He looked up to see his gorgeous Carrie walking beside him. "Where'd you come from?"
"Oh, I caught up to you, but you were so busy wallowing in misery that you didn't notice me. What's wrong?"
"I'm grounded," he admitted, ashamed to highlight how young he was. But if Carrie wanted to go out during the next few days, he'd have to give her some reason why he wasn't able to. He might as well 'fess up now.
"Oh, you poor thing!" she gushed.
Assured that she wasn't going to laugh at him for his misfortune, that instead she would sympathize, Chibi decided to tell the entire story of his injustice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Puroko sat down at her desk, not really paying attention to what was going on around her. She was too mesmerized by the small packs of candy that were on her desk. Flower's Kiss Candy. It was some of her favorite.
She glanced over at Kono, where her friend was staring bashfully down at his desk. She didn't know how to respond to him. He had tried to make sure that things would be okay between her and Tenshi, and he was obviously making a great effort to win his way back into her good graces.
She popped a peach piece of candy in her mouth and leaned over to him. "I'm gonna hang out with Amber-san at recess today," she informed him.
He nodded, deciding that he had been defeated. "I understand."
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