*I wish she was here now!* Nothing could ease Neko's torment like Tenshi could. Tenshi didn't even really have to touch her to lift her pain, all Neko needed was her presence. The fact that Tenshi could literally heal was just an added bonus.
Neko closed her eyes and imagined that there was some way that Tenshi knew why she was late. She prayed Tenshi could understand and that somehow she had already forgiven her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So Tenshi, where's that girlfriend of yours?" Haruka asked, her tone teasing, though Tenshi knew she was growing impatient. Neko was supposed to have been there over an hour ago so they could eat lunch out with Haruka and Michiru and ask for their blessing together. This was not going to go over as well now that Neko was late.
Instead of impatient though, Tenshi was growing more and more worried about her fianc�e. Neko was almost never late. She didn't do the stereotypical girly-thing where she was still in the shower or putting on her make-up or anything when Tenshi came over for a date, and she was almost always on time for everything. Years of trying extremely hard to stay out of trouble, probably to make up for Mi-chan's transgressions, Tenshi guessed. And when Neko was going to be late, it took a significant event to keep her from calling.
It made Tenshi's heart seize up with fear just thinking about any of the reasons Neko wouldn't be there right now.
She stood up. "I think I'll call her. I'll be right back."
Tenshi didn't actually have to leave the room to call Neko - she planned on using her communicator watch, since no matter where Neko was, she almost certainly would be wearing hers - she just wanted a little more privacy when calling her. In fact, that, and her reluctance to be rude and just leave the room, was all that had kept her from calling Neko anytime in the last hour. But now that Haruka had opened the topic up, Tenshi felt it was a prudent time to make the call.
She opened her watch and called Neko, but received no response. "Dammit," she swore, more out of fear and frustration, than annoyance. Her next move was a no-brainer.
She called Mi-chan.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Neko-chan thinks that Amethyst caused her to be sick," Mi-chan informed her mother quietly. "I can just tell her that's nonsense, right?" She needed confirmation. Despite her confident words to Neko and the fact that Neko was just barely this side of delirious, she knew there was a chance that Neko might be right. She needed Ami to tell her that there wasn't any way that Amethyst could have affected Neko so far in the future beyond her death.
Ami was filling a pitcher up with ice water that she had been planning to bring up to their room in a minute. "What makes her think Amethyst caused this?" she asked.
"She says the pain is like Amethyst's vine trap. You know, the one that drained energy. And I think she had a dream about it. But she's got to be wrong, right?" Mi-chan almost asked if Neko was delirious, but she couldn't bring herself to think about that degree of severity of an illness when her sister was involved. Still everything she had seen this morning was making her more and more worried that Neko could be right. "Amethyst couldn't be talking about this. Any post-death revenge she might have mentioned was related to Tenshi-kun fighting me� right?" Mi-chan begged her mom to back her up.
Ami thought very hard before answering her daughter. "There is the slim chance that the thorns in Amethyst's vine might have released a poison in Neko's body that has only now infiltrated enough of her system to affect her so severely. She may simply have used this particular type of vine just for Neko because her thirst for retaliation was so great toward her� although I never was quite certain why that was."
"I think it's because she offered Neko-chan a chance to join them almost as soon as she met her, and Neko-chan refused. I guess she just didn't take too well to rejection," Mi-chan hypothesized. At least, that's what she had always figured. Amethyst had always kinda seemed like a spoiled brat to her.
Mi-chan hesitated. "Okaa-san�."
She was interrupted as her watch began to beep. She held up a finger to her mom and ran into the other room to answer it. "What's up?!" she asked Tenshi who was on the screen. "Please don't tell me there's a yoma to fight."
Tenshi shook her head. "No. I mean, I hope not. I was trying to find Koneko, but she didn't answer her communicator. She's supposed to be here, and she's never late�."
"She's sick." Mi-chan explained quickly. "She's probably asleep. At least I hope so. That's probably why she didn't answer."
"She's sick?" Mi-chan couldn't decide if Tenshi looked more or less worried now. "How serious is it?"
Mi-chan assessed the virtues of telling Tenshi. Then again, if Tenshi were to come over and help Neko�. "I'm checking something with my mom, but I don't think it looks good. If you came over�, can you heal this?"
"I've never tried to heal a disease before, but you better believe I'm going to give it a try. I'll be over as soon as I can, okay?"
As the screen went blank, Mi-chan sighed with relief. She still didn't know how bad this was, but knowing that Tenshi could potentially take the whole thing away was enough to make her feel better. Now she just wanted to know how much she should be worrying about Neko.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Do you forgive me for missing lunch, Tenshi?"
"Of course I do, Koneko."
"I'm glad." Neko was still leaning her forehead against the glass of the window. But despite the chill of the air outside, Neko's forehead had effectively heated the glass to a point where it was just barely helping.
"Koneko, you should go to bed."
Neko's common sense told her so too, but she was reluctant to try and move. She slowly lifted her head off the window pane. In the part that hadn't steamed up, she could see Tenshi's image there. Her voice shook, afraid to admit to her love what she knew was true. "I need help."
Tenshi nodded. Neko watched her come up behind her and put a hand on her arm.
She felt nothing.
"Tenshi?!"
She turned quickly. Too quickly. Her head swam, and as soon as she had let go of the windowsill, she felt her legs give out completely.
