The sunlight streamed through the windows and hit Tenoh Tenshi's eyelids, waking her. She turned over and groaned, reluctant to get up quite yet. Then she remembered what day it was. It was Sunday!
She got out of bed, reenergized by the objective she had set for today. Running to the bathroom to start getting ready, she almost knocked over her nine-year-old sister, Puroko. "Gomen, Kiddo," she said quickly as she rushed into the bathroom.
When she ran out, Puroko was still standing there, trying to determine why Tenshi was rushing around. She didn't have pole vault or a voice recital or anything. As far as Puroko was concerned, it was a mystery.
Tenshi had picked out her clothes that morning with a precise strategizing that she usually reserved for pole vault competitions. But today she had a specific goal in mind and she had to look perfect. She squeezed herself into some tight black leather pants that she almost never wore. Then she grabbed a strapless red top that she knew looked really good on her and put that on.
Next for jewelry. She looked at her neckline and decided that a necklace would distract the viewer from the top's true objective. But earrings had potential. She searched a small box she had once marked "Jewelry" for some earrings, but finally ended up dumping the thing on her dresser. Finally she managed to find some small rubies that she thought might work. As she attempted to put them on, she swore at herself for going so long without earrings that the holes had closed somewhat. The ruby studs were next to impossible to put through her ears. Finally, with lots of work and a tiny bit of blood, she had managed to put them in.
By now she had worked off some of the high she was on originally, so she was slightly calmer as she walked back to the bathroom. Puroko was still in there, brushing her teeth. When Tenshi walked in, she spit out her toothpaste and rinsed out her mouth quickly so she could ask, "Why are you wearing earrings, Tenshi? I haven't seen you wear earrings in forever. Are you going to a party? Can I come too? Onegai?"
Tenshi smiled at her. "There's no party, Kiddo. I just wanted to look nice today, okay?" She ignored Puroko's skeptical look as she turned to the mirror and tried to figure out what to do with her hair. Generally, she just ran a brush through it and let it do whatever it wanted, but today she wanted it to look as cute as possible. Even if that meant using barrettes.
Upon looking in the drawer for hair stuff, Tenshi discarded the barrette idea. Puroko had lots of barrettes, but they were plastic with kitties and rainbows and butterflies on them. Tenshi was willing to use girlie-stuff today, but not at the expense of looking like she was eight.
She considered using a headband, or asking her okaa-san, Michiru, for some hair stuff, but then decided not to use anything. She brushed it into the most feminine style she could manage and sprayed it with some hairspray so that her bangs didn't decide to change position, as they often did.
She looked around for her makeup, but that, like the earrings, was something she didn't often use. *I should've just gone to Michiru-mama's vanity and used her hair stuff and makeup.* Finally, in her medicine cabinet, she found some lipstick and eye shadow. She applied it, using as little as possible.
Finally, she was done. "How do I look?" she asked Puroko.
"Weird," replied Puroko. She wasn't used to Tenshi wearing even that much makeup.
"Weird good? Or weird bad?"
"Good, 'cept for the makeup. I don't like it on you."
Tenshi looked back at her reflection and sighed as she grabbed a tissue and started blotting off the lipstick. She managed to get most of it off, and Puroko gave her approval.
Tenshi had to agree that she looked good. The top she had on exposed her midriff, clearly showing off how thin her waist was, and the just-tight-enough pants accentuated her curves very well. There was still enough lipstick to color her lips just a shade darker than they usually were, while not being obvious that she was wearing any makeup at all. Her gorgeous aquamarine eyes sparkled with hope. If she hadn't known that this was herself, she would want to date the person in the mirror, and that was the effect she was going for.
She dashed to her room and grabbed a cool black denim jacket before going downstairs, deciding to skip breakfast today, and to the door to put on her shoes. But before she could leave, Haruka, her other okaa-san, walked by. "Whoa, what's the occasion?"
"I just wanted to look sexy today. Can't I do that without getting the third degree?" she asked as she opened the door, ready to go.
"Not in this family. What's so special about today?" Haruka wanted to know.
Tenshi seemed to lose her spirit for a second. She cast her eyes down at a sudden memory, but quickly recovered. She smiled at her mom and, her voice full of confidence, stated before leaving, "Today I get back Koneko."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mizuno Michiru, better known as Mi-chan, looked over at her resting sister with worry. Neko generally got up earlier (or at the exact same time if they were doing that twin-thing that they occasionally did) than her on weekends. This was due to the fact that Mi-chan usually fell asleep later than Neko because she: a) went to bed later than her, and b) was reluctant to fall asleep and enter dreamland. Dreamland for Mi-chan often meant nightmares.
Yesterday, Neko had spent most of the day moping about her room, but that wasn't too unexpected since she was grounded. But today, Neko should have up and ready to face the world again. Her restriction, unlike their brother Chibi's, was up.
"Neko-chan. It's Sunday," Mi-chan called softly. She knew that Neko was awake. That made it even more puzzling. "Neko-chan?"
Neko opened her eyes, apparently deciding that it was fruitless to feign sleeping any longer. "Hai."
Mi-chan frowned as she sat up. She wasn't getting any sense of happiness from Neko at all. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she would think that Neko didn't care one way or another whether she was grounded at
