�I�ve heard that somewhere before,� Jasper retorted. �If you haven�t noticed, I just revived you. I appreciate your gratitude.�
�Gratitude?!� She glared at him, then Jian-wa. �Jian-kun! Why did you�?!�
She suddenly cut off her angry cries. Jian-wa didn�t understand why until she gasped, �Neko,� under her breath.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko jumped as she suddenly connected to Mi-chan. Mi-chan�s rage almost overwhelmed her, but Neko forced herself to get past it and talk to Mi-chan.
*Mi-chan, where are you?*
*Neko? Oh my god, where are you?! Did he hurt you? Are you okay? What did he do to you?*
Neko tried to clear her head. Did Mi-chan know who kidnapped her and why? *I- I�m fine. Who is �he�?*
There was a short pause then another burst of anger before Mi-chan answered. *Why Jasper-san, of course!*
Jasper. No, that couldn�t be right�. Jasper was a friend. He was a loyal friend; she was certain of it. She had been betrayed before�, but not by Jasper. He wouldn�t. He�d proved himself.
Her captor had just been here. He had remained invisible to her, but that didn�t mean anything. His voice�. It was similar to Jasper�s, but� not the same. No, she was certain it wasn�t. And she expressed so to Mi-chan.
*He was just there?*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan glanced at Jasper in annoyance. *But so what else is new?* He was really getting sick of it.
�Has he been with you this whole time?� she asked Jian-wa, her suspicious gaze not wavering from Jasper.
�Uh, yeah. He helped me get you here,� Jian-wa explained.
�Shimatta!� Mi-chan�s eyes left him as she struggled to loosen her bind. �Who has Neko then?�
Jasper could scarcely believe it. �Wait. You trust me?�
�Yeah, right,� she practically snorted. �But the kidnapper was just there, so it couldn�t be you.�
Jasper didn�t point out that he could be collaborating with someone else. He was just happy to be off the suspect list. �Well, what do we do now?�
�First, you get this off of me,� Mi-chan snapped, holding up her bound hands.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko tried to get a sense of what was going on back at the palace. Mi-chan was still angry at Jasper (of course), but at least she seemed to have dropped her suspicions that he had kidnapped Neko. Neko was glad. It made her all that much more certain of his innocence.
She traversed the basement floor, and putting a hand to the wall, began to follow the sides of the cement prison. She had only gone part way along the first wall when she stopped. �Dame!� she cried out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan tore the tie off her as soon as Jian-wa had loosened it. She got up and started menacingly towards Jasper, but thought better of it. He met her gaze head on and didn�t look like he felt the least bit threatened. It wasn�t worth it if he wasn�t going to bother to be scared, not while she had better things to do and Neko was listening in.
�So we�ve got to find Neko before the wedding starts.� Mi-chan unballed her fists and sighed. �And all we have is that she�s in a basement somewhere in� that direction.� She closed her eyes and raised her hand, her index finger extended. Imagining a red ray of light coming from the end, she allowed her psychic link to Neko to guide her hand until the ray was pointing at her twin, connecting them as if it was a red string tied around their fingers. She opened her eyes and tried to get a bearing on that.
�So sorta northwest from here,� Jian-wa answered her thought.
�Well, that�s helpful and all, but there must be hundreds of buildings that have basements and are in that direction,� Jasper pointed out.
Mi-chan glared at him, a low growl developing in her throat as he continued to act with insolence towards her. �Fine, we�ll just stall the wedding while we look for her. Personally, I don�t care if we have to search every basement from here to Earth,� she said pointedly, with another dirty look to Jasper. �Now, let�s go get Tenshiko��
*Dame!*
Mi-chan winced with Neko�s near-shout to her brain. *Nani?*
*Dame, you can�t tell Tenshi! Please don�t ruin this day for her too.*
*Neko�.*
*Onegai, Mi-chan, onegai!*
Mi-chan could almost see Neko pleading before her, begging her to save Tenshi�s wedding day, at least. *Alright.* She sighed and told the boys, �New plan. Let�s rescue Neko before Tenshiko even knows she�s gone.�
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Relieved that Tenshi might be spared from all of this, Neko began to continue her investigation of the basement. The little window did not afford her enough light to examine her prison, although it had fortunately give her enough to see that the room was spacious and to allow the claustrophobic girl the illusion that air could be circulated through the pane of glass. Neko knew, logically, that no more air passed through that window than the solid wall, but windows had always eased her fear of enclosed spaces, no matter how small a room was. In this case, she was further freed from worry in that the basement appeared to be fairly decent in size. At least she didn�t have to panic about that today.
The first wall hadn�t revealed anything of interest. Neko didn�t know what she was looking for � a light switch, a forgotten doorway, a clue to her whereabouts, a loose brick leading to a hidden passage�? But it was better than standing around waiting for her kidnapper to do something.
Before she had finished the next wall, he actually did make a move. She halted as she heard the overhead door creak.
