Tenshi looked into Mizuno Michiru's outraged eyes. Unlike Neko, she knew why Mi-chan was mad, and Tenshi had to admit that she had every right to be.
Except that Mi-chan was completely wrong.
When Tenshi had left the locker room, she was happy to see her and didn't think about what Mi-chan would be seeing. Of course, she also wasn't aware that Mi-chan still thought she was a guy.
And a guy coming out of the women's locker room when he was dating her twin sister - that was unforgivable!
Now Tenshi was facing a furious Mi-chan, with no hope of being able to protect herself. Sure, she had some self-defense training, but she was only a white belt in Kempo. To be honest, she probably had a yellow belt's knowledge, just from the little that she had learned from her okaa-san, Haruka, but Mi-chan was a red belt! And she was defending her sister's honor. Not to mention that unlike any yoma or general Tenshi might ever face, she really wasn't willing to fight her girlfriend's twin. So Tenshi just knew that if Mi-chan attacked her, she was going to be in critical condition.
She knew that three little words could clear up the misunderstanding. "I'm a girl." That's all she had to say. But it wasn't her place to tell Mi-chan. Neko knew her better than Tenshi could ever hope to. And if there was a reason that Neko hadn't told her� why should Tenshi break her silence?
No, Tenshi wouldn't say anything. But she really hoped Neko would. *Please, Koneko-chan. Please* She closed her eyes, knowing that she couldn't stop Mi-chan if she wanted to.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan's next words paralyzed Neko.
"I'll tell you what's wrong! Your boyfriend over here was in the women's locker room watching them change! He's a Peeping Tom, and I won't let him go on like this just so he can hurt you!!"
All Neko knew was that she couldn't let Mi-chan hurt Tenshi. She attempted to put herself between the two of them, hoping that Mi-chan would never actually go through Neko to get to Tenshi. However, Mi-chan, anticipating such an action from Neko, would not allow her to go through with it. Throwing an arm in Neko's path, she effectively blocked her from acting. Her determination was so strong that Neko knew she didn't have a prayer of stopping her physically.
*No, she can't possibly be doing this, can she? I can't tell her now! Not like this!*
"Mi-chan, please don't do this!" Neko pleaded for any sign of mercy from Mi-chan.
Her hopes were dashed away. "Unless you give me an extremely good reason why I shouldn't beat him to a pulp, you can't stop me Neko-chan."
There was only one way to resolve this situation, and Neko knew it.
As Mi-chan started towards Tenshi, Neko took the only way out available to her.
"Tenshi is a woman!!"
Neko's heart leapt as Mi-chan miraculously stopped herself before she could attack Tenshi. But as she turned towards Neko, Neko reconsidered the wisdom of telling her. Mi-chan's features were still hard. Neko had never once thought that there was a chance that Mi-chan would hold Neko's lesbianism against her. Even in the earlier stages, when Neko wasn't sure what she thought about it, she knew that Mi-chan would always accept her. But for the first time Neko began to doubt her assumption.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan stared at Neko, not allowing herself to waver from her purpose. This was an odder justification than she could have ever thought of to explain why Tenshi had come out of the woman's locker room. It was weird that Neko would have even tried it. In fact, Neko had to have been truly desperate to even lie in the first place. So Mi-chan waited.
Neko closed her eyes to hold in tears and started to explain. And as she did, Mi-chan began to understand that what she had said was true, especially since Neko was so shaken up that her thoughts, which were coming at Mi-chan in full-on surround sound, almost matched her words.
"Tenshi-kun is a woman. She was in the woman's locker room because she is a woman. I never expected it would be a problem that you didn't know, but it just never seemed the right time to tell you. Please don't hurt Tenshi-kun," Neko's pleas had dropped to a practically inaudible whisper. "I love her."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi peeked out of one eye as Neko began her confession to Mi-chan. It seemed that, at least for the moment, she was not about to be pummeled.
But her relief for herself was quickly replaced by her concern for Neko, who looked like she was about to burst into tears at any second.
Mi-chan also looked upset, as she looked back and forth between Neko and Tenshi. But it was more out of terror for what she had just almost done. "Neko-chan, I�. I� I'm sorry. I didn't know� I� I can't believe I almost�." She looked at Tenshi and her mouth formed beginnings of words that never came out. Mortified by her actions, Mi-chan pushed past both of them and ran off.
"Mi-chan, matte!" Neko cried out, but Mi-chan was not stopping for anything.
Still, Neko was not going to give up that easily. She started to run after her, when Tenshi put her hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Let her go. Once she had calmed down a little, the two of you should have a long talk."
It was not Tenshi speaking, but Jian-wa, who had come up behind Neko towards the end of the exchange. She turned to him. "But-"
Tenshi felt it was sound advice. "Koneko-chan, he's right. She's too upset right now. Give her some time." *Give yourselves both some time.* Neither twin would be in any state to talk to each other at this moment.
She looked to Jian-wa for support. But Jian-wa, probably both intimidated by being here with Neko, who had never quite forgiven him for his betrayal at the dance, and spurred by a desire to help her twin, ignored his own advice and ran off in the same direction as Mi-chan.
