"Iie, you're not dense!"
"But to never pick up on it�. I mean, we have a psychic link for goodness sake."
"Mi-chan, I haven't known all that long. And I haven't hardly ever dated either gender. And now that I am, I haven't been talking about it. I mean, I didn't want to talk about the dance. And I didn't want to talk about Tanzanite and Jian-kun. And my dating experiences to date have intertwined with those topics. And what were you suppose to think? I mean, Night Angel's a Knight, which means 'guy,'" she held up a finger to Mi-chan who was about to ask about that, "and I promise to explain that later. And you got to admit that Tenshi-kun does the bishonen thing quite well. I mean, just look at what she was wearing today."
"Yeah�" Mi-chan remembered her first sighting of Tenshi today. "Kami-sama, Neko-chan, when I saw him, uh, her walking out of that locker room, I was so angry. All I could think of was making him pay for mistreating you." It was Mi-chan's turn to look embarrassed. "Gomen nasai."
"It's ok. You couldn't have known. It's just�." Neko looked away. She wasn't planning on saying anything, and she didn't want to upset Mi-chan.
"Nani?"
"No, I don't want-"
*Nani?* Neko knew that Mi-chan wasn't going to drop it.
"It's just�. Well, Mi-chan, I'm a big girl now. I'm not scared of Akima-kun coming over and taking my cookie like he did every single day in elementary school� and probably preschool too," she giggled. "I don't need my twin to be my knight on a white horse to save me from the bullies anymore. Or from potential boyfriends. Or girlfriends. I do have a red belt in karate. I can kick most boys' butts. I could probably beat up Tenshi-kun if I wanted. But I don't. Because I really like her. But that's not the point."
Her tone turned more serious, "The point is that it scared me a lot, when you were going to beat up Tenshi-kun. It scared me so much, I thought my heart was going to stop beating. But I knew deep down that it was mostly my fault. Not just for not telling you that she was a girl, but for letting you be my protector for much too long."
Mi-chan looked at her sister. How could she explain that she planned on protecting everyone in her family for the rest of her life? That every moment she lived, she had dedicated to keeping her family safe? Even in her quest to find her soulmate, who had turned out to be Jian-kun, came from a deep-seated need to protect her family, since she knew that the two were entwined through her recurring nightmare. Yet, she knew that part of Neko knew this too.
"Neko-chan, I will never stop protecting you. Ever. I know that I made a mistake, and I'm sorry. But I love you, and I could never let anything harm you. You're my twin sister and my best friend. And I'll never let you get hurt. Not by Tenshi-kun. Not by anyone."
Neko looked away, knowing that she couldn't argue. Mi-chan could be really stubborn about things like this. It was just the way she was. And it was really sweet. Neko looked back at her and smiled. "I love you," she cried and gave Mi-chan a hug.
Mi-chan flashed her a huge smile. "Now about that Knight thing�."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryo blew on his hot cocoa to cool it down. "So you and Neko had an eventful day, ne?" He wasn't about to start drinking his cocoa until Mi-chan started speaking, because he had a hunch that it was going to probably surprise him. He could tell that emotions were high with the girls today. First of all, any day that Neko came home late without remembering to call and ask permission had to be interesting. And Mi-chan was a little anxious to speak to him. He was fairly certain that if he took a drink, he'd end up spitting it out, just like the last time she was here to talk about more than just nightmares.
Mi-chan stared into her hot cocoa, watching her marshmallows slowly melt. "Ano� I almost beat up Tenshi-kun today." She stirred her cocoa to speed up the melting process. "And I think I'm in love with Jian-kun."
Well he hadn't been wrong. He decided to skip the Tenshi announcement for now, and smiled at her sadly as he moved onto the more important declaration. "He's the man of your dreams, ne?" He knew that Jian-wa was no longer influenced by the evil forces that had made him want to kill Ryo's children. But there was still a small part of him that was hesitant to allow Mi-chan to see Jian-wa.
She kept her eyes down at her cocoa. "Quite literally," she said quietly.
He raised his eyebrows. "But not of your nightmares, I hope." Mi-chan had had nightmares practically every night since she was two years old.
