Jian-wa left his Japanese history class and rushed to get to the choir room before Neko and Kimahou left. Well, actually, just before Neko left. He had finally made everything right, or as right as it could be, with Mi-chan yesterday. Now if he could just get Neko to be his friend again, he would finally be able to be happy again.
Of course, he didn't really think he deserved it.
After all, he had betrayed them, especially Neko, who had been his friend practically since the first day she came to Earth. She had been his, but he had never been hers....
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko had come onto the soccer field for P.E., so uncertain of where she was supposed to be. In fact, she was late, and had to be shown the way by an upperclassman who had had the period off. But once she was on the field, her doubts seemed to leave her. She was a great soccer player.
Upon his first sighting of her, Jian-wa had fallen in love. She was gorgeous. Perhaps, that's why he had missed stopping her goal. He was a little distracted. And then she came over to make sure that he was okay after the dive he had just made to catch the ball. He complimented her on her goal, introduced himself, and then asked her out for ice cream. And to his delight, she had said yes.
But as they walked back from the ice cream parlor, she broke his heart twice within 5 minutes.
When he asked her whether she would like to go out again sometime, her eyes widened with the realization of his intentions. "Jian-kun, I'm very sorry," she said, "but I'm not really interested in hooking up with any guys at this time."
"Oh." His face fell.
"Gomen nasai, but I just don't want to date anyone right now." She suddenly looked worried that she was about to lose a potential friend. She took his hand and looked right in his eyes. "But I'd still love to be friends with you. Onegai?"
She looked so sincere that he couldn't help but nod, but he wasn't sure if he really was going to be able to stay friends with her. Yet if he did, maybe she would in time decide that she wanted to date him.
About then he realized that they didn't even know each other's full names. He made the grave mistake of asking for hers.
"Oh, gomen. It's Mizuno. Mizuno Neko."
He stared at her in horror. How could she possibly be a Mizuno? The daughter of Mizuno Ami? One of his most despised enemies? He struggled with his emotions for a minute, unsure what exactly to do next. But in his heart he knew that he could never be friends with this person. After all, her family had destroyed his.
And someday he was going to kill her.
But when he returned home, Tanzen had been delighted that he had met one of the Mizuno children. She suggested that he continue associating with her, thus making it easier to beat her in battle.
So he had become the best friend Neko had ever had, although he betrayed her with every moment they spent together.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko and Kimahou were leaving choir together.
*Well at least Kimako's here. Neko-chan won't yell at me or anything while she's here* Actually, so far, Neko had never yelled at him. But she hadn't exactly been friendly either.
Not that he blamed her.
"Jian-kun! What are you doing here?" Neko's features hardened, and her shoulders tensed upon seeing him - the same automatic guard she had put up every time she had seen him since the dance.
"Ne- Neko-chan," his voice wasn't much more than a whisper. He cleared his throat and started again. "Neko-chan. I was hoping we could, uh, talk� or something�." He looked at Kimahou and decided that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to have her here. "Ano-"
"Jian-kun, have you bought Mi-chan a birthday present yet?" she suddenly asked him harshly.
Huh? "Uh� I haven't."
"Well, don't you think you should start looking?" To his surprise, Neko's expression suddenly softened. "I mean, what kind of boyfriend are you going to be, if you don't even remember her birthday?"
"Um." He was really thrown off by the question. "I don't know what she wants," he admitted weakly.
Neko gave him a nervous smile. "Well, uh, maybe I should take you shopping for her then."
"Um, okay�." He was really confused, but he certainly wasn't upset by the turn of events. "You don't want to hang out with Tenshi-san today?"
"Tenshi-kun has voice lessons today, and I don't have any activities. So I'm free to do whatever."
"Oh, well, I guess that's good."
"Great, well, I have to take Kimako home, and I'll pick up Mi-chan's list while I'm there."
He looked at Kimahou, who was leaning against the wall, her arms crossed, tapping her foot impatiently. "Okay, so�."
"So I'll stop by Cooan-san's and pick you up afterwards, okay?"
"Sure."
"Great!" She grabbed Kimahou and dashed off.
He stood there staring after them for a minute. What was that?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
