Neko took off her navy blue helmet and shook out her long dark-green hair. "Hai, Mi-chan and I used to go ice skating all the time back on Mercury. But we haven't gone for a long time."
"Oh, but I can't- I mean, I'm not-" Tenshi blushed.
"Nani?"
"I never really learned to skate," she admitted quietly.
"Ara, that's ok! I'll help you!" Neko's smile was encouraging.
"Alright." Tenshi allowed Neko to drag her into the building.
They dropped off the helmets in a locker area near the door. Then Neko took Tenshi over to get some skates. As she put on her skates, Tenshi couldn't help but feel apprehensive about getting on the ice. She hadn't tried skating since she was 10 years old. And she wasn't very good then.
"Are you sure about this?"
"Come on," Neko dragged her onto the ice.
To Tenshi's relief, the rink was almost totally empty. Her relief about this intensified greatly in the next few seconds because almost immediately after getting on the ice, she fell.
Neko giggled. "Gomen."
"I told you I'm not good," Tenshi pouted as she grabbed the wall to help herself up.
Neko skated over to her. "Give me your arm." She linked their arms and took Tenshi out on the ice. "See, this isn't so bad," she said as they skated around the rink. Neko actually thought it was kinda romantic.
Tenshi was too busy concentrating on not falling. "How do you do it so easily?" she wondered.
Neko took her over to the wall, so she could stand without falling. "You just step and glide. See, step, glide." She demonstrated.
"You look so graceful," Tenshi observed in admiration.
"That's nothing," Neko gave her a brilliant smile. She skated backwards, quickening her pace, and suddenly, Tenshi was surprised to see her leap into the air and twist around twice. She landed effortlessly, gliding backwards with a leg in the air.
"Sugoi!"
"Mi-chan and I took lessons when we were in junior high." She emphasized her statement with a triple axle.
"Why'd you give it up?! You're so good."
"Oh, arigatou! Demo we didn't have time for lessons in high school, so we gave it up." Neko sped towards her and skidded to a stop right next to her. "Want to go again?" she asked still smiling.
Tenshi shook her headed violently. "Iie, I want to watch you."
Despite the praise, Neko's face fell. "Oh, demo-" She hadn't brought Tenshi here to show off. She wanted to skate with her.
"Nani?"
"Nothing. Never mind." She pushed off the wall and skated across the rink. Then she shook her head, as if to clear out her disappointment. She skated around once before she did a triple followed by a single, landing perfectly. But she still was disheartened from Tenshi's unwillingness to skate. She continued around slowly.
Suddenly, Tenshi called to her. She hadn't missed Neko's disappointment. "Koneko-chan! Maybe I will give it another try."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan and Jian-wa left the movie early. It wasn't very good and they weren't exactly paying attention to it anyway.
"So where do you want to go now?" she asked.
"I don't know. Anywhere with you."
She smiled. "Ano, how about if we go out to lunch then?"
"That'd be great. Lead on."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi slowly got more confident as Neko led her around the rink.
"Want to try by yourself?"
"Ano," Tenshi started, but Neko had let go before she could really answer.
Tenshi was determined not to fall down. She awkwardly followed Neko around the rink. "Ano, Koneko-chan? I don't know about this."
"You're doing great!" Neko was all encouragement. The words worked wonders. Tenshi relaxed a little, which actually had a positive result on her skating. Suddenly, "step and glide" made a lot more sense to her.
"This is fun," she admitted. Neko beamed, as she skated back to Tenshi and took her right hand in Neko's left one.
"Told you so," she laughed, delighted that Tenshi was now enjoying herself.
She skated backwards, pulling Tenshi by the hand. "Whoa, Koneko-chan. What are you doing?"
"Just relax." As if they were swing dancing, she raised her hand, pulling Tenshi faster, so that she went under Neko's arm, and then twisted her arm around quickly before losing her hold on Tenshi. Unfortunately, now Tenshi was skating backwards and in the lead, which made her feel out of control. Neko knew she wasn't ready for this, so she skated around Tenshi quickly, still holding her hand, so that Tenshi's arm went across her waist and Neko's went behind her back. Then she put her other hand on Tenshi's arm just above the elbow and, without stopping, slowly turned her so that they were skating forward.
Tenshi put her left hand on Neko's right one. She looked at Neko, her heart beating fast.
"It's not fair," she whispered.
"Nani?" Neko asked gently.
"For you to be so beautiful and talented."
Neko slipped. She lost her balance, taking Tenshi down with her. "Ow," she cried.
"Gomen," said Tenshi. She opened her eyes and realized that she was on top of Neko. She blushed. "Gomen nasai." She tried to push herself up, but her hands slipped on the ice.
Neko reddened as well. "Here," she said, as she helped Tenshi so that they were both sitting on the ice. "So much for talented," she said to relieve some of their embarrassment and lighten the mood.
"Gomen," Tenshi apologized again.
