But the spell was broken, and Tenshi didn't trust herself to go it alone again.
"Okay," said Neko, as she took Tenshi's arm. She noticed that Tenshi seemed upset. "It wasn't your fault you know." Tenshi looked away. "Are you okay?" Neko asked, addressing her physical condition as well as her ego.
"I don't know�. I don't like being bad at something," Tenshi complained quietly. She looked at Neko. "And I'm not sure I like needing support," she admitted.
"Oh." Neko frowned. "Does it bother you that I can do something better than you?" She turned a curious gaze to Tenshi, which just made Tenshi worry that they'd skate right into the wall. She didn't answer, hoping that Neko would drop it. But Neko kept looking at Tenshi. She was too good to hit the wall, and instead, stopped them against it, right near the gate, to catch their breath. "Why?"
Tenshi avoided her gaze by looking away. "I don't know. I just need to be the strong one," she mumbled.
"Eh?" Neko hadn't heard her.
Even before she said it, Tenshi knew she should just let it go, but it came out before she could stop herself. "I should be the strong one."
"Oh?" Neko pushed off the wall and twirled around to look at Tenshi. "Who says?"
This was a dangerous path of conversation that they were on, and Tenshi knew it. She wondered how to explain it without ticking off Neko. Could she charm her way out of this one? She struggled for an explanation, but failed. "I just�. I guess it's just how I feel."
Neko skated back to the wall. Except she was now on the other side of the open gate. She rested her arms on top of the wall and stared off in the distance. Her voice was unreadable as she simple said, "Oh."
Tenshi wanted to get to her, but she wasn't sure she could make it without falling. Still she felt the need to explain. She tried to lighten the mood. "How can I be an adequate shugotenshi, safeguarding my cute koneko-chan if I can't even skate across to her?" She gave a silly grin to Neko.
But Neko kept her gaze straight ahead. "In that case, I don't want the nickname," she said crossly.
"Nani?!" Tenshi flinched. The words and tone were harsh to be coming from Neko.
"No." Neko pushed off the wall and skated once around the rink to burn off some anger. She returned and stopped at the wall again, her back turned to Tenshi.
Tenshi cautiously made her way towards her. "Koneko-chan?"
Neko turned towards her, her eyes filled with uncharacteristic anger.
"Tenshi-kun, you are the first person that I've ever let call me that. When I was little I just knew it wasn't my name, so I rejected the nickname. But when I got older�. You know, I- I consider kittens to be kawaii. And little. And helpless. And I refused�." Neko stopped and took a deep breath. She looked deep into Tenshi's eyes and continued speaking, though more calmly. "I refused to ever be called 'koneko-chan.' But when you called me 'Koneko-chan,' it was different. It made me feel special. Like perhaps instead of kawaii, and little, and helpless, you saw different kitten-like qualities in me - like maybe I was playful, and affectionate, and gentle, and, okay, maybe a little kawaii."
"Oh, Ko-"
"But you just took that away from me!" Neko's eyes flashed. "And you made it feel worse. I have never felt so offended by that name as you have just made me feel. And it's because it came from you!" Neko squeezed her eyes shut briefly. *Don't start crying. Just a bit longer.*
"Koneko-chan," Tenshi said softly. She reached out a hand towards Neko, but Neko slapped it away.
"Don't!" she warned. "Just don't." She pushed off the wall and skated out of the rink.
You can't always charm your way out of things
"K- Neko-chan!" But Neko had changed shoes and was out the door before Tenshi could even get off the ice.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi ran out the door after changing her shoes, praying that Neko would be outside waiting for her.
But she wasn't.
Tenshi looked around helplessly. "Koneko-chan, I'm sorry," she whispered as her eyes filled with tears. She opened up her communicator and tried to call Neko, but her calls were unanswered. Not really a big surprise. She wiped her eyes, and took a deep breath. Without the ability to get through to Neko, Tenshi would try the next best thing.
She called Mi-chan.
"What's up?" Mi-chan asked as soon as she answered. "Tenshi-kun!" She looked shocked to see her on the communicator. Then her eyes narrowed. "What happened?"
Tenshi realized she thought that they were in trouble. "Oh, nothing bad! I mean, we're not facing a yoma. Oh, Mi-chan, I really screwed up." Mi-chan was looking angrily at her. Maybe calling her wasn't the best idea. "I said something I shouldn't have, and I wanted to apologize, but she's not answering her communicator. I was hoping you could�."
"What? Apologize for you through our psychic link?" The thought had occurred to Tenshi, but that wasn't exactly why she called. Mi-chan went on. "Do you know how much concentration that takes? Especially if she's upset!"
"Actually, I was just hoping that you could just tell her I called when you saw her. Demo�"
"Nani?"
"Well, I'm kind of stranded here. Is there anyway that you could come pick me up?"
Mi-chan glared at her. "I'm in the middle of a date!" How dare Tenshi call her after hurting Neko, and then expect her to not only try and apologize to Neko for her, but to also interrupt Mi-chan's date to come pick her up! She sighed. It wouldn't be right to leave her there though. "Demo� I guess so. You're at the skating rink, right?" She'd have to deal with her anger with Tenshi in person.
Tenshi nodded. "Arigatou." She knew she was about to get an earful from Mi-chan when she got here, but for now, Tenshi was too busy chastising herself to worry about that. And at least Mi-chan wasn't going to make her walk home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
