She untransformed and fell to her knees, ready to give up altogether and let the ocean take her. But the salty seawater hit her wound as an agonizing reminder to get out of the water. She stood up shakily and painfully made her way to dry land. As soon as she was no longer in danger of drowning, she gave into the pain and exhaustion, and allowed herself to collapse.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan had almost finished climbing down the cliff when she saw her sister collapse. "Neko-chan!" she screamed.
She looked down - it wasn't too far to the bottom, so she jumped the rest of the way. Unfortunately, she landed poorly on her ankle. She suspected the resulting pain was from twisting it.
"Shimatta! Shimatta! Shimatta!" she swore.
Ignoring the pain in her ankle, she rushed over to Neko. Logically, she understood that she would know if Neko was dead, but that didn't lessen the fear in her heart upon seeing Neko lying face down, a large wound in her side, her drenched clothes still wet with blood.
"Neko-chan!" she cried as she bent down to her sister and turned her over. "Are you ok?"
"Mi-chan. Gomen, but I seemed to have gotten myself injured." She gave her a weak smile.
"Yeah, I can see that. Can you get over to the cliff?"
"No. I think I'll just stay here and rest."
"Let me rephrase that," Mi-chan responded as she took Neko by the arm and helped her to her feet. She supported her, even with her twisted ankle, as they made their way to the cliff edge.
"Sorry about your ankle," Neko whispered as they sat down against the rock face.
Mi-chan looked up and wondered where Tenshi was. "Don't be. It's my own fault." Mi-chan tore off the bottom of her skirt and used it to tend to Neko's wound. Neko sucked in a breath quickly and flinched as she touched it, but Mi-chan wanted to stop the bleeding. *Shimatta! I should have gotten Tenshi-kun first. Or, since I didn't, I should have at least been here to help Neko-chan.* She whispered, "I'm sorry, Neko-chan. I should have been here. I should have gotten here sooner."
She tied the material around Neko's waist. Then she opened her communicator. "Hey, Tenshi-kun," she barked into it. "Where are you?"
"Someone gave me a ride, and I just got dropped off over by your motorcycles. How's Koneko-chan?" Mi-chan could tell that Tenshi was running as fast as she could while she talked.
"Neko-chan was cut in the side. It's really deep, and she's lost a lot of blood," Mi-chan struggled to keep her voice in control. "And I twisted my ankle. I would try to get us up, but I could barely get us across the beach. So now we're stuck down at the bottom of some cliffs."
"Yeah, I figured out that you were at my beach." She paused to catch her breath. "Ok, I'll call my parents and ask if they'll take the helicopter down there and pick us up. Ano, is she going to be ok?"
Mi-chan looked at her twin. "I hope so. Just hurry!"
Neko's eyes were shut. "Ne, Neko-chan!" Mi-chan shook her. "You can't fall asleep."
"Gomen," Neko answered drowsily. "I'm so cold."
It figured. She was soaked to the skin, and it was unusually chilly for May. "All the more reason you should stay awake. Hold on." Mi-chan saw Neko's jacket a few feet away. She crawled over to it and brought it back. "This might help." At least it was warm and dry.
"Arigatou�. Tenshi's coming?"
"Hai."
"Good�. Could you tell her that I'm sorry? And that I love her�. I never told her that�." Neko was fading fast.
"Iya, Neko-chan! You're going to have to tell her yourself. Stay with me now." She grabbed Neko by the shoulders. "Promise me you won't die," she cried in desperation. Neko would never break a promise. "Neko, promise me!"
"Hai." It wasn't much reassurance though, since Mi-chan figured that Neko was too drained to do anything but agree.
*Hurry, Tenshi-kun!*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Even with the jacket, Neko was shivering. She wished she could stop. Every shiver that went through her drenched body eventually reached her side, sending a dagger of pain through her entire being.
It was for this reason that Neko was willing to slip into unconsciousness. She was cold and tired, but mostly, sleep would allow her to escape the pain.
But Mi-chan had told her to stay awake. And although she was having trouble focusing, Neko still would listen to Mi-chan. For Neko trusted Mi-chan above anyone else in the galaxy, even Tenshi, to save her no matter what the circumstance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
