Neko could do nothing but look helplessly on as Jian-wa ran after her sister.
Then she looked at Tenshi with wide eyes and a pale face. "Tenshi-kun, I-" She stopped. There was nothing she could think of to say. Mi-chan could have seriously hurt Tenshi. Probably would have, if Neko hadn't said anything. "I'm so, so sorry."
Tenshi kept her hand on Neko's shoulder. She was breathing heavily and her face was also pale. But she didn't want Neko to worry. She smiled weakly at her. "It's ok. She didn't-"
"No! It's not ok!" Neko freed herself from Tenshi's grip and ran off in the opposite direction from Mi-chan.
"Koneko-chan!" Tenshi called after her. For a brief moment, she stood there, wondering what to do. But in her heart, there was no question.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko ran through the school grounds, ignoring other students' cries of surprise as she barreled past them. She just wanted to be alone.
She rounded the main building and ran through the hedges that were near the building. She paid no attention to the scratches she got from the bushes' branches. She cleared them and continued until she reached the tree that she knew was outside her choir classroom. It was looking outside her classroom that she had discovered this little clearing behind the bushes that was concealed from the world. She stopped here, hidden from her fellow classmates, leaned into the tree and started to cry.
"The best thing that ever happened in my life, and I almost ruined it. How could I be so dumb?! I should have told Mi-chan that Tenshi-kun was a girl from the start. Kami, Mi-chan could have killed her! How can she ever forgive me? How could either of them? Baka!"
"Koneko-chan?" Tenshi's soft voice came from behind her.
Neko didn't turn around. "Go away, Tenshi-kun."
Tenshi put her hands on Neko's shoulders. "It's not that bad."
"What Mi-chan could have done to you�! That's all my fault, Tenshi-kun! She might have-"
"But she didn't. You stopped her. And I could hold my own against Mi-chan," Tenshi lied. "I mean, I did single-handedly take out that yoma yesterday."
True, but�. "You'd fight Mi-chan over me?"
"Ano�." Tenshi wouldn't have, and she knew it. And Neko knew it too.
"I just want to be alone, Tenshi-kun."
But Tenshi had heard part of Neko's rant. She knew that Neko wasn't mad at her, but at herself. "I'm not leaving until I know you're okay."
Neko whirled around. "I'm fine! I'm not the one who almost was attacked. I don't need to be comforted! Why does everyone want to protect me?"
Oh, that was what this was about. Mi-chan attacked Tenshi to protect Neko, and Neko felt responsible. Tenshi figured that Neko was probably also a little upset about what had happened yesterday when she had needed saving first from becoming evil, and then from either being killed or going insane. Both times, Mi-chan had stepped in to rescue her. But Tenshi wanted to protect Neko too. She never wanted her to be hurt. And Neko was still crying.
"I can't help it, Koneko-chan." Neko looked away, but Tenshi's hand lifted her face back up so that they were eye to eye. "Every tear you shed eats away a little at my heart. So you see, Koneko-chan, I can't let you cry." She leaned forward and kissed away the tear on Neko's right cheek. And then on her left one.
"You can't always charm your way out of things," Neko whispered. But such wasn't the case this time, for Tenshi had already enchanted Neko. Her heart beating quickly, she met Tenshi's lips for a brief kiss. "You wanted to take me somewhere today, ne?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi glanced over at Neko to make sure that her eyes were closed. "You're not peeking are you?"
"Who me?" Neko's eyes were tightly shut. But she knew roughly where they were. They were driving alongside the beach. The scent of the salty seabreeze was unmistakable.
After a while Tenshi finally parked the car. "Can I open them yet?" Neko asked.
"Nope, not yet." Tenshi jumped out of the car and ran over to the other side to open Neko's door. She took her hand and helped her out of the car. Then she led her away from it.
"This is taking a lot of trust here," Neko said as she stumbled over a rock that she couldn't see.
Tenshi laughed. "It's worth it," she promised.
She walked up behind Neko and covered her eyes. "What? You don't trust me," Neko asked with mock hurt in her voice.
"No, I just don't want you to accidentally open them the next time you stumble. We'll be walking awhile, so I'll be your eyes."
"I'm in trouble then. You're more clumsy when I'm around."
"Come on."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi positioned Neko in the perfect spot.
"Okay�. Open them!"
