Neko's tears broke. "Well, you're not even that now," she told her harshly.
"No! Please. I love you, Koneko," Tenshi pleaded to her. "I love you!"
Neko's heart jumped at Tenshi's admission. Somehow when she said it, it was different than when Mi-chan and Jasper told her that Tenshi loved her. "No." Neko covered her ears and backed away, hoping to get support from Jasper. "Don't- I can't- Just shut up!"
"No, Koneko, you don't understand!" As Tenshi grabbed Neko's arm, Neko flashed back to a similar move by her blond attacker, moments before he had brutalized her. She panicked.
"Don't touch me!" she screeched. "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" Tenshi didn't put up a fight as Neko lashed out against the offensive hand and retreated back into the sheltering arms of Jasper. He'd protect her from Tenshi, she just knew it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Koneko�," Tenshi started, taking a step towards her and Jasper.
"Tenshi-kun," Mi-chan stopped her quietly. She had been standing back quietly until now, but she knew that Neko and Tenshi weren't going to resolve this now. Neko just refused to be reasonable towards her. Tenshi's best bet was just to let Neko get back her memories and forgive her afterwards. Mi-chan held up the white stone. "Could you please put this at the north edge of the pool?" she asked her pointedly. "I'll tell her the ritual," she added, audible only to Tenshi.
Tenshi must have figured out that she had lost. She took the stone from Mi-chan and walked off without another word. But while Tenshi was defeated, Mi-chan knew that she was far from it.
"Neko-chan!" Jasper's apologetic expression towards Tenshi throughout the recent ordeal didn't change things in the least as far as Mi-chan was concerned. She wanted her sister far away from him. But she was a little worried about how adamant Neko had been to stay with him in the last few hours. She hoped it wouldn't cause Neko to avoid her as well.
Thankfully, Neko turned at the sound of her twin's voice. "Mi-chan," she sobbed pitifully. "Don't make me apologi-"
"No, it's not that," Mi-chan quickly assured her, worried Neko might close her off like last time when she had insisted she go back to Tenshi. Guaranteed that this wasn't about Tenshi, Neko wiped her eyes and allowed Jasper to release her, suddenly interested in what it was Mi-chan was about to say.
"It's about the ritual," Mi-chan felt her excitement increase again as she spoke. "We have it! You can get your memories back!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko tried to calm down as she listened intently to Mi-chan explain the ritual to her. It wasn't that tough. She was certain she could recite what Mi-chan told her to say. It was just�.
She glanced over at Jasper, who nodded to her supportively. He had been great throughout the entire mission, despite their checkered past together. But she wasn't sure how the ritual would change her feelings. Would she hate Jasper the way Mi-chan did? Would she love Tenshi the way Mizuno Neko was supposed to?
So close to her goal and she suddenly realized that she still knew very little about Mizuno Neko. Certainly not enough to give her an idea of what it would be like to actually be her. That Neko had a stronger connection to Mi-chan than Neko did now. She had access to powers Neko could only guess at. She did pole vault and Kempo and soccer� and maybe other stuff, but it had never come up in conversation. Did she have other friends and family than the three who had accompanied her on this trip who were close to her? Was she a good student? Was she a good Sailor Senshi compared to the others? Was she someone she would like?
She had been a little nervous to do the ritual before, but now she wasn't sure about it at all. All the stuff the mountain kami had mentioned�. Did she really want to remember being betrayed by her friends? Battling Mi-chan? Killing Jasper's girlfriend? His attempt to kill her?
"Mi-chan�." She was about to share her concerns with her sister, but as she looked back at Mi-chan, she knew she couldn't. Mi-chan's eyes shone at her with the joy of knowing Neko was moments away from returning to her former self.
"What is it?" she asked, but Neko just shook her head. She knew she could never deprive Mi-chan of that joy. And if Mi-chan was that excited by Neko's transformation back to her normal self, it was obviously a good one. So there was nothing to worry about, Neko decided finally.
"It's okay. I had a question�, but I figured it out."
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