"Tenshi-kun?" Tenshi wished she'd drop the "-kun." She'd gotten used to not having it in the past couple months. "Do you want to sit down?" Neko asked politely.
Tenshi followed her to the family room and sat on the couch, next to Neko, but not too close. She didn't know what Mi-chan had told her about them, but she'd be willing to bet that Neko wouldn't be ready to resume their relationship right from the point they were at before she had lost her memory.
"Koneko," she began.
Neko cocked her head to the side curiously. "Koneko?" she repeated. "That's cute."
Mi-chan, who was just about to exit the room, began to snicker. Tenshi sent her another look. "I'm sorry, it isn't funny," Mi-chan apologized, unremorsefully. Everyone knew that except for when Tenshi called her it, Neko hated the nickname.
"Michiru-chan said we were good friends," Neko mentioned.
"Oh," was all Tenshi could manage. At least now she knew what Neko thought their relationship was.
"I gotta admit. When I first saw you, I mean, when I opened the door, I thought you were a boy. I kinda thought you were maybe my boyfriend," she said shyly. "That doesn't weird you out, does it?"
"Iie." Tenshi looked hopefully into Neko's eyes. "Koneko," she started again. But Neko's eyes looked back at her with pure innocence. She had no idea about anything they'd gone through. She didn't know about first dealing with a best friend's betrayal and then with another's homophobia. About watching her sister commit suicide. About going evil. About a psychopathic villainess giving her nightmares and stealing her girlfriend away. "Koneko, I-" It was clear that Neko wasn't aware that either of them were homosexual. Tenshi didn't mind coming out to people. But could she out Neko to herself? Would Neko take it well to suddenly learn that she was a lesbian?
Neko's eyes were still trained on her. "Nani?" she asked innocuously.
"I- I'm having a bit of trouble figuring out what to talk to you about. You essentially don't know me."
"You could tell me things about yourself. What things do you like?"
*You!* Tenshi wanted to answer. But she remained composed. "Well, I'm in track and field on the pole vault team with you. And I take Kempo, but only because you got me to join." Neko smiled at that so Tenshi continued. "I like to sing; I take voice lessons. I- This is very strange, telling you all this."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be! It's not your fault." *If anyone's, it's mine* Tenshi thought repentantly. "Um, I'm a freshman in college at the same school you go to. I have a younger sister, who really adores you, by the way. And my- uh, do you know about the rulers of the solar system?"
"Michiru-chan told me about them." Neko motioned to the charts sitting on the coffee table that Mi-chan had brought out earlier. "Your parents are Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama, am I right?" Tenshi nodded to Neko's apparent delight. "She told me that. 'Tenoh Haruka and Kaiou Michiru rule the planets Uranus and Neptune, respectively. But they both live here together on Earth with Tenshi-kun and Puroko-chan,'" she recalled. "I'm trying to remember everything Michiru-chan says. It's not hard because I don't have anything else in my head to confuse me."
Tenshi almost couldn't help smiling at Neko's cheerfulness about her situation. She did have one question though. "Ne, why are you calling your twin 'Michiru-chan'?"
"That's her name," Neko pointed out.
"But you always call her 'Mi-chan'. It sounds more natural now, especially since almost everyone follows your lead and does so as well."
"I will do that then," Neko agreed.
Mi-chan returned with a plate full of cookies. "Alright. Let's try and figure out how to fix this."
She handed Neko a cookie. "Arigatou, Mi-chan," Neko said. Mi-chan looked pleasantly surprised at the change in name.
"Mi-chan," Tenshi said, getting down to business. "I asked the priestess I got the potion from if there was some cure for the amnesia. She said to bring Koneko, you, me and someone else down to the temple. I think she's going to give us a quest or something."
"Who's the other person she wants?"
Tenshi shrugged. "She said to make it someone else who would give their life to make sure Koneko was okay." Tenshi had thought about this hard on the trip back from the temple. With Chibi or Kimahou, although they loved her, Tenshi didn't think they would necessarily do that.
"There's Jian-kun," Mi-chan suggested.
Tenshi had thought about him. He was an obvious choice. He had risked his life to save them a few times and fought an evil Neko in hand-to-hand combat, trying to keep her alive without getting Mi-chan and Tenshi killed. But if it came down to a crucial choice between Mi-chan and Neko, he would choose Mi-chan, even if Mi-chan was dead-set on dying to save Neko. Not that Tenshi was for Mi-chan dying in Neko's place�, it was just that that was the condition the priestess had set out for them.
A similar problem existed for almost any other person that loved Neko. They all loved Mi-chan equally, and thus, might not be willing to let Mi-chan risk her life for her sister.
That left the only other possibility Tenshi could think of. "What about Jasper-san?" she asked hesitantly.
"IYA!" Mi-chan shouted, causing Neko to jump. Tenshi had been expecting that answer, but naturally Neko hadn't known it was coming. She had no clue who Jasper was.
"Mi-chan, he owes her his life," she said in a low voice. "He owes her his soul."
"Hello, he tried to kill her! Plus, she killed his girlfriend. And he already helped save her once. I don't think he's going to see it the way you do."
"She offered him back her life after he saved it. And she gave him something to live for."
"I don't trust him!"
"I do."
"Ano�." They both looked back at Neko who was sitting there, her eyes cast down as they talked about her. "I don't really know anything about it. But you two know me really well, I guess. And I thought maybe, I don't know, but I could still have somewhat of a say in it." They stared at her, uncertain of what she was suggesting. "Would I trust him if I remembered him?" she concluded.
"No," Mi-chan answered forcefully.
"Yes," Tenshi answered. She sent Mi-chan her third dirty look of the afternoon. She knew perfectly well that Neko trusted him. Neko had stood there and let him hold a knife to her throat without wavering in her belief that he wouldn't kill her. And then she turned around and gave him a place on her planet. The girls were weird like that. Mi-chan had instantly forgiven Jian-wa. Neko had instantly forgiven Jasper. But each had trouble with the other's, although Neko had eventually forgiven Jian-wa as well.
Mi-chan looked at Neko thoughtfully. "Yeah, I guess you would, wouldn't you?" she conceded.
"Maybe we should give him a call and ask him if he would do it, then," Neko suggested. "If not, we could go with someone else like that Jian guy. He is a guy, right?"
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