It was growing dark and the group decided to take shelter in a shallow cave they had come across.
"We should take turns keeping watch," Mi-chan suggested, taking command. "At least two shifts."
"I'll watch first," Neko offered. Since all of them looked like they were ready to protest, she interjected, "If you guys don't let me do something, I'm gonna go nuts. Besides, I'm kinda wound." Afterall, if Mi-chan and Tenshi had spent the past two days worrying about her, they had to be exhausted, but apparently she had stayed in bed the entire day before.
"You should save your strength for whatever you have to do at the end of this," Tenshi recommended.
Jasper looked at her questioningly. "Who said she has to do anything at the end?"
"Lots of manga. She has to pray to some being or stand in the middle of the lake as the stones imbue her with power or something. So rest, Koneko?" she requested.
"Look, you guys eventually need to let me help out. There are four stones and four of us. I'm sure it's set up so each one of us has to beat some challenge to get a stone." Everyone looked at her again, but she didn't know where that had come from. "Perhaps I've read a lot of manga too."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi walked outside where Neko was sitting keeping watch. Though she really looked like she was stargazing. She looked up at Tenshi. "It's not time to switch yet."
"I know, but I couldn't sleep. May I join you?"
"Mm hmm." Tenshi sat down against the rock face next to her. "The moon is so beautiful," Neko said dreamily. It was full tonight, or maybe tomorrow, Tenshi wasn't sure. But it was a pretty sight. Neko seemed fascinated by the night sky. "Do you know where Mercury is, Tenshi-kun?" she wanted to know.
"Um�," Tenshi searched the sky for Neko's home planet, "�there."
Neko leaned over to line her vision up with Tenshi's finger. "Sugoi!"
"Yeah, and Neptune - that's where I grew up - it's� there." Tenshi tried to think of something else Neko'd be interested in. "And�," she squinted into the night sky. They were up with no lights around so they should be able to pick it out�, if she could remember where it was supposed to be.
"What are you looking for?"
"Our planet," Tenshi said, not thinking.
"Ours? Are you going to live on Eryx too?"
Oops. "Kinda� yeah."
"Popular planet."
"Popular princess."
"So where is it?"
Tenshi continued searching. "There. Those two itty bitty dots together. One's Eryx and the other's Electra. I don't know which is which, and they're so close from this distance, they look like one."
"Where?" Neko still couldn't see them.
Tenshi pulled Neko in front of her and put her arm around Neko's shoulder so her finger would be projecting more accurately for her line of sight. "They're right there," she said. "Right above the Big Dipper, actually," she continued helpfully.
"Oh, I think I see them!" Neko exclaimed. She turned to Tenshi. "That was great. Thank you."
"Any time," Tenshi replied softly. She suddenly realized how close hers and Neko's faces were and how great having her arms around her felt. "I should go back inside. Leave you alone." She started to get up, relieved to get out of that slightly awkward situation and disappointed that she couldn't have responded to it better.
"Onegai, Tenshi-kun, don't," Neko begged sincerely. "If you don't mind, I'd like the company."
Tenshi could never really resist Neko. She sat back down. *I just have to pretend she's Mi-chan. Except she and Mi-chan are nothing alike. Okay, I'll pretend she's some triplet that I've just met today for the first time. She just happens to look, sound, even smell like my Koneko. But it's not her.* She took a deep breath. *Yeah, I can do that.*
Neko lay her head down on Tenshi's shoulder, still gazing at the stars. Tenshi couldn't pretend anymore. It had lasted all of about two seconds.
"Koneko, I really should go to bed," she said, standing back up. "Wake me up when your shift is over, okay?"
Neko looked a little hurt, but nodded. "Sweet dreams," she said.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi returned to the cave and found Mi-chan there, still awake as well. Jasper on the other hand was asleep. "Worried about Koneko?" she asked Mi-chan softly.
"Always."
Tenshi smiled in amusement. "She's doing fine. Quite chipper actually. You should get some sleep. That's why she wanted to be out there anyway."
"No, she wanted to prove that she could be strong too. That's why she's out there. She still doesn't believe it though."
"You can feel that from her?"
"I can't hardly feel anything," Mi-chan said miserably.
"Oh. Well, don't worry about it. We'll get her back." Tenshi tried to cheer her up.
Mi-chan nodded thoughtfully. "She's still Neko-chan. I can guess her emotions just as well as if I could feel them. It's just, I'm so used to receiving them."
"Ne, Mi-chan�?" Tenshi lowered her voice, uncertain that Neko couldn't hear them. "Is it possible that right now she, you know, maybe still loves me? That maybe she's in love with me, but doesn't understand it?"
Mi-chan shrugged. "I'm sorry, Tenshi-kun. I think she's probably S crushing on you, but other than what's deep inside her heart, I don't know if she's in love with you right now."
Tenshi nodded, sadly. "Alright. Well, I should get some rest before my shift starts. Goodnight, Mi-chan."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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