He nodded. "I was studying hydrology before Amethyst came."
Neko grabbed his hand. "Jasper-kun, that's perfect! We're an agricultural planet. A hydrologist would be just the thing!"
He couldn't believe this na�ve girl. She had even added a "kun" to his name. Had she just slept through what he'd tried to do to her? "You would really want me? I just tried to kill you," he reminded her needlessly.
"You didn't think you had anything to live for. You just have to have faith in yourself, Jasper-kun. I still believe in you."
"Really?"
Tenshi managed to make her way behind Neko and put her arms around her. "We would love to have you on Eryx," she said supportively.
He glanced at Mi-chan. "Don't look at me! It's their planet!" she said defensively. If Neko wasn't so dead-set on him staying alive, Mi-chan would have killed him already. Even now, she was torn between slaughtering him for trying to kill Neko and thanking him for having saved Neko. So she was just going with whatever Neko decided. Unless he tried something, in which case he was dead. She just hoped that he stayed away anytime she happened to go to Eryx.
Jasper thought about it. "I suppose I can give it a try," he said.
"I'm glad," Neko said truthfully.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi and Neko sat on a blanket at Tenshi's beach making out. But eventually, Neko couldn't take it anymore.
"Tenshi?" she started as she pushed her girlfriend away. "I need to ask you something."
"Nani?"
"Ano, Amethyst told me you- that you and she-"
Tenshi cast her eyes down. "We kissed," she admitted. She looked back at Neko and flinched when she saw her face etched in pain. "Gomen ne, Koneko, demo I couldn't help it. She was offering to take away my suffering. And I believed her, I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter," Neko said quietly.
Tenshi eyes brightened. "You forgive me then?" she inquired, hardly daring to hope it could possibly be that easy.
Suddenly, Neko slapped her. As Tenshi rubbed her red cheek, Neko glared at her. "Forgive you?! You cheated on me with my enemy. She terrorized me, broke us up, and tried to kill us and Hoshi-chan. And because of her, you almost killed Mi-chan and me! And you want me to forgive you?!"
Tenshi followed her as she started to get up and leave. "Koneko, I-"
"Shut up! I might have been faking it before, but believe me now, when I say I don't want to see you again!" She brushed Tenshi aside and ran toward the sea cliff.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty," Michiru called to her eldest daughter who had fallen asleep on the couch.
Tenshi opened her eyes, relieved to discover that the scene on the beach was merely a dream. Yet would Neko be able to forgive her in real life either? Although it was clear that they were back together, they hadn't seen each other since the twins had left her and Haruka a couple of days ago. And she hadn't gotten a chance before then to tell her what happened with Amethyst. She was not looking forward to it.
Her okaa-san's eyes twinkled. "Should we let you stay here, sleeping through the Christmas party?"
"Iie!" Tenshi grunted as she sat up.
"Good, then you should probably run up and change. We're leaving in 15 minutes."
"Oh!" Tenshi jumped up and ran up to her room, trying not to trip over the stuff she still had yet to clean up from her tantrum earlier that week. She checked her closet, trying to decide between a suit or something more festive. Finally she threw on some nice black slacks and a Christmassy fuzzy red V-neck sweater that Neko liked. As an afterthought she rummaged through the mess on her floor for those ruby earrings and put them on. Then she grabbed a nice jacket and started downstairs.
Five seconds later she returned to her room. She had forgotten the presents. She grabbed her family's presents and the one that had been delivered to her for Neko today. Before she left, she picked up one more thing. Then she ran downstairs to meet her parents and Puroko.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The party was full of brilliant colors and happy people. Tenshi couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else as they all celebrated Christmas together.
"Puroko-chan, here's a present from me," Neko came over to hand Tenshi's sister a gift.
As the Puroko opened her gift, Neko gazed at her sister. "Merry Christmas, Tenshi."
Tenshi blushed as she realized that Neko had dropped her honorific. She had done it when she woke up the day before too, but Tenshi had figured that that was because she had just come back from the dead and wasn't really thinking about it. "M- Merry Christmas."
Neko giggled. She loved it when Tenshi blushed, just because it almost made up for all those times Tenshi made her blush. She gave her a quick kiss on one of those pink cheeks and then said, "You look very nice tonight. I like the earrings."
"Thought you might," Tenshi admitted.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
