"I know. Me too."
"Yeah, I figured as much when you threw yourself on that sword," Tenshi laughed to keep the mood light, despite the grave subject. Then she asked seriously, "Koneko, could you tell me how much you love me?"
"No, Tenshi, I don't think I can," Neko confessed. "I wish I could come up with some romantic poem or something, but I don't think it would truly express my feelings for you. It would pale in comparison to what I feel. Maybe if I was you, I could think of something better to say, demo�. Tenshi, you said you could hear it in my voice, see it in my eyes. So please have faith that I love you. I mean, I wouldn't lie for just anybody." She smiled at Tenshi. "Was that one of your conditions?" she kidded.
"No, but this is." Tenshi fished into her pocket and brought out the tanzanite ring she had salvaged from the mess in her room. She looked intensely into Neko's eyes. "I want you to take this back," she told her as she placed it in her right hand.
"Oh, arigatou."
"And I'd like for it to go on the other hand." Tenshi drew in a deep breath, unsure of what Neko would do.
Neko was unsure too. She simply stared at the ring in her hand.
"Koneko, I want to marry you. With all my heart and soul, I want us to be together forever. I love you so much, and I don't think I could handle it if we ever separated again. And with every beat of my heart, I love you even more. So I hope you'll say yes and accept me as the person you can spend the rest of your life with. But if you're not ready, that's fine. I can wait until you are," she said earnestly. "But quite frankly, my other Christmas present for you is only mediocre, so you should take this one."
Neko laughed and threw her arms around Tenshi's neck. "No, this one's fine! Don't change it for anything!"
"Then you accept!?!"
"Hai, I do. I love it. I love you! Arigatou!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The lovebirds returned to the party with Neko hanging on Tenshi's arm.
"They sure seem happy," Jian-wa pointed them out to Mi-chan, as if she couldn't sense Neko's happy mood anyway. "Neko's practically glowing."
Mi-chan rolled her eyes. "Knowing them, they probably went out and got themselves engaged or something."
"Good call," Morpheus, Mi-chan's animal companion, barked from her side.
Mi-chan stopped herself from asking what the six-month-old wolf meant, as her eyes traveled down to Neko's ring finger. Her left ring finger!
"Kami, I can't leave her alone for five seconds," Mi-chan grumbled before she ran over to Neko.
Minako was nearby and had overheard. She came over to Jian-wa. "They're kawaii. Makes you want something like that for Christmas, doesn't it?"
He gazed lovingly at Mi-chan. "Someday, but not today. I have to figure out who I am, before I can give myself to her."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Tenoh Tenshi! Do you really think you can get away with this?!" Mi-chan hissed as she approached Neko and Tenshi.
Neko continued holding onto Tenshi's arm, wondering what Mi-chan was so upset about. She couldn't know about the Amethyst-thing, could she? Neko quickly buried the question under thoughts of the bliss that she had previously been feeling.
"Mi-chan? Wh- What's wrong?" Tenshi had gone pale. She wouldn't last a minute in a fight against Mi-chan. And a clash with Neko's twin sister was not the way to start off their engagement.
Mi-chan got right up in Tenshi's face. "If you think for a minute that you can get engaged to my sister without my permission, you're sadly mistaken." She stared threateningly at Tenshi for a few moments. Then she smiled at her. "Lucky for you, you have my permission to marry Neko-chan."
Neko squealed and attacked Mi-chan with a hug. "Don't ever do that again!"
"Well, what kind of relationship is this, if I can't even torment your fianc�e?"
Neko looked at Mi-chan still preoccupied and concerned. *You're not mad?* she thought in a small "voice."
*Silly! Why would I be mad? Kami-sama, you guys are serious in love. Honestly, if you two didn't get engaged soon, I was going to have to have a talk with Miss Tenoh here and set her straight� no pun intended� on what a long term relationship with my sister means!*
Neko threw her arms around Mi-chan again. Then she ran back to Tenshi's side. "She approves," she whispered in Tenshi's ear.
"Good. Wouldn't want to be on her bad side," Tenshi whispered back. "So should we ask her?"
"Mi-chan," Neko finally said nervously. "There is one other thing we wanted to talk to you about."
Now what? Mi-chan raised her eyebrows at them. This was going to be interesting.
"Ano, since you approve of Tenshi and all, we, uh, were wondering if maybe�." Neko, blushing the whole time, was having difficulty asking, and the suspense was killing Mi-chan.
Finally, Tenshi took over for her. "I was wondering if maybe you'd be my maid of honor."
"And if Jian-kun could be my best man?" Neko continued shyly.
Not that she wasn't overjoyed at being asked, but Mi-chan couldn't help but shake her head incredulously. "You two are so weird!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
