Ryo returned home from his long night at the hospital. He hated working nights and was glad that the need came up very rarely. He was certainly happy to be home. Now he could get some sleep. Before he hit the sack, he did a quick check on his children. His youngest and only son, Gebriel, better known as Chibi, was in his room working diligently on homework that probably wasn�t due until the end of the school year. Kimahou, his youngest daughter, was getting ready to hang out with some of her friends from her band. Mi-chan was working off some steam out in the backyard by practicing her fencing moves. And Neko�. Neko was actually coming downstairs.
�O- Otou-san!� she exclaimed in that shocked way she always did when he surprised her with his presence after she did something she thought she should be in trouble for. Of course, this being Neko, half the time it wasn�t really something she did wrong. Neko always felt guiltier than she should, whereas Mi-chan never seemed to feel as guilty as she deserved.
�Ohayo gozaimasu, Neko. Did you have a good night?�
He could feel Neko desperately trying to do something with her mind, but what it was he wasn�t quite sure. She gave him a worried smile and answered, �Yeah, it was nice. I- I�m going to get myself a snack and then go out shopping. Is that okay?�
He nodded, and she ran off to the kitchen, her relief quite obvious. Ryo shook his head, somewhat amused, and headed upstairs to his nice soft bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko contemplated what had just happened. She didn�t know whether her father knew about her and Tenshi or not. She had tried to put up a mind shield, but as far as she could tell, nothing had happened at all. She looked out the window at Mi-chan fencing in the backyard. How Neko longed to ask Mi-chan the particulars of her mind shield! Mi-chan had never bothered to describe what having a mind shield was like or even how she initiated it. So how could Neko tell if she actually had one or if she was using it correctly?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
�And then she wasn�t even willing to talk about it with me. I mean, there I was, going out of my head, and she just smiles and runs upstairs. How can she be so happy when there�s something obviously wrong?�
Jian-wa was trying to be supportive, really he was, but Mi-chan had been talking all evening about how she had lost contact with Neko. �I don�t know, sweetie. Maybe she just figures it�s a fluke.�
�A fluke?!�
�Or maybe she just thinks it�s not worth worrying about until you�re sure there�s something wrong.� He took her hand and tried to console her.
�No, you don�t understand!� She pulled her hand away, not in the mood to be pacified. �There�s no way this is a fluke. I lost contact with Neko-chan, and that�s never good! But she barely reacted at all. And Neko-chan worries about everything!�
�All the more reason, you should relax about this. If it was worth worrying about, Neko-chan would be bothered by it. So forget about it. At least for the rest of the night?� Jian-wa implored her, his voice beginning to show traces of how upset he had gradually been getting over the course of the evening.
Mi-chan looked up at him as if she was just noticing that he was even in the room, despite the fact that she had been talking his ear off for hours. It was like she hadn�t even considered until now that he had actually wanted to have a nice romantic dinner. Cooan, his aunt with whom he lived, had been out for the evening, so he had taken the opportunity to invite Mi-chan over so he could make her a nice dinner. He had even put on some romantic music and lit some candles, but she had seemed unfazed by his efforts.
But she finally seemed to pick up on the fact that he was upset. �Jian-kun, I��
�Forget about it. Let�s just try and enjoy ourselves for a while. Please?�
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryo studied his daughter as he carefully sipped at the just-a-tad-too-hot cocoa she had prepared for him. Mi-chan was deeply troubled by something � that much was evident through her facial expression. However, her thoughts remained hidden. She was staring into her untouched cocoa, silently worrying, refusing to share what was going on in that pretty little head of hers.
He had known, long before she had asked, that they were going to have a cocoa session tonight, but its topic had been a mystery to him then. He hadn�t become more enlightened since it had started either. *Come on, Michiru. You know you can tell me anything.*
It was probably about Neko. He wondered how much she knew. Certainly, Mi-chan had been feeling a little put out lately due to how close Neko was getting to Tenshi. Every step the couple took to deepen their relationship only seemed to push Neko and Mi-chan further apart. At least that�s how Mi-chan saw it. He could only imagine how she might be affected by this most recent development.
As patient as Ryo generally was, he was beginning to wonder if Mi-chan would ever begin. But before he could start with an icebreaker, she finally spoke.
�I� had a new nightmare last night.�
He sighed. This was not the topic she asked him here to discuss. It was obvious in her tone and her face, even if he couldn�t read her thoughts. However, these cocoa dates were originally set up to discuss her nightmares, so instead of pushing her into something she didn�t want to talk about, he merely pushed over some paper to draw on and said, �Alright. What happened in it?�
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