Mi-chan sighed and tried to think of something worth telling Neko. "Um, once you and I went to the mall with Jian-kun, and they were having this really great sale on a singles cruise, so we bought tickets� actually, we might have won them, I'm not sure. But anyway, you wanted to let mom know where we were going, and even though I told you not to call her, you did. But we started to, uh get static� yeah, while she was telling us whether or not to do it, so we did." Mi-chan knew she probably looked a little devious while she told this story. The truth was that Mi-chan had caused the "static," and they had known perfectly well that Ami had forbidden them to go. "So you and I faced down no less than twenty mud yoma on the ship, and then a really cute General, but he disappeared. But it was really fun, and we learned the importance of having fire extinguishers on boats that day. Of course, we got grounded, but I think it was worth it!"
She had gotten a little caught up in the excitement of the story, and she knew that Neko had been infected with that excitement, so she continued.
"Oh, and let me tell you about the time Chibi and I stole a boat, and I actually lassoed you aboard, since you didn't want to get in trouble. But we wanted you to come with us�."
Neko beamed at her, listening intently to Mi-chan's colorful tales of the past battles that hadn't involved quite as serious matters. In fact, their earlier battles generally took more research, which usually was quite amusing. Soon Mi-chan had Neko in hysterics over the story of how she and Chibi had gotten kicked out of the Yacht Club and decided to do their own "research." That had really meant pretending they owned huge yachts that wouldn't even fit in the dock. Even Mi-chan had to admit, that might not have been the best cover, especially for a 14- and a 16(�)-year-old. Or the time they had spent all day riding around in the bus, only to find that it was the bus itself that was causing the problem.
"�and after spending all that time on the bus, and that elaborate strategy we had designed to catch the yoma in the sewer, everyone else figured it out, but all I could think was that 'bus' spelled backwards is 'sub,' and that that was another name for a hoagie sandwich," Mi-chan doubled over, laughing. She stopped talking to catch her breath. "Oh, Kami, that reminds me. I could really use some lunch right about now."
She offered Neko, who had been practically rolling on the floor laughing, a hand up so they could go to the kitchen together, but Neko wasn't done with her questions. She stared at Mi-chan's offered hand and asked quietly, "How did you get that scar on your wrist, Mi-chan?"
Mi-chan quickly withdrew her hand from Neko's view, knowing fully well that that wouldn't appease her sister. A couple of days ago, the scar that ran diagonally across her left wrist had escaped Neko's notice, as Mi-chan had had Neko focus on the scar that traversed her own left hand. Today she wouldn't get off that easy. "It's nothing," she told her worried sister. "Just a battle scar."
Neko's eyes bore into her own, as if trying to determine if Mi-chan was telling the truth. Instinctively, Mi-chan put up a mental barrier so that Neko couldn't accidentally read the truth from her. "We were being attacked, and I managed to cut my wrist. Don't worry about it," she assured Neko. But Neko still looked skeptical, as if she somehow suspected that Mi-chan might have done it herself. "Come on, don't be like that," Mi-chan instructed her. "Do I seem like the kind of person who'd try to take her own life?"
Finally, Neko seemed satisfied� or at least willing to drop it. She gave Mi-chan a silly grin and shook her head, no. "You're strong, Mi-chan. You wouldn't do that," she said, sounding slightly less certain than her smile seemed to suggest.
But it was enough for Mi-chan. "Let's go get that hoagie sandwich, ne?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan checked out the refrigerator's contents with disappointment.
"You know, Mom had to know we were going to be home alone for awhile. She could have left us some decent food."
Neko looked over her shoulder into the fridge. There looked to be lots of stuff to eat in there to her. At the risk of her ignorance of such things shining through, she pointed out her observation to Mi-chan.
Mi-chan glanced back into the fridge and shrugged. "There's nothing good. We need sandwich stuff. And hey, we'll get you some coffee ice cream!"
"Sure, okay." Neko didn't really know what was good, so she'd just trust Mi-chan to feed her until she got a better idea of what she did or did not like.
"Come on, you can help me shop," Mi-chan offered, knowing all too well that Neko would agree, happy to be feeling useful and to go out somewhere.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi usually loved Advanced English, but today she couldn't keep her mind on it. She tried her best to concentrate on Eikaiwa-sensei, but even when she managed to keep her eyes open, she found her mind wandering to the subject of Neko.
She was glad that she was Eikaiwa-sensei's favorite student. She always turned her stuff in on time and had the top score in the entire class, so it was unlikely that, even if Eikaiwa-sensei caught her sleeping in class, she was going to make an example of Tenshi. After being out for a day, she was sure her favorite teacher would understand that there was probably a good reason that she was so distant today.
There was a good reason. Besides her preoccupation with Neko, she also hadn't gotten a full night's sleep since Friday night. Saturday night she had been awake all night, waiting to hear any news about her sick fianc�e. And the next two nights she had been on the quest, keeping watch for part of the first night and trying to find and make things right with Neko last night.
She supposed she should have slept instead of stargazing with Neko the first night. As it was, she had left her before she had acted on the emotions that had hit her while in that romantic setting, but just having those emotions kept her from sleeping well during the short time she had between that point and her watch. She imagined how it might have been if she had stayed. Would she have admitted everything then? Would she have acted? Would things have been different if her love for Neko had come out at such an obviously romantic interlude? Or at a point where Neko's natural reaction would have been to run to Mi-chan rather than running off and finding Jasper instead?
Her head bobbed as she nodded off again, her daydream turning into a real dream of how things might have been. Instantly she jerked awake, praying nobody had noticed. Somebody had, but it was just one of her friends, Rika.
"What's up?" she mouthed to Tenshi. Tenshi just shook her head in response. Rika didn't need to know all about Neko's condition right now. She'd probably tell her eventually, especially when Rika started asking about why they broke up and why Neko wasn't pole vaulting the way she used to, but not today.
*Pay attention, Tenoh!* she ordered herself, looking back to the front of the class, where poor Eikaiwa-sensei was talking mostly to herself. But no sooner had she resolved to keep up with their lecture than her mind was back in the forest where she had messed everything up so horribly. And as this was her favorite non-P.E. class, she didn't hold out much hope for learning anything today.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
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