"You renamed yourself for Amethyst's team, you could rename yourself for Eryx," she pointed out. It wasn't as if she was telling him to do it, or even suggesting that he should. It was simply an observation she seemed to be making.
An observation he adopted wholeheartedly. "Would you name me, Hime-chan?"
"Oh!" Neko blushed. "I- uh, I guess. Um�." She absentmindedly began to draw on his chest with her finger, thinking about an appropriate name for him. "You work with water, right?" she asked, drawing a teardrop shape.
He nodded. He was a hydrologist on Eryx and when he was part of Army/Team Eclipse, his attacks had been storm-based. He had always loved the water, even studying it before he had met Amethyst.
She drew a heart on his chest, making his own beat quicker - quite the opposite from her next words. "You always seem so calm, Jasper-kun. I love that about you. You make me feel better whenever I'm upset or frightened. And I think I could probably tell you anything. I-" She paused a moment, and he waited with bated breath.
"Hey, how about 'Heisui'?" His spirits fell as she told him merely his newly chosen name. But it was good, "calm water" - it suited him well� most of the time, at least.
"You don't like it?" she asked, crestfallen, interpreting his disappointed expression as being related to the name.
"Oh, no, it's good. Heisui Jasper. It's fine. Better than Heki Gyoku, that's for sure."
She looked at him curiously, but he shook his head, not really wanting to go into detail on his attempt to recruit Jian-wa for Team Eclipse.
"Ok, Hekigan-kun!" she sang, totally botching the name he had just told her.
He laughed. "You're so kawaii, Neko-chan! Like a koneko."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Don't call me that!" She suddenly found herself on her feet, turning away from Jasper. She stared off in the distance, trying to figure out why she was so upset. Then she remembered - that was what Tenshi called her.
"Hime-chan?" She could feel Jasper stand up behind her, worried that he had somehow insulted his princess.
"Koneko are dumb. They're little and helpless and cute, and that's all. Don't call me something so worthless!"
"Gomen nasai. That's not what I meant by it. It's� not what Tenshi-san means by it either, you know."
"I don't care. I hate her! I refuse to be her pet, and I don't want her nickname!" She didn't want anything to connect Jasper and Tenshi. They were completely different. Jasper was practically her best friend� maybe more�. She wasn't sure, but she did know that he was much better than Tenshi.
She turned back towards Jasper, tears rolling down her cheeks. He looked like he wanted to cry too. She remembered what he had said about his heart breaking when she cried, and instantly forgave him. "Jasper-kun!" she sobbed and ran back to him. She hugged him, waiting for him to tell her it was alright. Waiting to feel better. Finally, his arms wrapped around her, and he hugged her back.
"Shh, it's okay. I won't use the nickname; it's not mine to use. Please, Neko-chan, I can't stand to see you cry."
Once again, his soothing voice worked wonders and managed to ease her confusion and grief. "Jasper-kun," she said softly, "do you want to go somewhere else? Spend more time with me? You don't hate me now, do you?"
"Of course not!" Jasper assured her quickly. "I'd love to go anywhere with you."
She smiled bashfully at him. "Okay. Oh, but my rose! I left it by the rock."
Jasper instantly went to retrieve it for her, which she thought was sweet of him. He bent down and picked it up the forgotten rose and brought it back to her. She blushed as he handed it to her for the second time.
"Arigatou," she said, taking it from him.
But suddenly a flash of pain crossed his face. "Ouch!" he cried out in surprise and retracted his hand.
"Oh, let me see!" She took his hand in her own. She looked at his extended index finger where a bead of blood appeared from the thorn's prick. "Can you heal it?" she asked hopefully.
But he simply shook his head. "Only other people," he informed her. "Don't worry, Neko-chan, it's not that bad."
She examined his finger, sad that he wouldn't be able to fix it. It didn't seem fair, she thought, that he could heal anyone but himself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jasper didn't like having Neko worry about him, especially for something so small. "Neko-chan�," he started, moments away from pulling his hand away.
But before he could, Neko lifted his finger to her mouth. He gasped lightly as she pressed the tip of his finger to her lips and gently sucked the blood from it. He didn't dare move for fear that Neko would stop what she was doing. He relished the feeling of her lips on his skin, even if it was just to his fingertip.
After about a minute, Neko withdrew his hand. "It stopped bleeding," she said softly, her eyes fixed on the wound. "Does it hurt still?"
"N- No." Nothing hurt. It felt like the rest of his body was numb, and he was lucky he could continue standing. But his finger tingled where she had touched it.
She smiled shyly at him. "See, I can heal too!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Jasper and Neko strolled down the street, enjoying the ice cream cones he had just bought them.
"Mmm," Neko sighed, as she licked her ice cream. "Mi-chan was right, this is good."
"They say it's your favorite." Jasper had to laugh at how she was practically inhaling it.
"I hope Mi-chan got some�." Her pace slowed, and she paused in her enjoyment of the cone. "Do you think she's worried about me?"
"No doubt about it," Jasper muttered. To her, he said, "It's getting kind of late, you know. Maybe I should get you home."
She looked up at the sky and then, remembering her watch, checked out the time. "Yeah, I guess so."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
SLAM!
BANG!
WHAM!
"God damn it! Where the hell is it?"
Mi-chan had been storming all over the house, waiting for Neko to come home. About an hour ago, she had decided to go out back and practice her fencing. Nothing could burn off her anger better than a) riding her dirt bike or b) fencing. She couldn't leave the house because she kept hoping Neko'd come home, so she had decided to find the foil she had received for Christmas from her ever-so-considerate boyfriend (who, she was happy to
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