"Oh, good. I just wasn't sure because you're being all cryptic and I can't remember what happened, so I thought maybe that's why."
"Oh, gomen. He didn't. He� he probably likes you more now, actually."
"Oh good." Mi-chan reveled in this thought and forgot about pestering Neko-chan about the dance more. *That's it! That boy is going to start hanging out with me more, if it's the last thing I do.*
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko couldn't concentrate on the pre-calculus book she was studying from. The good news was that she had already learned about derivatives in physics last year when they were in school on Mercury, so even though it was new subject material to prepare them for the next term, it was mostly review for her and Mi-chan.
Mostly she was extremely excited that Tenshi-kun was coming home. But a small part of her was a little worried. When Tenshi-kun had left, she hadn't really said much of a good-bye to Neko. Now mostly that was because she was trying to get Puroko-chan away from Kou-kun, who was threatening to give her caffeine. But what if Tenshi-kun didn't like Neko as much as Neko had thought? What if Neko had just assumed that because she felt that way, Tenshi-kun obviously would too? What if she had misinterpreted Tenshi-kun's feelings for her?
Neko knew she was just being paranoid - Tenshi-kun had more than once shown that the attraction was mutual - but she couldn't help it. Besides Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama were both here and that made her even more nervous.
She tried to read the page she was looking at for the 20th time, when Michiru-sama put her hand on Neko's shoulder, causing her to jump. "Neko-chan, Tenshi and Puroko's plane has landed."
"Oh!" Neko closed her book and put it in her book bag. She got up and followed Haruka-sama and Michiru-sama to join the crowd of people picking up the plane's passengers.
Surprisingly, Puroko-chan was easier to spot coming off the plane than Tenshi-chan. "Mama! Papa!" She ran through the door and into her parents' arms. "We got to fly first class and they gave us ice cream and soda before we took off and there was a movie. Well, it was in English 'cuz we were coming from America, but it had these kawaii animals. And we flew right over a volcano when we took off and Tenshi was scared," Puroko-chan nodded seriously, "but I wasn't. Oh! And we got to see the ocean and Tenshi bought me this shirt�." Puroko-chan showed off her new shirt that said "Hawaii rocks!" in English with a picture of an erupting volcano on it. Then she seemed to notice Neko standing behind her parents. "Hey, Neko-san! Did you come to pick me up too?! Yay! You're my new best friend!"
Neko couldn't help but giggle as the girl dragged her over to join her parents. Neko moved a little bit off to the side as Puroko-chan started animatedly talking to her parents again.
"Hey, Mama, Papa, did you know Neko-san came to say goodbye to me when I left too? Did you know that 'cat' means 'neko' in English? It was in the movie. Anyway, in Hawaii, we went to the ocean and I got some shells and some cool rocks. And I saw some dolphins! Really, I did! And later, we�."
"Konban wa," said a soft tenor voice to Neko's right. In Puroko-chan's excitement, Neko had almost forgotten why she had really come. She turned and looked at the blond who was standing there, holding Puroko-chan's backpack over her left shoulder. She apparently had also bought a shirt in Hawaii for herself - a short black halter top that said "Hawaii" on it in bright blue. She was wearing black hipster jeans and stylish black boots and the whole outfit just looked great on her. Neko had to fight hard to keep from blushing.
"Kiddo, this is yours," Tenshi-kun gave the backpack to Puroko-chan and then gave each of her parents a hug. "Hey, Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama."
"Hey, Tenshi. So you had a little free time in Hawaii, ne?" teased Haruka-sama.
"Ano, by the time we got there, the Negaverse energy wasn't there anymore, so we had to find things to do until our flight back." Tenshi-kun looked a little sheepish.
Neko was beginning to feel a little like she was spying on a family reunion, until Tenshi-kun turned to her and said, "Koneko-chan, I heard you had to fight Jadeite! Daijoubu ka? "
Neko nodded. "Hai, we-"
But she was cut off by Tenshi-kun who suddenly hugged her. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be here to fight with you." Her voice dropped so that Neko could hear alone. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be here with you."
"I missed you," Neko whispered back.
"Tenshi!" Puroko-chan tugged on her sister's arm. "I wanna give Neko-san a hug too. Stop hogging her all to yourself."
Neko giggled. She bent down and gave Puroko-chan a hug too. "Crystal Tokyo isn't the same without you, Puroko-chan."
The little girl blushed and ran back to Haruka-sama. She tugged on her sleeve and whispered loudly, "Papa, can we get some coffee ice cream for Neko-san 'cuz she came to see me?"
The whole group, except for Puroko-chan, laughed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Mi-chan lay in bed trying to fall asleep. She and Ryo had just finished another of their late night talking-over-hot-cocoa sessions and now she was a lot less wound up. So she should have been able to fall asleep. But she was still having trouble.
At least Neko-chan was already asleep. There had been a short period of time after the dance when Mi-chan was falling asleep before Neko-chan was. This made Mi-chan very nervous. First of all, it meant that Mi-chan had been out of it enough to fall asleep relatively easily, despite whatever dream she might have. Second of all, Neko-chan must have been pretty shaken up by whatever had happened at the dance to be kept up at night. She usually had no problems falling asleep. And finally, there was always a chance that if Neko-chan was awake while Mi-chan was asleep, she'd pick up on Mi-chan's nightmare. And Mi-chan didn't want that.
After more than an hour, Mi-chan decided that this was ridiculous. She looked at the alarm clock and sighed. It was almost 3am. *Why the hell am I still awake?*
Suddenly, Neko-chan stirred. Mi-chan glanced in the direction of Neko-chan's bed and saw that her sister was actually getting up. *That's weird. I should've felt her wake up.*
