"Neko-chan," she said a tiny bit louder. Still nothing.
Neko-chan was definitely getting up though. Yet Mi-chan still couldn't sense anything from her, which was extremely strange. She was beginning to get worried. Neko-chan had never sleepwalked before and Mi-chan wasn't sure what to do about it. She knew that she should avoid touching Neko-chan, but she wanted to get her back into bed.
"Neko-chan!" She got up and followed her twin out the bedroom door, wanting to see where she went.
But when Neko-chan got to the stairway, Mi-chan grabbed her. There was no way in hell that she was going to let Neko-chan walk down the stairs while asleep. That was a good way to get both of them hurt.
To her surprise, Neko-chan still didn't wake up. "Neko-chan, wake up!" She shook her and nothing happened. In fact, the sleeping Neko-chan still seemed intent on going downstairs. "Neko-chan!" In an act of desperation, Mi-chan slapped her sister across the face.
That woke Neko-chan up. "M- Mi-chan?" she asked, still in the process of awakening. "What- You hit me?" she asked in a hurt voice.
"Gomen nasai, Neko-chan," Mi-chan rubbed her own cheek, which stung a tiny bit as well. "But you were walking in your sleep. I had to wake you up."
"I was?" Neko-chan shook her head to clear it. She looked around her as if to get her bearings. "I-" Suddenly, she closed her eyes and put her hand to her head. Her arm reached out to Mi-chan to steady herself. "Ow."
"Neko-chan?" Mi-chan didn't feel anything.
"I'm ok. It's just a headache." Mi-chan didn't quite believe her. Neko-chan still looked like she was in pain. "Let's go back to bed, ne?"
"Ok," Mi-chan reluctantly agreed that that would probably be best.
They started back, but before they got there Neko-chan grabbed the wall to catch her balance again. Mi-chan felt a slight dizziness and headache, but nothing that she should have been feeling if Neko-chan was in that much pain. "Neko-chan!" she cried.
Neko-chan leaned against the wall. "No, I'll be fine. Just give me a second."
"No way. I'm getting Mom and Dad."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Iya, Mi-chan!" Neko called out weakly, but it was no use. She couldn't stop her twin.
She sat down against the wall and hugged her knees, resting her pounding head on them. *Kami, what's going on? What's wrong with me?!* Despite what she had told Mi-chan, she really didn't think that she was ok. Naturally, she had had headaches before. Even earlier today she had had a small one. But nothing compared to this. Her head throbbed and she was pretty sure that she had never sleepwalked before. A week ago, she would've been ready to blame it all on lack of sleep, but the last few days she'd been sleeping fine, especially after the fight with Jadeite.
"Neko-chan?" Mi-chan returned with both her parents in tow.
Neko got up, glad that the pain had subsided enough to keep her balance at least. She knew that she wasn't going to get away with an "I'm fine" while her parents, the doctors, were there. Especially since Ryo was psychic. They'd know better.
She smiled weakly at them through the pain and suggested, "I probably just need some sleep, ne?"
She wanted them to agree. To tell her that that was all that was wrong. That some aspirin and a few hours sleep was all she needed. That she'd be all better in the morning.
They didn't quite offer that assurance.
Ami did take her to bed and checked her temperature, but it was obvious to Neko that neither parent thought she had a cold. She gave Neko some pain medication and something to sleep as well. After a while, Ryo came into the room and said, "Ok, I called Neo-Queen Serenity-sama and warned them. They're going to check up on things in the morning." Ami nodded.
"Why'd you call the queen?" Mi-chan asked quietly.
Their parents looked at each other. "Girls," Ryo explained, "whatever's affecting Neko is being caused by negative energy. There is a low hum of negative vibrations that I can just barely pick up on. For some reason, Neko seems to have 'tuned into' whatever frequency they're on and it's affecting her." He looked from Mi-chan to Neko and back. "For some reason it's not affecting you, though, Michiru, which is odd. With your psychic link, you both should be on the same frequency."
As the medicine began to set in, Neko was having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She was vaguely aware of her parents discussing which of them would stay up and make sure that nothing else happened before drifting off to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
When Neko woke up, the sun was shining and Mi-chan was gone. She checked the alarm clock and realized that she was over an hour late for school. She ran down the stairs to find her okaa-san sitting in the family room, paperwork spread out across the table.
"Oh good, you're awake, dear. How do you feel?" Ami asked concerned.
Only then did Neko remember the events of the night before. The throbbing pain had been reduced to a light headache and she'd been so worried about being late for school that she had hardly noticed it.
"I'm much better, Mom, really. Ano, shouldn't you be at work?"
"I had a light day, so I offered to stay home with you. Besides we're waiting for the other Senshi to get back to us with information, so it's best that somebody stay at home anyway."
"Oh. Well, what about school?"
"Neko, you're a good student. You can skip a day."
"No, I have test review in Modern Japanese. I won't know what to study!"
"Relax. Michiru will take good notes."
Neko wondered if her okaa-san had ever seen Mi-chan's notes. And that was when she took any at all. *Mi-chan. Onegai, take good notes* she begged her sister.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
