by Amanda Sage
Mizuno Neko walked slowly to her locker, lost in thought. She had managed to avoid having to go with Mi-chan to lunch by telling her that she had to go to her locker, but the truth was that she didn't want to get roped into practicing Kempo with Mi-chan and Jian-kun. She wasn't ready for that. Keeping Jian-kun's betrayal a secret from her twin was hard enough without him hanging around.
It was their first day back to school since the dance. The night when she had been betrayed by someone she had thought was her best friend. The night when Mi-chan had almost killed herself to save her family.
Neko shuddered as she opened her locker. She started to switch her morning class books for those in her later classes (which weren't many, since she had both P.E. and choir in the afternoon). Suddenly, she heard a quiet voice behind her call her name. She jumped half a mile, causing her books to spill out of her open bookbag. It was Jian-kun.
"Gomen nasai, Neko-chan," Jian-kun said as she bent down to pick up her books.
"Aren't you suppose to be practicing a kata with Mi-chan?" she replied icily. She had planned to be civil around him, but she was a little annoyed that he had snuck up on her and made her drop her stuff.
"Hai, but I was on my way when I saw you, and I wanted to give you something, but I was afraid you might not go practicing�." He cut himself off, realizing that he was speaking pretty quickly. Then he said more slowly, "I wanted to thank you and Mi-chan for helping me, for not killing me too. And to say 'gomen nasai,' so I got you guys some flowers. I know it doesn't make up for it, or anything, but I felt like it might help a little."
Neko looked up from where she was picking up her books. He looked much more nervous than he sounded. She remembered what Tenshi-kun and her Otou-san had told her, that Neo-queen Serenity-sama had pardoned him and that Otou-san had done a psychic check on him to make sure he was truly beyond the evil that had held him before. She sighed as she put the last book in her bag. She knew she should give him a chance, but it was hard, knowing that he had probably never really been her friend. In fact, if he had been acting the whole time she had known him, she didn't have a clue who he was at all.
But Neko did want to believe that he was really good. And she could see he had gotten flowers for her and Mi-chan. It was kinda kawaii because he had gotten Mi-chan a dozen, so it looked like girlfriend flowers, not apology flowers. She smiled hopefully and took the hand he had offered to help her up.
She started to stand up, but suddenly got dizzy. Her vision blurred and she felt her energy drain away.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Tenshi was walking to Calculus II with Rika and her new guy (Toyuke or something like that - Tenshi couldn't really remember his name). They were discussing American politics, having just come out of Advance English class, but Tenshi's mind was somewhere else.
They rounded the corner and suddenly she stopped dead in her tracks.
"Ne , Tenshi-san?" Rika asked. Rika always used "san" because she was so impressed with Tenshi's ability to pole vault and because Tenshi had famous parents. Rika had always been impressed by this. Tenshi actually didn't really like being called "san" by her schoolmates, but she wasn't really in the frame of mind to correct her at this moment.
"Ano, Rika-chan, can you guys go ahead of me? I just remembered something I need to do."
"Hai, just be sure not to be late. You know how Umino-sensei gets when we're tardy."
"Hai. Ja na!"
Rika and her guy ran off, but Tenshi didn't move. Through the crowd she could see Neko-chan! Several thoughts went through her mind. *She's back on campus. She's ok! I'll see her at pole vault today! I'll be able to ask her out to a movie, dinner, theater, concert - Kami, I don't even know what she'd like!* Tenshi realized that they really didn't know each other that well, even though it seemed like they'd known each other forever.
The crowd started to thin as students began to go back to their classes or the lunch room. Most people didn't hang out in the halls during lunch. Tenshi was going to go talk to Neko-chan (although she had no idea what to say when she got there), but then she saw Jian-kun approach her. She thought better of going over there because she wanted Jian-kun to reconcile with Neko-chan. She truly had great faith in Ryo-sama and Neo-queen Serenity-sama when they had told her that Jian-kun was not evil. But she knew that Neko-chan was still guarded against him. So she watched and fought the urge to interfere.
But then something happened. Neko-chan had just gotten up with Jian-kun's help (after picking up all her books that she had spilled when he startled her), when suddenly she seemed to faint. Tenshi crossed the hall in a split second and caught her before she hit the ground.
"What happened to her?" she asked Jian-kun, confused.
Jian-kun was totally pale. "I didn't� I wouldn't� G- Gomen nasai!" He ran off.
Tenshi bit her lip. She hadn't meant for it to sound like an accusation, but it had come out that way. Then, turning her attention back to Neko-chan, she attempted to wake her up.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Neko blinked her eyes open and tried to figure out what had just happened. As her mind cleared, she looked to where Jian-kun had been, but he was no longer there. Her hand to her heart, she looked down and whispered sadly, "Jian-kun, how could you?"
"Neko-chan," a tenor voice said gently behind her.
Neko suddenly realized that despite the fact that she had obviously just passed out, she was not on the ground. Instead she seemed to be in the arms of� "Tenshi-kun!"
"Ano, Neko-chan, daijoubu ka?"
"Hai," she replied, but she knew that Tenshi-kun wasn't buying it. She was going to offer more assurances, but just then the bell rang signaling the beginning of class. Neko looked around and realized that the hallway was pretty much clear - even the looky-loos that had hung around when Neko passed out were no longer around.
"Tenshi-kun! You're missing class!"
Tenshi-kun smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry about it Koneko-chan . Besides, I'm taking you to the nurse's office."
"Iie, I'll be fine! Really." Neko didn't want Tenshi-kun to get in trouble, although she did still feel a little weak and her head hurt a little. "Go to calculus!"
Tenshi-kun then did something unexpected. She took Neko's face in her hands and kissed her on the forehead.
