Author's Notes: Just a quick little note to Kamilia - You gotta trust Honoka and Rin a bit more than that. When have they ever done something reckless? ... Wait, don't answer that.
Seriously though, we shall see~ I try not to give spoilers, which is sometimes helped when I don't know where I'm going per chapter. You all are so great though! Thank you for so much continuing to read and comment, especially if this chapter doesn't scare you off. The angst is so real.
He stayed at the hospital late into the night. He was dedicated to his job, to saving lives. It seemed wrong, even immoral to hate someone like that, but she did. Maki hated this man who had so unfairly replaced her in her parents' hearts.
She knew that it was wrong. He didn't choose to be born, and she doubted that he spent every night taking great pride in having what should be hers. Rational thought held no place when emotions were in full control of her brain, however, so nearly every night she sat and watched, waiting for him to leave so she could glare at him, to curse his name while having only enough logical control to not run out there and yell at him. What good would that do, to reveal herself? It wasn't his fault, but oh God how much she hated him.
All the time she spent keeping up appearances, all the years she'd spent bottling up her emotions, it all came crumbling down whenever he would walk through those doors. For nearly two weeks she snuck out when Nico was busy, and she allowed herself to give in to her stupid, illogical emotions. No matter how many times she told herself that this was dangerous, on top of being unhealthy, she would keep coming back, deliberately staring at and misconstruing his smiles through wet, wavering eyes. Five minutes of breaking down was all she would allow herself, and then she would return to the Yazawas before anyone noticed her continued disappearance.
Tonight she decided to splurge and gave herself six minutes. It was probably the worst night out of the last two weeks, when he walked out of the hospital with his - her - aging father. Seeing him made it even worse, and she was already crying nearly a minute ahead of schedule. Silent sobs wracked her body as she tried to watch them through a waterfall, reaching out with her arm as if she could touch them, interact with them. They walked away without noticing her presence, like always, like it was supposed to be. If she didn't have that medicinal training still memorized in her mind, she would have truly believed her heart had snapped right in half.
Six minutes. That was more time than she had, and they were gone anyway. Even though her eyes were still stained with tears, she needed to go. Cleaning herself off as best she could, she forced herself to slip back into a calm, disinterested mood as she shifted back into her feline form and went back home.
Nico was still showering when Maki returned to her room. This allowed her to compose herself further before anyone attempted to interact with her. Beyond the sounds of running water, another sound reached Maki's heightened ears, and they were distinctly human. An intruder? Making sure her pawsteps were as silent as possible, she slipped out of Nico's room and made her way to the living room, pressing against the wall so to remain unseen. Slowly she poked her head around the corner, looking over every darkened part of the house, but her gaze was pulled towards the couch when another noise came from that area.
When she finally realized what was going on, her eyes widened in initial shock, but soon enough they were narrowing in another, angrier emotion. It wasn't an intruder, but this was definitely worse. The problem wasn't that Nozomi was laying on the couch, because that was where she slept. The problem also wasn't that she had her arms wrapped around another person who was laying atop her. That may have been mortifying to see, but it was her decision to do what she wanted. No, the problem here was the who, the decidedly feminine body laying oh-so comfortably atop Nozomi, the decidedly feminine body with the unmistakably blonde hair, the decidedly feminine body with the unmistakably blonde hair who was in so much trouble!
Maki found herself shifting back into human form as she stomped over to the couch and grabbed the blonde by her shirt, yanking the surprised woman up hard and forcing her to stare into a pair of furious amethyst eyes. "Eli! What the Hell do you think you're doing?!"
"M-M-Maki!" Eli's eyes were wide and fearful, like a deer caught in the headlights while making out with her charge! She tore her eyes away from her friend and tried to look at Nozomi for help, but her charge was just as stunned as she. This was bad. This was really bad. Slowly, tentatively, like a child who was caught doing something bad, Eli looked back at Maki, shrinking back instantly.
The redhead was glad that it was dark, because in the light Eli would have definitely noticed the crimson hue that had taken over her face at the sight she had been forced to behold. This allowed her to maintain the advantage of righteous fury. "Rule one, Eli: we do not reveal ourselves to our charges! You told us that!"
"I-I know!" Eli tried to pull back any strands of dignity, but it was really hard to with Nozomi's hips still pressing against her own. "I-It was an accident!"
"An accident?!" That excuse did not seem to work. "Do you have any idea how much trouble we're in now that she-" She pointed right at the still-unmoving Nozomi. "-knows?" The darkness lifted, causing all three girls to blink at each other in confusion. Three pairs of eyes turned towards the switch, where a still-wet and towel-clad Nico was staring at them with a nonplussed expression.
"Nozomi, are you having a three-way on a school night?" If it wasn't for the fact that there were three sleeping children in the house, Maki would have screamed to high Heaven. Eli could only wonder if there was a prayer in the world that could bring her forgiveness.
"Nicocchi..." Nozomi finally spoke, a small frown on her face, but quickly the corners of her mouth turned upwards. "You know I wouldn't do something like that without inviting you." Nico scowled while the two guardians did rather nice impressions of a tomato. This was not the best time for Nozomi to start teasing someone.
"Just... Ugh, just get these two bimbos out of my house."
"Bimbo?!" Maki had found her anger again, and before Eli could beg her to not cause a scene, the redhead had crossed the room and was glaring down at Nico. "I am not involved with them," she hissed, and if it was possible steam would have been pouring out of her ears.
"Look, I don't care what you're doing, just don't do it in my-" Her voice died when she looked into those eyes. Those wet yet fiery pools of violet looked so familiar, too familiar. "Princess...?" No, that wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible. Just because this random girl had the same eyes as her cat... and her hair color was the same as her fur, did not mean that this human was her cat. Nope, no way no how. That did not make sense, and she was not liking how no one was immediately asking her what kind of ridiculous thing she was talking about.
"Why aren't you denying this?" The redhead was seemingly frozen in shock, and the other two just seemed ashamed. No, no, absolutely not. "You are not a cat. This is not happening. Nozomi, say something!" But Nozomi said nothing, and now Nico was standing there having to contemplate something very stupid: that she was talking to a cat.
"I am going to get dressed, and you are all going to tell me just what the hell is going on."
Nico was not ready for this. Just like Nozomi before her, Eli - now teaming with an unhappy Maki - had to explain to her the whole story of the guardians, and how she was some sort of loser who needed a guardian angel to keep them on the right path. That wasn't exactly verbatim, but that's what Nico got out of it. Eli expected that Nico would take it in a similar way to Nozomi. She was not correct.
"So the Gods think I'm incapable of handling myself, then?"
"N-No! We're just here to be a silent but comforting presence for those who are going through a rough time."
"Supposed to be silent."
"Maki!" Eli felt greatly flustered, embarrassed at having been caught and now trying to push through it to explain themselves to someone who was not very happy about it. If she fainted, maybe she could get out of it.
"Well maybe Nozomi needs a..." She glanced between her and Eli, snorting derisively. "... cuddle buddy, but I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
"Try being a bit more grateful." Maki frowned and crossed her arms. "We're here for you both, you know."
"Well I don't need help," Nico growled pridefully, crossing her own arms even tighter. "And I don't need you either, Princess. I feel lied to." The change in Maki's eyes was immediate. Eli could almost feel the hurt emanating from her gaze, but she wasn't able to say anything before those eyes hardened angrily, the blonde's hands automatically finding Nozomi's and clutching them tightly.
"You're not the only one," she spat, standing up and giving Nico a glowering look before turning it on Eli, who flinched at the sight. "You deal with her. I'm done." She turned and stormed out of the room, ignoring Eli's quiet but frantic call for her to come back. The cloud of anger that had settled into the room followed Maki out, but it left an uncomfortable tension, where Nico realized that she may have said something wrong, and that she was also crazy for believing any of this.
"I don't get this at all," Nico groaned, rubbing two fingers against her temple. No wonder this was supposed to be secret: who could think they were sane after hearing all of this? She certainly didn't.
"It does take some time to get used to." Nozomi smiled sympathetically, but Nico couldn't deal with this. Her and Nozomi both had guardians, and they were cats, and they all were living under the same roof. No, this made no sense at all. In fact, she downright refused to believe it. Sure, the proof was right there in front of her, but she didn't know how she could continue to function properly with this knowledge hanging above her head.
"You know what, I'm going to bed. I am going to sleep, and when I wake up, this will all have been just a dream. You are just a normal high school student, Nozomi, and so am I. We both have normal, non-angelic cats, and they are just our pets and do not have human forms." Making sure to get her point across that everything was normal, she glared at the not-normal 'Venus'. "There will be no strangers in this house, and we will continue to lead our normal, non-insane lives. Do I make myself clear?" Nozomi and Eli could only nod silently, not willing to invoke Nico's anger so soon after dealing with Maki's. Like guardian, like charge, they guessed.
"Good. Now, goodnight." Nico stood up and walked back to her room, not giving either of them a second glance. Once she was out of sight, Eli let her head drop onto Nozomi's shoulder, sighing miserably.
"I messed up, Nozomi." Tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and with her hands being held by Nozomi, she couldn't bring them up to wipe them away. A shiver ran down her spine as she was mentally slammed by the gravity of their situation. She had already made a mistake by revealing herself to Nozomi, but now she had exposed Maki, and to both of their charges. Maki was furious and Nico was obstinate, and on top of all that, she had broken rule four. After all the rules she had propped up and then smashed without thought, this one was probably the one that hurt the most: she had grown feelings for her charge. The wrong kind of feelings.
Her hands were freed as Nozomi gently stroked her hair, and the comfort she felt only served to make her feel more guilty and so much worse. How could she be a guardian now, much less a mentor, with her casual disregard for the rules? She hated how positively her body responded to each caress from her charge's soft hands, from each kiss placed upon her forehead. How could her heart feel so alight with passion while her brain felt beyond horrible?
"I messed up. I messed up." People would get suspicious. Would Nico tell anybody? Now Maki seemed farther off than ever. How could she face Honoka and Rin now that she had made things that much worse? This was her fault. It was all her fault, and no matter how good it felt to curl up closer to the warm body silently consoling her, it just served to highlight how bad she had been.
"I messed up." Nozomi could never just be her charge anymore, and that meant everything she had so carefully cultivated, everything she had built up, was laying in ruins before her. There was nothing else to say: she had messed up.
A pair of violet eyes watched from the corner of the room as Nico walked in and flopped down on the bed, letting out a muffled groan into the bedsheets before going quiet. Ever since she had stormed out, Maki had returned to her feline form and sheathed and unsheathed her claws in frustration. The carpet wasn't happy with her actions, but she held nothing but disdain for it. It wasn't her job to care about Nico's stupid carpet. She felt so low.
Her mind was being assaulted by many violent emotions, all fighting for control. She was angry at Eli for revealing them, and Nico for being so rude, and him for... for existing. Maybe she was angry with herself for allowing her emotions to control her actions, but she was more angry with them. They did things without thinking, without caring. Nico didn't need her, Nico didn't care about her.
What did that matter though? It was only her job to be there for Nico, and Nico didn't need her, so she didn't need to be there. Of course she would get stuck with a silly, stupid charge. The way she felt didn't matter, as long as Maki continued doing her job. No matter how her charge felt about her, she would stay and do her job, because that was what she was there to do. She wasn't going to allow anyone to doubt her commitment.
She didn't care. It wasn't important.
She hated how badly it hurt.
Author's Notes (2): Eli, the job. One job. You're getting a performance review, I swear. Now everybody's upset and angsting, dangit. Except for Nico, who is just dreaming. It's all a dream, right Nico? Delusion is one hell of a drug. Maybe this is too angsty. I'm much more into writing that than fluff, but that may not be the best. I'll do my best Umi honor apology for your forgiveness. Next time: flashbacks, and Honoka and Rin finding fun things to do!
Also, the song "Clouds" by Neva Dinova is great. That's my recommendation for the day.