AN: Ah! This should've been up yesterday but my best friend came over and stayed til 10:30pm. Then I typed this til sometime around three with broken glasses xD Despite being the one who writes this story, I have a weird excitement and enthusiasm and I can't wait to see where things will go, myself xD This chapter didn't go as planned. The things that were supposed to happen in here ended up getting split into two because this one ended up a lot longer than I expected. This will serve as a good intro for the third chapter though, so you guys keep your hats on for that!

Btw, last chapter's title was 'To Feel' and I had to use this one instead of what I had in mind.

Chapter Word Count: 3,452 word(s)
POV: Third person
Chapter Summary: Mio decided to investigate on the human girl. Mugi decided to help her friend. What do they find out? Whatever it was, it surely wasn't what they expected.

To Be Curious

The colors of the sky slowly changed from the darkness the early morning to twilight where day and night struggled and finally broke into dawn. Mio had spent all those hours standing alone on the beach and watched time crawl. Her unique irises mirrored the sky, shifted from dark orbs that cradled numerous tiny specks of starlight to the twilight hour's battle of light and dark and lastly to the sun rise. Thoughts and worries plagued her mind about the previous night's happenings.

What had happened to her? What had she done? What had gone through her mind? Did she even have control over her mind? Why had she reacted that way?

And above all those, who was the girl?

Mio had the gut feeling that if she found out the answers to the last question, she would surely and easily find the answers to the rest.

After Mugi left, she realized that the man who had attempted to hurt her friend's ward was still prone on the ground. The man had been sobbing the whole time, unaware of what had transpired between the two angels. The thoughts that entered her mind then shocked her. How pathetic... How disgusting… One of the lowest of their kind…

Her eyes widened right after those thoughts passed through her head. She then realized that it probably was from residual anger. Anger…

It seems that she tainted herself once again. She felt so much more last night than she's ever felt in her millennia of existence. She had gone from greedy, angered, and terrified all in a matter of seconds. What was wrong with her?

She could have blinked herself to the beach so easily if she wanted to. That night, she chose to walk like a normal human being. She let herself get lost in her own head. It wouldn't be smart of her to just leave things be and forget about everything. No, she had to figure this out. She needed to. Badly…

What if she had some kind of disease? She would need to be cured right away…

And as she hammered her head with question after question, hypothesis after hypothesis, she also watched time crawl oh so painfully slow. Despite being caught up in her wonderings, she was hyperaware of the seconds that ticked by.

Time did not matter to angels as they would live for all eternity, as long as the Maker would let them live. At least, it was not supposed to. Many came to not even bother looking up at the sky other than during sun rise because they never needed to find out what time it was.

Maybe, Mio thought, this would be my last sunrise as an angel. Maybe I would soon lose it all. Maybe that's why I'm all too aware of every single thing. Every cricket, every cloud, every breeze…

Mio hoped that this was not the case.

The angels slowly trickled into the beach. The sun rise was merely minutes away.

As each angel blinked themselves to the beach, they sent her a glance; another unusual thing. Angels never gossiped, it was too lowly for them. But if they did and if they could, they would've all gathered around then and there and talked endlessly about Mio. The fact that they knew did not surprise her, though.

That was such a strong barrier of light. In no way could it have gone unnoticed and not have caught at least two or three angels' attention.

In order to use the light barrier, one of the powers of intervention, angels must have wills strong enough to beckon the energy of pure light to them. Although not exactly considered a rare power, not all angels have the ability to do this.

But she just did that in a fraction of a second with such intensity out of the urge to protect the human.

Protect?

Before she could react to that and dissect her thoughts, she felt a hand lay gently on her shoulder and she turned. Mugi's long wavy locks swayed behind her as her friend smiled sweetly at her.

The sun peeked over the horizon and the invisible orchestra once again played the most beautiful melody. Mio turned to face the sun once again and stretched out her arms, her wide sleeves flowed beautifully with the breeze.

If the Maker wanted to punish her for what she had done the perfect time for that would be now.

Mio closed her eyes. She waited and waited. Seconds went by, then minutes. Nothing happened. The trumpets and harps and horns played on. She felt warm and her chest swelled.

The sun rose higher and the sounds faded. Mio opened her eyes.

"See, Mio? The Maker understood."

Mugi took her friend's hands into hers for the second time in all the millennia they have known each other. If angels had tear ducts, Mio would have had tears in the corners of her eyes. She turned to her friend and smiled genuinely and beautifully.

"Mio-senpai… Mugi-senpai…"

Behind Mugi, came the voice of their junior, noticeably quieter with a tinge of uncertainty. Her head was bowed slightly. They both turned to Azusa. Mugi moved a step to her right to allow the younger angel to come closer to the two of them.

The junior reflexively took a step forward, pigtails going along with the small movement, and raised her chin but kept her line of sight to the ground. The two older angels waited for her to ask the question they both knew was bothering her.

"Senpais, forgive me for being rude!"

She bowed from the waist and the action surprised Mio and Mugi a bit.

"But, I must ask…"

Her voice once again grew quiet but her seniors' hearing picked it up clearly.

"Are… are the rumors true?"

Azusa hesitated then closed her eyes and let the question fly out. She had to know. She absolutely had to. She defended her senpai with all the passion an angel could muster. As she blinked herself to the beach she overheard an angel a few feet from her tell another that her beloved Mio senpai had called on such a powerful light barrier last night to protect another angel's ward. She heard them say that her senpai had tainted herself with one of the foulest of elements, greed. She turned to those angels and told them that it wasn't true, that her Mio-senpai would never do such a thing. They only looked at her blankly then turned to the sun.

"It depends… Were those rumors about me calling on a barrier of light to protect Mugi's ward out of greed?"

Azusa shot up straight. The human was Mugi-senpai's? Her iris skies turned to her other senior who only looked back at her with a small smile. There was never a time when Azusa saw her senpai without a sweet smile on her face.

"Y-yes…"

She looked down again, embarrassed that she could ask such a thing. She should have more faith in her senpais.

"Indeed, they are true."

Mugi answered and her junior looked up to see if she was serious. Azusa's eyes widened.

"But don't you think I would have been punished by now?"

The junior turned to her Mio-senpai and nodded slightly, not really understanding what her senior meant.

"Azusa, that means, whatever was the reason for what Mio did, the Maker understood and He does not fault Mio for it."

The junior paused and thought for a second. She then realized her Mugi-senpai was right and so she allowed herself to smile at her Mio-senpai and nodded. The two older angels just smiled at their junior, happy that she believed in them.

"Senpais, I have to start on my rounds now. Thank you for understanding and not being offended."

She dipped her head quickly once more.

"See you next sunrise."

"Ah, it's us who must thank you, Azusa… Thank you for believing us. We will definitely see you next sunrise."

The second sphere angels waved to Azusa just before the girl blinked herself out of the beach.

The smile disappeared from Mio's face right after the second their junior did. She turned to her friend and took the hand that was near hers.

"Mugi, I have to ask you something… About that human last night…"

"Ah, you mean my ward, Ritsu?"

The two friends looked into each other's eyes; irises of the morning sky met similar ones and both pairs searched the other. They have known each other for so long and have learned to hear what the other left unsaid.

"Mugi, is there anything special about this human? I have been thinking about what transpired last night and I have so many questions I can't find the answers to…"

"Ah…"

Mugi put an index finger to her chin and thought about all the details about the human's life. Her ward was a drummer, loud, oftentimes lazy, sometimes greedy, and even a little bit manipulative. No… Nothing special… Just another normal human….

Mugi shook her head.

"Sorry, Mio, but no, other than her love for music; she's just like the others."

For some reason Mio could not understand, she felt a tinge of disappointment. Somewhere deep inside, she had wished that Mugi would say that the human was extraordinary, that she was almost like a mortal angel. All these new and foreign sensations frightened Mio. She swore to herself that she would figure things out somehow.

"Well, we better start on our rounds. We're the only ones left here on the beach once again. I'll see you, Mio."

The angel's smile grew and she waved just before she blinked herself out. Mio looked up to the sky. Help me figure things out? She asked the Maker telepathically. He would hear her, she knew. He always does.

And Mio blinked herself to her first ward for the day.

Car horns blared and restaurants near corporate buildings filled with hurrying business men as noon came.

Mugi was almost done with her first round and she thought about her dear friend before she blinked herself to her next human, the girl from the incident last night.

The angel appeared in the girl's small apartment just as she brushed her teeth. Ritsu had a bandage that covered up the wound that went from her temple, down to just the side of her under cheek. The girl looked like she had just woken up and was getting ready to go to the music store where she worked.

Mugi had made sure to alter the girl's memory a bit, not really erasing anything, but just gave the her vague and fuzzy bits of memory of someone coming to her aid, bringing her home, tending to her wounds and leaving right after. Of all the celestial beings, angels had the most varied abilities because their job requires them to deal with a variety of humans.

The angel recalled the conversation between her and Mio. She wondered if there really was something about this human that she failed to notice all these years and that her friend sensed that night. She decided that she would stay and follow Ritsu for a while before she moved on to her next ward.

The girl had finished brushing her teeth and now combed her fingers through free bangs. She then pushed her forelock back and placed her favorite yellow band atop her head. She patted her white polo smooth, rolled her sleeves up until above her elbows and nodded approvingly at her reflection. She moved to retrieve her messenger bag, slinged it over her shoulder, her drumsticks poking out from under the flap, grabbed her keys and left the apartment.

Mugi stayed inside, standing in the middle of the small living room and held a hand up, the tips of her fingers almost touching her lips as she giggled.

There was an audible click from the door and the knob twisted and it creaked open as Ritsu reentered her home slumped with a hand scratching the back of her head.

"I forgot to put on shoes."

Ritsu sighed. Mugi nodded and the human passed by her unaware of the angel's presence. She went upstairs, removed the now dirty socks from the dirt outside, and put on white sneakers.

She locked her apartment door and thought of any other possible things she may have forgotten. Keys? Check. Phone? Check. Drumsticks? Check. Wallet? Oh, crap… Oh wait, there it is. Check. She then decided that anything else she might have left can't be of much importance. She jogged to the music store where she worked.

Mugi stayed inside the apartment for a while. She decided to snoop around for a bit since it would take a while before her ward reached her workplace.

Ritsu worked in the music store Sawa-chan was the manager and half-owner of. She would assist the woman with things regarding percussion instruments since Sawako only had little basic knowledge of those. She knew everything there was to know about the guitar and almost as much with the bass and a lot with the keyboards and pianos, but when it comes to drums she was no more than a beginner. Ritsu also works as a music teacher on Saturdays when there are parents willing to pay for their kids' lessons. Usually, she gets a handful of kids during summer vacation.

Mugi went into Ritsu's room and looked around. It seemed pretty normal to her, a bit messy, yes, but normal. She then notices a couple of tiny tomes lined up on a bedside desk. Wait, they called those books now, right?

She walked to the desk to do a closer inspection. If her human ward keeps any information that might help Mio and her to figure out what it was about the human that made her friend react the way she did it should be in these books, right? She stood right in front of the desk and picked up onethat had the label 'Vol. 1' on the spine and opened it to a random page.

If angels could blush, a pink hue would have covered Mugi's cheeks. She put a hand to her heart and couldn't control the smile that crept up her face, and her eyes began to sparkle.

What she picked up was a manga, and on the top of random page she opened was a picture of two women locked in an embrace, faces inches from each other, and lips parted.

She shook her head to try to focus on matters at hand. She had to help Mio. She reluctantly closed the book and placed it back where it was on the desk and blinked herself to Ritsu's work place.

She appeared right behind Ritsu, who was crouched to the floor tinkering with a bass drum's pedal behind the model set they had set up just behind the glass windows of the shop for passersby to see.

"Hey, Sawa-chan, any kids apply for drum lessons?"

Ritsu called out, without looking up from what she was doing, to the bespectacled woman who was currently doing an inventory check on her laptop for all the instruments they had.

"Nope."

Sawako worked on her computer, and also did not look up from the screen, the keys audible clicks the only other sounds that could be heard in the store. No customers had come for the day yet.

Just then, Mugi felt a presence near the door and her instincts proved her correct.

Mio just blinked herself in the store, eyes wide. She had just finished her first round and wanted to investigate on the human she saved. She impulsively decided to do so and never thought that she would see Mugi there, watching over the girl. Stupid… She is Mugi's ward… How could I not have considered it a possibility? Stupid, stupid.

"Oh, Mio! I never expected to see you before the next sunrise."

As usual, Mugi smiled warmly at her friend. She did not throw any words of accusation or insult at Mio. Mio was so grateful to have a friend like her. She smiled back with as much warmth.

"Neither did I... I just can't push the thoughts away and they have been nagging me as I made my rounds. I found it hard to focus... I decided I should go check the human out before I start my second."

Mio walked to where her friend stood over the girl who was busy still. The two angels just watched the human work until they heard the sound of the glass door of the shop open. All head turned angel and human, to see whoever it was that entered, and in the humans' case, if it was a customer.

Ritsu and Sawako deflated when they saw that it was a familiar face and not a customer. The two angels perked up with curiosity at the newcomer. Something about her was different… Something was out of place...

"Oh it's just you, Norimi."

Ritsu went back to her work.

"I thought it was a customer."

Sawako pouted and crossed her arms.

"What's with that? Not happy to see me?"

Norimi said with a smirk and cockily walked around Sawako's desk to stand beside the other woman. Sawako turned on her computer chair to face her.

The woman looked to be about Sawako's age, with really short hair and had three piercings on each ear. She had her hands on her hips, hips cocked slightly to the right and stood confidently. The angels watched her move, inspected her from head to toe.

What they did not see was that Norimi sent a fleeting look to their direction from the corners of her eyes.

She leaned down, and to the surprise of the angels in the store and to Ritsu's dismay, gave Sawako a lingering kiss on the lips.

The angels froze at what they saw. They hadn't expected that at all. They have heard about humans being with others of the same sex but never had the chance to see it firsthand. If their wards were like that, then they were clueless since they only get a few minutes for every single day with their humans, combined. There were too many to stay too long in one place.

Mugi's clear blue eyes sparkled and she clasped her hands and brought them to her chest where a human's heart would be. Mio was still paralyzed from shock and did not move.

Norimi and Sawako's kiss grew passionately as each second passed. Their mouths parted open and their tongues started a fiery dance.

"Geez! Get a room, will you? For crying out loud, this is my work place!"

Ritsu threw her arms up in exasperation and the two women pulled away from each other. Mugi visibly deflated and muttered a barely audible but obviously disappointed, 'oh'. Mio stayed frozen.

Just then something really odd happened that snapped the two angels out of their equal but completely different despairs.

Norimi looked directly at them and smirked.

Impossible! They both thought. The angels turned to each other with wide eyes to confirm if they both saw the same thing. They saw that they wore similar expressions and their heads whipped back to the woman.

Norimi was conversing with Sawako about something regarding stupid customers and disobedient staff.

"Did she just—."

Mugi's question was cut off.

"Of course not. That's impossible. She was probably looking at your human and her eyes probably just passed us, or something."

Mio was shaking her head. She felt something heavy at the bottom of her stomach but she brushed it aside. Humans can't see us. She told herself.

Mugi just nodded in agreement. She had her doubts, though. Too many freaky stuff happened, more than what's happened in all of her millennia. She's sure her friend felt the same, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"I think I should start on my second round."

Mio suddenly realized that she has spent too much time in the store. Mugi gave a small gasp, the tips of her fingers to her lips.

"I haven't even finished my first yet!"

They both nodded, an unspoken 'see you' in the air and blinked themselves out of the music store.

And once they were gone, Norimi's eyes went back to the spot where they stood, a smile played on her lips.

Somewhere up in the skies, the Maker watched. He 'tsked' disapprovingly when he saw his two angels spent more time than they could afford to waste at the store. And when the short haired woman entered, his brows shot up.

Ah, it's definitely gotten more interesting…

To Be Continued...

AN: This is definitely different from the things I usually write! I am having so much fun doing this! I know nothing much happened here and for that I am sorry. D: Promise I'll type chapter three once I get my glasses back, okay?

What do you guys think? All of your thoughts are welcome! :)

AN 2: I just edited a few sentences that were rough. :D Got my glasses back! Starting Chapter 3 once I post this.

~pineappurus