AN: I just lost 1,00 words in the next chapter. I feel like killing myself now. It was such an important part also. I was supposed to post this when the other one was finished so I could post that one right after. But then Microsoft Word decided to screw with me and I am very very unhappy right now. I will have to rewrite so much in the next chapter. I'm sorry if this update took a while. I needed to change so much in it. I'm also not sure when I'll post the next one now because I just feel like strangling someone.

Chapter Word Count: 3,577 word(s)
POV: Third person still
Summary: Mio goes through changes and unknowingly learns of another human trait. Meanwhile Ritsu meets her admirer Ichigo once again.

To Dare

Mio felt like her insides melt with the flames she saw in the human's eyes. There was raw emotion. A spark of admiration ignited in her for how unashamedly and openly the human displayed emotion. Like she was not embarrassed of the amount of fear she had that she just let it shine through her eyes, but at the same time her body tensed like it was ready to tackle whoever it was that was stalking her. She admired how the human was ready to act in spite of her fears; the fact that the human was willing to face them. Was that what they called courage?

"Who's there?"

Ritsu yelled, directed it at whoever had been following her the whole day, her voice showed no signs of terror despite of it being evident in her eyes. Mio would've clapped at commended her for how well she hid her fear had she not been paralyzed that moment.

"Show yourself!"

Ritsu then turned her head from side to side and scanned the hallway. Mio realized that the human still couldn't see her. But she knew the human could feel her. Somehow, Ritsu felt her presence and knew that she was there. The angel's terror passed but there were no words to explain the thrill that rushed through her when she realized the weight of the fact that now, the human could feel her.

Mio could affect the human now, just like how the human had affected her. There was an unexplainable excitement that welled in her chest.

Ritsu clenched her fists and her breaths came in short pants. The angel couldn't move. Mio once again was at a loss. Seconds passed, then minutes. After a while the human visibly relaxed and sighed.

Ritsu had chalked her weird feeling up to exhaustion and paranoia. She turned back to the doorway and went into the house and shut the door behind her. The girl leaned against the door, closed her eyes and massaged her temples, imagining the massive drumsticks of migraine beating at her skull. She tried to calm her breathing and steady emotions. It's all just paranoia. It's just me being irrational.

Ritsu took a long hot shower and had a cup of warm milk to calm her and help her sleep well.

Meanwhile, the angel stood still outside, a million thoughts going through her head and a million emotions went registered in her brain and it spread to fill her up to the tips of her fingers. For a moment the human had looked into her eyes and she had looked back, even if the human didn't really see her. The experience of staring into sharp amber eyes was so unique that it sent a jolt through her and hit her at her core. It was like her soul was plucked out of her and doused with ice cold water. Terrifying. Exhilarating. Nothing felt like it; nothing could ever compare.

Mio half-mindedly finished her round that night. Her body went through her duties as it had for millennia. For the first time, her mind was occupied by thoughts about the ordinary human girl who's extraordinary after all. What Mio didn't know was this was just the beginning of it all. This is just the starting point of the thread of firsts coming her way.

The angels gathered once again. The sun rose and the heavenly music played. Each guardian was caught in a trance, each guardian with arms outstretched like they were receiving the glory and warmth for the first time ever.

Mio, Mugi, and the junior Azusa stood side by side; two of them completely engulfed by the ritual, one was anchored by an inattentive mind and persistent thoughts. Mio's arms felt heavy and her eyes kept shifting, unable to stay still like a child's. She wiggled her toes in the sand and tried to see how deep she can push them in. She wasn't even aware that she was did all of this until a gentle hand laid upon her shoulder.

"Mio, is there something wrong?"

Mio turned to face her friend with huh written on her face, but when she saw the overwhelming amount of concern in the two pairs of sky orbs that looked back at her, she realized what she had done and the gravity of her actions hit her so hard that she had to look down in shame.

The sunrise, the harps, the horns, the trumpets, the warmth, the Maker… She didn't pay attention. She didn't listen. She wasn't caught in a trance like all the angels in the world would have been. What she did was a sign of disrespect; what she did would be seen as her rejecting the Maker's gift. She thought about all of the things her friends would think about her, would label her as. She thought of all the punishments the Maker would give her. She thought of being stripped of everything and everyone. A wave of emotions threatened to drown her once again. She opened her mouth to talk, to explain herself, to tell that that it's not how they think it is, to make up an excuse, to say anything that would help her argue her case if it ever came to her having to face the Maker. She came up with none.

"I… I… I…"

She repeated like a broken record. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish. Then she felt the hand on her shoulder squeeze and it pulled her back. She looked up at her friends' faces, into her friends' similar irises and what she saw there made her knees weak and her throat tighten; unmasked and unconditional care and care for her wellbeing.

Mugi and Azusa, with their angel's insight and intuition, relaxed and smiled softly at her when they saw that she finally realized that they weren't there to judge her. They were there to help Mio with whatever she was going through and be there for her no matter what happens. They've known each other for millennia and would not let the bond that was forged over thousands of years be of no worth by judging her and letting Mio go through this alone.

"Mio-senpai, is there something wrong?"

Compared to Mugi, Azusa knew absolutely nothing of what Mio has been going through for the past month. The only thing she knew about was the light barrier incident and nothing after it. There was no judgment in the junior's eyes and tone of voice. She knew her senpai, Mio and Mugi, took her under their wing for a few millennia after all and taught her so much. She would never abandon her senpai especially when her senpai needed her.

Mio appreciated the younger angel more than ever. She felt gratitude and pride over how far Azusa had come, from the uptight angel who would never spare a glance at those who she thought to have no respect for the angelic law to the angel with the soft worried eyes who stood in front of her now.

"Why don't we finish all the rounds for today and then meet up back here right after?"

Mio smiled and her two friends turned to each other and nodded. They said their goodbyes to each other and then blinked themselves out of the beach, eager to start the day and finish it all as fast as they could.

There was falling debris everywhere. Dust billowed and clouds of smoke rose to the sky and tainted it an ugly dark gray. A bomb was set off in a distance, the explosion sent shockwaves through the ground. There was chaos and madness and Commander Ritsu carried the injured woman with all of her might and ran to the nearest shelter.

She set the quivering lady safely against a boulder near the shore and quickly took out her walkie talkie.

"Captain Yui! Captain, can you hear me? We must evacuate Zipangu immediately! Gather the troops, those who are still able to should help a fallen comrade. Captain? Captain Yui?"

There was only static at the other end. Oh no… It can't be…

Just then the woman she carried in her arms stirred and looked at her with an expression she couldn't understand. There was something in her eyes that Ritsu couldn't explain. Suddenly lady's arm reached out to touch her cheek. The woman opened her mouth to speak but instead of words her ringtone came out.

Ritsu's eyebrows shot up. Huh, her ringtone?

Ritsu's eyes opened and she groaned. The cellular phone on her bedside table rang loudly and annoyingly. She touched the screen to see what time it was and who it was that called and ruined her sleep. It was Sawa-chan. Her caller ID was 'Psycho Old Lady'.

She pressed the green button to pick the call up.

"What is it that you want, Sawa-chan? Can't you see how early it still is? I don't have to go to the store for another hour and a half!"

"It's almost 10 am, get your ass out of bed before I go there and do it myself."

Ritsu paled at that. She didn't label Sawako as a 'Psycho Old Lady' for no reason after all.

"Well, no need to be so hostile so early in the morning. Is there any explanation as to why you called? Do you need me at the store?"

"No, actually, I'm calling on behalf of Norimi. She needs an extra waiter to fill in for the after breakfast hours. I thought you could use the extra pay and that you should learn to wake up early."

Norimi owned and managed a small diner near the music store. The woman loved to cook and eat fried and greasy stuff for some reason she could never understand. In all fairness to Norimi, her fast food dishes taste really great.

Ritsu thought about it for a moment. She did need the money. Sure, she got by with what she earns from gigs and her job at the music store and the occasional music student but she barely had any savings. If there ever was an emergency where she would need instant and extra cash to pull out of her wallet, she would just have to curl up into a ball and wait for a kind heart that would lend her some. She knew that other than Sawako wanting to help her financially, the woman also didn't want her girlfriend to hire someone new, someone they didn't know, someone they would have to tiptoe around and someone they would have to train still. Ritsu was indeed the perfect one for this job. And all she had to do was take orders and serve food. How hard could that be?

"Okay, fine. I'll take the job. When can I start?"

"You officially start tomorrow, but Norimi needs you to drop by. Get ready and be here as soon as you can."

Ritsu grumbled an 'okay' and hung up. She really liked Norimi, and despite her looks, with the piercings and tattoo and pixie hair, she's actually very nice. Norimi was the opposite of Sawa-chan who looked innocent with her glasses and round eyes, but can scare the living crap out of a six foot tall grown man. She can't remember the name of the guy, though. She wondered where that guy went. He never showed himself after that nasty incident.

Ritsu took a quick shower, dressed quickly, and opted for toast instead of her usual beloved rice for breakfast. She put on a shirt with a faded print of "The Who" on it, the band of her favorite drummer. She popped her earphones on and plugged it into her phone and listened to songs from various genres of music as she walked to Norimi's diner.

She reached the establishment in no time and pushed the glass door open. Norimi was at the counter and she was talking to a girl who wore her wavy brown locks in pigtails. Ritsu put her hands in her pockets and walked to them.

"Oh, Ricchan! Good morning. I'm sorry to call you on such short notice. I hope Sawako didn't harass you too much over this."

Norimi laughed nervously and bowed her head slightly to apologize for her girlfriend's rudeness. The woman leaned to her left and looked over the other girl's shoulder. The girl turned her head to see who the newcomer was. Ritsu spared a glance at her and thought the girl looked familiar. The girl blushed and ducked her head.

"Ah, no need to apologize for the old woman, Nori-chan. I'm used to how she is. She was my teacher in high school after all."

Ritsu smiled at Norimi. The woman smiled back at her, knowing that all the jibes at her girlfriend were an evidence of the years that they've known each other. Or it may also be evidence of the attitude of the two… Norimi sweatdropped at the thought. It is Ritsu and Sawako afterall. The woman saw Ritsu eyeing the other girl at the counter, Ichigo, and Ichigo just blushed, stole quick glances at the tawny haired drummer and looked down at her folded hands. Norimi almost shook her head. Ritsu kept staring at the other girl not realizing that the other girl probably has a crush on her. Norimi mentally sighed. Sometimes she wondered who was denser, Yui or Ritsu. Sometimes it leaned too close to the latter.

The awkward silence was interrupted by one of Norimi's cooks who rang the bell and signaled that Ichigo's order was done.

"Ah, Ichigo-san, here's you order."

Norimi moved to grab the tray containing a medium sized burger and a tall glass of milkshake.

"Why don't we move to that table and have our talk over there, hm?"

Norimi pointed to one table that was closest to the counter and looked at Ichigo for confirmation. The girl nodded and the woman untied the apron behind her and pulled it over her head. She moved around the counter and carried Ichigo's tray for her. Ichigo whispered a shy thanks to the older woman and sat across her. Ritsu stood dumbly in front of the counter, not knowing if she should follow or just sit somewhere else. Norimi forgot to tell her what to do.

Norimi realized her error and called out the drummer.

"Oh! Forgive me for being rude. Why don't you join us, Ricchan?"

Ritsu was hesitant. She looked from the older woman to the girl whose name she could still not remember.

"I'm sure Ichigo-san wouldn't mind, right Ichigo-san?"

Norimi looked to the brown haired girl for an answer she already knew. Ichigo nodded timidly. The woman introduced the two girls to each other. Ritsu raised a palm and said 'yo' while Ichigo just bowed and greeted her with a smile and a simple 'nice to meet you'. Ritsu sat with them and tried to join into the conversation as much as she could, but the two talked about classical music, orchestras, and specifics about violin playing and violin-related things.

Ritsu looked at Norimi in wonder and amazement. Wow, Nori-chan sure knows a lot about classical music. Who's this—Shopen? Chopin? — guy that they keep talking about? Then Ritsu recalled where she first saw the girl. It was at the shop, just a few days ago, she was the one who bought a violin. She was the girl Norimi said who had a crush on her. Ritsu blushed. The two continued to converse, unaware of the drummer's musings. Could she be the person who's been following me around lately? She looks cute, though… Like a princess. Wait, what the hell am I thinking?

"Ricchan? Is there something wrong?"

Norimi inquired. The woman noticed that the drummer's face suddenly shifted from emotion to emotion. Ritsu also looked uncomfortable and Norimi thought it must be due to Ichigo having a crush on the drummer. She finally remembered who Ichigo is, huh? The woman's eyes shifted to Ichigo who fiddled with her thumbs and still had her head bowed slightly. The girl looked really shy.

"Huh? What? Oh nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about, er— something."

Ritsu was startled at first when the woman asked her a question out of the blue. She turned towards Ichigo who suddenly stood from her seat.

"Well, it's been a pleasure talking with you, Norimi-san, but I must go now. Maybe I can come by again for more lessons?"

Ichigo bowed politely. The girl gave Norimi a small smile and looked at Ritsu's direction and blushed. Norimi thought the girl was so obvious. Ritsu caught the blush and almost fell out of her chair. The drummer began to sweat. Ichigo turned to Ritsu.

"I-it was nice to meet you, R-ritsu-san."

Ichigo bowed robotically then waved for the last time and left the small diner. Norimi turned to Ritsu and quirked an eyebrow.

"So, you finally remembered who she is, huh?"

Norimi smirked. Really, I think all that drumming can kill brain cells. Or is it just Ricchan? Ritsu blushed at Norimi's remark and proceeded to explain how she was never really good at remembering people's faces; that was Yui's thing. The two women then talked about Ritsu's job details, how much she would be earning per hour and the minimum number of hours she had to work. When everything important was settled, they went onto lighter topics, made small talk and joked around. The time for Ritsu to leave for the music store came all too soon and she had to bid the older woman goodbye and a 'see you later'.

Mio returned to the beach right after her third round. She skipped on observing her favorite human today. She knew that if she paid the girl a visit again she would just get distracted and end up spending too much time watching her, especially now that the girl could feel her, Mio didn't trust herself even more. I might even try to get a reaction out of her again. Mio thought. Then she realized that she couldn't see anything wrong with that. What was wrong about surprising the human a little? Maybe even teasing her a little? Mio felt uncharacteristically daring. I would definitely try to get a reaction from her. Tomorrow. Definitely.

When she got to the beach Azusa was already there waiting for her. Just as Azusa greeted her like the young angel always did, Mugi blinked herself beside them. For some reason unknown to her, Mio felt like sitting on the sand. See, angels never tire and never feel physical exhaustion and so they never needed to sit or sleep. Mio sat cross-legged on the sand for no reason other than just because she wanted to. The two angels looked questioningly at her first, then looked at each other unsure, and then gave in and sat with her, forming a tight triangle as their knees touched. Mio smiled at this.

And so, the angel proceeded to tell her two friends every single thing that happened for the pass month, not missing a single detail. From the incident where she saved the human to last night's encounter where she thought the human saw her. She recounted it all, even shared all the emotions she felt. She told them about how terror felt, how excitement felt, how disappointment and anger and delight and anticipation would weigh her chest down. Azusa's eyes widened in both surprise and amazement and Mugi looked so immersed in her story that her friend's thick brows were drawn together in concentration.

She confessed that she might be getting attached to this human in a way that an angel was absolutely not supposed to. Then again, she's felt and done things that angels were absolutely not supposed to either. The colors of their irises shifted along with the sky. She couldn't stop talking, so she didn't. Her friends never interrupted her once. They just listened quietly. For this Mio was thankful. A huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. The heaviness in her chest disappeared.

Azusa told her that she would be there if her senpai needed anything. Mugi nodded and assured her that things would be fine and that whatever she was going through, she wasn't going through it alone. Mio pulled both of them in a tight hug. They all laughed and moved on to sharing stories about their wards and the humans' oddities.

From somewhere only a few beings knew of, including Him, the Maker smiled at the sight. How many millennia has it been since his angels just sat together and just talked? When he made the angels, he hadn't intended for them to be too closed off and too serious. Sure, that was good considering how important their duties are, but it seemed over the millennia that he made them a little too close to perfect that they sometimes forgot that they could still feel, even only a bit and they still had their fellow immortal companions with them. All the angels became too independent and they all rarely interacted which saddened Him. Now, seeing these three, He couldn't help but smile.

It doesn't change that he wasn't pleased with what was going on with one of them, though. He thought for a few seconds and decided that His angel Mio needed a catalyst, and he would gladly alter things a little to bring her that.

To be continued...

AN: I would appreciate it if you point out any errors you see. :) Thank you for taking the time to read and forgive me for not updating sooner! Let's hope MS Word doesn't decide to ruin my life again. I promise you'll find out more about angels and the Maker and what He really thinks of this whole thing in future updates.

AN2: OKay, I recovered the little f***er after pulling out locks of my hair. Nah, just kidding. There was no hair loss. WHOOP. *victory dance*

~pineappurus