"Blood is Thicker than Water"
Chapter 1: Dawn of a Miserable Morning
"How are your studies at Rinne High School Imouto?"
Imouto.
"Umm… I'm not too sure about this outfit Mako, what do you think about this outfit Imouto?"
Imouto.
"Yeah, I'm thinking of keeping it short like this, doesn't it resemble yours Imouto?"
Imouto.
"I really enjoyed the time I spent with both of you, I truly hope we get to spend more times like this,"
Please don't say it.
"Goodbye Mako tell the Mankanshokus I wish them well in their new clinic,"
I'm begging you.
"Don't try and starts anymore fights now Imouto, "
"I'll try my best, Nee-chan,"
A thundering clatter of a catchy ringtone picked by her roommate and the vibrations on a wooden bedside startles Ryuko awake. Drenched in a cold sweat with her heart thumping Ryuko dragged her arm across to silent her phone. Rubbing her eyes she gazes up at the calendar hanging on her bedroom door. On the calendar portrayed a picture of dark Bombay kittens squeezed in a woven basket with colourful eggs scattered on the ground next to the basket. As she scans through the calendar the red streaked hair girl reads an important date marked with a red marker.
April 3 rd SATS' VISIT
Ryuko held up her phone that she muted earlier and the vicious beating in her heart resumed.
"Fuck," she grumbled, tossing the covers over her head. She shuts her eyes hoping she would travel forward the next day however all she finds is her eating what was her first ice-cream cone in her life. Ryuko giggles in amusement of her sister's panicking when her mint and chocolate ice cream began to melt.
The teen's reminiscence began to fade as her heart began to tighten in her chest. She didn't know what was wrong with her, she knew for definite that it was wrong but it was a problem no one else could've helped her with.
She loved her sister, but not as a sister.
She was in love with Satsuki. She isn't sure if it was one significant event that made her feel this way or a slow progression throughout the day driving her affection for her sister skywards to summits it should never reach.
In the end she didn't care about that, all she cared about is how to get rid of these romantic desires. The easiest thing to do in her mind right now is to avoid seeing her at all costs that included leaving voicemails for Satsuki while going to war with her temptations to answer her calls. Whenever the temptations overcame her she would simply say that she was studying (despite her never studying for any of her classes, being the delinquent she always was) and would promise to call her later. She never did.
"I'm such a selfish bitch," she thought to herself. Ryuko was notorious for never backing down from any fight, this was no ordinary fight. She clenched her fists at her floral patterned quilt as another memory of that day began to cloud her.
"Blaagh- I am so full!" Mako groaned rubbing her stomach.
"That was like your fifth dish," Ryuko chuckled.
"Sixth actually! Now I gotta go to the little girls' room I'll be back in a minute," the bowl haired girl announced making her way to the restrooms. The two women left seating outside the outdoor table shared a brief yet awkward silence.
"…So how are your studies at Rinne High School Imouto?" Satsuki asked with a gentle smile.
"Uhh…good yeah it's fine, a bit boring compared to my last school," Satsuki chuckled at that, "How's everything with you and the troll over at that University," Ryuko asked
"Ryuko don't call her such things," Satsuki replied
"Sorry," she sheepishly replied like a child receiving a lecture from their mother.
"Anyway the University is satisfactory but….like you said it's far too dull compared to Honnouji Academy," the elder sister quipped sipping her tea. She turns her head over to a seaside view witnessing the tide about to come in as the evening loomed. "This is nice," she whispered. Ryuko turned her head as well watching the once blue sky begins to shift into an orange colour.
"You mean the view Sats?" Ryuko asked raising her eyebrow.
"The view is nice as well, spending time with you is much nicer Imouto," Satsuki added turning her head looking into her eyes. She let out a hearty laugh. "I felt such an idiot when I found out you were my sister, it was so obvious,"
"Obvious?"
"Our dark hair our blue eyes, we may share opposite personalities but we do share the same drive for victory even to the point of killing one another," Ryuko let out a small breath and bit her lip as she could not think of a reply for that. "In the end as bittersweet as it was we did manage to save the world and I was able to have my sister again,"
Satsuki hanged her head not making eye-contact with Ryuko. The younger sibling raised her hand to reach out to her and stopped suddenly like a deer in the headlights when she saw tears streaming down her face.
"Nee-san what's wrong?" Ryuko breathed with sheer concern for her eyes. Satsuki simply wiped her tears and looked up at Ryuko with a weak smile.
"Apologies to worry you like that Ryuko," she assured, Satsuki closed her eyes and took a deep breath and looked deeply into Ryuko's sapphire eyes. "You see when I was very little-" Satsuki was interrupted by the crashing sound of Mako's seventh and eighth dishes on the table.
"Ahh that was a great bathroom break," Mako slurred as she began eating a slice of Cheesecake. "So did I miss anythin' gals?" Mako mumbled with a mouthful of cake. Ryuko and Satsuki exchanged a single glance that could've lasted for either half of a second or a hour.
"We…we were just saying how we were getting along with school and shit," Ryuko replied turning to Mako. She looked at Satsuki again and saw a disappointing frown manifest into an obviously fake smile. "Shit did I fuck up something?" the younger sibling thought to herself concerned for her sister.
"Oh yeah Rinne High School is so fun! Ryuko-chan and I always help each other out with exams and homework and stuff and they are all so hard and this school has this amazing cafeteria with so many yummy yummy food to eat…" as Mako rambled along shoving slices of cheesecake in her mouth Ryuko glared at her sister who was nodding and smiling away with Mako's ramblings.
Ryuko needed to know what she was going to tell her, she continued to stare at Satsuki watching a very small tear break out the corner of her eye.
Loud knocks on Ryuko's bedroom door broke Ryuko away from her reminiscence. Ryuko proceeded to pretend she was still asleep under the covers.
"Ryuko-chan! Time to get up big day today!" Mako chirped on the other side of the door. Ryuko was panicking she couldn't face Satsuki after the way she has been treating her over the last couple of months she needed to find a way out of this date. "Ryuko-chan, you alright? We're meeting Satsuki-sama today, can I come in?" Ryuko slowly poked her head out of the covers and sighed.
"Don't come in Mako."
"What! W-why not Ryuko-chan!?"
"I'm sick, Mako I…" Ryuko fakes a sniffle, "I have a cold, tell Sats I'm sorry I couldn't make it," she added.
"Well how about I bring Satsuki-sama over and we can help you get bet-"
"NO!" Ryuko yelped making Mako jump. "I mean I… I might get you two sick as well, just please go without me please, sorry for yelling," Ryuko uttered with her hands covering her face.
"Well okay, I suppose you do need bedrest, are you sure you don't need anything?" Mako asked with a concerned tone.
"No, thank you Mako enjoy your date," Ryuko clutching at her knees, burying her face on top of them.
Pathetic. The perfect word she described herself she felt like a child who didn't study for an exam and faked their illness so that they could skip the exam. All she needed was time away from her, to protect the perfect lives everyone lived after Ragyo's defeat. For the first time in her life Ryuko had a family with the Mankanshokus, her estranged sister and friends like Mako and the elite four, she was not going to let some schoolgirl crush jeopardise the life she has.
"Well okay Ryuko-chan get well soon, I'll call you later to check up on you okay?" she hollered from the other side at the door. Ryuko only left an ill-sounding groan. Mako walked to the front door of their apartment. "Ryuko-chan is acting very strange, I hope she's okay," she takes out her phone and began to text Satsuki as she leaves the apartment.
Ryuko lies in bed staring at the ceiling arms sprawled out hanging off the edge of her mattress. Her eyes were blinded by the creeping light at the bottom of her window which was almost fully covered by the Roman blind. It was a sensation the grew accustomed to being blinded by a shining light, mainly her sister's. The last time she saw her sister's light was after the attack of Rei Hououmaru and after that she sensed that her elder sister found a way to put down her sword and her light. After the numerous battles they shared bedecked in their half naked kamuis she would never thought she would see Satsuki appear weak or vulnerable.
Until that date
"Why don't you just stay with us Satsuki-sama?" Mako inquired as the three girls walked alongside the seaside bay of Kanagawa taking in the fresh salty seawater as they head back to Ryuko and Mako's apartment.
"Oh no I couldn't, besides those apartments must be heavily cramped, it's fine really I can find a-"
"It isn't as cramped as the homes the no-stars lived back then," the younger sister interrupted at an unusually quick pace. Ryuko needed to know what she was going to tell her, if she left now she may never know, she had to take the chance.
"I see, well are you sure I wouldn't be intruding? Satsuki asked tightening her grip on the handle of her handbag.
""You wouldn't be intruding in anything Satsuki-sama we can have a sleepover!" Mako cheered throwing her arms in the air. "Ooh we are gonna have so much fun we're gonna eat lots and lots more ice cream and other tasty treats, then watch a movie, and then..." as Mako once again entered one of her endless rambles the girls all made their way to the apartment.
As Mako described the trio all partook of the festivities from watching romance film that almost made Ryuko vomit and ate all the candy out of the kitchen that almost made Mako vomit. As the clock turned twelve Mako placed the futons on the living room floor to begin the final phase of every sleepover, the sleeping.
She can tell from the cute snores that Mako was instantly asleep. "She must've tired herself out from eating all day," she guessed to herself. Ryuko found difficulty in falling asleep with her situation with Satsuki she slowly turned around and all she could barely see was the ebony short hair, she was so close to it that she could smell the scintillating lavender allure it had, realizing her distance she scooched back. She slowly began to reach out to her older sister but before she even touched her,
"Trouble sleeping Ryuko?" Satsuki whispered as she turned her body now facing Ryuko.
"Y-yeah it's about... what we were talking about earlier," Ryuko replied finding difficulty making eye contact with her.
"I see you want to know about my past Imouto?" Satsuki inquired with an emotionless look on her face. Ryuko merely nodded letting out a moan of acceptance. "Very well, you see I have two very vivid memories from my early childhood, one of them being the day Father showed my Junketsu and the day after your birth, it was quite lonely growing up, Father and," Satsuki swallowed hard,"...Ragyo were always working so at the mansion it was only myself and the servants. Then one day I Soroi and the other butlers speaking about a new member of the Kiryuin household." she let out a small sigh, "I was so thrilled, I finally had a friend someone to keep me company when no one else would, you know?" she added with a soft grin on her face. Ryuko knew what was coming it was like watching the prequel to a horror film, she knew something terrible occurred that lead to the results that took place the year before.
"Anyway when I discovered your location with the help of Soroi, I found you. You were asleep in an empty room with one lonely cot in the center. You were so...tiny I remember how your hands were merely the size of the tip of my finger. When you awoke you started crying, I started panicking I didn't know what to do then I stumbled into the cot with you," she laughed, Ryuko let out a small chuckle imagining the once graceful Satsuki Kiryuin falling over as a toddler. "It worked because you stopped crying, I introduced myself and gave you such a big hug, you were so cute,"
"What do you mean 'were'?" Ryuko giggled.
"You know what I mean," Satsuki answered laughing with her sister. "I don't remember how long I stayed in there with you it could've been ten minutes or hours but I remember us playing, laughing then falling asleep, I don't think I've ever truly laughed until that day," Satsuki paused and looked down the same way she did back at the restaurant earlier that day. It was daring, it was very corny for her but she knew Satsuki needed her. For the third attempt of the day she took her arm and held her sister's hand under her futon and held it tight.
"You alright?" she inquired with a bright crimson shining over her cheeks. Satsuki's eyes opened wide and let out a relaxed sigh loosening herself producing one of her weary smiles.
"I'm fine Ryuko, thank you," she replied interlocking her fingers with her sister. "The next morning I woke up in my bedroom, I jumped out of bed and ran back to your room. It was empty, nothing there. No cot in the center just a blank room of nothingness. I found her in the dining hall dressed in black, the bitch," Satsuki's eyebrows furrowed and her grip with Ryuko tightened, "I asked her.."Where is my imouto, Okaa-san?" Satsuki's breathing was rapid near the point of hyperventilating, Ryuko did her best to calm down pleading that she didn't have to tell the rest of the story and that everything's okay. "No, it's okay its just very difficult Ryuko," she explained trying to calm herself down.
Satsuki took a deep breath and resumed, "She told me that I made you very sick, so ill that Father had to drive you to the hospital to make you feel better but," the tears began to flow down her alabaster cheeks. "But you both died in a car accident and that it was all my fault!" she shrieked burying her head into her little sister's shoulder sobbing.
Words containing profanity couldn't begin to describe the hatred Ryuko felt toward her mother. Her teeth were grinding and violent sobs began to travel their way down her face as well. With one hand caressing the hand she was holding, the other traveled to the back of Satsuki's skull and held her tightly never wanting to let her go as she cooed her elder sister into slumber.
Thankfully the breathing slowed down and the tears stopped flowing and Satsuki fell asleep in Ryuko's arms. Ryuko looked down at her and observed her sister's sheer beauty. Her hair, facial features and the cute sounds she makes as she breathes in and out in a deep slumber. Ryuko realised that she needs to be there to be Satsuki's sister to help her through her demons.
As Ryuko leaned down to find more comfort, she planted a gentle kiss on Satsuki's forehead, it was there that she realised she doesn't want to be Satsuki's sister.
Once again Ryuko woke up to a loud noise. Stepping out of bed she listened out for the source of the sound from the other side of her bedroom door. "Thank you for attending this date with me today Mako, I only wish Ryuko was able to join us as well,"
"Shit!" Ryuko whispered to herself as she leaps back under the quilt of her bed.
"I know! we all had so much fun last time the three of us were together, but Ryuko didn't want us getting sick too so it's best not to disturb while she's resting, Mako replied.
"Hmm... that's a shame, I don't suppose I could stay here for a cup of tea with you while I wait for my train do you?" Satsuki asked.
"No problem at all, make yourself at home while I get the tea ready 'kay Satsuki-sama," the underachiever responded eagerly making her way to the kitchen. Satsuki looked around the living room finding a small picture of Ryuko and Mako putting that silly hat on Satsuki, she let out a brief giggle and place the photo back where it was situated.
"Mako where was the restroom again?" she asked in a deadpan tone.
"Oh it's down that hall and the second door to your right Satsuki-sama," Mako replied pointing in the directions she was giving. The former student council president gave her thanks and proceeded down the hall. As she marched down the hall she halted after the first door to her right. From the sleepover she remembers that this is her sister's bedroom door. She looked left and right and checked if Mako was still in the kitchen before she gradually opened Ryuko's door.
The room was cluttered of dirty clothes on the floor and on her study desks with posters of famous musicians plastered all over the walls of her little sister's room. In the center of it all was Ryuko's bed with what appeared to be something under the quilt.
"Ryuko..." Satsuki whispered as she tiptoes through the soft carpet flooded with old clothes. At the top of the bed was the only part of Ryuko left uncovered, the top pf her head exposing her red streaked hair.
Ryuko was panicking under the covers knowing the presence of her sister looking over her. She successfully kept her composure and continued to "sleep". Ryuko heard the rummaging of Satsuki with her handbag and what she assumed to be her writing something as she he heard rapid scribbling noise above her. She felt her coming closer leaning down lips close to the top of her temple she was about to lose her collectedness any moment or now until she heard her angelic voice once more.
"I hope we meet again, Imouto," she whispered and before the younger sister could comprehend, Satsuki left and closed the door behind her. Ryuko tossed over the covers and began to breathe rapidly in the same speedy rhythm that her heart was beating. Ryuko listened out for the chatter among the two outside her walls until she noticed a note next to her phone that was not there before. She picked it up and it read:
Ryuko,
I wish a speedy recovery from your illness. If you do recover could you please visit me next week, Jakuzure will be away with her orchestra and I'd rather not be alone studying for a week, If you wish not to visit I understand.
I hope we meet again, Imouto,
Kiryuin Satsuki
Imouto.
A.N. Hey thanks for reading through that trash, erm I've always wanted to write a serious/actual fanfic for a while now and I just had these to gay babies clouding my mind since last year so I might as well write about them.
If people like this then I'll try my best to get a second chapter out before the end of the Halloween break and after that it'll be way longer to complete the story so what I'll probably do is either send longer chapters with longer time to update or shorter chapters that take a shorter time to make if that makes sense idfk.
But like I said that all depends if people actually like this and want to see more than I'll be more than happy to keep writing for ye if not then I'll take my crackship hat and leave.
Once again thanks for reading hope you all enjoyed it
WANT