Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Author's note: This is a Jun and Daisuke-centric ficcie. I like them both, so don't expect me to bash them. Everyone is pretty much OOC, and I like it that way. General angst, and odd-couples warning. And, no, this isn't a YamaJun.  And the italics symbolize the journal entries of both Jun and Dais, but they're not marked. If you can't figure it out, don't worry. It's really not anything too important.

Author: Rae

Title: Family love problems

Warning: Angst, sap, lack of sibling rivalry, and a GOOD Jun. Shounen-ai and shoujo-ai abound. Deal or leave

________

I always thought that sisters were such a drag. I mean, what other kind of person on the face of the planet caused a brother so much trouble? Not my friends, that's for sure.

On the other hand, I never realized quite how many problems were involved in being an older sibling. There is such a difference in those two or three years. It's amazing. I wish that I had seen it sooner.

________

Daisuke glared at his sister. She looked down her nose at him, her smile condescending and smug. "What do I have to do?"

She loosened her grip on his journal just slightly, but not enough for him to make a grab for it. "I think that you should beg for my mercy, and promise me anything in return for this."

"And if I don't?" He tried to bluff her out, but the look in her eyes sent a sense of dread through him.

"If you don't, then I let all of your little friends know exactly what's in here." He ground his teeth together, and then sighed in defeat, his eyes growing darker with the weight of his next words.

"Please, Jun. Have mercy on me. I will do whatever you want me to do." He grimaced, clenching his fists at the satisfied grin that spread across her face.

"I want you to find me a way backstage at Matt's next concert. And I want you to let me help you with the Ken thing."

His fingers were curled so tightly into his palm, he could feel his nails cutting into his skin. With barely concealed anger, he agreed. "Fine."

She eyed him for a moment more, and then handed him the notebook back. "Thank you, little brother." With a smirk, she twirled into her room and shut the door. The redhead stomped his foot in frustration, and then stormed into his own room.

Jun looked around her room, her features falling into a blank expression. With a sigh, she sat on her bed, and rubbed at her temples, fighting with a migraine. Her brown eyes scanned a poster of a wet cat, and the caption over it: 'some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed'.

"I know what you mean, kitty." She rubbed the back of her head, then reached for the pill bottle on the nightstand beside her bed. She twisted the top off, shook out two of the pills, and swallowed them dry.

With another sigh, she fell back into the mattress, waiting for the pills to take effect. They were extra strength, but still took half an hour to work. In the meantime, she closed her eyes, and concentrated on blocking out the blinking spots on the back of her eyelids.

Her hand flicked out, flailing in the general direction of the radio. When she felt the cold plastic, she moved her fingers until they found the familiar 'play' button, and tapped it, letting the music flood the room. Her lips curled as Matt's voice flooded her room, taking her away from her day with his words, while touching something inside her at the same time.

His voice seemed to detail her life and her feelings somehow. It had been that connection with his lyrics that had begun her 'obsession' with him. She still didn't know how someone who felt exactly as she did could miss the connection they had.

"If I just had the opportunity, I could really talk to him, and let him know that I understand everything that he feels." The pounding in her head was beginning to fade when someone knocked on the door. "One moment!"

She sat up slowly, glad that they didn't knock again. She looked at her vanity mirror, placed over her dresser, and frowned at the tired look in her eyes. Pasting a fake smile on her face, she drew on a pair of sunglasses, and threw a hat on top, and flung the door open.

"What do you want, squirt?" She eyed her brother warily, not wanting to deal with him, of all people. Their parents didn't care enough to make an actual effort, but she knew that Dai listened to her, most often when she didn't really want him to listen.

"You said that you could help me with Ken?" He seemed reluctant to ask, and she could feel the genuine smile moving to take over her face.

"Yeah, I can." She held her door open wider, flicking on the light as she did. "What do you want to know?"

He entered slowly, still not entirely convinced that he was doing the best thing. "What makes you think that he could like me?"

She frowned slightly, shutting the door with her back to him. By the time she turned around, the frown was gone, replaced by a thoughtful look. "He's your best friend, Dai. He knows everything there is to know about you, and still hangs around. If that isn't love, I don't know what is."

He opened his mouth, frowned, and then shut it again.

"Listen. If you really want to win him over, you have to let him know that you're interested. Then you have to woo him. Treat him to a dinner, make sure that Mom stocks his favorite desserts. Treat him like royalty, and be sure that you don't flirt with anybody else."

One tanned hand reached up to rub the back of his neck in a familiar gesture of uncertainty. "And if he still doesn't catch on?"

"Then take it up a notch. Come straight out and tell him that you're in love with him. Kiss him."

"What if he likes someone else?" She closed her eyes briefly at that, remembering back two years when Matt had started dating Sora. It had broken her heart, but she had hid that behind her flirtation with the middle Kido boy, Shin.

"Then he's not good enough for you, and you should move on. If he's not the one for you, you'll realize it eventually, and be able to find the person that is perfect for you, that can understand you better than you understand yourself."

He nodded, his eyes focused on the wall as he thought over what she had said. "I have to woo him. Treat him like royalty." He looked up. "Does that mean that I have to open doors for him?"

"Yes. As well as letting him choose what the two of you do together, and giving him the right to win arguments."

"I have to let him win?" His expression was scandalous as he looked at her, and she grinned.

"Yes. If you don't, then it will be an unending power struggle." He sighed, slumping down slightly. "It sounds hard, Dai, but it really isn't that bad."

"So says you." With a disgruntled look, he walked to the door and opened it, but paused on the threshold. He looked like he wanted to say something important, but settled on a quiet, "You shouldn't wear sunglasses without the light on. You'll hurt your eyes."

He shut the door behind him, leaving her to lean against the wall, cursing the return of her migraine and the tears that threatened.

__________

On the other side of the equation, as Ken would say, little brothers have it pretty bad as well. We are constantly put down, if you have an older sister especially, and you can never win. Either your older siblings are bigger than you, or you're suddenly to big to be fighting with them. It's a lose-lose situation.

It's really not fair. You go through years of being oppressed by age and size, then find out that when you're big enough to do it back, it's not allowed.

Older sisters have it too good. Right?

__________

Daisuke sat in class, and stared at the back of the teacher's head as he droned on and on about completing the square, and intercepting lines. Behind him, he could hear Miyako and Hikari discussing clothes, and boys, and dating. He tuned it out, not wanting to hear about all the girly things they did.

"Dai." Someone whispered in his ear, and he fixed Takeru with a blank look. "Are you coming to the movies with us this weekend?" The blonde obviously meant the rest of the digidestined. Without a though, the redhead shrugged. "Good. Make sure that Ken comes, too, would you? He's missed out on the last couple of things."

So had Daisuke, but nobody had mentioned anything to him. He could fall off the face of the planet, and none of them would care. He turned his attention back to the front, listening with half an ear as the blonde joined the discussion between Kari and Miya. They had moved on to which movie they wanted to see, arguing between the three of them.

With a grim satisfaction, he realized that they were making plans without considering Ken or Iori's choices either. At least he wasn't the only one left out of their conversations. Not that he really wanted to have his own input, but it was always nice to be asked.

He'd have to check with Ken, and then make sure that they knew what the genius wanted to see. That would be like what Jun had told him, making sure that Ken's voice was heard, even if he wasn't there.

He smiled, thinking of his best friend. It was nice, being friends with a prodigy, especially one as nice and beautiful as Ken. His eyes closed, picturing long blue strands of hair, violet eyes, and pale, white skin. So lost was he in his imagery, that he missed the homework assignment, and the last twenty minutes of class.

Dai stood up when the rest of the students did, and filed out of class, his mind jumping ahead to when school was over, and he could see Ken again. In his distraction, he ran into a smaller student and knocked him over, spilling two sets of notebooks and texts across the hallway floor. "Sorry, Iori."

He dropped to his knees, and grinned at the brunette apologetically. Green eyes glanced at him wearily, flicking away quickly to look for his scattered belongings. "Good morning, Daisuke. I can tell that you're alert and on top of things, as always."

His sarcasm wasn't lost on the redhead, but Dai simply grinned. He knew that most of Iori's gruff exterior was to hide a soft heart. He was good with snappy replies and comebacks, but most of his insults lacked the heat and sincerity behind it. Unlike Miyako, who made every blow count, or Jun, who had a tendency to hit outside the bounds of normal decency. Even Kari, who he had once thought of as so innocent, was good at slipping in little barbs.

"Not all of us can wake up as cheerful and sunny as you, I guess." He smiled when green eyes met his again, their depths amused as the brunette bit his lip to keep from smiling. "How are you today?"

"I was better before I was ran over." They picked up the last of their things and stood up. "At least I'm still alive. Last time you mauled me, I thought for sure that something was going to be broken."

Daisuke laughed. "If I didn't run over you at least once a week, you'd forget that I existed."

Iori nodded in agreement. "If not once a week, at least before the most recent bruise fades." They moved in separate directions down the hall, Daisuke bounding happily past people, scanning the path in front of him carefully to avoid knocking anyone else down.

________

It is the job of the younger brother to make sure that any older siblings not be allowed more than three days of peace. That means that they have seventy-two hours with which to snoop in their sister's stuff, or make their lives miserable in a new and inventive way.

I'm a pro at the second. I've had years of experience, and Jun can testify that I can make her miserable with my very existence. On second thought, maybe that isn't something to be proud of.

_________

Jun moved down the hallway, ignoring the chatter of her fellow students. School was over, and she was going to talk to Matt about his latest song. The words had made a real impression on her, and she wanted to let him know that they were still on the same wavelength.

With a slight frown, she ducked into the bathroom quickly, delaying her talk with Yamato to take two pills to kill the beat rampaging through her brain. She hid in one of the stalls as two other students walked in, not wanting to explain the tears that had sprung in her eyes during the peak of the migraine a few seconds before.

After ten minutes, they finished reapplying their make-up, and touching up their hair, and left. She stepped out of the stall, and stopped in surprise when Sora looked up from the sink.

"Hi." The brunette smiled slightly, her eyes dark. Jun had the same red hair as her brother, but the color of her eyes was more of a honey brown.

"Hello, Sora." They smiled at each other uncertainly, the past running through both of their minds, recalling Jun's distance from the other girl when Sora had dated Matt.

"How are you doing? I didn't think anyone else was in here." She pushed her hair behind her ear, and smiled.

"I'm fine. I had a little headache, and hid in here until it cleared up." She moved to wash her hands, pretending that everything was normal, hoping that the other girl wouldn't mention her puffy eyes, or the bags under them.

"Would you like to try some of my medicine? It's supposed to be extra strong."

"No thanks. I already took some." She dried her hands in an awkward silence, then made her way to the door. "I'll see you later, Sora."

"Bye, Jun." She left, pushing the door open quickly to escape the concern she had heard in Sora's voice. With a squaring of her shoulders, she started toward the music room, where Matt would be rehearsing with his band, or practicing his guitar.

With a smile, she heard silence, and assumed that he was alone, either tuning his guitar, or setting up to play. She leaned around the corner, ready with a flippant greeting. The sight that greeted her eyes caused her heart to stop, and her head to start pounding in overtime. She stifled a gasp, and backed away quickly, holding her hands to her chest as the tears fell. She turned and ran, past Sora, who was coming out of the bathroom, down the hall, and out into the sunshine. Her breathing was shallow, and her head was starting to feel light.

She curled her fingers into her hair, trying to stop the pain that seemed to come from everywhere: her heart, her chest, her head, her lungs. It was a giant mass of pain, trying to escape from any source possible. It wasn't possible that her Matt, her soulmate, had been kissing another person.

She glared down at the cracks in the sidewalk, seeing each small pebble that broke off with eerie clarity.

It wasn't fair that the love of her life had been kissing his best friend.