When Terry set foot in the loft, she knew, this was going to be her new home. The first thing she noticed was how warm the place was: the caramel frank wood floor, the red brick wall, which made the length of the flat, the huge windows that let the golden afternoon light in. She loved the industrial, but modern look she discovered of the loft. She was charmed by the kitchen, ample and functional, which was perfect for her who loves cooking. She loved the industrial look of the bathroom; it almost looked like the one you could find in a gym, with a few stalls for the toilets, a row of open-aired shower and a huge circular sink in the middle of the room. In a smaller and cozier room, attached to this one, was an actual bath where you could relax. She fell in love with the master bedroom, which was quite big and had a walk-in. When she saw the second bedroom, almost as big as the first one, she knew it would be perfect for them. Finally, she would be able to keep the promise she had made, four years ago, to her brother Kuroko Tetsuya: they were going to live together.

It had been two weeks since she came back at Tokyo and had bought that loft. Working at her new job, which she loved, at day, painting and decorating at night. It was hard work, but she wanted to be done with it the faster she could. Yes, she came back two weeks ago, but she hadn't contacted Tetsu yet. And it was hard. Hard to know he was so close, but that she couldn't see him until their new place was ready. She was exhausted, but she knew it would be all worth it when she would see the smile on his usual stoic face.

After a month, it was finally ready. The fully furnished and decorated loft was only missing his second resident. Terry needed to find a way to surprise Tetsu and tell him the news. She was thinking about it while having a coffee, bathed in the sun that was coming from the huge windows. How to contact him without giving anything away? She wanted to surprise him with their new home, but also her coming back, so she couldn't exactly call him and set up a date somewhere. There was no way she could ask their parents. Tetsu was still living with them, but knowing them, they wouldn't know a single thing about what was going on in his life. They never cared enough for that… Friends were the only option. But it wouldn't be that easy since he had graduated during her absence and was going to Seirin now. She had to find who she could contact. One of his old teammates seemed the best course of action. She picked up her phone and looked in her contacts. She smiled when she finally found the one she was looking for. It rang four times before a question filled voice answered:

"Terry?! Is that really you?"

"Hi, Aomine." she softly answered, feeling nostalgic hearing his voice.

Terry was walking to the public basketball court that Aomine said he would meet her. She was so excited that she almost had a spring in her steps. Today was finally the day she would see her brother, her best friend, her confidant. She missed him so much for the past years that she could barely wait anymore. Of course, she came back for all holidays she could, and they had talked almost every day, but talking by email, phone or even by Skype, was nothing like actually see him.

She saw Aomine laying heavily on the fence surrounding the basketball court. Even from afar, she could see that he seemed terribly bored. Tetsu had told her how his old light had changed, even so it was strange to see him like that. The Aomine she knew was all smile, so full of life. Her brother had also said that he was more like his old-self after a certain match they won against him a year or two ago, but she couldn't imagine it.

Aomine noticed her coming by the corner of his eye. She was wearing a cute little yellow summer dress with delicate white flowers on it. The sleeveless dress was close-fitting from the top to the waist, where a little brown leather belt rested, it became a little wider and airy after that. The dress ended just above her knees, so he admired the shape of her bare legs. She wore her pale blue hair in a heavy braid that fell on her left shoulder. Her hair had grown a lot longer since the last time he had seen her; it surprised him to even notice such a thing, because it was not something he usually saw or cared about. But she was as pretty as he remembered that didn't change. He stood up properly as she got closer and turned towards her.

"Yo." he greeted nonchalantly.

"Hey!" she said, with a radiant smile.

He wrapped an arm around her to bring them into a warm hug, just as he used to do before she left all those years ago. It was oddly familiar even after almost four years, but he liked it.

"Ready?" he asked, eying her.

"Oh! I'm so excited that I can't even contain myself!" she happily exclaimed.

As if she needed to demonstrate herself, she bounced a little. He chuckled to himself seeing her do so. He wondered, probably for the millionth time, how it was possible for siblings to be so different from one to another. Tetsu was so stoic; no emotions never really shows for long on his face. Secret, discreet, not to say almost invisible. He always had acknowledged that practical side of his talent on the court, but anywhere else, it kind of pissed him off. The way he could sneak up on you from nowhere… Terry, her, was like an open book, all that she thinks or feels shows on her face. She is so full of life and energy; it's contagious. Strangely, that trait always annoyed him in Kise but not in Terry.

"Where is he?" she asked, her eyes glittering of excitement.

He casually pointed in the direction of the few courts on the other side of the fence. Terry stretched out to see above his shoulder. Aomine surprised himself comparing his former shadow with his sister, again. He thought that physically they weren't alike. Yes, they had the same hair colour and the same big blue eyes, but the resemblances ended there. Tetsu was small and frail, far from being weak though. Terry was taller and had generous curves, even if she didn't have huge breasts, like he usually loves, he always thought she was alluring.

"There he is!" she cried, pointing somewhere behind him.

"Let's go then." he says, pushing his hands deeply in his pockets and walking off. He didn't make three steps before feeling her pulling him by the arm.

"Wo! Not so fast! How are gonna do this?"

"Hah? What do you mean?" he asked, confused.

"We can't just go barged like that, can we?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"He's playing… I don't want to interrupt." she murmured, looking down.

"Come on. He won't mind, on the contrary. And, it's just a stupid practice with Bakagami." he said, walking to the court where they were playing.

"Oi! Tetsu!"

Hearing his shadow's name, Kagami stopped in his tracks and turned around toward where the shout had come from. He saw Aomine stand at the edge of the basketball court where they were playing, his hands deeply in his pockets. He exchanged a look with Kuroko, who was now by his side, before looking back at the Touou's ace. At his surprise, he wasn't alone anymore. He could see a head poking from behind the other guy. He didn't know the girl who was now standing by Aomine's side. Nevertheless, she was smiling with all her teeth and waving at them.

He heard a little yelp coming from Kuroko, he turned to look at him, confused at the sound coming from his friend. But what he saw surprised him even more. Never before he saw this much emotion showed on his face: relief, happiness, love? He watched Kuroko run toward the woman, completely at a lost. What the fuck is going on? His shadow jumped in the woman's arms, and he even heard him laugh when she gave him a thigh hug. There was something intimate in the way they were now looking at each other. Feeling like an intruder, he averted his eyes and looked at Aomine. The ace was looking at them with a sweet smile. What the actual fuck is going on?! Aomine was a cocky son of a bitch, never he thought he could see that kind of expression on his hard face. Curious, he walked over where the three others were standing.

"Terry, when did you came back?! I'm so happy to see you! God, I've missed you so much!" Kuroko exclaimed and questioned, completely oblivious from his surrounding, focusing only on the woman in front of him.

It was so strange to hear Kuroko speaks so much, but seeing his friend so happy, he couldn't refrain a smile. He decided that he liked seeing him like that. The young woman laugh a little at Kuroko's outflow of questions and lovingly pass a hand in his hair.

"I'm so happy to see you! You can't imagine how much I've missed you, how the last month was the hardest of my life!" she said, voice cracking from all the emotions.

In answer, Kuroko just put back his face in the crook of her shoulder. She pat his hair another time before looking up at Kagami, who was near, but clearly didn't want to intrude.

"Who is this? A friend of yours?" she softly asked Tetsu.

The little bluenette looked back and saw Kagami standing at a polite distance of them, beamed at him to come closer. Which he did.

"Kagami-kun, this is my sister, Terry. Ter, this is Kagami Taiga." he introduced.

"Oh, so you are Kagami? Tetsu talked a lot about you. Very nice to meet you!" she said in near perfect English and with a charming smile.

Kagami felt like his mind was going in overdrive. "W-what? Sister? Since when did he have a sister? Did he ever tell me he has a sister? Oi! How did she knew I speak English?! Kuroko told her that much about me? How come I didn't even knew she existed?!" He really was at a lost. He snapped back to reality when Terry started laughing seeing Kagami's confused face.

"So much for the social skills, Bakagami!" Aomine snorted.

"Shut the hell up, Ahomine!" He flared back.

"Wo, wo, calm down guys. Kagami was probably just surprised I spoke to him in English, out of the blue like that, right?" she asked, offering a reassuring smile to the redhead.

"Y-yeah"

Kagami fixed her for a while, when he realized that he didn't introduce himself properly. So, he held out his hand and declared with a calm, strong voice: "I'm Kagami Taiga, nice to meet you." She held out her own and gave it a shake. He heard Aomine snorted a "stupid" which resulted with Terry punching him playfully in the ribs. She turned back and looked down at Kuroko, who was looking back at her, like she was the most important thing on earth.

"Tetsu, I have another surprise for you!" she happily declared.

Tetsuya always believed Terry when she told him, time after time, that one day they would be together, that they wouldn't have to feel alone in an empty house with parents that didn't care about them, but have a place they could actually call home, where they would be happy and take care of each other. But when she opened the door of the loft, opened her arms and simply declared "Here we are. It's our home, just for you and me..." he couldn't believe it. He kept telling himself it can't be real, this can't be happening. Seeing the room behind her, he just froze, looking at her blankly. Terry reached for his shoulders, looked in his eyes and said, "Yes, it's really true." Kuroko just embraced her not knowing how to express himself. He felt tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I can't believe it... It's our home? We will really live together?" he asked quietly, terrified that if he talked too loudly he'd wake up and realize it was all a dream.

"Yes, it's our home and we will do whatever it need to be happy. We'll take care of each other, and I promise you'll never feel alone, I'll never leave your sides again." she answered him with the same soft voice he used.

Tetsu dried his eyes with the back of his hand and looked around. The loft was beautiful, sunny and well decorated. When she showed him his bedroom, he couldn't believe how well the room reflect his own tastes. From the colour of the walls, the furniture, the books that filled the shelves to the posters and pieces of some of his favourites artists.

"Did you decorate yourself?" he asked.

"Yeah... b-but we can change everything if you don't like it! Same thing for all the other rooms! I just wanted you to feel at home..."

"No, it's perfect. It's exactly how we imagined it. I can't believe you remember every detail we used to talk about..."

"Of course, I do." she said, voice as soft as their dear memories.

At this exact moment, he never felt more loved, he pushed his face to the crook of her shoulder again and hugged her as tightly as he could. He didn't know what he did to deserved a sister like her, but thanked all the gods who could possibly exist. She delicately pushed him so she could look in his eyes and says with a smile:

"Come on, tonight it's PJs and cereals in front of the Tv."

He didn't believe this day could be even more wonderful? But it did, she just proposed their thing! Since they were little each time they would eat cereal in front if the Tv, they would end up talking until dawn. And right now, there was nothing he'd like to do more than cuddled up with his sister and talked about anything and everything. He missed her for three years and eleven months, and he planned to make up for every second.