Mrs. Aihara was getting more and more comfortable with the sound of her name. More comfortable with the fact she had a husband who had been overtaken by wanderlust, and a second daughter who had the air of a perfect, yet troubled character right out of a fantasy book. She was worried at first, about her daughters getting along, but the girls seemed to have found a balance, and things for the residents of the Aihara household slowly fell into a new state of normal over time.

She considered herself to be a lax parent, and even though that worked just fine with her eldest, she wasn't quite sure how to approach Mei, so doing what every confused parent does, she let chips fall as they may, unwittingly leaving her in Yuzu's care. Not that Yuzu minded, but of course, Mrs Aihara wasn't aware of that.

On the matter of Mei... she often found herself wishing she'd be a bit more like her sister, though understandably most people would assume it was the other way around. Of course, Mei was smart, hardworking and damn near-perfect but Mrs. Aihara would much rather have happy daughters than perfect ones. And sure, maybe Yuzu was lazy, but she never seemed to fall too far behind on her studies, not to mention Mrs. Aihara had never had to worry about her overworking herself. Mei on the other hand, working to the point of exhaustion and so closed off to her feelings, Mrs, Aihara found it impossible not to worry about her.

This is why it was a huge relief to see the girls having such a positive effect on one another. Yuzu's grades had improved so much she couldn't even tease her about them anymore, and the few times she caught brief snippets of Mei's feelings slipping through her ever-composed presence, she was reassured to see none of them resembled sadness.

Well, until the whole Christmas fiasco. Mrs. Aihara sighed, and turned on her other side, laying as she did on her bed, unable to sleep. She was upset because Mei seemed to be sad again, and she had made Yuzu sad when she went back on her word about spending Christmas as a family. The girl was overworking herself again, paying no mind to the damage it did, not only to her, but to Yuzu as well.

And then that damned Matsuri, she thought angrily, unable to drown her distaste for the girl, even though she was a bit grateful Yuzu didn't have to spend the day on her own, moping about how things didn't go as planned.

Soon, she heard the familiar sound of the front door opening and she wondered which one of the girls it was. She knew both of them were late, especially Mei, but it wasn't as though she planned to scold them for it. Although maybe scolding Yuzu wouldn't be that bad of an idea if it kept her away from Matsuri, she indulged herself in the thought but then discarded it guiltily. She trusted her daughter enough to let her make her own choices.

She lay there quietly for a while longer, listening to the faint sounds of someone in the kitchen, and then, to her surprise, nothing. She expected footsteps on the corridor and the light opening and closing of the girls' bedroom door, but beyond her own steady breathing, no other sounds were audible. What is she doing? She wondered, holding her position, listening quietly for a while longer.

This is pointless, she thought after a while and pulled herself out of bed, while grabbing the empty glass sitting on her nightstand from earlier. This inability to sleep was really starting to annoy her, and she had to work tomorrow too. Maybe seeing one of her daughters would help and if it didn't maybe some fresh water would do the trick. She couldn't sleep anyway, might as well check up on who was home, and what they were doing by themselves in the living room.

Walking silently through the dark house she had almost reached the living room when she heard a squirming sound that she instantly recognized as Yuzu followed by an almost panicky "Wa-wait a sec..."

"How's this?" Mrs. Aihara walked into the room just as Mei's voice came from the couch, in a tone she's never heard before. Taking in the sight in front of her she stood frozen, unable to grasp the situation if front of her, unlike how Yuzu's hand seemed to be grasping Mei's breast, her face completely red as the younger girl held her hand in place by the wrist, hovering impossibly close to her face whilst kneeling between her legs.

"Can you hear the sound of my heart?" Mei said, and Mrs. Aihara had the faint feeling of floating, standing frozen in place, unseen by the girls as she was. She almost felt like she would levitate off the floor any second now and then hopefully fly away, and wake up, as soon as possible.

"Yuzu, there's both a good and bad inside of me. Even so..." Mei continued, oblivious to the woman watching them. "Do you want to take a peek, inside of me?"

*Smash* the glass slipped from her fingers and shattered to a million pieces as soon as she reached the floor, calling attention to her presence. Her eyes stayed frozen on the two girls as both of them abruptly turned to look at her, Yuzu turning impossibly redder and Mei hastily letting go of Yuzu's wrist and attempting to instantly compose herself.

And that's it! Hope you enjoyed my first fanfic ever! Constructive criticism is very much welcome. Feel free to PM me or contact me on my tumblr (displayed on profile page) for absolutely anything you might want to ask or talk about. Have a wonderful day :D