Rin

I like oranges. They're sweet, juicy, and sooooo cute! Len niichan doesn't like them though, But someday I'm gonna prove it to him that oranges are awesome! I like nee-san a lot, but just because he's a little bit older than me doesn't mean he could baby me all the time. He's older than me by an hour, for goodness sake. I'm not a baby! I could do plenty of things better than him like… like….. ummm… forget about it!

Yaaaay! I'm dancing with oranges! They're tumbling and rolling and just waiting for me to bite at them. There's a swimming pool filled with orange juice, pulp-free, and there's a chocolate fountain to dip oranges in! Plus, there's no Len to babysit me!

Huh? The oranges are talking, saying, "Hey, wake up Rin, you sleepy head!" it softly laughs at me, and my orange world starts to shake. But I don't want to wake up anymore, I tell my dream. Mr. Orange, don't go!

My brain starts to wake. I feel the soft, warm, comfy blankets around me and shift around, trying to shake off Len's hand.

"5 more minutes….." I grumble, knowing it's useless anyway, trying not to look at the clock. Whenever I look at it, I always realize it's late, so I don't want to look at it, afraid that it'll make me wake up.

"You said the same thing 10 minutes ago," Len niichan brightly smiles, his hair already in its usual pony tail, the messy corn-starch colored hair, so identical to mine. But my hair's much prettier, I think. He probably already has breakfast ready, judging that he already has his uniform on. He's always like that, waking up earlier than me and sleeping later. He never yells, always acting like the perfect big brother. Hah! I've tasted oranges sweeter than him.

After some more of pestering me, he draws his final card.

"Well then," he pretends to be giving up, breathing an exaggerated sigh and says, "You can sleep through the day, baby." That does the trick.

"I am not a sleepy head, lazy, nor a baby!" I whine, jumping up from the bed. I realize that he's succeeded in waking me, and glare at his triumphant face. I reluctantly glance at the orange-decorated clock, ruffling my blonde bed hair with my hand out of my face to take a better look. Ugh. I don't like the time. I make a face at niichan for making me wake up so early.

Then I turn to the calendar. And freeze. Len's trying hard not to laugh.

"Oh, look, Rin!" He dramatically says. He's a terrible actor. "I never knew that it's our first day in the new school. My bad."

I couldn't afford to miss today. The small school that we used to go to shut down and we were barely going there by Len niichan having a part-time job. I couldn't work because I wasn't really good at working. I can't walk across a flat, surfaced room without tripping, bumping, or falling. I felt kind of guilty about it, but Len says his job's fun, and he really likes it. He thinks his dark circles and obvious lack of sleep are invisible. Stupid Len niichan!

I really felt fine about not going to school at all, but he insisted, so I'm stuck going to school. I have to go, for his sake. No matter how much I think about it, I'm such a nice sister, don't you think?

"Okay, okay, geez, you don't have to make a fuss," I answer like I'm really annoyed about this whole thing, but actually, I hate to admit this, but I'm a nervous wreck.

I pull on the used uniform that a kind obaasan had given us, originally her daughter's, pulling a comb over my hair at the same time. I tie the white bandana that niichan had given to me for my birthday over my short blonde hair.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I put my hands over my hips, and command myself, "You gotta look good in school today to not embarrass niichan! Got it?" The figure in the mirror smiled widely in return.

"We have oranges and bananas for breakfast and we're late!"

"Coming, niichan!"

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Niichan and I held hands while we walked to school, like we always did. I waved to Ponta, a neighbor's dog, and skipped along the way. It was a beautiful morning with not a cloud in sight. A perfect day for a picnic, I thought.

"A perfect day for a picnic," niichan said, his thoughts matching mine. He knew, too, and we smiled at each other. We have that sometimes, like an emotional link.

"Niichan, what's a word to describe how you feel when you're nervous and excited?" I carefully asked, trying not to reveal my emotions.

"How about apprehensive?" He offered, smiling, "Why, are you nervous, Rin?"

"Never!" I lie, trying to look defiant. Len niichan smiles wider but doesn't say anything and looks away.

In front of the local store, niichan looked at his watch and told me to wait outside it while he bought something important.

"Can't I go with you?"

"No," he answered, looking suspicious.

After he went in, I felt proud that niichan trusted me enough to leave me alone outside. Though, I thought, it's an obvious thing, so there's nothing to be proud about. I felt happy nonetheless, humming while waiting by petting a stray dog.

I decided it was still safe to explore a bit, since there was plenty of time until school began. Trusting my instincts, I went to place that seemed people-proof. A dull looking alley with cats and trash were everywhere. A certain smell came into my nose, something that made me dizzy and woozy. Curious, I went in deeper, telling a small part of my brain that told me to run back to shut its mouth.

As I went in, the smell got stronger until I couldn't resist the temptation to find out what the source was.

Suddenly, something grabbed me by the back and clasped my mouth with his hands so fast that I couldn't even yelp. The owner of the hand cackled.

"Hey, boys, Look what we got here! A guest! And a young and cute one, too!" One by one, big, burly adults came out, and I found out what the source of the scent was. Cigarettes.

Some of the men's faces were red from being drunk, and a lot of them looked dirty with crude clothes. I had no idea about anything except for one thing, I was in trouble.

My mind immediately thought of niichan and my mouth tried to scream his name, but the hand over my mouth and fear overwhelmed me and I couldn't make a sound. What were they going to do to me? I tried to think of all the horrors they seemed to be capable of, and my body writhed and turned to shake out of the man's grasp, but it was futile. His grips were like iron shackles.

Please, niichan, God, anyone! I promise to be good from now on, save me! Niichan, I won't complain anymore about mom and dad gone and make you sad, I'll listen to what you say from now on, please! I broke down as hot tears started flowing from my eyes, the only thing my pitiful and useless self could do all the time. The men were saying something and laughing, taking swigs from their bottles and puffing smokes from their cigars, but I couldn't care less what they were saying, I wanted to get out of here, into niichan's safe arms.

After a period of time that could have been a second or an hour, I made sense of their talking, slowly, but surely.

"….let me get first try!" laughter.

"A virgin, I think, how lucky!" More.

"...ip her, you get first honors!" They started pulling on my clothes. I couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry, niichan," I whispered. I went limp.

Please don't worry, she gets saved. by whom? Surprise!

Please be patient with this story, it gets more exciting as it goes. :)

PS I'm new to Fan Fiction.