Don't get her wrong, Madoka Kaname had always adored her younger brother, Tatsuya Kaname. However, he was a socially inept person. She began to believe that he came out of their mother's womb with a type of social clumsiness and a distinctive power to make himself invisible in clear view. Tatsuya was an absolute dweeb. She did not want to put him down. As previously mentioned, she genuinely did adore her baby brother. They never had that type of excruciating big sister/little brother relationship that one would watch on TV and films.

So, this story that is about to be told about her and her brother occurred nearly six years after the magical girls succeeded in erasing all the witches, and Kyubey left earth. At the time, Madoka was 20 years old and a sophomore in university. Her brother turned 18 and was a senior in high school. She was not a tall girl, but her height was largely equal to her brother's. He had short brown messy hair, brown eyes, and a handsome face. His skin was always very pale and he liked to wear hoodies and jeans.

If anyone only looked at them, they would never have guessed that they were family. She had very bright pink hair and bright pink eyes. She had thick pink lips and a cute, round face. One would not guess they were cousins, let alone siblings.

It all began on a Friday morning. It was in December, close to the end of the first semester. She would be returning home for Christmas vacation in a couple of weeks and classes were just beginning to wind down before exams began. As previously mentioned, her brother was a senior in high school so he was determining where he would like to go for university. His applications were all due in early January, so he was seriously running out of time.

Madoka attended a huge public university, which was very much a party school but also really inexpensive. Her brother was always much more intelligent than her and he wished to go to some tiny liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. It was reputable and private, which met the requirements of her brother's character perfectly. Unluckily it was also ridiculously costly. Her mom had phoned her on Thursday to inform Madoka that she was sending her brother to her university. Their mother, Junko Kaname, wanted Madoka to show her brother around and attempt to persuade him that her university, or a similar university, would be better suited for him. Madoka understood that meant her mom did not want to finance for her brother's reputable selection.

Madoka was not very thrilled about showing her brother around on a Friday night. She had plans. She had been invited to a party and she wanted to dance (things that she would not be able to do with her brooding brother sticking around). However, when the woman who was funding for your education (and providing you money for food) tells you to do something, you have to tolerate it and agree to it. So on Friday morning (a day she did not have classes) she was at the train station in town, picking up her brother.

"How are you, Tatsuya?" she asked when he sat down in the passenger seat beside her on the bus. He gave her a small sad smile and hurled his duffel bag in the seat behind.

"Hey Madoka, I'm fine," he replied, "Sorry mom is forcing you to do this." He seemed nearly mortified, as if he knew that she had been grumbling about him the whole journey to the train station. She smiled at him.

"Don't be silly," Madoka said as they headed towards her campus, "It'd be my pleasure to show you around." While the bus travelled, she questioned her brother about his high school and about his extracurricular activities (he was president of a thousand socially suicidal clubs, but she tried not to give him a difficult time about it). He gave her quick, awkward replies, so she mostly allowed things to drop.

"New girlfriend or anything?" She asked finally, trying to get him to open up. Her brother had a difficult time warming up to a conversation, even with his parents or her. He still got bashful around people he had known his whole life. You had to get him started, then he can nearly handle a typical human conversation.

"No," he answered and he glanced over at her with the most pitiful face she had ever seen, "I have pretty much realized that that is never going to happen." He sounded sad, but not in a drastic way. He seemed...resigned. Like he seriously had given up on the opposite gender. Her heart tore for him. He was so intelligent and he could be hilarious when he allowed himself to be. He could be attractive if he dressed himself correctly. There was no reason for him to quit. She felt like she was going to burst into tears. She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze.

"Don't think like that Tatsuya, you will have a pretty girlfriend one day very soon. I know it. And one day you will be married and have an army of adorable small nerdy kids with spectacles and pocket protectors," She said. He chuckled a bit and he felt better, even though she was quite certain she had not persuaded him of anything.

It was about 10 in the morning when they arrived outside of her dorm. She had pleaded with her mom to allow her to stay off campus for her sophomore year. She knew lots of people and could have resided at any number of houses. However, her mother said she did not like the things that occurred at off-campus houses and said she must stay in the dorms at least through her junior year.

"Like you could not get drunk in a dorm or something!" Madoka thought. As philosophical as her mother was, sometimes even she had her little dim moments.

Fortunately, her two best female friends, Sayaka Miki and Homura Akemi, were both on full-ride academic scholarships. Because they were on scholarship, they acquired an endowment to finance for their student housing. They would be deprived of the endowment if they shifted off campus so they remained in the dorms as well. Since they were the best of friends, they took a suite together. The suite was on the 5th floor of a big brick building and it had 4 rooms. There was a living room with a little kitchen basically in one corner, a bathroom with a slim shower stall, and then two bedrooms. They had had a coin toss to begin the year and she had won. So she had an individual room and Sayaka and Homura shared the other.

Madoka and her brother took his duffel bag up to the suite and placed it in the living room. She had already talked it over with Sayaka and Homura, and they were fine with Tatsuya sleeping on the sofa. When the both of them went up, Sayaka and Homura were seated on the sofa watching TV.

"Hi Madoka," Sayaka said, "Is this the rug rat?" she pointed to Tatsuya. He nearly jerked away from her finger and Sayaka chuckled. She was the lively and affable roommate. She was really beautiful with short-medium blue hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.

"You're giving him a complex," Homura said. She was the pleasant and timid roommate. Not timid by Madoka's brother's standard, but by average human standards. Homura had long, black hair and violet eyes. She was nearly as pale as Tatsuya, but she pulled it off better, like a Victorian-era lady or something.

"Yup, this is Tatsuya," Madoka introduced her brother, throwing his bag on the floor, "Tatsuya this is Sayaka and this is Homura." He gazed at them plainly. His lips shifted a bit, but he did not utter anything.

"Nice to meet you," Homura said, finally. Sayaka grinned and nodded.

"Same to you," Her brother said in a high-pitched small voice. Sayaka seemed like she was about to make a joke, but she shook her head. She would think it was hilarious and would not mean to offend, but any tiny teasing would mortify Tatsuya. They stood uneasily and silently for a couple of seconds. It was like Tatsuya was able to carry uncomfortableness around with him.

"So what are you guys doing today?" Sayaka questioned after what seemed a long time.

"Oh you know, doing the tour thing. Taking him out to Florentine's for lunch, not really sure exactly," Madoka replied.

"What are you siblings doing tonight?" Sayaka asked, "Are the Kaname kids going to go wild on a Friday night at the state university?"

"No," Tatsuya answered and Madoka was startled, "I don't really enjoy parties." Well that was the end of that. She was hoping to take him out, to unwind him and make him see the possibilities that were accessible in university. No chance.

"Well, Sayaka and I are staying in tonight. If you both want to hang out with us this evening, that'd be cool," Homura said. Madoka thanked them and then hauled her brother out of the dorm. They may not be able to go to a party tonight, but she was not going to allow him to hang out in the room all day. It was not like he was at home.

As she promised she took her brother out to Florentine's. It was a surprisingly delightful, and modest, Italian restaurant that was kind of a favorite spot for the students at her university. He seemed sulky most of the time, but that was usual. He appeared to enjoy the food. When they were finished eating they checked out the things she knew he would love. She showed him the library and the computer labs. They strolled around the gardens (though they did not appear great in the winter) and the portrait gallery. They even explored some of the blackened classrooms and dining facilities. She kept him away from the things most people would want to see, the bars and the frat houses.

But it was pleasant. During the day he began to open up a little. They had a discussion, a genuine talk, about university. What he was hoping for and everything else. She knew from what he was talking that her university could be a satisfactory fit for him. That was the good thing about a large university; there was a lot of space for everybody.

"I told mom that I wanted to go to that small university we went with you to check out before," he explained as the sun was beginning to set, "The small liberal arts school. I did it simply to get a reaction out of her." He explained and Madoka giggled. Her mom could be paranoid sometimes.

"Where do you want to go? Here?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I want to go to an municipal school somewhere. I just, I prefer being anonymous. I want to go somewhere where no one would pay attention to me," he explained. Madoka supposed she understood that sentiment. But she felt poorly for him. Part of his problem was that he was already too anonymous. He needed to branch out.

"Don't go trying to vanish on me baby brother," She said, "I love you and if you try to become totally anonymous, I will chase you down and catch you." Then he did something very unusual. He reached over and seized her hand and clasped it.

"I love you too, nee-san," he said, "Sometimes you're the only one I love, but I do love you." Madoka was touched. She genuinely felt great when he told her that. And they strolled the remainder of the way back to the dorm, hand in hand.

They returned to the dorm around 5:30 and the sun was nearly entirely out of the sky. Homura was still seated on the sofa watching TV, but Madoka did not see Sayaka anywhere. Homura did not seem like she had moved all day and she stretched and yawned when she saw them.

"How was the tour?" she inquired. Tatsuya shrugged.

"It was good," Madoka said, "We ran into that mouth-breather guy who has a deep crush on you at the library."

"Oh no!" Homura said and they both began tittering. Then she heard Sayaka's voice.

"Hey Homura, I was just...Oh!" Madoka turned and saw Sayaka strolling out of the bathroom. She had obviously just finished a bath. She had a towel swathed around the top of her chest but it was very short. A triangle of skin was uncovered on the open area and one whole ass cheek was in the open air. If she had shifted a bit more, her private part would have been clearly noticeable. Usually this would not have been a big problem. Madoka, and to a larger extent Homura, would have preferred Sayaka to be more careful, but if it was just them females, who cares? The issue was Tatsuya.

Madoka glanced over at him and he was ogling at Sayaka's pelvis. His eyes were widened she swore his jaw was seriously hanging down with his mouth open. This was in all likelihood the nearest he had ever been to a nude female and Madoka thought she could hear his heart beating fast.

To be continued...