Sweet Days

"Sugu, do you wanna go out with me?"

"Yes!" she replied immediately, not even waiting to hear what her beloved Kazuto was going to say next. Her dreams had finally come true! This was the day her big brother was going to return her feelings! Today, she was going to -

Kazuto scratched his cheek, blinking at Suguha's immediate agreement. "Oh... Guess you're excited for grocery shopping. Mom said we're on our own for dinner, so we can get whatever you want, sound good?"

...go grocery shopping with Kazuto, apparently. Suguha rolled off of her bed, standing up and stretching luxuriously. She wasn't above using her assets to seduce Kazuto, especially because she didn't have any competition in the area. Even if they got in the way during kendo, sometimes... "Ooh, can we get ice cream too?" She leaned forward, surreptitiously checking if Kazuto was watching.

Suguha made a little moue of displeasure when she realized he was looking around her room instead of at her. It was nice he was taking an interest, but she wanted her big brother to be watching her. "Sure, sure," Kazuto sighed. "But only if you promise not to eat it out of the carton. You know Mom hates it when we do that."

"I'm just trying to use fewer dishes," Suguha protested as she glanced in the mirror. "So we run the dishwasher less, which helps the environment." Okay, hair was good, clothes were cute enough, perfect! If she was lucky, the cashier would think they were on a date or something! After making sure she was ready to go - unlike her lazy brother, who she knew lazed around in sweats all day unless he was going out - she checked the time automatically.

Suguha's eyes widened. How had she missed the date? And it was tomorrow... "C'mon, Sugu," Kazuto said from the doorway.

"Coming!" she called, her mind already racing. There wasn't much time left, so she was going to have to take care of things while out with Kazuto today, but then if she wanted to surprise him, she'd have to buy everything she needed without him finding out!

Argh, why did she have to be so bad at this! She was pretty sure that Asuna would have already prepared everything, too...

...

Suguha's plan at the supermarket was pretty simple, all things considered. All she had to do was find what she was looking for while she and Kazuto were walking through it the first time, buying what they needed for dinner. Then, all she had to do was pretend she saw something she really wanted, send Kazuto home ahead of her, and then go back to buy everything.

"Hmm?" Kazuto hummed when Suguha put her master plan into action. "You forgot something?"

"Yeah," Suguha said, scratching her cheek. "Sorry, Kazuto. Go on ahead, and make sure to put the ice cream in the freezer, okay?"

"Well," Kazuto said with a kind smile, "if it's only one or two things I don't mind coming with you."

Suguha wailed on the inside. No, her master plan! "Uh, it's okay, Kazuto," she said. "I just w-wanted to get stuff for... kendo, yeah. Y'know, like another water bottle, some protein bars, things like that..."

Kazuto smiled at her, putting his hand on her shoulder, and any other time Suguha would have been over the moon from the intimacy. Instead, she felt her spirits drop further. "You're my sister, Sugu," he said. "It'll go faster if the two of us buy it together."

"You... probably don't want to come buy this stuff with me!"

"No, really, it's okay -"

"It's pads!" she shouted. Kazuto blinked in confusion. Suguha could feel her ears burning as she tried to ignore the few curious stares from the other mall shoppers that were close enough to hear the conversation between the siblings. "...F-for my... You know, my -"

Kazuto's eyes widened and he immediately recoiled from the subject like a snapping rubber band, his cheeks turning bright red. "I-I get it," he said in a hurry, waving his hands in front of him and cutting Suguha off before the poor girl finished the sentence. She wasn't sure if she'd been able to say it anyway, so she was glad he did. "I'll just... go home and put the ice cream away, yeah!"

She wasn't sure, but she was pretty sure he was almost running away from her. Suguha sighed. She'd managed to get him to go home without her, but at what cost...? She'd been so happy walking with her big brother, and then she had to go and say something like that.

Next year, Suguha swore to herself, she was going to be ready ahead of time. If only so she never had to put herself in this situation ever again.

...

The next stumbling block in her path was getting everything ready without Kazuto realizing. When she got home, Suguha poked her head in the door and looked around for Kazuto. She was in luck - he wasn't anywhere to be seen, and she figured that he must have headed back up to his room after putting the groceries away. She snuck inside, closing the door softly behind her, and tip-toed into the kitchen. She needed to hide everything... But where? She scanned the kitchen, trying to figure out the best place to hide what she'd purchased, and eventually settled on the lower cupboard. Kazuto was a lazy cook, and only ever made pasta if it were left up to him, so it'd be safe there. Perfect!

"Sugu, there you are," Kazuto said.

Suguha let out an, "Eep!" of surprise and instinctively tried to straighten up. Unfortunately for her, she still had her head in the cupboard, and when she jerked up she bashed her head on the top of the cupboard. "Oww..." she moaned, pulling her head out and sitting on the floor.

Kazuto chuckled. "Are you okay?" he asked, even as he crossed over and started rubbing her head. Suguha leaned into the touch, smiling at the warmth of his hand. "That looked like it hurt."

"Eheh... Whoops," Suguha laughed. "You startled me."

Her big brother grinned at her. "You're the one that snuck in like some sort of ninja," he said. "What were you even doing in here?"

"Putting stuff away," she replied. Then Suguha stood up and planted her hands on her hips, leaning forward. "And no peeking!" she ordered her big brother, waving a finger in his face. He waved his hands, leaning away from her and promising that he wouldn't look at all.

Well, that was good enough, she supposed.

...

After school, the next day, both siblings were relaxing on the couch. Suguha had just thrown on her track sweatshirt after changing out of her school uniform because, well, it was comfy! Plus, it went well with her short blue shorts, and she knew she looked cute wearing it. She'd decided to wear a green headband in her hair today, both because she liked wearing something green every day as a Sylph, and because Kazuto had complimented her the last time she wore it.

To her slight frustration, her big brother hadn't even noticed! The only one to compliment her had been Nagata, and well... She didn't mind him, and in ALO Recon was a good mage, but she was only interested in Kazuto.

Kazuto was just wearing what he normally wore at home. The two of them were sitting on the couch together, working on the day's homework due tomorrow, and he let out a long-suffering sigh before slumping back. "Long day, Kazuto?" Suguha asked, hugging the green plushie on the couch. It was one of her stuffed animals that had migrated down to the living room and never really returned. Plus she liked hugging it when it was family movie night.

"Yeah," Kazuto sighed, leaning over and settling in. Suguha blushed as she felt the weight of his back settle against hers. His back was so slender and yet still broad... She knew her cheeks were bright pink but didn't mind. Instead, she just stole a quick glance at her wonderful big brother. His eyes were closed, and she enjoyed the chance to just... watch him. She didn't get to spend peaceful time with Kazuto like that often - if he wasn't playing ALO and hanging off of Asuna, then the other girls vying for his attention were all over him, and if he wasn't playing ALO then he was holed up in his room.

Smiling, Suguha leaned back and just enjoyed the warmth of her big brother's back against hers.

She panicked, suddenly, when she realized that his breathing had become way too regular. Was... Was he taking a nap?! "Hey, Kazuto, wake up," she protested, leaning forward and turning.

Kazuto, who had been balanced against her back, fell against her chest for a second before his eyes fluttered open. "Huh...? Oh, Sugu! S-sorry!" He jerked forward and scrambled to get more on his side of the couch. "Did you want something?"

This was it! Suguha took a deep breath, and nodded once, feeling her cheeks burn. "I, um..." she said, poking her fingers together, "I wanted to give you something. Wait here for a second, okay?" Her heart pounding, Suguha ran upstairs to her room and grabbed the small wrapped bag she'd prepared the night before. It was a small plastic bag, the mouth tied close with a red ribbon she'd spent ages trying to tie correctly. In the end it took looking up a guide online, but it was worth it!

She returned to the living room and offered it to Kazuto without saying anything. "Sugu?" he asked, accepting the bag. "This is..."

"T-This is some chocolate for you!" she squeaked, blushing. "It's not much, but I wanted to give you something!"

Kazuto smiled at her. "Thanks, Sugu. It means a lot you'd give something like this to me."

Suguha nodded. "I made the chocolate last night," she admitted. "I didn't mean to wait so long, but I got busy with school and kendo... I think it came out okay, though, right?"

Grinning, Kazuto untied the bag and fished out one little square of the chocolates she'd made. "Let's see," he said. Without saying anything else, he popped it into his mouth and started chewing. Suguha watched with bated breath as he tilted his head in thought, before swallowing. "Yeah! It's really good, Sugu!"

Her chest heaved as she let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you like it, Kazuto," she said. Then, the mood swept her up, and she leaned over and pressed a quick kiss on Kazuto's cheek. "Happy Valentine's Day," she said to the boy she loved, smiling happily. In the end, she decided, it was worth it.

Is it good? Eh. Is it quality? …Eh. Is it disgustingly tripe trashy prose that I wrote in like… a day? Yeah, there we go!

Blame Saint(Infernal)Neos for this. If you hadn't posted that image of Sugu and Kazuto on the SAO subreddit on the 2nd, this wouldn't have happened! You're the one responsible for me writing this up and posting it for the world to see. Read this and feel your shaaaaame.

…This is why I don't write Valentine's Day stuff, I think… Should I apologize to everyone? I should apologize to everyone. I'm sorry for this.