Pair of curious honey brown eyes watched the male version of themself's, only with green eyes, write down their homework and try to explain to the female excactly what she was supposed to do.

Those warm, intelligent green pools that she adored. Her dear older brother by one and half years, Minamino Shuichi.

The same older brother who now took care of them both, seeing as their mother was still in the hospital, getting worse day by day.

She tried not to think about what she quessed would happen to the sweet woman whom had raised them and turned to look outside, determined to think positive. However, the weather outside only mirrored her mood, it was raining...

Minamino Taiyou, was currently 14 and half, just year under her brothers grade, going to the same school, had the same amazingly bright red hair but instead of being as curly as her brothers, hers was straight with slight curl at the edges.

She had honey brown, almost golden, eyes, pale skin, fracile frame and loved to wear her brothers button up shirts and had her fair share of over sized hoodies and black jeans.

Like her brother, she was smart, not nearly as much as Shuichi, but smart enough not to get under 85% from her exams, and she normally helped with the garden, cooked and played sports.

But the things she absolutely loved was her chinese bamboo flute(her brother gave it to her when she was 6 as an birthday present) and her tonfa's(She found two, beautiful pair of steel tonfa's one day and taught herself to fight with them). Of course, she made sure that her brother nor mother found out. She always carried her dear possessions with her, flute in her bag and tonfa's hidden beneath her clothing, undetected by naked eye.

she turned back to her brother, to see him looking her in worry.

Shuichi knew full well that it had an huge impact to the pale girl when their mother was commited to the hospital and she wasn't the bright Taiyou he had known for over 14 years, but an silent, depressed girl she had slowly turned in to after Shiori, their mother, had began staying in the hospital.

What worried the big brother the most, was that Taiyou had began to disappear for hours and come back tired and messy, as if she had been in a fight, but when he asked about it she always smiled at him and told him not to worry. How could he not? His precious little sister was slowly but surely becoming an shadow!

What he did not know, however, was that the precious little sister was making sure that they had enough money for food and bills by fighting in street fights...

Taiyou yawned and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand to get rid of the sleepy tears before her brother found out. Too bad it didn't work.

Shuichi's head snapped from his homework he had been doing and to her, looking at her in concern. "Taiyou, did you not sleep well last night?" He quickly made his way to her side, checking her over for any visible sign of exhaustion. Taiyou gazed quietly at the worried brother, but shook her head when their eyes met. "No, i'm fine, i just couldn't fall asleep too well...I think i was just nervous about the test our class had.." The male of the two siblings blinked, before an frown setteled to his face. "Really? I didn't hear anything about you having an test..." Taiyou sighed and nodded. "Yes, we had an test and i didn't want to bother you anymore than i usually do so i didn't tell you."

In a second, Shuichi pulled Taiyou to his chest and craddeled her like an small baby. Taiyou didn't move nor make noice, mearly wrapped her arms around her big brother and leaned in to his embrace. "Taiyou, you aren't an bother, your my sweet little sister, whom i love. No matter what, you shouldn't think like that, alright?" He twined his left hand in her red hair and gently rubbed her skull. "okay..." Taiyou muttered, before slowly falling asleep in his arms.

He watched the girl in his arms drift to darkness, holding her close to him in protective manner, not about to let go.

Minamino Taiyou was the most important(Along with their mother) person to Kurama, just seeing her smile made his day. The moment she was born and had opened her small, innocent eyes and gazed seemingly at him(He was aware even at that age of his surroundings, thanks to his fox side, which was over 4000 years old) he had instanly felt an strong pull towards her.

Even though he hadn't been the perfect son when he still was young and had acted like an brat(after all, he hadn't warmed to the thought of living with humans yet), he always made sure that this little creature was happy with him.

He almost chuckeled at the memories from when they were little. Even then he had been protective of the young female child, refusing to let enyone other than their mother, or their father when he was still alive, from touching her.

He leaned over and kissed Taiyou's forehead gently, smile formng to his lips. Ever since she was born he had vowed to protect her even with the cost of his life. Suddenly, the smile fanished from his lips and was replaced with an frown. But who would look after her when he was dead? They were going to get the 3 articraft from the spirit world soon, then he would use the mirror and make sure his mother would survive her illness.

She had the nice man she had been seeing, but who did Taiyou have? Nobody but him. She didn't enjoy the company of her age(too childish, she'd said) nor did she enjoy talking to those above her age(Only thought of the opposite sex, make-up, cars, or something stupid like that) so it would be hard trying to find someone she'd actually like.

He knew she was attached to him and adored him, but he needed to do this, for his mother.

He pulled the sleeping girl closer, giving her another kiss to the forehead.

No matter, what, he needed to do it.