The door to Inori's room creaked open, stirring the young woman in her bed.
"Yo, Inori-san! You awake?" Matsuri's voice called through the darkness.
"I was trying not to be." Inori groaned as she sat up. "Could you keep your voice down Matsuri; mum and dad are still asleep." Though she said nothing in response, Inori could see the silhouette of her sister shrug dismissively. Inori sighed. "What do you want?"
"Budge over." Matsuri commanded as she walked up to the bed and pulled up the duvet.
"Wait, what?!" Inori found herself pushed to the edge of the bed to make room for its new occupant. "What the hell are you-"
"Keep it down sis; mum and dad are still asleep, remember?" With the two of them so close together, Inori could clearly see the mischievous smile Matsuri had plastered across her face. Inori seethed silently as Matsuri got comfortable in her bed.
"Matsuri-chan, what on earth are you thinking jumping into my bed at this hour!" Inori hissed, keeping her voice down.
"I'm cold." Matsuri stated plainly.
"I'd imagine you would be a lot less cold if you had opted to stay in your own bed, instead of wandering around the house and bothering me!" Inori scowled at her sister, who was clearly paying her little mind.
"The heating is shot. I figured it'd be warmer in your bed than on my own." Inori huffed. "And I thought you might appreciate it too." Matsuri glanced over at Inori, before she closed her eyes and lay her head back upon the pillow.
"Evidently you were mistaken." Inori protested. She continued sitting up and glaring down at her sister.
"Are you gonna spend the whole night like that, Inori-san?" Inori folded her arms. Loathed though she may be to admit it, she had noticed how cold the night had been. A warm companion didn't sound like such a bad idea.
"Just make sure you don't hog the duvet all to yourself." Inori said as she lay back down, covering herself up again.
"I wouldn't dream of it." Matsuri said with a smirk.
The girls fell into silence; not exactly uncomfortable, but still awkward enough to put a damper on either girls attempts to find sleep.
"Kagami and Tsukasa are starting high school next week." Matsuri broke the stalemate.
"And you'll be starting college." Inori turned to look at Matsuri, who was staring up at the ceiling. "Is that what this is about?" Matsuri smiled for a moment, then relapsed into indifference.
"Do you think they'll be okay?" Matsuri asked.
"I didn't think you'd care much about how they'd do in school." Inori spoke more harshly than she had intended to.
"They're my sisters!" Matsuri said in quiet surprise, sounding hurt by the assumption. Inori reeled for a moment. She sighed and gave a nod.
"They'll be fine Matsuri." To Inori's surprise, Matsuri gave a light chuckle in response.
"Do you remember that year we were at high school together?" Masturi said nostalgically. Inori shook her head with a smile.
"You spent the first month pretending you didn't know me, then the rest of the year begging me to help with your homework." Both girls laughed at the memory.
"I thought it'd be embarrassing being in the same school as my sister, but secretly, I was really glad you were there with me." Matsuri confessed.
"I was happy you were there too. It made me feel like the big sister again." Inori felt Matsuri wrap her hand around one of her own.
"Thanks Onee-chan..." Matsuri said quietly.
"Hmm?"
"Thanks for looking out for me, Onee-chan!" Matsuri sidled closer to Inori.
"I'm your sister, of course I look out for you!" Inori wrapped her arms around Matsuri and drew her into a hug. "I love you; you know that don't you?"
"I love you too, sis." Matsuri reciprocated the hug gladly.
"No matter where you go or what you do, I'll always be here for you." Inori kissed her imouto on the forehead gently. "So don't you worry, Matsuri-chan."
"I'll hold you to that!" Matsuri said with a laugh.
"Goodnight, Imouto."
" 'night, Onee-chan." The girls exchanged a quick, chaste kiss on the lips before separating and going off to sleep. Both gently traced a finger across their own lips in contemplation before they drifted off.
'I love you…'
A/N: Hooray for Hiiragi-cest; be it overt or covert, it's a beautiful thing either way!
As you guys can probably tell, I'm still very rusty; I haven't written much in the past few months and it's been quite some time since I watched Lucky Star. However, through a sudden burst of determination, I resolved to write something.
Now I'm reminded why I love writing so much; this was pretty damn fun! Maybe I'll be able to pick up 'Sister Wars' again sometime in the near future. It would be nice to get back into the swing of things.
Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this, and thanks for reading!