Still so far away

I loved to watch her. She was the first girl I liked after all. Why did my mom have the marry her dad? Although, would it have made a difference if I I had told her? It probably would have only made things more awkward. But seeing her every morning a breakfast, it's so weird. I have to act like a big brother to her, even if we are in the same class. Now that I think about it, did I ever talk to her before this happened? I think I just watched her from my seat in the back of the class.

This morning I got up. It didn't take me long to get ready. I always have my clothes neatly set on my dresser. My backpack leaned against the white wall, next to my desk, and the geometry homework was still sitting out. How not perfect. I quickly grabbed my work, making sure I had no wrinkled it and place it in my folder then in my backpack. I did pays for a second at my door to make sure my side braids were in place.

Masaomi was in the kitchen , he was making breakfast before his shift at the hospital. His brown hair was as neat as the wavy locks would be. It kinda made me wonder what his hair would look like if Louis-nii got a hold of him.

"Masa-nii have you seen Ema around?" I asked hoping she didn't leave early again, like she sometimes did.

"Yes, and that reminds me, she said to tell you she was stopping by Natsume's place and he would give her a ride to school." Masaomi said, not looking back at me. "Fuuto's not going to school today. Would you mind picking up his work for him?"

"Sure thing Masa-nii." Natsume must have had another Game for her to try out. Shows who he favors, he never offered to let me test play the games his company makes. Not that I ever really got into them anyways. It looked like I'd be walking alone.

After eating a quick breakfast with Masaomi, I decided to leave. I looked at the clock. If I walked at normal pace and left right now I would be exactly three minutes early. I frowned.

As I walked outside, I noticed Iori sitting on the ground, which did not suit his prince like appearance. Although he wasn't facing me I could see that he was holding his left ankle. As I walked up to him, I noticed that his clothes were wrinkled a little.

"Iori-nii did you fall and twist your ankle?" I asked worried about him.

At first he didn't day anything. He just shook his head. But I was sure, if he hadn't hurt himself he would already be half way to school. "I just a was paying more attention to the flowers than to where I was going. I noticed the roses are looking quite beautiful this morning." He said.

I offered my hand to him which he graciously took. "I remember you saying that roses are the flowers for lovers."

"Not all roses. The different colors mean different things as well. Red roses are for lovers. But the ones that look the nicest today are the white ones." He said. "The friendship rose." He pulled out his pair of flower cutting scissors and cut one of the white roses at a slated angle and handed it to me. "I'll give This to you as a thank you. My ankle is fine now." After that he walked away slowly. There went those three minutes.

It felt like a long walk. But that was because I had been alone. I know that she has only been here a short time but I've already grown accustomed to walking with her in the mornings. I especially like the days when Fuuto doesn't walk with us.

She was late to class. It was Natsume's fault I bet. He probably talked her into coffee and letting his cats and what-not. I had already picked up Fuuto's work. I guess I walked a bit faster than I had planed. My delinquent side wouldn't let me be a whole five minutes early to class, so I stopped by the freshmen class first. If I didn't already like Ema then the sound of those girls squealing would have been nice to hear.

For the most part I didn't pay attention during the day. I wanted to go home a pretend that the person I loved was not my sister. I wanted to act like this didn't happen. But of coarse, tomorrow would bring me back down, to reality, like gravity.

"-uke, Yusuke, it's time to go home." Ema called to me. I didn't realize it at first, but I must have been in my dream world.

"R-right. " I said. "I must have banked out."

She smiled at me. "That's okay."

I pulled my bag up on to my desk. It was heavy from all of Fuuto's work I had shoved in there, I even put Iori's white rose on the side so it wouldn't get smashed. With all of my stuff now also crammed in, the rose would definitely be smashed. I carefully took it out. Spinning on my heels to come face to face with the one girl I had fallen for, my new sister. She looked surprised as I stuck the rose under her nose.

"W-what's this?" She blushed, taking the rose from my hand.

It was that moment I knew I would always love her. It didn't matter to me if we were family. I guess that means my mom and I think alike. But at the same time I knew that I would have to play the brother role. She may never love me back. She may never even realize the way that I feel about her. That's okay those...

"Iori said it was a sign of friendship, so I want you to have it." I told her calmly, trying hard not to blush myself. I maybe far away from being her lover, but I'm still always here for her ad she knows that.

I've always felt bad for Yusuke. I mean he's got it even worse than the friend-zone. Like boys can make it out of that, my boyfriend did, but he'll never make it out of the family-zone.