A/N: Thank you for all of your comments, favourites, and follows, they all mean a lot to me. I know the fandom is not very active any more but let's keep it alive for a bit longer, shall we?
Since I got asked about the story title recently, let me say here that it's not as random as it may appear. By the end of this fic, figuring it out should be fairly easy.
This chapter concentrates more on the family aspect of Ryuuko and Satsuki's relation so get your toothbrushes ready ;)
Also, happy Easter or, if you're like me and don't celebrate it, simply have a nice Sunday.
~Where Did You Put My Keys?~
By: Caelion
Chapter 2: The new life
Ryuuko was nervous, to say the least. Coming to Honnouji academy to find her father's murderer was one thing. Going to university to study, make friends, and actually live a normal life that any girl her age should was something completely different.
She had experienced that already while going to her new high school but it wasn't the same back then. There was Mako with her and that alone guaranteed her that she'd have a lot of fun. This time, however, she was here all by herself.
To her relief, Satsuki was on the same faculty. Still, it didn't even guarantee that they'd see each other often anyway. And it wasn't like they could act too close either. All in all, nothing was certain.
With an audible gulp, Ryuuko looked again at her paper schedule, then at the area she was in.
"Lecture hall 001..." she looked around among the crowd of people, finding nothing close to what she was searching for. "Dammit, who the hell came up with this numbering," she cursed, randomly directing her steps towards the nearby staircase.
"Trouble finding the lecture hall?"
Ryuuko almost jumped when a cheerful voice sounded right behind her. She looked back immediately, just to see a tall blonde girl glancing at the schedule she held. "Er, and you are...?" Ryuuko asked, cautiously taking a step back.
"My name is Aria," the girl introduced herself, offering her hand to shake. "I'm from Europe but I came here to study."
Only then did Ryuuko actually notice that the way the girl spoke sounded, in fact, a bit foreign. "Oh," she replied before composing herself and shaking the outstretched hand. "I'm Ryuuko."
"Ryuuko-san, then?" Aria smiled.
"Fine with me," the shorter girl shrugged. "Oh shit," she cursed suddenly, remembering she was still in the middle of her searches for her first lecture ever. "Sorry, I gotta go, I kinda got lost here," she explained hastily, ready to run down the stairs.
"Ah, Ryuuko-san, wait a moment!"
Ryuuko halted, looking back at the girl with a questioning expression.
"It seems we're attending the same course," she said, waving a schedule identical to the one Ryuuko held in her hand. "Follow me, I know the way."
Still somewhat confused by the sudden meeting, yet undeniably glad for having someone who knew the surroundings, Ryuuko followed the girl until they finally reached the place that she'd been searching for almost twenty minutes.
"How did you figure out it's here?" Ryuuko asked curiously after they got inside and took their seats in the middle, still having a few minutes left.
"Oh, I came here yesterday to get some idea of where the classrooms are."
Ryuuko scratched her head in embarrassment. "Guess I should have done it myself," she muttered.
Suddenly, the door to the hall creaked and all whispers that were still going around ceased immediately. An older man slowly stepped at the podium and, after adjusting the microphone, began speaking.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the first year of Business Management course. I'd like to welcome you to the very first lecture in this academic year, which also should be the first year in general for all of you, I assume," he paused when a couple of chuckles sounded from the back of the lecture hall. "The subject is called "Foundations of Marketing". Without further ado, let us begin."
…
"-san, Ryuuko-san."
Ryuuko jerked suddenly in her sit when she felt someone persistently poking her arm. "Huh? What is it?" she asked with confusion, looking up and noticing the commotion in the hall around her.
"The lecture is over," Aria informed with a smile while packing her notes.
"Oh," Ryuuko took a glance at the empty notebook in front of her. "Oh shit, I fell asleep," she put her palm to her forehead before rubbing her eyes and standing up from her sit.
"Got little sleep last night?"
Ryuuko blushed lightly, suddenly remembering the way Satsuki had helped her with relaxing before the big day. "Uh, sorta," she replied, turning around to not show her reddening face.
Aria only kept beaming innocently. "Don't worry, I was also so excited I couldn't keep my eyes closed," she reassured, following Ryuuko to the exit.
"You sure still are," the other girl answered and suppressed a yawn.
"I can't help it, it's my dream coming true!"
Ryuuko sighed indifferently. Dream...huh? she pondered on the word for a moment. "Must be good to have one," she said, more to herself than to anyone else in particular.
"Huh? Did you say something, Ryuuko-san?" Aria looked at her in confusion.
"Nah, nothing. It was nothing."
"I'm...back..." Ryuuko closed the door to the apartment after entering inside and, only by sheer willpower, dragged herself to the living room before falling face-first on the sofa.
"Welcome back," Satsuki's voice sounded from the kitchen. "Are you hungry?"
"Like hell..." the younger girl answered half-heartedly. Satsuki had made her lunch but it'd been hours since she ate it.
"How was your first day at university?"
Ryuuko groaned audibly. "Tiring as fuck," she complained, still wondering just how exactly trying to focus on listening for eight hours, hell, even for five minutes, came out to be more draining than fighting dozens of people in a row like she used to back in Honnouji.
She suddenly felt a pat on her back.
"You'll get used to it," Satsuki reassured confidently before sitting down next to the girl.
Not without effort, Ryuuko moved one of her arms, reaching out for Satsuki's hand and grasping it as firmly as her missing strength had allowed her to.
"I actually like it when you're tired," the older girl confessed suddenly before flashing a teasing grin. "You get more affectionate."
"Shut up..." Ryuuko mumbled indifferently.
Satsuki smiled and began stroking her sister's palm with her thumb. "There's still a while left before the food is ready," she informed. "Feel like telling me about your day?"
At that, Ryuuko turned around and rested on her back. "'t was kinda weird," she began, meeting Satsuki's gaze. "I met this blonde girl, she said she's from Europe or somethin', we're in the same course."
"Good to hear that you're making friends already," the older girl said, reaching out to brush some stray hair away from Ryuuko's eyes.
"Uh, she ain't really..." Ryuuko began before remembering that she was actually kind of glad to have the girl around. Still better than roaming alone around the faculty for the whole day.
"What about the classes?"
At that question, Ryuuko averted her eyes. "Er...pretty sure I fell asleep on all of them at some point," she confessed with embarrassment, expecting imminent chiding.
To her surprise, Satsuki began chuckling instead. "That's sounds so like you," she teased.
"Can't help it, this shit was boring as hell," the younger girl frowned and crossed her arms on her chest.
Their talk got interrupted by a loud ringing coming from the kitchen.
"Looks like the food is ready," Satsuki got up from the sofa. "Go wash your hands and come eat."
Ryuuko frowned again and opened her mouth but her sister was already in the kitchen. "Still treating me like a child," she said to herself instead, feeling the corners of her mouth curling up ever so slightly nevertheless.
About half an hour later, Ryuuko was about to lie down on the sofa again, her stomach full and content, when her phone suddenly began ringing. She looked at the display, only to see an unknown number. She hesitated for a moment before she picked up. "Hel-"
"Ryuuuuko-chaaaaaan!"
Quickly moving the phone away from her ear, Ryuuko looked at the device with undisguised surprise, immediately recognizing the familiar voice that sounded from the speaker.
"Mako?" she asked, a wide smile painting on her face.
"One and only! Satsuki-sama has sent me a cellphone along with your number," the girl chirped.
Ryuuko glanced at Satsuki who sat not so far away from her, reading a book with a satisfied expression. Noticing her younger sister's gaze, she waved her hand.
"Oh, that's great! By the way, Satsuki says hi," Ryuuko replied, quickly finding the need to move the phone away from her ear again.
"Hiiiii Satsuki-sama!"
Chuckling at Mako's usual antics, Ryuuko relaxed on the sofa. "How are you? How are the folks doing?"
"We're all great, I think mom is scolding dad and Matarou right now for stealing the phone from our neighbours so they could call me. And I just came back from uni so I thought I'd give you a call myself. How have you been, Ryuuko-chan?"
With that, Ryuuko laughed again. Oh how she missed the craziness of her foster family. "Great timing, Mako," she said. "I just came back from my classes a while ago myself."
"Whoa, tell me how it was! I slept on all of mine!"
Ryuuko couldn't help but burst out with laughter once more.
Indeed, some things never changed.
"Gosh, this girl can really talk your ears off," Ryuuko chuckled after finishing her lengthy call with Mako during which they had managed to catch up and exchange their experiences connected to their new lives as university students. "Thanks, Sats," she added, meeting her sister's gaze.
Satsuki's only reply was a gentle smile before she went back to reading.
With a grumble, Ryuuko bookmarked and closed a thick book that lied in front of her before resting her forehead with a thud right on top of it. "Knowledge, come in..." she mumbled to herself.
"Something wrong?"
She turned around and saw Satsuki peeking inside through the open door. "Uh, no, I just got a whole freaking chapter of this shit to learn due to next Thursday," Ryuuko complained.
It was Monday.
"I mean, what the hell, it ain't even a week since the semester began."
Satsuki let out an amused chuckle. While she herself was good at studying and could memorize the material easily, Ryuuko seemed to be her complete opposite in this field.
She strolled towards the irritated girl and began gently massaging her shoulders.
"You're all tensed up," Satsuki noted after a moment, continuing her motion which made Ryuuko gasp contently a few times. "Take a hot bath, it'll help you relax a bit."
Ryuuko hummed in acknowledgement before getting up from her chair. "Thanks, sis," she gave the older girl a thankful smile, already feeling somewhat less stressed after the impromptu massage she had just received.
She opened the door to the bathroom and stepped inside. The lights turned on automatically. She was about to take her clothes off when she noticed something, or rather someone, entering along with her.
"Um, you wanna go first?" she asked, turning to Satsuki who began preparing the bath.
"No, I'm fine," the girl replied.
"Oh, 'kay," Ryuuko looked at her with slight confusion before her face covered with a hot flush. "Wait, what are you-" she uttered, watching as Satsuki began casually taking her clothes off.
Satsuki paused, already half-naked, and gave her a questioning look. "I wanted to take a bath with my little sister," she spoke matter-of-factly.
The little sister in question kept staring at her with her mouth open.
"Are you...not okay with that?" Satsuki asked with a hint of hesitation after a moment of silence.
Trying to contain her flustered behaviour, Ryuuko turned around to face another direction, suddenly noticing, to her mortification, a huge mirror giving her a perfect view on her sibling's almost naked body anyway. "N-no, it's okay," she stuttered, with face red as a beet, and tentatively started removing her own clothing.
It was one thing, Ryuuko figured quickly, when she got naked along with Satsuki during their love-making. But it was something completely different when it came to uncovering her body during something as simple and casual as taking a bath together. Ironically, the latter was actually normal for sisters to do.
"Sit down, I'll wash your hair," Satsuki motioned her gently to a stool near a shower.
"I can-" Ryuuko began, wanting to say that she could easily do it by herself, but the innocently cute look on Satsuki's face made her quickly change her mind.
Covering her chest self-consciously, she paced towards the shower and sat down. Satsuki, on the other hand, showed absolutely no sign of embarrassment.
The older girl had rinsed her sibling's hair before she began putting shampoo on her head and gently rubbing her scalp.
Indulging herself in the heavenly feeling, Ryuuko closed her eyes, sighing contently as her sister's fingers kept moving slowly around her head. She felt herself slowly drifting off when the motions suddenly stopped.
"Keep your eyes closed," she heard and suddenly felt warm water flowing down her head and body.
Satsuki repeated the process one more time and knelt down behind her sister.
"W-wait, what-" Ryuuko stuttered, turning around and immediately covering her bare front again.
"I'm going to wash your back," Satsuki replied, putting some shower gel on her hands and spreading it carefully on the soft skin on front of her.
Ryuuko couldn't help but gasp again as Satsuki moved the hands from her shoulders, down to her shoulder blades, and then to the small of her back, lingering there for a moment and rubbing it carefully. She brushed against the younger girl's hips and sides, moving up to her shoulders again, then stood up to rinse the remaining soap.
Sitting down under the second shower, Satsuki smiled with satisfaction. "I'll leave the rest to you," she said and reached for the bottle of hair shampoo. "Unless you need my help," she added teasingly.
"Perv," Ryuuko retorted, but still felt her lips curl into a smile. "Hey, lemme do that," she got up suddenly, taking the shampoo bottle away from Satsuki and standing behind her.
The older girl didn't protest and, instead, allowed Ryuuko to do the job.
Clumsily mimicking Satsuki's earlier motions, Ryuuko began washing her sister's hair slowly, noticing a content and satisfied expression lingering on her face. Her hair is so soft... the girl noted to herself as she kept going. Entranced with the sensation, she kept rubbing until she noticed that Satsuki did actually fall asleep.
"Sats?" she shook her sister gently.
"Ah, sorry," the older girl quickly opened her eyes and composed herself. "I drifted off."
"I noticed," Ryuuko chuckled and rinsed her sibling's hair. "Want me to wash your back, too?" she asked after she finished.
"Go ahead."
With a nod, Ryuuko picked up the bottle of Satsuki's shower cream and knelt down, levelling her eyes with her sister's neck. She was about to begin when something else had caught her attention.
"Do they hurt?" she asked warily, carefully brushing her fingertips against multiple, little scarred marks that lingered all around Satsuki's neck and shoulders.
"No," the girl replied contently.
Ryuuko narrowed her eyes. Satsuki had never asked her to go gently at her and what she was looking at was nothing else than the result of their frequent love-making sessions. With a sense of guilt building up inside her, Ryuuko tenderly pressed her lips against one of the marks that was still relatively fresh.
"Don't worry about it," Satsuki turned to her sister, meeting her bitter gaze. "Please," she added, reaching out to pat the girl's head.
That didn't really make Ryuuko worry any less. Still, she nodded quietly and resumed her task of washing her sibling's back thoroughly, although still making her motions extra careful whenever she got close to the numerous little scars and scratch marks.
They finished washing the rest of their bodies by themselves before stepping into the bath. Although still self-conscious about being naked around Satsuki so casually, Ryuuko noticed that she wasn't feeling as embarrassed as she did at first. They sat down next to each other, with the water covering them up to their chins, and rested themselves against the edge of the bath.
"This is heaven..." Ryuuko muttered, closing her eyes and breathing in the aroma of the oil that Satsuki had put into the water. She felt her sister nestling closer to her and intertwining their fingers underwater.
"Are you okay now, Ryuuko?" Satsuki asked softly, receiving a questioning look in response. "You didn't seem to be fond of the idea of us taking a bath together," she explained.
"Oh, that," Ryuuko looked at her sister. "I'm fine now, guess I just had to get used to it, or something," she grinned, scratching her head.
Satsuki smiled and closed her eyes. "I just want us to do things that family does, too," she spoke. "Ultimately, that's what we are."
Ryuuko looked at the ceiling, pondering on what her sister said. They were a very special kind of family. But what did it matter? "Yea," she replied eventually, closing her eyes again and sighing contently. Maybe that was just how fate wanted them to be. Either way, she didn't mind.
"I'm sorry, Ryuuko, could you order yourself a dinner tonight?"
Ryuuko raised her brow before taking her sudden phone call someplace more quiet than the rowdy faculty hall. "Something came up?" she asked, finding an empty, and relatively peaceful, corner.
"Rei called me a while ago, I have a business meeting appointed after my lectures," Satsuki explained.
"Oh, sure," Ryuuko replied and asked, "When are you going to be back?"
She heard a sigh before a response came. "Hopefully around 9 pm at most, but you don't have to wait for me."
"Yea, yea," the younger girl dismissed. "Uh, I gotta go," she said suddenly, noticing that people started disappearing from the hall. "I think my class is gonna start."
"Good luck," Satsuki spoke mildly.
"Thanks, you too."
After ending the call, Ryuuko quickly paced towards the door of her classroom and slipped in before the last person entered. Sitting down next to Aria, as usual, she began unpacking her notebooks.
"What happened? You disappeared so suddenly I thought you went home," the blonde asked, making use of the still unsettled commotion around them.
"Nothing much," Ryuuko answered, propping her chin on her hand. "I just gotta get myself something to eat tonight," she said, staring thoughtfully at the back of the person in front of her. "I think I'll get a pizza."
Not sure how it was related to her question, Aria scratched her head before the lecturer asked for silence and the class began.
"She's late..." Ryuuko muttered to herself, glancing at the clock in the kitchen. The hour hand was about to reach ten pm.
With an long sigh, the girl looked around the empty place before resting her hands and head on the table she was sitting at. Her heartbeat quickened when she heard the familiar clacking of a pair of heels before the door to the apartment opened.
"I'm sorry, Ryuuko," Satsuki began right off the bat after entering the kitchen. "I hope you didn't have trouble with getting the food," she said with an audible tiredness in her voice before she dropped down on one of the chairs.
"It's fine, I already ordered some pizza," Ryuuko replied before preparing two plates and filling them with still somewhat warm food. "Eat up and go rest, you look beaten," she said, putting one of the plates in front of her sister, before sitting down and digging in her own portion.
Satsuki looked at her with unconcealed surprise. "You waited for me?"
Ryuuko smiled, somewhat distantly. "I...guess I have a thing for family dinners," she answered, reaching out to get another slice of pizza. "How did the meeting go?"
The older girl's expression turned from tired to serious. "They kept trying to convince me to continue Kiryuuin Ragyo's business," she said coldly, munching on her food. "They kept talking about her over and over, praising her to the skies, and saying my methods are too soft compared to hers."
Frowning, Ryuuko let out a low grumble. "What a bunch of idiots."
Satsuki didn't answer. "It was a good thing that Rei was there with me," she said instead, her voice softening slightly.
Ryuuko sighed. She didn't need to be there to imagine how much it must have pissed Satsuki off. It happened every time somebody mentioned their mother and, mentally, she couldn't thank Rei enough for redeeming herself and looking out for her sister at times like this.
"You're not eating any more?" Ryuuko frowned, watching as the other girl began putting her plate into the dishwasher after eating only one slice of pizza.
"I guess I'm just not hungry," Satsuki replied. Her voice was calm and collected again.
Despite that, the younger girl could easily sense that there was still something more behind it.
"Do you mind if I just go sleep for tonight?"
"No, it's fine," Ryuuko answered before getting up to clean from the table. "You look like you need some rest."
Satsuki gave her an apologetic, and thankful, smile before directing her steps towards the bathroom.
After following her sister with her gaze for a moment, Ryuuko went to her room to change into her pyjama before going to bedroom herself. It wasn't like she was going to do anything else at this hour, especially when Satsuki was going to sleep. So, after her sister had left the bathroom and went straight to bed, Ryuuko quickly brushed her teeth, planning to go sleep as well.
It surprised her greatly, maybe because of the fact that she herself was the one to drift off the first, that, by the time she entered their bedroom, Satsuki was already dead to the world and with apparently no intention of waking up any time soon. Still, Ryuuko had slipped into the bed carefully, curling herself next to the sleeping girl, and closed her lids.
She was already half-asleep herself, watching some vague dream playing in her mind, when abrupt commotion woke her up immediately.
Ryuuko opened her eyes and looked at her sister, first thing, who was suddenly twisting and turning while still deep in her sleep, with a distressed expression marking her face.
"Sats," Ryuuko grabbed the girl by her arm, shaking her gently. When that went with no effect, she repeated her motion, more sternly. "Satsuki," she spoke louder.
"Get...get away..."
She froze in shock when she heard her sister's pained whisper. Realizing that the girl was still asleep, Ryuuko sat up and shook her with both of her hands. "Sis!" she shouted.
Finally, Satsuki opened her eyes. She looked around with confusion, her gaze eventually resting on Ryuuko's face, before she let out a sigh of relief.
Sighing on her own, Ryuuko laid back down, embracing her sister tightly. "It's okay, Sats, it was just a dream," she whispered, feeling the girl cuddling to her and clenching her shirt almost desperately.
A moment after, just as suddenly as her nightmare came, Satsuki was already sleeping soundly in Ryuuko's arms.
"The hell was that..." Ryuuko whispered to herself before closing her eyes and attempting to get some rest. But even the slightest move that Satsuki made, every single tremble of her body, would put Ryuuko's mind back on alert mode, ready to wake the girl up again if needed. In the end, sleep never came that night.
If there was a person that Ryuuko despised from the bottom of her heart then it had to be her already-deceased mother. Not only for completely messing up her and Satsuki's lives from their very beginning, but also for haunting her sister even a year after death.
Although few were the times when Satsuki had opened up to her about their mother's abuse she had suffered, it was still enough for Ryuuko to know how deep the scars must ran. And she would surely talk to Satsuki about it now, try to make the girl let it all out, if not for the ill-timed streak of long meetings she had scheduled day after day.
Then, night after night, there was the same scenario repeating itself, and Ryuuko really didn't want to drag more things out when her sister was already in a bad condition every evening.
This one was no different.
Dropping down on the sofa in the living room, Ryuuko looked at the stars shining through the glassy ceiling and sighed heavily. For how long had Satsuki been dealing with this alone? She knew her sister's resolve was unstoppable when it came to achieving what she wanted but she also knew that Satsuki wasn't indestructible. Under her tough façade she still felt pain, just like any human being would.
Closing her eyes, Ryuuko listened to the sound of water falling from the shower in the bathroom and sighed again. It was as if cleansing her body would help Satsuki with cleansing her mind from the scars left by that woman, now being repeatedly opened over and over again by ignorant people she had to do business with. Ironically, the world came out to be a really small place.
Long minutes passed before the water stopped flowing and the door to the bathroom opened.
"Sats," Ryuuko said when a tall figure clad in a bathrobe walked through the living room and towards the bedroom.
Satsuki stopped abruptly and, without turning around, replied, "Yes?"
"You know you can rely on me, right?"
It took a couple of unnaturally long seconds before the answer came. "...Thank you," the girl whispered, barely audibly enough for Ryuuko to hear.
Noticing that Satsuki stood still, Ryuuko got up quickly and embraced her sister from behind.
She held her for a moment, feeling the tensed body slowly relaxing its muscles under her touch. "Let's get you to bed, you need rest," the younger girl said sternly before putting her arm around Satsuki's waist and leading her to their master bedroom.
Satsuki quietly nodded her head, following her sibling.
The moment they both got under the quilt, Ryuuko cradled the older girl, stroking her hair as delicately as she could, feeling her nestling comfortably in her arms. She closed her own eyes and listened as her sister's breathing kept slowing down steadily until it reached a point where she was most probably asleep.
Ryuuko pondered grimly on everything that had happened so far. She had never told Satsuki about it but the only reason she chose the same university course as her was hope that one day she could help her sister carry the burden. However stupid it sounded, she wanted to walk alongside with her and protect her from things like this. So Satsuki could finally live a normal life that she deserved but, for some reason, still kept refusing to accept.
Carefully, Ryuuko tightened her embrace around her sister after she felt her stir slightly.
"A dream..." the younger girl whispered, looking at Satsuki sleeping peacefully again in her arms.
She also had a dream on her own now. Just that, in her case, it was still far out of her reach.
"What's wrong, Ryuuko-san? You look beaten," Aria pointed out, bending over the shorter girl who was sitting down on the floor and resting her back against the wall in their faculty's main hall.
"I'm tired," Ryuuko replied indifferently, munching on a green apple. "I got little sleep last night, that's all."
Aria frowned before sitting down next to her. "That time of the month?" she asked compassionately.
With that, Ryuuko choked on her food spectacularly. "Uh, no, it ain't that," she uttered after her coughing ceased. "I just-" she paused, feeling her phone vibrating in her pocket.
From Sis: "Don't wait for me with dinner tonight."
Again. She read the message a few more times before sighing to herself. "-got some stuff on my head," she finished, shoving her phone back into her jeans pocket.
"You have a sister?" Aria asked curiously. "Oh, sorry, I couldn't help but take a look," she added, raising one hand in apology, after noticing the other girl's surprised stare.
"Yea," Ryuuko answered briefly before going back to eating her apple.
"What is she like?"
"Loving, gentle, and stupidly stubborn."
"Oh," Aria said thoughtfully. "Must be nice to have a sibling."
Ryuuko repressed her grim chuckle. Even though they tried to act like that, she and Satsuki were far from being normal sisters. She opened her mouth to give a reply when something else suddenly caught her attention. "Wait a sec," she said before getting up and pacing to the other side of the slightly crowded hall, throwing the remaining apple core out to the bin along the way.
She knew she got spotted when a pair of blue eyes locked with hers.
"Ryuuko," Satsuki's face was marked with surprise. "Have you received my message?"
"Yea," Ryuuko answered, putting her hands inside the pockets of her sweatshirt. "Got another meeting tonight?"
The older girl nodded.
There. It was now or never.
"Can't you just ditch it?"
"I can't miss this one," Satsuki replied casually, but clearly not enjoying the thought herself. "What's wrong?" she asked, sensing her sister's anxiousness.
Ryuuko clenched her fists inside her pockets. "I just...I hate to see you like that," she muttered, then gazed sternly into the older girl's eyes. "Every time you come back you ain't yourself."
Satsuki opened her mouth to answer but changed her mind last moment.
"You tremble at night, you talk in your sleep," Ryuuko kept listing relentlessly.
The last sentence seemed to shake the girl as she looked at her sibling with a slightly shocked expression that broke her indifferent façade. "What do I say?" she asked dully.
"To get away from you, to stop doing whatever the hell you're dreaming about."
"I see...I didn't know," Satsuki said, closing her eyes and allowing herself to let out a quiet sigh.
Ryuuko grimaced. "I figured," she replied bitterly. "Look, whatever makes you act like this, you gotta stop it."
"I can't. There still are things that must be-"
"I ain't asking if you can or not," Ryuuko interjected. "I'm telling you as your fucking sister who's worried about you!" she raised her voice, making the people around them turn their heads curiously in her direction. "Sorry," she muttered, realizing her outburst.
She looked at Satsuki who seemed to be calmly calculating her options.
"It'll be the last one," the older girl spoke eventually. "I'll take a break after it."
Ryuuko stared deeply into her sister's eyes for a moment. "Promise?"
"Promise," Satsuki replied, managing a small smile. Then, she bent over and whispered into her sibling's ear, "Tomorrow, after your classes, do you feel like going on a date together?"
With that, Ryuuko finally grinned on her own. "You got it."
They gazed into each other's eyes for a while before Satsuki broke the silence between them. "I have to go now," she said, glancing at her wristwatch. "I'll be back at night, okay?"
Ryuuko felt her smile falter but she refused to let it show. "I'll be waiting," she said and, just before Satsuki was about to walk away, she added, "give 'em hell," giving her sister her trademark grin.
Going back to Aria, she felt somewhat lighter. She knew there was most probably one more tough night to go through but, after that, they would finally get some rest. And the thought of their appointed date was somehow making things appear easier to bear.
"Who was that?" the blonde asked curiously when Ryuuko got back and sat down next to her.
Feeling a smile forming on her face, Ryuuko closed her eyes and replied, "my sis."
For some reason, she felt really proud of that fact.
It was almost half past midnight when Ryuuko heard a loud, repetitive noise that kept gaining on volume. Only when she heard a thud did she realize that something had just landed on top of the roof.
It wasn't long until the noise was gone and she heard a sound of a door being opened that she had never heard before.
Ryuuko smiled to herself before getting up from her seat in the living room and going to greet her sister. Feeling a bit of tension, she entered the main hall of the apartment.
There she was, hanging her coat, with her hair dishevelled slightly from the wind.
"That was one hell of a way to come back home, sis," Ryuuko grinned, resting herself against the wall.
Satsuki chuckled at the familiar-sounding comment. "Old habits die hard," she retorted, turning around to face her sister.
"Are you okay?" the younger girl asked. She looked up to meet her sibling's eyes, noticing a gentle flicker of light in them. With that, she quietly released the breath she didn't realize she was holding.
Instead of answering, Satsuki took a step forward and pulled surprised Ryuuko into a tight embrace. "I'm fine," she said eventually. "Thanks to you."
"Huh?" Ignoring her surfacing blush, Ryuuko looked at her sister with astonishment. "How is it thanks to me?" she asked, returning the embrace anyway.
"It just is," Satsuki replied mysteriously. "You gave me the strength that I needed, and I had our date tomorrow to look forward to," she spoke calmly, resting face in Ryuuko's hair affectionately.
"Actually, it's today already," Ryuuko corrected playfully, pointing at the clock. "We should go sleep, I'm gonna tire you out in the evening," she said with a grin.
"Just give me a moment, I want to take a shower."
"Sure, I'm gonna hit the bed first," the younger girl stepped away from her sister and followed her with her eyes until she disappeared inside the bathroom.
After entering the bedroom, already changed, Ryuuko fell on the soft mattress and let out a sigh of relief. She had no idea how exactly she had managed to help Satsuki but it wasn't important. She was just glad that her sister seemed to be okay. She realized a long while ago that, really, it became the only thing that mattered to her.
Ryuuko smiled when the mattress weighed down and Satsuki's warm body pressed itself against her back.
"Good night, Ryuuko," Satsuki whispered.
Inhaling the sweet scent of her sister's shower cream, Ryuuko closed her eyes. "Night, sis," she replied. She didn't even know when sleep came.
"Shit, I'm gonna be late!" Ryuuko looked at her cellphone as she ran through the multiple halls and staircases of her faculty, trying her best to avoid bumping into other people that were walking around.
Finally, she had reached the exit. The outside light, although already slowly fading away, still blinded her for a couple of seconds. She looked around after a moment, noticing Satsuki sitting on one of the nearby benches.
Seeing her, the older girl stood up.
"Sorry," Ryuuko stuttered out, stopping in front of her sister and panting after her dash. "The lecture got prolonged a bit 'cause of some announcements."
That, and Aria had a hard time waking her up, but it wasn't like she could say that, was it?
Satsuki nodded slightly. "It's okay," she said, directing her steps towards the exit from the university grounds. "Where would you like to go first?" she asked, turning to Ryuuko who was walking by her side.
"Dunno, could we get something to eat? I'm kinda hungry."
"Sure. Traditional? Pizza?"
Ryuuko pondered for a moment, putting her hands behind her head out of habit. "Ramen sounds good right now."
The older girl smiled. "Let's go then, an acquaintance of mine showed me a good restaurant around here."
The dinner passed in relative silence as they both were somewhat tired after the day full of classes and lectures. They became more lively after they had left, feeling their strength coming back again.
"Hey, Sats, how about we just walk around for a bit?" Ryuuko asked after a moment of strolling in a more or less random direction.
Satsuki gave her a bit surprised look at first before nodding her head. "Sure," she said and linked her arm with Ryuuko's.
"It's just," the younger girl began, looking at the reddening sky. "We're either at uni or at home, I thought we ain't really...uh, y'know, get to spend the time together in a casual way like that."
They took another random turn, soon enough finding themselves in an open area with a clear view to the west.
Ryuuko hummed in awe as they stopped near a barrier, dividing them from a steep cliff, and watched the setting sun dyeing them and everything around in red. She felt the older girl moving closer and tightening the hold on her arm.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Satsuki whispered.
"Yea," Ryuuko replied contently, wondering how something so simple could fill her with so much joy. Just the fact alone that she could share this view with her sister.
They kept staring at the sky burning red for a while longer, until the sun disappeared under the horizon, before turning around and continuing their walk.
"How is university going for you?" Satsuki picked up. "Are you getting used to it?"
Ryuuko chuckled. "Yea, I don't fall asleep on lectures as much any more," she answered, deciding against mentioning the fact that she could keep her focus only during the first one or two classes.
"If you need some help with the material, let me know."
"There you go with your older-sister act again," Ryuuko grinned, noticing with a corner of her eye that Satsuki's cheeks covered with ever so delicate blush.
"I can't help it," the older girl replied with a slight hint of embarrassment. "I am your older sister after all."
Ryuuko snickered. "A very unusual one," she teased, admiring the rare sight of flustered Satsuki in the dim light of a street lamp.
They entered an empty park and kept strolling through the main road for a moment until the noises of the city were almost gone.
With surprised expression on her face, Ryuuko looked at her sister who halted suddenly before turning to the younger girl. She felt her heart beating faster when Satsuki's hands rested on her hips.
"I might be unusual," the taller girl whispered. "But I'm still your sister," she finished, leaning in and connecting her lips with Ryuuko's.
Ryuuko closed her eyes and was about to embrace her sister when she suddenly felt herself being brutally pulled away. She groaned when her arms got painfully twisted backwards and, before she knew, she was in almost no position to move.
"Hoho, what do we have here," a malicious voice sounded from the darkness of the park.
"The taller one is a real cutie," another voice.
"The shorty ain't that bad either," third one.
"Satsuki!" Ryuuko shouted, gritting her teeth when she saw a man taking hold of her sister, with another one stepping in front of her. She looked around, seeing one more lurking in the shadows, while one was immobilizing her own body.
"Fucking dykes."
"Holy shit, look at her boobs," one of the guys spoke, directing his steps towards Satsuki.
"Don't you fucking touch her!" Ryuuko growled before she felt a hard slap landing on her face.
"Or what, gonna start screaming? Go ahead, ain't nobody gonna hear ya here," the man that hit her mocked before all of them burst out with laughter.
Ryuuko spit out the blood from her slit lip, glaring at them with undisguised hatred, before trying to wrench herself away from the grasp, only to feel it tightening to the point her arms felt close to breaking.
She bit back the pain and tried to evaluate all the options she had when suddenly she saw one of the men grabbing Satsuki by her jaw.
Rage took over.
With full force, Ryuuko jerked her head backwards, hearing a satisfying sound of a crushed nose followed by a pained groan. Using the consternation, she broke herself free, pushing the thug that held her away, before dashing towards Satsuki.
She was raising her hand, ready to throw a punch at the man who dared to touch her sister, when she halted suddenly, sheer fear appearing in her eyes.
"Make one more step and I'm gonna kill that bitch of yours!" the guy who held Satsuki by her arms shouted, holding a knife dangerously close to the older girl's neck.
Seething with pain when the sharp blade had touched her skin, Satsuki gritted her teeth. "Ryuuko, run!" she commanded.
Clenching her fists in rage, Ryuuko looked at her sister before a pair of hands grabbed her own arms and twisted them back again. She winced when she got brutally brought down to her knees with sounds of laughter echoing throughout the park.
"Good choice, kiddo," one of the men mocked before turning to Satsuki. "Now, let's have some fun."
End of Chapter 2
