Author's Notes: The story is not in chonological order. As I write this story, it was more like episodical, and appears like a series of one shots. It used to be, actually. More chapters will be posted. Please read and review, the story will progress a smoothly (and as you like it). Thanks.

Behind Closed Doors

-TheSilentReader-

Chapter 2: Before the Ceremony

Two years ago:

"You seem in good spirits, Yumi."

"Yup, you got that right!"

She walked past the front door, and left her shoes untidily. As she was slipping her indoor slippers, Yuuki told her to, at least, arrange her rubber shoes. It was already evening, and she came in with a silly ecstatic smile, she nearly did not know that her clumsiness was overcoming her actions again. Just like now.

"Oops!" Really, just like when Sachiko-sama became her Onee-sama. She tripped upon one of her rubber shoes, which was not yet arranged. Apparently, she was not listnening to Yuuki's reminder a while ago. Or maybe, this lavish expression of mirth was about—

"If you are asking about what happened during my date with Touko-chan... "

"I am not asking about anything."

"...it went well."

"No, no, no! It was not really evident. Afterall, it was quite a normal thing for you to trip on your shoes." His sarcasm was as mild as her smile that formed after all the tripping and the unpaid attention to him. Still, she just smiled and hugged him. It was unusual, but quite normal at the same time.

"Yeah, yeah." He acted as if he tried to pull away from Yumi. Yet, he noticed, while trying to pull away, that there were red circles around her eyes. Was she crying? As he watched her trot to the stairs leading to her room, he tried to discern if ever she acted against her feelings. Well, after another unfortunate tripping while "trotting" along the stairs, his mind focused away from Yumi's carelessness to the reason of her blood-shot eyes.

Matsudaira Touko.

He went in front of her room and knocked. "Yup?" He opened the door, came in, and poised as manly and as responsible in front of her. Besides, I am his only brother. Protecting her is in his nature, damn the soul who would harm her. He relaxed after realizing that her mood was as consistent as her feelings as ever, therefore, he was not afraid to ask. He was just a concerned brother, after all. There could be no harm in asking, right?

She started to talk without even her brother's cue. "Well, we really had a good time. I know that tomorrow, I will give her my rosary, but still—the thrill of her finally accepting my rosary after all we've been through..."

"I—"

"...if she started to open up more, about her feelings, I mean, then she won't have to keep all the burden there is in her heart. Afterall—"

"Yumi..."

"—she's very delicate."

"Yes, she is."

Yumi's jaw dropped. Finally, after unknowingly spilling her thoughts about Touko-chan, realized that her brother also spilled his. Topic about girls was quite open to the siblings, yet, his demeanor, as he crossed his legs while sitting on her bed, summarized that he was weighing his opinion about Touko-chan. Yumi told him before, when things did not went well with Sachiko-onee-sama, that she used to think that Touko was her rival for her grande seour's affections. Yumi wondered if ever Yuuki's feelings about Touko-chan changed for the better. He was very protective afterall.

Shit. Has anyone ever taught me to zip my mouth when needed? Yuuki tried to hide his embarrassment further by deviating—no, he must not deviate; he must be using this sinking situation to get away with this sudden slip of a confession! Why not try to act brotherly to her sister's kouhai? His mind went overdrive about finding good words and formulating them into sensible sentences. His heartbeat was working to supply more blood to his brain. At last, after a hundredth of a second his tongue finally let his chosen words out—

"I mean, she's nice now, right? When she went here and had dinner with us, you seemed to be in a good relationship..."

"Don't act stupid Yuuki. It is seldom that you asked about her." Seemed like all the effort to compress all physiological processes in a hundredth of a second was destined to be wasted. The waste was in a form of a sweat-drop, travelling now from his forehead to the side of his left cheek.

"What do you mean by that?"

She went quiet for a while. She must approach this topic with critical measures. Yuuki opening a topic about Touko-chan, or any girl for that matter, was different from before. He doesn't talk about girls this serious. He doesn't play with his hair while his foot fidgeted.

"When we performed the play, I noticed that you were quite...interested about her."

He did not say a word.

"It showed on your face. But, you really tried to hide it, though. You focused to other things whenever it's her turn on the stage."

He did not say a word. Why is there a serious, gloomy atmosphere enveloping the room?

"Even I can't believe it. Sachiko-sama told me that I was too naive to even notice subtle things about other people. But then, I notice this about you."

He tried to compose himself. Please, please, let me think of a good comeback—

"Yeah, how could I even forget your reaction when you found out that I became the student council president this year?" Not good, not good.

"No, that's different. I am your older sister. Somehow, our gap of nine months provided me some sense on insight." She beamed with that statement. He grinned, then enveloped his arms to his torso. He was acting stupid again, acting as if he interpreted her sister's last statement differently. He tried to laughed. He was reliving the sibling's inside jokes—he being more immature than his older sister was. He was trying to dodge the main topic. And this, as an evidence that, indeed, she was much ahead of her. She noticed the lame dodging.

"You are acting stupid again."

He literally stopped laughing. "I wasn't dodging the topic."

"That's what you are doing right now."

It was futile to act stupid in front of Yumi. She instinctively knew what he was thinking. Their transparency was at par at each other that neither one of them could keep secrets. Most of their secrets. Finally, he opened up.

"What's she like?"

She's got many things to say, many praises to share. But, all that she said was:

"Why don't you see for yourself?"

Damn. No, that was not the only thing she said.

"I plan to give her my rosary tomorrow. Maybe, you might see more of her, if she would accept it, since she would be in the Yamayurikai always, with me."

He began to be quiet again. What is with the emphasis, "with me"? He was calculating things, weighing now how he would respond. He was way over her sister's kouhai, and practically, this was the first time that he would be officially stalking Yumi's future sister. He even wanted to reduce himself in doing whatever Yumi wanted just to get information about Matsudaira-san. Was there any other choice that he must pick on? Wait, was she suggesting that she might give, without any demands, information that he wanted?

That sucks. That idea won't even make a good impression. Women liked men taking the rough road, the bloody road not taken.

Since those days that Hanadera's student council went to Lillian Girl's school to help them with their culture festival, he thought she was just a snob rich girl. A snob rich girl who happened to be not interested with the likes of Yumi. I mean, she was one of the reasons that Sachiko-sama and Yumi had a fight, right? No, she's going to be Yumi's sister, starting tomorrow. Negate the negative idea!

"She seems interesting."

"I thought you refer her as 'cute' in a kindergarten sense."

"Did I say that?"

"Yup. I remember, it was when we went to Kashiwagi-san's place last summer."

"I did, did I?"

"Yup."

He saw more than that.

TO BE CONTINUED