Disclaimer: Oreimo isn't mine.

Sorry this took so to my beta who helped me a lot with this.

Despite his written plans, which had ended up in a crumpled ball in his trash can, it took at least three weeks and two aborted attempts before he managed to actually enter his sister's apartment.

The first time, he'd merely stared in awe at the building in front of him. For some reason, when Kuroneko had mentioned the word apartment, he'd pictured one of those small three- to five-story buildings occupied either by nice old ladies or by couples just starting out.

But this building in front of him had at least twenty floors and was clearly designed for those who wanted more than the average living quarters and had enough money to pay for it. He couldn't imagine it being a place for the elderly or for fresh, broke couples.

Strangely enough, he could easily picture Kirino living in such a place.

He went back a week later after realizing how silly he'd been, being intimidated by a building. A few minutes later, he'd immediately walked back out, berating himself for not considering the security not until it was too late.

The third time, Kyousuke decided, would be the last. He bravely walked towards the entrance and, ignoring the security guard, went straight to the receptionist.

"Kousaka Kirino, please," he said as she looked at him.

Eyeing the package he was carrying, the receptionist (Mayumi, her name tag said) smiled at him in a way that told him she was used to random people asking for his sister and, in the same manner, was also used to kicking them out of the building. "Your name, sir?" she asked politely.

"Kousaka Kyousuke."

Her eyes widened slightly at that.

"Her brother," he added a moment later when he realized the receptionist was probably waiting for him to continue.

"Oh. That's-" She broke off as her eyes travelled to his hair.

"She dyes her hair," he said, instinctively knowing what she was thinking about.

"Ah. I see," she replied, still making no move to let him in.

Kyousuke eyed the elevator doors to her left and thought about just making a run for it. Realizing how that would never work, he balanced the package he was holding on one hand and quickly got out his wallet.

"Here's my ID," he said.

"Ms. Kousaka has never mentioned a brother before," she said, taking his wallet and studying his student ID closely.

Kyousuke fought the urge to snatch his wallet back. "Yes, well, she's only been here for around a month. And we don't see each other often."

He gritted his teeth as she looked at him curiously, and said, "Look, why don't you just call her and let her know I'm here?"

"Unfortunately, Ms. Kousaka still hasn't installed a phone yet," she said, finally giving him his wallet back.

Kyousuke had a brief moment of panic when she suddenly stood and motioned for the guard to come over. He was just about to flee when he heard her calmly instructing the guard to stand in her place while she escorted a guest.

"Please follow me," she said as she pressed the elevator button.

The ride up the elevator was tense. Tense, because once he'd gotten over the security hurdle, Kyousuke suddenly remembered his last conversation(argument) with his sister. He worried about what her reaction would be once she found out who her visitor was.

It was a good thing that the receptionist took it upon herself to knock on his sister's door. In an effort to calm himself down as they waited for Kirino to answer, he shifted the package in his hands and tried to arrange the stuff inside it. He could see the receptionist slightly smiling at his actions, but at that moment he really couldn't find it in himself to care about something so trivial when he was finally about to see his sister.

Her smile widened when they heard a lock slide open and he jumped slightly, upsetting the bag in his hand.

"Who is it?"

Kyousuke took a deep breath as he heard his sister's voice for the first time in a month.

"Ms. Kousaka, there is a man looking for you. He says his name is-"

"Mayumi, I thought I told you to turn away..." Kirino's voice trailed off as she opened the door wider and saw who was standing beside the receptionist.

"Oh."

Kyousuke quickly glanced at his sister and felt an unexpected rush of relief when he saw that she looked pretty much the same as he'd last seen her. It seemed that she'd been coping well enough on her own. He nervously cleared his throat. "Um, hi."

"What are you doing here?" Kirino asked suspiciously.

Kyousuke's mind did a little panic dance as he tried to remember his planned excuse. Briefly, he noted that his sister, based on what she was wearing, had either just gotten back from somewhere or was on her way out.

"Anytime today would be a good time to start talking," she said, tapping her foot impatiently.

Oh, right. He forced himself to focus and then suddenly remembered something. He looked down at the 'plan' in his hands.

"Here," he said, thrusting a paper bag towards his sister. "This is from Mom. She's worried you're not eating properly."

Her brows furrowed together in confusion. "But Mom already gave me food two days ago."

Kyousuke blinked. Dammit. And he had thought it was a good plan.

"She's really worried."

His sister arched a perfect eyebrow at him.

"Really, really worried."

Kirino looked at him incredulously. "Right," she said as she eyed the huge brown paper bag in his hands.

Kyousuke gulped as he realized he was probably going to get kicked out soon. In a last attempt to convince his sister to let him in, he shifted his arms a bit lower so she could get a glimpse of the fresh yellow mangoes he knew she was secretly fond of.

"Okay, fine," she said as she stepped back.

Kyousuke released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and entered Kirino's apartment. Behind him, he thought he heard Kirino thanking and dismissing the receptionist, but he wasn't really paying attention. All his focus was taken up by observing by the (not so) surprising color scheme his sister had used for the place. His eyes darted from the floor, which was a light brown wood, to the furniture, which was a mix of white and pink. The place had an open rectangular floor plan, with a second floor covering just about half of the living room area. From his position, he could see two doors upstairs, which he guessed to be the bedroom and the bathroom. Big, glass windows also covered one wall and allowed the afternoon sunlight to stream in the whole place. To his immediate left, from the door, lay the kitchen that also served as the dining area. Kyousuke placed the bag on a nearby counter and turned to survey the rest of the room.

"So, what are you really doing here?"

"Ah, you see-" he began, with absolutely no idea how he was going to explain himself. Hell, he couldn't even understand why he was here in the first place.

"Never mind." Kirino plopped into one of the (white) stuffed armchairs in the living room area and placed a (pink) throw pillow on her lap. "Sit," she ordered, pointing at another fluffy armchair. She repeated her command when she saw that Kyousuke was still studying the place.

Fighting the 'flee' signals his brain kept sending to his feet, Kyousuke forced himself to tentatively take a seat. He realized that his plan had only included the logistics of getting there, but not what he would actually say to her once he did.

"How did you find out about this place?" she asked curiously.

"How did you manage to get a place like this in the first place?" he asked back, still sitting on the edge of his seat. Trying to look nonchalant, he leaned forward, placed his elbows on his thighs, and clasped his hands together loosely.

"Are you mocking me?" his sister replied.

"Just answer the question."

"Dad pays for half of it." Ah. Their parents always did favor his sister. "The rest from royalties," Kirino added.

There was silence, for a while.

"Are you still angry?" he finally blurted out.

Kirino started at his sudden outburst. "Are you still with her?" she retaliated.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Idiot!"

He wondered how his sister could sneer and still look so beautiful at the same time. Well, she was a model after all. Kyousuke sighed and tried to rein in his wandering thoughts. He needed to focus on the issue at hand, and that was... Actually, come to think of it, he still had no idea what the issue was. He leaned back on the chair and rubbed his face with both of his hands, trying to recall what he had done to make his sister angry enough to leave their house.

"Look," Kirino began in a tight, uncomfortable-sounding voice, "I never really intended for it to go this far."

Kyousuke dropped his hands to his lap and stared at her. "For what to go this far?" he asked, without thinking.

The sudden, horrible silence in the room made him briefly close his eyes as he tried to resist the urge to hit himself.

"Get out," his sister finally said, staring at her hands which were now tightly gripping the small pillow on her lap.

Frustration mixed with something else he didn't have the patience to try to understand at that moment made him stand up and walk towards the door. His hand was already on the knob when he hesitated.

What would happen once he walked out? The last time he did that, Kirino had moved out of their house. Would she move again to somewhere even further away, to a place where she was sure Kyousuke would never find her? The thought made his stomach feel like it was turning in on itself.

Kyousuke looked back at his sister and saw her still sitting in the same position. Perhaps she felt his hesitation because she quickly looked up at him, but just as quickly looked away.

"I said, get out," she hissed.

Kyousuke, ignoring his earlier desire to just walk away from the argument, slowly approached his sister and asked, "Can we just forget about this?"

That was, he thought, the simplest solution to this mess.

"Please," he added when the silence stretched too long. He was now standing in front of his sister, staring down at the top of her head. He waited for her to respond but she stubbornly refused to even acknowledge him. That wasn't good; he had to stop her from shutting him out. He crouched down, so that it was now him looking up at Kirino, and murmured her name. It felt, at that particular moment, surprisingly heavy on his tongue.

He heard his sister inhale sharply and finally, finally, glance at him.

"Fine," she bit out. Her expression as she spoke was hard but Kyousuke could see that her anger was already subsiding. "But you're going to have to make up for this."

A heavy wave of relief surged through him at those words. It was such a sharp contrast from his earlier emotions that his mind felt a little light-headed and he flopped to the floor, allowing him to notice just how lush and luxurious the rug covering the floor was. He felt an absurd urge to lie down on it, and he did so, ignoring the sudden amused look his sister wore. Later, he would blame the rug for making him forget to point out the fact that he had, at least to his own knowledge, done nothing wrong and therefore actually had nothing to make up for.

"You look ridiculous," Kirino said, trying to stifle her laughter.

"Yeah, well, I don't really care right now," he replied languidly as he rolled to one side and came face to face with his sister's DVD collection, which was surprisingly, not anime-related.

"Hey, you have a lot of movies here," he said, trying to further lighten the mood.

He didn't realize how much the mood had changed until his sister surprised him by saying, "Yes. Want to watch one?"

"Where are your special DVDs? The anime stuff," he asked, curious as to why they weren't on display when she had the whole place to herself now and therefore had no reason to hide it.

"Hidden," Kirino replied mysteriously. She stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "Pick a movie; I'll make us a snack."

Kyousuke didn't bother to reply as he was already busy trying to find a movie he might like. He didn't really think that he'd find one here, but, then again, it didn't really matter. He still felt charged from the earlier flood of emotions and right now, insane as it was, he was pretty much willing to watch ten of the world's girliest, sappiest movies if it made his sister happy.

"Thanks, by the way," Kirino said as she started unpacking the bag Kyousuke brought.

Kyousuke, still lying on the rug, glanced at his sister blankly.

Kirino rolled her eyes. "For the mangoes."

"Oh, that. Yeah, sure," he said absently, his gaze already shifting back to the DVD rack.

"Aha! So it did come from you!"

Kyousuke forced his suddenly stiff shoulders to relax. "No," he replied in what he hoped was a casual tone. When caught in the act, outright denial was always the best way to go, or at least that was what he'd heard from one of the guys in school.

His back was still to his sister but he could just feel her amusement wafting in the air. "Uh-huh," she said, clearly just humouring him. "By the way, I do love mangoes, but seriously? This many?"

Knowing his face was a bit red, he muttered, "Enjoy it. Mom has at least two bags of that at home."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"I'm home," he said in a very low voice as he arrived. Not bothering to arrange his shoes as he removed them, he slowly padded towards the stairs. He was almost at his room when-

"Kyousuke?"

He jumped and banged his arm on the door as he heard his mother's voice. Damn, and he'd been trying to be quiet too.

"Where have you been? It's not like you to be out so late," his mother asked.

Kyousuke turned to face his mother, his mind racing with all the plausible excuses he could give. "Where have I been..." he slowly said, repeating his mother's question to buy himself some time.

Though it seemed that he didn't really need to, since his mother continued, "Oh, never mind. I understand."

"Huh?" Kyousuke, for the umpteenth time that day, began to panic. What, just what, did she understand?

"I'm just glad you're finally showing an interest after all these years. I was beginning to worry, you know."

What?

"Gah," he replied eloquently.

His mother chuckled. "Just be sure to introduce the girl to us sometime soon, okay? Bring her home for dinner sometime."

Oh. Oh. So that's what she meant.

"Or maybe we've already met her?" her mother added, smiling at him.

Kyousuke decided to put an end to this very uncomfortable situation. "Just had to do something after class," he said vaguely. He faked a huge yawn, and added, "Anyway, very tired. Must sleep now. Good night, Mom."

Not bothering to wait for her reply, he quickly entered his room and leaned on the door, his heart pounding as he listened for his mother's footsteps. When he was sure that she had gone back to her own room, he let out a huge breath and flung himself on his bed.

Staring at the ceiling, with his hands folded behind his head, he recalled the afternoon he'd spent with his sister. They had ended up watching not one, but five movies in a row - all of which were chosen by his sister. She had alternately giggled and cried while watching, while he had, in the same scenes, alternately snickered and cringed. Almost all of the mangoes he'd brought had been consumed by Kirino and he'd also eaten more than enough microwaveable popcorn to last him a lifetime. They had only noticed that it was already almost midnight when Kyousuke had to go to the bathroom and happened to glance at the clock hanging on the wall near the stairs.

If it wasn't for a thought that abruptly entered his mind at that moment, he would have never noticed that he was smiling quite goofily. As it was, the grin was wiped off his face when he remembered that he hadn't checked his phone since that afternoon. That meant Manami was probably wondering where he was. He dug out his phone from his pocket and flipped it open, hoping that-

Damn. Four missed calls and ten messages, all from Manami. He scrolled through the messages and felt guilty when he realized just how worried Manami had been. He'd promised to call her in the evening after he visited his sister, but back then, he had thought that he'd be in and out of his sister's apartment in an hour. He wondered if it was already too late to call her back. Knowing that it was already way past midnight, he decided to just send her a message.

Just got back from Kirino's place. I'm really sorry I forgot to call you. Will tell you what happened tomorrow during lunch.

He hoped Manami wasn't angry with him for not calling. He placed his phone on the small cabinet beside his bed. Too tired to even consider going to the bathroom to wash, he decided to just change his clothes. One disadvantage of travelling so late was the lack of public transportation, which in turn necessitated long walks in the dark. He settled onto the bed and promptly fell asleep, thus not being able to follow through on his decision and also not hearing the beep his phone gave as he received a message.

It was only when he saw Manami sitting at their regular lunch table and looking out of sorts, that a tiny tendril of guilt started making itself known to him. Her eyes widened as she saw him approaching and she anxiously smiled at him.

"Kyou-chan! I was so worried! What happened last night?" she began as he sat down across from her.

"Manami, I'm really sorry. I went to Kirino's place yesterday. And I know I told you it would probably take less than an hour, if I was even lucky enough to not get instantly kicked out..." he trailed off as he thought about how he was going to explain without making himself sound like a jerk.

"But?" Manami gently prodded.

"Well, you see, we ended up watching several movies. So...look, I'm really sorry. Are you mad?" he said, looking at her apprehensively. He hoped she wasn't. All these years and he'd never seen Manami once get angry at him. He had no desire for it to happen now.

"No," she answered quickly. Too quickly.

It was his turn to prod. "But?"

"But... you could have called or sent a message to let me know. I was really worried," she said gently.

"I-" Kyousuke gulped and looked away from Manami. He didn't want to admit that he forgot. But he couldn't lie either. "It was just that-"

"Never mind, Kyou-chan," Manami interrupted. He tensed a little at that, but he relaxed when she continued. "I was just so worried. I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm sorry," he repeated once more, his guilt flaring at the mention of Manami's worry.

Maybe his guilt was showing, since Manami took pity on him and decided to change the subject. "So, it looks like it went well," she said, obviously waiting for him to give her details.

Kyousuke latched on to the subject, eager to distract Manami from the previous topic. He started to describe the apartment and went on to tell her about his adventure with the receptionist and how silly it was that she wouldn't believe he was related to Kirino because of his hair. He skimmed over the fight with his sister, conveniently left out the part where he'd almost walked out, and he also most certainly did not mention the embarrassing fact that he'd been forced to bribe Kirino with a bag of fruit just so he could enter. Running out of details that he was comfortable with revealing, he eventually resorted to giving a very detailed description of the movies he'd watched that night, choosing not to notice how Manami's smile seemed a bit strained.

He was in class that afternoon when his phone rang, all too noticeable in the quiet room. He quickly cancelled the call without checking to see who it was but it was too late. The professor, who had been writing something on the board, slowly turned around and scanned the room. Kyousuke slunk in his seat, hoping that he wouldn't be identified as the one who had disturbed the class. But, as was often the case, his luck didn't hold out as his phone began to ring again and the professor's eyes zeroed in on him. Without waiting for her to speak, Kyousuke sheepishly stood up and quickly made his way towards the door, his phone ringing all the while. He flushed a little as he heard some of his classmates snickering.

Whoever was had better have a damn good reason.

"What?" he snapped into his phone once he was out of the room.

"Sheesh. What's gotten your knickers in a twist?"

His jaw dropped as he recognized his sister's voice. "What- Why are you- Where the hell did you get that expression?"

His sister merely giggled. "New model at the agency. And she's wonderfully British."

"I don't like it," he grumbled, leaning against the wall. "What's wrong?"

His sister paused. "Why would you assume something's wrong?"

"You're calling me."

"And I only call you when something's wrong and I need you to get me out of it?" she said, her voice slightly rising.

"Well..." Kyousuke hesitated, considering whether he should tell the truth as he saw it and suffer her anger or just lie. "No," he finished. He did hate arguing with Kirino. "Why aren't you in class, anyway?"

"I don't have class on Fridays, idiot."

"It's not like I know your schedule," he said, gritting his teeth, his eye twitching a little at being insulted by his sister again.

"Hmm. Are you busy tomorrow night?"

"What?"

"Idiot. I said, are you busy tomorrow night?"

"No," he answered quickly, curious as to why Kirino would ask such a thing.

"Pick me up at seven."

"What?" he said, brow furrowing in confusion. He heard his sister sigh exasperatedly.

"I said, pick me up at seven," she repeated slowly, stressing each word out. "Idiot," she added a beat after, almost as an afterthought.

His eyebrows rose and he cocked his head to one side. "Why?"

His sister merely hung up on him.

Kyousuke scowled at his phone.