"Sora, what on earth are you up to?"
I stood gazing up at the building looming before me. For reasons unknown to me, my older brother had checked himself into a hotel the day before and was demanding I bring him a duffel bag full of his clothes. Just how long he was planning to stay, and his thinking behind this decision was a mystery when he had a perfectly good room back at our house. What on Earth was he doing? On second thoughts, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. There were certain things I didn't need to know about my brother's life.
"Amaterasu?"
A hand stopped the lift doors from closing and a surprised Light was now standing in front of me, his eyes moving from me to the duffel bag in my hands. 'Of all people, why did it have to be him?'
"Light? What brings you here?" I asked, deciding that polite conversation was the way to go rather than rushing from the lift and swiftly exiting the hotel.
"Ah, I'm meeting someone here. You?"
Meeting someone? Who was he meeting at a hotel? 'A friend visiting from out of town, perhaps'. That was a perfectly acceptable explanation. It wasn't really any of my business anyway. Light was allowed to visit people without it being suspicious. Even killers had lives. Besides, he looked as perfect and normal as always. I, on the other hand, with my black duffel bag and awkward smile, looked every bit suspicious. Even now I could see Light's eyes moving to the duffel bag.
"Me? I'm just dropping off some clothes for my brother." A perfectly reasonable explanation. It was the truth.
"Is he visiting from out of town?" A reasonable conclusion to jump to.
"Er, no," I replied with a small laugh. "Until yesterday he was living at home but, I think he's trying to get back his independence or something, you know?" It was hard to give a reason for my brother's sudden decision when I had no idea what he was thinking. He hadn't mentioned a word to our parents, and only decided to phone me that morning to tell me he wanted some clothes bringing over.
"I see."
The lift seemed to take hours but it eventually reached Sora's floor and I had never been more relieved to see the doors open. "Well, this is my floor." I flashed a smile before hurrying out of the lift as fast as I could without being too obvious, but when I glanced back I saw that Light was following me out. Was the person he was visiting on the same floor? What a coincidence.
He smiled when he saw me looking. "This is my floor, too. What a coincidence, eh?"
"Yeah." I smiled awkwardly back. "Well, I guess I'll see you later." And with that I hurried off to find Sora's room.
"So you wanna tell me why you're staying in a hotel?" I asked as I settled myself on the sofa. Sora had taken his bag and was currently filling his wardrobe, pretending he hadn't heard me.
"Thanks for doing this for me. Did you tell Mum and Dad?" He called back from his bedroom.
"And what would I have told them? It's a little suspicious that you've suddenly decided to start living in a hotel. I mean, how can you even afford this?" He didn't have a job anymore, so just where was his money coming from?
"I save," was his reply. "I had some money saved up for a rainy day."
"And this is what you thought you'd spend it on?" I turned to look at him as he came out of the bedroom, his face trying to hide something from me.
"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" He sat himself beside me, picking up his book from the table. He was avoiding looking at me which just made me all the more suspicious. He was hiding something, I just couldn't figure out what it was
"Does your girlfriend know about this?"
He blushed, as he usually did whenever I mentioned this mysterious woman that no one had ever met. I'd only ever heard him 'talking' to her on the phone, and even that was on a rare occasion. "Of course she does. How else will she able to come see me?"
"Oh, so she does exist?"
The earned me a glare. He was always so touchy. I held up my hands in defence and decided to drop the girlfriend topic right there. Talking about her didn't help me understand why he was staying at a hotel.
"So what exactly are you doing here, Sora? Help your little sister out."
Silence. He didn't say anything for several minutes as he tried concentrating on his book. I didn't say anything either but continued to stare at him, waiting for him to break. They say that patience is a virtue, and it was certainly one of mine. Eventually, Sora heaved a sigh and finally turned his head to face me, knowing I wasn't about to give up anytime soon.
"You're a real pest. You know that, right?"
I smiled. "What else are little sisters for?"
"Well, if you really must know, I just needed my own space." He was looking me straight in the eye as he said this, his face more serious than I've ever seen it. "I'm a grown man, Amate. Aren't I allowed to have my own place?"
This was very true. It was easy for me to forget that Sora was nearing 30 years old. He was an adult who could make his own decisions without them being questioned by nosy teenaged girls.
"Of course you are." I was suddenly feeling awfully guilty for suspecting him of having ulterior motives. He really did just want some independence back. "You just did it without a word to any of us. You can understand my suspicion." It did seem odd for him to do this without telling his family.
"I know. I'll call Mum and Dad later to let them know; I just wanted to get settled first is all."
"Well," I said as I rose to my feet. "I suppose I'll leave you to it then." If he wanted his own space then I wasn't going to hang around all day. Although he would never have told me to leave, I knew when it was time to go.
Sora put his book down and followed me to the door. "Thanks again for bringing me my clothes. And I'm sorry for worrying you."
"Don't worry about it. Just don't forget to invite me round to meet your girlfriend." I gave him a playful nudge as I said this, smiling as he rolled his eyes.
"See you later, Amate."
"Bye bye, Sora." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving his room. He watched me until I reached the lift and closed the door after giving me a final wave. 'Honestly, Sora. If you wanted space you could have just told me. No need for all the secrecy.' I had to laugh at myself, though. It seemed that I'd gotten so caught up in all this Kira business that I was starting to become suspicious of everything and everyone. I needed to get a grip on myself before I really started to become paranoid.
"Amaterasu?"
The lift doors opened and the last person I expected to see stepped out, his eyes wide with surprise.
"Matsuda?"
Touta Matsuda. He was one of my brother's friends from when he was still a detective. I noticed him holding a bag in one hand, with what appeared to be clothes inside. What was he doing here? He looked troubled at first, as if he wasn't sure whether he should run or not. I was starting to get that distrustful feeling again, but then smiled at me. A genuine smile from the eyes that pushed those feelings aside.
"Long time no see, Amaterasu. What brings you here?"
"I came to visit my brother. He got tired of living at home so he's staying here for a few days," I replied with a smile. I'd always liked Matsuda; he was a genuinely decent guy who, although a bit simple and excitable at times, was good at his job when he was given the chance.
"How is Sora?" He asked; the sincerity clear in his voice. "I haven't heard from him in a while."
"He's fine. If you want to see him he's only down the hall. I'm sure he'd be glad of a visitor that's not his little sister."
"Really? I'll try and drop in when I have some time then, Well, I'm sure you have things to be doing so I'll let you go," he said, stepping away from the doors to the lift. "It was nice seeing you again."
"Yeah, you too." I watched him walk away as I waited for the lift doors to open. I couldn't help but think how strange it was that both Light and Matsuda had come to the same floor of this hotel; the same floor that Sora had booked a room on. The suspicion started creeping back as I stepped into the lift and as the doors closed everything suddenly fell into place.
"Sora, you lying bastard!"
A/N: I would like to apologise for the people waiting for this story. (シ_ _)シ I'm a terrible person. I know this. I disappear for long periods of time, promise things I shouldn't, and come back with terrible chapters. But I honestly plan to keep with it this time. Honest I do. At the minute I'm just trying getting back into the swing of things. Once I do, hopefully, the chapters will start to get longer, they will be of a better quality, and the story will start getting closer to where I want it to go. Please persevere with it and I'll try not to let you guys down! がんばります! (`-´)ゞ
(Also, thank you for those that do read this. Means a lot. (^_^))
