prompt #04
wordcount: 673
06.03.15

As sad as Jun had been to be graduating high school, she was even more excited. Sure, there were things to miss - she and her friends were attending different universities, her parents wouldn't be around to clean up her mistakes, and God, did she look good in that uniform! - but there were even more things to look forward to. Living on her own for the first time, taking classes she might actually like, exploring Tokyo, exploring Tokyo's men! Oh, and, um, studying. Lots of studying to do, new things and er, ways to study. Yup.

The going away party was exactly the perfect way to say goodbye to her life in Odaiba. That wasn't to say that Jun had no intentions of returning. She still had her family, her friends to see when she had the chance. There would be her holidays and those weekends when she was too homesick to bare it. But if Jun was totally and completely honest.. Jun didnt want to come back to stay. She wanted Tokyo to be her home from now on.

Naturally, Jun's favorite part was the presents. Actually, no one was allowed to attend if they weren't bringing her a present, said so on the invitation. Jun and Daisuke had an argument about it, as usual. In the end, Daisuke spent most of the evening holed-up in his bedroom. Yet at the end of the night, as Jun finished packing her things to leave in the morning, Daisuke stood in the doorway looking grumpy and uncomfortable. At his feet, she found Chibimon, hiding behind his partner's legs.

"What do you want?" Jun asked unkindly. Not only was it a habit, but she had actually wanted him at her party. All she had asked for was a present, Daisuke could have gotten her a stupid card and she would have accepted it. Hell, some of those pathetic homemade flowers he used to give their mother or a macaroni necklace would have done fine, even if she complained about it for the rest of the night. Just a token to show he cared was all Jun had wanted; an old classmate had bought a pack of pens for crying out loud! Who gives a girl ink pens for a going away present?

"What, I can't just tell you goodnight?" Daisuke shot back, defensive as always. Jun didn't answer, just folded her arms and stared at him. Daisuke sighed.

I just wanted to give you this, since I probably won't see you tomorrow." He approached her and held his closed fist out to her. Jun held her hand open beneath his, hoping it wasn't a prank and he wouldn't drop something disgusting like Chibimon's… waste.

"Pepperspray?" Jun examined the item in her palm and raised her eyebrows at him, uncertain.

"Well, yeah," Daisuke shrugged, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Jun pretended not to notice how he avoided looking at her directly. "The way I see it, you'll need it. You'll be all by yourself in that crazy city… I won't exactly be around to protect you." Jun laughed.

"You protect me?" she spat. "Since when?"

"There was that one time!" Daisuke hastened to remind her.

"Yeah, when I was twelve!"

"And I was seven! And that other time!"

"What other time?!"

"Ah, you won't remember," Daisuke turned away completely now, stooping to pick up Chibimon from the floor as he left from Jun's bedroom. "Just think of me like a ninja, I come in, strike, and you never even know I was there." Jun couldn't help but roll her eyes at her brother. If she remembered correctly, it had always been Jun protecting him, not the other way around. Still, she had to smile at the rare act of sweetness he displayed.

"Goodnight, Dai-chan," Jun called before Daisuke closed the bedroom door.

He paused, then returned, "Yeah, goodnight. Just don't die before my birthday."