Here's chapter ten for you all. Enjoy the advancing plot and character development.

Big Brother, Little Sister – Chapter Ten

Rin was quiet the ride home. She was quiet as they walked up the stairs. She was quiet as they went inside. Silent the entire trip home from school, Rin was looking sadder by the minute. Kaito had to do something. He's her brother, after all.

"Rin, something's bothering you. You're not doing a good job of hiding it. Come on," he walked over and sat next to her on the couch she collapsed on. "You can tell me."

"No I can't…" Rin said in a voice muffled by a pillow in her face.

"Why not? I wouldn't understand?"

Rin looked up for a moment, then fell back into her pillow. "Probably not…"

"Problems at school?"

"…Kinda…"

"Well, it must of just happened today; you were so cheerful this morning."

"…"

He put his hand on her shoulder, having to reach across the couch as she was laying down face first. He said, "You know, I did go to school there. I can help you out if you need anything…"

She didn't respond.

"…" He sighed. "Well, alright. Do you want to be left alone for a little while?"

She nodded, face still in the pillow's fluff.

"Alright." He patted her head. "I'll be in the other room, if you need me. I'm still here for a little while before I have to go, so… If you decide you want to talk about it…"

After a few seconds he stood and left the room. Rin almost immediately got up and rushed to her room. Closing the door as lightly as possible, she opened up her laptop and rushed to her email page. Nothing new had been sent to her, but she still had Luka's address, Circulate, on file. She typed up a frantic letter and hit prepared to hit send.

Subject Line: Luka! heeeelp!

There was a girl who overheard everything today! Miku, the girl from AP, was standing by the door listening in! What should I do?

'Yeah.' She thought, 'I think that portrays the situation just fine.'

She hit send. Half expecting Luka to respond right away, she sat at the screen for a few minutes. After there was no immediate answer, Rin stood up.

"Gaaah…!" She paced the room. 'What am I going to do?' she thought. 'Miku found out… Oh, God… Miku; the most popular girl in the senior class. She talks to almost everyone- half the school will know by morning!'

Mid freak-out, Rin collapsed on her bed, her face in her hands and actually on the verge of tears. Then she heard a small beep. Recognizing it as the sound her computer makes when she gets an email, she got up and rushed over to look at the screen. Expecting to see Luka's address in the inbox, she was surprised when she saw instead a blank subject line and the address 'superstar01.' She didn't have to guess at who emailed her. Everyone knew that address. It was Miku's.

Opening it up, she read the letter sent to her:

I know you're probably freaking out right now, aren't you? Thinking that I'll tell everybody at school about your disgusting little fantasizing. Well, quit it- I'm not. On one condition.

I'm sure you heard about me dating Kaito as freshmen; if not because you're his sister then because you're crushing on him. Well, you probably also know that he broke up with me, too. Said he needed to spend more time 'studying' and less time 'fooling around.' Hmph. Yeah right. He just wanted to spend more time with YOU.

…Anyway, even though he broke up with me, that doesn't mean I think it's over. You're not the only one crushing on him, Rin. Hell, it's not even just us. Half the girls at school are still dreaming about him, even some who only heard about the guy. Right, well, the point is, I want to get back together with him. If you can get me a date with Kaito, your secret's safe with me. Shouldn't be too hard- you managed to plan out how to get a date with him yourself, didn't you? Or was that Luka? Either way, make it happen.

I'm free Friday.

-Miku

Rin didn't move for several seconds after reading the letter. She didn't know what to do, how to feel. She didn't feel anything; she was too shocked to feel. So instead of crying, instead of waiting anxiously for Luka's reply, she slept. She laid down in her bed, tossed the covers over herself, and slept. The tears she felt coming up before she read Miku's letter came to her in her sleep that night, almost on cue as thunder began to rage outside. Kaito's goodnight kiss, while not waking her up, did not deliver her into the usual dreamland where she enjoyed his embrace in her mind every night. She would awaken the next morning to find the world around her going on normally; only hers was crashing down. How could a day that started so great, end so horribly?

The next morning Rin slumped around without saying anything. Kaito tried in vain to coax what was wrong out of Rin, but gave up after they arrived at school. She saw Miku once in the halls, but neither of them looked at each other; Miku too caught up in her gossiping to notice the girl in love with her brother. The day went by normally enough until afterschool.

Walking into Luka's room, the pink haired teacher looked up and said, "Oh, Rin, did you send me an email last night? I'm sorry I didn't respond; the power was flicking on and off in the storm and when I tried to open it, it went completely out. I went back to look for it when it came back on, but it wasn't in my inbox anymore. I would have sent you one back saying all this, but as it happened at around eleven I figure you'd have been in bed already. So…" She stood. "What's up?"

Rin looked up at her sadly. "Luka… We have a small problem."