Author's Note: Sorry this is so short. There's not much that can happen in twenty minutes normally. Personally, I think the idea of Aki getting angry is fun because she lost her temper several times when she was younger but now she's much calmer. Still, I'm sure she'll get angry when the situation becomes more serious or at least when she feels it is serious. I think Tenma tends to forget that she can get angry sometimes so seeing her angry for the first time will be a scary moment for him.

"Thank you for the meal!" Tenma said to his cousin. Aki, his sort of older sister figure, just smiled back at the compliment but said nothing and went to wash the pan and knife she just finished using quietly which worried Tenma a lot. Since returning about a week ago, things have been either quieter or louder than usual. Aki wasn't as outgoing as she used to be and didn't respond most of the time when he teased her about her boyfriend and asked about how things went while he was out. It was worrying for Tenma.

"Onee-san," Tenma said as he ate a clump of rice, hoping she would point it out though she continued to ignore him. "Would it be all right if I moved to a different room?"

Aki looked back with a confused raise of the eye. "Why do want to switch rooms?" she asked as she wiped her hands on the towel near her.

"Well, I know the others are just trying to help me get more comfortable since I came back," Tenma said while drinking his clear soup. "But I want to be able to dress, do my homework and sleep without someone knocking in asking if I could go with them to do something for half an hour."

"They're just trying to help." Aki said with a giggle. "I'll just tell them to stop."

"You said that yesterday." Tenma said. "And then Kogure came and asked if I could go practice soccer with him while I was brushing Sasuke, Akiyama tried to drag me with her to those horror movie conventions while I was doing my homework, and then Mr. Autumn tried to take me fishing after that…"

"Okay, okay! I'll tell them to give you some space." Aki laughed.

"Can you also hide your master key?" Tenma said with a frown. "I lock the door sometimes but they still get inside."

Aki was now scolding Kogure in her head. She had specifically told him not to tell anyone else. She nodded to Tenma And said, "I'll be sure to lock it in my drawer."

"Thank you, onee-san." Tenma said though he would have been more grateful if she had done this before in the first place like he told her too three days ago. "So, um, how were things while I was gone?"

Aki didn't ask and gave a bitter smile to say she didn't want to talk about it. Tenma didn't continue more with the touchy subject, no matter how curious he was as to how things were with his inquisitiveness. So he wondered instead as to what else to ask and then said without thinking, "Onee-san, what do you think about ghosts?"

"What?" Aki asked with visible surprise. Tenma pinched himself. It was a bit too early for that question after all. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"Um, just wondering." Tenma said with a shrug. Aki only scowled and asked, "Does it have something to do with Tsurugi?"

"W-What? No. No. Absolutely not." Tenma said, trying to sound surprised so Tsurugi wouldn't look so suspicious though he made it worse and Aki now had a mind of phoning his parents.

"What did he do?" she asked. Tenma wasn't used to lying and felt close to cracking now.

"No. As I said, it's nothing! It's just a question." Tenma answered.

"Oh, I see." Aki said smiling but there was a heavy, angry intensity behind her, the most frightening he had ever seen, beating Tsurugi by lightyears. He couldn't take it anymore and cracked under her silent glare.

"All right! He made a joke about it while we were on our way back." Tenma finally admitted. And then a rare, cross look on her face emerged which he had never seen before. "Um, but, we got through that. He apologised already so everything's all right now."

"If you say so." she said though inside, her thoughts went to calling Endou and telling him on it. With the things like this, Tenma quickly excused himself from the table nervously, not wanting to stay to see her so angry anymore

"Thank you for the food, onee-san." he said. Aki handed him his lunch before seeing him out. Tenma stopped in front of Sasuke's dog house and stooped down to see his dog off who stood up to greet him happily with a small but happy whine.

"Bye, Sasuke. I'll see later." Tenma said, petting Sasuke fondly before getting back up to leave. Aki stared at the pair with a feeling of melancholy. She knew it was just her but she felt that it was a bit too early for him to leave on his own even though he had already returned to school days ago. She could only sit beside herself and wave at Tenma as he said goodbye to her before leaving. Aki made sure to smile her biggest at Tenma though once he left, her head slumped and she let out a deep sigh.

Sasuke, hearing it, walked over to her and sat on the the steps next to her and gave a reassuring bark. Aki gave him a bitter smile but she nodded.

"He'll be fine." she told Sasuke. The dog didn't reply but looked out to the space in front of them with her quietly.