Great Britannia

A tidal wave of unfamiliar sights and smells crashed over Kyoko as they emerged from customs. The sheer volume of English words, of tall, fair-haired, broad shouldered men and women bustling about making eye contact and queueing in lines for alcohol, coffee, pastries, sausages on rolls - she closed her eyes, standing still for a moment.

Home.

This was Setsu's home.

She drew in a breath, trying to force her senses to recognize the smell of frying grease and linoleum as welcoming. A shoulder jostled her, the quickly mumbled, "Soz," jolting her eyes open.

Cain, wrapped his fingers around hers and stood close. The crowd parted around his shadow like a river running around a massive boulder. His bulk overshadowed her, protecting her, giving her the shelter she needed to readjust.

"I'm here," he said. The words were simple. So many other things he could have said. Don't NG. Don't NG. She took a deep breath and smelled - him.

Her eyes opened slowly. She tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked up at him, her hand on her hip.

"I'm tired nii-san. Let's get away from these people and go sleep."

Cain nodded, but stood still, waiting. She smiled knowingly and stepped to his side, wrapping both arms around his waist. He grunted in affirmation and lifted their suitcases with one hand, draping his other around her shoulder. She had to let go with one hand to walk, but kept herself partially buried under his long overcoat. His presence was home, no matter what chaos the world around threw at her. From here, she could look out on this new hemisphere, her eyes bored and face placid but every brain cell firing as she took in word after word scrawled on signs and shirts and ads, watching the peculiar social habits of the British. Setsu's mouth twitched in a half-smile as a little blonde boy shoved an entire chocolate-covered treat into his mouth, making his mom gasp and scold him.

"Do you want one?" her brother asked, nodding at the boy. He'd somehow noticed her attention despite being the sole navigator and carrying the luggage. She shook her head. He looked down at her, then changed course.

"Sit," he said, pointing at their luggage. She rolled her eyes at him and remained standing, her arms crossed over her chest.

Two minutes later Cain emerged with an entire box of pastries. Setsu left her arms crossed, grumpily refusing to take it from his extended hand. "I said I didn't want one, nii-san."

Cain stared at her. He opened the box.

Setsu felt her legs start to quiver as the smell of fresh baked dough and warm chocolate drizzle wafted toward her.

"I don't want one," she muttered. "You should have gotten yourself something healthy to eat, not this gigantic box of sweets."

He carefully picked up the largest sweet, a long pastry covered in chocolate and white drizzle with a small icing rose on one end. She looked at it side-eyed. He dipped his chin and batted his eyes at her, his lower lip pouting slightly as he held the dainty pastry out inches away from her mouth.

Setsu bit her lip. She could feel herself drooling.

"Fine. God, you are so spoiled nii-san!" She leaned forward slightly and nipped the rosebud end off the pastry.

Chocolate and vanilla pastry cream and soft, buttery dough melted in her mouth. Her inner self was dying happily in baker's ecstasy, trying to force a moan of delight out, but the only external reveal allowed was the exertion of flicking her tongue out to snag the small bit of icing caught on the corner of her mouth.

Her eyes snapped open in realization of the lapse and she saw her brother, hand still extended, watching her eagerly. His face was full of excitement and pride. It was even cuter than the sad puppy face. Setsu crumpled and took a massive bite, shoving her mouth full of sweet to avoid admitting defeat verbally.

"S'good," she said finally. Cain held another pastry out - strawberry frosted - but she shook her head. He returned it to the box, pulling a napkin from his pocket and reaching over to softly wipe the very same spot she'd licked earlier.

"Eclairs," he said simply. He nestled the box on top of his suitcase to make it easier to carry. She could sense his satisfaction and let it go, winding her arm around his as they resumed their walk. She needed to be more careful where she let her eyes rest or he'd buy all the junk food of London for her.

The taxi queue was long, but no one moved when Cain stalked straight to the front and opened the door of the first cab, stepping aside to let his sister climb in under his arm. A man started to speak: "I say-" but stopped suddenly, stepping back with a quiet, "By all means," when Cain's gaze shifted to his face.

Setsu chose the bench seat with room for her brother to sit next to her, propping her booted feet up on the backwards-facing single seat in front of her. He climbed in, his legs awkwardly fitting in the back of the cab, and gave the cabbie the hotel name in his gruff voice.

Cain leaned his head back, his eyes closed but his hand languidly playing with her ponytail. She pulled out her phone, turning it on for the first time since arrival. His eyes shot open when her phone started to ping incessantly, notification after notification pouring through. Setsu felt her eyes widen in panic, trying to silence the phone's alerts.

47 missed calls. All from Fuwa Shotaro.

She'd saved his number after their conversation at Jodogahama. Why had she saved his number! Setsu clicked the red X to dismiss over and over again. She felt her brother's hand tense, his fingers twined tightly in her ponytail. First the MV video, now this.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot," she chanted under her breath. Even she wasn't sure if she was talking about Sho or herself.

She felt Cain's hand slip from her hair. Her eyes shifted to look at him, the rest of her body forcibly still.

"Call him back." His voice sounded scratchy, shoved through gritted teeth.

"What?" Setsu shook her head at Cain in disbelief. "I'm not using my time with you to call that insect."

Cain leaned over her, darkening the interior of the cab. "Call him back and make it clear whose you are."

Setsu smirked. "Oh." She ran her thumb over the phone, her mind imagining several ways to demonstrate rather… forcibly. "Not here." Her eyes flicked to the cabbie. She couldn't risk Cain's reaction in public.

Cain snarled.

"Call him at the room," he said stiffly. His eyes turned to her, their edges drawn tight with repressed emotion. "As long as you're willing to pay the cost."

Inner Kyoko was completely wigging out, banging against the walls of her mind in panic, but Setsu purred, setting her phone down as she leaned towards Cain. The thought of her brother releasing his jealousy again, of a power-play between the two of them - of getting to pull from his depths the emotions of possessiveness and desire and ownership that she so desperately wanted to see every single damn moment of every day… she licked her lips in anticipation.

"Works for me, nii-san."