Once again, nothing wierd is intended by this chapter, just sisters being sisters, so if you interpret it any other way, that's completely on you.

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Satsuki quickly found herself feeling more insecure than ever, wishing she had cut herself somewhere else more obscured instead of on her arms, knowing she was going to have to ask for another outfit to wear, after all. Perhaps simply saying she preferred long sleeves would seem suspicious, but it would cause them even more alarm if they saw that her other arm was dressed in bandages as well, especially this many , and that wasn't a risk she wanted to take.

And it wasn't just that, but, like earlier, the thought of having so much skin exposed and sleeping in the same room as anybody else just didn't sit well with her.

She let out a deep breath, scolding herself for her thought process. Ryuko and Mako would never do something like Ragyo did to her, nor would anybody else here. They were nothing like her. So why did she feel so much anxiety and distrust right now? She should feel safe, and yet she didn't, not even with her own sister.

Realistically, though, how could she? Her own so-called "Mother" had sexually forced her into submission on so many occasions that she had lost count. Because of that, her view on what family was supposed to be like had been distorted. It wasn't Ryuko's fault but the association was there and Satsuki couldn't help but feel guilty for it.

It was strange. Months ago she was bragging about how prepared she was to bare her body to the entire world if necessary, but now the thought of anybody seeing her skin at all disgusted her.

And yet she knew down deep that even back then, the fear had been no less real, she was just far better at hiding it and pushing her own personal feelings aside; keeping the skyscraper in her mind in tact.

But when it came to the Elite Four, Iori and Soroi, people she even trusted with her own life, there was always the subconscious fear that one of them would try to take advantage of her and she wouldn't be able to bring herself to fight back or defend herself, freezing up just like she always had with Ragyo. It wasn't rational, she was fully aware of that, but it seemed like even after all this time, she was still no different from a traumatized young child. She cursed herself.

"Ryuko, can you come here for a moment?" She called out, peeking out the bathroom door, hoping she would be heard.

Fortunately, Ryuko appeared within moments. "What's up, you need something, Nee-san?"

"It's the night gown Mankanshoku gave me… Does she by chance have anything with long sleeves that I could wear instead? If not, it's fine." Satsuki felt a bit bad for bothering them over something like this, for whatever reason worrying that Ryuko would get annoyed with her.

"Sure, I can ask." Ryuko said after a brief pause of consideration. "Just gimme a second, okay?"

"Thank you." Satsuki said in a low voice.

"Yeah, no problem." Ryuko said walking back to the room to talk with Mako. Moments later she came back with pair of pink polka dotted Pajamas. Satsuki had closed the bathroom door again.

"Hey, Nee-san, Mako picked you out some pajamas. The shirt is long sleeved like you asked for so I hope it'll work." She said, holding them out.

"If you can, leave them down by the door." Satsuki told her. "I'll get them momentarily."

"Alright... Also, if you don't mind me asking, what's up with the accident you mentioned earlier? You get into a fight or something?" Ryuko asked out of curiosity but was secretly a bit concerned based off the way Satsuki had acted earlier when questioned.

"That is one way of putting it, I suppose." Satsuki said vaguely, deciding to play along. "There was an incessant voice that wouldn't keep stop crowing, so I dealt with it accordingly."

Yes. A voice indeed… It wasn't a lie. The fewer details, however, she gave the better.

So far, nobody knew what the injuries were but if they happened to see the cuts, there would be nothing she could say or do to deny where they came from and it would certainly cause her far more trouble than it was worth. The Mankanshokus were family to a doctor, after all . Barazo might have not been the best out or most competent doctor out there, but he would still recognize something like that from a mile away. Probably even the rest of the family too.

For that matter, Ryuko might not have had any knowledge on treating the injured but she certainly wasn't an idiot. All Satsuki knew was that she had to be extra careful. The last thing she wanted to do right now was warrant unnecessary pity from people she had hurt.

"So who was this person?" Ryuko asked, unknowingly catching her on the spotlight.

That's where Satsuki felt herself hesitate. How was she even supposed to answer that?

"...It doesn't matter." She muttered after a few seconds, a little harsher than intended. "It's over now, so let it go."

"Okay, geez, I was just asking." Ryuko scoffed. She wasn't actually annoyed but she still wanted more details.

"I would simply prefer not to talk about it right now, so try not to take it too personally." Satsuki tried to play it off as cooly as possible, fortunately managing over all.

Ryuko sighed. "...Look, it's if cool you don't want to. I get it. But are you sure you're okay? You've kinda been acting strange ever since Matoro brought it up so I just wanted to check up on you."

"Yes, I'm fine. He just happened to catch me off guard is all." Satsuki said dismissively, giving a small sad smile as she realized she was starting to lie to her sister yet again, only this time over an entirely different matter than before.

"Alright… Well, you are Satsuki Kiryuuin, after all, so I'm sure you know what you're up against. It's not like I'm really anybody to talk, considering all the crazy fights I've got myself into over the years. Just be careful, I guess is all I can say. " Ryuko shrugged it off, deciding to believe in Satsuki's better judgement despite her initial doubt. "Anyway, I guess I'll go back to the bedroom then. The clothes are out here next to the door when you wanna get them."

"Right… I will be finished shortly."

…

The Pajamas that Ryuko had brought her had an extremely soft material, and it was a surprisingly perfect fit. The color briefly reminded her of Nonon, who seemed to have a near obsession with bright colors like pink. Rather than having an issue with it, however, Satsuki had always secretly found it kind of cute and even bought her stuffed toys on several occasions as a gift, especially in their younger years. Not that anybody else really knew or suspected where a decent portion of Nonon's collection had come from.

After putting on the PJs, she picked up a brush and began working through the tangles in her hair. Since cutting it, it had been much easier to handle over all. Yet something inside of her kind of regretted chopping so much of it off even though she knew realistically she hadn't really been given much of a choice or it would have been uneven due to Hoomaru slicing a chunk of it off in her last attack. Leaving it like that would have been even more irksome.

Looking into the mirror, she immediately felt disgust in the pit of her stomach as she was reminded of how much how much her face resembled Ragyo's. She had always hated that about herself. No matter how much she had tried to escape Ragyo's hold on her there would always be similarities they shared which were absolutely unmistakable. Not just her large eyebrows or the shape of her eyes either.

With a click of her tongue, she turned her head away out of frustration, no longer able to bare looking at herself.

Within the next fifteen minutes she had finally finished up everything she needed to do, so she folded up the clothes she had been wearing earlier as well as the night gown and turned the bathroom light off behind her.

…

Mako had fallen asleep almost immediately after picking out the night gown for Satsuki, so in the end, Ryuko was left alone with her own thoughts all over again. She tried to block out the memories but it was impossible.

"Don't cry, Ryuuko…"

Bright fire and the smell of smoke filled her senses, tears welling up in her eyes.

Senketsu had told her not to cry and he would probably tell her that again if he were still here, but she couldn't stop herself. How could she?

Senketsu didn't deserve to die. He was like family to her. Why did it have to be like this?

So what if her dad's purpose in creating him was fulfilled? Senketsu wasn't just some tool to save the world with. He had is his own individuality and feelings just like everybody else. He deserved to live.

"I had a wonderful time, meeting you."

She clutched tightly at the fabric of her shirt, hunching over in an attempt to stifle her sobs, not wanting to wake up Mako and worry her again.

She had once said Senketsu was "just a piece of clothing", but that couldn't get farther from the truth. Senketsu was one of the nicest people she knew even if he wasn't human. Even after she went berserk and hurt him so badly, he still chose to trust and believe in her. He still forgave her after everything she put him through.

And yet despite swearing she would never do anything like that again, she turned around and let Junketsu take over her body before trying to destroy everything around her and pushing away the people she cared about most.

It was Ragyo's fault too and that bitch Nui as well, but if she had been stronger then none of that would have happened. She might have even been able come up with a more rational plan instead of acting off pure emotions and letting the life fibers control her. As it was she had so many regrets about the way she had handled herself, wishing more than anything she could go back in time and take back the terrible things she had said to him, the horrible things she had done.

"Ryuko." A hand on her shoulder suddenly snapped her out of her thoughts. It was Satsuki.

Ryuko sniffed and sat straight up, wiping away the tears from her eyes. "Oh, hey. Sorry about that. Mako's asleep right now, but there should be enough room here if you wanna go ahead and lay down. I can turn off the light if you need me to."

Her voice was scratchy and Satsuki could tell she was forcing herself(if seeing her crying wasn't already enough proof).

"You don't have to force yourself to hold back for me. It's fine if you need to cry. And if you don't want me to be here, I will respect that as well." Satsuki offered, not entirely sure how she should act in this situation or what was the correct response.

Ryuko reached up and sheepishly tugged at Satsuki's sleeve to keep her from going.

"No, don't leave." Ryuko murmured, a bit desperate. "I…"

"I understand…" Satsuki gave a small smile, already figuring what she wanted to say. "Do you want to talk about it...?"

Ryuko let her bangs cover her eyes as her sister sat down next to her.

"It's like… no matter what I do, everything reminds me of him, I can't…" Ryuko felt tears welling up in her eyes beyond her control. She couldn't even finish her sentence. "I just want this pain go away, already dammit… I can't stand it. I feel like shit cuz I keep dragging Mako and everybody else down with me. Am I… wrong for not being able to just get over it?" Ryuko was unable to stop herself from breaking down in sobs again.

"No, you're not… What you're feeling is completely normal and it will pass with time. You shouldn't feel obligated to force yourself to feel better for the sake of others. Just let the feelings come as they come. Nobody except you can tell you how you're supposed to feel." Satsuki tried her best to comfort her, still not completely used to this big sister thing and not wanting to overstep her bounds or come off insensitive.

"Nee-san… Do you… Do you ever think about dad...? I know you said you wished you could have saved him too, but outside of that, I mean." Ryuko inquired.

"Mn… Quite often actually. Why do you ask?" Satsuki titled her head a bit, surprised by the question.

"I was just wondering… What kind of person was he...? I actually don't remember him all that well since he sent me to a boarding school when I was like five. The day he died… I hadn't seen him in over ten years, so a part of me almost didn't know how to feel at first. It seemed like just when I might have a chance to learn something about him and see him again, he..." Ryuko didn't need to finish the sentence for Satsuki to know what she meant.

"I don't know what he was like to you, but our father… He was very kind to me. Kinder than Ragyo ever was." Satsuki said after a few seconds, feeling a sense of anxiety creeping up in her chest at the mention of the creature she refused to acknowledge as her mother. "He told me everything, about her experiments with the life fibers, what she planned to do with them and even how she discarded you at birth when you were barely out of the womb. She hadn't even given you a name yet. The only thing I was never made aware of was that you were actually still alive all those years. I don't know why he never said anything about it to me. If I had known, I would have..." Satsuki trailed off into silence, guilt creeping up in her chest all over again.

"...Hey, don't beat yourself up about it." Ryuko smiked lightheartedly, meeting her gaze. "There's no way you could have possibly known, right?"

Ryuko then looked away for a moment. "I guess it's true that things would have turned out differently for us if we had known earlier on that we were sisters, but I'm totally fine with things as they are now. Besides, we have the chance to start over as actual family, so who cares what happened in the past? We're here now and that's all that matters."

"...Yes. Family… That is..." At hearing that, Satsuki felt herself hesitate to respond, reaching up and clutching at her arm. The fact that Ryuko still chose to see her as a sister hurt just as much as it did earlier. After everything she had done, how could she-

"What's wrong?" Ryuko snapped her out of her thoughts, noticing her mood shifting again.

"...Over the past few years, I hurt so many people in my path to taking down Ragyo… Not only you and Senketsu but the Mankanshoku family as well, and more people than I can even remember… I destroyed Osaka and obliterated entire towns to get the results I desired. Something like that shouldn't be so easily forgiven… I don't deserve happiness after the things I did, so why is everybody being so nice to me...?" Satsuki felt a sense of frustration as she finished, subconsciously fidgeting with her sleeve.

Ryuko was momentarily at a loss of words after that, not used to hearing such cynicism from Satsuki. But then memories of before she had shut down Honnouji Academy and Satsuki's strange behavior back then too hit her again. She herself still wasn't over Senketsu so it'd make sense that Satsuki too still had her own unresolved issues. She looked down, knowing fully well that some of the things she had said was undeniable. Satsuki had caused a lot of damage for not just Honnou town or Osaka but thousands of people across Japan as well. Even so…

"...It's like I told you before... I don't hate you for what you did, and nor does Mako or anybody else I know. Maybe it's true there are things you could have done differently, but you had to put up with her shit for years, so you knew what kind of person Ragyo was better than any of us, right…? You obviously had a reason for taking the precautions that you did. Besides, after how I acted in Junketsu, I'm in no place at all to talk about some ethics. I'd have probably went crazy if I had been raised by her. Despite that, you stuck your ground and did whatever you had to to take her down. If you hadn't, then we might not even be here right now, so try not to think too much of it." Ryuko avoided eye contact, feeling a bit awkward. "I don't really care about any of that stuff anymore… Most of us are just trying to move forward. And me... I just... wish Senketsu were here. That's all I want. I miss him so bad."

Trying to hold her tears back, she buried her eyes in her hands. As silent sobs once again began wracking her sister's body, Satsuki's heart ached. She knew she had to do something instead of just sitting there and watching.

So even though a part of her was afraid she might be making a wrong move, she reached up with apprehension and pulled Ryuko into a gentle hug.

Once again, she had to remind herself there was nothing wrong about this, despite the feeling of hands crawling on her and exploring her body. It was only her imagination. There was nothing wrong at all with comforting her sister.

Some of Ryuko's crying stopped at the unexpected embrace, but she made no attempt to push her away, so Satsuki could only hope Ryuko was okay with it as well. Fortunately, since the younger one returned embrace after a moment, Satsuki could assume her gesture had been well received despite the uncertainty she was still feeling.

"When I heard that our father had died, it felt like a part of my entire world was gone." Satsuki murmured. "I quickly found myself consumed with bitterness towards Ragyo, because I knew she was responsible for it... And yet I was never allowed the time to properly grieve because I was so focused on getting revenge against her, not just for him, but you as well, Ryuko."

This caught Ryuko's attention. She couldn't help but look up a bit.

"Even words alone can't describe the sense of relief I felt, but also fear, upon realizing that my little sister was still alive after all those years." Satsuki continued. "As soon as that damn woman called you her daughter, I already knew that she would try to use you in her plan to enslave humanity and I'm truly sorry I wasn't able to do more to help you. If I could, I would also have found some way to save Senketsu from dying so you wouldn't be in so much pain right now. I feel as though part of the fault lies with me. I'm fully aware I can't take away the hurt you're feeling right now, but wish I could do more for you."

Ryuko was silent for a moment. Ever since Satsuki had rebelled against Ragyo, she had been apologetic and almost a completely different person at times than what she was used to(which was, of course to be expected). A bit of laughter bubbled up in her throat somehow, finding it amusing.

"...Geez, hearing you all upset and guilty just makes me feel even worse than I already did." She pulled back, sniffing. "Look, I told you before it's not your fault, so stop blaming yourself already, Nee-san."

"Ryuko-" Satsuki started to speak but felt the words catch in her throat when Ryuko leaned her head against her shoulder just like she had earlier that day.

"Sorry... You mind lending me your shoulder again...?" Ryuko asked in a sheepish voice her eyes burning with unshed tears. "I just need to get this out of my system… I try to be back to normal soon."

"Yes. It's fine." Satsuki gave a small smile, placing a hand on her head in an affectionate manner. "Take as much time you need."

…

Wow lol. Lots of sisterly angst and fluff. I hope somebody enjoyed this, because I plan for more to come. :)