Sister Pri 04

"Aria!" Wataru called, running down the tree-lined avenue.

"Mon Frere!" she called back, standing up and holding out her arms.

He stopped in front of her, panting like the dog he was (or at least the dog the other him was) and asked, "Aria, what were you doing just now?"

"I was looking… at the flowers…" she said, pointing to a cluster of pansies growing in the roots of a tree.

"Well they're all getting treats on the fourth block, we better hurry or there won't be any ice cream left."

"Ice… cream…?"

"Yeah," he said, holding out his hand. She slowly took it and they started walking back to town. "Aria haven't you ever had ice cream before?"

"I think so…"

"It wasn't exactly a trick question…" he said. It was an odd feeling. Touching a girl and not turning into a different person, that was. Apparently Aria was too young… or perhaps it was too French. Lucky for him she didn't have to worry about body hair sprouting up in strange places, not that she was one for sleeveless tee-shirts, or immodest clothing in general, but… Wait a minute! He didn't have these kinds of thoughts about Aria! Aria? His heartbeat went down, the rat had shown up after all. It wasn't that bad around Sakuya, she seemed to like it, and Mami was a scum bucket in the first place, but how was he suppose to play this off around the rest of the girls.

"Mon Frere… your hand is warm… When we get home will you… play with me?"

Aria had taken some getting used to, but by now he sort of liked her slower way of talking. "Sure, what game Aria?"

"Po… ker?"

"Poke her? You like being poked?"

"No silly… Po-ker…"

"Po-ker? Poker! Aria, you want to play poker?"

"Five to one odds… Mon Frere…"

He laughed. Aria was crazy. "Okay, but I'm not betting anything."

"Awww…"

They walked on, to the ice cream shop. The girls were waiting inside.

"Oh…! Ice Cream!" she squealed.

"Go on and pick your favorite, I'm buying."

"Horay," she said disappearing inside.

Soon he was blinking in the artificial dimness. The inside of the boutique was very medieval Europe motif, unshaven wood crisscrossed over white plaster, a few stands of ivy hung from the ceiling, and the girls sat in comfy booths near the bright windows, each with a bowl of various dessert.

"A… Who paid for all those?" he asked the man behind the counter.

A short, thick man replied, "They were just so, so cute man. I couldn't resist; okay?"

Wataru shrugged. At least it wasn't a tall thin man the looked like his old butler. He went with some safe chocolate, was allowed to pay for his own, and sat down in one of the last booths with an empty seat. Interesting enough it contained just the person he wanted to talk to, Rin Rin. Unfortunately it also, somehow, contained her giant metal flunky, that apparently hadn't forgotten how he had tossed her a good on this morning. He sat down next to the final occupant, Yotsuba, while trying to stare the robot down. It didn't work.

"Look I said I was sorry, okay?"

"Bro, are you still talking to Mecha Rin Rin?"

"She's mad at me, look at her!" he said pointing.

They looked. They saw. They saw nothing.

"Bro are you feeling alright?"

"That's what Chikage asked," Yotsuba commented, "but he said he was fine. Are you sure that stuff will wear off?"

"Of course I am," Rin Rin said giggling, "Why wouldn't it? It's not like I gave him some DNA altering material so that he'd fall in love with me or something."

Mecha Rin Rin started nodding furiously.

"Don't look at her, she doesn't know the difference between ATP and ACT."

She (he/it) kept nodding.

"What is the difference?" inquired Yotsuba.

"One's a test, ones a molecular solvent that mitochondria need to produce energy."

"Oh… And how is Brother Dearest this afternoon?"

The playboy within had been making googly eyes at Haruka a few seats over, who in turn was blushing like crazy, amidst Sakuya and Mami's angry words. Jealous, they were just jealous. And given the situation, just maybe they were, however amidst these mundane midday thoughts duty called, and it was closer (and cuter) than ever. "Fine and dandy, how's the brandy?

"Brandy?" she asked.

"Yes, it isn't my usual cup of tea, to weak you know, but it gets the job done when you don't have anything to cry about."

"Anything to cry about?" she reiterated, bewildered. "Brother Dearest, are you feeling all right?"

Wataru and Rin Rin snorted.

"Well… sorry, it's just that you're not making any sense."

"I have a sixth sense about these sort of things," Chikage said, having appeared just behind Wataru's shoulder. "He felt a little warm this morning."

"I already explained it, Bro's feeling strange because I gave him a bad dose of hexadrocilrhyboneucleoicoxens. He should be over it in a day or two, we just need to be a little more gentle around him."

Chikage put her fingertips on the side of his face and brought them down to the chin, saying, "I'm always careful around Brother Darling. Going to finish that?"

Yotsuba covered her bowl. "It's chocolate, go get some yourself."

"You think I can't see a rum malt a mile away?" When Yotsuba blushed she added, "I saw you blink at the salesman," with a little grin.

"If you want some then grab a spoonful, but don't go telling everybody that I'm a rummy."

Chikage wiped a finger around the edge of the bowl and licked the flavor away. "I wouldn't dream of it." She casually drifted off to another table.

"Rum Malt!" Rin Rin hissed through a fit of giggles.

Yotsuba's face grew redder.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Wataru said, nonchalantly, "a little liquor makes you quicker you know."

"It's not liquor, they just pour rum in it to give it a little flavor."

"That's not what I heard," Rin Rin giggled further.

"If it's true it's a pity. A little bit of the hot stuff never hurt anybody. But don't go thinking I won't be disappointed if I find a bunch of empty bottles under you bed."

"Bro, you tell her!" she added, still fit to be tied.

"You don't mind, Brother Dearest?"

"Of course not. A Rum Malt? P-shaw! Like that bozo's going to give you anything you can't handle."

"Hey!" came a call across the floor.

"Good ears, that one," Yotsuba noted.

Rin Rin had stopped laughing. "I guess that's right…"

She blushed a little less. "Bother Dearest, if you would like some you may use my spoon."

"Your spoon? Yotsuba are you coming on to me?" he asked with a laugh.

Her cheeks flushed red again. That was exactly what she had been doing.

"Bro, you're acting weird. Are you still getting it in waves?"

"Waves?" he asked. Suddenly he was one hundred percent Wataru again. "Then you knew about it the whole time?"

"Well… yeah, Bro. I wouldn't have given it to you if I didn't know what it was going to do."

"No fun at all."

"What?"

"Well it's just that the Rin Rin I know would gladly pour any substance down my throat, if it meant a quick buck."

"I would not!"

"You would too."

"What? Are you crazy?" she asked, her face turning red. She would never do something like that, and he would never accuse her of it. He was acting strange. Suddenly it clicked, how could she keep forgetting? "What am I saying, of course you are. You're crazy."

"Will you to take a good look at each other?" Yotsuba said quietly.

They blinked, and looked around. Wataru laughed again, and more; Rin Rin put her face in her hands, blushing again.

"Oh no, it's the potion that's saying that."

"It's the potion that's finding the words, I'm saying it," he said quieting down. He cleared out his throat. He felt tired; entertaining people was exhausting. "Are you two done?"

"No."

"Not yet, Bro, remember you're crazy not blind."

He shrugged. "You two can finish this off if you want, I'm heading back."

"Heading back?" Yotsuba asked.

He nodded, he got up and almost walked out the door, before Yamada flattened him for trying. That is to say they reached the door at the same time, but Wataru was slowly taking his time, and Yamada was running like the devil was chasing him down with a chainsaw. If he wasn't careful then one of these days… Before the dust could settle the girls almost tore them apart trying to figure out what happened, and if Bother Dearest was alright, or if Elder Brother would like some of Shirayuki's shake to feel better. They quickly threw Yamada clear and put Brother, oh brother, on the ground. Yamada, who had quickly debated trying to play the helpless injured 'poor dear' or man it out saw Mami's not so happy, and definitely not smiling, face and went with the latter.

"Don't worry ladies," he said in baritone, "I'll be fine, just give me some air to breath."

They were to busy with Wataru to properly ignore him, but Yotsuba made a good attempt at accidentally stepping on his toes in the ruckus, but was forced to dodge out of the way when he had the same idea, except, of course he wanted a hug (and who knows what else).

Sensing that his bravery in the face of minor harm to his general person was going unnoticed he shunted a couple of the girls a side to get to Wataru. "Excuse me, Marie, pardon Moi, Aria, move it you hosier."

"Just who are you calling hosier, chump."

"Would you prefer red headed bimbo?"

"Don't make me use this," Mami said holding up a fist.

"If you want a box, I could always lend you one of my old ones, it would give you somewhere to sleep in that mess you call a room."

"What did you say?"

"I said, -OW!"

Sakuya had come in from the left and caught his cheek in her grip of death.

"Brother dearest needs air, and you-aren't-giving-it-to-him!"

"Wait, I'm -OW- here to help. Let me just -Aaaa- Darn it Sakuya!"

"Can it, you can come back during visiting hours or…"

Wataru groaned. He was coming out of it. 'It' being a sister daze, all of them at once was too much for any guy.

"Dear Brother!" she shouted running to his side.

Yamada plowed back over to his other side, and started shaking him.

"Wataru, you Rapscallion, stop worrying your sisters, get up. You're a boy aren't you?'

He opened an eye. The evil genius was back, and as far as it could tell Yamada was trying to make him look like a wussy.

"Yamada," he moaned, "I haven't seen you in… forever…"

"Dear Brother, are you alright?"

"Sakuya!" he groaned, "Sakuya, is that you? I can't see… everything's going dark…"

The room got very noisy with the sounds of different girls calling their favorite brother by his different pet names.

"Listen," he sighed, "before… before I…"

"Oh, you've got to be joking," Yamada snorted, "I knocked the door down with my head and you don't seem me -erk."

One might have thought that Sakuya grabbed him again, or Mami had poked him with a fork, but instead it was the 'dying' Wataru who had grabbed his collar (and carefully disguised a grasp on his neck) making him go erk.

"Yamada…" he exhaled, giving him a good shudder. "Before I pass on, I want you… to… to…" He took great care to make ever syllable writhe with imagined pain, especially those last two. He slowly pointed with his free hand to his untouched ice cream.

"Your dessert?"

Wataru, or 'the rat' Wataru, started shaking Yamada as he spoke, so that his tongue inadvertently lashed out. "I haven't touched it! Don't let it go to waste. This is… my last… request… Don't let it go to WASTE! It… it is your destiny… Yamada!"

"Glaaa! Okay, I'll eat it for you; just let go!"

Wataru got this big, stupid, fake smile on his lips. "Don't let it go to waste…!"

Yamada slunk over to it and started eating, very half-heartedly.

"Dear Brother don't worry you'll be fine!"

"I don't know what could have happened to Big Bro. If Yamada isn't dying…"

"Maybe it had something to do with that Hyper-dy-roxi thingy Rin Rin was talking about," Hina asked, clearly concerned.

"I doubt it, nothing in that potion should have made him weaker."

"Brother Mine… where does it hurt?"

Wataru composed himself enough to point at his head.

"He must have hurt his head when the door landed on it," Mami speculated, throwing an evil glance to Yamada.

"Hey, like I said," he retorted through a mouthful of ice cream, "My head broke the door, his head broke the fall, who should be hurting more?"

His logic was still no good to them. Haruka pushed forward. "Beloved Brother is there anything I can do?"

He wheezed out some sounds, but nobody could hear. So she got closer. He whimpered something even lower. She knelt down and put her face next to his, so that her ear was very near to his mouth. He quickly shifted his head and gave her a little peck on the cheek. She gave a short shriek and jumped back up, holding her face as it glowed red.

He cricked his neck, to look cool, no doubt, and got up.

Sakuya grabbed his face, much like Yamada's. "That wasn't nice, scaring all of us like that."

"Sakuya," he said first in that whiny voice most people get when they have their face contorted. Then he continued with his cheap cologne smile and his cheap cologne voice, looking deep into her eyes, "Promise me you'll never let go."

She looked on for a second; taking in what he just said, then consequentially let go to join Haruka in hiding her face in her hands as it turned red.

He stood up, looking around with that bachelor smile. "Well ladies; that, as they say, is how you do that."

He made for the door but before he could put his first foot down he had two hands, Sakuya's and Haruka's, pinching his cheeks open.

"We'll I've heard of a pinch, but this is ridiculous," he mouthed though what parts of his mouth would still open.