Huge thanks to thatguywhowrote for beta-reading this chapter, and the last one. Without him, neither chapter would be as amazing.

Chapter 3: Last Night Together

"I'm home." Kirino walked inside her house, took off her shoes and put them in the rack.

Kyousuke heard her and went in the hallway through the living room door. "Oh, welcome back Kirino," he said with a smile. "How was school?"

"Pretty much the same as usual," answered Kirino, she frowned. "Although you almost ruined it."

"Me?"

"Yes, you." She pointed at him. "You have some explaining to do."

Kyousuke honestly had no idea what was going on. How could he have nearly ruined Kirino's day when he hadn't even been with her for most of it? "What are you talking about?"

Kirino ignored his question and went up the stairs. "I'll be in the living room in a few minutes, and you better be there," she ordered. "I'm going to change out of this uniform, so don't even think about following me," she added with a glare.

Kyousuke stopped his foot just in time before it reached the first step. "Okay," he obeyed.

He could wait for an explanation for what she'd said. Besides, if he immediately went after her, she'd probably just start launching "sis-cons" and "Die, pervert!" and other slander at him.

Kyousuke walked over to the couch and sat down. 'Nothing much has changed,' he thought fondly. He still obeyed Kirino's orders, which she had no lack of. It was good to see that their new relationship hadn't completely messed with their interactions.

Now, what could Kirino have meant by saying that he'd almost ruined her day at school? The closest he'd gotten to her school was when he'd dropped her off at the front gate. What could he have done? The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He couldn't think of anything, was she just being unreasonable? 'Wait . . . Ayase had been there, could Kirino have found out about-

"Alright, it's time for you to talk," Kirino interrupted his line of thought as she walked through the door.

Kyousuke face reddened as he saw her. "Wh-what are you wearing?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kirino put her hands on her sides, cocked her hips to the left and looked down at herself. "What's wrong with this?"

Kirino had changed into some short shorts, and a white sleeveless tank top. Her outfit showed a fair amount of skin, but it wasn't anything indecent. In fact, Kyousuke had seen her wear similar clothes many times before. Yet it was . . . different now for some reason. He didn't know why but he couldn't help reacting embarrassed and flustered.

"N-nothing's wrong." He gulped and looked away nervously.

Kirino narrowed her eyes in suspicion, then sighed. "Whatever." She went right up to him and pointed a finger at his face. "You . . . why didn't you tell me that Ayase had confessed to you?"

So Kirino had found out, why had this happened? Kyousuke would have preferred anything else. They'd just gotten back together and there was already drama about other girls? Why couldn't he just have a peaceful relationship with Kirino?

Well, there was no point in lying, Kyousuke took a deep breath and explained, "Because I thought that she'd tell you when she was ready, and I didn't want to make you feel like I'd just put you off to the side after we'd ended our relationship last time."

Kirino's anger subsided at the unexpected answer. The whole day she'd been afraid to hear Kyousuke's reasoning for hiding Ayase's confession from her, and she'd started thinking that his feelings might have changed. "Really?" she asked timidly.

"Of course!" Kyousuke assured her. "Ayase's cute and all, but she doesn't compare to you at all!"

Kirino blushed in embarrassment at the compliment. "You really weren't trying to get with her without me knowing?"

"I'd never do that," answered Kyousuke sincerely. "Last time, I was happy just being with you. Did you think I could get over my feelings so quickly? Or that I'd find another girl?"

"I don't know," replied Kirino. She sat down on the couch and leaned on his shoulder. ". . . Three months wasn't really a long enough time to really get to know you as a boyfriend. I was so afraid that-that you would find another girl after me."

"As if I could," he said. "I only love you Kirino."

She smiled happily at his response, then she remembered what Kyousuke had said during dinner last night. "What about that Fuyumi girl?"

"Huh? How do you know about her?"

Kirino sighed. "You talked about her last night, stupid. What's going on with her?" She trembled slightly, afraid to hear the answer. She hoped that he couldn't tell how nervous she was.

"Oh that's right." Kyousuke remembered how he'd casually mentioned the name during dinner. "She's a friend from college. I just told mom about her so she wouldn't tease me about getting a girlfriend. No need to worry."

"Good," said Kirino, satisfied with his answer. "Remember, I'm your girlfriend now, so you better get rid of whatever thoughts you have about other girls."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied nonchalantly with a smile.

Kirino looked at Kyousuke directly in the eyes. "I'm serious, when you're away you better not even think about cheating on me. In fact, remove the word 'cheating' from your head, right now," she demanded.

Kyousuke laughed at her ridiculous statement, then even harder at her surprised expression. She was so cute! Even before he'd fallen in love with her, her cuteness had always been his one weakness, but her jealousy was adorable on a whole different level.

Kyousuke acted on an impulse and kissed her.

Shocked, Kirino pulled back. "Wh-what are you doing?!"

"I'm kissing you," he said, confused. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Don't do it so suddenly like that!"

"What? That's how you kissed me this morning . . . and last night!" he argued.

"That's different, it's cute when a girl does it," she said. "When a guy kisses a girl without warning, he's just an aggressive pervert."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Shut up! Just accept it!"

Kyousuke stared at her quizzically for a few seconds. "Fine," he yielded.

"Hmph, liar, you're just saying that. Let me show you." Kirino immediately kissed him. When she pulled back, Kyousuke blinked several times and his face was a deep shade of red.

"M-maybe you do have a point," he admitted.

Kirino smiled mischievously. "See?"

She pushed him onto his back and brought her lips to his again. It was so warm and comfortable in his arms; she hadn't experienced it that much, since their previous relationship hadn't been very physical.

She knew that Kyousuke had probably wanted it to be- he was a boy after all. But she'd been too nervous to start anything. Yet, regardless of his own desires, he'd never tried to coerce her into doing things like this for him. She loved him even more for that, letting her go into the relationship at her own pace, even though they'd had a limited amount of time.

"Kirino," whispered Kyousuke. He looked into her eyes, surprised by the passion Kirino put in her kisses.

"Kyousuke . . . d-do you want to . . ." her voice trailed off as she looked to the side.

"What is it?" he asked softly.

"I-I don't want to say it, it's too embarrassing," she said. "But, you know what I mean. If you want to, I'll do it for you." Kirino didn't really know what answer she was hoping for, but whatever he wanted, she'd go with it. Thankfully, she could tell by the look on his face that he knew what she meant, so she wouldn't have to say it out loud.

Sex.

The thought of doing it with Kyousuke was frightening. What if he thought her body looked weird? Or if she did something wrong? Or if she couldn't make him feel good? It was embarrassing, but during her weaker moments, she had sometimes fantasized about doing it with him. Until yesterday, when she'd went to his room and restarted their relationship, she'd always thought they'd stay fantasies.

Kirino wasn't even sure if she was ready, she was so nervous from just implying it. Her heart was pounding, her face felt unbelievably hot, and she could barely look at Kyousuke in the eye. But she had to prepare herself. The thought of Kyousuke doing it with another girl depressed and infuriated her more than she could say. She'd be the number one girl in his life! She loved him, and no one else would take him from her!

"W-well?" she stammered, but managed to regain some courage. "Do you want to or not?"

"I . . ." Kyousuke wasn't prepared at all for this moment! What the heck?! Why would Kirino just ask him for-for that now?!

"You don't want to?" Kirino looked heartbroken.

"Th-that's not true!" He immediately said. "I-

Kyousuke suddenly realized why Kirino was suggesting this. Damn it, she didn't need to force herself just to make some sort of-of claim on him. But he'd address that later, right now, he needed to talk to her about this relationship, before it became any more painful to decide on what to do about it. He might have already waited too long to bring it up.

"Kirino, this doesn't mean no, but I need to talk to you about something else important first. Will you hear me out?"

"Okay." Kirino nodded. He hadn't said no, so he did want to do things like that with her. But what did he want to talk about?

He took a deep breath. "Are you really sure you want our relationship to continue? I'm not going to be here a lot of the time, and even when we're together, we'll have to be careful to hide it from everyone. Even from our closest friends."

"I knew all that already," answered Kirino after a few seconds. "I know that we can't do things that a normal couple could, and that I'll miss you when you're at college."

Kirino hugged him tightly, laying her head on his chest, completely unwilling to let him go. "But this is what I want, I want to be your girlfriend again. I want to be the one you love the most, and I want to show you how much I love you."

'Even if it is hard at times to be honest with myself,' she reflected. She was managing now though, she needed to, there was so little time with him. He'd be leaving tomorrow, and who knew when he'd be back?

"What are we going to do Kirino?" Kyousuke was asking himself just as much as he was with her. "Will we really be fine just seeing each other every few weeks? What if one of us finds another person and we end up hurting each other?"

"I would never do that!" claimed Kirino fiercely. "I'm fine with waiting, I've felt this way about you for years, and you had abandoned me then! I'm not going to find another guy if you happen to leave for a few weeks."

She paused, then continued in a soft voice. "If you just want this relationship to be over, then say so."

"That's not what I want at all." Kyousuke patted her head. "I just needed to make sure that you knew what our relationship would be like and that you'd still want it."

He paused for a bit. "Instead, I kept thinking about the problems that would come up and worrying about them. But we'll deal with them when we get there, because we love each other!" he added with determination in his eyes.

"Right." Kirino was relieved. She'd thought that she might have been forcing him to do this when he didn't want to, but it seemed that she was proven wrong.

"Now, about doing that," said Kyousuke, going back to the previous subject. "You don't need to force yourself if you're not ready. Don't worry, I'll stay loyal to you. So just wait a bit alright?"

"Okay," she answered. This was probably for the best, if Kyousuke had said yes, she probably would have freaked out and ruined the experience for both of them. He was right, Kyousuke loved her, she could trust him, couldn't she?

Kirino smirked. "We're still going to do lots of other things before then, okay?" she said before placing her lips on his again.

God . . . what in the world had she done? She'd completely lost track of time when she and Kyousuke had been on the couch. What did he think of her?

'Well, he should be happy!' Kirino thought. It was so embarrassing though, she had really missed him, and they'd spent so long making out that she'd started making strange sounds. She didn't want to remember, but she'd probably squealed a few times and maybe moaned. It wasn't completely her fault though! He had been the one touching her in different places.

It had almost been a good thing when their parents had come home; she and Kyousuke had separated immediately. Even now, hours after they'd stopped, she could still feel a tingling sensation in her lips, and the places where Kyousuke's hands had wandered. He hadn't done anything perverted, but . . . even places like her face or her back felt weird.

If it was this difficult to deal with the aftereffects of some passionate kissing, how on Earth could she have faced him if they'd done it? God, she was so stupid. Kyousuke had been right, she needed to be more mature before she even thought about . . . about . . .

'Oh for God's sake, sex!' Kirino thought frustratingly. She needed to at least get used to thinking the word in her head if it would ever become a reality.

Kirino turned on her computer, ready to start up another eroge or shop for more otaku merchandise. Anything to keep her mind distracted.

'What was this, a message from Kuroneko?' Kirino opened it and started reading.

Hey, respond already. We still need to go over our plans for tomorrow. Saori and I will be in the chatroom, so hurry up.

Kirino smacked herself in the forehead. 'I totally forgot!' The three of them were supposed to plan a surprise for Kyousuke tomorrow. She went to the website and saw that the girls were still online.

Kirino started typing immediately. Sorry, I was a bit busy.

Kuroneko replied first. Geez, can't you keep track of time? You know, it's rude to keep people waiting.

Kirino frowned, she wasn't that late. It was only about twenty minutes later than the time they'd decided on. Besides, Kuroneko's message had only arrived about five minutes ago. Well, I'm here now. So stop complaining and let's start.

Very well, Kiririn-shi. Saori answered, for some strange reason she insisted on calling everyone by their handle name when they were online. I'm surprised though, are you really sure you want to do this?

I find it mildly shocking as well, saidKuroneko. The last time we did anything similar, you immediately backed out on your role.

Kirino tensed up at that, Kuroneko was talking about the time they'd dressed up as maids and held a thank-you party for Kyousuke. It had been so frustrating, watching the other girls flirt with him, and being unable to show how it really made her feel. She hadn't even given him a heartfelt apology or thanks until it had ended.

Kirino smiled at how he'd cried from it. Even back then, he'd still cared that much about her. When she'd treated him so harshly.

Things are different now, wrote Kirino. I don't mind doing this for him. Besides, he deserves it. He's leaving tomorrow.

Are you sure he won't misinterpret these costumes? asked Kuroneko. You two did date not that long ago, these might rekindle some passions between you two.

Yes, I was wondering about that as well, Saori seconded.

No way! You guys know about our promise! He'll know better than to let that happen! Kirino grinned, it hadn't been easy to come up with a cosplay design that would let Kyousuke know what she would be doing and keep the other two from suspecting anything.

Kuroneko would be bringing them tomorrow after some minor adjustments. Although Kirino would never admit it to her, that girl really was amazingly skilled with sewing. It hadn't even taken her that long to make the outfits that Kirino had in mind for everyone.

So we should come over at around 4:30 tomorrow? wondered Saori.

Yeah, replied Kirino.

Are you sure that your brother won't be home then? Kuroneko verified. We're going to need a decent amount of time to set everything up.

Don't worry, I have the perfect way to keep him out of the house, replied Kirino. The earliest he could possibly get back is about 45 minutes later. My parents won't be back until a lot later.

We'll put our trust in you then, said Saori.

Yes, please don't mess up.

Kirino clicked her tongue in annoyance, Kuroneko could be really irritating sometimes. She prepared to give a cheeky reply, but Kuroneko had already left. Saori followed suit a few seconds later.

Then, someone knocked on her door. A female voice called out, "Hey, Kirino? Do you mind if I come in?"

"No, not at all. Come on in mom."

Her mother walked in and looked at the computer. "So, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just chatting with my friends."

Yoshino relaxed, at least she hadn't walked in on her daughter playing those games. Even though she had accepted it, the bizarre hobby still puzzled her. Kirino was an amazing daughter that she was immensely proud of: she did well in school, had a modeling job, was a track athlete, and was apparently popular at school. So why would games and anime that were targeted towards single men be so fascinating to a teenage girl?

"Is there something you need help with mom?" asked Kirino politely.

"Not really, just checking in." Yoshino paused. "Actually, there is something I've been wondering, have you and Kyousuke made up already? Earlier at dinner, you didn't even glare at him once. In fact, you were rather friendly with him, while yesterday, you were quite mad at him."

"W-well, I just got him to apologize for being the idiot that he is," explained Kirino, hoping her mother wouldn't suspect anything.

"I see," Yoshino said understandingly. "You know, you and your brother had gotten really close before he moved out."

". . . I guess." Kirino shifted uncomfortably.

"Did you miss him?"

Yoshino noticed that her daughter had frozen up at her question. "Never mind," she said. "I already know the answer. Even though you try to hide it, I can tell. I am your mother after all."

"Wh-what are you talking about mom? I-

Yoshino signaled her to stop with her hand. Why did Kirino look so full of guilt? "Look, for some reason you have a hard time showing your true feelings."

Kirino fidgeted, looked like she'd hit the nail right on the head.

'Maybe you inherited it from your father,' Yoshino wondered. "But whatever reason it is, I think you resent that part of yourself. So, want to talk about it?"

Yoshino sat down on Kirino's bed and patted the spot next to her. She smiled reassuringly as her daughter plopped down to her.

Reluctantly at first, Kirino began to talk about her childhood days with Kyousuke. Those had been very happy days for her. They'd played together, taken baths together, sometimes even slept in the same bed together. In fact, when she'd been scared as a child, rather than going to her parents' bed as other children would, Kirino would go to Kyousuke's room and sleep in with him. She'd looked up to him as an amazing older brother. He could run the fastest, was the smartest, and he always took on the world with confidence and enthusiasm.

Kirino began to open up further, remembering how he'd changed. He'd stopped running around the town with his usual excitement. Instead, he usually stayed inside, reading manga or watching TV. He started needing tutoring from Manami just to maintain average grades, when he'd once been the one helping her. In short, he'd stopped trying, saying that he wanted a normal life without any trouble.

In short, he'd grown stagnant.

Even though Kirino had been disappointed by the changes her brother had gone through, that hadn't been the worst of it. For years, Kyousuke had just abandoned her. Whenever they were home together, he just went on with his own life and completely ignored her. He hadn't come to any of her track meetings or modeling shoots. He hadn't supported her in any way. She'd done so much to show him that she'd caught up and outdone him, and he'd missed everything!

"It was like he didn't care about me at all!" Kirino yelled and slammed her fist on the bed.

"Hey, hey," Yoshino comforted her. "You know that isn't true."

"Yeah, and it's not like it was completely his fault," admitted Kirino in a low voice. "I also pushed him away, and-and treated him like I hated him. When I really just wanted him back."

Yoshino hugged her daughter. "It's alright, things are different now, right? You've regained your bond with your brother, and there's no need to hide how much you care about him either.

"Yeah, but I can't help it sometimes. I've been doing it for so long that I feel like I have to." Kirino looked down at the floor in regret. "But I don't want to anymore, I end up saying horrible things to him."

'Like telling him he should die or laughing at him whenever he tried to be honest about his feelings.'

"I know that he probably doesn't take it to heart," Kirino added. "But it bothers me a lot. Because if he said anything like that to me . . . I-I don't think I could take it."

It had hurt enough when Kyousuke had called her hobby weird, she didn't want to imagine how it would feel if he made fun of her or laughed at her feelings.

"I'm not sure exactly what you've said to him," said Yoshino. "So I can't just lie and tell you that he won't say anything similar back to you."

Yoshino smiled and put her hand over her daughter's. "I can promise you this though, Kyousuke would never intentionally hurt you. In fact, I think you're hurting yourself a lot more through this . . . difficulty of yours than Kyousuke ever could. It'll be alright though, okay?"

"Mhm."

It was strange, normally, Kirino would have been horrified by the thought of sharing such personal feelings with anyone, even her mother. Yet . . . it actually felt great to tell someone about how she'd felt all these years. It had helped a lot, actually, she was sure that she'd be able to start being a lot more honest with Kyousuke now.

Although, Kirino knew that she'd have to work on it a lot more. This conversation had helped, but she hadn't been able to say anything about how she really felt about Kyousuke. It wasn't like she had any choice! She would have loved some advice on how to be a better lover to him rather than a sister, but it wasn't like she could ask her mother!

She couldn't ask Kyousuke either. That would be way too embarrassing.

"Please don't tell Kyousuke about any of this," Kirino begged her mother.

"Ohhh . . . I don't know, just think of how happy he'd be to learn how you really feel about him," teased Yoshino.

"No!" she interjected, terrified by the thought.

"Alright, alright, calm down. You can tell him when you're ready, okay?" Yoshino got up and walked out the room. "Don't hesitate to talk to me again! I really enjoyed our heart-to-heart mother-daughter talk," she said before closing the door.

Kirino let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, her mother wasn't cruel. She laid back on her bed and yawned. She was worn out, she hadn't planned to give such an emotionally draining confession.

She couldn't sleep though, not just yet. She needed to put her plan into action. Kirino picked up her laptop and found the website she needed. She'd meant to do this earlier, but her mother had walked in. Well, there was no harm done, she'd just do it now.

Kyousuke walked out of the bathroom. "Ahhh, it really is refreshing to relax after a bath," he said to himself. He might read a bit or something, then get a good night's sleep.

He opened the door, only to find Kirino sitting on his bed with her laptop. She was wearing pink nightclothes and looked absolutely adorable. What was she doing in his room though?

"Oh, finally, you're here. Hey, come look at this!" Kirino pointed eagerly at the screen.

'Well, there goes my chance of getting to relax for the rest of the night,' he reflected. Although, he had to admit that he didn't really mind.

He sat down next to her and looked at the laptop. "Kotsuba Games Selling One Hundred Copies of the Special Version of My Summer with Hiruki," he read aloud.

Kyousuke gave Kirino a confused look. "Why did you want to show me this?"

"I'm going to need you to go and get it for me tomorrow," she said.

"What? Why me?" he asked.

"Who else am I going to ask? Dad?" answered Kirino, looking at him like he was an idiot.

It really annoyed him whenever someone answered a question with a question. "That's not what I meant," he said calmly. "Why can't you go get it for yourself?"

"I can't, I promised Ayase and Kanako that I'd hang out with them," she lied. "It's not like I can abandon them," Kirino scrolled lower down the page, and motioned for Kyousuke to come closer. "Also, look. It says that they're only going to start selling them at 4:30."

Kirino pouted, unknowingly making Kyousuke smile at her cuteness. "It's not fair!" she complained. "They're obviously going to run out immediately! Why couldn't it have been some other day?"

"Can't you just order it online or something?" he suggested.

"No! These special versions are each going to have signatures from the voice actors. So they're totally unique," explained Kirino, going into complete otaku mode. She stood up, pointing a finger at him. "I need it and you are going to get it for me!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get it!" replied Kyousuke.

Kirino smiled and hugged him tightly. "Yay! You're the best brother ever! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Um . . . well, thanks." Kyousuke hugged her back and enjoyed it. It wasn't often when Kirino said anything like that.

Suddenly, Kirino kissed him. It was only a moment before he realized what was happening and responded. Man, Kirino really was different as a girlfriend.

"You're also the best boyfriend," she said. She started to trace his chest with her finger. "I think you deserve something special. Remember, there are lots of other things we can do before that," she whispered suggestively right into his ear.

Kyousuke couldn't respond. When had his sister become so . . . seductive?! 'Other things? Does she mean. . . things from her eroge?' His imagination started to run wild, what would she do?

Unexpectedly, Kirino started giggling. "It was a joke! A joke! And you took it seriously, look how red you are! What, you aren't satisfied with what we did earlier?" She teased him.

"Y-you . . . that's a cruel joke to play on a guy," he muttered.

"Sorry," Kirino said with an amused smile, which slowly turned into a smile of genuine happiness. "Seriously though, thank you. For doing this, and for everything else."

"Your welcome," he replied.

Kirino shut her laptop and put it off to the side. "I'll tell you the details for getting it tomorrow, for now, let's go to sleep." She crawled into his bed and looked back at Kyousuke, who stared at her in shock. "Well? Are you going to sleep or not?"

"We can't sleep in the same bed! What if mom or dad come in and see us?"

"Oh, calm down," Kirino motioned for him to lie down beside her. "We did this a few times before, and they didn't catch us."

"Still . . . we can't be too relaxed about this, what if-

"Pleeease?"

'Damn it, it's not fair!' The way Kirino was looking at him, with that shy expression, puppy dog eyes,and cute red cheeks, it was hard to resist.

"You're leaving tomorrow, can we do this as a couple at least?"

That did it, Kyousuke relented. "Fine." He shut the light off and slid under the blanket next to her.

"Hold me," she said once he'd gotten in.

"O-okay." It took a few minutes for them to find a good position, but eventually they ended up with Kirino's head right under Kyousuke's chin. His face was half-buried in her hair, giving him a chance to take in her sweet scent. She smelled faintly of perfume and soap, but also something else. He wasn't sure how to describe it, to put in in words, she smelled like "Kirino".

Kyousuke's arms were wrapped around her, holding her close to him. The fact it would be a while before they did this again helped him calm his racing heart. Her back was touching his chest, and their feet were tangled together. They found such comfort in their embrace that they both started to think that it would be worth it even if one of their parents later found them like this.

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's followed and favorited. If it weren't for you guys I might have just given up on this fanfic after the first chapter.

The next chapter will be out in a couple of weeks. Don't forget to leave a review!