11 – brotherly

"You sure do spend an awful amount of time staring at your shoes, Ayaka."

"You sure do spend an awful amount of time sticking your nose where it's not needed, Akio." She retorted. Her eyes never once left the floor, studying the grimy tiles with reserved disgust.

Beside her, Akio Shibata nudged his younger sister with his elbow and she stumbled a few steps. Her gaze just as quickly snapped up to him, a warning written in the arrangement of her expression.

"This is a public place, Akio." She reminded him, gesturing to the supermarket aisle around them.

He laughed in such a way that made him seem younger than he really was. Perhaps that was the reason behind his universal attraction, rather than it being because they shared any sort of familiar resemblance – which Ayaka always denied with blatant disgust. At most, Ayaka would concede they had the same eyes, wide and honey-coloured.

"So what? Embarrassed?" Akio teased, wanting her to be.

Ayaka shook her head, her smile fuelling his love of adoration. "Not in your life."

"You never are. I'm going to have to start getting more creative."

"Please, don't."

"Why not?" Akio wondered, hoping the answer might prompt an idea.

"Because if it involves you, it involves sex," Ayaka pointed out, "And you know the rule."

He sighed unhappily, childishly. "No bringing girls home."

"Unless you're serious about them. Which I doubt."

"Well there was the one red-head the other night…"

Ayaka remained sceptical. "Oh? What was her name?"

"Um…Sakura…maybe?" Akio, before he even began the attempt, had already given up. He knew the look being sent his way, and understood the hopelessness of his defence. "How's school?" he asked, in a way of distracting them both.

"Same as ever. Don't see why you'd care."

"Oh, now I'm hurt, Ayaka. You really think I wouldn't-?"

"Yes."

"Damn." Akio pulled a face, one Ayaka mirrored with equal immaturity. It had always amazed her that their parents thought he was responsible enough to look after her, simply trusting him because he was, legally, an adult. Living with Akio for longer than ten minutes always had always suggested otherwise. "Oh, Ayaka, biscuits!"

"What about them?" she asked, though she was already being dragged over.

Her brother chucked a box of savoury crackers into their basket. "These ones," he declared, acting serious, "are my favourite!"

"Uh-huh."

"Don't act like that-! Oh, and we so need some chips. You keep eating them all, fat-ass."

Ayaka punched his arm as hard as she dared, though her irritation was fleeting. "I told you that's because I had friends over. Besides, I've been making Matsuoka bring over snacks whenever we do the tutoring thing to make up for it."

Akio did his best to give her a snide look, failing only because of the grin plastered across his face. "Well, I'm getting them anyway. They're my favourite."

"I thought the biscuits were."

"Yes, but these," and he stressed the words most ardently, "are half price."

"Load 'em up, then. It's your money, I suppose." Ayaka concluded with a shrug, dislodging the sleeve of her tank top from her shoulder.

"I know it is. Which reminds me, when are you going to get another job, dear sister?" Akio inquired, a question that had been asked many times before.

"When Mum and Dad stop sending me money to stay alive."

"That was only because you complained to them that I didn't look after you properly!"

"Because you weren't," Ayaka amended, "Besides, I'm your sister, not a dog."

"Okay, I may have said some things I'm not proud of, but I never," Akio made a point to look her in the eyes, "ever called you a dog."

Ayaka crossed her arms firmly across her chest, assessing him quickly. "You called me a bitch and that's practically the same thing."

"That's because you were being one – you said I looked fat in that dress!"

"You did!"

"I'll have you know, I'm not fat," Akio exclaimed, gesturing theatrically, "It's called being muscular!"

"Say what you want, but that dress was still too small."

Ayaka was obstinate that she wouldn't loose an argument, especially to her brother. Akio was problematically vain, and this wasn't the first time it had spawned an argument between them. It left behind little but silence, during which her eyes wandered ahead.

They were relatively alone in the aisle, but for the two lonely figures up the other end. The bright lights made it hard to tell, but their silhouettes seemed remarkably familiar to Ayaka.

"Oh my god." She breathed, realizing just who it was.

Their eyes met, and across the distance she heard a faint, "Oh no."

Ayaka was too late to stop Akio from following her lead, as he exclaimed, "Is that Satsuki?"

There was not a moment in which she could've replied before she was, again, promptly dragged forward. Ayaka fully appreciated the dawning horror on Satsuki's features, the way her entire body moved to shield herself. Anyone would have, had the seen Akio flying towards them.

If Ayaka hadn't have grabbed his collar, there might have been a collision between the two. The consequences were something she neglected to consider – no doubt they would have been horrible, particularly given that it was Haruka Nanase who stood alongside.

"Hey, you guys!" Ayaka greeted cheerfully. Her fingers remained tight on her brother's collar, even though his black hair tickled her skin.

"Hey." Haruka replied shortly, more politely than she would have presumed possible.

Satsuki peered over Haruka's shoulder, shooting Akio an unspoken warning. "Ayaka," she began slowly, "You let the dog out in public."

"That's rude." Ayaka remarked disinterestedly.

Akio pulled himself free of his sister, dusting himself off with more dignity than he actually had. "It's fine, Satsuki's only flirting with me." He declared, winking cheerfully.

"Like I would ever." The dark haired girl retorted, used to such lewdness.

"Ah, but you only ever act this way around me! That's gotta mean something!"

"It means you're disgusting."

"Seconded." Ayaka interjected, earning her a disapproving look. Given that the height between the two wasn't great, she also leaned over to whisper to Akio, "That's Haruka beside her, the one I told you about."

Akio took it upon himself to offer an introduction. Though he didn't extend a hand, given it held the grocery basket, he announced, "I'm Akio Shibata, Ayaka's sister. Nice to meet you."

"Haruka Nanase." Haruka replied tonelessly.

"How come you guys are here?" Ayaka continued, a hand toying with the ends of her blonde hair.

Satsuki gestured to Haruka's hand, which held a basket of milk and mackerel. "Shopping."

"I meant it more as in why."

"Satsuki's staying over." Haruka supplied.

Ayaka's lips formed the 'oh' that was her inaudible response, quickly overridden by Akio saying, "Alone? I have some condoms with me if you-"

Satsuki hurriedly put a stop to that sentence. "That's really not necessary."

"Also," added Ayaka curiously, "why do you have condoms with you?"

He shrugged. "You're the one who brought them for me."

"Yeah, but-?"

"Anyway," Akio cut her off as loudly as he could, "It was just an offer."

"Keep it that way." Haruka muttered.

"Can we not talk about this?" said Satsuki, her eyes dropped to her feet. No doubt, she was blushing.

Akio conceded with a short nod, though he lacked little more restraint than that. "Anything for you, Suki-chan."

"Would you not flirt with my friends for ten minutes, at least?" Ayaka stressed, eyes flashing with golden light.

"There's nothing wrong with promoting safe sex practises, Aya-chan."

"When it's annoying, there is." The blonde retorted, before turning her attention to her friends. "Did you know, this one time a brought a boy around and the first thing Akio did was throw protection and pamphlets about adolescent pregnancy at us?" She neglected to mention that boy had been Rin, feeling it unnecessary to the point – though the memory of his reaction had been hilarious.

"It pays to be well educated," Akio defended, though his sulky tone changed dramatically as he spoke to Satsuki directly, "And if you're ever interested in knowing more, I can easily teach you a few things."

Those words were all it took before Haruka flared up like a candle. He, in one swift moment, channelled such pure irritation that it took even the girls by surprise – and Satsuki, at his jealousy, felt the wealth of instilling such affection in another person.

"Let's go." He ordered, already pushing past the siblings.

Satsuki followed with quick steps, not pausing as she called back, "See you later!"

Ayaka offered a short wave, before turning to Akio with an appraising look. He stood with his shoulder's shaking, stifling his giggles with difficultly.

"You did that deliberately, didn't you?" she realised.

"Of course," Akio chuckled, "God, you're friends are so funny, Ayaka."

Her own laughter followed. "I know."

It had taken her far too long to work it out. Now, as her eyes trailed after the couple, she felt the feeling was more easily understandable. She had seen glimpses, in the red of Satsuki's cheeks and the way her knuckles could turn white with the strength she held him. It was the kind of something she wanted with a kind of someone.

Somehow, it was Rin Matsuoka who caused that feeling to bloom in her chest.

You may have noticed that Rin has been absent from these last two chapters (in fact, you probably have, if you've been reading this at all). However, there is good news - every chapter, up until the end, will have Rin in it from now on!

Are you guys as excited as I am?

I hope this story is enjoyable so far. Thanks for reading :)