Thank you all for the reviews! I don't have many questions to answer, so I won't bother... Sorry! You're awesome!

Heh, I'm a little tight on time so...

Disclaimer: Disclaimed.


I spun around and against all reason, shoved my brother into my half-made bed. "You're lying."

Of course this guy is lying. He had a reputation for messing me; despite being my oh-so-worshipped older brother, from junior through high school, he wasn't crowned Prank King for nothing.

He shook his head, ridding his eyes of his orange bangs. Raking a pale hand through them, he shook his head. Keeping is purple gaze locked on me, he shook his head again. "I am not," he replied simply.

I didn't know what to think.

Liar.

Shoving my way towards the door, I thrust it open and found myself tumbling downstairs. Tripping on the last step, I stumbled through the kitchen and into the living room.

With the breath ripped cruelly from my gut, my knees buckled as I saw a thin form, lying rumpled on an ivory couch. His long lashes brushed his cheeks, his lips were slightly apart. To any passerby, he could have been easily passed off as being asleep.

To me, he looked as if he were asleep. And maybe he was.

Stepping forward shakily, I reached towards him. Refusing to accept my brother's echoing voice through my mind, I swallowed thickly. But the lump refused to leave my throat as it lodged itself in place. I no longer cared for the sweater slipping against my bare shoulders.

Gulping, I took another tentative step towards the couch.

Giving up on all restraint, I dashed forward, refusing to believe my brother.

After all, I hadn't seen my blonde friend yet. For all I know, the Reo bastard might even be lying.

Bending over the still figure, I shook his shoulder.

I dimly noticed the white, see-through dress shirt he was wearing; a striped blue tie hung loosely from his neck, encircled limply against shirt collar. A small tear made itself known above his abdomen – pale skin shown through the thin material.

Tugging at the limp man's rolled-up sleeves, I shook him.

Unspeaking, I shook him again, harder.

I silently begged for his green eyes to flutter open as he greeted me with a wolfish grin. Come on… you're not dead. You're not dead.

For fuck's sake, this might all be a cruel joke he and my brother are pulling!

Giving the blonde in front of me a deft pat against his cheekbone, I waited for any sign of breathing, anything.

Finally swallowing the lump in my throat, I grasped his face in between my hands. Making out the angelic features and pronounced eyebrows, I shook him. "Sakurano," I growled, "This isn't funny. Get up."

Silence.

Letting go of his face, I watched as his head dropped onto the pillow below him with a soft thud.

Brushing the stray strands of flaxen hair from his sleeping face, I flicked his forehead. "This isn't funny," I repeated.

"No one said it was."

I spun around. Shooting to my feet, I stomped forward and jabbed an accusing finger into my brother's chest. Angrily, I said, "What the hell are you two playing at? I get drunk for one evening and come back to some cruel joke?"

I gesture wildly at the silent form behind me. "This isn't funny!" I burst out. "None of this is funny! What are you two trying to do to me?"

Reo remained silent.

Frustrated, I shook his shoulders maddeningly. "So this is a joke? Is there some sort of a magic word that will wake this guy up? Huh? Reo!" With a sickening snarl, I landed a slap on his bewildered face.

"Mikan, stop this. Stop this right now."

"Because you caught me?! You caught me worried for some blonde who happened to be our friend for fifteen years? Reo, this is insane!"

"With your yelling, I would be surprised if he hadn't woken up yet, dead or not."

I wheeled around. "You're saying he's dead? I dare you to contradict me. Tell me this idiot here is alive and well. Tell me that this is all a joke."

"Mikan, he's dead."

My chest clawed for breath. "Then how on earth are you so calm?!"

He remained silent.

As my gaze began to blur consistently, I pointed vaguely at the direction Reo was standing in. "Wake him up, you prankster. When I come back down, I, I…" I trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Reo remained unblinking, as he slouched in front of me, fingers hooked in his jean pockets, away from view.

Tearing at my disheveled hair, I groaned. "You know what, do what you want."

And with that, I turned on my heel and rushed upstairs.

Closing the door shakily behind me, I rocked myself in my arms, silently convincing myself that my stuck-up brother was outright lying.

I hadn't, after all, gotten a close look at Sakurano anyway.


Minutes dragged into an hour. A single hour felt like eternity.

It wasn't until after I had convinced myself that Reo and his friend were playing a cruel joke that I forced myself into the kitchen.

Shy sunlight filtered through the glass windowpanes, reflecting off the dark countertops. My eyes strayed towards the living room – Sakurano was nowhere to be seen.

Inhaling a deep breath of relief, I washed down my worry with another swallow.

One hand on the refrigerator cabinet, I pulled it open slowly as I calmed my palpitating heart.

Peering at the rows of empty clearness, the only things in the fridge was greening cheese and several cracked eggshells. An empty milk carton sat in the back, beside what I assumed was a can of half-year-old Coke.

Someone definitely needed to go shopping.

Pushing the cabinet close with a small sigh, I swept my eyes through the contents of Banquet and Lean Cuisine dinners in the freezer.

We're a pathetic lot.

Several boxes of frozen chicken alfredos, beef portobello (What the heck is that?) and cold meatloaf sat untouched in the icy compartment. Cringing at the sight of several empty, lidless tubs of ice cream, it's a wonder that I had managed to survive on such unhealthy healthy food.

Shrugging, I grabbed a frozen box of chicken alfredo, tugged the plastic container out, and shoved the contents into the dirty microwave.

Not bothering to read the instructions, the plastic cover had gone along and heated as well.

As soon as the two minutes were up, the chicken alfredo sat in an unappealing black container as it sat on the countertop.

Shoving the burning, tasteless, and not to mention disgusting, food into my mouth, I soon threw the leftover container into the trashcan.

This is how I spend my mornings.

Glancing at the clock, I realized that it was already mid-afternoon.

Scratch that – this is how I spend my mornings slash sometimes-afternoons.

"Reo," I called to no one in particular, "Did you and Sakurano eat yet?"

A blob of orange hair appeared from a restroom door. An iPhone in one hand, he was drying his damp hair in the other. "No."

"No to you, or no to both of you?"

"Idiot, Sakurano is dead. D-E-A-D."

With a wave of my hand, I stuffed the box that once contained food into the wastebin. Grabbing another frozened meal from the freezer, I said, "Nonsense, you liar."

His voice was hard. "I am not lying. Mikan, we need to talk."

Shoving the "dinner" into the microwave, I waved a silver fork around. "There is nothing to talk about. As soon as you eat, I need to go shopping."

"Shopping for what, drugs? Alcohol?" he sneered.

"I've enough of your garbage attitude, Reo," I snapped. "Stop acting like such a child and man up already."

"You," he emphasized his words with a jab at my spin, "man up, or should I say woman up?"

Thrusting the half-heated chicken alfredo into my brother's hands, I stepped away. "Hurry up and eat. If you need to talk," I shrugged warily, "might as well talk with a full stomach."

A curious, albeit small, voice at the back of my head was starting to pester my behavior. Maybe I killed the blonde when I was drunk. No, or maybe he tried to rape me and then I kicked him dead. But he hadn't any scars or wounds! Then maybe I worked my magic on him, causing him to die at the hands of my lady charms.

I was still in a whirlwind of confusion when I felt myself being steered towards the dining table.

Reo dropped himself into a leather seat and roughly gestured for me to imitate him.

Brows furrowed, I did as he told. It seemed to me, that ever since I came to this morning, my brother was acting odder than a monkey not knowing what to do with a green banana.

Stabbing the fork into his untouched alfredo, Reo pointed at me. "You. Talk. Now."

Confused, I gaped at him. "There's nothing to talk about. You're speaking another language."

"Don't play dumb with me," he snarled. "I gave you two hours to think through what you had done. In those two hours, tell me, Mikan," he said venomously, "did you come up with a nice fat lie?"

"Lie for what? I didn't do anything!"

Reo twisted his fork gruesomely at the stomach. "Puh-lease. Little sister, I know you." Lowering his voice, he continued, "You've been a master liar since childhood. You are able to lie straight through your teeth to get Mother to believe you. Don't tell me you don't know anything. Don't."

Already boiling with anger, I breathed heavily through my nostrils. "I swear to the Lord, Reo. I haven't a single idea at what you're getting at."

"Sakurano's death," he spat. "You were involved, weren't you? You just used Lord. You must be breaking down."

What the hell?

The hell?

Curling my hands into white balls, I seethed, "You have no right, no right to accuse me of being involved with anything. Fuck, I don't even know if you're playing at some sick joke!"

Reo pushed back from the table. Thrusting the fork to the ground, he pointed at me threateningly. "You promised that you would never lie to me."

Clear substance was threatening to pool out of my eyelids. "I swear, I didn't do anything. I don't believe for a single second that Sakurano is dead!"

"Oh really?"

I rubbed my eyes furiously. Holding my ground, I glared up at the treacherous purple eyes pinned against me. "I swear."

"You're not one to swear, orbring some Lord up, Mikan. You're guilty, aren't you?" he had snaked his way towards me, hissing softly, poisonously against my ear. "Just admit it, and we will all be fine. Admit it, and wake up, little sister."

I pushed against the broad chest. "Prove it. Prove that I'm the one who murdered Sakurano."

"Ah so now you want proof? Simple. Here's a phone," In a flash, he had produced my Galaxy cellphone from his pant pocket. The screen was scraped, and the upper right corner was dented. "Maybe this is yours?"

I watched, horrified. As my knees buckled, I began shaking. No… No… I didn't do anything!

"Not so defiant now, are we, little sister? While you were up in your room, plotting, faking remorse, I phoned up the police station. Paramedics fetched Sakurano's body – of course he was no longer in our little world, even when I had found him." Reo ran a finger up and down my cheek, sending involuntary shivers down my spine.

"And you assume that I'm involved in this garbage?"

"Ah, naturally. You know what else I found, besides your little phone?"

I clenched my teeth together, dreading his response.

"Your hair. Long strands of beautiful brown hair, woven around his fingers. Does that not sound like you? Oh, and what's more? The blanket, he had a blanket with him, Mikan. Do you know what that contained," Reo blew into my ears, "Brunette hair."

I had stopped listening to his hypnotic voice ages ago. In a fit of rage, I shoved my brother up against the wall. Wincing at the impact his weight had on my shoulder, I neared my face dangerously close to his. "Listen up, Reo. I am only saying this one more time, so listen carefully. I. Did. Not. Murder. Sakurano. Do you understand?"

"I've got proof already. Shield yourself from the truth all you like, but it is already evident you killed my best friend."

"Your best friend?" I choked. Scoffing, I released my already-weak grip against this monster's collar and turned away.

"Is realization finally dawning you, little sister? Is it?"

Growling, I reeled around. "I did not kill him; can't you get that through your thick head already?"

"You know that we will go to court for this. No, you will," he corrected himself. "This is considered as a homicide, Mikan. Someone is dead."

Piling my hair into a topknot at the top of my head, I walked away. Giving up, I shook my head.

Halfway up the cold stairs, I turned around. Pointing at my brother, "You know what? Fuck this. If you don't trust me, someone as close to you as your little sister, there is no use hanging around you any longer. I am not your rag doll; I am not someone you blame when times get rough. But most of all? You and I, we can't lean against each other any longer, doesn't that seem right to you? Forget this. I'm going to England."

My brother watched me through slanted slits.

"I need a break. And you know what? Maybe this is all one big, cruel joke that you find pleasurable."


Thank you for reading, and until next time!

A Follow means a lot more to me than a review or a favorite... so just hit that little button and await more updates! :)