I've been working on this chapter for a few days. The ideas just kept coming. Of course there were a few rough spots, but it was overall a fairly quick chapter to write. This chapter deals partially with Kuro's home life. Her older brother is introduced, and we get to see more of Jirou. This section is a bit difficult and slightly painful, but necessary. The other part covers some of what Kuro does over the weekend. And guess what? Two more new characters! Anyway, enjoy! (Shoutout in the end author's note)

Chapter 6: Family Matters

When I arrived home that evening, I went straight to the kitchen. I had the cook on duty fix me a sandwich with some fruit on the side. I brought my food upstairs with me. I was almost to my room when my older brother, Ichirou, slid out of the shadows.

"What?" I asked, irritated with him.

"Why have you been so late the past few days? It's unlike you," he asked me.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Why would you care? You've never been interested in what I've been doing before."

"That might be true, but I sense this concerns us all," he explained.

"What did you do to Jirou?!" I knew right away he'd made Jirou talk.

"I didn't say anything about talking to Jirou. I told you, I could sense it. Now," he came closer, blocking me against the wall behind me. "Tell me what you've been up to."

"I got involved in a club's activities. They needed my help with some things." I twisted the truth a little.

"Why do I get the feeling that isn't what's going on?" He asked me this in a suspicious manner.

"I don't know. Why are you getting that feeling?" I asked him as sweetly and innocently as I possibly could.

"Don't you dare! Keep in mind I'm still the heir! And you, you're just a pathetic little girl!" He yelled at me in anger.

"Oh! I do have a question for the 'great heir'." I was just continuing with the sass strategy. "Can you tell me what the purpose of XP points are?"

"How is that remotely relevant?"

"Just answer the question."

"You do not tell me what to do! You are just a little girl whose only weapon is a weak dose of sass! Go back to your dress-up games!" He backed up and started walking to his room.

"They're not dress-up games! They're RPGs! Not like you'd know that, considering you know nothing about the family trade!" I yelled after him. He decided to ignore me. I went to my room.

When I got there, I turned on my TV and game system. I set my bag down and grabbed my phone. I slumped down on my bed with my game controller, food, and phone. I pulled my game up and checked my phone. Just as I knew she would, Yuki had texted me.

'I didn't see you at the tea party. Were you there?' She'd texted me about ten minutes ago.

'I was. I saw you , but I didn't want you to see me in the state I was in,' I texted back to her.

'What do you mean?' She asked about a minute later.

'I'd rather explain in person.'

'That bad, huh?'

'Yeah.'

'We still on tomorrow?'

'Yeah, but can the guys come along too? They're bugging me about not hanging with them recently.'

'Can you tell them to come a little later? I want some time with just you.'

'Well…ok. We'll meet up at ten, and I'll tell the guys eleven. That cool with you?'

'Sure. See you at ten outside the main entrance.'

'k'

I turned back to my food and game. I had a war to win.

About an hour later, I heard a soft knock on my door. I paused my game and went to open it. Jirou stood there looking guilty. I stood aside to let him in. I closed the door behind him. We went and sat on the bed.

"I'm so sorry about what happened earlier. Ichirou cornered me after I told him you'd be late again. I'm not brave like you. I was too scared to do anything but cooperate. I'm sorry, Kohaku." He looked so sad and upset with himself. I couldn't blame him for his weakness. Our brother was a scary man. I pulled Jirou close to me.

"It's all right Jirou. I didn't tell him the truth. Besides, I was more concerned about what he'd done to you. I'm just happy that you're all right." We remained entwined together for a while.

The next day I met up with Yuki at the mall. We'd been in and out of several clothing stores. She was looking in the girl's section, and I was browsing in the guys'. I'd loaded myself down with several pairs of cargo shorts and pants, and Yuki had pants, shirts, skirts, and accessories. Currently, we were in her favorite store, Otaku Palace.

"So Kuro, you ready to tell me what was so humiliating?" she asked as she was comparing two shirts.

"Oh that." I wasn't looking forward to this. We would have two different opinions. "Well, they kinda forced me into a Victorian costume," I told her. As expected, she was very interested.

"That was you?! That makes complete sense! I had seen a girl in a beautiful dress pass by, but she was hiding her face! I didn't think much about it, but now I can see it was you!" She was so enthusiastic about it, I was embarrassed enough for the both of us.

"Let's just drop it, okay?" This was an uncomfortable topic and a few people started staring at us.

"All right. So, which top do you prefer?" She agreed with me and asked my opinion.

"Neither."

"Hey guys, you remember Yuki right?" I asked when the guys arrived. We were waiting in front of my favorite store when they arrived. Shou Kato and Kyou Moto were my best guy friends. We had video game tournaments and went skateboarding together. They were my rough and tumble friends. I did things with them that Yuki wasn't be interested in.

"Yeah, of course I remember her," Shou replied. Kyou nodded his head in agreement.

"Yuki, you remember Shou and Kyou too, right?" I asked her.

"Why yes I do!" Yuki gave them one of her beaming smiles. "Do you guys mind if I continue my shopping? There are a few more sales I want to check out."

"I don't mind. Do what you need to. But, I might hang out with the guys later at the park. If you want to join us, you're welcome to," I told her.

"Um, thanks for the offer, but I'd rather not. I guess I'll just see you on Monday, Kuro! Text me later!" She went off to her stores.

I turned to the guys. "So, what's first?"

After we were finished at all our favorite punk, game, and skate stores, and we had lunch, we headed over to the skate park with new gear in tow. The park looked deserted, but that meant we had the place to ourselves. We got into our gear and started warming up.

About ten minutes into our skating, we decided to have a competition. "You guys are going down!" I told them. "I've been practicing a lot!"

"I'm going to slay you two!" Shou was as confident as I was.

Kyou just shrugged. "Whatever." He didn't seem to care who won.

When we were moving to our positions to start, I felt a prickling on the back of my neck. I looked behind me to see if I was being watched, and sure enough I saw two tufts of orange peeking out from behind some bleachers. I started walking over there to give my stalkers a piece of my mind.

"Hey, Kuro! Where are you going?" Shou shouted over to me. I held up my pointer finger to signal that I would be there soon.

When I reached the bleachers and looked to where the owners of the tufts were two pairs of hazel eyes looked up at me. They'd been caught.

The twins had been keeping an eye on Kuro since she had left her house that morning. They'd been trying to be so inconspicuous that they'd even stooped to taking a commoner's cab. They'd been so careful and successful up until they'd chosen that hiding spot. That's when their hair betrayed them.

"What are you two doing here?! Why are you spying on me?!" Kuro was outraged that the twins were there. The twins themselves were shocked that they'd been found. They couldn't respond. They simply blinked at Kuro in response. She gave them a look that said 'Well? Explain yourselves.'

"We, um, had seen you here and didn't want you to see us, lest this happen," Kaoru told her. Kuro gave him another look that said 'Seriously? Why are you really here?'

"C'mon Kuro! Believe us!" Hikaru attempted to convince her. She snarled at them, grabbed them by the front of their shirts, and dragged them out in front of her.

"I'm telling you now. Tell me the truth of both of you will get concussions so severe, you won't remember one another," she said through clenched teeth.

"We…we were sent to keep an eye on you," Kaoru gave in.

"Where are the rest of you idiots?" She asked them in complete anger.

"Attending other business." Hikaru gave in next (well, sort of…).

"You know what? Just go away. I was looking forward to not having to deal with you jackasses this weekend. So. Just. Go. Away." Kuro released their shirts and turned away. The twins sulked away and out of the park. Shou and even Kyou looked so surprised and shocked. Their eyes were also gleaming with admiration.

"Who were those two?" Shou pointed a thumb in the twins' general direction.

"Two of the perpetrators of my pain and humiliation for the past three days," Kuro explained.

"Well nice job handling it. But, you've always been the most intimidating of us." Shou playfully punched Kuro's shoulder. "Just so you know, we're always here for you if you need it, dude." He gave her a wink then walked over to his starting point. Kyou and Kuro did the same. The competition was on.

Wooohooo! New characters! So, there it was. A look at what Kuro's "mean" older brother is like. And yes, he is rather mean. And sexist. And a bit power hungry. Could that be part of the cause of Kuro's opinion of the hosts…..(hint, hint)? Anyway, next chapter we get back to school (Kuro is in a strange mood, might I add)! So, don't forget to tell me what you thought (especially about the new characters)! I'm still looking for constructive criticism! ;)

Shoutout to starsofcrystal for finding the hidden reference in the previous chapter!

Want to get a shoutout too? Just try and pinpoint the hidden reference in chapter five (P.M. me if you think you've found it)! But don't worry if you don't find it. I'll have more opportunities in later chapters. ;)