The next day Ren and Ran returned home to find Makoto frantically cleaning the house.
"Nii-chan," Ran said, while following Makoto around, "Why are you cleaning so much?" Makoto leaned down to pick up some trash and Ran wrapped her arms around his neck, "Ah, is Haruka coming over?" she asked excitedly. Makoto chuckled.
"No." he confirmed for her.
"Ehh?" Ren exclaimed while running into the living room.
"Mm, a girl is coming over tonight." he stood up and Ran jumped down.
"A girl!?" the twins exclaimed while sharing a surprised look.
"Yes so if you two could-"
"Ne, Nii-chan is she your girlfriend?" Ran asked while jumping up and down.
"Have you hugged yet?" Ren asked with a concerned expression.
"Haaah!?" Makoto exclaimed and turned around to face them, "No she's not my girlfriend and no we haven't-" Makoto was cut short when he remembered their activities, "No, we haven't hugged yet." he finished and walked off to the bathroom.
"He seemed really upset because they haven't hugged yet." Ran said to Ren.
"Mm." the younger twin replied, "He must really like her."
"But I always thought he would date Haruka!" she exclaimed.
"So did I, though I can't wait to meet her!" Ren grinned.
"Hmm... I'm a bit upset, but I'm excited too!" Ran confessed. The twins hurried to their rooms to change.
Gou stood in front of the Tachibana home, she gripped her hands tightly and prayed for luck.
'Maybe I should just go home and tell him I wasn't feeling well.' she thought, 'But he did spot me at school today so...' while she was thinking about leaving she didn't notice the two small green heads that poked out of the doorway.
"Ah!" the twins exclaimed, "Onii-chan she's here!"
Gou was flung back into reality when the twins shouted, each child grabbed one of her arms and pulled her in the home.
"Onii-chan she's really pretty!" Ren said with a red face.
"Yeah, yeah! Nii-chan you did good!" Makoto hurried to the front door to greet Gou.
"Ah, Ren, Ran!" Makoto exclaimed, his face flushed red from embarresment, "I told you I would answer the front door!" Gou looked up to spot Makoto wearing a pink frilly apron over a white t-shirt and basketball shorts. Gou chuckled.
"Makoto-senpai, that outfit really suits you!" she said and hid her smile behind her hand.
Makoto turned even more red and pulled the apron off.
"Yeah, yeah." he said. The twins pulled on Gou's arms.
"Nii-chan who is she?" Ran asked while smiling up at Gou. Gou returned her smile.
"Ah, sorry sorry." Makoto said. The twins let go of Gou's arms so she was able to take off her shoes and enter the home. It smelled like daisies, she noticed, "Ren, Ran, this is Gou. She'll be eating here tonight so please be good to her."
"Please take care of me." she said and bowed to the twins.
"Gou-Neechan your hair is really pretty!" Ran said and lightly felt a strand of her hair.
"So is yours." Gou said and rubbed the small girl's head, "Very soft." she said, Ran smiled and turned to Makoto.
"Nii-chan I like her!" While the girls played with each other's hair Ren stood back shyly. When Gou noticed this she said,
"Ren-chan, ne?" Ren shook his head.
"P-Please call me Ren-kun." he asked and hid behind Makoto's leg. Gou gasped and held her hands together.
"Ren-kun, I'm sorry! Do you forgive me?" she asked, Ren nodded and slowy came to sit by her and Ran in the living room.
"Onee-chan you're on the swim team with Onii-chan, right?" he asked.
"Mm!" she confirmed.
"What's Nii-chan like?" Ran asked.
"Hmmm... well he's a very fast swimmer, though I'm sure you know that." Gou grinned, and Makoto chuckled, "He's the captain you know! It's a very important role!" Makoto nodded to himself, "But he's also very... kind."
Makoto looked to Gou who was smiling to the twins, "Your Onii-chan," she continued, "really cares about others." She spotted Makoto staring at her and smiled in his direction, he quickly looked away, "He's really amazing! Ah, and his back muscles are superb!" she exclaimed gleefully. Makoto blushed.
"Is that all you care about?" he said and left them to go to the kitchen. Gou was laughing to herself.
"He also gets easily embarresed." she told them.
"Nii-chan is amazing!" they exclaimed.
"Oi, you three, dinner is ready." he shouted.
"Haaaai!" the twins shouted back and pulled Gou to her feet.
"Ne, Gou-Neechan can I sit by you?" Ran asked.
"Eh? But I want to sit by Onee-chan." Ren told his twin. The twins ran to the kitchen and Gou followed.
"Nii-chan let me sit by Gou-Neechan!" Ran said while pulling on Makoto's shirt.
"But I want to sit by her too!" Ren said.
"Hai, hai." Makoto said, he sighed, "You can both sit by Gou-chan." Gou took a seat at the table and the twins each took a spot by her. Makoto set the table with bowls and chop sticks and soup spoons. He each poured them some soup and noodles.
"What is this?" Gou asked.
"Cold somen." Makoto told her and took his seat at the table across from Gou.
"Ah, c-cold somen?" Gou looked uneasily at her bowl of brown broth and thick noodles.
"Hmm, have you never had cold somen before, Nee-chan?" Ran asked. Gou shyly shook her head.
"Would you like me to heat it up?" Makoto asked. Gou shook her head again.
"No I want to try this!" she exclaimed with determination, she took a noodle between her chopsticks and held it close to her face, "I-Itadakimasu..." she said uncertainly.
"Itadakimasu!" the Tachibanas repeated after her, they began to eat their food but quietly watched Gou slurp her cold noodles.
It was different, but good.
"I like it." she said while staring straight at Makoto. The twins clapped and Mokoto smiled, slightly embarresed.
"That's good." he said and continued eating.
"Ne," Gou said a few minutes later, "where are your parents?"
"Ah, Mama and Papa are on vacation!" Ran exclaimed, taking in some soup.
"They won't be here for awhile." Ren said sadly.
"They usually go on vacation or business trips." Makoto said and sighed, "So I'm left taking care of these troublemakers." he ruffled Ren's hair.
"Ah," Gou said quietly to herself, "Amazing. Makoto you watch after them by yourself?" Makoto nodded. Gou looked down at her soup, "My mom is always gone too."
"Ehh, then that means Gou-Neechan could come over whenever she wanted."
"Maybe." Makoto said, slurping more noodles.
"What about your papa?" Ren asked. Makoto stood up to get seconds and left the trio to their conversation.
"Ah, he's dead."
Makoto froze at the stove. He turned around to see Gou leaning her elbow on the table and resting her chin on her hand. She had the saddest look in her eyes, "He died when I was very young, in a storm on the sea." Gou sighed and sat up, "But enough about that!" she said before the twins could ask anything, "I'm full, what about you?"
"Y-yeah..." Ren said, feeling a bit guilty.
"Me too." Ran said and sat back quietly, "Nii-chan, can we play on the Wii?"
"Mm." Makoto said, he was still at the stove, his hands were shaking as he lifted spoonfuls of cold soup into his bowl. The twins dragged Gou into Makoto's room where the Wii was.
'Dead.' The word echoed across Makoto's mind as he sat down and started eating his soup.
"Onii-chan come play with us?" Ren asked while Makoto was doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.
"Hmm?" he asked, looking up, "Mm okay." Makoto started putting the dishes away and Ren stood where he was, "How long have you been playing?"
"About an hour."
"Hmm."
"Onii-chan... I didn't mean to... make Onee-chan upset." he said quietly.
Makoto turned around and faced his younger brother.
"I know." Makoto said, getting on his level, "Sometimes people have sad pasts and we don't know until we ask." Ren started tearing up.
"Am I bad because I asked?"
"No." Makoto said and hugged him, "You didn't know, and Gou-chan isn't mad at you, okay?" Ren nodded.
"Will you play Wii sports with me?" he asked.
"Sure." Makoto smiled.
In Makoto's bedroom, Gou and Ran took up Makoto's bed. Gou was braiding a very energetic Ran's hair.
"Nii-chan, am I as pretty as Gou-Neechan now?" Ran asked with a huge grin.
"Of course!" Makoto replied and sat on the floor close to Gou.
"And... there you go!" Gou exclaimed after tying Ran's hair into a tidy french braid.
"Ahhhh!" Ran exclaimed, "Kawaii!" she said and ran around Makoto's room. Makoto sighed and said,
"Ran, don't- Ahhhhh!" he spotted the time on the clock and stood up,"Did you two know it was this late?" he asked and turned to the twins who were frowning.
"Maa, Nii-chan ruins all fun." Ran pouted.
"Onii-chan we were gonna play Wii sports!" Ren exclaimed.
"But it's past your bed time!" Makoto exclaimed, "In fact you were only supposed to eat supper and then go to sleep."
"Tch." Ran said before walking towards Gou, "Ne, Gou-Neechan, let's play again okay?" Ran said with a smile. Gou smiled back.
"Sure- oh!" Ran wrapped her arms around Gou's neck and pulled her into a tight hug. Gou sadly looked down at the girl and hugged her back, "I'll come over whenever you'd like me to, okay?" she said and pulled the girl back to smile at her. Ran nodded and tried to keep from crying.
"Goodnight!" she exclaimed and ran to her room. Gou waved her goodbye and then looked towards Ren.
"Goodnight to you too, Ren." she said and waved at him. Ren nodded and began to walk out the door when he stopped and hugged Gou as well. Gou hugged him back. They let each other go and Ren went to bed as well.
Makoto wasn't satisfied until he heard the two doors click shut. He ighed and sat a good distance away from Gou on the bed.
"Sorry." he said and pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt her slender hand pat his head and looked up.
"Makoto-senpai is amazing." she said and laced her fingers through his green locks, "You're pretty worn out from that, right?" she asked and pulled her hand back. Makoto turned away from her.
"Not really." he said and stood up.
"I don't have any younger siblings, so tonight was really fun!"
"Hmm, sure," He shut and locked his door and turned to Gou who was vulnerable and on his bed, "What the hell was that about?" he asked almost switching personalities within seconds.
"Eh?" Gou asked, slowly backing herself against the wall even though Makoto stood still.
"You told them I was kind." he clenched his fists and glared at her.
"Yes and...?"
"After everything I've done to you... you think I'm kind?"
"Yes well-"
"I can do whatever I want to you as long as I don't tell 'Onii-chan' your secret, Gou, I am not kind to you! I've harrased you! I've touched you, and I want to do even more to you!" he confessed.
"Makoto-senpai, please stop!" she said and stood up facing him, "It's true, you have done all that and sometimes I really hate you for it, but... a part of me kind of likes it..." she turned away.
Makoto felt his face go red and it took all his willpower to not devour her right there.
"Gou..." he said with a shaky voice.
"You are also really kind to me though, senpai!" she said and faced him again, "You help me and I do believe you care for me. You could do horrible things to me, but you don't. I'm glad you know my secret senpai, because..." she took a breath, "Because I don't want to be in love with Onii-chan anymore!" she exclaimed, "I'm afraid if I take these feelings any further then I will hurt him... and he'll hate me... so please, Makoto-senpai help me!" she fell to the floor and bowed before him, begging him.
"Gou." Makoto pulled her up and hugged her, "Thank you." he told her, "That makes me feel better. I'll help you... but from now on only with your consent." Gou nodded and cried into his shoulder.
"Thank you, thank you!" she sobbed quietly into his shirt. Makoto placed a hand on her head and held her tight at the waist. He held onto her for ten minutes before letting her go and wiping her tears away, "Makoto-senpai," she breathed, "soon I'll find out what I like... when I do, please watch me." Makoto nodded though he didn't really understand what she meant.
He walked her out the door and told her goodnight like a gentleman even though he really wanted to rip her clothes off of her.
He couldn't sleep that night and only thought of his feelings for Gou and Haru.
'I'm really confused.' he admitted to himself. Gou shared the same thoughts when she went to bed. She couldn't decide who she liked more, Makoto or Rin. She sighed into her pillow.
'I guess I'm just that kind of person.' she thought.
"Ah, Senpai." Ai called, "It's really late, shouldn't you get some sleep?"
"Probably." Rin replied while flipping through one of the porn magazines a teamate loaned him. He closed the magazine out of bordem and laid back on his bed.
"Well, if it's okay with you can I turn out the lights?"
"Mm." Ai turned off the lights and got on his top bunk. Rin waited for Ai's steady breathing to start and when it did he slipped his hand under his shorts.
'Goddamn,' he thought, 'it's been so long that I've slept with Haru that even-' Rin held back a moan at the thought of his boyfriend, 'Just thinking about him gets me all excited.' Rin stroked himself harder and harder until his breathing was heavy. Ai stirred in his sleep and Rin quickly pulled his hand out from his pants.
Rin sighed, 'This is ridiculous,' he pulled out his phone and texted Haru:
Can I see you tomorrow night?
He waited with anticipation as the speech bubble that meant Haru was replying came up. Finally the text he waited for was sent to him:
Sure.
Rin grinned to himself and turned his phone off. Tomorrow he would see Haruka and that was all that mattered to him, and of course he'd see Gou again.
Gou.
She had been acting strange yesterday after their nap, 'Maybe I accidentally touched her in my sleep!' Rin panicked for a moment, 'She'd probably slap me and wake me up if I had, though.' he reassured himself, 'Still, we were awfully close on that bed.' Rin remembered what his mother had told him, 'Maybe I should distance myself from her.' he thought sadly. Though he admitted to himself that he really did enjoy spending time with Gou. He should do it more often.
I figured you guys could use a break from some of the gross stuff these teens get into, so here have kind of a fluffy chapter.
Thank you everyone for the reviews! If you aren't a fan of Yaoi then maybe you shouldn't read this because there will be yaoi. Sorry.