(A/N: Ta-daáa!! See? I told you I might change my mind if I got reviews! And I loved them all, you guys are awesome! Arigatou, minna-san!! :D

I'm so sorry if this chapter is like the most depressing you've ever read, but it's needed for the story to work out!! I MEAN IT!! TT-TT I feel bad for Kerii in this chapter... you already know the disclaimer, so enjoy! Well not really... but you get what I mean!)

Shōnen-Ai High School

Chapter 9

"My aniki..." Then she looked at Yugi. ". . . he's dead."

"N- N- Nani?!" Yugi yelled in disbelief. Kerii kept her calmed attitude.

"You see, Yugi, 8 years ago, tou-san died from an unknown heart disease," she explained. "My aniki, Satori Toko, was the only one to be there for me after that. I wouldn't go out of my room, I would talk only to him, sometimes I wouldn't eat, and I never slept."

"Kerii?" The 14 years old black-haired male knocked on the door of his little sister's room. "Kerii-chan, dinner's ready."

"I'm not hungry" was the soft reply from the 10 years old girl. Toko sighed and opened the door.

"Don't worry, sis," he said as he stepped inside, looking at the blue-haired curled up in a ball on her bed. "I made dinner this time," he mocked.

"I'll eat later, I'm not hungry right now." The elder sat next to her.

"See that star over there?" he asked, pointing through the window to a brilliant spot in the nocturnal sky. "That big and bright one, can you see it?" The girl lifted her head a little bit.

"Hai, why?" Toko smiled.

"That big and bright star is tou-san watching over us." Kerii sat up immediately and looked at her brother.

"Really?" He nodded.

"After he died, his soul turned into a star so he could watch over and take care of us every night, and also, so we could see him too." The girl turned her head to the sky, a tear rolling down her cheek.

"If I say something to him... do you think he'll hear me, aniki?" she asked.

"Of course he will, Kerii." Closing her eyes briefly before opening them again, Kerii spoke loud and clear.

"Tou-san... I really miss you. Aniki and kaa-san do, too," she started. "I want you to come back to us, tou-san. Demo—seems like that'll never happen, so I'm asking you... to never abandon us... to take care of us from wherever you are." The younger sniffled and wiped her face with her blouse's long sleeve. "I love you, tou-san... and I'll never forget you!" Toko wrapped his arms around his sister and pulled her close to him.

"He'll always be with you, Kerii-chan," he whispered softly into her ear.

Yugi hadn't said a word. He could only listen to Kerii as she told him part of her life.

"I got over it thanks to aniki, and everything seemed to work fine enough later on." His eyes widened slightly when he saw her frowning. "Three years later, however... Emiya came into the picture."

"Kaa-san?" called the now 13 years old blue-haired as she made her way down the stairs and onto the living room. "Kaa-san, have you seen ani—?" She stopped with a gasp at mid-sentence at seeing a tall man with red hair talking with her mother, both sat close to each other on the living room's sofa.

"Kerii, honey!" said the brown-haired woman nervously the moment she saw her daughter. Kerii couldn't stop the frown forming on her face.

"Kaa-san, who is he?"

"Allow me to introduce myself, dear." Pure anger ran through her blood as she saw the man kissing her mother's hand. "My name is Emiya Kotomine," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm a long-time friend of your mother's." The girl didn't leave her eyes out of his. She made no move as the man took back his hand.

"Kerii, Toko is out in the garden, why don't you keep him company?"

"No need," said Toko, quickly taking a place next to his sister. "What brings you here, Emiya-san?" he asked politely.

"I knew about your father and so came to visit," answered Emiya. "I thought it would do some good to your mother to see an old friend."

"She's been fine during three years without your help," interrupted Kerii aggressively.

"Kerii, where are your manners?" asked her mother, angry already.

"In the very first moment I saw him, I felt that Emiya was not the kind of man tou-san had been," said Kerii. "He kept appearing at the house during 4 months, and one day..." The boy stared at his friend as she tried to hold back the tears at her eyes.

"What happened?" was the only thing he felt he could ask. The girl exhaled deeply.

"One day, kaa-san suddenly called aniki and me and told us that she and Emiya were going to get married." Yugi gasped at her sentence. "That made it; I yelled at him, said that he'd never replace tou-san... then he yelled back... aniki tried to defend me, and he and Emiya got into a fight."

"Is that how Toko—?"

"Iie," she answered. He was glad she'd interrupted him. He didn't know if he had been able to say the last word. "Demo, it was obvious since then that Emiya totally hated aniki. Three days after kaa-san's wedding with Emiya, since aniki was already 18, he took me to live with him in an old apartment he'd bought." Kerii sniffled, implying to Yugi that the worst was yet to come.

"You know, it's not necessary that you tell me this if you don't want to," he told her.

"I want to, Yugi," she replied. "I couldn't keep it inside any longer, I just had to tell someone else besides my family." The boy stayed silent. "That day, we were going to go and make aniki my legal guardian..." Kerii gripped her knees. "There was when everything went wrong."

"You mean...?" The girl took a deep breath.

"We were about to walk inside the offices when aniki's cell phone rang. He saw the number and waited a second before telling me he'd be right back. When he came back..."

"Kerii, I need to attend some business I left without solving," said Toko looking sadly at his sister. "I'll be back as soon as I can." Out of the blue, the older sibling pulled the younger one into a tight embrace. "Remember that no matter what happens... tou-san will always be with you, taking care of you, ne?" Kerii looked up at her brother and nodded, not sure of understanding his words. Toko quickly kissed her forehead and walked away.

"I kept waiting for him to come back, and he didn't come... and the whole day passed and he didn't come, but I slept on a bench, thinking that aniki would be there when I woke up." Yugi closed his eyes as he tried to imagine Kerii three years before, alone, scared, hoping for her brother to come back when he never would. "The next day, in the morning, I was awakened by some guys yelling that they had found a dead body near a river. One of them said that the corpse had black hair and a weird scar on his left wrist. I immediately told them to take me where it was, and when we got there..."

The blue-haired covered her mouth with one hand, doing her best to keep herself calmed.

"I could find Yami and he took care of me for some time. Then Emiya found us, and told us that kaa-san's corpse had been found with aniki's next to the river, though I never saw it. Emiya became my legal guardian after that, and legally, I'm his stepdaughter, so..." She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Kerii-chan," said Yugi once he felt it was safe to talk. The girl looked at him and smiled slightly.

"In fact," she said, "I kinda feel better. I'm actually glad that I did tell you." Then she stood up and turned to the door. "Thanks for listening, Yugi." The boy smiled at her. "You know... you sorta remind me of aniki..." Not waiting to his answer, the blue-haired girl left the room.

-

Yugi had gone out of his room and stopped to lean against the wall. He tried the best he could, but it was no use. He couldn't get the girl's story out of his head.

"Hey, kid." He lifted his head from the floor and saw certain crimson-eyed guy.

"Hey, Yami," he greeted. his gaze going back to the floor.

"So," started Yami as he leaned against the wall, next to the boy, "I assume that Kerii told you everything, didn't she?"

"Hai," said Yugi nodding. He let out a sigh. "I can't believe how much the poor girl has suffered."

"Life has hit her in such hard ways," said the older one. "But, you know..." he looked at the younger, "she's always got through everything. I've never met anyone as strong as Satori Kerii."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what do you think?" asked Yami, chuckling as he did so.

"I don't..."

"First of all, she got through her father's death thanks to Toko." The crimson-eyed rose one finger with each thing he said. "Second, her mother getting married with a guy she never, and has never, trusted; third, her brother suddenly found dead with her mother weeks later; and last but not less important, having the guy she hates being her stepfather and legal guardian."

Yugi blinked and thought about Yami's words.

"See what I mean?"

"You're totally right," agreed the boy. He saw the sketch artist smiling.

"Of course I'm right."

"How modest. " Yugi chuckled and then silence surrounded them. Neither of them knew what to say until Yami broke the silence.

"Wanna go get something at the cafeteria?" The boy looked at the ceiling, then back at Yami.

"Sure, why not?"

(A/N: Weee!! A small cute scene between these two! Not so cute, but the chapter was getting kinda long for my limit, so I had to make it small and with a good ending! I don't think it was so good... Demo!! Onegai, have mercy on me!

POOR KERII-CHAN!! TT-TT She doesn't deserve such a hard life, but if her life isn't hard, then the story will make no sense at all! See what reviews can make? A chapter after another one! Reviews are good for the autor!! So review, minna, onegai gozaimasu!! :D)