It was before Rin's swim boot camp. He had come home for a couple of days to visit his parents and Gou, and, of course, Sousuke happened to be in the area. Rin knew that. Sousuke continued to lurk around his house. No matter the amount that Rin chided his mother, she cooked, and as it had been since their friendship had budded, where food existed Sousuke existed. But Rin was leaving and had been gone for a year already, and it had been hell. But now he had a plan to change all of that.

Rin had begun to notice something now that distance was between him and his family. Gou was growing up, and she was growing up well. She wasn't a big fan of social media, but every now and then she posted a shit ton of pictures of her, Hana, and her school friends. Originally, Rin had dismissed this as harmless until he noticed a taller boy with a certain infuriating downward gaze eyeing his sister's goods. This was not acceptable.

So he came home for a couple days and waited for Sousuke to lurk into his parent's house, so he could have a little chat with him. Sousuke was like a brother to him – a little brother that would easily be coerced into doing his bidding. Rin and Sousuke had been in shenanigans before, and he was sure that he could paint a convincing picture to get them into shenanigans again.

One evening Rin and Ai were over watching some dull movie that Gou picked out. It was all about a hapless girl that somehow lands a complete hunk of a man which Rin really doubted was realistic – a concept that he pointed out a couple of times earning a glare and a pinch from Gou. Ai was sitting in front of the couch with Gou weaving little braids into his hair. If it were anyone but Ai sighing at his sister's touch in front of a sappy movie, he would kill them, but Rin had roomed with Ai. He knew he was just as much of a romantic as Gou. But not every boy was Ai. Most were the scum of the earth – another fact that he was generally hurt for when pointed out to Gou.

The doorbell rang, and Rin immediately volunteered to jump up and retrieve the pizza to escape the movie and the pair's longing eyes. It nearly sickened his predatory soul. He opened the door and handed the delivery man $40.

"Keep the change."

Unfortunately, the money was plucked from his hands by Sousuke who did not happen to be carrying a pizza. Sousuke dangled the $40 in front of Rin's face. Rin's eyes narrowed.

"Not funny, dude."

A giggle sounded from living room, and Sousuke poked his head around the corner.

"Is Gou here?"

"Yeah. What of it? She does live here." Rin bristled a little at the question. "Give me my money back, prick."

"No reason, and no, I can keep the change." Sousuke pushed passed Rin into the entryway and began taking his shoes off.

"You didn't give me anything for it!" Rin closed the door behind him. "Jerk," he huffed.

"What are you doing back here?"

"About to head to summer camp. I thought I'd come visit for the weekend before."

Sousuke and he walked to the living room entrance, and Rin noticed Gou's top had slipped down revealing too much – in his opinion – cleavage and reminded him of that trampy picture online.

"Gou!" She jumped. "Pull up your shirt! Geez! You're going to blind everybody!"

"Brother!" Her little face was terribly red and angry. "Shut up! We're trying to watch a movie!"

But she pulled her shirt up.

Mission accomplished, Rin thought to himself.

Sousuke was discreetly looking off into a corner with a blush spreading across his face. Rin was dense. He did not take this as an indication that Sousuke might have been scoping out the playing field. He merely took this as an indication of Sousuke trying to keep his heart pure. Of course, Sousuke was partially responsible for this as he played up his "crush" on Hana quite hard while they were alone. Rin could not see why he was infatuated with that pervert that Gou frequently invited to their house, but who was he to judge?

"Come here." Rin motioned to the kitchen. Sousuke eagerly took the distraction. "Look. Gou's growing up."

"What do you mean?"

"She's getting boobs," Rin rolled his eyes. "And an ass."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Quit fidgeting! I know we wouldn't have noticed." Rin rolled his eyes. "We're her brothers!"

Sousuke swallowed. "I'm not."

"You're practically her brother. We've been together, since only God knows how long. The point is I'm not going to be here this summer or probably next year. I can't beat off the creepers."

"So?"

"You're in charge of keeping her safe."

Sousuke looked at Gou twittering behind Ai about something adorable the female protagonist said. "Me?"

"Yes, you! Look at me!" Rin locked eyes with Sousuke. "I need someone I can trust. A mean imposing fellow that won't view my sister as something to – " Rin glanced at Gou then leaned in and whispered, "- fuck. I don't want one hair on her head harmed when I get back. She needs to be precious and innocent still. Understand?"

Sousuke's face was a bit pale when he squeaked out a "Yeah. I – uh – think I can do that."

Rin smiled and pulled him into a bro hug.

"I knew I could trust you, man. Wanna watch a shitty movie with us?"

"Sure."

The doorbell rang. "Oh. That's probably the pizza."

Rin snatched the $40 from Sousuke and headed to grab the two large pizzas from the actual delivery boy this time. When he returned, he noticed Sousuke had shoved himself into Ai's spot forcing the boy further down the couch with a glare. Gou also was frowning down at Sousuke who had forced out her plaything. Sousuke for all his paleness earlier looked quite content if a little frustrated. Rin smiled. His best friend was apparently very good at his new job, or at least, that was the way he saw it.

As you can imagine, Rin was quite upset when he received a phone call about Sousuke apparently manhandling his sister and nearly forcing her to lose her job. Of course, Rin was aware Sousuke had probably instigated it. He had noticed Sousuke taking extra delight in tormenting Gou who really had become disgusted at the sight of Sousuke.

Rin was pacing up and down the cabin room that he shared with three other boys. There were two sets of bunk beds in the room. Makoto and Haru were sitting side-by-side watching him pace and running a really annoying commentary. Well, it was mostly Makoto's voice, and Haru's nods.

"I wonder how heavy she was? Did he just grab her waist and lift her up or carry her princess style?"

Haru shrugged.

"I've only seen girls being carried princess style in weddings."

Rin gritted his teeth. That was not happening.

"They're not getting married!"

Makoto shrugged. "I didn't say that."

"Good,"Rin huffed. "Because it's not happening."

"Gou always said Sousuke had the best overall muscle structure." Haru's deadpan words earned him a slow predatory head turn.

"That's true," added Makoto. "She often used him as an example for us to aspire to."

Haru nodded.

"JUST STOP! SOUSUKE IS MY BROTHER!"

Silence reigned for a moment.

"Well, not technically," Makoto shrugged.

Rin let loose a scream of exasperation and resumed his pacing while trying to get the images of his precious little sister and Sousuke out of his head.

"He does not like my little sister." Rin was trying to sound reasonable. "He's liked Hana for at least… years."

Rin dug his cell phone out and placed it on the bed between Makoto and Haru. He dialed Sousuke and hit speaker phone. The phone rang twice and then picked up.

"Hey, man."

"Do you still like Hana?"

"What? Do you have me on speaker?"

"Just answer the damn question! Are you still pining after Hana like a little bitch?!"

"… Yes." Makoto and Haru exchanged a look.

"See?" Rin triumphantly looked at Makoto and Haru who were not exchanging a look.

"You did have me on speaker! You asshole!"

"Save it. And quit getting my little sister in trouble! You're supposed to protect her from lecherous bastards. Not endanger her career. By the way, how's she doing?"

"Fine. I did most of the pool cleaning. She still has a job."

"You didn't leave her there? You're walking her home, right?"

"Yeah. Just like always. She's here. Gotta go, man."

"See ya."

The phone clicked off.

"See," Rin said triumphantly.

Makoto and Haru exchanged a look. "Yeah. Definitely just brotherly love."

Hey, everybody!

I know that you guys saw the "Chapter 2" I posted. (Sorry, tammy tam tam!) Honestly, I hated it and thought about how to improve it all day then realized that I had started it off completely on the wrong foot. I am much more pleased with this one. I hope you guys all like it! C.A.M.E.O1 and ONLY suggested Rin's anger in this which I thank her very much for. I also promise more SouGou teasing and problematic instances in the next chapter!

As always, I love reviews!

And thanks for reading!