Kanade wasn't home when Yukino arrived, taking a cab home after she'd nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Her phone had become unusable; there were too many texts coming in to even see if any were from people she knew.
She couldn't stop herself from looking at the Internet; "#SistersKissing" was trending, with the video, both whole and in parts, spread over all the major social platforms.
Her phone number, and Kanade's, were prominently available, although not their physical address.
The next few hours were spent bouncing between crying jags and pacing back and forth to the window, where she looked out in hopes of seeing Kanade coming down the street.
The clock passed nine, then eleven, then midnight. She drifted off to sleep on the couch, clutching a throw pillow.
She gradually woke up to the sound of scraping on the door lock; the apartment was quiet and cold.
"Kana-chan?"
The door creaked open, and Kanade stepped through, the lights in the hallway outside briefly showing her stooped over and disheveled before she moved into the apartment proper, and was lost to darkness.
"Kana-chan? Is that... are you ok? I was worried..."
Yukino's eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and she could see Kanade swaying back and forth slightly, eyes still downcast.
"Kana-chan, are you hurt? Can you talk to me? I-"
"I couldn't stop myself from coming," Kanade whispered, almost too soft to hear.
"What did you say? I can't hear you, Kana-chan..."
"I should have stayed away," Kanade said, straightening up and stepping further into the apartment, showing bloodshot eyes with dark circles underneath. "Sakuya-chan said I should stay away, and it's obvious from all this I'm not good for you. I know I should just leave you alone to live your life, and go live my own. If I left you alone maybe I could have been Sakuya-chan's girlfriend! She's rich, maybe I could have been happy!" She laughed once, stepped forward again so that she was leaning against Yukino, face buried in her shoulder, and started weeping.
"But I can't let you go, Yuki-chan," she whispered, and kept crying.
Yukino said nothing, but wrapped her arms around Kanade, and started crying herself. They stayed like that for minutes that felt like hours, Yukino's senses aware of the pounding of her own heart, the pounding of Kanade's, and a powerful smell of alcohol coming from her sister.
Then Kanade kissed her.
The faint kisses they'd shared before were feathers; this was a cinderblock. Kanade held nothing back, attacking her open-mouthed, as if trying to devour her. Kanade's arms and hands encircled her, grabbing her in sensitive areas, trapping her, pulling her in.
The kiss lasted only a few moments, then Kanade broke away with a single, heartbreaking sob.
"You... that was everything I ever wanted. Just as wonderful as I dreamed," she whispered, her voice breaking towards the end.
She suddenly kissed Yukino again, just like before, and broke away again with a scream.
"WHY? Why do I have to feel like this? Why do I need you so badly? Why... why are you so...?"
She stepped back, took a step toward the door, and another.
"I... I can do this," she muttered, largely to herself. "I can walk out of here and get on a train and go somewhere else, start somewhere new. And you," she looked over her shoulder and sobbed once more, "You can get the life you deserve without me, and you can keep your job and make new friends and fall in love and I can be happy for you, I can, I can..."
She started to walk away again, reaching for the door, and stopped.
There was the slightest tug on her left little finger, where Yukino had grabbed it.
Slowly, gently, without moving herself, Yukino pulled Kanade towards her, grabbing onto fingers, then hand, then arm, then body, turning her around until they were facing each other.
With Kanade staring at her, wide-eyed, frightened, Yukino looked down for a moment and then back up, directly into her eyes. Grabbing Kanade's face with both hands, she brought her closer, then kissed her with every bit of passion that Kanade had given her earlier.
Kanade almost went limp; it was all she could do to keep standing when Yukino let her go.
"Idiot. Idiot! IDIOT!" Yukino started quietly, but ended yelling, tears streaming down her face, staring directly at Kanade. "You always do this! You always assume you're the only one, the only one who wants something, the only one who can act. You never stop to realize..."
Another kiss from Yukino, more savage than the last.
"I LOVE YOU TOO! There's NOTHING you're feeling that I don't feel, nothing you're thinking that I haven't thought. I'M the one who followed you down here, don't you realize that if I'd just stayed in Hokkaido, none of this would have happened? But I couldn't let you go, I couldn't..."
She collapsed to the floor.
"I want to leave you, I do. I should have known that this would happen, should have known that we couldn't keep doing what we're doing without someone finding out. But I didn't have the strength, and I let you get closer and closer because I wanted it too, I just wasn't brave enough to reach for it first..."
Kanade knelt beside her sister, and hugged her, which Yukino returned.
"I don't care," Yukino whispered. "I don't care what else happens, I don't care what they say. I want you, Kana, I want to be with you. Forever. No matter what."
Kanade sniffled, wiped her eyes, and nodded. She stood, slowly, and offered her hand to Yukino, who took it, standing next to her, swaying slightly.
Kanade led her to the bedroom.