ᗯᕼIᔕᑭEᖇIᑎG ᖴᒪᗩᗰE [ Brothers Conflict ]

Chapter Six

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[BACK TO RURIJO]

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Splayed awkwardly across her bed, Rurijo hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep that night. Her eyes just stared blankly at the ceiling for the past few hours; the girl wasting an incredible amount of time. It was now around 1:30 in the morning, the sun not even close to shining through the curtains.

With a bored sigh, Rurijo yanked herself up from the bed, her sock-clad feet sliding to the floor. Pale hands rubbed darkly-circled eyes as she slowly undid the latch on her door and crept out of the room; the girl planning on getting some early-morning grub. Having not eaten anything the previous day but her beef jerky, Rurijo was positively starving.

Her socked feet padded softly against the wooden floor, not making so much a single sound. Without her usual pair of sneakers, which clomped around everywhere she went, Rurijo could be quite stealthy.

Eyes squinting in the darkly lit apartment, the brunette somehow managed to find her way to the kitchen, after many trials and errors. Somewhat dangerously, she used the stairs to do so, as the elevator would've made too much noise.

After finally reaching it, she flicked on a couple lights and proceeded to rummage through the cabinets; looking for something edible enough to consume. Rurijo soon slid out a box of cereal, poured that into a bowl, dumped some milk in, and waltzed over to the table with a proud spoon in her hand.

She didn't hesitate to dig in; shovelling spoonful after spoonful into her mouth. Damn, was she hungry.

However, right as she was about to insert some more cereal deliciousness, a sudden voice spoke up, wafering lightly behind her.

"Why hello there. Up for a late-night snack?"

At hearing the unfamiliar voice, Rurijo's heart thumped loud in her chest; now more alert than ever. Was there some sort of intruder in the house? Could this person be a threat?

Rurijo wasn't planning on taking any chances.

Dropping the spoon almost immediately, the girl stood up, and whirled around so violently that the chair was knocked to its side.

Her mind was blind with the urge to defend herself as she tackled the possibly-harmful stranger to the ground, roughly pinning the person down without a second thought.

The stranger let out a squeak of surprise at the sudden tackle, and Rurijo took the opportunity to scan over his ... or rather, her, features.

There she was, looking like she was having a heart attack - a young woman around her early twenties with long, curled red hair, popping lipstick, and a stylish outfit. She looked as if she had just walked out of a fashion magazine.

Completely harmless, in Rurijo's opinion.

"My, quite the jumpy thing, aren't you ... " the woman commented with a slight wince as Rurijo climbed off her, slowly standing to her full height. "Didn't expect you to tackle me there."

Rurijo gave the woman an uncaring shrug before turning and retreating back to the kitchen table.

Her cereal awaited her.

Looking generally intrigued, the redhead followed Rurijo to the table, taking a seat on the chair opposite to hers. Her cherry lips quirked up into a smile as she stated, "You are rather interesting though, I'll give you that."

Swallowing thickly, Rurijo managed to reply, her features with 'grumpy' written all over them. Though, slightly less than earlier that day, for she was finally getting some food into her system, and that usually cheered her up some.

"What do you want, lady? I'm trying to eat here."

Said lady let out an amused chuckle, watching Rurijo with intent hazel hues, "I have a name, you know."

"And I don't really care," came Rurijo's muffled reply, the girl talking through a mouth full of food.

"I can't understand you~," the redhead said with a playful grin, before saying. "And it's Hikari. Hikari Asahina."

Rurijo grunted in return and slurped down the rest of her milk, stating monotonously, "Another Asahina? Jesus, you guys are everywhere. This place is infested."

She smiled, "Yes, with fourteen of us altogether, I'd have to agree."

"At least you're a woman, though. With Miwa gone, there's just me, that Ella kid, and you."

Hikari laughed, before nodding, pointing a manicured finger in her own direction, "Ahh, yes, yes, feel free to talk to Onee-chan anytime, ok?"

Rurijo gave the other a deadpan look, almost as if to say, 'No.'

That was when the sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the kitchen, a tall man armed with a frying pan bolting into the room. His blonde hair was disheveled and his polka dot pyjamas were in disarray.

"Are you all ok - ?! I heard crashing from downstairs ... !" Ukyo demanded in worry, eyeing the scene before him. The blonde did a double take, and, catching sight of Hikari, lowered the frying pan.

" ... Oh. It's just you," he exhaled, before eyeing Rurijo across from her as well. "And Rurijo-san too ... What're you doing up at this hour, if I may ask?"

The dark-haired girl's expression dropped from one that was at least slightly open, to one that held a chilling amount of malice. She promptly stood up and placed her bowl in the sink, before walking right past the man, not giving him so much a glance.

" ... Um, Rurijo-san ... ?"

The sound of an elevator closing was all he got in return.

" ... Well then," Hikari chuckled with slight amusement as she turned to her crestfallen brother, "She really likes you, doesn't she?"

" ... "

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⇒ timeskip: 7 hours .

Knock knock.

Lean body half-hanging off the bed, Rurijo lifted her head up slightly at the knock; eyes glazed over tiredly. They briefly scanned the room in a dazed fashion, almost confused - before realization hit her smack in the face.

That's right. This was her new home for now. It was probably temporary, but still was her new home nonetheless.

Turning the other way, Rurijo ignored the knocking and began to get dressed instead; slipping on a pair of slouchy jeans, a faded grey sweatshirt, her sneakers, and of course, her backpack. Rurijo tried to avoid mirrors as much as possible, so she had to settle with combing her fingers through her bedhead in an attempt to reduce the messiness (not that it worked, though).

Knock knock knock.

Poker-faced and ready to go, Rurijo swung the door open and raised a brow at the person standing in front of it.

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Amazing cliffhanger, eh?

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