72Chapter 7
The only thing that gave away the fact that dawn had arrived were the few rays of sunlight that slipped between the blue curtains pulled over the window next to the bed. Rukia was still sleeping soundly under the sheets at his side, no alarm had gone off, no father was around to burst through the door, and Yuzu was likely in the clinic already. The Kurosaki residence was still in the quiet of the morning in this rare peaceful moment. His father would be home in a few days, Karin would be arriving by train closer to lunchtime, and then the worry over the family business and Rukia's health would mash together into a storm of anxiety.
But right now, it was serene. It didn't matter how many years had gone by since the last grueling battle, the last moment of misery without his powers, or the last thought of loneliness after his dearest friend/love disappeared. Ichigo still believed that there were just never enough of these moments where nothing was happening and nothing was wrong.
Well, hopefully nothing wrong. Leaning down to kiss his wife's forehead, he pulled his arms away slowly to ease himself out of the bed. It was a rare sight indeed for Rukia to out-sleep him (these last few weeks notwithstanding), let alone not rouse when he got out of bed. He intended to let her have the whole day if she needed it. Given, of course, that she would still be talking to him later about the whole emergency room fiasco.
There were very few times in his life that he felt that scared over someone and he found himself realizing it was almost always about her. Shaking his head clear of those upsetting memories, he instead slipped quickly into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, not even bothering with socks yet as he left the room to wash up for the day. He had already decided to himself without Rukia's say in the matter that if he had to, he would be calling Inoue from her home outside of Sendai to come heal her. He couldn't imagine (and did not want to fathom) any illness or condition in which her flower spirits couldn't reverse for the shinigami currently sleeping in his bed.
The only downside was that, well, the last time Inoue was here it didn't go so well. In fact, the last time the entire group of hodge-podge friends were together was less than a savory experience. Not having every one of his friends as witnesses to their wedding was harsh reality that the only constant thing with time was that everything changes. It wasn't hate that separated them, it was the inability to bridge gaps where there were emotional misunderstandings. And it had made him short-tempered and his partner heart-broken.
Chad was the only one he kept in contact with on a consistent basis. Ishida he would see from time to time now that he's returned from Tokyo, usually at the university or the hospital where he was posed to take over as CEO and administrator for not only the town's general hospital but for many of the clinics spreading outside the town closer to Tokyo. But Inoue, he hadn't really spoken to her in years. The only reason he even knew where she had settled was through Tatsuki (that is, after they both came to a truce on difficult topics as well) and the wonders that were the internet.
Despite the promising level of drama that it could create, he'd be willing to do it if that's what Rukia needed.
"Onii-chan?" Yuzu's sweet voice caught his attention as she hung up their kitchen phone.
"Morning, Yuzu," he said sheepishly, wondering how he got all the way downstairs to the kitchen without remembering how or noticing her presence in the room.
"Are you and Rukia-chan ready for breakfast?"
"Well, she's still sleeping right now. I'll take something up to her when she's ready." Ichigo plopped himself down in one of the chairs and gratefully sipped at the tea his sister had already prepared for him. "Thanks," he lifted the cup in her direction with a tired smile. His little sister merely nodded and smiled as she removed her apron, the meal she prepared had already been completed and would be waiting for them on the counter, daintily covered with plastic wrap.
"Dad just called…" Yuzu nervously started, seating herself across from her brother. He lifted his eyebrow above the tea cup to signal her to continue. "He… uh… he said that the conference didn't go so well. He said he'll be home early, maybe tomorrow night but Sunday at the latest."
Ichigo watched his sister sigh down into her own tea as she traced the rim of the cup she hadn't moved yet. Putting his own down on the table he softly inquired, "Did he say what he meant by 'didn't go well'?"
Shrugging, Yuzu continued inspecting her tea with unseeing eyes. "He didn't give details. But I get the feeling that it's bad news for the clinic. At best it could mean there are stipulations to continuing the grants or maybe a small reduction. At worst… well…"
Her older brother nodded, understanding what the worst could mean to their business and the family in general. "We'll talk about it when he gets home then. When does Karin get in?"
"In a few hours. I heard from her about an hour ago that one of her teammates was going to take her to the train station around noon." At the change in conversation, especially to her twin, Yuzu's face perked up a bit. Taking a quick sip of her tea, she bounded out of the chair. "Which reminds me! If Karin-chan and Dad are coming in soon, we'll need more groceries! There are a lot of extra mouths in the house again!"
Ichigo knew Yuzu was doing her best to seem stressed about having so many people in the house but he smiled knowingly as he turned around in his chair to watch his sister. At least it would be something to distract her from the business troubles. She practically pranced over to the closet to tug on her coat and tell him over her shoulder to feed Rukia when she woke up. Once sufficiently promised, he waited for her to exit before finishing the rest of his tea. Leaving his cup in the sink, he grabbed the two carefully wrapped plates and headed back upstairs.
When he carefully opened his old bedroom door, one of the plates balanced on his forearm, he didn't expect to see Rukia sitting up in bed. Her hair was a tangled mess and she still looked a little sleepy but she was gorgeous. Seeing her sitting in his childhood bed and glancing out of the window with the sun on her face, he felt his nerves relax. He didn't even feel the urge to pick on her as he normally would have at this point.
"I have breakfast," he interrupted her thoughts by placing the plates on the desk near the bed and went to sit on the bed, facing her. He was rewarded for his efforts with a sweet smile, causing one of his own to spread across his face.
"Then I'll keep you around a bit longer." She responded with a small glint of her usual humor before dropping her eyes to the bed. He looked down at her fidgeting hands in her lap to see a small folded piece of paper. The corners were beginning to curl and the folds beginning to tear from what looked like constant handling. "Yuzu just left?"
Ichigo nodded and then looked back up at her face, searching it as if he could find the cause of her anxiety written there. "She's going to the grocery store. Karin will be here around lunch time and Dad may come back this weekend too." At her head snapping up, he added, "No one told him anything. It's about the clinic."
"Oh," she sighed and glanced again out of the window. He wondered if she was thinking about the clinic, if she was thinking about how little time together they were about to have with two more family members arriving soon, if she was worried about him missing classes and work today, if she was worried about missing more school herself. But he waited. It was incredibly difficult to do but he kept his mouth shut as he reached out to run his hands through her dark tresses, loosening some of the tangles.
"Ichigo," she whispered, catching him off guard. He barely had pulled his hand out of her hair when she grabbed it, placing the piece of paper in his hand tightly but not allowing him to pull it to himself. "I… I need to tell you… But I don't know how."
Scooting closer to her face and pushing himself further on the bed for support, he took the hand not currently in her own to place under her chin. He lifted her eyes from their joined hands and that piece of paper to his own; he could feel his heart racing in his chest as their eyes locked. He recognized that look in her eyes: fear. He wasn't sure if he was ready for the news or if he would want to hear it at all. But his resolve was solidified with the thought that right then, at that very moment, Rukia was alone. She was shouldering the knowledge all by herself. He would never allow her to deal with anything alone, just as she wouldn't allow him to do the same. He would bear it with her.
"I'm here," he whispered back. Her eyes softened at that. He let out a breath at seeing her relax, witnessing her faith in him. He was ready.
"Ichigo…"
Nope. He wasn't sure if he was ready anymore. That was a facial expression he didn't quite recognize on her face. It wasn't one of her usual ones. Incredibly rare, in fact. It was a kind of hopeful shyness, almost like they were getting married again. But this time he had walked in late and missed the ceremony leading up to the kiss because while she was looking so unusually demure and nervous, he was just plain confused and scared.
He squeezed her hand a bit tighter and she reached up for his other one. Removing it from her face, they sat eye-to-eye, clenching each other's hands in silent determination. He got more and more tense, past 'nervous' and well into 'edgy', with every second it took her to find the words. She wasn't one to be without courage or the words to come out and say something. Now his mind was in a whirlwind of terrible 'what-if's while he watched her swallow, avert her eyes down to the piece of paper, and then back up to his.
"Ichigo…" She started once more and then let out a determined huff, sitting up straighter. She straightened out her face as much as she could muster before licking her lips. She appeared much more like the old Rukia he knew and he knew that look. It was determination. And he held his breath.
"Ichigo, I'm…"
Rukia had felt somewhat placated at the caring smile on her doctor's face and the gentle reassurance of her hand but her eyes were still locked onto the older woman's and her ears acutely tuned in. Her body, temperament, sleep pattern, and appetite having been out of sorts for two weeks, her partner had been fretting over her almost non-stop, and her embarrassing episode at the clinic all coalesced together into a ball of tangled nerves in her stomach. It was all she could handle not to stand up in the gurney and demand to know what in the hell was going on. That is, until the doctor continued.
"Kurosaki-san, there's nothing to worry about." She patted her hand with patience before releasing her to sort through the paperwork on her clip board. "You just passed out due to dehydration and exhaustion. The baby's fine. I do prescribe a lot of rest and less work though. I am worried about your blood pressure and you are obviously pushing yourself too hard-,"
Rukia's eyes widened considerably and her now empty hands gripped the white sheet on top of her body with force. She had been frozen to the spot and could only manage out a weak, pleading "sensei" in trying to slow down the woman at her side.
"And according to your records here, you've actually been losing weight, dear. That's not how you should be preparing your body." The doctor scribbled something down on one of the sheets before removing it from the bottom of the stack and placing it on the top.
"S-Sensei! I-!" Rukia's shoulders were nearly shaking and her knuckles white against the stress of gripping the sheet with such force.
"There are tricks to keeping food down during sickness in the first trimester-," the woman tried to continue before being abruptly cut off, her own dark brown eyes a bit taken aback.
"WAIT!" The shaken young woman visibly panted. "Sensei, please… That is… Am I…" Shaking her head to get her thoughts together, knowing it was not within her training to be so scatter-brained. Rukia placed a nervous hand to her chest and looked up into the concerned eyes of her doctor. "Are you saying I'm pregnant?" She stressed the last word in a fierce whisper.
"Oh Kurosaki-san, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ruin the fun of finding out on your own. I thought you'd know already considering you're between six to eight weeks along." Her doctor seemed honestly regretful as she placed her stack of documents to the side table to grab her patient's hands once more.
"B-but sensei! I'm not pregnant!" The shinigami shook her head vehemently, as if she could convince the doctor of her mistaken diagnosis.
"Pardon?"
"I did a home test… A week ago… It was negative."
"Well, false negatives are not common if all instructions are followed for the home kits but they do happen. Honestly, Kurosaki-san, it could have been any number of things to make it come out false. But I promise our blood tests are accurate." Releasing one of Rukia's hands, Yamashita grabbed one of the top sheets of paperwork on the clipboard and handed it over to her, specifically pointing out the 'positive' around the center of the document.
"But… I… I really…" Swallowing, wide indigo looked down at the sheet in her hand and searched the words. She let out a shaky, unsure sigh and whispered, almost as if in a trance. "… Six to eight weeks along?"
"Mm." The woman replied with a loving pat on the top of the other hand, helping to release the tension built up in the muscles from gripping so hard. "Due around November first is what I can estimate from your blood reading at this time. We'll know for sure when you come back for a quick check-up."
"A… a baby… The baby's ok…" Just staring at the paper, a check mark where it asks if the blood test results positive for pregnancy, Rukia tried to wrap her mind around what she was hearing. Thinking she had been pregnant when all of this started and knowing she was now… they were two very different feelings. She wanted to laugh, to cry, to yell, to smile, but couldn't make up her mind. And then there was the unsettling, wonderful, frightening thought that right now, at that very second, a little being was growing inside of her. She was sheltering another tiny person. A death god was at that very moment creating life. A little soul that would be half of her and half of Ichigo. A baby. Their own little baby.
"Kurosaki-san."
Snapping out of her reverie, the startled young woman looked up from the paper into the amused but stern eyes of her doctor. "You need to eat, keep food down, sleep more, and not overwork your body. Understood?"
"Hai, sensei…" An unsteady whisper somehow made its way out of her mouth.
"And I'll leave the big news for you to share. I'll let you hold onto that piece of paper when your family arrives." Yamashita looked like she couldn't smile any more than she already was as she stood from her miniature rolling chair, refilled her patient's glass of water from the cooler in the corner, and placed it back at her bedside.
"Thank you…" Rukia whispered once more, still in somewhat of a daze.
All of the physical and emotional stress that had weighed on her up to that point had left her feeling strangely unprepared for the news. And now she was left to digest it. Wasn't this something they had both wanted for the future? But with Ichigo needing to concentrate on his last year of study, Rukia still trying to catch up in her own schooling, and the Kurosaki clinic struggling as it was, it hardly seemed the best timing for it. They had both even been trying to hold off on the possibility too. Despite being on birth control, which was first just the catalyst to kick-start her mortal feminine cycle, they would still occasion used different 'methods' to avoid any unplanned events. Still, sometimes they forgot or didn't care. But still, it was a risk they were both prepared and ready to handle. So wasn't she supposed to be happy? Was it ok to let herself be happy? Urahara surely would be proud of himself. And Isshin's reaction was impossible not to guess. And the same pretty much went for her two sisters-in-law. But… what would Ichigo think?
"Ichigo, I'm… pregnant." And then she held her breath.
To say that wasn't what he expected to hear would have been the understatement of the century. He was so caught off guard, so incredibly shocked, that he sat stock still staring into her wide eyes. He didn't even dare to breathe as he slowly let those words sink in.
Pregnant.
She wasn't hurt, ill, or injured. She wasn't wounded, in pain, or dying.
Pregnant. Rukia was pregnant.
Pregnant?!
His mind was running through a gamut of emotions, unable to land fully on a particular one. Relief. Surprise. Fear. Nervousness. Thrill. Elation. Shock. Terror. Before Ichigo's brain could fully process that word and all of its implications, Rukia's face started to twist into escalating worry from his silence. Her eyes dipped down to the paper in their joined hands as she unfolded it with unsteady, shaking fingers and then pushed it back into his larger ones. His eyes almost immediately located the 'positive' in the middle of the page.
He blinked once. Twice. Then it clicked. And the widest, goofiest, and happiest grin began to take over the normally scowling face as he stared at that check mark.
"Ichigo?" his wife asked with genuine anxiousness. Before the next words could even form in her mind though, his mouth covered hers in a searing kiss. Both of his hands dropped the paper onto her lap and he leaned her head back gently onto the pillow and made love to her lips and tongue. A shudder went through her body as she tried to cry and laugh at the same time through his kiss.
After thoroughly devouring her fear, he placed another sweet lingering kiss to her swollen lips, his eyes shining bright as he waited for her to reopen hers. Locking onto her indigo gems, he whispered against her mouth words they rarely needed to say aloud.
"I love you, Rukia. And I already love our baby." Ichigo began to laugh with abandon as he then leaned back enough to place a hand over her deceivingly flat stomach. "Our baby! Rukia! We're having a baby!"
She grinned from ear to ear as tears ran down her cheeks. She had no idea how scared she had been to tell him until that point and all of her pent up emotion just bubbled forth in a confusing mix of laughter and sobs. Wiping her eyes with one hand as she placed the other over his that gently held her abdomen, she whispered, "I was afraid that you… of telling… I was so worried."
"What? No!" Placing a few fierce kisses back on her face, he laughed with his whole face lit up. "No, Rukia! Don't be an idiot. I am more excited than I ever thought possible! I can't wait to tell everyone! – Oh we'll have to find a bigger place! We don't have any room! – Maybe we should look at homes near the best academies! – And I'll start a special fund for school!"
Finally done with the uncontrollable crying, which she was more than thankful for, Rukia outright laughed at him. "Fool, aren't you getting ahead of yourself?"
Ichigo couldn't hold back the grin if he tried. "Maybe." Placing his fingers back into her hair and the other tenderly holding her hand, he leaned his forehead against hers and caught his breath. He took a moment to calm his racing heart and enjoy the lingering tingle of adrenaline. He took in the smell of the small shinigami woman in his arms, lying in his bed, marked with his name, carrying his child, and couldn't help the proud but humble thrum of happiness in his chest.
The little sniffle from his partner lightly pulled him back into the present and reminded him of how shaken she had been to tell him. A small crease of worry made its way in between his eyes as he leaned back to look at her pale face. That's when he remembered that she had still passed out yesterday. She had still been taken to the emergency room. And she still looked scared.
"Rukia." He started, waiting for her to raise her eyes to his before continuing. "Did the doctor… Is everything all right? With, you know…"
She paused before nodding. "She said the baby's fine." And he could see the corners of her mouth turn up at saying it out loud. "But that I need to take better care of myself for a while. And go back to have my nutrient levels and blood pressure checked. But otherwise, fine."
"Thank god," he whispered into her hair, pulling her bodily against him as he hugged her as tight as he'd allow himself. "Guess you know what that means then, right?"
"Mm?" she mumbled against his shirt.
"I get to pamper and coddle you all I want and you have to shut up and deal with it." Grinning once more as if he were fifteen again, he pulled back to narrow his eyes playfully at her. "Doctor's orders."
She couldn't hold back the snort and the slight roll of her eyes. "As long as you know I don't plan on being the docile patient for long. Though, I am enjoying the extra sleep."
"Fighting with you is something I'm good at," he stated with half a shrug. Giving her another kiss to her lips, he leaned his body over to the desk to retrieve a plate of food. "First things first though. You need to eat." And once again, Ichigo grinned like a fool. She had a feeling that he'd be doing more of that now. "The baby's probably starving with how tiny you are."
Ichigo laughed right out at the weak punch to his upper arm with unbridled joy.
After a hearty meal and a quick but passionate love session, everything felt more right with the shinigami pair than it had in months. Thankfully it was during their reveling in the afterglow that they heard the front door open and more than one voice carrying through the walls of the house. Neither were able to place who was with Yuzu but it was their cue to right themselves. As Rukia left to take a quick shower, Ichigo had to settle for slipping back into his clothes and attempting to conceal just how disheveled his hair and clothes had become.
Tugging down a hoody over his head, his jeans already pulled up and fastened, he struggled with his hair once more as he reached the bottom of the landing of the stairs. And then all attempts at putting his appearance back together came to abrupt halt as he met dark grey eyes that narrowed in on his own.
"Byakuya?!" He would have been surprised anyway at seeing that particular person walk into his home, with his little sister nonetheless, but having just made love to Rukia and hearing the amazing news of her condition he was not prepared at all to come face-to-face with her brother.
"You are still without proper etiquette, Kurosaki Ichigo." The man, donned in a well-dressed gigai supplied by no other than Urahara himself, stated with a mix of disdain and sarcasm. "I have come for Rukia."
Before the look of shocked confusion, or confused shock, could register into angry words from her older brother, Yuzu stepped closer with grocery bags still in hand. "Eto… That is, Onii-chan, that he was worried about her. I saw him as I was leaving the grocery store and he helped me bring bags home. I told him Rukia-chan was staying here for a while to, you know, visit."
So she didn't tell him about her stint in the emergency room. That was one of the smartest moves by his little sister. She had been thoroughly impressing him these past two days. With his own secret smile, he figured eventually sharing the happy news with her would make up for everything. But considering Rukia and he hadn't yet discussed it yet, he wouldn't be sharing the secret just yet.
"Rukia's in the shower now." He said in a way that translated into 'you can't have her' and they both knew it. "But I guess make yourself at home," Ichigo shrugged, taking a few bags from his sister to help unpack everything. He pointedly turned from the man, knowing he'd follow to the kitchen after removing his shoes and coat to also drop off the groceries he carried. Even after years, he still felt a small amount of sadistic satisfaction for getting under the skin of his brother-in-law, though they did get along much better than they used to. "But I'm curious, to what do we owe this visit? Especially since you're here in a gigai and all."
For her part, Yuzu was silent as she unpacked the food. She and Karin had been told pretty much everything about the 'other world' that their brother's wife had come from. The conversation only concerned her if the two men were going to be picking a fight in her kitchen, especially with Rukia still recovering. But in her own opinion, she appreciated it when the less-than-living visitors arrived in corporeal form. Her ability to see spirits was not as keen as Karin's and had yet to set eye on a shinigami with her own eyes yet.
"Just what I first stated. I am here to check on the condition of my little sister and to bring her home if necessary." He revealed no further details as he completed the simple task of setting the bags on the counter and then stepping aside to be out of the young woman's way.
"Like hell you're taking her away! This IS her home!" From zero to 9.5 on the angry scale, Ichigo bared his teeth at the stoic captain. He'd reach a full 10 if anyone actually attempted to take her anywhere.
"Nii-sama?" the subject of the conversation near-whispered as she entered the kitchen. Her hair was damp and rested across her shoulders and back, wetting the fabric of her clothes but she was otherwise put together immaculately in a knee-length, long-sleeved white and lace dress. The extra sleep and the weight of stress lifted from her shoulders did wonders for how much healthier she looked. A small, nervous smile lifted her lips as she bowed lightly and stepped closer. Confusion came back to her face as she inquired rather sweetly to her older brother, "Is there something the matter?"
"I had not received a report of your well-being in some time." He started, circumventing any direct phrase to say he had been worried about her. "I first thought to check the status your human emergency savings account. Subsequently, your funds have been restored," he added as a side note in a softer tone to Rukia, completely ignoring Ichigo's outburst concerning invasion of privacy. The noble man's little sister blushed at bit at that, worry and embarrassment crossing her features. It was no secret that she yearned for her older brother's approval and she figured that he may have assumed that she was terrible with her finances with how little was left in the account. Mere change was a big difference from the small fortune that account had started with.
Before she could thank him or reassure him of her worthy spending from his generously funded account, he continued his address in his usual commanding voice. "I then enlisted Urahara Kisuke to provide me a report of your reiatsu. He informed me of your stay in the hospital but was unable to supply the cause or diagnosis. You are to accompany me to the Kuchiki estate so that your health may be examined by the family physicians."
That had caught her off guard. She forgot how nosey, and yet all-knowing, that shop keeper was. Her secret would not stay secret long. Her eyes widened at her brother's command and she bit her lip as she bowed her head down. "I… I can't, Nii-sama."
And her husband would be ignored no longer. It brought back too much anger, fear, and desperation to have the sixth division captain demand her return to Soul Society once more. "She isn't going to Soul Society! She already saw a doctor!" Ichigo was becoming increasingly angry and attempted to step into the personal space of the older man when his little sister stepped between them.
"How about you say for dinner, Kuchiki-san? We would love to have you over since we so rarely get to see anyone from Rukia-nee-chan's family." She asked with such careful sweetness that even Byakuya could only close his mouth and nod with a small word of thanks. Rukia sighed in relief as she knew a fight was just averted but her husband was still bristling as he stepped to put a possessive hand around her waist.
"Good!" the light-haired woman grinned and bounced. "Karin-chan should arrive soon and Daddy will be arriving this weekend as well but probably not in time for dinner tonight. In the meantime, I'll make some tea for everyone!"
Again, Ichigo was impressed with how swiftly she took control of the situation. Rukia couldn't help but mimic the warm smile at the friendlier change in the air as well as her brother being welcomed into the family. The last time he spent any real amount of time with the Kurosakis was their wedding. He avoided (mortal) family gatherings and especially using a gigai. At first, Rukia thought it was the captain's general distrust of Urahara or his displeasure at his someone from his household becoming part of the world of living outside the natural order of things. Now she changed her mind a bit and believed it had a lot more to do with him feeling out of place among them rather than simply being a cold noble like the shinigami substitute insisted.
Glancing over to her brother, she couldn't help but smile a little bit more. She couldn't help but think that this weekend, once Ichigo's father returned, might be a perfect time to share the news with everyone. That is, if she could convince her brother to stay overnight. And of course, Renji would be upset that he missed out on it but it'd be near impossible to get him here on such short notice. Plus the sixth division would be left with no leadership. He'd get over it.
Renji and her Nii-sama were the only 'family' of hers that she felt she'd really want to go out of her way to include though. And then, of course, there was the rest of the team from Ichigo's high school… But things were tense with most of them still, Chad excluded. He was ever patient and understanding with both of them and she was looking forward to telling him especially. But thinking of the rest of the friends from Karakura High, Rukia decided that now would be the time and a good reason to consider getting everyone together and patching things up.
It was just too bad that she didn't get to have more time keeping the news just between her and Ichigo to really come to terms with it because now she was getting nervous.
Author's Notes: BWHAHAHA! I hope that was worth it for most of you. I was downright giddy writing it! For any other reviewers who are disappointed and feel my plot was easily predictable/over-used, then I'd like to see a story out there that's doing what I'm doing. Anyway, this is fanservice with a little drama mixed in. It's FANfiction for a reason. Besides, the fun is just beginning!
I was majorly impressed, by the way, with how many saw Byakuya coming! And I will definitely take into consideration any polite requests for other cameos (that I don't already have planned, of course).
*I specifically have him saying 'younger sister' rather than just 'sister' as we would in English because, well, they don't in Japanese. There is not a word for merely 'sister' without defining whether she is older or younger and the same goes for 'brother'. So it may sound strange to us but instead read it as if there is an English single word for 'younger sister' and it makes much more sense. I'm trying to be kind to those readers not familiar with Japanese.