I don't like writing the brothers flirting with their sister, regardless of circumstance. It makes me uncomfortable so I'll write romance but only with the brothers falling for women who are not sisters. If the story is like this, involving a sister, it is purely brotherly love. That's just how I feel and what I'm comfortable with.

I wiped my eyes, washing my tear-stained face. I couldn't believe this was still going on... When will they move along to their next target? I wondered, trying to pull myself together. High school was hell for every student in their own way, but why did they have to take their frustrations out on me? I was literally a nobody in a sea of nobodies so how anyone was able to notice me, analyze me, and find the energy to bully me, I'd never know. It wasn't like I was doing anything wrong. Or at least, nothing worse than the average kid my age. 

Normally on a day like this, I'd avoid Masaomi and Ukyo as best I could and run straight to Kaname or my sister, Ema, for advice but that wouldn't happen today. I could feel it in my soul as I walked in the luxury suite. In the living room, Fuuto and Yusuke were sitting on the couch, ignoring each other. The moment Fuuto noticed me, he smirked.

"Ukyo just got off the phone with the school. In trouble again so soon after being suspended?" He laughed. "You really are an idiot, just like your sister. It must run in your genes. Thank God we aren't blood related."

I tried to think of a comeback as usual, but I couldn't muster a single thought. "I'm going to my room now," I told my brothers. Clearly they didn't care. 

"It's going to be okay... or at least it would if you just... laid low," Yusuke grumbled under his breath. "You can't keep getting into fights."

Like you're one to talk... 

I ran to my room, mascara running down my face. It burned my eyes, making the tears worse. Lovely. Everything was going wrong, my world crumbling around me. I wasn't sure how I was going to cope with going back to school tomorrow when I was alone. The truth is while Fuuto, Yusuke, and Ema went to school with me, I couldn't rely on them to fight my battles for me. I was alone to figure this out myself. 

Someone knocked on my door, mid-sobbing. In a house of thirteen brothers and one sister, I don't know why I assumed I would have any privacy. "Go away," I moaned, hiding my face underneath my pillow. Despite my warning, my door opened.

"Hello," Kaname greeted, sitting down at my desk. "What happened?"

"Go away." I felt guilty as soon as I saw my brother's hazel eyes closed in frustration. I'd lived them for three months and while I became very close to my older brother, I knew I wasn't the easiest person to live with. I wasn't unaware of my flaws-- how could I when Rae and her crew came after me every chance they had?

"When did we begin keeping secrets from one another?"

"Please don't make me talk about this..." I shifted my weight on my bed, fixing my messy hair. "It's private."

Kaname held me in his arms, letting me cry softly on his shoulder. "You can tell me anything, little sister."

An awkward silence fell among us while I worked up the courage to talk about what's been bothering me for weeks on end. It was rage-inducing, depressing, embarrassing, and humiliating all at once. I tried talking about it, burying my face in his chest, mumbling my words.

"What?" He asked, concerned. "I didn't hear you, Aniu-chan."

"My classmates are teasing me because I did something stupid... I slept with my boyfriend. And he left me a few days later."

Finally admitting to my undignified actions, I felt even dirtier, as if by admitting to what I'd done, my worth went down even more. I specifically didn't want to tell Kaname about my private life because he was such a "free spirit" I figured he wouldn't be helpful or care at all.

"You're seventeen," he said. "That's your choice. It may have been the wrong choice but no one has the right to bully you for something like that."

"Wrong choice?" I sniffled, feeling worse. "I loved him and I did that so he would love me too."

"Then you did it for the wrong reasons," Kaname reaffirmed. He looked me in the eyes, his usual flirtatious teasing pushed aside. "Take it from someone with experience: you cannot sleep with someone to keep them in your life. You cannot sleep with someone and think they will care about you any more or less than they already did."

"You sleep with many women, don't deny it," I fought back. "Do you have a good reason for each woman?"

Kaname stayed calm, redirecting the conversation back to my situation. "Never have sex with someone if you might regret it, for any reason. Men will try to use you at every chance they get. That is almost always going to be the case for every man on earth. Sex is more than sex. Not every man deserves to be with you."

"I feel like I'm less of a person because of it... he left and now this happens..."

"You're still the same person you were: intelligent, funny, going to college soon... sex doesn't change that. And if these students are bullying you like this, we can report it. No one deserves to be treated like this." Kaname stood up, smiling softly. "I'll talk to Ukyo before he confronts you about this fight but you have to make me a promise."

"Okay," I took a deep breath, trying to level my breathing. 

"Don't slut shame yourself. You're going to find a great man one day, little sister."