Sibling Love (Sequel to I Just Want To Be Loved)

Family Stories

Kirika was looking forward to school on Wednesday. Shu was still at the hospital, so she took the bus again.

Daphne also returned to school that day, and she actually thanked Kirika for inviting her to her birthday party.

"It means so much to me that you were generous enough to invite me to your party," said Daphne. "The truth was that I have always been jealous of your popularity. Now I see why you are so popular. You're very friendly and kind, and you have a really big heart."

Kirika smiled back. "Thanks Daphne," she said. "In fact, I would like it if we could be friends."

"I would love to be friends," said Daphne.

People had heard about Shu being taken to the hospital and asked Kirika about it. But Kirika gave little information. She was half-afraid that the Red Eye incident would come spilling out again, and she didn't want Shu to suffer any longer because of it.

"Where were you yesterday?" Amber asked Kirika. "I heard that Shu had been hospitalised for overworking! Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine," said Kirika. "Did you finish your family tree?"

"Yes," said Amber. "But I bet that I will be bottom. I only put in half of my family members, and I didn't even write much about them. There were just too many people. I bet that your essay is the best. You always get top marks anyway."

"I'm not that smart," said Kirika modestly. But Amber was right. Kirika was pretty smart when it came to school.

Mr Duncan told the students that they will go in alphabetical order to talk about their families. The students who hated public speaking and had surnames that started with the first few letters in the alphabet started to panic.

Mike went first, and he talked about his fashion-backwards mother who always dressed up in weird old-fashioned clothing and his father, who was a stern head chef at work, but was a hilarious man at home. Mike also spoke of his older sister Linda, who was trying to grow her hair as long as Rapunzel's, much to their parents' dismay.

Kirika had met Linda once a few years ago, and back then her hair was as short as Rapunzel's hair after it was cut. She wished that she could see Linda's hair now.

The next few students tried to best to tell entertaining stories, but weren't much good. One boy even spun a tale of how his mother was married to a vampire, but it was obvious that he was making it up once he said that his father had been eaten by a dolphin and lived to tell the tale.

"Dolphins don't eat humans, let alone vampires," grumbled someone.

Regina looked very nervous as she stood in front of the class. But then she told them about her mother who was a retired actress and her super bratty twin siblings, who were two years younger than her. According to Regina, her siblings had never been punished in their lives because of how ridiculously cute they were. In fact, once she had been grounded when her siblings ate the Christmas cookies because apparently she wasn't watching them. But her siblings weren't bad people and adored Regina, so she found it difficult to dislike them.

Isabella was next, and she told a story about her bookworm parents who had always encouraged her to read. Her mother was a dressmaker and she made all of Isabella's dresses. Isabella always dressed up as a different book or movie character each Halloween. She had dressed up as Hermione, Apple White, Belle, Elsa and Mary Poppins before.

Kirika wasn't afraid of speaking in front of an audience, but she got nervous as she listened to a girl's heartbreaking story of how her parents were divorced and they both want her and yet were unwilling to share her with the other parent.

A boy also shared a story of how he was an affair baby. His stepfather initially resented him for being the result of his mother's cheating, but after his biological father started to abuse him, his stepfather took him in and had been such a good parent to him that the boy now referred to him as Dad.

Soon it was Kirika's turn. She took a deep breath before starting.

"Hi everyone. As you know, I am Kirika Kurenai, the younger sister of Shu Kurenai. First, there's one thing you should know. Shu and I were both accident babies."

The class looked shocked. They had not expected that at all.

"You mustn't repeat this in front of my brother, but my parents hated him and made his childhood a misery. They neglected him, making him raise himself. Shu was insecure and had a bad habit of keeping his pain to himself.

"When my Mom got pregnant with me, she wanted to abort me. Shu convinced her not to and said that he would raise me himself. And that's what he did.

"I had the best childhood. I always felt loved and supported. I had great friends and an older brother who would always want the best for me. No matter how tired Shu felt, he always made time for me. It touches me to know that I would always come first to him.

"I'm sorry for all of those who feel neglected and unwanted by their parents. For those who found the love you had needed, I'm happy for you. For those of you who haven't, I hope that you will find happiness one day. But keep in mind that there will always be that one person who cares about you."

Everyone stared silently at Kirika for a moment before clapping. Kirika's speech had comforted those who were unhappy. It had also given them hope, something that was missing from their lives.