Sorry this has taken so long. School is really hectic. Promise I'll try and update more.

Also this story is about family but also about romance,which is what this story has been lacking most of all. I'm going to try and start bringing in more romance soon I'm just finding its hard. Rogue and Chinami is still my top pairing for this story. And you may have noticed I'm matching other couples up. Mainly other characters I think deserve a little bit of romance. I'm gonna try to include more from this point on. Especially starting in the next few chapters. those I'm most excited to write.

Also for those not caught up with the anime or manga, some spoilers will be showing up eventually but i will try to avoid them as much as possible. What will definitely come up is what happened to the dragons so be warned.

Also Chinami is pronounced She-na-mi so when people call her China its She-na not China.

AND on with the story.

"Sting what are you doing?" Rogue questioned chasing after Sting as he walked quickly down the hallway.

"I'm going to make sure she's okay." Sting mumbled, following the scents of Chinami and her fellow teammates.

"She didn't exactly seem as if she wanted to chat with you Sting. She's probably fine."

"I don't care. I want to know she's okay and find out exactly why she's so angry at me." Sting grumbled, walking faster down the hall. "And you know you don't need to come right!"

"I..." Rogue began to speak but came to a halt as the two of them stepped around the corner. All of the Phoenix Talon guild stood blocking the front of the infirmary doors. They're worried expressions quickly turned to a mixture of confusion and rage. They watched Sting and Rogue quietly as they stepped forward. The two dragon slayers made it halfway through the crowd of people before they were blocked by three men of equal size.

Jun, Raiden and Ren stood in front of them, glaring at them.

"I don't know what you think you're doing but you should leave. Now." Ren practically growled, crossing his arms over his chest and puffing his chest. The movement made him look bigger than he was, trying to intimidate Sting. Jun and Raiden nodded in agreement behind him.

"I'm here to make sure Chinami's okay." Sting narrowed his eyes, his hands curling into fists, cautious of the murderous intent coming off the men in front of him. Rogue cautiously watched the other mages around them and reached forward to place a hand on Sting's shoulder.

"Sting I think we should leave." Rogue warned.

"Listen to your friend." Raiden spoke up.

"I just want to make sure that Chinami's alright. She's my sister." Sting stepped closer. This made Ren tense as he stepped closer to Sting getting into his face.

"She's our sister and I'm telling you she's not your concern. We don't need you upsetting her and making her worse."

"Is she okay?"

Ren looked about ready to snap before a small hand landed on his arm, pulling him back. Sumiko, the harsher of the two twins, stepped around him, facing Sting but sill keeping a restraining hand on Ren.

"Not that its any of your concern but she's fine. She's being taken care of by her real family." Sumiko said. "You need to leave now. She's made it perfectly clear to you that she doesn't want you around. So last chance, leave, before we make you."

"Sting." Rogue warned, grabbing the collar of Stings jacket and trying to pull him away. Sting pulled out of his grip and Rogue felt the urge to slap a hand over his own face. His partner had to be a stubborn idiot. He was going to get the himself killed. These people didn't seem to be in the mood to deal with him right now.

"I'm not leaving." Sting growled. And with that Ren grinned menacingly as his eyes glowed a dull green color and his fist clenched. Sumiko's hands were soon surrounded by black shadows. Raiden and Jun made no move except to step out of the way to make room for Ken. Ken towered over everyone as he walked toward the white dragon slayer, stepping up behind Sumiko. Just as Sting shifted into a fighting position and Ken pulled back his fist a voice rang out.

"That is enough!" Everyone immediately froze as Emiko stepped out of the infirmary door, staring them all down. "Stand down children." She spoke softly. "You." She said pointing at Sting. "Come."

"But Master!" Jun started but was shot down.

"Enough children. He can see her. Chinami's awake now."

"He'll only make her worse. He doesn't understand her conditi..." Sumiko began.

"And Chinami needs to face her past. Sooner than later. Besides I believe the boy does deserve a reason as to why Chinami is anger with him. She realizes that now. She realizes that she acted with childish anger and put her life at risk." Emiko stared at Sting before taking his arm and leading him through the crowd.

They were quickly stopped when Sting was grabbed by his other arm and jerked to a stop. Suzumu, the kinder one of the twins snarled, shoving her face near his.

"You upset her in anyway and I'll have your head." She hissed, glaring. She then released his arm and her glare followed him as he, the master and Rogue walked into the infirmary.

"It's not normal for you to lose your temper like that sister. I thought that was my job."
Sumiko smiled at her sister. Ken rubbed Sumiko on the back, calming her. She reached over her shoulder and placed her hand over his.

"I know. But as long as Chinami thinks he's bad news I don't like him." Suzumu glared.

Chinami sat on the bed leaning against the headboard, her face turned away and her hands in her lap. From what Sting could see she looked sickly pale and exhausted. It immediately made him worry. The last time he had seen her like this was when she had almost died when they were children. She had gotten really sick after taking in the dragon magic Amaya gifted her with. Her body had hardly been able to take it.

"Chinami." Sting said cautiously. Her head twitched slightly at the sound but she continued to face away. Haine sat next to the bed and watched Chinami's face curiously. His hand slowly pet Sorano's fur as she and Taki slept curled into Chinami's side.

"Master." Chinami murmured. Emiko cleared her throat and motioned to her husband. Haine nodded and patted Chinami's hand before getting up to leave. Chinami grabbed his wrist and whispered something to him. He nodded before leaning over and scooping Sorano and Taki up in his arms. Sorano's eyes opened but she knew to stay quiet. Meanwhile Taki, who could sleep through anything, continued to snore softly. Haine immediately walked out of the door when his wife held the door open.

"Come along boy." Emiko said as she grabbed Rogue's jacket sleeve tugging him out the door. As soon as it closed behind them Emiko and Haine moved out of the way as other members from Phoenix Talon pressed against the door, trying to hear in on the private conversation. Rogue was unable to escape as he was forced up against the door. His face was pressed into the door and could hear inside.

"Could someone let me..." Rogue began with his face smushed against the door.

"Shhhh! We can't hear!" Jun hissed as he pressed closer to the door. Sumiko kneeled on his bent back as she too pressed her face against the door. The other mages all gathered around.

The closing of the door left the whole room in awkward silence. Chinami had her face away from Sting, her hands fidgeting in her lap. Sting stood there not knowing what to do. After awhile he finally moved away from the door and took a seat in the chair next to the bed. Chinami sighed once he sat down.

"I guess you have some questions." Chinami mumbled.

"Are you gonna answer them?" He asked. Chinami snorted in response.

"Don't know." Chinami finally turned her head toward him. "But I'm guessing all these years haven't made you learn to take no for an answer. Too much like Weiss."

"Hopefully not too much. He was a real buzzkill." Sting and Chinami both smirked at that.

"He was just responsible. You hated that. Hated having an authority figure telling you what to do." Chinami smiled. Suddenly Chinami frowned, leaning back into her bed. "He would have smacked me for losing my temper like that."

Sting was silent for a moment. "Haven't seen you that mad at me since I accidentally broke your arm. You gonna tell me what that was about?"

Chinami's hands clenched and she turned her face away again. "The reason doesn't matter. I acted irrationally and shouldn't have lost my temper like that. Haven't done that in years. I made a mistake and I accept that. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean..." Sting started.

"We were in a battle but I made some decisions that could have badly hurt you. This is supposed to be a friendly competition between guilds. I do hope you accept my apology and hope we can be civilized throughout the rest of the competition. Now I think you should go I need to get some sleep." Chinami quickly mumbled out.

Sting glared at her. "I am not leaving. You owe me answers. Why are you so angry at me? Why did you say you hate me? And what the hell happened to you? What was that weird black stuff?"

Chinami stiffened as he shot out each question. "I don't owe you anything."

"Bullshit! You owe me answers Chinami." Sting yelled.

"I don't owe you anything." Chinami hissed. "Its none of your business what happened out there. I said I was sorry and that it won't happen again. Now move on."

"Hell yeah it's my business. You seem to hate me and I want to know why. I'm your brother I..."

"You are not my brother!" Chinami snapped.

"Ugh! Why are you so stubborn?! I am your brother. Always have been and always will be. You can't change that just cause your having a temper tantrum." Sting yelled, jumping up from his seat. The chair clattered behind him.

"Temper tantrum! That's rich coming from you! Last I checked I grew up. I'm not the one still stuck in the past. A past where you were a jerky, asshole."

"Better an asshole than a brat!"

"Shut up!" Chinami screamed slamming her fist on the bed. Suddenly her body jerked and she crouched in on herself, gripping over her heart in pain.

"Chinami!" Sting quickly sat on the edge of the bed, putting a hand on her back.

"I-I'm f-fine." Chinami panted, turning her head towards Sting. He nervously pulled her closer and grabbed her hand as it clenched the sheets around her. They sat like that for few minutes before the tension slowly left her body. It grew awkward again as Chinami turned from Sting's grip and he pulled away, getting off the bed.

"Are you okay?" Sting asked worriedly. Chinami slowly nodded and pulled the sheets up to her chest and almost cowered over her legs.

"...I guess you do deserve answers. But I know as soon as I start telling you I'm just going to get angrier at you. What makes it worse is you don't even know why. You should already know why. Do I not matter enough for you to even remember what you did? Why do you care now?"

"What are you taking about? I do care, I always have, you're my little sister. You..." Sting started.

"What was the last thing you said to me?" Chinami's mumble cut him off.

"What?" Sting said, not fully hearing her.

"What was the last thing you said to me?" Chinami said louder, glaring in his general direction. "Think."

Sting stayed quiet. He knew why now.

"What? Can't remember. Oh, I know why you can't remember." Chinami snapped. "Because you didn't say a damn thing. You just left."

"Chinam..."

"I thought you were dead! You just disappeared. For years I thought you were dead. It wasn't until last year when the guild watched the games for the first time. I heard your voice. It was a little different but it was still yours. I couldn't believe it. I thought my ears were playing tricks on me. But you stood there talking and fighting. And don't even get me started on the fact that you stood there BRAGGING to Natsu Dragneel that you killed Weiss. First, I was happy to know you were alive. Then I got really angry. I always thought you would come back... but you didn't."

Sting was silent. For what felt like forever he sat there with his head bowed.

"I..." he started hesitantly. "I thought you would be safe there. Where we had found someplace to live after Weiss and Amaya."

"Safe? In village with people I didn't even know." Chinami tried to stop her tears from coming. "That couple had let us into their home. Fed us and gave us a warm place to sleep. I thought we had found something normal after Amaya and Weiss died. Finally. But one morning I woke up and you were gone. Not a word said to anyone. You even left when it was raining so that I couldn't follow your scent. In a matter of months, I lost my parents, and my brother. I was alone. Then when I thought it couldn't get worse it did. Winter came and so did the slavers."

"What?" Sting's head shot up.

"Oh, did I not mention that?" Chinami sobbed angrily. "Winter came and the people I was staying with ran out of food and money. They couldn't keep me around, they couldn't afford to. They sold me to slavers and one night when I was sleeping, they came and took me. Apparently little children who know magic fetch a good price. Especially little dragon slayers."

"Chinami I didn't know. I thought they would look out for you."

"I needed my big brother to look out for me. You weren't there. Good news is they didn't get very far. They kidnapped the wrong little boy. Hikaru. He was one of the kids. Apparently, he'd been picked up earlier that week, along with Yumi and Shinju and a few other kids. Unfortunately for the slavers they didn't realize that they had taken him from Kukika. She saved us all a few days later. Still doesn't change how terrified I was. Could have ended a lot worse."

Chinami twisted her head away and angrily rubbed the tears from her eyes.

"Chinami." Sting said softly. "I'm... I'm so sorry that happened. But you have to understand I thought it was what was best. I couldn't look out for you. I thought their family would be better for you, I thought for sure you would be better on your own."

"I was just a kid!" Chinami snapped.

"So was I!" Sting yelled back. Chinami jumped at that, facing him again with wide eyes. "I feel guilty enough as it but I was a kid too. One that had just lost his parents and now had to look out for you. I didn't know how to do that. I couldn't stop you from crying yourself to sleep every night. I couldn't make you happy. I couldn't look out for you I didn't know how to. Wiess and Amaya was my fault! You were my responsibility after they died. I blamed myself for their death. I was the one who had to kill them and I couldn't look you at you without feeling guilty. Every time you cried I knew it was because of me and that it was my fault and I couldn't fix it! You were better off without me. I was too weak to protect you and give you the childhood you deserved."

Sting stood there breathing hard before he twisted, collapsing to the ground, sitting crossed legged and leaning against the bed. His hands rubbed over his face before clenching in his hair. Chinami sat there on the bed blinking and sniffling. She was an idiot, but so was he. After what felt like and hour, but was probably only a few minutes Chinami slowly moved. She sat on the edge of the bed and slipped off of it. Sting felt her slide down and sit next to him. He stiffened as she sat there. Suddenly he felt her cold hand on his. She pulled his hand down and put hers in it, gripping it tightly, just like when they were upset as kids.

"I didn't realize." Chinami mumbled tilting her head onto his shoulder. Sting leaned his head onto hers finally opening his eyes.

"...I'm sorry. I didn't think any of that would happen." Sting said.

"You're not the only one whose sorry. In some ways I did blame you for them dyeing. I never thought I was making you feel guilty about it though. We're the same age but never once did I think of you as a kid." Chinami mumbled. "But did you really think I was better off without you?"

Sting sat there silent for a moment. "Yeah."

"I guess we're both idiots then."

"...I blame our upbringing." Sting smirked. Chinami giggled.

"We're too much like mom and dad." Both started laughing.

Chinami squeezed his hand tighter and he squeezed back. Sting turned to look at her from the corner of his eye before kissing her head lightly.

"I'm sorry."

"Its okay. I'm sorry." Chinami smiled. "I knew I'd stop being angry at you eventually but I wanted to hold onto it for longer than this. It's a relief."

"So am I your brother again?" Sting smirked.

"...Just like you said. You'll always be my brother. No matter how pissed off you make me."

Sting smiled.

"Besides, I missed you." Chinami said. "But if I had stuck around with you I wouldn't have met my guild. Wouldn't have met Taki or Sorano. That I don't regret one bit. I am who I am today because of everything that happened."

"Me too. I have my guild now."

"Along with a girlfriend so I've been told." Chinami smirked nudging him slightly.

"Yep." Sting smiled proudly. "Surprised she agreed to date me. She's the best."

"She's definitely too good for you."

"Not denying that." Sting laughed. "So you gonna tell me what happened out there? What was that black stuff?"

Chinami stiffened and leaned away from him. She wrapped her arms around her legs and laid her head on her knees. "Not something I wanna talk about. We're not there yet. It's my business so please don't ask."

Sting moved to talk but changed his mind. He could see how withdrawn she suddenly became. He didn't want to upset her again. "Okay."

Chinami blinked at that before relaxing, expecting him to push more. "Thank you."

"No problem." He said getting up. Chinami stretched out her hands and he grabbed them, pulling her to her feet. He helped her back onto the bed and pulled her sheets back over her. "I should probably get going."

"Wait!" Chinami said grabbing his arm as he turned away. He looked down at her. "Could you stick around for a bit? I wanna talk some more."

"...Sure." He smiled. "Just let me go tell Rogue he can head back."

"Okay. Also, can you tell my guild to stop LISTENING IN!" She shouted. Sting cackled as he heard quick shuffling along with pushing and shoving from outside the door. When he got to the door, he quickly opened it. And stepped back as Rogue, who was still pushed up against the door fell through and smashed into the ground. The people who shoved him quickly moved away, whistling as if they were completely innocent.

"Now that's just rude Rogue. Listening in on private conversations." Sting shook his head in mock disappointment.

"How disappointing." Chinami giggled.

From the ground Rogue stuck up a middle finger at Sting, glaring at him.