A/N: ...it's not 11:42 pm, and I don't have to wake up at 5 tomorrow...-cough hack- I'M SORRY, BUT I DIDN'T WANNA STOPPPPP /(oAo)/ DUN HURT ME, ABU-TAN, EMO-CHAN. I DUN WANNA DIE, YET; I need to write EotS, I knoooooow...I'll put it up soon, guys, I promise.

Demo demo, this is for you, Crimson-nee! I mean...the whole, y'know, plot of it's not really significant, but it's a gift for all the nice I've gottttts

So...this'un kinda needs a little explanations Kazu's sister is now Ayaka, for lack of an actual name in the story. Unless they DO say one, then will you guys please tell meeeee?? Oh, and "Onee-chan" was also a bit of a guess... But this fic was actually kinda difficuuuuuult. Harder than I'd thought it'd have been, seeing as I was basing it off my LOVELY dinner...you'll see. But really, I have nooooo idea what goes on at Kazu's. I wish I did thouuuugh, it's sad not knowing enough about our little Jet!

Anywhoo though Disclaimer: Much as I luv them, they're not mine. They're property of Oh!Great...-sigh- No faiiiiiiir.

Oh, and...it's kinda implied Ikki x Kazu...not really shown. Oh well

Ja, mata ne! -Masi

Ikki flopped down on the couch next to Kazu, arms folded with his hands behind his neck. He looked lazily at the television, his eyes half-closed, and blinked, obviously bored. After a few minutes of Ikki's yawning and the occasional, "this is boring…," Kazu sighed and clicked the remote to some other channel, but then his face turned into a slight frown.

"Ikki…why're you over here, anyway?" Kazu asked, slightly confused, but not surprised.

"Mikan got pissed…" Ikki trailed off.

"…What did you do this time?"

Ikki shifted slightly. "I, uh…accidentally walked in on her…" he rubbed the bottom of his nose nervously with his forefinger.

Kazu just held up his hand. "I don't need to know. But seriously, you need to stop doing those things. You're at my house too often."

Ikki shrugged. "Yeah, yeah, it's not like you care."

"…maybe not that much, but I know Onee-chan's not that fond of it," Kazu said pointedly. "And don't act like I like how you just…appearing here all the time."

Ikki looked over to the entrance of the kitchen, right as Ayaka walked out, carrying the dishtowels in a basket. "Speak of the devil."

Ayaka looked at the Crow with an un-amused look on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you, didn't you know?" Ikki asked, putting a clearly fake 'charming' smile and wiggling his eyebrows. Kazu and Ayaka make the same scoffing noise at the exact same time, to which Ikki started chuckling.

The ring of the phone made the three teens all turn their heads at once. "Hey, Kazu, can you get that?" Ayaka asked, looking back at the blonde. "My hands are full. It's probably Mom or Dad though, so put it on speaker."

Kazu stood up and pressed the button on the phone, mumbling. "Yeah, yeah." He took a peek at the caller ID then nodded; it was their parents.

"Hey," Ayaka called from the washing machine in the closet.

"Hi, Dear, how're you?" The reply of the two blondes' mother was slightly electronic, but Ikki could pick up on the tired tone in the woman's voice.

"Fine. How're things over there?"

"…alright. Things are just really busy, with your father's work and all. Is Kazu there?"

"You're talking to him, you're on speaker," Ayaka commented, dropping the dish towels into the wash and walking up the stairs, presumably for more laundry.

"Oh, sorry Kazu, Dear. I didn't realize." His mother paused. "How're things at school? Are you keeping your grades up?"

Kazu looked at Ikki with a she does this all the time expression on his face. "Yeah, Mom. I'm doing fine in school. I'm not failing or anything."

"Well that's good…do you know your grades, by any chance?"

"Nope." At this point, Ayaka walked down the stairs again, arms full of clothing.

"Hey, Kazu, can you grab the washer door for me?" she asked, head turned towards the boys again.

"Yeah, sure." Kazu got up and opened up the door to the washing machine, and she dumped the clothes in on top of the towels. "Wait, Onee-chan…are these my clothes?"

"Yeah, I grabbed them on the way, they were grossing me out. Your room's too dirty, Kazu, you need to clean it again. You had your stupid toys scattered everywhere; screws, bolts…" she trailed off. Ikki raised his eyebrows at Kazu. Had he been working on his AT's before Ikki came?

Kazu's mother suddenly cut in, saying, "Aya, Dear, you shouldn't go into your brother's room, it's rude."

"Oh, so it's rude to do my little brother's laundry now? Well, sorry!" Ayaka replied, face full of indignation.

"Well, I'm just saying. How would you feel if I went into your room? And don't give me that tone, young lady. I may not live with you two right now, but I'm still your mother."

"I'd be fine if you went into my room, if you had a good reason!" Ikki and Kazu exchanged a nervous glance, and there was a tinge of pink in the blonde's cheeks; Ikki hadn't really heard his sister and mother talk before, and the Crow supposed that the boy found it slightly embarrassing.

"Mikura Ayaka, do not yell at me." Their mother had a tone of warning in her voice.

"I'm not, mother. It's just that I haven't done anything wrong!"

"You insulted your brother!"

"I did not!" Ayaka's face had flushed red, and she was pouring the laundry soap with a shaking hand.

"Ayaka, do not yell at me!"

"I WASN'T YELLING!" the younger woman exclaimed, slamming the bottle of detergent hard down on the top of the dryer. "And I'm sorry that I've been caring for my little brother since you've been away, what, with feeding him and buying him all the shit he needs for school and new clothes for whenever he ruins them doing whatever it is that he's doing, and-!"

"AYAKA! You know that I'm thankful of you taking care of Kazuma, but you can not say that we have no part in it; we pay for all of that! And you can not, absolutely NOT use that type of language with me! It is rude and disrespectful, and I am sick and tired of-!"

"I'm disrespectful? Oh, sure! Like I ever get a thank you from your lovely son, your dear Kazuma!" Ayaka was positively flaming, her hand clenched into fists as she yelled into the phone. "I'm sick of it! I never get a thank you for all that I do, and I'm sick of it!" Ayaka stormed off, feet banging down hard on the stairs, and there was a loud slam of the door before silence.

"…Kazu?" Kazu's mother was still on the line, apparently. Kazu looked over to the left, avoiding making eye contact with Ikki.

"…yeah? You know, Mom, maybe you shouldn't have-," he began, voice slightly softer than usual, with a tone of reasoning.

"Mikura Kazuma, do not blame me for that, that was entirely based on your sister's bad attitude."

"Yeah, but-…"

"Kazuma, do not use that tone with me, I know what you're saying, and it's not true. I'll talk to you later, good night."

"…good night, Mom," Kazu said quietly. There was the soft click of the line disconnecting, and Kazu got up to press the button on the phone. Ikki swallowed and watched the smaller boy move around the washing machine, clicking this button, turning that knob, putting up the detergent. When the boy finally sat back down, Ikki tried once again to make eye contact, but the blonde kept his eyes anywhere but the Crow's.

"Uh…sorry you had to hear that, Ikki." Kazu's voice was a little lower than usual, and he coughed a little to clear his throat.

Ikki exhaled slightly, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "It's fine, man. Just a bad day, that's all," he said, trying to sound reasurring.

Kazu nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

Ikki's eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch. "What?"

The blonde shook his head, his white beanie holding his hair close to his face and covering up most of his eyes. "It's not everyday…more like just twice a week."

"That's really often…" Ikki said, frowned and looking away; it's not like Kazu was looking at him anyway. But Ikki didn't like the idea of Kazu being in the middle of all this for some reason; he felt like it was both of the blonde's family members that were responsible.

"I mean…I guess they do it a lot. But it's always just so sudden…one of them will say just one word and the other will snap in up like a hungry fish," Kazu said, his voice soft and slightly wavering. "I just wish that they'd stop though, I hate being in the middle of all of it."

Ikki looked back at the blonde, and was finally able to make eye contact with the blue gems for a split second before Kazu looked away again. Ikki swore inwardly; Kazu's eyes had been troubled. Which meant that tonight wasn't the only time that Kazu had been in the middle of one of the twos' argument, and that he'd also been the topic of it before. Kazu was now fiddling with the pocket of his sweatshirt, thin fingers fingering the white fabric.

"Look, Kazu…" Ikki paused, unsure of what to say. What could he say? Ikki had never been through this; he'd never known his parents, and the Noyamano sisters never fought that often, except over who changed the channel, who left a red sock in the white load of laundry, turning all the clothes pink… "Kazu, if you ever feel the need to get away from all that shit, my door's always open to a friend."

Kazu finally looked up at the Crow, sky blue eyes slightly hesitant. "But Ikki, I'd be intruding…you're not the only one who lives there," he said, voice still wavering slightly.

Ikki shook his head. "No, Kazu, none of the girls would care, even Mikan. If you ever feel like you need to just, y'know, get out, go there, alright?"

Kazu sighed and nodded. "Alright, Ikki," he said, head falling backwards onto the back of the couch. "…thanks, Ikki."

Ikki let his head fall back too, and looked over to the left at Kazu, only to find him looking right back. The blue depths of Kazu's eyes were clear again, and the white beanie had fallen back a little bit. Ikki's mouth twitched into a small smile. Amazing, how such simple words could start an argument, cause so much pain, so much trouble, then suddenly make things all better again.

"…no problem."