Disclaimer: I do not own Oreimo and no profit is being made from this. But I do have an Oreimo calendar on a keychain, if that helps.

A Wedding

The day that Kirino got married was also the day that Kyousuke first felt the urge to actually punch somebody really hard. He thought that this somebody might have been the groom, with the way that his vision grew red and how he wanted to throw and smash things whenever he saw the man.

Not that the person his sister was marrying was horrible. No, on the contrary, the groom was actually a very nice and decent man that their father whole-heartedly approved of. Their mother also loved him and was seen to be very excited in having such a "wonderful, young, handsome man with so many talents" for a son-in-law. Kyousuke himself couldn't even deny how perfect he seemed to be, grudgingly admitting that he was in every way the ideal match for his also perfect sister. The man, just like his sister, was good at everything that he did, and as his father had mentioned approvingly, also came from a rich and respectable family. It was obvious that his father had done his research thoroughly so Kyousuke shouldn't even have any reason to dislike the guy.

But there was just something about him and seeing him with his sister that made his hackles rise and he would have stormed out of the wedding ceremony if it wasn't for his father giving him stern, warning looks. What his father was warning him against, he had no idea, but he thought it might have had something to do with the way his hands were clenched into fists by his side or how hard he was gritting his teeth together.

His anger was also mixed with a certain sense of quiet desperation that made him want to go to the nearest bar and drink his heart out, despite never having been drunk before and never having had the urge to be so. This was precisely what he did after the wedding, excusing himself from the reception whilst avoiding looking at his sister in the eye. He had made the mistake of doing that once, before the wedding started, and the look that he received from his sister had made him so confused that he almost didn't attend the wedding at all. It had eerily reminded him of when they were just teenagers and he had found out about his sister's plans to go to America. He had almost asked "What do you want me to do?" just like he had back then, but instead, he had mumbled a quiet "Go" to his sister. Kyousuke thought that the only reason he didn't get punched then was because of all the heavy, frilly clothes his sister was wearing.

He crawled into Manami's place after, so wasted that he didn't realize he was knocking on the door not with his hand but with his head. Manami had gotten him an ice pack for the bruise that was quickly forming and as he sat, not on the couch, but on the floor, gingerly holding the ice pack to his face, he thought about what all this meant.

Throughout the wedding and even up until now, a certain thought was brewing in the back of his mind, one that, if he allowed it to, would explain everything that he had been feeling upon learning about his sister's relationship with that man. Indeed, he thought it would even explain all the stupid and reckless things that he had done for his sister, most of them in the name of "life counselling." But he kept this notion at bay with everything that he had, because he knew, he just knew, that thinking about it or even just acknowledging it would be exactly like jumping off the edge of a very high cliff – there would be no way to stop himself from crashing into whatever it was lying in wait below. The consequences of such an act were bound to be incredibly messy and painful for everyone involved.

So there he sat, on Manami's floor, the coldness of the ice pack numbing his face, decidedly not entertaining hazardous thoughts. After all, he had spent most of his life not thinking about this and it should have been really easy to do so by now. Except that this wasn't easy at all and Manami wasn't helping when she looked at him and quietly said, "Denial isn't healthy, Kyou-chan."

Kyousuke, despite never having been a violent person and even with his very healthy respect for women, wanted to throw the ice pack at her. Strangely enough, he felt something wet near his eyes. He touched them. They were tears.

"I'm sorry." Manami sunk to the floor and hugged him so tight that he almost couldn't breathe. But it was good, because then he felt that he could bury himself in his best friend's embrace and hide from the rest of the world and from those terrible, terrible thoughts. "I shouldn't have said that," his friend continued.

The sat there in silence for a long time until Kyousuke felt like he could retain some semblance of emotional stability. He gingerly extracted himself from Manami's embrace and she had softly smiled at him and said, "You have to be strong, Kyou-chan. You will get over this."

He had gratefully smiled back at her and was about to say thank you when his phone rang. It was his father calling, telling him that he may have missed the reception but he had better attend the next family dinner two weeks from now, after the honeymoon was over. This time, there would be someone else permanently joining these bi-weekly family dinners. Kyousuke had almost thrown the phone across the room when his father mentioned the word 'honeymoon' but he had managed to spit out something resembling an agreement to be there.

As he placed the phone back in his pocket, he glanced at Manami and saw a concerned look on her face. "Will you be okay?" she gently asked.

Kyousuke had to clear his throat. He didn't think he'd be 'okay' ever again or at least not for a very long time, but he had to appear strong. "I'm okay now. Thanks. A whole lot. I really appreciate it, you being here for me."

"Kyou-chan, I will always be here for you."

Manami's smile was so full of sincerity that when Kyousuke saw it, he almost felt like crying again. He winced at how unmanly he was acting right now and blamed it all on the alcohol.

And as he arrived back at his empty apartment that night, he thought that he had better start getting a grip on his emotions for he only had two weeks left before he saw his sister again. He needed to sort himself out and he needed to do it soon too, but for now... all he wanted was to crawl into his bed, under the warm sheets with a pillow over his head and cry to his heart's content, manliness be damned.

End

Notes:

I may have them a bit out of character, but I've only watched the anime (haven't read any of the manga/light novels). They're older here, maybe in their late twenties? Old enough for Kirino to get married anyway. :)