Warning: This story contains yuri! If that isn't your cup of tea, then I advise you to not read this story.

Childhood Love

Ib cringed when Garry started to put more and more of his weight onto her as they walked down the long narrow hallway, his breathing was slowly becoming strained, and his steps were more sporadic and uneven. He suddenly tripped over his own two feet, sending the two of them falling to the ground. Ib let out a cry and was fortunately able to land on her arms, and Garry was able to land with his back to the wall, letting out a loud groan as he slowly slid down his back so he was sitting on the ground. He continued to gasp out in pain, and it was clear to both of them that he wasn't going to make it.

"Garry!" Ib cried, kneeling down next to him, "Get up!" She grabbed his arm and pulled. Garry tried to get up, but he fell back down a few seconds after. He was far too heavy for Ib to try to lift up, and he lacked the strength to get up on his own.

He smiled as he saw her beginning to shake, "I – I don't think I can." Ib just stared at him with her red eyes, despair tearing at her heart. "L – Look Ib..." He coughed, "I – I don't want to lie to you... But I don't w – want to tell you the truth either." He ruefully smiled, "Just go on without me, ok?"

"No!" Ib cried shaking her head furiously, "Come on!" Again she tried to pull him up, but this time Garry didn't even try to get up. She stopped, and gasped for breath, tears brimming the corner of her eyes as she looked at him.

Garry shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I can't..."

Ib's heart froze when she saw his eyes drooping close, "Garry, d – don't... Don't you dare..." She couldn't even bear to say the word, so she instead decided to say, "Don't sleep!" She knelt down beside him, and threw her arms around him, "please!"

Garry chuckled at her substitution word, and glanced over at her, "Ib, I'm sorry." She felt warm tears beginning to go down her face, and she hiccupped, reaching up to wipe her eyes. Garry beat her to it however, lifting his hand and wiping them away. "Don't cry," He said, still smiling, "You can still get out of here..."

"I don't want to leave you..." She whispered quietly, sniffling with an occasional sob now and then.

He let out a pained sigh, shifting a bit to get more comfortable against the wall, "This is it for me."

"I should have done things differently." Ib muttered, her tears still coming. She pressed her head into his chest, trying to stop her crying, but nothing was working. She could still hear his heart beat, so that at least gave her some sort of hope.

"Have you heard of the many worlds theory?" He asked. When the girl shook his head, he elaborated, "I don't know all the techno babble stuff behind it, but it basically Wboils down to the idea that every choice you make creates many different worlds for that choice – one for each possible outcome."

Ib frowned glancing up at him with her tear stained face, "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," He closed his eyes, "There are billions and billions and billions of different paths our lives could have taken based on the choices we've made in our life – for instance, I could have not closed my eyes earlier, or I could have, that created two different worlds." He lifted up his arm and pat the girl's head, "Never think that you should have done something differently, there's far too many things to take into account when you think like that."

"But..." She cried, "You're going to die..."

He nodded, "Yes, I am..." He felt the strength in his arm leaving him, so he simply laid it across the girl's back as she hugged him. He felt like he just really wanted to sleep... Yes, a little sleep would be good. He closed his eyes.

"There must be one of those other worlds then where you don't die..." Ib murmured, snapping his eyes back open. He couldn't die now, he had to stay awake long enough for Ib. He couldn't let her see him die.

He frowned, "Don't think like that." Even saying that much was a burden on his. He felt so sore, and sleep seemed like such a nice option.

She nodded her head, still buried in his chest, "I know... You were trying to make me feel better."

He smiled despite his sleepiness, "Don't look back on your previous choices with doubt, it'll drive you mad. There are far too many outcomes that can result from just one choice, and there's a chance that it could become worse as a result of any change you make." He head began to droop lower and lower, and the strength began to leave his hand, making it harder and harder to hold it up and wipe her tears away. He wanted to stay awake for Ib, but it felt like his whole body was shutting down.

Ib grabbed his hand when it began to fall, "Garry? Are you still there?" SHe looked up at him with fearful eyes, and her lips shook as she watched him struggle to stay alive.

His eyes were closed, and it was clear that he was in pain with each breath he took, but he managed to whisper, "I'm here."

"I'm so sorry." Ib sobbed into his shirt. If she hadn't have been so stupid to lose her rose, none of this would have happened. This all could have been avoided, and the two of them could have escaped together.

"Don't apologize." He whispered, "You're still alive, and I know you'll escape... I – I'm glad it's me and not you... I – I doubt I would be...Able to handle... Seeing you... D – d..."

"Do you think I can handle to see it happen to you?!" She screamed at him, "I wish I stopped you! I - I don't wanna see you die! Garry! GARRY!" Garry merely twitched in response, and she could see him trying to lift his hand to pat her head, but his arm fell to his side, and shortly after, his head drooped down into his chest, and he took one last pained breath.

He was dead.

She closed her eyes to try and keep the tears at bay, but couldn't do it. She hugged him as hard as she could, but there was nothing she could do anymore. She let her emotions out, wailing in the loudest cries she could muster as she held him. It must have been an hour at least, but she finally got up, sniffling as she looked over at the exit of the toy box that she had been pushed into, and walked out. She gave Garry one tearful glance, a small false hope igniting in her, hoping that he would pop up and be alive, but that was not to be. She averted her gaze, and tried to keep her tears from falling any longer. Looking forward instead, she saw the plucked blue rose petals scattered on the ground, and she felt a burning hatred igniting within her.

"Where are you?" She cried, chasing after the blue rose petals, bursting out of the poorly drawn building that she was in, exiting into a large black area with crayon drawings everywhere. She saw the trail of blue rose petals and continued to follow it, which led up to a new staircase that hadn't been present before. Ignoring any precautions, she charged forward, ready to give Mary a piece of her mind. "Mary!" She cried, seeing the girl standing in front of a very large picture.

Mary's head turned towards Ib in surprise, and she smiled, "Ib! You're here!" Ib looked at her, and noticed the destroyed rose stem in her hand. Acting almost purely on instinct at this point, Ib jumped at the girl in rage, knocking them both to the ground. Mary let out a startled gasp, and lost her wind when the two girls slammed down on to the ground. "What are you doing?" Mary screamed.

"You killed him!" Ib shouted, her hands shaking as she pressed Mary's shoulders into the ground and glared daggers at the girl, "How could you?" Her voice cracked at the end, and tears began to fall onto Mary's shocked face.

"B – But..." Mary sputtered, "H – He needed to stay... I wanted to be with you forever..." She reached up and wiped away some of Ib's tears, but the girl quickly jerked her head away so Mary couldn't do it anymore.

"So you killed him?!" Ib cried, "How could you?" Her hands shook with both fury and sadness. She just wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, and she also wanted to hurt Mary for what she did.

Mary frowned still on the ground, her hair splayed all about, "I – I thought you said we were friends..." She averted her eyes from Ib's, unable to look at how emotional Ib was getting.

Ib sniffled, leaning back from Mary now, letting the false girl get back up. As she wiped her eyes, Ib shook her head, "No, you're not my friend anymore."

Mary felt her heart get crushed into a thousand pieces, and she felt tears beginning to well up in her own eyes as her lips trembled, "W – why?! I – I didn't want to do it, but I had to… Otherwise you'd both leave me in here all alone!" She took a few steps toward Ib, "I - I wanted to be with you!" Ib finally stood up, and looked around the room, and finally her eyes came across the painting that Mary had been staring at. Her eyes widened, and she momentarily forgot about Mary as she walked forward and touched it, surprised that her finger went through it. "That's the way out," Mary mumbled from behind.

Ib coldly looked back at her, seeing that the girl was wiping her eyes and keeping her gaze off of Ib. Ib was unfazed by the girl's tears though, and simply asked, "I can get back to the real world through here?" She asked, her voice still void of any emotion.

Mary nodded, "That's right, and I'm coming with you." She wasn't looking at Ib anymore, instead she found the ground to be very interesting, and she was shaking just as badly as Ib was, since she was hurting just as badly emotionally as Ib was.

Ib immediately frowned, "No. You can't." She turned to look at Mary now, seeing that the blonde haired girl had tears running down her face as she shook.

"Yes I can and I will!" Mary exploded, "Garry is staying here! You are not holding me back! I wanted to remember our time in here, so that we could stay friends in the real world, but now..." She bit her bottom lip and shook her head, "I want to forget everything you said! I – I love you, why would you do this to me?!"

"Love?" Ib blinked in surprise, momentarily caught off guard. She was so drained emotionally now that she barely reacted beyond that. She wanted to hurt Mary so badly, but... Something prevented her from doing it, something stopped her from hurting the crying girl in front of her.

Mary nodded, "I love you, and now you want to ruin it all…" Mary reached up and wiped her eyes, her loud sobs echoing in the gallery. Ib took a few steps towards the girl now. What Mary did was unforgivable, but... Seeing her like this was making her heart hurt.

"Mary…" Ib whispered. True, she was absolutely furious with the girl, but the two of them did get along pretty well. It was only when Garry learned the truth that Mary started to act in a way she didn't agree with… If Mary hadn't have killed Garry… If she didn't destroy his rose, perhaps she could at least have seen the other girl's point, but as it stood, she just stood back, not going to comfort the girl. It pained Ib to see her like this, but she got what she deserved. If Ib saying that they weren't friends no more brought this kind of reaction out of her, so be it.

"I'm going no matter what! I – I'll forget all of this! I don't want to remember what you said to me!" Mary cried, looking Ib in the eyes now. Ib could see that her emotions were genuine, and was actually a bit shocked. Mary was seriously this upset that she claimed that they weren't friends? Just what kind of love was Mary referring to anyway? Before Ib could do anything, the girl launched herself through the painting and disappeared on the other side. Ib impassively watched, not even sure what the girl was going on about with remembering or whatever. She took one last glance at the rose that Mary had destroyed, and went through the massive painting.

"Garry..." She mumbled, going through the painting., "Forgive me..."

She opened her eyes, and looked around the place. She suddenly had the strangest feeling that she had been falling, but for the life of her she couldn't recall at all what it was about. She also felt sad, and frowned as she tried to remember why she was so sad. She tried hard, but no matter what she did, the memory would just keep slipping away from her grasp. Letting out a sigh, she went to head to the entrance, especially when she noticed the clock hanging on the wall showing the time as almost a quarter pass seven. She rushed pass every sculpture, painting, and model, but paused at just one. It was a man with purple hair, holding a blue rose, with his eyes closed. He looked to be sleeping, and she read the name of the painting, 'The Hanged Man'. Again, an immense feeling of sadness passed through her – did she know him? She shook her head again, and went to leave once more, glancing back several times as she left, trying to discern why she felt so weird around the painting.

"There you are!"

Ib looked up and smiled when she saw her adopted sister running towards her. The girl had beautiful blonde hair, and bright blue eyes, not to mention that her smile was so genuinely happy that Ib felt special knowing that it was directed at her. She wore a green dress, and nearly collided with Ib as she wrapped her arms around the girl. "Hello." Ib replied warmly, hugging her sister

"Where were you?" Mary asked, returning the hug, holding on a few seconds longer, even after Ib had let go. Finally Mary let go, and she looked curiously at Ib.

Ib frowned as something seemed vaguely familiar... What was it? She didn't know, so she finally just shrugged and replied, "I don't know."

"What?" Mary asked, tilting her head cutely.

"Did you... Come out of a daze, or something?" Ib asked, knowing that she probably sounded particularly odd. She was surprised when Mary actually looked a bit thoughtful, and crossed her arms, one of her hands reaching up and tapping her chin.

"Now that you mention it," Mary mumbled, now rubbing her chin, "Yeah, I did."

"What was that about?" Ib asked, leaned forward a bit, eager to see what her sister had to say about this.

Mary shrugged, "I dunno, I was just lookin at the paintings, and suddenly I felt dizzy."

Ib nodded enthusiastically, "Same thing happened to me! What happened?"

"Do you think there's poison in the air?" Mary asked, giving Ib a wide eyed stare. Ib couldn't help but giggle at her sister's mind trying to work out an explanation, and she reached into her pocket to pull out her handkerchief, but paused when she felt something else in her pocket. She pulled out a piece of candy, wrapped in a yellow wrapper.

"What's that? Is that candy?" Mary asked both questions rapidly, and then followed it up with, "Where'd you get it?"

"I don't know," Ib mumbled, frowning as she felt a vague memory tugging at her mind. She held the candy up to her face, and looked at the wrapped, feeling the memory in her head - it was so far and distant, and every time she tried to recall it, it would suddenly fade away. It was annoying, and she finally let out an unsatisfied groan, and shook her head as she dropped it back to her side.

"Can I have it?" Mary asked, smiling sweetly towards Ib. It was clear to Ib that she was just going to eat it.

Ib closed her hand around the candy and shook her head, "No. It's mine." She didn't know how, but she just knew that somehow, it was hers... Someone gave it to her... Maybe someone in the gallery. She didn't focus on that, and instead just put it in her pocket.

"Aw..." Mary pouted, and she crossed her arms, "You're so mean!"

Ib smiled and flicked her older sister's forehead, "Go get your own then."

"I will!" Mary said with determination, balling up her fists and looking towards Ib, "But first we've gotta leave!" Ib nodded, and she patted her pocket to make sure the candy was still there as Mary dragged her over to her mom and dad. The two looked relieved to see Ib, and they walked over as the children entered the main lobby of the gallery.

"Are you ready to go kiddo?" Her dad asked, kneeling down in front of her and messing with her hair. Ib frowned immediately when he started to do it, though she did allow him to do it for a few more seconds before she put a stop to it.

"Stop that," Ib grumbled, moving the offending hand away. She rolled her eyes as she saw her dad curl up his lips like a child, and avert his eyes away. It was ridiculous to see a grown man acting like that, even if it was her father, who in their right mind would fall for such an act?

"Aw," He faked his feelings being hurt, "My daughter doesn't love me anymore!" He brought his hands up to his eyes and began to wipe them, and Mary immediately ran over to him.

Mary hugged her father and told him, "I love you!" Of course Mary would fall for it. Ib rolled her eyes at the pointed look that Mary gave her, but complied and gave her father a hug. The man wrapped his hands around both of his daughters and hugged them, chuckling the entire time.

As the family began to leave, Ib took one last look behind her at the museum – she felt like she still had something to do, but she couldn't figure it out. She finally let out a disgruntled sigh, if it were important, then surely it will come back to her later. With that thought in mind, she turned around and followed her family out of the museum.

XxXxXxX

It had been several months since they had last visited the museum, and since then, Ib had been feeling very troubled, though she couldn't point out exactly why she felt that way. She knew it at least had something to do with the candy, but she couldn't really identity what it had to do with that, or why the candy made her feel so troubled. It was annoying, not being able to determine what her problem was, since she was someone who was so used to hitting her problems head on – how could she do that if she didn't even know what it was in the first place?

She was currently lying down on her bed wearing a loose T-shirt and shorts, her hair sprawled out along the sheets. She held the candy above her with one hand, her room light illuminating the yellow-wrapped candy like a star. After a few moments of that, she finally let out a disgusted sigh, and leaned up and turned to the side towards her nightstand, where she opened a small drawer and put the candy in, deciding it wasn't worth the headache she usually got whenever she looked at it for too long.

"Ib?" She heard knocking on her door, and saw a shadow below it.

"What is it?" She called out, knowing that it was her sister behind her door. The girl visited constantly, not that Ib minded much. The two of them got along really well, almost too well, some people would say.

"Can I come in?"

Ib didn't particularly care, "Sure." The door opened, and Mary walked in. The blonde hair girl was dressed in her favorite green dress, despite the fact that they weren't going out anywhere that day. Ib honestly had no idea why the girl liked that dress or the color green so much, but she guess it didn't matter – she was quite fond of the color red in the same way.

Mary opened the door, and smiled widely as she saw her sister laid out on the bed, so she rushed over and jumped on her sister's bed right at her side and let out a loud, "Hey, how you doing!" She giggled as she caused Ib and her to bounce a bit from how forceful she hit the bed. She then laid down right beside Ib, closing her eyes as she rubbed her head into her sister's pillows.

"I'm good, what do you need?" Ib asked in a bored tone, though she was thankful Mary had come in. She was bored out of her skull, and looking at the candy could only be entertaining for so long.

"I'm bored, let's play!" Mary exclaimed, turning her head over to look at Ib now. Ib couldn't help but smile when she saw how happy Mary was, and she guess she'd use the word 'cute' in this instance, since Mary was giving her such a wide eyed and excited stare.

Ib chuckled and sat up, using her arms to support her from behind, "Do you want to play a board game?"

"Yeah!" Mary cheered as she pumped both fists in the air above her, "I'll be sure to beat you this time!" She got up and rushed over to Ib's closet to search for a board game to play.

"Sure you will," Ib couldn't help but smile at her sister's antics. She was always so excitable, and it was honestly a lot of fun to be around. That was what made it so confusing for her, when she felt two very different and conflicting emotions about her. On one hand, she loved her sister. She had known her for about a year now, and she had become very close with her. They did practically everything together – they ate together, bathed together, played together… They both had their own rooms, but more often than not, Mary would sneak into Ib's room and would sleep in her bed. It wasn't as if Ib minded that much at all, though she supposed it was odd that Mary was the older sister by four months, when she acted so much like a younger sister.

On the other hand, for some reason she felt as though Mary was… unsettling, she supposed. It as if she was hiding something so horrible and dark that she refused to reveal it to her. She had no idea where these dark thoughts originated from, but she knew they started to occur the day she visited the museum, and they never really left, though they had reduced in intensity over time. She never confronted her adopted sister about this however, since she refused to try and distress Mary needlessly, since the girl would undoubtedly take it the wrong way and think she hated her.

"Can we play this?" Mary asked, pulling out 'connect four' from Ib's very neat and tidy closet. She rushed to the center of the floor, and began to set the game up without Ib's input on whether she wanted to play it or not.

Ib smiled – there was no way her sister could be evil, not when she acted so innocent and cute like this. She watched the girl give her an adorable smile, and she shook the dark thoughts away for now, and spoke up, "That's fine." She sat up and went over to sit down beside Mary.

Mary giggled as she separated the red and black circles, in the box, and Ib felt another much more uncomfortable thought begin to hit her. She had been having odd feelings about her sister for a while now, and she knew they were wrong. She loved her sister, but found herself realizing slowly each day that it was a deeper love – one that she definitely shouldn't be having about her sister. She was only nine too! She heard that she was mature for her age, but wasn't that a bit ridiculous? She let the uncomfortable thoughts pass, and again focused on the game, realizing that Mary had made the first move. She made sure to drop her piece down next to Mary's, and then stacked her next one on top of her other piece. The game moved in such a fashion, with Ib slowly getting absorbed into the game, and forgetting about her troubling thoughts. Soon, the first match ended in her victory.

"You're too good at these games!" Mary cried across from her sister, "I want a rematch!"

Ib rolled her eyes, "I'll still beat you." She replied with a teasing smile on her face. Mary seemed to catch on that Ib wasn't seriously when she said that, because Mary's face also split into a grin.

"We'll see about that!" Mary smiled widely. Ib reached down to the bottom of the board to move the plastic aside to release all of the piece, and her hand brushed against Mary's who had gone to do the same thing. Her face suddenly heated up, and she pulled her hand back quickly as if she had been shocked with electricity. What was wrong with her? Usually she could touch Mary and just be fine! Was it because of her earlier thoughts? "What's wrong with you?" Mary giggled, "Scared?"

Ib looked up, and realized that Mary had also turned a bit red, and Ib abruptly stood up, "I – I'm going to the bathroom really quick!"

"Aw, ok." Mary sighed, though Ib could see a bit of relief and... perhaps disappointment in her sister's eyes? She couldn't tell, and she just found herself nodding as Mary replied with, "I'll wait here!" Ib rushed to the bathroom, and quickly closed the door, letting out a sigh as she did so, and she slid down the door, allowing her beating heart to rest. If this is what she had to look forward to every time she saw Mary, this was going to be quite an issue. No. It wouldn't happen every time. She's a girl too! There was no way she could like her in that kind of way!

"She's my sister, my sister…" She mumbled. Though she isn't related by blood… "Stop it, mind!" She grumbled to herself, feeling her face heating up even more.

About five minutes later, she managed to calm down, and determined that she would be fine around Mary for now. As long as she kept the fact that they were siblings in her mind, and the fact that they were both girls, she could get through this. Letting out one last deep sigh, she got up and examined herself in the mirror, and then she opened the door, going back to her room.

XxXxXxX

The next two and a half years passed as a blur to Ib, and while she occasionally had trouble controlling her emotions around Mary, nothing too serious ever came from it, for which she was very thankful. Instead, she slowly started focusing more and more on art, and she enjoyed painting in particular. Her parents and Mary were all very supportive of her goals, and encouraged her every time they saw her start to draw or paint. Mary even would sit by and watch her doing it occasionally, staying very quiet as Ib concentrated on her artwork. When she confronted Mary about it one day, the girl had shrugged, and admitted that she really liked watching her draw, and she found it very calming.

Mary wasn't as into arts as Ib was, and over the last few years, she had instead began to focus more on her school work than anything, and even got ahead on quite a few subjects. Also unlike Ib, it was clear that Mary was definitely growing to be much more feminine – she enjoyed shopping a lot more than Ib did, and loved it when their mother took them out. She loved clothes, make-up, and all those things that Ib really didn't care about. One thing that stayed the same however, was their relationship to one another. They both loved each other dearly, and always supported one another, even if their decisions weren't ones that they'd have picked themselves. They also tended to do most things together, even if it didn't fit the others interest.

It was now early May, and the two were now twelve years old and starting their first year in middle school together. The first couple of weeks of classes were a bore, as Mary said they would be, but Ib didn't really mind. She spent most of her time in class drawing doodles in the margins of her papers, or texting Mary with her phone hidden from view. There were several times when she had to bite her hand to stop herself from laughing at the texts she received, causing her to get some annoyed glances from the people around her, but at least their professor never caught on.

Their school unfortunately had a uniform that everyone was required to wear. All the girls had to wear a black jacket, and a white blouse underneath it, and a skirt that reached to their knee, fortunately during the summer they were allowed to forego the jacket, but it was still a bit warm that summer day. The boys on the other hand had to wear a black jacket, a white button up shirt, and black pants, and like the girls, they could get rid of the jacket during the summer months. There was talk of the dress code being removed soon, but unfortunately that was still years away, and it would be well after they graduated middle school.

As classes were let out for lunch that day, Mary and Ib met up in the halls, and walked towards the cafeteria, and along the way, the entire left wall was practically covered with flyers advertising dozens upon dozens of clubs, and in addition to that, there were some third year students standing around explaining their clubs and handing out flyers to interested students. "Mary," Ib groaned as the two walked close to one another, "Please, try not to make me laugh in class."

"It's funny," Mary giggled, "I sit behind you and I saw you actually bite your hand!" She started to laugh, "I can't believe you did that! I actually had to stop myself from laughing at you!"

"I'm glad I could be of some entertainment to you," Ib commented dryly, "But please, don't do that to me again. I think the professor was starting to get really mad."

"Aw, who cares what that old hag thinks?" Mary shrugged, "Plus, once she actually starts handing out more than one assignment a week for us to do and we start acing them, there's really nothing she should worry about."

"It astounds me even now that you've managed to become such a good student." Ib admitted, grinning when she saw Mary give her an annoyed glance. That was payback for laughing about her biting her hand, as far as Ib was concerned.

"I'm just amazing, that's all." Mary shrugged, returning her gaze back forward, "Maybe if you stopped doodling on your homework and actually did the assignments, you'd be doing just as well!" She replied with a small smile.

"It's not my fault that it's so boring," Ib groaned, shaking her head in dismay, "Seriously, that last math assignment we got was basically doing the same thing thirty different times. It was so boring!"

"It's important that you know how to do it you know." Mary chided her sister, acting like the older sibling for once, "Repetition makes it easy to remember."

"Yeah, yeah." Ib waved off, not really interested, and she looked out the windows to the right at the bright sunny day, "I wish I could just go outside and draw in the sun, that'd be nice." She stopped by the window, and let out a small sigh. Sometimes the inside of the school felt like a prison, especially on days like this.

"Draw, huh?" Mary mumbled, her eyes looked outside, and then she quickly turned around, and began to scan the wall, "Hey, Ib, look!"

Ib frowned as Mary grabbed her hand and dragged her across the hall to the opposite side of the windows, getting in the way of several students who were walking behind them, and she forced Ib to look up at a flyer, "What is it, Mary?"

"It's an art club! You love drawing so much, why not join a club dedicated to it?" Mary exclaimed, looking like she was far too excited, "It'll be fun! Come on, I'll join too, and we can both draw!" Her eyes were shining in pure excitement as she looked to Ib.

"You don't like drawing though," Ib couldn't help but point out, looking to Mary in confusion.

Mary brought up both her hands and waved it off, "Oh come on, and I don't hate it. It's not that hard, right? You just get a pencil and draw a few lines here and there, right? Nothing to it!" She motioned in the air the lines she would draw with a pencil, getting a few odd looks. Mary didn't care one bit though, and soon the people walked away.

"It's a bit more than that," Ib couldn't help but giggle, trying to imagine Mary sitting down for more than five seconds and drawing was very hard to imagine.

"Aw come on, let's do it!" Mary practically begged, giving Ib her best puppy-dog like look. Ib looked away, her heart suddenly beating hard against her chest at the look.

"I guess." Ib mumbled, trying to calm down, "Room 212 in the club room building after school at four." She let out a few more deep breaths,a nd felt more in control now.

"Cool!" Mary gushed, "I haven't been in that building yet!"

"I'm surprised that this school has more than one building on their campus." Ib couldn't help but say, "It just seems wasteful." She looked over to Mary, and she could see that Mary was going into 'professor' mode, like she usually did whenever they did assignments together.

"Well, we ARE on the outskirts of a city, and there's like, what, five thousand students here? They probably need as much room as they can possibly get!" Mary explained, her eyes turning over to Ib and shining brightly, "So, you'll do it?"

"Yeah, I'll see what the club is all about, and decide if I'll join it or not." Ib shrugged. Honestly, she really liked the idea, and had no objections. Mary cheered, and embraced Ib, who was not expecting it. When she was prepared for her sisters occasional hugs, she was fine, but when Mary did it so out of blue and she had no time to prepare for them, Ib would get very flustered, and this wasn't an exception. Her face turned bright red, and she began to recite her mantra in her head: She's my sister. She's my sister. She's my sister.

Soon, she let go, and Ib couldn't but let out a sigh of relief at that, and she smiled at Mary, her face still a bit red, "That came out of nowhere."

"I'm just really happy!" Mary claimed, though Ib could have sworn that her sister's face was also a bit red, "Now come on, let's go get something to eat!"

Since the school contained so many students, there were three different lunch periods, one for each grade level. Unfortunately for them, that meant that they were served in the last period, and each consecutive year in the school they'd be able to eat earlier and earlier. The cafeteria was still jam packed, despite only a third of the student body being there, and Ib had to admit that she honestly didn't look forward to this every school day. After lunch, she and her sister went back to their classes. For Ib they passed by relatively fast, since her mind was preoccupied with the thoughts of this art club that Mary had pointed out to her, and she had to admit, she was at least a little bit interested, and so it was a great relief when the professor excused them all, allowing them to do whatever they wanted.

"Ready to go?" Mary asked, rushing over to Ib's desk from her own, throwing her backpack on her back and grinning at Ib like a mad woman.

"Yeah," Ib nodded, not really wanting to let Mary see how eager she really was to get going. She simply put some of her books away in the desk, and then put what she needed in a backpack to take home later. She shifted it onto her back, and followed Mary out of the classroom. The two walked down the hall again, and walked towards the door leading outside. The campus was pretty big, for simply being a middle school. As soon as they walked out, if they headed straight, they would reach the front gate of the school, but if they took a right immediately upon exiting, they would be able to take a path that led to another large building. The path was lined with all sorts of trees and flowers, but both girls were focused on the building ahead of them.

The giant building wasn't the greatest looking place, but it would get the job done. It was large and rectangular, with windows evenly spaced out all over. They went up to the front door, and pulled it open, walking inside. Upon entering, immediately to the left was a desk with a student worker sitting, chatting with a few people. If they wanted, they could ask them for directions or basic information, but there were already several talking, and even more waiting to speak, so the two opted not to bother. In front of them was a very long hallway bustling with students, with doors on either side standing wide open, many with signs accepting new members.

"We have to go upstairs right?" Mary asked, clutching her sister's school uniform sleeve so they wouldn't get separated. It was unnecessary, but they used to to it whenever their parents would take them to the city, so it simply became a bit of a habit.

"Yeah," Ib nodded, trying to remember the room number, "Room 212, right?"

"That's it," Mary nodded, pointing to some stairs on the opposite side of the lobby they were in, "Let's go!" And so they took that path of the stairs, and eventually found themselves at the door leading into room 212. Inside, they could see a bunch of students gathered around, listening to an introduction speech by one of the third year students. Ib frowned, it seemed that they were a bit late. The room was very large with a wood floor, and it had a closet in the back where Ib assumed they stored art supplies. There were windows allowing sunlight to beam in, and there were all sorts of strange creations shoved off to the sides of the room, covering with paint, charcoal or other such things.

"Aw crap!" They heard a girl cry behind them, and they turned around. The girl was obviously wearing the same outfit they were, but she had shoulder length black hair and brown eyes, and she had a gigantic smile on her face, as she looked inside the class, "Seems we're a bit late, eh?"

"Yeah," Mary grumbled as she crossed her arms in annoyance, "I hate coming in half way through a lecture! It makes me feel so awkward."

"Me too!" The girl exclaimed, and then she blinked a few times owlishly, before bowing down, "Ah, sorry, I guess it's customary to introduce yourself to new people! My name is Aiko! It's nice to meet you two!"

"I think we've found someone as weird as you," Ib muttered into Mary's ear.

Mary either completely ignored Ib, or didn't hear her, because she matched Aiko's smile and bowed down, "My name is Mary, and this here is my sister, Ib!"

"Sister?" Aiko questioned as she looked back and forth between them, "You two look nothing alike!"

Ib shrugged, knowing that it was uncomfortable for Mary to tell people that she was adopted, "Yeah, we're just weird like that."

Realizing that she may have over stepped her bounds, Aiko bowed down again, "Ah, I'm sorry for saying that!"

"Don't worry about it," Mary casually waved it off, and gave Aiko a pat on the shoulder, "Are you ready to go in?"

"Crap," A boy ran up and noticed that the introductions were also underway, "I couldn't find this stupid place, and now they're already talking…" He was clearly out of breath, and his hands were on his knees as he gasped for air. Like Aiko, his hair was black, and also like Aiko he had brown eyes. He finally was able to ask through his deep breathing, "What'd I miss?"

"I don't know," Ib admitted, "We still haven't gone in." She was feeling a bit antsy just standing there, and Mary fortunately caught on to her sister's desire.

"Yeah," Mary exclaimed, "We really should go now!" Not waiting another second, Mary dragged Ib in, with Aiko and the boy following behind. As they sat and listened to the introduction, another few students poured in, and it was clear that this must have been quite a popular club, since there was already almost three dozen students in the room. Ib stayed next to Mary the entire time, and Aiko seemed to have attached to them rather quickly, as did the boy, who was looking uncomfortably around.

The introduction lasted another twenty minutes, with the presenter switching between different artworks that the club has displayed, and they also explained how they had an art fair during the cultural festival, and other such things. Mary was clearly getting bored out of her mind, and halfway through the lecture, she had pulled out her cellphone and was lazily typing messages to Ib, who was trying to pay attention to the lecture. After a while, Mary and Aiko had exchanged phone numbers, and the two began to text, much to Ib's relief.

"Well, that was interesting," The boy said, after the lecture was complete. He looked over to the three girls, "What'd you think?"

"Are you kidding me?" Aiko grumbled, "I was bored outta my skull. You'd think they would limit it to like five minutes or something. I didn't think anyone could talk about art for so long!" Ib wanted to make a smart remark, but she held her tongue. She didn't really know the girl well enough to lash out at her, and she didn't want to be rude or hurt the girl's feelings.

"She said to get into groups of five and they'd assign a 'mentor' to each group," Ib recounted the instructions, "We need one more."

"How about her?" The boy pointed to a girl who was huddled in on herself, and she seemed to be very nervous. It was clear that she was foreign, or at least part foreign, since her hair was blonde like Mary's, but unlike Mary however, the girl's eyes were green, and she looked to be very young, and her hair was tied up into a ponytail.

"Hey!" Mary walked over to the girl tactlessly, "You want to join our group?"

The girl let out a startled cry, and looked fearfully at the girl, "Um, Um…"

"She sure is shy," Aiko couldn't help but smile as she walked over to the girl beside Mary, "She's so cute!"

"What's your name?" Ib asked kindly, trying to coax the girl out of her shell as she and the boy walked over too. She could see that the foreign girl seemed to be a bit at ease when Ib and Junichi walked over, and she turned to them to introduce herself.

"M – My name is Rin…" the foreign girl mumbled. Bowing down to Ib and Junichi.

"My name's Junichi," The boy introduced himself, bowing politely to the girl and giving her a friendly smile, "Would you like to join our team?"

The little girl looked at him, and her face flushed red, "O – Ok…" She nodded a bit quickly, and then seemed to huddle in on herself again.

"You seem a bit young," Ib pointed out, since the girl did in fact look younger than all of them.

"I don't go to school here…I'm in a head start program…" She mumbled quietly, averting her eyes as if she was expecting them to hate her for that.

"Wait, so you're not even in middle school yet and you're in this club?" Aiko asked, her eyes widening. The girl nodded, and that explained why she was so nervous. She didn't fit in due to her hair, and due to the fact that she wasn't wearing a uniform. She was simply dressed in a light blue blouse and a skirt, and she wore sandals. She must have thought the club was more casual, and was sorely mistaken. It also didn't help that most the students were simply ignoring her. Ib frowned at that thought, and couldn't help but think negatively of the many students in the room for doing so.

With their team established, Rin made sure to stay very close to Junichi, and the five of them made their way over near the window. There was a little small talk, mostly consisting of introductions, and finally an older student walked up to them. The girl wore particularly large glasses, had light violet hair, and sky blue eyes, like most of the girls in the group she wore the school uniform, and she had on an almost emotionless face as she looked at them all.

"Hello." She impassively spoke as she gazed at all of them one by one. It was clear that she was unnerving a few of them, but no one went to speak, so Ib had to be the one to try and break the ice with the girl.

"Hello?" Ib muttered, starting a small chorus of awkward 'hellos' to follow shortly after.

"I'll be your mentor," She bowed down to them, "I'm a second year student, and my name is Yuki. It's a pleasure to meet you all." She looked around at them all again to make sure their attention was focused on her, "You'll all follow my guidelines of what to do. We'll start with the basics and work our way up from there, any questions?" No one raised their hand to question anything, which seemed to cause Yuki to faintly smile, "Good. Then let's begin. Please follow me."

And with that, their first day of club began, and Ib and Mary made their first real friends. Yuki had led them to get some art supplies, and then took them outside and did exactly what Ib had said she wanted to do earlier that day, they simply basked in the sun and started to draw. Of course, Aiko and Mary slacked off a bit, but it couldn't be helped. Ib was willing to forgive her sister just this once, since she actually had a great time. Even Rin started to relax a bit and smile once they were out of the room.

Ib honestly looked forward to the next meeting.

XxXxXxX

A month had passed since Ib had opted to join the art club, and like Mary has suspected, she really enjoyed it. She now had a stand in her room where she'd paint with water colors, and she had multiple notebooks already filled to the brim with new idea of things to draw, and of her attempting to draw even better than before. It seemed that she had found her passion in life, and she pursued it with everything she could possibly throw at it. She was in the middle of painting on her canvas when there was a knock on her door, not knowing that the encounter would change the rest of her life.

"Come in, Mary." She called, already knowing that it was her sister. She never let her eyes off her canvas, and she continued to paint even as she heard the door opening.

"Hey," Mary waved, and she walked into her sister's room. She closed the door behind her, and smiled when she saw Ib painting, "Do you mind if I watch you?"

"I don't mind," Ib shrugged. Mary was always a quiet observer and hardly a distraction at all, in fact, she'd actually kind of admit to liking it. Mary smiled and walked over to her bed, setting herself down so she could see the painting, with Ib's back to her. Ib was wearing a white shirt with smears of paint scattered all across it, and she wore shorts, with a few pens and pencils sticking out from the pockets. Her hair was neatly tied back into the ponytail, so it wouldn't get in her way. Mary leaned forward and placed her chin in her hands, while her elbows rested on her knees as she watched Ib. Ib paid her little mind as she began to paint again, getting absorbed in her own little world once more.

"A green dress?" Mary quipped after a few minutes of silence, "Are you drawing me?" Ib blinked a few times, and glanced back at Mary, and realized that the girl was in fact wearing a green dress. Seriously, what was her obsession with the color green, and why did she wear her dresses so often? She then looked down at her painting and frowned – she was just allowing her mind to paint whatever it wanted, but she realized that she was drawing a green dress on it. Why did Mary have to say something? Now this was going to be awkward.

"I didn't notice," Ib admitted honestly, feeling her cheeks turn a little bit red, "Are you mad?"

"No, not at all." Mary answered, with a happy smile, "It makes me happy."

"Well... That's good," Ib sighed, and went back to painting. However, she wasn't able to escape to her little world now that Mary had brought up what she was drawing. She frowned as she dipped her brushed in the cup of water nearby, cleaning it of green, and she thought of what to put on next. Her mind instantly told her to draw the rest of Mary of course. However, she was right behind her… Oh crap, her heart was starting to beat fast now, and she felt her face beginning to flush, knowing that Mary was right behind her. Oh no, not now... She's my sister, she's my sister, she's my sister… She repeated over and over in her mind.

"Ib?" Mary spoke up, causing said girl to jump, "You haven't moved, are you all right?" She gave her sister a concerned look.

"I'm fine." Ib lied her voice reaching a higher pitch than intended, and she turning back to her canvas, trying to calm down. Her fists were balled up in front of her chest, and she had her head down to try and get rid of the blush.

"Ib?" Mary again spoke up.

"What?" Ib asked, still not turning around. Mary reached up and touched her exposed arm, and Ib nearly gasped as she felt as if there was a shock from the mere touch. She started to blush more and more, and her heart continued to beat against her chest, letting her know loud and clear that she needed to get out of there now!

"I – I need to go!" Ib suddenly stated, quickly tugging at her arm and releasing the touch that Mary had on her, "I – I – I uh…" She took a step towards the door to the room, and averted her eyes from Mary as the older girl stood up now.

"Are you nervous?" Mary asked very quietly, almost a whisper. If Ib didn't know any better, she'd say that Mary was trying to provoke a reaction like this, but surely Mary wouldn't try to do something like that!

"W- Why would I be nervous?" Ib asked, again wishing that she would stop blushing. She tried to keep her face hidden from her sister's view, but knew that it wasn't working, since Mary took a step closer to her. This wasn't good!

"I don't know, why would you be?" Mary repeated the question back at Ib, taking yet another step towards her.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ib exclaimed, "I have nothing to be nervous about!" She still kept her face away from Mary.

"Oh really?" Mary asked quietly. Ib noticed from the corner of her eye that Mary's face was turning the same shade of red as her own, and her heart gave a very loud thump against her chest, so much so that it felt like it hurt her. She let out a gasp of air, and averted her eyes away from Mary, "I should go."

"Wait." Mary reached up and again grabbed Ib's arm, causing the girl to shudder at the mere touch, and let out an embarrassing gasp. She looked back at Mary, "Don't go."

"What do you want?" Ib asked, feeling her body begin to shake. She felt both horror and excitement as her sister seemed almost as embarrassed as she did, and she saw Mary seem to contemplate something.

"I was wondering," If possible, Mary's face grew even brighter red, even more than her own, "Do you want to… Kiss?"

"What?" Ib asked, her mind nearly shutting down at the question. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss… She didn't really say that, did she? Ib didn't bother to make a move for the door anymore, since she was far too shocked, and she felt her mouth dropping open at Mary's question.

"Let's kiss." Mary repeated, giving Ib a nervous smile. Only now, since her hormones were running out of control, that nervous smile looked so... beautiful. Ib looked away wide eyed - did she really just think that?

"B – But we can't." Ib shook her head, "We're sisters!" She tried to shake Mary's hand off of her arm, but the girl held on with a much tighter grip this time.

"Not by blood," Mary whispered, standing up and grabbing hold of both of Ib's hands, intertwining her fingers with hers, "I'm adopted, remember?" Their faces looked right into one another now, and Ib shook as she looked away. Of course she remembered. She remembered practically every time she was hugged by her, or was even touched. She just consciously tried NOT to think about it.

"W – We're both girls…" Ib muttered as Mary's face came closer to her own. She could feel Mary's breath against her face. She was fighting the instinct to just go with it now – every fiber of her being was telling her to do it, and her hormones were screaming at her to do it, resisting was almost too much now...

"It's an experiment." Mary mumbled, leaning in to close the final distance. An experiment… Yes. Ok, it's an experiment. Nothing more than that. Ib couldn't deny that she was very curious to know what it was like to kiss someone, so as long as this was an experiment, and nothing more intimate than that, it should be fine. Right. She wasn't making an excuses, it was purely to sate her curiosity. With that, Ib leaned forward as well, finally pleasing her body and mind's desire.

Their lips touched, and it was awkward, very awkward. Neither of them having any experience with how to kiss properly, other than puckering up their lips and kissing their mom and dad good night. Their lips smacked quite loudly against one another, and after a few seconds they parted, though Mary looked particularly unsatisfied, a slight frown crossing her face. Ib was shaking, but she felt a huge thrill from that, so she couldn't help but say, "H – How about we try again?" She surprised even herself with her boldness.

Mary was apparently just as surprised, but she nodded, her face still flushed, but she was smiling at the same time, and her eyes shined. Again, Ib found herself thinking about how beautiful she looked, and she leaned forward, and this time Ib relaxed. She tried not to be so tense, and naturally leaned in to kiss, their lips touching each other softer this time, neither of them puckering their lips. This… This felt much better. Ib found herself reaching her hand up to caress the side of Mary's face, and Mary reached her hand up to touch Ib's face, sending another bolt of what felt like electricity going through their bodies with the feeling of the touch. This feeling was incredible, and they both leaned into the kiss more and more.

Ib continued to kiss Mary, and she found her mind beginning to go blank, getting deeper and deeper into a haze. Her eyes began to close as she just enjoyed the closeness of her sister, leaning her body forward and into Mary's, molding her form onto Mary's body. From the looks of it, Mary seemed to falling down the same path as she was – her mind was going into a pleasant haze, and she too was pressing her body against Ib. They didn't even react when Mary fell backwards onto Ib's bed, instead their focus was solely on the feelings they were going through. Ib continued to kiss Mary as passionately as she could from atop Mary, and Mary started to allow her hands to rub Ib's back, causing that pleasurable bolt to travel all up and down her body.

Ib couldn't understand what this feeling was. Why was her chest feeling so tight? Why did this feel so good? Why did she feel like she needed this – why did she even want this? Mary was her sister! But… But it felt so good, and it felt right. She couldn't explain it, but perhaps… Is this what love felt like?

They parted, finally needing to breathe. Both of them gasped for air, and looking deeply into each other's eyes, unsure of what exactly to make of this. They just continued to gasp as they looked into each others face, and there was even a small trail of saliva between their mouths as they gasped, their red faces not even noticing. Instead, their eyes were locked into each other's, and they couldn't look away, even if they wanted to.

"That was amazing..." Ib gasped out, not caring that she was pressing her body so tightly to Mary, or for the fact that Mary was holding her so she couldn't move.

"I heard the first kiss is always the best." Mary nodded, and then she smiled and whispered, "Do you want to do it again…?" Ib let out a few breaths, and just nodded, her mind was still in a pleasurable haze. She leaned forward, ready to kiss Mary again…

… And was immediately brought out of the moment when there was a loud knocking on her door. Her eyes opened wide, and she looked down at Mary, and what she had just done crossed her mind, the haze that had clouded her mind was gone, and she jumped back to her feet, and opened and closed her mouth, "Uh, um…"

Mary meanwhile sat up and shook her head, getting out of the daze she was in, and looking towards the door her face was still very red, "Who is it?" She called out, looking mildly annoyed.

"Mary! Tell Ib to stop painting for now! It's dinner time!" Their mother called through the door, and she walked away, both girls hearing her footsteps going further and further from the door.

The two girl's gaze fell back on one another, and Ib finally spoke up, "So… That happened…"

"Yeah," Mary reached up and touched her lips, and tenderly pressed her fingers against them, "It did."

Another long and awkward pause, and Ib coughed into her hand, averting her eyes as she spoke, "Let's go get dinner."

Mary stood up from the bed, "That sounds like a good idea." As Mary walked pass her, Ib quickly reached out and grabbed the girl's hand, another bolt of whatever that feeling was passed through them, but Ib kept her grip, and blushed brightly. "Ib?" Mary asked, tilting her head questioningly.

"Let's… Let's do that again." Ib managed to get out, looking down at the floor, her face was burning from embarrassment, but she was glad that she managed to ask even that. "Let's do it again later."

"You want to do it some more?" Mary asked her heart racing from the unbelievable request she was hearing from Ib.

"I want to do it again." Ib confirmed, glancing up at Mary.

Mary grinned and leaned forward to kiss Ib on the forehead, "Of course. I'd love to do it again." Ib let go of Mary's hand, and let her go downstairs to eat dinner, and Ib was left blushing as she thought about what she said. She knew what was really going on, and she felt both thrilled and absolutely disgusted with herself for it. She touched her forehead where Mary had kissed her, and one thought crossed her mind...

She might just love her own sister.

XxXxXxX

CHAPTER 1 REVISED: 6/27/2013 - Added in a lot more detail, and combined a lot of sentences. This chapter had 2.7k additional words added to it.