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[believing_heart]

It's raining outside when Lucy arrives, umbrella in one hand and bag in the other. Her purse, a large messenger bag, is slung haphazardly over one shoulder. Lucy closes her umbrella, stuffs it into her purse, adjusts the bag's strap so it's more comfortable on her shoulder, then raps on the front door.

She bites her lower lip as she waits for an answer, but none comes. She knocks on the door again, hoping that perhaps he was in the shower or that his music was too loud and he just didn't hear it, but still, there's no answer.

If the situation had been different, she might have called her brother in advance of her arrival. But her decision to leave had been a spur-of-the-moment one, and she was sure that he wouldn't approve of it.

"Okay!" she says to herself. She sets her bags down on the ground on the stoop, then sits down right between them. If Tsukasa's not home now, well then, she'll just have to wait for him! Things wouldn't be so bad, after all; a little overhang above provided enough shelter from the rain to keep both Lucy and her things dry.

The longer Lucy sits, though, the more tired she becomes. She had been up all night trying to decide what things to take with her -- and the trip from Vegas to Jersey had been a long one. Before too long, the redhead finds herself quietly dozing off, her head resting against her sturdy suitcase.

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[believing_heart]

"No," Lucy says, changing her head. "Not at all. I just missed you. You didn't come home for Christmas and I--"

Before she can even finish, he wraps her up into his arms. Immediately, Lucy sinks into his embrace. It's been too long since she's last seen her big brother.

"Yeah," she says into his chest. He relinquishes his hold on her, and she begins gathering her things. He's come to visit her in Vegas plenty of times, but this is the first time she's ever seen his place. She's only too eager to see the home that her big brother made for himself.

"I'm glad, too," she says. And she's only too glad that he seems to be taking it in stride. She wasn't sure how he was going to respond to her sitting on his doorstep, but it seems as though things couldn't have gone any better. "You don't have an extra guest room, do you?" she asks as he opens the door for them. "I don't want to be a hassle for you while I'm here."

[thekingofkamenriders]

He's taking it in stride because he's really happy to see his sister. Of course, he knows that he'll have to have a phone conversation with his parents before things are settled.

"Come on in and sit down, Kiddo." He'll worry about the rest of the groceries in a few minutes, "I'll get some tea ready." His house is a bit messy, as he wasn't expecting any company, but it's fairly well put together. He has some framed photos of his work in the living room, and a strewn out on his coffee table are some shots that he was working on for his most recent fashion shoot. There's one model there that he has more photos of than the others. "How the he...ck did you talk mom and dad into letting you come all the way out here alone, let alone move here?"

He gets the feeling that he'll have to have a phone conversation with the two of them...oh well. Better she be here with him than with them right now, though.

[believing_heart]

"I didn't," Lucy says cheerily, dropping her bags in the living room. "I used my Christmas money to buy a plane ticket and came here on my own. I left my phone on the kitchen counter so mom and dad wouldn't be worried when I didn't answer."

Lucy's attention is immediately directed towards her big brother's numerous photographs. While he's making some tea for the both of them, she's sifting through the photos on the coffee table.

The woman in these photos... she's really pretty!

"I didn't think they'd let me come if I told them," she says, looking up from the spread on the table. "I know... it was probably really selfish of me, but it was really lonely being alone in the house all the time."

[thekingofkamenriders]

"...Wait, someone sold you a ticket to New Jersey, even though you're Fifteen??" He...isn't sure that he's comfortable with that, but it's too late to do anything about it right now. "I'm...just glad that you got here safe." He gives her a stern look, though. "Don't ever do something like that again, Lucy. What would have happened if you'd gotten lost, or someone had tried to take you when you got here? I wouldn't have known you were coming, and Mom and Dad wouldn't have realized it until it was too late."

"You're right that they probably wouldn't have let you go, Kiddo, but despite that, I'm glad that you made it here safely. I know how lonely it can get to be away from your family. It hasn't always been easy for me, either." But, he couldn't be the man his parents wanted him to be.

After that, it's time for tea, and the mood brightens considerably. "Oh, looking at those? They're from a project I'm working on for a fashion magazine. I'm trying to figure out which of those photos really capture what they're looking for. Glad I have such a great model to work with."

A few moments pass, and then Tsukasa asks, "So, aside from that, why did you want to come out here? Moving to a different city is a big thing, especially at your age. Is everything OK at home?"

[believing_heart]

"I used the internet and a pre-paid credit card." Lucy beams, apparently oblivious to her brother's discomfort.

But when her brother begins the lecture, that smile disappears quickly, eyes guiltily flickering down to the photos in front of her. "Yeah," she says. "I promise. I won't." She hadn't considered either of those possibilities before; the thought had never even occurred to her that something might happen to her and neither her parents nor her brother would have any idea how or when or where.

Lucy looks up, though, when her brother starts talking about them. "You're going to take photos of me too, right? Like when we were younger?"

It's not until he gives his answer that Lucy opens her mouth to give one of her own. "Things are just the same as always," she says, shaking her head. "Only you're not there. Ever since the two of them started working on this case, I haven't seen either one of them for more than a few minutes. If I disappeared, they probably wouldn't notice for days."

Lucy looks down at the photos one last time, then makes her way into the kitchen. It's time for tea, right? There's nothing that a little tea can't fix!

[thekingofkamenriders]

Tsukasa just smiles a little bit as he reaches over and musses his sister's hair. "I'm not trying to be too harsh on you, Kiddo. I'm just looking out for you, like a good big brother should."

"Yeah, I think we can do that. There's actually a nice park near here that we can go do, and I'll take your picture there. We can do it during the magic hour and make it look really nice for when we send it back home."

He frowns a little, and then nods his head, that sounded just like them. When they got a case in their hands and smelled blood, they got severe tunnel vision. "Yeah, I believe that. I figured that might have been why you were calling me more often." He smiles a bit, "Back when I was younger, they'd sometimes just leave some money on the counter and make me fend for myself, when they remembered. They got better after you came along, though." A little.

Tsukasa will put out a couple of mugs and pour the hot water into them. He actually smiles a little bit and pulls something out of the grocery bag he brought in. "I was actually going to save this for your birthday, but I think that since you're here, I'll just give it to you now." It was a thing for holding tea shaped like a cat. "Just tell me what you'd like in it, and we can get started."

[believing_heart]

"My birthday? But that's months away!" She looks down at the tea holder, her hands curling around it. It's really cute -- and it's just perfect for her. Tsukasa's always been the best gift-giver of anyone in her family.

"Thank you," she says appreciatively. "But I like almost any tea. Oolong or jasmine or genmaicha -- any of it will be fine!" She nods twice in quick succession.

"I feel really sorry for you," Lucy says, looking up from her new gift. "It's hard enough for me, but you... you didn't even a sibling for company for many years. I was lucky to have a big brother that looked out for me."

[thekingofkamenriders]

"Yeah, but it was something that pretty much just screamed 'Lucy' when I saw it. I knew you'd love it. And it's not the only thing I'm getting you, anyway." He was probably the best gift giver because he paid attention to people and knew what they liked.

After her list of teas, Tsukasa will nod and get out a container with Jasmine tea, since he was in the mood for that as well. "Here we go. It's nothing too special, but it's a good tea." He'll pour some into his tea steeper and then hand the box over to his little sister. "Here you go, Kiddo."

When she says that she feels sorry for him, Tsukasa will just wave a hand, "Don't worry about me, I'm tough." He grins and gives a little flex...though, he doesn't have the physique of anything more than a photographer. "And it wasn't too bad, most of the time. I just knew that it was never a life that I wanted. This is more my speed." He points over to the pictures, "I can capture the world with my camera and share it with people. What's better than that?"

[believing_heart]

Tsukasa had always been perceptive, unlike his often oblivious little sister.

"Thanks," she says appreciatively, pouring some of the leaves into her own little cat steeper.

"I'm glad that my big brother's so happy," Lucy says, beaming. It was good that he was doing something he enjoyed, even though it was obvious to even Lucy that it wasn't what their parents wanted. "So you really don't mind me staying here?"

[thekingofkamenriders]

"Well, I will admit that it's going to be a bit of an adjustment, but it might be nice to have someone else around here." He glances around at his living room. "At the very least, it'll make me be a little less sloppy." He thinks, "I'll have to get you a new phone, though. I doubt Mom and Dad are going to be wanting to send it all the way here, and I want to be able to keep tabs on you. I imagine that's something that will be a requirement."

After his tea is ready, Tsukasa will take a sip, thinking. "There will be some rules, though. If I need to work, I've gotta work, no matter how bored you are, and if I tell you that you have to be back at a certain time, you'll be back at that time, understand?" There's also an implied commentary on homework there.

[believing_heart]

Lucy curls her hands around her mug. "Okay," she says with a nod. These conditions aren't altogether different from the ground rules her mom and dad laid down for her at home.

No matter how much work Tsukasa has, there's no way he'll ever be as preoccupied as mother and father.

Lucy takes a long sip of her beverage. "It's good," she says. It's been awhile since she's been able to drink tea with her brother again.

"That girl," she says, her eyes darting towards the photos on the living room coffee table. "Is she a friend of yours? Or is she just another model? You have a lot of pictures of her." Or so Lucy had noticed.

[thekingofkamenriders]

It was nice, just being able to spend time as a family again. Away from the pressures of not living up to unrealistic expectations or familial guilt. He'd missed this very much since he'd been gone.

And then Lucy had to ruin it. Tsukasa will start to cough a little bit, choking on his tea when his sister asks about the model. "She...she's a friend. A very good friend, and a wonderful model." God, he was glad that he'd already finished the lingerie spread that she'd done. "But, just a friend. We're co-workers, so it just wouldn't be proper." Not that he'd mind, of course.

"Girls like her get hit on all the time by photographers, so I try to just not act like that. I know at least a few of the girls I work with appreciate it."

[believing_heart]

"Hit on?" Lucy tilts her head slightly to the side. "Do guys usually do something like that with their co-workers?" It just seems weird that guys would do something like that.

Then again, Lucy had zero experience in the love department. If someone was hitting on her, she'd have absolutely no idea -- not unless someone else pointed it out, anyway.

"If you got a girlfriend," Lucy says, hands still cupped around her mug. "I'd be really happy. I always wanted a big sister."

[thekingofkamenriders]

"Some of the guys do. It goes with having a lot of men around a lot of attractive women." It was easy to tell that Tsukasa found that practice distasteful. He's not going to even begin to mention some of the other practices that they can attempt.

"Oh, I just remembered, if anyone calls the house and asks for 'Tommy K', that's me. Professional name. Just...don't ask questions about how I'm talking on the phone. It's an image thing, and I really don't like it."

As far as his love life goes, "...Well, I'll be honest, Lucy, I'd be really happy to. You know how lonely it can get on your own." And now for the question that he's been dreading for a while. "So, how about you, do you have a boyfriend back at home?" His hand clenches a bit on the tea cup at that question. He doesn't WANT to know if there's a boy seeing his baby sister, but he should know.

[believing_heart]

Lucy directs a single finger toward herself. "Me?" Hikaru blinks, as if the thought had never occurred to her. "No," she says, shaking her head. A blush starts to draw itself across her cheeks. "I wouldn't know what to do if someone asked me out anyway."

[thekingofkamenriders]

He grins. It was her time to feel uncomfortable now. "What, are you telling me that no young man has asked you out at all? I find that a little hard to believe." THE TABLES HAVE TURNED, LUCY. He shrugs a bit, "Well, I'm sure you'll know what to do when the time is right."