A/N: Since I've only read to the end of book four of the manga, I'm just going to make the setting occur around there… I don't own Peach Girl, Miwa Ueda does. I'm only making assumptions of how Kiley's life is… the sister, the broken home… I know that this isn't what the truth is, my friend told me some spoilers about Kiley and his family, but this is just my own little fantasy world, alright?

…::Chapter 1::…

Kiley's Room

..::..

Kiley leaned his head back on the backboard of his bed, wondering why the world had to be so cruel. So maybe Momo would rather have her good old Toji, prime-time jock and about as intelligent as I am, which isn't much… I can still try. There's still some spark left in me, right? He flexed his arm and then felt the muscle formed in his arm. He'd spent a few afternoons trying to shape his arms up a bit ever since he saw the way Toji could literally mangle a wall with a punch. Kiley knew that he might someday have to face that terrible punch with some sort of punch of his own – a man to man battle of strength.

Something inside his stomach squeezed. His older sister Yu was cooking something in the kitchen and the house was flooded with scents of all sorts. Yu's culinary skills were much better then his. The stove and me are mortal enemies by now. I can't even boil water.

" Kiley! Dinner!" Yu's voice rang clearly through the house. Ever since she came back from college, Kiley was reminded constantly of his mother in the shadows of her face. The smooth, pearly white skin, the flash of straight teeth, and the occasional glitter of chocolate-brown eyes. Yet, somewhere in that face, he could also see the sadness and pain of his mother, a more recent picture of her.

" Coming!" Kiley shouted back, sounding meaner then he meant to sound. He had spent his afternoon home again; throwing a ratty tennis ball at the wall of his room and then catching it as it bounced back. Ah, well. There's always tomorrow.

He stumbled into the cramped hallway and was faced with the glossy glass covers on at least a dozen pictures hanging in the hallway. Most of them followed him and his sister, from childhood to their present age. Then, there was one of his mother and father on their wedding day – worn and tattered at the edges for Kiley liked to take it out and gaze at it sentimentally – and the last picture frame was empty. Kiley kept the picture for himself until he lost it to the waters of the pool. The dark figure of his brother in the background, a recluse, separated from their home, and then the thin, sickly mother in front.

His mother's dark hair spilling across milky shoulders, the skin taught at her collarbones, and then stretching back to where the veins in her neck flexed in a forced smile. He hated the picture for making her look ugly. His mother was beautiful, the same beauty that she passed down to her children. Yu, though not an exact copy of his mother, was just as gorgeous in her own way.

" What's taking you so long, lazy?" Yu scolded, wagging a spatula at him. " Sit down, alright?"

Kiley stuck out the tip of his tongue at her, his eyes laughing. Then, he plopped himself down on the tiny foldout chair that stood beside a dilapidated card table. Their small apartment room was incredibly crammed, the small fridge (one of those half-refrigerators, not a normal-sized one, for it wouldn't fit) was just barely fitting in beside a tiny stove, over which a long rack of pots and pans hung. Yu lifted the lid of the steam pot she was using to reveal some snowy white rice. " Rice cakes for tomorrow, alright? I'm going to come home late."

" Yeah, okay." Kiley nodded.

Yu put her hands on her hips and added: " Today we're going to have some teriyaki. Still with me, or are you drifting into your little world again?"

" Still with you." He murmured.

" I'm serving it." She carried over a glass container in which she laid down the teriyaki to store it until mealtime. Yu then scooped the food hurriedly onto his plate with her spatula. " Eat up, you're going to be a bag of skin and bones if you won't."

" I'm eating, see?" He lifted a fork and then plopped a mound of teriyaki onto his tongue. Then, he spoke with his mouth full: " I'll be a bag of skin, bones and fat if you keep making so much food. There's only two of us to cook for now."

The words stung painfully. Yu looked down and a curtain of black hair covered her face. "…"

" Sorry." Kiley lifted his hand and waved them innocently in front of his face. " Didn't mean to…"

" No, I admire you for bringing it up. I'm just so used to cooking for father and Mom, and…" she stopped. Their brother's name was to be unspoken. He hurt them all so badly…

" Ever since Mom died, Dad hasn't been the same. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. He up and left for Tokyo. Isn't he a security guard at Tokyo Tower now?" Kiley couldn't even keep track of his father's on and off part-time jobs. If he remembered them long enough between wine bottles; he'd send a few yen to them so they'd be able to afford the rent.

" Perhaps." Yu slapped a steaming heap of teriyaki onto her own plate and then sat down opposite of Kiley. Her mouth formed the words she couldn't speak aloud, but Kiley understood.

" How's my life?" He asked for her. He'd often tell her his problems, though in very obscure detail. She knew that he had a crush on a girl that was dating a complete idiot that didn't really deserve her, after the pain that boy put her through. He never did divulge into the dark piths that contained Sae, his own involvement in the bitter feud between Momo, Toji, and Sae, and then the ill, negative air that Toji would send him even from across a crowded room. " My life is going down the crapper. How's your job?"

Yu was an amateur photographer at the university she went to. She took and developed photos on her own and then sold them for a small price. Yu was also a good artist; she'd sell charcoal portraits to tourists.

" It's going well. The university director decided to promote me to Head of the Photography Division. Can you believe it?" She dangled her fork in front of his face, spinning it in circles. " Beat that, little brother, and I'll give you my thousand yen."

" You know I'm an idiot." He muttered, pushing her fork down with his index finger. He squinted to see her face better. The softened, blurred lines of her face came into focus to show that she wasn't laughing and instead had tears in her eyes.

" If only you could only try harder. You know how I can barely afford university. In just a short while, you'll be hitting college time as well."

" I'm trying as hard as I can." Kiley said. " I just can't concentrate on the board." I can't really figure stuff out. Math is the worst; I can't read apart the fuzzy mess of handwriting that my teacher has. Her practice problems don't help me out at all.

" Stop squinting." Yu said. " You're not outside staring at the sun, are you?" She glanced at the drawn shades to her left just to see if any sunlight escaped them.

Kiley continued to squint, almost involuntarily. He could see better in the sunlight. He would never squint at Momo, either. She'd think he was trying to pull some flirting off on her and he'd get whacked with her flower-pattern tote bag. The last thing he needed was a trip to the dentist to fix chipped teeth from her painful blows.

" Kiley, look at me." Yu said.

Kiley gazed straight into her melting eyes and let his own eyes grow wide, amused with what he thought was a game.

" Watch my finger." She waggled it. " Does it look blurry to you?" The thin stick of fuzz, like the pipe cleaners he used in art projects, didn't seem any different to him then the way a waggling finger usually looked to him.

" Sort of blurry, sort of not." Kiley admitted. He could see Yu was confused, so he added: " Well, I see it, but it's sort of out of focus. I can't explain." He looked down and then shook his head. " What are you trying to prove, anyway? Is this one of those photographer things…?"

" No!" Yu chuckled and then spun a strand of black hair around her waggling finger. She was always touching her hair, running her fingers through it, and throwing the loose strands over her shoulder. It was some sort of family thing. " You said you have problems telling apart teacher's handwritings on the board. Did you ever get it a bit better if you came up close and read it?"

" Of course I'd get it better from up close. I'm the sort of learner that has to have stuff thrown in his face to get it." Kiley laughed.

Yu suddenly looked stricken. " Does my face look fuzzy to you, too?"

" Well, not really, you're just sitting across the table from me. Maybe you nose is a bit blended into your skin, and I can see a big chunk of hair but I can't tell apart particular locks or strands, but…" Kiley suddenly seemed to have a realization dawn on him.

" I think you need glasses!" Yu exclaimed.