Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

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Empty Places

By Miracles79

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Chapter 1: Something missing

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There was always something missing. Some strange anomaly in her life that she neither knew nor understood but it was there none the less haunting her, inflicting unseen damage upon her. Even she couldn't explain the pain she was feeling, the famed and recognized Kosaka Kirino was hurting but she didn't understand why?

In truth she had no reason to be hurting. She had everything any 14 year old girl would have idly dreamed of. She has the money, the fame, and the adoration of lecherous often perverse fans. Um well… maybe not that last one but otherwise things were working in her favour. In fact such a fortunate person like her had no right to be hurting but even still, despite her envious life, something deep within her chest continued to ache.

Drawing her gaze from her laptop momentarily, Kirino moved off her bed and approached the nearby window. Gazing forlornly, Kirino carefully inspected the front of the Kosaka house for any sign of danger, for since her rise in popularity she had been warned over and over again that she needed to be mindful of her surroundings especially when she was on her own. Her manager was very persistent to say the least.

Incidentally, Kirino was alone in her home right now and would be for at least an hour or more. Her family were celebrating some pointless event at a local dinner which she couldn't recall perhaps due to a genuine lack of interest or simply because she thought the idea was ludicrous.

"Why would you even bother to celebrate a promotion? Surely that's to be expected when you start working from the bottom." To Kirino the idea of promotion was a strange one because ever since she had been a little girl she had always been labelled as the best.

The best in sports whether that was a competitive sport such as soccer or an individual sport such as athletics. She had always beaten records, although in actuality she actually smashed them, whether they had been her own or a previous winner in her district and she had always beaten the male students by some truly embarrassing distance.

Grinning slightly at a recent memory from her sporting exploits, Kirino returned her attention to her laptop which sat next to her pillows and placed it on her desk. She groaned loudly as she noticed the blank screen. It seemed the lap top had timed out while she was considering her problems and as much as she wanted to return to her sister loving world of eroge something stopped her.

"I've always been the best, Sports, academics you name it. So then why am I so upset?" Kirino wondered thoughtfully as she spun on her desk chair in a childlike yet adorable manner. Without even meaning to Kirino began to give her rhetorical question some serious thought this decision further emphasised when she shut the laptop and continued to spin whilst in deep thought.

Truth be told, Kirino has never lacked anything in her life and if she did lack it then she would work her fingers to the bone to attain it. She had wonderful and hilarious friends who, while they knew nothing of her hobby, she trusted explicitly with everything apart from a particular interest of hers, one that she would take to her grave.

Arakagi Ayase was someone who she considered to be her dearest friend, a cheeky yet warm hearted girl who see had been fortunate enough to call her best friend. During school they would always be seen together and talking excitedly about the newest clothing range or there next photo shoot.

They were even fortunate enough to work together as models on various occasions. Kirino being the main attraction whilst Ayase was a close second yet despite this very obvious fact Ayase continued to instigate ways to spend time with her enigmatic and bubbly dark blonde haired friend known as Kirino.

Ayase's friendship was dear to Kirino because without it Kirino believed she would have been nothing more than a pompous and big headed teenage girl with little control over her actions. But Ayase had continued to successfully ground Kirino from such behaviour, going so far as to help her become the mature minded and energetic girl she was now.

Ayase was not her only friend however; another friend of hers was Kurusu Kanako a small yet surprisingly energetic girl whose aspirations greatly matched Kirino's, the aspiration of becoming an idol. However this relationship was rather strained due to Kanako's great dislike of "Otaku's" and while Kanako knew nothing of Kirino's secret hobby that didn't mean Kirino accepted Kanako's unreasonable views on the subject.

Even though Kirino didn't consider herself as someone as disgusting or perverted as an otaku the phrase still affected her somewhat. Her love for anime, manga, and eroge were very important to her and the significant of other half of her life the other half being her friends, and her family which she begrudgingly admitted.

She didn't need nor require any more friends. It was best two have two friends she could trust then to have a group of friends who she was conflicted about. Kirino trusted Kanako and Ayase with everything expect her one burning passion which was not only animes, manga's and eroge's in general but also the obvious theme that ran through them.

With no obvious reason or explanation, Kirino had come to fall in love with a particular genre of romance, sister themed romance. She would spend days on her laptop attempting to complete every single route that was made available to her, every single little sister waiting to have their hearts opened by Kirino's glistening eyes and drooling mouth.

At times Kirino did wish that she had some friends who liked eroge just like she did but unfortunately such a friend either didn't exist or was far too open about their questionable choice in eroge.

'I mean come on…'

'Mother and step son…'

'That's just gross.'

There had also been many times when she had almost joined an online community group called "Anime Girl's Unite" but she had never found the courage to click on the submit button. She would always return to the group however and input her altered information but would never find the courage to click on that frightening button which could unravel her secret to the entire world.

But despite this very fact Kirino felt content with her life. So the pain she was feeling had nothing to do with her sporting reputation, work, friends or her love for eroge. So what the hell was it?

"Hmm? Perhaps it has something to do with my grades? They have been a little lower than usual." And when Kirino says a little lower she means a single mark, or maybe 2 but at a push. She always received the top grades in her class and unsurprisingly the highest marks in her school past and present. A phenomenal achievement to say the least but to Kirino this had to be expected of her, she had made a deal with her father after all.

Modelling in return for excellent grades and she duly delivered. So that couldn't be the issue, nobody had even come close to getting near her grades. She needed to rethink, if it wasn't grades then what could it be? Just thinking about the reason for her pain is seemingly causing her heart to ache even more. Is thinking about why helping at all?

"Oww! Fine. If it isn't my grades then what can it be? This is so stupid; wait could it have something to do with my popularity?" Kirino whispered angrily as the pain began to intensify gradually from a light throbbing sensation to the equivalent of a 400m sprint.

Even as Kirino thought this she immediately dismissed it once again. How could she Kosaka Kirino be anything other than popular? She was admired from both male and female students within school and perhaps even loved affectionately by some poor deluded member of her school.

Girls wished to know more about her, her secrets for looking so beautiful or how she managed to balance her life as a model around the strenuous school timetable whilst boys wanted to have the honour of calling her their girlfriend. Many had tried but all had failed, she didn't want to be labelled as someone's property and she didn't want to be tied down by some unworthy and lecherous male student.

Affection to her was nothing more than desperation. A need to be important or at least significant in someone's eyes, a need to be noticed or appreciated by a single person. Kirino had no time for these people. She had never needed love and she would never yearn for such a laughable emotion as love, besides the only true love she had was her eroge and if that would be her last ever love she would be satisfied by that.

"Ahh! Never mind. This is just giving me a headache. I need some eroge, now" Kirino confessed as she lifted the laptop's lid and waited for her desktop password entry to appear. However despite her previous stance Kirino's mind wandered to one last possibility, an improbable possibility but a possibility none the less.

Family...

Perhaps family might have something to do with her problem. Was she lacking in anything family wise? She had a caring and considerate mother who had supported her through all her decisions. Even the decisions that she was firmly against, Yoshino would always support her and see to both her mental and nutritious well-being.

Then there was her father a tough and unyielding man who always maintained the same ice exterior. Many would call him uncaring, perhaps even aggressive but to Kirino her father was far different than that. It was her father who had allowed Kirino to become a model against his better judgement, and it was because of her father that she felt safe in her own home.

Even despite her neglected treatment, her father would always support her but with a small, unintelligible price so as to maintain his superiority over his family. So it wasn't anything to do with her father or mother…

"Maybe it has something to do with…" But before Kirino could continue her train of thought she heard the sound of the front door being opened followed by the voice of her mouth emanating from downstairs.

"Kirino-chan we're home. Could you come down and help us with the bags" Yoshino asked hopefully ignoring her husband's annoyed expression. The supposed man of the house had attempted to carry a ridiculously large assortment of items into the house only to suffer what appeared to be a trapped nerve in his back.

"Hai, I'm coming" Kirino bellowed as she returned the laptop to her bed and scurried out of her room in the direction of her exhausted mother. Carefully taking a hold of a loose bag, she turned towards the kitchen and deposited the items on the large sofa.

"Thank you dear. I hope we didn't keep you?" Yoshino asked teasingly. Kirino had been spending so much time in her room that her mother had come to the assumption that she was messaging either her boyfriend or someone she hoped would be her boyfriend. The thought of anime, manga, eroge and little sisters never entering her mind as she insinuated something far from her mind.

"Ehh, gross" Kirino spluttered as a romantic image of herself materialized in her mind. Even an image of such an act of affection greatly sickened Kirino and she was, for once, grateful when her father implied his customary greeting in a disinterested tone of voice.

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"No, welcome back father." Kirino greeted politely as she returned her attention to her mother and father.

"Welcome home mother"

There was nothing missing in her life Kirino mused as she sat on the sofa watching her father flicker through various channels.

She had all the family she needed in the shape of her mother and father. Who else could be missing from this picture?

She had often wished for a little sister in her life maybe even an older brother but she couldn't do anything about this.

She didn't have a brother. She was a lone child in her family's house and as she thought this she keeled over in pain her heart practically smashing against her ribs as she soughed and spluttered for air.

"Kirino!" Yoshino shouted as she ran towards her daughter who was doubled over in pain. Meanwhile, her husband's usually stoic features broke into a look of concern, as he hurriedly walked towards the kitchen to retrieve a much needed glass of water for his daughter.

Yoshino continued to massage Kirino's lower back as her daughter continued to breathe in an unsettlingly fast and ragged motion. Kirino was on all fours gasping for air, a single though going through her mind as the pain slowly lessened.

'Baka!'

'Baka!'

'Baka!'

'…Aniki'

She puzzled this strange and sudden thought. Why was she calling for help? No less calling for a brother who didn't exist? This was making no sense to her. Slowly Kirino sipped on the offered glass of water, taking slight comfort in seeing the concern looks from her mother and most surprisingly her father.

"Arigato…I'm fine, I just need to rest for a while" Kirino murmured as Yoshino led her towards the stairs. Declining further help, Kirino took the stairs groggily one at a time whilst being observed by both of her parents who watched intently fearing she would slip and fall.

But after finally scaling the ominous looking stairs, Kirino's family withdrew to the living room whispering in hushed towns about Kirino's notably decline in health.

Meanwhile, Kirino staggered towards her room but stopped as she turned around and stared at the door situated across from hers. It was the storage room, a room of no significant importance to anyone in the family except for Kirino. It was the place she felt safest, that cold and cluttered room was the one place she could rest and fall asleep peacefully, the one place where the pain no longer existed and the place she visited every single day.

Collecting her covers and laptop, Kirino left her bedroom and walked into her neighbouring room. She was unsurprised to see, that when she entered, the room was full of un-needed or un-essential items that were too important to discard of but not important enough to warrant displaying in clear view.

The room was filled to the brim with large, cumbersome boxes which piled up all the way to the ceiling. A dangerous place to some but to Kirino this room was everything to her. She didn't know why but she felt a strong pull to this room, a string yet un-seen force was drawing her to this unremarkable room. Such a beautiful model had no place in such a filthy and dangerous place, but Kirino would have attacked anyone who spoke ill of this room such was her attachment to it.

This room was her strength but also her place of comfort. Every night Kirino would slip away at the dead of night, when her parents fell asleep, and come to this room. It was the only place she felt comfortable sleeping in, even her own room felt foreign and unwelcoming compared to this clustered room.

So as Kirino settled in against a dusty and worn sheet, which had previously rested atop of numerous boxes, she situated her laptop across from her setting the alarm clock so that she could return to her room and avoid any suspicion from her parents and begun to play a song through her headphones which often helped her fall to sleep when she was upset or in great discomfort,

As the musical notes began to play Kirino felt the tears forcing their way to the front of her eyes. Every night this happened. Every night Kirino would shed tears for a pain she could not identify or fix. Yet this single song managed to shed unwanted tears and lull her into a peaceful sleep.

The notes continued to ring around her ears as the tears slowly became stifled sobs. Kirino was crying, a heart-breaking scene for anyone who knew her. The model who had everything but at the same time had nothing because of one thing, one single thing missing from her life. A thing she did not know and a thing she feared she would never find.

"Where are you? What are you? Why does this hurt do much" Kirino squealed in pain as the music finally lulled her conscious into a state of paralysis. Unknown to her a single image interjected itself into her vision. An image of a tall 17 year old boy, with dark hair and dark coloured eyes.

"Who are you?" Kirino whispers as the image slowly reinforced itself to the back of her mind becoming nothing more than a long distant memory in the process. An image she had seen ever since her birth yet the same image that she could never recall when she woke up.

Who was this boy and why was he so infuriatingly significant to this popular model?

"O…Onii-chan?" Kirino murmured as sleep took a hold of her senses. The music continuing to reverberate around her ears, as did the sole image of a man who would impact her life in more ways than she could possibly imagine.

"Onii-chan…"

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Author Notes: This is a story I've been considering for a while. I didn't know whether to publish it or not because it isn't beta read by myself or my actual beta reader because I thought she may not know the anime of which I'm referring to.

By the way, I am considering making this story a monthly update although if this doesn't seem worthwhile I might decide to make it a one-shot instead and change the ending.

I would love to hear your input and criticism if you have any. I am a deluded writer who one day wants to write original stories far off in the future so any help, criticism or even praise is greatly welcomed.

I have also always wanted to write a; my little sister can't be this cute story and am glad that I've found the time to do so. Admittedly I'm having a little trouble with my others stories but that's not important.

This story will revolve around Kirino and Kyousuke but I won't share anymore. I have a brief idea for this story but nothing detailed so if this story does bomb then at least I wouldn't have spent too much time and energy over it.

I hope you like this chapter and I hope to see you again, any questions or suggestions over this story please don't hesitate to contact me through a private message or review, I look forward to hearing from you :D

Miracles79 signing out

P.S. Apologizes for the rushed work. I wrote this in an around 2 hours and was too exhausted to proof read my writing. It is 1 in the morning after all :P