Yuuko eyed the wrapped package suspiciously. "You already gave me a present, aneki. Remember?"
"Aa, but this is your sixteenth birthday, Yuuko. It's special; you're a woman now." The gleam in Fujiko's eyes was most definitely not reassuring. Neither was the way she had bodily dragged Yuuko into her bedroom to give her this 'special' gift.
"Why couldn't you have given it to me earlier, then?" Yuuko demanded, backing away instinctively as her sister pushed the package towards her.
"I wouldn't want you to be embarrassed," Fujiko murmured complacently, smiling the secretive smile that only ever seemed to appear around her sister. "Besides, some things should be just for us, hmm?"
Yuuko swallowed as the backs of her knees hit the edge of Fujiko's bed, leaving her with no escape. Why did aneki always have to tease? The new tennis dress that had been her not-special present had been very nice, so why couldn't Fujiko have left it at that? Certain that she was about to be utterly humiliated, Yuuko slumped down onto the bed with bad grace and accepted the package gingerly. It felt soft, like fabric, and crinkled with layers of tissue paper.
"Why did you have to get it, if it's embarrassing?" she asked, poking nervously at the neat bow of ribbon. Fujiko didn't answer; Yuuko looked up curiously and found her sister's eyes fixed on her chest where the neckline of her slightly-too-small top cut across her breasts.
"Aneki!" Yuuko flushed bright red, tugging the top up as far as she could. She sometimes forgot just how much she'd grown in the last couple of years; all the clothes she kept at home had been bought a couple of bra sizes ago.
"Aa, sorry Yuuko." Aneki smiled unrepentantly and sat down beside her, fingers creeping over to pat Yuuko's thigh. Yuuko twitched. "Aren't you going to open it?"
As dearly as she would have loved to say "no," Yuuko couldn't quite manage it. Taking a deep breath and trying to steel herself for whatever embarrassment aneki had perpetrated this time, she pulled at the ends of the ribbon, unravelling the bow. It slipped free with a hissed whisper, and Yuuko picked unenthusiastically at the tape that secured the tissue paper. Fujiko's fingers were stroking along the outside seam of her jeans, most emphatically not the kind of distraction that Yuuko wanted.
The tissue paper rustled warningly under her fingers. Yuuko pushed the final layer aside, and felt her eyes threaten to fall out of her head � aneki had given her underwear. Not the sensible everyday kind of underwear that their mother sometimes bought for her, or even a sports bra to stop her aching after tennis practice; this was all slippery silk and bronze lace, the kind of underwear that� that�
"Aneki!" Yuuko choked out, scandalised and fingers shaking as she poked at the � lingerie was what it was, there was no other word, and it wasn't the kind of thing you were supposed to give your sister! It was soft, though, and� "Aneki, how do you know my sizes?!" Yuuko all but shrieked, jerking away as Fujiko's fingers crept up across her hip. This was really, really disturbing, and worst of all was the thought that kept coming back: the scraps of silk and lace might be embarrassing but they were really pretty.
"What kind of sister would I be if I didn't know something like that?" Fujiko smiled, and traced a finger across Yuuko's ribs before she could wrench away, following the line of her underwire. And okay, maybe there were more disturbing things than being given sexy underwear by her sister, even if that was a garter belt, because Fujiko's hands had been feeling far too good for months now and Yuuko couldn't quite repress a shiver at the touch.
"A normal one!" Yuuko slapped ineffectually at her sister's wandering hand, then had to clutch at the mess of tissue paper and fabric as it threatened to slide off her lap. It really was very pretty, she grudgingly admitted � smooth gauzy silk and lace in a coppery shade of bronze that Yuuko knew was one of her best colours. There were ribbon bows instead of straps and fastenings, and there was something about that�
"Saa." Fujiko smiled at her in that way again, derailing her train of thought. "Go and try them on for me, Yuuko."
"What?" Yuuko squeaked, suddenly feeling very much like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Fujiko just smiled innocently and squeezed her thigh.
"Well, I need to make sure they fit properly."
"Aneki! You're not � I can't�" Yuuko spluttered to a halt, certain that she must be tomato red all over. The thought of her sister seeing her in this was just interesting enough to be utterly horrifying.
Fujiko cocked her head, smiling as quizzically as though she wasn't suggesting obscene things. Maybe she wasn't, Yuuko thought with a flash of guilt; maybe aneki was being totally innocent and it was all her. And maybe pigs would be flying past the window tomorrow, because Fujiko was smirking as her eyes flickered back down to Yuuko's cleavage.
"I'll show you mine, if you want�" Her hands went to the buttons of her shirt, and the shiver of interest that went through Yuuko at that was the most disturbing thing that had happened all day.
"All right!" Yuuko blurted, squeezing her eyes tight shut as tissue paper crinkled between her fingers. "I'll just go and � I'll just go�" Clutching her special present, she fled to the dubious safety of her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. Maybe she could get away with a bathrobe over the top�
The stockings were easy enough to get into, but the garter belt was something else. Yuuko was still trying to work out how to adjust the clasps when Fujiko knocked on the door.
"Yuuko-chan? Are you ready?"
Yuuko scowled. "Don't call me that!" It was easier to get angry about nicknames than to think about the kind of things she might be ready for. Swallowing, she tugged the last ribbon tight and peered dubiously into the mirror. As far as she could see, she didn't look like herself at all. This kind of underwear was for girls like Mizuki-senpai � girls who could pronounce complicated foreign words and eat bitter dark chocolates that came in expensive boxes. Yuuko was a candy and cookie-dough ice cream girl, and sophisticated really wasn't in her vocabulary.
"Yuuko?" Fujiko poked her head around the door without bothering to ask permission.
Yuuko squawked indelicately and snatched the blanket off her bed to try and cover herself. "Aneki! Don't look!"
"Why not?" Fujiko eeled bonelessly around the door, pushing it closed behind her. Yuuko thought she could hear the click of the lock, but more worrying was the fact that aneki was suddenly wearing a yukata. She'd been dressed ten minutes ago!
"You don't need to! It all fits!" Yuuko backed away, clutching her blanket to herself the way she had as a child.
"Of course." Fujiko smiled, and Yuuko remembered that her sister knew her sizes. "Give me the blanket, Yuuko."
There was nowhere to run. Yuuko swallowed � aneki was using that soft, throaty tone of voice again, the one that made her knees wobbly � and let Fujiko tug the scant protection of her blanket out of her hands.
There was silence for so long that Yuuko eventually had to crack an eye open. Fujiko was staring as though she was hungry, eyes wide and blue and lips parted. Yuuko twitched as her sister's gaze travelled from her breasts to her hips and back � slowly.
"Aneki?" she quavered, fumbling for something to do with her hands. If she crossed them in front aneki would laugh at her, and putting them behind her would just make her chest stick out. More.
"Hmm?" Fujiko sounded miles away; she didn't look up.
"My face is up here," Yuuko mumbled, sure she was bright red. To her amazement, aneki blushed too � well, her cheekbones went a little pink, and that probably counted.
"Aa, sorry Yuuko." Fujiko smiled at her, reaching out to touch the loose silk bow at the top of Yuuko's bra cup. Yuuko tried not to flinch as the smile turned into a smirk. "Well, then�" Fujiko began undoing the tie of her yukata, fingers sure and elegant on the knots.
Yuuko gaped. "W-what are you doing?" Belatedly, she remembered that aneki had locked the door; there was nowhere to run to, and as much as she would have liked to crawl into her closet and hide it was even odds that her sister would follow her in.
"I promised, remember?" Fujiko took hold of the edges of her robe, watching Yuuko's face as she toyed with the thin cotton material. For a horrified moment Yuuko wondered whether her sister was contemplating a striptease� then Fujiko shrugged, sliding the yukata off her shoulders to pool at her feet.
Yuuko didn't notice. Aneki was � she was wearing a loose, silvery-grey sort of camisole thing that was so fine that Yuuko could see her� it was almost see-through!
"Yuuko?" Aneki's amused voice seemed to come from very far away. Yuuko swallowed and tried to think pure thoughts. It was difficult, with aneki looking so� so�
"Huh?"
"My face is up here."
Yuuko's head jerked up involuntarily. She was going to spontaneously combust, and it was a good thing because then she wouldn't have to look at the amusement in aneki's eyes. Desperately, she groped for something to say.
"Ah � why are all the fasteners ribbons?" Yuuko fiddled with one of her bows nervously, trying to tighten it. The way aneki was looking at her made her feel as though being naked might actually be a relief, and that was a bad thought!
"Hmm?" Aneki smirked at her again, stepping closer and running one fingertip across Yuuko's shoulder, along the line of her bra strap. Yuuko shivered. "Isn't it obvious?"
It wasn't at all; Yuuko shook her head mutely, wanting to back away. Aneki was so close now that her breath made patches of Yuuko's skin heat and tingle. Any closer and they'd be�
Fujiko smiled up into her eyes, fingers finding the ends of Yuuko's ribbons. "So I can undo them, of course."