4. Sad

Yuko kept her face empty and icy as she spoke to him. She was good at it; that was her freak show gimmick up in Heaven... her asset back then, and her asset now, even after plucking up the courage and running to the safety of a little island nation on Earth. "No, Isamu, I don't think anything Kiko's doing is right. In fact, I know it's not."

Isamu leaned against his car in all of his lanky glory. He was a true model. He did it without trying... "Don't you think you're getting a little serious about this?"

Of course she was getting serious about this. If Isamu had any idea what was at stake here, he would've understood! "No, I don't. I think I'm being rational. Clearly, I'm the sister who has to be rational, to make up for Kiko."

"Hey," Isamu replied with a frown. "Kiko's a good person; I think she's great. So what if she wears her heart on her sleeve?"

Yuko's dark chocolate eyes widened at how careless he was... but how could she blame him? He was human. Free to wear his heart wherever he wanted. "She's known Ren for a month and now she believes she loves him."

Isamu only shrugged. "So?"

"So it's...!" Yuko was so frustrated she wanted to cry. "It's not right."

"Some people fall hard and fast. I'm not going to hold that against Kiko, and neither should you." Isamu stood straight, peering down at her. "Come on, think of your first love."

Yuko was silent.

"... I know you've been in love before. Everyone has."

Yuko shifted her weight on one hip and stared at the glittering blue bows on her white stilettos. "... No. I've never been in love before." Her heart clenched tightly in her chest.

Isamu laughed. "Don't lie, Yuko...!"

"No, it's the truth." She had to be better than this. She had to keep her face cold and empty... "I've never been in love, and I never will be."

He paused, crossing his arms over his chest. "... That's a little pessimistic, don't you think?"

Yes. Absolutely. But did she have much choice? "It is what it is."

"Yuko..."

She hated it when he took that tone. She'd only known him for a month, but he always seemed to take that tone with her eventually. A pitying, sad softness. "It doesn't bother me."

"Then why is your lip all a-quiver?"

Only then did Yuko realize how her lower lip had been gently betraying her. She needed to be better than this...! "Isamu. It doesn't bother me."

Isamu sighed, frowning, leaning against his car all over again. "You're a piece of work, Yuko."

"No, I-"

"Yes, Yuko, you are." He insisted, voice firm and unhappy. "You say you want Kiko to be happy and then you turn right around and say that Kiko can't feel the way she does? It's not exactly your call to make."

She felt a rare and very unwelcome anger flash through her, burning her the icy walls around her. She wanted to fling her crystal bracelet aside and tear him apart...! Yuko only it show through her tight little pout. "I'm not going to talk about this with you."

Isamu suddenly threw his hands up in the air. "You're the one who called me out here in the first place, Yuko! What do you want me to do? Talk to Ren? Tell him that Kiko's off limits because her Ice Queen of a sister said so?"

"Does Ren even know that Kiko thinks she's in love with him?"

"Not as far as I know, but so what? This might come as a surprise, but when people fall in love, it's usually a secret until they're actually brave enough to admit it. That's normal." Isamu's voice grew more and more rough with each word...

Yuko knew full well she was pissing him off, but... "What Kiko feels isn't normal."

Isamu leaned down, towering over Yuko, stressing a single word. "How?"

Yuko had to blink aside a suspicious blurriness in her eyes before she could speak. "She's known him for a month."

"And when is she allowed to feel whatever it is she feels, Yuko? People fall in love when they fall in love. There's no step-by-step manual on this. Everyone's different."

"It's reckless!" Yuko wanted to just go back into her apartment and cry. Why did she think this would even get anywhere? Him and his human luxuries that he took for granted...! She wished Kiko could just be in love and not have to worry about what would happen if they found her, if they took her back to Heaven... "People will get hurt...!"

"Yeah? Who did it to you?"

Yuko felt her lip quivering again. "Stop making this about me."

"Isn't it about you? This is about you getting all hung up on your sister falling in love for some reason. Like it's a sin or something. But Yuko, it's not."

It was, and there was no way for her to tell him that. "Are you going to help me with this or not?"

"No."

She knew that already, but even so... "Fine. Then get out of here." She turned to leave, and froze when she felt Isamu's hand curl around her wrist.

"What's going on, Yuko? Why does this bother you so much?"

Yuko tugged her wrist back into her possession. "None of your business."

She heard him snap at her as her stilettos clacked up the concrete steps to her apartment, yell out in anger that she'd called him all the way out here for this? She had. She'd asked him to go all the way across town just so that they would stand beside his car and bicker because he couldn't understand why Yuko didn't want Kiko around Ren, anymore...

She tried so hard to keep her face even, plain, but she was in tears by the time she reached her door. Sobbing by the time she went inside and shut it. She took off her shoes and threw them on the floor, looked at her reflection in the mirror set near the door. Pale skin tinged pink along her cheeks, her nose red from her crying. Dark brown eyes. Ink black hair... She slipped her bracelet off, and suddenly her skin was snowy white, her eyes black, her dark hair shimmery. What she wouldn't give to be a red-nosed, ink-haired human! But no, she was an Angel on the run, seeking freedom and still finding none, spending every waking moment scared out of her mind that they might be caught...