Author's notes: I hardly ever see some Shion and Jin sibling-ness in the Xenosaga section, so I decided to dedicate this little oneshot to that. It's not a very good dedication, but at least I got this plot bunny out of my head.

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Xenosaga and its wonderful angst-filled characters. I just write stories about them.

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There were many times in her life where Shion just didn’t get her brother Jin and his odd and impractical ways of living. And when she usually didn’t understand what he did, she questioned him. A lot.

“Why do you where that dress all the time?” asked Shion one day at the dinner table.

Jin blinked and was startled enough by the question to put down his book. “Excuse me?”

Shion pointed at the dark robe that he was wearing. “Why do you where that dress all the time,” she repeated.

Jin sighed and put down his book Here we go again, thought Jin wearily.

“It’s not a dress, Shion. It’s called a kimono, and plenty of men used to wear it.”

Shion was not satisfied with this answer. “It looks like a dress, and people who don’t know what a kimono is probably think that you cross-dress.”

“Well, I don’t particularly care for what people think about my choice of clothing,” he said.

“And what about those socks you wear with those sandals? Don’t you know how funny that looks?”

Jin had to admit it. His sister was persistent. The best thing to do at a time like this was to sidetrack her.

“Can you get me another glass of water, please?”

“Huh? Oh, sure thing.” She picked up his empty glass and went over to the fridge.

Jin rolled his eyes and picked up his book, trying to find his place. Thirty seconds later, however, Shion came back with his water and decided to interrupt him again.

“Why do you read books?”

“It’s a hobby,” he answered, not even bothering to spare his sister a glance. Maybe she’ll go away if he ignored her.

“Books are made out of paper, and they’re easily lost or destroyed. It would be much more practical for you to download the documents of whatever story your reading and then save them on the computer. That way, the only thing you’ll have to worry about is the computer crashing and deleting all of your files.

Jin didn’t answer that, except to idly turn the page. Annoyed at the lack of response, Shion tapped him hard on the shoulder. “Jin?”

Jin closed his book with a sharp snap. “Shion, please! I’m trying to read here. Why don’t you clear the table for me?”

Finally, Shion gave up. “Hmph!” she grabbed their plates. “I was just curious. You know what? You’re probably going to end up being an old, bent man without a wife and a hundred cats.”

As she washed the dishes in the sink, Shion couldn't help but feel a little wounded. Sometimes it seemed as if Jin cared more about his books than about her.

----------

There were many times in his life where Jin just didn’t get Shion’s stubbornness. And when he usually didn’t understand her, he argued with her. A lot.

“Look Jin, I’m completely capable of taking lessons from Grandpa,” she said angrily. Somehow, the two had managed to move their fight into the front yard.

“Shion, it’s not that I don’t think you’re capable,” he explained patiently. “I think that you have a lack of...maturity, something that you need when practicing a martial art.”

“I lack maturity?” Shion put her hands on her hips. “I’m already thirteen! You started at that age, so why can’t I?”

Why do you treat me like child? She thought, despairingly.

Jin laid a hand on his forehead in exasperation. “Maturity has nothing to do with age, Shion.”

“I’m not going to be waving around my sword around like an idiot during lessons,” she protested. “I’ll sit still and do everything Grandpa tells me to do. I promise!”

“Next year would be better,” he advised.

“Next year? You said that last year! And the year before that, too!”

“What is going on here?”

They both whirled around on the spot. A tall, broad-chested old man with shining gray hair was quietly closing the sliding doors behind him.

“Grandpa!” exclaimed Shion, hurrying up to him as he came down the wooden step. “Jin won’t let me train with you.”

“Is that so?” The old man scrutinized his grandson quizzically.

Jin said nothing. He already knew he had lost the battle.

“Don’t tell me you agree with him?” asked Shion in a panic after a moment of silence. “I thought being trained in martial arts and ether skills was supposed to be a family tradition!”

‘It is,” he assured her with a smile. “And I think we should continue it. You will start your jujitsu training tomorrow at noon. If you prove to be a good student, then we will start on ether a week from today. How does that sound?”

Shion almost whooped for joy before giving her grandfather a hug. She shot Jin, who had been watching them with a face clear of any expression, a look of triumph before going back in the house.

The old man walked up closer to his grandson. “It was only a matter of time before she became interested,” he told Jin. “Why does that bother you so much?”

“Just go easy on her, Grandfather,” was all he said before heading back inside, thoroughly tired and dispirited.

Why was it so hard for Shion to understand that he just didn't want to see her get hurt?

----------

The Uzuki siblings. Both live in completely different worlds and have completely different minds. It’s no wonder why the two barely do anything but argue when they see each other.

There was one time, however, when Jin dared to show his little sister just how much he cared.

“Shion!” Jin opened the door to her bedroom without bothering with a polite knock first. He had been outside on the front porch, trying to deal with a random bout of insomnia by immersing himself in a thick book, when he had heard her scream. “Shion? What’s the matter?”

She was sitting straight up on her bed, staring wide-eyed at her closet. Whether she did not want talk, or could not talk at all was hard to say. Whatever the reason, she remained unresponsive.

Jin over to her and put his hand gingerly on her shoulder, causing her to jump a little.

“Oh, Jin!” she said, as if she had just noticed him. “I’m fine, it’s nothing! Just a bad dream, that’s all!” she tried to smile cheerfully at him, but failed spectacularly.

Hearing her sister trip over her words, accompanied by the false grinning, made Jin’s heart squeeze painfully in his chest. He was pretty sure he knew what had caused her nightmare. “Shion...”

“I’m okay, it’s nothing. Just a bad dream,” she repeated with a cracking laugh, hating herself for the well of tears that were forming despite her best efforts. When Jin simply kept giving her that strange, irritating look and didn’t move from the edge of her bed, she became angry.

“Can you go now? I said I’m fine.” She blinked up at him, but it was no use. One tear dribbled pathetically down her check. “Leave me ---”

That was when Jin did something she had never remembered him do, and will never remember him doing ever again. He pulled her into very gentle embrace.

It was the last push she needed. Soon she was sobbing quietly into his shoulder as he smoothed down her hair and patted her back. For the moment, Shion didn't care that it was Jin's fault they were leftall alone to find for themselves. She just felt too miserable to care about anything.

Once Shion’s tears have dried down to soft sniffling, Jin let her pull away to grab a few tissues from her night stand.

“How about I read to you until you fall asleep?” he offered as she continued to dab at her eyes and blow her nose.

Shion nodded and lay back down on her bed, facing away from her brother. Jin cracked open the book he had been reading before he came into her room and began to recite its first chapter to her.

An hour and six chapters later on, Jin paused in his reading to check on his sister. She hadn’t moved since he had started, but her light, even breath told him that she was finally asleep.

Jin closed the book and stood up from the bed. “You’re probably not even going to remember this in the morning, are you?” he asked her slumbering form. He bent over her and placed a light kiss on the side of her head, another thing that he almost never did. Straightening up, he moved as quietly as he could out of her room.

“That’s alright,” he whispered as he shut the door closed behind him. “I do not deserve to have that acknowledged.”

He had been right that she would not have remembered that night. The next morning, she had told them that she had the weirdest dream, but other than that, she made no mention of the nightmare she had previously, or the kindness that Jin had shown. She acted like she normally would have on any other day.

Jin wasn't saddened by this. As long as his sister was happy, nothing else mattered much.

----------

Jin couldn’t help but remember the tear-stained face of his sister from five years ago as he looked at his sister’s holographic image on the tele-caster. “So you’re going to be on the Woglinde for how long?” he asked for the third time.

“Maybe a couple of years,” she answered, looking impatient. “Like I said before.”

“This whole business of yours seems a little...ah, never mind.” Jin didn’t like the sound of what Shion had told him about the recent activities of her job at Vector. She was being decidedly vague about it, and that was never a good sign.

“Jin, I would really like it if you had a job when I come back.” Shion sounded stern. “A job that you’ve kept for more than four months.”

“I’ll take care of that soon,” he said smoothly. “You could have at least visited me before you left,” he added.

“I’ve been very busy for the past few months,” she told him “I’ve had no time to do anything but work.”

“I see. Will you visit me when you come back?” he asked hopefully.

“If I have time,” she answered hesitantly. “Now, I have to leave in an hour, so — what do you want, Jin?”

He had lifted up his hand to stop her from breaking the connection. “Shion, promise me that you’ll be careful out there, okay?”

He watched Shion blink behind her round glasses. “Of course I will.” There was a heavy moment of silence between the two. “Um, I’ll call you when I get on board.”

“You will?” To Shion’s annoyance, Jin looked and sounded greatly surprised, but he was probably doing that to tease her.

“Yes, I will. Goodbye, Jin.” The screen went black.

Jin chuckled softly. “Goodbye, Shion. Be safe,” he murmuredquietly before picking up a newspaper for a half-hearted attempt at finding a job. He thought that he might as well get the worst over with quickly.

Besides, it would temporarily take his mind off of how much he would miss his sister in the coming months.