Damn, has it really been just over two years since I posted the first version of this chapter? It seems like it was no where near that long, honestly. But many of you - if you're still actually remotely interested in this - will be pleased to know that I will be posting more to this! It might take quite a while for me to get to any new content though because first, I'm rewriting the entire thing. Mostly because my writing style has changed a lot since then. I'll probably drop "With Love" though. Unless there's a sudden interest in it, which isn't too likely. And if any of you enjoy Hetalia, then you can always read "Tear Me Apart" which will hopefully be getting updates too!

Right, now I'm rambling. Well, enjoy the new and improved prologue of Reflection~!

A/N: Yes, a new story, despite not finishing the NaruGaara story that I started so long ago. Oh well, I promise to finish this one, I swear! Please review, I'll give cookies.

Reflection

Prologue

A little boy cautiously sneaked across the hallway, scared to get caught. His parents were yelling downstairs and were almost definitely under the impression that he was fast asleep in his bed. Just like he should be. But this was all too scary for him. All he could hear were the shouts and the screams intertwined with words such as "demon", "cursed", and "death".

The boy knocked on the bedroom door across from his own and quietly whispered, "Are you still awake, mou hitori no boku?"

He almost crawled back to his room when he didn't get any sort of response right away. It was scary, so, so scary but he could brave through it if he had no other choice. Then the door slowly opened just a crack to reveal his mirror image standing there. The only difference between the two of them were the colour of their eyes. It was a relief to see his brother, his other half standing there. He smiled hesitantly at the other boy, only to flinch as there was a particularly loud yell coming from downstairs. It never seemed to end lately.

"What's wrong, aibou?" the crimson eyed brother asked, looking worriedly at his twin.

The other brother's amethyst eyes quickly started to water at the reminder of why he had come across the hall in the first place – something that he wasn't allowed to do, no matter what. His brother quickly pulled him into the bedroom. The light was off but it was a source of comfort to him instead of a source of fear. He was a lot more scared of what would happen if his Mama found him in here again.

"Why do Mama and Papa have to fight with each other all of the time? I don't like it when they fight. You can make them stop, can't you, Atemu?" the amethyst eyed twin asked, innocently.

Atemu bit at his lip as his brother wiped the tears from his own face, and pulled his twin into a tight hug. Tears were stinging at the backs of his own eyes but they didn't matter as long as the amethyst eyed boy was crying. He would do anything that he could to make his brother stop crying. If only anything would work. His brother would into more trouble if he went down there and tried to stop them from fighting now though, and that was almost worse than the crying itself.

"I don't know, aibou," the crimson eyed twin said, wisely, "I wish I could stop them but then Mama will go do bad things to you again and it hurts you and so I can't let that happen. Even if they're yelling really loudly."

The other twin whimpered slightly and both of them climbed into the bed. It was dark out, after all, and both of them would have to get up bright and early the next morning for daycare. Even if Mama and Papa kept them up all night with their yelling and screaming. No one other than the four of them needed to know just what happened inside of the house. Or at least, that was what Papa told them all of the time and he didn't really want to tell the nice lady at the daycare what Mama was doing to his brother.

They laid down so that they were facing each other. The amethyst eyed twin whimpered softly as he heard his Mama yell out something about a devil. He focused back on Atemu instead, just as their fingers intertwined together. It was just like he had seen the people around the town and the people in the movies do. But those people were a lot older than him and his brother though, and those people were always in love with each other too... whatever that meant. He didn't really know.

"Do you love me, mou hitori no boku? The same way that Mama and Papa love each other?" the amethyst eyed brother asked, innocently, "Because I love you like Mama and Papa love each other."

"No way! I love you in the way that Mama is supposed to love Papa because she doesn't really love Papa. I wouldn't ever hurt you or yell at you the same way that Mama hurts and yells at Papa," Atemu admitted, proudly.

The crimson eyed brother wiped the tears away from his twin's cheeks. He really did hate it when the amethyst eyed boy cried almost more than anything else in the whole entire world. Even more than skinned knees and their parents arguing, but not quite as much as he hated it when Mama was being mean to his brother. He looked helplessly at his twin for a moment before quickly pressing their lips together, just like he had seen other people do before.

"Mou... mou hitori no boku?" the other twin asked, his tears slowly stopping.

Atemu blushed and nodded slowly. At least the amethyst eyed boy had stopped crying now. The shouting from downstairs was still as loud as it had been a couple of minutes ago though, but it suddenly seemed far away and distant from them. Not nearly as important as it had seemed just a couple of seconds ago.

"I love you, Yugi. My aibou," he whispered, squeezing the other's hand lightly.

A matching flush filled Yugi's cheeks and his amethyst eyes widened. His hitori no boku was so important to him and so kind to him too. But didn't that mean that he should show Atemu that he loved him too? Shyly, he leaned forwards and quickly kissed his twin, not really understanding the meaning behind it. Not that the other brother had. His earlier sadness had completely faded away though, now replaced by the odd fluttering of his heart in his chest.

"I love you too, Atemu. Mou hitori no boku," the amethyst eyed boy whispered back.

Yugi's eyes closed and his breathing quickly evened out as he fell asleep. It was always so easy to fall asleep when he was beside his twin. Atemu would protect him, no matter what happened. Even if he was completely unaware that his twin was blushing darkly and gingerly touching his lips with his free hand. The crimson eyed brother really hadn't been expecting his twin to return the action. But it wasn't long after that before he fell asleep too.

It was a few weeks later that everything went to pieces. Their mother left their father and they were separated from each other. Atemu went with their mother while Yugi stayed in their hometown with their father. Both of them had been told that they would never see each other again, that they would just have to live with the way that things had turned out. Their mother had even gone as far to leave town entirely. Their perfect little dream was completely shattered in fits or screaming and tears with no way to ever completely return it to the way that it used to be.