Author's Note: It probably goes without saying, but I do not own Angel Sanctuary or any of its characters. Any original characters, however, are characters of my own design.

Chapter 1: Children of the Angels

"Kazuki, go make sure that your sister is awake."

Kazuki Mudou walked down the hallway to the room that he shared with his twin sister. Just like it had been every morning for the past several years, it seemed like Miu was trying to wait until the last possible minute before waking up and getting ready for school, a habit that ended up making the twins late as often as not. He had hoped that it being their first day at high school might be sufficient motivation for his sister to get up a little earlier, but he supposed that it did no good to hope for the impossible. He stopped just outside the door that led into the room.

"Miu," he called, "Are you almost ready?" There was no answer from within. "Come on sis, you're going to make us late for the first day of school."

He waited a few seconds for a response, but had no more luck than the first time. Impatiently, he yanked open the door into the bedroom, expecting to find his sister still in bed, trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Instead, he found himself completely mistaken.

Kazuki's twin was standing with her back to the door. Her nightgown lay on the floor where it had been carelessly tossed, probably to remain there until after school, when Miu would, as if a completely different person, suddenly become much more concerned about the cleanliness of the room. Her brand-new high school uniform was much more carefully laid out on the bed. Miu herself was wearing nothing except her underwear, apparently having been caught somewhere between undressing and dressing.

"Sorry!" Kazuki exclaimed, quickly excusing himself from the room, closing the door behind him. He felt his heart beating fast: his sister could be quite frightening when angered.

"Is that you, brother?" she asked drowsily from the other side of the door. "Don't worry; I'll be ready to go soon."

Relieved that he had been allowed to live for a short while longer, Kazuki returned to the kitchen, where his father was still reading the morning paper.

"Is she awake?" Setsuna Mudou asked his son.

Kazuki nodded. "She says that she'll be out shortly," he reported.

"It would be nice if you two were actually on time for school this year," Setsuna remarked. "You're both in high school now, so you should be perfectly capable of waking up on time."

"I'm not the one who keeps making us late," Kazuki remarked quietly.

"You sleep in the same room, so it shouldn't be that hard for you to make sure that Miu is up at the same time you are."

Kazuki cursed to himself for letting his father hear the remark, but made sure not to curse audibly. While his parents were usually fairly lenient, his father could be strict when necessary, and forcing blame off on others was one of those things that Setsuna stubbornly tried to discourage his children from doing.

"Relax, dad," Miu said as she entered the room. "I'm ready to go now, and we still have plenty of time to get to school." She gave her father a light kiss on the cheek before heading out the front door. "Coming, Kazuki?" she asked. "We wouldn't want to be late, would we?"

"Goodbye, dad," Kazuki called right before following his sister out the door. Setsuna remained seated, as though he hadn't heard his children.

"It's hard to believe that they're already in high school, isn't it?" Setsuna turned to see his wife coming from their bedroom.

"I didn't realize you were still here, Sara," he remarked. "I thought you'd already left."

"I couldn't leave without seeing my two children leaving for their first day of high school."

"Sara, you teach at a high school," Setsuna pointed out. "The same high school that our children now attend, if I'm not mistaken. Not only will you see them later today multiple times, you yourself are on the verge of being late."

"You worry too much," Sara told him. "Keiko offered to give me a ride this year. She won't be here for another few minutes."

"As long as you aren't late, dear." Setsuna sat in quiet contemplation, carefully phrasing his next statement before saying it. "Sara, don't you think it's about time that Kazuki and Miu had their own rooms?"

"What's wrong with how things are now?" she asked. "You said yourself that it could probably help Miu to get up on time."

"They're entering high school," Setsuna reasoned. "They'll probably want a little bit of privacy from each other. They'll eventually begin to get tired of living together."

"Not those two. They've gotten along perfectly for the last 15 years without a complaint."

"I suppose so," Setsuna conceeded. "Still, they might-"

"If they start to have problems, they'll work it out themselves," Sara interrupted. "If not, we'll still have time to take care of things when they come up. You're worrying about problems that may never happen, Setsuna."

"I guess you're right," he admitted. "I'm their father, it's my job to worry about things."

"You're a wonderful father, Setsuna," Sara assured him, "just try to remember that Kazuki and Miu don't really fall into the category of 'average siblings'"

You don't have to remind me, Setsuna thought. I can see for myself just how 'different' Kazuki is.

"Miu, wait up!" It never failed to amaze Kazuki how his twin could go straight from being practically unconscious to the state she was currently in, which had her practically running down the sidewalk to their school. It was the same thing every morning.

"You'd better hurry up, brother," she called. "I thought you didn't want to be late for school today."

"Miu, I'm sorry about earlier," he apologized.

"Sorry about what?"

"About this morning. You know, when I, um…" he hesitated for a second, but finally decided that it would be best to just get it over with. "When I kind of walked in on you while you were changing. I'm sorry, I thought you were asleep."

"Did you do that?" Miu wondered aloud. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't really paying attention at the time." She stopped and waited for her brother to catch up.

"Ow!" Kazuki exclaimed. His sister had punched him hard in the arm.

"You're forgiven," she remarked cheerfully. "Next time it happens, you get two punches."

"Thanks a lot," he replied sarcastically. Still, he reasoned that only a single punch was not much to complain about, it probably would have been much worse for him if he hadn't brought it up, and she had remembered later.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You seemed kind of spaced out this morning. I mean, you're always spaced out before you leave the house, but I got the impression that you weren't really hearing anything I said this morning."

"No, I'm fine," she answered. "Now come on, you're making us late!"

Miu turned and began walking down the path. Her pale skin seemed to shine in the morning sunlight as she spun around, long brown hair flowing around her body in the slight spring breeze. The name our parents gave her fits perfectly, Kazuki thought, for in that moment, it seemed to him that there was nothing on earth or in the heavens that could be more beautiful than her.