Kiku no Futago Omake – (What the Black Twins really wanted)
It was the day she was drawn into this realm – dark, and void-like. She lived there a long time, or maybe, forever, with that view outside the realm as her only hope of getting out. That view was bound by an invisible wall – and she cannot figure herself out of it. She could watch out, and do nothing.
"Ki-kiku?", Meimei squeaked, seeing the strange change in Kiku.
She only greeted him this morning, and the familiar warmth of Kiku that she'd always search for was no longer there. His eyes had a light bloody reddish glow, and his straight face was not like the one Kiku always yielded. The face was serious, yes, but seemed to conceal something. Meimei wasn't sure what is that he's hiding though. She knew he had things to hide, but whatever he was hiding, she felt that he was having a hard time hiding it. He looked like to her he was fed up with her – so fed up with her constant presence: greeting him in the morning, noon, afternoon, nighttime – he wanted an end to it. He didn't want to see her face. He didn't want her to walk in his room and greet him, or hug him. They lived in the same house since the Kiku Meimei knew had taken her into his care from Yao. Of course she was pleased with the transfer – she didn't like Yao.
Kiku was still – unusually still for Meimei – and he had a restrained look about him. From that look he looked like he had restrained his want to speak his mind. He kept his hands still by his sides, but wanted to move them to tear Meimei's arms away from his torso.
His eyebrows furrowed. He squinted. The squint he made now was much more intense than usual – for Meimei, at least. She had never seen Kiku squint this intense.
Carefully, while pulling her arms away from him, he said, concealing the grudging feeling he had, "Yes, ohayou, Meimei."
A soft gasp (she didn't want him to hear it) escaped her when her arms left him, but sadly, Kiku heard it.
The change in Kiku was hard for her to believe.
"Honestly, Meimei, do you think I really am Kiku?", he questioned, twisting a smile.
Thinking that he still is Kiku, she answered, "Yes."
For a moment she became conscious of her beating heart. It was slowing down, maybe, or preparing to pump so hard in panic.
Then she lost attention toward her heartbeats when Kiku (she couldn't believe it) a sadistic laugh.
"Ha, ha, ha…"
"…Really? You're that foolish?"
In fact he just fooled her. He just deceived her with his politeness, and his returns of her "I love you"s.
The twisted smile became more twisted, and her eyes didn't believe the sight. Her ears didn't believe the exchange of words. Her legs froze in sympathy of her disbelief.
"What, you're scared?", he teased, moving toward her to move her out of his room and to the corridor outside.
Meimei moved out according to the will of his movements. She stepped back with his every move. The scenery changed from the sunny room of Kiku, to the sun-lit corridor they were in, and to the dark end of the corridor where a mirror was hung.
When they got to the end, Kiku said, "The Kiku you're looking for isn't here. I took him out."
In turn she asked him, "Wh-who are you then? What did you do to him?"
"Me? Who am I?"
Kiku's twisted smile lingered, and he laughed a little.
"Black Kiku. You call me Kuro Kiku - sama. Never leave 'Black' and 'Master' out of my name."
"What about Kiku? What did you do to him?"
Her face then wrinkled with worry. She was about to shout at him, "YOU BASTARD! You'll DIE! You touched Kiku!" but she couldn't. That is her only resolve, and it crumbled instantly when she felt the mirror press against her back when they got to that end of the corridor. She felt that this Kiku can hurt her, and was stronger than her, but how Kiku can hurt her is unimaginable for her, but scary.
Kiku slouched a little, then changed his voice.
"Meimei, stop worrying about me… I'm doing fine."
The intense squint he had before weakened into the one Meimei was very familiar with, and it was the one Kiku usually drew when he reassured her to stop worrying. She froze more – this confused her.
She said in a smaller voice, "Kiku?"
Kiku then declared with a sudden push to her shoulder, "Never leave the Black and the honorific out of my name!"
Meimei expected glass to break behind her, but she felt herself fall on a cold floor.
The landing smarted, but that didn't concern her.
Her sight could not comprehend the darkness around, and she wanted to see in it.
She got up, saw a warm glow of sunlight behind her.
She turned right away and saw the corridor she used to be in. Black Kiku was not there anymore.
She tried walking to the sun-lit corridor, but met with an invisible wall. She touched it again, and didn't believe her imprisonment in that realm.
She thought she would never see Kiku anymore, or any living thing pass by her mirror cage at the least. She slowly fell to her knees.
Tears began increasing, and she tried stopping them flow.
Her effort in doing so failed, and was in vain – her desperation consumed her already.
Meimei wasn't sure if a week or so passed, or if a week or less passed. She didn't pay attention to the length of her wait.
Her heart raced. Kiku was there, outside of her mirror cage! But she wasn't happy. The sight of him was just so wrong. Kiku was looking at her apologetically and she can read his apology from his eyes and the downward depression of his eyebrows. She can read it from his moving lips being glided over by Black Kiku's fingers –
She cried at that sight, and she was shouting in protest. Her shouts were pointless – she couldn't be heard.
The sight was so forbidden and heart-aching, she wanted to get out, yell at Black Kiku and beat him up, but the mirror shielded them both from each other.
She thought as she helplessly watched the two Kikus, "Black Kiku, he… did this! Kiku has no fault at all!"
Her eyes scanned back at them.
Black Kiku's arms were wrapped tightly around Kiku, and his fingers went caressing his lower lip. He smiled at Kiku's submissive silence, and the agony on Meimei's sobbing face.
Unheard to Meimei and Black Kiku was Kiku's apologies.
"I'm sorry, Meimei…"
Black Kiku's fingernail dug into his cheek and ran down fast to his lip again.
"I'm deeply sorry…"
Meimei didn't know what he was saying, but understood that he was calling out to her, saying something so important that she should hear it. She understood that if she responded somehow, it would mean so much to him, even if both sides didn't understood what they really meant to say.
She nodded to give a response she knew wouldn't be understood, since they couldn't hear each other.
Black Kiku didn't care what was going on between them, and proceeded to kiss Kiku hard and deep, and made it apparent to Meimei that he even sucked on his lips.
She slapped her fists to the wall when she saw that.
Beyond the kiss, she could see that the edges of Black Kiku's lips were curved up in extremes.
Black Sakura woke up, materializing next to Black Kiku. Her mist in materializing was not as calm as before because it was furious, reflecting what she was feeling upon the last moments of the dream. It was actually howling, and was more fearsome than a chilly wind howling. Her cheeks burned with the rushing of blood in her veins, and she was biting her lower lip in her seething anger. Black Kiku was sleeping in a futon in the room they were in, and he was roused from the sleep he was having. He just didn't rise from the bed. He was still drunk with the dream he had.
"Kiku?", she called him, knowing that he was awake.
Black Kiku's eyes opened and he peeled off the blanket. His hair shined in the moonlight, but his eyes reflected nothing. The moonlight came from the window, but didn't pervade into the darkness they were in. The darkness of the night had hidden well both of their faces – and their true feelings.
"Did you dream of that?", she asked him.
Black Kiku had a light smile, and he was smiling not only because of the dream. He was smiling because he thought Black Sakura didn't see his smile.
His voice concealed his contentment.
"Of course I did."
Black Sakura lost control of her composure. She scowled, then asked in a jealous-dominant-wife-like-voice, "Why… were you kissing him?"
Black Kiku fell silent.
"Of course you wanted take Meimei out of the picture", she nagged, "but you, enjoying the manipulation of Meimei by kissing him?"
Black Kiku could not counter her words. He simply had a liking for Kiku, and tried hiding it from Black Sakura. But he failed with that one dream.
She continued nagging, "I don't get you. Why are you after your weak self – I mean White Kiku! Why that weakling Shiroi?"
Black Kiku then resolved to counter her with a tease.
"Aha. I get it now.", he mused.
"What?"
"You're jealous."
She quickly shot back, "OF COURSE NOT!"
She shook him hard and he tried pushing her away. They then strangled each other in heated argument, then fell asleep when then got tired.