"Hey, Ryou, you want to go shopping for a bit? There's some stuff I need to get."
"Sure, Amane" I say, smiling.
I quickly switch off the computer I've been working on and reach for my coat, pulling it from its hook on the back of my bedroom door. I feel my pockets for money, then, satisfied that I have enough, disconnect my phone from its charger and head downstairs.
I pull my coat on over a pale woollen sweater as I descend the last few stairs to find Amane standing by the door, key in hand and ready to leave.
"That was fast." I observe, pulling on a pair of shoes. I frown when my shoe doesn't seem to fit on my foot. Amane giggles.
"Try the other foot." She suggests, smiling.
I blush, realising that I'd been putting my right shoe onto my left foot. I curse myself silently for the silly mistake, at the same time admiring how Amane never seems to make mistakes such as mine. I glance up at my sister, looking through a gap in my hair – she's immaculately groomed as always, not a hair out of place. I don't envy her though; we're too close for that.
Having successfully managed to put on a pair of shoes (idiot, I think) I stand up, smiling at my twin.
"Ready to go?" I ask. Amane nods, swinging open the door and stepping back to let me through.
She locks the door behind us, leaving us out in the cold, damp weather of early spring. We trudge along in silence, the only sounds coming from the birds in the trees and our feet on the ground. Amane's footsteps are much lighter than mine, each step barely audible over the steady crunch on gravel under my own feet. She walks with a grace that I've never been able to manage. A passerby might think her a dancer or a gymnast, but it's just a natural fluency that she's always had.
She must feel my eyes on her, because she turns to me and smiles widely. Her eyes shine as strongly as the sun when she smiles, and immediately I brighten.
"Everything alright?" she asks, still smiling.
"Yeah, fine. I was just...just thinking"
"About what?" she looks at me inquisitively, head cocked to one side, and I'm reminded of a small child. She has that same air of innocent curiosity.
"Nothing really" I tell her, returning her smile. She eyes me suspiciously for a few seconds, her chocolate brown eyes narrowed. Then she nods, turning her head to gaze up at the sky. I hide a smile, thinking that if I did that while walking I'd fall over.
"It's turning into a beautiful day" she notes. "One of those days where you feel like nothing bad can happen, you know?"
I murmur my agreement, but I don't really think so. Bad things can always happen.
We turn onto Alaska Road, one of Domino's busiest streets, and both stop.
"Where d'you want to go?" I ask, looking around at the assortment of shops that line the streets. It's hard to know where to begin.
"Hmm, let's see." She mimes looking at a shopping list, running her finger down the imaginary piece of paper. Her finger pauses a couple of times and she murmurs to herself, making a show of it. Finally, she stops, tapping the air triumphantly.
"A pocket-sized dictionary" she announces. I stare at her.
"A dictionary?"
"Yes. Pocket-sized." She winks at me. "You know I can't spell, and the one we have at home weighs more than your car. That pile of rust may be small but it's heavy!"
"Hey!" I protest, laughing. "It's not that bad!" She raises her eyebrows. "Well, it is, but it runs fine. Most of the time"
She catches my eye and we both burst out laughing, remembering the last time my car had been 'running fine'. The brakes had cut and the car had only stopped when it barrelled half-way into a bush and stuck there.
"Stop bullying my car, even if it has nearly killed us several times. You really want a dictionary?"
"Yes." She says, her expression suddenly solemn. Then she grins manically and points straight in front of her. "To the bookshop!" she cries.
She links arms with me and drags me along behind her. I stumble and almost pull her to the ground with me, but she grabs onto a man as he walks past, and we both managed to stay upright. The man glares at her over a thick pair of glasses, and we both go scarlet.
"Sorry!" she exclaims, hurrying away. I follow her quickly, not looking back at the man. Once we were out of earshot we both stop and dissolve into giggles.
"He's still looking at us!" Amane hisses, peering over my shoulder.
"In here!" I gasp, trying to stop laughing. I give her a gentle prod in the back to push her towards a shop we stopped next to. It's an old antiques shop, with delicate vases and ornaments lining the shelves all over the small room. An old lady eyes us suspiciously from behind a cracked wooden counter. I glance around, my laughter dying in my throat. The shop seems unnaturally dark, the only light coming from a small, square window coated with dust and cobwebs.
"Hey, Ryou, look at this"
I walk over to Amane, my footsteps echoing on the dull wooden floor.
"What is it?" I ask, squinting at the object in my sister's hands.
"The stone is tanzanite." The old lady answers in a raspy voice, appearing behind us soundlessly. "A nice shade of blue, that is. And the chain's silver, as you can see. A pretty necklace for a pretty young lady, don't you think?" She turns to me, the question sounding hostile on her lips, daring me to disagree with her. Her eyes are striking; black and beady like a crow's, and guarded beneath narrowed eyelids.
"Err...y-yes, it's very...err...very p-pretty." I stutter, as Amane stifles a laugh, passing it off as a cough. "It's nice." I add firmly when the old lady doesn't speak.
Satisfied, she turns back to Amane. "You'll buy it then?" Without waiting for an answer, she holds out a hand with only four fingers still intact. "That'll be 1500 yen." She gives me a pointed look and so, scowling, I pull my wallet from my coat pocket and hand her the money.
"Ryou you don't have to-" Amane begins, but is quelled by the look I give her. She stifles another laugh, and the old lady gives her a strange look.
"Perhaps you should have something for that cough. I'll see if I-"
"No!" I cry, louder than I'd meant to. "I mean, we really have to be going. C'mon, Amane."
I grab her wrist and hurry from the shop, the old lady watching us unblinkingly until we're all the way out onto the street. The door clicks behind us and I let out a sigh of relief.
"Well she was mad" I announce coolly.
"I quite liked her" Amane says matter-of-factly, the corner of her lip twitching. When I glare at her she snickers, biting her lip to hold back the giggles. Her laughter comes out as something of a snort.
"You should really do something about that cough" I tell her, smiling.
"You're right. I'll just go and tell that lovely old lady-"
"No!" I groan. Ignoring her protests, I drag her away from the antiques shop and its batty owner and towards the bookshop.
I stop outside a chain bookshop about the size of our house and am about to go inside when Amane grabs my arm. "We can't go in there," she protests, pouting.
"We can't?" I ask, bemused. "I thought you wanted-"
"A dictionary, I know. I do, but we can't get it from here. We have to get it from that book shop down the road."
I shrug, not entirely understanding but happy to go somewhere else if Amane really wants to. "Okay."
She beams, linking arms with me as we continue down the busy street. We're in the middle of the market when we hear the sirens of a police car blaring in the distance. We ignore it at first, as does everyone else, and the sirens, now sounding as though they belong to two cars rather than one, get louder as they approach. It sounds as if the cars are on the road adjacent to the market, on North Street, but that doesn't mean anything. Amane and I continue past several stalls, pausing at one or two to examine the products for sale as we wait for the sirens to pass us by, to continue towards someone else's emergency. But instead of fading away, the wailing stops abruptly with the screech of brakes.
"What's going on?" Amane whispers in my ear and I simply shake my head, having no clue. Murmurs of interest and confusion pass through the crowd of people in the busy market as the sounds of raised voices drift towards us. Everyone's gaze is fixed on the narrow alleyway that connects to North Street. We gasp as one when a man runs out of the shadows, straight into the crowd.
"Hey!" comes the voice of a police officer in his mid-thirties as he sprints after the man. He's followed by another officer, a blonde woman just slightly older than him. "Stay where you are!"
A siren starts up again as the second police car sets off again, presumably to cut the man off before he can get any further. Clearly coming to the same conclusion as me, the man slows, pulling a gun from the inside pocket of a faded leather jacket. He grabs for the person nearest to him, holding the gun to their head. The boy is about seventeen, with pale skin and long, white hair. His brown eyes are wide with fear as they stare into the barrel of the gun. The boy is me.
"Ryou!" Amane screams, and I'm too scared to even think of opening my mouth to answer.
"Stay back!" the man warns, repositioning the gun so that it digs into my ribs, right over my heart. The two police officers stop a couple of metres away, eying the gun calming.
"Let him go. The charges for stealing are high, but the charges for murder are much higher." The male officer says. He's watching the man holding me, waiting to see what he does. The female officer is watching me, her expression concerned but in control. I catch her eye, looking at her imploringly. She shakes her head ever so slightly, turning her focus back to the man.
"I'm not letting anyone go, officer. In fact, if the two of you don't turn around and walk away right now, this kid's gonna die. You wanna have that on your conscience?"
Neither officer moves. The woman opens her mouth to speak, but before she can say anything someone from the crowd barrels into the man holding me, knocking him to the ground. I fall too, but land on my knees a few feet from the pair of them. Amane rushes towards me, heaving me to my feet and dragging me away from the fight. I turn when I hear a gunshot, but the gun is pointing straight into the air. The man in the leather jacket is still holding it, but his wrist is held upwards by the man who attacked him. The second man makes a grab for the gun, wrestling it from leather jacket man's grip. He is wrenched to his feet by the female police officer, while the male moves to handcuff the criminal on the floor.
The female police officer takes the gun, thanking the man for helping out. I think she scolds him, but I also hear the word 'brave'. Two other policemen arrive and escort the thief away. The woman asks if I'm alright.
"I'm fine. Just a little shook up."
"You should come back to the station. We'll ring your parents and tell them what happened."
"No," Amane says firmly, taking my hand. "If Ryou says that he's fine then he's fine. We live close by, we'll walk home, and we'll tell our parents. We don't need a lift anywhere."
The officer frowns, glancing at me. I nod; smiling in what I hope is a reassuring way. "It's fine, we can make our way back easily enough."
After a few seconds of hesitation, she relents, pausing only to pat me on the shoulder before she turns and follows the other three police officers. I let out a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding, coming out of the shock I've been in since the beginning of this strange chain of events.
"Oh Ryou," Amane hugs me tightly, and I try not to wince as she presses against my bruised ribs. "I was so scared I was going to lose you."
Suddenly, she tenses, pulling away from me. She's looking at something over my shoulder, frowning slightly. I turn to find a man standing there, watching me curiously, head cocked to one side.
"I..." I begin, not sure who this man is. "Oh, wait, you're the guy who..." I mime rugby tackling someone. "Who saved me" I finish lamely, frowning at his lack of response. "Err..."
The man's eyes finally seem to focus, and he smiles. He looks a little confused. "I suppose I am. How odd." A pause then, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Thanks for the thing...the..." I've just realised how much this guy looks like me. He has the same long white hair, pale as snow, by it's a little more wild, with two long, horn-like spikes at the top of his head. His eyes are a deep chocolate brown, identical to mine. Those eyes seem almost haunted - like they've seen too much. But right now they're puzzled, and focussed on me. An amused smile plays around his lips.
"The saving you thing? No problem."
I blush. "Well, umm, I guess I'll see you around then?" I don't mean for it to come out as a question but he seems to take it as one.
"Perhaps you will." His eyes are sparkling in a way that's somehow both eerie and intriguing. He smiles a hunter's smile, and I'm drawn to him like a moth to a light. Or perhaps like a fish in the deepest, darkest waters of the ocean, lured towards the sparkling flesh of an anglerfish. The predatory resemblance is definitely there.
Amane nudges my arm, and I realise that I must have been staring. My blush returns just as his smile widens. Forget anglerfish, he looks more like a shark. "I-I'm Ryou." I stutter.
He holds out a hand for me to shake. I take it nervously, surprised by the spark that seems to travel over our linked palms. I repress a shudder, of pleasure more than anything else, though I can't explain why. "Bakura Akefia." He smiles, and I gasp, pulling back my hand.
Amane grabs my arm and pulls me backwards, away from him. I'd almost forgotten she was here. "Let's go, Ryou" she hisses, dragging me away. I shrug faintly at the man – Bakura – as I follow my sister. When we're out of earshot, Amane glances at me. "Relative, d'you think? Bakura...and he looks just like you. But he said Bakura was his first name." She frowns at me, as though expecting me to have an answer, but I'm just as confused. Although I'm certain that Bakura is no relative of mine. It's merely a coincidence that his first name is the same as my last. Like...fate.
We're almost out of the square when I feel a strange tingling on the back of my neck and turn to see him still watching me intently. For a second two identical pairs of chocolate brown eyes meet and it's as if there's a connection between us. Then I blink and he melts into the crowd.