Title: Two sides to the Same Coin
Summary: A set of twins arrived in the small town of Inaba, one soft, the other hard, one kind, the other mean. Each one completes the other. There was no one without the other.
Warnings: Twins, obviously.
~0o0o~
"Why are we here?" A soft voice drawled out as the girl stretched out on a train bench. Another girl sat beside her, calmly turned the page to her book. The first girl glanced over to the second, frowned before she popped her gum. She didn't even look up from her page.
"What do you mean?" Unlike the soft voice of the first girl, the second voice was in a higher tone. She sat with her legs together, back properly straight, and her head slightly down. Her long hair was brushed over her shoulder and her bangs clipped to the side. Her travel bag, a light purple was seated beside her. She appeared to be a vision of the Proper Japanese Woman.
The girl beside her, however, appeared to be a tomboy, through and through. Hair cut exceedingly short, she had her legs open and her head hanged off the back of the bench. Even though both girls had different appearance features, they were identical to one another, same silvery grey hair, same blue grey eyes, and same body shape. If it wasn't for the difference in haircut, body position, and clothing, they were no difference.
The short hair girl waved off her obvious twin, "I mean, why we are going to Inaba?"
The book snapped shut as icy grey-blue eyes glanced over to her sister. "We are going to Inaba because our uncle, mother's younger brother, just so happens to live there. In case you forgot, Mother and Father will be working overseas for the next year. During this time, we will be staying with Uncle Dojima and Cousin Nanako." Her voice might be higher than her sister, but it was colder than ice. Yet her sister shrugged it off.
"Che, it would be so much easier to just let us live by ourselves." Shizuka, the short hair twin, sat up from her laid back position. She knew she could handle living by herself….with her sister of course. She knew she lacked some skills to live by herself, but with Sumiko, the idea of living by themselves, it was very possible.
"Like you could provide for yourself." Sumiko scoffed at the idea. Like her sister, she knew they could survive together, but Sumiko didn't want that. As much as she loved her twin, she wanted to be seen as a separate person from her. As children, most adults often mistake them for the other. After so long, Sumiko decided to keep her hair long while Shizuka continued to keep it short. The changes started from then on. The more Shizuka continued to be kind, fun, and open to anyone; Sumiko became cold, impassive, and simply separate from everyone.
Shizuka glared at her. "Like you could do any better?" If Sumiko lived on her own, the only thing she would eat would be take out or microwave food. Shizuka was the chef in the family. Sumiko managed to turn her water into brown gunk.
"Better than you at least." Sumiko waved her off as she went back to her book. She felt better after their little spat. Shizaku huffed as she leaned back again.
"Bitch." Several people who were standing nearby turned to glare at the girl. She flipped them off without looking. Another reason she wanted to return to America. The short time they lived there, she adopted their methods thoroughly into her life. Sumiko preferred the Japanese way but even she adopted some antics from America.
She flipped a page. "Meaningless insults."
"Whatevs." The train started pulling into the station. Both got up from their seats with grace. Each grabbed their carryon bags and made their way onto the train. The crowd parted slightly for them, their appearance and posture allowed their pass to be unhindered. No matter how different they might look, the fact both girls were wearing brand names and head held high, they were set apart from the average girl.
"At least say it properly, sister. Even if it's in English." They took their seats across from each other. Shizuka made herself comfortable before she closed her eyes. Her lips turned down.
"Well, I'm not the proper child, now am I?" Sumiko glanced up from her book.
"Shizuka, let's not get into that argument again." With nothing else, she continued reading her book.
"Like I said Sis, whatevs." She set her phone to go off in two hours. They might act as though they hate each other, however, they were still sisters. They watched over each other. She trusted her sister to watch over her as she napped. After all, she would do the same for her.
-0-0-0-0-
The last time Dojima saw his two nieces, was back when Noriko was still alive. After she died, he never bothered to keep in touch with them. He still called his sister every few months, if he wasn't too busy. He would ask about them, how they were doing and simple questions that he paid little mind to. As much as he loved them, the saying 'out of sight, out of mind' was true to him. He didn't think of them unless they were brought up, which was rare.
So lost in his thoughts, he missed the entrance of the train. He opened the door and stepped out, Nanako followed closely behind, quiet like always. There were a few people leaving the station but none had the silver tone hair his nieces had. The last straggler left the station and still no twins. He glanced down at his watch, it was the right time, so where were his nieces?
"Uncle Dojima?"
He jumped back, one hand automatically heading towards where his gun usually was, before he realized exactly who it was that sneaked up to him. Two teenage girls, both silver hair, both with grey-blue eyes. Yet, each had their own personal style and flair. It was the long hair twin who startled him.
"Uncle Dojima? Are you alright?" Just as she was about to step closer, the second twin pulled her back.
"You're sure this is the right guy, Sumiko?" Sumiko, Dojima remembered was the older twin, which meant the shorter hair twin was Shizuka. Years passed since he last seen them but the changes between the two, Dojima was astounded of the differences.
Sumiko rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm positive this is Uncle Dojima. Mother showed us a picture before we left, remember?" Shizuka rubbed her head.
"She did? Guess I wasn't paying attention." Her sister sighed as she dropped her head.
"Like always." Sumiko was shoved slightly by her sister.
"I do pay attention!" She straightened up, glared at her sister. She wasn't going to resort to immature behavior like Shizuka. It was one thing to show off her childish side in private, however in public, Sumiko was a proper girl. As such, she didn't shove her sister away. She took one step to the right, away from her, and ignored the slightly hurt look in her sister's eyes.
"When you feel like it." A second later, the hurt look was hidden behind a shield of impassiveness. Shizuka turned away from her sister and towards the man.
"So are you?"
"Am I what?" Dojima was lost. After two minutes between the twins, Dojima lost all direction of which way the conversation was going. Shizuka rolled her eyes.
"Our uncle. Duh." A hand slapped her head. Both uncle and niece turned towards the other twin.
"Shizuka! Don't be rude. We're not in America anymore." The younger twin shrugged.
"I can tell." One last glare towards her sister, Sumiko bowed in apology towards her uncle. Her sister might not appreciate the traditions of their home country, but she did.
"I apologize for her behavior, she's learning to adapt to the Japanese way again." Shizuka growled at Sumiko.
"Don't apologize for me! If I want to apologize, I can."
"Enough!" The girl with long hair glared at her twin. The twin glared back but within moments, she looked away. With angry and embarrassed eyes, she turned towards her uncle once more.
"To satisfy my sister, you are Dojima Ryotaro, am I correct?" Dojima snapped out of his stunned daze. Finally a simple question from one twin instead of both twins at the same time.
"Ah, yes I am." A satisfied smile appeared on her face before the smile became smug. She glanced out of the corner of her eye towards her sister. Shizuka crossed her arms.
"Don't say it."
"I don't need to say it you already know what I was going to say." A raised eyebrow from Sumiko before she tilted her head wards their uncle. Shizuka waited a moment before she huffed.
"Fine. Sorry Uncle for the way I acted. Just wanted to be sure."
"That's good but there were other ways besides full accusation for you to learn whether or not I'm your uncle." Dojima didn't want them to start off on the wrong foot. It was enough that three girls would be living in his house from then on, if they were all arguing with one another, he didn't know if he could handle it. Shizuka smiled softly. At that very moment, Dojima could see the resemblance between the two.
"I'll remember that." Dojima laughed lightly as he rubbed his head.
"I'm not surprised though. It's been years since you saw me. I was surprised when Sumiko-chan recognized me so easily." Sumiko lightly shrugged her shoulder. The motion was similar to Shizuka's.
"Mother showed us a picture before we left. Even though it was a few months old, you barely changed in anyway." She bent down to look behind her uncle's legs. Behind his legs was a young girl staring up at her. "And this must be Nanako-chan." Dojima chuckled as he pushed his daughter forwards. She was so quiet, he nearly forgot she was there.
"Say hi to your cousins, Nanako." Nanako barely looked up from the ground. A quick glance towards both sisters before a mumbled "….Hello," was heard.
Shizuka didn't mind the near silent greeting. Instead, she glomped the smaller girl. "Aww, she's adorable!" Sumiko only smiled as she stood back from greeting her cousin. Uncle Dojima smiled as he started walking towards the car.
"We should get going. It's getting late."
"Right, let's go."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
After a quick stop at the gas station, a weird meeting with the attendant, they finally entered the housing area. The house they stopped in front of was an old style Japanese fashioned home. It was a two story house with a wall surrounding the perimeter and sliding doors. While Shizuka grimaced at the sight, Sumiko glowed at the thought of living there.
"It's not much but its home." Dojima noticed the grimace on Shizuka's face. She noticed that he noticed and tried to cover it up.
"Cozy."
Sumiko smiled brightly as they entered the house. "I like it. Traditional."
"Hope you don't mind take out, I'm not much of a cook and Nanako's too young to cook those dishes." He held up a bag of take out in one hand. The twins, after the pit stop, snoozed part way on the way back. Both blinked at the sight of take out. Shizuka frowned at the sight of the bag as well as the thought of Nanako cooking. Sumiko only shrugged. She was used to take out. As long as it was healthy enough, she didn't mind eating take out.
"Hmmm."
"I don't mind." As they sat down to eat, Dojima waited until they were comfortable. Once both twins started eating, he told them the last bit of news he was hiding.
"I hope you don't mind, but you two will be sharing one room."
Both twins froze with their chopsticks halfway up. "Eh?"
Dojima pointed his chopsticks towards the ceiling. "We do have another room, but it's small, very small. It's mostly used for storage." Shizuka and Sumiko turned towards one another, a silent conversation between the two sisters.
"Are we going to sleep in a bunk bed or those futon things?" Shizuka ended up asking.
"At first, it was going to be futons but then, after all your furniture arrived, we thought it would be best to get you a bunk bed. Your mother picked out the beds." Personally, he liked the way the room was fashioned. However it wasn't for him to like or not.
"I'm sure, whatever we disagree on, we will modify to our liking." Ever the peace keeper, Sumiko pacified both her sister and her uncle.
"Good idea. Well, you two will be living here for a year, so just treat this place like your home."
"Thanks, Uncle."
"Thank you for taking us in." Just as they were about to continue eating, a phone began ringing. Three sets of eyes turned towards the source of the sound. A light red appeared on Dojima's face before he coughed and stood to answer the call.
"Dojima speaking." After a while, Dojima left. He reminded his daughter her chores, the twins their room, and for all three to go to sleep early. The silence after his departure was heavy before Shizuka broke it like she always did.
"Your dad's a cop or something?" Nanako looked down at her food before she answered. She didn't look up at Shizuka when she answered.
"He's a detective. He solves crimes and stuff." Just as Shizuka opened her mouth to question Nanako further, a swift kick from Sumiko shut her up. The glare between the twins was unnoticed by the younger girl. Once the silent argument between the two was settled, Sumiko picked up her chopsticks once more.
"Impressive."
"Cool."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Dinner ended on a good note when the Junes commercial came on. Shizuka and Nanako got along well afterwards while Sumiko made sure they didn't get too out of hand. When dinner was over, Sumiko helped her cousin clean up while Shizuka washed the dishes. Once everything was placed away, all three made their way to bed. Sumiko smiled at her little cousin. "Good-night, Nanako-chan."
Shizuka yawned. She stumbled her way up the stairs while she called back to Nanako. "Night Cos."
Nanako looked indecisive for a moment before she also told them "….Good-night." She hurried her way to her room. Sumiko watched as her cousin scurried to her room before she sighed. She made a quick walk through the house, checked the locks on both windows and doors. She didn't want any chances of robberies happening on her watch. Once everything was checked, she made her way up the stairs. Shizuka was waiting in front of the only closed door on the second floor.
"You should try to be less casual with her. She's not used to it." Shizuka didn't care. She might be Japanese by blood, but her soul was American, and as an American, formality between family members was redundant.
"Like you?" It was true, Sumiko wasn't accustomed to the American habits as her sister. She felt it was an invasion of personal space and respect. With a scoff, she managed to bite out "American," as though it was an insult. In return, Shizuka threw back at her with "Japanese," which they both were but the way she said it, she meant it as an insult for only her sister.
With a grace only after years of training, Shizuka got up from her spot on the floor. "Let's see exactly what kind of bunk beds, Ma got us."
Sumiko grumbled out her agreement. "I hope we don't have to share. I had enough of sharing a bunk bed after the first ten years." The door opened and they looked into the room they will be sharing for the next year. The room wasn't too big, but it had enough room for two lofts styled bunk beds with a desk under both beds. In the middle of the room was a sofa, a low table, and a small flat screen tv. Of course, there were barely any room to move around with all the boxes in the way. Next to both desks were their own personal drawers.
"This one is definitely mine. All my colors!" Shizuka claimed the bed by the door. It was right beside the door, the stairs immediately to the left. The bright blue and pale green mixed, it was all Shizuka. Sumiko smiled as she walked towards her bed. It had a dark blue comforter and lavender purple sheets.
"Mother remembered I don't like sleeping near the door." After being woken up every time her sister needed to go to the bathroom, by sleeping across the room, she managed to ignore the sound of the door opening each time.
"I'm exhausted. I'm going to sleep." Shizuka threw her carryon bag by the boxes by her side. She changed into her sleeping wear and shimmied her way up the ladder. Sumiko changed at her own pace before she turned off the light. As she stumbled back to her bed, she whispered into the dark.
"Good night Shizu." She waited for the return whisper, to remind her that she wasn't alone.
"Night Miko."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
A/N: Okay, I started a new fic, finished it while I'm slightly drunk, and I still managed to read over it to see if I made any glaring mistakes. Let me just say, this chapter took forever! Found the challenge somewhere on the Persona Kink Meme, thought I try it out.
Oh, their names basically means : Shizuka "quiet", Sumiko "clear/pure thinking child"