A Tale of Twins

"Long ago in a far away country, there was a queen who died when giving birth to two beautiful twins. The elder twin had red eyes and long, black hair that shone crimson in the light of the moon. The younger twin also had red eyes but long hair as white as snow. Normally the child to be chosen as the next in line for the throne would either be the eldest son or in this case, the elder twin since the queen had no other children. Unfortunately things did not go as planned.

The elder twin was a very quiet child who always kept to herself. She was very protective of her sister and always watched over her. She was bold and intelligent, but there were a few things troubling the people of the castle. She was only interested in myths and legends and studied everything she could about the soul. She chose not to be part of any religion and never prayed to the gods. Their existence was real to her, but she would never accept help from anyone. Because this child distanced herself from all but her sister and had different beliefs than most, adults would distance themselves and their children from her believing she was a freak. Even though this pained her much, she would not change for others and would continue to smile and act strong for her beloved sister.

The younger twin was a very sociable and pure girl who could warm the hearts of anyone she spoke with. She always loved her sister more than anything or anyone else and adored it when her sister was beside her. She was a very weak child and not as intelligent as her sister, but never stopped trying to catch up. She prayed every day and night for the sake of their happiness. People would visit just to listen to her beautiful voice as she sang while her sister played the piano. Even though this child was the younger sibling, she was crowned as queen at the age of twelve because of the love and warmth of her presence that melted the people's hearts.

As the years passed by, the elder sister served the young queen and followed her every orders in order to keep her pleased. One day at the age of fifteen, the elder sister went to town for a new book. As she looked through the many books, she ended up carelessly bumping into another. After apologizing, she looked to see that the other was a girl about the same height as her. She had long, red hair tied into a ponytail and beautiful brown eyes. The two talked and later became good friends. The girl with red hair was knowledgeable and calm. She knew much about the past and folklore. Whenever she had spare time, she would hurry to her new friend and the two would spend much time together which made the younger sister jealous. Because of her jealousy, she demanded that the girl be locked within the castle prison. She then called for her older sister privately and ordered her to do away with the imprisoned girl. The elder sister wanted to argue back but then looked into the eyes of her twin. She could see the tears flow and the pain that her sister must have felt and reluctantly agreed to kill her friend. If it would please her twin, then she would do it…

The elder sister waited until midnight to carry out her mission. She walked into the prison wearing a cloak and carried a knife in one hand. When the girl saw her, she calmly waited for her to approach. The sister pulled back the hood of her cloak to reveal her face which revealed the tears flowing down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry…" she said as she covered her eyes with her bangs. The girl in the prison cell sat down and watched carefully with a serious expression planted on her face.

"Are you really?" she asked. The elder twin then opened the gate of the prison cell and pushed the girl onto the floor as she sat on top of her, holding the knife to her neck. The tears flowed non-stop as she gritted her teeth and her hands shook uncontrollably. The girl looked at her calmly then closed her eyes. There was a huge storm that night after the twin stained her hands with blood."

Saya took a deep breath then exhaled. There was a small pause.

"Oh my! That was so beautiful but sad too," Mayura said with her mystery glasses on.

"Saya-san, did the elder sister really kill the girl?" Yamino asked, also interested in the story. Saya closed her eyes and smiled a little.

"Now that's something you'll just have to figure out on your own." Yamino frowned at this.

"Whaaat! That's not fair Saya-chan! You can't just leave us at a cliffhanger," Mayura said then pouted. Saya sipped her tea and shrugged.

"Just make the ending whatever you want it to be. That's all I'm going to tell you… well at least all for tonight. It's late, and this storm doesn't seem to be dying," Saya said while looking out of the window of the Enjaku Detective Agency to see the pouring rain and lightning, and then there was the sound of thunder. She sighed. The only reason why she was here was because of that Narugami boy… She looked at him and glared. He didn't seem to notice though since he was too busy stuffing himself with food.

Saya was out earlier and had ordered a delicious brunch that she was going to eat at home, then all of a sudden mister part timer bumps into her, apologizes then runs off leaving her with her crushed food. She got so angry, she ended up chasing him and just her luck that Yamino and Loki were around. Apparently they were shopping… Well she ended up passing them then somehow tripping and landing face first on the hard concrete ground. Then Mayura comes along and decides that they should all eat at their place. As hungry as she was, all Saya could do was agree… And then of course the storm comes after.

Saya sipped her tea again and looked at Loki. At least he was nice enough to tell Narugami to apologize to her. The kid's got his good points she supposed.

"How'd you come up with such a good story Saya-chan?" Mayura asked after eating a tart.

"Well the story's not completely false. You could say that it holds some truth to it." Saya laughed nervously.

"Oh, so it's a real fushigi mystery! This deserves some investigation~" Everyone sweatdropped at this.

"The weather seems to be getting worse, Loki-sama," Yamino said.

"It's already nine at night," Saya complained then stood.

"Where are you going?" Yamino asked in surprise.

"Home."

"Mou, the weather's really bad Saya-chan. I'll call papa and tell him where I'm at. You should do the same," Mayura said. "Hm, we might have to stay here tonight," she added. That last sentence killed Saya a little on the inside. She glanced at Loki and then turned her back to everyone.

"Nope, I'm going home!" Saya then quickly headed out of the room.

"Mou, she could get really sick if she walks in that weather," Mayura said while feeling a bit concerned.

"I'll go see if I can change her mind," Yamino said then left the room. Loki looked at the doorway then turned to look out the window while deep in thought. There was definitely something odd about the new girl which bothered him slightly.

"Loki-kun, are you okay?" Mayura asked, feeling a bit concerned about his silence. Loki snapped out of thought and looked up at her then smiled.

"Yes Mayura. I was only thinking about something."

Saya grabbed her overcoat and put it on. Yamino walked up to her as she buttoned up the overcoat.

"Saya-san, you're going to get sick if you go out in that rain."

"It's a small sacrifice, but I need to go home," Saya argued. Yamino frowned at this.

"I'm sure your family will understand if you explain the situation to them." Saya looked at Yamino ready to argue, then stopped when she saw his worried expression. She paused then sighed. If there was one thing she disliked, it was troubling people.

"I guess I can stay… but only until the storm dies."

"That's good," Yamino said with a smile. "I'll go and prepare everyone's rooms for the night." With that said, he left. Saya leaned against the door and closed her eyes while calmly listening to the storm.

"It's just like that night," she whispered while opening her eyes to stare at the floor.

"What was that?" Saya blinked and looked ahead of her to see Loki standing a few feet away. "So you decided to stay?" he asked with a curious look.

"You're like an adult," Saya ended up saying without much thought.

"What?" Loki asked a bit hesitantly and sweatdropped.

"No matter how I look at it, you seem like an adult. I must say, you are a very mature child." Saya continued to look at the boy.

"I-I see…" Loki forced a smile and turned around. "I'll go see if Yamino has your room ready." Saya continued to watch as he walked away.

"Midget," she said loud enough for Loki to hear and saw him flinch. She smirked, feeling very intent with herself.