Author's Notes

Since Tomoko and Kousei are still married in this story, that's leaves Satomi out to dry in this story. So she's going to be babysitting because I love her character. And Yutaka will crop up more towards the end, 'cause I love his character as well. His my favourite, after Duskmon.

School passes relatively uneventfully today…except for the bit I mention. Reason is because I don't want to spend the entire chapter talking about school and then missing the point of it.

Hey, I just realised. Every chapter so far has enclosed a single day, as in not going on to a new day. That'll change from next chapter though.

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

Mirror Distortions

AU. What if the twins' parents never divorced? What if being pushed together was the very rift that divided them? What if envy was spurned from societal influence-and the gate opened amidst?

Kouichi K & Kouji M

Chapter 3

Divided by a Door

Kousei knocked softly yet firmly on the door, waiting for it to crack open. When his knuckles were sore and the door still remained shut in his face, he turned the knob, hoping it wasn't one of the days his elder son had either forgotten the rule or deliberately disobeyed them (it was very difficult to distinguish between them), in which case he would keep hammering way until either the lock broke or his son finally unlocked the door. Normally, it was the second event.

Luckily though, the door was unlocked, and Kousei cracked it open, pushing it further when there was no answering noise.

'Koichi? It's time for school.'

He crouched slightly over the bed, shaking the sleeping form. This time he groaned a little in protest, shifting slightly.

'You feeling okay?'

He shifted a little, before groaning again and forcing his eyes open. 'Dad?'

'You didn't answer when I knocked on the door,' the older man replied, detangling the blankets. Koichi blinked blurrily up at his father, breathing in the humid air. The curtains, blue on the outside and red beneath to block out most of the sun, hung heavy, barely rippling as they cloaked the closed window. Indeed they did their job of blocking out the light, but it also made the room a little stifling and its air a little heavy. There was a vent, but it didn't do much about cooling the room, so it did resemble a tropical rainforest in its humidity in the mornings, except when it was winter and that cursed sun snored away on the other side of the world. All that went towards explaining the light layer of sweat on the damp brow.

Koichi blinked tiredly again as his room came into focus with agonising slowness. The grey blankets were bunched at the foot of his bed; his father had disentangled him from them, and his head was sunken into the black-clad pillow…or he assumed it was, seeing as the back of his head was against something soft and his hair felt like it was squashed flat.

The only window in the room was opposite bed, curtains closed firmly to cover it. The desk was on the far wall, opposite the door and the built-in wardrobe, and beside the desk was a set of drawers and nailed to the wall, a bookcase with his school books and a few of his favourites. His parents didn't allow more books in his room, the rest were in what was supposed to be their "playroom"…and what probably would have been if they were four instead of twelve. Instead, it was doubling up as a miniature library and quiet room. There was a computer there too, the only one fitted with the anti-glare device, but it was generally used in great reluctance by either twin, unless the younger removed the anti-glare apparatus.

Kousei meanwhile was getting worried at the lack of response. 'I'll get some aspirin-'

'No,' Koichi interrupted with a bit of a grimace, attempting to roll out of bed. His father caught him however, forcing him back onto the pillow. 'I'm fine, I just-'

Kousei, well practiced with both his sons, ignored the tired and vague words and instead brushed the sticky bangs aside. 'You're warmer than usual,' he said slowly. 'Are you feeling nauseous or anything?'

'No,' the other replied.

'Well, I guess that's to be expected. You just woke up.' He let go of the older twin, thinking. The bloodshot blue eyes stared back at him, their owner caught between wanting to get out of bed and staying in it. 'You can't go to school. If you're normal in the afternoon, you can go to cram school, but if you're not, you stay put.'

Unfortunately, it was the truth. The last time he had tried going to school while running a low-grade fever, he had collapsed on the front porch and woken up sick enough to miss school for the next week. And then his parents had kept him home for a few extra days to be sure there wasn't a repeat performance, which had resulted in him spending the remainder of that week trying to get back up to speed. As the youngest student in the year, other students weren't exactly obliged to help him either…not that he had asked. But his relationship with them seemed far too cordial to expect such a favour to be done for him.

He noted the word "normal" with a coppery taste in his mouth. Normal would be to not even have to stay home because of a simple developing fever. Normal children would be forced by their parents to go to school, whether they wanted to stay home or not.

'Tomoko and I are both working…' There was a slight tone of regret in that statement, along with something else. 'I'll call Satomi. You go back to sleep for now; you can get something to eat about ten.'

There never was any point in arguing. Though, once he thought about it, he realised he hadn't argued all that much in any case. It was his health after all, and that was more important than anything else he felt.

Even so, he watched his father leave with a small sense of bitterness, just enough to keep it out of his expression should the older man turn…or should Koji walk past his currently open door.

Neither of those things happened, and the door, painted grey but a few shades darker than the rest of the room, swung shut with a soft click.

Koji poked and prodded at his breakfast: steamed rise, miso soup, broiled salted salmon and mango pickles, and the customary glass of milk. He was alone at the table; the sound of the shower told him his mother was busy getting ready, and his father was making himself a cup of coffee while talking to someone on the phone. His brother's place, the one opposite him, was empty, and the food was getting cold.

That was until Kousei got off the phone and popped the three dishes, one notably smaller than the other two, chopsticks and glass onto a tray, before relocating the loaded tray to the oven.

'Don't bother waiting for your brother,' the older man said at large, feeling about for his newspaper as he took a sip of coffee, blowing gently into the water when he finds it a tad too hot. 'He won't be going to school today.'

Koji grunted a non-committed response, scooping a little rice and fish up from the largest dish and shovelling it into his mouth. There was plenty of time to get to school; there always was. It seemed everyone in the house was an early riser, though perhaps it had more to do with his parents waking for work than anything else. It was a little difficult to get into the habit of sleeping in when a parent knocked on the bedroom door at seven in the morning, but it staved the habit of laziness amongst all else, and he didn't particularly mind getting up early. By the time he reached homeroom, his mind was ready for a new day.

Except when something ruined his mood.

It was Wednesday, and the day started off with sports and ended with sports. Funnily enough, it was his favourite day of the week, with a three period PE session to enjoy (unless they were on teamwork, but even that was tolerable) followed by art (computers, just his luck) and then the two variants of science: general and health. The last one wasn't particularly interesting, but it was easy, and no-one got graded for it. And that was all followed up by an hour of kendo after a bit of a stop back home. The break was because a lot of the students who attended the dojo also went to cram. Karate was the opposite.

Normally the twins left together, but as their schools were now in opposite directions it was only the act of walking out the door that was done in the same relative time proximity. In any case, Koichi fell sick a lot more often than the younger twin, and especially since his parents kept him home at the slightest increase in temperature while not showing the same favouritism for their other son (seeing as Koji would probably walk straight out the door ignoring them, it mattered not), he missed a lot more school. Unfortunately teachers still saw it fit to remind his parents of the fact that the elder twin was the higher achiever, and the one forced to lag a year behind simply because he was born a few minutes later found himself time and time again wishing there existed subject choices in elementary school so he could pick the ones his brother didn't do and thus not be compared to his near perfect record.

So it was with absolutely no regret that he picked up his bookbag and sport uniform and left. By that time Satomi had come; a friend of his father that had worked a period at his law firm before returning to her studies, and he left her with a curt goodbye.

He hardly knew the woman after all. He wasn't the one who normally got stuck with her; on the few occasions he did, he'd either practice his moves outside or keep to the computer or the television. Anything to have to avoid just another person who spent enough time with his brother to know how "brilliant" he was.

The only thing he disliked about sport was the fact that, a majority of the time, it required teamwork. Perhaps it was a psychological block of some sort, but the idea of working with someone else never really attached to him. He preferred to do things alone. In fact, he was used to it. Others didn't understand; having a sibling exactly the same age seemed like a dream to them. But he knew, living it, that reality wasn't quite as glamorous as other's half-baked perceptions of it.

Despite that, PE was probably the most enjoyable class, exercising his body as well as his brain and allowing him to put his utmost into an action that, at least within his household, was held incomparable.

Unfortunately, it was one of those days when the "teams" consisted of pairs. And just his luck (but much to the delight of his partner who finally scored his second point), he wound up with the brunette that took it upon himself to become the bane of his existence.

'Yo buddy,' he said cheerily, handing a racket over. The good part of the "pairs" was that it was tennis, so all they really had to do was hit balls at each other. Problem was, it wasn't quite so simple when someone talked as much as Takuya Kanbara did.

Koji ignored him, bouncing the tennis ball on the first racket he picked up before giving it a deft whack. A sudden: "hey" told him it hit rather close to the target.

'You could have given me a bit of a warning,' Takuya yelled, more loudly than was necessary as he chased after the ball. Or perhaps he simply lacked the instinctual physics that would allow him to tune his voice to the Doppler effect.

'We're playing tennis,' the other grounded out. There wasn't any point trying to make the kid mad; he'd have to cross over self-erected lines to do it…provided those attempts would work. 'Not having a chat.'

'Okay,' the other agreed…surprisingly. Until he said his next statement anyway. 'How about I come over tonight then? We've got that science project-'

'There's no we,' Koji snapped, catching the ball back-hand and bouncing it on his racket.

'Then who?' the other asked innocently.

That caught him off guard for a moment. Truth was, since they'd gotten the assignment the day before, he hadn't thought or talked to anybody and made a pair. He didn't really care who he wound up working with; it was all the same either way.

'I don't have a partner either,' Takuya pointed out, taking the silence for the correct answer. 'And I made an impression on your mother.' He lunged for the ball the other suddenly hit at him…and missed. 'Shoot.' He went after it again. 'Better than someone else…right?' He hit the ball back as he said that, before diving for the return shot and scoring. 'Yeah baby.'

Unfortunately, he brought up quite a good point.

'Fine,' he grudgingly agreed as he nudged the ball to the other corner and the other was forced to chase it again. 'Six thirty.'

'Cool.'

Koji half-wished he hadn't agreed, namely because he had to suffer through a cheesy grin for the remaining two and a half periods…then again during the double science period that followed.

His parents weren't actually home by the time he got back from Kendo, but Satomi was cooking curry on the stove when he tossed his stick and robe into its usual corner and headed upstairs for a shower. He'd called his mother to inform her he was having a guest over during the brief break, and as a consequence had been forced to listen to five minutes of the woman fawning over his first "friend".

Takuya was, surprisingly, pleasant company…though Koji would be about the last person to admit it. Of course, the down-side was that he was easily distracted, causing the darker-haired boy to constantly remind him of the task at hand, but that in turn forced them to talk more than they had before…even if it was mostly the brunette doing the talking.

Both parents made it home by dinner-time and Satomi stayed too at Tomoko's insistence. For a moment the brunette wondered why there were six places set out, then gaped at Koichi when he came downstairs and joined them, looking a little paler than usual.

Takuya just stared at the older twin, then at the younger one who had started on his food. The adults were immersed in their own conversation. 'Koji, you never mentioned having a-' He stopped before he finished, figuring "clone" would be a bit insulting seeing as he was fairly sure he wasn't seeing double.

Koji refrained from scowling, knowing his parents would tell him off and his brother's eyes were boring into him. 'This is Koichi,' he explained shortly. 'My twin.'

'Oh.' He turned to the other. 'I'm Takuya.'

Seeing as they were both sitting, he only inclined his head in greeting. But Takuya wasn't about to let the conversation stop there.

'I haven't seen you around school,' he said conversationally, thinking back. Of course, now that he thought about it, because both twins had the same face, he could have confused the issue, and he hadn't shared a class with Koji until that very year. So it was possible he'd seen them both around in previous years, just not together. He wasn't all that good at remembering people, unless they got stuck in his head.

'I started junior high this year,' Koichi explained quietly, quickly dropping his gaze back to his plate.

'Oh…' Takuya was quiet for a moment. 'Hold on, how does that work?'

'Separated by a few minutes winds us up in two different years,' Koji muttered. 'Not to mention he's a genius.'

'Really?'

Two contradictory answers greeted him, informing him that the question, or rather exclamation, was rather tactless…but as his mother told him, he had little, if any, tact. So he fished around for a new topic.

'How about we play Final Fantasy? You have it?'

Koji blinked. There was a second controller, but no-one ever used it. 'Umm…yeah. Sure.'

Takuya grinned, turning to the other twin, who to his surprise was picking up his dishes.

Tomoko caught the movement. 'You haven't finished honey.'

'I'm not hungry,' the other mumbled, emptying the dishes and depositing them in the sink before hurrying upstairs again. There was the sound of a door clicking softly shut, masked amongst the clattering of dishes and utensils before the stream of conversation picked itself up again.