Author's Notes

Man, this conversation was a pain.

This chapter's purely twins. Next chapter's purely absent twins.

Now, concerning updates, I'm not updating Mirror Distortions again this week. One, because it's already Friday night. Two, because I want to write chapter 5 for Crests of Origin before it's time for chapter 6. And three because I'm not even home the whole of tomorrow. I'm still sorting everything out. Well, that and the two competitions due next week.

It's also so hard to keep track of the little things. Hope I didn't double-cross myself. :)

Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

AutoCycle

It's set on automatic. It's set on random. They can't get it off, and it sends them to places they know little or nothing about. 20 cycles, then they're home free...if they're still alive.

Digimon & Anime x-overs

Chapter 36

Guards

Koichi, from Koji's experience, wasn't a particularly fast runner by any means. However, he had a rather annoying habit of not running straight. While in a flat field it would make little difference in the end, except perhaps be a tad disadvantageous to the runner in question, when running through a crowd in a relatively unknown location (at least the whispers around him were mostly in Japanese), it proved to be particularly troublesome for the one giving chase. Particularly when he hadn't eaten since some time the previous day.

He had momentarily forgotten that Koichi hadn't managed a decent meal for weeks. They (or Zoe rather, apparently the only one with any degree of success during the whole Heaven's War chaos) had been forced to make do with water and instant soup. Anything solid failed epically; the little morsels sat innocently upon the pallet and in the end they were removed for fear on choking when the body's position changed and gravity readjusted its grip. But soup wasn't particularly nutritious, and he'd moved very little over that time, so of course his muscles would also be out of practice.

Still, Koji had almost despaired after losing him in the crowd before stumbling across the other in a tucked-away corner where the footpath branched into a little alley-way. The short run had left him slightly out of breath, but not enough to collapse against the cold surface as the other.

'Koichi?' he asked, somewhat hesitantly.

'Don't-' the other coughed, before continuing his desperate gasps for air. His voice trembled as he repeated the half-formed demand. 'Don't-'

'Don't what?' It might have been better to keep silent in most cases…but then again, Koichi wasn't "most" cases.

Koichi just squeezed his eyes shut and sunk a little further towards the ground before clasping his hands over his ears.

'Koichi?'

The lips formed soundless syllables vanishing into the stale air as Koji took a step closer. While the main street was heavily occupied (and thus attributing to his loss in the brief pursuit), the smaller off-joint was deserted save for the pair of them and the shadows that loomed overhead.

'Hey, if you don't say something right now, I'm going to steal Mum's photos of you with that dress and horse and post them-'

Koji wasn't sure exactly what made him say that; it just slipped out. In any case, it fulfilled its required duty of catching his brother's attention. Koichi was gaping at him, a slightly red tinge painting his cheeks. The next moment, he was blinking, and then…

'What?' The tone sounded flabbergasted, and to Koji, who had just been listening to a very different tone, it was a tad unnerving.

'Please don't make me repeat it,' the younger twin muttered, failing to quell his own blush.

'Why…why would you even say something like that?'

'Umm…hey!' Koji folded his hands and leaned over the other, realising he was quickly losing ground. 'We're totally off the topic here! What the heck is going on with –'

He was at his wits end when the other clammed his hands over his ears with another wince. 'Be quiet,' Koichi muttered in a way that could easily be misdirected, however Koji knew his brother well.

'Who are you talking to?' He had to say it a little louder than the usual speaking tone to bypass the barrier.

Koichi shook his head.

Koji put a hand to his own. 'Great,' he muttered. 'This is going no-where.' He paused, thinking of his next approach, before deciding to latch onto a new topic. 'What happened with your application?'

He had to repeat the question before getting a response. Koichi seemed to be having trouble focusing on his one-sided conversation.

'What application?' A pause. 'Aargh, just leave me alone. I can only listen to one conversation at a time.'

And there was the validation for Koji's previous assumption. It also provided the little titbit that slid the remaining puzzle pieces into place.

The next moment, several things happened consecutively. Koji snapped his fingers. A sudden flash of light banished all traces of shadow from the alley-way they both crouched in (to varying degrees). Koichi winced and shut his eyes…before blinking and removing his hands from his ears as his breathing finally eased.

'Better?' Koji tried.

There was a different sort of pause before the other responded. 'Yeah. Thanks.' He was still facing the ground though.

'Great.' The younger twin had been about to say "no problem", but then decided against it. 'Now you owe me an explanation. I gather all those voices and flashes were to do with your Medium…eh, you do remember that-'

'Yeah.'

'Okay, good.' It would have been a pain to explain that otherwise. 'Um, well…' He stopped as he realised he had little clue as to his approach to the rest of the issues.

'I didn't mention flashes.'

Koichi always had a way of getting him off topic. Not this time though.

'You didn't need to.' There was a bite of impatience in the tone. 'Anyway, that's not the point because I'm positive that wasn't what was bothering you earlier.' He added the next part before the other could even speak, admittedly with a little more fire than was necessary: 'And don't you dare lie to me about this!'

Koichi actually flinched away from the raised tone. Not winced, but flinched. What was even more surprising was, or were, the little salt-water droplets that fell beside the pale hand.

That made Koji wince. But despite the guilt that quickly settled, he felt a sense of accomplishment. After all, it was a lot harder to maintain masks when your body betrayed you. He should know, after that fateful hospital meeting that had scrambled everyone's facades. After all, his mother had walked in while the twins had clutched each other and the river Nile was flowing between.

And he wasn't going to back down. So he said as much, even as his attempt to comfort the other was shoved away – literally.

'Why..?'

'I'm no mind-reader Koichi.' Even after that little "incident", he mentally added as an afterthought. Although, now that he thought about it, it was one messed up situation. He supposed he'd been expecting a fairy-tail ending.

The silence stretched.

'Oh, just spit it out already!' Koji almost bit his tongue as the words escaped from his lips. 'Damn, I'm starting to sound like Takuya. How disturbing.'

Koichi let out an uncharacteristic snort of laughter.

'Doesn't what bother me?' Koji felt like he was quickly losing his advantage.

'Doesn't it bother you?' Koichi reiterated, before laughing again, one hand wiping the tears away from his eyes. 'You honestly don't get it.'

And in all honesty, Koji didn't "get it" until the other pointed at the little protrusions from his skull.

'Oh, Koichi…'

It was the horns. Sort of. More so the vectors that came with them. The prejudice. The murder weapon. And especially that fight with Mariko.

'Fine.' The younger twin closed his eyes. It was easier that way. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Koichi had been disturbing him…since their stay at the Maple Inn. 'I'll start from the top. One: the horns make you look cute. And they're nothing new; remember when Zoe dressed up for that graduation party? You were as red as a strawberry but I didn't hear you complaining about the neko-ears then. Second: you're the warrior of darkness. I shouldn't even need to go into that one. Third: those vectors can be really useful. As much as I hate to quote Takuya, they're like octopus arms. If we're suddenly falling, you'll be able to catch all of us and have arms left over. As far as weapons go, we've used swords, staffs and loaders before. And as for Mariko, if any of us had been in reach, we'd have probably done a lot worse. Double if we'd been in your shoes. Now, I know it's going to be completely pointless to tell you to just leave it all right now; it's not that easy. But there's no reason to torture yourself over it all either.' He paused for breath, before back-tracking. 'I think I forgot something…oh right. How did you suddenly start hearing and seeing everything at once?'

'I didn't say anything about seeing,' was Koichi's only response to the long-winded and uncharacteristic speech. He sighed thereafter, letting his head slump down.

'I already told you,' Koji pointed out. 'You didn't have to. Now…did I cover everything?'

If it wasn't for the gravity of the situation, their current discussion could count as one of the weirdest ever. If he was looking in from a TV screen, he'd have to say he and his brother had been replaced by a couple of sad imitations…because neither of them were acting like they usually did. That being said, they hadn't ever been in such a situation before, so their actions were perfectly justified.

'You missed something.' Now, that sounded like Koichi's usual tone. Well…more like his usual something-is-still-bothering-me tone.

'Like what?' Koji thumbed through the mental checklist.

'The digimon,' Koichi replied after a brief moment of silence, taking the pressure off his hands and leaning back onto the alley wall. 'When I scanned Arbormon, I felt nothing. I didn't touch those SAT men. I barely touched Mariko. The first time, all I was doing was defending myself on instinct, but –'

Koji closed his eyes again, remembering his Kendo lessons. 'We're just human,' he responded finally. 'Despite everything else, we're human. It's easier for us to sympathise with other humans because we live and breathe with them. Because we are like them. Even when we spirit evolve, we can't really become digimon. We're still more vulnerable because of the human factor, but we're stronger too. Maybe because we're different. Maybe it's the same when we squash spiders in bathtubs-'

Koichi shot a glare at him.

'-okay, no spiders. How about ants in picnic baskets?' He let out his own snort of laughter. 'Why are you latching on to that for?'

For some reason, the pair of twins exploded into identical fits of laughter.

'Have you lost it?'

'Have you?'

Koji considered that. 'Fair enough.' A cough readministered some control.

'It's sad,' Koichi said suddenly. 'And selfish.'

'It is,' Koji agreed. 'But it's impossible not to be responsible for at least one life that's not human. Even if you are vegetarian, there's eggs and stuff like that. Baby chicks and all. And –'

'Koji,' the other interrupted.

A sheepish: 'I'm not helping things, am I?'

'You're blabbing,' the other said bluntly. 'Which you never do.' He closed his eyes as he said it. 'It'll help…'

'Just not now.' Koji shook his head, before his blush returned full force as his stomach rumbled. 'I'm-oh my god!'

Koichi couldn't muster up the energy to jump in surprise.

'I completely forgot. When was the last time you ate anything? And that was Zoe's soup too – not that she's a bad cook or anything, but still-' He cut himself off before picking up a connected strain of thought. 'We should get something to eat. I think I've got enough on me.' He took a breath, before crouching in front of the other. 'Here.'

Koichi opened his eyes. 'Huh?'

'I'll carry you.'

'I can walk.'

'Oh no you can't.' And Koji was proven correct when Koichi attempted to stand and stumbled. 'Just let me carry you.'

The elder twin was obviously reluctant, but in the end he gave in. And that was Koji's victory won.

'Hang on. We've forgotten about the others.'

'They went in the opposite direction.'

'Of course they did.' Koji half-glared at the spectre following them. 'I'll bet Takuya was in charge.'

'I'm not a mind reader.'

'No. And neither am I.' A pause. 'What? No retaliation?'

'I don't know what part of me is more tired.' And the voice validated it. 'The body or the mind.'

Or the soul. But Koji didn't say that out loud. He knew there wasn't a quick-fix to anything. But Koichi might have a point.

His was more important though. Adrenaline wasn't going to pull anyone through any full night.

'We'll talk more over the ramen, 'kay?'

'Hmm…' Koji felt his brother's lips twitch into a smile on his slowly dampening shoulder. 'Why am I crying again?'

'You're tired,' the younger twin answered.

'I'm sorry.'

'Yes. You're that too,' Koji said absentmindedly. 'That's part of your problem.'

Koichi couldn't muster up the energy to combat that either.