Sibling Rivalry

Disclaimer: I personally own many assorted items, including my fan art collection, my computer image files, clothes, shoes, a chocolate stash and graveyard for dead batteries that once belonged in my Gameboy. Fushigi Yuugi, however, is not a dead battery or any other odd object in my possession. I have no rights to it. Not that'd anyone sane would sue me anyway after hearing of my incredible riches.

Skipsida, thank you for your interesting reviews. Akira is still a little traumatised, but the psychiatrist says he'll be OK if he keeps to his medication. They were a little freaked out at the Mental Institution, he now has a rather strong belief he somehow looks like faecal matter, but I told them it was just a stage. You can call Tobias Toby if you want. He hates it though, and will most likely be upset or scared. The other review, I agree totally with. There just aren't enough fics out there showing Tomo's human side. I mean, it was his past life that caused him to become who he was, and especially the fact he never actually was taught morals... I could rant all day about that, but I won't. I actually need to write the story.

Zettai Reido, no, you don't need to convince me at all. Tomo is getting Nakago this time around. I promise. I have the whole thing planned out.

SKIPSIDA, ZETTAI REIDO, PLEASE READ THE ABOVE PERSONALISED MESSAGES. If you haven't already. ^_^;

Also, if anyone has an idea for a story that would be under 1000 words, tell me. My mother wants me to enter a competition, but I have no inspiration whatsoever.



"Mia?" Tobias asked, in an annoying tone.

"Shut up," said Mia in reply, rolling over.

"I don't want to," her brother answered.

"Look, you've been doing this every day I've had to be stuck in this accursed room with you. Now, shut up!"

"But it's too early to shut up, I'm boooored," whined Tobias. "I need to talk!"

"Well, I don't. Go and talk to Akira."

"He's asleep."

"Yeah, and I would be too if you just shut up," replied Mia.

"It's not fair! Why won't anyone be awake like me?" Tobias was a night owl, and he couldn't help but be at his most awake at what most people considered ungodly hours.

"Because the rest of the world is sane," Mia snapped. She was in a horrible mood.

"Maybe it's me who's sane, and you're all the ones who have it wrong," argued Tobias.

"Toby, it is 3:36 exactly. The luminous red alarm clock you insist on setting at 5 every morning is frying its stupid numbers to my brain. Now, can you just get this through your stupid, opera-loving, freakish brain that I am tired and not in the mood for a debate on sanity! I think I misplaced mine the moment you started staying here! Now, BE QUIET!" Mia was getting really angry. Arguing with Tobias was not her number one priority right now. Sure, it was the weekend tomorrow. But if she slept in, it was a few hours off the time she spent with Akira.

"But Mia..." Tobias said, knocking her from her thoughts.

"What part of be quiet don't you understand?"

"Well, at first I thought it was the be part, but then I remembered that a bee was an insect, you know the ones that sting you? Then I wondered why the bee was quiet..."

"Not funny, Toby."

"Okay, okay," conceded Tobias finally. "You win. But I just want to ask you one little question."

"And what might that be, dear brother?" asked Mia.

"What are those pictures you are hiding under your pillow?" Mia cringed visibly. When she rolled over, the pictures must have shifted from under the pillow.

"Uh... nothing," she said quickly. It was too quickly for Tobias. He leapt up and, with stunning reflexes, grabbed them from under Mia's pillow. He took one look, and immediately fell over. His sleep deprivation induced hyperactivity was gone at once.

"Mia... are they of who I think they're of?" he asked slowly, from the ground.

"Um... no... maybe... yes," said Mia indecisively. Tobias blinked, then blinked again. Inside, he was having a little battle between his brain and his heart.



'He's yours! Don't let her get away with this!' his heart ordered.

'No way, don't humiliate yourself,' countered his brain. Unfortunately, in such a battle, common sense very rarely prevails. If it did, life would be boring.

"He's mine!" yelled Tobias, leaping up.



'Damn, you beat me,' his brain said to his heart. 'I bet you cheated. You tried that annoying little double pump of blood again didn't you, the one that makes me woozy.'

'All's fair in love,' Tobias' heart quipped.



This time it was Mia's turn to be shocked. She was completely speechless. Her mouth hung open. Her gray eyes were wide, and her pupils were dilated. Slowly, the information was processed in her mind, and she came to the obvious conclusion.

"Toby?" she asked finally. "You're..."

"Gay," Tobias said flatly. It sounded strange, but somehow correct, as though he'd been living a lie and then suddenly told the truth. Mia stared at him. She was still unsure of what to say. "You can tell me I'm a freak if you like," her brother said. He looked close to tears.

"No... well, you are a freak... but... no," Mia said. A tear flowed down Tobias' cheek. They both realised that they were totally different people, but they still cared for each other in the unconditional way siblings did. Mia, still faltering, broke the silence. "But Akira... he isn't... he can't be..."

"How do you know?" asked Tobias, his eyes still wet. He was wiping a tear away with a tissue.

"Well, I don't. But he's mine, and I know it," argued Mia.

"I get the same feeling. Like... I've known him forever. And... loved him forever." Tobias got a dreamy look in his eyes and started staring at the wall.

"Tobias, you're making me sick. But, yeah, I do get a sense of deja vu around the guy." Suddenly, Mia seemed to realise exactly who she was talking to. "This conversation never happened," she said quickly.

"What conversation?" Tobias asked, as he was supposed to.



Meanwhile, Akira was also wide awake. He, having the bedroom next door, heard the twins (it was a little hard not to, sound goes straight through walls at night when everything else is quiet) and cursed himself for not understanding what they were saying. It seemed important. He shook his head. It didn't matter. What did matter was he had had the dream again. And he remembered even more.

"Tomo," he said quietly. He remembered Tomo more clearly now, the man who somehow was Tobias. A man who had once been part of an opera troupe. A man... who was something called a seishi. For... someone called Seiryuu. But who was Seiryuu?

No matter.

Akira remembered something even more important. Nakago. He remembered somehow being this man, this man whose entire life had been consumed by hate and cruelty. A man who had experience nearly every horrible torture a human being could go through, as a mere child. A man, who had tried to exact his own revenge for his past upon the entire world, and a man who was a murderer of the innocent, and many other horrible things besides.

And Akira really didn't want to be Nakago.



Seiryuu Girl: Donate to the "Reviews for Poor Authors" charity. All you need to do is click that button underneath and write in the box. Come on, it's not too hard.