Namine looked up at her parents, who were eating their dinner wordlessly. Her mother had hair the same shade of gold as Roxas's, and eyes the same blue as both of the twins. She was tall, with broad shoulders which her hair draped over delicately. Her father was much more slim, with his hair lighter, even lighter than Namine's. His hair was short with the exception of a braided rat-tail. The both looked at the empty spot where Roxas usually ate and her mother spoke, "Namine, why isn't your brother eating?"

Namine remembered their conversation earlier and Roxas's confession and bit her lip, "I think he caught my bug." Namine felt guilty for lying to her parents, but it couldn't be helped.

"Why don't you check on him, sweetie?" Her father smiled at Namine, who nodded and wordlessly took to the stairs.

Namine stopped in front of Roxas's door, staring at it for a second. Would he yell at her? Would he ignore her? Will he hate me? Namine bit her lip again, feeling the metal taste of blood in her mouth. "Roxas?" She knocked on the door, and heard the bed creak. Was he sleeping? Namine could feel her guilt rise again, she knew why Roxas slept. It was his way of attempting to turn reality into a dream.

The door opened, and Namine could see that Roxas's eyes were red and swollen. "Mom wanted to know if you were okay since you didn't come for dinner," Namine forced a smile, which was not returned.

"Namine..." Roxas looked down to the ground, "If you hate me... well, to be honest, it could ruin my life. But..." Roxas turned away from Namine, "don't just pretend what I did never happened. I'd wish I was never born." Roxas closed the door slowly, "I'm not hungry."

Namine stood there, at a loss for words. She could feel tears forming at her eyes and she wiped them away. Why? I just want everything to be normal. Namine walked down the stairs and spoke to her parents, "He's not feeling well. I'm starting to feel a little queasy too, can I lay down?"

"Of course, honey." Namine's mother smiled at her. "We'll take care of your dishes for you." Namine nodded and went back up the stairs and walked into her bedroom slowly before locking her door. She crawled onto her pure white bed and leaned over it, pulling out a sketchpad wedged between the bed and wall. Not even bothering to open the sketchpad, Namine pulled it close to her chest and let her tears drip onto the cover. I'm so sorry Roxas...

.............

Roxas groaned as he heard his alarm go off. He knew, with a sinking stomach, that everything he did yesterday wasn't a dream. "Damn it all..." Roxas rolled back onto his pillow and sighed, "Maybe I should stay home..." He stood up and started getting dressed, not even noticing what he was putting on. He even had to take off his shoes because he was wearing one black sock and one green sock.

Roxas opened his door, freezing when he saw Namine walk out of her own. There were only two things in his mind: guilt and fear. He felt fear of what Namine might say, guilt for what he said, and more fear when he saw what she was wearing. She was wearing her white dress and blue sandals as usual, but she also wore a light blue sweater. "Namine..."

Namine turned her eyes to the ground, "It's nothing Roxas." She walked past him, refusing to meet her brother's eyes. Roxas reached out and grabbed her shoulder, and Namine turned quickly, "I told you Roxas, IT'S NOTHING!"

Roxas glared at his sister, "Nothing?" He grabbed the sleeve of the sweater and pulled it up to Namine's elbows, exposing recent scars one her pale arms. "This is nothing? Damn it Namine, anything is better than this! Hate me, ignore me, pretend it never happened," Roxas gave a defeated sigh and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Don't blame yourself Namine. This isn't your fault. It's all me."

"N-no, it isn't." Namine pulled herself out of Roxas's grip and clutched at her arms, "Roxas, I'm your twin. I should be able to notice these things, and... and..." Namine couldn't keep her tears from overflowing.

Roxas pulled his sister into a tight hug, "Namine, please. I tried to keep this from you, and I'm the idiot who told you," he pulled away from the hug and looked into Namine's eyes, their shade mirroring his own. "I'm the pervert who started it, hid it, and let it out into the open. You had nothing to do with it."

Namine melted into her brother's hug, sobbing uncontrollably. Roxas stroked her hair and hummed a lullaby to soothe her. "Roxas... don't." Roxas paused, expecting Namine to push him away, but she only clutched at his shirt tighter. "I want you to make me feel better," Namine admitted, "but I don't want to make things worse for you."

Roxas sighed and hugged Namine tighter, "Trust me: when my gir- sister... is like this." Roxas looked down at Namine's light blonde hair, resisting the urge to run his fingers through it. "Nothing would be worse than letting you suffer."

Namine pushed away from Roxas and wiped away her stray tears, "Thank you Roxas... you're really a good brother." Namine smiled at Roxas and walked off, pulling her sleeves down to hide her arms.

Roxas groaned and leaned against the wall, a pain burning in his chest. "Namine... why were we born together?" He ran his fingers through his hair, "I'd even put up with being Angel's brother if I could touch you."

.............

Namine sighed as she walked through the school, her sweater growing even warmer in the September sun. She ignored any and all glances in her direction, questioning why her twin wasn't at school. Namine walked to her Art class, taught by the one and only Squall Leonhart. He was going over the exact differences between realism and surrealism, and Namine pulled out her sketchbook. She was currently working on a surreal picture of a dog toy she bougt on a whim during a grage sale once, and she was struggling with keeping it recognizable as a dog toy while still twisting the rules of reality.

"WOW! That's really good!" Namine glanced to the left and saw Kairi and Selphie sitting together, the latter complimenting the popular red-head's sketch. Namine turned back to her own drawing, preferring the bubble she kept herself in. While compliments were nice, it was nicer to not have to worry about insults. That's just the kind of girl Namine was: the safe kind. She didn't take risks, and she didn't do anything that might earn trouble. That's why her teachers and parents liked her: she was a good girl. So what if it cost her possible friendships? She wouldn't need those when she graduated and went to law school, all she needed were her own skills.

"Very nice, Namine." The blonde girl jumped at the masculine voice and turned to see Leon looking over her shoulder criticlly. "A stuffed animal of some sort? I like the use of animals in the fur... what is it supposed to represent?"

Namine nodded and spoke in a soft voice, "It's a used dog toy. I wanted to try and show that many dogs owned and loved this toy." Namine knew it was rude to simply turn back to her drawing, so she added, "It isn't done yet." She placed the pencil on paper once more and resumed sketching the surreal toy.

.............

"Hey Namine!" Namine turned and recognized Angel running towards her, acting as though the two were best friends. Namine ignored the swelling of nausea at the sight of the redhead and forced a friendly smile. "Namine, do you like me?"

Namine paused, "Um... I guess so..." She clenched her hands behind her back to relieve some stress. "Why?"

"Well, I really want to go out with Roxas, and friends help friends get boyfriends, right?" Angel gave Namine an expecting smile and Namine wanted more than anything to just disappear. She hated it when people did this... asked her questions that really only had one answer, and any other one only brought you an even lower place on the status pyramid. "Well, do you think that you can hook me up with Roxas?"

Namine turned away from Angel, "I don't think so... I'm not really good at this sort of thing, you know?" Namine turned to walk away, and felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Please Namine?" This time, there was no pleading whine or friendly smile, but a threatening glare. Namine pulled away quickly, and a satisfied smirk rose to Angel's lips. "So, tell him I'm free Saturday, okay?"

"R-right." Namine turned and ran, hating her weaknesses. She could never talk to people... it only brought trouble. People only used her, abused her, tricked her, insulted her... it was easier being alone. She ran to her house and sat down on the couch in irritation. She sighed and turned on the TV, watching the show without watching it. Her head turned when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"... Hi Namine." Roxas smiled at Namine weakly, sitting down on the couch, keeping a distance between them. The silence was long and awkward, and Namine just wanted to scream in order to end it. "How was school?"

Namine turned to Roxas, hating the emptiness of his question and remembering Angel's words. "Fine..." she murmured, keeping her eyes downcast. "Angel was asking about you."

Roxas groanced and leaned back on the couch, "What else is new?" He smiled at Namine, but her face remained sad. "Namine?" Roxas turned to look at her better and examined her pained posture. "Are you okay?"

Namine refused to meet Roxas's eyes and twisted her dress in her hands, "Angel is free Saturday." Roxas's eyes darkened and Namine turned to him with a forced smile, "She wanted me to tell you."

"Did she threaten you?" Roxas's tone was a combination of worry and posessive anxiety. Namine shook her head quickly and Roxas turned away and crossed his arms angrily, "She didn't have to." Namine grabbed at her hair and wrung it in stressful guilt for her lack of a backbone. The silence came once again, bringing with it a buzz of deafening thoughts shifting freely in the air. The TV seemed almost to add to the noise, yet it was still impossible for either of the twins to hear the comic words in the show. "Do you want me to go out with her?" Namine jumped at the sudden real noise from her brother and turned to him in surprise.

Roxas's face was one of defeat, "Do you want me to date Angel?" He repeated the question, his look of conquered will hurting Namine more than insults ever could. "If you want me to get a girlfriend and make things normal... I will." Namine turned her face away from Roxas and stared at her lap, trying to fight back the tears. Why was everything so hard? Why did she have to hurt him like this? Roxas stood up, taking her silence for an answer, "I'll tell her tomorrow."

"No." Roxas froze and turned to Namine, who still focused her attention on her clenched hands. "I don't want you to date Angel," she whispered, tears burning at her deep, blue eyes. She stood up, trying to force a surge of strength to do what she had to, "I have to show you something," Namine couldn't look at Roxas in the eyes, and her voice cracked as she spoke. It was as though her heart was turning her blood cold in an attempt to kill her before she ruined both of their lives.

Namine walked slowly, Roxas following behind her. She walked up the stairs and paused in front of her bedroom door, "Roxas... there's something I have to tell you but... I can't say it. It's too painful." Roxas nodded in a grim understanding, unable to move. "Come inside," Namine opened her bedroom door and Roxas walked in, looking blankly at his sister's room. It was strange... he had been in here so many times, yet now the room seemed alien and unfamiliar in light of the recent events. Namine walked over to her bed and sat down, leaning over to pull out her hidden sketchbook. Wordlessly, her pale arm extended and placed the sketchbook in Roxas's tan ones. "This should explain it," she whispered.

Roxas opened the sketchbook, not quite sure what to expect. The first page was a drawing of two manequinns, holding each other romanticly; the taller one placing a kiss on the smaller one's forehead. He turned the page and saw many small sketches... of him. He turned the page again and saw some more. It continued like this for 3 more pages before the sketches were self-portraits of Namine. Every angle of her body was included for 5 pages before he saw it. The last page with any drawings in it was a copy of the first page, except the embrace was no longer one between small dolls. Now it was a drawing of Roxas: holding to his sister like no brother ever should and kissing her like only a brother can. This was a picture of warmth... of love... of forbidden passion... of incest. He shut the sketchbook and looked at Namine, seeing that she was now crying, "I'm sorry Roxas." She turned and ran out the door, leaving her twin numb with shock as he thought of the love of his life, who might love him in the exact same twisted way.