Waiting for your footsteps

Coming up the drive

Waiting for your footsteps

But they don't arrive

Waiting for you knock, dear, on my old front door

I don't hear it; does it mean

You don't love me anymore?

..…..……..….

"Satoshi-kun should be getting home soon…" Shion murmured, looking at the clock, which read eight-thirty, and the sky outside, which was exactly the color of orange sherbet. "Shouldn't he?"

"He is with his sister. He's probably having fun over there, and forgot he said he'd be home for dinner…"

'Maybe he didn't want to come home. Or maybe this isn't his home. Where his sister is should be home, right?'

The Voice was back.

"Shut up," Shion said quietly. "I don't need you making snide comments about Satoshi-kun and how you think he doesn't love me. He does. He said so, you know. And he's going to come home soon, too. Satoshi-kun doesn't lie to me, and he keeps his promises."

'Keep telling yourself that.'

Shion rolled her eyes and got up. "He'll be home soon, I'm sure. I should put the kettle on so I have tea ready when he gets here," she told herself.

All too soon, Shion found herself sipping a cold cup of orange pekoe alone.

"I'll put on another kettle on low," she told herself. "Satoshi-kun will be back before his cup is cold…"

It was a cup of tea exactly the way Satoshi liked it. Ginger tea with a tablespoon of honey, a small dash of milk, and even a few cookies on a little china plate.

He didn't come to drink it. The liquid inside Satoshi's favorite mug grew lukewarm, then cool, then nearly frigid…

Shion wearily raised her head from the table and vaguely recognized that she might have fallen asleep. Next to her were a few cookies and a mug full of ginger tea, drops of water clinging to its sides due to condensation.

"Satoshi-kun, your tea is cold," She called to the empty apartment. "I'll make you another one, so you'd better come drink it or I'll drink it for you. All right?"

There was no response.

'"Maybe he slept over at Satoko's place," Shion murmured. "… No, Satoshi-kun said he'd be home. He'll be home. I'll make him some more tea…"

..…..…..…..……….

Mion was worried. Her parents had received a call claiming her sister hadn't come to school that day, and was she not feeling well? Satoshi hadn't come to school either. Of course, this made perfect sense-- the way he and Shion had been behaving, any sickness one caught would without a doubt be passed on to the other.

Mion giggled, remembering a conversation she'd had with Shion over the phone two days ago. She was so happy with Satoshi, to the point that Mion wondered if Satoshi ever found her just a little bit creepy or possessive.

But he'd seemed too enthralled with her himself to notice last time they'd talked.

Apparently, even enthralled enough to miss his sister's birthday party. Maybe he was already sick then? Maybe too sick to call ahead and say he couldn't make it, or had fallen asleep to get some much-needed rest …

Still, he should've called later to apologize for missing the party, to say he couldn't come to school. Satoko had come to school with a face that looked like it had recently been crying. She hadn't spoken in school unless spoken directly to, in which case the questioner was granted a few mumbled words and a downcast expression; she had even dropped out of club activities for the day, saying quietly that she would rather just go home and eat the last of her birthday cake.

Why was Satoshi avoiding his sister? Mion wondered.

'Well… I suppose the only thing to do would be to visit and find out…'

..…..……………..

She knocked on the door to Shion's apartment, and found no reply. When she tried the door, she found it unlocked, and quietly entered. Maybe they were asleep.

"Shion?" Mion called quietly. "Satoshi? Are you two sick again?"

There was no one in Shion's room, or the closet--- umm, guest room. Shion's bed was neatly made, and yesterday's page hadn't been taken off the calendar.

"Hello?" Mion called again. No reply. Worried, she headed for the kitchen…

An empty box that advertised to have once contained thirty-six packets of ginger tea was on the floor. Not too far from it, there was another box that had once contained darjeeling.

There were teacups and mugs all over the table in the center of the room. Some of them were empty except for a few dregs in the bottom, some were half-full, and some were still untouched. None of them were still warm enough that steam rose from them, as if Shion had prepared them hours ago.

Shion herself was snoring on the floor, her position and the shattered teacup beside her suggesting that she'd fallen out of her chair. Mion kneeled down and gently shook her.

"Shion, wake up!"

"Mrrgggghhh… Onee?" Shion wearily opened one eye. "Why am I on the floor? Is Satoshi-kun back yet?"

"I think you fell asleep at the table and fell over," Mion chuckled. "You shattered your Star Wars mug."

Shion's face took on a sheen of horror. "The Star Wars mug is Satoshi-kun's," she whispered. "He'll hate me for this, Onee… m-maybe that's why he hasn't come home yet… maybe he somehow knew and decided to stay at Satoko's house forever…"

"Actually, I wanted to ask about that," Mion said. "Satoshi didn't come to Satoko's party, and he wasn't in school today. Is he sick?"

"No…" Shion said. "Not that I would know… he… hasn't come home yet… wait. What do you mean 'wasn't in school today'? Last time I looked at the clock, it was only five-thirty AM…"

"And then you fell asleep," Mion said. "… Wait, are you saying you were waiting for him until five-thirty in the morning?"

"Satoshi said if I made tea for him when he came home, he'd make dinner," Shion mumbled. "Then it got late and he didn't show. But… then the tea got cold… so I made another one…"

"And another one, and another one," Mion noted, gesturing towards the table. "Quite a mess you've got there… how many boxes of tea did you you through, Shion?"

"Two and a half…"

Mion sighed. "Let's clean this up. Satoshi will worry if he finds out you lost sleep over him."

"Right."

"… Wait, so… you haven't seen him since yesterday?" Mion asked.

"I haven't," Shion said, picking up a half-full cup of tea and dumping it down the sink. "I thought he was still over at Satoko's house, but… he didn't go to the party?"

"He didn't," Mion replied. "I haven't seen him since school got out last week, Shion."

"I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon…" Shion's voice was shrinking. "He showed up at Angel Morte and gave me a big hug for no reason, then said he was going to see his sister and that's the last I saw of… of him…"

The twins looked each other in the eye.

"This isn't good," they said at the same time.

"I'm going to the toy shop to see if Satoshi-kun got the bear, and then I'm going to the police," Shion said hurriedly, running to the door and putting her shoes on.

Mion followed her. "I'm going to ask Grandma…"

Shion paused. "That Onibaba wouldn't know where Satoshi-kun is unless… unless..."

"That's not what I mean!" Mion said quickly. "Grandma is highly connected to the underworld! If he was kidnapped or something, she could find out!"

"That Onibaba doesn't care about Satoshi-kun," Shion spat.

"I do," Mion said. "Maybe I can get her help."

She ran out the door towards Hinamizawa, leaving Shion alone with her thoughts.

…..…..

Quickly, Shion pulled her shoes on and all but ran to the toy store. When she got to the window, she found the large teddy bear usually sitting behind it to be missing.

"So you got the bear, Satoshi-kun," Shion whispered. "Congratulations."

'But he never went to Satoko's party… so where did he…?'

Shion ran from the store to Angel Morte, and from there walked the route she knew he used to Hinamizawa. Maybe he'd fell down and was horribly injured, or had fallen asleep on the road?

She found no sign of him, from any of the routes he might have taken or by yelling for him in front of the empty Houjo house (Satoko wasn't there at the moment). Looking up at the open window on the second story, she decided to sneak in.

After a good ten minutes of scrambling up a tree and reaching for the window, Shion was in what looked to be Satoko's room. It was nearly barren and meticulously clean, the only thing on the floor being a shattered lamp, a broom and a half-full dustpan.

Shion quietly exited the room and crept down the hall, opening the next door to see what (and hopefully, who) was there.

Satoshi wasn't there, but it was clearly his room. There was a baseball poster from a few years back on the wall, a few interesting books on a small bookshelf, and old, faded plastic toys on the shelf a memory of Satoshi's childhood. There was a picture frame on the nightstand, the picture inside containing a much younger Satoshi and Satoko with a woman that Shion assumed was their mother. Sitting next to it was a facedown photograph with a note on the exposed backside in Mion's handwriting. All it said was, 'Told you so. Guess! Which one is which?'

Shion turned the picture over and found it was of herself and Mion a few days before she left for St. Lucia's Academy. They were smiling and wearing aprons, their faces covered in flour. Shion faintly recalled baking cookies that day, and wondered when Satoshi had asked about her urgently enough that Mion had given him a picture.

She smiled bitterly. If he was that eager to know more about her, he should be with her, asking. Where was he?

That was when Shion heard a creak in the floorboards below her.

The creaking continued across the downstairs floor and up the stairs, when suddenly a soft, unexpected thumping noise sounded, followed by a man's voice using obscene words at the highest possible volume.

It could only be Satoshi's uncle. Shion froze and found herself diving into Satoshi's closet (which, in case you were wondering, was not refurbished as a guest room but was full of clothes, books, and old board games) and holding her breath.

"Satoko!" Teppei yelled. "Where's the damn band-aids?" The large man thudded, by the sound of it, down the hallway and into Satoko's room. "Where are you? Don't tell me you're hiding again…"

The thudding went back into the hallway and there was a slamming noise, as if Satoshi's bedroom door was a cause for personal anguish for Teppei.

"I know you're in here," Teppei growled, "You'd better come out or it'll only be worse for you…"

Thudding noise went around the room as Shion positioned herself behind the bathrobe that hung off of the clothes hanger rod. As Teppei's footsteps grew louder, Shion found herself unable to breath. And slowly, the door opened, as Shion realized that her shoes would be completely visible to him.

"Satoko… come out…"

Shion stayed as still as possible, waiting for the inevitable, but after a few seconds the door slammed shut again and Teppei's footsteps thudded away.

'Satoshi-kun… you're not even with me, but you saved me through this bathrobe…' there was no telling what Teppei would have done if he'd found Shion trespassing in 'his' house. Shion wrapped her arms around her terry cloth savior and hugged it close.

She noticed it smelled like him, like cinnamon and baseball gloves and something Shion couldn't quite place that only Satoshi had. She breathed in the scent again, before quietly leaving the closet and closing the door behind her. Following this, she cautiously walked down the hall and back into Satoko's room, climbing out the window and back down to the ground before breaking into a run for Okinomiya. What if Satoshi was back already, and was wondering where she was?

..….

He wasn't. Nor was he the next day, or the day after that, or the day after that. Shion still went to work and to school, because Satoshi would know where to find her at those places, but other than that and to buy food to keep herself alive, Shion sat at home by the teakettle and waited. She slept at the kitchen table, using uncompleted homework assignments and books, or her own arms as pillows.

She felt nauseated in the morning, but by the time she got to school it was usually passed. During the hours of school, and even at work, she only spoke when necessary , and snapped out at anyone who said something offensive (which was often). When she finally got home at night, the meals purchased the day before tasted rotten, and Shion would leave the house and buy five servings of whatever her brain told her was a necessity.

Sitting alone by the kitchen table, having consumed three of the five servings, etching the answers into her homework sheets, she felt nothing. But, on the tenth day of this seemingly endless cycle, a knock sounded at the door.

Shion gasped and ran to answer it. It was Satoshi! It had to be. He'd been gone nearly two weeks, and he had better have had a good reason to be this late for dinner twelve days ago. She slammed the door open and prepared to throw her arms around him…

Only to skid to a halt mid-pounce and fall directly into Officer Ooishi.

"Sonozaki Shion," the police officer said amusedly. "I suppose you thought I was somebody else?"

"I did," Shion mumbled, taking a step away from Ooishi. "My apologies."

'This man tried to arrest Satoshi-kun,' Shion remembered. 'He can't be up to any good.'

"I'm told that Houjo Satoshi lives here," Ooishi drawled. "Is this true?"

Shion nodded slowly. "Yes, but…"

"He hasn't been home in awhile?"

Shion gasped. "How did you know that?"

"He hasn't been in school," Ooishi explained.

"I knew that, but… he's coming home soon. This isn't any of your business," Shion said slowly, glaring at Ooishi.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," Ooishi laughed condescendingly. "Then I'm assuming you knew that the last day he was seen, he withdrew the entire contents of his savings account from the bank?"

"He was saving up," Shion said slowly, "To get a birthday present for his little sister. He had just enough on her birthday, he said. Maybe he thought he should bring all of the money with him to buy it, just in case?"

'But then he would have put some back,' said a sickeningly familiar voice in the back of Shion's head. 'He said he was going to marry you, right?'

"That could be true," Ooishi said, "But his sister says he never came to give it to her."

"I know that…"

"But he was seen boarding a train at Okinomiya Station." Ooishi smirked. "I suppose you didn't know that either?"

"Maybe they moved the present to another store, to put it on display there, and he went to go get it!" Shion heard herself say, though she wasn't sure she believed it.

"What do you need Satoshi-kun for anyway? Another hearing?"

"Oh, no," Ooishi chuckled, "We're just worried about him, you know. If we can't find him in Tokyo hiding from his… unfortunate family situation, it might just be that he was the second half of this year's curse of Oyashiro-sama."

'Hiding in Tokyo? No, no, he… he wouldn't…'

..….

"Satoshi-kun wouldn't really leave us alone like this, would he?" Shion asked quietly.

'He might,' the voice chuckled, 'We were asking a lot from him. Quit baseball, stay with us forever, throw away his future career-- whatever that was going to be-- give us all his attention, love us, hold us--'

"Those are things any girl would want!" Shion objected, pounding her fist on the table. "And some of those things aren't too difficult… right?"

'True, but…'

"But?"

'Maybe he intended to spend that money to leave Hinamizawa from the start.'

"But… with us, would his mind have--"

'He used us, Shion. He doesn't love us. His only intention was to sleep here, and then when you seemed fine with him sleeping with you, he took advantage of--'

"SHUT UP!" Shion screamed, "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Satoshi-kun really, truly cares about us-- no, about me! You're not even a part of this, so don't talk to me! He always made us feel better about everything…"

'In other words, you were a burden to him?'

"Burden!" Shion gasped. "We gave him a place to stay, and loved him when no one else would or could! Without us, he could have easily left long ago!"

'So you're sure he didn't leave us on his own?'

"Absolutely," Shion said proudly.

'Then where is he?'

A second knock sounded on the door, lighter than the time three days ago when Ooishi had come.

"Shion! Are you there?"

Shion went over to open the door, knowing it was her twin sister.

"… Hey." Mion greeted nervously with a wave and held up a paper box. "Can I come in? I brought cake…"

Shion's stomach grumbled. "Is it chocolate?"

"The icing is."

"… Come in, Onee."

Mion laughed. "Shion, are you only interested in the cake and not my company? Because I could just leave this here and go my merry way, you know--"

"No, No, come in, sit down!" Shion grinned slightly. "I couldn't finish the whole thing by myself, anyway, right?"

"You're awful," Mion snickered, entering and closing the door behind her.

The girls both laughed, Mion a bit more genuinely and with more volume. Shion smiled as best as she could and took the cake, then ran into the kitchen with it, causing more laughter from her guest.

She cut the cake and brought it to her table, pushing the cold, half-empty teacups to the side, the moving them to the counter altogether.

'If Satoshi-kun comes back now, he can wait twenty minutes for the water to boil,' Shion thought.She got some teriyaki sauce from the fridge and drizzled it over her slice of cake, noticing the slightly horrified expression Mion made when she did so.

"Shion, that's--"

"I know what it is," Shion said. She took a bite. "And it's delicious. Do you want some?"

"I'm fine," Mion said. She nibbled at her own cake quietly, as if she was unsure of what to say. Shion couldn't think of an interesting avenue of conversation either, so she continued to eat her slice of cake, followed by her second slice of cake, and her third, and her fourth…

Finally, Mion spoke up. "Shion… how are your nails?"

"Better," Shion sighed. She looked down at the bandaging on her fingers. "But they haven't grown all the way back yet, so I don't like showing them to anyone."

"I see," Mion mumbled. "Umm… I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I really like what you've done with this place."

It was a feeble attempt at conversation, but the silence was unbearable, so Shion answered: "Thanks, I guess… I borrowed a lot of the furniture from Kasai, actually… I should look into getting my own…"

"Ah, shouldn't you be saving your money for other things?" Mion asked, eyeing the sixth piece of teriyaki-laced cake that Shion was consuming.

"… I'll make it work somehow," Shion mumbled. She put a hand over her stomach. "When, when the father comes back, we'll… we'll… "

"I wonder where he went," Mion sighed. "Disappearing out of the blue like that… what happened to him?"

The voice was loud, almost vibrating in Shion's skull. 'It might just be that he was the second half of this year's curse of Oyashiro-sama. Remember?'

Of course. It all made sense. But if that was the case, then the perpetrator was…

"YOU!" Shion let half-over, half-into the small table and knocked Mion to the ground. "You should know very well what happened to Satoshi-kun!"

She was over Mion, her hands at her sister's throat, rage burning somewhere in her chest cavity. Mion gasped out of shock and lack of oxygen, trying to wriggle away

"You… you demoned him away, didn't you!" Her grip tightened. The soft side of her fingers pressed against her nails, causing pain in the three that were not quite back yet. "Give him back, you filthy Main House whore, you murderer, you sick-minded little-- GIVE HIM BACK! Give me my Satoshi-kun back! Murderer, whore, sick-minded frea--"

Mion's hands came up and tried to pull Shion's away from her throat. Three fingers on the left hand were bandaged just like Shion's…

"Onee?" Shion whispered. Her hold on Mion's throat loosened a little. "Why… why do you have those same wounds?"

Upon closer inspection, Mion was crying.

"Why is it always you, Shion? Why are you the one who always gets hurt? It should be the same for both of us, it should be… b-because we're identical twins…"

Mion tried to say something else, but only sobs came. Shion slowly let go of her, tears collecting in her eyes as well. She got off of her sister, who sat up and gave her a hug.

And they both cried for Satoshi.

'Onee… loves him too,' Shion thought, 'Maybe not the same way I do, but she's hurting almost as badly…'

'Maybe she wasn't the one who took Satoshi,' The voice told Shion. 'They wouldn't have told her. We can forgive Mion, because she doesn't know.'

'Who are you?' Shion asked the voice.

The voice paused.

'Mion has something carved into her back, but I'm carved into your heart.'

'What?'

'In other words, I am… your demon.'

..…..…….

Hear the clock a'ticking

On the mantle shelf

See the hands are moving

But I'm by myself

Wonder where you are tonight

And why I'm by myself…

I don't see you

Does it mean you don't love me anymore?

..…..……….

(authornotes)

I apologize for taking so long to write this thing. Truthfully, I was going to make this chapter longer, but…

1) If I did, there would be two "epiphany" moments

2) This chapter is already eleven pages long (I know the last one was a lot longer, but I think this chapter is as long as it needs to be).

3) I like this stopping point.

4) I wanted to post something for this fic. Sometimes when I'm bored, I go back and, um, reread the reviews, and some of them make me feel awful for not having the next chapter ready (Mindofamaniac, I'm looking at you).

I'll try to write these things faster.

Has anyone noticed my period-accurate pop culture references? Nothing mentioned in this fic hasn't made sense for 1983, or '82 which is where the fic is now. Or at least to the eighties. I'm not sure if the Brady Bunch was airing yet in '82.

Well, if there's any anachronism here, it's close.

Thanks for reading and putting up with my slow updating pace. If you're not too upset by this, could you maybe tell me what you thought of this chapter? Yes? I'd appreciate it...

(/authornotes)