According to my father, Gash wasn't just some random person that I happened to connect with--he was my twin, me being the older twin. I suddenly realized how stupid I was for not noticing it earlier. I mean, we have the same almost everything. We both like to play chess, even though he sucks at it, we both think the same thoughts oftentimes, and we have similar tastes in women. Father went on to inform me that Queen Eduron didn't know Gash was my brother either. She thought Gash was my clone.

As stupid has I could hardly believe she was for believe such a blatant lie, I had to cut some slack somewhere. She was my stepmom whether I liked it or not. I demanded that he tell her that the boy that she was abusing, that was being told to do the laundry and fetch her clothes was none other than my brother. I demanded to know, in a way that if he tried to deny me of what I wanted or needed, then I would become infuriated. A single look into those desperate orbs made me change my mind about that demand.

"Not yet. I'm afraid neither Eduron nor Gash can know you are related."

I groaned sadly. Gash was my best friend--I felt wrong not sharing something with him. A secret, such as us being related by blood--so closely related by blood that we could almost have been one person. But indeed, maybe it was for the best that Gash didn't know that we were related. If he did know, things would become even more complex than they already were. It was indeed a good thing.

Koruru was the first and only person I told. Rather than looking surprised, or shocked, or even a little confused, she rolled her eyes and asked how I could possibly be so dense. She noticed the similarities early on--she just wanted me to figure it out for myself. Upon learning that my father had been the one to tell me, she once again shook her head and commented on my denseness.

As time wore on, Gash seemed to be getting agitated. He was skulking around and giving everyone--Koruru, his master, me-- the silent treatment. She was always in a bad mood and had a fit whenever he didn't win when we played chess, and we never saw him at the bench. He was constantly eating or drinking, and he seemed to be gaining a lot of weight.

"I'm really worried about how much Gash has been eating," Koruru commented one day, kneeling in the grass and making a crown of flowers. It was an impulse thing she did whenever she was upset or worried. As she completed the third one in that sitting, it joined the prior two on my head. As much as Koruru meant to me, I didn't like wearing her crowns, mainly because she had a bad habit of picking flowers that held bees or ants, and they seemed to enjoy attacking me.

"Me... too..." I said, holding my breath and waiting for the bee a few centimeters from my face to fly away. She seemed to want to take her dear sweet time, and Koruru's worry over Gash left no worry for me and potentially getting the shit stung out of me. "I wonder why he seems to have a constant case of the munchies..."

As though he had heard them, Gash was taking fast, jerky strides out of the front door and towards the path that lead to the rocking bench, and we looked towards eat other. Nodding in silent understanding, we stood (this earned me a sting on the nose from the startled bee) and made to find out what Gash was doing. Careful to step over twigs, we were soon there. Koruru parted the leaves and branches, and watched him for a while before clapping her hands over her mouth, looking as though she might start crying. The pink haired demon moved out of the way, and allowed me to see.

Gash was leaning back, his feet pushing him back and forth. Something the nature of a cigarette but... not, between his lips. Whatever it was was on fire, smoke going up into the air. The smell was aromatic, and the look in his eyes was glazed and dreamily happy. What was in his hand was a blunt. What he was smoking was a drug called Remix--a more powerful version of the human drug pot. I was suddenly very angry towards Gash. What was wrong with him? What did he think he was doing?! Koruru was crying silently--something she could have learned from me.

I led her back to castle, up to my room, and she kneeled in front of my bed and sobbed openly and animatedly. This had to be the most amount of times she's cried in a single year. I patted her back, and she cried. She fell asleep like that--head on my bed, kneeling on the bed. I ran her fingers through her soft cherry blossom locks and allowed my fingers to lightly touch her cheek. To my shock, she leaned towards my hand. A gentle smile graced my lips, and I scooped her up to go to bed.

Down the steps, pushing the kitchen door open with my foot and then through the low door, I saw Gash laying on the floor. At first I thought something was wrong, but then I heard his loud snoring marred by strange giggles. He was still high, I realized, and had probably fallen there and forgotten to get back up.

Carefully, I stepped around him and to where I knew Koruru's bed was and placed her down upon it, pulling up her burlap sack until she was relaxed before hopping down onto the floor and returning to his room, being careful to step around his still-quite-obviously-high twin.

The next morning they decided that they needed to confront Gash about Remix. They needed to find a way to tactfully approach the situation, in a way that Gash would listen, in a way that would make him understand that they were worried and that he was only hurting himself. With a deep sigh they watched Gash as he lumbered around. His eyes looked normal and he looked moderately coordinated. He put on a lot of weight and his stomach stuck out from his Servant's shirt. At the moment, he wasn't high--not at that moment anyway.

As soon as Koruru could get him away from work, she led him to my room. Tossing him on the bed, he appeared to be itchy, irritable... He had probably crashed sometimes last night and couldn't get his fix until he had a break, which was now and then later that day long after the sun went down.

"Gash... are.... you doing Remix...?" Koruru asked nervously. Gash closed one of his eyes and glared at her, giving her one of the meanest looks I had ever seen him give to anyone. Actually, maybe he was high and was just coming down. I wasn't sure, I had never seen someone high before.

"No."

"Gash, we SAW you smoking it at the Bench!" I said, louder than I meant to. That place was sacred and secret, and like hell I was going to let him defile it with his drugs. The sickening smell of the drug was on his clothes, and his eyes looked droopy, and whenever I went back, the place smelled of the Remix. It was as though one of my mother's attributes had been cruelly snuffed out.

"And why were you following me?" The blond asked accusingly, pointing at use with a single chubby finger. I gritted my teeth and responded with the true story--that we had been worried about the way he had been acting; antisocial, irritable... and told him to imagine our surprise when we saw him on the bench, rocking back and forth with an angering nonchalant air, as though he was doing nothing wrong. Koruru watched us go at it, as our voices grew steadily louder and louder in volume.

"What does it matter what I do, huh!?"

"It matters because don't want my younger brother--my younger twin bother at that--dead because he was stupid enough to throw his life away to some lousy drug!"

A silence befell the room and Gash merely looked at me, his face completely blank and devoid of all emotion. I realized that I had slipped the secret, but as I surveyed his features, I found nothing. He seemed neither angry nor happy, believing or not, and could only watch as Gash walked out, slamming the door behind him.

This was not going well.

And... CUT! Great scene everyone, great scene!

Zeon: When are me and Koruru going to sex?! DX

-falcon paunch'd- And you are supposed to be a prince?!

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