Crimso's Notes:

I love long weekends. I cherish them. Why? Because I can stay up till 3 Am on Fridays, Saturdays, AND Sundays without having to do any freaking work. Yeah, that's the time I've set for myself to go to bed on Fridays and Saturdays. It's twelve am otherwise. I can't allow myself to get no sleep at all, after all.

One: Once again, I'm skipping the whole thing where Keiichi steals the key from Takeru's room. Once again, it's getting repetitive and annoying to write, and I'm sure you guys don't want to read about it again.

Two: I'm trying to clear up confusion here, as there's WAAAY too much going on right now. I plan for that not to last very much longer, hopefully. We'll have to see.

~~~~X~~~~

Chapter 12: Questions

Footsteps echoed through the Sonozaki Basement as Keiichi walked the rows of empty cells, seeing nothing but bones within them. As he looked at them, he couldn't help but feel a little sorry. Maybe the demons in there were like Number Twenty-Seven and Number Twenty-Eight. He still couldn't quite understand Oryou's sudden wrath and why she had decided to hurt the Sonozaki family by killing all of its demons, but that was a subject that he didn't ponder too often. He often had other things on his mind, and in fact, sometimes there were too many things on his mind.

He sighed as he stopped in front of the final cell, seeing Number Twenty-Seven and Number Twenty-Eight's sleeping figures. It seemed to him that the two of them had decided that the time he usually came around was naptime for the both of them, save for the time where he had first met them. As usual, they were cuddling with each other, both of them looking very content and peaceful. He really hated to wake them up, but they had other opportunities to sleep, didn't they? Besides, he had brought them meat today, and they would surely enjoy that.

"Number Twenty-Seven, Number Twenty-Eight!" he bellowed. "Wake up!"
One of the demons opened her eyes and sat up as soon as she saw it was him, while the other stirred awake, though didn't bother to get up. The one fully awake scooted herself to the front of her cage and stared up into the boy's eyes.

"Hello, Number Twenty-Seven," he greeted her.

"Hello, Kei-chan," she responded.

Keiichi glanced to Number Twenty-Eight, who was still trying to get herself up. "You guys seem to sleep a lot, don't you? Especially during this time of day," he commented.

Number Twenty-Seven nodded. "We just tend to get tired during this time of day. When one of us gets tired, we decide to take a nap. It's usually sis who gets tired, though," she replied as she looked over at her sister. "Don't worry, she'll have to get up soon. She's just being a little slow, like usual. After all, I don't think that sis will enjoy sleeping on the hard floor all by herself."

"I noticed that you two always sleep next to each other," he spoke. Each and every time he caught her sleeping, her body would be snuggled with her sister's. Never had he seen them sleeping away from each other.

"Right," she responded. "We do that because… well… this whole place is very cold. The floors are cold, the air is cold… it's not very nice," she explained to him. "But you know, sis… she's warm, unlike the room around us. When we are close to each other, it feels warm and not cold. It would be impossible sleeping without her."

Keiichi wasn't sure if she was referring to the temperature of the room, or the feeling she got inside of her body. The place wasn't all that cold, for the most part. Of course, to a girl who lived there all her life, the place might just seem empty and devoid of life. Her sister was the only other person, a person who was full of life unlike everything else around them. Perhaps she thought that she was warm for that reason, because she felt comfortable in her presence.

"Oh, I see," were the only words Keiichi could think of. The two of them had been living together all their lives, without anyone else's comfort. The fact that they cuddled up together every nap and every night really went to show how close the two of them were. Thinking back to the Houjou siblings the day before, Keiichi realized the bonds between siblings were very strong, and perhaps even stronger for the two twins who had been together every moment of their lives, never once being without the other. In a place devoid of life like this one, it was probably really comforting to have her around. That just supported his idea of the words Number Twenty-Seven used referring to how her mind felt around her.

Wanting to keep the conversation going, Keiichi decided to speak what was on his mind. "It must be nice to have her around in a place like this, you know, where no one else is here."

"If she wasn't here, I would probably just beg Master to kill me. One of the servants here told me that I should just die if I didn't want to be under his rule, and if it weren't for her, I would have just accepted that offer," replied Number Twenty-Seven as she looked up at the ceiling, probably in deep thought as she recalled the memory. "She just makes this whole place feel warm, not cold."

Keiichi smiled. The bonds between siblings certainly were close. "Haha, you really do love your sister, don't you?" he commented without thinking about it at all. "I can understand why you would think that, but I myself don't have siblings. I have a friend who has a little sister, and he loves her very much," he continued on, picturing the smiling Satoshi and Satoko in her head. "Being with siblings must be a wonderful feeling. I'd be happy if I had one."

Number Twenty-Seven wore a look of confusion on her face as she tried to take in what he had just said. "…I don't understand a word of what you just said," she admitted to him. "Love?"

Then he remembered what she had told him before, about how she apparently didn't have any emotions. Thinking back, he realized that the word "love" was included on the list of things she apparently couldn't feel. She herself didn't understand the affection she had towards her sister. However, the idea that she didn't have any was downright ridiculous. There was no way she could claim that her sister was warm and claim she didn't have emotions and couldn't feel affection at the same time. "Ahaha, sorry about that," he replied.

"It's okay," she responded, though it looked as if she was still trying to make sense of what Keiichi had said to her. Her face was full of confusion as she thought hard about it, and a little bit of frustration could be seen when she realized that she still couldn't understand.

Suddenly, he heard grumbling. Number Twenty-Eight was pulling herself to the front, a look of drowsiness on her face as she rubbed her green eyes. "Man, I don't think I slept that long at all."

Number Twenty-Seven shook her head. "You were asleep before I was, and I know for a fact that I got quite a bit of sleep. You just didn't sleep all that much last night, I suppose," she responded.

"Urgh…" mumbled Number Twenty-Eight in response. She stopped rubbing her eyes so she could look at the brown-haired boy in front of her. "What were you two talking about?"

Keiichi scratched his head, trying to figure out how to summarize the story to the girl in front of her. "We were talking about how close you two are, and how you feel warm when you are next to each other," he explained to her. He wondered to himself if Number Twenty-Eight also thought her sister was warm, and if she also believed that she was unable to feel emotions just like her sister. Well, since she was a demon, it shouldn't be any different for her. "And that's about it."

"Sis is warm," replied Number Twenty-Eight instantly. "She's very warm. The rest of the room is cold and it doesn't feel nice. But sis is warm unlike everything else." It seemed to him like she had the same exact viewpoint as her sister on the subject. "That's why we're always beside each other. So I can feel warm. I think that the whole room would just be cold without her. It wouldn't be nice at all."

Keiichi tried to figure out how to respond without using any words like love that they wouldn't understand. It was really tricky, and it made Keiichi feel even worse. It was like they were still very, very young children who couldn't understand basic concepts of life. "So I heard from your sister. You two have a lot in common in terms of opinion, it seems. You find your sister warm and your sister thinks that you are warm. You two are very alike, and not just in appearance."

The twins looked at each other. "It's kind of funny when I look at sis and realize I look the same as she does," replied Number Twenty-Seven as she stared into her sister's green eyes. "Really, it does feel that way."

Keiichi chuckled. "I can't imagine what it would be like if I had an identical twin. I'm sure that people would sometimes think I was him and get all confused!" he responded, imagining the various things he could do if he were a twin. "Haha, I could imagine dressing up like my twin brother and pulling a bunch of tricks on people! They would never know if it was me or my brother!" He then looked at both of them, observing their various features. Really, they were exactly alike, save for the writing on the collar. If both collars didn't contain their numbers, there would be know way he would know which twin he was talking to.

Number Twenty-Seven's eyes widened, and a spark similar to the one that she had before when she was playing games with him appeared in her eye. "Haha! That would be so much fun! I could play so many tricks on people and get away with it. Heh, I bet if I could get this damn collar off of my sis and I, we could totally trick Yasuo! Gahahaha!" she began laughing hysterically as she thought of the idea of doing so. "I could play so many tricks on him, it would be way too much fun!"

Number Twenty-Eight grinned. "Haha, wouldn't it?" There was a mischievous smirk on her face, though it was not nearly as powerful as her sister's.

"It totally would!" cried Number Twenty-Seven. "I bet you anything we could confuse the hell out of that guy without our collars. He wouldn't know which is which!"

Keiichi laughed a little at the spark she had. She really acted a lot differently than she usually did at times. He contrasted the image of the competitive, strong Number Twenty-Seven before his eyes and the Number Twenty-Seven he had just been talking to. There was a pretty big gap between them. "That sounds like fun. I'm actually kind of jealous now. I want a twin brother! Ahaha!" he laughed.

The two twins looked at each other. "Hey, sis, I bet if I flipped your collar around along with mine, we could trick anyone!" Number Twenty-Seven said to her.

"Heh, let's try it!"

The two twins flipped their collars around to the back, so that their numbers were hidden. Keiichi stared at them both. If he hadn't known where they were sitting before, he wouldn't be able to tell them apart. There were now no more indications as to which twin was which aside from their seating. "Wow, it really does work," he commented.

They both grinned. "Heh, remind me to try it later, sis," Number Twenty-Seven said as she flipped her collar back to the front. "Yasuo will be totally confused."

"Of course, it sounds like fun!" responded Number Twenty-Eight.

Keiichi chuckled at them both, and once again, he began to speak without thinking about what he was saying. "Man, you two. I guess games are kind of your thing, aren't they?" he laughed. "I mean, Number Twenty-Seven, you're pretty competitive with cards, but your sister looks like she's the same in a sense! Haha… games like that make people happy, so I understand! You must enjoy it a lot!"

Silence followed, and only then did Keiichi realize that he had mentioned the word happy again. Number Twenty-Eight's look of confusion was enough for him to know that she was also under the impression that she couldn't feel any emotions. Number Twenty-Seven looked down, her green bangs shadowing over her eyes, while her sister looked away uncomfortably as she tried to make sense of what he had just said. He didn't say a word either. He just didn't know what to say.

"H-Hey, I'm sor-," Keiichi began to speak.

But he never got to finish. Soon enough, Number Twenty-Seven looked up at him with her green eyes, which were now sparkling with pain and suffering. It looked as if all those years she had spent enduring pain was now showing up, all about ready to burst out at once. It was just more indication that she had emotion.

"Hey, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" she requested.

The boy looked into her eyes and read her thought as if they were written down on a piece of paper. It was clear to him that the girl in front of him had been suffering, suffering for much too long. A nod that was given was enough for her to know that it was okay to continue on.

"Thank you… first of all, what's it like outside? I've always tried to picture it…"

The boy's heart filled with pain the moment the words came out of her mouth. The answer to this question was simple, one that everyone knew the answer to. And the answer to why she didn't know the answer to the question was also simple. The girl simply had never been outside, not even once in her whole, entire life.

"Second, can you tell me what the word love means? I've heard it a few times before, but I've never gotten to know what it meant…"

Another simple question, though this time it had a rather complicated answer. Still though, anyone should know what the meaning of the word love was. It was a word used by children of all ages, and a word that was often used by adults as well. Everyone knew the meaning of the word love. And yet, the girl in front of him did not.

"And third… can you tell me what it's like to be human?"

Her sister stared at her. "Sis…" she whispered.

Keiichi clenched his fists when her questions were over. These were all questions anyone and everyone knew the answer to. It was painful to hear them coming from a girl who genuinely didn't know the answers to such simple questions. It made his heart want to burst, and it made him want to punch her grandmother in the face for locking her poor granddaughters up.

"Please answer me," whispered Number Twenty-Seven when he didn't respond right away. Slowly, she reached her hand out through the bars, showing desperation.

Keiichi reached out and touched her hand, holding it with his own. He blushed a little when he held it. Her skin was so soft, so delicate. He had never held a girl's hand before. He squeezed her hand a little, as if to comfort her in the slightest way, even if she wouldn't be able to recognize the meaning behind the action.

He let out a sigh. "I'll try my best," he told her gently, not letting go of her hand.

Number Twenty-Seven smiled in relief. "Thank you…" she whispered, allowing her hand to slip from his.

"Let me start with your first question," he began. "The one about the outside world."

Number Twenty-Seven nodded. Number Twenty-Eight looked interested in the question, too, and there was readable pain in her eyes as well. She too was suffering.

"The outside world is very beautiful. For example, there's a garden right outside here filled with grass, which is a very green plant that grows everywhere. It's a little darker colored than your hair," he said, glancing at the green locks running down the girl's back. "It's very soft and nice."

Number Twenty-Seven listened intently, nodding as she took in the details he was telling her.

Keiichi was trying his best to explain everything to her. He didn't even know if she knew half of the terms he was using., so he was being extra careful with that. "And then there's the sky. It's a nice light blue color, and there are puffy things called clouds in the sky. They look a little like you could hug them and they would be super soft, and they look like you could eat them. Then, there's the big, bright sun in the sky. It's yellow and round, and it lights up all of our planet." Keiichi felt sorry. It seemed to him like he was a kindergarten teacher explaining things to a four-year-old. "And at night, the sun goes down and the sky turns black. Then you can see little things called stars in the sky. They're bright and yellow, kind of like the sun, but they're much smaller and don't light up the sky. Sometimes, you can see tons of them when the sky is clear."

Number Twenty-Seven was doing her best to picture everything in her mind. "That sounds beautiful," she commented.

Keiichi frowned, seeing the longing in her eye. "And at night, you can see the moon. It's very big, like the sun, and it's bright too, but it's a silver color. Sometimes, the moon is like a circle, and you can see a bunny in it. But most of the time, you can only see half of the moon. Only once a month can you see the full moon. But when you see it, it really is beautiful."

The two demons said nothing. They both looked intrigued beyond belief.

"And then there are a bunch of trees, which are huge plants with wood and leaves. I don't really know how to describe them, but they're a bunch of different types. There are some trees with different shaped leaves, and some with different colors. Sometimes the leaves actually change color," he explained to them. "And then there are rivers, which are full of rushing water. Animals like fish like in there. Sometimes, people like to swim in the water when the current isn't too strong."

Keiichi stopped for a moment to look into their eyes. They were both interested by the descriptions and quite amazed by them, but he could see something else in their eyes. He could tell that the descriptions simply weren't enough for them. They wanted to go outside and see everything for themselves.

"…There's a lot more, too. There's houses and mountains and ponds and… there's a lot. I can't really describe anything. It would take decades to describe everything that is outside," he told them softly. "And I'm pretty sure you want me to get to answering your other questions before we spend decades on the outside, don't you?"

Number Twenty-Seven nodded. "Thank you. I think I can understand the outside better now…" she replied.

Keiichi smiled, knowing that he had done some good for her. "Now for your second question, the one about love." He froze for a moment. How in the world was he going to explain love to someone that just didn't understand emotions one bit? Sure, she had them, but she just didn't understand them. "Haha, this is going to be really hard to explain and rather complicated, so listen to me and I hope I can explain as best as I can."
The twins nodded in understanding.

"Okay, good," he started. "Well… love is a very… deep and strong feeling of affection or attachment, I suppose. Everyone has love. You can feel it really well, and it's incredibly intense."

The two of them were doing their best at trying to follow him, though somewhat confused expressions were already beginning to form on their faces.

Keiichi let out a sigh when he noticed that they were beginning to look a little confused once again. "I'm sorry. Let me try again. You guys claim you can't feel love, is that correct? Well, you guys actually can. I think that what you're thinking is that you can't understand it because you haven't really experienced it down here, or maybe demons are just born unable to understand."

"That's wrong," Number Twenty-Eight said instantly. "I can't feel anything."

Keiichi shook his head. "No. You guys were talking about how being near each other makes you feel warm, right? You said you felt cold when you are away from each other."

They both nodded.

"That warm feeling is love," he told them both. "That's what you're feeling when you're near each other, because you two love each other."

By now, the two twins were both completely lost. They weren't catching on to what he was trying to tell them at all. Keiichi realized that he was doing a horrible job at attempted to explain, but he couldn't quite figure out how to explain it otherwise. Love was a very complicated emotion. There were many different types of love, like platonic love and romantic love. How in the world was he going to explain that to the two girls in front of him who were unable to grasp the basic concept?

"…I'm just confusing you, aren't I?" he sighed. "Well, there's nothing I can do about that, now is there? I think the problem is the lack of affection you've received in your life." He suddenly paused for a moment. "When did you hear the word love?"

They looked at each other. "Many times," answered Number Twenty-Eight. "Sometimes, the servants would converse with each other as they clean our cages or hand us new clothing, or whatever they're doing. Well, back when there were more demons, of course. Now only one comes down at a time to take care of us. But that's not the point. Sometimes, they'd talk about how much they loved their pet cat or their friend."

Keiichi raised an eyebrow. "Has anyone ever said the word love to you?"
Number Twenty-Seven scratched her head. "A little while ago, Yasuo was talking about our mother because the subject came up. He was shocked that we knew what it was, but then he brushed it off and said that it didn't matter, because even if she knew us, she wouldn't love us."

Keiichi clenched his fists when he heard that. Did Yasuo really tell them such a thing? It was cruel and unusual to say that, even though they probably weren't sure how much it would hurt them as they didn't understand the meaning of the word. "…Basically, he was saying that your mom would never care for you. She would treat you just like Yasuo did if she met you, even though she's your mother."

"Are mothers supposed to love their children?" Number Twenty-Seven asked.

The brown-haired boy nodded. "If your mother hated you, that would be terrible."

They didn't say a word after that, and neither did Keiichi. He honestly didn't know what to say to them anymore. The subject of love was getting a little too hard, as Keiichi genuinely had no idea how to answer the question anymore. Perhaps the two twins would learn how to feel love through experience. …That was, if they were ever going to experience such a thing in the first place.

"In any case, let's move on to the last question." He paused when he realized he wasn't sure how to answer that one either. "What do you mean by that, exactly?"

"To be able to go outside, to be able to do whatever you want, to be able to have a name," Number Twenty-Seven listed. "There's so many more things that you can do, Kei-chan. You can do whatever you want whenever you please. …I want to be able to do that. Then I could go about free with my sister and eat every single day, and then I could go to a cozy place and sleep next to my sister, a place that would be a little warmer than here."

Hearing her fantasy made Keiichi sad. If she were a human, she would be able to do all this every single day. And yet, as a demon, she was forced to sleep on the uncomfortable floor and eat once every month. It wasn't something that she enjoyed in the slightest. "You would be able to do all of that every single day. A-And you would be able to go to the game stores and buy a whole bunch of different games to play with your rival. You said you wanted one, didn't you?"

She nodded. "I would like to meet someone as competitive as me in games."

He looked down. "A-And then you could eat all the meat you wanted at a restaurant… and after you've stuffed yourself full… y-you'd be able to sleep in the cozy futon right next to your sister, like you wanted to…" His voice was beginning to crack up a little. The thought of the two demons being unable to do such a thing was starting to shake up his emotions. He just felt so terrible for the two demons.

The demons blinked at him when they realized that he was starting to cry a little. Since they didn't know what sadness was, even though they were clearly suffering from being unable to have human rights, they found the sight very odd. "A-And you could do your sword fighting whenever you wanted to! Y… Y… You could train against a really good rival and y-you could show off just how good you were." He looked down at the ground, where his tears were currently beginning to stain.

"Haha… I'm sure you'd love to meet other people. Maybe you'd get to know your mother… and unlike what Yasuo said, I'm sure she'd love you and treat you like angels…" he told them, clenching his fists as if to prevent all of his emotions from pouring out at once.

He then looked up at them. There was pain in their eyes from hearing such words. There was too much pain, way too much pain. It hurt them to listen to Keiichi, knowing what could be.

"And what about a name? What's it like to have a name instead of a number?" she asked him.

Having a name was never something Keiichi thought as a privilege. Everybody had a name aside from the demons. He didn't know how to explain it to them, so instead, he began to ramble on with the idea of what things would be like if they were human. "Haha… yeah, you'd have a name like me, too. You wouldn't be Number Twenty-Seven or Number Twenty-Eight… you would have a human name. I'm not sure what those names would be… but… but… you'd have one."

"I'd like a name," Number Twenty-Seven whispered, though Keiichi caught it. "It would be… nice…"

That did it for him. Those words were enough for Keiichi to snap out of his fantasies of what it would be like for them if they were human. With those words, he realized he needed to stop fantasizing and take action. He couldn't just imagine what things were like, he realized he needed to make it a reality. He needed to end their suffering there. After all, didn't he resolve to teach them emotions and end their suffering? He clenched his fists, wearing a new look on his face, one filled with confidence. All this time, he had listened to them about how their life had been and felt sorry for them. He visited them, and he spoke to them. But he never actually did anything.

That would end now.

Keiichi zipped his bag open and pulled out the slab of meat and slipped it between the bars. As soon as they saw the meat, they jumped with excitement and pounced on it, digging their fangs into it excitedly. He had already done this before, but it was a step forward to do it again. That was the least he could do. …However… it was only the least he could do for now. He had a resolve in mind, a strong one. He would stop this talking and thinking about what it would be like for them if they were free.

Tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. He would find the key to their cell and free them tomorrow. He wasn't quite sure how he would sneak past the guards, but he would come up with something. After all, they just needed to be free.

And when they were free… he would make them take their steps towards recognizing their emotions.

After all, releasing them was only the first step towards such a goal.

~~~~X~~~~

Crimso's Corner V.2:

Okay, so this chapter was completed a day ago, and Chapter 13 is about halfway done. So far, it has 6,300 words and I plan it to be a little longer. …I'm trying to spread out updates, which is why I didn't update yet. You know, so that you can actually get updates on the weekdays, when I can't really write due to… school. *Throws up*. But I'm sure you guys will like the next chapter. I kind of like how it's going so far.

Well, I don't really have much to say here besides the fact that I'm dreading the idea of walking into school tomorrow. I'd rather stay here all day and write, eat, sleep, play computer, read Higurashi, play games… but no. Sadly, that's not how life works. I have things to do, and I don't know when I'll get the next chapter done, as it's only halfway done at the moment. So please hang on as I figure things out. It may take a little while, so excuse me if that's the case. Life has just been a little complicated. It probably has for all of us, actually. My mom has been pressuring me to get As in everything, and really, it doesn't help. It just makes me feel even more stressed, if anything.

Thank you.

Please review as usual. Reviewers can get a model of the Sonozaki collars. You know, the ones with the spikes and all that. People who point out typos, as a bonus, can get any kind of dessert they want. I'd go for an ice cream sundae if I were you. You can't go wrong with one of those. I'd suggest vanilla with hot fudge. My favorite kind of ice cream is strawberry, though. I think that chocolate ice cream is overrated, but chocolate itself is the way to go.

~Crimso

P.S: Excuse my rambling. If you're new with me and my fanfictions, this happens often. (Note: Understatement)