Either chapter 5 or 6 will have Koga finally make his appearance.

Chapter 4:

It had been about an hour since Ai and Akiye had overheard their mother speaking to their supposed (You can't talk to dead people on the phone, argued Aki) great-grandfather on the phone. Ai had convinced (Dragged) Akiye to leave before their mother came out of her office, no doubt already knowing they had been hiding around the corner.

After Ai put (Flung) Aki into the connecting room of the hallway to their mother's office, she slid the door shut behind her with a contemplative face. It was Akiye that spoke first.

"So, am I still wrong about thinking she's lying?" She mocked, eyeing the screen door separating her from the office as she heard her mother's feet heading into the other direction.

"Don't Aki; you know 'kaa-san's office has always been off limits. She'll snap if you go in there." Ai bit her lip, and got her legs ready in case she had to pounce on her sister from disobeying.

"Did you ever wonder why it's always been that way?"

Ai shrugged, "No, I always figured it was because she didn't want us to mess up her stuff; she puts delicates in there."

Akiye glared at the polished floor, "Or she doesn't want us to find something she doesn't want us to." She looked up at her twin's face and Ai was taken back by the determine expression on her sister's face. It scared her a bit by how hardened that look was.

"I know I say this a lot, but please Aki, don't." She held her gaze with Akiye. "I know you've been feeling pretty weird lately, but I don't think messing around in 'kaa-san's stuff is going to help fix it."

Her twin tucked her left leg under and curled her arms around the bent right one, tucking her head in the folded limbs, but other wise stayed still.

"Aki?" Her twin didn't move an inch.

"Ak-"

"I can try. I have a gut feeling that what I need is hidden in that room of 'kaa-san's." She raised her head and stared past her twin at the closed door, her gaze intense.

"And you," She turned to face Ai, "Can't stop me."

--

Ayame knew her twins had been hiding in the hall; being able to sense them by their scent made it easy. She berated herself for letting her mouth slip and stating who she was calling. Now she would have to create another cover-up. How long would she be able to keep doing so? How many more slip ups until one of her girls found out?

She knew Akiye was showing signs while Ai was not. She was thankful that at least one of them was enjoying normalcy.

She locked the door to her office, and walked off towards the main part of the house.

--

Ai sighed, knowing that it would get ugly fast if she went in Akiye's path to get to their mother's office.

"Just…don't get caught, alright?" She hated not being able to stop her. She and Aki may have been twins, but Aki could become horribly vicious if crossed far enough to where it scared her. It wouldn't be the first time Aki drew Ai's blood from fighting.

"Thanks." Akiye slipped past her into the hallway and Ai shut it slowly behind her. Praying that her twin wouldn't be stupider than she was already acting, she headed off to find their mother.

--

Aki should have known their mother would lock the door. She wasn't stupid. She squatted and crossed her arms, glaring at the lock. It was the only door besides the front and back doors that had a lock.

She knew something good was in there, but she wasn't a thief, so she knew nothing about lock picking. All she knew was what she saw in movies or television programs.

'The only thing I have is a bobby pin…would that work?' She thought over it as she grabbed the lone accessory in her plain black hair. Covered with a jeweled dragonfly on the top of it, she figured it would work and stuck it into the slit in the lock's front and jerked it around a few times, having no clue what she was doing.

After a few tries she started to feel the gears in the metal and tried one more time and heard a satisfying pop as the door became unlocked.

'Yes!' She mentally cheered at being able to do the task (Even though it was technically illegal) and quietly slid the door open.

She poked her head in and than pulled herself inside, sliding the door shut behind her.

So far the office looked typical; desk, chair, bookcases, and a file cabinet. The metal box is what caught her attention the most.

'If she's got something useful she's most likely filed it...' She tip-toed over to the file drawer and looked at the labels on each of the three doors.

'Bills'

'Letters'

Personals'

'Well obviously I won't find anything under bills.' Akiye thought, glancing between 'Personal' and 'Letters'. She grabbed the handle of the third drawer and looked at the labels on each folder.

'Dates…well, let's start from the beginning…' She flipped through the top and found the very last file, dating back to a year before she and her sister were born.

When she grabbed the edge and opened it, a soft smack followed as a small square sheet of paper fell out and on to the floor. Akiye stared at it for a while but looked back at the papers in the folder but they were mainly snippets of notes, invites to events, and other odds and ends from random people she didn't know of, so she saw no reason to read further. She glanced back at the little paper before grabbing it and turned it around; discovering it to be a photograph.

She ripped her eyes off the picture when she heard the soft padding of feet. In a panic, she stuffed everything in the file, except the photo in which she put in her shorts pockets. Shutting the file drawer, she checked the room over for any other disturbances. Finding none she raced out the door, locking it and sliding it shut, checking either side of the hallway before racing to the right where she had been with Ai, planning on heading to up to her room.

--

Ayame felt that something was off, what with her oldest suddenly appearing so shortly after eavesdropping and her youngest nowhere to be found. Her gut was telling her that Akiye was up to no good and wondered why Ai was with her where as she was the one always stopping her twin (Or at least trying to). Which made her even more worried that Aki's 'voice of reason' wasn't with her.

She nodded to what Ai said, even though she didn't know what she was talking about. The paranoia was eating at her, so she turned a soft smile to her daughter.

"Hm, so where's your sister, dear?"

Ai twitched but caught the action halfway, even though Ayame saw the slight muscle spasm; which confirmed something was up.

"She went outside."

"Outside? Alright…" She drifted the sentence and glanced to the left of the hallway, averting her eyes and glaring behind her. She knew that was a lie, she would have sensed her youngest being outdoors.

She had a feeling Akiye had a plan when she sensed her twins in the office's hallway; it was obviously not Ai's idea.

She stopped and spun on her heel, walking back towards the area of her office.

"'kaa-san…?" The worried tone Ai held in her voice made her stand on end and quicken her pace.

"I forgot something in my office. Be right back." She threw a smile over her shoulder, turning it back in front of her and making an almost dash to the office.

'Oh crap!' Ai bit her lip and stared where her mother had left; worrying that Akiye had finally pushed it too far.

--

Akiye had only a few spare seconds before she saw the shadow of someone walking down the hallway and bolted, not caring if it was just one of the maids or her mother.

Running faster, she cut the hallway's end, sliding the door shut and skidding on the floor; gaining her a few raspberries on her legs, but otherwise fine.

Hearing the feet going into the office, she let out a breath and slumped on the floor. After taking a few breathers, she slowly raised herself up and made her way to her room, intent on looking closer at the photo without being caught with it in her possession.

--

When Akiye was turning the corner, Ai nearly ran into her as they both were speed-walking in opposite directions.

"Watch it!" Aki blurted as she hit the floor at the same time her twin did.

"You watch it! I came running over to make sure 'kaa-san didn't kill you for breaking the biggest rule, stupid!" Ai snapped, glaring.

Aki blinked, shocked at her sister's out burst and turned her eyes downward; knowing she was wrong but didn't want to admit it.

"Eh, sorry." She muttered, picking herself up and grabbing Ai's hand, dragging her up to make up for running into her.

Ai didn't respond, but huffed, looking at Akiye for a moment.

"So?" She craned her head to the right, looking expectantly.

Aki looked confused, but quickly remembered what Ai was asking.

"No, I didn't." She chewed the inside of her mouth; technically it was the truth, she didn't find anything informational in the small amount of time given and she still hadn't looked at the photograph clearly enough to be able to see if it was a lead or not.

Ai raised an eyebrow but shrugged, which she shortly became a sort of half-hearted condescending for her being right that their mother wasn't hiding anything.

"See? Nothing. So that means she's not hiding anything."

'Or she's real good at hiding things.' Aki bit her pride back, "Yeah, sure."

"I'm going to relax in my room for a bit before lunch." She walked past Ai, bumping her shoulder playfully with her's.

"Later."

"Right."

--

Ayame practically ran through the door to her office, looking the room up and down for any signs of disturbances. She followed her daughter's scent to her file cabinet; each drawer had been touched, so it took her awhile to figure out that it had been the second drawer. Opening it, she flipped the file labels, sniffing every time she did and located the very last file that had been touched the most.

Her actions halted when she opened the folder, realizing that the one photo she'd kept of him was gone.

It seemed the past really was coming back to haunt her.

--

Aki plopped onto her unmade bed, and stared at the wall for a while before she turned sideways to grab the photograph from her shorts pocket. Turning the glossy paper around, she smoothed it on her mattress, taking in the photo's picture.

In it was a long haired man in his mid twenties wearing a beat-up leather jacket and t-shirt. Whoever took the photo had caught the man unexpectedly, his eyes widened and eyebrow raised. Akiye scanned his face, noting how familiar it looked. She knew she'd never met this man, but something in his blue eyes said otherwise.

She looked down at the small white lines framing the photo and noticed the small writing at the bottom corner.

'Ko…ga?'

I don't mind a bit if you add this to your alert or any other listings on here, but if it's not too much to, ask please R&R!