ME: Hi you all! What is happening? Me? Summer Vacation is happening and I have no internet at home…boo

Dee: Aww…Don't be sad Author-chan

Dum: Yeah! Look at all the reviews for our story with Kari-chan!

ME: Yes…and that just made my whole week! You guys are wonderful!

Dee & Dum: You get some sleep after this, kay? We'll do the disclaimer. HNKNA belongs to Quinrose and the OCs and plot belong to Author-chan!

"WORDS" = both the twins talking at the same time

R&R

Trees and other things (leaves, rocks, that one random ass cat) as I am dragged by both of my arms by the twins. I almost fall on my ass multiple times during this escapade, and it doesn't help that these two don't know the meaning of 'Stop running', 'Slow down' or anything resembling that, because after all the times. It also doesn't help that I'm still in my working uniform, and running in shoes with any sort of heel in them is incredibly difficult. I've called it out, they have done nothing of the sort. I'm huffing and puffing, trying to catch my breath but to no avail, and I can feel the chill on my neck as the speeding wind hits the sweat there. It's basically an effort not to high-five the ground with my face while trying to keep up with these two flying devils who each have a vice grip on a wrist. In the distance I can see the gate of the mansion, and I can't help but think that maybe that's where they will (at least) finally slow the fuck down.

Of course, the thought of them actually stopping never even crossed my mind, but when they turn that corner into the gate and we almost collide with Blood and Elliot as they were heading to walk out of the gate, I couldn't help but be thankful, both for the fact of the sudden stop and for the fact that we FINALLY stopped

"Hikari?! What the? The hell are you three in such a hurry for?" Elliot asks. My ability to answer him is not quite there yet as I suck in gulpfuls of air into my gasping lungs, so all I can do is lean over with my hand on my knees, panting like a dog while I hold up one finger to tell him to hold on a minute and let me BREATH

"Hmm…Seems the lady is out of breath, and you two are the obvious culprits." Blood says with a sigh, "Haven't I taught either of you anything about how to treat a lady?"

"But Boss-" they start, but are stopped by a growling Elliot

"No buts, you little shits! Don't argue with Blood!" he then walks over to me and kneels down beside me, patting my back, "Are you alright, Hikari?"

It takes me a minute, but I am finally able to make actual syllables after my unorthodox deep breathing exercises.

"Fine…I'm fine." I say, still doing little dog pants, "Just…a little winded is all"

"If that's a little winded, then I'm wondering what a lot is. Nice uniform by the way.", Blood chuckles, and I give him a look that says 'if I wasn't exhausted I would make a remark about that'.

He grins with understanding and turns back to the boys, "Now, explain yourselves"

Dum speaks up first, "We're gunna go spend time with Kari-chan!"

"We didn't wanna waste any of our break time, so we wanted to hurry." finished his brother.

Elliot huffs, "Break my ass. I bet the two of you are skipping again"

"Actually, these two have been surprisingly diligent in their work lately. I've been wondering why that is. ", Blood interject as he looks pointedly in my direction for some reason. I look around me, wondering what he's looking at. No seriously…what the hell is he looking at? All I see are trees and grass… and I guess the front gate. I turn toward it, but nothing seems out of the ordinary to me…just a gate

"I see." he laughs, and I turn back around just in time to watch him walk past us three, "Well then, it seems that we aren't needed here. Come along, Elliot. We have things that need to be done."

"Huh?! Ah! Blood wait for me!" exclaims the second-in-command as his boots start to kick up dust and catch up with his Boss who had already turned and had basically disappeared. When he gets to the gate he stops and turns back to yell on last thing at us before finally disappearing too

"YOU LITTLE SHITS BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID WHILE WE'RE GONE!"

Knowing that he's talking more to the twins than he is at me, I'm not in the least bit offended, so I yell back, "THEY WON'T!"

I want to stand there a little bit longer, enjoying the simple pleasures of breathing and sunlight on my skin, but the sudden tugging on my sleeve make that an impossibility

"Come on!"

"Let's go, Kari-chan!"

With a tired sigh, I go along with their whims, considering that's what I unwillingly agreed to (under tight circumstances might I add). This time though, they are slow and careful with me, and we leisurely walk through the gardens, me enjoying the view of all the flowers and such, then into and through the mansion at a comfortable pace. I wave at some of the Faceless maids and male-maids (the hell are they called again anyway?) who's faces I happened to remember (They do have faces, mind you, you just have to look a little harder.) as we pass by them, and by the directions we are taking I taking a guess that we are on our way to their room

"Guess what, Kari-chan?"

"Hmm?"

Dum runs forward a bit and turns around to face us, making us stop in the middle of the hallway, "We have the house all to ourselves! Just the three of us!"

"Oh, that's right!" Dee exclaims, like he had just realized this, "Boss and Chicken Rabbit are gone! We can do anything we want!"

"I wonder what we should do first."

"Hopefully not anything deadly or death defying." I intervene, remembering that one time they tried to play tag with me…with their axes. If it wasn't for Blood, I think there would be two-halfs of me. Of course, I scolded the hell out of them afterwards, and they promised not to do it again, "And besides, it's not just us. What about the people that are working?"

"Haha! They don't matter."

"It's not like they can stop us."

My eye twitches at those statements and I let out a sigh. Just because that's kind of true in a weird sense, doesn't mean you have to say it like that. And here I go again, forgetting the thing with Role Holders and Faceless. It's really confusing you know? Aren't all people just…people? No matter whether they have a face or not?

Fuck…now I'm confusing myself.

"But anyway, Brother, what should we do?" Dee asks as he looks over at Dum, who crosses his arms over his chest in thought.

"Hmmm…what should we do?"

"Maybe hide-and-seek?"

"No…Kari-chan didn't like it when we played tag with her, remember? And hide-and-seek is a lot more deadly…maybe we can go shoot stuff?"

"No! Kari-chan might not like that either."

"She might. Remember, she actually likes weapons"

"But she might not like the targets we use."

"Oh…that's right, brother. I forgot that…hmmm"

They continue like this for a minute or two, talking like I'm not there as they swap ideas back and forth, only for each to be thrown to the side for either being 'not fun' or 'too deadly' or 'Kari-chan might not like it' It makes my heart warm a little to know that they are thinking of me while coming up with something to do. I guess that me telling them off did something after all. After a while they make a noise that's the mix of 'thinking' and 'boredom' and both looked at me in expectation, like I actually know of something that we can do.

"Don't ask me. I was kidnapped, remember?"

"Aw man!" Dum exclaimed as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Kari-chan, help us out a little!"

"Yeah, what do you want to do?"

I pause and think for a moment. What do I want to do? Well, before I was surprise kidnapped, I actually had a couple of things in mind that I wanted to do once my shift had ended. I would have liked to go home and water the herb plants in my window…and maybe sunflowers that Gowland brought me the other day too. I don't want them to wilt on me…they are really pretty. Or maybe I could draw or paint a picture. I've been neglecting that lately, and I really should keep practicing. I also needed to go shopping soon.

Then maybe a nap…that would have been nice

…and maybe some food…I'm kinda hungry.

*guuuurgle*

Speak of the devil

The boys look around the room in confusion, searching for the unusual sound, and I can't help but laugh. Not a lot of people have angry growling tigers for stomachs

"Yeah, sorry. That was me. I forgot that I skipped lunch to do that last shift at the bakery", I laugh nervously at my open hunger, and scratch at the back of my neck. An embarrassed habit of mine. My stomach lets out another loud growl, and I cover it with both my hands, "Quiet you!"

"Kari-chan, you're so funny" Dum giggles, "But hey, if you're hungry we can go get some snacks from the kitchen."

"Oh! Let's get lots of sweets. Like cookies!"

"And cake!"

"Tea too please!" I interject. Hey, if they're going, might as well put my two cents in as well, and by this point I simply go along with it.

Dee nods, "Okay! You and Boss sure do like tea a lot, huh? But that's ok!"

"We love that about you too, Kari-chan!"

Aww…that's so sweet of them. So incredibly cute…ohhh I simply can't take the pure adorableness of these two…seriously though. Times like these emphasis my brain's logic that these two are simply two adorable kids (who have adult bodies from time to time. Note to self, ask about that later~), who probably see me as an older sister more than anything else. (It also doesn't help that they remind me a bit of my younger twin brothers from back in my world)

And so with that logic in mind, I simply can't help myself as I walk up to them and wrap my arm around their necks in a hug, squeezing the ever-loving hell out of them in a tight bear hug, our different height ratios making it so that their heads are right underneath my chin. They, of course, are delighted, and quickly return the favor.

"You two are sweeter than sugar, I swear. And I love you guys, too", I say simply with no thought behind the words

"Hurray!"

I laugh at their enthusiasm, and after a minute I let go of them. Unfortunately, they are reluctant to release me…which is a normal thing. I swear they are like puppy-leeches…if those are even a thing.

"Guys, come on. Let go." I complain halfheartedly as I try to get away, "I wanna get those snacks we were talking about."

"That's right!"

"We need to get snacks for Kari-chan's rumbly tummy!"

"So let's go then!"

I am quickly released, only to be grasped again like I was when I was headed here, one arm being held by Dum and the other by Dee. I have a feeling I know what's coming next

"TO THE KITCHEN!"

"W-Wait! SLOW DOWN!"

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"You two…are absolutely…nuts…fuck", I pant as I fall out on the big king sized bed, exhausted from running around the mansion like a chicken with its head cut off thanks to Dee and Dum and their wild ways. The light from the various windows lights up the room nicely, and the bed is actually warm against my skin. It relaxes me.

Why am I so exhausted, you ask?

Well, like they had said they would, they had lead me to the kitchen, where they firmly raided the hell out of Blood's impressive kitchen, grabbing enough snacks to fill two of those rolling table things. I simply watched in astonishment, and asked one of the kitchen workers why they weren't stopping them. Their answers were a mix of 'we know better' and 'this is normal' as they continued with whatever they were doing.

What in the fuck?!

Then they got the bright idea of 'Hey, why don't we race these rolling tables full of food down the hall and see who can get to the bedroom first' followed by each of them swearing that they can beat the other, which was followed by ME as I tried to stop them, failed, and then rushed to catch up with them and make sure they don't hurt themselves.

I repeat…WHAT IN THE MIGHTY FUCK?!

I close my eyes and enjoy the sweet underappreciated feel of oxygen going into and out of my lungs. Why is it always me that gets into these absolutely crazy situations? I mean seriously, out of anything, and I mean ANYTHING that could possibly happen, I always get the fucked up and crazy end of the stick…why me?

Amongst my contemplating, I feel the bed dip as one of them get on the bed, and I open my eyes to suddenly see Dee and his upside-down face as it comes into view between me and the ceiling.

"Kari-chan, your face is all red.", Dee says simply as, like that fact isn't obvious.

"It's probably cuz she was having too much fun, Brother" Dum finishes as he finishes maneuvering both the rolling tables past the various things on the floor in their room and to the side of the bed for easier access, "Ain't that right, Kari-chan?"

"Yeah…fun…"

I'm not even going to waste the air to tell them that that was the most stupidest and insane thing I've done in a while and that they could have probably broken something or hurt someone.

"Kari-chan with a red face is super duper cute", From above me, Dee smiles a goofy smile before disappearing all together. I tilt my head up, causing everything in front of me to be in an upside-down point of view, and absently follow him as he goes to get off the bed and goes to his brother's side. He then goes to grab a tart from one of the tables and stuffs it whole in his mouth, sticky whatever flavor leftovers coating the sides of his mouth and crumbles going down onto his shirt. His brother is quick to follow, and soon they are stuffing their faces with various sweets and treats.

"Come on, Kari-chan! Have some!"

"These are really good! Hey Brother, try this."

"Oh! This is good!"

"You two better not hog it all", I say with a tweak of a grin on my lips at their back and forth conversation, and push myself up and over to where they are, "And look at yourselves. You're making a mess all over your uniforms"

They both look down at themselves, like this news is completely new to them, and I let out a sigh. See what I mean? Just like kids. What can you do? And so, I reach for one of the handkerchiefs I keep in my uniform pockets with one hand and with the other I grab one of the twins and pull him to me, where I proceed to wipe the crumbs and gawd knows what else off his face.

"Wha! Kari-chan!" Dum yells, surprised by my sudden move, "What are you doing? I'm still eating!"

"Hush you and hold still. You have whip cream clean up to your eyebrows."

"I do not!"

Dee lets out a childish laugh at his brother's predicament as he stuffs another mouthful of confectionaries into his pie hole, and turn to him with a smirk

"Don't laugh just yet cuz you're next, half-pint."

Hi laughter immediately dies down and before he has a chance to skedaddle out of my arm's length, I grasp him by the back of his uniform and firmly yank him back over closer to me, where I proceed to do the same to him as I did his brother. He kicks and fights back, just like his twin did, but I won't be outdone by simply this. You forget, I've had five helpings of Dee and Dum's antics AKA my five younger brothers, so this isn't even a challenge to me anymore. When I finally let him go, he scuttles off beside his brother, who is rubbing at his red cheek (maybe I was a little rough, but hey, I told them to hold still)

"Now, eat a little more carefully from now on and I won't have to hold you down to get the grim off your faces." I explain as I pour myself some tea and grab some grubs of my own. I quickly claim whatever chocolate is on the table at the time, of course. Chocolate is my drug~

They grumble unhappily, but when I emphasis that their tricks won't work on me (by ignoring them), they turn eerily quiet. It's silent for a minute or so as I happily stuff my own face, and with a hum I close my eyes and enjoy the silence and sweet chocolate tang in my mouth, slowly devouring it in a more careful manner than they did. As I am doing this, I notice the familiar weight of one of them on my shoulders, and I am forced to hunch a bit. I look up slightly to reveal Dum, his arms crossed in front of his boyish chest as he stands in front of me, a rather upset expression on his face…which means its Dee that's hanging on me.

"Kari-chan, why do you treat us like kids?"

They ask this in an annoyed manner, but I won't be intimidated by their slightly different tone of voice. I swallow the bite that's in my mouth and answer in a rather monotonous way without any hesitation.

"That's easy. Because you are kids."

"We aren't!" Dum exclaims with a stomp of his foot

"Yeah, we're probably older than you are!"

…

…wait a minute

…what?

I let out a loud laugh at such a strange statement, because that is the obviously the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life, given the circumstance. I mean really.

"There's no way in hell you two are older than I am.", I snort, "I'm not stupid."

I hear a familiar popping noise and feel the weight on my shoulders get suddenly heavier, and long arms wrap around me to hold me and keep me in place. These arms are a lot longer that Dee's normal ones, and I turn my head to the left and quickly realize that he had aged his body to that of an adult again. This makes me a tad nervous (excuse me if I'm a bit shy when it comes to close proximities to the opposite gender that aren't related to me), and I instinctively shy away from him. I wriggle to get out of such a tight hold, but find that I can't escape. It's a bit unsettling.

"We're telling the truth, Kari-chan", Dee whispers into my ear, "Honest."

I hear the same noise, but instead from in front of me, and feel my teacup leave my grasp and put somewhere else while something warm wraps around both my hands. I look forward and find Dum as he sort of kneeled in front of me, my hands in his grasp

"Why won't you believe us?"

Do I really have to explain it to them? Well, of course I do...

"Well, to begin with, I'm twenty-one…in a half…while you two are like…what? Fourteen? Sixteen?", I can't help but let out a sigh "I can't math worth a shit and I know that's at least a five or more year difference between us."

Que a pause

…

…

"Uh…Kari-chan?"

"You do know that Time doesn't matter here, right?"

It's hard NOT to forget that fact when you've lived here long enough and you don't know whether or not it's going to be Night, Evening, or Noon next. Confusing as fuck if you ask me…

"What of it?"

"Time doesn't work on us either."

Another puzzling look from me.

…What in the mighty blue hell are they talking about?

Dee lets go of me and goes to sit to my right, then puts his arm behind me and settles his hand on my left hip. I give him a confused look, and when I feel the bed to my right indent, I turn to find Dum sitting there as he does the same, only his hand is on the opposite hip.

"You know how we can go from being kids to adults?" Dum asks, starting the explanation, and it doesn't take long for his partner in crime twin to finish it

"Well, that's cuz we can turn our clocks forwards and backwards. We just like being kids because it's fun, right Brother?"

"Yeah. No one expects kids to be as strong as us!"

"And when they see us, they're like 'they don't look so tough' and wanna pick fights and stuff."

"It's a lot of fun!"

They both let out a rather dark chuckle, and I don't like how that makes my skin crawl a bit… (If the nervousness of having two rather cute boys close enough to me to sniff wasn't making me jittery enough)

"Of course we win!"

"Not like we could lose"

"And then they don't have much to say when their dead"

"Okay! Okay I get it!" With a shake of my hands I quickly change this dangerously disturbing discussion on another route, any other route because I am NOT liking where this one is going. And, just as suddenly as this conversation started, a very important question pops into this little noggin of mine,

"So…how old ARE you two exactly?"

The twins look at each other and give mirroring shrugs

"How old are we again, brother?"

"Ha-ha…I forget."

I pinch my nose, much like my friend does when something annoys or confuses her. But for me it is the latter. Knowing their ages might help in the long run, but apparently that's not even important. And Ok, so I sort of kind of maybe get the fact that because of this fucked up world, these two are probably older than they like to let on, and probably older than me in some screwed up sense. I get that. It's a thing that exists because FUCK this world and common sense and shit like that~ I get it. But that doesn't help the situation at hand, which is the fact they wanted to know why I treat them the way I do. Well, there are a couple more reasons than the age thing, which now is technically useless and moot.

"Well…", I reach for my cup, which Dum had put on the table, and take a small sip before continuing, "I suppose another reason would be how you act."

This time, it's their turn to tilt their head in confusion.

Really? They don't see it at all? Goodness gravy…

"You ACT like kids, so I'm going to TREAT you like kids. And to be honest, how can I take anything you say or do seriously?"

It's quiet for another minute or two, the thought sinking in to their heads. I take this time to enjoy the simplicity that is tea, when suddenly they let out a cry in dismay. It startles me so bad I practically jump out of my skin and almost spill it, and before I even have time to blink, I'm clutched between two hulking, crying man-children in a tight, air-squeezed-out-of-lungs bear hug, their eyes saddened and their lips trembling.

"B-but did you take us seriously when we said we love you?"

"We really do love you, Kari-chan!"

"We love you a whole lot!"

"And you said you love us too!"

"Were you serious about that?"

I wriggle a bit to get some room to move and breathe so that I can safely put my cup down without spilling it. After it is safely settled back where it was, I used said arms to gently envelope them in a hug of my own, pulling their heads down a bit so that they are more nuzzling my neck than my ear. I'm a little more comfortable with my situation now, (Just because they look like adults doesn't mean they are.) so this isn't as nerve racking as it was before. In fact, it's comforting, like how I was with Hanae and Haru back home.

"Of course I do.", I respond softly, and reach to ruffle their hair a bit. I then wipe the tears on their cheeks off and peck them each on the forehead, a sisterly gesture, "Nothing's going to change that, okay? So no crying…shush shush."

I think they were actually surprised, because they each rub at their kiss mark on their forehead like it's the strangest thing in the world (its lip gloss, people. My lips get chap and it's about as much make-up as this girl is wearing) But maybe that's all that was needed, because they settle down for a bit after that. Of course, they stay as glued to me as they always do no matter what age their bodies take, but I think I'm finally getting accustomed to their topsy-turvy bodies as I sit in between them and enjoy my tea and cakes

"So, Kari-chan, if we act like adults will you love us even more?"

I blink as Dee's sudden question, and turn toward him, more confused than ever

"Brother that's a great idea!" Dum exclaims as he jumps to an excited stand, "We'll be adults! And then Kari-chan will love us more and more"

"Um…I'm right here"

"Hmm…but how do we act like adults, brother?"

"Maybe Boss will know!"

"Yeah, we'll ask Boss!"

I have a feeling I don't like where this is going…

OK, so maybe an explanation is in order.

While reviewing over Diamond, I noticed that the twins were in there…but according to the thing, Diamond Country is supposed to be set in the past, right? But they are adults there…and still alive in Heart and Clover country as kids, yet can change back into adults in Clover.

Did anyone else question how old these two are?! And what about the others?! Is it just me?

Also, who are these two new people in the series that take the twin's place in the "Mirror World" game

Anyway, enough about that…what do you think? Let me know in a review, if you would. About 5 would be nice, but I'm ok with whatever. Also, I ask for reviews to see what you guys think. I just pick five as a number of ones I would LIKE to see. But I still upload when I have the time, not according to how many reviews I have

Also, a couple of shoutouts to my top 3 reviewers

To AvionVadion: That's not a bad idea! I should have totally have her said that. That would have been funny

To Fl0werDoll : I'm sorry! I really am. But look at the bright side! You can read this chapter and be happy you did!

To Coy Serum : Please read the last paragraph. It explains why i do the crazy that i do

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