|
|
"So basically what you are saying is both of these men claim
to be Anubis?" Kento said holding an ice pack to his head.
Cale woke up the whole household and sent them down stairs.
Their double takes were priceless. "Yes, Kento," Mia
said, "that's exactly it."
"Why would both of you claim to be Anubis?"
"My brother wants Mia," the twins mumbled in unison.
"Mia," Kayura said, "do you have a clue who is
who?"
Mia shook her head, "It's amazing how similar they are."
"Yes, it is," Kayura nodded.
Mia jumped up, "Oh this is so stupid. Why do the both of
you insist on playing this out?"
"Easy, it has to do with a contract. We made a pact 285
years ago that the first brother to die would assume the others
identity. I was resurrected before my brother could claim my
place and now he's just being a baby," the Anubis in normal
clothes claimed.
"Ohmigod, I forgot about that damn contract. Is that what
this is really about?"
"You're just ticked because I beat you."
"Of course," the monk exclaimed, "I'm such a fool."
"Er . . ." Kayura said, "explain."
"I got drunk one night and drew up two contracts. We swore
that whoever would be the first to die would leave everything
to the other. That's why you aren't giving up, Nefear, you gave
your word of honor to me . . ."
"Great," Mia sighed, "now I'm a door prize. This
is doing so much for my ego."
"I'm not giving up because I want my woman."
"Wait," Cye said, "the Anubis in monk clothes
calls the other Nefear but the other Anubis doesn't call his brother
anything. I think the monk is Anubis."
"Torrent, the reason I do not call my brother by his name
is out of respect. If he wishes to play this game then I cannot
stop him but I will play by the rules."
"You know," Mia said, "this is going to get confusing
soon. We'll get the pair of you messed up and we'll never figure
out who is whom. I say until we get this mess straightened out
both of you get nick names."
"Mia," Kento said, "what will keep them from switching
back and forth?"
"Easy, the Monk Anubis claimed that the other was doing
this as a word of honor. All we need is for them to swear on
their honors to keep to their names."
"But what if, like Cye said, we have in mind who is the
real Anubis?" Dais asked.
"Easy," Mia said, "they each get changed then
come down and I'll assign them a name. No one will have a clue
which one is which."
"I'm willing to try it," the Monk said, "Brother?"
The other nodded, "Sure, why not?"
With that Dais and Cale took both Anubis's up stairs and gave
them something to wear. Meanwhile Kayura promptly took over the
situation. "Mia, if you weren't such a whore," Kayura
said, "we wouldn't have these problems."
"Excuse me," Mia said as she got right in Kayura's
face, "Anubis asked me to marry him right before..."
"Excuse for sex," Kayura laughed, "and you fell
for it. You are so stupid, of course most whores are."
"Kayura," an Anubis call came from up stairs, "we
can hear you, talk about stupid. If you call my woman a whore
again I'll wring you fucking neck. Do you understand?"
"You don't have to threaten her," Mia said lightly,
"she's just jealous and I really don't blame her."
"You could've had two brothers..."
"Kayura," Cale said, "for godsake shut up, you're
giving me a headache!"
Mia walked over and looked out a piece of paper and pen out of
the drawer, usually used to write down messages from the answering
machine. She wrote down two names, one at the top and one at
the bottom of the page and ripped the paper in the middle as she
finished the twins came down the stairs in jeans and t-shirts.
The one of the left wore a plain white t-shirt and the one of
the right wore a blue one with the words "In Every Great
Man There is a Little Bit of a Mad Man" written in white.
Mia walked over to them, shuffled the paper then handed each
a piece. Anubis on the left read the paper, "Kenji."
"Marcellus," the other said.
"Do you agree to stick to these names no matter what? Swear
on your honors," Mia said.
"I swear," they said in unison.
"There," Kenji said, "that will end the confusion."
"Yes, it must've been very confusing," Marcellus agreed.
Cye stood up and looked each of them over carefully, "It's
amazing how did your parents tell you apart."
The twins turned towards one another and played "rock, paper,
scissors". Kenji won, "You can tell them."
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Kento asked.
"Yes," Marcellus added, "we decided every time
you asked a question we'd leave it to Fate for who would answer."
"Oh," Kento said.
"Anyway, he continued, "how are parents told us apart
was easy: Anubis dressed well and Nefear was in rags."
"Why Anubis?" Dais asked.
"The Chosen One," they said together in monotone.
"Your turn,.... Kenji," Marcellus said.
"The twins were destined for two different things. The
youngest to save the providence our village was in and the oldest
was to be normal."
"But Anubis served Talpa and destroyed his village,"
Sekhmet said.
"They named the youngest Anubis and the eldest Nefear..."Kenji
continued.
"But the twins were switched. The names meant nothing,"
Marcellus chipped in, "it was the order of birth."
"Our parents hated Nefear because he wasn't special. He
had no obvious talents unlike the rest of the family."
"They kicked him out of the house when he was still a child
and he was raised by the village priest and it was with them he
learned to fight."
"Have the pair of you ever fought," Rowen asked.
"No," Kenji said, "Anubis was kidnaped when they
were twenty-one."
"The village forbid it anyway."
Mia sat taking this all in.
Neither of them looked at her but she couldn't take her eyes
off them. They looked like they made a truce but how long would
it last. There was so much bad blood between them.
Marcellus turned to Mia and looked at her wistfully but turned
away quickly; her heart skipped a beat. This wasn't fair, she
would have both of them in her house and could be with none.
The man she had last night was a talented lover but now she realized
he wasn't Anubis.
She knew which one was which but why did she start this game.
Mia gained nothing but heart ache and a cold bed.
Mia Koji gained nothing but the Cen Twins did.
Look at them a new moments ago; they were at each others throats
and now there were getting along fine. Maybe now, in trying to
prove themselves to us they would prove themselves to each other.