Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Sibling Rivalry ❯ Anxious Waiting ( Chapter 2 )

Sibling Rivalry

Disclaimer: My incredibly evil plan to kill Watase Yuu and inherit Fushigi Yuugi is not yet in progress as the police keep calling me a "stalker" and having me forcibly evicted from the area. However, I will tell you when it finally succeeds. (Just kidding.) Also, I don't own the song from the last chapter, it belongs to Victoria Beckham and she can keep it. My sister was playing it and it was so annoying it somehow inspired me to write, probably because the computer was at the other end of the house.

A small note from the author: This chapter is Mia-centric, in the way the last one was Tobias-centric. Tell me if you don't want me to do this, but it seems the best way to go about things. All warnings remain the same, I don't want to type them again.

Mia was completely over the moon about the upcoming visit by Akira. The blond boy was someone most girls would consider very cute indeed, and Mia was definitely no exception. She saved all her money she earned from a part time job at a pizza parlour and bought a new wardrobe, full of fashionable things and dyed her scarlet hair a more natural brown that suited her fair complexion. Her brother had been given money too, of course, but had rathered to spend it on more opera tapes. He intended to get Akira watching them too, but Mia thought the boy would much prefer listening to her CDs (the ones not yet broken or scratched, anyway).

A thought suddenly occurred to Mia, awakening her from her dreamy state. She ran down the hall to where her father was peacefully reading the paper.

"He's sleeping in my room!" she yelled. Mr. Henderson looked bemusedly at her.

"Pardon?"

"Akira, of course! He HAS to sleep in MY room!" explained Mia. At that moment, her brother walked in, brushing his long black hair.

"No way! He's staying with me!" Tobias argued.

"As if, opera boy! He's staying with me!"

"Yeah right, he really wants to stay in YOUR pigsty of a room!" It was true that Mia's room was untidy, but she seemed to like it that way. Other people, however, tended to complain about the assorted items that didn't quite make it to the washing machine on the floor and the typical dirty clothes stink that came with them.

"I'll clean it up! It's better than your stupid videos!" replied Mia.

"Children!" their father said, interrupting their argument. They turned to face him. "Look, your mother and I have talked about this, and we have come to the decision that Akira should have his own room -"

"But..." both twins uttered at once.

"But nothing. I'm sure he doesn't want to be attacked by you two maniacs, and, quite frankly, living in a room with either one of you would be hell for any poor student. So, you two are going to share a room while he's here."

The twins looked at each other in utter horror, mouths open.

"NO WAY!" Mia screeched, when she had finally found her voice. "There is no way in hell I'm going to live with that freak! Not for a whole month!"

"Yeah, how can you expect me to put up with her?" asked Tobias incredulously. "You're joking, right?"

"No, he is most certainly not joking," came a voice from behind them. It was Mrs. Henderson, bags of groceries in her hands. She put them on the creaky old wooden table, which seemed to almost sag with their weight, and continued. "Your father and I discussed this endlessly, and it's the only way. We simply don't have enough room in this house. Tobias, you're to pack your things up and move into Mia's room tomorrow."

"Why me?" he asked. "I don't want to go to her room and she doesn't have a television OR a video player! Plus her `music' is annoying."

"At least it's not opera," Mia muttered.

"Tobias, Mia's room is bigger. That's all there is to it. We couldn't even fit your bed into her room and surely you don't want shared accommodation," said Mrs. Henderson bluntly. It had the desired effect, Tobias went an odd shade of white and didn't say anything else. Mia didn't seem to be thinking of arguing either.

"Right then, that's settled," Mr. Henderson said, sounding relieved. "Tobias, move in tomorrow, to make sure you're settled in time for Akira on Wednesday. And Mia, no complaints. He'll be watching his videos on the TV in the lounge. It is your room after all." The twins glared daggers at each other, but couldn't find anything wrong with this plan.

Resigned to the worst, Mia stomped off to her room, deciding she'd better enjoy her last day of privacy. She, being your fairly average sixteen year old girl, hated the idea of what she saw as an invasion in her personal space. Still, it wasn't like there was anything she could do about it. Sometimes she wished her brother hadn't ever been born at all, and she could be living a happy life as the only child. She turned on a CD, and cranked up the volume, hoping that if she played a her music loud enough she could forget about her twin brother.

Of course, the next day Tobias moved in with as little drama as possible (Mia did lock the door to her room but it only took Mr. Henderson an hour and twenty dollars to convince her to open it ). For the first whole day, there was strange sort of quiet about the house, which the twins' parents were more than thankful for.

However, with Mia and Tobias, silence is golden and like gold, tends to be incredibly rare and once found, there is very little of it. This was proven by early Tuesday morning.

"Muuuuuuuuum!" Mia yelled. "Opera boy is stealing my clothes!"

"What?" Mrs. Henderson asked sleepily from the hallway. Her hair was on end and her eyes were a little red. She appeared to have been (like the rest of the normal population) sleeping, due to the early hour of 4 am.

"He's stealing them and now he's cutting them up!" explained Mia in a whiny tone.

"Your brother is cutting your clothes?" her mother asked incredulously. "Why would he want to do THAT?"

"He's using them to make some weird costume! And he's playing with my make-up box!" Mrs. Henderson was naturally totally mystified by this and couldn't help thinking that Mia was either seeing things or had messed up the story. However, when she opened the door, she was proven wrong.

A truly shocking sight had met her eyes. Tobias was sitting, make-up brush in hand, painting what had to be white face-paint on his cheeks. On the floor next to him was a mutilated dress Mia had worn on "Ancient Civilisations Day" at school back in Grade 5, that looked distinctly Ancient Chinese, and a pair of scissors.

"Tobias, what are you doing with Mia's make-up and dress?" she asked, disbelief in her voice.

"Well, I was hit by a sudden shock of inspiration for a great costume! I decided it couldn't wait, and as my sister here was asleep, didn't think she'd mind if I borrowed some of her things," he said, as though this was the most utterly normal thing in the world. Mrs. Henderson nearly fell over.

"It's 4 o'clock in the morning! My son is cutting up a dress and wearing extremely odd make-up! Tell me God, what did I do wrong?" she asked, staring up at the ceiling as though expecting an answer.

"I think bothering to have him was a pretty big mistake," Mia muttered.

"Mia, if I didn't have your brother, I wouldn't have had you. You are the younger twin, in case you've forgotten."

"Oh yeah..." said Mia.

"Look, mum," Tobias interrupted. "This is Beijing Opera! Haven't you ever seen my tapes?"

"We've all seen your incredibly interesting tapes, dear brother," Mia drawled sarcastically.

"Thank you Mia. Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely and pointlessly interrupted, this is Beijing Opera. I am just trying out a costume for the Ching* role, which I am auditioning for in my opera group. This make-up is essential, it shows my character. As I'm playing an evil character, I have a white background, and I'm going to-"

"ENOUGH!" Mrs. Henderson yelled, cutting of Tobias's monologue. "Just go back to bed! I've had it! If I even hear anything out of you two, I'll see to it that Akira doesn't come!"

As inspired as Tobias was, it didn't take him long to give up.

*As a Tomo fan, I made some research on his make-up. I found this using a link of Tomo no Miko's FY Page.

The Ching Character Role: The ching role is a strong-willed male character, either straightforward or scheming. His facial make-up is greatly exaggerated, so this role can be identified at a glance. The designs and colors employed all have specific meanings, for example, red symbolises loyalty and courage; black represents a bold and swashbuckling character; blue, a calculating nature; and white, a deceitful and conniving individual. Silver and gold are reserved for the exclusive use of spirits and gods. A face that is made up in a straightforward and consistent manner is called a "complete face"; one that incorporates many diverse elements is referred to as a "fragmented face." Facial make-up in Chinese Opera, besides giving information about the personality traits and mindset of a character, also has inherent artistic interest.

So there you have it. I was going to mention that in the last chapter, but it completely slipped my mind.

Stupid akugi:

Mrs. Henderson opened the door, to see her son in Mia's dress and make-up dancing around the room.

Tobias: *Stops and smiles.* Why hello mother!

Mrs. Henderson: What the...?

*Nuriko appears for no apparent reason.*

Nuriko: Ah, Tomo, glad to see you're getting into the spirit of things!

Mrs. Henderson: Tomo? I'll... just... leave... *Runs away.*

Mia: You know what? Ijustrealised... Mum, I'm coming with you! *Bolts in the same direction.*

No, don't ask about that. I was on sugar-rush and it was late. Blame the tiredness. Also, I do know Akira isn't here yet, but I promise he'll be in the next chapter. I'm wondering whether to give him his memories or not though. What do you think?