Doppelgänger

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Or the awesome and crazy Sonozaki girls. Or the prompts at the solitare3 community. But I own this drabble!

(solitaire3 prompt #9 – false reflection; where you stop and I begin)

"It's not fair," Mion insisted in a sulk, kicking her heels on the tatami mat over and over to the rhythm of her words. "Not fair, not fair, not fair. We're twins, we're the same, why can't we both go to the stupid meeting?"

"It's just more stupid dumb family stuff," Shion agreed, rolling onto her belly and mimicking her sister, tapping her toes on the floor. Kick, kick, kick.

They were five years old, girls small enough for printed sundresses and stuffed toys and daydreams and princess stories. Girls small enough for their mother to think it adorable to dress them in matching outfits, so that only Shion's pigtails and Mion's loose hair could be used to tell them apart. Girls small enough to link arms and unite against an overexaggeratedly hostile world that usually consisted of the stuffy grown-ups who always wanted to drag Mion into things and shut Shion out.

"This is all just 'cause I have the stupid oni face on my back 'cause I'm older," Mion pouted. "And I don't even like this stuff! We have to sit on our knees in seiza and we don't even get pillows and it's all owwy!"

Shion made a sulky sound and kept kicking the floor.

Sitting up, Mion looked at her sister. Grown-ups really were dumb. Even if she wasn't the next family head, Shion was still a Sonozaki, and they were twins, which meant they were the same in most ways. And even if Shion didn't complain about it too much, Mion knew that not being included hurt her feelings.

"If we're the same most ways, though…" Mion started to smile widely as she thought aloud. "Shion, I've got an idea!"

"Uh-oh," Shion said, although she stopped kicking and looked up at her twin. Mion decided to ignore that in favor of running towards their play chest and digging out a box of markers.

"The only thing that's keeping you out is 'cause you don't have the oni face! So if I draw you one, Granny and everybody are gonna have to let you in too!"

"Is that really gonna work?" Shion asked incredulously, starting to giggle.

"Of course it will! Come on, take your dress off and I'll do it!"

Shion reached around clumsily to fumble with the snaps that held the top of her dress shut. "Sis, do you even know what your oni face looks like?"

"'Course I do—and don't worry about the little stuff!" Mion uncapped her marker with gusto and helped Shion with her dress, making her sister sit down. "Now, stay still or this's gonna be hard to do!"

Even with the warning, Shion yelped and fidgeted as soon as Mion drew the first line, making it into a squiggle that ended on the inside of her dress.

"C'mon, stupid Shion, sit still!"

"I can't help it! It t-tickles! Heeek!"

"Stop—squirming—you—dummy!" Mion tried to draw faster, which only made Shion wiggle and laugh more. This was looking less like an oni face and more like a bad cartoon face. Starting to turn red, Mion tried to repair it by making the lines darker and thicker. After a while, she decided it looked enough like an oni—and she was fed-up enough with all this as it was. Growling, she recapped her marker.

"Are you done yet?" Shion whined, fidgeting.

"Yeah, yeah. C'mon—we're gonna make sure you get in today's meeting now!"

--

Oryou cast a baleful eye over her twin granddaughters, who were standing in front of the door with equally impudent looks on their faces.

"And you think we should let you both in here when we told you already that only Mion can come because…?"

"'Cause Shion's got an oni face too, see?" Mion spun her sister around and pointed to the open back of her dress, where there was a smudged blue scribble across her shoulderblades. "We're twins and we're the same and we wanna come in here together and this is the only thing that's keeping Shion from coming in too and…"

Oryou silenced her with a look. Mion's eyes went wide and she gulped a little, but she kept staring defiantly up at her grandmother.

As she did, Oryou looked from Mion's ridiculously ferocious expression to Shion's fidgeting to the crude drawing of the demon brand on Shion's back. And laughed until she nearly cried.

Owari.