The Artisan Twins (Angels of Death)

Chapter 1: "You Can't Always Be Together"

(Disclaimer: For anyone who's read the manga, Shirou is Shin's unamed twin brother in this! Enjoy!)

(Shirou's POV)

We've always been inseparable. We refuse to ever let  anyone or anything separate us. We both think the same way and share the same things with our identical bodies.

I look at my twin brother, Shin, now as we both sit, side by side, on one of the benches on the school grounds. At age 11, we've started creating together. 

We've always been artistic. Before two months ago though, we only ever drew and coloured very simple pictures. Wasn't truly art at all. 

But now, we've begun designing and creating true pieces of art. 

Shin looked up from his own sketch book then. 

Looking at him was almost like looking into a mirror. We are both the mirror image of each other. It is almost impossible to tell us apart.

"What do you think?" he asked, showing me his newest sketch.

"It's beautiful. All your designs are." I told him.

Shin gave a small smile "So are yours. We're the same, after all."

We were often told that we were 'too dependent' on one another.

One of our teachers was the first to tell us that. It was one day after class when she approached us, as we were about to leave.

"What do you both want your future to be like?" she'd asked. 

Me and Shin just looked at each other with the exact same expression. We both thought that it was a strange question to ask. We didn't understand at first why she was asking us that.

"We don't care what we do.." Shin began

"Just as long as we're together" I finished.

The teacher just raised an eyebrow and shook her head.

"You can't always be together. You'll both have to prepare to go your own separate ways at some point." she stated, before leaving.

"That's ridiculous! We've always been together, how can that be true?" I said to Shin, as we walked home together.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about!" Shin said.

That teacher wasn't the only one who began telling us that. Soon, our parents also began saying the exact same thing. 

Apparently it was 'concerning' how dependent we were on each other and how we were always together. Especially at our age.

How could it be true though? We've always done everything together our whole lives. Me and Shin will always have each other. That will never change. I know that.

(6 years later - age 17)

(Shin's POV)

I watched as my brother finished off the sketch for the new piece we were working on.

He always fixed my mistakes, as I always fix his.

That's the way we've always worked. What one lacked, the other would provide.

We still get told that we 'depend on each other too much' and that we can't always be together.

"You two have to understand that you will have to go separate ways sometime soon. You can't be together forever" our mother would tell us several times a day. She always seemed fed up with telling us that. We never listened anyway.

Shirou finished up the sketch and looked up, placing his pencil down on our wooden work desk.

"It's looks beautiful, doesn't it?" I asked, peering at our finished sketch.

Shirou nodded "Yes. It will be even more beautiful once we've created it"

"Yes, I agree."

A troubled expression came over Shirou's face then. He leaned his head against his hand, his elbow on the desk.

"What's the matter?" I asked him.

He looked at me "Do you think it's true what they tell us, Shin? That we can't always be together?"

I shook my head, placing my hands on my brother's shoulders "Of course it's not true, Shirou. They just don't understand us."

It's true. No one understands us. Not really.

We have always had the same interests and worked on the same things together. We do everything together. Nothing could ever change that.

That's what no one else seems to get. 

We are one in the same. 

We aren't just the mirror image of each other. Our personalalities, how we think and do things are also identical.

Almost like we're the same person.

"Do you both share the one mind?" we used to be asked a lot.

Yes, I think that seems to go without saying.