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1. In Hiding - Johan hides in Nina's apartment.

The weeks after Johan's disappearance were dangerous, and when Nina wasn't being escorted by policemen or questioned by investigators, she was holed up in her apartment, a gun in her lap and staring out the window.

"They are gone," the woman said.

Nina looked up and frowned. "Brother, stop it. You don't have to pretend around me."

Quietly, Johan pulled off his wig and sat heavily on the couch. The wig this time was a dark brown, and the contacts he wore made his eyes the color of chocolate. "I still can't believe no one's found you," Nina said.

"That is all thanks to you. Thank you for hiding me."

Nina frowned and looked back out the window.

It was growing dark outside, and slowly everything outside seemed washed in an orange-tinged umber. Nina stared at herself and at her brother's reflection on the window pane, and she was struck at once by how similar they looked: same long neck, same slender build. She watched Johan's reflection as he pulled off the gauzy blouse and skirt, kicking off his heels and sitting back on the couch, looking like a man again.

"I can't believe you walk in these," Nina said. She picked up one stiletto-heeled shoe, turning it over in her hands. "Wow. I'm pretty sure I would break my neck if I tried these on."

"They are too big for you," Johan said, and he leaned his head back, the tip of his adam's apple catching the lamplight. "Those are size 11 shoes. We may be alike, but I am fairly certain I'm still bigger than you."

Nina frowned, then slipped her foot into one fabulous shoe. She wiggled her toes experimentally, trying to stand. Johan smiled.

"There is something I've been meaning to ask you," Johan said. He sat back, elbows on his knees, as he looked up at her, quietly. "I have been hiding in your apartment for almost three weeks. I was wondering if we could go out."

"What do you mean?" Nina said. She slipped out of his shoes and walked barefoot toward the couch, sitting next to him. Johan studied her, quietly.

"I have something in mind."

xXx

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The lights in the bar were dim, but Nina coughed, waving away the sweaty, smoky smell and walking toward the bartender. "I don't think this is a good idea," Nina said, but Johan smiled, pillow-lipped and loose brown hair swinging above his shoulders.

They sat at the bar, Johan sitting prettily and palming his drink, while Nina clutched her purse and looked around her, furtive and anxious. Johan sipped delicately and demurred, "Do not be so nervous," and then, smiling, "No one is expecting this."

"Expecting what," Nina said. Johan smiled.

"This," Johan said. "Tell me, sister: when you look at me, what do you see?"

"My brother in a dress," Nina said. "Stop laughing! I'm serious. You're gonna get caught."

Johan said nothing, but his eyes were laughing. He really was beautiful. Nina watched the long line of his neck, how his back curved like the stroke of an artist's brush, the long, tapered fingers of his hand gently touching the rim of the glass almost suggestively. Meanwhile Nina was plain-faced and indignant. "I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Nina said. "You said you were bored, but dammit, you don't have the luxury to be bored, someone might recognize you."

"They are looking for a man," Johan said. His eyes flicked upwards. "Or a woman who looks like you."

Time passed. Nina watched, at turns amazed and puzzled, how guy after guy tried in vain to pick Johan up, not realizing he was a man, even though he did nothing to change the pitch of his voice. Johan smiled and laughed and flirted with them easily, and Nina watched with a sort of morbid fascination, how easily her brother seemed to seduce everyone standing around him.

There was a drunk man at the bar, leering suggestively and trying to look down Johan's blouse. "Hey baby," he said, and he muscled his way between them, pushing Nina back hard enough she almost fell out of her stool. Nina stood, crossing her arms.

"Where are you going?" Johan said. The man standing between them leered.

"The ladies' room," Nina said.

"Wait a moment: I'm coming with you," Johan said, but the man caught his hand.

"Let the ugly one go, stay with me a bit," the man said. Johan glared.

"My sister is not ugly," Johan said. Nina rolled her eyes and let him follow her to the ladies' room.

xXx

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On further reflection, Nina decided this was a really, really stupid idea.

Johan stood in front of the mirror, re-applying his lipstick, while Nina watched, frowning. Their reflections couldn't have been any more different: Johan's was that of a beautiful brunette, lips stained red and oozing a promise of sex; Nina's, on the other hand, was that of a sour-faced girl, face pinched and glaring at the brunette standing beside her.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Nina said again. Johan snapped his compact shut and looked at her, his eyes nothing but wide-eyed and innocent. "I've been cooped up in your room for weeks, why don't we go out, it's safe, I won't do anything to get noticed. Ugh. And now we're both gonna get caught," Nina said, and she glanced over her shoulder. "Dammit, stop laughing. I could kick you right now, seriously."

"You're adorable when you're mad," Johan said. He gently touched her face.

"Stop being creepy," Nina said. She glared at the mirror. "And you're probably right. No one would recognize you under that coating of makeup you've got going on."

"I could teach you, if you like," Johan said. He pulled out his lipstick. "Here."

"Johan-"

"It will be but a moment," Johan said, and his voice took on that familiar hypnotic quality that always made Nina acquiesce. "There is no one here but us. Trust me."

"Fine," Nina said, and Johan gently uncapped the tube of lipstick.

When they walked out, the drunk guy whistled and a few heads turned. Johan smiled, beautiful, seductive smile, while Nina shrank against his shoulder.

2. Family - No one shoots the Lieberts.

They grow up in an uneventful household; they get good grades and get into a top-ranked university, Anna and Johan inseparable as always. And though the boy always talked with everyone with a good-natured, gentle manner, there was always a sort of disconnect, something empty behind his eyes.

"Stop being creepy," Anna says, and Johan looks up at her with an inscrutable gaze, and Anna screws up her face, reprimanding him. "You need to stop being so weird all the time! How are you gonna get a girlfriend acting like that?"

"I don't want a girlfriend," Johan says. Anna rolls her eyes.

She goes into law and he goes into architecture, and sometimes Anna watches him mapping out the floor plans, the clean, sweeping lines skimming across the page in precise angles.

The boys she likes, stuttering, bashful guys, never returns her phone calls, and in fact never seem to come back on campus, either. One day Anna is stood up at the front of the fountain and she's dumped by a note delivered by her friend, and she cries and cries for days. Johan meets her in her bedroom and places a hand on the small of her back, a gesture that is at once soothing and familiar, as Anna cries, silently.

"Brother," Anna says, because she's miserable and she can't help it. "Brother. Why doesn't anyone love me?"

"I love you," Johan says. Anna lies with her face pillowed on his lap, his hand stroking her hair, absently.

"Brother you don't count," Anna says.

"Why?" Johan says, and Anna screws her face.

"Stop being creepy," Anna says, and she giggles a little. Johan strokes her hair and smiles.

xXx

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They find the bodies of her suitors stacked up behind an irrigation ditch, a serial killer to blame. It doesn't fit the pattern though, and the mystery goes unsolved.

xXx

.

No one tells Anna about the bodies.

Her roommate is out on a date, and Anna calls Johan over because she's lonely. Johan comes and Anna sniffs and cries, and she sits in an oversized T-shirt and shorts, spooning mouthfuls of ice cream and bemoaning the fickleness of men. "Except you, brother," Anna says. Johan sits and smiles.

Tipsy with wine, she lets him go to bed with her, huddling up against his body like they used to in Czechoslovakia. It's an old habit: Mama Liebert had yelled at them when they were little, it was inappropriate and they were too old to share the same bed. But now Anna cuddles up against Johan's side, relishing the feel of his hand on her head.

"Kiss me goodnight," Johan says, and because she's sleepy and warm, Anna obliges, kissing him softly on the forehead. "Not there," Johan says. "On the lips. Please."

"Why?" Anna says, and Johan leans closer, the bedsheets rustling slightly.

"Because," Johan says, and he kisses her on the mouth, slowly, lips parted just a little. Anna sucks in her breath and stares up at him, too startled to move.

His eyes open and catch her gaze, then leans forward, breathes into her mouth before kissing her again, feather-light this time, the tip of his tongue gently grazing her tongue.

"Because I love you. Anna."

xXx

.

They don't talk about that night, not that morning or the next.

She goes into law, he goes into architecture. She studies and gets good grades and goes out with friends, and Johan disappears, moving somewhere far away.

3. Hotel - Instead of shooting him, Nina and Johan have sex.

"It is the same for you, isn't it?" Johan said. He bent down as if to kiss her again, but stopped, just a finger's breadth away from her mouth. "You know as I know that you're my sister. That we grew up together, all alone.

But at the same time, you don't remember," Johan said. His eyes flicked upward. Gently he let his lips barely brush against hers, his lips barely grazing her bottom lip as he spoke, "You just know, as I know. But you do not remember.

I'm just a man to you, aren't I?" Johan said.

His eyes met hers. Nina breathed. She felt him brush the side of her cheek with his thumb.

"And what am I?" Nina asked.

"My sister," Johan said, and he dipped forward and kissed her, lips parted. She felt his tongue gently meet the tip of her tongue.

xXx

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A low sound rumbled out of Nina's throat, and wordlessly Johan climbed over her, the weight of his body pressed against the ridge of her pelvis. He kissed her slowly. His hands pressed against her face, and Nina breathed hard, straining against him as he rocked, could feel him growing hard and pressing against her clit.

The panicked feeling didn't come until she felt his hand sliding under her shirt and over bare skin, didn't move until she felt her nipple being grazed by the pad of his thumb.

"Johan-"

"Shh," Johan said. He kissed her forehead, then her eyes.

Nina would have struggled, would have screamed and pushed him off of her, but he rocked his hips and his erection slid up against her clitoris, hard enough for her to see sparks. And it was enough to distract her, to let him skim up the rest of her shirt and mouth her nipples through the cups of her bra. Nina's eyes rolled back. Slowly Johan moved, pressing penitent kisses down her stomach, the side of her hip, kissing the hem of her underwear before licking her clit through the fabric. Nina's pelvis jerked. Johan smiled, and slowly he began to stroke her, stroking her wetness through the crotch of her panties as he licked her with his tongue.

If he had meant to distract her, it had worked, and soon she felt him tug her panties off, dipping low to suckle at the small bundle of nerves to which all her very being seemed connected.

But he wouldn't let her come.

He stood up abruptly, moving to pull off his shirt before bending down to mouth her again, two long licks before breaking away to undo the belt to his pants. He was taking too long so Nina sat up, shaking hands gripping his belt and undoing the zipper, while Johan let his hands fall over her shoulders. He was hard and there was a wet spot through the fabric of his boxers, and impulsively Nina dipped forward and took him into her mouth.

He shook. He kicked off his boxers and pushed her back onto the bed, kissing her and rocking against her, his erection sliding over her wetness. The pressure of his weight was enough to make her body jerk suddenly, a small orgasm making her eyes widen. She looked up at him, and he seemed to understand she was giving him permission, because he reached a hand between their bodies and guided himself to her entrance. His eyes met hers. He looked into her eyes as he slid inside her.

xXx

.

Afterwards, she wouldn't stop crying, and when Dr. Tenma found her, he knelt beside her, saying nothing and gently prying the gun from her fingers.

4. An Ordinary Couple - Johan and Nina in a "relationship."

They are just an ordinary couple, moving into the house across from you. The arc of your hands draws the curtain back, and sunshine pours into the kitchen as you watch them unload box after box, the hydraulic hum of the moving van the only thing you hear this morning.

The girl catches your eye and waves. You stop and smile as well.

xXx

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They are just an ordinary couple, polite and soft-spoken. The girl, she smiles and walks with a bright red purse, and the man, he watches, greets you politely as you pass him by.

One day, you hear them speak in what sounds like German. You are surprised-their English is perfect-but the man shakes his head, "We studied it in school," and the girl clasps his hand.

His smile is as easy as her smile is tight, something rising at the corners of her eyes.

"She is self-conscious," he tells you later, when the girl is inside and you are standing at the curb outside your driveway. The sun is setting and the neighborhood darkens, and the houses and lawns are ashen and gray, but the man is looking at you, and suddenly you are afraid.

That night, you hear her yelling. The curtains in the house are drawn, but you can see their silhouettes through the window.

You are taking out the trash, hefting it to the curb, when you hear the girl crying. She's yelling and you see the shape of her body fly past the window, a frantic, angry movement. You do not hear the man, only the girl and the things that fall around her.

The next morning, you wake up to pull in the garbage bins when you notice, to your irritation, the garbage men have littered the trash. Trash lies on the ground after having fallen from the cans as they emptied it, and like a good neighbor, you cross the street to pick up the debris.

You see it: the empty pregnancy test, the box crushed and run over by cars.

They are just an ordinary couple, but you and your neighbors worry when you don't see them coming outside.

xXx

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They are just an ordinary couple, but one morning you see it: a policeman knocking on their door.

The girl, her face is pinched as she talks to him, the officer nodding and writing in his book. You watch and you see the girl's hand rest on her belly, which is still flat and smooth under her shirt.

"I don't know where he is," the girl says, and you stop and frown, concerned.

"What happened?" you ask, and the girl looks up at you. There are circles under her eyes and she looks tired, hugging herself tight around the waist.

"Please don't ask me that," the girl says. Tears threaten to fall.

You don't see them leave. One day, you go up to their door to give them a gift-a teddy bear and a basket of baby things, something you hope will help with their predicament. They are young and she is probably scared, but you are certain they will have handsome children, all the other neighbors agree.

You knock on the door and wait, but when you step forward, no one is there.

end.