Inverse

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I do not own Detective Conan.

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Chapter 3: A Clear Difference

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Yukiko loves both of her boys, how can she not, when they're the most adorable babies that ever graced the world?

She's quite certain of the fact, and it isn't because she's the one who brought them to the world –though it might have played a tiny part, only a tiny one – but it's also because she's always had an eye for beauty that most people share.

To her, it's only within her expectations for her children to be adorable. She's beautiful, there's no denying that fact, and Yusaku is irrefutably handsome. In all honesty, the both of them would have been surprised if their children wouldn't be adorable, or cute, or lovable –not that looks honestly matter, because Yukiko is certain that she'll love her children no matter their looks, and she's certain Yusaku is the same.

Still, it makes her give a sigh of relief, because even if she's already left that world of dazzling lights, that world of dreams and nightmares, where people wear countless of masks and use words as weapons, where one can seemingly do the impossible and magic is simply swirling in the air, Yukiko can't shake off the fame that she's garnered, nor the envy that she inspires.

She's already had time to strengthen her defenses, to make sure that it's almost impenetrable of the barbs people would offer, of the sharp words that they would use, of the insults they would throw because of her 'fall to fame' –though not really – and her current status of having no occupation, no matter how short the time.

But her children? Her sweet innocent children?

Yukiko wouldn't fool herself, not in this matter concerning her children, because she knows that her Shin-chan and Sei-chan would be scrutinized, they would be judged, because they're Fujimine Yukiko's children, they're Kudo Yusaku's children, and it breaks her heart.

She can already see the pressure that would come from majority of the population, the incessant pushes and ramblings of '–you won't be an actor? But your mother –' or '–you should be an author, your father was one –' that would truly never end until they get their own jobs, and even then Yukiko isn't quite sure if it will stop.

Then, there are the seemingly 'innocent' comments that may pass from people's mouths, from those people who envy her and detest her for leaving her stardom –especially when she's already reached great heights – and knowing that they can't make a rise out of her, would torment her children instead.

With seemingly innocent articles, that might make them question if they should follow their parents' path, with innocent words, that might make them second-guess themselves, and Yukiko could count a dozen more –like insults masked in a polite front, comments on blaming her children for her choice in leaving her work – but for now, everything is peaceful. The wrath that envelops her form when those kind of thoughts swirl around her mind, is of no use currently, and since nobody can badmouth her children's beauty –because they are beautiful, and it truly helps – those kind of people would undoubtly nitpick about other things instead.

Things that Yukiko would certainly help with.

She'll make sure of it.

Putting away her dark thoughts for the time being, Yukiko focuses in the matter at hand. She loves her children, she truly does, and she also loves Yusaku, even if at times he's absolutely insufferable with his habit of escaping his editors, and other unmentionable things. But did he really need to whisk away her eldest child when he's completing his manuscript?

Well, now another rule can be added when raising their twins, no tearing them apart.

Because the tantrum that follows isn't pretty, Shin-chan is usually such a happy child, all babbles and smiles –much like his elder brother really, they were absolute angels – but when Shin-chan starts crying, it really shows who inherited her lungs.

In that point, Yusaku doesn't disagree.

And while Sei-chan usually does his best so that his brother doesn't over exhaust his poor throat –and isn't that just adorable, Yukiko gushes, that Sei-chan's already looking after his little brother, pictures are needed! – by distracting him with his own soothing babbles, and snuggling up to his brother –pictures! – even if she's quite sure her eldest's ears are suffering as well, he does it nonetheless.

Yukiko did her best, she fed him, changed his nappy, sung him a lullaby, rocked him in her arms, whispered soothing words in his ears, Shin-chan didn't stop crying. She's more surprised that their neighbor, Professor Agasa, couldn't hear it and offer help. Though, the professor might not be home right now, it would explain the absence of explosions.

She barely managed to make her youngest sleep, when she realized that perhaps putting him in Sei-chan's crib might help, it did wonders.

It made her wonder how his husband is fairing.

Stomping the urge to giggle at the thought of Yusaku being out of his element when Sei-chan is crying, she peers at the personally crafted crib with her eldest's name, and her heart clenches painfully at the sight her eyes are graced with.

Her Shin-chan's cheeks stained with tear tracks, his nose dripping with a bit of snot, and the skin around his eyes just a little bit red from all the crying and rubbing of his tiny fists.

It just breaks her heart.

Yukiko should have known such a thing would have happened, she's heard all the tales about twins who refuse to go somewhere unless they were together, tales of twin babies that cry the moment that their other half is out of the room, did she really think that her Shin-chan and Sei-chan wouldn't be the same?

The moment that Shin-chan toddled –her youngest baby's toddling already! – around looking at every corner of their home, she should've know he was looking for his brother, at that moment he probably thought they were playing hide-and-seek, only when Shinichi burst into tears, there was no brother to suddenly appear and hug him, a silent reassurance that he's still in the area.

The tears continued on, with added wailing.

Once Yusaku is done with his writing, Yukiko's planning on having a talk with him about suddenly taking Sei-chan away, can he even write and keep an eye on Sei-chan at the same time?

Yukiko doesn't even want to entertain an answer, she does pity those poor editors, having to take care of a baby when you were only supposed to keep an eye on a grown man, she wouldn't be surprised if they would avoid her husband all together after this mess.

Though, she's having second thoughts on who's causing more trouble, her angel with blond curls or her husband?

If she were a betting woman, she would've put her money on the latter.

…

Yusaku hums under his breath, gazing at the monitor in front of him with barely concealed boredom. His editors didn't bother barging in to check if he's doing any writing at all, which is quite evident with the absence of the rythmic sound of fingers tapping on keys, but he isn't about to enlighten them of that fact.

Running his hand through his eldest son's blond curls, he flicks Seiichi's nose, making the infant stop wrinkling his face.

Really, how can an infant display such a– a sulky face?

It might have something to do with his wife, he thinks, only to shake his head a second later, a wry smile twisting his lips. Not just 'might', it most definitely has something to do with her.

Settling his gaze on the most interesting existence in the space he is currently confined in, Yusaku levels his eyes to an exact mirror of his own, and it never ceases to astound him how alike yet at the same time how unalike a pair of sea blue eyes can be.

The depths weren't the same.

Yusaku has already seen what the world can offer, both the great and the worst circumstances. Seiichi's eyes, his blond son's eyes, were still unburdened of the cost of knowing what people can do, yet at rare times, he can see that there is also something in his sea blue gaze that makes it seem that he knows so much more.

As a father, it makes a chill go down his spine.

As an author, it simply makes him curious.

Perhaps it is the reason why Yusaku can already see a little bit of what will happen in the future, and while it is rather witless for him to draw conclusions early on, he likes to think that this vision of his isn't just a baseless assumption.

He's read a sparse amount of information about it; favoritism amongst children.

He would admit without reserve, that his mind was elsewhere when he suddenly carried Seiichi in one arm, the other carrying a messenger bag filled with papers and disks. An action without thought, as Yusaku likes to think, but as he rifled through countless information in the computer in front of him, he realizes that it is simply, something more.

How there is something more when Yukiko states Shinichi's name first, and Seiichi's second.

Yusaku might be jumping to conclusions, but really, what were conclusions but different outcomes with different factors taken into consideration?

He'll not turn a blind eye in this happenings, and Yusaku would admit without reserve, that he does favor Seiichi.

Letting out a deep breath in his mental admission, he feels his eye soften at the face of his eldest, who found his own fingers to be the most fascinating specimen in the room -if the way he's boring holes into it is any indication.

Yes, Yusaku favors Seiichi, the same way Yukiko favors Shinichi.

But it does not mean that they love them any less.

Yusaku will ensure that Shinichi would still feel his love for him, because for all intents and purposes, Yusaku loves both of his boys equally, and he is certain that Yukiko is the same.

They will make sure to show their love to them, favorite or no, they are still their children, their flesh and blood.

Yusaku will make sure of it.

He knows that with him admitting this fact, with Yukiko of course, there will be complications rising in the future. Complications that they, the whole family, will face together.

Yusaku nods his head, as if to reinforce his thought, and opens his mouth.

"I love you Seiichi, you, your brother, and your mother." He murmurs, "more than mere words can express."

When Seiichi goes unnaturally still, when he hears him taking a sharp and deep breath, Yusaku just takes note and files it for later reference.

He just settles on running a hand through his son's already thick, and curly locks, humming a tune already half-forgotten. Forgotten in the realms of time, forgotten in the tongues of his ancestors, yet holding an important secret of their family.

"... the wanderer is here, and not lost forevermore-"

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He's frozen.

A foreign-familiar sensation that makes his heart beat wildly against his chest, and with it comes the frequent flashes of his life from Before.

Clearer than what he can remember in his own memories left behind, yet there still remains a touch of blurriness, much like a fogged up mirror that refuses to show his own reflection, but in this case, it's his memories instead.

A dark alley. A figure in the shadows. A deal. A clear crimson liquid dripping from a sharp dagger. His lips twisting into a-

That's what he received from the most recent batch of flashes. Not at all that different from the other memories his mind gets bombarded with, and Seiichi –for truly, it is his name, a name that he remembers and will treasure always – is sensing a theme with his memories from Before.

Darkness, shadows, and blood.

A part of him –which Seiichi knows is his innocence, the innocence of an infant. A part that he knows, is now integrated deep within him – recoils at the crimson liquid, at the darkness filled with unknown, and the shadows that can take form of his innocent fears.

The other part of him –the part that is currently living his second life filled with uncertainties and unknowns – is emotionless, even resigned at it all. This part of him is full of acceptance at his times from Before, though there is this uncomfortable feeling that he can sense just under his skin, always crawling on him after his flashes, his stomach heavy, and a swell of emotion –unnamed, unknown – bursts in his little chest.

Too absorbed in his thoughts, Seiichi completely misses the half-remembered song his father sings, not that he'll understand it anyway – for it is a language that not many even knew of, nor any has bothered to learn – but his mind still whirls at what his father has said.

It was spoken in a language he knew so well, a language that he remembers from Before, and the way his father spoke those words. How his eyes seem to soften with the emotion that is called love, how his words seem to resonate with the very emotion, it is not only because of the flashes from Before that he stilled, of that Seiichi is certain.

For this feeling, seemingly surging from every cell of his tiny body, flowing from his chest to the very tips of his fingers and toes, this feeling that came from an emotion known as love –as he will know much later on – warms his body to the point that Seiichi fears that he can rival the heat of the sun, though his rational mind insists it is not possible.

He presses himself closer to his father, for his body is cool against the raging inferno that is his own, and finding his young body utterly exhausted with the unknown feeling running through his veins, with the flashbacks that he suffers through. Seiichi closes his eyes, and surrenders his mind to the realms of sleep.

His father humming a song that he'll not forget anytime soon, for the tune sears into his memory like a hot poker pressing on soft skin, forever leaving a mark that would serve as a reminder.

A reminder that he is as different as the others that came before him.

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So, the best thing I can say is that, school is a pain. But here is a new chapter! This was supposed to be based on an OVA, "Ten Planets in the Nights Sky", or something along those lines but… it never got to reach that point so for that I apologize.

I was really nervous about tackling favoritism amongst children, to the point that I wanted to scrap this whole thing, but I'd like to think that it is rather common, even if some parents don't admit to it, and like what I saw in some articles, just because you favor a child amongst his/her siblings doesn't miss you love them any less.

It will be a sore point sooner or later, to both children and parents, but it just shows how human they are, and a touch bit realistic, if I do say so myself. And I added another element that wasn't supposed to be there, and I admit I'm also surprised about what I did there because it was a spur of the moment decision, but there must be a reason why Shinichi is a magnet for deaths, right?

I didn't manage to say this earlier, but thank you for those who put this story on their favorites and alerts list, and for those who reviewed, thank you so much, and also to those who read this story, THANK YOU.

Gotta reply to reviews.

makesomehassel: I'm glad you like it, and here is the update you were waiting for. :D

imafangirlforever: I'm flattered, I extremely am, and I hope this latest chapter doesn't disappoint. I'll do my best to make this story amazing, and make Seiichi and Shinichi precious to all of you.

Nuvola De Demone: I should be the one thanking you. So, thank you.

dcenyomiland: Seiichi will support Shinichi, since he's his little brother, and will do anything for him and his family. And I'm glad he's growing on you, extremely so. I think it's impossible for anyone to remember the whole story of Detective Conan, so no. He'll just know some keypoints.

racbrs: And I must thank you for reviewing and reading! And yeah, I want my Yukiko and Yusaku to be close to their children, not like in canon. And for your review in chapter 1, I wanted to do something a bit different, so here it is, I hope you'll look forward for more even if updates are few.

monamonalisa17: I'll be continuing this thing until… until I say so. Though the updates will be few and far in between so I do apologize for that. Thank you loving my story.

: That's not even half of it. *gleeful cackle*

aoin88: An update for you, my dear reader.

RichInsanity out~!