Adolescence

Chapter 1

Spinning, spinning, around and around. She's leading me, but now we're at the end, so I smile at her as we stop, gazing mutually in to one another's eyes, we silently agree that now it's my turn to lead our 'eternal dance' as she calls it. A dance we've partaken in since we were small children. I sigh dreamily, placing my arm behind her waist, pulling her close to me, intertwining my fingers with hers with our other hands, and now I start to move my legs automatically, the dance steps have been engraved in to my brain you could say, everyday we dance, my twin and I. I can feel my pulse quickening, and not because the dance is tiring, oh no. A closeness between Rin and myself that never used to bother me, it all seems so awkward now, I feel nervous being so close to her. She shows so sign of awkwardness toward me; I assume she doesn't feel it.

Our dance without music finished once more, I hadn't been paying attention yet I hadn't faltered, not once. On the contrary, it was Rin who was faltering, and I couldn't figure out why. We knew our dance so well. I smiled wearily at her, letting her go and wandering over to a large mirror mounted upon the wall. It came as a shock to me as I stared at my reflection. It had so suddenly occurred; I was aging more and more. I pictured myself as a child standing with Rin beside me; we'd been the same height then. Not anymore. I gripped the edge of the oak chest of drawers tightly, attempting to steady myself. I felt very peculiar. I let out a deep breath, not entirely sure what had come over me, I tightened my ponytail with one shaking hand.

The boy staring back at me in the mirror had changed significantly. I noticed how broad my shoulders had become, and I could see the faint outline of muscles beginning to appear in my upper arms as well. However, the dark circles beneath my blue eyes told me that puberty was taking its toll on me, both emotionally and physically.

Movement behind me caused me to break from my train of thought. I stared at Rin's reflection in the mirror as she sauntered towards me, her hips swaying a little as she moved. Had her hips always been so...noticeable? She slipped her skinny arms around my waist, lovingly pulling herself close to me. She came up to my neck now, I frowned at the fact we were no longer 'symmetrical'. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow, gliding elegantly to my side so that only one of her arms remained on my waist. She too was staring grimly at our reflections, and with a heavy sigh she rested her head upon my shoulder.

My eyes passed up and down her reflection, I noticed her curves, curves that I didn't have. It horrified me that we would never look perfectly the same again, it was only now that I realised that she was a woman, I a man, and how different both genders are. A faint blush colored my pallid cheeks as I stared at her chest. Ah, now I realised why dancing with her was becoming so awkward, they were getting in the way. A feeling had come over me, one I hadn't experienced before, and didn't understand, making my palms clammy and my breathing shallow.

"Len" Rin breathed my name, almost silently, making the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I answered 'yes', in a somewhat raspy voice.

"What are you thinking about?" her soft voice echoed through the vast ballroom. I opened my mouth to reply, but suddenly felt my face grow warm with embarrassment, what could I say? I was thinking about your body, I gently pushed her arm away from my waist and moved away from her

"O-oh...uh...just...u-us" I stuttered unintentionally, staring down at the polished marble floor. I could see scratches where our dancing shoes had damaged the floor. I daren't look into her eyes lest my heart start to pound again.

"Mmm" She mumbled thoughtfully, "me too, I was just thinking about how much we've changed..." She trailed off, a hand clasped against her chest as she stared curiously at the gold framed mirror. I scratched the back of my head anxiously, not sure what to say to her. She quickly turned to stare at me, my cheeks burning as she did so, I moved to peer outside the grand windows. The Moon emitted a cool light across the towering trees outside, and stars twinkled as if they'd been studded by hand across the black canvas of the night sky.

"Mom and Dad aren't home yet." I commented, not really concerned by their absence. Our parents were some what distant towards us, something that had brought us two twins even closer. Being from a very wealthy family meant that our parents were out night and day, going to fancy dinners and celebrations, something they had attempted to introduce us to, but our lack of interest led them to discard this idea. The few evenings we had attended these occasions we had spent tied to one another, one of the reasons we weren't very social, we had one another, and that was all we'd ever needed. Our parents didn't really mind leaving us alone with one another, all we really did was dance and talk. It was all we had done for as long as I could remember.

"We should go to bed before they return, or else they'll get angry." Rin decided her tone of voice a little sad. I nodded in agreement, walking away from the windows and taking her hand. The odd sensation from earlier had disappeared for now, and I felt calm once again.