"What do you even do out here?" was the question that made Nanami regret speaking up at all.

Sakiko jumped over fallen trees, hid behind bushes, rolled on the ground- a scene that made Nanami think his sister was trying to recreate her own action movie. Nanami ran and chased after her, continuously reminding her that he's not in the best shape and to take it easy on him. Sakiko replied by tossing a locust shell to him and saying he was a buzz kill.

As nighttime rolled around, Nanami forces Sakiko into agreeing to find shelter- though the only building seemed to be run down bar. It was empty of walkers, but not of bad thoughts for the twins.

"Do you expect to live on potato chips and cheetos forever?" Nanami questions, going through her bag.

"I was doing that before the geeks started growling," Sakiko reminds, hopping off her bar stool.

Nanami shrugs her off, pulling out a bag, though he rattles it to find it was empty. He sighs, tossing it to the ground and Sakiko gasps, hurrying over to it and picking the empty bag off the floor.

"Don't tell me.." Nanami squints to her, "Is that the bag Glenn gave you?"

"No!" Sakiko hisses, folding the bag and sliding it into her back pocket, "It's just not nice to litter."

Nanami purses his lips, looking around the bar floor full of bags, broken bottles, and.. well, trash. 'Litter' if he used Sakiko's choice of phrasing.

"Shut up," Sakiko huffs, pulling the bag away from him to pull out an opened bag of chips and tossing it on his lap.

"Didn't say anything," Nanami mutters, opening the bag and stuffing his mouth.

Sakiko slides into the booth across from him, picking at her fingernails as she scans the area.

"Do you think this is the kind of place dad would come?" she couldn't help but wonder.

"Maybe," Nanami shrugs, "This place might be too sophisticated, though."

Sakiko lets out an airy sound that was almost a laugh, tilting her head as she nudges a broken bottle with her foot.

"Do you think he's still.. You know..?" she questions.

"Maybe," Nanami repeats.

"Do you have a straight answer for anything?" Sakiko complains.

"Yes. I think we should find our way back to camp."

Sakiko groans, leaning against the seat and glaring at the ceiling, "Those people-"

"Our friends," Nanami corrects.

"Those people," Sakiko stands her ground, "Don't even care about us."

"Ryan, Glenn, T-Dog, and a bunch of others were helping look for you," Nanami reveals, "And Daryl's plan-"

"I don't want to hear about Daryl," Sakiko cuts him off.

"Why not?" Nanami exasperates, "It's not like he's done anything wrong! If anything, he's the only person we can trust at all!"

"Yeah? Well, he can't trust us!" Sakiko snaps.

A silence washes over the two, Sakiko's eyes losing the rage in favor of frowning to her lap.

"Just because you got caught with those guns doesn't mean that he's going to hate you, Kiko," Nanami says, figuring out the core issue of his sister's actions.

"He asked me to do something and I failed. He-"

"He's not our dad," Nanami repeats her words, "It wasn't about him raising us or being there.. You don't want Daryl to be like him."

Sakiko swallows, shaking her head, "Dad would beat the shit out of me."

"Daryl won't," Nanami speaks carefully, "Daryl's not him. Daryl is better than that."

"Is Merle?" she asks, looking up to Nanami with teary eyes.

"We don't even know if Merle is alive or not. And even if he was bad, Daryl won't let him do anything to us. Daryl wouldn't let us go through more pain. He's probably beating himself up for us being missing right now."

Sakiko blinks her tears away, scoffing at herself. She wasn't supposed to get emotional- she wasn't supposed to cry. It wasn't like her to breakdown twice in a row now- it wasn't fair to herself.

"We need to go back," Nanami pleads.

"I'm going to sleep," Sakiko brushes him off, taking her jacket off to roll into a makeshift pillow.

Nanami sighs, watching as she lays down in the booth- not looking the slightest bit comfortable.

"Kiko-"

"Night, Nanami."

--

Nanami followed Sakiko- even though he stayed a safe distance behind her. As she walked in front of him, he was making sure to step into mud puddles and water, carve initials into car doors or trees- anything that could help Daryl find them faster.

"We're running low on water.. I think we need to find a store or something," Sakiko says- Nanami figuring she was talking to herself.

"Do you think we could find road signs? A map? I'm not good at reading maps, though," she continues.

As Nanami finishes carving a 'X' into a car door, Sakiko turns to him and he quickly places the knife behind his back.

"Are you listening?" she asks.

"Water. Map. Something- something," he answers.

"Close enough," Sakiko shrugs.

Nanami begins to catch up until there's a rumbling feeling in the ground. It lasts for a few seconds, both twins stopping their movements to look around.

"Did you feel that?" Nanami asks.

Sakiko gives him a deadpan face, setting her hands on her hips, "No, Nana. I didn't feel the earthquake."

"Can you not be mean for five minutes? You're starting to remind me of dad," Nanami huffs.

Sakiko's back straightens, looking at Nanami with a face of hurt. Nanami, who was looking back around their area, faces her and the two lock eyes. There, Nanami sees the emotions swirling in her features.

"I didn't mean it like that," Nanami tries.

"Forget it," Sakiko waves off, turning to walk again.

And even though the tension rose, Nanami still follows after her.

--

The night came once more and the twins found their shelter in a truck that was broken down on the side of the road. Sakiko wished she had the strength to make a comment on how it was a miracle that the truck didn't have a geek in the driver's seat, but she hadn't said a word since earlier.

Once Nanami was asleep, Sakiko climbed out of the truck and into the bed in the back- knees to her chest as she looks up at the moon and stars sprinkled in the sky.

Slowly, she brings her hand to her neck, fingers finding the pendant on the necklace Daryl gave her.

Her mind raced- though that was usual for the young girl. For once, she just wishes it would slow down. Just breathe in and breathe out- not think about anything at all for awhile.

Instead, her mind remembers the diner when Daryl came by for their birthday, the feeling of the geek grabbing her, Nanami's words, the weight of the gun in her hand, the smell of the RV, the feeling of permanent damage from Shinsuke.. everything. Her mind was on everything.

Sighing, she leans her head back against the window, wondering why she could never sit still long enough to focus as she wished she could count all the stars above her.

Her mind pauses, halts like a broken record as she spots something new in the sky. Squinting in the darkness, the watches the movement that looked like a monster swallowing all the stars.

Then, she realizes it was smoke and reminds herself that the monsters were already walking among people.

𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇 𝓇𝒶𝓂𝒷𝓁𝑒𝓈--

sakiko is whipped for glenn and you know what we all should be

whos ready for twins and daryl reunion? it may be soon.. it may not be.. who knows?