\n\t\t\t\t\tubc was the commissioner of this story. It tells the background of her characters, Ja and Ru. I won't give spoilers---------------------------------------------
The village bustled. There wasn’t a person out there on that day that didn’t have a job, or a chore to do. The elders sat in their chairs, some teaching the children and others sharing stories of what took place in days long ago that they could barely remember. The children listened as best as they could, some rolled their eyes and others watched the butterflies go by.
Outside of the village, though, was a different story. Twin brothers, loved by the village in their own way, were getting their day started. Today was when Ja and Ru, twin tiger brothers did their chores. Ja was younger and had blue stripes, Ru was older and had red stripes that bled into black stripes as they want across his body. They had no work that day and used it to get things done at home. Ja had already finished up his chores while Ru still had his to do. Ru was more aggressive and strong so it was befitting that Ru did more around the house they decided. Ja was the more intelligent so he handed Ja was done with his chores so he decided to go exploring a bit. He had never been exploring alone but felt that today was a good day to start.
He had been gone for a better part of the day when he came across a gem. The tiger decided to snatch it up, the thought being that they’d catch a fair price in the market. Then they could get better food or a better home and take more days to themselves. Ja put the gem in his satchel before he looked both ways to make sure no one saw him. He then ran home as quickly as possible.
“Ru! Ru!”
Ja yelled out once he was close to home. He wanted his brother to share in his excitement! The elder brother came out from what he was doing in their shed and looked over where Ja ran from. He knew that Ja was excitable but even had never seen the younger one this excited.
“What is it, brother? I have work to finish.”
“Look! Look!”
Ja opened the satchel again to his brother the gem. It was shiny and red and looked as big as one of their eyes. It was perfect in every way. Ru had never seen such a thing and was excited to have one at least! It would be the perfect thing to talk to his friends about and to otherwise boast about!
“I intend to sell this at the market, Ru. I figure we could make enough to get a better and bigger ho…”
“NO!”
The older tiger shouted and snatched the jewel up. He would show his brother! One doesn’t show someone else a precious and expensive looking item and then have it declared that you would just give it away. He held it aloft while he shoved his bewildered brother back quiet a distance.
“You will NOT take this gem away. We never had anything quite like this before in our lives. Now was our chance and you wanted to get a rid of it!? Well, now it’s mine for….rrrgh!”
“Brother?”
Ja still loved his brother, despite what had happened. He rushed to Ru’s side and tried to figure out what was wrong. Ru could feel his stomach as it became distended. It continued to grow even as Ja ran over. The fur on his body lost some of its coloration as the essence of the jewel took over. His abs were lost and the jewel sat where his belly button used to be. Ja meanwhile could only see a blinding light followed by a deep darkness.
Sometime later, Ru came to. Being the older and stronger of the brothers, he was usually the quickest to survive such blows. He tried to sit up but found that he couldn’t. It felt as though something….or someone was weighing him down. He looked over to his right and there was Ja. Or rather, there was half of Ja. From the top of his head to his neck was now attached to the same body as Ru.
Over the course of weeks, which turned into months, the brothers went back to their work and lives as much as possible. Whisperings went throughout the village. Some called them a demonic creature, cursed by the very evil ones that the children were warned about. Others called them a divine messenger, one head able to mete out swift, unbridled justice in thought and doing and the other more calculated and sweet. Either way, due to one brother’s great greed, they became known as the Jaru-Jaru Twins. They were both reviled and almost worshipped by the village, no one quite sure what they were exactly.