sneptune

In this dream, it was in evening, when the sky was darkening.  I ventured into a hotel with my servants to visit a calligraphic master who was skilled in writing wards.  While we were practicing and contemplating which brush to use and to be bought, we heard that arsenals of panicking voices, that a vampire was outside.

The calligraphic master went outside and we never saw him again.  I was not afraid, afterall I was resourceful.  On the way out, we spotted a giant ogre that my servants were feverishly trying to fend off.  Dealing with the vampire alone was already a headache, and having to deal with an ogre will stretch our resource thin.  Instead, we lured the ogre out and had it attacked the vampire.  But like the calligraphic master, we never saw that ogre return again.

In the end, we had to deal with it personally, so I went out to chase off the vampire with my flying bloom.  We played cat and mouse until we reached an abandoned town that was full of thugs.  I bought a silver bullet from someone off the street, I only had one chance, but it should do.  When I finally gotten into a good spot, I shot the vampire, only to miss it by an inch.  The vampire rushed out of my sight and I recycled the used silver bullet by summoning it back, only to got shot by the vampire who also bought an gun.  For all that take the gun shall perish with the gun, and I fired a last shot that struck the vampire in the chest... But what is the meaning in pointing sword to each other.  An eye for an eye will leave us all blind.  I staggered my way to the vampire and looked into his wound.  Thanksfully, it was not lethal and it will heal up overtime, but it seemed my time was up, my chest was already covered in thick dark blood.  Even breathing was taking a toll, but I still had many things to do, I cannot die yet.  When I stared into the blood, I went into the darkness.

"...a thick darkness over all the land..."

The sound of ancient organ, and the all too familiar the smell of wood.  I realized that felt asleep in an old church while the men were practicing their choir in the next room.  I walked outside, the dusk sky that stretch across the milky sky was offset by a alone figure sitting at the top of the church.  She boost how no one can best her, that humanity will be ruled by the dark kingdom, until I sent for a plant to take me to her.

"Hello there," I greeted while ironing out my long dress.  The lady looked at me in awe before realization drew on her.

"It can't be", she said, "Your majesty..."

It was a cold winter.  The street was blanketed by the eternal white; nevertheless, people went on their normal daily life, sheltered by cases of metal and glass they called cars.  In that dream, I went on a journey with my family on an old bus.  Like the ancient yellow and black schoolbus, that bus only have a primitive heating system, with flimsy windows that are hard to move due to the rust.  After we stopped for lunch, the driver went to the washroom, leaving the bus to our disposal.  Unfortunately, the bus was not parked and caused an tragic accident.  This is where our journey truly began...

My sister and I found out that there was a way to rewrite history with the help of a magical tome.  I went onto a galaxy library and surprisingly, they had a copy, so we rented the tome out for a day.  We reported back to our boss who knows many things about magic, only to found out that she also had a copy of the tome.  But unlike ours, hers had a blue glowing hue and seemed somewhat transparent.  Apparently, she had an episode where she went to seek the magic tome, only to find that it had already been checked-out.  So she went through a demon portal and retrieve the tome for an alternative universe, and that tome was compose of anti-matter and thus very dangerous.

After we finished reading our magical tome, we realized the book was cursed.  The only way to reverse it was to declare bankruptcy, and it must be a real bankruptcy where we used up our assets for stupid things.  Otherwise, the earth will be swamped by a plague caused by black bugs.  Instead, we used the magical tome to summon a magical girl that can do mass of destruction with her photon canon.  And thus, the bugs were burn to crisp.

If Justice is a person, will it be a man or a woman?  A stereotypical man who is constantly in the role of hunting for a bride and cannot see past what is in front of him, or a stereotypical woman who can only rely on and hide behind others, only confronting evil when they are well "protected"?  Or will it be...

Today, it is the school's festival.  The homeroom teacher has arranged for the school to participate in an event, where we are to solve a riddle and answer by seeking items that can act as metaphor for the answer.  The class is devided into 6 groups, but unfortunately not every group has the same number of people.  My group only has 4, whereas the other group has like 7.  Nevertheless, there are two elites in my group.

The first question is a poem about how cold the world is, how summer is cold and winter is cold.  The answer to the riddle is warmth; so we all rushed to the back of warehouse to obtain metaphoric items.  I got 3 from the toy/decoration section, they are all glassware but were very pretty and have symbol of sun all over it.  When I got back to my group, we already have all sort of items which are all very fitting.  Nevertheless, that's all we can get becauase the other groups are taking everything off the shelf, even though there are dozens of them.  The teacher seeing how everyone is more interested in tripping each other than cooperating asked everyone to put back their items to the original location.  Everyone is exhausted and they don't see why they have to put back the items even though they have worked so hard for getting them.

I propose to the teacher, as the class president, that group will have scores for putting back items.  The teacher dismisses my suggestion however.  After class, I see one of my associate takes care of a school deliquent, albiet violently.  It is his justice for punishing the wrong.  I have to stop him before he seriously hurt that someone, which swears he will have his revenge.  Afterward, he met with a drug owner and they planned to use the money they will earn from selling drugs, against me.

On my way back home, I take the public bus.  One of my classmate is also taking the same bus so I sit next to her.  She is a talkative person; nevertheless, she is unusually quiet when I am next to her.  Apparently, it is because I am "a guy".  Since we are both away from the schoolground, I revealed that I am actually a girl in disguise.  In a society where men has taken role of a hunter, what can the "prey" supposedly do.  I do not want others to help me in their attempt to woe me, as that is no different from using might to make right.  I want the voice of reasons, not the voice of an idol.  In the  end, she gives me half of her mooncake as we travelled back home.  Unknown to both of us, a shadowly figure is spying on us...  He shall have his revenge.

I was Suigintou, the first doll of the Rozen Maiden series.  Ever since the last Alice Game, I began living with Kirakishou in a broken down church.  The floors were collasping, the stained glass were invaded by the overgrown tree from the outside.  Yet, it was very fitting for me.

<Cluck> <Cluck>

The sound of footstep echoed above in my cell, waking me from my slumber.

"What is the matter, Oneesama?" Kirakishou asked curiously while rubbing her eyes with her sleeves.

<Thum>

Now, it was the sound of something dropped.

I hurrily walked upstair to locate the source of the sound.  It could be an enemy.  As I venture along the hallway, I spotted a room with bluish glow.  It was the room where I collect broken dolls of all kinds, mostly mutuated beyond repair, broken dolls like me.  Kirakishou and those dolls were the only one I have left.  And now, those dolls were giving up a strange blue glow.

"My ladies," a spirit like doll with golden greenish hair in a white lolitia dress floated in the middle of the room addressing us.

Kirakishou walked forward and tried to touch the genie.  "Don't you dare to touch me."

The spirit continued, "I have come to see you, Suigintou.  I will fulfill your dream."  I touched its face, and it fell back.  The place where I touched started to rot and the spirit stared at me in fear and pain as the flesh continued to be eatting away half of its face.

"I told you not to touch... touch..." it disappeared.  I looked around the room, which was now empty.  There were no longer broken dolls, glowing or not.

Kirakishou mentioned that white magic could help us relocate them, so we sneaked into our enemy base, the backyard of the rich home of Shinku.  Sure enough, inside the house they were asleep, and the magic tome was just next to them to the left on the bookshelf.  The door was guarded by Hinaichigo; I can probably fooled her into thinking I am Shinku.

I brought out my sewing kits and started stringing red threads and golden threads to create a wig right on my head.  The window suddenly opened and Shinku looked at me in surprise.  She quickly brought out a camera and took a picture of me.  That damnable Shinku... She was trying to mock me again!  I unthread my wig as quickly as possible and jumped into the house through the window.

Shinku already printed a picture of me in the wig, she even "shopped" it so that it looked as if me and Hinaichigo was hugging each other.  I ripped the photo into pieces in embarrassement... Shiku!

A woman was caught, in the dark stairway of an old broken building, meeting with a wealthy middle aged man.

The wife of the middle aged man emerged from the mob in anger, "All these years, I have been faithful to you.  I couldn't believe the rumour that you have an affair with a younger woman.  But how can this be, you are not human."

"And woman, what is the meaning of this?  You are the heiress of a rich family, and a guru with high respect, you have put your family in shame," the wife weeped.

----------

Traditionally, a woman who was caught in the act of adultery will be burn on a stake.  But she was a heiress of an influential clan, and within a day, a massager arrived from the clan.  It was her housekeeper.

The housekeeper went into the meeting room with the wife and took out a stack of mail.  They are all from the husband, one every year, for the last decades.  Apparently, the husband was very good at hiding his activity which was only exposed recently.  In fact, the first letter was posted just after they were married!

"Are you trying to mock me?" the wife looked up bitterly.  For all those years, she had been ignorant of what was going on.

The housekeeper started to explain.

----------

Our lady was your husband's childhood friend, and as you may have known, our family was the most influential power in the area.  Our former master was very against her meeting with the boy, who was of lower status.  Nevertheless, they fell in love with each other, thus our master arranged a marriage between you and your husband.  But on the same day of your husband's marriage, our master died.  In one building was a celebration of marriage, the next the ceremony of death.  Your husband promised to write to our lady ever year, and those were what all those letters were about.

Our lady is a very respected person, who follows principles instead of her desire.  Being the heiress of the family, she chose to became a guru, doing nothing but help out others for the last decade.  Yet, recently she was found to be infected with a deadly disease, she had no time left.  Before she passed on, she only wished to meet with her childhood friend again.  She didn't her meeting to affect your family, so she decided to meet in secret.  Please forgive her...

----------

End of story

I arrived school early today.  As the class president, I helped my homeroom teacher brought the handout to be used today. As I opened the office room, I bumped into a long girl.

"I am sorry," I looked up to see the girl glare at me.  She was scary, she didn't even move, like a stone hawking me.

"I am sorry," I repeated and walked pass her and hurried out of the office.

"What is with her?" my friend who saw me bumped into her asked.

---------------

I was a coward, who afraid of confrontation with anyone.  Even since I was young, I have tried to blend in with the rest of my classmates, doing my best not to bother anyone.  But as years passed, I grow taller and taller, my face became more rigid.  I looked imposing, and I loathed it.  Just like today, I got absent minded and someone bumped into me.  I almost got a heart attack.  Will she dislike me? Will she mention my name afterward?  It was overwhelming, and I believe I fainted on the spot.

---------------

"Are you awake?" the infantry nurse asked.

"Yes, I am.  What happened?"  The nurse went on a lecture how I had low blood sugar, and how I shouldn't skip breakfast.

When I entered the classroom, I can felt dozens of eyes bored down at me.  I went to my seat and did nothing, when I looked up at my classmate, they quickly turned their head.  My life in school was all over, because I bumped into someone.

Afterward, I kept seeing my stationary stolen, my notes ripped in half, I talked to my homeroom teacher about it, who was like a mother to me.  And the next day, she was fired for confronting the students.

----------------

I sat at the beach looking over the horizon.  The sky was gray, yet it was a warm day.  My friend sat next to me watching the sea.

"He can't walk anymore," I said.

She continued to watch over the sea, "Yeah, but he looks so comfortable.  Afterall, he still got his precious granddaugther taking care of him."

I smelled the salty ocean air and cheered up a little, "yeah."

A black car stopped on the road near the beach.  Several men in black suit and eye glasses walked out toward us, "My lady, it is time to go."

My friend looked longing at me, so I asked, "Can I come with you?"

"You are welcome too"

Today, I got a job interview.  After bidding good bye to my family, I went down to the subway station waiting for the train.  Apparently, there were two type of trains going on the same lane: one went north, the other east.  I got onto the first train I saw without knowing the difference and immediately got lost.  When I get off the train to seek the information center, I spotted a lone lady with the train map.

The station was unusually quiet, with only five people waiting for the next train.  The silence was broken by the approaching train.  As I stepped back, someone from behind tripped himself and fell head first into the approach metal.  His head exploded like a fallen watermelon, and his arms were torn off from the impact and bounced into and under the train, but I couldn't see very clearly because the blood were covering my glasses.  I took out a handkerchief to wipe my glasses clean before stepping into the train.  This was the right train.

After the job interview, I went to the bus station and found that I was stalked.  When I got back to the apartment, I saw the same lady who waited for the train with me.

"Come with me," she asked, taking me  into the elevator .

"So you saw what happened.  You still stink of blood.  It couldn't be helped..." she continued.

"You have inherited the curse from the dead, come and wash, to rid of the curse placed by the mage."

While she was preparing the bath, I went out to the dark stairway and saw two figures.  Are they the mage?  I questioned in fear.   But however you look at them, they look like cops.

"Hide yourself," one of the cops explained, "You have no time left.  Hurry."

I went into the stairway and began climbing the ending flight of stair.  Many of them were broken, so I occasionally need to use the wall to help myself climb.  The stairway was so narrow that if I wasn't careful, I would fall down to the bottomless pit.  But I have no choice.  If I stopped in the middle, I would be as good as dead.  When I finally reached the top, I lay down low in the corner next to the dark gate, like a ghost.  Eventually, I was informed that I can come down, and the bath was ready.

The bathroom seems very familiar to me.  It was a small room, decorated with blue and white tiles, with a washing machine nearby.  The lady helped to wash the invisible taints on my body with cold water.  After the bath, we slept together until the ritual was completed.

 I got home from a long day of work.  I opened the silver fence in my apartment and found my co-worker sitting in front of a television.  I wasn't very familiar to him; we were not even friend.  Needless to say, I was very surprised and troubled.

"What are you doing in my apartment?"  I asked.

"I need your help, to overthrown the Lord."

I was in awe.  He must be joking, but when I looked at him again, he seemed very serious.

"No," I looked away.

"Look down," he ordered.

I saw my warrior friend, one of the elites in the battle platoon, walking within a deep forest.  The betrayer pulled and fired an arrow, it snaked into the forest as if the arrow was alived and impaled itself on the neck of my friend with thunder.

"No... stop!"  I looked at him angrily.  "And you will not success.  Should I report to the Lord about your idea?  He would be quite surprised."

"You will do no such things, if you value the lives of those who walked the Earth."

I am cold and alone.  What else can I do?  I can only obey his request, for I am powerless to stop him.  He doesn't seem to worry about me going back to headquarter.  For the following days, I learnt that he had countless of followers who spyed on everyone of us.

The day finally come when my mission was finally over, and I was obligated to head to the headquarter with reports to the Lord.  The headquater was sphere in shape with only one floor.  There was a huge pillar in the middle. The Lord walked down from the pillar and I handed him the report.  I was wary from being monitored day and night and worked against my will.  This was probably my last chance to stop the betrayer before his plan came to fruits. But even though I was in the headquarter, I didn't feel safe at all.  It was as if I was still monitored, probably by another betrayer in this room.

But I wouldn't give up, "May I speak with you privately?" I asked in a small voice.

"Curtain all the windows," the Lord ordered, and it was done.  I followed him and walked on a floating disk which transport us, until we arrived a small white room.  I was anxious, very anxious.  But eventually, I found my voice and whispered to the Lord about the betrayer.  He reassured me that everything will be alright, and that I might seek refugee here.

All of my co-workers were ordered back to the headquarter in the following days, but the betrayer never showed up.  Our missions are all dismissed; we can stay in the headquarter if we like, but the Lord will not return, until the day of judgement arrive.

Ever since I was a young kid, my eyes had failed me.  I can still see, but the vision is nothing but unidentifiable blurs and splodge.  We have visited many doctors, but there is nothing they can do to such a young child.  Don't be mistaken, I can see tell if it is day or night, if I am inside a room or outside the park.  Maybe it is a compensation of my blindness, I gained the ability to see through other people's mind.  Only my family knew of my disease and ability, and it is best for me not to mention it to outsider, until a day...

It is the beginning of my sixth grade.  Next to me, sat a girl with shoulder-length hair.  She wore seemly expensive dresses with a small ribbon tying her hair into a broad pony tail. She was deemed pretty by many people with her bright eyes and dark hair, too bad she sat next to a freak like me.  Because of my vision, I tended to walk next to people so that I wouldn't crash into door and such.  They got very upset about me following them and started to isolate me.

"Hi, I am Ririka, nice to meet you," the girl introduced herself.

"I am Miniko, nice to meet you," I looked at her with empty eyes, even though I can't really see her.  I wouldn't want her to become suspicious.

"You can call me Ri-chan if you want," Ririka offered friendly.

"In that case, you can call me Mi-chan," I smiled, for the first time since who knew when.  I have always wanted a friend.  If only I can see her with my own eyes...

I looked forward to school everyday, so that I can meet her.  We walked together, go to bathroom together, eat together, just like any close friends. She is popular.  Many classmate would ask her for problems in homework and advises, but none of them would pay attention to me.  She wore the latest and most fashionable clothes and hair dress, I wore the dullest clothes
with wild short hair like a mad girl.  If I am a shadow, then Ri-chan is the sun of my life.

One day, I overheard my friend talking about going to a party with another girl.  It is a social gathering in which many upper-class people gathered. How nice, a party.  I have never been to one in my entire life, but I can just imagine the music, the foods, and best of all, Ri-chan to be there with me.

When I went home, I told my grandma about the party exicitedly.

"So you want to attend the party?" grandma asked while I am shopping for grocery with her.

"Why yes! I have never been to a party before," I stared at the azura blurry sky and the blurry face of my grandma.

"Hahaha, why not?  I will make you a dress so beautiful people can only dream of."

"Oh, grandma. Thank you so much, I am dying to go there," I hugged.

"Don't say dying in front of old people, you are still young."

"But I am sure you can live over 100 years."

"Such a lively child, if only her eyes aren't failing her..."

------

As promised, grandma had made me a fancy white dress.  That evening, she combed my hair and helped me put on the dress, golves, and boots, all made by her own hands.  Grandma was the number one dress maker, many dancers and artists used to ask of her skill.  Despite the years, her skill hadn't dull at all.

As I entered the party gathering, I spotted Ririka.  As expected, she was mobbed by arsenal of people like honey attracted bees.  Many photographers were taking pictures of her and praised her of her beauty.

I decided to go out and waved to Ririka, "Hey, Ri-chan."

She was shocked to see me in the party.  She didn't recognized me first, but there is only a few people who would called her Ri-chan.

But before I can reached her, photographers and reporter surrounded me.  "Wow, what a charming lady.  Look at that dress, that is no ordinary work."

"Look at her eyes, it is clear like glass, like a doll," another commented.

Well, of course my eyes are "glassy", they can't really see.  Duh.  I "looked" at my friend.  Did I surprised her?  But I didn't expect to see her looked at me in anger and rushed out of the room.  Apparently, I stole all the attentions which should rightfully be hers.  I never care for attention, I
just want you too look at me, to praise me like you always do, Ri-chan.

When the party was over, I looked all over for Ririka, but she was no where to be found.  I got back home in foul mood.  I shouldn't have gone to the party invited.  It was all my fault.  I would apologize to her tomorrow.

I got back home, and a doctor was waiting for me.  My grandma had talked to a few professional in the field and came to the conclusion that I am of ages to perform eyes surgery.  I would have been delighted to hear the prospect of my vision cured, but right now, all that is on my mind is Ririka.

------------------

The surgery was a success.  I spent the next two weeks in hospital recovering. My relatives and grandma would visit me from time to time, I would thanks them with a fake smile.  I was increasingly worried about if Ririka will ever forgive me.  Ever since that day, I never got the chance to meet with her.

The next day, when I was released from hospital, I cannot wait to get back toschool.  I sat on my seat waiting for Ririka.  She returned to the seat next to me when class started.  For the first time, I can finally look at her with my own eyes.  But she never looked at me once, as if I didn't exist in the first place.  During break, she was always busy talking to someone.  Finally, during
lunch break, I spotted her walking alone.  I rushed and grabbed her arm, "Ri-chan, I am sorry.  Please, don't ignore me."

"Don't talk to me.  You don't deserve our friendship.  Thanks to your meddling, I missed my chance to be invited to a school aboard."

I don't know what to say.  I apologized, and I wasn't forgiven.  Now what?  I walked and walked.  The lunch break seemed unusually long.  As I walked outside, I bummed into someone.  It is the school deliquent...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  It has been months since I had last updated my journal, mostly because I had nothing interesting to write about, or it is too difficult for me to address them.  This morning's dream on the other hand, inspired me to write another entry:

Birth, age, sick, death, they were all part of life. But they were valued very differently. Without death, people will not realize the value of life; without sickness, people will not realize that treasure called health. What is healthy physically is well defined, but what of the mind?

An old cat, who were abandoned by its owner, got adopted into a new family. Lost trust was not easy to regain; the human whom abandoned it merely because it was getting old and slow. When it was young, everyone paid great attention to it. Although it doesn't appreciate human's sadistic view of what makes it cute, at the very least, it was wanted, just for being there. Was it because they didn't want to see it got sick and die that they would rather sent it away to die alone? Or was it because it doesn't contribute to the family? But in that case, why did they adopt it in the first place?

When it found a new home, it was welcomed initially. It wasn't a very sociable cat, but it was well feed regardlessly. Until one day, a new kitten arrive. It looks exactly the same as the older cat, because it was cloned. As if the history is repeating itself, people paid great attention to the kitten and putting humiliating clothing on it. It was doing its owner a service by putting up cute acts, and in return, it got attention and snack.

No matter how much they deny it, humans judge others based on how they look, no matter how irrational. But when they tried to judge based on ration, is there anything left in this world? There was an old man, who couldn't quit gambling and drinking alcohol. Although he was retired, the family which composes of three kids and two parents, were no well off financially. Everyday, he would got into argument with his wife because he was drinking the family into poverty. But what can he do? As his age, he will not get hired, unlike his wife who can still use her looks. An alcoholic old man will just be looked down upon. No matter how much he tried to restraint himself, even if he didn't drink at all for days, he will still be blamed.

One day, the eldest son who was a director of a company, got into a traffic accident. The mother of the son fainted on the news, and his girlfriend cried herself to blind. They were supposed to get married in two weeks. Those who cease to live remain living, those who were living died. One of the doctor offer the old man a chance to take place with his son. No one will miss him if the old man dies in place of the young man, who is a contributing members of the society. Those who can't work isn't entitled to live.

That is the day when he started to live as an imposer. He did his best in his company, even though he wasn't familiar, he was excused because of the accident. Only the immediate family knew of his arrangement. He sacrified his life in order to pay off what he should have done years ago. As an imposer, he could only drink occasionally and he can work everyday. It is a blessing, yet his family will only look down upon him. How nice of him to become young again. Now, he will get to marry someone young enough to be his daughter! Shame on him for living a normal life after what he has done to the family.

Like those who committed crime, they were sentenced to life even after they were released from the prison. They are avoided like plague, treated worse than a dog, and hated because they are scums of the society. If they will never be treated as equal, why weren't they executed instead of getting out of prison after they served their sentence? But it doesn't matter. Humans are heading for destruction, everyone will be executed for every sins they have ever committed.

This story took place in the back of an high school...

"Somebody save me..." Tom prayed from the bottom of his heart. He was surrounded by 5 gangsters and was beaten up thoroughly.

He was an obedient and responsible kid, so when he wasn't home by six, his mother knew something was wrong. She called the police, but the police wouldn't act unless he was missing for over 24-hours. She called the homeroom teacher, Rina as well as a detective agent, hoping that her son is safe.

The detective agent accepted the job of course, but frankly, he wasn't too concerned. In his mind, his client is just overprotective and paranoid. But he will do his job by visiting the school. However, he didn't see anything unusual, until he met Rina.

Rina, being the homeroom teacher, was very concerned about Tom's well being. Classes were over, but Tom still haven't return after lunch. The detective chatted with her regarding today's event. There wasn't anything unusual except Tom didn't return. He concluded that Tom was skipping class, which wasn't usual for kids his age. Rina spotted Tom's best friend, Tomoe was in her seat even though everyone had went home, so she and the detective asked her, "Hi Tomoe-chan, what are you doing? Are you waiting for Tom?"

She nodded her head. She was a quiet and shy person. The sky is getting dark, Tomoe's parents will be worried if she didn't return home. Rina opened the closet to get Tomoe's her jacket and spotted Tom's as well. Apparently, Tomoe has Tom's schoolbag as well. This wasn't a simple case of skipping school. During lunch, Tom was probably called out. He believed it will be prompt, so he asked Tomoe to wait for him before having lunch. That's why he didn't take his jacket. But Tom was a nice boy, he never got any enemy. Who called him out in the first place?

Sadly, even Tomoe didn't know the answer.

At any rate, Tomoe needed to go home. Mr. Detective had a car, so he was carpooling Tomoe, as well as Rina. He wasn't the driver however, Mr. driver is.

When Mr. driver saw Tomoe, he was surprised, "Man, who would have thought the daughter of Sasuke family was going to a public school."

Apparently, Tomoe came from a very well off family. Her family is the landlord of this area and owned many major firms.

The driver continued, "You sure move fast, Ken. Your father would be very pleased if you could marry her. In fact, her brother was very interested in marrying her. He just went out today with his agents."

So Mr. detective was called Ken, and was also from a well off family. "Why did you become a detective?" Rina asked.

"Because I want to solve mystery," Ken said offhandedly. He had something else on his mind. When we arrived Tomoe house, we saw her off before we continue to Rina's place.

"Why didn't I notice this before?" Ken looked up. "Tom being the best friend of Tomoe, was kidnapped because he was very important to Tomoe. In the other word, their target is Tomoe."

**** Back in the school yard during lunch. ****

"Tom, why don't you called Tomoe out. We really need to talk to her about some matters," the leader of the gangsters said. He wore a dress-shirt and a suit, probably someone with money.

"Why should I?" Tom asked.

"Because we will kill you slowly if not," he threatened. "I bet she would be very worried to see you like that. You wouldn't want to worry her, don't you?"

Tom stayed. He knew Tomoe would rush to his side to protect him if he went back like this. No one could protect him, not in this school. He and Tomoe will be killed before police can arrive.

**** Back to inside Ken's car ****

"Rina, do you mind if we went back to my place first? I need to confirm something."

Rina shook her head. They arrived Ken's place in ten minutes. It was more like a castle. He invited Rina in for some tea, while he went off somewhere.

Ken returned and asked Rina to go with him. He suspect his brother was behind the kidnapping. We arrived the living room of Ken's father, the master of this house.

"Dear father, it is good to see you are lively." Ken greet his father, who was being massaged on the back.

"Ouch ouch ouch," he cried out when he lost his composure.

"Ken, where have you been? So you finally have the grace to visit you father, don't you?" the old man continued while wearing his clothes.

Ken smiled, "Why of course. But I am just checking up my brother. You have always wanted Tomoe to be your daughter-in-law, aren't you? Then, we will be financially secured."

Ken's father picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and replied, "Yes, indeed. A strong man need to have an equally strong woman to support him. I can't give my estate to someone whom woman will drag him down."

Rina interrupted, "Excuse my rudeness. What is this about?"

Ken's father elaborated, "Well, traditionally, the eldest son Ken will inherit this estate. But if we only passed down based on age, our family will grow weaker every generation. That's why I proposed that whoever married a suitable wife will inherit the family."

Rina retorted, "I am sorry to say this, but isn't political marriage more harmful to the family line? When your daughter-in-law doesn't even love the family, she wouldn't have a problem selling off everything just to have luxury. Beside, women are not men's tools."

Ken's father was surprised by Rina's outburst. The atmosphere was getting thicker and thicker, until the old man cracked up in laughing, "Ha ha ha, no one had spoken so loudly to me for ages, and it was just a high school teacher to boot!"

He patted Ken at the back, "What a nice lady you got, Ken? I will give you the estate if you marry her."

"What?" Ken and Rina was surprised.

"When I said equally strong woman, everyone just interpreted it as being as financially well-off. What I was more interested in is one's character. You find a good lad."

Rina pressed sincerely, "In that case, father, could you stop your second-son? To our knowledge, he was planning to set up a marriage with the Sasuke family."

"Hahaha, what a nice ring. But no, sorry. If my son can't even handle such a small matter, he certainly isn't suited to inherit the family."

Ken and Rina walked to the yard in disappointment. It was getting late, so Ken offered Rina to stay in the guest room.

"Sorry for getting you involved," Ken apologized. "And we still couldn't find Tom. Maybe my intuition is wrong afterall."

"No, I think so as well. Most people wouldn't dare to mess with the Sasuka family. But your family is different. Given Tomoe's personality, if Tomoe know of this news..." Rina paused, "We better hurry. If Tom was kidnapped, where do you think he will be kept?"

"Since brother isn't living out, it is most likely somewhere around here. But most of his places are attended to by maids... except the storage cabin outside. But it wasn't used for years though."

"That's enough. Thanks," Rina started to walked into the house.

"Wait, where are you going? It is too dangerous."

"Don't worry. I have a plan. I may have to live here for a few days. Could you make an arrangement?"

"Sure."

"Thanks"

Rina waited in her guest room until the maid arrived to set things up for her. When she left, she took out her napkin against her window. The wind is blowning north east. This room is the closest to the storage room.

At around 11:00pm, Rina ran out of her room toward the storage cabin. Two shadows moved to confront her when she approached the small shed.

"Who is there?" A lady wearing black outfit asked and a similar outfitted man stood behind the lady.

Rina spotted her napkin, "I found it," She ran to the near bush to retrieve her napkin. "Today sure is windy, isn't it? You two are working hard. Keep up the good work."

Rina bowed and took her leave. By annoucing her stay in this house, they would be aware of her being a guest, so they couldn't kill her without getting suspected. It was just as conjectured, there must be something in that cabin. Otherwise, normally people would not actively guarding the place in the middle of the night!

The next day, Rina told Ken about her speculation. Unfortunately, there isn't anything he could do. His brother is an agent for body guards, Ken is just a detective. There is no way they can get around the cabin undetected. To catch thieves, catch their king.

Just when we were planning our next move, we received news that Tomoe had agreed to marry Ken's brother. Crap, we were one step behind.

Apparently, when Ken and Rina met the old man, there was a rumour about Ken getting married soon. When his brother heard the news, he hurried up his plan and phoned Tomoe at night, when Rina was picking up her napkin. Are we too late?

---------這段的作者是男生-----------
有種女生讓我很喜歡，卻不忍動情，
跟那種女生在一起時，會有種溫暖的感覺，
那感覺並不出自激情的感動，
而是來自於彼此心靈的瞭解，
真的，跟那種女生在一起時，你不會當你自己是個男生，
你們只是聖潔的分享，彼此心中的感動和心靈的交會，

沒錯，當你發現她的心和你是如此貼近時，常會想給她個結實的擁抱，

但當接觸的一瞬間，相視一笑，有些東西是比愛情更珍貴的。
這種女生當女朋友是種浪費，

我害怕她做的我女朋友後，我必須每天守著電話等著她的聲音出現，
我害怕我必須說些黏膩的話哄她，
更加害怕現實的束縛，會限制住純潔的心。
這種女生，我真的好喜歡，但我不動情，
愛她，但遙遙的守護著她，喜歡她，卻不佔有她。
這種感覺真棒，既不用為情所困，
為她的行為控制自己喜怒哀樂，又能享有心靈的交融。

有很多人都為交不到女朋友所苦，但有女朋友真的很好嗎？
與其狂烈的追求，相戀如蜜，還不如交個好朋友，
淡淡的，卻很甘美。

_________這段的作者是女生______________________
有一些男生，很令我動心，但不動情。怎麼說呢？
因為他們給我的感覺像朋友，真正的朋友。

我可以和他們很坦誠的談論彼此的愛情觀、婚姻觀，以及種種的人生問題。
在他們面前，我會忘記自己是女生，

就不會撒嬌、嫉妒、耍心眼，我和他們各站在天平的兩端。
我們可以一同看電影、郊遊回來，在車站揮揮手，
各自去等自己的車，走自己的路。這種感覺好極了！
我覺得自己很有尊嚴，人的尊嚴。

信不信？跟這些男生相處在一起，甚至比跟同類的女生相處來的愉快。
女生的聚會，是黏稠稠的，像一鍋濃粥，溫暖在胸，

但是吃多了會撐，一眨眼又餓，簡直沒什麼營養可以吸收，

而且很多女生都為情所困，談來談去總是心有千千結，別人管也管不完。
跟這些男生相處，就像一同「溫一壺月光的酒！」

是給彼此的心靈加養料，讓彼此潛在的才能發酵，揮發靈魂的芳香。
真的，這些男生所散發出來的生命活力，深深感動著我。
不可否認的，當我好不容易從「瓊瑤」跳到「蘇偉貞」，
他們早已背著「唐宗毅」和「牟宗山」回頭來等我。
我很驚訝，他們不必從文字、故事的迷林披荊斬棘，

就能一眼洞穿人生的奧祕，甚至開始為旁邊的同行者掌燈。

就能一眼洞穿人生的奧祕，甚至開始為旁邊的同行者掌燈。

能結交有智慧、理想與熱情的朋友，是人一生莫大的幸福吧！

我是這樣著迷於他們高貴的氣質，也感謝他們把我當「朋友」看待，

不因為我是女生，就隨便說些甜言蜜語來哄我，或者根本不睬我。
如果，追求人生的伴侶也必須如此相知相惜，
那我實在「捨不得」把這些男生當成男朋友。

我害怕一旦變成男女朋友，我就會計較他不送我回家、他不說些好聽的動心話，
他寧可送我「尼采與上帝」也不送一朵小花……

我還擔心，從此他只要我乖乖的陪在一旁，微笑地看他在眾人間侃侃而談；
我發問的機會都沒有，遑論有所質疑。
似乎兩人之間只要滲入感情元素，氣氛就不一樣了。
比如去看一場好電影，有幾對情侶在互相依偎陶醉之餘，
還能正襟危坐的討論那場電影的成就？
在無聲勝有聲的時刻，那實在太無趣了。
何況，男女朋友總會嘔氣，甚至最後各奔前程，
這就更無趣了，愛情消逝，友情也跟著淡漠。
說什麼「我們仍然是好朋友」，都是鬼話！
就算這不是一廂情願找台階下，而是雙方共同的心願，
這心願也太殘忍一點，何苦把自己逼到那麼窘迫的境地！
分手而後重逢，能說些什麼呢？「縱使相逢應不識」
尤其是當對方的身邊又多個人的時候。
對這些男生，我的確是心動而不敢、不忍動情。
唯恐不小心逾越分際，徒惹一身煩惱。

當然，偶而會有那麼幾剎那，會情不自禁、悄悄地流露愛慕之意，

他感覺到了，我也感覺到了，但是握手的瞬間也只是輕微的感覺，

當我們抬頭再看看澄澈的天空，以及對望彼此無私的眼眸，
我們知道︰有些東西會比愛情恆久，更值得我們追求。
這種默契，是屬於男女私情之外的，我如此相信。
男朋友或是丈夫，都是另一個封閉而完整的圓，
對我這個圓來說，可能是相交、相切或重疊，
甚至根本在另一個空間，八竿子也打不興的。
無論如何，我在他面前，還是要保持一個圓的形狀，
把自己紮成一個花球，隨著愛情的頻率跳動。
可是在這些男生、這些朋友面前，
我卻可以鬆開五花大綁，成為一條無限延長的直線，
因為不用費心去畫一個圓，或是費心去和另一條直線相交叉，

我們只是各自奔跑，志同道合就彼此吸引，成為兩條，甚至一組平行直線，

也許不屬於同一個平面，但是彼此知道、看得見、互相扶持、互相敬重。
我期求這樣的友情，這樣的男生令我動心而不動情。
愛有許多不同的名字，其中之一叫『體諒』。

Today, I dreamt that I went on a vacation with my family. However, we went to the wrong subway station where the platform was so narrow that it was as if we would fell off any moment. The doctor from the office told us how this platform wasn't meant to be used anymore. As we departed, he gave me a stick with rocks and crystals inside.

"Put those crystals you have onto the road on the surface," the doctor instructed.

When we left, my sister scattered the crystals onto the road just as instructed. I was puzzled, but she said the doctor knew best. Sure enough, the climate changed suddently and the road would have frozen if we didn't scattered the crystals. They were salt crystals.

When we got back home, I realized that no one could feed my parrot for the two days we went on the vacation. I rushed to the cage in worry. The parrot starred at me, but it never moved. It went into suspended animation mode to conserve energy consumption.

I quickly rise to fill up the food bowl, but it was already full? Does that meant the parrot didn't eat at all when we left?

The parrot regained consciousness and it jumped into the food bowl. What a relief! But this is when strange things happened. The parrot began to shrink; its gray feathers are replaced by yellow ones. Eventually, it shrunk so much that it seems the food could burrow it. Within the parrot, a pair of white wings sprouted and an angelic voice asked us.

"Thank you for raising my children. You are granted one wish, what would you have?"

I however did not have anything I was not satisfied with, until I remembered the crow that left us years ago. It was an injured raven we found in the park. Even though crows were b ad omin, I took it home. Afterall, I would rather have misfortune than to lost compassions. Over the following weeks, the crow quickly became my best friend. We would eat dinner together, and would always stay by each other. By the end of the month, it had fully recovered. Even though we were friends, we cannot be together forever. Crows are creatures of the nature, of freedom. Before it left, it promised that it will come back to visit us.

Month after months, the crow never came back. Everyday, I looked upon the sky through the window, awaiting for it to come back and tell us about its adventures. Years passed. It never returned. The precious memory we had became bitterly faded. So I told the angel my wish.

"I wish that I can forget about the crow."

The next day, I woke up early to prepare for school. When I opened the door, I found myself surrounded by five mikos (witches). They were obviously very upset with me and probably wanted me dead. The miko with a giant centipede initiated the attack on me. Being overwhelmed by the surreal scenerio, I could only starred as the centipede decended upon me. But a gaint crow flew by and shielded me from the attack.

"I am back," the crow greeted in pain. I however have no knowledge of this crow, who is it? Even though I don't know it, why does it felt familiar as if we were friends before?

A departing crow, the setting sun, the tears that covered my face. Scenes that felt familiar, but vague. This crow. Was my friend. How could I forgotten about it? How precious were the time we spend together.

The crow approached one of the witches. It took away part of their hatred, just like how the crow's hatred for human was taken away. The crow was taught about friendship, about accepting others. The crow taught the witches about forgiving others.

Once upon a time, there existed two tribes, let's call them the Unions and the Daegus. The Unions had an imperial palace, in which the nobles lived. The prince and princess were trained in arsenal of combat arts since childhood, the prince the best martial artist, and the princess the best archer. Everyone in Unions knew of some form of martial arts because there would be a martial arts tournament every year, in which the winner would be granted 100 golds. The Union tribe was wealthy.

In contrast, the Daegus were the exiled outcast of the Unions, because of politics and because of physical weakness. They had no fixed home; there were a few who could managed to build a house, but those were few in numbers since most Daegus were physically impaired. The Daegus could only afford to clad themselves in rough black fibers unlike the Union where everyone dressed in different style and colour. Daegus had grown numerous in number, but remained poor and weak, whereas the Union had shrunken in population, but remained rich and strong. But resource was scarce; Daegus understood that they could no longer sustain themselves. So Daegus prepared for an massive invasion.

The prince and princess of Union brought along with them the greatest warriors - the best lancers, sword masters, fencers, etc... As the two tribes went into battle, the princess quickly located the enemy's general and arrowed him in the chest.

"Shot her down, shot her down," the general cried. All archers shot at once at the princess. Rain of arrows impaled the princess and those who tried to protect her.

"Sister!" the prince cried in angst and slayed countless Daegus in cold fury, being the best martial artist that he was.

Daegus was no match for Union, but one of the noble betrayed the prince and turned the tide of the battle.

Mountains of corpse, rivers of blood. The battle continued for years. During the battle, the tribes discovered the new land. Eight years later, the war came to the end and the Daegus and Union finally lived together in harmony in the new land... until the next millennium when they used up the land and the ocean.

Do you believe in supernaturals? In today's dream, I woke up in the morning sick due to a flu, so the maids got me egg sake which was suppose to help me. It only got me drowsy and slept for 3 days straight. In those 3 days, people spotted an ominous star in the night star. Based on the stars, the prophet foretold that something wicked was coming.

The vampire lord had arrived. Being the princess of the vampire clan, I was "protected" by the various underlings. But to me, the protection was like a cage, so I escaped from the castle and lived in the dark basement of a house as human. I got along very well with the people in this new house, and it was the first time I understood family warmth. The big brother was always kind to me and was very helpful. He had two best friends - a guy who was a prosecutor with an usual humour, and a lady who was his childhood friend but now a girlfriend of the prosecutor. They would visit us from time to time, but I never got to meet with them in person due to the different sleeping schedules.

Nevertheless, the happiness was short lived. It was only a matter of time before the vampire lord found out. Tonight, he had arrived.

But I knew of what he was capable of. There was no way I would go back to the cage, so I set up a trap while everyone was away. The vampire lord entered the house and I stood in front of him with a potion in my hand. I drank it and disappeared, next I got a remote control, which opened every door in the house. Being invisible, the vampire lord had problem locating me even in this small house. Am I still in the house, or had I entered one of the rooms? That's what I thought. Instead, the vampire lord just laughed and ignited the entire house. Eventually, I was caught when I tried to escape. But it turns out the big brother who took care of me was still in the house. It was because of me, because of my careless. If only I would just resign to my fate and returned home, none of this would happen. It was because of my selfishness that big brother died. Dawn had came, as I starred at the remains of the burnt down house, it rained. My final wish is - vampire never existed.

Today, I got up in the morning. The flu was gone, but I was still drowsy. I went back to school, just like everyday. After school. I followed my best friends in secret into a cafe with stack of books. I surprised them when I got to their table and sat next to them. "Nice library."

"Idiot, why did you come here, and wearing our school uniform too?" My prosecutor friend whispered to me in distress. He asked me to hide in among the bookself and I disappeared. My other best friend found me, but she didn't recognize me. I looked at the mirror... I was the vampire princess? I didn't remember what happened, but my tears kept coming out. What happened in the last 3 days? Why am I crying?

Happy New Year everyone. Today is January 1st, the first day of 2007. And guess what's my relatively first dream on the new year? It was about new year, and in the dream, I was celebrating the occasion with my family and relatives.

In the dream, I was hired as a barbar in a barbar shop. The master taught me most of the basic and we got along fairly well. Athough I wasn't used to their way of talking and joking. When I went out the door, I saw my family and relatives of my father's side. Apparently, they rented the hotel again for celebration. After saying farewall to my boss, I entered the hotel and helped setting up tables and chairs for the family. There would be around 40 people celebrating, thus my cousin had came up with a plan, that we would dress up and sing on a stage. She even had the lyric prepared. It was already late, so everyone just went to bed for the day.

I woke up in an unfamiliar room. Slippers were everywhere in the room, and a few of my aunts and uncles were still asleep in the room. That's right, it was getting late yesterday so we just got some blankets and slept on the floor, everyone of us. I heard people singing outside, so I went out for a walk and saw that my cousins had already got the stage sat up. They had dressed in sailor uniforms with dresses and were singing in public.

"Good job," I told them when they finished their singing, and they told me, "It is your turn."

I suggested that we do something even more artistic, maybe we can arrange it so that we could dance as well while we sang, instead of just standing there in pretty dresses. But anyway, it was my turn right now, so they got me into a changing room and changed into the dress. It was too short however in my opinion, so I complain. Eventually, they gave up at let me wore the longer dress. On the stage, they told me I just need to follow them since I don't know the lyric.

In this dream, my family and I went on a vacation to a remote island. The buildings over there are at most two stories high, with flat roof. Most of tree on the island were bare, their branches were red. Maybe it was the lighting effect since it was evening. One can see the setting sun anyway, the ocean stretched until ocean and sky met in a horizonal line.

Over there, my aunt asked me to put a dvd player to some fellow there for repair. But the dvd player was on my mom's, so when I met the fellow, I couldn't give him the device immediately. When I went back to my family, my mom had already got the dvd player fixed by an middle age man with bear, who lived in a small cabbin. We thanks him and we back to the place we stayed.

Below our new house, in the sewer, several creatures were trying to escape from the demon hunters. One of them looked like a jellyfish, another looked like a lizard, and the last two looked like some aquatic creatures. In order to delay the hunter, the jellyfish asked its companions to leave first, it will find someway to delay the hunters. It opened a gate and the water flooded into the sewer. Because of the flooding, our new house was now flooded in the bathroom, which suit me just fine because I was about to take a bath. I added hot water to make it warm and bathed there.

Afterward, I went to the living room and planned to read the shoujo manga I brought, until I found a small puff ball. It turns out to be a little kitten. I played around with the kitten with a soft toy and the little kitten made a great show. It jumped left and right cutely. However, a female cat, probably the kitten's mother, snarled at me in anger. It probably thought I made the kitten jump like that against its will, but the kitten continues to jump even if I didn't move. The mother cat looked ready to attack me, so I handed out a shoujo manga to the cat. It calmed down immediately and took the book. How strange, I didn't know cat can read books.

"Cat mother, next time don't snap at people for no reason," I lectured it. If it could read, it should be able to understand me.

Shortly afterward, the mother cat returned the shoujo manga. I now knew why it liked the book, it was about a family of cats.

In this dream, my family was invited to a great gathering with my parents' classmates from high school. We have rented an assembly hall and various people were making a show on the stage. However, during the event, I was strucked by an unatural drowsiness. I walked slowly to one of the hundred of portable chairs and closed my eyes.

I saw a white bed, with white pillow, white bed covers. Everything was white in that room, including the wall. In the bed laid my sister, who appeared to be sleeping. Then an eye appeared on her pillow. One two three. More and more eyes appeared on her pillow, then the bed cover.

"That's not enough, that's not enough." A voice said.

More and more eyes appeared on the bed, including mattress cover under her. The voices of snickering filled the dim-lighted room.

I was woken up then, by my sister. The shows were coming to an end, and a man was singing a girl's song on the stage. So it was just a dream. I tried to sit up, but my right hand was numb. I looked at my right hand, and black spot appeared one by one, from my hand to my arm. When I blinked my eyes again, they were all gone.

My throat was sore and burning, as if I hadn't drunk any water for days. So I walked up. Since I was still drowsy, I was a little clumsy. I walked to the bathroom to wash my face and went to the center of the hall where orange juices were served. Several drinks were left on the table, but I have no idea if they where someone's else. My cousins were chatting nearby and I went to another table to get my drink. Where is my sister?


And the dream came to an end as I was woken up for real this time.