Author's note : The newest idea I got while buying groceries. It has nothign to do with it, yes XDD

Long, Long Time Ago

Long, long time ago, as the trees were still green and the sky was still blue, there was a beautiful princess in the Kingdom of Japan.
The princess had eyes as bright as the sun, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as cherries, and hair as black as the night.
Because of some mysterious reasons, though, as we proceeded with the storytelling the princess was already kept captive in a high tower in an old palace guarded by a mean dragon.
No one knew what the princess did up there while being kept captive, but there was a rumour saying that she actually was cursed to sleep for thousand of years until a brave knight came to give her a kiss to wake her up.
So it was predictable that a lot of probably-brave knights hesitated no longer and swung on their steeds to save the princess from… nothing.

Strangely enough, none of the folk people in Japan actually made any effort to save the princess from nothing. It was the people from all places but Kingdom of Japan who then, driven by pity for the princess, decided to save the princess, from again, nothing.

It turned out that this mission was pretty difficult, since the dragon was pretty stubborn and, oh yes, mighty.

The first generation of knights fled away after the dragon showed off its ability to spit out flames. The knowledge was passed on and the knights started wearing flameproof armours.

The second generation of knights had no chance to show the dragon how flameproof their armours were, since the horses freaked out after the dragon burned their bottoms. The knowledge was passed on and the knights equipped their horses with flameproof armours as well.

The third generation of knights managed to escape after their swords were broken by the dragon's jaws and their shields chewed. The knowledge was passed on and the knights agreed on the usage of lances.

The fourth generation of knights already failed three seconds after they got their lances handed by their servants. The lances were actually too heavy. The knowledge was passed on and the knights waited patiently until their exhausted blacksmith had another idea of weapons.

Meanwhile, things like cannons became available for wars' purpose. One knight once suggested to use them against the dragons. It was a pretty bright idea, so the knights agreed to work together.
But after a long discussion about who should be seen as the "knight who saved the princess from the dragon" and most importantly, "the knight who gave the princess the salvation kiss", the knights were involved in a big quarrel and they went back to their solitary way of princess-saving.

The fifth, sixth and seventh generation of knights actually were already equipped with long guns used to hunt deers or to survive against wild boars. Every single one of them was pretty smart to realize that bullets actually had no effect against the dragon's steel skin. So the knights gave up and chose to save other princesses, who were easier to save since their stories were printed in collection of fairytales which also included the tips and tricks to save the princesses.

Years, decades and centuries passed. The last knight fought with a prince upon a wild boar and he lost. At the point of time people took the knight title off him and he spent the rest of his days taking care of pigs in a pig farm.

Time brought the humanity into a developed era, and horses came in handy again as cowboys appeared.
At the same time, the long guns actually developed into a shorter and lighter version.
As the cowboys became less and less, many kinds of this short gun showed up in illegal markets. Why illegal? Because it sounded cool.

And 800 yearscounted fromthe first generations of knights, people became attracted again by the beautiful, deserted princess. Gangs of Mafias tried to win fames by possessing the princess including the palace, and of course, the dragon. They engaged themselves in a healthy, competitional fight for about 10 years.

The fight ended abruptly one day without any clear result.
But an organisation actually declared itself as the single winner out of the fight. They put men in blacks in front of the palace to guard it from intruders.
Once a guy asked where the dragon was. It took the hidden organisation three months to spread the news that they had overthrown the dragon brutally since the dragon refused to cooperate.

To make the princess an even hotter item to get, the organisation arranged a game free for anyone. The game was simple. Save the princess by defeating the whole guards and the princess and one million dollars were yours. At that time the sky was still blue and the trees were still green. Only some cases of pollutions and global warming were to add to it.

Mireille Bouquet, a die-hard assassin, received a mysterious email a week later on her laptop. She looked at a picture of a young girl as she opened the email and decided too early that it was some junk mail. As she was about to delete the mail, though, a soft tune played, followed by these words :
"Save the princess and win the princess and 1 million dollars!"
Mireille gulped. She moved the cursor again to remove the mail.
"PRINCESS! THE LAST PRINCESS IN THIS AGE!" popped up.
Mireille snorted.
"AT LEAST ONE MILLION DOLLARS! MONEY RULES!"
"I have enough money, thank you," Mireille said coldly to the computer screen.
Then the soft melody tuned in again, followed by :
"Make a pilgrimage for the past, with me. Kirika Yuumura."
Mireille sighed satisfiedly. "Why making that much fuss about winning the princess and money? Just say you need some pilgrimage to the past."

So Mireille Bouquet made her way toward the included address, and she arrived at a beautiful and yet old palace. Men in black and rivals greeted her in many kinds of ways, but they all served one intention : to kill another competitor.
Mireille had honestly no idea why these people frantically attacked her like that but why not? Mireille took out her Walther P99 and shot the bad guys one by one.

After getting rid of those guys in front of the palace, Mireille took a nice rest before carrying on. And at that time she spotted a tender japanese girl with short, black hair carrying a tray with cups of tea on it.
"Tea?" offer the black-haired girl.
Mireille gaped at the newcomer but she was quick enough to reveal her charming smile and accept the offer.
"Are you, uh.. a maid here?"
The black-haired girl touched her chin and made deep thoughts about the simple question. "Can be. I am good at tea anyway."
Mireille didn't have time to respond to this strange answer as another bunch of competitors ran toward her with warlike shouts.

"Good luck," said the japanese girl before she went away.
"Eh… uh!" mumbled Mireille before she started shooting around like crazy.

Three hours later, after burning 1000 calories, Mireille finally had a free path in front of her. She just had to find a…
"Kirika Yuumura," she read out loud from the email she printed they day before.

Mireille came across the probably-maid girl again, and this time her tray was all empty.
"Oh it's you again," greeted the girl, not exactly showing her excitement.
Mireille smiled shortly.
"I need to find, uh…" she peeked at the paper again. "Kirika Yuumura. You know where she is?"
The black-haired girl blinked. "That is probably me."

Mireille gaped at the girl. She was about to ask the girl if she was mentally retarded.

"You.. you sent this mail to me? What kind of pilgrimage for the past are you actually talking about?"
"Pilgrimage? Which pilgrimage? Ahh yes, you must have tried to delete the mail three times." answered the girl expressionless.
"So it was a big joke?"
Mireille was so unhappy by that time. She pointed her gun at the probably Kirika Yuumura.
"Tell me. Who are you?"

Another note : I am counting on your reviews to continue this story because I still have two other stories open. So if you like it, just tell me so I know how many people like and are still liking this story. Thanks!