Let's review the last chapter… Mimiko went with Jiro at the welcome party of the Dark Princess of the North at Zelman's Mansion, during the party Mimiko unknowingly disappeared then she met the guy she dreamt about then she found a faceless girl and then saw a fragment of memory of someone else's. Was it all a dream or does it really happen? For when she became conscious, Jiro told her she disappeared.


Chapter 4: Vacation

After the incident in Zelman's mansion, I decided to have a break from work so I went to Mr. Jinai and told him about my leave but he immediately disapproved with my idea for the reason that there would be a tons of work left in his care if I would take a break, but he changed his mind when Jiro suddenly barged in the room and demanded a break from him. He can't do anything when Jiro demanded it so he approved of it but he told us, before he'd grant our leave, that he would be the one who'd choose our destination so that if there's an emergency he can contact us right away without any communication problems and with that everything's settled.

Right now, it's only five in the morning yet I'm busy preparing our food for our trip so that I and Kotaro would have something to eat during our travel. Yesterday before I got home, I bought some toiletries that would be needed during our vacation aside from that I also bought some goods that are easy to cook just in case there's no food in that place or if ever there's no convenience store nearby. Aside from those things, I also bought some ingredients for sushi that I would be making right now. While waiting for the rice to cook, I decided to wake Jiro and Kotaro to get ready. Waking Kotaro is quite easy but waking the older brother is such a pain, since he wouldn't get up that fast. Every morning I'd try my hardest to wake him up to the best that I can, I tried banging, shouting, kicking, almost everything but as they say it's hard to wake someone who is already awake but of course I can't give up right now since my vacation is at stake. It's early in the morning and I don't want to be shouted or be attacked so after I poured him a bucket of Ice cold water, I immediately left his room but as we all know vampires are faster than humans so yeah he caught me red-handed. He pinned me down to his cold soaked bed and hold my hands up above my head while gripping it tightly.

"I know you don't like water but if I didn't do it, you'll be sleeping until now and if you do that we'll be late for the train and if we're late for the train, we won't have our sweet vacation. Now please release me, there are still things that I must do downstairs." I explained to him but he didn't move a muscle. He only gazes at me coldly and harshly which disturbs me. After a while, he start to lean down at me, his head touching mine, and his lips moving, he's saying something inaudible at first but as he grows closer and closer, I hear it perfectly.

"…Alice… I missed you, I love you. Please don't leave me… Alice, I need you." I knew it, it was her again, its like this every morning from the time we moved at this building. He doesn't see me, he doesn't feel me, he doesn't hear me, for him, I am her. My chest hurt a bit, but there's nothing I can do. I can't replace her in the heart of Jiro. For him, Alice is much precious than me, she's like a diamond while I'm just some imitation of her.

"CUT IT OUT JIRO! IT'S NOT FUNNY." I shouted at him but his gaze doesn't waver. I started to struggle but the more I struggle the tighter his grip is.

"…Alice… I love you… Alice… Please don't leave me… Alice…" It's torturing me; her name is like a curse. The words of love that comes from his mouth are like poisoned arrows that can kill someone like me. Those words are only meant for her and cannot be mine, how selfish she is. Wait. What did I just thought of? Why did I think that way? Do I like Jiro?

"Jiro, I'm not her so please release me." I said plainly while concealing my heart ache. Ah! Maybe I do.

"…Alice…" Upon realizing my feelings for him, as he called onto her name for he third time, I cried. Pouring all of my strength, I pushed him away which give me a chance to get way from him but again he manage to hold me at my left arm pinning me on the floor. He stared at me into my blood-shot eyes, at first I thought that he would tell me that I should wake him up in a kinder way just like what Alice did way back then instead he asked me what happen and why am I crying. I can't say the real reason to him, so I just made up a lame excuse and I pray that he'll buy it. Just then I remember I'm still cooking downstairs so I pushed Jiro aside and rushed towards the kitchen to check if the rice were burnt but good thing it doesn't.

As I turn off the rice cooker, I laid down the things I'll need in making sushi. It only took me an hour to finish making it and as soon as I finished packing our snacks, Kotaro and Jiro are already waiting at the living room ready leave. I went up to get my luggage but as soon as I got downstairs I saw Jiro and Kotaro munching some of the sushi I made. Seeing them eating our snacks, I banged a pan at their heads and scold them. I grabbed the packed food from their hands and keep it inside my blue tote bag. Kotaro pouted while Jiro didn't mind.

It was already seven in the morning and it was already our departure time, Mr. Jinai and the others just waited for our train to leave before they return in the office. It was been two hour travel by train and thirty minute walk before we can reach our destination. During the walk, I noticed that the road we were taking doesn't have either electric lines or convenient store and there were no people around. As we walked deeper in the forest, which the map told us to do, the more worried I became, I'm wondering what kind of place we would be staying since we are in the wild right now, perhaps an old log cabin with moss around it or a ruined tree house with no electricity or phone signal but it all changed when I saw our abode. The place is wonderful, it is a mansion with big stone walls like those in medieval times, aside from that, the windows are big and the doors too. When we explored the interior of the mansion, the fixtures are still there and still useable aside from the fixtures, I noticed a big old teak staircase at the end of the enormous corridor. I tried to climb the stairs but it's in no condition to pass by the likes of me so I asked Jiro if he can give me a lift but he declined so I went outside to explore more of the mansion.

Outside the mansion, I discovered that there's a secret forsaken flower garden and at the center of it there's a big pond which was covered with mosses, I looked farther around the garden and found a ruin chapel. The bell tower is still there standing but the bell is exposed and the wooden staircase is already ruined so no one can climb unto the top of it. The interior and the exterior of the church are almost the same since vines are almost everywhere. It is creeping inside since the roof of the church has holes in it which makes the light able to penetrate the interior, even though there are vines you can't see any single flower blossoming at the ends of it. I was drawn at the sight so I enter the ruined building and scrutinized its interior, the chairs are unaligned, some of the windows are broken, the religious relics are ruined as well as the wall at the back of the altar, and some of the ornaments that are necessary in performing a Eucharistic Celebration were gone perhaps stolen. It looked like a normal ruin not until I found a picture frame and on it is a picture of a girl, a familiar girl which I definitely saw before, that has golden locks and azure eyes, Alice Eve.

As soon as I saw her picture, I ran towards the mansion and immediately looked for Jiro. I looked around the first floor but he's nowhere to be found so I asked Kotaro who was playing in the living room, where his brother is and he told me he's at the second floor, he also told me not to go upstairs since Jiro will be mad at him if he let me to do that. He tried to stop me but I still went upstairs. I single mindedly stomped my feet at the old teak staircase which caused me to fall flat on the ground but did not happen when someone caught me by my waist. I thought it was Kotaro but when I looked at the man at my back, it was Jiro.

"I told you not to go upstairs. Why are you so thick headed Mimiko?" he scolded me but of course I talked back.

"Who are you to tell me what am I suppose to do? And it's not like somebody would care if I got into an accident."

"Don't talk rubbish. Jinai would be very mad at me if I let you get caught in an accident." He replied immediately. Being aware of our situation, he let me go immediately and went back upstairs. I wanted to ask him if the mansion looked familiar but I decided not to since it's better to be naïve than to be knowledgeable in this situation.

As soon as the moon shone over the place, Jiro and Kotaro went out exploring the whole place while I stayed at the mansion to rest. I sat at the soft couch at the living room watching the firewood burn; Fatigue and Haziness clouded me as I fell into my deep slumber.

When I woke up I found myself in a battlefield, confused about the situation I looked around and found Haru, who's sitting at a branch of a tree. I asked him what am I doing there and why is he there but he didn't answer instead he flew away then after a while I heard Jiro's voice calling my name his husky voice seemed out of tune and I can hear him panting between syllables. I knew it was Jiro so I face the owner of the voice only to find out that it was another person, someone that I didn't even know. His eyes are familiar, deep blue as the sea and his blonde hair like that of a sun, perhaps it is Kotaro, a grown-up Kotaro but still I'm not so sure since he spoke with authority and maturity. I called him Kotaro but he asked me who Kotaro is and called me by the name Lady Yue. He told me to run since the silver blade is there to capture and kill me, I told him not to worry because Jiro won't hurt me but when Jiro arrived with his sword, I hesitate, I asked him why is he there but he didn't answer instead he tried to assault me but the guy earlier saved me by making his body as a shield. I asked Jiro why but he wouldn't listen to me, he told me that he hated me and asked me why I revived the Kowloon King. I was perplexed when he told me that, why would I do that? Then I looked around and looked closely, it wasn't just a battlefield, it was like what happen in the Hong Kong Shock, Kowloon Children battling the Order's people and other vampires. What's happening? Being helpless like this, Haru suddenly appeared and took me away from the place. He told me that I wasn't suppose to see that and I must wake up from this slumber and with that he slapped me causing me to come back into my senses.

In that instant, I gained consciousness. I looked around the place but Jiro was no where to be found while Kotaro was sleeping at the floor. I was perplexed by the dream but there's nothing I can do, I am there to rest so I must rest and with that I went back to sleep.


Author's Notes: I'm sorry. I've been updating so late that it took me years to update. It's just that I'm not that imaginative these days and been lazing off. Not to say I've been occupied with school work and other things. -.- I'm really sorry. *Bows* The next release will be on next week for sure and it will be two chapter release. I'm rushing the story since school will be just around the corner and I wouldn't have again time to do the story. I hope that before June 6, the story would be finished. Sorry once again.