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 Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:29 pm
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The fic is long, so I'm only posting two chapters so you guys can get a feel of the story line and decide if you like it or not.
EDIT: for some reason I did not see a crucial typo until someone on FF.net was kind enough to tell me. sweatdrop So i corrected it here and I will correct on FF.net as well.
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Chapter 1: Awake
Am I awake… or is this a dream? Is this really happening?
“One, two… one, two…” Hagi counted as he and Saya danced. The long, beautiful pink fabrics of her dress swished elegantly. The pale pink against the dark black of his suit made the contrast of the scene even more beautiful.
That’s right… we’re practicing the dances that will be at Joel’s birthday party.
“I know, I know. I’ve had an instructor before.” She told him with a sigh.
“I’m only doing what Master Joel told me.” Hagi said pleasantly, accustomed to her impatience. “He said it had been a long time since you last danced.”
“Yes, I guess it has…” She said thoughtfully. “He hasn’t had a party for some time…” She trailed off dreamily and then stopped. Her dress swayed with the abrupt halt.
Hagi froze. “Saya?” Concern was in his face and voice, but she barely noticed.
There was the distant sound of a cello. “…Hagi… do you hear that…?”
“Hear what?”
“…That sound… it sounds like…”
She suddenly felt scared. Something was not right. She knew there was something that did not make sense, but she could not put her finger on it.
The cello…
She looked around the room.
…Where was it coming from?
She knew she had heard it before. It was so familiar…
“Saya?” He said again, looking more concerned. She backed away from him.
Slowly, a voice started to sing over the cello. It was faint, and distant, as well. She had the irresistible urge to look out the window. Her head darted to it. The curtains flared in the breeze from the open window, carrying the melody. There was a tower in the distance.
Suddenly the voice grew louder as if the singer was in the very room. It was so blaringly loud she had to put her hands over her ears.
Visions began to flash before her eyes. Visions of her… but she was different. Somehow, she knew the people in the visions even though she had never seen them before. Somehow, she didn’t want to see them.
Joel was dead in a raging fire. A woman dropped his limp body and looked up to the sky. Her eyes glowed bright blue from inside the inferno.
“NO!!” She shrieked.
“Saya?! Are you alright?!”
Her, monsters, Hagi, and the people she had never seen before that was somehow her family. She felt a bond with the strangers as if she had seen them before, as if she did know them.
Saya gasped as something clicked in her head. There was a middle-aged man with a warm smile on his face.
Dad…
He was dead.
Then there was Riku, dead, as well.
Saya leaned forward in tears. “Stop…!”
“Saya…!” She could barely hear Hagi for the voice. She felt him grab her shoulders.
Deaths flashed before her eyes of people she had known and then it all came to a screeching halt. The voice stopped singing.
“…Why is it only me?” Her sister said in a soft voice.
NO!
Saya’s eyes darted open. She was confined in something, but she was floating. She tried to scream and break open whatever it was she was in. Soon it ripped open and she went sliding out onto a stone floor. She lay shivering in the now cold liquid as she heard the door open to the tomb. It was all coming back to her now; this is where her father had showed her where they first met.
“Saya…?” Hagi rushed over to her side sounding surprised and puzzled. He held her weak form and she looked up at him. She remembered another death from her dream: Hagi’s.
Her shivering hands clung to him in what was supposed to be a hug. The tears in her eyes blurred his image.
“Hagi…” She croaked. It was all she could say.
Soon Saya stepped out into the sunlight, barefoot and wearing Hagi’s jacket. Her long hair dragged the ground. The sunlight stung her eyes, making her hold a hand up to cover them. She slowly peeked through them as her eyes adjusted and removed her hand. She happened to look down and saw a pink rose by the entrance. She reached down and picked it up. She held it for a moment, touched by the gesture. She then looked up at Hagi with a smile. He just stared into her eyes.
She suddenly wrapped her arms around him, surprising him. “Thank you.”
She stayed that way for a moment, relishing the familiarity she thought she had lost: Hagi and the Okinawa sun. After a moment she let go, wanting to be reunited with another thing she missed: Kai and her friends.
“Let’s go to Omoro!” She said excited. “I want to see Kai. Is he an old man now?” She giggled.
“No,” Hagi replied seriously.
“I was joking, Hagi.” She playfully pouted. She nudged his arm. “Lighten up!”
His next words held an emotion he didn’t usually wear. He looked surprised. “You slept only half the time you usually do.”
Her eyes grew big and her mind froze. “…What?”
“It’s only been fifteen years.”
The rose nearly slipped out of her hand. Her fingers barley caught it and she was brought back to her senses. “How…”
The answer suddenly came to her. “…The dream…”
She furrowed her eyebrows in thought. “Hagi, I think I heard you playing while I slept.”
He nodded. “I play everyday outside the tomb.”
“…But I don’t think that’s what woke me up. I think it was…” She looked up at him with an unsure and troubled look on her face. “…Diva.”
To her shock, he nodded, his eyes slightly mimicking the trouble in her own. “I heard her, too.”
Saya’s heart broke at the memory of her sister’s demise. Hagi could see the sorrow in her face as she spoke.
“But how…?” She sounded almost hopeful. He averted his eyes down to the ground, feeling like he was seeing something personal. It was sad to watch.
“I don’t know.” He responded simply.
“We’ll think about it later. Right now I just want to see Kai.” Her face suddenly lit up at the memory of the twins. “The twins! How are they?”
“They just left for school.”
30 minutes earlier…
“Momiji!” Kai yelled as he walked down the hall. He came to a room and slid open the door in a rush. He tromped over to the bed where the covers were wrapped up in a small ball. “Momiji, get up!”
He began to try to pull the covers from the ball, making it unwind into the form of a girl clinging to them. He shook the covers here and there but she clung to it the whole time like she had claws.
“Wake up, Momiji!”
She just snored as he violently shook the covers.
“I don’t’ believe this…!” He said frustrated. He let go of the covers dropping her back onto the bed. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Breakfast is ready!”
Her eyes slowly opened to reveal deep red irises. “’Food…?’”
“Yeah, now get up! You’re going to be late!”
She looked around and then sat up all at once. “Kai, you just barged into my room?!”
“Dad,” he corrected her. “And, yes! It’s my house!”
“But I’m a girl! I’ve got girly things around!” She said as she reached for a bra that was slung over a chair and stuffed it under her covers out of sight.
“Just get changed for school!” He said as he left the room. He tromped down the hall to the next door. He flung it open and walked over to the bed. “Aoi, wake up!”
Her head was under the covers, too. He pulled the covers off her and she pulled them back. “Five more minutes…” she groaned.
“No! You’ve had five ‘five-more-minutes!’ Now get up!”
He pulled the covers away and she pulled them back. Momiji came walking into the doorway with toast hanging out of her mouth as she brushed her hair. “Aoi, breakfesht ish ready!”
Aoi poked her blue eyes out from under the covers. All the sudden she was up and yanked the toast out of Momiji’s mouth. Momiji stood there frozen with only a small section hanging from her mouth. She looked pitifully at Aoi who had shoved the remainder of her toast in her mouth. “M-my… toasht…”
Aoi swallowed. “Stop talking with your mouth full of toast.”
Momiji hurriedly ate her remainder. “Yeah, that’s easy for you to say, the one who had her mouth full of my toast!”
“Girls, stop arguing!” Kai hurriedly scolded them. His head whipped to Aoi. “How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t steal your sister’s food!”
He headed out of the room. “We leave in five minutes!”
“Crap!” Aoi gasped as she snatched the hairbrush from her sister and grabbed the nearest black skirt. She began pulling it over her white shorts as Momiji ran out of the room in a mad panic.
The girls and Kai amazingly managed to leave in five minutes and was on their way to school. The car zipped up to the school and came to a screeching halt.
Aoi got out of the car and began finger-combing her hair. “Thanks, Kai, your crazy driving messed up my hair!”
“Did not!” Kai rolled his eyes. He looked to the back seat and saw Momiji crawling out of the car, crying.
“Momiji, Stop crying! You’re fine; now get out of the car so you can get to school before the bell rings!”
“I-it was so sc-scary! W-we nearly hit that car w-when you ran that re-red light!”
Aoi pulled Momiji out of the car. “Momiji, you crybaby!”
“I-I can’t help it!”
“Aoi, don’t call your sister names!” Kai scolded.
“It’s true. She’s always been this way.”
“Do you girls have everything?”
“Yes,” they said in unison as Momiji wiped her eyes.
“You know what to do in case of emergencies?”
“Yes,” they said exasperated.
“Okay, bye girls!”
“Bye, Kai!” They waved.
“It’s dad!” He called, but they were already running toward the entrance, Aoi’s white sleeping shorts flashing as the wind blew up her skirt. Momiji pointed and laughed, but then her skirt blew up. She barely held it down in time, making Aoi return the laugh.
The twins hurriedly changed their shoes at their shoe lockers and raced to their class. They got seated just as the bell rang.
Hitoshi, who sat behind Momiji with his uniform’s jacket unzipped, leaned forward on his desk until his face was near her ear.
“I didn’t think you two were going to make it today,” He whispered.
“Shut up, Toshi-kun,” She whispered darkly.
“Don’t call me that, cry ba-“ all the sudden he was hit in the face with one of the school’s indoor shoes. “What the-?!”
He looked to the desk beside him to see Aoi glaring him down. “Don’t call my sister that.” She said in a deadly whisper. Only Aoi could call her sister names. Hitoshi knew this rule. He gulped and cautiously slid the shoe back to her as the teacher entered the class room.
Kai walked into Omoro to see Saya eating at the bar. Her hair was short just like he remembered it.
“…Saya…” he said shocked.
She looked over at him, her cheeks full of food. She hurriedly swallowed and ran up to him, still wearing Hagi’s jacket. She happily wrapped her arms around him in a warm hug. “Kai!”
Tears slowly filled his eyes as he put a hand on her head. “Saya… you’re back! How?”
He hid his face in her hair. “I don’t care… I’m just glad you’re back.”
She moved away from him and smiled as she wiped a tear that rolled down his cheek.
“Kai…” She didn’t want him to cry, even if it was tears of joy.
“Welcome home, Saya.”
She fought back the tears in her own eyes that formed at his words. She smiled and nodded; she was happier to be home than he could ever imagine.
“I’ve got to call everyone at the Red Shield,” He said, wiping his tears and getting back down to business. “David will want to know.”
She went back to her seat at the bar where Hagi, wearing a white Omoro apron served her another plate of food. As Kai called David and asked him to pass on the message for him so he wouldn’t be on the phone all day, Saya looked around the restaurant she knew and loved. Everything was the same except the pictures were re-arranged on the walls to make way for even more. All the ones of her, Kai, Riku, and her Dad were still there, but now there were pictures of the party held at Omoro before she had fallen asleep and ones of the twins as they grew. Saya was in awe at the pictures of the adorable girls; she had missed so much. She felt guilty. Another thing that made her awe-struck was how much they looked like Diva; especially the one with blue eyes.
She read the writing under one where the two girls were at the beach. “Aoi and Momiji – Age 5.”
She easily figured out who was who. She grinned at his choice of names. He flipped his phone closed and watched Saya study all the pictures. There was one that caught her eye; the girls, age 8 it said, dancing around as Hagi played the cello.
She grinned and laughed. “They’re so adorable!”
“They’re bigger now,” He said as he pointed to a picture of the two teenage girls standing side-by-side in their school uniforms.
“‘Fifteen…’ wow…” She said to herself.
“I knew you wouldn’t want to miss anything, so I did my best to make up for it.”
She smiled. “Thank you, Kai.”
“Can I get you anymore food?” He grinned as he got behind the bar.
“I’m stuffed, thanks.”
“Wow! You’re actually full?”
She laughed embarrassed, her cheeks turning red.
“You won’t believe this; the girls have the same appetite as you. Well, maybe that’s not very hard to believe…” He trailed off in thought.
“Hey, um, Kai?”
His attention was back on Saya. “Yeah?”
“Where did you put my clothes? Hagi and I couldn’t find them.”
“Oh! Sorry! I put them away under my bed. The girls don’t fully understand why their Aunt is gone.”
“…Oh,” She said surprised.
They went to his room and he pulled a few boxes out from under his bed. “Here they are.”
She lifted up the lid and saw the torn dress she had borrowed from her friend Min when she was in Vietnam. She had always regretted how she left things there…
“I tried to sew your dress, but I didn’t get very far…” He gave an apologetic smile. “…but I’m not very good at that kind of thing. Sorry.”
She tried to smile her best, but it didn’t quite reach as far as she would have liked. “It’s okay.”
Hagi and Kai eventually left the room for her to change. But she just sat there in the still silence alone, looking through the clothes, remembering the things that happened when she bought them and when she wore them. It was almost like all the losses were new again. She cried in silence, but unbeknownst to her, Hagi leaned on the door outside, hearing it all. He pressed a hand to the door. He wanted to comfort her, but he knew she would rather be alone.
Saya stepped out later into the restaurant fully dressed. Her shirt had a tiny hole near the collar and a permanent crease form fifteen years of age and being folded in a box for all that time.
“Hey, Kai…” She trailed off at the sight of David, Julia, and Louis sitting in the room. “Oh… hi, everyone,” She smiled and waved.
“Good afternoon, Saya,” David said in his serious tone. He had more wrinkles than she remembered and his blonde hair was much lighter. Julia was still beautiful with very few wrinkles and a perfect figure. She still wore high heels and low collared shirts as if nothing had changed.
“Saya!” Louis said happily from the table where the three Red Shield members sat. The only difference she could see about him was that his beard and mustache was gray.
She took a seat at the bar next to Hagi. Julia walked over to her with a smile. “How are you feeling, Saya?”
“Fine,” She said surprised at her condition. “I don’t feel tired at all.”
“That’s good,” She smiled. She pulled out a small memo pad and wrote something down. “Just to be safe I would like you to come to my clinic later.”
“Okay,” Saya nodded. She couldn’t help but feel awkward; she kept wondering if they were afraid she was going to go crazy any second and kill them all like before when she woke up early.
“Any idea why she woke up?” Kai asked the doctor.
“No,” Julia sighed.
“I… have one theory,” Saya spoke up, catching everyone’s attention which was a little unnerving, as well. “…Diva.”
They all looked puzzled. David was the first to respond. “‘Diva?’” He said as he furrowed his eyebrows. “I thought you killed her with your blood.”
“I did.”
“Then that’s not possible.”
“I know, but…” She placed a hand to her head as she remembered her dream. It was already so fuzzy. “…I remember when I was dreaming, I could hear Diva’s voice and then I woke up. I told Hagi and he said he could hear it, too.”
The Red Shield members exchanged blank looks. David then turned to Hagi who was resting his elbows on the bar. “You said you heard it, too?”
He nodded.
David’s eyebrows furrowed in a disturbed look. He flipped his cell phone open and pressed a button. In mere seconds Saya could hear the young Joel the third on the other end. Saya realized he wasn’t quite as young anymore, but he sounded the same as she remembered.
“Yes, David?”
“We have a problem.”
“What’s the situation?”
“Diva could still be alive.”
End of Chapter 1: Awake
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Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:30 pm
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Here is chapter 2.
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Chapter 2: Truth
At lunch the twins sat with Hitoshi Sadamura as they always had. The three had attended the same Junior High and now were attending their first year of High School together.
“Gross,” He said as he poked his rice with a spork. “Sachiko-san always makes the rice to watery, poor woman.”
Sachiko was the woman Hitoshi’s father married two years ago after his mother passed away five years ago. He didn’t mind Sachiko, it’s just that she couldn’t cook.
Hitoshi’s face brightened. He was always wanting some of the twins’ food because he knew they lived at a restaurant. “Hey, you got any of that yummy takoyaki Kai makes?” He had formed a habit of calling their guardian just “Kai” instead of “Kai-san” because that’s what he had always heard from the twins.
“No,” Aoi said as she swatted his chopsticks away with her own. “Take Momiji’s.”
Momiji made a sort of sad gasping sound at Aoi and then turned to Hitoshi. “No, Toshi-kun! Take Aoi’s!”
“C’mon,” He said, holding up his hands. “Each of your bento has enough to feed two people! Giving me a little from each isn’t going to hurt either of you.”
They both shot him a glare and gobbled up their food at an unbelievable speed. He sat there in awe for a moment and then looked down at his watery rice. “You two are cold.”
………
“It might have just been a recording,” Joel’s voice said from David’s cell phone’s speaker phone. “She was very popular due to all the publicity she got. Do you think it was being played on the radio somewhere in Okinawa and your sensitive hearing heard it?”
Saya and Hagi exchanged stares. Saya turned to David and blinked. “I guess that’s possible. But if that’s the case, why didn’t I wake up sooner? Wouldn’t that be more likely in the past closer to the time her CDs went on sale?”
“That’s a very good point,” They heard his voice say as David held up his phone for them to hear. “I’ll have it looked into. You all keep an eye open for anything unusual, which means Louis will stay in Okinawa with David and Julia.”
“Roger that,” Louis said in the direction of the phone.
“Goodbye, Saya. I’m sorry your awakening is greeted with such ominous circumstances.”
“I understand,” She said loud enough for it to reach the phone.
They could hear the click of Joel hanging up on the other end. David snapped his cell phone shut and pocketed it inside his jacket.
“Kai, how are you going to tell the twins about Saya?”
Kai looked down at the counter. “I don’t know… they always seemed too young to understand until now…”
He ran a hand through his hair. Saya was suddenly able to see just how much Kai had aged. It was like she could see fatherhood all over his face; he reminded her so much of their dad in that moment. He had the anxiety that can come only from caring about your children. She had to smile at it.
“It’ll be fine Kai,” He raised his head up at her words. “You’ll handle it just like dad. I can tell.”
He grinned. “Dad always did know how to handle everything.”
She got up and from her seat and looked at the clock. “Well, it’ll be a while until they get out of school, so I’m going to go get some new clothes.”
Kai walked around from behind the counter. “I’ll drive you. I need to get some fresh air to think things over.”
After being stuck in a room with David’s unnerving, serious stare that never let up, she could understand what he meant.
“Hagi,” David called, stopping him from following Saya. She and Kai froze. “I need to discuss some things with you.”
Hagi just responded with his emotionless stare that was somehow less than polite at the moment, like he was agreeing against his own will.
Saya looked at Hagi for a moment. “I guess I’ll meet up with you later…. I won’t be very long.”
He nodded.
When Saya stepped outside she saw that Kai still had his scooter he rode sometimes, but he had also upgraded to a car over the years. He offered to drive her in his car but she wanted to ride the scooter. She loved the feeling of the wind whipping her hair.
………
“Are you positive it was Diva you heard?” David asked.
“I didn’t just hear it, I sensed it,” Hagi replied in his monotone.
“You sensed Diva?” Julia said shocked.
He nodded again.
She nervously pushed up her glasses. “Well, I had suspected Chiropterans were able to sense other Chiropterans… but this is not good if you were able to sense her. There’s little doubt in my mind then that she’s not dead.”
Later that day the bell rang for the final time at the High School. Hitoshi walked with the twins outside the school.
“Wanna hang out at the arcade?” He asked them as he held his book bag over one shoulder.
“Mmm,” Aoi said in thought. “There are some errands I need to run. I’ll meet up with you two later.”
“Aoi…” Momiji stared at her sister. She sensed something wasn’t normal.
“Yeah?” She asked. It seemed innocent enough.
“Uh… hurry up. Don’t make us wait too long.” She added a smile and ignored her feeling she sensed in the back of her mind.
“Okay, whatever, Aoi. Like Momiji said, don’t be too long.” Hitoshi said as he walked ahead.
“See ya!” Aoi waved as she ran off.
Momiji stared after her sister, unable to shake the feeling something was off.
Aoi avoided the shopping district of Okinawa all together where Momiji and Hitoshi would be headed. She went to the park, instead, and sat on a bench. A foreigner with blonde hair came into view.
“Here again?” He said surprised, startling the girl.
“That song you taught me, you said my mother used to sing it?” She asked.
“Yes,” He sat down beside her with a dreamy look on his face. “Her voice was like an angel, gliding through the air to your very soul. And she was so beautiful…”
His eyes moved to her. “…Just like you.”
Aoi looked surprised. “Really? I look like her?”
“Oh, yes! It’s uncanny! Well, I suppose it is to be expected since you are her daughter. Your sister holds a resemblance to her as well, but it’s not nothing like you. She looks more like… your aunt.”
“My aunt that died…”
“Died?” He said, raising an eyebrow. He let out a strange, melodic laugh. “Oh, no, my dear! She’s very much alive!”
“What?” She said in disbelief.
“Yes, in fact, she's the one that…” He trailed off and then held a hand over his mouth. “…perhaps I shouldn’t say.”
“What?” Aoi said more curious than ever. She pressed him, more determined than ever. “Tell me.”
“Are you sure? If I tell you, you may never go back.”
“’Go back…?’”
“You may never be able to go back to the way your life was before you knew.”
She gulped silently and thought it over for a second. She felt like she had to know. She didn’t understand why Kai had always told her and Momiji their aunt was gone, which she now understood as an easier way of saying she was dead. Kai could explain later after she heard what this man had to say.
“Tell me.”
………
“They’re not here yet?” Saya said surprised.
Hagi just shook his head.
“Sometimes they like to go to the arcade with their friend Hitoshi,” Kai explained.
“Oh,” She said, understanding.
All the sudden David hung up on whoever he had been talking to on his cell phone. He snapped it shut again, catching everyone’s attention. “There’s been an unusual surge in Chiropteran activity since this morning. Usually Chiropterans aren’t active during the day unless something sets them off like Diva’s performance that day in New York.”
Saya and Kai exchanged looks of horror.
“The twins…” She said worried.
Hagi picked up his cello case.
………
Momiji looked out at the setting sun as she reached the arcade. She couldn’t help but feel worried over Aoi.
“Hey, Momiji!” Hitoshi called from far inside the arcade. “Why so slow?”
She ran in toward him. “I’m coming!”
“What’s up?” He said puzzled.
“Nothing.”
“Pssht! Liar. I can tell because you look like you’re about to cry.”
Her hands darted up to her face that turned pink. “Really?!”
He busted out laughing. “Oh man, Momiji! That’s too awesome! You’re so gullible!”
She glared at him and punched his arm.
“Ow! You and Your sister are way too strong for girls!”
“You deserve it, though.”
“You’d tell me if something was wrong, right Momiji? You and Aoi?”
She looked down at the floor debating on how to say it. Her train of thought was broken by Hitoshi. “Whoa…”
She looked up to see what he thought was so unusual and she knew instantly what it was; a woman had walked in the arcade with Hagi and Kai who looked just like her. It was almost like she was staring in a mirror.
…………
The blonde haired man looked Aoi straight in the eyes. “Your Aunt killed your mother.”
Aoi’s mind went blank. She couldn’t think.
“That’s the truth.”
End of Chapter 2: Truth
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eternally_the_siren_sings Crew
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Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 4:06 pm
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Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 8:20 pm
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Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 7:17 am
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Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:20 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 1:25 pm
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Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:27 pm
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Posted: Sun May 03, 2009 9:14 am
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 12:19 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 11:02 pm
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