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Entry thirteen, June 12th, 2005

Dear Journal,

Aside from Raissen's sudden growth spurt, not much has happened. Raissen now stands a good head above Hikaro, and has given him much grief about it. I have scolded Raissen more than once, but Hikaro has not seemed to mind at all. Soon, he told me, he would try flying, but only if I watched. I told him to pick the time and the place, and I would be there.

Watching my boys grow up has given me pause to think, and to reflect on myself. I'm growing older, and changing as I do so. My boys have given me so much that I treasure. So many memories to hold to my heart, and so many insightful moments I feel as though my soul has become that of a wizened old greybeard.

Hikaro has taken to singing like a nightingale. It was in his blood, I suppose, but he has got a marvelously high melodic voice that drifts through the house. Not surprisingly, there have been scores of birds that now hang about our house, not just to the food, but I think because they are attracted by my son.

This has given grief to my other son, but thankfully I seem to have done something right as a parent, as Hikaro has never teased Raissen or anything, despite his being the older sibling. He is as sweet and charming as ever, despite his tendency to bounce off of the wall. He's always running somewhere or doing something, but because of an obligation, or because he has to, but because that is just who he is. He runs for running's sake, for the joy of movement, the love of being alive. He is the exact opposite of my other son, who is more apt to sit in his room and sulk then go out and enjoy a sunset.

My hands are tired. More when I get the time.

Entry fifteen, June 29th, 2005

Dear Journal,

Raissen is home again, actually, two days ago. He brought with him a new addition to our family, a small orange and black kitten he named Isaura.

Hikaro evolved also, he now stands at about eye level with me. He's also now much taller then Raissen, who sulks whenever Hika walks into the room. I'm afraid Raissen may be jealous. Hika has become quite handsome, and he posesses long blonde wings that reflect sunlight like pure gold. He spends enough time grooming them, they have become his pride and joy.

Once he grew, and gained some mass to him, he finally conquered his fear of flight, and has become the first Hououza to readily take to the air. He doesn't climb into bed with me anymore, as his nightmares have been eased by the fact that he can control his flight. When he gets carried from the cliff, he just tilts his wings and he shoots back to the coastline. After that he keeps his wings closed, he told me.

He's been replaced by Raissen, who readily sleeps in my bed, but we're on opposite sides. With Raissen came Isaura, the tiny kitten with the voice of a motorcycle. Six AM every morning, the same loud rumble awakens me. It's Isa's way of saying, "Sleep is over, food time."

I figure it's almost time to give my boys 'the talk' I just don't know how they'll take it, especially Raissen. I think he's been waiting for it since he was twelve.

Hikaro however has given little indication he's had the effect of hormones at all. I'm glad really, Raissen more then makes up for it, and handling TWO angsty teenagers would be a little too much for me. With Raissen's photoshoots, his dissappearance, and his...tendancies, I haven't gotten any work done.

I have too, if i'm going to keep feeding my kids...

Entry seventeen, July 6th, 2005

Dear Journal,

Haku has now joined our ever expanding family. He's a little younger than Raissen and Hikaro, and they both have taken to him like I did to my first children. Haku is very shy, more so then Raissen, and much more so than Hikaro. Hika's been trying to get him to open up all day. Their room is getting very crowded, we'll probably have to move to a bigger house, Or I have to renovate the back end of our house. It's kind of decrepid, but if I fix it up completely, that'll give us at least three more rooms and a basement.

Knowing how attatched my children are to this house, I suppose I should remember my carpentry...

Haku has taken to the book also, already going through mine with a discerning eye. He squints a bit, I wonder if he needs glasses. I'll ask him a little later, his vision seems fine for now.

In other news, my work has picked up considerably, and good news! The local country club as well as the fish and game have shown interest in some of my bronze works, which is fortunate for me, as I have several I have made, as well as the intact molds.
The country club wants my lifesized female golfing figure I did for school. They want two, as well as the male version. All three come to thirty thousand dollars!
I was beginning to grow concerned, as I have not heard from the Shivas in a while.

I have to go, it grows late, and there is no dinner ready.

Haku's log:

I've not seen the dark child for several days, despite my many stake outs at the park in an attempt to find him. I fear now that he's met some sort of ill harm, His blindness caused him to fall prey to bigger animals, perhaps. There are heartless beasts wandering around of late, maybe they have caught him.

I leave a small meal self prepared in the woods where I last saw him, and every day it is gone, so either he has taken it and remained elusive, or the neighborhood fauna have been enjoying my hard cooked meals.

The end of July is fast approaching, and with it the promise of a full moon. Tomorrow night is the evening of the moon, and i'll be extra certain (just in case my lunar books are wrong) To remain in the basement tonight, tomorrow night, and the night after, in case wax and waning rays trigger the aging process as the full moon does. I'll record my findings post haste. If what I know to be true factually is, i'll not look a day older when the dawn rises on the 22nd. If I am incorrect, a tragic day for my hypothesis indeed.

Entry nineteen, aug 9th, 2005

Dear Journal,

Things have been quiet these past few days, so much so I hadn't felt the need to record them in writing. Raissen has a midterm coming up, so he has been very quiet, cramming I presume. Hikaro and Haku have been trying to form a band, an official music group, in an arrempt to make some disposble income.

Haku has bought so many books at the bookstore he's been turning one of the spare rooms steadily into a library. To avoid being a drain on MY income, Haku has progressively tried to become financially independant.

Mother came to visit yesterday. She drove out and arrived at around 10 o'clock in the morning. My mother is so off the wall sometimes, I wish she could have given some sort of warning or other indication that she was going to arrive, rather than me being awakened by the doorbell ringing about five hundred times in rapid succession. It's been a long time since I had seen my mother, and after I had gotten over the initial shock, I was glad she came. It didn't occur to me before that she had never met any of my children, Hikaro, Raissen, or Haku. She took to them like a fangirl to cosplayers. I was never really worried she wouldn't like them, but was pleasantly suprised by the amount that she LOVED them. Raissen especially, I think he tickled her fancy.

Anyway, he was wearing a leather bodice and miniskirt when mom came. She took one look, whistled, and snapped his tights. I went red with embarressment, Raissen just laughed. My entire family is becoming so odd. We all sat in the livingroom while mom was here, chatting about this and that, talking about recent affairs...

Haku left at about four to run to the book store to buy a hardback on
...The effects of various mental abilities and disorders on behaviour...I wonder why. Next thing I expect the blue haired boy to begin psychoanylizing all of us. Mom made dinner, thank goodness, I couldn't remember the time I had tasted food I hadn't made myself, gave presents to the kids, and left at about oh...Eight-ish.

To Hikaro, she gave a T shirt that said "The next person who calls me goldilocks gets a kick in the crotch." Haku got a two year subscription to National Geographic, and Raissen got a 100$ gift certificate to Victoria's secrets. Me, she gave me the name of a rich young heiriess looking to decorate the manor she's building, right now she's looking for custom made gargoyles and fountain pieces for her garden(s). She absolutely detests modern art, mom said. Hey, we might just have something in common.

It's getting late, and I have a handfull of things to do in the morning.

All one could say is- Raissen should have known better. Friday morning, four AM morning to be more specific, the teenager was long overdue to return home. Dian had long ago decided waiting up with dinner wasn't going to do anything, cleaned up, and went to bed. That wasn't exactly true, he was in a recliner, and had been reading a book and fallen asleep in his bedroom. Hikaro and Haku had been asleep since sundown, A'Hallei was also asleep, curled up in white sheets in the corner of the room.

The only resident of the Chegrin household not asleep would be the second oldest child, newly liberated Raissen.

It was much later than Raissen had realized, he being drunk out of his mind. Normally, he wasn't one to overdo it, but this really pretty girl he had met at the club insisted on buying him drink after drink after drink. One thing led to another and they were making out in one of the bathrooms when the club closed for the night.
Raissen had the good sense to call a taxi to take them home. He didn't have the good sense to send the GIRL home. She was with him, hanging on him, fawning. Blonde haired, brown eyed, cute girl. Done up like a doll, wrapped in white lace, she was the angel to his gypsy. Raissen took one of her curls and pulled at it, marvelling at how it bounced back into a perfect ring. He'd never realized how pretty women could be until he himself looked like one.

Stumbling up the front walk together, it became obvious the girl was still at least partially sober. Raissen pitched forward, caught himself, and she burst into giggles. That's how the evening went, this woman laughing at Raissen's drunken bumbling. Truth be told, Rai didn't have high tolerance, so he was much more affected than he should have been.

Before opening the front door, Raissen turned to look at the girl who accompanied him home. She had a beaming smile, and a way of crinkling her nose that was nausiatingly adorable.
"Are you still so certain you're gay?" She asked, idly stroking at his chest.
"Avvter meeting you, I thinnnk ah might be a lezzbeean." Raissen replied, grinning. She just smiled back at him, and pointed at the door.
"Riiiight." Raissen said, fumbling for his keys. Damn Dian always locking the door.

He had meant to be quiet, but as he pushed open the door she pounced on him, and the door flew open, cracking on the wall loudly. Raissen would have cared but the girl's soft body was pushed up against his in a way that was decidedly not innocent. Bracing himself up against the wall, Raissen gripped her about the hips and pressed her into a kiss hungered as though he were a starving man.

She grasped his bodice and pulled him off the wall toward her. Unfortunately, she overestimated his balance, and he stumbled right into her. Both tumbled to the floor and dissolved into giggles and shushes, and more giggles. How did it work out when in the places where one could make as much noise as one wanted, often one had the urge to make no noise at all, and in the times when silence is necessary, a banshee is trapped in your lungs?

The blonde girl sat up, straddling Raissen's narrow velved covered hips. Grinning wickedly, she began to grind against him, watching as his head rolled back, mouth open, mindless. She knew how to turn a man on, how to turn his gears, to pull his whistle, to light his fire, to spark his plug, to spin his dreidel, to knock his boots, to rock his swing, to toss his cat out of the window--you get the idea.

What she didn't know, was that she had awoken his father. Dian stood above them, shaking, positively shaking with barely controlled rage.
"Raissen." Dian began, quietly, "I want her out. Now." Wirey fingers toughened from years of handling solid rock tightened into white knuckled fists.
"Aw whyy? We weren't...not...doingk noothinng." Raissen slurred, looking drowsily at his adoptive father. He squinted, unable to see too far, even less while drunk.
"Pluss, I wanna show 'er how good ave gott-ten with my haaans." Raissen let out a drunken giggle as he gripped her waist. She bounced twice on his crotch, laughing gaily.
"Who is this guy? Your brother?" She asked Raissen, motioning to Dian, who was now just as appaled as furious. "G'way kid, you'll get your turn some other time."
She waved him off, and leaned down to kiss Raissen.

Crack.

The girl fell from atop Raissen, clutching her jaw and crying. One look could tell anyone Dian Chegrin was through ******** around, and having people brush him off.
"I said I want this tramp out of my house!" He snapped before Raissen could interject.
"You hit me! I'll call the cops on you! You'll get arrested for assault!" She shouted at Dian threateningly, but he took one step forward, and she shrank back.
"If you don't get out of my house right now you won't LIVE to call the cops!" he hissed through clenched teeth, muscles quivering. She took the hint and scurried to her feet, fleeing the house.

Raissen looked after her, but as he attempted to regain his landlegs and pursue, he fell forward again onto the floor.
"Wait!" He called weakly, before turning on Dian, "What da hell wassat for?" He shouted angrily.
"Who was she?" Dian demanded, brows furrowed so his eyes were narrowed to slits.
"One off my friens!" Raissen retorted, with a sort of 'duh' attitude.
"Who was she? What was her name?" Dian demanded again.
"I'm nah teellink!" Raissen shouted again, apparently having lost his volume control.
"What was her name? Do you even know!?" He asked again, voice starting to crack.
"YES!" Raissen yelled, "...No..." He admitted then. Sure, she had a pretty face and a cute a**, but he was far too drunk to remember her name, if she even told it to him, that is.
"Can you tell me when you became such a slut!? Or can you not remember that over your drunken state?" Dian said bitterly, tears welling in his eyes. It broke his heart, to see his pet so.
"I'm not d...runk! Don't chu call me a slut neetherr!" Raissen yelled, standing up now, arm on the wall for support.
"I doubt you can recall your own name!" Dian cried then, voice high pitched.
"Rai--Raiszzn!" It sounded kind of like an electrical sizzle. "Yourr just jealouss!" He shouted back.
"Jealous of what!? You've proudly matured into a grade A whore!"
"Yourr juzt MAD that Ahm not chasing yerr skirts! You can't admi-t I'm not a child aneemor!"
"Growing up doesn't mean you should run off and commit fealonies! You might think yourself all mature, but you're still a teenager, and you're still my son!"
"Get out off my way." Raissen growled, attempting to push away Dian. He had a monster headache now from the yelling, as well as a monster boner that would not die. Dian just stood in his way, an immovable block.
"Moov! Get off of my way!" Raissen shouted, pushing mightaly. Dian faltered a step, and Raissen fell on him, tipped over from the force. Dian gripped his shoulders and pushed him back, slamming him up against the ******** YOU!" Raissen hissed, struggling to be free. Dian fought to still him without hurting him, wrestling with the flailing arms and legs with every ounce of stregnth he had. Raissen clipped his jaw with a fist and smashed his side with a knee, but soon both were panting and hot against the wall, Raissen pinned tightly, face inches from ******** me." He said then, but Dian turned up his nose at the reek of alchohol on his breath,
"You're completely drunk, you don't know what you're saying." Dian said, wondering if he could still pin Raissen but clamp a hand over his mouth as well.
"I do, I do! ******** me, Dian!" Raissen cried then, struggling anew. Raissen slipped a hand free and slid it into Dian's pants, gripping him and pushing their hips together. Dian released a low groan of anguish, Raissen didn't know how he tormented him, haunted his waking and sleeping moments with promises Dian knew he could never allow his son to keep. What an a**, to push him away so, but rein him in again with no way to go.

Raissen's body stilled, went limp. Dian blinked and looked at his son. Raissen had passed out suddenly without any warning at all. It was all for the best, though, The ache in his pants told him that if Raissen hadn't stopped demanding sex when he had, no amount of fatherly willpower could have stopped him. Hugging his son's light body, Dian carried Raissen to his bedroom, not even wondering if his other children had awoken.

Laying Raissen down gingerly, Dian looked to Hikaro, who was sitting up in bed, eyes fearful.
"If he vomits, turn him over. Or change his sheets." Dian said, waiting for Hikaro's affirmative nod. Haku somehow was still asleep, probably due to the headphones in his ears. Dian didn't even WANT to know what A'Hallei was doing.
Trudging to the doorway, Dian leaned on it before exiting, and released a shuddering breath. Today he was certain, Raissen must have shortened his lifespan by between five and twenty years.
He was getting too old for this.

Entry twenty-one, September 25th, 2005

Journal,

Forgive me for a sheer lack of entries within this past month. I apologize, I had lost the journal, but learned a few days ago, Tadriemos had stashed it in a mousehole.

I took the boys on the retreat, as I promised. We went to a lake retreat, out in rural colorado. The weather was nippy, but not foul at all, perfectly beautiful, with the clouds coasting over the sky. The lake, a perfect mirror, was an opposite sky, and as the sun set, a brilliant explosion of color took all of our breaths away. The water rippled only slightly when a trout leapt into the air on a lark, or the steady slow wiggles made by an elk on the opposite shore, dipping his soft muzzle into the water to drink.

In the distance, white peaks tinted a soft grey by the atmosphere granted a secluded backdrop to the camping grounds. The air was a delicious mix of pure mountain air and the slightly minty scent of pine needles. It was also an inspirational masterpiece, one direly needed by me, I was beginning to reach for ideas to sculpt.

Raissen seemed to really enjoy being freed from the fast paced hustle of suburban and city life. Out on the lake, time seems to slow to an endless river that starts at dawn, is marked by high noon, and ends by sundown. Without internet access, or tv, no one had much of a reason to stay up after it got dark. Haku read for an hour or two by flashlight, but eventually settled down.

I had my least stable son stay in a tent with me. Haku and Hikaro both shared a tent, and Raissen bought one for himself. Being so concerned about my newest charge escaping into the night, or going off and drowning himself in the frigid waters of the lake, I was happy to learn he did not object at all to the change in surroundings, nor did he try once to kill me. In fact, he seemed to thrive
out there, darting in and among the shrubbery, digging pits with his claw...things.

They're like cat claws, he can scale a tree straight up the trunk in moments, mere moments. The thing I found oddest was the first evening, the moon was still waxing, almost full, and he ran straight up the tree to a limb no less than sixty feet from the ground and started howling. His words were nearly unintelligible but I swear I heard him scream Samsara, once.

I learned also, Hououza don't take very kindly to the cold. Each one the boys, A'Hallei excluded, were bundled up in turtleneck sweaters. It feels odd to me to write his name that way, but it was as he told me he was to be called. A very suprising set of events indeed.

About the second night we were out camping, the boys decided to start up a campfire, and to tell stories about things that had happened to them that were funny, or maybe a ghost story circle. Plus, we brought ingrediants for smores, and had waited long enough to begin eating them. Huddled around the campfire, we formed a circle, toasting marshmallows on sticks we had found about. As the sun set over the tops of the trees, casting the campsite into shadow, we began telling ghost stories.

Hikaro recounted one he read in a book about a entire town of people, who were posessed by a spirit of the trees. Every so often, a tourist would discover the town and they would proclaim him king of the town, showering him with food, and gifts. Also, any woman he requested sex from had to give it to him without complaint. All would be fine until the second year of this, where they would sacrifice the man to the spirit by stripping him naked and tossing him into the tar pits. It was actually quite frightening.

Haku told about a demonic posession he had researched. The demon was the personification of lust, and usually controlled those who had expressed no such desires before, often children, or holy figures. They suddenly had an uncontrollable and insatiable desire for any and all things highly erotic. Unable to fulfill their desires despite such liasions, they were driven to a point of madness, and ended their own lives, sending the spirit free to find another.

Raissen had begun a story which he said was a dream that he had a while back. During the whole time, we all were sitting around and listening. I hadn't the faintest idea what story I would tell. Raissen still had the memory vived in his mind, and was recounting spectacular detail.
"I was walking along the platform, when I noticed white strings all around me. The were thin, nearly like spider webs, but when I looked up, there was no spider at all, but Caleb-"
"A'Hallei." A'Hallei said suddenly, causing us all to look at him in shock. Never before had he uttered an intelligible sound.
"What?" Raissen asked, staring wide eyed at him.
"A'Hallei. My name is A'Hallei!" He shouted then.
"Okay, whatever, like I was saying..." Raissen was cut off again when A'Hallei stood, and kicked a log into the fire. Cracking loudly, the blaze shot up to at least five feet high, and A'Hallei leapt through it, landing right in front of Raissen. He flipped long hair behind his ears, which I now noticed to be pointed, and said,
"We are watching you, we can see everything."
Just then he let out a shrieking laughter that caused the birds to take flight from the nearby trees.

Just as quickly as he started laughing, he stopped, and realizing how he had burned himself from jumping through the fire, fell over and began crying, clutching his feet.I declared the ghost stories officially over and doused the campfire. Switching on our electric lanterns, I spent damn near an hour bandaging A'Hallei's feet. He fell asleep shortly afterward. Raissen kept a sharp eye on the kid for the rest of the trip.

-To be continued.