Moon Guardian

By J.V. Lisa
Hi, my name is Liza Kiyuki-Smith my friends call me Izzy or just Iz. You might be thinking, “Well that’s a weird name,” but don’t worry I’ll explain later. I live in feudal Japan, which explains my fist last name. I look like your typical Japanese seventeen years old; actually I’m just about the spitting image of my mother, except for two physical features that are kind of hard to miss. First my hair is golden, instead of the usual black of brown, and my eyes are a dark blue-green, instead of brown. Those I owe entirely to my dad. So now you’re probably scratching you head trying to figure this one out, as you’ve already guessed my dad, no was not Japanese, he was European, or so I’m told, this also helps my second last name of Smith, he also helped with my first.
My parents met on the battlefield—romantic huh—he had been injured when he was trying to help a family escape from the battle between two rival villages. What was he doing there? Your guess is as good as mine, but he was there. My mother found him and took him in. She patcheds him up good as new. She said he was very hansom and very different, other then the obvious differences she said that he was actually very respectful too. After he was healed she couldn’t get rid of him, he would always find a reason to see her. One of my favorite stories was when he got a splinter in his finger. He claimed it was so painful and that my mother was the only person who could get it out pain free. I would always laugh at the way she played him. Later on, of course, they fell in love. They wanted to get married but my grandfather would not allow it. He absolutely forbade her from seeing him. Thankfully that didn’t keep them apart, and they ended up running away together. They were together for about three or four years before my mother became pregnant with me. Then, the day I was born, my father was killed by raiders. My mother named me Liza. She said it was my father’s idea. But enough history for now this is my story, my legacy. My journey to find my destiny begins the day my whole world came crashing down.
About a year ago, when I was sixteen years old, I was outside in the woods, getting into trouble. You know things boys should be doing—yes I’m one of those tomboys which sometimes, in this era, could get you killed—when it happened. A group of raiders attacked my village. When I heard screaming and yelling I ran back home to see what was going on. When I got to my house I found my mother lying on the floor in a pool of blood. I shook her shoulders and yelled for her to wake up, but it was no use she was already dead. (I can still remember her blood staining my clothes.) As I stared at her body, horror struck, I noticed something clutched in her hands. I opened her hand and found her necklace and a note. I carefully unfolded the note and read.
My Dear Little One,
I’m sorry to say that I am most likely dead. A group of raiders came while you were out, but I guess you already knew that. I don’t have much time, I want you take my necklace, it should bring you luck. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you everything that I should have, but I’m afraid I won’t be able to. There is something you need to know about yourself but I can’t risk writing it in case someone else finds this letter before you do. When you turn seventeen you will understand. Now Go! Please remember I love you, dearly, and I’ll always be with you. Run now and be safe.
I took the note and the necklace and held them close to my heart. Outside I heard the raiders shouting to check the houses again. I quickly tied the necklace snuggly to my neck and tucked away the note. I didn’t hear anyone walk up behind me, I had no idea they were there until I felt him grab me by the back of my collar, and drug me outside. I started thrashing and kicking until I finally landed one on his knee. He released my collar and fell over, landing on his side cursing to whole time. I scrambled around trying to find my feet again but, a hard boot came down on my back pinning me to the ground. It was then I finally got a look at what had become of my village. Thick black smoke came from some of the rooftops, strange men were carrying armfuls of valuables from the houses, and the ground, the ground was stained red with blood. The blood of all those I had ever known. I felt sick looking at it, I had to turn away. I looked at the ground in front of me. I saw a pair of old black boots in front of me. I followed the form upwards until I met a man’s face. I avoided looking at his eyes; it was disrespectful for a woman to look a man in the eye, though why I was showing him respect I don’t know. I mean he was the one responsible for all the death in my village. The boot came off my back.
“Stand up!” The man commanded. I did so looking strait ahead at his armor. It was old, very tattered stained with the blood of my townsman.
“Look at me woman” He commanded, “I want to see your face.”
Once again I did so still not looking at his eyes. He circled me starring intently, studying me, with his arms crossed in front of his thick chest and one hand holding his chin. He came around to face me again his stare had changes slightly to amazement. His eyes flickered from my hair to my eyes and back again. He took a step towards me, my body tensed but I did not move. His hand extended out to touch my hair, I didn’t flinch only my eyes flicked to his hand. He caught my glare and dropped his hand back to his side. I soon regretted it as his hard hand hit the side of my face. He hit me so hard it sent my sprawling across the ground. I rolled a few times, when I came to a stop I shook off the dizziness and stood. He took a few paces towards me, and my eyes betrayed me as I glared at him again. He stopped in front of me. I cringed slightly, thinking he was going to hit me again, but he didn’t, he simply stared. I caught sight of my reflection in his armor. My hair had red stains from blood I had picked up from the ground. I saw my face, it surprised me, my features were usually soft and gentle, but they were hard this time, my expression was fierce and murderous. My eyes were like two blue flames of rage, ready to make someone burst into flames at will. —I wished they could—I almost scared myself with my eyes, I had never seen them this way before. “That must be why he dropped his hand earlier” I thought to myself. He suddenly grabbed my medium sized neck in his large hands jerking my head forward and my chin up. He stared at my eyes, but I didn’t meet his gaze (The whole respect thing, I still didn’t understand it.) Instead I looked over his left shoulder at the handle of a large sword. I studied his sword for a few seconds, the handle had a very elegant and beautiful design with a few small, sparkling gemstones scattered about it. I could tell, by the sheer design, that it wasn’t rightfully his. He had most likely stole it from another village.
“Look at me!” He commanded startling me. My eyes slowly drifted to his face. His face was dirty, scarred, and hairy. His eyes were a muddy brown with a hard and malevolent expression, but with a hint of joy. I saw his mouth it curled into a devilish grin as his eyes traced down my body. This sent a hot rage though my body and of course my eyes. Then my brain-mouth filter failed to kick in.
“What are you smiling at?” I hissed, I couldn’t believe the way my voice sounded. I had never heard that tone come from my mouth before. His grin faded but his eyes were still amused, and once again I was flying through the air crashing down with a thud. I failed to roll this time, so all the force of hitting the hard ground radiated through my body forcing a grunt from my mouth. I tried to stand again, but then felt a sharp cold object at my throat. My body froze but my eyes wondered up the man’s elegant sword at my throat. I starred at the sword then at the man’s face, his mouth again curled into a grin as he tilted the blade back and fourth. He was most likely trying to find the best angle in which to kill me.
“Stand” he commanded, moving his sword from my neck a few inches. I rose, still watching his blade as it stayed close to my throat. When I stood straight he touched his blade to my throat again. He watched my reaction., I simply looked down at the blade, then back to his face.
“Are you going to kill me or just wave your sword around?” I blurted out almost impatiently. He looked at me astonished, then his grin widened. He looked to the man behind me.
“I like this one. She’s wild and unbroken,” He glanced at me then back to his man. “I will enjoy breaking that spirit of hers.” His eyes were dark and malicious. I heard a footstep behind me. Something hard hit the back of my head then, everything went black. My guess would be that one of the men hit me with the pommel of his sword.
I woke up about a little while later tied up in the back of a wagon. Luckily I was very good with knots, and was able to untie myself with ease. I looked around the wagon. I saw many familiar objects that were stolen from the various people in my village. I peeked out the back, and much to my dismay, my captor was right behind the wagon.
“Darn!” I whispered. “No escaping that way.” I sat down by a pile of crates trying to collect myself. I starred down at my blood stained clothes, my mind raced back to my village and my mother’s cold, lifeless body. I suddenly remembered about her necklace and note. I quickly checked for them, to my relief, they were still there. After a couple seconds I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was in pain. I felt the back of my head, and sure enough there was a very large, and tender bump there.
“Ouch” I said to myself, gently rubbing the back of my head. My hand drifted to my cheek, it was slightly swollen and sore, but not nearly as bad as my head.
“Thank goodness I have a high pain tolerance, I have a feeling I’m going to need it.” I thought to myself. I started thinking about what happened before I was knocked unconscious. What happened? Usually I can hold my tongue, but it all just came out. “Ugh” I rubbed my temples. I started looking around the wagon again, trying to find something to help me escape somehow. I looked inside some of the crates around me. In one of the crates I found a painting done by one of the village elders. He was one of the few who loved everybody, even me. The painting took him a long time to finish. He said it was his best one yet. I hugged the painting, and felt tears start to run down my cheeks, then moved on to another crate. There was mostly jewelry in this one. I searched everywhere and found absolutely nothing. I sat down again by a pile of crates. I let my head drop backwards and unexpectedly hit it against the hard wood.
“Ouch!” I said, rubbing the back of my head. I felt the wagon come to a stop. A few seconds later my captor flung the wagon cover open. The bright light hurt my eyes but they soon adjusted. His eyes went to where I had been tied up before. When he only saw ropes his expression became angry and worried. I smiled inside for being the cause of his discomfort. His eyes quickly searched the wagon until they fell on me. He glanced back and forth between the ropes and me. Then his grin spread across his lips again.
“My, my, my, aren’t we the crafty one.” he said, his eyes gleaming.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said standing and folding my arms across my chest. He jumped into the wagon and walked towards me, he stopped in front of me. He drew his sword then stood aside motioning for me to exit the wagon. I walked past him eyeing the beautiful sword. He followed closely behind me with the tip of his sword at the small of my back. I stopped at the edge of the wagon and took a moment to look at my surroundings. We were on a small mountain trail. To my right was a thirty-foot drop straight down, with nothing to slow you down. To my left was a six-foot wall of rock, and once again there was nothing sticking out to grab hold of, or any good foot holes. Straight-ahead was the way we had just come from.
“The wagon has to go a different way. The mountain is too rough for it.” The man said jumping down then offering his hand to help me down. —Yeah like I really wanted him touching me. – I looked at the hand, side stepped and, jumped down to the ground. To my surprise my landing was somewhat graceful. He chuckled then grabbed the rope from the wagon and stepped toward me.
“Is that really necessary?” I said totally surprising myself. “It’s not like I can run away with a thirty-foot drop on one side, and a six-foot wall on the other.” Once again he starred at me in amazement. I hated the feeling of his eyes on me.
“True, but I like seeing you in ropes, it suits you. Like a saddle on a wild horse.” He said grinning while he wrapped my wrists. He led me, with the rest of the rope, around the side of the wagon. The space between the wagon and the wall of the mountain was small and cramped. He had some difficulty fitting though, but I didn’t. I started making a mental list of my advantages. So far I was smaller and more agile. We emerged from the space. I saw his men waiting for him they were all on horseback. At the front of the pack there was a beautiful black horse. It had a broad chest with thick legs. It was almost pure pitch black except for a white crescent moon on his forehead. I paused for a moment to admire the horse. The man felt the line tighten and looked back at me. He followed me gaze to the horse.
“Beautiful isn’t he. I stole him from a palace along with my sword.” He boasted walking over to the horse pulling me along with him. He stepped in between the horse, and me then suddenly grabbed me by the waist and kind of threw me onto the horses back. It startled me, but the horse didn’t seem to notice me. I suddenly had a strange feeling like this horse was somehow important to me. The man got on behind me. The horse seemed to object with a quiet whinny, but the man didn’t seem to notice. His arms came around me as he reached around me for the reins. His arms were very hard with muscles and very strong. They felt like an iron cage around me. I started a new list in my head of my disadvantages. So far his strengths, manpower, resources, horses and he most likely knew the lay of the land better. The list continued, after a while my advantage of small size made me feel like it was mouse vs. cat. The mouse is small and agile, but the cat… well we know how it usually ends. I stayed quiet for the trip. Every now and then I would hear his men whispering and, when I would glance back they would be leaning towards each other but looking at me. I hate it when people stare at me. I can always feel when I’m being watched. I returned my focus to the road ahead of us but was soon bored. Instead I started playing with the horse’s mane, twining it around my fingers. It was slightly difficult seeing as how my hands were still tied but it kept me occupied. As I was playing with the mane I came across something tied in it. I moved the hair out of the way and saw a piece of silver. It had the same carving on it as the man’s sword. I quickly covered it again and went back to playing with the horse’s mane. I started thinking about the design, for some reason it seemed familiar to me. Suddenly the horse stopped and The Man jumped down. He grabbed me firmly by the waist and set me on the ground. He kept hold of me and made sure that my hands were still bound. For a second he looked disappointed.
“Awe, you didn’t try to untie yourself. Darn, I was hoping to do it again.” He said letting go of my waist.
“Sorry to disappoint.” I retorted.
“Hmm, I will enjoy breaking you.” He said grinning again.
I looked around, this time we were in a small village at the top of the mountain. There was a thick forest to one side with a small stream. The man put his hands on my shoulders gripping them tightly. He pushed me towards the houses.
“Are you raiding anther village?” I asked bitterly.
“No.” he said, “We live here, and now so do you.”
“We’ll see about that.” I said under my breath.
I looked at the village again faces started appearing in the windows and doorways. They were all women and had very grave faces, but when a man would enter the houses, they would fake a smile. Some looked at me and gave me a piteous look. Some however looked at me in amazement of course they had never seen anybody with golden hair before. I kept my eyes down as the man steered me through the little village. We walked through the middle of the village to a very large house. The beautiful horse was already in the stable nibbling on some hay. Again I stared at him amazed by his grace and beauty. He looked up at me with intelligent eyes and gave me a whinny of recognition. Again the strange feeling came to me, like I somehow knew this horse, and it knew me. I felt the pressure on my shoulders increase, so I continued forward. Inside the house was beautiful, but a total pig sty. There were people passed out drunk and boxes of things randomly scattered about and old scrolls littered the floor. There were a few elegant wall hangings that were in fairly good condition but others were torn and stained with who knows what. The Man walked in front of me again leading me with the rope and parading me past his servants and guards. We came to a hallway with about three or four women, who looked the same age my mother was, standing with their heads bowed. The man roughly yanked the rope making me stumble forward. He turned to me around to face him and untied my hands. He whipped me around to face the women as I rubbed the welts on my wrist left by the rope.
“Clean her up and find her something to wear.” He said shoveling me towards the women. “I want my latest trophy looking nice for when I present her to the public.”
I stepped with the momentum of his shove but then fell to my knees. I quickly stood and bowed to the women. The Man left and I stood there not sure what to do. One woman stepped forward. She carried herself with pride and appeared to be in charge of the other three. She slid one arm around my shoulders and the other gently gripped my right forearm and led me to a large room. The women gathered in the room and started asking me questions.
“What is your name young one?” The shortest woman asked.
“L-Liza…Liza Kiyuki.” I said timidly.
“Where do you come from?” Another asked.
“I come from the Legin Village.” I answered.
“So why did he take you, aside from the obvious reasons” said the third woman.
“What do you mean ‘obvious reasons’?” I asked slightly confused.
“Your hair and eyes, they are very rare in fact I’ve never seen anything like them. And he is always looking for rare beauties.” She said.
“Well aside from that I’m not quiet sure.” I said pondering. “Well he did say something about me being too spirited and wanting to break me.”
All four women stood there slightly shocked. The woman in charge seemed to snap out of it first clapping her hands to get the attention of the others.
“You,” she barked, “get the bath ready. You find her some suitable clothes. You find a thick brush and some pretty combs. “And you,” she said as she turned to me,
“Off with those filthy clothes” Before I could react she started yanking things off of me. I grabbed for the note in my shirt pocket before she had it totally off of me. Once I had it my arms flew to my chest to cover my nakedness.
“What is that?” She demanded.
“Please let me keep them, they’re all I have left” I pleaded clasping the note as well as my necklace. She gave me a sympathetic look and nodded. “Thank you.”
“The bath is ready ma’am” said a woman entering the room.
“Good now, off with those pants and into the tub.” The woman barked again.
“Wait,” I said before she reached for me again, “May I at least bathe myself?”
“Very well, but you had better do a good job, or else.” She called after me.
“Yes ma’am.” I replied. The woman reminded me of my mother at that moment. I pushed the thought of her body from my mind, attempting to lock it away. I concentrated of scrubbing myself clean. One of the women brought me a thin dressing robe. I was led to a stool in front of a large mirror. The woman in charge sat on a stool behind my and brushed the tangles, dirt and, dried blood from my hair. I was then dressed in a dark blue silk kimono with black and red embroidered flowers on it. It was very beautiful, too beautiful for me. The woman brushed my hair back into a half braid decorating it with a sparkly comb.
“You look beautiful.” She said taking a step back to admire her work.
“Thank you.” I whispered, not lifting my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” She asked softly.
“I’m just trying to figure out what is going to happen to me here.” I replied sounding wimpy. She looked at me with a pained expression, trying to choose her words carefully.
"It's best not to think about it." She said looking away. "Come on it's time to take you to Master." She put her hand between my shoulder blades and gave me a gentle push.
"Master" the word echoed in my mind. Over and over again it sounded growing in volume.
"No!" I shouted inside my head. "No one is to be my master."
"No one." I said under my breath.
"Did you say something?" The woman asked me.
"Oh, no nothing." I said.
She led me through many doors and hallways before stopping in front of two large doors. They opened and the woman guided me through, told me to stay then quickly left. In the room were two rows or people, one on either side of a walk way. At the end of the walk way sat him, my 'master'. I bowed slightly to the guests but not to him.
"Come forward." He commanded. I walked towards him, hearing the whispers as I passed. I stopped in front of with my eyes down. He motioned me to sit next to him. I did so, sitting as far away from him as I could manage, though he could still reach me if he tried. Food and drinks were then served. I wasn't hungry and just stared blankly at the food placed in front of me. My eyes drifted to the material of the kimono I wore following the colors of different threads used on the flowers.
"Why are you not eating?" The Man asked me.
"I'm not hungry." I mumbled.
"Well then," He replied looking pleased, "you can entertain us. Dance."
"No." I refused
"What?" He said though his teeth. His face started to turn red.
"I said no." I said deliberately looking him in the eye. I wasn't going to do anything he said. I was going to make him sorry for destroying my village and killing my mother. Since I couldn't fight him physically then I would publicly defy him and under mind his actual ability to command. If he couldn't make a young seventeen year old woman do what she was told then how could he really command his men? Some of his guests stared whispering, a few even giggled. His face got redder and his nostrils started to flare. He stood up, looming over me. He picked me up, grabbing a hand full of the kimono, and dragged me down to the center of the walkway. He dropped me then returned to his seat.
"Dance!" He commanded again. I slowly stood smoothing the wrinkles he had created.
"No." I said again crossing my arms. His face almost turned purple with rage. Many of his guests began to laugh as did I.
"What do you think you’re laughing at?”
“You should see your face. By the way that is a lovely shade of red.” I said having fun.
-yeah you’re probably thinking ‘oh my god you idiot,’ but don’t worry, I have a plan.-
He finally snapped rushing at me picking me up and throwing me out the doors.
“Take her to the chamber I’ll deal with her later.” He told a couple of guards before whipping around and reentering the dining room. The two men seized my arms and drug me back to the room with the women.
“Give her back her old clothes.” One guard demanded, “She has no more use for these.” The same older woman took me into the room and handed me my old clothes.
“What did you do?” she asked me as I changed into my old clothes.
“I said no.” I stated manner of factually. Her eyes went wide.
“Oh dear, but you’re going to be punished severely for that.” She sounded afraid.
“Oh well.” I shrugged as she pulled my hair back and started braiding it.
“How can you just shrug that off?!” she raised her voice.
“It’s not like he can do much more damage than he already has to me. He destroyed my home, murdered my mother, there‘s not exactly much more he can do.”
“Believe me, his cruelty doesn’t stop there, he will go after your body next and you pride. He will break you physically and mentally.” She almost sounded like she was pleading as she finished braiding me hair.
“Let him try.” I sneered. She closed her eyes and shook her head. The two guards reentered the room seizing my arms again with strong grips and forced me through some of the halls and rooms. We stopped at a large wooden door reinforced with steel sealed with a large metal lock. They shoved me against the wall, one guard pinned me as the other pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. They then threw me into the room and slammed the door locking it and leaving me in the dark. I was in there for a long while before I heard his footsteps in the hall. The lock rattled and the door creaked open. His large silhouette filled the doorway. He entered the room with the same two guards. They lit a couple of torches making the blood stained floor and walls visible. His face still looked red but this time he was smiling.
“Hope you haven’t been waiting to long.”
“Not long enough if you ask me.” I snapped. His nostrils flared again.
“I’ll teach you to talk back to me.” He said uncoiling a whip he had hidden behind him. I glanced at it then back at him.
“I doubt you’ll get far with that.” His hand came hard across my face sending me face down to the ground.
“Hold her.” He commanded the two guards. They pushed me into the ground by my upper arms and help my forearms up. They both grabbed hold of the back of my shirt and ripped it open.
CRACK!!!
The whip cracked as it made contact with the bare skin if my back. I cringed and bit down but for some reason did not cry out in pain. This seemed to anger him further as his strikes became harder and harder. Finally he ran out of steam, panting he stood straight.
“Throw her in the stables. Let her spend the night with the beasts.” He turned and left the room. The two men guard drug my limp body through the through the many corridors. Soon I felt my legs drag against the dirt. They lifted over the stable wall and dropped me on my back. Pain radiated through my body causing a small grunt when I hit the ground. They laughed as they walked away. I laid there for a good while as the pain eased slightly. I felt very weak but somehow managed to stand up. My back burned and I felt blood running down as I looked around at my surroundings. The fresh air told me was outside.
“Yes.” I thought to myself, suddenly all my pain went away as I started find my way towards the woods using the fence for support. I saw the trees on the far side of the stables. I stared running towards them but was stopped by a soft whinny. I turned to see the white crescent moon of the black horse I’d met earlier coming toward me.
“Hey there boy.” I said reaching out to him. He smelled it then pressed his muzzle into my palm. I rubbed his neck with my other hand. My hand brushed the silver piece in him mane, and I was glad it was still there. “Do you want to escape with me?” he whinnied softly and it even looked like he nodded. He turned his side to me. I jumped on his back swinging my leg over him gripping tightly with my knees. I took hold of the strap on his harness. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” He started slow to make sure I was securely attached then took off toward the woods. He jumped the wall and galloped fast to the trees.
“She’s escaping, stop her!” I heard one of the guards shout as an alarm rose.
“Shoot her.” I heard The man shout behind me. A second later I heard an arrow wiz by my head and hit the trees in front of us. Soon there were dozens hitting the trees. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my left shoulder as an arrow slid into place followed closely by another in my lower back. Almost all my strength left my left arm. It fell to my side limply as each stride brought waves of pain.
“Come on boy, faster.” I whispered to the horse. He started picking up speed. I gripped him as tight as I could but my strength and consciousness were quickly fading. When we hit the forest the horse stared darting around trees making us a harder target, but at the same time making it harder to hold on.
“Stop!” I heard The man command faintly, “she won’t get far, not with those injuries. And when I get her back…” We were too far away to hear him anymore. I felt so tired and weak, like I hadn’t slept for days. We came across a large clearing, about midway I lost everything I had left and hit the ground. The horse back came around nuzzling my neck and face. Finally the pain went away and I lost consciousness.

* * * * *
I started hearing faint sounds, voices, general rustling and a crackling fire. I sleepily opened my eyes to find that I was lying on a couch in a small cottage lit by what was left of daylight. I looked around a bit. The cottage was cluttered with shelves of herbs, spices and old books. There was a fire burning with a boiling pot over it. Suddenly ever thing came back to me. The memories of my mother’s death, my capture, and treatment, my escape and the arrows all came back in a rush. I sat up quickly but was stopped about half way by a set of strong hands on my shoulders. I gasped thinking the worst.
“Whoa there, not so fast.” An old man’s voice behind me. “You’re not healed yet! You need to lie still or you will reopen the wounds on your back.” The muscles in my back and shoulders had already tensed up sending waives of pain through my body. A quiet groan escaped my lips as the pain spread. The hands tightened slightly and pulled me back down until I was lying completely down again. I looked up to see an old blind man, I was surprised but greatly relieved.
“Who are you? Where am I?” I asked finding my voice.
“My name is Oota Soku, you may call me Oota, and this is my home.” He told me reaching for his walking stick. He missed it on his first try but found it after a short sideways movement of his hand. “And may I ask your name young one?”
“My name is Liza Kiyuki, people usually call me Izzy or just Iz.” I said timidly.
“Well nice to meet you miss Liza.” He said.
“Pleasure to meet you as well sir, would you be so kind as to tell me how I got here?” I asked politely
“My apprentice found you unconscious in the woods along with a rather feisty horse…”
“My horse!” I interrupted, as my heart started racing. “Where is he? Is he okay? He didn’t get hurt did he?”
“Calm down child, he’s fine.” He said softly. “He is being well taken care of.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.06.2012

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