Okay, so this is a random stuff I've been wanting to write for quite a while. I was having a writer's block with 'Zero Distance Prayers' and decided to take this out of my mind. Tell me if you like it and want to see more of it. Anyway, the next chapter of ZDP is almost done.

The Dance of the Feathers

My name is Bai Yu An, and I am an albino, the sort with white hair, really pale skin and even red eyes. I also have lots of health issues, and my father died when I was really young.

I'm not telling it to you so that you'll pitty me. It's just to explain that, because of my father's death and my poor health condition, my mother got really over-protective, and that's why I never had much of a social life. In fact, I barely got near any computers or TV, because she was afraid the eletro-magnetic waves would hurt my brain and make me have cancer. When I was sixteen she even made me live inside a plastic bubble, but I put an end to that by throwing a tantrum. (I am not proud to admit, but when you're the only child of a over-protective mother... you do learn how to throw a tantrum).

Now I am 20, and I finally convinced my mom that I could actually live alone, so I transferred from the local university to XXX University – the one with the best literature major in the country.

I entered the bus when it was still empty, and as it circled the nearby towns people started to occupy the other seats around me. When it was almost full, a girl entered without even lifting her eyes from the book she was reading and sat just beside me. After that, I guess I must have fallen asleep...

Chapter 1

Bai Yu An woke up to find a girl startlingly close to him.

Perhaps, from an outsider point of view, that sentence wasn't strictly true, but Yu An wasn't used to have people close to him in any circunstamces, so a girl sitting beside him and leaning in his direction was indeed very close. She was rather cute, he decided. She had brown hair, freckles, and wore glasses.

"I can't believe it's you." She said in an excited whisper.

"Huh?"

"Prince! Nice to meet you, I am a huge fan of yours, I..." She kept whispering, perhaps because most people in the bus were napping, perhaps because she didn't want competition for his attention.

"Er, I don't know what are you talking about."

"Don't worry, Prince, I won't tell anybody. I know it must be terrible to you being targeted by all those reporters and fangirls."

"Sorry, but... I am no prince."

The girl smiled knowingly at him.

"Okay, since you say so... Then I'll go back reading. But can you sign my notebook?" She produced the said notebook and a pen as she talked.

Realizing he wasn't quite able to refuse, Yu An took the pen. Perhaps, Yu An thought, the girl had some serious mental illness. It was better to leave her be.

"So, what do you want me to write?"

"Just 'To my fan Xiao Ai, always yours, Prince'. I hope that is not much?"

"Not at all." He tried not to sound unsure while he wrote the words down. "Here."

"Thanks. I'll stop bothering you now." And keeping to her promise she opened her book again, even though she shot a glance at him every now and then and giggled.

Finally arriving at XXX City's Bus Terminal, Bai Yu An retrieved his luggage and sat to recover his breath. His luggage wasn't particularly heavy, but his ashma wouldn't cooperate, so the small effort of lifting it and carrying it to the taxi stand was enough to leave Yu An breathless.

During the process, he was pretty sure a couple of girls had pointed to him and started to talk conspiratorially among themselves, but they had to enter their buses and didn't approach him. This fact was compensated as soon as he put his luggage down. Three girls matterialized in front of him.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm actually meeting Prince!"

"I know! My legs are shaking! Hi, Prince!"

"Hi, Prince! You're incredible, we love you!"

"Err... Look, I'm not a prince, you know..." He tried to explain, without much success.

"I have all the CD's from Infinite Band!"

"I started playing Second Life because of you!"

"I'm moving my character to Infinite City!"

Yu An had never heard about Second Life, but he wasn't totally slow in the uptaking.

"So, this Prince you've been talking about... He's not really a prince, only some sort of celebrity."

"Ha ha, you don't need to pretend you don't know about him, silly! But will you come with us and have a coffee while we wait for our bus?"

The girl who spoke looked normal enough, but her two friends were alredy looking at him like... like... like hungry wolves spotting deer. Under that gaze, Yu An stepped back, which was a mistake. The girls closed in. Desperate, he grabbed his luggage, wondering if he could startle them by swinging it and create an opening through which he could escape.

Suddenly, with a screeching noise, a taxi stopped beside him. The door flung open and a hand pulled Yu An and his luggage inside.

"Are you okay, lad?" A middle-aged taxi driver asked Yu An as he regained his breath.

"Good grief... yes. Thanks to you. I thought they were going to..." the boy stopped himself from saying "eat", "... do something very unpleasant to me."

The driver sighed.

"That is no proper behaviour. I play Second Life too, you know."

"Second Life?"

"Yes. I've seen how they keep chasing you there. Shameless. Even a celebrity like you should be able to come and go as you please, if you ask me."

So, Yu An though, he was still being mistaken for that Prince. And what was this Second Life? He didn't have time to ask this, because the driver was still talking.

"You know, I have a daughter. A cute little thing, barely sixteen. She's such a great fan of yours... but not the murderous type like those three we left at the terminal. Tomorrow is her birthday, and I just bought her a CD from Infinite Band. And I was wondering... could you sign it? And perhaps, if it's not asking to much, take a picture with me, so she'll believe I actually met you?"

Yu An blinked.

"Of course! Here, give me the CD. What is her name again?"

The driver tried to prevent Yu An from paying, but he wasn't going to have any of that.

"Even real princes and celebrities have to follow the laws." He said firmly. "And I am neither. Thanks for your help back then."

The taxi driver smiled at what he understood as a humble atitude and, after helping Yu An to carry his luggage upstairs, went away feeling very satisfied. Prince was indeed a nice guy! He was glad his daughter admired such a nice guy, instead of a troublesome rock star who did drugs.

Yu An watched him go with a mix of acomplishment and unneasiness. Just who was this Prince he was already becoming good in impersonating?