Author's note: I appreciate all the reviews that have been given to this story. I'm not the type to reply to reviews, so don't accuse me of ignoring them. Since, I have got that clarified, on with the story.

Chapter 3: The discovery

Kyomi sighed as she watched the garden from the open porch. Her son, Hao is now 4 years old. Ever since birth, he had been displaying symptoms of having shamanic abilities. As she was able to see spirits herself, she often saw him staring at the spirits lurking around the house and wanting to play with them. She chased them away though, since most of them were spirits with bad intentions. But she had no choice now. She had to tell Sechi about her being a shaman, or she would not be able to train her son in peace. And not telling a shaman about his abilities is a sin, especially in the eyes of a prominent family like her own.

"Kaa – san, tell me more about the spirits." A small voice suddenly said.

She abruptly broke out of her own thoughts as Hao came up to her, an interested look on his face. She paused for a while, and after ensuring that there was no one else around, started saying, "Spirits are beings that come out from their original body after it dies."

"No, Kaa – san, I'm not talking about human or animal spirits. I want to know about the spirits in nature. Like leaf spirits, water spirits and things like that."

Kyomi stared as her son said this request. No other experienced shaman she had known had displayed such interest in this field, and she was hearing this from a four year old, which could have known about such spirits.

"Why then, are you so interested in spirits of nature?" Kyomi asked Hao, hoping to get an answer. His response shocked her.

"Well, I was at that tree just now." Hao said, pointing to a tree in the distance,

"then I felt something funny. I heard something and I thought I understood it. Then I realised it came from the tree. And this weird smoke was coming out from it. Like the aura thing you told me about earlier. So I wanted to know if spirits live in nature too." Hao said, before sitting down beside this mother, tired from the long explanation.

Kyomi listened and thought back to what her father had said when he was teaching her about shamans.

There are many different types of shamans, Kyomi. The most common are shamans who use spirits to communicate with the spirits in the next world, like those in the temple, the mikos. There is also the Itako, which can summon spirits from anywhere, even if they have moved on. There are also shamans who use spirits to fight by allowing them to possess a medium, or themselves. The rarest type of shaman though, are those who can control and communicate with nature. They cannot be trained, only born. There has only been one record of the existence of such a shaman, and no such shaman lives now.

Kyomi gasped as she realised. Her son could communicate with nature, like with the tree. Can it mean that Hao was one of those rare shamans? She had to confirm.

"Hao, can you tell me what this flower is thinking now?" She asked pointing at a lone flower in the middle of the garden. She knew the question sounded stupid, but she had to be sure.

"That flower? I'm not really sure, but I feel a wave of sadness and loneliness from it. It doesn't want to be by herself." Hao said uncertainly.

"It's a female?"

"Uh – huh."

Kyomi almost fainted but caught herself in time. Her son, a nature shaman! Now that made things worse. Being such a rare type of shaman, she didn't know how to train him. She could teach him the basics, but what next? She had to see the family soon.

"Kyomi dear, where are you?" Sechi's voice drifted from the hall. He had come home.

"I'm on the porch with Hao." Kyomi answered.

A short time later, Sechi appeared. He looked tired, understandable after a day of work, but he was smiling, happy to be with his family again.

"Kyomi, a good wife should be at the doorway, waiting for her husband to come home." Sechi chided her good - naturedly.

"Right now, Sechi. I'm being a good mother and keeping my son company. I'll be a good wife at dinner. Is that fine with you?" She retorted back, smiling with him.

"Otou – san, welcome back." Hao said and hugged his father's legs.

Sechi smiled again, wider this time and picked Hao up. "Have you been a good boy?"

Hao nodded.

Sechi put Hao down and said. "Stay with your mother. After I'm done cleaning up, we'll eat dinner."

" 'kay." Hao said.

At night, Kyomi put Hao in bed and went back into the room she shared with Sechi. Seeing that her son needed proper training soon, she would have to go back to the family. But she would not be able to explain to Sechi about her absence from this house unless she told him the truth.

She entered the room, Sechi was changing into this nightclothes. She sat in front of the mirror and started combing her hair. After she was done and saw that Sechi was done as well, she silently prayed that Sechi would react positively. Then she said. "Sechi, I have something to tell you."

Pika318: Well, I'm done with this chapter. It's a little longer than before. Next chapter, we will see how Sechi will react to the truth. I have not really decided yet, hopefully I would by tomorrow. See ya, and try reviewing. It will be good discerning material if this idea is good. Because my sister heard my idea of writing about Hao's life 1000 years ago and you know what she said?She said, "No one would want to read about Hao's life 1000 years ago. It's too far off from the manga and anime." Do you agree with her?