Chapter V

Lady of the Flowers

Note: This chapter is a bit longer, but I wanted to put everything in one song: Placebo: Lady of the Flowers.

As I said from the beginning of the fanfiction, I would sometime choose a music that matches the atmosphere I wanted to create. The lyrics from the song are written in italic.

I will edit the writing mistakes later

I hope you enjoy!

Three weeks have passed

Although the Takahashi residence was no more occupied by 2 people, the atmosphere changed. Hao would sometimes visit Rilury, even if he had to spend most of his time recruiting the old and new members for his team. Even if he already gathered 10 people, including some veterans, Hao would still feel lonely from time to time. Maybe because he couldn't find Opacho anywhere…and he also didn't want to find him.

Rilury didn't actually know what Hao was doing while he was gone. She thought that maybe she isn't a strong enough shaman to train with her. But even so, Hao would still have training sessions with her, especially in the evenings. Of course those were much helpful for her than for him, as it was clearly obvious that she was most of the time in the center of the action and Hao was just pleased to observe her attacking and seemed to be quite interested in her element power. He would also teach her how to use her furyoku wisely and some tai chi movements to gain complete control over her chi flow.

Rilury thought that all shamans could use the electric power to bend the atoms at will. But it seemed that she got that sort of unique talent to do that, as Hao told her.

Maybe all he wanted was to recruit her. A girl separated from the society will soon see and understand his plans.

And her company was also nice, since none of the thoughts she had were common between the shamans he had met. Sometimes they were mean, sometimes they were funny. And the best part is that she almost forgot his telepathic power. Rilury was that kind of sincere type, who would recognize her flaws and wouldn't be ashamed of who she was.

"I can't imagine a perfect world. I can only picture it like a bidimensional circle. If everybody was perfect then we wouldn't have anything to live for. Life would be as simple as death. I like everybody to have their own flaws, their vices, their obsessions, their drugs. Something that pushes you from behind. The only thing that bothers me about these stuff is that because of them we often hurt the people we care about." She would usually say that as they took a break, standing on a cliff and stargazing. That was one thing they had in common. As she was thinking about that, a vague person came in her mind, but Hao couldn't figure it out who it was, since it was a memory her brain didn't want to process it now.

Letting your mind explore the vast universe and think about unanswerable questions, thinking about the insignificant purpose of life.

"We are so small…" Rilury mumbled with a bit of a sadly impressed voice.

Hao remained silent and looked at her. The loner who lost a friend, the person who would randomly save another one's life and put herself at risk, the inexperienced shaman with an impressionable ability and the girl with the green eyes, full of sincerity and stubbornness.

It was vaguly explainable why he would act so normal with her.

When she got angry whenever she lost and tried to randomly attack the air, she would then calm down and keep a pouting expression. Then she would laugh and then apologize.

Excuse me, I have to apologize,

She's got vacuum cleaner eyes,

Suck you in

Sometimes when Hao would come to her house and visit her, he would see the disastrous kitchen, with dirty dishes everywhere, and some of them broken, with the mini-spirits cleaning. That time he knew that Rilury was in the living room, eating a jumbo pizza or a spaghetti monster.

"You deserve to be fat. You can't even cook something more elaborate than a simple ramen!" she whined to herself.

And then she would notice him, go to the kitchen, leak a short scream, return and ask:

"Umm…do you want a slice?"

She's got magazines, filled with pear pies,

Excuse me, I apologize.

Before, he would kill whoever showed a slight disobedience. But he already remade his team, and they all wanted to follow him and seriously conceive their actions, hardly trying to grow in his eyes.

She had one kind of an attitude. She would have at least ten personalities. She was happy when she was his company. In those times, Rilury always had that vitality sparkle and wanted to live more than ever.

Hao himself noticed some slight differences when he was with her. He would laugh more, go fishing more often, carelessly react without thinking about the psychological dominance he usually had to create with the opponents. He would enjoy life again, and sometimes even forget about changing the whole world.

It seemed to last for hours

It seemed to last for days

This lady of the flowers

And her hypnotic gaze.

But she had to realize that imperfection means chaos, and along with chaos comes destruction.

One day Hao was doing his morning walk. He knew this was the day when "they" would begin their work. The birds weren't singing anymore.

And then it started. A deafening metal noise, the sound of the trees falling. The animals were running in the opposite direction.

He arrived at Rilury's house. She was already opening the door, with her hair messy because she had to dress up quickly.

"Hao, do you know what's happening? This noise is making the animals go crazy!"

"Yes, but I have to show it to you in order to understand. Come with me"

The spirit of fire carried them to the building are. Huge machines had already deforested a big part of the mountain.

"Destruction of nature. Only for money. Typical for humans" said Hao disgraced.

In his surprise, Rilury wasn't next to him anymore. She was already arguing with a worker.

"What's the meaning of all this?!" she angrily asked a worker.

"Kid, that's none of your business. Now go and play with the dolls." The worker said, before getting on a bulldozer.

"You don't have permission to do this! This is a natural preservation!"

"Sorry hippie-girl, but orders are orders!" he said and then started the machinery, without even looking that it almost hit her.

"You'll pay for this!" she shouted.

Then she went nearby Hao, without saying anything. She then concentrated her furyoku in her body.

The bulldozer then went kaput. With her electric power, she could break machines and therefore stop the deforestation.

But it was useless, and Hao knew that. Still, she watched her trying, with her determined look. But they would always come back after a shallow victory of one hour.

Even if they would stop, they would always come back with even greater and bigger tools of destruction.

Rilury stood there, unshakable, with the yellow spikes surrounding the whole area.

It seemed to last for hours

It seemed to last for days

This lady of the flowers

Her electronic haze.

And then, Rilury went out of furyoku and fainted. The next thing she knew was waking up in her bed and realizing the strange silence that surrounded her.

It was a strange evening and Rilury knew that there was something stranger in the air, as the sun was slowly going down.

She went instinctively to the place where they would usually watch the stars, because that was the only place where there was no sight of the city lights.

She found him. Hao was standing there, calmly waiting for her.

"I…what happened?" she said confused. "Did they finally gave up?"

Hao ironically smiled.

"Of course not. Humans do humiliating things for money, and they would never give up on them. The workers, although they were doing the dirty work, were just some puppets. The real mastermind behind this was a rich and international company. The owner bribed the politicians to obtain an area for building another factory. And that was only the façade. They actually wanted to exploit the whole mountain."

"And how did they…"

"Stopped? You can't make them change their mind. You have go exterminate them. " Hao's voice changed.

"Wait…you killed them?"

"Of course, Rilury. There wasn't any other way. The funny thing was that the workers were so blind that they haven't even cared their boss was dead. They still continued to work to obtain their money from the company. Of course, not for long. They somehow realized that fire was more powerful than all their machines."

He talked with disgust. Hatred was fully distinguishable in his eyes.

Rilury stood there. She was astonished by his words. Could this cruel shaman with a cold voice be the same boy with she was stargazing at the same place?

And all those lives…wiped out.

But she had to understand him now, as Hao thoguht. He looked her in the eyes and said with a soft voice:

"Rilury, humans are the cancer for this planet. They all must be exterminated. Look how much they destroyed a few days, imagine what they would if they would live more. They must be annihilated."

Rilury was just blankly staring at the stars.

The girl had so many thoughts in her head at first. But now…she wasn't thinking about anything. Perhaps, as Hao thought, she just wanted to let the terrible sensation of comprehending to pass away.

"It must be a shock for you. All this day living in your own world. But you have to endure the reality, as harsh as it is."

The GOF (great spirit of fire) rose from the depths. They bot seemed to be imposing and hard to refuse.

Rilury had a slight surprised reaction. Her pupils shrinked.

She wears her tears on her blouse

Confused and racked with self-doubt

"But we, shamans, are different. Because we can see another part of this reality. We can foresee the results of our actions. That's why…together"

He offered his hand. Waiting for her answer.

"We can change the world"

She stole the keys to my house

Rilury slightly raised her hand.

And then she locked herself out

A slap.

She slapped him instinctively. She did it without any concerning.

Hao looked at her surprised.

"I know how the real world is, Hao. And I know it even better than yourself."

This reaction was unexpected for Hao. He thought she would follow him no matter what, but she kept her position strongly and confronted him. The slight pain on his cheek was bitter, and his eyes became a bit shaded.

She stole the keys to my house

And then she locked herself out

But he saw again that stubborn look in her eyes. Hao realized that he knew all along that this would happen. He smirked.

"You will eventually change your mind." he said convinced of his words.

Rilury changed her expression into a more confused one.

"You will one day be ready to accept the situation. But don't worry, before all that, we'll see each other again soon enough. "

Then he and he Fire Spirit disappeared in a burst of flames.

Rilury stood there. Now her eyes were flooded in tears. Not even a light. Not even a hope.

She fell on her knees and unabashedly bawled her eyes out.

To be continued...

Please review! Oh, and please tell me which of the chapters you liked the most. Mine is still chapter 3, because I think I've contoured a bit Hao's inner self...: