Disclaimer: as usual.

After lots of redrafting and rewriting, finally I can present to you the sixth chapter. The first part of this chapter is written from Oogami's point of view. The second is from my OC's point of view, the third from Sakura's, and the last one is again from Oogami's. I should warn you about something, though, before you start reading. One of my OC-s is featuring rather prominently here. I had rewritten this chapter – thrice – to tone down her presence and make it more bearable for general readers. Now, this is not a Mary Sue story, and this OC was not at all based on myself or someone else I know, but you might want to skip the first few parts of the chapter if you hate OC-s :).

Thanks to Yumi Michiyo, who has been faithfully reading and reviewing this story, and also to others who had dropped by and taken some time to read. Hope that this chapter is likeable enough.

Dawn of Seasons

Chapter Six: Black Snow

Paris

The Commander's greatest weaknesses were, undoubtedly, his flowers.

To tell the truth, he was almost sure that the young singer they saw in the cafe had no unusual spiritual energy. The glorified thing was familial and rare, and she was just a person they randomly bumped into. Yet, his two flowers seemed intrigued by this girl. After two consecutive nights of accompanying the women back to the cafe for the purpose of watching the youngster's unpolished performance, he again submitted to their unspoken will and borrowed Paris Kagekidan's top investigator to get her details.

The young man got back to him in just a few hours with the girl's details and some bits of her life story. This information was really interesting, so interesting that the Commander found himself on the doorsteps of the the girl's dingy flat that very afternoon. What Maria and Sakura felt wasn't just a silly hunch invoked by the girl's rendition of Subete wa Umi e (A/N: theme song from Kayou show Kaijin Bessou). Women tend to be sensitive to spirit energy – especially to those matching their own.

The door was answered after three loud knocks – by the person of interest herself.

"Are you Marie Elurra Lisle-Beltz?"

The girl nodded. There was a bit of confusion on her face, which looked sixteen - her real age - without all the make up on.

"I have a job for you. Come with me."

As she laid inside the strange pod, strapped to various intimidating devices which kept making creepy noises around her, Elurra harshly cursed herself. She was stupid. Utterly stupid. How could she be so trusting towards that Japanese man? This breezy cafe-singer life had really dulled her instincts. The old Elurra Beltz wouldn't just follow a stranger who promised her a job without thinking much about the situation.

Right now, she could just hope that she would come out of this experiment intact, and that she would be paid high enough for this lab-rat job.

"Alright, Miss. That's all. Thanks."

She was too pissed off to say anything to the scientists, so she just laid quietly there as they removed all the bands and detectors from her head, arms, and chest. One of them gently pulled her up, offering an arm to hold onto as she climbed out of the pod. She just ignored it. She was strong enough to get out of here by herself... or so she thought. Her knees gave way as soon as her feet landed on the floor, and she fell down. She gathered her dignity and crept back up – just to fall again. She was totally powerless.

"She exhausted herself trying to block her energy from all the detectors. Bring the stretcher here," the scientist instructed, kneeling down to check on her. She angrily refused to look at him, but again had to comply as he lifted her to the stretcher and wheeled her out of the lab. The stretcher's motion caused such a pain in her head; she saw nothing but stars throughout the whole short trip. Finally they stopped, and she was again lifted and moved, this time to a bed. The comfort of the mattress was such a relief after the hell of experiment. She grunted contently, curling up on her side. She wanted nothing but sleep now. Her brain was too hazy, she couldn't even think.

She did have a wonderful sleep, dreamless unlike most of those sleeps she'd had these recent few years. She felt so refreshed when her consciousness finally came back, though completely disoriented. The bed felt strangely comfy, the room strangely warm, and the air strangely fragrant... with sweet smells similar to Maman's (A/N: Maman = French for Mum).

"Good morning."

Her eyes shot open in reflex. She wasn't alone. Someone, or more exactly some-two, had been watching her. These two looked so familiar... well, of course they were. She had seen them in the cafe before, with the darned Japanese man.

"You," she hissed, retaliating to the wall. "What are you doing with me?"

"You. What are you doing with me?"

Sakura clung at Maria, secretly hoping that her eldest sister knew what to do. This wasn't exactly an easy situation, thanks to Ichirou's crazy stint. This new recruit of theirs must have been scarred for life now, being picked up from home and tricked into rigorous testing.

"Relax," Maria said cooly, "we're not here to harm you."

The girl continued looking sharply at them. Seemed that she wasn't buying Maria's words at all.

"We apologise for all the fiasco," the Vice Commander said again, just as cool as before. "Our Commander was being totally eccentric, tracking you down to your house and all."

The girl narrowed her eyes down upon hearing the word 'Commander'.

"Are you cops?" she defensively asked.

"Nope," Maria answered. "We're from Teikoku Kagekidan - the Japanese Imperial Capital Fighting Troupe."

"Would you care to explain why you need me as a lab-rat? I don't have any Japanese blood, as far as I know. I can't speak Japanese. Alright, I did sing a Japanese song for you guys. But I copied it from the radio, I don't understand even a single word."

The panicked and confused look on the girl's face made Sakura smile. Ichirou had told the whole story, and Sakura was aware that all the youngster knew was that she was being hired as a lab-rat for an experiment. The secretary could see that Maria was smiling as well – the girl's expression was priceless. She seemed to believe that she'd made such a great mistake by singing Subete wa Umi e in front of them.

"The Commander's sorry for lying to you, but you're not hired to be a lab rat," Maria eventually explained, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You're recruited as part of our junior troupe."

"Junior troupe?" the girl asked, looking more confused. "I'm not a soldier, Madame. You should be looking in the army."

"We are not ordinary soldiers, Elurra," Maria explained further. "We fight demons, not humans. You are recruited because you're special."

The girl – Elurra – laughed cynically at this statement.

"You're kidding," she said. "I'm just your usual girl. I've never fought before."

Sakura knew Elurra was lying. The information Ichirou got from the Paris Kagekidan's top investigator clearly stated that the girl had once been part of a local gangster in her rural hometown. At the end of her three years with them, she managed to avenge her parents, who were killed over some debts. It was after that the girl fled the town and established a life in Paris.

"You did fight," the secretary confronted the girl, "with your grandfather's sword."

"How...?"

"We'll give you some days to think about this offer," Maria interjected. "We'll be heading back to Japan in two days – if you don't get back to us by then, we'll assume that you've declined it. Give it a careful thought, especially if you're unhappy with the life you're living now."

"What did you do?" the Commander asked, almost shouting at his two highest-ranked subordinates.

"I've told you that we've let her go," Maria answered calmly.

"After you told her all about us? I thought you two were far smarter than that!"

"You don't have to be so worried," Sakura responded, smiling. "She'll come with us. Definitely."

The two women were right. Teikoku Kagekidan welcomed their newest member shortly after mid-day the next day. The following hours were a bit hectic – trying to get the girl's documents done, arranging a seat for her in their flight back, and tying all loose ends Elurra had in France. They did make it back to Tokyo on the scheduled day, though.

Ella – Elurra's preferred nickname – adapted well with her new family. She learned her Japanese quickly, and it didn't take her too long to bond with her seniors and comrades despite her introverted nature. The Hanagumi generally agreed that she looked like a mellowed version of young Sakura, or a more cheerful version of young Maria, depended on how they see it. The girl had a more eminent personality and stance, compared to her other four comrades, perhaps because she was older and her character had been pretty much set. She could be extremely stubborn that the Hanagumi ladies wanted to scream, but could also be sensitive enough to voluntarily taking up the cooking duty when her seniors were having a particularly hard day.

From the start, it was so clear that Ella was particularly close to Mifuyuko, the other introvert of the junior team. The two girls had each other at hello. Three months later, they already looked like they had known each other for years. Kouran and Orihime had jokingly labelled the two the 'next top star pair', though the Commander and the six others thought it was too early to say so. They had been planning on getting three more 'male' players.

They started Ella's combat training as soon as she could understand simple Japanese commands. Leni had to drill her hard in fencing, for the girl had never been properly trained before. Ella and Mifuyuko started their VR trainings together, and neither of them was immune to the synchronisation problem plaguing Natsue and Chiharu earlier. They went cycling through the five unclaimed old units, before Ella settled for Sakura's old unit and Mifuyuko for Orihime's. The two girls' customised units were currently under construction at Hanayashiki branch. These two were the first ones of their kind. They were specifically built as a pair, with complementary sockets facilitating energy transfers between the pilots. Now, the design wasn't just a manifestation of Kouran's newest idea. There was a particular reason behind the twin design.

The girls' soul crystals were twins.

This was yet another bizarre phenomenon which had everyone thinking hard. A month after Ella's arrival at Tokyo, the Commander and Sumire got shocking calls from the crystal cloning research team. One of the five crystals – the one which started growing later than its siblings – was cracking. The news caused a bit of panic among the Hanagumi, for this crystal was Mifuyuko's match. They waited anxiously as the research team tried every possible trick to put the crystal back together. A week later, one other batch of shocking calls were made. Apparently the crystal wasn't cracking. It was dividing into two smaller, yet very alive, crystals. The two had been growing steadily since then, overtaking most of the others which were still in stagnation. It was not unlikely, according to the researchers, that the stagnated crystals were also waiting for the right time to divide, and they had actually got nine, instead of five, crystals from their fusion procedure.

Summer and autumn passed, and winter slowly seeped in. The gigantic Daitekoku Gekijou was one ice palace during this time of the year, and its inhabitants had started huddling closer to get more warmth, while reducing the heating bill at the same time. Everyone had been living in each other's pockets these days, thankfully with no remarkable clashes.

Right now, the Commander was having a heart-warming time watching his girls – the older ones and the younger ones – curling up together in one of the backstage dressing rooms. The older ladies had laid out some old costumes for the younger ones' entertainments. There were Andre and Clementine's costumes from Ai Yueni, the notoriously tight benitokage dress, the Shonen Red costume, and the kid-sized Aoi Tori costumes. Iris and Leni were taking turns telling the stories behind each costume to the enthusiastic youngsters. Though he was supposed to continue reading the junior candidate profiles he'd brought here, he couldn't help to stop every now and then, chuckling or roaring in laughter with the girls. The stories brought so many good memories of his young years.

Since they first got into the room, the commander had gone through almost twenty profiles. None of them was particularly exceptional. Rich girls, girls from noble family, child prodigies... the kind of candidates Revue International would usually shove to their faces. There was one who was slightly interesting, though. This girl looked familiar, for some reasons he couldn't explain. It couldn't be that he'd ever met her somewhere. This girl had forever been in London, and he'd never been there.

"Any interesting ones?" Sakura asked, dropping down beside him.

"Not really," he answered, "except perhaps this one."

He took the familiar girl's folder and gave it to his wife, who opened it and began studying it. He watched with interest as Sakura fixed her eyes on the girl's photograph, frowning as if she'd just seen something strange.

"Oh my. Her eyes."

"What's this with her eyes?" he asked.

"For a while, I thought I was looking at... Ichirou, we are getting this girl. We can't not get her."

To be continued...

I'll see you next week :). Oh, and before I go, let me explain the title of this chapter to you. 'Elurra' means snow, and 'Beltz' means black. Both are from the Basque language.