Okay, a new chapter. Sorry for the long wait. I'v been swamped with homework. Anyways, enjoy.

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R.E.F.U. head hurt piercingly as if he hit it up against a brick wall. All he could remember was seeing a being carried by a great gust of wind & flames. Though his clothes were singed a bit, R.E.F.U. himself didn't suffer any burns. While waking up, he found himself in an inferno far greater than the flames of the exploding laboratory that he had witnessed before. Many building had either collapsed, turned to carbon, or were still burning. Black smoke covered the sky and black rain fell. This all frightened R.E.F.U. very much, but the most frightening thing he saw was the suffering of the people.

Many were suffering burns so terrible on their skin that they had to hold their arms out like zombies in order not to touch their raw & most likely painful flesh. Some of the victims' eyes & intestines had burst out from the pressure of the vacuumed winds. There were those who were still trapped in burning buildings while orphans were crying over black bodies of what use to be their families & others suffering from the heat tried to jump in the river only to drown & burn from the highly basic lye waters. The people didn't know where to go as screams & moans came out from their slow & painful deaths. R.E.F.U. was so horrified at what he saw he almost stopped breathing.

Then he heard a scream & looking over he saw Cho caught in a ring of fire; unable to get out. R.E.F.U. called out to Cho, but it seemed to attract some unwanted attention.

"PIKADON!" one of the disfigured victims shouted, pointing his meat-hanging bone finger right at R.E.F.U.

A swarm of these disfigured victims came around R.E.F.U. chanting. "Pikadon. Pikadon! PIKADON!"

R.E.F.U. tried to step back from the crowd, but they were all over him, coming from the front and back. He felt the air around him growing thin as the mob came closer.

"CHO!" R.E.F.U. called for her & at that moment, but Cho seemed to ignore him as Shouei dashed through the flames to rescue her. Neither seemed to see nor hear R.E.F.U. as the flames and the mob around him grew larger & engulfed him.

"IEI!" R.E.F.U. screamed as he tried to punch one of the attackers out of the way.

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Shouei had been desperately trying to awaken R.E.F.U. from his vicious night terror, but being in the way, R.E.F.U. punched him straight into the wall, chipping the paint & plaster & giving Shouei a nosebleed like he had been looking at a naked woman's body on a cold night; it was quite a surprise no one else in the hospital was awake to hear the commotion… Well, there was one that stirred.

"R.E.F.U.?"

R.E.F.U. awoke hearing the all to sweet & familiar voice of his female caregiver. He was shocked seeing Shouei hit up against the wall & Cho in her gown rushing over to the groaning scientist who was desperately trying to get up.

"Shouei--"

Shouei had cut Cho's sentence off as he looked at R.E.F.U. with annoyance.

"You're REALLY difficult to handle, you know that?"

"Shouei, you know it was just an accident--"

Shouei just pushed Cho aside & walked up to R.E.F.U.

"I never even wanted to work on you on the first place, but I had to because I was ordered to. You know all those monsters & robots that come to Japan that you were made to destroy? The same government agents that funded you have funded them too. You & the those monsters are just our countries' distraction from what the Russians are doing!"

R.E.F.U. hadn't the slightest idea of what the graying man was talking of (nor did he know where Russia was), but his loud angry voice told him that he has hurt more than the man's body.

"Just get out & LEAVE US ALONE!" Shouei huffed, shuffling his way out as Cho tried to call for him to come back.

Not only did Shouei's words hurt R.E.F.U., but also he took his words literally & went running out of the building at high-wind speed.

"R.E.F.U.! SHOUEI!" Cho called out.

Cho felt like these two men who were leaving in opposite directions at once were tugging her with ropes attached. She loved the both of them dearly & wanted to help, but she could only go to one man at a time. She figured that Shouei wouldn't leave the hospital with his injuries, so she sighed & went to look for R.E.F.U.

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R.E.F.U. had been hiding behind the ruins of the Genbaku Dome. Though he had never been near the place before, he felt a connection from his past that made him feel secure, even amongst the rubble. He sat behind the bare walls, picking up a ladybug with a deformed shell & holding it gently while observing its pretty colors. The ladybug seemed to fly away as the form of a young woman approached.

"R.E.F.U.?"

R.E.F.U. didn't bother to look at his concerned caregiver. He only curled up into a ball & looked the opposite direction.

"I'm not Pikadon…"

Cho's eyes turned sympathetic for the boy who was hiding his glowing hair in the hat that was given to him. She knelt down & wrapped her arms around her.

"No, you're not. You're not any kind of weapon. Weapons are meant to harm people & you're no weapon." She then started, "You have to forgive Shouei for everything he said back there; he lost his family to a bombing raid & is usually hard on himself & everyone else because he was called in to make weapons for the old military while they got killed. He's been fed up with taking orders to hurt others like his family; that’s the reason he helped to save you."

"So… he was doing what he thought was right?"

"Exactly." Cho nodded. "If you truly believe in something, you should always stand up for it, no matter what the costs."

R.E.F.U. looked over at Cho's dark, star-like eyes with a bit of a small smile of enlightenment & a bit of hope. He didn't know how to thank her, except for saying "I love you…"

"I love you too." Cho smiled sweetly.

"…But not the way you love Shouei, do you?…" R.E.F.U. spoke softly as his tone saddened & was expecting to hear the answer he wasn't hoping for.

Cho's eyes widened with realization to what R.E.F.U. was saying; he loved her, not just as a mother figure, but as one would they discover the extended form of love in which we call "romance".

"Its because I made you sick, isn't it?"

She sighed sadly & spoke. "No, it's not that at all. I'm sorry R.E.F.U.-- I just can't…"

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Unknowingly to Shouei, Cho, & R.E.F.U., a mysterious man had witnessed R.E.F.U.'s strength from the hospital hallways. He pulled out what seemed to be a small radio transmitter from his trench coat & spoke into it.

"The R.E.F.U. is here."

Far outside of Hiroshima in a dark room, Tomo, the graduate student who had suggested the shock collar for R.E.F.U., smirked darkly.

"That’s all I wanted to know…"

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Oh, the suspense & drama! Anywho, please R&R.