Coming Home

One-Shot

Author's Note: Hope you like it. I found it was I was going through my archives and thought it sounded good. Please read, enjoy and review! Thanks!

Hiei watched. He knew that the small girl expected her mother to return. He knew that the child's wait was in vain.

He had been here the very day that her mother had left her. She left her with the parting words, "Don't leave the park sweetheart. Mama will be back to pick you up in a few hours. So wait here." He had known the words were false as soon as they had left her mouth.

Abandonment…

He knew what that was like and had taken it upon him self to watch, and when he had it, feed her as well. Also, he made sure that she did not freeze during the night.

But for now, he watched her waiting in the same place she'd been left, her round blue eyes full of tears and disappointment.

"You've sat there for waiting every night for the pasted three days." Hiei finally made himself known, once again. "You know that she isn't coming back yet you continue to wait. Why?" He was curious as to why this little human lifted hopes every single day, just to have them crushed. He knew that she was young for a human to be left alone, estimating her age to be about 5 perhaps 6.

"She'll come and get me soon! Just you wait and see! She's just busy, that's all!"

He watched as she ran from him, tears falling down her cheeks as she made her way back to the jungle gym where she had made her home.

Waiting till she was in her makeshift home, he walked over to it. Removing his cloak, he slipped it around the girl's shivering form. "Listen kid, I have to leave for awhile. I don't know when I'll be back." He saw fear well up in her eyes, a fear of being left alone once more. "I will be back. I don't know when, but I will be back. If only to watch over you once more." He knew that, somehow, he would live to regret those words. "Keep the cloak."

He left, not waiting for a reply.

However, what he didn't know was that the mission he had been sent on was no ordinary mission. This mission would take him nearly three years to complete and to have the ability to return to the park.

Now, after three years he walked towards the jungle gym where he'd left the girl. He half-expected her to be gone, so he wasn't at all surprised to find it empty. I should have known that she'd been long gone by now. Readying himself to leave, he felt a tug and his Jagan begin to open.

So intent on follow the tug on his Jagan, he didn't noticed when he took to the trees and left the park. Before he knew it, Hiei found himself standing in front of a simple, polished stone. Kneeing before it, he traced the name that was carved into with his callus fingers.

"So, your name was Sora." He sighed. "Well, Sora I just wanted you to know that I kept my promise."

"What promise was that?"

Hiei didn't need to turn around to know who was standing behind him. "Three years and three days ago, I watched as this child was abandoned by her mother. Of course she said she'd come back for her, and the girl, Sora, waited and waited. I took it upon myself to keep her safe and then that mission came up." Suddenly, he took his hand off the stone, as if it were poison. "I told her that I'd come back and watch over her again. But I came back to this."

"The stone says she was only six. Damn, that's screwed up." Yusuke kept his voice soft as he stood next to his elusive friend. He placed a comforting hand on Hiei's shoulder. "Should we get going?"

He snorted in response. "Let's." Standing, he made to move, but something stopped him. Looking back over his shoulder, he caught sight of a small child with curly golden brown hair and unmistakable blue eyes staring at him. A familiar black cloak was wrapped around her shoulders.

The last time he had seen those eyes, they had been filled with fear and a bit of betrayal. Now, however, they swam with happiness and hope. She gave him a small smile that was filled with renewed trust and hope before fading. Her last words to him were left flouting on the breeze.

"You came back…"

Hiei stared at the spot for a moment longer before letting a small, hardly noticeable smile grace his lips. "Take care of yourself kid." Turning his back once more from the graveyard, he left this time and he didn't look back.