~Rei
"Desperate for something to touch
A moment of kindness like that in a dream
Your innocent eyes have yet no idea…
Of the path your destiny will follow."
~ Evangelion, Cruel Angel's Thesis
Aishiteru(I love you)
Chapter 1: ChildYuusuke grumbled to himself as he stood in a clearing in the Makai. He was waiting with Kuwabara and Keiko for the others to show up. Ko-Enma had a new mission for them, and he said that every one would have to be present.
"Yuusuke, do you think we're safe?" Keiko asked nervously. Ever since they had arrived in the Makai she had been sticking as close to him as she could. She had every good reason to be afraid, though. It seemed every time she came to the Makai nasty youkai's would try to hurt her.
"If anything goes wrong Kuwabara and I are here." He said reassuringly. Keiko didn't seem anymore at ease and moved closer to him. He wrapped an arm about her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. Part of it was to make her feel better; part of it was to make himself feel better. If he could be in contact with Keiko, he would know that she wasn't in any harm.
"Shouldn't you be preparing for the mission, rather than trying to get in good with your girlfriend?"
Yuusuke turned to look at the tree from which the cold, aloof voice had come from. Sure enough, sitting in one of the branches was the diminutive Fire Demon, Hiei. He leapt down and stood at the tree's base, leaning against it. Behind him, Yukina pushed through the bushes, spotting Kuwabara and smiling at him.
"Where are the others?" Hiei asked.
"We're right here."
The group already in the clearing turned to look at Kurama, Boton and the older form of Ko-Enma walk from the trees. Yuusuke let go of Keiko and moved closer to the three who had just arrived.
"Why do we all need to be here?" He asked.
"Because of the mission, we need everyone here." Ko-Enma explained.
"What about this mission?" Kuwabara asked, moving closer to Yukina but not touching her for fear of Hiei. "What do we need to do?"
Ko-Enma took the pacifier from his mouth and used his stored reikai within it. In the middle of the group appeared a little girl with short silvery white hair. She wore a frilly pink sleeping gown, her eyes shut as her chest rose and fell evenly.
"Do we have to protect this kid?!" Yuusuke asked in surprise. He had expected the mission to be more along the lines of killing some nasty youkai's, not babysitting some child.
"She's adorable," Keiko said, moving over to where she lay sleeping in the grass.
"Don't touch her!" Ko-Enma shouted. Keiko stopped, hand reached out halfway to pet the girl's soft hair.
"Why not?"
"Its important that she doesn't wake up until I tell you what must happen." Ko-Enma said.
"So tell us so we can get out of here." Kuwabara said impatiently.
Ko-Enma grumbled, but explained anyway. "This child is very important to the three worlds, she's the link between them. Plenty of people out there would like her dead."
"So?" Kuwabara asked, getting a hit on his arm from Yukina in response.
"So, since she's the link between the three words, if she dies, then everything will be thrown out of order! Chaos will ensue! Demons and humans alike will be able to travel freely between all three of the worlds!" Ko-Enma shouted. He calmed himself down and continued. "The child you see before you is the reborn form of the old link, and until she has enough energy to 'grow up' she will need to spirit link with someone. That's where all of you come in."
"Whoa, whoa! Hold on! Reborn? She was killed before?" Yuusuke asked, confused, and beginning to get angry because of it.
"No, she just used up almost all of her reikai protecting the Ningenkai where you were." Ko-Enma said with a growl, he was really starting to get angry about being interrupted so much.
"So she went back to the form of a child?" Yukina asked, standing next to Keiko who was hovering close to the little girl.
"Part of it is fail-safe. If she uses up too much of her spirit energy she doesn't die, she just reverts to a form that uses little to no energy until she has regained enough to take on her older form."
"Then what's the other part?" Hiei asked, trying his best to sound indifferent. He took the missions he was given seriously, and wouldn't botch this one just because he wasn't interested.
Ko-Enma's face grew more somber. "She has been around since the three worlds were created. When she reverts to her child form, she forgets everything from her past lives. When she 'grows up' she remembers only the things that are important. Its better for her that way." He looked thoughtful for a while then shook his head. "Anyway, when she wakes up, hopefully one of you will have similar spirit energy to hers and she will be able to link up. The only drawbacks are that she will need to stay with whomever she links with and, depending on who she links with, the length of time before she has enough energy to 'grow older' may be a year or two at most."
"How long at the least?" Yuusuke asked. He really didn't want to baby sit some brat for a year or more.
Ko-Enma shrugged. "The least amount of time that's been known was eight months, and that was when she linked with a fire demon."
"So she's most compatible with fire demons?" Kurama asked, looking meaningfully at Hiei, but the young Fire Demon ignored it. Ko-Enma shrugged once more.
"So let's hurry and wake her up so we can get out of here." Kuwabara said. He moved over to the little girl and nudged her.
Wide sky blue eyes blinked open and focused on the towering form of Kuwabara before her. She gave a small yelp of fear and tried to run away, but only bumped into the equally tall Kurama. She looked all the way up at his smiling face and backed away, running into Keiko and Yukina. She turned to look at them and Keiko knelt down to her height, smiling as kindly as she could and holding out her hand, palm up.
"Hi there," she said sweetly. "My name is Keiko, what's yours?"
The girl backed away, only to topple head over heels to the ground as she tripped over Boton's oar. She looked up at Ko-Enma and the giggling Boton and began to crawl away, stopping cold in her tracks when her little hand touched something hard. She looked down and let her eyes trail up the long legs of Yuusuke, who looked down at her with a slight scowl on his face.
It was finally too much. She moved back to the center of the circle of very tall strangers, tears welling in her eyes, and plopped down in the grass, letting out a loud wail.
"This isn't good, it doesn't seem any of you have similar reikai." Ko-Enma said. "I was afraid of this."
"Hold on, she didn't see Hiei yet." Yukina said, pushing her brother gently ahead, urging him to step closer to the terrified girl. Hiei gave an annoyed sigh and walked into the circle, stopping beside the crying child. She did nothing, just continued sobbing. "Get her attention," Yukina prompted.
Hiei sighed again and nudged the girl's side with his foot. She stopped and turned her wide blue eyes to Hiei. He scowled as she got to her feet and moved over to him, grabbing his hand and tugging on it. He reluctantly crouched down and let the child peer into his face.
She reached out a tentative hand and felt Hiei's main of black hair, lifting her own silvery white strands to contrast them. Hiei was getting fed up of letting the girl clumsily tug on his hair when she threw her arms about his neck and buried her little face in the cloth of his shirt. Startled, Hiei pushed her away, causing her to land harshly on her backside. He gained angry glares from all of the girls and uncomfortably disapproving looks from most of the guys.
"She's just a kid, there's no reason for you to have done that." Kuwabara growled. Most of the time he kept a tuff exterior, but when it came to pretty girls, kittens and children, he often got very angry when people tried to hurt any of the three in his presence.
"She just likes you, Hiei," Yuusuke said, even he had a soft spot for kids.
"Exactly," Ko-Enma said, "Since you are on probation under my terms and have similar spirit energy to her, you must link up."
Hiei gave an exasperated sigh. He didn't care about the fact that everyone, even Yukina, was angry with him for what he had done. It wouldn't have bothered him what so ever, except for the fact that the child wasn't wailing. Instead she just sat, knees pulled to her chest, looking at him with the most pathetic expression and letting the tears slide down her cheeks silently.
"Fine," he grumbled, moving swiftly over to the girl, picking her up and crushing her in what was supposed to be a comforting hug.
She gasped for air and scrabbled at his back until he loosened his grasp and held her away from him. She rested her hands on his strong arms and pushed herself up, feeling uncomfortable with nothing but his hands beneath her little arms holding her aloft. Hiei was clueless as to what to do with the squirming girl so finally set her on the ground and knelt to her height.
She looked at him, traces of fear still readable in her eyes. Finally she decided it was safe to be near him after all and smiled. She wrapped her little arms about his neck again, slowly this time and nuzzled her cheek against his shoulder, closing her eyes and hugged him. He awkwardly hugged her about the shoulders.
He suddenly felt lightheaded and it was as if strange presence had appeared in his mind. He recognized it as the girl's spirit. Bright and vibrant colors filled his mind and he got the feeling of safety and happiness, only to realize that it was Miyuki's feelings.
Miyuki?
It was her name and she didn't ever want to be apart from the nice boy who was hugging her, even if he did push her.
Hiei shook his head out of the daze and hastily let go of the girl. If he had been able to read her feelings and understand new things about her from their link, then what if she could do the same?
But she only smiled at him and blushed shyly. "My name is Miyuki." She said in a soft voice. "What's yours?"
Hiei sighed inwardly, relieved that she wasn't affected by the link the same way he had been. "Hiei."
"Hiei," she said, testing out his name. She seemed to enjoy the way it rolled over her tongue because she said it again a couple of times. Each time she said it her voice grew more material and strong until her voice wasn't a shy whisper. "Are you my papa?"
Yuusuke let out a loud snort, and then broke into peals of laughter. "Hiei, a father?! That's a good one!" Kuwabara stifled laughter beside him and Kurama cracked a smile. Yukina and Keiko giggled with Boton as Ko-Enma did his best to keep a straight face.
"No, I'm not your papa." Hiei said angrily, spitting the last word as if it left a foul taste in his mouth. "I'm not your brother either so don't get any ideas."
Miyuki's young face revealed panic. "Are you going to leave me alone?" She asked anxiously, grabbing onto his hand.
It was all Hiei could do not to pull it away. "No."
"He's going to watch over you for a while, Miyuki." Keiko said gently. Miyuki moved closer to Hiei's side and watched Keiko with wary blue eyes. She glanced up at him for reassurance, but his face remained impassive.
After getting a dirty glare from Yukina he sighed, gritting his teeth. "Right," Hiei agreed. As Miyuki gave a cheer and hugged around his waist he kept repeating one line to himself over and over.
It's for the mission. It's for the mission. It's for the mission.
Right?
To Be Continued…
AN: This ending author's note is here to try to explain the song lyrics that I have put at the beginning of each chapter. I have my purposes, and even if you don't understand, that's ok, because it is MY story after all. Heh… Anyway, the lyrics from Evangelion's theme song "Cruel Angel's Thesis" is at the beginning of this chapter because it makes me think of a child, "Your innocent eyes have yet no idea…" Yeah, you get the picture. Stay tuned for the second chapter, Grown.