Taken Away

08.06.05

Sum: Jadeite receives an unlikely gift that will forever change his life.

An: Everybody tries to play Rei off as a bitch, but she's not…

Child, It's Ok

Prologue:

A little girl in a white dress sat against a tree, tears coursing down her face and dripping off her jaw. She turned and buried her head into the silken folds of her skirt.

"Don't cry." A young man with blond hair handed the girl a gray cloth that matched his uniform.

She looked up with him, her large eyes in her tiny face were misted over by tears. She took it and dabbed at her cheeks. "Who are you?" She asked in a meek voice.

"Jadeite." He ruffled her soft blond hair that was up into pigtails and the ends curled around her face. He pushed back her bangs to allow her better sight; they had over-grown without the proper care. "These are very cute bows you've got in your hair and on your dress." He commented on the black ribbons at odds with the rest of her.

"Gillian did them." She didn't beam at the compliment but she at least stopped crying.

"Why were you so sad?" Jadeite sat down onto a bench across from her. She strained her neck as she tilted her head back to look up at him.

"Everybody I've ever known is dead. I'm all alone in the world." She told him in a small voice.

"That's not true." Jadeite held out his hand and she took it, coming closer.

"Why?" Her baby-blues were so trusting.

"You know me, and now you can't claim that." Jadeite fingered the ribbon at her sleeve. "And Gillian did these, where is he?"

"He's the care-taker of the children's ward. I was the last child left to find a home, and I still don't have one. He died." A tiny vertical line appeared as she frowned trying to remember. "A car-di-o-." She hesitated then shrugged her tiny shoulders. "His heart stopped working this afternoon."

Jadeite's eyes narrowed in pain for the small girl. He knew too well about death.

She leaned over and rested her hands on his thigh, looking up at him. "Will you leave me too?" She hiccupped.

Jadeite looked the small girl over. She looked like an angelic fairy with her large crystal eyes, small body that was still somehow showing the signs that as a woman she'd be beautiful. Her blond hair seemed to have a life of its own as it curled softly framing her cherub face. She was such an innocent child despite all the terrors she no doubt lived through. Beryl would have his head for this, but maybe he could keep it from her…

Jadeite ducked his head, for some reason the girl's tiny fingers seemed to reach around his heart and wouldn't let go, he couldn't let her go. "No angel, I won't leave you." He held out his hand to her. "Let's go home."

She placed her trusting hand in his.