Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho (I didn't plagiarize! Ha ha!)

AN: Wow, this story is really old. But I decided to put it up anyway lol Hopefully, I made the characters likeable and somewhat original, although I somehow doubt it. It seems like everything has been done on here at some point. Enjoy, and if reviewers ask for it I will continue. If not, I'll just leave it on the back-burner.

Deliverance

Her wings flailed against the chilled air that flowed smoothly over her black-gold feathers. They were coming, she knew, even with the threatening storm fast approaching. With that thought she spurred forward even faster, starting to become desperate. If they caught her they wouldn't have any qualms about torturing and probably killing the "Abomination." She just wished this had never happened.

Ever since she was born, Hikari Miyamoto was scorned. Her mother and father had never expected a child such as her. Being full-blooded light phoenixes, they were of course shocked at their daughter's appearance. Little Hikari had night-black hair and amethyst eyes, in sharp contrast to her parents' pale hair coloring and crimson orbs. However, that was not the worst part. Every phoenix in their clan was along the same lines as her parents' looks, which included snow-white wings. Hikari, on the other hand, was cursed as a freak with her feathered pinions that flashed black and gold against the sky.

For this reason, everyone made sport of her, even her own flesh and blood. She was beaten, taunted and bullied for 17 long years as the clan's official scapegoat. The only reason why they hadn't tossed her away at the first chance was due to their clan's strict rules against killing fledglings. Even then, the elders had seriously considered making an exception. After all, the clan must be kept pristine and pure from those who were god-cursed, as Hikari's features marked her as.

Thus, when Hikari accidentally injured one of her group mates during target practice out of self-defense, her clan finally had the perfect excuse to eradicate her.

It had started off like any other day with the various clan members going about their business. Since the light phoenix clans believed in strict training, every child at the age of four was to enlist in arduous physical programs. The bird youkai prided themselves as being adepts in hand-to-hand combat and various weaponry. Most often they fought with bows and arrows made of their own energy and special-made katanas for their hands alone. Another "abnormality" of Hikari's was that when she materialized her bow, it was not made of the silver energy as the others, but had a golden sheen that gave off a pure aura, something that was definitely not right for a youkai to have.

Over the years of being the target in archery, Hikari slowly grew better at dodging the others' attempts to kill her "accidentally." With it too came endurance to the pain and suffering that every hit took from her ailing body. However, when Hikari began using her hard-earned abilities to save herself from some unnecessary pain, it just brought her more. The instructors absolutely despised her and would strike her themselves, with much more powerful arrows it should be said, if too many shafts never made their mark. Thus, the little phoenix suffered in silence. It should also be noted that since Hikari was always the target during practice she was expected to be a horrendous archer. However, it was the exact opposite. Whenever she could slip away from the incessant bullying, she trained until she almost passed out from exhaustion. Her persistence eventually led her to be one of the most proficient in the village in both archery and sword-fighting, although her hand-to-hand skills left something to be desired. Therefore, Isamu, the peer that Hikari injured, had no idea what he was getting into when he bullied her more than usual on that fateful day.

"You're dog meat, Abomination!" one of her pursuers screamed.

Jerked from her thoughts, Hikari realized that she had unconsciously slowed in her flight while reminiscing about her past. Desperately, she struggled to put in a burst of speed, but her pursuers were too swift. They were catching up and beginning to ready their bows. There was nothing for it. She had to fight and kill them all, lest any of them return and bring more reinforcements and while she still had enough strength left. Part of her relished the fact that she could get some revenge on those assholes, whilst the other part grieved over the loss of yet more life.

Strengthening her resolve, Hikari formed her own golden bow and faced them. Thinking that she could not possibly hit them, the phoenixes notched their arrows and got ready to release while bawling insults.

"Now, you'll pay for Isamu, you misbegotten brat!"

"I shall enjoy destroying this waste of space for good!"

With that they released. Not fazed in the least, Hikari calmly smashed the projectiles away with her weapon and let loose an arrow of her own. A shriek met her ears as her target fell from the sky, trailing rivulets of blood as he went. Enraged, the rest charged towards the run-away only to meet the kiss of steel across their throats as Hikari abandoned her bow and took up her katana. Bowing to the force of gravity, the corpses and their heads plunged to the ground below. With a sickening thud, they reached their destination; staining the once-pure snows a bloody scarlet. 'Well, at least I can rest now,' she thought, 'but the storm is almost here and there isn't any shelter.'

For the last couple of hours, enormous gray clouds had been moving towards her location. Now they were right on top of her and seemed ready to drop their burden of ice and snow, neither of which would be pleasant to the escaping outcast.

Sparing a passing glance to the heavens, Hikari quickly cleaned her katana in some untainted snow and took flight once again. At last, she managed to find a small cave and wearily settled down. Before she knew it she was in a deep slumber and reliving the horrors of the past day in her nightmares.

Unbeknownst to the sleeping phoenix, the cave had housed another being before her. His ruby-red eyes slowly scrutinized her slender form suspiciously. He wouldn't kill her just yet he decided. Surely his clan wouldn't have sent a phoenix after him. Anyway he was only exiled, not wanted for murder or anything- yet. He also wanted to see what kind of a fighter she was, if her katana was any indication to her ability. With his luck though she had probably stolen it and knew nothing about how to wield it properly. If that was the case, he would kill her without a second thought and he could get back to training so he could leave this blasted wasteland.

Hiei settled back down in the shadows while clutching his own katana, awaiting the moment when the intruder would awake.

AN: Hiei makes his appearance! Remember to please review and tell me if I should still write more.

Translations:

Hikari: I know it's unoriginal, but it means light so it fit Hikari's personality well.

Katana: sword

Youkai: demon(s)