In the middle of summer, he found her drinking tea out in a garden underneath bright green trees. From where she sat, she could see clearly all the world. In her isolated garden, the earth was her toy. He watched as she laughed, holding the world on a string, as he held on to a branch for balance.
A twig snapped underneath his foot and he looked with wide eyes as the lady came his way. "Who's there?" she called out, her voice soft but unafraid.
He moved closer to where she stood, his wounded body a shock to her. He looked into her eyes and she looked into his, the seemingly black eyes being the only thing he could see.
She came closer, catching him before he fell. He could feel her touch and it soothed his aching limbs. He had no worries then, no cares. It was just him and her, in the garden, in the middle of summer.
She tended to his wounds, caring for him as he recovered. He never did much of anything but she didn't mind, she liked having him just hang around.
He never smiled nor laughed; only spoke in short phrases. Never once did she get a name, but then never once did she ask.
A week had passed and his broken leg seemed to get better. The dislocated knee on the other side was a bigger problem, it didn't seem to heal. He insisted on being well enough to leave, but she made him stay despite his protest. He didn't want to burden her, she didn't really mind.
She sat out in her garden, bringing the man with her. She sat him down on the bench and placed herself beside him. He stared out into the world, from her garden in the sky, it felt great and now he asked the question that remained.
"What's your name?" he asked, giving a question for the first time.
"Endrance," she said, a hint of laughter in her voice, "and you? What is your name?"
"Hiei," he said, looking at her curiously.
They stayed that way until he could hop on one leg. She didn't need to help him then, but that dislocated knee still seemed a problem.
"Hiei, may I ask you for something?"
"What is it?" He asked a tone much different from his regular.
They sat once again in her garden, staring into the earth held by a string.
"Can you...smile for me? Even just this once?" she asked, a blush creeping onto her face. It was an embarrassing wish, she knew, but it was one she hoped would be fulfilled.
Hiei sat in silence, thinking for a while. "Alright," he said, "if you do me something."
"Ok," she agreed.
"If we can continue this, we'd sit in your garden and stare at the world, if I give you a smile," he said, looking at her.
She nodded, looking at him. He smiled at her and that was all she needed.
The next day and the next, she kept her bargain without qualm. They'd talk and talk, he'd hang around and she'd care for them. It was blissful.
"What are you, Hiei?" she asked him as they sat outside in her garden again.
"I'm...a fire demon, and you?" he asked.
"I'm a prisoner," she replied, laughing as if it was some joke.
He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, questions all over his face. She looked at him and smiled sadly, "I'm that part of the moon that you always see."
His face was unreadable again, more questions coming. She laughed at him and his wonder, "I keep the moon alive. And I keep the stars alive. I can't ever leave. So, I am a prisoner."
"Hn," he said, keeping his thoughts to himself.
His bandaged arm had healed and he could move it once again. She smiled as he swung around his sword in the garden, being careful not to slice anything. Endrance sat on her bench, watching as the world played before her.
She saw all the laughing humans, the laughing demons, all the other creatures that roamed free on earth. She spun the stars on her fingernails, smiling sadly as she did. Hiei stopped his fake sword fight, sitting down next to her.
She smiled up to him, keeping the stars back in her pocket. "You fight well," she said to him, earning a rare smile from the demon.
"And how would you know that?" he asked.
She laughed, her voice ringing in his ears. "I watched you fight. A long time ago. I didn't remember until I saw you today."
He looked to her and raised an eyebrow. "Really?"
"You were fighting a group of demons in a field and you killed them all."
He looked appalled that she had to see that. That she had to see the violence that he had done.
"Don't worry. I've seen violence much worse than what you did. At least...you were protecting something then. A girl was behind you with hair as green as mint ice cream," she said, laughing once again.
He breathed out again, finding he had held his breath for what was their conversation. "Endrance, I've been meaning to ask you something."
"I will answer if I can."
"How did I end up here?"
Endrance smiled at him, one of her small smiles. "I was wondering when you would ask that," she said, "What happened to you isn't new. A few others had gone through the same thing. When after facing a tough ordeal, many wish hard for a safe place called home; a place where they can tend to their wounds and rest. When a person would wish hard enough, they end up somewhere near the garden. Except on the rare case that they end up in the house." He chuckled with her, understanding what she had meant.
"What were you doing before you came here, Hiei?" she asked, curious this time.
"I-" He thought about it, about what happened to him before he came there. What was he doing? "I don't remember."
Endrance nodded, as if it wasn't new to her. "It's normal that you don't. No one does. They only remember what they were thinking before they came here. Nothing of physical consciousness."
Hiei was quiet for a minute and asked another question, "when was the last time someone had come here?"
"12 years ago."
Another week had come to pass and they were nearing the conclusion of summer. Most of Hiei's wounds have come and gone, soon enough he'd be able to leave. Whenever he wished, all he had to do was smile and ask.
They sat outside again, their hearts feeling lighter than they did. Hiei sat down, content enough that he thought about staying. But he knew, he couldn't stay. There were still people on earth waiting, he had seen them all from where they sat.
She watched them with him, seeing their sadness with her own eyes. It was too much that she knew, he couldn't stay no matter how much she wanted him to.
"Hiei, can you promise me something?" she asked him, watching the world once again.
"Mm..." he said, urging her to go on.
"Can you stay with me until the end of summer? Even when your wounds are healed, you won't leave me all alone in the summer?"
He looked at her, into her onyx black eyes. "I promise," he said, giving one of his rare smiles. She smiled with bright lights and he watched as she began lighting.
Endrance went to the lamps that littered the garden all around. She lighted them up, and sat back down. She pulled out the stars from her pocket, the small coloured lights that glowed in darkness, and threw them into the trees. To Hiei, they seemed to glow much brighter than before...as if they were ignited by a fire. Even the moon seemed to light with a silver ring of fire.
She looked up into the trees, smiling at the bright lights that laughed with her and in her eyes, he could see, that she was smiling.
One last week had passed them, soon he was ready to leave, but in his heart and in his eyes, he didn't want to go. He was just hanging around and he fell in love. The humans had said that love was like how he had felt. By just hanging around, he fell in love.
She stood beside him, near the bench in the garden. They stood together underneath the shade of the trees. "Summer's over already, you can leave whenever you wish. I have kept you here long enough," she said.
"Hn," he said.
"Well, would you like me to send you now?" Endrance asked.
"Do I have a choice to stay?" he asked, not wanting to leave.
She looked at him sadly, her heart breaking as she did. "No, you must go back. Even if you did have a choice, I will not keep you from your friends...or your sister," she said, smiling a sad smile.
He sighed, finding it difficult to say more. "Alright, I'll be going then," he said, giving her a final smile.
"Thank you, Hiei. I was glad you came this way," she said, waving a hand at him.
He faded away slowly, his crimson eyes one of the last to leave. She felt their gaze even after he had gone. It broke her heart to say farewell, but the lady must never be selfish, so she said one last goodbye and went to light the night sky.