His life wore on, year after year. Never passing on, never being killed. Unlike a human, he lived forever, and that was the most painful thought he could ever bear to endure. It was his mistake. He had been young and naïve to make a promise like that knowing that she was a mortal human being. He would never see her again. He knew that he would not be able to cross into her world, and only once every 25 years does that tunnel open. Yet still he made that promise to her. He looked into her shining chocolate eyes and promised her something he knew he would not be able to keep. She must have passed on years ago. She would be 82 this year, and that was old for a human. He felt he deserved to live his life knowing he had hurt her and lied to her. It tore him apart inside to know what he knew, and that was what he had to live with. He would live on forever, filled with guilt and sorrow, and that was his own damn fault.

The wind from the dry river bed pulled at his long dark hair. He squinted his dark green eyes into the sun, dying to see her again, if not just to apologize for leading her wrongly.

A woman approached him from behind, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You've been thinking too much of this recently Haku," she said gently.

"And it's my fault too. I deserve to be miserable for what I did to her," he replied, his voice no more then a ripple in the wind.

"It doesn't matter anymore. She most likely has passed on already. There is nothing more you can do."

"That is what hurts me the most Rin," he turned to look at her, removing her hand from his shoulder. "She lived her entire life thinking she would see me again because that is what I promised her. She probably led a miserable life and I was the cause."

"How in the world do you know that?" Rin asked, her voice rising slightly. "She may have led a wonderful life! She may have married a wonderful man and bore wonderful children. You cannot say her life was miserable because of you when you have not seen her for over 70 years."

"Maybe not Rin. Perhaps you're right. I am dwelling too much over this." His voice was not convincing to Rin, but even more so to himself.

A mother in southern Japan goes into labor late at night. After ten hours of a painful struggle, she gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. Her head is covered in beautiful brown locks, her wide and innocent chocolate eyes bring in the world surrounding her. Tears of joy stream down Miya's face as she views her newborn daughter, beautiful and healthy.

"Isn't she wonderful?" Miya asks her husband, Takeshi, looking up at him with tears in her eyes. Too choked up to answer, all he does is nod. His beautiful little girl… was all he could think.

These first two chapters are kind of like a booster for the upcoming story. So I'm sorry if it's kind of slow, but the actual story should start up soon. I hope you like it and please review! And they should start getting longer... I hope, at least XP

Taraka Taji