A/N: not one heckuva lot to say today, First and foremost, a big 'thank you' to everyone who bothered to read and/or review this story, you guys brighten my cloudy days and inspire me to top even my best work when you comment on what I do. So thanks, you really do make me want to write. Second, I don't own anyone or anything in this story except for Mirai. So here we go, ch7…

A thousand tiny needles of ice stabbed at my skin as the freezing waters of the river penetrated the thin material of my clothes. I clenched my fists as the water soaked through the bandage over my left eye, making the half-healed gash burn like fire. Ignoring the pain, I pushed through the murky depths desperately searching for any sign of Mirai. Shoving aside weeds and fish, I finally caught sight of a small, dark shape floating in the water. I gasped in horror, managing to swallow a mouthful of river water in the process, and darted forwards. I caught the girl up in my arms and swam for the surface with everything I had. I pulled Mirai up onto the riverbank and carefully set her on the grass where she lay pale and motionless.

 "Please," I prayed, gently hitting her cheeks "You have to wake up! I can't lose you!" 

For a few heart-stopping minutes, I thought I hadn't acted fast enough and tears sprang to my eyes as I pulled the child close. A tear slipped from my cheek and splashed onto hers and she shivered. I held my breath, praying to the gods that Mirai was alright. Her eyes slowly slid open and she looked up at me.

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly "How did you fall in?"

"M'okay." she said softly "Houjun-san scared me an' I fell in." She shivered again and I pulled her closer to me in a feeble attempt to warm her up.

"I'm so sorry…" I whispered, my tears falling faster as guilt and grief overcame me "My poor angel… you nearly died, all because of me…me and my stupid past…" I bowed my head in shame letting the tears splash down onto my hands and into Mirai's hair.

"Houjun-san saved me. Don't cry." the girl said, her voice quiet and full of compassion.

"Of course I saved you!" I sobbed " I couldn't live with myself if I let you die! I already let my best friend's life slip through my hands! I couldn't bear it if another life was lost because of me!"

"Wasn't Houjun's fault." Mirai said firmly "Was an accident."

"No! No, it was my fault!" I cried, shaking my head stubbornly "I let him go! I let go of his hand and…and he's-he…" My words trailed off into sobs.

Mirai climbed out of my arms and knelt on the grass beside me. She reached out wincing as she moved her broken arm, cupped my chin in her hands and lifted my face so she could look into my eye. "It was a mistake," she said firmly. "A big mistake." Her green eyes were full of fierce determination and sympathy for what I was going through. She lifted her uninjured arm and brushed away a few tears with her thumb. "Was a bad accident." she murmured "A very bad accident…"   

"I killed him…" I whispered, fresh tears tumbling down my cheeks "It should have been me in that river, not Hikou! It should have been me!" I turned my face away sharply, wincing when Mirai let out a small squeak of pain as her broken arm fell heavily to her side. "It should have been me…"

"No, not Houjun-san. If Houjun-san was in th' river, who saves Mirai?" The small girl's chin started to tremble in a mixture of sadness, cold and pain. Angry tears started to fall down her cheeks and her fingers curled into tiny fists. "If Houjun-san wasn't there, then who saves me!" she cried, her voice rising to the upper registers with a combination of anger and desperation. "Huh? Tell me! If Houjun-san was gone, who comes t'save me? Who comes t'scare th' bandits away? Who pulls me out of th' river? Who's there to keep me safe?" She broke of, crying too hard to continue and buried her face in her hands.

I sat there in shock, staring at the sobbing little girl in front of me, tears pouring down my face as I realised what Mirai had just said. She was right…if I had died, then the bandits would have killed her…or she would have drowned in the river I'd just pulled her out of… I was her protector now. No matter what I had done in the past, it wouldn't do me any good to live in my memories. Look at what living in the past has done for you so far,  I thought You nearly killed Mirai and now you've made her cry…

"No more…" I said in barely more than a whisper "No more tears…no more torturing myself with things I can't change…"

Mirai looked up at me in confusion. "Huh?"

I shook my head and gave her a watery half-smile. " It's okay now. I understand."

She gave me a questioning look.

"You're right." I explained, "If something happened to me, who would take care of you? Who would keep you safe? I'll never forget that day by the river-the day I let go of his hand- but I'm not going to let what happened then run my life now. What really matters is not the mistakes we've made, but what we do to try and make up for them." I pulled Mirai into my arms again and hugged her close. "I nearly lost you because I couldn't see that before. I've been living inside my own head for so long I lost sight of what's really important."

"What's impor'ant?" Mirai asked softly.

"Well, lots of things." I started, brushing a few tears off the girl's face. "Taking care of you and me, keeping you safe, making sure we always have somewhere decent to sleep and food to eat …those kind of things."

"Oh."  She put her head down on my chest and sighed. "M'glad. I thought Houjun-san was gonna leave me all 'lone again…"

"Didn't I promise I'd never leave you?" I asked, giving her a reassuring kiss on the head.

She nodded. "Yeah…"

"Well, I meant it. No matter what happens to me, I'll always be there to save you, always be there to take care of you. Forever, until the day you won't want me to stay with you anymore, and even then I'll still be watching you from a little ways off." I kissed her again and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her eyes "Do you believe me?"

She nodded again, her green eyes filled over with tears once more. "Me too." she sniffled, hugging me as tight as she could  " Matter what, stay with Houjun-san, f'rever an' ever."

I smiled down at her and we stayed there for a minute, held in each other's arms until Mirai started to tremble in my arms.

"S'cold." she whimpered.

I shivered, the cold I had been feeling for the past hour finally starting to register. "I know, I'm cold too. I'll try and start a fire, okay?"

"'Kay."

"Stay right here, I'm going to find some wood. I'll be right back." I told her as I set her on the grass next to me.

"No!" she cried, eyes going wide with fear "No, wanna stay with Houjun-san!"

"Mirai, I promise, I'll only be a minute." I said gently "I don't want you getting hurt in the woods. Be brave and stay here, okay? Please?"

She shook her head firmly. "Stay with Houjun-san." she repeated, grabbing one of my arms with both of hers.

"Alright, I'll make a deal with you. You can come with me, but you have to be extra careful, okay?"

"'Kay. Be very very careful an' never let go of Houjun-san's hand." she promised.

I smiled at her. "C'mon let's go find the wood- maybe some food too. You haven't eaten since yesterday have you?"

She shook her head as we started into the woods.

"Well, I'll do my best to find you something to eat then. Maybe if we're lucky I'll find some for me too." I said, trying to repress a shiver of cold.

"I only eat if Houjun-san eat." Mirai said in a tone that told me it'd do no good to try and convince her otherwise.

We kept on going deeper and deeper into the forest, and finally we came to a small grove of trees. It was lined with bushes and every so often branches and dead leaves lay on the forest floor.

"Lookit!" Mirai cried happily "Wood an' food!" She dropped my hand and made to run for the nearest blueberry bush but stopped short. "'Men, ne." she said apologetically, taking up my hand again.

"Go ahead." I laughed, "We'll set up camp here, it looks like a perfect place."

"Arigato, Houjun-san!" Mirai called over her shoulder as she made a dash for the rows of bushes.

I shook my head and smiled as I started gathering wood for a fire. I never would have imagined saving one little girl could make this much difference in my life I mused silently as I started building the fire.

A/N: well so it ends because I'm tired and because I have to be fully functional tomorrow so I can finish my stupid English essay. Glossary's below and see y'all next chappy y'know!

Glossary:

Arigato- thank you

'Men, ne- sorry

That's it!

Later all!

~Tenshi K. ~