Hiei comes across a small town where the Christian faith is what runs the lives of the people there. He comes across and meets a little girl out in the woods that surround the town, and she befriends him. He leaves after a month. Years later he is injured and the same girl comes across him, now older and of marriageable age. It's a strange existence, with him knowing the truth and she blindly believing her faith passed down for generations in this small peaceful town. He black, she white. What shall befall this strange existence?
Yes, yes, I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho and never will. No matter how sad that may be. I only own my characters and made up places. Anyways, carry on.
He was dozing in a low branch when she found him. He had traveled far, and long, and had come across this peaceful grove where the grass seemed greener, the trees softer, and the very light itself a little kinder to the things it fell on. He had awoken to the sound of someone calling. And he was even more surprised that they were calling him. He almost swore at his carelessness but stopped himself when he realized it was a human child.
She was gazing up at him curiously with wide blue eyes, her arms full of wildflowers that grew in the area and a single one stuck in her wavy blond hair. She wore a simple white dress with a white satin ribbon around her middle, where a pair of white stockings hung from. Her feet were bare, wiggling in the grass.
His eyes flitted around the clearing, senses searching, but only the little girl was around. She cocked her head at him with a curious, evaluating gaze. He stiffened. He knew that look. Feh, even a mere human child could recognize the forbidden blood in him. Whether she understood what it was or not, that look-
"Why are you sleeping in a tree?"
He blinked in surprise at the question before crossing his arms over his chest and turning away from her with a dismissive 'hn'.
"Excuse me sir, but I asked you a question."
He opened a single crimson eye in her direction. "Why should I tell you?"
"Because I asked, and it's nice to answer people when they've asked you a question."
He scoffed. "And that's a reason?"
"Well yes. And you asked me a question so you should answer mine in return."
He sighed. The girl had sat down in the grass, flowers across her lap, waiting for his reply. She wasn't going to leave him alone.
"Because I like to."
"But wouldn't it be nicer and softer to sleep on the grass?"
"…"
"So what's your really reason?"
He opened his other eye to look at her. She hadn't moved, and was still gazing up at him.
"Because it's safer."
"Safer? What if you fall off while you're asleep?"
He sneered at her. "I don't fall."
She shrugged her little shoulders.
"So you don't fall. But what is it you're trying to be safe from?"
In an instant he was before her, irritation bubbling under his calm mask.
"And why would you want to know?"
"Because," she said simply, "there's nothing here to be afraid of."
He almost snarled at her, crouching down in front of her face to make a point.
"I am not afraid. I am not afraid of anything in your pathetic little place."
"Then why were you sleeping in the tree?"
He opened his mouth to reply when he realized he couldn't think of a reason. He paused, eyes still in thought. Finally with a small sigh he sat down at the base of the same tree he'd been sleeping in. "There, are you happy now?" She gave him a confused look. "Why should I be the one who's happy? Shouldn't you be the one who's happy that they don't have to sleep in a tree?" He wouldn't admit it to her, but the bed of grass was softer than the tree branch had been. He gave another sigh and settled himself with his back against the tree, ready to ignore the little girl, who would go on her way and not bother him any longer.
"Sir, I have another question to ask you."
He growled under his breath.
"And why should I answer you this time? You're the one who's being rude now."
"I'll give you a cookie."
He opened his eyes to find a large chocolate chip cookie in front of his face. He scowled at the little girl. "What a childish reason. Why would I even consider it?"
"Because I'm a child?"
He almost slapped her hand away when his stomach rumbled a small protest. It was at that moment he remembered he hadn't eaten in about a week. With a glare at the pair of blue eyes looking at him innocently, he snatched the cookie and took a bite. It was still warm, freshly made.
"What's your name, sir?"
"…"
"Hey, I gave you a cookie."
"…Hiei."
"That's a nice name."
He snorted.
"Well mine's Kate. Do you have a last name?"
"Jaganshi."
"Mine's Howden. It's my dad's last name."
"Are you done?"
A small frown made it's way on her face before she smiled.
"I'll make you a deal, Mr. Hiei. If you'll talk with me, doesn't matter what about, I'll give you some of my lunch." He turned to face the little girl, who while he'd been eating had made her way to sit next to him. "And why would I eat your lunch, little ningen?" "Because you're hungry."
"…"
He hadn't really talked with anyone for a long time. Kurama, maybe, but the fox was too perceptive, and just talking gave away too much of what he wanted to hide. He could never dream of talking to Yusuke, and he'd rather cut his tongue out before forcing himself to converse with the imbecile Kuwabara. And yet…this small child, barely old enough to be away from her mother, wanted to talk…it couldn't hurt, could it? After all, he was hungry. And she wasn't going to carry poisoned food with her if she had intended to eat it anyway. As if she'd even know what to do with something like that.
After a moment, he nodded. Her face glowed at the very thought and she was off, returning half a minute later with a decent sized basket in both of her small hands. Plopping down next to him again, basket in her lap, she opened the top and pulled out a sandwich, with cold meat and cheese in the middle. Taking one half for herself, she held the other out to him.
He took it, gave it a once over, turning it in his hand to look at it before taking a bite. Not bad…not bad at all…
"So where're you from, Mr. Hiei?"
"Far away"
"How far?"
"From the East"
"How far East?"
He gave her a glance and she pouted. "Fine. You don't wanna tell me. Then how old are you?"
"524 years old."
She laughed.
"Do you have a family?"
"…a sister."
"Really? I wish I had one. You're lucky you know."
He almost smiled. "I know."
"So what's her name?"
"Yukina."
"Wow, she sounds pretty."
He scoffed at the little girl fishing through her lunch basket for something else to eat.
"You don't even know what she looks like."
"I know that. But I can tell by the way you talked about her."
"I only said her name."
"I know."
She pulled out some crackers and a little jar of peanut butter with a plastic knife. She started spreading some on them and handing them to him. "Was I right though?" He gave her a queer expression before turning away. "Yeah," he said a little softer, "She is."
She giggled and took a big bite of cracker.
"What's it like where you're from?"
He thought for a moment of what to say. "It's forests, darker and larger than here, with lots of…wild animals. And people. Too many people for my tastes." He thought of the teeming masses of humans where the other detectives had to live and scowled.
"Well than, you'll like it here. Not a lot of people. Just my town around here. It's little."
He glanced at the little girl next to him. "You say that like I'm staying there."
She stopped and thought a moment. "Well, there's nowhere else for you to stay around here, so you could stay with me!" she said with a happy smile. Quite suddenly she stopped as if just realizing what she had said and blushed a little. "Only if you wanted to though, I'm not saying you've got to. Just if you wanted to."
He stayed silent. The silence was one of waiting before he quickly grabbed an apple out of her basket and took a bite. "Hey! I was gonna eat that!" He grinned. "Well I don't see your name on it so it's mine now." She took to pouting, lip out and cheeks puffed with air, arms crossed over her chest. He smirked. She blew a raspberry at him.
"Where is this place?"
"It's my special place. None of the other people know where it is, cause everybody else likes to stay really close to the town. I come here all the time." She suddenly dropped her voice to a whisper, "but it's always so nice here, no matter what its like anywhere else, so I think it's magic." He took another bite.
It was true, in a way. This place…seemed different. It was what had drawn him here. It was a sense of…peace that seemed to float through the air, a sort of sweet happiness and calm that sprang up from the very ground.
"I know I'm always told there's no such thing as magic, and I should get those silly thoughts out of my head, but it's what I think, so there." He chuckled inwardly. It sounded like she'd been scolded for talking about magic by a parent many times before.
She pulled out a big canteen of cold water and poured some in a little cup that sat over the top like a lid, then gave him the canteen to drink from. He took a few swigs, surprised that here, even the water seemed better. And it was just water. Pulling out a little napkin tied up, she revealed the rest of the cookies and handed him one.
"So, Mr. Hiei, what are you doing here anyways?"
He stopped chewing with half the cookie sticking out of his mouth. What could he tell this child, that he was sent on a mission to slay an insurgency of demon rebels in the nearby area? Obviously not. And there she sat, contentedly eating her cookie and waiting for an answer.
"I'm on a mission."
"Really? What kind?"
"A secret one."
"Me too!"
He gave her a look. "Really."
"Yup! I'm on a mission for God."
"…God…"
"Of course I am! Everybody is. You're supposed to spread The Word to everybody else that hasn't heard it. Then Saint Peter will write it down in his big book in Heaven and when you get there, God will see that and say 'you've been a good disciple of mine. I'm proud of you."
He had no response to this. He'd heard of Kami, and many other gods in the demon world, but God? It must be that religion Kurama had been talking about, Christianity.
"And you believe that?"
"Well of course!"
"And why do you do that?"
She stopped for a moment. "Because that's what mommy and daddy and Father Brian said, and they're always right." He snorted in his mind. "And besides…" He looked at her and was surprised to see a peaceful look on her face, a sort of calm that was the same as the feeling of the clearing they were sitting in.
She looked up at him, an expression on her face that he couldn't place.
"…wouldn't it be sad not to have something to believe in?"
Believe in…believe in…it seemed to echo in his mind. It struck a chord somewhere deep inside of him, those two little words…it was as if a voice was echoing back with this one. As if it were trying to say something.
He tore his eyes away from her and looked around him. There was something to this peace that, while it calmed and quieted his normally dark and angry soul, it couldn't reach some place, some place deeper than he could find, some door that filled him with emptiness and loathing.
Off in the distance a bell tolled twice. She looked up in the direction of the sound. "Awww…I gotta go home now." She picked up her napkin of cookies and put the rest in his lap. He must of looked as surprised as he felt because she giggled. "You can have the rest of these, cause you're bigger than me so you were probably hungrier too." She pulled her socks out from where they hung on her waist and put one on over each foot, than a pair of white sandals from out of the basket.
"Well it was nice to meet you, Mr. Hiei, and just as nice talking to you. You have a good day, and God Bless." And with that she was off at a run, hurrying home as fast as her little legs could carry her. Soon, she was gone, and the grove was quiet once more. Only this time…it seemed as if it was a little emptier. He looked at the gift of cookies on his lap for a moment before wrapping the napkin back around them and putting them in his pocket. He thought over what had just occurred. He had interacted…with a human. And hadn't been revolted by the experience. He gave a disgruntle 'hn'. It was almost ridiculous. With an irritated scowl at this thought, he glanced around before jumping back up into his tree and settling down to return to his nap, however comfortable or uncomfortable it may be.
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