A/N: You're going to have to forgive me for the parts written with Hiro/Ando. I don't know Japanese, so I can't exactly write it. So, just use your imaginations and pretend that they are speaking in Japanese, especially in these parts when Hiro is back in time. Obviously he and the warriors should be speaking Japanese. Also, the part where Hiro is back in time is going to be difficult, so bear with me as I try to make it semi-decent. I have no idea what the writers are going to do with that next season, but I'm pretty positive it will be a hundred times better than whatever I come up with. I can't just ignore it though, so I've got to do my best to tackle the bizarre scenario. Thanks for the reviews that I've gotten so far, and please, please, I don't like to beg, but starting out new stories is always difficult and it's great to know if I'm at all on the right track, either with character portrayals, storylines, grammar or whatever. Thank you!!!

HIRO NAKAMURA

OUTSIDE KYOTO, JAPAN 1671

Hiro Nakamura had seen many extraordinary things in the past few weeks. He had traveled to the future where an entire city had been devastated by a bomb, which actually turned out to be an exploding man. He had stolen an ancient legendary sword from a mob boss. He had learned a great family secret from his father. And he had finally fulfilled what he thought was his destiny when he drove a sword through a serial killer. At this moment, however, Hiro realized he had no idea what his destiny was.

Hiro's eyes stretched wide as he took in his surroundings. The wide open spaces of green hills and blue skies could have been explained by some random location in the world that he accidentally jumped to, but when horses started galloping up one hill and over another he knew he hadn't simply jumped to a far off area.

To one side of him, a herd of horses were being ridden by a swarm of Japanese warriors dressed gallantly in red, carrying matching banners and weapons. The warriors aimed their bows and arrows towards the sky as though they were preparing to fire. Hiro started running in the opposite direction, but soon stopped as a lone figure of a new horse and rider appeared at the top of the hill he was running towards. This rider carried a banner, branded by the symbol "godsend" that also branded Hiro's cherished sword; the one that had belonged to Takezo Kensei. Hiro was beginning to wish that he hadn't given the Kensei sword to Ando. The warriors in red had lowered their bows and were now drawing their swords, waving them wildly above their heads. All eyes were focused on the lone warrior on top of the hill, who had also drawn his sword.

"Dai pinch!" Hiro murmured a curse as he glanced back and forth between the two sides. He was trapped in the middle. He panicked instantly as the warriors erupted into a united battle cry. Every instinct that should have kicked in failed Hiro at that moment. He felt frozen, uncertain, and absolutely terrified; he felt nothing like a hero.

When his mind finally started processing what was happening, his first thought was to run, but there was nowhere to go. The next moment he remembered that he had a power that could get him out of there. Squeezing his eyes shut tightly, Hiro gritted her teeth and concentrated until he felt his cheeks begin to wobble and his head felt like it would explode. When he opened his eyes again though, nothing had changed. No, that wasn't entirely true, the horses had changed – they were moving closer to him. Still panicking, Hiro shut his eyes again and once more tried to teleport away, anywhere but where he was. Again though, his powers did nothing.

I'm stuck! Following his last helpless instinct, Hiro drew out his sword, held it above his head, and released his best war cry from low in his throat.

MOHINDER SURESH & MOLLY WALKER

NEW YORK

"How are you feeling Molly?" Mohinder's head was swarming as he tried to logically process everything that had occurred in the past few hours. All he really wanted to do was sit down and try to sort everything out so he could give himself a suitable explanation, but at the moment he needed to make his primary concern the little girl who had somehow ended up in his care.

"I'm feeling okay." Molly gave him one of her full-toothed smiles, but it vanished only a moment later. "Dr. Suresh, are you going to have to put any more needles in me tonight?"

"No, not tonight." He assured her. "I think you have had plenty of needles for a while."

"Definitely." Her grin returned.

"I think what you need now is some sleep. We will take a cab back to my apartment…" He hesitated. What am I supposed to do with a little girl? I am a doctor, not a babysitter. She was gazing up at him with inquiring eyes, so he offered her a reassuring smile, though he was nowhere near confident in his next step. "Molly I have to be honest with you. I am not certain what to do with you. I have never met the people who were keeping you, except for Mr. Thompson, but now he…" He stopped suddenly, realizing he shouldn't tell the young girl what had happened to Thompson.

"He's dead." She finished for him, clearly much more aware than he realized.

"Yes, he is." Mohinder knelt beside her so they could be eye level. "And now I do not know who is in charge of you."

"Why can't you be in charge of me?" She questioned earnestly.

"I would like to be Molly, very much, but I am afraid it is not my place." Mohinder didn't know how to explain the complexity of the situation to her. "For now I will take you home with me, and I hope that someone will contact me eventually to give me directions regarding you."

She nodded. "I don't want to go back to your apartment though."

"Why not?" Mohinder frowned. "You can get some sleep and I will cook you something to eat…you will be safe there." He hoped he wasn't lying to her.

She shook her head. "It's not that. I want to go to the hospital."

"Are you hurt?" He instantly started inspecting all visible skin for signs of damage.

"No, I'm fine, but my hero is there, and I want to see him."

Mohinder sighed, understanding that she was referring to Matt Parkman, the man who Sylar had wounded with bullets. When Mohinder was checking him out, his condition was considerably poor. He didn't believe that Matt would make it through the night and he definitely didn't want Molly to have to watch her 'hero' die.

"Can we go visit him, Dr. Suresh?"

"Maybe tomorrow, Molly. I think it would be best if you rest tonight. You have had a very busy day."

She shook her head. "It's okay. I'm really not tired."

Mohinder hesitated, uncertain of how to convince the little girl of what he believed to be best for her. She wasn't his daughter. She wasn't his sister. She wasn't even really his responsibility, and yet somehow he had to take care of her. He had to protect her and to provide for her until something else could be arranged, and he was determined to do it well. "Molly, if I take you to the hospital to check on your hero, do you promise me that right after you see him we can return to my apartment where you will get some rest?"

She nodded, her eyes shining brightly as she realized that she had gotten her way. "I promise."

"Fine, we shall go to the hospital, but only for a short while." Mohinder decided. He smiled at her sweetly and started directing her away from the plaza and towards the mildly crowded street.

It was almost midnight, but it was New York City and taxicabs were still frequent, so they were easily able to hail one after only a few minutes of waiting. The hospital was only a ten-minute drive and Molly occupied the time by chatting wildly the entire time. Clearly Thompson hadn't been the most talkative company for her for the past couple of weeks and she had been storing up all her conversation, now eager to get it out.

"How can I do what I can do?"

Mohinder wondered how he could simplify a lecture of genetic mutations for an eight-year-old girl. "It has to do with the way the formation of your DNA…"

Molly pondered it very briefly before seeming to lose interest and moving onto her next question. "That boy that I met tonight told me that he can control machines. He's special, like me, isn't he?"

"It would appear so, yes."

"Are there other people who can do other special things?"

"Yes, there are many people with unique gifts." Mohinder told her.

"Like what?"

"Out of the ones I know of for certain, there is a man who can fly, and one who erase memories, and one who can walk through walls. And there is a girl who can heal herself…"

"What can my hero do?" Molly asked.

"Matt Parkman?" Mohinder smiled. "Your hero can read minds."

"Cool, so he can always hear what people are thinking?"

"I am not sure how it works exactly, but I imagine he can filter it so he does not always hear everything." Mohinder considered how fascinating it would be to read minds. Then he reconsidered as he thought about how potentially painful it could be. Some thoughts were meant to be silent.

"You said your sister was special like me. What could she do?"

Mohinder winced at the girl's innocent mention of his sister. She couldn't understand how painful it was for him to discuss his deceased sister; she was only expressing a natural curiosity and didn't mean to hurt him. "I…I am not certain of the specifics of my sister's condition."

"Oh?" Molly's brown eyes were still questioning.

"Yes, I…I was not even aware that I had a sister until a couple weeks ago."

"Why not?"

"As I told you before, my sister died before I was born and my parents never told me about her."

"Why not?"

Mohinder was losing patience with the little girl's questions, but luckily at that moment the cab pulled up in front of the hospital and he was saved from discussing his sister any further. Molly's attention was drawn to her hero.

"Will he be awake?" She asked anxiously as Mohinder helped her out of the cab.

"I hope so, but we will have to wait and see."

She reached out and took Mohinder's hand as they headed into the lobby of the hospital.

"We are here to visit Matt Parkman?" Mohinder told the receptionist at the front desk.

She checked something on the computer and then smiled warmly. "Unfortunately Mr. Parkman is still in emergency surgery."

Mohinder glanced down at Molly. "Do you know how long he will be?"

"I'm sorry Sir, but there is no way to be certain when, or even if, he will come out of surgery." Her eyes expressed practiced sympathy. "He is in extremely critical condition."

"Yes, I am aware of his condition…"

"Do you know where his family is? Anyone we could contact for him? In his condition it would be best if his family was contacted." The nurse explained.

Mohinder nodded. "Of course. I will call his wife and inform her of the situation."

"That would be a good idea." The nurse told him. "Is this her daughter?"

Molly's bright eyes began to water. "He's my hero."

The nurse didn't know what to say to the grieving child. Mohinder quickly tried to ease the difficulty of the situation. "Come on Molly, we can wait here until he is out of surgery."

"Really?"

"Absolutely, but if you start feeling tired then I want you to let me know and we will come back another time." He insisted as he led her over to the waiting area to have a seat.

"I want to wait." Molly was determined.

"I know you do, which is why I am letting you." Mohinder removed his jacket and rolled it into a ball. "Perhaps you can try and get some rest anyway. Use my jacket as a pillow."

Molly took it from him and made herself comfortable on one of the sofas in the waiting lounge. "If I fall asleep make sure you wake me up when he's ready to see me, okay?"

"I promise, Molly." Mohinder smiled at her kindly. "Now just try to sleep and not think about anything that has been happening today." She nodded to him, already yawning tiredly as she laid her head down on his bundled jacket. Mohinder waited for a moment, letting her rest in silence before pulling his cell phone from his pocket and searching for Matt Parkman's home number, which he had saved to his phone weeks ago when he first started contacting people from the list.