So I had a fugitive come up to me outside of riften tell me to hold something that he would be back for it later and would kill me if I didn't have it, however I can't remember what exactly he gave me and I have no idea where he is and he hasn't come back to me yet. I was wondering if anyone else had this happen to them and if they ever saw the fugitive again or if its just some awkward thing that happened and I'll never know why.

There was a guard chasing him. You probably didn't notice. You had a few choices if you saw the guard. Act like you didn't know anything, point the guard in the right direction, or just give the guard the item for some gold. In your game, the guard probably just found the guy and killed him. You get to keep the loot.

I don't know either. After he handed it to me, I ran after him and back-stabbed him...

He died like a pansie too.

Had a similar experience in the wilderness near Falkreath. Guy handed me a pair of boots with frost resist, told me to hold on to them and not to rat him out "or else". A hunter came running up immediately after asking if I had seen him. I returned the boots and then watched 3 hunters pincushion the thief.

I only saw the fugitive
gave me a nice elven helmet I'm planning to disenchant
never seen the guy again or the people chasing him so i guess i'm good
if he ever comes back I'll just kill him I guess

Ah ok thanks ya I guess I missed the guard/people chasing him. However he wasn't running he was sneaking so I have a feeling that he actually got away or something.

He's not tough, the hunters wasted him in 2 shots of an arrow.

I had this half-way between Whiterun and Riverwood. Dude handed me a longsword, promised to kill me if I double-crossed him (yeah, right. Bring it on, bud!) and ran off.

Then a Hunter came by and asked if I saw anything, I chose the option: I guess this longsword belongs to you. He gave some gold, shouted he would kill the thief, let loose two arrows, and then lost sight of him.

I found him, and let loose with a doubled Flames spell (both hands, with Perk for overcharing Destruction spells). After one second, he surrendered and begged for mercy. He didn't get it, as I don't accept surrender from those as threaten me like that. Got a total of about 50 gold off his belongings.

I've experienced two fugitive/hunter incidents. The first time I gave the item back to the hunter (and then looted the thief) and the second time was in the middle of a dragon attack. Idiots didn't notice a giant firebreathing lizard on top of them...

(Then I looted both of them.)

I think this is just one of those time initiated quests.

Eventually a fugitive will give you some item, and try to sneak off. There will be a guard/hunter/someone after him.

You can follow the guy and he will eventualy get killed, or someone might come up to you and ask about it.

One of my characters was handed iron armor of destruction. Funny thing was a naked hunter was chasing the fugitive around.

Another time I was given a mace. I followed the fugitive and he ended up getting killed by a swarm of mudcrabs.