|
|
Chapter 5
Kurama jerked awake as he heard a small groan. He sat up and glanced at Hiei, who was semi-conscious. The fox smiled and shook the fire demon gently. The boy's crimson eyes opened. "Hiei? You feeling better?"
"Hn." The fire demon sat up. "K'so..." he muttered, glancing around.
"No, Hiei, it wasn't a dream. We're really in the future." Hiei looked at him strangely. "You hungry? I promised you pizza. About four centuries ago, mind you, but I still owe you."
Hiei scowled. "You would joke about it."
Kurama sighed. "Hiei, we're stuck here. We can't afford to get depressed about it." The fox rose and walked to the replicator. Hiei was silent as Kurama pressed the buttons that Neelix had showed him. A pizza appeared in the space.
Hiei frowned. "How the hell did you do that? I know you're not a mage!"
Kurama grinned. "It's a technology here in the future. Ningens made these machines." He set the pizza on the table. "Come on. I know you're hungry."
Hiei shrugged and sat at the table, looking at the food suspiciously. "You trust these ningens?"
"Hiei! I've spoken to them, and they're fine. Besides, what're we going to do? Have them drop us off at the next planet? Then we'll never get home!" Hiei shrugged and Kurama sighed. He put a plate down in front of the fire demon. "And starving yourself won't help matters either."
The Jaganshi glared at the fox venomously, but said nothing, grabbing a piece of pizza instead.
Janeway chimed at the door of her guests. The door opened and Kurama smiled at her. The other boy, Hiei, stood behind him, his sword out. Janeway displayed her hands to show that she was unarmed, then smiled as the boy snorted and sheathed the weapon.
Kurama invited her in. "Would you like some pizza? There's some left."
Janeway shook her head, chuckling. "I'm just here to see if you two would like a tour of the ship."
"Hn. What's the point?" Hiei's eyes stared at her piercingly.
The captain smiled at him. "I'm glad you're feeling better. The point is for you two to learn your way around the ship. We are still about two years away from Earth, and we're all stuck on the ship until then." She raised an eyebrow as Hiei snorted. "Do you two have any skills that could help us?"
Kurama grinned. "Watch." He took a seed from his hair. Slowly the seed grew into a rose. "I have a way with plants."
Janeway smiled. "Wonderful. Ever since Kes left, we've had no one to grow food plants in the cargo bay." She looked at Hiei. "What skills do you have."
Hiei just glared. He answered when Kurama elbowed him. "Hand to hand combat." He snorted. "Computers." Kurama stared at him, evidently having not known about this skill. Hiei smirked. "I was stuck in the Ningenkai for four years. I was bored." The boy grinned maliciously. "I'm the one who hacked into the Pentagon."
"Hiei! How did you get a hold of a computer?" The redhead's shock was evident, and Janeway hid a grin.
Hiei shrugged. "Ningen stores have minimal security. And it's not too difficult to wire telephone wires to give it power and a connection to the Internet."
Janeway smiled. "Seven of Nine could probably use your help in the Engineering section, especially since B'Elanna is on her honeymoon." Hiei just shrugged. "Shall we go on that tour now?"
Yuusuke sighed as he rang the doorbell to the Minamino residence. Kurama's stepbrother, Shuuichi, answered the door. "Hello, Yuusuke-san. Shuuichi-oniisan isn't here right now."
Yuusuke shook his head. "I'm actually here to talk to Shiori-sama. May I come in?"
Shuuichi's brow furrowed as he let Yuusuke in. "Tousan isn't here right now. Are you sure you need to talk to Okaasan?"
Yuusuke nodded. "It's important."
Shiori hurried into the room. "Yuusuke! Have you seen my son? Where is he?"
"Minamino-san...please sit down." The woman obeyed, panic passing over her face. Yuusuke winced as he realized what he had said. "Don't worry, your son is not dead." Yuusuke ran a hand through his hair. "Kurama...your son...he was transported somehow into the future."
Shiori laughed. "Where's Shuuichi? Tell him it was a cute joke."
Yuusuke scowled. "I'm not joking." He sat across from Shiori. "I ask you to consider everything I'm about to tell you." He paused and the woman nodded. "Kurama...your son is not fully human. He was originally a fox youko from the Makai. He died and entered your womb and was reborn." Yuusuke sighed again. "Remember when you were terminally ill, and you recovered suddenly?" Shiori nodded. "Kurama was the one who saved you."
Shiori frowned. "Who is Kurama?"
"Kurama is your son's Makai name. Anyway, Kurama stole a Reikai artifact that would grant him a wish, but take his life in return. He wished for you to be happy, and nearly died, but I gave half my lifeforce to keep him from dying. He became a Reikai Tantei, part of my team. Do you understand so far?"
Shiori nodded. "Yes."
"Good. For the past few days, we've been on a mission in the Makai."
"The demon world?!" Shiori gasped.
"Yes. We had to capture or kill an escaped youkai convict. It ended up being the latter. We were coming back to the Ningenkai through the portal, but something went wrong with the portal. The Netherworld pulled Kurama and Hiei, another one of the Tantei, through space and time, to the future and somewhere in outer space. We don't think they're dead, but we don't know for sure."
Shiori was very pale. "What is this Netherworld?"
Yuusuke sighed. "A while back, the Netherworld tried to take over the Ningenkai, flooding the Reikai in the process. We were the only ones left to stand against their king, Yakumo. Somehow, we beat him, killing him. Now I guess the Netherworld wants revenge. I just hope future ningens will find them."
"So my son is in the future...And I'm probably dead in that future..." Shiori closed her eyes. "I'll never see my son again."
Kurama smiled as Hiei tinkered with the computer in their quarters. It had taken the fire demon two minutes to change the computer to speak and read Japanese, which he had accomplished by wiring his universal translator into the data port and downloading the Japanese language information off of it. The sanjiyan had also taken the liberty of changing the computer's voice to sound like Shiori. Kurama was grateful for (and a bit surprised by) his friend's kindness.
The fire demon had been sitting quietly for over and hour, reading different files on the computer. After changing the defaults, he had immediately read up on the Borg, curious about Seven of Nine's implants. He had been reading up on the history of the last four hundred years for the past hour, looking up the aliens species and names of historical people as he read.
Kurama had given up on reading over his friend's shoulder long before that point, as Hiei was reading at an impossible speed. The fox dragged a chair over and sat beside his friend, setting a steaming mug of hot cocoa on the console in front of Hiei. "Interesting?"
"Hn," was Hiei's only response as he distractedly sipped the cocoa. After a few minutes, the fire demon stopped reading and looked at Kurama, blinking rapidly as his eyes tried to adjust. "About fifty years after we left, ningens had another world war. A nuclear war. It wiped out most of the planet. Fifty years after that, some ningen discovered warp technology. Light speed, what Einstein said was impossible. This alien race called the Vulcans saw the test run, and made first contact. The Federation formed as ningens met more races."
Kurama frowned. "Humans brought peace to the universe?!"
Hiei shrugged. "Basically. A few wars with some violent races, but that's about it. Voyager's history is here too. They were brought to the Delta Quadrant by this alien that they called the Caretaker, because he was taking care of this race called the Ocampans." Hiei scowled. "That was seven years ago." [Authors note: Last chapter, I accidentally said 4 years. Gomen!] "They picked up Kes, Neelix, Seven of Nine, and Icheb along the way, and some girl called Naomi Wildman was born on the ship. They've got about fifteen years left to travel, but originally, the trip was supposed to take about 70 years, so they'll probably find a way to cut more time off the trip."
Kurama sighed. "Well, we've got a while to wait before we get to Earth."
"Hn." Hiei shrugged. "It doesn't really matter how long it takes. Chances are, everyone we knew is dead."
Kurama flinched. "Yuusuke and Yukina are youkai. They'll still be alive."
Hiei shook his head. "Yukina was staying in the Ningenkai. If she was still staying there during the war, she would have died. Most of Japan was destroyed. Yuusuke might be alive, but if he's ruling a third of the Makai, he may have been killed by an assassin."
"An assassin wouldn't have a chance against Yuusuke!"
Hiei frowned. "The only reason Mukuro was still alive when we left was because I took a dagger meant for her. It would have poisoned her and made her body reject her metallic implants. It didn't hurt me." The fire demon scowled. "That's the reason I left Mukuro's territory. I don't mind a challenge, but I got sick of having to dodge daggers and hunt down assassins."
Kurama stared at him. "So, you're saying that Yuusuke was probably assassinated."
"Maybe." Hiei shrugged. "He had enough enemies. We all did."
Kurama frowned. He didn't like the direction that the conversation was heading. "What did Seven say she needed help with?"
Hiei shrugged. "She didn't say anything about it. I'm supposed to meet her in the Engineering section tomorrow."
Kurama smiled. "Looks like you've found something to do."
Startled, Hiei stared at Kurama. "Janeway said you get to grow a garden. And there's probably a lot new plants for you to choose from. What's wrong?"
"I never told my mother the truth. I just disappeared. She was probably worried out of her mind for the rest of her life."
Hiei was silent for a long time. Then he turned back to the computer. Before Kurama realized what he was doing, a picture and bio of his mother was on the screen before him. "Read it, then I'll call one up on your brother."
Kurama began reading, more than a little surprised by Hiei's kindness. His surprise turned to shock as he continued reading. His mother had advocated for peace during the war, pushing for the exploration of space. She had been killed by those who were to benefit from the war, all of whom had later been killed in the latter part of the war, or afterward for their war crimes.
Hiei called up the file on Minamino Shuuichi, Kurama's brother. The fox blinked as he saw his younger stepbrother as an adult, then began reading. Shuuichi had continued Shiori's legacy, pushing the exploration of space and the development of faster-than-light technology, vowing to discredit Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity. Kurama gasped as he read the reason his brother had given for this vow. "For my mother and my 'Niisan, wherever he is." Shuuichi came very close to his goal before he was killed in a riot. His theories were built on by Zefram Cochrane, who discovered warp technology.
Kurama closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, overwhelmed. Finally, he opened his eyes and turned to Hiei. The fox smiled as he saw that Hiei had fallen asleep. "Computer off." The computer screen went black as Kurama picked his friend up and tucked him in. "Lights off." The fox was soon asleep as well.
History lesson! Gotta love it. This will be the last time we see Yuusuke and the others on Earth for a while...402 years, to be exact! *evil grin* I love what I did to Hiei in this one! Hiei as a computer geek...Who woulda thought?
Chapter Six does not yet exist...
Back to Chapter Four
Back to the Fics Page no da!!
Back to the Main Page na no da!!