Flux

By Rose Thorne

A Star Trek: Voyager/YYH crossover

~~STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!~~

Chapter 8
Hiei woke slowly, warmth surrounding him, though he felt chilled. He curled closer to the warmth, shivering slightly. "Hiei? Are you awake?" The fire demon opened his eyes halfway, too exhausted to get them all the way open. Kurama was the warmth he had felt. The fox smiled at him, his green eyes worried. "You nearly died. You lost most of your ki. You're cold because your body doesn't have the energy to keep your temperature up." Hiei shivered again and closed his eyes, too exhausted to keep them open. "You've been asleep for almost twenty-four hours, Hiei. You need to get some fluids in you." Hiei moaned softly, shivering, as Kurama got up. He somehow managed to open his eyes again to see Kurama frowning at him. "I'll be right back." Hiei's eyes slid shut again. A few moments later, Kurama was back and pulling Hiei into a half-sitting position. "Can you sit up, Hiei?"

As Kurama let go of him, Hiei tried to stay sitting, but his body felt like it was made of lead. "Too heavy . . ." he whispered hoarsely, shivering again.

The fire demon heard Kurama set something down on the bedside table then felt him sit down on the bed. The fox pulled Hiei into his lap, letting him lean against him. He held something to the sanjiyan's lips. Hiei's eyes shot open. "It's water." The redhead tilted the cup a bit, allowing Hiei to drink his fill of the room-temperature liquid. Then he held another cup to Hiei's lips. "Warm broth." Hiei drank all of it, closing his eyes as Kurama pulled the empty cup away. Kurama held another cup to Hiei's lips, but the fire demon turned his face away. "It's hot cocoa, Hiei." The Jaganshi opened his eyes slightly to see Kurama smiling knowingly at him and drank the cocoa, then closed his eyes again and sighed softly, feeling a bit warmer than he had before, though he was still chilled.

Kurama gently set Hiei on the bed and lay down beside him, letting the fire demon curl closer to him as he fell back to sleep. As soon as the fox was sure Hiei was asleep, he brushed the fire demon's hair from his pale face, touching his cheek gently. I'm so glad I didn't lose you, little one . . . The fox then curled protectively around his friend and fell asleep.

* * *

Hiei slept for the better part of two days, waking only once, and only for about an hour in that time. Kurama had been worried at the depth of his sleep--Hiei was in a deeper sleep then he was after he used the Kokoryuha--but his concern had disappeared when he realized that his friend's youki was returning, however sluggishly.

To Kurama's surprise, Hiei had actually gotten a few visitors. Naomi Wildman and Neelix had stopped by to see if things were okay, as well as Captain Janeway. But Hiei had also gotten another visitor whom Kurama had never met. The Asian man had introduced himself as Harry Kim and had come by while Hiei was asleep to ask what had happened. Kurama had given him a brief explanation and assured him that Hiei would recover.

Even after the Jaganshi had woken, he was very weak--almost sickly. Hiei's legs had given out on him the one time that he had gotten out of bed. Kurama had been forced to carry him to the bathroom twice, much to Hiei's humiliation. The fire demon hated depending on anyone.

The door chimed as Kurama was carrying Hiei back to bed. After setting Hiei down, he commanded the door to open. Neelix stepped in, carrying a small package and smiling. "I brought some treats for you two. Freshly baked brownies!"

Kurama smiled. "Thank you, Neelix." He replicated three glasses of milk and set them on the table, then brought Hiei to a chair to sit. The fox had no idea how Neelix had discovered Hiei's sweet tooth; he would have to ask Hiei about that later. They ate the brownies as Neelix told them the ship gossip, speaking of a recently married couple that was taking their honeymoon in something called a holodeck, which had led to a description of what a holodeck was.

Kurama sighed as Neelix asked what their duties on the ship were. "I'm growing plants in the cargo hold, but I haven't had the time to check on them in several days." Hiei hned.

Neelix smiled. "I'm off duty now. Why don't you go check on them and I'll stay here and keep Hiei company?"

Kurama glanced at Hiei, who shrugged. "Thank you, Neelix. It shouldn't take too long."

The Talaxian waved him away. "Take as long as you need. I'm going to teach Hiei how to play Kal-toh, anyway. Though Tuvok would probably be a better teacher."

Kurama chuckled as he stepped into his shoes. "I'm sorry I'll miss that. You'll have to show me how to play when I get back, Hiei."

"Hn." The fire demon smirked as Kurama headed for the door. "Count on it, Kitsune."

Kurama chuckled on his way to the turbolift. He certainly is opening up more. As much as I hate to be in this situation, it's turning out to be good for Hiei.

The plants were doing well. It looked as though someone had watered them within the past day. Kurama briefly wondered who, then got to work watering and checking each of the plants. The entire process took about twenty minutes.

Kurama left the cargo hold and headed back to his and Hiei's quarters. He was about halfway there when he felt strange ki coming from that direction.

The fox ran down the hall, cursing. Some of the Mekai's minions must be trapped on the ship! I should have known that! And now that Hiei's been weakened . . . and I'm not there to help him . . . they're going to try to finish him off! K'so!

As the door open, Kurama froze in shock. Neelix was sprawled on the floor a few feet from the door, a huge cut on his temple. A huge demon had Hiei backed against the wall and was thrusting its hips at him. Rage overtook Kurama and he called his rose whip, slashing at the demon and taking off his head before he could even turn around. He ran to Hiei as the demon's body fell back.

The fire demon's clothes were mostly gone, and he was bleeding and bruised. "Hiei? Are you okay?! What did he do to you?!" Hiei just buried his face in Kurama's chest, shaking. A noise behind Kurama caused him to jump up, dragging Hiei with him. They narrowly escaped a ki blast. The fox gently put Hiei down and glared at the demon. "I'll kill you for what you did to him!"

The demon smirked. "That wasn't me. We were just ordered to kill the little insect. My partner just decided to have some fun first since your friend is so weak."

Kurama growled and readied himself to attack, then slashed out at the demon, throwing seeds from his hair with his other hand in the direction that his enemy would probably dodge. The youkai did dodge in that direction, but flipped over the plants and incinerated them easily. Kurama slashed at him again, and he evaded the whip and slashed at Kurama with a sword, catching him across the stomach.

The wound only fed Kurama's anger and he leapt at his enemy, knocking the sword away and driving a grass-blade dagger into the demon's heart. "Die, you bastard!" The demon obeyed, and Kurama dropped the carcass to the floor, hurrying back to Hiei and gathering his friend in his arms. "Hiei . . . Did he . . ."

Hiei's hand fisted in the fox's shirt. "You stopped him . . ." A sob escaped the fire demon. "Thank you." Then Hiei passed out.

Thank Inari, I got here in time! Kurama grabbed a blanket and wrapped Hiei in it, then stumbled to Neelix and set Hiei next to the Talaxian. Neelix was only unconscious, much to Kurama's relief. He stood, the adrenaline rush killing the pain from his deep abdominal wound, and tapped the comm unit on the wall. "Kurama to Sickbay. Three emergency . . ." His legs gave out as the transporter took him.

Okay . . . I finally turned out another chapter. Can you believe that this was written before, but my computer deleted it? Darn thing. Anyhoo . . . it's up now and I hope everybody enjoyed it. I know you want more, but at least I didn't leave with Kurama entering the room, which was what I originally had planned on doing. Got the subtitled Chinese version of the movie and found out the Netherworld is Mekai, not Gekai like the Japanese dictionary says. So I'm gonna call it Mekai from now on. I think somebody who reviewed it said that too.

Chapter Nine does not yet exist . . .

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