Flux

By Rose Thorne

A Star Trek: Voyager/YYH crossover

~~STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!~~

Chapter 9
Kurama woke with a start, sitting up quickly. "Hiei." He glanced around Sickbay, relaxing when he saw Hiei curled up on one of the tables. The Doctor was in the adjacent room speaking to Captain Janeway and a blonde man that the fox didn't recognize. Kurama slid off the table and walked to Hiei. The fire demon was clothed in a black sweatshirt and sweatpants. The redhead blinked as he saw that Hiei was curled around something. A closer look revealed that it was a teddy bear.

"Naomi Wildman stopped by and left the teddy bear for your friend." Kurama whirled as he heard the unfamiliar voice, dropping into a defensive position. He relaxed as he saw that it was the blonde man he had seen the Doctor speaking to. The man smiled. "Sorry about that. I should learn not to startle people. I think I frightened your friend when I was helping the Doctor, because he bit me." The man shrugged. "I'm Tom Paris."

Kurama nodded, remembering that Neelix had mentioned the name. Then he started. "Is Neelix okay?"

Tom smiled an nodded. "He's fine. A bit shaken up, but okay. He went to his quarters." Kurama sighed in relief. "Captain Janeway filled me in on what's going on. You guys are really from 20th Century Earth?" Kurama nodded. "That's awesome! I love 20th Century cars. Televisions are great too." Tom was grinning like a maniac, and Kurama couldn't help but smile at him. "Maybe you could tell me about it sometime?"

"I would be happy to," Kurama replied, grinning at Tom's enthusiasm. The fox glanced toward Hiei as said demon made a small noise in his sleep. "Could I take Hiei back to our quarters?"

Tom immediately sobered. "Sure, but I think the Doctor will want to talk to him later, considering what happened. While you guys were here, Seven and Tuvok took care of cleaning up the mess in your quarters."

Kurama smiled weakly and nodded. "I understand. Thank you." The redhead turned to his friend and gently Felt him with his ki. Hiei's breath caught and his eyes opened slightly. Kurama smiled at his friend. "Hey. I'm going to take you back to our quarters, okay?" Hiei nodded slightly, closing his eyes as Kurama lifted him into his arms. One of the youkai's hands grabbed a lock of Kurama's hair, while the other clutched at the stuffed bear. Kurama frowned slightly as Hiei buried his face in his green tunic.

Tom noticed the frown. "What's wrong?"

The fox sighed softly as Hiei's grip on his hair loosened a bit, showing that the fire demon had fallen back to sleep. "Hiei is never like this. This attack must have really shaken him up." Kurama sighed again. "But it's understandable, with what almost happened to him. I wa - would probably feel the same way if I were him." The redhead bowed slightly. "Thank you very much for helping him."

Paris nodded, smiling. "Anytime. See you guys later."

"Hai." Kurama left Sickbay.

As the door closed behind him, Tom Paris deflated. "I hate doctor-patient confidentiality sometimes, y'know Doc?"

The Doctor sighed from the doorway to his office. "Hiei didn't want him to know, Mr. Paris. Otherwise Kurama would have already known."

"I know . . . It's just that it feels like they're kindrid spirits. Lying about that felt . . . wrong."

"You didn't really lie. You just let him believe what he wanted." The Doctor held a hand up as Tom started to protest. "But I know what you mean." He sighed. "Kurama is much older than Hiei, but when you look at their eyes . . . they look just as old. From what the tricorder indicated, Hiei is only an eighth as old as Kurama. And Kurama is pretty ancient. Hiei must have gone through quite a lot in his life . . ."

Tom sighed. "There's a lot we don't know about those two . . ."

The Doctor nodded. "We may never know everything about them. We don't have any files on them, so it really depends on what they want us to know." He sighed. "It's not our business, either."

* * *

Kurama gently tucked Hiei into bed, smiling softly as the Jaganshi curled into a ball around the teddy bear. "Sleep well, Hiei." Kurama gently brushed his friend's hair from his face, then replicated himself some dinner. After eating, he curled up in a comfortable chair near the bed, set an alarm with his youki, and fell asleep.

Okay. I know this was short. I know you want more. I wrote this during WORK on scraps of paper. I had 8 little yellow scraps of paper from old menus, and I wrote the fic on the back of them, and I just threw them in the trash since this wonderful thing is all typed and coded and ready to go. Be happy. I have plans for the next chapter, but this week is finals week, so I'm going to be busy studying, working, and packing up my crap to go home for the summer so I can take classes at the community college.