Flux

By Rose Thorne

A Star Trek: Voyager/YYH crossover

~~STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!!~~

Chapter 12
Kurama woke several hours after he had decided to take his 'quick nap.' The fox blinked. Hiei was also asleep. He stretched, cursing internally. They really had to get a move on. I'm getting sick of waiting for the Meikai to try to kill us . . . It's enough to make anyone crazy. The youko woke his friend. "Hiei . . . Do you think you could program the tricorder things to pick up ki?"

"Hn?" Hiei yawned, looking confused for a few moments. Then he blinked. "I think I could . . . So we can go demon-hunting?" Kurama nodded. Hiei frowned slightly. "Hn . . ."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "It's better then constantly being on the defensive. I doubt they're going to let us recover totally."

Hiei shot him an annoyed look. "I know that. I'm just trying to think of a way to make the tricorders work. We'd also have to program our ki signatures in them so people aren't accidentally going after us."

It was Kurama's turn to frown. "We know each other's ki signatures . . ."

The fire demon chuckled. "I doubt Janeway's going to sit back and watch. We'll probably have some help, whether we want it or not." Hiei got up and stretched, the movement cat-like. "I'll need to record all three of your ki signatures, just in case." The Jaganshi clipped his katana to his double-belt and glanced at Kurama. "You ready to go or not?"

Kurama sighed. "Let me find out where Janeway is . . ."

Hiei glanced at the chronometer. "She's off duty, but I doubt she's sleeping. She's probably in the Mess Hall. Computer, locate Captain Janeway."

Shiori's voice answered. "Captain Janeway is in the Mess Hall."

"I figured. She has an unofficial schedule that she usually follows."

Kurama shook his head. "You're weird . . ."

Hiei snorted. "No. I just have a decent memory."

Kurama mock-glared. "I hope you're not implying . . ."

"Now who's paranoid . . ?" Hiei left their quarters, headed for the turbolift.

"Oh, shut up." Kurama followed his friend, jogging until he caught up. "You're just a nerd in disguise."

Hiei snorted as they entered the turbolift. "Yeah, right."

"Mess Hall." Kurama glanced at the Jaganshi. "Seriously. You know a lot about everything. I've never been good with computers . . ."

"They're simple. I could teach you, if you want."

Kurama smirked. "I doubt it. Last time someone tried to teach me how to use a computer, I ended up crashing the school network and wiping the computer's hard drive on accident."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "That takes talent . . ."

"Shut up, baka. I seem to remember the last time you tried to cook."

The door opened as Hiei began to retort, and the fire demon ducked on instinct as he felt a change in the air. A sword missed him by millimeters. Kurama dragged Hiei from the turbolift, trying to get to a less cramped fighting area. He danced easily around the demon as he pulled out his rose whip with his free hand. The demon swung again, cutting Kurama's shirt but barely scratching his skin. The fox snarled and let go of Hiei, swinging the whip at the demon. "This is a new shirt!" The demon dodged and the whip only left a flesh wound.

"You're narcissistic." Hiei pulled out his katana, leaping at the demon and leaving a deep slash on its chest. "You should be glad it didn't gut you."

"Don't think I'm not . . ." Kurama swung the whip again, managing to leave a very deep gash on the demon's sword arm. It dropped the weapon and Hiei leapt forward to finish it off.

At that moment, Naomi Wildman ran around the corner. She was immediately grabbed by the demon for use as a shield. Hiei moved the sword, stopping his attack. Unfortunately, he was unable to stop his momentum. The fire demon slammed into the demon, who clipped the side of his head with its fist. Hiei went flying into a bulkhead with Naomi, who he had managed to grab in the confusion. Kurama jumped at the demon, punching it and planting a seed as he did so. The demon slashed him across the chest with a dagger that appeared from a hidden sheath. Kurama flipped out of the way as Hiei jumped forward. He winced as the fire demon was easily pummeled into the bulkhead.

The fox jumped back as a red beam struck the demon, immediately disintegrating it. Kurama turned to see Tuvok lowering his phaser. The Vulcan quickly checked Naomi for injuries. Hiei was leaning heavily against a bulkhead. Kurama hurried over to him, concerned. Blood was running down the fire demon from the gash that ran from his right temple to the center of his forehead near his hairline, barely missing the Jagan. "You okay?"

Hiei winced, pulling the demon's dagger from his arm. "I'm worse off then you . . . I seem to be getting the bad end of the battles lately . . ." The fire demon sighed as he wiped blood from his katana and sheathed it. "What was Naomi doing here anyway?"

Naomi looked up, calmer than they would have expected for a child who had just been held hostage, abiet for only a few seconds. "I heard you two talking and I came to say hi . . . I didn't know you were fighting. You guys sounded . . . normal."

Kurama raised his eyebrows, glancing at Hiei. We do tend to hold casual conversations while we're fighting. Comes from training with Yuusuke and Kuwabara, I guess. "Sorry about that. We're used to it. Are you okay, Naomi?"

The girl nodded. "Yes . . . A bit scared. Thank you for getting me away from him, Hiei."

"Hn . . ." Hiei's eyes were closed and he was leaning against the bulkhead again. Kurama frowned. It wasn't like Hiei to display weakness at all, let alone in front of people.

Tuvok seemed to notice Hiei's strange actions as well. "We should get all of you to Sickbay. I'm sure the Doctor will want to check you over."

Hiei frowned. "We need to speak to Captain Janeway . . . I want to see about preventing these attacks rather then having to wait for them to happen."

Tuvok stood his ground. "We can page her from Sickbay. She wanted to be informed about any more attacks anyway."

Hiei shrugged, leaning against the bulkhead with his eyes tightly shut. Kurama knelt beside him. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

"I don't know . . ." Hiei murmured. "Very dizzy . . . Almost like I'm extremely exhausted . . ."

"Sounds like a concussion. Come on . . . We need to get you to Sickbay . . ." Hiei stepped away from the bulkhead, stumbling slightly as he headed toward the turbolift. Kurama steadied him, and the fire demon grabbed onto his arm, silently asking for support. The fox helped him into the turbolift. Naomi and Tuvok entered after them, and Tuvok ordered the 'lift to Sickbay.

As the 'lift began to move, Hiei's knees gave out. Kurama managed to grab him, preventing him from falling to the floor. "Hiei!" The fire demon's hand clenched in Kurama's shirt. "Are you okay?"

"Sorry . . . Can't . . ." Hiei's eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp, unconscious.

I'm getting there. I'm finally back. At least, for a little while. This chapter was written pretty quickly. I also know what I'm doing for the next few, so I should be able to turn them out pretty quickly. I do have to write a research paper by July 9th though, so we'll see what happens.

On to Chapter Two

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