Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Flux ❯ Chapter 7

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 7
Neelix and Naomi eventually showed Hiei to Astrometrics, where Kurama and two others were waiting. One was a man with darker skin and pointed ears. The other was a woman that seemed to be human except for the metallic attachments on her face. The woman spoke. "You are late."

Hiei raised an eyebrow. "Two minutes."

Naomi smiled up at the woman, who seemed to almost soften a bit. "We were giving him a tour of the ship, Seven."

Seven shifted slightly. "Fine. I shall see you tomorrow at 0900 to check up on your studies."

The girl nodded. "Affirmative, Seven." Naomi saluted and walked out.

Neelix smiled. "Good luck." He smiled at Hiei slightly. "Feel free to come by any time. I'll have to go make some more of that sweet snow." The man smiled around the room, then left.

Hiei was aware of Kurama staring at him, but ignored it. Seven turned to him. "The Captain informed us of the situation. What needs to be done?"

Hiei nodded slightly, still ignoring Kurama's astonished glances in his direction. "The only thing I can think of is integrating a program into the shields to give them a sort of ward effect." Seeing Seven's slightly confused look, he elaborated. "Wards are specifically made to keep anyone with ki from getting in."

The man with the pointed ears looked intrigued. "How would you do that?"

The fire demon shrugged. "We use incantations and written spells on the wards, but if we could program an incantation into the shields, it might work."

The man frowned. "It sounds very much like the magic that Humans believed in centuries ago."

Kurama spoke up. "That's because many would consider it a form of magic, Tuvok. However, the power of our enemies is not because of technology. There is something else involved, though I'm not exactly sure how to explain what ki is."

Hiei sighed. "The most rudementary way I can think of is for you to think of ki as life force. Some creatures are born with the ability to use that life force and to gain more." He pulled up his shirt sleeve, revealing the ward that was wrapped around his arm. "This is a ward." He began unravelling it slowly, revealing just the head of the dragon. "It keeps the dragon on my arm to prevent it from escaping." He rewarded the dragon and showed them the writing on the ward. "This is the incantation. It is written in an ancient Makai language."

Seven and Tuvok both blinked at the symbols on the bandages. "What does it say?" Tuvok finally asked, curious.

Kurama chuckled. "Essentially 'Bad dragon, bad dragon, stay.' [1] It doesn't take much usually. We might be able to get away with "Go away Gekai" or something simple like that."

Hiei sighed. "Knowing Koenma, he's still sending evil human souls to space, so we might have power-infused human souls to deal with. Possession is pretty simple for them sometimes. It would be difficult to ward against that, and if a possessed crew member got ahold of one of those things you shot us with earlier, it might be a problem. Maybe something like 'All those who have the motive of killing or hurting anyone on this ship or destroying this ship go away,' as well as a simple 'all ki attacks against this ship and/or its inhabitants are useless' incantation."

Kurama nodded slowly. "That pretty much takes care of it."

Seven nodded shortly. "We would have to put a similar incantation in the shuttlecrafts' shields as well. We had best get to work."

Kurama sighed. "I'm afraid that this technology is unfamiliar to me, so I'm pretty much useless when it comes to this. Hiei has been studying the schematrics of this ships pretty much since we got here."

Tuvok stared at Hiei for a moment. "Those schematrics are classified. Guests should not be allowed to access them."

"Oh, please. I hacked into the Pentagon before. Once I understood the technology, this ship's computer securities were simple." Hiei crossed his arms over his chest. "It works out better this way anyway. The sooner we alter the shields, the sooner we'll all be safe."

Seven frowned, but nodded. "He is correct. We will deal with it later. I would much rather secure the ship first." She walked to one of the computers and began working immediately. Tuvok and Hiei did the same.

Kurama sighed. "Do you need me anymore?"

The three didn't even look up. Tuvok answered. "Negative."

"Fine. I'll go get myself some 'sweet snow' and start working on those plants the Captain asked me to grow."

Hiei looked up. "How do I get in the room?"

The fox grinned. "It's voiceprint. You'll have to find me." Hiei snorted softly and returned to what he was doing. Kurama chuckled and left, headed toward the Mess Hall.

After about two hours, Hiei completed the coding for the wards, sending it over to Tuvok and Seven for them to integrate it into the shield harmonics. He watched as they began the ten-minute process. Suddenly he felt a ki signiture. His katana was immediately in his hand. "K'so! We have company!"

"Tuvok to Security. Intruder alert. Astrometrics."

"Get those shields adjusted. I can handle one, but more may be a problem." Hiei paled as he felt another ki signiture. "K'so..." Where the hell is Kurama..? Immediately, Hiei realized that Kurama was either in the same situation or he was on his way.

Three Gekai minions popped into existance in a semicircle around him. Hiei immediately attacked the closest one, missing it by nanometers as it dodged. He moved back to where he had been as he dodged a shuriken, wincing as it grazed his side. He moved quickly in a move meant to disembowel the demon on the right, but the demon dodged and it ended up being only a deep slice. These are minnions?! He surrounded his sword with fire and slashed at the demon on the left. It dodged, but was burned by the fire. Hiei dodged a sword, then was immediately forced to try to dodge a sickle. He cursed as the sickle slashed the side of his leg, then rushed forward and swung at the middle attacker again. This time he scored a hit, disemboweling the demon.

Hiei landed on his injured leg, and stumbled slightly. In the nanosecond of vulnerability, the other two attacked, easily pinning him up against the bulkhead. The katana was knocked from his grip as one of the demons grabbed his throat and began to squeeze. The fire demon struggled wildly, trying desperately to break the demon's grip. The demon punched him in the solar plexis, forcing all the air from his lungs. The Jaganshi gasped for air, trying to pry the demon's hand from his throat. A phaser blast hit the demon, but it had no affect.

Hiei's eyes widened as the other demon grabbed his arm and bit it. The fire demon let out a weak cry of shock as he realized what was happening. The demon was a Gekai gaki. Hiei's vision swam then went dark.

Kurama raced down the hall in the direction of the ki signitures. K'so! I should have known they would take action! Finally he reached Astrometrics and ran in, immediately taking in the situation. Hiei was pinned to the wall by the throat by one demon while the other demon had latched onto his arm. Seven and Tuvok were shooting at the creatures with phasers. "Rose Whip!" The fox's thorned whip slashed throught the creature that had Hiei's arm.

The other demon let the fire demon go. Hiei stood there for a moment, supported by the wall, then fell over like a puppet with its strings cut. Hiei! Inari. . . . Don't let him be dead. . . . The fox slashed at his opponent with the rose whip, growling as the demon dodged and launched itself at him. He grew a grass blade and easily slew the creature, then ran to Hiei's side. "Hiei?! Are you okay." He sighed in relief as he saw that his friend was still breathing. "Hiei . . ." He gently shook the boy's shoulder.

Hiei's eyes opened slightly, but they were very unfocused. He was breathing in short, weak gasps. "K'rma . . . Gekai . . . gaki. . . . Can't breathe. . . ." The Jaganshi passed out.

Kurama's eyes widened in shock. No. . . . He turned to see Tuvok and Seven standing behind him. "We have to get him to Sickbay!"

Seven nodded and pressed the emblem on her chest. "Seven to Sickbay. Emergency transport for one." Kurama glared at her meaningfully and she sighed. "Make that two." Kurama and Hiei were immediately transported away as the Security team showed up[2].

The fox stood beside the examining table as the doctor moved in to check on Hiei. The hologram ran a scanner over the fire demon, then frowned. "I don't understand it. He seems fine except for the cuts, but his body is shutting down!"

Kurama was well aware of that. His ki is fading! "He needs blood."

"Well, we can get him a transfusion. . . ." the doctor commented.

"No. Not that kind of blood. Hiei, when like this, becomes slightly vampiric. He needs to drink blood, but it can't be human blood. I'll have to give him my blood."

The doctor frowned. "But you're human. . . ."

Kurama smiled mirthlessly. "Looks can be deceiving, doctor." Janeway walked in just in time to see Kurama grow taller and paler, sprouting a tail and ears as his hair bled from red to silver. "This is my true form. I am a youkai. In this form, I can give Hiei blood."

Janeway and the doctor watched in facination as Kurama sat on the examination table, pulling Hiei into his lap. The fox used a nail to break the skin near a vein in his wrist then put his arm to Hiei's mouth. The fire demon immediately latched on.

The captain frowned. "What the hell is going on?!"

"I'm not exactly sure, Captain," the doctor murmured as he took out a tricorder and began scanning the two youkai.

Kurama sighed. "Hiei was bitten by a Gekai gaki. Youkai gaki crave blood, like vampires. Gekai gaki crave rei, which is the lifeforce that youkai have in their blood. If I hadn't killed the gaki when I did, Hiei would not have survived long enough for me to give him some of my rei." He chuckled softly as he saw Janeway looking at his ears. "This is my true form. I am a kitsune youko. I was fatally injured by a hunter eighteen years ago--eighteen years before we were transported here--and I merged with a human in a woman's womb to keep myself from dying. I'm actually centuries old." The fox spirit absently ran his long fingers through Hiei's hair, smiling as the little demon bagan to purr softly.

Tuvok and Seven entered sickbay. Janeway turned her attention to them. "Did you get the shields altered and up?"

"Yes, Captain."

Kurama sighed in relief. "At least we don't have to worry about that anymore. As long as those shields are up we're safe."

Tuvok and Seven both blinked in surprise at Kurama, who just grinned. Janeway smiled. "Apparently our guests are very interesting people."

Kurama chuckled. "This is another of my forms."

Seven cocked her head. "Another? There are more?"

The youko nodded. "One other, but I can't show you that one until Hiei is done." On cue, the fire demon disengaged his fangs. Kurama stood up, gently placing his friend on the table, where he immediately curled into a compact little ball. The fox turned to his audience and grinned, then melted into a little five-tailed silver fox. The fox grinned at them, his tongue lolling, then leapt up onto the examining table.

Janeway reached forward, stopping inches from touching him. "May I?"

::Of course.:: Janeway blinked. ::Ah, yes. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I'm slightly telepathic in my youkai forms.:: The fox, amazingly, seemed to be chuckling.

Janeway ran her fingers through the fox's fur once. "Possibly."

Kurama changed back to his human form as the doctor came over. He smiled as the hologram ran a device over the wound on his wrist, healing it. "Humans have certainly advanced . . ." He watched as the doctor did the same with Hiei's wounds, then sighed. "I'm going to take him back to our quarters so I can watch over him, if that's okay with you Doctor."

The Doctor smiled. "That's fine, but have him rest. He probably needs it."

Kurama nodded and lifted his friend into his arms, wincing slightly as Hiei grabbed a stray lock of hair. "At least we got the shields up so we don't have to worry anymore."

Finally! A new chapter! Man do I have some plans for this!

Authors notes:
[1] That came from a fic called Forbidden Love. Unfortunately, I don't know who was the author.

[2] While the fight scene took a few paragraphs to describe, it only lasted about a minute. That's why Security seemed so slow in getting there.