Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction ❯ Kenshin in Space ❯ Just another day... gone wrong... ( Prologue )

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

Warning: this is totally AU and might not make any sense, but once they're in space I have a few ideas.
* Stuff in stars is in English. * Thoughts will be in italics when it is in third person, but a lot of it isn't. : Actions are in colons. : (That's where all the fun is ^.^) I know, bu-dum chhh!
(this fic is based solely on the anime, and the Revenge arc basically has never happened)
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Rurouni Kenshin, it belongs to Watsuki Nobuhiro and some other people like Jump comics and such. I'm not making any money off of this… unfortunately :P.

Chapter 1: Just another day... gone wrong....

This is my day: I wake up, dress, clean, teach and practice, shop, come home, bathe, eat somewhere in there, and sleep. How would a girl like me end up living with two strange men and another guy leeching off me? Kenshin. How did I end up with one of my students calling me a raccoon- and I end up chasing himm around until I am satisfied by beating him to a pulp? Kenshin. Why is there a guy doing my laundry? Kenshin. Why isn't Sano working? Megumi. But why is Megumi here? Kenshin. Okay, maybe that doesn't apply.
I let them flirt, it didn't really matter anymore whether or not Sano worked, he actually didn't hang around as much. Him and Megumi were going out to eat alone nowadays. I could almost hear the wedding bells. I rolled my eyes, who knew that Megumi and Sano would probably get married before Kenshin and I started to even recognize a relationship between us? I growled a little at that. The only way I could get Kenshin to move forward was to practically throw myself at him and I was already doing that as far as I ever would. Did I have to start walking around the Dojo naked? Ah! I blushed, never, never, never, never!
"Oi, Busu, I'm done." Yahiko said to me from the front of the Dojo. I had already calmly thrown the dirty wet rag I was using in his face at the word 'busu'. I stood up. "Good, that makes two of us. As soon as Kenshin finishes we have to do some shopping."
Yahiko had turned red with anger and threw the cloth back at me.
"I'm done as well de gozaru." I ducked the cloth and it hit Kenshin in the face. "Oro?" he said through the cloth. I hadn't meant for it to hit him, really. I've been trying to break my habit of throwing inanimate objects at him.
"Gomen Kenshin, I was trying to hit busu," Yahiko called. I picked up the pail I had the water in and in one throw it emptied and hit Yahiko in the head, all before Kenshin even pulled the cloth off his face. Skills.
I grabbed an unconscious, swirly-eyed Yahiko by the arm and dragged him along. Kenshin sweatdropped but didn't even ask. "Ikuzu, shopping."

I always have believed that buying in bulk was the cheapest way to do things. Somehow Yahiko doesn't get it. He, to this day, believed that me buying in bulk was somehow just a way to further torture the boy. I enjoy torturing him to some extent, but…
"Oi, busu, why am I carrying the most stuff? Make Kenshin carry some." I glared at him silently. I didn't want to force Kenshin into doing strenuous exercise. He was recovering still, at least in my mind.
Kenshin of course, would have gladly carried some, if I had let him, "Kenshin's carrying his share." I glanced at Kenshin, who was carrying nothing but an abundance of radishes and a few other vegetables. It was Kenshin actually, that wanted the radishes. I just told him that if he wanted to get them then we had better buy them in bulk.
But, I was in a good mood that day, so I thought I'd try one of my spur of the moment 'try-to-be-nice-to-the-gaki' antics. I turned to him, smiled, and made the generous proffer to carry something he was by offering a hand. I was much stronger than I looked, and stronger than Yahiko even though he refused to acknowledge that.
Yahiko narrowed his eyes and looked at my hand as if it was a ticking time bomb. He moved the bags further away from me and looked at me suspiciously. "No, there has to be a catch…"
:BONK:
That's what I get for being nice. Yahiko now walked obediently with a lump on his head, and I kept my groceries to myself. Kenshin opened his mouth to say something. I glared at him; he shut it. Kenshin didn't know how to be subtle; he was one of the bluntest guys I knew. I had figured this out after that time when he said he was thinner than me… and that other time he said I had definitely gotten heavier… I found that I had closed my eyes and taken up one tightly curled fist. I went through some breathing exercises that Megumi had suggested and let my fist slowly down. Kenshin had been staring at me in fear.
Lately though, I also noticed that Kenshin had been staring at me when he thought I wasn't looking. I blushed and felt much less angry. I was right, I waited and I was right, Kenshin did like me- that way. He made small moves: a brief touching of hands here, closeness there, and I recorded every second of it in my mind. Then other times it seemed like I alone had feelings for him and I would wait forever.
Still waiting.
I sighed and Kenshin looked at me, "Is something wrong Kaoru-dono?" I smiled at him in return and shook my head. And I would still wait, as long as it took. I could see the time was nearing but I would have waited forever, just to be with him. With his long red hair, and his kind but sad violet eyes. I would wait to call the sweetest man on earth mine… Wait a second... maybe I was exaggerating. Sweetest man on earth? Wait forever? FOREVER? As in, never get him? EVER? I would wait forever just to never be with him… no! He had damn well better come around- or I'd kick his butt!
"Um, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin asked me, he sounded far off.
I picked my head up. I had continued going strait when we had to turn and I wasn't even on the road anymore. I sweatdropped.
"What are you doing?" Kenshin questioned me. I actually didn't know myself. My solution: make something up, "I, uh, thought I heard something…" I looked around, shrugged and jogged back up to them. Out of the corner of Yahiko's mouth he mumbled, "I knew she had a screw loose."
Let's just say we ended up carrying him home, but not before Kenshin stopped to listen and see if he could hear what I had heard even though I think he guessed I hadn't heard anything. He furrowed his brow and emitted a "hm" and then we left in silence, he didn't say anything about whether or not he heard a sound.



Kenshin: doing laundry. Yahiko: cleaning. Sano: doing nothing. Megumi and I: talking. Yup, another typical day. The sky was cloudy, but I liked the breeze and the unique lighting the clouds gave off. I enjoyed the finer things in life. I didn't need adventure and all that to be happy… it just kinda comes to me; but not today. Today was my day to relax, take a bath, talk with Megumi, and take a walk to the Akebeko and talk to Tae… Why were all these things leading to thoughts of Kenshin? They really shouldn't, why didn't I stop thinking about him?
"He may be a dolt, but he can be romantic when he tries," It took me a second to realize Megumi was talking about Sano and not Kenshin. "Or at least he looks cute when he tries." I nodded half-heartedly. "Have you made any progress?" She nodded towards Kenshin.
I sighed. Lately I had been talking to Megumi about this sort of stuff. She seemed much more experienced than me, but I didn't ask for advice, nor did she give it. Me, ask advice from Megumi? Yeah, right… I would never live that down. "Would he be doing laundry right now if I had?"
"……Yes."
That made me angry, "What do you take me for? Some sort of SLAVEMASTER?!"
"……Yes," Megumi, Yahiko and Sano added. I must have said that quite loudly.
"Yahiko! Get back to work! Sano, shut up, you're not doing anything!" I turned back to glare at Megumi while I heard Yahiko muttering the words "busu" and "kill".
Megumi had already started to leave. "I don't have time to hang around such uncouth people anymore," she indicated Sano and I, "I have a job, as a doctor. Ja! Ohohohoho." I closed my eyes to calm myself. I usually didn't hit girls. I had only tried to attack Megumi what, two, three times?
In truth, although she was endlessly arrogant and constantly made fun of me, Megumi was one of my closest friends. Sano was like a brother, and Megumi was like… a sister-in-law… sort of. She was a sister-in-law that I didn't get along with yet was good friends with… I don't know. It was weird. We got along a lot better ever since she gave up on Kenshin and started to lean her favor towards the taller of the two. I believed, in fact I was sure that her feelings had been real for Kenshin and that she still cared deeply for him.
That was okay; neither of us would have gotten anywhere it seemed. I didn't care that much. I was happy being with Kenshin, but someday…. I tried not to think about how lonely I was without someone like Kenshin. I was also strongly affirmed that it was a rule; Kenshin and I were together, without all the benefits. Sano had told me about how he let inquiring minds know I was taken whereas I let inquiring eyes and minds know Kenshin was taken.
No one would make me as happy as Kenshin did, even if we weren't together.
Wow, never underestimate how your life can change in one day. I watched as Megumi left the dojo. Maybe ten seconds later I watched as she walked back in with two men in tow. One of them seemed fairly old, in his forties or fifties. The other was a bit older than me but not by much. The former was average height (taller than Kenshin and I) and had bushy brown and gray hair as well as a mustache. He didn't look at all Japanese although he wore a brown gi and a tan hakama. As he neared I could tell he had rounder brown eyes that were surrounded by lined wrinkles.
The other one was pretty tall. He had very dark, almost black hair that was strait but cut very short and rather spiked. He had kind but sad gray eyes and his features were soft though his face was oval shaped. His gi, I thought, accented his eyes since it was also gray, and his hakama was blue. He didn't look Japanese either. "Sumimasen but can my friend and I speak you the owner of the house please?" The younger one asked. He looked right at me like he already knew who owned the house. I was not put off though.
"We don't want to buy anything thank you." I stepped off the porch and walked towards them. Kenshin looked up from his laundry and I could tell he was being careful. If Kenshin was concerned I should be on my guard as well, I figured.
The younger one laughed but the older one frowned… his mood quickly squished the other's mirth. "We're not here to sell anything, eto…?"
"It's strange to ask a person their name in their own home without introducing yourselves," I said bluntly.
"Ah… Gomen, gomen!" The younger replied nervously. "This is my friend Tackets-san and ore wa Do- iie, Sawyer Dominic desu. In my culture it's okay to do that, I apologize again." I tilted my head and looked at him suspiciously, they had very strange names. I could tell they were western, but what were they doing here? "This beautiful young lady showed us in," he indicated Megumi, who smiled. Sano fumed in the corner.
"Oi, so what's you're business here then?" Sano yelled none too politely.
Megumi saved me the trouble, "Sano! Heel!"
Sano made a sound of disgust, "I ain't no fuckin' dog fox woman!"
"You're a mutt, when you can prove me wrong then argue, silly man."
"I don't need to argue with no fox." Sano crossed his arms.
"You're not worth the time, you mutt."
"Fox."
"Mutt."
"Fox."
"Mutt."
"When did the whole mutt thing start?" Yahiko chipped in, "I always thought he looked like a chicken."
I pictured a rooster strutting around my house and doing nothing in Sano's place. It actually wasn't that different… We all laughed, but I had almost forgotten my guests. The stared in horror as Yahiko and Sano attempted to kill each other, Yahiko was on his head and Sano was pummeling him from below.
After a long staring pause Saya-san burst out laughing. It seemed like he hadn't understood most of that conversation, but what they were doing now was understood universally. The older man gave Saya-san a push and he stopped.
He cleared his throat. "And what is your name? I'm sorry, my Japanese isn't the best."
I came back to what we were doing, "Watashi wa Kamiya Kaoru desu." Kenshin had come to stand next to me. Behind me I heard a crash. If they had wrecked anything I was gonna- I picked up Yahiko's bokken from the porch and headed towards the cloud of dust that was Yahiko and Sano. "YAMETE!"
:WHACK! BONK, BONK, BONK!:
Sano now had one large bump on his head, and Yahiko had three smaller ones… and I, I had peace of mind. I went back to my guests. "Those things are Myoujin Yahiko and Sagara Sanosuke," I said through gritted teeth. "Kenshin, did you introduce yourself?" Kenshin nodded with a smile plastered on his face. I turned around to introduce Megumi but she was already dragging Sano and Yahiko over by the ear.
Saya-san turned to Taketsu-san and said something like, "* I can see the women rule the house more clearly here. *" Then he chuckled, but we stared blankly at him.
He turned back and saw that we didn't understand. "Gomen, I said that women rule the house here, kitto."
:Sweatdrops all around:
"So you're here why?" Sano asked again.
I pushed him to the ground, "Sano, stop being rude!"
"Iyo, it is a fair question. And I am here to answer it, not to not answer it." I almost laughed at his funny wording. I could tell he didn't know the word for 'avoid'.
He looked at me all of a sudden and blurted out a muttering of what sounded like "skushi eggo".* I had no idea what he was speaking now but it was probably improper Japanese. We all looked at him funny. When he realized he had said whatever he was trying to say out loud he became extremely nervous and threatened looking. He took his hands up in a sign of peace and forfeit meanwhile I was still wondering what the hell he had said… ??*.*??
Kenshin broke everyone's stillness by looking up at the sky. "It's gonna rain…" I also looked up and realized he was right. The wind was blowing harder and the clouds had become darker gray. Then all of a sudden Kenshin realized, "The laundry!!!" and ran to go take it down from its drying rack.
I turned to Megumi, "Please show them in before it rains?"
"Yes, yes, silly girl, now go and help your Ken-san's precious laundry," she winked and began to show my guests in. I only stared after her for a second in shock, then turned and walked over to help Kenshin with the laundry.




By the time we had almost finished bringing in the laundry it had begun to rain, and I was already soaked. I was ready to go in and talk to our guests but I caught Kenshin looking at me again. I didn't think he realized that he was doing it.
Another thing I noticed was that Kenshin was soaked. The gi he wore loosely was hanging off him and his bangs were weighed down by rain so that they almost completely covered his eyes. Some of the longer bangs on the sides of his head were plastered to his face and neck as his wet skin showed light muscle tones as he worked quietly on folding laundry in the glimmering light. I stared at him too as I fiddled with the laundry and managed to get out, "Kenshin, you're soaked. You should go change," when our eyes met.
Kenshin looked down and blushed. "You're just as soaked as I am, Kaoru-dono." I looked down at myself and freaked. My gi was almost totally open and the rain had made my wrappings underneath stick closely to my body. I turned red in the face and tried to run away as fast as I could gracefully… I think it looked more like my cheeks were on fire.

Kenshin came into the room where everyone was sitting before Kaoru did. He had tried to ring out his hakama as best he could and changed into his only other gi. Kaoru-taichi* had bought it for him rather randomly not too long ago. They decided he needed the option of a change of clothes. He didn't wear the dark blue gi very often, not because he didn't like it, only because he usually forgot he had it… He was so used to his pink one…
Yahiko had already dried off and sat down. It hadn't taken him as long as Kenshin to dry off because Kenshin and Kaoru had stayed outside the longest. Kaoru came in wearing her yellow kimono and sat to the right of Kenshin. A dim light was lit on her side so that it made her more visible than most.
Sawyer was smiling patiently for them to be ready to begin. He looked at each of the people he was facing from left to right. The smallest one was first, Yahiko was glaring at him suspiciously. Megumi-san and Sanosuke-san were arguing under their breath over whether or not to trust the newcomers.
Kenshin came next, he sat calmly with a nervous expression as he hoped that Sano and Megumi wouldn't knock over anything and start a fire. He also watched Sawyer and Tackets closely. Neither of them wield swords and there's no reason for them to want to hurt us, he reasoned, There is something wrong, but they aren't a threat. Kenshin turned back to Sano and Megumi who were now banging on something every time they insulted one another, THEM however… Kenshin sweatdropped, "Maa, maa."
Sano turned and loomed over Kenshin, "Nani?" He demanded threateningly.
Kenshin laughed nervously and quickly answered, "Nan demo nai!"
Kaoru hit them both over the head, "BAKA!" She turned back to Sawyer and Tackets. "Now, what is it you wanted to speak to us about?" She smiled.
"Ummm," was all Sawyer could manage.
Tackets sighed next to him. He was the blunter of the two and although they had tried to plan out what they were going to say, it all came down to this, "Sawyer-san and I are from the future and we need you're help."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
Cica das chirped.
"Huh?" was all Yahiko said.
Sawyer licked his lips nervously. "Mou, can you be any more blunt?" he asked under his breath.
"Is this some sort of joke?" Sano asked rudely. Kaoru rolled her eyes.
"Joudan janai!" Sawyer yelled passionately everyone backed up a little away from him but Kenshin at his outburst. Kenshin sat there seriously considering what he had said.
"Gomen demo," Kenshin said with a smile, "can you explain it to me de gozaru ka?" Kaoru, Sano, Megumi and Yahiko all looked at him with open mouths and eyes that asked, 'Don't tell me you BELIEVE him?' Kenshin sweatdropped.
Sawyer, on the other hand, smiled broadly. "Arigatouyo for believing me. I can explain if you give me the chance." He looked at each of them individually and in turn each of them settled down a little.
"Go ahead," Sano waved a hand dismissively, "But I ain't stickin' around to hear his bullshit." He began to stand-
-and suddenly he fell on his ass again. Megumi had pulled him down by his ear. "Ita-ta-ta-ta," he said as he rubbed his ear. After a pause the yelling started… "OI! What was that for fox-lady, if I don't want to listen to his crap then I don't have to listen to his crap!!!"
"MORON! Even if he is lying he's still not as crude as YOU ARE!!"
"Says the woman with the FOX EARS SCREAMING!!!"
"Maa maa taritomo…"
"Is this what you do all day?" Sawyer asked Kaoru with amusement. She sweatdropped and started getting angry, how embarrassing!!
"Fine," Megumi answered calmly to who-knows-what, "Let him go if he wants." She crossed her arms and looked away smugly.
Sano stood, faced the other direction and did the same, "I'll leave you to have fun with the strange men."
"ORO?!" Likewise, Megumi turned blue. Sawyer, Kaoru and Yahiko's eyes grew big and round. Megumi grabbed the nearest throwable thing and chucked it at Sano's head, "DIRTY MAN!"
That nearest thing was not Yahiko… but the light…
The room went dark except for the lightning outside… and oh, yeah, Sano's hair.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
"Eep! Gomen!" Megumi realized that she had gone overboard while Sano ran around screaming.
"Hayaku! Get him water!" Kaoru yelled at Yahiko.
Yahiko happily complied… by tripping Sano outside and closing the shouji behind him. "Hai!" he said with a grin.
At first Sano was too relieved to care what had happened. He felt his hair sizzling in the rain. But then… "Oi!!! Ano gaki! You locked me out in the rain!" He pounded on the shouji.
Inside Kenshin had been trying to convince Yahiko to open the door and it finally worked. A very wet, very pissed Sano stormed into the room and say back down with a thud.
There was a moment of silence before Megumi held up a finger and said tartly, " I guess you don't want to go home after all."
Sanosuke turned to her very slowly and gave her only the slightest smirk that only she would notice, "Sadist."
She tried hard not to laugh. It was his way of forgiving her for setting his hair on fire. In return fox ears popped out of the top of her head, "Ohohohoho."
To everyone else in the room, the exchange just seemed weird. Kaoru shook her head, "So as you were saying?"
Sawyer smiled again. "Yes, um… We're from the future because we need your help," he said to Kaoru. Before she could ask he continued, "In the future… actually, about 1200 years in the future humans discover a way to travel through space to other *solar systems*…" he stopped when he saw the blank look on their faces. "Nanda?"
Kaoru tilted her head, "Sola-"
"-Shish'tems?" Yahiko finished.
Sawyer sweatdropped. "Uh, gomen. For example, our solar system is the sun, and the other planets: *Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn…* etcetera." This time they exchanged glances and nodded. Sawyer sighed and continued, "We went traveling very far distances and found several new races of beings." He turned to Tackets, "*Should I explain the sectors?*"
Tackets looked at him like even he didn't know what Sawyer was talking about.
Sawyer glared at his stoic partner, "*The trade routes!!* Mou!" He murmured, "*If even you don't get it I'll just skip it…*"
"*You like telling history too much,*" was all Tackets said.
"You guys are strangers," Yahiko said, "If you're going to try and make us do something for you then you should talk so that we can understand you."
Sawyer's smile faded for only a second, "Sou ka… Anyway, Humans decided to explore parts of our galaxy, (there are many solar systems in a galaxy) and we discovered something horrible. On the outskirts of the discovered sectors… um, parts of the galaxy we discovered, a planet that had been devastated by something. There were few living animals and no intelligent life. There were things wrong with the soil that wouldn't allow living things. The planet was dying… So we set up a *space station* in space to monitor the planet, which we named *End*, and watched it.
"What we found was that the planet had been brutally attacked by an energy we couldn't name. Now we know what it was. It was life energy," Sawyer spoke slowly and clearly, as if he had rehearsed the speech and he used vocabulary that usually he wasn't capable of. "We traced the paths of energy across a very far distance and came to a second planet that had the same patterns but also had intelligent life living on it. We tried to contact them and ask about what happened but as soon as they got our message they sent out warships and destroyed every human craft there.
"Now all we know is that they have been sending out many battleships to hunt and kill any humans they can for no reason. Actually, we also know that the beings, *Enders* are what we call them, are made of the same energy found on End. What is making them so dangerous is the fact that they are made of that energy, which we can use but cannot touch. They can attack us but we cannot attack them.
"That is where you come in," he said, looking directly at Kaoru. Kaoru gave him a questioning look. Me? Why me? She thought. As if he had heard her, Sawyer continued, "Only their own type of energy can defeat them. They are a race that are born naturally making what we call 'life energy' while only one in about every five or six billion humans have this ability. You," he pointed to Kaoru, "are one of them!"
"Nani?!" Kaoru fell over because of the dramatic conviction.
"Oro?" Kenshin just looked kinda confused.
"Yeah right…" was Sano's answer. Megumi and Yahiko looked at Sawyer skeptically.
"Matte," Kenshin asked, "If this is true… then why would you need someone from the past de gozaruka?"
Kaoru sat up from the floor, "Aa, and how did you get here?"
Sawyer smiled yet again, but this time there was a hint of sadness. "I'm born from the year 2056," he looked like he was recalling something, "Maybe that's why they chose me to come for our last hope…" he was lucky he got all of those thoughts out in Japanese. "But, the reason is that in the future, there are no reachable *adepts* left."
"Adep'su?" Megumi asked.
"Someone who is able to make life energy. If we wait for adepts to appear in the future we'll be too late to save the human race from destruction. So we used life energy to go back in time and gather adepts. Since there is no end to history, there is no end to adepts in the past."
"Demo, why Kaoru? Couldn't you use someone more useful, smarter and prettier?" Yahiko asked.
"Yahiko, when this is over, I'll kill you." Kaoru stated so seriously that Kenshin glanced at her in fear with the rest of the room. She then turned calmly back to Sawyer, "So how did you get here?" she asked skeptically.
Sawyer frowned, "Gomen, this is going to be bad speech because I didn't practice to answer." He cleared his throat. "As an example: you have point *A* in time, and you have point *B* in time," he held up his right, and then left hands. "Just like with space, all time exists all the time, so everything is really happening at the same time… *did that make sense?*" he asked Tackets.
"*No.*" Tackets stared at him.
"*You're no help,*" Sawyer mumbled to himself, "*I'll have to clear this up later… with Roxy.*" He lifted his head back to look at the others. It was so frustrating for him to not be able to say what he was thinking without being comprehendible. "Um, so as long as nothing is in the way… we can use a time machine to bring *A* and *B* together," he brought the tips of his fingers together. "There are problems with this. We can only reach certain times because of *time warps*." He realized what he had said and sweatdropped. This is so frustrating!
"What's a-"
He waved his arms frantically, "A time warp is… a… it- I- um," he paused and thought. "It- you go in it, and come out where you don't want to be. It a time messyupythingy." He smacked his hand against his forehead to resorting to slang. ARG! I screwed up again!
"Mesa api tingi?" Kaoru asked slowly, a smile creeping at the corner of her mouth.
"Matte!!" He thought frantically. "If, in between ei and bi, there's time warp ei, then that will take you into it and make you go to time warp bi, even if that means you skip past or don't reach time bi at all. Do you understand?"
-_- "…"
"So, we can only reach times by coordinating time warps. There's a time warp that leads to this time about a month ago, and that's how we got here. We've been here for a month, watching you and learning Japanese, and getting ready for this day-"
"Well THIS is creepy and familiar," Yahiko glared at Sawyer with a vengeance, remembering the time Saitou was saying things about past battles Kenshin had had up to about Jin-e. He knew all this weird stuff about time couldn't end up with something good.
Sawyer glanced at the small kid -Yahiko?- and shrugged at his reaction. "The way time travel works is that when we head back, it will leave us a little more than one month after we started. That's why I must ask you to hurry in making your choice."
Sano chuckled, "You're asking her to go with you? Yeah right, this is all a load of shit and I don't know why you want Jo-chan but ya' can't have her."
"It's not a lie!! We can prove it to you, you think we would come here without proof?" He started to pull something out from his gi quickly when Kenshin reached for his sword, Sano stood up and everyone else moved back. Sawyer stopped immediately and put his hands up. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm only going to pull out my evidence."
Slowly Sawyer entered his hand back into his gi and pulled out a flat board of about the size of a notebook with a black screen taking up the majority of space and six buttons lined up under it. He placed the object face up between Tackets and himself and Kenshin-gumi. Kaoru could hear that he let out a shaky breath before continuing. "Please don't be… scared (I don't have a better word) of this. It's a picture of the ship that we came in but it's *holographic*… so…" he pressed the button and immediately light shot out from the black screen that lit up the room to a certain degree. Sawyer turned the plate around and pushed it towards Kaoru.
Sano, Kenshin, Megumi and Yahiko all decided to look over Kaoru's shoulder as she held up the plate so that at a different angle one could actually see something than a floating light on a black screen. (It's like how you can't see an lcd screen at certain angles.)
They all gasped in unison. As they looked into a seemingly flat piece of plastic the picture that shown inside was like looking into a window and seeing another world on the other side. Within the screen there was a stationary picture… or hologram fully in color of a space ship. It had a simply gray metal covering and a black window across the front. The shape was like a slightly elongated bullet that had fins. Kaoru tilted the slate and inside the view of the ship shifted the slightest bit. Around the ship was an array of stars across dense black space.
Megumi touched the screen with a nail in order to assure herself that the object in Kaoru's hand did in fact have a screen that was somehow projecting a three dimensional image on the inside. "Cool…" Yahiko said.
Kaoru lifted her head, "What is this?"
Sanosuke backed away with panic and anger, "It's that thing! Voodoo! These people are dangerous warlocks! Leave or-"
"Maa, maa…" Kenshin sweatdropped and tried to calm Sano, but was nonplussed himself. After some more ranting Sano stood off to the side with his arms crossed defiantly. Kenshin turned back to the strangers with a serious expression. "…" He had tried to say something but failed to think of what he wanted to ask first, Are you being serious? What is that, and how does it work? then he started questioning the fact that they were sane because they weren't well it they thought they were from the future. However, there was the matter of the unexplained slate. Just then, something occurred to Kenshin, "Is this… a trick of light de gozaru?" He waved a hand over the top of the slate. True there were no candles or mirrors or anything and no candles could fit inside the slate but that was his only plausible explanation.
Sawyer shook his head, "This is no trick. This is a *holographic picture*. It comes from the future. Would you like me to try to explain?" Sano looked over to the group from a dark corner. He listened but said nothing and didn't move.
"Please do," Kenshin said with his blunt polite tone.
Sawyer shifted in the way he was sitting. They had all been talking for quite some time. "Light comes in different rays. Some see through people. The machine that takes the holographic picture or *holopic* takes several layers of scans through what the picture is and keeps the information… um," he faltered and had to think his way around what he was saying, "there are the same things in the holopic that show what they saw but in a smaller size."
Megumi relieved Kaoru of the slate and held it with two fingers so it faced Sawyer upside down, "So this is your proof?" Kaoru glared.
Sawyer finally had a bit of time to think back to what he had spent a month preparing and got back on track with his rehearsed speech. "In a sense… The actual proof if you need more is the ship itself." here was a long pause.
"You mean," Yahiko began, "that you have this ship?"
"Aa."
"To show us?"
"Mmhm."
"This is real?"
"Hai."
"Cool!"
Kaoru put a restraining hand on Yahiko's head and narrowed her eyes. "So you're serious?"
"I'm dead serious."
"Oi, fox. I think you should check this guy for delirium," Sano finally said. Kaoru and Megumi turned chibi and put their hands on Sawyer's forehead. There was a comic pause but then Sawyer reached up and grabbed the girls' hands gently to pull them down.
"After all this you still don't believe me?"
"No-" Sano of course.
"Um…" Yahiko.
"I'm not sure…" Kaoru.
Megumi just reached up for his forehead again to make a point. Kaoru turned to her own deciding factor between yes and no- Kenshin. His opinion meant a lot to her about this. "Kenshin?"
Kenshin smiled weakly but seemed troubled by something. "They have made a good case-"
"It's witchcraft!"
"-and I personally think that you are just quite mistaken and may indeed need mental help de gozaruyo. Shikashi, I see no harm in going to see your 'evidence' and I admit I'm very curious. I don't know where you got these things but I have a feeling we should find out."
Kaoru smiled fondly and started to stand. "I'll agree with Kenshin. But we can't go out to wherever into the rain tonight… rather tomorrow would be better." She started to walk out of the room but turned around to finish. "I'll bring everyone tea, Sano- you must be cold. Even though I still think you're crazy everyone is welcome to stay the night." She winked and walked out.
Megumi remembered her manners and stood up, "I'll help you Kaoru-chan." She followed the former into the kitchen.


I always appreciate comments, and it's a good idea to give me feedback/encouragement so i write faster ^.^ . Email me at BCancelino@aol.com ^.^
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