Disclaimer: CLAMP owns X and Tokyo Babylon. Various other people own the products and non-CLAMP characters or elements mentioned. I own all original characters.
Warning: This is a AU-divergence fic with a lot of original characters. Kamui is really OOC but for a good reason. This chapter is rated PG as there is no angst or violence. Rating might change.
"I might have found us a job." Arowyn Dinaca declared softly as she crossed the deck to lean on the railing beside me.
"Oh?" I replied, leaning forward slightly. I took a sip of my iced tea and dropped my personal shields enough to let the cool ocean breeze ruffle my hair. I mentally noted the fact that it was starting to get pretty long, almost reaching my shoulders. I kind of liked it that way though- even though certain members of my crew called it 'cute'.
"Yes." Arow said with a slight nod, as she too downgraded her personal shields a level to let the breeze in. Not that either of us really needed any shielding while aboard the Wind of the Stars, not with the amount of protection inured in her make-up, but in our line of work it was always best to be careful. Besides, it wouldn't do for us to forget to put out shields back up if we had to leave the Wind's protections in an emergency. That could get us killed.
I was mildly surprised that Arowyn had found us a job so quickly. The Wind and her crew, which consisted of myself, Arowyn, and three others, had only just landed on this island the day before. I wondered if this meant that our reputation was actually working for us for once. I was really getting sick of people running away screaming whenever we docked in a port. It wasn't our fault that places tended to fall apart shortly after we left them. And, despite what everyone said, there had never been any casualties in any of these accidents.
"So are you going to tell me anything about this job? Like the pay for instance?" I smiled slightly at the far away look in my friend's eyes and wondered just what she was doing.
Like the rest of the crew of the Wind, including myself, Arowyn was blessed with special 'gifts'. In her particular case these gifts were Telempathy and the ability to control the element of water. In addition to this she had an excellent sense of navigation; which, combined with her water-magic, made her the perfect person to actually pilot the Wind. Also, her empathy was a welcome asset in a negotiator and thus she was almost always on the job-scouting team.
"It's rather unusual," Arow admitted at last, breaking me out my thoughts.
For a moment I couldn't recall just what she was talking about but then I remembered; the job. I cursed myself for my lapse then decided it was the tropical weather's fault; it made a person instinctively assume they were on vacation even when their conscious mind knew they weren't. "How so? Do you think this might be some sort of trap?"
She shook her head. "Not a trap... the woman doesn't even know us by our reputation. She was actually referenced to us by one of the few clients we've had that didn't care about the property damage. " At this she grimaced slightly. "We really are going to have to do something about that..."
I nodded. "I'm working on it... what we really need to do is manage to finish a job without the property damage. If that's even possible.... Anyway that's besides the point here. What's so strange about the job- and what is the job?"
Arowyn frowned slightly. "Well, first of all, it's not the usual find some ancient relic from beyond time and space type of thing. It actually seems to be a missing person case."
I blinked. "Missing person? That's not usually the type of thing that we get called in for... what's the catch?"
Arow smirked. " The catch is that the client doesn't have any idea where this person is, or even what he looks like. Apparently he went missing about six or seven years ago and no one's bothered to look for him until now. That's really all the woman would tell me- she said she'll only give the full details to our 'leader'- meaning you, our dear esteemed captain-"
She paused to smirk mischievously at me and I grimaced. I was the captain of the Wind but I've never really cared for the formal title. I've never really cared for any type of formalities; they were too... orderly. Having a chaos-mage as an adopted parent did wonders for a person's sense of order... or lack thereof, but I liked to think that I was fairly good at it. Besides, the titles were only really used as a joke of sorts; all of us had a formal title for what we did aboard the Wind. I was captain for the dual reasons of being leader of our group and having taken a few leadership classes a few years ago when we got our school stuck in a groundhog-day style time loop.
I smiled slightly at that particular memory.... The timeloop incident was the main reason most of us were out here rather than in school somewhere. Living the same year over and over again for who knows how long was certainly an interesting way to graduate high-school and university, learn all sorts of miscellaneous things you wouldn't have learned otherwise, and get most of your biggest mistakes over with without much lasting damage. It was also rather fun to tell people that you were really about three times older than you looked.
Arowyn continued, "- if we decide to accept the job."
I stepped back slightly from the railing and put my iced-tea aside. "She'll only give the actual details to me? That sucks. I wonder who this person she wants to find is... did she even mention a name?"
Arow shook her head. "No... she was extremely sparing on the details. Lucca said that he thinks that whoever this guy is he's really important- but I can't imagine why no one has tried to find him before now... like I said, it's a really strange case."
"I see... Lucca was at the meeting with you?"
As our eldest crew member, Lucca Arcadia was sort of like an elder brother to the lot of us, or a parent maybe. Despite his age (which he claimed was 27 but probably had a 2 or a 3 hundred before that considering the fact that he was an elf) he wasn't much taller or physically stronger than me, but he made up for it by being a rather powerful battle-mage and a damn useful person to have around in a melee fight. His latent, but extremely useful when working, psychic abilities were also a plus. He'd originally been sent to watch over the lot of us, after the timeloop incident and our newfound independence. Officially he was acting as guardian in lea of our families, but had long since become just one of the crew. As self-proclaimed 'chief of security', it wasn't really all that surprising that he would accompany Arowyn into what may have been a trap.
"Yeah, he's checking on the others right now but he said he wants to talk to you later. He was awfully quiet during the interview... I'm not sure but I think he might have 'gotten' something out of it that I didn't."
I nodded, a serious expression gracing my face for a minute. If Lucca had 'gotten' something from the meeting it probably meant that the subject of the job was even more important than I had previously thought. Lucca's power seldom kicked in unless it was really important.
Nevertheless, I didn't really like having to decide whether or not to take a job like this without full information beforehand. However, I could understand why the client wouldn't want to give details out to people who might decide not to even accept the job. Even though the person the client wanted found had been missing for quite a few years, it was possible that they didn't want anyone to know that the person was missing. Maybe the person hadn't been important before but was now- like an heir to a vast fortune or maybe an island kingdom.
Furthermore, the client might not even want to hire us after she met me. Although I'm the leader of our group, I'm also the youngest member: being only 15 or maybe 16. This didn't normally mean a thing, especially since if you counted the timeloop incident I was probably around thirty. In addition, I'd proven time and again that I'm competent, dedicated, and a good leader; but sometimes none of that mattered to a client. That was another reason why it was usually Arowyn and one of the others who got our jobs. Even though only Lucca was actually legally adult, most of the others at least looked old enough to be what they claimed. I, on the other hand, have been cursed with short stature and- dare I say it- a somewhat fragile physical appearance. There really is nothing worse than random people off the street commenting how cute 'she' is. I don't think I look like a girl but.... Bleh. I'd blame it on genetics if I had any idea who my parents are... or were.
In any case, whoever had recommended us to this client had surely mentioned the fact that only one of us was actually over twenty. Therefor I only really had to decide whether or not to take the job.
"Could you get the crew together?" I asked Arowyn, looking up from my thoughts. "I think we're going to have to vote on this."
She nodded, blue eyes sparkling. "Aye captain. I think they're all at that hardware shop on the other side of the docks..." she smirked, "so as long as Darvin hasn't decided to 'reconfigure' something I should be able to get them here in about thirty minutes."
With that she turned and debarked the ship with a few graceful strides, her short blonde hair flying wildly in the wind before she reestablished full shields. It wasn't until about five minutes latter that I realized that I'd forgotten to find out how much the client was offering. "Oi. That was stupid of me... I'll have to ask her when she gets back. No way we can accept a mission for cheap- not with all our damage expenses at least."
***
An hour latter the five of us were gathered together in the 'mess hall' of the Wind. As it had turned out, our 'chief engineer' Darvin Winters had been in the middle of modifying some random piece of hardware in the shop they'd been visiting. Apparently the shop's owner was delighted, but Lucca, Arowyn, and our 'chief medical officer,' Jessena Locke, had been bored to tears. I know for a fact that the only reason they'd stayed with Darvin is because he has a slight... er, problem involving the unlawful acquisition of items. Not that he tries to steal things so much as the fact that one of his 'gifts' is teleportation and he has very little control over it unless he's concentrating. Normally that isn't a problem, but when he gets involved with anything mechanical he tends to forget everything else. Thankfully we've modified the shields on the Wind to prevent this while he's onboard but... well the last thing we need is have the word 'thieves' added onto the list of 'destructive', 'chaotic', and 'just plain scary'. None of which are true- purposely at least- but as Jess said: "At least it isn't 'just plain scary looking.'"
"So what's so important about this job that you needed to ask the lot of us about it first?" asked Jess, buffing her immaculately manicured nails on her way too short skirt. "Is it somewhere we can't take the Wind? Or maybe someplace we aren't technically allowed in at all?"
I shook my head and brushed my wind-mussed black hair out of my eyes, ignoring the dirty look I was receiving from her. Obviously I was in for another of Jess' patented 'as Captain you should always look your best and at least try to keep your hair neat' lectures from her later. "Neither of those. The reason I've called everyone together is because the client has refused to tell us any details of the job until and unless we accept it." I paused to let this sink in; it wasn't everyday that we had this type of problem after all.
When no one commented I continued. "All we know is that it's a missing person case of some sorts and that the person the client wants us to find has been missing for around six or seven years. Considering the lack of information given beforehand I imagine that the 'missing person' is rather important. Possibly too important to get the authorities involved- but I could be wrong about that assumption."
"Not very informative," noted Darvin. He was holding a can of Pepsi and had a rather content smile. He also looked a mess, obviously not having bothered to change out of his greasy overalls and t-shirt before coming to this meeting. I decided to hope that the Pepsi was from our fridge- not someone else's, and just not mention it. Besides, from the way Jess had just switched her attention to him, Darvin was undoubtedly already in for a fashion lecture- too bad this didn't mean I wasn't gonna get a lecture too. "You'd think they'd at least give us a name."
"That's for sure," said Jess, still giving poor Darvin the evil eye. "This woman didn't mention anything else?"
It was Lucca who spoke up, gray eyes gleaming slightly. "She didn't say anything else... but I did get a few impressions."
At this we turned our full attention to our guardian. This pronouncement had confirmed my earlier suspicions; this job had to be important if Lucca's unusual mixture of telepathy and foresight had actually kicked in. To my knowledge he'd only used it three times in the last ten years and in every case he'd managed to save several thousand lives. "Go on," I said, sitting up from my comfortable slouch and giving him my absolute attention. As I did this the other three followed my example so we actually looked like we were paying attention for once.
Lucca smiled in thanks. "First of all, the woman we met is only a mediator for the real client; in reality she is working for a Seer in... Japan, I think- somewhere around that part of the world at least. I got a few really strange flashes in connection to that... strange, and alarming. The first was of a modern city in ruins, covered in sand. There were only two buildings left standing... one which didn't really have any specifically recognizable design- but looked important- the other.... Well, it looked just like the Eiffel Tower in Paris but-"
Something about this description was giving me an odd sense of deja-vu but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was.... "Tokyo Tower," I interrupted suddenly, as at least one of the things nagging at me fell into clarity. "The Japanese built an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower in Tokyo quite some time ago... shortly after WWII I think. I... I think I was there once as a child...."
Everyone blinked, including me. It was a well known fact that I had little memory of the time before I'd been found and adopted by chaos-mage Miya Dawn six years ago (not including the timeloop). I'm not even sure if I'd actually been a Canadian citizen at the time... this new memory of Tokyo Tower seemed to indicate otherwise. It might also explain why I spoke such good Japanese. Aunt Miya and I had always just assumed that my parents had just been Japanese immigrants, possibly illegal, but maybe I'd just been visiting Canada. It was certainly worth looking into... maybe I could finally find out who I was. However that would have to wait. The whole 'Tokyo in ruins' vision was a bit more important than finding out if I had any relatives.
Darvin obviously shared this sentiment with me, speaking up into the silence that followed this revelation. "I'm glad that you got a memory back captain-" Drat. Not him with the titles too! "But if that was Tokyo in Lucca's vision.... Well, Tokyo's one of the most important cities in the world, millions of people live there. A vision of it in ruins is not a good sign."
The rest of us nodded wordlessly. I was reasonably sure now that we were going to accept this mission regardless of the prospective danger. Nevertheless.... I turned to look into Lucca's eyes, my violet meeting his gray. "Did you get anything else?"
Lucca nodded. "Yes. The second flash I had was a close up of Tokyo Tower.... there were several cloaked figures gathered there... fourteen I think. I couldn't see any of them clearly but I could almost feel the power radiating from them... and at least two of them were armed. I had the distinct impression that these people were important, and that they were probably the ones responsible for the city's destruction." Something about this was still nagging me but...
He paused for a moment than continued. "The last flash was really too quick for me to see anything... it was actually like a series of flashes going by really fast- like a blurred video. I saw several people, possibly the ones from the Tower, but even though they weren't cloaked this time I could see any of them clear enough to pick out individual characteristics. I might be able to recognize them if I saw them in person though."
Arowyn frowned, "I didn't get anything like that from the woman of course," she said with a vague gesture, " due to my gift being Empathy, but it does explain the sense of... anxiety, that I felt from her. I just assumed that it meant that she wanted to find her missing person really quickly, that she was under time constraints."
I nodded thoughtfully, still wondering just what it was about this situation that was bothering me. "Maybe she is... did your empathy detect anything else from her? Anything that might indicate that she is directly or even indirectly involved in the seemingly eminent destruction of Tokyo?"
Arow shook her head. "No... but now that I've heard what Lucca got... I don't think she has much information about this. I think we might have to talk to this Japanese Seer."
"Hmm," I blinked, "But what about the person she wants us to look for? What does he have to do with this? How is he connected to the destruction of Tokyo?"
Lucca shook his head. "I don't know... something really powerful was blocking me from information about him. I couldn't even pick up a name... It was funny though; the power blocking my search seemed oddly familiar- I just can't place it right now." He frowned, "but in connection to the other vision I did get the impression that he might be able to stop it from becoming reality."
Darvin nodded. "If it could mean stopping Tokyo from being destroyed.... I think it's worth the effort of finding him."
I nodded, "So do I... even if we don't get hired we're gonna have to do something to save Tokyo. Besides, while we're there I can see if I recognize anything. I might finally be able to find out just who I am!" I paused as I remembered something. "That reminds me, exactly how much are we being offered for this job anyway?"
Arowyn blinked, and blushed as she suddenly realized that she'd totally forgotten to mention this detail. "Oh! I think she said it was thirty, maybe forty million dollars in American currency... or was it fifty? I can never remember these things...."
Everyone stared at her in near incomprehension for an entire three seconds before breaking into spontaneous outbursts of shock.
"What!?" From me, visions of coffee shops and large musical instruments dancing in my head.
"No way! When did she mention this!?" Lucca sounded a bit outraged, obviously upset about having missed this while he was having his visions.
"Are you serious?" Jess had the same 'oh my god I could finally afford to buy that whatever' look as I'm sure the rest of us did.
Darvin's dark eyes were shining brightly. "I could finally get the materials for the mini-quantum phase ultra-sub modifier I designed last month!"
Needless to say, the decision was unanimous. Not only did none of us want to be inadvertently responsible for that destruction of one of the most important cities in the world, but also we were all of the opinion that fifty million dollars could really come in handy. At the very least we'd be able to afford to pay for all the property damages we'd inadvertently caused over the past three years. After a bit of discussion we decided that we'd visit our client after dinner. After all, if she was under a time constraint it would be best if we started as soon as possible..
***
It was nearly sunset by the time the five of us found ourselves standing outside the elaborate Victorian style manor that our client lived in. Quite simply it was huge. It was one of those type of places that probably had a hedge-maze in back, gardens, mausoleums... the works.
"Wow," stated Jess, "I sure hope that none of our er... rivals... manage to find us while we're here. We'd never be able to afford to rebuild this place."
"That's for sure," I agreed.
"They shouldn't be able to find us," Darvin said, "The new phase-location modifications in our personal shields should prevent anyone from finding us. In fact we probably could probably hide our presence's from each other if we really wanted- of course it wouldn't be quite as powerful but... anyway we shouldn't have to worry about property-damages unless we cause them."
I smiled and shook my head in mock sorrow, "That's what I always say... it's not our fault that our enemies like to destroy stuff."
Lucca spoke up, "Aren't we going to knock?" He gestured at the huge double-doors that we'd been standing in front of for the last five minutes.
I blinked, a gesture that was echoed by Arow, Darvin, and Jess. "Oh yeah... I'd forgotten we were here for a purpose."
The door was answered by a rather stern looking old man in a fancy suit. The look he gave the five of us was one of unconcealed contempt. If I'd been more social conscious I might have felt that our group was underdressed; with myself in cut-off blue-jeans and a black t-shirt, Arow in her modified peach-hued African-style sari/ tights combo, Lucca in his blowzy white vest and off-white khakis, Jessa in her overly abbreviated blue mini-shirt and halter-top, and Darvin still in his greasy overalls and t-shirt. We certainly looked out of place in the vast and sparkling entrance-hall of the manor but I knew that, as a group, we looked pretty cool. The man, probably the butler, lead us through the halls and corridors of the building silently; only giving the lot of us looks of suspicion and practically broadcasting the fact that he considered us to be scum. I didn't like him at all so I was quite glad when he knocked on a large oaken door and declared, "Madam. The bounty-hunters are here to see you."
At this I glared at the butler coldly and stated in my seldom-used scary 'I'm gonna kill you' voice, "We are not bounty-hunters, we are adventurers. Get it right next time." Or else, I left unsaid.
The butler paled dramatically and nodded once before hurrying off. "Meany," teased Arow with a grin.
I shrugged and smiled. "He deserved it; I don't like being insulted."
Before anyone could reply to this the door opened and we shuffled into the room. It turned out to be a rather spacious and richly furnished office, complete with several bookcases, an unobtrusive filing cabinet, and a large desk with a fancy computer on it. Behind this desk sat the woman who I assumed must be our prospective client, a dark-haired Asian woman in an immaculate black business suit.. She didn't look up as we entered but spoke, "I assume this means you have decided to accept my job-offer then?"
"Yes," I answered for everyone in my best 'I'm a professional' voice. "We will need some details on the exact nature of the job, as well as any information you have that might be able to aid us, but other than that we should be able to handle everything ourselves. May I ask whether or not you are under any type of time-constraints?"
The woman still didn't look at us, engrossed instead on some bit of information on the screen before her. "He must be found before 1999."
I blinked in surprise. That wasn't quite as much time as I'd been hoping for, the current date being mid-November 1998, but.... "All right, but we need some information first."
The woman nodded. "The person you need to find disappeared almost six years ago. For reasons that are irrelevant to this, his mother had decided to take him out of Tokyo-"
The five of us shared glances as she continued, "- to someplace safer. This place was supposed to have been Okinawa but something happened on the flight there. His mother arrived in Okinawa safely but without any memory of why she had been traveling or even who she was... thus no one knew of the boy's disappearance until three months ago when the mother abruptly regained her memories and contacted my client for help."
We once again shared a look as yet more of our suspicions were proven to be right. Oddly enough there was still something about this that was nagging me but I was unsure as to what it was. "So for unknown reasons this boy disappeared six years ago through mysterious, but probably mystical, means and you've only now discovered it?" I paused, ignoring the woman's gasp when I mentioned 'mystical', then added, "You must have already searched Japan if you're bringing this to us all the way in Bermuda, so I assume that you've failed to find your missing person by normal or regular paranormal means."
Once again the woman nodded, "Yes. My reference was correct in her claims of your group's astuteness. Both modern... and less than modern means have been used to track the boy but nothing has been found except a small trace implying that the boy's memory may also have been wiped. We're hoping that he still remembers his name at least but...."
"You aren't really making this simple for us," Jess stated blithely.
I agreed. "Could you perhaps get to the point? Do you have any idea where this person is? Why does he need to be found before 1999? And who is he anyway? You haven't mentioned his name once..."
For the first time the woman looked up at us, taking each of our appearances in with a little visible surprise at how young we all were. Finally her gaze fell onto me and she froze, eye's widening even as her jaw dropped. Frankly I was insulted; I knew she was going to make a comment on how short I was. And if she called me cute I swear....
As if in a daze she said, "I'm very sorry but I'm not the one to tell you why... he... must return to Tokyo in 1999. However... may I ask you your name? I'm afraid I never did catch it..."
I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable by the way she was staring so intently at me and I could feel the curious gazes of my friends on me as well. "My name?" I blinked, ignoring the growing feeling of apprehension growing in my chest. "It's Kamui. Kamui Dawn. Although people tend to add the title of captain too. Why? What does my name have to do with this?"
The woman nodded and gave me a searching look, "I don't suppose you could tell me if you remember where you were six years ago...?
I paled as several things fell into place and I realized just what had been nagging me about this whole situation. Ignoring the equally shocked expressions on my friends' faces as they put things together too, I exclaimed, "Gack! You can't possibly think that I am the person you're looking for!" I hesitated then tentatively added, "Can you?"
The woman gave me a sad smile. "From your expression and those of your friends I see that the facts fit. It's true. The moment I saw you I knew... but I wasn't certain until you told me your name. The person who disappeared was named Kamui Shirou... he was 9 years old, small for his age, and fit your description perfectly. Therefor...."
I grimaced, everything sounded right but.... Suddenly a torrent of images flashed through my mind. A beautiful woman with long brown hair.... she looked so kind. Mother? Yes.... Fragments of memories long forgotten brightened and glued themselves back together.
I was a little kid standing underneath a large oak tree, a slightly older boy with short black hair and a serious demeanor standing protectively behind me and a cute little girl with short honey-blonde hair and soulful brown eyes beside me. Fuuma and Kotori...
Even now I felt something warm and fuzzy touch my soul at the thought of them... More memories assaulted me, though I didn't let any outward sign of it show. I remembered Mother telling me we had to leave, that Fuuma and Kotori's mother had died for me, and if we stayed they would be in danger too. I remembered my tearful farewell and the ride to the airport.... I remembered getting on the plane and.... a flash of golden light? I blinked and frowned suspiciously. My next memory after the golden light was being found by Miya with no memory. The golden light however...
Suddenly I looked up. " I was found almost six years ago by my adopted mother and I had no memory of anything before that save for my first name...." Though I already knew the truth I turned to my friends. "What do you think about this?"
Arowyn shrugged, "It does seem to fit..."
"I agree," added Lucca, "I remember when Miya found you wandering around her estate... you couldn't understand English until Miya cast that universal translation spell of hers... I'd forgotten about that.... and it's true that your arrival was rather mysterious considering all the wards and defensive shielding around the Dawnlight estate...."
I nodded. I'd always wondered just how I'd gotten onto Miya's property but it hadn't seemed important. Now however, if my suspicions were correct....
"This might be what you've been searching for Kamui..." Darvin voiced seriously. I saw that he'd acquired another Pepsi and hoped that our client hadn't noticed.
Jess flashed me a cheerful smile, "I say go for it captain! I've always wanted to visit Japan after all. Besides, if you are the person we were supposed to find, then this can officially be put on file as the easiest job we've ever completed!"
The woman sweatdropped, obviously having remembered that she'd offered us a rather large reward for finding... me. "Well... you still have to go to Tokyo."
I shrugged and, with a casual smirk, said, "That shouldn't be a problem. By the way, do you have any idea why the Golden Sea of Chaos would be interested in changing the Destined course of my life?"
Everyone sweatdropped and Lucca blinked. "Eh? What does L-sama have to do with this?"
I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes and replied, "I kinda remember everything now. Major flashback scene and all that. Turns out the whole disappearance thing is right.... I remember being on the plane one minute with Mother than 'poof'! Big flash of golden light and I'm wandering around Miya's place trying to remember who the heck I am. And, lo and behold, it just so happens that we've encountered that very same golden light not too long ago. Thus it is that I can tell quite plainly that my translocation and amnesia are all L-sama's fault." I paused to let this sink in then turned back to our client, "So, is there any particular place in Tokyo that I'm supposed to go? And are you sure you can't tell me why I specifically have to be there in 1999?"
The woman blinked once or twice. "I... I don't know why you have to be there; my client told me only to find and send you to her. She is called Hinato-hime and you will find her in a shielded room underneath the Diet Building in Tokyo. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."
"That's not very helpful," asserted Arowyn before I could.
The woman shrugged. "I'm sorry. In any case the payment for finding... yourself," a slight grimace at this, "has been placed into your account. Please remember to go to Tokyo... I don't know why but somehow I feel that it's very important."
I nodded, repressing an urge to smile happily at getting paid for 'finding myself'. "Right. We were going to go to Tokyo anyway, this is just more reason to. So if that's all we'll be leaving. You can tell Hinato-hime that I'll be there in about four or five weeks.... just in time for New Years."
The woman shook her head, got up and opened the door for us. "I cannot contact her... she told me specifically not to let anyone know that you had been found until you'd actually arrived. Farewell and good-luck."
Without saying a word the five of us turned and left the manor. It had been a rather... surprising day and I, for one, was very very tired. "We'll discuss this tomorrow," I said as we reached the Wind, "We're going to need to do some research and heavy-duty planning before we go to Tokyo. There's definitely more to this then a reunion with my long-lost family."
The others gave varied mutterings of assent and trudged towards their respective living quarters, leaving me alone on the deck. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind, the foremost being questions. Why had I remembered now? Why did I have to go back to Tokyo in 1999? What did I have to do with Lucca's vision of Tokyo in... ruins? Uh oh. I sure hope the destruction of Tokyo isn't going to be our fault! It's bad enough that treasure troves and ancient ruins fall apart behind us... I don't want to be responsible for the destruction of Tokyo too!
Abruptly I turned and headed towards the lower holding deck which also happened to be 'engineering' and Darvin's quarters. If anyone could stop this from becoming a disaster before we even got to Tokyo it'd be him.
***
End Prologue (Please, please review!)
/Author's ramble:/
When I wrote this I had just finished reading yet another ultra depressing X fic and was trying to think up a plausable fic idea where everything turned out happy and peaceful. Being as depressed as I was, it occurred to me that if Kamui had been raised as a completely different person, not wont to angst and the like, then things might turn out better. I have a similar idea for Tokyo Babylon as well; a crossover in which Subaru and Hokuto are accidently summoned to the FF7 world near the beginning of said game and about halfway through the manga. This, of course, changes the very course of fate and destiny. Anyway, I like cameos and I'm a really slow writter. Just a warning.
/End Author's Ramble:/