-I suppose it had to happen eventually.- Satanira thought, sighing dejectedly. -I really have no choice. I have to. I don't have to like it, But I have to do it.-
"We gonna be here all night, or you gonna kiss the dude already?" Duo asked, his voice only slightly slurred. "Cause if you don't kiss him in thirty seconds, we get to watch you two make out."
"I'm going already!" Satanira said irritably, crawling across the circle. "Just so you know," She told Hiei sourly, "I do not want to do this."
"On the lips, you two!" Dorothy reminded them from Sally Po's lap. "And for at least five seconds."
"Do you idiots mind?" Satanira snarled. "This is hard enough as it is!" She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and attacked the short demon, knocking him to the floor and kissing him before he could react.
Exactly five seconds later, she was scampering back to her spot, blushing furiously.
"My turn!" Miroku announced cheerfully, thoroughly enjoying playing Spin-the-Bottle with so many pretty girls.
Most of the circle held its collective breath while the bottle spun slowly to a stop, pointing at Botan. Under cover of the ensuing catcalls, Satanira slipped out of the main lounge and went to her room, plopping down on her bed.
"I wanna go home." She pouted, lying down and staring at the ceiling. "Aiva, Reload, please, number nine[1] on repeat." She requested. "Volume low. I'm going to sleep, if anyone needs me."

-- The Next Morning --

Satanira woke up feeling groggy and dizzy, with a pounding headache.
"I.... Need... coffee..." She groaned, adding a sore throat and backache to her mental list of complaints as she sat up. The only thing that kept her from collapsing where she sat was the thought of strong, hot, black coffee with tons of sugar and how much she needed that jumpstart. So she gritted her teeth and went out into the corridor, her thoughts focused on the mess hall.
Then a wave of overwhelming dizziness hit and everything went black for a second.
"Miss Satanira?" She faintly heard Aiva ask. "Miss Satanira, your body temperature is reading abnormally high. Are you feeling well?"
"Tell Sick Bay I'm coming." Satanira muttered, stumbling heavily and almost loosing her balance.
"Try not to talk, ma'am. I've alerted Sick Bay, and I'm getting you an escort."
"'M fine..." She insisted leaning against the wall. "Juss.... needta... cash... catch... my..."
"Nonsense." Aiva said as a door nearby whooshed open, blasting Satanira with a wave of blessedly cold air.
"You okay, Nira-chan?" Yusuke asked.
"No..." She replied uncertainly, trying to walk again and falling into the once-dead punk's arms. "Sick Bay?" She asked plaintively, doing her best to make puppy dog eyes.
"Sure." He said, picking her up carefully.
That was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

"She's really burning up." Sally Po said, shaking her head. "With an internal temperature as high as hers is, any normal human would be dead."
"So is she going to get better eventually?" Heero asked. "Because we'll be stuck here for the rest of our lives without her."
"That's his way of saying he cares." Duo assured Kagome, seeing the dismayed expression on the reincarnated miko's face. "He likes and respects Satanira and is just as worried as the rest of us. He just can't show it like we do."
"Are you sure?" Sango asked. "Because being a coldhearted bastard is a strange way of showing you care."
"Satanira trusts him." Botan said. "And considering what they've told me of their world, if someone as suspicious as Nira-chan trusts you, you're not a bad person."
"So is she going to be okay?" Yusuke asked.
"Given a week or two of rest and quiet, she'll be her old self again." Sally Po assured the little group. "Which means I want no more than two healthy people visiting my Sick Bay at one time. Everybody out!" She ordered, shooing them into the corridor.
"She's scary sometimes." Kagome said, picking up and petting one of the numerous small, furry creatures that wandered the ship. "Are you sure it's safe to leave her in there with Satanira?"
"Sally Po's a doctor." Duo said. "She took an oath to preserve life at all costs. And besides, she was Nira-chan's first friend in our world. She wouldn't do something as tacky and tasteless as killing a good friend."
"That's nice to know." Sango said as a shriek and the sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed down from the lounge. "At least if I seriously injure that pervert, there's someone to patch him up so I can do it again!"

Satanira tossed fitfully in her sleep, locked in a fever-induced repetition of the fateful week she'd spent with Washuu and the others after leaving Hiei.
First, she was lying on the couch in Washuu's lab while her mentor checked her over. Washuu had a worried look on her deceptively young face. She informed her blonde pupil that the fourteen-year-old had miscarried.
Then she was sitting on the pier after a good long cry a few days later, sharing Ryoko's sake supply, telling the blue-haired alien everything that had happened during her trip. Ryoko was sympathetic, saying she understood, and that Satanira would let go when the time came. Then the two sat there for a few more hours, getting drunk and thinking of Tenchi and Ayeka back on Jurai.
Then Ryoko and the pier were gone, and she was running through the woods the next night, two strange men not far behind her. They were slavers who'd shot Mihoshi and Kyone down and attacked the house. She ran in a loop, headed for the back entrance to Washuu's lab. She dove through and ran for her space, where she built weapons of all sorts. She grabbed her latest arc pistol and got both men, sawing them in half with the incandescent beam. She grabbed all the guns she could carry and ran, looking for the others.
The next jump took her forward in her memories only a few hours, when the last of the slavers had been killed. Two delicate bodies were in front of her; Kyone and Sasami. Mihoshi knelt next to her partner, shaking her, demanding that Kyone get up this instant, while Ryo-oki simply howled. They hadn't made it in time to save the two, and Satanira blamed herself for not keeping her inventions where the others could get to them.
Finally, she stood in front of the dimension-hopper, fully suited, all of her gear packed. She was leaving again, and she would never come back. No one said as much, but they all knew it. She tearfully bid farewell to her teacher, her surrogate sisters, and the family 'pet.' Then, just before she left behind her homeworld forever, she said good-bye to the two graves in what had been her garden. Kyone and Sasami, who would never say good-bye to her again. She stepped through, and fell.
Then the whole cycle started over again.

Her dreams must be horrible. Sally Po thought, watching as, once again, the sleeping blond next to her began to cry. Every now and then, Satanira would whimper helplessly, or cry out softly for someone.
And she wasn't improving.
There has to be some way to reduce her fever! The brunette doctor exclaimed mentally. Much longer at such a high temperature, and even Satanira wouldn't survive.
The door to Sick Bay whooshed open, revealing the short, spiky-haired man named Hiei. Without so much as a by-your-leave, he marched inside and plopped down next to Satanira's bed.
"What are you doing in here?" Sally Po demanded, crossing her arms and glaring down at him.
"If you tell her I came here when she wakes up, I will kill you." He said instead of answering, and gently wrapping his hand around Satanira's.
"Whatever." Sally muttered, turning back to her computer screen.

Heero took the blow from Tetseiga effortlessly, letting InuYasha spend the blade's momentum on the length of Heero's own sword. The brunette ducked under the half-demon's arm and made a 'killing' thrust in the air next to his left side.
"I win." Heero said quietly, slipping out of the way of InuYasha's huge weapon to the sound of polite applause from the small audience gathered around the practice ring.
"This time." InuYasha said shortly, sheathing Tetseiga with a muttered curse. "But don't expect to be so lucky next time."
"Yuy." The only onlooker who hadn't celebrated Heero's victory, a hitherto unnoticed Hiei, snapped, calling everyone's attention to himself. "Po wants you. Only you." The demon added, glaring sharply at the others.
Heero nodded and racked his broadsword on his way towards Sick Bay. The door clicked closed behind him, and those left stared after him for a moment before turning back to Hiei.
"You know," Dorothy said suddenly, "I don't think I've ever seen you fight."
"Nor do you wish to." Hiei said flatly. "Because I only fight to kill."
"You're mighty cocky for such a short demon." InuYasha commented. "You got the walk to back the talk, small fry?"
"InuYasha, you're treading on dangerous ground here." Kagome warned quietly, sensing wave upon wave of black anger from Hiei. "He can definitely back his claims, and you're an idiot if you think you can take him."
"Are you calling me an idiot, woman?"
"Sit, boy!"

Heero stepped softly into Sick Bay, his eyes going to the only occupied bed in the room.
"Hey, Heero." Sally Po said, not looking up from the flickering screen inches from her nose. "Sit down next to her and hold her hand. I'll be with you in a minute."
Raising one eyebrow inquisitively, the brunette did as he was told, wondering why he was supposed to hold Satanira's hand. But the way Sally looked, it might be she was on to something.
After the promised minute, Sally stood up, stretched, and turned to Heero.
"Her temperature has dropped." She said. "By only 1.5 degrees, but she's no longer in any serious danger."
"And that has what to do with me sitting here holding her hand?" Heero asked pointedly.
"Call it an experiment." She said. "That Hiei dude came in here, sat down where you're sitting, and held her hand like that, and her temperature started dropping. I want to see if it's a fluke, or if tactile contact with someone close to her might have something to do with it."
"You're insane, Sally." Heero muttered, but agreed to try it for her, since she wouldn't let him leave until he did.

One by one, everyone on the ship stopped by to see how Satanira was doing, although InuYasha had no choice in whether or not he would. And they were all relieved to hear that her initial temp of 103.2 had dropped nearly four full degrees to 99.5, although she still hadn't woken up.
"I don't know how she manages to stay alive." Duo said, shaking his head. "She never takes care of herself before she helps others. I'm tellin ya, I wouldn't be surprised if she died savin polar bears from a blizzard."
"... ... ..." Trowa pointed out.
"True." Duo conceded, grinning at the uncomfortable look on Wolfwood's face. "Hey, has anyone seen Hiei?"
"Now that you mention it..." Botan said, looking around the lounge curiously, "I don't think I've seen him since last night. And that redhead isn't here, either."
"Maybe they're scrumpin in a broom closet." Duo suggested brightly, seconds before a thorny whip connected with the back of his head.
"I thought I told you to leave me out of your vulgar jokes." Kurama said mildly, although his cheeks were touched with an interesting pink hue. "I do not appreciate them in the least."
"You need to loosen up, dude." Duo remarked sourly, rubbing his head. "And stop attacking me, will ya?"
"You have to admit, Duo," Quatre interjected quietly, not taking his eyes off the Monopoly board in front of him, "you kind of deserved that. And keep those greasy mitts away from my bank, Yusuke."
"Yes, Mastah!" Yusuke exclaimed, saluting the blond while Trowa shook his head and moved his piece to the Free Parking space.
"That's the fifth time this game!" Vash yelled. "That's not fair! I haven't landed there once!"
"Welcome to the real world, Needle Noggin." Wolfwood said.
"... ..."
"Hell if I know." Quatre said as Vash burst out laughing and Wolfwood growled under his breath.
"He's mocking me, isn't he?" The gray-eyed priest demanded indignantly.

Satanira slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the semi-bright lights of Sick Bay until the healing spells she'd inlaid into the steel ceiling came into sharp focus. She carefully turned her head from side to side, seeing if anyone else was in the large, sterile room with her.
"Sa-chan." She called, activating the medico android she'd built in Sasami's image. She'd need the help, if the leaden feeling in her arms and legs was any indication.
"Yes, Nira-chan?" The blue-haired construct asked, gliding over to Satanira's bedside. "How can I help you?"
"I need to know if my temperature, heart rate, and other vital signs are off, please." The blond instructed.
"Your temperature is 98.8, which is two degrees higher than your recorded norm." Sa-chan said, closing her eyes to better access Sick Bay's complex data stream "All other vital signs are regular. Do you need anything else?"
"I need to get back to my quarters. Cabin 612, level C. Will I need assistance to make it that far in my current condition?"
"It would be advisable to seek assistance, as data says that the muscles in your limbs and extremities may not respond correctly to stimuli."
"Laymen's terms, Sa-chan."
"Yer legs ain't gonna work right."

Yay! Finally done! It's been long while since I've worked on any of my old stories, what with all the new stuff I've been working on...