The hideaway headquarters of the Underground was not what the time travelers expected when they were welcomed inside the old dilapidated building. There were no high-tech machines, no computers, no weapons, and nothing that looked the least like a military organization.
"This is it?" Kaiba asked. "When you said that you were going to show us your base, I thought it would something a little more grand."
"Yeah," Joey seconded. "All I see are a couple of vending machines, a sink, some chairs, and a sofa. What's the deal?"
"The deal is that we're not militants. We don't resist violently like the world's armies tried to do. That's why we play by the rules." Rebecca told them.
"You mentioned these rules before." Yami/Yugi said. "What are the rules?"
"We don't fight back, resist, or disrupt the games. We play Duel Monsters for our lives and for territory. Now that you've come and upset things though, I fear that we may not be able to continue in this way as we've done now for as long as these children can remember." They all looked and out of the woodwork began to appear children of all ages. They were thin, gangly creatures with threadbare clothes, and their feet were bare. "This is the rest of the Underground." Rebecca told her friends. "They all know how to play the game and they can all play well. Some of us though are getting tired and are unable to adapt as quickly to the changing strategies of the Techno-Duelists."
"Guys, look at them all." Kagome said taking one little girl's hand. "We can't let this continue."
"It must continue." Rebecca told them. "If any of us are to survive then we've got to maintain order."
"NO!" Kaiba declared. "I won't allow this to go any further. I spent my life trying to make things better for orphans. I never wanted to create more homeless children. Nor did I want for my own child to grow up without his parents present in his life." He said looking at Ichiro. "I make you this promise, I will set things right, and you can count on it." Kaiba left then and went back outside to wander around for a while. He left the others there to think about things and wonder if there was any way to fix the future.
"Well, hey, in the mean time fellows, why don't we have a friendly game of cards." Yoko said. "It'll be good practice and it'll help us to unwind."
"Okay let's go." Yugi said now turning back to his normal self. Yami stood by as Yugi attempted to get to know the daughter he would never get to see grow up.
"You mean you want to play me?" Yoko asked.
"Sure, why not?" Yugi asked her.
"Alright!" Yoko cheered. "I finally get the opportunity to show up the old man! You'll be proud of me Dad, I'm a great duelist."
"This should be good." Tea said taking a seat on the sofa with the younger kids. Kagome, Serenity, Mai, and the others sat down too. Some on chairs, some on the floor, while others like Inu-yasha stood up. Yugi would be playing against his own daughter and that would certainly make for an interesting match.
All but Kaede. She slipped away from everyone else, and went outside to crouch on the roof of the building, looking out over the vast rubble that was the city.
"What are you up to?" Inu-yasha suddenly asked behind her. She was startled she nearly fell off, but she grabbed the ledge and righted herself.
"Has anybody ever told you that you walk like a ghost?" She asked him angrily.
"How do you think you're able to do it?" he asked her, crouched beside her. They both looked up at the moon, and were silent until Kaede said out of the blue. "This kinda feels like when I was little."
"Huh?" Inu-yasha asked.
"When me and Hiro were little, our dad would take us up to the roof of our Uncle's shrine, and we'd sit there for a while. I had an easier time holding on, but Hiro… I don't know, there was something about him. He was kind of a klutz."
"Sounds like Kagome," Inu-yasha said.
"Yeah… And he didn't have these stupid ears either."
"Hey, ther're not stupid," Inu-yasha said. 'Can any human hear better."
"Why's you do it, Dad?," Kaede asked.
"Do what?"
"Why'd have to go and sleep with Mom when you were in your full demon form?" she asked. "I would have been born different, otherwise." Then, suddenly, she shot her head forward, and sniffed the air. Then she jumped up and ran back to the door leading down stairs, saying, "Got to warn the others!"
--------------Scene Break--------------
Kaiba was deep in thought when Serenity found him sitting on the tumbled billboard which read 'Kaiba Corp. The Wave of The Future'.
"Seto…" Serenity said.
"It wasn't supposed to be this way," he said. "I didn't want to make another ruined city… I didn't want to be the Sorcerer who brought doom again…"
"I thought you didn't believe in all that 'nonsense' as you put it," Serenity said, drawing closer.
"Somehow or another, I always knew the truth," Kaiba admitted, "And I was just coming to grips with my past when this happened…My future's shattered. Look at my hands, Serenity," he said turning to her hand reaching out his cupped hands, "Look at them and tell me they're not stained with the blood of millions!"
Serenity came right up to him, put her hands in his, and said, "Look at mine, and tell me if they're not too small to help. That's how it feels, sometimes… Like my hands aren't big enough or strong enough to help you, or Yugi, or Joey… Like they're not big enough to hold the future in their palms," she said, cupping the Millennium Necklace she wore. Then, she wrapped her hands tightly around his, and started to sing…
"If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be… That we're all OK.
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
In Times like these…
I won't be made useless…
I won't be idle with despair.
I will gather myself around my faith
For light the darkness most fears…
These hands are small, I know
But they're not your's-
They are my own.
But they're not your's-
They are my own and
I am never broken
Poverty stole your golden shoes
It didn't steal you laughter.
And heartache came to visit me,
But I knew it wasn't ever after.
We'll fight! Not out of spite,
But someone must stand up for what's right!
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice,
There ours shall go singing !
My hands are small, I know
But they're not your's-
They are my own.
But they're not your's-
They are my own, and
I am never broken
In the end, only kindness matters.
In the end, only kindness matters…
I will get down on my knees, and I will pray.
I will get down on my knees… and I will pray…
I will get down on my knees…and I will pray!
My hand's are small I know,
But they're not your's-
They are my own.
But they're not your's-
They are my own and…
I am never broken.
We are never broken!"
After she went quiet, they looked at each other, they're faces inches apart.
Suddenly, They heard a sound like a high whistling… A sound they'd heard only once before, in the sands of Egypt.
"Get down!" Kaiba yelled, jumping, grabbing Serenity, and wrapping her in his arms, and covering her body with his as the blast roared past them into the hideout. As metal and wood splintered and flew into the air, Serenity managed to wriggled herself up enough to see the remains of the building in flames.
"NO!" she wailed, "ICHIRO!!! JOEY!!!!"
"Serenity, stay down," Kaiba told her, as he stood up, and turned to face this new foe.
What stood before him had the face and upper body of young man, whose short white hair sparked with the red of the flames. And in the mingling of fire and darkness, when the boy's eyes opened, they glowed an eerie luminous yellow, like the high-beams of a automobile.
"Seto Kaiba?" the innocent, soft voice said, puzzled. "I though you were taken long ago."
"I'm not that easy to beat," Kaiba said. "You must Inu-yasha's treacherous son, Hiro."
"You're half right," the angelic looking youth said as he stepped forward a little more, revealing his robotic wolk-like legs. Then, his arms, which had looked normal at first, detached at the elbow, elongating and revealing parts of a robotic skeleton. "Cyber One calls me Hiroshima, The Devastator- a name I find far more satisfactory. Now, Duel me, or will you come quietly this time?" Instantly, his left arm turned inside out and transformed into a Duel Disk.
"You're on," Kaiba said, activating his own Duel Disk, "You're going to pay for slaughtering my companions."
"Don't count us out yet, Seto Kaiba," Yugi/Yami said as he and all the travelers and children rose up from the rubble. They were surrounded by Joey's translucent pink Time Distortion bubble, protecting them from the events of the present. As the Bubble began to disappear, Kaede drew her Tetsusaiga.
"Kaede," Rebecca said, "Remember the rules!"
"Screw the rules," Kaede growled, "Hiro's mine!" She ran forward, and swung the sword at Hiro's arm, cleaving the Duel Disk from it.
Hiro looked at her for moment, then glanced down at the wriggling arm on the ground. Then he turned his eyes back to her, smiled, and said, "Now sis, that wasn't very nice. What would Mom say?"
"Why don't you ask her?" Kaede snarled.
"What?" Hiro said. He looked past them, and saw Kagome and Inu-yasha.
Kagome said tenderly, her eyes full of tears, "Hiro…"
"Mom… Dad?" Hiro asked, his eyes wide with wonder and remembering. Then, they went robotically cold again as he looked back to Kaede, frowned and said, "No. This is a trick!"
"Oh, it's real, alright, Hiroshima," she said smiling. "Too bad you won't be around much longer to enjoy their company."
"You dog eared freak!" Hiroshima seethed as his massive robotic legs launched him forward, barreling into the sword-wielding girl. They both went flying back into the burning rubble of the hideout, and up into the sky as Kaede swung her sword, striking the iron gilded spinning blades that sprouted out of Hiroshima's arm. He bobbed and weaved as she swung left and right, both landing and leaping from the ground and half demolished buildings. Then, as Kaede took a misguided swing at Hiro's head, he moved, quick as an arrow, and slashed Kaede's face with a dagger sharp finger. She cried in pain, reached her free hand to her bleeding face -her right eye, to be exact- and with the other hand, she sent the Tetsusaiga right through Hiro's chest.
All was still. Hiro's eyes blinked once. Twice. He looked down at the sword stuck in his gut, and started lightly laughing.
Kaede's breath was heavy as she asked, "What's so funny?"
"After all this time… you finally got me…" Hiroshima said as little sparks flashed in the hole in him. "Sis… Can you help me out of these legs before I die?"
Kaede didn't say anything. She left the sword in him as she took both her hands, and ripped his torso free of the robotic appendages, and laid him down on the ground.
He sighed, and said, "Th- That's… Better…" and with a jerk of his circuits losing the last of their power, his eyes clouded over, and he lay still.
Everyone finally started to come close to the ghastly scene. Kaiba watched as Kagome rushed to her daughter, her eyes full of tears, and began wrapping her child's bleeding face to cover the now useless eye. And Inu-yasha, who hardly ever cried, removed the Tetsusaig from his son's body, and said a few ancient Japanese words over him, Miroku standing with him, his covered palm up in a sign or prayer, and translating the words.
"May my son find peace in the company of his ancestors."
------------------Authors' Note------------------
We don't own the song 'Hands' featured in this chapter. It belongs to Jewel, a very talented singer and songwriter. Please review.