Hikaru Sulu gazed longingly in the direction of the foil that lay on his bed. The blade caught the light from overhead and gleamed invitingly. Hikaru sighed and turned back to his notes
He had a final tomorrow.
He had to pass. He threw his mind into his work; his notes, his book, past tests and homework, he had been through them all what seemed like a hundred times these past three weeks, trying to get ready for this final.
Everything else, all of his other classes, seemed like a piece of cake compared to this.
Besides, Hikaru reminded himself, there was no one on campus that would spar with him anyway.
Briefly he remembered a match; the small, dark haired teen had agreed and, like most everyone, had been quickly disarmed. He had promptly bent and picked up the foil. "Again." He had said.
Ten minutes later, the teen had been disarmed about fifteen times. He had scowled briefly at the foil before looking up at Sulu. "How do you vork this thing?" He had demanded, voice thick with an accent Sulu couldn't quite place.
Hikaru had laughed and given him his first lesson.
Then the teenager had left, without warning, without uttering a reason. He had simply walked out of the Academy and had never returned. Hikaru had been disappointed. He had liked the kid, in spite of how young he had been.
Final, Hikaru reminded himself. He was studying for a final.
A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts this time. "Hey, Sulu. There's somebody in the lounge wants to talk to you."
Hikaru groaned. He didn't have time for this right now. "Coming." He called. "Thanks."
He sighed as he stood. He stretched; he had been sitting for far too long anyway.
Hikaru studied the two men as he entered the deserted lounge. They were obviously the people looking for him; no one else was here. Everyone else was busy cramming for the morning's finals.
One sat impatiently, resisting the urge to pace, a man of action. He had an air of command about him, the sort of man that inspired you into following him across the galaxy to do courageous deeds.
Hikaru got a grip on the romantic in him and studied the other man. This man reminded Hikaru of himself; same hair, same skin, same eyes. This man was cold, calculating, desperate, though he had not always been so, but had become such out of necessity. Hikaru wasn't entirely sure how he knew this, but he knew it as certainly as he knew his own name.
"May I help you?" He asked, trying to be polite in spite of the urgency he was feeling. He needed to be studying right now, not talking to strangers.
"Yes." The first man replied simply. Here was a captain, if ever Hikaru had seen one. "You are Hikaru Sulu?" He asked.
Hikaru nodded. "Yes, sir." He replied.
The Captain smiled. "We need your help." He said.
Hikaru thought about it. "I have a final in the morning." He informed them. "I really can't afford to lose any more study time." Not if he wanted to pass.
The older Asian laughed. "You're going to fail it anyway." He said. "You know that."
Hikaru sighed, the sinking feeling returning as he admitted the older man was right, He had known from the beginning that he was going to have serious problems with this class, and every spare minute he had taken and devoted to the subject had only allowed him to barely survive the class this far so he could fail tomorrow.
The Captain shot the other man a look, but he didn't seem bothered. "You want to make it in Starfleet? Help us."
Hikaru eyed both men skeptically. "I'm just a cadet. What can I do?"
The Captain hesitated. "Do you know a Pavel Chekov?" He asked after a moment.
Hikaru nodded uncertainly. "Yes, sir. He was attending the Academy for a while, but then he disappeared. Why?"
"We need you to help us find him." The older Asian said.
Hikaru couldn't believe this. "What do you expect me to be able to do?" He demanded. "What makes you think I can help you find him?"
The Asian leaned forward to look Hikaru dead in the eye. "We're from the future." He said. Out of the corner of his eye, Hikaru saw the Captain frown. "He can handle it." The other defended himself.
And suddenly Hikaru understood. "I'm you." He said. The older man nodded.
The Captain intervened. "I thought we decided that-"
"That no one involved should know?" Hikaru asked. He was almost surprised by how well he was taking this. He had always known time-travel was theoretically possible, but this was amazing. He wondered if he should be concerned by the adult he would apparently become.
Sulu nodded. "Most people wouldn't be able to handle the knowledge."
"Not without it altering the future for the negative." Hikaru agreed.
"It still may." The Captain pointed out.
Hikaru shrugged. He was ready for this, he decided. "Too late now."
Chekov was not surprised to discover that the young man knew. "He used to be the most easygoing cadet in the Academy." He assured Kirk as he inspected his injured leg. "Some people considered it a fault, said he would never be officer material."
They watched as young Hikaru eyed everything with fascination; sickbay, Spock, Chekov, even his older self, but asked not a single question. Eventually he went and joined Sulu; the two were soon deeply involved in a conversation Kirk wasn't sure he wanted to know about.
"He is possibly the only one who could know without causing serious problems." Chekov finally said.
"But why?" Kirk asked. "Why would Sulu take the risk?"
Chekov snorted. "Don't ask why, he'll only tell you it was because he felt like it." The glint in his eye, however, suggested that Chekov suspected more than he was letting on.
"Prepare to jump again." Spock informed them then, half a second before the world once again went black.
Hikaru helped Kirk up. "That was interesting." He commented. "I've never seen reality suddenly turn inside out and upside down at the same time and still look exactly the same as it did before."
Kirk blinked. Had Hikaru not blacked out with the rest of them? "You okay?" he asked the young man.
Hikaru laughed easily. This was more the Sulu Kirk remembered. "Of course, Captain." He said. "I'm not the one who fainted."
"Captain?" Kirk asked, worried. How much did he know? How much had Sulu told him?
Hikaru blushed. "You look like a Captain." He stammered. "Sorry, I can stop, if it bothers you."
Kirk smiled reassuringly at the young man. "Captain is fine."
"You must hurry." Spock warned as Sulu and Chekov recovered. "They-"
"Shut up!" Chekov cut him off. "It is enough to know that time is short."
Kirk made a mental note to ask Sulu what the problem was with Chekov this time when they returned.
Disclaimer: Star Trek does not belong to me.