Disclaimer of the Beast:  This stuff is owned by other people, except
for the stuff that isn't.  If you own the stuff I've used, please do not
sue me.  Firstly, if you do own any of it chances are you already have
one hell of a lot more money than I do.  Secondly, it would make me
sad.  

The Legacy of Kain - Chapter Six (Kevin's Tale - Kain)

     A lot of this was a mystery to my people - I think I'm probably the
only one who knows the whole of the story.  Forgive me if this seems a
little disjointed - time travel is involved, and thinking about it gives
me a headache.
     The Anajurai traveled for thousands of years through the emptiness
that separates galaxies - more time than anyone can really understand. 
Even by the standards of such long-lived races as the Jurai, it amounted
to thousands of generations.  Within the Ark, the Anajurai had to learn
to peacefully coexist...it was, after all, the population of nearly a
third of the galaxy packed into one ship.  Over time, we learned to
purge violent instincts from our society.  We ended up with a peaceful
monarchy, much like the Jurians developed back here.  Of course, the
problem with a monarchy is that every now and again you get a really,
really bad king.
     Rakkan XV was a hard man, and a proud one.  He spent his youth
reading through the accounts of the Rift in the ship's libraries, and as
he grew older he became more and more embittered.  What sort of kingdom
was this for a man of his talents?  A bunch of pacifistic cowards,
fleeing their home in defeat and shame, afloat in the darkness, alone in
a tin can spinning between galaxies.  Once or twice he even tried to
convince the ship's Parliament to turn around and start the war all over
again, but these were quashed fairly quickly.  Mostly, he was ignored,
and at the end of his life he was a pathetic, bitter nobody whose people
were waiting for him to die so that a better man could ascend to the
throne.
     A year, perhaps even a month later, and things would have been very
different.  But the fact of the matter is that Rakkan was still the King
of the Anajurai when we met Kain.
     "What?  But how..."
     I know, I know, Tenchi.  I'm getting to that.  I learned the truth
of the matter only after arriving on this planet, millennia later, but -
from what I understand, you trapped Kain in a pocket of subspace before
destroying him.  My understanding of subspace is that it is a realm that
can theoretically be accessed from any point in the universe, right,
Washu-chan?
     "Mmmm-hmmm."
     And not only is it connected to all space, but also all time?
     "Well, my experiments haven't really branched into that area,
but..."
     It is.  When that cannon was fired into subspace, it must have
ruptured the containment net that had been placed there.  For just an
instant, there was a way out.  Most of Kain was incinerated, but one
small scrap survived - and as an energy being, that scrap held all of
Kain's memories, all of his...hatreds.  He was, however, incredibly
weakened, beyond recovery.  So he fled into that split-second rift in
space-time - a rift that took him into the space between galaxies,
several thousand years ago.
     It was then that our ship met him, and it was this weak and dying
Kain that met with the weak and dying King Rakkan.  They communicated
and found that they had a purpose in common...the destruction of Jurai. 
So they struck a bargain.  I've cursed that bastard every day of my life
for what he did to us.  He let Kain in.
     I don't know how, but Kain...entered my people.  He scattered
himself over the ship and merged with every being in it.  In doing so,
he ceased to be Kain, lost himself as an aware, alive being, but...he
slid a little piece of his soul into every man, woman and child on
board.  There are records of that day, taken from internal cameras.  We
were ripped apart, changed on a genetic level, and put back together to
better serve as vessels for his spirit.  The bloodstains in the halls
and in the living quarters never came out, not after a thousand years of
scrubbing.  It still gives me nightmares.
     Once it was over...well.  The weak, the very old and the very young
died, unable to bear the shock of what had been done to their bodies. 
The people that were left...they were unable to cope with what had been
done to their minds, their souls.  We fell back into what we were when
we began the journey.  We became worse.  The first man to die was
Rakkan, hunted down and slaughtered for what he had done.  The ship went
on like that for a few years - mere anarchy was loose in the halls. 
Irreparable damage was done to the ship from the riots, looting and
warfare that raged in the corridors, made worse by the new power that
flowed through our veins.  Then people slowly came to their senses...if
you can call it that.  We realized, as new generations were born, that
the seed Kain had planted in us could not be erased...new children born
to us had the taint of Kain in them as well, and when the old died the
energy within them was spread throughout those who were left.  We were
incubators, nurturing Kain within us until there was enough of us
holding the energy for him to be reborn.  And then, without him to
sustain us, our race would finally die.  Unless.
     Unless we fulfilled our part of the bargain and returned to the
galaxy of our birth, to hunt down and murder every last living Jurian.
     My ancestors thought they had no choice, and did the only thing
they could think of to preserve our race.  They turned the ship around
and started home.  And to prepare, they turned their thoughts once more
to war.
     On the way back it became evident how much we had changed.  A clan
system emerged, each clan perpetually feuding with the others for power
and resources, which were rapidly dwindling.  Violence was ground into
our natures, our children were taught to fight as soon as they could
walk.  Eventually the fights got bigger and bigger, and more and more
died.  By the time I was born there were only three clans left.  At that
point we had just identified your solar system and had plotted a course
here.
     "Here?  But why...?"
     During the negotiations with Rakkan, Kain made it very clear who
was to be killed first, and where.  He never told us why.  I learned
that myself.
     When I arrived here I had already rejected the ways of my people. 
I spent much time alone, reading the old records, piecing together what
we were and what we had been, and I was sickened at what we had become. 
I resolved early in my childhood to spend the rest of my life fighting
down and controlling the part of me that is Kain.  So, rather than
searching the globe for you, I was content to merely travel - the first
of my people to walk on a real planet in hundreds of millennia.  
     I don't know if it was chance or some subconscious urging, but I
was in Tokyo on the day of your battle with Kain.  I watched.  I saw
what happened, and I started to understand where Kain had come from, and
what would happen should he be reborn.  When he was defeated, driven
back into subspace...it gave me the cold shivers.  I was watching the
birth of my doomed race, the end watching the beginning.  At last I knew
why we had been cursed to the existence we had, why he wanted the
Jurians dead - and you, this mystery cabal that no one had known
anything about.  All we got was a list; two Jurian princesses, Ayeka and
Sasami.  Washu, a scientist.  Ryoko, a pirate.  Mihoshi, a Galactic
Police officer.  And most important of all, the warrior able to use the
Light Hawk Wings, Tenchi.
     I did look for you then.  I'm not sure why, exactly; I knew what
your reaction would likely be.  Maybe I was craving the company of other
offworlders.  Maybe I was hoping that through some miracle you could
find a way to cure me.  Maybe I wanted to somehow make some small amends
for my race, all we'd done and all we'd become.  I still don't know,
really.  I just had the gut feeling that I should find you, and I've
learned to trust that.
      My search came up empty, of course - I eventually realized that
you yourselves had traveled through time to fight him.  So I set up
certain surveillance measures and continued my travels, waiting for you
all to arrive.  When the sensors were triggered, I had started a life as
a high-school student in Canada, trying to learn more about Terrans, as
I intended to spend the rest of my life here.  It was a fairly simple
matter to arrange the exchange.
     And here I am.
 
     Kevin sat calmly in the aftermath of his story, awaiting their
reactions.  When no one moved, Katsuhito rose and spoke.   
     "We appreciate your being honest with us, Kevin.  Would you be so
kind as to leave us to speak with one another about your story, and it's
consequences?"
     "Of course.  I'll be outside."  Kevin stood, gathering his coat
about him as though chilled, though the temperature in Washu's lab was
perfect, as usual.  He left without looking back.  
     Washu looked at the others, sitting, digesting Kevin's tale and
considering the implications.  Finally she cleared her throat.
     "Well, guys," she said, false cheeriness in her tone, "looks like
we've got a few decisions to make."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Send C+C to kakapo101@hotmail.com.  It's the right thing
to do, and a tasty way to do it.