Acknowledgements:

First off, I am very much in debt to Stefan Gagne.  This 'fic was
inspired by his own 'Hiro and Dai are dead', but I like to think I
take quite a different angle on the two.  Other influences include
Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz and Guildestern are Dead' and Samuel
Beckett's 'Endgame' and 'Waiting for Godot'.

Secondly, I have Mihoshi to thank for turning these two into 
worthwhile characters in my mind.

And... I guess that's about it. :)

-CW
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Heroes and Death

by Christopher Willmore
4cw6@qlink.queensu.ca

Hiro and Dai created by Rumiko Takahashi

for Mihoshi
with apologies to Stefan Gagne
also inspired by Kunoichi, just because she didn't want it to be.

	It'd been a relatively quiet week, and that was worrying.  Not to
the Tendos - for them, the most important aspect of tranquility was its
inverse proportionality to property damage, and less money spent on
repairs meant more money to be spent on the raw material for Kasumi's
cooking.  No, not for them... And neither for Furinkan High School, by
and large.  Sure, there was the loss of entertainment from Ranma's
lunch-time battles, and the lucky few who did well in Nabiki's betting
pools saw themselves suddenly less solvent, but the increase in security
more than made up for the slight loss in utility.  When high-powered
martial artists fought out blood feuds in a crowded high school court-
yard, more often than not a bystander (or more) got hurt.  In fact, more
often than not, it was ONLY a bystander (or more) who got hurt.  There'd
been that incident with HInako, and the nasty fight with Ukyou and
Shampoo...  No.  For the world at large, this bubble of peacefulness,
universally acknowledged as ephemeral and transient, was a Good Thing
(TM and (c) RpM).
	In fact, there were probably only two people in the world that
were concerned, genuinely CONCERNED, rather than just surprised, by this
turn of events, and right now they were walking down a street together,
hands in pockets and their eyes aimed at the ground before them.  Their
ambulatory centres were on automatic, as their minds were completely
engrossed in the conversation they were having on the seriousness
of their current situation.
	"I just don't get it, Hiro," said the one with darkish,
straightish hair.
	"Get what?" A furball looked up momentarily.  "Ryouga's away,
Ranma's trying to keep Akane happy, no one's trying to take over
Japan..."
	"That's just it," said Daisuke.  "Everything's going right, so we
should be happy.  Right?"
	"I'm happy."
	"No, you're not."
	"But I am!"
	"Then why are you frowning?"
	Not having any good answer to the question, Hiroshi went silent
and continued his inspection of the cracks in the pavement.
	"I thought so," continued Daisuke.  "It's the same with me.  Every
day, we go to school, we listen to the gossip, create our own, and tease
Ranma and Akane about it.  If a new fiancee of his arrives, or a cute
rival, we spend the rest of the day ogling her, then we go home and...
and..."
	"And what?"
	"I..."  Daisuke stopped dead in his tracks.  "I don't know!"
	"You don't know?  Well... _I_ go home, and..." Hiroshi blinked,
and also stopped.  "And.... Do something which escapes my mind right
now."
	"I can't believe this," said Daisuke.  "I try to think of home,
of my mother, my father, sisters... Do I have a sister? I just DON'T
KNOW!"
	"Think harder!"
	"Why? Can YOU remember?"
	"No! But..."
	"But what?"
	"It's just..."
	"Yes?"
	"Yes?"
	Hiroshi sighed.
	"Let's think about this reasonably for a minute."
	"Reasonably," agreed Daisuke.
	"Given: We are alive."
	Daisuke pinched himself, and yelped a little.
	"Agreed.  And we aren't dreaming."
	"Why not?"
	"I pinched myself."
	"Yes?"
	"And it hurt."
	"If it hurts, then you are not dreaming?"
	"Only real life brings pain.  Dreams are always pleasant, or at the very
least neutral."
	"What about nightmares?"
	"They're pleasant."
	"What?"
	"Why do people go to horror films?"
	"Oh." A pause. "Good, then.  Given: We are alive, and we are awake."
	"Not awake," said Daisuke.  "Just not dreaming."
	"Good enough.  We are alive."
	"We are alive."
	"It follows that we must have been born."
	"Yes."
	"From our parents."
	"Naturally."
	"And they are..."
	Silence.
	"Maybe we are orphans," offered Daisuke timidly.
	"I don't think so," said Hiroshi after pondering the matter
briefly.  "I think I would remember being an orphan." A blink. "Do
you suppose we're brothers?"
	Daisuke looked his companion over, then glanced at those parts
of himself which were available to his vision.
	"I don't think so," he pronounced.  "Besides, wouldn't we remember
being related?"
	Hiroshi shook his head.
	"I don't know." A pause. "I think," he said.
	"Yes?"
	"I think... We'd best start walking."
	"Where?"
	"Where we were going before."
	"Which is?"
	"I don't know."
	"Then how-"
	"Set your mind on automatic; walk where it feels right to walk."
	"What about our problem?"
	"What problem?"
	"Our amnesia."
	Hiroshi blinked.
	"Amnesia?"
	Daisuke nodded.
	"I hadn't considered that.  We'll talk about it on the way."
	"To where?"
	"There."
	"Ah."
	They started walking.  Clumsily, at first, uncertain of where to
put their feet, or where to turn, but soon they were going at a brisk
pace.
	After some time, Hiroshi spoke.
	"Let's summarise."
	"All right."
	"We know these things.  First, that we are alive.  Second, that
we have been born, and third..."
	"Yes?"
	"And third, that we do not know."
	"We know that we do not know."
	"Yes."
	"I've been told that's a sign of wisdom."
	"I don't feel wise."
	"Neither do I."
	"Just foolish."
	"Yes."
	"We... We do know what we don't know."
	"You don't mean that?"
	"What?"
	"That's what I'm asking."
	"What you're asking?"
	"Yes. That's what."
	"Huh?"
	"I'm asking if you meant that we know that we don't know. You
said what."
	"I meant what."
	"What?"
	"Well, we do."
	"How so?"
	"We know that we don't know our homes."
	"There wasn't a what in what you said."
	"That's not important."
	"But..."
	"Trust me."
	"Okay."
	"We don't know our homes, then."
	"No."
	"The past?"
	"I... I think I can remember it."
	"When it has to do with home?"
	"No. Just..."
	"Just what?"
	"I... I just... You try it, Hiro."
	They walked in silence for a few minutes.
	"Done, Hiro?"
	"Yes, Dai."
	"What do you remember?"
	"Lots of things."
	"The future?"
	"Of course not."
	"Too bad. I'd like to know what happens to us."
	"I can tell what's _happened_ to us."
	"So can I."
	"Tell, then."
	"Only part."
	"Part?"
	"Part. Not the whole."
	"What part?"
	"The part," said Daisuke, "that has to deal with Ranma."
	"Why Ranma?"
	"It's the only part I can remember.  Every memory, every bit of
recollection I dredge up has to do with him, or with one of his friends.
And you?  Can you remember anything else?"
	"I... I..." Hiroshi stopped. "I can't."
	"Walk, then.  That'sw our only chance of finding out about
ourselves."
	Hiro shook his head and jogged for a bit to catch up with his
friend, who had never slowed.
	"Do you suppose it's amnesia?"
	"You already asked that."
	"Did I? I thought YOU had."
	"Did you answer?"
	"No."
	"Then it doesn't matter."
	"No."
	"What do you think?"
	"What?"
	"Amnesia."
	"No."
	"Why not?"
	"Because... We only have memories that deal with Saotome."
	"Yes."
	"Amnesia works the other way. It blocks out memories dealing
with a certain thing, or person, or-"
	"Are you sure?"
	"What do you mean?"
	"We've forgotten so much; could we have forgotten how amnesia
works?"
	"Did we forget, in the first place?"
	"Forget what?"
	"Precisely."
	"Huh?"
	"Maybe we never knew it."
	"That's... That's crazy."
	"And frightening."
	"But true?"
	"Possibly.  After all, everything we know has to do with..." A
pause.  "Daisuke, I don't even remember learning Japanese.  I know it,
but don't know _how_ I know it."
	"Even that, then."
	"Yes.  Even that.  All we know has to do with Saotome."
	"Ranma."
	"No other.  All our associations, all our-"
	"Except this."
	"What?"
	"Except us.  Now.  We're alone, walking somewhere."
	"Home, from school."
	"Presumably.  We don't know that.  We could be going to an
arcade."
	"I'd like that."
	"Usagi might be there."
	"Point taken."
	"Irrelevant."
	"True."
	"The point is-"
	"I thought you said it was irrelevant!"
	"Not that point."
	"No?"
	"Another one."
	"Ah."
	"The point is... We do remember now."
	"Yes."
	"And our recent past."
	"Yes."
	"Without Saotome."
	"Without Saotome."
	"So it appears that we _can_ remember things without Saotome
in them."
	"Maybe only in the short term?"
	"Maybe."
	"Or maybe he's hiding around the corner, ready to spring into
our lives?"
	"Perhaps."
	"I don't like it."
	"Neither do I."
	"Can you feel it?"
	"Yes."
	"You can? The feeling?"
	"Of change? Of course.  I feel... More..."
	"More solid."
	"More permanent."
	"More real."
	"That's it."
	"Really?"
	"Really.  More real. Don't you get it, Hiroshi?"
	"I"m Daisuke. You're Hiroshi."
	"Am I? It doesn't matter."
	"What do you mean, it doesn't matter?"
	"I don't know my family."
	"No."
	"Then why know myself?"
	Silence.
	"I... I don't feel real, Hiroshi."
	"Daisuke."
	"Whatever.  I feel empty.  It's... The quiet, you know?"
	"The Lull."
	"Yes.  It's bothering me."
	"And me."
	"I feel like I should be the one to fill it with something,
because without fights, without rumours, I..."
	"Don't exist?"
	"Don't exist."
	"And we must make ourselves exist?"
	"Cogito ergo sum.  The burden lies upon us."
	"We must, then."
	"Agreed."
	"But how?"
	"No idea."
	"Why did we come to this?"
	"What do you mean?"
	"We've never had to make these choices; we've never had to make
things happen; they've always just happened _around_ us, while we've
watched, and talked about it."
	"And been hit."
	"AND been hit.  But only incidentally.  We've never had to act
as catalysts."
	"No, never."
	"And now there's a lull."
	"Yes."
	"And we can't deal with it."
	"No."
	"We have to do something to give our lives meaning.  We walk, we
talk, and now we're alone, but without Saotome involved, it's-"
	"Strange."
	"Wrong."
	"Sacriligeous."
	"That far?"
	"Why not?"
	"Sacriligeous, then."
	"But- Must we involve Saotome?"
	"What?"
	"We're alone.  This is new.  I think we have been given a chance
to do something on our own, to act like... Like major characters."
	"In a play?"
	"It's the best analogy I can think of.  I feel as if we're in a
play, and we're called upon to make the plot."
	"Characters don't make the plot.  They are made OF it."
	"Which might be why we're so uncomfortable."
	"True."
	"And the main character-"
	"That would be Ranma."
	"Naturally."
	"Is missing."
	"Yes. So we must-"
	"Further the plot on our own?"
	"That's what I meant."
	"That's what I thought you meant. But how?"
	"There are several options."
	"Yes?"
	"Several kinds of basic stories."
	"Of course."
	"Blood."
	"No."
	"That's murder, killings, gore..."
	"I know. That's why I no."
	"I see."
	"And?"
	"Yes?"
	"What's next?"
	"Oh. Love."
	"With us? Get real."
	"Between us?"
	"Never. I'm not that kind of a person, and besides, we don't know
if we're brothers."
	"Incest leads to interesting stories."
	"I have no desire for it."
	"Nor do I." A pause. "Unless I have a pretty sister."
	"That would change things."
	"Yes, it would. But we can't find her now. What's next?"
	"There's blood and love."
	"So you have said."
	"And... I can't think of anything else."
	"Try! Try harder!"
	"How?"
	"Take a germ of inspiration, spark the crystallisation of ideas.
Anything, so we can start a plot! Take..."  Hiroshi, who might be
Daisuke, lookedc around him for a germ and finally found one, which he
pointed out.  "Take that lady."
	"The one with the water?"
	"Yes.  The one with the water."
	"She's old."
	"And bent."
	"Yes. Old and bent."
	"Could she help us with our plot?"
	"Would it be blood, or love?"
	"Blood, I think."
	"Not love?"
	"Not love."
	"Why not?"
	"Because..." Daisuke blinked.  "You're right.  I have no reason.
She could be blood, or love."
	"Or both?"
	"Or both."
	"Both, then."
	"We are agreed?"
	"We are."
	"We must, you know."
	"I know, or I would not."
	"We must, or it will never end."
	"Let's end it, then. It's long enough as is."
	"Let's."

	With that, the pair went off and raped the water lady, committing
suicide once they were done.

FINIS.


-Christopher Willmore
 Manhattan
 December 26th, 1996
"I want to smell ... Cologne"
                   -My brother
http://qlink.queensu.ca/~4cw6/