Kuno's Dilemma
    A ground-breaking story (Probably brain-breaking, too:)
  By Shadow Dancer

   I stare at the pictures of my beloveds, wondering,m as always,
which I should choose, when I hear this faint buzzing in my ears.
Wanting not to be distracted by the minute lives of insects, I smash
my bokken against the insolent insect, forgetting, for a second, that
it was too close to my head.
   Upon waking, I hear that the buzzing hasn't receded at all, but
grown in volume.  Grown to the point that I can make out words...
   (Loves...loves...which to choose...)
   I scoff at the voice, saying, "It is not which one you choose, but
which one chooses you!"
   (Then why don't you listen to your own advice?) the voice asks me.
   "Because they are but under the spell of that cur Saotome!" The
   voice sighs, as if from a great pain, (Does not Saotome have 
problems of his own?  Is he not chased be four fiancees?)
   "That is true," I say.  Suddenly I hear a much unwanted person at
this point.
   "Why are you talking to yourself, master?"  Sasuke?  Daring to
interrupt me?
   I tell Sasuke, "It be not thy business, Sasuke...tend to my 
sister's...pets."  Sasuke shudders and bows, leaving me with the
voice.
   (That isn't nice...) the voice says to me.
   "And how would you know?"  I ask imperiously.
   The voice sighs again, (believe it or not, I'm part of you...your 
better half, as it were.)
   I roar in rage, "None is better than Tetawaki Kuno!  No-one!"
   The voice says, quietly, (None...but if you can believe that, how 
can you not believe cold hard facts when they are proven to you again 
and again?)
   I sit down, defeated, "But it can't be true...One of my loves?  
She just can't..."
   (There, there...it's all right...sometimes even the greatest of 
people need something to humble them.)
   "But how did the cur Saotome fool me like that?  How?"
   (It wasn't Saotome that fooled you...you fooled yourself.)
   "How woulds't thou know that, voice?"
   (Because I'm a part of you.)
   "How come, if thou art a part of me, that thou hast not spoken to 
me before this?"
   (Because, my fine and multi-languaged friend, you couldn't hear me 
since your father left.)
   "Why?"
   I find myself saying what the voice says. ("Because when he left, 
the last piece of my/your life left with him.  I/You needed something 
to hang onto, and the kendo drove you/me out.")
   (There...do you see?)
   I nod mutely, wishing that he had been present through all my 
victories, all my defeats.  I wish that he was there to tell me when 
I did good...
   (But I was there...I know all that you did that was good...and all 
that was bad.  Do you believe me?)
   I nod, and upon remembering his name, I thank him.  "Thank-you, 
conscience, for knowing."
   (There...now can you let yourself try to see all that is good in 
others?  Instead of the bad?)
   I nod mutely again...wishing that the sores didn't hurt so much.
   (Now...who deserves an apology?)
   "I should say...sorry...to the...Akane and...Ranma, and 
Ranma...Ranma's girl side."
   (Good...now, try not to get hurt on the way there...)
   I nod, standing and sheathing my bokken.  I have a lot to do now.

*****

   Standing in front of the pig-tailed-girl, I say the words that 
have been trying to get out of me for so long, "Ranma...I'm sorry..."

*****

   There...how was it?  Comment all you want, Rip it to shreds!!! I 
can take it!
   I appreciate all comments and criticisms...
   As per all my stories...
   I AWAIT THE FLAMES!!!

**************************************
Love is in the air, you just need to see it...
Cans't not see it?  You have to believe it...
Look out, it's after you... Only you can find it...
Love is in the air, I know, I've found it...
Maybe you can find yours, too.

(c)Shadow Dancer, June 27th, 1997