Michael Won <skeezy5@geocities.com>
=======================

God Emperor 1 / 2 - Part I
	by skeezy5

=======================

	Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
	Dune Chronicles belong to Frank Herbert.

=======================

	"...It was once said by somebody
	that short term solutions led to
	bigger problems in the end.  But
	compared to eternity, are not all
	solutions short term?  Even my 
	Golden Path is merely a blink in
	the eyes of Father Time...
		Sometimes, I almost lose hope 
	in the path I have chosen.  Sometimes,
	I wish I had just died with You
	on that day.  But watching Shiro now,
	holding her small body in my arms,
	knowing that my Golden Path rides
	within her 3 month old body...
		I once complained that nobody
	asked me when they made those fateful
	decisions.  Now, I make those decisions
	on an innocent babe.  Oh Akane, how
	you would be ashamed of the monster 
	that I have become..."

	-The Stolen Journals


	A flash in the darkness.  It grows louder and louder.  The light 
is screaming, wracking me as it courses through every pore, every cell, 
every molecule of my being.  It roars at me and submerges me.  I 
desperately reach out, seeking for some purchase, something to clutch 
to, to not be drowned in the light.  My fingers reach out, my body 
tearing apart as I hope.  As I hope.  In vain.
	"Wha..."  My eyes flutter open.  The sights buzz into my 
consciousness all at once like angry wasps trying to overwhelm me.  
Slowly, a point within me focuses and begins to grow outwards.  
Outwards, until it touches the world again.  Slowly, the buzzing stops 
to be replaced by lights and shadows.  They are fuzzy at first, much 
like a holo-vid that is out of focus.  And then I see.  The strength.  
The wisdom.  The love.  But most of all, the pain.  There is only one 
pair of eyes that I know of which emit that glow.  My Emperor and God is 
before me in all her glory.  "My Lord!"
	"Ah, I thought you were finished there for a moment, most faithful 
one."  She removes her hands from my stomach, and I realize that she has 
been transferring raw ki into me.  How badly had I been knocked out?
	"No my lord.  I can still fight!"  I desperately fight back the 
fog which still encompasses my body, but my mind is at least clear.
	"Relax, dear one.  The fight is over for you."  I struggle to 
rise, but she gently pushes me back down.  "Kuonji, there is no need for 
you to sacrifice yourself for me.  You have served me most faithfully.  
More faithfully than any of your ancestors.  As faithfully as Ucchan.  
Remember your wife and children.  They are waiting for you to return 
home."
	"Lord."  Once again I struggle to rise.  The pain does not matter 
anymore.  To be compared to the founder.  To the original.  Death is 
merely an annoying obstacle for me.  Tears stream down my face.  Tears 
that I cannot stop.  I wait to be berated about my tears.
	"Enough.  I have not used so much of my strength to ensure that 
you live, only to lose you again.  It is time that I faced them 
personally."  I now realize that she is at my side with her sword 
strapped across her back.  She is not wearing any armor, only the simple
red shirt and black pants that she favors.  And, of course, the mask 
which always covers her face.
	Desperation wells up in my heart, knowing what is outside.  My 
faith that she will win does not flicker, but at the same time, my 
concern for her overwhelms me. "Let me at least stand by your side and 
be your second." Knowing that I will regret what I'm about to say, I say 
it anyway.  I have said it millions of times, just never aloud.  It does 
not make it any easier.  "I...  I love you, my Lord."
	She stops, and the stern expression about her eyes hardens even 
more.  I see tenderness and caring, but mostly sadness in her eyes.  
Those eyes, the Eyes of Eternal Suffering.  I shut my eyes, waiting to 
be berated.  To be cast out.  To be cast away as so many others had been 
at that admission.  To be thrown out of heaven for aspiring to be 
greater than The Goddess herself.
	A click, and then a rustling noise, much like the wind blowing 
through the bamboo trees in my back yard at home.  I feel a touch.  A 
wetness on my lips.  I...  I...  A kiss.  
	The kiss lasts but a moment, but time extends itself.  It is not 
the seconds nor the heartbeats that I feel.  It is every single moment.  
Every sensation.  The little pressures, the touch, the tear.  The tear?
My eyes flutter open and I see.  The face, unworn by age, untouched by 
the eternal forces which guide the lives of us mere mortals.  A face 
that so few have seen and survived.  Her pigtail bats me on the side of 
the face.  My Lord and God.  Ranma-sama.  
	"Alas, even you disobey me where she did."  A sad smile crosses 
her face before she covers it once more with the mask.  The tears that 
formed in her eyes are still there, and the solitary one that dropped, 
still fresh on my face.  "As you wish.  If you so want to join her 
today, come with me.  I shall carry you.  Kuonji Kaneda, you shall be my 
second."
	I remain silent, speechless.

@->-

	"Ranchan, what's that?"
	"Well little Kanchan, that's a picture of my friends when I was 
younger."
	"Friends?"  I brighten up at a word I know.  "Like you and me?"
	"Just like you and me, Kanchan."
	"Why is it covered with sand?"  I struggle, trying to puzzle out 
why there is only sand as far as you could see in the picture.  "Oh!  
Were you at the beach?"
	"No.  That's back when the planet was a desert."  
	"Desert?  Like the one outside the Citadel?"
	"Like that one, except much bigger.   It covered the whole planet.  
There were no streams, no rivers, not even oceans."
	I strain, trying to comprehend that.  I try to envision everything 
covered with sand.  A sandbox, I know.  The desert outside, I can 
imagine.  The planet?  Then something clicks.  "But in school, they 
taught us that there wasn't that much desert on this planet for 
almost...  three thou... umm...  thousa..."
	"Thousand."
	"Three thousand years!"
	"And there hasn't been."  
	"But how could your friends be that old?"
	I can only see her eyes through the narrow slit in her mask, but I 
know she is smiling behind it.

@->-

	"Show yourself, Tyrant!"  I can already hear her voice above the 
din of the fighting outside.  I imagine her, a spitting image of The 
Goddess, down to the last detail of the way she wore her hair.  A 
veritable twin, except for the eyes.  She also has them, just like 
Ranma-sama.
	I look up at Ranma-sama, who pays no heed to me.  "Lord..."
	"Silence.  Be thankful that you are as dear to me as you are.  I 
have killed greater men for brooking such familiarity with me."  As we 
reach the ledge, she sets me down, propped against the wall but able to 
view out on the courtyard.  
	What I see appalls me.  It is no worse than the carnage of the 
hundreds of campaigns I led against "unbelievers", but it shocks me 
every time.  The Great Gate has been torn away at its hinges, knocked 
down by some unimaginably great force.  The rebels had poured in, even 
as the Genma Knights tried to plug up the hole.  With the gate down, it 
had only been a matter of time before the defenders on the wall were 
overwhelmed.  I look to see their mangled bodies adorning the 
battlements.
	I feel a sharp pain in my stomach as the wound remembers.  
Remembers my charge into their ranks, trying to bring her down.  The 
Defenders of Nodoka had fought bravely, keeping a hole open in their 
ranks long enough for me to face her.  Tears well in my eyes, regretting 
how foolishly I had contributed to the fall of Ranma-sama's bodyguards.  
To the fall of my two nieces.  It is all I can do to keep the tears 
back.
	Now, looking down, the handful of defenders have pulled back 
towards the Inner Gate.  They know that the gate will not be opened for 
them as long as there are enemy outside.  They merely wish to place 
themselves between the enemy and Ranma-sama.  I look to see the 
Defenders of Nodoka still holding the brunt of the attack back.  At the 
lead is...  my banner?  I look carefully and realize that my niece is 
leading them, repelling countless charges, throwing them back over and 
over.  I try to smile, but my lips refuse to move.  She is worthy to the 
name Kuonji.  It is too bad that...
	"ENOUGH!"  I look up as Ranma-sama's ki amplified voice booms 
over the battlefield.  "I, YOUR GOD EMPEROR, COMMANDS YOU TO STOP!"

@->-

	"So, you are ten years old now, Kanchan."
	"Mmm hmm!  I'm not a little boy anymore, Ranchan.  My mommy said 
so!" 
	"Of course you're not.  Its time that I shared a secret with you, 
since you're all grown up."
	"A secret?"  I love secrets.  It's so much fun to have a secret!  
"You mean like when I told you that I flushed my sister's panties down 
the toilet?"
	"Just like that."  I hear the amusement in her voice and I'm 
pleased.  It is a story I had made up to make her laugh.  She laughs 
so infrequently.  "You remember the picture of my friends that is in my 
room?"
	"Uh huh!  I don't forget anything!"
	"Of course you don't.  Well, remember I pointed one of them out 
and said she was my good  friend Ucchan?"
	"Mmm hmm!  The not cute girl with the spatula!"  She looks too 
much like my older sister Kyoko.  That makes her not cute.  Very not 
cute.
	"The not cute girl?"
	"Yeah!  The one with the short hair that was standing next to her 
was much cuter!   She looked like more fun too!"
	"Why is that?"
	"Because... because she was hitting the red head with the 
pigtail!"  I don't know exactly why I think she's cool, so I make up a 
reason.
	"What a funny little boy you are."  Her eyes twinkle a bit as she 
says this.
	"I'm NOT a little boy!"
	"Of course not, Kanchan."
	"Hrmph.  What was the secret anyway, Ranchan?"
	"Well, the not-cute girl in the picture is your ancestor, Kuonji 
Ukyou."
	"Really?  What was she like?"
	"She was brave, caring, talented, intelligent, beautiful...  
Everything that a man might ever want in a wife.  I didn't deserve her 
as a fiancee..."
	"Fiancee?  Oh, the person you're going to marry?"  Realizing 
something, my mind stumbles.  "But I thought..."
	"You thought I was a girl?"
	"Uh huh.  You are a girl!"
	"Not always, Kanchan.  Not always.  That's our little secret, 
okay?  Sometimes, if I need to be, I can be a guy."
	I try to accept the idea, but my mind waffles.  Oh well, if she 
says so.  "Why aren't you usually?"  
	"That's a secret for another day..."  Her voice hardens a bit, 
signaling to me that it is a 'forbidden subject'.
	"Okay."  I had learned quickly not to ask for something which 
Ranchan didn't want to answer.  "Did you marry her?"
	"No."
	"Who did you marry then?"
	"The girl with the short hair that was hitting the red head."
	"What happened to her?  Why isn't she here now?"
	"She... she...  Never mind Kanchan.  She couldn't stay with me and 
had to leave."  Her voice is nearly choking and her eyes... glimmer?  Is 
she crying?  Oh no!
	"Ranchan, don't cry!  I'm sorry I asked!  Please don't cry!"  I 
hug her tightly and she hugs me back.  I start to cry, having made my 
Ranchan cry.  After a while, her body stops shaking as she brings her 
breathing back under control.  I gasp out, "Ranchan, I'm sorry."
	"Its okay Kanchan, stop crying.  Big boys shouldn't cry."  She 
pulls back and looks me in the eyes.  "It was a long, long time ago.  I 
don't miss Akane as much anymore."  
	Once again, she breaks out in tears, and I hold her, wishing I 
could do something to stop the hurting.

@->-

	"Damn you, Ranma!  Come down here and face me like a man!"  The 
fighting ceases as the rebels pull back and their rank opens up.  The 
fool that has just issued the challenge stands at the front, the 
unfamiliar weapon he is carrying pointing straight at Ranma-sama.  I 
struggle, recognizing him.  The new Commander Hibiki.  
	"Ryouga!  You ungrateful cur!  How dare you betray the God 
Emperor!  After she gave you a new life to live!  After she let you 
command her armies!  And to come back and blaspheme the God Emperor!  
You shameless dog!"  I scream out in fury at the honorless bastard.  
Heedless of the coughs that wrack me, I turn to Ranma-sama.  "My Lord!  
Allow me to dispatch that pig as he deserves!"
	She looks at me again sharply, but she sighs and gives me a curt 
nod.  Levering myself up against the wall, I jump down into the 
courtyard, in front of the traitor.  I falter a bit as I land, but I 
right myself even as pain shoots up my right leg.  Damn sprain.
	Commander Hibiki looks at me with anger, "Go away.  I'm not here 
to fight one of Ranma's blood hounds.  Tell Ranma to come down and face 
me."
	"You will have to get through me first."  I draw my modified 
battle axe from its carrier on my back and swing at him in one fluid 
motion.  A family heirloom, it is my symbol as the head of the Kuonji 
clan.  He clumsily brings up his weapon for the block.  It is some kind 
of a short, one-handed lance, widening away from a blunt tip and then 
ending with a narrow handle.  Instead of deflecting it like I expect him 
to, he bounces the blow away with sheer strength.  
	"So, you have a death wish?  I'll oblige you today."  Commander 
Hibiki responds by suddenly transforming his lance into a sort of a disk 
attached to a long handle, and he sends it spinning my way.  While I am 
distracted by jumping out of its way, he closes in with a side kick 
aimed for my head.  I quickly duck under it and sweep at his supporting 
leg, knocking him down.  I bring up my axe for a quick overhead blow as 
he tries to roll out of the way, but I hear the whistling sound of his 
weapon increasing again.   
	I jump out of the way as quickly as I can manage, but his weapon 
still manages to nick my arm.  In the seconds that this maneuver bought 
him, Commander Hibiki had gotten back on his feet, and his weapon
returns to him.  Ah, the Hibiki Umbrella Techniques.  A formidable 
defensive and offensive weapon, flexible in its close in and long range 
abilities.  Too bad my father-in-law taught me all about it.  As I feint 
a backhanded blow with the flat of my axe, I reach back with my left 
hand and pull free three throwing blades.  Following the direction in 
which he dodged my feint, I release the three blades, their wide heads 
homing in on the bastard.  
	Commander Hibiki reacts too slowly to dodge out of the way, so he 
snaps his umbrella open to deflect the shots.  Idiot!  As he collapses 
the umbrella again, I am already smashing down with a over head blow 
aimed straight at his head.  Realizing his mistake, he brings up the 
umbrella to guard his head.  My battle axe cleaves through the umbrella, 
but this leaves him with enough time to dodge out of the way again.  
	"Slippery cur,  if only I wasn't injured..."  I drop to one knee 
as my stomach spasms again.  Seeing the opening, he pulls something out 
of his hair and throws it at me.  Spinning cloth?  I easily bat them 
aside with the wide head of my axe.  I try to get up as he charges in, 
but my right leg gives again.  He swings a round house kick at my head 
which I am forced to block with my arm.  What the fool lacks in speed, 
he makes up with power, and his blow sends me flying to land on my back.  
I feel blackness encompassing my vision, but shake my head, trying to 
clear it.
	"Do you yield?  I do not wish to fight an injured foe."  So he 
noticed.  Before I can respond, a voice rings out.
	"Stay away from my uncle, traitor!  I, Kuonji Ukyou, shall take 
you!"  As I prop myself up on one arm, she  is already at my side.  "Are 
you okay?"
	
@->-

	"Daijobu-ka, Kaneda-kun?"
	"Hai, sensei."  I peel myself off the floor and wearily get back 
up.  The eye that has swollen shut severely limits my ability to gauge 
her position.  My broken left arm limits my defenses as well as my 
attacks.  As I catalogue my injuries, she once again launches herself in 
the air in a beautiful arc.  I rise to meet the challenge.
	Just as I swing forward with my good arm, she changes trajectories 
in an impossible fashion again in mid-air.  Right side!  I allow the 
momentum of the punch to carry through as I continue the spin into a 
back kick.  For my impudence, I am rewarded with a swift floating 
sensation as my supporting leg is swept out from under me.  I pull my 
left arm out so that I won't land on it and brace for impact.
	It never comes.
	"Nanda?"
	"That's enough for today, Kaneda-kun."  She slowly lowers me down 
to rest on my back, watching for my arm.  Slipping out of the ancient 
training tongue, she signals that the lesson is over.  As I struggle to 
bring my breathing under control, she expertly resets my arm and begins 
to bind it.
	"How long?"  I barely croak out.
	"Fifty-two minutes and forty-seven seconds."  I shut my good eye, 
disappointed.  I had been so sure that I could break the one hour mark!  
Damn it.  As if reading my mind, she continues,  "Do not worry about 
falling short of an hour.  You are already the best warrior in the 
Empire."
	"Best after you."
	"Oh?  Would you dare compare yourself to a God?"  Once again, I 
see her eyes crinkle up in amusement.  The eyes are all that show 
through her mask.  I had once asked her about that mask.  
	'Why do you always wear that mask?'
	'To protect myself and those around me.'
	Her answer had only puzzled me.  Being twelve years old, I had 
taken well to being puzzled.  'I bet you wear that because you're really 
ugly and you want to hide it.'
	'What!'
	'Kawaiikune!'
	'Why you baka...'  She had burst out laughing at that point, and I 
had joined her, not really knowing what was so funny.  It must have been 
something out of her past.  Later on, she had told me never to call her 
that again.
	I snap my good eye back open.  "Ranma-sama?"
	"Yes, Kaneda-kun?"
	"What happened to Ucchan?"  I pursue my favorite topic of 
interest.  Though I had read much about the founder, so much was 
shrouded in myth over the three thousand years that had passed.  I 
wanted to learn from somebody who knew her.
	I am greeted by silence at this, and once again, I curse my big 
mouth and wish I hadn't opened it.  After a moment, she responds.  
"Ucchan...  After I married, she was heart broken for a while.  It 
couldn't be helped..."
	I can only nod, having heard how much she had loved Ranma-sama.  
She continues, "We were still friends though, and when I set forth on my 
Golden Path, she joined me, and became the captain of my guard.  She...  
she always blamed herself for Akane's death, for having been lax in her 
duties, for having hesitated out of jealousy.  That wasn't true.  She 
was the most loyal companion that I had ever had, and one of the few 
close  friends that Akane had too.   I... she... she was a great comfort 
while I recovered from Akane's death, and when I set out on my Great 
Purge, Ucchan restrained me from doing things that I'd regret...  She 
died protecting me during the Kentares Rebellion."
	The Kentares Rebellion.  The last great battle that Ranma-sama had 
fought in her ascension.  The forces of the old emperor had challenged 
her with the rag tag Houses that didn't want to submit to her rule.  
Impulsively, I cry out, "I too will protect you with my life, Ranma-
sama!"
	She looks at me sadly.  "Don't say such things Kaneda-kun.  They 
have a sad tendency to come true."
	I fall silent, the grief in her eyes flooding out into mine, 
choking me.  Of course.  She had lost so many companions in the three 
thousand years of her rule...  I try to change the subject while still 
probing about my mysterious ancestors.  "Who was Shin's father?"
	"Shin?"
	"Ucchan's son.  He kept the name Kuonji.  Who was his father?"
	I see something flash in her eyes, but it passes too quickly for 
me to read.  Then, her eyes turn up again in amusement.  "Thoughts of 
fatherhood, eh?  My, you're already sixteen years old, aren't you?! I 
guess I should start looking for a nice girl for you.  Hmm?"
	I feel my face going red hot as she mentions the subject.  "Well, 
there is somebody I'm interested in..."
	"Ooh!  A girl friend already!  My, when I was your age..."  Her 
voice drifts off slightly.
	"Not a girlfriend!  She's just a girl who likes me a lot."  I can 
feel my face getting even hotter.  Its probably turning interesting 
shades of red at this point.
	"If she likes you and you're interested, why aren't you dating 
her?"
	"Well, she's a nice girl and really cute and strong and smart 
and..."
	"Well, who is she?  Wait!  It wouldn't be Commander Hibiki's 
daughter, would it?"
	"You knew!  That's not fair!"
	"Hmm hmm.  I told Ryouga that he should keep a tight leash on his 
beautiful daughters.  Now I've gone and lost my favorite pupil!"  Her 
eyes flash wickedly as she pokes fun at me.  "So why aren't you?"
	"Why aren't I?  Oh, why am I not dating her?  Well, I'm interested 
in her, but I'm also interested in somebody else."  I avert my eyes as I 
say this, afraid they might give away my secret.  "And though I have no 
chance with this other person, I'd feel guilty dating Shinobu while I 
was still..."
	"Ahh, I see your dilemma."  She cuts me off, a far away look on 
her face.  "Sometimes, you remind me so much of...  never mind.  So you 
want some advice, hmm?"
	I nod.
	"This is what I think.    It is not wrong to live for a dream.  It 
is not wrong to expend every ounce of effort, every moment, every single 
thing, your whole life into a dream.  But sometimes, you really need to
judge whether or not you can ever achieve that dream.  Lots of people 
get hurt because they dream about things that can never be theirs.  
Sometimes, you just have to accept that ."  She is silent for a while.  
"So, when should I set your wedding date?"
	"Ranchan!!!"  I relapse into old habits as she makes fun of me.
	"Hey, your parents left you in my care before they passed away.  
I'm perfectly in my right to do this, Kanchan.  So...  I think I'll drop 
by Ryouga's sometime to arrange your marriage!  He's getting old, and 
I'm sure he'll want...  Eek!"  She ends it in a shriek as I burst up 
and chase her around the room, trying to clobber her to the best of my 
abilities.

@->-

	"Kuonji Ukyou?"  Ryouga looks confused.  My sister's youngest 
daughter looks back up at her foe, eyes full of hate.  The confusion in 
Commander Hibiki's eyes is easy to understand for anybody who'd seen an 
image of the Founder.
	"Yes, traitorous dog, that is the name of the warrior who shall 
destroy you!"  Ukyou hefts my battle axe up and turns to face him.  
Before she can act though, I hear a light sound of feet landing behind 
me.
	"That is enough, both of you."  Ranma-sama calmly speaks, putting 
a hand on Ukyou's shoulder.  "A spitting image, isn't she, eh, Ryouga?  
After all, that's why I named her that."
	My niece bows and backs off, coming over to me to help me up.    I 
gather my voice again, "Ranma-sama..."
	"Enough Kuonji.  You have served me for fifteen years now, and 
have braved death enough times to prove your worth.  I will not let you 
die today.  You shall stand back."  Before I can protest, she adds, 
"This is the command of your God Emperor."
	"Is that really you, Ranma?"  Commander Hibiki asks, though I can 
hear in his voice that he already knows.
	"Of course, P-chan.  Who else could it be?"
	"Who ya callin' P-chan!  Why I ought to..."  Ryouga suddenly falls 
silent as a hand falls on his shoulder.  He turns and looks angrily at 
the owner of the hand, but acquiesces.  As she steps forward out of the 
ranks, the courtyard falls silent.  
	"So, Tyrant, you have finally shown yourself.  I, Saotome Shiro, 
have come to end your reign."  The words escape her mouth like venom.  
The leader of the rebellion steps out in front of her army, dressed in a 
simple gi, with a large war hammer in her hands.  For a moment, my 
vision blurs, as she is superimposed by another picture.  A picture 
where she is hitting a red headed, pig-tailed girl.  Even through the 
hate which mars her face, I recognize her.  The Goddess.   Tendo Akane.

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To be continued...

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