By David R. Nolen Heaven and Eternity by K'thardin This one is more like a side story than an actual episode; though I suppose it could be one. Could you imagine what must be going through Ryouko's head now that her brother has shown back up? Not to mention what must be going through Washuu's head. I mean here is her son who she never got to see grow up, in fact has been gone for most of his life (over 20,000 years) and is one of the most powerful beings in the universe (of course if you know what Washuu really is that should come as no surprise). And if her son is still around you can imagine who else I'm going to bring back into her life (let me tell you that's going to be lots of fun writing); not to mention a few other people are going to be showing up. I suppose this is a rather long intro and rather than bore you further, may I present... Ryouko's Brother Standard Disclaimer: These aren't mine except what I made. If you can't tell the difference you're a goddamn infidel and should be fed to the Rancor, and Greedo did not shoot first. "You know Megatron isn't such a bad guy. I mean so what if he's whacked about half the Transformer race in pursuit of universal conquest." -An obviously Fucked up individual Ryouko was brooding. On a subject that she didn't really know what to feel about. It had been two weeks since the enigmatic man known as Cyraqs had shown up to train Tenchi in 'the full use of his power' as he had put it. That in itself had not been really surprising, what with all the other weirdo's (herself not included) that had been showing up since that fateful day that her beloved had rescued her from that prison his grandfather had put her in. She supposed it was only a matter of time before beings like him showed up to investigate the odd disturbances this house had been undergoing. It wasn't even strange that he knew Yoshou and Aeyka on a personal basis (seems everyone knew them for some reason; then again seems a lot of people knew her too). No, what was really surprising was her, and she really hated calling her this, mother's pronouncement that Cyraqs was her son. It never really occurred to her that she had an older sibling out there, somewhere; though it probably should have; what with her...mother's story and all. Then there was the fact he always seemed to be watching her, even when he was training Tenchi in some skill or other. It wasn't really disconcerting. His manner always seemed warm, and patient. It was very strange for her to feel this kind of love (hell, other than her mother and Tenchi, Sasami too, she had never known love) from someone. Yet here it was from almost a complete stranger; always warm; always caring; always there. In all actuality she found it quite comforting. Yet there were things about him that bugged her. The fact that he seemed to know quite a bit about her for one. That was disconcerting, he always seemed to know how she would act in certain situations. That was it! She knew next to nothing about him, and she found she really, really wanted to. With that in mind she went in search of him. Well let's see, she thought to herself. It's around midnight so he is either one of two places his cabin or Washuu's lab. Debating between the two she decided to see if he was home. Strange things seemed to happen to her when she went to her mother's lab, and she really didn't want to chance Washuu being in that kind of mood. Teleporting inside his cabin (what she didn't know was that only certain people could enter this cabin like she did) she saw him sitting on his couch concentrating intently on some kind of pattern of light that was slowly growing bigger on the table. Fascinated she watched him for a time as the light shape seemed to actually begin to take on a shape and form similar to that of a woman. It was really quite good she could actually pick out individual details in the woman's face and body. It was quite late now. Here was something else odd about him. He didn't eat. He didn't breath. She idly wondered if he ever slept. "Not really." Woah, she didn't know she was talking to herself. He smiled warmly and looked up at her, "You weren't. You were just thinking so hard that I could actually hear you. So what brings you to my humble abode?" For some reason she sat down beside him on the couch; feeling totally at ease. "Umm...What were you doing?" "A beginners exercise." he explained as the shape disappeared, "Sometimes going back to the basics helps one get better in one's more advanced studies." They were silent for a long time. How could she broach this question to him? It wasn't something you normally asked people. She supposed she could just come out and say tell me your life's story, but that would sound odd to say the least. Normally she wouldn't be even having this problem, but she had never actually sat down and talked with someone about something (even though that's what she had come for); she was really unsure of how to do it. Throughout this he had been watching her with that same warm smile patiently waiting for her to speak. It seemed to her that he could probably wait from here to eternity for something; that put her at ease somewhat. Well, might as well come out and ask, she thought to herself. Mustering up her courage she began. "Uh...Well uh..." was all she could stammer out. Patiently he watched her and finally asked her a question, "What would you like to know about me, Ryouko?" She smiled a little shyly, but couldn't find anything she specifically wanted to know. Or to be more accurate she wanted to know everything, which was rather a general topic. "Then how about I tell you about it all. I think I can summarize it enough so it's not too lengthy, how 'bout that?" he asked her still smiling. "I guess that's a start." she said simply. "Very well." he said continuing to smile, "I am the product of two students of the Royal Space Academy of the planet Todain. They were madly in love with each other..."and more than likely still are, at least I can hope, "Their names are Hayes K'thardin and Washuu Hakubi, my parents." I suppose I could start at their beginning, it's one of my favorite stories anyway. At the time they were in the Academy , father and Washuu-Chan, were actively involved in how shall I put this...well basically the men and women of the science academy actively played a game that involved lots of practical jokes and thefts of very personal items. "Pantyraides." she wasn't too surprised her mother was involved in such things. "Basically." he said wryly. Anyway during one such venture one of my father's friends had admitted that he liked one of the ladies that they were pilfering from, but he was always too shy to ask her out. My father, being a most noble sort, set out to rectify said situation. The way he planned to accomplish this was most interesting. You see he knew for a fact that said girl liked his friend too, but wouldn't ask him out for the same reason. So he and a few others conceived of a relatively simple plan to get them together. It entailed kidnapping both of them and throwing them into the same room until they admitted their feelings for each other, or one of them killed the other, whichever came first. No I will not do that for you and Tenchi sis. So on the night that this grand scheme was to take place he set out to snag said girl; as his friends had already grabbed said guy (not too difficult as the guy was totally wasted). He tracked the girl (who had a friend, female, with her at the time) to a park that many students liked to go to study or other things. "Really?!" she asked, very surprised, "What exactly was she doing with this friend of hers?" "What the hell do you think?" he answered sarcastically. Anyway by this time father was incredibly drunk and stared in mute fascination at what he was watching. Somewhere along the line he remembered he had a job to do and decided to not wait for them to finish before he did it. Only problem was he wasn't seeing too well at the time. Oh great, she thought. "He didn't?" He was trying really hard not to laugh, "Yep, got the wrong girl." He grabbed her and wrapped her up in a carpet (don't ask even he didn't know) and took off. He was half way out of the park (It's about twenty square kilometers in area), before he realized the bundle he was carrying had flaming red hair, which was the wrong color as the lady he was supposed to get had blue hair. Oh was she pissed! "Wait a minute! Are you telling me that the lady he grabbed was..." she couldn't complete it. "Yes. It was our mother." he answered dryly. "And she was doing that with another girl?" He nodded his head rather wryly "Yes. You ought to hear some of the stories dad told me about her. From what he told me she was really irrepressible there." I'll save this info for future reference. It could definitely come in useful, she thought evilly. To continue. My father, realizing his mistake, quickly put her down and unwrapped her to reveal a very naked, very pissed, very beautiful red-head. He, being a most chivalrous sort (and drunk don't forget that), introduced himself to the lady he had taken by mistake. In all actuality she was most helpful in helping my father achieve his goal. That is after she got tired of trying to blast him; he is quite nimble you see. After that there was not a practical joke that went on that didn't have their combined signature attached to it; because after that little incident they were never seen apart. "So when do you come into the picture?" she asked "I'm getting to that." There was a certain night on the planet Todain that many strange things happen. It is called the night of the moons. What that is, is that once a year all seven of Todain's moons are full at the same time. It was on that night I was conceived next to a lake within aforementioned park (In fact most children on that world are conceived on that night; strange). Realizing what had happened, and not too adverse to the idea, they decided to get married. No it wasn't like that, they were already going to get married, it's just my arrival bumped up the date a few months is all. I was born three months later. Anyway we lived happily like that for a few months. Around that time the Universe decided that it didn't like my family anymore and decided to put us through hell. No, I take that back. Hell would have been an improvement compared to what happened next. My uncle, whom I was named for by the way, was mortally wounded in one of our Empire's innumerable interfamily altercations, i.e. he was killed in a family feud. My uncle was heir to the family, but with him dead it fell to father. I can only thank Kami-sama that mother was on a school assignment at the time the people who told him this came. His parents (those bastards) message told him what had happened and recalled him to the home world immediately. He was to break all ties before he went, or if he was reluctant to do so, they would do it for him. Ryouko realized what he meant and was shocked "They would have killed her." "Yes they would have." he said bitterly. He knew there was no way he could protect her indefinitely, and wherever he might run, they would find him. So, severing all ties, he packed everything up, and left with me. He took me because I was his bastard. Oh yeah, that's what they considered me. You see they would never have approved of Washuu as his wife because (and I'll kill anyone says this to my face) she was not of noble blood. But because Hayes was my father I might pose problems for the family in the future, and normally such children were killed. My father protected me by giving me the name 'ip K'thardin; the 'ip stands for 'in service to' or in this case 'in service to the family K'thardin'. This meant I would never become head of the family; he as much as disowned me to protect me. Later my father was forced to marry a very gentle lady by the name of Akemi House Tolarin. They had a son, my brother, Ryuken K'thardin. "Wait a minute...you have a brother?" she asked. "Not technically, but I'll tell you this, he'll fight anyone to the death who says I'm not his brother." he said in all seriousness. Very early in our life we were given to the Deneign warrior priests for out schooling and training; just like our father and his brother. It's a great honor as they only accept certain beings for such training. Only problem is we, like they did, learned what honor and duty truly was, not what the families of the Tetran Empire have twisted it to become. And like them we also are Deneign warrior priests (animation note: he pulls off the glove on his left hand to reveal a tattoo of a dragon atop a phoenix). Their symbol. While we were there we were trained in everything from poetry to creation physics; from fighting to making love. Don't look at me like that it's true. Be good at all things is one of the credos. At the end of our training we returned home. We found our father already making plans for our...revenge." "Revenge? Against what?" Ryouko asked confused. "Against the entire Fucking Empire." We were going to take down the very society that caused all our pain and suffering. We considered many ways to do this, but every way except one seemed doomed to failure. The most plausible way we figured was to start a war of mutual annihilation between all the families. Problem with that one was that though the families fought each other constantly, it was always seriptiously; behind each other's back, use whatever euphemism you want. Anyway outright war was not something any family wanted. Very bad for business. It seemed like the best way, but we knew because of that reason it was going to take a very long time to set up. Though it's almost done now; very soon in fact. Anyway slowly, secretly we turned the families openly against each other by killing a few right people (or wrong people, depending on your point of view), stole a few things here and there, left a few false clues at bombings and such; you get the idea, right? "I get the idea, but didn't any of your other relatives try to stop you?" she asked. Cyraqs didn't answer immediately, but when he did his voice was ice cold, "To answer your question; we ,Ryuken and I, knew that our grandparents would most likely try to stop us. So I...engineered an...accident." Ryouko could hardly believe that this seemingly kind and gentle man could so casually do what he just implied he did. "You killed them?" "And never thought twice about it." Yes it did chill her, but then again she would have probably done the same thing, as they were going to kill him and Washuu. So for the next couple of thousand years, give or take the odd century, we devoted our every waking moment to turning the families against each other. My father...he never liked the killing part, though it was necessary. That and he could never forgive himself for hurting Washuu, though he saved both her and my life. It has hurt him so bad I not sure if he'll...well never mind. If it wasn't for Akemi I don't think his mind would have stayed in tact in those early years. We owe her a debt that can never be repaid. We couldn't even save her; her and a lot of others. "I'm sorry." Ryouko said sympathetically. "It's...well, there's nothing that can be done about it." He sighed sadly and continued. For some reason I had been growing discontent with what I was doing. I had no real problems, like father; no mine was more selfish, and to this day I wish I could have controlled myself. What I mean is I was growing short with people, I was preoccupied during dangerous missions; hell I couldn't even perform simple meditation exercises. My father had known this would happen (how I don't know) and sent my Ass off to the science academy. A little red light went off in Ryouko's mind. "Ummmmm..." "Yes I was there for awhile." he grinned "I never told her who I truly was, she knows now of course, but that's because there is no reason to keep the secret anymore." Interested she wanted to know more. "So what happened next?" His entire manner turned very grim, and he didn't speak for a long moment. "Lets just say that around a few centuries later I became what I am now through very unpleasant means. I really don't want to talk about that." I hurts to even think about, "And really that's all there is to me. Since then I take care of various individuals and organizations that are universally detrimental, help my family when I can, and, when I can, I accept beings that wish it, as my students." Summarized was an understatement. There were gaps in it centuries wide, but she could sense whatever he wasn't talking about was causing him a great deal of pain to even think about. She did not press further on that; knowing he would tell her in good time. There were a couple of things that she needed answered for some reason, though why she did not know. "How is your family?" ` "My brother, despite all that has happened to him personally, is probably the least affected by the constant struggle." he sighed bitterly, "He always was the strongest one. My nefew, his only son, is well on his way to becoming a grandmaster of the Deneign's. We've tried to keep him out as much as possible, but like us, he will not abandon his family. Goddamn kid." He mumbled that last part, but she still heard it and the rueful tone of the statement. He really cares a great deal for his family. She was almost afraid to ask the next obvious question after he fell silent. "And your father?" "My father..." he said quietly, "...father is dying. He only lives to see the culmination of our plans, and will not survive long after." He laughed then, quietly and bitterly, "The price of guilt and grief." To this she had nothing to say. Her own life wasn't even her own until recently, and in that time she'd been through hell. Here she realized was someone else who'd been through hell as well. Someone who could truly understand what she had been through; better than that, it was her brother that could understand her. Still she was a trifle envious of him. He always had someone he could turn to no matter how bad it got; she never had that. But still what was with him? How could he just accept her like he did? Did he not know what she had done? How she was made? "The nature of your creation and past does not control who you are now." he said hearing her thoughts, "It doesn't change that we...I love you." He smiled at her then, and in his smile she could see the truth of his words. It was all she could do to blink back that the tears that formed at her eyes. How could he love me so unconditionally, she wondered again. "Because you are my sister. Because I have grown attached to you in the short time I have been here. Because you have had a hard life like me, and at times are a lot alike me because of that. And the biggest reason; because I do, for no reason at all." He gently reached over and pulled her into a crushing embrace, letting her let all the feelings she had pent up over the centuries out. What they were even she wasn't sure; they were too many and intense to be sorted out. But whatever they happened to be, he let her share them with him. After the tears subsided, still in Cyraqs' arms, she decided it was good thing to have her brother with her now. It was a truly good thing. End 4 Authors note: If you can't tell family is very important to me. They are the people that help shape who you are and help you when most need it. It's a very sad thing when a family cannot be there for each other. Anyway enough preaching; questions? comments? constructive criticisms? (flames without meaning will be read laughed at and sent to wherever deleted files go when they are dumped off a hard drive) I'm at nolendr@boxer.navy.mil.