DYNASTY - CHAPTER EIGHT - PART A
By Sydney Kyle <celenas77@aol.com>

Author's note: Sorry if it's taken me so long to post this
chapter. I'm beginning to take an interest in making CG 
pictures and stuff (mostly of Ranma 1/2), and I'm afraid that
I've neglected this fic for a while.

Anyway, I decided that it was time to get back to writing 
this fic now that it's got its own homepage (thanks, Miko! 
You're the bomb!) at 

http://move.to/dynasty/

Check it out if you're curious or if you missed the previous
chapters of "Dynasty". The page also has my first CG picture
(or should I say banner) to be put on the 'Net. 

Thanks to all of you who wrote to me--although I wasn't able 
to reply to all of you, I want you to know that I appreciate
your input. So here's the first part of Chapter Eight--the
second part will come in two weeks or so. 

Enjoy!

                       =========================
                          * * * DYNASTY * * *          
                          A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
                       =========================                

                              * * * * * *

                       =========================
                             CHAPTER EIGHT:
                                 Part A
                                Legends
                       =========================

   "HEYA, EVERYBODY! WE'RE HOOOOOOME!!!"

   Genma and Soun froze in their contemplation of the shogi 
board. Kasumi stopped suddenly as she entered the living room 
with some tea. Nabiki ceased her perpetual counting of the 
yen in her fingers. Akari halted her grooming session of 
Katsunishiki out in the porch. Ukyou and Akane looked like 
they'd been slapped in their faces.

   Their heads all simultaneously turned toward the hallway 
that led from the front door of the Tendo dojo.

   Four figures stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the 
spears of moonlight that broke through the velvet evening.

   For one brief, heart-stopping minute, no one said 
anything.

   Akane scrambled to her feet and spoke. "R-Ranma?"

   The boy in the white Chinese shirt snorted derisively. "Of 
_course_ it's me, you dumb macho chick--"

   He braced himself for the mallet that would invariably 
find its way onto his skull after he ran off at the mouth. 
Instead, he was caught completely off-guard as Akane Tendo--
without the help of Shampoo's passion spice or under the 
possession of any kind of evil spirit--voluntarily threw 
herself into Ranma Saotome's arms.

   "Ranma! It _is_ you!" Akane sobbed, embracing him tightly. 
"I--I--wasn't sure that you--"

   Everyone gaped in shock, but none more so than Ranma.

   He just stood there, an idiotic expression on his 
countenance, his arms dangling limply at his sides, his eyes 
glazing over into a limp blue, his mind totally devoid of any 
sort of coherent thought.

   Unfortunately he snapped back to his senses. "Aw, geez, 
get a grip, Akane. I'm fine. It ain't like I was gonna die or 
anythin', ya know..."

   Akane blinked, suddenly realizing what she was doing. She 
immediately disentangled herself from him and shoved him back 
so abruptly that he reeled back, arms flailing as he fought 
for some sort of leverage. "Uhm, no--o-of _course_ not," she 
stammered, quickly composing herself. "What was I thinking? I 
mean, you're _always_ all right, Ranma."

   Ranma gawked at her, rubbing the back of his neck. He was 
on the verge of opening his mouth to deliver a retort when 
Ukyou Kuonji jumped up and enveloped him in a tight hug.

   "Of course he's always all right," she declared 
confidently. "We _all_ know Ranma-honey can't be beat. Right, 
Ranma-honey?" 

   The room watched their performance with interest.

   A sweat dollop materialized at the back of Ranma's head. 
"Uh, well...I guess so." The dollop grew bigger as he saw 
Akane staring daggers at him over Ukyou's white ribbon.

   Mousse was grinning as if in an oblivious daze. Shampoo 
was pinning Ukyou with her patented Amazon Death Stare. And 
Ryouga...well, Ryouga was been watching everything that had 
happened with a pensive, wistful look that was so rarely seen 
on his face.

   He had known full well that his spell of happiness 
wouldn't last. Walking into the Tendo dojo had certainly 
confirmed that.  

   <Akane didn't even notice me,> he thought sadly. <It's as 
if I'm not even alive--not to her anyway. All she could see 
was Ranma...>

   His mind was beginning to wander into its usual territory--
the utter destruction of Ranma--when Ryouga suddenly became 
aware of a pair of decidedly female arms snaking around his 
waist.

   He glanced down, almost absently, and was stunned to see 
Akane Tendo staring up at him with glittering dark eyes.

   His brain, naturally, shorted out.

   "I'm glad to see that you're okay, too, Ryouga," she 
confessed.

   And then she did something that would forever be singed 
into Ryouga's memory.

   Akane stood on her tiptoes, tenderly kissed him on the 
cheek, and whispered something in his ear. 

   In any other occasion, this little gesture would have 
given Ryouga Hibiki a dead faint, a coma, or a nosebleed that 
would have made old Faithful proud. 

   This time, however, his reaction was nothing of the above. 
Instead, it was radically different.

   The dazed expression on his face disappeared, and was 
replaced by something entirely different--something 
unreadable.

   Akane continued to smile up at him while the entire room 
face-faulted. 

   Ranma just stared in disbelief, his jaw dropping to the 
floor. 

* * * * * *

   The spring night was moderately warm and comfortable, but 
when one was soaking wet and barely-dressed, it was as cold 
as hell.

   There was no way to tell where they were. From what the 
one in the in the lead could tell, they were located on some 
hill overlooking an enigmatically familiar town...

   There was something leaping about on the rooftops. 

   Something small, diminutive, and troll-like...

   It was heading toward an enigmatically familiar dojo.

* * * * * *

   The first thing that Ryouga was aware of was Ukyou yelling 
at him.

   Well, she wasn't really yelling at him.
 
   She was _crooning_.
  
   _That_ was what snapped him out of his reverie.

   Ukyou was gripping him by his shirtfront with both hands, 
shaking him in a way that made his head was loll back and 
forth. He felt an odd sense of deja-vu.

   "Why, Ryouga-hon, _I'm_ glad to see you, too," she gushed 
in a sugary-sweet tone. "Why don'cha tell me what you were up to, silly?"

   Ryouga blinked, hearing alarm bells go off in his head. "H-huh?"   

   She peeked up at him from under her long dark lashes. "Why 
don't I TELL you later, sweetie," she drawled demurely, 
releasing her hold on his collar. Ryouga's confusion was 
piqued as she tossed him a sly wink. "Just watch for my sign--
if you know what I mean..."

   Ryouga raised an eyebrow. He recognized that look on her 
eyes. Ukyou Kuonji was definitely cooking up a plan--and 
apparently, he had a part to play in it. He didn't know 
whether to listen to what she had up her sleeve or run away shrieking.

   Oh, well. He would hear what she had to say later. But for 
now, there was something else on his mind...

   Akari was trying her very best to glower at Ukyou as she 
encircled her arms possessively around Ryouga. Meanwhile, 
Ranma was bickering yet again with his fiancee.

   "Well, gee, Akane, I didn't know you had the hots for Ryouga now."

   "Oh, grow up, Ranma. It was just a little kiss."

   "Oh, just a leedle kiss now, is it? You also whispered 
somethin' in his ear, too. And what was that--'ooh, Ryouga, 
you're looking so manly tonight'?"

   "Wouldn't _you_ want to know." Akane smirked.

   "Well, what was it?!?" Ranma was getting annoyed.

   "Why don't you tell me where _you_ were first, huh?"

   "I think that's a good idea," Genma interrupted, standing 
up from his position by the shogi board. 

   Soun rose beside him, arms crossed sternly. "Indeed," he 
agreed, his features solemn. "From the beginning."

   Ranma was able to abandon his argument with Akane long 
enough to exchange conspiratorial glances with Ryouga, 
Shampoo, and Mousse.

   "Might as well," Ryouga shrugged, not meeting Ranma's 
eyes. Akari regarded him quizzically, her arms still clasped 
loosely around him.

   Ranma nodded and trained his gaze back on the others. "All 
right."

   "This had better be interesting," murmured Nabiki, 
carefully putting away her stack of yen.

   "Oh, yes," Kasumi seconded. "Did anything happen to you 
while you were away?"

   A broad smile slowly slithered across Ranma's mouth. "Why 
don't I show you?" he suggested cunningly. With that, he 
seized a nearby vase filled with water and dumped it on his 
father's head.

   "GROWF!!!" A cry of indignation escaped a sopping wet 
Genma, now in panda form.    

   "What is the meaning of--?!"

   Ranma raised a finger, effectively silencing Soun. "Watch 
and learn," he drawled with the trademark impertinence that 
never failed to make Akane's head steam. 

   The audience remained wary, however, as Ranma plucked a 
small canteen out of Ryouga's hand and unscrewed the cap. He 
then tilted it, intending to empty out the contents onto his 
father's now-furry top.

   Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane, Akari, and Ukyou watched him 
in aghast fascination.

   "Oh, hold on a minute," said Ranma.

   He reached over, produced a ratty old dressing gown 
seemingly out of thin air, and tossed it recklessly around 
the huge fidgeting animal. 

   "Just in case," he informed the spectators with a shrug. 

   Without further ado he tipped over the container 
completely and emptied the contents on the agitated panda's 
furry top.

   And almost immediately, the main room of the Tendo Dojo 
was flooded with a blinding greenish-blue light.

* * * * * *   

   The figure threw up its arm to block against the sudden 
illumination. A moment later, it lowered its arm, adjusting 
its vision to the eerie glow that poured out of the dojo's 
windows. The brilliance seeped from every crack and crevice, 
pouring across the grounds and streaking across the back yard 
and over the Kori pond like molten turquoise.

   There was a horrible sense of impending doom that washed 
over the figure as it recognized the hue of the light that 
streamed out of the Tendo dojo.

   The light intensified, infusing the entire structure, so 
that the whole building began to glow a vivid, eerie blue-
green. 

   And for a few seconds, the light turned the night into 
day.

* * * * * *
   
   The glow finally began to dim.

   The denizens of the Tendo dojo lowered their arms one by 
one, blinking tentatively as they focused once more on the 
spot where Genma-panda had been.

   Except this time there was no bulky, beady-eyed panda 
wearing a ratty old dressing gown as it sat on the tatumi mat.

   This time there was only a bulky, beady-eyed, waterlogged 
human man wearing a ratty old dressing gown sitting on the 
tatumi mat where the panda used to be.

   The onlookers were stupefied.

   Genma looked even more stupefied than the rest.

   "So...does that answer your question?" Ranma queried, 
grinning smugly as he twirled the canteen on the finger of 
his left hand.

   They all just stared.

   Ranma tapped his foot impatiently. "Well?"

   They continued to stare.

   Ranma was extremely dissatisfied with their seeming lack 
of a reaction, and was determined to make this known. "Aw, 
geez--"

   Without warning, something sailed swiftly by his head, 
missing his ear by a couple centimeters, and neatly nailed 
the canteen in his hand.

   The container promptly shattered into a million pieces.

   "What the--?" Ranma sputtered, falling back into an 
automatic battle stance.

   He glanced up, baffled, and his gaze settled on the bantam 
form that was outlined in the middle of the hole that had 
appeared magically on one of the walls of the Tendo dojo.

   An enigmatically familiar form...

   Shampoo started forward, ignoring the beginnings of a Soun Tendo property-
damage wail. 

   "Great...great-grandmother?" she ventured tentatively.

   The aged Chinese Amazon named Cologne shifted her gaze 
from the shattered container and fixed it on her 
flabbergasted granddaughter. "Greetings, Shampoo. I'm back."

   The next moment she was barraged by questions from all 
sides.

   "Where in the world've you been?" inquired Ukyou.

   "Did you see the Chinese Amazon elders like you said?" Mousse demanded.

   "That'll be of no consequence once she hears what's happened to us," Ryouga
scoffed.

   "How can you be certain? We haven't consulted her yet," argued Mousse.

   Cologne beat them all off with her staff, which she pried out of the wall
with several of the canteen fragments. "Quiet, all of you, if you want to know
the knowledge I have accumulated while I was gone!"

   They all shut up. Then Shampoo scooted over to her.   

   "Great-grandmother..." She squatted down respectfully next to her. "Great-
grandmother, what you break water bottle for?"

   "Yeah, that's what _I_ want to know," said Ranma dryly. 

   Cologne pinned him with a solemn glare. "One question first. Where did the
water in that container come from?"

   "I don't see what this has to do with anything!" Ranma protested.

   "_Where_did_the_water_come_from_?!" 

   Ranma blinked. The old crone's tone meant business. "We--we took it from
some cave..."

   "_What_ cave?" Cologne persisted, a desperate undertone seeping into her
voice. 

   A sinking feeling slithered into Ranma's heart. "Yasakami."

   Cologne's eyes slowly squeezed shut, and when she opened them again, they
held a grimness that Ranma had never seen in 
her before. 

   "Great-grandmother, what wrong?" cried Shampoo, now alarmed.
	
   The old woman scanned the sea of apprehensive faces before heaving a deep,
resigned sigh. "Sit down," said she, taking her place on top of the table in
the midst of the room. "I have a story to tell you--a legend, rather--about
the Dynasty of the Dragon, and perhaps you will understand its connection to
the Cave of Yasakami..."

* * * * * *

   "Are you certain Ryu informed them about the Cave?"
	
   The messenger bowed deeply, his red robes gleaming in the 
opalescent illumination of the underground chamber. "Hai, Master Shiro. They
fell right into our trap."

   The youthful leader of the Dragon clan let the smallest hint of a smirk
drift into his tanned, chiseled features. "Excellent."

   "Shall I notify Lord Takuma, Master Shiro?" the messenger queried.
	
   "Certainly," agreed the boy, rather carelessly. "After all, doesn't he have
the right to be aware that his targets are no longer certifiable if they are
now 'cured' of their dual identities?" 

   The messenger peered at him. "Lord Takuma will not be pleased," he
observed, taking care not to seem as if he were contradicting his master's
words. "If I heard correctly, I am certain that he was determined to eliminate
the last five on the list as he did the others."

   "He was, wasn't he?" murmured Shiro. A grunt forced its way out of his
mouth as he glanced down at his bruised arm.

   "Master Shiro?" The envoy shifted his weight restlessly from one foot to
the other. "Are you all right?"

   Shiro grimaced a little. "It's nothing. Just a repercussion of the clan's
tussle with the upperworlders and their allies."

   The messenger raised an eyebrow. "Are they--are they that good?"

   "They are," Shiro admitted against clenched teeth. "In fact, they put up a
much better fight than I expected. That town Nerima is full of martial
artists. Very good ones, I must say." Then another smirk curled his lips.
"Just not good enough."

   "Of course not," the emissary agreed. "Getting back to Lord Takuma...don't
you think that he might be--if I may say so--_irked_ to learn about this
newest transpiration of events?"

   "Yes, Lord Takuma would be rather annoyed to know that we chose not to
finish them off," went on Shiro in a monotone, examining the richly-detailed
hilt of his curved sword. "It _would_ be such a blow to him if he were to find
out that he no longer has the justification to apprehend them..." He slipped
the blade back into its jeweled scabbard. "...but still, he knows better than
to question the will of the Emperor and Empress, does he not?"

   The dispatcher shook his head vehemently. "No, of course not, Master Shiro.
Lord Takuma would not dare go against the Emperor and Empress's wishes, even
if they are in contradiction to his own."

   "Exactly." Shiro grinned disarmingly. "In fact, maybe it would all be for
the best if Takuma were to learn that he is not the one with the authority in
this empire."

   The messenger genuflected, then swiveled around to depart. Then, out of
curiosity, he twisted his head around and directed one final question to the
pensive-looking young man behind him. "Master Shiro, if I may be so bold, may
I inquire as to _why_ the Emperor and Empress do not want these last
upperworlders taken like the others? Are they not the ones who threaten the
reemergence of the Dynasty?"

   Shiro regarded him calmly. "They are," he answered. "But see, they have
taken quite a special interest in these upperworlders--and they don't want
them dead just _yet_." 

   The emissary nodded thoughtfully. "I...see. But, master Shiro...what
happens after they are supposedly 'purged' of their dual personalities? If
that is so and the oracles were right, then they would no longer be considered
a threat to the Dynasty--"

   Shiro waved a dismissive hand. "It is not that easy, comrade. But if they
_have_ been cured by the Cave of Yasakami, then all we have to do now is lean
back, wait, and then send out the oracle." He rubbed his palms together,
chuckling. "And then _they_ will come to us..."
 
To be Continued in Part B