1945

Notes: This was actually meant to be a one shot and somehow it ended up being three parts wrong. I model a lot of this from Josef Stalin's rule. The first year in the last chapter (1917, the year of the beginning of the Russian Revolution, and in which the US went against the communists) was the year of the beginning of the Cold War according to Stephen Ambrosse in his book Rise to Globalism. (I think he was a jerk so that's a tongue in cheek comment.) The period from then on is actually the events leading to the Cold War… Along with the US's reluctant alliance with the USSR. The years featured in this chapter are the years that are the beginning of the Cold War til the oncoming end to it. (I didn't know we were in a history class.)
…Also, the years have nothing to do with the year of the story. They're… metaphorical. Kind of.

.1945-1989.

I never noticed this before… Mukuro is suspicious. Sickly suspicious. "He" is really shifty-eyed and "he" has to know exactly what his assistants are doing all of the time. "He" has to have a copy of all of the newspapers published in the country. I don't know if "he" actually reads them all… But "he" might.

Let me define the level of suspicion. Here's a rule of must never touch the king. Yes, it's common sense, but "he" takes it to an extreme. Only "he" can touch you if "he" wants to. (Which actually gets explained later on.) I used to think it was purely because "he" was afraid of assassination. "He" was also unwilling to make many public appearances. "He" claimed "he" doesn't like too many of those super-patriots (or as "he" called them- fanatics). I am beginning to believe that it was all fear of assassination. It's strange considering that "he" could easily blow them to pieces if "he" wanted to.

Being in a high government position like I was is a pretty stressful one. There's a high rate of suicide- for people who feel that they've failed the king. (Or so everyone says. You don't know if they were also fearing the secret police.) A lot of people have the tendency to disappear. They go on vacation and either don't return or get assassinated. That's only when the media decided to play it straight and take a risk. Obviously I've had no first hand experience and this is all speculation. But who's word are you gonna take right now?

I remember once I had to talk to the kind alone so when I confronted "him" "he" turned around with a knife in "his" hand (at which point I learned that "he" always carried such things with "him") and "he" stabbed me in the stomach. The next thing I remember I was laying in a bed in a room I didn't recognize and Mukuro was standing over me.

"He" said to me, "I'm really sorry for what I did to you back there. I've been through some tough times and well, I don't take surprises like that all too well. If you've seen what I have then you'd do the same."

Did that make my stabbing justified? I couldn't eat solids for a week because of that. Didn't help much that THE GENERAL decided to think it was all a big joke. He came in later and slapped me in the back after I sat up. It hurt like a fucking bitch too.

He said, "So you got hit in the gut? Guy's done it to me a few times and I damn near pissed myself every time. Yeah, you'll pull through. You're a tough guy. You're army strong (Yes, I shit you not, he really said army strong) unlike most people these days… That's also why I picked you kid! You can still do work, right? You're back to eating solids now, I see…"

"I have a family history of ulcers and I've gotten one before," I replied and I tried really hard not to sound bitter or anything. The guy doesn't care either way as long as he got his two cents in. Though I did have the right to be angry, I think.

"Ulcers? You get ulcers? You got stress?"

"No. I dunno. We just have it in our family."

"Ulcers sounds pretty human. Those guys get 'em pretty bad. It's pretty fucking hard to enjoy some good tripe when they get ulcers… Oh, shit, corporal, don't look so down. I forgot you were from that area. You know I didn't mean it that way. You're not that weak."

Okay, compare being called human to being called a cow. It's that similar. You're comparing yourself to food. That makes you weak. …Though truth be told, human is a real delicacy om my country (even more so for those in Raizen's, you know, before he outlawed it). It's something only upperclassmen get to enjoy here. (So doesn't it make sense that Mukuro eating humans to "his" heart's content make even more sense?) Up until I got this position I never enjoyed human before. It's actually quite good. Until one day in boredom I watched some quantum physicist discussing humans.

Here's an excerpt I found from his speech:

"So our world and the world of humans is connected, yes? In
the same way that humans are connected to the Spirit World?
Why the connection to the Spirit World? They go there when
they die apparently. Yes, I know. I've talked with them.
What's that? Why didn't I just eat them and go my own way?
Well, let me continue… I'm getting to that in a minute.

"But see, it's sentiment like that that would lead us all to go
straight to Occam's Razor syndrome. We're connected to
the humans simply because they're here to be our source
of food. But then, why do we have other sources of meat
here? Why do we have the equivalent of human meat sources
here? We do we live in similar fashions as humans? Why do
some of us even appear to be human? Wouldn't those individuals
have less a chance at survival from an evolutionary
standpoint, than a demon who is larger and more fierce in
appearance? We even put limits on the physiques of our
soldiers for God's sake!

"You want to know why? We're alternate realities. So if
you were to go into the human world thinking, 'Oh it's
an all you can eat buffet' know this. You're them and they're
you. All of you are parodied in those humans. So when
you eat that nice rib cage and maybe that woman's
thighs and hell if you're that high up, that human caviar-
please tell me how that works, by the way- know that your
parodied self could be the one on the plate."

I found myself unable to enjoy a human after that to say the least.

But I'm way off topic now, aren't I? The point is I have the potential to be missing work and could be killed due to that mindset. Do I blame "him"? I really don't know. I don't know what "he's" been through so I can only guess. Does the fact that "he" may have been through a lot, enough to cause, say post-traumatic stress disorder justify possibly killing me- killing anyone at all?

Something else I noticed. Now, let me tell you this first. For hundreds of years we've been in an arms race with Yomi. Almost ever since the guy got into power with his fifth or sixth attempt. (I believe he proposed a communist revolution… A revolution that went well thus allowing Yomi to succeed. All it took fopr that to happen was for him to get the peasants of Raizen's unnamed territory and the near serfs on our homeland. As a side note, the families of those near serfs are ordered to be promptly killed should they return here, regardless of whether they sincerely want to come back. We have border patrol mainly for that reason. I applaud him for taking common sense into account but it shouldn't take that many goddamn tries to figure it out.) Within ten years, Yomi launched the Ten Year Plan- a plan which would jumpstart the growth of technology, which worked out beautifully if I have to say so- and so with its new-found title of the technology capital of the world, Mukuro felt compelled to create a similar program. That program was barely passing the mark in success.

Yomi then, apparently believing he was in danger of being outdone then extended his program to be the Twenty Year Plan. And as a side note neither one of these plans were to be completed in ten or twenty years. They were actually three years each I believe. Then there was the creation of the atomic bomb.

That day THE GENERAL, Mukuro and the foreign correspondence who name I believe was FUJITA TETSUYA (it doesn't matter. He died the following year and was replaced by FUJIMORI SUGURU.) and I gathered in a room.

"Do you know why I called you in here today?" Mukuro asked. Of course we had to answer no even if we knew damn well what the hell we were called in for. "FUJITA, if you will."

FUJITA nodded and turned on the projector. "We just received some troubling information from NAME OMITTED ALTOGETHER. Now," he showed us a picture of the infamous mushroom cloud, "what you see here on this screen is the explosion from I believe it's a thousand yards away from the test bombing. This bomb is called the atomic bomb and apparently how they create it is by breaking apart an atom. It also has the potential to destroy a city the size of the capital. For those who aren't killed by the bomb could get hit by the heat and those who still survive the whole thing and tell the tale could likely expose them to radiation."

"Radiation? Explain," THE GENERAL said.

"I was not given information on the concept but from prior knowledge I know that it can cause a disease called cancer… which is a mutation of your body's cells and tissues which can cause the organs stop their functioning… Then death. This is a quick overview. If there is anything at all you wish for me to expand upon please ask me."

"Is it just a bomb or is it dropped off a plane?" I asked.

FUJITA considered it. "Yeah, at this point it's dropped off a plane."

"What if we we watched the skies and then blew it up before it hits the ground?"

"That could work… Let me confirm it with NAME OMITTED. The radiation will continue to be an issue, I'm afraid."

"What if we all do survive? What if we went underground to avoid the blast? Would the radiation go down there too, and if it doesn't, how long do we have to stay down to survive?"

"As far as I know, it doesn't go down but I'd have to confirm that with NAME OMITTED as well. I have a feeling the radiation would last years."

"For us, years are only an hour's inconvenience. Now FUJITA, tell me. How many of these bombs are currently in existence?" Mukuro asked.

"Only one. That was the back up. I suspect mass production. When he has time NAME OMITTED will send us all the notes from his own research- and he had one of the largest roles in this case-to us when he has the time. It will be soon as he told me. Yomi won't find a use for them he has his bombs in a large quantity. With these notes we can easily duplicate his bomb."

"Good. Keep us updated." Thus began the race. When we successfully detonated our own bomb, Yomi immediately saw a new threat and suspected espionage. With that, we never heard from NAME OMITTED again. Obviously he had to know if he could hear everything. I often wondered how NAME OMITTED was able to give us all the information. Let's just be glad (or put on that face and leave each meeting without much peace) that he was able to give us all the information we had.

Now, here's the interesting paradox we happened to encounter. Yomi was well versed in dealing with technology. Due to his constant strives to be worlds ahead of everyone technologically speaking, his country is usually in a recession. Our country has funding but we don't have the ability to top Yomi in that respect. That's not to say that we couldn't make a better death trap than Yomi. We can and we can do it within seconds. Where Yomi can improve knowledge of electronics, Mukuro can easily conjure up a new way to commit mass murder. "He" knows the chemicals that could cause your lungs to irritate so much that you can't breathe. "He" knows what parasites will literally eat you alive snd the beasts best used to rip a man apart. The poisons that cause the slowest and most painful death. The parts of the body to avoid killing a man during torture. Hell, give "him" any object and "he" will find a way to murder someone with it. No lie. Camera? Flash it enough times to cause a lethal seizure. A lamp? Oh, don't get "him" started on those. (For those who are wondering how this topic came into conversation… Don't ask. I'm wondering the same thing you are, too.) "He" will find a way to kill but the issue is finding the way to make it happen.

Our scientists are also government workers and most of them are [brainwashed] prisoners of war from Grandara. Should our POW volunteers fail, they get sent to what's called Pugatorio. (I think this is a word from the human language called Italian. It's from humans. That's all I know for sure.) It's… It's a labor camp. You live in a barbed wire prison for a certain amount of years (the years it takes to redeem yourself apparently) with barely enough food to survive assuming no one steals it from you. No one has returned from Purgatorio. The sentences are typically ridiculously long and the conditions are not made to fulfill these sentences. (I've heard factory workers also suffer the same fate. I don't know. Gladly I've never been to one. I suppose it would also be appropriate to give my replacement's word on such things once again. (Do I have to introduce Hiei to you again?) "what the point of having people get tortured when you're not the one doing it? It doesn't make any damn sense." I don't know if that's humanity, genius, or sadism.)

For our own men, needless to say, they have high standards set by the king and set by themselves. High suicide rate.

That being said, I get to my main point. We came to a time when we were constantly at war (which when I started with my new job I took with intense longing as I wanted to return to the front. What can I say? Being a soldier is the greatest honor a man can have in my hometown. In later years, I began to become perfectly fine with noty being a soldier. Too much bullshit.) Let me clarify, the battle was just over borders. We did have weapons of mass destruction but we never used them. But I never recall ever being at war with Raizen. I think we never went into war with each other since Yomi came to power but info on this whole thing are hard to come by. (For some reason, the guy really liked to dick around with Mukuro. Maybe he thought Raizen was too easy to defeat.) For some reason, the newspapers claimed we were at war with Yomi and Raizen was the neutral party. The next day was the other way around. Then some weeks they got creative and made both parties our enemies. We never win nor does the war ever win. We have extended periods of armistices. (But isn't that all peacemaking really is?) To be a soldier is a life long commitment. You basically sign your own death certificate when you enlist. It's a great honor but no turning point is ever allowed.

I do remember asking THE GENERAL about it. He shrugged and replied, "If you notice things like that, you might be thinking too much. People these days don't think like that you know. Just face it, corporal, we live in a world where we can only look out for our own. We can't afford to have alliances with either of those two because the second they get a chance they can and will stab us in the back. And you know pretty damn well that an alliance means you're willing to show your weaknesses and once the tables are turned then we will be taken advantage of. Fucking… People these days are untrustworthy."

Now I didn't want to just leave it at that. Besides, that rant didn't even really answer my question. "Well, we'd know their weakness so we'd be equals, won't we? Hell, depending on who it is, we'd be more than equals. If that's the way it is then we can prepare to attack that weakness and be ready to protect our own."

"What, you don't think they'd be doing the same?"

"I'm sure they would. I won't argue with you on those points. I just wanted to know hy the hell the paper can argue on who we're supposed to be at war with. I don't think it's possible for someone to be at war with one country one week and not the next- this whole business of flip-flopping allies and constantly mobilizing armies one place to the next… It doesn't make any damned sense to me."

"Do you really want to ask that, corporal?"

I wish he acknowledged that I had a name. "Excuse me?"

"It sounds like you're overstepping your boundaries. That you're questioning the integrity of Lord Mukuro's actions."

"Since when do the newspapers dictate what Lord Mukuro's intentions? All they do is repeat what they heard to everyone else."

"Oh, is that it corporal? Is that all? Why have it then rather than a town gossip?"

Then this voice entered the conversation. "Such impassioned speeches?" We both turned around and there was the king standing there, though "he" sounded a bit confused. "He" just stood there silently demanding to know what's going on so I gave "him" the barest facts from the whole exchange. "He" blinked and finally said, "You know the newspapers often lie, don't you? I could tell you the ones who are the consistent offenders and the ones who generally speak the truth. Didn't you hear the saying you can't believe everything you see on TV? It's the same thing. Ask a soldier friend. They'll set all the questions you have straight."

Now that was a truth. Okay a partial truth. "He" admitted that the media was lying to the viewer but what "he" didn't say was that they did it because they had to if they wanted to continue their career and their lives. Apparently other citizens are very submissive or vry stupif to accept these types of things. I hope it's the first one. Neither of the two could account for the constant changes though. I wish I could contact the other soldiers so I can make sure that we were still at war. You can't tell from the capital the same way you can't tell if there's a hurricane at the other side of the country without telling you.

Another word on the arms race… We came very close to seeing a nuclear holocaust in the face. There was a thunderstorm in Grandara. It's plagued by that sort of stuff. It just happened to strike a launch pad nd it launched one of its biggest nukes which I believe was something cheesy like STARGATE, and it hit a glacier off the coast of Shizuoka. For a while, we suspected water contamination. Immediately Mukuro threatened retaliation and within moments our own nukes were pointed at them. Yomi was not quick to answer and we were not quick to attack.

Yomi finally sent a message of apology and stated that it was all because of a thunderstorm. He urged us to put away our weapons. THE GENERAL did not take this well to say the least.

"Bullshit! A thunderstorm he calls it! That was intentional and we both know damned well that it was!"

"Now just wait a second! It's common knowledge that that area is prone to thunderstorms. Isn't it possible that a lightning strike just happened to launch the missile?" I almost added that no one had gotten killed in the blast. Besides that, the benefit was that it confirmed all of what FUJITA had told us a few years ago. About radiation, I mean. As of yet, the radiation has not been cleared. No one can go in that area to this day.

"You believe that crap! You know that guy lies about everything to us. You've been disappointing me so much lately, corporal! You're such a useless fool!"

Mukuro wasn't feeling up tp doing "his" own reasoning that day. It was "his" birthday. the only reason we were dealing with all that at the time was because it was a state of emergency. Even the civilians were hiding in their newly made bomb shelters. "He" rubbed a finger on what was most likely to be "his" temple and said, "I'll take Kirin's point as a possibility along with your idea of being a deliberate attempt to attack us. Both sides are pretty plausible."

THE GENERAL couldn't leave it. "You're believing this joker?"

The next thing I knew, Mukuro was standing on the table and had THE GENERAL- a man who doubled in size and mass- by the throat like he was nothing more than a rag doll. "Need I remind you that you were the one who hired Kirin as your assistant? Now end your petty squabbles or I will end you. Frankly, I've had enough of you and your arrogant tone. Are you going to clean up your act or will I have to clean you out?" "He" tightened "his" grip on THE GENERAL'S throat. I already saw that this wasn't gonna end well.

"You…" He still managed to choke out some words. "You know you have such feminine hands. So you must be a sorry bitch. Bet it really gets you hot being around men all the time. You just wanna fuck one of us one day, don't you?"

Then with Mukuro's eloquent response of, "Fuck you," THE GENERAL was literally blown to bits. Then Mukuro just sat in "his" seat as calm as can be even though "he" was covered in blood and flicked a bit of flesh off "his" shirt. "He" finally said, "the meeting's adjourned. My decision has been made." And that was the end of our internal issues. We never let down our nukes nor did Yomi.

Then everyone in the cabinet began to gather in the basement of the capital building. All brought things to stay the night-dinner, sleeping supplies, breakfast- but few of us actually used them. None went to sleep. Every night for four months we gathered away from our families (some of us took turns calling home to make sure they were safely hidden in their shelters). Lord Mukuro literally sat with one hand next to the button to launch the nuke (or ultimate one was called METEORA for some reason) and the other right next to the phone to contact the military. "He" just sat there, staring blankly at the wall with itchy fingers. Some of us burst into tears in fear of not seeing the next day come. Then the end began to end one day Raizen stepped in the middle.

He urged us to rethink our actions. Told us that the fate of the rest of the world should not be marked by an incidental thunder strike. And that was pretty much the sum of what he said. It was enough to convince the both of us to stop pointing at each other. I don't know why he choose to involve himself in the conflict. I doubt that he really thought the fate of the world was coming too soon. If we were so determined to do each other in, we would have set our missiles off a long time ago. He probably knew he was no match against those things. He also never prepared his people in the case that a missile would be launched. Of course, by doing so called ofor the third to declare war on the aggressor. Let's just be glad he did so.

It wasn't until after our nearing nuclear holocaust that I realized that I was now Lord Mukuro's second in command. I had indirectly dethroned my general and now I blame myself. I was sick knowing that I took his job in such a way. I will admit that I had an instrumental role in that whole thing. But I will also admit that the whole thing didn't have to end that way. Mukuro didn't have to blow the guy to bits. But the reasoning is because it was a bad part of the year. "He" won't take shit on that day. "He" won't have it enough to kill a man. To this day, I see no remorse and I suppose that "he" just forgot. It's unforgivable. Yes, that's why I had no qualms about taking my own king out during the tournament. I don't know why- I guess I'm more emotional. (Than Mukuro? Okay, that might be an overstatement there. I'll be honest; "he's" almost on the extreme.) Even though THE GENERAL doesn't deserve much respect on my part, it wasn't enough to justify his brutal slaughter. I put on this face from then on that I actually enjoyed my job.

Raizen… Really interesting guy. Starved himself for five hundred years. that whole incident in itself was what started an arms race between the three of us. We all got prepared for battle to be the one who has it all. I remember planning my own suicide should we win. If Mukuro was the absolute king, I wanted no part in it whatsoever. I planned a similar suicide should Yomi win. It was basically a no win situation for me.

Now someone must be wondering how it was a cold war when there were several hot wars going on during that period. It wasn't a declaration of war from anyone really at that point. Rather it was just a blown up police action. There were rebellions on the borders so troops were sent out to control that area. That's all. Look, that's all I, as a corporal, can tell you. I didn't even know what I was fighting for when I was still fighting.

It was from that whole conflict that I came to know Hiei, who I've mentioned several times by now. Short guy, about half my size and that's pretty much all anyone seems to remember about him. ("Hey, you see Hiei around anywhere?"

"Who?"

"That short guy."

"Oh. He went that way.) I think he's numb to the feeling by now. As a side note, it was suiting seeing how everyone calls Mukuro the Terrible Dwarf of the Northeast. (For some reason Yomi just calls him Caligula. Don't ask. It has something to do with humans. The guy likes looking at their dictators just so he can use it on Mukuro.) From the small amount of time that I met him until the replacement, I'd say he's like a young Mukuro. They were similar except Hiei catches me as more level headed. More than I thought considering the stories I've heard. They guy loves to see gallons and gallons of blood come out of his victims- for someone's sake! And he just likes to be in the background. My town would describe him as "silently anxious thumb twittler." He doesn't talk more than he feels he has to and probably as he talks to more people, loves his pets more… If he had any anyway.

I don't admire him nor do I hate him. I don't feel any sort of bitterness towards him for replacing me. In fact, I practically danced a jog when I was told that I was being replaced in favor of Hiei. I don't know what compelled the king to make the sudden change but to hell with reasoning, I wasn't the second in command anymore! (Someone asked him about the change, he turned slightly red and refused to answer. Also, the pay off was slightly less glorious with his the response to the news, "…Shit." I later found out he didn't want any sort of status for fear of it interfering with his freedom. He spelled it out to Mukuro.) I no longer had to do Mukuro's dirty work though I did pity him for being stuck with the job I ended up being someone else's assistant but it was a lesser but more rewarding job. But it was only for six months. Raizen died. Hiei was the one who confirmed that with us. Shortly after Yusuke Urameshi, Raizen's heir and sudden king in spite of being as young as sixteen (Humans age quickly like dogs so that might not be as young as we think it is.) journeyed to Grandara and proposed the Demon World tournament. Hence the three empires fell.

Ours fell hard. When Mukuro told us, someone in the crowd took a gun to his head and blew his brains out. He just couldn't imagine a world where Mukuro was not the ruler. I remember thinking to myself, "Christmas came early!" I really wanted to call my family but I didn't know how to contact theme. I didn't know their address if they still lived in the same place. I never heard from them. hiei had the same attitude. He finally shed the title he didn't want. (How would you feel if you were only known as a lowly killing machine one minute and the next have everyone look at you like a panda in a zoo with fifty percent more envy?)

The day of the tournament… We finally got to see Mukuro's face. I was surprised to find that "he" was actually a fairly beautiful woman, except for the scars on her face. Hiei wasn't at all surprised and told me with the same response as when we asked him about the sudden change of status that he had seen her face prior to the incident. The shifty eyes he had implied that he might have seen more than her face. He also once suggested that her scars weren't just on her face either. (Though you could just assume just by looking at her neck.)

But a woman… hell, that explained a lot. I'm not being sexist, it just explained a lot to me. When we talked there it was all business. It didn't change anything. It was just a little uncomfortable to see a few men giving your king the eye behind her back.

END OF SESSION 2- SPEECH EXCERPT FROM MATSUDA KAI, 12 JUNE 19XX. ONE OF HIS REMAINING LECTURES.

Author's notes: Not much to say here… I made these demons really human, didn't I? The caps lock, as I'm sure, is really annoying but I did it to indicate the "change." Yes, I, unlike Gloria Tesh, know where the quotations go as well. I just did that to further indicate the sudden change. I know that was annoying too. I couldn't think of any names. The arms race was based on the Cuban Missile crisis if you didn't notice that. I don't blame you if you don't… Caligula was a Roman emperor, who I'll just say it, was kind of batshit nuts. Apparently he killed on whim, and liked lots and lots of butt sex… No, he just had sex with people's wives and bragged about it. (no source, sorry. based on wikipedia and I've seen stuff on this guy before too…) On a less disturbing note- here, have something from the tournament.

Mukuro: I don't really want to hurt you.
Hiei: Then don't.
Mukuro: (sends him flying a mile away)
Hiei: GODDAMMIT!