The Spice of Life part 3 By: Cat Who <tprara@catwho.net>
* * * Deep in L-Space * * *
Very interesting. Very interesting, indeed. So the creator of this universe (whomever she was, she had some bad grammar habits like "buts" at the beginning of the sentence) didn't want to make it easy for the would-be lovers. Well, that was fine. The more angst, the more love, as they say.
Although, when she thought about it, none of the couples in the Senshi bickered all that much. Michiru and Haruka calmly disagreed occasionally, and Mamoru had broken up with Usagi once, but they never really fought like cats and dogs as the couples in other universes did.
It made for boring relationships.
She shifted into a more comfortable position, and turned the page, sticking her tongue out in concentration.
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The Spice of Life [Chapter Three]
An Herb/Kodachi Fic Commissioned by Prince Herb
Written by Cat Who
Beta Read by RezantisFor Daddy
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Train Station, Tokyo, Honshuu Island, Japan
* * *"Two tickets to Sapporo, please," Kodachi said sweetly at the ticket window. The clerk behind the counter leered openly at her, which made Herb want to kill him.
"Twenty four thousand, four hundred yen."
Not that I care especially about her, he said to himself firmly. It's just that no female deserves to be looked at . . . that way. It's degrading.
As a female, he'd managed to avoid leers by wearing the same loose, billowy cloak he wore now. It effectively hid his woman's figure so well, in fact, that Lime and Mint hadn't even realized his predicament until Saotome had deliberately exposed his bosom.
But Kodachi was flaunting her body. The tailored suit did . . . things to Herb that he was very ashamed to admit to himself. He was finally understanding the real reason the Musk had never allowed their warriors to know about women. They weren't merely distracting, as breasts were. They were absolutely intoxicating.
"So, what's a cute girl like you doing running away to Sapporo in the middle of the night?" the clerk asked Kodachi.
"Oh, just running away to enjoy myself," Kodachi said, oozing charm. Although she was probably only being nice, it made him burn in anger. Herb would have berated her for actually paying attention to the scum behind the counter had he not felt a sudden splash of something cold and wet on his ankle.
Damn!
"Sorry," a woman dragging a toddler said. The toddler had spilled his icewater onto the only area of Herb that wasn't protected by her cloak, which fell to midcalf in her male form. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Herb ground out, and stepped into the crowd away from the ticket counter before Kodachi saw her. Of all the places to transform, it would be in the middle of a public train station. She needed hot water . . . any hot liquid . . . ah! A concession stand! Tea!
"Two teas and one cup of hot water, please," Herb said, pulling her cloak tight around her face. The worker behind the counter gave her a quizzical look but filled the order anyway. Herb quickly took the water, ducked down, and splashed it on her other ankle. Whew.
He paid for the drinks, and walked away with the teas. He heard the worked mutter "baka gaijin" under her breath, and his mouth tightened in annoyance. But now was not the time to teach the rude worker her place.
"Oh, there you are, ohji-sama," Kodachi called, and waved to him elegantly from beside the ticket counter. Herb handed her the second hot tea, and she nodded in thanks.
"Our train will be boarding in a few minutes. We should head toward the platform." She gave him his ticket, and the pair made their way through the thinned evening crowd. "It's a sixteen hour ride from here to Sapporo."
"I intensely dislike this mode of transportation," Herb commented as they waited with their luggage for the night train.
"Oh? What manner do you use in your kingdom?"
"We walk. For long distances we use horses."
"Oh. How . . . quaint. How, then, did you get to Japan? Horses don't swim. Did you fly?"
Herb started to say that of course he didn't fly, he didn't have wings, and his mid-air techniques wouldn't sustain him across an ocean, but then he realized that she was referring to the airplanes that less traditional peoples around the world used for quick travel.
"I took my ship," he said instead. "It's now docked on Kyuushuu. The Musk Kingom lies near the ocean." He sipped his tea, thanking whatever being, human or god, who had discovered all the incredible virtues of hot water and herbs and made them popular.
Kodachi said nothing, but she looked duly impressed that he owned his own ship. As she should be. Her wealth was a pittance compared to the treasures of the Musk.
The train arrived then, and they boarded with the other night passengers with little fanfare.
* * *
Train traveling from Tokyo to Sapporo, Japan
* * *They sat beside each other in one half of a berth, their luggage stowed above them. This was a long distance bullet train, and a night one at that, which meant that the train was almost empty. On such short notice, however, it was impossible to request one of the luxury private berths. Kodachi had gotten tickets for an open berth, with the seats on the side, allowing the slightly taller than average teens some much needed leg room.
"So you own your own ship," Kodachi said casually, looking at her nails. She perched daintily on her seat, her legs crossed at the knees, her jacket over her knees. Herb had the uncomfortable feeling from being so close to her, especially with her wearing . . . that. "The Musk Kingdom is large, then, I take it?"
"My kingdom is more than just a patch of mud and mountains, if that's what you're asking. My people are the most feared warriors in all of eastern China. I, as the heir to the throne of Musk, am duty bound to protect my people. That's why I need the panacea. My people have been struck by a mysterious illness."
"But why do you need a Japanese witch? Surely there was at least one magical woman among you."
"There are no women in the Musk," Herb said coldly. "Women are a distraction to men in training. We are taught to not even know what a woman is until it is time for us to have children, and even then we are not to fraternize with them."
"Oh, how dreadful! I know how that is, though. I despise attending an all girl's school, but the Japanese school of magic was founded by Hebereke-sama and she believed that it was better for women to learn magic away from men. To avoid distraction and . . . temptations."
"It failed in your case."
Kodachi laughed for the first time, a terrifying sound that scared Herb more than anything about the girl so far. She covered her mouth shyly with her hand, but her cackle (it could ONLY be called a cackle) bounced around the train car nonetheless. Herb resisted an instinct deep in his dragon heart to shred her to pieces in case she was as dangerous as she sounded.
"It certainly did. Nothing can keep true love apart, you see." She clasped her hands together and lifted her gray eyes rapturously toward the ceiling of the car. "When I first met Ranma, I knew it was destiny."
"Even though he already had a fiance?"
"Of course! I have been trying to get rid of that Tendou weakling -- I even crashed their attempt at a wedding a few weeks ago -- yet the evil demon has a powerful spell I cannot break on him."
Herb was having a lot of trouble believing that Ranma's "spell" was not a reciprocated love, but he kept silent, and instead asked the question that had been burning on his mind all evening. "What exactly did Ranma do that made you fall in love with him?"
Kodachi blinked innocently, and covered her heart with her hand shyly. "Why, he rescued me, of course. No man had ever dared to approach me. And he was kind to me. I knew at that instant that I had found the one destined for me."
He had . . . rescued her? That was IT? Herb stared at her, and for the first time since meeting him felt sorry for Ranma Saotome. Perhaps the half-bitch wasn't a womanizer as he had been led to believe by Cologne.
"And even if he remains cursed . . . even if the panacea does not cure him of the transfiguration, I shall remain faithful to him."
Herb digested that news in silence for quite some time. Like Saotome, he believed his curse to make him less of a man . . . but maybe not every woman would look at it like that. Even though Kodachi didn't know of the nature of the curse -- or that there was a possibility it could be cured -- she was willing to remain faithful to half-man who didn't even love her simply because he had shown her kindness. Were there other women who only wanted kindness from a man? To the point where the could put up with a distinctly more visible feminine side?
"I have a question for you, now," Kodachi said, interrupting his train of thought. "Forgive me if I am rude, ohji-sama, but exactly . . . how did you get your hair that way?" She tilted her head toward his brightly patched bangs and ponytail.
Prince Herb of the Musk Kingdom looked away this time, in annoyance again. "I was born with it. In me runs the blood of dragons."
"Oh, really? Then is your armor also--?"
"Yes."
"I see. Chinese Fireball?"
Herb looked at her once more, this time in astonishment. "You know of dragon breeds?" Not many people were aware that dragons still roamed free around the world. Most were endangered; the armor he wore had been made hundreds of years ago, before they had realized that dragons were a rapidly dying species. The orange Fireball's brilliant scales were fireproof, waterproof, shock proof, and as hard as diamonds. After Jusenkyo, Herb had wondered if it'd be possible to weave a cloth made out of them to keep him male.
"I'm a witch, ohji-sama. I'm aware of all things magical."
The train started up then, and they halted their conversation for a few moments until it had accelerated up to its full speed of a hundred and forty kilometers per hour.
"You should try to get some rest, witch," Herb said after a while, as Kodachi had taken out her journal and was frantically scribbling in it with a black feather quill. No doubt she was writing about her latest scheme to catch Saotome.
"As should you, ohji-sama." She continued writing, however, and showed no indication of stopping. Herb sighed, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes, leaning back into the seat. His armor made getting into a truly comfortable position difficult, so he had to settle for only mildly uncomfortable.
He heard her snap her journal shut, and then lean back onto the small pillow she had brought along. The train clacked swiftly on its nighttime course, causing them both to sway gently. The motion reminded Herb of the waves on the ocean, yet he still had a lot of trouble trying to fall asleep.
Especially when an all but snoring Kodachi landed on his shoulder.
A woman is touching me . . . a woman is touching me . . . a woman is touching me . . .
He fought off the initial wave of panic, and looked down at the sleeping Japanese girl. His panic ebbed. She looked even more innocent in sleep, her full yet dainty lips slightly parted, her sooty lashes resting on her pale cheek. She looked positively harmless . . .
And yet, it was a long time before Herb slumbered.
* * *
Train Station, Aomori, Honshuu Island, Japan
* * *Kodachi woke to the sounds of gossip.
It took her a few moments to remember where she was, as the train she was on had stopped. She opened her sleep encrusted eyes, and blinked, taking in her surroundings slowly. She felt something hard poking her in her shoulder blade, and she looked beside her to where Prince Herb sat, covered in his long cloak. It was his double-shoulder armor that caused her pain. He was awake and alert, and was pointedly ignoring the stage whispers around him. Apparently the train had reached a brief stopover at some point along the way, as the train was much fuller than it had been the night before.
"Is he a cosplayer?"
"Has to be, in that outfit. Piccolo from DBZ, maybe?" "No, he'd be green, silly. I think it's from a video game."
"Ugh, I don't know video game characters."
"It is a rather unusual outfit," Kodachi commented in Mandarin, sitting up. Herb gave her a Look and glowered at the gossipers, who continued speculating as to who he was dressed as.
"It is traditional. And comfortable. Unlike most of the clothing your people wear."
"I'm perfectly comfortable," Kodachi disagreed, and recrossed her legs the other way to emphasize her point.
She glanced outside, and recognized Aomori station. They would stop here, of course, before continuing through the Seikan tunnel, which ran underneath the Tsuguru Straight, making it the longest railway tunnel in the world. She had been to Hokkaido several times before on school ski trips, and knew the station well.
"We're not going to be stopping again until we reach Sapporo, so you may want to take a break here," Kodachi said to Herb, then glanced at her watch and checked the travel schedule she had recieved with her tickets. "We'll be here for another fifteen minutes. I need to find a little girl's room now . . . excuse me." She stood up, and left Herb blushing furiously.
The station at Aomori was already bustling with the pre-work traffic. Kodachi swayed through the crowd, her bag and ticket stub clutched at her side, and quickly found a woman's bathroom. It, too, was already filled with OLs on their way to work, putting on lipstick and gossiping about the salarymen in their various offices. Kodachi, in her little black French suit and bun, blended right in.
Once she had finished her business, she ran to a small kiosk and purchased some overpriced breakfast anpan for herself and her traveling companion.
Herb had obviously done the same, for once she returned to the train car, he too was clutching a bag and two cans of Georgia Coffee. She caught his eye, and smiled in surprise. At least her companion was a gentleman, despite the rude and arrogant way he came off.
"What's in yours?" she asked, holding up her bag of anpan.
"I'm not sure. It's something imported; the sign above said 'McDonald's' and the waitress assured me that it's a delicious item. It involves eggs and a muffin." Herb stared suspiciously at the bag, on which a grease stain had started spreading.
"Ugh. That American fare is unhealthy. I have anpan," Kodachi offered, and reached in for one of the sweet bean paste buns. "Unlike the Egg McMuffin, anpan will actually provide nutrition without clogging the arteries. But the Georgia Coffee is an excellent choice."
Herb accepted the bun and handed her a can of the coffee. As the train started up, they ate in silence. Herb demolished the Egg McMuffins anyway. Kodachi refused. Over the plains of northern Honshuu the sun began to rise, spreading its infamous rays across the travelers inside the train car.
"We'll be going into the Seikan Tunnel soon," Kodachi finally said, breaking the silence and gathering the trash neatly into one bag.
"I don't like the idea of that thing. All those miles underwater."
Kodachi shuddered daintily. "Don't remind me. It's faster than taking a ferry like we used to have to, though." Kodachi had never really liked the tunnel and preferred air travel, but for all intents and purposes train travel was much less expensive and much more convienient.
The train continued accelerating, and they continued talking about the evils of American fast food, tunnels, and gossiping Office Ladies. Kodachi was pleasantly surprised as to how much she had in common with the Chinese prince. They had both been raised in a single-gender environment, and taught to respect traditions (in Kodachi's case, that of wizardry) above all else.
"I break the rules all the time," Kodachi admitted, almost guiltily. "I get carried away and forget that I'm not allowed to use magic outside of the school. Fortunately, no one else has realized my abilities, not even my darling Ranma. Only my despicable brother knows, and outside of the family, Cologne. She guessed it the first time I met her."
"Amazons can sense magic and ki in all forms," Herb said, nodding in affirmation.
"She's also the one who taught me Mandarin. I have a gift for languages." She trilled a few sentences in another tongue that made Herb blink, trying to place it.
"French?"
"Very good. I spent my youth in France with my mother, who was a teacher at the French school of wizardry, Beaubaxton. And Father spent most of his life in Hawaii." Kodachi grimaced ever so slightly. "I had never even realized I *had* a father because he was gone for so long."
"I never even knew I had a mother until I fell -- until I was cur -- until a few months ago," Herb managed to finish lamely. "And I have never met her. Father is now touring China. It's a good thing, as well. Had he come down with the illness, I wouldn't have been free to travel for a cure."
He looked so angry at his predicament, yet sad at the same time, that Kodachi set one delicate hand on his arm.
"We will make it," she said firmly. "I promise."
Herb glanced down at her hand, and stared pointedly away, his face turning an interesting shade of crimson.
Then he said, very quietly, "Thank you."
Kodachi smiled to herself. The ohji-sama was really a nice boy. Her initial impression was that he was cold and aloof, like her brother, but whereas Tatewaki's arrogance was mostly based on his own inflated opinion of himself, the prince actually had a reason to be proud.
* * *
Seikan Tunnel, Tsuguru Straight, Japan
* * *Both of the teens shrank unsconsciously toward each other when the train entered the tunnel. Herb wasn't exactly afraid of dark and enclosed places (after all, he was part dragon and a tunnel is merely a long cave), but there was something frightening about knowing there was all that rock and water above, bearing down on the thinned walls. The atmosphere, even in the speeding bullet train, was heavy and oppressive.
Around them, the few morning passengers traveling from Aomori to Sapporo seemed to have the same reaction, even though many of them traveled that same route on a daily basis. Kodachi looked decidedly less confident than she had that morning.
They passed another train going the other way right in the beginning. Then there was only the gentle clacking of the rails beneath the floor.
Kodachi yawned and leaned back in her seat again, and then closed her eyes to sleep some more. Some part of Herb faintly hoped she might accidentally lean upon him again.
Just last night you were terrified when she fell on you, he berated himself. And now you want her to fall on you again? What kind of Musk are you?
He got his wish when the train suddenly slammed on its brakes.
They had no idea it was coming until, with a screech of protesting metal, they all hurtled forward from inertia. A startled Kodachi landed on his arm, and ended up clutching it in surpise, although Herb barely noticed. The train continued shedding speed rapidly, until it was completely stopped. The little hairs on the back of his neck raised in alarm. Something was not right.
"Wait here," he said to Kodachi in a low voice, and stood up, adjusting his cloak just in case there was a dripping leak between the cars of the train. Kodachi looked outside, worriedly. Herb did not see her reach for her wand.
He made his way quickly through the cars to the front of the train, ignoring the requests over the intercom that the passengers please remain seated and calm. Before long he had reached the engine car, which in the gleaming bullet train looked more like a pilot's cockpit.
"What is wrong?" he demanded. The engineers turned around in surprise when they heard him -- and when they saw him immediately felt a wilting sense of relief. One of them began weeping.
Herb had slipped into "command" mode, that sense of authority that well trained leaders drop into whenever the situation called for it. His ki was radiating power and control, and the train engineers, unconsciously sensing the subtle strength in his presence, were more than happy to relinquish control of the situation.
"There's a cow blocking the railway." The chief engineer, disbeliving his own words, pointed to where the headlights illuminated a lump on the tracks. "A cow. In the middle of the tunnel." He repeated himself, as if to make it all make sense. "A cow. We caught it on radar . . . it's a good thing, too, because had we hit it we would have derailed completely."
Herb glared at the lump, which had resolved itself into an unusually patterned cow-like shape. Something that appeared to be a head was chewing cud, contendedly.
"Its ki is wrong," he said, frowning. His eyes told him that he was looking at a cow. But his senses . . . told him he was looking at a human.
Jusenkyo, perhaps? But there was no Spring of Drowned Cow that he was aware of. And besides, while in cursed form the ki of a Jusenkyo victim altered to that of the animal body. The mind of the human remained, but the spirit of the animal replaced the spirit of a human in the human form, as well. Fortunately that didn't extend to the human body curses, as a soul has no gender. However, the ki of the being in front of him was as human as any.
An alarm went off. The engineers checked a flashing light on the backlit panel, which was labeled "doors." Then a subtle movement to the right of the train caught Herb's eye, and he watched in mingled horror and anger as a familiar witch in pumps and a power suit fled past the engineering car, wand in hand.
"Kodachi!" he yelled, and ran from the engineering car, wrenching the doors open to get outside. The temperature in the tunnel was almost freezing, and Herb pulled his cloak tighter. The only light came from the train's headlights.
The witch had already reached the cow, and held her wand in her hand. He caught the faint echo of "black rose petal storm!" and immediately the air was filled with rose petals, which swirled thickly in the cold drafts, choking him with the cloying scent of roses.
"Kodachi," he yelled again, and stumbled blindly to where she was in the center of the rose petals. They formed a solid, whirling wall around them, completely blocking them from view.
She was kneeling next to the cow, who mooed in a high pitched voice. The cow itself was golden, with black legs and a wisp of wheat colored hair for a forelock. It wore a ridiculous oversized brass bell on a thick red collar.
"Herb-sama," Kodachi said in surprise. "You felt it too, then. The cow . . . is a human being."
Now was not the time to fight with her, he told himself. "Exactly. Her ki is wrong. This is . . . what did you call it? A transfiguration curse?"
Kodachi nodded. "A powerful one. She's been like this for a long time . . . her mind is slipping. Her name is Nanami."
"How did you find that out?"
"It's on her bell." Kodachi pointed to the large brass bell, which indeed bore the name "Nanami" engraved on the clapper.
"How the hell did she get in the middle of the Seikan tunnel, though?"
"I don't know. I also don't know how to undo transfiguration curses, or else I wouldn't be seeking the panacea."
Herb steeled himself and joined her beside the cow, who blinked lazily and continued to chew her cud placidly. The cow looked at him casually with a set of enormous purple eyes.
"Human or not, we have to move her. Train traffic will be held up if we don't move out quickly."
Kodachi hesitantly reached out, and stroked the cow on the head. The cow shied away, and brought one hoof up in front of her neck, leaning her head down as if to protect the cowbell. Kodachi gripped her wand and whispered "Expose" in Latin. Immediately, sparks began bouncing from the wand to the cow, concentrating especially along the brass bell itself. The cow leaned further down, almost angrily, defending her cowbell.
"It's the bell," Kodachi decided. "The source of the curse is the bell."
Now that meant they had to neutralize it -- which Kodachi, as bad at Transfigurations as she was, couldn't do -- or remove it.
"We have to get it off. Do you think you can . . . grab her by the ears, maybe?"
Herb nodded and started to reach for the head of the cow, but the animal snapped angrily at him and stood up, pawing her feet on the railroad lines. Then she lowed loudly, and turned her back to the prince.
"I think she senses I'm a dragon," Herb said with an angry scowl, and then flew into the air. "RYU SEI HISHOU!" he cried, and feinted one way before suddenly shifting to another direction entirely. The move was graceful and threw the cow completely off, since she was expecting him to come at her from the other side.
He landed with a thump on her back, and the cow bucked wildly, trying toss him off. He grabbed her ears, pulling her head back so she couldn't snap, and yelled "Now, Kodachi!"
Kodachi didn't have to be told twice. She aimed her wand directly at the cord holding the bell to the cow's neck, and chanted the severing charm. The bell snapped off with a loud pop, and clattered onto the railway below.
In a brilliant flash and poof of colored smoke, the animal disappeared, and suddenly Herb was no longer riding an angry cow but instead was piggyback on a young girl. With a startled "eep!" she collapsed under his weight, and the two fell onto the railway, groaning in bruised pain.
Kodachi let the tunnel of black rose petals fall to the ground. They wouldn't be needed anymore.
The girl sat up and rubbed her head, and then gingerly picked up the cowbell.
"Thank you," she said, seeming a little dazed. "Where am I?"
"In the middle of the Seikan Tunnel. Do you remember how you got here?"
"The last thing I remember was onii-sama saying that Akio-san wanted me to be the next student council president, and then -- Himemiya!" The girl stood up, and now Kodachi and Herb could see that the cow had been patterned after her school uniform: yellow with black leggings. "Himemiya did this to me!"
Kodachi blinked and looked surprised. "Himemiya Anthy?"
Nanami's jaw dropped. "You know her?"
"I went to school in France with her. Quiet girl, always talking about her brother . . ."
The blonde girl blanched and started to stomp off toward the train muttering about freaks of a feather. Herb stared after her, and Kodachi giggled a little.
"She's a bit unbalanced, but the Anthy I remember was really very sweet. A little too sold on Dios, though. I wonder how he's doing now?"
Herb realized his jaw was open, and he snapped it shut with an audible clack. Then he grabbed Kodachi's arm and started to drag her toward the train. Nanami was already in the engineers car, apologizing and asking for a ride. The second engineer was still crying.
Belatedly, Kodachi aimed her wand back at the mess of rose petals, and chanted a spell that swept them to the side so that the train would have clear passage. Herb continued to tug her along violently.
"Ohji-sama, you seem upset," Kodachi said, in an innocently puzzled voice. He said nothing until they had reached their railway car, where he all but threw her in.
"You absolute FOOL!" he roared once they were inside. "I told you to wait here. You could have gotten hurt!"
Kodachi narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. They were both still standing as the train began to move again. Apparently the engineers, lacking an explanation, had decided to just go ahead and continue, in order to prevent the train from getting too far off schedule.
"And I suppose you could have handled that all by yourself, ohji- sama?" Kodachi answered, dangerously.
"Never disobey my orders again!"
Kodachi studied him through those cool gray eyes of hers, then, against all reason, broke into a rather frightening smile.
"You're cute when you're mad, ohji-sama," she said, patting his arm. As the train was accelerating rapidly now, she sat down in her seat.
Herb had absolutely no answer to that statement, so he too sat down in a furious funk.
The other passengers in the car blinked at the bickering companions, and then quietly returned to their tankoubon and newspapers.
Kodachi and Herb didn't speak again until they reached Sapporo.
* * *
Kuno Mansion, Nerima District, Tokyo
* * *"It appears that the twisted sister has left on a vacation without deeming to leave a departing message," Kuno said to himself. Since she had not returned that evening, he had decided that she had done what she always did and just left. He entered the living room, and saw a stray video out of place, on the wrong shelf.
"No doubt it is another one of her foul hocus-pocus instructional tapes." He picked up the video, and started to walk toward the entertainment center, when he saw the label. "Ranma? As in Ranma Saotome? Hmph. No doubt this is another one of the twisted sister's schemes to force Saotome to date with her. I should leave this well alone."
But Kuno, being . . . Kuno, naturally sat down and tried to watch it anyway.
Hours later, he was still twitching from the warding spell Kodachi had put on it.
He vowed to try again. If she had a spell such as that on the video, that meant that it HAD to have something incriminating on it.
And Kuno loved finding incriminating stuff on Kodachi, whether he would ever admit it or not.
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End Chapter Three
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