A Tale of No Gas A

"You know this doesn't help me at all, Hermes."

The bright sun beat with no mercy on the traveler and her still motorrad. Not one cloud was in the sky, and for once, Kino had shed her coats long ago. Sweat dripped down her face, landing on her partner's gas tank.

"Empty. It's empty."

"I could have told you that, Kino."

"You couldn't have picked a better time to run out of fuel." She slumped down with a sigh and sat on the dry ground. This forest she was in may have looked better long ago, but she doesn't see much beauty in it now. The trees were bare and the grass was yellow. The hot sun still shone on them, and without the protection of the trees, it was like they were in a desert.

"Are you sure you don't have any extra gas anywhere?" Hermes whined.

Kino gave him a blank look. "If I did, we wouldn't be sitting here in the middle of nowhere."

They both sat in silence. A traveler should always be prepared, the sharp voice of her master rang in Kino's head. And then she finally got an idea.

"A traveler should always be prepared, true... but that's not all they need." She spoke out loud with a small grin.

"What else do they need? More fuel?"

She ignored his last comment. "A plan B!" She hopped up off the ground and grabbed Hermes' handle bars. "We're not going to get anywhere sitting here roasting, so we might as well get going."

"But Kino! I don't have gas!" He clearly thought the heat had gotten to Kino's brain as she rolled him forward slowly, using no gas, but her own strength.

"But you have wheels. Now hang in there, Hermes." She patted his gas tank. "We should get somewhere... eventually."

Hermes was quiet for a while as his wheels crushed the brittle grass. "You'll be dead tired, Kino," he said for no real reason, but just to complain.

She smiled a bit. "Well, you tire me out a lot, so I don't see any difference." They were going a bit faster now. "You'll just owe me."

"Owe you what?!" He questioned loudly.

But Kino didn't answer. They were now getting out of the dead forest, and were coming to the top of a hill. She walked him quickly up it, and at the top she jumped on him and rode him all the way down. Kino was more excited than a ride down a hill should be, but now Hermes saw why she was so happy.

They gradually sped down the hill towards the walls of a country. What kind of country it was, they had no clue; they hoped that they at least had gas for him, and food for her. At their discovery, even Hermes had to join in Kino's wild laughter as the city came closer and closer.

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A Tale of No Gas B

"How could you do this to me, Kino?"

Kino looked up, surprised, from her sandwich. Finally in a hotel, she was content, but it seems Hermes was not.

"Do what, now?"

"This gas..." He trailed off as if she knew what he was talking about.

"The gas...?" And she didn't.

Hermes sighed. "It's not right. It makes me feel... uncomfortable. I hate cheap gas."

Kino raised an eyebrow. "It's gas nonetheless, right?"

"Well, yeah. But it's like food. You'd rather to eat good food than bad food, right?"

"Of course I would." As she said that, she inhaled the last of her sandwich.

"It's the same kind of thing." Hermes whined as she stepped over and sat down on him.

Kino looked down at him for a minute. "You know, I think you just like to complain. I don't complain about the food I eat."

"That's a lie and you know it!" He wailed as Kino patted his gas tank. "And don't get crumbs on me!"

"See, I told you! You're like a crazy old man! An old man who complains about his wife's cooking all the time!" She laughed at the thought.

"And you're like some crazy woman who relies on her husband to feed her herd of ugly cats! A lazy old hag!" He spat back as Kino leaned all over him, her arms hanging over his handle bars.

"... so does that make us a married old couple, Hermes?"

Hermes was speechless for once.

Kino grinned as she planted a kiss on his speedometer.

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I thought I should contribute a bit of fanfiction for this awesome series. 3 Really, I'm a bit of a fan of Kino/Hermes, but there is no fan-anything for this pairing! So, I whipped up a little something. Xp