* * *
Somewhere, sometime, in L-Space . . .
* * *
Setsuna bit her lip, pondering. The last chapter had been a little more introspective; nothing major had happened except thoughts. Well, maybe that was for the best. A story shouldn't be all action and no thought.
She flipped to the next page, eager to see where the author would take her now.
-------------
The Spice of Life
[Chapter Five]
An Herb/Kodachi fic
Commissioned by Prince Herb
Written by Cat Who
Beta Read by Rezantis
For Daddy . . .
--------------
The alarm went off at six, just like Kodachi had set it, and
she sighed. She hadn't slept well at all. Well, today she'd wear
herself out walking, so she wouldn't have that problem that
evening.
She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and then looked
over at the other bed to see that the prince had done the same.
So, they were both early risers. For some reason that fact
pleased her.
.
"Good morning, ohji-sama," she said to the prince
brightly, and he gave her a cold look in response. Well, perhaps
that was all for the best. She still wasn't sure exactly what
she'd felt the night before, and if the prince remained cold to
her then she wouldn't have to think about it at all.
"First things first. Breakfast, then check out of the hotel,
rent our equipment and be on our way."
"That sounds like a good plan," Herb said dully in
response, and began packing his things into the roomy backframe
he was using for his luggage.
Kodachi claimed the bathroom first, and hopped into the shower
with the intention of enjoying it to its fullest. Tennin-kyo
onsen would have the springs and a comfort station, but since it
wasn't a village like Soun-kyo it didn't have hotels with clean
hot running water. Kodachi liked showers. Soaking was all good
and well for the body, but nothing was the same as a good shower
scrub, either.
She hummed as the hot water rinsed out the rose conditioner she
used from her hair, and then stepped out of the shower naked
before selecting a towel and wrapping herself with it. She
wondered idly what the prince was doing while he waited his turn
for the bathroom. Was he sitting there patiently? Probably not,
from what she'd learned about him. He'd be sitting there sulking,
or angry because she'd taken so long.
Kodachi pulled her hair into her normal side ponytail and teased
her bangs. She had selected her favorite ski suit for today, both
for its insulating properties and because it sported the same
rose motif as all her other clothing. She hadn't told the prince
before, but her wardrobe DIDN'T have any other color besides
blacks and reds. It was what witches wore. But the rose motif was
one she'd picked on her own. It was her sign, her mark, her
style. If the prince didn't like her roses, that was his problem.
She emerged from the bathroom, anticipating his reaction to her
outfit, but was disappointed when he wasn't there. He'd left a
note on the desk in Japanese:
Gone to check out for us. Don't worry about paying me back. Meet
you at breakfast.
Hmmm. So the prince intended to finance at least this night.
Perhaps he intended to pay for the entire trip. From what she'd
learned of his kingdom, he seemed very wealthy, but some party of
Kodachi was disturbed that he was paying for her little vacation.
After all, she wasn't doing this for him, she was doing it for
Ranma.
"Ranma darling, do but await for my return to Nerima. I
shall free you from that spell no matter what it takes."
But even to herself the words sounded forced and hollow. She
wasn't doing this for Ranma any more than she was doing it for
herself.
* * *
Back in Nerima, Kuno had tried everything he could think of to
get the tape into the VCR without getting zapped by Kodachi's
warding spells. Insulated gloves hadn't worked. Using Mr.
Turtle's collar to grab it hadn't worked. Using his toes hadn't
worked.
So this morning he had decided to strike a deal with the devil.
"Kuno-chan, this had better be good if you're dragging me
out here at six thirty in the morning," Nabiki Tendou said,
stifling a yawn.
"It is, oh it is, Nabiki Tendou. I have in my posession a
video taken by my twisted sister that bears the cursed name of
Saotome upon it. Due to my sister's evil warding spells, I am
unable to view it. I need you to put it into the VCR for
me."
Nabiki eyed him coolly, her mind calculating how best to make a
profit out of the situation.
"One thousand yen," she said, figuring that anything
more for putting a tape in the VCR was unfair. She might be able
to use the tape for her own profit, after all.
"Miser," Kuno said, and paid her grudgingly.
Nabiki pocketed the yen, and reached for the tape in question
which was on the floor where Kuno had dropped it the last time
he'd tried to touch it.
She picked it up with no problems, and hefted it, curious.
"I wonder why you had such a hard time picking it up,
Kuno-chan. You say it electrocuted you before?"
Kuno nodded angrily. "The twisted sister has a powerful ward
on it. Her evil hocus-pocus could be the only thing that makes it
so."
Nabiki shrugged and started toward the VCR, when an odd feeling
began spreading from the arm that held the tape. She stopped in
mid-stride and stared at the tape, then glanced back to Kuno,
blinking a few times.
"Why hast thou paused in thy mission, Nabiki Tendou?"
"Kuno-chan, are you sure she doesn't have poison on
this?" Nabiki narrowed her eyes and dropped the tape on the
ground. The odd feeling was rapidly spreading from her arm to the
rest of her body.
The sensation was oddly familiar, and it wasn't until she looked
directly at Kuno that she realized exactly what it was.
Oh. Oh no. Oh no no no.
"I'll just be leaving now," she said quickly, and
started to walk hurriedly toward the door.
"I paid thee good yen, Nabiki Tendou, for services I have
yet to see rendered," Kuno argued, and grabbed her arm
before she could escape.
Nabiki was fighting the magic as hard as she could, but the
particular warding spell Kodachi had used reacted differently to
every person, and for Nabiki, it had chosen to act as an
aphrodesiac.
Even as strong willed as she was, she couldn't fight it, and had
to give in.
"I'll just have to render those services some other way
then, Kuno-chan," she said, and the look of confusion on his
pretty-boy face was almost priceless.
She'd kill Kodachi once she returned to Nerima, but in the
meantime she had more important things to worry about.
"Nabiki Tendou? What are you --"
Kuno never knew what hit him.
* * *
Herb, for his part, was in the restaurant on the bottom floor of
the hotel, wolfing down a large portion of the continental
breakfast provided by the hotel for free. Kodachi's birdlike
eating habits were getting to him; he was used to five or six
square meals a day. He didn't know how she sustained her lean
muscle mass (he had seen her arms bare for the first time last
night, and been suitably impressed) when by all rights she should
have died of starvation several years ago. He'd have to put some
sense (as well as some food) into her if either of them expected
to have the energy they needed to survive the trip.
"Oh there you are, ohji-sama," Kodachi said from
nowhere, joining him at the small cafe table in the lobby of the
hotel. Herb studied her critically. She wore a skintight black
ski suit (with the usual red and silver rose motif embroidered on
the pockets) that outlined her healthy figure, leaving little to
his imagination. Herb was torn between the instincts to toss his
cloak over her and haul her back to their room over his shoulder,
or grab her and--
No. Where had *that* thought come from? Herb's heart pounded
loudly in his chest. For a moment there . . . for a moment, he
had wanted to grab her and kiss her senseless.
Kodachi eyed his stack of paper plates, and glanced over at the
demolished contintental breakfast. "I see you've
eaten," she said simply, and hefted the apple she'd picked
up from a stand on a nearby table.
"You don't eat enough, witch," Herb answered, feeling
cross for some reason.
"I just eat the proper things instead. You need to avoid
those artery-clogging foods you seem so fond of."
All urges to glomp the witch and kiss her silly disappeared. She
could be so irritating.
"What I eat is of no concern to you," he growled.
"Then what I eat should be no concern to you,"
she pointed out smartly, and bit into her apple with a satisfied
smirk.
But Herb was not willing to concede the argument so readily.
"It IS my concern if you pass out while we're hiking. While
this may seem like a vacation to you, we're here on a mission and
I am not going to carry you across Hokkaido if you pass out on
me. Now, EAT." With that, he shoved a plate of cheese
danishes towards her. By her faintly guilty look, he realized
he'd won the battle, but from the low fire burning in her eyes he
knew that the war was far from over.
* * *
Fed and packed, the two teenagers went to the rental store a few
blocks down from the resort hotel, and picked up the supplies
they'd need for three days on the road. Kodachi handed the police
substation a copy of their route, and before long they were on
their way through a main trail between the distant mountains.
"We should reach Tennin-kyou-onsen long before
nightfall," Kodachi explained. They had fallen into a
matching stride; Kodachi was used to stretching her legs so she
had no problem keeping up with the prince.
"Good. I don't like traveling at night." Kodachi looked
at the prince and willed him to explain further, which he did.
"Night travel is more trouble than it's worth, and my
draconic blood likes to be curled up in a cave when the sun goes
down."
"I like the night myself. Witches, well, occult forces in
general are very much in tune with the cycles of the moon, and at
night the moon is at its brightest and most beautiful."
"Dragons are creatures of the sun, on the other hand,"
Herb offered.
"Right, in most cultures anyway. Day and night . . . yin and
yang." Kodachi shrugged, the heavy gear on her back making
the gesture a bit difficult. Herb seemed not to notice that he
was carrying almost a hundred additional pounds of equipment.
"They are complements to each other."
"Does that mean that we complement each other?" Prince
Herb asked, and Kodachi looked at him oddly. He looked back at
her with such a guileless, innocent expression that Kodachi
decided he hadn't meant ill by the question.
"In the same thing that male and female complement each
other," she answered, avoiding the true meaning of the
question. "There are many other factors involved in
personality, of course. Year by Eastern zodiacs, month, day, even
hour by Western astrology. And of course one's environment has an
impact of personality, besides the innate nature of the
self."
They crested the first of a series of small hills on the path,
which afforded them a beautiful panoramic view of Daisetsuzan in
its full morning splendor. The soft muted blue mountains rose
gently against the crimson sunrise, so that the light seemed to
be emanating from the heart of Hokkaido itself.
They stopped talking and paused in reverance for the wonder of
nature before them. Other hikers and tourists also stood nearby,
awestruck at the sight.
"Magnificent," Kodachi finally dared to breath, and the
prince rumbled something in assent next to her. They stood there
for a long time before reluctantly moving on. Sunrises, like
cherry blossoms, would not last forever, and it would be better
to take the memory at its most beautiful than to ruin it by
lingering on beyond its time.
"You come from a mountainous region of China, right,
ohji-sama?" Kodachi asked conversationally.
"Right. We're in the wilderness west of Korea, north of
Bejing. The population in the area around us has exploded in the
past hundred years, but the Musk Kingdom, isolated as it is, has
stayed relatively small."
"I shall enjoy seeing it," Kodachi said honestly, and
flashed a smile to the prince. He blinked, and found himself
smiling back for no reason whatsoever.
Their fight from earlier all but forgotten, they continued on
their way, chatting companionably about the sites.
Around noon, Prince Herb called for a break, and Kodachi, whose
stomach was growling as well, agreed without argument. They
stopped by one of the many hot springs that peppered the area.
"As a rule, I don't like springs," the prince offered,
eyeing the steaming water nervously.
"Whyever not, ohji-sama?"
"Let's just say I had an embarassing experience once."
Herb winced, and took a huge bite out of the compressed imported
pemmican cake he had chosen for lunch. "I don't like to talk
about it."
Kodachi smiled to herself. Prince Herb was slowly becoming more
open to her; the Prince she had met two days ago would never have
admitted to being embarassed about something. He didn't seem like
the kind of person who ever wanted to admit a weakness.
And yet . . . she knew, somehow, that there was still something
about him that she wasn't aware of. Something important that
defined him, some special thing that made Herb tick.
"Do you have any siblings?" she asked, by way of making
conversation.
"No. Well, not that I know of. I know I have no brothers. If
I have any sisters, I don't know about them."
"Naturally you wouldn't." Kodachi pursed her lips, and
nibbled on her own pemmican cake thoughtfully.
"What about you? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"Only one idiot savant brother. He is the captain of the
kendo team at his high school. Unlike me, he is a Squib and could
not attend a wizard's school."
"A squib?"
"One who is born to a wizarding family without magic.
Normally it is something to be embarassed about, but Tatewaki has
compensated for his lack of magic by hating my own and denying
our mother's heritage."
In Nerima, Kuno sneezed in Nabiki's arms, waking them up and
prompting a scream of horror from them both.
"I don't even know if my mother has a heritage," Herb
said thoughtfully. "I've never even met her."
"Who knows, she could be a witch as well," Kodachi
suggested with a smile, and finished off her pemmican cake.
"About this . . . food," Herb asked, gesturing toward
his second cake. "This isn't Japanese, is it?"
Kodachi shook her head. "It's imported from the United
States. The natives there used it as winter food. It's berries
and meat ground up to form a paste, which is then baked over a
fire to make the cake."
Herb's thoughtful expression stayed on his face as he munched on
it some more. "You know, witch, you're good for answering
questions."
Kodachi arched an eyebrow. "I'll take that as a compliment,
ohji-sama." She began repacking her bag.
"You're pretty, too."
Kodachi felt herself turn as red as an apple. She pretended she
hadn't hurt the honesty in Herb's voice.
Think of Ranma . . . think of Ranma . . . think of Ranma . . .
But it was hard to think of Ranma when it was the first time a
male, any male, had ever said she was pretty.
Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to work one's way into a
girl's heart. Some women require gifts, showers of attention, or
constant wooing before they will even consider looking at a man.
But Kodachi wasn't that sort of girl.
In her case, all it took was a few simple words.
She turned around, finally ready to face the prince, and met his
eyes fully for the first time. His eyes . . . they were that deep
vermillion color that spoke of magical blood.
Prince Herb stood up, and Kodachi took a tentative step closer.
Her heart began thudding somewhere near her stomach.
"I-"
"Ohji-sama-" they both began at the same time.
"Please, call me Herb."
"Herb-sama, I . . . can't be doing this. I just can't. I
gave my heart to Ranma . . ."
"And did he ever accept it?"
Kodachi hung her head, and stiffened when she felt Herb's hands
on her shoulders. The touch . . . warm through her insulated ski
suit, so friendly and innocent, sent jolts of electricity running
up her spine nonetheless.
"You deserve more than some halfling," Herb said, and
there was a note of sadness in his voice. She glanced up again,
but he wasn't looking at her. He instead stared out at the
mountains, an unreadable and distant look in his eyes.
"I said before I wouldn't mind being with him even if
whatever spell he is cursed with remained. But . . ."
"He loves that other one."
Kodachi frowned in irritation. Deep down, she had known, but
she'd never wanted to admit it. She had lost him before she ever
really had a chance to win him.
There's something about the purity of the mountains that makes
one realize all the delusions one lives with in life. Kodachi
unwillingly shed her greatest one at that moment. Ranma would
never be hers.
She wasn't surprised when the tears began rolling down her
cheeks, and more surprised when the prince wiped one away.
"Herb-sama, I want--" she started to say, but the
yazuka bandits who had slowly been surrounding them during that
touching scene chose that moment to attack.
* * *
"Well, well, well," the leader said, hefting a bully
club and grinning horribly behind his ski mask. "Lookit'
what we got here. A pair of sweet, innocent lovebirds with no
brains in the middle of the mountains."
Herb cursed under his breath and hissed to Kodachi,
"Bandits? In a national park??"
Kodachi shrugged and slipped out from under his grip very slowly.
There were at least six yazuka besides the leader. Herb knew he
could take them all out easily enough by himself, but he couldn't
do it while protecting Kodachi.
He had never been so angry . . .
"Feel the battle aura burning off that one, boys," the
boss said. "This is going to be fun."
Kodachi had worked her way behind Herb carefully, so that they
now were back to back. Her hand crept to the ribbon -- and wand
-- carefully tucked in her thigh pocket.
"And the girl's a prize too, eh boss," one of the other
masked yazuka members said, earning a few chuckles of agreement
from the others.
Herb was going to make them all very, very sorry for that.
At that moment, Kodachi chose to power up.
"Black rose petal blizzard!" she cried, and the entire
area around them suddenly filled with a storm of roses. No one
could see anything beyond the wall of black that swarmed around
them.
"What the hell--?"
"Boss! They're over there!"
"Ouch, that was me you asshole!"
"Now, Herb-sama!"
The black rose petals instantly fell to the ground. Herb wasted
no time leaping for the boss. A few well placed kicks among the
confusion, and he was down. By then, the others had started
attacking, and Prince Herb reveled in the heat of battle.
This is what I trained for all those years, he thought proudly as
he finished the other yazuka off with terse, economical
movements, only using his flight powers once.
But wait . . . hadn't there been six?
With three down from his blows, Herb turned around to see
Kodachi, clad in a tiny black leotard giving a finishing punch to
the last of the three yazuka who had unwisely attacked her.
Herb was dumbfounded.
"You . . . you're a warrior!"
"Martial arts rhythmic gymnastics," Kodachi answered
smugly. "First ranked in all of Tokyo on floor work for
three years, too." She put one hand on her hip, and twirled
her ribbon in idle circles over one of the fallen yazuka.
Herb was literally speechless. For one thing, she hadn't broken a
sweat while fighting off three gang members who were twice her
size. But also . . . the leotard outlined what even the swimsuit
she had worn the night before hadn't. Kodachi the Black Rose had
a perfect figure.
"If you'll excuse me. Black rose petal storm!" The
roses surrounded Kodachi alone this time, and when they fell to
the ground, she was once again clad in her ski suit.
She smiled at him, and walked over to where he stood, kicking one
of the fallen yazuka on principle.
Herb simply stared at her, unable to take his eyes off her. Ye
gods, what a woman!
Kodachi reached up and closed his jaw with one delicate hand,
then picked up her equipment.
"Come on, Herb-sama. We still have to make it to
Tennin-kyou-onsen before nightfall."
Herb collected himself and followed her, glancing over the yazuka
one last time to make sure they were all still unconscious.
"Wait up, Kodachi-san," he said, calling her by her
name for the first time since he'd met her. He ran to catch up
with her, and she paused with a tiny smile before walking on.
* * *
The hike between Soun-kyou and Tennin-kyou wasn't very long. The
two teenagers had chosen an easy path, so they reached the second
spring resort a few hours before sunset. However, the sky grew
steadily cloudier, until it was almost dark as night when they
arrived.
Unlike Soun-kyou-onsen, which was the major tourist stop in the
park, Tennin-kyou-onsen boasted a rougher outlook to camping.
With the avalanche blocking the main road, business was slow in
even the most popular campsites, so even if Kodachi hadn't
reserved a site, they wouldn't have had a problem finding
someplace to stay.
"It will get cold tonight," she said, as they hauled
freshly purchased firewood toward their sandy plot.
"I hope it doesn't snow," Herb commented, eying the
overcast sky.
"I don't think it will . . . the forecast was for cloudy
skies, yes, but there was no prediction of snow. It's actually
still too early for real winter, even here on Hokkaido."
"I hope you're right." Herb began stacking the wood,
and then took out an elegant lighter to start the tinder up.
"Allow me," Kodachi offered, and took out her wand.
"Flame," she whispered, and a line of fire shot out
from the end of her wand, lighting the fire in seconds.
"Do you do anything without magic?" Herb asked,
slightly miffed.
"I eat and sleep," she answered with a secret smile.
"You shouldn't rely on it so much. What if you ever were in
a situation where you couldn't use it? What would you do
then?"
"Oh, I know all the conventional ways of doing things. But.
. . for the wizarding community worldwide, magic is completely
integrated into daily life. There are entire towns composed of
nothing but witches and wizards in some countries."
"Even so," Herb began, and then gave up.
Kodachi set some water to boil over the fire.
"Perhaps you are right, Herb-sama. I do rely on my magic too
much. But for me to live without it would be for you to try to
live without your dragon blood. Magic is such a deep part of my
life. I've been in witching school for six years now . . . one
more year, and I'll be a certified, official witch."
"What will you do then?"
Kodachi didn't have a ready answer to that. Before this
afternoon, her instant response would have been "Marry Ranma
and have lots of children" but now, with Ranma a dream to
remain unrealized, she had a lot more possibilies ahead of her.
"I don't know," she answered honestly, and stirred the
hot water.
"It must be nice not knowing."
"Oh?"
"I've known, ever since I was little, that I would be the
next king of the Musk kingdom. That someday dad would retire and
leave the responsibility to me." Herb stared at the fire,
and poked it with a stick. The flickering light played on his
handsome features, adding to his ethereal good looks. His ears in
particular fascinated Kodachi; they ended in those wonderful,
delicate points that make him look more like a youkai in human
form than a human with dragon blood.
"I suppose that's the price of being born to privilege . . .
you have all you want in the world materialistically, but you
lack the ability to make your own decisions." Kodachi nodded
thoughtfully, and added some bouillon to the boiling water.
"Exactly," Herb agreed, and leaned back on the ground,
looking at the cloudy sky. They were silent for a peaceful
moment.
After a while, Kodachi started adding chunks of dried vegetables
to the soup. They made a soft plopping sound, and the occasional
splatter hissed on the fire below.
"You may want to go ahead and set up the tent,
Herb-sama," she suggested. She watched as the prince sat up
again slowly, the heavy muscles in his arms flexing beneath his
cloak and armor. The prince really is a handsome looking man, she
thought to herself, and stared at him in honest feminine
apreciation. Bulkier than Ranma, certainly, but not fat.
Broad-shouldered. Whereas Ranma was wiry and lean, the prince
rippled with muscles added over the course of seventeen long
years.
He finished with one tent and started on the other, right next to
it. Kodachi almost wished . . . but no, that was silly.
Part of her wanted to share a tent with the prince. It would be
against all propriety, but she wanted to see what he looked like
when he was asleep, with is too pretty lashes covering those
otherworldly eyes, with the permanent scowl of smugness his face
bore in the waking world erased by the realm of dreams. What did
the prince dream of? What were the wishes of his heart?
By the time he had finished with the tents, their soup was done,
and Kodachi ladled it out into the compact dishes they had
brought with them.
"It is a lot simpler than the food I normally prepare,"
she said apologetically after she tasted it. The broth was warn
and mealy, although a little plainer than she prefered.
"It's fine," Herb said, closing his eyes as if to savor
the taste. "You do cook well."
A greater compliment to a Japanese woman probably did not exist.
Kodachi blushed and finished off her own soup.
Cleaning up the dishes only took a few moments, and then the
teenagers went to one of the community baths of Tenninkyou for
their evening ablutions. As rough as Tennin-kyou was, its main
purpose was as a tourist attraction, and so it was not
without its luxuries. Kodachi, soaking languidly in the hot
water, wondered what the prince was doing in the men's area.
* * *
"Auuggggh! Stop looking at me, you insolent fools!" A
cold, wet, naked female Herb ignored the shocked and lecherous
stares from the men as she stalked across the bath house. No one
had bothered to tell her that the only water the showers
here had was cold.
Muttering half-serioous threats to the men, she leapt into the
shallow hotspring and emerged male.
Steam rising from his hair, Herb glared at no one in particular
and muttered, "I hate my life sometimes."
* * *
Kodachi was toweling her hair off in front of the fire when the
prince returned. He looked strange with his pink and ble hair
slicked back away from his face, emphasizing his pointed ears.
"We don't have an alarm here, so the first of us to awake
should wake the other tomorrow," Kodachi suggested to him.
The prince nodded but said nothing; the scowl that had been on
his face when she first met him had returned, even though it had
softened somewhat earlier that day. Kodachi sighed. Apparently
whatever had happened that afternon between them had been a
fluke.
Herb banked the fire, then crawled into his tent, mumbling
"good night" barely loud enough for Kodachi to hear it.
"Good night, ohji-sama," she said, reverting back to
the more formal tone. Prince Herb seemed to ignore it, and
Kodachi decided not to let it get to her.
Something must have happened in the bathhouse, she thought as she
clambered into her own tent, burrowing deeply into the warm
thermal sleeping bag.
But what? What could have made the prince so upset in so short a
time?
Puzzled by the unanswered questions, Kodachi fells asleep as the
first snowflakes began to fall.
**End chapter five**
