* * *

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**