Welcome to yet another chapter in Prince of the Planets! I see to be getting a lot of e-mails saying that I reposted chapters 6 and 7 as chapters 8 and 9. GO BACK TO THE STORY SUMMARY! I broke my original chapter 1 into three chapters; therefore my latter chapters were all moved up two spots. Please don't send me any more e-mails about this. Now why don't we remember that HistorianoftheKais doesn't own Sailor Moon or Ranma ½ so we can get on with the story?
Usagi, Ranma, Rei, and Rei's grandfather were all calmly waiting in one of the lobbies of the Tokyo International Airport. Ranma was with Rei and Rei's grandfather due to a letter that Rei's grandfather had received a letter from Herb requesting that Ranma accompany the Hinos when they picked him up as Ranma was a familiar person to him. Usagi had tagged along to be with Ranma and to also talk with Rei. Ranma was at first surprised that Herb was going by plane because the last time the prince had been to Japan, Herb had gone by boat. However, he told by Rei's grandfather that all of the transfer students were going to be arriving in Japan together and that it was cheaper to send them all by plane then by boat and rail.
Currently Ranma was leaning against a support pillar while Usagi and Rei were both sitting on the nearby bench chatting away. Rei's grandfather was off a ways talking to the other parents that were hosting the transfer students. Ranma ignored the girls' conversation figuring that he really didn't want to know what the girls were talking about. Having to hear and even participate in 'girl talk' was hard enough when his curse activated, Ranma had no desire to have to deal with it when he was a guy. However, Ranma was very protective of Usagi so he was constantly shifting his gaze slightly so that he could look for potential problems.
It wasn't that Ranma was paranoid; he just knew that crazy things tended to happen when things like this went on around him. Although Usagi and Rei could easily defend themselves should a daemon attack; they most likely wouldn't be able to use their powers against the more 'normal' craziness that Ranma was worried about. Both of the girls were doing great in his martial arts training, but a week of training definitely did not qualify someone to handle what Ranma was afraid of happening. Therefore, Ranma was determined to keep track of everyone he came to the airport with and was praying that they could leave with Herb without any trouble.
Usagi and Rei's conversation was interrupted when the intercom blared that the transfer students' plane had arrived and was now disembarking. Rei's grandfather then cheerfully walked over to where the teens were at and said "Well now let's go and greet Herb, uh what was his last name again? Oh yes, it was Ryutaisa (Dragon Captain), well lets go and give Herb Ryutaisa a warm welcome!" As Usagi got off the bench she thought she heard Ranma mutter, "A warm welcome; let's just hope it's not too warm." Usagi understood what Ranma was referring to and was silently hoping for just what he had said as well.
The four made there way over to the check-in part of the terminal, the farthest a person was allowed to go without a security badge or a ticket. There they waited and watched for Herb to come into sight. Soon enough they spotted a large crowd of mostly loud teens coming out of the terminal. These people were lead by a man in a business suit who was hopelessly trying to keep the teens in order. The man in the suit pointed to where the transfer parents were standing and shouted something in Chinese. The man then left the teens to go to their transfer parents and he headed over to the bathroom. Ranma the first to spot Herb and blinked his eyes before uttering out in a questioning voice, "Herb?"
Ranma knew for a fact that the person he was looking at couldn't possibly be anyone else other then the Musk prince. However, Herb looked very different then he had the last time Ranma had seen the prince. One of the most obvious differences was that Herb was no longer in his scaled armor. Instead, Herb was dressed in western black silk dress pants, had on a long white Sunday dress shirt, and had a v-neck grey wool vest to top his outfit off. It was obvious to everyone who looked at him that Herb was uncomfortable in his current clothes.
Herb, possibly because he heard Ranma say his name, turned his head and spotted Ranma and the others with Ranma. Herb then instantly put on a mask of calm confidence and started walking towards Ranma. As he passed Ranma to go to face Rei's grandfather, Herb momentarily stopped next to Ranma and whispered "thank-you" as he gave the pig-tailed martial artist a slight nod of the head. Herb then walked in front of Rei's grandfather, bowed his head towards the old priest, and said in a quiet but firm tone. "I am Herb Ryutaisa, crown prince of the Musk people; I am honored that you would open your house to me and allow me to stay with you for the duration of my visit to Japan."
Rei was shocked that Herb had announced that he was a prince and was even more shocked that Usagi and Ranma didn't seem to be surprised by this announcement. Her grandfather just smiled and said in a cheery voice, "No need to be so formal kid. After all, even royalty are people who need to at times just relax. Just call me by my name, Shigeru; trust me, people are easier to live with when they are more relaxed with each other." Herb blinked his eyes several times as if he was having trouble comprehending what he had heard Shigeru say to him.
Ranma just smirked as he watched the confusion on Herb's face, seeing the self-assured prince out of balance was secretly enjoyable. Still, Ranma knew that he was the closest thing Herb had to a friend in 700 miles. Taking a step forward, Ranma put his hand on Herb's shoulder and said, "What the old priest means is that you can just be an ordinary, well as ordinary as a person in your situation can be, teenager while you're in Japan. Just remember that I will help you if you ever find yourself in a situation because of your 'status.' Now let's go and get your stuff so we can leave."
Five minutes later Herb's welcome party with the prince in tow was at the baggage claim station. Herb quickly spotted his two suitcases and walked over to grab them. Carrying both suitcases firmly in his hands, Herb made his way over to where the others were waiting for him. Shigeru then lead the teenagers out of the Airport and over towards the rail stop. Part of the trip to the rail station required them to walk next to a road. Just as the rail stop came into sight, a truck carrying water cooler jugs passed by and one of the full jugs fell off the trunk and hit the pavement. The now free water splashed Ranma and Herb activating their curses. Rei, who had turned around to check on the 'boys', saw two very beautiful girls where she knew Ranma and Herb had been and promptly fainted. Ranma, who saw Rei faint, just snapped his fingers and said, "And we were so close to going home without an incident too."
"I am sooo dead." Ryoga thought to himself as he considered his very perilous position. It just wasn't fair, Ranma was supposed to be the poor fool that got into these kinds of situations; not him! He had been caught off guard as he was heading to the park to practice martial arts and had his curse activated. Not wanting to cut into his practice time too much, Ryoga had decided to just teleport back to the Saotome household so he could change back. He hadn't used his teleport abilities too much because he, like Ranma, didn't want his location getting back to the remaining Nerima Nuts.
Unfortunately for Ryoga, he hadn't really practiced teleporting while in his cursed for thus leading to his current situation. He was in his cursed form currently above a bathtub of hot water. The only reason he hadn't fallen into the tub of water yet was because he had a death grip on the shower head. What made the whole situation all the more deadly for Ryoga was the fact that the tub was currently occupied by Ami. Ryoga knew that Ami was in the tub because Murphy had spared no expense in causing him trouble; Ryoga had teleported with his face facing the tub instead of the wall.
As soon as Ryoga saw Ami's face and all the rest of her at the same time, he immediately shut his eyes. Ryoga couldn't just teleport out of his situation because of the recharge time needed. As he was waiting for the recharge time to pass Ryoga prayed that Ami wouldn't look up and that he wouldn't get a nose bleed. Murphy hadn't moved on because a single drop of blood fell from Ryoga's snout and hit the bathwater below.
Ami noticed the drop of blood hit the bath water near her feet and was puzzled for a second. "Huh? What's going on?" Ami said to herself as her eyes followed the path that the drop had come from. Spotting a cute black piglet that was gripping the shower head with its hoofs, Ami stood up in the bathwater and said, "Where did you come from little guy?" Although Ami had no idea how a black piglet got up there or even in the house, Ami didn't want to leave the poor thing up there. She reached over and grabbed the piglet and had to use more strength then she had expected to get the little porker off of the shower head.
Once Ami had Ryoga in her hands she thought about what she should do with the piglet. Ami decided to just put him on the bathroom floor and finish her bath. Sadly Ami's hands were still lightly covered in soap as she hadn't bothered to make sure there were no more soap suds. Therefore Ryoga fell out of Ami's hands and into the warm bathwater. Ami could barely keep herself from screaming out in shock as she found a nude Ryoga in the bathtub with her. The shock of it all caused Ami to faint and fall face forward onto Ryoga. Pin down by Ami, all Ryoga could do was silently curse his luck.
Makoto was in her apartment kitchen trying to think about she should cook for dinner. Sure, dinner was two hours away for her, but she liked to plan out what she would cook and get all of the ingredients ready before she actually started. It was something that her mother had done with her many times before her parents died. Makoto liked to continue to make her meals like that because it made her feel close her mother. Even though she tried not to show it to the other scouts, Makoto was really bother by her lack of family.
Family that bittersweet word had taken on a whole new twist for Makoto ever since Ranma showed up. He just confused Makoto and was unknowingly playing with her emotions like crazy. On the one hand, she viewed him as a fellow student and defender of the city. That side of Makoto view Ranma as Usagi's new boyfriend and the Scouts' new martial arts instructor. On the other hand, there was a part of Makoto that was screaming for Ranma to be safe and well away from the battlefield. That part of Makoto was extremely upset that one of her friends would DARE date Ranma.
Makoto started to rub her temples as she talked to herself. "Okay Makoto, get it together. Ever since you found out about Prince Nephelite, your memories of him as a little boy have been coming back very quickly. Obviously all of your motherly love for Nephelite is still there. You just don't know how to relate those emotions over to Ranma." Talking to herself was just not working for Makoto.
Makoto was knocked out of the cycle of depression that she had inadvertently put herself into by the ringing of her doorbell. Shaking her head as she got up, Makoto calmly walked over to the front door and opened it. Even though she had a smile on her face, Makoto could barely keep her shock from showing. Right there in front of her dressed in a rather traditional kimono was none other Nodoka Saotome. Makoto had to keep herself from closing the door in the woman's face because of shock. Ranma's mother was the last person, besides Ranma himself, which Makoto wanted to deal with until she got her head strait again.
Nodoka looked at Makoto and noticed the minute signs that Makoto was not resting easily; also the fact that Makoto didn't really want to see her was obvious to Makoto. However, Nodoka didn't just walk away because when she looked within Makoto's eyes she saw the eyes of a scared girl who needed someone's help. It wasn't hard for Nodoka to figure out that the source of Makoto's distress was 'their' son Ranma. Nodoka was afraid that Makoto would burn up if the girl continued going how she was without getting help. Deciding that confronting the issue would be in Makoto's best long term interests, Nodoka bowed her head and said, "May I come in Makoto? After all, there are several things that the two of us need to talk about."
Makoto, who was still in a great deal of shock, steeped aside and let Nodoka into the house. Then, even though she was still in shock, Makoto's instincts as a good housekeeper took over. Walking ahead of Nodoka, Makoto led the older woman over to the small family room. There were two simple chairs in the small room which two women promptly sat on. A few minutes passed between Makoto and Nodoka in uncomfortable silence.
Nodoka broke the silence by turning to Makoto and saying, "Well then Makoto, I guess this conversation has been coming. I must admit, this is one conversation I never expected to have. How are you holding up knowing that Ranma is the reincarnation of your past life's son?" Nodoka spoke with a concerned tone and a look of worry on her face the entire time.
Makoto looked into Nodoka's eyes and saw that they didn't offer pity, only understanding and compassion. They were eyes that promised that no matter what, the barer of the eyes would make everything go better. Makoto hadn't seen eyes like that directed towards her since she had last seen her mother alive all those years ago. Those eyes and what they reminded Makoto of were the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. The poor girl broke out into a river of tears and was quickly wrapped up by Nodoka's arms. For the next several minutes Makoto was unable to stop crying as Nodoka tried to sooth the distraught senshi.
Eventually, Makoto stopped crying and just took comfort in Nodoka's embrace. Sadly, in Makoto's secret opinion, the reality of the situation returned to the young brunette. Makoto then slowly and politely worked her way out of Nodoka's hug to sit back fully in her chair. Nodoka also moved back into her own chair, sensing that Makoto wanted a little bit of room after that outburst. Taking a deep breath to help calm her nerves; Makoto then said in a more collected voice, "I'm not holding up nearly as well as I would like to Mrs. Saotome. Finding out about Prince Nephelite/Ranma is one of the best and worst things for me."
Upon seeing the confused look on Nodoka's face, Makoto decided to explain what she meant. Makoto made a sweeping motion with her hand and said, "You have to understand, all of this belonged to my parents. They died 6 years ago leaving everything to me and provided me with a modest income via a trust fund they established for me. My parents came from a small family so there were no relatives for me to go to after their deaths. For some reason that I still haven't fully been able to figure out, I was declared an emancipated minor instead of being put into a foster home like I had at first expected."
Makoto then let out a small sigh and her eyes gained a slightly dreamy look as she continued to talk. "Ever since the plane crash that killed my parents, all I've ever dreamed about was being part of a family. I can't tell you how many nights I went to sleep hoping that tomorrow a social worker would show up at my door and tell me that they've found a relative of mine. Those dreams always ended with that dream relative of mine whisking me away to be apart of his or her family. As I got older, those dreams of mind for a family changed. Instead of it being a relative showing up; it was me getting married to a great guy and having several kids of my own."
Closing her eyes and bowing her head, Makoto took a second to collect her thoughts and calm down again before she continued in a quieter tone. "And now Ranma and his past incarnation show up; completely turning my world on its head. I now have a relative but at the same time I still don't have one. And to make the whole situation worse, I'm getting the memories and feelings that my past incarnation had towards her son. Now whenever I look or think about Ranma, I find my feelings torn. I feel like he's a friend that could possibly become of brother-figure for me; while on the other hand there's a part of me that wants to crush him in a hug and is deeply upset that he refers to you as mother."
Nodoka listened to Makoto's speech with patience and understanding. It tore at Nodoka's heart to listen to what Makoto was going through. Nodoka knew that Makoto must have been going though some tough feelings about this whole situation before Nodoka came to check on the girl. After all, Nodoka herself was still having some difficulty dealing with the fact that Ranma could remember being the son of princess Hippolyta. But before she came over to visit Makoto, Nodoka never imagined that Makoto was having such a difficult time. Any jealousy that Nodoka might have unknowingly kept towards Makoto and her connection to Ranma was forever banished from Nodoka's heart.
Nodoka saw Makoto bowing her head in shame and Nodoka felt a pull at her heart at seeing Makoto like that. It was obvious to Nodoka that Makoto was afraid that she had upset Nodoka with how she felt towards Ranma. Nodoka suddenly felt an idea enter her head and she softly started to speak. "Makoto, I can't begin to fully understand what you're going through because of this. I may not have seen Ranma for ten years, but at least I knew that he was alive and coming back to me. Being able to handle growing up on your own for so long like you have really impresses me."
Nodoka saw that she now had Makoto's attention and that Makoto was no longer as embarrassed as she had been. Looking into Makoto's eyes Nodoka continued her own speech saying, "Makoto the two of us may be in a rather unique situation regarding Ranma, but that doesn't mean that either of us has to deal with any heartbreak. We both regard Ranma as our son; you because of your past life and me because I gave birth to him in this life. I know that Ranma, although he tries not to show it me because he doesn't want to hurt my feelings, views both of us as his mothers. Will a little bit of work, and a good deal of understanding all around to start off with, I think that it's possible for the three of us to make our rather unique family work."
Makoto thought about what Nodoka had just told her very seriously. It did make sense that the three of them were a family like Nodoka had said. Could she make it work? Makoto asked herself whether she could honestly make such a situation work. Slowly Makoto started to smile and the smile got bigger. Yes, yes she could make such a thing as Nodoka seemed to be proposing work. With a big smile on her face, Makoto looked at Nodoka and said, "Well what do you know, dreams really do come true."
Herb, now in his male form, was sitting currently helping Rei to set the Hino's dinner table. The young prince was silently thankful that he had been able to change out of those uncomfortable clothes that he had been in during his flight from China. Currently he was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that had the image of a Chinese dragon covering the back. While not as comfortable to Herb as his armor, it was infinitely better then that 'monkey suit' he had been forced to wear.
Looking across the table where Rei was currently setting out some strange utensils he had never heard of called 'forks', Herb was again thankful that he had sent that letter to Ranma. As much as he hated to admit it even to himself, Herb knew that things would have gone FAR worse after his and Ranma's curses were revealed if Ranma hadn't been there with his 'girlfriend'. One of the things that Herb had learned about himself after that fiasco with the locking ladle and the kettle of liberation was that he still needed to learn with other people who were not his subordinates like Mint and Lime were.
For a second, Herb felt his mind wander back to the events that afternoon after his and Ranma's curses were activated. Usagi had helped Rei get back on her feet and steady the then shocked shrine maiden. Shigeru Hino had just calmly stood there; Herb guessed that his father had included information about the curse in the letter to the old priest. Usagi and Ranma then proceeded to explain the curses to Rei and made sure that she fully understood what was going on. The four teens and their accompanying elder then got on the train in order to get to the shrine. After they had made sure that Herb was settled into his room at the shrine, Ranma and Usagi had left to go on a date.
Shaking his head, Herb focused on finishing up his part of taking care of his part of setting the table. Looking at the table and noticing that it was set for four people, Herb turned to look at Rei and said, "Who is the fourth person that we've set the table for? Is it for your father?" Immediately Rei's body tensed up when she heard Herb mention her father. Herb noticed the hostility that Rei was showing at the mention of her father and immediately bowed his head. He then, even as hard as it was for him, said in apologetic tone. "I am truly sorry if I have said something to offend you Miss Hino, I was only curious." As much as Herb disliked having to apologize for his actions; he had learned, and rather painfully too, that sometimes it was better for him to swallow his pride.
Rei at first stiffened when Herb had brought up her father; that man was practically a taboo subject for Rei. Rei was about to curtly tell Herb never to mention her father again when she heard his apology. Her face softened as she realized that Herb was genuinely curious as to why the table was being set like it was. With a neutral face that turned into a small smile as she continued to talk, Rei said, "Please don't mention my father around me again Herb. He and I have issues that need to be resolved. The fourth set of dishes and silverware is for a friend of mine that's coming over."
Herb nodded his head in order to show that he understood what Rei was telling him. The concept of a father and child being such terms as Rei was implying was a foreign concept for Herb, but he could understand it. Herb and Rei then finished setting up the table in a relatively comfortable silence. Just as piece of silverware was set on the table, the doorbell rang. Rei then left Herb to bring over the prepared dinner from the kitchen as she headed over to the front door to greet her friend.
Less then two minutes latter Herb saw Rei return to the dinning room with a blond haired girl following her. Rei then motioned between Herb and Minako while saying, "Herb Ryutaisa this is my friend Minako Anio. Minako Aino, this is the exchange student that's staying with me and my grandfather, Herb Ryutaisa."
Herb put the tray holding the main dinner dish down on the table. He then took a quick glance at Minako and said with a stiff and slight nod of his head, "an honor to meet you Miss Aino." Actually, it wasn't that much of an honor in Herb's mind to meet Minako but he didn't want to offend Rei. Minako, for some reason that escaped him at the time, just reminded Herb of his former betrothed. Why Minako would remind him of her, Herb had no clue. Still, Minako put Herb slightly on edge and one thing that every Musk child was taught since birth was to trust their instincts.
Before Minako could say anything more then a simple greeting, Shigeru walked into room and stated that it was time to start eating. During the dinner Herb was quiet and only answered the girls' questions. Minako tended to ask him more personal questions than Rei did and so Herb tended to be a little sharper in his replies. He said nothing overly hostile, just a slight change in his eyebrows and tone in order to show that he didn't want to pursue that line of questioning. Privately Herb had to admit that the dinner, even with its uncomfortable parts, was a pleasant change from the more formal dinners back at the Musk citadel.
Half an hour latter everyone was finished eating and had started clearing the table. Once all of the dirty dishes were next to the sink Rei's grandfather smiled and asked the teens to let him take care of the dishes. Minako was the first to jump at the chance to get away from the dishes; Herb and Rei were both far more reluctant to leave the rather large pile of dishes for Shigeru to tackle by himself. Fortunately, at least in Minako's opinion, Shigeru managed to chase Herb and Rei out of the kitchen while muttering about how kids these days just don't respect their elders.
While Shigeru was tackling the dishes, the teens soon found themselves sitting in the family room with their text-books out. Rei and Minako were both quizzing each other for a test next week while Herb was working on better understanding the various writing methods that the Japanese used. While Herb could read Japanese, he was still easily confused by the kanji. The numerous variations within the Japanese writing system seemed totally irrational to the dragon prince who was used to the single simple system of characters used in the Musk lands and the other surrounding areas.
Placing his book down on the coffee table, Herb grabbed the one thing that he was completely familiar and comfortable with; the TV remote. Herb then turned in his seat a bit so he could get a better view of the television and pressed the ON button. Although the TV screen was not nearly as big as the 72" screen TV his father had installed in the basement of the citadel; the clarity was a whole lot better then the satellite signal that reached the citadel. After only a few minutes of seeing the clarity of the TV programs and the massive variety of channels, Herb was determined that he would have a cable line installed in the citadel ASAP.
Herb stopped his channel surfing when he got to a station that was playing the local news. Putting the remote down, Herb started to pay attention to what the announcers was saying. "-And in other news, less then ten minutes ago another monster attack was recorded. Luckily for our fellow citizens of Tokyo, the monster was quickly taken care of by our local hero Sailor Moon and her new helper Jovian Paladin. Surprisingly, none of the other Sailor Scouts showed up to fight the monster. However I have heard that we shouldn't hold this against the other Scouts. Apparently witnesses of the fight have reported that during the fight the Jovan Paladin said to Sailor Moon and I quote 'next time we go on a date princess we need to make sure that the monsters know that we'll be busy so that they can reschedule their attacks to be at a more convenient time.'"
"Does this mean that the gossip we've been hearing about these two heroes being together is true? In any case, both of these two heroes were able to slay the monster with no loss of human life and only very minimal property damage. And now, we turn things over to Toranaga with the weather report."
Herb turned off the TV as soon as the reporter stopped talking about the monster attack. Minako and Rei were quietly chatting to each other about the attack. However Herb wasn't paying them any attention. His whole mind focused in on the names of the monster's slayers. Herb could have sworn that he had heard those names, or at least names like those, mentioned before in his youth. However Herb could not be sure of the significance of the names, he could only be sure that they were important. Herb resolved then and there to get at the bottom of the situation and figure out why the names seemed so important to him. First thing in the morning, Herb promised himself, he would send a letter to his father asking for a copy of the Tome of the Taisho. If anything, that ancient book would help him solve the mystery of those names.