Chapter twenty

Nishi's eye began twitching in annoyance again as she mixed together whatever ingredients Yamuraiha told her. The generals were still arguing while Hinahoho tried in vain to calm them. Nishi just wanted to scream at them to stop, but from previous experience she knew it wouldn't help, most likely it would fuel the fire.

"Yam...I'm not sure this is right." Nishi frowned at the green mixture she swirled around in a beaker. "Was it green the first time?"

"Yes it was." Yamuraiha assured.

"Wasn't it blue?" Spartos looked at it from where he stood.

"No, I'm sure it was green."

"Ok..How's this going to work?" Nishi turned to the now quiet group of kids.

"The first time, when Sharrkan knocked it over it spilled then went poof! Like a cloud of smoke!" Pisti told Nishi while giggling.

"Alright...Everyone gather around then...Masrur, you too." Nishi gestured for the Fanalis to join them. Once everyone was crowded together Nishi backed away and threw the potion at the floor in front of them. It exploded into a cloud of green smoke, just as Pisti had said.

Nishi waited anxiously as the smoke cleared, silently begging for them to be back to normal.

"It didn't work!" An old, raspy voice croaked as the smoke cleared.

Nishi's eyes widened as she looked at the generals now, they were all old people. "Oh no..."

"Nishi! What'd you do?!" Sharrkan exclaimed as they all looked themselves over in horror.

"Hah, Spartos, you're an old man!" Pisti laughed.

"You're old too!"

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Nishi ran over to where she was working before. She looked over the list once again. "How? I did everything correct!"

"Hmph. Back in my day, magi were actually good magicians!" Yamuraiha crossed her arms.

"Yam!" Nishi gasped at the female magician as Yamuraiha grinned in amusement. "W-Well, what do I do now?!?"

"Try again!" Ja'far suggested.

"Again?! What if she turns us into animals this time!" Sharrkan rasped.

"I'll, I'll try again. I'll get it right this time." Nishi decided.

~

Meanwhile in Kou:

"Good, good. She's beginning to fall apart. It won't be long before we can move to the next step." Judar couldn't see the Al-Thamen member's face, but he could bet he was smirking as Judar finished telling him about Kana.

"Which is?" The Al-Thamen member didn't reply, instead he just chuckled and backed away. Judar rolled his eyes and bit into a peach. "Whatever."

"Hello, Judar-kun!" Judar groaned at the familiar sound of Princess Kougyoku's voice.

"What do you want?"

"How's everything with Nishi going?" Kougyoku happily walked over.

"Fine."

"Just fine? Have you done anything special?" The princess frowned a little at his curt answer.

"No. Why would we?"

"Because you're dating! You should do cute things like go on dates and buy each other stuff!" Kougyoku blushed lightly at the thought of doing cute things with King Sinbad. I wonder what Sinbad's doing right now...

"Don't forget about making kids!" Both the princess and Judar were surprised as Prince Kouha joined the conversation.

"Brother Kouha, that's not appropriate." Kougyoku's blush darkened, causing her to cover her mouth with her sleeve.

"Sure it is! So, Judar, have you yet?" Kouha pressed, smirk evident on his face.

"No!" Judar denied.

"Liar."

"I'm not lying, you brat."

"Yeah you are~!" Kouha sang teasingly.

"We haven't done anything like that."

"Yet." Kouha smirked.

"Shut the hell up, would ya?" Judar threw the peach core he had at the prince.

~

After many, many failed attempts at changing King Sinbad and the generals back, Nishi finally managed to get the right mixture. "Alright guys, I'm sure this will work!"

"You were sure about the last five attempts too." Sharrkan meowed. Everyone was too tired to even care at this point that they were all strangely colored cats.

"Ok, here goes nothing..." Nishi threw the potion and watched as a blue cloud of smoke filled the room. She waited and silently prayed that it would finally work.

"Yeah! It worked!" Sharrkan began cheering.

"Oh thank goodness...Never again." Nishi sighed in relief as the generals and Sinbad began fixing themselves up and getting their metal vessels back. Nishi sat down and rested her head on her arms, "I'm exhausted...I could just sleep forever..."

"Not just yet," Ja'far crushed her hopes as he adjusted his robes. "I'm going to need your help with all the paperwork that's piled up these past days."

Nishi groaned and cursed under her breath, "I don't wannaaaa!"

"Worry about paperwork later, tonight we're celebrating!" Sinbad decided, putting the last of his many metal vessels back on.

"Sin! We can't just not do our work!" Ja'far was shocked.

"We'll do it tomorrow." Sinbad assured.

"Well, you guys can celebrate all you want, I'm sleeping." Nishi waved to them lazily as she headed to the door, "You're welcome for saving your asses by the way." She laughed. The others chuckled as well, and a few thanked her as she left the room.

Nishi shook her head as she walked through the palace to her room. She never wanted to deal with anything like that again. I think the worst part was when they were monkeys... She laughed to herself remembering how they looked in a ton of different forms.

"Miss Nishi?"

She stopped walking as a guard blocked her way. "Yes?"

"I've received a letter addressed to you."

"From whom?"

"Sorry, I don't know. They didn't say." The guard handed her the letter.

"Alright, thank you." Nishi frowned at the letter. She walked past the guard and opened the letter as she walked.

"Meet in the usual spot tomorrow morning."

Nishi sighed ripped the paper into small pieces before tossing it into the trash once she reached her bedroom. And I was planning on sleeping in for once, damn Judar.

~