Ranma stretched and walked around the cabin with her hands clasped behind
her back, admiring the warm morning sun as an artist would admire a painting
or as her pop would admire a large buffet--its radiance was reassuring after
a long day of cold rain.
	Miko followed close behind, mimicking her guardian's every move, trying
patiently to figure out new things about her new friend.  At that moment,
she was marveling at how light her guardian's steps were, almost a whisper
next to the monotonous crunching sound she made even in her softest strides.
	Ranma felt a bit uneasy about being observed so closely but remained
silent.  Miko had a right to be curious, and there was probably no way to
make her go away without hurting her feelings.
	They both wandered around to what could be considered the back yard.
Doshin was deep in some sort of slow exercise: it looked like a cross
between ta'i chi and kendo, where he would altenate between graceful motions
with his arms and graceful motions with his bokken.  Ranma sat down on a
nearby log and watched with interest, Miko by her side.
	Miko peered around and tried to meet Ranma's eyes, but her guardian seemed
to be captivated by her father's practice.  She asked anyway, "How do you
like the clothes Father gave you?"
	Ranma stared straight.  "They're Ok, I guess.  Why?"
	Miko looked a little disappointed.  She said in a weak tone, "Oh, never mind."
	Ranma turned nervously, sure she had said SOMETHING wrong.  "I mean...
they're really nice.  I just... I...."
	Miko looked at her carefully.  "I made them."
	Ranma examined her sleeves closely.  "You did?!"  _Too much surprise.
Sounded insincere._  "I mean... you did?"  _That's better._
	Miko smiled, focusing on the complement rather than the tone.  "I'm glad
you like it.  I sort of hurried on that one and wasn't sure if it was any good."
	Ranma tried to show more interest.  "Why?  How long did it take you?"
	"I started on it during my morning meal two days ago and worked on it while
I ate."
	Ranma raised an eyebrow.  "And when did you finish."
	Miko's smile widened.  "When I finished eating."
	Ranma facefaulted and Miko started giggling like it was the funniest sight
she'd ever seen (which it probably was).
	Doshin glanced over at the two girls and shook his head.  _There she goes
again: trying to impress every person she meets._  "Miko."  Both the girl
looked up in unison, like siamese twins with the same name.  He shook his
head again.  "I seem to have forgot my bow again.  Would you please fetch it
for me?"
	Miko waved cheerfully and shouted, "Ok, Father!  Be right back!"  She
turned to Ranma and whispered, "This evening, I'll show you the rest of my
wardrobe, the ones I took my time on," then she sprinted off, giggling like
Azusa.
	Ranma watched her round the corner and then turned back to Doshin.  He was
now pointing his bokken, both hands on handle, toward a log that was
standing upright on a tree stump. (CUTE VOICE: I think it called tree
trunk.)  He bowed toward it, took a step forward, and fluidly sliced the log
down its center and across its middle, so that four equal pieces of wood
fell to the ground.  He bowed once more, then saw out of the corner of his
eye that Ranma rolled her eyes at him.
	He turned to her and bowed.  "Did you find something wrong with my technique?"
	Ranma gave him a dismissing wave, but then decided to say it anyway.  She
twiddled her thumbs and tried not to meet his gaze.  "Well, it's just
that... I've found... over the years... that blocks of wood just don't put
up that good of a fight."
	Doshin thought about her words for a while and bowed once more.  "I accept."
	"Huh?"
	"I accept your challenge."
	Ranma looked to both sides to make sure there was no one else he could have
been talking to.  "You want to fight ME?"
	Doshin rested both hands on the handles of the bokken, its tip planted
softly into the ground.  "Spar with you.  Perhaps I can learn something new.
(CUTE VOICE: Yeah.  Like Husband better fighter than you.)"  He turned his
head and smiled.  "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."
	Ranma groaned and started walking toward him.  "Well, I guess I really do
need to start practicing with someone."
	"Practice what?  What's going on?"  Miko trotted toward Ranma with a bow
and a quiver of arrows slung on her back.
	Doshin took a step back and to the side.  "Your Guardian Spirit claims to
fight better than wood, and she has allowed me the privelige of testing that
theory." (CHEF'S NOTE: Fool!  You can never hope to be half the showoff my
Ranchan is.)
	Ranma groaned again.  "Well, ya didn't really have'ta put it that way."
	Miko grabbed one of Ranma's arms with both of hers.  "Don't, Guardian
Spirit.  Father is quite good.  You might get hurt."
	Ranma turned to her and smiled.  "Don't worry.  I can take care of myself."
	Miko stared into Ranma's eyes and concluded that her guardian wouldn't be
detered, so she returned to the log they both had been sitting at.  Ranma
faced Doshin and smiled.  Doshin remained expressionless.
	They both bowed to each other and Doshin brought his sword before him, but
Ranma just clasped her hands behind her back.  Doshin raised an eyebrow.
"Are you not ready?"
	Ranma looked at him seriously and nodded.  "Mm Hm.  I'm going on the
defensive."  He raised the other eyebrow.  Ranma turned her head a bit,
mocking him.  "Am I moving too fast for you already?"
	Miko chuckled.  "I think she's immitating a log, Father."
	Ranma looked up and to the side.  "I dunno.  I've seen some logs move
faster."  _Yeah.  When Akane throws 'em at me._
	Her attention was brought back to Doshin when she felt a light tap on her
shoulder.  "I have managed to overcome your mighty defenses, Guardian Ranma."
	Ranma let her gaze fall.  "Oh, gee.  I can feel my arm trying to fall off
already."  Miko almost fell backwards with laughter. (CHEF'S NOTE: Yes,
catch it all right here!  It's the battle of the egos!) (CUTE VOICE: Only on
pay-per-view.)
	Both opponents faced each other once more.  Ranma took up her 'defensive'
posture and Doshin readied his sword.  Ranma could see in his eyes that he
was going to really strike this time--well, sort of.
	Doshin swung for her left shoulder, then her right, then her left again,
then a sweep across the top.  Ranma just stood in one place and banked
right, then left, then right, then bent backwards, respectively, and nothing
connected.  Ranma straightened up and said, "You don't have to hold back
just because I'm a girl."  Miko stared in amazement.
	Doshin nodded and attacked again, swiping across both shoulders and low at
her feet so fast that it seemed as though he was drawing a triangle in
mid-air.  Ranma jumped through and landed in the same spot.  Picking up the
pace, he started a series of slashes that seemed like he was drawing a bunch
of man-sized stars, but Ranma somehow managed to evade them all.
	To Miko, his next attack seemed like one continuous blur, like it was
everywhere at once, but her guardian seemed to be winking in and out of
existence in the nick of time.  Within seconds, they were moving too fast to
see, and her own heart started racing with worry.  She heard her guardian
laughing out loud, "You're right, Miko!  He is good!"
	Doshin broke from the blur and proceeded with a flurry of jabs, whereupon
Ranma executed a chestnut fist that countered every blow.  Suddenly, the
swordsman spun around and kicked for Ranma's head, and she only barely
blocked with the same kick, and the struggling pause lasted long enough for
Miko to see that neither one had sustained an injury, but they both were
noticeably sweating.
	After a quick duel of fast-paced kicks and a few more failed sword swipes,
Doshin flipped backward to a small tree stump and slashed at its base.  The
stump flew from its roots and shot like a frisbee toward Ranma.  Miko gasped
and peeked through her fingers.  Ranma did another chestnut fist, and the
stump seemed to hover in front of her until it was reduced to sawdust.
	Meanwhile, somewhere off in the dense trees and bushes, a pair of robed
arms pushed past the leaves and notched an arrow on a bow, aiming it toward
Miko.  She was still a good distance away, but she was also unmoving--it
would just be a matter of aiming.  However, a massive hand reached out and
grasped the arrow where it crossed the bow, and the weapon slowly withdrew.
	Doshin rushed at Ranma with sword held high, but Ranma stopped it in
mid-slash by gripping onto the wooden blade.  Her attention seemed to be
focusing on something else.  She asked, "Did you hear something?"
	Doshin cocked his head toward the wind and listened, then muttered, "You
mean like a bowstring being drawn tight?"
	"Uh... yeah, something like that."
	He rested his bokken on his shoulder.  "I think we should go inside now."
Ranma nodded.  They both bowed to one another, then walked back toward Miko.
	Miko jumped up and started running toward them with a ghastly look on her
face.  She grabbed Ranma by the shoulders and shook her violently, shouting,
"Please, don't scare me like that ever again!"
	Doshin took his daughter by the shoulders and held her close to his side
while they walked back into the house, making sure he was standing between
her and what he had heard.  Ranma glanced back at the looming jungle and
frowned--she had a bad feeling they were being watched.

		

	Miko poured some hot tea into Ranma's cup and asked curiously, "Again,
where did you say Father went?"  She sat down and filled her own cup.
	Ranma glanced out the window.  "He... he wanted to find something for us to
eat for lunch."  Miko looked confused.  "...We eat it during the middle of
the day?"
	Miko nodded.  "The mid-day meal."
	Ranma nodded.  "Yeah."
	"And that's why he took his bow?"
	Ranma took a sip of her tea.  "Uh huh.  He wanted something besides nuts
and berries for a change."
	Miko twisted her face.  "Father?  Hunting?  Hmmm.  Father very rarely eats
any meat."  Ranma looked a little nervous, thinking her story wouldn't hold
up, but then Miko glimmered, "Oh!  I guess with you here, Guardian Spirit,
today is a VERY special occasion."  Ranma let out a sigh of relief, then
Miko added, "I guess he's gone to get something for a sacrificial offering
in your honor." (CUTE VOICE: Wha?) (CHEF'S NOTE: I knew it!  She's a witch!)
Ranma gasped, hoping she was just kidding.
	Miko sipped her tea, and after a short silence, let her expression fall a
bit.  She murmered, full of regret, "I'm sorry, Guardian Spirit."
	"What for?"
	Miko cast her eyes downward.  "I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did
earlier.  But you did scare me."
	Ranma smiled as best she could.  "Don't worry 'bout it.  Believe me, if
there's one thing I'm used to, it's being yelled at."
	Miko was about to ask why a spirit would be yelled at, but she saw in her
guardian's eyes that that was another of those 'complicated' stories, so she
let it go.  Instead, she said, "You really are an exceptional fighter.  I
really had no reason to be worried."
	Ranma blushed slightly and started fumbling with her pig-tail.  "Your pop's
a really good martial artist too.  That was one of the best workouts I've
had in a while.  Sometimes it gets kinda boring fighting MY pop every day
when we both know each other's moves."
	Miko brought her cup to her lips and froze.  "Guardian Spirit, did your
father teach you how to fight?"
	Ranma set her tea down and put her hands behind her head, "Yep--well, sort
of.  Though nowadays, it seems like I'm learnin to do more stuff than he
knows."  Miko was awestruck.  "Hey, why doesn't your pop teach you to fight?
Y'know, so ya can look after yourself."
	Miko dropped her head and stood up to get more tea from the counter.   _I
might have been able to save Niko *sob*...._  " But I'm just a girl, and
Father says girls are too weak to make good fighters.  Girls are more suited
for cooking, cleaning, and managing the home." (CUTE VOICE AND CHEF'S NOTE:
GRRRRR!)
	Ranma folded her arms and snickered. (CHEF'S NOTE: You tell her, Ranchan!)
(CUTE VOICE: Yeah, you tell Chinese hussy.) (OLD VOICE: It never worked
before.) (CUTE VOICE: Huh?  What you mean?) "It's a good thing your pop
doesn't live at my house--er... Akane's house.  Akane'd send him through the
roof if he said something like that to her."
	Miko stood by Ranma's chair and absently poured tea into her cup, then her
own.  "I know you are a girl and can fight very well--maybe even better than
Father--but you are a guardian spirit...."  She cocked her head. (CUTE
VOICE: Why Miko cock head.) (NOTE: Oh, crap.  Don't start this again.) (CUTE
VOICE: What?) "Who's Akane?"
	Ranma bit her lower lip and reached for her cup.  "Well... she's sorta my
fiancee...."
	Miko facefaulted, and her kettle would have dropped to the floor if Ranma
hadn't have caught it.  "You have a fiancee, and she's a girl!  But...
but....  I've heard some people in the village say that that sort of thing
went on in the southern regions, but... I thought that was only a joke."
	Ranma looked down at herself, then started frantically waving her arms.
"No no no no, it's not like that at all."
	Miko looked at Ranma like she was the strangest thing on the face of the
planet.  "I deeply apologize if I've made you feel uncomfortable, or if I've
given you reason to believe that I...."  She trailed off.
	Ranma slumped forward and sighed.  She rested the tea kettle on her lap and
stared at it.  "I guess I had to tell ya sooner or later.  I hope ya don't
take it the wrong way."  She started to say something else, but then just
dumped the entire kettle of tea onto her head.
	Right before Miko's eyes, her guardian's features changed, her hair turned
black, and her body grew until her blouse started stretching beyond its
limit.  Miko's remained dumbstruck (CHEF'S NOTE: Dumb, anyway.), and she was
quiet so long that Ranma thought she might never speak again, but she
finally gasped, "Guardian Spirit, you're a man?"
	Ranma-kun looked down slightly.  "Sorry 'bout this."
	Without warning, she threw her arms wide and squealed, "Guardian Spirit!"
Ranma immediately recognized the 'Wo Ai Ni' gaze trasposed over the same
look Azusa would give an inanimate object, and he knew he'd never be able to
escape in time.  Before he could twitch a muscle, Miko was curled up in his
lap with her arms draped under his and head resting on his broad, masculine
chest. (NOTE: Apparently, she forgot about that 'fiancee' part.) (CHEF'S
NOTE: Grrrr!  Well, maybe if Ranchan would just mention his other, more
powerful fiancee....) (CUTE VOICE: Oh?  Thank you, Spatula Girl.  No thought
you care.) (CHEF'S NOTE: I WASN'T TALKING ABOUT YOU, MORON!)
	Ranma sighed.  _Why me._  Miko crooned in response.