“Morning, Ranko!” Mei waved cheerfully, not expecting a wave in response as Ranma’s hands were currently full of knife and potato.


    Ranma swallowed hard, and Mei could tell her mind was somewhere else. Ranko. Even my name is a lie, Ranma thought to herself. I can’t let them find out. I can’t undo the fact I lied to them, and I didn’t know it at the time, but I think I can trust them, and they deserved the truth. Hana and Yui called out their good mornings as well as Mei entered the kitchen and set about her daily tasks.


    “Aw, crap!” Mei stuck her head out from the walk-in cooler. “We’re out of orange juice.” She frowned in slight embarrassment; she should have noticed that they were running low during the previous day’s setup, but she had been distracted by the new hire’s continued training.


    Hana pulled up the sleeve of her ever-present black leather jacket and looked at her watch. “Well, we’re just about ready, with plenty of time to spare. Wanna run up to the corner store and pick up a little bit to get us through until the next delivery? Grab some cash out of the till.”


    Ranma, having finished setting up the prep area, looked around for something else to do. Everything had gone so much faster than the day before with the benefit of experience and an early start, and all the tasks she’d been trained to handle were already finished. Mei tapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, Ranko, feel like a walk? You’ve been stuck here nonstop for days. We don’t want you thinking you’re just another piece of kitchen equipment.”


    Ranma shrugged. She honestly was quite fine to stay inside; after the previous two months of her life, she was grateful to be anywhere that she could feel like she belonged and was safe. “Sure, I guess.” Following the blue-haired girl, Ranma exited through the steel back door in the kitchen, passing the dumpster in the alley and starting down a side street. She was grateful that the route didn’t seem to pass the dojo where she’d suffered her humiliating defeat a few short days before. At least the bruise on her face was almost gone, but she’d not yet re-braided her hair to keep the yellowing splotch around her right eye hidden.


    “So, what do you think of everything so far? Settling in okay?” Mei nudged her companion gently on the arm as they walked. “Any questions or anything?”


    Ranma blushed a bit, and it made the sore spot on her right cheek ache slightly. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. All of you have been so nice to me, and I’m not sure I’m worth all this attention.”


    Mei shook her head. “Of course you are, and anyone that told you otherwise is clearly lying.”


    Ranma wasn’t really sure how to respond, so she didn’t, and Mei continued. “Look, I know it’s hard. When you’ve always been on your own, sometimes it’s hard to take kindness at face value. When I first got here… gods, I don’t know how Mama put up with me. I was rude and angry all the time. All I could think about was getting the next fix. I was so used to being let down by everyone that I couldn’t imagine somebody genuinely caring about me. Assuming they didn’t was easier; if people didn’t care about me, then it didn’t matter if I hurt them to get what I needed. I don’t know what they saw in me, honestly. Even I was pretty sure I was beyond saving.”


    Ranma nodded in sympathy. “You seem to be doing okay now though.”


    Mei blushed a little. “Yeah, I guess I am. It’s still hard sometimes. For me, I always wanted to use most when I was depressed, so the best way to keep from being tempted is to try to be happy all the time, even when I have to fake it to get through the rough parts. Some days, that’s easier than others. But I remember that even when I didn’t deserve it, Mama and the other girls didn’t give up on me, and I can’t let them down now by giving up on myself.”


    Ranma bobbed her head softly in contemplative acknowledgement as she pulled open the door to the little neighborhood grocery and held it for her companion.


    Mei picked up a blue plastic hand-held shopping basket, heading for the coolers in the back. Ranma followed, shivering a bit as they entered the refrigerated section. Grateful though she was for at least being in pants and not a skirt, extreme temperatures were still something of a problem for her. After dropping three plastic jugs of the milky orange liquid into the basket, Mei turned to Ranma. “Can we think of anything else we need?”


    Ranma shrugged, her eyes scanning the shelves. “Don’t look at me! I’m still learning all of this stuff.”


    With a playful shake of her head, Mei walked back toward the produce section and picked up a few whole oranges. “We’ll use these for the garnish part, and in the worst case scenario we can throw them in the juicer if we have to.” Ranma walked past a display of pineapples, and couldn’t help but think about all of the times that the sight of the fruit meant the sadistic Principal Kuno was up to something. It felt like a lifetime ago. Gonna have to get used to that; they use them all the time in that Dragonfire thing.


    Dropping a few bills on the counter, Mei waved to the shopkeeper as she pocketed the remainder of the money she’d taken from the Phoenix’s cash register. She headed to the door, her new redheaded friend not far behind. The little bell on the door jangled again when the person in line behind her, a squat man in a dark blue hooded sweatshirt, finished his own transaction and left the store as well.


    Mei led Ranma on a different route back, behind the row of businesses, so they’d have a view of the harbor beyond. It was pretty; the mid-afternoon is normally when the fishing boats would come back and share some of their catch with the waiting pelicans, and it created a flurry of feathery activity. “So, what kinds of stuff do you like to do?”


    Ranma shrugged. Pretty much all of her time had been spent in training for one fight or another, or bailing Akane out of some mess at school. The girls’ athletic teams at Furinkan High really needed a better strength coach or something, because their star players always seemed to get injured right before a pivotal match. Then again, when all of your school’s sports have to do with martial arts, that might not be as crazy as she thought. “Haven’t really thought about it much. Survivin’s been activity enough for me.”


    Mei groaned. “Don’t worry, we’ll find you something.”


    “Well, then what about you?” Ranma countered.


    “Oh, ya know. I’m big into movies, video games, stuff like that. I’ve had all the high scores on that Pac-Man machine at the bar for something like six months.” She continued on, rambling about some American movie where four guys shot lasers at ghosts or something, but Ranma had begun to tune out a little. Something wasn’t right, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.


    They turned a corner, cutting between two of the taller buildings to get back onto the main road where the bar was situated. Ranma’s eyes darted around. Footsteps. I’m sure of it this time. We’re not alone.


    “Earth to Ranko! Hey, you okay?” Mei tugged on her arm, as she had clearly drifted out of the conversation.


    Ranma had just begun to stammer out an apology for having spaced out on her, when a male voice came from the entrance to the alley in the direction they were headed. “Hey, girls! What brings you out here?” A second, and then a third, man entered the alley behind them, and Ranma recognized one of them as the guy who had been in line behind them at the store.


    “Yeah, I thought you were too good to hang out with us!” The man in front of Mei sneered, and she backed away from him. Mei looked genuinely afraid, her eyes searching for an escape as the men closed in on them from both sides of the narrow alley.


    Ranma whispered to her, keeping within arm’s reach of her friend. “You know these guys?”


    Mei nodded sharply. “We’ve had to throw them out of the bar more than a few times.”


    The man in front of them, a large brute in a gray hoodie, cracked his knuckles, drawing closer. “So, Mei, how about that kiss now?”


    Oh. So they’re those kinds of guys, Ranma realized. This is gonna be fun. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    “Please, just leave us alone!” Mei pleaded, waving her hands defensively in front of herself.


    The two men approaching them from behind continued their advance. Ranma’s eyes scoured the alley, searching for any advantage she could find. She spotted something behind a nearby dumpster, and handed Mei the paper bag of fruit. “Hang onto this for me a sec.”


    Mei watched in terror as Ranma strode a few meters away, to a little corner of the alley behind a brick building. She leaned with one hand on the lid of a nearby blue dumpster and reached down to the ground, picking up an old broom that someone from the apartments upstairs must have discarded.


    “Look, guys, we’ve got somewhere to be, okay?” Ranma closed the distance between herself and Mei, broom in hand.


    The man in the blue hoodie snickered. “Oh, Mei, you brought us another girl so we didn’t all have to share. That was sweet of you.”


    Okay, Ranma thought. Now, it’s on. Stepping on the head of the broom, she twisted a few times until the plastic collar holding the bristles dropped to the asphalt. “Yo, Mei? You might wanna go hang out over there by that fire escape for a minute.”


    Mei shook her head. “No! We gotta stay together!” Hana had entrusted her with their new ward, and while she knew she had no means to protect the younger girl, Mei felt an obligation to try.


    “Nah, go relax.” Ranma gave her a confident smirk and a small but forceful shove, soliciting a little yelp from the blue-haired woman. Mei stumbled forward and turned just in time to see the broken little girl they’d taken in just two days before transform before her eyes somehow into something fierce and unyielding.


    “It’s about to get a little messy.”


    The lithe redhead lifted the broom handle over her head, whirling it artfully around her body before locking it into her hands in a ninjutsu forward ready stance. The whoosh noises her makeshift bo staff made as it sliced through the air echoed between the tall buildings. “Well, come on then!” she taunted, her eyes moving between the three challengers.


    The men cackled dismissively, miming a shudder of fear. “Oooh, she must be a cheerleader. Look at how pretty she can twirl a stick!” a wiry punk in a gray shirt jeered before charging at Ranma in a dead run.


    As if, Ranma thought with a sneer as she locked her wrists to fortify her grip on her weapon. Don’t get too close, she thought. Don’t get hit. Only gonna get one shot at this. As soon as her first assailant got within range of the broomstick, Ranma advanced. She bent low, whirling the wooden stick over her back to gain momentum before targeting the man’s knees. The strike cost him his balance and dropped him onto his back. Before she could follow up her strike, the man from the front of the alley lunged at her from behind. She jabbed the stick straight backward, striking his ribs and pushing him back. It was imperative that she kept them at a distance; she knew her weapon would do her no good in close quarters. She had to keep them out of reach - if she started taking hits with the Full-Body Cat’s Tongue in play, the fight would end both quickly and unfavorably.


    Mei huddled behind a pile of discarded blue plastic soda pallets as she watched the battle unfold. Ranma ran at the most distant of her opponents, jabbing her stick into the ground hard enough to send the loose gravel of the alley flying around her ankles. She winced with the sting of the pebbles striking her ankle through her black gi pants, but continued on, carrying her forward momentum through the pole vault maneuver. She propelled herself toward her adversary, landing a kick with her left foot to his face. As soon as her feet touched the ground, she spun on the loose gravel with a quiet crunch and delivered a followup sweep kick to the downed attacker’s jaw with her right foot.


    The first man - the one she’d tripped - closed from behind her, so Ranma sprung back to her feet and backward to buy another meter or so of space. As she descended, she whirled her staff around her body and forward, slashing at his cheek. He shrugged off the glancing blow and charged her with a loud roar. She dropped to her back, crying out loudly as her torso crashed to the sharp gravel. Holding her staff perpendicular to her body and locking her elbows, she planted her left foot square in the man’s chest, using his momentum to launch him over the staff and behind her with a well-timed throw. The gravel of the alley felt like sandpaper against her skin even through the fabric of her blouse.


    As she rose to her feet, the first combatant she’d kicked crashed into her from behind, grabbing a handful of her loose flame-red hair and yanking her backward. Ranma shrieked as her scalp burned like it was being torn from her skull, and she drove her right elbow backward into her assailant’s sternum. As he gasped and released his grip, she pivoted her fist up, her elbow still pressing between his pectorals as she struck his already-swollen eye socket with the back of her fist. She then hinged her forearm downward at the elbow, delivering a second fist - this one directly to the blond thug’s crotch.


    While Ranma had been fighting off two of the men, the third had advanced on Mei behind her. He approached Mei’s hiding place, calling out to her in a menacingly sing-song voice. “Come out, come out…” He burst around the corner, and Mei screeched, holding up her brown paper shopping bag to her face in some last-ditch attempt at a defense.


    Ranma whirled as her most recent target crumpled. Damn, she thought. Missed one. “Hey, jerk! Pick on somebody your own size! Hyaah!”


    The leering assailant turned to face the sound just in time to make contact with the threaded end of Ranma’s broomstick, which she had hurled like a javelin from some seven meters away. She ran after it, both of her first two attackers disabled for the moment. From the sickening crunch it made on impact, Ranma knew his nose was almost certainly broken. The attacker collapsed on his back in a heap. The rattle of wood on concrete echoed through the alley as the stick hit the wall, but Ranma popped it up with her toe and caught it with a flourish.


    “To hell with this, man!” The two men she’d previously dispatched had finally helped each other to their feet, and they had apparently had enough of their misadventure. They turned and ran back the way they came down the alley.


    The ringleader lay on his back, his hands looking for purchase on the wall to help himself up. Mei cowered a few meters away. Ranma rushed forward and snapped at the thug’s wrist with her stick, disengaging it from the wall. She took a step forward, ice and fire in her eyes, and placed her right foot on the brute’s throat. She pushed her leg forward ever so slightly, allowing him to breathe but applying pressure to the bottom of his chin. “Now, I think you owe my friend an apology, don’t you?”


    He grabbed wildly at Ranma’s ankle, but she drove the end of her makeshift staff forcefully downward into the back of his hand, pinning it to the asphalt. “Nuh-uh-uh… Stay down.”


    He knew he was beat. “Okay! Okay! I’m fuckin’ sorry,” he coughed, his voice soured by the change in airflow through his crushed nasal cavity and the pressure on his airway.


    “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” She lifted her foot from his neck, placing herself between the man and Mei before he could stand. “Get the hell out of here.” He scrambled to his feet and took off running after his fellow delinquents, the first few steps taken on his hands and knees.


    When all three had vanished from sight, Ranma tossed the stick aside and turned to Mei, looking her over for visible injury. She spoke softly, trying to calm the terrified girl’s nerves. “Hey, it’s cool. They’re gone now, Mei. Are you okay?”


    Mei shook her head in disbelief. “How did you… just, how?”


    Ranma waved off the rest of her friend’s sentence with a selfsure smirk. “Well, okay, maybe I did have some hobbies growing up.” She put her arm around Mei’s back, shepherding her out of the corner. Her eyes searched the alley as they moved for any further danger, but spied none. Gotta get her to the street. Less chance of getting jumped if people can see.


    “That was in… credible,” Mei stammered as they turned the corner onto the main road. “You’re amazing.”


    The redhead waved her off. “Nah, those guys were nothin’.” Ranma took the bag from her friend and draped the handles over her left wrist, keeping her right arm around the shorter girl’s back supportively. “Come on, let’s get you back.” Ranma sighed to herself as they walked. She had really hoped not to introduce the martial arts element of her past to her benefactors - at least, not yet - but under the circumstances, there hadn’t really been a choice.


    “Thank you,” Mei whispered.


    Ranma shook her head. “Please. After everything you guys have done for me? Don’t even mention it.” With that, Ranma pulled the bar’s tinted glass front door open, holding it with her backside to allow Mei to enter.