Disclaimer: I own only Mariko, Shiori, and both their pasts.

Okay, originally, this was a one – shot on my character(s) Mariko (and Shiori), and she (and he) came to Nerima. But then I got an idea to have a series of one – shots, on occasions that look important to me. Hopefully, she's not a Mary – Sue, and if she is, please tell me.

NOTE: This takes place between Ranma and Mousse's fight and Tsubasa's arrival in Book 9 (English version).

NOTE 2: The reason Shiori calls Mariko 'Mariko – sama' is because I think it sounds better then 'Lady Mariko'. Am I right? Mariko – sama just flows better for some reason, I dunno. : /

Episode One: Arrival in Nerima

"Class! Settle down! We have a new student today!" the teacher, catching the attention of the class quickly. He blinked. Well, guess there was a first time for everything. . .

Of course, there was a reasonable explanation. After Ranma arrived, things had definitely gotten more exciting. And if this new guy was anything like Ranma, Room 1 – F was going to be in for a hell of a year.

The teacher motioned for the person to come in. The door slid open, and all mouths (expect for Ranma, who was sleeping, and Ukyou and Akane, who were shaking their heads at their fiancé) dropped.

The new student. . .was a girl.

"Please introduce yourself." The teacher commanded. The girl quickly wrote her name on the board, turned around, and bowed.

"Um. . .hi. I'm Mizuki Mariko. . .it's nice to meet all of you." she said. The class (Ranma was still out, and Akane was ready to throw a book at him) took this chance to look her over.

She had long blonde hair that reached her waist—uncommon, maybe a foreigner?—and bright, green eyes. Her clothes were that of the girl's uniform—a white blouse under a blue dress, socks, and shoes. In both her hands was the official school bag.

"Please take a seat next to Tendou – san over there."

Mariko nodded, and then took the empty seat next to Akane. She smiled shyly. "Hi."

"Hi." Akane said, smiling back.

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Several periods later, it was finally lunchtime. Akane pulled a lunchbox from her bag, courtesy of Kasumi. Mariko, however, frowned and looked through her bag, void of everything but books. Ukyou looked at her strangely.

"Is there something wrong, sugar?"

She shook her head, closing her bag and placing it next to her desk. "No. . .it's just that I think I left my lunch at home. . ."

Ranma (who had woken up last period and introduced himself), handed her his box. "Here. You can have mine."

Mariko looked shocked. "Oh, no, I couldn't! That's your lunch!"

"Yeah, but I can always take from Akane."

"What?! No way! Kasumi made this for me!"

"Well, you could at share some of it, ya uncute tomboy!"

"What was that you stupid jerk?!"

Ukyou leaned over to Mariko, who was just staring in awe of the arguing couple. "Don't worry; they're like this all the time."

"Th – they are?" she blinked. "Wow. . .and I thought Shiori and I fought a lot. . ."

"Who?"

"O – oh! . . .Uh. . .no one! Hahaha. . ."

At that moment, the door burst open. Ranma jumped; prepared for a Shampoo – hug, or a Ryouga/Mousse/Kuno attack.

It was none of the usual threats. In fact, Ranma was sure he had never seen the guy standing in the doorway before. But he still kept the defensive stance up, just in case. He didn't notice Mariko, who was behind him, groan and slap a palm against her face.

The unfamiliar boy, looked around the classroom, frowning. Then, spotting Ranma, he beamed and ran over.

Ranma was completely prepared for an attack. What he wasn't prepared for was the boy going past him and stopping at Mariko's desk.

"Mariko – sama!" he chirped, dropping a box on her desk. "Look! You forgot your lunch at home, so I thought I'd bring it to you!"

Mariko, still buried in her hand, took the box from the boy. "Thanks. . .a lot. . .Shiori. . ."

"No problem, Mariko – sama!" then the boy blinked, just finally noticing all the other people who were staring at them. "Uh. . .hi?"

Ranma looked at the boy that Mariko had called 'Shiori'. He had short light brown hair, and brown eyes. He wore a white button up shirt and black pants, and flat shoes.

Ranma would've inspected him more closely, only the strange boy yelped and stood straight up.

"Ne, I guess I better be going, huh, Mariko – sama? I don't want to disturb your class anymore. . ." Shiori said, then, after waving to Mariko, he disappeared through the door. All eyes turned back to Mariko, who was facedown on her desk, mumbling.

"Who was that?" Akane asked, as Mariko lifted her head up from the table.

"It's. . .a long story. . .do you want to come to my house after school? We can talk about it there."

"Sure."

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Hours later, Mariko was leading Ranma and Akane down a small street. She had invited Ukyou too, but she said that she had to work. Of course.

"So, you're new here to Nerima, right?" Akane asked, making Ranma scoff.

"O)f course she is, Akane. If she wasn't, we would've met her by now. Stupid tomboy."

"What was that?!"

"Um. . .we're here. . ."

The couple blinked and looked up. They stood in front of a two – story building. The front of the bottom floor looked like the entrance to a shop, while the top half was a normal apartment.

Mariko opened the front door, and ushered the two in. When they did, they saw empty shelves on the wall, and a blank counter in the back. Two doors were behind it; on the back wall, and another leading to possibly another room next door.

"You live here?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. . .I actually moved in a couple of days ago, but I was only able to go to school today. I was too busy unpacking things. . ."

"Where're your parents, if you don't mind me asking?" A melancholy expression passed over Mariko's face, and Akane was taken aback. "Oh. . .I'm sorry if I offended you. . ."

She shook her head. "No. . .it's fine. . .my mother passed away several years ago, and my father. . .well, he left when I was six and never came back. . ."

She bit her lip, and Akane placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry. . .my mother passed away years ago, too. . .and Ranma hasn't seen his mother since he was six . . ."

There was an awkward silence, as the three of them contemplated the conversation. None of them wanted to say anything, least they open up past wounds.

Thankfully, a crash from upstairs caused Mariko to come out of her stupor. Quickly signaling for the other two to follow, she opened the door on the back wall and headed up some stairs.

SCENECHANGESCENECHANGESCENECHANGE

Mariko quickly led Ranma and Akane up the hidden stairs, opening yet another door at the top of them, showing the trio a room decorated with boxes, and a lone table stood in the middle. Or, rather, it would be standing in the middle, if not for the boy who had fallen over it and cracked it in half. A box lay haphazardly on the floor, its contents (a couple of bowls, and twice the amount of packing peanuts) strewn about.

"Shiori! What're you doing?!" Mariko said, quickly picking up the bowls and dumping them back into the box with the packing peanuts as the boy—who Ranma and Akane recognized as the boy from lunch—sat up and moved away from the broken table, rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Geez. . .I told you to wait until I got home. . ."

"Sorry, Mariko – sama. . .I just wanted to help. . .I knew you'd be busy the whole day, so I wanted to help out by unpacking most of the stuff so there'll be less by the time you got back. . ."

Mariko's glare stood no chance against Shiori's puppy eyes. In the end, she sighed, covering her eyes with her hand. "Yes. Thanks. . .I guess."

Shiori beamed. Then, he realized there were others besides him and Mariko, and he turned to Ranma and Akane, a surprised look on his face. "Who're you two?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mariko turned to the couple, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry, guys, I nearly forgot about you two when I saw Shiori. . .Shiori, this is Ranma and Akane from school. . .guys, this is Shiori. . .my. . .bodyguard. . ."

The last word had been whispered, as if she wasn't proud of it. Shiori, on the other hand, grinned.

"It's nice to meet you, Ranma – san, Akane – san!" he said, bowing.

"It's nice to meet you too, Shiori." Akane said, smiling. Ranma nodded at him.

"Same here. So. . .why're you guarding Mariko?"

Mariko turned to stone, and once again slapped a hand against her forehead. Oh, how she hated the story. . .

Shiori, on the other hand, grinned even wider, if that was possible. "Oh, you see, it's because Mariko – sama's a goddess!"

Yet another silence. Mariko was seriously going to lose brain cells if she kept hitting her palm against her face.

"A. . .goddess?"

"Uh huh! See, there's an ancient prophecy back in China, where it says that a girl will fall into the Spring of Drowned Fox, and she will be the reincarnation of the goddess Inari. And then we found Mariko – sama in fox form after she fell in Jusenkyo, and we knew we found her!"

Ranma and Akane's eyes widened and turned to Mariko, who looked like she wanted to melt into the floor. Or maul Shiori. Or possibly both.

"You fell in at Jusenkyo?!"

Mariko remained silent for a second before sighing. "Yeah. . .I'm not proud of it, especially after I was being careful not to fall in. . ."

"But Mariko – sama!" Shiori suddenly lunged across the broken table, throwing his arms around Mariko's waist. "You're a goddess! You were meant to fall into the spring!!"

"No, I was not, and I'm not a goddess! Get off!" she shook her arm, trying to get the other to let go. "Let go, Shiori!"

Ranma and Akane watched as Mariko desperately tried to detach Shiori from her lower body. A few minutes later, she finally succeeded, and the boy sat down next to her, although he still looked like he was ready to pounce again.

Another silence was ensured. Then Mariko coughed and stood up. "Well. . .I guess I should find something to eat, huh?"

"Oh, that's not a problem, Mariko – sama!" Shiori said. "I already ordered take – out!"

"You did? From where?"

"The Neko Hanten!"

Mariko, Akane, and Ranma had mixed reactions. Mariko smiled at him, and mumbled a 'thanks'. Akane stared at him in disbelief. Ranma, however, gulped loudly.

Oh, great. . .

A second later, the sounds of a bicycle bell could be heard and then a crash from above. Mariko yelped, covering her head with her arms, while Shiori scrambled to cover her as well. Akane, who had moved out of the way, growled at the cause, while Ranma frantically tried to find a hiding place. The dust cleared, to reveal a young buxom girl with purple hair, and carrying a ramen box.

"Aiya!!" she cried, seeing Ranma. "Nihao, Airen!"

Then she caught sight of Mariko, who was closest to Ranma at the time, and glared. "Who you? Another fiancée?"

Mariko, still stunned at the entrance of the Amazon, only stuttered, the accusation of her being engaged to Ranma not registering in her mind.

Shiori, however, did. Popping out from his place under the shattered roof tiles, he shouted "Mariko's – sama's a goddess!"

Said girl immediately whirled on him. "I am not! Stop saying that!" She turned back to Shampoo. "I don't know who you are, but what do you think you're doing, destroying someone's house roof like that?!"

"Shampoo bring ramen. And door take too long." The Chinese Amazon placed the food on the ground, then promptly glomped Ranma, and flung her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. "Shampoo miss you, Airen. . ."

Ranma jumped. "Get off me, Sham—agh!"

The pigtailed martial artist never got to finish, as he was launched across the room, courtesy of Akane and a roof tile.

"What the hell was that for, Akane?!"

"I can't believe you!! Cuddling up to that bimbo!! In another person's house!! Do you have no shame?!"

"It wasn't like I asked her to hug me!"

"Oh, sure you didn't!"

"You stay out of this, Violent Girl! You just jealous because Ranma love Shampoo!"

"WHAT?! I DO NOT!!"

"RANMA!"

The two forgotten teenagers stared at the three martial artists in awe. Wow. Those guys were really. . .something.

"Um. . .hey. . ."

"Maybe if Violent Girl learn to cook—"

"Actually, yeah, Akane, that'd be nice. . ."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Hey—"

"YOU PERVERT!"

"Hang on, Akane—!"

"You leave Airen alone!"

"HEY!!"

All three froze; Ranma, his hands over his head while Akane's mallet was inches from his head, and said girl furious. Shampoo was still attached to Ranma's neck, trying to keep Akane's weapon away with one hand. Mariko placed her hands on her hips.

"Thank you! Now. . .what's this all about?"

"Ranma Shampoo husband!"

"WHAT?! You're married at sixteen?!"

"WHen did this happen, Ranma?!"

"What?! No, wait!! I'm not married to Shampoo!!"

"RANMA NO BAKA!"

And before Mariko could tell Akane to stop, she sent Ranma flying through the roof of her house and into LEO. Shampoo and Mariko gasped at the exit, and the former turned and glared at Akane.

"Look what Violent Girl do!!" she huffed and grabbed the ramen box. "Violent Girl lucky Shampoo have to get back to work!"

With that, the Chinese Amazon jumped out of the hole she had made earlier in the wall and roof - hopped back to the Cat Cafe.

Akane leered after her. "Good riddance!"

"My. . .house. . ."

AKane then remembered her new friend. She turned to the stunned girl, who was staring at the wall with horror in her eyes.

"M - Mariko - sama. . .?" Shiori offered, placing a hand on her shoulder. A second later, Mariko fell backwards, unconscious. Seeing that he was standing behind her, Shiori caught her in his arms. "Mariko - sama!"

Akane rubbed the back of her head. "Uh. . .maybe you should lay her down. . ."

"Hey there, it's Mariko. Today marks a week I've been in Nerima and—huh? There's some stalker after Ukyou? And. . .she's also competing for her lover with Ranma? . . .I think I should move."

Next time on Fans and Foxes, Here Comes Tsubasa Kurenai! See ya then!