A week passed, and Tamao was starting to wonder if that night she had shared with Ryu was just a strange dream. The morning after, she had woken up to find breakfast prepared on a tray by her bed along with Ryu's famous hangover remedy. Whenever she saw him after that, he just smiled and went about his normal business, not even the slightest bit flustered. The only difference Tamao noticed was that he now called her "Miss Tamao" instead of "Mistress." However, between his work and watching Hana, she felt like she had barely seen him.

So one day, when she found graffiti covering the sign by the road, she felt beyond frustrated. She took the sign down and replaced it with a makeshift one. She was going to kill the punks who did this. Then, that night, after Hana had gone to bed, Ryu found her.

"Put this on," he said tossing a small bundle over to her. "Come back after you've changed."

Tamao could feel her face heating up. The packaging was dark so she couldn't tell what might be inside. Ponchi and Conchi must have sensed her distress, because before she could stop them, they had thrown themselves in the large man's face.

"What do you think you're trying to do huh?" the scraggily fox snarled.

"Don't think just because she dreams about you that you can do whatever you want," the other growled.

Tamao froze. She was stunned far beyond embarrassment. Ryu's face turned bright red, and his nostrils flared.

"Do I look like the kind of guy who would do something like that!"

The pink haired woman's horror slowly began to melt away, as she watched the large man and the two spirits argue. She let out a sigh. Ryu was much too honest to try to pull a stunt like that. She quietly slipped away from the small brawl which was ensuing to the ladies changing room. She seated herself on one of the benches and carefully opened the package.

There were indeed clothes in it. She pulled out the first article of clothing. It was a red lacy camisole. She blushed; perhaps she was wrong about Ryu. However, all her worries were dispelled when she pulled out the second article, a long black button down shirt. Tamao smiled. On the back embroidered in red thread was a large tengu mask with a floral wreath surrounding it.

"My old symbol ," she whispered, running a finger lovingly over the design. She could feel a warmth growing in her eyes. "It seems so long ago."

She had a growing suspicion about what the last thing was, and was not surprised when she pulled out a long black pleated skirt. She held it up to her waist. It was the right size, as were all the other clothes. Having Ryu do the laundry ended up being a good idea after all.

She quickly changed and reentered the main room to see Ryu standing there in a leather jacket, resting two wooden swords on his shoulder. His eyes grew wide when he saw here enter and small crept across his lips. He tossed her one of the wooden swords, which she caught with ease.

"So, you ready to go," he asked with a wink. "Tengu Alice?"

Tamao blushed; she had many regrets from the time that she had been called that. The two of them strolled out to the curb, where Ryu's motorcycle was waiting. He tossed her a helmet and put on his own. She climbed onto the bike behind him, sheathed the sword between her thigh and the bike's body, and gripped the seat tightly.

"I don't look too weird do I?" she asked suddenly feeling a wave of discomfort come over her.

"Of course not Ms. Tamao," he said with a grin. Tamao wasn't positive because of the darkness, but it looked like he was blushing. "You look absolutely beautiful."

She didn't expect Ryu to really know if she looked good or not, after all, the man had a strange sense of taste, but just hearing him compliment her eased her nerves.

The motorcycle roared to life and they went speeding into the sleeping town. The streetlights whizzed by in darts of blue and gold, and danced playfully on the two riders' faces. Tamao watched the passing storefronts, feeling a sense of calm seeing their caged windows. She turned to Ryu and tapped his shoulder.

"Where are we going?" she yelled over the roar of the wind.

"To teach the local punks a lesson!" He cried with a whoop.

The bike suddenly accelerated, nearly causing Tamao to fall off. She quickly clutched Ryu for support. His back was warm and comforting to her racing heart. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his jacket. He smelled of sweat and a bit of cologne. He must have spruced up before taking her out, but she didn't mind.

They zipped down side streets and alleyways until they reached an abandoned fragrance shop. Tamao let go of Ryu and quickly hopped off the bike. She studied the boarded up windows and graffiti, taking note of the empty spray cans which lay about. A golden snake, a blue frog, and a red shark: this was definitely the work of the same scumbags who had ruined her sign.

"So," she muttered. "Is this it?"

Ryu just smiled confidently.

Out of the darkness of the building there came the sound of laughing and then footsteps. A group of four teenage boys exited the abandoned storefront, carrying what looked to be police batons. They stopped as the saw Tamao and her tall companion. The oldest looking of the group stepped forward with a sneer on his face.

"Well hello there," He crooned, shooting a quick wink to his buddies. "You're one sexy lady to be hanging out with a weirdo like that."

"Says the little boy with frosted tips," Tamao shot back.

The boys behind him stifled laugh, and the boy scowled. He lifted his baton threateningly.

"You want me to hurt you bitch?"

She just shrugged, causing the boy to suddenly fly into a screaming rage. He charged at Tamao full speed, baton poised to strike her in the face. In the blink of an eye, Tamao lifted her sword and struck it across the young man's face, grounding him instantly.

Ryu came up beside her and shifted his wait onto one side. Then he nodded to one of the now stunned boys who had been laughing before.

"Show us your leader." he ordered in a surprisingly cool fashion.

The boy was shaking, but he apparently was still confident enough to give lip service.

"What does an old guy like you want with him?"

Ryu froze. Tamao could slowly see his aura of cool crumble like a glacier into the sea. She sighed. It was nice while it lasted. Ryu suddenly snapped.

"Who are you calling old man you little punk!" he yelled.

Tamao felt bad for Ryu; that was a touchy subject for the now thirty-two year-old man. She waited patiently as Ryu and the boys squabbled back and forth. Then once the insults had turned into a "who had the worst hair" competition, she finally decided to step in.

She calmly approached the boys, skirt billowing in the wind. Then she took her sword and drove it into the ground in front of her. The boys fell silent and so did Ryu. She looked each of the over slowly, trying to be as intimidating as possible. Then she smiled.

"I'm sorry," she chimed. "It seems we got off topic. I asked to see your boss. Now where is he?"

The boys whimpered, which just made Tamao smile even more. Then "lip-service" finally pointed a shaking hand at the abandoned store. The pink haired woman nodded and began to brush past them, when one of them grabbed her arm.

Ryu lifted his sword to strike, but Tamao shook her head. She then turned to the boy, and slowly peeled his hand off of her.

"Fine. If you don't want me to go in, you can go tell your boss that Tengu Alice has a bone to pick with him."

"Who?" the boy asked, going pale.

"Well aren't you going to go?" she purred pivoting away from him just enough for him to get a good view of the back of her shirt.

The boys scampered into the building, leaving Tamao and Ryu alone.

Tamao looked up at him and softened up. The man was sulking, probably a combination of anticipating some action and the old insult. She patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry," she whispered. "I don't think you're old. They're just dumb kids."

He looked away bashfully, causing Tamao to become suddenly self-conscious about the fact she was touching him again. She removed her hand and turned away. The night air should have been helping to cool down her burning cheeks, but if anything they were just feeling warmer. She turned back to him.

"Ryu, I-"

Tamao stopped. There were many pairs of footsteps coming from the building. Ryu readied his sword, and she straightened up to give herself a bit more height.

Out of the building came a small crowd of high school students. They were clearly punks; shirts unbuttoned, hair dyed, ears pierced. However, Tamao knew that it wasn't the punks you had to worry about. The very last boy to exit the building was massive. He looked like a professional football player, and on his hands were a pair of armored gloves.

The boy lumbered up to the front of the group and looked Ryu and Tamao over. He then smirked, showing off a fighter's mouth.

"What do you want?" he boomed.

He reminded Tamao of an oni when he spoke, especially since spit flew out with each "t." But onis were bigger than this guy and a lot scarier. She raised her sword so that it was pointing straight at the boy's eyes.

"Compensation," she said coolly.

The large boy laughed, signaling the crowd to follow his example. Then he looked down at her as if she were a little kid.

"I thought Tengu Alice would be a lot scarier," he said mockingly. "But you're actually pretty hot, so I'll let this slide at the price you become Steel Fist Haru's girlfriend."

He then winked at her clumsily. Tamao wanted to gag, but knew that it would be perceived as weakness. Instead she just glared at him.

"Not a chance of that," she hissed. "You're going to regret underestimating me."

Steel Fist Haru grinned and cracked his knuckles. Then with a surprising amount of speed he had lunged at the pink haired woman. Tamao summoned strength from her Ultimate Shugen, and with one stroke she had knocked him to the ground. She placed a foot on his head and leaned down close to his ear.

"I need that money," she whispered.

Suddenly a hand grabbed her ankle, and the massive high school student stood up and flipped her upside down. Her skirt hung down over her face so she couldn't see a thing. She heard Ryu scream her name, but all she could focus on was the fact that these high school punks could all see her underwear. She swung the sword blindly at her attacker, but she just couldn't focus any of her power.

There was a scream, and Tamao dropped to the ground. She flung her skirts out of her face to see Ryu standing in front of her with only his wooden sword. Steel Fist Haru was holding his face in pain. Ryu had just saved her.

"Don't drop your guard," He said nodding toward the group of punks which had now surrounded them. Then he raised his sword up with one hand to point it at Steel Fist Haru. "I will be your opponent from now on."

With two mighty blows, Steel Fist Haru collapsed to the ground in tears. Ryu walked up and poked the boy with his sword.

"Don't you ever mess with my lady friend again! Or her signs. Got it?"

The boy whimpered and nodded. Ryu smiled and offered him a hand and lifted the boy up. He patted him on the back.

"You put up a good fight," he said jovially. "I just have more experience. You aren't really much of a fighter are you?"

The boy shook his head. Ryu dramatically took the boy by his massive shoulders and leveled his gaze.

"Then stop this and go home." Then he turned to the rest of the group. "That goes for all of you!"

The gang of boys scampered off, leaving Tamao sitting on the ground confused and bewildered. Ryu walked over to her, confident smile plastered on his face. He helped her off the ground and brushed her off.

"You didn't hurt them," she said, staring at him. You were really cool.

She felt her cheeks begin to heat up. She snatched her hand away from his and turned away.

"Thank you."

He grinned and ruffled her hair, causing Tamao to glare up at him. He pulled his hand away blushing.

"So did you like our first date?" he asked.

Tamao's heart beat sped up; he had just called it a date. His face glowed brightly in the moonlight. His hair glistened, almost too much. In fact, everything about him seemed to be glowing too much.

Tamao turned around and looked to the rooftop just in time to see, two men scamper off. Her jaw dropped. She looked back to Ryu who was standing there blushing. She narrowed her eyes and studied his face carefully.

"Ryu."

He cleared his throat and avoided her gaze.

"Yes, Miss Tamao?"

"Did you stage this?"

"No…"

It was suddenly all completely clear. He had found this place way too easily. And those boys didn't completely seem like high school boys, especially that Steel Fist Haru. She had been too blinded by the fact they had ruined her sign to see the truth.

"One weeks pay," She declared.

Ryu's jaw dropped, and Tamao headed back to the bike.

"What?"

"That should cover the damages to my sign." She picked up her helmet, dusted it off and climbed on the bike. "Next time just take me bowling or something."

He opened his mouth to speak, but she tossed him his helmet and cut him off.

"Also. It's just Tamao. The 'Miss' thing is weird."

"Yes Miss…"

She gave him a dark look.

"Yes Tamao."

She smiled and strapped on her helmet.

"Now let's go home."

He smiled and climbed on the bike in front of her. She wrapped her arms around him, and they sped off.