"Wow… a dojo." They stood in front of the dojo gate, it was quite dark out now, and Ranma waited for Chiru to take it in.
"You ever been in one before?" Ranma yanked open the door and waited for her to go in before closing it.
"Mmm, kinda, I snuck in one to stay the night once. It was the best! They even had mats in one corner." The taller red-head felt a wave of regret that the younger teen thought that having a dojo mat to sleep on was the best.
"How old were you?"
"'Bout nine or ten."
"It's always one or the other isn't it?" She got a giggle for that remark.
"Yep."
They took off their shoes at the door and turned the corner to come face-to-face with several glares.
"Ranma… Where is the food we sent you for?" Ranma gulped at the, barely suppressed, anger in Akane's voice and looked at her empty hands.
"Eh heh, funny story about that…" Ranma thought fast to save her own life and yanked Chiru out in front of her. "I found this kid and got sidetracked!"
Akane deflated when she saw the ten-year-old looking teen and her look softened.
"Okay, you're off the hook for now." With on final glance at Ranma, Akane let Kasume invite them to the table.
"So what's the story about our new guest Ranma?" Soun asked when they were all seated and Ranma proceeded to tell them what had happened earlier until he got to the part where Chiru changed.
"So I tried to stop the boy when he jumped into the puddle, but couldn't because of the bags. And when he got up, he was a girl now. Then within seconds she was beside me asking for help and she tricked those cops inta thinkin' I was her mom or somthin'. It was awesome." Chiru beamed at the praise but withered slightly at Kasume's disapproval when Ranma continued.
"Then she pulled out the rice balls she took and gave me one. I found out that she wasn't really a kid at all really, she's fourteen." Ranma ignored their disbelieving looks and concluded. "She's got nowhere to go, so I invited her over."
"That was nice Ranma." Akane commented. "So what's your name?"
"Chiru, for now."