Pirika smiled sweetly at Ren the next morning as she placed a bowl of steaming ramen in front of him. He eyed her distrustfully.

"Eat up!" she said cheerfully.

"There's something in the noodles," he said grimly.

She shrugged. "The problem with you is, you are over-suspicious." She pushed the bowl towards him. "Come on and just try it."

"I don't buy your sweet smiles, little girl," he said darkly. He reached for the bread instead.

Pirika sighed, disappointed. "Are you sure you don't want the noodles?"

Ren smirked at her. He was right, there was something in that food! He took a bite on the sandwich beside it instead, then felt his eyes widened. He coughed repeatedly as Pirika tried to suppress her giggle.

"Haven't you heard of Reversed Psychology yet?" asked the girl, laughing.

"What? Inversed Psychopath?" he echoed, before he struggled to spit out the hot sauce on his mouth.

"Ah, never mind. I'm sure you'll just fail your test anyway." She pointed to the noodles. "I assure you that there is nothing in that bowl because that's where I took my own serving too. Dakedo, it was in your sandwich. Sometimes, you have to widen your vision a bit. I want you to believe that I did place something in the bowl."

He glared at her. He didn't need her to detail how she managed to make a fool out of him. "Maybe I should give you your own dose of the medicine, eh?"

"You'll do a reverse psychology on me too?" she asked nervously when the boy began to step towards her menacingly.

"To hell with that thing," he said, his eyes flashing diabolically. He cornered her against the wall, a devil's smile on his face. "I'll make you taste how hot my mouth feels…how would you like that?" he murmured. "Your own hot sauce in your mouth…"

He paused when he felt something pointed against his nape. He chuckled calmly. "Horo Horo, it was your sister who started it."

"Lay a finger on her, Ren Tao, and I'll crush all nerves in your body," warned Horo, holding Yoh's harusame against Ren.

"I'm not interested with little girls, especially the bratty ones." He moved away from the blushing and hyperventilating Pirika. "I lost my appetite. I might just as well continue my training." He took his spear and headed out to the garden.

Horo sighed deeply as Pirika fixed herself. "You should have known better than to take on someone like him. He's the devil, can't you see? I might not be always around to protect you."

"Onii-chan, I just hate his guts, acting all so high and mighty…and god, he's so sure of himself!" she whined. "I want to teach him a lesson."

"Someone will do that someday, so don't take such tedious job now. You are not enough to keep his reins in check." Horo started to walk out of the house. "Just steer clear from him, alright?"

"But why don't you just send him away?" she asked, not sure whether she would want to hear his answer.

"Because Yoh requests that until we have seen who's stronger between him and Ren, he wants the Tao to stay here." He suddenly turned grumpy. "And Tamao is weaning that boy into our food. Geez!"

She observed keenly the change in her big brother's voice. "She can't help it; she's a wonderful cook," she said carefully.

"Ah heck, why should I care?" He propped his head against his arms. "The important thing is, my most important dream has come true already… to give you luxury." He waved. "I'll be back."

"Not again!" she whined. "How many days this time?"

"Iie. I'll just be walking around the town." He hugged is little sister. "Don't make me say it again; do not talk with that Tao, alright?"

"Hai."

Ren couldn't help but smile again when he remembered how frightened the blue-haired girl looked when he cornered her against the wall awhile ago. It wasn't like him to do such things, but he just liked teasing her. Perhaps because he had never seen a girl his age yet, and he was strangely fascinated by how different she acts from him.

He then noticed Yoh and his high and mighty boss training. He decided to watch.

"A-Anna…I can't feel my toes anymore," mumbled Yoh. He had been squatting for almost half an hour already, right after his twentieth lap around Horo Horo's coltsfoot field.

"That's good. That's one less body part to worry about," she said, eyes bored. She turned to her stopwatch again. "Thirty minutes more."

"I'm sore."

Anna blinked.

"Really, I am!" he complained, mindless of his words.

She did her best to suppress a smile but failed. Yoh immediately noticed that. He threw her a lopsided grin. "Your smile is pretty."

She paused, then turned away. "Twenty nine more minutes."

He grinned at her once more before he continued his squatting.

"Do you really expect to gain results with that kind of senseless training?" asked Ren, who was leaning by the bark of a tree beside them.

Anna's face was impeccably blank. "Perhaps, for someone like you, it won't give you much fruitful results."

"I never liked your tongue," he said darkly.

She shrugged. "Nobody ever did. I'm used to that."

Yoh looked on quietly.

"I'm going to spar with him." With that, Bason appeared behind him.

"I said, 'no'. Can't your mind digest simple two-lettered words, or will they clutter the vacuum within your mind?" she snapped.

Ren's face darkened, and he pointed his spear at her, just as Anna threw her itako beads around his spirit. Yoh was about to come to them when she gave him a pointed look. "Stay there, Yoh."

"Ren Tao, not everyone yields to your wishes." With one graceful movement, she was able to untie Bason from the bead chain.

He watched her with grudging admiration. He retreated, silently fuming.

"I don't understand…" began Yoh.

She turned to him, eyes asking.

"You don't need a bodyguard anymore," he said, grinning. "You're so strong!"

"Who asked you?" she snapped. "Anyway, you still have twenty four minutes to go."

"She's an able woman," said Bason as he and his master walked around the coltsfoot field. "Why don't you bring her home as your wife? I think your family will be most pleased."

Ren smirked. "I'll think about it. At least I don't have a clingy, helpless girl to worry about when circumstances call for me to battle." In his mind, he could still clearly see the flushed Pirika. He pushed the absurd thought off his mind.

"Father will admire her spirit," he said.

Tamao was taking the clothes off the clothesline – she had taken it upon herself to serve Horo Horo as his maid as a way of saying thanks for keeping her safe from the palace guards – when she suddenly heard a throat cleared behind her. It was Horo Horo.

"Don't work yourself too hard," he said, smiling. "I can always have another maid."

"Ah, iie! I'm being a burden, so…so…"

Silence.

"You will never be a burden," he said gently.

She felt colors rise to her cheeks. "Arigatou."

"I'm relieved," he said, grinning. "You're talking to me."

"H-Huh?"

"I thought you were still mad about the bath incident…" He rubbed his cheek.

Just as he thought, her face warmed. "Iie…"

"Sorry about that. Hormones," he shrugged, as if it would explain the universal appetite of men, especially those in the puberty stage.

 To his dismay, this seemed to only scandalize her. "N-No need…" her voice faltered, her cheeks turning warm.

God, she's so innocent! Horo couldn't help but think. He promised himself never to let his hormones attack again…at least while she was around.

"Oh…and by the way…" He took something from his bag. He showed her a small box. "I bought this while I was walking around town. Isn't it lovely?"

"A-Ah…" Her eyes twinkled when she saw a glittering ring with a snowflake carved in its pearl brooch inside the box. "So pretty!"

He grinned. "I often see that ring when I pass by that jewelry store in town. My father said that it was a binding ring – that, whoever wears it, would never be separated anymore from the one who gave it to him or her. Now that I have the money, I decided to buy it already. I will save it just in case I find the right girl for me. But for the meantime, Pirika would have to wear this."

She nodded enthusiastically. "That's so romantic, Horo Horo!" She inspected the ring for a few more moments, eyes lit up. "Thanks for showing it to me."

He grinned back.

"I'll be back from the university this afternoon," instructed Lyserg. "I would have taken you along with me, but I know you might just get bored…"

Jeanne smiled. "Don't worry about me anymore. I'll look after your apartment."

He smiled at her fondly, the planted a chaste kiss on her hair before leaving.

She watched his disappearing figure a few minutes more before she began to clear the breakfast table. She was beginning to get used to her life with the dowser. She suddenly felt that all the scenes in her life that she kept on dreaming every night didn't happen at all, as if she lived all her life with Lyserg.

An hour had barely passed when she felt someone calling her. She nervously took her shawl and stepped out of the apartment.

Outside the gate stood a tall blond man clad in white, and he was looking straight at her.

She gasped. The man in her dream!

He suddenly opened his mouth to speak. "Jeanne-sama…"

Her whole system stiffened.

"The ring onii-chan gave me is so nice," said Pirika as she and Tamao chatted by the coltsfoot field.

Tamao nodded. "Really lovely."

"Let's try it on you!" said Horo's sister suddenly, clapping her hands excitedly.

"I-I don't think so-"

"Come on, just once!" Pirika took off the ring from her finger.

"Ah…alright." She had to admit – she had wanted to try the ring on the minute Horo showed it to her, but she was too shy to ask.

She placed the ring on her finger, then felt herself smile as the ring glistened.

"It fits you perfectly!" sighed Pirika dreamily.

The two admired the ring for a few more minutes, then Tamao reluctantly decided to give back the ring.

"Are you sure?" asked Pirika. "You may still wear it as long as you want."

"I don't want Horo Horo to see me wearing this…he might not like it…" she said quietly as she pulled the ring down from her finger. It didn't budge. She tried again, but to no avail.

"What's the matter?" asked the blue-haired girl.

She panicked. "I-It won't budge!"

"Eh?! Let me try!" Pirika tried to pull the ring off, but it won't come off. "We need something to grease your finger so it would come off." She stood up. "I'll be back." The girl dashed into the kitchen.

Tamao sighed, then looked at the ring again. Ah, it really was beautiful, especially when inspected against the light. It twinkled in prism-like colors, delighting her eyes.

Horo Horo was inspecting his house, er, mansion's extent with his binoculars when he spotted Tamao sitting by the coltsfoot field. He zoomed into her and noticed that she was smiling at something. He zoomed some more and realized that she was looking at the ring he just bought!

It was on her finger, glittering proudly.

The first thought that entered his mind was…

It fits her perfectly, as if made just for her!

Pirika stopped when she saw Ren by the ref, taking a bottle of milk. She was about to retreat as her brother advised her awhile ago, when he noticed her. A smirk dawned on his face again. She clenched her fists and passed by him, deliberately not saying anything. She tiptoed towards the kitchen cabinet, looking for the kitchen grease.

To her dismay, Ren had decided to drink in the kitchen too, and it was taking him awfully quite a while to finish his milk. She decided to just pretend he wasn't in the same place with her.

"That's strange," he drawled. "You are unusually mute today. Cat got your tongue? I was sure I kept it intact when I kissed you."

She shut her eyes tight and counted to ten. She would not react. She would not react.

Where was that grease anyway?

She marched towards the table and took a chair and leaned it against the counter. She climbed atop it to search in the higher cabinets.

All the while, she could feel his intent gaze on her. She nearly screamed in relief when she saw what she was looking for,

"Nice legs…still awkward though. Can't wait for you to grow up and see what those legs would look like five years after," he vexed.

That was the final straw! She turned around quickly to scream at him, but she realized that she was standing on the counter! Her arms flapped wildly before she fell down.

Instead of feeling the floor, however, she felt strong arms around her. She opened her eyes, and found herself in Ren's arms. The boy was looking at her, his eyes an eddy of undecipherable emotions, his trademark smirk no more.

"Are you always that clumsy?" he asked huskily.

She jolted back into reality. She freed herself from his hold and slapped him. "It's your fault! I nearly broke my bones because of you! I hate you!" She marched out of the kitchen.

Ren watched her, amused. "Your lubricant!"

She marched back into the kitchen, cheeks hot. She swapped it away from his hands. "I know." She left the kitchen again, pretending not to hear Ren's annoying laughter in the background.

Bason watched his master drink the rest of his milk energetically.

The sheath that shall keep the sword in check. Mistress Tao, I think I know who my master's wife should be.

"So what did you find out?" asked Hao, gazing at his servant.

Opacho bowed. "Apparently, there was a child born in the palace aside from you, but according to the doctors, he was pronounced dead. Two priests disposed of him – Karimu and Shilva."

"Find them at once."

"Yes, Master Hao."

Tsuzuku

O*M*A*K*E

( Horo and Yoh in a Science Class)

Anna (the teacher) asks the questions.

Q: What is pasteurization?

Horo: The process of making pasture and meadows.

Yoh: The process of being a pastor.

Q: What is Black Hole?

Yoh: A hole that is not white.

Horo: (censored answer regarding the female organ) *gets a karate kick from the teacher*

Q: What will you do when you are in a coastal area and a tsunami comes your way?

Yoh: Sleep. Maybe the tsunami will go away if I ignore it.

Horo: Get the snowboard and learn to surf.

Q: Who was the first man on the moon?

Horo and Yoh: It wasn't me!

Q: What are the five senses?

Horo: Common sense, Sixth sense, Nonsense, No-nonsense, and License. (huh?)

Yoh: zzzzzzzzz