The New Guardian

By The Senshi of Valis

Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own Ranma or W.I.T.C.H.

Ranma paled as he walked into the restaurant with his mother and seen hudled around a table the same girls who was in the alley with Caleb…he knew no good could come from this. He grew even more nervous as the older woman from the table with a younger, nervous looking girl following close by.

"Mom." Nodoka said happily as the two older women embraced.

"I'm so happy you could come dear," the older woman said, "And you must be little Ranma…well not so little."

Ranma suffered a strong embrace from the older woman and smiled back at her.

"I'm Yan Lin dear but you can call me grandmother." Yan Lin said, "And this is your cousin dear, Hay Lin."

"Hi." Hay Lin said. For some reason Ranma had the feeling that the girl in front of him would usually act more excited but she looked a little shocked at the moment which Ranma couldn't blame her for. He was a little shocked himself, never even knowing he had a cousin until now but even more, said cousin was a magical girl which freaked Ranma out on several levels. What, did this run in the family or something? Looking at Yan Lin Ranma's eye began to twitch, he could see a very faint outline of a younger Yan Lin as one of those fairy things.

"Hi." Ranma replied.

Ranma suffered through two more embraces, bordering on amazon glomps, as he was introduced to both his uncle and aunt. After everyone talked for a few moments Nodoka, Yan Lin and Ranma's Aunt and Uncle left to talk over some things and private leaving Ranma with Hay Lin.

"Come on, let's go meet my friends." Hay Lin said taking his hand and dragging him to the table where the other magical girls was sitting, eyeing him. Some with looks that he had grown to dislike but the red haired girl, there was something different about the way she was looking at him. It wasn't like any of the other girls back in Nerima. It was a look more of curiosity yet held so much warmth and intelligence. A look offering friendship and acceptance but seemed to warn anyone away who would want to hurt her friends. It took Ranma a few moments to figure out what was happening, he wasn't seeing all of that in her eyes, though some of it he was, he was sensing her feelings.

"Hi, my name's Will." The red head said with a bright smile.

"Ranma." Ranma said, scratching the base of his pigtail nervously.

"I'm Irma and wow you're cute." Irma said.

"I'm Taranee." Taranee said, elbowing Irma.

"Cornelia." Cornelia said, "Love the shirt…silk, right?"

"Umm…yeah." Ranma said as he sat down along with Hay Lin.

"So did you just move here?" Will asked.

"Yeah, not too long ago." Ranma said. "My mom and me wanted to get away from my father and all the troubles back where we came from."

"I can understand that." Will said though Ranma could sense a lot of sadness from her over that.

"What school are you going to?" Taranee asked.

"Sheffield I think is what its called." Ranma said.

"Oh wow, that's our school." Hay Lin said.

"Cool, maybe we can see each other there." Will said, drawing Ranma's attention to the red head.

"Maybe…" Ranma said, having a little bit of a hard time looking away once he locked eyes with Will.

"Ms. Will, your mother has been trying to call you for the last ten minutes." A stuffy voice said.

"What was that?" Ranma asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Umm…nothing…" Will said turning red, giggling a tittle while making warding gestures before pushing something deeper into her jacket pocket and whispering harshly, "Not now."

"I better get going." Will said standing up.

"My mom is coming to pick us up, if you want she can drop you off." Irma said.

"I'll be fine." Will said.

"At least let Ranma walk you home." Hay Lin said, smiling with only what Ranma could call deviousness in her voice.

"I'll be fine." Will sighed.

"It's no problem." Ranma said nervously.

"It's getting dark out." Taranee said.

"So." Will said.

"Will, just let Ranma walk you." Cornelia growled.

"Fine." Will said with a sigh

"Good." Hay Lin said with a huge grin.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sorry about the trouble." Will said.

"Don't worry about it." Ranma said as he walked next to the cute red head.

"I just broke up with my boyfriend again and my friends are probably trying to…" Will whispered and stopped, blushing.

"Hey, its no problem." Ranma said, "If you don't mind though, what happened?"

"Well…we had another fight. He…he's been flirting a lot with this other girl and…I think he's seeing her behind my back…" Will said, looking at the ground as they walked, "I'm sorry…I don't even know why I'm telling you this…It's just…I feel so…with you…I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry and if you ask me, this guy doesn't even deserve you." Ranma said.

"Thanks." Will said.

Ranma froze as he saw a flash then a car hitting a fire hydrant and causing an eruption of water. With another flash the scene disappeared but Ranma could see the fire hydrant he just saw coming up and still in one piece. As the got closer to it Ranma could hear sirens wailing and a car being chased by a police cruiser come barreling down at the two. Without thinking Ranma grabbed Will and jumped away in time to avoid the crash and water that followed.

"Are you okay?" An officer asked as they climbed out of the cruiser, the driver going to check on whoever was in the car that they were chasing.

"Yeah." Ranma said, surprised at what happened and thankful for escaping the close encounter with the water without getting splashed.

"We're really sorry." The officer said.

"It's okay." Will said, "Can we go, I have to get home."

"If your sure that your okay." The officer said.

"We are, thanks." Ranma said.

"Let them go, if Will says she's fine then they're okay." The police driver said.

"Thank you Mr. Lair." Will said pulling Ranma away. They quickly made it to Will's apartment after that with Ranma thinking a lot about what happened and growing a little nervous about it. It had to have been caused by what ever that was that caused him to turn into a fairy earlier.

"Thanks for walking me home, Ranma." Will said,

"It's no big…so umm…will I get a chance to see you again?" Ranma asked nervously, wanting to smack his head against a wall for asking. He wasn't sure what came over him.

"Sure, we'll be going to the same school after all." Will said, "Plus your one of my best friends' cousin."

"Okay…guess I'll see you later." Ranma said, turning to leave until he felt Will's hand on his arm.

"How about Friday night?" Will asked.

"Um…sure…around seven?" Ranma asked, growing more nervous by the second.

"O-Okay." Will said, also seemingly nervous.

"See you f-Friday then." Ranma said before kissing Will's cheek then walking off hurriedly.