Ranma sighed as he slipped back into the Tendo Dojo sometime before the end of school. Even slipping off to find a spot that he could study quietly in hadn't fully assuaged his conscience about ditching school, and he'd briefly made his way towards school to consider attending. However, the sight of Happosai leaping from rooftop to rooftop between the Dojo and Furinkan High had quickly put an end to that train of thought, especially when he still hadn't managed to find some hot water. The last thing he needed today was that pervert groping him. Instead, he decided to slip quietly into the Dojo, avoid his father and Soun, grab a few more things from his pack, and go back to a quiet spot for further study. He also would grab a bit of the money he'd managed to hold onto and not lose to Nabiki through one of her numerous ways of getting money out of him and grab something to eat while he was out...unless he could get something from Kasumi without her telling on him. She was normally thoughtful and kind about that, the one good point about living in Nerima as far as Ranma was concerned.

Reaching his pack, he started pulling out a few extra books and notepads for schoolwork, and then went reaching around for his hidden money pouch. Before he found it, his hand touched on a hard box he didn't remember. "Huh?" he murmured as quietly as he could, grasping the box and slowly pulling it out. It was a small black hexagonal shaped box with odd red marking covering almost the entire container, and it fit in the palm of his hand. He ran a finger over it carefully. "The seam's right in the middle...hinge...a jewelry box?" Curious, he flipped it open.

Inside, he had a brief sight of two round earrings with a ladybug pattern before both began to blaze with red and white energy, surrounding the earrings in a sphere. He let out a startled yelp and slammed the box shut.

"Did you hear that, Soun?"

Hearing his father's voice, Ranma quickly pulled his pack shut so his old man wouldn't find the money pouch and spend it all on booze, grabbed his stuff and the box, and raced out of the dojo and across rooftops as fast as he could go, once again seeking out his quiet spot.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to get there, and there was a shadowy spot he could duck into. Looking around carefully to make sure no one had followed him, he carefully took the box, turned it away from him, closed his eyes, and slowly opened the box once more as he tensed all over in case he had to defend himself.

"...wow, talk about rude!" a tiny, high pitched voice spoke up irritably.

Ranma's eyes shot open, seeking the source of the voice. As he looked, a tiny fairy-like creature that was mostly head floated up out of the jewelry box. Its body was red, with a few black spots on its head with two long, thin antennae hanging down, one on either side. It turned towards Ranma, large blue eyes dominating the face, along with a small mouth that was currently pulled into a frown. "Was that really necessary?" the creature demanded, its femenine voice telling Ranma this was probably a female.

Ranma blinked for a time, then carefully set the jewelry box down on the ground before taking several slow steps back, freezing any time it looked like the creature was going to move towards him. Once he had a safe distance, he sat back and started to think.

Tikki tilted her head as she watched the girl kneel down and mumble under her breath. She could only catch a few words, and without context they didn't really mean anything. Neko Ken, Memory Mirror, Happosai, Juicy Neko...she thought that's what the last one was, but it could have been misheard.

Tikki had been partnered to many people over her long existence, and the first meeting was always the roughest part. She knew if she could get past this, she'd be able to have a good relationship with her new partner just like always. Of course, the key was getting past it.

In her experience, the first reaction to her appearance generally went one of three ways, which she classified as Fear, Excitement, and Other. If her partner was scared of her at first, some calming words and open friendliness could smooth things over. If they got over-excited at her presence, she would either let them get it out of their systems or move quickly to silence them, depending on how private the situation was.

If they had a more...unusual reaction, such as her new partner was having, she'd found it best to just float quietly and wait until they were ready to engage...while being ready to latch onto them if they tried to run for it without the earrings.

After a time, her prospective partner turned to look at her for a time, then sighed. "Okay, I guess you're probably real and I haven't lost my mind yet," she offered morosely. "I'm not that imaginative."

Tikki blinked, doing her best to stay in the air. While she'd had a few partners who had questioned their sanity at first sight of her, this was the first time one seemed upset to conclude they were still sane. "Uh…" she began, unsure how to respond to that.

"So you're magic," the redheaded girl stated flatly. "And so are the earrings in the box? You connected to them?"

"That's right!" Tikki responded happily, glad to have something that felt like a normal part of this to talk about. "These are the Ladybug Miraculous, and contain immense magical power. And with my help, you can use it to help protect the people you care about, the city, the entire world from evil!"

"I don't need magic to do that," the girl responded flatly. "I haven't trained in martial arts for my entire life for nothing." A frown marred her expression. "And people I care about? ...not a very long list…"

Tikki couldn't stop herself from wincing. That was not the sort of attitude her partners normally had. Still, she rallied. "Oh come on!" she offered playfully. "I'm sure a pretty girl like you must have tons of friends-"

"I'm a guy!"

Tikki blinked as she flew back from that angry declaration. Her eyes went from the girl's angry expression to her rather prominent mammaries, and then back up to her face. "Okay, I guess I can see why you were questioning your sanity," she allowed, "but I'm glad society's gotten accepting of that again if you're willing to shout that."

"...accepting?" the girl asked in confusion.

"Of body and mind not matching!" Tikki offered happily. "Used to be that was just accepted as something that happened, but my past few partners lived in time periods where society was really uptight about that sort of thing and…" She let her voice trail off as an unpleasant memory crossed her mind. "Well-"

"I'm not transgender!" the girl finally managed to gasp out after making a few odd noises while trying to make sense of what Tikki had been saying. "The Dojo was just out of hot water today! Of all the luck…"

A few things clicked in Tikki's mind. "Oh! You have a Jusenkyo curse!" she declared in understanding, zipping around the girl for a bit. "I'd noticed the passive magic on you, but I didn't recognize it! I knew I had to have misheard 'Juicy Neko'. That combination didn't make sense in any language-"

"You know about Jusenkyo?" the girl - well, boy apparently - asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah," Tikki responded immediately. "The Miraculous were originally forged in ancient China. I know a lot about ancient Chinese magic. I don't know much about curing Jusenkyo curses - mostly because every cure that's ever been used has either been unpleasantly permanent or only worked once - but I know a few ways to keep them in check somewhat."

"In...check?"

"Yeah!" Tikki responded readily. "It wouldn't take too much of my magic to help you stay in one form while wearing the Miraculous as long as you go out of your way to avoid too much water, and I might even be able to teach you the technique."

"And suddenly sticking my nose into strange magic is worth it again," the girl/boy stated as she/he sat down. "So how do we use these things, Navi?"

Tikki blinked in confusion. "Uh...my name's Tikki."

"My name's Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

"Pleased to meet you, Ranma!" Tikki greeted happily.

"Now how do I use these things, Navi?"

Tikki's eyes went flat. "I just told you my name was Tikki."

Ranma stared at her. "You've...been in there for a while, haven't you?"

"It's generally a century or two between partners, yeah," Tikki allowed.

"Okay...so how do I use them?"

"Well, first you wear them like earrings-"

"Oh hell no!" Ranma snapped. "How am I supposed to go around wearing earrings as a guy? How am I supposed to explain getting my ears pierced? That's just asking for trouble, and I don't need it!"

Tikki blinked for a time. She knew of a solution to this, and Ranma certainly had the energy to do it...but she wasn't entirely sure she should share it. Would it be betraying the partner she learned the skill from, when it was something kept so secret? "Well...I really shouldn't, but...I think I know a technique you could use to hide them...but you can't let anyone know you learned it! Especially if you ever go to China, and near the Bynakala Mountains or Jusenkyo again."

Ranma blinked in surprise. "A Joketsuzoku technique? Like the Chestnut Fist and Hiryu Shoten Ha I learned from Shampoo's great-grandmother?"

Tikki's eyes widened in surprise. "An elder taught you their secret techniques?" she gasped. "Well, in that case I can definitely teach you! But first, let's get them in!" Flying up to Ranma's ears, she poked each earlobe lightly, painlessly creating the hole for the earrings to go in. "I'll make sure you don't injure yourself putting them on," she promised.

Nodding, Ranma carefully lifted the earrings up, expertly inserting them into his ears. "I have good body sense," he explained readily.

"Now, are you used to touching your ki?" she asked curiously.

In response, Ranma flared his battle aura, the blue flame-like energy blazing around him.

Tikki whistled in appreciation. "Alright, now I want you to wrap two small loops of ki around the earrings...and then invert the loops. Does that make-" Her words stopped as she saw the earrings vanish instantly. "You already know the hidden weapons techniques?"

"I thought it was Pop's Umisenken technique, actually," Ranma observed. "Wow. The...the earrings are anchoring it for me."

"Well the Ladybug Miraculous has the power of Good Luck," Tikki explained. "They try to be helpful."

"Well that's useful," Ranma replied, a smile finally touching his face. "So...what's your role here, other than spouting exposition?"

Tikki giggled softly. "Well, my magic enables the Miraculous to give you its power, which you can use to fight off evil. I can also answer any questions you have about things. Other than that, I'm just here to help you through all this...as a friend."

"A...friend?" Ranma asked in surprise, his eyes...quivering.

Tikki felt her heart sink as she realized what that meant. Floating up, she rested on Ranma's shoulder. "Sounds like that's what you need most of this…"