This is my first Ronin Warriors story (although I have written for stories for other television shows such as Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Ranma 1/2, and the Tomorrow People). So please be kind. Feedback is not only welcome, but would be greatly appreciated.

      Mia Kuojii swore under her breath as she leaned against the door she had just shut. She used terms she had heard the Ronins utter in the past, usually when they were out for blood. The kind of oaths that had at one time made her ears burn and blush even as she tried to cover Yuli's ears. At this moment, they were the most appropriate things she could say.
      After a few minutes, she ran a hand through her hair and pushed herself off the door and towards her desk. She tapped a key to banish the screensaver on her computer and picked up her tea absently as she began scanning the page. Then she spat as the bitter taste of cold, stale tea filled her mouth. Cold?! She had just poured herself a cup... Mia checked her clock. ...Forty-five minutes ago. Damn, she bit off, slamming the cup down. Tea splattered on her computer screen and keys. She stared at the drippy rivulets and lowered her head into her hands, feeling her temples begin to throb.
      The day had started off horribly and just unrolled from there like a horror movie. She had woken up hunched over her PC at home with a splitting headache and weary eyes after pulling another all-nighter with her grandfather's text. It had taken a full minute for her groggy mind to realize that she was late. Not just a little late. Late enough that she'd had to call the university to tell Dr. Sewall that she couldn't TA for his class today.
      He'd been polite enough on the phone, and that had given her an inkling of hope. Sure, he was polite, Mia almost growled. He was just lying in wait to ambush me for the lecture of my life later on. Her lips twitched. Lying in wait? Ambush? You've been spending too much time with the Ronins, Kuojii.
      Sewall's lecture had been little more than a thinly veiled threat to fire her if 'her irresponsible behavior continued'. She had this job in the first place because her grandfather had been a friend, a good friend, of his. Ha, she sniffed. The real reason she had this job was because Sewall knew next to nothing about mythology and needed someone else to prepare his lessons for him. He had welched off her grandfather for years and now it appeared (threats or no threats) he was going to do the same to her.
      I don't need this, she sighed, reaching for a kleenex and trying to soak up the tea streams on her computer. I should just... Just what, Kuojii? Grandfather was paying for everything before he died. You wouldn't even have a house if he hadn't already paid for the mortgage on it. You need this job. You have a house full of people to worry about, including a seven year old boy. And Kento's appetite. There were bills to pay, groceries to buy, and Yuli did need a new wardrobe for school. The nest egg her parents had left her, as well as what little her grandfather had in the bank on his death, was rapidly vanishing. Things were going to be tight when it was gone. So there's really no point in thinking about leaving. No matter what that old goat Sewall does, she thought. She would just have to do what she had always done. Soldier on.
      Still, it would be nice if the Ronins could help out with the finances. Then again, what would they do? There wasn't exactly a huge market for superheroes with mystical armor these days. Until another crisis arose, the Ronins were out of work. They could go to school, she mused. Mia was only a year or two older than them at most and she was working her way through University. They could probably get a scholarship... Well, she amended. Rowan would get a scholarship, probably two or three. Sage, too.
      Not that the others were stupid. Far from it. It was just that the race for scholarships was so competitive these days that the actual number who got scholarships was small. With his intellect, Rowan was a shoe-in for any type of scholastic aid he wanted, and Sage was disciplined enough to probably snag one as well. The other three though would probably be in the same boat she was in: trying to work their way through school. Mia was just lucky to have a few connections who had pushed her to the head of the work-study crowd. And those connections were mainly old friends of her grandfather.
      Right now, the boys (as Mia often thought of them) seemed content to wander around her house, playing football or practicing, acting for all the world as if they were high school kids out on summer break. And after all they had done Mia couldn't fault their impulse to sit back and enjoy life for a while. They had fought and nearly died several times. They deserved a break.
      Meanwhile, the rest of us mere mortals will just have to muddle through, she thought ruefully. She had a long way to go to get her doctorate and the battle with the Dynasty had further set her studies back. It was all very well and good to help save the world, but the trouble was that most people didn't appreciate it.
      And there is still so much of Grandfather's text to decipher. Mia hadn't even begun to delve into half of the Codex. What troubled her was the fact that the poem went on long after Talpa's demise. She had been hacking away at the translation since the Dynasty's defeat and had barely scratched the surface. Though she had yet to mention it to the Ronins, the things she had read so far had left her increasingly uneasy about the future. Talpa might be dead, but the Codex mentioned signs and portents that could herald another battle. With whom she wasn't sure. Talpa? Possibly. He had come back before.
      She rubbed her temples. The problem was, she probably wouldn't know until the events were in the process of unfolding. That was how the Codex worked. It foretold future events, but oftentimes its ramblings couldn't be understood until something was actually happening, as if someone was making sure that no one could get the upper hand ahead of time.
      Now I'm getting paranoid, too. Mia tried to start working on the next day's lesson, but her heart just wasn't in it. She found her gaze drifting towards the window. Steel-colored skies greeted her. It had been overcast all morning, threatening to rain, but never quite delivering on that promise. Rowan had warned her to carry an umbrella and drive carefully though. And since he was the bearer of the armor of Strata, she took his words with due seriousness.
      I want to go home, she thought wistfully, and curl up with a mug of hot chocolate and a good novel. Maybe something by Charles de Lint. And maybe put Loreena McKennitt or some Pucchini on the stereo. There was so much she had to do and she didn't want to bother with any of it. She wanted to do something fun, something that didn't involve either saving the world or trying to figure out how she was going to make mythology accessible to a beginning archaeology class. Or trying to cook enough food for an elephant just so Kento didn't starve at dinner. Or play mother for Yuli. I'm twenty-one years old and I feel like I'm fifty.
      Beside her the phone jangled. Probably Dr. Sewall again, deciding she needed to be chastised again for good measure. Mia toyed with the idea of not answering at all. Then again, that would probably send Sewall barreling in her direction just to see why she wasn't answering the phone. And if she had to deal with him face to face at the moment, she might do something she'd regret later on. Without much enthusiasm, she picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
      "Mia?" the voice sounded hesitant. "It's Ryo."
      Ryo? She straightened, perking up at the sound of his voice. "Hi. What can I do for you?"
      "I-- um... I'm not disturbing you, am I? 'Cause I--"
      "Not at all," she assured him. Then she panicked, "What's happened?"
      "Oh, nothing. Nothing." Now he was reassuring her. "I just wanted to call."
      "Oh." A blush spread up her neck to paint her cheeks. Her face felt warm as a tiny thrill went through her. Without thinking, she replied, "I'm glad." Did I just say that?! she thought in horror. Her flush grew hotter.
      There was a brief silence. "You--you are?"
      "Y-yes," she stammered. "It's nice... to hear a friendly voice." Friendly voice? she heard a part of herself say. Is that what we're calling Ryo now? Just a friendly voice? Then how come you spend most of the time thinking about more than just his voice?
      Shut up, she urged that tiny voice.
      Oh, come on, Kuojii. Why don't you just admit it? You like Ryo. You more than like Ryo.
      Ryo's a friend. He's just one of the guys.
      Just one of the guys? Uh-huh, tell that to someone who'll believe it, sister. Ryo's no more just one of the guys than you are the Queen of Brunei, snickered the voice.
      "Mia?"
      Mia forced herself out of her internal debate. "Did you say something? I'm sorry, I don't know where my mind is today."
      Another hesitation. "Maybe this isn't a good time."
      "No!" Mia replied more forcefully than she would have liked, "Don't hang up, Ryo. You were trying to tell me something. What was it?"
      "Well, uh, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to go out to lunch? With--with me?" She could have sworn she heard a gulp.
      "Just you?" she blurted out in surprise. Usually, whenever anyone mentioned lunch, Kento could be heard bellowing in the background. Instead, all she heard was the sound of Ryo's breathing.
      "Yeah," suddenly he sounded defensive, "Just me."
      Lunch? Just me and... Ryo? Mia couldn't remember the last time she had been alone with Ryo when it hadn't involved trying to save the world. In fact, she didn't think they had ever really spent any time alone. As in without the other guys nearby to bail them out when they both got into the sweaty palms, deep gaze stage. She stared off into space then reached down and pinched herself. She grimaced in pain. Yep, she was awake. She had just entered the Twilight Zone was all.
      "That would be nice," she was mortified to hear the shaky edge to her voice, "But--but, Ryo, it's almost lunch now. How will you get here in time for--"
      "Actually," he sounded kind of sheepish now, "I'm already here. If you'll go to your window and look out, you'll see me. I'm using Rowan's cell phone."
      Mia balanced the phone on her ear and edged over to the window. Sure enough, Ryo was below her in street clothes. He waved and smiled up at her. She smiled back. He looked so impossibly young and... Handsome? added that tiny voice helpfully.
      She didn't bother to disagree.
      "How did you get here? When did you get here?" Mia demanded.
      "One, Rowan dropped me off. He and Cye were on their way to the mall. And second, only about fifteen minutes or so."
      "Why didn't you come on up?"
      "'Cause I didn't know if you wanted to have lunch with me or not," he replied impishly.
      "But you obviously assumed I did or else you wouldn't be here," she teased.
      "Yep. Pretty shallow of me, huh? Still haven't answered my question though."
      "Oh?"
      "Yeah, do you want to have lunch with me or not? It's kind of wet and cold down here by myself."
      Mia turned her face from the window, hoping he couldn't see the silly grin of delight she knew had to be creeping up on her face. She tried to play it cool, "And it's going to be better if I come down there and get cold and wet with you?"
      "Oh, yeah. Two's better company than one. So what do you say?"
      She twisted the phone cord. "I'd -- I'd like to have lunch with you, Ryo."
      "Seriously?" His voice sounded so hopeful it was adorable.
      "I'd definitely like to." She placed especial emphasis on the 'definitely' part.
      "Great!" His voice sounded more exuberant than it had in the last several minutes. She could practically feel the warmth in his tone through the phone. It went with being the possessor of the armor of Wildfire she supposed. Ryo just couldn't hide his emotions, which meant...
      ...that he really did want to have lunch with her. Alone. It was a good sign, wasn't it? If he liked her enough to want to spend time alone with her.... If her heart hadn't been thudding before than it was now. Whoa, Kuojii, don't jump the gun here. It's just lunch. Still, all the little missteps of the day seemed to melt away. All the weight on her shoulders lifted, and he had done it by just asking her out to lunch.
      "Ryo?"
      "Yeah?"
      "Thank you."
      "For what?"
      "For just being you. For asking me out to lunch," Mia ran her hand across the pane of the glass, turning her face back towards him. For making this one of the best days of my life, she added silently, by just talking to me.
      He seemed to understand what she was trying to say. "You're welcome, Mia. Now, are you gonna come down or am I gonna have to run up there and throw you over my shoulder?"
      "In your dreams," she laughed.
      "Maybe," he replied smugly, setting her heart aflutter again. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

***end