D/C: © To Ai Yazawa and her beautiful imagination! (Get better soon we love you!!)

A/N: Originally started as a co-op AU with a really good friend of mine, so you'll see her expressions in Nana's point of view for several chapters and mine in Hachiko's. After a while it's just me, perhaps the style will change, but I will try to be as consistent as possible.

I'm dedicating this to my friend who I started this with. I miss you x

7…………………………………………………………………………………………………………8

This is just my luck – no! This is the Demon God's work!! I really don't care what people say, karma exists, I'm just getting the crappy end of it! I've had a really bad day and to top it off I'm being chased by a wanna-be French Poodle who won't stop barking! Perhaps dogs hate me because I hate them…

When I was six years old, my Mum thought it'd be a good idea to finally give into to my Sister's never-ending nagging, and let her have the dog she always wanted. It was fine until it got bigger, all I remember is one afternoon coming into my room and finding every single Barbie doll I owned ripped to shreds. It was horrible, like looking at the aftermath on a battle field. I still remember seeing all the dolls strewn across the floor…

And now, from making me run so much it's ruining my most recent pair of Manolos! Damn you Demon God!! I kept running, looking onward towards the end of the promenade, aiming for a gap where I could just slip through and hide from it. Unfortunately the yappy little thing had other plans, backing me into a corner by a wall. I stared at it and stepped backwards, pushing myself as tight to the surface as possible, while spreading my arms out either side of me, clutching frantically at the brickwork for support. My knees feel as if they're about to give in! I can't bear to look at its beady little eyes any longer! It's growling at me! It's gonna strike, I know it!!

I bit my lip. Okay Nana, you can do this, just go back. I bent down slightly, and slid my left foot back so the heel of my shoe was flush against the wall, in a feeble attempt to gain my footing. I pushed off with all the strength I had left in me and ran as fast as my shoes would allow- Great. More blisters. I had run about half the length of the promenade only to find that this stupid little dog was more persistent that I thought. Too frightened to look back on it I kept running, totally oblivious to everything except the fear of being caught up. Turns out it was closer than I thought. The yappy little fluff ball bit me! I screamed out in pain. Then it happened.

My knees hit the decking hard. I looked down to see the girl -who was knocked flat in my panic- lying underneath me, wearing an expression that seemed far from amused. My first impression of her, even if it was brief, was that above all else… She intrigued me. Her make-up was gothic, and by the way she wore her uniform she was following a nouveau punk style.

I got snapped out of my short daydream as she raised a dark eyebrow at me. My eyes widened as I gushed:

"Oh my God I'm so sorry!" I yelled frantically at her. "I…" I trailed off, noticing her glance downwards. Of all the days to wear a skirt. She saw. She saw my underwear. It wasn't even nice underwear! It has strawberries on it!! I clapped my hand over my mouth, flushing scarlet as she said through sniggers: "Strawberries."

The next instant she stopped laughing and glared up at me. I've never been so petrified. That look. I think I preferred her when she was giggling.

She practically growled at me: "It would be great if could get your ass off of my chest."

I was about to move myself, but she didn't give me the option. She sat bolt upright, grabbed me roughly by the tops of my arms- and pushed me off for me. As she walked off she called back to me:

"Nice panties Hachiko…"

This made me even more confused. She was talking about the faithful dog in Japanese folklore. This stupid "Poodle"- which was STILL there with me- wasn't even wearing anything. I yelled to back her "Please! Don't leave me with this thing! It looks vicious!!"

She left me lying there, still terrified of the ratty excuse for a dog just behind me. I've never been so humiliated or so curious about another person- in all my life.

So here I am, minding my own business listening to music and watching the smoke from my cigarette swirl and spiral upwards into the expanse we call a sky. I really don't believe what anyone says you DO NOT get what you pay for. Why the hell are these things squeaking?? I thought to myself as I yanked the things off. Terrific. My only decent headphones have now been reduced to a piece of crap. No, surely not. These cost me loads. I checked and placed them back on my ears... Still squeaking. And then in that moment I found out that humans , or this human at least could scream at such a pitch that it sounded like a squeak.

I look up from my DMs to see this crazy girl running my way down the promenade, screaming her bloody head off. I had nothing else to do, other than school but I was already late for that by like a week, so I watched her as she ran past, if you can call something at that speed a run, not that I'm surprised she's snail paced, what kind of shoes is she wearing?

She passes me, and behind her … is this tiny little French poodle thing, it was hilarious! It was tiny! Like the size of my hand! What is she freaking out about? Throw it a bone or something.

So, I'm staring at this girl, who could easily be called "popular" based on the way she looked. She's not gonna stand much chance of running away from that dog in those shoes … where does she think she's gonna go? Okay, she wants to get away from it, but down here? Uh-uh, no chance. I am NOT helping her, no matter what.

Okay, so she's found a wall, but what does she expect to do now? Ahh, a push off start, right, that's not gonna work. Uhhh…why's she running over here now? Oh right, so she's decided to make it MY problem now, thanks . . . I swear, if she even touches me in the slightest… aw crap …

… How the hell did that even happen?! Did she have to land on top of me?? And, like that too?

"Oh my God I'm so sorry! I …" She practically screamed at me, and okay, I admit it, I looked, but it was so hard to miss what she was wearing. "Strawberries?" I tried to say through sniggering and raising an eyebrow at her. She went bright red, which just made me laugh more, and started screaming: "STRAWBERRIES?!"

Naturally, I don't like being sat on, so I stopped laughing, and glared at her. "It would be awesome if you could get your ass off my chest…" She kinda started to move, but it wasn't really a request, more like, a hint as to what was to follow.

She wasn't gonna get off me in a hurry, so I grabbed her arms, sat up, and put her on the floor. I got up, wiped the dust from my boots and skirt, straightened my shirt up, and sorted my fringe out. I pulled out my box of cigarettes, and whilst I was lighting it I called back to her sarcastically "Nice panties Hachikō" and I walked off, leaving her to fend for herself.

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