"So Nao-chan, what are you going to name him?" Naoto Shirogane glanced up at her grandfather from where she sat on the floor. She was smiling broadly at the fluffy bundle chewing at the buttons on her jacket playfully.
"I... erm..." The detective was still at a loss for words. Her grandfather, Kashikoi Shirogane, had brought a tiny German Sheppard puppy home with him in the hopes of keeping his granddaughter entertained for longer then a few hours. He had also remembered the countless conversations with Naoto when she was much younger about why a puppy would be a bad idea. He chuckled at her as she pulled the puppy away from her coat.
"Is something the matter Nao-chan? I thought you wanted a puppy to, what was it, help with your investigations? Snuff out the clues?" Naoto turned to him with a dazed sort of expression. She remembered saying that when she was five!
"I-Grampa!" It finally clicked in her mind what he meant. This was another act to make her enjoy her youth will she still could. "Well... I suppose I should call him..." She looked at the puppy with an overjoyed gleam in her eyes as she remembered the name she chose as a child. "Tantei." The pup pounced on her hand as it moved in a playful manner, gaining a seemingly painful face plant into the wooden floor when his 'prey' avoided the movement. The detective ruffled the fur on Tantei's head, chuckling at him merrily.
"Well then Tantei Shirogane, welcome to the family." Yakushiji smiled at the pair on the floor. "Let's hope you can take good care of him!" On normal circumstances he would have earned himself a death glare of the worst kind from Naoto for the comment. Luckily for him she was far too absorbed in watching Tantei chase his tail until he fell sideways onto the young detective's lap.
"How old is he?" She asked curiously scratching the pup's belly.
"The owner claimed he would need his second injection in about a week so that would make him... Nine weeks, as I recall." Kashikoi hesitated before glancing at Yakushiji questioningly.
"Hm? Oh that means he will be able to go out for walks soon. I'll arrange for a visit to the vets then." The secretary grinned at Naoto as he added, "You'd best start looking for some things for him Naoto-sama. After all, we only got the puppy and some food."
"I suppose I should..." She starred at the puppy thoughtfully. 'Will Junes have the necessary items? Maybe I could ask Chie...' If Naoto remembered correctly, Chie has an old St. Bernard dog that Yukiko had found when they were young.
"Why don't we go get the things we need at Junes tomorrow? It might prove more challenging then you'd think!" Her grandpa chuckled jokingly.
"Why is that?" Surely it wasn't that difficult!
"I had a dog when I was young and I got the wrong kind of food and treat's countless times! I also have a few things to purchase myself, so we might as well go together."
"I can assure you I would double check the labels before I purchased anything, but I agree. If we both need something then we can go together." Tantei yawned as he curled up into a ball on Naoto's lap sleepily. She smiled, stroking his brown and black fur gently. Her grandpa chuckled softly before glancing at the clock on the wall. Gently picking up the pup she moved to sit next to her grandpa on the couch.
"Thank you Grandpa." The young detective laid Tantei on one of the couch pillows before catching the elder Shirogane in a tight embrace. He chuckled as he returned the hug.
"You are very welcome Nao-chan."
"What the...?" Naoto's eyes opened early the next morning to something licking her face affectionately. Laughing, she realised that what had woken her was Tantei. She struggled to sit up as the puppy jumped up at her face in an attempt to continue covering her face with slobber.
"Okay! Okay, I'm up! Stop it!" Her hand grabbed his nose to gently force his mouth shut. The second she let go of him again he barked excitedly, wagging his tail as he grabbed one of the bed sheets in an attempt to play tug of war with her. He succeeded.
"Tantei let go!" Tantei growled in rebellion at his new master. An idea suddenly crossed her mind. Flinging the sheet over the pups head she quickly pinned him down under said sheet. He panicked before tumbling of the bed as she released him. The pup barked repeatedly as he dashed to door and as if on que a knock sounded throughout the room.
"Naoto? Are you awake?"
"Yes Grampa! I'll be down in a minute!"
"I'll be waiting."
Naoto swiftly prepared for the day ahead before accompanying the elder Shirogane in front of the door with the puppy circling her feet.
"Someone's eager." He chuckled looking down at the over excited pup. "Yakushiji could you take care of Tantei while we're gone?" Yakushiji grabbed the puppy as he replied:
"Of course Shirogane-sama."
"I have said this before but can you please use my first name please?"
"Um... Of course Kashikoi-sama. Please enjoy yourselves." With that, both Naoto and her grandfather left the building together.
"Goodbye Yakushiji-san!" Naoto called over her shoulder as she followed her grandfather.
"Hey where's Naoto?" Rise checked her watch impatiently at Yosuke's question. "You did tell her we were meeting up today didn't you?"
The idol glared at him before replying, "Of course I did!" The usually organised and punctual detective prince only spoke to her this morning when she'd told them about the meeting, so she should be here... "To be honest, I'm a little worried. She hasn't shown up for the past few days and hasn't even said anything to me yet."
"Yeah, well maybe its just detective stuff." Yosuke, despite his words had concerned expression on his face.
"I noticed that to! Wonder what she's doing..." Chie trailed of in wonder. The entire Investigation Team – except for Naoto of course – was gathered around the usual table at the Junes food court.
"Who cares? Sure seems happier." Stated Kanji, matter of factly.
"Yeah? What makes you say that?" The heir to Junes questioned calmly.
"Well... I dunno. She just ... does..."
"Hey Rise, why don't you try calling her? Maybe she's just forgotten."
Rise nodded at Yukiko. "Yeah, maybe... Ok let's see now..." she scrolled threw her contacts on her mobile until she eventually reached Naoto's name. Holding the phone to the side of her head, her gaze wondered around the group.
...
She sighed. "No answer."
"Figures. Well were still on the clock. Come on Ted!"
"But what about Nao-chan?"
"She'll be fine! Look if you're that fused then why doesn't you go see what's up after your shift?" After complaining some more both Teddie and Yosuke left the table.
"Hey, why don't we do that?" Questioned Chie, making everyone turn to her.
"Do what?" The idol stared at her blankly.
"Why don't we pay her a little visit? Just in case something's wrong!"
"What all of us? Didn't she say somethin' 'bout not bein disturbed?" Kanji had a point but...
"How about only a few us go? Then she might not mind so much..." Rise looked at Yukiko with an interested look.
"Yeah, maybe then we'll find out why she's avoiding us!" She paused for a moment. "So who's coming with me?"
"What? You're going now?" The brunette stared in disbelief at the idol.
"Well, why not? I mean we have been here a while anyway and she still hasn't shown so... You wanna come with?"
"Sure! You coming Yukiko?"
"Oh, no, sorry. I'm helping out at the inn today."
"That's ok! How about you Kanji-kun?" Kanji shook his head at Rise.
"Na. I'll pass. I got some stuff ta' do."
"Then that leaves me and Chie! Come on! Let's go!" 'She better not be doing something stupid...'
"Whoa... This place is huge!" Exclaimed Chie upon their arrival, staring up at the house in awe.
"Oh come on Chie! Were not gonna find out what's going on if we stand here all day!" Rise's enthusiasm evident in her voice. Truth be told, she'd never actually set foot inside the Shirogane Estate and was more eager then she should be to get a glimpse of the inside. As they approached the door to the building they became much more hesitant to actually knock. Rise jumped as a loud crash sounded through the doors and a multi-coloured blur flew past the inside of the window.
"What the...?" Chie's eyes widened, before knocking on the door multiple times. A few moments later the estate secretary, Yakushiji, opened said door with the most self agitated look on his face. He nodded politely.
"Good afternoon. I take it you are here to see Naoto-sama?" The two girls nodded in response.
"Er... Yeah, we just wanted to drop by and say hi." Chie's hesitant reply seemed to catch the secretary's eye. A look of dread adorning his face.
"Well..." He was cut of by the sound of something small whirring to life.
"What's that?" asked Rise curiously.
"Oh erm... I don't know..." He sighed before gesturing for them to enter. "I'll try and fetch her for you... I can't promise anything though." He mumbled that last part. The two friends glanced at each over before removing their shoes and placing them to the side. The secretary hesitantly knocked on one of the many mahogany doors and called "Naoto-sama?" He had a knowing look on his face as he repeated the gesture with no success in gaining any response at all.
"It works!" cried an all too familiar voice to nobody in particular. The whirring nose grew louder as a result. Yakushiji gestured towards the curious teens for them to follow as he opened the door.
CRASH!
A terrified screech followed by a surprised and worried gasp as something heavy collided with the wooden door.
"Tantei! Are you ok?" Naoto's worried voice along with the scrambling of feet on the wooden floor made both girls flinch. "Yakushiji-san! Apologise!"
Yakushiji rolled his eyes before answering, "I apologise... Tantei-sama. It would seem neither you nor your master heard me."
"Heard you?"
"The sound of the... engine seemed to prevent you from noticing when I both knock and call your name. Anyway am I forgiven?" There was a joking tone in his voice as he looked down at what was most likely Naoto.
"Er... Yes. What is it you needed anyway?"
"I wanted to inform you that you have two guests who would like to see you." He stepped back to let them threw the doorway. "I'll leave you be." He added closing the door behind him as he left. Naoto stood up in an instant and greeted them in her usual formal way. She suddenly noticed the shocked look on their faces.
"Er... What brings you here? Um... This is Tantei and um... I wasn't expecting visitors so..."
"You have a puppy?!" Both Chie and Rise exclaimed in unison, suddenly looking much more excited.
"Um... Yes. Like I said, his name is Tantei. Is something the matter?"
"Awww! He's so cute!" Tantei was suddenly scooped up from the ground by Chie before he could react. "Why didn't you tell us?" She wanted to say because she knew this would happen but couldn't bring herself to do so. The brunette was so absorbed in showering the puppy in affection that she didn't seem to notice him struggling out of her grasp.
"Umm... Chie? I don't think he particularly likes that." The detective prince had a worried look as she watched. "Umm can you let him go please?" Chie suddenly looked back at her with an annoyed sort of look. To Naoto's relief she hesitantly placed the puppy back on the floor. Tantei instantly dashed behind her, away from the brunette's arms, using his master as a human shield.
"Aww, did she scare you little guy?" Rise finally piped up. She glanced at Naoto as if awaiting her approval. She frowned as the detective hesitantly shook her head, with a slightly protective glint in her eyes.
"You didn't answer my question Rise-san. What brings you here?" The idol stared at her before answering:
"Well... We hardly see you anymore and we-"
"Just wanted to find out why you weren't hanging around with us. That's all." Chie cut Rise of. "And we wanted to know if you wanted to hang out with us today."
"Ah, well Tantei isn't trained yet and since he technically belongs to me, it has become my responsibility. Yakushiji doesn't know how to teach dogs anything and Grampa has his cases so I am the only one who can at the moment."
"AND you wanted to play with him right?" Added Chie knowingly as Naoto's expression turned blank. "C'mon! Everyone would want to!" Rise suddenly remembered the crash from before and turned towards the door to see what had caused it. A black and flame painted, mini monster truck laid motionless on the floor. Tantei barked and rushed away, coming back moments later with a plastic remote in his jaws, wagging his tail enthusiastically.
"Whatcha got there?" She questioned as her detective friend seemed to go pink with embarrassment. He dropped the controller at Naoto's feet and barked up at her. She sighed before hesitantly picking it up.
"This is an old toy of mine which I recently modified for him. I... Um... Used to make things like watches in the past so I..."
"Whoa! That's so cool! What's it do?" Naoto blushed even brighter before flicking a switch and smiling at Tantei as he jumped onto the back of the truck. Once that whirring sound from before came back again, both Chie and Rise gapped in awe as it practically came to life! The headlights flickered on and bubbles flowed out of the exhausts before the truck raced around the room. Tantei howled in excitement as the truck launched of a make shift ramp catapulting him into the air. He landed in the back of the truck which had yet to slow and barked multiple times, wagging his tail the whole time. They came to a halt as Naoto started switching the dials on the controller.
"I was actually still testing all the functions so..."
"What theirs more?" Disbelief clear in both her tone and facial expression.
"Yes. Ah here we go." She said the last part to herself as the truck made a small clicking sound.
Whoomp!
"Er... Naoto is that... a glider?" She never heard Rise's question as she turned a few more dials.
"Ready Tantei?" Tantei yipped excitedly. Inwardly she had know idea why she had even added this function and she knew it most likely wouldn't work but there's know reason why she shouldn't at least try... Powering up the truck again she launched it at full speed at the ramp. The glider's huge wings fluttered as it was catapulted into the indoors air. Much to everyone's surprise the truck glided gracefully for a few moments before landing with a heavy thud causing it to bounce several times. This was bad. The truck swerved to the left and rolled upside down! Naoto gasped and shot forward as she heard the shocked whimper from beneath the truck!
"Are you okay Tantei?" Her nervous voice made both Rise and Chie flinch. A few moments passed as they joined Naoto to pull the truck of the pup. Tantei instantly pounced on his master, knocking her to the floor as he licked her face. Both the brunette and the idol smiled as the detective burst out laughing trying desperately to get the puppy to stop licking her face.
"Aww! That's adorable!" Rise commented watching from where she sat with Chie on the floor by the truck.
"Ahaha yeah!" Chie giggled as Naoto finally stopped the slobbery puppy and sat up, looking breathlessly happy.
"Ahaha, you ok Naoto-kun?" Rise laughed lightly.
"Hmm, hmm, yes." Naoto chuckled in response grinning from ear to ear like a kid at Christmas. Tantei barked again merrily.
"So, what now?"
Aurthors notes!
I forgot about the description of the Tantei! I'm SORRY! I'll try to include it in the next chapter! :D
Also I'm SORRY I got the point of views messed up! I also wrote some of this while I was half asleep... and ended up getting carried away...
PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! DON'T BE TO MEAN BUT FEEL FREE TO CRITISIZE! :D :D :D THANK YOU! I have gone over bits of this chapter and corrected most parts so yeah :D :D Thanks for the Review EvilWaffleS!