Makoto didn't know how he had gotten himself into this situation. He was sitting on his couch with a strange woman holding an ice pack over his eye - and it gets better – in a bathrobe. He glared with his good eye at the furry little mutt that was getting loved on by said woman, while he was getting stared down at with the intensity of a predator by the man that had incapacitated him. Let's back up.

It was about 4 AM when the infuriating animal had decided that instead of cuddling with him it would rather sit on his face and howl about its bladder. Makoto had opened his tired eyes and vowing to never have children – a moot point as illustrated by his love life - raised his sore sleep-deprived body from the warm that he called his bed. He had sat the mutt on some newspapers and began pouring himself some coffee. Why not? He had to get up for work in an hour anyway.

He stood holding his steaming cup like a close friend, while the puppy stared him dead in the face. If he wasn't dead tired, he would have found their wild-west showdown to be faintly amusing. But he had only gone to bed four hours ago, and the puppy had started howling again. It was not going to use the papers.

Makoto put his white robe over his boxer briefs opting to keep his house shoes on. I mean, how big could this puppy's bladder be? It was only about ten pounds. Surely, it would only be ten minutes. In and out. A quick fix.

He walked to the door where the leash was hanging. He sighed taking it off the hook and turned around to see the little mongrel had followed him. Holding eye contact, the puppy squatted, and the smell of urine filled the space. Makoto let out an undignified squawk and picked the little devil up and literally ran out the door with the puppy peeing the whole way. He dropped it in the grass spilling his sloshing coffee all over his robe turning the white a faded brown.

He glared at the adorable thing as it continued emptying its bladder. When the puppy finished, it stood up, shook, and began wagging its tail as if nothing happened at all. Makoto sighed and took a gulp of his coffee. When he looked back at the puppy, it had wandered over to the sidewalk and was making friends with someone.

There were 'Ooohs!' and 'Awws!' coming from the direction as the passerby told his new family addition that it was the best boy in the whole wide world, and Makoto felt like the stranger would feel a bit differently if they had spent the last hour being howled at and urinated on.

"Sir?"

He looked up to see the stranger, a girl he guessed from the blurry ponytail bouncing behind her. If he had put his glasses on, maybe he could tell whether or not she was cute. What a great day! What glorious impressions he was making! He could only hope that she was an old hag which would be a long shot from her tittering laugh.

She tickled the puppy's chin, while it tried to lick her fingers.

Traitor, he thought a bit more venomously than he should.

"Is he yours?"

Makoto held his coffee in front of his crotch to try to hide the view. "Yeah."

"Oh." The girl looked a little disheartened as she sat the puppy at their feet. With one last pat on its head, she stood up and gave Makoto a once over stopping at the coffee cup. When her eyes flicked up at his, they made eye contact, and Makoto swore that his morning couldn't get any more awkward. He was sure that his face was betraying him. He broke away first and scratched his neck feeling the prick of day old stubble on his fingertips. He wished she had stayed farther away where he couldn't notice her violet eyes and soft lips.

"I just thought that maybe if he didn't have a home…" She trailed off as she looked down at her toes.

"..Yeah." The silence overtook them again, and Makoto couldn't help but start an internal monologue about how even when he could meet a girl that he messed it up extremely more than the average gentleman.

She turned looking for the puppy and let a shriek out as she dashed forward. Makoto, being partially blind, jerked his head toward the sound in time to see a grey car rushing toward a swinging red tail. The squeal of tires and the all too familiar scent of burnt rubber invaded his nose, and he stumbled on the wet grass as he ran toward the scene.

The girl was lying curled around the little white puppy that had made a mad dash for the road. Her eyes were closed, and he couldn't feel her breath. Luckily – about the only bit of luck that he seemed to have right now – he could leap to action feeling the adrenaline rush through him. Part of his firefighter training had centered on first aid practices, so he compressed her chest and breathed in holding the young girl's nose. He lay his head against her chest and heard the startled thump of her heart coming back to life. He sighed finally feeling the shake of adrenaline wearing off.

Her eyes fluttered open, and at this distance, Makoto finally had a decent look at her. She was close enough for him to feel her breath and smell her shampoo. He could see the little cracks in her makeup and the smear of her mascara. Her brows knitted together, and he couldn't help but feel a little hiccup in his own heartbeat. He had met a pretty girl, a kind girl, and he had ended up saving her life. Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.

"Hey!"

He looked up to see a furious well-known uniform running full blast toward him. The man knelt before Makoto and fussed over the young lady

"Is she safe?!"

Makoto would recognize Officer Rin Matsuoka's voice anywhere. He left an impression and sometimes a string of violence. They often encountered each other during jobs, and he must've been the car that was sent when the driver had called in the accident. "She's fine."

Rin sighed in relief and became brusque again. "Well, paperwork."

"No problem." Makoto nodded at him to get back to work. He understood the pressures of a 24/7 job all too well. The girl fidgeted and sat up placing a hand to her forehead. "Can you stand?"

"I think – yeah." She took the hand that Makoto had offered her. When she wobbled onto her feet, she stood straight too fast and became dizzy falling against Makoto's now open robe. Makoto grimaced a little. If he hadn't done enough to scare her off, the smell would, since he had added sweat to his growing aroma after the morning activities. He felt the girl's breath on his chest and the tickle of her eyelashes.

"Is the puppy okay?"

Makoto looked to the culprit in question who was sitting safely on the curb scratching his ear. He glared at the puppy who simply panted and cocked its head to the side.

"Yeah. He's safe."

"Good," she sighed leaning back but keeping her arms entangled with his forearms. Her face became cherry red as she realized where she had been leaning, and she snatched her arms away. "Ah – um, I'm glad he's okay."

Makoto reached out to steady her when she wobbled backwards. "Are you okay?"

"Oh! I'm fine! I'm very tough!"

Makoto resisted the urge to laugh at her. "I'll say. You did get hit by a car."

They shared a small laugh.

"We should get you first aid. You could have a concussion."

She shook her head. "I need to get to work."

Makoto frowned. "I think they'd understand."

She bit her lip and looked down at her toes. "I don't know."

"You could call them?"

"Mmm."

"I have a phone."

"Uh-huh."

Makoto turned red when he realized that her gaze was no longer on her toes. It rested firmly on the small strip show he had inadvertently provided. And she was biting her lip. And he really liked it. He really wanted her to come use his phone and his bed and maybe him which was a really forward and ridiculous thing to think, because one night stands were definitely not his forte. He usually didn't even become interested in anyone until there'd been a few dates, but here he was being one of those creepy firefighters at the bars. He could hear it now: Hey, little lady, wanna see my hose?

"Miss?" Thank God for filters between libido and brain.

She jerked her head up and turned an even deeper crimson. "Yes!"

"Do you want to call your work?"

"No! I'm leaving! I'm fine! Thank you!"

She was waving her arms and edging away from him, and he could see his chance running away. In reality, he knew that he was not exactly Prince Charming right now. The puppy ran to the girl and barked then ran back to Makoto growling. He gave it an exasperated glare.

"What do you want?"

It ran behind him and chomped on the back of his ankle. Makoto started hopping on one foot in pain and held back the curse words that he was thinking.

The girl laughed behind him, and Makoto tossed his glare her way as well. It seemed like the puppy was helping ruin his life right now.

"It's just that you're so big, and he's so tiny." Makoto's expression must have shown his surprise, because she continued in a flustered manner. "I don't mean you're fat! You're actually quite muscular and handsome – Not necessarily to me! To women who like men – like me!... I'm sorry. Look, I'm going to go to work. Um… thank you?"

Makoto laughed at her blathering and red face. She was about the cutest thing he had seen in a long time, and maybe the mongrel was right.

"I like women – women like you."

She looked a bit shocked at that, or maybe she just couldn't get any more embarrassed.

Makoto leaned in a little further as he became braver. "Maybe I could get your number? Call you, you know?"

As Makoto had his rapt attention on the young lass, a shout rang out beside him, and heavy boots crashed across the ground. When he looked up, a fist belonging to a razor-toothed man was speeding towards his face. And connecting.

And now he was on his couch awake. And bruised. And being half-naked, pitiful, emitting a powerful odor, glared at, and being fussed over by an adorable girl wasn't all bad.

"Rin, I can't believe you!" The girl puffed her cheeks out and scrunched her brows together. She was close enough to Makoto's face that he could see the little freckles dusting her nose and smell a hint of cinnamon on her breath.

Rin's eyes narrowed, "He was hitting on you!"

The girl set her mouth in a firm line and replied that Makoto had certainly not hit on her in any way and had – in fact – saved her, but her voice broke a bit at the end when her eyes flickered up at Makoto's, and Makoto felt a bit like less of a failure. Sure, he had hit on her, but he thought he had been forward enough, and she knew herself that she was lying.

"I can not let you fawn over this guy!" Rin spat. "Look at him! He's covered in piss and filth! I bet he hasn't even showered, since the last time that he went to a fire!"

The girl looked between Makoto and Rin. "You work together?"

Rin rolled his eyes. "Do you think the force would have someone like him on it?"

Makoto's eyes narrowed at Officer Matsuoka. He was starting to not care if they were related or not. "No, I'm a firefighter. I rescue babies from burning buildings."

"More like kittens from trees."

"Rin! Stop! God, I'm so sorry. He can be an ass sometimes." She turned her attention fully back on Makoto.

"What?!"

Makoto narrowed his eyes and looked dead into the officer's face. "Looks like you got the personality and the looks."

She giggled and smiled which was pleasing to him, but even more pleasing was the way her brother sputtered behind her shoulder. Makoto was also all too happy to convey the comment in defense of his bruised male ego.

"Do you too live together?" The question was directed at the beautiful girl, but Shark Boy decided to answer for her.

"YES." The growl was implied.

"Unfortunately," added the girl as she glared at her brother.

"And you don't live here. So why don't you leave instead of bleeding all over the furniture?"

Makoto was hardly bleeding thanks to the young lady's expert care and was quite thrilled when to the brother's dismay she began defending him. A smirk tugged at his lips. But he was missing work – happily, he might add as he watched her fiery defense. He was enjoying this too much on a personal level which – when visible – he was sure this rude sibling would be sure to use against him. He stood.

"I do need to go to work."

The girl bit her lip in concern. "Are you sure that you're okay?"

Makoto laughed and pointedly lifted her hand to his lips for a small kiss before holding it tenderly between his own. "With your medical care, I believe that I could fly."

Her eyebrows raised and her eyes widened. Her cheeks became cherry red, and Makoto thought that she was about the prettiest thing that he had seen in awhile. It did help that her asshole brother was about to pop a vein.

"Gou," she squeaked.

"What?"

She tugged her hand away and wiped them against her clothes looking at as many places as she could but always sneaking back to his face.

"My name is Gou. Um… Wait! It's Kou! I'm Kou! Gou is just too manly to be attractive, and I always ask for people to call me G – Kou. Um. God. Isn't it hot in here? I'm such a bad host. I should open a window!"

She hurried to the kitchen area of the small apartment and began trying desperately to open the window. A few muffled curses floated to Makoto across the room, and he chuckled to himself. The officer was not amused.

"Don't even think about putting your grimy paws on my sister again."

Makoto was about fed up with that and laughed as if telling a joke. "We're all adults here. Relax."

Officer Matsuoka gritted his teeth together much to Makoto's amusement. He knew that he was making an enemy, but this pissy attitude had to be where the stories came from. Besides if Matsuoka hit him, his sister would more than likely start tending to him again, therefore for now, Makoto knew he was more than safe.

The puppy sitting beside his feet growled at Matsuoka, and Makoto picked him up silently seconding the motion. Gou offered Makoto some of – presumably her brother's – clothes and directed him to the bathroom. He changed and began to exit the hostile environment with every step knowing that he may never see Gou again when she without looking or offering any explanation pressed a paper into his hand as he left.

"So I can get the clothes back," she explained not meeting his gaze.

Those seven digits would come to mean much more to Makoto later, but right now it meant getting to wave the paper with a smile at the pretentious little shit that flipped him off from the apartment window.