Author's Note: We learn more about Lita. See the humorous encounters between Rei and her pup. Not to mention names are revealed. This definitely is not my favorite chapter though and is more of an intro to all the personalities. There isn't a lot of conflict and action until chapter five or six. But, hey, it's fun to read! Enjoy, folks. Oh yes, and sorry for the lack of proper dividers. document formatter was working incorrectly and refused to be kind and grant me a chapter breaker. Grhhh, so I resorted to using the old fashioned way of numbers. How life is contrary.

Summary: Four heirs to vast fortunes disappear under mysterious circumstances. A year later, Mina Aino impulsively adopts four dogs, giving one to each of her single friends. Four very human-like dogs…Sen/Gen. S/D.

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"When a dog pees on your floor, it's usually a sign of affection..."

-Louise Blake

CHAPTER 3; Living Arrangements, Part 1

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Lita reached her apartment just as the sun was dipping below the horizon. She made quick work of the lock and slipped inside with her new dog.

While she sighed tiredly at the small, dingy place called home, her new companion went to work immediately sniffing the entire apartment and leaving no crook or cranny left un-smelled. Lita watched with interest for a minute before shaking her head and going into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

Yes, she had always wanted a pet dog, but that had been before, when she was younger and naïve. She felt jaded now, almost unworthy of having the unwavering loyalty of a dog. She was use to the quiet, uncomplicated life with her friends being her family and no Sailor business to worry about anymore. It was strange now to have another creature living with her when she'd only had herself as a companion for so long.

And what would she do with him tomorrow when she had to go to work?

For the entire year she had worked at Riverside Bistro as an assistant cook and had gained an immense amount of experience. The manager had taken notice of her when the head cook had come down with the stomach flu and unexpectedly had been unable to come in. She'd taken over all the cooking and had produced everything to its highest quality, gaining the attention of the manager, who'd been mightily relieved and impressed. So impressed, that he had called up the owner of Riverside and arranged for her to take classes at the local community college. In two years, he'd explained to her, she would have enough experience to run a restaurant and cook for one.

Lita was elated. Financially, she hadn't the money to pay for any type of college while paying for all her other expenses. But with the financial support of the Riverside owner, he would pay for all her classes and she would only have to work part-time. The agreement was that she would then run the new restaurant he planned to open in three years time. It was a dream come true.

But back to the point. What would she do with her new pet while at work? Thinking about it for a while, she finally came to the decision to let him roam around the house for a day and see what happens after that. She really didn't want to put him in a crate.

The usual silence of her thoughts was broken by the light clattering of paws and frequent sniffs.

"Oh, what am I going to do with you?" she asked the inquisitive dog. The brown-furred brown-eyed dog was still intently searching around. For what was anyone's guess.

While humming to herself, a new thought occurred to her.

"What am I going to name you?"

Calling the dog 'it' all the time would fast grow old.

By now the dog had finished its search and was positioned in the ideal location of far enough from her work area, but in a relatively isolated corner where he'd be out of the way.

Brown eyes stared intelligently back at her.

"How about…Butch?"

He barked in what could only be described as disgust. Not having a great knowledge on canines because she had never owned one, Lita didn't know if such emotion was normal or not.

"Tiger?"

A growl.

"Alec?"

Snarl.

"Hm. You look like a big brown furball to me. There has to be some appropriate name." She thought for a minute.

"I know! Teddy! You remind me of a big teddy bear. Oh, it's so perfect," Lita beamed proudly.

Teddy was not so impressed and seemed disgusted with her naming skills. Tough luck. She was the one with vocal cords, so he'd have to deal.

Lita finally finished with her dinner and set to work on getting out her battered silverware and setting her table. Theoretically, she could have eaten out of the pan and no one would be the wiser. But Lita always felt that, as poor as she was currently, she had class. So every night without fail, she set the table and made everything look as presentable as possible.

"You don't care if I live in the dumps of Tokyo, do you? As long as I feed you, you're happy, right Teddy?" She grinned at Teddy, putting some of the leftover pork in a silver bowl for him to eat. It was nice to have company that she didn't have to impress. Dogs were known to love their owners, despite all other factors. It was a blessing and a curse.

As the night wore on, Lita was hard-pressed to find any faults with Teddy. He whined at her front door if he needed to go out, not making a mess on the floor like most dogs would. When she had poured him his food, not an aggressive movement was made on his part; no, he had waited quietly and calmly for her to prepare his bowl and set it down. Not only that, but he genuinely seemed to enjoy the meal Lita had prepared for him.

After dinner and dishes, she routinely sat on her second-hand couch and read through some cookbooks. When that time came, Teddy laid his head on her legs and was content just to snuggle up to her while she read.

To put it quite simply, she fell in love with him.

After an hour of reading had passed, she was barely able to keep her eyes open. Getting up, Lita turned the dead bolt and flicked the switches to all the lights off. She was tucked into bed moments later.

She turned on her side and stared at Teddy. He was standing adjacent to her bed, unnervingly focused on her.

She sighed. She knew exactly what that look meant.

"Fine, get in," she scooted over to make room for the big dog and affectionately smoothed his fur before nestling into his side. He licked her face and settled his head down between her shoulder and neck.

"Night," she whispered, before falling into a deep sleep.

She didn't see that Teddy stayed awake a lot longer.

She didn't see that brown eyes never looked away.

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Rei woke up the next day to something cold and wet.

Confused, she sat up fast in one smooth motion.

Oh.

Yeah.

Mina. Was. Going. To. Die.

Especially since the stupid mutt had woken her up—she glanced at the clock—an entire thirty minutes before her alarm was scheduled to go off.

The mutt stood off to the side, looking pleased with himself. And hadn't she locked him out last night? Maybe half-heartedly hoping he'd run away?

The door to her room stood wide open, exposing her bedroom for the world to see. Guess he didn't motor off. And he was apparently smart enough to figure out how to get in.

That just made her dislike the mutt even more.

"Thanks a lot, Mina," she muttered, pulling back the bed covers and getting up to start her daily routine…

…and promptly stepped in something disgusting.

"Oh gross!" she squealed in a rather pig-like manner that would have Serena making fun of her for months if she'd been there to witness it.

Blondie barked at her, and Rei saw red.

"Ergh!" she screeched, reaching around for every available object that she could hurl at the stupid, arrogant, ugly, horrible mutt.

The dog gracefully dodged, and shot her what could be realistically compared to a human grin.

"I loathe you." With those words, she stood up (gingerly dodging the smelly mess on the floor again) and stormed out of her own room.

It ended up being a good thing that Rei had gotten up early, not that she'd ever admit that, because she had an abnormally large amount of chores to complete that day. Having the stupid mutt around didn't help, either.

Getting dressed had been a bit of a challenge, to start out with. The stupid thing kept plowing into her legs, which knocked her unsteady, which caused bruises to form on her butt when it met the floor. Rei started to forget what it felt like not to glare.

Oh, but she did end up getting a little revenge.

"That's it!" she screeched, after being plowed down for the third time. "If you don't like answering to 'mutt,' "Rei didn't believe it was coincidence that he kept knocking her over when she called him a 'mutt' or 'thing,' "then I'll just have to name you."

A purely evil expression overtook her face.

The blue-eyed Retriever thought that maybe, for once in his life, he'd gone too far. He started to make his way demurely out the door, deciding he had annoyed her enough for the day.

Rei wasn't fooled.

"No," she slammed the door, conveniently the only exit. "I think we need to come up with an appropriate name. Hmmm…" she trailed off in mock thought.

The dog distantly wondered how bad a beating his manliness was going to take.

Rei knew that the dog understood what she was saying. How, she didn't know. The looks he'd been giving her all morning were too intelligent. Too mischievous. When she had initially begun to undress, he had taken a seat and watched her keenly. No dogs, male or no, watch someone with that much undisguised interest. It made her feel downright uncomfortable, which had invoked her to yell. Hence started the plowing.

She'd have to ask the Fire later on about that.

As for now, she had a name to think of.

"I think that…Daisy would be a suitable name. You're very bright and cheerful, right? Well, there you go, Daisy. A bright and cheerful name," Rei smirked.

The male dog now termed Daisy winced. It was worse than he had anticipated. What a cruel and unusual punishment. The intelligent mind inside of Daisy prayed and bargained for his soul that the other guy dogs wouldn't ever hear about this.

"Now GET OUT!"

The male named Daisy didn't need to be told twice. His new owner was scary when mad. He mentally grinned. Life was about to get really interesting for this little spit fire.

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End Note: Haha. Sigh. Poor Daisy. Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing and just taking a quick second to tell me they are enjoying the story. Please don't stop!