I felt bad that Duo was stuck in the entry way, I felt even worse when my dad almost ripped his head off for whimpering and scratching the door. But I was not foolish enough to go directly against my dad's wishes. Every now and then I could talk him into things but I had seriously overused that talent with just convincing him to keep Duo, much less letting him stay in our own house. I wasn't sure exactly why but I kept thinking of Duo as a possession, and not a companion, I really needed to stop that...

I went to sleep not too long after Odin shouted at Duo for crying. The next morning my eyes shot open as I remembered everything. I lept from my warm bed and sneaked into the main room, where father and mother were still asleep. I padded as quietly as I could, knowing the littlest thing would wake father. I pushed the entry way door open a little and saw Duo curled up in the fur I left him, sleeping quietly and soundly. I knew waking him up would cause a scene so I pulled the door shut as carefully as possible. There was a small click when it was completely closed and I spun to see Odin's eyes open and glaring at me. I ducked my head and tucked my tail and quickly slunk across the floor, his eyes following me the whole way. Odds are he would go back to sleep and let this slide. I jumped back into my bed and stretched, lying on top of the furs and contemplating the last day or so of my life. I fought to stay awake but it was useless and I soon drifted back into the land of dreams.

The smell of breakfast sizzling in the kitchen and the warm sun on my fur woke me up again. I stretched and came out into the main room again, the smell pulling me along. I could see the door was still shut, and Duo was still in the entry room. My mother hinted at the door, as if a signal to let me know it was okay for Duo to come inside. I peaked through the door and saw him curled up asleep in the fur. I whispered his name and he seemed reluctant to wake. Even as my voice rose, his chest continued to rise and fall in sleep. Finally I gave up on trying to wake him with my voice and gave him a shove with my paw which seemed to draw him reluctantly from his sleep. When he made to fall back asleep I told him if he didn't get up he would get no breakfast. He remained still for a few moments, as if weighing his options before finally rising from the fur and entering into the kitchen area with his tail tucked and his ears back as if afraid my father would kick him out again. But Odin had gone for the morning patrol along the borders already, which means Duo had slept right through him leaving through the main entrance.

After breakfast we journeyed out into the town and Quatre seemed to be waiting for us on the main street.

"Hey Heero, mind if Duo comes and hangs out with me while you are in training? I mean its not like you can taking him with you to training."

Without even thinking much about it I responded. "Sure you can have him while I am training, just make sure you give him back once I am done."

Quatre looked practically like he was beaming, but Duo didn't look as pleased. He had yet to really voice any deep emotions but his body language told me he was upset. I figured it was just a slight fear of Quatre from having to go to the doctor, but he would get over it with time, Quatre was one of the nicest pups in the pack.

Things went just like that for weeks I had to practically drag the reluctant Duo from bed, then we would eat breakfast and he would be handed off to Quatre and I would go to training. After training he would be picked up and would either help me train or I would drag him places to do things with me and play. Unfortunately he didn't seem to be getting any less apprehensive about his meetings with Quatre and finally one morning, when I threatened the typical no breakfast threat, he just rolled back over and acted like he was going back to sleep. When I went to leave I had to snap at him to follow me. I couldn't be late for training, that would be disastrous. I dropped Duo off with Quatre and went off to running the borders with my father. When I done and allowed free time Duo was practically dragging his feet. Quatre bounded over to me, very excited.

"Heero, can I have Duo all day tomorrow? I promise he will be home in time for dinner, please?"

I blinked in surprise but saw no reason not to let him have Duo. "Sure you can keep him all day if you like just make absolutely certain you dont bring him back late"

I heard a growl and turned in shock to see Duo with his eyes blazing in anger, and he shouted at the both of us.

"Quit talking like I am not here! Heero, quit treating me like I am some... some.. toy! I am not an object for you to share or show off! Quatre, stop treating me like a science experiment! I am a living breathing creature, not some chemicals in a tube! I... I want to go home... I dont know where it is or what it entails but, it has to be better than here.."

As he started saying the word home his voice wavered and I could see tears building in his eyes. I could see the look of amazingly horrible guilt flutter over Quatre's features and I was not feeling too much better. In the beginning I had kept telling myself that treating him like a posession was wrong, so where along the way had I stopped telling myself that? Looking back over the last few weeks I kept showing him off, handing him off and forcing him to do everything I wanted as if he was a rag doll that had no feelings or was even alive. While Quatre and I had been distracted Duo had managed to dissappear. My eyes grew wide and I took off down the streets looking for him. As the sun was starting to get low I still had not found him, but knew I had to return home. The amount of relief I felt when I came into the entry way and saw him curled up in his fur was immense. He looked to be asleep and I snuck by into the house where my mother gave me a look that just screamed "I know what you did, and you better fix it." Sometimes I wondered if my mom was the only true friend that Duo had here.

Duo was still asleep when my father returned home and he slept right through dinner. All the time while he was sleeping I began to wonder how much sleep he had really been getting in that horrible entry way. It was freezing cold in there at night and for the last week storms had been rolling in at night and pounding against the house. My thoughts were interrupted by a large crash of thunder. Tonight was not going to be an exception and it looked to be quite the storm brewing. As my family ate in near silence I cleared my throat to gain their attention.

"Father, I think maybe, Duo should sleep in my room tonight... the storm is bad enough to collapse the entry way like it has done in the past and it could kill him if he is in there."

His expression did not change as his hasty reply came. "An enemy deserves no such accommodations."

I chewed my lip for a few moments, waiting patiently and calming myself before responding. The last thing I needed to do was make Odin feel like I was back talking him and getting his blood boiling.

"But I think, if he was an enemy he would have done something by now. He has had hundreds of perfect opportunities and has done nothing... please father?"

Before I could even finish a loud "No" resounded in the room. I tucked my ears and went back to pushing my food around my plate. But apparently that was not the end. I saw it coming before I even heard my mother's voice. Her body language spoke fathoms. The only person in the entire pack who had ever been able to tell my father what to do without fear was my mother, and she took advantage of that.

"Odin Yuy, if you don't let that poor pup inside tonight to sleep in Heero's bedroom then you can bet you wont be sleeping on our bed tonight, and I sure hope you don't think I will be making you breakfasts in the morning anymore either!"

You could see his lip lift in an annoyed snarl before he responded "Fine let the damn mutt sleep inside, but if he tries to pull anything, he will regret it."

I finished up my dinner as fast as I could and slunk into the entry way. Duo was on his side but his breathing said he was finally awake. I tested the waters with softly saying his name. When he didnt respond I pressed on.

"Duo.. the storm is really bad tonight, this entry way could collapse, you need to come sleep with me for the night. Wait, no... I mean... do you want to come stay with me for the night... it... it's your choice."

He rolled over to face me with wide blue eyes and nodded wordlessly slinking behind me as we left the entry way, his blanket being drug by his teeth. We crawled into the bed and he curled up into a ball in corner nearest the wall and for the first time I could remember in weeks, I saw him smile. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh followed by an almost inaudible "Thank you, Heero". Before his eyes slipped closed. I was probably grinning like a maniac too, this feeling seemed so odd, but I had never felt happier or more proud of myself than when he had said thank you. I woke up later that night to something warm and fuzzy at my back. I looked over and saw that in the extreme night cold Duo had curled up against me and was fast asleep.

The next morning my dad woke me up to help him dig out the entrance hall, it had collapsed during the night. I left Duo in my bed to get some more sleep, and I felt so amazing, knowing I had made the right decision, on my own.