Author's Note: This story really veered off the course I was going to originally take it. The characters just basically wrote themselves. Sorry for the slight delay, though. School started last Thursday (eww) and I've been swamped with the task of keeping up with three AP classes (which effectively sucks) after only three days of school. What was I seriously thinking? So, the point: writing is going to be a little slower with all my other work and activities. But no worries, I definitely going to continue this story until the end! That's enough for now.

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.

Every step that you take
Could be your biggest mistake
It could bend or it could break
That's the risk that you take

What If, Coldplay

CHAPTER 4; Living Arrangements, Part 2

"Jelly-Belly, come here, my precious pumpkin," Mina cooed to her gorgeous new pet. For the life of her, she couldn't remember why she had ever been hesitant about getting a dog.

Sure, her parents had manipulated her.

Yes, Artemis now refused to live with her.

And maybe she had never liked dogs to begin with.

But all those issues seemed to disappear when the one light in the tunnel presented itself:

She got to name him!

Mina had instantly known, too, the name that she'd choose. She had almost named Artemis the exact same thing. Well, before he opened his mouth and soundly told her off for even dirtying his ears with such an atrocious name.

It wasn't that bad.

Except that now her Jelly-Belly refused to move from where he was suicidally perched on her balcony.

"Please don't jump," Mina pleaded with JB (Jelly-Belly's cute nickname). "My parents will freak out and think I'm some kind of suicidal-inducing dog killer." And she couldn't afford to direct more attention to herself. Oh, and maybe JB had grown on her just a little.

With his disapproving frowns, heated glares, sulking moods, Mina couldn't help but love the poor thing. Who wouldn't?

The look JB gave her indicated he thought she was a suicide-inducing dog murderer. It also said: What are you THINKING naming me that? Do you even think at all?

Although JB was not normally known for dramatic statements, he couldn't think of a better time to begin. Death was almost preferred to what his new deranged owner had in store for him.

His first impression of Mina Aino was that she was an A-class bimbo.

Adopting four dogs, all of whom had done their best not to be adopted (he guessed that she had mistaken their howls and growls for…excitement?). Then she had given them away to her friends, effectively separating the group. Even worse, she'd picked him as her new toy of the week.

Fleeing from her friend's temple with him in tow was unexpected. She seemed more the type to want a hyper Golden Retriever, not a solemn and protective Siberian Husky.

The rest of that night he had watched her. What he had learned shocked him.

His earlier impression was incorrect and made with little evidence.

He now knew for fact that Mina Aino was a freaking lunatic.

She didn't walk. She danced or skipped or spun or any number of energy-wasting movements.

She didn't talk. She shouted or exclaimed or whispered or any other type of dramatic speaking.

She didn't think. She was impulsive and daring and loved to have a good time without thinking of the later coincidences.

All this he had gleamed in the little time he had spent with her.

She also smiled too much. If he weren't a dog…but, no, he wouldn't think about that right now.

The point being that everything about Mina Aino drove him absolutely insane. He just couldn't figure her out.

That night, Mina had instructed him (she liked to chatter to him like he was a person. Not uncommon, but most appropriate in his case) to sleep on carpet and if he had to use to the facilities, it was through that door over there.

It was a good thing he wasn't exactly a canine because her room would have magically turned into his personal bathroom if it were so.

But he was accepting and very resigned to his current situation, and slept on the carpet. As for the bathroom, he would just hold it until he could get outside. As much as his mind was not-so-canine, his body was.

It seemed that the more time he spent with her, the more it seemed like all of Mina's personality defects (as he referred to them) held the solo purpose of annoying him.

Some examples:

He had awakened this morning to find Mina singing off-key to herself. She was grinning madly at nothing at all, twirling around and skipping. He just didn't understand it. What made this girl so happy that she just sung for the heck of it?

He had never met someone like her. No one with as much purity and honesty who didn't seem to have a deceitful bone in her body.

And it was eating away at him. She must have some sort of womanly downfall. Maybe she had lost count of the notches on her bedpost (this made his heart clench for some unknown reason), or maybe she was a con-artist, or didn't help old ladies cross the street or didn't pay her bills on time (maybe a little grasping at straws here). She must have something impure about her. Something that could put in the category of "like every other woman" he'd met.

Then she had done one thing to him that no other woman had been able to get away with.

She had given him a "pet" name, but in the completely literal sense.

Sure, some of his women had given him little pet names that he had immediately put an end to, but this was different. This time he couldn't speak up and tell her, in no uncertain terms, that he would not be called such a vile name.

He'd thought that after a year, he would be able to handle change. Especially since the stupid name was so...unimportant in actuality. Not something he would normally get so worked up about.

The crushing reality of his situation, even if he only had to deal with it for a little while longer, came slamming in around him with the announcement of this new "pet" name.

"Jelly-Belly. Isn't that what you've always wanted to be called?" Mina had been brushing his coat (much to his embarrassment) and fussing all over him.

With just the four syllables of that new name, his usual stoic behavior had been destroyed and emotion had overwhelmed him. Never had he felt so much. Never had he let loose and just let it go.

He had howled. Barked. Growled. Anything to get the ditz to realize he would not be degraded in that way after everything he had went through. But being the crazy, unstable girl she was, she again thought his behavior was a sign of his excitement at the name.

He hadn't really given much thought to his dramatics. Just that he had to get away. Thus he ended up on the balcony, not really knowing what to do now. Melodrama was really not his thing.

Mina had assumed the worse possibility, too. That he was going to jump off the balcony, or some shit like that. He was a DOG. Didn't that girl understand that dogs weren't supposed to think like that? Even if he might think like that dogs weren't supposed to.

And Mina had acted as if a dog silently threatening to jump off a three-story balcony was the norm. She stood adjacent to him, pleading with him not jump.

If his emotions weren't so shattered he might have found her antics amusing.

"I'll give you an allowance," she implored to him, obviously thinking money was somehow useful to him in this state.

He snarled from his position on the railing, mentally trying to communicate that all he wanted was to be human again. Oh, and for a change of name, please.

A.K.A.: Just leave me alone.

Mina apparently didn't know the meaning of the word alone. "How about a large, juicy steak?"

Tempting, maybe, but no.

"A new pair of shoes? That always makes me feel better and un-suicidal."

A new pair of shoes, what the hell would he do with those?

Mina was bouncing slightly by now, a sure sign that she was getting impatient. He felt a reluctant grin about to steal over his face and firmly squashed it. It was not cute the way he was already familiar with her mannerisms.

"How about a cat to play with? I know this one furball that you'd have a lot of fun chasing."

BARK

"Fine," Mina huffed, annoyed, "be stubborn and unrealistic. But just know that I am not going to reward such bad behavior. In fact..." A gleam entered her baby-blues that he was fast learning to highly fear in his powerless form.

Can't a guy (uh, dog) just have breakdowns once in a while without being smothered? From the looks of it, Mina was about to do something stupid.

She didn't disappoint. Taking a seat on the railing she swung her feet over so that they were dangling closer to the depths below. "If you are going to jump, then I am too," she declared.

Unbelievable.

The words till death do we part take on a whole new meaning with Mina as your owner.

"Another minute," Mina sighed dramatically, patience gone out on an extended vacation for life. "I should probably be thinking of my last words right about now. Something memorable and courageous like: 'The afterlife is the next greatest adventure.'"

JB could not stand her nonsense any longer and finally gave up completely, jumping off the wide and flat railing onto the balcony.

"See?" Mina said to nobody in particular. "That wasn't so bad." She jumped off the railing (he breathed a small sigh of relief), skipping back inside like nothing of the past exchange had occurred.

The phone rang. Mina ran to go answer it.

The fog in his head was now starting to clear. The emotions swirling in every direction were settling in their proper places once more. JB was mortified after a moment of reflection. What an embarrassing way to lose control like that! But the name almost justified it. Almost.

JB heard Mina pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

He listened for a second, wondering who would voluntarily be friends with this girl. A mean thing to think, but no one had ever accused him of being nice.

There was a silence for a couple of moments.

"Yes, I did…a Siberian Husky…do I have to?...alright, fine, give me thirty minutes…whatever, bye," she hung up on that note.

"Jellllllly-Bellllly," she sang, running full speed into the room, "it's time to meet the parents!"

Her stance screamed of cheerfulness but her eyes told the true story on this subject; bitter and resentful.

Weirdly enough, it was a look JB wanted to erase from those glowing blue eyes of hers.

"C'mon," she gesticulated wildly, grabbing a rope which coincidentally was his leash.

Er, Mina and anything that could potentially be used as a weapon were not a good combination, he knew instinctively. Probably part one of those handy dandy dog senses.

He hoped someone had the foresight to rid the apartment of any knives.

No, not hoped.

Prayed.

Before he could think to move away from her, she expertly handled the rope/leash and had him ready to go in a second.

Maybe she wasn't so bad.

"Jelly-Belly didn't know how to usssseeee the telly….ohhhhh…telly…it was so smelly?...the smelly grelly telly…"

And she sang like that for the rest of the trek. On and on and on.

Wasn't so bad my smelly dog ass. Someone should really have shot him so he wouldn't have spoken so soon.

The biggest obstacle Ami ended up facing in light of her new pet was the one problem she hadn't anticipated; her roommate.

It had been surprisingly easy to convince the Dean to let her keep Hermes (as she had taken to calling him). He had seemed almost eager in agreeing, assuring her that the University would do everything possible to make her stay comfortable.

Which sounded like she was staying at a hotel and not in a college dormitory.

But, no, she had been attending Tokyo University for two years now, having graduated early at sixteen. Now, eighteen, she would graduate (early, again) next year and hopefully get into medical school and achieve her dream of becoming a respected doctor.

But that would come later. Right now she had other things to worry about than passing her MCATs. Like, for instance, the bigger obstacle than convincing the Dean to let Hermes stay.

Convincing her roommate.

Silvia Brookes was someone Ami had not considered when agreeing to Mina's crazy "gift."

Ami should've known better.

Silvia had never liked Ami. From the moment the two had been introduced, it was instant friction. Subtle remarks about having no social life followed by comments about grades. For a long time, Ami's black-haired roommate had believed that Ami had been failing because the bluenette had never volunteered information on her grades.

When she had learned differently—that Ami was in fact top of their class and two years younger than everyone else—she had taken the insulting to a new level. Silvia had no qualms about getting personal. They ranged from attacks on her falsely presumed financial "situation" (which were absurdly incorrect, since her mother was a highly reveled surgeon) to cuts about her lack-of dating.

It hadn't really bothered Ami. Even though Lita often had offered to kick the girl's ass from here to Timbuktu, Ami knew the worse thing to do was to take the defense. So she pretended that Silvia's insults were water that slid off her body, harmless and only vaguely penetrating. The girls had urged her to switch roommates but Ami saw no need to expose anyone else to Silvia's behavior when Ami herself could deal with it just fine.

Maybe she should have listened to her friends.

"I refuse, and am utterly repulsed you would think I would agree, to house that filthy mongrel!" Silvia, initially sitting on the loveseat, was now standing with hands-on-hips, glaring the hottest glare she could muster. Which, if put on a scale where Rei's glares were the hottest and Ami's the coldest, would be a pathetic little dying ember. Silvia really needed a more effective glare, especially with an attitude like hers.

"Silvia," Ami chastised softly. Hermes had seated himself slightly in front of Ami and his eyes were intently focused on the opposing girl.

"Oh, don't give me that shit," the black haired girl snapped. "You should have asked me first! I am living here too and therefore you must get my permission before bringing disgusting creatures to the dorms. Does the Dean even know?" A pure calculating smile.

"Yes, I cleared it by him already. He has given me his consent."

"Of course he'd given his golden girl consent. But tell me something Ami, what did you give him? A bl—"

A growl.

Silvia let out a melodramatic shriek.

Ami counted to ten like Lita used to do when a particularly jerky guy was hitting on them. She clenched her fists also, like Lita had shown her, so the impulse to thrash out was not as strong.

"Let's compromise," Ami said after a moment of gathering her composure. She glanced down briefly at Hermes and was impressed by his unruffled behavior (with the exception of interrupting what was sure to be a very inappropriate comment).

"I don't want to—"

"You concur to allow Hermes—that's his name, by the way—to live here, or I get a new roommate," Ami's tone was cool, her face collected.

Silvia snorted. "So get a new roommate, good riddance to bad trash. I'd prefer if you could leave by tomorrow." That was Silvia's problem. She assumed too much.

Hermes let a slight cough sound that, given the context, was probably a bark of laughter.

"You misunderstood me. I would request that you be transferred to a different room. And given my status, I'd probably be granted my request." Ami hated to use her intelligence and status at the University against anyone, but she did feel justified using it now. Silvia was extremely lucky in the first place that she had been assigned to room with Ami. The blunette had been given a spacious room with a gorgeous view.

"Ah...but…you can't…"

"I assure you, I can."

Silvia looked like she was on the edge of a breakdown and Ami felt her tough exterior softening. She didn't want to make anyone feel bad, regardless of how mean they were. But…honestly, Silvia deserved a lesson in humility.

"FINE," Silvia yelled, angry at losing. She stomped her foot once and whirled around to get some privacy in her room. The slamming of the door echoed behind her.

"Look's like we win," Ami whispered to Hermes, glad for once to have someone to talk to at the University dorms. Due to reputation of being a genius and her natural shyness, people tended to steer clear of her.

Hermes just stared at her with those intelligent eyes of his and Ami blushed. Why, she wasn't sure. She just knew that those eyes could invoke a lot of different emotions in her.

Distantly, a chiming noise sounded. Ami realized a second later that it was her cell phone.

She fumbled with her purse and managed to snap the phone open before the person hung up. "Hello?"

"Ami, I've found something out about those dogs. Get over to the temple immediately."

Ami shook her head unconsciously. Hermes had behaved reasonably all of last night and today. There was no evidence to say anything wrong with him; all the facts were pointing to the contrary, actually. "What is it?" Ami asked, gripped with a fierce desire to be reassured that Rei was just acting up because she hadn't wanted her dog. She might've convinced herself to that truth if she hadn't known that Rei was no one for major theatrics. Especially concerning danger.

"It's nothing to your immediate danger. Just get over here!" Rei hung up.

Weird.

Ami turned her head slowly to stare at Hermes.

"You…"

Hermes waited expectantly for her to continue, and Ami instinctively knew that no dog could look that human without actually being one.

"We have to go," she said without finishing. She decided to just not think about it until she could talk to Rei first hand about what the problem was.

So she walked down the hallway, the stairs, on the sidewalk, to the temple, and on.

Hermes never left her side.

End Note: Yes, folks nine pages! Yay! Longer chapters, just like y'all requested. So reward my extreme generosity. I accept cash and debit but if you can't afford that, reviews would be nice too. Hope to hear from you all soon!