Back at the Ice-cream shop, Gohan still had his hands full with trying to get the girls into a standing position. They just didn't want to cooperate. "Come on girls, let's go help the others try to find out what that noise is." He grabbed Minako's arms and began to pull up on her. "Don't be difficult."
Minako pulled against Gohan as she looked up to a movement that caught her attention. "Gohan, they're back."
Gohan let go of Minako and let her crash back down to the ground as he looked up to see the three girls approaching slowly. "What's that in Ami's arms?" All he could make out was the red bag blending in with what looked like a toy of some sort. He couldn't see that it was moving at all. Whatever Ami was carrying seemed to have the other two girls interested.
Rei looked up to Ami and squinted. Her eyes became wide with excitement as she realized what exactly it was. "IT'S A PUPPY!" Surprising Gohan, she jumped to her feet and began running forward to meet her friends. Minako and Makoto nodded at each other as they jumped up with excitement to follow Rei, leaving an annoyed Gohan behind.
Gohan sighed with frustration as he began walking forward to join his sister and her friends. "Why couldn't they have just gotten up when I told them too? I'll never understand females." Gohan quietly laughed as he stopped just in front of Ami and the puppy, which the girls were currently fussing over. "So this is what was whining, huh?"
Gohan reached out to the frightened puppy and gently grabbed it from Ami. "Wow, this looks bad." Using what little medical knowledge that he had, Gohan began to examine it. It obviously hadn't been treated very well by its owner, who abandoned it. "It looks like it's about four weeks old. Too young to be on its own." He lightly ran his fingers over the ribs, pressing down once he got to the end. They were almost as soft as clay. "The bones are too soft."
"Look at this, Gohan." Ami reached out and tugged on the puppy's skin, pulling out some of the fur with ease. "The fur pulls out to easily. Plus, the skin is too tough for a puppy."
Gohan nodded. "You're right, Ami. This puppy looks as if it hasn't been fed in at least a week. And if it has, then it's been fed very little. If it doesn't get food in its body soon, it's going to die."
Usagi gasped as she looked up at her brother. "We can't let that happen, can we Gohan? We can feed it, right? We can't just let it die out here all alone with no one to love it..."
For the moment, Gohan ignored his sister as he trailed his hands down to the puppy's back legs. He carefully grabbed one of them and as soon as he did, the puppy cried out. "I think this leg is broken. I didn't even move it and it whined."
Rei moved her face in close to the whimpering creature. She couldn't believe that someone would just leave a poor helpless puppy lying out by itself with nothing to eat and nothing to care for it. "This is horrible. Where was it?" She held her hand out for the puppy to smell.
"Ami found tied in a bag in a garbage can." Hotaru scratched the puppy's head, causing it to relax somewhat. "There now, see? It's ok little puppy." She smiled when she saw it's tiny tail wiggle under its hind-legs.
A smile came across Usagi's face as she anxiously looked up to her unsuspecting brother. "Gohan? Can we keep it? Please?"
Rei pulled her hand away from the puppy, who was liking it. She looked up to Gohan with begging eyes. "Hey, yeah. Can we, Gohan? Wouldn't that be cool if we had a puppy to play with?"
Gohan looked down to the girls. He didn't know what to tell them. He knew that he wouldn't want to keep it, but it wasn't his choice. It was the girls' parents' choice. "Usagi, I know for sure that mom and dad aren't going to let you keep a puppy. Well, maybe dad, but then again he has a thing about sharp pointy objects, which this puppy has a lot of. I don't know about you other girls."
Makoto pouted over her parents' answer. "Well mines is a definite 'no'. My dad is allergic to dogs. Even if he wasn't, he still wouldn't let me. He doesn't think I need a pet screwing up my training. What about you guys?"
Rei shook her head. "Grandpa wouldn't let me for sure. He says that ' A shrine is no place for animals'. I've been begging him for a puppy ever since I can remember. Ami? What about you? You and your mom are always talking about how you love animals. Would your mom let you keep it?"
Ami frowned as she thought about what happened the last time they tried to bring an animal into their house. "Our landlord won't let us have any pets unless they're fish. Last time we had a pet, he told us to get rid of it or move out. Well, mom got rid of it. I can't have it at my house, as much as I would love to. Minako? Hotaru? What about you guys?"
Minako, who had taken one look at the thing and fallen in love with it, sadly replied with her answer. "Nope. My parents say I'm not old enough to have such a big responsibility as having a dog. It's a real bummer though, this little thing is so adorable. I SO want to take it home with me."
Hotaru thought for a moment about what her father would say. She had never really asked him about having an animal around the house for she never really felt like having one. Actually, before she met any of these girls, she had never felt like having or doing anything. "I know Kaori doesn't like pets, but what say does she have? I don't know if daddy will let me have one, but I can ask." She let her face turn to unhappiness as she continued. "But Kaori does have a lot of influence over what daddy does so there's a good chance that he'll say no."
Not wanting to see the poor animal suffer anymore, Minako turned to Gohan with a begging smile. "Gohan...can you do us a BIG favor?"
Gohan knew that smile. He knew it all too well. That was the same smile that the girls had used on him to get him to buy them all that Ice-cream, along with the tone as well. "No, no, no. That may have worked on me to buy you all that junk food but I'm not, I repeat, I AM NOT taking this thing home with me. It would be alone all day long while with no one to take it out. A puppy needs somewhere to run, a puppy needs people to be around. Both things that aren't at my house. So I say this again, no. Take it somewhere else."
Catching on to Minako's game, Usagi latched herself onto her brother as she stared into the puppy's pitiful eyes. "But look at its cute little face with its cute little nose and the cute little eyes and the cute little feet. Don't you want to help it get better, Gohan."
"Not particularly. I don't have room for a puppy at my house." He pushed Usagi away from him as he knew that if he didn't, he would probably end up having to take it home with him. Then, not only would his wife yell at him about spending so much money on sweets, but she would yell at him for bringing a dirty animal into the house without consulting her. "Here, take the puppy while you're at it." He gently transferred the starving dog into his sister's arms.
Usagi looked up at her brother in confusion as she held the puppy close to her chest to comfort it. "Would you leave a human out on the street if they were hungry and abandoned?"
Makoto placed her hands on her hips as she shook her head back and forth. "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk."
Gohan sighed. Usagi was acting more and more like his mother every day. She always seemed to have to prove her point, though, she usually did it without yelling. "No, I wouldn't leave a starving human out on the street." He paused long enough to let Rei open her mouth to protest, but began to speak before her. "If you really want to keep it that badly, I suggest you speak to mom and dad, Usagi. I'm the wrong person to ask." He turned to Hotaru, who also pleaded with her eyes for him to take it home. "You ask your dad, too."
"You're boring, Gohan. You had a Dragon when you were a kid, why can't you keep a little ol puppy?" Usagi pushed forward to her brother again as she held the puppy up to him. "Please?"
Gohan stepped back to show her that he wasn't going to give in. "Take it home and ask mom and dad. I've already spoiled you guys enough for one day."
Usagi pouted. "All right."
Hotaru and Minako both jumped to Usagi with adoring eyes as they stared down at the puppy. Minako reached out and took it from her friend's arms and held it as if it were a baby. "Its just too cute to resist. Come on guys, let's go to Usagi's and see if we can keep it there."
Ami nodded as she and Makoto jumped into the air. "Let's go slow, guys. We don't want to scare her."
Rei turned to her friend in fascination. "It's a girl?" Ami nodded. "Well, what should we call it?" She asked as she turned to Minako, who had just joined them in the air.
Minako shrugged her shoulders. She was too busy playing with the injured animal to truly think about one. "No idea. It should be a really good one, though."
"Agreed, maybe we should call it cuddles." Stunned at the name that their friend in green just came up with, the other five girls turned to Makoto as if she were crazy. "Don't look at me like that."
Before Usagi took to the air, she turned to her brother. "Are you sure you won't take it home?"
Gohan nodded. He couldn't give into them all the time. He said that he would take them out for Ice-cream. He never said anything about taking home a puppy. "I can't, Usagi. I wish I could, but I just can't. I'm sorry."
Usagi smiled. "It's ok. Maybe mom will be in a good mood today and let us keep it there."
Gohan's sadly looked down at his sister, who was so full of hope to keep the tiny puppy. "Don't get your hopes up too high. You know as well as I do that mom will most likely not let you keep the puppy. Your best bet is with Hotaru's father."
"I know. Are you coming with us?"
Gohan shook his head. "No. I need to get back home. I also don't exactly want to see mom go off again." Though those were too valid reasons why Gohan didn't want to go back to his childhood home, he also knew that his parents were both terribly angry with him for his behavior of the day before. "I'll see you later, Usagi."
"Ok. Bye, Gohan." With that, she took to the air to join her friends, who had already begun flying to her house.
~*~*~
~~Son House~~
Usagi and her friends landed just in front of her house with the puppy, whose name they still could not think of. Usagi quietly led them up to the door and took the puppy from Minako. She couldn't wait to show her parents. She hoped that they would allow her keep it there. If they wouldn't let her, than they would ask Hotaru's father. And if he were to say no, then there was no hope for the puppy at all. Unless they kept it at Sanctuary, but then there would be no one around to care for it like the it should be. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her friends were still with her and then back at the door as she reached out to open it. "That's funny." She turned the knob from left to right, finding out that it was locked. "The door's locked. That's strange. They don't usually lock it during the day." 'They sure are stuck on locking doors today.'
Annoyed, Rei pushed past Usagi and knocked on the door, nearly as hard as she could. "This is all you have to do."
Before Usagi got a chance to respond to Rei's action, the door opened. Behind it, stood her father looking hungry, as usual. "Hey daddy look at what we found!" Without further words spoken, she lifted the tiny puppy up to her father for him to look out.
Almost as soon as he laid eyes upon the small creature, Goku began to get nervous. "Uh...honey, put the puppy down, or at least get it away from me." He backed away, not wanting anything bad to happen.
Usagi only responded with confusion as she walked forward, holding the puppy closer to his face than she had before. "She wants to say hi, daddy." She could hear her friends giggling in the background.
Pretty soon, Goku was standing against the wall and even more freaked out than before. He had no where to run and his daughter was shoving the 'vicious' dog in his face. He whimpered quietly with fear as the puppy began to open its mouth to yawn, revealing each and every one of its sharp teeth. To him, they looked sharp enough to pierce even his rock hard skin. "Usagi, please. Get the animal away from me."
Usagi giggled. She was rather enjoying seeing him freak out over such a small animal. "Daddy, you're silly. Isn't she cute?" The puppy wiggled around in Usagi's hands as it became more scared with not being supported from underneath. Usagi just let it hang over the ground. Seeing that only made Goku even more nervous.
Minako joined Usagi at her side as she reached out for Goku to pull him closer. "It's just a baby, Goku. I think it's adorable. Why don't you pet it?"
Goku turned his head away from it as Usagi pushed it closer into his face. "It's not cute. It's got teeth. Lots and lots of sharp teeth." He turned his head just far enough to be face to face with the puppy. He had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming. He closed his eyes so he didn't have to see it.
"It wants a kiss, daddy." Usagi took a step closer to her father so the puppy was close enough to smell his face, as well as his fear. The puppy didn't respond to his fear with anything but a quick lick on his nose.
Well, that did it. That was all that he was able to take anymore. He shot his eyes open and pushed his daughter and friends out of the way. "OH MY GOD IT'S TRYING TO EAT ME!" He turned down the hall and ran right past his wife into his room. He slammed the door behind him and jumped on the bed and threw the covers over his head.
If you don't believe that he would do that...Watch GT
Chi-Chi frowned as she walked out into the family room. She knew that Usagi had to have done something horrible to make Goku run scared stupid back into his room like he had. She looked around the room to the innocent faces of all six girls. She let her eyes stop on her daughter, who had her hands behind her back. She was completely backed up against the wall. "Ok, let's see it. I know you're hiding something. It has to be something to scare your father. Is it a needle?"
Usagi slowly shook her head as she looked to her friends for help. She didn't know how long she was going to be able to hold the puppy behind her back for it was struggling to get free of her grasp. "No. It's not a needle."
Makoto pushed Usagi forward and grabbed the puppy from her. As long as she stayed behind her, they would be fine. "Uh, Chi-Chi, Goku's just, playing a game with us."
Chi-Chi frowned. "I don't think so. What are you guys hiding back there."
Makoto turned to Rei, who gestured for Usagi to just come clean and show her what they had. Usagi didn't hesitate at all to grab the puppy from Makoto. She turned to her mother and showed her to pitiful creature in her hands. "We found her in a garbage can, mom. She was abandoned."
Chi-Chi couldn't help but turn her frown into a sympathetic smile. "A garbage can? That's so sad. Why did you bring it here, though? You know you can't keep it here."
Usagi's face could have fallen to the floor. "Come on, mom. Can't we keep her? She's cute and cuddly. I'll take care of her. We'll all take care of her. You won't have to do a single thing. We promise, right girls?" She turned to Ami for some help. If anyone would be able to talk her mother into letting the puppy stay there, it would be Ami.
"Chi-Chi, I can't fully agree with Usagi on this one because I can't lie. With our busy schedules, that's one promise none of us can make. What with school and training and then homework, we wouldn't have much time to play with it and feed it like we should."
Usagi turned to Ami with a slight frown, but also with understanding. As much as she didn't want it to be true, she knew that it was. "Ami!! Don't tell her that. Now we won't be able to keep her." She turned back up to her mother to see what she had to say about Ami's statement.
"Usagi, it's good that Ami knows what will happen if you keep the puppy. And she's right, that's exactly what will happen. Not to mention that your father is deathly afraid of things with sharp teeth. You know that he has a fear of sharp pointy objects. It wouldn't be wise to keep it here. He would probably scare the puppy with his screaming."
Usagi pouted under her breath as she looked down at the puppy, which was gnawing on her finger. "But mom..."
"She can stay here until she gets well, but after that, you have to find a proper home for her."
Usagi looked up to her mother with hope as well as an idea. 'That will give me time to make mom like the puppy. Maybe then she'll let me keep her if she grows to like it.' "You'll be home with her during the day when we're not, won't you? Well, when you're not training you will. Can't we please just keep her? Pleeese?"
Chi-Chi shook her head. "No. I didn't let your brothers have any pets except the ones who lived out in the wild, who could support themselves. Now this is your responsibility. All of you. You will have to make sure that she's clean and is fed and has plenty of exercise." Her attention was caught by her husband poking his head around the corner. "Goku, it's safe for you to come out. The puppy won't do anything to you."
Goku pulled his head back. "That thing tried to eat me."
Hotaru giggled as she walked to where Goku was. She looked up at him with curious eyes. "Goku? That puppy is sweet. She won't try to eat you. She likes you. That's why she licked you."
Goku looked down at the child. He was still nervous about the puppy. He wouldn't allow himself to get close enough for it to 'eat' him. "She was tasting me. She wants to dig her sharp teeth into my skin."
Chi-Chi rolled her eyes as she walked to her husband and slapped him in the face. "Snap out of it, Goku. That dog has no intention of eating you. It's probably more afraid of you than you are of it. Now act like a man and get out there. While you're at it, you need to go buy some food for it."
Goku widened his eyes with fear. "WHAT?! That thing's staying here?!"
"Just until it gets better. After that, the girls are going to find it a home." She grabbed her husband by his arm and dragged him back out into the family room and positioned him right in front of the puppy.
Goku resisted getting close to it. He wanted to stay as far away from it as he could. Rei laughed at him. She had never in her life seen anyone who was afraid of something so small and helpless. She just couldn't resist messing with him. "You know, Goku. Dogs can sense fear."
Goku gulped as he looked down to the scared animal. He could sense its fear, but he didn't care. It had teeth and that's all he was worried about. "Uh..." He glanced over at his wife, who was frowning at him. He found her to be much scarier than anything needle or mouth full of sharp teeth. Not wanting to give her a reason to lash out at him, he slowly reached out to touch the puppy. His arm insanely shook with fear. He was certain that it was going to turn bad and try to eat him. His fear of sharp objects was his only flaw, that he knew of, well, besides always being hungry.
Just before Goku's hand made contact, Usagi pushed the puppy up further, causing it to yelp with fear, making her father jump back. She ignored her father's fears and looked down to the puppy. She knew that he wasn't in any immediate danger. "It's ok, little puppy. Did I hurt you?"
Ami walked to Usagi and grabbed the puppy from her hands. "Its leg is broken, remember? We need to put it in a cast or something like that as soon as possible." She turned to Chi-Chi and held the puppy out for her to look at. "Is there anything around here that we can use?"
Chi-Chi slowly nodded. She still couldn't believe that someone would do such a thing to a living creature. "I'll go check." She glanced over her shoulder to her husband, who was as far away from the group as he could be. "Ok Mr. I'm too scared to greet a puppy, I'm going to be leaving now. Make sure you don't get yourself eaten while I'm gone." She laughed as she walked out of the room to see what kind of the bandages she had.
Goku glared at his wife's back. "It's not funny."
Ami sat down on the floor and set the puppy down in front of her. It just kind of sat there on its stomach as it couldn't move due to its broken leg. "So, has anyone thought of any good names yet?" She stroked the back of the puppy, which made it relax a little. Already, it seemed to be calming down a lot from how scared it was when they first found it.
Hotaru sat next to Ami and smiled as she dropped her face to look into the puppy's eyes. "I have no idea what we could call her. All I know is that she's lucky that we found it."
"Hey..." Rei smiled as she sat next to the puppy and scratched it behind the ears. "That's what we can call her, Lucky. Like you said Hotaru, she's lucky, the name suits her pretty good."
Minako reached out and picked up the puppy to sit in her lap. "I think it's a good name. What do you think?" She gently turned the puppy's face up to hers. "Do you like the name, little puppy?"
Goku watched the girls fascinate themselves over the little dog. He wished that they hadn't found it for now he would have to watch where he went. He didn't want to be anywhere near the little thing. He had bad luck in the past with sharp things as well as teeth from animals. "How can you sit that close to it? If you turn your back on it, it's likely to bite you."
Usagi giggled as she walked to her father. "Daddy, I find it really funny that you can fight really strong people and get yourself all full of hurts but you're afraid of a little puppy."
"Well that's the way it is."
Usagi shrugged as she turned back to her friends. "Well I like the name Lucky."
Minako lifted the puppy up to her face and held her in the air. "Ok then, from now on, your name is Lucky."
~*~*~
~~The next Day~~
The next day, Usagi actually awoke early enough to do more than a rush job of getting ready for school. She had to, it was part of her plan. She wanted to prove to her parents, well mother, that she could handle taking care of the puppy without having to be reminded to do it. She knew that parents liked that kind of stuff. Especially her mother. She thought that if she was extra responsible in the time that it took for little Lucky to recover, that her mother would let her keep it.
Before she did anything else, she took Lucky, who had slept with her in her room, and took her outside where she let her eat. Usagi knew that the puppy would be cooped up in the house all day so she also let her run around for a little while for her exercise.
When she saw that her mother was in the kitchen making breakfast, Usagi kneeled down. "Lucky! Here girl!"
~*~*~
Goku watched his daughter outside as she called for the puppy. He had great doubts about letting her keep the dog there while she was waiting for her to become well. He had thought about it the night before right before he had gone to sleep and came upon the conclusion that it was probably one of the worst ideas to let her keep it. "Chi-Chi, are you sure you know what you're doing with letting her keep that thing here?"
Chi-Chi giggled as she set a plate in front of her husband, which only made him drool with hunger. "Don't tell me that you're still afraid of a little puppy. Goku, she's not going to bite you unless you make her angry."
"I'm not talking about that. You know how attached to something Usagi gets in a short time. You know she's not going to give that thing up for anything when it gets well again. The puppy will probably feel the same."
Chi-Chi walked to the window and watched her daughter disappear into the door that led inside. "I know." She turned to her daughter, who carried Lucky into the kitchen. "You're up early."
Usagi smiled as she set the puppy down. "Yep! I had to let Lucky outside for a while, remember? I have to take care of her till she gets better. Right?"
Chi-Chi knew exactly what Usagi was doing, but she wouldn't call her out on it. "Yes. Just until it gets better though." She felt uneasiness when Usagi got the look of disappointment on her face. "Make sure she has plenty of water before you leave for school, ok?"
Usagi nodded. "Ok." She turned to her father as she sat down. She giggled when she saw that he was struggling with something. "She's not going to hurt you." She bent to look under the table to see that Lucky was sniffing her father's legs. "She's saying hello."
Goku nervously picked his legs up. He still had his fears. "Why doesn't she go say hello to mom?"
"You'll learn to love her, daddy. You'll see."
"No I won't." He softly nudged her away from him, which was a big risk in his eyes. He soon forgot about the dog when he remembered that he needed to talk to his daughter about something. "Usagi, you're not training Hotaru today, well actually, you guys won't be training her for a while."
Usagi became confused. She could have sworn that it was her duty to train her and not him, his rules. "Huh? Why?"
"She's got some pretty good skills so far. She showed a lot of strength at the tournament and I think she's ready to learn to teleport, plus she wants to learn to fight with a weapon, right? And if I remember right, you asked me if I could teach her to do that."
Usagi smiled as she nodded with agreement. "Yep. I did. She'll be really happy to hear that. So do you want me to pick her up and bring her here after school?" Having Hotaru training with her father actually somewhat relieved. She and the other girls would be able to be with the puppy while they were training. That way, she wouldn't be so lonely.
"I'll be waiting here for you guys after your schools get out. Tell Hotaru to bring this weapon she found. I'm going to work with her on that, first."
"K!"
~*~*~
~~School~~
When Usagi got to school that day, something happened to her that had never happened to her before. She had never even dreamed that something like that could ever happen to her. She walked slowly through the playground of kids, who were normally screaming and paying attention to their own games, but on this particular day, no one said a single word. They all just stared at her as she walked to her class to meet her friends. She found it oddly strange as well as uncomfortable. It sort of brought back horrible memories of her first day of school when Haruka and Michiru's group laughed at her, but this time it was the whole playground.
Usagi stopped in her place when she got halfway to her class. She wasn't sure how much more of the staring she could take. Even a few of the teachers were staring at her. "Uh...can I help you?" She wasn't sure if she had done something bad or if there was something on her that was causing everyone to stare. "Hello? Is there something wrong with me?"
Usagi let out a sigh of relief when she saw Rei approaching her. "Why is everyone staring at me like this?"
Rei pulled Usagi by the arm and started leading her to the classroom. "It's not just you, it's all of us. They want to know how we got so strong and how we learned all those neat fighting tricks."
Usagi looked around as she let herself be dragged by her friend. "This is kind of uncomfortable."
"I know. But they saw you on TV. A lot of kids have seen us around school and thought nothing of it and now that they saw you flying on TV and beating Mr. Satan, they're all interested. It's kind of freaky." Rei opened the door that led into the classroom where their entire class was. All of the kids inside were their usual screaming noisy selves. "This is the only place we can go where others won't gawk at us."
Usagi walked over to her table where her other friends were trying to figure out a way to make the entire student-body lose interest in them and their 'powers'. She took her seat and looked up at the teacher, who was just as zombie-like as the rest of the kids outside. "These guys are used to our skills, but the others," She paused to shudder, "that's just scary."
"I agree." Makoto could see the faces of students from other classes looking in on them. "When I got here, my dad didn't understand why everyone was watching me. Neither did I, but he got really angry with them. He threatened them."
Minako dropped her head to rest her chin on the table. "Didn't your dad watch the tournament?"
Makoto shook her head. "Nope. He said he didn't need to, that I was going to lose anyways because I never train long like I used to. Well, that just shows how much he knows. The last time he watched me fight was at a competition through Mr. Satan's Martial Arts School when I was four."
Rei dropped in her chair. "Man that's gotta suck. Your dad doesn't even act like he loves you."
Makoto just blankly stared forward as she thought about her relationship with her father. "Yeah, I know. But I have my mom. I know she loves me. I think the deal with my dad is that he wanted a boy and when he got me, he was mad. He's just going to take it out on me forever. It's not big deal though. I don't really care about what he thinks. He doesn't believe me that Mr. Satan's lies were revealed either."
Usagi frowned. "He doesn't?" She never really did care for Makoto's father. Anytime she visited her house, he always had a rude comment to make to her, to any of them actually.
"Nope, he still thinks he's earth's savior. But oh well, that's just him for you. You kind of have to expect stubbornness from my dad. I just try to ignore him and be done with it." Makoto quickly forgot about her father when she looked up to her zombie teacher, who was coming towards them. "We have company."
Ami giggled when she saw his stunned face. "Can we help you?"
The teacher looked down and nodded. He still couldn't get over the fact that these five young girls were capable of such power. He knew that they trained with Goku, but he didn't know that they were learning how to fight with such skill. "How do you do it...?"
(Ok, there's yet again, another part. What did you think? Gotta bounce! Ja )
Minako pulled against Gohan as she looked up to a movement that caught her attention. "Gohan, they're back."
Gohan let go of Minako and let her crash back down to the ground as he looked up to see the three girls approaching slowly. "What's that in Ami's arms?" All he could make out was the red bag blending in with what looked like a toy of some sort. He couldn't see that it was moving at all. Whatever Ami was carrying seemed to have the other two girls interested.
Rei looked up to Ami and squinted. Her eyes became wide with excitement as she realized what exactly it was. "IT'S A PUPPY!" Surprising Gohan, she jumped to her feet and began running forward to meet her friends. Minako and Makoto nodded at each other as they jumped up with excitement to follow Rei, leaving an annoyed Gohan behind.
Gohan sighed with frustration as he began walking forward to join his sister and her friends. "Why couldn't they have just gotten up when I told them too? I'll never understand females." Gohan quietly laughed as he stopped just in front of Ami and the puppy, which the girls were currently fussing over. "So this is what was whining, huh?"
Gohan reached out to the frightened puppy and gently grabbed it from Ami. "Wow, this looks bad." Using what little medical knowledge that he had, Gohan began to examine it. It obviously hadn't been treated very well by its owner, who abandoned it. "It looks like it's about four weeks old. Too young to be on its own." He lightly ran his fingers over the ribs, pressing down once he got to the end. They were almost as soft as clay. "The bones are too soft."
"Look at this, Gohan." Ami reached out and tugged on the puppy's skin, pulling out some of the fur with ease. "The fur pulls out to easily. Plus, the skin is too tough for a puppy."
Gohan nodded. "You're right, Ami. This puppy looks as if it hasn't been fed in at least a week. And if it has, then it's been fed very little. If it doesn't get food in its body soon, it's going to die."
Usagi gasped as she looked up at her brother. "We can't let that happen, can we Gohan? We can feed it, right? We can't just let it die out here all alone with no one to love it..."
For the moment, Gohan ignored his sister as he trailed his hands down to the puppy's back legs. He carefully grabbed one of them and as soon as he did, the puppy cried out. "I think this leg is broken. I didn't even move it and it whined."
Rei moved her face in close to the whimpering creature. She couldn't believe that someone would just leave a poor helpless puppy lying out by itself with nothing to eat and nothing to care for it. "This is horrible. Where was it?" She held her hand out for the puppy to smell.
"Ami found tied in a bag in a garbage can." Hotaru scratched the puppy's head, causing it to relax somewhat. "There now, see? It's ok little puppy." She smiled when she saw it's tiny tail wiggle under its hind-legs.
A smile came across Usagi's face as she anxiously looked up to her unsuspecting brother. "Gohan? Can we keep it? Please?"
Rei pulled her hand away from the puppy, who was liking it. She looked up to Gohan with begging eyes. "Hey, yeah. Can we, Gohan? Wouldn't that be cool if we had a puppy to play with?"
Gohan looked down to the girls. He didn't know what to tell them. He knew that he wouldn't want to keep it, but it wasn't his choice. It was the girls' parents' choice. "Usagi, I know for sure that mom and dad aren't going to let you keep a puppy. Well, maybe dad, but then again he has a thing about sharp pointy objects, which this puppy has a lot of. I don't know about you other girls."
Makoto pouted over her parents' answer. "Well mines is a definite 'no'. My dad is allergic to dogs. Even if he wasn't, he still wouldn't let me. He doesn't think I need a pet screwing up my training. What about you guys?"
Rei shook her head. "Grandpa wouldn't let me for sure. He says that ' A shrine is no place for animals'. I've been begging him for a puppy ever since I can remember. Ami? What about you? You and your mom are always talking about how you love animals. Would your mom let you keep it?"
Ami frowned as she thought about what happened the last time they tried to bring an animal into their house. "Our landlord won't let us have any pets unless they're fish. Last time we had a pet, he told us to get rid of it or move out. Well, mom got rid of it. I can't have it at my house, as much as I would love to. Minako? Hotaru? What about you guys?"
Minako, who had taken one look at the thing and fallen in love with it, sadly replied with her answer. "Nope. My parents say I'm not old enough to have such a big responsibility as having a dog. It's a real bummer though, this little thing is so adorable. I SO want to take it home with me."
Hotaru thought for a moment about what her father would say. She had never really asked him about having an animal around the house for she never really felt like having one. Actually, before she met any of these girls, she had never felt like having or doing anything. "I know Kaori doesn't like pets, but what say does she have? I don't know if daddy will let me have one, but I can ask." She let her face turn to unhappiness as she continued. "But Kaori does have a lot of influence over what daddy does so there's a good chance that he'll say no."
Not wanting to see the poor animal suffer anymore, Minako turned to Gohan with a begging smile. "Gohan...can you do us a BIG favor?"
Gohan knew that smile. He knew it all too well. That was the same smile that the girls had used on him to get him to buy them all that Ice-cream, along with the tone as well. "No, no, no. That may have worked on me to buy you all that junk food but I'm not, I repeat, I AM NOT taking this thing home with me. It would be alone all day long while with no one to take it out. A puppy needs somewhere to run, a puppy needs people to be around. Both things that aren't at my house. So I say this again, no. Take it somewhere else."
Catching on to Minako's game, Usagi latched herself onto her brother as she stared into the puppy's pitiful eyes. "But look at its cute little face with its cute little nose and the cute little eyes and the cute little feet. Don't you want to help it get better, Gohan."
"Not particularly. I don't have room for a puppy at my house." He pushed Usagi away from him as he knew that if he didn't, he would probably end up having to take it home with him. Then, not only would his wife yell at him about spending so much money on sweets, but she would yell at him for bringing a dirty animal into the house without consulting her. "Here, take the puppy while you're at it." He gently transferred the starving dog into his sister's arms.
Usagi looked up at her brother in confusion as she held the puppy close to her chest to comfort it. "Would you leave a human out on the street if they were hungry and abandoned?"
Makoto placed her hands on her hips as she shook her head back and forth. "Tsk, Tsk, Tsk."
Gohan sighed. Usagi was acting more and more like his mother every day. She always seemed to have to prove her point, though, she usually did it without yelling. "No, I wouldn't leave a starving human out on the street." He paused long enough to let Rei open her mouth to protest, but began to speak before her. "If you really want to keep it that badly, I suggest you speak to mom and dad, Usagi. I'm the wrong person to ask." He turned to Hotaru, who also pleaded with her eyes for him to take it home. "You ask your dad, too."
"You're boring, Gohan. You had a Dragon when you were a kid, why can't you keep a little ol puppy?" Usagi pushed forward to her brother again as she held the puppy up to him. "Please?"
Gohan stepped back to show her that he wasn't going to give in. "Take it home and ask mom and dad. I've already spoiled you guys enough for one day."
Usagi pouted. "All right."
Hotaru and Minako both jumped to Usagi with adoring eyes as they stared down at the puppy. Minako reached out and took it from her friend's arms and held it as if it were a baby. "Its just too cute to resist. Come on guys, let's go to Usagi's and see if we can keep it there."
Ami nodded as she and Makoto jumped into the air. "Let's go slow, guys. We don't want to scare her."
Rei turned to her friend in fascination. "It's a girl?" Ami nodded. "Well, what should we call it?" She asked as she turned to Minako, who had just joined them in the air.
Minako shrugged her shoulders. She was too busy playing with the injured animal to truly think about one. "No idea. It should be a really good one, though."
"Agreed, maybe we should call it cuddles." Stunned at the name that their friend in green just came up with, the other five girls turned to Makoto as if she were crazy. "Don't look at me like that."
Before Usagi took to the air, she turned to her brother. "Are you sure you won't take it home?"
Gohan nodded. He couldn't give into them all the time. He said that he would take them out for Ice-cream. He never said anything about taking home a puppy. "I can't, Usagi. I wish I could, but I just can't. I'm sorry."
Usagi smiled. "It's ok. Maybe mom will be in a good mood today and let us keep it there."
Gohan's sadly looked down at his sister, who was so full of hope to keep the tiny puppy. "Don't get your hopes up too high. You know as well as I do that mom will most likely not let you keep the puppy. Your best bet is with Hotaru's father."
"I know. Are you coming with us?"
Gohan shook his head. "No. I need to get back home. I also don't exactly want to see mom go off again." Though those were too valid reasons why Gohan didn't want to go back to his childhood home, he also knew that his parents were both terribly angry with him for his behavior of the day before. "I'll see you later, Usagi."
"Ok. Bye, Gohan." With that, she took to the air to join her friends, who had already begun flying to her house.
~*~*~
~~Son House~~
Usagi and her friends landed just in front of her house with the puppy, whose name they still could not think of. Usagi quietly led them up to the door and took the puppy from Minako. She couldn't wait to show her parents. She hoped that they would allow her keep it there. If they wouldn't let her, than they would ask Hotaru's father. And if he were to say no, then there was no hope for the puppy at all. Unless they kept it at Sanctuary, but then there would be no one around to care for it like the it should be. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure her friends were still with her and then back at the door as she reached out to open it. "That's funny." She turned the knob from left to right, finding out that it was locked. "The door's locked. That's strange. They don't usually lock it during the day." 'They sure are stuck on locking doors today.'
Annoyed, Rei pushed past Usagi and knocked on the door, nearly as hard as she could. "This is all you have to do."
Before Usagi got a chance to respond to Rei's action, the door opened. Behind it, stood her father looking hungry, as usual. "Hey daddy look at what we found!" Without further words spoken, she lifted the tiny puppy up to her father for him to look out.
Almost as soon as he laid eyes upon the small creature, Goku began to get nervous. "Uh...honey, put the puppy down, or at least get it away from me." He backed away, not wanting anything bad to happen.
Usagi only responded with confusion as she walked forward, holding the puppy closer to his face than she had before. "She wants to say hi, daddy." She could hear her friends giggling in the background.
Pretty soon, Goku was standing against the wall and even more freaked out than before. He had no where to run and his daughter was shoving the 'vicious' dog in his face. He whimpered quietly with fear as the puppy began to open its mouth to yawn, revealing each and every one of its sharp teeth. To him, they looked sharp enough to pierce even his rock hard skin. "Usagi, please. Get the animal away from me."
Usagi giggled. She was rather enjoying seeing him freak out over such a small animal. "Daddy, you're silly. Isn't she cute?" The puppy wiggled around in Usagi's hands as it became more scared with not being supported from underneath. Usagi just let it hang over the ground. Seeing that only made Goku even more nervous.
Minako joined Usagi at her side as she reached out for Goku to pull him closer. "It's just a baby, Goku. I think it's adorable. Why don't you pet it?"
Goku turned his head away from it as Usagi pushed it closer into his face. "It's not cute. It's got teeth. Lots and lots of sharp teeth." He turned his head just far enough to be face to face with the puppy. He had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming. He closed his eyes so he didn't have to see it.
"It wants a kiss, daddy." Usagi took a step closer to her father so the puppy was close enough to smell his face, as well as his fear. The puppy didn't respond to his fear with anything but a quick lick on his nose.
Well, that did it. That was all that he was able to take anymore. He shot his eyes open and pushed his daughter and friends out of the way. "OH MY GOD IT'S TRYING TO EAT ME!" He turned down the hall and ran right past his wife into his room. He slammed the door behind him and jumped on the bed and threw the covers over his head.
If you don't believe that he would do that...Watch GT
Chi-Chi frowned as she walked out into the family room. She knew that Usagi had to have done something horrible to make Goku run scared stupid back into his room like he had. She looked around the room to the innocent faces of all six girls. She let her eyes stop on her daughter, who had her hands behind her back. She was completely backed up against the wall. "Ok, let's see it. I know you're hiding something. It has to be something to scare your father. Is it a needle?"
Usagi slowly shook her head as she looked to her friends for help. She didn't know how long she was going to be able to hold the puppy behind her back for it was struggling to get free of her grasp. "No. It's not a needle."
Makoto pushed Usagi forward and grabbed the puppy from her. As long as she stayed behind her, they would be fine. "Uh, Chi-Chi, Goku's just, playing a game with us."
Chi-Chi frowned. "I don't think so. What are you guys hiding back there."
Makoto turned to Rei, who gestured for Usagi to just come clean and show her what they had. Usagi didn't hesitate at all to grab the puppy from Makoto. She turned to her mother and showed her to pitiful creature in her hands. "We found her in a garbage can, mom. She was abandoned."
Chi-Chi couldn't help but turn her frown into a sympathetic smile. "A garbage can? That's so sad. Why did you bring it here, though? You know you can't keep it here."
Usagi's face could have fallen to the floor. "Come on, mom. Can't we keep her? She's cute and cuddly. I'll take care of her. We'll all take care of her. You won't have to do a single thing. We promise, right girls?" She turned to Ami for some help. If anyone would be able to talk her mother into letting the puppy stay there, it would be Ami.
"Chi-Chi, I can't fully agree with Usagi on this one because I can't lie. With our busy schedules, that's one promise none of us can make. What with school and training and then homework, we wouldn't have much time to play with it and feed it like we should."
Usagi turned to Ami with a slight frown, but also with understanding. As much as she didn't want it to be true, she knew that it was. "Ami!! Don't tell her that. Now we won't be able to keep her." She turned back up to her mother to see what she had to say about Ami's statement.
"Usagi, it's good that Ami knows what will happen if you keep the puppy. And she's right, that's exactly what will happen. Not to mention that your father is deathly afraid of things with sharp teeth. You know that he has a fear of sharp pointy objects. It wouldn't be wise to keep it here. He would probably scare the puppy with his screaming."
Usagi pouted under her breath as she looked down at the puppy, which was gnawing on her finger. "But mom..."
"She can stay here until she gets well, but after that, you have to find a proper home for her."
Usagi looked up to her mother with hope as well as an idea. 'That will give me time to make mom like the puppy. Maybe then she'll let me keep her if she grows to like it.' "You'll be home with her during the day when we're not, won't you? Well, when you're not training you will. Can't we please just keep her? Pleeese?"
Chi-Chi shook her head. "No. I didn't let your brothers have any pets except the ones who lived out in the wild, who could support themselves. Now this is your responsibility. All of you. You will have to make sure that she's clean and is fed and has plenty of exercise." Her attention was caught by her husband poking his head around the corner. "Goku, it's safe for you to come out. The puppy won't do anything to you."
Goku pulled his head back. "That thing tried to eat me."
Hotaru giggled as she walked to where Goku was. She looked up at him with curious eyes. "Goku? That puppy is sweet. She won't try to eat you. She likes you. That's why she licked you."
Goku looked down at the child. He was still nervous about the puppy. He wouldn't allow himself to get close enough for it to 'eat' him. "She was tasting me. She wants to dig her sharp teeth into my skin."
Chi-Chi rolled her eyes as she walked to her husband and slapped him in the face. "Snap out of it, Goku. That dog has no intention of eating you. It's probably more afraid of you than you are of it. Now act like a man and get out there. While you're at it, you need to go buy some food for it."
Goku widened his eyes with fear. "WHAT?! That thing's staying here?!"
"Just until it gets better. After that, the girls are going to find it a home." She grabbed her husband by his arm and dragged him back out into the family room and positioned him right in front of the puppy.
Goku resisted getting close to it. He wanted to stay as far away from it as he could. Rei laughed at him. She had never in her life seen anyone who was afraid of something so small and helpless. She just couldn't resist messing with him. "You know, Goku. Dogs can sense fear."
Goku gulped as he looked down to the scared animal. He could sense its fear, but he didn't care. It had teeth and that's all he was worried about. "Uh..." He glanced over at his wife, who was frowning at him. He found her to be much scarier than anything needle or mouth full of sharp teeth. Not wanting to give her a reason to lash out at him, he slowly reached out to touch the puppy. His arm insanely shook with fear. He was certain that it was going to turn bad and try to eat him. His fear of sharp objects was his only flaw, that he knew of, well, besides always being hungry.
Just before Goku's hand made contact, Usagi pushed the puppy up further, causing it to yelp with fear, making her father jump back. She ignored her father's fears and looked down to the puppy. She knew that he wasn't in any immediate danger. "It's ok, little puppy. Did I hurt you?"
Ami walked to Usagi and grabbed the puppy from her hands. "Its leg is broken, remember? We need to put it in a cast or something like that as soon as possible." She turned to Chi-Chi and held the puppy out for her to look at. "Is there anything around here that we can use?"
Chi-Chi slowly nodded. She still couldn't believe that someone would do such a thing to a living creature. "I'll go check." She glanced over her shoulder to her husband, who was as far away from the group as he could be. "Ok Mr. I'm too scared to greet a puppy, I'm going to be leaving now. Make sure you don't get yourself eaten while I'm gone." She laughed as she walked out of the room to see what kind of the bandages she had.
Goku glared at his wife's back. "It's not funny."
Ami sat down on the floor and set the puppy down in front of her. It just kind of sat there on its stomach as it couldn't move due to its broken leg. "So, has anyone thought of any good names yet?" She stroked the back of the puppy, which made it relax a little. Already, it seemed to be calming down a lot from how scared it was when they first found it.
Hotaru sat next to Ami and smiled as she dropped her face to look into the puppy's eyes. "I have no idea what we could call her. All I know is that she's lucky that we found it."
"Hey..." Rei smiled as she sat next to the puppy and scratched it behind the ears. "That's what we can call her, Lucky. Like you said Hotaru, she's lucky, the name suits her pretty good."
Minako reached out and picked up the puppy to sit in her lap. "I think it's a good name. What do you think?" She gently turned the puppy's face up to hers. "Do you like the name, little puppy?"
Goku watched the girls fascinate themselves over the little dog. He wished that they hadn't found it for now he would have to watch where he went. He didn't want to be anywhere near the little thing. He had bad luck in the past with sharp things as well as teeth from animals. "How can you sit that close to it? If you turn your back on it, it's likely to bite you."
Usagi giggled as she walked to her father. "Daddy, I find it really funny that you can fight really strong people and get yourself all full of hurts but you're afraid of a little puppy."
"Well that's the way it is."
Usagi shrugged as she turned back to her friends. "Well I like the name Lucky."
Minako lifted the puppy up to her face and held her in the air. "Ok then, from now on, your name is Lucky."
~*~*~
~~The next Day~~
The next day, Usagi actually awoke early enough to do more than a rush job of getting ready for school. She had to, it was part of her plan. She wanted to prove to her parents, well mother, that she could handle taking care of the puppy without having to be reminded to do it. She knew that parents liked that kind of stuff. Especially her mother. She thought that if she was extra responsible in the time that it took for little Lucky to recover, that her mother would let her keep it.
Before she did anything else, she took Lucky, who had slept with her in her room, and took her outside where she let her eat. Usagi knew that the puppy would be cooped up in the house all day so she also let her run around for a little while for her exercise.
When she saw that her mother was in the kitchen making breakfast, Usagi kneeled down. "Lucky! Here girl!"
~*~*~
Goku watched his daughter outside as she called for the puppy. He had great doubts about letting her keep the dog there while she was waiting for her to become well. He had thought about it the night before right before he had gone to sleep and came upon the conclusion that it was probably one of the worst ideas to let her keep it. "Chi-Chi, are you sure you know what you're doing with letting her keep that thing here?"
Chi-Chi giggled as she set a plate in front of her husband, which only made him drool with hunger. "Don't tell me that you're still afraid of a little puppy. Goku, she's not going to bite you unless you make her angry."
"I'm not talking about that. You know how attached to something Usagi gets in a short time. You know she's not going to give that thing up for anything when it gets well again. The puppy will probably feel the same."
Chi-Chi walked to the window and watched her daughter disappear into the door that led inside. "I know." She turned to her daughter, who carried Lucky into the kitchen. "You're up early."
Usagi smiled as she set the puppy down. "Yep! I had to let Lucky outside for a while, remember? I have to take care of her till she gets better. Right?"
Chi-Chi knew exactly what Usagi was doing, but she wouldn't call her out on it. "Yes. Just until it gets better though." She felt uneasiness when Usagi got the look of disappointment on her face. "Make sure she has plenty of water before you leave for school, ok?"
Usagi nodded. "Ok." She turned to her father as she sat down. She giggled when she saw that he was struggling with something. "She's not going to hurt you." She bent to look under the table to see that Lucky was sniffing her father's legs. "She's saying hello."
Goku nervously picked his legs up. He still had his fears. "Why doesn't she go say hello to mom?"
"You'll learn to love her, daddy. You'll see."
"No I won't." He softly nudged her away from him, which was a big risk in his eyes. He soon forgot about the dog when he remembered that he needed to talk to his daughter about something. "Usagi, you're not training Hotaru today, well actually, you guys won't be training her for a while."
Usagi became confused. She could have sworn that it was her duty to train her and not him, his rules. "Huh? Why?"
"She's got some pretty good skills so far. She showed a lot of strength at the tournament and I think she's ready to learn to teleport, plus she wants to learn to fight with a weapon, right? And if I remember right, you asked me if I could teach her to do that."
Usagi smiled as she nodded with agreement. "Yep. I did. She'll be really happy to hear that. So do you want me to pick her up and bring her here after school?" Having Hotaru training with her father actually somewhat relieved. She and the other girls would be able to be with the puppy while they were training. That way, she wouldn't be so lonely.
"I'll be waiting here for you guys after your schools get out. Tell Hotaru to bring this weapon she found. I'm going to work with her on that, first."
"K!"
~*~*~
~~School~~
When Usagi got to school that day, something happened to her that had never happened to her before. She had never even dreamed that something like that could ever happen to her. She walked slowly through the playground of kids, who were normally screaming and paying attention to their own games, but on this particular day, no one said a single word. They all just stared at her as she walked to her class to meet her friends. She found it oddly strange as well as uncomfortable. It sort of brought back horrible memories of her first day of school when Haruka and Michiru's group laughed at her, but this time it was the whole playground.
Usagi stopped in her place when she got halfway to her class. She wasn't sure how much more of the staring she could take. Even a few of the teachers were staring at her. "Uh...can I help you?" She wasn't sure if she had done something bad or if there was something on her that was causing everyone to stare. "Hello? Is there something wrong with me?"
Usagi let out a sigh of relief when she saw Rei approaching her. "Why is everyone staring at me like this?"
Rei pulled Usagi by the arm and started leading her to the classroom. "It's not just you, it's all of us. They want to know how we got so strong and how we learned all those neat fighting tricks."
Usagi looked around as she let herself be dragged by her friend. "This is kind of uncomfortable."
"I know. But they saw you on TV. A lot of kids have seen us around school and thought nothing of it and now that they saw you flying on TV and beating Mr. Satan, they're all interested. It's kind of freaky." Rei opened the door that led into the classroom where their entire class was. All of the kids inside were their usual screaming noisy selves. "This is the only place we can go where others won't gawk at us."
Usagi walked over to her table where her other friends were trying to figure out a way to make the entire student-body lose interest in them and their 'powers'. She took her seat and looked up at the teacher, who was just as zombie-like as the rest of the kids outside. "These guys are used to our skills, but the others," She paused to shudder, "that's just scary."
"I agree." Makoto could see the faces of students from other classes looking in on them. "When I got here, my dad didn't understand why everyone was watching me. Neither did I, but he got really angry with them. He threatened them."
Minako dropped her head to rest her chin on the table. "Didn't your dad watch the tournament?"
Makoto shook her head. "Nope. He said he didn't need to, that I was going to lose anyways because I never train long like I used to. Well, that just shows how much he knows. The last time he watched me fight was at a competition through Mr. Satan's Martial Arts School when I was four."
Rei dropped in her chair. "Man that's gotta suck. Your dad doesn't even act like he loves you."
Makoto just blankly stared forward as she thought about her relationship with her father. "Yeah, I know. But I have my mom. I know she loves me. I think the deal with my dad is that he wanted a boy and when he got me, he was mad. He's just going to take it out on me forever. It's not big deal though. I don't really care about what he thinks. He doesn't believe me that Mr. Satan's lies were revealed either."
Usagi frowned. "He doesn't?" She never really did care for Makoto's father. Anytime she visited her house, he always had a rude comment to make to her, to any of them actually.
"Nope, he still thinks he's earth's savior. But oh well, that's just him for you. You kind of have to expect stubbornness from my dad. I just try to ignore him and be done with it." Makoto quickly forgot about her father when she looked up to her zombie teacher, who was coming towards them. "We have company."
Ami giggled when she saw his stunned face. "Can we help you?"
The teacher looked down and nodded. He still couldn't get over the fact that these five young girls were capable of such power. He knew that they trained with Goku, but he didn't know that they were learning how to fight with such skill. "How do you do it...?"
(Ok, there's yet again, another part. What did you think? Gotta bounce! Ja )