Title: Album

Rating: K+

Chapter 3: Visitors

X-X-X

The second page of the album contains a picture of Natsuki sitting on the couch, smiling at a small dog in her lap. Another dog is curled up beside her, sleeping soundly.

Natsuki was just about to put her schoolbag down when she paused in her step, staring at the couch. On it, a beige-colored poodle sat up and gazed back at her, while a terrier of some sort was cuddled up next to it. The poodle tilted its head to the side and let out a questioning bark, which mirrored Natsuki's own confusion.

"Um... Shizuru?" Natsuki called out, hoping her girlfriend could provide an explanation to these dogs. No reply came from Shizuru, but the poodle on the couch let out a yip in response to Natsuki's call. Natsuki furrowed her brow as she thought about this. Deciding to try Shizuru's cell phone, Natsuki pulled her own phone out of her pocket, only to notice that she'd just missed a call from Shizuru. Of course; that was it. She'd been riding her bike on the way home from school, so she wouldn't have been able to hear the phone ringing. Thankfully, Shizuru had left her a voicemail message, so Natsuki went ahead and played it.

"Ara, Natsuki," Shizuru's voice said. "Apparently my aunt is having some trouble with her health today. She lives on her own, so my cousin Chisato has gone to take care of her until she gets better. This has all come up rather suddenly, however, and so Chisato had to request that we take care of her dogs while she's gone. I hope you won't mind, but I agreed. I have to run out and do a quick errand right now, but hopefully I'll be back before you get home. If not, just spend some time getting to know them. I'm sure they'll be quick to grow on you."

Natsuki let out a chuckle. Of course there'd be a reasonable explanation like that... though she did find herself oddly disappointed that these puppies weren't to keep. She shook her head. She could talk with Shizuru about that later. For now, she had a pair of puppies to pay attention to.

Natsuki put away her phone and sat down on the couch next to the two dogs, patting her lap to encourage them to come up on it. The terrier was mostly asleep right now, but the poodle took her up on her invitation, and it came up to greet Natsuki. "Hello there..." Natsuki said, patting its head. "Hmm, what should I call you...? Let me see..." Natsuki reached for the dog's collar, searching through its tags until she found the one with its name: Shizuru.

"Great," Natsuki said, rolling her eyes. "That'll keep things simple... I suppose Shizuru's cousin saw something in you that reminded her of Shizuru, though I do wish she'd thought this through a bit more..."

The puppy tilted her head as she looked up at Natsuki, trying to understand what she was saying. "Aroo?" she said, which caused Natsuki to burst out into laughter.

"Okay, you win, you can be a Shizuru too," she said, leaning down and planting a kiss on Shizuru-puppy's head. "Now, what about you..." Natsuki said to the other puppy. She coaxed it to roll over, and she dug out its nametag as well. "...Of course. Why didn't I guess?" she said as the nametag was revealed: Natsuki. "Shizuru's going to get a stern talking to about what she's been telling her cousin... but I'm certainly not going to take that out on you, Natsuki-puppy..." Natsuki stroked the dog's stomach slowly, a smile slowly forming across her face.

"I see Natsuki has made some new friends," came Shizuru's voice from the hallway.

"Gah!" Natsuki nearly jumped in her seat, though she thankfully managed to avoid dislodging the puppy on her lap. "Where did... How did you get home without me hearing you?" she demanded.

"If I had to guess..." Shizuru said, approaching the couch and reaching down to stroke Natsuki-puppy's stomach. "I would say that Natsuki was simply distracted. Not that I'm at all surprised." Shizuru leaned down and planted a quick kiss on Natsuki's cheek, which was already a bright shade of red.

Natsuki let out a sigh. She supposed there were worse things to be caught doing than giving a couple dogs some love.