Chapter 4 – Fluff balls and Discoveries!

After school reiko found herself wandering around the park again. She liked it there. The clubs she had visited were nice enough. The music club was just a bunch of girls fangirling over idols though. So, she joined the karate club. She had been given a duffel bag with equipment and was expected to be there tomorrow.

"Bark!"

Reiko stopped walking and looked toward the playground. Was that a dog? She turned and walked over to it. "Bark! Bark!" reiko gazed down at a very adorable ball of fluff. The puppy was leaning against the box only two paws holding him up. The puppy was looking at her with almost longing eyes. It whimpered up at her and barked again. "C-Cute~" she said dropping her bag and kneeling down.

She picked it up out of the box and giggled when it licked her nose. Her face flushed in happiness, "Hn, your really cute. Why would you be stuck out here though?" she muttered holding the puppy up by his underarms. Its tail wagged happily and he licked at her arms.

"okay I'm getting worried about reiko now" said masaomi as he looked out the window. It was already dark and she hadn't arrived. The others had gotten home but she was still missing. "Should we go look for nee-chan?" asked Wataru looking up at his eldest brother. "I'll go." Ema immediately answered standing up.

"that's nice of you but it's a bit late for a girl to be going out this late at night." Masaomi said smiling warmly at her. Ema nodded and looked at her brothers, "then can someong else go please? I'm really worried something might happen to her" ema said furrowing her brow. "How about tsubaki and yusuke? You two seem to be doing nothing" kaname volunteered them.

The two boys glared at him, "what!? Why us?" growled yusuke. "well you two are pretty lively. So it should be no problem for you to search all over town for her" the blonde grinned. "Where would we even start looking?" groaned tsubaki. Ema snapped her fingers, "The park! That's where she disappeared off to before!"

And that's how they found themselves wandering around the park. The two were pretty miserable. Not only were they supposed to find some girl they didn't even like, they had to be in the company of each other. "Bark!" the two exchanged looks and followed the noise.

The sight they encountered made them freeze and stare in awe. Reiko the stoic female with the feelings of a robot was holding an adorable little husky in her hands. The girl was giggling happily and had a blush on her face that made her look so different they almost didn't recognize her. Tsubaki blinked dumbfounded that reiko could actually behave like a normal girl who giggled.

She was cooing at the puppy and nuzzling his fur. She's…cute!? He thought and froze in horror at his thought. There was no way he would ever acknowledge thinking that. He looked at her again and felt his own blush appear, maybe ema was right. Maybe reiko is just a bit shy around them. Tsubaki felt a grin spread on his face as he realized she probably had no experience with males if she really was shy.

Meanwhile yusuke was having his own troubles stopping his beating heart. Yusuke wasn't an expert when it came to girls let alone cute ones. But he knew one thing. If a girl cooed and giggled like that at a baby animal then she was probably just as adorable to people when her protective walls were down. Could this cute girl be Reiko's true self? A happy girl who likes cute things and snuggling puppies?

The red head held a hand to his mouth and blushed furiously as she played with the puppy, it was so adorable his heart could barely take it. He was used to Ema's calm serene attitude not this happy girl who smiled with the likeness of sunshine. Yusuke was highly confused over whether this was really the same girl from this morning. But if it was, I don't think I can ever look at her or act the same way as this morning! I was a real ass too, shit.

There was no doubt that the two boys' opinion on reiko's true person had changed dramatically. And the two were determined to bring that sunny girl out permanently. They were glad they were the first to see it too.

Reiko jumped when she heard a twig snap behind her. She turned and was surprised to see tsubaki and yusuke, the two boys who seemed to hate her guts cause of her treatment of ema. The two boys wouldn't look her in the eye so she started growing suspicious, "What are you doing here?" she asked standing up, puppy still held in her arms.

The two were disappointed to see her stony look return and cursed themselves for causing it. "Uh, we- I mean everyone was worried something happened to you since you were gone for so long" said yusuke with a shrug trying to play it cool. "oh. Okay" she said and walked closer to them making them stiffen up. Were they still upset with her?

She looked at the dog in her arms and bit her lip, "U-umm, do you think.." the two boys gave each other questioning glances, "do you think that Masaomi-san will be okay with me keeping kuro?" she muttered. The two tilted their heads, "kuro?" they chorused. She held the husky up, "Yes, kuro. I want…to keep him. Ema has a pet. So, I wanna have one too" she said holding the puppy close.

The two boys just about fainted at the pout the girl had on her face. I think it was easier when we hated her! Thought yusuke. "Of course~ If imouto-chan wants a pet then she definitely can have one~" Tsubaki cooed poking her nose. He was such a sucker for a cute face. Reiko looked annoyed and pushed his hand away, whats with this guy? One minute he hates me and now he's all clingy. Its just like before! Yusuke pulled Tsubaki away, "Ignore him. Come on we should probably head back now. Everyone is worried"

And by that you mean ema. Reiko thought to herself as she followed the two boys.

"Imouto-chan~ You've returned!" kaname greeted. As soon as she stepped through the doors reiko found herself in his embrace. She twitched, "uh…yeah. Can you let go now. Your squishing kuro" she said pushing him away. "kuro?" kaname asked peering down at her arms.

"a dog?" she walked passed him and went to her eldest brother, "Umm, is it okay for me to keep kuro? I …found him in a box at the park" she said glancing from the ground up to his face and back again. She was behaving shyly. This was one of the few times she asked for something.

Masaomi smiled and put an encouraging hand on her head, "sure, I don't see why not. Ema has a pet so there's no problem if you want one as long as you take care of it." He said and then pet the dogs head. The dog snapped its teeth at his hand making him quickly pull away. "oh! He didn't do that before. I'll train him. Umm, th-thank you again" she whispered and bowed then went up to her room.

Masaomi turned back to the 2 men that had accompanied her. Ukyo and kaname who were also in the room stared curiously at the two who held a dazed look, "Uh, are you two okay?" asked ukyo. "That look~" muttered Tsubaki. "totally cute~" agreed yusuke. The older men looked at each other confused. "what look?" asked Masaomi.

"Moe~" they sighed.

Kaname smirked, "oh did something happen while you fetched out imouto?" he asked teasingly. Just as planned the two blushed, "NO!" yelled yusuke. Tsubaki muttered something, "uh what was that Tsubaki?" asked kaname with a grin. "Even a robot can make a cute face like that!" he blurted out and reddened again. "Uh! I mean, uh, nevermind!" and then he ran off to his room.

Kaname chuckled, "looks like things are getting even more interesting! Now I wanna see that moe face too~"