Mmmm I wonder if people are still reading this (or just any other story for that matter) anymore. Haha. Well, I enjoy this series and project so I'll just keep going. Self-satisfaction I suppose.

I'm on spring break so I'm going to try to at least force an update out of all of these stories!

Disclaimer: Standard disclaimer is applied.

Walks are the Best!

Haru was watching the animals run around the house, Jirou in particular.

It seems that he's been getting a bit more aggressive as of late and she wasn't sure why. None of the other animals (aside from Uri) bothered him. What was making him so upset?

Upon consulting Lal Mirch on the matter, she concluded, "Don't you think it's because he just wants to go outside and work his body? He probably has all this extra energy he wants to get rid of." Lal Mirch said, understanding the feeling.

If she didn't get to beat up at least 5 things in a day, she would be full with pent up anger.

She normally just beat up a few dummies if there weren't any idiots around for her to trounce. Of course, she didn't say this to Haru, because who knew what that girl would do if she knew the truth?

It would finally make sense as to why Tsuna would always run away and hide whenever he saw Lal Mirch walking in his direction.

Her suggestion to walk Jirou made a lot of sense. Jirou was a dog and they needed to be walked and they usually loved going on walks, right? Even though he was a box weapon, he's still a dog. He acts and sounds like a dog.

That's when she decided it was time for her to go and take him out for a walk.

"Yosh! I'll do it then! First. Time to change." Before anything, Haru went up to her room and changed into something that was suited for going running outside.

Lal Mirch had bought out collar and leash for Jirou to use for walks, so Haru took that and called for Jirou.

"Jirou-chan!~ Do you know what a walk is? It's time for a walk!"

Hearing barking sounds from another room and the sound of padded feet repeatedly hitting the ground, she knew that Jirou knew what 'walk' meant and he was excited for it.

The canine ran into the room Haru was in and ran around her in circles, not wanting to waste any time in telling her that he loved the idea of going on a walk. He could go outside and smell the fresh air! Chase bunnies! Run around and stretch his legs! Maybe even mark his territory!

Crouching to the ground, Haru pat the ground gently, a command that she taught him to mean 'sit down.' Planting his butt down on the ground, he waited patiently for Haru to put the collar around his neck and secure the leash onto the collar.

The quick swishing movements of his tail was all Haru needed to see to know that he was way too excited about going on this walk with her.

Once the collar and leash were secure, they were ready to go out on their way! "Alright everyone, Jirou and Haru are going out for a walk. Everyone else must listen to Lal Mirch-san well, okay?" She commanded of the animals who then replied in their own various ways.

The two left through the front door and were on their way to go on a walk or go on a jog.

Jirou was a well-trained dog who never deviated away from Haru's side and he never tried to run off on his own. He made sure to stay next to Haru and move at her pace. His obedience made things easier for Haru.

She didn't have to worry about him running off and causing trouble, or getting hurt. He didn't bark menacingly at other people or dogs either! Even if other dogs barked at him, trying to pick a fight, Jirou would do nothing.

Perhaps he thought all of the other dogs were beneath him?

What Haru found to be funny was if anyone who looked suspicious, or if anyone came up to them to bother Haru, Jirou would immediately go on the defensive and act as if he were protecting her. This is one thing that was great about dogs, some of them were willing to put themselves between danger and their human companions.

Most of the people didn't mean any harm, but Haru still appreciated the sentiments.

The two would go jogging for a little bit and do a bit of walking to settle down.

Sometimes they would take a water break. Haru would drink out of a water bottle that she kept in her jacket, and she had also brought along a foldable container that could be used to pour water into for Jirou to drink out of.

By looking at her watch, she saw that they have been outside for roughly an hour, but it looked like Jirou still had plenty of energy to go for longer. He was also very curious about exploring more of the town.

With that being said, she decided to stay outside with Jirou for a bit longer so he could have his fun, go home and then just relax for the rest of the day.

The Namimori park was nearby so she directed Jirou towards the direction of the park. They could get a lot of walking or jogging in while looking at the pretty scenery.

Both of them walked towards the park peacefully until, Jirou stopped moving his feet, the tug of the collar made Haru stop walking.

Sniffing the air, "WAN!" Jirou ran off, resulting in Haru stumbling after him. The dog was stopping at nothing, running down the side walk, dodging people as he then ran into the park.

There, practicing his swings in the park was his master! He must have smelled the scent of his master and took off running!

"Hahiii!~ Jirou! You need to stop running-desu! Haru isn't that fast!" Haru complained and Jirou skid to a quick stop.

"Wan wan!"

Yamamoto stopped swinging the bat when he heard a barking sound and a familiar 'hahiiiiii'.

Jirou stood in front of Yamamoto with his tail wagging happily while Haru was next to him panting for air. She clutched onto the leash for dear life because she didn't know how she'd break it to Yamamoto if she lost his dog.

Luckily for her, she had the leash coiled around her arm, but unluckily for her, because it was coiled around her arm, it hurt a little bit as she was being dragged around by the dog.

For a creature smaller than her, he was pretty strong. He could easily drag her around if he really wanted to. Wonder if it was because most dogs his size were that strong, or perhaps it was because he was a box weapon that he had this much strength.

Tail wagging, he waited for Haru to let go of the collar before he pounced on Yamamoto's stomach, bringing them both to the ground and he was licking Yamamoto's face, while also making crying sounds.

He must have missed Yamamoto very much. He enjoyed being around the other animals, but nothing could quite beat being around his master.

"Haha! It's good to see you too, Jirou! Alright boy, calm down. I won't go anywhere." Yamamoto laughed, pushing Jirou's face away from his. He was becoming a slobbery mess and this needed to stop.

Sitting down on the ground, Jirou whined until Yamamoto raised a hand to pet his head gently.

The dog had really missed his master and it felt like it has been ages since the last time he saw him! He was going to get all the attention he could get right now!

"It seems as soon as he caught whiff of your scent he went running." Haru giggled kneeling down next to Yamamoto.

It was good to see his precious little furry companion of course, but things were even better because even Haru was here.

"You did great Jirou." Yamamoto squished both of Jirou's cheeks with his hands. Jirou's tail was wagging so hard, it was a worry that he may somehow hurt his tail.

Haru didn't do anything but watch, since she didn't want to interrupt this touching moment between master and… box animal.

It was cute to see how much Jirou loved Yamamoto and how smart the box animal really was. He was much smarter than normal dogs as he understood more complex orders which were given to him. It was really helpful to have him around and ask for him to help out with the other animals.

When he was working with Kojirou, they both were great for calming the other animals down when they started fighting.

The most dangerous to have fighting was probably Gyuudon and Uri due to their size or their flame element.

Mentally shaking her head, Haru was really thankful for the canine and thus wanted to give him something that would have made him happy.

Think of it as a treat for him for being so low-maintenance compared to the rest of the animals in terms of temperance and obedience.

Yamamoto pushed against his knees to stand up, looking at the two next to him. Since they were here, might as well play around right?

"Hey Haru, want to stay here for a little bit and play with us?" Yamamoto asked.

"WAN!" Jirou seemed to second the idea as he hopped from side to side, his rear high up in the air playfully. From his posture, it was clear that he was ready to play.

Jirou was excited to play and Yamamoto had such a friendly smile on his face. It was too hard to say no and disappoint those faces, so Haru found herself agreeing to stay and play with the two.

Even though she was worried about being around him before, he was really easy to get along with. He had this calming element about him. Haru giggled to herself as she realized the second meaning of what she thought.

Calming element, huh?

It was true that he had the element of the rain which could calm things down, but she meant it in the way that Yamamoto was so friendly, it didn't make sense to have your guard up around him.

He wouldn't hurt anyone if they were a friend.

She nodded her head happily, "Sure, Haru doesn't mind staying for a little longer." She said.

Trotting over to his bag, he pulled out a baseball glove and he threw it over to her and upon noticing the worried look on her face, he pulled out a soft, squishy ball as well.

He put away the baseball because he knew that if he were to get serious, throwing with a baseball would get pretty dangerous. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Why do you have that, Yamamoto-kun?" Haru asked him.

Looking down at the ball in his hand, he grinned. "Well… I just started carrying it around with me. Who knows if I'll ever run across you while I'm practicing, so I bring this ball on the off chance you ever want to join me." Yamamoto answered her question.

It made Haru's heart skip a little bit knowing that he brought a safer ball to throw around just in case she ever felt like joining him. Wonder how long he's been carrying it around?

"How long have you been carrying it with you?" She asked next.

Yamamoto scratched his cheek and laughed a little bit to himself, a little bit of color added to his face. So this is what Yamamoto looked like when he was embarrassed, huh?

He looked away from her and grinned sheepishly. "I don't really know exactly how long it's been, but it's been for a while I'd say. I'm just happy that it paid off." Yamamoto said, tossing her the ball with an underhanded toss.

That was kind of cute of him somehow to keep bringing a ball he wasn't going to use along so he'd be prepared to let her join him if she ever felt like it.

Jirou was staring at the ball intently, waiting for someone else to throw it so he could chase after it. "Wan wan!"

The two teens looked at each other and they started tossing the ball to each other and watched as Jirou would chase after the ball between the two of them, barking all the while.

Yamamoto gave Haru a quick look before he chucked the ball as far as he could and Jirou went chasing after it as soon as he saw where it was going with an energetic yelp!

He went running after the ball as fast as his little legs could take him.

"Wow, look at him run! He's so fast!" Haru was in awe, just happy that he slowed down enough for her to actually chase after him earlier when they were going for their run. If he ran off at full speed, she would've lost sight of him a long time ago.

It was expected for him to be this fast since he was a canine of course.

It was easy to catch up to the ball for Jirou and he jumped up to catch the ball in his mouth and he scrambled onto his feet to run back to either of the two teens to ask them to throw the ball again.

"Wuamph!" He held the ball out for Haru to throw this time.

She didn't have much confidence in her throwing arm, but she was going to give it her best shot. Winding up her arm, she threw the ball as hard as she could and Jirou ran off after the ball, assuming that it would fly as far as Yamamoto's ball did, but it didn't. He quizzically looked around, wondering where the ball went when he heard a soft thud behind him.

The ball was behind him? How did that happen?

He trotted over the ball, sniffing it to make sure he was looking at the right ball. After assuring himself that he's got the right ball, Jirou picked the ball up in his mouth and trotted himself over back to Haru for a revenge match.

Taking the ball, she threw it as hard as she could and this time Jirou kept a close watch on the ball and he managed to catch it this time in his mouth.

"Wuwamph!" He begged for Yamamoto to throw the ball this time.

At first which was Yamamoto and Haru tossing the ball to each other turned into a pampering of the box animal who wanted to play fetch.

This continued for an hour until Haru decided it was high time they returned home. Who knew what the other box animals were doing right now?

For all she knew, they were probably going crazy.

"Jirou, it's time to go home now. We've been out for quite some time now." Haru instructed to only be met with whining.

He didn't want to leave his master along just yet! He just got to see his master again after so long!

Not wanting to bother Haru, Yamamoto patted Jirou down. "Come on Jirou, you promised to not cause Haru trouble." He looked over at Haru, "I'll go and walk you both home." He offered.

Jirou excitedly ran over to get his leash again that Haru earlier took off of him and handed it to Haru so she could place it back on him before he ran over to Yamamoto.

Using his head, he nudged Yamamoto over to Haru and sat in between of them and held the leash in his mouth.

If either Yamamoto or Haru tried to grab the leash, he'd move his head away from them so they couldn't grab the leash.

They didn't get what was going on, until Yamamoto figured out what his partner was trying to say.

"I think he wants us both to hold onto the leash." He suggested.

"Wuamph!" Jirou barked happily with the leash still in his mouth.

What a cute dog. He made for a wonderful… wing-dog.

She took hold of the leash and waited for Yamamoto to take the leash as well.

Jirou waited for them to start walking so they could go home.

The point of this was, what Haru thought, to have Haru and Yamamoto hold hands in a way while they walked home together.

It would be hard to believe if it were any other dog, but since this was JIrou they were talking about, it was quite likely that is what he was actually planning. "You're so lucky Yamamoto-kun. Jirou cares so much for you and does cute things like this." Haru giggled.

Of course, Yamamoto was thinking the same thing, looking down at one of his box weapons. He was always so proud of the accomplishment his dog box weapon made.

He was growing a lot and of course, he was very good at creating opportunities between him and Haru.

The two teens figuratively held hands as they walked towards the house Haru was currently staying at with the rest of the box animals.

They took their time walking home, leisurely talking among themselves to prolong their journey to their final destination.

That's when Haru thought of something. "You know, since Jirou needs a lot of exercise and he loves being around you, we can set up walk dates. I will walk around with Jirou and meet up with you at the park so you can play with Jirou after your done practicing." She suggested as they reached the entrance of the door.

From the sounds of this suggestion, it sounded as though Jirou could see his master more often and Yamamoto would be able to spend more quality time with Haru.

This was a great idea because then he could get friendlier with her before any of the other guys do.

"I like the sound of that. We can meet up at the park, sometimes when you go and walk Jirou and perhaps… sometimes we can meet up without Jirou. You know, like a date." Yamamoto grinned.

Haru felt her cheeks heat up and she smiled back at Yamamoto with how smooth he just turned that against her.

Upon hearing Haru's voice at the door, the animals all started crowding around behind the door.

They could hear various claws scratching at the door, or bigger animals bumping their heads against it. It wasn't fair that Jirou had Haru to himself for so long! They wanted to play with her as well!

"Okay, we should do that. It'll be a date. We can talk about it soon." Haru quickly had to go back inside to quell the anger of the other box animals to make sure they didn't break down the door.

"Alright! I'll text you later then." Yamamoto waved and started jogging his way home, but not before petting Jirou's head gently one more time.

Yamamoto and Jirou are super adorable, aren't they?

OH! If any of my readers were not aware of this yet, a lil while back I started a new project which is based off of dating simulation games. [of course, it is still Haru centric]

Just like the 100 oneshot challenge, the readers get to decide what is the next choice of action they want [they decide among choices that I lay out]. If you are interested, go and give it a look if you haven't already. New 'players' are always welcome! So as long as you of course listen to the rules. ^^

Until next time!

-Neospice12