I stared her in the face.

"You have to do this for me. You have to."

She stared blankly back.

I huffed. "Come on, all the times we went out, and you're ditching me now?" I stood and grabbed the rope, ready to latch it to the dog-collar around her neck.

"Well, whether you like it or not, we're going to do this."

I stared down at my dog, Dakota, who did not in any way shape or form, want to go for a walk. I could see her eyes yelling at me, 'Shut up Rebekah! I'm not gonna help you try to run, you'll kill yourself and I'll be locked out of the house!'

I sighed again. "Yeah, you're probably right. Oh well. Come on! Takashi is gonna meet us at the dog park!"

Her ears perked and her eyes sparkled. 'Dog park!?'

"Yep. With all those other dogs... You can run rampant, and you can pee or poop wherever, and nobody will clean it up... No leash... Free running... You just have to run there with me, okay?"

She barked and licked my leg. That'd be a yes.

We stood outside while I locked the door, standing in the cool springish air with only running capris, a sports bra, and a running jacket on. My jacket was unzipped, my bra showing as if it were a tank top. Then we were off.

Two blocks down the street, we took a left, only to nearly run into Mori.

"Oh! Jeez! You scared me, what are you doing?"

He held my waist to keep me from falling over. "I was just on my way to your place, so we could meet up sooner?" I laughed. So eager to please!

"Well, here we are, let's go!" He looked at Dakota and back up to me questioningly. "What?" I said, "She hasn't been out in a while. It'll be fine."

We jogged to a coffee shop nearby the dog park. Seeing as it was 8:00 in the morning, I needed it. Not so much for caffiene, but becuase it was warm, and that was good for me.

We laughed and talked for a bit before we were off again. Dakota was chained up outside, and I could swear she could smell the dogs at the park, she was so excited.

We walked to the park, and let her go. The park was a large square of grass and some trees, surrounded by a chain-link fence. There was a double gate at the exit, so as not to let any dogs in or out. I found it funny that as cool and technology oriented as Japan is, they still have room for dog parks here and there. There was a picnic table resting in the center of a few large pines. We seemed to be one of only three dog owners there.

He skipped straight to what was on his mind, not wasting time. "So what did you want to talk about?"

I looked up at him, a little surprised. "Well, nothing actually. I just wanted to walk with you a bit." Now it was his turn to be shocked. I was being completely honest, but he was sure there would be a reason.

"Hmm. I guess I've been spending a bit too much time with Tamaki and Kyoya, huh? Those nut-cases have a reason for doing everything."

We laughed at them, sipping coffee and watching my huskie frollick with a german shepard and a mastiff. Good day for big dogs.

After a bit, Takashi turned to me. "I think I'd like to get a dog."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It would be good for me. All I've ever done is take care of Mitskuni, but I've never had any practice actually caring for something. Plus, a dog would be a great playmate for Dakota and me. A dog sounds good."

I nodded, taking in the idea. What kind of dog would be good for him, though? Maybe a setter... or a chow? No... Something like... "Oh! That'd be perfect!"

"What?" He asked.

"I know the perfect dog for you." Without even thinking, we swung by the closest pet shop on our way home. Luckily for me, they knew a lot of breeders, and one of them had exactly the breed I was thinking of. We thanked the owner and were on our way, after stocking up on dog food, a collar, leash, and some toys, of course. We sent everything but the collar and leash back to Mori's house with a driver he called.

We walked to the breeder, taking our sweet time. We called them on the way there, saying we would like to swing by to see if they had any puppies. Lucky enough, they did. It seemed meant to be.

We were greeted by a woman probably in her early 20's, a white woman, no less. She grinned at us, flustered from keeping up with the pups, most likely. I heard the deep yapping of puppies behind her. I could tell they were going to grow up to be pretty hefty. I kept Dakota on a VERY short leash, making sure she wouldn't run off.

"Hi! You must be the couple who called not too long ago. I am Margaret, my husband James is in the back room. It's feeding time, actually!" She laughed and ushered us in.

"Ah, there they are!" A man stooped, pouring water into a very large bowl for what must have been eight puppies. I counted, nope, there were nine. "Hello, I'm James." He shook our hands, a thick Australian accent affecting his english. Mori looked like it was a little hard for him to follow, but he was pretty good about english, so I'm sure he was fine.

Margaret clasped her hands. "You're a bit younger than we'd expected... How old are you two?

Takashi spoke up, "I'm 19, and Rebekah is just 18. We are still living with our parents, but they're fine if we get pets. I can garuntee we're fully able to care for a dog."

I held up Dakota's leash, "Dakota is a 6 year family member!" We smiled, but she still seemed a bit hesitant.

"Well," She started, "Alright. Have a look around, the girls have pink collars, and the boy dogs have blue collars. If you find one you like, tell us! Oh, and if you'd like to see how your dog reacts to them, we can let them looks in the yard." She smiled and disappeared with her husband.

"So," I turned to my fiance, "See any you like?"

We stood before nine great dane puppies, most eating or drinking, some tripping over their enourmous paws, some standing and wagging their tails at us. Mori bend by each, staring them in the eyes. All but two of them, both boys, wiggled their heads and tried to get away. The situations with the two who reacted to him in different ways than I'd expect went as follows. One, a pitch black puppy dropped down onto just his front two paws, wiggling his butt, and jumped on Mori, nipping at his face. Mori smiled and roughed him up a bit, then moved on. The second one that reacted wierdly was more calm.

He carefully grabbed the dogs jaw so it faced him, staring probably straight into it's soul. The dog looked right back at him, completely still. It didn't wag it's tail, it didn't lick it's chops, it didn't shift it's weight. After a few seconds of this, he slowly pushed his head forward and licked Mori's cheek carefully. He chuckled and stood.

"That's him." I looked at the dog, a bit stranger than the rest. While the other puppies were smooth and black and wrinkled. This puppy was spotted brownish and black, and was shaggy in fur. He had a muscular build and large paws, though, like the rest of the pups, but he looked a bit older. Maybe 6 months older. We called for the couple again. They came back into the room, smiles on their faces.

Those smiles dropped right off their faces when they saw which puppy Mori was holding though. "Oh... So you've chosen... That one...?"

"Uh, yes. Is that a problem?"

"Oh, well, it's just that... That one's not very upbeat... He's not very much of a family dog, you see? And he's... Well he's pretty old to adopt..."

"How old?"

"Oh... He's nearly a year old now..."

"I'll take him." Mori was straight forward about it. "I don't care how old."

She looked shocked. "Oh. Well, are you sure? He's not even wholly dane. He's half australian shepherd... The mother got away one night... He was the only puppy. Still, so many people are worried that they can't train him because he's so old now."

"I can do it. How much do you want?"

She smiled, sensing his determination and honesty. "Well, 500 is our regular price, which would be 50,240 yen, but we'll take $150 off for the age- so 35,168 yen."

We payed her and were off. We latched him onto the leash and collar and started our walk back. Dakota was pretty interested in him, but she didn't try to mess with him at all. He was a pretty stoic pup, honestly, so she was smart not to try to play. We also decided to name him Sutokiz, from the words sutoikko(stoic), and kizoku(noble). We called a car and went to the first engraving place we could find to get a tag, and then started home. Sitting in the back seat of Mori's family's car with our dogs, I couldn't have ever felt more like I was part of a family.

I flipped my camera out of my purse, clicking the record button as I do. I started talking to my family back home as I turned the camera all around. "So! Here we are guys! This is my second day back from my EPIC business journey around the world, and we just bought a dog! We named him Sutokiz, which pretty much means stoic noble, and that's kinda what he is! He's pretty chill." I turned the camera toward him and he cocked his head to the side, laying across Mori's lap suavely. "See? He's cool. Dakota on the other hand, is still sticking her head out the window like a puppy. Not sure if she'll ever chill..." I showed half a dog, seeing as the other half was outside the car. Then I turned to Takashi, "And here is my lovely fiance, now a proud owner of a dog! Say hey, babe!"

He smiled and waved at the camera. I laughed and turned it off. "Ya know," I said to him, "My family loves you... They're pretty convinced you're the best thing that's happened in the world since sliced bread."

He wrapped his arm around my shoulders. "Good, cause I'm here to stay."