Duran-kun and Kiyo-chan's Omake Theater!
(featuring the Kuga-Fujino family pets)
The sound of barking echoed from outside the kitchen window. Natsuki sighed, walked over, and looked out. Sure enough, Duran was standing just behind the chain-link fence, his metal body gleaming in the winter sun, barking out towards the road.
Shizuru Fujino, seated at the breakfast table, sipped tea.
"Hey!" Natsuki called, slapping the window with the palm of her hand. Duran looked up towards her, then got a sheepish expression on his face and slunk away from the fence.
"Yeah, you'd better look embarrassed," Natsuki muttered under her breath.
"What has Duran gotten up to?" Shizuru asked.
"Oh, just his usual antics. Mr. Nomura is warming up his car for the morning drive."
"I thought that was not necessary with modern, fuel-injected vehicles?"
"Well, either he doesn't know that or he just wants to let the car get going so the heater is working by the time he gets behind the wheel. It really annoys Duran, though."
Shizuru tipped her head curiously to one side.
"Duran is sensitive about responsible car ownership?"
Natsuki grinned despite herself.
"Nah, he just has a thing about large, black luxury sedans. I think it reminds him of the cars those District One goons liked to drive around in, looking all Men-In-Black style. He seems to have realized that not all panel trucks are bad-guy vehicles, but as for a black Lexus or Infiniti or Mercedes or BMW, he just hates them."
She sat down at the table and picked up her coffee cup.
"I see. Well, he did fight very hard by your side for several years against their machinations, so I can understand his attitude. Even so, I would not want to provoke a feud with our neighbors."
Natsuki nodded, then slurped coffee.
"Yeah," she decided. "I may need to put him on a leash that doesn't let him reach around to the side of the house so that he can't see the car, at least for his morning outs. I hope it isn't necessary, but if he doesn't learn..."
~X X X~
Duran was worried.
His mistress hadn't seemed concerned about his alarm and so he had obediently backed off for a time. For a while he'd distracted himself by playing with Kiyohime; he liked the game where she'd tunnel around under the snow and he'd try to find her and dig her out. It was too bad, really, that they could only play it during winter, since their mistresses got very annoyed when either one of them would dig up the back yard.
The distraction, though, only worked for so long. The knowledge that, just across the street, one of those cars was sitting and waiting inside that nice Mr. Nomura's open garage nagged at him. At least, it was too much for a dog to take. He went around to the side yard and looked out, only to see the car backing out of the driveway.
It was getting away!
Now, if Duran had been barking at it when it had driven off that would be one thing. A reasonable dog would conclude that it was his fierce threats that had scared it away. This was different! It was leaving on its own, which meant that it must have successfully completed its nefarious business across the street!
He couldn't allow that!
Duran crouched, almost like a runner in the starting blocks, then launched himself, snow blasting up on both sides as he charged through it towards the fence—and sprang! He was an excellent jumper, maybe not enough at his current size to go from the deck of a cabin cruiser to that of a ferry, but certainly enough to clear a four-foot fence! He landed on the other side and rushed towards the street, checking for oncoming traffic before turning into the lane behind the black sedan and starting to sprint.
~X X X~
The sound of two sharp explosions from outside jolted Natsuki and Shizuru in their seats, nearly causing them to spill their drinks.
"What was that?"
"Oh, geez," Natsuki answered, "please don't let that be what I think it is..."
They ran out the front door, an action that seemed popular in the suburb judging by the gathering crowd. Mr. Nomura's black sedan had fishtailed off the road, its rear end half-buried in Mrs. Akai's cedar hedge. As the women watched, Mr. Nomura shakily unfastened his seat belt and got out of the car, only to be enthusiastically greeted by Duran, who jumped up with paws on the man's shoulders, tail wagging happily while he licked the salaryman's face.
"Ara, it seems that Duran believes he has rescued our neighbor from the evil car."
Natsuki growled.
"Well, he's going to find out how wrong he is. Blast it, it's bad enough to have a dog that chases cars, without him shooting out the tires so they don't get away!"