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Description
Puppy Love

"Easy… Eeeasy… Okay, now hit it!" Heart hammering in her chest, the thirteen year old girl obeyed the older man's command, flooring the accelerator and wincing as the monstrous unimog screeched loudly in response and obediently set forth into the obstacle course.

Funny, Haruka thought shakily to herself as she jerked the wheel hard to the right in order to avoid the cardboard cutout of a little old lady that suddenly popped up from where it had been hidden underneath the gravel. I never noticed just how big and frightening this thing was before these lessons… Turning the wheel hard again, Haruka just barely avoided the cutout of a five year old boy with a ball, sending a spray of rocks at the obstacle as she took off in another direction. Just as soon as she'd steadied the unimog, a cutout of a villainous looking black car came up on her right side, apparently running on a track hidden by the darkness and stones. Haruka watched the cutout warily, wondering what sort of obstacle Igawa had prepared for her as the tech expert himself grinned at her from where he was sitting in the passenger's seat.

The precog couldn't stop her jaw from dropping when one of the black 'car's' windows slid open, and a gun barrel was suck through the opening it made.

Breaking hard, Haruka managed to avoid the spray of bullets that were now riddling the brick wall of the abandoned factory Igawa had chosen for their practice grounds. Hastily shifting the car into reverse to escape the next surprise assault the girl could foresee coming, Haruka peeled out again before the grenade that had been 'thrown' from one of the abandoned building's windows could hit them.

"Guns, Igawa-san?" Haruka demanded, a hint of exasperation in her panicked tone. "Grenades?!" It was official; this was easily one of the weirdest driving lessons ever given.

"Relax Haruka, this baby's handled a lot worse, remember?" Igawa reminded the young girl cheerfully as she swerved to avoid the five-year-old's cutout for a second time before shifting the car back into drive. "Besides, these are the conditions you'll most likely be handling this thing under, so I figured it'd be best if you got used to it now." There was a truth to Igawa's words, Haruka knew that full well, but most of her was too busy feeling irritated at him to really care.

"You didn't stick a rocket launcher anywhere, did you?" The girl asked suspiciously, opening up her sixth sense a little more to try and see what was coming next without distracting her from what was happening right now.

"Nah, Sierra threatened to turn me into a hood ornament while you practice when she found out why I was asking for one." Igawa admitted with a cringe, feeling a bit put off by the woman's overprotective manner when it came to the precog girl. "Besides, that's probably a bit much for you right now anyways, don't you think?"

I think all of this is a bit much for me right now. Haruka thought forlornly to herself as she swerved to avoid a cutout of a teenage girl with glasses. It was true that she'd gotten fairly used to guns, explosions and men chasing her down as she tried to prevent getting innocent civilians involved in her fights and keep herself alive at the same time, but having to deal with all these things and drive a large truck that could probably be treated as a deadly weapon all its own was stressing the girl out on a totally new level. But then, it can't be helped… Glancing quickly at the man next to her, Haruka gave an exasperated smile when she saw Igawa's ear to ear grin.

Although he hadn't said anything on the subject, Haruka knew that Igawa had been feeling a little bit left out lately when it came to teaching her how to protect herself from the legions of bounty hunters trying to capture her. After all, it seemed like everyone had something to offer the girl, save for him. Mamoru was teaching her how to use a sword, as well as some basic martial arts moves, Sierra was showing her how to use a gun and teaching her close combat moves she'd learned from Alpha… Even Juliet and Dai were lending their expertise to the girl, Juliet by teaching Haruka some stealth tricks to help her escape capture and Dai by helping her learn some of the acrobatic moves he prided himself on (He kept talking about teaching her how to ride a motorcycle as well, but Haruka kind of balked on that one. She'd seen the way Dai rode his bike, and had no desire to wind up a skid mark on the cement).

While all this was going on though, Haruka became more and more aware of how dejected Igawa was becoming over the situation. After all, he had no real combat expertise that could help Haruka defend herself, and while he was a technological and mechanical genius, this talent wasn't really any use to the precog, since she could never make heads or tails of half of Igawa's techno babble. Sure, Igawa was basically in charge of her home schooling ever since she was forced to leave school, but the man obviously didn't feel this was enough of a contribution to Haruka's protection.

That was why Haruka suggested that Igawa teach her how to drive. It made sense for her to learn anyways, since most of the rest of the team was usually so busy fighting that the defense of the command vehicle was left almost entirely on Igawa's shoulders, on top of all the monitoring he had to do to make sure nothing went wrong with Mamoru's glasses or Dai's bike. If anything happened to take Igawa out of commission, Haruka would be in big trouble, especially if it was just herself, Igawa and Mamoru out on patrol. After all, it wasn't like a blind swordsman would be able to drive better then a thirteen year old precog…

"Aaaand done!" Startled, Haruka came out of her thoughts, surprised to see she had made it to the 'safe'' area she'd been aiming for since the start of the obstacle course. Looking behind her, the girl could feel sweat building on her forehead as she took in all the obstacles she'd avoided while consumed by her thoughts, amazed that she hadn't gotten herself and Igawa killed. She wasn't sure if it was her power that had steered her through the last bit of the course or the fact that she was becoming far more used to dangerous situations than someone her age ought to be, but either way she was grateful. "Not half bad, Haruka… you made it in less than ten minutes."

"Are we done for today?" Haruka asked, unable to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice. Igawa gave a sheepish smile when he heard it, wondering if maybe he went a little overboard today. The grenades were probably a bit much, after all…

"Yeah, I'll need to clean up the course and make new obstacles before we go again." Igawa explained as he unbuckled himself in order to switch places with the precog. "I want to try and prepare you for any situation that pops up, and teach you how to use the weapons on this baby as well…" Haruka mentally groaned at that, eyeing the array of buttons, knobs, switches and levers on the dashboard before her warily before sighing in defeat and moving to unbuckle her seatbelt. After all, it was important she learn this, both for Igawa and for herself. Besides, compared to the hellish training that Mamoru subjected her to every day now, this was much safer. At least the unimog was bulletproof…

Just when Haruka was about to move to the passenger's seat, something caught the corner of the girl's eye, making her falter for a moment before turning to stare down a nearby alleyway. Igawa paused when he saw the girl freeze up, tensing when he recognized the look in the girl's eye and glancing warily down the same alley she was gazing into.

"Haruka?" Igawa said, one hand hovering over the switch that controlled one of the vehicle's many weapons, prepared to turn it on if the precog gave any indication that an attack was on its way. Fully set to deal with a fight, Igawa was floored when Haruka suddenly threw the driver's side door open and ran towards the alley with a look of intense concentration on her face. "H-hey! Haruka, what the-?!" Cursing to himself, Igawa struggled jumped out of the truck and followed the young girl into the dark, foreboding gap in between the abandoned buildings, already imagining all the ways Mamoru would fillet him if he returned to the hideout to inform the swordsman that their charge had vanished under his watch.

Relief flooded through the tech genius when he caught up with the girl, who was crouching at the brick wall that blocked off the other end of the alleyway. Scowling, Igawa approached the precog with an indignant huff. "Damn it, Haruka, you scared the hell out of me! If something happens to you-!" Igawa would have continued scolding the girl, had Haruka not chosen this moment to turn around and reveal to Igawa exactly what had captured her attention so completely that she felt the need to jump out of the car without a word about what was going on.

Igawa's rant died a violent and painful death as the man's irritation was replaced with shock as he got his first glance of the bedraggled form. Confused, the young man quickly turned his attention back to Haruka who had a small, but determined frown set upon her doll-like faced. Dread pooled in Igawa's stomach as he realized what the girl's look meant, and he couldn't help but groan as Haruka reached out to the small body that was visibly shivering in fear before her.

Mamoru's gonna kill me for this…

---

They were late.

Mamoru scowled to himself in annoyance from where he was sprawled out on the couch, ignoring the rock music that was blaring loudly from Dai's room. According to the analog clock that Haruka had thoughtfully asked Igawa to buy for him (since digital clocks were pretty much useless to his 'eyes'), both his partner and his ward should have been home nearly two hours ago. Even if Haruka had failed spectacularly at Igawa's twisted little obstacle course, it shouldn't take them this long to get home, and Mamoru seriously doubted the girl had screwed up badly enough to get herself and Igawa killed. Even if she didn't have a 'gift' that made her aware of death's approach before it got the chance to strike, Igawa had outfitted that vehicle with armor and weaponry that would make a tank look like a toy truck in comparison.

What the hell could be taking them so long? Mamoru wondered irritably, clenching his cane-sword tightly in his fist. There hadn't been another kidnapping attempt, had there? Igawa was supposed to alert him if any enemies came after Haruka, that had been part of the deal when Igawa and Haruka first started talking about this driver's training thing. Their practice course was close enough that Mamoru could make it if anything happened. Hell, they were so close that he could hear the gunfire coming from the obstacle course in their living room, along with a louder explosion that might have been a grenade. So how the hell did it take them two hours to get back from 'Extreme Driver's Ed' (as Igawa had so cleverly named his contribution to Haruka's ever expanding self defense education)?

Just as Mamoru was contemplating walking down to the training grounds to make sure no one have been killed, kidnapped or injured, the swordsman's ears picked up noises coming from the garage, and all the blind man's tension melted as he heard the muffled sounds of Haruka's voice shouting something at Igawa. Well, at least now he knew they were in one piece… Standing up, Mamoru stretched for a moment before slowly making his way to the door to greet the pair, only to jump back in surprise as the door was flung open with enough force that it hit the wall with a 'BANG!' that was apparently loud enough to startle Dai in his room, judging by the yelp followed by a low 'thump!' which came from the biker's room (from the curses that Dai was now spitting out, Mamoru suspected that the brazen motorcyclist must have fallen off his bed, or something equally embarrassing).

In the two seconds it took Mamoru to register this, a small form the samurai easily recognized as Haruka had already bolted to her room without so much as a word to her bodyguard, leaving the blind man blinking in surprise in her wake as her room's door slammed shut with the same force the front door had been opened.

Well that was odd… Mamoru thought to himself, frowning. Unless she was angry with him for some reason, Haruka would always greet him when she got home from her rare outings without her sword-wielding shadow. To his knowledge, Mamoru hadn't done anything to upset the girl recently, unless you count that little laundry incident which had taken place earlier that morning, where Mamoru still stubbornly maintained his innocence (Like it was really his fault his red boxers had gotten mixed in with the white clothes and turned everything pink. He was blind, so how what he supposed to know the difference? He'd just thrown them in because he needed a new pair, since the rest were dirty). Ignoring the very vocal noise complaints now coming for Dai's room, Mamoru headed into the garage to find Igawa muttering to himself as he fished something out of the back of the unimog.

"What took you guys so long?" Igawa gave a loud, undignified squawk at the sound of Mamoru's voice directly behind him, dropping the bag he was holding, its contents scattering everywhere. The swordsman frowned curiously as he watched Igawa hastily scoop up the boxes and cans that fell out of the bag. The feedback from his glasses didn't tell him what his partner's purchases contained, but it did serve to raise his ire. Impromptu shopping sprees weren't exactly smart when one of the participants was a kid with a bounty on her head, after all.

"H-hey man, it wasn't my fault! We had to go to the store, and then that stupid clerk was new and didn't know how to do his job and Haruka was practically breathing down my neck to get us home-!"

"Why would you need to go to the store? We usually order everything from the Network's website, except food, and you just went grocery shopping two days ago." Mamoru's eyes narrowed when his sensitive ears caught the sound of Igawa's heart rate quickening as the man gulped loudly, an obvious sign of nervousness. Something was definitely up…

Deciding that getting to the bottom of things was now top priority (and knowing a certain thirteen year old psychic well enough to know that she was usually at the bottom of any oddities that went on in their home), Mamoru turned and headed back into the house, ignoring Igawa's cry of protest when he 'accidentally' kicked one of the cans clear across the room. Heading up the stairs, the swordsman brushed past the scowling biker, who had apparently made his way out of his room to see what all the commotion was about, and marched straight into the room of the only female on the premises.

"Oi, what the hell-?" Mamoru stopped short at the sight in front of him, earning a baffled frown from Dai before he turned to see what had captured the samurai's attention.

Haruka was sitting with her legs crossed on the middle of her bedroom, which was normal enough for the thirteen year old girl. The calm, knowing look on her face as she casually regarded her guardian's actions was fairly normal too. That her jacket was lying on the floor in front of her was odd, since Haruka was pretty much the only one in the house who bothered cleaning up after herself, but it was hardly odd enough for the reaction it got from the swordsman. Just when Dai opened his mouth to start demanding questions, Haruka's jacket stirred slightly, stopping the cyclist's demands before they could start. Confused, Dai took a more careful look at the jacket, blinking in surprise when he saw that it was indeed moving.

And that a fuzzy white ear was now sticking out from underneath one of the sleeves.

Flabbergasted, Dai felt his jaw drop open as he stared in open shock at the animal, unaware of the storm of irritation now surrounding the blind swordsman beside him.

"Haruka." Mamoru started with more patience then he felt. "What the hell is that?"

"A puppy." The precog answered happily, as if it was completely normal for her to suddenly bring dogs home with her. "Igawa-san and I found him when he was teaching me how to drive."

"Haruka found it!" Igawa, who had apparently come up the stairs in time to catch this last statement, hastily passed the blame to the younger girl. He so wasn't getting involved in this one. Not when Mamoru had already made his opinions on dogs abundantly clear when Igawa had naïvely suggested that the blind man look into getting a service dog a few days before the pair had stumbled upon Haruka.

"You brought home a puppy?" Dai deadpanned, making the small girl laugh sheepishly in response. Shaking his head the biker glanced at the girl's primary caretaker to see what he made of this new development, going slack jawed once more at the irritation that was darkening the swordsman's already sullen features.

"I think he was abandoned. He seems like he was mistreated pretty badly, so I decided to look after him. Igawa-san already bought the dog food and some other things for him." Haruka explained, either failing to notice Mamoru's annoyance or choosing to ignore it.

"I told her it was a bad idea, man." Igawa said hastily to Mamoru, keeping his voice low so Haruka couldn't hear. "I suggested that we just drop the dog off at the nearest animal shelter, but Haruka was really stubborn about it. She wouldn't take no for an answer."

"More like you're just too weak-willed to say no to a kid." Mamoru shot back, throwing his now offended partner a rather condescending look. Turning back to the girl, Mamoru immediately addressed the matter at hand. "You're not keeping it."

"I'm not going to throw him back on the streets. He won't last a week like this." Haruka's voice was calm, but there was a hint of steel in her tone as she held Mamoru's gaze with a stubborn look of her own, not wilting even under the glare that would have sent at least two thirds of the Japanese underworld crying for their mothers.

"You are NOT keeping that thing." Mamoru repeated, almost growling as he turned up the intensity of the glare he was aiming at his (stubborn, ungrateful, bratty little know-it-all…) charge. Haruka didn't even blink.

"He doesn't have fleas, if that's what you're worried about, I already looked him over in the car."

"I don't care about fleas." Mamoru shot Dai a nasty look when he heard the biker snicker slightly here, apparently enjoying the samurai's suffering a little too much. Dai grinned back wickedly as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door.

"I don't see what the problem is." The brazened young man said loudly, enjoying the irritation that was playing across Mamoru's face. "I mean, what's the big deal if Haruka-chan has a dog?"

"We don't need any pets here." Mamoru snapped back. "That damn cat of your is enough, a puppy is too high maintenance for the kind of life we lead."

"What if we train him?" Haruka piped up, drawing the small dog into her arms as if to protect him from the blind man's ire. "The police use dogs all the time to track down and arrest criminals, don't they? He could be a very useful part of the team."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Igawa said, sounding a bit surprised.

"We don't need a dog to track down criminals." Mamoru bit back. "That's what we bring Haruka along for, isn't it?" Haruka blinked, wondering for a moment if she should feel flattered or offended by the swordsman's statement.

"But the police don't just use dogs to track down criminals." Igawa pointed out. "There are attack dogs, too. That could be helpful, if anyone tries to go after Haruka again.

"No." Mamoru said stubbornly, scowling.

"Hey, we could even train the mutt in other ways, too." Dai said as he popped a sucker into him mouth. "How about a seeing eye dog?"

"No." Mamoru hissed. Dai was mildly impressed that that much venom could be injected into one word.

"He won't get in your way, Mamoru-san." Haruka insisted, hugging the little white puppy closer as it licked her chin. "I promise I'd take care of him myself. You won't even know he's here!" Glaring balefully at the tiny ball of dirty fur she was holding, Mamoru seriously doubted the authenticity of the precog's promise.

But there was no denying that the swordsman was seriously outnumbered here. Igawa was already muttering about using their resources in the Element's Network in order to turn the mutt into an attack dog, Dai was busy enjoying how absolutely pissed off Mamoru was about the situation and Haruka wasn't about to budge an inch. The last was most annoying, since Mamoru had dealt with Haruka's 'this is how it's gonna be, whether you like it or not' moods many before, and could count on one hand the number of times he'd won against the girl in an argument after she got like that.

Shimen soka… Mamoru thought irritably as he turned and walked away from his (idiotic) housemates.

"Do as you like!" The swordsman snapped as he headed out to train. He had some misplaced aggression he needed to work off…

"Is he gonna be okay?" Igawa asked Haruka worriedly at Dai happily made his way back to his room, apparently pleased with himself for playing a part in Mamoru's bad mood.

"Mamoru-san will cool off eventually." Haruka assured the man quickly, glancing after her irritated husband-to-be. I hope. Haruka's assurances seemed to placate the tech geek though, who gave the newest addition to their warped little family a quick pat on the head before heading off to his lab, muttering to himself about obedience schools and bullet proof dog vests. Bemused, Haruka turned her attention back to the puppy, who gazed up at her with big, worried brown eyes.

"Don't worry." She whispered to him conspiratorially. "Mamoru-san's just grumpy right now. He'll warm up to you a little bit after you go to the bathroom on Dai-san's new boots when Igawa-san gives me my next driving lesson, since neither of them will think to take you outside." The puppy cocked his head in response, not understanding the girl who had known that she was to be his owner the second she laid eyes on him. Grinning, Haruka reached for the shopping bag that Igawa had left in her room. "Now then, let's get you fed properly, shall we…?"

Description
Puppy Love

"Easy… Eeeasy… Okay, now hit it!" Heart hammering in her chest, the thirteen year old girl obeyed the older man's command, flooring the accelerator and wincing as the monstrous unimog screeched loudly in response and obediently set forth into the obstacle course.

Funny, Haruka thought shakily to herself as she jerked the wheel hard to the right in order to avoid the cardboard cutout of a little old lady that suddenly popped up from where it had been hidden underneath the gravel. I never noticed just how big and frightening this thing was before these lessons… Turning the wheel hard again, Haruka just barely avoided the cutout of a five year old boy with a ball, sending a spray of rocks at the obstacle as she took off in another direction. Just as soon as she'd steadied the unimog, a cutout of a villainous looking black car came up on her right side, apparently running on a track hidden by the darkness and stones. Haruka watched the cutout warily, wondering what sort of obstacle Igawa had prepared for her as the tech expert himself grinned at her from where he was sitting in the passenger's seat.

The precog couldn't stop her jaw from dropping when one of the black 'car's' windows slid open, and a gun barrel was suck through the opening it made.

Breaking hard, Haruka managed to avoid the spray of bullets that were now riddling the brick wall of the abandoned factory Igawa had chosen for their practice grounds. Hastily shifting the car into reverse to escape the next surprise assault the girl could foresee coming, Haruka peeled out again before the grenade that had been 'thrown' from one of the abandoned building's windows could hit them.

"Guns, Igawa-san?" Haruka demanded, a hint of exasperation in her panicked tone. "Grenades?!" It was official; this was easily one of the weirdest driving lessons ever given.

"Relax Haruka, this baby's handled a lot worse, remember?" Igawa reminded the young girl cheerfully as she swerved to avoid the five-year-old's cutout for a second time before shifting the car back into drive. "Besides, these are the conditions you'll most likely be handling this thing under, so I figured it'd be best if you got used to it now." There was a truth to Igawa's words, Haruka knew that full well, but most of her was too busy feeling irritated at him to really care.

"You didn't stick a rocket launcher anywhere, did you?" The girl asked suspiciously, opening up her sixth sense a little more to try and see what was coming next without distracting her from what was happening right now.

"Nah, Sierra threatened to turn me into a hood ornament while you practice when she found out why I was asking for one." Igawa admitted with a cringe, feeling a bit put off by the woman's overprotective manner when it came to the precog girl. "Besides, that's probably a bit much for you right now anyways, don't you think?"

I think all of this is a bit much for me right now. Haruka thought forlornly to herself as she swerved to avoid a cutout of a teenage girl with glasses. It was true that she'd gotten fairly used to guns, explosions and men chasing her down as she tried to prevent getting innocent civilians involved in her fights and keep herself alive at the same time, but having to deal with all these things and drive a large truck that could probably be treated as a deadly weapon all its own was stressing the girl out on a totally new level. But then, it can't be helped… Glancing quickly at the man next to her, Haruka gave an exasperated smile when she saw Igawa's ear to ear grin.

Although he hadn't said anything on the subject, Haruka knew that Igawa had been feeling a little bit left out lately when it came to teaching her how to protect herself from the legions of bounty hunters trying to capture her. After all, it seemed like everyone had something to offer the girl, save for him. Mamoru was teaching her how to use a sword, as well as some basic martial arts moves, Sierra was showing her how to use a gun and teaching her close combat moves she'd learned from Alpha… Even Juliet and Dai were lending their expertise to the girl, Juliet by teaching Haruka some stealth tricks to help her escape capture and Dai by helping her learn some of the acrobatic moves he prided himself on (He kept talking about teaching her how to ride a motorcycle as well, but Haruka kind of balked on that one. She'd seen the way Dai rode his bike, and had no desire to wind up a skid mark on the cement).

While all this was going on though, Haruka became more and more aware of how dejected Igawa was becoming over the situation. After all, he had no real combat expertise that could help Haruka defend herself, and while he was a technological and mechanical genius, this talent wasn't really any use to the precog, since she could never make heads or tails of half of Igawa's techno babble. Sure, Igawa was basically in charge of her home schooling ever since she was forced to leave school, but the man obviously didn't feel this was enough of a contribution to Haruka's protection.

That was why Haruka suggested that Igawa teach her how to drive. It made sense for her to learn anyways, since most of the rest of the team was usually so busy fighting that the defense of the command vehicle was left almost entirely on Igawa's shoulders, on top of all the monitoring he had to do to make sure nothing went wrong with Mamoru's glasses or Dai's bike. If anything happened to take Igawa out of commission, Haruka would be in big trouble, especially if it was just herself, Igawa and Mamoru out on patrol. After all, it wasn't like a blind swordsman would be able to drive better then a thirteen year old precog…

"Aaaand done!" Startled, Haruka came out of her thoughts, surprised to see she had made it to the 'safe'' area she'd been aiming for since the start of the obstacle course. Looking behind her, the girl could feel sweat building on her forehead as she took in all the obstacles she'd avoided while consumed by her thoughts, amazed that she hadn't gotten herself and Igawa killed. She wasn't sure if it was her power that had steered her through the last bit of the course or the fact that she was becoming far more used to dangerous situations than someone her age ought to be, but either way she was grateful. "Not half bad, Haruka… you made it in less than ten minutes."

"Are we done for today?" Haruka asked, unable to keep the hopeful tone out of her voice. Igawa gave a sheepish smile when he heard it, wondering if maybe he went a little overboard today. The grenades were probably a bit much, after all…

"Yeah, I'll need to clean up the course and make new obstacles before we go again." Igawa explained as he unbuckled himself in order to switch places with the precog. "I want to try and prepare you for any situation that pops up, and teach you how to use the weapons on this baby as well…" Haruka mentally groaned at that, eyeing the array of buttons, knobs, switches and levers on the dashboard before her warily before sighing in defeat and moving to unbuckle her seatbelt. After all, it was important she learn this, both for Igawa and for herself. Besides, compared to the hellish training that Mamoru subjected her to every day now, this was much safer. At least the unimog was bulletproof…

Just when Haruka was about to move to the passenger's seat, something caught the corner of the girl's eye, making her falter for a moment before turning to stare down a nearby alleyway. Igawa paused when he saw the girl freeze up, tensing when he recognized the look in the girl's eye and glancing warily down the same alley she was gazing into.

"Haruka?" Igawa said, one hand hovering over the switch that controlled one of the vehicle's many weapons, prepared to turn it on if the precog gave any indication that an attack was on its way. Fully set to deal with a fight, Igawa was floored when Haruka suddenly threw the driver's side door open and ran towards the alley with a look of intense concentration on her face. "H-hey! Haruka, what the-?!" Cursing to himself, Igawa struggled jumped out of the truck and followed the young girl into the dark, foreboding gap in between the abandoned buildings, already imagining all the ways Mamoru would fillet him if he returned to the hideout to inform the swordsman that their charge had vanished under his watch.

Relief flooded through the tech genius when he caught up with the girl, who was crouching at the brick wall that blocked off the other end of the alleyway. Scowling, Igawa approached the precog with an indignant huff. "Damn it, Haruka, you scared the hell out of me! If something happens to you-!" Igawa would have continued scolding the girl, had Haruka not chosen this moment to turn around and reveal to Igawa exactly what had captured her attention so completely that she felt the need to jump out of the car without a word about what was going on.

Igawa's rant died a violent and painful death as the man's irritation was replaced with shock as he got his first glance of the bedraggled form. Confused, the young man quickly turned his attention back to Haruka who had a small, but determined frown set upon her doll-like faced. Dread pooled in Igawa's stomach as he realized what the girl's look meant, and he couldn't help but groan as Haruka reached out to the small body that was visibly shivering in fear before her.

Mamoru's gonna kill me for this…

---

They were late.

Mamoru scowled to himself in annoyance from where he was sprawled out on the couch, ignoring the rock music that was blaring loudly from Dai's room. According to the analog clock that Haruka had thoughtfully asked Igawa to buy for him (since digital clocks were pretty much useless to his 'eyes'), both his partner and his ward should have been home nearly two hours ago. Even if Haruka had failed spectacularly at Igawa's twisted little obstacle course, it shouldn't take them this long to get home, and Mamoru seriously doubted the girl had screwed up badly enough to get herself and Igawa killed. Even if she didn't have a 'gift' that made her aware of death's approach before it got the chance to strike, Igawa had outfitted that vehicle with armor and weaponry that would make a tank look like a toy truck in comparison.

What the hell could be taking them so long? Mamoru wondered irritably, clenching his cane-sword tightly in his fist. There hadn't been another kidnapping attempt, had there? Igawa was supposed to alert him if any enemies came after Haruka, that had been part of the deal when Igawa and Haruka first started talking about this driver's training thing. Their practice course was close enough that Mamoru could make it if anything happened. Hell, they were so close that he could hear the gunfire coming from the obstacle course in their living room, along with a louder explosion that might have been a grenade. So how the hell did it take them two hours to get back from 'Extreme Driver's Ed' (as Igawa had so cleverly named his contribution to Haruka's ever expanding self defense education)?

Just as Mamoru was contemplating walking down to the training grounds to make sure no one have been killed, kidnapped or injured, the swordsman's ears picked up noises coming from the garage, and all the blind man's tension melted as he heard the muffled sounds of Haruka's voice shouting something at Igawa. Well, at least now he knew they were in one piece… Standing up, Mamoru stretched for a moment before slowly making his way to the door to greet the pair, only to jump back in surprise as the door was flung open with enough force that it hit the wall with a 'BANG!' that was apparently loud enough to startle Dai in his room, judging by the yelp followed by a low 'thump!' which came from the biker's room (from the curses that Dai was now spitting out, Mamoru suspected that the brazen motorcyclist must have fallen off his bed, or something equally embarrassing).

In the two seconds it took Mamoru to register this, a small form the samurai easily recognized as Haruka had already bolted to her room without so much as a word to her bodyguard, leaving the blind man blinking in surprise in her wake as her room's door slammed shut with the same force the front door had been opened.

Well that was odd… Mamoru thought to himself, frowning. Unless she was angry with him for some reason, Haruka would always greet him when she got home from her rare outings without her sword-wielding shadow. To his knowledge, Mamoru hadn't done anything to upset the girl recently, unless you count that little laundry incident which had taken place earlier that morning, where Mamoru still stubbornly maintained his innocence (Like it was really his fault his red boxers had gotten mixed in with the white clothes and turned everything pink. He was blind, so how what he supposed to know the difference? He'd just thrown them in because he needed a new pair, since the rest were dirty). Ignoring the very vocal noise complaints now coming for Dai's room, Mamoru headed into the garage to find Igawa muttering to himself as he fished something out of the back of the unimog.

"What took you guys so long?" Igawa gave a loud, undignified squawk at the sound of Mamoru's voice directly behind him, dropping the bag he was holding, its contents scattering everywhere. The swordsman frowned curiously as he watched Igawa hastily scoop up the boxes and cans that fell out of the bag. The feedback from his glasses didn't tell him what his partner's purchases contained, but it did serve to raise his ire. Impromptu shopping sprees weren't exactly smart when one of the participants was a kid with a bounty on her head, after all.

"H-hey man, it wasn't my fault! We had to go to the store, and then that stupid clerk was new and didn't know how to do his job and Haruka was practically breathing down my neck to get us home-!"

"Why would you need to go to the store? We usually order everything from the Network's website, except food, and you just went grocery shopping two days ago." Mamoru's eyes narrowed when his sensitive ears caught the sound of Igawa's heart rate quickening as the man gulped loudly, an obvious sign of nervousness. Something was definitely up…

Deciding that getting to the bottom of things was now top priority (and knowing a certain thirteen year old psychic well enough to know that she was usually at the bottom of any oddities that went on in their home), Mamoru turned and headed back into the house, ignoring Igawa's cry of protest when he 'accidentally' kicked one of the cans clear across the room. Heading up the stairs, the swordsman brushed past the scowling biker, who had apparently made his way out of his room to see what all the commotion was about, and marched straight into the room of the only female on the premises.

"Oi, what the hell-?" Mamoru stopped short at the sight in front of him, earning a baffled frown from Dai before he turned to see what had captured the samurai's attention.

Haruka was sitting with her legs crossed on the middle of her bedroom, which was normal enough for the thirteen year old girl. The calm, knowing look on her face as she casually regarded her guardian's actions was fairly normal too. That her jacket was lying on the floor in front of her was odd, since Haruka was pretty much the only one in the house who bothered cleaning up after herself, but it was hardly odd enough for the reaction it got from the swordsman. Just when Dai opened his mouth to start demanding questions, Haruka's jacket stirred slightly, stopping the cyclist's demands before they could start. Confused, Dai took a more careful look at the jacket, blinking in surprise when he saw that it was indeed moving.

And that a fuzzy white ear was now sticking out from underneath one of the sleeves.

Flabbergasted, Dai felt his jaw drop open as he stared in open shock at the animal, unaware of the storm of irritation now surrounding the blind swordsman beside him.

"Haruka." Mamoru started with more patience then he felt. "What the hell is that?"

"A puppy." The precog answered happily, as if it was completely normal for her to suddenly bring dogs home with her. "Igawa-san and I found him when he was teaching me how to drive."

"Haruka found it!" Igawa, who had apparently come up the stairs in time to catch this last statement, hastily passed the blame to the younger girl. He so wasn't getting involved in this one. Not when Mamoru had already made his opinions on dogs abundantly clear when Igawa had naïvely suggested that the blind man look into getting a service dog a few days before the pair had stumbled upon Haruka.

"You brought home a puppy?" Dai deadpanned, making the small girl laugh sheepishly in response. Shaking his head the biker glanced at the girl's primary caretaker to see what he made of this new development, going slack jawed once more at the irritation that was darkening the swordsman's already sullen features.

"I think he was abandoned. He seems like he was mistreated pretty badly, so I decided to look after him. Igawa-san already bought the dog food and some other things for him." Haruka explained, either failing to notice Mamoru's annoyance or choosing to ignore it.

"I told her it was a bad idea, man." Igawa said hastily to Mamoru, keeping his voice low so Haruka couldn't hear. "I suggested that we just drop the dog off at the nearest animal shelter, but Haruka was really stubborn about it. She wouldn't take no for an answer."

"More like you're just too weak-willed to say no to a kid." Mamoru shot back, throwing his now offended partner a rather condescending look. Turning back to the girl, Mamoru immediately addressed the matter at hand. "You're not keeping it."

"I'm not going to throw him back on the streets. He won't last a week like this." Haruka's voice was calm, but there was a hint of steel in her tone as she held Mamoru's gaze with a stubborn look of her own, not wilting even under the glare that would have sent at least two thirds of the Japanese underworld crying for their mothers.

"You are NOT keeping that thing." Mamoru repeated, almost growling as he turned up the intensity of the glare he was aiming at his (stubborn, ungrateful, bratty little know-it-all…) charge. Haruka didn't even blink.

"He doesn't have fleas, if that's what you're worried about, I already looked him over in the car."

"I don't care about fleas." Mamoru shot Dai a nasty look when he heard the biker snicker slightly here, apparently enjoying the samurai's suffering a little too much. Dai grinned back wickedly as he crossed his arms and leaned against the door.

"I don't see what the problem is." The brazened young man said loudly, enjoying the irritation that was playing across Mamoru's face. "I mean, what's the big deal if Haruka-chan has a dog?"

"We don't need any pets here." Mamoru snapped back. "That damn cat of your is enough, a puppy is too high maintenance for the kind of life we lead."

"What if we train him?" Haruka piped up, drawing the small dog into her arms as if to protect him from the blind man's ire. "The police use dogs all the time to track down and arrest criminals, don't they? He could be a very useful part of the team."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Igawa said, sounding a bit surprised.

"We don't need a dog to track down criminals." Mamoru bit back. "That's what we bring Haruka along for, isn't it?" Haruka blinked, wondering for a moment if she should feel flattered or offended by the swordsman's statement.

"But the police don't just use dogs to track down criminals." Igawa pointed out. "There are attack dogs, too. That could be helpful, if anyone tries to go after Haruka again.

"No." Mamoru said stubbornly, scowling.

"Hey, we could even train the mutt in other ways, too." Dai said as he popped a sucker into him mouth. "How about a seeing eye dog?"

"No." Mamoru hissed. Dai was mildly impressed that that much venom could be injected into one word.

"He won't get in your way, Mamoru-san." Haruka insisted, hugging the little white puppy closer as it licked her chin. "I promise I'd take care of him myself. You won't even know he's here!" Glaring balefully at the tiny ball of dirty fur she was holding, Mamoru seriously doubted the authenticity of the precog's promise.

But there was no denying that the swordsman was seriously outnumbered here. Igawa was already muttering about using their resources in the Element's Network in order to turn the mutt into an attack dog, Dai was busy enjoying how absolutely pissed off Mamoru was about the situation and Haruka wasn't about to budge an inch. The last was most annoying, since Mamoru had dealt with Haruka's 'this is how it's gonna be, whether you like it or not' moods many before, and could count on one hand the number of times he'd won against the girl in an argument after she got like that.

Shimen soka… Mamoru thought irritably as he turned and walked away from his (idiotic) housemates.

"Do as you like!" The swordsman snapped as he headed out to train. He had some misplaced aggression he needed to work off…

"Is he gonna be okay?" Igawa asked Haruka worriedly at Dai happily made his way back to his room, apparently pleased with himself for playing a part in Mamoru's bad mood.

"Mamoru-san will cool off eventually." Haruka assured the man quickly, glancing after her irritated husband-to-be. I hope. Haruka's assurances seemed to placate the tech geek though, who gave the newest addition to their warped little family a quick pat on the head before heading off to his lab, muttering to himself about obedience schools and bullet proof dog vests. Bemused, Haruka turned her attention back to the puppy, who gazed up at her with big, worried brown eyes.

"Don't worry." She whispered to him conspiratorially. "Mamoru-san's just grumpy right now. He'll warm up to you a little bit after you go to the bathroom on Dai-san's new boots when Igawa-san gives me my next driving lesson, since neither of them will think to take you outside." The puppy cocked his head in response, not understanding the girl who had known that she was to be his owner the second she laid eyes on him. Grinning, Haruka reached for the shopping bag that Igawa had left in her room. "Now then, let's get you fed properly, shall we…?"