Summary: Four heirs to vast fortunes disappear under mysterious circumstances. A year later, Mina Aino impulsively adopts four dogs, giving one to each of her single friends. After, each girl faces threats, mayhem, and drama while the mystery of the dogs unravels

Faithful:
With eye upraised his master's look to scan,
The joy, the solace, and
the aid of man:
The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend,
The only creature faithful to the end.
--George Crabbe. A dog was a man's best friend.

CHAPTER 1: Impulsive Buying

A dog was a man's best friend.

Mina wasn't sure she could say the same about a woman's.

"It—peed—on me." Mina Aino stared in horror at her brand new Gucci shoes, now ruined.

The lady who was showing her around the Humane Society, whose name Mina couldn't recall, actually smiled and glanced at the puppy with endearment. "He's just nervous, is all."

Nervous? That dog looks smugger than the cat that caught the crook, or whatever that saying was…

"Right. Why don't we just look at the, uh, cats." A cat can protect me just as well as a dog can, Mina tried to convince herself. Except for the teeth, maybe, and the barking, and also, the growling. Oh Aphrodite, I hate when the girls are right.

"Are you sure, Ms. Aino?" asked the lady, hesitantly waiting for an answer. The lady (whose name was Holly or something) was a friend of Serena's and was doing them both a favor by letting Mina choose a dog off hand. Usually a person had to be added to the waiting list in order to get an animal, especially a dog since they were so high in demand. Holly, or whatever her name was, was doing Serena a huge favor by allowing Mina to bypass all the rules.

Mina sighed. The least she could do was pick a dog after Serena had gone to all the trouble.

"No, I guess we can look at a few more," Mina said resignedly, staring down sadly at her ruined shoes which probably represented her future with a mutt. She struggled not to just leave right then and rush over to the nearest shoe store.

Holly nodded cheerfully and waved for Mina to follow her through another doorway and onward to another section of cages.

Poor things. To be locked up all day…

"These are some of our newly acquired dogs," Holly chattered, pointing to a larger cage in the corner. "We found them abandoned on the side of the road, all lying together like they are now. The funny thing is when we tried to separate them, they howled all night until we put them back together. Weird, huh? And over here…"

The four dogs in the corner caught Mina's attention in a weird way. She stared for a moment before following Holly.

She tuned out after that, distantly studying all the rest of the dogs she was shown. With each dog Mina saw, she came up with an excuse as to why she couldn't get it.

Way too little.

Can't even see its face.

WAY too big.

Hate the eyes.

Would get hair everywhere.

Looks like one of the youmas we destroyed.

Ew. Just, ew.

"So?" the perky lady asked after what appeared to be the end of her monologue, "what do you think?"

They're either dirty, hairy, whiny, or all three. "I'm still not sure," Mina instead replied.

Holly bit her lip nervously, looking indecisive about something. "Well, not to rush you or anything, but do you think I could slip off for a second? My boyfriend promised to call at three." It was two fifty-five.

"No problem." Mina winked mischievously, knowing intimately the woes of love. Holly smiled her thanks and rushed off to her office to await her boyfriend's call. Mina only hoped the guy wouldn't disappoint the go-lucky girl.

Now alone, Mina focused her thoughts on picking a dog. It wasn't that she wanted one—it was more that she was being forced. Now that she was going off to live on her own, her parents had decided to take a more active role in her life.

A little late for that, she had thought bitterly at the time. After years of neglect and ignoring their child, they'd decided that now that she was fully grown to start caring.

Robert and Kristen Aino had come to the decision that they wouldn't let her live on her own unless she was well protected. A dog, boyfriend, or even living with a friend, it didn't matter, as long as it wasn't alone.

But Mina hadn't wanted that. After taking care of herself for most of her life, she wanted the true joys of independence and was determined to move into an apartment of her own and pay for her own college tuition. She had money saved from some of the modeling she'd done earlier in her childhood along with birthday and holiday money from relatives. It was enough to get through the first year if she also got a job.

Her parents had refused when she had informed them of the decision. She had scoffed at them. Honestly, she was eighteen, what could they do?

A lot, apparently.

They had connections in high places, including one at Tokyo University.

Either get protection or live at home, they had laid out to her. Or what? she challenged. They would call in a favor the Dean owed them and have Mina prohibited to live at an off campus facility, and, at the same time, have the Dean forbid her to live in the dorms since her home was so close.

She was then faced with a decision.

How far was she willing to go to defy her parents? To show them they didn't have control over her, even if they did?

So she had concurred. A dog ("Gross.") was the best she could do. Her friends had offered her a place to crash but their apartments were either too far away from campus or they already had a roommate.

A quiet growl that Mina almost missed refocused her deep sapphire eyes on the cage in the far corner.

We found them abandoned on the side of the road.

Four large dogs lazily stared at her through hooded eyes.

Mina gave a startled gasp.

Gray eyes.

Is that normal?

The dog had vivid gray eyes that were alert and watching. Mina couldn't identify what breed the dog was, only that he (it couldn't possibly be a she, no girl looks that mean, dog or not) was pure white, with equally white, large teeth, and a huge body that looked like it would reach Mina's shoulders standing up.

The dog eyed her with disdain.

Mina smirked. "Who's the one in the cage?" she couldn't help taunting. Something about those eyes just made her want to…well, tease and taunt him.

The dog just gave her a disapproving frown.

Can dogs frown?

Another mutt started yelping as his playmate bit his tail a little too hard. It drew Mina's attention to Grayeyes other roommates.

The yelping one had startling green eyes and a reddish blond coat, its bullying friend had deep blue eyes but with a pure golden blond coat that shined with apparent care.

The last dog reminded her of Lita. He (maybe, but not likely, she) watched the others with merriment and good fun. His brown fur coat looked incredibly soft, as were his sweet brown eyes.

"You're so cute!" Mina couldn't help but squeal at the dogs, a seed of something being planted in her mind.

Lita and Ami would love some company, I bet. Rei lives alone now, too, since her grandfather died…why not?

Holly arrived back a couple minutes later, a large beaming smile telling Mina that her boyfriend had indeed remembered. "So, did you decide?" she bounced happily, the throes of love boosting her mood, not that she was an overly gloomy person to begin with.

"Yes, I think I have. I'll take them all."

While Mina was picking out a new pet, a tall and mysterious presence was watching.

She observed patiently as the blonde girl made the decision to buy all of the dogs. Then, she seated herself in a chair that had not been there a second before and began to curse.

"All my work," she muttered, waving around a large staff in anger, "and they still manage to find each other."

With a sigh, the woman got up and paced the length of the room. Heels clicked rhythmically while she thought about what her next move should be. Obviously, trying to separate them would not work, as she should have well known.

Maybe she should just kill them. That held poetic justice.

"No, no," she talked to herself aloud, a bad habit that had formed from the little contact she had with others. "The Master wouldn't approve of that," she intoned sardonically.

Throwing her staff to the ground, she imprecated some more before collecting herself and deciding on a course of action.

She would simply let things play out and intervene when necessary. With that plan in mind, she took her seat again and began to watch the events of the next week play out.

At least it would be interesting.