Hanran's POV

I kept a snarl down as I watched Mary Saotome, a blonde girl who had no compunctions about treating housepets like they're mere dirt of the earth, hit the back of Ryota Suzui's head, barking at him to fetch her poker chips.

She casted me a smirk from where I was stuck, handcuffed to a post as she had her housepets capture me not too long ago.

This is why I haven't built a "pack" because these guys even as housepets can betray you with a drop of a hat if the opportunity arises....

"Oh, is the poor mutt stressed seeing this Fido be taught his place?" She taunted me.

I glared before giving her an unholy smirk of my own, even if it was mostly covered by my mask. "You know it's kinda ironic. I'm supposed to be the bitch in this scenario but I'm looking at a big one right now."

Her gold eyes flashed angrily, as she strode over to me.

There was a crack and my face was suddenly turned the other way.

Despite the sting in my cheek, I still had the gall to give her more shit.

"Though unironically you still hit like one." I could feel the coppery taste of blood hitting my tongue as I had accidentally bit my cheek when she slapped me. Thankfully my mask didn't fall off when she did this, but it did rattle my skull.

"Let's see you still talking big once the student council comes to collect you and I take the bounty you are worth." She spoke to me acidly.

Her words didn't phase me. Hell, if I had a yen for every time I heard that one, I'd be the richest bitch in Hyakkaou Private Academy.

And just like every time these yuppies think they have caught me, I always escape before the student council or any of their stooges shows up to collect.

Thus the chase resumes.

It's almost like Wile E. Coyote trying to catch the Roadrunner. Quite amusing. And we all know that the Roadrunner almost always win.

Though I have no intention of losing. Losing means getting caught. And as the wild animal of the housepets, getting caught means the same thing as being shot and perhaps put in a cage. And there have been a desperate few that had actually came after me with a firearm. One was a tranquilizer gun like they use in safaris, another was an actual pistol meant to kill me. Things went up a notch when someone carried a cannon and went after me. That was a crazy day and I question how the hell I managed to escape that one....

What surprised me that day was after the incident that the student council president made it very clear I was to be brought in alive.

My guess was that she probably want the honor of killing me herself.

Whether that is literal or not is entire up to you....

But I digress.

As Mary walked away, Ryota, bless his heart, came over to me with a handkerchief.

I stared up at him through my mask, wondering why he's bothering to do this.

"You realize you make it worse, right?" He asked rhetorically.

I shrugged. "I've had worse. A mere love tap isn't gonna put me down..."

He looked dismayed. "Thanks anyway..." He muttered before quickly rushing off to help Mary with something.

"Well," I shrugged to myself looking at the cuffs on my wrists, "guess I can relax until the opportunity to escape comes my way."

Timeskip

It was as classes let out that Mary and the rest of her lackeys came back, this time with a girl that looked alarmingly like....

"Milady?!" I thought with alarm before I got a good look at her.

"Wait that's not her..." I realized with a relieved shock.

While she had the raven-colored hair it wasn't styled the same way as hers and her eyes were brown instead of red.

Though the air she possesses...

Taking a light sniff, I felt the hairs along my arms rise as I tasted something dark underneath the playful innocent facade she portrayed to the others.

From what I can gather, Mary must have challenged this girl to a game. Rock, Paper, Scissors if I had to guess. From what I heard from the other housepets as they talked among themselves, she is a new student here.

When her eyes landed on me, it took everything not to flinch and look away, mask or not.

"Oho? Who's this?" Her voice had a lilt to it, like bells.

Mary snorted. "Oh her? Never mind her. Nothing more than an animal I have trapped and about to be shipped off to the zookeepers."

This caused me to snarl, forgetting about the new girl.

She's probably gonna be like the others anyway. Once I break out of here, she'll probably jump at the chance to join the "wolf hunt."

Imagine my surprise when she suddenly walked up to me, crouching down to get a better look at me, despite Mary's

I leaned back, a little unnerved by the lack of space between us. She began to reach towards my face, my mask in specific.

On instinct I pulled away, not wanting her to take it off.

She pulled her hand back, tilting her head curiously before her eyes went to the handcuffs on me.

"Isn't this a bit much?" She asked aloud, inspecting the chains.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Yeah because she's an escape artist so I'm not taking any chances especially with the bounty on her head."

"Bounty?" The girl's voice held a touch of interest. Oh boy, once she hears how big the bounty is that's it.

"Yeah, the bitch is worth about ten billion yen and counting." Mary smirked. "And I intend to cash in on that."

I growled lowly. Greedy vulture.

My growling ceased when I felt a pat on top of my head, where my kerchief rested on my head.

Snapping my eyes back to her I saw that rather than the usual greedy glaze in her eyes like I've seen with other students I saw a speculative look in her eyes. Seeing me make eye contact with her, she gave me a brief wink, making me turn red in the face.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" She asked in an alluring voice. One that I felt compelled to answer.

"H-Han." I cleared my throat. "Short for Hanran...."

"Cute." My eyes widened at this. That's definitely a first.

Sending me a brief yet genuine smile she straightened back up to look at Mary.

"I think I have a better idea on what to wager..." The new girl said to Mary.

"Oh? And what's that?" She looked cocky.

"I think I'd like to wager not only our chips, but also her." She pointed at me.

I nearly hung my head at this; should have known it was too good to be true. Guess she's like the others after all...

Mary, regardless, shrugged. "Okay. Sure whatever. I'm game."

With that the game began.

I glared at Ryota as he basically helped Mary cheat, but I knew it wasn't because he had a choice so I couldn't hold it against him.

Then I noticed a small detail with Yumeko as the game continued.

That pocket mirror....

My eyes widened in realization; she knew!

I began smirking under my mask; Mary is so screwed now.

Though my internal victory was short-lived as a certain smell I've come to be too familiar with enter my nose.

Oh for fuck's sake.... this chick gets off on this sort of thing!

Goddamn pheromones....

Why did my senses have to be this good? This is why I avoid going to gym class. Those locker rooms despite how fancy they look are a real cesspool of hormones....

As I recovered from the stench I made the mistake of looking at her eyes, which had gone from brown to a scintillating scarlet. Something inside me quaked, and I couldn't tell it was fear or... something else.

I didn't like it....

In the end, Mary lost (quite tremendously, I may add) and Yumeko won.

As Mary wallowed in her misery, Yumeko got up and approached me. Her face had returned to normal same with her eyes.

Even so I felt uneasy so naturally I flinched away from her hands as they reached for me.

She paused at this, before reaching into her pocket and pulled out a key to unlock me from the handcuffs.

I rubbed my wrists looking at her with mild surprise. She gave me a small smile before patting my head (causing me to turn red under my mask) before she helped me to my feet.

I took a moment to stretch as my joints had gone stiff from being stuck in that position for so long. As soon as I finished, she took me by the arm before wishing Mary farewell and nearly dragged me out thr door.

Now we were in the hall, ways away from where the gambling event took place.

It was an awkward silence, at least for me. She just kept smiling at me like everything was normal.

"I should say something..." I thought, the awkwardness nearly killing me.

Before I could formulate anything, I sensed the familiar aura of Ryota coming our way.

I stood back as the began to talk, not offering anything to the conversation as Ryota asked how Yumeko knew about Mary cheating with Yumeko giving him an explanation.

I blinked in surprise as she then gave Ryota some money.

Ryota was also surprised as the amount she gave him was enough to pay off his debt as a housepet.

"What is she, some sort of Robin Hood with a gambling addiction?!" I thought sardonically.

"Great question...."

I nearly sighed in exasperation.

"Now you show up."

"You had things under control. There was no need for me to intervene..."

"Shaddup, Baskerville..." I grouchy, making the other voice laugh rather than roar at me in anger for calling them that.

Short explanation, I got this annoying voice in my head. Sometimes they're helpful, most times they aren't. They're like an even more annoying Venom from the Marvel Universe with an even more perverted streak.

It doesn't help that I'm gay as a picnic basket so you can imagine the torture I go through because of them...

"She's pretty hot though," they said.

"Shut up." I hissed as Yumeko came back to me, leaving Ryota stunned with her "act of goodness".

Well I'm not falling for it....

I crossed my arms as she got close.

"Just because you won me in a gamble doesn't mean you've earned my respect much less loyalty." I began.

She stopped, blinking at me.

Taking courage in this I continued.

"I'm not like those other ass-kissers, I answer to nobody but to one person, and they are not you."

This got her interest. "Oh? And who might this person be?"

I bristled. "Not telling."

She made a pouty face. "Awww I was hoping I could meet them..."

"I bet you would," I thought snarkily.

"I mean since they found someone as interesting as you..."

My eyebrows shot to my hairline at this. Me? Interesting?

Something inside me curled in slight apprehension.

"Eh?"

She chuckled. "I wonder what they would do if I were to..." Suddenly she was super close, making me jump back only to hit a wall.

"Get this close to you..." Her red eyes were back making me internally quiver.

"Jesus Christ she's hot!!!"

"Not the time you psychopath!"

"I don't know what you are trying to do," I wanted to kick myself for the slight voice crack but I kept going, "but I suggest you-"

Suddenly my face felt cold.

My hands immediately went to my face, feeling not the usual hard surface of my mask but the soft feel of my face.

With alarm I realized she had taken my mask off my face.

"My my what a cute face~"

I frantically reached for my mask, before she moved it out of my reach.

"Give it back!" I snapped at her. If other people saw me right now...

She chuckled before her face got close to mine again.

The whole world stopped as I felt something touch my cheek, making me stop functioning as I tried to process what just happened.

She kissed me.

"Ohoho!~ I like this one!"

I ignored the secondary voice as I blinked dumbfounded.

She placed the mask back into my hand with the same smile on her face.

"There. That should suffice as payment for getting you out of there..."

I blinked trying to process what she was talking about.

I barely noticed as she pressed something else into my hand.

Looking down I realized that lime with Ryota, she gave me a fat stack of money.

"Go buy yourself something pretty." She gave me a flirty wink. "Don't spend it all in one place~"

With that she began walking away.

"You're not letting her go like that are you?"

I'm not but not for the same reason they're implying.

"Oi wait!" I clumsily placed my mask back before I gave chase. "What are you trying to pull?! Take this back! I don't-!"

I froze as she turned right back around to look at me, those crazy red eyes back but with something I couldn't place.

"I only wanted to see the face behind that mask of yours~" She practically purred, making the other voice swoon. "But if you really want me to make you my pet, then I am not against it~"

My face exploded in red not that she could see but I wouldn't be surprised if she had x-ray vision to know that.

"I can find you a new collar to wear, I could take you on nice walks, give you a nice place to sleep, we can play fetch-"

The more she talked the more flustered I became.

"N-no! No, hard pass!!" I shook my head vehemently.

She smiled at me, the red in her eyes going away.

"See you tomorrow, then, Han-chan?"

"Han-chan?!" I repeated with shock.

She put a finger to her cheek. "Maybe I should call you Wan-chan? I mean you remind me of a puppy~"

"Absolutely not!" I nearly shouted.

"Hahahaha!!!"

"Shut up, you! You aren't helping!!!"

She giggled. "How about I call you that when we are in private?"

"Absolutely not!" I argued back.

"Oh then you don't mind if I call you that when we're in public?"

"There's no 'we'!" I was close to ramming my head into a wall in sheer frustration. "Look I say thank you, will you please stop teasing me?" I asked in near desperation. The longer I'm in her presence the more I feel what is left of my sanity slowly melt away.

I felt something touch the top of my head. I saw that it was Yumeko petting my head.

"That's all you had to say..."

I huffed, puffing my cheeks a bit like a tsundere.

Then with a quick hug, she began to saunter away.

"See you tomorrow~"

I blinked as I stood there in the hallway even as she disappeared from sight.

I touched the top of my head, where she had previously had her hand.

"Why am I craving more of her touch?" I asked myself.

"Cuz you love her~"

"Shut up no I don't."

"Yumeko and Han-chan sitting in a tree~ K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"I SAID SHUT UP, YOU INSUFFERABLE BASTARD OF A INNER VOICE!!"

With that I decided to head home, taking a back roads route to avoid the student council lackeys to detect me and trace me back to my "hiding spot".

If anyone saw anything, it was just a black long-haired dog with gold eyes....