Courtney sat down at the dock taking in the scent of the salty sea air that brushed through her nose and fur. She smiled and let out a sigh of relief, though sadly it wasn't going to last long for when she heard padded steps hitting the dock. She knew exactly who the steps belonged to. It belonged to none other than Duncan, a Doberman, Irish Setter and German Shepherd mix.
  Courtney didn't understand why he followed her so much, she was used to seeing him with his uncle when he was a pup, back when he seemed like a softy and a nice guy at heart, but now he tried to put on the tough act which drove her up the wall yet slightly excited her at the same time. She let out a soft sigh and spoke quietly.
  "What do you want Duncan... Can't you see I'm trying to relax..." She looked back, seeing the long eared and tailed dog staring back at her. She blushed and looked away. She couldn't resist his dark, red eyes staring into hers.
  It drove her nuts that she couldn't even look at him without feeling her legs go weak. She looked at him with the corner of her eye, seeing him with that grin that was irritating, yet irresistible that made her want to hurt him and kiss him all at the same time. Duncan spoke in that deep voice that broke her train of thought.
  "Hello to you too Princess." She sighed. Why did he always call her that? She shook her head, deciding to ignore his comment and try to relax, but Duncan wouldn't have any of it. "Come on Princess, want to go out? You know, just you and me, no one else to bug us."
  Courtney saw Duncan smirk at her again with that grin it was so infuriatingly cute. She sighed .
  "Why is it you must always bug me? Do you enjoy it." She got up and walked over to him, staring into his eyes. He smiled.
  "Because I know it gets to you, I know you like it when I call you Princess, and I know you like it when I ask you out. So why don't you just say yes already?" Courtney growled. Everything he said was right but she wasn't going to give him the benefit of a doubt that he was right.
  "Because I don't want to go out with you that's why. I don't like it when you call me 'Princess', and I don't like it when you constantly ask me out." Courtney noticed Duncan giving her a sad look, but it was to hard to see if it was real or not. She sighed once more. "Duncan there's just some days I don't like being near anyone and some days I wish to be alone."
  Duncan's ears lowered feeling somewhat defeated but he didn't let her see it.
  "I'm only asking you on one date. Is one day with me really gonna kill you?" Courtney huffed.
  "You know it just might." The mutt huffed back.
  "Well fine then. There's plenty of other girls willing to go out with me you know..." Courtney scoffed.
  "Yeah probably down Hooker Alley. I heard lots of dogs there love meeting any man for a one night stand." Duncan growled lightly which somewhat made her afraid, but she glared up at him and huffed before passing him. Duncan looked after her.
  "Why are you being such a... such a... snooty little witch?!" He demanded. Courtney stopped and she felt something she never thought she would: she felt her heart break. But she shook it off and glared at him doing her best to hide the tears.
  "Because I can do better then you!" Courtney noticed his face go blank, both from being shocked and possibly hurt, but she ran off before she could realize what she did wrong. She hid in the alley ways gently sobbing away to herself and sighed.  "How did I ever become friends with such a cold mutt...?" She growled a little and sighed, feeling bad.
  "And how could such a dog be cursed with being my friend?" She curled up and closed her eyes drifting off to sleep.

  In her dream, she had remembered the first time she and Duncan had met. It was when she was a pup, and she was lost in the dark part of the city of San Fransisco. She remembered being greatly scared of anything and everything around her. She was soon caught by a large man with a net, and people knew him as the dog catcher. She was caught in the net, trying to get out, but found it useless.
  But before she was thrown into the cage, she felt something tugging on the net. Her and the dog catcher looked down to see a strange looking pup and a large, red-eyed Doberman barking and gnawing at the net. Courtney was scared and wasn't sure what was going on but soon the net ripped and she fell, hitting the hard ground. The strange pup ran up to her, helping her up and nudged her to follow him, and when they were out of arms reach the large doberman soon was close behind. She noticed they were father and son because of their eyes, and also found out they were trying to help her.
  She was grateful that they had saved her, and thanked them. Courtney was about to leave when the young pup smiled.
  "I'm glad you're okay. And um... I was wondering, would you like to hang out? You know, play? My uncle and dad get busy a lot, and I don't have many friends so maybe we could hang out?" Courtney was about to say no, but then looked up at his father, who looked a bit saddened, so she smiled.
  "I'd love to hang out with you." Courtney hadn't seen such a huge smile on anyone's face before than she had on Duncan's. Duncan grinned.
  "Does that mean we can be friends?" He got a nod and a smile, and he nudged her to follow him again.  She smiled wider and followed after him, and he looked over at her. "So, I'm Duncan. W-whats your name..?"
  Courtney smiled.
 "My name is Courtney." Duncan grinned.
 "Nice to meet you, Princess." She shook her head.
 "No... Courtney." He laughed.
 "I know, but I like calling you Princess." She stopped, and so did he, and she tilted her head,  confused.
  "Why do you like calling me Princess?" He smiled and blushed a bit.
  "Because you're as beautiful and nice as a princess should be." She remembered feeling herself blush.
  "Oh, um... Thank you." She licked his cheek and giggled, running off leaving a very confused and stunned Duncan tailing behind her.

Courtney woke up and looked up at the sky.
  "So that's why you called me Princess..." Courtney got up and ran off to go find Duncan. She found him up by the docks and smiled a little, but her smiled dissapeared when she noticed how down he looked. His ears dropped to the back of his head and his tail was flopped over. He heard Courtney and looked over at her.
  "What? You not finished insulting me yet?" Courtney sighed and walked over to him, sitting down next to him.
  "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said something like that. I guess I was just annoyed and thought you were trying to bug me on purpose." Duncan looked over at her.
  "I would never want to bother you Courtney. I care about you to much to hurt you or make fun of you." The mutt's ears lowered as he looked back into the water. Courtney nudged him gently.
  "Remember when we first met? How close we were?" He chuckled softly.
  "Yeah... Life was good then, and not so confusing." She laughed lightly.
  "Yes, I suppose it was... but..." She kissed his cheek lightly, making him blush. "Thank you.." Duncan looked over at her, confused.
  "For what...?" Courtney smiled at him.
  "For being my friend and my Prince." Duncan blushed even deeper and cracked a grin.
  "Thank you for being my Princess." He nuzzled her gently and they sighed sitting there watching the sun set together. Courtney looked over at him.
  "Oh, and one more thing. You tell anyone I've gotten soft with you and I'll act like it never happened." Duncan laughed at her.
  "Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing Princess." Courtney sighed and leaned into him, nuzzling his neck. She couldn't believe it. She was in love with Duncan, and she knew it, but she didn't want him to know. Not yet anyway.

To be Continued...

Characters Belong to me and Saske

Also i'd like to thank Ansem555 for helping me re do the story i really appriciate it friend.